Transcript

WBC PREVIEW · The 3-0 Take

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take, where we talk
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all things Major League Baseball.
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Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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It all starts right now. Oh, welcome back to the Three O
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Take presented by Schnook Cedery this episode 597, I'll be your
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host, Kyle Corn. I'm here with my Co host and
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only my Co host, Nate Reyes. Nate.
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Casey, how are we, JB? Just busy.
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Just a busy guy. Understandable.
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I mean, big, big trip, big trip tomorrow.
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Yeah. Boys are heading down to
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Houston. Heading down South, well,
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that's. E for you isn't it ish?
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Is that more South or is it more?
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East, let me pull up, let me pull up.
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I need to know at this point. I need to know.
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I'm pretty. Close to the.
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I'm going to dox your address right here right now.
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It is. It is South.
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If people want to look it up. I had no idea Houston was that
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close to water. Oh yeah, it's really close to
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water. It's basically Atlantis.
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It is South. Southeast, but I knew.
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That, but I was just trying to figure out if it was more South
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or more east. But yeah, heading to Houston for
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the WBC pool, play Pool B as it were going to catch some games
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down there. I'm excited for that.
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But we'll we'll dabble into that little bit.
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But first got a couple, couple items to talk about.
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This is just my default posture now by the way.
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Just for you. Leaning way back so apologize
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if. Like that?
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Did you work from home today? Is that why No.
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My ass has been in this chair for way too long today.
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Way too long, way too long. I have a stand up desk and I'm.
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Like tempted, you're tempted either.
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Just not using it. Well, let's get you out of here
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then. It was a good show.
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Everybody will good stuff, everyone.
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We'll see you guys on the other side of the WBC.
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No. Well, Speaking of the WBC, great
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transition for our what is our first point here to discuss and
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that is Jerks and Profar who will no longer be eligible for
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the WBC? Shoot.
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Busted again, popped for 162 game suspension after testing
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positive for what? What's the what it?
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Where did we land at with the technical exogenous Exogenous
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testosterone and its metabolites?
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Perfect. Now correct me if I'm wrong, the
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first ban was for. Was it?
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Walking pregnancy. Now this one is to help with
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pregnancy, is that right? The Profar family just doesn't
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know. It impacts fertility.
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It, it impacts, well, I mean, we don't need to dive into the
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man's personal life. I mean, we really only need to
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talk about how this impacts, you know, the, the baseball side of
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things, correct. But.
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Well, I mean look, if you're if you're not checking.
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I thought it was the same you you're talking about which way
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they want to go. I thought it was the same as
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last time, but you're saying is. Different.
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I don't know. I can't, I can't tell.
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It's also kind of scummy to like if you are hiding it, you know?
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Not allegedly. He is aware that this is what
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it's for, right? Now, now you got me second
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guessing myself. I I thought, I thought it was
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the same as last time because it was, it was fertility.
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Chat, the group chat said they couldn't make.
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He couldn't make up his mind. Fertility hormones.
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Last time, 2025, that was an 80 game suspension for human
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chorionic gonadotropin. Perfect. 80 games and then this
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time around, as I mentioned, 162 is substance is used to boost
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testosterone, but it replaces natural production and can
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negatively impact malfertility. So yeah, man, I mean leaving
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his, his significant other out in limbo.
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I don't. I don't really know, just don't
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know. Can't read your mind here,
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Jerkson? That's that's tough for.
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Ah, man, I don't, I don't understand.
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Number one, I mean, I feel like it's the same conversation every
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time someone gets suspended. It's the same conversation over
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and over. It's how do you not check with
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all of your resources that you are given, your agency, your own
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club, your own physician? Like how how is this not a part
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of the process? So then it's like, well, you
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have to assume that he's hiding it.
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You have to assume that he didn't go to those resources
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because he's trying to hide it. I don't whatever, it's the same
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conversation. Why didn't you check?
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And then the next conversation is you screwed your team.
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The next conversation is you wish that the team gets their
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money back and you wish that they can, you know, like release
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these idiots freely without any. Speaking of the team, did you
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see I saw a post today where it was like the Braves basically
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used the same statement, like it was the same graphic?
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Was it? But they just altered the
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language a little bit where they apparently took out the word
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they well, yeah, I mean, they change the date, but I think
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they what was it they like, took out the word surprise or
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something? I don't know.
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But I'm like, what a sucky situation if you're the Braves.
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It is though, because it is bigger than just like not just
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the fact that this dude's a repeat offender, it's also the
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fact that like you guys got hammered with injuries last year
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and this like conception that's like, oh, that was a fluke.
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Let's let's run it back this year.
