Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Batflips and Nerds, the Baseball podcast
Speaker 1: with a British twist. I am your host this evening,
Speaker 1: Ben Carter, and I'm joined on a very hot evening
Speaker 1: by two other baseball luminaries. First of all, Rob Navera,
Speaker 1: how are you good?
Speaker 2: I'm I'm yeah. You may notice, for those of you
Speaker 2: who are watching on YouTube, I have a different background today.
Speaker 2: It is because I am with cats and new cats
Speaker 2: have taken over my normal podcasting zone, so I am
Speaker 2: standing in my spare bedroom trying to work all this out.
Speaker 2: So but otherwise good. Yeah, it's been a while since
Speaker 2: I've been on the pod. It's good to see you both.
Speaker 3: It has been a while going on.
Speaker 1: They give us a cat's names because you were just
Speaker 1: telling us that they are baseball ladies, and if Becky disagrees.
Speaker 2: Well, so I mean they're called Chicago and Tampa and
Speaker 2: they are ladies. Initially I was going to go for
Speaker 2: I wanted Carl Clawford and Tyler Glasmiow, but Becky said
Speaker 2: absolutely not, that's ridiculous. So she suggested, what about places
Speaker 2: we've been? So I said, Francisco and Diego like really
Speaker 2: cool cat names. But i've fortunately it turned out to
Speaker 2: be ladies, not offortunately fortunately they're wonderful cats, they turn
Speaker 2: out to be ladies. So I went with I said,
Speaker 2: what about Hilda and Ethel? Because I quite like old
Speaker 2: lady names for cats. And then she went back to, oh,
Speaker 2: what about the places we've been? Because she hated Hilda
Speaker 2: and Ethyl, So we settled on Tampa and Chicago. What
Speaker 2: Becky doesn't know is that Tampa's middle name is long Ago.
Speaker 2: But secret Squirrel, I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we're going to come back to a lot
Speaker 1: more catch Out in future. It's a good job John's
Speaker 1: not here. It would be an entire podcast dedicated to catch.
Speaker 3: Out, I fear.
Speaker 1: But joining the two of us is russall Eesam, who
Speaker 1: I think is maybe a little bit boozed up after
Speaker 1: after the pub from from the math work drinks.
Speaker 3: How you doing, Russ?
Speaker 4: I'm doing good. I'm ready to spit fire. And what
Speaker 4: we what we've missed talking on? It's it's been a
Speaker 4: it's been been a while, and it's been been a
Speaker 4: few beers. So I've got some opinions and he's gone.
Speaker 1: Takes were too hot for the in net to handle,
Speaker 1: and so am I, well, a great start to the pot.
Speaker 3: Can you tell where Russy?
Speaker 1: We lost Russ for a minute there, but we do,
Speaker 1: we think have him back now, And yeah, we've got
Speaker 1: lots of baseball to chat through. Some pretty exciting news
Speaker 1: that dropped. I'm trying to remember when it was now,
Speaker 1: was it Sunday night or Monday night? Of course, the
Speaker 1: raphaile Devs trade, which I think we're going to get
Speaker 1: into first and talk about a little bit, and then
Speaker 1: cover off a few topics at the end, including Bob's
Speaker 1: trip that we're going to hear about and any other
Speaker 1: baseball lated stuff that you guys want to talk through.
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's start with the topic du jour, the
Speaker 1: rafaile Dev's trade to San Francisco from Boston bombshell. I
Speaker 1: think we'd he'd been a topic on almost every podcast
Speaker 1: we've done this season for one reason or another.
Speaker 3: Through his clear sort of fallout.
Speaker 1: With a Red Sox front office that was manifesting itself
Speaker 1: in various ways in public. But I don't think anyone
Speaker 1: really saw this coming out of the blue, him being
Speaker 1: sent to San Francisco for a small cadra of prospects
Speaker 1: for players coming back the other way. Including Kyle Harrison,
Speaker 1: left handed pitcher who was at one time at a
Speaker 1: top prospect in Jordan Hicks, who people will know as
Speaker 1: the guy who throws the ball very very fast but
Speaker 1: doesn't really know where it's going. So obviously, I guess,
Speaker 1: first question, who won the trade? Do you guys have
Speaker 1: a strong view on whether the Giants have fleeced the
Speaker 1: Red Sox? The Red Sox have fleeced the Giants? Russall
Speaker 1: come to you first? Is there a winner? Or am
Speaker 1: I stupid for asking that question? Obviously, yes, I guess
Speaker 1: it's been a week since the trade.
Speaker 4: Now there's only one winner. It's a San Francisco Giants. Basically,
Speaker 4: the Red Sox have bungled this beyond belief. This sort
Speaker 4: of trade never happens like that. There's it's simplistic like
Speaker 4: this is as probably one of the single biggest failures
Speaker 4: that the front office has done in maybe the last
Speaker 4: twenty years of baseball. But the funniest thing is that
Speaker 4: the other biggest bungle probably that's happened in Britain in
Speaker 4: America baseball was Mookie Bett's being traded to the to
Speaker 4: the Dodgers. Like this Red Sox ownership maybe there have
Speaker 4: been different people charge, but Sam Kennedy and John Henry
Speaker 4: are basically have shown that they are incapable of paying
Speaker 4: a franchise player to stay at their team. Maybe Devas
Speaker 4: was not the right person that they should have given
Speaker 4: that franchise deal too. Maybe it should have been Bogots,
Speaker 4: Maybe it should have been Bets. That's some other parts
Speaker 4: to do this, but this is a fundamental failure within
Speaker 4: the Red Sox system that has allowed a player like
Speaker 4: Rafael Devers to become available. Everybody who is a San
Speaker 4: Francisco Giants fan is jumping with joy with this. You
Speaker 4: do not get players that are going to get four
Speaker 4: to five war become available in trades for multiple seasons
Speaker 4: like this is. It's not a Luka dontig deal to
Speaker 4: compare it with some other sports, but it's like it
Speaker 4: is after the unheard of in baseball for this sort
Speaker 4: of thing to occur, and there is there is nothing
Speaker 4: but failure on the Red Sox side. Yes, there are
Speaker 4: potential talking points to whatever should have done or shire
Speaker 4: not done, but John and I had conversations with Kyle Body,
Speaker 4: We had conversations with like Tyler Gill, and we had
Speaker 4: conversations with others around kind of about how the Red
Speaker 4: Sox should work, howat how building a culture works, and
Speaker 4: that so obviously has failed at the Red Sox, that
Speaker 4: they had to do this deal, and then they had
Speaker 4: to have that press conference where car Breslo and Simon Kennedy,
Speaker 4: wh were trying to make it sound like this was
Speaker 4: a good think There's no way that this is a
Speaker 4: good thing. So I don't know if either of you
Speaker 4: saw that press conference from the two of them, but
Speaker 4: it was so bad that I can now understand while
Speaker 4: Rafiel Devers has had issues communicating with these individuals up
Speaker 4: to this point because seemingly neither of them really know
Speaker 4: how to talk to human beings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean a timing I think was also bizarre
Speaker 1: in that the Red Sox had just swept the Yankees.
Speaker 1: Devas had just hit a very important home run in
Speaker 1: helping him achieve that sweep. Vibes were maybe for the
Speaker 1: first time or season high in Boston.
Speaker 3: Prospects had just been called up.
Speaker 1: Things seemed to be on the up for them, and
Speaker 1: then this happens, and we very rarely see superstars get
Speaker 1: traded full stop, but very very ready to then get
Speaker 1: traded mid season, Rob were you as shocked to everyone
Speaker 1: else when this news happened? What was your instant reaction
Speaker 1: to it? And now the dust have settled a little bit,
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts a shock?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, now, I would say there was always going to
Speaker 2: be something that was going to happen here. Clearly people
Speaker 2: weren't happy. There had to be a resolution. I think
Speaker 2: we all probably thought what would eventually happen is Devers
Speaker 2: is gonna gonna begrudgingly play first base for the Red Sox.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody had on their on their bingo
Speaker 2: card devas happily playing first base for the Giants instead.
