Latest / The 3-0 Take / Joey Gallo is a PITCHER

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Joey Gallo is a PITCHER · The 3-0 Take

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take, where we talk
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all things Major League Baseball.
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Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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It all starts right now. Oh.
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Welcome back to the Three O take presented by Sea Geek.
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This is episode 520. I'll be your host Kyle Cordon.
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I'm here with my Co host Nate Reyes.
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Nate. Howdy ho ho, what's up man?
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How you doing? How you feeling?
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Feeling good, man. One day closer, you know?
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Yeah, yeah. I know I maybe it's just a me
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thing. I'm like, I don't know what day
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it is. I don't know if I've said this
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already in recent like episodes, like I don't if you told me it
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was April, I'd be like, it's possible.
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I don't know if you told me it was the end of February, I'd be
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like, it's possible. I have no idea.
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I don't know. I don't I'm in this weird.
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Like the post football pre baseball gap that I have in my
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life is like just a never ending Groundhog Day and I need I need
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the season to get here and. In a strange way, I I could not
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explain to you how it is already the middle of March because I
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feel like we were just, Meredith and I were just celebrating our
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anniversary. But at the same time, I'm like,
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how is it? How are we not at opening day?
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Yeah. Can't explain it, can't explain
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it. One thing that I do wanted to, I
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wanted to get your thoughts on right off the top here because I
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saw this, I think it was over the weekend.
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Very big fan of this. Very very big fan of this.
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OK. The gold patches, The gold
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patches. Are you a fan?
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I'm a fan. Are you a fan?
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I'm a fan. I remember when they first
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started doing the like wrong, started doing the gold patches
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on the gloves after Gold Glove winners and then the platinum
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one for platinum's like I think it's, I think it's such a cool
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way. It's a very easy thing to do.
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Like even the Roberto Clemente award, like having the 21 on the
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back of the hat. Like, if you know, kind of
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similar to how like the NFL do like the Walter Payton logo on
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the helmets. Did you say, did you say Roberto
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Clemente? There you go.
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Nice. Told you I'd wear it.
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Cooperstown. Cooperstown Edition.
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Is that what it says on the thing?
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Mitchell Nest Cooperstown sure is, baby.
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Yeah, sure is. But yeah, dude, I like I like
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this. I like that it allows a player
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to stand out. I like that it allows some type
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of individuality in a very uniformed look on the field
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where you know, everyone's obviously looking the same and
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it brings up different aspects of the game.
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It brings up different topics of the game.
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So I'm for it. I'm very.
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Yeah, and I, I hinted at this before we hopped on something
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I'd thought we'd maybe dive into for just a minute, Major League
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Baseball's efforts in marketing it stars.
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And if you I I feel like I should have addressed this
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before we get too deep into it, but if you're unfamiliar with
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what the gold the gold MLB patch situation we're talking about,
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Major League Baseball came out and announced that they're
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they're equipping the award winners from the previous year
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with gold MLB logo patches on the back of their jersey to, you
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know, indicate that they were a winner of one of the major
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awards, meaning MVP rookie of the year, Cy Young.
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So this year you've got Louise heel ball skeins, Aaron Judge,
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Shoheutanis, Chris Sale and Terek Skubal.
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And like, I was like, I was alluding to just, I, I feel like
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it's a great way for Major League Baseball to market there
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a very easy way for for them to. To.
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Sort of add a little bit of add another layer of stardom, if you
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will, and it, you may look at this and go, it's just a patch.
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And to your point, if, if, if, if that's your train of thought,
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yes, I, I, I agree. It's just a patch.
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But at the same time it's it, it raises quite, it makes you ask
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questions like, oh, what's the gold patch about?
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It's like, well, let me tell you what kind of season show, Hey,
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Otani put up last year or, and Judge put up last year, which
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which lends itself to a bigger conversation.
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And that, and just what you and I were talking about before we
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helped on. I think we have to give Major
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League Baseball some props and it's time.
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I, I think we're, we're well, we're well past due in terms of
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giving Major League Baseball its credit for really ramping up its
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efforts to market its stars. Because you know, I was thinking
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back and, and I'm not going to be like, well, the back of my
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day, but like at the same time, we're only, we're only 3031.
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It's like we're not, we're not going back too far in the
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archives. But you go back to even like the
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90's, the early 2000s, it was really just the play, it was the
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player. And that was kind of it.
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You latched on to the player for who they were and what they did
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on the field. But what in terms of what Major
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League Baseball was doing to really push that and, and grow
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that, that narrative with the, with the stars and, and the
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household names around the league, it was pretty minimal
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with Major League Baseball doing what it can to capture the
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attention of, of the younger audiences with everything else
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trying to capture their attention.
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I think they're doing a good job at really shining some, some
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strong spotlights on these guys. And it's, I think it's, I think
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it's really helping. I think it's really helping the
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game. I don't know.
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I mean, obviously there has to be some credit to the MLB
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specifically in this topic, whereas it's also to a lot of it
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being MLB The Show, like the the live updates that they have,
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like the cards that kids can get and like build their Ultimate
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Team. And I say kids loosely.
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I know there's. There's some flexibility there.
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There's. Definitely some people listening
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right now that are fully in on MLB The Show 25 right now.
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So I think there's some people listening that play Major League
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Base or MLB The Show that are also expecting grandkids this
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year. Might be my guess.
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Just a guess, throwing it out there.
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But you have like, you have these guys you can get where you
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can get like you can get players of a certain like month, you can
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get players of a certain year where they were unbelievable.
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You know, you can get versions of players that like allows you
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to kind of go back in time and like remember how good they were
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during that period. And I think in a, in a game that
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we're so obviously obsessed with stats that it allows you to
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continue to relive it. And then it allows that game to
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basically just continue to keep that conversation going in a
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way. And when you look at other
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sports, like it's kind of strange how the average fan
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probably doesn't remember how many touchdowns Peyton Manning
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threw for in 2012. You know what I mean?
