Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / MLB talk with Matt Snyder, Matt Norlander on College Hoops & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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MLB talk with Matt Snyder, Matt Norlander on College Hoops & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Power #2 Welcome back Miller and Condon Iowa Sports Radio
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Network. We are really taking advantage
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of CBSSports.com today. Yes, we are.
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Talent, are we not the Snyder, right?
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Snyder momentarily Norlander bottom of the hour on college
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hoops trends plays of the day coming up circus sports sponsor
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those our first match. Matt Snyder joins us talk a
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little baseball. Hello, Matt Snyder, How are you?
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I'm great, you know? Yeah, Ready to talk baseball.
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But hey, I was at the national championship last night, so that
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was cool. You made the.
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Short drive. I know you live in the area.
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How far is it from where you are to get to downtown?
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If there's very little traffic, about 1/2 hour, maybe touchless,
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but so after the game last night, oh gosh, an hour at
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least. I'm looking at a picture with
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the the picture that you took you and looks like friends of
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your wife etcetera. Were those your seats?
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Yeah. So you're it looks like you're
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in the lower level in kind of the corner, if you don't mind
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me. What what did you end up paying
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for those on national championship night, if you don't
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mind me asking? Oh.
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I don't mind, but it was nothing.
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So it was PBS. So it worked out well then.
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Good. Nice.
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Nice little perk there, huh? Yeah, No, that, that's awesome.
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What's What's basketball like in a building of that size?
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I just, I love, love, love how many people there are are in the
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crowd and everything. And I love that venue.
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I just, I, I still just don't feel like basketball should be
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played in a football stadium. It just doesn't seem like
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anytime there's poor shooting, I just can't help think of how
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much different the sight lines are for the players.
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Good stuff. Well, we're going to talk
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basketball with Norlander, so let's get to Snyder in his field
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of expertise. And that's Major League
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Baseball. So lots of ground to cover with
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you. I guess we should start with the
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Cubs, who I, I think are on the precipice of some real bad news
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when it comes to Kate Horton. It kind of has a just and still
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feel, doesn't it? Yes, yeah.
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I mean, it's look, when you see him call out the training staff
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so quickly and then it comes out right away and you see him
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exiting the field, it looks like with tears in his eyes.
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And you could see councils looked pretty distraught in the
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dugout at first. Then they the last couple days
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they tried to say, oh, there's a little bit of optimism.
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But like forearm tightness, almost every time you hear
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forearm tightness, that's Tommy John surgery because it's the
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tightness starts in the forearm because the UCL is shredded.
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Hopefully I'm wrong, but it definitely has that feel.
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And that means that we would not see him on the Major League
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mound again until next June, July.
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So yeah, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to fall,
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basically. It feels like we're certainly
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trending in that direction. You couple it now with Matthew
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Boyd, who is also on the IL, not as significant.
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It doesn't appear as Kate Horton, but we talked a lot
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about Boyd leading into this year too.
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He had a career year last season and to be able to replicate that
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seems like it's a stretch. Now, he can still be a solid,
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you know, veteran out there, but to put together the season he
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did a year ago probably doesn't seem realistic.
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And and then the rest of the guys to this rotation that felt
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like he had so much depth. We go back to a week ago and the
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excitement about this rotation and it is it is quickly changing
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here. That's baseball.
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I understand that that's a big part of it and health of your
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pictures, but how concerned are you with the rotation overall?
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I mean, I would say concerns just because of the top end, you
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know, like there's enough depth here.
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You, Colin Ray and Javier Assad can definitely handle being back
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in starters, especially because it's probably temporary because
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Boyd will come back probably in a couple weeks.
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Even if Horton's down, feels going to come back before they
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all start break. So my, my bigger concern would
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not be, hey, how do you fill out the five?
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Because between Imanaga, Taion, Assad, Ray there, there's a good
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rotation in there and it's at least perfectly fine.
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You got your five guys. Boyd would make 6, Steel would
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make 7. So even without Horton, you have
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enough depth there. I just would worry about the
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high end because when you think about the upside and you look
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for they're expecting to be in the playoffs, they sure don't
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look like a playoff team right now.
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But down the road, if you're thinking about a playoff
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rotation heading into the season, the thought was maybe
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Edward Cabrera takes a step forward and he could be a
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frontline starter. Maybe Justin steals back to his
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old self and he could be a frontline starter.
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Kate Horton looks like he's going to be a frontline starter
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now. You might be without Horton and
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you still don't know how good Steel's going to be when he
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comes back. You don't know how Cabrera is
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going to hold up over a full season.
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So it's the questions for me are more at the front end than the
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depth as a whole. You know, I know this is going
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to sound crazy what I'm about to say, but of the six divisions, 5
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are being LED with by teams that you can absolutely make a case
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are going to lead the entire way.
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The Yankees it wouldn't shocked if the Guardians go wire to
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wire. The Astros are off to a good
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start, the Brewers are there every single year, and of
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course, the Dodgers. The intrigue right now is in the
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East. And I know what I said, it
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sounds crazy, but the cream is already maybe risen to the top
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as far as expectations for 26. Is that nuts?
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No, it's not nuts. I do think we'll see some
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flipping at some point. I mean, remember, just for
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example, last year the Cubs had a six to seven game lead even in
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the July, at least in late June before the Brewers went nuts and
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took over And you still have teams.
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If you look at the East, the Blue Jays will might get hot at
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some point. Remember, they had a losing
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record heading in Oriole Day last year, and maybe the Orioles
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take a bounce back or they looked bad last week, but gosh,
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we're just in such small sample. But yeah, I mean, the AL West,
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too, I don't just think like, the Astros are going to run away
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and hide or anything like that. The AL Central, I still believe
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in the Royals. I still believe in the Tigers.
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There's going to be some mismatch in that one as well.
