Speaker 1: Good by.
Speaker 2: Times.
Speaker 1: Say your league records bring.
Speaker 2: We will sue you to.
Speaker 1: The corner.
Speaker 2: Welcome hang out, Welcome back to the Just Baseball Show.
Speaker 2: We are live on a Friday here arm lighton Ryan Finkelstein.
Speaker 2: We've got some fun topics today because Kate Anderson finally
Speaker 2: called up for the Mariners. We're gonna talk about just
Speaker 2: how rare the season that he is having right now
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues, and how exciting the debut is
Speaker 2: for the Mariners, and what does this mean about the
Speaker 2: Mariner's rotation moving forward. They've maybe handled the deadline differently.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk about that worst contracts in Baseball,
Speaker 2: something that we're working on at just baseball dot Com.
Speaker 2: I know Ryan's writing it up. Very excited to get
Speaker 2: into that. That's always a fun conversation. And then we're
Speaker 2: going to wrap with Games of the weekend, talk about
Speaker 2: some of our predictions how we think things shake out,
Speaker 2: because there's some wild card implications. But think I started
Speaker 2: to doubt that we were going to see kan Anderson
Speaker 2: at all this year, and in the fact that it
Speaker 2: comes in now, it was kind of now or never.
Speaker 2: If I feel like if it was in the next
Speaker 2: week or so. There's a lot of implications. We'll talk
Speaker 2: about it. But where were you at Did you think
Speaker 2: it was actually going to end up happening this year?
Speaker 1: Their rotations so full that I didn't expect it, right,
Speaker 1: It's just they were already rocking the six man rotation
Speaker 1: prior to the deadline, and then they clear up the
Speaker 1: guy that I didn't think they were going to be
Speaker 1: able to trade, Lewise Castillo. So the fact that they
Speaker 1: traded Castillo kept all the young guys, it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: I guess they don't need to bring Kate up this year,
Speaker 1: but try to fight a spark at this point right
Speaker 1: the way he's pitching, it makes sense to pull the
Speaker 1: trigger now, try to just find something.
Speaker 2: And the slight devil's advocate like of like maybe he
Speaker 2: might not maybe it may not happen. Was one the
Speaker 2: team you know, just continues to not play very well.
Speaker 2: They're eight games under five hundred at this point and
Speaker 2: still only four games out of the division, and of
Speaker 2: course the wild card is always an opportunity for everybody there.
Speaker 2: And on top of that, you know this team, you
Speaker 2: still you just sit there and say, well, why can't
Speaker 2: they have a hot couple of weeks, you know, why
Speaker 2: can't things happen? But the people what made it maybe
Speaker 2: a little bit uncertain as to whether we'd see him
Speaker 2: as he's not he doesn't need to be added to
Speaker 2: the forty man anytime soon in terms of Rule five, right,
Speaker 2: he was just drafted in twenty twenty five, and if
Speaker 2: you add him to the forty and you don't make
Speaker 2: the playoffs or whatever it may be. Remember, when we're
Speaker 2: locked out here in the offseason, you can no longer
Speaker 2: have contact with Kate Anderson. So that does impact his
Speaker 2: development some. But I'm basically having an argument with myself
Speaker 2: here what other development is there to be had with
Speaker 2: Kate Anderson. We're going to talk about that, like he's like,
Speaker 2: looks like a finished product already with what he's been
Speaker 2: doing in Double A. But that was one, you know,
Speaker 2: fair argument, and something that is impacting September call ups
Speaker 2: across the game is going to be you know, hey,
Speaker 2: if this guy isn't Rule five eligible at the end
Speaker 2: of the year, do I want to impede my ability
Speaker 2: to have contact with him if and when we're locked
Speaker 2: out through the offseason and if it goes into February,
Speaker 2: like you'll be able to have contact with your minor leaguers,
Speaker 2: get them on their off season regiment you need, you know,
Speaker 2: get them ready to go in spring training, and have
Speaker 2: everything normal with those guys. Unless you add them to
Speaker 2: the forty prematurely, then you don't have as much impact
Speaker 2: on your prospects.
Speaker 1: That's insane. I didn't even think that this's the like
Speaker 1: a really deep cut on what's going on right now
Speaker 1: on how teams are thinking about this. I almost wonder
Speaker 1: if you're the I guess to answer this question is
Speaker 1: if you can get to the big leagues, who cares?
Speaker 1: But you almost wonder for a prospect, like would you
Speaker 1: rather be in contact with your organization to be ready
Speaker 1: for like a full rookie season the next year, or
Speaker 1: you just want to get to the show. Obviously still
Speaker 1: it's still making your debut. I guess that that Trump's
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I would say, you know, it's fine,
Speaker 2: Oh wait, my boss can't talk to me for for
Speaker 2: a few months, and I'll just go. All these guys
Speaker 2: have their own training regimen, especially like a Caana Anderson, right, Like,
Speaker 2: these are all the guys that are close to the
Speaker 2: big leagues, So like we're going to talk about some
Speaker 2: other September call ups, like candidates, and this is weighed
Speaker 2: into why I think certain guys could or could not
Speaker 2: be added, and like what what are the Mariners need
Speaker 2: to tell Caid this offseason that he doesn't know? You know,
Speaker 2: like I think about that, even like with Walker Jenkins
Speaker 2: with the twins, even though I think he'd be Rule
Speaker 2: five eligible, but like for the sake of argument, the
Speaker 2: only thing that Walker Jenkins needs is to stay healthy.
Speaker 2: And so maybe there's something with the training group or
Speaker 2: whatever to on that side of things. But ultimately, you know,
Speaker 2: I think most of those guys that are close to
Speaker 2: big league ready, I'm sure they'd like to have contact
Speaker 2: with some of their resources. Maybe it's different organization by organization.
Speaker 2: You know, if I'm a Brewers prospect, I'd probably love
Speaker 2: to still have contact with my guys over there. Dodgers,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm sure same thing. But I imagine a lot
Speaker 2: of organizations. These players like they've kind of got things
Speaker 2: taken care of on their own and they have their
Speaker 2: own system, but for the teams, it's a little bit different.
Speaker 2: They still want to be able to implement, keep up
Speaker 2: with what's going on and you know, be able to
Speaker 2: tweak some things maybe in spring training and work with
Speaker 2: them so uh and know what they have. But with
Speaker 2: Caid specifically, this is a guy that I mean, Kate
Speaker 2: Anderson is as polished of a pitching prospect as we
Speaker 2: have ever seen in his first full professional season, and
Speaker 2: what he's done this year, I think is maybe one
Speaker 2: of the best minor league seasons we've ever seen. Forget
Speaker 2: that this is first minor league season, but just period
Speaker 2: how dominant he's been. Because there's so much context to
Speaker 2: it too. They throw Kate Anderson straight into Double A
Speaker 2: and it's a Double A Texas League where he's put
Speaker 2: up ninety three to the thirds innings, He's pitched to
Speaker 2: a one point zero sixty RA. He has struck out
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty five batters and walked thirteen on
Speaker 2: his way to a point sixty four win. The crazy
Speaker 2: part about this, on top of the fact that the
Speaker 2: surface level numbers are absolutely ridiculous, is something I've talked
Speaker 2: about ad nauseum on the call up think is the
Speaker 2: ball is flying in the minor leagues. You talk to
Speaker 2: guys around the minor leagues, they'll tell you there's something
Speaker 2: different with the baseball. It's just flying at a different level.
Speaker 2: And you see that through the OPS numbers, the home
Speaker 2: run numbers across minor league baseball, and even see it
Speaker 2: in the Texas League, where offense is always a little
Speaker 2: bit high. The average ERA in the Texas League is
Speaker 2: five point four, but at the same time you also
Speaker 2: it's like five. But at the same time you also
Speaker 2: have OPS up sixty points in this league because of
Speaker 2: the way the ball is flying. Some other leagues have
Speaker 2: the OPS numbers up even more. And in a year
Speaker 2: where it's inflated offense across the board, you have Kate
Speaker 2: Anderson putting up the only season we've ever really seen,
Speaker 2: at least in the last decade. I can look at
Speaker 2: right now where we've seen ninety plus innings at an
Speaker 2: ERA below one point three. That to me is just
Speaker 2: mind blowing. And when you pair it with the fact
Speaker 2: that offense is really off the charts this year in
Speaker 2: a lot of these different leagues, basically every minor league
Speaker 2: league aside from Triple A where they use the big
Speaker 2: league ball, it's pretty crazy and makes it easy to
Speaker 2: understand why the Mariners feel like this guy can maybe
Speaker 2: help them even if you can only throw every fifth day,
Speaker 2: give them a shot in the arm that they need
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 1: Well, clearly that's incredible outlier stuff when you're talking about
Speaker 1: his ERA being four and a half runs better than
Speaker 1: league average. Yes, obviously come to the big leagues. Don't
Speaker 1: expect him to pitch you an ERA in the low ones.
Speaker 1: But it feels like, you know, especially when you're talking
Speaker 1: about a pitching prospect, there's a pretty good chance, especially
Speaker 1: when the book's not fully out on these guys, that
Speaker 1: they're going to translate early. Like it's easier to imagine
Speaker 1: the top pitching prospect coming up and giving you a
Speaker 1: shot in the arm than the top hitting prospect coming
Speaker 1: up and lifting a lineup. So for the Mariners right now,
Speaker 1: get anything you can, because, like you said, honestly, one
Speaker 1: thing that I had a side aside him before and
Speaker 1: you mentioned the wildcard race or the division I was curious, like,
Speaker 1: which is the easier path for them? And right now
Speaker 1: the wildcard is a little bit closer, but it's four
Speaker 1: games back in the division, three games back in the wildcard.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he kind of had two cracks at it,
Speaker 1: because the wildcard can get away from you and the
Speaker 1: division could actually still be in reach. So you know,
Speaker 1: add a great player to your team, the best that
Speaker 1: you can that's going to translate, and obviously it seems
Speaker 1: like he's going to translate pretty pretty comfortably.