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You can't you're not going to remember, you know, how many
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yards Tom Brady had in 2005. Like you're not doing that same
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type of calculation the way that we do in baseball.
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Like you could ask what where is LeBron on the top ten, you know,
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assist list? And you're not going to be able
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to rattle that off. But there's things about our
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game that allow you to do that. And so I think when you have
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these patches involved and again, like going back to the,
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the, the Gold Glove patches, the platinum patches, the, the, you
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know, Roberto Clemente award, you know, number on the back of
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the hat, like all of those types of things allow that
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conversation to happen and it allows you to dive into that and
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speaking on like a personal a personal way.
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My wife is like, she didn't know baseball until I came in the
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picture. She wasn't familiar with things.
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And so for her to watch games, she has to know about a certain
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player in order to dive in. So like, we were having a
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conversation and not to go too far off the rails here where we
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had a conversation a few weeks ago of like, you know, the
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Yankees, like, it may be a rough year.
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Like, just buckle up. And then she was like, well, how
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do you feel about the Diamondbacks?
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And I was like, Babe, you're born and raised here.
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Like you're if this is your second team, I'll allow it
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unless they're playing the Yanks.
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Like, you're good. She's like, OK, like who?
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Who do you think I like, is there a player I can, like, dive
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into? I was like, well, Corbin Carroll
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is amazing. She's like, yeah, no, I've seen
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his jersey a bunch. Like who else?
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And I told her of like Corbin Burns choosing Arizona for his
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family, like during free agency, like saying no to some of the
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big dogs to come here. And she's like, done, got it.
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But that's just an example of like some sometimes we need to
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attach ourselves to the person that's inside the uniform.
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You know what I mean? Sometimes there's things that
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and whether it's statistically driven, whether it's personally
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driven. And I think MOB has done a
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really good job of sharing these stories.
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And you can give credit to journalists, you can give credit
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to MOB Network, you can give credit to Bleacher Report.
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Like we can go down the list of who does a really good job of
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this. And if you look hard enough, you
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dive in hard enough, there's enough storylines to really
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build off of. And there's different ways that
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you can root for this game. And I think even for myself, I'm
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sure I can speak for you slightly too.
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Is that like, I think sometimes we just get so wrapped up and
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like, this is how you have to view our game and not everyone's
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going to do that. Not across all ages, not across
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all, you know what I mean? Like everyone's going to have
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their different way of cheering and looking at the game.
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And so this just adds just another another option, another
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way to look at a uniform and say, hey, what's that mean?
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What is the story of that guy? And I think it's, I think it's
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great. And it's such a small minor
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thing. I think it's really good.
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Yeah. And then putting a bow on on the
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topic with the gold patch, it's for those wondering like what's
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the end game there? It's, it's, I believe another
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partnership situation with Tops where they're going to be
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utilizing these gold patches for trading cards, which in and of
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itself, the whole trading card industry, I'd certainly have my
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thoughts on. But that's another aspect.
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Yeah. I mean, at it at its heart, at a
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heart level, I'd, I think trading card, the, the baseball
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card industry is good for the game.
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I'd, I don't necessarily appreciate what these these
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older collectors have have done to it, just stripping the
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shelves of retail and making it impossible for kids to get
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involved. But All in all, I'd, I'd love
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the idea. And yeah, I just figured it'd be
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a good opportunity for us to talk more or just dive a little
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bit into, as we embark upon another season here, how how
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Major League Baseball has grown in its efforts to to grow a
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really good job, game done, a really good job.
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Don't. Don't transition yet.
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Oh, you, you teed me up, dude, You teed me up.
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I was, I was midway through saying, Speaking of, hit that
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button. Oh, let's.
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Hit the button, baby. Who's corpuses?
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Who's corpuses? Who's setting?
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Whether it is like milk, whether it is like why we have to find
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out who's setting, what's the cow on there?
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What's it called? Was it called O'Neill?
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Whose quote was this? Whose quote was this?
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What do you got for me, friend? What?
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Do you want first? Give me the.
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Give me the quote. I want the quote.
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All right, I like that. I like that.
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Isn't it funny that guys like us, like how do you?
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I would even say almost the 30 plus crowd, why are they the
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most outspoken about this? It's like this isn't for you.
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This is like sitting down and watching SpongeBob as a 40 year
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old and calling Nickelodeon and being like, hey, I've got some
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bones to pick with you this. Is it says out of context?
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In context, that's just a funny, that's a funny scenario call a
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Nickelodeon AI. We need to have a talk.
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This is episode 176 Make Baseball Fun again, February
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4th, 2021. I got to say this is a me quote.
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Yes, Sir. Let's go.
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Yeah, it was in reference to MLB The Show and Tatis being on the
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cover and not Mike Trout. And so we were just talking
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about. What a yeah, come on.
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Yeah, we're just talking about like, dude, Mike Trout isn't
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fun. No one's going dressed up as
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Mike Trout for Halloween like everyone's Fernando Tatis.
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So hit the nail on the head. I think that still holds up.
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Yeah, I mean, come on. I know you're, I know you're
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still tapping into some SpongeBob episodes, but I don't
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know if you're going to be calling.
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There was a stretch I I want to say a couple years back where I
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found out that like the first, however, like first dozen
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seasons were on, I think prime and I was like, this is news to
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me. So let me just let me dive in
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real quick. Just head first relive some of
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my childhood and then I, I, I came back up for air and I was
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like, all right, that's enough. But anyway, Speaking of
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retirement, our our main event of the evening, if you will.
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Joey Yellow said no thanks to retirement and instead said that
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he is going to take a stab at pitching.
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So I, I, I posed the question on the screen.
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I posed the question to you, my friend Nate, do you think Joey
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Gallo can make it as a pitcher he was really for Let me let me
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provide some background here was provided or rather was released
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by the White Sox after nine games.
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He went and I know this is going to come as a major shock.
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This is going to come as a major shock.
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Went two for 20 with 11 KS two for 20.