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So in L West, yeah, sure, that one's over.
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But the rest of them we can see some juggling.
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I hope so. I think I found my team that I
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am the most going to be most entertained by this year.
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Bill Simmons, he always talks about the NBA League Pass team,
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the team that might not be great by any means, but they're just a
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fun watch. And I think it's the only team
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that doesn't have a winning record in the National League
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East, the Washington Nationals. This young team can swing the
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paths. They got some dudes and some
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guys that are going to turn into and their bullpen stinks to high
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heavens. They blew a lead against the
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Dodgers the other day. They are going to be at minimum
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entertaining. No leads going to be safe either
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ways. Looking for that league pass or
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MLB extra innings team. I think it might be the
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Nationals. Are they set though?
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Obviously you got to get the bullpen better.
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Got to keep going there. But with that young offense, are
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they trending in the right direction?
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Probably. I think they got a new front
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office and they're a lot more forward thinking.
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There was a story, I believe it was from the athletic and spring
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training that talked about under Mike Rizzo.
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And by the way, they had to they were successful in the Rizzo in
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the 2010. They were in the playoffs a lot.
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They won the world 1019. But he just wanted modernized
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things and he there was a sign up there that said something
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like there will be no exit velocity reading pier or
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something like that. You know, like the old guy
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looking at the young guy and pointing nerd, nerd, don't do
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that. This this new front office is
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complete opposite of that. They're digging in hardcore into
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numbers, trying to find things, trying to teach these young
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hitters different ways. And it looks like they found
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something in Weimer. Weimer looks amazing so far and
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Dale and Lyle kind of started to turn the corner late last year.
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And we know about the talent that James Wood has and that CJ
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Abrams has. So it's interesting because
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remember last either last week or two weeks ago when we talked
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about the Cardinals, how they are really good offense and they
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are probably aren't going to pitch that well.
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Like if you're going to be a bad team, at least be to have bad,
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bad pitching and good hitting because when it's the opposite
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in every single games, like 1 nothing or two one, that's
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brutal. But if you're going to be in a
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bunch of 10-9 games, then sign me up for that.
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Yeah, no doubt about it. Do you believe in the Marlins
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and as far as their start? No, no, I, I There are some
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things to like for sure. The I'll.
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Carry. Freaking on the pitching, on the
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pitching side, I absolutely love that.
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The good version of Stan DL Contra.
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Is that like looking like 2022 when he won the Sky Young?
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I'm not sure about the offense. Like I like going Casey so far
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and I thought that was a good move for them anyway.
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It was a mutually beneficial move.
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Both sides of them are benefited on that one.
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But I offense as a whole, no I'm not.
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I'm not buying it long term. So I see this scrolling through
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the bottom line as I was watching Sports Center last
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night. Jose Ramirez becomes the all
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time leader in games played for the Cleveland organization.
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Has there been a more underrated superstar in our sport over the
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last, I don't know, 30-40 years? I mean, you look at his counting
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numbers, what he's done, what he's meant to, that team, making
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the playoffs a number of times with not a whole lot of help
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around him. You talk about underrated, Jose
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Ramirez might be at the top of that list.
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Yeah, he's one of those guys like among the yeah, as long as
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you throw the star qualifier out there because like a lot of
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people know about him, anybody who plays fantasy baseball, he's
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been a first rounder forever. But like the national casual fan
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among stars, no, he's, he's relatively nondescript in in
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that group for sure. And he's going to be a Hall of
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Famer. So.
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And I, I know, you know, I, I don't have any problem with guys
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changing teams and free agency. I never have.
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I never will. But there there is something to
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like about a guy who's just going to be his entire career in
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a small market and never leave. Yeah, I think they introduced
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him like that when the Cubs were in town over the weekend.
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I think it kind of took JD off guard.
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You know what soon to be Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez is how they
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introduced me. Well, you know, when you kind of
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look into it, you kind of make sense that he, you know.
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At some point. He really is.
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What about Cal Raleigh star, which you know, I go back to
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last year and I think I speak for Trent to we both felt like
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she he should have been the MVP for what he did and particularly
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at his position. You know, no catcher and there's
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been a lot of them in the history of Major League Baseball
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did what he did well, He's off to just a terrible, terrible
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start. Your thoughts on that?
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And I know you wrote about it earlier.
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Yeah, You know, there's always circumstances and context to
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everything. And like, it's, it's, it's such
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a tough place to to hit at T-Mobile Park.
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And he's a catcher. That's why last year was so
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impressive to hit sixty home runs.
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And he got off to a slow start last year, but not like this,
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not with the lack of home runs. This would have than the longest
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home run drought he had all season last year.
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We knew, I mean, we talked about this before the season started,
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that he's going to hit at least 20 fewer home runs this year.
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We did. We do that, that bold to say,
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OK, maybe 35 to 40. But it's been dreadful.
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And the worry is once it gets up to 10111213 games that now it
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can snowball mentally, like what's wrong with me?
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What's wrong with me? Why am I not hitting?
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And this is such a mental game in addition to the physical part
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of the game. That is the only real concern
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for me. He still is hitting the ball
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hard every once in a while. He almost had one.
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And no, it doesn't count to say almost.
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But Joe Adele robbed him on one of my robberies from Adele, one
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of three robberies by Adele was was of Raleigh.
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So he could have one if they'll miss time to jump or something
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like that. But yeah, it's, I'll say mildly
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concerning. I'm not going to say there's no
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concern at all, but it's a small sample.
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He's been there, done that. But it's always mildly
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concerning. What's the start of the year?
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Because you talk to players and they they so many of them will
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say I don't care about my numbers.
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But the ones who will actually tell you the truth, I like Cody
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Bellinger is one that that told me once like, hey, man, you
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always see the scoreboard. You always know what your
12:17
numbers are and if you the season that bad, you see that
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batting average with the one in front of it up there, see the
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zero home runs, it can start to get to you.
