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Hot Takes and Predictions for 2024 · The 3-0 Take

• 0:00
  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take, where we talk
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  all things Major League Baseball.
• 0:06
  Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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  It all starts right now. Welcome back to The Three O Take
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  presented by Sea Geek. This is episode 417 The Hot
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  Takes and Predictions episode. I'll be your host, Kyle Cord.
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  And I'm here with my Co host Nate Reyes and The Return of
• 0:29
  Ryan Ripken. Boys, gentlemen, a A first.
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  This is first with a 1/3 host on for the hot takes and
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  predictions episode of Ryan. It's a pleasure to have you.
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  It's a pleasure to be back. We've come a long way guys, from
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  being on this Riverside together and here we are, one of those.
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  Unfamiliar. Riverside is the platform we
• 1:02
  use, not just, like, you know, hanging out by a river talking
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  about baseball. Although that does sound nice,
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  that does sound nice. That sounds.
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  Quite appealing. Maybe we should do that
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  tomorrow. But get that into the mix, Yeah
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  boys, Well. Here we are.
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  This is 2020. 4 Here yeah, this is where it all gets going.
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  So. All business.
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  We've got two suit jackets, two ties, 1/4 zip, and the classiest
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  shades you'll ever see in your life.
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  The This is, this is all the energy we need in 2024 from all
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  of you. And we've been waiting.
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  You know, it's been a very dormant offseason for a while,
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  right? But but here it is, Spring
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  training. It's almost at its end.
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  The opening day for the Dodgers and Padres is what, a week away?
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  And then baseball is in full swing and we're just rocking and
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  rolling. What?
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  What a great time. What a great time to be alive.
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  Let's talk some baseball. I'm all about it.
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  I've been looking forward to this day for a long time.
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  But before we get into looking ahead to the 2024 season, per
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  tradition, we're going to look back at our picks from last
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  year. Nate and this is always a good
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  chance for you and I to. Be embarrassed.
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  Yeah, I'm just going to be embarrassed, I think.
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  Because as as as everyone knows and I say this every year at the
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  end of the day and that this goes to show you.
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  And if if you listening made pics yourself and you looked
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  back at the end of the year, you'll realize that none of us
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  not even the experts have any clue as what we're talking
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  about. We can give our best guess, give
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  our best gut reaction, give our best guesstimate.
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  But at the end of the day. Nobody.
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  Knows, so withhold judgments if you will because we also have
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  some listeners submitted hot takes so you all are gonna get
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  an earful of. Attention.
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  Oh, I like that if. You do choose to to judge.
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  Let's throw everybody on your bus.
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  All right. So right off the top here,
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  let's, let's do a little, let's do a little rewind, shall we?
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  2023 AL East. Nate, you and I both picked the
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  Yankees. We did.
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  And much to Ryan's delight, was not to be the case.
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  Baltimore Orioles took that. Nate, you and I both had the
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  Guardians, and the Central was not to be the case as the Twins.
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  Oh. For two.
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  Took that over 2. Nate, you and I both had the
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  Astros. We got that one right.
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  My hair, might I add, but a win's a win.
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  NL East. You and I both had the Braves.
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  Good there, Good there. We both picked the Cardinal.
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  In fact, now that I'm looking at this, we we swept the divisions
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  in terms of similarities, picked identically.
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  Both had the Cardinals in the Central.
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  What a disappointing year for the Cardinals, if I might add.
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  What are we doing? And then pick the Padres out of
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  the West. Yeah.
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  Not good. It ain't a Hot Takes episode if
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  it ain't spicy. So that had spice.
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  I'm just going to say it right now.
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  I picked the Padres to win the World Series.
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  So what? I'm just going to get that out
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  of the way, save me the embarrassment later.
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  OK? So we're just going to get that
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  out of the way. Wild card I went.
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  Jays, White Sox and Angels could not have picked three worst
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  teams, I think. I mean, sure, the Jays snuck in
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  there, but I had them as the top Wild Card spot.
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  They had the last. Wild Card Sox is insane.
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  That's That's an absurd pick. You had Mariners, Blue Jays,
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  Angels. So more respectable, more
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  respectable. National League Wild Card.
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  I had Mets. Dodgers, Phillies.
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  You had Dodgers, Phillies, Mets. The wild card spots for the
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  National League were the Phillies.
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  Marlins, D backs. So we're on the same page with
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  the Phillies. We we we felt good about the
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  Phillies. I felt great about the Phillies
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  picks for the World Series, I said.
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  I had the Dodger or the Padres. Excuse me?
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  Over the Astros. You had the Padres.
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  Over the Mariners, That. Would have been a fun World
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  Series. That would have been fun.
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  Yours would have been more fun than mine.
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  I I do agree. But I I just got tired of
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  sleeping on the Astros because they continued to show that
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  their window is not up. And I mean, they gave it a good
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  run. That's all I can say.
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  Award picks, rookie of the years.
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  I had Yoshida and Carol. Hey, how about that?
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  You had Volpi and Senga, so I think.
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  Senga finished like second or third so.
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  It's. Somewhat respectable.
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  Well, mine. Well, we got a Gold Glove.
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  I'll take the gold on that. Cy Young.
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  I had Framer Valdez and Zach Gallon.
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  To be fair, Zach Gallon was in the hunt for until the last,
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  what, until like the end of August?
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  September. Six weeks?
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  Yeah, yeah, six weeks or so. You had the Grom and Musgrove.
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  Tough. That's a tough.
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  That's a tough. Real tough.
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  Real tough. Tough look.
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  MVPI had Shohei and Soto. You had a Mike Trout and Soto.
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  Overall you did. You did a little better.
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  I I think so. I think so.
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  You had a little bit better picks, a few better picks for
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  the standings. I think I did a little bit
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  better with the with the personnel.
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  All right. Just wanted to throw that out
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  there, lay the groundwork for where we're coming from, from
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  last year, set us up for our picks for this year.
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  But before we do that, we're gonna get into some listener hot
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  takes. We're gonna throw you all under
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  the bus a little bit. From last year.
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  Oh no no we're this year hot takes we're switching gears it
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  we're in 2024 now I wanna I like starting with listener hot takes
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  when it comes to the the content for the upcoming season because
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  I I wanna I wanna soften the blow a little bit for from some
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  of our picks because every now and then we we throw out a pic
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  that's a little a few pics actually they're a little
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  questionable so at least if at least if we throw the listeners
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  under the bus we'll feel a little bit better about
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  ourselves. So we're going to start right
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  here off the top and I mean what what a what a segue after my bit
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  that I just shared Brad says Trevor Bauer wins the World
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  Series MVP. So this this is what we're
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  dealing with. When I when I request listener
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  hot takes and I say this every year, I it's a double edged
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  sword because sometimes we get some asinine submissions.
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  But on the flip side, I'm not asking for lukewarm takes.
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  That's true. So you know what, Brad's
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  throwing it out there. He says, Trevor, let let's
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  follow the map here of Trevor Bauer that he's implying that
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  Trevor Bauer is going to sign with a team early enough to
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  where he can accumulate a season's worth of, you know,
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  work. And then he's going to also be
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  on the team that makes it to the World Series and then he's going
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  to win the World Series MVP. So a lot has to happen there.
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  It's not looking good for him as it stands today, but just
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  throwing it out there. Eric says Pirates go for a
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  Cinderella run in 2024. They acquire Cease and Jack
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  Peterson at the deadline and they make it to the World
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  Series. What are our thoughts there?
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  Well. Jelly Roger.
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  I I love the enthusiasm. Why not the Pirates?
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  Why not the Pirates? It's a clean slate.
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  That's the optimism I'm looking for.
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  I'm glad. I'm glad we're here.
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  You know, taking one jump, not just to make the playoffs, not
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  just, you know, win the division.
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  We're going all the way to the World Series.
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  Not saying it's unrealistic. It's not.
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  I think it was. What were the two names Cease
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  and who? Jock Peterson, very specific.
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  That's the. That's what pushes him over the
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  that's. What gets him over?
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  Yeah, that's the the, the piece that they were really missing.
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  Here's here's the real question, though, Like on a more serious
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  note, and I'm not saying that Eric's not being serious here.
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  He may genuinely believe this. And if so, more power to you,
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  Eric. Do we think with this Cease
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  acquisition that we could see him on a new team post deadline?
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  No. No, I don't think so either.
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  He's got. Control.
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  OK. I just saw a lot of commentary
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  on that specific item and I didn't know if you all agreed or
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  disagreed. Yeah, but Nah, not with control.
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  If this was a one year thing and he was said to be a free agent
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  in the fall, maybe. Fair enough.
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  Fair enough. Trevor says Angels will be
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  better without Otani first playoff run, since Lord knows
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  when. Man, these are spicy.
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  These are coming out the gate. Remind me 20/20/14 correct last
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  playoff run in Kansas City? Sure. 14 or 15 it.
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  Was 14? Yeah, 14 or 15?
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  I think it was 14. It's been a minute.
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  It's. Only hit right now.
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  Mike Trout's only hit in the postseason home run.
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  We will. We will check it out right now
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  you want. Me to keep going.
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  Yep, Let's keep these rolling. Doug says Twins win the AL
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  Pennant behind MVP Royce Lewis. Oh, I don't hate that.
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  I think that's spicy, but like, it's not super unrealistic.
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  Royce Lewis is a dude. Yeah, but if he's not coming, if
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  he's not coming to the plate with the bases used to every AB,
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  how much value is he really bringing to that club?
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  If we're being honest, that's true, 'cause that's all that guy
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  does, is he Grand slams even in spring training.
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  Ryan, what do you got? You know what?
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  I was just checking, 'cause I remember facing him OK back in
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  the day, especially talking about spring training, but but
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  the crazy thing is, how old do you think Royce Lewis is?
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  That's why I wanted to double check, 'cause I was trying to
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  'cause I'm. I'm older than him, obviously by
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  some years. How old do you think Royce Lewis
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  is? I'm.
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  Going to give him 27. I think he's a late bloomer.
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  OK, Kyle, that's probably what I would go with too.
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  OK, yeah, he's 24. So to give you context of still
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  being a young player, I'm not saying all of what was the take
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  the the boldness is going to happen, but Royce Lewis figuring
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  things out, it's not out of the not out of the equation,
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  especially when you consider how young he is.
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  Now it's ironic because in his case of where he is compared to
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  like Juan Soto, who's 25. Yeah.
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  There's there's some ground to be made-up, but I'm just saying
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  maybe, maybe he's got enough time to put it all together.
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  Twins. Gonna need a little more, but I
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  don't hate the I don't hate the Royce Lewis love.
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  I'm OK with it. What do we think's more
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  realistic twins win the Pennant or MVP Royce Lewis?
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  Royce Lewis Twins Pennant. Really.
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  I like you, both said. Said that so casually.
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  Yeah, Roy slew, I thought. Twins with the.
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  You think? Hey, just got to get hot at the
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  right time. Look at the Rangers.
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  Last. Year.
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  But it's the Twins, Ryan. It's the Twins.
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  Don't be. Fooled.
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  Don't be fooled by the shiny new toy.
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  It's the Twins at the end of the day.
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  You know what I love about this? It's 2024, Kyle.
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  So if you want to believe what you want, I try to talk about
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  talking things into existence. So if you believe that the Twins
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  and Royce Lewis can win the World Series and or an MVP, then
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  it's gonna happen. Maybe.
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  But at least you're speaking it into existence that it could
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  happen. We don't want this.
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  Way it's gonna happen. Right.
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  Yeah. You're not.
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  It's not going to happen. By Kyle, you going.
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  It's just not going to happen. He's not going to be good
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  enough. That's not how this works, OK?
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  We want positivity in 2024. You're right, Ryan.
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  You're right. I got to clean up my ACT.
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  I got to be very you know what you got to me, Ryan.
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  I as we go through our picks, I may even make some adjustments
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  on the fly based on that, on that stern talking to that I
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  just received. OK, so sit.
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  So stand by. We'll see.
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  We'll see what happens. All right, let's keep these pick
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  these takes rolling here. Dustin says the Mets will win
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  the World Series. Look, I'm all about positivity,
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  but I'm also about realism here, and I don't think that's.
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  I. Can't get there?
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  I can't get there. I you know what that one, that
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  one's a, that one's just I appreciate your outlook and we
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  leave that there. That's Ryan's way, the one of
• 15:27
  the nicest guys you'll ever meet.
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  That's his way of saying shut up, Don't ever say that again.
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  Who? Who?
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  Who? Who said that one?
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  Dustin. Dustin, you're a good kid.
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  You're. A good kid, Dustin.
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  If you don't know that's from Ryan.
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  That's the ultimate stamp of approval there.
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  Stamp of approval means it's a it's it's the highest compliment
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  you can get from me. It really is.
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  I love it. I love it.
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  Micah says we will see two first time MVPS this season.
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  I like it. That's a that's a very creative
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  hot take. Yes, I'm AI.
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  Don't. Know if we've.
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  I don't know if we've received that before, but I like it, Love
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  it. Those are those get my juices
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  flowing. I like that.
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  He also speaking the juices flow and Micah also says the Yankees
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  Blue Jays rivalry will be the most heated in baseball this
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  season. It's been brewing for years now
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  and boy do I agree. Boy, do I agree.
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  We're gonna see some benches clearing between the year.
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  For that I'm. Here for it.
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  I think I'll touch on this a little bit later.
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  Who said that? Micah.
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  Micah, I'll come back to that thought.
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  Micah. Murray says this is a hot take.
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  He says I'll be able to go to a Dodgers game filled with beers
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  and food without hurting my bank account and mental.
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  Health that is the hottest take that is all day.
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  That is a bowl take. I would love to know.
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  I'm. I'm gonna have to circle back
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  with him on this and and find out what that bill would end up.
• 17:05
  Yeah, 'cause? I'm curious 'cause.
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  You you know, I think it's fun. Put it down too.
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  Oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.
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  Murray can throw it back. Yeah.
• 17:19
  AJ Torres Friend Friend of the pod AJ Torres says Royals win
• 17:22
  The AL Central. MVPS are J Rod and Freddie
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  Freeman. Oh, oh, oh.
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  Now again, if don't allude to any of your picks later on.
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  So if if this appeal, if these if these takes appeal to you,
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  especially because they they maybe align with your picks,
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  don't don't give anything away. Why can't I say, oh, why can't I
• 17:48
  get excited? About it, just saying.
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  Why can't we get excited about? Do you want to talk about
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  original take with that? That's being specific.
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  But it's also good to think about it because J Rod, great
• 18:00
  player, Freddie Freeman, obviously great player.
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  It's not the everyday. And I love Shohei Otan.
• 18:06
  I think he's great. But it's not the same
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  conversation over and over again.
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  I'm just saying all right, think that they're all great players
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  love and and and it's a thing that's it's hot enough right
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  there. But it that's super like that is
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  a realistic thing. Kansas City come on back, come
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  on back into the equation. The water's fine.
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  Might dabble in that a little bit later on.
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  I I don't know. We'll see.
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  I don't know you. Said not giving anything away.
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  I. Said.
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  I don't know, I said. We'll see.
• 18:39
  It's very ambiguous. Sending very conflicting
• 18:42
  messages to all very three O takers out there.
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  I'm just keeping them in the dark until we get to the time in
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  which we make our picks. That's all I'm saying, Lucas
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  says. Lucas, I want to shake your
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  hand. Lucas says Yankees will be
• 18:57
  thirteen games back at the All Star Break.
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  Boone gets canned. Whoa.
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  Relax, Lucas. Relax.
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  Ease up Guy. I want to shake your hand,
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  Lucas. He's up.
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  You know, he could be right, could be wrong.
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  Flip of the coin could go either way.
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  Antonio says. Braves get to the Wild Card spot
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  and win it all against the Mariners.
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  Michael Harris gets MVP and Chris Sale gets Cy Young.
• 19:29
  Is there a is there a world? Believe it or not, I could see
• 19:34
  the Chris Sale thing happening. Just on an absolute fluke, he
• 19:38
  just stays healthy all year and and goes back to vintage
• 19:42
  Corsale. But is there a world where
• 19:43
  Michael Harris wins the MVP ever?
• 19:46
  I like the I like the the breakout season from Michael
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  Harris. I don't hate it.
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  But is that his? I think the.
• 19:54
  Wildest thing of these would be the fact that the Braves are in
• 20:00
  the Wild card and not winning the division, honestly.
• 20:06
  They all say Wilder than the others.
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  I don't know. I I think that that.
• 20:10
  I think the Phillies. Really.
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  You never know what's going to happen.
• 20:13
  Some guys might get injured. Maybe something's a little bit
• 20:15
  off. You feel like the Braves are
• 20:17
  just a juggernaut and everything should go their way, right?
• 20:20
  But maybe they need to be in the wild card to win this World
• 20:22
  Series. And I'll, I'll say this, if
• 20:24
  Michael Harris and Chris Sale are Cy Young and MVP, then it is
• 20:28
  a guarantee that the Braves are going to win the World Series.
• 20:31
  I'll tell you that. If both those guys, if those two
• 20:35
  things happen, the final thing the Braves win the World Series,
• 20:38
  will most certainly happen. I'd like to know the last time
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  we've seen a team hammer down a a Cy Young and an MVP in the
• 20:46
  same season. That's a that's a tough little
• 20:50
  trivia nugget and I wonder if it's out there.
• 20:53
  Oh, it's gotta be out there. It's gotta be right?
• 20:58
  Sure it is. We can.
• 21:00
  We can do a little digging, yeah, Austin says.
• 21:04
  The A's win the World Series after finishing a measly 80 and
• 21:08
  82. No comment.
• 21:13
  See what's. What's worse, that one or the
• 21:15
  Mets one? The Mets one, the, the the, the
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  problem, and unfortunately we're kind of limited to these
• 21:26
  listener hot takes, is just because of the volume that we
• 21:29
  get. I have to limit it to comments
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  and DMS 'cause if we did a, if we did a voicemail for everyone
• 21:35
  of these, it would just take forever.
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  So. But the hard part about having
• 21:40
  having to read these is you don't know the tone that the
• 21:44
  user is submitting it with, like do we?
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  I is he. Serious.
• 21:50
  Does Austin think the A's can go 80 and 82?
• 21:54
  We don't know. Will they go 80 and 82?
• 21:58
  Absolutely not. But it's a matter of getting to
• 22:01
  the heart. You gotta figure out where
• 22:03
  Austin's coming from and I we need to have a conversation
• 22:07
  cause of. Where he's feeling it, he's
• 22:08
  feeling it from here. If he genuinely believes that, I
• 22:11
  gotta know where that's coming from.
• 22:13
  Speak it into existence. I gotta manifest it something.
• 22:17
  The Oakland and the Oakland A's stay in Oakland.
• 22:21
  Speak it into existence. What a what?
• 22:24
  A story, That would be what? I mean, it's a shame they
• 22:28
  already have a movie after the A's.
• 22:30
  I mean, you'd have to make another one.
• 22:32
  You'd. Have to.
• 22:32
  If that happened, you'd have to. Follow up Moneyball with
• 22:35
  Moneyball 2 Moneyballs, Ken. Last one here and then we'll get
• 22:40
  into some standings. Ken says Trevor Bauer signs back
• 22:45
  with the Dodgers and wins the Pitching Triple Crown.
• 22:49
  Wow, safe to say spicy. I think that's the last place he
• 22:56
  would go back to. I was gonna say, yeah, OK, I'm
• 22:58
  glad we're on the same picture. Yeah, I got that one.
• 23:01
  I I'd like to be as positive as they come and speaking into
• 23:04
  existence. I don't think that you can speak
• 23:06
  that one into existence. He doesn't have it in him.
• 23:08
  He can't do it. Not with that one.
• 23:10
  Especially not with that one. I think the Dodgers made it
• 23:13
  very, very clear that that reunion does not seem to be in
• 23:19
  the cards. Yeah, yeah.
• 23:24
  All right, gentlemen, let's transition to some standings
• 23:28
  predictions. Where do we want to start?
• 23:31
  Where would you like to start? Where would I like to start?
• 23:35
  Yeah. You know, honestly, I'm, I'm at
• 23:40
  heart. I'm an AL guy.
• 23:41
  We all are. Let's switch it up.
• 23:45
  Let's go National League. We'll start out West.
• 23:48
  Yes, work our way back east. Huge fan.
• 23:54
  All right. Working from the bot we're so
• 23:56
  the way we're going to do this Ryan, as a as a as a reminder is
• 24:01
  a hot takes Rook. We're going to work correct.
• 24:04
  We're going to work from the bottom of the top for each of
• 24:06
  these divisions. So, starting in the National
• 24:09
  League West, starting at the bottom, who do we got?
• 24:15
  Ragi lead us off. So just the the bottom pick from
• 24:19
  National League West, I think it's.
• 24:21
  I think it's gonna be set in stone with the Colorado Rockies,
• 24:24
  I don't think. I think that's a a sweep,
• 24:28
  correct? Love it there.
• 24:31
  Great place. Not the best place for the team
• 24:35
  to have success, unfortunately in the 2024 season.
• 24:39
  Love it. I the.
