Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Waken Jake. It's time. It's tearless season.
Speaker 1: It's the season of the sticks. Jolly Olive is with us.
Speaker 1: We're starting off with a bang with the shortstop position.
Speaker 1: As we will go through all thirty players or teams.
Speaker 1: Is there might be thirty one or thirty two. If
Speaker 1: you were here for Tearless Season last year, welcome back
Speaker 1: and welcome home. Becoming awaken Jake Staple thanks to the
Speaker 1: rhythmic stylings of Jolly Olive. Jolly, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good, Jake, I'm excited. We chatted yesterday and I said, Hey,
Speaker 2: wouldn't you want to start? And you said tomorrow. I
Speaker 2: said okay, And here we are and we're starting off
Speaker 2: with a doozy. I'm kind of glad we're starting off
Speaker 2: with the shortstop tearless because it's hard, pous, and I
Speaker 2: think it's a great way to kick off the season.
Speaker 1: I hate that you're becoming a confident adult before my eyes. Okay,
Speaker 1: don't make wiener jokes on the show without me starting.
Speaker 2: How do you make your bread? What do you mean?
Speaker 1: We when we originally dreamed this up last year, we
Speaker 1: said let's save shortstops for last, because we were like, hey,
Speaker 1: shortstop position, that's you know, there's something to that in baseball,
Speaker 1: like in a way, your best player still kind of
Speaker 1: ends up there, Like how many how many of these
Speaker 1: guys could you point out and say they're the best
Speaker 1: player on their team? Like arguably? Yeah, Like it's it's
Speaker 1: a wild thing, and it's also a joke. As people
Speaker 1: go over their prospect lists, you know, you got a
Speaker 1: lot of shortstop prospects, and then well, left field's open,
Speaker 1: see you over there, kiddo, and the shortstop position is stacked,
Speaker 1: especially because there's a couple fresh names at the top
Speaker 1: of the list that you guys probably know off the
Speaker 1: top of your head if you're listening to Awaken Jake's
Speaker 1: Shortstop teer list, But maybe you're not, by the way,
Speaker 1: maybe you're just please subscribe and we through the next
Speaker 1: upcoming couple weeks, a couple of weeks leading up to
Speaker 1: the baseball season. That's just it's kind of not true.
Speaker 2: Well, like everyone has the day where pictures and cashers
Speaker 2: report we're like, yeah, we're back, and then no one
Speaker 2: cares about.
Speaker 1: A little bit not you know, I'm up for that
Speaker 1: Tokyo game. As we get into these shortstops. I want
Speaker 1: to do a little bit of you have to know
Speaker 1: where you're from to know where you're going. Last year,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut myself off. Tearless crack me up. Still.
Speaker 1: It's like the closest thing that makes me like an
Speaker 1: actual YouTuber. Otherwise I'm just an old Italian man who
Speaker 1: talks sports. I have a couple old things. We'll save
Speaker 1: that for the end. But the tearless are really fun.
Speaker 1: I think it's just a fun way if you have
Speaker 1: no idea, it's a fun way to lump and rank
Speaker 1: together the shortstops. Also keeping a positive beat, not really
Speaker 1: trying to bury anyone or be mean. Baseball is a
Speaker 1: really hard sport and accept kind of like hobby by as.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in a little bit, probably soon
Speaker 1: as we get to the categories. And the other thing
Speaker 1: that I think drives some of the kids nuts is
Speaker 1: that this is supposed to be like s tier. We
Speaker 1: don't play that game here. We make our own tiers.
Speaker 1: Last year at the shortstop position and BBD's got it
Speaker 1: up on the screen for the YouTube. The top tier
Speaker 1: was three hundred million dollars well spent. Mookie Seeger Lindor
Speaker 1: Trey Turner. The second column bookmark this and I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're someone that wants to know where baseball's going.
Speaker 1: Our second row was future MVP winners. It was Bobby
Speaker 1: and Gunner. Hmm interesting. The third comm gonna want to
Speaker 1: circle this one was wooden leather with bobas Shit and Dansby.
Speaker 2: That was the third tier.
Speaker 1: Baseball happens fast.
Speaker 2: That's the top eight.
Speaker 1: Where's gold? Which there was a glimmer in BBD's I
Speaker 1: looking at this one because it was Ha Song Kim,
Speaker 1: Carlos Correa, JP Crawford, and Willia Damas and I think
Speaker 1: this was lumped together on gold gloves if you wear
Speaker 1: gold chains well, and I think Hassan Kim the padres
Speaker 1: gold was hist Me in the middle even though he
Speaker 1: should probably have a gold I think he might have one.
Speaker 1: Also an interesting guy on this list just because well
Speaker 1: in the upcoming one below that and this is interesting
Speaker 1: cruising it was Ellie de la Cruz and O'Neil Cruz.
Speaker 1: One not on the list anymore.
Speaker 2: Centerfield cruise.
Speaker 1: You'll have to tune into that. And Ellie should be
Speaker 1: climbing pretty good, hope was c J. Abrams, Volpi zeke
Speaker 1: Tova our Jeremy Panny is zach Netto Perdomo and I
Speaker 1: think that's say cob A Yarrow on the end. Wow,
Speaker 1: he was in the Hope column. Uh, don't look at
Speaker 1: this line please. Was below that Trevor Story, Orlando Arcia
Speaker 1: and Tim Anderson unknown rookies. Mason went and we had
Speaker 1: uh Gabriel arias we believe from Cleveland who turned into
Speaker 1: Brian Rocchio. But his gabriel Arius also would have landed
Speaker 1: in the same category, would have been in the same box.
Speaker 1: That's kind of Cleveland Guardians baseball.
Speaker 2: I think Mason Winn might be our highest climber. Okay,
Speaker 2: so I.
Speaker 1: Think by tears and that bottom deer. Kenny Pickett shout
Speaker 1: out to the former Steelers quarterback going for the Super Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: might have a ring super Bowl quarterback. Kenny Pickett. Also,
Speaker 1: I just at it. I'm really proud of this this
Speaker 1: morning because it's can he pick it? Can he play defense?
Speaker 1: At shorts? Oh?
Speaker 2: A year later, I just got that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, I think you could be dumb and
Speaker 1: be like that's kind of a lazy thing. I think
Speaker 1: that's fantastic. That's the guy's real name can you take?
Speaker 1: And it was Hobby Bias, Brandon Crawford, Nick Ahmed, and
Speaker 1: Nick allen Or formerly Oakland Athletics, and a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys are no longer on the list. Hobby still
Speaker 1: is kind of let's get into this year's and if
Speaker 1: you're along for the ride with us, you know, we
Speaker 1: start off with our categories, and we adapt as we
Speaker 1: go if we need to add a category, if we
Speaker 1: need to remove a category. And I think we might
Speaker 1: have even gone too deep with our current categories because
Speaker 1: we do have as we probably should have started. We
Speaker 1: might have to count ourselves to six or seven next
Speaker 1: time and go from there if we need to. The
Speaker 1: top is Aaron Bleepin' Judge. The second category is MVP
Speaker 1: Dash two. The third category is three Legged Horse fourth
Speaker 1: team's best Player. And we think that's okay? Question mark?
Speaker 1: Next column, Ha Song Kim, And that's okay. Question mark,
Speaker 1: Ha Song Kim, And that's not okay. Question mark, wife swap.
Speaker 1: My favorite canny picket is back, and I don't think
Speaker 1: I'll ever remove it because I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 2: And if you're upset about that comment.
Speaker 1: The bottom bottom row is Hobby bias, so could be anybody.
Speaker 1: Let's throw Hobby on there to start. Oh, and I
Speaker 1: just that's how we're starting. I just want to get
Speaker 1: it out of the way, band Aid because go look
Speaker 1: at the SAT page, which, like I, this is a
Speaker 1: guy that's made a ton of money. This is a
Speaker 1: guy that in Chicago is still a hero. This is
Speaker 1: a guy that has an awesome baseball resume to a
Speaker 1: certain date, and it's just been horribly tough for Tiger
Speaker 1: fans to watch. And I wonder what's going on in
Speaker 1: Hobby's head. But we're not actually starting there. I think
Speaker 1: we should do the top I think that's not normally
Speaker 1: how it works, but with where Shortstop has landed, I
Speaker 1: think there's two top guns, y'all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were trying to come up with a name
Speaker 2: for this, and I thought you nailed it. You are
Speaker 2: You're a YouTuber at your core. We all know it.
Speaker 2: Aaron Bleepin' Judge is reserved for two men, and you
Speaker 2: could probably do who they are just by the name.
Speaker 2: It's Gunnar Henderson and Bobby Wood Junior. Because either one
Speaker 2: of these guys would have been a shoein from MVP
Speaker 2: last year had Aaron Judge not had the regular season
Speaker 2: that he did have.
Speaker 1: It actually would have been a wild conversation if he judged.
Speaker 3: Would have been fun.
Speaker 2: I think Soto finishes above Gunner in voting, but I
Speaker 2: think if Judge isn't there, I think it's the two
Speaker 2: shortstops at the top, just because they played the most
Speaker 2: difficult position on the field and their stats were so close.
Speaker 2: I said it to you before we started. I said
Speaker 2: that Gunner won the first half. Remember at the end
Speaker 2: of May, we were talking like Gunner versus Judge, who's
Speaker 2: gonna get it? Bobby won the year. He had a
Speaker 2: really nice end to his year. Yeah, and really made
Speaker 2: that contract look like an underpay, which you know, Gunner, Wow,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't take that extension off or man, I'd hit
Speaker 2: fraid to say if I are you, these two belong
Speaker 2: at the top. They are some of the younger shortstops here,
Speaker 2: and they're already the most talented from the looks of it.
Speaker 2: You can cite small sample size as a counter argument.
