The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Pitch Clock: Baseball Is a Winter Sport

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Surprise! The Pitch Clock is here to wrap up all the action from this year's Winter Meetings with Adnan Virk, who was on site in Orlando. Chris and Jeremy battle in a HOTLY contested trivia game hosted by Ethan that includes some legitimate [Chris Wittyngham voice] controversy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the winter time. You know what that means? Baseball. Right. Welcome to the pitch clock. Here's the pitch. A two-part baseball segment. Combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert.

This is the pitch clock. Bet you didn't expect to see us right now. Hi, everybody. Pitch clock. We're here. We've been renewed. Yeah. Yeah.

For one episode. For an episode, that much we know. Season three. It's, yeah. Wow, how about that? Look at us. It's the winter meetings, and we wasted your time because we're going to talk to Adnan and Verk soon about everything that happened.

Well, I won't. All right, so I will. I'll talk to Adnan Verk soon about everything that was going on in the winter meeting, starting with the big Kyle Schwerber contract and continuing on through last night. But first and foremost, you know what we got to do. This is the pitch clock. We got to play some trivia. Yes.

Ethan, what's our trivia for day? This week's suggestion comes from, or this week's game, comes from a suggestion that we received on Blue Sky. Shout out to Andrew's story on Blue Sky, who came up with this awesome idea that I'm really excited about. We're going to use exactly what Andrew suggested, which is we're going to draft a team of players, and what we're going to do is you're going to add up,

you're going to subtract their career RBI total from their career stolen base total. What you want to be searching for here is guys that stole a lot of bases, but didn't necessarily drive in a lot of runs because you don't want to end up with negative numbers. You obviously want to end up with positive numbers. Wait, so we're going stolen bases minus RBI. Correct. Stolen bases minus RBIs.

I, RBI. RBS B.I. Ars B.I. R's B.I. Ars B.I. So each player, I'll add up the total at the end. Whoever has the best total at the end, you will win. Who goes first?

You won the season last season. season, Jeremy, T.S. Off, and it will, for the rest of this season, we'll just do whoever won the last game, we'll go first. Terrific. Lou Brock. Lou Brock has 938 career stolen bases and 900 career RBI. That is a total of 38 points. 328 for Jeremy. Kill v. Ovaris. He has 183 career stolen bases and 239 RBI. D. D. So Cody is starting this game in the So this could be fun, guys, because we could bounce them back and forth in big ways. We're going to end up at negative what there. 56.

So negative 56. Look at that, Matt. All right. You're off to a start. I've got a guy that was in the league, I think, only two steel bases. Raoul Mondesey Jr. Adelberto Mondesi had 133 career stolen bases and 157 RBI. That is negative 24 for Jeremy.

Really? I'm trying to think of like this. Guys that were just pinched. Runners. I mean, I have a couple names here, but I just know these guys have more RBI than stolen bases. I wouldn't overcomplicate it. Okay. That's a hint.

Dee Gordon. It's a good one. That's a great shout. It's a really good one. D. Gordon, 336 career stolen bases. 236 RBI game. Exactly 100 more. Cody, you are back in the ball game.

You're at 44 now. Yeah. And I'm at 14. All right. I feel better about where I'm at. Oh, boy. So we're drafting, how many players? We're doing seven.

So we've each got five left. Oh, man. This is tough. Okay, I'm going to go, I'm going to go with Dave Roberts. When I think stolen bases, I think his one stolen base in that championship series. Nice job, Jeremy. Nice call here. 243 stolen bases, 213.

RBI that is plus 30 for Now we're exactly tied right now Wow, that's impressive I could just picture this guy Oh All right, I can't think of right now I'll get him on the next go Juan Pierre

Oh no Those I wrote down D Gordon, Kilvio Veres and Juan Pierre Now I'm tapped All right 614 stolen bases 517 RBIs Oh God

So that's plus what It's plus 97 All right, so we've still got one more episode here in 2025. And so it's our 2025 Major League Baseball expert, Adnan Verk, back with us. Yes, he will transition into being our 2026 expert, but that's not until next month. We've got him here. He was just in Orlando for the winter meeting, so he's the perfect person to break things down. Adnan, welcome back for season two and a half, we'll say, of the pitch clock, and I want to get right into it.

