Season In Swing!

JC and CJ cover the biggest surprises and disappointments of the first two weeks of the season. They also discuss the ongoing arm injury saga and the debacle in Oakland.

For more from our show, visit insidethediamonds.com

What is Inside The Diamonds?

Inside the Diamond is your one-stop shop for everything MLB! From in-depth analysis of the latest games and breaking news, to minor league prospects we've got you covered. Join us for insightful discussions on the game's history, current events, and future trends. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just getting into baseball, Inside the Diamond has something for everyone.

Welcome back, everyone.

This is Inside the Diamonds podcast.

This is episode four.

I'm your host, JC,

and I'm joined tonight with CJ.

How are you doing, CJ?

I am fantastic.

Ready for this week and

excited for what's going on

already this season.

Yeah, it's been pretty crazy.

Interesting first two weeks.

Pretty busy, I would say, between,

you know, not just the games,

but also what you and I and

a few of the others have

been doing over at Inside

the Diamond between...

all the roster moves,

the season series previews.

And then of course the newest thing,

the down on the farm that

we've been trying to

introduce to folks for, you know,

their favorite teams and

kind of introducing them

into the minor leagues and

showing them what the top

prospects are doing.

So we've been very busy.

It's been a lot of fun.

It's been,

I've caught myself already

switching from major league

games to minor league games, which is,

Thank you.

My son doesn't get it,

but at the same time,

I'm watching a heck of a

lot more baseball with

purpose this year rather than just,

you know, for nothing.

So it's been a lot of fun.

There's got to be a way on

MLB TV where you can get

any game instead of having

to change who your favorite

team is every time you want

to go watch a minor league game.

I found myself this weekend

when Paul Skeen started.

I got to be a Pirates fan

for the day to watch the

Pirates AAA team.

What I wish you could do is

split the screen.

now we'd be talking so I was

in buffalo this past week

for my son's nationals and

I'm not normally an

outgoing like I don't go

out and just shoot the shit

with all the dads normally

unless it's a big event I

found myself watching the

royals and white socks game

and falling asleep at the

desk at my computer just

watching the game in

involved engaged watching

it kind of you know just

watching that royals team

and I really am enjoying

the start to this season

really looking forward to

tomorrow I know you and I

are both going to opening

day for the red sox um

I haven't been to a Sox game

and I haven't been to

opening day in seven years.

This will be my first one in seven years.

And I've got weekend tickets.

I just haven't gone.

So I'm really looking

forward to that and watching,

see how the Red Sox look.

Watching the Orioles should

be a good game.

Weather's going to be nice.

And, you know, tonight after the podcast,

I'm going to watch the Cubs

and Padres and probably games tomorrow.

That are still going on at that time, too.

They changed the pitching matchup on us.

It was originally supposed

to be Bayo-Irvin if it

follows the rotation trend.

Yeah.

But because tomorrow's an off day,

they put Burns tomorrow against Bayo,

and they moved Irvin to Wednesday.

So because of the off day,

Burns got bumped up a day, which –

I don't like based on the

head-to-head matchup because Burns,

Bayo hasn't been great.

Bayo's awful in the daytime.

That's the other thing I was

just going to say.

He's terrible in the daytime.

And Burns is Corbin Burns.

I mean, he's a Cy Young candidate.

We talked about that a couple weeks ago.

But I had it as 0-4,

all the emotions of the game.

But then I saw today who's

going tomorrow for the ceremony,

no Pedro.

No Pedro.

no pedro was he got

something with why not I

have no idea he must have

something with mlb tonight

that he can't there was

four names from that team

in 04 that stuck out to me

that won't be at the game

tomorrow pedro's one two

was mark bellhorn because

bellhorn was a big part of

that alcs yeah bill miller

another big one yeah that

single that scored dave roberts yeah and

This one I didn't – I mean,

he's not a big one that

really is effective,

but because of the day and

what they're doing, Doug Mirabelli.

Really?

The Wakefield ceremony and everything,

I don't know how Mirabelli's not going.

Jesus,

that makes no sense because all I

can – when I think Doug Mirabelli,

I think of the cop car

leading him back to the

stadium when they signed

him back and he came back for that.

That makes – I mean, Bill Miller,

I remember, you know,

in that season they won the

first World Series in 2004.

It started way before that

series when they were down 0-3.

It happened in that July

series with the Veritech A-Rod.

Bill Miller hit the game

winner in that one.

I was there for that one too.

I was fortunately there for that game.

Bill Miller was –

I think undervalued.

He owned it better.

Oh, yeah, Big Doc owned it.

But he was undervalued as a player.

Correct me.

I don't know if it was that

season or what season it was,

but he had the two grand

slams in Texas from both

sides of the plate.

I don't know if that's for the record.

From both sides of the plate, I think so,

because I know Tatis had –

Tatis' father had one,

but he was right-handed.

Right.

He had two,

and I think his was in an inning.

Yeah, it was,

because I think – didn't Fernando Jr.

do it?

I wouldn't be surprised.

All I just know is dad did, but –

That was a big thing though.

Something like that happened

because they said his dad

did it and he did it too.

I forget what he did,

but there was something

that happened like that.

Yeah.

There's going to be a reason

why Mirabelli is not going to be there.

I, I have my, uh,

suggestions on maybe why

that's probably not the

word I'm looking for, but speculations.

I have my speculations on why, um,

We all know Schilling's not going.

If you're a Red Sox fan,

you know why he's not going.

And even if you're not a Red Sox fan,

you probably know.

I believe Schilling said on

that podcast when he broke

the news that he heard it from Mirabelli.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

I didn't know that.

I believe that was the key.

I don't I'm not 100% on that.

So don't quote me or anything on that.

But I feel like that was

something along the lines

of the story like Schilling

started with somebody told

me I think he did say a name.

And I thought it was

Mirabelli I might be wrong.

But it's one of those things.

I was a catcher growing up my whole life,

up until about my junior

year of high school.

And that bond you create with a pitcher,

especially when you're

their designated catcher,

it stays with you forever.

Like,

I still have friends that I went to

high school with.

I may not see them all the

time because I got a family.

I got other things going on.

But I still talk to them, you know,

once a month.

And that relationship stays

with you forever.

So that's part of my

speculation on why he's not going.

If that is the case,

if I'm remembering it correctly,

that he is the one that

Schilling said told him.

then I wonder if he feels

guilty and that's not why he's going.

Or it could be, like you said,

he's got something else going on.

We're just completely way off base here.

Probably could be a little.

I mean,

Mirabelli comes across to me

without knowing the guy.

Don't know him at all.

But probably, if I'm looking at it,

and he was the one to tell Schilling,

in trust, right?

Mirabelli doesn't come

across as this guy that's –

he was never really in the limelight,

never wanted to be in the limelight,

did his job,

was phenomenal catching Wakefield.

You know, that's a tough fucking task,

no matter who you put back there.

That's tough.

And how close he was

probably with Wakefield, again,

just all speculation and

just talking about

something that's close to both of us.

And –

He probably – again, all speculation.

But if I'm him and that is the case,

the guilt that I would feel

because you trusted

somebody else and

mistrusted someone that's

got a huge mouth in Schilling,

which – and hopefully it's

just something else, you know,

and nothing more.

But that team was special.

I remember –

Man,

I remember watching every single game

of that season.

Like I said, I think I said the last time,

last episode about my dad and mom.

And I just, you know, I worked, you know,

12 hours a day,

came home and would watch those games.

And I remember being in this

house and my neighbor who's

still across the road,

who I went to college with,

came over after the game

and we were smoking cigars

on my front steps.

after they won the series.

And it was just, I was there for game four,

game three and game four of

the Yankees series.

And that team and those players,

especially those guys that we mentioned,

those, you know, Bellhorn, Miller,

those guys were just,

underrated did their jobs

and would just really came

up key in that series.

And the fact that they're

not going to be there

shocks me a little bit.

I'll be, you know, interested to see,

you know,

especially with everything with

Wakefield tomorrow, uh, I have his book.

Um,

the guy was just a professional and I

know they say a lot of this,

they say this in football

about some players.

They're just a professional, you know,

inside and out their role model.

Tim Wakefield was probably

one of those guys that is undervalued.

I heard Euclid this weekend

talking when they were

playing the A's about him

and just remembering different stuff.

Him and his wife,

neither one of them wanted

anyone to know about what

they were going through.

They valued their privacy,

but at the same time,

they knew how fortunate they were.

And they didn't want anyone

to feel sorry for him and

didn't want that attention.

And it's a shame because he

wasn't the typical starting

pitcher that was going to

blow you away with his fastball.

He was just going to

embarrass the shit out of

you with a ball that was

moving at 55 to 60 miles an

hour like you were playing

wiffle ball out back.

And he just was – I loved

listening to him on Nessun

as well when he was doing

the broadcast when he joined there.

Just one of those guys.

So much knowledge.

So much knowledge and so much to say.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I did not expect the

opening to go in this

direction with tomorrow by any means,

but I do have to do a score check.

Anything in our little wager?

The Rangers just scored two.

Did they?

Isn't that just terrific?

It's died.

Yeah, real sad.

We'll be fair.

The Astros scored two in the first inning,

so I'll help out.

All right.

There you go.

So, you know,

I got to thank you before we

get into the first topic

for even asking me to to do

this and get involved,

because this has brought

back something for me that

has been missing.

I don't have a lot of

hobbies unless it involves my kids.

You know, my kids in my world,

I got three of them.

They all revolve around

their sports and then

trying to juggle that time.

But finding a different

hobby that's not me sitting

at home doing work and

doing something that is

focused to this and watching baseball.

And just it's something that, you know,

I miss playing baseball being 42.

My body's not quite where it

needs to be doing that shit anymore.

But I really miss the game.

I miss watching it.

You know,

being in this house where I grew

up reminds me an awful lot

of the times I did sit here

with my parents,

with my father and mother,

just watching these games.