• 24:41
  Colorado define success, define success, 'cause if we're talking
• 24:45
  beer sales. Oh yeah, they'll clean up if
• 24:47
  they're talking ticket. Sales on a, on a on a.
• 24:50
  Cool. Success on Friday evening.
• 24:53
  Success on the field, Success off the field.
• 24:55
  Hey, I might be out there too. I might go out there and visit,
• 24:58
  do a little tour around and and check things out.
• 25:00
  Success on the field unfortunately does not look
• 25:04
  optimistic for the Colorado Rockies, especially in the
• 25:07
  division that they are in. Yeah, they do.
• 25:11
  I will say there's some names. There's some names that I think
• 25:16
  you could potentially see making an impact someday.
• 25:21
  The the Nolan Jones kid. That kid looks real.
• 25:26
  So. I've mixed his.
• 25:28
  I've mixed him up with Spencer Jones about a dozen times in the
• 25:31
  last week, so I'm gonna need to make sure I stay on top of that.
• 25:34
  Nolan Jones Not quite as tall, but tall and good.
• 25:40
  So, So Nolan Jones actually played against him because
• 25:43
  correct me if I'm wrong, unless I'm losing my mind.
• 25:45
  Yeah, he was the second round pick for the Guardians, so I
• 25:48
  played against him when he was in the Cleveland organization.
• 25:50
  Super nice guy, super talented. And you're right, there are.
• 25:56
  Oh yeah, the kid. The kid can swing it.
• 25:58
  So bright future, just when you're looking at the whole
• 26:03
  landscape, one guy, one young player or a few of them, it's
• 26:07
  going to take a little bit more for them to put it all together.
• 26:09
  Yeah, the fourth spot. I'm I'm not buying in.
• 26:20
  I'm not buying in on the offseason.
• 26:22
  I'm not buying in on, Hey, we've turned a corner.
• 26:27
  You're still just aimless with your signings, with your moves.
• 26:32
  I don't know what's happening. San Francisco Giants are coming
• 26:37
  in fourth place. Sorry, Sorry to say that.
• 26:44
  But I'm not that sorry. You're not sorry.
• 26:47
  You you don't even need to explain you've been the furthest
• 26:51
  from a giant supporter. I have.
• 26:54
  For as long as we've been doing this, Ryan, what do you got?
• 26:59
  Up until the move or up until the I just the Padres offseason
• 27:05
  in general has not been very optimistic at least.
• 27:08
  You know going into spring training, I just felt you're
• 27:10
  missing a lot of pieces. I had them in that spot.
• 27:18
  However, it really does feel like it's yeah, you know what
• 27:27
  I'm I'm gonna go giants as well now and that's they're gonna go
• 27:31
  to Ford is because I don't think they've have enough at the
• 27:35
  moment especially with the change.
• 27:38
  You're banking on Robbie Ray coming back you're you're
• 27:41
  banking on just too many things it it's just it's not there.
• 27:47
  It's not there. I'm sorry, you need to stay
• 27:49
  healthy. They need to stay healthy and
• 27:51
  they have a couple guys like Mike Yustremski and Lamont Wade.
• 27:56
  He's a Baltimore guy too. Shout out Monte.
• 27:59
  You know guys that they could. It's just the Giants have ball
• 28:02
  players that go out in there and play.
• 28:03
  But a little bit of a change of direction this, this offseason,
• 28:07
  going to this season, it just feels like the other three teams
• 28:11
  are just a little bit better right now.
• 28:14
  But I'll tell you what I did have they, they would have been
• 28:16
  my third team. I'll say that they would have
• 28:18
  been my third team. I'm going Padres and to be fair,
• 28:27
  I had filled these out prior to the Dylan Cease acquisition.
• 28:33
  Is it enough? Is it enough to make that
• 28:35
  switch? That's the thing I don't know.
• 28:38
  And to my own credit, in my in my defense, there's no guarantee
• 28:46
  that we get Cy Young caliber Dylan Cease.
• 28:50
  That's true. There's no, there's no guarantee
• 28:52
  And I I saw a lot of people saying, well, if you don't think
• 28:56
  that, then you just don't know ball.
• 28:57
  It's like, well, no, that's not how that works.
• 29:02
  There's no guarantee with anything.
• 29:05
  He hasn't been great as of late. He has not been great.
• 29:09
  And you know, sometimes changes, changes of scenery, works for
• 29:13
  some guys, sometimes it they don't.
• 29:15
  So there's a lot of play there. He's going to be sure he's going
• 29:19
  to be in a I I put the tweet out yesterday.
• 29:22
  I said Chicago to San Diego has to be the greatest city upgrade
• 29:26
  in of all time. Forget baseball, just cities.
• 29:30
  So maybe he has that working to his advantage.
• 29:33
  Maybe that that gets him back to where he needs to be.
• 29:36
  But like we've talked about, sometimes these guys go out to
• 29:39
  San Diego and they forget how to play baseball because you get
• 29:42
  swept up in the sunshine and the street tacos, so.
• 29:46
  Sounds nice. Should I keep him?
• 29:49
  At 4:00 here. I think I'm gonna keep him at
• 29:51
  4:00. It's your list.
• 29:53
  Your list. Giant.
• 29:54
  I'll I'll go Giants at 3:00 and it sounds like you guys have
• 29:58
  Padres 3. Yeah, I do have Padres 3.
• 30:02
  I I'm not saying Cease is gonna move into an ace.
• 30:06
  I rotation wise, the depth there kinda does more for me than
• 30:14
  whatever the Giants are doing. Like there's a lot of depth they
• 30:18
  got from the Yankees trade with Soto.
• 30:21
  I think Michael King is better than what people really
• 30:24
  understand, 'cause I watched him a lot last year and I'm telling
• 30:27
  you that kid is going to be very good.
• 30:29
  I do see a bounce back from Joe Musgrove.
• 30:32
  Last year, Joe Musgrove was not what he really is.
• 30:37
  I'm gonna chalk that up as a Washington.
• 30:38
  I see him coming back. You, Darvish is still able to
• 30:41
  spin it. You have another year of Tati
• 30:45
  settling in and and kind of distancing himself from the
• 30:52
  nonsense and the suspension and everything.
• 30:53
  So I I see a little more success out of the Padres this year.
• 30:59
  Yep, I'm with you Padres. And honest I will.
• 31:03
  This is the one thing I will say.
• 31:04
  I I don't think it's enough for them to be to win this division.
• 31:08
  I don't think it's enough for them to be second division, at
• 31:11
  least just on the paper side. But the one thing that they have
• 31:14
  working for him this year, the expectations are off.
• 31:18
  Like yes, you just got Dylan CS but no one is counting them in.
• 31:22
  So I would not be surprised. Would not be surprised the
• 31:27
  Padres finish higher in this division and push push higher up
• 31:31
  because they're no longer considered the juggernaut that
• 31:35
  is supposed to win it all which people projected but they still
• 31:38
  had to have a very talented team.
• 31:41
  Curious how the whole outlook after the Soto trade what that
• 31:45
  will look and and be like in the future.
• 31:48
  And by the way, you still have some really good hitters in your
• 31:51
  lineup pairing season within that rotation see what happens.
• 31:57
  But literally now they have in my mind they they have all the
• 32:02
  they're just playing with house money and they got a very good
• 32:04
  player who I do believe, besides eating a lot of St.
• 32:06
  Tacos, is going to enjoy his best season in the last couple
• 32:10
  years. My only two things I'm going to
• 32:13
  say I'm a I'm a Mike Schult guy. I didn't really understand why
• 32:16
  the Cardinals moved on from him. So I think he's going to change
• 32:20
  a lot of what was going on. Bob Melvin, there's reports of
• 32:24
  like some aimlessness going on amongst the organization and not
• 32:27
  a whole lot of like organizing going on.
• 32:32
  And then my other thing being, you know, I I think the the
• 32:36
  self-awareness to switch Xander over to second base and to make
• 32:40
  that move before the season and just be able to understand that
• 32:46
  it isn't so much about the contract and the name and it is
• 32:49
  more about what may be a better fit for the team, so.
• 32:53
  I hate that you're right on that, but I the bias is at play
• 32:58
  here a little bit for for me, but I think you maybe could have
• 33:00
  gotten at least one more year out of them at short before you
• 33:03
  finally rip the Band-Aid off. But to your point, Hassan Kim, I
• 33:08
  think is a is a great finish word and I I think he'll do very
• 33:11
  well there. Number two, I've got the D
• 33:13
  backs. All the way around there.
• 33:17
  Sweep across the board. Not much to say there.
• 33:21
  It's not it's not a not a mark against them.
• 33:24
  It's just the Dodgers. I mean, this is probably going
• 33:28
  to be the most popular pick amongst podcasters and media
• 33:32
  members alike making their preseason predictions.
• 33:35
  Dodgers at the top? I'm gonna give credit to the
• 33:38
  Diamondbacks for plug in, fill in holes that they had.
• 33:41
  Third base was a hole. You go get Suarez added to the
• 33:45
  rotation with E Rod. I really liked that pick up.
• 33:49
  I really, I think that was made Smart Editions and you know,
• 33:52
  like I think Gabby Moreno's in my mind probably a a top five
• 33:57
  catcher in baseball. Another year of just progression
• 34:01
  and maturity out of Corbin Carroll.
• 34:03
  Like the Alec. Like they're just they're gonna
• 34:06
  do similar things they did last year.
• 34:08
  I think. I don't know if it's meaning a
• 34:11
  huge postseason run and a World Series appearance, but this is,
• 34:15
  I think, the beginning of a window for the Diamondbacks.
• 34:20
  NL Central was Ryan, did you have anything on the Dodgers
• 34:23
  before we move on? Nope.
• 34:24
  Let's just talk about the team that would be the biggest last
• 34:27
  year was the Padres. They they were.
• 34:30
  They didn't win. It was disappointed like this.
• 34:32
  Everything. The Dodgers, the expectations
• 34:35
  are even that much higher. But literally best team that
• 34:38
  we've seen top to bottom in in quite some time.
• 34:41
  Yeah. NL Central starting at the
• 34:46
  bottom here, going Reds. Oh, don't you dare say who I
• 34:58
  think you're gonna say. Pirates at the bottom.
• 35:01
  I'm sorry. I love you.
• 35:04
  I love them. I appreciate the enthusiasm.
• 35:08
  I will not hear it. I will not hear it.
• 35:12
  I appreciate the enthusiasm, I'm gonna be honest.
• 35:16
  What happened to the optimism? The real kicker for me was
• 35:19
  seeing that Eraldis Chapman video the other day and that to
• 35:23
  me, just put the nail in the coffin of where they're gonna
• 35:26
  finish. OK.
• 35:26
  I, I, I I'll hear you out on that.
• 35:31
  That's understandable. If if you wanna go Pirates 5
• 35:34
  just based on that I that's solely there alone
• 35:38
  wholeheartedly understand. Wholeheartedly understand.
• 35:43
  That's tough. That was tough for the.
• 35:46
  That was tough for the program that.
• 35:49
  Was tough for the culture, man. Just men as a whole.
• 35:53
  You're just putting us in a bad light.
• 35:54
  There there's there's a lot there and that there's a lot of
• 35:57
  questions but one answer I have that is not related to that the
• 36:01
  fifth team I actually I think the Brewers I I.
• 36:06
  Look at us all three. Different I I love I think the
• 36:11
  upside for Joey Ortiz and DL Hall going over that.
• 36:13
  I think it's tremendous. I I just think there's a little
• 36:16
  bit of concerns overall when especially you lose Corbin Burns
• 36:22
  and I just think that the other teams right now are moving in a
• 36:27
  better position. Not that the Brewers are always
• 36:29
  the team that, like, surprises you, right Just, and I hate even
• 36:32
  saying that, I really do. But that's just how it feels of,
• 36:37
  well, it's a it's a changing of the guard.
• 36:39
  I'm always curious when teams have a changing of the guard
• 36:42
  too, especially managerial wise. I don't know if I felt like the
• 36:47
  Brewers necessarily got better going into this season like they
• 36:51
  had in years. Past Devin Williams out for at
• 36:54
  least two or three months? Yeah.
• 36:56
  Just no. Big loss.
• 36:57
  No, real progress there. Yeah, I I imagine Willy Adamus
• 37:01
  finishing the year in a different uniform.
• 37:04
  It it just feels like a sell off for me.
• 37:07
  Like it's a sneaky sell off situation for the Brewers.
• 37:10
  They're going to see what's going to happen, keep the band
• 37:12
  together, kind of kind of. You traded Burns, but I think
• 37:16
  that they're teetering on the possibility of a rebuild.
• 37:19
  Yep, agreed. Moving along here, I got Brewers
• 37:26
  at 4:00. I do as well.
• 37:31
  I am going I I'm gonna go pirates at 4I.
• 37:38
  I cannot. I can't.
• 37:41
  I can't with, I can't with the negativity I I thought minutes
• 37:45
  ago, mere minutes ago. We're talking about positivity
• 37:49
  and speaking it into existence, and we're not even giving the
• 37:52
  Pirates a shot here. Hey, I we are.
• 37:55
  It's just, you're right. The bad you're talking about the
• 37:58
  Chapman, the Chapman situation is speaking into existence a
• 38:02
  very bad vibe. But that's not the reason why I
• 38:05
  was going to go with that initially.
• 38:06
  I think the Pirates are still trying to figure out culturally
• 38:09
  how to win more games. I think that they're close.
• 38:12
  I think there was flashes. I still just have a little bit
• 38:15
  of doubt if they're going to put that fully together, especially
• 38:18
  when you're looking at who else is left in that division and the
• 38:22
  reason why I chose them instead of the other three teams left to
• 38:26
  pick. I just am not fully convinced
• 38:28
  O'Neill Cruz Beast needs to stay healthy.
• 38:32
  They very well could be a playoff team, very well could
• 38:36
  be. I just have not been sold yet
• 38:38
  that the Pirates know how to be that playoff caliber winning
• 38:44
  team. I'm just not sold going into the
• 38:46
  season yet. It's not enough depth for me.
• 38:49
  They're they're getting there, just not enough depth.
• 38:53
  I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go Pirates 3 and if I'm being
• 38:58
  honest, it was a game time decision.
• 39:01
  When you're not to put them two, you did all of that game.
• 39:05
  Time decision at almost. Two, almost put them at 2:00.
• 39:09
  Wow. All right.
• 39:12
  Sounds good. I'm.
• 39:13
  Just gonna I'm gonna go ahead and spoil my the the bit here at
• 39:19
  the end that we were going to get into in terms of closest
• 39:21
  races or across the league, like which, which which pairings did
• 39:28
  we have the most trouble with? For me, it was whether or not I
• 39:31
  was going to put the Pirates at two or three.
• 39:33
  Two or three, OK. With with this other team that
• 39:36
  I'm about to get to. OK.
• 39:39
  OK. All right.
• 39:43
  I got the Reds at 3:00. I I kind of like what's going on
• 39:47
  over there. I I kind of like what they're
• 39:50
  doing. I think they're starting to make
• 39:52
  some moves. I think they're starting to
• 39:54
  gather a pretty good core. I think a healthy Hunter Green.
• 40:01
  Full offseason, full spring training.
• 40:06
  TJ Friedel. Like, you got dudes that can
• 40:09
  bang a little bit the Marte news.
• 40:12
  Yeah, that hurts. I just, I like, I don't know
• 40:16
  what it is. I like what they're doing.
• 40:18
  What was the contract they brought India back for or?
• 40:22
  The extension, I didn't realize it got extended.
• 40:26
  I thought it was just arbitration.
• 40:28
  I thought he Did they not extend him?
• 40:30
  Was I making this up? Maybe.
• 40:32
  Might be thinking of somebody else, but you like what they're
• 40:35
  doing over there. I do like what they're doing.
• 40:38
  I'm a fan of of what they're putting together.
• 40:41
  I'm not saying it's a playoff team to be real.
• 40:45
  The NL Central's one of the weaker, if not the weakest,
• 40:49
  division in baseball. It was a two year extension.
• 40:53
  That's what it was. I think he's sliding over to
• 40:56
  first base. I don't know what the Marte
• 40:58
  stuff because Marte I think was going to start the year at at
• 41:01
  second. I I don't know, I there's just
• 41:04
  they can hit a little bit. There's no expectations.
• 41:07
  I love the fan base. I love the small ballpark.
• 41:13
  Yeah, I I like what the Reds are doing a lot, I really do.
• 41:16
  So they are not staying in my third spot.
• 41:18
  The third spot for me is going to be the Saint Louis Cardinals.
• 41:21
  I. Think.
• 41:22
  I think the Cardinals have to bounce back.
• 41:24
  It's their window. They're running out of time.
• 41:27
  But they did invest a lot in more of veteran presence and
• 41:31
  players, and they do have some great veteran guys.
• 41:33
  You know what they bring in? Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, great
• 41:37
  talk talking to the Orioles guys.
• 41:40
  No one had a bigger impact on the team than Kyle Gibson last
• 41:43
  year, so I think that he's going to bring a very, very, very
• 41:46
  important culture component to the team.
• 41:50
  But I just have a little bit of doubt just of the dysfunction
• 41:52
  that the Cardinals went through. And I know that they're trying
• 41:55
  to keep things together, but they're kind of in the similar
• 41:59
  boat for me with the Brewers of you don't play well to start off
• 42:03
  and you you're right back in that same like they had that
• 42:05
  conversation last year. Do we sell?
• 42:08
  They chose not to sell. So now you have to it's either
• 42:13
  this year it's kind of boom or bust.
• 42:15
  So I just think right now compared I'm putting the
• 42:18
  Cardinals there just because they're teetering for me and
• 42:22
  it's just it's all lying to me or it's all on the veteran
• 42:26
  presence. And quite frankly, can those
• 42:29
  guys get them to where they want to go, which I still have a few
• 42:33
  questions. I've got the Cardinals at 2:00.
• 42:40
  I I know I've been for the majority of the offseason.
• 42:44
  I've been ragging on their on the geriatric rotation that they
• 42:48
  seem to have. But I was thinking about it more
• 42:51
  and I thought, you know even with the age, I'm gonna have to
• 42:56
  go ahead and give the nod rotation wise, at least the line
• 43:00
  up it, you know what it is, you got Nolan, Polly, so on and so
• 43:03
  forth. But with the rotation, that's
• 43:06
  for me. What pushed the Cardinals at 2
• 43:08
  versus the the Pirates being at two is because I think you know,
• 43:11
  even again, even with that age, at the very least they got the
• 43:14
  experience and I think you put together a good season from
• 43:16
  Sonny Gray. Kyle Gibson shows you what he
• 43:20
  can do again and I I think that it's enough to at least finish
• 43:24
  second in the division. Little bit of a bounce back for
• 43:29
  me. I was reel down if you remember
• 43:31
  reel down on the Cardinals last year as were were many people.
• 43:34
  But I'm gonna, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt
• 43:37
  that it was a little bit more of a fluke than maybe people give
• 43:39
  him credit for so. Give me Cubs at two.
• 43:46
  Wow. I am doubling up.
• 43:49
  I took the Cardinals to win the division last year.
• 43:51
  I was one year premature. I'm doing it this year.
• 43:55
  Give me Cubs at two Cardinals at 1:00.
• 43:58
  Wow. I I think there's for sure
• 44:02
  question marks in the rotation. I like the Cardinals rotation
• 44:05
  more than the Cubs. I'm just not quite sure.
• 44:10
  We never know about Imanaga like we we just never know about the
• 44:13
  first year coming over into the bigs.
• 44:16
  So that's a question mark for me.
• 44:19
  I do think the Cubs are going to hit pretty well, but just
• 44:22
  pitching wise, I'm I'm giving the slight edge to the Cardinals
• 44:27
  with the expectation that veteran guys are going to be
• 44:30
  able to hit in the line up. I like the roster flexibility
• 44:32
  that the Cardinals have. I like that, you know, Tommy
• 44:35
  Edmond can bounce around. Brandon Donovan can bounce
• 44:38
  around. I like the Brandon Crawford
• 44:40
  signing to like almost, you know, kind of mentor Mason win
• 44:44
  into that role. Jordan Walker being here full
• 44:47
  time, hopefully there's some clarity on Wilson Contreras's
• 44:51
  role. I I just, I I think this is a
• 44:55
  mix. Now.
• 44:58
  I'm not a huge Ollie Marmo guy, so maybe there's a little bit of
• 45:03
  a skid and a a change there at some point during the year.
• 45:10
  I just believe in that roster a little more than the Cubbies.
• 45:15
  It's interesting you bring up Marmol.
• 45:16
  I think that to me was the question mark cause the first
• 45:19
  time the Cardinals had that bad of a year.
• 45:22
  And it's not fair to put that on the manager.
• 45:24
  But if you are managing the team, that does carry a lot of
• 45:28
  weight and that's why even for me, I thought for a while, you
• 45:33
  know how important is having a great manager.
• 45:35
  It's extremely important. So it pains me with this 'cause
• 45:38
  I would have. I thought the best manager right
• 45:39
  now in the NL Central is Craig Counsel.
• 45:44
  But I'm gonna take the Cubs at 2:00 because that means that
• 45:51
  means the Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Reds are winning the
• 45:57
  NL Central this year. And I I am.