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You know, we really don't have to change much.
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We just have to be healthy. You have this huge opportunity
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to almost to just hit the reset button and then you get screwed
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and now you're, you know, a few weeks away from opening day and
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definitely have less options to be able to fill that role.
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Yeah, I was. Rolling through comments at the
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moment. No, no, no, I, I wanted to
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confirm they, they did. That's exactly what they did
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last year's statement they said We were surprised and extremely
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disappointed to learn that Jerkson Profar tested positive
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for APED or you know, performance dancing substance in
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violation of MLBS joint prevention and treatment
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program. This time, they said.
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We were incredibly disappointed to learn that Jerkson Prof
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Jerkson tested positive for a performance dancing substance.
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The Atlanta Braves fully support the program.
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In other words, we hate this guy, and we're hoping that Major
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League Baseball brings down the hammer to the fullest extent of
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the law. Yeah.
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Braves couldn't be more done with this guy.
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It's just, it's big, dude. It affects it.
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It's a huge ripple effect. Like, what are they going to do
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now? You're like forcing their hand
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at this point to use drafts or player capital in a way, you
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know, And it's whether it's your prospects or, you know, big
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league talent, guys that like you need to move to go fill that
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hole. It's like we're a couple weeks
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start. What do you want to what do you
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expect me to do? There's no one left to sign.
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I threw out the idea if they wanted to get desperate and come
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up with something crafty to present Red Sox have AI mean I'm
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not I'm not putting this out in the in the, you know, universe,
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but Red Sox got a plethora of outfielders.
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They're just. Suitors.
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That they're just waiting for somebody to trip and die.
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Yeah, I guess the financial flexibility is 15,000,000,
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right? Yeah.
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Allows them to maybe eat more of a contract than they would have
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if it is a trade partner. You know, I don't think they
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rank super high on the prospect list as far as their farm goes.
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So it's like, you know, maybe that can the financial
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flexibility can build well for them eat part of a contract that
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a team ordinarily wouldn't agree to, but they can now because of
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this, I don't know, something sucks.
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I feel bad for the Braves. They can't get out of their own
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way when it comes to this stuff, suspensions, injuries.
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Braves 26th farm system. Yeah, it's not great, not great.
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I've heard some suggestions. Would be funny if they went and
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got Kutch considering Marcelo Zuna is now a pirate.
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Don't know if I'd love that, but got to do what you got to do.
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I think, I think Braves fans would open him with would would,
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I think they'd welcome him with open arms.
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Yeah. Oh yeah.
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Do you think at this point Koch wants to be a pirate?
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At this point, at this stage of the game, I don't know.
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Or do you think he's over? It pirates that's JB is not
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here. I'm not.
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No, we're going to talk pirates. I don't.
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I just, hey, I'm just trying to get a feel for it, you know,
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because I, I know I would be, I, I'd be, I'd be so over it.
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I'd be like, we're literally watching spring training games
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being played. We're we're, we're past the
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offseason, we're past the the team workouts.
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We are now in game mode and you have yet to sign me Pirates,
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although, I mean, I, I think they made their intentions clear
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with the Ozuna signing. But if I think that further
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fuels the fire for Kutch to want to look elsewhere, or should.
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Atlanta, ATL. He'd look good in abrasion.
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I agree. I think he would.
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I agree. I'm with that.
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I could. I could see him going down there
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and popping off a little bit. I'm not well, doesn't mention
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that crazy, but didn't they just lose a couple pictures too?
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Some elbow stuff They. When aren't they?
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Something's going on, dude. Something.
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Whoa. Aren't they?
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Something's going on in the water down in the ATLI, don't
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know what. Super unfortunate.
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Speaking of arms, sort of old news.
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Definitely old news, but. It happened the night we
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recorded, like an hour after I think.
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Did it? I thought it was the next day.
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Was it the? I don't know.
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It was even worse. Very.
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Yeah, very much right after our last episode.
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Max Star luck Max. Well, I mean, we should consider
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ourselves lucky that it was. No disrespect, but it was Max
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Scherzer sign sounds. Like disrespect sounds like it.
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It's not intended, not intended. We should just count ourselves
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lucky that it was a Max Scherzer one year deal returning to the
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Blue Jays situation and not, you know, fill in the blank.
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Something, Literally anything else.
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Anything else, but yeah, Max Scherzer, $3,000,000 deal.
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Heading back to the Jays. They're dealing with some arm
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issues, too. Bowden Francis is out with TJ
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Shane Bieber dealing with the issues that Shane Bieber deals
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with. But.
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It kind of makes you wonder if like if they just run it when
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healthy like a six man rotation, like why not?