So it's just brought a lot,

a lot of good memories back.

So I really do appreciate it.

And this has been a lot of fun.

So why don't we hang on just one second?

Yeah.

All right.

Love you, too.

Get ready for the game tomorrow.

Bye.

Go to bed, you goofball.

Sorry.

Special appearance by my daughter Ella.

Keep the light on, goof.

Sorry, yeah.

I forgot.

Normally each night my 10-year-old,

we have to do a – for about

410 days straight –

I have to give her something

to dream about.

The past 10 days have been

about what she's going to

eat at the game.

Between the Bruins game at

night and what she's going

to have at the Red Sox game tomorrow.

And she's awful pumped up.

Her Adley Rushman shirt came in today.

And now she's been searching

online for her catcher's

gear that she's looking for

softball and all that stuff.

So, like I said,

all this stuff is bringing up – yeah,

it's bringing back – I mean –

I'm watching teams that I

could give two shits about,

but I'm watching the game three.

God damn.

But my daughter who's 10, like I said,

in the catcher,

what she likes to watch is

catchers framing it.

And she'll, she'll mention, she goes, dad,

that, that, that was a little much.

Don't you think?

That wasn't very subtle,

but she's paying attention.

So it's bringing in that

aspect of family that we

talked about last episode

with your grandfather, my dad.

And it's allowing me that

time to escape work,

escape the everyday and be

with my kids and them just observing.

And watching something and

seeing something I love so

much at their age.

And it's really a lot of fun.

So to kick off tonight,

we started the year waiting

for the Marlins to win their first game.

Finally, they've done it.

Now,

every team in the major leagues

finally has a win.

The Marlins and White Sox all have wins.

The White Sox got one against the Braves,

and the Marlins finally

pulled themselves out of

the hole and got one as well,

which is a little surprising.

But when we're looking at everything,

what's your biggest surprise?

Fuck.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are

my biggest surprise team

for the start of the week.

Um, but in particular,

going to the pirates now,

he lost his last start, but Jared Jones.

Yeah.

I mean,

he is the 61st prospect on my top

100 and third pirates prospect, but I,

his first start,

he just blew me away at what he could do.

And I knew, you know,

I knew he was a good pitcher,

but to come in and do that,

granted it was the Marlins.

So let's not get carried away,

but going five and two thirds,

he gave up three runs, two hits, but

Ten punch-outs,

that to me was the mind-blowing part.

And then to come back out in

his second start, and again,

three earned runs, not great.

But then he gets the Orioles.

So you go from right now the

worst team in baseball to a

team that everybody has as

a World Series contender in

the American League.

And what does he do in his

second career start against

a good team like that?

He goes six innings,

gives up two runs on six hits.

Both of those runs were on home runs.

But then he doesn't give up a walk,

and he punches out seven.

To me, and we talked about this, I think,

in our previews for the National League,

there are going to be a

problem to watch in the future.

And they have so much pitching coming.

Paul Skeens has blown people away at AAA.

He's just telling the Pirates,

you have to call me up now.

It's time.

But to me, they've jumped off to the start,

and they are 8-2,

and right now they've got a

two-game series against the Tigers.

And it's in the bottom of the seventh,

and it's 7-2 Pirates.

So they locked up Mitch

Keller before the season started, which,

great move.

That's, you know, a veteran.

I shouldn't say a veteran.

I mean, what's he been in the league,

three, four years, five years?

He's a veteran for the Pirates.

Right, in that aspect, yes.

But then Michael Gonzalez

has looked pretty good with

a 2-4-6 ERA and a one whip.

Martin Perez,

who pitched for the Pirates yesterday,

Two years ago?

I don't know.

He was there last year, I believe.

No,

he was signed this year as a free agent.

But he was there in the past, I do believe,

without looking into it.

Where has he not been?

He guys like a journeyman.

He goes everywhere.

Bailey Falter has not been great.

I think he's only had one start, actually.

He's up two, and he's got a 540 ERA.

But to me,

that team has been surprising to

a division we talked about

that was so wide open that

anybody could take it.

The Pirates came out to an

early start and tried to lay their claim.

I mean, they did it last year,

so we can't get carried

away after 10 games.

They came out as the hottest team.

They beat the Red Sox in two

games last year,

and then I think right

after that happened,

not even a week later, they just fell off,

and that was it for them.

So to jump out of the gate,

that's the first team to me

that has surprised me to kick off 2024.

So for me, even though...

I picked them to finish

better than you did in the AL Central,

is the Indians.

They have a 36-run differential.

That I did not see coming,

given their offense, right?

I did not see the Cleveland

Indians outscoring their

opponents by 36 runs.

You're going to get us sued.

It's the gutter.

Goddamn.

It's tough.

It's tough.

I get it.

I got to stop you from

saying that a second time

so we just don't get in trouble.

Yeah, no.

The Cleveland Guardians.

Previously,

the Cleveland... I used to love

that team with Alomar, Bell, Colon.

Nagy.

That team was just so much fun to watch.

I remember watching...

Oh, I forget his name.

But number 50, the pitcher,

just after the loss to the Yankees,

sitting in the dugout.

I can't remember his name.

Sitting in the dugout,

just sitting there and

absorbing and soaking it all in the loss.

And how much it meant to them.

And I actually watched Major League,

the movie,

on the way back from Buffalo

while I drove on 90.

And it just,

like that Cleveland organization,

we'll leave it at that.

was one of the funnest

groups to watch in the late 90s, mid-90s.

You know, Dennis Martinez,

they had all those guys coming in.

You know, Albert Bell,

I just absolutely loved.

I loved Kenny Lofton.

But to see what they're doing now,

the Guardians are doing now, again,

if they were 8-2 and they

had outscored their

opponents by eight runs and

they had only scored 32 –

I could see that with their

pitching staff.

Are you right now?

Were you trying to think of

Julian Tavares?

Yes.

Julian Tavares.

He sat in the dugout and was

just so beside himself after that loss.

Like that just to me stuck

in my head in regards to, yes,

these guys are getting paid big bucks,

but it mattered so much to

him that that sat into my

head as a high school baseball player.

Like, you know, shit,

these guys are getting paid

money and it matters to them.

They're not Anthony Rendon.

They actually give a shit.

And to me, that just stuck out.

And to see this Guardians

team go out there and what

they've given up 20 earned runs.

20 earned runs on the year.

And Shane Bieber, who we'll get to later,

has given up zero.

That's going to hurt.

Yep.

But their bullpen is pretty damn good.

Class A is an elite closer.

I think probably one of the

best in baseball.

If he was on the Dodgers,

he'd be the best.

Everyone would know who he is.

But for them, for me,

that was the biggest surprise.

And everyone is always

talking about Stephen Kwong.

He's hitting .383.

11 runs, 18 hits, two doubles, three RBIs,

one walk, eight strikeouts,

and 47 at-bats, and he's hitting .383.

Jimenez is hitting .324.

Josh Naylor,

who when he first came up was

a guy that was hitting in the .250s,

.260s.

Last year he hit over .300.

He's hitting over .300 now.

And Will Brennan?

Brian Rocchio.

Yeah, Rocchio is hitting 273,

but he's got two RBIs.

He's, you know, getting on base.

Did I look at the wrong stats here?

I got him at 310.

Maybe.

I've got him at 10 games and hitting –

273.

I got him at eight games hitting 310.

Last game he didn't play as well.

Either way,

even Will Brennan was a guy

that I mentioned when we

did the breakdowns.

As a guy that has the talent,

it's just a matter of can

he put it together.

So far this year,

hitting 296 with four RBIs.

Granted,

he's only played eight games and

he's only got eight hits, but

you know, they've got sneaky potential.

And I do believe when we'll

get into it later,

Bieber going down hurts.

They do have Carrasco.

They do have some guys

coming back from injury.

But still the guardians to

me was the biggest surprise,

not necessarily the record,

but the 36 run differential

was the biggest surprise for me.

What was your second biggest surprise?

I actually really didn't have one.

I was,

thinking the guardians like

you did but I took them off

because like you mentioned

the bieber injury yeah a

team that doesn't have a

winning record but kind of

stood out to me as a big

surprise is the angels all

right well actually you

know what why am I doing

I'm dumb the biggest

surprise was the red sox

yeah that's my second one

okay so what am I doing I'm

scrolling past I'm like

that I should say the big

eyes from everybody else's aspect

Because I went into the first 10 games,

and I was adamant they're

coming home 6-4.

And I proved them wrong.

They're coming home 7-3.

So that's why I didn't name

them right away is because

I have them at 6-4.

So it's not a surprise to me they're 7-3.

What the bigger part of the

surprise is from the Red

Sox is Tanner Houck.

Yes.

Time and time again,

every year we go into this

of why are we trying this

again with him and Whitlock,

and why are we trying them as starters?

All right,

let's go through some numbers real quick.

Tanner Houck, two starts, 12 innings pitch,

2-0, a 0 ERA, a 0.75 whip, 17 strikeouts,

which, by the way, is in the top five of

the American League, and I believe,

if I remember correctly what I saw today,

not only the American League,

but in the top five of all

of baseball through two starts.

A guy that literally is your

number five starter that

everybody said should be a bullpen arm.

And he's come out of the gate.

And essentially,

if we want to take Bieber

out of the conversation,

he's in the top four.

Who does he remind you of?

Because there's one name

that comes to mind of like

an old Red Sox.

He's the right-handed Chris Hill.

I had Derek Lowe,

but he doesn't throw the sinker.

But Derek, just his demeanor,

his stature on the mound,

and maybe his behavior

outside of the ballpark is

different than Lowe's

because I know Lowe liked

to get down and dirty outside of it.

But, like,

they're the Red Sox starting

rotation in their bullpen.

Which I'll give you all the

credit in the world because

anytime we talk about them,

whether it be on the

podcast or just shooting the shit,

you're always giving credit

to Andrew Bailey.