Speaker 2: The other party, you brought up a thought in my
Speaker 2: mind where it's like the book's not out really yet,
Speaker 2: Like you know, hitters are going to be getting their
Speaker 2: first look at him. Even if you get like the
Speaker 2: game plan, I just don't know what it would be,
Speaker 2: because what's Mae kan Anderson so much better than everybody
Speaker 2: else that he's faced in the minor leagues is that
Speaker 2: he can go to anything whenever he wants. Like the
Speaker 2: fastball average is ninety four, but it's got great carry
Speaker 2: to it, so that really sets the tone. But then
Speaker 2: he's got a slider, a change up in a curveball,
Speaker 2: all of which he's landing for a strike at a
Speaker 2: high clip, especially the slider and the change up seventy
Speaker 2: percent strike right on those pitches that he will go
Speaker 2: to in any count, Like it looks like sometimes he's
Speaker 2: just throwing like a stand in bullpen where oh oh,
Speaker 2: he flips in a curve ball and guys like man
Speaker 2: and then and then oh, one flipping in a change up,
Speaker 2: and then they'll blow the fastball by you. And then
Speaker 2: next that bat hole completely flip the script and go fastball, fastball, fastball,
Speaker 2: So like you're just completely in a blender. There's no
Speaker 2: like sequence that you can start to pick up on
Speaker 2: with Kid because he has so much confidence in every
Speaker 2: single offering. And yeah, the Texas League is five flat
Speaker 2: this year, and and you're seeing five point four runs
Speaker 2: per game, and the fact that you know you're getting
Speaker 2: Kid pitching to a one point zero six is just
Speaker 2: crazy crazy stuff. Again where across the minor league, the
Speaker 2: league's home runs in particular are up big time, big
Speaker 2: time in Texas. The Texas League is always a tough place.
Speaker 2: It's it puts me into a thought in tough place
Speaker 2: for pitchers, it puts me into a thought. Though. Here
Speaker 2: good the Mariners have moved another arm because remember Louis Castillo. Great,
Speaker 2: you got off of that contract. That was a good trade, right,
Speaker 2: you get Sir Anthony de Mnguez in kind of this
Speaker 2: bad contract swap. But Sir Anthony is a little bit
Speaker 2: more useful for you, probably given the depth that they have,
Speaker 2: given the way that Emerson Hancock is thrown. But remember
Speaker 2: there was a point where there were reports out there
Speaker 2: from very credible people saying that Emerson Hancock was very
Speaker 2: likely to be moved to the deadline. Maybe that was
Speaker 2: under the presumption that you wouldn't end up moving Louis Castillo.
Speaker 2: But I think about it from this lens, like clear
Speaker 2: the Mariners are focused on making the playoffs here, and
Speaker 2: you've got a lot of people that are trying to
Speaker 2: keep their jobs, I think from top to bottom. However,
Speaker 2: just for organizational health standpoint, I think they could have
Speaker 2: traded one of these starters to actually get a prospect
Speaker 2: return here and then plug Kate Smith, right, and you
Speaker 2: also have Ryan Sloan for depth too, and that would
Speaker 2: be a little bit more of like a bold move.
Speaker 2: And also I think that would be another move where
Speaker 2: it's like, Okay, that is a guy I would love
Speaker 2: to have contact with through spring training and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I think about it in a
Speaker 2: situation where if the Mariners don't turn things around in
Speaker 2: the next few weeks, they're not going to make the
Speaker 2: playoffs and they will have now lost out on an
Speaker 2: opportunity to cash in on, you know, an Emerson Hancock,
Speaker 2: who probably the most likely to be moved there for
Speaker 2: a huge Hall and then of course they could go
Speaker 2: make that trade later. But I just wonder if it'll
Speaker 2: be the same Hall, especially with all the stuff that
Speaker 2: we're going to have going on the off season. I
Speaker 2: just wonder if they should have moved them. I'm curious
Speaker 2: where you stand on that.
Speaker 1: I think the reason why you kept that rotation together
Speaker 1: is because you figure that is your strength and if
Speaker 1: you are able to, you know, sneak your way in,
Speaker 1: that's what could allow you to actually go on a run.
Speaker 1: So I get it to some respect. But also when
Speaker 1: you see what the Blue Jay's got for Jose Soreano,
Speaker 1: you know, what would you have gotten for Hancock? What
Speaker 1: would you have got for George Kirby? And you know
Speaker 1: you don't have all these guys forever. Like Handcock, you
Speaker 1: actually have a lot of control over I think Kirby's
Speaker 1: like two more years after this season. So considering what
Speaker 1: you had coming and the ability to still have five
Speaker 1: six ers who are young under control, even if you
Speaker 1: traded one, you know, especially since they haven't done great
Speaker 1: coming out of the deadline, it makes it look worse.
Speaker 1: Right if the Mariners came out of the out of
Speaker 1: the deadline and they won a bunch of games, and
Speaker 1: they're signing the playoff spot right now, we're not questioning
Speaker 1: as much. But now as you're looking at it at
Speaker 1: a season where it might actually be a kind of
Speaker 1: a lost year for you and you're trying to get
Speaker 1: next year you're not gonna get, you wouldn't think the
Speaker 1: same value for those pitchers this offseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's that's where I just I go back
Speaker 2: and forth. I know you also don't want to signify
Speaker 2: to your team that you're very much trying to invest
Speaker 2: in right now to uh, you know, you're you're subtracting
Speaker 2: pieces there. But if it would ever be the most
Speaker 2: palatable swap maybe in the history of like selling moves
Speaker 2: to to convince a team that you're not fully selling,
Speaker 2: is ye removing a starting pitcher for a good return
Speaker 2: and then plugging in the most dominant minor league pitch
Speaker 2: prospect that we've seen in decades. That would probably work.
Speaker 2: And just another number that Podcast p pointed out here,
Speaker 2: So we have ERA A minus in the minor leagues,
Speaker 2: which basically works like a reverse WRC plus. So like
Speaker 2: the lower the number the better, and you know the
Speaker 2: gap would be, you know, how much better you are
Speaker 2: than league average. Caen Anderson's eer A minus is twenty four,
Speaker 2: like two thousand's Pedro was thirty five, which I think
Speaker 2: is crazy, absolutely crazy to think about just how much better.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of similar like Pedro throwing through the
Speaker 2: steroid era where everybody's dras were just you know, ballooned.
Speaker 2: This season in the minor leagues has almost been like
Speaker 2: the steroid era, Like there's been jokes it's like there's
Speaker 2: something wrong with the ball where every player is on steroids.
Speaker 2: It's been like the joke about it because of how
Speaker 2: much offense we've seen through the minor leagues, and like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they got Boston Smith. It's a good point by ten
Speaker 2: toes down in the last casto tre Boston Smith has
Speaker 2: had a really nice year. I don't know if that's
Speaker 2: a franchise altering prospect or a guy that you're like
Speaker 2: shark being into your plans. Was a nice get in
Speaker 2: a bad contract swap there with Wiscus TiO, But I
Speaker 2: think about what they could have gotten for some of
Speaker 2: these other starters, and it becomes, you know, it just
Speaker 2: becomes interesting to think about because now you've got Kate
Speaker 2: on the forty and you're gonna still often now create
Speaker 2: space going into next year anyways, and how they go
Speaker 2: about that will be interesting to find out, especially with
Speaker 2: Ryan Swoan on his heels as well. Do you have
Speaker 2: any other thoughts on the Mariners, Like Kate is going
Speaker 2: to give them a little bit of life here one
Speaker 2: left e in the rotation, I'm gonna be I'm interested
Speaker 2: to see how they navigate that too, because you know
Speaker 2: they still have five bodies in there. But at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, it's the offense, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: like the Kate. Even if Kate throws a perfect game
Speaker 2: every fifth day or sixth I don't know how that's
Speaker 2: going to work. They still have a lot of other
Speaker 2: things they have to sort out well.
Speaker 1: And that would have been the other thing too, had
Speaker 1: you made a trade where you got a bad back
Speaker 1: with control that was close to Bigley Ready or a
Speaker 1: big like it kind of felt like Hancock would have
Speaker 1: been the perfect big leaguer for big leaguer type trade.
Speaker 1: Now we don't know what was out there, what was
Speaker 1: on the table, and they might have just not gotten
Speaker 1: any good offers. And there might have even been around
Speaker 1: the league maybe some kind of like eyebrows raised of well,
Speaker 1: why do you want to trade the guy with that
Speaker 1: much control a Hancock, Like are you not buying into
Speaker 1: the breakout season? And maybe they just didn't get great
Speaker 1: offers there and if that's the case, we can't really
Speaker 1: judge him. I guess the one other thing that came
Speaker 1: to mind as you were talking this through is like
Speaker 1: the notion of you could have called Kate Anderson up
Speaker 1: after making the trade, Like nothing has changed right for
Speaker 1: Kate Anderson in the last two and a half weeks.
Speaker 1: That makes it different to promote him now than promoting
Speaker 1: him on August fourth, Right.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing that's changed is that some
Speaker 2: of the other guys are not throwing the way that
Speaker 2: they want them to, right, Like Brian wu gets to
Speaker 2: start pushback, and and Bryce Miller has, you know, not
Speaker 2: been as good as he has as he was at
Speaker 2: the start of the season. Like that's the biggest thing
Speaker 2: that's changed at Kate Anderson's the same exact guy, And
Speaker 2: I think Miller's struggles have been the biggest reason why
Speaker 2: You'll get five earned runs last time out five and
Speaker 2: runs before that, four before that, and then you go
Speaker 2: two starts further back, another five earned run outing there.
Speaker 2: So it's just that's been I think the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: And I get it though, because when you were going
Speaker 2: into the end of July, you started to see Bryce
Speaker 2: Moore slowing down. But remember when he first came back,
Speaker 2: he was dominating, you know, with the best of them.
Speaker 2: So I think they wanted a little bit more clarity there.
Speaker 2: It's tough spot. I don't envy, you know, with the
Speaker 2: Poto and company have had to kind of work with
Speaker 2: their because I do think they put together a pretty
Speaker 2: good roster. Just shit hit the fan dude, like who
Speaker 2: would have thought?
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: I thought the Brendan Donovan trade was good. It has not.
Speaker 2: He has not been as available as you'd want. He's
Speaker 2: only had one hundred fifty fur play appearances year. He's
Speaker 2: been good when he's been on the field. I thought
Speaker 2: bringing back Josh Naylor was great. He's been very whatever.
Speaker 2: You know, cal Rawley has had the most mind blowing
Speaker 2: follow up to an MVP caliber season that we can remember.
Speaker 2: And and then this rotation, which is like you could
Speaker 2: you feel like you could just put your head on
Speaker 2: the pillow and sleep soundly like you put together, You've
Speaker 2: you've cultivated this dream rotation and even Everson Hancock is
Speaker 2: breaking out like what could go wrong? But it just
Speaker 2: seems like every time one guy gets hot, two other
Speaker 2: guys slow down, and this rotation just can't quite cook
Speaker 2: together at the same time. And then Munios. It just
Speaker 2: feels like a parlay of misfortune. Which speaking of this episode,
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Speaker 1: Don't run what else? Man? It's okay. You're you know, you're, you're,
Speaker 1: you're you're a two guard. We know this, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm a volume shooter. I'm not dishing it
Speaker 2: out too much. But usually when Peter, when Peter's ripping
Speaker 2: that read, I am up all of my tabs trying
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Speaker 2: at the start of the year had Mariners to win
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Speaker 2: bonus bets because that was I think one of the
Speaker 2: most popular bets of the year because it was obvious
Speaker 2: they were so good on the surface. Any final thoughts
Speaker 2: on the Mariners before we transition into other quick potential
Speaker 2: September call ups.