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Let me make sure I got that right.
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Yeah, 2 for 2011 case, did you? See that?
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Did you see that video of him like challenging that, that
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strike three call that was like very much like caught?
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So much of played it was the I think it was the cease changes.
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Or something cease. That bad cease is like, what are
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we challenging? And you could not have had a
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more precise pitch than that. He was like, yeah, yeah.
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And I don't know, let's go to the.
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Let's go to the replay. In in a short answer, no, no we
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can't. I'm sorry.
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Like what are you doing? Let me can can we talk about did
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you see the video that he came out with to announce it?
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No. Is he pitching?
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There is a clip at the very end. You don't need to pull it out
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because we'll get flagged for copyright music because he
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there's some song in it, but finishes the the the like the
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hype video, if you will, with the clip of him laying, I'm not
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going to lie, he's laying it in there.
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He's he's piping it in there. But the clip that caught my
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attention was him throwing an absolute seed from right field.
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And it got me thinking, I'm like, this isn't going to be
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this isn't the first time where we've seen somebody try to to to
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make a go at it after not hacking it as a position player.
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They say, well, what else can I do?
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Let me just say this. I I'm envious of Joey Gallo, OK?
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And for those of you that don't know, you're listening to a
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well, me, I'm not. I won't speak for you for me,
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former D3 athlete right here. Shout out holding it down for
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the Division Three folks. If I would have had the
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foresight to know that I was just going to sort of flame out
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as a, as a left side infielder defensively, I was all right
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struggle a little bit more at the plate than I would have
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liked. But coming up through school,
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through high school and even dabbling with the idea in
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college, I was like, what if, what if I just tried out the
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bump just for a little bit? I never did.
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And quite frankly, I regret not ever bringing that up to my
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coach. Then like, hey, just give me a
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shot because who, who would have known?
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Because I I wouldn't have bad. Granted it was high school and
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and, and all that, but you know, who, who knows?
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How would that how, how that would have translated to
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college? So I'm envious of Joey Gallo.
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Across the across the NFL. Oh, I never in D.
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Three, you think we you think we have we think we have equipment
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to measure those kinds of things.
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Is it the D? Three level cases or anything?
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No. What was that?
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What would I be going to showcases for at that stage?
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That's. Fair.
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I couldn't tell you all that to say, though.
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My point is, is that I'm envious of Joey Gallo for making that
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decision before it's too late because guys like me can't I, I
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can't do that now. It's too late.
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But he said, let me take another shot at it and, and, and see if
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we can hang on to his career a little bit longer.
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What do you realistically, what do you think happens here?
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Like what do you think happens with Joey Gallo?
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Because he doesn't currently he's he doesn't have a team and
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he's now presenting himself as a what we can only imagine is just
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like a back end innings eater. What is?
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Is David Fletcher still doing it?
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That's a great question. Is David Fletcher still?
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Because like I, I get that we can, we can come across certain
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players that have done this in the past and we can, we can like
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fall back on certain names. We've seen it go the other way
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as well, the famous one being Rick and Keel not being able to
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find the strike zone and then ERA goes through the roof and
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then he's like, you know what, I'm going to go be a center
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fielder. And actually did OK, had a few
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years of being a productive center fielder in the big
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leagues. I just can't imagine someone in
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their deep 30s being able to go the other way.
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Man. I just, I don't know and I can't
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imagine he's got a cannon. I get it.
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I totally get it, bro. He's not even that.
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Bro he is not even in his deep 30s he's he's the same age as
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us. Is he really?
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He's 3035. He's 31 years old.
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I feel like we're in our deep 30s already.
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I know I am. I'm older than Joey Gallo
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November 19th, 1993 I'm literally we are both older than
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Joey Gallo. Whatever, either way, my point
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remains. I don't see I this is what makes
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me mad about Major League organizations.
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It's like you're telling me you want to give this some
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attention, but you, the 22 or 23 year old that you drafted in the
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third round, you're just keeping down because he needs to just
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cook a little bit more. Like what are we doing?
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Give those guys a shot. Joey Gallo is done.
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You've made a really good amount of money in your career.
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You've unfortunately fizzled out after what was light tower power
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showings in Texas and it just hasn't been able to generate
22:03
elsewhere. I I'm all done.
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I'm all done. You did well, just fade off.
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Are you really going to go sit in a AA freaking clubhouse for
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months just for an opportunity to try it?
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Like, no, no one's going to do this.
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No one should do this. And the White Sox, there was a
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quote saying that the White Sox allowed him the ability to like
22:33
go off into this direction. They they fed it a little bit.
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So I'm assuming he threw bullpens for the White Sox.
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I'm assuming he had some time on the bump for the White Sox.
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That's what what I'm like 99% sure that's what that clip was.
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That he that his like little hype video announcing that he's
22:49
becoming a pitcher. I'm pretty sure he was wearing
22:51
White Sox stuff at the end and I'm pretty sure he was throwing
22:54
a pen for them. And guess who still released
22:56
him? Yeah, that's the bigger question
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here that we haven't we haven't talked about.
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Freaking released him. So if they don't need him, who's
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going to need him? This is not going to go
23:08
anywhere, so I don't know. I love how the White Sox are
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like, posturing themselves or positioning themselves is like,
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oh, we don't need this circus act in our organization.
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It's like, no, you need you. Need all hands on deck.
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You can't say no. You need as many athletes as you
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can in that organization to that know how to play baseball.
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And I think Joey Gallo is one of those people.
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So don't act if you're the Chicago White Sox, don't act
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like you're too good for Joey Gallo, because that's basically
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what you said, what you're saying by having released him.
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We're we're better than needing Joey Gallo.
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And I'm, I'm, I'm here to tell you you're not.
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Well, like I said, did you ever find out about David Fletcher?
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Is he still? He's he's not listed as a free
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agent. Says he's still in the org.
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Says he's still in the org. So I don't know what to tell
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you. I mean, if that's not
24:06
inspiration for Joey Gallo, I don't know what is, but he's.