Speaker 2: I mean with the Giants says an element of will
Speaker 2: take him, We'll take him, you know, like they've been desperate,
Speaker 2: desperate for a big, big player for a while. So
Speaker 2: you know, if you actually think about it, where else
Speaker 2: would he have landed? Know that this is spot on,
Speaker 2: This is exactly where he probably should have gone. But yes,
Speaker 2: it's a failure. It's a failure in one sense in
Speaker 2: that that this team should have Raffi Devers for years
Speaker 2: because he's a fantastic hitter. I think the computer has
Speaker 2: clearly spit out numbers here, which is saying, we don't
Speaker 2: want to pay two hundred and fifty million dollars to
Speaker 2: a DH who may not be any good in five
Speaker 2: of his nine years remaining. It's a spreadsheet deal, you
Speaker 2: can see it. It's it's gone spreadsheet. What they haven't factored,
Speaker 2: and of course is is the Raffi Devers of it all.
Speaker 2: And the guy is the guy is a special hitter.
Speaker 2: You know, he doesn't he doesn't conform to the numbers,
Speaker 2: you know, he is, He's a bit better than that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, shocking, it is. It is shocking. Absolutely. However,
Speaker 2: this car crash of a communications saga with the Boston
Speaker 2: Red Sox was always going in tears for either Raffi
Speaker 2: Devers or for Craig Breslow or both, you know, And
Speaker 2: a little part of me is saying, is this Craig
Speaker 2: Breslow balls up? Or is this a Craig Breslow playing
Speaker 2: a master plan that he was told to play by
Speaker 2: John Henry. Piss him off, make him go. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't doubt he had no trade clauses in his
Speaker 2: in his deal, so has he been told to piss
Speaker 2: him off enough that he needs to go? Was this
Speaker 2: Craig Breslow's balls up or was this I'm going full
Speaker 2: on conspiracy theorist here, but was this the plan all along?
Speaker 2: I don't know. Nobody sorry coming though, but there had
Speaker 2: to be an out here, and essentially both of these
Speaker 2: guys weren't going to be with the Red Sox for long.
Speaker 2: Breslo may still not be with the Red Sox for long,
Speaker 2: but it had to finish.
Speaker 1: I think he didn't have a no trade clause, weirdly
Speaker 1: because almost all of those contracts do, but I think
Speaker 1: Devers didn't for whatever reason, so he could have gone
Speaker 1: anywhere in theory. But yeah, the Giants made the most
Speaker 1: sense for a lot of reasons. They've been trying to
Speaker 1: acquire a superstar hitter for several years of free agency
Speaker 1: without really imagine to get there, hadn't they So for them,
Speaker 1: obviously a huge move and the knife in the back
Speaker 1: for the Red Sox. I guess Russ is that in
Speaker 1: his very first press conference, Devers comes out and said
Speaker 1: he's happy to play first base starts taking ground as
Speaker 1: their pre game before his first game, clearly exactly that.
Speaker 1: You know, it was upset with the Red Sox, not
Speaker 1: necessarily with the request. But the way they went about it,
Speaker 1: and what I find slightly puzzling is like for like
Speaker 1: a spreadsheet guy maybe as you called them, Rober, I'd
Speaker 1: understand it where someone who wouldn't have that empathy for
Speaker 1: being a player. Greig Breslow was a player, Like he
Speaker 1: understands what it's like to be in a clubhouse. He
Speaker 1: understands what it's like to be a guy who's involved
Speaker 1: in these deals and to understand the importance of communication.
Speaker 3: How has this happened with him?
Speaker 1: Like you say, Russ, he just seems robotic in the
Speaker 1: way that he communicates, And I can't quite understand how
Speaker 1: you would have that view as a former player. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't look great for them right now, especially with
Speaker 1: the whole Devils now seemingly open to playing first base.
Speaker 4: I think what you get at is the fact that
Speaker 4: players are very different. Like Breslo was a Yale graduate
Speaker 4: before kind of coming into baseball. That is a very
Speaker 4: different way of operating mentally and as an individual to
Speaker 4: get to there before we even kind of by coming
Speaker 4: into baseball, he has brought in consultancy firms which have
Speaker 4: taken this team from having virtually even number of scouts
Speaker 4: and analysts to having four x the amount of analysts
Speaker 4: and they have scouts. Now, I'm going to tell you
Speaker 4: that analytics is a good way to run baseball, but
Speaker 4: you have to have the quality side to what's going on.
Speaker 4: There are things that you cannot quantify to work out
Speaker 4: how things going on. And for baseball deals, like the
Speaker 4: annoying thing that I've seen a lot of people report
Speaker 4: is that like, oh, yeah, the back end of this
Speaker 4: contract is doesn't look good. The back end of every
Speaker 4: major contract doesn't look good because you're paying for this
Speaker 4: player to be good now and you deal with the
Speaker 4: consequences of them being bad later. Also, there's a certain
Speaker 4: thing that you don't understand. A lot of them seem
Speaker 4: to understand. That's called inflation and the fact that basically
Speaker 4: this contract will not look that bad in five or
Speaker 4: ten years time because guess what will be on one
Speaker 4: or two further cbas and so see how much you
Speaker 4: can pay somebody or the salary cap is going to
Speaker 4: be much larger than it is right now. And just
Speaker 4: over the last five ten years of baseball, think how
Speaker 4: those contracts have gone. But brass Harper was getting like
Speaker 4: three hundred million Ghan Sodo got seven hundred million. Like this,
Speaker 4: Deva's contract is not going to look bad come the
Speaker 4: end of the season. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how
Speaker 4: this works that really annoys me with how a lot
Speaker 4: of people have like reporting on this. Yes, I think
Speaker 4: that Breslo has shown that either him or Sam Kennedy
Speaker 4: have just just decided that basically this wasn't the right
Speaker 4: way to do this. And after Devas had that first
Speaker 4: round of miscommunication about hey, you're not going to play
Speaker 4: third base, even though that's basically what hein Bloom and
Speaker 4: the other people that made that decision, which like Sam
Speaker 4: would have been one of those people, so we can
Speaker 4: say that like, oh yeah, like the president of baseball
Speaker 4: operations have changed, but the person above him and the
Speaker 4: people below him haven't changed, So those promises should have
Speaker 4: the same. Like it's just because you have like a
Speaker 4: different person in he's making those decisions. A lot of
Speaker 4: that should have sayed the same bad communication one. Then
Speaker 4: effectively they put him to DH he becomes amazing. They're
Speaker 4: then like, hey, mate, do you want to go to
Speaker 4: a first base And it's like, well, actually, you just
Speaker 4: told me I didn't need to defend so I don't know,
Speaker 4: like there is a part of me that's saying me like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you should have maybe gone like, yeah, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm gonna I'm gonna take one for the team here,
Speaker 4: But maybe that's not who Rapiel devis is. Like I
Speaker 4: don't know how you guys feel, but I see like
Speaker 4: people like Big Pappy coming out and being like, oh yeah,
Speaker 4: Like I've measured devas a long time a lot of times,
Speaker 4: and he didn't didn't respond to me, and we didn't
Speaker 4: sort it out. I'm like, dude, you don't play for
Speaker 4: the Red Sox anymore. You're a freaking media person. You
Speaker 4: may have been like the face of that franchise anymore,
Speaker 4: but literally, if I was a player, you can sod
Speaker 4: off like your opinion matters nothing to what's going on
Speaker 4: right now. Like you're just coming out here now with
Speaker 4: basically a pro Boston view on what's going on, because
Speaker 4: that's what you're there to be, Like, you are a
Speaker 4: pro Boston guy. You will be a pro Boston guy
Speaker 4: for your entire media career. That's just the what it is. Like,
Speaker 4: there's so much that we do not know what's going on.