The two big signings of the winter meetings were Kyle Schwarber signing his five-year, $150 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, and Pete Alonzo leaving the National League East for the American League East, a five-year $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, cashing in after his one-year deal with the Mets last year. Adnan, which signing needs more? I think it's Pete Alonzo, the Baltimore Orioles, because if you look at their first base position, they were dead last in home runs and RBIs a season ago. And this was an Orioles team that we thought, Jeremy, for years to come, had this great young nucleus and they were contend.

And then last year, they were dead last, the ALEs to go, wow, now you signed Pete, who no matter what, you pencil a minute, he's 40 home runs and 100 RBIs. And he plays 162. Last year's, he played 162 games both times. Matter of fact, John Heyman told him with this nugget, which I didn't know. He had his wife scheduled the C-section at midnight, just so he could play in a game that because this guy does not want to miss any baseball games. I didn't know that.

I said, that's crazy. So I think for Baltimore, it's a massive move. It proves that, hey, we needed power, and we got it. Between Ward and Alonzo, that's 70-plus home runs. They still need pitching, but apparently they're in on Framber Valdez. So David Rubinstein took over as the owner in 2004. This is his first big splash. It's his first big signing since the Chris Davis trade,

as far as the Orioles are concerned, the $161 million at Davis signed, which didn't work out well. But I think for Pete Alonzo, it's great, man. I mean, I'm really happy for him. I think he offers even more reason to be. compelled by the American League East, and he fills the natural void. And people talk about his defense. Sure, his arm's not great.

His range isn't great. But his scoops are awesome. He's number one in scoops in the National League. He can slug, and he's going to do that at Camden Yards. The dude can rake. And that's really ultimately what matters, particularly for the Orioles who needed that bat in the middle of their lineup to help everyone else continue to thrive in this cord that they've been building.

Cool to see them not just punt on that because of a down season. and also in on conversations regarding Edward Cabrera. So we'll see what happens with the pitching staff there. But just a quick follow-up to that, Adnan, because obviously what this means is now the Mets have lost two key pieces here. Edwin Diaz going to the Dodgers on a three-year $69 million deal. Pete Alonzo leaving, what is your reaction to this when it comes to the New York Mets, who we know to be big spenders?

Yeah, I was just talking to my neighbor who's muttering right now as you get rid of the leaves going. Well, what's going to all these Mets here? I'm like, it's unbelievable. I didn't think the Mets would be the ones, Chuck. responsible for all the winter meetings conversation. But first off, Diaz, that was a stunner. I made three years, $69 million. I thought he was going to get like a five-year deal for $100 million.

Apparently, I was way off on this. And I couldn't believe the Mets offered three years 66. Like, they were right there. Like, why even bother the $3 million? But I guess that's Diaz's way of saying, hey, it's not about the money necessarily. I just want to go to L.A. and try to win a World Series. Apparently he wasn't crazy about the fact that they signed

Devin Williams without consulting him, which I guess this is today's modern era baseball. player, you got to let a guy know. I don't think that's a that's problem personally. I'm like, well, you want to sign devil Williams? Go for it. Right. Three years, 51 million dollars. So I guess from that perspective, you know, between 51 for Devin Williams, 69 for Edwin Diaz, would you really give $120 million to two relievers as good as those guys can be? So Sturis has a relationship with Devin Williams. Clearly feels like he can get back to being that guy he was with the Brewers, but that was

genuinely surprising because Diaz has been so effective. I think we always hear Jeremy about closers that, oh, they're very volatile. Like Diaz, aside from one freak injury, the WBC, is about as automatic as it gets. I think that's a huge upgrade for the Dodgers. Critical move by L.A. Their biggest weakness was their bullpen. Now they got the best closure who was out there in the market. For the Mets, you now got rid of three of their most popular guys.