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Why not? You know what I mean?
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Feel like it benefits everybody. I mean, it's where the league's
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trending anyway, and if you're a team like the Jays that could
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benefit from it, why not adopt it like WI?
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Fi Yeah, yeah, I would agree. I would agree.
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I don't. I don't think that there's
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anything wrong with it. I don't think anybody would have
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an issue with it. Cease Cosmin.
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I mean, the only thing is like, maybe, you know, like a young
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Treya Savage. You hope that like he can get
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enough reps on the bump to settle in, but like everyone's
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kind of in that like end of their peak for the most part,
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you know? So it's Scherzer for sure for
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Scherzer for. Speaking of Trey Savage, can I
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can I tell you this in in good faith?
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I mean, other people in our league may hear this so it
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becomes irrelevant, but I did a practice draft for the fantasy
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league. Last year, psycho.
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No, it took like maybe 3 minutes because it's.
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Which everyone else's auto drafting.
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Auto draft, yeah, just to see like sort of, you know what,
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what you might end up with. So I put myself, you were last
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by the way, you were 14th to pick.
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I I put myself 10th because I'm like, let's go deep but not let
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you know I don't want to be. Let's let's take note that you
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were first overall last year. I mean, let's also take note
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that it's randomized one hour before start time.
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And he won. Every year, well I I don't think
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I had first pick the year before and I won last the year before
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last too. So that doesn't check out.
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I am, I am, I am the the champ. Champ.
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As you know, Conor McGregor lovingly refers to himself as
14:59
the double champ. What was that?
15:03
Fluky well. Maybe once, but went in it
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back-to-back years certainly says something.
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Anyway, I, I snagged Trey Savage and I I'm not going to lie, I, I
15:18
got a little, I got a little giddy after that pick.
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I was like, that's a solid pick. That's a solid pick.
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I it was late in the draft too. And I'm like I, I that's AI like
15:28
that pick. Yeah, you and I kind of lean
15:30
away from starters as is. I'm bad with it.
15:34
Like early on in drafts, I just they're not as attractive to me,
15:39
but they are they are they make your season in fantasy.
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I had a couple, I had a couple starter picks that made me feel
15:50
a little little giddy, a little fuzzy.
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We'll see you. Dude, a little warmly fuzzy
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feeling. Motivated.
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This year you think I mean this? This is it for sure here though.
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Yeah. Because they're Scherzer as much
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of a psycho as sure as Max Scherzer is, he's obviously
16:19
going to want to pitch for as long as he can.
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So you're going to quite literally have to RIP the jersey
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off of Max Scherzer's back. However, Max Scherzer has a
16:28
little bit of an ego to him, and for good reason.
16:30
Like he, you know, he's, he's put in the work, he's, he's
16:33
earned his earned his due in this league.
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Like he, he, he is deserving of, of the respect that he's owed.
16:43
With that said, though, I don't think Max Scherzer's the kind of
16:47
guy that's going to pitch for a league minimum just to be a spot
16:49
start guy for some team 2-3 years down the road.
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If, if he does in fact want to pitch that long, because I, I
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would have to think that he does.
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But I think he has a threshold to where if he's not getting, if
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he's not getting a similar offer to this that maybe he just he
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calls it, right. I mean, because a one year
17:12
$3,000,000 deal, I don't know. I don't know if Max Scherzer, at
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age 40 to 43 next year, is going to go for much less.
17:25
Yeah. So this.
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Might be this, might be the fair, the swan song.
17:31
Could be unless I mean, I, I could maybe see a little bit of
17:36
like a you go back. The the tough thing is he's he's
17:44
well travelled at this point across the leagues, worn a lot
17:47
of different hats. So it's like, where do you go
17:49
back home? Do the nationals have any
17:54
interest in giving you anything? If you wanted to like finish up?
17:58
I don't know. There's I feel like that's such
18:01
a narrative with Hall of Fame players is that it's like you
18:07
almost want to give them their their time, the spotlight at the
18:11
end, and you feel like one of their original ball clubs should
18:16
give them that chance. A lot like the Tigers are doing
18:19
with Verlander. It's a little bit of a different
18:23
story with Kershaw just being a lifer in LA, but like.
18:27
What hat do you think Kershaw wears into the Hall I.
18:30
Don't know, hard to say. Does he go in wearing a Team USA
18:36
hat? Does he?
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Does he go 9 in the championship?
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Do you see him give up a nuke today?
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Well, I don't want to talk about it.
18:47
I don't want to talk about. It in 86.
18:49
I want to talk about the fact that Ethan Holiday was playing
18:52
behind him at Short and Wild World's, colliding all over the
18:56
place. Yeah, it just doesn't add up.