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I had Joe Adele on the list, and I'm going to jump past that one
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because it was just incredible. And thanks for bringing that one
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up, Matt. But I want to go to a weekly
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column that is up on CBS Sports during baseball season.
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Snyder Soapbox and what's? He on it for this time.
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Well, it is the strike zone is the strike zone.
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Fill us in a little bit more on the details.
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Hadn't didn't have an opportunity to read it this
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morning, Madden, but I know I'll dig in a little bit deeper.
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The strike zone is the strike zone.
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What? What are we talking about here
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today? There was a movement over the
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weekend on social media where a bunch of people were saying
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stuff like when when there's a call is overturned by like .1
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inch or something. And there was a big movement
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saying this isn't what it was for.
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This isn't what it was supposed to do.
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And Walter Buehler and I'm like, hold on.
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This is a boundary strikes on the strike zone.
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It literally says in the rules any part of the ball touches any
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part of the strike zone. That's a strike.
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Why? Why would it not be overturned
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if it's a strike? It's like Zain is their foot
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inbounds red out of bounds in football ball hit the out of
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bound line or or did it not in tennis like it's a boundary.
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It's why would you not overturn it because it's .1.
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Are we supposed to say like, OK, you're not going to overturn it
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if it's within .3 inches? No, you're going to overturn it
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because it's a strike. Wasn't, wasn't it, what was it
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Walker Buehler that came out over the weekend and and was
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Pooh Pooh in it? Was it him?
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Maybe. Maybe.
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That's where it started. I think it was.
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I think so. Yeah, because he was going to
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bat for the. It, it was like, we're playing
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with fire here. What if there's a, a big call in
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the World Series overturn? I'd be like, good, thank God,
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yes, 'cause it's a strike. Hell yeah.
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Been we've been wanting that forever.
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We're finally getting I I think it adds to the.
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I think it was you. I don't know.
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It was, it was Trenton. You last week got into this and
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I thought you both made great points.
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It adds to the enjoyment of baseball.
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You know, it's kind of like interactive.
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There, yes, yes, especially for people in the crowd, 'cause they
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get a look at this scoreboard and they get to see where the to
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react everybody in their tears or booze like yeah, it's cool.
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No, I I'm with you. Most disappointing team, most
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disappointing start as far as how you thought you the season
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would go for again, 10 games in, but the start for who?
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He's got your attention. Well, I kind of want to say the
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Cubs, I'm a cub standing. I'm biased, but like that's a
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really that's a pretty easy schedule to start the season and
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to lose than that then you get two or three from the Angel.
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But to lose them to the Rays, not good.
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But I think you probably have to go with the Giants or Red Sox.
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Giants and Red Sox are one in each league because they're
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supposed to be better. The the Giants were probably
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thought of as a mediocre team if they got hot, maybe a French
15:10
playoff contender. The Red Sox were absolutely
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supposed to be a playoff contender, and both look awful.
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So yeah, either one of those would be a good choice.
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Can I, Can I submit the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost two of three
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to Colorado, got swept by the White Sox, for God's sake?
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Speaking of what should have been an incredibly early, easy
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schedule, I mean, especially when you sweep the A's and then
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you see Rockies and White Sox on that schedule, like, oh man,
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they're going to be 9 and O or 8:00 and 1:00 or something.
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That's why I made the bet Condon, he's laughing at me that
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I had a better there would be a Major League team start the year
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10 and O and of course what was. It didn't make it to the second
15:47
series of the year. Yeah.
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It's going to happen once Soto was on the ILA.
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Very dependable guy year #1 maybe a bit of a disappointment
15:57
compared to maybe where expectations were, but still a
15:59
very solid season. And year number one with the
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Mets. Your take away from Soto and
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these huge contracts, again, the murmurs are out there.
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Doesn't make sense to give these monster contracts and guys that,
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yeah, you're paying for those early years.
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But what are things like this happen?
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You have a down year, you have an early injury.
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Suddenly that contract gets a little bit more scary when you
16:18
know what's coming on the back end.
16:21
Yeah, I mean, I think they know that when they're going in,
16:24
right? Like, hey, we're we're really
16:26
paying for the first five and anything else we get after that,
16:28
it's gravy. And like, if you look at the
16:31
Yankees with Aaron Judge, he's been unbelievable for the first
16:34
half of that contract. So stuff like that, I think it's
16:37
fine. And Soto is still so young, he
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could well put up two more MVP seasons before he starts to hit
16:43
his decline. So I think it's going to be
16:45
fine. But I will say the Kyle Tucker
16:49
type contract makes a lot more sense to me to give them a huge,
16:53
huge, huge average annual value, but not a ton of years.
16:56
The ones that don't look good to me are like Zayner Bogart's
16:59
where the the Padres are going to be paying him until he's like
17:01
41. He's not even that good right
17:04
now. So fewer years pay them more.
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I think that's more of the movement.
17:10
But the other thing, and I think we're going to hear a lot about
17:12
this in the offseason with the new CBA, is the middle class of
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players are the ones that are kind of getting screwed here.
17:20
I mean, through arbitration, guys get paid what they're
17:24
worth. But then once they hit free
17:25
agency, you have the mega, mega, mega deals and then you have a
17:28
bunch of guys signing on the cheap.
17:30
You don't have a ton of in between unless they sign
17:33
extensions, guys like Nico and PCA for the Cubs.
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But unless they sign extensions, guys that hit the free market
17:39
are kind of getting jobs a little bit.
17:41
Like I said, the middle class like pretty good players who
17:44
they're not really All Stars, they're the ones who I think it
17:47
could level out a little more. Speaking, Speaking of players
17:51
association, etcetera, we're not hearing anything.
