Latest / The 3-0 Take / Wander Franco Charged

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Wander Franco Charged · The 3-0 Take

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take where we talk
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all things Major League Baseball.
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Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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It all starts right now. Welcome back to the Three O Take
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presented by Sea Kick. This is episode 449.
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I'll be your host, Kyle Corwin. And I'm here with my Co host
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Nate Reyes all night. Welcome to the show everyone.
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Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
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Before you do anything, please just consider hanging out with
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us on Monday. Another reminder for our Home
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Run Derby hangout session. Bring your bring your fun stuff,
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bring your attitude, bring your excitement, bring your drinks,
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bring your ideas, bring your predictions.
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subscribe to all the things, get all your notice on and that's
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it. That's all I got.
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Hi, how are we welcome to the show?
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Yeah, I'm going to double down on that.
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Again, reminder, Monday, July 15th at 8:00 PM Eastern.
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I need to change that. We're probably going to be on
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to be doing some giveaways throughout the Home Run Derby.
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We're just going to be hanging out watching some ball, watching
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We'll be live on all of those. So come hang out, make plans,
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hang out with us this coming Monday, July 15th, 8:00 PM or a
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little before. And Twitter, like being it.
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It like X being called Twitter is ever going to die off.
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No. Twitter's just.
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Twitter for life I. Think it's just that way.
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Twitter for life. Sorry, Elon.
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Yeah, depends on how how loyal of a listener, how loyal of a
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follower you are when you how early you hop on with us.
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Like if you show up at 8, we love you, we appreciate you.
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Well, we'll be glad to have you. But just going to say, the ones
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who show up maybe a little early, a special place in a
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heart for you guys. So make plans to come hang out
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with us Monday, July 15th. Nate, I didn't want to have to
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talk about this again. Just give you the nature of it,
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you know, like this. This stuff is never fun to talk
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about. It is not.
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The Wander Franco stuff. What a like truly from the
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clouds. Like I, I know that he he's been
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away from the game for some time now, I think, I think I read
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today. Has it been like, it's it's been
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almost a year, which is weird. Like that.
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That was mind blowing in and of itself.
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But then you find out like, OK, why is Wander's Wander Franco's
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name resurfacing? And then you read the report.
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You read about like what's going on?
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Like, Oh my goodness, Wanda Franco formally charged keyword
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formally charged with sexual abuse.
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And then today this, that was a day or two ago.
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And then today we get the, the right hook of news in that he
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was also caught up in human trafficking, which like I just,
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there's so much to unpack here. There's so much to unpack.
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And, and I feel like a good, a good bit of this is going to be
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just an echo of what we've talked about the last time that
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we were discussing the whole Wander Franco legal situation.
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Because we only really have this what's been what's been
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uncovered the last couple days to really to go off of.
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But honestly, a lot of this, a lot of the sentiment and I won't
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speak for you, but at least for me, a lot of it remains the
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same. You know, one of the one of the
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the biggest points that was brought up when this news
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initially broke a year, however long ago back was that like, you
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know, you got this young talented kid, so much promise,
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so much potential. And yeah, potential kept going,
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kept getting thrown around. But it's like he's he's already
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showing you right here and now that like, he's he's got the
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skill set, like he's he's showing you right now.
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But people are like, you know, like, why would you throw that
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away? And we talk about this all the
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time, whether it's, you know, sexual abuse issues, whether
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it's domestic abuse, whether it's these like drug addictions,
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whatever it may be, you have to you have to be able to separate
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the two and recognize that a guy like Wander Franco, he like
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mentally was probably not all that concerned with baseball.
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Like, yeah, was he good at it? Yes.
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Is he still presumably very good at it?
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Yes. Like was there a career to be
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had there? Yes.
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Did he get paid by the Rays? Which is shocking because the
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Rays don't pay anybody. Did he get paid by the Rays?
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Yes. All of those things can be true.
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But you, you listened. You listen to anybody that gets
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caught up in, in a scandal or gets caught up in in something
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that they, if you really asked them, would you want to get
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caught up in something like this and be exposed and have your
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life ruined? They probably say no, but if you
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talk to people like that and you listen to people, they it, it's
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just you get wrapped up, you get too far gone and at that point
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there's really nothing you can do about it.
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So for people sitting there saying, well, he threw all this
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stuff away, it's like I he probably wasn't thinking about
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that. That's probably not.
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He probably wasn't going well, I could go, but I could go the
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baseball route. I could go the millions of
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dollars route or I could I could get caught up in this wildly
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illegal activity. I don't think that's the choice
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that was made. I think it was just one
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decision, one very poor decision after another snowballed on
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itself. And then he looks back and go,
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whoa, my whole career is down the chute now.
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That's that's probably what happened.
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Yeah. Yeah, I think.
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It's just a lot more to what like all the initial stuff that
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came out, you know, like the, I don't know, I just feel so gross
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to like you can get into. But like the whole like 14 or 15
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year old that he had claimed that was like a girlfriend.
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And then like there's videos and pictures of them like hanging
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out and and communicating. And then and then like I think
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the leave of absence happens where it's technically like the
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administrative leave by MLB. And then like, there's reports
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of multiple girls being in this, in this situation.
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And like, the unfortunate side of things is that, like you, our
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judicial system here is innocent until proven guilty.
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And you, you kind of have to be like, all right, Well, like, you
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know, these allegations get thrown around a lot.
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And especially this isn't our first time seeing this with
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athletes, especially after a big payday.
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And so like, it's difficult to not overreact, to not come to an
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assumption without evidence being, you know, brought to you
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first, especially just with how society has gone and in certain
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ways. And like, you see certain names
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that, you know, kind of like fell victim to cancel culture
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that ended up not being, you know, guilty of this stuff.
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And then you got names that are guilty.
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And it's just like, it's so difficult of a, of a situation
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to talk about. It's so difficult to like wrap
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your mind around. And then with this like the
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human trafficking thing is like it makes me sick to my stomach
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that that's also a part of this conversation.
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And I think I saw that like he's facing 20 years or something
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like that, which I don't know, make it 200 years for all I
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care. Like I.
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Don't Yeah, that I I saw the 20, the the 20 years thing.
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And I'm like, he's, he's what, 2425?
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So it's like. What are we doing with that, you
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know? Yeah, you come out at 45, you
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still got a second chance of life.
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Like I, I think I'm all done. I think we should all be, you
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know, all done with that. And I didn't read the I didn't,
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I didn't why? I don't even know if the details
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on on this specific matter have even been released.
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But like, sadly, I don't want to assume and I really don't even
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want to speculate. But like, like, do we put two
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and two together and say, given the nature of the, the one side
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of this coin with his underage exploitation, do we also like,
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do we, do we make the connection that the human trafficking
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involves minors as well? Like I'm, I, I don't, again, I
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don't want to speculate. I don't know the answer to that
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question, but I'm just, I, I'm saying like, if that is the
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case, that's, I mean, it's, it's terrible either way.
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And again, I need to reiterate, I'm not, I'm, I'm not like
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saying this is what's going on. I'm not even really trying to
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speculate because that's not beneficial either.
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But like this is more me just thinking out loud.
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Like Wanda Franco gets caught up in underage allegations, gets
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charged, formally charged. Oh, we come out and find that he
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got caught up in human trafficking.
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Well, like what age are we talking about with that?
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Like that's, that's devastating. Yeah, all of it is.
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And you mentioned, you mentioned the administrative leave.
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I don't even know if we've mentioned, but I think it came
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out today that he was placed on restricted leave.
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And we do have, I believe AJ in the chat asked, does that mean
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the Rays are not paying him? I believe that's the case.
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I believe I didn't. Know that.
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I, I think moving forward, I, I may, I could be wrong there, but
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I think in, in kind of scouring the, the articles that was
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working through, I think that is the conclusion I came to.