24:08
Also, he's also a knuckleballer, isn't he?
24:12
Yeah. So that's a whole different
24:14
thing. I get it but.
24:15
That's like a unique thing. Like there's plenty of people in
24:18
the in, there's plenty of dudes coming from the bump in the
24:21
minor leagues that can pump the same amount of cheddar that that
24:25
Joey Gallo can. I suppose to ball is at least
24:30
unique. Did you know?
24:32
Do you know Joe David Fletcher finished 17th in the MVP race in
24:37
2020? There's a little.
24:40
Trivia for you? Interesting.
24:42
Whatever happened with the whole?
24:44
The whole, you know, like a gambling scandal or debt
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scandal. Yeah, No, he got, didn't he get
24:52
swept up in the Dioni stuff? Yeah.
24:56
It was like the same. I don't, I'm not, don't quote me
24:59
on this. I'm, I don't, I don't want to
25:01
speak out of turn here, but I think he was, it was there was
25:05
some crossover with like the people involved or something.
25:08
I don't know if he was fully, fully swept up in it, but yeah,
25:11
I don't know. I remember we talked about it.
25:14
I don't know. What it was of it wasn't his
25:16
like wasn't he on like the bookies list of names or
25:21
something like that? I think so, yeah.
25:23
Because it's a it's a guy that's trying to make a go at it as a
25:27
pitcher in the minors. Nobody cared and they're like
25:29
whatever sounds. Like you need your attention
25:32
span. Sounds like you need that.
25:34
We've just, I mean, it's David. Fletcher, like no disrespect to
25:37
David Fletcher, finished 17th in the MVP voting in 2020.
25:40
But at the same time, like you really expect with all the
25:43
information we're trying to process here, you expect me to
25:46
log away? David Fletcher's life decisions.
25:54
My goodness, I'm trying to see here what what Gallo was, what
26:04
he was charted at. Gallo's arm ranked in the 95th
26:08
percentile. Hold on, this is according to
26:12
MLB. A change to to pitcher might not
26:14
be a bad ideas. Gallo ranked as one of
26:16
baseball's top outfield arms as recently as 20/22, when he
26:19
registered arm strength in ML BS 90th percentile.
26:22
A year earlier, Gallo's arm ranked in the 95th percentile,
26:25
averaging nearly 94 on his throws.
26:28
I feel like he's weird enough to be a pitcher.
26:32
It's like a prerequisite. You got to be weird.
26:37
Gallow be the third recent big leaguer to venture into pitching
26:39
as a way to stay in the game. Last season, long time utility
26:42
man Brett Phillips said he would try to make a comeback on the
26:44
mound and sign a minor league deal with the Yankees.
26:46
Former outfielder Tyler Naquin, an 8 year veteran, also
26:49
announced a similar switch, signing a minor league deal with
26:51
the Guardians as a pitcher. Yep.
26:53
Oh, for two. Just saying.
26:57
Well, one for three because David Fletcher's still kicking
27:00
so. Until he makes his re debut.
27:04
I'm not I'm not in. Do you think he gets another
27:07
debut patch if he cracks in again?
27:11
No, I don't think that's that. That would be a defect in the
27:14
system if if Gal gets a debut patch as a pitcher.
27:19
If there was a team that gave him a shot, who do you think?
27:21
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, because we just talked
27:24
about it. I mean, the White Sox apparently
27:25
are they're they have their eyes set on on larger, grander things
27:31
and entertaining Joey Gallo on the bump.
27:35
What those larger and grander things are I'd I couldn't tell
27:38
you, but you know, I could see. I mean, really, who's who's
27:48
left? Who's left?
27:52
Because I, I tell you what, I love me some Sacramento A's and
27:56
they're not, they're not the butt end of the joke anymore.
27:59
I don't care. I don't care who you are.
28:00
They're not the butt end of the joke.
28:02
And they they refuse to engage in such debauchery as this.
28:08
So who's left? Can't be the Royals, Can't be
28:15
the. Here's why it can't be the
28:18
Royals because which I don't understand what happened to Jack
28:21
Caglion getting some time on the bump?
28:23
Why is he just like, is that just dead?
28:25
That's over. That's done with.
28:27
I don't know is it? Is that what the it's?
28:30
What it seems like. Is that the latest on?
28:32
Space yeah, he's had any time on the bump so you're.
28:37
Essentially asking me to. Maybe they just don't believe in
28:41
it. So clearly they're not going to
28:44
believe in Joey Gallo. He was.
28:48
He was already in National last year.
28:50
So there. I don't think he's going to
28:51
revisit that. I don't know.
28:56
The Mets need innings. That's it.
28:59
You know the Mets need. Inning the team being a butt end
29:03
of the joke, Let's let's not forget.
29:09
That's a good point. Yeah.
29:10
I mean, the Marlins are an easy answer, but.
29:13
Yeah. At some point, at some point you
29:15
got to think that these teams are just like, we can't, if we
29:19
want to be taken seriously, we can't continue to make decisions
29:22
like this to bring on guys like Joey Gallo.
29:24
Yeah, I know. Well.
29:26
I don't know if the Marlins are at that level.
29:28
They're. Near that, yeah.
29:30
They're not near that self-awareness quite yet, yeah.
29:34
Can't, can't say that, though. Yeah.
29:35
So I don't know who that leads. Maybe the White Sox try to,
29:38
maybe the White Sox do bring them back after trying to
29:41
renegotiate some sort of contract.
29:43
Like, hey. Yeah, what?
29:45
How difficult do you think it was?
29:47
Just like, hey, 20 ABS, that's all we're giving you.
29:51
Joey Gallo, if you can manage to strike out less than 10 times,
29:56
we'll give you a shot. And he hit 11 punches and he's
30:00
like, I'm done, I'm going to the mound, what are we doing?
30:08
Again, it goes back to the White Sox.
30:10
Who do you think you are? Like we're giving we here the
30:15
White Sox of Chicago here by Grant.
