Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Batflips and Nerds baseball podcast with
Speaker 1: a British twist. I am your host this evening, Ben Carter,
Speaker 1: and I'm joined by two baseball luminaries and cat lovers,
Speaker 1: the first being the new cat parent Rob Navera. How
Speaker 1: are you rong?
Speaker 2: Cat dadd it up? Absolutely? They are little bastards who
Speaker 2: they ate a nine pack of crumpets overnight. I left
Speaker 2: crumpets sealed, sealed pack of crumpets. They d a nine
Speaker 2: pack of crumpets and like if you couldnsider, like how
Speaker 2: big a crumpet is? Like that's the equivalent of me
Speaker 2: eating like a sofa overnight. Like other than that, Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're glorious.
Speaker 1: And our grizzled veteran of cat parenting, John Wigee is
Speaker 1: here revel in Rob's misery. How are you John?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, we need to need to change the name
Speaker 3: of the podcast to cat Dads and Nerds or something
Speaker 3: like that. I think just just for this one episode. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's good, it's it's it's good. We've established that Rob
Speaker 3: and both Rob and miambience is cat toilet in the background.
Speaker 3: If there's anything hedonistic that comes out and you feel
Speaker 3: like we might be under the influence of some weird hallucinogenics.
Speaker 3: That's what it is. Cat litter.
Speaker 1: See if a YouTube algorithm likes that listening it's not pictured.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. You can still tune in without seeing cat litter.
Speaker 1: We've got plenty to get through today. It's been a
Speaker 1: little while since our last pod, and very long while
Speaker 1: actually since we've had John on. So excited to get
Speaker 1: some some takes from you on the things happening around baseball,
Speaker 1: but we've Aughtwa's start maybe with some topics a bit
Speaker 1: closer to home. Very sad I am anyway that there's
Speaker 1: no MB London series this year. We're kind of around
Speaker 1: the time of year that that has typically happened in
Speaker 1: the past. Obviously this year a down year, a fallow
Speaker 1: year in the words of Glastonbury. So we will instead
Speaker 1: be waiting to.
Speaker 3: Talk about Glastonbury. Not not when I'm an employee of
Speaker 3: the BB So that's just get me into all sorts
Speaker 3: of shovel this week, Ben carry on.
Speaker 1: Sorry, should know all it up. But instead of MB
Speaker 1: London series, we have as of last week, had an
Speaker 1: announcement about an event taking place in London instead, which
Speaker 1: is going to be called the MLB Hackney Bridge Takeover.
Speaker 1: We're a little short on details right now, but we
Speaker 1: do know it will be taking place on the weekend
Speaker 1: of the first to the third of August. I have
Speaker 1: taking place, funnily enough at Hackney Bridge, and there are
Speaker 1: some some details about there being representation of four teams,
Speaker 1: the bit the biggest team so some might say, I
Speaker 1: guess Dodgers, Yankees, Giants, Red Sox. Each will have a
Speaker 1: themed zone, There will be game watch along's immersive baseball experiences,
Speaker 1: and obviously more details to come very soon. It will
Speaker 1: be free to attend, which is great and it feels like,
Speaker 1: whilst it's not a game in and of itself, it
Speaker 1: feels like a nice replacement in terms of just something
Speaker 1: that we can go to, rally around, enjoy chat with
Speaker 1: other baseball fans at given that we don't yeah have
Speaker 1: the game to go to this year. So I know
Speaker 1: you guys don't have a ton to react to in
Speaker 1: terms of details from what was shared, but I'm interested
Speaker 1: to hear a your thoughts on whether this has been
Speaker 1: a weirder summer of baseball for you without the London
Speaker 1: game in the middle of it, and be you know
Speaker 1: what you would like to see from this Hackney Bridge
Speaker 1: event and what you think could could help pull fans
Speaker 1: in in a year where they don't have the game here,
Speaker 1: Let's start with you, John.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it has been slightly odd. I mean, it's been
Speaker 3: odd not to have that opportunity for us all to
Speaker 3: get together and meet the people who listen to the
Speaker 3: show what's the show and YouTube and who were in
Speaker 3: contact with the you know, discord groups and WhatsApp groups
Speaker 3: and stuff. So primarily for that reason, it's been odd
Speaker 3: not to have that anchor around which I plan the
Speaker 3: rest of my summer, to be honest. But yeah, like
Speaker 3: it really does sort of galvanize your focus. I'm not
Speaker 3: so I haven't been watching baseball like I absolutely have.
Speaker 3: I have it on all the time. But at the
Speaker 3: same time, it's like, right, if I know that these
Speaker 3: I need to be locked in on these teams and
Speaker 3: instead I have you know, I'm not quite at Tom
Speaker 3: Pringle level, but I have mostly been focused on Red
Speaker 3: Sox baseball and then watching whatever's on the FI, tuning
Speaker 3: into like TNT and seeing what's on every now and again.
Speaker 3: But I would like every be like, right, Well, it's
Speaker 3: the Philly, isn't it's the It's the Mets. So I
Speaker 3: need to understand who are on those teams, who's good,
Speaker 3: what are they doing, what's at stake here? What are
Speaker 3: the storylines that I need to understand so we can
Speaker 3: have a conversation about it, we can try and chat
Speaker 3: to some of the players about it and stuff like that.
Speaker 3: So there's not been that extra wrinkle, so that that
Speaker 3: has been a bit of a shame. I do think
Speaker 3: it's great that that the MLB Europe guys are doing something.
Speaker 3: I had heard this, you know, obviously we're part of
Speaker 3: the LB Europe Fan Network now with the MLB UK
Speaker 3: Clubhouse guys, so they had told us that they were
Speaker 3: planning something, and to be clear, we don't have any
Speaker 3: more details than what's in the public domain now, so
Speaker 3: I was anticipating something. I'm really glad to see it.
Speaker 3: I think it's a great place for it to be.
Speaker 3: You know, we that's really close to the ballpark. When
Speaker 3: there have been a series on there in the past,
Speaker 3: we've tended to congregate around there, and you know, there's
Speaker 3: some really good breweries, really cool restaurants. It's a really
Speaker 3: nice vibe around there. They're Mets held a really great
Speaker 3: pregame event in that part of London last year which
Speaker 3: we had an opportunity to pop into a real party
Speaker 3: atmosphere around there, So it's a really it's the perfect
Speaker 3: place to be doing it. I'm a friend's wedding. I
Speaker 3: think we're going to be quite poorly represented that week end.
Speaker 3: Of understand rightly, I think it might only be you
Speaker 3: Ben right, It's just the timing couldn't be worse in
Speaker 3: terms of us having you know, other things on. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a bit from frustrated. It's not one week either side,
Speaker 3: which would have been perfect for me. But hey, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm sure that you'll have plenty of tequila on my
Speaker 3: behalf night, won't you do my best?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a shame, I know. Yeah, Tom can't make it,
Speaker 1: Darius Russell even Rob you are you around that weekend
Speaker 1: or are you also?
Speaker 2: I have a ridiculous Saturday family engagement. But if I
Speaker 2: care and I will ditch those losers and try and.
Speaker 1: Get fingers crossed. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure it
Speaker 1: will be a great event and I'm interested. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess in terms of what we think will be there.
Speaker 1: My guess Is Gomes and Nick Swisher probably they're always
Speaker 1: there live in London at this point. I'm sure there'll
Speaker 1: be yeah, food trucks, some clid, some sort of throwing
Speaker 1: or hitting activation, space bubs, anything that you'd like to
Speaker 1: see their rob that you think could help capture the
Speaker 1: interest of the British public, or anything that you converse
Speaker 1: you would love for not not to be there.
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, first, first and foremost, some shade would be lovely.
Speaker 2: We all remember the home run Derby that that was
Speaker 2: a little bit warm. There was one tree for for
Speaker 2: ten thousand people or whatever it was. So so as
Speaker 2: long as there's somewhere shady to sit a lot of
Speaker 2: hot baseball this year, like it's hot right now. It's
Speaker 2: been exceedingly hot when I was in the US this year.
Speaker 2: So yes, just some shavee would be absolutely lovely. I
Speaker 2: tell you, what's something I've missed that they did in
Speaker 2: the first time around. I want to pelt a ball
Speaker 2: at a washing machine again. You know that was that
Speaker 2: was great fun first time round. You know, like why
Speaker 2: like we've we've had the VR stuff. We could throw
Speaker 2: a ball and see how fast it's got. Great, wonderful.
Speaker 2: I want to pelt something every day with a baseball
Speaker 2: again and break it because that was that was really fun.
Speaker 2: So yeah, if they could bring that back, that would
Speaker 2: be super well. So got uh some merch, some interesting merch.
Speaker 2: I think they did a really good job in the
Speaker 2: Phillies Mets game where there was it wasn't just your
Speaker 2: basic stuff, Like they had some interesting shirts that were
Speaker 2: a bit different. You know, Becky picked up a couple
Speaker 2: of women were there. It was it was different and
Speaker 2: it marked the occasion. So yes, merchant is a little
Speaker 2: bit more interesting.