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Jeff Passan actually tweeted though he said the move of
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Wander Franco to the restricted list is not a disciplinary
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action or reflection of the sexual abuse, sexual
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exploitation against a minor or human trafficking charges
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themselves. Any MLB discipline would come
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after the court case is done. And this court, I mean, this is
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all being tried in the Dr. Yeah, which I've, which I've heard
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their system moves like rather slowly, like we, we, we hear
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about, you know, the United States government judicial
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system moving at a snail's pace. But from what I've seen, what
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I've read, it's no better down there.
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So it could be a, it could be a while before all of this stuff,
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all this dust settles. I think that that's like, I, I
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don't know if there's like exceptions, like I, I don't know
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the rules behind this stuff. Like I, for me, this, I, I don't
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know, I, I don't know how these contracts work or like how
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they're voided or like whatever. But for me it's just like I,
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there's, there's no, it's a no brainer.
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Like the Rays shouldn't have to be on the hook for this.
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This isn't, this isn't like some injury that he's retiring from,
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you know what I'm saying? Like he broke the law and he's
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from, from all we're seeing, not a very good human being.
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So like, I, I can't see why the Rays would still have to be on
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the hook. And I, I, I hope for their sake
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and just for like baseball sake, that that money isn't coming out
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the door at all. And I actually, because I was
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curious about it, I took a screenshot of, of what the
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contract is left. I mean it goes through 20 332033
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is a club option and this was all backloaded like this year
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was only supposed to be 2.4 million, supposed to end with
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25,000,000 a year all overall. Like I it's just a weird
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unfortunate thing for the raise that like like you said, they
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don't really spend money. We're not used to seeing big
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contracts and and long term contracts, but they finally felt
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like they had like a franchise player.
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And that's the sad part too, man, Like I like I I get sports
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in general or pretty much anything in society these days
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is like a meme, a bowl and and humor can be can be made out of
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it and and people you know, make light of situations a little too
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much. But like this, to your point,
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this genuinely sucks for the race.
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Like take the take the just general grossness of the
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situation. Just look at it through a
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baseball lens like this. This absolutely sucks for the
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race. We, we've already reiterated
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they don't spend money. We know this.
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They finally identify a guy. This is who we want.
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This is who we want to set aside X amount of dollars for for the
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next however many years. And this is who we want to move
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forward with as the face of our franchise.
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At the end of the day though, whether it's sexual exploitation
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of a minor, whether it's human trafficking, if you get caught
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up in a crime that serious, the team that employs you should be
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unequivocally absolved of any contractual obligations to you,
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point blank, period. I don't know.
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Again, we don't we, we've, we've posed this question before.
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I don't know what that clause or clauses may look like when it
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comes to MLB, Major League Baseball, MLBPAIII.
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Don't know what the the fine print of that is, but if there
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is any situation where that's not the case, something needs to
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change. That's what I'm saying like Rob
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Manfred needs to just like make an exception, just the
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Commissioner like exemption of the rule.
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If there is a rule there, if there is no loophole, like you
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need to fix this. But going back to like the
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baseball side of things, like how many decisions I what was
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the ripple effect here? How much of that money could
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have stayed to hold on the glass?
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Now going back to a prior move, like could this have made them
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wanted like hold on to Willy Adamus?
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Like there's like a lot of parts to this that that isn't just
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about Franco not getting the money, it's or, or them having
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to be stuck with money or like them making a decision.
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It's it's roster configuration over the last few years.
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It's clearing room for this guy. It's finally committing
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financially to one guy and kind of passing on others.
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So like, it sucks because it's it's not just, oh, we're out of
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superstar. It's like, well, no, we made
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other decisions because of this guy and we decided to go a
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different direction because of this guy.
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I really, I, I genuinely do feel bad for the race.
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Like they, this is a really tough break overall and I don't
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think there was any. I mean, this isn't a new
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sentiment. Like I'm not saying anything
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new. We all felt this last year, I
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think when we heard this news last year, it's not like we
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expected him to come back. It's not like we expected for
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him to slot back into the two hole at shortstop for the raise
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for the next 810 years, whatever it is that on on that contract.
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But it's like it's just really kind of unfair, you know, like
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there there is no, you don't get a draft pick, you don't get that
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money back that you already paid.
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You don't get those players back that you passed on like it's
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you're just, you're just out. You just got to take the hell,
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take it on the chin. And look, I was talking about
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things through the baseball ends does not in no way diminishes
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the severity of like what's taking place off the field.
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Like we're not, we're not saying that you and I don't.
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Know we don't know enough to talk about that stuff.
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We don't know enough to talk about that.
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And also like that's like, I hate to say it, but that's more
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like TMZS Lane. Like we're we're baseball
17:36
podcasts. We've we've addressed as much as
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we know about what's going on off the field as we can, like as
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much as we responsibly can. So we're as a result going to
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fall back on or fall back to talking about it through the
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baseball ends. But kind of to put a ball on
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this. Your your point about it just
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sucking for the Rays. Like if you really think about
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it, them spending 300 + 1,000,000 dollars on Wander
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Franco, the raise spending 300 + 1,000,000 dollars on Wander
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Franco is may as well be 900 million for any other team
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spending on other players because they just don't spend.
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So for them to commit that much money to a guy like this, they
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may as well be spending 900 million if like if you're
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another team. You and I, this is what we're
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this is what we're pro. This is what we're pro for like
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we're we're for this for organizations that have money to
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spend money and like invest in their own in their own roster,
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invest in their own team and somehow some way and it just it
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like it sucks because will the Rays do this again?
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Will they are they are they more hesitant now to take that next
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step? Like, I don't know.
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It's just I hope this is just like a A1 off bad luck.
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Never have to say this guy's name again.
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Let's move forward. Tampa Bay Rays organization that
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is willing to commit to their players or or commit to a
19:05
winning product and and build a team that's worth watching.
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Agreed. All right, let's switch gears
19:18
here. Let's talk about the latest
19:21
additions to the Home Run Derby. As it stands right now, I
19:25
believe we have 7 of the 8 participants on board.
19:31
We've got, I've got the ones that we have yet to talk about,
19:35
but prior to that, we've got Gunner Henderson, P Alonso.
19:43
And wasn't there one more? Oh, Alec Bohm, Alec Bohm.
19:49
That those were the three we talked about or that we've
19:51
talked about to this point. Since then, since last episode,
19:56
the names that have joined Bobby Witt Junior, Marcelo Zuna.
20:02
Jose Ramirez and today, Adolis Garcia.
20:10
How do we feel? How do we feel about the field
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thus far? I don't love it.
20:15
I don't love it either. Specifically, I wanted to get
20:18
your take on how we feel about Marcelo Ozuna being in the Home
20:22
Run Derby and whether or not you think that that's a sign of
20:25
desperation for Major League Baseball to go in and
20:28
specifically handpick a guy like Marcelo Ozuna, given the nature
20:32
of just, you know, the track record that that Major League
20:37
Baseball has had with dealing with domestic abuse, so on and
20:41
so forth. Yeah, I've seen a lot of a lot
20:44
of voices on that on Twitter. It's so I don't even know what
20:52
the right thing to say is. Like, I can one argue that a
21:01
person serves their time and was reprimanded and is now free to
21:09
do what they want to do. Can you also argue that Like,
21:20
it's, it's weird to put him on like a national individual
21:26
stage? You know what I mean?
21:30
Like, it's not like we're watching him perform in a World
21:34
Series where it's about the Atlanta Braves.
21:37
Like we're, we're going to be watching him perform for him for
21:42
entertainment purposes. It feels a little achy.
21:49
There's also a lot of people talking about like, you know,
21:53
we're, we're blackballing Zuna and, and for some reason, you
21:58
know, Trevor Bauer can't even get back into the league.
22:00
I don't know, I, I'm not here to compare.
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I, I don't, I think all these cases are, are individual and
22:07
they're different and it's hard to compare them.
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I don't feel great about the invitation.
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Like the invitation has to come for someone to accept.
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So I don't feel great about that invitation going out personally.
22:24
Me like my opinion. I, I just, I don't think there
22:30
should be an opportunity for you to win an event.
