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Baseball Tonight with Buster OlneyPreseason Rumble: Picking NL & AL MVP, Cy Young, Rookie Of the Year, Pennant Winners, Worst Record
Baseball Tonight with Buster OlneyPreseason Rumble: Picking NL & AL MVP, Cy Young, Rookie Of the Year, Pennant Winners, Worst Record
Preseason Rumble: Picking NL & AL MVP, Cy Young, Rookie Of the Year, Pennant Winners, Worst Record
Update: 2025-03-17
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Tim Kurkjian, Hembo, David Schoenfield and Buster preview the 2025 MLB season by drafting the winners of the AL MVP, NL MVP, AL Cy Young, NL Cy Young, AL Rookie of the Year, NL Rookie of the Year, AL Pennant, NL Pennant, and the team with the worst record. Then, Dan Shulman previews the Blue Jays, and Susan Slusser preview the Giants. Later, Sarah Langs plays The Numbers Game.
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9:10 Preseason Rumble w/ Tim, Dave, Hembo
50:25 Blue Jays preview w/ Dan Shulman
56:22 Giants preview w/ Susan Slusser
1:01:47 Sarah Langs
1:07:38 Bleacher Tweets
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00:00:29
[MUSIC]
00:00:34
>> Way out of here.
00:00:36
>> [LAUGH]
00:00:37
>> This is Baseball Tonight, The Podcast.
00:00:40
[MUSIC]
00:00:42
>> This is the Baseball Tonight Podcast for Monday, March 17, 2025, and today will be better than yesterday.
00:00:49
Because today is St.
00:00:50
Patrick's Day tale.
00:00:52
I'm Irish, I'm down in Florida, spring training, let's go.
00:00:56
>> Wow, I was actually just talking to my wife, about how I, like, St.
00:01:01
Patrick's Day is not a part of my life, or I just forget that it's happening.
00:01:05
It doesn't never been my backbuster.
00:01:08
I'm Euro, but I'm not a distinctly Irish or anything.
00:01:11
But I'm glad that you've got some patty power behind you.
00:01:13
>> Yeah, in fact, Liz Shanahan, there's my partner.
00:01:17
>> Here you go, Shanahan.
00:01:19
>> Well, that's a thing.
00:01:20
And she's always claimed to be more Irish than me, but then we got one of those DNA things.
00:01:27
And it turned out I'm actually much more Irish than she is.
00:01:29
>> So, it's your face, your day, not her day, don't ever forget it.
00:01:35
>> Right, exactly.
00:01:37
Man, what a fun time we had taping the segment that we're going to be playing here in a moment.
00:01:42
Paul Hembekeides, David Schoenfield, and Tim Kirchen.
00:01:46
Taylor, what a great idea by Paul Hembekeides.
00:01:50
>> Yeah, so we're doing a, Buster, you've dubbed it the preseason rumble.
00:01:54
So it is our form of a larger preseason preview.
00:01:59
We're going to have you guys pick the AL, NLMVPs, the Saiyungs, rookie of the years, pen and winners, worst record.
00:02:08
I think that's it, there might have been one or two more.
00:02:10
But we do a snake style draft and honestly, it's Tim Kirchen, like you've never heard him before.
00:02:15
He is in rare form and like legitimately had me cracking up.
00:02:20
He attacks me with the moments of this all starting.
00:02:24
So I think everyone is really going to enjoy this.
00:02:27
>> As we get started, some news and notes, the Tampa Bay rays announced after we taped our podcast the other day that the rays are not moving forward with their current stadium plans.
00:02:38
They will not proceed with the development of a $1.3 billion stadium in St.
00:02:42
Petersburg, principal owner Stuart Sternberg, set on Thursday.
00:02:46
He set in a statement after careful deliberation we've concluded we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and develop a development project at this moment series of events beginning October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.
00:03:01
So I guess now Taylor, the question is, is Stuart Sternberg at some point going to sell the race?
00:03:06
Because it feels like that now Rob Manfred continues to say they're committed the idea of having a team in the Tampa Bay area.
00:03:14
And so the question is whether or not since Sternberg is not going to go ahead with this, will somebody else pick up the ball?
00:03:19
>> Right.
00:03:20
Or I know, you know, Major League Baseball, famous for not bullying fellow owners into doing anything, but like this would be a good time.
00:03:28
I feel like to apply some pressure.
00:03:29
I mean, they don't ever act in their own collective self interest.
00:03:33
So like a new ballpark or you know, trying to make the team look good and splash a new ownership that would be, that might be too much for them.
00:03:40
Might be too much, Boston.
00:03:41
>> Well, Jeff Passen wrote last week that other owners are like nudging Sternberg, you know, putting pressure on them and of course it begs the question, why didn't that happen with the A's?
00:03:50
>> Yeah, of course.
00:03:51
That's why I just assumed we just, I just said all that, assuming that there's, that doesn't happen anymore.
00:03:56
>> Yeah.
00:03:57
I don't know.
00:03:58
But I mean, the one thing is it's pretty clear that baseball needs to have a resolution on this situation, on the A situation, on the A's in theory are going to be moving to Las Vegas.
00:04:07
We'll see what happens with the raise.
00:04:10
We know this.
00:04:11
Expansion is not going to happen until they settle these two franchises.
00:04:14
You know, people have talked about maybe the raise at some point moving up to Nashville.
00:04:19
And I just, just talked to too many people in the sport who know that, you know, majorly baseball like to keep Nashville open for one of the expansion sites.
00:04:26
So we'll, we'll just have to wait and see how that, what transpires because it just goes on every year.
00:04:33
We talk about the raise in their ballpark and no one puts a shovel in the ground.
00:04:37
Rafael Devers told the Red Sox that he'll do whatever they need.
00:04:40
So all the drama at the beginning of spring training when he said that he was not, he was a third baseman and he wouldn't move to D H that has changed.
00:04:49
He's moving ahead.
00:04:50
I was at the Red Sox game against the Braves on Saturday and saw Devers when he came up in his first play to parents.
00:04:56
Got a really good ovation, but he was among the Red Sox who got taken down by Chris sale.
00:05:02
The O2 from sales swinging to miss strike three.
00:05:05
So sales strikes out the side here in the sixth inning.
00:05:09
Yeah.
00:05:10
Chris sale was absolutely gone.
00:05:11
And by the way, did you see the tribute that he paid to Louie T on with his first pitch?
00:05:15
Really cool.
00:05:16
Chris sale, of course, it was a member of the Red Sox got to know Louie T on and when he was in the ballpark for the first time since the passing of Louie T on during the off season, his first pitch,
00:05:27
he did a Louie T on delivery where he did a big spin, facing center field and then he pointed out toward to Louie's number out in the outfield.
00:05:36
It was really sweet.
00:05:37
Lucky Bats, another former Red Sox player struggling with an illness, he could miss the opener.
00:05:43
I saw a video of him walking off from a workout.
00:05:45
He definitely looks pretty haggard.
00:05:47
Dave Roberts said that he's lost some weight from this illness that he's been dealing with.
00:05:52
Meanwhile, the Cubs and the Dodgers have been playing exhibitions.
00:05:55
Shohei Otoni did this in Tokyo the other day.
00:05:58
Shohei's back up.
00:06:00
Otoni drives field, Otoni with a Titanic swing in Tokyo.
00:06:08
The Dodgers are teeing off on Togo in the third, the second home run of the inning.
00:06:13
It now four nothing L.A.
00:06:15
We kind of knew that was going to happen, didn't we, Taylor?
00:06:18
I mean, Otoni was going to go back there and just put on a show because that's what Otoni does.
00:06:22
Oh, yeah.
00:06:23
And I'm sure we're going to see more of it this week, Buster.
00:06:25
We got real games this week.
00:06:26
Let's go.
00:06:27
I know when we're going to be asking Sarah Langs, a noted night owl, how she's going to handle these 6 am Eastern starts that they're going to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
00:06:40
Paul Schienz was named the Pirates Opening Day starter, Play Homes.
00:06:44
This was the biggest surprise among the starting pitchers that were named, I think, by the various teams.
00:06:49
Play Homes, who was a reliever for the Yankees and for the Pirates before that, has been named the Met's Opening Day starter in his first year with that team, Zach Eiffelon will be the Orioles Opening Day starter against the Blue Jays.
00:07:01
Taylor, how are you feeling about that?
00:07:03
He's the best guy on the staff right now.
00:07:04
It's the best guy.
00:07:05
He's the best guy.
00:07:06
I kind of love how they did it where they had his three children and his wife tell them on Zoom that he was getting the ball that day.
00:07:15
Carlos Rodón will pitch for the Yankees at Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers.
00:07:18
That, of course, goes in the aftermath of the injury to Garrett Cole.
00:07:22
Shortstop Gunner Henderson is aiming for an opening day return.
00:07:25
He's at an intercostal issue.
00:07:27
He's still thinking that maybe that can happen.
00:07:30
The Astros chose Frambert Beldez as their opening day starter.
00:07:34
The White Sucks release slugger, Joey Gallo, given that he had struggled this spring, and then Gallo announced he's going to move forward as a pitcher.
00:07:42
We'll see how that goes.
00:07:43
Yondi Diaz had his $12 million option picked up by the Tampa Bay Rage for 2006.
00:07:49
They also gave him a new club option for 2027.
00:07:54
Royce Lewis, you know a story, incredibly talented, but he has gotten hurt so much in his career.
00:08:00
Well, on Sunday, he was running to first base, and he pulled up Lane and Taylor, look, I'm not a doctor, but it looked like not a minor type hamstring issue or whatever was going on.
00:08:13
He just felt terrible for him, like a bad laying injury near the end of spring training.
00:08:18
Oh, he's so much fun to watch.
00:08:20
It's such a shame.
00:08:21
Thanks for twins fans, too.
00:08:22
I feel like they're always their guys are always a little bit injured up there in Minneapolis.
00:08:28
No question.
00:08:29
The Rangers John Gray is going to miss weeks after he had his right wrist fractured by a line drive in the Rangers exhibition game the other day.
