Latest / Cards & Categories / Ep. 122 : 2025 Bowman Draft Overview

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Ep. 122 : 2025 Bowman Draft Overview · Cards & Categories

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome everybody to episode one twenty two of
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Cards and Categories. I am Mike cool Ard from Rasball,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: joined as always by my very good friend Jeremy Brewer,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: also from ras Ball. It's the new year, It's twenty
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: twenty six. How you doing, buddy? Did you survive the holidays?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Survive the holidays? Little travel, a lot of family. Good
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: to be back though, because it's twenty twenty six, and
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: what that means baseball is this year. We're We're in
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the thick of it. We're almost ready. I how about you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: I got the you know, the fan fest coming up
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and things like that I look to attend. So it's
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: gonna be a fun next few months here rolling up
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: to the baseball season.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean it is just right
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: around the corner a few weeks. I mean, I've got
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a league that drafts down in Tampa. We attend to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: spring training game or two, and yeah, we're already discussing like, oh,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: it's kind of the sweet spot to buy buy your
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: tickets to get down to Florida for spring training. And yeah,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: we're gonna have pictures and catchers reporting just before we
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: know it. And the January fifteenth. Signing deadline is even
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: next week for a first batch of next you know,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: international dudes to analyze, which will be in Bowman Chrome.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Bowman Draft today as our main segment
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: because if you've maybe figured out the cadence here through
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the years of week as we've discussed the card sets,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Bowman Draft features a lot of the previous draft from
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the MLB players, which is being released on January fourteenth,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: which is why we're covering it here today. Bowman Chrome
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: will have your international signings, and then Bowman Regular in
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the spring will also have some from the previous draft.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: We'll get into that a little bit further when we
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: discuss Bowman Draft for our main segment, but before we
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: get there, we've got our standard news and notes kind
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: of rattle through and even with the holidays. Honestly, teams
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: were pretty nice to us. They were pretty mum over
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the holidays. But we had a few transactions here and
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: there that I think are gonna impact us on the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: fantasy side. Let's start with the biggest one, which just
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: went down this afternoon as it broke in pieces throughout
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the day. In the afternoon, we have Edward Cabrera from
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the Marlins starting pitcher, dealt to the Cubs in exchange
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: for a package that features own Casey, and so let's
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: focus here on Cabrera first. So he is I would say,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: an enigmatic pitcher for the Marlins before he came here
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: over to the Cardinals. He's already twenty seven, which kind
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of that happened fast, as he felt like he was
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: just like a twenty two year old just yesterday. But
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: has pitched now for five seasons in Miami. This past
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: one was certainly his best, with a three fifty three
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: ear over one hundred and thirty seven and two thirds
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: innings a nine point eight and the thing that really
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: helped him this year was he finally lowered that walk
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: rate down to a manageable three point one per nine.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Good ground ball rate at forty six forty seven percent
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: is usually where he's been hovering in the past few years.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: But if you're not familiar with Edward Cabrera or haven't
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: really watched him, it is electric stuff. It is high octane.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: It's like a ninety two mile an hour change up. Yes,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a changeup, but the problem with him has always been
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: kind of keeping that change up in the zone. If anything,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he's kind of like a Brian Bayo with the ability
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: to actually throw the ball hard, I think, and so
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: great pickup for the Cubs, should slot in as like
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: a number three ish starter for them, but always has
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: been an intriguing arm for fantasy because of that high
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: octane stuff. So what do you think about Carbrera landing
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: in Chicago?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's it's actually a better spot
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: for him, which is kind of funny to think about
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: because for years, like pitching in Miami, there was you know,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: more of a pitcher's park, but that park has played
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: a little bit more here friendly lately and Chicago's gone
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the other way.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I think there is a little bit of this cold
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: weather pitching, which is can be good and bad. Like
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: it really depends.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: On the player of how they adapt that.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Some guys just thrive in that because it's the hitters
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: tend to, you know, take a little bit to get
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: going in the cold.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: So that might be great for him.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I think overall, it's an upgrade from a ballpark perspective.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I think upge grade from a team perspective, which I
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: think is good.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: My only caution here is just Edward Kaber himself is
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a roller coaster, and you have
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: to know what you're signing up for. He had a
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: pretty good year last year, but even that there was
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: a there were some little warning signs and scary things.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: To your point, he had his best year from a
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: control perspective by far.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: He got a little bit lucky to.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: A degree with some of his home run pro ness
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: stepped back a little bit.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: And so, yeah, you just have know what you get into.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: He's probably a mid level starter, and I think this
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: is gonna give him a little boost to the tra
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: raft table. But I'd still get a guy I would
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: have a little bit of caution from, but generally an
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: up arrow for me.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too, And I think I mean
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I would be slotting him. Most of the projections have
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: him set as like a four er with nine and
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: a half K nine. I'll take the over on both
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: there that I think that the Cubs can unlock something
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: here for Cabrera and last year, I mean it wasn't
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: an otherworldly Babbitt put two ninety two, but he is
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: moving in front of a much better defense, especially up
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: the middle in Chicago, and so I think I will
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: take pretty much like what he did last year, copy
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and pasted and use that as the value. Maybe a
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: few ticks up on that three fifty three er, but
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I think he's a solid mid rotation option going into
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: next year. And if anything, you know me, I've always
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: been a big Edward Cabrera guy. So it's it's come
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: to a spot where I've settled into a much more
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: muted take than I think I was at back in
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty with Edward Carbrera.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: I think whatever your ranking is, just at ten spots
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: to it, I'll be right there. I think I will
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: not own any Edward bars in our leagues. I think
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: even though you've come back down to earth, I think
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: you're still a little higher than I am here. But again,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Edward Cabrera, he's a good, intriguing middle of the rotation.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Arm, especially that octane stuff.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm hopeful the Cubs they can lock something,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: but also not restently been their moo. It's been a
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: while since we've had a really like fantasy relevant Cub
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Cubs starter that I've really wanted to spend time with.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's true. Okay, let's look at the Marlin
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: side here as Christian Hernandez infielder and Edgar de Leone
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: a corner bat, go along with own Casey to Miami.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: We're not going to focus on them because Casey is
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the main piece going back to the Marlins, which I mean,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: people are really getting prospect fatigue on Casey. But he's
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: still only twenty two. He was a high school draftee
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: by the Padres back in twenty twenty, and I mean
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the so what's going on with Casey? Great? Great, I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: you know, a double digit walk rate everywhere he's been,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: but lots of swing and missing his game pretty much.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Twenty five plus percent I mean twenty seven plus percent
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: k rate everywhere he's been in the cub system. Great power,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: but has just never been able to break through for
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the Cubs. So this is a great time for him
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: to that team to capitalize on what he was offering.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Did get a small cup of coffee last year in
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: twelve games and put up a fifty six WRC plus
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and looked a little lost with the forty point seven
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: percent k rate, But you can't blame him for that
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: when you're only got twenty seven played appearances over twelve games.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: So currently is slotting into a starting outfield spot for
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: those Miami Marlins looks like a strong side platoon, most
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: likely with Berto Hernandez in right field. And I think
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: this is just what the doctor ordered if you had
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: owned Casey in a dynasty league. But I've never been
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: a huge Casey guy at like the long term, just
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: because I mean, I think I was when he was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: just starting out and you saw the gigantic power, But
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: as kind of time went on and you could see
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that it's a it's gonna be, I think, a struggle
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: for Casey to maintain enough contact to be able to
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: hang in the major leagues. But I think you can
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: see the pathway to him turning into something akin to
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: what Kyle Stowers put up last year, just because the
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Marlins at the major league level have been good at
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: hitting development somehow, and also putting somebody like Casey in
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: full run without having to look over his shoulder or
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to try to beat somebody out at another level might
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: also just give him some reprieve. So what do you
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: think Owen Casey can do for the Marlins in twenty
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: twenty six?