• 46:00
  I am really, really intrigued because I thought that there was
• 46:05
  a spurt of time last season, so they figured out how to win.
• 46:09
  They fell apart a little bit at the end, but they still stayed
• 46:11
  in the race, still battle till the end.
• 46:14
  I think that they got better, they gained more experience.
• 46:17
  I like their young starting rotation that they have and
• 46:21
  their bats are very, very good. I mean last year you're looking
• 46:24
  at guys steer McClain. I know LA De La Cruz got a lot
• 46:28
  of, you know, publicity and he had some really good flashes and
• 46:34
  then he kind of struggled, right.
• 46:35
  That's a part of it. Hopefully if he can bounce back.
• 46:38
  I just really like the makeup of their roster and I think that if
• 46:43
  they can just fix a couple things, it's really to me, it
• 46:49
  really can be their division to lose.
• 46:51
  But should be fun. It's gonna be wide open.
• 46:54
  It really should be a wide open division.
• 46:56
  But give me the Reds, guys. You talk about hungry fan base
• 47:00
  too. If they catch heat, yeah, that
• 47:03
  fan base could could stoke that fire.
• 47:07
  That is a baseball city right there.
• 47:09
  Crazy. If I'm wrong, Ellie De La Cruz
• 47:11
  is one of the hottest hitters in spring training, if I'm not
• 47:14
  mistaken going off. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna
• 47:17
  buy into the whole spring training for that just because
• 47:20
  you know, but but but all you can do is, is play your best
• 47:23
  when the time comes, right? So if you're hitting the cover
• 47:26
  off the baseball and that puppy's going everywhere, great.
• 47:29
  But they they're gonna need that LED of the Cruz that came up
• 47:31
  there and stole MLB by storm. They need that type of player,
• 47:35
  and if they get that type of player, watch out.
• 47:40
  Speaking of hot hitters in the NL Central, O'Neill Cruz leads
• 47:44
  all of baseball in home runs for spring training.
• 47:47
  So again, take all the grain of salt, I understand, but.
• 47:50
  He might. He probably is going to hit.
• 47:52
  If he plays a full season, he's gonna hit at least 25.
• 47:54
  I can. That is a.
• 47:56
  RIP. Guarantee.
• 47:57
  Right now. Guaranteed.
• 47:58
  Lock, Lock it in. Guarantee.
• 48:02
  And at least starting from the bottom here, how about this?
• 48:07
  You're gonna? Like this gonna be pretty
• 48:09
  similar no? I.
• 48:11
  Don't know. I'm going Mets.
• 48:13
  No, no, no, I'm going. I'm actually going Marlins to
• 48:18
  finish last. Really.
• 48:21
  I've been, I've been trying to tell people especially out in
• 48:24
  this, in this area, people people want to talk baseball
• 48:28
  with me and they naturally want to talk nationals and they say
• 48:32
  like what do we have to look forward to?
• 48:34
  And I said just just hold on like I know it does.
• 48:37
  The future doesn't seem terribly bright but they've got some
• 48:40
  they've got some names I think given given a little bit of time
• 48:44
  and I've been saying this for like 2 years now and I finally,
• 48:49
  and I I'm saying all this and I put them forth.
• 48:51
  So it's not like I'm I'm giving them the division obviously.
• 48:55
  But I think this is a year where they finally creep out of the
• 48:58
  cellar just a little bit. I'm again not.
• 49:02
  I'm not giving them 90 wins, but just enough to maybe finally not
• 49:08
  be the in the basement of the NL East.
• 49:12
  I got them in the basement. Understandable.
• 49:17
  You know what? I don't think you're crazy.
• 49:19
  I don't. But for having the Marlins down
• 49:21
  there, I'm not really sure. Now obviously, you know the the
• 49:25
  pitching part, pitching department for them.
• 49:27
  They have some really intriguing arms.
• 49:30
  Obviously surprising year that they had.
• 49:33
  I'm actually going to take the Mets to finish last.
• 49:36
  I think that the Mets. Yes, poured on, Ryan.
• 49:42
  I want I want the. Best Say it again.
• 49:44
  Say it again that the Mets will finish last.
• 49:47
  I think the Mets are gonna finish last.
• 49:49
  Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry.
• 49:53
  And The thing is, like, I do actually like the Mets.
• 49:58
  Like. I don't.
• 49:59
  Nobody likes the Mets. I just but just being real with
• 50:03
  it. I they to me I just feel like
• 50:07
  they're still kind of in that no man's land and I just don't know
• 50:10
  what to think of that. The Nationals have direction and
• 50:13
  that's what I like to see the Nationals.
• 50:15
  For me you can see that kind of light and you saw that flash and
• 50:19
  I love what Davy Martinez and Mike Rizzo were doing that there
• 50:23
  is there's still they still have a grasp on the group there and
• 50:26
  that's so important that you still have a grasp on the guys
• 50:30
  there and they kind of still believe in the message that
• 50:32
  you're trying to build. I don't think the Mets have the
• 50:35
  full message right now. So that therefore that's why I'd
• 50:38
  sit there and go and actually then to to then surprise, I'm
• 50:45
  going to have the Marlins at 4, the Marlins are going to be at 4
• 50:48
  for me. Which means that Ryan has the
• 50:54
  Nationals finishing in the top three.
• 50:59
  Oh, throw the pieces. Together.
• 51:01
  How about that? Throw them on.
• 51:03
  Putting that college education to use.
• 51:08
  All right, so Ryan's got the Marlins at four.
• 51:11
  I mentioned I got the Nationals at 4.
• 51:13
  Nate. I got the Mets at four.
• 51:16
  I got the Mets at 4:00. I've got a real spicy take
• 51:21
  that's coming later that revolves around Metland.
• 51:25
  It's just it's it's just the Mets.
• 51:29
  I don't there's no, there's nothing else to say.
• 51:31
  They're just the Mets. We can just we can just leave it
• 51:33
  at that. I'm going Mets 3.
• 51:35
  I I don't see them do anything special this year.
• 51:37
  I know there's there's a small percentage of people out there
• 51:40
  that think, you know, similar to the Padres where maybe the
• 51:44
  expectations are a little lower coming in this year or
• 51:46
  significantly lower depending upon who you ask that maybe
• 51:49
  they'd be capable of stringing something together.
• 51:52
  And it as we said, it's certainly possible.
• 51:55
  I don't think it's going to happen, but I don't think it's
• 51:57
  going to be enough of a fall off to put them at four or five.
• 52:00
  So I've got them at 3:00. Brian, Nate, Who do you, where
• 52:06
  do you, where do you guys have a three?
• 52:09
  Nate, after you. I got Marlins at three.
• 52:14
  I believe in Skip Schumacher. I I like what he did last year.
• 52:20
  I like what he's going to do. I think he's gonna be a pretty
• 52:24
  decent manager in the show for a while.
• 52:28
  Yeah, they're missing pieces. The rotation still looks pretty
• 52:32
  decent and still I'm still optimistic of the options they
• 52:37
  have. Yeah, hitting is a little bit of
• 52:40
  an issue. I'm probably in last place of
• 52:44
  being ATA guy, so I don't know if that's the full season
• 52:48
  answer, that shortstop, but I like their pitching pieces.
• 52:55
  Let's just say as far like this is probably to me the most top
• 53:01
  heavy division in baseball. Like there's going to be AI.
• 53:07
  Think a double digit gap between first, second and everyone else
• 53:14
  below. So you don't believe in the
• 53:17
  Washington Nationals to finish in the top two?
• 53:20
  I do not. You don't.
• 53:23
  Oh, I don't either. I think that that's where the
• 53:25
  line draw draws. I think that the.
• 53:28
  I think the Nationals are gonna build some great momentum.
• 53:30
  I think they're gonna ride a successful campaign for them.
• 53:34
  As far as people are, then they're they're believing what
• 53:37
  the Nationals have in the future.
• 53:39
  I'm going to put the Nationals at three and hopefully that's
• 53:42
  going to continue to catapult them into, hopefully be in the
• 53:46
  discussion to be a playoff team in 2025.
• 53:51
  I can't get there. I can't.
• 53:53
  I'm going. I respect it.
• 53:55
  It's that East Coast bias Ryan and I have out here.
• 53:58
  We we believe in the Nationals Nats nation.
• 54:01
  Hey, that's the team that drafted me.
• 54:02
  Go Nats, baby. You know, I hope, I hope.
• 54:04
  Shout out with them. Shout out the Nats.
• 54:06
  Shout out. Gotta love it.
• 54:08
  Let's go, Walgreens. Oh no, that's dead.
• 54:10
  I'm sorry that that logo's dead, isn't it?
• 54:14
  I don't know completely, but they're they're phasing it out
• 54:18
  pretty significantly. Wonder if Walgreens threw a fit?
• 54:21
  Makes you think. Do you guys want me to go with
• 54:26
  the second team? Do you want me to start it off?
• 54:28
  You want me to just ride right in there for the?
• 54:30
  Sake of time For the sake of time, give me your Give me your
• 54:33
  two and your one. OK, I'm actually good to go.
• 54:37
  Phillies, two Braves. One.
• 54:39
  Let's just keep it that well. You may be going Phillies two
• 54:45
  Braves one, but I am also going Phillies two Braves one.
• 54:51
  Full sweep there, yeah. All right, clean sweep.
• 54:54
  So did did we just did. We all agreed to finish out the
• 54:57
  National League. That was neat.
• 54:59
  That was nice. That was that was a nice moment
• 55:02
  there that we just shared. That was that was nice.
• 55:04
  Let. Me shake your hand.
• 55:05
  Did I wanna shake your hand? American League?
• 55:12
  Can we just agree? Can we just agree?
• 55:16
  Athletics 5. Yep.
• 55:19
  Angels four. Yep.
• 55:21
  Yep. OK, I guess this is where it
• 55:25
  would get interesting. I've got Mariners 3.
• 55:33
  I do as well. I do as well.
• 55:36
  I oh. OK, I'm I got.
• 55:40
  Question marks around the lineup.
• 55:42
  Now I got question marks around the lineup.
• 55:43
  I'm not sure if you can just move on from a TE Oscar and a
• 55:49
  Suarez and still get the same kind of production.
• 55:53
  I'm hoping Julio shows up and just like really breaks on and
• 55:57
  just like go Superstar mode. I'd love to see that.
• 56:01
  I like the additions of Mitch Garver, Luke Rayleigh, like they
• 56:05
  brought in some juice. I just, I can't quite.
• 56:10
  Their rotation is I love their rotation.
• 56:12
  I'm gonna sit here and say very big fan of the rotation.
• 56:17
  I just, I don't know. I don't know.
• 56:18
  I can't. Well, as long as George Kirby's
• 56:21
  only going 5 innings, then then then we're at a place where you
• 56:24
  can really love him. To be a George George Kirby
• 56:27
  redemption of his image tour this year, I think he he's a
• 56:31
  tremendous pitcher. That comment definitely got him
• 56:33
  in some hot water. I think he's going to have a
• 56:36
  great year. I'm going to take the Rangers at
• 56:39
  three. I think the defending champs
• 56:41
  drop down to three. I think they're still a very
• 56:44
  talented team. I think there's still a team
• 56:46
  that just needs to get in, just needs to get in.
• 56:51
  But I like them at three this year.
• 56:53
  I just think the challenge of trying to repeat and get back is
• 56:56
  not as easy as it seems. And I think the other two teams,
• 57:01
  the Astros and the Mariners, are going to continue to fight that
• 57:05
  going into the year. That's a big that's a big World
• 57:08
  Series hangover to drop down the.
• 57:12
  Maybe. Missing the play offs?
• 57:13
  I don't know. You might not know.
• 57:15
  I guess you might see to find out.
• 57:20
  Fine. Don't.
• 57:21
  Don't do that. That's crazy.
• 57:22
  Don't. That's crazy.
• 57:23
  Balance them. Don't balance them, please.
• 57:27
  That's crazy. We'll find out.
• 57:28
  But man, that would be quite a quite a lot though.
• 57:32
  Oh, boy. Here come the shades.
• 57:33
  I guess we know. I guess we know our answer.
• 57:36
  I go, I'm going does say Mariners three.
• 57:41
  I've got Astros, Two Rangers, One.
• 57:46
  I think this is finally the year I've been saying this for the
• 57:52
  last two years, 2 plus years, Say, when is the Astros window
• 57:58
  finally going to close? When is the Astros window
• 58:00
  finally going to close? And I've been wrong every single
• 58:02
  time. I think this is finally the
• 58:06
  year. And I'm not even saying the
• 58:09
  window's closing. I'm just saying it's closing
• 58:12
  enough to where the Rangers presumably will be the team to
• 58:18
  take the throne, at least for the near future.
• 58:22
  So I've got the Rangers at 1:00. Am I an idiot for saying that?
• 58:28
  Am I going to be? Am I going to be eating my my
• 58:30
  words come October? Probably.
• 58:32
  It's what the Astros do. That's what they make you do.
• 58:35
  That's what they make you do. I have the opposite.
• 58:38
  I've got Rangers 2 Astros one they even with like the the
• 58:45
  missed time from Verlander. I still like that rotation.
• 58:50
  The bullpen with the addition of Hayter is is probably a top
• 58:55
  three bullpen in baseball. But Alex Bregman in a a a walk
• 59:01
  year like you're gonna probably see some good production out of
• 59:04
  him. Your dawn is your dawn is your
• 59:06
  dawn. I don't know, man.
• 59:09
  It's hard for me to move him. It's hard for me to move him and
• 59:13
  I like, I think it's a very smooth transition from Dusty
• 59:16
  Baker to Joe Espada. I've I've been a Joe Espada guy
• 59:19
  for a few years now. I think he's he's seen some
• 59:22
  things. I think he's gonna be a good
• 59:23
  manager. Was he on the bench in New York?
• 59:26
  Is that what it was? He's on the bench in New York
• 59:28
  and he's been on the well. He was on the bench in Houston
• 59:30
  for a few years as well. But like who?
• 59:32
  Who better to to have the torch passed to you than than Dusty
• 59:36
  Baker? So.
• 59:39
  Absolutely, Ryan, Did we get your two in one?
• 59:42
  You did not. You did not.
• 59:44
  Yet. I am.
• 59:46
  Oh, how am I feeling? I want to go against the Astros.
• 59:52
  I do. Really do.
• 59:53
  As do I. Really, really want the Mariners
• 59:56
  to to win it this year in that case.
• 59:58
  But I I just can't. I think you made a great point.
• 1:00:00
  I think that there. Pitching deserves a lot more
• 1:00:03
  credit. Their back end of the bullpen
• 1:00:05
  specifically is going to be tough, and their lineup is just
• 1:00:08
  sneaky good. If you're talking about a guys
• 1:00:11
  on their team, you brought up Alvarez, I mean Kyle Tucker as
• 1:00:14
  well. You like Pena, didn't play as as
• 1:00:16
  well as he did on their World Series run, but still all very
• 1:00:20
  talented players. And for all those reasons, I
• 1:00:23
  think the Astros once again find a way to win that division and
• 1:00:28
  and keep that window open and just cannot sleep on Houston.
• 1:00:34
  I'm just tired of saying that. I agree.
• 1:00:36
  I'm just tired of saying that. So I'm just gonna keep rolling
• 1:00:39
  the dice each year, and one of these years I'm gonna this, this
• 1:00:43
  blind squirrel's gonna find a nut.
• 1:00:45
  I just don't know what year it's gonna be.
• 1:00:47
  I'm. I'm hoping it's this year and I
• 1:00:50
  have the Rangers as the reigning World Series champions to at
• 1:00:53
  least back me up ever so slightly.
• 1:00:56
  So that's cute. I feel OK.
• 1:01:00
  Degrom back in degrom back in August.
• 1:01:03
  Yeah, And I don't know what Scherzer is anymore.
• 1:01:09
  I don't really know. But what do we what do we
• 1:01:13
  realistically think we're getting out of Verlander,
• 1:01:15
  though? A beast.
• 1:01:19
  Yeah, I agree. Like I ever he's like the Tom
• 1:01:22
  Brady of our sport. He really is.
• 1:01:24
  Yeah. He's gonna, he's gonna, he's
• 1:01:26
  gonna bring. It on the moment.
• 1:01:27
  I'm not doubting you. I'm just saying like
• 1:01:28
  realistically, I mean do are we gonna see a decline in innings
• 1:01:33
  or we gonna see a a fall off in strikeouts?
• 1:01:37
  Like, something's gonna have to start giving here.
• 1:01:43
  Something load management will be there.
• 1:01:47
  Like, is he gonna give you the same?
• 1:01:49
  Is he gonna give you similar innings?
• 1:01:51
  But he's. Gonna have the rotation.
• 1:01:53
  More of a a. Look at the rest of the
• 1:01:56
  rotation. Framber's A1 on most Staffs.
• 1:02:00
  I would agree Christian Javier, though Christian Javier is not.
• 1:02:05
  He's always not at stuff, though.
• 1:02:06
  Not a shoot, man. You just don't know what you're
• 1:02:08
  gonna get with Javier. But I I'm with I I love Javier's
• 1:02:11
  upside. I've been a big fan of his
• 1:02:14
  stuff. It's just, which Javier are you
• 1:02:17
  gonna get? It's the tale of two Javiers on
• 1:02:19
  that. But when he's on, he can be just
• 1:02:22
  completely dominant for that team.
• 1:02:25
  And then Verlander. Thing is, if he's healthy going
• 1:02:27
  into the post season and they're in the post season, give me give
• 1:02:31
  Verlander the ball. I think Hunter Brown probably
• 1:02:34
  comes on the scene pretty strong this year.
• 1:02:37
  That's also the other one forgot to mention.
• 1:02:39
  Yeah. I would agree.
• 1:02:40
  Boom, baby. Let's blow through the central
• 1:02:45
  here this. Do I switch?
• 1:02:47
  Do I switch? Worse?
• 1:02:48
  No, I gotta. Stick with it, you're fine.
• 1:02:50
  I gotta steer first. Yeah, let's blow it through
• 1:02:52
  central here. I got White Sox 5.
• 1:02:57
  Are we in agreement there? Yeah.
• 1:03:01
  Oh, I can't. He's.
• 1:03:03
  Got Tigers. He's got Tigers 5 gosh, he
• 1:03:07
  doesn't even have. Tigers five.
• 1:03:09
  Who do you have 5? No, I so I had it mixed with it.
• 1:03:15
  He went Guardians 5. No, you didn't.
• 1:03:21
  No, I did not. No, I did not.
• 1:03:23
  I'm still as much as I want to see some better progression, I'm
• 1:03:27
  going to take Royals 5:00, you got to be.
• 1:03:31
  Kidding me? Come on.
• 1:03:32
  You said optimism was going to kick into play.
• 1:03:35
  Ryan, It had been on pause for a few minutes here, but this is
• 1:03:39
  where it was really going to ramp back up.
• 1:03:41
  The Royals are 5. White Sox for me are 4.
• 1:03:45
  Oh, OK. I.
• 1:03:46
  Mean that's Yeah, yeah, that's. Fine, that's fine as long as you
• 1:03:49
  have. The I couldn't.
• 1:03:50
  I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that to Gavin and
• 1:03:52
  and the guys on the on the Sox couldn't do.
• 1:03:55
  So we're making picks to appease our buddies.
• 1:03:57
  Are we? Are we go?
• 1:03:59
  Because I want. I want them to ball out.
• 1:04:02
  And honestly, I still, even as bad as things have gone for the
• 1:04:06
  White Sox, I just they still can actually do something in the
• 1:04:09
  division. They still could.
• 1:04:11
  That's how wide open this says. Enough of complaining about my
• 1:04:14
  picks. What are your picks for?
• 1:04:16
  For. Hold on.
• 1:04:17
  We need to revisit this White Sox thing.
• 1:04:21
  You said they're still capable of doing something.
• 1:04:23
  Division with who? So this is the thing that I
• 1:04:27
  like. This is like one of those things
• 1:04:28
  that you just can't explain or or really go out there.
• 1:04:33
  It's a it's a thing. I I respect it.
• 1:04:35
  I I do that all the time. I I still go back to it.
• 1:04:38
  Everyone expected the White Sox to win that division last year.
• 1:04:40
  They expected to win it the year before and they just fell flat
• 1:04:43
  on their face. So the expectations are down.
• 1:04:45
  I'm not saying the expectations are high for the team because I
• 1:04:48
  do think that there is some disconnection overall with the
• 1:04:51
  team and they have a new front office coming in, all these
• 1:04:54
  things. But of the two teams like it's
• 1:04:58
  again, the Royals still hasn't proved to me.
• 1:05:00
  OK, great. You went out and signed some
• 1:05:02
  guys. You still haven't proved to me
• 1:05:04
  besides Bobby Witt Junior going out there and just smashing
• 1:05:06
  balls. Stud, by the way.
• 1:05:08
  Absolute stud. One of your favorite players to
• 1:05:10
  watch. Great, great player.
• 1:05:14
  Love what he's doing. I'm just not soloing everything
• 1:05:16
  else yet. With Kansas City, buying free
• 1:05:18
  agents isn't going to necessarily do it.