00:08:37
The Miami Marlins will be without Jesus, Sanchez for four weeks.
00:08:41
He suffered a left foot bleak injury.
00:08:43
Taylor, what else you got?
00:08:45
Buster, we got a big, big guest on the show this week.
00:08:50
So the next podcast that you listen to are are a guest is going to be director Ron Howard.
00:08:57
Very exciting.
00:08:58
He's doing a new Apple TV plus documentary on the Yankees Dodgers World Series from 2024.
00:09:05
So we're going to ask him about it and I've got a good arrest development baseball question for him, Buster.
00:09:11
So I'm ready to throw a heater because one of my favorite shows.
00:09:15
So I'm delighted to have him on and he's a big Dodger fan.
00:09:17
So I love talking to people like this and because he's he lives in like this different world.
00:09:23
So like what does he think of the sports world that, you know, especially after a documentary and then like his lifelong fandom, you know, being a Dodger fan, you know, it's going to be good.
00:09:31
And you know that they're going to be stories that they dug out, you know, having access to these two teams during that world series, which would be awesome.
00:09:37
And I'm looking forward to asking about those.
00:09:40
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00:09:42
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If this were a Reese's TV ad, you'd be staring at a Reese's peanut butter cup.
00:10:46
And sure, my voice is peanut buttery smooth, but still, you need to see the peanut butter cups, right?
00:10:51
No?
00:10:52
I can really just say Reese's and you'll go get some.
00:10:55
Okay.
00:10:56
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Really working, actually, Reese's.
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Reese's.
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00:11:11
Tim Kurchin covers baseball for ESPN, Tim, how you doing?
00:11:16
I'm well fellas, not looking forward to this.
00:11:19
Yo, I'm very much looking forward to it and I bet David Schoenfield is too.
00:11:23
How you doing, Dave?
00:11:24
I'm looking forward to it, Buster, hours and hours of research to get ready.
00:11:28
Oh, of course we have Paul and McCaties who thought up this exercise.
00:11:34
Hembo, how are you doing?
00:11:35
I'm doing great.
00:11:36
Buster.
00:11:37
I've already had my idea satisfied to fruition considering Tim already hate.
00:11:40
I have a day yet.
00:11:42
I just hate because I know what's coming ahead from Buster.
00:11:46
He's going to yell at me and tell me that my opinions are wrong.
00:11:51
Right.
00:11:52
That reminds me of a story that Dale Scott, the umpire told me that at one point, Paul and Neil was in the box and he always had that situation where the hitter will fall off a ball and and O'Neill did this and then he looked back at Dale Scott and said,
00:12:08
was that a ball or a strike?
00:12:09
And he said it was it was a strike and O'Neill goes, what was it?
00:12:13
I mean, that's kind of how this whole process is going to go.
00:12:17
Right.
00:12:18
So this is like our version of a spring rumble, a steel cage match in which we're drafting picks for these categories, we can't repeat the same picks.
00:12:28
We're going to be selecting the MVP's in both leagues, the Sy Young's in both leagues, the rookies of the year in both leagues, and it winners in both leagues and the teams that will finish with the worst record in all of baseball.
00:12:44
That sound good, guys?
00:12:46
Let's do it.
00:12:47
Let's go.
00:12:48
Okay.
00:12:49
Taylor, now you have to sort of run this thing and allow the four of us to yell at each other.
00:12:54
So what's the arrangement of how the draft is going to go in the draft order?
00:12:58
The buster.
00:12:59
I just wanted to make sure that you stayed on task in particular.
00:13:02
You know, I want to make sure you've got a good team.
00:13:03
You've got good jokes for Tim and Dave and Hembo.
00:13:06
So this is how it's going to go down.
00:13:08
Like you said before, buster, everyone cannot pick the same guy.
00:13:12
So we're going to start.
00:13:13
The order here is going to be Dave, Tim, buster, Hembo.
00:13:18
And we're going to do the snake style.
00:13:19
So we're going to start with the NL MVP.
00:13:21
Once we get to Hembo, he's going to pick his NL MVP and his L MVP, and then it's going to go back to buster and we will move along the line there.
00:13:29
So NL MVP.
00:13:30
Where are we, Taylor?
00:13:31
Taylor.
00:13:32
Taylor.
00:13:33
I went to the universe.
00:13:34
Maryland.
00:13:35
And so did you.
00:13:36
On the oldest guy here, on the smallest guy here, and I have an artificial hip.
00:13:41
And you're letting Dave showfield start in front of me.
00:13:44
That is not right.
00:13:46
Let's see, I was going to say, Taylor, yes, on this show, we have one person named it both the baseball Hall of Fame,
00:13:57
honored to baseball Hall of Fame and the stratomatic Hall of Fame.
00:14:01
How is Tim Kertchen not getting the first pick?
00:14:04
And the Armenian, the Armenian sports Hall of Fame inducted in between Garo Yapremian and Aero Parsegian, how can I not be first with these four guys?
00:14:18
I look, I don't care.
00:14:19
I want Dave to go first and I'll do my best.
00:14:23
Taylor, can you, I think you should change this and let Tim go first.
00:14:26
What do you think?
00:14:27
I think so.
00:14:28
You bullied me into it.
00:14:29
Tim has the first pick.
00:14:30
I agree.
00:14:31
Number two.
00:14:32
And I'm not going to talk about my ulterior motive, which is to separate myself from Tim.
00:14:37
So he can't yell at me after he's one of his picks, okay?
00:14:41
That's really what it comes down to.
00:14:43
I think it's Dave's less likely to yell at me, we'll have to wait and see.
00:14:46
Go Terp, Tim.
00:14:47
Tim, where you got it for NLNVP.
00:14:51
So I'm going first.
00:14:52
Yes.
00:14:53
You're going right now.
00:14:54
You just lobbied for Tim.
00:14:55
Right now, Tim, it's your time.
00:14:57
All right.
00:14:58
I'm going to say it's going to be one sodo of the Metz.
00:15:02
I think the best hitter in baseball, I think he is at a great spring, OPS around 1500.
00:15:10
And last I looked and every time I watch him swing, I'm amazed and everyone on the Metz, just like everyone on the Yankees last year said the same thing.
00:15:19
That's what a major league of bat looks like.
00:15:22
He never gives up in a bat, never gives up a pitch.
00:15:25
He's my choice.
00:15:26
So just to be clear here, Tim.
00:15:29
The guy considered to be the greatest baseball player ever is on the board and you bypassed him.
00:15:34
I did.
00:15:35
Tim, I believe we should not pick the MVP before the season starts.
00:15:41
We should watch how the season plays out.
00:15:44
He, of course, I'm talking to MVP every year, just by showing up.
00:15:48
Yeah.
00:15:49
You didn't pick him.
00:15:50
I didn't because I'm trying to let I'm trying to be different and I'm trying to get this off to a rousing start where Buster screams at me after one pitch.
00:15:59
Of course, he did a success, Dave.
00:16:02
You're up.
00:16:03
All right.
00:16:04
I picked my pick.
00:16:05
Tim, his intro there, listing all his hall of fame, reminds me of a story I once heard.
00:16:10
There was some kind of a charity fundraiser and there's a lot of media people there and everybody goes up and introduces themselves.
00:16:17
I'm so and so.
00:16:18
I'm a writer for ESPN.
00:16:20
I'm so and so I write for NBC.
00:16:23
The Neil Armstrong gets up there.
00:16:24
He goes, I'm Neil Armstrong.
00:16:26
I walked on the moon.
00:16:28
Mike.
00:16:29
Right.
00:16:30
Right.
00:16:31
My pick, obviously, the easy call here at Shohei O'Connor.
00:16:36
He's not going to go 50, 50 again, but he might go 50 homeruns and 10 wins pitching as he returns at some point this season.
00:16:45
So that's an easy pick.
00:16:46
It was an easy pick.
00:16:47
I thought Tim would go with that and I was hoping that both of you would do what you did do and that is to bypass Ellie Dela Cruz who is the third pick here.
00:16:56
I think he is going to have an absolutely monster season.
00:16:59
He looks great.
00:17:01
I think he's going to be inspired in Terry Frank Konas first year as the Reds manager to go next level as a player.
00:17:09
I got Ellie Dela Cruz.
00:17:10
What about you, Henbo?
00:17:11
I'm going to take Corbin Carroll with the fourth pick.
00:17:14
I think he's a superstar in the making a slow start to last season as we well know, but something of a war darling because you can do everything on a baseball field.
00:17:22
I think that team is going to be awfully good.
00:17:24
And so I'll take Corbin Carroll with the fourth pick in our National League MVP draft.
00:17:28
Nice.
00:17:29
I want to support you on something.
00:17:31
I saw it seriously.
00:17:32
I saw Tito Frank phone of the spring and they had been in camp like a week.
00:17:37
And Ellie Dela Cruz had come in four times to sit in Tito's office and just talk about the game.
00:17:45
I thought that was a really encouraging sign that a young player knows a Hall of Fame manager has shown up and he wants to talk to him virtually every day.
00:17:54
I thought that was really cool.
00:17:57
Taylor, who was the, I can't remember that we got a bleacher tweet last week, where someone was asking the question about a particular player.
00:18:03
Will that player get to 100 steals and lead the league and you and I were both shaking our heads going, no, Ellie Dela Cruz is going to be that guy to me.
00:18:13
From each of you, I'm curious, how many bases do you think Ellie Dela Cruz will steal this year?
00:18:19
I'll put the over under at 79 and a half.
00:18:23
I'd say something approximating one every other game.
00:18:27
It's going to come down to how often he gets on base.
00:18:29
Last year, his on base percentage was 339 at that numbers at 360 or 370, I think they'll push past 80, but ultimately obviously comes down to how frequently he's on base and more specifically how frequently he's on first.
00:18:40
Dave?
00:18:41
Yeah, I'll go 70, same reasons that, you know, can he cut down the strikeouts and get on base more plus some of those singles might turn in the home runs this year.
00:18:50
That's your stolen base opportunities.
00:18:52
All right.