17:54
The season has started. Is it, is it good that we're not
17:57
hearing anything or is it bad because they're just not
17:59
talking? Do you know where this is at
18:01
regarding next year and the stoppage that in all likelihood,
18:04
I mean, I think a lot of us baseball fans are just fretting
18:07
the fact that it may get at the best a late start next year.
18:13
I, I would say neither good nor bad.
18:15
I just don't think anything. But after the Tony Clark
18:18
dismissal happened, then MLVPA needs to get his house in order.
18:22
They're probably all just getting their ducks in a row
18:24
ready for the offseason and they aren't going to really be
18:26
talking until the offseason. And so no, I, I'm, I'm not
18:30
drawing anything good or bad at this point.
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My, my expectation remains the same.
18:35
I think their owners are going to do a defensive lockdown
18:37
again, which still just sounds so ridiculous.
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And and my hunch is it'll take a couple months and it'll be very
18:44
annoying. And eventually they'll come to
18:47
an agreement. And I did.
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The point that I'm going to continue to hammer home is this
18:52
salary cap talk. The owners are going to be the
18:54
ones who end up fighting with themselves and caving because
18:57
with a cap, with a salary cap comes a salary floor.
19:02
In any which way you look at what a floor should be, it
19:05
should probably be like 140 a 150 million.
19:08
And seems like the Pirates in the Rays absolutely do not want
19:11
to pay that much for a minimum. They're going to want to lower
19:13
floor. And then teams like the Dodgers
19:15
in the Mets and the Cubs are going to say, hold on, why are
19:18
we giving you so much in revenue sharing and that then it's all
19:22
going to fall apart. Well, as long as it falls apart,
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I'm all for it. Good stuff.
19:26
Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com. Matt, thank you.
19:29
We'll talk to you next week. Appreciate it as always.
19:31
Matt Snyder, thank you all. Right.
19:33
Take care. Yeah, good to talk to you, Matt
19:35
Snyder. As we check in on MLB with our
19:38
buddy Matt Snyder, did you see any pictures from Target Field
19:41
last night as far as the fans in the stands?
19:44
I did not. I think you could count them.
19:48
It may be in into the hundreds and they announced the tenants
19:51
was 12,000. Were they all in the concourse
19:54
when the photo was taken? No, announced the tenants.
19:56
You know this. That's season tickets.
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But I mean, it was ridiculous. Who are they trying to kid?
20:02
Nobody. That's just the way that it goes
20:04
across baseball, across all sports.
20:06
And it's a Monday night in, school's in session and it's
20:08
cold as hell outside I get. It and it was just a sock
20:10
harming. They hate the ownership.
20:11
But they won. Great.
20:14
They won in front of dozens of family and friends.
20:18
It is very difficult for me to even flip them on.
20:21
I have checked out. I watched them against the
20:23
Royals in the Royals home opener last week.
20:26
Yes, I think that was the same one that I watched.
20:28
When they came back, they were down like 13, four.
20:30
Yes, Made it 13-9. I checked out by then.
20:32
Yeah, and that's what I checked in.
20:35
It's going to be a lot of Cubs for me.
20:37
What if the Cubs stink? They do stink.
20:39
What if they really stink? They do really stink.
20:41
Not two weeks stink. This is they're hitting Trent.
20:46
It's alarmingly bad. PCA looks like he's totally
20:50
lost. This is who he is outside of a 2
20:54
month stretch early last year and even that was happening.
20:58
And yes, I joked because he bothers me as a guy and he's not
21:01
the kind of dude that I'm going to have a beer with because he
21:03
probably drinks a martini. But that aside, he's not my kind
21:06
of guy. We joked about that, but with
21:09
the hole in that swing, with that strikeout rate, we knew at
21:11
that time it was unsustainable. He was not going to hit like
21:13
that with that kind of whiff rate.
21:15
It's not going to happen. And then we saw what happened
21:17
the last four months. He didn't hit at that level.
21:19
That's who he is. You give $141 million to a great
21:23
fielding second baseman and Nico Horner.
21:26
I don't. I have questions about the way
21:29
that things are being structured.
21:30
Ian Hepson was last year of his contract.
21:33
Are you going to resign him? I.
21:36
Mean you can't resign them all. You've got problems pitching.
21:41
The bullpen has not been good. No, by any means.
21:44
Bush is off to a bad start. Swanson can't hit his weight.
21:49
Bregman's struggling out of the chute.
21:51
So let's just say it is the year from hell.
21:53
I think we're turning in that direction.
21:55
I'll throw the blow Jays into the equation.
21:57
Well, OK, so that takes. So who are we going to watch?
21:59
The Brewers. Yes.
22:01
This is going to be Brewers radio.
22:03
No, well, you see, I'm I'm out of the equation as of June 24th.
22:07
That's. True.
22:08
Yes. The Royals?
22:10
They're going to be plucky. White Sox No.
22:14
No Cardinals fun team. No, it's going to be a hard it
22:20
could be a hard baseball season here.
22:23
But you know what is better than no baseball season?
22:27
And then we have that base for one there too.
22:29
Oh no, that's scary. Restaurant radio come back next
22:33
year for you if there's no baseball after they cut down the
22:36
Nets. Talk you out of retirement.
22:38
Jesus, Matt's Snyder to Matt Norlander We'll talk hoops with
22:45
Matt Norlander next. He was the one that broke the
22:47
McCollum story yesterday. Did you see Jeff Goodman piss
22:51
all over the story? Well, of course, because Jeff
22:52
Goodman is is he a? Miserable son of a guy, Yes he
22:55
is. Absolutely.
22:56
You're taking something very small because yes, he was not
23:00
offered the job. That is technically correct.
23:03
But why offered an opportunity to interview?