Speaker 1: Final thoughts is, if you made that bet before the season,
Speaker 1: it's not over. It's four games back. Like the Mariners
Speaker 1: can string together two good weeks of baseball, Kyle Rally
Speaker 1: can remember how to hit, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: they could be right back in it because it's still
Speaker 1: there for them. With how just wide open the America
Speaker 1: theye is But that no other final thoughts for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Jeremy Pania banged up again and he's such
Speaker 2: a big part for the astros who every time it
Speaker 2: seems like they're separating themselves, you look again and they're
Speaker 2: right back at five hundred. That's going to be open,
Speaker 2: I think, the rest of the year. So it's going
Speaker 2: to be interesting. There some other quick just notes on
Speaker 2: September call ups, I mentioned Walker Jenkins. I think Walker
Speaker 2: Jenkins is probably another good candidate to potentially get up there.
Speaker 2: I'm just curious. It'll depend on kind of need and
Speaker 2: how they want to go about things. But the Twins
Speaker 2: are another team that's very much in it, and if
Speaker 2: they feel like Walker can help them, like he's a
Speaker 2: guy that I believe will need to be added to
Speaker 2: the forty man roster anyways at the end of the year.
Speaker 2: So he's healthy, he's hitting the ball harder than ever,
Speaker 2: and I just feel like that's a guy that for
Speaker 2: the Twins. If he's right, you know that the power, speed,
Speaker 2: back to ball combination all three outfield spots could be
Speaker 2: a really useful addition for them. But I wouldn't look
Speaker 2: at outfield right now and say that's where the Twins
Speaker 2: necessarily need some immediate help. I just think, no matter what,
Speaker 2: when it's all hands on deck, it's probably a guy
Speaker 2: that they could end up bringing up and helping them well.
Speaker 1: With Kate Anderson coming up. Were within the final like
Speaker 1: fifty days of the season, right where the service time
Speaker 1: you're everyone's gonna So yeah, now it's now any everybody's
Speaker 1: in play, especially for these teams, and there's there's so
Speaker 1: many teams that are in it that this is where
Speaker 1: there's no deadline, there's no more trades. You're not going
Speaker 1: to find anything else, like this is the chance here
Speaker 1: to say, you know what, let's call up this prospect
Speaker 1: it doesn't hurt us, and try to see if it
Speaker 1: puts us over the top. You know, last year, this
Speaker 1: is where where I was talking to myself in a
Speaker 1: Noel McLain's starting game one of a playoff series because
Speaker 1: of how bad the Mets were. But you know, when
Speaker 1: you're when you're in that position, this is where you
Speaker 1: can find a little bit of hope.
Speaker 2: And actually, Walker Jenkins roll five eligible December of twenty seven,
Speaker 2: so this would be a early like put a guy
Speaker 2: onto your forty man and and deal with it situation.
Speaker 2: But I mean, the Twins are very focused on making
Speaker 2: the playoffs and that's why I think, you know, he
Speaker 2: could be a candidate there. That's kind of gonna be
Speaker 2: the theme with the two other guys that I think
Speaker 2: could be call ups as well, Ethan Solid. So our
Speaker 2: Top one hundred is coming out next week, Ethan Salas
Speaker 2: will be in the top ten, and people will probably
Speaker 2: freak out as they always do, because he's for some
Speaker 2: reason a polarizing prospect despite the fact that like well,
Speaker 2: and I say some reason I understand why I like he.
Speaker 2: He had all of these expectations. Was thrust it into
Speaker 2: high A, Double A. We've talked about it at blanche
Speaker 2: as like a seventeen year old. It was completely unfair,
Speaker 2: and then he got hurt and so you had this
Speaker 2: like sample size of not that great production but these
Speaker 2: high rankings and people weren't understanding it. But now he's
Speaker 2: healthy and he's performing, and he mowed his way through
Speaker 2: Double A, and then now he's in Triple A and
Speaker 2: he's continuing to swing the bat really, really well. Sixteen
Speaker 2: games in Triple A for the Padres top prospect, he's
Speaker 2: hitting three forty four. I understand it's the PCL, but
Speaker 2: he is walking more than he's striking out and as
Speaker 2: a one forty three WRC plus he's producing plus contact
Speaker 2: rates on the season. The power is up. He's an
Speaker 2: elite defender, and this is another team that they are
Speaker 2: clicking on all cylinders if they're exhaustive. For me, they
Speaker 2: obviously don't want Campusano catching that much. Do you bring
Speaker 2: a youngster up my other This is my question though,
Speaker 2: if we're playing MLB the show, it's a no brainer.
Speaker 2: You're bringing up a guy that, even if he doesn't
Speaker 2: click right away, is going to give you good at bats.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be close to a league
Speaker 2: average hitter even as he's feeling things out. I think
Speaker 2: he's going to be solid, definitely better than for mean,
Speaker 2: and he's such a good defender that that's going to
Speaker 2: translate right away. The thing is, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: veteran pictures on this staff. They've clearly thrown it for
Speaker 2: me in for a while at least. There's some new
Speaker 2: guys though, too, but they're just getting used to for me,
Speaker 2: we bring in another variable for some of these newly
Speaker 2: acquired arms. Do you think a J. Peller cares when
Speaker 2: it comes to maybe just bringing up just a better
Speaker 2: baseball player.
Speaker 1: I don't think. For for Proler, I don't think he
Speaker 1: care really. I mean, looka campus ono is still catching,
Speaker 1: so if it moves him to DH a little bit
Speaker 1: and then it allows you to not play for me,
Speaker 1: I think you have to take the offense that you
Speaker 1: can get right now at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like if if I'm if I'm
Speaker 1: a Padre starting pitcher, all I'm thinking about is how
Speaker 1: do we get the ball to our bullpen with the lead,
Speaker 1: you know, and if you have a better chance of
Speaker 1: Salaz coming through and putting up a couple of runs
Speaker 1: on the board, I think you're you you can get
Speaker 1: around being a little more uncomfortable. Also wonder like how
Speaker 1: much does it matter nowadays, like who knows who's calling
Speaker 1: the pitches? Like I do wonder if if with the
Speaker 1: art of pitch calling being less and less like important
Speaker 1: in today's game, with how with you know, pitchers can
Speaker 1: call their own game if they want to, I do
Speaker 1: wonder if that makes the kind of struggles of a
Speaker 1: catcher breaking through like a little bit easier, and that.
Speaker 2: I think very much is a good case. It also
Speaker 2: helps that like Ethan Sallas is one of the most
Speaker 2: mature nineteen twenty year olds I've ever talked to, and
Speaker 2: I think it's a big reason why they've pushed him
Speaker 2: so so aggressively. He's worked with some of these guys
Speaker 2: already a bunch, Like I think they're doing everything to
Speaker 2: get him ready, but he has so much. I think
Speaker 2: he's so ahead of his ears in terms of the
Speaker 2: game prep, the way he goes about his business and
Speaker 2: all those little things as well. So I just feel
Speaker 2: like this is probably just something worth monitoring and seeing
Speaker 2: there because Campuzano, like he's still only catching three times
Speaker 2: a week, for means getting in there three times a
Speaker 2: week is a great defender. But again so is Ethan Sallis,
Speaker 2: And that's a lot of at bats to for me
Speaker 2: and that are still going right now. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: you could bump Campusano into the DH role. It's not
Speaker 2: like Gavin Chets is a lighting the world on fire.
Speaker 2: So something to monitor there. One other that I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's going to happen because of the forty
Speaker 2: man implications, and I feel like the Guardians may have
Speaker 2: tipped their hand when they went out and acquired Nathaniel Lowe.
Speaker 2: But you look at Ralphi Velaskaz and what he's doing.
Speaker 2: He's one of my favorite power bats in the minor leagues,
Speaker 2: and the guy has been on another planet. We talk
Speaker 2: about how the American League is wide open, and this
Speaker 2: is a team that absolutely needs all the offense that
Speaker 2: it can get, and I don't think there's much doubt
Speaker 2: that Ralphi Velaskas could be spark for them. Now, I
Speaker 2: mentioned powers up in the minor leagues, not in Triple A.
Speaker 2: Triple A. It's the same deal. It is always because
Speaker 2: they're using the big league ball. But ralphie Velaskas has
Speaker 2: thirteen homers in his last eighteen games at Triple A.
Speaker 2: That's a hotthand that I would love to bring up.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna exhaust his rookie eligibility. You would just
Speaker 2: be adding him to the forty prematurely. He's not Roll
Speaker 2: five eligible until December of next year. I don't think
Speaker 2: I care. I think this is a guy that again
Speaker 2: they the Guardians Bot, which was great to see. So
Speaker 2: in that mentality, I think you got to bring up
Speaker 2: Ralph of Alaskas. This is another guy like sure, you'd
Speaker 2: love to have a little bit of contact with him
Speaker 2: in the off season whatever. He's already so close to
Speaker 2: a finished product. And one thing I do see a
Speaker 2: little bit more of And I wonder if this is
Speaker 2: maybe them saying, hey, we're trying to get him some
Speaker 2: more action and maybe are considering getting him up to
Speaker 2: the big leagues. He's been playing some left field. Ralphie's
Speaker 2: a sneaky, decent athlete. First, I don't think he'll be
Speaker 2: good out there immediately, but as long as he can
Speaker 2: make the routine catch and not trip over himself, that
Speaker 2: kind of bat being added to the fold for the
Speaker 2: Guardians could be exactly the spark they need.
Speaker 1: And you can always, you know, do you run him
Speaker 1: out there for the first six seven innings, get him
Speaker 1: three at bats, and if you have a league, you
Speaker 1: pull the plug, you know. So I think, yeah, if
Speaker 1: you are a team that has a chance here to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs and you have a guy that is
Speaker 1: going to be a big part of your team next year,
Speaker 1: I don't think the rule five draft eligibility should hold
Speaker 1: you back too much unless you have like an absolutely
Speaker 1: loaded forty where you really got to be careful. If
Speaker 1: you have a pretty good understanding that a guy is
Speaker 1: that close to big league ready where they're going to
Speaker 1: help you next year, call him up now and see
Speaker 1: if you can give your lineup a shot in the arm,
Speaker 1: because again, it's the only what place you're going to
Speaker 1: find it right now, and call him over hot way
Speaker 1: too long. Like, if you've got a guy rolling, you
Speaker 1: might as well bring him up as soon as you
Speaker 1: can and try to catch that lightning in.