00:18:53
I'm going right in the middle.
00:18:55
I'll say 75.
00:18:56
That speed is ridiculous and every time I see him run more, it's more breathtaking every time I see him play to be that tall and run like that.
00:19:06
I've got 85 and just to remind everybody in the first year that Aaron Judge and so I call a stand where teammates, I think it predicted the two of them at 110 homers together.
00:19:15
They only felt like 60 short of that, I think in the years we've seen.
00:19:20
Tempo, I picked 95 from those two guys that year and Buster embarrassed me, humiliated me on the air for saying 95 and I think I was a little closer than he was.
00:19:33
You were a lack closer.
00:19:34
Yeah, that year stayed in hit only 38, he was going off his 59 homer season, but Buster, leave it to Buster to always overreact this time of year.
00:19:41
That's part of the fun.
00:19:43
Let's start our AL MVP selections, Hembo, you are up first.
00:19:46
I'll take the aforementioned Aaron Judge, I don't want to overthink it.
00:19:49
I think in the last three years he's had the two best hitting seasons since bonds.
00:19:53
He's not going to have quite as many RBI opportunities without one solo, but I still think he's going to mash.
00:19:58
I'm going to take him first when the American we get VP.
00:20:00
All right.
00:20:01
If we had done this before Bobby with Junior was hit by a pitch, I would have picked him, but you just never know how long it's going to be before he's back to 100% and back to being the player was last year.
00:20:12
He's obviously going to be in the MVP conversation this year, but I'm going to go with Julio Rodriguez and probably break Dave's heart.
00:20:21
He looks great in spring training.
00:20:24
He's working with Edgar Martinez, his hitting coach, his swing looks much better.
00:20:29
I think he's going to get off to a good start and look, I do think it's an advantage.
00:20:34
If you're the guy on a thinner roster, like people look at you as that we did with Bobby with Junior last year as being so important to that particular team.
00:20:45
So I got Julio Rodriguez.
00:20:46
What do you got Dave?
00:20:47
You guys keep giving me these lay ups.
00:20:50
I mean, first he give me Otani and now he give me Bobby with.
00:20:53
Of course, I'm going to take Bobby with 9.4 war last year, hit 332, he's young, he's improving.
00:21:01
It's amazing what he might do.
00:21:04
He just cuts down on that chase rate a little bit, gets a little more disciplined at the plate.
00:21:09
That 32 home runs might turn into 42, you know, the 30 steals might turn into 40 steals.
00:21:16
Old glove caliber shortstop and to your point, Buster, the man on that team, he carries that line up.
00:21:22
I know, I'm going with Gunner Henderson as the fourth choice here.
00:21:29
We all know the track record already.
00:21:31
The talent level is ridiculous.
00:21:34
And last year I was at the cage in Baltimore and Louis Gonzales broadcaster for the Diamond Backs met, I was standing right there, met Gunner Henderson for the first time and he walks away.
00:21:45
Gunner walks away and Louis looks at me and says, I can't believe how big that guy is.
00:21:50
He's got the biggest hands I've ever seen on a shortstop.
00:21:54
So you take that size, those really strong hands and an absolutely unquenchable desire to play and be great.
00:22:02
He's my choice.
00:22:03
Jim, I got to follow up.
00:22:06
You know, once Soto got this monster contract, $765 million.
00:22:11
We got Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
00:22:12
becoming a free age in the fall.
00:22:14
I think Gunner Henderson is the next player who's most likely to enter one Soto neighborhood when it comes to a contract.
00:22:22
Maybe he won't get $765, but I think when he becomes a free agent, there's a chance he's going to be in that $750 million range because of the athleticism,
00:22:32
because of what you saw last year.
00:22:35
What do you think?
00:22:36
Right.
00:22:37
And he's a shortstop.
00:22:38
I'll do respect to Soto, the lab Guerrero, anyone else.
00:22:41
When you can do what he can do, and you're playing a premium defensive position as well as he does, that raises the ante.
00:22:49
And he's represented by Scott Boris.
00:22:50
Taylor.
00:22:51
All right, Tim, you used that big brain years where we're going to wrap around and you're going to do NL side young next.
00:22:59
I'm going to go with Paul Schienz, boy, what a surprise.
00:23:03
You could make a case when he came up.
00:23:05
From the time he came up last year to the end of the year, he was the best pitcher in baseball.
00:23:10
And now he's added a cutter.
00:23:13
I was at the game this spring when he pitched against the Orioles in Sarasota.
00:23:19
And it was ridiculous that a guy who's that good could add another pitch.
00:23:24
He's a wildly competitive guy.
00:23:27
And his focus is ridiculous.
00:23:29
And I think he's going to win the Saiyong in an athlete his second year.
00:23:34
And I'm not going to yell at you, Tim, because we had that pitching ninja Rob Friedman on the podcast last week.
00:23:41
And what did he tell us, Taylor, about the best pitcher in the plan at the moment?
00:23:45
Paul Schienz.
00:23:46
Paul Schienz.
00:23:47
He agrees with you, Tim.
00:23:49
Dave?
00:23:50
Well, I want Buster to yell at me.
00:23:53
So I'm going to skip the number one pitcher on his list from a couple of weeks ago.
00:23:57
And I'm going to go with two time winner Blake Snell.
00:24:01
We saw what he did in the second half last year, 1.23 ERA over his final 14 starts.
00:24:11
If he can just get locked in in the first half, he's notoriously a second half pitcher.
00:24:16
He's talking a lot of big words this spring, how he wants to be the war course.
00:24:20
I think he's going to be dialed in from day one and become just the 12th pitcher to win his third Saiyong.
00:24:27
You're right.
00:24:28
I'm going to yell at you because you stole my pick.
00:24:30
Yeah.
00:24:31
I'm really bummed with that.
00:24:32
Like, look, I'm going to go with Zach Wheeler, number three.
00:24:34
We had him as the number one starting pitcher in all the baseball.
00:24:37
As we talked about with the pitching ninja, Zach Wheeler's, like, the guy, if you're looking for consistency, he probably is the guy.
00:24:45
But I agree with you.
00:24:46
I think Blake Snell is going to have a big year.
00:24:48
Hembo?
00:24:49
I'm going to say Christopher Sanchez, a little bit.
00:24:51
Oh, Megan.
00:24:52
I'm not kidding.
00:24:53
That would have been my next one.
00:24:54
Really?
00:24:55
Okay.
00:24:56
So I'm buying the hype.
00:24:57
The Velows up, the arsenal is getting wider.
00:25:00
I think this is a player who's on an upward trajectory still on the way that the Phillies have been able to use technology to modify his pitch shapes and him improve his conditioning and all the things that have been able to stuff to get so good.
00:25:11
I'm buying it.
00:25:12
To me, by the end of the season, he's going to clearly, and obviously be the Phillies number two starter.
00:25:16
I think you'll be a Saiyong finalist this season.
00:25:18
I'm buying every piece of Christopher Sanchez stock that I possibly can.
00:25:22
Kim, you want to yell at Hembo?
00:25:24
No.
00:25:25
I only want to yell at you.
00:25:27
Dave, did a free shot here at Hembo?
00:25:31
No.
00:25:32
I think that's a good pick.
00:25:33
I had him on my short list.
00:25:35
You know, I'll throw out my other sleeper along those lines.
00:25:38
Spencer Shrellenbach of the Braves, who, great rookie year, thrills 96, has six pitches.
00:25:45
He's, if you're looking for a sleeper, Saiyong guy, he's, and L is loaded.
00:25:49
You guys agree there's so many more NL, Saiyong candidates that you can, you know, make up a plan for then in the L.
00:25:57
Yeah.
00:25:58
Shrellenbach with a heartbeat of 50 as well when he's out there pitching.
00:26:02
All right, Taylor.
00:26:03
Hembo, you're up for AL Saiyong.
00:26:07
I can't pick against Eric Scooble.
00:26:09
The season he had last year was remarkable, and I think it's still the very beginning of his peak.
00:26:13
I really do.
00:26:15
He left the league in war and ERA and strikeouts and ERA plus and FIP and practically everything else.
00:26:22
He's so durable, the stuff so strong and that's such a favorable pitcher's ballpark, but even though I think there's some other really qualified candidates in the American league, I just can't pick against him with the first overall bit.
00:26:32
Yeah.
00:26:33
I agree with that, with that for sure.
00:26:35
I got Garrett crochet, who this year will have no limits on how many innings he's going to throw.
00:26:41
I checked on this with a red sucks checked with his representation.
00:26:44
They're not going to be the whole thing of you got to get an extension in order to have him pitch into the post season, and he is a beast him.
00:26:52
I've got Garrett crochet at number two.
00:26:54
What do you got?
00:26:55
Is it my turn?
00:26:57
Yes.
00:26:58
Okay.
00:26:59
I'm going to wait.
00:27:00
No, I'm sorry.
00:27:01
It's his turn.
00:27:02
Okay.
00:27:03
I'm going to win, you know, but I have two names I'm considering here.
00:27:09
I'm going to go with Hunter Brown of the Astros late May last year.
00:27:13
He added a sinker because that was where crushing his foreseemer and over his last 19 starts 10 and 4, 2.2 OERA, young pitcher who really just took that leap forward,
00:27:27
give him 32 quality starts at that level is a cyan candidate.
00:27:31
Yeah.
00:27:32
They're a lot of good ones in the American league too.
00:27:34
I would have taken George Kirby here except we have a bit of an injury issue going into the season.
00:27:40
So I'm going to go with Max Fried instead.
00:27:43
I think he's going to be really good for the Yankees.
00:27:46
And I love that an anagram of his name is Dream Fix.
00:27:52
And I think he's going to be the Dream Fix for the Yankees, especially now that Garrett Cole is going to be out for the year.
00:28:00
So I've always thought that Max Fried was a little bit underrated over the years with the number of games he was one winning percentage.
00:28:08
I know we don't care about that anymore.
00:28:10
That guy's really good.
00:28:11
I think he'll be even better with the Yankees.
00:28:14
So where was Jacob DeGram on your list?