Speaker 3: The Haunted Hawaiians Hawaiian shirt from it was the new
Speaker 3: era one. Oh that one we had to go and
Speaker 3: buy for Trevor May.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, exactly, something like that. I want more controversial merchandise, yeah,
Speaker 2: like like give me a Yankees red Sox blend scarf,
Speaker 2: you know, half and half scuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, give me.
Speaker 2: Some controversial merch that that works to our audience. I'll
Speaker 2: take some of that. Can we have I'd like some
Speaker 2: constant baseball to watch. I think I think it's important
Speaker 2: that that we're not just there to eat food by merch.
Speaker 2: We actually are there to watch some baseball as well.
Speaker 2: Like let's have stuff on the on the big screens
Speaker 2: Fargus Square. I thought in the last couple of years
Speaker 2: there was there was a lot of short clips and stings,
Speaker 2: a bit more just like, here is a baseball game.
Speaker 2: Watch this, even if it's you not on yet, Let's
Speaker 2: put on yesterday. Let's have let's have something to watch,
Speaker 2: you know, that'd be that'd be great washing machines. I've said, yeah, well,
Speaker 2: player hosts, player hosts. Yeah, let's uh yeah, let's have
Speaker 2: some some hosts who actually know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2: Max has done a great job over the last couple
Speaker 2: of years. So if he comes back happy with that,
Speaker 2: no problem at all. But you know, let's let's have
Speaker 2: some some hosting from rather than your your generic hype
Speaker 2: person who's paid to be a hyper person, Let's have
Speaker 2: someone who knows what they're talking about. You know, let's
Speaker 2: have have maybe some fans, maybe some players, whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 2: le let's get someone like that. I think that would
Speaker 2: that that would draw it in a bit and make
Speaker 2: it bigger. But yeah, you know what, it's something rather
Speaker 2: than nothing, and it's free.
Speaker 3: Everything saying here, I'm just hearing more work for Felix White.
Speaker 3: The money can't get enough of the MLB dollar. He's
Speaker 3: quite busy. He's quite busy with his mats, hearing his
Speaker 3: mat sum. Felix can bring his mats, definitely. I want
Speaker 3: to see you. I want to see Felix playing out
Speaker 3: some maccabe's licks on the mets that that's going to
Speaker 3: be open in the show, you know, with a bit
Speaker 3: of Pelican or latchme or something.
Speaker 2: That's how we're still deep diving.
Speaker 3: Now those are their two, but those are two of
Speaker 3: their bigger hits. Rob genuinely a band. I genuinely like, yeah,
Speaker 3: get Felix along hopefully. Why aren't they going to Why
Speaker 3: don't they bring along his compadres. Why don't we have
Speaker 3: the brilliant Melanie and Xavier. Again, I don't know how
Speaker 3: you would like bring them into it, but they would
Speaker 3: be good. I'm assuming there's going to be some reps
Speaker 3: of all four of the teams, as they said, Johnny
Speaker 3: Gomes and Nick Usher. Which absolute randos are they going
Speaker 3: to get from the Dodgers the Giants. That's gonna be
Speaker 3: my question. What do you reckon? Ben? Who who fulfills
Speaker 3: that sort of level of sort of good but random
Speaker 3: from those two teams? Is Pablo Sandoval.
Speaker 1: Pablo would be great. My mind went to just how
Speaker 1: extraordinarily extraordinarily upset Darius would be if Tim Mintskom showed up,
Speaker 1: that would be awesome. Don't see it happening? Depends surely,
Speaker 1: Hunter Pence that it's gotta be came along and for
Speaker 1: the Dodger belt.
Speaker 2: For some reason, my mind immediately went to Emilio Pagan.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm, it's got it for somebody, hasn't it.
Speaker 1: That's it's a relief to most people that we aren't
Speaker 1: organizing this event based on something.
Speaker 3: From the who from the Dodgers when they were sort
Speaker 3: of pretty poor in the in the pre in the
Speaker 3: in the in the pre Todd what's Todd Bowley era?
Speaker 3: He was on that team then apart from Andrian Gonzalez
Speaker 3: that was wasn't it belt Tray? Uh not remember gett but.
Speaker 2: Yes, please green Key, let's get him.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Imagine imagine Max Whittle trying to God God bless him,
Speaker 3: an absolute pro, trying to get some of it out
Speaker 3: of Grenky. Genuinely, if that's happening, I love those people.
Speaker 3: He's wording it is not going dropping it. Yeah, absolutely
Speaker 3: sorry Michael and Hannah. I won't be there for your
Speaker 3: big day. Zach Greenki and Max Wittle is on sorted.
Speaker 1: Well. I've had a quick look at at the schedule
Speaker 1: for that weekend and there are some good games on actually,
Speaker 1: and there's some games at very watchable time. So I
Speaker 1: think your point to having baseball and to watch will
Speaker 1: be will be met.
Speaker 2: Rob.
Speaker 1: We've got a Dodgers Ray series that will be fun
Speaker 1: for you and other Rais fans won't be Astro's Red Sox, Giants, Mets, Tigers, Phillies.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of good series on that weekend.
Speaker 2: So look, I think, what's the bad series? Come on,
Speaker 2: what's the bad series?
Speaker 1: The Pirates, Rockies, one, White Angels, anyone those two.
Speaker 3: Is quite poor. That's a team who is somehow okay,
Speaker 3: and yet it has no plays you want to watch.
Speaker 3: Apart from that Trout versus the work like just the
Speaker 3: White Sox. I think the White Sox in some ways
Speaker 3: are more miserable than the Rockies. At least of the
Speaker 3: Rockies you're like, wow, this is this is just extraordinarily.
Speaker 3: But the White Sox people just forgotten, which in some
Speaker 3: respects is sadder.
Speaker 2: At least they got rid of Andrew Vaughn, who was
Speaker 2: the general picture of sad head down sat at the
Speaker 2: at the dugout at the end of every every loss
Speaker 2: when they're reporting it on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mean, while Gavin Cheeks is the part of is
Speaker 1: best player anyway? The final thing on this topic, I
Speaker 1: thought we could maybe and again well, as far as
Speaker 1: I'm aware, we don't have any inside of information on this,
Speaker 1: but I thought we could just speculate a bit on
Speaker 1: which teams we would like to see come to London
Speaker 1: next year. We've obviously had a few games over here
Speaker 1: now involving some of the should we say, larger market teams.
Speaker 1: I'm interested in whether MLB stick to that tried and
Speaker 1: tested formula, whether we see any of those teams come
Speaker 1: back for a second time, which hasn't happened yet, or
Speaker 1: in much direction they go. I've felt like the Blue
Speaker 1: Jays are probably overdue of Is it just because of
Speaker 1: how many Canadians are in the UK, how big that
Speaker 1: team is from that perspective, and the fact they're on
Speaker 1: the East Coast team that makes it travel a bit easier.
Speaker 1: As for who they would play, I don't know. It
Speaker 1: feels like an Al East rival would make the most sense.
Speaker 1: But which of those teams, I'm not sure. Is there
Speaker 1: anyone that you guys think would be particularly fun or yeah,
Speaker 1: anything that you think would make sense for one reason
Speaker 1: or another.
Speaker 2: I mean the obvious answer is Dodgers, Giants, you know,
Speaker 2: like the two big they're even kind of forecasting that,
Speaker 2: you know a little bit with this Hackney Bridge event.
Speaker 2: But I do wonder if West Coast is maybe pushing
Speaker 2: it a little bit. So if we're talking about big
Speaker 2: franchises and maybe who the Blue Jays could play, I'd
Speaker 2: quite maybe like to see them in Detroit. The Tigers.
Speaker 2: I think they're good now and they've they've got a
Speaker 2: real a bit of history and vibe about them. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I could see the Tigers and the Blue Jays.
Speaker 3: I like that one. Yeah, the day the David Price rivalry. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I was going to say the Red Sox is an
Speaker 3: obvious one for the Blue Jays, but I think thinking
Speaker 3: outside the box, I think that because because I'm like Rob,
Speaker 3: obviously Giants, Giants, and Dodgers is where your mind obviously goes.
Speaker 3: Or like the two Texas teams, Houston and the Rangers
Speaker 3: would be brilliant too, and that might be better because
Speaker 3: they're on Central time, so that that might actually be feasible,
Speaker 3: and given how hot it usually is on those weekends,
Speaker 3: they'll just be absolutely fine in terms of the temperature.
Speaker 3: And also Rangers obviously playing a stupid weird ballpark, so
Speaker 3: again completely normal for them, so they would fit. And
Speaker 3: then there was like, what about the two what about
Speaker 3: the al Central because obviously we've had the big NL
Speaker 3: Central rivalry, but then there's just a load of craft
Speaker 3: teens so apart from the Tigers. Now the Tigers are
Speaker 3: actually good now, but then who would they play? Like
Speaker 3: the Guardians but good teams? Well, yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I think you probably still do, right, It's
Speaker 3: not me, it's it's I think we I remember having
Speaker 3: this conversation before the first one, and we were like,
Speaker 3: it could be anyone and it would sell out, right,
Speaker 3: it could be the Raising the Rockies and it would
Speaker 3: have sold out, whereas we know that they they have
Speaker 3: sold out, but it's been a bit more difficult for
Speaker 3: subsequent years. So I do think they probably want to
Speaker 3: keep bringing the marquee franchises until it has its own impetus.