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: This either sometimes on this pod we disagree. There's other
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: times when we couldn't agree more. Because I'm sitting over
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: here with Kyle Stowers's Baseball Savat page pulled up as
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: my comp for Owen Casey here because if you look
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: at just the overall profile and the approach, the left
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: hand is the outfields for the mart like that is
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: a good company, even the approach. I compare the prospects
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: of on page for in Casey to Kyle Stowers.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: It's almost identical.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: They are hard hitting guys that have high X of velocity,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: high batspeed, all these things, and they take the walks,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: but they strike out a lot. They whif they chase,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: they do all those kind of things as well. They're
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: gonna be up and down. It is very, very similar.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And so I think that, if anything, that should give
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: us a little bit of an intrigue here with Casey,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: because Stowers was kind of in that same spot where
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: like down in the prospect wasn't seeming to get the
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: playing time. They brought him over, gave him the run,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: gave him, you know, a tweak or two, and he
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: was off the races. And they take another guy with
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: like the identical profile. Why wouldn't it work again? And
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: so I actually think it's a very intriguing to see
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: what he does and if he can get a full
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: run here. I'm not too concerned, maybeven from a platoon perspective,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: I think he's a guy that he's not gonna steal basis.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Let's be very clear, he has some soulen bases in
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: his mind league past. But you know, let's let's count
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: like three over entire season, like that's that's what you're
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: gonna get. But you know, I think a two sixty
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: to two seventy bat with twenty to twenty five homers
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: is within within reason here.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think it's it's gonna be a
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: great dart throw. I think if you're able to to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: pick him up for pretty cheap in your in your drafts,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: just because I think I'm right on on board with
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: you there. That Like the nice thing too, is like
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: if it falls apart and he can't put it together,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you'll know right away and the Marlins will shuttle him
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: back to Triple A to be able to get the
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: seasoning and the coaching that they want. Because the Marlins
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: are looking for the long run here casey is twenty two.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, they might even be looking at him
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: to replace Kyle Stowers because Tours is already twenty eight
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: and he's gonna be very rapidly approaching just like his
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: his peak and not be useful to the Marlins probably
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: in a couple of years, so Casey could step right in.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, I think this is going to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: be a fun profile to watch. It's not obviously a
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: great park situation, but the depth charts for roster resource
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: have Casey slotted in the seven hole right now. It's
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: not I mean, it's a solid lineup compared to what
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: we've seen in Miami over the past couple of years,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: but it's not other world that you could definitely see
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Casey moving up in that lineup if he does show
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: up and is able to get on base enough and hit,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: you know, for twenty five ish homer power. So I
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: like this this spot for Casey overall. All right, let's
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: move on to some signings now, and we've got a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: couple of those Japanese stars that we've been talking about
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: all winter that have gone out there and signed contracts now.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: So the first one we will start in Houston with
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Tatsuya my signing a three year deal with the astros.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: But honestly, in all reality, it's a one year deal
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: because it's got two opt outs, and if he might
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: pitches well in Houston, he is immediately taking that op out.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: As it looks like this is a little bit like
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the Munataka Murakami route that Emi is taking, where maybe
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: not the biggest deal that he had on the table,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: but it was a short enough, proven deal where Imai
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: felt comfortable enough in his talent to be able to
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: sign this deal with Houston, prove what he can do,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: and then maybe very quickly hit the free agent market again.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And so if you're not familiar with Tatsuya Imai, you
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: should certainly go back to the episodes where we discussed
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the Japanese players coming over.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Let me see when exactly that was.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I believe it was at the end of the year,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and so I will link to it in the show notes.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: We don't need to find it live on the podcast,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: but it is. It's an intriguing profile, I think because
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: he isn't necessarily the biggest guy. He's around like five
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: foot eleven is his listed height, but he is stock
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: stocky like I've been seeing, He's been showing up in
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: all sorts of like Houston events. Recently, he was at
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: like a Texans game, he was at a Rockets game
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and you can see he's he's swollen, like he's yoked,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and he throws hard like ninety five ninety six. He
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was the hardest thrower in Japan before coming over. I
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: love this landing spot in Houston forum where he should
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: be probably the number two starter, I believe, behind Hunter Brown,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: and they're going to ride him until his arm falls
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: off given the contract that they've got and they need
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: him in Houston. So what do you think about about
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Tatsuya am I joining the Astros and what twenty twenty
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: six could look for him.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm thrilled. I'm absolutely tickled with this signing.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: First of all, Tasio Ima I like he he is,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: he has got personality.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: He's coming over.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you've seen some of the clips
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: from his season this this summer over in Japan, he
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: had a game where he faced Trevor Bauer, and I
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: think he after one of the strikeouts, he did his
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: little Trevor Bauer's sword like pose on the mound while
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: staring at the dugout at Bauer, and then he proceeded
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: to strike out with seventeen guys in that game.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I'm like, in the guy's got mocked. He's got he's got.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: It, and he has the stuff to back it up,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Like he has everything that we've kind of talked about
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: when we look for in a picture. The control's really
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: improved the last few years. He's got strikeout stuff. He
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: throws hard, which is not typical the typical thing from
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: a guy come over Japan, so that's is unique. And
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: he's just really really improved and he's literally hitting his
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: prime right now.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: And I outside of maybe one or.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Two organizations and that might be stretching it. I don't
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: know there's a better landing spot for a maturing picture
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: that was looking for tweaks to break into the majors
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: than Houston, who really seemed to unlock the best from
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: like pictures that are already at their peak, where he
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: might go to a different organization like you know, Cleveland
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: or something like that, or Tampa that kind of see
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to take guys that are coming up and they really
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: get the most out of them and develop them well. Houston,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: to me is kind of the on the premier team
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: to uh take you to the next level when you're
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: already doing fantastic. So I'm I'm high and my I'm
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: gonna own a lot of shairs of them because I
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: think people are gonna be a little scared off because
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: the contract values for these Japanese players coming over came
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: in lower than expected. His actually came in pretty pretty close.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: They will be trade rumors. I think was like right
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: on what his uh actually with us as Akamotives was
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: gonna be EMI as they thought it was gonna be
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: way more.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think I think you get a little
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: you might get a little discount at the draft because
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, like they didn't get they want
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: teams sour them. I think it's he he's got high
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: confidence and he's going to go and show it.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: So I'm in I'm fully in here.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: So Steamer currently has em I set for a or
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: projected for a four thirty seven ERA and a one
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: thirty nine whip over one hundred and fifty three innings
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: with an eight and a half K nine. I'm taking
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: the over on all of that in terms of being good.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Like being better.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm hearing it from you, t right.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I mean I'm looking mid threes e ra A. I'm
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: looking a single kp nine, probably nine kper nine. I
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: agree with a little bit of the regression in the
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: walk rate that that's that's fine. And then you know,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: from a whip perspective, one three nine, he hasn't had
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: that five years like that. I think that's a one
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: one one seven is where I'm gonna land.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, yeah, I and I think you're a little
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: bit more bullish than I am. But I mean I
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: think it's probably somewhere in like a three eight one
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: one ish one fifteen whip, and I think that the
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: k rate is probably dead on like the eight and
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a half k. Yeah, but I mean that's a very
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: very formidable starting pitcher right there. You're looking, uh, I mean,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: this could be our new Sonny Gray.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Yep, hey, Edward Cabrera, that's you. You my oh like
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: a coin flip, yeap, coin flip. You already know my answer, okay, yeah, yeah,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: you had the pause. I there was no pause for me.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it is. It is closer than I mean,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: just because like Cabrera just showed what we want EMI
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to do essentially last year, and so it's a little
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: bit of like they're both twenty seven, and so it
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: is close for me, but I would rather have Emai
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: because I'm worried about that walk rate creeping back up
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: for Cabrera, because we've seen bad Cabrera in the major
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: leagues as well a few times. Yes, okay, we hinted
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: at it. But the next signing we have is Japanese
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: infielder Kazuma Okamoto signing with the Blue Jays. And he
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: got the biggest contract of those big of those guys
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: from Japan, coming over at four years sixty million, slats
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in right away as the starting third baseman for your
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: defending AL champion Toronto Blue Jays. Who, I mean, what
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: an off season, what a great off season. Honestly, they're
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: in the mix right now. They're on yeah, yeah they
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: if they haul in Kyle Tucker, like that's it's gonna
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: be quite a formidable team going into next year. And
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Okamoto it's coming off a year in Japan in which
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: he hit three twenty seven, four, sixteen, five ninety eight
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and as you can maybe tell there with the I mean,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the ISO was two seventy one in a very low
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: offensive environment in Japan, but it was fifteen homers in
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: sixty nine games and it was a two ten WRC
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: plus for him. He's going to be going into his
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: age thirty season. I did not see the projections before this,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: but they are very rosy from Steamer. You're looking at
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a one thirteen WRC plus. The bat has him f
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: for a one to fourteen. The bats projecting twenty seven
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: bombs for Okamoto next year, and along with that pretty
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: good counting stats. Because if you're on that Blue Jays squad,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: which is gonna be a pretty good offense, Okamoto might
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: be the savior that we need to really lift all
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: tides at third base because it was looking like a
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: pretty weak position overall. What do you think about Okamoda?
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Do you do you have enough trust in a twelve
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: teamer making him your starting third basement for twenty twenty six?