18:59
But before we get to WBC, on the topic of hats, do you Nationals
19:06
hat for Scherzer, would you say? Yeah, I think so.
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That's got to be the one. Yeah, I think so.
19:15
And I mean, unless the Blue Jays get over the hump, win it this
19:18
year, I could. I could kind of see it.
19:21
No. You don't think so?
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Well, I mean, OK, so then you'd have one in Toronto with a, a
19:27
resume far less than what was amassed in in Washington.
19:32
I mean, he was he was peak in in DCI.
19:35
Feel like that's I feel like I answered my question but I just
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want to make sure. We exhausted all all options but
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that's that's really the only one.
19:45
Yeah, I suppose. I mean, he contributed a lot to
19:49
the Nationals. It was late 2010 years.
19:50
So yeah, that, yeah, that that's that for sure.
19:56
How many innings do you think he throws this year?
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What did he throw last year? Because he was he was out for a
20:04
bit. Correct this.
20:07
Is where we could use JB. I'll be JB in the corner for a
20:11
SEC. 17 starts last year, 85 innings, so 20.
20:22
The Jays, are you happy if he just runs that back?
20:25
What was the RA? I don't know if he'd be happy.
20:28
What? Yeah, No, I don't know if he'd
20:29
be happy with 17 starts and a 519.
20:33
His his fit was a 499, so not much better.
20:36
Yeah. 17 starts 19 Homer so not a not a great ratio there Yeah,
20:48
it's cliche, but it this is one of those like you're happy if he
20:53
can maybe give you that many starts, but you probably care
20:56
more about what he's given to you on the days in between,
21:00
especially with with some young arms that presumably will be
21:04
filtering through that system making starts throughout
21:08
throughout the 162 it's. Just kind of weird when you see
21:10
like dogs just like kind of lose their ability because then
21:15
they're less intimidating, you know what I mean?
21:17
It was, it's a lot like CC at the end of his career or it's
21:19
like you spent your whole career being this like presence in this
21:25
fear factor, like don't want to make eye contact with you kind
21:30
of thing, right? And then when you start losing
21:34
physical ability, that doesn't have the same kind of
21:41
affectability, I guess. Affect ability.
21:44
I think that works. Effectiveness.
21:48
I like affect ability. If it's not, I want to petition
21:52
for that. Put a position out for it to be
21:54
a word. You know those people that are
21:56
like sitting outside of events with like clipboards trying to
21:59
get you to sign petitions? According to Wick Wictionary,
22:02
it's it's it's a word. Come on.
22:07
Affect ability is an archaic 1600s term referring to the
22:10
capability of being done, achieved, or brought about.
22:13
I'm an old soul. I mean 16 hundreds though,
22:16
that's. What can I say, I'm an old soul.
22:19
OK, Speaking of old soul, couple old souls right here just love
22:30
some good old fashioned hardball and we're going to see that this
22:35
weekend. Let's talk W.
22:37
BCC plus tops. All right, Tops, Mr. Teacher,
22:43
Greater Guy. Let's see you.
22:46
How? How?
22:46
OK, let's rewind. What's your transition?
22:52
Based on how we've wrapped up the affectability conversation,
22:55
What's your transition to get us to WBC?
22:57
Speaking of affect ability, easy.
23:02
That's the move. No, no.
23:03
No, no, give me the rest. You got to.
23:05
You got to fill in the blank. Whatever you want.
23:07
Grab a name for Team USA, baby, we're stacked.
23:11
Where do you want to start? You want to start with arms.
23:14
You want to start with the with the captain?
23:16
Where you want to start? That was set up on a tee.
23:22
Boys were hitting off a tee these last couple days.
23:24
I tell you what boom, that's better.
23:30
Oh man, the the boy's back. See, he just he it took AC plus
23:35
for him to get back up on a horse.
23:39
Any who's No, I like that. Let's start with arms, because I
23:43
think it was. Was it yesterday?
23:45
Got the schedule. Right.
23:46
Maybe the day before. Yeah, I got the full full
23:48
outline, the full the game, full game playing here for the arms
23:55
going up both in Pool play and the, you know, fingers crossed
24:04
the quarters, semis and finals. Past those pesky substitute
24:08
teachers. We can get past those those
24:12
those gritty Brazilians. Full disrespect Logan Webb
24:18
Speaking of Brazil, going up against Brazil, Logan Webb,
24:21
Tarek Skubal as well documented both on this podcast and around
24:26
the baseball world, making his lone start against great.
24:31
Britain, the Lone Star State. In the Lone Star State, we are
24:36
cooking with gas. Look.