Diaz, Pete Alonzo, and Brandon Nimmo, who is trade to Marcus Simeon who will help their defense, but offensively has some issues. So there's a lot of frustration right now in New York. I think the back page of the post of the day the music died, of course, in reference to Timmy Trump and Edwin Diaz. So it's a bit of a head scratcher right now for the Mets. I would think they're going to have to go sign Kyle Tucker.

I think him and the Jays are like the Jays in the match by the biggest ones in on Tucker and obviously you get some pitching help as well but for a team that was 83 and 79 you just lost three pretty important pieces that's really disappointing right now in Queens All right well I'm just going to do it and I might seriously regret it

Murky Anderson You're not going to regret this one Jerry? I'm not I got to be close though he was a good hitter and he's great hitter I bet you it's just going to be and there's all those lead off there's all those lead off home runs I bet it's going to be close.

I feel like it has to. I mean, he's the all-time stolen base. Ricky Henderson has 1,406 career stolen bases. All right. That's not, that's only half the battle. 1115 RBI. And the game is over, folks. Oh, no, you say that.

There's a lot of time for me to get negative. 291. All right. So that means I am at plus 335. Yeah. So it's 335 to 141 as Chris goes for his fourth big. After this? Chuck Carr.

Oh, Chuckie Carr. I like Chuck Carr as an answer. That guy probably didn't have 300 stolen bases in his career, let alone. Cody's just digging around in Fast Marlins. Dude, I love it. Chuckie Carr had 144 stolen bases and 123 RBI. So he net 21 there, Cody. All right.

Well, since Chris's strategy seems to just be Fast Marlins, I'll take Luis Castillo. Huh? Oh, all right. Uh-oh. 370 stolen base doesn't sound good. To 443 R-Y-odd damn it. See? I told you.

I let you right back in the game. I'm just drawing blanks, man. I'm like trying to picture guys, like stolen base guys, just sliding in a second. Yeah. I'm just trying to like visualize, like, stolen base guys. Yeah, you just reminded me of another one. See? Just saying popping up in this, like, I can't.

There's so many guys. Why do I keep on to say Ryan Langerhans? He definitely didn't steal any bases. It's like, get out of my head name. I've got, I just love the name Ryan Langerhans. Yeah, I've got three guys on my list right now, and you're not going to get to see anything. This guy definitely is going to be a negative,

but my pitch clock is ending here, and I have to say a name. Chone Figgins. Ooh, I don't know that you're, I think that's a really, really good answer. Stole 341 career bases. I had like 600. And he had 540 career RBI. And I'm just... So I am into the negative now.

Oh, God, I'm so sorry. How about this one? Jose Reyes? No. Too bad. I might say he stole a lot of bases, but I bet he has more RBI. I know. I'm worried about it.

He was like an 80-90 homer, like RBI guy. Oh, no way. 70 at least. He was a lead-off hitter. I bet you had multiple 65-70. Maybe 65-70. But that many bases are you stealing 40? 60.

30? I'm looking at it now. It looks like his career high in RBI is 58. Okay. Josh. Sorry. It makes me feel good. 68.

Ah, damn. Exactly what I said. Yeah, no, that is not. Now it's exactly right. Oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Oh, oh.

Jeremy. Oh, no. Jose Reyes. Oh, no. Marlon. 517 career stolen bases. This is not good. 719 career RBI.

Minus. So I'm now at 60 flat. See, he's right back in it. All right, Chris, your sixth pick. Man, there's just this one guy. There's just this one guy that is just at the tip of my brain. It's a 97 point differential right now, which literally anything could happen. Absolutely.

Got it. Boom. Billy Hamilton. This is a good shout. Oh, I don't even know if he played for the Banners, but I was just like, who is this red center fielder? Oh, thank you. I have been looking for that thing.

What a fine, dude. I have been looking for that name for, like, my last three guesses. It's over. It's over. It's over. That's got to be a plus 200. Just for context. Billy Hamilton. It's third all time. I cannot believe this, actually.

Third all time and stolen bases. Third all time and stolen bases. I can't believe he played long enough. Like, I knew he came into the league. It's like, this guy's going to steal 100 bases. We have learned a lot of stats on the course of this show over three years. That is the most surprising thing I've learned is that Billy Hamilton is third all time and stolen basis. That's crazy.