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I think I do.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: It's it back in back into that third base probably
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: crop overall, but I really do, and I think, you know,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: the positive projections here is he's just the most mature
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: hitter that you know when you look at it, he
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: he's been consistent, he's got a good eye, He's hit
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: for power every every year that he's been over there.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: In the professional leagues, and so there's not really been
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: a down year for him, and so, like, the only
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: thing I'd probably disagree with in the projections is they
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: had him have like him from between a two thirty
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: two thirty five to two fifty batting average, and I
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: think you're probably looking at two sixty five is probably
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: what where I would be at. And so I mean,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: if you look back and say a two sixty five
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: or twenty five bombs in a stacked Blue Jays lineup,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: that I think that's what you're looking at here. And
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: so I think that, Yeah, he's definitely in that starting
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: third base conversation.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. I think I'm actually a
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: little bit lower in the power maybe two, but like
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: maybe even higher on the average, Like I could see
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: something more like a two seventy with like eighteen to
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: twenty homers, But that's gonna play all day at third
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: base and corner infields. So a little bit maybe of
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: a different mix from us. But honestly, it's gonna we
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: punch it into an auction calculator, We're probably.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: It's gonna come out the same. It's gonna come out
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: the same.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think I'm right there with you. Given
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: what we're looking at third base, I'm okay with leaving
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: a draft in a twelve teamer with Okamoto being my
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: starting third base winner. CI okay. We've got some picture
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: signings now to focus on, and none of these are
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: from foreign lands. They are all going to be MLB
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: players signing in new destinations. First one we've got is
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Tyler Mally, right hander, signing with the San Francisco Giants
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: on a one year contract, coming off of a mixed
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: bag of a year. It was great from a performance
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: when he was on the mound, but that is obviously
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: always the caveat for Tyler Molly, which he put up.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Who put up a two eighteen RA over eighty six
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: and two thirds innings, not really much in the strikeout department,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: less than seven K nine, and the FIP was more
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: than a whole run better than or worse than his
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: RA at a three thirty seven if you look at
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: x fips four forty three. Some of that, too, is
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: driven by the Globe Life Park is an incredible pitchers park.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It really fueled the Nathan Yovaldi resurgence last year too,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and it feeled a lot of this Tyler Mollley work too,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: but he landed in San Francisco. This is a boon
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: for me, as on my AUTNO team, I had Tyler
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Molly squarely on the cut list for leaving my squad.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: But as soon as I saw he was going to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: San Francisco, I saw him right back into my roster
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: because at least, like especially in a daily league, you're
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: using every start in San Francisco for Tyler Molly.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Right, yeah, I think so.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I mean I'm a little lukewarm on him, Like a
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: few years ago, I actually was really really interested.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: The injury history is.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Is tough, and he did have a lot of luck
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: last year coming in that he his x FIP was
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: four to four as x CIRA was four two. You know,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: it wasn't that quint of that two eighteen. But you're
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: gonna over or underperform, over perform better than uh in
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: those those those environments. So I'm watching him a little more.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: I think back into the rotation stuff, like it just
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: depends on if he stays healthy, because I do think
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: he's better than a seven Kpro nine guy. I think
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: he's much better than that. But I think he also
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: just has to stay healthy. So I'm a little bit
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: more watch mode but intrigued than somebody that's fully bought in,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: because I think we are looking at a guy that's
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: closer tofore four oh e ra a closer to seven
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and a half Caper nine.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I think we're actually on
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: the same page. I'm not starting him ever on the road,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: but like, yeah, if you're in a daily league, I
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: love Tyler Molly for that situation in a weekly league
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and you have to depend on him maybe last last
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: starter on my roster, but you know, it's gonna be
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: a very matchup based as we proceed throughout twenty twenty six.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: He's gonna be one of those enigmatic guys who's like
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: a streamer for and against. Like you're gonna stream against
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: him in Colorado and for him it's in Francisco.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: It's gonna be really odd.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: It is gonna be pretty odd. I think another guy
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that might be in that boat is The next signee
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: that we have is Zach Efflin, who re signed with
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the Orioles on honestly the exact same deal that Molly
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: got with San Francisco one year, ten million dollars, a
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: rough year for Zach Efflyn A five ninety three ERA
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: over seventy one and a third is he just wasn't healthy,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: And I've read some reporting around him signing this deal
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: too that Honestly, Zach Efln, it sounds like he's been
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: dealing with a back injury for a few years and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: it just really got to be insurmountable in twenty twenty five.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Looks like most of the projections have him returning to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: some midpoint between twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: which the twenty twenty four work was pretty solid three
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: p fifty nine ERA over one hundred and sixty five
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and a third innings split between the Rays and the Orioles.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: But I believe he was bad. Oh No, he was
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the other way around. He was good with the Rays
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: or good with the Orioles, bad with the Rays that year.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So it's been a little bit of a mixed bag
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: with his tenure with Baltimore. Orioles slots him in the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: back end of that rotation there. What do you think
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: about Zach Eflin for twenty twenty six.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're talking replacement level starter right now,
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: is what I'm looking at with Eflyn. I think he
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: has a little bit more upside than somebody like Tyler
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Molly or something like that. But he's he's been dealing
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: with injuries. His stuff's kind of come and gone, and
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: so I think there's a lot higher variability we're looking
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: at here. So I'm treating and replacement level the flyer
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: type of guy, but I'm not really investing heavily in him.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too. It is certainly a guy
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: that I'm gonna watch a lot, like the way that
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: he throws in spring and going into his first few
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: starts because because of that back injury, I mean you
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: can almost see it in his numbers that like twenty
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: twenty three was like cy young worthy. I think he
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: even finished maybe top five in the voting that year,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: a three and a half RA over seventy seven and
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: two thirds innings. But if you also scroll down his
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Fangrass page and just look at his stuff plus metrics,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: they've never been anywhere as good as they were back
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. So if you start seeing stuff
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: metrics coming back on Zach Efflin early in twenty twenty
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: six that are getting closer to the twenty twenty three numbers,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I would move pretty quickly to pick him up. He's
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: only thirty one, and if he's over that back injury
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and feeling good, you're looking at a guy who could
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: give you a high three zer with you know, like
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: eight K nine and just be like that solid mid
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: rotation piece. So somebody that I'm not chasing in the drafts,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: but somebody I am watching very closely throughout twenty twenty six. Okay,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: we've got a trio of relievers to run through now,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: so let's go back to Miami where the biggest one
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: signed there. We have a one year deal for Pete Fairbanks,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: who signed there after, especially because over the holidays too,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: we had Ronnie Henriquez go down with elbow surgery and
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: he's gonna be out all of twenty twenty six, maybe
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: even to twenty twenty seven. That created the need for
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Pete Fairbanks. And honestly, this is exactly the type of
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: signing the Marlins working for because they're on the precipice
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of getting into that wildcard chatter. But if things go awry,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: they can easily move Pete Fairbanks at the deadline for anything,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: because everybody will want a reliever like Pete Fairbanks, even
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: though he's not coming off of the best season. It
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: was a two eighty three era over sixteen a third innings,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: which was his career high in terms of innings, but
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the k rate, which used to be thirteen and a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: half back in twenty twenty three, has settled into the
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: upper eights, and he's just been kind of mercrucial, I
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: would say, in terms of what you're gonna get day in,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: day out performance wise from Pete Fairbanks, you don't know
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: if he was gonna blow it or if he's just
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: gonna go through up three down when he got a
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: save opportunity. So has been a pretty steady source of saves,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: even in a bullpen in Tampa where they do lots
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: of mix and matching, averaging around twenty five saves the
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: past three years. What do you think about Pete Fairbanks
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: joining the Marlins and kind of where are you slotting
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: him in in your overall closer ish rankings, Because what
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: does make it easy for Fairbanks is we know he's
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: gonna get saves with the Marlins, Right, Yeah, I mean I.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Like this for Fairbanks, Like you're right, he's not like
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: lockdown closer. He's not you know, the top five guys.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: He's not a Mason Miller. He's not you know, Johan
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Duran or anything like that. But he's got good stuff,
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: he really does. He's gonna be in a lot of
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: close games and he has that role unquestionably. And so
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: for me, like I, I'd probably put him right at
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the back of the top ten, maybe eight to thirteen closer.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: I don't have my rankings in front of me, but
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: that's probably where he feels like he belongs because he
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: has that solid job. But there are a few question marks.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: He feels a little Jason Iszrenhousing esque, if you may,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: at times. And so, yeah, he's a guy that you
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: don't look at it and go, yeah, he's going to one
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: hundred percent be the closure all year. I'm more of
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: a ninety percent he's gonna be the closure all year.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: And there's a little trade risk in there as well.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: But I like Fairbanks, I would be one hundred percent
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: comfortable drafting him as a back number one closer or
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: a high and number two.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yep, I think I'm right there with you. Before we
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: get into our next one, we do have some sort
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: of breaking news as I'm on the roster. Resource page
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: for the team that made the next sign, the Los
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Angeles Angels. They claimed our boy Way Meckler.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Oh I missed that, so all.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Of you Baseball card Wade Meckler freaks out there. He
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: is on the Angels, which means he's he's actually slated
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to be their starting center field for froster resource, so
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: we might get to see lots of meal time.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Is this team not just the funniest team in the
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: world right now?
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Like I like, I'm not sure, like what in the
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: world the Colorado Rockies are doing? And uh with the
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Angels because it feels like the kind of magement style there,
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: but it's like, let me just figure out what I
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: can pull into this team and throw it to a
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: wall and see what sticks.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Like this is entertaining.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I don't know what they're doing either.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: It's like it's not even close to competing, but they're
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: acting like they are, as they've shown with this recent
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: signing of bringing in Kirby Yates on a one year deal,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: and it was a very injured riddled season for Kirby Yates.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: It felt like he was never healthy and he was
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: part of the reason why that Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: really struggled to come together until the playoffs, coming off
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: of a forty one in a third innings with a
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: five to two three e RA great strikeout right though eleven
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: point three K nine, but just got eaten alive by
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the luck gods. A sixty nine point one percent left
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: on Baits percentage is not something you want to see
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: and gave up almost two homers per nine. I mean,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: if you look back at twenty twenty four, Kirby Yates
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: was a revelation at a one to seventeen year RA
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: sixty one and two thirds with thirty three saves for
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the Rangers, where just was a closer out of nowhere. Honestly,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: he's my odds on favorite to be the closer in
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the Angels just because they currently have him in a
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: three way like hydra of awfulness in the back end
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: of that bullpen with Robert Stevenson, who I mean, I'll
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: believe it when I see it when he gets back
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: on the mound, Drew Pomerantz, who is not a closer
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: like you'll pick up saves here and there. They don't
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: even have Jordan Romano in that mix on roster resource
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: because they know better than that, So I think Yates
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: is part probably the odds on favorite for the majority
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: of saves for the Angels if he is healthy. Are
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: you there too? And because of that, are you actually
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: going to be drafting Kirby Yates?