30:19
You Joey Gallo, 20 plate appearances.
30:22
It's like, give him all the bats he wants.
30:25
What difference does it make? It is.
30:28
It's such a tough period in spring training too, because
30:32
like, like guys are going to start getting cut.
30:36
Guys are going to start like you don't have a ton of time to like
30:40
get on the mountain and actually showcase what you have.
30:44
I don't know, maybe they should just limit it to 10.
30:46
Maybe he's. I mean, the other thing too is
30:49
you got to think that there's like still actual legitimate
30:53
Major League quality level players that are still looking
30:57
for a spot like JD Martinez. And I know obviously not a
31:00
pitcher, but like there are still, there's still some roster
31:03
construction that needs to take place with guys that are
31:06
actually going to contribute this year that has.
31:09
Got the Gibson still free? Yeah, Kyle Gibson's still out
31:12
there. Lance Lana's still out there.
31:14
I'm giving those guys a shot before I give Joey Gallo a shot.
31:17
I'm sorry, what are we doing? What are we doing?
31:21
Joey called a. You just called a career, man.
31:25
Very nice. Very nice career.
31:27
You seem like you're a nice guy, go find your second career.
31:35
Go start a podcast like all these guys that.
31:38
That's it, That's it. Go ahead, Casa de clube.
31:45
Casa de Clube maybe make an appearance on on Hosmer's
31:48
podcast. Like it or make your own, dude,
31:51
make your own. Go start teaching stretching
31:54
because clearly you like to do that a lot in the on deck
31:57
circle. And here's a question next
32:01
career. Here's a question of Joey Gallo.
32:03
Let's let you know what. Let's take this quick
32:06
opportunity to to maybe give give him some business advice if
32:10
he started a podcast. What?
32:12
What would? What would?
32:13
What are some names for this podcast that if you heard it,
32:20
you would go? That's Joey Gallo's podcast.
32:24
Twitch hitter instead of switch hitter.
32:27
Twitch hitter because he's always like here.
32:31
He's always like adjusting his head and like stretching and
32:34
like his eyes are just rolling around every time he's doing it.
32:38
Like he's always just taking the goofiest.
32:41
Like what? Are you doing goodness twitch
32:45
hitter? I like that.
32:52
I mean it. Are you talk about a true 3
32:55
outcome or two outcome guy? Yeah.
32:58
Just two, just two that. 'D be a fun exercise I might
33:04
have to think on that see what I can come up with trying to help
33:09
him out man like if if this pitching thing doesn't work,
33:11
he's going to need some some help.
33:14
Maybe we would throw some podcast names his way because
33:17
that's sounds like that's the that sounds like the.
33:20
True said it 60 or 70 million in his career.
33:23
I think he's just fine. Shut it down?
33:26
I don't know. Hang him up.
33:28
That sounds nice. Hang him up, Joe.
33:31
We don't need another freaking podcast to compete with.
33:36
Leave this industry alone, Joey. I'm racking my brain trying to.
33:43
Think you are still trying to think.
33:45
I'm like what? What could 200 strikeouts trying
33:53
to just think of things that I think of when I think of Joey
33:56
Yellow. I'll come up with something
33:58
good. Sort of old news.
34:02
We the. Unnatural.
34:03
How about that instead of the natural?
34:08
Sort sort of old news but the development came after last
34:14
episode it was made official arrays have cancelled their
34:18
plans to develop a ballpark in a new ballpark in Saint Pete's
34:25
they announced on Thursday. So the plan as it stands right
34:30
now is to get the trop ready for the near future as soon as I can
34:38
and roll with things from there. I don't know how much longer we,
34:45
and we sort of touched on it last episode.
34:47
I don't know how much longer this song, this this song and
34:51
dance can go because people are are I think people are just fed
34:56
up with the trop. They're fed up with the
34:59
indecision, the inability to commit.
35:01
And I understand that there was plans in place before the
35:05
hurricane hit. But let's be honest, there was
35:08
no guarantee that even if that hurricane didn't hit, that they
35:11
were actually going to follow through on creating a new
35:13
ballpark. So you they have no real grounds
35:17
to stand on. In terms of.
35:21
Having having faith from fans that something would happen.
35:25
Yeah, I mean, you've lost faith in your own state.
35:27
I think the state of Florida has now stepped in and been like,
35:30
it's time to like we're not going to, we're not going to re
35:34
allocate this money to your to your ridiculous ballpark and
35:42
location. And it's like you need to start
35:45
making moves, man. I like that.
35:47
I don't think they should move. I think they should stay in
35:49
Florida. I don't I don't think there's
35:51
any need to leave. It's not like the Miami Marlins
35:55
are running that state. You know what I mean?
35:57
Like we, it's obvious that like Florida is a destination.
36:03
It's a vacation. Spring training is just, I'm
36:06
sure a huge economic benefit. Like there's there's baseball
36:11
money in Florida as far as Major League players that have come
36:14
out of Florida, as far as youth baseball in Florida.
36:17
Like there's ways to tap into this.
36:20
And shame on the race for not being able to figure this out,
36:24
not being able to like you've had enough time and it hasn't
36:27
gotten any better. And whether it's playoff
36:31
appearances, whether it's World Series appearances, like why are
36:36
you not getting over the hump? And you can't just sit there and
36:39
blame it on the location of your stadium.
36:42
Like no, it's other factors. So get across, get across the
36:48
bridge, go to the other side, get to where people can actually
36:51
get to you maybe go through some type of rebranding.
36:56
You see that there's like a resurgence of the 90s as far as
37:01
our culture and style goes. You know, I'm not saying you
37:04
need to bring back the Devil Rays, but like you can at least
37:07
start to bring back seen the Diamondbacks bringing back teal.
37:11
Like you can start to kind of play on that a little bit and
37:14
start to build off of that. So I think it's smart.
37:18
There's no point in spending money in whatever countless
37:21
dollars on fixing the dump. Put it towards something else,
37:27
build something new. And I like that.