22:33
It's, it's, it's got like a, like a smudge on it for me.
22:37
I don't. Because like, either way, you
22:40
have to get the the check of the stamp of approval for Major
22:43
League Baseball, even if even if Major League Baseball's like
22:46
we're not touching Marcelo Zuna with A10 foot pole for the Home
22:49
Run Derby, much less anything else marketing, whatever you
22:53
want to call it. They don't tweet.
22:55
They barely tweet about him. I think the only reason they've
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they've any posts have gone out about him this year is just
22:59
because he was like hitting the crap out of the ball for the
23:02
first half of the season. Yeah, but even if that was the
23:07
case and Ozuna was like, he, he, he and his can't reach out to
23:11
Major League Baseball. Like, hey, like we'd really love
23:12
to do the Home Run Derby. They still have to approve that.
23:16
Like he can't just be like, hey, I want to do it.
23:18
So I'm in. Like whether it was him that
23:21
prompted this invitation or they reached out, it can't it, it, it
23:28
starts and ends with Major League Baseball.
23:29
That's that's the that's the whole point here.
23:32
So, but I, I bring that up and going back to my original
23:38
question is like how, how short on names are we?
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I mean, I, I know at this point in time, we only, we only got to
23:46
fill one spotlight or we only have to fill one spot.
23:48
But at the time when he agreed to do this, they're like, like,
23:54
how many people said no for it to get to this point?
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I'm worried that the Home Run Derby's like, creeping into slam
24:03
dunk territory that the NBA, like the NBA used to watch like
24:07
Vince Carter and Michael Jordan and like your giant superstars
24:13
participating in it, and now it's turned into like, it's not
24:17
even watchable. And I just don't want that to
24:20
happen. Well, I mean we every time the
24:23
every time the All Star break rolls around, I feel like you're
24:26
a nice conclusion is that the All Star game doesn't mean
24:31
anything. Doesn't it doesn't mean nearly
24:33
as much as it used to, since it doesn't count for anything.
24:38
It's just a it's just a marketing promotion essentially.
24:43
But it's like we at least have the Home Run Derby.
24:45
That's like that's the exhibition, that's the display
24:47
of power. That's the that's the star power
24:50
that we can always rely on. I feel like we're, I mean, maybe
24:56
like a year going back a year or two, you could, you could kind
24:59
of say the same thing. But this year I feel like we're
25:02
really creeping into the territory of like, and is this
25:06
thing headed for life support? Like this isn't a good spot for
25:09
the the Derby if I'm being honest.
25:11
I mean, let's face it, we're we're less than a week out and
25:15
we don't even have the 8th participant yet.
25:18
That's not normal. That in itself is an issue.
25:24
So like we can sit here and talk about like the, the morality of
25:29
of who gets invites, but I think the bigger issue is what's the
25:36
incentive and where are guys like where are guys that want to
25:44
do this? I I don't like it.
25:50
I like, I, I do understand there's a lot of moving parts
25:54
and I know we kind of, you and I were kind of ribbon at guys
25:58
specifically, like looking more so at the American players who
26:03
are like, well, it just messes with my swing.
26:06
Meanwhile, you just have the Latin guys who are just chomping
26:08
at I, I, I'm, I'm assuming are just chomping at the bit like I
26:11
let me hit a baseball 600 feet. I don't care.
26:14
Yeah, but I like stepping back and looking at it a little more
26:18
seriously. I do understand that there's a
26:20
lot of moving parts, like it's a you're away from your family for
26:24
a long time. And if you're an All Star who is
26:30
on the fence or who could possibly be a Home Run Derby
26:33
participant, like I understand that, OK, well, you're already
26:36
going to be there anyway. So there are, there are
26:39
different things to different factors to weigh.
26:42
But like, if you're one of these guys who's not an All Star, but
26:46
you're still getting the invite to the Home Run Derby.
26:48
I, I, I get it. You're kind of banking on that
26:51
time with family. Or like if, if you don't have a
26:53
family, just that, that time to rest to, to recoup a little bit,
26:58
get your, you know, get your physicals and mentals and all
27:02
that, right? I I I understand that, but also
27:09
like, I don't know, is it, is it so much to ask where the
27:18
incentive? Because what is it now?
27:19
It's a, it's, it's been like a, isn't it like $1,000,000?
27:23
Isn't that the? Isn't that the the prize?
27:26
I don't know. I did just see a report that
27:30
they came out with a chain. Yeah, I saw that.
27:33
Like I what? Is it $1,000,000 chain?
27:37
Well. I what did it say?
27:39
It had like over 600 diamonds or something in it.
27:41
I'm like, OK, cool baby, call me an old man Nate.
27:46
I'm only 30. But I when I when that came out
27:49
and I saw that I'm like, like, that's cool, I guess cool.
27:53
Like if I wanted I'd, I'd be a sick thing to just play in your
27:56
house. But I don't know, I'm not.
27:59
I think there's one person on the planet that's motivated by
28:02
that and it's Peter Alonso. That's it.
28:05
Like no one else is like. That's what I'm saying.
28:07
Stoked like, yeah, some of these guys are on the younger side,
28:11
but like they're all they're still they're they're grown men
28:13
like I, I think it's I think it's a cool award if you want to
28:21
call it to to market the event with like, whoa, we got this 600
28:25
plus diamond Derby chain. I, I, I understand that, but I
28:30
don't think that that's going to be what opens the floodgates for
28:36
these guys. Like, OK, OK, now the Derby
28:39
chain I'm in, like sign me up. I like, I just don't know what
28:45
needs to change and. You know, I, I got to be honest,
28:50
I think the only way we see change around the Home Run
28:55
Derby, around the All Star game and just overall participation,
29:04
there's got to be a change to the season.
29:09
And that means, I think, I think it means keeping the same amount
29:13
of days and probably dropping 1012 games and just having more
29:20
time. Like if this is your only
29:24
opportunity as a player to recoup, that's probably an
29:29
issue. But how, how long?
29:33
Devil's advocate here, how long have we had 162 game season?
29:37
And we had like the cream of the crop when it came to star power,
29:41
willing to participate in the Derby in the All Star game,
29:44
whatever it was without a complaint.
29:46
And yeah, maybe there was like some some grumblings of like,
29:49
yeah, man, I need I need a couple days off.
29:51
But they still showed up and did it.
29:54
So it's like. What's?
29:55
Changed. Back then, you're talking about
29:57
a shorter postseason format. You're talking about less teams
30:00
getting in now, like now that the the format is what it is,
30:05
there's more teams in the picture.
30:07
There's more opportunity to try and actually win this thing.
30:11
We're watching teams that are sneaking into the second wild
30:13
card spot, making deep runs into the postseason.
30:17
So it's like back then it was like, all right, let's just go
30:20
win the Pennant and win the World Series and like, we're
30:22
good. That's it.
30:23
You know, there's there's only so many teams in the picture.
30:27
Then if you're on this, if you're an All Star and you're
30:29
part of a team that has no chance this year, it's like,
30:32
well, all right, whatever. We're not fighting for anything.
30:35
Now 90% of the league is under this conception of like, we have
30:39
a chance and I need to stay healthy and I need to do
30:42
whatever I can to help my team. But it's like this is like it's
30:45
a perfect storm of the the season being long, not having
30:51
enough off days, the the postseason being extended.
30:56
Like guys like trying to stay healthy for the trade deadline
31:01
if you're going to get an opportunity somewhere else, like
31:06
I don't know, I. Look, I hear you and I'm I'm I'm
31:10
not going to sit here and and posture myself as an old man
31:12
yelling at the clouds. I just personally think it's my
31:15
own opinion. It's what I believe.
31:18
If if you you listening or you watching disagree, that's fine.
31:22
It's just my belief. And you don't even have to go
31:24
back to like the 60s or the 70s or even the 80s.
31:27
You go back as recently as like the 2000s.
31:30
I just think that was a different breed of player.