Always.

That was my biggest thing

about them this year.

If he can do what he did with the Giants,

I think they could be good.

The one thing you and I have

talked about on length about the Red Sox,

and I feel like we're

making this a Red Sox episode,

but that's okay.

Now, for the rest of this minute.

Yeah.

The one thing about them is

look at what the Giants did.

And can they stay healthy?

If they can stay healthy,

which we saw Trevor Story

just go down with an injury.

We still don't know the extent.

I thought we were going to

hear about it today,

but nothing's come out about it.

But the bats showed.

I mean, Saturday lost 2-1.

And it makes you wonder,

a left-handed pitcher.

That was the game I had them

losing to the Angels out of

the three games.

But it makes you wonder,

Trevor Story hits lefties.

If Trevor Story's in that lineup,

do they score only one run?

And is it a 2-1 final?

It might be a 3-2 win.

I mean,

you can go through this whole series.

I mean, all 10 games they did.

They could very well be 10-0.

There's no reason why they couldn't be.

You've got to feel bad for Beto.

The guy is literally the

definition of goes out

there and pitches his balls off for you.

Loses a 1-0 heartbreaker to

the Mariners that your

offense didn't show up for.

So what happens in his second start?

He wins a 1-0 game.

So, again,

the offense didn't show up for him.

They just played the A's.

But going through their schedule,

that game,

they should have won if the

offense showed up.

The 4-3 loss, oh,

they should have won that

game if they put up more runs.

Oh, no, that was the error game.

That was the error on Pablo

Reyes because Devers was hurt.

That error doesn't happen until 1-0 final.

So, again,

you're going back to the offense

and you need to do more.

But then they showed up in the 10th.

They put two runs on the board.

You go to Joel Rodriguez,

who time and time again

should not be on this team.

And I don't think – has he pitched since?

I don't believe so.

He pitched against Oakland,

but that was it.

And they literally had him

face three batters, and they said,

you're done, buddy.

And he hasn't pitched since.

So I'm wondering if that's a

move coming up.

Like,

he's going to – now that they're back

home, is he gone?

They're going to have been burned,

you know, back.

But then that Angels game,

they faced a lefty.

No story.

Devers makes an error at third base.

And two runs scored,

and that's how they lose that game.

There is no reason why they

can't be – have the conversation be 10-0.

Now, I also got this as the conversation.

They could very well be 5-5

if Raphael is not your center fielder.

I get that conversation, but –

The one thing that everybody

said about this team going

into the season was the

pitching is a problem.

And right now the pitching

is not a problem.

It is a bonus.

You're getting great pitching.

They are a fun team to watch.

And they take bases.

They don't steal them.

They just take them.

Jerry Durant,

I wish he stole another base

in that last game of that

Oakland series and had the

record for – I forget what the record is.

I think it was most stolen

bases to start a season,

which would have been seven.

and he would have done it at

Ricky Henderson Field,

which how fitting would that have been?

How many stolen bases would

that guy have with these rules?

Yeah, with these bases?

Jesus Christ.

Yeah.

But they're just fun to watch.

I can't believe I literally

swirled past them,

but I was trying to – I

think I was trying to more be unbiased,

but I can't not with how

good they've been,

and I've been on them from the beginning.

Yeah, you brought up Pavetta again.

Two more.

Yeah, there you go.

Astros.

So, Pavetta to me,

like when you say Pavetta,

it clicked right in my head.

Michael Walker for the Royals.

And the Royals are 6-4.

Walker right now is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA,

13 Ks, and a 0.5 A whip.

The guy leaves the Cardinals,

goes to the Padres,

was phenomenal with – or

goes to the Red Sox first,

was phenomenal for the Red

Sox while he was there.

Then goes to the Padres, phenomenal there.

And now he's with the Royals and –

I can't help but root for the damn guy.

I hated him when he was with

the Cardinals.

I hated facing him.

Yeah.

But, like, the Royals, to me, like I said,

I was watching that Kansas City game,

watching them.

They've got Raggins.

They've got Walker.

They have Insinger right now.

They're all pitching really good.

And I think that if their

bats can come around, other than Witt,

that team –

That's a very scary team

because they've got some

talent and they've got a

decent farm system that if

they need to grab something

down the road to fill in

because they're pretty weak

at second and one of the

corner outfield spots perhaps.

But they've got some talent

there in the pitching.

Actually, they need bullpen help.

I got Will Smith,

but they need bullpen help.

But Michael Walker, to me,

when you just mentioned Pavetta,

Michael Walker is the surprise to me.

I shouldn't be a surprise

because that's all he's

been fucking doing the last three years.

So there's a lot of stuff going on.

It has been Red Sox oriented,

but that's just because I

don't think either one of

us expected any of this.

We hoped for it, but we didn't expect it.

And there's a lot of stuff going on.

The Guardians, to me, again, like I said,

if you told me they were

8-2 and they had a 7-run differential,

I'd buy it.

Will that change with Bieber out?

Most likely.

But still,

it's going to be a very

interesting next season.

you know,

two weeks to see how things shake out.

Because a lot of these teams

are playing different opponents,

how it goes.

You know,

it's going to be very interesting.

So with that said,

let's keep rolling into these surprises.

And the last podcast we were on,

we were talking about Blanco.

Ronell Blanco,

30-year-old starting pitcher

that had eight career starts,

throws no hitter against the Blue Jays.

What's he doing his next start?

He goes another seven

frigging innings with one hit allowed.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't think – phenomenal.

And I looked at his stats.

He throws a four-seam fastball, a changeup,

a slider, and a curveball.

Now, he's pretty –

across the board,

and even when he's using his fastball,

changeup, and slider,

it's 39% for the foreseam,

32% for the changeup,

and 25% for the slider,

and he only uses the

curveball 3.1% of the time.

When I'm looking at it and I

was watching the game, that no-hitter,

and noticed that obviously

it was getting late in the game,

But there was just enough

difference in the velocity

between the fastball and

the changeup to make it.

It's a 93.6 average on the

fastball right now with an

85.8 on the changeup.

It's only eight miles an hour difference.

That's just enough to either

get weak contact or swing and a miss.

And the curveball drops just a little bit,

dips down.

But then what I really was

looking at when he was throwing a slider,

it's got just enough

movement from right to left

that it changes.

But the speed, to me,

shows just like a changeup

because it's actually one

mile an hour faster on

average right now at 86%.

Compared to his changeup.

And that right there, I think, to me,

was something where he's

getting all this weak contact.

Because he's not a high strikeout pitcher.

But he's getting that weak contact,

whether it be a fly ball or

just grinding it into the dirt.

He's got those three pitches

that he's basically relying on right now.

Where's fastballs?

Middle of the road for a

major league pitcher.

His changeup is just enough off.

in dips down where if they swing,

they're either ahead of it,

driving into the dirt.

And then you've got that

slider with that slight

movement and the mile an

hour difference between

fastball and slider that

he's got a good mix right now.

And I'll be very interested

in watching him as it goes

on to see if this is

something that is he's

figured out or will the

batters figure him out.

But 16 innings with only one hit baseball,

pretty damn good.

Yeah, I mean, I'm looking,

trying to figure out his next two starts.

He's got the Rangers again, it looks like,

next weekend.

I think that's a tough one.

You know, third time through,

you're going to get – or third start,

but the second time facing

the same team you just faced.

That might be a tough one.

But then after that, he's got the Braves.

So he's going to have two

tough starts coming out where –

I think once we see him

after that brave start,

if that is the case and

that's how it actually lines up,

that's where we can

actually evaluate him.

But the way he's pitched right now,

it sounds like Verlander

could be back soon.

And judging about we'll talk

about him when we get to it,

but Valdez today,

it sounds like they may

have to have a conversation

about what their rotation

looks like when people come

back and things are healthy.

If Blanco keeps doing what he's doing,

But so far, I will say,

and I'm not – and this is

not because of the incident from 2017,

but I've never been a big Astros fan.

I've liked watching them play,

but I've never been big on them.

I mean, maybe it's being a Red Sox fan.

There's been that – I feel

like they play each other

every time they're in the

playoffs the last three

real runs the Red Sox had, 17, 18,

and 21.

And maybe that's changed it, but –

I just, I don't know.

I'm not, I can't get sold on them yet.

Well, the Astros,

before they came over the American League,

were in the NL Central.

So, like, I hated them.

I disliked them because they

played the Cubs.

The only time I liked them

was when Kerry Wood was facing them.

I like coming in there.

Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman,

the killer beast.

I like those guys.

I love Biggio.

I love Bagwell.

But at the same time,

I just can't find myself

rooting for the Astros.

Generally,

but this Blanco being 30 years old,

I'm paying again back to

what I first said.

Originally,

I'm paying attention to stuff

that normally would be just

I'll see how he does in the box score.

But now I want to see him pitch.

I want to pay attention a

little closely that next Rangers series,

if that is how it matches up.

Very interesting how that does.

But then the true test, like you said,

is that Braves.

That's a phenomenal lineup,

and they're 6-2.

How does he fare against a

National League lineup that

has talent from top to bottom?

That would be very interesting.

Yeah, it looks like it's Friday.

He gets the Rangers at 8-10.

And then it looks like it's

Wednesday the 17th at 2-10

against the Braves.

Unless something changes in

Verlander's back and

they've got to shift things.

But that's as of right now,

doing the mapping out,

that's where it looks like

his next two starts will be.

Very interesting.

But that's obviously right

now a feel-good story for

the first two weeks.

Blanco in 16 innings of

one-hit baseball at age 30

and previous two as no-hitter,

eight career starts.

You know, just a great story.

definitely looking forward

to seeing how that happens.

I'll also be interested to track his,

you know, pitch velocity and usage,

you know,

because it may change next time he sees,

you know,

one of these teams like the Rangers.

Does he mix it up a little bit?

