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Baseball Tonight with Buster OlneyMeaningless?: Small Sample Spring Training Overreaction; Do the Mets Have Enough Pitching?; Tigers & Brewers Previews
Baseball Tonight with Buster OlneyMeaningless?: Small Sample Spring Training Overreaction; Do the Mets Have Enough Pitching?; Tigers & Brewers Previews
Meaningless?: Small Sample Spring Training Overreaction; Do the Mets Have Enough Pitching?; Tigers & Brewers Previews
Обновить: 2025-02-25
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Описание
Hembo and Buster discuss small Spring Training samples from Sandy Alcantara, Elly De La Cruz and Garrett Crochet. And, Hembo shares his thoughts on Buster’s latest positional ranking. Then, Matt Vasgersian stops by to talk about the Mets’ secret weapon, the Yankees changing its facial hair policy, why the Blue Jays should pay Vladimir Guerrero Jr. now, and who’s jumped out at Spring Training. Plus, Dan Dickerson previews the Tigers and Sophia Minneart previews the Brewers.
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4:24 Hembo
25:01 Tigers Preview with Dan Dickerson
30:56 Matt Vasgersian
49:17 Brewers Preview with Sophia Minneart
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00:00:00
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00:00:03
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Hilton for the stay.
00:00:28
[Music]
00:00:30
[Music]
00:00:33
Way out of here!
00:00:35
Oh, this is Baseball Tonight, the podcast.
00:00:39
[Music]
00:00:41
This is the Baseball Tonight podcast for Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, and today will be better than yesterday.
00:00:48
I'm Buster Oli.
00:00:50
Taylor Swink is working from the Swink Studios.
00:00:52
Taylor, how are you doing today?
00:00:53
Buster, we're doing well.
00:00:54
I'm all jacked up on caffeine right now.
00:00:56
I got the old runners high and then I hit Duncan.
00:00:59
I hear it.
00:01:00
And then we just listen to Hembo.
00:01:01
We have a great 20 minutes with Hembo.
00:01:03
I love that guy, so yeah, I'm fired up right now.
00:01:06
We're going to be talking with Hembo.
00:01:07
We're going to be talking with Matt Viscursion, my former Sunday night baseball colleague who was host of Hot Stove.
00:01:12
We're going to talk about a piece that wrote about Vladimir Grayer Jr.
00:01:15
and what the blue jays should do next.
00:01:18
We're also going to talk about some of our positional rankings, where Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres should land.
00:01:25
But before we get to all that, let's have some news and notes.
00:01:28
And we love to play highlights, whether it's during the regular season, during the postseason, during spring training.
00:01:35
But as you know, Taylor, a lot of times the spring training highlights, they don't have announcers actually do the highlights.
00:01:43
So I'm going to ask you to step in in a couple places to provide highlights.
00:01:47
Okay, so let's listen to Justin Verland or making his debut with the San Francisco Giants and I want your play-by-play.
00:01:53
Here we go, Ryland, if you wind something up, we'll pitch.
00:01:57
Struck them out, you're back.
00:02:00
All right, so when we talk to Dwayne Kuiper, I think, when we do our Giants preview, we got to bring that back.
00:02:06
And as you think so, yeah, I think some of this sound will be good.
00:02:10
I got Justin Verland to her.
00:02:11
Two innings in his debut with a Giants, a lot of home run.
00:02:14
Corbin Carroll is working to get off to a better start this season than last season.
00:02:18
This is what happened on Monday.
00:02:20
The pitch, and back, back, back, back, back, back, back, back.
00:02:26
Oh, Corbin Carroll.
00:02:27
He's going to touch them all, play the music.
00:02:31
We're having fun out here in Arizona.
00:02:33
I'm back on the board.
00:02:34
Yeah, when we do the, the Diamondbacks preview with Steve Berthium.
00:02:38
Oh, no, no, we got to play it for him too.
00:02:42
All right, here's one highlight with the actual announcer at working.
00:02:47
Nice, nice job with that, Taylor.
00:02:49
I appreciate your guts on it.
00:02:50
I had to coax you into doing it a little bit, but I know if you would ask me to do it, I'd be like, no, I can't do that.
00:02:55
Here was Jorge Soler, who was dealt to the Angels over the off season.
00:03:01
On Monday, he had a monster home run.
00:03:04
He's straight pitch.
00:03:05
It falls across the deep down on the left hand side.
00:03:07
And you can just sit goodbye.
00:03:10
Here's the first home run this spring.
00:03:12
He falls, put it out in the driveway back by the trees.
00:03:19
That one there.
00:03:20
Not sure if we need any tail.
00:03:21
The tape on it left.
00:03:23
That's what's over 400 feet way over 400 feet.
00:03:27
I'm guessing it was around 460.
00:03:28
Absolutely crushed it.
00:03:30
Giancarlo Stan of the Yankees is back in New York from medical evaluation.
00:03:35
He was diagnosed with tennis elbows in both his right and left elbow.
00:03:40
Aaron Boone told reporters he's undergoing treatment.
00:03:42
And there's nothing imminent on tap for the DH.
00:03:45
The met Shaman Naya is likely headed the injured list with an oblique strain.
00:03:49
Another injury for the met's rotation, which is already one of the big concerns.
00:03:54
One of the questions I'm going to be asking Matt to the met's have enough starting pitching.
00:03:58
And sad news about Larry Dolan, the Cleveland Guardian's owner.
00:04:02
He passed away at the age of 94.
00:04:04
I met him once.
00:04:05
Super nice.
00:04:06
People who work for him had great things to say about him.
00:04:09
We know this.
00:04:10
He loved Cleveland and he loved his baseball franchise.
00:04:14
Taylor, what else you got?
00:04:14
Buster on Thursday's episode.
00:04:17
We're going to talk to our friend Todd Radham.
00:04:19
And I wanted to bring him up because I was texting him to book him on the show.
00:04:24
And what a treat it is to text him because he was going to I said the first four last week.
00:04:28
He went to the four nations final in Boston between USA and Canada.
00:04:33
You know, just a quick overnight trip.
00:04:34
No big deal.
00:04:35
And then he was like, oh, and I'll tell you guys all about the the Super Bowl parade that I attended.
00:04:40
And had a great time and I'm like, oh, man, you are just a treasure trove.
00:04:43
So we'll talk all things uniforms with Todd Radham on Thursday.
00:04:46
Very excited.
00:04:47
Well, you know, he is the Todd father.
00:04:49
He's like, he has a seat everywhere.
00:04:52
Unbelievable, unbelievable guy.
00:04:54
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00:05:23
Jumping into the numbers.
00:05:26
This is Himbo Knows on baseball tonight.
00:05:31
Embo Courses Paul Ambichetti is a researcher, a content producer at ESPN.
00:05:38
He's helping out a ton on these top 10 positional lists.
00:05:38
And you got a couple of bones to pick about that as we go forward.
00:05:41
Embo, I want to know where do you stand on spring training results and their meaning?
00:05:46
I believe that they are meaningless.
00:05:48
They are games that do not count, but they do matter.
00:05:52
So here's how I would sort of position this question bus or at least my answer here.
00:05:56
When it comes to individual players, at least certain ones, whether it be veteran pitchers coming off at Tommy John, maybe young players that are looking to ascend.
00:06:04
Someone playing a new position.
00:06:06
They're valuable reps to get.
00:06:08
But by no means am I looking at the cactus league standings to make a prediction for the season.
00:06:12
Because of course, managers don't care about such things.
00:06:14
What they're doing is getting their players all the reps that they necessarily need.
00:06:18
The fact that they keep scores is merely academic.
00:06:20
So I would say the results don't much matter.
00:06:22
But the process by which you get there certainly does for any number of players for any number of reasons.
00:06:27
So the results, the wins and loss of your teams that doesn't matter.
00:06:30
I agree with you.
00:06:31
For individual players, it matters to some degree.
00:06:34
It matters to some degree for some players more than others.
00:06:37
Veteran players, it's just they're getting to work in.
00:06:41
They don't care what their batting average is.
