Latest / The 3-0 Take / Merrill, Marte, Crochet and Campbell Extended

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Merrill, Marte, Crochet and Campbell Extended · The 3-0 Take

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Tape where we talk
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all things Major League Baseball.
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Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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It all starts right now. Welcome back to the Three O Tape
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presented by Chinook Cedari. This is episode 524.
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I'll be your host, Kyle Koran. I'm here with my Co host Nate
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Reyes. Hi, Nate.
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Oh, how we doing, guy? Good man, how you doing?
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I'm doing another year, another round of of blackout issues.
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Get tell the people your tell the people your situation.
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It's, it's just, it's just ridiculous.
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Like it's the amount of protection it has.
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That's all just trying to just trying to take in a little
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Diamondbacks, Yankees and today's games on prime still
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can't do it. Still can't view it.
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I even yesterday's game was on TBS and I was stealing my father
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father in You literally cannot watch unless you buy this MLBTV
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Diamondbacks package. If you live in the.
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If you live in the. Phoenix area.
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There's just no other option. It's crazy, so annoying.
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It's so simple. It's so simple, like how can we
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grow the game? I don't know, maybe make the
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games available to watch. Like are, are you telling me?
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And look, I I'm in a good mood today.
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I didn't I didn't want to start this podcast off in a in a
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negative, in a negative light. But to your point, it's it's
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worth readdressing because it's the year 2025 and we're still
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asking this question. How are blackouts still a thing?
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Is it are you like, I'm not a business guy and when it when it
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comes to financials and dollars and cents.
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But are you really telling me that pocketing the the exclusive
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rights for these games is more valuable in the long run than
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making your games available to more people who will then grow
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up to be lifelong fans of that team?
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Spend money to go to games, spend money on concessions,
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spend money on merchandise, spend money to get their kids
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into the the fandom and have them at games, have them wearing
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merch. Like what are we?
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What are we doing? What are we doing?
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Are you that concerned with local ads like that?
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Local ads are that important. Crazy.
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Speaking of dollars and cents, Holy, holy Concession,
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Concession Contract Extension day.
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Unbelievable. I couldn't keep up like I I was
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about ready to leave for work leave to come home from work and
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they could tell Marte extension drops and I was like, well, I
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got to add that to the laundry list of things we got to cover.
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But my goodness, what a this we're in our contract extension
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era as as baseball fans, I guess just take them all in left and
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right. Where do you want to start?
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You want to go Jackson Merrill, I like.
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This one, yeah, it's a good place to start.
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Let's start, let's start with Jackson Merrill Merrill madness
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as I'm as I'm seeing all over the place.
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And boy did he did he cap off extension day.
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Well, he he went yard right center sent sent Petco faithful
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into a frenzy. Love that love that for the kid.
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But the Padres and Jackson Merrill have agreed to a nine
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year, $135 million contract extension, a $30 million club
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option for a tenth season and has a maximum value of
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204,000,000. I don't know if it's just
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because the extension and all this happened today, but I and
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I'm not, this is not a bit. I'm not just saying this.
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There was a, a switch that flipped today for me where I was
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like, am I, am I becoming a Jackson Merrill fan?
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Like overnight, Like I, I don't know what it is.
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About Is it because you just traded for him in fantasy?
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Well, I mean that. Plays into it, I'm sure, but,
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well, yeah. That that certainly plays into
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it, Not going to deny that. But there I feel like there's an
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element though, where you you feel more validated in your
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opinions of a guy when the franchise that employs him backs
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him financially in a in a significant way.
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You're going OK, Like I'm not just being, I'm not just being a
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fanboy here. Or if you're a fan of the
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Padres, I'm not just being a Homer here and, and getting
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hyped up on prospect prospect reports or, or whatever it may
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be. Like the front office believes
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in this guy too. And you know how hard it is for
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a lot of these front offices to fork over money.
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So if they're willing to do well, maybe not, maybe not the
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Padres, they're willing to to spend money on on a guy if you
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got a pulse. But if if these front offices
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are willing to spend money on guys, then you know, OK, maybe
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there's something to believe in here.
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Yeah, I mean, I I think we kind of picked up on that when he was
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slaughtered into the middle of the lineup after last year's
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performance and and, you know, obviously took the NL Rookie of
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the year down to the wire in my mind, but which I'll give.
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You credit you were back in Merrill, NL Rookie of the Year.
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Hard. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing
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against Mr. Mr. Paul, but it's just, I don't know, man.
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It's just it's a little bit different when you're playing
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center field every day. And for what he did to that, to
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that line up in that, in that team in general.
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So whatever. I mean, it's not, I don't care.
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I'm not going to die on that hill.
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But I liked it a little bit more.
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But in this buys out last year pre ARB three years of
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arbitration. So like, you know, like this is
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a bargain in a way if, if you're going to have to go to
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arbitration year after year for the next 4 years.
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It's like if he does what he did last year, if he comes even
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close at any point during this, like you're talking about
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probably a pretty large uptick in in the yearly salary.
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So it's like, do you really want to go through that over and over
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again? I like that the Padres like
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because everyone had question marks around their around their
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offseason, everyone had question marks of like, are, are guys for
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sale? Are they not?
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Are you open to moving these guys?
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Are you not? We understand that they're
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locked into three big names with Tatis Bogarts and Manny Machado,
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but it's like, how do we kind of bridge that gap into that next
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chapter? And it's don't forget.
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Darvish, by the way, Darvish as well.
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Darvish is in that mix. But I have you, you know, you
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have those names that are like obviously closer to the back end
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of their career than the beginning.
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So it's like, how do you bridge that gap into the next
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generation? How do you bridge that gap into
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who's going to be the next face of your franchise?
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And you know, Tatis has some question marks around him at
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times. And also, you never know, like
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is that a trade piece at some point?
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So it's kind of cool that they're they're not just sitting
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back saying, Hey, we paid these guys and we're going to let our
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young guys just figure it out. You know what I mean?
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Like a lot of franchises do that.
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They commit to the big veterans and then kind of pieces together
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with with younger guys, but you don't see like super early
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extensions. So it's cool, man.
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It's it's a no brainer. If you're a Padre fan, you got
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to be super stoked with the fact that like a lot of this core is
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locked up for a long time and barring any crazy trade and get
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used to seeing these names. What's the likelihood, do you
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think we're looking back on this contract the way we do?
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And I know different position groups and things like that, but
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like an Ozzy Alby's, that's the that's the one that gets pinged
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a lot or even in a Cunha to some extent.
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Like what? What are the odds you think we
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look back on this going what was what was he thinking agreeing to
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such a contract? No, I don't.
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I think those are still the worst.
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I don't think. I don't think it's even close
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numbers wise. What does this end up getting
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to? You said potentially.
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Two O 4. If it's at 180, potentially 2O
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four. No, No 9 is 135.
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Includes a $30 million twelve auction.
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I. Thought I had 180 in my head.
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Who's got, I don't know, maybe one of the other extensions?
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It could be they're all blending together today.
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Yeah, man, I don't quite put it in that neighborhood.
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I like Jackson Merrill. I don't know if he's going to be
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a Ronnie Acuna. No, no, no.
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And again, I'm not saying that that they're the same players
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are going to be the same players, but looking back on
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this contract with the same sort of contempt or or not, maybe
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that's that's even a little too strong confusion almost where
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it's like this guy ended up becoming this and he didn't have
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the foresight to just and and he's going to get an if he goes
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on to be that, I'm sure they're going to restructure or he's
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going to get another payday, certainly.