Speaker 3: You know, we weren't getting the Jacksonville Jaguars every year
Speaker 3: for the NFL Games until they've been on for ten years. Right,
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, from their point of view, I mean, look,
Speaker 3: I obviously think it would be brilliant if they if
Speaker 3: it was the Guardians versus the Pirates, for example, for
Speaker 3: the supremacy of Ohio. But will it sell any tickets?
Speaker 3: I mean I feel a little, unfortunately, feel a degree
Speaker 3: of skepticism towards that.
Speaker 2: I think we could give the A's and raise their
Speaker 2: biggest audience of the year. I think that would be
Speaker 2: that would be fun, and we'd only have to only
Speaker 2: have to do about a quarter fall.
Speaker 3: So I just moved I also realized I just moved
Speaker 3: the Pirates into a different state and pitched them against
Speaker 3: not the team that's right next to them. Yeah, if
Speaker 3: I was going to go for the the Ohio board,
Speaker 3: going to said Pittsburgh and Cincinnati because they are actually
Speaker 3: next to each other and they do hate each other
Speaker 3: clearly awful anyway, Yeah, Hello, there's some there's some thoughts. Ben.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of raised versus A's and you know,
Speaker 1: winner keeps the ballpark and just just do it that way.
Speaker 1: Let's move on then to uh oh, sorry, finnal point on.
Speaker 1: That was just to say, even though that happening, event
Speaker 1: will be very exciting. There are also other events taking
Speaker 1: place this year in the UK for fans. I was
Speaker 1: at one on Sunday. The fine folks at MBUK Clubhouse
Speaker 1: are still putting on some really fun events of fans
Speaker 1: to get to. I think the first couple this year
Speaker 1: have both been in London, but I know they're very
Speaker 1: keen for fans and other parts of the country to
Speaker 1: basically help organize events. They will help a lot with
Speaker 1: the promotion. They will try and make a success of it.
Speaker 1: They want to try and create these sort of little
Speaker 1: bubbles and different parts of the UK that people can
Speaker 1: then go to and watch games with. Tealow fans that
Speaker 1: it was great fun, good to see some familiar faces
Speaker 1: for the first time in a long time. We are
Speaker 1: at past Youngkin nine Alms, which is a really good
Speaker 1: sports bar. Of pain to get to you but lovely
Speaker 1: when you get there. So yeah, shout out to those
Speaker 1: guys for the hard work putting on those events and
Speaker 1: to the fans who went along, and yeah, do get
Speaker 1: involved with them if you're interested in just setting up
Speaker 1: something where you can go watch baseball with with your.
Speaker 3: Mates, and if you want to get in touch with them,
Speaker 3: then just drops the line, drops a DM on Instagram
Speaker 3: or on any other social media, or you drop a
Speaker 3: comment below here or drops a message on YouTube, and
Speaker 3: we can put you in touch with George and Nick.
Speaker 3: They are really desperate for people to be putting on
Speaker 3: events in Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Belfast, Dublin. Wherever it
Speaker 3: is that you're watching and listening, there's other baseball fans
Speaker 3: and be a really great way to to get to
Speaker 3: know them.
Speaker 1: Couldn't have said it better. Let's move on to All
Speaker 1: Star voting then? Do we care? Maybe we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about it either way.
Speaker 3: No, sorry, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes I really care.
Speaker 1: We're very close to the All Star Game now, which
Speaker 1: is weird. I think it's only a week or two away.
Speaker 1: As of recording. The starters for each position are going
Speaker 1: to be announced tonight on MLB Network. This is on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and the full rosters will be announced I believe on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So some of this might age poorly based on where happens.
Speaker 2: Everything we're going to say is going to be immediately
Speaker 2: out of date by the time you listen to this.
Speaker 1: Well, the way it's working this show is a bit different,
Speaker 1: right because they've got these like this is now phase
Speaker 1: two of voting. It tically whilst get my head around
Speaker 1: exactly how this is all worked compared to the previous
Speaker 1: years where you just like click names and smash vote
Speaker 1: twenty five times. It's more nuanced this year, and that
Speaker 1: we've already had phase one. You missed that, and Phase
Speaker 1: two is happening now, and so it's a very narrow
Speaker 1: down field of finalists that you can now vote for
Speaker 1: effectively two players each position five in the outfield. So
Speaker 1: already we kind of know who the big names are
Speaker 1: that are likely to be involved in who the big
Speaker 1: names are that aren't Sho Tany and Aaron Judge are
Speaker 1: the two captains of the AO and n L. Don't
Speaker 1: know what that means, but good for them. That feels
Speaker 1: like a good decision. And then yeah, the final voting
Speaker 1: will be taking place tonight. Plenty of teams that haven't
Speaker 1: been ripped. Autocratic was it? There was no democracy involved
Speaker 1: in that. I think it was based on the top
Speaker 1: vote getters in phase one. It's like proportional representation.
Speaker 2: You vote for the LIB Dems, you get the Tories.
Speaker 1: Politics there for everyone, pivot, pivot and so so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have positions all up for grabs in both National
Speaker 1: League and American League. I guess I'll throw it to
Speaker 1: you guys, John you first, Yeah, you do you care
Speaker 1: about who makes the All Star Team? I think it's
Speaker 1: like a night accolade for players to get the nod
Speaker 1: for having a good season. But are you going to
Speaker 1: tune into it? Are you gonna be bothered about who's
Speaker 1: playing in it? Does the home run Derby do anything
Speaker 1: for you? How do you feel about the Your Star Game.
Speaker 3: I quite like the Home Run Derby. I've got to
Speaker 3: say I do quite enjoy watching that. I don't I
Speaker 3: don't buy into this notion that it cocks up the
Speaker 3: swing of players. I think that's absolute horseshit. But I
Speaker 3: like watching that. The All Star Game, I do quite
Speaker 3: like it. Like I don't go out of my way
Speaker 3: to watch it. But if there's a rerun of it on,
Speaker 3: you know, an afternoon, and I've got quiet one at
Speaker 3: work and I can put it on in the background,
Speaker 3: then I'm really like, I quite would quite like to
Speaker 3: see it. It's not like, you know, all Star games
Speaker 3: in other sports, you know, the one in the NBA
Speaker 3: is notorious something played at half pace, and the one
Speaker 3: in the NFL like no one shows.
Speaker 1: Up right, literally flag football now it is.
Speaker 3: It is actually played at the least decent degree of competitiveness,
Speaker 3: and I have to, I have to say, quite admire
Speaker 3: that because it doesn't have to be. I think there's
Speaker 3: something in the nature of the sport that you kind
Speaker 3: of you kind of can't half cock it. Really. You know,
Speaker 3: if you if you were going to throw the ball
Speaker 3: at fifty miles an hour, it would just be a
Speaker 3: complete farce. So they just can't do it. So yeah,
Speaker 3: as as a speculat as a spectacle, I think it
Speaker 3: works quite well. It doesn't really matter to me who's
Speaker 3: playing in it, though, you know, I mean as I said,
Speaker 3: particularly because my team stinks and the only player who
Speaker 3: would have been good enough to play in it they
Speaker 3: traded it to the flipping Giants. Yeah, and then oh yeah,
Speaker 3: Alex Bregman. You vote for Alex Bregman. He's injured. He's
Speaker 3: literally not going to play even if he wins the vote,
Speaker 3: which he shouldn't because I say Ramirez is better than
Speaker 3: him anyway, Like, come on, so like from that point
Speaker 3: of view. From a partial point of view, I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't really care. I just like to see the
Speaker 3: best players. I don't have a cal rally top, but
Speaker 3: I do have Mark Maguire showing his huge dumper. So
Speaker 3: that's my rooting interest in the All Star Game this year.
Speaker 3: That said, I do you think Carlos Snowyas should be
Speaker 3: in the vote because he's the best player in baseball.
Speaker 1: Let's get onto some snubs, then rob a couple from
Speaker 1: your team. Who are you most unhappy not to see
Speaker 1: in phase two of All Star Game voting?
Speaker 2: Snubs? Okay, I've got a list, so I mean the
Speaker 2: first one, I think Jeremy Paynier, and I think this
Speaker 2: is this is twofold. So the reason Jeremy Paynier, I
Speaker 2: mean he is injured now, so it's probably not a problem.
Speaker 2: But the reason Jeremy Paynier hasn't got the vote is
Speaker 2: largely down to the fact that since the cheating scandal,
Speaker 2: no one votes for the Astros. They don't get the
Speaker 2: votes yet for some reason, injured Alex Brigman, who was
Speaker 2: on the team when that happened, has got the votes,
Speaker 2: and Jeremy Paynier, who wasn't has fallen foul of the
Speaker 2: of the Astros curse. So that feels like a really
Speaker 2: really unjust snub.
