Trade Deadline

JC and Chris discuss the last week of baseball, standings, and more!

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 to

Inside the Diamonds Podcast.

I'm your host JC and I'm

joined again tonight with CJ.

Hey CJ, how you doing?

I'm fantastic.

Ready to talk about

everything that's going on right now.

Yeah,

it sucks that the trade deadline is

tomorrow at 4.

I don't believe I could,

I don't think we both could

pull out a PTO day and call

it quits and just cover

baseball live stream all

day as fun as it would be.

But you know what would happen?

We'd end up doing it and not

a single move would be made.

that and deadline's actually

six this year is it six

yeah I always remember

being four o'clock so

that's that's interesting

I'll be very interested to

see what happens uh as you

said there's a lot going on

not just trade deadline

mentioned but there's also

some injuries some

extensions some shifts that

will happen in the

standings but uh to kick it

off tonight and dive right

in why don't we talk about

one of the league division leaders

the Milwaukee Brewers and

their key injury that they

just suffered with

Christian Yelich and what

that means for them.

We got breaking news.

Well, of course we do.

Expect this the whole episode.

Yep.

Ahmed Rosario is heading to the Dodgers.

Really?

Didn't we talk about that

early on in the year?

I thought so.

And I talked about Isaac

Paredes going to the Cubs

and that happened four

months way too late, but

interesting who's he going

for doesn't say yeah I'm

waiting for it to come in

so what did okay so

interesting this was this

is not what we had talked

about or not on the agenda

um how does this make you

think in regards to the

overall health of bets and that infield

it's gotta be a lot of questions.

Like, I mean,

does it open the door for

somebody like Kike

Hernandez to get moved?

You know,

utility guy where in the aspect

of maybe they acquire a prospect for Kike,

not a top tier prospect, obviously,

but I mean,

it opens the door for guys like him,

Chris Taylor, they might get moved.

I mean,

they just keep stocking up on

infielders who move all over the place.

Like we talked about earlier, um,

We'll get to it in a little while,

but Mookie Betts, you know,

he's the shortstop when he's healthy.

He can play second.

He can play outfield.

So they got Rosario.

So does he move back to the outfield?

Is he going to play second?

What about Gavin Lux?

What about – yeah.

So let's table that because

now everything – well, screw it.

We'll table it for now,

but it just opens up those

doors that I want to talk

more about Mookie when we

get back to the Dodgers.

So –

As CJ mentioned,

hopefully they'll be within

this hour that we're on.

We'll hear some more news,

some different trades coming in.

But back to the Brewers,

who we both were thinking

that they were on the verge

of most likely going to

lose that division just

because of how the

Cardinals have been playing

and also the steam that the

Pirates were getting.

But Christian Yelich going

down with an injury.

They're 2-2 without him.

17 and 14.

I think that's outscored.

Outscored, 17 to 14.

And they're just really not

good without him.

He doesn't have the power

numbers that he did a few years ago,

but he's that constant contact hitter now,

hitting it to the gaps,

hitting for average,

and he was stealing some bases.

That's a huge gap,

especially with Bryce Terang.

Not hitting the way he was.

Jackson Cheerio hasn't been

playing up to where he was supposed to.

You know,

everyone thought he was going to be.

So what's your opinion on the Brewers now?

And what's left for them?

Are they a team that targets Brent Rooker?

I think they've got to be in

the conversation for

somebody in the outfield

because Yelich sounds like

he's going to avoid surgery.

He's going to go with the rehab route.

And so who knows how long

that relatively is and who

knows if it doesn't lead to surgery.

The issue now is what we've

talked about in recent

weeks is them losing the Central League.

And I think the Cardinals

going four and six in their

last ten has helped them.

Whereas the Pirates at six and four,

if they can go get somebody, you know,

for an outfield that like

if they get Rooker and steal them,

then the door is still open.

But right now it's still the Brewers.

