WEBVTT - Leading Off: April 16th, 2025 (Ep. 977) 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.320 Out here, there's no one way of doing things, no 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.120 one written rules, and no shortage of adventure, because out 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:11.280 here the only requirement is having fun. Bank of America 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.840 invites kids six to eighteen to golf with Us for 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.600 a limited time. Sign them up for free one year membership, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.120 giving them access to discount to tee times at thousands 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.080 of courses. Learn more at Bankofamerica dot com slash golf 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:24.080 with Us. What would you like the power to do? 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.280 Bank of America Restriction supply CBA dot com slash golf 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.040 with Us for complete details covered right twenty twenty five. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:30.000 Bank of America Corporation. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.120 What's up, Friendos and welcome in too, Fantasy pros MLB 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.440 right here for leading off, I am Chris Welsh. That 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.240 is the Joe Rico and we are back for another 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:50.080 Big Baseball Day. Happy, Happy Spencer Strider Day. If you 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.440 celebrate as you should. Our boy, Spencer Strider is back 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.400 in the early onset. Actually probably right a couple minutes 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.040 after we get off here from leading off, where you're 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.959 going to see Spencer Stryder's debut again Joe Rico's Toronto 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.399 Blue Jays. We got a lot to cover disappointing performances, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.399 a lot of injury news out there, and one of 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:10.560 the weirdest home runs I think I have seen in 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:11.320 quite some time. 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:13.160 Joe Rico, how. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.480 Excited or not excited are you for Spencer's Strider to 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.640 slice and dice? Because they did get to the other 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.640 Spencer yesterday? Will they get to two Spencer's. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.320 I can only hope so for my Blue Jay's sake. 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:25.440 You know, if this was an evening game, if it 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.760 was like a seven Eastern game, I might have gone 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:29.920 to this one, because Lord knows that Blue Jays aren't 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:31.360 selling anything out. I might have been able to get 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.640 some last minute tickets. But a little bit of Mattine, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.360 We're gonna do a lot of shows together today. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.600 Well, so have that one in the background. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.240 And you know, I was thinking about betting his over strikeouts, 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.240 but I didn't want to be going too crazy on 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:42.840 the first day. 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.680 I want to see how he balances out. But it 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:45.559 should be a lot of fun. 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.080 Yeah, Well, it didn't work out for the other Spencer yesterday, 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.680 and debuts are a little bit tough. But we are 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.880 here live on the Fantasy Pros Twitch, Twitch dot Tv, 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.720 Slash Fantasy Pros if you guys watch back on the YouTube. 0:01:57.720 --> 0:01:59.400 You can come over and check us out live every 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.080 twelve pm Eastern Monday through Friday and shout out to 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:04.600 all the people that are hanging with us here. 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.160 We are getting in on that follow count. We got 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:08.040 Taco with a. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:12.400 Subscription using their Prime account that gets us so closer 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.240 to the one hundred marker for subs this month with 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:17.720 is just you know, the second nice fun goal. We 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:19.639 love hanging with you guys live. Plus we'll be answering 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.560 your questions during the show, so you're welcome in the 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.960 chat to be dropping questions and we will be taking 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:25.760 that here and there. 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.720 Let's talk about the hottest. 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.280 Player in all of baseball, and funny enough, this player 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.520 we've been trying to ship somewhere else so we can 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.079 get the hottest minor leaguer in baseball to be Coming up, 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.520 we have got to talk about Tyler Sodastrom, the former 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.840 kind of still ish catcher. Tyler Sodastrom again with a 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:52.320 pair of homers six runs on tuesday A's beat up 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.000 on the White Sox twelve to three. 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:55.160 A very very. 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.040 Important thing happened in this though I don't want to 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.880 take away from Sodastrom. But as I have been saying 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.160 kind of at nauseum and maybe even kind of annoyingly, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.200 is for us to get Nick Kurtz, we need someone 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.919 to go somewhere else. We did see a report yesterday 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.320 about potentially Tyler Soderstrm going and playing some third, which 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.880 I think would be great, good arm, former catcher, But 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.919 the real unlocking of this has been Brent Rooker playing 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.400 in the outfield. Well, guess what, Brent Rooker in left 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.280 field again. That's two outfield appearances since I believe Saturday 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:24.880 or Sunday. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:25.440 That's huge. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:27.640 Nick Kurtz is on the way, but it will not 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.280 be at the expense of Tyler Sodostrum. Let's talk about 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.320 the viability because there is nobody hotter. There's kind of 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:36.640 a maybe you'll want to feel like you're going to 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.040 sell off of Sodastrum. But he leads baseball in Homer's 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:42.520 right now. We can talk about his hitting metrics as well, 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.840 But what you take on Tyler Soderstrom right now and 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.640 what he is for you rest of season. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:49.920 It feels pretty legit. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.080 I mean, I know we did some videos talking about 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.600 him as a good late first base power option in 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:55.240 the offseason. 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.000 I didn't think it would be this extreme. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.000 But if you look at the power numbers from last 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.840 year sixty one game, he did hit nine homers. He 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:04.640 had a fifteen percent barrel rate, fifty percent hard hit, 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.840 and he's carried that over. I don't think he's going 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.040 to continue at a nineteen percent barrel necessarily, but Tyler 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.200 Soderstrom looks well on his way to a thirty home 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:12.840 run season. 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:13.080 Here. 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.240 You know, there's people who are talking about like redoing 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.320 first base rankings. Is he a top ten guy? Is 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.919 he a top seven or eight guys? He's definitely a 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.279 top ten first baseman for me at this point, especially 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:24.240 considering that ballpark. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.360 The lineup is actually really good. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.520 Like a Butler, Rookers, Soderstrom, Langaliers, Bladey, you add Kurtz 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.240 in there, It's a pretty decent lineup all things considered. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.440 I think Soderstrom is going to end up as one 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:36.920 of the better deals of draft season. 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:39.120 I don't think that's even a question at this point. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.320 I like, what did who just put? 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:41.400 That? 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.040 Was Alwonkee the Big Kurtz or no? No, this is 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:45.640 well the Big Kurts instead of. 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:47.560 The Big Hurt. I like that for Nick Kurtz. 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.760 Looking at Soderstrom, by the way, you mentioned his barrel 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.680 rate around twenty percent this year. He's also getting the 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.480 ball in the air a ton more. And you talk 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.960 about being able to take advantage of that minor league ballpark. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.760 He had a nine and a half degree line. It's 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:01.560 thirteen and. 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:02.560 A half this year. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.920 That's huge launch aangle. He's getting that sweet spot right 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:08.320 now forty three percent. That's it's shorts ample sized, but 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.080 it's elite. Hard hit rates are through the freakin roof 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.640 on average evs ninety two and a half and a 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.800 secondary like in this the most important thing is like 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:19.599 get the ball, pull the ball, get the ball in 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.320 the air for a guy like him. But the other 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.919 very exciting piece is strikeouts are down eighteen eighteen percent, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.680 which is huge and speaking of this is taking an advantage. 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:32.839 I wanted to pull this number up. Last year pulled 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.320 air percentage was only twelve percent. This year twenty five percent. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.000 Twenty five percent for him. So I ask you this, 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.799 Tyler Soderstrom or Tristan Kasis rest. 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.320 Of season, it takes Oderstrom. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.400 I think I would take Soderstrim at this point, like 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.080 there's just so many improvements across the board. Everything we've 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.880 mentioned already. The swing strike rates down, the oh swing 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.160 percentage is down, he's not chasing as much, he's making 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.359 more contact in the zone. Everything is positive. So I 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.280 think I would have to go with him at this point. 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:00.320 I think so too. 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.000 What about Jake Berger, who I've talked about is kind 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:05.159 of a by low. He's still not picking back. I'm 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.480 not sure at this point. I mean, there's definitely a 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.520 from here on out that could change, but I think 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:10.480 it's Sodastrim as well. 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:11.920 The hitting profiles ridiculous. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.720 Yeah, I think it's Soderstrim. I mean, the third base, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.200 first base eligibility of Burger's nice. The lineup is objectively 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.919 better in Texas, but I think Soderstrom. 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:23.600 Has to be the choice at this point. Yeah. 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:25.880 I'd be curious too if anybody else has got any 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.599 other hooju rathers on on Tyler Soderstrim. Let's play it 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.320 today because it is it is. 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:32.280 Time to celebrate him. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.839 Eight homers three twenty eight average, four hundred OVP and 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.400 a seven hundred slug right now. They definitely is something 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.200 we want to watch and not get like two over 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.200 zealous about but he doesn't have overinflated Babbitt. 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.040 He's got great, great. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.080 Just barreling and contact numbers, and he's got a ballpark 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.840 that you know, we broke down. It's just no matter 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:53.960 what it is, if it's the home run factor, the 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.080 actual ballpark factor. Right, he's and left, he's That ballpark 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.680 is just good. It's just an absolute good one real quick. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.640 Since these are up here, soda Strom or Torque, it's 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:04.720 soda Strom. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:06.920 Soda Sum. Yeah, I love, I love Tork. Talk has 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.240 been great, but it's Soderstrom. 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:10.440 Well, talk is also striking out like thirty percent of 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.640 the time, so it's it's not close. Michael Bush, we 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.240 talked about that's a good one, but it is Sodastrum. 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:16.920 I got this exact question yesterday. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.600 Yeah, I think it's relatively close all things considered, but 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:21.640 it's still sodastrom. 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:23.840 Yandy Diaz or soda Strum. 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.320 Yeah. Probably. I really like Yandy, but it's it's probably Soderstrom. 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.920 It's probably Sodastrum. So these are there's some good ones. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.720 We'll kind of keep rolling and see what we've got. 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.320 It was not a great day man for betting, but 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.520 also Spencer Schwellenbach. He was hit hard in Tuesday's loss 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:44.280 against the Blue Jays. He gave up six runs, six hits, 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.680 four and two thirds of an inning, a massive blast. 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.960 I think we had a questions yesterday about Anthony Santander. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.200 Anthony Santander took him to space. His ball joined all 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:55.200 the ladies that went in. 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.840 Space with Jeff Bezos's stuff. That ball was destroyed. 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.880 I was obviously watching that because he was getting a 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.960 little bit shaky. I will say this, and I am 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.360 so sick of the umps, especially for somebody that just 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.440 bets in general. When you have you know, first fives, 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.080 whatever the hell it is, all you're looking for is 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.160 just like get me out of this. And the amount 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.880 of bad calls out. The Strider had a nice pitch 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.160 right on the corner. I think it was on Vlatty 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.040 now that I'm thinking going through it, but it was 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:25.960 like right on the corner, should have been a strikeout, 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.400 it's a walk, and then Santander just blasted out. 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:30.760 So I mean that's a little. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:33.360 Bit making excuses, but it just kind of opened up 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.360 that whole bag of just how bad the umps have been. 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.800 But Schwellenbach was bad. He looked kind of gassed at 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.880 the end. The Blue Jays are making a lot of contact. 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:43.920 He wasn't getting any of that swing and miss stuff. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.920 Talk to me about Schwellenbach. Is there any worries after 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.560 that start, like as in, was the early onset of 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.240 starts to you maybe a little bit miraji or was 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:55.560 this one just the outlier? 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:58.319 No, I'm more inclined to say this is the outlier. 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:00.520 Just made a few bad pitches. Like you said, he 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.199 got squeezed a little bit. There's nothing I would take 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.840 from this other than throw an offer to the Schwellenbach 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:07.760 owner in your league, just in case there's some early 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.120 season jitters. This time of year, people panic all all 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:12.959 over the place. So throw a low ball at the 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.520 Schwellenbock owner and maybe he's a little bit nervous. Toronto's 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:17.760 not a juggernaut team, so maybe they think, Okay, maybe 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:19.439 there's he's getting exposed. 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.040 A little bit or whatever. But I'm not worried. I 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:22.040 think he's totally fine. 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.480 Yeah, looking here too, Vila was just kind of up 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.959 in general fastball. Yeah, looking in here, this is actually interesting. 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.679 He really threw his I guess i'd have to look 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.720 at his pitch mix his season long pitch mix, because 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:36.160 I'm looking at the game, but he barely threw his splitter. 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.160 That seven percent cutter was down there. I mean, you 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.240 and your curveball. A lot of the strikeout pitches, he 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.560 wasn't throwing a bunch. The slider was his third most used. 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.760 That was only thirty eight percent in the zone and 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.560 it got absolutely no whiffs. Kind of tough here when 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.360 I'm playing hosts and I want to like do these 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:56.200 dig ins to these players. I'm just gonna do this 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.480 real quick on Schwellenbach on the season. It'll now be 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.199 affected by this. Yeah, look at this almost fourteen percent 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.440 splitter on the season, and it was his and he 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.400 uses it as the third most used pitch. It was 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:13.760 the least used pitch in yesterday's start, and the sinker 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.079 the fourth most used pitch. He used the second most yesterday. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.600 So what I'm getting at is he was he didn't 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.560 have his strikeout stuff. He was throwing that sinker just 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:24.280 to try to, you know, get out of innings and 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:28.040 pitch to some bad contact. But he down used the slider, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.600 the curve, and the split finger. He just didn't have 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:32.600 it in the zone. So I tend to think that 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.079 that's just a little bit of an anomaly. But I'm 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.240 also a Spencer Schwellenbach homer, and I can't help myself 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:40.320 with Spencer Swellenbach. 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:41.560 But we'll move through it, right. 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:43.360 Yeah, I think he's gonna be okay. 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.960 He's still at eleven whiffs, no real drop in velocity 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:48.560 or anything. I think we just chalk it up to 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.760 a rocky start and you put him back in your 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.520 lineup next week, no question about it for me. 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:53.120 Yeah. 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:55.240 Well, I like the idea of, like off of that start, 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.000 just real quick going and hitting up an owner that 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:00.400 maybe was like, oh crap, you know, he's a pumpkin, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.720 and then trying to get something cheap if you can. 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:06.320 A couple bigger performances. Alex Bregman five for five, had 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.800 a couple solo homers, Red Sox beating on the Rays, 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:11.959 just kind of getting back to everything. Thought, also, I 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.440 think he's out today on maternity leave. They brought up 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.480 Eric Soguard and I put this on here even though 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:21.160 the stat isn't crazy many Machado was one for four, 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.720 had a solo homer, But what I wanted to talk 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.320 about was that homer if anyone paid attention. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:27.679 My god, you. 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:32.400 Had two dropped fly balls that then turned in, So 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.440 pop up over into right field. Kyle Tucker comes in, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.520 leans down, kind of ducks ball, drops out of his glove. 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:42.600 All right, egg on our face, let's move on. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:43.280 Next. 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.839 He pops up to the catcher and third baseman comes in, 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.880 drops the ball at home plate, and then what happens 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:52.559 right after that? 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:54.199 Good, good gone. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.280 Manny Machado absolutely rips it. Yeah, Unicorn Homer. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:11:59.040 It was incredible. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:00.480 It's one of those that you were like, you know, 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:02.680 this is going to happen right now. But also I 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.640 just want to point out, like, MANA Machado is just 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.840 having like a hell of a season, averages up. Homer's 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.400 are there still, He's stealing bases, just having like an 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:11.960 absolutely hell of a season right now. 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.320 Rico, Yeah, I honestly didn't see the play in question 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.760 last night, but that's just such a classic baseball type 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:19.560 of thing to happen. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.600 You know, it just screams baseball at you. 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.200 But Manny was somebody that I was kind of interested 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:26.240 in coming into the year. I didn't really expect the 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.440 walk rate to jump back up the way it has 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:30.880 so far. The WRC plus is at one fifty four. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:32.640 It would be the best mark of his career if 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:34.920 he's able to keep it up. Heart hit rate at 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.000 fifty five percent, Like he's been objectively really really good. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.880 And of those third basemen that we're in that like 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.880 second third round grouping, Austin Riley's kind of picked it 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:45.680 up recently, but I think Machado might have been the 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:47.040 best answer out of that group. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.280 Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of I think 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.040 it's in the state of his career where I'm looking 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:53.920 at Manny Machado and I'm just thinking, like, you know, 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:55.960 the Hall of Fame and just where he's going and 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.320 what we're watching. Sometimes I like to kind of reminisce 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.280 and take a step back on players and be like, 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:01.520 who are the great players that. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:02.160 We're looking at? 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:04.720 You know, like I think the parameters for being a 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.120 Hall of Famer feels like it should be. Maybe is 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.920 tougher statistically anymore, And you just kind of see that 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.480 from him, but just a ridiculously crazy. It's one of 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.160 those things that there's so many elements of baseball that 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.880 we're gonna miss that even when we just you look 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.360 at like stat sheets, if you're not watching from one 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.160 of the worst strike calls of all our ball calls 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.839 of all time yesterday. Why the umps are so bad? 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:28.120 I think someone put it in the chat. It was 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:29.080 the j t Romuto. 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:30.320 It was literally. 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.839 Completely in the zone and it didn't get called to strikeout, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.600 and then everything turned bad to unicorn homers of foul balls. 