31:32
Like, I just think that those guys from the early from like
31:36
the 2000s going back, I think when presented with the
31:41
opportunity for like, oh, a Home Run Derby, I want to be the guy
31:44
that go goes and hits, hits the ball 500 feet more times than
31:49
these other seven guys who or whatever, whatever the situation
31:52
is. But now it's just like, well,
31:55
you know, it's going to mess up my swing.
31:57
Like, OK, I I get it. There's a lot more money in
32:01
these contracts involved. I understand that.
32:03
But like mentally, I think we can all agree that like we're
32:09
dealing with some dogs going back again as as recently as the
32:13
2000s and and prior to that, just it was a different
32:17
mentality, a different. Breed these guys.
32:18
I could pull on some strings here, dude.
32:20
I could pull on the fact that like half these guys probably
32:23
didn't play multiple sports growing up.
32:26
I bet half these guys, you know, only focused on baseball and
32:30
it's been six days a week, seven days a week since they were
32:33
seven. Like that's just how how our
32:37
game is structured now. Back in the 90s, early 2000s,
32:41
you had guys were just like, I grew up playing pickup games in
32:45
my neighborhood and then I would go play baseball and then I
32:48
would play football in the office.
32:50
Like there, there's like this. I wouldn't even say mental
32:54
toughness. It's like this competitiveness
32:56
of like I'm good at everything. And I know athletically like
33:00
this isn't going to hinder my my abilities that much.
33:03
I think we're so freaking like so anxious and we're so like
33:08
mentally caught up in like, I need to have everything perfect
33:13
and I can't afford to jeopardize that in any way.
33:15
I don't we could go a whole different path of where society
33:19
is nowadays, but I think the there's the you could drop prima
33:25
Donna pretty much anywhere on the modern day athlete across
33:29
all sports that I don't think was as prevalent back then.
33:33
And if it wasn't prima Donna, it was like a proven superstar
33:38
athlete like Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson or people that are like,
33:43
I can do whatever I want on any field and I'll show.
33:45
Dennis Rodman is a guy that comes to mind in basketball.
33:48
It's like, but he proved it 'cause he was very, but he like
33:52
he was, he was going to win the battle 10 times out of 10,
33:56
right? That's that's kind of the
33:58
difference. There we have so many like
33:59
entitled names in sports that are like haven't done anything
34:03
that think that they, you know, deserve the world handed to him.
34:06
And so I don't know, maybe we are old, maybe we're.
34:10
No, I, I, I'm not going to, no, I'm not going to cave into that.
34:14
I, I think we're on to something there.
34:16
And I think most rational thinking people would probably
34:19
agree to some extent on that matter, but I don't want to, I
34:24
don't want to pull up that thread too much.
34:25
But looking at the other names. So I know we've focused there
34:28
for a minute on Marcelo Zuna, but Jose Ramirez, I believe
34:33
makes a return to the Derby. I think we've seen him before.
34:36
Bobby Witt and and again, another one of the names, it's
34:41
been recently added. And then Adolis Garcia, you and
34:44
I were talking about it. How we called that, I think like
34:48
last episode talking about how the range, you're going to need
34:50
a hometown guy, you're going to need a Ranger, a Rangers Rep,
34:53
somebody's got to step up. And we we fixated on that name
34:57
for the very reason of like, hey, he's having a somewhat of a
35:00
pedestrian season. Maybe he uses this as an
35:03
opportunity. And again, being a non American
35:07
guy is just going to come in and be like, I'm just going to try
35:09
to hit a baseball at 700 feet. And maybe that's what what
35:15
corrects his path for the remainder of the season.
35:17
Who knows. But I think I think that'll be I
35:20
think that'll be a fun name to watch in particular.
35:22
But as it stands right now though, who do you have winning
35:26
it? We don't have the eighth final
35:28
and I we keep saying we're waiting on the 8th.
35:30
I know it's going to that's going to be announced like 2
35:32
minutes after a release episode. Always, Yeah.
35:35
But given where it stands right now, who do who's?
35:38
Who's the early early favorite for you?
35:48
Dude, I I don't know, part of me is just really hoping for a
35:52
gunner and and Bobby Witt final Like that's that's all I want to
35:57
see. That's all I need to see.
35:59
I don't know. Speaking of which, own juice
36:02
that adolis could. Bring to.
36:04
Those biceps are different. Those are built different.
36:08
Those in the chat who who's who's your early pick?
36:13
Who's your early prediction to win the Derby?
36:15
Based on the names we got so far, we got Gunnar Henderson,
36:18
Alec Bohm, who's the other early one.
36:22
We just did this. Peter.
36:25
Peter Lonzo, Bobby Witt, Junior Marcelo Zuna, Jose Ramirez,
36:30
Adolis Garcia. Who is the early favorite?
36:34
I think Jose really struggled. I don't remember where why I'm
36:40
saying this but I feel like the last time he participated it was
36:44
not good. Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of
36:49
remembering the same thing. I feel like he really struggled.
36:53
I, I don't know what they're going to, I think they're going
36:56
to have to start getting pretty creative with like some type of
36:59
theme. I think, I think baseball's, the
37:03
MLB is going to have to step in with like a Home Run Derby
37:06
theme. And I don't know if it's like a
37:11
do it by position. You know what I'm saying?
37:14
Like an all center fielder Home Run Derby this year or an all
37:18
shortstop Home Run Derby this year or an all under 25 Home Run
37:23
Derby this year. Like I think they're going to
37:25
have to start getting creative and like kind of building up.
37:30
Like I don't know if they're hyping it enough up for the
37:33
players. I don't know if guys are getting
37:35
excited enough for. This and that's that's my worry
37:38
is when you start, when you get like a borderline, and I'm not
37:41
saying it's gimmicky, but like when you start tiptoeing into
37:44
that territory, I think you've already lost the event.
37:47
Like if, if you had like for the longest time, the Home Run Derby
37:51
was like the premier, like All Star event, like across sports
37:57
pretty much. And if you start teetering into
38:00
like, well, we're going to have to we're going to have to bring
38:03
in this guy or we're going to have to make this accommodation.
38:06
I think you've already lost it because it it should.
38:08
The Home Run Derby should never be at a place where you have to
38:11
make those sort of concessions. But I don't know.
38:15
I'm not I'm not wild about it. But you mentioned you mentioned
38:19
Gunner Henderson. Little little side note here,
38:24
did you see that tweet I put out about him being projected for
38:29
which I don't even think I like? I knew he's having an MVP
38:32
caliber season, but I don't think I had looked up his
38:35
projected numbers. He is on pace well as of
38:39
yesterday for 49 home runs, which would put him third on the
38:45
all time list for shortstops behind Alex Rodriguez, who put
38:49
up 57 and O2 and then 52 and O one.
38:53
And you can you can feel whichever way you'd like to
38:58
about those particular seasons and the production that we
39:01
witnessed from Alex Rodriguez. But on paper, that would put
39:05
Gunner Henderson third all time among shortstops, which I'm
39:10
like, if that's the case, man, like if that's the kind of
39:12
season we're looking at, he he's very clearly feeling something
39:16
like something's going, something's going very well with
39:21
the swing. So might be I, I don't want to
39:25
say like underrated or like dark horse pick for Gunner Henderson
39:30
because he has what did I say? As of right now, he's got 29
39:34
home runs. No.
39:37
Does he have 29? Yeah, 29 home runs, I think.
39:41
He's feeling himself. But it just, it feels like this
39:43
event would be more catered for a guy like Adolis Garcia, which
39:47
is why I say Gunner is more of an underrated pick in that
39:50
sense. Yeah, there's something about, I
39:53
don't know, hometown, Hometown crowd, hometown park.
39:59
You get to sleep in your own bed.
40:01
You know what I'm saying? All the perks, all of those
40:03
factors got to come into play here.
40:06
All the perks. You know your BP guy is going to
40:12
be available. You know what I'm saying?
40:14
Like they're you, you live here. You work here.
40:17
This is your office too. Of course you're going to come
40:19
throw for me. You're not having to fly across
40:22
the country. You're not having to take this,
40:23
you know, like time away from your family.