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But agreeing to something so early, it's sort of that, like
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that life changing money. Versus, I think that's the win,
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win. I think that's the win win.
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You know what I mean? Like, you get to avoid all the
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arbitration BS, you get to avoid the league minimum, you get to
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avoid the uncertainty of having to stay healthy the next four
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years through those arbitration years.
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That could all change, you know what I mean?
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And especially in that last arbitrage, you have one down
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year, you have one unhealthy year and that that number
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changes drastically and you're four years later into it.
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Where is this? Like you may even have the
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potential of getting in a second paycheck like you said.
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So I think there's certain numbers that were you kind of
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look at and you scratch your head.
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I think it's I think it's a win win.
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I think it's a bargain for San Diego.
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I think it's obvious that the Padres are are ahead of the
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game. They're going to get him out of
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bargain for a while. But I do think it's kind of like
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a, you know, it's, it's a nice little paycheck to avoid instead
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of a argument for an extra 1,000,000 or 1.5 in arbitration
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hearings where things go South all the time.
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Classic win win scenario. Win, win.
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Win, win, win for having successfully negotiated this
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deal. Cattell Marte 6 year This was
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the one I mentioned earlier dropped minutes before making
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the the the commute home. So we had a little bit of time
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to to catch up on the, the fallout the the details of the
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deal. Six year $116 million extension.
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Yes, Laura in the chat. Win, win, win, win, win for all
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six year $116 million, which hold on, let me pause there.
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I mentioned the chat, I'm I was meaning to, to mention this at
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off the top, but this is a great opportunity to remind you folks
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to if you, if you catch the live streams at any point, like
12:31
whether it's our our Sunday stream or our Wednesday stream,
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if you, if you make that your rhythm, I just also want to
12:40
remind you folks that the, that we are like a, we were
12:43
originally a podcast like we, we don't just do live streams.
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So if you miss any of this, it's all going up on the podcast.
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Wherever you catch your podcast, we're available there at the
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three O take, shout out the podcast, shout out the audio,
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But we certainly appreciate those of you that, that catch
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any of our live streams. With that said, back to Cattell
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Marte. If you do recall, he signed an
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extension back in 2022, which was five years, $76 million.
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So this replaces that. And again, talking about Jackson
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Merrill, like these things happen more often than you
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think. Guys restructure contracts or
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they just get they get new contracts all together based on
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the way the the trajectory of their careers, you know, roll
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out, pan out. I know you're big catal Marte
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believer. You're big.
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You're a big Marte truther. Yeah, yeah, dude, I mean, look,
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like, not to bring up old, old history here, but like, you
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know, when we did our projections a few years ago, we
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tried telling everybody that they that Mister Marte was was
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the in the conversation of being the best second baseman in
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baseball. And I think now it's been
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absolutely solidified just looking at the numbers.
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And I mean, like the the chapter in Seattle, obviously something
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wasn't clicking there to begin his career.
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I think sometimes people forget that.
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Like, he's been around a minute, dude, this is his 11th season in
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the show, which is just, it's just nuts.
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So you combine the things not clicking with Seattle.
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You combine the first couple years in Arizona where no one
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was paying attention to the Diamondbacks.
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You combine that with the back and forth between second base
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and center field, not really having like a solidified role,
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still putting up numbers and then explodes into what you're
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now seeing like a very consistent, productive offensive
14:58
threat. And I think I just saw like OPS
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plus is like a career one 11112, something like that.
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I posted a 155 OPS plus last year.
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OPS is north of 800. Like you don't get that at
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second pace. It's just not it's not common
15:19
right now. Combine that with the fact that
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like he doesn't strike out a ton.
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He swipes a ton of bags. All things are a go here in
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Arizona for the Diamondbacks. Like it makes sense.
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This makes sense if this is what you're committing to.
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And and I like the fact that you already had him locked up.
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Now you're restructuring it. You're adding on yours, you're
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bumping up the number. Then you're saying like, you
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know, what if this is the best hitter in our lineup And that's
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what they're saying. That's what everyone says.
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I love Corbin Carroll. We've seen what Gino Suarez is
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starting off the year as. We can see what this whole
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lineup is doing, but when you listen to that broadcast to tell
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Marte is the dude, so it's like, I like that.
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If that's your guy and you're restructuring those deals,
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you're bringing in free agents for big numbers.
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You say, you know what, let's pay this man, Let's bump it up a
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little bit more. It says a lot to him, says a lot
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to the ballclub. All this is just a win, win,
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win, win, win. Win, win, win.
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What now? Breaking news.
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Breaking news. I love that Nate looks at his
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phone every time I hit that button.
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Crazy Breaking news just just coming in.
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Hot off the press sarcasm. Hot off the press.
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Rafael Devers. Got a hit?
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Just got his first hit of the season.
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Goodness, bro. Just want to throw that out
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there. That is all now, before I
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forget, you mentioned Eugenio Suarez five hits on the season,
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all home runs right great stupid.
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That's like that's a Kyle Schwarber esque stat if I've
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ever heard one It is No, but I'm I'm with you.
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I'm a big fan of, of the Katel Marte extension savvy, you know,
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we, we often RIP front offices for the way they, they handle
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personnel, holding on to guys too long, getting rid of guys
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too early. Very savvy handling of Katel
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Marte, knowing that you had him while things were still you,
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you, you know, on the rocks a little bit.
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But you, you held on to him for when you were really going to be
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making pushes, obviously making it as far as even as the World
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Series and seems to be another threat this year.
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So good on the D backs for the way they've handled one of the
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game's best second baseman. So 100% shout out to the D backs
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talking about a front office that has struggled to make the
18:22
right move as of late. They've they, they're racking up
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some wins. My Boston Red Sox locking up
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Garrett Crochet and Christian Campbell.
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We'll start with Garrett Crochet.
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Six years, $170 million includes an opt out after the 2030
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season, which would be his 31 age season or or he would be 31
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after the 2030 season. I saw.
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Where was that stat? No.
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OK, here we go. No pitcher.
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And forgive me, I think this is ESPN.
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Want to make sure I'm giving due credit here.
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No pitcher who received a nine figure contract had done so with
19:14
fewer than 800 innings. Crochet did that with fewer than
19:22
1/3 of that. So the Sox get their ace.
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I'm very much thrilled, very much excited about the prospect
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of being able to watch a guy knowing that he's not looking
19:40
for the nearest exit, regardless how this season ends.
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I'm looking at you, Alex Bregman.
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Who's to say, though? I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe
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Bregman comes back. Who's to really say?
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We don't know, But I I just love when a guy gets paid, but also
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gives you the sense that he wants to be there.
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And I, and you know, I've, I've said before, he sort of rubbed
20:07
me the wrong way and just referencing or making light of
20:13
his, his Indians or lack thereof and, and the demands he was
20:16
seemingly making the second-half of last year or, or right around
20:21
that time. Saying like I'm only going to
20:23
sign if I get an extension or or I'm only going to accept
20:26
whatever, whatever the the exact language he used was.
20:29
It just sort of rubbed me the wrong way.
20:34
But I, I don't know, I don't know if I have to like eat my
20:38
words here or what, but it seemed like something switched.
20:41
Maybe he just got into into this new environment, got into
20:46
whether you want to call it a winning environment yet, who's
20:49
to say, but more of a winning environment than than where he's
20:52
coming from, certainly. And maybe something just clicked
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where he's like, you know, I, I like the I like the the pitching
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lab they got here. I like the direction they're
21:03
headed. I think this this place could
21:06
benefit me for a a good portion of my early career here.