So he is... He is third behind Lou Brock. Just give us the number. With 912. Oh, dude, I'm... It's over. Yeah. I'm screwed.

He had 736 career RBI. Wow. That's way more than I thought. How long did Billy Hamilton play? Dude, I cannot believe these stats. So what is that? That's plus 176. Wait.

We have a problem. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What is it? As we look at the rest of the action, what's something that didn't happen that surprised you the most, Adnan? Well, Tucker was the big one because I kept here on the Jays, are really aggressive in on him. And the numbers, it's interesting. Originally, I thought $400 million and you go, ah, it's too much money.

Like, listen, Kyle Tucker's a really good player, but I don't know if he's a superstar. He's a star player. Like, he's a pretty old star. I don't know if he's a superstar. So I at one point thought 12 for $3.60. You know, you get $30 million a year. But it seems like more of these teams are skittish about giving these long-term deals. there's a better chance of a higher AAV in short years.

So even nice, oh, God, here we go again. The Dodgers could give Tucker like a Breggwin-type deal. The Red Sox did three years for $120 million. $40 million a year for Kyle Tucker, but it's not big years. It's only three years and they'll figure it out. So, oh, my God, that might happen. So I thought Tucker would get done. I just thought Toronto seems really aggressive.

They've obviously already signed Dillon Cs for 7 and 210. Now at the Mets have lost these guys. Maybe that will up the bidding a little bit. But I thought Kyle Tucker was going to go at the winter meeting. and I still think Toronto's a spot. I think the Js are really high on them. So those are the moves that didn't happen. We're talking about some splashy names here,

but what's one of the under-the-radar moves that you saw that you go, hey, that's going to have a big impact? Yeah, you know, a couple of pitchers. Stephen Matt's got a couple-year deal. You know, he's still going $15 million there. And I also think that Kyle Finnegan for your Tigers, two years, $19 million. You know, the big one out there is one if Terrick Schuble gets traded to the Dodgers

and you go, oh, my God, it would just be just bananas. you couldn't even imagine it, right? Scoobel is going to be a free agent after this year. He's going to get a $300 million contract. I don't know if it's going to happen or not. Scott Harris, by the way, the Tiger's president was on our set, and he said, no one's untouchable. So, like, you know, read that light.

He did not say, Terrick Scoobel is untouchable. No one's untouchable. We listen to everybody. But Finnegan's a guy who I do think is a good pitcher. I think he can offer some more depth in that rotation, which was a concern, right? Too often you look at it and you go, okay, it's scubel, and who else. So Finnegan's a guy, I do think, gives him a little bit of a,

veteran experience and it can be a decent number three, number four for that Tigers team. You were around everything in Orlando. You're probably hearing all the different rumors and everything popping up. What are you looking forward to next year in this offseason before we end up chatting again in the next month or so? Well, there's a great segment part of producer Sam Wilde that was called spend the change or make the exchange, meaning oftentimes you just think about signing all these guys. We can also trade for a lot of players as well. So the ones that I think are interesting is the nationals look at their shopping, McKenzie Gore.

who is, I think, a terrific young pitcher was part of that one solo trade, and C.J. Abrams, who you thought in some ways was the centerpiece of the trade, but he hasn't worked out that well. That would be a bit of a cell low. Like, I think people are not really high in C.J. Abrams as much as there were a couple years ago. And James Wood now looks like the centerpiece of that solo trade.