00:28:16
I thought he might be in your top four someplace.
00:28:19
Jacob DeGram was number three on my list, plus they're the only question there is volume.
00:28:23
And I think if he gets to 150, 160 ending, so he'll probably be a say young finalist.
00:28:28
But I couldn't justify taking him one, which is where I picked because of all the obvious question marks with his durability.
00:28:33
All right.
00:28:34
Here's where it gets interesting these next two categories.
00:28:37
We're going to go NL Rookie of the Year to Tim.
00:28:40
All right, I'm going to go with Dylan Cruz of the Nationals, because he's going to get a chance to play.
00:28:47
The best way to win the Rookie of the Year is to have a place to play every day.
00:28:54
And given that he came up last year, had some time in the big leagues, he's a really good looking player, played shortstop along the way, meaning he's a tremendous athlete.
00:29:05
And the Nats need him.
00:29:07
And they've got some help around him, so I'm going with Dylan Cruz.
00:29:11
Looks like another one fell into my lap.
00:29:13
I'm going Rookie Sasaki and you guys have all seen the highlights of that splitter this spring.
00:29:20
That pitch is completely unhittable.
00:29:23
The only issue is how many Indians is he going to pitch.
00:29:26
He had a little shoulder issue last year in Japan, but he could be so good.
00:29:30
He might only need 110, 120 innings to win this award.
00:29:34
Yeah, I was fun talking with Rob Freeman about that pitch, and he thinks it might be the best pitch right now.
00:29:41
Tim, I'm going to throw a curveball at you.
00:29:44
Greatest pitch in the history of baseball, whether it's someone's curveball, someone's changeup, someone's fastball, what would you anoint as the greatest pitch in baseball history?
00:29:54
Well, I think it's known Ryan's fastball because he threw it harder than anyone for 25 straight years, and it's the greatest power picture of all time.
00:30:03
However, Paul Richards, a million years before you guys, and almost a million years before me, told me once the greatest pitch by anyone ever was Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckleball.
00:30:15
Long before the knuckleball became like invoked with Phil Niekrow and others.
00:30:19
He told me when Hoyt Wilhelm threw his best knuckleball, it's a cliche now.
00:30:24
The catcher couldn't catch it.
00:30:26
The hitter couldn't hit it, and the umpire couldn't call it.
00:30:28
That's all good.
00:30:29
Yeah.
00:30:30
Wrong again, Tim.
00:30:31
He was definitely Mariana Rivera's cutter, okay?
00:30:33
I mean, come on again, like you're down playing Rivera's impact, you know, this is a habit with you.
00:30:41
You know, the greatest relief picture of all time.
00:30:45
Busters greatest Yankees of all time in order are Babe Room, Mariana Rivera, Lou Gary, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra,
00:30:55
sorry, he's the greatest closer ever, he's not the second greatest Yankee ever given the position he plays.
00:31:03
I think I've been misquoted on that alignment, but you're not not far off, okay?
00:31:08
Nationally rookie, the year I'm going to go with Matt Shaw, who's made the trip over to Japan with the Cubs, someone of great promise within that organization.
00:31:18
If they had signed Alex Bregman, Matt Shaw would not have gotten a chance this year.
00:31:21
He's going to get a chance to play in 2025, and I think he's going to thrive.
00:31:26
Embo, I'm going to take the best pitching prospect in baseball.
00:31:30
It's not Rocky Sasaki.
00:31:31
The best pitching prospect in baseball is Andrew Painter of the Phillies.
00:31:34
I'm telling you guys right now, I've been a Phillies fan for 25 years.
00:31:38
I have never been more confident in any prospect we have ever had than I am an Andrew Painter.
00:31:44
It's legit 60 command with four plus pitches with a 6/7 frame.
00:31:49
The Tommy John is now out of the way.
00:31:51
There's a meaningful chance that that gets going to be starting high level games in the postseason.
00:31:55
And this time next year, he is going to be considered one of the dozen or so best pitchers in the sport.
00:32:00
That's how much I believe in Andrew Painter.
00:32:02
And apparently Dave Nbrowski agrees with you because last July, the White Suck said, "Look, you can have Garrett Crochet if you put Andrew Painter in the deal."
00:32:11
And Nbrowski said, "No, he hung on to him."
00:32:14
Embo, why don't you lead us off with AL rookie of the year?
00:32:17
I'm going to take Jacob Wilson of the A's.
00:32:20
I think there's a path to him being their every day shortstop.
00:32:23
The hit tool is so advanced.
00:32:25
He's spent through the minor leagues.
00:32:26
It's a legit 70-grade hit tool.
00:32:29
And I think his opportunity to win this award is going to come on the back of just a lot of playing time.
00:32:33
You give him 500 played appearances.
00:32:35
I think he scratches his way to 150 hits, fakes to that shortstop on defense to league average level.
00:32:41
I think this can really hit, but this is primarily a pick based upon the opportunity available to him.
00:32:47
And I'm taking Jackson Job and the Detroit Tigers, Power Arm, and I love the quote he had the other day.
00:32:52
You know, forget all this dotting the corner thing, I'm just going to blow hitters away with my stuff.
00:32:57
I sent that day, Jay Hinch, and he laughed in his text in a laugh emoji and said, "Yeah, that's kind of where his confidence is, Dave."
00:33:05
You know, I would have gone with Job.
00:33:08
I'm going to go another player from our beloved Sacramento athletics, Nick Kurtz.
00:33:13
This would be a fast track to the majors, just drafted last year out awake for us, but you know, big first basement, big raw power, but I like him.
00:33:23
Great play discipline this spring.
00:33:26
You never want to read too much into spring stats, but seven walks, only four strikeouts.
00:33:31
Will he get a chance right on open day?
00:33:33
I'm not sure, but I think he'll be up quickly and be an impact hitter.
00:33:36
Well, you guys took all of my choices, but Jason Dominguez still has a lot of ability.
00:33:43
He's got a lot of power, and he's got opportunity now, especially with the injuries in their outfield/dh situation.
00:33:51
We all know he's not a very good defender in either corner or in the outfield period, but I think he can hit, and given a chance he's going to get, he's my fourth choice for rookie of the year.
00:34:02
All right.
00:34:03
I want to follow up by asking you guys about Chandler Simpson, who is such, I think it should be in this conversation a little bit because he's such an unusual player.
00:34:12
It looks like he's going to hit, and he stole what 105 bases last year in the minor leagues or 104.
00:34:18
Do you guys think that he manifests this year, Tim?
00:34:22
I don't think it happens this year.
00:34:24
I mean, I've heard all about the talent, and again, with speed and athleticism being now focused on, finally, by Major League Baseball, that puts him ahead of a lot of others,
00:34:36
but I don't think it's going to happen this year, but anyone who can run like that is somebody to keep an eye on.
00:34:44
Dave?
00:34:45
Yeah.
00:34:46
I'm skeptical.
00:34:47
The complete lack of power bothers me.
00:34:49
There's just not many players like that who succeed.
00:34:52
If any, in today's game outside of LaRise, who's kind of his own thing, you know, the DeGordans, the Billy Hamilton's, those guys aren't in the majors anymore because they just get the bat knocked out of their hands.
00:35:03
That would be my concern about Chandler, even though I know he's got the speed to beat out infield singles, he's going to steal a lot of bases if he gets on.
00:35:12
He's got a chance, race, have a week outfield, but I'm just a little skeptical.
00:35:16
I know you were nodding your head as Dave mentioned, the lack of power.
00:35:20
Yeah, it's a hilarious profile.
00:35:21
And we're going to see some really funny outfield alignments when he winds up hitting the big leagues.
00:35:26
I'm buying the talent because the speed's legit 80 on the 20 to 80 scale, and because the strikeout to walk rate is even across the minor leagues, his hand-eye coordination is so good, but I think he's able to fake it to like a 330 or 340 on base percentage,
00:35:40
and obviously all he needs to do is get on first.
00:35:41
So I'm going to say in his prime, he's a three or four more player, and he could be half of that as early as this season should the opportunity present itself.
00:35:47
And by the way, speaking of Billy Hamilton, he told me once that his senior year in high school, he averaged 27 points a game on the basketball teams, scored 31 touchdowns as a wide receiver.
00:36:00
And he said by far, baseball is the hardest game that I've ever tried to play, and it's not even close.
00:36:07
He used to tell his body, just take over athletically in basketball and football, and suddenly he was good.
00:36:15
He said, when you tell your body to just take over against Jacob DeGrom, it doesn't do you any good.
00:36:20
That's the beauty of baseball, how difficult it is to play.
00:36:24
I have a follow-up there because it's not obvious to me based on how old you are, which Billy Hamilton you're talking about.
00:36:31
Oh, that's really funny.
00:36:32
Alright, your head now, fighting Billy Hamilton played in 1811, how old do you think I am?
00:36:41
I'm 68.
00:36:42
I'm not 98.
00:36:43
I'm done with you, Ambo.
00:36:44
That's it.
00:36:45
Here I am.
00:36:46
Wow.
00:36:47
It's not just Buffer.
00:36:48
Now what's you do?
00:36:49
Oh, man, Dave, you get, yeah, that's a high bar for you if you want to go at Tim in this podcast.
00:36:55
All I want to say, you know, I hope Simpson makes it.
00:36:59
We need more players like that in the game.
00:37:02
We need more of these, you know, it's Coleman takes, you know, exciting players that change the game whenever they're on first base.
00:37:09
I hope he makes it.
00:37:10
Yeah, Tim knows since he's in the stratomatic hall of fame, man, Ron the floor, back in the day, he changed things dramatically.
00:37:17
Alright.
00:37:18
Let's be the Ron the floor movie, by the way.
00:37:22
Under daylight or whatever is called the barberton played, Ron the floor.
00:37:27
That would be like me playing Aaron judge in a movie.
00:37:31
It's absolutely.
00:37:32
Ron the floor was like six, one, two hundred and five pounds, good run like the wind.
00:37:37
And a guy, my size is playing him in the Ron the floor story, sorry.
00:37:42
We need to fill our listeners in on the story.