Speaker 2: I get that, but they are ranked above a lot
Speaker 2: of great shortstops here because they've already done things that
Speaker 2: certain elite shortstops on this list have not. Done in
Speaker 2: longer careers, and I think that makes it all the
Speaker 2: more impressive. They also play in the same league, and
Speaker 2: they probably will both end up with MVP hardware at
Speaker 2: some point. So I never asked me which one I
Speaker 2: think is better right now, because I don't know. They're
Speaker 2: kind of you can pick either one and start your
Speaker 2: franchise with them, but they definitely both belong at the top.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we it's Gunner and Bobby. I'm proud of us
Speaker 1: that last year's category was future MVPs and they were
Speaker 1: a tier before below guys that are now probably be
Speaker 1: a tier below them. But yeah, it's Bobby and Gunner
Speaker 1: side by side. You from last season. Judging on last season,
Speaker 1: you cannot pick Gunner. It's rail thin, the stolen bases,
Speaker 1: the defense, the war, the the Homer's Gunner has them.
Speaker 1: Bobby had a just slightly better year, like a five
Speaker 1: game better season, minimally two. That being said, if you're
Speaker 1: a Kansas City fan who is taking your laps on
Speaker 1: the internet saying Bobby's the best shortstop, sure, I tell
Speaker 1: you what. Baseball is a sixth sport that if this
Speaker 1: season Bobby hits a couple line drives that land in
Speaker 1: a player's glove and Gunner, instead of turning on a
Speaker 1: foul ball, straightens one out. It could easily be Gunners
Speaker 1: better this year. But nine war seasons don't happen.
Speaker 2: They just don't.
Speaker 1: And these two both did.
Speaker 2: At ages what twenty three, same draft class, which I love.
Speaker 2: Bobby was second overall, Gunner was the first pick of
Speaker 2: the second round. That's how far he fell.
Speaker 1: Gunner's younger, Gunner's younger.
Speaker 2: How old is Gunner?
Speaker 1: He turns twenty four in June? Bobby turns twenty five
Speaker 1: in June. Look at that.
Speaker 2: I'm doing a quick little staththead.
Speaker 1: Get yourself a stat head, give.
Speaker 2: Me, give me some stalling time here, good reference to
Speaker 2: the ould commercials. Yeah, they belong at the top, no
Speaker 2: question in my mind. Just for reference, shortstops in the
Speaker 2: last thirty years to have a nine war season Alex Rodriguez,
Speaker 2: Good Gunner, Henderson, Bobby wit Junior.
Speaker 1: End of list, kind of the end of the list.
Speaker 1: Although there's one person who I think could have an
Speaker 1: interesting discussion on this list, but unfortunately he could have
Speaker 1: an interesting discussion on any list.
Speaker 2: Yeahs, five different lists. Do you want to stay high?
Speaker 2: Do you want to just go next tier and do
Speaker 2: you want to go somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 1: I you know, I like to bop around. I do
Speaker 1: think the next the next real conversation starts with MVP two.
Speaker 1: But I think there's something we can get out of
Speaker 1: the way quick. I want to jump to a very
Speaker 1: unique wake in Jay category that is labeled wife swap.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought, just because I think I'd be
Speaker 1: intrigued if I was watching to know what's going on
Speaker 1: down there. Uh. We have a situation with a couple
Speaker 1: ballplayers who I think could have very good contributing twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. I think they could take a step back
Speaker 1: and we could all be like, Yo, they're a pair
Speaker 1: of Red Sox short stop A lums and one's current
Speaker 1: Trevor Story who Trevor Story's last full good season.
Speaker 2: Is twenty one.
Speaker 1: Twenty one with the Colorado Rockies, right before he hit
Speaker 1: free agency. His ninety four games with Boston his first
Speaker 1: season are solid. Four pace, yeah, two and a half
Speaker 1: wour like kind of what they thought they were signing
Speaker 1: up with Trevor Story to a degree in the past
Speaker 1: two years, forty three games, twenty six games, a guy
Speaker 1: that had some no he didn't have injury concerns coming in.
Speaker 3: No, No, it was kind of the opposite.
Speaker 2: He was viewed as kind.
Speaker 1: Of sor that wanted him on the Yanks.
Speaker 2: I was with you. It was like him, Swanson, a
Speaker 2: couple other guys.
Speaker 1: And hey, knock on Wood. He's coming in with the
Speaker 1: Red Sox this year healthy and I'm sure we're gonna
Speaker 1: get some spring training isms around him a lot. And
Speaker 1: they are depending on him pretty significantly in this Red
Speaker 1: Sox team this year. Let me take that a step back.
Speaker 1: It would be massive for them if Trevor Story is
Speaker 1: a guy for them. If not, they do have audibles,
Speaker 1: like they've planned on Trevor Story not being part of
Speaker 1: the plan if they need it. Trevor Story and Xander
Speaker 1: Bogart's and the white swap just came from the thought
Speaker 1: of I don't know if these two off the record
Speaker 1: could be like, hey, Xander, you're staying in Boston. They're
Speaker 1: going to retire your number. You still get a pretty
Speaker 1: good payday, Your offensive numbers might still be there a
Speaker 1: little better because that Green monster tends to help them,
Speaker 1: right hitters. Trevor Story, I don't know, San Diego's nice.
Speaker 1: You don't have to deal with Boston people just screaming
Speaker 1: at you. You stayed in the NL West. San Diego's
Speaker 1: in Colorado hole. Then I think, you know, if these
Speaker 1: two could, I think they'd be open to a conversation.
Speaker 1: And that's how it starts. And those are the only
Speaker 1: two I had in that category for now. I'll be
Speaker 1: interested if we find another. You think we'd need two
Speaker 1: others to join that category, Maybe you only need one thought,
Speaker 1: so we will see. Uh. But those are the two
Speaker 1: that jump to mind that didn't deserve to be on
Speaker 1: the bottom of this tier list. Because I could see
Speaker 1: Xander Bogart's having a nice season. It's a little tougher
Speaker 1: to picture Story, I'll be honest, he can though it's
Speaker 1: Fenway Park. Tyler O'Neill just went nuts there. Like Trevor
Speaker 1: Story could have a nine hundred ops and baseball it'd
Speaker 1: be a little surprising, it wouldn't be shocking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the thing with both of them, besides
Speaker 2: the Boston thing, they're both going to be thirty two
Speaker 2: years old this year. They're both getting paid well above
Speaker 2: twenty MILLI a year to play their position. It's just
Speaker 2: a very similar situation and I think he nailed it
Speaker 2: before with like I think the Red Sox fell into
Speaker 2: pitfalls in prior years because they didn't plan for Story
Speaker 2: to be unavailable. Because it's the front half of this right, six.
Speaker 3: Year contract part they're supposed to.
Speaker 2: Get the good years in the front half. Now we're
Speaker 2: in the back half. So if you get anything from
Speaker 2: Trevor Story, it's considered a bonus. And for Bogarts, he
Speaker 2: has been playing and his first year was pretty good
Speaker 2: in San Diego. Is a Ford War player, but he
Speaker 2: took a real big step back last year. And the
Speaker 2: thing with him is that his contract is more expensive
Speaker 2: and it's way longer than Story, So that's why I
Speaker 2: think he falls into this tier. His is more financial,
Speaker 2: Story is more injury risk, that kind of thing. But
Speaker 2: they both kind of represent the same thing of our
Speaker 2: team could take a mat like our team could finish
Speaker 2: second instead of third, or first instead of second in
Speaker 2: our division if these players played to what we know
Speaker 2: that capable of. But I think everyone kind of doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like that's a possibility unless they, you know, see
Speaker 2: two good months out of these guys to start the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the next the next step is unknown for a
Speaker 1: lot of these players, thanks Jake, But Sander Bogarts, if
Speaker 1: we didn't see last year, you know it was a
Speaker 1: one to seventeen ops plus on a new team, like
Speaker 1: it wasn't and like.
Speaker 2: Everyone's first year the contract is always kind of weird, you.
Speaker 3: Know, first years of contracts, especially when you change leagues divisions.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh, he wasn't even listed last year because he wasn't.
Speaker 2: He's moving back the base, yeah, yeah, which is can
Speaker 2: be a big part of why last year Land where
Speaker 2: did with the shoulder injury.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I believe in Sander Bogarts.
Speaker 1: I guess I have slight concerns that there's gonna be
Speaker 1: people above Xander Bogarts that I'm if I'm being honest
Speaker 1: with myself, for the twenty twenty five season, I'd rather
Speaker 1: have Xander Bogarts, but I'm.
Speaker 2: Interested to see I'm in consideration of just moving the
Speaker 2: tier up one. Ah, okay, splitting the Hassan Kimtams, let's see. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we don't have to do it now, but that's.
Speaker 1: Let's see, I might be interested in that. Okay, So
Speaker 1: that was wife swap. That was Xander Bogart's and Trevor
Speaker 1: story wife swap. Which sometimes you hear it again and
Speaker 1: you're like, I don't know, I don't know players tune
Speaker 1: into stuff. Let's go back to the top, because this
Speaker 1: is where there is immense talent. There's household names for baseball. Jolly,
Speaker 1: I'll let you kick off MVP two because I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's a couple things that I need massaging on.
Speaker 2: Sure, we named it this tier because the guys we
Speaker 2: had in mind have had a runner up MVP finish
Speaker 2: in the last two years, which is a pretty tight window,
Speaker 2: pretty exclusive club. I'll start with, not the guy that
Speaker 2: a lot of people might be thinking. I want to
Speaker 2: start with Corey Seeker because Seeger was someone I went
Speaker 2: into this nick and Okay, I could probably put him
Speaker 2: third tier just because of like the injury thing, Like
Speaker 2: we don't really got to worry about it, because you know,
Speaker 2: if he plays a full season, he might be the best.
Speaker 2: But he hasn't done that in a while. And then
Speaker 2: I went back and checked and I just looked at
Speaker 2: his numbers. Twenty twenty three, he plays one hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty games, which is three quarters of a season, and
Speaker 2: he's a seven war player, which is that nine war
Speaker 2: pace that we were just talking about with Gunner Henderson
Speaker 2: and Bobby with Junior last year, he plays roughly the
Speaker 2: same amount of games. He's still a five war shorts stop.
Speaker 2: He had thirty home runs in both those seasons ops
Speaker 2: plus north of one forty five in both those seasons.
Speaker 2: And by the way, he was like the leader on
Speaker 2: a World Series team and had their biggest moments and
Speaker 2: all that stuff. So Cory Seger definitely still deserves to
Speaker 2: be at the top and I think if he plays
Speaker 2: a full season, he has an argument to be in
Speaker 2: that top tier. And he kind of fits it too
Speaker 2: because he's in the American League. Judge will probably prevent
Speaker 2: him from winning an MVP if he plays a full season,
Speaker 2: so he would fit there if he can stay healthy.