21:10
So why not take the seal and he he took it and like I said, the
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Sox got the race. So.
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Yeah, no, I mean, you had to assume this was coming at some
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point, right? Like I think if you're the Red
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Sox based on those demands, based on I I think there's a
21:36
risk, but like it's it still makes sense, you know what I
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mean? Like it, it still makes sense.
21:42
What is that break out to be 2627 million a.
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Year, I think it's 2027, yeah. So.
21:50
I, I think it could end up being really good.
21:53
I mean, yes, it's risky, but it's like 28, you know, the TJ
21:58
is out of the way. The, the lack of innings like
22:05
doesn't necessarily scare me. You know what I mean?
22:08
Like I, I, I was with you like I was kind of rubbed the wrong way
22:14
just for how high the man's were for not necessarily being able
22:19
to prove that you're that guy yet.
22:23
And I'm not saying he has proved that yet.
22:27
But I can understand the Red Sox philosophy for making the move
22:32
and making that extension now and not waiting for him to have
22:40
a, a huge year. Because if you wait to do this
22:44
after the season or even later in the, you know, second-half of
22:48
the season, like, and he's dicing like that price tag just
22:51
goes up so. Yeah.
22:53
I think it's a smart time to do it.
22:55
I think you already mentioned like when the trade happened,
23:00
they didn't really give up a ton to get them.
23:05
Yeah, it's kind of a no brainer. And you got to assume that when
23:09
you look at the next, you know, next year's market.
23:13
Like, are there names that you're going to be able to go
23:18
after in the same way? Are there names that have the
23:22
same potential? Probably not.
23:26
Probably not so. Makes sense.
23:28
No, it's a great point. Like there's only going to be so
23:30
many guys that are going to provide you the the output, the
23:34
results that Crochet is going to provide you while also being in
23:39
a position, we'll call it a vulnerable position that would
23:46
allow you to maybe I don't want to say take advantage of him,
23:51
but like get him at a lower rate than the market would, would
23:57
offer down the road. So it, like you said, no
24:01
brainer. I think the Red Sox fully had
24:03
this type of move in mind when they traded for him and they
24:08
were able to get it done. So good on the Sox and coming
24:11
out today also was the news that they extended Christian Campbell
24:17
to an 8 year, $60 million contract.
24:23
I love I love these kinds of deals because there's no, I
24:29
mean, it's not, it's not your money, it's not my money.
24:32
It's it's none of our money, but.
24:34
It's not, but we still play Monopoly in a way.
24:37
Like we still have to calculate that and we still have to like
24:40
predict what they're going to do with, you know, you know, the
24:43
money they have and, you know, the money they spent.
24:45
So like we're still as a fan doing that calculation.
24:48
So I know it's not our money, but I get what you're saying.
24:51
Like it's, it feels like this is a free.
24:55
It's like a free. Space yeah, like I'd I'd I don't
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I I've always been in the camp. I'm pro player.
25:06
I'm I'm, I'm wanting these guys to get paid what they're worth,
25:13
but at the same time, I love the deals where you don't have to
25:17
sweat it as a fan that you're, you're not looking down the road
25:20
going well. If he, if this guy I was
25:22
actually talking about it was somebody I was, believe it or
25:25
not, I was having a, a rational, reasonable conversation with a,
25:30
a fan on on Facebook today. And he was like, it's that's
25:35
risky for a guy that's played the handful of games.
25:39
And I said, even if you DFA the guy halfway through you, that's
25:44
that's a drop in the bucket ultimately.
25:46
So the fact that there's so much upside for Christian Campbell,
25:50
he's proven that he belongs here with the way he's he's moved,
25:56
moved along through the system, the way he he performed this
25:59
spring and even the way he's shown out in the very early
26:02
going to the season here. This is a deal again, where if
26:06
it doesn't work out, so be it. But if it does, to rehash the
26:12
point we made earlier, if he feels as though he's worth more,
26:16
you can have that conversation with the front office and you
26:19
can figure something out, make an adjustment in a very similar
26:23
fashion to it could tell Marte, who plays the same position and
26:29
could possibly be seen a similar contract given to Christian
26:32
Campbell should things get to that point.
26:35
So I'm excited about it. And to be honest with you, I, I
26:40
don't know all that much about the kid, but from everything
26:43
that I'm seeing, everything I'm hearing, I'm I'm glad to see
26:47
that we're going to have a mainstay at second base because
26:50
there has been a lot of turnover at that particular position for
26:54
the Red Sox. In fact, I think they're up
26:56
there towards like the league lead, if not in the league lead
27:00
for, for turnover, the last I don't know, call it 6-7 years at
27:05
that position, so. Yeah, but I think it also not
27:14
saying that like you're not going to sometimes sit him, but
27:25
it also kind of feels like they're committing to that
27:28
direction. And when you brought up Bregman
27:31
earlier, you're like, you know, obviously during spring training
27:34
and offseason, we were like, you know, will Bregman play second
27:38
to make room for Devers at 3rd? And now that they've come out
27:42
and like committed to this direction of like Devers is the
27:46
DH like it just feels like they're like they're very much
27:49
choosing a route and they're and they're committing to it.
27:53
Which I love. And like that I've any, any fan
27:56
of any team would be happy with that.
27:59
So that part's got to be refreshing.
28:01
You and I have said this time and time again, just commit one
28:04
way or another. If if you're, if you're taking
28:06
the rebuild route, go that way. If you're trying to build things
28:11
up and go for it, go that way. And if you have to call an
28:16
audible at the at the at the deadline, so be it.
28:20
But if for as long as you can, if if it allows, pick a
28:26
direction and go go for it. Yeah, who's next by the way?
28:31
I mean. Well, that actually covers.
28:33
What's your wish list? No, no, no.
28:35
I meant like as a Red Sox. Like you'd like to like who?
28:39
Who do you feel like would make sense to be the next guy?
28:42
I mean, I feel like it's sort of cop out, but it it's an answer
28:51
that I don't think a lot of Red Sox fans disagree with.
28:54
But Roman Anthony, I think it's going to be a similar situation
28:58
where he's going to be up for a very, very short amount of time
29:01
before the team realizes we need to pounce on this guy before too
29:07
much time passes. Because as you know, these
29:09
seasons fly by and these guys hit the market.
29:13
I mean, it's a it's a blink of an eye.
29:17
So they need to jump on this. I'm sure these conversations are
29:20
already taking place and I'm sure there's a plan in place
29:25
barring any, you know, crazy mishaps off the field stuff,
29:28
injuries, what have you. Assuming he stays on the
29:30
straight and narrow continues to produce.
29:34
I think that's that's another the next guy you you lock up.
29:38
What about Duran? I was just.
29:42
Looking it up because he's he's a weird one.
29:44
He's kind of he's he's late bloomer yeah, he's still
29:48
arbitration. So like he's controllable.
29:51
So like you could throw out like a five year deal and that takes
29:56
him to like 3233 years old. And if you did that for.
30:02
Yeah, yeah, I'm well, the thing you got to think about with
30:04
Duran, though, is like when you think of Duran, what's the first
30:09
thing you think of when it comes to his skill set?
30:14
I mean, I would probably say defense I would.
30:19
Say even more so speed, yeah, and that's just.
30:22
Not athleticism in general. Sure, yeah, but specifically
30:25
speed, Like a guy that's able to 9 times out of 10, I would even
30:29
go as far as to say 10 times out of ten, leg out a double or leg
30:33
out a triple from a double. And that's just sort of what
30:38
characterizes his gameplay. And as you just mentioned, a
30:41
late bloomer has, has a little bit more time under his belt.