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna zig where you're zagging here. For first of all,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know the last time I saw roster resource
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: have three closures on a team.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: There's just as confused as everyone tell.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Us, like Chicago White Sox all season pretty much.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Okay, well that's fair.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: I just feel that Jordan Romano really should feel slighted
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: right now because he does not make the mix. But
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: I actually think Robert Stevenson is the guy. I think
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: he is the I mean Kirby Yates is. I mean
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: he's thirty eight going on thirty nine. Uh, Drew Palmer
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: on thirty seven, you know, being being the lefty and
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: up and down. I don't think they want him necessarily
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: in the ninth like. I think he's gonna be more
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: situational to used because there's only two lefties in that bullpen,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: and Stevenson did pitch well at the end of the
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: season and the few games that he got into. I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: think he's the best arm, and I think he's got
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: the best I'll call it trade value later in the
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: season when you look to flip him because there's a
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: little youth there, things like that. So I think I'm
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: we'll put this a way. If you ask me any
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: of these guys, I'm taking the field, Like, do you
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: think kurbyates it, I'm taking the field if you think
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Steven's I'm taking the field because I think we're gonna have, like,
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: first of all, not many saves, and I don't know
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: that you can trust any of these guys, but I
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: think you're gonna pay for Yates because I think people
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: are gonna expect them to be the closer. I think
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: at the end of the season, Stevens and the Yates
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: have very similar save totals, and I think Stevens dinna
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: cost you pennies pennies on the dollar compared to Yates.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: So I'm zigging a little bit there, heads you, Mike,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: because I think I like the younger what I'd argue
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: is more talented arm at this point in their career. Yeah,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I'm also taking the injury risk.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think I'm okay with Kirby
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Yates is like a second or third closer, very very
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: price dependent though, Like I want to see what the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: rest of the draft room is looking at him. Not
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: paying much in terms of auction dollars for him, but
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I do think he's the odds on favorite to walk
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: away twenty five staves there. So yeah, look at us
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: disagreeing more than once on this pod tonight.
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: Ooh happens.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, we have one blast reliever signing that also could
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: walk away a decent amount of saves. We're talking Hunter
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Harvey signing with the Chicago Cubs going back to the
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: North side there. I mean, Daniel Palencia looks like he's
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: going to be locked in as the closer to open
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the season. Phil Mayton's also in the mix there too,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: but Palencia was battling a shoulder injury at the end
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: of last year, and Phil Mayton was really not good
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: when he left the Cardinals and went to the Rangers.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: That things degraded on him pretty quickly. Hunter Harvey is turning.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I mean he's going to be way older than I expect. Yeah,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: thirty one, so he's going to be turning. He actually
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: just turned thirty one about a month ago, so he's
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: been around for a long long time. It feels like
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: because of just the arm that he was of note
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: coming through that Baltimore system only through ten and two
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: thirds innings last year and didn't give up a run
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: with the Royals as he was working his way back
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: from Tiny John surgery. But all of the metrics for
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: some reason, the dashboard that I have on Fangrass isn't
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: working for him. But the stuff was not quite up
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to where the part where he was at before he
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: went down with the injury. Obviously was still working his
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: way back, but when he's been on the mound, he's
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: been an electric reliever and certainly somebody who's been in
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: the mix for saves here and there over his career.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: So what do you think here about Hunter Harvey? Do
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: you think there is actually a chance in a pathway
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: for him to become the closer for the Cubs or
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: is it more of a you're feeling good about Polencia
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: and Mayton and Hunter Harvey is more of a Savesholtz
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: kind of guy.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: I think this is a lot closer to the Angels
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: bullpen than people realize, and like, if you want to
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: make the comparison there yet Palencia, who I've just I'm
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: not quite sure.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: I think there's an injury.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Risk type thing, and he did a little come out
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: of nowhere to a degree, like I'm not sure how
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: much that that's gonna hold up. Mayton is like the
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: solid guy but not flashy, and so that's kind of
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: the guy you want to put in uh maybe a
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: few innings earlier fireman situation.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: So he's my Pomerance. Palencia is my my.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: Yates, and I think that Harvey's is my Stevenson. His
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: stuff looks really good. It you know, it popped last year.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: When he's been on the mound and healthy, it's been
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: great again. We're also talking about two guys that both
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: pitched ten innings to finished the year last year and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: looked pretty good. So I think he has maybe a
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: sketchier path to get to the saves, but I think
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: it's actually relatively reasonable for a number of reasons that
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: I think he's probably the second in line for saves.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: And I think Palencia, like.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: I, I wouldn't be shocked for if a guy like
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: that that had injury issues into the year that he
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: goes through spring training and we're seeing issues and he's
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: not quite healthy. Like, so I like Harvey as the
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: dart throw here and I think he's incredibly cheap and
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: if you're wrong, move on.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think I do like Poalencia
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: a lot, but it was the most innings he's ever
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: thrown last year since twenty twenty two. It looks like
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: and yeah, I mean, I think if you're taking Palencia,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Harvey is a great handcuff to pick up late in
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: the end of your draft that I think they would
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: rather go with Harvey over Mayton because the way the
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Cubs I think will use Mayton is a lot in
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: that kind of like Chris Martin Brad Keller role where
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: he's just in all the high leverage situations and throws
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: at seventy five.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: To eighty innings for the Cubs and he's gonna be
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: great at like he absolutely will.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, that's going to wrap us up for our transactions.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: We do have a few bits of card news, mostly
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: because I wanted to bring it to everybody's attention. This
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: caught my eye when I was over the holidays and
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: surfing the Reddit webs There's nothing funnier than your buddies
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: humbling you as as a grown man, and certainly Logan
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Henderson had that happened to him because he did a
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: little bit of a gift exchange with his buddies and
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: they gave him for the holidays a gem meant ten
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: psa graded O'Neal Cruz tops Now card where it is
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: celebrating O'Neal Cruse hitting the hardest ball ever recorded in
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: the stack cast area at one hundred and twenty two
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: zero point nine miles pern hour, which I remember seeing
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: this and it was just incredible. It was because I
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: believe it was in like a very consequential series where
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: you also had like schemes of miss Erowski like going
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: head to head against each other during that time. But
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: he at absolutely lasered this ball, and who he lasered off,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: which is where the gift ties into being going to
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Logan Henderson. It was Logan Henderson himself, which is absolutely hilarious.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Go into those show notes, look at this Reddit post
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: because his bros in the background too are just like
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: first of all, one of them I think is wearing
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: a double polo, which I have never I have not
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: seen since our college days back in the early aughts.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: So I owe that trend is not coming back the
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: way that like the baggy Jinko jeans did, because there's
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: some trends that should have been left for dead, and
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: double polos is one of them. But what a humbling experience,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: right that if you had a buddy like this, you've
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: got to do it right.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: This is this is absolutely the way your friends should
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: treat you. Keep you humble as a major leaguer. You're
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: up there, you're expecting to make millions of dollars, you're
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: on the big stage. They and you know, these are
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: his ball teammates from back in the day that like
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: it was the guy that was like the crafty left
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: either through like fifty in high school. You know, that's
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: what that guy in the back ground of the double
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: colored shirt is. You know, it's it's that And they're like,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: stay humble, you're good, but you're not that good.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: You still give all bombs exactly.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: So that is that's great. I thought people would enjoy that,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: So click on that in the show notes to check
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: it out. The other bit of baseball card news we
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: have before we get into the calendar for releases is
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: we did this week have the release of what the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: Hobby box is going to look like for twenty twenty
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: six TOP Series one, and traditionally most of the flagship
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: releases just have one player featured on them, but because
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: it is the seventy fifth year year of TOPS coming up,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: they're gonna go big or go home. It looks like
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: because they put four all time legends on the front
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of this baseball card box. You've got Otani and Judge
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: and they are joined by Hank Aaron and Ken Griffy
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Junior with a big old Top seventy five logo in
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: the middle of it. It really reminds me a lot
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: of what like TOPS pushed out out back in two
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: thousand and one with the fiftieth anniversary sets, which also
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: gave us two of the great modern rookie cards between
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: each Row and Albert Poohols on that design. So I'm
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: this is getting me like, even though it's just a
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: little bit of like a box with the rendering of
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: these pictures on it, it's getting me pretty jazz for
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six TOPS flagship because if it's anything like
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the fiftieth year anniversary release was, there's gonna be all
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: sorts of goodies I think buried throughout these sets, and
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna have to see what the design