Speaker 2: I really think that's the only thing that holds Corey
Speaker 2: secret back from being the absolute top tier. I think
Speaker 2: the Rangers are getting well worth their money for the
Speaker 2: contract that they signed for him. Yes, yeah, keep rowing,
Speaker 2: I'll keep going. All right, now, I'll talk about my guy.
Speaker 2: I'll talk about Francisco Lindor. Last year. I did feel
Speaker 2: a little funny putting him in the top tier last
Speaker 2: year because he was a great player in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: but a lot of that was after the Mets were
Speaker 2: out of it, you know, second half. That's when he
Speaker 2: really charged down thirty thirty and had his best season
Speaker 2: as a Met, And I think a lot of people
Speaker 2: were still like, let's see him do it when it matters,
Speaker 2: And he had that terrible start to the year last year,
Speaker 2: and then when the team needed him, he was the
Speaker 2: guy and played with that back injury and showed up
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. And I think he fits right next
Speaker 2: to Corey Seger. They signed similar contracts at around the
Speaker 2: same time. They've now helped their teams get deeper into
Speaker 2: the playoffs. Obviously secret won a World Series. It's a
Speaker 2: very different scenario, but they both kind of feel like
Speaker 2: the de facto leaders of their team. Like I think
Speaker 2: every Mets fan would say, who's the face of your
Speaker 2: franchise right now, they would say Francisco Lindoor. Rangers fans
Speaker 2: would say Corey Seeger. Injuries aside, performance aside, Like those
Speaker 2: are the symbolic faces of those teams. And Lindor is
Speaker 2: coming off not only his best years a Met, but
Speaker 2: by War one of the best seasons of his career,
Speaker 2: only out done by twenty eighteen Cleveland, So at age
Speaker 2: thirty one, we might still be getting some of the
Speaker 2: better years of Lindor's career. Same logic can be applied
Speaker 2: to Seger. So I think they belong.
Speaker 1: Together, man, I think they sure do if I'm reading
Speaker 1: this correctly, and this doesn't matter for the exercise, but
Speaker 1: if you're trying to play a different exercise at home.
Speaker 1: I think they both have seven years left on their contract.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty similar.
Speaker 1: Lindor gets paid a little more, which I think, I
Speaker 1: don't know defense and healthy contracts or contract and I
Speaker 1: think team dependent. It's literally whatever you want. Because I
Speaker 1: think Seger's upside is higher. Yeah, for sure, sigers upside
Speaker 1: is higher. He can hit. He has an argument when
Speaker 1: he's healthy to be the best hitter, one of the
Speaker 1: best hitters in baseball, like especially if you do the
Speaker 1: pure hitter game, which is kind of just like, hey,
Speaker 1: let's not talk about Judge for a second. If I'm
Speaker 1: being honest, and I think there's some honesty to that,
Speaker 1: Like I what Judge does is maybe the most impressive thing,
Speaker 1: but it's also if there's a pitcher who's locked in,
Speaker 1: Judge can be gotten out. He can be gotten out
Speaker 1: there where Sodo Seeger Freddie Freeman, they kind of have
Speaker 1: a different contact hitter gear they can turn on that.
Speaker 1: It's one of those fun bar conversations or podcast conversations
Speaker 1: that you could do anytime any day if you really want,
Speaker 1: what about Luis or Rice? What about them? Path anyways?
Speaker 1: That I think it would be funny even if you
Speaker 1: did contracts and stuff which were not and you went
Speaker 1: around the league and you did, hey Seeger Lindor. I
Speaker 1: think if you're one of the teams that's kind of
Speaker 1: locked into the playoffs, I think they'd say Seeger, just
Speaker 1: because you're like, hey, I can have that in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's no brainer. If you're a team that is not
Speaker 1: and needs to grind it out and you need the
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty two games he played last year,
Speaker 1: which it was the back at the end of the year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty the year before, one sixty one,
Speaker 1: the year before that, you'd say, gimme Lindor. He's gonna
Speaker 1: switch it. He's top of the lineup, play great defense
Speaker 1: every day. Like it's it's a no brainer that those
Speaker 1: two one thousand percent should be lumped together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think before the back he had played every
Speaker 2: game right, and then his his back gave out in
Speaker 2: the last two weeks of the season, and then he
Speaker 2: played through it at the end.
Speaker 1: So who else is in there? Joll So.
Speaker 2: Dodgers fans are gonna get mad at this. When we
Speaker 2: were doing the tier list, I saw one guy's PNG
Speaker 2: this picture, and I got mad because I'm like, why
Speaker 2: is he here? Right, there's like twelve different teerless He
Speaker 2: can be on he can be in second base, he
Speaker 2: can be in right field, he can be in center field.
Speaker 2: And the fact that he's also here and also good
Speaker 2: drives me nuts. And our last member of MVP is
Speaker 2: Mookie Bets. He was the runner up in MVP voting
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three. Just like Corey Seger, the dude's
Speaker 2: been bouncing around last year. His numbers landed in a
Speaker 2: pretty good place if you look at the first half.
Speaker 2: He was like the clear cut front runner to win
Speaker 2: MVP before he got hurt. And I just think he belongs.
Speaker 2: Like when you think of the athleticism, when you think
Speaker 2: of the pure hitting talent of this tier, when you
Speaker 2: think of the leadership of this tier. Kind of like
Speaker 2: we talked about before the symbolism of the teams and
Speaker 2: how successful all three of these teams have been in
Speaker 2: the last two years. You attribute that success to their shortstops,
Speaker 2: and Bets, I think fully belongs. He's also another big
Speaker 2: contract guy, three hundred million whatever whatever the number is
Speaker 2: with him, and I think all three of these guys,
Speaker 2: maybe Bets and Seger a little bit more, are capable
Speaker 2: of scratching into that top tier if they play to
Speaker 2: their utmost potential.
Speaker 1: Waking Jake listeners, I think heard me get in a
Speaker 1: weird spot with Mooki because I was like, this breaks
Speaker 1: everything in baseball, a thirty one year old playing short
Speaker 1: stuff for the first time. And then I he kind
Speaker 1: of broke me back. Yeah, Scottish, Scottish guy talking about
Speaker 1: me and MOOKI back, Mooky Bets hooking up. He broke
Speaker 1: me back. He played sixty sixty five games at short
Speaker 1: the advance numbers, which don't work in small sample size
Speaker 1: and defense. Actually didn't hate him, and I liked him.
Speaker 1: That I got broken, and I was like, well, if
Speaker 1: someone's gonna do it, make it Mooky and I kind
Speaker 1: of went the other way. I was like, wait, let's
Speaker 1: let's make MOOKI the inner Circle Hall of Famer like
Speaker 1: util has become such a thing that if you're drawing
Speaker 1: up your dream MLB lineup, like your top nine all time,
Speaker 1: maybe Mookie should just be in there in some way,
Speaker 1: or maybe it's with a DH hand of util like that,
Speaker 1: Mookie should be mentioned with all timers. And maybe he's
Speaker 1: still heading that way. He's still it was sixty one
Speaker 1: starts at shortstop last year. Yeah, you know, again of
Speaker 1: Dodger problems. I mean whatever, I'm not even doing that
Speaker 1: right now, but what does he look like at shortstop
Speaker 1: for a full season? Will he be at shortstop for
Speaker 1: the full season? Again? Is I think another probably not
Speaker 1: Dodger question.
Speaker 3: And they have Timmy Edmond on the team right, and
Speaker 3: I everyone can play.
Speaker 1: Get his picture right? No, don't. I guess the thing
Speaker 1: that you know? When I see Mookie bets on any list,
Speaker 1: I assume he should be top of the tier list.
Speaker 1: But it's interesting with the young guys and Mookie, who
Speaker 1: is a season removed from an eight point three war
Speaker 1: season in twenty twenty three, and when it was on
Speaker 1: pace for higher last year. I guess the only thing
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three amongst recent seasons is a bit
Speaker 1: of an outlier. You know, Mooki is more around a
Speaker 1: one forty ish ops plus that was a one sixty five,
Speaker 1: and I just think again, it goes back to those
Speaker 1: young breakout stars, top prospects that have broken out, that
Speaker 1: are entering their prime, that put up nine more seasons
Speaker 1: that I kind of wish I could make an argument
Speaker 1: for Mooki to move up. I don't know. Moki could
Speaker 1: do an air and bleep and judge if he wanted to,
Speaker 1: but I really don't think you can.
Speaker 2: There's one asterisk for all of these guys that prevents
Speaker 2: them from top tier Muki is the sample size at
Speaker 2: short is too small. We haven't seen a full season
Speaker 2: at short, so I feel like you can't be at
Speaker 2: the top of the shortstop list. I feel like that's fair.
Speaker 2: Seagert's the health. He hasn't played more than one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty five games since twenty twenty two, two years ago.
Speaker 2: And then Lindor. I just don't think he matches the
Speaker 2: same offensive prowess as the other two guys. And maybe
Speaker 2: he could, but I think his value comes more from
Speaker 2: playing every day, playing platinum glove defense, and you know,
Speaker 2: he gets his war number up that way. So if
Speaker 2: any of those three overcome that hurdle, then yeah, you
Speaker 2: can definitely argue top tier. The thing is just Gunner
Speaker 2: and Bobby look like complete packages. And they're also younger,
Speaker 2: like way younger. So that's why I think they belong
Speaker 2: up there.
Speaker 1: Anyone else an MVP two.
Speaker 2: For now?
Speaker 1: No, Okay, and that's kind of shocking. Yeah, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: interested to see. Like you said, I think there's there's
Speaker 1: one there's one other name on our mind that doesn't
Speaker 1: have an MVP two. But maybe the gig could be
Speaker 1: like he's he's lined up for MVP two this year.
Speaker 2: Spot weird.
Speaker 1: We will see, but maybe the truth of it is
Speaker 1: and I think we should move with slightly more pace
Speaker 1: for a couple of these guys because I think I
Speaker 1: think people know the story a little bit. The next
Speaker 1: column that you name Jolly and I don't give a
Speaker 1: lot of people that power is three legse and why
Speaker 1: don't you give me the names you currently have in
Speaker 1: that category?