Does he use his curveball more?

It'll be very interesting to see,

but you can't help but pay

attention and root for a guy like that,

even if it's on a team that

you don't necessarily care for.

So it's,

It's definitely fun,

and that's what's great about baseball.

You can find different

players that you can root for,

and they don't have to be

on your favorite team.

Yeah,

that's the way it was with the no-hitter.

I was rooting for him even

though I don't like the action.

I root for him all the time.

I don't care what team he plays for.

No, absolutely.

So, you know, before we get any further,

why don't we just talk a

little bit more in regards

to people out there that

are listening to this,

whether you've been

listening to the podcast,

whether you're subscribed

and you listen to this and

you're part of the group

that are watching us on Facebook.

If you're interested in talking baseball,

writing about baseball,

or even just being part of

this community and you have

a favorite team, reach out to us.

You know,

we're still looking for more

people to contribute to the site,

contribute even joining CJ

and I on the podcast.

So go to the website inside

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Join us backslash and just

let us know who your team

is or what team and area

you live in that you're interested in.

communicate with us and we

can give you a rundown in

regards to what we're

looking for what our

expectations are which

aren't much mind you we're

just looking for people

like-minded that love

baseball and kind of want

to just share their love

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content uh there's a lot of

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there's a lot of stuff that'll be coming

We're trying to grow this site,

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and we can't do that

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So don't be afraid, reach out to us,

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So if you're interested in baseball,

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join us backslash and let

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We can always find space for

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And like I said,

we're just looking for more

people to love the game baseball.

So feel free to reach out.

So now we've talked about

all the biggest surprises, right?

And what's the score checked

on this Rangers-Astros game?

Let's get to the real

important stuff here.

Still 5-4, top three.

All right.

Do you want to tell us what the bet is?

Yeah, might as well.

Go ahead.

Tell them.

All right.

So apparently we made a bet.

Well, JC texted me before.

And so let's pick a game

that's at 8 o'clock when we

start the podcast.

And whoever scores a run, pick a team.

The other person drinks.

So that's what we're doing right now.

I got the game on its 5-4 Rangers,

so we take the hell of a game to do this.

Yeah, we're degenerates.

It happens.

Yeah,

it just makes it a little bit more

fun watching the games, talking baseball.

So now that we've talked all

about the biggest surprises,

in the first two weeks,

what's been your biggest

disappointment so far in the season?

The Miami Marlins.

Mm-hmm.

When we did the predictions,

I had them finishing third.

What I really go back to is

their offensive struggles.

I mean, they got pitching,

and the pitching has been a

struggle as well,

so I shouldn't say just the

offensive struggles.

But I did something the other day.

I wrote an article,

and I called it the curse of Kim.

I want to say her last name

is in the G. So if you

don't know her story,

I wrote an article about it,

but a brief summary of it is –

she was the gm of the

marlins they asked her to

take a lesser role and she

declined and decided to

leave the organization

personally before they

hired breslau I was kind of

hoping the red sox would go

get her because I thought

what she did from her moves

was fantastic especially

having a pitching factory

that they usually do and

then going out like

somebody like uh louisa

rise could go do that flip

it for the red sox and you

go get a pitcher like we

know our story with the red

sox and they won't spend money

But so she's gone.

They had, going into the season,

a pitching staff of Jesus Lizardo,

Yuri Perez, Braxton Garrett,

Edward Cabrera,

and then there was a bunch

of guys fighting for that last spot.

Well,

so the real winners of all of that

were the guys fighting for

that last spot because they

got the rotation.

And so...

Now here we are.

And the season has started.

They're 10 games in?

Are they 10 games?

Yeah.

Yes.

No, 11.

Unless you're the Dodgers.

They're 1-10.

So they played 11 games.

I don't know if they played today.

Yeah, they did.

They lost 7-0 to the Yankees.

And so I – Cortez had a shutout?

Yep.

We'll take it.

I don't know.

He went eight innings, gave up two hits.

So the resurrise is the big one to me.

And when I wrote it,

he was hitting a buck-something.

Now he's in 250.

So he's turning around.

Jazz Chisholm was struggling.

He led the team in, I believe it was RBI.

Maybe it was home runs at the time.

He led the league in a team in something.

But he didn't play today.

So...

The one thing I'm going to go back to is,

like I said, the pitching.

So Perez will get two, his story.

Cabrera and Garrett are hurt.

Sandy Alcantara is another big one.

He won the Cy Young in 2022.

He's out this year from Tommy John,

so he's not coming back until 2024,

and I think I saw May.

So the big one was Luis Lizardo,

and then their second

number two pitcher is A.J.

Puck, who is a reliever,

slash was their closure last year.

Yeah.

Lozardo, to start the year,

today he made his,

I believe it's his third start.

It's his third start, and it wasn't good.

He gave up all seven runs on eight hits,

four strikeouts, five walks,

and four and two-thirds innings.

His ERA now is up to 720.

And that's a name that, as right now,

is horrible.

Talking about your trade

value sinking like a Titanic.

Holy shit.

so I actually saw when I was

writing that article and I

was reading doing research

on it there's a chance that

lazar not just lizardo but

louisa rise is now

available for a trade they

may be selling everything

and now as far as lizardo I

get it because at the end

at the end of the day you

think of next year the

garrett and cabrera

injuries aren't bad like

they'll be back this year perez

he's gonna have surgery so

he's out until probably I

wanna say middle of next

year sandy's back in may so

they're gonna have all

their pitching and on top

of that and I think I

talked about this either

maybe twice pitching prop

when we talked about

prospects and when we

talked about pitching and

they got two prospects in

the top three of their

organization from the

rankings on our website that

There's two more arms they could add,

or they could trade and go get a bat.

So they're not a bad team.

They're off to a bad start.

And their team that was in

the playoffs last year,

this is a good stat.

I don't know if many people know this.

I added it in the article.

So if you read it, you do know it.

They are the first team, I believe,

I'm getting this correct,

in Major League Baseball

history to start the season

0-8 after making the

postseason the year before.

And so they finally got their first win,

and I believe it was Sunday

against the Cardinals,

or was it Saturday?

It might have been Saturday.

I might have broke the record.

It was Saturday.

I might have posted the article,

and they won that game.

But it's been tough to watch

for a team that I was

excited about last year,

and I thought they had a

really good shot to make a run.

I mean, they did it.

I think they've only been in

the postseason three times

in their existence, and it was 97-03.

Oh, no, 2020.

I'm sorry, 2020 they made it,

and they lost in the first round.

But that was such a weird

year with COVID and everything.

Yeah.

So does anybody really count that run?

No, I don't.

But that's one of them for me.

So for me,

and I brought this up when we

were doing the predictions for the AL.

And I mentioned the Seattle

Mariners getting off to a slow start.

Now,

they're not off to a Marlins slow start,

mind you.

They are,

I do believe they're four and six,

but they're third in the AL West.

But my biggest surprise is

everyone picking Rodriguez

for an MBV season, right?

Sorry.

He's played in 10 games, Rodriguez has.

He's got 39 at-bats.

He's only scored two runs.

He has eight hits.

Of those eight hits, only one

Only one for extra bases.

He's got one double.

No home runs and only three RBIs.

He's slugging right now,

231 with a 205 average.

He's got two stolen bases.

He's only walked twice,

but he's struck out 13

times out of those 39 at-bats.

You cannot get off to a fast

start if your superstar is

sucking out the gate.

And it may be a little harsh, but Jesus,

I know Mitch Hanager is playing well.

I know that Ty France is

hitting the ball well.

He's on paternity leave right now.

But Raleigh's hitting 200.

Mitch Garver's hitting 208.

Canzone is hitting 174.

You can't win games if you

don't provide runs.

They've got 31 runs on the year.

Their pitching staff is phenomenal,

but you can't expect them

to win one nothing every game,

two nothing every game.

They're only averaging out of their,

you know, whatever,

10 games that they played,

they're only averaging a

little over three.

If you're Team ERA,

they've allowed 49 runs.

They've allowed 49 runs on the year.

11 of those, mind you,

have come from Hancock.

Kirby's allowed six, Castillo eight,

Miller's only allowed four,

and Gilbert five.

But you cannot expect to be

winning big games if your

top player offensively,

who is Julio Rodriguez,

who a lot of people think

is a top MVP candidate for

the American League, is hitting...

and has no extra base hits

except one double in his first 10 games.

Not saying he can't turn it around,

but when we talk about

biggest surprises right now, we said,

or I said during their predictions,

that they cannot afford in

the West to get off to a slow start.

That's a slow start for your superstar.

Yeah, yeah.

I thought for some reason,

I'm trying to pull it up as

you're talking about it,

I thought for some reason he had

gone off to a rough start last year,

but I'm not seeing it right now.

I thought he did, but the whole team did.

I might be wrong on that.

I don't see it.

LA Della Cruz with an inside

the park home run.

He's exciting.

He just hasn't.

I wrote an article today in

the preview that he was

going to have at least two

home runs in that series,

and one of them was going

to be a game winner.

So I've got one of them locked down.

Now he's just going to hit a

game winner in one of these ones.

I would have bet that if you told me it,

but don't tell me things sometimes.

I was busy.

Work had me tied up pretty much today,

and I wrote when I could, but the –

that start for julio

rodriguez for mariners team

that I predicted to go deep

in the playoffs it's not

looking good after the

first 10 games right now

yeah I don't disagree with

you the team that we all

had two falling from grace

which we could have added

this to the biggest the

rangers yeah they're

leaving that division which

I guess the first thing I

thought after they beat the

cubs was son of a

Let's just stick with that, I guess,

for that division because

that gives me my other one

of my disappointment,

and that's the Astros.

You know, 3-7 start, you know,

I didn't have them win the

division when we did our prediction.

I had them finish in the second.

But getting off the 3-7,

now they had a four-game

series against the Yankees

to start the season.