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: looks like, because that's gonna be the ultimate kind of
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: like what's gonna dictate how much of this set I'm
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: gonna buy. But you're hoping for the seventy fifth anniversary,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: They're not gonna screw this up at Tops.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: I'm not.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: I'm really hoping they don't because they have a huge
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: opportunity here because one of the most collected sets of
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: Tops in the last like fifteen years was twenty eleven
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Diamond Anniversary. And Diamond Anniversary is either your sixtieth or
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: your seventy fifth, depends on the definitions you go by
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: in Hallmark who you trust. And so I am sitting
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: here going if you miss this opportunity to go back
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: to an iconic set which had iconic rookies. You were
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: talking big names, Freddy Freeman, Mike Trout, guys like that,
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: and you don't do something to harken back to that
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: and just deliver this iconic set that just blew people
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: away and people today still collect and collate and things
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: like that, you have missed the mark. So I'm telling
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: you now, Tops, you should be listening. This is your
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: chance and I'm going to be disappointing for anything less.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, we'll try to get that message to them,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: because I guarantee you twenty twenty six Series one is
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: already on the printing presses. It's been in the works
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: for months. But yeah, I am looking forward to it,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: especially just kind of I mean, we'll get into it
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: a little bit with Bowman Draft. It does feel like
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: the back half of the calendar for twenty twenty five
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: has been relatively disappointing between design and price and attainability,
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: and so I'm really looking forward to the refresh of
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: getting a top series one back in our hands so
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: that like we can get back into ripping and collecting
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit more because I've been on a little
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: bit of like a break just because it hasn't been
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: as joyful or as you know, I'm not even looking
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: to profit from it. I'm just looking to not feel
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: like I burnt my money on fire. That like, let's
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: get back to that Tops, all right, Well, you can
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: get into those show notes and check out the show
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: the set release calendar, because we don't have too many changes.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: The biggest one since our last episode was we're speaking
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: today on the release of twenty twenty five TOPS Allen
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: and Ginter X, which is a little bit more of
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: like a I would say niche little set, because essentially
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: you're looking at just regular Allen and Ginter and what
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: they do is they turn the backgrounds black for the
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: most part, and it is it's not exactly like the
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: most popular card set, but people love Alan Ginter certainly
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: love it, and if you're chasing any of the rookies
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: are kind of other celebrities in there, you're out there
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: looking for it. Otherwise we I supposedly Pinnini Select released
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: this week finally, I haven't seen it anywhere, but it
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: is supposedly on shelves and hit on one to sixth.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Also that came out today. We had TOPS twenty twenty
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: five Chrome Update Sapphire. We have next week on the
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: fourteenth Bowman Draft, which is why we're talking.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: About it today.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: On the sixteenth, next Friday. I guess I should also
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: say we're talking on the seventh, January seventh, so you
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: could probably figure that out from the dates I'm rattling off.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: But TOPS Museum Collection coming out on January sixteenth, and
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: on February eleventh, TOPS MLB MVP collection from twenty twenty five,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: and that really it's a limited calendar compared to what
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: we were looking at throughout December and November obviously, but
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: it's all in anticipation because I think right after two eleven,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: you're probably gonna get twenty twenty six Series one on
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: that schedule here pretty soon, so check that out in
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: the show notes. Also get in those show notes to
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: be preparing for Bowman Draft so you can see some
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: of the cards that we're going to be talking about.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: We're going to take a short break and talk about
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Bowman Draft on the other end. All right, Welcome back everybody.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: We're just going to dive right into the release of
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five Bowman Draft, which is hitting shelves mostly
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: in hobby shops on January fourteenth. But you might be
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: able to find some of the megaboxes out in the
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: retail environment too. That's really what you're looking at here
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: for Bowman Draft. You've got the megaboxes, the hobby boxes,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: and the Jumbo boxes, and they are very very expensive.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna caveat that right off the bat, because
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: I've never ripped any Bowman Draft, have you actually ever
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: ripped any Bowman Draft in your lifetime.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: I think I've done a break or two on draft,
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: but I've never actually ripped myself.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it is a very tough product to get
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: your hands on because especially since the boom of Baseball
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: cards or reboom of Baseball cards since COVID in twenty twenty,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Bowman Draft has especially become like the hottest set to
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: get your hands on just because of the volume of
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Bowman firsts within it. And if you're not familiar with
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: what Bowman Draft is, I mean it's right in the name,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: it's draft. So they're focusing on the previous or the
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: current years like draft crop. So usually this comes out
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: a little bit earlier than this, I would say usually
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: it's in like de Ember ish time, so it's a
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: little bit delayed, but not too bad for twenty twenty
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: five Bowman Draft.
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: Here.
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: What they also do is they focus on kind of
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: splitting the draft class a little bit so they have
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a leftover going into the next
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: year and just the normal Bowman release, Because in the
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: normal Bowman release, what they'll do is put first of
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: whoever wasn't in Bowman Draft as well as some of
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: the pop up like Dominican prospects and some of the
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: other J fifteen signings that happened the previous year, while
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Bowen Chrome will especially focus on the big time JA
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: fifteen signings. So if you're the one that I can
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: really recall, especially from twenty twenty four, was Leo Dallas
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: Devreese being in Bowman Chrome twenty twenty four. So with
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: Bowman Draft twenty twenty five, you always get the number
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: one pick, so we have Eli Willets in this set
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: to chase the A little bit of the change I
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: would say is that compared to the other years where
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: we've been potting and talking about this, usually the number
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: two pick gets delayed to Bowman the next year. Not
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: this year, because the Angels went and did their own thing,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: taking Tyler Bremner with the second pick, and he is
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: not big enough to carry his own product. Ethan Holliday
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: is the one that got pushed to twenty twenty six
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: bowmen out of the big draft class, which we can
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: maybe even save that discussion a little bit for twenty
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: twenty six bowmen because it'll be interesting to see how
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: that plays. Because the other thing I figured we could
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: dovetail in here. Nicely is investing in Bowman draft cards.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Obviously they're going to be hot around release day on
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: January fourteenth and a couple of weeks after, but you
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: can start picking them up at shows, you know, especially
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the bass chromes, and then start trying to find guys
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: who people haven't heard about to be able to invest
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: in with that. That shit parallels with Nicely is first
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: year player drafts and investing in your dynasty's squads out there.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: So I think a lot of like what we're going
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: to cover on the specific chase cards can be copied
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: from baseball car collecting and first year player drafts and
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: so pretty good kind of overall baseball discussion over here.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: What stands out to you here in the release of
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five Bowman Draft maybe compared to other Bowman
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: drafts you've seen, or any of the other releases from
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five that we've discussed over the year.
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you kind of hinted that, but I'm
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: gonna double down on it. As far as like the
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: players in this you have the top three draft picks,
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: and I think there's U and there's you probably have.
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: I'd say the top three or four.
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: I think they go with four guys that are likely
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: to meet reach the majors next year, and they're probably
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: all pitchers between Kate Anderson, Tyler Bremner, Liam Doyle, and
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: I I'm forgetting what Jamie Arnold and so all of
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: those guys have a chance to be big college arms
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: that make it early. So they kind of had to
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: put him in this product so that there's not a
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: weird risk that they somehow break camp and then they're
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: the f first moment art is not out before they're
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: actually in the majors. So I think that's something that's
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: kind of unique this this year with these guys. I
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: probably won't go too much to the pricing. That's also
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: unique this year. It's going up again and it's very expensive,
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: so we can we can stay away from from that.
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: And then I think that it's also you've got a
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: pretty I think that the the class is pretty there's
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: it's short on top end talent, and so I think
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: that's going to force a lot of folks to be
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: chasing a lot of the first rounders and the prep
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: players because a lot of the prep players, and I
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: think as we've we're talking before the pod, there's like
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: a just glut of like middle infield prep players. Who
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: knows what those guys will all end up. And they're
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: you know, four or five years from the majors at times,
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: but I think a lot of those guys are going
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: to be really sought after, and so it's like, are
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: you chasing the guy that might be the majors next
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: year from a pitchy perspective, or are you playing the
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: long game with a high upside prep prep bat. I
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: think that's gonna be really interesting to watch from an
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: investment perspective and even just from a fancy perspective.
• 50:09
  Speaker 3: So I think those are the big things that stick
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: out to me.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: I always do enjoy drafts, I said, for whatever reason,
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: I like it better than just regular bowman. Maybe it's
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: just because the recency of the draft. You haven't and
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: they don't have, you know, really any time at the
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: higher levels or any of the levels of the miners,
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: and so you're still dreaming.