Speaker 2: Yeah, three leged Horse is kind of like a little
Speaker 2: bit what we were just talking about, Like they're kind
Speaker 2: of one tool away from moving up. But I think
Speaker 2: these these missing tools are a little bit more significant
Speaker 2: that hold them back. The guy that I was having
Speaker 2: trouble with because I wanted to put him with those
Speaker 2: other three, and I'll we'll talk about him first. It's
Speaker 2: Ellie day La Cruz. He is kind of the opposite
Speaker 2: of Seger in my mind. Where I think of Segar,
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, his numbers aren't that good, and then
Speaker 2: I look and he's amazing. Cruise. I was like, he
Speaker 2: is already amazing, and then I look and I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: but he's also twenty two years old, like he has
Speaker 2: so much room for improvement. The thing with me is
Speaker 2: that he got caught stealing the most in baseball last year.
Speaker 2: His stolen base ratio is a little bit deceiving. The
Speaker 2: counting SAT's good, the ratio itself not as good. The
Speaker 2: biggest thing is to strikeouts. He struck out two hundred
Speaker 2: and eighteen times as a shortstop. I believe that's the
Speaker 2: most all time by an everyday shortstop. He let MLB
Speaker 2: by a wide margin. We also have another shortstop that
Speaker 2: struck a lot that we'll talk about later. And you know,
Speaker 2: the potential with Ellie Dyla Cruz, you feel like he's
Speaker 2: the Red's best player. You know that there's there's more
Speaker 2: pop in that bat that remains to be discovered. He
Speaker 2: played the full season last year, which is big for
Speaker 2: me because that kind of lankier body type I feel
Speaker 2: like always kind of gives me injury concerned. But he
Speaker 2: was out there every day playing shortstop. The thing with
Speaker 2: him is that the play discipline has to improve, like
Speaker 2: the on base was there, but I think that Ellie
Speaker 2: can unlock something more and get even better if he's
Speaker 2: able to just cut down on strikeouts, stay within the
Speaker 2: zone and become a more disciplined hitter at which he
Speaker 2: can definitely do because he's gonna be twenty three right
Speaker 2: this year, you know, Ellie.
Speaker 1: Ellie is interesting man, because everyone's every stat got better
Speaker 1: last year. Everything obviously passes the eye test, the stolen bases,
Speaker 1: the home runs. If things tick up, we were talking
Speaker 1: about a third homer seventy five steel.
Speaker 2: Player at shorts up.
Speaker 1: It's It's why he's probably gonna be a popular MVP
Speaker 1: bet going into this season because the stats he can
Speaker 1: potentially wrack up playing at that baseball stadium, which is
Speaker 1: a factor in it. I mean that those homers could
Speaker 1: jump to if something else clicks for him, it could
Speaker 1: just be an unreal season. I guess the fear is,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned the strikeouts.
Speaker 2: I just checked it as the most all time for
Speaker 2: shorts up.
Speaker 1: It's a lot, and hey, maybe it's a new era
Speaker 1: of baseball. And if that is how Ellie Da La
Speaker 1: Cruz gets out and that's it, that's fine. We adjust.
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge strikes out a lot, we adjust. That's okay.
Speaker 1: The batting average got better, the on base got better,
Speaker 1: the slugging, but still the ops landed at eight o nine,
Speaker 1: which is great, which is great. Where Wit and Gunner
Speaker 1: and Seeger and Mookie have landed at different times is
Speaker 1: a high nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like if Gunner and Bobby didn't exist, right, we're
Speaker 2: way more excited for Ellie because he's their age and
Speaker 2: he's already really good.
Speaker 1: Right, Like he might be in the bar. He would
Speaker 1: probably just be in his own column below those older
Speaker 1: heads being like please catch me or future MVP. That's
Speaker 1: kind of what we did.
Speaker 2: With That would have been him, probably by himself. Honestly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't I think, if you're being fair about it,
Speaker 1: I don't think you can put Ellie up and I
Speaker 1: think the reason you said three legged horse, and I
Speaker 1: think Ellie is kind of that now that he needs
Speaker 1: to either cut down on the dragouts or show that
Speaker 1: everything else can be so good that he can rise
Speaker 1: above right.
Speaker 2: I think that's an important part too, Like, yeah, he
Speaker 2: can still be this high strikeout guy, like we've seen
Speaker 2: plenty of players succeed in that. It's just unconventional for shortstop,
Speaker 2: like you don't you think shortstop, you think contact that
Speaker 2: and Ellie is a power hitting, you know, not afraid
Speaker 2: to whiff kind of shortstop, and he can still make
Speaker 2: that work in being a lead player, but it'd be like,
Speaker 2: just imagine what he can accomplish if that's not a
Speaker 2: part of his game as much.
Speaker 3: And the strikeout rate from twenty three to twenty four,
Speaker 3: it did come down, did trend the right directions? Good,
Speaker 3: I didn't know that two and a half percent off
Speaker 3: the strike thirty one, still well over thirty. But do
Speaker 3: the same cut in your thirty.
Speaker 2: So yeah, second highest strikeout rate in baseball, only behind
Speaker 2: Zach Geloff.
Speaker 1: Well tough wait for him that I think this is
Speaker 1: all fair. Willia Domas, do we say Willy Domas yet
Speaker 1: we haven't said, William spoilers.
Speaker 3: Oops.
Speaker 1: Let the rest of the row in the three legged horses,
Speaker 1: Carlos Correa, Williadamas, and Trey Turner.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I got. Where do you want to start?
Speaker 1: I want to do Correa tidy, because if I talk
Speaker 1: too long, I'm probably gonna land in a weird spot.
Speaker 1: Carlos Kareba crawled out when he was on the field
Speaker 1: last year. He's still a defensive weapon, which you can't
Speaker 1: say that about a lot of players literally using him
Speaker 1: different on relay throws because he's a defensive weapon. He
Speaker 1: had a nine oh five OPS last year in eighty
Speaker 1: six games, three point seven war. There is an injury
Speaker 1: factor here. It's the reason he's not on your team
Speaker 1: or Willie's new team. Right, So that's already gonna make
Speaker 1: me feel better. And I mean he played out of
Speaker 1: his dome like he played one hundred and thirty five
Speaker 1: games the year before and he had a ninety four
Speaker 1: OPS plus. So I can't fully believe in what he
Speaker 1: did last year. I would guess that Willy A. Damas
Speaker 1: would excuse me, Carlos Correa would play to his baseball
Speaker 1: card and be the eight twenty six OPS guy, but
Speaker 1: with his defensive prowess, that's an amazing baseball player. But
Speaker 1: I think three legged horse is fair.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a six and a half war player when
Speaker 2: he plays one hundred and sixty two games, Which is that, Lindor, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's see your territory, but it is the injury concern
Speaker 2: eighty six games. But Seger's a nine more player exactly.
Speaker 2: There's there's levels, and with Korea it's just he's gonna
Speaker 2: be thirty with there was the whole circus with the
Speaker 2: ankle thing. It's it's scary because it's half a season,
Speaker 2: you know, like it's you can't your team can't win
Speaker 2: when they have that much money invested in a player
Speaker 2: that only plays half a season. So things can change
Speaker 2: with Korea. And you can also argue it the other
Speaker 2: way of like this might be as good as it
Speaker 2: gets for a little bit, Like maybe this is gonna
Speaker 2: be gonna go the other way. But I don't think
Speaker 2: that's fair to him. So I feel like he kind
Speaker 2: of just he's an awkward fit. Just in general, I
Speaker 2: feel like he's an awkward fit. But I think he
Speaker 2: fits this the best.
Speaker 1: If he can put another full one together, it'd be
Speaker 1: very interesting to see. He says seven war? Is that
Speaker 1: eight war?
Speaker 2: He's thirty seven mel this year.
Speaker 1: Did seven and twenty twenty one? What are the twins
Speaker 1: up to? Is he gonna be like a rumored trade
Speaker 1: guy like it was kind of fake rumors.
Speaker 2: That's hard money to move.
Speaker 1: Hard money to what's his contract actually look like?
Speaker 3: So his contract is structured in the most team friendly
Speaker 3: way of anything. Maybe it's like big deals.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's more of if he has a good year,
Speaker 1: his remaining contract would be three for ninety five essentially
Speaker 1: right now it's all vesting and then it's all team right.
Speaker 2: Now it's guaranteed four for one thirty. So if he
Speaker 2: makes it through this year, it gets a lot better. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Interesting, And the twins are in weird TV contract? Hell
Speaker 1: that let's see what that is? Uh, Willie Domas and
Speaker 1: Trey I think I'll take really quick. Willy put up
Speaker 1: a massive well, he put up a massive contract here.
Speaker 1: I got scared off by the war for a second.
Speaker 1: Counting numbers are really good, thirty two homers, which go
Speaker 1: look at all the home runs hit last year. That
Speaker 1: puts Willy in an oddly high spot for a sport
Speaker 1: that we're like, oh, it's more Homers or bus Now.
Speaker 1: Willie Adamas is thirty two, ranks higher than you probably
Speaker 1: think in your head amongst the league, nevermind shortstop twenty
Speaker 1: one stolen bases, which I think that's a career high.
Speaker 1: And I don't think he's gonna do that again. But
Speaker 1: when you're in a contract year, you show you can
Speaker 1: do things. And yet I it's gonna be interesting leaving
Speaker 1: Milwaukee going to San Francisco. I'm interested to see that transition.
Speaker 1: And maybe we're a little high on him, and maybe
Speaker 1: there's some recency biases. I'm looking at the company he's
Speaker 1: keeping four point three War three War three War when
Speaker 1: we talk about some of these young guns, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll have to circle back on Willie. But the
Speaker 1: counting stats were incredible last year, and sometimes I don't
Speaker 1: want war to scare me. And then Trey Turner's here,
Speaker 1: who ironically had a three war season in what felt
Speaker 1: like a down year. Man two thirty eight eight oh
Speaker 1: seven ops. Offense was down around the league. That's a
Speaker 1: one twenty four ops plus. This season's a little more
Speaker 1: Trey Turner than I expected the stats to look like
Speaker 1: Tray's interesting.