00:06:43
But if you have a young player who is on the cusp of the big leagues and he throws up a zero ERA and eight appearances and dominates, he can make a team base since spring training results.
00:06:53
You know, if a guy absolutely rakes, he bats over 500.
00:06:58
He can make the team based on spring training results.
00:07:00
So I'm not saying they're meeting less.
00:07:03
I'd push back in that regard.
00:07:04
What do you think?
00:07:05
That's fair.
00:07:06
I think when it comes to young players specifically, the one example I'll cite Buster is when Chris Bryant was just unbelievable.
00:07:12
He was one of the best hitters in the whole sport in spring training as a rookie.
00:07:16
And it became so obvious that the only reason that comes might send him down was to suppress his service time, of course.
00:07:21
That was that conversation that season.
00:07:23
But I'm with you.
00:07:24
Meaningless is too strong a term.
00:07:26
But I would say that I definitely don't check the standings in spring training, the way that I do in the regular season.
00:07:31
Although, especially now that we have a lot of the stat cast data data, I do do a lot of checking to see how individual players perform, especially some of the older pictures coming off of injury, which we'll get to here in a minute.
00:07:40
The back of your point, I'll retell this story.
00:07:42
I've mentioned the podcast before when I was covering the Yankees.
00:07:45
George Simburner was on a rampage in March because the Yankees had lost like seven or eight straight exhibition games.
00:07:53
He wasn't happy.
00:07:54
And there was an open question as to whether or not Bryant Cashman, their general manager was going to get benched.
00:07:59
In other words, where he was going to be put in the penalty box.
00:08:02
And George was going to do something.
00:08:04
And so we knowing that there's a state of turmoil going on.
00:08:07
We were waiting outside of the Yankees clubhouse early in a midweek morning.
00:08:12
And this big pack, which is unusual in Bernie Williams.
00:08:17
The All-Star Center fielder comes walking down.
00:08:20
He's half asleep because it's eight o'clock in the morning.
00:08:22
And he just looks at what are you guys all doing here at this time?
00:08:25
And he said, well, George is kind of, he's on a rampage right now.
00:08:28
And so we're just monitoring that.
00:08:30
And he goes, why is he upset?
00:08:33
And I said, because you guys are on a losing streak.
00:08:35
And this is in the middle of them being in five world series in six years.
00:08:39
And Bernie looked at us.
00:08:40
He blinked.
00:08:40
He goes, we have a losing streak.
00:08:42
Like you had no idea, right?
00:08:45
One of the players on the team.
00:08:46
That's how I think for veteran players, spring training is about that for sure.
00:08:50
The reason I'm asking you that question.
00:08:52
Because you're going to have some hot takes here about players, based to some degree on spring training results.
00:09:00
Cindy Alcataro the other day made his debut.
00:09:03
And man, he looked great.
00:09:05
Buster, Cindy Alcataro will be the most coveted pitcher at the trade deadline this year.
00:09:10
He looked magnificent over the weekend.
00:09:12
Let's remind people that he was the best pitcher on earth in 2022.
00:09:16
He led the majors in complete games and innings and batters faced and eight war.
00:09:20
Now he's 16 months removed from Tommy John's surgery.
00:09:23
And look just filthy.
00:09:25
Both his four seamer and two seamer sat at 99.
00:09:30
And his first taste of game action in a year and a half.
00:09:32
And that's really as you will call, Buster, what made him so special before the injury to overpowering fastballs that he uses.
00:09:38
It's just kind of set the table for that devastating change.
00:09:41
And that devastating slider that renders him almost impervious to platoon split issues.
00:09:46
Like he's so good throwing both of those pitches to both side of hitters.
00:09:50
He'll pitch this season.
00:09:51
Buster at 29 with two years and $38 million of club control after this season.
00:09:58
I'll say this.
00:09:59
The Marlins have taken off all the training wheels.
00:10:01
They said he's full go, which means in his case, it'll be 180 plus innings.
00:10:05
He is going to be an exceptionally coveted piece at the trade deadline.
00:10:10
Yeah, you know, it's interesting and I agree with you.
00:10:11
I mean, if you were put out, be put out on the trade market, he could be difference making.
00:10:15
Imagine the the other best teams in baseball, you know, the braves, the fillies, the Yankees, the Red Sox, filling needs by adding Sandy their rotation at some point in the middle of the year.
00:10:26
But here's a little X factor in all this.
00:10:28
Marlins are under great stress right now to spend more money.
00:10:32
Right?
00:10:34
They have to because they could get nailed for not spending enough money because of the revenue sharing money that they're receiving from other teams.
00:10:44
So trading Sandy is not merely of, okay, the team's not in a window to win right now.
00:10:50
Let's get assets and take advantage of it.
00:10:52
There's some degree they have to be spending money.
00:10:55
And he's a pretty good player to be spending money on.
00:10:57
He's one of the few guys in the team is actually getting paid.
00:11:00
That's a well made point, Buster.
00:11:01
Perhaps we'll see them try and orchestrate a deal at the deadline where they ship him off for prospects and maybe some teams and take some bad contract, right?
00:11:10
Something like that contract, you know, take Nolan Arnato, you know, or, or some, well, he wouldn't accept a trade there.
00:11:16
But something along those lines, right?
00:11:19
Yeah, that makes all the sense in the world.
00:11:20
I mean, look, they'll probably obviously try to continue to build up their prospect capital.
00:11:24
They're not interested whatsoever in winning right now.
00:11:27
And I think if there's anything that we learned from what they've said in years past, or at least in recent seasons, they'll look to move him by the trade deadline.
00:11:34
They'll look to add prospects and maybe just maybe take on an unwanted salary and return to sort of beef up that prospect return.
00:11:40
You are fired up about Ellie Dela Cruz in the Cincinnati Reds.
00:11:44
Woohoo, Buster.
00:11:46
Ellie Dela Cruz is going to record the first 40, 80 season in the history of Major League Baseball.
00:11:53
So the record for steals in a 40 Homer season is 73.
00:11:57
That was Ronald Acunia just two years ago.
00:12:00
The record for homers in an 80 steel season is 28.
00:12:04
That was Ricky Henderson in 1986.
00:12:06
So that's the context.
00:12:08
Here's how Ellie is going to get there.
00:12:10
80 steals, Buster.
00:12:11
You might agree with me as a fairly easy number to envision.
00:12:14
Last year, he stole 67 on 83 attempts and measured out at 100th percentile in sprint speed.
00:12:20
We know he of course can fly.
00:12:22
Now, we stole those 67 bases, Buster, despite leading the majors with 218 strikeouts and producing the fifth, the most outs in baseball overall.
00:12:32
He got out 489 times.
00:12:35
It was a 339 on base percentage.
00:12:37
If he told me that on base goes up to let's say 370, I could see 80 steals.
00:12:42
Now 40 homers, Buster, is tougher to envision.
00:12:46
He slugs 524 against righties last year, but only 354 against lefties.
00:12:51
Of course, he is a switch hitter.
00:12:53
No surprise considering stat cast tells us he loses about three miles per hour of that about speed on that side of the plate.
00:13:00
However, I saw something really encouraging over the weekend when he deposited a home run as a righty into the right centerfield stands off of a lefty over the weekend.
00:13:11
Buster, that's something he only did once his entire career, an opposite field home run as a righty.
00:13:16
So if you tell me he gets on base 37% of the time and potentially creates sort of full field power from both sides of the plate, which is very much on the list of options, I think 4080 is on the table for Ellie.
00:13:28
So next week, you and I have to go through some potential profits because as you're talking, I'm saying, you know, he could be a guy who could jump up and shock the odds.
00:13:37
I'm sure Shohei Otani is the heavy favorite to win the National League MVP.
00:13:41
Again, he's a great DH and he's returning to pitching this year.
00:13:45
You know, Mookie Betts is there, but Ellie Dela Cruz, I bet she has got a good number.
00:13:51
Like a number that would be interesting.
00:13:52
And we know he's highly motivated.