Speaker 4: Like to me, reading the reports from like June Lee
Speaker 4: over the last couple of days that he's put out
Speaker 4: on your host Sports about just the way that the
Speaker 4: Red Sox organization works. It sounds like an absolute nightmare
Speaker 4: to be in. I cannot fathom like parts of what
Speaker 4: is being talked to us about, like how that organization
Speaker 4: runs from an analytical perspective. As an analytical person, it
Speaker 4: would drive mean nuts. And so if it's driving a
Speaker 4: person who's not analytical, that's then yeah, like it's just
Speaker 4: not a good place. It wasn't the best place for Devas,
Speaker 4: and Devas is basically just once he's been given the
Speaker 4: chance to go somewhere else where he's appreciated and he's
Speaker 4: gone to the pobosi that himself, and so we get
Speaker 4: the chance to go to an organization which has gone
Speaker 4: from hey, we need to be really analytical to like
Speaker 4: we need to maybe get some feelings into it. And
Speaker 4: obviously having Bust in charge, he's gone, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 4: we want to play like this. The only chance we
Speaker 4: have to get a player like this is this trade
Speaker 4: or spending what half a billion dollars on Kyle Tucker
Speaker 4: next year. There's no player like this that's available. So
Speaker 4: they did the best thing that was a possible for
Speaker 4: this team, got rid of guys that what are going
Speaker 4: to be maybe back end starters and relievers, and our
Speaker 4: prospect that we'll all forget about the next of Jita
Speaker 4: downs as we say, like, it just makes no sense
Speaker 4: from the red possible effective apart from we need to
Speaker 4: dump the salary, we need to restart. We don't want
Speaker 4: this guy around our young players, and that really to
Speaker 4: me says to that they did not want to Raffield
Speaker 4: Devas to have any impact on their young prospects that
Speaker 4: were coming through.
Speaker 1: Well, I personally didn't have Russell Tell's big puppy to
Speaker 1: sod off of my Bingo Kotha tonight. Con grasps for
Speaker 1: the listeners that did, I just wish you get off
Speaker 1: the fence and she's aside here, I think you're I
Speaker 1: think you're dead right, and I did enjoy the theory
Speaker 1: I think tongue in cheek going on social media that
Speaker 1: Femway Sports Group was shipping the money off the books
Speaker 1: to help fund Florian Verts joining Liverpool imminently, which is
Speaker 1: just a great crossover of UK and US sports and culture.
Speaker 1: I guess the final point on this that again another
Speaker 1: knife in the back for the Red Sox. I guess
Speaker 1: where they're playing this weekend, San Francisco, so fans will
Speaker 1: very quickly get a chance to see there as an
Speaker 1: action in in the Giants jersey, which should be good fun.
Speaker 1: And him in the Giants jersey looked a bit weird.
Speaker 1: So I did task the guys with maybe coming up
Speaker 1: with a few other players who looked odd wearing new
Speaker 1: laundry with different teams, different colored pajamas. Rob, I think
Speaker 1: you've got a few that you were going to sort
Speaker 1: of start off with. Which guys on new teams did
Speaker 1: you find most offensive to the eye.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize you said players didn't just have players.
Speaker 3: Oh sorry, yeah, yeah, no, take it in different And
Speaker 3: I had others.
Speaker 2: I'll come back to them, Okay, all right, So I've
Speaker 2: got one for Russell to start with. I had Josh
Speaker 2: Naylor playing in Arizona Colors. Just looks weird to me,
Speaker 2: like he's he's got quite a distinctive face, like and
Speaker 2: it was he was to someone who's not watching the
Speaker 2: The The Guardians every day. He kind of was the
Speaker 2: face of that franchise for the last few years to me.
Speaker 2: And so, yeah, Josh Naylor playing for the d Backs
Speaker 2: is a weird look. Did you get that job, Josh,
Speaker 2: Josh isn't here, Russell.
Speaker 4: No, definitely, I can get that from some of those things.
Speaker 4: I think from like a from a Cleveland perspective, like
Speaker 4: you'd be like, he's he's one of those guys that's
Speaker 4: come through your system, and you're kind of like, yeah,
Speaker 4: he's gonna be one of those guys, and then when
Speaker 4: you go see them play with somebody else, it does
Speaker 4: look look a bit off. I think personally, as someone
Speaker 4: who quite likes those d Back Cityknect uniforms, it doubly
Speaker 4: hurts because I'm just like, man, he looks good wearing
Speaker 4: some of those, like City can X, whereas like our
Speaker 4: City can X was a pretty freaking boring.
Speaker 2: Who else has got one? I've got several, but you
Speaker 2: know someone else picked one.
Speaker 3: I've got a few. Were sort of strowing you out
Speaker 3: in the group with't me? I think Darius suggested both.
Speaker 1: Brandon Crawford when when he joined the Cardinals from the
Speaker 1: Giants having spent obviusly a long time in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: that definitely looked weird. I think you maybe then threw
Speaker 1: out Brandon Belt who I agree, And no, the guy
Speaker 1: who left the Giants and didn't look right in his
Speaker 1: new with his new team with the Blue Jays, that
Speaker 1: was odd. Andrew mccutchon on the Yankees, I'd like completely
Speaker 1: memory hold that. I think John came up with that one.
Speaker 3: That was weird.
Speaker 1: I always think the Yankees have got a whole section
Speaker 1: of their owner. A bunch of players on the Yankees
Speaker 1: that I just don't think looked right. Goldschmidt this year,
Speaker 1: I'm still getting used to. Anthony Rizzo never looked right.
Speaker 1: Each row on the Yankees was weird. Donaldson on the
Speaker 1: Yankees was weird.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Garrett Cody Bellinger, that is that is a weird
Speaker 2: slide like Dodgers. You like, yet absolutely he fit. Then
Speaker 2: he went to the Cubs and you were like, this
Speaker 2: is a bit odd. Now he's hit the Yankees. He's like, no, no,
Speaker 2: this this this is not a Cody Bellinger team.
Speaker 1: And that definitely was like a facial hair element to
Speaker 1: it as well, before the new rules instituted of just
Speaker 1: guys who you always knew is having a beard suddenly being.
Speaker 3: Beardless that that's never looked right. But God, give us
Speaker 3: a fear of your other ones.
Speaker 4: Rob.
Speaker 2: Justin Turner. Now it's a strange one, this one again
Speaker 2: because like Dodgers, I mean, Orioles is is. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: was kind of his origin. But like Dodgers is where
Speaker 2: we all know Justin Turner from. Somehow he looked okay
Speaker 2: with the Red Sox, with the Blue Jays, kind of
Speaker 2: okay with the with the Mariners. But for some reason
Speaker 2: as a Cub, it just I don't know if it's
Speaker 2: a color thing with a ginger beard, but like it's
Speaker 2: just not working for me. I cannot look at Justin
Speaker 2: Turner as a Cub. I cannot remember that Justin Turner
Speaker 2: is with the Cubs. If you had to ask me
Speaker 2: before I started flicking through players looking for this, I
Speaker 2: would have told you he was still a Mariner. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I just can't. I can't take Justin Turner as a Cub.
Speaker 2: Rhys Hoskins like it feels like he's a rental still
Speaker 2: on the on the Brewers like the guy as a Philly,
Speaker 2: so he shouldn't be there. I agree totally with John
Speaker 2: he put in that group as well. Kenny Jansen just
Speaker 2: just weird. As a Dodger. I thought about Kyle Hendrix,
Speaker 2: but somehow it just really fits. And I don't know why,
Speaker 2: but like a thing about that match up, like it
Speaker 2: shouldn't work, but it does, I think. And then I
Speaker 2: had the last two. I've got I've got Tommy Famm,
Speaker 2: but only because his his profile photo with the Pirates,
Speaker 2: he's looking he's kind of smiling and looking friendly, which, no,
Speaker 2: that's not right for me. And last, well, Billy the Marlin.
Speaker 2: Like so, Billy the Marlin came of a time whereby
Speaker 2: they were in the like the orange, like the colorful
Speaker 2: Marlin's one. Now they've got the kind of the almost
Speaker 2: cool and it is. It is a good standard jersey
Speaker 2: the Marlins jersey. They've got the kind of cool, edgy,
Speaker 2: kind of the Cuban vibes, you know, with the colors
Speaker 2: and everything, and that's just not suiting Billy the Marlin.