Speaker 3: I don't get the thing, by the way, because like
Speaker 3: notoriously Red Sox fans don't vote in these things, Like
Speaker 3: how has Fregman got through now that he's no longer
Speaker 3: on the as he must have seemed well liked.
Speaker 2: He's quite good. Yeah, so yeah, Page is probably my
Speaker 2: number one. Jonathan Randa. Jonathan Randa, there is ridiculous that
Speaker 2: he's not in it. He is by far, look at
Speaker 2: any metric across al first baseman, he's the best. There's
Speaker 2: there's just not an argument there yet. Yeah, Vladimigarero and
Speaker 2: all of Canada have voted him in, and the Yankees
Speaker 2: have voted Paul Goldschmid in. Both of those players that
Speaker 2: there is no argument for either of them being as
Speaker 2: good as Jonathan Aronda. So that's a snub that's not
Speaker 2: fair Byron Buxton, another guy from a from a team
Speaker 2: who is just not that that on Vogue, like he's
Speaker 2: been immense, He's been really quietly imense because he's playing
Speaker 2: for the Twins and whoever talks about the twins, but
Speaker 2: you know we've got Haby Byers and like Trout elected,
Speaker 2: who are their combined war is not the same as
Speaker 2: Byron Buxton's like it's just a face. So yeah, those
Speaker 2: be my my, oh James Wood. Can't not mention the
Speaker 2: fact that James Wood has missed out here immense immense,
Speaker 2: fantastic first season, like he is Britain a second season,
Speaker 2: but he's immant. The fact that he's not in the
Speaker 2: short list is bizarre.
Speaker 3: So it's the thing. Those is the thing about Wood,
Speaker 3: not though he's obviously been good all season, but he's
Speaker 3: been like spectacularly good for the past three weeks.
Speaker 2: Like during the voting phrase.
Speaker 3: Absolutely miss up, but he was already out by then,
Speaker 3: like these absolute nukes that he's been hitting at like
Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty miles an hour. That's been like
Speaker 3: the last three weeks. And that's when people have started
Speaker 3: to talk about because the other one that was on
Speaker 3: my list back to like first base, and I think
Speaker 3: again it's like recency has been the challenge is Nick
Speaker 3: Kurtz again, if you want like the players who are
Speaker 3: the most fun to watch right now, he absolutely is
Speaker 3: on that list because he just cannot stop hitting doing it,
Speaker 3: so I definitely want him over Jacob Wilson. I mean,
Speaker 3: come on, it's like watching Paul Collingwood nerd ale O
Speaker 3: one hundred and seventy not how that. No, thanks, I
Speaker 3: would like to watch Paul Collingwood undred and seventy not
Speaker 3: upbringing back, but bridget get Collie down there. Imagine Felix
Speaker 3: if Colly showed up, bloody hell, there'll be two two
Speaker 3: on the old Mets. I can hear a cat there.
Speaker 3: You got into Paul Collingwood.
Speaker 2: Apparently, So yeah, she's going a bit mental right now.
Speaker 2: He's seeing things, aren't there. I'm a little bit scared
Speaker 2: of demons.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Yeah, I think we've covered yeah, most of
Speaker 1: the times. Of the other one I had was was
Speaker 1: Corbyn Carroll, who I think has since got a little
Speaker 1: bit injured, but he was having an excellent season and
Speaker 1: hopefully will continue that once he's healthy again. I guess
Speaker 1: we do find every year like there are guys who
Speaker 1: would get injured between ross and now on the game,
Speaker 1: and obviously with the pictures, a bunch of them men
Speaker 1: are not being available for whatever reason scheduling, why's heading
Speaker 1: up to the game, So I'm sure a lot of
Speaker 1: the snubbed players will end up sneaking onto a roster.
Speaker 3: Wood is definitely going to be picked. There are no
Speaker 3: other Washington Nationals that we're going to take that place
Speaker 3: ahead of him. Hence why I feel perfectly comfortable about
Speaker 3: my bro Carlos Navas. He is definitely going to be
Speaker 3: in the All Start, All Start squad for the AAR.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a few teams where it's tricky to
Speaker 1: find a worthy representative, but fortunately we don't have that job.
Speaker 3: Hey, your oldest Chapman's going to be back in the
Speaker 3: All Star Game? Aren't we all glad about that? Get older?
Speaker 3: Looking forward to seeing him close it out? Guys, great, Hey,
Speaker 3: just as one really horrible picture wines, another one comes back.
Speaker 3: We're not talking about him, but everyone knows. See I'm
Speaker 3: talking about lol enormous low.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a picture that we do like a
Speaker 1: very tall lefty named Tarik scoobled and if you heard him,
Speaker 1: but he's making a bit of a name for himself,
Speaker 1: the reigning al Cy Young Award winner. If he hadn't
Speaker 1: caught your attention, let who he's good? Isn't he? I
Speaker 1: don't really have much more to say than that Sunday
Speaker 1: Night Baseball. I obviously didn't watch it, but I saw
Speaker 1: the highlights and he I mean, if anyone who was
Speaker 1: a casual fan in the US who thought I was
Speaker 1: just tune into the game tonight and see what the
Speaker 1: fuss is about, got a pretty good representation of what
Speaker 1: the fuss is about. I think he struck out eleven,
Speaker 1: including seven or eight in a row at one point.
Speaker 1: He's been lights out basically for the whole season, but
Speaker 1: especially in the last two months or so. Think correct
Speaker 1: me if you think I'm wrong that he is established
Speaker 1: himself as the best picture in baseball basically without comparison
Speaker 1: at this point. Skis is awesome, Moto is awesome, the
Speaker 1: Grom's been great, But I think scooball with his body
Speaker 1: of work over the last eighteen months, is the best
Speaker 1: in the game right now. And I guess my question
Speaker 1: is best in the game since who my mind went
Speaker 1: to Jacob de Grom and that crazy run he did
Speaker 1: have with the Mets. I guess it must have been
Speaker 1: five plus years ago now when Yeah, he pitched to
Speaker 1: a whatever it was at one point six eighty ra
Speaker 1: or something insane and kept losing games. But yeah, to me,
Speaker 1: it feels like Scoobol has reached that level of dominance.
Speaker 1: Who does he remind you of? Who would you put
Speaker 1: up against him over the last decade in terms of
Speaker 1: pitchers at the top of their game.
Speaker 2: Uh, you can't think too far past Clayton Kershaw when
Speaker 2: he was at his peak. That's sort of twenty eighteen
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen era. He was, you know, all fantasy people
Speaker 2: were drafting him number one. It was you know, he
Speaker 2: was going over Trout, you know, And I think at
Speaker 2: that point he was he was ascendant, untouchable, and Scoopol's
Speaker 2: kind of got that right now. Like you it was
Speaker 2: unfortunate he had a rough outing in the end of
Speaker 2: the playoffs last last year when he when they went out,
Speaker 2: because that's really the only sort of dent in his
Speaker 2: armor in the last two years. The guy's just been
Speaker 2: the absolute bomb ever since. And so yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: Kershaw for me, that's that's that's who he's reminding me of.
Speaker 2: I can't you know, he's that Okay, we're going to
Speaker 2: lose this game, you know that they they had a
Speaker 2: chance of It was a double header and it was
Speaker 2: scooball and schemes, and they could have gone up against
Speaker 2: each other and there was a there was a chicken
Speaker 2: out element there. I said, well, you know, no, let's
Speaker 2: let's go them. Let's trade a game each you know,
Speaker 2: absolutely yeah, so uh yeah, He's just he's got that
Speaker 2: far factor right now, like you do not want to
Speaker 2: go and play against Tarik Schooball. He's absolutely unhittable. So yeah,
Speaker 2: gimme kersh Kershaw pek Kershaw versus Schooball. That's that's a
Speaker 2: pretty game.
Speaker 3: I'm going to tell your mine the second. But when
Speaker 3: you put this in our running order this evening, sorry,
Speaker 3: I'm going to talk a little bit of Red Sox,
Speaker 3: but I am going to talk about Tarik School because
Speaker 3: I think the comparison between him and Crochet is super
Speaker 3: interesting because they are the two best left handed pictures
Speaker 3: in the sport right now, but they're so so different.
Speaker 3: They're both like power pitchers. They've both got amazing stuff,
Speaker 3: but Crochet just it's just all like massive effort. He's
Speaker 3: got the massive leg kick and it's all like like
Speaker 3: guts and he's sort of yelling and he's and a
Speaker 3: boy of schoobl is just absolutely just like I am
Speaker 3: the best like de Grom was in his pomp. Like,
Speaker 3: that's that's an almost perfect comparison. And I love that
Speaker 3: you can have these two guys who are getting the
Speaker 3: same results and in some respects like not dissimilar in
Speaker 3: terms of their arsenal, but they're just going about it
Speaker 3: in completely different ways. So the person that I the
Speaker 3: person that like, I thought the Grom and I thought Kershel,
Speaker 3: and then I was like, I tried to go a
Speaker 3: little bit beyond the obvious, and I that's what's why
Speaker 3: the Crochet comparison is important because the place it brought
Speaker 3: me to that sort of quiet, absolute dominance, and everyone
Speaker 3: sort of slightly overlooked it until it was just impossible
Speaker 3: to ignore that this guy is the best. Corey Klueber
Speaker 3: when he was on Cleveland and he won the two
Speaker 3: Youngs and he just was like, no one could really
Speaker 3: understand how, how and where did this guy come from.