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.360 Speaking of over on that Phillies game, Jesus Lozardo five 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.599 and one third did give up three runs. It was 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.240 a no decision. Most interesting in this though, and I 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.440 think we know the reason behind it. But Jose Alvarado, 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.680 he pitched in like a three run lead situation in 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.720 the eighth, and I guess they considered it like super 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.560 high leverage and they were concerned and that led to 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.840 Matt Strong coming in the ninth and cleaning up, having 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.280 an absolute cleanup of an inning and picking up the save. 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.640 But also, is Matt Strong maybe the guy that they're 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:13.880 gonna go to before or is this just one of 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.000 those You know, there's plenty of teams that run out. 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:16.400 Like three or four. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.280 Guy the Dodgers do that, like they'll throw out like 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.400 Vesia or something. Is there anything with Matt Strong for you? 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.480 Hoe Alvarado's got the gig. They put him in high 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.600 leverage here, but do you think he's a next up 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:26.920 type of player that you want to look at. 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.280 They're kind of a hard team to figure out with 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.320 bullpen usage because there's I mean, Ryan Kirkering, if I 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.720 was managing, would probably be the guy getting a lot 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.840 of the save opportunities. But Alvarado, they brought him into 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:41.680 face Ramos Willia, Damas Jung Hu Lee. I think they're 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.920 gonna let him, for the most part, continue with the ninth. 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.040 But if there is a situation where you're getting the 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:48.480 toughest part of the order to up in the eighth, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.120 maybe they go with him. But if there's one arm 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.400 to own in Philadelphia, I'd say it is probably still Alvarado. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:56.760 Oh yeah, I don't think that's a question. I think 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.880 Alvarado is still He's the he. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.360 Got squeezed the little bit, and you know he gave up. 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.560 By the way, I had live bet just to clean 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:06.200 up my day because it was a bad betting day 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.680 for me, just an idiot, but I live bet to 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.000 save my day, and I had live bet the inning 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:16.000 prior Philly to one and a half and then they 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:18.560 got that lead, and then Alvarado started giving it up 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.400 right after, and I was like, let's close this thing down, Jose, 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.960 good lord. A couple pitching performances, Max Freed really strong 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.360 and Tuesdays went over the Royals. He struck out seven 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.600 six and two thirds. Two run ball has been great, 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.440 and Bailey over with a bounce back. He pitched well, 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.720 three runs, five hits over six and one third. Are 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.720 you kind of a I know you are a big 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.320 ober guy you with this bounce back? Is he kind 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:43.640 of a bye for you right now? I think the 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.640 era is still pretty inflated. Hasn't been good to start, but. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.280 This was, Yeah, he's been a little bit shaky. I 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.160 kind of bounced back and forth on him like I 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:53.720 was really into him, and then I did that show 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.760 with Eno and Nick, and then Eno kind of poppooed 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.640 him a little bit and I took my foot off 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.960 the gas. But I think he's still going to be fine, 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.040 and the overall numbers are still going to be inflated 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:03.920 like they were last year for a while because of 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.400 that first start. But I think we're gonna look at 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.040 it probably somewhere in mid June or July and say 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:10.960 if you took out that first start, the era would 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.320 be x with the with the bad start. 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:14.160 It's still pretty bad. 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.960 But like even after that huge blow up, Hey, at 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:17.560 the beginning of last year, he still finished with the 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.680 sub for e RA. The whip was at one on 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.680 the dot, so I'm not really worried. I think he 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.240 still falls out of that bi low territory. For those 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.120 who are playing with people who maybe don't pay quite 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:27.880 as much attention, They're just gonna look at the surface 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.320 and look at that era and say, I need to 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.000 get this guy the hell off my team. If you're 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:32.840 in a league like that where the ober manager is 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.520 still panicking, then I wouldn't hesitate to try and acquire him. 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.560 Let's go to the audience. Let's see some questions of 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:41.040 what we got going down here. Anthony, is Louise Robert 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.120 and Riley Green? Are they buy lows that cast pages 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:49.600 look horriboo? Luise Robert, Yeah, everything doesn't look great, but 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.000 he's stealing a bunch of bases. Riley Green always has 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.400 really great hard hit numbers. But I don't know, man, 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:57.760 I'm actually a little like on Riley Green right now, 0:16:57.880 --> 0:16:59.920