Speaker 2: I think Billy the Marlin was supposed to be in
Speaker 2: like cartoonyan orange colors and his face does not fit
Speaker 2: the current jersey. So I really can't see Billy the
Speaker 2: Marlins as a current Marlin.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I agree with most of those ones. Hadn't
Speaker 4: quite thought about Bill Billy the Marlin in uh, for
Speaker 4: me watching Phoenix Hernandez basically where anything that wasn't at
Speaker 4: Maredon's journey as he was trying to kind of like
Speaker 4: continue his career, just Orioles and even Atlanta. I think
Speaker 4: for a while in spring training it was just it
Speaker 4: was wrong. It didn't match up. I think I think
Speaker 4: I said it when Ben was talking about the Yankees,
Speaker 4: I briefly said, just Donaldson. It didn't work for me,
Speaker 4: Like I just see him kind of like wearing wearing
Speaker 4: that blue like that that that whole entire time. There's
Speaker 4: no one as a Cleveland fan and and maybe as
Speaker 4: a as a questionable character, but yeah, selpweg probably wearing
Speaker 4: Cleveland gear to a lot of people seems like a
Speaker 4: completely wrong thing. He is as an he's an LA
Speaker 4: player like through and through. It would be the same
Speaker 4: way of like everyone, it's never gonna happen. But there
Speaker 4: was always that talk about Kershaw like, oh, going back
Speaker 4: maybe to like the Rangers for a season, it would
Speaker 4: just be so wrong. And and as the same thing
Speaker 4: where even when he look with Berlander, he seemingly has
Speaker 4: gone everywhere that he wears orange. So it just about
Speaker 4: still looks okay to kind of like fit fit with
Speaker 4: the vibe, but there are there are so many guys.
Speaker 4: I think then if you guys have watched Charlie Morton
Speaker 4: wearing orange, I don't like it, mainly because he's been
Speaker 4: pitching really bad at the same time, whether like the
Speaker 4: color as a has has really has really funked him.
Speaker 2: Up, but he was famously an orange I know, but it.
Speaker 4: Just doesn't like you have these different ideas about like
Speaker 4: when we've all like started to watch baseball, or whether
Speaker 4: where we got to these points where I remember this
Speaker 4: player being X, Like there are gonna be times where
Speaker 4: it's gonna be like, yeah, you know, like pooholes, like
Speaker 4: what what what?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 4: Where do you think that he plays or whatever, and
Speaker 4: you're just kind of like, well, actually, like the more
Speaker 4: that I remember is the terrible end of the career
Speaker 4: because I didn't really start watching baseball while he was
Speaker 4: actually good. Even like the same with like Miguel Cabrera.
Speaker 4: It's like I remember them being bad players, not good
Speaker 4: players because I missed I missed that part of their career.
Speaker 4: So you just have an idea in your head of
Speaker 4: like this person fits this, and as soon as they
Speaker 4: go somewhere else, you're just like no, like to me,
Speaker 4: Corey Kluber wearing anything that was in a Cleveland jersey
Speaker 4: was just was an outrage when we when we traded him,
Speaker 4: like Michael Brantley wearing an Astro's jersey really annoyed me
Speaker 4: for quite a while before I got round to the
Speaker 4: fact that kind of like, yeah, I still like him
Speaker 4: because he's a good player, but it just felt wrong.
Speaker 4: He was the guy that I'd watched be a Cleveland
Speaker 4: guy for like six years and then go see him
Speaker 4: wear another jersey just it felt ick ick.
Speaker 2: Totally on trend with the young the young, and.
Speaker 1: I think it's definitely a cascode as well. The guys
Speaker 1: who just were rentals for a few months that you
Speaker 1: kind of forget ever played for that team. Like I
Speaker 1: think Tom called out Cesspadas for the Red Sox. That's
Speaker 1: one that, Yeah, it's weird to think about. I still
Speaker 1: sort of forget that Howwie Bayer's paid for the Mets
Speaker 1: for a few months. There are a few of those
Speaker 1: guys who just sort of popped up in the uniform
Speaker 1: that five years later you look back like, huh, I
Speaker 1: forgot that ever happened. Anyway, Please do send in any
Speaker 1: of your own thoughts. Dear listeners, if you have any
Speaker 1: young guys that looked weird in other uniforms, we be
Speaker 1: happy to hear them in quite out some of the best.
Speaker 3: Ones on our next podcast.
Speaker 1: Should we go on to some of the other news
Speaker 1: going on around the league, Let's maybe start with you
Speaker 1: know what, Let's go to you, Rob and let's hear
Speaker 1: about your adventures, and then we can get into some
Speaker 1: of the other news. I want to hear about your
Speaker 1: trip that actually probably wasn't that recent now, but we
Speaker 1: haven't speaken to you since it was like.
Speaker 2: A month ago. Now. Yeah, sure, I was at the
Speaker 2: same time as Russell was there, and you've all heard
Speaker 2: Russell's stories many weeks ago. I was fortunate enough to
Speaker 2: board a plane and Heathrow and fly over to Los
Speaker 2: Angeles very briefly and hopped on a twenty two minute
Speaker 2: flight to San Diego, which Greta Thunberg would not have enjoyed.
Speaker 2: Twenty two minutes in the air like I've never seen
Speaker 2: a distressed air stewardess launched bottles of water at someone
Speaker 2: down a aisle quite so quickly like that before. But yeah,
Speaker 2: twenty two minutes in the air, and then I landed
Speaker 2: in San Diego, and my god, what a place. If
Speaker 2: you are looking to go to a city which is
Speaker 2: not of the team that you currently follow, I cannot
Speaker 2: rate San Diego high enough. Absolutely phenomenal city, beautiful city,
Speaker 2: fantastic nightlife, really good to look at, like the touristy
Speaker 2: crap is top notch as well. You will will not
Speaker 2: have a better time than if you go to San Diego.
Speaker 2: I really really cannot tell you how good that place was.
Speaker 2: And the ballpark, too, is such a part of the city.
Speaker 2: It is really built in. The fan base is loyal,
Speaker 2: it's friendly, It's aggressively on the side of the padres,
Speaker 2: yet it is still somehow friendly and welcoming. The colors
Speaker 2: are spread through the town, really really town, the city
Speaker 2: really really really brilliantly. And the ballpark it's just sort
Speaker 2: of nestled right in the middle of kind of the
Speaker 2: touristy bit and where it kind of connects onto the
Speaker 2: nightlifey bit. And what a ball park. Absolutely beautiful, beautiful,
Speaker 2: beautiful place to watch baseball. It was it was It
Speaker 2: was super brilliant, I mean partly brilliant. Has it raised
Speaker 2: one all the games whilst I was there, I didn't hurt.
Speaker 2: They got Gallagher Square behind the behind the big screen
Speaker 2: in the outfield, which is which is just like you
Speaker 2: just walking around the stadium and it suddenly opens up
Speaker 2: and you feel like you're back out in the street again,
Speaker 2: but you're still within the confines of the ballpark, and
Speaker 2: it's this huge area just for people to just kind
Speaker 2: of hang out and have a drink and have some fun.
Speaker 2: Absolutely beautiful city, I will say, though. They put fireworks
Speaker 2: on at the end of the second game. I was there,
Speaker 2: and you know, like you go if you if you've
Speaker 2: been to a Major League baseball park where they put
Speaker 2: fireworks on, you normally sit in the stands and then
Speaker 2: you look somewhere well beyond beyond center field they have
Speaker 2: fireworks going off. No no, no, no, no no no. They
Speaker 2: put the fireworks roughly on on second base, and so
Speaker 2: never have I seen sort of forty thousand people cowering
Speaker 2: from the explosions happening seemingly feet from their face. It
Speaker 2: was shocking, or like, you know, you left knowing that
Speaker 2: you've been at a fireworks displayed. There was no doubt
Speaker 2: about that. It was awe inspiring. But my God, what
Speaker 2: a town. Absolutely fantastic place to watch baseball.