Speaker 2: We had Trey top tier last year. Yeah, that was
Speaker 2: three hundred million dollars well spent. Everyone from that tier
Speaker 2: stayed together except Trey, who moves down one. And it's
Speaker 2: kind of a combination of everyone else in this tier.
Speaker 2: That's how I view it. Like Trey's defense is ticking
Speaker 2: in a scary direction, right. I don't think he's long
Speaker 2: to be the Philly shortstop. They have a good answer
Speaker 2: in Bryson Stott, who is in elite second basement. I
Speaker 2: think he could be a great shortstop, but it creates
Speaker 2: a predicament for Philly because Trey's going to be there
Speaker 2: I think eight more years, maybe more. And you would
Speaker 2: have hoped that he was. Yeah, so he's gonna be
Speaker 2: there three, six, nine more years. At twenty seven million
Speaker 2: dollars a year, you would have hoped he's the shortstop
Speaker 2: for at least the front half of the deal. I
Speaker 2: don't know that's gonna happen. Like there by this time
Speaker 2: next year, Trade might not even be in this tierlest
Speaker 2: he might be in a different position tier list. The
Speaker 2: bad is still very much there at you know, he
Speaker 2: was pacing ahead of Lindor at the beginning of the
Speaker 2: season before he got hurt. He's still a three war
Speaker 2: player in one hundred and twenty games. Like it's kind
Speaker 2: of that Seeger argument a little bit. But yeah, you
Speaker 2: wonder what direction Trey goes in, whereas I feel like
Speaker 2: with Willy, we kind of know who Willy is. Like
Speaker 2: it was what you mentioned. He's been very consistent warwise.
Speaker 2: He had the counting stats last year. Curious to see
Speaker 2: where it lands with San Francisco. How much does playing
Speaker 2: at Oracle affect him? Does it affect him at all?
Speaker 2: All four of these guys had some sort of question
Speaker 2: mark around them. I think Trey has a little bit
Speaker 2: more question marks than maybe the rest of them, But
Speaker 2: I think they all fit to together for that reason.
Speaker 1: Willie domas sixteenth overall in baseball with thirty two homers.
Speaker 1: It's really good, you know, Like that's plus the twenty steels.
Speaker 1: There's only like guys that have that combo above him
Speaker 1: are Lindor Gunner, Jay Ram and Show.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you like to have fun with stats,
Speaker 1: you can do that. I will be interested to circle
Speaker 1: back a little bit.
Speaker 2: Trey one of these guys that's moving up next year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I can confidently say that my pick is Cruise, but
Speaker 2: I think it could be any of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you can. You could probably say two
Speaker 1: of these guys, like I'm not if I get a
Speaker 1: Korea Trey Turner good DraftKings line on both of them combined,
Speaker 1: I would take that punch that someone putting a five
Speaker 1: war season out of those two. I think I would
Speaker 1: take that. We're starting to hit the interesting part.
Speaker 2: I think we try and tackle our Hasan Kim tears wow,
Speaker 2: because there's a lot of bodies that go, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're kind of meant to be done in conjunction.
Speaker 1: And then can we move up wife swap? Did that
Speaker 1: happen to split up the Hasong Kim category?
Speaker 2: Personally, I would split them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do that for now.
Speaker 2: There might be one guy that I put in that's
Speaker 2: not okay, it's a little offended.
Speaker 1: And maybe these people end up in wife saw Ha
Speaker 1: Song Kim and that's okay. I think there's an easy one.
Speaker 1: I think it's Hassong Kim, although his free agency has
Speaker 1: entered the weird area. I think people are scared about
Speaker 1: the shoulder, and he's probably asking for legitimate shortstop money.
Speaker 1: And when we're doing all this talk about war and
Speaker 1: what's your best season? Has Song Kim? Uh, he can
Speaker 1: do a dance with a lot of guys that if
Speaker 1: Hassong Kim is your shortstop heading into the season, you're
Speaker 1: kind of not worried about your shortstop position. That's an
Speaker 1: interesting way to look at this. Give me, give me
Speaker 1: the names of who else you'd put in that category
Speaker 1: real quick.
Speaker 2: Hassan Kim already the fourth most valuable player from Korea
Speaker 2: in baseball stream Yeah, yep, it's pretty crazy has On Kim,
Speaker 2: And that's okay. These guys can play some good d
Speaker 2: they can hit league average and that's all you need
Speaker 2: from me.
Speaker 1: They can be good at contributing for a shortstop position,
Speaker 1: and you're like, I'm our shortstop, isn't the problem?
Speaker 2: Yes? And a guy that I have pretty much the
Speaker 2: same as Haa Song Kim in terms of things that
Speaker 2: they do for their team is Jeremy Panye. Jeremy Pannia
Speaker 2: plays a terrific shortop position. He has been league average
Speaker 2: for all three years of his career. He's already put
Speaker 2: together uh thirteen more in three seasons, which is way
Speaker 2: more than I would have guessed if you asked me
Speaker 2: before we shot today, I would have said maybe eight
Speaker 2: or seven. Uh, he's exactly what that team needs to
Speaker 2: shore up their infield defense. Uh. And you know what,
Speaker 2: he's clutched in the playoffs and that's pretty valuable too.
Speaker 2: So Jeremy Panye, I think definitely belongs in that tier.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't put him any higher because.
Speaker 1: I'd your, yeah, plus plus defense and league average hitter
Speaker 1: like you can like.
Speaker 3: You're comfortable with them in the moment.
Speaker 2: Like I like to play that. What would he get
Speaker 2: paid right now if he was a free agent game?
Speaker 2: Jeremy Penne is a really interesting one, Like what would
Speaker 2: do you get? I don't know. Maybe it would be
Speaker 2: big money, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean it's always interesting with the age part of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't. I guess where do you have Dansby?
Speaker 1: Because isn't that the convo?
Speaker 2: So I have Dansby and that's not okay, and I'm interesting.
Speaker 2: I'm willing to be talked out of it. The reason
Speaker 2: so Dansby did not have a bad year last year,
Speaker 2: he was a former player. It was a good season.
Speaker 2: The reason I haven't and that's not okay, is because
Speaker 2: of the contract the Cubs are paying him twenty eight
Speaker 2: million dollars a year. Uh, And Dansby has shown that
Speaker 2: he can be an above league average bat, but he
Speaker 2: hasn't really done that in Chicago yet. He's a first half,
Speaker 2: second half player. And I just feel like it's kind
Speaker 2: of that conversation of the Cubs could take such a
Speaker 2: massive step if Dansby had his highest potential year, which
Speaker 2: he just hasn't yet, but then he's like a little
Speaker 2: low on this list.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm throwing a little bit of a challenge flag.
Speaker 1: I mean if if Dansby, Dansby had a weird year
Speaker 1: last year, and like Cubs fans would have much loved,
Speaker 1: much loved if Dansby had his second half in his
Speaker 1: first half, because then their whole season outlook probably would
Speaker 1: have felt different. But Dansby his war the past three
Speaker 1: seasons for war four point eight, five point five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now it is declining every year and you could point
Speaker 1: at that. And he switched teams, and I think Atlanta
Speaker 1: Stadium is a little friendlier to hit then Wrigly, So
Speaker 1: maybe there's something there for.
Speaker 2: Anything with first half. Wrigley guys is always like it's cold,
Speaker 2: it's windy.
Speaker 1: Right, And I guess Dansby who's been streaking in his
Speaker 1: career and he's out there for he is these guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like I know it. It sounds probably a little crazy
Speaker 1: to people. And I defended Dansby last year, but he's
Speaker 1: going to be in contention for the Gold Glove at
Speaker 1: true stop. Yeah, you know what you're getting, and you're
Speaker 1: looking for a league average hitter. I just I think fans,
Speaker 1: Cubs fans would probably like if he could just be
Speaker 1: league average all year and that's the Dansby Swanson they're getting.
Speaker 1: But that's what they signed up for. And I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not gonna contract shame. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not like they're looking. Cubs people and every run
Speaker 1: around Baseball aren't expecting Dansby to have a one to
Speaker 1: twenty ops Like. His best case is probably a one ten,
Speaker 1: one fifteen ops plus And if you get that, nice,
Speaker 1: that's kind of the best Dansby you're gonna get. I
Speaker 1: think if you told Cubs fans, hey, he's gonna have
Speaker 1: a one hundred ops plus on the nose. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be out there every day, which you should expect, and
Speaker 1: he's gonna play his level of defense that's what you've
Speaker 1: signed up for. Yeah, I think it's ha Soong Kim
Speaker 1: and Jeremy Payana. He just got paid.
Speaker 2: That's my thing. It's like, I guess it's more so
Speaker 2: with the name of the tier, which I don't really
Speaker 2: want to change because I think it's accurate. It's just
Speaker 2: like I would never give Hawsong Kim that much money.
Speaker 2: I would never give Jeremy Payna that kind of contract,
Speaker 2: and the Cubs did because that's what they're racist.
Speaker 1: Flags out there.
Speaker 2: Flag I'm done talking? Is also here?
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I haven't there.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna have to circle back on that another time.
Speaker 3: I think when we get to the and that's not okay,
Speaker 3: Crew Dansby is.
Speaker 2: Well above I think, yes, that's where solid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wade Miley to the reds.
Speaker 1: Okay, we won't talk about that retiring. I'm putting I'm
Speaker 1: putting Dansby up there.
Speaker 2: I think he's let us know if you're okay with
Speaker 2: how Dansby has been as a cup serious.
Speaker 1: M hmm, okay, who else is haus On Kim? And
Speaker 1: that's okay?
Speaker 2: I have Joey. Joey was an older rookie. He played
Speaker 2: mostly third last year. But I think everyone kind of
Speaker 2: knows that he can handle shortstop and he's kind of
Speaker 2: he's a league average bat. Yeah, he must defender.
Speaker 1: He bawled. He's young, all right, It's gonna be interesting,
Speaker 1: Like we could very much look back at this and laugh.
Speaker 1: I think in either direction, probably not too hot. I
Speaker 1: guess what scares me is I don't know how high
Speaker 1: Joey Orties can go. Yeah, and having done these things here,
Speaker 1: Joey Ortiz could end up.