24:39
At us now. Speaking of gas, Paul schemes
24:41
going up against Mexico. Are you kidding me?
24:46
I love it. I love how this is stacked up.
24:49
This is perfect. Speaking of stacked up, Leaning
24:53
Tower of Pizza Italy, right? Not pizza, but Pisa in Italy,
25:03
which is in Italy, which is who Nolan Mclean's going up against.
25:08
That's a sneaky good transition and I don't feel like I'm
25:12
getting the response that I I. Deserve.
25:13
I want to announce that too much, right?
25:16
Because I saw something he was like dealing with Vertigo or
25:18
something like that, and he's still like set to travel.
25:22
There's something weird going on with Nolan McLean, I think.
25:26
Did you see that? Well, if not Nolan McLean, then
25:29
who? Because he's also the guy that
25:33
slotted to go in the final. Should we make it?
25:35
Fingers crossed. I think he emptied the tank
25:39
there, but whatever. Either way, I like it.
25:42
That game's not going to matter anyway.
25:44
Yeah, that's honestly low key. Bullpen game, championship.
25:47
That'd be, I mean, I'd love to see a guy go 'cause I, I let me
25:53
confirm because JB, you know, is being the reasonable guy that he
25:58
is, he had to remind us that there's the pitch limit, which
26:02
admittedly I had forgotten about, you know, weeks, weeks
26:05
ago, but I, I was reminded by JB that there is a pitch count.
26:09
I think just. Get gassed up, you know.
26:10
For the different stages, but I it's obviously at its lowest for
26:14
pool play. Let me confirm.
26:20
The pitch count for the first round is 6580 in the quarter in
26:25
the quarters and 95 pitches for the semis and finals.
26:32
Which I don't think anyone would be doing, no.
26:33
No, no, but let me rewind back to my point.
26:36
I'm let me connect the dots here.
26:38
I would love to see a guy, as you mentioned, empty the tank in
26:44
the finals. I mean, that'd be that's that's
26:50
primetime television entertainment right there.
26:53
If we could get that, I don't know who would be at this point,
26:56
but given that we're not going to see Scubble, given that we're
27:00
not going to see Skeens and then we're not going to see web in
27:04
the finals, empty the tank via the bullpen, I would, I would, I
27:09
would like to see it. And a lot of people, a lot of
27:13
people in their defense, I had the same question, but you you
27:17
had to look into it a little bit.
27:18
A lot of people wondering why they didn't adjust Skeens starts
27:23
to allow him to potentially pitch in the Championship again,
27:31
should we get their fingers crossed?
27:34
But it was, it was Skeens himself that said he wanted no
27:38
more than five to six days in between starts and looked into
27:42
it. If he were to pitch in the
27:44
final, it would have been seven days, which, you know, we got,
27:48
we got Skeens at least giving us two starts.
27:51
So I'm, you know, beggars can't be choosers if if he's going to
27:53
if he's going to at the very least pitch in the semis to get
27:57
us to the championship. That's all you can ask for like
28:00
given the circumstances. So I'm happy with that.
28:03
I agree. But you know, outside of the
28:07
question mark of of McClain, I think, I think this sets up very
28:12
nicely. Yeah, Considering what our what
28:16
our offense is able to do, hopefully there's some
28:20
opportunities for some laughers. No, I love the best part of this
28:27
lineup is is being able to see skins against Mexico.
28:30
I think that's hands down the hardest, most difficult
28:35
competition that we're looking at in Pool play.
28:38
Obviously they beat us last year, so it's like that's
28:41
something that I don't know. I just kind of want to run the
28:46
table. I don't even want to mess
28:48
around. I want to run the table and I
28:54
like this line up. Got a little dicey back in 23,
28:59
right? It came down to the fourth game
29:01
of pool play because we dropped the one to Mexico, beat Canada,
29:06
beat Great Britain, and then did we drop another I.
29:14
Don't remember Venezuela, I don't remember whatever.
29:24
No, I I think it came down to the last one because had we lost
29:27
it, it would have been a question mark.
29:29
But because we won, we obviously punch or take it.
29:31
Yeah, yeah, I think we're fine. So what I'm with you.
29:34
Run the table. Don't even, don't even play
29:36
around. Let's just, I mean, everybody
29:37
knows. It's everybody knows how this is
29:41
going to end up. It's just going to be United
29:43
States and Japan championship. It's just a matter of how, how,
29:47
how efficient we're going to get there.
29:49
How? What are affectabilities going
29:50
to be like? You're just.
29:51
You're just just a snub of the Dr. Like it's easy peasy.
29:58
Who? Who are they throwing out there?