• 1:05:20
  The White Sox? Something crazy could happen.
• 1:05:22
  That's what I'm thinking. Something crazy could happen.
• 1:05:24
  Because I think this AL Central is probably going to be the
• 1:05:27
  ugliest, craziest division of them all.
• 1:05:30
  It always is. It always is.
• 1:05:32
  Trash. I can't.
• 1:05:36
  I'm. I'm not going to wait.
• 1:05:37
  To share where I have the Royalists, I'm just going to
• 1:05:40
  jump right to it. I've got the Royals at two.
• 1:05:41
  I'm drinking the kool-aid. Whoa, by the gallon.
• 1:05:46
  Wow. I.
• 1:05:47
  Just wanted to you know, this is the hot takes and predictions
• 1:05:50
  episode. This was one of the hot takes
• 1:05:53
  that I sprinkled in. I didn't.
• 1:05:54
  I didn't have a whole, I didn't have a whole lot around the
• 1:05:58
  league. But, well, maybe spicy.
• 1:06:01
  Maybe having the Pirates at three is considered a hot take,
• 1:06:04
  but equally spicy. I'm putting the Royals at two,
• 1:06:07
  you know. Wow.
• 1:06:08
  Oh, I got White Sox at 5. Let's just get that out of the
• 1:06:13
  way. I don't see.
• 1:06:17
  What? That is, why?
• 1:06:17
  Why don't this 'cause we're jumping all over the place.
• 1:06:19
  Give me 5 to 1. So you got five?
• 1:06:23
  Who's 432? All right, I got White Sox,
• 1:06:27
  Tigers, White Sox 5, Tigers 4. Guardians three.
• 1:06:31
  Royals two. Twins one.
• 1:06:34
  I'm fairly close. White Sox 5, Tigers 4, Royals
• 1:06:39
  three. I can appreciate what they've
• 1:06:42
  been doing. I can appreciate the effort.
• 1:06:47
  Renovations to the stadium, new manager, new vibes, good BBQ.
• 1:06:53
  I got them at. Three, they're getting a new
• 1:06:55
  stadium. Are they?
• 1:06:56
  Are they renovating the current one too?
• 1:06:58
  I thought they were renovating. Maybe they are.
• 1:07:01
  I just know they're they're moving like downtown or
• 1:07:03
  something. Whatever, Guardians Two, what
• 1:07:08
  are you doing? Go, go get pieces in your
• 1:07:12
  lineup. The Guardians frustrate me so
• 1:07:14
  much like you do have a decent rotation.
• 1:07:18
  So naturally, you put them above the team that you credit for
• 1:07:21
  making moves. Yeah, because like the like you
• 1:07:23
  said, I mean, what? Hunter Renfro is gonna push the
• 1:07:26
  Royals up to the second spot. Get out of here.
• 1:07:28
  Hey, don't sleep. Don't sleep on Hunter Renfro.
• 1:07:30
  Guardians and Two Twins are one. It's Twins division.
• 1:07:33
  To to your point, I I'm with you in in that I I'll say that I I
• 1:07:39
  can appreciate what they've done for me.
• 1:07:42
  This was more of like a fun pick where I don't I don't I don't
• 1:07:47
  think on paper that they're a #2 in the division kind of team.
• 1:07:50
  This was just one of those ones where I thought, you know, let's
• 1:07:54
  let's kind of roll the dice here.
• 1:07:55
  Maybe this maybe they just they they hit their stride at the
• 1:07:58
  right time and they figure out a way to finish.
• 1:08:00
  Second in need we say again, a garbage division.
• 1:08:03
  Is Pasquentino back dude Banks? Is he back like start of the
• 1:08:09
  season? I was just reading this the
• 1:08:11
  other day. Is he?
• 1:08:13
  Was he at least swinging a bat? 'Cause if that's 2-3, you got
• 1:08:19
  Bobby past Quentino, you could do a lot worse.
• 1:08:24
  Yeah, he's. He's back.
• 1:08:27
  So you're sorry. So to wrap it up, White Sox or
• 1:08:32
  five? Your four was Tigers, three,
• 1:08:36
  Royals, two guardians, one Twins.
• 1:08:39
  The. Guardians.
• 1:08:40
  I mean, the rotation's still good enough to keep them in
• 1:08:42
  there. Hey, now, here we, here we go to
• 1:08:46
  be a a new new manager. New manager this year.
• 1:08:49
  No Terry Francona anymore. Steven Vogt, right, Is the
• 1:08:52
  manager. I like that, right?
• 1:08:54
  Or pronounced it right. All right.
• 1:08:56
  So I'll be quick with it. White Sox.
• 1:08:58
  Sorry, Royals. White Sox, Tigers, three.
• 1:09:01
  Guardians, two. I think the Twins are still the
• 1:09:03
  best team in that division. I think it's still wide open,
• 1:09:05
  but I still think that they have the talent.
• 1:09:07
  I think that they're being slept on, although it's a although
• 1:09:11
  it's a wide open division, I would still be shocked if they
• 1:09:16
  don't win this division. I think that they really should.
• 1:09:19
  And if you're a Twins fan, you're gonna be really
• 1:09:21
  disappointed if you find a way to to not lock it up.
• 1:09:25
  I think the Twins could. Hey, maybe it's the Twins year.
• 1:09:30
  Maybe it's the twins year. How about that?
• 1:09:35
  Close the book on the AL Central.
• 1:09:37
  I'll I'll close the book with this every year in and year out
• 1:09:42
  I'm in on the twins until it until the calendar flips October
• 1:09:46
  and I could not be further out but you know what I'm going to
• 1:09:49
  keep an open mind this year Ryan thanks to your again Stern
• 1:09:53
  talking to I'm not I'm not no no I'm not I I still have them
• 1:09:57
  winning the division and I'm not putting them in the World
• 1:10:00
  Series. I'm just saying I agree with
• 1:10:02
  Ryan. Maybe it's the maybe it's the 20
• 1:10:04
  year. I'm just gonna have an open.
• 1:10:06
  I'm gonna have an open mind about it.
• 1:10:07
  I look, I've been negative. I've been negative about.
• 1:10:11
  Some of these teams. For far too long, I I need to
• 1:10:14
  switch gears. Last year it was the angels for
• 1:10:16
  me. I finally, I finally opened my
• 1:10:18
  hands and I said angels do what you will and they couldn't have
• 1:10:23
  disappointed me more. But.
• 1:10:24
  Still, they did. They did what they would.
• 1:10:26
  I gave them. I gave them a shot.
• 1:10:29
  I gave them a shot. They are who we thought they
• 1:10:31
  were. I could at least go to bed at
• 1:10:33
  night knowing that I gave them a shot all right, at least.
• 1:10:38
  Here it is, boys. Let's agree on five socks at
• 1:10:44
  five. Yeah.
• 1:10:45
  Clean Sweep, yeah. You thought you were gonna get
• 1:10:48
  you thought you were gonna. You thought you were doing
• 1:10:50
  something there, didn't you, Nate?
• 1:10:51
  You thought you were gonna. You thought you were gonna trip
• 1:10:53
  me up. Now I'm.
• 1:10:54
  I'm with you, Socks at 5:00. I think we're just being
• 1:10:57
  realistic here. We this is the vision.
• 1:10:59
  We all know we're all very, but I do think I'm gonna shake
• 1:11:03
  things up more so than you guys I.
• 1:11:07
  Don't know. I don't know.
• 1:11:09
  I'm I'm you and I might have the same picks.
• 1:11:12
  I'm all done. Might have the same picks.
• 1:11:14
  I'm all done. I'm all done.
• 1:11:18
  I'm all done. You'd say it.
• 1:11:20
  You have no pitching. I don't care what your what Your
• 1:11:24
  freaking calculator says. The Rays are finishing 4th.
• 1:11:29
  I'm not there. I can't do it.
• 1:11:32
  I'm sorry. I understand.
• 1:11:34
  You're just the regular season warriors that you are.
• 1:11:37
  I just. I'm not there.
• 1:11:39
  I can't. I'm sorry.
• 1:11:41
  Zach Eflin is running your staff.
• 1:11:44
  That's a that's a number three guy On any other rotation
• 1:11:47
  probably a four. I just.
• 1:11:49
  I'm sorry, not there. Give me raise at 4:00.
• 1:11:55
  I'm going Sox 5 Blue Jays at 4:00.
• 1:11:59
  Oh. We've been waiting for this
• 1:12:02
  movie that we were promised. We haven't seen it.
• 1:12:07
  Sold out of popcorn at this point, man.
• 1:12:10
  We were sold out of popcorn. The lights came on.
• 1:12:15
  I just, I don't. I still have a little bit of
• 1:12:20
  love for the Blue Jays later to come.
• 1:12:22
  So I'm not. I'm not, like, completely
• 1:12:24
  throwing them in the trash. But in terms of standings, I got
• 1:12:28
  Blue Jays before and and to to your point, Nate, about the
• 1:12:33
  Rays. I'm I'm all done.
• 1:12:35
  That's what I That's what I say every year.
• 1:12:38
  But I know I think we a lot, a lot of us say that they.
• 1:12:40
  Find a way to to produce 90 plus wins every single year and it
• 1:12:46
  doesn't make sense. They don't do anything with it.
• 1:12:49
  But they at the end of the year you can almost guarantee that
• 1:12:53
  they're going to have 90 plus wins.
• 1:12:54
  And I'm just similar to like the Astros conversation.
• 1:12:57
  I'm just tired of fighting it. I'm just I'm giving in to the
• 1:13:00
  whatever movement they have going on down there, analytical
• 1:13:04
  or otherwise. And I'm I'm finally just, I'm
• 1:13:07
  saying I'm done. Take your take your top three
• 1:13:11
  perennial finish every is I'm done.
• 1:13:15
  For I got hit me with four. All right, I go back and forth,
• 1:13:19
  but I I believe in everything the Rays do.
• 1:13:21
  But I'm leaning more towards 4, and it's mainly because of their
• 1:13:25
  starting pitching. Not having Mcclanahan, It is
• 1:13:28
  going to hurt. Glass now hurts.
• 1:13:30
  Still think they're a great team, but I think if it's the
• 1:13:36
  one year that they're not going to push forward, I think it's
• 1:13:39
  going to be this year just given everything and then the Wander
• 1:13:41
  Franco situation on top of it, I think they're going to be, I
• 1:13:44
  think they could very well surprise, but I'm going to put
• 1:13:46
  them at 4:00. Yeah, smart man.
• 1:13:50
  So you got three right guy? Yeah, who you got three I'm.
• 1:13:52
  Going to take Toronto. Toronto's going to be at 3 for
• 1:13:55
  me. That could change depending on
• 1:13:57
  what some. There's certain things that
• 1:13:59
  could happen that could change my mind, but I'm going to put
• 1:14:00
  them at three. Think there's going to be some
• 1:14:02
  bounce backs and I still do you think they're a solid team?
• 1:14:05
  I'm just not sold on Toronto as a whole right now.
• 1:14:09
  What about you guys? I'm with ya.
• 1:14:12
  I think you and I probably have a carbon copy order here, Blue
• 1:14:15
  Jays at 3:00. Just finish it out.
• 1:14:18
  Finish it out. What?
• 1:14:19
  Do you guys? Yeah.
• 1:14:20
  Blue Jays. I just real quick.
• 1:14:22
  I mean I good rotation. I just question marks with with
• 1:14:26
  the lineup. I if if Vladi doesn't go, they
• 1:14:30
  don't go. Not a whole lot of lefty
• 1:14:32
  presents. I don't think George Springer
• 1:14:34
  ever plays over 120 games again. There's just.
• 1:14:38
  I don't know, man. I I think Vladdy is vladdy bow
• 1:14:41
  is bow. But this is.
• 1:14:43
  Yeah, the movie never happened. I'm gonna go ahead and just roll
• 1:14:46
  credits here. I got Yanks at 2:00.
• 1:14:49
  That's a that's a cool card. I got Yanks at 2:00 even with
• 1:14:58
  the coal. We just got coal news today.
• 1:15:00
  It's it's not TJ. It's no tear.
• 1:15:02
  It's only one to two months. According to rumors the rotation
• 1:15:06
  already had question marks. Even with a healthy coal they're
• 1:15:09
  gonna bang they're gonna play pretty good defense.
• 1:15:13
  I just it's it's just not enough.
• 1:15:16
  It's just not enough and they're really at the at the ceiling cap
• 1:15:21
  wise. The how doesn't seem to want to
• 1:15:23
  spend money. I don't see really a ton of
• 1:15:26
  trade suitors. They they kind of wiped out
• 1:15:29
  their pitching depth. This is all just not good.
• 1:15:32
  I think there's a gonna be a very large gap between the
• 1:15:35
  Orioles winning this division and the Yankees in second place.
• 1:15:38
  I'm gonna say at least at least 7-8 game gap when it's all said
• 1:15:44
  and done. The Orioles are Ryan you can
• 1:15:47
  take it from here. The the Orioles are just, you
• 1:15:50
  know complete. They're very complete and young
• 1:15:55
  and when you add a team that didn't lose much as far as
• 1:16:00
  offseason goes and a team that, you know, got a taste of
• 1:16:05
  postseason, now, when they go into this next postseason, you
• 1:16:09
  will see a team that has a little bit more experience.
• 1:16:13
  So yeah, they're going to, I think they're going to run away
• 1:16:16
  with this division, to be honest.
• 1:16:20
  Take a good look. Take a good look at my friend
• 1:16:23
  here. The King of the of the AL East,
• 1:16:26
  you know. I honestly, I've we would even
• 1:16:29
  think that the Yankees for me could drop to four if things
• 1:16:33
  were to happen with Garrett Cole and and whatever with Carlos
• 1:16:35
  Rodin. I think that Rodin is a key to
• 1:16:39
  what happens. But it is true and I I said the
• 1:16:42
  same thing. The only thing that I worry
• 1:16:43
  about with the Orioles is a little bit of their the
• 1:16:47
  injuries. At least with Means and Bradish
• 1:16:50
  Bradishmore. I'm not hold.
• 1:16:51
  I, you know I'm not going to hold my breath that he'll be
• 1:16:53
  back. I know they're saying he's
• 1:16:55
  throwing off a mound. I love Brad.
• 1:16:58
  I I think, you know he's one of my former teammates.
• 1:17:00
  I want him to be healthy and yeah, I think about the long
• 1:17:02
  term. But everything else to the
• 1:17:04
  team's, the team's too deep. Their lineup's too deep.
• 1:17:07
  Their prospects are too deep. I don't see a way that the
• 1:17:11
  Orioles don't. I think Toronto could jump the
• 1:17:14
  two if the New York just falters.
• 1:17:16
  But it's about the birds this year.
• 1:17:18
  And I do think, I do think that the players that played well
• 1:17:22
  last year are some of the ones that people aren't talking
• 1:17:24
  about, like Jordan Westberg, who just just got his taste in the
• 1:17:27
  big leagues. I think you're to see guys like
• 1:17:29
  him, a healthier Cedric Mullins and by the way, Austin Hayes and
• 1:17:35
  Anthony Santander. It's just this team to me is too
• 1:17:38
  deep. 1:00 to 9:00, which I you would ask me this two years ago
• 1:17:42
  wouldn't be thinking this way, but you know, I I'm sounding
• 1:17:45
  confident. The guys is it being down there
• 1:17:48
  in spring training, tell you what they believe.
• 1:17:52
  No matter what they they truly believe in the next man up
• 1:17:54
  mentality. They're down guys that go, we'll
• 1:17:56
  be OK. We're going to be just fine
• 1:17:58
  because they trust it and they are locked in and especially
• 1:18:03
  that playoff loss last year, they're going to be fueled by
• 1:18:06
  that to get back and get further in 2024.
• 1:18:10
  Kyle let you finish this in your order in a SEC.
• 1:18:12
  I what you said is that if anything happens, they have
• 1:18:16
  pieces to be able to fill holes. If anything happens, if you
• 1:18:21
  don't get what you want out of their rotation, you have the
• 1:18:23
  farm to be able to move guys. You could argue that there is a
• 1:18:27
  little bit of a log jam in certain positions you can make
• 1:18:30
  moves to fill holes and figure things out.
• 1:18:33
  If there's ever like this point of discomfort during the regular
• 1:18:36
  season before the deadline, they can make things happen and a
• 1:18:42
  lot, lot of cap flexibility like it.
• 1:18:45
  It's never been a more perfect scenario in Baltimore in my
• 1:18:48
  mind. True.
• 1:18:52
  Rounding us out here, if it kind of wasn't clear already, I've
• 1:18:58
  got Ray's three Yankees, two Orioles, one Ryan.
• 1:19:01
  I wanted to ask you, how many games do you think?
• 1:19:07
  As Nate kind of alluded to, by the end of the season, what do
• 1:19:09
  you think that spread looks like?
• 1:19:12
  I think it could be closer. I do.
• 1:19:13
  I think it could be closer. And it really just depends on
• 1:19:15
  the health of the pitching Staffs, you know, and and for
• 1:19:18
  the Orioles, if they get banged up a little bit, if they get
• 1:19:22
  banged up a little bit, I think that that could cause some
• 1:19:24
  issues. But if a team like the Yankees
• 1:19:27
  and Cole and and then Rodanda, that rotation can't, you know,
• 1:19:31
  hold up without him, I think that then, then it can then it
• 1:19:35
  can grow. I think Toronto could sneaky be
• 1:19:37
  good. I'm just not sold on Toronto.
• 1:19:39
  That's why I think that the Orioles wrap it up, at least win
• 1:19:42
  it by 5, and are feeling very. Hopefully those fans are feeling
• 1:19:46
  very good going into the playoffs.
• 1:19:50
  I like it. Let's let's transition here.
• 1:19:53
  We can we can roll through these, these wild card seeds,
• 1:19:59
  and then we'll get to the the Pennant winners and World Series
• 1:20:01
  winner AL. AL wild card seeds going from
• 1:20:07
  4:00 to 6:00. The 4th, 5th and 6th seeds.
• 1:20:10
  I've got the Yankees, the Astros.
• 1:20:13
  You ready for this one? Any guesses?
• 1:20:21
  I. Can't remember where you put the
• 1:20:26
  Ms. It's not the Ms. wrong division.
• 1:20:36
  Really. The Royals.
• 1:20:41
  Sneaking in with the last wild card spot The Kansas City Royals
• 1:20:49
  Insane. Bookmark this.
• 1:20:51
  We'll come back to this. We'll come back to this.
• 1:20:54
  You just wait. I gotta listen to this all year.
• 1:20:56
  Wait. You you better believe it.
• 1:21:00
  And then, well, I'll just run through the National League real
• 1:21:03
  quick. National League the the first
• 1:21:05
  wild card spot I got the Phillies, second I got the D
• 1:21:08
  backs. And then third I got the
• 1:21:10
  Cardinals. What do y'all got?
• 1:21:16
  AO Top wild card spot. Rangers, then Yankees, then Blue
• 1:21:25
  Jays. And I know you touched on this
• 1:21:27
  earlier before, Kyle, of like where you had your where we
• 1:21:32
  labored the most as far as like divisional rankings go.
• 1:21:35
  The AL East two through four was my was my biggest thing.
• 1:21:40
  I set a big gap between Orioles and everyone else.
• 1:21:44
  I think it's like a one or two game situation between those
• 1:21:47
  three teams in the middle. But yeah, I've got Blue Jays
• 1:21:50
  rounding out, sneaking in. Rotation's just really, really
• 1:21:53
  good. And now I got Phillies at the
• 1:21:56
  top spot. Diamondbacks Cups So not Too
• 1:21:58
  different from you. Oh, so you want me to start in
• 1:22:03
  the National? League, American League.
• 1:22:05
  Let's go American League. OK, so Orioles teams winning.
• 1:22:10
  The Orioles. Twins, obviously.
• 1:22:12
  And I said the Astros, right. So these four teams, I think 2
• 1:22:15
  are coming out of the AL West. Sorry, 3 total.
• 1:22:19
  Got the Mariners and the Rangers.
• 1:22:21
  They're not being bounced. They're going to be in it.
• 1:22:24
  Thank you. Thank.
• 1:22:25
  You. Good, so then that's I have 5
• 1:22:27
  spots there, so I need the two more.
• 1:22:30
  Yeah, one more. One more.
• 1:22:31
  AL, One more, one more, AL. So it's 30, it's. 16 The
• 1:22:35
  Mariners and the and the and the Rangers.
• 1:22:38
  So that's three, So 50, OK. And finally, the Yanks hold in
• 1:22:46
  there. However, however, they are
• 1:22:51
  holding on by thin ice. But I do think the Judge Soto
• 1:22:53
  combo is going to keep them afloat, to sneak them and keep
• 1:22:57
  them in, all of it. But I think that I'm not as
• 1:22:59
  feeling as good about the Yankees as I did before.
• 1:23:02
  Everything with Garrett Cole, but I think that they sneak in
• 1:23:06
  and the NL, the NL, I think we're going to see the Braves.
• 1:23:11
  We're going to see the Phillies. No doubt about it.
• 1:23:13
  That's the feeling that's said and so and you have the division
• 1:23:16
  winners. So I have two spots left.