But I also expected them,

like the Red Sox did with the Mariners,

to split that, and they got swept.

Yep.

Did they have a tough start?

Yes.

I mean, Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3, Rangers 4.

It's a tough start.

But we just said it.

We had the Rangers coming down,

falling back down to earth.

And they've dropped 2 of 3

to the Rangers this series,

and right now they're down 5-4.

They took 2 of 3 from Toronto,

but they started 0-4 against the Yankees.

The Yankees are another big

surprise where we both had

them finishing 3rd and

No Garrett Cole, and they're 8-2.

I mean, 9-2.

They won today.

That's scary.

Granted, there's been, you know,

other than the Astros,

they had to play the Diamondbacks, who,

for me,

between the Diamondbacks and the Phillies,

those are two teams that

are a little bit of a disappointment.

after 10 games you know the

phillies being four and

five diamondbacks four and

six I expect a little bit

more I did not see this

kind of a start now mind

you phillies are only two

and a half games back from

the braves diamondbacks are

only back three and there's

plenty of time left but I

did expect them to get off

to a little bit faster

start than they did you

could have the jay stylist

four and six to start the year

I don't know what to,

I know we're going to get

into the whole arm issue,

but for those of you stat geeks out there,

Gosman for the Blue Jays is

way down in his velocity.

That's not good.

not good at all.

And he hasn't looked good.

So yeah, the blue Jays are another name.

I mean, there's again, you know, the,

the schedule is a little

wonky to start the season.

I'd say the best.

So it'll all shake out after

the rest of April.

And I think maybe, you know,

Podcasts we do May 1st or

first week of May may sound

a little different, but the Blue Jays,

Phillies,

and Diamondbacks on top of Julio

Rodriguez, for me,

have all been disappointments,

not what I expected.

So it's going to be very

interesting to see how this

next month plays out.

But there's a lot of stuff

right now like –

Shit,

the Pittsburgh Pirates being eight

and to the everyone in the

NL Central is above 500 500 or better.

Yeah.

That's – I mean, so again,

it's only been 10 games other than,

you know,

the Padres and Dodgers who

played that series over in Seoul.

There's a lot of stuff going on.

A lot more will shake out.

But there's a lot of fun

stuff to talk about.

We can't cover it all, and we won't.

But the biggest thing,

and I think we've touched

upon it a few different

times tonight without getting into it,

is –

All the arm injuries, Tommy John,

and you and I have shared

different messages back and forth.

I know this past week between work and,

you know, stuff where I was away,

you know, we haven't talked that much.

But Tommy John is way too

common these days.

So I wanted to get your

input and kind of get your

thoughts on everything

that's going on in the

league and what you're

thinking around this Tommy

John and arm injury stuff

in the major leagues.

So what did we see this weekend?

We saw Shane Bieber,

Spencer Strider from the Braves,

Bieber on the Guardians,

Uri Perez on the Marlins.

And am I missing one?

Is it Bieber, Perez, Valdez?

I haven't gotten the Valdez yet.

Strider?

Okay.

Strider, who's also, you know, I mean,

that's speculative.

Yeah,

they still haven't said anything

about that.

I think he does need elbow surgery,

but I don't think they said

it was Tommy John or not.

Maybe I read that wrong.

Today,

Jeff Passon tweeted out that Farmer

Valdez was scratched from

his start today against the Rangers,

which is the game we, of course,

have this bet where if it was Valdez,

I'd probably take the Astros.

But he has elbow soreness,

and he's going to be

evaluated by doctors to

determine the severity of his injury.

And another pitcher that's

not having Tommy John but

is out for two months and

we'll see what happens

going forward is Garrett

Cole for the Yankees.

A lot of the things I saw

this weekend regarding the

elbow injuries was the pitch clock.

Now,

could that have anything to do with it?

Maybe, because I believe,

if I remember correctly,

last season going into this season,

they shortened the clock.

And it wasn't by much.

It was like maybe three to

five seconds or something like that.

I think they shortened it.

And people are blaming that as the reason.

Now, I saw it today a lot.

And I saw it pop up over the

weekend as well recently.

And nobody's talking about it.

Back in 2020, I think it was 2020,

it was 2021,

when the sticky stuff situation came out.

And, you know,

they were banning sticky stuff.

And they were checking

everybody's hands coming off the mound.

And they're still doing it.

I mean, it's still a thing.

Yeah.

Tyler Glasnow came out after

suffering an injury while

pitching for the Rays.

Now he's a Dodger.

And in that video,

he said that that was what

caused his injury,

was that sticky stuff was

affecting how his delivery was.

And the more and more I

thought about it after

watching that back and

seeing what's going on with everybody,

I kind of agree with him.

I don't think it's the pitch clock.

I think it's the fact of the sticky stuff.

Now,

is there still spin rate and

everything going on in baseball?

Yes.

But is that what's causing

the wear and tear on these

arms and these elbows?

I am starting to wonder if

that's it and not the pitch

clock and we're overlooking

the sticky stuff conversation.

Because the numbers from what I saw,

I believe, again,

this is what I saw and I

don't know the facts and

the statements to back it up.

So stick with me.

I believe it was 10 years from 2021.

It was an average of 25 point

four pitchers a year getting Tommy John.

Now that's you got five

starters and probably

roughly eight to seven bullpen arms.

You're talking 12 to 30 teams.

So 25.4 pitchers a year.

So we'll say 25 because the

point four is on the lower side.

So we'll say 25.

Over the last year and a half,

we're looking at an average

of 52 pitchers a year

getting Tommy John surgery.

Okay,

so I think that's where everybody's

going to with the pitch

clock because the numbers have ticked up.

Why?

What the fuck does a pitch

clock have to do with...

Because they're seeing that

stat and they're saying the

pitch clock came into

effect over that time frame.

So they're just recency biased, right?

Yeah.

they're seeing the stats of

everybody's getting this

now and they just change

things to the pitch clock.

Whereas I wonder,

and this is why I go back

to the sticky stuff is,

is just the wear and tear

and people's arms are

starting to break down

because they can't use the sticky stuff.

And I've had this

conversation with my

nephews where I've told them that,

and this is an issue I've

seen throughout youth

baseball and high school

baseball and everything.

is kids are throwing

curveballs way too soon

before their arms develop.

And I told my nephews that

they aren't allowed to

throw a curveball until the age of 13.

I don't care.

Everybody tells them,

and I will teach them,

or their father can teach them, whoever,

but they're not allowed to

throw a curveball until

they're the age of 13.

And I'm going to tell the

same thing to my son as he gets older.

Do not throw curveball.

There's so many other

pitches that you can throw

that don't affect that arm

angle and that change to

how you deliver the

baseball that will affect

your arm and hurt what you

could be in the future if

that's what you want to do

and that's where it is.

And I think that's the

problem is I think we're

getting to that point now

where you've taken the

sticky stuff out of it and

now everything's changed

and you're seeing wear and

tear getting worse.

Spin rate.

And it's all those analytics.

And I've told you this from

the beginning of the day we

started talking.

I'm old school.

I grew up in 93.

I was born in 93.

I grew up in the 90s and I

followed the box score and

I didn't care about the spin rate.

I followed...

RBIs, home runs, average.

I don't care about the OBP

and all that stuff,

but I don't care about your

exit velocity.

I never cared about your exit velocity.

I never cared about how hard

you hit the ball.

I care about what you do on the field.

And then pitching-wise,

I don't care about your spin rate.

I don't care about all that stuff.

I care about how you get outs.

Just get an out.

I want to see your strikeouts.

I want to see your whip.

I want to see...

You know, your walk per nine,

your K per nine.

That stuff I care about.

I don't care about the other

stuff going on outside of it.

I've never cared about that.

And I think that's the thing

now is you're seeing a lot

of pitchers and a lot of

young kids coming up where

they care about that.

And that's what they want to,

they want to say,

I got this nasty spin rate.

Look what I can do.

And I think this number is

only going to go up and

something's got to change.

I don't think being allowed

back is the answer,

but there's going to be

something you can do where

we can fix this.

So as you, as you're mentioning,

all this, my son and I,

he's got tryouts coming up for middle,

his eighth grade team.

And he always likes to try

to throw a slider or whatever.

I'm like, look, you don't first,

first and foremost,

your second baseman

shortstop and outfielder.

You don't need to be

throwing that shit right now.

But then I went back and thought,

cause all through little league,

Babe Ruth, middle school,

I didn't really pitch much,

but my dad growing up,

He pitched in high school.

He actually,

before they had all the levels

of minor league,

actually went to a Padres training camp.

Basically, training camp, tryout,

whatever.

Back then, I'm 42, so he's older than I am,

obviously.

But he actually had Tommy

John at that point in time.

So when he was teaching me,

You know, it was all about control, right?

Don't worry necessarily

about how hard you throw,

but understand where you

can win the battle with the hitter,

right?

If you understand who's up at bat,

if you can get in on their

hands and crowd that corner,

whether it be a righty or a lefty,

and get in on their hands,

you're going to generate weak contact.

And I didn't start throwing

the change up was the first, you know,

I threw a four seam, two seam,

and then it went directly to a, um, we,

we tweaked different change

ups and even my arm angle on it,

but I didn't start throwing a curve ball.

or slider for that matter, until I was,

like you said, 13 years old, 13, 14,

when I was in Babe Ruth,

but it was all about making sure,

protecting and not doing that

twist you know not trying to

get that snap where you're

messing with that that

nerve and that muscle so

when we started talking

about this I was reading

about the power factory and

you mentioned something

just a minute ago in

regards to I would be very

interested to see the

a number of people or

pitchers that have the

Tommy John surgery that are

starters versus back end relievers,

right?

Because you look at back end relievers,

most of those guys are

power guys that are either

throwing a high 90s fastball,

they've got a cutter or a

split finger or nasty change up.

And it'd be very interesting,

maybe over the next two weeks,

we can do some research on this.