37:29
Like tell me not to get political, but like I like that
37:34
the governor is like, I'm going to call Rob Manfred.
37:36
We need to get this figured out because this is bad.
37:40
It's bad for the economy. It's a waste of money.
37:42
And this is tax. This is tax money going towards
37:47
this. These are tax dollars going
37:49
towards these stadiums more often than not.
37:51
So like, at least make it worth it, Tropicana.
38:00
Sorry, mentally I was still stuck at full transference here.
38:04
I was still stuck on the Joey Gallo podcast name thing.
38:07
Sorry, I, I, I went to ChatGPT and I was like, give me funny
38:13
podcast ideas or Joey Gallo incorporating strikeout puns.
38:20
Some of the things, some of the things that came up with within
38:25
with Gallo, Gallo's Breeze Fest, Joey's K Razy Chronicles, Joey's
38:35
catch up with AK, Strikeout stories with Gala.
38:41
Tough dude. I mean this is what chat GP TS
38:45
coming up with man. No chill on IAI I.
38:52
Love it. Focus up, dog.
38:54
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. No, I was listening to what
38:58
you're saying. I just had him sitting in the
38:59
background waiting to waiting to share that.
39:03
Yeah. But you know, the more I think
39:05
about it, I, I think Nashville is catching and, and we sort of
39:08
touch on this, but I think Nashville is picking up some
39:10
steam. And it look, it's not that, like
39:14
you said, it's not like the Marlins are running the state.
39:16
It's not that I think Florida's a bad destination for baseball
39:20
in terms of the baseball landscape.
39:23
Florida's a great state. There's so much talent in that
39:26
state. And we're obviously talking
39:28
separate from the Major League, Like I'm just talking maybe like
39:30
youth, high school, that sort of thing.
39:32
But all things considered, it's a great state for baseball.
39:37
With that said, though, I still think there are different
39:40
options to entertain in terms of location.
39:43
So it's like I, I'm, I'm not sitting here saying, well,
39:47
because this isn't worked out. I think that they need to just,
39:50
they need to jump ship to another state.
39:55
I, I have nothing against the state of Florida.
39:57
I, I think if you could find another place within the state
39:59
to make it work great. But as it stands right now, I
40:03
don't think there's any. Any locations or destinations
40:06
that are considering or or open to bringing a team in?
40:09
So you're going to have to look elsewhere.
40:11
And I think a place like Nashville is primed.
40:15
They already have a minor league team there every most people
40:17
know that. I hear you.
40:18
That's a. Great.
40:20
I gotta wonder how much is happening behind the curtain of
40:24
like we're coming up on the next CBA agreement.
40:27
There's already been rumors about an expansion to spread
40:30
into 32 teams. Like are there are there groups
40:33
already working on bids? Are there?
40:35
You know what I mean? Like are there conversations
40:37
already being had about Nashville as a location for a
40:40
new expansion team? So it's like it takes time.
40:47
This conversation just started for the Rays.
40:50
Like this conversation has somewhat been in the works, but
40:54
overall, like the urgency hasn't come since until this hurricane
40:58
hit and and destroyed the roof. So it's like they're going to
41:02
have to figure stuff out and I don't know what it's going to
41:07
take. You mentioned the I, I, I will
41:13
admit I think this is maybe where I was typing in a ChatGPT,
41:16
but I think you were talking about the jersey thing, right?
41:21
Like the colors, Like the jersey?
41:23
Yeah, the old school colors. Yeah, OK, so here's here's what
41:26
I do if if, if Major League Baseball doesn't want relocation
41:31
and they're just like sell the team or figure it out.
41:33
Here's what you do. You bring back the Devil Ray
41:37
name you, you're going to have to figure out a new ballpark
41:41
situation. Like I know we just got this
41:43
news like, oh, we can't we can't make it happen.
41:46
You're going to have to the Trop isn't it?
41:48
I hate to say it, but if this is a long term plan, the Trop isn't
41:51
it. So you're going to have to
41:52
figure something else out. So figure out a Plan B for a new
41:57
park or completely give the Trop a makeover because the way as it
42:04
was currently constructed, well, previously constructed prior to
42:08
the hurricane, was not the move. I don't care what people try to
42:11
tell you. Oh, it was charm.
42:12
It was a charming little setting.
42:14
No stop. Garbage, Terrible.
42:16
No good, horrendous. Not worth our time, not worth
42:20
our money. Not going no figure out a figure
42:30
out a a makeover for the ballpark.
42:32
Bring back the devil Ray name. Bring back in fact, just bring
42:35
back the old branding. Forget, forget this new like
42:38
Sunbeam ray of sunshine. Forget it.
42:40
Bring back, bring everything back from the old branding and
42:46
then sell the team and then sort of hit the reset button.
42:51
Yeah, that's, I think that's something that like the average
42:53
fan needs to remember. Is that like, there's plenty of
42:57
people slash groups that are waiting in line to purchase a
43:02
professional franchise? Like, there's going to be no
43:05
shortage of buyers. And for any owner that's just
43:10
sitting on a team thinking that they're the better option after
43:14
decades of showing the same patterns, it's like, no, it's
43:19
time to switch it up. You got to go.
43:21
You got to get out, got to get out and you can't blame the
43:24
organization, but you can't blame their front office.
43:27
You can't blame their scouting and development.
43:29
You can't blame their coaches. They can't blame the players.
43:32
They do an incredible job. The fact that the Rays are in
43:34
the conversation when healthy every year is incredible when
43:41
you consider how much is stacked against them in the ownership
43:45
and the marketing, in the overall dollars that are coming
43:50
in or not coming in for that franchise figured out, figured
43:55
out. Figured out speaking.
43:59
Speaking of the Rays, let's look at the American League picture
44:02
real quick, something that I discussed on ESPN Las Vegas on
44:09
Friday. Shout out.
44:11
Shout out to those to those gents.
44:14
Big shout out to that crew for having me on on Friday.