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: You're still dreaming on these guys.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean I love finding them in
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: dollar boxes and value boxes, mostly because it's so hard
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: to get your hands on the actual product to rip
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: yourself that like, it's impossible to ever buy it, to
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: be able to stash it. I mean, you can find it,
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: but to do it reasonably is not possible. Because we're
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: looking at I mean on the Top's website when they
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: did the pre orders of Bowman Draft, we're looking at
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: a megabox at sixty dollars, a hobby box in which
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: you're getting one graph I believe, let me check though. Nope,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: never mind three autos. You're getting three autos at five
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: point twenty at a jumbo was going for seven forty
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: for five autos. That is absurd, especially when you're talking
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: about guys who may and your baseball card hobby dollars
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: investing in pitching. So it's a it's a it's a
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: tough product. I think this year comparatively and honestly, on
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the secondary market, it's gotten worse. I'm looking at eBay
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: right now. You can't get a reputable jumbo box for
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: less than nine hundred bucks. There is one at the top.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: I am very intrigued by it in who's selling it,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: because there's one right at the top. A Jumbo hobby
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: box factory sealed six hundred and thirty nine dollars from
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: this guy with a ten point six one thousand rating
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: on eBay, which maybe he is reputable, but like to
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: be selling it below what he already paid for it
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: at tops a pretty big red flag, I will say
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: as well. But maybe it also reflects the market because
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: I think, like we'll go into it that it's along
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: with first year player drafts, you know, was not the
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: most exciting draft year overall. Where I mean, I was
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: just listening to our podcast from our friends over at
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Dynasty Baseball Pickups where they did a mock of a
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: first round player draft or first year player draft, and
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: it is shallow this year compared.
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: It was all like it was all college pictures.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: And so it is a great year for Fantasy and
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: Dynasty to like stock up your your arms pretty quickly.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: But if you're in the need of a big bat,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: it is not the year to be looking for that.
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: And so because of that, there is no Nick Kurtz
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: in this product, there is no Jack kagle Own in
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: this product, and so you're looking at a lot and
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: a lot of risk in twenty twenty five Bowman Draft,
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: a couple of other just kind of basics. We'll get
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: out of the way before we get into set details
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: in terms of like autos and chase cards and inserts.
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: You're looking at a two hundred based card set. It's
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: going to have a paper version of the Bowman, which is,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: you know, the basic stock car card stock that you're
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: used to for tops, Flagship and other baseball cards. You
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: also have the same two hundred cards set all in
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: chrome for Bowman drafts, so you get both of those
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: that it mirrors what you get for Bowman prospects in
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: the normal spring release of just base Basic Bomb Bowman.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: And then you're also looking at for this product the
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: same design that we've had for twenty twenty five Bowmen
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: all year that they keep inconsistent going all the way through.
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: So I mean with that, I think I've given you
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: enough room to prepare for our normal tradition as we
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: run through all the parallels of all the refractors, and
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Bowmen is one of the main culprits I would say
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: in terms of really getting expansion creep on the volume
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: of parallels, and this product I think is a hallmark
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: of that, because if you want to see everything that's
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: kind of happened within the past five years of the
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: boom and Baseball cards. It can all be seen within
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: Bowman drafts. So let's rattle through all those parallels. I
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: know that I've been doing this a lot, but it's
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: a you've been so good at getting through these parallels.
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: I've been jealous.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: All right, let's do it, and I'm gonna include the
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: paper ones because you can't forget they do hold lower
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: value overalls. But I'm gonna pull the papers in first
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: to hit those because we only have seven of those.
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: So paper parallels, sky blue borders for four, ninety nine,
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: blue boarders at one point, fifty, green borders, ninety nine,
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: gold borders at fifty, Orange for seventy five, which is
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: a hobby exclusive only. Then you have black and printing
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: plate one of one's but the big boys based chrome parallels.
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: You have your standard refractors, got your sky blue refractors
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: which are hobby exclusive. You have X fractors, sparkle refractors,
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: and then we we get it our numbers, which are
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: purple refractors out of two fifty, Fusia Reptilian refractors out
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: of one, ninety nine, blue refractors out of one fifty,
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: aqual wave refractors out of one twenty five aqua reptilian
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: refractors out of one, twenty five steel metal refractors out
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: of one hundred. Might have come back and talk about that.
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: Green refractors out of ninety nine, Green grass refractors out
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: in ninety ninety nine, green reptilian refractors out of ninety nine.
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: We then have your seventy.
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: Fives for yellow refractors, Yellow reptilian refractors, Gold refractors out
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: of fifty. Then we have our Bowman Logo fractor, following
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: what Tops did for the TOPS logo fractors. Out of
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: thirty five orange refractors, we get Hobby exclusive out of
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: twenty five. We have black refractors out of ten, black
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: X fractor out of ten, Red lava refractors out of five,
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: the pure red refractor out of five, superfractors out of one,
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: printing plates one of one. However, we also have some
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: other funds where Hobby Exclusive riety packs also include gumball, peanuts,
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: pop corn, SI and sunflower seed refractor additions, and there's
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: just more fun to go. So we got quite a
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: few refractors coming through the Bowman Chrome set.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, that is quite the list. It is only thirty,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: I will say that this is a preliminary list too,
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: that like, we haven't gotten necessarily all the set details
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: because we're a week early. So I've noticed there weren't
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: any waves or like, there.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: Was no base Reptilian, which I would expect to be
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: there because that was their last year non numbered reptilian.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: So I think there might be a little bit more
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: to come as we learn here.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, as we peel a lot apart, But let's do
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: talk about the chrome steel metal refractor, because I'm seeing
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: a couple of them already up on eBay and it
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: looks like what it sounds like, honestly, where you're getting
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: that kind of steel plate pattern on the outside of
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: the card, and then from there it's just kind of
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: the normal base refractor rainbow reflection color off of that.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: So a little bit of a new introduction, but also
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: kind of in the same vein as those bubble gum
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: and peanut refractors where they're playing around with the border
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: to be able to add a little bit of texture
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: in there. This one I like though, because it does
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: feel a lot less gimmicky in terms of like you're
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: not looking at like something tangible like bubble gum or peanuts,
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: where it's filling in the border around the card, but
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: it's more of like a pattern where you know, it's
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: something that you would see with the galvanic steel, like yeah, yeah,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: and so I do like this. What do you think?
• 57:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think it's cool.
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: I think we may have seen that in bowm and
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Chrome as well, based on some of what we're seeing here,
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: And so I think those are pretty nice looking cars.
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: I like it better than Reptilian and some of the
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: other bubble gums and things like that. To your point,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: and it's just a solid out one hundred. I feel
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: like it's been else we had something just straight out
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: of one hundred.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, we actually we did have them last year.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: I found a Nick Curtis from twenty twenty four. But okay,
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: never mind, it looks sharper this year. This year it's
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: got a little bit more of like a mojo feel
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: to it. It feels like, as opposed to last year,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: they really just kind of did it around the border
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: and it kind of I feel like this year's design
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: is better because of that.
• 58:23
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I would agree. It definitely looks a lot better.
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, last year's is a little bit more flatter and
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: it gets into like a reminds me of like a
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: dingy hall like stare Well in a fire escape or
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: something where this year's pops a little bit more. It's
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: got a little more pizazz. So something to keep your
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: eyes out for. And in terms of all those color
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: parallels too, you're obviously going to be chasing the color
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: matches of the teams. This is a great product for
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: that that. I mean, there are plenty of people out
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: there that pretty much have like full PCs of like
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: color match, Bowman Draft First and stuff like that. So
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: certainly keep that your eyes out there. And good luck
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: if you're a Cardinals, Phillies Red Sox. What other red
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: teams are there? I'm thinking of DBAX maybe, so the
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: Red ones are brutal at the other fives always will be.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: Let's get into some of those chases though, because this
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: is a product, because you're chasing those prospects, you're really
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: got to be honed in on who you're collecting and
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: who you're pulling, and so the big names right off
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: the bat, where I think everybody's going to be after them,
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: let's go over them just so the people know if
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: you know you're out there and you're ripping this stuff somehow,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: like if you are mister money bags and have the
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: ability to rip this, or if you're finding these guys
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: in dollar boxes, you know, throughout the spring, somebody else
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: to maybe pull out that, you know. Honestly, because of
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: the way the NMLB draft is set up and it's
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: relative less popular version compared to like the NFL and
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: the NBA, these aren't household names, so people sometimes when
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: they're ripping this stuff, these players and their pillows will
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: end up in some of the value boxes here and there.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: I would say the biggest chases we're looking at are
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: Eli Willetts from the Nationals, Liam Doyle from the Cardinals,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: Kate Anderson from the Mariners, Jojo Parker from the Blue Jays,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: Seth Hernandez from the Pirates, Jamie Arnold from the Athletics,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: Tyler Bremner from the Angels. I mean, all those guys
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: were top ten picks pretty much. Actually, they all were.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: And then the other one that is probably a big
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: chase is Dax Kilby from the Yankees, one because he's
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: a Yankee, and two honestly, he's a pretty big just
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: chase in terms of the fantasy Dynasty investment side too.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: That a retread almost of Anthony Vulpi and Dax Kilby
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: there where you're just hoping that maybe it all comes
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: together for him. But which of those names really stands
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: out to you maybe more than others that Like, if
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: I had to force you to kind of put all
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: of your pennies or all of your your coins into
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: just one of these players to be able to push
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: your collection in that direction, which which player are gonna
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: go with?