30:46
And so you just you, you have to weigh the pros and cons of like,
30:50
what's the sweet spot? If we were to extend him, how
30:53
many years would that be? What would that look like
30:55
financially? Because you don't want to get to
30:57
a point where his game hits, you know, sort of plateaus and then
31:03
sort of falls off as he gets older.
31:05
Because as we very well know, even the fastest in this game
31:08
don't don't keep those those legs fresh forever.
31:10
That's what I'm saying. I think if you lock him up now
31:13
and you get him through 32, you don't feel as guilty to let him
31:22
walk, you know what I mean? Like no matter success, if he's
31:26
super successful socks when a ring like whatever it is, he's
31:30
in MVP conversations. Like you don't feel guilty.
31:35
But I think if you let him get to 31 and you haven't locked him
31:41
up and he's an unrestricted free agent, then now you're talking
31:44
about like, OK, now we're having to pay him for what he's done.
31:49
And then we're taking even deeper into the 30s and you're
31:53
almost like at a point where you know you're going to regret that
31:56
contract by the end of it. So it's this weird like place
31:59
where I feel like if you did it now you buy out the arbitration,
32:03
you commit to a guy, you have this core, all things are, all
32:06
vibes are are are high. And then you don't have to worry
32:10
about being super late into the 30s.
32:14
Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, like I, I, I love Duran, but it
32:17
it's one of the weirder situations for me to look at and
32:22
try to process. Like, do I, as much as I love
32:25
Duran, is this a guy that I would like if, if the news broke
32:29
today that they committed to him for however many years, we use
32:33
your example, they extended for five years.
32:36
Like, what would my gut feel like?
32:38
What would my initial reaction be?
32:39
And I, and I don't know if I know what that is right now.
32:41
So I think this season, or at least the early part of it, will
32:45
be pivotal, pivotal for me at least in processing what kind of
32:51
player I believe him to be. And, and surely that doesn't
32:54
matter. It's it's what he believes
32:56
himself to be and what that front office believes himself to
32:58
be. But I'm just saying because you
32:59
asked me the question, I, I have to see a, a continuance of that
33:08
gap to gap power the, the putting balls off the wall,
33:12
stretching double S into triples, things like that.
33:15
And it not just be a thing where, OK, maybe last year's top
33:19
five war worthy season was a flash in the pan and that power
33:25
regresses and now we're just back down to like quality
33:28
defense and and good speed that as, as we mentioned, one of
33:32
those facets is going to decline.
33:34
I don't want to say sooner rather than later, but at some
33:39
point over the life of a of an extension.
33:42
So we'll see Jerkson pro far body.
33:53
First of all, can we get some clarity on on what's going on
33:58
here? Because I've seen I've seen some
33:59
things talking about you know, like trying to start a family
34:03
fertility HCG testosterone PEDs. The drug that he tested positive
34:14
for was chronic gonna dootropin, gonadotropin.
34:21
Nice. Gonadotropin I I read somebody
34:31
please correct me if I'm wrong here.
34:34
I read that this was something that was designed, or maybe not
34:38
designed to, but a an effect of this drug was to mask psych.
34:46
Steroids, correct? Yeah, that's what I read too.
34:49
I read there was a masking agent and it was what Manny got popped
34:55
for back in the day. And I, I'm sure you remember a
34:59
lot of that conversation was similar where it was like, I
35:03
thought this was a fertility thing.
35:06
You know, it's this is weird and it's it's almost to smack you in
35:15
the face obvious with like you, you haven't been good majority
35:20
of your career and then all of a sudden you have a big year and
35:25
you got paid. Well, it, well, that's, I mean,
35:28
that's a big topic because I've seen a lot of people say, well,
35:30
it makes sense You had the year that you had last year.
35:33
I I don't know if I'm entirely buying that because like to, to
35:36
be able to perform over the course of an entire season, you
35:40
know, that there's testing going on.
35:42
I just, I just don't feel like I don't know.
35:45
I mean, these things happen. Guys are able to make it work.
35:47
They're able to, you know, slip certain tests and, and, and
35:51
bypass this or that, what have you.
35:55
But the optimist in me. So I just want to be on record.
35:59
I'm, I'm trying to be optimistic here, not just throw the guy to
36:02
the wolves. Do I do I like that he got
36:05
busted for this? No, or I shouldn't say.
36:08
I mean, sure, if the guy cheated, then he cheated.
36:11
I like that that's being upheld certainly, but I don't like the
36:14
decision he made to to take something that could potentially
36:18
get flagged. What I'm saying is, is I'm just
36:25
going to to assume that he had the year that he had and if
36:32
there was some malicious intent here to try to, you know,
36:35
capitalize on that. Maybe they're mutually
36:41
exclusive. I I don't, I don't think that
36:44
there was or I'm just going to guess.
36:46
I've this is purely speculation that there was no overlap
36:50
necessarily that this was more of trying to build off of last
36:54
year as opposed as opposed to contributing to what we saw last
36:59
year. Is that fair to say or or you in
37:03
the camp of thinking that like some fishy things were going on
37:06
last year? I think it's fishy, but I don't
37:10
really know how this stuff works.
37:13
Like, I don't know how I think that's something that is is hard
37:19
for us as a fan base that it's like there's not a ton of
37:25
clarity on how often they're tested, what they're tested for.
37:38
And I know that it's like it's random because we hear these
37:40
stories of like a guy going 5 for five and then the next day
37:45
he gets tested, right? Like it's like you see some
37:47
crazy performance on a player. And that's across all sports.
37:50
Like, you know, like Saquon rushes for three touchdowns.
37:53
He's getting tested the next day because it's like.
37:55
They're tweeting about. It no way you had three tuddies
37:58
without right, So it's like crazy.
38:00
I, I think we get like just slivers of, of information and
38:07
it's really hard to put together like a full understanding.
38:14
You know, we're not told how often it happens.
38:17
We're not told what they test for.
38:21
I don't even know if we're told on time because, like, my thing
38:24
is, the Verdugo signing happened week, week and a half ago.
38:36
Like, did the Braves know that this was happening?
38:39
Did they keep it under wraps? Well, the appeal process.
38:42
Like he he came a Profar came out and said where's the?
38:49
Quote Read the Profar statement, by the way, because it didn't
38:52
sound like it was an immediate apology.
38:55
But I didn't, I didn't remember reading anything about like I
38:58
didn't do this. Correct.
38:59
Yeah, you know, from the article that I was reading.
39:03
In a statement passed along by the MLB Players Association,
39:06
Profar called Monday, quote, the most difficult day of my
39:08
baseball career and said he was, quote, devastated by the news.
39:12
Profar added that he was tested 8 times for PEDs during a
39:16
surprising breakthrough season offensively in 2024 and quote,
39:20
never tested positive. The positive test, according to
39:24
a quote, according to Profar, that's key, occurred this
39:28
offseason. This is a quote.
39:30
This is especially painful for me because anyone who knows me
39:33
and has seen me play knows I'm deeply passionate about the
39:35
game. There's nothing I love more than
39:38
competing with my teammates and being a fan favorite.
39:40
I want to apologize. The entire Braves organization,
39:42
my teammates and the fans. Yeah.
39:48
They. Yeah.
39:54
So if the if the positive test occurred this offseason.