• 1:23:18
  Correctly. If I'm going Braves, Phillies.
• 1:23:21
  I chose the Reds to win. And the Dodgers think the D
• 1:23:26
  backs, they're gonna sneak over their way in.
• 1:23:28
  And then one more from there. That's it.
• 1:23:30
  Yeah, one more. My counting's so off right now.
• 1:23:33
  Give me the Cubs. Give me correct counsel and the
• 1:23:35
  Cubs to find a way to get in there.
• 1:23:37
  Finally, I There it is, a little bit even even proportioned
• 1:23:42
  throughout the National League. I think initially, yeah, it in
• 1:23:50
  both AL and NL, I've got a I've got a representative for the
• 1:23:55
  wild card spots from each division.
• 1:23:58
  Good for you, I do not. Shout out Royals making the
• 1:24:03
  dream come true, Pennant winners, give me your World
• 1:24:09
  Series match up and in how many games.
• 1:24:15
  World Series match up. Get yours out of the way.
• 1:24:21
  Just get out of the way. The Birds, the Birds versus the
• 1:24:30
  Dodgers. The birds versus.
• 1:24:33
  The Dodgers. I got the same.
• 1:24:35
  I've got the same. Look at that.
• 1:24:39
  That's cute. I think we have a different
• 1:24:43
  winner, though. That's cute.
• 1:24:47
  We'll see. That's real cute.
• 1:24:51
  But you're a fool if you think the Dodgers are going to run the
• 1:24:54
  table and make it to the World Series this year.
• 1:24:56
  That's not how baseball works. I expected better from the both
• 1:24:59
  of you than to put the Dodgers in the World Series.
• 1:25:03
  Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
• 1:25:08
  I'm ashamed. I expected so much better.
• 1:25:12
  I didn't think we're going to have to have this conversation,
• 1:25:14
  but here we are. The World Series match up for
• 1:25:17
  2024. Go ahead, put it in stone,
• 1:25:22
  Orioles. And for the first time, I'm
• 1:25:26
  actually putting them in proactively and not
• 1:25:32
  retroactively. Once we revisit in October, the
• 1:25:36
  OS and the fighting fills. Oh, I like that.
• 1:25:41
  I like that match up. That's.
• 1:25:43
  What we were rooting for last year.
• 1:25:44
  That's what we were rooting for last year.
• 1:25:46
  But I'm gonna. I'm gonna go ahead and put it
• 1:25:47
  out. We're talking about speaking
• 1:25:49
  things in existence. I'm gonna get it out of the way
• 1:25:51
  before the season even starts. Who's your winner and and how
• 1:25:54
  many games KC? I'm I'm feeling really
• 1:26:00
  idealistic right now. I think I'm envisioning an
• 1:26:05
  instant classic. Phillies and Seven.
• 1:26:09
  Oh, just everything we could have hoped for and more.
• 1:26:16
  And assumed. In this projection, we can
• 1:26:21
  assume that I once again have the Phillies owning the Atlanta
• 1:26:25
  Braves in the postseason en route to a World Series
• 1:26:30
  appearance. You have them coming out of the
• 1:26:32
  wild card, right? You didn't have the Phillies
• 1:26:35
  taking the division, Correct? OK, All right.
• 1:26:39
  Right, guy. What you got, dog?
• 1:26:41
  Who's winning it? We're speaking speaking into
• 1:26:45
  existence. I don't care if it's biased.
• 1:26:48
  I think it's got to be Baltimore.
• 1:26:50
  They slay Goliath in four. Just kidding, Not in four.
• 1:26:55
  The Orioles, though, win the World Series in 6.
• 1:26:59
  No way, dude. Good.
• 1:27:02
  For you 6. Hey, now we're talking about
• 1:27:05
  positivity here, and I I can't go against my guys here.
• 1:27:09
  I don't care if the odds are stacked against them.
• 1:27:11
  I don't care who's hurt. Get them to the playoffs and
• 1:27:14
  Gunner Henderson is going to have his moments.
• 1:27:18
  If Gunner got and they got to the LCS, Gunner was going to win
• 1:27:21
  the World Series MVP last year. That dude is made for the
• 1:27:24
  playoffs. He's made for the big moments.
• 1:27:26
  I expect a lot more of that. I think that the Orioles get to
• 1:27:30
  the World Series. They win their first World
• 1:27:32
  Series since 1983 in six. Ryan Ripken for mayor, Let's go.
• 1:27:40
  Ryan Ripken for mayor I got. Dodgers in six.
• 1:27:45
  Sorry. Right guy.
• 1:27:48
  Just just too Dang man. Too deep.
• 1:27:51
  Too deep. And I've we've said that in
• 1:27:52
  years past. But this is just different.
• 1:27:55
  This is just different. The the the Dodgers just have,
• 1:27:58
  they have a a a veteran presence.
• 1:28:02
  They have a youth presence. They have depth.
• 1:28:05
  They have pitching. They have Kershaw and Bueller
• 1:28:08
  coming back probably at the right time, but they're still
• 1:28:11
  able to do moves when they need to make moves.
• 1:28:14
  It's insane how they just pop guys up out of their farm that
• 1:28:18
  fill in holes when they need it. They have an embarrassment of
• 1:28:22
  riches in the They really comes with a rotation.
• 1:28:25
  But they really do. That's just no that it's not
• 1:28:28
  happening. That's not how baseball works.
• 1:28:30
  I'll say it again. I expected better for me, but
• 1:28:32
  it's all right. Stretch it out, boys.
• 1:28:34
  Get loose. It's time to get hot.
• 1:28:38
  It's time to get hot. We're getting hot.
• 1:28:40
  The The Division stuff ain't ain't the spicy.
• 1:28:44
  Now we're getting spicy. Speaking of spicy, let's let's
• 1:28:48
  go part two of these listener hot takes.
• 1:28:50
  We'll we'll revisit some takes and then we'll get into the
• 1:28:53
  awards. For the sake of time, I'll I'll
• 1:28:56
  move through these pretty quick, Derek says.
• 1:29:00
  Mitch Keller wins the NL Cy Young.
• 1:29:03
  I really like that. I like that as a bold as a bold
• 1:29:06
  take. As a Pirates guy, Yeah, strong,
• 1:29:11
  strong Pirates guy. Luke says Tariq Scoobel wins the
• 1:29:15
  AL Cy Young. OK.
• 1:29:20
  That's digging deep. I like that.
• 1:29:22
  OK, Thomas said This, I think this, I think best summarizes
• 1:29:30
  the Yankees potential outcomes here for the 2024 season.
• 1:29:34
  Thomas says the Yankees go 102 and 60 or they go 60 on 102.
• 1:29:42
  He's not. Wrong.
• 1:29:44
  He's not wrong because if we're following the, if we're
• 1:29:49
  following the trajectory of being what was it, 14 out by the
• 1:29:54
  All Star break and Boone being canned that you're gonna you're
• 1:29:57
  looking at 60 and 102. It's pretty crazy, Give.
• 1:30:03
  Or take, Give or take. Austin says Philly's beat the
• 1:30:08
  Braves in the playoffs for a third straight year.
• 1:30:10
  And I get sad again. At least he knows he knows
• 1:30:18
  what's going to happen. It's the inevitable, Tyler,
• 1:30:21
  says. Wyatt Langford, 35, home runs,
• 1:30:23
  twenty stolen bases and the Rookie of the Year.
• 1:30:29
  Danny says injuries will plague the Yankees and they won't do
• 1:30:32
  anything about their training or medical staff.
• 1:30:35
  Nate, you've been preaching about their medical staff for I
• 1:30:38
  don't even remember how long and.
• 1:30:40
  I got it. I don't know.
• 1:30:42
  I gotta give you credit. Something has to be done there.
• 1:30:45
  I don't understand. Just change something.
• 1:30:49
  Clean, house, stretch, get a yoga instructor in there.
• 1:30:53
  I don't know. I don't know what needs to be
• 1:30:55
  done. Sip for the Yankees, Stretch.
• 1:31:00
  Let's just start there, Stretch. Let's start there, Ryan says.
• 1:31:04
  Dodgers signings backfire, and they have almost the same end
• 1:31:07
  result as last year. That's kind of where my head's
• 1:31:11
  at with this Dodgers team, just because it's too good to be
• 1:31:14
  true. I mean, how?
• 1:31:16
  Yeah, exactly. How often does it really happen
• 1:31:19
  that way? I don't know.
• 1:31:20
  We'll see, Finn says. Harper has another MVP season
• 1:31:24
  this year and solidifies himself as a top five position player
• 1:31:28
  and surefire Hall of Famer. Sure, we'll see where my head's
• 1:31:39
  at with Harper and the MVP once we get to our.
• 1:31:41
  Awards base. We'll see, Lucas, says Anthony
• 1:31:44
  Rendon. This is a hot take.
• 1:31:46
  Lucas says Anthony Rendon plays at least 70 games.
• 1:31:50
  Oh, let's not. Get carried away, Lucas.
• 1:31:56
  And when is the MVP and? When is the MVP?
• 1:32:01
  72 games played. Can you imagine how what that
• 1:32:05
  output would look like over 70 games to win the MVP?
• 1:32:07
  That's like Shohei level. Yeah, that's yeah, that's wild,
• 1:32:13
  Nick says. A's deal in Vegas falls apart.
• 1:32:16
  Fisher sells the team. I don't think that's that hot
• 1:32:20
  do. You think it it could fall
• 1:32:23
  apart. It's on wafer thin ice as is.
• 1:32:29
  So that's fair. Yeah.
• 1:32:31
  Yeah, that. What were we talking about?
• 1:32:33
  The the Vegas Who was it? The mayor, like, doesn't even
• 1:32:36
  want you there. So what are we really?
• 1:32:38
  Doing here, City doesn't even want you.
• 1:32:40
  What are we doing? Rick says Jackson.
• 1:32:43
  Holiday hits 25 homers and wins Rookie of the year.
• 1:32:46
  Ryan, That's music to your years.
• 1:32:52
  Give a little hint to something Alex said.
• 1:32:54
  Two more here. Alex says the Orioles are going
• 1:32:56
  to have a top three finisher in the Rookie of the Year MVP and
• 1:33:00
  Cy Young races, and 1:00 will be a winner.
• 1:33:03
  Wow, that's cleaning up. I mean, if you got to think if
• 1:33:08
  they're 100 win plus ball club, there's a good likelihood that
• 1:33:13
  that could be the case. Like you're going to have to
• 1:33:17
  have they have dudes, but he's only saying one of them has to
• 1:33:22
  be a winner. So I could, I could very much
• 1:33:24
  get on board. With that, with that take, I
• 1:33:29
  don't hate it. Just saying, and lastly here,
• 1:33:33
  Zegor Zegor says Expos win the Stanley Cup.
• 1:33:37
  Michael Jordan wins the MVP. Nailed it.
• 1:33:42
  Spot on. I think I had that.
• 1:33:45
  That's probably correct. Yeah, I probably should take
• 1:33:47
  that off my list too, yeah? Dang.
• 1:33:49
  You stole that one from me. All right.
• 1:33:54
  Stretch it out, boys. Rye guy, let's get let's get
• 1:33:56
  spicy. Where's your Where's your
• 1:33:58
  Tequila, Bud? Are we?
• 1:34:01
  Allowed to share that in the room.
• 1:34:01
  Cheers. Give me a little cheers.
• 1:34:04
  Give me a little cheers. There you go.
• 1:34:07
  Wake you up a little bit. Cheers Kyle.
• 1:34:10
  There's my water. Bottle I gotta.
• 1:34:11
  I gotta check, get that check and find I dropped my bird.
• 1:34:18
  Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come for the 2024
• 1:34:21
  season. Oh, I'm back.
• 1:34:23
  Fumble the bag. All right, wake you up a little
• 1:34:27
  bit. Get it going.
• 1:34:29
  All right, let's focus up here. Here's where we get spicy.
• 1:34:32
  Just where we get spicy. All right.
• 1:34:34
  So Nate, I'll let you, I'll let you lead us off here, give the
• 1:34:38
  give the folks folks at home a little update as to slight
• 1:34:43
  modifications we've made with our award predictions for
• 1:34:47
  players. We're going for ours.
• 1:34:50
  Is that what you're? Is that what you're alluding to?
• 1:34:52
  You're. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:34:54
  All right, all right. We got some fun awards.
• 1:34:56
  We're gonna get the fun awards going here.
• 1:34:59
  Get you a little creative. OK.
• 1:35:02
  So if you if you listeners maybe wanna maybe wanna write down a
• 1:35:06
  name when you hear these 'cause these are different.
• 1:35:09
  All right. First award the Still got it
• 1:35:12
  Award player in the league has to be 35 or older right now
• 1:35:19
  before opening day 35 or older. That is going to have the best
• 1:35:25
  year. There's a decent list of names.
• 1:35:28
  I'm just going to say that now decent list.
• 1:35:32
  You want to you want to run through answers or you want to
• 1:35:34
  go through the rest of the awards.
• 1:35:36
  What do you want to do? Run through the like the just
• 1:35:40
  give a little bit of a descriptor on on each award that
• 1:35:43
  we came up with and then we'll run through our picks I.
• 1:35:45
  Think Ryan's gotten lower as this episode has gone through
• 1:35:50
  pep up? There it is.
• 1:35:51
  There we go. Little more.
• 1:35:53
  I've got the little more. There we go.
• 1:35:55
  There you go. There it is.
• 1:35:56
  I've got the bringing up the rear award.
• 1:36:00
  This is an X Factor. Player with the biggest donk.
• 1:36:04
  Oh yeah, Four or five starter in a rotation, somebody that's
• 1:36:09
  gonna gonna be necessary for for a big run.
• 1:36:14
  It's a good. List too.
• 1:36:16
  We talked about this before we hopped on.
• 1:36:17
  Yeah, it's a surprisingly good list.
• 1:36:19
  Surprisingly good. Surprisingly good.
• 1:36:23
  This one's fun. This is 3 O specific.
• 1:36:26
  Feel free to partake the Hey That's Me award.
• 1:36:32
  Gotta pick a guy that's the same size as you, height and weight
• 1:36:36
  you feel like is gonna have the best year.
• 1:36:40
  My favorite probably would be the Tin Foil Hat award, a player
• 1:36:47
  that is involved in a conspiracy.
• 1:36:50
  Likely likely to be swept up in a conspiracy at some point
• 1:36:53
  through the season. Twist of the moustache and then
• 1:37:00
  the the last one being there's no way we saw that coming.
• 1:37:04
  Award much like these flash in the pans that we get.
• 1:37:10
  Get in a in a weak performance a la Matt Carpenter with the
• 1:37:16
  Yankees. Something like.
• 1:37:19
  That, or over the course of a season, if they can string
• 1:37:22
  together enough of a. Something you can do.
• 1:37:25
  It's just something unexpected, something we just didn't see
• 1:37:28
  coming. Could argue is probably the
• 1:37:30
  hottest of the hot. Could be good or bad too, by the
• 1:37:35
  way. Could be, yeah.
• 1:37:37
  That's true, yeah. All right, let's.
• 1:37:40
  Move. Let's move.
• 1:37:40
  Through these here relatively quickly, let's ride Nate's
• 1:37:45
  still. Got it?
• 1:37:45
  Award 35 or older. Give me Paul Goldschmidt.
• 1:37:54
  Paul Goldschmidt. Born on September 10th of 1986,
• 1:37:58
  Down year last year. I still think he's got it.
• 1:38:03
  A professional hitter through and through.
• 1:38:05
  Just trust that. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong,
• 1:38:08
  a down year, but still a year you'd probably like in your
• 1:38:11
  lineup for any other team. You would still take that, Yeah.
• 1:38:16
  Yeah, I got. I got Goldie as well.
• 1:38:18
  I wanted to I I would have gone Kershaw because I'm still a
• 1:38:20
  Kershaw believer. But with the with the timetable
• 1:38:23
  I obviously couldn't take that route.
• 1:38:25
  But I. I got Goldie as well.
• 1:38:27
  All right, I'm gonna go way outside the box here, fellas.
• 1:38:31
  Way outside and maybe just not talked about.
• 1:38:35
  Maybe just because I think he's gonna shock a lot of people.
• 1:38:39
  He's back again this year. Probably don't know him.
• 1:38:42
  I'm gonna say Charlie Morton at 40, at 40.
• 1:38:50
  Uncle Charlie. Last year, and just to give you
• 1:38:53
  guys some context, actually, he had a 364 ERA for Charlie
• 1:38:59
  Morton. I'm not saying it's going to be
• 1:39:00
  anything crazy, and he only granted gave 14 games, but he's
• 1:39:07
  still a guy. We're in this new age where it's
• 1:39:10
  just he's staying around. And yes, I could have saved that
• 1:39:14
  for something else, for a fourth man, but I know Goldie was an
• 1:39:17
  obvious one. He's an obvious choice.
• 1:39:21
  Verlander. I mean, obviously Verlander's
• 1:39:23
  choice. I want to just point out that
• 1:39:26
  there's a guy named Charlie Morton here that's staying
• 1:39:29
  around, still around, and the Braves thought highly enough him
• 1:39:34
  off of off, highly enough of him to bring him back.
• 1:39:38
  I believe he was on a $20 million club option, or 15 to 20
• 1:39:41
  million. I believe he's still got
• 1:39:44
  something left in the tank here, fellas.
• 1:39:47
  That's a true ballplayer's pick right there Ryan.
• 1:39:49
  I I gotta respect that. I feel like Nate and I took the
• 1:39:52
  in fact we borderline cheated on this pick.
• 1:39:55
  I mean he's 36. You're going with the 40 year
• 1:39:57
  old so credit to you bringing up the rear.
• 1:40:01
  Boy, was there a was there a nice.
• 1:40:04
  List for this. Long list, Yeah, I am taking
• 1:40:10
  Nate, your boy, your favorite, from last October.
• 1:40:16
  Brandon Avat, AP. Fat my man.
• 1:40:21
  Brandon P Fat. He was on my list.
• 1:40:25
  I am not the one I. Chose I am excited to watch this
• 1:40:29
  dude deal this year. And I think.
• 1:40:31
  He's gonna be an excellent back end guy that could very
• 1:40:37
  realistically see himself move up to even a a third slot in the
• 1:40:40
  rotation if injuries were to arise or or what have you.
• 1:40:44
  So looking forward to watching him play.
• 1:40:47
  I like that. I like that.
• 1:40:49
  Give me Dane Dunning of the Texas Rangers.
• 1:40:54
  Just very under the radar. I don't think people understand
• 1:40:58
  how good this kid is. I want to say he made 30 plus
• 1:41:03
  starts last year and just did his thing in the post season.
• 1:41:07
  So yeah, give me Dane Dunning. Very, very high-ranking in MLB
• 1:41:15
  percentages. If you're a Baseball Savant guy,
• 1:41:17
  look up Dane Dunning. That would really surprise you.
• 1:41:20
  Dane Dunning is actually my former roommate.
• 1:41:22
  When he got drafted, we were in Auburn.
• 1:41:24
  Short season together the double days.
• 1:41:26
  So Dane good kid. Hope the best.
• 1:41:30
  I think he obviously stamp. I'm right there.
• 1:41:31
  Stamp of approval, Dane. Good kid.
• 1:41:35
  Yeah, I'll. I'll stay home with this one
• 1:41:37
  because I think that his name was kind of dragged through and
• 1:41:39
  is a rough year overall for him. And because of the injuries to
• 1:41:42
  Baltimore, give me Cole Irving for Baltimore is probably gonna
• 1:41:46
  be slotted in to be the five. His velocity's up to around 95
• 1:41:51
  miles an hour after sitting at 9192.
• 1:41:55
  Now granted, you can argue that Tyler Wells or Dean Kramer could
• 1:41:58
  be one of those guys. But for Cole Irving, he this is
• 1:42:03
  kind of a I'm not going to say it's a make or break here by any
• 1:42:07
  chance, but I think people forgot how consistent he was in
• 1:42:10
  Oakland. And then all of a sudden he was
• 1:42:12
  just out of the equation very quickly and then just trying to
• 1:42:15
  find a way to stay in. And he had a great mentality the
• 1:42:18
  whole rest of the year, but I think he took it to heart.
• 1:42:21
  He kept working, put his best foot forward and everything.
• 1:42:24
  I saw everything. I heard everything.
• 1:42:27
  That just all the vibes or that Cole Irving, if he's given the
• 1:42:31
  chance to be that fifth starter, which it seems like he very well
• 1:42:34
  can be, I think Cole Irving's going to have a phenomenal year
• 1:42:37
  and we're going to see more of that Oakland Cole Irving that
• 1:42:40
  just eats up innings and gives you consistent production.
• 1:42:45
  Brian Rifkin for mayor. But just throwing out some of
• 1:42:49
  the names I had on my list. The rest of my list Chris Sale,
• 1:42:53
  Hunter Brown, Bryce Miller, Brian Wu, James Paxton.
• 1:42:57
  All names that I think, given I had a healthy season, could,
• 1:43:02
  could do, I had. Brian Wu as well.