29:59
How? Does that line up by the way?
30:01
They have no disrespect. Brian Baio is one of the guys
30:04
that's that's slotted into their mix, our mix, top three, by the
30:09
way, I think he's their, he's their.
30:12
It's either second or third arm. Yeah, Seve is their number one,
30:15
isn't he? No, there's somebody else that
30:21
I'm missing. Is it?
30:25
Is it all Contra? Yeah, Sandy.
30:30
He's in the mix, Sandy. He's in the mix.
30:32
So yeah, I mean. How does?
30:35
Well, what I'm saying is that, like, do we know?
30:37
We're not going to know how it lines up.
30:40
You mean the bracket? After pool play.
30:45
Yeah, I'm trying to make sense of the bracket here, but because
30:52
I take the top 2 of each pool, let me check here.
31:01
Let's double check. All right.
31:03
So Pool B, assuming we win Pool B.
31:11
Yeah. We will face Pool A runner up,
31:18
so Pool A man. Pool A is pretty solid, I'm not
31:22
going to lie. Pool A has got Puerto Rico,
31:24
Cuba, Canada, Panama and Colombia.
31:28
That's pretty deep. I don't even want to pretend to
31:30
act like I know who the runner up would be in that situation.
31:34
I don't even know if I could safely.
31:36
I mean, I, I would imagine Puerto Rico maybe likely, but I
31:42
don't after if, if even if you were confident enough to say
31:46
Puerto Rico's coming out of that pool as the winner.
31:49
I don't even know that's a crap shoot.
31:51
Who's. Coming out, you say Venezuela's
31:52
in that. No, Venezuela is in Pool D
31:56
They'll they'll no, oh, I'm sorry, that is the Dominicans
32:00
pool. So it's Venezuela, the Dr.,
32:03
Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua.
32:07
Those are the two Dr. and Venezuela, I mean.
32:10
Yeah, and then Pool C, Japan, Australia, Korea, Czech, Chinese
32:15
Taipei. It's Japan.
32:18
And then who cares? Yeah.
32:24
Wow. OK.
32:27
What pool are they technically? Who?
32:31
The the Pacific one. Pool CC.
32:36
So pool C and pool D are on the right side if you just think
32:39
about it, looking at it like a bracket.
32:40
Working that way. Pool C, Pool D are over on the
32:44
right side, Pool A and Pool B over here on the left.
32:46
So again, we would be, should we win Pool B, very likely we'll be
32:53
facing the runner up of Pool A and then from there move on to
33:00
the semis and then the championship will be, well,
33:05
semis will also be in Miami, but the championship will be in
33:07
Miami March 17th. So mark calendars.
33:11
Love that. I'm stoked man.
33:13
I'm just excited. I think number one, we were
33:17
talking about it in our group chat that it was like, and we
33:21
kind of mentioned it when the whole school thing came out of
33:23
like the hype that's carrying over from the Olympics.
33:27
I don't know if you watched that exhibition game against the
33:31
Giants on ESPN the other day, but they were like they
33:34
interviewed a couple guys and they were like, yeah, like it.
33:37
That is feeding into this 100%. So like the Olympics is like
33:44
feeding into like the guy's motivation, which I love.
33:50
And then you're starting to see like a Pat McAfee show coming
33:54
out here and doing their show on one of the giant side fields and
33:57
like interviewing guys. They're all repping USA jerseys.
34:00
Like this is, we've talked about this before.
34:03
Three years ago was was amazing and super cool experience.
34:07
I think the cat's out of the bag.
34:08
Like people are now recognize how sick this is.
34:12
And if you haven't watched, if you haven't tapped in, there's
34:15
like, I don't, It's just something different.
34:18
There's something different. It's kind of like I, you know,
34:23
for like golf fans out there, like watching the Ryder Cup and
34:27
you get to watch like Team USA versus Team Europe, Like that's
34:31
sick. Like it, it's just very
34:34
different. It's not like your normal game.
34:37
So if you haven't, you haven't tapped in.
34:41
Enjoy the ride because this is going to be sweet.
34:44
And look for your boys hanging out in the Crawford boxes on is
34:49
that Friday or Saturday? Saturday.
34:51
Saturday, Yeah. Great Britain will be first row
34:54
of the Crawford Boxes. I, I asked Nate, I mean, not to
34:58
put you on blast here, but sort of put you on blast.
35:01
I mean, I asked Nate if he had any interest in, you know, and,
35:07
and not to say that we still can't, I mean, we can still make
35:09
moves to to party city or whatever exists these days.
35:15
But I mean, we're going to be we're going to be dead center
35:18
Crawford boxes, front row for the for the the old GB game.
