Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Batflips and Nerds, the Baseball Podcast
Speaker 1: with a British twist. We are a week into the
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball season and we're coming together to overreact
Speaker 1: everything has happened so far. Joining me for this fine
Speaker 1: adventure is Darius Austin. Darius, how are you.
Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. I'm excited that baseball is back,
Speaker 2: and I think we'll have a lot of fun with
Speaker 2: the discourse that's been happening over the last few days.
Speaker 2: It didn't turn out for us to have the first
Speaker 2: truly stupid story, like literally two days into the season,
Speaker 2: to have an US only ridiculous news cycle. It's been great.
Speaker 1: And joining the two of us is the master of discourse,
Speaker 1: Rob Navera. Rob, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm loving the I mean we're going to come to them.
Speaker 3: I'm sure the Chris bats, I'm loving it. I can't wait.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be the start of a major League baseball
Speaker 1: season with us some kind of odd scandal with it.
Speaker 1: So yes, we are going to get into that, obviously
Speaker 1: at some point later in the pod, and we're also
Speaker 1: going to cover some of the extensions that have taken
Speaker 1: place in the last few days. Do a couple are
Speaker 1: two good? Too bad? But I think we're going to
Speaker 1: kick it off with some classic old fashioned early season
Speaker 1: over reactions. Baby, it's been a week of baseball, not
Speaker 1: even at this point, so obviously there are some really
Speaker 1: silly stat lines out there already that people are being
Speaker 1: very rational and calm about, as baseball fans tend to be.
Speaker 1: So I thought maybe we could spin through a few
Speaker 1: of them, maybe higher profile struggles or successes early in
Speaker 1: the season, and see how much on the scale of
Speaker 1: I don't know, one to ten, we're believing or overreacting
Speaker 1: to this start to the season. So let's kick it
Speaker 1: off with maybe the one that's been catching people's either most,
Speaker 1: and that is the early season struggles of poor Raphael Devers,
Speaker 1: who had a bit of a spread in his kind
Speaker 1: of giving it the bigger and about not wanting to
Speaker 1: be moved off third base, then moving off third base,
Speaker 1: and then getting injured, and then being told he's basically
Speaker 1: going to be full time DH at least for a
Speaker 1: while while he recovers from his injury. And he has
Speaker 1: responded to being told he is now the designated hitter
Speaker 1: by deciding not to hit. I think to this point,
Speaker 1: he is over nineteen with something like fourteen strikeouts. I
Speaker 1: may even be selling him short on the strikeouts there.
Speaker 1: It's been a horrendous start to this season for Paul Raffie.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'll answer me this, Rob will Raffis Devers
Speaker 1: ever get a hit again?
Speaker 3: No, he's done, cooked, finished, that's game over for mister servers.
Speaker 3: Obviously he's going to get a hit or two. But
Speaker 3: you know what we've seen Chris Davis, you know, like
Speaker 3: he was insane and then all of a sudden, bam gone.
Speaker 3: And you know what, he's kind of a big guy.
Speaker 3: He's known as a bit of a hitter. Could be it,
Speaker 3: you know. So I think the soul king has been
Speaker 3: for fun. I've really enjoyed watching the soul He looks
Speaker 3: like a chastised four year old sat on the bench
Speaker 3: at the moment. I could totally understand if I was
Speaker 3: doing that bad at my job, I would I would
Speaker 3: look pretty bad and sulky when I'm sad at work
Speaker 3: as well. So obviously there's gonna be some regression to
Speaker 3: the mean. But you know something, break people, you know,
Speaker 3: and he really really does not seem to have taken
Speaker 3: well to the the whole Bregmann situation and third base thing.
Speaker 3: So when he can get over his sulking, maybe, but
Speaker 3: you know these highly paid manchild athletes, who knows, maybe
Speaker 3: he can't get over it. Maybe maybe this is this
Speaker 3: is the Raffie Devers We've got from now on.
Speaker 1: I guess that's a caveat it with all of these
Speaker 1: things short samples, small sample size. This is basically a
Speaker 1: five game stretch that we're judging him based on here.
Speaker 1: But where's the fun in caveating stuff? Right? And I
Speaker 1: think Russell been a little bit of digging in our
Speaker 1: group chat into the worst starts of the season in
Speaker 1: baseball history, And I think we have to go back
Speaker 1: pre universal DH to actually a sound Cisco Giants pitching
Speaker 1: legend who I think outdes devs the worst start to
Speaker 1: the season, at least did before his latest over four
Speaker 1: day Darius. Should we genuinely be concerned about this, especially
Speaker 1: with a strike up number where it is. It seems
Speaker 1: like he just isn't picking up the ball in a
Speaker 1: way that most major league hitters do. Or is this
Speaker 1: just a very weird slump that is magnified by the
Speaker 1: fact it's the first week of April.
Speaker 2: I think we're arriving at like, not just small sample.
Speaker 2: This is extremely concerning territory because everybody has these fifteen
Speaker 2: over twenty and you know, six of them are lying
Speaker 2: drives straight to the short stopping. That just happens. But
Speaker 2: to have this many strikeouts, and I think I say
Speaker 2: it was the Brooks Skate twitter account pointed out that
Speaker 2: also the last four games of last season, I think
Speaker 2: he had eleven strikeouts and one hit in those in
Speaker 2: those games as well, so he's had what he's running
Speaker 2: a well over fifty percent strikeout rate for sort of
Speaker 2: his last ten games, which is very very high for anybody.
Speaker 2: Even gallow would be like, this is too many strikeouts.
Speaker 2: So that's a worry. Now, whether it's because he's hurt
Speaker 2: because you know, the second wrong with his swing, or
Speaker 2: because he's just throwing his toys out of the pram
Speaker 2: that Alex Bregman gets to play third base better than
Speaker 2: he does, I don't know, but it is concerning at
Speaker 2: this point. I think you don't expect a player of
Speaker 2: this quality to strike out this often. If it was
Speaker 2: just groundouts or line outs, whenever, I would say, don't care.
Speaker 2: But I am starting to get a little bit like, yeah,
Speaker 2: has the DH thing got in his head? Is he
Speaker 2: doing it on purpose just to make a point. I
Speaker 2: don't know what's going on, but it's reached the level
Speaker 2: for me that, yeah, I'm worried that something is wrong
Speaker 2: and we're not going to get you know, the usual.
Speaker 2: Raphael Devis, who's been a very good, very consistent hitter
Speaker 2: for a very long time.
Speaker 1: Now. I'll be honest if if Darreus is worried, I'm worried.
Speaker 1: I was just expecting you to be the voice of
Speaker 1: reason and tell us that we're overreacting. And it's only
Speaker 1: a few games.
Speaker 2: And to be clear, but I've never seen a stress
Speaker 2: like this from anybody. You know, it doesn't well, don't hit,
Speaker 2: it doesn't happen anymore. So it is pretty remarkable for
Speaker 2: somebody as good as Devi's, who's like, you know, career one,
Speaker 2: twenty six ops plus year, to strike out fifteen times
Speaker 2: in nineteen at bats. It's kind of insane.
Speaker 3: I think he needs a silly bat.
Speaker 1: Maybe he does need a silly bat. We're going to
Speaker 1: get onto that at some point, but yeah, no, not
Speaker 1: not good for devas that lead. I've seen that we
Speaker 1: keep listening for a little bit. Get that ad revenue in.
Speaker 1: We've seen people are in the old side by sides
Speaker 1: of you know Devas last year, Devas this year? Is
Speaker 1: he looking bigger? Is he out of shape? I don't
Speaker 1: think Devers ever had a small derry yet, did he?
Speaker 1: But maybe there is some truth to the fact that
Speaker 1: he's a little bit larger than he was last year.
Speaker 1: So to see if that, if that escalates into anything
Speaker 1: more as the struggles go on. But I will just
Speaker 1: leave that bombshell there and move on to the very
Speaker 1: next overreaction, which is more in the positive direction. Darius,
Speaker 1: I'll come to you first for this one. Will the
Speaker 1: Dodgers ever lose this season they break the single game
Speaker 1: win record? Will they do it in August? Will the
Speaker 1: Padres also never lose again? And our West is off
Speaker 1: to a hot start.
Speaker 2: It'd be on brand, wouldn't it If the Padres won
Speaker 2: like one hundred and twenty games. But the Dodgers won
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty five, so doesn't get a division title.
Speaker 2: I could believe that probably they will lose at some point.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to predict one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 2: and o just yet, but if you were a Padres
Speaker 2: or Diamondbacks fan coming in this season going, oh, maybe
Speaker 2: the Dodgers haven't off year and win ninety two games,
Speaker 2: I think you're already a bit underwhelmed now, a bit disappointed,
Speaker 2: kind of having to accept that they haven't played that
Speaker 2: well either. They haven't looked like you know, there's been
Speaker 2: Sasaki's look pretty shaky, and you know, Mookie Betts lost
Speaker 2: like half his body weight and they're still seven and os.
Speaker 2: So it's concerning, especially when you consider that you know
Speaker 2: Otani's going to come back and pitch at some point,
Speaker 2: and they've got all these other arms who are going
Speaker 2: to come off the injured list. It's there's a lot
Speaker 2: lot there, and they're already seven and o and it's
Speaker 2: quite difficult to see how they're not going to win
Speaker 2: one hundred plus games already.