44:18
Something we talked about something they were curious
44:20
about cause being a Las Vegas based, they're curious about my
44:24
thoughts regarding the A's. And they saw a post that I put
44:29
out recently talked about how the, you know, the A and we
44:31
talked about last episode, the A's might mess around and make
44:34
the postseason. And they said, why do you think
44:36
that is? And my answer was that I, I
44:41
think I'm almost close to knowing because there's no clear
44:48
cut answer for who's going to run away with the league, that
44:53
the American League is just wide open.
44:55
And like I said, we talked about this and I think it's worth
44:58
repeating because I think if you really look at it, if you take
45:03
the whole league into account, meaning the American League,
45:06
look around, hop around the divisions, who's running away
45:10
with the AL, There's no there, there's the American League is
45:16
severely lacking juggernauts this year, severely lacking
45:19
juggernauts. And what I said on there is like
45:23
you on on Friday, I said, you look, you look back at previous
45:28
years, you go recent history would show you that the Houston
45:31
Astros were that team. And even last year, despite the
45:35
question marks they had with, you know, some of their arms,
45:39
you look at the Yankees, you could say with with their
45:41
offense when they were clicking, the whole team as a whole when
45:44
they were clicking, I don't think many teams wanted to go up
45:48
against the Yankees just given how potent that specifically the
45:50
offense was. But this year you just don't
45:53
have that you you just don't have that.
45:56
And so I wanted to ask you, your thoughts being, you know, having
46:02
some, some connection to that, who like, who do you think is
46:07
taking the American League this year?
46:10
Because I, I don't have an answer.
46:11
I, I have options, but I, I can't give you an answer.
46:15
And it's going to be, I'll be honest with you, it's going to
46:16
be hard coming up with an answer for that question for our hot
46:20
takes and and predictions episode, like because we always
46:23
pick up, we always pick the Pennant winners.
46:24
Coming up soon, by the way. Coming up soon.
46:26
I I as as of today do not know who I'm going with.
46:31
I I do not know. I don't know either, because
46:34
when you talk about some of the juggernauts, those juggernauts
46:36
took steps back this offseason, right?
46:40
And when I'm referring to juggernauts is basically just
46:43
the Yankees and the Astros. And both teams in my mind with
46:48
their roster have taken a step back.
46:50
I think there's a lot of good teams in the AL.
46:52
And you look at some teams that got better, you got to assume
46:55
that last year was a fluke for the Rangers.
46:58
All the injuries coming off of the World Series hangover, that
47:02
lineup is deep. And that got better, right?
47:06
You got to assume that the Red Sox are going to be a completely
47:11
night and day shift from what they looked like last year.
47:14
The Rays are bringing guys back. The Central is pretty much
47:19
running it back between those three teams.
47:21
The Twins are always managing to be in the conversation.
47:25
The Tigers took a step forward last year.
47:28
The Royals took a step forward last year.
47:30
The Guardians are always going to figure it out, right?
47:34
I mean, we, we knocked on the Angels before, but like even the
47:38
Angels have still managed to like bring in some decent names
47:43
and kind of fill out that line up in a way.
47:45
Not sitting here and saying that some of these teams are going to
47:48
be in the conversation to win their division.
47:50
But overall, like I think it, it's kind of reached a, a
47:56
tighter median than what it's looked like in the past.
47:59
The juggernauts have taken a step back.
48:01
Some of those lower level teams have started to take a step
48:04
forward and the A's are in that conversation too.
48:07
So who knows, man, because like it's not hard to look back two
48:11
years ago before 2023 and say like the Diamondbacks, what are
48:18
you talking about? If you had the Diamondbacks in
48:20
the World Series, you're crazy and look what they were able to
48:22
do. So you never know.
48:25
You absolutely never know, especially with how the playoff
48:28
is structured now and multiple wild card teams getting in.
48:32
I, I think there's going to be two, if not all three divisions
48:37
with multiple teams coming down to the last week of having an
48:42
opportunity. And you also never know what it
48:45
looks like for health because there's plenty of people across
48:49
the league, fans, journalists that said the Yankees had a
48:53
chance to run it back and take the AL East again.
48:55
One injury happens, 2 injuries happen.
48:58
Next thing you know, it's like, we don't know, right?
49:01
You, you never know. So why not?
49:05
Why not look at an A's that are finally started to get the
49:08
monkey off their back a little bit that have started to
49:11
transition? Like you have players that
49:13
they're committed to. You have players that want to be
49:15
there for a little while that have proven themselves.
49:19
Why not have some pride and and try to make a run at it?
49:25
I think it's obtainable. Do I think it's realistic?
49:28
I don't know. But like, the whole point is, at
49:33
this time of year, you can't count teams out, especially when
49:37
they're going into the season with momentum, going into the
49:40
season, with confidence, going into the season with boxes being
49:43
checked This offseason. That's what the A's did in a new
49:48
ballpark. In a minor league ballpark at
49:50
that. Yeah.
49:51
They're going to pop. That offense is going.
49:52
To go so, So what I hear you saying is that I'm selling, I'm
49:55
finally selling you on the A's a little bit.
49:59
I've been OK with what the A's have been doing.
50:02
No, but you. Am I going to allude to any
50:05
answers for the holiday with it? No, you're OK with it, but
50:08
you're not a believer like I am. I'm a believer.
50:14
I want that on I I'm a. Believer to spend an entire
50:17
freaking episode focusing on whose quote was this?
50:20
And just running through how many teams you've been in a
50:22
believer on and how often it's fanned out because you do a
50:26
great job of reminding us of the ones that do give me an.
50:31
Example of a scene where I said I was a believer and it didn't
50:34
pan out well. To be fair is both of us, we
50:38
were definitely believers in the Cardinals for a little bit and
50:40
that didn't seem to pan out. OK.
50:43
But to give ourselves no, no, no.
50:45
But to give ourselves credit, we we said there's a clear
50:49
roadblock here. Shout out Ollie Marmol.