23:07
In person interview, Not a zoom, not a phone call, an in person
23:11
interview. Yes, technically he was not
23:15
offered the job right? But for Hawkeye fans to be
23:17
excited about it and him coming in there and nitpicking right he
23:21
is. Duster needs to get away from
23:22
him. Well, I don't think he can.
23:24
I mean, those two are just cursing.
23:25
They field of 68 is going. It's gangbusters.
23:28
No Duster does a nice. Job.
23:30
He's the brains of the Opera, I. Agree.
23:33
I agree with your premise too that maybe he needs to get away
23:35
from Goodman because it's kind of like an anchor.
23:37
I understand that that's also his stick.
23:40
He's kind of the angry guy. Yeah, that's that's a part of it
23:42
too. But yes, when it happens to one
23:45
of our schools, he just come on Goodman, grow up.
23:49
Yeah, OK. Wasn't offered the job, but are
23:51
you going to dispute the fact that North Carolina reached out
23:55
and wanted to interview him? I mean, what are you going to be
23:57
interviewing for? Right.
23:59
To be the janitor, right? Miller and I think they got the
24:03
right guy. I like the Malone hiring I
24:05
really do it's going to open up the EUR with the relationship
24:08
that Malone has with Yokich. I think that would look what
24:11
Illinois did this year for God's sakes, made a final four Miller
24:14
and Condon Norlander next Iowa sports Radio Network hi Miller
24:17
Condon welcome back just past 130 on a Tuesday top of the hour
24:22
off the bench to until 5. Ben McCollum joins the boys
24:25
coming up here at 4:00. Matt Norlander right now as he
24:29
gets set to the party Indy Matt Trenton Ken, thanks for giving
24:32
us a few minutes and we'll get to the championship game in the
24:35
tournament in a second. Just wanted to start with your
24:39
we still call them tweets. Tweets from yesterday regarding
24:41
Ben McCollum certainly reverberated here in the state
24:44
of Iowa when apparently, as you reported, North Carolina did
24:47
reach out wanted McCollum to sit down for an in person interview.
24:50
He declined, but clearly North Carolina had interest and at the
24:55
very least talked into Iowa's head coach Matt.
24:59
Yeah, no, they, they, the two sides had made contact last
25:04
week. But you know, every and every
25:06
search is a little bit different, but in some ways
25:08
they're very much the same. And there are different stages
25:10
of contact that can get made in between sometimes.
25:13
Is it a coach talking to an athletic director as a search
25:15
firm talking to an to an agent as an agent talking to athletic
25:19
director like some of that stuff sometimes is almost
25:22
intentionally kept at Bay and and more limited before things
25:25
get serious. But they did have contact and at
25:27
least the contact that they had that I was told by two sources
25:31
was a significant enough that North Carolina wanted to meet in
25:35
person to formally interview Ben McCollum and see if he was going
25:38
to be the one that they could convince and come and take that
25:40
job in Chapel Hill. I'm not saying that he was the
25:43
next choice in line and the number one after the likes of TJ
25:47
and Tommy Lloyd and Dusty may remove themselves from that
25:50
conversation, but he was firmly had a real chance.
25:52
I think Scott Drew also, it's at Baylor.
25:55
He had contact with them. I don't think he was ever really
25:58
seriously ever considering going.
26:00
He turned out Kentucky two years ago as well.
26:02
But the point is McCollum did not opt to pursue that.
26:06
He could have easily opted to pursue it and just said, let me
26:09
interview in person and let's see what they've got and see if
26:13
I like it enough. He did not.
26:15
He chose not to do that for any number of reasons that he may or
26:18
may not share publicly at some point here in the in the near or
26:23
maybe not so near future. And as a result, he stays with
26:26
Iowa and gets to build, you know, on a really, really nice
26:30
year one. But I'm inclined to.
26:32
I believe you know there's no guarantee he'll get to a second
26:34
straight lead 8. Although he's been awesome in
26:35
the tournament, I'm inclined to believe that year one will be a
26:39
nice start and year 2 will be even better.
26:41
I will genuinely be surprised if he does not have a team that is
26:44
seated better in 27 than it was in 26.
26:47
You're very bullish, it sounds like on McCullum being around
26:50
basketball people the run to the lead 8 What do people say about
26:53
him inside the college basketball community?
26:56
He was known at Northwest Missouri State.
26:58
We heard about him for years, obviously here.
27:00
What do people say about Ben McCollum and what he he can
27:02
potentially build in Iowa City? McCollum has a reputation of
27:08
being extremely smart as as a tactician.
27:12
He's also got a reputation of being extremely confident in
27:14
that. Some consider him extremely
27:16
arrogant. I don't find that that to be a
27:18
representation of how I've had interactions with them, but
27:21
there's nothing wrong with that. Like he's a ridiculous
27:23
competitor. He even had a few.
27:25
I know he had a few like viral moments over the course of the
27:29
post season with how he was interacting with his team, but
27:33
can't deny the results man and whip smart coach.
27:37
And he I will tell you this, like kind of big picture
27:39
overall, he has as a result of what he did this year and then a
27:43
Drake and obviously the D2 stuff, he has already put
27:47
himself in the conversation among the 20 best coaches in D1,
27:52
which is very hard to do. Like Dusty May as a function of
27:58
winning the national championship is now it would now
28:01
be considered, and rightfully so, like one of the 10 best
28:03
coaches in college basketball, just to give you an idea of like
28:06
of of how crowded that that list is overall.
28:10
But yeah, Mccollum's absolutely up there and it's stock and
28:14
reputation continue to rise. And, and now we see without
28:17
benefit search what he can do. Portal's officially open.
28:20
Actually I got a text. I think we are at 1500 players
28:23
in the portal now. And bouncing.
28:25
So we'll see what we'll see what we'll see what comes with that,
28:27
yeah. Same question about TJ.
28:29
How's he seen? TJ is about as great of a
28:35
reputation as a person as there is in the business.