Speaker 1: I like it an unimpressive seven and o. Yeah, be better,
Speaker 1: be better, yeah, roll, but anything stood out to you
Speaker 1: from what you see from so far, they've obviously, yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, the rotation hasn't necessarily looked that strong, and obviously, yeah,
Speaker 1: Betts was hampered for the first few games. Freeman doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily one hundred percent, but the wagon just keeps on rolling,
Speaker 1: doesn't it.
Speaker 3: I think all the caveats that are being applied are
Speaker 3: Dodgers caveats. We expect the Dodgers to be exceptional, winning everything,
Speaker 3: and let's fake they've already won the same. The gap
Speaker 3: they've got is already like approaching a division winning, you know,
Speaker 3: sort of sort of lead. You know, all right, the
Speaker 3: paves ride up there chuffs, but you know, to go
Speaker 3: seven and o and have three four and a half
Speaker 3: games over some of your competitors at this stage means
Speaker 3: they've already sort of put that gap in, like the
Speaker 3: chase is already on.
Speaker 1: We're not.
Speaker 3: We're less than a week in and we've already got
Speaker 3: in between them and their rivals. So I think one
Speaker 3: hundred and sixty two and oh is a touch of
Speaker 3: a stretch, a touch. But you know, could they do
Speaker 3: another thirty wins before they lose a game?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: They could, They really really could. This could be sewed
Speaker 3: up and done and dusted. If they keep going at
Speaker 3: this rate, with the rest of the division not all
Speaker 3: chipping in at full rate, they could be done and
Speaker 3: dusted by the end of May.
Speaker 1: Well, well, let's hope not for the sake of an
Speaker 1: exciting and our West race, and the other teams do
Speaker 1: look good. I mean, the Padres are six and o,
Speaker 1: the Dbacs have looked lively so far. The Giants even
Speaker 1: look like they've got a pulse this year. Darius, We're
Speaker 1: not going to talk about the Rockies, but that's four
Speaker 1: good teams in the division. So you know, maybe if
Speaker 1: they do slip up at any point, then then there's
Speaker 1: a chance for other teams in that division. But it
Speaker 1: concerns you that the guys who would need to be
Speaker 1: bad this year for them to have a bad year,
Speaker 1: like Edmund, like Hernandez, actually look as good, if not
Speaker 1: better than they'd did last year. So not a great
Speaker 1: start for Dodgers haters. A great start of the plate
Speaker 1: though for a certain Euhennio Suarez. This is a fun
Speaker 1: early season stat line. Janerez has five hits so far
Speaker 1: this season that is not particularly notable. All five of
Speaker 1: them have been home runs. I think he leads the
Speaker 1: majors with with those five home runs, including a dramatic
Speaker 1: one was it last night against the Yankees go ahead
Speaker 1: Grand Slam? This is kind of a dunk on the Reds.
Speaker 1: I guess who let him go for peanuts, but also
Speaker 1: Juhanio Suarez probably can't go, you know, fifty hits, fifty
Speaker 1: home runs. But this is kind of the hitter he
Speaker 1: is now, Darius, Is this just a bit of a
Speaker 1: peek into one of these you know, new three trier
Speaker 1: upcome players or is it just a funny, quirky opening
Speaker 1: season stat line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's always been a streaky guy. We had an
Speaker 2: extreme first half second half split from him last year.
Speaker 2: I think he had you know, three hundred points of
Speaker 2: ops difference between the two. He is this type of player. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's got he's got a lot of power, and when
Speaker 2: he gets some of these hot streaks, he's he's really
Speaker 2: really good. I don't think it's going to take a
Speaker 2: super long time for pictures to say, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: this is what he's weak against this season. You know,
Speaker 2: it's a big hole on that swing over there, and
Speaker 2: we might be here in June saying why is there
Speaker 2: Han Suarez gone over nineteen with fifteen strikeouts in his
Speaker 2: last five games. But yeah, he's a good power hitter.
Speaker 2: He's always been a good power hitter. And as long
Speaker 2: as the batting average doesn't collapse, then you can certainly
Speaker 2: live with that, but yeah, ride it when it lasts.
Speaker 1: Thebacks fans, I was wrong, wasn't. I was sorry. It
Speaker 1: was the Mariners that gave him away for nothing. The
Speaker 1: Reds did have him at one point, but that's done
Speaker 1: from the Mariners instead.
Speaker 3: Rob. I mean, he's been there before, hasn't He didn't
Speaker 3: He didn't he he'd take a home run title off
Speaker 3: of Trout.
Speaker 1: A few years ago.
Speaker 3: I think he's the wrong person's that's not off brand
Speaker 3: for me. I'm pretty sure he had a home run title,
Speaker 3: didn't he in Maybe twenty nineteen, maybe twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: I don't think he'd led the league. He did hit
Speaker 2: a lot of home runs that year, but I don't
Speaker 2: believe he'd the league.
Speaker 3: Oh Okay, for the sake of the podcast, I'm not
Speaker 3: going to sit here and google silently whilst I will
Speaker 3: find out for you if he didn't, if he didn't
Speaker 3: win the home run title. I'm pretty sure he was.
Speaker 3: He was right there. So you know what, the guy's
Speaker 3: got power. He's demonstrated it historically. He had at least
Speaker 3: chasing the league lead for home run I know he did,
Speaker 3: and so yeah, yeah he could do it. We haven't
Speaker 3: yet seen what what is the score with with the
Speaker 3: ball this year? Perhaps he'll change to a silly bat
Speaker 3: just to bring it up for a third time for
Speaker 3: Ben to have to put it down and make it
Speaker 3: make it a later thing. So perhaps he's got a
Speaker 3: silly bat. Who knows, but I think he could. He could,
Speaker 3: he could be the real deal here. Absolutely, let's kneed jerk.
Speaker 3: Let's let's overreact and say, yeah, a Suarez is going
Speaker 3: to going to rival Aaron Judge this year for the
Speaker 3: home run lead.
Speaker 2: You're sort of partially correct, Robin that he did hit
Speaker 2: more runs the Mike Trout, but he was in the
Speaker 2: wrong league because he was on the Reds, so he
Speaker 2: couldn't have taken a AL title away from Trout regardless.
Speaker 2: Peter Lonso hit fifty three, Okay, bad season, So but he.
Speaker 1: Was sixty nine was pretty impressive. Yeah, actually a good
Speaker 1: looking at for his page. Now he has all I've
Speaker 1: alway in my mind, he's always been so streaking inconsistent,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of been from year to year. But
Speaker 1: actually he always ends up putting up like pretty good
Speaker 1: power hitting stat lines, doesn't it, at least since that
Speaker 1: kind of power surge from the Cincinnati days, So maybe
Speaker 1: I deserve to give Suarez more credit than he deserves. Regardless,
Speaker 1: probably not going to be an MVP candidate, but a
Speaker 1: very good hitter. Who Yeah, Marinas fans might regret letting walk.
Speaker 1: My final overreaction, then, is another bad one. It's it's
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves. Certain people on their predictions podcasts thought
Speaker 1: the Orlanda Braves would be the best team in the
Speaker 1: National League this year, and those certain people it might
Speaker 1: be feeling a bit silly right now, which I will
Speaker 1: not comment on. But it's not been a great started
Speaker 1: season for the Brave for reasons beyond just their record.
Speaker 1: That again, we might get to you later. I'm keeping
Speaker 1: people hanging here, aren't I? But this, this is this
Speaker 1: does not look good for Atlanta. Again, probably a bit
Speaker 1: too early to overreact, but rob the Braves falling apart
Speaker 1: of the scenes. Is this the start of an epic
Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves collapse? Yes, Love, I agree.
Speaker 3: I'm still firmly believed that the Braves are the best,
Speaker 3: second best team in the National League. They've They've done
Speaker 3: this over the last few years. They've they've gone they've
Speaker 3: blown really really hot and cold, and when they've been
Speaker 3: blowing cold. You can sort of see like, ah, they
Speaker 3: should have been blowing hot. There's something not gone quite
Speaker 3: right here, but it's it's kind of out of their out.
Speaker 1: Of their their reach.
Speaker 3: You know. It wasn't really their fault that they they've
Speaker 3: they've had the bad now it's been been injuries. They've
Speaker 3: they've had like like a random down year a couple
Speaker 3: of times in the middle of their their stretch. Now,
Speaker 3: if you go back and look at the beginning of
Speaker 3: the Braves run at that they're currently on to to
Speaker 3: where they are now, the aggregate is fantastic. They've been
Speaker 3: brilliant across the board, and not much has changing with
Speaker 3: this team. All they've done is they've they've they've grown
Speaker 3: into their ages a little bit more and they've they've
Speaker 3: got some some more experience. So I do genuinely still
Speaker 3: believe that the the Braves should should be a fantastic team. However,
Speaker 3: tragedy starts to perfall them. Maybe it's the NL East,
Speaker 3: Maybe it's the Mets sort of shrugging off their long
Speaker 3: Mets vibes and a little bit of a splashing over
Speaker 3: onto another team. I don't know, but but the Braves
Speaker 3: should be absolutely fine. There is there is nothing about
Speaker 3: this team that says that they should be They should
Speaker 3: be doing it, they should be smashing it up, and
Speaker 3: of course they will. Of course they're going to come back.
Speaker 3: So no, I don't I don't think the Braves are cooked.
Speaker 3: I think they're having another if he start to a year,
Speaker 3: but come the end, they're gonna be right there.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be right there.