40:02
Then what's the what's the, the, the, what's the timetable there
40:07
for for him finding out for other teams in the league
40:12
finding out. I mean the team that signed him
40:15
finding out. I I don't I don't understand
40:18
there and this. Is what I'm saying is that like
40:20
we're, I'm not going to say ODE, but there has to be some type of
40:25
clarity with this process at like at at some point, there has
40:31
to be an understanding of what the rules are around this stuff.
40:35
And I'm not saying it's just it's black and white and there's
40:38
every circumstance is different. Every player is probably
40:41
different. But like I, I think things like
40:47
this are going, I don't know if we're ever going to go back.
40:51
I don't know if we're ever going to go back from not getting
40:54
fully guaranteed contracts. But stuff like this is one of
41:00
the first times where I understand, like where owners
41:04
and the baseball side of it comes from when it's, you know,
41:09
time to negotiate collective bargaining agreements with
41:13
MLBPA, right? Like you, you have to understand
41:18
this screws the Braves. This, this just screwed the
41:22
Braves. How often has this happened?
41:27
How, how often? And I know he's not going to get
41:32
paid during this period of I think he's forfeiting like
41:36
something of like 6 million or something like that.
41:41
It's, it's just odd because like that's, that's a commitment #1
41:46
for the organization. The ripple effect we've always
41:50
brought up the ripple effect of guys that have gotten cut
41:54
because of this, guys that have gotten traded because of this,
41:57
maybe other free agency got passed up because of this.
41:59
Like there, there is a large ripple effect and it that that's
42:06
why you can't help but feel a little bit scummy and we're
42:09
always pro player, but these are the types of things where I'm
42:12
like, how are the, how is it always fully guaranteed money no
42:18
matter what? How is that just the, the always
42:23
the standard? And not to go down too far of a
42:27
rabbit hole, but when you have teams that are stuck in this
42:33
limbo of not being able to rebuild, but not being able to
42:36
compete with the rest of the league because of money
42:39
committed and out unseen circumstances like injuries,
42:46
like flops of players. Like, you watch teams in like
42:51
the NFL and you see guys just get cut left and right.
42:55
It's not guaranteed, right? It's just cut, cut, cut.
42:59
We're going to dodge this much money.
43:01
We're going to eat this much money.
43:02
But you're able to see teams rebuild and kind of restructure
43:06
a lot quicker. And so as much as pro player as
43:09
we want to be, as much as we want to argue, like go get your
43:13
bag, there's a downside to that. And it's these teams potentially
43:20
struggling for a chapter because of bad moves, because of
43:26
unforeseen circumstances. I don't know.
43:30
It's hard to say. I'm kind of on the fence.
43:32
Dude, I'm, I am pro player 99% of the time, but it comes with
43:39
this wild crazy stipulation that you have to just be like a
43:46
decent human being. You have to not get busted for
43:49
PEDs. You have to not be soliciting.
43:53
You know, you can't be beating up your wife, you can't be
43:55
killing people, You can't be soliciting minors.
43:59
Like, yeah. And that's in those scenarios
44:03
which we're seeing, sadly, more often than I than I would like
44:06
to see, honestly. And and really, I'd like to see
44:08
them 0% of the time. But these are professional
44:12
athletes. These guys have money, they have
44:14
influence, they have power. These things happen.
44:17
With that said, though, in those cases, there has to be some sort
44:22
of some sort of clause in the contract that that guaranteed
44:26
money immediately goes out the window.
44:28
Yeah. And, and in, in those scenarios,
44:32
in that situation, yeah, I'm on the side of the owners of, of
44:37
the front office, whoever's forking over the money and, and
44:42
understanding that like, yeah, I'd probably want my money back
44:45
too. Think of just an average
44:47
consumer. If you buy something and it
44:50
doesn't do what you expect it to, it doesn't work, it goes
44:54
bad, you return it, you get your money back.
44:58
It's that simple, like that's just simple dollars and cents,
45:02
that simple business. And so, you know, regard and I'm
45:06
not just saying pro far any of these guys that get busted for
45:10
for PEDs, whether maliciously or not, whether there was intent or
45:13
not, like, sorry, there's rules that are in place.
45:19
And if if you if you cross the if you cross that line, there
45:23
needs to be some sort of stipulation that says any
45:28
guaranteed money is going. Back it's either I I don't I'm
45:31
not saying fully forfeited. I'm not like I think there
45:37
should be an opportunity for the Braves to have to like the
45:40
ability to rework this contract. You know what I'm saying like
45:47
you're going to lose money in this guy.
45:49
Not only are you wasting a roster spot, right like you're
45:53
you're committed to a player you we already talked about the list
45:57
of ripple effects, but you're also committing to like that
46:02
player's image moving forward with your brand on his hat.
46:07
Correct. Right.
46:09
And like, sometimes we can get over it.
46:13
Sometimes it's water on the bridge.
46:14
Sometimes we can differentiate, you know, real world versus
46:19
fandom and, and sports And, and like, all is well with Marcela
46:24
Zuna, apparently. Like if if you hit enough home
46:26
runs like we can forget about what you've done in the past.
46:29
His former his former teammate in San Diego, Fernando Tati's
46:32
junior Even like I've, I've got example.
46:34
I've got over it. I'm like whatever, guys, guys
46:37
electric for baseball. So it's like there, I agree man.
46:42
Like there has to be some type of back to the drawing board
46:48
opportunity for these teams of like you just committed whatever
46:52
amount of years to this guy. I it's not Even so much about
46:55
the dollar amount. It's like your commitment to
46:58
that guy, right? He dropped the ball on the
47:01
commitment and the teams just Sol.
47:06
Like I don't understand how there isn't some type of clause
47:14
with these situations and we get one every year.
47:18
I'm not saying PED use or PED suspension.
47:21
I'm saying any of these weird if you want to lump them all and
47:26
categorize law breaking with domestic violence with whatever
47:31
one of Franco's thing was and PED use.
47:35
If you want to just group that into a category of you can't
47:38
play on the field, you broke our rules.
47:42
You're telling me there's no way out for these teams?
47:46
You're telling me there's no chance that the Atlanta Braves
47:48
are going to be like, we're actually out?
47:51
We'll, we'll pay. We'll you can come back.
47:53
You can play the rest of the year.
47:55
Can't play in the postseason, by the way, he won't be eligible.
47:59
So what? I see, I see in the chat, I see
48:04
in the chat he doesn't get paid while he's suspended.
48:07
I think we're talking like longer term here, like there's,
48:12
there's a larger commitment at play here that I think has to be
48:16
discussed between the league and the MOBPA.
48:21
And, and look, I know that the MOBPA is going to go to the
48:24
extreme every time. So that and that that's just the
48:27
art of negotiating. You're going to go as far,
48:29
you're going to take as much rope as you can and take it the
48:33
other direction in opposite directions, knowing that you're
48:36
eventually going to recoil somewhere around the middle.
48:40
And I I'm guessing because there's there, there's aren't,
48:43
there aren't these clauses or stipulations in place yet.
48:47
My guess is that the the players association looks at situations
48:51
like this and they go, you know, behind closed doors.
48:55
We may not necessarily agree that that these guys or that
48:59
these teams don't have a way out should something like this
49:03
happen, but you know, we got to back our players.
49:06
So we're just going to have to we're going to have to demand
49:10
that money is paid and and contracts are still in place
49:13
when they get back. I I don't know if.
49:16
I fully agree with that. I don't.
49:18
I can't argue injuries. Injuries happen.
49:21
Injuries are part of the game. Yeah.
49:23
No, no. I think if you have like you
49:25
have weird clauses of like guys that like aren't allowed to do
49:28
certain things off the field, like you know what I mean?