Speaker 3: He was a late round selection, He wasn't good when
Speaker 3: he first started. He was sort of pitching on mid flours,
Speaker 3: and then all of a sudden something clicked and he's just,
Speaker 3: by miles the best picture in the league. So that
Speaker 3: was the one that I mean I think your two
Speaker 3: comparisons are spot on too, But I was I was
Speaker 3: trying to dig a little bit deeper. Hopefully he doesn't
Speaker 3: have the same trajectory of court as Corey Kluber and
Speaker 3: end up looking weird and being totally pony on the
Speaker 3: Yankees in about six years time. But you know, he
Speaker 3: got two so young, so who's laughing?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you'd worry, is is he flying too close to
Speaker 2: the sun? He throws so damn hard, you know, it's
Speaker 2: it's we're just almost sort of waiting for that elbow to.
Speaker 3: Go and already he's already had TJ once, hasn't he
Speaker 3: That's second time is the killer? Yeah, he had it
Speaker 3: when he was in when he was playing for Eerie.
Speaker 3: I think who I think we might talk about a
Speaker 3: little bit, like might touch on them in the conversation.
Speaker 3: I think he had TJ when he was at Eerie.
Speaker 3: And obviously crowchews up as well. It's just ridiculously good.
Speaker 3: It's just so much fun to watch. There's so many
Speaker 3: pictures at the moment where it really is appointment to you,
Speaker 3: like Ranger Suarez.
Speaker 2: Like what how did that happen?
Speaker 3: Like when did he get all like amazing fun to
Speaker 3: watch and why are all of these amazing fun to
Speaker 3: watch pictures on the Phillies.
Speaker 1: Right, No, there is an element of, yeah, Google, feeling
Speaker 1: like he's in such control. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: saw was highlighted from something in a baseball that he'd
Speaker 1: thrown something like one hundred and eighteen consecutive fastballs to
Speaker 1: start a start, So the very first pitch of the game,
Speaker 1: and it was a fastball like one hundred and eighteen
Speaker 1: consecutive times, and they called this out on the stack
Speaker 1: cast broadcast about how he always shows a fastball and
Speaker 1: about how what's his name on the Twins you just
Speaker 1: mentioned rob Byron Buxton? Byron Buxton, thank you? Always swings
Speaker 1: at the first pitch, and it was kind of like
Speaker 1: a unsupperable force me to moveable object, what's going to happen?
Speaker 1: And actually he threw a change up and it was
Speaker 1: like really cool, this kind of idea of like he
Speaker 1: knew that bucks and maybe swinging. He threw a change
Speaker 1: up which acually missed the same by masters rubbish pitch.
Speaker 1: But it's just cool that that like kind of stuff's
Speaker 1: going through his head. And there was a moment later
Speaker 1: in the game where he and Bucks and smiled at
Speaker 1: each other after a flyout. He's just having so much
Speaker 1: fun and he's so dominant that it. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: really really cool to watch right now. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess give it six weeks and Jacob Micharowski will replace
Speaker 1: him as the best picture in baseball anyway.
Speaker 3: So no talk about it. He's great fun as well,
Speaker 3: isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: The books, the thing was so cool, like where he
Speaker 3: threw him the change up and he just sort of
Speaker 3: turned around and he went, yeah, yeah, you looked at
Speaker 3: the scarting report, par I loved.
Speaker 1: That game, recognized game and very quickly. I guess. Detroit Tigers,
Speaker 1: I'll be the first to say I didn't see this coming.
Speaker 1: I thought they might be good. I thought they might
Speaker 1: build off the extit finish the last season, but I
Speaker 1: did not think they were going to be best recorded
Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball with the underlying stats to back
Speaker 1: it up. Good. Do you guys think they're genuine World
Speaker 1: Series contendents? Are playing like one right now? Right? Should
Speaker 1: we be looking at them as a team to beat
Speaker 1: in the American League? What do you think, John?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's it's them and
Speaker 3: the Yankees, and the Yankees have got more holes from
Speaker 3: me at the moment. I mean, I think that rotation
Speaker 3: is a little bit flaky for although I think, you know,
Speaker 3: I like Jack Flaherty, you know, and if you got
Speaker 3: those two at the top of your rotation in a
Speaker 3: in a playoff, then you're probably in Godstead. They probably
Speaker 3: they're probably going to be one of the primary buyers
Speaker 3: around the trading deadline right because they probably want Bill
Speaker 3: Ben help, They probably want another bat, and I would
Speaker 3: say they probably want some starting pitching. But I think
Speaker 3: that it's just a credit to a J. Hinch and
Speaker 3: they're coaching stuff that they've they've managed to like take
Speaker 3: players who you thought were going to you're going to
Speaker 3: get some okay. I mean these players who were like
Speaker 3: decent prospects, like Kerry Carpenter, who they've been absolutely brilliant
Speaker 3: and like for a sustained period. Then they've got gliber
Speaker 3: Torres He's come in who was okay on the Yankees,
Speaker 3: and he's been really good. Have he buyers? I mean,
Speaker 3: to Rob's point, definitely should not be starting over Byron
Speaker 3: Books in the Star Game, but has been like legitimate
Speaker 3: sensation like how it just shows what a talented player
Speaker 3: he is, that he's been that good in center field
Speaker 3: and also just doesn't look completely lost at the play anymore,
Speaker 3: like he's still not great, but like he's serviceable. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I do, I think, and I think again it shows
Speaker 3: that coaching and clubhouse spirit can carry the right set
Speaker 3: of players an awful long life.
Speaker 1: To disagree with that. Yeah, I'm excited to see them.
Speaker 1: I thought we do a quick bit now on on
Speaker 1: the deadline. I think maybe we'll do a live show again.
Speaker 1: I don't want to tease things that we're not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to do, but I think we'll probably do
Speaker 1: some content around the trade deadline when it comes around,
Speaker 1: feeling fun rather than going to can get you what?
Speaker 2: I'll get my dicky bow out.
Speaker 1: Yes, the listeners for that one. So we won't go
Speaker 1: too deep into trade deadline discussion right now. I thought
Speaker 1: it'd be fun to very quick do a run through
Speaker 1: of some teams and do we think they're buyers or
Speaker 1: do we think they're sellers? Because we're getting to the
Speaker 1: point now where it's like pick al aint guys. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're around five hundred, what are you going to be.
Speaker 1: Do you think your team's good enough to go on
Speaker 1: a run or are you happy to sit on your hands?
Speaker 1: Trade away a for you guys and rebuild for next year.
Speaker 1: So I've listed out a bunch here. I'm just going
Speaker 1: to go through them very quickly, and you guys tell me.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the Red Sox buyers or sellers.
Speaker 3: John, I hope that they're going to sell, but I'm
Speaker 3: quite worried that Craig Breslow keeps saying that they're going
Speaker 3: to buy and is a human robot. I think there
Speaker 3: is the way that they're playing at the moment that
Speaker 3: they stink, and they've got some good players and they
Speaker 3: should be better than this. But if you know, our
Speaker 3: oldest Chapman and Lucas Giolito are still on that squad
Speaker 3: after the trading deadline, I think it's because they've both
Speaker 3: been really good, right and they should be getting a
Speaker 3: good return for them. I think it's a massive mistake.
Speaker 3: I really hope they're sellers, but I'd say it's probably
Speaker 3: still fifty to fifty right now because I think they've
Speaker 3: worked themselves into a shoot over Devas.
Speaker 2: Yep, so I agree. So the rest of the ale
Speaker 2: least is really kicked on. I mean even the oils
Speaker 2: are picked up now. I think the Blue Jays and
Speaker 2: the Rays are in an absolute bumfight for that that
Speaker 2: were first wild card spot. The Yankees probably gona win
Speaker 2: the division. I don't think it's I mean, yes, it's
Speaker 2: winnable of course, is running halfway through, but I don't
Speaker 2: think it is as winnable for the for the Red
Speaker 2: Sox in their position. I think what they should do
Speaker 2: is they should clear a bit of the dead wood
Speaker 2: and line up what they're going to do with with
Speaker 2: first base cycle some guys through, try some stuff out,
Speaker 2: find find something, get those bits done because right now,
Speaker 2: you know with Bregman out, with cass Us out, you know,
Speaker 2: with you know, cut A Crawford's accidental wanking injury, all
Speaker 2: these things that you know there these are not helping
Speaker 2: the team right now, and you know they're fairly long
Speaker 2: term stuff.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think the other thing is that they've
Speaker 3: probably got like the most play who you could get
Speaker 3: a good return looking at those teams who are kind
Speaker 3: of like just about below the water. This is the
Speaker 3: thing about the wild card is it makes it difficult, right,
Speaker 3: It makes it difficult for a team to commit one
Speaker 3: way or another because they are close enough that you
Speaker 3: could eyeball it and go maybe. But they've also if
Speaker 3: they look at it reasonably, like Cha Chapman has been
Speaker 3: absolutely brilliant, Justin Wilson has been brilliant, Giolito has been brilliant.