Speaker 2: A bottle, especially chased the water coming off of a hammy.
Speaker 2: They're probably gonna want him off of his feet still
Speaker 2: here and there. You know, you look at even Travis
Speaker 2: like he's slowed down a good bit since getting up there.
Speaker 2: So you just ride the hot hand and see what
Speaker 2: you can do. I still think this lineup and this
Speaker 2: team is pretty darn talented. They're getting great outings from
Speaker 2: you know, Parker Messik every fifth day. Gavin Williams give
Speaker 2: you so many flashes. The bullpen's always that bullpen. I
Speaker 2: still think this team can hang around, and well, anyone
Speaker 2: can hang around, so you might as well give yourself
Speaker 2: a little bit of a push there. I would love
Speaker 2: to see Michael Arroyo get a crack. I thought that
Speaker 2: that might have got with the Mariners. I thought that
Speaker 2: might have been kind of put on ice with the
Speaker 2: Tailor Ward edition, and who knows, the Mariners might be
Speaker 2: so desperate they could go to Las Monts and just say, hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: we know you got a sixty two percent contact, right,
Speaker 2: but we also know you hit the ball one hundred
Speaker 2: eighteen miles an hour. You're on pace for forty homers.
Speaker 2: Let's just get you up here and hope you can
Speaker 2: get hot and just do something for us here. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't rule out either of those guys to try to
Speaker 2: just help this team.
Speaker 1: Maybe they should have traded Randy at the deadline too, huh.
Speaker 2: They apparently considered that. They apparently considered that. But Randy's
Speaker 2: been like their best bat by by wrs plus one
Speaker 2: thirty nine, which is, I know he's good, but like man,
Speaker 2: for him to be like their best best bat is tough.
Speaker 1: It's this free agent class surprising. That's going to come
Speaker 1: down to Randy and say I like that. That's that's
Speaker 1: the top of this free agent class. Those guys are
Speaker 1: having pretty big years in platform years.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to go.
Speaker 2: Into speaking of free agent class, some of the worst
Speaker 2: contracts in Major League Baseball right now. But before that,
Speaker 2: our first break. All right, we're going into the worst
Speaker 2: contracts in baseball right now you're working on the article
Speaker 2: for Just baseball dot com, excited to check that out
Speaker 2: and get your thoughts, you know, just kind of in
Speaker 2: more detail on all of them. But we're going to
Speaker 2: go from the worst to the least worst in your
Speaker 2: eyes here, and I'll give the four to you to
Speaker 2: kind of explain why, because there's a bunch of contracts
Speaker 2: that you could point towards them saying these are worse
Speaker 2: deals than maybe some of them, but they're almost over right,
Speaker 2: Like the pain is almost you're almost through it all
Speaker 2: where it's like one or two years we'll have to
Speaker 2: go like Hobby or Bias this deal or Marcus Semion's deal,
Speaker 2: But you're almost through the thick of that. So at
Speaker 2: the present moment, those aren't some of the worst contracts
Speaker 2: in baseball. It's some of the ones that you're gonna name.
Speaker 2: And I know there's some other like criteria that kind
Speaker 2: of builds in there for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So when the article comes down, this is good
Speaker 1: for me because I'm going to workshop it with you
Speaker 1: a little bit and I might always change this list
Speaker 1: before we actually publish it if there's some that I
Speaker 1: think after we talk it out. It's a lot worse
Speaker 1: than what I have rank. But there's a section at
Speaker 1: the end that is there's light at the end of
Speaker 1: the tunnel. That's guys. That Again, it's two years left
Speaker 1: on these contracts. So Trevor Story and Hobby Bias done
Speaker 1: the same sixth year, one hundred and forty million dollar deal.
Speaker 1: They got a year left on that. Chris Bryant, I
Speaker 1: thought about still adding it because it's essentially a dead
Speaker 1: contract at this point. Unfortunately, twenty seven million left for
Speaker 1: two more years Stanton, that contract's almost over. Marlins gave
Speaker 1: Stan that thirteen Can you believe they were at the
Speaker 1: end of that thirteen year year? That one?
Speaker 2: That one actually, when you put it that way, like
Speaker 2: I never thought i'd see the end of that contract,
Speaker 2: Like it's just one of those we just I know
Speaker 2: it's young, and just like, ah, that'll be done when
Speaker 2: I'm forty. Here I am pushing thirty, and it's it's
Speaker 2: almost done. It's just it's crazy to see the duration
Speaker 2: of a thirteen year deal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was the whole thing's, oh, fifteen next year.
Speaker 1: It's actually not even that bad at this point. Fifteen
Speaker 1: next year and then a ten million dollar buyout on
Speaker 1: a fifteen million dollar club option in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 1: That was actually intrigued by. I'm like, do the Yankees
Speaker 1: pick that up? We'll see. And then you got Marcus
Speaker 1: Simeon two years left. Obviously that's not a very good contract.
Speaker 1: I put the JT. Real Muto contract in this section,
Speaker 1: but again only two years left, not that bad. And
Speaker 1: then there was another section of could be bad, but
Speaker 1: I still think there's too much prime left. So Vladdie endeavors,
Speaker 1: we're the two that I thought about. You got thirteen
Speaker 1: years left of Vladimir Guerrero Junior. How he's played this season,
Speaker 1: you'd almost put on this list, but we're not that
Speaker 1: removed from him being the best player on the planet
Speaker 1: last October. So yeah, I felt like I couldn't put
Speaker 1: it on the list.
Speaker 2: No, you got to get him a little bit morely
Speaker 2: away there, Like that was a deal that we were like,
Speaker 2: you better give it to him, you better give it
Speaker 2: to himself. I think he gets he gets a bulligin.
Speaker 2: But yeah, if it's the same story next year, it
Speaker 2: becomes interesting that the Yankees deal with it's the Marlins deal,
Speaker 2: but the arrangement after the trade with Stanton is interesting.
Speaker 2: So yeah, if he if they pick up the club option,
Speaker 2: the Marlins are on the hook for ten of the
Speaker 2: fifteen million in twenty eight Is that how that worthly?
Speaker 2: I think so, because it's just Marlins will retain ten
Speaker 2: million of each twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, and
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight for the opts. So I mean, if
Speaker 2: you get stand for five mil to just maybe make
Speaker 2: a playoff run at that point, you just put him
Speaker 2: on the ie olt for four months and hope he
Speaker 2: gets hot for you at the end of the season.
Speaker 2: Might be might be worth it. But yeah, I think
Speaker 2: the Marlins are probably quaking in their boots at the
Speaker 2: idea of paying ten million dollars. They'd be doing that
Speaker 2: for a player that they have, so for for a
Speaker 2: player that they don't have. That's gotta Be's got to be.
Speaker 1: When was that trade twenty seventeen?
Speaker 2: Yeah, going into twenty eighteen, So.
Speaker 1: Like a trade that you made almost a decade ago
Speaker 1: and you're still on the hook. Crazy, Yes, And then
Speaker 1: the Devers, I mean seven years left. Uh, I don't
Speaker 1: think that's that bad of a contract, yeat. And then
Speaker 1: I had Lindor on here too, just because you're on
Speaker 1: the back half of the contract. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the interesting thing going through this exercise. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of like your favorite players on the back half of
Speaker 1: the mega deal that are on this list. And it
Speaker 1: makes me wonder as we get into this new CBA,
Speaker 1: there's this idea potentially of a like a contract limit length,
Speaker 1: you know, like the NBA you can only Why do.
Speaker 2: You think they're pitching that? Huh? I think this exercise
Speaker 2: is basically explaining why huh.
Speaker 1: It's just interesting to think, what would How does that
Speaker 1: change the structure, because then I think the Kyle Tucker
Speaker 1: and the Bobashek contracts become a new norm of these
Speaker 1: players instead of getting the four hundred million dollars ten
Speaker 1: year deal or trying to get that, it's hey, can
Speaker 1: I get paid sixty million dollars in a season? It
Speaker 1: just becomes a different game of trying to maximize value.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And this is the thing when
Speaker 2: you signed these big time players like you're you're going
Speaker 2: to kind to pay the price on the back end,
Speaker 2: and that's part of, you know, what comes with the territory.
Speaker 2: And that's why not highlighting maybe some of the deals
Speaker 2: that are in the final couple seasons of it makes sense.
Speaker 2: But sometimes those deals where you knew you were going to,
Speaker 2: you know, take a hit, like I know in the
Speaker 2: Padres hand it out and this is your worst contract
Speaker 2: at this point. The worst contract in baseball is Xander
Speaker 2: Bogart's with his seven years remaining. It was an o
Speaker 2: visually eleven year, two hundred and eighty million dollar deal.
Speaker 2: Even at the time, everybody said this contract is nuts, right,
Speaker 2: everybody did. But I think even the Padres they knew
Speaker 2: that the final three or four years were probably not
Speaker 2: going to be great. But they probably figured, well, you know,
Speaker 2: by the time we get to twenty thirty one, twenty
Speaker 2: five million AAV, you'll probably be more like, you know,
Speaker 2: eighteen relative to what it feels like now. And and
Speaker 2: and also you're you're paying for the prime years. Where
Speaker 2: these contracts become really bad is when you get to
Speaker 2: that falloff right in the first three or four years
Speaker 2: of the deal. And like we it never really was
Speaker 2: good unfortunately from the jump, but just Bogart's just was
Speaker 2: not quite the guy that he was previously pretty much
Speaker 2: after the first season, and even the first season, it
Speaker 2: was a slight dip offensively, he saw some signs of life,
Speaker 2: but you had injuries, and then since then it's just
Speaker 2: been a struggle both heal he's been on the field.
Speaker 2: It just feels like he guysn't fully fully been healthy
Speaker 2: in terms of like there's been some nagging stuff here
Speaker 2: and there. You know, it's been mostly one hundred and
Speaker 2: eleven to one hundred and thirty six games over the
Speaker 2: last three years, and he's owed a lot of money. Well.
Speaker 2: The other thing that's interesting to me is like, is
Speaker 2: there something to do with like the numbers four and
Speaker 2: five since twenty five four hundred and fifty four thousand, sorry,
Speaker 2: twenty five million, four and fifty four thousand, five hundred
Speaker 2: and forty five dollars each year for the most part
Speaker 2: until the final year it's five hundred and fifty, so
Speaker 2: it's a little five dollars pay bump in twenty thirty
Speaker 2: three full note trade. Tough deal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a brutal contract. There's no other way to
Speaker 1: look at it. And like you said, the thing about
Speaker 1: this one is as soon as they signed it, we
Speaker 1: all were like, Xander got what I just don't know,
Speaker 1: like who had the second bit? Like how did it
Speaker 1: get to that point, like who was I know the
Speaker 1: Red Sox were in it, but they weren't in it
Speaker 1: to that degree. So the first two contracts on this
Speaker 1: list are Padres and the next one is Manny Machado,
Speaker 1: which you could say, well, at least Machado has still
Speaker 1: giving you some production. He's still playing good defense at
Speaker 1: third base, he's hitting his home runs. But I mean
Speaker 1: the ops down to seven to twelve of this season.