• 1:43:04
  I had Chris Sale as well. I did reach out to some of our
• 1:43:07
  listeners, Braves fans specifically, 'cause I wasn't
• 1:43:10
  sure where Chris Sale slotted and a lot of them are saying
• 1:43:13
  he's he's Slottin in the three. So that's the only reason I
• 1:43:17
  didn't go for him. See, I I pulled up project
• 1:43:20
  projected rotations and he was slotted at 4, which is the only
• 1:43:23
  reason I had him on the. I didn't pick him, obviously,
• 1:43:25
  but I just threw him on the list.
• 1:43:28
  The Hey, That's me award. Ryan, Let's just get yours out
• 1:43:32
  of the way. Because with your build, your
• 1:43:34
  selection was far greater than either of our.
• 1:43:37
  So just go on ahead and tell me who you're going with.
• 1:43:40
  Give us your give us your dimensions and who you're going
• 1:43:43
  with all. Right.
• 1:43:43
  So I'm about 6465, depending on if I stand up straight around
• 1:43:47
  2:15, which is very similar, very, very similar to the
• 1:43:52
  Phillies third baseman Alec Boehm.
• 1:43:54
  And Boehm, Actually, if I remember this clerk correctly,
• 1:43:58
  'cause I do, I was there. Remember him launching this ball
• 1:44:01
  in AA against us? I was on Bowie.
• 1:44:03
  He was on Reading at the time, AA, the Phillies.
• 1:44:06
  Just a really smooth swing. Effortless.
• 1:44:09
  The ability to really drive the baseball.
• 1:44:11
  And last year, I get it. Some people might think, well,
• 1:44:15
  this lineup where they expected him to make more of a quote UN
• 1:44:18
  quote jump, but still at 26 years old, guys still had 20
• 1:44:22
  jacks, 97 RB is I think we're going to see even better Alec
• 1:44:28
  Boehm in 2024. It's a great pick.
• 1:44:34
  I'm I'll I'll go ahead and take this one.
• 1:44:37
  I'm about can. We just can we just hold off on
• 1:44:39
  the judgment here. I just want to let I'll just Rye
• 1:44:44
  guy is all tall and lean and and you know running for office and
• 1:44:48
  everything but you and I, we know we're just not working with
• 1:44:51
  the same amount of things. I mean, I just want to withhold
• 1:44:54
  judgment for everybody, OK? Still, I mean, you could still
• 1:44:58
  consider him fresh off of a baseball career.
• 1:45:01
  So, like, I mean, I know it's, it's getting to be a little.
• 1:45:05
  Tires. Out there, correct.
• 1:45:07
  Yeah. But it for all intents and
• 1:45:09
  purposes still very recent. So let's just be fair here.
• 1:45:12
  I'm working with about 6 foot 2/22/15 on a good day.
• 1:45:19
  But I'm, I'm going to be, I'm going to be conservative.
• 1:45:21
  I'll go 220. I'm.
• 1:45:25
  I'll be honest, I'm not working with much.
• 1:45:27
  The names that I found across the league.
• 1:45:30
  Orasmo Ramirez. I think it's it's Angel Zerpa on
• 1:45:35
  hell. Zerpa and Cal Mitchell.
• 1:45:38
  Cal Mitchell. A little bit of an upside from
• 1:45:40
  what I can tell with the Padres. So I guess maybe by default.
• 1:45:46
  I gotta go with him. I don't even know what his ETA
• 1:45:48
  is, but the other two I believe are relievers in the raise and I
• 1:45:58
  think Zerpa's with the Royals. So take your pick.
• 1:46:03
  I'm gonna go Cal Mitchell for the upside.
• 1:46:05
  But just goes to show you we're we're talking about couple
• 1:46:09
  couple relievers going up against Alec Boehm.
• 1:46:12
  So you take your pick. You're a good kid.
• 1:46:14
  Well. Thanks.
• 1:46:16
  You're wrong Sir. We're pretty similar sized 6
• 1:46:22
  foot. I did hop on the the scale today
• 1:46:26
  just to make sure accuracy is is is is there.
• 1:46:32
  I was at 217.6 but I had pasta for dinner so round me up to
• 1:46:38
  Jesus Lizardo at six foot 218. Gonna have a year.
• 1:46:44
  Fantastic. And that's how you play the game
• 1:46:48
  there, Kyle. You see that eat a little bit
• 1:46:49
  more, so you're set. You could have had pasta.
• 1:46:53
  Can we have, can we have like little little honesty talk here?
• 1:46:57
  I when I checked the scale last night when I was compiling my
• 1:46:59
  notes, it did it did say 2:24, but I was I was judging myself
• 1:47:06
  and I said I can't I'm not gonna.
• 1:47:08
  I'm not gonna do that And in fact, and there's probably not
• 1:47:11
  any 6 foot 224 players in the league.
• 1:47:14
  You just gotta throw out that that hand up accountability,
• 1:47:16
  baby. That's it.
• 1:47:17
  I'm gonna. Go 220, 'cause that's you wake
• 1:47:20
  up in the morning, you don't have that water weight.
• 1:47:22
  That's fair. I'm going, I'm going 220 and
• 1:47:24
  I'm. I'm sticking with my garbage
• 1:47:26
  picks. All right.
• 1:47:27
  Moving along here for the sake of time.
• 1:47:30
  Which, by the way, did you know that live streams get time out?
• 1:47:33
  Because our live streams timed out?
• 1:47:35
  We we're so deep into that, so love that.
• 1:47:38
  Shout out to the platforms for stretching it out as long as
• 1:47:42
  they keep tin foil hat award the player most likely we believe to
• 1:47:49
  get swept up in a conspiracy this year.
• 1:47:51
  I went kind of lazy, but I think it's the correct answer.
• 1:47:56
  I think it's the only the only answers really.
• 1:47:58
  I I'm I'm going Co answers here. I'm going Anthony Rendon and
• 1:48:02
  Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo, quite literally has
• 1:48:05
  already been swept up in a conspiracy in his career when he
• 1:48:09
  was the mouthpiece for The Juice baseball's movement back couple
• 1:48:13
  years back. So.
• 1:48:16
  Fair enough. So.
• 1:48:18
  Tin Boy Hot award? Give me Trevor Bauer officially
• 1:48:22
  suing Major League Baseball. Wow.
• 1:48:27
  That may be a little bit of a cop out answer, but let's be
• 1:48:30
  real. The man has been let go of
• 1:48:32
  charges, he has been proven innocent and he's touching 97
• 1:48:37
  pretty often. Still not getting an
• 1:48:39
  opportunity? I'm going to go ahead and say he
• 1:48:43
  sues Major League Baseball. See, I was going to have the
• 1:48:49
  other side of that where, like I was similar with Trevor Bauer,
• 1:48:54
  but it wasn't with suing that there was just possibly not not
• 1:49:00
  saying another allegation, but that something else was going to
• 1:49:03
  pop up with Trevor that was going to sit there and go.
• 1:49:06
  This is the reason why they decided to not take another
• 1:49:10
  chance. I'm not going to go there and
• 1:49:12
  say. What?
• 1:49:13
  It was going to, because I don't, I don't want to just be
• 1:49:16
  fair to that. It's a family show, family.
• 1:49:18
  Show. And I'm not going to say there
• 1:49:20
  was anything that he was recently charged on.
• 1:49:22
  But like, could you imagine if for some reason he was on like
• 1:49:26
  Aped or something popped out and all of a sudden the team did try
• 1:49:30
  to sign him? There's just the the story,
• 1:49:34
  Let's just put it this way, the story of Trevor Bauer in 2024
• 1:49:37
  has not yet been written. You can take that for whatever
• 1:49:41
  you want, but I think that's not going to be a story that teams
• 1:49:45
  necessarily want to get involved with this year.
• 1:49:49
  Excellent. Excellent.
• 1:49:54
  And lastly, there's no way we saw that coming award.
• 1:49:59
  You know, Nate, give me some credit here.
• 1:50:01
  I'm turning a turning page here. I'm going, I'm going Luis.
• 1:50:07
  Luis Severino. Oh, I think we're going to have
• 1:50:11
  a little bit of a bounce back year from from old Sevi, he's
• 1:50:15
  out of the Bronx now. I mean, not too far down the
• 1:50:18
  road, but out of the Bronx he's coming off a 665 ERA year.
• 1:50:22
  Last year he had a 65 ERA plus. So think we can acknowledge it.
• 1:50:28
  Not his best stuff but wouldn't take much for a a bounce back
• 1:50:33
  here. And I don't even think it's
• 1:50:35
  gonna be. I don't even think it's gonna be
• 1:50:36
  average. I think he'll, I think he'll
• 1:50:38
  give you a good. I think he'll give you a good
• 1:50:40
  campaign this year. Hit me, Ragai, what you got?
• 1:50:44
  I'm I'm curious do you have a position player in mind or
• 1:50:49
  pitcher I? Don't know what do you got?
• 1:50:54
  I think the story tale took a while for him to get signed, but
• 1:50:58
  Joey Votto? Oh, there it is, Joey.
• 1:51:02
  That's. A Great.
• 1:51:03
  That's a great. Pick.
• 1:51:04
  Waits all this time. Gets on the roster with the Blue
• 1:51:08
  Jays and just starts raking. And I mean like that.
• 1:51:14
  Matt Carpenter. Where the hell did this come
• 1:51:16
  from on the Yankees type of raking?
• 1:51:18
  And he's just gonna be like, I told you I could still play.
• 1:51:22
  I told you I could still hit. You should have.
• 1:51:25
  All you teams had a chance. I just feel he's going home.
• 1:51:30
  Joey Votto pulls that. That's.
• 1:51:33
  That's how I'm pulling that well.
• 1:51:34
  I didn't have the. There it is.
• 1:51:37
  Joey Votto is going to do some things for the Toronto Blue Jays
• 1:51:42
  to remind you that he still is Joey.
• 1:51:45
  Votto. I love that.
• 1:51:48
  What a timely pick. I'm impressed.
• 1:51:52
  What a timely pick. That's a true ball player right
• 1:51:54
  there. I took these seriously, OK?
• 1:51:58
  Tip of the cap. Hey, yeah credit to you man.
• 1:52:01
  You didn't hit us with like a you didn't hit us with a text.
• 1:52:03
  SJ been like, dude, I don't I don't know any of these.
• 1:52:06
  We you were radio silent and then you show up with some of
• 1:52:09
  these. Come on, guys.
• 1:52:12
  I know. Yeah, that's fair.
• 1:52:15
  That's understandable. I mean, if we're being honest,
• 1:52:18
  it's fair to assume that Paulie's gonna have the best
• 1:52:21
  season of. A55 plus BP again, he could.
• 1:52:24
  That's what I'm saying, but I I respect you thinking outside the
• 1:52:27
  box a little bit. I I respect it.
• 1:52:29
  All right, let's get into these. If that's the box, let me get
• 1:52:32
  really outside the box. I'll just get it out of the way
• 1:52:34
  right now. Aaron Boone's gonna get tossed
• 1:52:36
  from three consecutive games and have himself one hell of a week,
• 1:52:40
  so there you go 3. Consecutive games. 3 consecutive
• 1:52:46
  games he will get tossed out of. This is gonna be a frustrating
• 1:52:49
  year for the pinstripes, I think.
• 1:52:50
  I mean, they'd probably switch up the Crew after the second
• 1:52:53
  game now, maybe fly in a new a new group of guys to maybe.
• 1:52:57
  I I've in my mind, I'm seeing the same umpire at different
• 1:53:03
  spots throughout the series and he's going after him.
• 1:53:07
  Yeah. Gone, Yeah.
• 1:53:10
  I like it. All right, let's let's run
• 1:53:12
  through these real awards here real quick.
• 1:53:16
  Let's start with the Rookie of the Year.
• 1:53:18
  We got to get Ryan home, man. Ryan's got a, Ryan's got a.
• 1:53:21
  Yeah, right. Guy's falling asleep here.
• 1:53:22
  We. Go Well?
• 1:53:23
  No, not yet. Kind of.
• 1:53:24
  Well. We already know his answer.
• 1:53:26
  Go ahead and just. What do you say?
• 1:53:29
  You're you're AO, Rookie of the Year.
• 1:53:31
  Get it out of the way. If he starts in the big leagues,
• 1:53:33
  this is a big caveat. If he starts in the big leagues,
• 1:53:35
  it's going to be Jackson Holiday, but he has to start in
• 1:53:38
  the big leagues if he doesn't. Does he need to start?
• 1:53:41
  In the big leagues, yes, I think I I do think I I think if he's
• 1:53:45
  not up in a month I think it's too much time because another
• 1:53:47
  guy that I think if it's not Jackson, Evan Carter.
• 1:53:50
  I loved watching what he did. Great pick.
• 1:53:53
  I That's my pick. So.
• 1:53:55
  But Jackson Holiday wins the award if he starts in Baltimore
• 1:53:59
  in 2024. Will he change the number?
• 1:54:03
  87 just can't be the. Oh, they'll give him whatever he
• 1:54:06
  wants. Have you heard any?
• 1:54:11
  Whoa, No, just kidding. Have you heard any?
• 1:54:15
  Have you have you heard any whispers about what any a number
• 1:54:18
  he's possibly eyeing? I wouldn't be surprised if it's
• 1:54:20
  one. I would have assumed that would
• 1:54:24
  have been taken, but two. So you know what?
• 1:54:28
  And when Gunner came up and you noticed, you noticed.
• 1:54:30
  Hey, Gunner here. Whatever number you want, Gunner
• 1:54:33
  just got it. Adly.
• 1:54:35
  Just. Got it.
• 1:54:36
  Jackson's just gonna get whatever he wants when he comes
• 1:54:39
  up, as he should. We'll talk.
• 1:54:41
  We'll talk about getting all #8. I'm sure people wouldn't mind.
• 1:54:43
  I'm sure Calvin wouldn't mind. Yeah, I'm sure that'd go.
• 1:54:45
  Over real well in Baltimore, Nate, who you got?
• 1:54:48
  Well, you got Evan Carter. I'm going not too far in the
• 1:54:53
  lineup. Give me Wyatt Langford for
• 1:54:56
  Rookie of the Year. My man has got absolute crazy
• 1:55:00
  pop. I believe I saw he hit a Grand
• 1:55:03
  Slam tonight, so yeah. He's hitting his way onto this
• 1:55:09
  Opening Day roster. I love it.
• 1:55:13
  National League Rookie of the Year.
• 1:55:18
  Can I be honest? This is like the least confident
• 1:55:20
  pick that I'm making. But.
• 1:55:24
  And it's lazy. But I've I'm really lazy I've.
• 1:55:27
  Really wrestled with this one and I I could see this being a
• 1:55:32
  flop. I could see it being a flop.
• 1:55:34
  I'm going Yamamoto but I don't. I I don't feel good.
• 1:55:39
  About it. I really don't.
• 1:55:41
  I could very It's been a weird spring That's what I'm saying.
• 1:55:44
  Like and I again let's revisit We don't we don't ring it.
• 1:55:48
  We don't read in the springs too much.
• 1:55:50
  But it's not the start that I think you're hoping for if
• 1:55:53
  you're a Dodgers fan, so. I don't know, especially
• 1:55:57
  slotting in at the two in the rotation.
• 1:56:00
  I'm not trying to not trying to give myself a cop out, but I'm
• 1:56:03
  giving myself a cop like a a, a, a way out the back door.
• 1:56:07
  All right, well, mine's less of a cop out, but it's still a
• 1:56:10
  little bit of a cop out. Give me Jung Hui.
• 1:56:13
  With the giants, I I just hitting, hitting hits.
• 1:56:18
  You know what I mean? It plays no matter where you're
• 1:56:19
  playing. So dude can can pretty much
• 1:56:23
  spray the ball wherever he wants.
• 1:56:25
  Top of the order. A lot of opportunity.
• 1:56:28
  Yeah. Give me Jung Hui.
• 1:56:29
  Interesting. I'm actually on the Yamamoto
• 1:56:31
  train though as well with Kyle, because I still think when the
• 1:56:36
  time is right, he's going to get into a groove, whether it's the
• 1:56:39
  start, the season or it's going to be in June.
• 1:56:41
  He's going to get on this run where he's going to start to
• 1:56:44
  feel it. And if not, then Dodgers fans
• 1:56:47
  are going to panic and panic a lot that they should.
• 1:56:50
  But I I I I just don't see it. I think Yamamoto watching his
• 1:56:53
  stuff, watching his preparation. I just think that if it's not,
• 1:56:58
  if it takes him a little adjustment period, he's gonna
• 1:57:00
  figure it out. And when he figures it out, I
• 1:57:02
  think he's gonna go through a dominant stretch enough to win
• 1:57:05
  the Rookie of the Year. I like it.
• 1:57:10
  American League Manager of the Year.
• 1:57:13
  I'll start us off here. Oh, I think I know what you're
• 1:57:16
  doing and I think I'm gonna go with ya.
• 1:57:19
  Go for it Where? Do you think I'm going?
• 1:57:20
  I'll let you take it. Where?
• 1:57:22
  Where do you where do you think I'm going?
• 1:57:23
  Where you going, I? Don't know how to say his last
• 1:57:27
  name, I've never said it before. That's the guy.
• 1:57:32
  Matt Quatraro of the Kansas City Royals.
• 1:57:35
  Yeah, leaving his Royals. Anything.
• 1:57:38
  Look, I didn't have them finishing that high, but
• 1:57:41
  anything is better than last year.
• 1:57:42
  So let's give him, let's give him the award.
• 1:57:45
  Yeah, you were having, you know, I mean, a freaking postseason
• 1:57:49
  wild card run. So the last but OK, a run that's
• 1:57:54
  that's a bit excessive. I had them in the final.
• 1:57:56
  Wild card spot. And they're probably losing
• 1:57:59
  first round bounce. Exactly.
• 1:58:00
  But that's that's that's what's fair.
• 1:58:04
  Anything's better in the basement.
• 1:58:05
  So yeah, I'm with you. Brian, who do you got?
• 1:58:09
  Into existence? How about the Minnesota Twins?
• 1:58:13
  Rocco Baldelli. I'm gonna switch it up here,
• 1:58:17
  where I think I'm gaining more traction that the Twins are just
• 1:58:20
  gonna have a really, really good year.
• 1:58:23
  And I have nothing really to base that off of, just this gut
• 1:58:26
  feeling. But I do really like the
• 1:58:29
  stability that it feels like he has brought to the team.
• 1:58:32
  I think that he's settled in as the manager there and I didn't
• 1:58:36
  want to go with the same thing through the like looking through
• 1:58:39
  it with Bochy and Hyde and like the two last year who very well
• 1:58:43
  could win it this year, right? But I do just think that Rocco
• 1:58:48
  Baldelli maybe, maybe the Twins and him show that he is a
• 1:58:57
  actually, he should be given more credit as the manager and I
• 1:59:00
  think this could be a big year for him and end the Minnesota
• 1:59:04
  Twinkies. Solid.
• 1:59:10
  I like it. National League Manager of the
• 1:59:13
  year. I'm going Craig Council.
• 1:59:18
  That's a cop out. I'm calling cop out.
• 1:59:22
  Is it though because you have the Cardinals winning the
• 1:59:24
  division? So.
• 1:59:27
  I still think he's the best manager in the in the Central,
• 1:59:32
  but he's not going to win it. Right, but wouldn't this be his
• 1:59:34
  first he? Correct me if I'm wrong, he has
• 1:59:37
  not won the the award yet, has he?
• 1:59:40
  Yeah, but that's a Milwaukee thing.
• 1:59:41
  That's not a council thing. Right, so.
• 1:59:46
  I just think it's a cop out. It's not AI think it's an
• 1:59:49
  obvious answer. I think it is.
• 1:59:50
  It's fine. I think it is.
• 1:59:53
  Give me, give me Ryan's guy. I'm staying in the Central.
• 1:59:57
  David Bell. Yeah, we're on the same page.
• 2:00:02
  Boom, baby. Give me that one more time,
• 2:00:03
  Ryan. Yeah.
• 2:00:07
  Ryan's back. Yeah.
• 2:00:08
  David Bell and why, though, Why are you taking him?
• 2:00:13
  Dude, they're just, I can't explain it.
• 2:00:15
  They're just exciting. They're exciting.
• 2:00:18
  I see, like, remember a couple years ago where the Mariners
• 2:00:22
  like, end of the season run, started to build up and they
• 2:00:25
  just had all this momentum? I see something with the Reds.
• 2:00:29
  I don't know what it'll be. You're going to get me.
• 2:00:31
  You're going to convince me I might.
• 2:00:33
  I might be on this Red. So it sounds like if you're
• 2:00:36
  doing this, I don't know why you don't have the Reds win the
• 2:00:38
  division, yeah. That's fair.
• 2:00:41
  I can't. I can't quite get there yet.
• 2:00:43
  But big, big props. Big props to David David Bell I.
• 2:00:50
  So that's a lifer. That's an MOB lifer.
• 2:00:53
  That man knows Ball He. Oh, he knows ball, he knows
• 2:00:55
  ball. And if the Reds do win that
• 2:00:57
  division, he will be manager of the year.
• 2:01:00
  Unless the Dodgers and Dave Roberts win 120 games.