Speaker 2: But are the Brewers not okay with him being Hawes
Speaker 2: on Kim because I think they're perfect.
Speaker 1: I think they are. I mean, yes, if they get
Speaker 1: that out of Joey or ti'es. And do I think
Speaker 1: he could be very solid defensively in league average hitter, Yes,
Speaker 1: And I think there could be variables in either direction
Speaker 1: that Yeah, I'm I'm fine with Joey Orties being there.
Speaker 2: I get what you're saying, though it is weird seeing
Speaker 2: him on the same tier as guys that have been
Speaker 2: doing it for a while.
Speaker 1: Because there are people that go to play shorts up
Speaker 1: at the MLB level and that ends quick and we're
Speaker 1: talking about Joey Ortiz could play two months at shortsop
Speaker 1: and the Brewers are like, Okay, back to third and
Speaker 1: that's fine.
Speaker 2: I know this might be a nightmare. Sure do we
Speaker 2: want another tier that's like Hassan Kim and they could
Speaker 2: be better or something like for the kind of unknowns
Speaker 2: that we can put below the more known guys. Because
Speaker 2: I also have like C. J. Abrams lingering around here.
Speaker 2: I have Bo's got to fall somewhere in here.
Speaker 1: Like Bo's an absolutely wild one.
Speaker 2: Oh, I have no idea what to do with I.
Speaker 2: Maybe Bo's wife swap.
Speaker 1: Bo might be white swap, Oh might be wife swap.
Speaker 1: I think for a change, I can't believe last year
Speaker 1: to play at Fenway? Would he love to play in
Speaker 1: San Diego?
Speaker 2: What's Bo's numbers at those stadiums? Let's find out.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna put Bo at wife swap for now,
Speaker 1: because dude the bow. I can't believe we're at this
Speaker 1: part of where we're talking about Boba Schett. But Bobaschett, man,
Speaker 1: if you erased last season, he.
Speaker 2: Is a great player.
Speaker 1: He flies up this list. He's probably a three legged horse.
Speaker 2: Bo nine to seventy career ops at Fenway, three oh
Speaker 2: eight career hitter at Peco it's a lock. He's in
Speaker 2: white swap you would.
Speaker 1: Love to get in there. I wonder if we could
Speaker 1: throw someone else to make everyone a little more comfortable
Speaker 1: swapping with I guess JP. I think JP Crawford is
Speaker 1: hass On Kim and that's.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too. I also don't think anyone
Speaker 2: wants to swap with him JP craft, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, no one see, no one wants to swap
Speaker 2: JP through that.
Speaker 1: After that Mariners Ballpark article.
Speaker 3: I think if if JP repeated last year, he'd fall.
Speaker 3: So that's not okay.
Speaker 2: JP was really good in twenty twenty three, Like how
Speaker 2: quickly you I mean, he had a series drop off,
Speaker 2: but he led the league in walks one thirty three
Speaker 2: oh ps plus as a shortstop, got MVP.
Speaker 1: Votes and in his one oh five games he racked
Speaker 1: up two. He had a tough year offensively in one
Speaker 1: hundred five games. He's hurt. And yeah, he's a career
Speaker 1: two forty five, three thirty.
Speaker 2: Eight on base sneaky, one of the best contracts in baseball.
Speaker 2: He's getting eleven mil. Yeah, that's like for what he
Speaker 2: can do, it's really good, yes, you know.
Speaker 1: And his prime years. Okay, So let's put JP JP's
Speaker 1: and has on kim and that's okay. Hey, can we
Speaker 1: get ugly names off the board, because I can't even
Speaker 1: look at this right now? Thin it out?
Speaker 2: Who's rip off? Kenny Pickett?
Speaker 1: Who's this white Sox guy?
Speaker 2: Can you pick it? I don't know. Let's find out.
Speaker 1: Doesn't he have the same initials or something? I'm blanking
Speaker 1: on his head holding Kowser but.
Speaker 2: Not Brendon Shoemaker. This is Brooks Baldwin close kind of
Speaker 2: you could have said, guy is Jacob something?
Speaker 3: Jacob Wilson is a well regarded We're gonna find out.
Speaker 3: Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 1: I put the A's logo up there too, is Brian Rocchio?
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett because he can pick it?
Speaker 2: I have this. I have this series more like a
Speaker 2: question like, yeah, Kenny, I think.
Speaker 1: Because I don't know if he can he can pick it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just don't know if he has any offensive profile,
Speaker 1: and I don't think the guards care. Yeah that I'm
Speaker 1: interested to see what that looks like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I if trace, when you just plays solid shortstop,
Speaker 2: he's already more valuable than Hobby, right, Yeah, which is
Speaker 2: so sad, But go.
Speaker 1: Look at Hobby's offensive stats. Okay, I want to jump
Speaker 1: up to team's best player, and we think that's okay
Speaker 1: because I think there's a couple of layups. I think
Speaker 1: Mason Win. Yeah, what he did last year, I think
Speaker 1: there's potential he could climb up this list. I think
Speaker 1: there's potentially he could climb down this list. I know,
Speaker 1: you know you and.
Speaker 3: Foolish got into that nasty fight on Wake and Jacobs.
Speaker 2: I was pro Mason Win, right, yeah, yeah, what's up?
Speaker 1: What's it Foolish? But that could come back, that could
Speaker 1: come back, and like he could be a guy that
Speaker 1: could be next year's has On Kim And that's not
Speaker 1: okay because the Cardinals are going to ask a lot
Speaker 1: of him. I love Mason Win. The way he plays
Speaker 1: is awesome, and I think he could climb up, potentially
Speaker 1: climb up this list. You wonder how high, but he
Speaker 1: Mason Wynn deserves to be a tier above a couple
Speaker 1: of Joey or Tea's Jeremy Paina. I think from what
Speaker 1: even just that little bit more from what he showed
Speaker 1: last year, if there's more in there, how do you
Speaker 1: spell that with a?
Speaker 3: Both names are kind of not how you'd have.
Speaker 2: Guessed he was their most valuable player by a lot
Speaker 2: last year five War season. Yeah, like he was a
Speaker 2: he was twenty two years old. Yeah, like he You're
Speaker 2: right that he could take a step in either direction,
Speaker 2: like we've seen plenty of sophomore slumps. It could go
Speaker 2: the other way, Like he could take a step forward
Speaker 2: and get even better. That I think that, Uh, he
Speaker 2: fits kind of perfectly in this tier of like if
Speaker 2: he is great, right, the Cardinals now have a you know,
Speaker 2: Willia Domas potentially even higher caliber shortstop for so cheap
Speaker 2: because he's young puss. He's got that absolute cannon of
Speaker 2: an arm, which I think is a tool that no
Speaker 2: other player has in baseball like him. That his upside
Speaker 2: is tremendous. Like I feel like the Cardinals can honestly
Speaker 2: try and start to build around him if they see
Speaker 2: a step forward in twenty Like he can realistically be
Speaker 2: the face of that franchise if he.
Speaker 1: Takes a slight step up. He's a six War short stop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the three there's not Like I know, we're in
Speaker 2: kind of a shortstop golden age, which makes this tierless
Speaker 2: so difficult. But he is in the conversation of being
Speaker 2: in like that top five tier if he takes another
Speaker 2: step forward next year.
Speaker 1: Another guy that I think goes here easily, and I
Speaker 1: wish we would talk more about him. Zach Netto. Where
Speaker 1: his final stats landed last year are insane, really, And
Speaker 1: I mean there's obviously an angel's caveat here, but it's
Speaker 1: very similar to Mason Win, five war, twenty three homers,
Speaker 1: thirty steals, like that's it's an incredible season.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If Zach zach Netto did that offensive season on the
Speaker 1: New York Yankees.
Speaker 2: Everyone be talking about like most underrated player in baseball
Speaker 2: type conversations.
Speaker 1: Like crazy stuff, Yeah, crazy stuff. And he did it
Speaker 1: with his Halos. Who do they have a team that? Again,
Speaker 1: it's very similar to the Mason Win conversation. Hey, two
Speaker 1: great guys, here's your snaps. We probably spent too much
Speaker 1: time on the big boy.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just the thing that's messing me up
Speaker 2: is like they're all so young, Like how are they
Speaker 2: all so good already? It doesn't make any sense in
Speaker 2: my brain.
Speaker 1: Well, the sick part is, unfortunately baseball happens to some guys,
Speaker 1: whether it's injury or you've got one hole in your
Speaker 1: swing or something happens, does Zeke Tovar deserve to be
Speaker 1: with them?
Speaker 2: So Zeke is interesting because Zeke struck out two hundred
Speaker 2: times last year, which is he's one of only three
Speaker 2: short stops ever to do that, the other one being
Speaker 2: Ellie the other Cruise. Last year he also did it.
Speaker 2: Zeke had a little bit of a plate discipline thing.
Speaker 2: He's also in a similar scenery to uh zach Neto
Speaker 2: where he plays for a pretty poor team. So he's
Speaker 2: the best player far and away, especially with Nolan Jones
Speaker 2: and guys like that. Well on the gold Glove and
Speaker 2: kind of know that, like definitely deserved the nomination. I
Speaker 2: wasn't sure if he was gonna win. But he's really
Speaker 2: nice a short stop. The thing with me is a
Speaker 2: two ninety five on base is right, not good? Like
Speaker 2: that is not major league level. If one part of
Speaker 2: your game falls off, things can get really bad really quickly.
Speaker 2: So maybe he is hasan Kim and that's okay. But
Speaker 2: also he's another guy that I kind of just believe in,
Speaker 2: Like he's he was twenty two last year, Mason win
Speaker 2: was twenty two last year, Zach was twenty three last year.
Speaker 2: Like there's still a realistic path forward for all three
Speaker 2: of those guys.
Speaker 1: He's trending up.
Speaker 3: The trap up he took from age twenty one to
Speaker 3: twenty two led the league in doubles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, home road splits aren't that bad, which is wild.
Speaker 1: He was actually no, he was slightly better at home.