Speaker 1: And the thing about this contract is it was backloaded too.
Speaker 1: So from this point on Manny Machado, the AAV for
Speaker 1: the full deal, which was eleven year deal, three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty million dollar contract, the AAV for the entire
Speaker 1: deal just blow a thirty two million per but now
Speaker 1: it jumps to he's making thirty nine million dollars a
Speaker 1: season for the next seven years. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: where the Padres in a tough spot because you can't
Speaker 1: trade either contract that's the left side of your infield
Speaker 1: for better or worse, and that's what they kind of
Speaker 1: have to just work around. I Mean, the good news
Speaker 1: is over the next I'd say, what three seasons, you
Speaker 1: still have a pretty decent chance at these guys being
Speaker 1: relatively productive starters, but it feels like the superstar days
Speaker 1: might be beyond Machado and anything more than like a
Speaker 1: batter or replacement level starter might be behind Bogart. So
Speaker 1: it's just it's tough when you're a small market team,
Speaker 1: new ownership, but still a small market team, and each
Speaker 1: year you're gonna have like sixty five million dollars a
Speaker 1: year payroll sunk into those two players. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of money.
Speaker 2: Well, they got a new ownership group, are they small market? Like?
Speaker 2: How do we define that? To me?
Speaker 1: Like, they're kind of they're still a small market team.
Speaker 1: I mean they don't their fan base shows up, but
Speaker 1: it's not like even when the Cardinals were in there,
Speaker 1: Hey they were, they were drawing really well, it's still
Speaker 1: a small market.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not. They're they're not printing at it at
Speaker 2: the clip that maybe some of the Yankees obviously, or
Speaker 2: the Dodgers or whatever it may be. Fortunately, they got
Speaker 2: some really wealthy people that are aware of the liabilities
Speaker 2: and are taking it on because the Machado one that
Speaker 2: this is the big thing for me with with Preller
Speaker 2: is like I can I can respect the lack of
Speaker 2: care for risk when it comes to training prospects like,
Speaker 2: I get it, and I actually admire that approach. I
Speaker 2: think it's fun to try to be different and and
Speaker 2: it's worked for him in plenty of different ways. The
Speaker 2: lack of regard for money is fascinating to me. And
Speaker 2: I know Peter Sider like gave him, you know, a
Speaker 2: little bit of leeway there. I also, but still at
Speaker 2: the same time, like you know that you're going to
Speaker 2: be handcuffing yourself down the line. But our Guards was
Speaker 2: a reckless deal. It's one thing to go reckless contract.
Speaker 2: The Machada one didn't make sense to me because they
Speaker 2: already had a three hundred million dollar deal with him,
Speaker 2: and there was if I have it correctly, he still
Speaker 2: was under control for like through twenty twenty eight, right,
Speaker 2: So you had him through under control through twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 2: and instead you said that's not enough. Let's let's make
Speaker 2: this deal even even more ridiculous and you re extend him.
Speaker 2: And maybe he was asking for that, he was pushing
Speaker 2: for that. I get that, But at the same time,
Speaker 2: man like you gave him a three hundred million dollar deal.
Speaker 2: It's like Harper's broached the idea of being re extended
Speaker 2: it didn't happen right, Like sometimes you say, dude, you've
Speaker 2: got three hundred ms. It is what it is. But
Speaker 2: they caved and they re extended him and made it
Speaker 2: inevitable that that deal was going to be terrible for
Speaker 2: them on the backside and even worse, you know, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, with more proximity to where they currently were.
Speaker 2: I thought that was the weirdest one. Even though I
Speaker 2: love Machado. I think he's a Hall of Famer and
Speaker 2: he was playing at such a high level at the time,
Speaker 2: but still, I don't get re extending an already huge
Speaker 2: tenure deal was was weird to me. And you never
Speaker 2: see that really.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't want to make light of the situation,
Speaker 1: but the fact that these deals came in when Peter
Speaker 1: Sidler was in the condition he was like it just
Speaker 1: it kind of felt like Machad was one of his guys.
Speaker 1: And I almost like, you will never know, but you
Speaker 1: almost wonder, like was that a Peter Sidler contract and
Speaker 1: a J. Preller is just kind of like okay, like
Speaker 1: he wants to give his guy this deal. It could
Speaker 1: have been one of those situations or it wasn't Preller led,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, like the Boguards one, again,
Speaker 1: you still could have spent that money in a different
Speaker 1: way and you could have you know, definitely gone about
Speaker 1: things differently. So both of those contracts. It was just
Speaker 1: a very strange offseason. And I think the craziest part
Speaker 1: is just how quickly it has turned, because, like you said,
Speaker 1: this could have been a conversation that's like ooh, that's bad,
Speaker 1: but we'll worry abou it in twenty twenty nine, and
Speaker 1: here we are talking about in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, we got more contracts to talk about.
Speaker 2: It's the biggest thing with with the Machado dukes. I
Speaker 2: think Machado has a lot more going for him right now.
Speaker 2: I have a lot more confidence in Machada giving you
Speaker 2: with the way he's picked up this year too. I
Speaker 2: think if Minchada had a great year next year, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised at all. Really, I think
Speaker 2: this guy could find a new gear and still turn
Speaker 2: into you know, the slugger that we've maybe a different
Speaker 2: version but through through age thirty four to thirty five
Speaker 2: to thirty six, still be a really productive player. But
Speaker 2: at forty ms a year and it's all the way
Speaker 2: through age forty and twenty thirty three. That extension of
Speaker 2: the extension is is crazy to me.
Speaker 1: I just wonder if this is I wonder how the
Speaker 1: game is going to change to this new CBA and
Speaker 1: if we're going to see these deals go away and instead,
Speaker 1: like I said, it could become you know, like NBA
Speaker 1: Max level contract type situations where we're going to see
Speaker 1: guys getting paid way more in their see extended careers.
Speaker 1: Has just kind of playing the mercenary one year deals
Speaker 1: later on if they can still produce. But it feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, this is these are the contracts that we
Speaker 1: grew up on, where guys got these deals, and it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, you're going to get to see Miguel Caburra
Speaker 1: play until he's forty. Even if the last couple of
Speaker 1: years of that don't look so good. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of these deals that are still out there, which brings
Speaker 1: me to the next one on this list. The guy
Speaker 1: was not playing well this season, and the only thing
Speaker 1: that gave me comfort not raking him higher than the
Speaker 1: other two is the fact that last year he was
Speaker 1: very good. And that's trade turner same exact offseason, eleven
Speaker 1: year deal, three hundred million dollars, making twenty seven point
Speaker 1: twenty seven million per season, and this year the defense
Speaker 1: that was so amazing last year has fallen off a cliff,
Speaker 1: as has the offense. At least he still gives you
Speaker 1: some home runs and stolen bases and gives you some
Speaker 1: things that I'm not going to completely give up on
Speaker 1: Trey Turner. No, potentially, like you said, like the same
Speaker 1: thing with Machado. If Trey Turner next season was a
Speaker 1: five to six win player, again, it wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: if he had a year or two of those left.
Speaker 1: But there's seven years on this deal. I think there's
Speaker 1: going to be a lot more years across those seven
Speaker 1: that aren't good than getting the superstar that he was
Speaker 1: last season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, another fun you know, numerical deal twenty seven million,
Speaker 2: two d and seventy two seven and twenty seven dollars.
Speaker 2: There AAV with a three dollar paid month and twenty
Speaker 2: thirty three to get it to thirty dollars on the
Speaker 2: round number. But now this is another one where AAV.
Speaker 2: Wise it's not a total nightmare, but you think about
Speaker 2: a guy that, yeah, is having the worst year of
Speaker 2: his career, and you got this many years afterwards for
Speaker 2: you're going to have to move him off the position. Like,
Speaker 2: there's no way the trade Turner is going to be
Speaker 2: a short stop next year. There's just no way. And
Speaker 2: if they do that, like you're just you're you're putting yourself,
Speaker 2: you know, behind the eight ball to start the season. Now,
Speaker 2: could trade Turner go be a great second basement maybe,
Speaker 2: and maybe that'll rejuvenate him offensively a little bit too,
Speaker 2: and he could still end up being worthy close to
Speaker 2: his contract. But you're moving and you paid him to
Speaker 2: be a shortstop, you're gonna move him off the shortstop.
Speaker 2: Maybe they knew that that that was I'm sure they
Speaker 2: imagined that at some point he'd be moving off. Maybe
Speaker 2: not at age thirty three or thirty four, I should
Speaker 2: say since next year, but probably gonna move him off
Speaker 2: and then still you would have but seven years after that,
Speaker 2: it's it's a lot, a lot, a lot a lot.
Speaker 2: I was trying to compare it to the next one,
Speaker 2: but because the aav is higher and his game is
Speaker 2: predicated on I thought, this isn't The next guy is
Speaker 2: still younger, and it's just like, what's wrong? With him,
Speaker 2: you're just trying to figure it out. It's interesting. But
Speaker 2: like we're gonna get to Austin Riley next, which I
Speaker 2: think is just that one just blows my mind because
Speaker 2: at the time I was like, heist, you know, like
Speaker 2: not a heist because I think all these deals are equitable,
Speaker 2: but like great value deal for the Braves, But yeah,
Speaker 2: this trade Turner deal, like it's probably only going to
Speaker 2: get worse, right for a guy that's predicated on speed.
Speaker 2: He's still fast, but look how much it's doing him
Speaker 2: right now. If other things don't get better and the
Speaker 2: speed starts to dissipate, where's the value going to come from.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's tough, And like you mentioned Austin Riley's next,
Speaker 1: I think it is a good comparison to look at
Speaker 1: the two because with Austin Riley, his defense has also
Speaker 1: taken a little bit of a hit. But I still
Speaker 1: think he can get back there, and he's going to
Speaker 1: be at third base a trade turner is now a
Speaker 1: second baseman, or if they stick him in the outfield, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's going to bring a ton
Speaker 1: of value there where I feel like Riley might still
Speaker 1: be able to readbound a little bit at the hot
Speaker 1: corner and it's just Riley's younger. So he's the most
Speaker 1: mind boggling of the guys on this list because a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys are in the same bucket. It's
Speaker 1: back half of contracts, guys who are in their thirties.