Speaker 3: Someone could take Bregman if they think he's going to
Speaker 3: opt out, I think they want to try and resign him.
Speaker 3: But if it looks like he doesn't want to resign
Speaker 3: and he's going to opt out, like, look, you're gonna
Speaker 3: get absolutely You're not going to get Roman Anthony and
Speaker 3: Marcelo Mayer back, but you're going to fill fill a
Speaker 3: lot of the gaps that they're leaving. So it's a
Speaker 3: no brainer for that. That one for me. But then again,
Speaker 3: I just don't know how Craig presise Bright works.
Speaker 1: I don't sell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've got the perfect Yeah, sorry, give those.
Speaker 1: Young guys some playing time, you know, tear out because
Speaker 1: they've got like, they've got so many players on their roster.
Speaker 1: It's hards fan playing time for without the injuries. So
Speaker 1: I think just give those guy young guys playing time,
Speaker 1: let them figure it out with the majors. Try again,
Speaker 1: next year.
Speaker 3: They get some reps of Massa is on his way back,
Speaker 3: that that mass master, Rob Refsnider platoon at d H.
Speaker 1: Are you still playing Shivers down?
Speaker 3: That's fine?
Speaker 1: Right next up Orioles. It's got to be a cell
Speaker 1: right surely, who are they selling?
Speaker 2: Well? They've got those youngins, isn't it. They could sell
Speaker 2: a couple of young'us if they really wanted to. Or
Speaker 2: they probably still got some prospect hiding away that we
Speaker 2: know nothing about. But I'm I'm I'm not selling if
Speaker 2: I'm the Oriols. I'm just sitting on it. Like everything
Speaker 2: everything about the Orioles should have worked this year other
Speaker 2: than the pitching, sit on it. Upgrade the pitching staff
Speaker 2: in the in the off season. Hopefully it will just
Speaker 2: fall a little bit better for them. I don't know
Speaker 2: what the hell went on at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 2: you know, was it Brandon Hyde, was it not? I
Speaker 2: don't know, But just sit on what they've got.
Speaker 3: It's all there.
Speaker 2: They just need to add a couple of bits of pitching.
Speaker 2: They don't need brilliant pitching. They need some okay pitching.
Speaker 2: That's all they need. So just pick some of that
Speaker 2: up in the off season, but but just sit on
Speaker 2: what you got, don't touch it, most of it is
Speaker 2: what you need already, and then go into next year.
Speaker 3: I think I would sell, but it's kind of a
Speaker 3: bit like like what are you getting for Zach Eflin?
Speaker 2: What what are you getting for.
Speaker 3: The burnt husk of Charlie Morton or you know, better
Speaker 3: recently this year's Felix Baltista, who is nowhere near as
Speaker 3: good as the pre Felix Bltister. You know, I mean,
Speaker 3: they probably will sell I think right, and they'll probably
Speaker 3: get you know, some al right talent back for them,
Speaker 3: but they're not going to sell Richmond. They're not gonna
Speaker 3: sell Westburg. They're not gonna sell cows there are they.
Speaker 3: I Mean, like, what's the point.
Speaker 1: They're a bit stuck, aren't they, because they don't have
Speaker 1: much they can sell. The young guys, if anything, have
Speaker 1: stepped backwards this year, and it's like you're not going
Speaker 1: to give them away now, You're can have to stick
Speaker 1: with them, But like, do you just run it back
Speaker 1: next year with the same team again and hope for
Speaker 1: different results?
Speaker 3: Like I think what you do next year is actually.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is why you don't sell Efflin now like
Speaker 2: at least a possible.
Speaker 1: Number Fourriguez is back. It'll be fine, Yeah, just.
Speaker 3: Get on with it.
Speaker 1: Twins guys are well. I'm not going to profess to
Speaker 1: have watched much Twins baseball this year, but they seem
Speaker 1: to have been pretty disappointing, even though all their offt
Speaker 1: injured players have mostly been healthy. Are we sticking? Are
Speaker 1: we selling? Are we buying? What are we doing?
Speaker 3: I don't care. I don't care, sorry, Twins fans. I
Speaker 3: I only have one rooting interest in the Twin Cities,
Speaker 3: and it is for Byron Buxton. I just think, you know,
Speaker 3: that's the only thing I really care about on the
Speaker 3: Minnesota Twins, because he's a and I don't really want him.
Speaker 1: Is you know?
Speaker 3: You? You guys had that brilliant conversation whilst I was
Speaker 3: away about players who just look weird in another jersey.
Speaker 3: As soon as he's in any other I'm going to
Speaker 3: be like, nope, that's just memory. Hold no, thank you.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I've got no strong feeling, got no strong views, and
Speaker 3: they get but again, who are who are they selling?
Speaker 3: Not just specifically underneath a combine harvester.
Speaker 2: They've got a few guys you know, it's fine. I
Speaker 2: think the main thing about the Twins for me is
Speaker 2: that they are they are being sold or are trying
Speaker 2: to be sold. They're not going to spend anything whilst
Speaker 2: they're trying to be sold. So you know, if you're
Speaker 2: going to do your clearing, your decks, get stuck up
Speaker 2: your pharm system, do it now, because you're not going
Speaker 2: to spend anything at this point. So yeah, sell it,
Speaker 2: sell it all, burn it down.
Speaker 1: It is Texas Rangers, another team that's been disappointing. Are
Speaker 1: we buying? Are we selling? They've got an aging roster.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they're not selling and are they
Speaker 2: not with that contract?
Speaker 1: They've got some trouble on their hands in future years.
Speaker 1: But are we trying to recoup what we can or
Speaker 1: are we doubling down and hoping to got de Grom
Speaker 1: carries us to a World Cup.
Speaker 3: I just don't think that that that franchise knows any
Speaker 3: other way. They are definitely buy it. It's just yeha.
Speaker 3: Everything's bigger into Exus, including Chris Young that they are
Speaker 3: definitely buying.
Speaker 2: One lucky year does not a team make, you know?
Speaker 2: I think they sit on it. This is probably about
Speaker 2: where they should be. You know, they've got to be
Speaker 2: spending a stupid amount of money already on on their
Speaker 2: middle infield, which isn't isn't quite up to scratch this year.
Speaker 2: So I don't think they're adding more to that payroll
Speaker 2: for for what I mean, like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2: Are you gonna go out and get yourself a new
Speaker 2: second basement and replace Sime? And of course you're not,
Speaker 2: so you know where, where and what?
Speaker 3: And so I think you just need to rewatch that
Speaker 3: clip of adults Garcia hulking up and think again, mate,
Speaker 3: just get that man some reinforcements. It's all going to
Speaker 3: be fine.
Speaker 2: More Garciers, bigger Garcias. They're no such thing a team fully,
Speaker 2: just bulky chaps called Garcia. There's gotta be enough of
Speaker 2: the morale, passive guys, hot dog in.
Speaker 3: Just gonna go down Muscle Beach. There is Terry Belayer, he'll.
Speaker 1: Do Ben's like, who's that absolutely over my head?
Speaker 3: That's whole Cogan Ben. That's his real name?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: It was Christan?
Speaker 1: I didn't have them on my list, baby, But we
Speaker 1: should probably talk about the Seattle Mariners because Jerry's not
Speaker 1: going to sit on his hands. Is he he's going
Speaker 1: to be buying or selling or both every day between
Speaker 1: now and the trade deadline?
Speaker 3: Surely? I mean, god, God knows. I mean, look, what
Speaker 3: is going to happen with the Mariners is they're going
Speaker 3: to need four bats and they're just going to go
Speaker 3: real well, we're not training any pictures.
Speaker 2: They can't. They're all broken.
Speaker 3: I think Jerry's had a personality transplant, quite genuinely, Like
Speaker 3: he's gone from this nickel and diming. What would Jerry
Speaker 3: Deploto do do in the trades? Me to like sclerosis,
Speaker 3: just can't do it anymore. It's broken having the opportunity
Speaker 3: to trade one very good picture from He's ninety eight
Speaker 3: very good pictures for one good hitter not called cal Raley.
Speaker 3: Can't do it, mate, Not interesting.
Speaker 2: Imagine that team without Carol Rally this year, just Donny Barrels.
Speaker 1: They do have one exciting prospects out behind Carrall who
Speaker 1: could be a trade trade at Chip if they wanted
Speaker 1: to go out and get an impactful bat.
Speaker 3: Maybe trading with the Red Sox. Please catching battery with
Speaker 3: the captain Carlos Harry Ford, Let's do it. He's amazing
Speaker 3: this year hasn't he after he didn't do so well
Speaker 3: in Double A, but he's had an absolutely astonishing Yeah.
Speaker 2: I want him to keep doing well, but not quite
Speaker 2: so well that he can't play for us because he's
Speaker 2: he's got Major League. So just hold on a little bit, Harry,
Speaker 2: just keep on that level and then and then after
Speaker 2: your next go would then then go for it, Then
Speaker 2: go for it.