Speaker 1: But the core is effect and I can get rambly
Speaker 1: on that sometime, but like it can hurt you more
Speaker 1: than it can help you. Yeah, the fact is splits
Speaker 1: are like, this is pretty wild that he deserves. I
Speaker 1: think we're rocking him a little bit. I think he
Speaker 1: deserves to be up there. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think with a lot of Rockies players sometimes you
Speaker 2: see the ops plus and you're like, whoa. But I
Speaker 2: feel like that's kind of unfair sometimes because.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is getting dragged down by just he played
Speaker 3: in course.
Speaker 2: Right, like I would more so like if I saw
Speaker 2: guy's trip a stats and they're crazy, that would make
Speaker 2: me more like eh, rather than a guy who's in
Speaker 2: the Major league's doing it and just has the cores
Speaker 2: effect latched onto him. I think he belongs here because
Speaker 2: I do think he's the best player on the Rockies.
Speaker 1: Don't really know about availability yet, but this guy's first
Speaker 1: two full seasons one hundred and fifty three hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty seven.
Speaker 2: That matters to me.
Speaker 1: Twenty six Homers led the NL in doubles with forty five,
Speaker 1: and he won the goal Glove at age twenty two.
Speaker 1: So yes, he deserves to be team's best player. And
Speaker 1: that's another And there's also like a like lation.
Speaker 2: He was technically less than Brenton Doyle, which I'm excited
Speaker 2: to see where Brenton Doyle falls in the center field
Speaker 2: list when we get there. But they were kind of
Speaker 2: the same guy for ward player around league average, bat,
Speaker 2: really good defensively.
Speaker 3: It's and that's okay. Question mark.
Speaker 2: Why are the Rockies really good at developing players and
Speaker 2: they just can't get any external talent?
Speaker 1: The pitching thing is crazy, it's crazy. A couple of
Speaker 1: their transactions are crazy. They're more focused on being a
Speaker 1: business than a baseball team.
Speaker 2: A couple of their position players are good.
Speaker 1: The other part that gets me mad is like, I
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be a Rockies article in five years
Speaker 1: or twenty five years that's very similar to the Mariners
Speaker 1: one that came that. The problem is the Rockies have
Speaker 1: known their stadium is an issue for twenty years and
Speaker 1: they've never tried anything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like Arizona.
Speaker 1: They tried one thing. There was one season when they
Speaker 1: like weren't going to use starting pitchers, Like there was
Speaker 1: a weird Bud Black season.
Speaker 3: I forget what it was said night. Was it one
Speaker 3: of their playoff hears. No, they tried some weird pitchingn't work.
Speaker 1: But I'm not doing the course.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're gonna get lost.
Speaker 1: It gets me hot. I'm ready for that. Advisor, give
Speaker 1: those three.
Speaker 2: Feel like a teer.
Speaker 1: I would make a pitch for CJ. Abrams and I
Speaker 1: know there's a fear factor. And last season ended weird.
Speaker 1: If I wanted to, I could spin that in a
Speaker 1: positive way. We are maybe too familiar with CJ. Abrams.
Speaker 1: It feels like he's been a big leaguer for a
Speaker 1: while now. He's still twenty four twenty homers last year,
Speaker 1: thirty one steals, eighteen homers, forty seven steals the year
Speaker 1: before that, you know, one ten o ps plus last year.
Speaker 1: It obviously landed in a weird place. There are questions
Speaker 1: about his defense that could have him on a third
Speaker 1: base list. Yeah, probably sooner and later or something like that.
Speaker 2: My take for this is I think he ends the
Speaker 2: year not the shortstop of the Nationals. It got pretty
Speaker 2: bad defensively last year. I watched a lot of Nationals
Speaker 2: baseball rats fan and like the bat was really there
Speaker 2: in the first half, like best player in the lineup
Speaker 2: for sure. You were when he came up in the order,
Speaker 2: you knew, like, okay, this is the at bat. We
Speaker 2: got to be careful around. They have a lot of
Speaker 2: talented young players, like I think James would if you
Speaker 2: want to do a fun NL MVP sprinkle this year
Speaker 2: for high odds. He's a guy I would pick with Abrams.
Speaker 2: I just think he's so defensively limited that I can't
Speaker 2: I can't imagine that by war he'd be the Nationals
Speaker 2: best player. This season he was first percentile that's about average,
Speaker 2: negative seventeen, like bottom of the league by far.
Speaker 1: So where would you put him?
Speaker 2: That's the thing, because he's not Hassan Kim hass On
Speaker 2: Kim is. His whole thing is that he's going to
Speaker 2: give you four war and be good defensively. So Cee
Speaker 2: Jabis is a really weird one. I don't think he
Speaker 2: needs to change the scenery. I think he's fine being
Speaker 2: a National.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's both life swap.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: So maybe he is in that tier, just kind of
Speaker 2: like as an asterisk, because I don't really think he
Speaker 2: fits in there.
Speaker 1: Man, Like what what would be more surprising to you?
Speaker 1: Like cj Abrams ends up in a bad spot on
Speaker 1: any list, or we're talking about cj Abrams like the
Speaker 1: five war player this year, Like if cj Abrams ends
Speaker 1: up in a pit, I don't know, man, that that
Speaker 1: guy has all the tools. Hopefully he got a life
Speaker 1: lesson at the end of last season, Like what if
Speaker 1: what if cj Abrams took a lot of stuff to
Speaker 1: heart and he comes in incredible this year.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, it depends on his response to adversity.
Speaker 1: If I had to bet on cj Abrams having a
Speaker 1: one and a half war season or a five war season,
Speaker 1: I would bet five War.
Speaker 2: I can be okay with it because he's, you know,
Speaker 2: he matches the young Factor two prize prospect twenty three
Speaker 2: years old last year, so that's the same as a netto.
Speaker 2: I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: But I do think I understand the fears.
Speaker 2: It's honestly, I don't know why the Nationals haven't swapped
Speaker 2: him in Louis Garcia, because Louis Garcia is a really
Speaker 2: good glove at second base and Abrams was originally a
Speaker 2: second baseman. If I if my memory serves me right.
Speaker 1: I think I think history is going to look pretty
Speaker 1: good on your commentary, we'll say, but I want to see.
Speaker 2: I think bad is real. That's very real. He's a
Speaker 2: good hitter.
Speaker 3: Ce Jabs could be thirty whatever it is, seems like
Speaker 3: it's it is okay, Yeah, where exactly a team's going
Speaker 3: to use him, we'll find we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2: But really quick, hang on, what's that? What do you
Speaker 2: do in September? Because I remember just the numbers were
Speaker 2: not yeah, I know, yeah. So he had a one
Speaker 2: dot one two seven ops in June that month alone.
Speaker 2: He was like, that's good, best hurt in baseball type thing.
Speaker 2: Then he was below six hundred the next two months, right,
Speaker 2: So he was just streaky, like his numbers could have
Speaker 2: ended in a way.
Speaker 3: Too insane month.
Speaker 2: So I think, yeah, because if he just stays consistent,
Speaker 2: he will be His bat will carry him to the
Speaker 2: same values.
Speaker 1: Here the three guys, yeah, and I guess again baseball
Speaker 1: we talked about, how how are there so many young
Speaker 1: guys on this list. And it's consistency, it's work ethic,
Speaker 1: it's health, it's it's all the stuff that of talent
Speaker 1: and like potential. I think of this crew, I still
Speaker 1: think CJ. Abrams might have the most talent and potential.
Speaker 3: Just like things he can do.
Speaker 1: It a little tricky with defense, and like, I guess
Speaker 1: what do you think is easier to improve?
Speaker 2: That's that's the question you ask yourself with that.
Speaker 1: I I think of all these guys as a hitter,
Speaker 1: I can bake on Abrams the most. Zach Netto might
Speaker 1: have an argument and in baseball hitting talks, but it
Speaker 1: might talk at a different position.
Speaker 2: Oh boy, So that leaves one one tier here ha
Speaker 2: song Kim And that's not okay, you want to take
Speaker 2: it away?
Speaker 1: Scratches? Is he? Here are the names? Here are the
Speaker 1: names remaining. And I there's probably a lot of Yankee
Speaker 1: fans that are listening to this that are like, hey, Jakester,
Speaker 1: and I'd say, don't call me that, you can call
Speaker 1: me Jakester. Where's Anthony Volpi? I heard a lot of
Speaker 1: young talented shortstops get talked about. Yeah, and I didn't
Speaker 1: hear Anthony Volpi well, I think he's currently has On
Speaker 1: Kim and that's not okay. The expectation for him has
Speaker 1: been a lot higher. The Yankees have passed on a
Speaker 1: lot of these other players above him on the list
Speaker 1: in free agency or trades for his opportunity. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of ways you can chop up his numbers that
Speaker 1: are not very pretty offensively, closer to the worst, if
Speaker 1: not the worst, than mediocre. In the past couple years,
Speaker 1: he showed a little bit in the postseason that speaks
Speaker 1: to Yankee fans.
Speaker 3: A couple of good stretches in regular seasons that.
Speaker 1: You've seen the spark if you're a Yankee fan.
Speaker 3: I think I think most Yankee fans have seen the vision.
Speaker 1: On him and it could happen. But he has not
Speaker 1: earned to be with the team's best player. And we
Speaker 1: think that's okay.
Speaker 3: All those guys took a big step up offensively.
Speaker 1: He could make a fight for Hasan Kim and that's okay,
Speaker 1: but he's currently not. I mean, what's the career ops
Speaker 1: plus at eighty three?
Speaker 2: My thing with Fulpy because I do think on a
Speaker 2: lot of teams, if you add to Anthony Vulpi, the
Speaker 2: team gets better. I think that you can say that
Speaker 2: safely he's a three war shortstop. A lot of teams
Speaker 2: could benefit from that. The thing with that is that
Speaker 2: when you see, oh, well, you know, he's only twenty
Speaker 2: three last year. So is zach Nato. So was Zeke Tovar,
Speaker 2: so was c. J. Abrams, so was you know, the
Speaker 2: guys at the very top of the list, although they're
Speaker 2: kind of an alien scenario, so was early to There
Speaker 2: are so many shorts ups in the game that are
Speaker 2: that young, that have already demonstrated that they can hit
Speaker 2: at an above leau garage at the major league level
Speaker 2: and also play the position well. Plus you add the
Speaker 2: magnification of playing on the Yankees, the magnification of being
Speaker 2: a first round pick, like you said, passing another dudes
Speaker 2: to get this guy his spot. That, yeah, I think
Speaker 2: that this tier's kind of built for him. Of like,
Speaker 2: that's not okay, Like we need you to be more
Speaker 2: than just a guy that can play the position.