• 2:01:04
  But that, like, that's what the standard's gonna have to be, is
• 2:01:07
  that the Dodgers and Dave Roberts are gonna have to break
• 2:01:09
  the record. If not, David Bell win the Reds,
• 2:01:13
  win the NL Central. David Bell gets manager of the
• 2:01:15
  year. Book it here on the three O take
• 2:01:18
  Book it. I'm about it.
• 2:01:21
  American League Comeback Player of the Year.
• 2:01:28
  What do you got? Hand up accountability.
• 2:01:30
  Cop out. Give me Mike Trout.
• 2:01:33
  Sorry. I'm sorry.
• 2:01:34
  Mike Trout? Yeah.
• 2:01:36
  I'm running back out. I'm running back the vibes that
• 2:01:39
  I had last March when I thought that it was finally gonna be
• 2:01:43
  Mike Trout's year. But I think now that he's the,
• 2:01:47
  he's the the freaking ringleader out there in in Los Angeles
• 2:01:51
  again. I think he's gonna reclaim what
• 2:01:53
  was previously his show out there in Anaheim and he's gonna
• 2:01:57
  remind people, yeah, in 2024, just how good he is.
• 2:02:02
  So I'm taking my that. Mediocre circus is all his, I
• 2:02:05
  thought. This was hot takes guys.
• 2:02:07
  You know, I thought this was spicy.
• 2:02:09
  Yeah. I know.
• 2:02:10
  I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
• 2:02:11
  It's just so it it I'm gonna it. Fits.
• 2:02:13
  It's just right there. It's.
• 2:02:14
  Just right there. So in this case if it's all been
• 2:02:16
  come back, it's it. Was he injured or just like had
• 2:02:19
  a really bad year? I don't.
• 2:02:22
  I had to think about. I don't.
• 2:02:23
  Know what the qualifications? Are it's been both.
• 2:02:26
  I mean, because you had obviously Liam Hendricks coming
• 2:02:28
  back from cancer, he gets it and then I don't even remember who
• 2:02:33
  won it in conjunction with him. I was just saying in this case,
• 2:02:35
  the guys that haven't played didn't play as well.
• 2:02:38
  That's the angle. I'm gonna go, just come back.
• 2:02:41
  Was terrible in 2023. We'll just say the numbers
• 2:02:44
  weren't there, whether it was due to an injury, the.
• 2:02:47
  Numbers weren't there and people weren't happy with the
• 2:02:50
  investment, but Carlos Correa I think, is going to bounce back.
• 2:02:54
  Going with this Twins theme right now.
• 2:02:57
  Watching him, seeing the town, especially with him swinging the
• 2:02:59
  bat, I think he's too talented of a hitter to have the numbers
• 2:03:03
  that he did last year. I believe he hit, what, 2:30 on
• 2:03:06
  the season? And so many people are doing the
• 2:03:09
  comparisons. Yeah, I had it right here so
• 2:03:11
  everyone or I can see it again. Sorry I pulled it down for a
• 2:03:14
  second. He is a career 272 hitter and
• 2:03:18
  his average got dropped down this past season where he only
• 2:03:22
  had eighteen home runs and he played 135 games.
• 2:03:26
  But he hit 2:30 with a 399 slugging his he has a career 468
• 2:03:33
  slugging. Something's got to give.
• 2:03:36
  I think that Carlos Correa I that's my comeback right there.
• 2:03:40
  I know we're talking about different things.
• 2:03:42
  I want a different. Bounce Back Player of the Year.
• 2:03:44
  Bounce back, comeback tomato, tomato bucket.
• 2:03:48
  He literally referred to himself as Dior before the season
• 2:03:52
  started last. I'm not saying I like.
• 2:03:54
  All those are the numbers, he. Put on like the other stuff, I'm
• 2:03:59
  just saying watching him play, watching how he can swing the
• 2:04:02
  bat, whatever Carlos Correa that was this past year, that's not
• 2:04:06
  the Carlos Correa that should be.
• 2:04:08
  And if not, then Twins fans, you can be really pissed 'cause he
• 2:04:11
  should should bounce back. I'm not not gonna pick just for
• 2:04:17
  the record, I just think it's funny that he referred to
• 2:04:19
  himself as Dior when it turned when it came time.
• 2:04:22
  For it hurt. It hurt.
• 2:04:24
  It hurt. Yeah, not ideal scumbag.
• 2:04:27
  What nationally comeback play of the year?
• 2:04:31
  You're gonna like this one? I already mentioned his name on
• 2:04:35
  here once. OOOOC oh O'Neill Cruz.
• 2:04:46
  Let's. Go the National League Comeback
• 2:04:50
  Player of the Year. Big fancy.
• 2:04:53
  Love it. Cash money?
• 2:04:54
  Look. At this I might have to.
• 2:04:56
  Join that bandwagon because I just think that that's so good.
• 2:05:01
  Yeah, well, no. So my thing was, I didn't really
• 2:05:04
  know how to categorize him, 'cause he's so young and
• 2:05:07
  thinking about a comeback. But if we're talking about the
• 2:05:09
  catastrophic injury he had and all of it went down, sign me up
• 2:05:13
  on the O'Neill Cruz. And again I got to play against
• 2:05:15
  him. Got to see it, See what
• 2:05:17
  happened. Dude hits balls up bajillion
• 2:05:19
  miles an hour. He's like 6-7 and can run like a
• 2:05:22
  deer. I think he's in for a massive
• 2:05:25
  season. So if he qualifies, I'm.
• 2:05:27
  I'm joining the I'm joining the bandwagon O'Neill Cruz making a
• 2:05:31
  clean. Sweep right there.
• 2:05:32
  I like that. All right, getting into the big
• 2:05:38
  two here. These are big ones.
• 2:05:40
  Cy Young and MVP, American League.
• 2:05:43
  Cy Young. Ryan.
• 2:05:45
  American League Cy Young Why am I blanking and just thinking of
• 2:05:48
  the National League Cy Young. I just had this in my mind.
• 2:05:53
  No, notes Ryan. I know it was all it was.
• 2:05:55
  All It's not politicians I know. It was all he's like the.
• 2:05:57
  He's like the waiter at the restaurant that goes around a
• 2:06:00
  table of eight and memorizes everything, he said.
• 2:06:02
  There's no way that you can do that and they do it.
• 2:06:04
  Why blanking on this? It hurts because I kept trying
• 2:06:08
  to say I was excited about my National League One.
• 2:06:13
  You wanna pass it? Yeah, pass it for a second.
• 2:06:15
  So if I can Remember, Remember at my old age, now of 30.
• 2:06:20
  I thought I was coming in a little spicy.
• 2:06:22
  I thought I had something here, but one of our listeners shared
• 2:06:25
  this already, so maybe it's not that spicy.
• 2:06:28
  Tariq's Google. I I had a feeling when you guys
• 2:06:32
  were gonna go with him. I just like it.
• 2:06:35
  I just like it. I don't know what's going on in
• 2:06:38
  Detroit. That's a different, different
• 2:06:40
  thread to pull on. But that guy is that guy knows
• 2:06:44
  what he's doing. Give me Tariq's Google.
• 2:06:47
  I like that spicy. That is spicy.
• 2:06:49
  And that's why I realized that's spicy and I got one spicy right
• 2:06:53
  back to you, 'cause that's what it was.
• 2:06:55
  He was a finalist last year in the AL Scion.
• 2:06:58
  Give me Kevin Gosman with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• 2:07:03
  Is that you? That's my pick.
• 2:07:04
  That's my pick. That was my that was my 2023
• 2:07:07
  fantasy baseball, ace of my rotation and you.
• 2:07:11
  So boy, did he ever see. So why don't you explain that
• 2:07:14
  for a second? Because I don't think people
• 2:07:16
  realize the evolution of Kevin Gossman and.
• 2:07:20
  And The thing is, he's not throwing 98 miles an hour, but
• 2:07:23
  how many strikeouts he had. Like if you had him in fantasy,
• 2:07:25
  hold his shirts and pants. He was.
• 2:07:27
  He led the American League in strikeouts.
• 2:07:29
  He was he. I mean, take this as you will.
• 2:07:32
  He was an All Star and finished third in the Cy Young voting
• 2:07:36
  last year. So I feel like this is the gear
• 2:07:39
  he gets. He gets it done.
• 2:07:41
  Very impressed, Ragai, You got connections with Baltimore
• 2:07:45
  there. I faced him in high school, and
• 2:07:48
  before he went to LSU, he was definitely just like a a big
• 2:07:52
  fastball and a big hook kind of guy, touching triple digits.
• 2:07:56
  Now he's like gotten into this prime phase of figuring out how
• 2:08:00
  to pitch. And that sinker is a lot more
• 2:08:04
  effective than 99. Flat so that that I watched it
• 2:08:07
  again. I was watching his highlights a
• 2:08:09
  little bit and he's just convincing me on the ball
• 2:08:13
  placement. And that's the thing that we're
• 2:08:15
  looking at. And guys are like, yeah, he's
• 2:08:16
  not throwing 9697 all the time. He just knows where to put it's
• 2:08:21
  deceptive and it feels like it just falls off and you're
• 2:08:24
  sitting there and he just sets you up now.
• 2:08:27
  So I just, I'm with you. I think he's in for that big
• 2:08:30
  year. That's the one I was trying to
• 2:08:31
  think of for a while because I just don't think he gets enough
• 2:08:34
  credit. I would have sneaky and maybe it
• 2:08:37
  was a year away again. I don't want to be a Homer with
• 2:08:39
  it. I do like what?
• 2:08:43
  And And honestly the the issue with Kyle Bradish was a concern.
• 2:08:48
  But Kevin Gossman, man, let me tell you what guy that guy can
• 2:08:52
  pitch. Guy can pitch pretty good.
• 2:08:59
  National League Cy Young. I'm going with the ace of my
• 2:09:05
  World Series winning ball club, Zach Wheeler, fresh off an
• 2:09:14
  extension. A historic extension I might
• 2:09:17
  add. The vibes they they just don't
• 2:09:22
  change in Philly, man. They for all intents and
• 2:09:24
  services, they got the same ball club.
• 2:09:27
  I'm seeing fans kick around on Twitter.
• 2:09:29
  The idea of keeping dancing on my own as the team song it, it's
• 2:09:34
  it just doesn't change. It's rinse and repeat and I sure
• 2:09:38
  I know the outcome hasn't been what they've wanted to be the
• 2:09:40
  last few years, but I think this is the year they finally get it
• 2:09:43
  done. And I think Zach Wheeler plays a
• 2:09:45
  huge part in that. You meet Quadzilla.
• 2:09:50
  Gimme, Spencer Strider. Strikeout.
• 2:09:53
  Monster. Thigh monster.
• 2:09:59
  Just the dude. Enough said.
• 2:10:03
  That's it. You think he gets it done on
• 2:10:06
  strikeouts alone? I think he gets it done, man.
• 2:10:10
  I think he gets it done. You guys ready?
• 2:10:16
  This was the one you were talking about.
• 2:10:17
  This. Yeah.
• 2:10:18
  Yeah. I.
• 2:10:18
  Just think I I thought maybe you guys might take them, give me.
• 2:10:22
  They might not compete in the NL as much or they might surprise
• 2:10:26
  you. But I'm taking Logan Webb with
• 2:10:29
  the San Francisco Giants. Love his stuff.
• 2:10:33
  Love the way he pitches. Last year on his down year.
• 2:10:37
  I guess 325 ERA previous year IN2022A29-O3O3 the year before.
• 2:10:45
  He's just flirting right now with having a dominant season
• 2:10:52
  and I think this is going to be the year that Logan Webb glasses
• 2:10:56
  back on. This could be the other Logan
• 2:10:58
  Webb. If the Giants aren't going to
• 2:11:00
  the playoffs, someone's still taking home some hardware.
• 2:11:04
  Think Logan Webb is going to be that guy to do that in the
• 2:11:06
  National League? Ground ball Pitcher edition of
• 2:11:11
  Matt Chapman on the left side. Doesn't always hurt.
• 2:11:15
  Never hurts. See what you're doing.
• 2:11:16
  Never hurts. See what you're doing.
• 2:11:21
  It's connecting the dots. I like it.
• 2:11:24
  Rounding out the awards here, MVP picks, Let's go National
• 2:11:33
  League. Let's start in the National
• 2:11:34
  League. Yeah, yeah, I like that.
• 2:11:38
  I have a feeling I I I think I know who Nate's going with in
• 2:11:42
  the American League. But let's start National League.
• 2:11:45
  Ryan, who do you got? Well, it's a Dodger.
• 2:11:51
  Uh oh. It's Ohtani.
• 2:11:53
  Just kidding. It's not Ohtani.
• 2:11:55
  Give me Mookie Bets. Yes.
• 2:11:57
  Sir. Marcus Lynn Betts.
• 2:12:01
  Mookie the the The former Great Boston Red Sox that was.
• 2:12:07
  OK, that was unnecessary. He did he?
• 2:12:09
  How long has he been in LA? Now that was unnecessary.
• 2:12:14
  But he. Solidarity.
• 2:12:16
  And then he hits me with that. Whatever.
• 2:12:18
  Sorry, I I just. I love Mookie Betts.
• 2:12:20
  I was thinking about Freddie Freeman and and the idea of
• 2:12:22
  Ronald Acuna Junior repeating was very enticing.
• 2:12:25
  But give me I think people forget how good Mookie Betts is,
• 2:12:28
  man. He is truly one of the game's
• 2:12:32
  best players that like truly. I still don't think people talk
• 2:12:35
  about him enough and we still are talking about him this way.
• 2:12:39
  And he had an insane year last year and it was still
• 2:12:41
  overshadowed by Acuna. That's that's what we're dealing
• 2:12:44
  with here. But I I I'm with you.
• 2:12:47
  If he can play above average shortstop, it's it's a big chip
• 2:12:53
  in that pile. So I I I hear ya.
• 2:12:56
  I I'm not going Mookie, but I am staying with the Dodgers.
• 2:12:59
  Look, Freddie Freeman having the lineup that he's gonna have.
• 2:13:04
  I don't know what the 2-3 situation is between Freddie and
• 2:13:08
  Ohtani in the lineup. I don't know.
• 2:13:11
  I know they've played with stuff in spring training.
• 2:13:14
  I just think no matter what, that guy knows how to hit and
• 2:13:20
  when. There's not even the the notion
• 2:13:24
  of him being the biggest feared hitter in the lineup.
• 2:13:28
  That's pretty insane to me. So give me Freddy for MVP.
• 2:13:32
  And that's a help to him, too. Yeah, so American League.
• 2:13:40
  I'll get it out the way my man's gonna.
• 2:13:43
  I think I assuming I know who you have here.
• 2:13:46
  I think I split. I think I went Ryan Nash League.
• 2:13:49
  I think I'm going with you, AL, if it's who I thought.
• 2:13:52
  It was man's gonna get the biggest contract we've seen in a
• 2:13:58
  long time. Juan Soto is going to he's found
• 2:14:05
  I I genuinely I'm not trying to sound like a Homer.
• 2:14:10
  I've never seen Juan Soto be more in his own skin than when
• 2:14:13
  he's wearing a pinstripe uniform.
• 2:14:15
  This just he's not even in New York yet and it just fits.
• 2:14:19
  It just makes sense. It just looks right.
• 2:14:23
  He's comfortable. Put him two, put him three in
• 2:14:26
  the lineup. It really doesn't matter.
• 2:14:29
  He's gonna do what he wants. Juan Soto.
• 2:14:32
  Career high. Home runs.
• 2:14:34
  Juan Soto. Wow.
• 2:14:36
  Short porch. That's why I'm.
• 2:14:38
  I think he's gonna fit in real nice there.
• 2:14:41
  And I'm with you. I said it on a previous episode.
• 2:14:44
  I hate to say it, but I don't know if I've ever seen somebody.
• 2:14:48
  Current day, of course. Modern era that fits the Yankee
• 2:14:53
  look is what I mean. My goodness.
• 2:14:56
  It's nuts. It's I that guy was.
• 2:14:59
  He always was. He was.
• 2:15:00
  When we were in the Nationals organizations, everyone still
• 2:15:02
  thought about. It's like he's just gonna end up
• 2:15:04
  in New York someday, isn't he just That was like the thought
• 2:15:08
  in the mind. Just like just talking to
• 2:15:10
  amongst people wanted, like, you know, of course, like go to the
• 2:15:14
  Nationals, you win the World Series there.
• 2:15:16
  But just felt like he was. He was made to play for the
• 2:15:21
  Yankees and he's in for a monster.
• 2:15:23
  He to me, he's a top five player, top five player, no
• 2:15:27
  doubt about it. Him a judge.
• 2:15:28
  That's the best duo really to me, hitting wise in all of
• 2:15:32
  baseball and that and that's. Saying something right now,
• 2:15:36
  Balance. Like it's it's patience.
• 2:15:38
  It's vision. It's like power.
• 2:15:42
  Yeah, it's all of. It so I did.
• 2:15:44
  I did a breakdown of him on on my show and it showed if he
• 2:15:50
  throws it the the if you throw a ball in the strike zone, Juan
• 2:15:55
  doesn't miss it like that. That to me is the scary thing.
• 2:16:00
  We looked at his chart. He doesn't miss balls in the
• 2:16:04
  zone. And then has the highest take
• 2:16:08
  percentage, Yeah, is there any, is there anybody?
• 2:16:10
  In the league that has a better idea of the the strike zone than
• 2:16:14
  juanzado. I don't think there is.
• 2:16:15
  It's someone close and it's Aaron Judge.
• 2:16:18
  Do you know what I mean? It's for control, for
• 2:16:20
  controlling the strike zone to have those one, two.
• 2:16:23
  You're right. I mean it.
• 2:16:24
  I think it's enough to carry him far enough.
• 2:16:25
  But I do think he wins MVP and and just gets the the most
• 2:16:32
  script. Perfect scenario walking into a
• 2:16:35
  free agency offseason. The Yankees better play that
• 2:16:39
  smart. You don't want to let that slip
• 2:16:41
  away. They never do, Ryan.
• 2:16:46
  No, you didn't, I do believe. I think I know that.
• 2:16:52
  Grin tells me that we're we're staying close to home.
• 2:16:55
  I think I think I know this one. So I if this individual doesn't
• 2:17:01
  I I do believe Soto's like a gut one where I'm like or sorry like
• 2:17:06
  your mind wants to say. But also then I realized that
• 2:17:11
  my, the only, and I told you guys this, the only oh crap
• 2:17:15
  moments I've ever had in my career with with guys that I've
• 2:17:19
  been around in professional baseball.
• 2:17:21
  There's two One is Juan Soto when he was my teammate.
• 2:17:27
  When you're different, I think you guys know who the second one
• 2:17:31
  is. The second one is a mistake.
• 2:17:37
  Gunnar Henderson in Baltimore, and I understand.
• 2:17:41
  I think Soto's going to have a ridiculous year.
• 2:17:44
  And I said that Gunnar was going to win MVP in his first five
• 2:17:47
  years. But I think something turned on
• 2:17:51
  inside of him down the stretch that I think that Gunnar
• 2:17:56
  Henderson is absolutely going to annihilate batters and our
• 2:18:01
  players. I think he's going to be a Gold
• 2:18:03
  Glove caliber fielder. I think he's going to have an
• 2:18:06
  insanely high war to put him in the conversation.
• 2:18:09
  And here's my thing, Yes, he had his up and down moments, no
• 2:18:13
  doubt about it. Glasses say it all.
• 2:18:16
  But Gunner Henderson to me is the is a guy that's going to
• 2:18:19
  rival. And I think if the Orioles are
• 2:18:20
  going to keep going as far as they are, I think Gunner's going
• 2:18:24
  to push for 3540 Jacks. And then I think he's going to
• 2:18:27
  play ridiculous defense. And you guys might think I'm
• 2:18:31
  crazy. He had 28 jacks last year.
• 2:18:34
  I I don't think you're crazy. It's just it's wild to to hear
• 2:18:38
  Gunnar Henderson, forty home runs.
• 2:18:40
  But when you remember that he hit 28, you're like, that's not
• 2:18:42
  that crazy. And might I add the home run he
• 2:18:44
  hit against Texas in the DS last year that made me feel
• 2:18:49
  something. I was like this naughty.
• 2:18:51
  This kid's special. He he is.
• 2:18:53
  He is a guy that's not content with being OK.
• 2:18:59
  He is not content with how things even started for him last
• 2:19:03
  year and he's not content with just being one of the best.
• 2:19:06
  He wants to be the best player. And so just to give you a
• 2:19:10
  context to this, take the glass off so I can read this.
• 2:19:16
  First month, first two months, he had five home runs, the rest
• 2:19:20
  of the way he had 23. So I think that that Gunner
• 2:19:26
  Henderson, that the last four months is going to show up.
• 2:19:30
  My heart is with Gunner mine says Soto.
• 2:19:33
  But I think those two players are in for massive years.
• 2:19:37
  But I'm giving it to the bird. Give me Gunner.
• 2:19:41
  I love it. Ryan Ripken for mayor.
• 2:19:44
  Ryan Episode 417. Ryan Ripken for mayor.