Speaker 3: There's no way, Darius, do you have any thoughts on
Speaker 3: the Braves Whilst Ben is doing some some technical.
Speaker 2: I think, oh, yeah, they're not cooked. I think you
Speaker 2: can probably given the information we have that Reynaldo Lopez
Speaker 2: is going to be on the IL for several months,
Speaker 2: if not missing the entire season, that Jerks and Profile
Speaker 2: has got himself suspended for peds, that we know they
Speaker 2: have lost six games already without any wins. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: blame you if you wanted to say I thought the
Speaker 2: Braves were a ninety two win team and now I
Speaker 2: think they're an eighty nine win team. I think that's
Speaker 2: okay to say. I don't think this means the Braves
Speaker 2: are now assently six win team. We've seen these starts
Speaker 2: of the season before, and you know they can. With
Speaker 2: the Cardinals a few years back spring to mind, I
Speaker 2: think where it's like, oh, the Cardinals are going to
Speaker 2: come out of it, and they didn't. You know, they
Speaker 2: never really really got there. So that's kind of how
Speaker 2: I feel about at Atlanta and in this division where
Speaker 2: you've got the Phillies and you've got the Mets, who
Speaker 2: are both can be pretty competitive. It doesn't help to
Speaker 2: have six losses on the leisure with no wins. You know,
Speaker 2: it's not good. So yeah, I'm not worried. They've got
Speaker 2: a call you line up. They've still got plenty of
Speaker 2: good pieces in that rotation, but it's it's, you know, okay,
Speaker 2: downgrade a little bit on the expectations.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, and they they've they've got stuff coming back,
Speaker 3: haven't they?
Speaker 1: Big style.
Speaker 3: I mean, we've got we've got a Kunya and we've
Speaker 3: got Strider coming back. And you know, if you want
Speaker 3: to make up six wins, there's six wins and a
Speaker 3: shedload more just just just sat there ready to happen.
Speaker 3: So I don't think we can expect there to be
Speaker 3: an ongoing problem with the Braves here. Your points well
Speaker 3: made drop a little bit but like, don't don't take
Speaker 3: too much of your expectations of the Braves. These these
Speaker 3: guys are are the team you know, we we we
Speaker 3: thought they would be. So in Ben's absence, I think
Speaker 3: we should we should move on as quickly as we
Speaker 3: can into the next bits of bobs of business. Was
Speaker 3: there anything else that sort of caught your eye on
Speaker 3: the overreaction trend, Darius at the beginning of the seasons,
Speaker 3: or anything that you thought, oh, maybe maybe this is something,
Speaker 3: or you know, hopefully this kid can it might be
Speaker 3: might be a little bit fun. Is there anything you
Speaker 3: saw well?
Speaker 2: I mean, I suppose the overreaction probably does lead us
Speaker 2: quite neatly into our next topic, which maybe we'll be
Speaker 2: allowed to talk about now, because that's the thing that's
Speaker 2: in my mind, is the thing that people have been
Speaker 2: flipping out about, probably quite unreasonably when you consider all
Speaker 2: the facts of the situation. But we are we allowed
Speaker 2: to have bat discourse now? Do you think we can
Speaker 2: sneak that in while Ben's trying to sort his technical
Speaker 2: issues up.
Speaker 3: I think the fact that Ben can't actually say no
Speaker 3: anymore means that it's a very very good time for
Speaker 3: us to uh to start talking about the bats, which
Speaker 3: I wanted to talk about it along because I think
Speaker 3: it's I think this is the best story we've had
Speaker 3: in baseball in a good few years. So those of
Speaker 3: you who have been buried on the moon and haven't
Speaker 3: seen anything, the New York Yankees particularly, and just be clear,
Speaker 3: not just the New York Yankees, have deployed a new
Speaker 3: style of bat. Oh my god, it's incredible.
Speaker 1: It's so different.
Speaker 3: Wait no, they've just shaved a little bit off the end. Okay,
Speaker 3: so there is a new style about the young have had.
Speaker 3: They ran into the Milwaukee Brewers the start of the
Speaker 3: season and they broke the record for their team for
Speaker 3: home runs in the game with was it nine home
Speaker 3: runs they hit in the end, and then they continued
Speaker 3: to hit afterwards. It's been it's been fantastic all the way.
Speaker 3: So Yankees' bats, Darius, Is it real? Is it real?
Speaker 2: I think to the extent that they have identified something
Speaker 2: about players like Anthony Volpi, who was hitting the ball
Speaker 2: with a different part of the bat than the barrel
Speaker 2: very often, then yeah, I can I can believe that
Speaker 2: that's real. People seem to think this is something that's
Speaker 2: brand new. These bats were being used last year. I
Speaker 2: think maybe the year before, Jian Carlos Stanton was sitting
Speaker 2: home runs with this bat in the playoffs and nobody
Speaker 2: said anything warning. It just so happened. I think I
Speaker 2: think Adamy Richmond the day before and hit to home
Speaker 2: runs on these bats. But because the Yankees came out
Speaker 2: and hit nine home runs against the Brewers, everyone was like.
Speaker 3: Well, the Yankees are cheating.
Speaker 2: Look at this brand new thing. So I don't think,
Speaker 2: you know, there's nothing illegal about They've just moved some
Speaker 2: of the woods from the end of the bat to
Speaker 2: slightly further down the bat. If you are the kind
Speaker 2: of player who was already hitting the ball on the barrel,
Speaker 2: I think it would be bad for you. And I
Speaker 2: think there's probably ways that pitchers might say, oh, you
Speaker 2: know what, I'll pitch a little bit more outside and
Speaker 2: this guy is not going to be able to get
Speaker 2: the thick part of the bat on the ball so easily.
Speaker 2: So it doesn't seem like a game breaking thing that's gonna,
Speaker 2: you know, ruin baseball or anything. But I can believe
Speaker 2: that there are players like Olpi who are going to
Speaker 2: benefit from doing this, at least in the short term.
Speaker 2: While pitchers figure out what to do.
Speaker 3: And we've seen a few players, as you say, Elie
Speaker 3: de la Cruz, Junior Kamenera, have all come out and
Speaker 3: said that they've had some success with the bat as well.
Speaker 3: Torpedo bat though, are we happy with torpedo bat? Ben?
Speaker 3: You seem to be back in the room. What's your
Speaker 3: take on torpedo bat as a phrase.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I left your a lone for five
Speaker 1: minutes and you went rates the torpedo bats. This is unbelievable,
Speaker 1: excellent hosting work for me. They're being unable to hear
Speaker 1: anything you said for that five minutes. I think torpedo
Speaker 1: bats makes sense, Like I see where the names come from.
Speaker 1: They look a bit like a torpedo, and it's probably
Speaker 1: more fun than I don't know what else. People call
Speaker 1: it odd bats or Yankees' bats as they were the
Speaker 1: first day, So I don't have a problem with it,
Speaker 1: But it sounds like you think that we should be
Speaker 1: doing better.
Speaker 3: I just think a little bit of creativity, Like everything's
Speaker 3: a torpedo and it's slightly sleek looking. I mean, couldn't
Speaker 3: we like a skittle bat? It looks more like a
Speaker 3: skittle to me, and you know, like torpedoes are too
Speaker 3: cool and like it's the bloody Yankees. Let's not come on,
Speaker 3: that's like the butt plug back. I don't care, you
Speaker 3: know what, just something that's you know, like a different Okay,
Speaker 3: I don't know why we're head went straight there. That's
Speaker 3: that's not important right now, but like something of that
Speaker 3: shape surely has other connotations other than than a torpedo.
Speaker 3: We come on, let's let's let's let's brainstorm it a
Speaker 3: little bit before we settle straight on top. You know,
Speaker 3: come on, I.
Speaker 1: Don't think we to brainstorm it anymore. I think butt
Speaker 1: plug bats has officially taken off.
Speaker 2: To butt plugged second, like on your list of ideas
Speaker 2: says a lot.
Speaker 3: We're going to take it off quite quite carefully, though, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean like these bats. I mean the alternative is,
Speaker 3: of course, maybe the bats aren't doing all that much.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe the Brewers are just rubbish. They've not started
Speaker 3: well and they've looked really awful. Perhaps it's just that.
Speaker 1: No, the Yankees have certainly slowed down in their torpedo
Speaker 1: bat home run hitting since they weren't able to face
Speaker 1: Snister Cortez and his eighty five mile an hour fastwards,
Speaker 1: so that that would probably seem to be part of it. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it was probably exaggerated quite quite the impact
Speaker 1: of the butt plug bats, But we'll see. And it
Speaker 1: sounds like they're going to be going much more white,
Speaker 1: being making much more widely used. I've had people in
Speaker 1: my Richmond baseball group chat asking if we can use
Speaker 1: them in our league? Are they now legal to use,
Speaker 1: you know, anywhere, even at single A level. I can't
Speaker 1: imagine a torpedo, But is the difference between you know,
Speaker 1: me being one of the you know, thousand worst players
Speaker 1: in baseball to suddenly being one of the only five
Speaker 1: hundred worst baseball players in the UK. But hey, I
Speaker 1: will try anything at this point, So I'll come back
Speaker 1: to you in a few weeks once my butt plug arrives.
Speaker 3: The league. The league's gonna gonna ban them, aren't they?