35:25
So I mean, do we show up as founding fathers?
35:32
TBD. But it might, it might make
35:37
things a little easier. Might might make it easier to
35:40
find us if. It's a good point, but.
35:42
Let me ask you this, though, before I forget.
35:49
Is it a blessing in disguise that Team USA lost to Japan in
35:54
2023? Do you think we're getting the
35:56
same sort of response from the players that have agreed to play
36:00
in this tournament for Team USA? Do you think we're do you think
36:03
we're getting those guys if we won last time around?
36:08
I don't think so. I don't I honestly.
36:10
Don't think so. I kind of liked, I liked Dero.
36:13
Well, when they were interviewing the other day, he
36:15
was like 3 years ago, he got the offer in like August.
36:19
And I think at that point, players had already like wrapped
36:23
their mind around whether they were going to do it or not.
36:26
And so he already had names that he was like, I just I couldn't
36:29
get him. They already committed not to.
36:33
So I think like just kind of rolling in the look at our
36:37
coaching staff, like our team photographer is Ken Griffey
36:44
junior. Like this is the greatest dugout
36:48
ever assembled dude. Like.
36:51
We. This is The Avengers.
36:53
Like we are completely stacked. So yeah, I mean, I he had the
36:59
right mentality. He's like, let me, I'm going to
37:02
go start with the two guys. Like Judge hit him up early.
37:06
Skeens was like, I'll do anything to to wear the red,
37:10
white and blue. And then it's just like
37:12
everything else just falls into place after that.
37:14
If you get literally two of the best players in baseball at the
37:19
peak of their career, Skeens probably hasn't even tapped that
37:23
yet. But still, dude, it's like
37:26
everything else just falls into place.
37:29
I mean, I threw shade in the group chat on Paul Goldschmidt
37:34
guys teeing off in spring training.
37:36
The boys look good, the boys look good up and down the
37:39
lineup. Boys looking real good.
37:41
I think Bregman had a bomb in both game, both exhibitions,
37:44
which is a good sign. Roman Anthony, Like I said, I
37:47
told you, keep an eye on Roman Anthony this tournament.
37:51
I didn't say anything. Well, I, I asked you, I said, do
37:55
you think like did the did Team USA, Like I, I again, I'm not
38:00
wishing injury on anybody and I'm not saying that this is a
38:03
good situation, but like, did they somehow like luck into
38:06
getting better because of the Corbin Carroll injury just for
38:09
this tournament, just in terms of roster fit and construction
38:12
and everything. You know, in that regard, I feel
38:16
like it's a valid question because Roman Anthony is very,
38:19
very good. Not to say Corbin Carroll isn't,
38:21
but like, look out for Roman Anthony and he's he's, he's
38:26
showing you why right out of the gate.
38:28
We've Gunnar Henderson coming off the bench.
38:32
You know, Ernie Clement just set a World Series record coming off
38:40
the bench. PCI watched PCA hit a ball down
38:43
the right field line today. Then he stopped at 2nd just so
38:46
he could steal third. Like you very easily could have
38:52
had a triple and it was like, Nah, I'm going to sit here for a
38:55
pitch and then swipe 3rd. See how the legs feel.
38:59
Dude, we're stacked. Will Smith is our backup
39:02
catcher. Silly Cal, Raleigh hit. 6 the
39:08
other day. We're coming for it.
39:13
Going back to the judge thing you're talking about, yeah, I
39:15
mean, I'll, I'll give it to him. One of the best players in in
39:17
baseball in the world, but I tell you what that guy couldn't
39:21
motivate me to make a grilled cheese it's.
39:24
A rough speech, that was. Brutal.
39:27
I I heard that I think they're they're getting Michael Phelps
39:30
in the mix to to talk to the boys.
39:32
He may have already talked, talked to the boys, but.
39:34
I think he did already. Thank goodness they did, because
39:38
if they if they had to go to Houston off of that.
39:42
Yeah, not a speech guy. Just doesn't seem like a speech
39:44
guy. He he looks like he was trying
39:47
to drop the punchline of a joke the entire time.
39:50
Like he was just on the verge of it.
39:52
Like no, get that get. Give me some speech, guy.
39:56
Also, I mean, you got to hope it's maybe a little better in a
39:58
closed clubhouse setting. Not, you know.
40:01
I don't. I don't think it is.
40:03
And that Yankee bias aside, I I genuinely think that's just who
40:08
Judge is. I don't think he's a big speech
40:10
guy. Just not a speech guy.
40:12
Who? Let's pretend like we could go
40:16
back, undo that and and swap somebody in.
40:21
Who on the team do we feel like? Kirsch for me.