00:37:45
He was in prison.
00:37:46
That's where the Detroit Tigers discovered him playing prison baseball.
00:37:50
The Tigers went in and played an exhibition game against the prisoners two years later.
00:37:55
Took them two years.
00:37:57
It was all to make the majors in 1976 to 80 or so.
00:38:01
He was an all-star outfielder.
00:38:03
You're really right now feels like he's hurting cats.
00:38:06
We've gone off into Tim Carton who doesn't see movies, he's become a movie critic on this podcast.
00:38:13
Tim's being here today has been very erratic, so I'm wondering where he's going to land with the NL pennant winner here.
00:38:20
All right.
00:38:21
I'm first with that.
00:38:22
Are you sure?
00:38:23
Tim.
00:38:24
All right.
00:38:25
I'm going to go with the Dodgers.
00:38:27
I saw them twice this spring.
00:38:29
It's just absurd how much talent they have.
00:38:32
Their lineup is the best in baseball, but more than anything, the depth they have everywhere.
00:38:39
Starting rotation, even in the bullpen to some degree, but just the different movable parts that they have, Tommy Edmond could be their best centerfielder.
00:38:48
He could be their best shortstop.
00:38:49
He could be their best second baseman.
00:38:51
They got people to go in and out with all the moves that they made.
00:38:55
I'm not saying they're going to win 110 games, but they're the best team that I saw this spring.
00:39:01
I think they're going to win the national league pennant.
00:39:04
Yeah.
00:39:05
We would have definitely had you like medical people come and check on you if you didn't pick the Dodgers with that pick.
00:39:11
All right, Dave.
00:39:13
I'm going to feel Hembo's pick here and go with the Phillies.
00:39:17
I know I'm going to go old school.
00:39:19
I still believe starting pitching is the way to win world series.
00:39:23
And if you're going to beat the Dodgers, you can have a shut down that lineup and the Phillies can do that with Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Sy Young winner, Christopher Sanchez, Sy Young runner-up,
00:39:34
Andrew Painter.
00:39:35
Hembo, I wonder if Painter will end up in the bullpen by the postseason, because they lost Jeff Hoffman or Jordan Romano, I don't know,
00:39:45
Bryce Harper, big game player.
00:39:48
So I'm going Phillies.
00:39:49
Yeah.
00:39:50
And remember, we talked about the Phillies being the best team in baseball for about three quarters of 2024 before they faded down the stretch.
00:39:58
I think the obvious pick at three would be the Braves.
00:40:00
There would probably be Metz fans who would disagree with that, but I just wonder about the Metz rotation.
00:40:06
And on the other hand, Braves are getting back Spencer Strider this year, they're getting Ronald Cooney Jr.
00:40:11
back.
00:40:12
They can't possibly have the same sort of injury locked that they had last year.
00:40:16
Could they Hembo?
00:40:17
Hard to see.
00:40:18
It's definitely hard to see the Braves having the same kind of injury locked.
00:40:20
They'll definitely, they're an obvious bounce back team, but I'm not going to pick them.
00:40:23
I'm going to take Arizona, who I think has a better chance to win the pennant than they do.
00:40:27
This team led the major leagues and runs last year and added Corbin Burns in the offseason.
00:40:31
This is a team whose offseason is, I think, being slept on.
00:40:34
I have some questions with the bullpen, but they're going to hit the piss out of the ball.
00:40:39
They're going to be able to stop you too, because the starting rotation is good, especially with Zach Galan in a walk here.
00:40:44
I like Arizona as a sneaky team to win the national league pennant for the second time in three years.
00:40:48
You know, I must say that phrase that you just don't hit the piss out of the ball.
00:40:51
It definitely means you played at a collegiate level to come up with a phrase like that.
00:40:56
That's what they would say in the dugout.
00:40:58
That's something that I could never do, but I'm more than capable of saying as it turns out.
00:41:03
All right.
00:41:04
I think the A.L.
00:41:05
pennant winner from Hembo, who I'm interested, I feel like this one dodgers obvious, but where are you going, Hembo?
00:41:11
I think it's obvious too.
00:41:12
I think the Texas Rangers are the best team in the American league.
00:41:14
This team is absolutely loaded.
00:41:16
They're going to score 800 runs or close to it.
00:41:18
I think Wyatt Lankford is going to have an enormous season.
00:41:21
I think a healthy Cory Seager, if we get 140 games out of him, is an MVP finalist.
00:41:26
I'm in love with their middle infield, of course.
00:41:27
The pitching rotation is, I think, fairly well-established, along as it's healthy.
00:41:31
If you get 150 innings out of the Grammys, a silent, finalist type, I believe in the talent of Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.
00:41:37
The bullpen's good enough.
00:41:38
The division's winnable.
00:41:39
I love the manager.
00:41:41
This is the best team in the American league.
00:41:42
Give me the Texas Rangers.
00:41:43
Yeah.
00:41:44
That's, I think, absolutely reasonable in a wide open American league.
00:41:48
I got the Boston Red Sox, who did so much to help themselves in the winter time, trading for Garrett Crochet, trading for Walker Bueller.
00:41:56
How many times do you see a team get a number one and number two in one off season for the rotation?
00:42:02
And then Alex Breggman for one year, because I would assume if he has a good year, he's going to opt out of his deal.
00:42:07
What an addition.
00:42:08
So I got the Red Sox.
00:42:09
Dave.
00:42:10
Yeah.
00:42:11
He stole my pick, Buster.
00:42:12
It might be a year early for the Red Sox.
00:42:15
With all those young guys, we don't know if they're going to make a huge impact, just yet.
00:42:20
Taylor, I would have gone with the Orioles, but this Grayson Rodriguez injury is very concerning.
00:42:26
I think people are sleeping a little bit on Baltimore.
00:42:30
I think they have the best offense in the AL, not the Rangers, but I'm going to go peer home or here, Buster.
00:42:36
I'm going to go with my Seattle.
00:42:37
Oh my gosh.
00:42:38
Oh my gosh.
00:42:39
I'm going to show the World Series where they're going to completely tank and lose 95 games, but hey, we'll go starting pitching all in.
00:42:47
The Mariners finally make the World Series.
00:42:50
Wow.
00:42:51
Wow.
00:42:52
You guys took all my picks and there are a lot of good teams in the American League.
00:42:56
There are no great teams in the American League.
00:42:59
I'm with Hembo.
00:43:00
I think the Rangers, they're the best teams that I saw this spring out of the American League, but I have to pick someone.
00:43:06
So I'm going to take the Orioles just because I think they all recognized the last two post seasons.
00:43:12
Just didn't work.
00:43:13
They have to do better than this.
00:43:16
The Grayson Rodriguez injury is really bad.
00:43:19
We don't know how badly he's hurt, but he's got the best stuff in their rotation.
00:43:23
They need at least 150 innings from him, and I'm not sure they're going to get that with the way he's starting out.
00:43:30
I just think that with a new owner, David Rubenstein, who has a lot of money is going to recognize the entire American League is wide open.
00:43:39
And when it comes time at the trade deadline, he's going to have to do something major.
00:43:44
And I think he will.
00:43:46
And that's why I'm picking the Orioles to repeat.
00:43:49
You guys took all my picks in front of the Orioles.
00:43:51
Tim, I'm really a couple of things that are interesting.
00:43:54
None of us picked the Yankees, the defending champions, which is a surprise to me.
00:44:00
Tim, I would just want to follow up on that.
00:44:02
You mentioned the Orioles making a deal, and you said David Rubenstein, I agree with you.
00:44:07
I think the next step for the Orioles to take is they evolve is the owner getting more involved and basically insisting on changes.
00:44:17
The best example that we've seen of this, I think in the last decade, the most informative example would be Jim Crane with the Astros 2017, talking with the Tigers about Justin Verland or Jeff Luno as a GM at the time,
00:44:30
didn't like the price, said, I'm not going to do that deal.
00:44:34
And Jim Crane steps in and said, no, you know, do what it takes to get that deal.
00:44:39
You know, last winter, when the Yankees were bidding on Juan Soto, I think the baseball front office, you know, Brian Cashman, I think they were like, that's okay.
00:44:47
We don't need to spend $51 million a year on a player.
00:44:50
And it was Hal Steinbrunner who stepped in and did that deal as he did with Aaron Judge.
00:44:55
I think it's important for owners to do that after they get the recommendation from the general managers.
00:45:01
It doesn't mean override them constantly, but I think in moments, it's important for them to step in and say, go for it.
00:45:08
Yeah.
00:45:09
And David Rubenstein's a little different than your average owner.
00:45:12
He's a Baltimore guy.
00:45:13
He loves the Orioles.
00:45:14
He loves baseball.
00:45:15
I've had a couple of long chats with him about the game and the stories he would tell me about bootpowel and Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson.
00:45:23
Sorry.
00:45:24
That stuff impresses me that he knows who came before this team and he knows how important winning is to Baltimore for the Orioles to win.
00:45:34
All right, gang.
00:45:35
We're going to close it out here with the worst record, Tim, you are up.
00:45:40
Well, I'm going to take the White Sox.
00:45:44
I don't know if you can, well, you could take a couple others.
00:45:47
I'm taking the White Sox because they were historically bad last year, but just to tell you the beauty of baseball.
00:45:53
I went to Arizona and one of the first people I saw there was a scout and he said, I've seen the White Sox young kids.
00:46:00
They're all great.
00:46:01
They're going to be great.
00:46:02
Well, maybe they are, but they're not going to be great this year.
00:46:06
This is a massive rebuild and it'll be fascinating to see who they trade out of this.
00:46:13
Luis Robert, who's next after, who knows, but I think it's pretty easy when you lose 120 plus games, you have to go with the White Sox.
00:46:22
And Tim, I think there's still in a cell mode to some degree, yes, where if Luis Robert has an excellent first half, they're going to flip him for value.
00:46:31
If they, and they should, it's a complete rebuild.
00:46:35
The only way to do this is the way that the Astros did it and the Cubs did it.
00:46:40
They just gave it all in and then built the entire team from the bottom.