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's a tough one because the clear top
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: dog here is Eli Willitts. He's clearly the guy that
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: you want to pull, but he's gonna also be the
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: guy that you're paying for far, far and above, And
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: so I'm probably gonna go a little off here, and
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with the number two in Tyler Brimner.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: I really think that that's actually where you're if you're
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: looking to maximize your dollars. I think he has the
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: potential to be the fastest guy to the majors, and
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: I think there's a little stigma about him, like he
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: is a fantastic prospect. He actually, he absolutely is, but
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: he went higher than folks thought he should be and
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: maybe he should have been mid top ten or back
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: top ten where you see some of these other guys
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: that you're talking about, like Jojo Parker was and you
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: know Liam Doyle, guys like that. I think he's gonna
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: be the first one there. But I also think that
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: he's got this little bit of a discount that's gonna
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: come with him. So if I'm putting my dollars there,
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: I'm going Tyler Bremner because I think he's going to
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: surprise some people. But I honestly think the whole pitching
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: college class is really really strong, and those are the
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: guys I would be actually going for, which again, is
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: that usually what you want. Usually you're going after the
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: college bats. There's just not a college bat in this
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: group that you want to go after. So Willis is
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: gonna be the pricey guy. Those college arms are gonna
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: be the guys that if you're looking to get something cheap,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 2: that's gonna kind of hit and jump when these guys
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: start talking talk in spring training, that's what you want
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: to go Otherwise, long term, that's your other it's your
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: prep shortstops.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. And because like the other
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: component is there was one top ten college bat that
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: would be worth investing in Ivar or Kat from the Marlins,
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: but he's gonna be in Bowman twenty twenty, so he
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: got pushed the next release, along with Ethan Holliday. There.
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: Then I also put together a small list of sleepers
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: in terms of seeing if there are other guys maybe
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: outside of the top targets where you might be pushing
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: some of your dollars and tucking them away. So the
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: ones that I kind of came up with are Billy Carlson,
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: shortstop for the White Sox, who I mean, I know
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: he was a number ten overall pick, but he is
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: not necessarily on the same conversation tip of the tongue.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: It feels like as some of those other SOPs that
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: we've discussed, especially like Kilby, and it's the White Sox
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: on top of it, so there's that factor. We've also
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: got Kyson Witherspoon, a pitcher for the Red Sox, went
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: in the first round, Ryan Mitchell, an infielder for the
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis Cardinals who went in the second round. I
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: put on Brandon Compton, outfielder for the Marlins, who came across,
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: which is like huge power from college and was the
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: second round pick I believe, and not necessarily like hyped
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: from a f y PD standpoint, but somebody who I
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: could see maybe breaking through and flashing his stuff in
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the miners a little bit. And then you obviously had
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of those like prep shortstops that you alluded
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: to where maybe we haven't talked about like a steel
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: haul a Gavin Fine. I believe that Daniel Pierce is
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: in this product too, and Cason Cunningham. So it goes
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: down for a while in terms of shortstops galore, especially
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: if you're looking at like the Baseball reference page for
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: this first round and then trying to lining up with
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: the Bowman checklist. It's a lot in a lot of
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: shortstops compared to I think what we're even used to seeing.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: So any of these kind of like under the radar
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: guys that you're hone in and on and maybe trying
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: to tuck away in your collection or somebody else that
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't mention.
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think, really, I don't think there's
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 2: a single guy. Maybe if you forced me to, it'd
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: be like Carlson already called out with like Kilby or
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: some of those guys maybe a steel Haul or Gevin
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: Fiend might be guys I'm kind of looking at. Honestly,
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 2: it's whichever those prep shortstops don't get the hype is
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: probably the guys that I'm I'm going after because there's
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: so much development time and they're so raw.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 3: I think those are the guys that if you're.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: Looking to kind of get something sneaky, the guy, especially
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: the guys that fell down in the in the draft
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: a little bit. When that second third round, I think
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: that's where you're gonna get sneaky value. So I think
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: you call it with like Mitchell is really really interesting
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: there as well, So I wouldn't say there's a single
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: guy there's. It really just wasn't that strong of a class.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: So I'm avoiding that from the majority. But if I
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: if I see a prep shortstop draft of the first
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: or second round and a dollar box or close to it,
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: I'm picking them up.
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's get into some of the chases and
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: some of the hits of this product. So let's first
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: go into retrofractors, where if there's one thing that I
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: think we've been poo pooing over the last few Bowman releases,
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: it is the retro fractors where, if you're not familiar
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: with what this is, Bowman will go back and a
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: player who did not have a bowman first card, you know,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame type player, they will do a
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: quote unquote retro fractor release a bowman first of that
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: player under the current design of bowmen. So, I mean,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: the best examples of this have been like Babe Ruth,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: Roberto Clemente, Johnny Bench. But then they've also been dipping
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: into like Tony Perez, Steve Carlton, who I mean, it
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: was obviously Steve Carlton's a big deal, but they used
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: one of the gangly like early Steve Carlton pictures from
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Cardinals for this card. So I would
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: say this is the first time that we've talked retro
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: fractors in probably three or so Bowman releases where I'm
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: actually very interested in them. Where are two retrofractors this year?
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: Lou Brock, So that's obviously going to be a big
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: hit just across the Cardinals collecting community. There's tons of
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: people out there in the Cardinals collecting community as well
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: as lou Brock collectors. But then the big one here
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: is sadajadro Oh from the Tokyo Giants in MPB, who
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: is the home run king. The big chase here is
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: there are Sadajadra Oh autographs in this product because actually
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: I didn't know this until I saw him on the
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: Retrofractor list. But Oh is still alive and kicking. He's
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: eighty five years old, so he's got autographed cards within
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: this product, which you don't see very many state side
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Sadajadra Oh autographs, so they do pop up here and there,
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: but this is going to be I think the chase
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: card of the entire product outside of you know, obviously
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: the one of one super Fractors of Eli Willitts and
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: some of the other big names. But what do you
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: think and hear about these Retrofractors that has top slash,
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: bowman slash and annex right did the ship for you?
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah? I think they did a good job here.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, Brock signed a lot and so those are
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: not going to be as sought after, but it will
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: be a beautiful card.
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: There are Brock audos.
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 3: Oh, there's not Brock autos. Never mind.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: I figured they did sticker autos for him. I mean
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 2: I get the practicality, but I figured they had a
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: stash of them.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: That is the other factor is that these are on
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: card souta hydro autographs, I believe.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Brock again gonna be a good one. But
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: I do think it's oh, who is the big chase here.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: He did actually have some autos and TOPS chrome update
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: as well, and like if you actually go and look
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: on eBay, the they were just like these black out
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 2: of tens. They're going for thirty five hundred to four
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars the out of tens, and so I think
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: that's what we're.
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 3: Talking about here.
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 2: So that is absolutely going to be the chase. And
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: so yes, they did a great job here. This is
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 2: thinking outside of the box, which I give TOPS credit
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 2: for because it has not been their mo. So I
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: really really like this For the retrofractors. I've never been
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: fully onboard with retrofractor concept, but if you're gonna do it,
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: they did it better this time.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be one of the cool
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: things that is actually going to kind of boost the
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: product for a pretty mid sort of draft set. So
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: good good work there. Tops. Let's get into some of
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: the other autos that are in this product. So obviously
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: you're going to be having the Bowman first autos of
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 1: those big guys that we've been talking about. But then
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: you've also got a few variations compared to what we've
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: looked what we've seen in the past. So one is
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: gold ink. So this I think is actually harkening back
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit too with doing the goldenmere SSP on
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: card autos from updates. So they brought it across here
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: for the Chrome Prospect autographs, doing it in gold inc,
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: which I think will pop and be very popular, and
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: just your base kind of autos. You're in all sorts
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: of the parallels too, so you can almost copy and
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: paste that entire parallel list that you ran through because
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: they pretty much mirror it on the autos. I don't
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: think we've got a great checklist that tells us all
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: of them right now, but it should be relatively the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: same as well as on top of it too. It
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: is now almost becoming like a tradition where most of
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: the players when they get that first blue one fifty
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: chrome card that they sign it and say my first
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: Bowman auto. I don't know if it's because they like
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: purposely put the blue at the top of the stack,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: or if it's just become such a tradition that people
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: like purposely do it, but that will be a big
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: chase for each of those cards to then on top
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: of it, we've also got achromatic parallels and autos, which
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: I had to look it up. It's going to be
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: like a black and white colorway, I believe on it,
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: so that will be a little bit of a nice
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: little twist. You've got a set there that includes, you know,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: the likes of like Katie Anderson and Steele Hall, but
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: also some of the other up and coming prospects like
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 1: Kevin mcgonagh, Goal kind of Griffin and other players who
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: you know they will have cards in this set, but
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: they won't be first. So what really stands out here
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: for you on on the auto is anything that really
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: catches your eye compared to what we've seen normally in
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: Bowman products.
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm I'm really excited for the gold Inc.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: Because I'm assuming it's on card and I will say
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: anytime Tops has pulled off gold Inc it has been
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: really really well done. So what I don't know, and
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: this is what's gonna make or break this is like,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 2: are they doing this on basically the chrome card or
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 2: is it going to be kind of like a black
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 2: chrome with a gold auto type thing? Like, are is
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: the whole card gonna be gold with gold auto?
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: Like?