Speaker 1: Austin Riley, he still has six years left on again
Speaker 1: what looked like a really good deal. There is a
Speaker 1: club option on that deal without a buyout, so like,
Speaker 1: the financial structure is not that bad. The player has
Speaker 1: just become bad. And I don't really know how this happened,
Speaker 1: but this sample size of Austin Riley not being the
Speaker 1: Austin Riley that got the two wand a million dollar
Speaker 1: contract has grown to a point that we can't ignore
Speaker 1: it and just push this contract to the side, like
Speaker 1: it's prominent on this list for a reason. He has
Speaker 1: not been good for an extended period here.
Speaker 2: Now you bring up a great point of like he's
Speaker 2: pretty much now as the season ends in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four is kind of an in between years, so it's
Speaker 2: hard but like just for the sake of argument year,
Speaker 2: by the time that this season ends, Austin Riley will
Speaker 2: have almost exactly the amount of not good seasons, because
Speaker 2: he's had good seasons. I'm ignoring twenty twenty nineteen and
Speaker 2: twenty twenty where he's getting his feet under him as
Speaker 2: a young, you know, top prospect. But it was three
Speaker 2: great seasons in twenty twenty one through twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and then now it's been three disappointing seasons. The one
Speaker 2: sixteen WRC plus on his way to two and a
Speaker 2: half a f four, like you could palot that, but
Speaker 2: then it was worse last year and it's been even
Speaker 2: worse this year. So it's been a steady decline as well.
Speaker 2: As he's twenty nine, like you should be in his prime.
Speaker 2: And this is another example like when everyone always says,
Speaker 2: why would he take this deal? You know, why would
Speaker 2: you do that? And Austin Riley was we're talking about
Speaker 2: him is like maybe an MVP candidate. You know, after
Speaker 2: building off of his twenty twenty two he had thirty
Speaker 2: eight homers, You're like, what could this guy be? He
Speaker 2: was twenty five, Like what could he be in his
Speaker 2: age twenty six season here? So people were like, why
Speaker 2: would you take that deal? Sure, Austin Riley like, of course,
Speaker 2: first and foremost, he wants to be the player that
Speaker 2: you know he wan he was. And but I'm sure
Speaker 2: he's happy he took the deal, and sure the Braves
Speaker 2: would would take it back at this point, even though
Speaker 2: I'm sure they still believe in him. I wouldn't want
Speaker 2: to be on the hook for the rest of this money,
Speaker 2: especially with how careful the Braves typically are. That it
Speaker 2: was a great deal for the Braves to make. It
Speaker 2: was and again for the player security, that's why they
Speaker 2: make these. They take these pre ARB and this was
Speaker 2: in pre ARB, but this was arbitration extensions. Hopefully it
Speaker 2: gets better because I am a big fan of Austin Riley.
Speaker 2: I love the way he plays the game and goes
Speaker 2: about his business. It's just it's been tough. And I mean,
Speaker 2: this was potentially gonna be the third straight year after
Speaker 2: hitting thirty three or more homer three straight years, this
Speaker 2: could be the third straight year where he's south of twenty. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've played a game before in the
Speaker 1: past when I'm covering the Mets where it's like, if
Speaker 1: you could take one contract off the books, which one
Speaker 1: would it be? Right now? For the Braves, it would
Speaker 1: be Austin Riley, And you mentioned the free agency. I
Speaker 1: was looking at that he went into this season with
Speaker 1: just over six years of service time, so I'm guessing
Speaker 1: he would have hit free agency after probably the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four season, and he had started to climb a
Speaker 1: little bit, so I don't know if he would have
Speaker 1: gotten He still would have probably done well as a
Speaker 1: free agent because at that point it was only one
Speaker 1: year and there was some injuries in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: so he still likely gets a good deal, and honestly,
Speaker 1: he might have been able to get something comparative to
Speaker 1: what he signed, but yeah, it's it's falling off a
Speaker 1: cliff for him. So I still think that of all
Speaker 1: the guys on this list, the guy that I think
Speaker 1: I'd have the most confidence in maybe playing himself off
Speaker 1: of it next year would probably be Riley because the
Speaker 1: other guys are just so much older. Which brings me
Speaker 1: to number five, which Mookie Bets, And at a certain point,
Speaker 1: it's like it's still Mookie Bets. It's hard not it's
Speaker 1: hard to criticize a for the future first ballot Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, but it's a long contract. There's six years
Speaker 1: left after this season, and now you start, you have
Speaker 1: to wonder, like Mookie Bets is becoming that's a short stop,
Speaker 1: is not giving you much with the bat, which is
Speaker 1: a really wild kind of turn in his career, and
Speaker 1: it still allows him to provide value because the glove
Speaker 1: is good at short but that's also something that you
Speaker 1: would think would fall off right six years, Like, how
Speaker 1: many more years does Mookie Bets have it? Shortstop? Which
Speaker 1: is can you imagine even us having this conversation three
Speaker 1: years ago? No?
Speaker 2: No, especially because I mean he was so damn good
Speaker 2: in twenty three. I yeah, thirty nine bombs and was
Speaker 2: everything looks fantastic. And look, he's always been an outsluged
Speaker 2: exit velocities guy, you know, which is interesting and like
Speaker 2: I would, I'm eager, and he's gonna be part of
Speaker 2: the reason I want to like kind of study in
Speaker 2: on how those types of guys age. You know, part
Speaker 2: of me would think, oh, well, you know, he doesn't
Speaker 2: light it up ev wise, it's all about the angles,
Speaker 2: like that should be a guy that ages well. But
Speaker 2: the other side of it is, well, yeah, he needs
Speaker 2: maybe every bit of that bat speed that he does
Speaker 2: have to be able to airpole and like he has
Speaker 2: the bet. He is a good swing path and has
Speaker 2: the knack to airpole, but when you start to lose
Speaker 2: the bat speed from already a below average rate, even
Speaker 2: trying to airpole at the consistent clip just makes your
Speaker 2: margin for error become so razor thin. That's something I
Speaker 2: got to look more into. But Mookie Betts is the
Speaker 2: reason why I am because you just wonder, like, with
Speaker 2: a lighter batspeed guy that has been so airpole dependent,
Speaker 2: when you start to slow down a little bit, what
Speaker 2: does that do to you? And if that is the
Speaker 2: reason why, like he just has not been productive. I
Speaker 2: looked at last year or was it twenty four where
Speaker 2: he was just so sick and just like lost so
Speaker 2: much weight, and it was last year last year, couldn't
Speaker 2: shake it. I felt like that justified the slow start.
Speaker 2: And then you saw him finish strong and still came
Speaker 2: up big and big moments. But this year has been
Speaker 2: his worst year of his career. And and yeah, he
Speaker 2: just I think he You got to give Mooie the
Speaker 2: benefit of the doubt a little bit, but it's still
Speaker 2: another one where it's like, I don't know, maybe these
Speaker 2: long postseasons like hes you got to remember two he's
Speaker 2: played so many games, you know, with with the runs
Speaker 2: that the Dodgers are making, and you know, also I
Speaker 2: always go back to the fact that they wanted to
Speaker 2: put him in the right field to preserve his legs
Speaker 2: right and and keep him fresh. And then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, it's, ah, shit, we need a shortstop. But
Speaker 2: forget that whole thing that we said. And now he's
Speaker 2: been playing a lot of shortstop going deep into the postseason,
Speaker 2: and a lot of high leverage, you know, just high
Speaker 2: effort moments, and I wonder if that's just starting to
Speaker 2: wear on him a little bit too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I guess the problem is Tommy I've
Speaker 1: been hasn't stayed healthy. But you would just wander, like
Speaker 1: next year, why not just in spring shating and say
Speaker 1: we're going to figure out shortstop. You're gonna play second base,
Speaker 1: and that's that's how you're going to spend the next
Speaker 1: six years of this deal, because Mookie Bets could be
Speaker 1: a great defensive second basement and way less wear and
Speaker 1: tear on him, where maybe you get a little more
Speaker 1: out of him offensively. But yeah, it's he's thirty four
Speaker 1: years old next season. And the interesting thing too, that
Speaker 1: I'm looking at is I'm surprised that the walk grate
Speaker 1: has has kind of dropped off because Mookie Bets getting
Speaker 1: on base at a two ninety one clip, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't think I ever was going to see that.
Speaker 2: You know what I think that is pictures going after him,
Speaker 2: and they're they're not worried about thirty five thirty nine Homer.
Speaker 2: Mookie Bets. They're going after him. And I know he's
Speaker 2: got sixteen and ninety one games this year, but at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, I just I don't think
Speaker 2: you were was worried about a to ninety one OBP
Speaker 2: to thirty seven batting average. Mookie Betsy killing you and
Speaker 2: especially with nobody on podcast. He brought up a great
Speaker 2: point though, bats beat's actually up a mile per hour
Speaker 2: this year. So I got to go back to the
Speaker 2: drawing board and try to figure out what's up with
Speaker 2: Mookie here, and you know why we've seen this kind
Speaker 2: of this drop off this season. But another guy that
Speaker 2: wouldn't blink if he's better next year. A couple more
Speaker 2: rapid fire To wrap up, we got five more names.
Speaker 1: Yep, Aaron Nola number six on this list. Seven year,
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy two million dollars deal twenty four
Speaker 1: point five to seven million dollars per year, four years left,
Speaker 1: but the last two, the first two on this deal,
Speaker 1: I guess maybe the second and third years on this
Speaker 1: deal have not been very good for Aaron Nola. At
Speaker 1: least he still gives you innings like that. That's why
Speaker 1: he ended up falling a little bit lower. Has at
Speaker 1: least been.
Speaker 2: Shot in the last few starts too all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: But I mean, how sustainable is.
Speaker 1: I will say, for whatever it's worth. Leo Morgenstern has
Speaker 1: not given up on Aaron Nola. I know that for
Speaker 1: a fact. He doesn't understand why he's given up so
Speaker 1: many home runs, but he's he's still a believer, So
Speaker 1: that Nola, I don't think with to spend too much
Speaker 1: time there. You know, we'll see if he pitches better
Speaker 1: across the next four years. Number seven on the list
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker. This one is just how can you not
Speaker 1: put with the production they've gotten out of him and
Speaker 1: how much he's getting paid, how can you not put
Speaker 1: him on this list? It's a short enough contract that
Speaker 1: obviously he hasn't opted for next season where it shouldn't
Speaker 1: hold the Dodgers up too much long term obviously, and
Speaker 1: you still feel like there's a chance that Kyle Tucker
Speaker 1: next year can also hit himself off of this list.