49:31
Like like you can't, you can no longer ski or whatever, you know
49:34
what I mean? Like you can't risk that.
49:36
But if it's an on field. Injury You can't ride a bike.
49:38
Right, like if if it's an on field injury, like there's
49:41
always so much you can do. Like I'm, I'm not saying you
49:43
should be able to get out of that, but if it's an unforeseen
49:48
thing, like let's just change the position, for example,
49:52
because I don't think left field was necessarily a super deep top
49:56
heavy position this offseason. But let's grab, let's grab 2
50:01
pitchers. Let's say the Dodgers were fully
50:05
in on Blake Snell and fully in on Corbin Burns this offseason.
50:09
They wanted to offer them the same contract, right?
50:13
And let's say, you know what, let's go with Blake Snell.
50:18
Let's let's pass on Corbin Burns for whatever reason, let's go
50:21
with with Blake Snell. And a month into that contract,
50:25
he gets popped. You're telling me there's not a
50:31
ripple effect? Like you're telling me that we
50:34
chose this guy and now we're committed to him and we're
50:40
committed to whatever backlash that baseball fans and media are
50:45
going to give because of this guy.
50:48
And now we're going to face the the ripple effect of what it
50:52
does to our clubhouse, what those guys are going to deal
50:55
with. Questions like that's what we're
50:57
talking about. So the fact that the Braves are
50:59
off to the worst freaking start imaginable.
51:01
Yeah, let's talk about it. Their lineup isn't hitting.
51:04
And now these guys have to start answering these questions.
51:07
It's already a hard enough start, right?
51:10
You want to talk ripple effect. They're they're starting line up
51:14
for tonight's game, April 2nd. Ozzy Alby's, Marcelo, Zuna,
51:18
Austin Riley, Matt Olson. You want to know, you know what?
51:21
You want to know what it looks like after that?
51:23
Brian De La Cruz in left, Nick Allen at short, Stuart Fairchild
51:28
in right, Chadwick Trump at catcher, Eli White in center and
51:33
Bryce Alder on the Bump I. Haven't heard of most of those
51:36
guys. And we're seven games into the
51:38
season, and I'm not going to sit here and say that Pro Far is the
51:42
savior, but it certainly doesn't help when you're not available
51:46
and you won't be available for half the season.
51:50
And decisions are made differently if you, if you can
51:55
bow out of that, Like who's to say the Braves wouldn't go look
52:01
for a who's to say that Louise Robert doesn't suddenly become
52:06
available in their mind if they could have an opportunity to
52:10
back out of this? So you know what pro far
52:12
contract, I want it off my table.
52:14
We're done. I'm going to go look for a long
52:16
term solution. Free agency is done.
52:19
Not really interested in the guys that are still available
52:22
even though they brought in Verdugo.
52:23
It's not obviously the long term answer.
52:25
But you say you know what, now we can go in a different
52:28
direction. We go seek a trade.
52:29
Like that's what I'm saying these teams deserve an
52:33
opportunity to do and I'm not saying they have to.
52:39
I'm not saying they even would. I'm not saying the Padres would
52:43
have bowed out on Tatis and and focus somewhere else, but to not
52:49
even have the option for these guys that are just that do a
52:54
make a boneheaded decision. It's like, I can see why the
53:00
fully guaranteed stuff is difficult for teams to commit
53:04
to. And you're not asking them to
53:11
run for president. You're not asking them to raise
53:14
your kids, but at a certain point, like these guys have to
53:19
live up to a certain standard. I don't know, man.
53:27
Speaking of them, maybe we're too deep into it.
53:29
Whatever. Speaking of, you're just giving
53:33
me all sort of segues here. Speaking of being too deep and
53:36
into it, are we where we at on on the panic meter for the
53:40
Atlanta Braves? We just we sort of just alluded
53:43
to this the start they're off to they're O and six.
53:47
This is coming into Wednesday O and six for the first time since
53:53
opening O and nine in 2016, the sixth time since 19 O1.
53:59
The Braves have lost their first six games and fourth time since
54:03
they moved to Atlanta in 1966. You want some Nuggets?
54:07
I got some Nuggets. For you please.
54:09
To sort of to sort of feed one way or another, I'm thinking
54:14
it's going to lead lead you one way in terms of your thoughts on
54:19
where the panic meter is at with the Braves.
54:21
OK. And this is from Sports
54:23
Illustrated. When I give the Sports
54:25
Illustrated their deal, None of those seasons that I just
54:30
mentioned ended well for the Braves.
54:32
At best, the Braves finished 81 and 80 in 1980.
54:39
At worst, they lost 106 games in 1988, their most recent O and
54:45
six start, which again I mentioned was the 2016 that
54:49
evolved into an O and nine start, which was in route to a
54:54
93 lost season. While the Braves have never made
55:00
the playoffs after an O and six start, they aren't entirely
55:04
without hope. And again, I'm just reading the
55:05
the article verbatim. They aren't entirely without
55:08
hope from history. Three teams that have started O
55:10
and six have gone on to make the playoffs.
55:13
The most recent example is a 2011 Tampa Bay Rays.
55:19
That Rays team went on to start one and eight and rallied.
55:27
And then they finish the article by saying it can still get worse
55:30
and still get better. Where's the panic meter at?
55:36
You're the Braves. 10 means like fire somebody. 10 is don't even
55:44
bother showing up to the ballpark tomorrow.
55:48
Back up the truck, turn out the lights part is over.
55:51
I'm out like a 77677 to be honest, just because they don't
55:57
have reinforcements. Like I know Ronnie Acuna is
56:00
coming back, I know Strider's coming back, but like they're
56:04
already not very deep. You need you need a Matt Olson,
56:13
you need an Austin Riley. You need, I said this and no one
56:16
really like seemed to support it, but I was like, Michael
56:20
Harris has to go. Like he's got to get going.
56:25
He's got to live up to the hype at at some point.
56:28
I feel like he's running out of opportunities.
56:30
And I feel like every Braves fan has told me he's has the
56:34
potential to be the best center fielder in baseball.
56:36
And it's like when where I haven't seen it, they have to go
56:42
there. The season's long.
56:43
I'm not going to freak out. I, I don't, I don't think it's
56:50
out the window by any means. But like, yeah, they got to
56:57
change the narrative or go get some depth somewhere somehow.
57:05
I mean, I'm, I'm pulling up that I think it was like, what the
57:08
Heyman tweet? Oh yeah, he's.
57:12
Like the starting lineup that they rolled out the other night.
57:20
And again, I know the average isn't the end all be all, but
57:25
just to start the year, the lineup they rolled out the I
57:28
think it was even was it last night or the night before?
57:31
Michael Harris hitting a Buck 11, Austin Reilly hitting $1.18,
57:35
Olsen 154, Ozuna 182, Albie's 118, Baldwin O 71, De La Cruz 0,
57:42
Kelnick 188, Arcia 154, Attaboy Arcia that I mean, that's that's
57:50
kind of what you're working with right now.
57:51
And again, like you said, the season's long.
57:54
There's plenty of time to turn it around.
58:00
But again, to your point, no reinforcements and the guys that
58:05
you need to lean on are also like it.
58:07
This isn't just like a some, some of the guys are pulling
58:10
their weight and and the rest of team is struggling.
58:12
Nobody is pulling their weight right now.
58:16
Nobody. Yep, Yep, Yep, Yep.
58:23
And I'm pretty sure, I mean, we were talking about it in the in
58:26
the group chat. I think the guy that had the
58:28
highest average is now out at 80 games.