Speaker 3: If this continues this way is not going to persist,
Speaker 3: is it, surely, Darren?
Speaker 1: I think it will. Everything favors pitchers these days, finally
Speaker 1: something that makes hitters lives a bit easier.
Speaker 2: Mhmm, okay, yeah, I mean I don't think it will.
Speaker 2: So this is maybe a bad question to ask me
Speaker 2: but I think the balance has been tilted towards pitching
Speaker 2: for a long time. You know, people have been talking
Speaker 2: about should we move the mound bag. This is a
Speaker 2: much easier way of dealing with the offensive problem than
Speaker 2: moving the mound back, so I don't see why that
Speaker 2: they would change it unless for some reason games started
Speaker 2: taking four and a half hours every night time because
Speaker 2: the offense had exploded, which you know, even that game
Speaker 2: didn't take that long, So it's fine, fair should.
Speaker 1: We move on. Let's do a quick trip to a
Speaker 1: few extensions that have been signed in recent days and
Speaker 1: cover those off and then we'll get into too good,
Speaker 1: too bad. Two big moves from the Boston Red Sox,
Speaker 1: who yeah, have signed a couple of their exciting players
Speaker 1: to long term deals, very different deals though. First up,
Speaker 1: it was Garrett Crochet, their new ace starting pitcher, opening
Speaker 1: day starter, who signed a six year, one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy million dollar extension to stay with the team, yeah
Speaker 1: for the next six seasons or actually, and they even
Speaker 1: be beyond that, so I'm not sure if it adds
Speaker 1: on to the back of his current arbitration deal, but anyway,
Speaker 1: the opt out will be for him after twenty thirty,
Speaker 1: so we could potentially become a free agent again in
Speaker 1: five years time. And yeah, next year would have been
Speaker 1: his final year of arbitration with the Red Sox, so
Speaker 1: signing him up a little bit earlier than planned. But
Speaker 1: I think this was something that they've been working on
Speaker 1: over the winter ever since they acquired him effectively, and
Speaker 1: so good for Red Sox fans to get this. It
Speaker 1: is an interesting deal though. I mean, Darius Garrett Crochet
Speaker 1: is a great picture. Don't mean anyone woul dispute that,
Speaker 1: but his track record is not enormous in the majors,
Speaker 1: and he also has had Tobby John surgery already. Was
Speaker 1: this a risky deal for the Red Sox? Do you
Speaker 1: see this one being one that they may come to
Speaker 1: regret if he in some way regresses or if the
Speaker 1: elbow starts barking again, or is this just Hey, when
Speaker 1: you've got an ace on your staff, you keep them
Speaker 1: on your staff.
Speaker 2: It's a picture, so there's always a decent amount of
Speaker 2: scope for some regrets. People have comped Crochet to Chris
Speaker 2: Sail before. You could also see it going that way
Speaker 2: where people spent almost all of Chris sales career saying, oh,
Speaker 2: he's going to get hurt, he's too thin, he's not
Speaker 2: going to hold up. He's going to get and you know,
Speaker 2: he's been one of the best pictures of the generation.
Speaker 2: And yes, he's had the odd issue staying healthy, but
Speaker 2: it hasn't stopped him from being an immensely valuable picture
Speaker 2: when he's been on the field. And if the Red
Speaker 2: Sox get you know, one hundred and forty hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty innings on average out of Crochet over the course
Speaker 2: of this deal, I think they'll be perfectly happy with
Speaker 2: that because he's clearly, when he's on amount, one of
Speaker 2: the top four or five pitches in baseball. So I
Speaker 2: think it's the kind of thing you have to do.
Speaker 2: You know, if you want to lock these players up early,
Speaker 2: you've got to give them this kind of deal to
Speaker 2: make them fore go some of those years. And he's
Speaker 2: in his age twenty six seasons, so it's not like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're signing somebody up at thirty one, thirty
Speaker 2: two to maybe get some of those tail end of
Speaker 2: the career years you would expect, you know, help permitting
Speaker 2: that all of these are going to be really high quality.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any doubt about the stuff, So yes,
Speaker 2: always potential for regret. But I think if you were
Speaker 2: going to lock up somebody young who's you know, not
Speaker 2: called Trek Scuball or Paul Skins, it would be Garrett
Speaker 2: Croche probably.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to see this is a bad move
Speaker 1: for we either side. Really for Crochet, it gets him
Speaker 1: the long term security that you would want at his age.
Speaker 1: I guess there is risk. I'm just looking at his
Speaker 1: performance in PP years. I mean, rob he was obviously
Speaker 1: a full time start largeyear for the White soxters did
Speaker 1: an amazing job, certainly had the peripherrules to show him
Speaker 1: as an ace in the league, but that was effectively
Speaker 1: his only full season and the majors. You know, before that,
Speaker 1: he'd pitched a little bit as a rookie in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty when he went straight from the draft effectively to
Speaker 1: the majors in the COVID season. He obviously started twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, I think in the rotation then or possibly
Speaker 1: even spent that as a reliever, then moved to the
Speaker 1: rotation arm blew up. So last year was basically his
Speaker 1: first four years a starting pitcher. He was obviously great,
Speaker 1: but This feels like a lot of money to commit
Speaker 1: to someone who you know may not be the ace
Speaker 1: that they think he is. I'm surprised. I guess that
Speaker 1: we take last year as the new norm with him.
Speaker 1: I guess with pictures, because we can see so much
Speaker 1: data about their pitch style, it becomes easier to think, well,
Speaker 1: that's just who he is now.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think that's spot on. The question around
Speaker 3: pitchers these days is almost always going to be about
Speaker 3: about their injuries, you know, and it seems to be
Speaker 3: a flip of a coin, roll of a dice. However,
Speaker 3: if you look at what they're actually doing when they
Speaker 3: are healthy, that's what you're investing in. And he's also
Speaker 3: probably a bit of a bit of a benefit here
Speaker 3: of the really buoyant market for starters that we've seen
Speaker 3: this offseason. In the average annual values but about about
Speaker 3: twenty seven twenty eight million, and that's you know, that's
Speaker 3: that's not far off where where we've seen a lot
Speaker 3: of pictures going this year, So I mean, you can't
Speaker 3: really argue it too far. Like he's we've always knowns
Speaker 3: me good at pitching. When he is pitching, will he
Speaker 3: stay on the field of course, with every picture, that's
Speaker 3: the flip of a coin. But you know, for the
Speaker 3: picture you're buying, if he is pitching, yeah, it's got on,
Speaker 3: no problem. You can't argue that with the results in
Speaker 3: what he's done, and certainly in a poor, poor situation
Speaker 3: in Chicago as well, he shone. So yeah, I think
Speaker 3: it's fine. It's fine. And plus, you know what the
Speaker 3: economy is very volatile, is what is twenty eight million
Speaker 3: going to be worth in a couple of years. You
Speaker 3: know that that could be peanuts and the very very
Speaker 3: good chance of that being just peanuts very very shortly
Speaker 3: with the way the dollar is going at the moment.
Speaker 3: So who knows. Fine, it's fine. Yeah, not a bad deal.
Speaker 1: And if it's not so happy with that one, then
Speaker 1: Resols fans must have been delighted with the news this
Speaker 1: afternoon that they've taken a page out of the alex
Speaker 1: and Popolos manual and signed up Christie Campbell, who's got
Speaker 1: a grand sum of about twenty Major League play appearances
Speaker 1: to his name, to an eight year, sixty million dollar
Speaker 1: extension that can escalate ten years and one hundred million dollars. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's literally just joined the majors, has got a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks worth of play appearances under his belt, was
Speaker 1: the Minor league Player of the Year last year. Is
Speaker 1: why he regarded as one of the best prospects in
Speaker 1: baseball and as close to a sure thing I guess
Speaker 1: as you can get with a prospect which isn't super
Speaker 1: close to a sure thing. But this is, yeah, an
Speaker 1: interesting deal. Obviously, does rd SOX believe in him, are
Speaker 1: going to invest in him now? But also for Campbell's sake,
Speaker 1: this is an awful lot less money than he could
Speaker 1: be getting on the open market, but he obviously wants
Speaker 1: to make sure he cashes in on these next few
Speaker 1: years when the otherwise wouldn't be earning much. I mean,
Speaker 1: who wins this, Darius to both sides win? Or is
Speaker 1: this one where Campbell probably should have bet on himself
Speaker 1: and tried to to hold out and hit free agency
Speaker 1: at a young agent and cash in.
Speaker 2: Then Yeah, it's one of those where his profile people
Speaker 2: are saying he should better himself. But when you have
Speaker 2: this little experience and somebody offers you this much money,
Speaker 2: you know his family is never gonna have to worry
Speaker 2: about money ever again. Like that, that's the tempting thing
Speaker 2: to take. And you know, our our batflips chats were
Speaker 2: alive this afternoon with all the mentions of the guys.
Speaker 2: It didn't work out for the Evan Whit's the Scott
Speaker 2: Kinger is John Singleton, Remember John Singleton. You know he
Speaker 2: did give it for the Astros, but they give him
Speaker 2: money and he never even made the mass for they
Speaker 2: didn't get this much money. But you know, we've we've
Speaker 2: seen a lot of these deals get signed early on
Speaker 2: and they haven't really panned out into anything at all.
Speaker 2: It's you know, not even like those players were okay,
Speaker 2: you know, Evan White didn't ever do anything for the Mariners.