Speaker 1: We need production well in the artistry where sometimes things
Speaker 1: work out too well. You said Volpi as an eighty
Speaker 1: three ops plus in his career. Yeah, so does Isaiah
Speaker 1: Kiner Filefa, the man who kept the seat worn for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as Corey Seeger hit free agency, Ikf bald out Toronto
Speaker 1: last year. I'll give him credit. He got traded to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and he did the opposite of that, and they're
Speaker 1: now handing him the keys to the shortstop position to
Speaker 1: start the year, which I hope things work out for IKF.
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of confusion in this office and
Speaker 1: I think sometimes around baseball how IKF is viewed. He's
Speaker 1: hass On Kim and that's not okay. But he's not
Speaker 1: hass On Kim. That's the whole deal. That's the whole
Speaker 1: thing with this category. Yeah, like you're basically wearing a
Speaker 1: Hassan Kim Halloween costume. Yeah, Like I can be that,
Speaker 1: but you're not.
Speaker 2: Like the Pirates are so much better if they have
Speaker 2: Hassan Kim, but they also have IKF sloughed as their
Speaker 2: lead off hitter right now, their lead off shortstop. I
Speaker 2: think they need they need him to be more than
Speaker 2: what he is for them to succeed. Also because they
Speaker 2: just didn't do anything this offseason beside Spencer Horowitz. So
Speaker 2: it's a little unfair to IKF because I feel like
Speaker 2: we all kind of know what kind of player. He
Speaker 2: is like, if you play him at second or third
Speaker 2: and you have him at the bottom lineup, that's a
Speaker 2: really nice piece. He was good for the Blue Jays us.
Speaker 2: But if you have him leading off and playing shortstop
Speaker 2: and you want him to be Hasan Kim, you might
Speaker 2: be disappointed.
Speaker 1: It's just so wild to me that that Blue Jit
Speaker 1: his time with the Blue Jays is what the Yankees
Speaker 1: dreamt of. It's what the Pirates have dreamt of. It's
Speaker 1: what I think Texas briefly dreamt of. For I KF
Speaker 1: he did have three point two war in eighty three games, damn,
Speaker 1: but it fell off the cliff. And that's if you
Speaker 1: look at his page, that's the clearest outlier of anything
Speaker 1: that I don't know. Uh, you don't question his work ethic.
Speaker 1: The guy answered every interview question he was asked. He
Speaker 1: was well beloved by the Yankees players. I don't know
Speaker 1: to look at his baseball card in modern day baseball
Speaker 1: and say that's going to be our everyday leadoff hitter,
Speaker 1: that's slight malpractice. Yeah, from the Pirates, who are drawing
Speaker 1: a lot of ire from their fan base and people
Speaker 1: outside of baseball, not outside of baseball, outside of the
Speaker 1: Pirates and those two being paired together.
Speaker 3: Just feels right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Also in this category, I guess these are just
Speaker 1: my shortstops. Geraldo Perdomo for the Snakes. This year a
Speaker 1: pivot year for him for whatever reason. He feels like
Speaker 1: a weakness on the Diamondbacks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's He's an interesting one for me because he
Speaker 2: makes that team better outside of play. He's like a
Speaker 2: big vibes guy geese like Dalton. I think said he
Speaker 2: would be if they had to pick a captain of
Speaker 2: the team, it would be him, which shocked me. But
Speaker 2: then I thought about it and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I guess it would be him. But he kind of
Speaker 2: is has On Kim.
Speaker 1: No, he's moving up.
Speaker 2: I think he's up. I think.
Speaker 3: The platoon split.
Speaker 2: I think that he's hass On Kim and that's okay
Speaker 2: because he's like their eight hitter.
Speaker 3: Is there someone he wants to wife swap with? Is
Speaker 3: he wife swapping bow? What is this?
Speaker 2: I think he's hass On Kim and that's okay. I
Speaker 2: think you're right because his free agency could get real interesting,
Speaker 2: real fast.
Speaker 1: He's twenty five. He just turned twenty five. He had
Speaker 1: a one oh one ops plus in the games he played.
Speaker 1: He had three point five war last year in ninety
Speaker 1: eight games, So.
Speaker 2: You're telling me he's league average and he had.
Speaker 1: A There's something that feels weird and off about it,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what it is, but I think
Speaker 1: you're right. He's hass on Kim and that's okay.
Speaker 2: You know it's off. It's the low power.
Speaker 1: It's very low power. And if you go month by
Speaker 1: month with him from last year, I think there's one
Speaker 1: ops in the eights. Everything is a low six. So
Speaker 1: that's one of like, what are you getting on an
Speaker 1: everyday basis?
Speaker 2: You'd rather be consistent for.
Speaker 1: An everyday basis, you're getting. Oh, and he pick it.
Speaker 2: He was three and a half war in ninety eight games. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I didn't see that before. I thought it was a
Speaker 2: full season.
Speaker 1: He's haws on Kim in that's okay, even though.
Speaker 3: It's a higher average, mid to high sixes ops in
Speaker 3: those other months. And he went nuts in August and.
Speaker 2: In August that's funny.
Speaker 1: It's weird.
Speaker 3: And eight of his twenty doubles or whatever that number is.
Speaker 1: I don't know why he gets judged on a slightly
Speaker 1: different scale, but he does not deserve to be with Volpi.
Speaker 1: It does not deserve to be with I k F.
Speaker 3: I mean he cleaned up the platoon thing year.
Speaker 1: I had an old pimple scabbed over and I just
Speaker 1: picked it and I or maybe blood. Yeah Perdomo, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the last two years he's at a ninety eight ops
Speaker 1: plus and the glove plays and yeah, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know why he was.
Speaker 2: In the best lineup in baseball. He doesn't need to
Speaker 2: be better than what he was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just interesting that I guess he's viewed as
Speaker 1: the weak link.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, so big day for Perdomo. He's hass On
Speaker 1: Kim And that's okay, at least for this season. And
Speaker 1: that's gonna be an interesting thing we're gonna find out
Speaker 1: this year because they've got Jordan Lawler coming up. They've
Speaker 1: got some interesting ways to look at their upcoming future infield. Yeah.
Speaker 1: If he can keep doing that, I mean he's on
Speaker 1: a five war pace last year higher. Yeah, so and
Speaker 1: he's twenty five, Like what if he gets better? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the other great baseball game that sometimes happens the
Speaker 1: two remaining players. If you've made it to this point
Speaker 1: of the episode, my god, Orlando Arcia.
Speaker 2: Can he picket?
Speaker 1: I think so much. Oh, I was leaning hass on
Speaker 1: Kim and not. Okay, where does numbers land last year?
Speaker 3: I don't The numbers are really bad.
Speaker 2: I don't think they need him to be anything more
Speaker 2: than a guy that can play short.
Speaker 3: I think he plays short stops still at a at
Speaker 3: a high level, that he's above Kenny Pickett and above
Speaker 3: these guys. But that also, the Braves have felt like
Speaker 3: they've had two obvious holes the last two years, and
Speaker 3: I think outfielders.
Speaker 2: That's above average. The Braves lineup bangs, he hits.
Speaker 1: Like nineteen, he's braved us a little bit, but that
Speaker 1: fell off really quickly, and then last year it fell
Speaker 1: off the whole time. That dude, if he has a
Speaker 1: bad first month and.
Speaker 2: A half, he might be out.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's the Brave shortstop anymore.
Speaker 2: He's also it's getting paid two milliar. All they need
Speaker 2: him to do is just play short. If he hits great,
Speaker 2: I think he's can you pick it?
Speaker 1: I think he gets a little too much Braves credit
Speaker 1: from that good first half of Yeah twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: He hasn't been had he was point five Yeah, he
Speaker 2: hasn't been above two or since twenty seventeen, since the
Speaker 2: birth of this company, since the Brewers. Yeah, so I
Speaker 2: think he's f PS plus. I also does he have
Speaker 2: your Edwards there?
Speaker 1: I think you're right.
Speaker 3: More is a question, yeah, because I thought we did
Speaker 3: that a while ago.
Speaker 2: I just have like he needs to get better defensively,
Speaker 2: but like he could well.
Speaker 1: If Xavier Edwards had a one twenty eight WRC plus
Speaker 1: two point two war These are f first time I'm
Speaker 1: looking at fangrafts. If he did this on your team.
Speaker 3: I might have found it with him, with him the
Speaker 3: the A's guy and the White Sox guy, slaptics no
Speaker 3: fop down.
Speaker 2: The Blake Snell thing is an all time clip. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I got him in Kenny Pickett. Fucking no, I don't care.
Speaker 1: Put together a nice little sample last year.
Speaker 2: Seventy games. That's just you don't know who he is yet?
Speaker 2: Is that it?
Speaker 1: That's it?
Speaker 2: Seventy five minutes on the clock.
Speaker 1: Geez crazy.
Speaker 2: This is a beefy one, man. I don't think the
Speaker 2: other ones will be as long or difficult.
Speaker 1: It's tricky because you don't want to get caught up
Speaker 1: on the big guys. But there's there's good conversations with
Speaker 1: the big guys, where like Aaron Judge, you probably don't
Speaker 1: have to have that conversation.
Speaker 2: It was two of the top five best players in baseball,
Speaker 2: like you gotta have a lengthy discussion, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, you've already commented what you've loved and you hate.
Speaker 1: I think Xavier Edwards is the only one I'm not
Speaker 1: satisfied with, and that's why we ended there, because he
Speaker 1: has an argument for something.
Speaker 2: Seventy games I need more.
Speaker 1: Let us know what we did poorly. We've got one
Speaker 1: of these coming like every week ishes that.
Speaker 3: Generally the non Monday episode both basically every week, so everyone,
Speaker 3: thank jolly, thank BBD. Let us know which one should
Speaker 3: be the next one. Oh and thank uncle Dan Wild's
Speaker 3: production of Dan Patrick Productions, John Boy Media and Workhouse Media.