00:13:54
I've told this story in the podcast before how Terry Franco and I met with him down at Dominican Republic this winter after he got the Reds managerial job.
00:14:01
And he said, okay, what do you want to accomplish in baseball?
00:14:04
And Ellie's response was, I want to be the best player in baseball.
00:14:08
And Terry said, okay, how about we amend that?
00:14:11
How about you aim to be the best player in baseball and the best team in baseball?
00:14:15
He's followed up with that.
00:14:19
They've had great conversations.
00:14:20
I think Ellie is very comfortable.
00:14:22
I agree with you.
00:14:23
I think this could be an absolute year of great dynamism.
00:14:27
From him.
00:14:28
A lot of two points.
00:14:29
Buster to reinforce yours.
00:14:30
The first of which is you and I both see a clear path to the playoffs for the Reds.
00:14:35
Then consensus.
00:14:36
We think they're going to be a good enough team for him to win the award.
00:14:40
And secondly, it could be a total coincidence.
00:14:42
But we saw Jose Ramirez in Francisco Lendor, both his young players, both as switch hitters, really ascend under Terry Franco and his tutelage.
00:14:52
Again, it could be something.
00:14:53
It could be nothing.
00:14:54
But if that last sort of hurdle for Ellie to clear is improving as a switch hitter from both sides of the plate, the full field power, which I referenced, all the nuance that comes with that extremely sort of burdensome task in today's game.
00:15:07
Look, Terry Franco and I had a lot of proof of concept wherever you want to draw from.
00:15:10
I think Ellie is going to have a monster season.
00:15:13
We're excited about Garrett crochet who looked awesome in that first showing for the Boston Reds.
00:15:20
Buster Garrett crochet is going to become the first starting pitcher in the history of baseball.
00:15:24
In a full season to strike out 40% of batters that he faces.
00:15:30
No one has ever done it.
00:15:31
I think Garrett crochet is going to do it this year.
00:15:33
Now Garrett Cole has come the closest.
00:15:36
He fanned 39.9% of hitters on the 2019 Astros.
00:15:40
Now crochet last year is at 35.1 across 146 innings.
00:15:45
So we need 16 more innings to qualify.
00:15:47
And he needs to find another 5%.
00:15:49
Here's how he gets their Buster.
00:15:51
I think it might be the best stuff on the planet.
00:15:53
Among 126 pitchers last year to throw at least 100 innings.
00:15:57
He ranked first among all of them in stuff.
00:16:00
Plus that looks at the physical characteristics of every pitch.
00:16:04
Further, among that subset of pitchers.
00:16:07
He ranked number one among all of them and inducing swing and miss in the zone.
00:16:11
Which evaluators tell me is an even more predictive metric of swing and miss.
00:16:15
Then chase percentage believe it or not.
00:16:17
Now crochet struck out four and just 27 pitches in his spring debut on Sunday.
00:16:22
Looked of course every bit as electric as he did last season.
00:16:25
So it really comes down to this.
00:16:26
It comes down to his durability.
00:16:28
This guy's thrown 219 innings professionally.
00:16:31
219 innings since his college career.
00:16:34
And he's going to need to get to 162 this year to qualify for a leaderboard, of course.
00:16:38
I'm betting on him to do it.
00:16:40
And I think it is a bet that is more than worth making for the Red Sox, who of course give a hefty load and return to acquire him from Chicago.
00:16:46
Yeah.
00:16:47
And look, his workload is not going to interrupt or affect his strike out rate.
00:16:52
Right.
00:16:52
And I agree with you.
00:16:53
I think he could hit that number in terms of strike out rate.
00:16:57
I am really curious.
00:16:58
If it's some point this year, we hear about the Gare Crochet rules.
00:17:02
Much as we talked about last year with the Josh Hayter rules.
00:17:05
Gare Crochet last year telling the White Sox.
00:17:07
Hey, you know, I'm not going to pitch in the postseason if I get traded until I get a contract.
00:17:12
Why would that not be in place again this year for the Boston Red Sox?
00:17:16
I think he's got the he's got the power to do it.
00:17:19
And he has good reason to do it.
00:17:21
Given the innings, given the injury history.
00:17:23
If I'm Garrett Crochet at some point this year.
00:17:25
And by the way, he's represented by CA, which represented Josh Hayter, Jeff Barry at that time working for CA.
00:17:32
I don't know why Garrett Crochet at some point wouldn't tell the Red Sox.
00:17:36
You know what?
00:17:37
I'm going to throw X number of innings and after that, we're going to slow it down because he's got to protect himself.
00:17:43
There's actually some motivation there.
00:17:45
I think for the Red Sox to get a deal done.
00:17:48
So he's paid and he can feel comfortable pitching deep in October.
00:17:52
I think there's a chance the Red Sox are going to need that.
00:17:54
No question about it, Buster.
00:17:56
If the Red Sox are as good as we think they're going to be.
00:17:58
They're going to need Garrett Crochet to be Garrett Crochet on October the 10th.
00:18:02
In order to make sure that they get that.
00:18:04
That relationship, that partnership needs to be good.
00:18:07
If they think Garrett Crochet is going to be as good as I think he's going to be.
00:18:12
Now is the very best time to sign that extension.
00:18:16
No player of that stature.
00:18:18
No player that talented has ever gotten less money by waiting and performing as well as we expect him to.
00:18:24
If Garrett Crochet winds up being a Sy Young finalist, which is something that I see, he's going to make himself $50 million this year conservatively.
00:18:32
And honestly, the fairly light workload that he has seen since high school since college is going to play to his benefit.
00:18:38
If you believe in the sort of nebulous bullets in the chamber theory as I do, it's actually a credit and not a debit in his case.
00:18:44
So I think Garrett Crochet is going to be dominant this year.
00:18:46
And there's no better time for team and player to find common ground on extension than right now.
00:18:51
So if you were his agents and there is no extension, what would you advise him based on what we saw last year, given the injury history, given what the stance was last year?
00:19:02
Because I would tell him, look, we're going to do something to protect you.
00:19:05
I would do the best I could to apply internal pressure.
00:19:10
What I don't want to do is go from 146 innings, which is what he was last year to 180.
00:19:15
But keep in mind, this was a player that made it very clear last season before the trade deadline, but I want to only be traded somewhere where I can sign an extension.
00:19:23
And there were all sorts of stipulations in place.
00:19:25
For example, if he goes to the Dodgers, would they even be allowed?
00:19:28
Would they even be able to use him in the playoffs?
00:19:31
So this is obviously a person for you who might say is very empowered, a little bit of an NBA flavor to Garrett Crochet.
00:19:38
And it's hard to blame him or any other pitcher in that position who are potentially leading hundreds of millions of dollars on the table, where of course the team has only two years of control.
00:19:47
And their incentive is very different than the incentive of the player and his agent.
00:19:52
So I would do the very best I could to keep this behind closed doors.
00:19:55
But if there's anything that we know from Garrett, Crochet, and last season, they'd end him.
00:19:58
Excuse me, that ain't happening.
00:20:00
Yeah, and I'd say that I want to make this absolutely clear to this point, it's only speculation.
00:20:05
We have no indication that that's the case.
00:20:07
And I would say this also to make that declaration pitching for a white socks team that nobody cares about is very different than making that declaration while pitching pitching in Boston in terms of the reaction from the fan base.
00:20:20
All right, so let's talk about the positional rankings.
00:20:23
A couple of interesting things.
00:20:24
When I was looking at your list on center field, you know, I had blanched initially when I saw you had who you were.
00:20:31
A drink is one you Jackson Merrill, too.
00:20:33
And the more I thought about it, the more I talked to people.
00:20:36
Man, you were dead on the idea that Jackson Merrill after one full season, after converting from shortstop to center field.
00:20:44
Is the second best center field or baseball is jarring, but I think you're right.
00:20:49
Buster, Jackson Merrill is a stone cold stud.
00:20:52
Now, typically he would not be the kind of player that I'd be predisposed to falling in love with the way that I have.
00:20:58
Last year he walked in less than 5% of his plate appearances.