Speaker 3: If either of you.
Speaker 2: Ever had had the luck to go to San Diego
Speaker 2: at all, I haven't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was there last year, actually, but I would
Speaker 1: cosign everything you said. I would also say compared to
Speaker 1: because we did San Diego and Los Angeles last year,
Speaker 1: compared to La especially, but I think a lot of
Speaker 1: American cities. San Diego is shockingly walkable, Like you don't
Speaker 1: have to have a car to get around, which was
Speaker 1: refreshing because so many places. Yeah, they look at you
Speaker 1: funny if you say you want to walk places, as
Speaker 1: we found San Diego, you can basically get everywhere on
Speaker 1: foot if you're willing to put some steps in. So
Speaker 1: and the food there was amazing. I mean you're right
Speaker 1: on the Mexican border, amazing Mexican food. Like we loved
Speaker 1: it as a city. And yeah, like you say that,
Speaker 1: the ballpark's built in so well, amazing views, friendly people,
Speaker 1: suns always shining. I really don't know why we left,
Speaker 1: but it was great, So yeah, co sign.
Speaker 2: And then from from the sublime to the ridiculous, we left.
Speaker 2: We left San Diego, brief stopover in Atlanta, didn't manage
Speaker 2: to get to a ball game there, but you know,
Speaker 2: Atlanta is Atlanta five whatever. Then we went to we
Speaker 2: went down to Tampa. I thought, you know, this is
Speaker 2: my chance to go and see Steinbrenner Field, and my god,
Speaker 2: won a pile of crap. Honestly, Yeah, you've been to
Speaker 2: spring training. I've been to spring training places before, absolutely
Speaker 2: I have been. I went to see the Look, it's
Speaker 2: not the facility. The facility isn't the problem, and this
Speaker 2: is nobody's fault because the Rays were put in this
Speaker 2: situation with the Dodgy roof that they're having to play
Speaker 2: these games here. However, when you go to spring training,
Speaker 2: it is early to mid March. Now, I did not
Speaker 2: go late in the year. I went mid May, and
Speaker 2: my god.
Speaker 3: The heat.
Speaker 2: It is insand there is a very very good reason
Speaker 2: they do not play baseball outdoors in Florida in the summer.
Speaker 2: It was insane like that. The stadium. The stadium is fine.
Speaker 2: The Rays have done a decent job of turning this small,
Speaker 2: very clearly a minor league ballpark into something that can
Speaker 2: can look There was no cues. Everyone managed to get
Speaker 2: in properly despite it being sold out every night all
Speaker 2: the concessions. There was no major cues form like they
Speaker 2: they've done a decent job. You know, they put buses
Speaker 2: on to get you in. You know, the car parking
Speaker 2: is very close. Can't fault any of that. But you
Speaker 2: just cannot play baseball outdoors in Florida in this heat.
Speaker 2: Like I was sat there for the night game, Like
Speaker 2: the night game was was sufferable from about you know,
Speaker 2: the fifth or sixth inning, like you could start to
Speaker 2: sort of okay, like I'm starting to feel human again.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: I went to a day game on a Thursday, And
Speaker 2: if you were to go back and look at it
Speaker 2: on TV and look at any of the raised day games,
Speaker 2: bear in mind they have sold out like all but
Speaker 2: three of their three of their games so far, there
Speaker 2: was no nobody in the stands because even the locals
Speaker 2: by the middle of the second were like, I can't
Speaker 2: sit here anymore. It is ridiculous. So my advice would be,
Speaker 2: if you are if you're going to Steinbrenner Field because
Speaker 2: you fancy going and seeing because it's a novelty, it's
Speaker 2: a one off, absolutely do it. But my god, go
Speaker 2: at the night game. It is insane. During daytime they
Speaker 2: are handing out free free drink, free water because it
Speaker 2: was too hot. They were handing out free suncream like
Speaker 2: they knew this was a problem, but there was sod
Speaker 2: all they could do about it. And there was no roof,
Speaker 2: there was no shade. You could not get ten thousand
Speaker 2: people in the shade in that stadium.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: It was insane, so great. But my god, just just
Speaker 2: just going a night game, because you know, I am
Speaker 2: a ginger fellow. Don't get me wrong, I don't suffer
Speaker 2: the heat well, but this was otherworldly. Other worldly. Do
Speaker 2: not go into daytime.
Speaker 1: As someone who's unaware, I suppose of the geographical challenges
Speaker 1: at the Ray's face at their old stadium. It's interesting
Speaker 1: you mentioned they've sold out of every game. Is it location wise?
Speaker 1: Is it a massive upgrade on Tropicana Field? I mean,
Speaker 1: what is that the kind of place you think they
Speaker 1: should be base full time if they were to, I
Speaker 1: don't know, have a roof for something to prevent the
Speaker 1: sun getting in.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Now, when you say they've sold it every game,
Speaker 2: I will I will cavey at that I went to.
Speaker 2: So the first game I went to was a game
Speaker 2: against Royals. Also, all of the games I went to
Speaker 2: in Florida. The Rays lost and lost badly, so that
Speaker 2: wasn't fun to start with. But it was a game
Speaker 2: against the Royals and they had a I guess they
Speaker 2: didn't know about it in advance. There was a there
Speaker 2: was some kind of country music fair on the parking
Speaker 2: field where we're supposed to park our cars, so they
Speaker 2: decided us to park further down the road. It's it's
Speaker 2: it's all surrounded by the Raymond James, the Raymond James Stadium,
Speaker 2: which is the Tampay Buccaneers enormous cathedral of a stadium,
Speaker 2: and this is a tiny, timey little ballpark on the
Speaker 2: side of it. So you park in the foot football
Speaker 2: ones and the football stadium parking is all around the stadium,
Speaker 2: which is enormous, so they use the ones that are
Speaker 2: closest to the ballpark. Now that one had this country
Speaker 2: music festival on, so we had to walk twenty it's
Speaker 2: in you know, blazing heat to get back to the
Speaker 2: cars afterwards. So as a result of that, they offered
Speaker 2: four free tickets and free parking to anyone who attended
Speaker 2: the game. So I think the Rays are doing an
Speaker 2: awful lot of this to fill those stands out of
Speaker 2: the minute. And I think this may have something to
Speaker 2: do with with the ownership situation. And look, it's fantastic
Speaker 2: here in Tampa. We sell all the tickets all the time,
Speaker 2: so I think there's a little bit of that going on.
Speaker 2: But is it a better place to go? The area
Speaker 2: itself is sort of dusty scrub lund. There isn't an
Speaker 2: awful lot around that specific area. But if you are
Speaker 2: traveling from the rest of Florida, you are you are
Speaker 2: chopping forty five minutes on a good day off of
Speaker 2: the trip, and with with the bridges, if you come
Speaker 2: out of a game at the Trap, it's it's probably
Speaker 2: closer an hour and a half.
Speaker 3: Like it.
Speaker 2: It absolutely is the right place to put baseball in
Speaker 2: Tampa Bay, actually in Tampa rather than some Pete and
Speaker 2: Pete is a great place to go and visit and
Speaker 2: sit on a beach and have a have a you know,
Speaker 2: Pina Colada and look over some beauty visitas of the
Speaker 2: gold from Mexico. But it probably not a plays for
Speaker 2: a baseball stadium. So yes, absolutely they should be putting
Speaker 2: that stadium in into Tampa proper and they will sell better.
Speaker 2: They will sell better, guaranteed.
Speaker 3: I'll playignorance again. Then where are we with the stadium?
Speaker 1: What is do you know anything about where they're planning
Speaker 1: to play next year? Is their genuine chance they're going
Speaker 1: to be moving? Is the plan still to renovate Tropicana
Speaker 1: and fix the roof? What where are we with that?