So I'm curious, the nationals now with new, you know, management there. Those guys took over midway over for Mike Rizzo. I wouldn't be surprised McKenzie Gore or C.J. Abrams gets dealt out to the blockbuster. I also think Cattel Martins has been a lot of talk, Jeremy around him. Red Sox are really in on Marte. The Blue Jays are in on Marte. So I feel like that one is gaining some steam. I definitely heard a lot around that. And I wouldn't be surprised the Padres don't make a whopper. Kevin Asu covers the Padres for the San Diego Union Tribune. And we talked to AJ Casabelle, who covers the Podgers at MLB.com. He said, like,

where there's smoke, there's fire. There's rumors that Preler is trying to make a Juan Soto type trade. But they also said Tatis isn't involved. So I looked at the numbers and I go, well, I don't know if you're going to trade Machado and that many dollars. Bogart's contracts, untradable. So maybe that's a Jackson Merrill, who's a nine-year, $135 million contract. You know, the other guys, like, you can't trade you, Darvish. He's out till 2027, still have big money. So you can never count on AJ Preller. He still could have a whopper on his hands. He almost always does, no matter what's going on. I'm obviously down here intrigued to see what those moves end up being for the Miami Marlins. We shall see. We'll keep

everyone posted, both on the main show and right here on the pitch clock at Nanverk. Thank you so much for being with us. And yes, you will officially move into 2026 MLB expert territory the next time we speak. Enjoy your holidays, Adnan. There's another Billy Hamilton. That's third all time in Creastell. Jesus. How do you know which one? How do you know which one? I clicked on his profile on fan graphs. Don't you dare try to insinuate. It's a one from a different era. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. So he has 300 stolen bases in like 20 RBI. Like this could end up.

So I clicked on the old-timey Billy Hamilton's. So I'm erasing my plus. This guy was like a certified Hall of Famer, 70 career war, 142. He played 140. All right, Billy Hamilton. Played from 888. All right, give me the right Billy Hamilton. He had 326 career stolen bases and 189 career RBI.

So similar, basically the same. Let's set the table. I'm plus 60. Chris. Plus 100. Wow, what a comeback. Billy Hamilton. I can't believe this.

All right. Kenny Lofton. Kenny Lofton is 15th all time in stolen bases. He has 622 career stolen bases. I don't feel good about that. The only problem is he has a lot of RBIs. He has 781 career RBIs. Well, it's over.

It's not necessarily over. Oh, it is. No, it's over. No, it's not. Yeah, it's over. Oh, it is. Because you're going to, well, I know what you're going to do. I know what I would do. Yeah, I know what I would do, too.

All right. I'm going to go with Sandy Alconjub. Yep, I knew it. I knew it. No, he's, no, it's okay. It's okay. I get it. No, that's all fine.

What? Not in the spirit of the game. No, he's still in some bases. I genuinely think he's a own. No. No shot. No. First time I'm ever making a ruling here.

I am the game maker. You're drafting a position player. I'm not going to be. You're not drafting a pitcher. You're drafting a position player. This is not the spirit of the game that the great answer story. Now you can do something similar where you can take a guy that had three career at bats or something. Hey!

No pitchers. How would you give him advice? Give me a guess. Give me a real guess. Since you're doing this to me, I get time here. That's fine. You're up 200. That's fine.

Someone who's barely played. This is the spirit of the rule here, boys. You think I know current baseball? Oh, God, keep saying, pick someone. Anyone. Let me just, all right. Just pick a. Crow Armstrong.

Okay. Yeah, great. Pete Crow Armstrong. I'm cool with that. I know. I mean, you're pretty funny. It'd be pretty funny if this doesn't work. Is he a rookie this past year?

Pete had 35 career stolen bases this year. He's got 64 for his career. And he's got 143 RBI. Oh, man. That was way closer than it should have been. So I still went? Yeah, you should have picked Augustine Ramirez. Um, all right. Can I, I just want to...

Oh, what a game. That was great. Let's make sure. That's a hell of an offseason game. This isn't going to count toward the standings, but see where I ended up at. Chris is obviously the winner. Chris scored 21 points. What a roller coaster that was to get back to 21. So that one, the last answer. So you had negative 79 on the last answer. 21 to negative 99. So 21 and Jeremy in a roller coaster, he picked the greatest stolen base guy of all time. Finish this with negative 99. We just give it up for Billy Hamilton.

wins our winner meetings that was better than sex the feeling of finding the name better than sex well dude when I thought you had the the third greatest stolen based artist of all times we believed you we were like he might be

I said that that was the greatest piece of trivia we've learned in the last three years who would have thought there's another Billy Hamilton Thank you.