Speaker 1: It's just been a really rough first season with the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: Well, and when you get the all time AAV number
Speaker 2: and how rough it's been, like, yeah, it's a little recentcy,
Speaker 2: but like relevant recency here without Battlesman, plus of the
Speaker 2: tax penalties that they had to pay on top of that,
Speaker 2: like they deemed him worth it. I mean, he's definitely
Speaker 2: not been worth even without the penalties, so that one's
Speaker 2: shorter term. But this would derail any other franchise right now,
Speaker 2: which I understand is a big argument of what people
Speaker 2: are making about this CBA, you know, needing to change
Speaker 2: in general. But we got a lot more going on,
Speaker 2: and with the Dodgers is way about my pay grade
Speaker 2: that I'm very interested to hear more about in the
Speaker 2: coming weeks or days or whatever it may be. But
Speaker 2: you go to the rivals with the Giants too, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I thought this deal wouldn't be
Speaker 2: that bad. It's terrible.
Speaker 1: Willie Damas, I almost forgot to put her on the list.
Speaker 1: That was what I had this morning, like I got
Speaker 1: to check before we go live with this am I
Speaker 1: forgetting anybody And Willie Domas definitely deserves to him on
Speaker 1: this list with the season he's having. I will say,
Speaker 1: he still hit twenty home runs as a Giant, so
Speaker 1: it's not awful. That's why he finds himself lower on
Speaker 1: this list. He's actually kind of like the lowest name
Speaker 1: as far as the long term, huge money deals that
Speaker 1: we have here. Five years left. Last season he's still
Speaker 1: after really slow starting his first year with the Giant, Giants,
Speaker 1: found his way to being a four win player. I
Speaker 1: think the thing that makes this contract look a little
Speaker 1: bit scary is the defense is starting to fall off.
Speaker 1: And that's that's what's more nerve racking about it. Because
Speaker 1: if he was still playing good defense, hitting you twenty
Speaker 1: home runs like a low hundred a low seven hundred
Speaker 1: ozps wouldn't be the end of the world. Could have
Speaker 1: just be like one bad year. But if he's not
Speaker 1: going to be a good defender at short and they
Speaker 1: got to move him off that position and you still
Speaker 1: have five years left at twenty six million per for
Speaker 1: the Giants, that's not a great contract.
Speaker 2: No, not not very good. The defense is gonna be
Speaker 2: the big variable. Another guy could bounce back next year
Speaker 2: and be better defensively. It's just this year it's just
Speaker 2: been a complete fuff. He's always kind of been back
Speaker 2: and forth on it too, which is weird. One of
Speaker 2: my favorites in Lawrence Butler being on here is tough.
Speaker 2: But I mean, just how immediate at least it's nine
Speaker 2: point four million dollars aav You know, in the seven year,
Speaker 2: sixty five point five million dollar deal, there's a club
Speaker 2: option with a buyout, yeah, after five. But man, I
Speaker 2: just I would have thought that this would at least
Speaker 2: be a pretty decent deal. You made swing adjustments that
Speaker 2: I was bought into that had him just really raking,
Speaker 2: and it's just been completely completely lost for him, and
Speaker 2: it's been tough to watch. Well.
Speaker 1: The thing too, is when you structure a prior of extension,
Speaker 1: I mean most teams do it this way where you
Speaker 1: kind of are fixing the costs, but you're locking them
Speaker 1: into a similar payment structure. So right now he's making
Speaker 1: three point six. By the end of this thing, he's
Speaker 1: making sixteen point four, So you know, you get to
Speaker 1: the end of this deal's Lawrence Butther doesn't figure it out,
Speaker 1: you know, in twenty thirty one, you're still on the
Speaker 1: hook here and you can't really get off the contract.
Speaker 1: So you know, these are deals where like right now,
Speaker 1: Lawrence Butler, he's not getting paid to the point where
Speaker 1: it's hurting the a's in the present and the long
Speaker 1: term luxury tax implications if that matters to the ages
Speaker 1: and if it matters in the new CBA, Yeah, nine
Speaker 1: million dollars. Again, it's not a backbreaker, it's just if
Speaker 1: he doesn't figure it out, you are now locked into
Speaker 1: six years trying to figure this thing out with him still.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is is tough, but at least he's got
Speaker 2: time and I still think he's got the talent. That's
Speaker 2: one that could still turn around, because he doesn't need
Speaker 2: to be a superstar for that deal to be worth it. Last,
Speaker 2: but certainly not least as Anthony Santan there with the
Speaker 2: Blue Jays.
Speaker 1: Yeah, five years, nine to two and a half million
Speaker 1: dollars luxury tax hit because of all the deferred money
Speaker 1: and everything comes out to about fifteen million dollars per
Speaker 1: fourteen point six to be exact. But the crazy part
Speaker 1: about this contract because they were doing the luxury tax game.
Speaker 1: Anthony Santander will be on the Blue Jays paybooks until
Speaker 1: twenty forty six. Twenty forty six, that's twenty years from
Speaker 1: now for a guy who has barely played at all
Speaker 1: in a Blue Jay's uniform and there are still three
Speaker 1: years left in this deal. The hope would be at
Speaker 1: some point you get some level of production from Anthony Santander.
Speaker 1: But I mean, it's that's that's gonna be the Blue
Speaker 1: Jays version of the Bye Bonilla Day. And as a
Speaker 1: Mets fan, I'll tell you how annoying it is that
Speaker 1: every year I get like fifteen text messages I buy
Speaker 1: Bania gifts running to get his cash. It's gonna be Santander.
Speaker 1: If you're a Blue Jays fan, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could definitely see that. Hopefully, I mean, you
Speaker 2: can come back healthy, back from the shoulder injury, and
Speaker 2: you know, maybe you get something next year. But also
Speaker 2: there's a chance that that could go down, as you know,
Speaker 2: one of the worst deals that the Jays have ever
Speaker 2: really had, though, So look out for the article. We
Speaker 2: might see some things shuffle around, maybe a late insertion there,
Speaker 2: so it'll be fun on that front. But we are
Speaker 2: going to get to the games of the weekend here
Speaker 2: the weekend preview, but before that, one more quick break.
Speaker 2: So I never point guard the games of the weekend,
Speaker 2: So apologies in advance if I butcher the living hell
Speaker 2: out of this, because usually I'm just sitting there waiting
Speaker 2: for them to get my prediction on it. But we
Speaker 2: do have some fun games today as we're recording this
Speaker 2: on Friday, one that's already going to be starting by
Speaker 2: the time people are listening to this. But holy banger,
Speaker 2: we've got Chris Sale versus Jacob Mizrawski Braves Brewers at
Speaker 2: four eastern. What's your call here? I think this is
Speaker 2: going to be of a showdown pitching wise.
Speaker 1: I just got the under right, what's it gonna.
Speaker 2: Be like five and a half runs?
Speaker 1: It's crazy, that's crazy. I guess I would. I would
Speaker 1: probably go with miz But I mean, that's just the
Speaker 1: game you want to watch.
Speaker 2: That's God, That's a game that I will be the
Speaker 2: second we record the call up. After this, I will
Speaker 2: be seated finishing up the top one hundred ride ups
Speaker 2: and watching that pitching matchup. We get another fun one
Speaker 2: at seven Eastern Tonight Giants, Red Sox Logan Web opposite
Speaker 2: of Sonny Gray, who again, I know records don't matter
Speaker 2: that much. I'm gonna respect a fifteen and three record
Speaker 2: from Sunny Gray two six five. Alright. I know we've
Speaker 2: talked about Sonny Gray on here. I don't think he's
Speaker 2: getting enough pub for how freaking great he has been
Speaker 2: this season. And Logan Web is a walking quality start.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, if it was anybody but Logan Web, I
Speaker 1: think it'd be an easy pick on the Red Sox.
Speaker 1: But yeah, another great pitching matchup and Sunny Gray. Interesting
Speaker 1: thing with him is he's got a thirty million dollar
Speaker 1: option for next season, and I'm just curious, like, what
Speaker 1: what matters to Somendy Gray at this point? Do you
Speaker 1: like where you're at you just want to opt into
Speaker 1: that or are you thinking like you want to sign
Speaker 1: another three year deal because I think the way it's pitching,
Speaker 1: he can get another three year deal and I'll take
Speaker 1: him to win today as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think his agent's going to be praying that
Speaker 2: he opts out. But you know, Sonny just seems to
Speaker 2: be kind of cool with with you know, where he's
Speaker 2: at and not wanting to bounce around that much anymore.
Speaker 2: And I respect that he's got a family and all
Speaker 2: that stuff, and he talked about that a little bit
Speaker 2: when they were when the Red Sox were really bad,
Speaker 2: in terms of like, hey, will, would you wave your
Speaker 2: no trade cause or whatever it may be. We're going
Speaker 2: to jump into the third ball game here. We've got
Speaker 2: Rays versus Orioles. And this is another fun one because
Speaker 2: it's Trevor Rodgers opposite of Freddie Peralta Freddy. It's been
Speaker 2: a bad year for him, but I do think it's
Speaker 2: been much better, at least in the last outing. The
Speaker 2: Rays already had a plan, they made some tweaks for him,
Speaker 2: and he's immediately immediately been better in terms of like
Speaker 2: when I watched it, I thought the strike throwing was better.
Speaker 2: I thought the stuff looked a little bit better. I
Speaker 2: think they had him working out the stretch a little
Speaker 2: bit more, some usage tweaks. I'm very interested to see
Speaker 2: if Freddy's follow up is as good as it was.
Speaker 2: And then Trevor Rodgers has just been really solid overall.
Speaker 2: You know, after a bit of a slow start.
Speaker 1: I think a big thing with him pitching out of
Speaker 1: the stretch is it improved his extension on his fastball,
Speaker 1: which was a big thing. It was like, how did
Speaker 1: Freddy Peralta put on a Mets uniform and lose like
Speaker 1: half a foot of an extension just in just a year.
Speaker 1: So if they can figure that out, he's going to
Speaker 1: be a lot better. Definitely rooting for him to figure
Speaker 1: things out. Also pretty rough that he gets to a
Speaker 1: new situation off of the first half that he had
Speaker 1: and he had a pitching corps for the first game
Speaker 1: that was pretty rough on him. But I definitely would
Speaker 1: not count him out to figure things out, and I
Speaker 1: also wouldn't amount to win today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one. I'm just I'm very focused on like
Speaker 2: the follow up, you know, and just just what kind
Speaker 2: of Freddy they get there. We go to Saturday. Saturday
Speaker 2: games are actually we have a couple more on on
Speaker 2: Friday as well. Make sure I don't miss any more
Speaker 2: on the Friday slate. I'm looking at now, I think
Speaker 2: we're going We're gonna go to Saturday. I'm sorry, We're
Speaker 2: gonna go to Saturday. We got a fun one in
Speaker 2: New York Blue Jays versus Yankees, Dylan Cees versus Ryan Weathers,
Speaker 2: who's been throwing the crap out of the baseball as well.