00:46:44
That's what the White Sox have to do.
00:46:46
Dave?
00:46:47
Yeah, that's a good pick.
00:46:48
In fact, I'm going to tease a piece I wrote that I'll go up next week.
00:46:52
I built a roster of all the bad teams to compare them to the Dodgers.
00:46:57
How many bad teams does it take to beat the Dodgers and the answer is basically six.
00:47:03
But here's how bad the White Sox are.
00:47:05
There's only one White Sox player on this team, and that's Luis Robert Jr.
00:47:10
who wasn't even good last year.
00:47:12
So, yeah, they're up and coming.
00:47:15
They got a highly rated farm system, but there's still a long ways to go there.
00:47:19
I'm going to go with the Miami Marlins.
00:47:21
I look at that.
00:47:23
Man.
00:47:24
Man.
00:47:25
Man, that's like the most non-discript, anonymous group I think I've ever seen, even compared to last year's White Sox.
00:47:33
At least they had some players we know they're going to lose 100 plus easily.
00:47:38
Yeah.
00:47:39
And during the course of the year, you would assume for the same reason why the White Sox put Tray Luis Roberts.
00:47:44
They're going to trade Sandy Alcantara, and that would be appropriate, yes?
00:47:48
Yeah.
00:47:49
I mean, look, they traded a rise early last year.
00:47:52
Once Alcantara makes a couple of good starts, you don't think the Yankees are already asking about them.
00:47:57
So, yeah, I think he gets traded.
00:47:59
It got the Colorado Rockies with my pick because it's been a long time since they've been relevant.
00:48:05
There's no end in sight on that, especially playing in the National League West.
00:48:09
It's gotten to the point where I feel sorry for the Rockies.
00:48:11
That is not a good place to be in Rockies fans.
00:48:14
What about you, Hembo?
00:48:15
I'll take the angels.
00:48:16
You guys took the three worst teams in baseball.
00:48:18
I think that's pretty clear.
00:48:19
The only way the angels can rescue their season is if they get 150 mic trout games, something we've not seen since 2016.
00:48:26
And so, I'll say that this team has an outside chance to be the very worst one in baseball, but obviously that would coincide with something awful, that coincide with yet another big mic trout injury.
00:48:36
I heard a big story about Mike Trout that moving to right field is going to keep him healthier.
00:48:44
This is what one of the angels guys told me.
00:48:46
Not because there's so much less running in right field than there is instead of field, he's got something else to really focus on, and that's playing a new position.
00:48:58
And right field is a different position than center field.
00:49:01
So his hope was, Trout is going to have a great year because he's playing a new position, and he's going to spend all his time focusing on that, rather than maybe going out there saying,
00:49:12
I don't plan center field, how could I do this without getting hurt?
00:49:16
Maybe that increased focus is going to help him.
00:49:18
Does that make any sense to you guys?
00:49:20
That's the way it was presented to me in spring training.
00:49:24
Yeah, and he committed to his workout program in the off season.
00:49:27
Perry Manassi and said it's the best he's seen Trout look physically.
00:49:31
He's dropped some weight.
00:49:33
We saw that work for Giancarlo Stan for a couple of years.
00:49:35
When you get those really big guys, they need to streamline as they get into their 30s.
00:49:40
And Dave, it would be such a shame if Mike Trout doesn't at least return close to what he was before.
00:49:47
Because then I was thinking about this, I guess his historical comp would be like Ken Griffey Jr., who was so dominant for the better part of a decade and just kind of faded off into obscurity.
00:49:58
And I hate that for Trout.
00:49:59
Yeah, it's really the exact right comparison, Griffey just couldn't stay healthy in his 30s.
00:50:05
Look, Mike Trout can still hit the slugging percentages there, the isolated power.
00:50:09
The batting average might be a little lower than it was.
00:50:12
But if he plays 140, 150 games, he's going to hit 40 plus home runs.
00:50:17
So he's still, if healthy, one of the best outfillers in the game, let's just hope we finally get a healthy Mike Trout.
00:50:25
Himbo.
00:50:26
Sorry.
00:50:27
You have a buddy of mine tell me the other day that Trout is not a Hall of Famer.
00:50:31
Yes, he's no longer a buddy of mine after that.
00:50:37
Oh, my God, he not only is unanimous election, he's a top 10 all-time player, Tim, yes?
00:50:43
I slapped my forehead when he told me that.
00:50:47
He said, well, he's always heard.
00:50:48
I said, well, did you look at the first 10 years, he wasn't always heard for all of those years.
00:50:55
My goodness, all this stuff we're trying to teach people and they don't think Mike Trout is a Hall of Famer.
00:51:00
Sorry.
00:51:01
Unbelievable.
00:51:02
Well, I think that the most productive thing that happened during this exercise tailors that Tim and Hembo are now feuding, I think that's an exciting development.
00:51:10
And so I'm not alone in this.
00:51:12
Well, I don't really know this, but I haven't liked Tim for years because of Hembo and he's not doing this.
00:51:20
Hembo used to send me these ridiculous trivia quizzes like out of the blue and it would take me forever to get it right if I did get it right and if I got it wrong,
00:51:33
I was ready to kill myself.
00:51:35
So thankfully, Hembo has moved to such a height now, he doesn't annoy me and ambush me with these horrible trivia questions which were so good,
00:51:46
but they were so difficult.
00:51:48
I just couldn't concentrate on anything the rest of the day until I tried to get it right.
00:51:54
Tim, you don't need to pretend you're humble over here.
00:51:56
You are better at that than anybody is at anything.
00:52:00
I could not believe the level of the degree of difficulty of question that I could ask you to which you would inevitably get it right no matter how long it took was astonishing.
00:52:10
The only reason I stopped is because I ran out of questions that might stump you.
00:52:14
Right.
00:52:15
Well, thank you Hembo, but believe me, I didn't hit the piss out of all those questions.
00:52:19
That's a promise.
00:52:20
Well, either way, Billy Hamilton retired in 1901 as you remember.
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00:52:55
It's the Smuckers Uncrustables podcast with your host Uncrustables.
00:53:02
Okay, today's guest is rougher on the edges.
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And we are out of time.
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00:54:01
Toronto Blue Jays.
00:54:02
The Blue Jays have one more season with Black AmeriCorps, Jr.
00:54:06
and Boba Shatt.
00:54:07
Before those two players will be eligible for free agency.
00:54:10
So for this year, they added slugger Anthony Santander and pitcher Max Scherzer.
00:54:16
And show them as the play by playboy son, Toronto Blue Jays television and Dan, I was thinking about this and getting ready to talk to you.
00:54:23
I think that there's more on the line for the Blue Jays in 2025 than any major league team.
00:54:31
What do you think?
00:54:32
I agree with you 100% and it all starts spuster with the fact that both Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
00:54:37
and Boba Shatt are free agents at the end of the year.
00:54:40
Mark Shapiro, the president, as far as we know, his contract is up at the end of the year.
00:54:44
John Schneider, the manager, there's an option for him, but his, you know, the existing contract is up at the end of the year.
00:54:51
Ross Hattens, the GM, we believe, has one more year.
00:54:54
But in addition to Guerrero and of a Shatt, they're Scherzer and Shatt Green and others.
00:55:00
And this is a team that had a bad year last year, 74 and 88.
00:55:04
This was supposed to be a big contending window for them, the Vladibo window.
00:55:09
And so with both of those guys up at the end of the year, I agree with you.
00:55:13
If you and I speak in late July, this will be going one way or the other, but I don't think there's any middle ground for this team.
00:55:20
What needs to go right?
00:55:22
Boba Shatt has to get back to being Boba Shatt had a rough year last year.
00:55:25
A lot of it because of injuries, but a bounce back year for Bichette would be huge.
00:55:30
I think the health of the starting rotation, Gosman, Bassett, Bereos, Scherzer, who, as you know, has been fantastic so far in the spring and Bowdoin, Francis.
00:55:40
If that's a healthy starting rotation, that's a good starting rotation.
00:55:44
And then I think Buster, there are three or four guys in the lineup.
00:55:47
This could be a good offensive team.
00:55:49
It could be a below average offensive team.
00:55:51
It's got to be better than it was last year for that to happen.
00:55:54
In addition to Bichette having his normal year, there are some others who have to be the best version of themselves or close to that.
00:56:01
Alejandro Kirk was really good the last couple of months last year.
00:56:05
And he was an all-star in 2022.
00:56:08
And he's had a really good spring.
00:56:09
He's got a hit.
00:56:10
Dalton Varsho, can he hit 240?
00:56:13
If he hits 240, he's an incredibly valuable player.
00:56:16
He's had a really good spring.
00:56:18
Is there a bounce back of Swords and George Springer?
00:56:21
Can he get back to being, you know, an average to above average offensive player?
00:56:26
And then I think they need one or two breakthroughs from some younger players.
00:56:30
Maybe it's Alan Rodin, who's kind of shot onto the radar over the last year, whether he breaks camp with the team.
00:56:36
I don't know.
00:56:37
But they need some guys to hit and to not to exceed expectations just to be the best version of themselves.
00:56:44
What can go wrong?
00:56:46
Well, I'd go to Bichette again because of the year last year and because of what the first four and a half years of his career looked like.
00:56:53
He had an OPS under 600 last year and a healthy, normal Boba Schetz, an 800, 830, 850 kind of OPS guy.
00:57:03
So that's a huge one to me.
00:57:08
One other guy who I didn't mention is Andres Jimenez, who came over in the trade from Cleveland obviously.
00:57:14
Maybe the best infield defender there is in baseball, but another guy who really struggled to hit last year.
00:57:19
I don't think anybody's expecting the year that he had in 2022 when he put it all together and had an incredible year.
00:57:26
But again, if he can be a league average hitter with the base running in the defense, that's a terrific player.
00:57:33
I'd put him on the list.
00:57:34
And just for fun, let's throw shares are in there because again, he's been fantastic in the spring.
00:57:39
I called one of his starts and watched the other two.
00:57:43
Buster, he looks great.