But

it seems to be these

starters that are looking,

they're pitching and

they're always looking for,

I mentioned it earlier about Blanco,

his four pitch repertoire.

And you look at this and see

how much of this has got to

do with them trying to find

that advantage with having

so many different pitches

or trying to be more

powerful and not giving

themselves enough time to relax and

in the off season.

So they're actually throwing

almost a half a season in the off season.

And how much of that has got

to do with work that

they're doing on those breaking pitches,

the curve balls, the sliders,

all this stuff.

It would be very interesting

to see because I know

growing up and I'm older than you,

Greg Maddox, you know,

He threw 92, 93, but control.

He did exactly what I was

talking about earlier.

He knew the matchups.

He knew where he needed to be,

where the ball needed to be.

He wasn't worried about the strikeouts.

Kind of like a Kyle Kendricks now.

Well, not now, God forbid,

because he's given up way too many hits.

But earlier in his career,

when he would go seven

innings on 86 pitches,

He's generating weak contact.

Guess what?

An out is an out.

I don't give a shit if it's strikeout,

fly ball, or ground ball.

If you can get three outs on

four pitches...

That's perfect.

It may not get you the $96

million contract over four years,

but at the same time,

I wonder how much of,

it would be very interesting to see,

and this is a much bigger

project on this topic,

but looking at the starting

pitchers and look at their contracts,

but then also look at their

pitching selection of what

they have in their arsenal.

And look, because a lot of these guys now,

when it goes into the offseason,

they're not really taking a

fucking break.

They're going to the power factory.

They're trying to gain that velocity.

They're trying to work on

all these pitches.

And those pitches are what

you're supposed to be

working on in spring training.

So these guys are throwing

160 to 200 innings a season.

How many pitches are they throwing?

in the offseason.

You can throw a breaking

ball and kid around all you want,

but if you want to see

truly what you have,

you have to throw that at 100%.

You can't fuck around in the

offseason thinking you're

working on a slider or a

cutter or whatever you're

trying to without going 100%.

So they're pitching almost a

third of a season thinking

before spring training even starts.

So it'd be very interesting to see,

but this is a problem and

it's unfortunate because

you mentioned something about dads.

Not every dad out there is

looking out for their kids.

Every, there's a great majority, you know,

80% that are looking out for their sons,

even daughters for that matter.

I don't want to exclude

anyone that are looking out

for what's best for them.

Then you have that other small group.

that want the stats.

If you start your kid

throwing a curveball slider

or whatever the fuck you

think they can throw at age

10 and 11 to try to make

your little league team better,

you're just hurting them

because you're seeing it

now with these pros.

They're all looking for the big money.

They're all looking because, again,

It's all about the stat cast.

It's all about exit velocity.

They're trying to gain those advantages.

And all you're really doing

is you're hurting yourself.

So there's a lot of interesting stats.

I think you and I offline,

if we get into it,

we can revisit this topic probably three,

four weeks from now and

provide some further

information because it

seems to me off the top of my head,

you're seeing more starting

pitchers than you are closers.

Yep.

I still see one Yankees reliever.

I forget who it was.

There was a Yankees reliever, I believe,

that's been Tommy John.

Is it Loisinger?

Oh, yeah, I know who you're talking about.

But, yes, there's so much that, I mean,

fortunately for us, like –

This is new, right?

We're new with this.

We're building this podcast.

We're building the website.

But there's topics we can approach.

And any of you that are

listening that have sons or

daughters that are playing baseball,

whatever,

do not let them start throwing

that break and shit.

And even with wiffle ball,

because all that stuff

messes with your arm.

Don't let them start that

until their age appropriate.

Their bodies are still growing.

You don't need that wear and

tear on your arms and the ligaments.

Just be mindful of what

you're doing because it has

long-term effects.

And we're seeing that now

with these guys not taking a break.

And I think if you look back

when we were younger in the 90s,

how many of these guys were

actually in the offseason?

Yeah, they were doing workouts.

They were staying in somewhat shape.

But for the most part,

were they really throwing

300 to 400 pitches in an offseason?

And I think that's probably low.

Granted, they were doing that in a game,

what, back in the 70s?

Yeah.

But with how much – I wish there was –

Like I said,

I don't like the analytics and stuff,

but I would love to see

what guys threw back then

to get the 300 pitches.

I bet you that's a large

variety of multiple

different kinds of fastballs.

Yeah.

I mean,

what we have now is you've got guys

throwing 100,

and then they're curveballs

coming in at...

you know maybe mid 80s

sometimes you even see the

low 90s on a curveball but

it's off speed so I get it

you're throwing off from

you throw 100 and then you

come in with a 90 mile an

hour curveball I get it but

that's got to do with it

back then you're throwing

you know they're throwing

76 mile an hour curveballs or you know

their change ups are different.

Like I threw one of my

favorite pitches to ever

throw that I ever threw was

a circle change.

But the reason why I have arm issues,

I threw it at 11 years old.

And that's why I tell my nephews,

I'm going to tell my son

not to throw it until they're older,

because it's part of the

reason why I developed arm

issues that I literally at

one point as a catcher

through a snap throw to

first base to pick a kid off.

And

I felt my arm go, something wasn't right.

And I, the next five or six pitches,

I was bouncing the ball

back to the pitcher.

I couldn't even throw back

from home plate to the pitcher's mound.

And I played the whole season with it.

I found a way to adapt.

And I went up to my dad who

was actually the assistant coach.

Now, like you said,

my dad wasn't the head

coach and he wasn't pushing

me to throw curve balls or anything.

And, you know, I just,

it was just a freak

accident where I threw a snap throw and

it had led it probably had

built up from the fact that

I was 11 years old throwing

off speed not knowing what

I know now and it just

built up and that's what

happened and I ended up

playing the whole season

with it and I said

something before the

championship game that I

couldn't catch that day

because my arm was gone and

I didn't want to hurt the

team at that point because

now you're trying to win a

championship like you're at

that game and I'm you're

not trying to hurt the team

but yeah it's something

I took it as a learning

thing that nobody around me at the time,

I had one of those teams

where it wasn't like we had

the best kids in the league.

It was we were a good team

and everybody around us,

like nobody was pushing

anybody to do anything like that.

And we were all, I mean,

I was a junior and

sophomore in high school, so I was 15.

So my arm was developed.

I mean, not fully developed,

but it's enough where you

can start throwing a curveball.

So that's four years from 11

to 15 and my arm went.

I have a friend who had

Tommy John his freshman

year of college and then

had to have it again.

It's one of those things

where it builds up if you

don't know about it.

So if your kid, like you said,

if your kid's playing baseball,

do the research and find

out what the right age.

My uncle was my great uncle,

my grandfather's brother.

was a pitcher in the minor leagues.

And he came up to me when I

was 13 and said, even at 13 years old,

to not throw off speed.

And I said, I already was.

And he said,

you're going to have our problems.

And sure enough, he was right.

Yeah.

Stopped pitching.

That's when I became a catcher.

And then after that happened,

where the snap throw, I stopped catching.

I became a first baseman.

I played outfield.

And then eventually I just

became a designated hitter.

I just couldn't play the field anymore.

I couldn't do anything right with my arm.

There's a lot of stuff like –

Like we said, there's a lot of people now,

and I think this has to do

with pretty much any sport,

which all become centralized, right?

You only play one sport and

you work on that all year long.

And I, I mean,

I see that with my son to a

certain extent, his season just ended.

Right.

And I've already got him

signed up to do hockey

stuff starting in April.

So there's no offseason

anymore for these sports.

But like I just remember as

a kid in Little League and even Babe Ruth,

before I started throwing

sliders or curveballs and

my dad would work with a catcher.

Right.

He had track in his mind how

many of the breaking balls

I was throwing.

He would then call for me to

go to either three quarters or sidearm.

Because my four seam or two

seam sidearm was easier on

my arm and we worked on it.

It was easier,

but it also presented a

different look to the

hitter and was less stress on my arm.

And I think it's just it's

going to be a problem and

it's going to continue being a problem,

even more so now where you

see kids focusing on one sport.

It's just going to continue

and it's too bad.

And I don't know if it's a sticky stuff,

if it's just overworked,

but there's a lot more that

you and I can look into and we will,

but it's a shame to see the

pictures that we named have these issues,

not to mention the pictures

that we've seen have issues.

And then compared to back in

the nineties where you saw

pictures that didn't have the issues.

And they were phenomenal.

Now the hitters are different.

You know, there's a lot of stuff changes,

but it's just too bad

because these guys are

ruining their arms and it

may not be in the season.

You know,

it could be just something that's

going on.

It's too bad.

So at this point in time, you know,

I think there's more that

we can come back to and

circle back with this whole

Tommy John arm surgery stuff.

But right now I think if people looking to,

they enjoy the podcast.

If you, if you look at the website,

you're reading the articles

and you want to support the brand,

go ahead to the website,

go to the store inside the

diamonds.com and look around,

grab something you like,

whether it be a t-shirt or a hoodie,

like I've mentioned in

several other podcasts that we've had,

There's more to come,

but that's another way to

support the brand,

allow us to do some more fun things,

allow us to introduce a few more, um,

items that you can purchase, you know,

we're, we're working on canned koozies,

which would be great right

now while we're doing podcasts.

Um, but there's a lot of different things,

hats, but right now,

all we have is the hooded sweatshirts,

t-shirts go on to the

website store dot inside

the diamonds.com backslash,

pick something out, support us there,

pick something out that you want to wear.

And, uh, I mentioned it last time.

I think I've got a hooded

sweatshirt coming.

um that I'd like to wear

personally and it'd be

great for you guys to

support us um there's a lot

of stuff like I said we're

new coming out with more

stuff each day try and do

everything that we can to

provide those supporters

little items that they can

purchase to support the

brand so like I said

H T P S colon backslash

backslash store dot inside

the diamonds.com backslash.