00:21:01
It was a 326 on base percentage, but the upside is just oozing and the athleticism is off the charts.
00:21:08
He played last season at 21, but only 200 minor league games under his belt while learning a new position, Buster.
00:21:14
And at that new position, he logged 11 outs above average.
00:21:18
He was a value positive defender in year one at a brand new position.
00:21:23
That is unheard of stuff.
00:21:25
I wrote down two more numbers that I think are especially loud.
00:21:28
Buster, after June 1st, we're talking 100 games in his case.
00:21:32
I'm going to read for you the entire list of nationally players to slug for a higher mark than he did.
00:21:36
Otani and Catel Marte.
00:21:38
Jackson Merrill, last year, after June 1st, slug 571, the third highest mark in the national league.
00:21:44
And the last number I wrote down, Buster, was nine.
00:21:47
He had nine high leverage homers last year.
00:21:49
24 overall, nine of them in high leverage.
00:21:52
And she has that slow heartbeat as you like to put it to do that at the age of 21 is an astonishing thing to do, especially on a team like that.
00:22:00
Look, they don't necessarily try and microwave success there.
00:22:03
What they try and do is recognize that this is a player who's athleticism and baseball aptitude is off the charts.
00:22:08
And I respect them for rushing him to the big leagues.
00:22:10
It took him about two months.
00:22:12
And from that point on, there were not five position players in the national league, Buster, that were definitively better than Jackson Merrill.
00:22:18
So our list of the top 10 centerfuelers in baseball is live now on espn.com.
00:22:23
It's we've also posted the catchers, the infielders, the corner outfielders.
00:22:28
We have starting pictures to come, DH to come and relief pictures to come.
00:22:32
About Jackson Merrill and his heartbeat, you know, I texted Mike Schilt that Padre's manager and asked him about that.
00:22:39
He said, you know, he can slow the game down.
00:22:41
He said for some players, it takes them years to get there.
00:22:44
If they get there, he said some players never get there.
00:22:46
He said for a rookie to get there immediately was remarkable.
00:22:51
And I asked him in a text, when did you know that you were going to be comfortable with Jackson Merrill as your centerfueler while he was auditioning at Spring Training and he said, one game.
00:23:01
I said, I saw him in the first game and he looked like such a natural.
00:23:06
I was totally good with it.
00:23:07
All right, another guy who was on your centerfuel list was Mike Trout.
00:23:12
But you sent me that before the Angels and Trout spoke.
00:23:15
And they decided to move into a corner outfield spot.
00:23:18
I got to say, I have struggled with what to do with Trout to some degree.
00:23:23
And I wound up putting him in the honorable mention of the corner outfielders because the bottom line is in luck.
00:23:29
He's a first valid Hall of Famer.
00:23:31
He should be unanimous selection.
00:23:33
He's kind of the sandy cofax of position players right now in terms of being absolutely dominant.
00:23:37
But bottom line is he's missed 58% of the Angels games the last four years.
00:23:43
58%.
00:23:44
So I have a hard time putting him in the top 10 when he's not on the field.
00:23:48
Buster, I would probably have tried to wedge him in at the very back half of the top 10.
00:23:54
Just in case we happen to see 140 Mike Trout games.
00:23:58
But candidly, I can't push back too hard on you because everything that you said is far more important than anything Mike Trout might leave out there on the fields and see so real, so rarely is out there on the field.
00:24:09
The other pushback that I would provide to anyone that says that Mike Trout should definitively still be considered an elite player is that truthfully, he hasn't been since 2022.
00:24:18
Even if you take into account the games that he played and don't even to merit him for missing as many games as he has, it's only of course, in air quotes a 134 OPS plus across the previous two seasons.
00:24:30
Buster, it has been three years since he was a Hall of Fame hitter.
00:24:33
We know he doesn't run like he used to and he's only going to be able to provide marginal defensive value in a corner now, which is of course the right decision.
00:24:40
So it is not obvious to me that we're going to see the kind of second act for Mike Trout that we so desperately deserve that he so desperately deserves.
00:24:49
I still think he will obviously be a five or six war player.
00:24:52
Should he play 140 games?
00:24:53
But Buster, there is no obvious reason to believe that will be the case considering, look, most of his injuries have not been based upon the fact that he's played in center field.
00:25:01
That's more a wear and tear decision.
00:25:03
That's more of a performance decision.
00:25:04
Well, we see Mike Trout play 140 games probably not.
00:25:08
If he does somehow, he'll be a five or six war player, but I'm not counting on it.
00:25:12
Yeah, I hope he does because I know how much he loves to play.
00:25:15
And it would be great to see him have a return to form for the next three or four years, because he is so wildly talented and one man.
00:25:23
When he gets locked in, he is so dangerous, but he's got to do it at some point.
00:25:30
And that's what I've been struggling with going down these lists.
00:25:33
At some point, you've got to be on the field and you have to play.
00:25:36
I think the one thing that gives you hope is that with these injuries, it's not like a chronic knee, right?
00:25:40
It's not the same thing every year where it's taken him down.
00:25:43
It's a wide range of injuries that he had, whether it was a calf or I think the ham-aid bone one year.
00:25:49
So maybe he puts it together and he's healthy again and he's great again.
00:25:53
We'll just have to see.
00:25:54
All right, Hambo, thanks for doing it.
00:25:55
It's always fun.
00:25:56
We'll hit it, friends.
00:25:57
Get out of here, Hambo.
00:25:58
Detroit Tigers.
00:26:04
The Tigers won 40 of their last 53 games last season to pull off one of the great team comebacks in recent generations, going from seven games under 500 to a playoff spot.
00:26:16
And with Si Young Award winner, Terrick Schubert, two years from free agency, they are in their window to win now, which is why they pursued Alex Breggman, offering him $171 million before he signed with Boston.
00:26:29
That's why they re-signed Jack Flairity and signed in-fielder, Glebert Torres.
00:26:33
Dan Dickerson is the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers.
00:26:36
Dan, thanks for joining us.
00:26:38
Absolutely, Buster.
00:26:39
It's so glad to join you.
00:26:41
It's such a fun time of year, isn't it?
00:26:43
What needs to go right?
00:26:44
And that's always a good way to look at it, right?
00:26:46
What is the upside for this team?
00:26:48
So to me, what has to go right is since they did not get Alex Breggman, clearly they pursued him for a long time for a reason.
00:26:55
That right-handed bat.
00:26:56
They have to find that right-handed bat or find a way to balance the lineup with the lefties, lefty loaded lineup, so develop a carry carpenter to make sure that he can hit lefties.
00:27:07
You know, Riley Greene can hit lefties.
00:27:09
But I think that the offense to me, the run prevention side of the equation was so good last year, I think it will be again this year.
00:27:16
The offense has to be better and it's going to start with, if you don't get that right-handed bat either in a trade before the start of the year and develop one of these guys, then it's going to be,
00:27:26
okay, we need a cold key.
00:27:29
Even though we're talking left-handed bats now, a cold key to really step up, I believe this kid is going to have a big monster season.
00:27:36
But the focus buster is going to be a lot on J-Shiong.
00:27:40
And that's okay, I think J-Shiong welcomes it.
00:27:42
Okay, didn't sign Alex Breggman.
00:27:44
Guess what?
00:27:45
J-Shiong is ready to grab that job.
00:27:47
There are doubts about whether he can play third.
00:27:50
I've talked to Alan Tramble, who knows a little bit about defense.
00:27:53
He believes he can play third base.
00:27:56
Everybody believes he can hit.
00:27:58
So to me, he's one of the exciting guys.
00:28:00
And then I think Scott Harris has a very realistic look at it.
00:28:03
It's like, hey, there's going to be regressions.
00:28:05
We know that.
00:28:06
So how do we head that off?
00:28:08
We head that off by making sure their offseason workout programs are very specific in terms of where they have to get better.
00:28:14
We can add some guys.
00:28:15
And then hopefully, if this guy dips a little bit, this other guy steps up.
00:28:19
So the very open, clear-eyed about this, it's a lot of young hitters.