50:53
And there's, I kid you not, there are people that are still
50:55
commenting on that video like two years later being like,
50:58
yeah, I'm still here. I don't we we don't know how.
51:01
And so tell me how that panned out.
51:03
So I think we we sort of got that one right.
51:07
You said the Phillies. The Phillies were in the World
51:09
Series no more than two years ago.
51:12
Don't matter. And have been flirting with it a
51:15
little bit. So I'm not, I'm not going to
51:17
walk that back, but sort of put a bow on it.
51:24
The answers that I I gave to that question.
51:26
I I2 names I threw out and you know, give me crap all you want,
51:31
but I threw the Red Sox out as a as a possible option because I,
51:34
I think you, you combined the. Dumb not to.
51:38
You combine the youth that they have and talented youth at that
51:42
with the additions that they with, with, with veterans like
51:47
guy, like Alex Bregman, you bring it you, you supplement
51:49
that rotation and hope that rotation can be better.
51:52
You supplement, you supplement that with a Garrett Crochet,
51:56
things like that. I I'm excited to see what
51:58
happens with them. The Rangers you mentioned, I
52:01
mean, you look at that lineup, you go down, you go down the
52:03
list, Marcus Semi and Corey Seeger, Wyatt Lang for Jock
52:07
Peterson, Adolis Garcia, Josh Young, Evan Carter, Jake Berger
52:12
and Jonah Heim and then on the rotation.
52:14
Jake Berger's going to hit like 7th.
52:16
That guy pumps out 25 home runs every.
52:19
Year he's projected to hit 8th in front of Jonah Heim.
52:23
Come on dude. In the rotation, you've got
52:26
Evaldi, John Gray, Cody Bradford, Jack Lighter, Jacob
52:29
Bugam. You could benefit from a little
52:32
bit of help there, but who knows, maybe Jacob degromis can
52:36
manage a way to to stay a little bit healthier and and offset
52:41
some of the losses that you might be hit with.
52:44
But who knows? Yeah, I just thought it'd be
52:50
interesting. It All in all though, I, I think
52:52
you and I are on the same page. It's there's, there's no clear
52:55
favourites, which I'm excited for.
52:57
I'm excited for it sort of wrapping up here.
53:04
Just wanted to remind folks that what OK, so it's Sunday.
53:15
So the get the the first game is Tuesday, correct for this Tokyo
53:21
series, It's the it's the. Tuesday but.
53:27
Tuesday and Wednesday I thought for I thought the first game was
53:32
Wednesday, but it is actually Tuesday.
53:35
First pitch for each game scheduled for 6:10 AM Eastern.
53:42
I won't be catching any live ABS.
53:47
It's a cool 3:00 AM for Daddy. So are you, are you a baseball
53:51
guy or not? Nate, are you going to are, I
53:53
mean, what are we really? Yeah.
53:55
What does that say about you as a baseball fan if you're not
53:58
willing to wake up at 3:00 AM to watch the Cubs and Dodgers?
54:01
What does it say about both these teams losing to Japanese
54:05
teams this week? Did you see that?
54:06
Did they actually I I wasn't paying attention to the outcome,
54:10
to the results, but. Both lost.
54:13
Both the Dodgers and the Cubs lost.
54:16
And that's, that's what I'm saying about that.
54:17
Like it's it's awesome that Major League Baseball is using
54:20
this as an opportunity to sort of grow the game.
54:22
But Japan doesn't need any help growing the game.
54:25
They're doing just fine over there.
54:26
They're pumping dudes out every year, I mean.
54:30
I mean, look at, look at the headliners that were sending
54:34
over there. It's their guys, Yeah.
54:37
Like, so Japan's good. They're like, we're we love
54:41
this. We're going to eat it up.
54:42
Like we love catching, catching some MLB stars every now and
54:46
then. But like, we don't, like, this
54:49
isn't new to us. We this is our game too.
54:54
I really hate this. We talked about our last
54:56
episode. The fact that they're going to
54:57
come back this weekend and play more spring training games is
55:01
insane to me. Stop doing this.
55:05
It's crazy. You guys are stacking up dubs.
55:07
We just gave you your flowers earlier.
55:09
This is something that's got to go get rid of this week.
55:14
Week and a half early opening day across the pond.
55:17
Stop. It's not opening day.
55:20
Stop, stop, stop. Put it on the same day.
55:23
Which is a great reminder. I can't remember if I mentioned
55:26
it already, but I plan to be streaming on opening day.
55:32
I don't know how much or how little Nate's going to be
55:34
involved. Because he's I'm going to try to
55:35
ditch work. That's a busy.
55:37
That's a busy. Man, when it comes to work, so
55:39
he may join on there, but at the very least you can hang out with
55:42
yours truly on opening day. I'll I'll have I'll have the
55:45
games up. I'll have multiple screens
55:47
going. It's going to be.
55:49
Cracking peanuts sitting on the couch.
55:51
Cracking some peanuts, maybe a little something else.
55:54
Maybe maybe cracking a little something else.
55:56
We got we got some news coming. Oh, shoot, more to come on that
56:04
later, but yeah, I'll make plans to hang out with yours truly.
56:09
I'll be it'll be on all the on all the platforms, Facebook,
56:13
YouTube, Twitter and we'll be watching some balls.
56:18
So make plans to do that. Other than that, though, I think
56:20
it's all we got for today. You got to get out of here.
56:23
So unless you got anything else, we can wrap this baby up.
56:28
I mean, I guess for Dodgers and Cubs fans, you made it.
56:32
Congrats, you got to the finish line.
56:35
The rest of you keep hanging out with us because it's it.
56:41
I, I'm crawling here, I'm crawling to the finish line.
56:44
Get me to opening day. Holy crap, you guys are great.
56:48
Thanks for hanging out. Don't go chasing curveballs we
56:51
love. You all and as always, looking
56:52
forward to talking more baseball with you guys soon.
56:54
Until next time, say filthy.