Speaker 3: He is locked in. Why do you think Brad Marcelino
Speaker 3: got that job. He's the one that found Harry Ford's
Speaker 3: that you know, very very qualified and incredibly eminent. Mean,
Speaker 3: if you wanted to call in hard and I'm the
Speaker 3: man who found the best player in the history of
Speaker 3: Great Britain, it's probably quite a good one, very good.
Speaker 2: Worst things on your TV?
Speaker 1: Yeah, National League at Lands of Braves, they waving the
Speaker 1: white flag.
Speaker 2: They should no, absolutely not again it's a it's a
Speaker 2: decent team. Buy a new outfield like they do every year,
Speaker 2: and then on even numbered years they'll have a good year.
Speaker 2: Odd numbered years they won't, So just refresh the outfield,
Speaker 2: go again next year. Bye bye, bye bye.
Speaker 3: They're not No, they're not as bad as the Red Sox,
Speaker 3: but they also are in that similar position where they've
Speaker 3: got players that people will want, and people will want
Speaker 3: Chris Sale, people will want Sean Murphy. They're not they're not.
Speaker 3: Akuna is not going, Ovis is not going, Stride is
Speaker 3: not going. But they've got these guys on shorter deals
Speaker 3: who would be massively impactful players in a playoff team.
Speaker 3: So they are possibly in that same Catch twenty two
Speaker 3: as the Red Sox where they feel instinctively like this
Speaker 3: is actually a good team, it's just not playing well
Speaker 3: and we should be buyers.
Speaker 1: But also.
Speaker 3: You know, they could set the market if they wanted to.
Speaker 3: I would sell, But I also see why Rob would
Speaker 3: might be counter argument.
Speaker 1: I think I buy. I just I believe in the talent,
Speaker 1: and like Rob said, like just try and find lightning
Speaker 1: in a bottle in the outfeel like you always do,
Speaker 1: and see where it takes you. You might get your
Speaker 1: world card spot and then who knows, Cincinnati read this
Speaker 1: year it won't buy.
Speaker 2: Also, I'm like John on this one with the Twins
Speaker 2: and that I really I just don't care. I really
Speaker 2: don't care about the Cincinnati Reds at this point. You know,
Speaker 2: Ellie's Wow fantastic. I want to see more Ellie, But
Speaker 2: I'm very my opic and what I want to see
Speaker 2: from the Reds and that is it just yeah, fine
Speaker 2: by more.
Speaker 3: Dela Cruz and Hunter Green and that's it basically.
Speaker 2: Hunter Green fait to be fair, Yes, absolutely I want
Speaker 2: more Hunter Green as well. Yeah, that's a very very
Speaker 2: good point. But again I find him a scary watch
Speaker 2: because I'm half half expecting his arm to come with
Speaker 2: the ball each time. So yeah, but in that that
Speaker 2: division of moment, a slight upgrade sees them in it.
Speaker 2: You know, they're not that far out. Yeah, if if
Speaker 2: they put a little bit somewhere but where Yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: some outfielders. Again, yeah they should, they should buy. But
Speaker 2: like but like don't, don't put the house on it,
Speaker 2: you know, just just just tinker, but tinker upward.
Speaker 1: He's not getting rocked by the Red Sox.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true. I think specifically by Will robre that
Speaker 3: was amazing. I think they should probably buy. Like, when
Speaker 3: was the last time that the Reds leading into a
Speaker 3: trading deadline had a record above five hundred. I think
Speaker 3: Johnny Cueto and Scooter Gannett were still on the team, So.
Speaker 2: For get four home runs in the game. Scooter Jeannett, Yeah.
Speaker 3: These windows do not open regularly, so I think they
Speaker 3: should take it. I mean, I know they're quite far
Speaker 3: out of the World Cup position, but you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, I think so this is quarantine destined to
Speaker 1: end the season like seventy eight and eighty four, regardless
Speaker 1: of what they do at the deadline.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is true.
Speaker 1: I mean, scuffling Diamondbacks just got swept by the Marlins.
Speaker 3: Diamondbacks. I think they probably stand part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agreed fully agree where they are do the.
Speaker 3: Old Heim Bloom deadline. We neither buyers nor sellers. We're
Speaker 3: just going to make a load of confusing moves and
Speaker 3: somehow Eric Hosma's on the team.
Speaker 1: Now, isn't Zach Gallon and the coming free agent? Can
Speaker 1: you get anything for him?
Speaker 2: Zach Allan's been rubbish this year though, But I don't
Speaker 2: think you can count Zach Gallon as a rubbish picture.
Speaker 2: He's having a bad year, So like, yeah, resign him,
Speaker 2: you know, keep him around. I think that's exactly the
Speaker 2: kind of guy you want to You want to keep
Speaker 2: keepers a center core part of your team, but you know,
Speaker 2: keep your Martoes around, keep your you know, your Corbyn Carrols,
Speaker 2: even though I find him a very peculiar man to
Speaker 2: look at. I don't dislike him, he just finding very
Speaker 2: peculiar to look at, especially when he's running. But that's
Speaker 2: neither here nor there. Keep going again that the team
Speaker 2: is everything it needs to be. It's about the rest
Speaker 2: of the division that is the problem. That's the plastic flower.
Speaker 2: Your stupid cat still crying it. Sorry a digression there. Yes,
Speaker 2: the dbats stay as they are. I agree with John.
Speaker 1: Great and the last one I had was the Miami Marlins.
Speaker 1: I saw that Pete was looking at flights to Miami
Speaker 1: in October on Twitter earlier today. So some people are
Speaker 1: believing in this wind streak they're on, they will be
Speaker 1: selling if they even have anything to sell, won't they?
Speaker 1: Unless this windstreak continues, who knows what have they.
Speaker 3: Got that they could actually sell? Like, come on, of course,
Speaker 3: that's the sculpture the culture. Yeah, they are always selling
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 1: Sandy, does anyone even want him?
Speaker 3: Sandy's not been great, Robi, your camera's died.
Speaker 2: I know, my cat just literally pulled it out.
Speaker 3: I do well, cat, Yes, Sandy's not been great. And
Speaker 3: then you know, the players that have actually been quite
Speaker 3: good have all been like the younger ons, haven't they
Speaker 3: so like what I was gonna say, why would they
Speaker 3: sell them? But this is the Marlins, this is what
Speaker 3: they do. This is Christine Yelich, this is John Carlos, Stanton,
Speaker 3: Jake Berger. Oh, this is going to be part of
Speaker 3: the next Good Marlins team. Incorrect, There's not going to
Speaker 3: be another Good Marlins team. Ever.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to the final bit of the pod then,
Speaker 1: and let's talk It's eerie Sea Wolves. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you guys have followed this more closely than I have. Robbie,
Speaker 1: I think you were the one who shared yesterday in
Speaker 1: our group chat the article that was on MBI dot
Speaker 1: com that caught our attention. Do you feel comfortable talking
Speaker 1: through the story and why I caught our attention?
Speaker 2: Not not particularly, I just sort of kind of saw it,
Speaker 2: okay that basically there was a bit of a competition
Speaker 2: going on. I was on the John Oliver was was
Speaker 2: was talking about rebranding a minor league team and the
Speaker 2: Sea Wolves, the fact that they are absolutely nowhere near
Speaker 2: the sea. It came up and was an entertaining part
Speaker 2: of part of his show. So they had this competition,
Speaker 2: and the Sea Wolves emailed into into his show and
Speaker 2: on that on that list of things was was a
Speaker 2: list of reasons as to why they should be the
Speaker 2: the team that gets the rebrand and and they have
Speaker 2: they won that. The thing of note from that on
Speaker 2: that email was was actually a shout out to the
Speaker 2: fact that they are and if you will cast yourself
Speaker 2: back to insert number of podcasts here, we actually elected
Speaker 2: the Eerie Sea Wolves as the official British minor League
Speaker 2: team and that made it into into the email and subsequently,
Speaker 2: if you follow the story on the MLB app you
Speaker 2: will find a link to to add podcast on this.
Speaker 2: I was quite exciting that we we got that that
Speaker 2: nod from from from the Big the Big Time. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so that that's that's the that's the story in a nutshell.
Speaker 2: I haven't really followed it much closer than that.
Speaker 3: I haven't either. It's one of those things where it's
Speaker 3: occasionally come up in my Instagram feed because you know,
Speaker 3: baseball and John Oliver is sort of in the middle
Speaker 3: of some of my interests. Hey, I like satire and
Speaker 3: you know, maybe have a certain political outlook and also
Speaker 3: like baseball. I might like John Oliver clip where he's
Speaker 3: talking about baseball which he does fairly often. Actually, I
Speaker 3: think is a big Mets fan, isn't he. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it's come up, But I wouldn't say I knew an
Speaker 3: awful lot more than Rob. I had seen that he
Speaker 3: had selected the Sea Wolves a few weeks ago for
Speaker 3: the reasons that Rob outlined, primarily that they're called the
Speaker 3: Sea Wolves and they know where Ney of the Sea.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I didn't know that we had played even
Speaker 3: a tiny role in it until yesterday when when Rob
Speaker 3: shared that that link where we are references I think
Speaker 3: the fourth of eleven reasons why why John Oliver should
Speaker 3: be partaking and working with the team there. So he
Speaker 3: thanks to Greg Coleman, who's the general manager and president
Speaker 3: of the Sea Wolves, and Greg Ganya who's their their
Speaker 3: their voice and media lead for including us in that.