Speaker 2: Scott Kingery is below replacement level player, I believe. So yeah,
Speaker 2: there is always risk with that when you haven't seen it.
Speaker 2: Rise has also been incredibly fast. You know, people thought
Speaker 2: he was going to be a utility guy basically, you know,
Speaker 2: a year and a half ago, and then he was
Speaker 2: suddenly Minor league player of the Year. So there's always
Speaker 2: some risk that you know, that some of that goes away,
Speaker 2: that it was just a hot minor league season and
Speaker 2: in the majors he gets a bit more exposed. So
Speaker 2: I think I think it's a good deal for both sides.
Speaker 2: It seems fair to me. There is a great chance
Speaker 2: that yeah, in three or four years, we're going, Wow,
Speaker 2: Christian Camill should not have done this because he's going
Speaker 2: to could be making so much more money. But also
Speaker 2: he's really really young, and he's going to get an
Speaker 2: opportunity to go to free agency. Still they haven't signed
Speaker 2: out his whole career, so I think it's it's reasonable.
Speaker 2: I think it's a good deal for both sides, and well, well, no,
Speaker 2: in five or six years, whether or not it's a
Speaker 2: bargain one way or another.
Speaker 1: We will. And there was another deal done for a young,
Speaker 1: exciting hitter wie with slightly more major league experience in
Speaker 1: Jackson Merrill with the San Diego Padres, who obviously was
Speaker 1: phenomenal last year as a rookie. I think when they're
Speaker 1: up in Rookie of the Year voting has immediately established
Speaker 1: himself as one of the Padres' best players, and they've
Speaker 1: just signed him up to a nine year extension worth
Speaker 1: I think one hundred and thirty five million base value
Speaker 1: could go up as high as two hundred and five
Speaker 1: million with a tenth year option, and with various performance
Speaker 1: escalators that could yet increase that base number. Exciting news
Speaker 1: that the Padres spent money. They hadn't been doing that
Speaker 1: for a long time. Break to see them lock up
Speaker 1: an exciting young player in amidst all the cornage that's
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes with ownership, and this again,
Speaker 1: seems like a very good deal to me, at least
Speaker 1: for the Padres. We've seen him be very, very successful
Speaker 1: at a major league level. He is versatile, he's a
Speaker 1: great hitter, he's got speed. To lock someone like that
Speaker 1: up for nine years at a relatively good discount seems
Speaker 1: like a good deal to me.
Speaker 3: Rob a good deal, Yeah, absolutely, if you can bloody
Speaker 3: work out what the hell the deal's all about. This
Speaker 3: has got to be one of the most complicated deals
Speaker 3: I've ever seen. It's got options like player options that
Speaker 3: no sorry, team options that turn into player options. If
Speaker 3: he jumps up and down three times on a leg
Speaker 3: whilst waving his bat over his head and shout torpedo,
Speaker 3: it's weird, weird contract. This seems to be becoming a
Speaker 3: bit of a new norm. But either way, I mean,
Speaker 3: this guy was phenomenal last year, Like he is one
Speaker 3: of the one of the one of the best in
Speaker 3: the game at the moment, I reckon and and he's
Speaker 3: barely started with Christian Campbell, you're saying, oh, is he
Speaker 3: going to do it? Like, I think Meryl's done enough
Speaker 3: that you can say, ah, yeah, this guy does have it.
Speaker 3: He really can do it. It's nice to see the
Speaker 3: Padres keep on with the spending man. They've got a
Speaker 3: little bit more stability in their ownership situation. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a great deal. It's a great deal.
Speaker 1: It's fantastic.
Speaker 3: You know. Again, people are gonna start saying, oh, is
Speaker 3: this is this a good deal for him? You know,
Speaker 3: it's just considered like it's a minimum of one hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty five million dollars. I just think sometimes we
Speaker 3: need to sit back and think, like that is just
Speaker 3: a ludicrous sum of money. Just what would you, you know,
Speaker 3: what would you do with one hundred and thirty five
Speaker 3: million dollars. So so, yeah, young guy takes generational like
Speaker 3: multi generational wealth for it's a great deal for the Padres.
Speaker 3: It's a great deal for Jackson Merrill like and his
Speaker 3: family and his family's family, Like, long after he's dead,
Speaker 3: this is still gonna be fantastic for his family. So
Speaker 3: when you look at like that, yeah, maybe maybe there
Speaker 3: could be a little bit more at the back end.
Speaker 3: If this guy does another good season, that he could
Speaker 3: have asked.
Speaker 1: For double, like very very possible.
Speaker 3: He's that kind of player that you could say the
Speaker 3: four five hundred millions, but right now, no more risk
Speaker 3: to his life. That's it. Fantastic, great take that cash.
Speaker 3: Same for the Padres. They've got a They've got a
Speaker 3: fantastic player locked up for his for his best years,
Speaker 3: and so yeah, well done, everybody. Everyone's a winner here.
Speaker 1: I guess feasibly, both he and Campbell are young enough
Speaker 1: that even when these contracts end, they will still be
Speaker 1: able to cash in again, potentially with a nine figure
Speaker 1: contract depending on how productive they've been. So it's not
Speaker 1: as if this is now their career earnings sewn up,
Speaker 1: so that that is a positive. One thing that came
Speaker 1: to mind for me, which I thought was interesting. I
Speaker 1: don't knows any present for this in baseball, but I
Speaker 1: know in the NFL, when players sign long term contract,
Speaker 1: especially when they do so at an early age, you
Speaker 1: often get to a point where two three is into it.
Speaker 1: They then feel underpaid versus their market value obviously, especially
Speaker 1: if salaries keep climbing and players then kind of hold
Speaker 1: out and decide, I am actually not going to turn
Speaker 1: up this year and play for you in the spring
Speaker 1: training equivalent. You know, in pre season. I want my
Speaker 1: contract rework. So why I'm earn more money because I
Speaker 1: think I deserve that. And even though you know they're
Speaker 1: contracted to play on at what they're supposed to play
Speaker 1: on at, it often does work. You know, there's no
Speaker 1: reason why teams couldn't just, so to speak, force them
Speaker 1: to play on it. But you know they'll ask for
Speaker 1: a trade request, They'll do everything they can to kick
Speaker 1: and scream and try and get more money. There isn't
Speaker 1: reasoning that happens in baseball. I'm thinking, you know, like
Speaker 1: a Ronald of Kuno who clearly has paid pennies on
Speaker 1: the dollar, There'll be no precedent for him turn around
Speaker 1: to the brads and go, I know I signed that deal,
Speaker 1: but actually I want more money now, beyond the Braves
Speaker 1: wanting to keep him happy, beyond the lifetime of that deal.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong inside that? Darius? No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2: I can't recall a specific occasion while I've been following
Speaker 2: the game that the player that comes to mind for
Speaker 2: me where this was sort of the case was Salvador Perez,
Speaker 2: but the Royals just gave him more money. I don't
Speaker 2: think he like said I'm not going to play. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's Salvi. I don't think you could give him off
Speaker 2: the field if you tried. I think they were just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this isn't really fair. You're worth so much more on
Speaker 2: this to us, and we're going to give you more money,
Speaker 2: which I don't know if that says more about the
Speaker 2: Royals than baseball. I don't know if the fact the
Speaker 2: players don't hold out is just to do with, you know,
Speaker 2: the general this is how you play the game, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of clubhouse sentiments that these players have been brought
Speaker 2: up in. I don't know enough about the legality of
Speaker 2: what would happen if they said I'm not going to
Speaker 2: sit out, you know, with the teams be able to
Speaker 2: do anything about that. Presumably, if Christian Campbell Law Jackson
Speaker 2: Merrill is what the teams want them to be, they
Speaker 2: wouldn't actually do anything to the players anyway. If they
Speaker 2: said they wanted to sit out by presumably they would
Speaker 2: have some reco legally in terms of the fact that
Speaker 2: the players have agreed to a contract and if they
Speaker 2: are fitting healthy, they should be allowed to you know,
Speaker 2: so you're in the lineup and if you don't play,
Speaker 2: then we will penalize you. Now, that might not really
Speaker 2: work if the player is saying I want more money,
Speaker 2: you know, certainly going to escalate the situation, but considerably.
Speaker 2: I suppose the team could avoid the contract in that
Speaker 2: case and then they get no money. At that point,
Speaker 2: then the Dodgers signed them and everybody's upset. So so, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're right, I don't I don't know any case. Somebody
Speaker 2: is probably going to write in or a tweet us
Speaker 2: or something and say, oh, this happened in the eighties
Speaker 2: with so and so, But I don't know of any
Speaker 2: occasions in which it has happened. Whereas it does happen
Speaker 2: in the NFL all the time, doesn't it.
Speaker 3: I would imagine this this happens behind closed doors, and
Speaker 3: there's there's been a couple of I mean, Garrett Cruche
Speaker 3: last year he said he wasn't going to play in
Speaker 3: the postseason if he didn't get his extension, so that that,
Speaker 3: you know, if he was traded so that that was
Speaker 3: the beginnings of this. I mean, you look back to
Speaker 3: you know, ever Longoria's extensions, at points where he's had
Speaker 3: a long time left on his deal. You know, even
Speaker 3: Mike Trout had had an extension on top of an extension.
Speaker 3: We don't know what's being said behind closed doors very well,
Speaker 3: could be these sorts of chats happening, So I'd imagine that.