Take a look,

grab something and support the brand.

Um,

if you've got ideas or things you'd

like to see us offer,

throw those out there too.

Will there be in the YouTube

chat or whatever?

Just let us know what you're thinking.

Um,

so the last topic we have tonight and

to me is kind of,

a sad topic being born in 1981,

growing up where you had

the bash brothers,

you had the Billy bean

money ball era is the

situation that's going on in Oakland.

They just announced that

they've come to terms with

the city of Sacramento and

they're going to play there.

I believe for three years,

they're going to leave

Oakland after Oakland made an attempt.

They're going to play in Sacramento at,

I believe it's the Giants

minor league stadium,

one of their affiliates.

And waiting,

I'm assuming they're doing

this while they wait for

Las Vegas to make a more

appealing option and where

they're going to play.

the last thing I'll say

before turning it over to

CJ is how the hell do you

expect a large city to

build you a huge fucking

stadium when you're not

willing to put a valid team on the field?

This is money ball to a dirt poor extent,

what they're trying to do right there.

And it is a shame.

And I feel awful that,

for the Oakland athletic

fans right now because

that's an organization that

if you had a owner that

gave a shit about the team

and actually gave a shit about winning,

they could do so much better.

That stadium is one of the

stadiums that I would love

to visit to see a baseball

game because of what I remember as a kid.

Not now.

I mean, shit,

you could go now and basically –

Steal a ticket.

But growing up as a kid, watching,

you know, McGuire, Canseco, Mulder, Zito,

you know, Tejada, all those guys play.

And now to see where it is, like,

my son loves Moneyball.

I love the movie Moneyball.

Great movie.

But to see what the hell, and to see,

I'm sorry,

but when the owner spoke the other day,

He could not even mention

who was going to be on the team.

And the only major league

player he could mention

that Sacramento fans could

have to be excited was Aaron Judge.

Like, I'm sorry.

I worked in sales for a long time.

If you're trying to sell a

city or even a potential

city to provide you with a

stadium where you're supposed to fill it,

I don't know if this guy

gives a shit about winning

or if he's all in it for the money.

I don't know why he even

owns the fucking team.

He's in it for the money.

He's doing a shit job.

Is he?

I mean, so I agree with you.

I feel terrible for the fans of Oakland.

And I love what they've done

with the whole reverse

boycott of showing up and

they sold out that stadium for that game.

That they did that.

And I love it for them as a

fan of the game.

I hate it in the aspect of

they gave the owner money.

He was down money and all of

a sudden one day he got a

random bunch of money coming in.

Because you go to a game and

you bought the ticket.

You're going to buy food.

You're going to drink.

Or you're going to buy a beverage,

your beer, soda, whatever.

You're going to get something.

You're spending money while you go there.

And he's getting what he

wants in that reverse boycott.

But what they've done so far,

as far as a team, is a terrible product.

Now, as a fan, as he's sitting there going,

you know,

the Oakland Raiders for football

went to Vegas and look what they did.

And look what Vegas Golden Knights did.

You know what?

I'll wait because...

I think from what I've understood,

and I'm not fully on the

story because like you,

I think it pisses me off

that it's the Oakland A's.

It's what you grew up with.

It pissed me off when the Raiders moved.

It pissed me off, you know,

with all the other football

teams that moved,

like the Rams moving to L.A.

and all that.

All that stuff pissed me off.

So this bothers me.

I like the idea of expansion.

I like the idea of moving a team,

like not moving a team,

but bringing a team back

like Montreal Expos.

I've said for years should

be a team again.

And so the idea of expansion, I like,

I like the idea of the expansion draft,

like the Vegas Golden

Knights in hockey and the Seattle Kraken.

That idea is fun, but

Now we're moving, so from my understanding,

the stadium won't be done until 2027.

So it sounds like they're

going to Sacramento from 2024 to 2027.

Sorry, 2025 to 2027, so three years.

And I'm just curious on this

whole aspect of what

they're doing in Sacramento.

So when you sent this to me

to set this up,

I crunched some numbers and

through the first,

I wish I went back and I

didn't have the time today to do it,

but I went back through the

first seven games of the season.

Cause they opened the season at home.

They had a four game series

against Cleveland and a four,

a three game series against Oakland.

I mean, Jesus Boston.

And after those seven games,

I took all the numbers and

I really wish I didn't.

Cause now thinking about it,

it includes opening day,

which the hype of opening day,

Everybody knows.

I mean, we're going tomorrow.

I've never gone to an

opening day in my life,

and I'm so excited for tomorrow.

So I really kind of wish I

just did six games and took

the average of what they did,

but that's besides the point.

Through the first seven games,

even with opening day,

they've averaged 6,438 fans.

Now that stadium in Sacramento,

from what I've understood, holds 14,000.

So part of me wonders,

is this move not that the owner,

and maybe his demeanor is different,

but he's losing so much

money by being in Oakland

while he waits for this move,

that going to a stadium

that only holds 14,000,

which is still more than

double what he's getting,

is that the idea of the

move is now he's not losing as much money

But the weird thing to me

with this move is what

happens to Sacramento?

There's a team there.

And with minor league baseball,

ever since COVID,

they play six games in a week,

Tuesday through Sunday.

They have a series against the same team.

So how do you do that?

Now you've got to base the

whole major league baseball

schedule off of that.

The Oakland A's are going to

play six games at home and

then six games on the road

while Sacramento's home?

So we got three games, maybe seven games,

but maybe you have four

game series against like

the Dodgers and then you

get a three game series

against the Angels.

And then all of a sudden now

you're on the road again

because Sacramento's home.

Is the name anything?

I mean, the Sacramento A's for three years,

you go get it.

No, Sacramento Athletics.

That's the biggest thing.

Everything's athletics now.

And the... That's another money grab.

Oh, yeah, 100%.

Now all the material, all the gear.

But I mean,

who the hell he's selling it to?

You've already shit on all the diehards.

But there's still I mean,

think about the Raiders.

It is the Raiders owner shit

on Oakland the same kind of

way as he moved to Vegas.

And they're still there's

still people out there that

own in Oakland that own Raiders gear.

And they're still buying it.

Like, they still care.

So, like,

you still have those diehards that care.

Are they diehards or are

they folks that have never

been to Las Vegas looking for experience?

And I hate to say that, but, like,

it would be very interesting to see.

Like,

hockey is one thing because I think

you see a lot of people

going out to Vegas during

the time frame of hockey season.

Yeah.

And football is a little bit different.

But baseball is such a grind.

81 games a year, right?

Hockey plays 82.

Football plays 16.

That's eight to nine home games a year.

Hockey's 41.

How in the fuck do you

expect to fill or even come

three-quarters of the way

full in a new stadium in

Las Vegas for 81 fucking games?

You know what would be interesting?

I'm not.

What about the – it would be interesting.

There's a Las Vegas team, right,

for minor leagues?

Yes.

Okay.

And you have Reno.

Well, that's close, right?

You have Reno that's fairly

close to Las Vegas.

Not exactly, you know, the same,

but it would be very

interesting to see Las

Vegas and Reno's minor

league numbers in regards to capacity.

Because I think you're going

to find a hard sell in the

summer in that heat, right?

Unless they build a dome and

who knows what they're going to do.

But for me, this is just, it sucks.

It sucks for baseball to see

the Oakland Athletics going

to Sacramento.

And like you mentioned, Sacramento,

that minor league team, I think I heard,

I could be wrong,

that they're even thinking

about playing that minor

league team in Oracle Park.

while the giants are gone, which is great.

But at the same time,

now you've got a stadium

that holds like 30,000 people.

It'll fill what?

Four, four grand.

Yeah.

It's just shit situation.

And it just, it's wrong for baseball.

I understand relocation.

I understand expansion,

but something has to be

done because it's not right.

What's going on in Oakland.

know what's going to happen

from all those following

prospects and the more and

more I think about it is by

the time they're in vegas

they're gonna have probably

two to three maybe two but

they're not the first

overall pick this year are

they they're gonna have

yeah no no they're not a

lot of them happened

They're going to have two to

three top prospects that

come up and they're going to spend money.

So they're not going to

competitive when they first get there.

But the year after that,

I wouldn't be surprised if

they're back in the

conversations because the

Astros are one of the worst

farm systems in baseball.

The Rangers are one of the best,

but they threw money at a

bunch of pitchers.

So what are they going to do?

I think that's where they're looking.

I think that's where the

owner's at is once we get to Vegas,

Watch the product we put out.

Man,

I think you're giving him too much

credit.

I don't think this owner gives a shit.

I honestly don't think he

gives a shit other than the

bottom dollar.

No,

it's all about money for all the owners.

I mean, as a Red Sox fan, we know that.

Yeah, we know that.

Yeah.

I mean, he didn't want to spend money.

And, you know, granted, I feel bad.

I said for the summer, I was like,

I don't know if I'll spend

the money to go to a game.

But then they hit you with

the 0-4 teams coming,

and we're doing Wakefield,

and that's what I grew up with.

I got to go.

Then the team got hot.

I mean, I'm excited about the team,

about the Red Sox.

But I didn't know if I

wanted to spend the money

to actually go to a game.

Granted, I'm spending the money for Nesson,

but... That's a whole other topic.

Yep.

We can get into that later

on in another podcast.

But it's just, you know, I had to go.

It's one of those things I had to go.

And I just, it's, I just, I think he's,

I don't know what the thought process is.

It is a money grab.

It is a money grab.

And I think that's the thing

is he is losing money being

at the Coliseum.

And the story.

That's all due to what he's

putting on the field though.

I don't know if you've heard this.

I don't know what podcast

you listen to because we

haven't talked about that

outside of here.

But I remember back,

it might have been a couple

years ago before everything changed,

but it was the,

I think it was the Barstool

podcast before Jared Kravis left.