00:28:23
But there's a lot of upside when you think about meadows, carpenter, Riley Green, Colt Keith, and J.C.
00:28:30
Young.
00:28:30
What can go wrong?
00:28:32
That's a good question.
00:28:33
I think the only thing to me that can go wrong is that all of a sudden, all the young kids struggle at the same time.
00:28:41
But I just don't picture that.
00:28:44
I just don't, because they all got good experience last year.
00:28:47
I think they built a lot of depth on the pitching side.
00:28:52
So even with injuries, and already Alex Cobb is going to be delayed at least a month or so, they have built quite a bit of depth there.
00:28:59
And that's what gives me so much hope about this season buster.
00:29:03
The run prevention was as good as it's been for a Tigers team in the last 50 years, allowing 642 runs.
00:29:10
Second lowest total in 50 years.
00:29:12
That'll probably go up, but they've got a lot of depth there.
00:29:15
So to me, what goes wrong is injuries wipe out, you know, the main guys on offense.
00:29:20
And that's what a big focus was for, you know, a Riley Green, who I talked to today.
00:29:25
His swing is his swing.
00:29:27
He's always working on that.
00:29:28
But for him, it was about how do I stay healthy for a 162 game?
00:29:32
And that was his big focus this offseason.
00:29:35
Pivotal player.
00:29:37
Yeah, I'm not going to put too much on J.
00:29:40
Shung because it can't all be on him, but I'm excited for the potential for a breakout because of the bat for J.
00:29:46
Shung.
00:29:47
Parker Meadows, I mean, a full season of Parker Meadows might mean more to this team than just about anything because he patrols center field.
00:29:55
That's a gold glove candidate 82 games last year because he had to spend time in the minor leagues.
00:30:00
You get a full 140, 150 out of Parker Meadows.
00:30:04
Buster, I don't know how much of that a chance to see him play.
00:30:06
He's special.
00:30:07
The jumps he gets, the ground he covers, the cabinet center field at Comerica Park.
00:30:12
And he showed he could hit with an 850 OPS the last couple of months.
00:30:17
So if he does anything remotely close to that with that defense, this is going to be the team MVP along with Riley Green for years to come.
00:30:25
He's, I am so excited to see him.
00:30:27
And then you have to talk about Jackson Joe.
00:30:30
I'd be, you know, arguably the best pitching prospect in the game right now.
00:30:34
Buster, he'd do a live BP.
00:30:36
Now we don't generally get excited about live BP's in spring even though they're kind of fun to watch.
00:30:41
This kid's averaging 98 with a nasty slider and he's developed a new curveball.
00:30:46
He's the real deal.
00:30:48
Nobody's guaranteeing him anything, but I think everyone would be surprised that Jackson Joe doesn't make the rotation.
00:30:55
And that's an exciting, exciting development if that happens.
00:30:58
Win projection.
00:31:00
Yeah, I've been terrible at this in recent years, but I will, I have to say because I got it right for once last year.
00:31:05
I predicted 86.
00:31:07
Now at 55 and 63 in August, it didn't look like they're going to get there, but that's where they ended up 86.
00:31:13
So I have to brag about that because I get this wrong.
00:31:15
Every year, so my win range would be, I would say, it's kind of staying that same range.
00:31:23
85 to 90.
00:31:25
I think it's important to have to build on last year.
00:31:28
And I think they have the talent to do it.
00:31:31
I mean, the goal to me would be, you get in the 90s, that's a really good year.
00:31:34
But more than 86 because the, you know, the career or the arc of a team that jumps up one year is it might fall back especially when they're young.
00:31:44
And I think they want to make sure that that doesn't happen.
00:31:47
So I'll go with how would I make it very specific 87 to 90?
00:31:50
Half the scourge into the host of Hot Stove and you hear him during the summertime,
00:32:02
serving as play by a play man, a Gaines from A.J.
00:32:04
League Baseball Network and the Angels.
00:32:06
And at one time in our lives, Matt, you and I worked on Sunday night baseball together with Alex Rodriguez, who got a lot of attention for that half-court shot.
00:32:17
He hit it buck now over the weekend.
00:32:19
When you saw that, what was your reaction?
00:32:21
My reaction was, of course, he made the half-court shot.
00:32:26
Right.
00:32:27
It's just kind of the way Alex goes through life.
00:32:29
You know, I think he hired a whole separate PR team to make sure every citizen of the United States saw that video too.
00:32:36
It was a very effective campaign.
00:32:38
And the coolest part about that buster is that he won 10 grand for a student.
00:32:43
Like, I feel like that was genuinely excited to have won that for the kid, just as much if not much more so than actually making a half-court shot.
00:32:52
Okay.
00:32:53
He shocked me with the basketball ability.
00:32:56
It must tell you because it, you know, and Alex is always struck me as being just watching him play baseball through the years as someone who pretty much only played baseball growing up.
00:33:04
And I would have pegged him for not being a good basketball player, even though he, you know, owns an NBA team.
00:33:11
And so he actually looked much more natural than I thought it.
00:33:13
One point when you and I work together on Sunday baseball with Jessica Mendoza, you and I were hoping to arrange a two-on-two of tennis of you and I against Alex and Jessica in a doubles match,
00:33:24
maybe Wimbledon when we were over in London at some point in place.
00:33:27
I think we would have taken them.
00:33:28
I'm confident we would have taken them.
00:33:30
I think we could take them still.
00:33:32
I mean, you and I in, you know, senior, senior ship.
00:33:36
As senior stewards of the sport, I think we could go out there, walkers and all and take down Alex and Jess.
00:33:44
But he is, to your point, I think he's a better basketball player than what he leads on because he's, you know, constantly, I see him constantly like doing shootarounds.
00:33:54
He's probably gotten better since, you know, his NBA ownership days have come about.
00:34:00
I don't think he's the kind of guy that wants to be embarrassed.
00:34:02
And if Anthony Edwards says right, right, with three-point contester, a free-throw shooting contest, he doesn't want to go out there naked.
00:34:09
So he probably, he probably is better than advertised.
00:34:13
Right.
00:34:14
He was probably bad at basketball when you and I worked with him and now he's good.
00:34:17
Right.
00:34:18
And now he's a lot better as we saw over the weekend.
00:34:20
Right.
00:34:21
One of my favorite colleagues that I've worked with in the past, Tom Keegan, it was a long-time columnist at the New York Post.
00:34:28
He loved to write its time to panic columns in New York for the post, knowing that it would just stir up the fan bases.
00:34:36
But I think it's a legitimate question to ask of the New York Mets now, with their rotation.
00:34:40
Frankie Montauss is down.
00:34:42
Chamanaya is down with an oblique injury, which isn't a major injury, but you don't know when he's going to come back.
00:34:49
There was already questions about the metrotation, especially within the context of the National East, when you have the Phillies, you have the Braves, you have an improved nationals team.
00:34:58
I ask you, if you're the Mets, is it time to panic a little bit?
00:35:02
I don't know that panic is the perfect way to put it, but I think genuine concern is certainly something they should be feeling in addition to what you mention.
00:35:12
And by the way, a lap and an oblique are two very mysterious things, especially in the pitching fraternity and the expectation that Montauss is going to be back in six to eight,
00:35:24
which is what they said initially.
00:35:26
I think that's a gray area.
00:35:28
I think the same can be said of what Montauss is dealing with with the oblique injury.
00:35:33
We're expecting and assuming a healthy Kodaisenga, which would not only be a great boon to their rotation, it's almost required at this point if they're going to stay above water from a starting pitching standpoint.
00:35:45
It makes some of their smaller acquisitions, you know, Paul Blackburn last year.
00:35:50
He, all of a sudden, occupies a much more important role than he would have a month ago.
00:35:54
And Griffin Canning, who they kind of took a flyer on from the angels who showed real strike out flashes in Anaheim in his career, pitching in someplace other than Southern California,
00:36:05
his home part of the world for the first time.
00:36:08
Maybe he benefits from a whole fresh start.
00:36:11
He's going to have a spot in the rotation now.