Speaker 3: We haven't done anything with the Sea Wolves for a
Speaker 3: few years now, but we had such great fun picking
Speaker 3: that and they were such great sports and a bunch
Speaker 3: of really nice people to work with and get to
Speaker 3: know a bit who've always done well by us. And
Speaker 3: it was fun to see them getting a bit of
Speaker 3: rub in the US national spotlight and there, and good
Speaker 3: to know that they were using the tenuous link that
Speaker 3: they had to the UK to where try and win
Speaker 3: the affections of you know, one of the one of
Speaker 3: the bigger cultural exports that we've had to to that
Speaker 3: country in the last few years. So yeah, and I
Speaker 3: think it's the Eerie Moon Mammoths. That's what they're going
Speaker 3: to be known as as their alternate identity from here
Speaker 3: on in. So yeah, we'll have to get ourselves some
Speaker 3: Eerie Moon Mammoths merch for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, looks the rebrand is fun. It's a big Willie
Speaker 1: mammoth and a moon but bizarrely and it's all sort
Speaker 1: of purple. And I love the color. Team is very fun.
Speaker 1: Almost rockies askue not to doom them this early. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're playing a game as the Moon Mammoths on July nineteenth,
Speaker 1: which will be great fun. And yeah, I just thought
Speaker 1: it was cool like that they kind of harked back
Speaker 1: to that fun thing that we did a few years back.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I think John, that was probably you who did most
Speaker 1: of the work in that whole fun Twitter competition, I know,
Speaker 1: as you who wrote the article that MLB dot Com
Speaker 1: linked to and the interview with Greg Coleman, who was
Speaker 1: a really fun guest. So yeah, just a nice quirky
Speaker 1: minor league baseball bit of news that somehow found its
Speaker 1: way back to us. So yeah, hopefully that that whole
Speaker 1: rebrand goes well, and we would appreciate any UK based
Speaker 1: fans who are able to see what goes down there.
Speaker 1: And yeah, we have a little team.
Speaker 3: We haven't ever. We know that our buddy from the
Speaker 3: Red Sox group, Adam Perry, managed to make his way
Speaker 3: out to Eerie, but none of us have been. I've
Speaker 3: managed to get there, and we've always been promised that
Speaker 3: we could throw a first pitch if we went to Erie.
Speaker 3: So maybe we have to hand over that responsibility to
Speaker 3: John Olivery. I guess he's like our designated British person.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that they were going to let John Oliver
Speaker 3: our first pitch anyway, but let's just say he's doing
Speaker 3: it on our half.
Speaker 1: He's got our blessing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, very he's you know, in some respects slightly
Speaker 3: more august than us, not in others, though Tom Pringle's
Speaker 3: got a longer head for a start. Rob your cat
Speaker 3: is absolutely crucified.
Speaker 2: It's absolutely knackered it. I have tried it in every
Speaker 2: USB hole like it seems to be not getting any power.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the hell's gone on here?
Speaker 1: Oh well, don't getting my homework. Cat destroyed my webcam? Yeah, Rob,
Speaker 1: were you gonna try it? I don't know if this
Speaker 1: was you pop this into ournery. We're going to try
Speaker 1: and end us on a very depressing note here topic one.
Speaker 1: You if you if you'd like to just quickly riff
Speaker 1: on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not wanting to end on an absolute gowner. But
Speaker 2: many people they notice the wonder Franco trial has come
Speaker 2: to its conclusion and it look, I'm not I don't
Speaker 2: know the ins and outs of the Dominican Republic's legal system,
Speaker 2: but it seems that there's been an absolute farce of
Speaker 2: a hypocrisy here to do with a man who's got
Speaker 2: a bit of money getting a very very short sentence
Speaker 2: compared to other people around him. So essentially, the the
Speaker 2: ruling is, yes, he is absolutely he it was inappropriate
Speaker 2: sexual relations with a minor and he's got himself a
Speaker 2: two year suspended sentence. So essentially, as long as he
Speaker 2: doesn't do it again, he just walks scott free. In
Speaker 2: the same breath, the mother of the girl involved, no
Speaker 2: saint of core absolute What she done was absolutely heinous.
Speaker 2: She's got ten years behind bars, which it just seems
Speaker 2: like the bloke with the cash here has managed to
Speaker 2: dodge it and she hasn't. Now he's got another court
Speaker 2: case coming up soon to do with weapons charges. But look,
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, it's done. Now we
Speaker 2: know this, this awful human being is not going to
Speaker 2: come anywhere near near baseball again. I'm sure Major League
Speaker 2: Baseball going to do their investigations given that it's been
Speaker 2: the court of law. Now he's been absolutely said, yes,
Speaker 2: this guy is a sexual predator. He's not going to
Speaker 2: come back near the game, and that's the absolute right
Speaker 2: thing to do. But the fact that he's still able
Speaker 2: to walk the streets without actually actually going behind behind
Speaker 2: bars for something as awful as what he did is
Speaker 2: to my mind, absolutely disgusting. So it's a horrible way
Speaker 2: to end this hen this podcast, but I think it
Speaker 2: needs to be to be marked upon that. You know,
Speaker 2: we've got to call this kind of hypocrisy when when
Speaker 2: we see it, because money should not be able to
Speaker 2: buy you the way out of this the way it
Speaker 2: hasn't for this girl's mother. You know, they both should
Speaker 2: absolutely be doing time for this to my mind anyway,
Speaker 2: And this bloke, whilst his career is over and rightly so,
Speaker 2: he's out and about, he's doing this thing. How long
Speaker 2: is it before we see him in the Mexican leagues?
Speaker 2: Maybe NPB, You know, I I don't know. I don't
Speaker 2: know what it would take to get into those countries.
Speaker 2: But it's just not right. Something doesn't feel just here.
Speaker 2: This feels just feels icky, and I really don't like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not the first, and I fear it won't
Speaker 1: be the last time that things like this happen, where yeah,
Speaker 1: guys who are rich and powerful kind of get away
Speaker 1: with stuff that they shouldn't tell us all the time
Speaker 1: in many ways. But yeah, like you say, unpleasant given
Speaker 1: what came out during that trial, that he is possibly
Speaker 1: going to be able to walk away scot free. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's just so our taste in the mouth
Speaker 1: of anyone who has been following him or the rais
Speaker 1: or this story. So not a pleasant way for it
Speaker 1: to end.
Speaker 2: Or this podcast, not a pleasant way for it to end.
Speaker 3: But anyone got a fun behind the cloak of anonymity,
Speaker 3: just you know, they just just made it had more heft, mate,
Speaker 3: or the.
Speaker 2: Fact that you can't see my angry face.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we just you know, you did this
Speaker 3: in like a black thing that just had a camera
Speaker 3: that wasn't working on it. So yeah, I enjoyed serious job.
Speaker 3: They're rarely viewed serious role.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not viewed this time.
Speaker 3: Things have got quite quite difficult if we're getting a
Speaker 3: serious rob No, you're completely right, mate, and absolutely spot
Speaker 3: on that we should pin that down. Well.
Speaker 1: I end on a slightly lighter note in that there
Speaker 1: is some great content going on to our website and
Speaker 1: that people should check it out as usual. In the
Speaker 1: last few days, we've had some articles on the globalization
Speaker 1: of Major League Baseball when markets lym, which is a
Speaker 1: great read. We've got a really fun article about cal
Speaker 1: Rally by Carl Taylor that folks should go to and
Speaker 1: check out. And I know that Brett and the editorial
Speaker 1: team and Gave and others are looking for people to
Speaker 1: send in submissions for my favorite Player series that has
Speaker 1: been the kind of on our feature of the site
Speaker 1: for a few years now. I think all of us
Speaker 1: on this court we've probably written an article contributing to
Speaker 1: that at various points, but It is a fun way
Speaker 1: to just show off your fandom. So do get in
Speaker 1: touch with us on the social channels and we will
Speaker 1: put you in touch with the right people to get
Speaker 1: your writing into the right place. So yeah, make sure
Speaker 1: to do that. So I think that's it for us.
Speaker 1: We will be back again very soon, I imagine, to
Speaker 1: discuss everything else happening in the world baseball between now
Speaker 1: and the All Star break and the trade deadline, which
Speaker 1: we'll be back for, and maybe to discuss any of
Speaker 1: the yeah news that comes out around that. It might
Speaker 1: be a Hackney event, which we're very much.
Speaker 3: Looking forward to.
Speaker 1: Thanks very much, John, Thanks very much, Rob behind the camera,
Speaker 1: and we will see you guys very soon.
Speaker 3: Much Tampa or Chicago, the cat for your interference, Bye soon,
Speaker 3: Bye bye.