Speaker 3: I imagine they happened on some level. We just haven't
Speaker 3: got to the point whereby it's you know, screaming it
Speaker 3: into the media yet. But if Ronald McCune, you absolutely
Speaker 3: should once he's fixed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I might be misremembering, and Red Sox fan yell
Speaker 1: at me if I am, but I feel like watching
Speaker 1: a documentary recently about their fourteen, wasn't Nomar Garcia Para
Speaker 1: doing a little bit of that where like he wasn't
Speaker 1: not playing, but he was kind of sulking, and it
Speaker 1: was a bit of an insinuation that he was half
Speaker 1: passing it on the field because he wanted an extension
Speaker 1: and wanted to be told he was going to be
Speaker 1: the future shortstop of the Red Sox. Again, I might
Speaker 1: be misremembering that a little, but I feel like, you're right,
Speaker 1: there probably are ways in which this does manifest itself,
Speaker 1: just not in the version of I'm not going to
Speaker 1: play for you anymore. It's more behind closed doors or yeah, crumping.
Speaker 2: We had the Josh Hayder I'm not pitching botopoliny this
Speaker 2: thing as well. Yeah recently, which again, yeah, much more
Speaker 2: muted version, but we have had these under the surface.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very good. Well, let's crack on with too good,
Speaker 1: too bad. Then we're trying and get through it quickly.
Speaker 1: I know we've been going for a while already, so
Speaker 1: let's start with well, I don't know, would you want
Speaker 1: to start with good or bad? Robbie kick us off.
Speaker 3: Let's start with good today, shall we. I'm going to
Speaker 3: kick off with Mookie bets Is okay. I think there
Speaker 3: was there was a little bit of concern over the
Speaker 3: last few weeks that he's had some sort of mystery
Speaker 3: illness which has stripped an awful lot of weight off
Speaker 3: of him. Now, I I'm sure it was horrible for him,
Speaker 3: but you know, if he could have passed it around
Speaker 3: a little bit, I wouldn't have wouldn't have argued, but
Speaker 3: he's lost an awful lot of weight. But he has
Speaker 3: come back. He is hitting home runs, and he's already
Speaker 3: put a decent amount of weight back on. I think
Speaker 3: there was some genuine concern through through elements of the
Speaker 3: media a week or two ago, this this two week
Speaker 3: long wasting virus he seemed to have, but it does
Speaker 3: seem to have passed. He does seem to be on
Speaker 3: the then. So one of the good guys of baseball
Speaker 3: that I think people, you know, sort of universally like,
Speaker 3: despite him being a Dodger, you know, I think everyone
Speaker 3: wishes Mookie particular. Well, so we're all quite glad to
Speaker 3: see he is back and we get to watch one
Speaker 3: of the best of generation play the game. So good job,
Speaker 3: Mookie is better and he is on the mend and
Speaker 3: playing again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I will admit I was concerned when he said
Speaker 1: he lost as much weight as he did right before
Speaker 1: the season began. It's not ideal preparations for a guy who, yeah,
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily that young anymore anyway. But no, you're right,
Speaker 1: it's great. Mookie is so fun and I think if
Speaker 1: he played on a team that wasn't successful, the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: that didn't have showhir tan he which I guess is
Speaker 1: part of why they say successful. But you know, he
Speaker 1: would be like the face of the sport right a
Speaker 1: lot more than he is. And I think it's credit
Speaker 1: to him that he just runs out there and puts
Speaker 1: up six wins every year and we'll kind of just
Speaker 1: take it for granted. Darius, give us your good.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to go with Wilson Contrerass eating his
Speaker 2: bat tape, which was one of the silliest things I've
Speaker 2: ever seen in my life. And what made it even
Speaker 2: better was that he didn't really seem to understand why
Speaker 2: he'd done it. They asked him about it after the game,
Speaker 2: and he came out with some explanation that, like the
Speaker 2: pitch clock was counting down and he had to do
Speaker 2: something or he'd strike out, which he then struck out anyway,
Speaker 2: But that was the excuse he gave for just deciding
Speaker 2: to chew on his bat tape. So it seems to
Speaker 2: just been he panicked, he was running out of time
Speaker 2: and he was like, I'm going to eat this, this
Speaker 2: thing that's hanging off my bat. That was his explanation,
Speaker 2: one of them all bizarre. Just just google Contrarost's batape
Speaker 2: and the first thing you'll see will Be Wilson and Terrest.
Speaker 2: It's like a fruit roll up or something and just
Speaker 2: what rolls it up and sticks it in his mouth
Speaker 2: chews away and I think he keeps it there for
Speaker 2: a while as well.
Speaker 1: I didn't no idea the video.
Speaker 2: He doesn't know why he did it. It's absolutely bizarre,
Speaker 2: hilarious only in baseball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think well concerns me the most having watched
Speaker 1: a video is that doesn't look like the first time
Speaker 1: he's done that, Like that is a seasoned tape, Peter,
Speaker 1: based on his body language there, maybe this is just
Speaker 1: the first time we've actually noticed it. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: is a very very odd one. Ever had a urge
Speaker 1: sweet bat tape?
Speaker 3: Rob Well, I thought, yes, oddly sort of. Yes. I
Speaker 3: I've always imagined pine t would be really sweet, So
Speaker 3: I've never tried any. You know, I don't know if
Speaker 3: it's poisonous, but maybe maybe we should get hold of
Speaker 3: some because you know, if it's covered in pine top,
Speaker 3: maybe it's just got a kind of nice sort of
Speaker 3: sweet taste, you know, and it's it's probably quite spongy
Speaker 3: and chewy, so like a kind of sweet gum. So yeah,
Speaker 3: why no, I'm going to go.
Speaker 1: That's the future piece of content that we need to
Speaker 1: make sure that we get. I will finish off our
Speaker 1: first round of goods by talking about Dustin May, who
Speaker 1: made his return to the Mound last night Los Angeles Dodgers,
Speaker 1: which is great needs. I think it was his first
Speaker 1: time on the mount since twenty twenty three, maybe even
Speaker 1: before then. He yeah, has spent a long time out,
Speaker 1: obviously recovering from from me John surgery, and then had
Speaker 1: a life threatening issue at home. I'm forgetting the details
Speaker 1: of it now, but it was something great.
Speaker 2: One he was eating a salad, Yes, lettuce, some lettuce
Speaker 2: got like stuck in his throat, right, yeah, cut.
Speaker 1: His throat from the inside.
Speaker 2: I mean she like ruptured as the sophacus, and it
Speaker 2: nearly died from eating this this salad.
Speaker 3: Basically extraordinary sound is bad for you for years I've
Speaker 3: been saying this.
Speaker 1: Door getting my homework. Excuse, isn't it. Oh sorry, salad
Speaker 1: was a bit scratchy, so I almost died from a
Speaker 1: suffergle tear. Anyway, it's probably not really a joking matter,
Speaker 1: given the injury journey he's been on, and then to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, this will be safe. I'll just go
Speaker 1: out for dinner with my wife and have a salad. No, yeah,
Speaker 1: that you are truly curse at that point. Anyway, Fortunately
Speaker 1: he made a full recovery back on the mound and
Speaker 1: effectively looked like his old self, didn't he. You know,
Speaker 1: the the sinker was sinking, the slider was sliding. I
Speaker 1: think he got through five innings of pretty effective baseball Dodgers.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he got the win, but they
Speaker 1: certainly won the game. So yeah, he was electric obviously
Speaker 1: before he went down for Tommy John a few years ago. Now,
Speaker 1: great to see him back on the field, and even
Speaker 1: better if he can come back and be anything close
Speaker 1: to that that dominant self that he was back when
Speaker 1: he first came up into the Big Leaves. Plus one
Speaker 1: of the great heads of hair in the majors. I
Speaker 1: think we can all agree, loves of Ginge right, give
Speaker 1: us a bad rob.
Speaker 3: David Bedner. David Bednar was optioned like today or yesterday.
Speaker 3: He's very, very very quickly moved, certainly in my head
Speaker 3: from one of those phenomenal closing pictures. Who was, you know,
Speaker 3: right at the top of his game, and everybody like, oh,
Speaker 3: I wish we had a Bennar on our team, like
Speaker 3: he's the new phenom, the relieving phenom. He's he's fallen
Speaker 3: from grace so hard and so quick over the space
Speaker 3: of a season and a half, to the point he's
Speaker 3: just been optioned to Triple A. And that's kind of sad,
Speaker 3: you know, like this, this guy was great. Not only
Speaker 3: because he's on my fancy team, that's one of the
Speaker 3: sad reasons, but you know, you're like this, You want
Speaker 3: to see relievers do good and stay good because it's
Speaker 3: so so frantic anyway with the up and downs with
Speaker 3: them all. But this this seems extreme, and I yeah,
Speaker 3: I just just there's not a lot of rhyme or
Speaker 3: reason like his his pictures are still moving the way
Speaker 3: they used to be, hasn't lost any velo yet for
Speaker 3: some reason, he's just gone from a low two s
Speaker 3: e ra a too high fives and out of the
Speaker 3: blue and now he's in Triple A. And I think
Speaker 3: it's it's just sad to see from a from a
Speaker 3: guy who was who was exciting, genuinely exciting reliever is
Speaker 3: now you know, scrap heap and trying to recover his career.
Speaker 1: And it's that's real shame. You can never trust a
Speaker 1: relief picture, can you.