Speaker 2: So next year? So essentially the some Peak Council is
Speaker 2: obliged to fix the Trup part of the deal. So
Speaker 2: originally the Rays were going to be out after twenty
Speaker 2: twenty seven, but that was requiring that the stadium was
Speaker 2: available to play in every year of the deal. So
Speaker 2: now that they've not been able to play in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five, that extends by a year on the end.
Speaker 2: So the council is fixing the roof of the Trup.
Speaker 2: They absolutely will be back next year. They are aiming
Speaker 2: to have it done by the by opening day. I
Speaker 2: think you'll probably see the race playing somewhere else for
Speaker 2: the beginning of the stadium beginning of the season, but
Speaker 2: they will. They will likely be back in the Trup
Speaker 2: at some point next year. The deal that they had
Speaker 2: on the table was done. That is that is gone,
Speaker 2: that is that is dead in the water, that is
Speaker 2: there's nothing anymore. You may have seen in reports over
Speaker 2: the last few days that a letter of agreement has
Speaker 2: been signed or a letter of interest has been signed
Speaker 2: for selling the raise. Stustoneberg is finally looking to get out.
Speaker 2: I think an awful lot of this, this stadium deal
Speaker 2: dying and making a go of Tampa and filling that
Speaker 2: stadium up. I think an awful lot of that will
Speaker 2: will be something that has been in the background for
Speaker 2: this potential deal going for quite a while now. So
Speaker 2: the new guys are looking to keep it in Florida.
Speaker 2: The deal is led by a guy from Jacksonville who's
Speaker 2: a property developer, but the rest of the people on
Speaker 2: the deal with the money, they are Tampa guys. So
Speaker 2: I would imagine the Tampa bay Rays will stay in Florida.
Speaker 2: Where in Florida, I don't know. But it's the question
Speaker 2: of the short term is the difference now? So long term, yes,
Speaker 2: they're going to be around. Someone is gonna get a
Speaker 2: stadium deal bit Orlando, b it Jacksonville be at Tampa.
Speaker 2: Goodness knows. But what we do beyond the end of
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty eight season, that is a real question.
Speaker 2: Right now, do you, as a fan of the team.
Speaker 4: Do you feel that like this sale is happening because
Speaker 4: he's been forced out by the m ORB ownership group,
Speaker 4: Because to me, it's like there aren't many owners that
Speaker 4: basically had a billion dollar of worth investment from like
Speaker 4: local areas to build the stadium, then effectively lost that
Speaker 4: deal or renegged on that deal and is now in
Speaker 4: a position where I'm like, I feel that like this
Speaker 4: is like we're not quite Washington National's territory, where effectively
Speaker 4: m ORB have just gone like, yeah, you know what,
Speaker 4: fuck off, Like you are not fit to basically be
Speaker 4: in charge, Like you are going to make it worse
Speaker 4: with how what you've done. Sell it, take your money,
Speaker 4: get somebody new into sort this out, because it's clear
Speaker 4: that you're not going to do it. It's something that personally,
Speaker 4: I've feel that we might see for John Fisher in
Speaker 4: a year or two when it's clear that he's not
Speaker 4: going to be able to get anything built in Las
Speaker 4: Vegas because guess what, nothing has been signed off on
Speaker 4: any of that yet. But I feel that like this
Speaker 4: is actually more of an MLB being sell the team
Speaker 4: than him wanting to sell the team.
Speaker 2: It could well be there's a few things here. Number one,
Speaker 2: as a fan, you understand watching all of the stars
Speaker 2: of that team walk out. The door has been horrible
Speaker 2: over the years. Likewise, since two thousand and eight when
Speaker 2: it took over the rays of the third most successful
Speaker 2: team in major leagues. You know, only the Yankees and
Speaker 2: the Dodgers have won more games than them since two
Speaker 2: thousand and eight. So look's something I'm right, absolutely it has,
Speaker 2: so you know, be careful what we wish for. Like
Speaker 2: a lot of success has come and it may not
Speaker 2: be the way we've always wanted to see it, but
Speaker 2: it's happened. You know, there's something going on there now.
Speaker 2: When it comes to is this a jump or push situation,
Speaker 2: a lot of people said that this deal suddenly dying
Speaker 2: in in St. Pete just didn't make any sense, that
Speaker 2: why is he just he's he just killed this in
Speaker 2: You know, I would imagine that there was an awful
Speaker 2: lot going on with with rumors of sales long before
Speaker 2: we've heard about it, and I would say more than
Speaker 2: a couple of other people in this billionaires group saying
Speaker 2: stop it, we don't like it, go and do something else,
Speaker 2: sell your team. I think it's much more likely that
Speaker 2: that he got wind of some guys who are interested
Speaker 2: in buying his team, but not with now These are
Speaker 2: property developers as well, may I add, not with the
Speaker 2: noose of a new stadium, not on their their property,
Speaker 2: land around their neck. So I would I would be
Speaker 2: very surprised if the deal didn't come before the death
Speaker 2: of the Tampa deal and the push out from MLB
Speaker 2: is is likely to be very very good.
Speaker 1: A little detour into the world of Tampa Bay rais
Speaker 1: and politics.
Speaker 3: I suppose it sounds slatly promising.
Speaker 1: No, Hopefully they can get somewhere with the sail and
Speaker 1: they can find a more permanent home going forward. But
Speaker 1: we'll see many full storms in the last few years,
Speaker 1: haven't they been. We've managed to go along way. In
Speaker 1: his podcast is a saying the name show Hey o Tani.
Speaker 1: I feel like we have to cover him off, don't we.
Speaker 1: He's good, very good, and he's back to doing the
Speaker 1: two things he's good at, being hitting and now pitching.
Speaker 1: Got on the mound for the first time as a Dodger,
Speaker 1: first time in eighteen months or so last week or
Speaker 1: started this week, pitched one inning, touched one hundred miles
Speaker 1: an hour. It is effectively doing his rehab in the
Speaker 1: Major's right, because they're never going to send to the
Speaker 1: miners to rehab because they need to bat in the
Speaker 1: line every day. So it makes for a strightly strange
Speaker 1: situation where he's presumably going to ramp up his pitches
Speaker 1: over the next four or five weeks, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like the plan is for him to just pitch once
Speaker 1: a week rather than you know, enter a five day rotation.
Speaker 1: But Russ exciting to see him back. I think any
Speaker 1: time we get him doing both is really exciting. Even
Speaker 1: if it's going to be, you know, a slightly lower
Speaker 1: level than it was pre Tommy John, still good to
Speaker 1: see him up there and looking as sharp potentially as
Speaker 1: he did pre surgery.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like there's it's a fundamental reason why we
Speaker 4: call show you Atani a unicorn, like he's he should
Speaker 4: be mythical, No one should be able to do this.
Speaker 4: Everybody else he's played baseball in the last twenty years
Speaker 4: has been completely, nutterly not capable of hitting at a
Speaker 4: good level and pitching at a good level. So seeing
Speaker 4: this it is always awesome. I'm kind of a little
Speaker 4: bit waiting for him to kind of get three or
Speaker 4: four innings under his belt, get to the point where
Speaker 4: he's actually probably gonna pitch eighty hundred pitches a game
Speaker 4: before I'm gonna get truly excited, Like, hey, by now
Speaker 4: he's got a nine era that's not particularly good, but it's.
Speaker 2: It's one inning of baseball.
Speaker 4: And if somebody would have come in and be like, oh,
Speaker 4: this guy's supposed to be like the one of the
Speaker 4: best pitchers in the baseball it's like, well, yeah, he's
Speaker 4: doing this thing that's different to everybody else. Because he
Speaker 4: actually does this, it's a little bit tiring sometimes to
Speaker 4: be like, oh, yeah, we have to think about Otanian
Speaker 4: differently to everybody else, Like by doing this one inning pitch,
Speaker 4: he's basically helped the Dodgers because he will be next
Speaker 4: season a a two way player and be allowed to
Speaker 4: do that sort of thing. You have to remember that
Speaker 4: MLB literally changed their rules multiple times to accommodate Attorney,
Speaker 4: and so we want to see this be at his best.