40:25
You're already here. That's fact.
40:28
Speaking of time away, let's talk about this Dodgers rotation
40:32
right now. Tyler Glass now place on the 15
40:36
day IL with IL with back tightness.
40:41
He's having, all things considered having a pretty solid
40:45
year. He's eight and five right now
40:47
with 347 ERA last I checked, leading the majors in strikeouts
40:56
with 143. And I also read that that is the
41:01
most before the All Star game in Dodgers history since Clayton
41:05
Kershaw put up 159 KS back in 2017 as.
41:13
Soon as I trade for him, has a couple poopy starts and then
41:17
just gets thrown on the IL. I think I saw this.
41:22
It's kind of back dated right? Doesn't it go back to July?
41:26
Like retroactive to July 6th? So buys a little time there.
41:34
Obviously not going to be participating in the All Star
41:36
game, which I think I saw Hunter Green as the replacement.
41:40
That's correct. Yeah, this is this is what we
41:49
talked about before the year, like you before the year, Yeah,
41:55
they were favored, like they're the rotation was absurd.
41:59
But This is why like you could never have enough arms.
42:02
That's that was their mentality. That's why they went and did
42:05
these moves because you can never have enough.
42:09
I just, I don't know. There's nothing.
42:11
There's no damage. There's no damage to the Dodgers
42:19
that happens at this moment. That makes me feel like it's
42:23
going to be a a long term issue. I'm not worried.
42:28
I don't see why Dodgers fans should be worried in reality.
42:32
Just like shred water until like August.
42:40
I, I, I don't, I don't think any Dodger fan would care if this
42:44
ended in a World Series or like, ended in a World Series
42:47
appearance. It's like none of these guys.
42:52
I don't know. You're saying, you're saying
42:54
they you're saying they wouldn't care having to care about having
42:58
to deal with this if it ended up with a.
43:00
World Series, yeah, yeah, It's like, and I just, I don't think
43:03
the confidence needs to waver that much.
43:06
Like they're still in fine shape.
43:08
I mean listen to this though dude on on the note of the
43:11
rotation, Blake Harris on Twitter.
43:13
Dodgers currently have one of the best IL rotations you'll
43:16
ever see. Tyler Glass now Yoshinobu
43:19
Yamamoto, Shohei Otani, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Bueller, O and
43:23
Dustin May. Tony Gonsson and Emmett Sheehan
43:26
as your depth. Yeah.
43:29
I mean, that's, that's disgusting.
43:32
Old Bobby Miller just got sent down.
43:34
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up.
43:36
Dodgers option Bobby Miller, who currently has an 8O7ER AA WHIP
43:41
of 183 and a 5.6 walk per nine rate through seven starts this
43:46
year, make missed 61 games with a shoulder injury In his last
43:54
four starts. He's had an ERA of 987 after
44:00
getting lit on what's today, Wednesday, Tuesday by the
44:09
Phillies, Which, by the way, what was that ended up being
44:13
like it. Was a weird one. 12:50 or
44:16
something, Trey had a Grand Slam.
44:18
I know I was about to like, turn that game on, and then it was
44:21
like the third inning and I was like, all right, nevermind.
44:26
Yeah, go get right, young man. You're fine.
44:28
You're fine. They're fine.
44:32
That's it's a weird balance of like, I don't feel bad for you
44:35
because no one needs to feel bad for you with also saying like
44:43
they still have plenty of depth and they're still going to be
44:46
fine. You know, I got like 1/2 an All
44:52
Star team on the IL though, that's for sure.
44:55
It'll be OK, It'll be all right. Everyone comes back and like
44:59
doggies gets ramped up for September.
45:02
I don't think there's anything to worry about.
45:04
Dude, I'll take my chances with that IL rotation and Mookie
45:09
Betts being the only guy in the field like that.
45:13
I'll take my chances there. Yeah, it's it's an embarrassment
45:18
of riches. Yeah, it really is.
45:20
But to your point, and it's a very valid point, the Dodgers
45:24
have to be thinking about this. They're going, you know, if
45:26
we're going to if we're going to go in on XY and Z name, we need
45:33
to almost bank on, I don't know, X&Y going down.
45:38
So we need to go get AB and C and people are going to think
45:42
we're crazy spending a billion plus dollars, but just because
45:47
we're paying XY and ZX amount of dollars doesn't mean that
45:51
they're any less prone to injury.
45:53
So like we're going to go get our stars, but we're also
45:57
because with the Dodgers can afford to go get more stars.
45:59
So that's what we're going to do to help counterbalance the
46:04
reality that like, hey, multiple of these names are probably
46:08
going down at some point out there and look where they're at
46:10
right now. But I mean, it helps.
46:12
Look, they're they're in a year where it's a very soft division
46:16
and got off to a hot start per usual.
46:20
They're fine. They're going to be fine.
46:24
Just as long as these guys aren't out for a postseason run.
46:27
Like, I don't know, if I was a Dodger fan, I wouldn't even turn
46:31
a game on until August. Like, you know what I mean?
46:34
That's the this is the same script over and over.
46:37
And you guys are going to dominate the regular season.
46:39
And it all just comes down to how you perform in the
46:41
postseason. Well, I mean, to be fair, the
46:44
Dodgers fans are probably getting ready to leave their
46:49
house now and they'll make it to Dodger Stadium by August given
46:55
the traffic. So a lot, a lot of play here.
46:59
Tough, brutal, just a brutal city all together, man LA,
47:04
That's, that's, that's tough living out there, man.
47:07
It is tough living. You all got a quality, quality
47:10
baseball team. But that traffic, man, my
47:12
goodness. Jazz Chisholm being rumoured,
47:19
being shopped. What do we think happens there?
47:26
I don't. Really.
47:26
Get it? I mean, if you're the like, why
47:29
not? Like if you're getting rid of
47:31
like, you're getting rid of Tanner Scott, presumably.
47:35
That's what I was going to say. I think these two names get
47:37
packaged. You've already gotten rid of
47:40
Arise. Like what?
47:42
What is holding on to Chazz going to do to Chazz to Jazz at
47:46
this point going to do? Me not getting it is not about
47:49
him being shopped, it's about how many buyers are there really
47:54
going to be. I'm not in love with the jazz
47:57
Chism game. It's it's a loud lot of like not
48:12
playing to this style, not playing to your skill set that I
48:16
get. That's that's what it comes to
48:18
me in mind. Like IA lot of swing and miss a
48:23
lot of I mean, I guess there's certain things that are that are
48:29
looking pretty decent. I think he's set to have a he's
48:34
on track to have a career high in home runs.
48:36
He's got 11 so far this year. Career high is 19.
48:41
Probably a career high in RB is he's already at 41.
48:45
Career high is 53, but I mean he's going to he's on pace to
48:50
have like 150 a 160 strikeouts. His K rate is just extremely
48:59
high. The defense to me is meh and I
49:05
got to give him credit for like moving into center field and
49:08
like willing to accept that role.
49:10
Like I, I can't knock him for that.
49:12
He at least brings that flexibility wherever he goes, if
49:16
he goes. The base running is is a no duh.
49:20
I mean that's it's, it's tops in the league, but like the walk
49:25
rate is is not very good. A lot of strikeouts.
49:34
The launch angle is pretty bad too.
49:36
Even though it seems like he tries to lift the ball
49:38
constantly, he doesn't. I don't know, it just doesn't do
49:44
that much for me. And that's why I think Tanner
49:48
Scott has to be paired with the deal if you're really going to
49:52
get the haul they want. Breaking news As predicted, the
50:06
Home Run Derby field is set not to cut you off.
50:10
Talking about Taylor, Scott say Oscar Hernandez is our 8th and
50:22
final Home Run Derby finalist. That incredibly underwhelming
50:27
field. I'm not hyped, no.
50:33
And it's for the stream too, like our first stream.
50:39
Well, it'll be on us then to get the people going with the
50:43
giveaways and giving away cash and giving away merch and
50:46
whatever else. Yeah.