28:38
And there's a lot of guys that that carry like similar
28:41
reputations, but extremely loyal, love to learn, big
28:48
listener. I would put him on like top five
28:54
man of his word kind of guy in college basketball among head
28:58
coaches. Just he has respect from a lot,
29:02
a lot of people. And obviously he's built out
29:05
something so special there and he took his name out of the
29:09
Carolina stuff relatively early on, obviously.
29:12
And then I actually got told they went back to him again and
29:17
he and he said, he said thanks, but no thanks.
29:20
I understand why you got to do this, But the no, the first time
29:24
was it was, it was what I meant. So he, you know, I get it.
29:28
Like the connections to that area that that university wants
29:32
to be a good dad, good husband, be there for his kids, not have
29:35
a job where it's, you know, there's even more that's
29:37
attached to it when you're the head coach in North Carolina.
29:39
There's a lot that comes with that.
29:41
A lot of it can be good. A lot of it can be there can be
29:43
some drawbacks there. So that's that's kind of the
29:46
brief dossier, if you will on on also Burger.
29:49
Quick hit on last night, Michigan brings home a national
29:51
championship. The Big 10s first since 2000,
29:53
their first since 89, and Ramil Robinson on a foul that should
29:57
have been called against Seton Hall, but that's a story for a
29:59
different day. Your thoughts on this one?
30:01
Dusty? To me he went big, brought in a
30:03
big line up and it works with the national title.
30:06
He did. So I that was my column, my take
30:08
away. I wrote it way late overnight.
30:11
Dusty May has figured out the portal better than any coach in
30:14
college basketball in this era. It is not easy to manage to
30:18
navigate. Players are expensive.
30:20
They're going to be even more expensive overall this year than
30:22
they were last year. And last year was an absolute
30:25
spending spree. Did Michigan have a plenty of
30:27
money to work with? Yes.
30:29
Did it have the most money to work with in the sport?
30:32
No. Top five, no Top 10?
30:34
Quite possibly and definitely among the top 15 as far as I can
30:38
tell. Yeah, it had that to work with
30:40
for sure. That did help.
30:41
But there are also other schools that had a ton of money to work
30:43
with and they didn't do nearly as well as Michigan.
30:46
And so not only did he work the portal well, the players he
30:49
picked were interesting. Maris Johnson had a good
30:51
reputation, but no one thought he would be this a dime.
30:54
Morrow was just flat out misused under Mccrone at UCLA.
30:58
Now he could be a first round pick.
30:59
Elliott Kodo had ups and downs and frankly, you know, there
31:04
were some teams that weren't going to touch him in the portal
31:06
because they just didn't trust that he would be able to make a
31:08
jump and be an even better player than he was at North
31:11
Carolina. Dusty mates out differently.
31:13
So he took on guys and then he made it work with the big front
31:17
court. You have to Lindenborg because
31:19
there was a connection there. He was always going to either go
31:22
to Michigan or go to the draft. So he comes aboard and Dusty may
31:25
get Lindenborg. Marez, Johnson and Dimeira, 3
31:28
players who played the center position a year ago, got all of
31:32
them to come come and play on the same team and they started.
31:35
Now Michigan is the first team ever to have players three
31:39
players 69 or taller be the three leading scorers on a team.
31:42
Michigan is the first team ever to start five players in a
31:44
national title game, and all of those five players did not begin
31:48
their careers at that school that was playing in the title
31:50
game. And Michigan is the first team
31:53
ever to have four first year transfers be the four leading
31:57
scorers on a team that made the title game.
32:00
So he has cracked the code. He is, it's created a new
32:03
template and we will we will see just what the next class of guys
32:08
looks like because you got some returning.
32:09
So Michigan is built to be. I would be stunned if Michigan
32:12
is not a preseason top five, if not top three team once we get
32:15
to November. Can't wait to get to Vegas.
32:17
Good stuff. Matt Norlander, thanks for
32:18
giving us a few minutes, man. Appreciate you coming on.
32:21
Thank you all. Right gents, I appreciate you
32:22
have a great rest of your day. Yep, thank you, Matt
32:24
norlandercbssports.com That Vegas tournament kind of tipped
32:28
its hand as to how good Michigan could be as we saw them just
32:31
roll through it. So when it comes to next year,
32:33
Trent Con and I have the DraftKings 2027 odds for the
32:38
next champion of college basketball.
32:40
Have you OK? I have not.
32:42
Who do you think the favorite should be or is?
32:46
Who do you think a favorite? Shortest price to win the
32:48
tournament is? Probably Duke.
32:51
It is 8:00 to 1:00. 8 to one, yeah.
32:52
Second choice. Second choice is Michigan.
32:55
You're. Right. 12 to one.
32:57
This is no fun. Who's the 17th choice?
33:00
OK. After that it gets dicey.
33:04
Yeah, Florida, Arizona, Michigan State, these are all below 20 to
33:08
one. I'll stop there.
33:09
Arizona 1516 is Michigan State 16, Kansas 18, Texas Tech 18,
33:14
Illinois 18, Houston 18, Arkansas, and then UConn 20.
33:18
Meanwhile, Iowa State checks in at 40 to 1.
33:23
You can get the Hawkeyes at 60 to 1 to cut down the Nets.
33:28
Well, these are going to win a national championship.
33:31
No, the final four odds aren't out yet.
33:33
That's what I that's the market you're going to.
33:35
Win. That's what I would be peeking
33:36
at a little bit. But does it make sense just to
33:38
put Yukon in your back pocket at 20 to one right now?
33:43
I've made worse bets plenty. Oh, both of us have.
33:47
Yeah, plenty. We have talked about that many
33:49
times here in the past. St.
33:51
John's 35 because Duke. 'S bringing in like an elite
33:54
point guard. I can't think of the kids name,
33:56
but yeah, they're bringing in their stud.