00:36:13
It would appear on paper.
00:36:14
I still think they're a little thin.
00:36:16
And for them to go out and be looking for starting pitching, not hard to believe, I would imagine they're doing that very thing.
00:36:23
And, you know, here we are with that investment into one, Soto and Alonzo and the money they've spent.
00:36:29
And they're still not a perfect team.
00:36:31
I think, yeah, concern would be my word.
00:36:33
Yeah.
00:36:34
And Senga, one thing to remember, I made one appearance in 2024.
00:36:38
The reason why a number of teams passed on him when he was coming over to pitch in the major leagues was because of the injury history.
00:36:46
Like they, they were like, this guy has a long history of getting hurt and we're worried about that.
00:36:52
So the fact that Cody Senga looks good now is no guarantee of anything as they go forward.
00:36:57
That all said, I think maybe their secret weapon is their pitching coach, Jeremy Heftner, who seems to find a way to help people get better.
00:37:05
And we know that he must be good.
00:37:07
And I said, this is Jeremy, he has survived about five different general managers, three or four different managers.
00:37:14
He's the one guy.
00:37:15
He's the one constant.
00:37:16
I said to him, so you must be really good at what you do for all these people to say, Yeah, okay, we're making changes everywhere.
00:37:23
But Jeremy stays.
00:37:24
The great point.
00:37:25
I know that in Jeremy, I think pitched under Darren Bosley for a while who had a great reputation for a long, long time in San Diego.
00:37:34
Sometimes guy that you heard of as a player as being a super impactful pitcher that turns into the best pitching coach, landscapes litter with those guys.
00:37:43
Dave Duncan, Mike Maddox, et cetera, et cetera.
00:37:46
Jeremy fits that bill.
00:37:47
I'd also say that regarding the match, there's probably some help out there on a short term deal among free agent starters.
00:37:55
I mean, among them, Lance Lynn is still there.
00:37:57
And I get Lance Lynn, two and a half pitch mix, older guy, but look at his 2024.
00:38:04
It was pretty good for a not very good cardinals team.
00:38:08
And as a swingman of veteran, you could do a lot worse than a bandaid with a guy like Lance Lynn right now.
00:38:15
Yeah, and he'd be pitching in a bigger park, right?
00:38:19
In with the Metz and a good team, and I think you'd be energized by that.
00:38:22
I always think that Lance is one of those guys is better when he's playing on a team that's doing well.
00:38:28
I wanted to ask you about the Yankees shift in their hair mandates.
00:38:33
Like what did you think of that when that decision came down?
00:38:37
I hated it.
00:38:39
And I hate it now.
00:38:40
I mean, maybe I'm the outlier.
00:38:42
Maybe I'm the stodgy old guy.
00:38:43
And here I am, you know, speaking from both sides of my mouth with my kind of rough.
00:38:48
But I think it was cool that the Yankees were different.
00:38:52
And they're the New York Yankees.
00:38:53
And if anybody could get away with what was perceived to be an antiquated personal grooming policy, it's the New York Yankees.
00:39:02
You put on that uniform, and it's different.
00:39:05
No disrespect to the other 29.
00:39:07
But I thought it was cool.
00:39:09
It was one of those legacy things from Georgia's days that I think should have stayed put.
00:39:16
But I get it.
00:39:17
Modern players being how they are.
00:39:19
They want to exercise some liberties with facial hair growth.
00:39:22
Great.
00:39:23
I do like the fact that they said, no duck dynasty stuff.
00:39:26
I think that was the quote.
00:39:27
But I were Aaron Boone.
00:39:28
I think Aaron Boone told the players that, right?
00:39:31
No duck dynasty stuff.
00:39:32
Yeah.
00:39:33
I wish they kept it.
00:39:34
How do you feel about it?
00:39:35
I'm actually, I think it's a natural evolution.
00:39:38
And it doesn't surprise me that how is doing it?
00:39:41
You're 100% right.
00:39:42
This is George Steinbrunner, the product of Culver Military Academy, right?
00:39:47
You know, carrying that over.
00:39:49
And how is different than George?
00:39:51
How is he listens to players in a way that George didn't?
00:39:54
You know, George was the guy who was going to come down with a hammer and say, this is the way it's going to be.
00:39:59
How is someone as he's worked with his front office?
00:40:01
We've seen this where he's like, okay, I'll take that under advisement.
00:40:04
He makes a change.
00:40:05
And yeah, I think for some players, it matters to hear Devon Williams, you know, to see his quotes about, you know, how he looked in the mirror after he shaved and he couldn't recognize himself.
00:40:17
You know, I don't know if I'd be at that point.
00:40:19
I grew a mustache when I was 19 years old and, you know, I burned all the pictures of that, gotten rid of that forever.
00:40:25
But if that's important to Devon Williams, you know, more power to him.
00:40:28
He's a grown man.
00:40:29
I get it.
00:40:30
I get it.
00:40:30
There's certainly that argument to be made.
00:40:34
Maybe just speaking personally, if I'd grow anything longer than this, I'm not getting onto an airplane without a real hassle.
00:40:41
So I try to keep it tight myself, but I kind of wish they'd kept it.
00:40:45
All right.
00:40:46
I wrote a piece about Vladimir Grayer, Jr.
00:40:48
and the Toronto Blue Jays.
00:40:50
And we're landed after talking with a lot of people in the sport is they should pick up the phone today and say, you know what?
00:40:57
That number you asked for last week.
00:40:59
And we said no to forget all that.
00:41:01
We're sorry.
00:41:02
Yes, we're going to give it to you now for a couple of reasons.
00:41:05
And people have pointed this out to me in these conversations that you can understand where the Blue Jays would have reasonable concerns about paying a guy at first base, the kind of money that Vladie Jr.
00:41:17
is looking for.
00:41:18
And I don't know the exact number, but it's been more than a decade since the first basement got $200 million, let alone 300 million or 400 million or 450.
00:41:27
But someone pointed out to me, Blue Jays pursued one sodo during the winter time.
00:41:33
They apparently were willing to fucking the range of $700 million.
00:41:37
One sodo.
00:41:38
I think you'd agree with me.
00:41:39
He's not a goal goal of outfielder.
00:41:41
He's not through that 15 year contract with the Mets.
00:41:45
He's not going to be playing right field.
00:41:47
He's probably going to wind up being a DH about half of it.
00:41:50
It's the same thing with Vladie at first base.
00:41:52
They're the same age.
00:41:53
If you're willing to pay, and I'm not trying to say they're the same caliber of hitter, but if you're willing to pay one sodo, that kind of money, you know,
00:42:03
why not, to me, the DH, the position concern, wouldn't be a factor.
00:42:08
That shouldn't be a factor.
00:42:10
And the other thing too is, there's always this conversation about players, will they sign to plan Canada?
00:42:17
Will the Blue Jays be able to land a player?
00:42:20
And an executive pointed out to me, you know, when they talk to Shohei O'Connie, there's not a takedown number for the Blue Jays.
00:42:26
You know, there's not a case where his representative is going to say, if you give him $700 million, we'll let you have the player.
00:42:33
They have to compete against other people.
00:42:35
That's the same thing with sodo, you know, the bidding was going up and up and up and up.
00:42:40
The Blue Jays didn't know where he was going to end.
00:42:42
There was never a takedown number.
00:42:44
In this case, there is a takedown number.
00:42:47
You get to keep a player who is born in Canada.
00:42:51
And there's value in that in itself and building a beachhead going forward.
00:42:56
What do you think?
00:42:57
Man, there's so much there.
00:42:59
I think your point is well taken.
00:43:02
I know that we've talked about it a lot all winter that the Blue Jays have to get out in front of this.
00:43:07
They've lost their window.
00:43:08
Apparently, at least publicly, they've lost their window.
00:43:11
For whatever reason, and I get the quality of the people in Toronto, I get the idea that you're playing for a country and not just a team.
00:43:21
But for whatever reason, they've had a hard time the last decade, landing the type A prizes of the free agent market.