Speaker 2: Cease is on a hunt for the cy Young. Ryan
Speaker 2: Weathers is again throwing really well of late. The Jays
Speaker 2: have a little bit of wife all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: theyre always gonn play Yankees tough.
Speaker 1: See I Dylan Sees is one of those guys where
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, it's it's almost like getting
Speaker 1: the career achievement oscar type dealer's just like I want
Speaker 1: to see him get get to the finish line on
Speaker 1: a thy Young race and win it, because he should
Speaker 1: have won one a couple of years ago, if not
Speaker 1: for Justin Verlander, if memory serves, and so to see
Speaker 1: him finally put it together like he's he's got it
Speaker 1: in sights. So I feel like this is the chance
Speaker 1: for a Seas to sprint through the finish line. Who
Speaker 1: are gonna be playing in October? So I mean, for
Speaker 1: Cease right now, he's just got to be thinking, you
Speaker 1: got what like seven starts left to win a cy Young's.
Speaker 1: It's right there for him. So I'll take him to
Speaker 1: show up in a big moment because this is one
Speaker 1: of those starts too that can really kind of swing
Speaker 1: a race because there's gonna be a lot of eyes
Speaker 1: on him at Yankee Stadium, you know, making this start,
Speaker 1: So this would be a chance for him to definitely
Speaker 1: improve that case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am interested to see that. And again, it's
Speaker 2: fun that the Yankees, like teammates could kind of like
Speaker 2: help help Cam Schwitzler potentially win that Cy Young Award
Speaker 2: by just getting to cease who they did not see
Speaker 2: or they didn't not too long ago since they saw him.
Speaker 2: Jared Jones versus Trek Scoobel on Saturday Padre or pyris
Speaker 2: excuse me versus Dodgers anytimes Scooble's throwing um seated, especially
Speaker 2: since he's joined the Dodgers, where it just still seems
Speaker 2: like he's finding his footing a little bit. Jared Jones
Speaker 2: has been this Checko and Hyde where you've had these
Speaker 2: dominant outings and then not quite as dominant. Last one
Speaker 2: was dominant, And I think he's going to rise to
Speaker 2: the occasion against the Dodgers, but it's a pretty tall
Speaker 2: occasion to fully rise up to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're waiting for that game right where school will
Speaker 1: just absolutely dominate in the Dodgers uniform and then you know,
Speaker 1: we can have fans freak out again about the Dodgers
Speaker 1: earning baseball. I think this would be the time for it,
Speaker 1: right where Schooble like punches twelve, just has one of
Speaker 1: those starts like he's kind of due for that first
Speaker 1: really dominant outing, and I think that Pirates lineup is
Speaker 1: probably a nice opportunity for that to happen.
Speaker 2: We go to Sunday a reminder that this the weekend
Speaker 2: Preview is always brought to you by our friends at Picket.
Speaker 2: Be short to download the Picket app when you sink
Speaker 2: your sports book, and you can get anywhere from three
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Speaker 2: the best way to track all of your hicks, you know,
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Speaker 2: retroactively did it and told me kind of like, hey,
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Speaker 2: you live bet you're good in the first five innings.
Speaker 2: Things like that are super super helpful. So I think
Speaker 2: that's a fun way if you're a better to download it.
Speaker 2: But also like even if you're not that active in it,
Speaker 2: you get a free opportunity to get either three or
Speaker 2: one hundred hours once you sink a sports book, so
Speaker 2: might as well try to get the free money and
Speaker 2: give it a shot. The link is in the episode
Speaker 2: description to check it out. It's a really useful app there.
Speaker 2: And we like our friends at pickets go to Sunday
Speaker 2: Cubs Mariners, Shoudy Managa, Bryce Miller Showda didn't have his
Speaker 2: best last time, if I remember correctly, I need to
Speaker 2: double check that. But Bryce Miller, we definitely know has
Speaker 2: not had his best. It's in Seattle at least. But man, like,
Speaker 2: if I'm a struggling pictcher, I don't know if I
Speaker 2: want to see the Cubs line up right now.
Speaker 1: No, it'd be hard for me to pick against the
Speaker 1: US right now in that particular matchup. Yeah, they're rolling,
Speaker 1: so I think the matter of the ballpark, I think
Speaker 1: they can put up some runs and we'll see if
Speaker 1: Shoda's quietly pretty solid this season. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: Shoda doesn't get talked about at all anymore. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be a free age in next season too, and I
Speaker 1: think he's done enough here where he should be all
Speaker 1: to get a solid enough contract he's in a much
Speaker 1: better stand, and I think he would have been had
Speaker 1: he entered the market last year, at.
Speaker 2: Least for how much because he was so good, and
Speaker 2: then for how much flak he caught last year when
Speaker 2: he wasn't good. I feel like he's definitely not getting
Speaker 2: enough love for how solid again he's been this year.
Speaker 1: To your point, like, I don't think that Shoda is
Speaker 1: a front line starter, and maybe when he first came
Speaker 1: up we thought he might be, but you could do
Speaker 1: a lot worse for your number three or four starter
Speaker 1: than Showda in.
Speaker 2: Monaga and especially I mean players coming over from Japan,
Speaker 2: Like we have more information than ever, but there's still
Speaker 2: kind of a black box component to it, Like look
Speaker 2: at tattooa in my to get what you got in
Speaker 2: year one? Then year two was a three seven three,
Speaker 2: but it was a much more turbulent three seven three.
Speaker 2: This year is a three seven seven, but it's been
Speaker 2: a way more steady three seven seven, where you're just
Speaker 2: you're not getting many of those bull up starts. Maybe
Speaker 2: you don't get the seven shoddy that you would get
Speaker 2: mixed in here and there. But I just feel like
Speaker 2: he's been so much more consistent and a big reason why,
Speaker 2: you know, an anchor for this cub's rotation that before
Speaker 2: they addressed it has not been you know, as as
Speaker 2: solidified as as some of the others. So speaking of
Speaker 2: an anchor, Nick Martinez has been an anchor for the
Speaker 2: Rays and he's opposite of Shane Boss, who's looked like
Speaker 2: a great addition all of a sudden for the Orioles.
Speaker 2: I know it was a good trade regardless, but just
Speaker 2: the way that he's been throwing of late. You always
Speaker 2: get the revenge game opportunity for Shane Boz against the Rays.
Speaker 2: But Nick Martinez I don't know how he does. It's
Speaker 2: six innings of like one k no run ball, so
Speaker 2: he's a walking quality start Shane Boss has been of
Speaker 2: late two you get the revenge game component. I think
Speaker 2: this is gonna be a fun one.
Speaker 1: A lot of fun. I wonder with how the Boss
Speaker 1: trade has worked out, as all the prospects that came
Speaker 1: over really pinning out immediately for the Rays, Like, is
Speaker 1: this a game where the race jump all over Shane
Speaker 1: Boz and that narrative kind of continues, or does Shane
Speaker 1: Boz push back on it and show why the Oarls
Speaker 1: gave up so much to get him. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the Oriols still have a chance here, Like Pete Alonso
Speaker 1: is carrying that lamp right now, one of the hottest
Speaker 1: hitters in baseball, and they are right in the mix
Speaker 1: despite the fact that they have not had a good season.
Speaker 1: So you know, a guy like Shane Boz locking into
Speaker 1: the best version of himself across the final month and
Speaker 1: a half, that can carry you in this race. Like
Speaker 1: the Orioles don't need that much to hang in it,
Speaker 1: but they do need to avoid getting beat up on
Speaker 1: by the race this weekend, so that'll be a very
Speaker 1: fun matchup for sure.
Speaker 2: If this season, teams have seen a lot of each other.
Speaker 2: The Orioles did just beat up the Rays a little bit,
Speaker 2: and they have this season, so it'll be interesting to
Speaker 2: see how it continues here. I think we get a
Speaker 2: good one from Boz. I think it would be a
Speaker 2: fun pitchers tool, but I think Boz pitchers with some
Speaker 2: fire under him, and it's gonna be fun to watch
Speaker 2: this definitely circled ballgame for me. That'll do it for
Speaker 2: the Just Baseball Show here on Friday. I hope you
Speaker 2: all enjoyed it and keep an eye out for Fink's
Speaker 2: article on the worst contracts. Also, we have some other
Speaker 2: fun stuff coming up because we got the Top one
Speaker 2: hundred coming out next week. We've got Michael McGreevy, Cardinals pitcher,
Speaker 2: coming on the show as well, very excited about that,
Speaker 2: and then Robert Murray joining us from Fansided as well.
Speaker 2: So plenty going on next week, Plenty to look forward to.
Speaker 2: But that is it for today's episode. Any final thoughts thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to
Speaker 1: the Noel McLain versus Potential Bullpen game in Chicago on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a good matchup. That's Fay.
Speaker 2: He's throwing the ball. Well, man, he's throwing the ball. Well,
Speaker 2: I've got my cards. That is Bowman first is him hitting,
Speaker 2: which I think is so cool. They did go down
Speaker 2: in value, but I think they're going back up now
Speaker 2: and I'm feeling good about it.
Speaker 1: I did want to get some of my propaganda on
Speaker 1: the show today, So can I just say this, If
Speaker 1: Noel mcla repeats his last seven starts what he did
Speaker 1: last seven, or his final seven, he's going to end
Speaker 1: the year to three one, five era and two hundred
Speaker 1: and six strikeouts at one hundred and eighty three innings
Speaker 1: pitch and no one is talking about him in the
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year. So I got a word in
Speaker 1: on the show to just yeah, hey, don't forget about McClain.
Speaker 2: And unfortunately, like we said going into the year, like
Speaker 2: we would take the field or like we would take
Speaker 2: probably the two Mets versus the field in the nl
Speaker 2: is just because he had BENJ. McLain. Both had great
Speaker 2: years and it's still not going to land great shout
Speaker 2: in the live chat as well, how could I omit this?
Speaker 2: Maybe the game of the weekend. We get to see
Speaker 2: you on Saturday, Cubs versus Kate Anderson making his MLB debut.
Speaker 2: Can't miss that. So of course that we talked so
Speaker 2: much about it on the first segment, I almost forgot
Speaker 2: to mention it in the Games of the Weekend. That's
Speaker 2: gonna be fun at seven o'clock Eastern, they're gonna be
Speaker 2: on Fox toore. We getting the network NLB debut for
Speaker 2: Kate Anderson. That's ridiculous and help probably shove. So I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go with a shove outing from him there, and
Speaker 2: I think I think he rises to the occasion on
Speaker 2: Network TV.
Speaker 1: Here you go, Here you go. I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: be wonder a watch for sure.
Speaker 2: That'll do it. Thank you all for listening, have a
Speaker 2: great weekend, and we will talk to you next week.