50:49
If it's an underwhelming, if it's a lackluster Home Run
50:51
Derby, then maybe we'll just have to give more money away.
50:55
I don't know. Maybe we'll save that for
51:01
Monday. Any who's.
51:05
Yeah, Tanner Scott. I mean, I think could.
51:08
There's a million teams that need bullpen help, so no
51:13
brainer. They're really good with just
51:19
staying off of barrels. Balls don't seem to get hit hard
51:25
off of him. Really low expecting batting
51:30
average against. Keeps exit velocity down.
51:37
I mean it's baseball Savant Page is like all red so it looks like
51:45
he's he's only giving up two home runs this year.
51:51
Only issue with Tanner Scott is that he walks a lot.
51:55
Does not do well with the walks. Ranks in the bottom 2%.
52:02
I think 4. 14% walk rate, but it's fixable.
52:09
And I think there's some things you could do and it could be as
52:12
simple as getting him with, you know, a catcher with really good
52:16
framing that, you know, just kind of changes things.
52:18
So I just, I'm not in love with the Jazz Chisholm style.
52:24
I don't know what it is about him.
52:29
I like the confidence. I like the swagger.
52:31
But as we talked about with literally anybody that even
52:35
plays in a remotely similar style, people don't care about
52:40
as much if you can put up the numbers, and Jazz at times has
52:44
the route if it is, say what you will about him, whether you like
52:47
him or not, he's streaky man. And sometimes he struggles to
52:50
put those numbers up. Yeah, I can't think of really, I
52:58
can't think of a team A-Team that would need both, because I
53:05
do think it'd go like there's no point.
53:09
They have no one else. Any guys that they would move on
53:13
from are all stuck on the IL Half the rotations on the IL
53:17
like these are like the only chips that they can move.
53:22
Let me ask you this a team that I did see thrown around the
53:29
Yankees. I know.
53:31
Is there a need there? Would this, I mean, look, we've
53:36
and we've talked about it seemingly the Yankees this year
53:41
have thrown caution of the wind with the whole needing to
53:45
protect the imaging. They bring in Marcus Stroman,
53:48
who we know is just a certified anyway, like they Juan Soto, a
53:56
guy who doesn't exactly play quietly at at at times.
54:02
What's what's preventing them from bringing in a guy like Jazz
54:06
Chisholm? It's.
54:07
Just more of the same stuff. It's more swing and miss stuff.
54:11
It's more inconsistency man. I'm just like I'm struggling to
54:20
see it. Yeah, but I'm just thinking of
54:22
like some of the guys you you've you've brought in like JD
54:26
Davis's name that come to mind. Like you're telling me, like
54:30
you're telling me Jazz Chisholm wouldn't be a better, even if
54:34
for nothing else, depth piece, which is just wild to say.
54:39
But like if the Yankees were like, we don't view you that
54:42
highly, but like, we'll bring you in as a guy off the bench.
54:45
Yeah. JD Davis.
54:47
If he if he just, if he walked more, I could get on board.
54:52
If he struck out less, I could get on board.
54:54
If he could come in and be like a true lead off hitter, I could
54:58
see it. I don't think he's played second
55:06
base at all this year. No, that's played second base
55:12
since 2022, so it's not like he's has like a ton of flicks.
55:19
I don't think any team would be like hey I want you to come and
55:22
rotate between 2nd and and short or second and centre.
55:28
I think. I think.
55:30
He'd be, I mean, the lefty. The lefty swing could play in
55:32
Yankee Stadium, obviously. I think he'd be plenty more than
55:38
able to hold it down at second for a couple months.
55:43
Yeah, I know the Tanner Scott. I mean Tanner Scott again,
55:46
there's plenty of bullpens that would love to have him.
55:49
So I think that could work. I don't know, maybe I don't know
55:55
I the the Yankees need like a ridiculous shake up so.
56:00
Well, I'm, I'm glad you mentioned that they could have
56:04
been dealt quite a shake up back in 2022 because the report came
56:10
out today randomly. That's the Rays, the Tampa Bay
56:18
Rays going back to a team, going back to our conversation about a
56:21
team that does not spend, as we all very well know, offered
56:26
Aaron Judge $300 million back in 2022 back during free agency.
56:36
What are your thoughts there? Why is this randomly coming out?
56:39
Yeah, I don't know, don't make any sense.
56:42
I. Don't know why this just
56:45
suddenly came to the surface. I mean, I know they're in Tampa
56:48
right now, but it's like. Strange.
56:52
Maybe that's it. He said he had cool comments
56:55
about it. This.
56:55
The dude doesn't mess with comments.
56:58
Yeah, he said. The raise that surprised me and
57:01
just because it was a divisional rival and I've spent my whole
57:05
career trying to game plan against them.
57:07
It was a very respectful offer and I appreciated that they
57:10
reached out and that they thought enough of me to do that.
57:13
And I respect their team. I respect what they have built
57:15
here. They have a good club and their
57:18
team is tough, but it was hard. It was so hard to think about
57:21
playing for them because I've spent my whole career game
57:23
playing against them and trying to beat them.
57:26
So wait, I thought the report came out today, Maybe it came
57:32
out like a day or two ago. But All in all still sort of
57:36
random. But to your point, and he
57:39
mentions, what does he say? I, I respect what they've built
57:46
here. So maybe that quote was
57:47
retrieved from him while they were there at or while they're
57:52
currently there. Is that what you're saying
57:53
they're? They're in timber right now.
57:55
Yeah, so maybe that's why I randomly got dropped, but
57:59
interesting nonetheless. Was this before or after the
58:02
Wander Franco contract? Would have been before, right?
58:11
If it's after that, that changes a little bit of this
58:14
conversation. Are you saying this report
58:16
coming out after the Wanda Franklin News?
58:19
The offer? Oh, like you're telling me the
58:25
Rays would have gone from decades of poverty to having two
58:33
$300 million guys only? November 27th, 2021 Tampa Bay
58:38
Rays have signed Juan de Franco to an 11 year $182 million.
58:41
Wow. That was I, I completely
58:45
misspoke earlier. I for some reason I thought he
58:49
was up to like two or three million or two or three 100
58:53
million. I have completely forgot it was
58:56
that. I don't want to say cheap, it's
58:58
$182,000,000, but I've completely did not remember that
59:03
properly. 11 year, $182 million contract.
59:05
But all, All in all to your point, November 27th, 2021.
59:09
So that would have been before this offer, which happened in
59:13
the free agency of 2022. That would have been, yeah.
59:20
I mean that would have been like 30% of their salary put towards
59:24
two guys. This makes me think of, you
59:34
know, when you were working on like your wedding guest list and
59:39
you were like thinking of people to invite and you're like, now
59:44
they'll never show up. OK, let's invite them just to
59:48
say that. Like, we invited them because we
59:50
know they'll never show up, right?
59:54
Was this just an appeasement? Hey.
1:00:00
We know he'll never sign here, so we'll just throw that offer
1:00:03
out there just to show that we're going to show our fans
1:00:07
that we're trying. Is there a little of that going
1:00:10
on? Well, that's what I'm, that's
1:00:14
what I'm saying though it like I would have thought that had we
1:00:17
not got the comments from judge like is he, is he responding to
1:00:22
this having physically received an offer or is he is or is he
1:00:29
responding to the report that there was going to be an offer
1:00:35
of 300 million. I don't know.
1:00:37
Did that offer ever reach him? I don't know.
1:00:39
Because that that would tell you right there, like, OK, what?
1:00:43
Like what's the real motive here for the rays?
1:00:45
Like are they just, is this just PR and going back to what I I
1:00:49
thought you're. This is eyewash.
1:00:52
Yeah, I thought this was your original, but you were going in
1:00:54
a different direction. But it's interesting, the timing
1:00:56
of this report coming out amidst the whole Wander Franco thing,
1:01:02
like it's all just very the timing is very, very odd.
1:01:06
That is true. That is true.
1:01:10
Let's just drop this nugget because soften the blow.