58:34
Oh man, you tell me. It's really unfortunate, man,
58:39
'cause look, I, I had the Braves deep in consideration for this,
58:44
for this division. I'm in the wild card.
58:50
I've got them winning the thing. Yeah, it's tough, man.
58:56
It really is. Shout out Brendan.
58:58
I was talking with Brendan on Instagram.
59:01
He's big Braves guy, big big follower, big supporter.
59:04
He said, well, I, I posted to our story before, before the pod
59:08
early this evening, just sort of given the rundown of what we
59:11
were talking about. And he replied to the story.
59:12
He's like, you can just skip all the Braves news.
59:15
Like Braves, fans are in a dark place right now.
59:18
Because like you, you spent the whole offseason being like, oh,
59:22
OK, 2024 is a wash. Everybody got hurt.
59:26
Like we, we made a couple moves well.
59:29
We we did that too. We supported that.
59:32
Yeah, well, I but overall you and I don't really care about
59:36
the Braves outcome. When it comes down to it, Braves
59:38
fans are like, hey, it's a clean slate, we're good, we're getting
59:43
guys back and now you're like, is it May yet?
59:49
Because they need these guys back now.
59:53
Now there wasn't. I think they'd be happy with
59:57
finishing the month out 500 somehow.
1:00:02
It's hard to say, man, real hard to say, real hard to see.
1:00:09
And I don't know what the back half of that lineup is, but
1:00:13
Ronnie Acuna Junior does not totally solve that issue.
1:00:19
And like I said, nobody's sort of put a bow on this here.
1:00:22
Nobody's pulling their weight. They're one coming into
1:00:25
Wednesday, they're one for 34 with runners in scoring
1:00:28
position. That's not a one guy problem.
1:00:32
That's not a back half of the lineup problem.
1:00:34
That's in everyone problem. How long before hitting coach
1:00:39
gets fired? I don't know what Owen what gets
1:00:45
the hitting coach fired. Well, I mean, I'm I'm as big of
1:00:49
a believer in the whole hitting is contagious thing as the next
1:00:52
guy, but. It goes the other way too.
1:00:56
Right, right. Like something's got to give.
1:00:58
Like if they don't, if they don't win, like if they, I mean,
1:01:01
if they, if they're coming back to their home opener, which, not
1:01:06
to go off on a on a tangent here, but I, I put out a post
1:01:09
today that got a surprising amount of blowback for some
1:01:12
reason. I'm not entirely sure why.
1:01:14
We can discuss that if you'd like, but basically, that's
1:01:18
crazy, dude. People are just looking to argue
1:01:21
about stuff. But yeah, if they're coming back
1:01:23
home, Owen 7 again, this is ahead of their finale with the
1:01:28
Dodgers. If they come back, Owens Owen 7,
1:01:38
does coming home fix it? I don't know.
1:01:40
I I really don't know. Sorry.
1:01:44
Let's go. Who do they?
1:01:45
Have at home? Who do they have at home?
1:01:48
Let's see, while I look this up, my tangent was that.
1:01:53
You know, lay down. You know, lay down.
1:01:55
Well, they got it. Marlins starting Friday.
1:01:59
That's huge. It's huge for the brand.
1:02:01
Then the Fighting Phils come to town.
1:02:03
Well, you better get a sweep against the Marlins because my,
1:02:10
my Fighting Phils, my fighting fields are rolling into town and
1:02:16
not going to want to see them coming.
1:02:20
Just quick, quick tangent here so I can get this off my chest.
1:02:23
I put a post out today across majority of the platforms that
1:02:29
we got here because you know, every now and then I come across
1:02:31
a post. I was like, I feel like this
1:02:32
will be received whether poorly or or well by the people.
1:02:37
OK. I said this is such a lame take,
1:02:40
but I can't help but come to the conclusion that opening days a
1:02:43
week into the season for teams that play a week's worth of Rd.
1:02:47
games to start the season don't feel like opening days.
1:02:50
And I know that's a mouthful, but I'm basically saying when a
1:02:53
team comes back after being on the road for seven games and
1:02:56
they, they prop it up as this whole like, oh, it's the home
1:02:59
opener, It's opening day. It like for the Braves, for
1:03:01
example, it's opening day at Truist Park.
1:03:04
Like bro, it's been a, it's been a week.
1:03:06
If you want to get real technical, go back to the, the
1:03:09
Japan, the Tokyo series. Like it's been longer than a
1:03:11
week. Like we, everybody's moved on.
1:03:14
And I'm just saying like it sucks for fans that like we
1:03:17
don't get the like, I wish there was a way logistically that we
1:03:22
could get like at least one home game for every team checked off
1:03:28
the like the yeah, like, right, like by the end of the opening
1:03:31
weekend, because it we, you know, we start Thursday, you got
1:03:34
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
1:03:36
If there's just a way logistically to make it work.
1:03:38
And I know it, it pretty much is impossible and it, it won't
1:03:40
happen. But I'm I'm just saying like
1:03:42
it'd be it'd be cool to give every fan base that that quick
1:03:46
hit right off the top of of having it feel like a true
1:03:50
opening weekend instead of a week, a week plus after the
1:03:54
season started. And there's just a lot of people
1:03:58
I don't know for some reason, a lot of blowback with that.
1:04:01
I'm like, I I know we don't agree on a lot of things
1:04:04
baseball fans, but I feel like this is one thing we kind of all
1:04:06
could have gotten behind. Like, yeah, I'd like to see my
1:04:09
team at home the first weekend, but people were just not having
1:04:13
it. Anyway, moving on here.
1:04:17
We talked Braves panic meter. Let's let's close the book here.
1:04:21
I got a handful of news and notes.
1:04:24
The Dodgers, who we just talked about 7 and O for the first time
1:04:27
in franchise history. The Rangers thanks to Nate
1:04:33
Ivaldi's or no excuse me, thanks to Jack Leiter, shut out today.
1:04:38
Wednesday managed to throwback to back shutouts versus the Reds
1:04:45
after giving up fourteen runs on Monday.
1:04:49
And that first shutout was thanks to Nate Ivaldi, who also
1:04:54
threw the first Maddox of the 2025 MLB season.
1:04:58
Love it. So he loved that for for for
1:05:01
Ivaldi. Big Ivaldi guy Esturi Ruiz was
1:05:06
traded from the A's to the Dodgers after being DFAD.
1:05:12
Well, acquired by the Dodgers after being DFAD has been sent
1:05:19
to AAA. He has options.
1:05:24
Colton Cowser. What's that?
1:05:28
What's that shaking of that? Just more, just more depth.
1:05:31
Just. Why not?
1:05:33
More depth. Why not Colton Cowser, out for
1:05:40
six to eight weeks with a broken left thumb after sliding into
1:05:43
first head first on Monday versus the Sox?
1:05:51
Or no. Excuse me, that was in Toronto.
1:05:53
He was put on the IL when they opened up against the socks.
1:05:59
Sorry, say that again. No oven Mitt.
1:06:04
Wrong hand, wrong hand. Let me see here.
1:06:10
Do the pull the Marcelo Zuna and go double oven Mitt not trying
1:06:16
to take a pizza out the oven. I thought I had the video of it,
1:06:20
maybe not. Tough.
1:06:23
That's a tough break. Stop.
1:06:31
No, it's terrible. No, but it begs the question.
1:06:35
Or it, it doesn't beg the question it it's worth
1:06:38
reiterating that like studies have been done, it's faster to
1:06:44
run through the bag. And, and, and they're talking
1:06:46
about on the broadcast. I was watching those broadcast
1:06:48
and they're like, you know, which I agree with.