00:57:44
I mean, he's hit 94.5 with his fastball.
00:57:46
His command has been unbelievable.
00:57:48
As you and I speak, three starts, 14 strikeouts, no walks.
00:57:52
You don't want to get carried away with the spring.
00:57:54
You and I have both been around long enough to know that.
00:57:57
But I talked to him last week when I was down in Dunedin and he was like, don't let me get healthy.
00:58:02
They better watch out.
00:58:03
You get healthy.
00:58:04
He still feels very confident that if he's healthy, his stuff is good enough to get hitters out.
00:58:10
And if he can give them 25 to 28 healthy starts, nobody's looking for a Si Young or 200 innings.
00:58:15
But if he can give them 25 to 28 healthy effective starts, that would be big.
00:58:20
Wind projection.
00:58:21
It's pretty wide for me to be honest with you.
00:58:23
I thought about the division wind range.
00:58:27
And I could see a universe where all five teams in the American league east win between like 82 and 90 games.
00:58:34
I really could.
00:58:35
They're all good, I believe.
00:58:36
I know, I know the outside narrative on the blue jazze is they didn't sign the guys they wanted and they didn't sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
00:58:45
I get that those are the two biggest stories.
00:58:48
But they added Jeff Hoffman, we haven't even mentioned Anthony Santander's name yet, right?
00:58:51
Hit 44 home runs and they desperately need power.
00:58:55
He should be a guy to provide it with him.
00:58:57
Nes and Scherzer and Santander and Hoffman, objectively, whatever you think of this team, objectively, they're better than last year.
00:59:07
And also assuming that the chef's going to bounce back to you.
00:59:09
They're better than last year.
00:59:11
I would say a realistic wind range would be how wide could it be?
00:59:16
You pick it, it's your choice.
00:59:19
If my choice, 77 to 87, somewhere in there, I could see them making the playoffs.
00:59:27
But if they have a couple of key injuries or guys on to achieve, again, July 31st, they're trading a lot of guys, like a lot of guys.
00:59:36
So many key players have been the last year or the next to last year.
00:59:39
If they are not in the race in late July, I might have 10 or 12 new guys to learn for the last two months this season.
00:59:56
San Francisco Giants change in the Giants organization came with Buster Posey took over baseball operations last fall.
01:00:04
And San Francisco son Willie Adams to be the team's everyday shortstop.
01:00:08
Susan slusser covers the San Francisco Giants, but the San Francisco Chronicle and Susan, the Giants underwent a major change in the last season, Buster Posey takes over ahead of baseball operations.
01:00:20
Tell me what you're seeing in his transition.
01:00:23
Well, I think it's just going to be the story of the season.
01:00:27
Anything he does is going to be interesting.
01:00:30
So far, they only made two major moves.
01:00:32
I'm not sure we have a real grasp, except for kind of what they didn't do.
01:00:37
They didn't even reach out the blanks now after he opted out.
01:00:42
And they made a run at Corbin Burns, but they weren't going to go huge.
01:00:48
So I think they're being a little careful with the budget, particularly when it comes to starting pitching.
01:00:52
We can glean that, but they want to go pitching in defense.
01:00:57
So they add Willie Adama's great ad.
01:00:59
Buster keeps talking about grit.
01:01:00
He wants gritty players.
01:01:02
I kind of like that.
01:01:03
That's not quantifiable.
01:01:04
We hear all the analytics and the metrics.
01:01:08
Buster just says grit.
01:01:09
I want gritty guys.
01:01:11
Willie Adama sets that Justin Verlander, obviously one of the all-time greats.
01:01:16
But at 42, he's still got such a passion for the game.
01:01:22
He's talking about trying to play until he gets 300 wins.
01:01:25
He said he wants to play until he's 45, maybe longer.
01:01:30
And he's talked about maybe winning his 300th in a Giants uniform.
01:01:33
So he's all in.
01:01:35
You know they love hearing that.
01:01:37
That said, any moves you make in the NO West, you still might finish fourth, which is what they found last year when they went all in on a bunch of free agents, including Snow, and finished fourth.
01:01:48
So it's a tough slog in the NO West.
01:01:52
It's going to be interesting to see how Buster Posey who is used to winning, wants to win.
01:01:57
I mean, even his last year as an active player was 107 win season.
01:02:01
There might be some correlation between him deciding to retire and the Giants haven't stiffed a playoff sense.
01:02:07
So he gets a chance now to take him back.
01:02:10
You and I have covered a lot of general managers through the years.
01:02:14
And I've sort of this spring of defined this for myself.
01:02:16
I think the best general managers have a good dollop of humility.
01:02:21
And I think of when you talk to Chris Anson-Eddie, I think Alex and Thopolis has this.
01:02:26
And I think Buster has it.
01:02:28
What do you think?
01:02:29
Yeah.
01:02:30
I think he knows what he doesn't know.
01:02:32
And he surrounded himself with people he trusts.
01:02:36
And people who have done the work before Bobby Evans, of course, the former Giants GM.
01:02:42
He's back as an advisor.
01:02:44
Jeff Berry, who was Buster's agent, which is very interesting.
01:02:49
And a lot of other advisor, you know, Dusty Baker is going to really behind the scenes, I think, have Buster's here.
01:02:56
And he listens to Bob Nolfen, the manager, which is not, as you know, in modern baseball, not always necessarily the case.
01:03:02
I think he wants to really respect the people who have been in the game for a long time and take their information into account.
01:03:12
He's filling the ranks with former Giants from those winning championship years.
01:03:17
And prioritizing, I think, people who have worked for the organization and kind of get it.
01:03:23
What needs to go right?
01:03:24
So, our offense somehow has to scrape together runs.
01:03:28
They don't have a ton of power, but they do have, when more Flores looks as healthy as he's looked finally in a couple years, Lamont Wade says his legs are stronger.
01:03:37
He's hoping to avoid leg injuries.
01:03:39
And they have Junghu Lee back, fully healthy.
01:03:41
He looks good.
01:03:42
That could be huge.
01:03:43
Melvin's been using him in the third spot, which is interesting, Lamont Wade leading off.
01:03:47
I think traditionally, you might think that those get flipped, but I kind of like it because Lamont Wade is an on-base machine.
01:03:54
And the contact skills for Junghu Lee, he's also a good defensive player.
01:03:58
You could argue up the middle that with Patrick Bailey, Willie Adamis, and Junghu Lee, the Giants are pretty good defensively, maybe right up there with some of the other really top-notch defensive teams.
01:04:09
And that left side with Adamis and Matt Chapman, those Giants pitchers are pitching to contact this spring.
01:04:17
They're really emphasizing throwing strikes.
01:04:19
So that's what you're going to get.
01:04:21
The Giants are hoping it's a lot of very low scoring games because they think they can win those.
01:04:26
Pivotal player.
01:04:27
Pivotal player, Matt Chapman, I mean, that's just easy.
01:04:32
He signs the biggest contract in extension that the Giants have given, and he's a platinum Glover, and he's going to be their cleanup man.
01:04:42
I mean, he is the team leader kind of by far.
01:04:47
He is vocal, energetic, and I think that suffuses the team.
01:04:52
I think the Giants go where Matt Chapman goes.
01:04:55
Win projection.
01:04:56
Oh, gosh, Buster.
01:04:59
I would say reasonable is 87.
01:05:01
I don't know if that gets them a sniff in the N.O.
01:05:04
West, even at a playoffs, but.
01:05:09
0, 0, 9, 6.
01:05:18
This is The Numbers Game with Sarah Langs.
01:05:21
Sarah Langs, reporter producer from MLB.com.
01:05:24
Sarah, how are you doing?
01:05:25
I'm doing okay.
01:05:29
Although, I must say, when I saw the replay of Royce Lewis getting hurt running the first base, Man, it just broke my heart.
01:05:38
Like he's such a good guy, and he's a really great player when he plays, but he's cheesy.
01:05:44
He's just missed so many games.
01:05:46
I know, Amy Afos, so, so bad friends, I just said, hey, man, there's so much.
01:05:53
And so do we, guys, I'm on the other side of the equals, which always in the bottom is my friend, I was having you watch my eyes all around,
01:06:06
and his eyes, as long as that is who he is, that's the kind of guy that I was.
01:06:14
Any injury, I think, especially when you know how good my guy is, listening to him and that's really, really hard to watch.
01:06:25
It really is.
01:06:26
You know, given the talent that's there, right, let's play the numbers game.
01:06:33
Number three.
01:06:34
Number three is 27.
01:06:36
So let's be voices, and I've been playing the problem, the victory of him, my inbox, and I call the scrambles,
01:06:47
there's only 70 games, and when do I watch them, they serve together, when it was so sad to see him, we know how election he doesn't know the person,
01:07:00
and the Bentley, and when they play together, there's no way to remember him, and how he lives, and everything he doesn't know what happens,
01:07:12
and he doesn't know his hands.
01:07:16
Number two.
01:07:17
Number two is 22.
01:07:18
All it seems is 22 years old, so I'm opening them, and I want to be the part of the least 1900 years of many lessons,
01:07:32
and I want to be different, and I want to be important, and I want to be family, and I want to be the part of this,
01:07:43
and I want to be the son, Many words they have, and they say, "Sorry, I'm weird."
01:07:54
So, you know, many words appear to them.
01:07:58
And the common ones, you know, and some say, "Pers."
01:08:04
Number one.
01:08:06
Number one is 23.
01:08:08
Number one is women.
01:08:10
And, brand, really, you remember, for your personal number, we all be a white boy, and we're all gay, so sorry.
01:08:19
May as I'm a baby, man.
01:08:21
We'll be 23 years, and 100 or 36 years old.
01:08:26
We'll be making the 30 of us nervous.
01:08:30
Happy New Year's, one time.
01:08:33
And maybe the innovators.
01:08:35
I'm an innovator, and I'm a person.
01:08:39
The only guy that's out of land.
01:08:41
We're massing, and we're coming.
01:08:44
And then, first, as role players, in 1966, a boy who was 20 years old.
01:08:50
And, of course, that was the brand.