33:58
Freshman apparently is going to be a point guard, not a big guy
34:02
that works well. But then we just saw the team
34:03
that won the national championship.
34:04
As Matt Norlander just mentioned, their top three
34:07
scorers were three big guys. And then Kodo, good God, he was
34:10
good last night. Did was there an MVP of that
34:13
event? Last night, yeah, he was.
34:13
Well, it had to be him. It's all the final four.
34:15
I used it at the final four. And Kodo shouldn't have got it.
34:18
It should have been Mara. Mara was great.
34:20
Mara shit. Kodo was great last night.
34:22
It's only those two games. It's not for the whole
34:24
tournament. It is just the final four most
34:26
outstanding player. I think Kodo was something like
34:30
40 to 1. Beforehand, You bet, John, did
34:33
you bet Johnson had 12 to one. No higher than that it was 30 to
34:36
1. 30 to 1. Yeah, 33 to one maybe.
34:38
Oh. I've been getting his points
34:39
mixed up. I knew.
34:40
You bet. Him, yes, it was 12 1/2 of his
34:41
points. He scored 12.
34:43
But yeah, I bet him before the final four to be MOP, he needed
34:48
a lot more than what he had. But I thought it should have
34:49
been Mara. Mara, even though he didn't
34:51
score in the same way he does. So much other things.
34:54
Absolutely. Couple of those blocked shots
34:56
that he had, just the way he impacted the game.
34:59
But I told you yesterday, the game plan that we talked about
35:02
leading into the game, that's exactly what Yukon did.
35:05
They let it throw him into the post.
35:07
We're not going to double right away.
35:08
They did. Every once in a while they come
35:10
and dig in there, but not for the not that hard hedge or that
35:12
hard double that you see every single time.
35:15
Slow the game down. They did.
35:16
Michigan doesn't make a three pointer for the first.
35:19
How long before they finally hit 1?
35:21
He was into the second. Half like 4 or 5 minutes into
35:23
that maybe right before the 1st media time out they hit their
35:25
first one then goes McKinney. Started over 8 from behind the.
35:28
It was the perfect blueprint. That's the only way, Hurley said
35:33
it during the interview. That's the only way we could
35:34
wish. Escape he did.
35:35
And I don't think it was him because that's not something,
35:38
it's not like the guys are sitting over in the huddle
35:40
watching the interview. They don't know what he's saying
35:42
there. He knew, though, that was the
35:45
only path that they had. They got it.
35:47
And still even with that, with Yaxel, obviously he was
35:50
compromised. You could see that was that was
35:52
not the same guy last night and even that Michigan was still too
35:56
good. You know who is too good and not
35:58
too good? Was is always good?
36:00
Bill Rafferty. I mean, how old is he now?
36:02
80 something. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
36:04
When you look back at Rafferty and and and Hubie Brown, the two
36:08
guys, I mean, how long, how old was Brown when he finally said
36:11
enough and it was recently, was he, did he crack 90?
36:14
I think he did, yeah. How about Doctor Jack Ramsey?
36:18
Another one. The one that was there forever.
36:20
Doing NBA radio on ESPN Radio and was tremendous because
36:24
there'd be so many times be something doing something.
36:27
Even going way back when I was umpiring and and you could hear
36:31
Doctor Jack, he could explain the game so well.
36:34
Did he pass? I'm not sure, maybe I think so,
36:40
but he was great. He was describing it and.
36:42
He was great. Referees different than that.
36:44
He's not going to really break down exes and hoes.
36:47
It's the excitement, it's the kiss, all those different.
36:51
We've heard of them forever, but you know what?
36:53
We're not sick of them. Absolutely not.
36:55
It's not like Vital got yes where it was.
36:58
It became too sticky. But did Vital get too much
37:01
exposure? Is that maybe part of it?
37:03
Could be a piece, absolutely, because we don't get a ton of
37:06
wrath throughout the course of the year anymore.
37:07
Not unless you're watching. One of the Big East.
37:09
Unless you're watching the Nets, you're not going to be hearing
37:11
him at the same level that you do and certainly did with Vital
37:14
because it felt like every big college basketball game he was
37:18
there. Diaper Dandy.
37:19
And it was the same stick and it was the same thing.
37:22
Wrath, I don't want to sound like we're killing Vital.
37:24
He's been great. Oh, absolutely.
37:26
What an ambassador. Yes, there is no doubt.
37:28
And I came back around same thing with Madden.
37:30
For Madden, for a while it was right.
37:33
Shut up, John. And then you and the back end of
37:37
it start to come back around. Vitell definitely.
37:39
That way, even before you know these issues we've seen the last
37:42
couple of years, you start to respect him more.
37:44
I never lost it with Raftery. He was always.
37:46
Phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.
37:49
Really good stuff out of him. And of course, Brown did I.
37:51
I think he was 90 when he called his last game, probably.
37:54
Yeah. Unbelievable.
37:56
Sharp. I'm glad you brought up Doctor.
37:58
Yes, all three of them, Doctor Jack Ramsey, Really good stuff.
38:02
Well, your plays of the day, they've been decent.
38:04
Well, until last night. Well, you had you had UConn, I
38:08
had UConn, but I had three losers on top of it, 1 and 3 is
38:11
not going to be making any money.
38:12
True and and you know what, I think you've got to get off just
38:15
betting against your twins although.
38:17
They're not on the card today. On the long run it might be
38:19
profitable. We got 4 baseball plays and we
38:23
have two coming up in the Champions League that is has its
38:27
opening kickoffs for two of the quarterfinal games right after
38:31
our show finishes up. I know you're going to be locked
38:33
and loaded this afternoon. I have to go to a meeting, but
38:36
if I did, I'd be home watching that.