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be interesting to see what they do. And
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: I've tried to look. I haven't found examples. Maybe maybe
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: you you're able to, but but like I'm I'm just
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 2: thinking back to some some of our favorite sets where
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 2: they you know, like Museum and things like that, where
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: they pull off gold autos and they are just unbelievable.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: And so I think this has a really good shot
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 2: being a big thing if they make it what it
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: needs to be. And so I'm into the gold Inc.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: I just hope they do it the right way.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't see any whoever has been posting some
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: of those other early cards that we've seen on eBay
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: has known better than to post some of these really
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: big gold ink kits dramatic hits because they don't want
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: to lose their license with fanatics to be able to
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: actually get cards early. So no, I have not seen anything,
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: but I am intrigued to see what the gold Inc
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: design will be because if they do it right, like
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: you said, it could be a really huge chase that
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: kind of gets onto the level of the super fractors
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: and other things where people really seek them out and
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: maybe elevate them to being the chase card for some
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: of those Bowman first guys. Okay, let's move on to
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: some of the inserts, because actually it's pretty limited here.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: Usually it feels like we're going through a huge list
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: of inserts because we're covering Tops Chrome and Tops Flagship,
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: but where Bowman Draft like Shines is trying to highlight
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: the actual players in the set, and they really scale
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: back the inserts compared to most sets that we're looking at.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: So you've got a pretty limited number of insert sets.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: And I should add that all of these will pretty
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: much have autographed parallels as well, so those should usually
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: be sticker autographs, while the actual kind of chrome autographs
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: are on cards, so they're not quite as big of
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: a chase. But they're also really hard to hit. The
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: auto parallel these inserts, where in all of like the
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: ripping I've done, I like I've even just like a
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: normal Tops products and stuff, I don't think I've ever
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: hit like an insert auto that Like that's how hard
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: they can be to hit that. I'm always usually just
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: hitting like the normal base or base parallel version of
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: autos out of the products out there. So let's get
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: into some of the inserts. We've got some of our
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: pretty standard I would say at this point returners, you've
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: got Spotlights, which I mean at this point Spotlights. We've
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: covered it many many times, but we'll go through it again.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: It is probably the most beautiful card out of a
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: Bowman set where you've got a back background and just
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: a spotlight essentially on the player, where there's nothing else
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: on the front of the card except for Bowman Chrome
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: logo and then an RC logo if it's a rookie card,
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: not going to run into that. In Bowman Draft, you've
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: also got returneys of Draft Night and Final Draft. And
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: then Inaction is back, which wasn't for me last year.
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised they brought it back, but I
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: think it was a little more popular outside of folks
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: not us.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 2: And so if you're.
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: Not familiar with this is the Inaction cards. It is
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: designed to look like it's an actual like action figure
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: in a package, and the player is the action figure,
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: and it's just kind of it's a little boring for me.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 3: There's too much a gimmick in it. It's just too gimmicky.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 2: And they rattle around on a top loader and like
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 2: they get dinged up, like it's just it's it's it's
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 2: just there's problems here.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So those are the returners. We have any thoughts
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: there on Spotlights in Action, Final Draft or Draft Night.
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 2: Well, it just gave me my Inactions thoughts, which just
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: stay away from it. I think Spotlights, I think we've
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 2: talked about it enough. It is just a solid, solid insert,
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: like that's one of the best that they've done in
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 2: a long time. And I sneakily liked Draft Night as well.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: There's just something about that, like picture of the guy
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 2: Ray forgets dress. You know, he's got his collared shirt on,
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 2: but he's got the jersey pulled in over it.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 3: So it's like his actual.
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 2: First you know photo in the jersey from the team
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 2: versus you know, the Action AI you know version that
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 2: they're putting together other So I like that and it
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 2: feels like that harkins back and that's been around for
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 2: on and off for bowman sets for many years, and
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 2: so I always just kind of like that simplicity of
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: it tells you what round they're you know what position
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 2: they're drafted in, you know the position, their height, all
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: those kind of things just on.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 3: The card is it's kind of a unique thing. So
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 3: I really do like that insert set.
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good point too, because
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: I probably should have brought that up maybe more towards
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: the beginning of our discussion Bowman draft is that you
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: might be wondering, you know, how did they get Eli
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: Willets into the Nationals Jersey? How do they get Tyler
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Bremner into this Angels Jersey through the magic of photoshop?
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: My friends, and so I especially the Eli Willets one
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: is egregious, honestly, like it is not a good photoshop.
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: The worst one that I've seen over the past few
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: years is the George Lombard junior photoshop when they put
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: him in a Yankees uniform for twenty twenty three, I believe,
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: And it is just awful. It is so like washed
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: out and airbrushed. But the nice thing about those Draft
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: night cards is they're not airbrush, They're not photoshop to
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: put them into those jerseys.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 2: YEP.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: I also like them that you know, if you're collecting
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: those players, or if you're collecting that team, to be
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: able to like get that photo of them on like
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: their first moment in Major League Baseball and their interaction
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: with major League Baseball and then compared to like the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: rest of their career, and you can just kind of
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: see how different they've become over the years. That it's
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: a it's a cool card for that aspect. Then we've
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: got a couple of two new inserts that I wanted
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: to cover. One is Prized Prospects and the other is Axis.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: I didn't notice that the insert list I'm looking at
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 1: them from Beckett. They do also have the the I'm
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: trying to remember what they're called, but like the the
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: the geode looking cards, those definitely in this product. I
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: don't crystallized, yep, yep, the crystallized. I don't know why
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: it wasn't on the list that I was reading off of,
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: but that is going to be another of the inserts,
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: So that should have been a returner, because I will
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: say I've been seeing a picture of the one for
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: Jojo Parker. It is crisp with this it's the blue
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: geode crystallized in the background. That's gonna be another huge chase,
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: especially considering it's all stars in that in that set,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: and then when you also look at like the combination
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: of the colors that you're gonna eat to those teams,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: it's just otherworldly. So between price prospects and access and
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: any big interest there are, I mean, honestly, we might
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: not even have pictures. I'm trying to look for pictures.
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 2: I tried to find pictures while we were going through
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 2: and I've not been able to find pictures. So I'm
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 2: gonna go on a limbsay. I really love the access
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 2: cards and I have no idea. It just it just
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 2: sounds like a cool name, like there's there's good ways,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 2: you cause like access and allies. Like I don't, I
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 2: don't know what this is gonna be, So let's let's
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 2: see where it lands.
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So the joys of doing this, you know that
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: we're always kind of like in this limbo land, like
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: do we discuss it on the release date so we
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: can see all the cards, but then people won't have
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: this pod like to be able to listen to if
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: they're actually ripping on draft day, or do we do
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: it a week early when the checklists there are still
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: a little wonky, and we don't have insight to what
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: they all look like. You're enjoying that right now as.
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 3: A listener, I'm enjoined it too. This is this is fun.
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: But yes, I think that's gonna wrap us up for
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: Bowman Draft though, because like I said, it was a
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: limited number of inserts, a pretty limited checklist in terms
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: of length, but certainly lots in terms of depth and
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: the impact on the hobby overall that Bowman Draft makes
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: when it gets released because of the volume of Bowman
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: First and their autos that are about to start hitting
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: the market. So if you're interested and you're ripping some,
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: send us some of your pictures of what you're ripping,
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: because I would love to see it. You can hit
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: us up at cards Categories at gmail dot com. You
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: can reach out to us on Blue Sky at cards
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: categories brew. Let everybody know where they can find and
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: reach you.
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 2: Yep, find me Twitter x, Blue Sky, Gibber one seven.
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: You can find me doing hitter profiles, hitter rankings on
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 2: ras ball as well. We are almost back week and
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 2: a half and off season coverage for ras ball Fantasy
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 2: Baseball is in full swing. We will be going so
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 2: you'll find me here in a few weeks on ras
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 2: ball as well. Cooly Whorreking Fight folks find you.
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you'll be able to find me during
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: the preseason doing this podcast obviously with cards and categories.
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: Then we'll be back during the regular season doing those
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: waiver wire pickups. But I'll probably do like an initial
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: waiver wire pickup for like week zero, quote unquote, right
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: after those drafts and you're looking at your team being, oh,
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: what did I do? And so I will be able
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: to help you out. But otherwise, like you said, we're
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: ramping up here within the next week and a half
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: at Rasball, So get back on there. You're gonna have
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: all of your RAS Ball favorites. You know, We've had
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: the Itch and Gray running all off season to keep
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: you updated on prospects and sleeper picks. But we're gonna
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: be full force hitters, pictures, closers, injuries, prospects, breakouts. It's
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: gonna be all across the board. We've got great tools. Honestly,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: I probably should have opened with the tools. Rudy today
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: came out with the Draft war Room, which is the
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: tool of all tools. I love it. It's really helped me
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: win some leagues over the past few years. So if
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: you're out there looking for something to help you through
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: draft season, get a rasball subscription. You'll get access to
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: that war room right from Rudy, and then you'll get
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: access to all the great in season management tools as
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: we get deeper into deeper into twenty twenty six. I
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: shall also probably give everybody My social handle is m
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: cool seven cool spelled coul i ll ugh cannot speak tonight,
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: like my last name on Blue Sky. Check me out there,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: check out everybody else from Rasball and Blue Sky. We've
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: got the starter pack there. We're gonna be going all
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six long, excited for it, excited to have
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: you around to listen to it. We'll be back, same time,
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: same place next week on this podcast to discuss more
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: baseball cards and fantasy baseball.
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 2: See a