1:01:15
Hey, look over here, look what we're doing over here.
1:01:17
Look what we did back in 2022. Nothing to see here.
1:01:21
And again, I, I, I'm not saying like anything with the Wander
1:01:24
Franco was their fault, but like, from like an image
1:01:28
protection standpoint, like the rays have to do a little bit of
1:01:31
damage control here, given that like the Wander Franco was
1:01:35
employed by them, so. I think it's a combination.
1:01:39
I would agree. I think you're right.
1:01:42
I think it was also a lot of like everyone in their mom knew
1:01:47
that it was either the Yankees or the giants.
1:01:50
So let's just throw an offer out there to say that we did one of
1:01:57
those like thank God he didn't say yes kind of moments.
1:02:01
You know what I mean? We're.
1:02:03
Going to have to go down to the bank guys.
1:02:05
If he says yes, we're going to have to start pulling some money
1:02:09
together. Oh, that's so.
1:02:11
Good dude. Like, you know, they're just
1:02:15
sweating it. Like I guarantee you they had a
1:02:17
pizza party when he said he was going back to New York.
1:02:20
Yeah, they had, they had like a whole concessions menu ready to
1:02:24
be ready to be dropped. Coke, just a regular Diet Coke
1:02:29
went from three bucks to 13. Everything was just they had,
1:02:33
they had it prepped, I think, ready to go.
1:02:37
Wow, that's funny. Well, it's cute.
1:02:43
It's a cute story. Well.
1:02:46
Random, but not random. Yeah, I don't know.
1:02:49
Now that we think, yeah, now that I think about it.
1:02:52
These things work. Anyway, And you're right, it
1:02:55
came out a couple days ago because the Wonder Franco stuff
1:02:59
literally just came out today, right?
1:03:01
So. No, no, no, the the formally
1:03:04
charged side of things that news was I think that came out a day
1:03:10
or two ago. The the human trafficking came
1:03:14
out today and pretty sure, don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure
1:03:20
this Ray's judge thing also came out today.
1:03:24
It's got to, it's got to be that way, dude, because like when you
1:03:28
when you search, you just got to push stuff down.
1:03:30
You know what I mean? Like, would you know how all
1:03:34
that stuff works when you're searching on social media?
1:03:36
Like you need other stuff to pop up and not all this Wander
1:03:39
Franco crap. So yeah, that makes sense.
1:03:45
Crazy. Yeah, people are people are
1:03:48
looking for like Wander Franco material and they're they go to
1:03:51
like the the most casual baseball fan goes to Google and
1:03:53
is like Tampa Bay Rays star. And then the article that comes
1:03:57
up, it's like Aaron Judge could have been a star for the Tampa
1:04:00
Bay Rays. And then they're going, oh, this
1:04:02
isn't what I'm looking for, but let me read about Aaron Judge.
1:04:04
Yeah, and then they forget and go see something else.
1:04:08
People try to complicate it, but it's really that simple.
1:04:11
It's really like that's. Look at this shiny things.
1:04:15
How these things go. Speaking of of shiny things, I
1:04:19
don't know if there is any truth to this report.
1:04:21
I had a lot of people coming at me being like, bro, never a
1:04:25
million years would this have happened.
1:04:27
Check your sources. I don't know anything about
1:04:31
this. Dijon Kovachevich of DK
1:04:37
Pittsburgh Sports. That's a type of mustard, right?
1:04:43
Yeah, Dijon mustard, Kovachevich.
1:04:47
I mean, how would you say it, Dejan?
1:04:54
Yeah, it's not. It's not DJ and it's not.
1:04:58
I love a good Dijon mustard. You put me, put me a little
1:05:02
Dijon mustard on a brat. That changes the game for me.
1:05:07
You can't just go like regular old yellow mustard on a brat,
1:05:13
you know what I mean? Class it up with some Dijon.
1:05:17
He put out an article either today or yesterday.
1:05:20
He was making making waves today.
1:05:23
There's a paragraph in the report that said fact, which is.
1:05:27
A wild, wild to put that. I'm I'm already walking this
1:05:32
back. You don't start, you don't start
1:05:35
a paragraph in your article with fact.
1:05:39
But he says fact. I was told over the weekend by a
1:05:42
high-ranking American League executive that at some point in
1:05:46
2024 the Orioles approached the Pirates about a trade of elite
1:05:49
prospects, one that sent Jared Jones to Baltimore and 20 year
1:05:54
old infielder Jackson Holiday to Pittsburgh.
1:05:57
I was further told that it was Ben Charrington who backed off.
1:06:01
And as the opening sentence of this paragraph suggests, I've
1:06:04
got no idea when within this year it occurred, only that it
1:06:08
did. I'm sorry for wasting
1:06:12
everybody's time. I shouldn't have even included
1:06:14
this. I don't know why I'm giving this
1:06:16
guy any attention. But that.
1:06:18
Yeah, that whole I I kind of just glossed over the facts bit
1:06:22
at the beginning when I first read this.
1:06:24
And I was like, oh, yeah, anyway, let me read about
1:06:26
Jackson and and Jared. But now that I'm looking at it,
1:06:30
what are we doing? And then he, like, double s down
1:06:33
and he goes. And as the opening sentence of
1:06:35
this paragraph suggests, I've got no idea when within this
1:06:38
year it occurred, only that it did.
1:06:42
Yeah, don't say fact and then not have enough evidence besides
1:06:47
a high-ranking executive. What when, When?
1:06:52
Because Jackson Holiday was blazing hot in spring training,
1:06:59
you know what I mean? And like Oriole Nation would
1:07:03
have rioted if he was traded after that.
1:07:11
Is it that two week gap before or two three-week gap before he
1:07:16
was called up that you had this conversation?
1:07:20
Like when? Even that doesn't make sense
1:07:24
because he, the reason he got called up is because he was, he
1:07:27
was hitting so well because they sent him down to like, oh, we
1:07:29
got it. He's got to get work against
1:07:30
lefties, goes down and ranks against lefties.
1:07:32
And then they call him up and then, yeah, he had the fall.
1:07:36
Like he, he just struggled and they sent him back down,
1:07:39
obviously. But I just don't know at what
1:07:42
point it would have ever made sense.
1:07:44
And, and I get from a positional perspective, they've they've got
1:07:47
a little bit of a log jam with some of the young, the young
1:07:50
stars that got there. But like, I don't know if
1:07:53
Jackson is the guy that you're going to start the conversation
1:07:56
with, especially you're the one approaching them.
1:07:59
You're not going to bring your best to the table.
1:08:01
Be like, hey, take, how about how?
1:08:05
How does Jackson Holiday sound? That have been wild.
1:08:07
I would have been down. I would have really been down
1:08:15
O'Neil Cruz and Jackson Holiday up the middle with Paul Skeens
1:08:20
on the bump. What?
1:08:24
Hey, it looks good in the pirates uni man I saw I saw a
1:08:27
Photoshop people are I'm telling you people are eating this
1:08:29
report up and I saw I saw a pirates Photoshop it looks good.
1:08:33
Yeah, but I've been down because Jordan Westbrook is like
1:08:40
lighting it up, like, you know what I mean?
1:08:43
Just got, added Rafi Dever said. I'm out.
1:08:46
I I got to, I got to rest the shoulder.
1:08:48
So Jordan Westberg making an All Star appearance.
1:08:51
Yeah, he deserves it, the kids a stud.
1:09:00
Interesting little like imaginary game to play though.
1:09:04
Yeah, a lot of riches going on in Baltimore.
1:09:08
We can play, play a. Little make believe again, I
1:09:11
don't know if there's any legitimacy to this report and I
1:09:14
don't if if this guy is just blowing smoke.
1:09:17
I don't want to give him any more attention than he's already
1:09:19
getting. But it's just an interesting
1:09:22
thing to have popped up that I saw today and thought we we chat
1:09:25
about it. All right, weekend series to
1:09:28
watch. I've got my by the way, Blatt,
1:09:35
in case you've lost track of time, this weekend will be the
1:09:38
last series before the All Star break.