00:43:30
We could laundry list all the guys that they've kicked the tires on that chose to sign elsewhere.
00:43:35
Here you have, as you point out, your homegrown super duper star.
00:43:38
And unless you were born in Canada and raised in eastern Canada, and even though he was born there of Laddie Jr, he was raised all around the world, essentially,
00:43:49
because of his dad and his family's travels.
00:43:51
You know, like if you rob Ducey or Paul Spolgeric, the idea for playing for a Canada's team might be more appealing than it would for a guy that wasn't born as a canuck.
00:44:02
So you're not pulling guys up there just to play for the country.
00:44:05
There's the rigmarole of customs and getting your family in and out of there and US dollars to Canadian dollars, whatever the obstacles may be.
00:44:14
It's hard for them to land guys.
00:44:15
The idea that they're going to let Vlad walk.
00:44:18
And by the way, this all goes back to Steve Cohen.
00:44:21
It all goes back to Steve Cohen because was there the outlandish sum of money given to Juan Soto.
00:44:27
But he's looming as the probably best candidate to give Vlad an outlandish sum of money when he chooses to test the pre-agent market.
00:44:38
So the blue jays are really up against it.
00:44:41
And the only way to prevent your children from being preyed upon by Steve Cohen and his money is by keeping them whole to begin with.
00:44:51
And it's really a shame because I think it's all greased, right?
00:44:55
Alonzo has a series of opt-outs in his short-term deal to come back to the Mets.
00:44:59
I just feel like it's all set up for Flatt Jr.
00:45:03
to sign with the Mets at some point.
00:45:06
And it's a shame that he's not going to start and finish in Toronto because that's what I think we as fans were kind of rooting for.
00:45:12
Yeah.
00:45:12
And I agree with you.
00:45:14
And I've heard that the Mets have, you know, serious talks internally about Blattie that they're they're really interested in him going forward.
00:45:22
And you mentioned that the phrase you used was, you know, the blue jays have never gotten ahead of this.
00:45:27
Or example, okay?
00:45:29
And, you know, there's so many times during Blattie's time where if they had concerns about his conditioning, if they had concerns about paying a first baseman, they could have put him out on the trade market and gotten better,
00:45:41
you know, equal value form last July.
00:45:43
You know, they could have learned a lesson from the angels and show Heyo Tani and said, last July, you know what?
00:45:48
Let's get value for him for two playoff races in early November before they began the offseason.
00:45:56
And this was a special insider trading window that they had.
00:46:00
They were one of the teams talking to Scott Boris about Wantsoto.
00:46:04
So as those conversations are going on and the numbers go from 500 million to 600 million, multiple rounds of bidding, at some point the blue jays could have said, oh my god, we think this is going to land in crazy land.
00:46:17
We're going to reach out to Barry Praver who represents Blattie.
00:46:21
We're going to make him an offer before Soto signs.
00:46:23
If he doesn't want to do that and we don't want to pay him, put him out on the trade market right now.
00:46:28
And they had a window of time there where they could have done that.
00:46:32
So it's hard for me.
00:46:33
If the blue jays now their position is, well, it's position, you know, what he's asking for.
00:46:39
We're not comfortable that that's a decision to me.
00:46:42
They could have made last summer.
00:46:44
They could have in early November.
00:46:46
And certainly when they started to get a sense about crazy, the Soto money was right.
00:46:50
Right.
00:46:50
Right.
00:46:51
There's something about buying low too.
00:46:52
You remember the start that Blattie got off to in 2024.
00:46:55
It wasn't great.
00:46:56
His April and May was not great.
00:46:58
Right.
00:46:59
So whether that gave them legitimate pause over his long term viability or whether you sensed it as a buying opportunity, which, you know, hindsight being what it is,
00:47:09
that's when they should have come back with the long term deal before Soto's 720 completely through the market out of whack before he got hot,
00:47:19
which he got whip hot in July, June, July, like 346, the last 130 games.
00:47:25
It was crazy.
00:47:26
How great he was who hits a night with a double.
00:47:28
I mean, it was you could fill it into the scorecard yourself.
00:47:31
Now what they're faced with is is something probably north of the threes or fours, three or 400 million that it would have taken to keep them in fold to begin with.
00:47:41
Yep.
00:47:42
All right.
00:47:43
Before you go, give me a player who's jumped out of you this spring.
00:47:46
Well, there's a bunch of them, but I think, and it actually ties into the conversation we're having here about Vladimir Jr.
00:47:52
Because that's what the reds are faced with.
00:47:53
Elie De La Cruz.
00:47:55
We get the skill set, right?
00:47:56
He's a he write him down as a 30 30 guy every year at worst.
00:48:00
He's a hard worker.
00:48:01
And sometimes guys that play with such grace and that have such a perceived skill set, we misread them as guys that are just naturally gifted.
00:48:11
Remember being in Cincinnati last year and talking to one of their coaches, Dave Hansen, who played a long time in the big leagues.
00:48:17
And Dave told me, look, this guy works hard.
00:48:19
I mean, he's out there doing really mundane stuff because he wants to be better.
00:48:25
So you combine this special generational type talent with the idea that the reds have a clean canvas as far as future payroll obligations.
00:48:35
And there's no reason that the reds can't offer him the kind of contract that's going to keep him in Cincinnati forever.
00:48:43
That's the tie into the lag conversation in terms of just falling in love with your eyes.
00:48:48
I mean, he's appointment television.
00:48:51
The only flaw last year was that, you know, from the right side of the plate, he wasn't quite as good.
00:48:56
He seems to be closing that, you know, when you home or from both sides of the plate and I get it, it's the cactus league and the ball is flying down there in like February.
00:49:03
But when you do that, you get people's attention and he's done that already in exhibition play.
00:49:08
He's good for the bags.
00:49:10
I love watching him.
00:49:12
He's the guy that I can't get enough of.
00:49:14
All right.
00:49:14
For me, a guy has caught my eye in recent days.
00:49:17
Have you seen Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay race?
00:49:20
Okay.
00:49:21
I haven't seen.
00:49:22
Oh my God.
00:49:23
He's like, you know, he's Billy Hamilton of this generation and how fast he is chopper to left side base.
00:49:31
Last year in the minor leagues, he stole 104 bases in high A and double A.
00:49:36
And here's the difference.
00:49:37
And maybe why we're talking about a player who might have more impact than Billy Hamilton did 394 on base percentage.
00:49:43
So far in the minor leagues.
00:49:44
He was the second round pick out of a small school in Georgia from the race.
00:49:48
Typically the race, they find these guys that are really good.
00:49:51
But I would encourage you if you get a chance, find highlights of this guy.
00:49:55
He is he's one of those guys whose speed just takes your breath away.
00:49:58
Oh, I love it.
00:49:59
Imagine if they were still playing on the turf as opposed to for underfield.
00:50:03
But still, I mean, with those numbers and I'm sure a lot of those bags came on grass.
00:50:07
Yeah, I want to watch him.
00:50:08
I want to get my eyes on him this spring too.
00:50:11
All right, man.
00:50:11
Thanks for doing this.
00:50:13
Always great to catch up.
00:50:14
You got a buster.
00:50:15
Good visit.
00:50:15
Thanks.
00:50:15
Good seeing you.
00:50:21
Milwaukee Brewers.
00:50:23
The Milwaukee Brewers shocked baseball with their dominance of the nationally central last year, winning 93 games and running away with the division in the first year on our manager Pat Murphy.
00:50:32
Over the winter, the Brewers dealt with the usual issues that small market teams face.
00:50:37
Short stop, Willie Adams, their best position player departed for the giants and their best pitcher, Devon Williams was traded to the Yankees.
00:50:45
Sophia Minnark covers the Milwaukee Brewers and Sophia, as we get started, I want to ask you, I'm sure a question you've been asked many times.
00:50:55
Give us your best Bob Euker story in this first year after his passing.
00:50:59
Yeah, it's, you know, this is going to be a really difficult season for the Brewers, just their first without Bob Euker, of course, we just lost over a month ago and you know,
00:51:10
buster to be honest, you can't pick just one story.