Speaker 2: Darius, No, It's true. There is no trusting trusting a
Speaker 2: relief picture. I mean, you know there's Mariana Rivera, I suppose,
Speaker 2: and that's about it.
Speaker 1: I've heard of him, you.
Speaker 2: Know, isn't Craig kimberl. Creig kimber would the best picture
Speaker 2: of a generation for quite a long time. But now
Speaker 2: anybody sees Creag Kimberland, they have to hide behind a
Speaker 2: pillow and stay there until he goes away. You know,
Speaker 2: two pillows, two pillows. So yeah, don't trust.
Speaker 1: Realise, give us your first bad.
Speaker 2: My first bad. Well, I'm going to tell Rob this
Speaker 2: isn't actually my first bad, but bad news troub. You
Speaker 2: can't eat pine tar. It really will will make you
Speaker 2: quite sick. However, apparently the Finish are into lots of
Speaker 2: tar flavored foods, so you can get that tar taste.
Speaker 2: If you want to go to Finland have that experience.
Speaker 2: Then there's there's the good news. But don't eat baseball
Speaker 2: pine tar. It will make you sick. Apparently, get the
Speaker 2: Mookie BET's Weight Boss experience. My actual bad shout out
Speaker 2: to Hanna Kaiser, friend of the pod who's just started
Speaker 2: a substack with Zach Kreiser the bandwagon. But she points
Speaker 2: out that we now have a situation where a white
Speaker 2: man is running every baseball operations apartment again except one.
Speaker 2: Dana Brown is the only non white person running department.
Speaker 2: So going from you know, Kim Ang being the first
Speaker 2: woman and we say, oh, you know, we get a
Speaker 2: bit more diversity. And then obviously in the context of
Speaker 2: the Trump administration and all there, let's get rid of
Speaker 2: DEI initiatives. This is just another sort of side piece
Speaker 2: in that. But yeah, it's going to be more difficult
Speaker 2: to get diversity in a lot of places, I think,
Speaker 2: and this is not anybody in particular's fault, but the
Speaker 2: town of points out it's not a great look that
Speaker 2: we have twenty nine white men running baseball ops departments.
Speaker 2: So hopefully some of that diversity can come back in
Speaker 2: the future, but yeah, just a bit of a sad
Speaker 2: state of affairs at the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pale, male, stale sport at the best
Speaker 1: of times, isn't it? Baseball? And this is definitely a
Speaker 1: step in the wrong direction. After it looked like we
Speaker 1: were making good progress in that department for a while,
Speaker 1: so hopefully things will address or people will address that soon.
Speaker 1: But good to have a bit of light shone on it.
Speaker 1: My bad is actually not really a bad, more of
Speaker 1: a sad. It's Lance Linn retiring from baseball, which he
Speaker 1: did in very lance linb style, under the radar without
Speaker 1: anyone really noticing. And I just think he's a bit
Speaker 1: of a last of a dying breed, or certainly you know,
Speaker 1: one of the last you know, a proper hoss of
Speaker 1: a pitcher who just chewed through innings and would give
Speaker 1: you reliability and consistency. Basically just threw like three versions
Speaker 1: of a fastball and said, like, try and hit it.
Speaker 1: And actually, at his best was really really good. He
Speaker 1: was one of the guys. I think he was probably
Speaker 1: worst impacted by the COVID shortened season because that came
Speaker 1: right on the heels of his best every year with Texas.
Speaker 1: He pitched great in that COVID year, but obviously he
Speaker 1: was only able to throw eighty four innings of a
Speaker 1: really good baseball and then was great again the year after.
Speaker 1: We probably missed out on a pretty dominant three year
Speaker 1: stretch from Lance Linn, which which yeah, is a shame
Speaker 1: and he obviously with the Cardinals before that, again had
Speaker 1: reputation for being a real innings eater and a machine
Speaker 1: at the last couple of years, obviously not quite so effective,
Speaker 1: but still going strong at a very high aging. Tell
Speaker 1: you decide, I'm sure you would have had offers to
Speaker 1: have a job somewhere or maybe work in the miners somewhere,
Speaker 1: but decided that he didn't, wasn't loving it anymore and
Speaker 1: was going to hang the cleats up. So yeah, hat
Speaker 1: tip to Lancelnn, who who will not be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, but will be a Hall of pretty good picture.
Speaker 1: And I remember some guys candidate in a few years time,
Speaker 1: but he was. He was a fun guy to watch
Speaker 1: when he was when he's on form, bring us back
Speaker 1: with a good rob ooh good.
Speaker 3: The White Sox. Let's have a look at the White Sox.
Speaker 3: So the White Sox last year took eleven games to
Speaker 3: get to two wins, and they're already at two wins
Speaker 3: now five games in. So I think we can we
Speaker 3: can fairly safely say that that that base is being
Speaker 3: pulled up a little. We know that the White Sox,
Speaker 3: as well as being horrific, were unlucky last year, and
Speaker 3: it seems that luck has at least started reverting to
Speaker 3: the mean a little bit. So having the worst team
Speaker 3: in baseball slightly less bad can only be a good
Speaker 3: thing for baseball. Don't get me wrong, these guys are
Speaker 3: still atrocious. However, you know, they sat on top of
Speaker 3: that league for a couple of days, you know, on
Speaker 3: you know, run scored, so the White Sox, possibly very early,
Speaker 3: possibly not being record setting, dreadful. That's a good thing,
Speaker 3: good thing for baseball, good thing for everyone. Well done
Speaker 3: the White Sox.
Speaker 1: Amen the.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I am going to take the raise bullpen in fact,
Speaker 2: and especially Mason Montgomery. The race ball pen went over
Speaker 2: a stretch over the I think after the first game
Speaker 2: season where they struck out forty five and issued no
Speaker 2: walks forty five to zero strike to walkway show very good.
Speaker 2: And Mason Montgomery is one of the raised relievers. I've
Speaker 2: had a mine in for a little while, one of
Speaker 2: my favorite reliever sleepers this offseason, and he's come out
Speaker 2: throwing a hundred from a wild arms slot. Just you know,
Speaker 2: the latest and the long line of oh I hate
Speaker 2: Rays have got a guy and now he's throwing high
Speaker 2: nighties out of the bullpen with filthy stuff. So you
Speaker 2: know when you say you haven't, the Rays do it
Speaker 2: every year. This is kind of how they do it
Speaker 2: every year. And yeah, pretty pretty fun run to see,
Speaker 2: so long mate it continue.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell you what.
Speaker 3: Whilst they have lost today they had the early game,
Speaker 3: they have not issued another gone another day. The bullpen
Speaker 3: has not issued a walk today, So there's another day
Speaker 3: we'll go and another one, two, three, four, five innings,
Speaker 3: four innings, sorry with without issuing a walk.
Speaker 1: So good stuff should have caveat in it earlier, shouldn't.
Speaker 1: I don't trust a relief picture unless they're wearing a
Speaker 1: raised jersey, in which case you probably can trust them,
Speaker 1: even if you've never heard of it.
Speaker 2: But they tried them as soon as they get don't
Speaker 2: fall in love with it. Replace them with someone you've
Speaker 2: never heard of.
Speaker 1: Right. My second good is a young man named Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 1: Probably not news to our listeners that Kyle Tucker is
Speaker 1: good at baseball, but he is continuing to be good
Speaker 1: at baseball in his new uniform with the Chicago Cubs
Speaker 1: this year, and I'm chotting him out, not just because
Speaker 1: he's off to a great start to this season. I
Speaker 1: think he's got the best swing decision metric if any
Speaker 1: hitter so far this season, which is a cool metric.
Speaker 1: He's also hit I think home runs in four straight games. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a monster, and it's great timing for him, not
Speaker 1: just because he wants to win games with the Cubs, obviously,
Speaker 1: because this is a walk year for him, and I
Speaker 1: think if he has a monster year at age twenty
Speaker 1: eight going into a winter as a free agent, he
Speaker 1: could be in nine four a pretty large extension. We're
Speaker 1: probably not talking one Soto or show here's how many
Speaker 1: money here, but he will potentially headline what's a probably
Speaker 1: strong class. So plenty of reasons for Carl Tucker to
Speaker 1: continue with his with his hot form and maybe earn himself,
Speaker 1: you know, something close to half a billion dollars in
Speaker 1: the off season. We will see how that plays out,
Speaker 1: but certainly not a bad way to go about your
Speaker 1: first week of the season if you're planning to make
Speaker 1: as much money as possible. Not so much great news
Speaker 1: for Cub fans. So you hope to extend him because
Speaker 1: he's very quickly getting out of their budget range. Bring
Speaker 1: us budget range. I mean, true, he's not out there brings.
Speaker 1: They're just cheap.
Speaker 3: They're a very very big market.
Speaker 1: Let's depress everyone to finish them. What's your final bad rob.
Speaker 3: I'm going with Jerks and Profile just got busted for
Speaker 3: taking shagging drugs, So he's Jerks and Profile has taken
Speaker 3: a fertility drug. He's been caught and given eighty days suspension.