And Dallas Braden,

who was one of my very underrated,

I think he was a very good pitcher,

was telling stories as he's

the broadcaster for the A's now,

was telling stories about

how there's like,

rats doing backstrokes in

the soda fountain and

there's the visitor was it

last year or two years ago

where the visitors

commentators couldn't go

into the booth because

there was a possum living

in there so they had to

call the game from the

first base suite because

nobody had bought it so it

was open so they put them

in there while the possum

was just living in the

commentary the visitors room

it's like he clearly doesn't

care because he's losing money.

And I think that's the thing

is I think he's losing

money and so he doesn't care.

Now, downgrading,

does he start to care

because he's not losing money anymore?

Well, it all goes, like,

you lose money when you put

shit on the field.

If you're not willing to spend,

you can only, like,

they did a real good job

in the late 90s, early 2000s,

where they hit on prospects, right?

They hit a lot on their

pitching prospects.

They were the Marlins of the early 2000s.

Correct.

So you mentioned the lottery.

So let's say that the move

to Vegas happens,

and let's say that they're

all high on these prospects, right?

Prospects are exactly that.

It's potential.

Potential means shit until

it turns into the hard work

and actually ends up in

being like real life,

good quality baseball.

So what happens if they move

to Oakland and these prospects,

you're going to have to

spend one way or the other.

You have to grab one big

free agent to kind of bring

the attention to the team

and support these young kids.

What happens if,

If they do so and these

prospects turn out not to

be the 2000 prospects,

you know what I mean?

Like, what if like,

is he going to continue to dump money?

He's going to have to write.

He's going to have to dump more money in.

And that's something he has never done.

So it's going to be a very

interesting situation.

That's the interesting thing, though,

is now that I think about it.

I think he kind of tried to

put a product on the field this year.

I mean, he went and got pitching.

I mean, he didn't add an ace.

Okay,

I'm not saying he tried to not put a

product.

He tried to do something.

He went out and got Alex Wood,

who's not a bad pitcher.

He did well in the Red Sox.

Exactly.

He added Ross Stripling.

Two guys that aren't bad pitchers.

They're on the back ends of their career,

yeah.

He's trying to bridge the gap.

I get it, yeah.

He got them cheaper,

but he got arms that are

enough to get people intrigued to watch,

is the way I would put it.

I mean, I watched that Red Sox series,

and they didn't pitch bad.

Stripling and Pavetta went toe-to-toe.

It was a 1-0 game.

I noticed you bring up the –

the Red Sox series,

but you failed to bring up

the most recent series

against the Tigers.

It's okay.

It's okay.

I know what happened.

Yeah, I know what happened.

I watched it.

Oh, I watched it.

I wish I didn't.

I watched it.

That's the other thing, too,

is they score.

They're scoring runs,

but the way they're scoring them,

I feel like it's all home runs.

And in that open ballpark,

they're not going to hit home runs.

So is that another reason they're moving?

Does the owner know something?

Like, does he look at the stats and go,

they're not hitting home run?

Again,

that could go back to the Moneyball

conversation.

Get on base.

I don't care.

Get on base.

But it's just, they are,

it's sad to watch.

It is very sad to watch.

They're a team I always rooted for.

Always rude for the A's.

I loved, I was a biggest fan of Mulder,

Hudson, Zia.

Yeah.

And then I think even

towards the end of that timeframe,

I think Rich Harden was the number four.

And I like.

And Isringhausen as a closer.

But Isringhausen was part of that.

You had to replace him.

And I liked Bradford.

I liked Bradford as a closer.

Hatterberg.

I loved Scott Hatterberg.

Yeah.

Um,

You know, Tejada left, but I like Tejada.

I was always a big Tejada.

I like the A's.

I've always liked the A's.

It's like we've said time and time again,

it is sad to see.

But I think overall,

when you look at the money aspect,

that's where I go back to.

I think he's losing money.

And I think he had to find a way to,

because I saw, I saw,

I feel like that there was

a conversation of them

playing at the AAA Las

Vegas stadium while they

waited for the move.

I did see that, but I mean,

I think as we talk about this,

it would be very

interesting because you

brought up a point where we

both did in regards to prospects.

It would be very interesting

to track their, while he's been owner,

right?

What they've had for hits and misses.

in their prospects most

recently because we're talking,

I think anyone that's a new

baseball fan or younger baseball fan,

when they think A's,

maybe they didn't grow up with Henderson,

Stewart,

and Walt Weiss and the rest of

the group with Canseco and McGuire.

I think a lot of people

probably relate to the a's

in the money ball and most

of it may be what they know

from that movie so we'd be

very interested to do a

little like kind of deep

dive into their prospects

from let's say 2000 shit we

could even do 2015 and on

and see where they are I would love that

You know what I mean?

It would be interesting

because I think this

situation with Oakland is

going to be developing.

I don't want to beat the

dead horse now because I

don't think either one of

us like the situation,

and there's still more details to come.

But I think that's something

we could look into and

revisit on a small portion

of a podcast just to give

an idea in regards to what

they hit on from, say, 98 –

to 2008 versus what they've

hit on from 2008 to 2015 from 2015 to now,

just to give an idea in

regards to when you're scouting baseball,

there's no proven science to this shit,

you know, stuff happens.

And I think that could be part of it.

Like you said,

part of the situation is all

of a sudden he's losing

money because the people

that they're putting money

into is dying out.

So, uh,

Let's just go real quick.

I'm going to bang this out

real quick because I think

this is a miracle.

You said 2015, so I just pulled it up.

And then one overall prospect, Matt Olsen.

Fuck me.

Run in.

The third overall prospect, Matt Chapman.

He's having a fucking good

year with San Francisco, too.

The second one is somebody

none of us have ever heard of.

Franklin Barreto.

Is he a pitcher?

No, he was a middle infielder.

Yeah, sure he is.

He worked out real well.

Oh,

he was the number one prospect in 2016.

That worked out real well.

Yep.

It continued in 2017 as the

number one overall prospect.

So that tells you all you

really need to know.

The other one, I went to 2018,

and I just wanted to say

this really quick.

the top two prospects that year, A.J.

Puck and Jesus Lizardo,

who are now the one and two

starters of the Miami Marlins.

Did they trade them to the Marlins?

Yeah, but I forget what the trade was.

Was that for Marte?

I think they were separate trades.

I think they were both separate.

I think the Marte was Lizardo,

and I feel like Puck was

either a free agent signing,

and it continued, by the way, in 2019,

but Lizardo jumped to one

and Puck went to two.

So for our listeners,

without boring them to death,

why don't we make a promise

that we'll dive deeper in?

Because maybe we can prove

that the owner and the scouts there,

part of the organization,

were in trying...

to build winning teams and

unfortunately some of these

prospects didn't pan out or

perhaps the prospects that

they traded at the time

weren't what they thought

they were of caliber and

now have turned into more

and what they got for

pieces to try to win didn't

pan out so I think this is

a much bigger project for

us to look at because

there's so much to dive

into like we're assuming that this owner

is just losing money hand

over fist and really didn't care,

but maybe he put in the

effort and his scouts manager, everyone.

And they were just dealt

with trying to do too much

with too little.

And they did stuff too soon

because there's, there's a, I mean,

Frankie Montez.

Yeah.

Pitching with the reds right now, you know,

there's a lot here.

And I think this is

something you and I can

dive into a little bit

deeper and revisit the,

later in the year to kind of

touch base as we find out

more with what's going on

with Oakland and was saving

our listeners some time.

But, you know,

obviously there's a lot going on.

And obviously this Oakland

situation is something that is, you know,

anyone that's been a

baseball fan for a long

time knows that the Oakland

athletics being a team that

has value to the West and,

is is good for baseball and

I think we should revisit

it and we can so you know I

don't know about you I'll

ask you but do you have any

last thoughts on the first

two weeks of baseball no

I'm excited it's back I'm

excited where things are

going I think this is going

to be one of the most

chaotic seasons we've had

in a while the way things

have started out I mean

that might be wrong coming

out of the year but

I am excited for tomorrow.

I'm excited to go see that 2014.

I'm excited to see Bale pitch in person.

I haven't done that ever.

And I'm excited to see the Orioles,

you know, in person.

Although I've seen a lot of

tweets of there's three

names that a lot of people

as Orioles fans want off

the team and they want the prospects up.

So I'm excited to see that happen.

I've seen I'm not going to

name names on who's cut but

I've seen that they want

mayo and uh holiday up ace

out and they're pissed out

what they're putting out

there right now so that's

an interesting conversation

yeah absolutely so you know

me as well I'm excited to

go to my first opening day

in seven years um I'll sure

I'll reach out to you

tomorrow once I get there

and get things figured out um

But yeah, there's so much going on.

And I think that as we

continue to grow this podcast,

we'll take deeper dives

into some of these topics.

And, you know,

not saying we're going to

branch off and have

one-offs and record more

than one night a week,

but there's definitely some

need for some deeper

conversations on some of these topics.

And

we'll try to do our best to

provide our insight and a

little bit of research to

show you what we're talking

about but first two weeks

have been great like I said

earlier uh I'm watching a

hell of a lot more baseball

than I used to I'm having a

lot of fun doing it and I'm

really looking forward to

experiencing opening day uh

with my 10 year old

daughter tomorrow and uh it

just goes to show extending

that family tree of love

for the game and uh I'm

really looking forward to it so

For me,

I want to thank all our listeners

for listening tonight.

You know, follow, subscribe,

follow us on all the

channels through social media.

I'm really enjoying doing

this and talking baseball with you, CJ.

And, you know,

I appreciate all our

listeners and I hope

everyone tunes in to a future podcast.

How about you?

I can't wait to update

everybody on our bet.

It's 10-5 Astros,

so things are looking great for me.

Yeah, good for you.

Yeah.

Good for you.

Enjoy, everybody.

We'll see you guys next week, hopefully.

All right.

Thank you, everyone.

We appreciate it, and tune in next week.