00:51:13
When Pat Murphy addressed the team, I think it's, you know, for us, he's, he's our friend.
00:51:18
He's everything to the Brewers and to Milwaukee and to baseball, of course.
00:51:23
So I think just his presence, I think for me, the highlight of every day was Bob walking into the clubhouse.
00:51:29
That's what gave him life the last couple of years and that's what was the highlight of his day was was walking into the clubhouse, going locker to locker, some of the handshakes he had with some of the players,
00:51:39
the conversations he'd have with them, the manager that he would do every day with Pat Murphy and obviously Craig counsel before that.
00:51:47
So just his presence, his presence in the clubhouse, his presence in the dugout, those were conversations you never wanted to walk away from.
00:51:56
What needs to go right?
00:51:59
I think a lot of things have to go right, but I think what they're really excited about here is their young core, you know, and Jackson Chardio has to be at the top of the list.
00:52:07
What he was able to do in his rookie season, finishing third in the rookie of the year, the youngest player in MLB history to have a 2020 season.
00:52:16
And I think they're really, really just excited to see what he can do in a follow-up here.
00:52:21
I mean, he honestly had two seasons last year.
00:52:24
He struggled in the first half and then it felt like in June, things really started to turn around for him.
00:52:29
He came back after the All-Star break and decided to just put the first half behind him and said, "I just want to finish as strong as possible."
00:52:36
And he took off.
00:52:38
He hit over 300 after that.
00:52:40
The power, the stolen bases was there for him obviously.
00:52:43
And then he put together a huge postseason.
00:52:45
And I don't think there's anybody who wanted to face him, frankly, at the top of the lineup.
00:52:51
And what he did in game two to hit a pair of game tying home runs, right?
00:52:55
To force a game three, to force an elimination game.
00:52:58
I think it just really opened people's eyes.
00:53:01
All the tools were on display for him.
00:53:03
What can go wrong?
00:53:05
I think the youth, right?
00:53:07
These are thin margins for the Brewers in terms of your, you lost the glue guy in Willie Adamis, right?
00:53:14
Your shortstop, such a big run producer in the middle of your lineup.
00:53:18
They do feel really confident in what they have with their options, whether they move Bryce Tarrang, who just won the platinum glove at second base.
00:53:25
You move him to shortstop.
00:53:27
You move Joey Ortiz from third base to shortstop, but no doubt they're going to miss Willie Adamis.
00:53:32
No doubt they're going to miss Devon Williams, right?
00:53:34
They're nationally reliever of the year, who was traded to the Yankees.
00:53:38
So I think the health of that young core Christian Yelich coming back from a back injury.
00:53:44
Again, just filling those pieces, really key pieces is going to be the challenge that the Brewers feel like they can answer.
00:53:51
They have the piece of cancer.
00:53:53
Pivotal player.
00:53:54
I think just seeing a healthy Christian Yelich back in the lineup, he's coming off of a back surgery in the middle of August, but when Christian was healthy, it was just over 70 games for him.
00:54:04
He was on the verge of another batting title.
00:54:06
He was hitting 315.
00:54:08
The power was there for him.
00:54:09
He was producing runs.
00:54:10
He had over 20 stolen bases, and that was a huge part of how the Brewers generated offense last year, stealing more than 200 bases as a team.
00:54:18
So I think just getting, hopefully, the healthiest version of Christian Yelich that maybe we've seen over the last couple of seasons.
00:54:26
Again, really encouraged by how he performed when he was healthy before that back injury, flared up for hand last year, ultimately forced to surgery.
00:54:34
But I think, yeah, I think Christian Yelich and Jack Centurio would be the two players that you're looking for for production.
00:54:41
Win projection.
00:54:42
I don't want to throw out a number, to be honest, because they have always exceeded expectations.
00:54:46
So I think the Brewers, they wouldn't even tell you what the projections are, what the narrative is around this team.
00:54:53
You can look at last year, as the best example of that.
00:54:57
I think they were picked to win low 80s, and they obviously exceeded that, winning 93 games, winning the National League Central by 10 games.
00:55:07
And it was essentially a wire to wire finish for them in first place last season.
00:55:12
Again, very unexpected, considering that young core that they were relying on.
00:55:16
But I'm not going to throw out a number because this team continuously proves you wrong.
00:55:21
Yeah, like last year, proving me wrong.
00:55:23
I think I said before the season started that the one team in the National League Central that couldn't win the division was the Brewers.
00:55:29
I just couldn't see them doing it with the questions about the rotation.
00:55:32
And they're the ones who are popping champagne.
00:55:34
It feels like that's the near to every year buster.
00:55:37
And look, the Brewers are certainly aware of that.
00:55:39
They embrace it.
00:55:40
They're like, this is who we are.
00:55:42
They're not shying away from that identity.
00:55:44
And that's why I tell you very sincerely, they don't pay attention to what the projections are because as they've shown the last couple of seasons, it really doesn't matter at the end.
00:55:54
And they've they've had to overcome a lot with the players that they've been missing the last couple of seasons.
00:56:01
And they find other players to fill the holes.
00:56:03
Bleacher tweets already buster bleacher tweets for a Tuesday.
00:56:12
Well, let's beer off a little bit on the bleacher tweets for today.
00:56:15
I just want to address, you know, last Friday, Major League baseball released a letter or it was published.
00:56:21
I don't know if they actually released it, but you know, at some point MLB probably leaked a letter.
00:56:26
The Rob Manfred sent to the owners talking about, you know, negotiations in the TV contract with the SPN.
00:56:33
ESPN has opted out of the last three years of their contract for 26, 27 and 28.
00:56:40
And Rob Manfred in the letter to the owners is very critical of ESPN.
00:56:46
Here's my thought because I've had a bunch of people ask me, what does this mean going forward?
00:56:50
In first and foremost, we are going to be doing Sunday night baseball, the home run derby, wildcard round this year.
00:56:57
That's locked in.
00:56:58
So we'll continue to do that.
00:57:00
We'll continue to do the podcast like we're covering baseball here.
00:57:04
And the other thing too is I really hope that conversation continue to between the two sides.
00:57:10
This is the statement that ESPN put out is that they want to continue to negotiate.
00:57:15
Now, I don't know if that means I'm just a private in this army.
00:57:18
So I don't know if that means for Sunday night baseball or the home run derby or, you know, the wildcard coverage, but I'm sure that ESPN has something in mind.
00:57:28
And I really hope that the owners on Major League Baseball side listen to whatever is said.
00:57:35
Like this is a great partnership.
00:57:36
I think it's an important partnership between the two sides has served both sides well.
00:57:40
And, you know, me as someone being selfish here being affected by it.
00:57:44
I hope they continue to talk.
00:57:46
And it would seem like that at the very least they can do that.
00:57:50
And, you know, we have a long time for them in the month of March to have those conversations to explore ideas.
00:57:58
And tell that's that's, you know, that's my thought on this.
00:58:01
You know, I really, I just hope they continue to talk.
00:58:04
The idea that, you know, that, you know, that that would be the end and they're slamming doors.
00:58:08
I don't think ESPN feels that way.
00:58:09
And I certainly hope Major League Baseball doesn't feel it doesn't do that.
00:58:13
No, the partnership between Major League Baseball and ESPN is good for the sport of baseball.
00:58:18
And, you know, like you said, selfishly.
00:58:19
And for ESPN.
00:58:20
Yeah, it's good for everyone.
00:58:22
Like, I think they, I think they can come together and figure it out.
00:58:24
That's, I really hope so.
00:58:26
And, you know, I, we're forging ahead with the podcast, you know, it's business as usual over here.
00:58:30
Exactly.
00:58:31
All right.
00:58:31
That's it for today.
00:58:32
My thanks to Taylor, to Matt, to Hembo.
00:58:35
Thanks for listening.
00:58:36
Stay safe and remember, hating in quality based on skin color, something we need to fight against every single day.
00:58:40
This episode is brought to you by progressive insurance.
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You chose to hit play on this podcast today, smart choice.
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