Speaker 4: We want to see Atani pitching one hundred miles an hour,
Speaker 4: striking guys out, hitting home runs in the same game. Personally,
Speaker 4: I kind of want to see you Atani in the
Speaker 4: field and this is also one way that kind of
Speaker 4: like that makes that like less likely to happen, because
Speaker 4: it's just like what, he's actually a good picture and
Speaker 4: he's allowed to stay in there's a dh in the games,
Speaker 4: then we're not really going to see that, but it's
Speaker 4: awesome to see. I think we're probably quite lucky that
Speaker 4: the Raphael Devas thing happened when it did, because otherwise,
Speaker 4: literally all we would have talked about this week was
Speaker 4: like the twenty odd pitches that Ottani threw, and no
Speaker 4: one else, nothing else would have been important. I've seen
Speaker 4: some conversations from a few of my friends who live
Speaker 4: out in Japan, and literally, if you want to find
Speaker 4: any other news about baseball or MLB, you have to
Speaker 4: sift through like one hundred and sixty articles on no
Speaker 4: Tani throwing like one inning of baseball. So we love him.
Speaker 4: He's amazing right now, it doesn't really mean anything like
Speaker 4: they're literally warming him up to the point where he's
Speaker 4: probably not even gonna be useful before the All Star Game.
Speaker 4: They're really basically looking to ramp him up towards the
Speaker 4: end of the season to the point that he's actually
Speaker 4: a good picture when it comes to the playoffs. Like
Speaker 4: we know the Dodgers will make the playoffs, we know
Speaker 4: that there is potentially like five of ten arms which
Speaker 4: they might use as starters when it comes to the playoffs.
Speaker 4: We hope that Atani is one of them. We also
Speaker 4: hope that like Sasaki and Snell and Glasnow are part
Speaker 4: of those as well. Across from right now, as much
Speaker 4: as I know he's a great player, we've got kersher
Speaker 4: and his questionable politics being like the people who are
Speaker 4: out there like picking up the innings and yeah, you
Speaker 4: know what, like he had the moment, I'd rather you'd
Speaker 4: be passed on and suppressed, I mean, surpassed by the
Speaker 4: younger generation. Suppressed probably as well.
Speaker 1: He might have feared Atarney that his you know, job
Speaker 1: as a two way player was being taken from him
Speaker 1: by key Hey Hernandez. Every time I look at social media,
Speaker 1: Henandi's is back on the mound, mostly giving up enormous
Speaker 1: stingers in games.
Speaker 4: We pitched where they actually actually bring in banda after him,
Speaker 4: Like I think in the first two or three times
Speaker 4: that he pitched, when they were winning, he got the outs,
Speaker 4: and then I think the third time they actually had
Speaker 4: to then bring in a picture because he gave up
Speaker 4: like five runs in the inning, so like him wearing
Speaker 4: the helmet is absolutely hilarious and seeing all of it
Speaker 4: is top notch comedy as far as I'm concerned, And
Speaker 4: it is a bigger f you than beaning one of
Speaker 4: the various Padres or Dodgers as they've been doing, like
Speaker 4: in in their series against each other. Being able to
Speaker 4: put a positional player out when you're winning, that is
Speaker 4: the truest kind of like f you to to any
Speaker 4: team that you can do.
Speaker 1: It's certainly a great I can't I'm looking like my
Speaker 1: do not find him, I'm gonna say on TARNI. I
Speaker 1: guess my fear is that maybe we've seen the last
Speaker 1: of him as a full time picture just because he's
Speaker 1: so valuable as a hitter to the Dodgers that they're
Speaker 1: never going to over exert him on the mound, just
Speaker 1: because why were they when they've got, you know, an
Speaker 1: eight nine win player when he's healthy just hitting and
Speaker 1: they don't really need him to try and overextend himself
Speaker 1: just to just to be able to show that he
Speaker 1: can still do it. I hope I'm wrong, and I
Speaker 1: hope we do still see seasons where you know, he
Speaker 1: can get up to one hundred, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: innings pitched alongside his amazing hitting and do the kind
Speaker 1: of stuff that we did see for a couple of
Speaker 1: years with the Angels, But that that would be My
Speaker 1: fear is that the Dodgers think the sensible thing to
Speaker 1: do is actually start to ramp him down on the
Speaker 1: pitching side.
Speaker 3: But am I just being a pessimist? Rob Yeah?
Speaker 2: Probably. I will also add just quickly here Kike Hernandez
Speaker 2: currently has the exact same ra show. It's fine, that's fun. Ah, No,
Speaker 2: you're not being a kill joy. It's it's the inevitable
Speaker 2: decline that we all know is eventually going to happen.
Speaker 2: You know, we all knew that eventually Mike Drout would
Speaker 2: have to give up center field and shift over, and
Speaker 2: we didn't want to see it. But here it is,
Speaker 2: it's happening. Yes, Otanni's not going to be Pete o'tani forever.
Speaker 2: I think the bloke is looks like the picture of
Speaker 2: fitness and health, and you know, if you're going to
Speaker 2: put your money on someone doing it for a while,
Speaker 2: you'd certainly putting on him. However, it's not gonna last forever,
Speaker 2: of course, it's not. We need to cherish every single
Speaker 2: moment of this whilst we got it. Eventually they're going
Speaker 2: to have to wind him down. Like this guy is
Speaker 2: an He's a better hitter than he's a picture. Like
Speaker 2: he is a good pitcher. Don't get me wrong, he
Speaker 2: is a fantastic picture, but he is an absolutely exceptional hitter.
Speaker 2: There is going to come a point where it is
Speaker 2: going to be very, very obvious that the pitching is
Speaker 2: taking away from the hitting and they're going to have
Speaker 2: to stop. Now. I hope this is five, six, seven,
Speaker 2: eight years in the future, but it will eventually come.
Speaker 2: Of course it will. And you know, you gotta trust
Speaker 2: that a decent claim, a team like the Dodgers are
Speaker 2: gonna realize the value in his hitting and eventually they're
Speaker 2: gonna say, Yep, enough's enough. We're gonna have to do
Speaker 2: it now. And you know what, I am still gonna
Speaker 2: love watching show Tani hit because because the dudes and adonis.
Speaker 2: He's great to look at, first of all, but also
Speaker 2: the way he plays is brilliant. So yeah, absolutely like
Speaker 2: it's gonna happen.
Speaker 4: The thing is that there's there's more than just being
Speaker 4: a starting pitcher, Like if it gets to the point
Speaker 4: where they're just like, yeah, you know what, Like we
Speaker 4: sacrifice too much for you being a starting pitcher, and
Speaker 4: you have the DH maybe a little bit less because
Speaker 4: you can't keep up with all of the wear and tear.
Speaker 4: Like I definitely remember the last few times that like
Speaker 4: Attani was pitching and dhing, Like when he was in
Speaker 4: like the sixth or seventh inning, he looked absolutely shattered
Speaker 4: going out there to to hit again. But hey, like,
Speaker 4: does Otani become a leverage guy? Does Otani become the
Speaker 4: Dodgers closer? Like these are all like wonderful things that
Speaker 4: we can think of some point, because hey, we know
Speaker 4: that he can throw one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 3: We know that he can.
Speaker 4: Throw some of the best stuff in baseball. If he
Speaker 4: can't do it over six or seven innings, he could
Speaker 4: definitely do it over one or two or three. So, like,
Speaker 4: there are plenty of other ways for the Dodgers to
Speaker 4: use Showotanni and use what he has compared to everybody else,
Speaker 4: and simplistically, probably from the analytical perspective, just being able
Speaker 4: to get forty innings out of Otanney and not have
Speaker 4: to send someone down and send someone back up like
Speaker 4: fifteen times during the season. But the Dodgers in a
Speaker 4: much better perspective than probably losing his ops for four
Speaker 4: or five or maybe ten games a season. These are
Speaker 4: the things that like clup Oup like not the clubhouses
Speaker 4: will think of, but this is something that the front
Speaker 4: offices are going to think of that he just saves
Speaker 4: so much effort from actually being able to have that
Speaker 4: extra player who can pitch. So I think we'll see
Speaker 4: him pitch for quite a long time into this contractor
Speaker 4: just because of how well it will help the Dodgers
Speaker 4: from so many other perspectives.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, however, we also need like I certainly am guilty
Speaker 2: of sometimes forgetting that show here, Tani had an entire
Speaker 2: career before he came and started playing in the majors.