1:09:41
So very good. So if you listening, you
1:09:45
watching or, or I don't know if you're going to boycott the All
1:09:49
Star game in the Home Run Derby because you think they suck now
1:09:52
and you're just trying to get a little bit of rest.
1:09:56
Just know that you got to watch through Sunday and then you can
1:09:59
take your break because this is the last series before the
1:10:03
break. Royals at the Red Sox is a
1:10:06
series I'm going to have my eye on.
1:10:08
Yes, it's the Red Sox, but truth be told, I don't really pick the
1:10:12
Red Sox all that often for the weekend series watch.
1:10:14
I really ever maybe maybe once or twice this season.
1:10:21
But this is an interesting matchup given the playoff
1:10:25
implications. And I know it's still July, but
1:10:28
these as you and I have talked about, these are the Royals, at
1:10:32
least I know we were talking about at the beginning of the
1:10:34
season as being a, a team that potentially could make a run.
1:10:37
I had them to, to reiterate, I had them as the 6th wild card or
1:10:44
the third wild card seed coming out of the AL.
1:10:49
So with the way the Red Sox been playing, which let's, I mean,
1:10:56
let's not kid ourselves. I mean, the Red Sox, at this
1:10:59
rate, are going to finish out of the Yankees in the division.
1:11:02
It's very possible. I think they've closed.
1:11:04
Like I think they've picked up 1414 games on the Yankees in the
1:11:11
last 3-4 weeks. Sure.
1:11:18
They're only two back in the lost column.
1:11:23
But anyway, all had to say interesting match up given the
1:11:26
nature of the wild card situation right now.
1:11:29
Red Sox currently hold the third wild card spot at 50 and 40 and
1:11:33
the Royals and this is entering Wednesday.
1:11:35
The Royals are the first team on the outside looking in.
1:11:41
They are a game and a half back of the third wild card spot
1:11:46
behind the Red Sox. So game one we've got Cole
1:11:50
Reagan's versus Josh Winkowski on Friday at 710.
1:11:53
Game two on Saturday we got Seth Lugo versus Cutter Crawford.
1:11:57
Think that'll be a good one. That's going to be 4:10 PM.
1:12:01
And then game three on Sunday, Brady Singer versus Brian Baio
1:12:05
at 1:35 PM Eastern. I've got the I've got the do we
1:12:14
buy or do we sell series. It mainly just has to do with
1:12:20
the Texas Rangers facing the Houston Astros.
1:12:27
Houston Astros are two games back in the division.
1:12:31
Texas is 5 1/2 games back in the division.
1:12:34
They're four games under 500. But both teams at right this
1:12:38
second, right meow or seven and three in their last ten games.
1:12:44
So I said, why not? Let's figure it out.
1:12:46
Let's battle it for Texas. Game one Friday, Andrew Heaney
1:12:52
against Hunter Brown, Game 2, Nathan Givaldi going against
1:12:59
Spencer Araghetti, which let's just turn that into spaghetti
1:13:04
right now. There's no need to really think
1:13:07
or overthink that too much. It was just like, it lines up
1:13:11
really well. I like the way this lines up for
1:13:13
the Rangers. Just real quick, what's up with
1:13:17
like the Italian, like the ease of access when it comes to
1:13:23
Italian foods and baseball players?
1:13:25
Like spaghetti for Araghetti. You've got Steven Piscotti back
1:13:31
in the day, big, big Steven spaghetti guy, Johnny Lasagna,
1:13:36
Loaisiga. Like what?
1:13:37
What's up with that? I don't know if why is it so
1:13:39
easy Venezuelan, but you know what?
1:13:41
Yeah. Hey.
1:13:42
I'm saying Italian foods. Oh.
1:13:45
Italian type foods. I'm not saying well why is it
1:13:49
Italian? I'm just saying like why is it
1:13:51
so easy with the Italian foods? Why?
1:13:52
Why are there so many names that could be misconstrued as a
1:13:57
variety of pasta? It's making me hungry though.
1:14:00
I do know that that's that's game two, by the way, Saturday
1:14:07
and then last game of the series being on Sunday.
1:14:10
Obviously we got Rennell Blanco for the Astros going against the
1:14:17
always Cy Young favorite Mr. Undecided for the Rangers.
1:14:26
Go get it. You know what I'm saying?
1:14:29
It's right there Rangers. Let's get into the All Star
1:14:33
break on a high note. Let's go win a series.
1:14:36
It's your in state rival B buyers, go for it.
1:14:46
They've won five straight coming into today.
1:14:49
That's all I'm saying, man. Like that's all I'm saying.
1:14:51
They turn it on. Ever since that report came out
1:14:54
about Scherzer potentially, you know, Willie Wave is no trade to
1:14:58
go to his 17th team in three years.
1:15:04
No, go for it. You got all the pieces.
1:15:12
That's all I got a reminder. Come hang with us on Monday.
1:15:17
I don't know episode what like recording wise, what we're going
1:15:21
to do, if anything, Sunday it's it's just going to make that
1:15:24
weird like, you know, weird wrapping up, wrapping up the the
1:15:29
unofficial first half. Which I hate that we call it the
1:15:32
first half, by the way, We're so deep in that season.
1:15:35
We've. We've certainly passed the first
1:15:37
half. Maybe they move the All Star
1:15:39
game up. Maybe they should do that.
1:15:45
Do you like a month earlier? I think more guys would
1:15:49
participate in stuff that we want to watch.
1:15:54
It's possible it's. Political like a like a zero to
1:15:59
100% chance you rate yourself watching the full All Star game.
1:16:10
Wow, we're we're literally flying.
1:16:12
I don't did I mention that on here?
1:16:14
We're like flying out of town that morning.
1:16:16
So we're going to be in Colorado the day of the All Star game.
1:16:18
So we're literally we're streaming the Home Run Derby and
1:16:21
then we have to, we have to be at the airport at like 5:15 in
1:16:24
the morning, which is just a blast.
1:16:29
So I'm going to be dragging a little bit that day.
1:16:31
But, and I don't know what's planned for the family reunion
1:16:34
out there. This is not my my side of the
1:16:38
family. This is this is a Meredith side.
1:16:40
So I don't know what's planned out there, but I'm going to do
1:16:42
my best to at the very least have an eye on the game.
1:16:46
So I can't even put a percentage chance on it because it's not
1:16:50
like I'm not going to be in my regular rhythm, my regular
1:16:54
routine. So but I'm going to I'm going to
1:16:57
do my best. I'm going to watch what I can.
1:17:00
I'm not doing anything and I don't know if I can get into the
1:17:03
90s, You know, I'm going to be at home doing nothing.
1:17:08
I think it's like a 72% chance that I watch the whole game.
1:17:13
Those are decent odds. Not terrible.
1:17:16
Decent odds, but yeah, all that to say, I don't we.
1:17:21
We're all invested on the Home Run Derby, that's it.
1:17:23
For sure, for sure. And we, we still may record it,
1:17:26
it may, we may modify it a little bit, maybe throw out like
1:17:29
a short one and get you guys, you know.
1:17:31
One could argue, one could argue that they don't have anything to
1:17:37
anything else to do Monday leading up to the Home Run
1:17:41
Derby. You know what I'm saying?
1:17:41
So maybe we maybe we have to give them something.
1:17:45
Yeah, OK. I think it's been decided.
1:17:47
I think we're going to record Sunday.
1:17:49
I think I've just, I think we've just talked ourselves into
1:17:51
recording Sunday. Don't know what it's going to be
1:17:54
on. We'll figure that out, but we
1:17:56
always do. We'll talk to you guys Sunday
1:17:59
and again as a reminder for like the 74th time today, live stream
1:18:08
Home Run Derby watch party Monday, July 15th.
1:18:13
Be there. Or be square.
1:18:19
Don't go chasing curveballs. See you guys later.
1:18:21
We love you and as always, looking forward to talking more
1:18:23
baseball with you guys soon. Until next time, stay filthy.