38:37
Trent, the Cubs play first pitch 540I think tonight who's on the
38:42
mound for the Cubs? Saad.
38:44
Is he? Yes, Saad's going to get the
38:46
ball, I believe. Yeah, he is scheduled against.
38:49
Drew Rasmussen. Who is talented?
38:53
Contra pitches today for the Marlins.
38:56
What else we got? What?
38:57
Who's pitching for the Blue Jays against the Dodgers?
38:59
Boy, that was ugly yesterday. Oh, Gossman, Yamamato Gossman.
39:02
That's pretty good. That's a great pitching match
39:04
up. Speaking of the Twins, another
39:05
great pitching match up tonight, Scubble against Taj Bradley, who
39:08
has been tremendous, has he and the only bright spot so far, I
39:11
think for the Twins, Joe. Ryan pitched well in Kansas.
39:14
City. Yeah, but you expect Joe Ryan to
39:15
be fine. He's been Taj Bradley.
39:19
He has, after his last start, four of the five fastest pitches
39:24
ever thrown by a Twins pitcher in their history.
39:27
For a starter. Really.
39:29
Yeah. He hit 100 once in 99.
39:30
A couple times. Who would?
39:32
Frank Viola was not chucking enough.
39:33
No. No, no, I love Viola.
39:34
I did. Boy, he was crafty.
39:36
He had a hell of a career. Well, even think of like Scott
39:38
Erickson when he came up. Scott Erickson, he's probably
39:40
three, were 46, I think. That was 19.
39:44
Yeah, Tappany was 46. OK, maybe 19. 19 for Erickson,
39:48
but he threw like 93 and then he lost a little velocity.
39:51
Who did he marry? Somebody.
39:54
From, from, from inside, Lisa Guerrero, Lisa Guerrero, good
39:57
job. TC Miller and Condon trench
39:59
Plays of the day or next. It's the Iowa Sports Radio
40:01
Network. Our final couple of minutes
40:03
here. Miller and Condon off the bench.
40:05
Coming up next, Ben McCollum joins the boys 4:00 today.
40:09
He joins Sean and Lucas Plays of the day coming up.
40:14
Circus Sports sponsor those. One in three, did you say to
40:21
start? One in three missed miss Johnson
40:24
by half point. Demery had a wide open 3 on the
40:26
left wing that rattled out. That would have just needed one,
40:29
right? Just needed one.
40:31
And and one more point for Johnson.
40:33
And that goes over the number. And inexplicably, the Twins won
40:36
a game against a decent opponent in the Tigers.
40:39
In front of dozens of fans. Absolutely.
40:41
So today, yes, we do have the Premier League.
40:44
We're down to the quarterfinals. So our teams remaining two games
40:47
today, 2:00 tomorrow did. You get into that.
40:50
Sometimes. Didn't it used to be on Saturday
40:52
mornings? It well, it will when it gets
40:55
deeper, I think. But yes, that's but that's the
40:58
Premier League. What is this, the Champions
41:00
League? This is the big tournament with
41:03
all the leagues that come together like there's a A-Team
41:05
that's still 65 to 1 to win it all.
41:07
That's never been here before, those kind of things.
41:09
So you got that going on. This is my angle.
41:11
I'm just putting 1/2 unit on both of them.
41:12
Both games today ended a draw all.
41:16
Right. You're going to put them
41:17
together. No, just each individually.
41:19
Now you get plus 332 in a Bear Munich against whatever RMA is
41:26
and the other one where you got Arsenal going up against that
41:29
team that I mentioned, Spo is what they're listening.
41:31
You get plus 304 on that one. So we're going to play draw on
41:34
both of them. Half unit.
41:35
We're just goofing around. All right, baseball, this is
41:37
where we're really digging it. Playing the Orioles -143 This is
41:41
our lone favorite of the night against the White Sox, and it is
41:45
a pitch. The red hot White Sox.
41:47
Mismatch here. Rogers against Smith, who is
41:50
awful for the White Sox. Wasn't either Opening day
41:52
starter, Yeah. Three dogs tonight.
41:55
Abbott, who's been very good against El Contra by.
41:57
The way Rogers I bet him to win the Cy Young.
42:00
Did you? I think I.
42:00
Got 40 to 1. I got him and Gary Cole.
42:03
All right, couple of good ones. I'm gonna take the Reds plus
42:06
1/26. I just think they're better than
42:08
the Marlins in a very good pitching matchup and like their
42:10
bullpen a whole lot more. I'm getting the Brewers plus
42:13
134. The eight and two Milwaukee.
42:15
Brewers, I know Crochet is on the bump forward, Boston still
42:18
Mizuroski's on the other side. And plus 134.
42:21
That's a price I can't say no to with the Brew Crew and a wrap it
42:24
up tonight. Guess who's pitching for the
42:25
Angels? I don't know.
42:27
Kikuchi. Is your guy.
42:29
He got rocked. His life plus 1/23 with the
42:33
Angels and Kikuchi. I jumped.
42:35
Off for quit Kikuchi. I can't.
42:37
Quit Kikuchi Angels plus 123 Brewers plus 134 Reds plus 1/26
42:43
Baltimore -143 and two draws in soccer.
42:47
I'm more anxious to see how your soccer.
42:49
I I am too right and and better than three to one.
42:52
I'm no, that's good. Yes.
42:53
Just at 1:00 tomorrow, Matt Rudy, long time golf writer,
42:57
joins us to preview the Masters. Of course, it's Wednesday.
43:00
That means Cappy will be here. Look forward to that at 1:00.
43:03
Coming up next off the bench, Sean Roberts, Lucas Strain until
43:07
5. Miller and Condon talk sports
43:09
with you Monday through Friday. Thanks for being with us.
43:12
We're on the air from noon until 2 on the Iowa Sports Radio
43:15
Network.