• 2:19:48
  All right, we have reached the finale here.
• 2:19:51
  I know you never thought. The spiciest of spicy.
• 2:19:54
  Never thought we'd make it, but we are here closing out with
• 2:19:57
  just some general slash storyline type hot takes here,
• 2:20:03
  maybe things that we wanted to address but they didn't really
• 2:20:05
  fit elsewhere in the episode. Just giving us a chance here to
• 2:20:10
  share some of our takes that we think will pan out over the
• 2:20:14
  course of. The 2024 season.
• 2:20:19
  Nate, lead us off here. This is hot.
• 2:20:25
  I always have one that's a little.
• 2:20:27
  It's a. Little.
• 2:20:30
  Rude. I I'm gonna be honest.
• 2:20:33
  I'm gonna speak from my heart. Javi Baez breaks the longest
• 2:20:44
  consecutive hit streak held by Chris Davis. 54 at bats.
• 2:20:49
  Hit less streak. Hitless.
• 2:20:52
  Yes. Wow.
• 2:20:53
  The longest consecutive hitless streak is no longer gonna be
• 2:20:59
  Chris Davis crown. It'll be Javi Baez.
• 2:21:02
  What is happening? What is that?
• 2:21:05
  That is a take. And a half you're.
• 2:21:07
  Facing goons in Spring Training and you're still looking like
• 2:21:13
  this. 54 at bats, Ladies and gents, keep an eye on it.
• 2:21:20
  I put up his numbers from spring training the day and I can't
• 2:21:23
  seem to find them, but they were atrocious.
• 2:21:26
  He's like one for 35. It's insane, with no adjustments
• 2:21:31
  ever being made. Ryan, give us your first.
• 2:21:36
  Just a bold, bold, bold statement on the season.
• 2:21:46
  All of it could be about a player.
• 2:21:51
  Gunner Henderson. I'm just kidding.
• 2:21:52
  Be about a team. Could be about a manager, good
• 2:21:54
  or bad. Ryan might not have 3.
• 2:22:01
  I might not. I'm a little.
• 2:22:05
  You can. Hit that pass button.
• 2:22:06
  You can compile it into one just super spicy shake if you want.
• 2:22:16
  We can come back if you want to if.
• 2:22:17
  You want to right now? We'll be honest, So go ahead.
• 2:22:20
  I understand it's. Late, only three hours in it's.
• 2:22:23
  It's real late think it's a lot. Officially the longest podcast
• 2:22:26
  we've ever done. I I'll I'll take the reins here
• 2:22:30
  we already mentioned it or actually we just got done
• 2:22:32
  talking about it. Nate you mentioned if he could
• 2:22:37
  play average to above average shortstop.
• 2:22:42
  I've got Mookie Betts winning a Gold Glove in his first full
• 2:22:46
  season at his respective infield position.
• 2:22:49
  And I say respective infield position, meaning shortstop or
• 2:22:53
  second. Because as we all know, this
• 2:22:55
  whole Dave Roberts permanent for now nonsense.
• 2:22:58
  Could see Mookie Betts moving back to second base.
• 2:23:01
  So wherever he ends up, I've got I've got him taken the Gold
• 2:23:06
  Glove. He's already won the Gold Glove
• 2:23:07
  before. He's a one of the greatest, if
• 2:23:10
  not the greatest athlete in baseball.
• 2:23:12
  Athlete. We're talking like athletic
• 2:23:14
  ability. Mookie Betts I I don't see any
• 2:23:18
  problems happening there in the infield.
• 2:23:19
  I'd really like to know the list of names that have won a Gold
• 2:23:23
  Glove at multiple positions. I'd really be curious about
• 2:23:27
  that. I don't think we've ever seen
• 2:23:30
  one from outfield to infield. I can.
• 2:23:32
  I can almost promise that the only thing I can think of is
• 2:23:38
  maybe, I don't know, maybe, maybe maybe Mayors Papa over
• 2:23:42
  there sliding from short to 3rd. That's the all.
• 2:23:44
  I can't think of too many names. I don't think he even won.
• 2:23:47
  He didn't even win a Gold Glove a third, either.
• 2:23:50
  Really. I can't.
• 2:23:52
  I can't. Maybe a rod from short to 3rd?
• 2:23:54
  I can't think. Too many people, that's what.
• 2:23:56
  I'm saying though, it's a hard, it's a hard list to put
• 2:23:59
  together, even with even with great players where you're like,
• 2:24:02
  man, they're great, they can go play somewhere else.
• 2:24:05
  But Mookie Betts can be that kind of guy.
• 2:24:07
  I mean, Tantis. Tantis moved to the outfield
• 2:24:10
  last year and won the Platinum Glove.
• 2:24:13
  That's true. It's true too.
• 2:24:15
  So I mean, just flip this. I mean, we've.
• 2:24:18
  Seen, yeah, we've seen that. I just, I mean a Gold Glove
• 2:24:21
  caliber established in one position moving to right field
• 2:24:26
  in shortstop couldn't couldn't be more different.
• 2:24:29
  So that's crazy. I like it, right Guy?
• 2:24:33
  You need a. You need a.
• 2:24:34
  Pass actually was this was one that this I was there was a
• 2:24:37
  certain pitcher rotation here and I think I like to always
• 2:24:41
  follow guys journeys and this is not just because of the sense of
• 2:24:47
  and it led me to this kind of a bold take if the Tigers are to
• 2:24:52
  make some noise. If the Tigers are going to make
• 2:24:56
  some noise, I think that their starting rotation finishes in
• 2:25:00
  the top five in ERA and I wanted to make sure and confirm that of
• 2:25:07
  why. I look at this and I remember
• 2:25:08
  the barrage of talented pitchers that they had first round picks.
• 2:25:13
  They went through a time where it was Casey Mize Fiedo, Matt
• 2:25:17
  Manning and all of them. And like everyone I remember
• 2:25:20
  they're like this is the team that's going to put it together.
• 2:25:23
  The other name that I wanted to bring in that got slandered a
• 2:25:25
  lot because he didn't pitch well in the with the Cardinals didn't
• 2:25:29
  pitch as well with the Orioles the way that they wanted.
• 2:25:33
  But he signed a one year deal for 13 mil because he has upside
• 2:25:36
  and he's 2728 years old. Jack Flaherty.
• 2:25:40
  So I look at this potential, my bold prediction, prediction.
• 2:25:45
  I didn't have the Tigers in the top three or winning the
• 2:25:47
  division, but I think this, this starting rotation puts it
• 2:25:54
  together. I think we see a top five Tigers
• 2:25:58
  ERA for this year. That's spicy, yeah.
• 2:26:03
  Hey, you told me you wanted me to be spicy.
• 2:26:05
  All right, I like it. I see you're spicy.
• 2:26:10
  I raise you spicy. Clayton Kershaw will reach his
• 2:26:19
  three thousandth strikeout in a post season.
• 2:26:28
  Oh my goodness. Do the, hold on, do the, do the.
• 2:26:35
  I don't even think the career totals.
• 2:26:38
  He's 56 away. But I don't think the career
• 2:26:41
  totals are accumulated during the offseason.
• 2:26:45
  What do you mean during the postseason?
• 2:26:47
  Or I mean during the postseason. Oh yeah, they are.
• 2:26:52
  I don't think I'm like 9. I'm no, I'm like 99% sure.
• 2:26:58
  They separate them. No way.
• 2:27:01
  Yeah. Why would they?
• 2:27:03
  You said he's 56 strikeouts away.
• 2:27:06
  That's it. Set to return in August, which
• 2:27:11
  we know means September. They've really they.
• 2:27:13
  I must have missed that. They pushed it to August
• 2:27:15
  already. Yeah, that's what I read.
• 2:27:18
  Oh wow, I must have missed that. Yikes.
• 2:27:23
  Either way, 56. I mean, that's gonna take some
• 2:27:25
  time. Yeah, I don't think he.
• 2:27:28
  Probably 10 to 12 starts. You really don't think so?
• 2:27:31
  You are. You.
• 2:27:31
  I'm just no, we we need to confirm this.
• 2:27:34
  We need to confirm. 'Cause this is really just
• 2:27:36
  cooling down my hot take here, because the hot take is in
• 2:27:42
  essence more about the fact that he's gonna go.
• 2:27:45
  ACG Yeah, What? Maybe we'll just go with that.
• 2:27:48
  We'll just go CG in the postseason.
• 2:27:50
  Give. Me.
• 2:27:51
  The strikeout? No.
• 2:27:52
  Why would? He count just for just for Nate.
• 2:27:54
  Give him the strikeout. Give him the strikeout.
• 2:27:56
  But it doesn't count. MLB.com.
• 2:27:58
  Does any playoff stats count towards regular season totals?
• 2:28:02
  No. So, and this is in reference to
• 2:28:04
  Albert Pujols, it says so. Albert Pujols, who hit 24 homers
• 2:28:07
  this season and 703 for his career, would not add to that
• 2:28:09
  total. That's what I thought.
• 2:28:11
  Yeah, the I I can't give you the strikeout, but I'll give you the
• 2:28:14
  CG. My second hot take.
• 2:28:19
  Ryan, you actually almost said this verbatim, but you didn't
• 2:28:24
  quite get to it, which I'm glad. You're welcome.
• 2:28:26
  But you alluded to it. All five NL Central teams will
• 2:28:32
  be within reach of the division on August 1st.
• 2:28:38
  Wow. What's within reach?
• 2:28:40
  What's the argument? That's what I wanted to.
• 2:28:43
  I wanted to leave that a little open now.
• 2:28:45
  Single digit gap. That, yeah, I mean August 1st,
• 2:28:49
  we've seen gaps larger. All within 10 games then
• 2:28:52
  nothing. That all within 10.
• 2:28:54
  I'm saying yeah, I'm saying under under 10 games.
• 2:28:56
  That's kind of my threshold because.
• 2:28:58
  Is it the NL or the? LNL Central All five NL Central
• 2:29:03
  teams will be within reach of the crown on August 1st that.
• 2:29:08
  Is quite spicy. So it hopefully if that comes to
• 2:29:12
  fruition, that'll be an interesting deadline.
• 2:29:15
  I'm struggling to see the Brewers hanging around till
• 2:29:17
  August. It's up for grabs, Ryan.
• 2:29:22
  You got another one. You want to flip it to Nate for
• 2:29:24
  his final. Speaking of the ALE and L&L Ale,
• 2:29:29
  ale while brain is short circuiting here.
• 2:29:34
  We're at the finish line, Rye finish.
• 2:29:36
  We're here, bold. Take here bold take.
• 2:29:42
  I think that I I'm doubling down if Rocco Baldelli wins manager
• 2:29:48
  of the year. I think the Twins win the
• 2:29:51
  division by 15 games. That's a lot. 15 games, I think.
• 2:30:00
  That division, Unfortunately, as much as it's either it's going
• 2:30:04
  to come right down to the wire or the Twins are winning by 15
• 2:30:11
  games. The Yankees are either gonna
• 2:30:13
  finish 102 and 60 or 60 and 100 and.
• 2:30:16
  That might be that's. That's the vibes you're getting
• 2:30:18
  late. Night wry right here, but I
• 2:30:20
  think that's twins are either finishing 15 up and 1st or
• 2:30:24
  they're finishing dead last. There we go.
• 2:30:28
  Wow. The Knights, So I just did a
• 2:30:31
  quick Google search. The largest MLB division lead.
• 2:30:33
  The first thing that comes up is a Reddit article referencing the
• 2:30:36
  1995 Cleveland Indians said they had the largest division lead in
• 2:30:42
  MLB history at the time, 30 games over the 2nd place Royals.
• 2:30:48
  That's that's Was that by the end of the season or it?
• 2:30:51
  That's 30. 15. I know, but I had a full season.
• 2:30:57
  Yeah, that's. I don't know if that was by the
• 2:31:00
  end of the year or just throughout the season anyway.
• 2:31:02
  That's what I said. That's.
• 2:31:03
  Big Boy. I know, but if if they had a 30
• 2:31:09
  game lead in the division in June, which is crazy enough,
• 2:31:13
  then that's one thing. But if you finish thirty games,
• 2:31:15
  15 is piece of cake. But I just needed to clarify.
• 2:31:18
  That's all I thought. Who?
• 2:31:21
  Who? Who's winning the division for
• 2:31:22
  you? Twins, right?
• 2:31:26
  Yeah, yeah. OK.
• 2:31:27
  Sure, Shirley twins. Ryan's getting a little.
• 2:31:30
  Ryan's getting a little, a little spicy here.
• 2:31:32
  I like it down the finish line. I like it.
• 2:31:34
  I like it. Is this the last one for Nate?
• 2:31:38
  This is my last one. My spiciest saved it for last.
• 2:31:50
  Pete Alonzo is going to win the NL home run title wearing a
• 2:31:55
  jersey that is not a Mets jersey.
• 2:32:02
  Book it. I love it.
• 2:32:04
  March 14th. Could very, very much see that
• 2:32:07
  happening. I don't, I don't know how I'd
• 2:32:09
  feel about that. I'm not a Pete Alonzo guy, but.
• 2:32:12
  Nor am I. Would I be happy that he gets
• 2:32:15
  out of the out of Queens? Would I be upset that I can't
• 2:32:19
  kind of drag him the same way? I don't know.
• 2:32:24
  We'll see. I like that.
• 2:32:27
  That's a realistic, spicy hot take the NL home run crown.
• 2:32:33
  The NL home run crown. I'm gonna stay in the NL as
• 2:32:37
  well, and it's actually gonna be my second Dodgers related take
• 2:32:41
  of my 3. Hate to say it.
• 2:32:46
  Love you for 2004, my friend, but Dave Roberts is dismissed if
• 2:32:52
  the Dodgers do not win the World Series.
• 2:32:58
  That's real spicy. Real spicy.
• 2:33:02
  I mean, you got to think he's on the hot seat.
• 2:33:06
  I mean, especially with the team he's putting out there this
• 2:33:08
  year. Come on.
• 2:33:09
  If they don't have to do anything, you don't have to do
• 2:33:12
  anything. You just have to put.
• 2:33:15
  But you've seen it. He gets in his own.
• 2:33:17
  Way and Dodgers fans will tell you that till they're blue in
• 2:33:19
  the face it. So if if he can't do it with his
• 2:33:22
  team, I don't know what to tell you.
• 2:33:23
  And maybe they maybe they. And honestly I've heard rumors
• 2:33:27
  about Alex Core or maybe fill in the shoes in LA because Alex
• 2:33:31
  Core is as as good as gone. He he can't he doesn't want to
• 2:33:35
  be in Boston anymore. It's becoming very clear, and I
• 2:33:39
  don't blame him because he's not being given any supporting cast
• 2:33:42
  on the diamond. So all I'd say if the Dodgers
• 2:33:46
  don't win it all. Dave Roberts looking for a new
• 2:33:49
  job. I like that Mayor Ripken's
• 2:33:53
  cooking back there. Look at him.
• 2:33:55
  This is great. I love this.
• 2:33:57
  Well, I mean this. This this is.
• 2:33:59
  Off the cuff hot takes too this. Is.
• 2:34:01
  And I want him to finish this out strong here, close this out.
• 2:34:03
  Ryan put. Put the book in disappointments.
• 2:34:07
  Give us the book. End of episode 417.
• 2:34:16
  How Where do I want to go with this is the question.
• 2:34:26
  You know what? Oh boy.
• 2:34:33
  The Red Sox just had to go here. Oh, I'm going there.
• 2:34:41
  There have become so much dysfunction with the Red Sox
• 2:34:44
  this year. Terrible year.
• 2:34:49
  And Rafael Devers becomes the next Red Sox to be traded.
• 2:34:53
  Get. Out of.
• 2:34:55
  Here he realizes the team is not going to build around him and
• 2:35:01
  forces his way out of Beantown. Dare I ask for a location he?
• 2:35:09
  He do we want to get that spicy? They gave him this massive.
• 2:35:14
  Contract. You think he's gone, this
• 2:35:16
  massive contract, I think it's all going to come down.
• 2:35:21
  If the Red Sox do not take a step forward, do not take a step
• 2:35:25
  forward. And they finish from the bottom
• 2:35:28
  and they say we're going to build the team, Rafael, we're
• 2:35:31
  going to build the team around you.
• 2:35:33
  And then they just don't. And he just gets fed up and he's
• 2:35:39
  gone. It's the same.
• 2:35:41
  It's the almost verbatim the same situation with Cora, but
• 2:35:45
  just as a manager, he Hey, Alex, we've got you, man.
• 2:35:48
  We're gonna surround you with what you need, with the pieces
• 2:35:50
  you need. Nope.
• 2:35:52
  Cora's gone. And now, thanks to you Ryan,
• 2:35:54
  this is like the the new worst fear that I didn't know I had
• 2:35:57
  until just now. Speak, speak it into existence.
• 2:36:00
  He made it. Let's not clear.
• 2:36:03
  He made it very clear that he believes that the front office
• 2:36:08
  is not focusing on this team right now, and I'm curious how
• 2:36:16
  long that that will last. The money will feel good, but if
• 2:36:19
  the Red Sox are really bad and they don't make some good moves
• 2:36:22
  going to the next year or the trade deadline, Rafael Devers
• 2:36:30
  traded away and the power line that could have been Rafael
• 2:36:34
  Devers, Mookie Betts, JD Martinez, Sander.
• 2:36:39
  Bogart. Sander Bogarts.
• 2:36:42
  And then you can even thank you Tristan Casas, All of it there.
• 2:36:49
  Bobby Dalbeck, Big let down there.
• 2:36:52
  Yeah, yeah, he had some tanks. Though.
• 2:36:57
  Oh, that's the other tank. That's the other bull take.
• 2:37:00
  Verdugo is going to have the most home runs he's had in his
• 2:37:02
  career and he's going to hit seven against New York or sorry,
• 2:37:06
  against Boston. Against Boston.
• 2:37:09
  Wow. Really.
• 2:37:09
  Just piling it on here to close this out.
• 2:37:11
  Ryan, I appreciate that. Thank you.
• 2:37:13
  Yeah, I. Can rip in for mayor, everybody.
• 2:37:15
  I can see who my real friends are.
• 2:37:18
  I'm here. All right.
• 2:37:20
  OK, Into the third hour, we took this thing.
• 2:37:27
  Ryan, you need to get home. Yeah, it's a it's a short hour
• 2:37:30
  drive, but we will make it. I sure hope so.
• 2:37:34
  Text us when you get home so we know you made it home.
• 2:37:36
  Safe. I will.
• 2:37:37
  Those are good kids. Hey, I appreciate that.
• 2:37:41
  Puts a smile on my face every time you tell me that'll.
• 2:37:45
  No, go ahead, say it. Go ahead.
• 2:37:48
  Despite despite what? Nope.
• 2:37:50
  Nope. You know what?
• 2:37:51
  This. This You're a really good kid,
• 2:37:54
  Kyle, and I appreciate your friendship.
• 2:37:58
  Yeah, I appreciate you too. All right.
• 2:38:00
  Really means a lot. Hot tanks and predictions for
• 2:38:03
  2024 in the books. Episode 417 comes to a close.
• 2:38:08
  Gentlemen, I appreciate you sticking this one out.
• 2:38:11
  The listeners appreciate you. If you made it this long, We
• 2:38:14
  appreciate you. We love you even if you didn't
• 2:38:17
  make it this long. One, you're not hearing this.
• 2:38:19
  But two, just know. We appreciate you.
• 2:38:23
  This might be just a little quick note here before we go.
• 2:38:26
  This might be the one of the last episodes of Nate for a
• 2:38:30
  while cause. Yeah, we'll see.
• 2:38:35
  We will see big. Life change coming up here soon.
• 2:38:37
  And gonna do my best. Your boys getting married here
• 2:38:40
  in a few weeks and then your boy's gonna disappear to the
• 2:38:44
  Caribbean for another week after that.
• 2:38:46
  So. So.
• 2:38:48
  You're gonna be getting a lot more of of Ryan.
• 2:38:51
  A lot more rye Guy, a lot more of Mayor Ripken over there.
• 2:38:55
  Sometime soon. So we will we will figure there
• 2:38:57
  you go there you go we'll figure it out.
• 2:39:00
  But appreciate y'all listening and we will talk to you guys
• 2:39:07
  sometime soon I. Love it.
• 2:39:13
  I love this. Look at us.
• 2:39:15
  Look at this. Peace out, everybody.
• 2:39:17
  Don't go chasing curveballs, couple.
• 2:39:19
  Good guys and Kyle. Thanks, Ryan.
• 2:39:26
  Give us your sign off. We'll get out of.
• 2:39:27
  Here. All right, sorry, I forget what
• 2:39:29
  I said before. I've been saying a lot recently.
• 2:39:32
  Have a day, Have a night, Have a weekend.
• 2:39:35
  Great day to have a day have. A day.
• 2:39:37
  Great day to have a day. There it was.
• 2:39:39
  There you go. We made it.
• 2:39:42
  We made it. We love you all.
• 2:39:43
  And as always, looking forward to talking more baseball with
• 2:39:45
  you guys soon. Until next time, stay filthy.