Speaker 3: The fertility drug he took was called here we Go
Speaker 3: Coral Coryonic Gona dough Toughlin Coreonic Gone too Toughlin. I
Speaker 3: think that was in Lord of the Rings, and that
Speaker 3: is apparently it is something to do. It's a fertility drug,
Speaker 3: but it also it's used to suppress the use of
Speaker 3: other pds, all sorts of rumors about his Lincoln friendship
Speaker 3: with Fernando Tatis and who obviously had his own drug
Speaker 3: suspension last year, a couple of years ago. So it's
Speaker 3: it's it's a real shame. We we don't want to
Speaker 3: see a player who's who's finally come good and then
Speaker 3: have to start wondering, is that because he took shagging pills?
Speaker 3: Because you know, nobody really wants to hear about that.
Speaker 1: It's depressing, it's depressing, and obviously casts a bad light
Speaker 1: on his breakout so to speak, year last year, where
Speaker 1: I don't think he gets the benefit of the doubt anymore.
Speaker 1: He claims he was clean and was tested all the time.
Speaker 1: But when this happens to you, questions come up, and of.
Speaker 3: Course they always say that, they always say, you know,
Speaker 3: I didn't know it was you know. So so I've
Speaker 3: got I've got a little game for you. And so
Speaker 3: I've got I've got five five chemicals written down here.
Speaker 3: Some of them some of them are drugs that are
Speaker 3: on the MLB Banned Substance list, and some of them
Speaker 3: are aren't. So put yourselves in the in the shoes
Speaker 3: of a of a major league player and see if
Speaker 3: you would know if you should or should not be taking.
Speaker 1: Some of these.
Speaker 3: So I've tried to write these down phonetically. So first
Speaker 3: of all, amino benzoic asked Sid, what do we reckon?
Speaker 3: We reckon that is a band substance or it's something
Speaker 3: else that they are allowed to take band you think
Speaker 3: they can take? Okay, right, Well, Darius is correct in
Speaker 3: this time because amino benzoic acid is a key chemical
Speaker 3: used in personal lubricants. Go back to butt plugs again. Okay,
Speaker 3: so that's number one, So well done, Darius, You're you're
Speaker 3: you're winning on that one so far. Second, we've got
Speaker 3: hepta minyl heptaminyl legal band legal, you're saying legal, band,
Speaker 3: Darius is to to o here. Minor is a blood
Speaker 3: pressure treatment, which is a banned substance in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3: Number three, we've got gluterol dial dialide die heard die
Speaker 3: high dial hyde gluterol dialehyde.
Speaker 1: Let's go with that band.
Speaker 3: It is one word, yes, one word gluteral die yes.
Speaker 2: It sounds like it should be do with your glutes.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say band.
Speaker 3: As well, both saying band. Well, you know you can
Speaker 3: take it, but it's probably not good for you because
Speaker 3: it's actually a key part of embalming fluid. So you
Speaker 3: can take that if you really want to, although not
Speaker 3: not not advice. Number four we have Corby and Zorix clobors.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna say band doesn't sound like you do
Speaker 1: you much good?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna say band to Okay, right, Well, you're
Speaker 3: both right this time. Corbyn Zorix is a Mexican appetite
Speaker 3: suppressant but also has something to do with with you know,
Speaker 3: muscles and ship I don't know. And last of all,
Speaker 3: then I've got per a Flora nano nano eight per
Speaker 3: Flora nanoate band.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I think.
Speaker 3: This makes you a drawer overall, because is right and
Speaker 3: you can take it. Post Flora nannate is a is
Speaker 3: a key key ingredient in mister muscle. So where it
Speaker 3: doesn't give you muscles, it is in mister muscle the
Speaker 3: cleaning fluid.
Speaker 1: So there we go.
Speaker 3: You can take it.
Speaker 2: You mean it's just not on their band lists.
Speaker 3: The band list. Yeah, you mean you shouldn't take it.
Speaker 3: That should be wrong, but you're not going to get
Speaker 3: a suspension for it. Maybe you're just gonna vomit horribly.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: So that's what Mochi Betts had.
Speaker 1: That's it. He took mister muscle.
Speaker 3: He didn't read the label properly. Always read the label.
Speaker 3: Everyone always read the label.
Speaker 1: If I were a baseball player, I would simply never
Speaker 1: ingest anything and just die of starvation after two weeks. Yes,
Speaker 1: there we go where even well we I think, Darius,
Speaker 1: we need a bad from you.
Speaker 2: I'm bad. Somebody who has had a substance injected into
Speaker 2: their body is mad. Max Shs, a who appears to
Speaker 2: have arrived at this stage in his career where he
Speaker 2: literally cannot do anything without a part of his body,
Speaker 2: sending him to the injured list. It took one game
Speaker 2: and I think three innings somehow. He says his injured thumb,
Speaker 2: which is what he's had the course of and injection,
Speaker 2: is why he came out with Lat's Hornis. He says
Speaker 2: he's throwing the ball differently because of his thumb hurting,
Speaker 2: and so that's given him lats Hownis. But at this
Speaker 2: point it's a rich tapestry of injuries for Max. You know,
Speaker 2: one thing goes wrong and then it makes everything else break.
Speaker 2: And he's one of my very, very favorite pictures to watch.
Speaker 2: So it's just a bit sad that we didn't even
Speaker 2: make it, like five starts into the season of a
Speaker 2: bit of vinter shares before he went on the oil.
Speaker 2: I hope you can come back and you know, make
Speaker 2: twenty starts or something for the Jays and look a
Speaker 2: bit like old Max. But it does kind of feel
Speaker 2: like this is just the way things are now.
Speaker 3: As a man who's recently converted to his forties, I
Speaker 3: understand and sympathize with him. Everything hurts every morning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Max Shows was properly breaken at this point, which
Speaker 1: is sad, but it feels like this might be the end.
Speaker 1: Well that's depressing. My final bad is also depressing. But
Speaker 1: what changed there is the Colorado Rockies. Obviously hilariously, they
Speaker 1: have actually got scoreless starts from all of their aging
Speaker 1: rubbish members their rotation to start this year, which is
Speaker 1: great since of Teller had like the weirdest that line
Speaker 1: ever against the Rays last week. Her mam Marke has
Speaker 1: actually looked pretty good on his return from injury, and
Speaker 1: I mean Kyle Friedland who cares. The reason that they're bad, though,
Speaker 1: is because despite all of that, this team is rubbish.
Speaker 1: I think they've won one game. They're not good even
Speaker 1: when they starts throw performing. So it's driving me nuts
Speaker 1: that they have Zach Veen and Chase Dolander sat down
Speaker 1: in Triple A learning absolutely nothing when they could at
Speaker 1: least be getting some rept in at the major league
Speaker 1: level and trying to be you know, future star players
Speaker 1: on this team. You know, we know now that Major
Speaker 1: Baseball taking steps against service time manipulation. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's even that is the reason. I don't they just
Speaker 1: genuinely think that these players need time playing on some
Speaker 1: stupid ballpark that is affecting me the surface of Mars
Speaker 1: against players that aren't going to help them improve, who've
Speaker 1: just on the off chance that some guy called Nick
Speaker 1: Martini now becomes a star outfielder for the Rockies. It
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense to me. So yeah, if we're
Speaker 1: gonna be bad, I want to stas to be entertaining
Speaker 1: and bad and that for me, me and seeing some
Speaker 1: of these young players given a.
Speaker 2: Go, Nick Martini is definitely one of those. How is
Speaker 2: he still around?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Players?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Like I always had that moment where I was like,
Speaker 2: what why is Nick Martini starting in right field for
Speaker 2: the Rockies every day?
Speaker 1: Like what? That's probably this podcast probably the main reason
Speaker 1: people realize Nick Martini's on the Rockies, because otherwise, yeah,
Speaker 1: why would you ever know that? Why would you need
Speaker 1: to know that? But he is, and he's starting every day,
Speaker 1: and he's banging clean up some days. Colorado, Colorado. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I just about does it for our podcast today.
Speaker 1: That was great fun having a lot of subjects. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys for the time. I will throw it to
Speaker 1: either of view to let us know if you're writing anything,
Speaker 1: imagine you probably are.
Speaker 2: I'm not writing a thing, but lots of our writers
Speaker 2: are writing things. So just you know, go to bat
Speaker 2: flip Centers dot com. There's stuff going out all the time.
Speaker 2: Gav's doing a great job and we've got a really
Speaker 2: big team of writers now. So we did lots of
Speaker 2: season previews. Gav has written about how the Twins have
Speaker 2: defayed their best season pitcher this season, who is Randy Dobnak.
Speaker 2: That's just, you know, the kind of content you get
Speaker 2: out of Gav, Randy Dobnak focused content, really plumbing the
Speaker 2: depths of the Twins roster for all the quality stuff.
Speaker 2: But yeah, lots of good things over on the website,
Speaker 2: so do go and check it out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, seconded, they've just finished obviously the team previous for
Speaker 1: the year, but there's still some really great stuff going
Speaker 1: up there every day. There's a fin artical about Alex
Speaker 1: Williamson on projections and the Business of Projecting, which is
Speaker 1: well worth a read, giving Russell run for his money
Speaker 1: on the on the analytics side, to do check that out, obviously,
Speaker 1: follow us on on all the platforms, give us a
Speaker 1: subscribe on YouTube, where we're trying to grow, and that's
Speaker 1: why we've got these nice new cameras that I spent
Speaker 1: half of the podcast trying to fix so you couldn't
Speaker 1: hear me. But anyway, do give us a follow and
Speaker 1: subscribe and I like, and we will chat with you
Speaker 1: in due course. Thanks so much for listening. Goodbye,