40:27
Yeah, 'cause I, I was thinking skeens with skeens.
40:30
Just guy's a robot. I he's not a speech guy either.
40:34
Yeah. No way.
40:36
Yeah, I don't think Bobby really is either.
40:39
No good kid, Bryce. Maybe Bryce is like a close
40:44
second to me behind Kirsch, but it's Kirsch.
40:47
Kirsch should just be like you guys got to soak this in like
40:50
this is such a good like I'm came somewhat out of my
40:54
retirement for this like that. This is a big deal.
40:58
You know that's. So sick.
40:59
By the way, I love that this is how he's like, officially
41:01
hanging him up. I know.
41:03
Super sick. Yeah, Yeah, that's a good pick.
41:05
That's a good pick. I like like Kirsch.
41:07
Harvey Kirsch But you have like, like I said, the whole coaching
41:10
staff. It's just like, yeah, Andy
41:14
Pettitte, Brian McCann, David Ross, like the It's insane.
41:20
Ross, he was firing me up in the in game interview.
41:23
They had him on the other day. He was just he's just talking
41:26
ball with the boys. I'm like, we got to get this guy
41:28
back in into the swan things. Man, I think he's in the in the
41:32
booth this year for the Cubs. Yeah, I think that's.
41:35
What they brought it back? Yeah, yeah, they did announce it
41:39
then. He'll be back.
41:40
That sucks, man. Kid.
41:41
Yeah, he needs to be on the on the field.
41:44
Yeah. But any who's it's.
41:47
Gonna be great, man. It's gonna be really, really
41:48
good. Really, really good.
41:50
Keep an eye out for for content. We've got a really good plan of
41:54
how, you know, stuff we're going to put out there, stuff we're
41:57
going to post, whether it be, you know, just quick little
42:00
snippets. We're going to try to get you,
42:02
like some inside look on, you know, if you can't make it of
42:05
what the WBC looks like and why it makes it, you know, a little
42:09
bit different than normal games. And this is our first time in
42:11
Houston on the Dyken Park for the first time.
42:14
Like that's going to be legit. And on that note about not being
42:18
able to make it, like I, I say this with full sincerity, like
42:21
I, I understand that if you're listening to this, if you're
42:24
watching it, there's a very good likelihood that you're not going
42:28
to this because of just the timing of it and, and just the
42:32
difficulty of schedule and things like that.
42:34
This isn't, this isn't like a World Series game that you're
42:38
saving up for and you're like, now I'm going regardless.
42:40
Like we, you and I have had this conversation like this is a,
42:43
this is a unique event. And that it's, we're, I mean, we
42:47
should consider ourselves blessed that we're, we're going
42:49
to this and that we've gone to this will be our second one now.
42:52
But because of that, understanding that this is a
42:54
difficult event for people to get to, we are going to try our
42:57
absolute best to give you as good of a look into, you know,
43:02
boots, the, the, the boots on the ground, as they say.
43:04
We're going to try to give you as as good of a look inside,
43:09
like the, the inner workings and, and just how this event
43:15
really unfolds from from a fan perspective, we're going to try
43:19
to give you the best look we can.
43:20
So keep an eye out for stuff. And also if there's certain
43:24
things that you want to know, like if you've got a question
43:26
like yo, what is what's going on in such and such part of the
43:31
park right now, It seems like there's a whole bunch of
43:34
nonsense going on. Maybe we can go check it out and
43:38
we can get back to you. Just let us know what what kind
43:40
of things you want to see or if you want to know about the food.
43:43
We're going to be we. Have a plan to talk about the
43:46
food. So if, if there's certain things
43:48
you want to see or or or find out while we're down there, let
43:54
us know and we'll, we'll do our best.
43:56
But. I'm not to mention behind the
43:58
scenes stuff that's going to be on Patreon.
44:02
So if you're not on Patreon yet, definitely consider that going
44:06
to be a lot of just shenanigans. You just see the boys behind the
44:12
camera, behind, behind, behind the camera, you know?
44:17
Can't wait. It's going to be fun.
44:20
I will see you in Houston in 24 hours.
44:26
That's amazing. How about it?
44:28
It's. Starting to feel real now.
44:31
I love it. I love it.
44:33
Good stuff. All right, USA versus everyone.
44:38
Think that goes without saying. Red, white and blue on top.
44:44
However you want to say it. Go America.
44:49
That's right. Go baseball.
44:51
That's right. And we'll see you guys on the on
44:55
the other side of pool play. Don't go chase the curveballs.
44:59
We love you all and as always, looking forward to talking more
45:00
baseball with you guys soon. Until next time, stay filthy.