01:08:52
The most special, such wisdom.
01:08:55
And then, in 1999, one more opus was 23.
01:09:00
And 100 was 23 days old.
01:09:02
The world is so tiny.
01:09:08
And there's human minds.
01:09:11
And there's a much younger answer we usually say.
01:09:15
Yeah, you're not kidding.
01:09:16
You know, it'll be interesting to see how much the Dodgers pitching during the course of regular season.
01:09:21
You know, given the fact that he is so young, and he's adapting to the major leagues.
01:09:25
But we know he's going to get the ball in Japan.
01:09:28
I was going to ask you about that about getting up early, because you know, that's in my sweet spot.
01:09:33
They played every game every game every day at 5 a.m., I would be just happy as a clam.
01:09:38
You and the other men are a night owl.
01:09:40
What's your plan for dealing with these two early starts this week?
01:09:45
Obviously, we had the money, it's in Korea.
01:09:50
And so, I didn't have to be up by, you know, by 55 or 6 a.m., I had to be up by about 3.
01:09:58
You know, it'd be funny, you can't wait for the burger.
01:10:02
So, there's nothing around there to fuck.
01:10:05
And I don't work for bucks.
01:10:07
And I get a bit worse than once.
01:10:09
You know, I tried to get them right on my face with me and get ready.
01:10:15
And the typical part of the novel doesn't make you know, is they going a bit early on the other end.
01:10:22
What they never ever do.
01:10:24
Even when it's a research or a DSP, when they had me you, when you had the money, it's for them.
01:10:32
I was so thinking of another way.
01:10:35
When they're doing everything we have to be in the world.
01:10:40
So, I'm going to try and do it better at 10 and we've got 5 and 3 and 11.
01:10:46
Yeah, that's going to be an adjustment for you.
01:10:48
No question.
01:10:49
The way I remember you dealing with that back when you had to get up and do this morning sports centers was sleeping in the stands at regly fuel at 6.45 a.m., yes?
01:10:59
Exactly, exactly.
01:11:02
All right, Sarah, good to talk to you.
01:11:04
Thanks for doing this.
01:11:05
Awesome.
01:11:06
Thank you.
01:11:07
Yeah.
01:11:10
Bleacher tweets already buster bleach your tweets for a Monday Corey Rooker.
01:11:16
What do you he wants to know?
01:11:17
What do you think the rate?
01:11:18
What's going to happen next with the raise is majorly baseball going to force them to sell the team?
01:11:22
Are they going to build something new there?
01:11:24
What if you what's your gut tell you right this second?
01:11:27
That they're going to be sold to somebody else who can make a deal with the city of St.
01:11:32
Petersburg.
01:11:33
I saw quotes from one of the officials in St.
01:11:35
Petersburg and basically said we're not dealing with this group anymore.
01:11:39
It just feels like those negotiations have had so many twists and turns that the current ownership group.
01:11:45
It's just it's just not going to work out there.
01:11:47
So I think that who has been a tremendous owner, they've had a great franchise.
01:11:53
During his time as owner, I think he's going to move on.
01:11:56
But again, I'll say what I said at the top of the show, it's amazing to me that if in fact they're getting some pressure to sell the team.
01:12:04
Why were they not doing that with John Fisher?
01:12:06
I don't get it.
01:12:07
I don't understand.
01:12:09
Maybe John Fisher is just like a completely unreasonable guy and you know, it was just pointless.
01:12:15
No, no, I don't I don't buy that.
01:12:17
I think the most of the time the issue in baseball is that the owners don't step out.
01:12:23
I don't think there's this natural group of leaders among the owners group that are basically saying, okay, this is what's going to happen.
01:12:30
Look, Buds Hill against a lot of criticism for a lot of different things during from his time as commissioner.
01:12:36
But the one thing that he was really effective as an owner and then as he transitioned into commissioner, he could build consensus among the owners.
01:12:45
And it feels like that doesn't happen as much now.
01:12:48
Like it feels that, you know, a lot of this is is led by Rob Manfred and he kind of points him in the direction.
01:12:55
But as I've described it before, it's like a Confederacy with 30 different owners seemingly doing what's best for their individual teams.
01:13:02
And there's not there's not nearly as much consensus is, you know, there should be.
01:13:08
All right, let's go to Johnny G.
01:13:10
He writes an interesting, we didn't really debrief on this.
01:13:12
Interesting to hear the story about Jim Rice, look at what the Giants are doing.
01:13:15
They invited about 20 previous players and has been received by everyone as a great thing.
01:13:19
Giants know how to celebrate their history.
01:13:21
The Orioles did something similar with Adam Jones recently.
01:13:23
This, you know, this happens.
01:13:24
Players fall in and out of favor.
01:13:25
But to hear Eduardo talking about what the Marlins did, whose dad I thought was really, really interesting because this sort of stuff happens all the time.
01:13:33
So for him to have, you know, an upfront look at it was was fascinating stuff.
01:13:38
Yeah, I remember the details that writing at it, I might have the numbers off slightly, but I think his dad made Andre Dawson made they each made like $75,000 a year.
01:13:48
And basically the Marlins called and initially said they were going to be let go and then they offered him a job for like $25,000 a year.
01:13:56
Like, it was just embarrassing the way that it was, you know, this was as Derek Jeter's group came in and he's and it's just like what what are we doing?
01:14:05
Like, I don't understand like there's a way to do things just as I was mentioning the other day.
01:14:11
Whatever Jim Rice said to this player that, you know, caused this coach to tell Jim Rice that hey, that's not why how we teach it in the organization.
01:14:19
There's a better way to handle these things.
01:14:21
Right, like it's just a little common sense, Commissioner common sense, Buster only.
01:14:26
Let's get the campaign.
01:14:28
Tom Mule last one here, Tom Mule from Bowie Maryland.
01:14:33
What's up, Tom?
01:14:33
I'm from Croft in the next town over and he wrote a long email defending new Orioles owner Rubenstein.
01:14:40
Mike Elias didn't get swept up in the starting picture frenzy.
01:14:43
They have money flexibility to go after see Scowler Valdez next year.
01:14:48
Felizon Rubenstein didn't sign one of those three next year.
01:14:51
The complaints will be warranted.
01:14:53
You know, he's he's pushing back Buster and Tom, I still disagree.
01:14:58
I mean, this is the time to do it.
01:15:00
This is the time to spend some money and try and solidify this team for a championship run.
01:15:04
So I can't get on board, Tom.
01:15:06
Right.
01:15:07
The prices aren't going down.
01:15:09
Another year is going to happen in which the Orioles have a chance to win with Adley and Gunnar Henderson in the organization.
01:15:16
You know, and if we get to the trade deadline and the problem for the Orioles is they don't have starting pitching.
01:15:21
Well, they could have signed as a major free agent or two during the course of the off season.
01:15:26
And yeah, I mean, this is this is what you did last year.
01:15:31
They did this last year.
01:15:33
God dammit.
01:15:34
Right.
01:15:35
Right.
01:15:35
I know.
01:15:36
Well, the timing's not right.
01:15:37
The timing's not right.
01:15:38
When is the timing right?
01:15:39
Right.
01:15:40
And then they have to overpay in the middle of the season.
01:15:44
No, I don't understand.
01:15:46
To me, it would make more sense to sign and the name I keep fixating on a Shamanaya.
01:15:51
Like that's the guy.
01:15:53
He's not Corbin Burns for the $200 million.
01:15:56
It's not Max Breeds for the $200 million, but it's a really good picture for more reasonable prices in the, you know, in line with what the Orioles are doing and they didn't get it done.
01:16:08
All right, last one, Josh Newham's share.
01:16:10
He writes with a potential hole at third base for the Yankees.
01:16:12
Do any of these players seem like possible trade options that would worth be worth looking into.
01:16:16
Ryan McMahon and Brendan Donovan and Willie Castro.
01:16:20
Jaime Candelario, Josh Smith on the Rangers, Connor Norby or Ramon Urias.
01:16:28
So I think that they're definitely players that would make sense for the Yankees.
01:16:33
But a couple of things.
01:16:34
I think they've tapped out.
01:16:36
And what the budget is that they were going to spend during the course of wintertime.
01:16:40
Frank has been always saved some money for the trade deadline.
01:16:43
And I think that's what's going on here.
01:16:45
Their feeling is is that the upgrades that are out there.
01:16:48
Considering what they have in their organization, they feel like, you know what?
01:16:52
Let's just go with what we have.
01:16:54
And then as the season goes on, if we need to spend, then we'll have that available cast later in the year.
01:16:59
I actually don't think it's a bad move.
01:17:01
I, you know, I think they've done a good job pivoting after Soto left.
01:17:06
And I get it, you know, their Yankee fans are upset that they didn't sign Soto.
01:17:10
I think they would have been very top heavy if they had.
01:17:14
I think it actually, in some ways, I'm sure that there probably people in that organization feeling a little bit fortuitous.
01:17:20
That they didn't, you know, they're not the team paying $50 million a year to one player.
01:17:25
The American leg east this year is going to be so crazy.
01:17:28
Yeah.
01:17:29
You know, and I thought Dan Schoeman described it right.
01:17:31
There might be a case where he had five teams with between 83 and 90 wins.
01:17:36
It would hurt me personally, but it will be a lot of fun to watch if it is, you know, just kind of like the Goat rodeo division of the year.
01:17:42
Yeah, but it is, it's going to be absolute fun.
01:17:45
Right.
01:17:47
That's it for today.
01:17:50
My thanks today to Dan Schoeman to Susan Slusser and our great panel that we had, Tim Kirchen, Paul Indikides, David Schoeman field.
01:17:57
And of course, Taylor, oh, thanks always to Taylor Schwank, who did such a great job overseeing this podcast into several things.
01:18:04
I forgot Sarah, but yeah, you will be up early on Tuesday morning, watching the dog moving the cups her favorite day of the year.
01:18:11
I think other than her birthday.
01:18:13
Thanks for listening.
01:18:15
Stay safe and remember hitting an equality based on take color or something we need to fight against every single day.
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