Speaker 2: And the guy is about to turn thirty one already,
Speaker 2: and god knows, I'd love to be thirty one again.
Speaker 2: But that is the age when things start hurting and
Speaker 2: don't stop hurting when you get up in the morning.
Speaker 2: So you know, again, his body is probably many many
Speaker 2: years younger than the thirty one I was, but it's
Speaker 2: it's not as far off in the distance as perhaps
Speaker 2: it would seem for some young starlet that we've seen
Speaker 2: six years of And he's only still twenty eight, you know,
Speaker 2: So it's going to come up sooner than it's going
Speaker 2: to creep up on us, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: we're going to be staring this in the eye. Think,
Speaker 2: and God, he's only just got here and we're already
Speaker 2: starting to talk about declines like we are right now.
Speaker 1: God, why don't we even bother following the sport are
Speaker 1: doing anything so meaningless we'll get.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's never.
Speaker 2: Rise to riga mortis or whatever inevitable. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 2: we're all gonna die. Everyone, Happy Happy Thursday.
Speaker 3: It screw you, big puppy.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I didn't really have much else on my agenda
Speaker 1: for today. Are there anything else you guys want to
Speaker 1: call out? I do think it's fun that the two
Speaker 1: teams are the best records in baseball right now are
Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. Don't think anyone would
Speaker 1: have seen that coming at the start of the season.
Speaker 1: I personally, I think said the Tigers were going to
Speaker 1: be rubbish. So hop my hands up on that one.
Speaker 1: Not the only bad take I had but anything from
Speaker 1: you guys on what you've watched in the last month
Speaker 1: that you want to quickly call out before we call
Speaker 1: it a day.
Speaker 2: I'm enjoying the Yankees six game losing streak, but that's
Speaker 2: probably just a petty me thing really more than anything else.
Speaker 4: For me, I'm the constant back and forth between is
Speaker 4: the Ale Central good or is the Ale Central bad?
Speaker 4: We at the start of the season where I was like, Yeah,
Speaker 4: none of these teams APO from Detroit are good, and
Speaker 4: then they all played well for a month, and now
Speaker 4: they've all played badly for a month. So it's like,
Speaker 4: are any of these teams actually good? Like someone is
Speaker 4: going to sneak in a freaking five hundred record in
Speaker 4: the AL I think, and get into the wild card,
Speaker 4: like we've had the ineavibility of the Houston Astros being
Speaker 4: like the best team in the AL West. Yankees are
Speaker 4: far and away the best team, although the six game
Speaker 4: losing street really impacts it. And I don't think anybody's
Speaker 4: touching Detroit in the middle. But are you are you?
Speaker 4: Are you really picking anybody out of like Toronto and
Speaker 4: the Tampa and Boston and the Twins, the Royals, the Mariners,
Speaker 4: like there's a big, big load of ick there in
Speaker 4: the middle of the AL, which is just like, I
Speaker 4: kind of don't think any AL team is going to
Speaker 4: beat an NL team when it comes to a World
Speaker 4: series right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see the Guardians are doing Guardians things. Thirty
Speaker 1: seven and thirty five with a negative twenty three run differential.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, be like five and one against the Reds
Speaker 4: or whatever. Loser gets swept by the Mariners and then
Speaker 4: currently win two games out two against the Giants, so
Speaker 4: it's like, yeah, let's just lose to the bad teams.
Speaker 2: And obviously, yeah, I will say the Rangers are probably
Speaker 2: a bit lower than there than they they should be,
Speaker 2: and they've gone a little bit under the radar. But
Speaker 2: other than that, I mean you just look at the
Speaker 2: run differentials and they're sort of all kind of playing
Speaker 2: out as you'd expect. So it's all a bit in
Speaker 2: the AL. The is a lot more fun. Maybe we
Speaker 2: should watch more of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And now it does look fun, doesn't it, especially
Speaker 1: that that wild card racing is gonna heat up nicely. Orioles,
Speaker 1: they are dead and buried, aren't they. I Mean, the
Speaker 1: Rays really put the stake in them last night. Was
Speaker 1: it eight nil they were winning and then twelve unanswered
Speaker 1: the other way. I keep waiting for them, that was
Speaker 1: an awful lot of fun. Keep waiting for them to
Speaker 1: turn this round to that. It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2: Is it Deadenbury?
Speaker 1: As you absolutely say, speaking of delan Bury, my Rockie
Speaker 1: is four game win streak, shout out.
Speaker 3: It's not over till it's over.
Speaker 2: Could still quote from from their manager about you know,
Speaker 2: October is a long way off?
Speaker 3: You know that.
Speaker 2: I swear I saw that somewhere online today.
Speaker 1: I think I think that was a fake quote, but
Speaker 1: honestly it wouldn't surprise me. Oh, I think I still
Speaker 1: love them, Maskie speaking.
Speaker 4: I think it was part way through last month when
Speaker 4: everybody was joking that like Scottish Scheffler had won more
Speaker 4: wins over like three weeks than the Rockies did, and
Speaker 4: then they won like three games in the row and
Speaker 4: they were like more wins than the Scottish Scheffler.
Speaker 3: Baby, It's just like, yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what, Like I did a social media team
Speaker 1: doing a victory lap for winning one series, but they
Speaker 1: had so much ammunition in the clip for every single
Speaker 1: series they'd lost to the last three months and they
Speaker 1: just emptied the whole lot on the Marlins at once.
Speaker 4: Dude, they like what it's still averaging thirty plus thousand
Speaker 4: people to a game at Denver.
Speaker 3: I don't like.
Speaker 4: It's basically seemingly just like the greatest hangout spot in
Speaker 4: Colorado because people just go and enjoy themselves. So like
Speaker 4: they've worked out, they don't actually have to win baseball
Speaker 4: to put a product out there that people will come
Speaker 4: and watch. So yeah, you know what, people are just
Speaker 4: gonna go enjoy it.
Speaker 1: So you do get the the sad thing where when
Speaker 1: the Yankees came to town, the crowd was like ninety
Speaker 1: percent Yankees fans and every Yankee hit is getting cheered
Speaker 1: and every Rocky strikeout is getting which in your home
Speaker 1: stadium not a great look, but hey, bombs bombs in
Speaker 1: seats is something, right?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Have the Yankees got the stive Brenderfield yet, Rob?
Speaker 2: I think yes, Yes, they did really early on, I think,
Speaker 2: and they they lost, so that was fun. They've done
Speaker 2: a really good job of covering up all the Yankees there.
Speaker 2: The one thing that you can still see is the
Speaker 2: end of every row has a Yankees logo on the
Speaker 2: end of it. Other than that they have covered up
Speaker 2: everything down to the urinal, so you know, well done,
Speaker 2: well done marketing team.
Speaker 3: You thought that ran would the one thing they wouldn't cover.
Speaker 2: Up gives on. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Anyway, let's wrap it up there.
Speaker 1: I said, we don't have much talk about today, and
Speaker 1: I think we've ended up wunning post to an hour,
Speaker 1: so as always, we found things to talk about along
Speaker 1: the way. Thank you both for for for joining me
Speaker 1: and talking through a little bit at baseball today. For listeners,
Speaker 1: do you make sure you check out the website bapletpsnose
Speaker 1: dot com. That's a great content going up on there.
Speaker 1: Gavin the team doing an excellent job keeping it updated.
Speaker 1: Do follow us on socials x, Instagram, TikTok, obviously YouTube.
Speaker 1: Now all of our pods are going on to you
Speaker 1: can watch us blabber away rather than just listen, so
Speaker 1: make sure to do that and we'll be back with
Speaker 1: you very shortly for a new episode. Thanks for listening, goodbye,