1:06:50
You know, you get caught up in the get swept up in the moment.
1:06:53
You're just trying to make something happen.
1:06:55
Sometimes you even feel like you got to get out of the way
1:06:57
because of the angle that the pitchers take.
1:06:58
And sometimes they don't take the banana route like they're
1:07:01
supposed to run up the line. Sometimes they come a little bit
1:07:03
more diagonally, which can lead to some issues.
1:07:06
But if at all possible, just run through the bag and this guy's
1:07:12
professional. I'm not telling him something he
1:07:14
doesn't already know, but I'm just it's, it's worth repeating
1:07:16
to the for the folks that maybe aren't aware of that.
1:07:20
But if you were curious, yes, it is quicker to run through the
1:07:24
bag as opposed to diving head first.
1:07:26
So all I have to say though, hate to see, hate to see the the
1:07:30
milkman out for for that long, but I'm sure I'm hoping that the
1:07:39
OS can you know, for the for the sake of what they've got going
1:07:43
on over there, that they can tread water and until they get
1:07:46
back, because you know, they've got sounds like they've got a
1:07:51
couple injuries stacking up and you hate for that to get out of
1:07:56
hand. So.
1:07:56
Let's I think Gunner comes back this week though.
1:08:00
Yeah, we need, we need the. Everything I've seen is that
1:08:03
he's supposed to be coming back Thursday or Friday, yeah.
1:08:07
OK, So what a little bit of good news there for him then Paul
1:08:12
Skeens shout out to to a guy that you appreciate very much,
1:08:19
Justin Havens nugget chef on Twitter.
1:08:23
The last time a pitcher had it, well he originally tweeted Paul
1:08:27
Skeens now has a 192 ERA through his 1st 25 career starts and
1:08:32
then he quote tweeted that and said the last time a pitcher had
1:08:34
a lower ERA through his 1st 25 starts then Paul Skeens 1963.
1:08:41
Sure, sure. So Paul Skeens, 25, starts under
1:08:46
his belt and is looking like the stud that we know him to be.
1:08:54
So good for. Paul, by the way, came out with
1:08:57
AGQ or I don't know if it was recent or maybe just some photos
1:09:00
resurface of him and him and Livy Dunn, I don't know if
1:09:03
you've seen it. I didn't see the photos.
1:09:06
I saw the there was like AQ and a thing between them and he's
1:09:13
like, can you show me my sinker grip?
1:09:15
He's like, I don't know, dude, it's crazy.
1:09:19
And she actually was like kind of close to.
1:09:22
You need to look at the, you need to look at the photos.
1:09:25
He's sitting at like a piano and she's she's kind of like on top
1:09:30
of the piano and they're sitting in front of like a a snowy
1:09:32
window. It's like snowing outside or
1:09:34
whatever. But he looks, I'm not going to
1:09:36
say ridiculous, like dude's a stud, but it's just like it's a
1:09:39
funny. It's a funny picture when you
1:09:40
really look at it. But no dude dudes dudes ball and
1:09:44
he's living his life so good for Paul big Paul Skeens guy.
1:09:48
And lastly here Lance Lynn announces his retirement or is
1:09:53
somebody said mentioned in the comments that I saw earlier
1:09:58
today, the M0M 0BG Ms. announced that Lance Lynn was retiring as
1:10:05
I'm sure he was maybe holding out hope for another one, maybe
1:10:09
one last year. And quite honestly, I thought
1:10:12
he'd get at least. Start out the year I did too.
1:10:16
But no luck. Just calling it a career and
1:10:23
funny enough, he he actually, I, I read that he mentioned it on
1:10:27
his he he announced it on his wife's podcast.
1:10:29
So that's, that's a cool, cool little plug there.
1:10:35
Get the wife's podcast out there with a a big career
1:10:37
announcement. But on on, his career went 143
1:10:44
and 99 with a 374, tossing just over 2000 innings.
1:10:51
That's a good career, man. That's a solid.
1:10:54
That's a solid career. Yeah, for sure.
1:10:58
That's a long ride. That's nothing wrong with that.
1:11:01
Always appreciated his attitude. I always kind of liked his
1:11:05
yellow bulldog in him. He wasn't really afraid of
1:11:08
anybody. That's a good I like that in
1:11:10
starters. Yep.
1:11:12
Love that mentality. Yeah.
1:11:15
Love that mentality, think that's all I got.
1:11:22
Sweet. You got anything else?
1:11:26
Sweet. Nope.
1:11:28
Going to Vegas for the first time tomorrow for work.
1:11:35
I don't know what to expect to be honest.
1:11:37
I feel like everyone's just like you, have no idea what it's like
1:11:41
until you're there. So we'll see.
1:11:45
We shall see. Enjoy, enjoy dude, I've never
1:11:52
been. Yeah, I'm not like a, I'm not
1:11:57
like a. It's not that there's going to
1:12:00
be any time. I'm literally there for
1:12:02
Thursday. I fly back Friday afternoon.
1:12:04
But I'm not really like a casino guy.
1:12:11
No, but you you've been known to throw down a few bucks on on
1:12:16
this and that. If I can find a, that'd be kind
1:12:21
of nice actually, if I can find like a sports book to just hang
1:12:25
out. There's probably sports.
1:12:26
Books are sick. I don't know.
1:12:28
There's probably no sports books in Vegas.
1:12:30
Lemon. Who?
1:12:31
Who are we kidding? No, shut up.
1:12:33
Yeah, probably. Yeah.
1:12:35
Hard pressure to find one of those.
1:12:37
I'll check in on on the A's stadium progress though.
1:12:40
There you go. Yeah, there you go.
1:12:43
Well, with that said, I guess we can close it here.
1:12:47
Shout out to those of you in the in the stream, the live stream.
1:12:50
Shout out to those of you that are that missed the live stream
1:12:53
but are catching up on the podcast.
1:12:55
As I mentioned earlier, if you can't make the stream, you can
1:12:58
catch us on the podcast wherever you get your podcast at Spotify,
1:13:02
Apple, Google the like. And also check out the shop I've
1:13:08
got. I've gotten a little bit of an
1:13:10
itch recently. It's maybe as you as you can see
1:13:13
here you. Want to drop something a little?
1:13:15
Shameless plug for year 2 of getting a new hat on opening
1:13:19
day. It's a tradition I started last
1:13:21
year. Some of you have have probably
1:13:23
heard me talk about it. This is my newest edition of my
1:13:26
collection Big Hat Guy and I feel like I got got an itch to
1:13:33
maybe add some some hats to the shop.
1:13:35
For the big head guy, too, you're a big head.
1:13:38
I got a Dome, Dude got a Dome. Yeah, this is the new right
1:13:43
here. This is the new new hat I'm
1:13:45
adding in my collection but I'm always down to get some some pod
1:13:49
hats. Me too.
1:13:52
Honestly, if we just, I mean, I'm a we'll, we'll keep throwing
1:13:55
up some shirts and, and and this and that, but honestly, like if,
1:13:59
if our pod shop just becomes a hat shop, I, I wouldn't be upset
1:14:03
about it. Me neither.
1:14:06
Keep firing them out. Love hats me.
1:14:09
Love hats. That's all I got, man.
1:14:12
Cool. You guys are great.
1:14:16
Stay great. Don't go chasing curve balls,
1:14:18
love. You all and as always, looking
1:14:20
forward to talking more baseball with you guys soon.
1:14:22
Until next time, stay filthy.