And realistically,

the stretch they have

coming is where I have my

questions of what happens next.

and I sent it to you earlier,

right now they have a

six-game lead in the division.

Yep.

You're going to face the Braves,

the Nationals, the Braves, the Reds,

the Dodgers, and the Guardians.

Realistically, that's three,

maybe four series they may not win.

Yeah.

I mean, they should win the Nationals,

and they should win the Reds series.

But you drop – really,

if you think about it,

you come out of those first

two Braves series, because it's Braves,

Nationals, Braves.

You come out of that after the trade line,

and you relatively should

know where they're sitting,

if this could be an issue

where they're losing the

division lead or if they're keeping it.

Now,

as I've thought about it more and more,

if they do lose the division lead,

I think they still might

make the playoffs.

Yeah, there's a lot.

I mean, with 60 wins right now,

they would have to fall drastically.

I mean,

they're 6-4 in their last 10 games.

The Cardinals are 4-6 and

the Pirates are 6-4.

That's a lot of ground.

Can it be done?

Yes.

But that's a huge gap

because it's not the first

time he's been injured this year.

It's just the timing this

time around that makes it a

little bit more interesting.

You see the Cardinals adding pieces.

Pittsburgh's playing well.

It's just...

I mentioned this today in an article,

or I didn't mention it.

I was thinking about today

in an article I wrote in

just a roster of moves for the Reds.

They've dealt with a bunch

of injuries and so have a

lot of other teams.

But I think about the Braves.

We've talked about it.

They get hit with big key players.

Their top players, Acuna, Albies, Strider.

You take those three studs, Lopez.

Thankfully, he's good.

Yeah,

but if you were to take three of the

top players, your top, your ace, you know,

on paper, your ace,

your star outfielder and a star infielder,

who's surviving that?

Not many people.

Right?

So it'll be interesting to

see what the Brewers do.

Now, another piece of news before we,

you know,

there's two other things we need

to talk about before we get

to the standings and get to the trades.

You and I have had several

conversations about Alex

Cora being the next manager

of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Well,

the other day he signs a three-year

extension, correct?

Yep.

Right?

Signs a three-year extension.

21.75 mil, I believe.

Yep.

And I think it's well worth it.

I think...

I think what he has done

with his staff collectively, you know,

we've talked plenty about Bailey.

I think he's – you have to

think about the Red Sox and

anyone that they're

overachieving for what they

– because they've been

through a bunch of injuries too.

So what's your take on the

extension for Cora?

Do you like it?

What's it mean?

What are you looking forward to?

What's your take?

I'm excited that it happened,

and I think the biggest

takeaway from it is –

I think the biggest thing

from it is that he's going

to be here with the big

three prospects that we

talk about all the time.

So you're seeing what he's

been able to do with the

staff he has with guys like Duran.

Rafael should be in the

rookie of the year conversation.

You know,

Connor Wong's coming into his own.

And Casas and all those names.

And so now you're going to

add in to the fact of Kyle Teal,

Marcel Meyer, Roman Anthony,

maybe even guys like Christian Campbell.

And now you have stability

leading that home to lead

them going forward where realistically,

like you just said,

they're overperforming this year.

So the excitement should

just be even higher now in Boston.

And I like what they've got coming.

And like you said about the

whole money thing of not being bad,

I think he kind of, in a way,

addressed that in his press

conference after where he just said,

you know, my family likes to be here.

I think he said his daughter

is going to be graduating soon, you know,

and everybody in his family

just likes being here.

So it wasn't for him about the money.

It was they found a home.

They're comfortable.

And the Red Sox, you know,

met them pretty much

halfway right there and said,

we're going to pay you like

the top manager you are.

But you're not going to be

the top paid manager.

And so they came to a deal.

I really like the fact that

they wanted to get it done

so bad that you saw Craig

Breslow fly out to Colorado.

And the deal was official

literally in the second

inning of that game.

It was wild.

It said, oh, the deal is close to done.

And that was before the game started.

And I was like, all right,

so they'll have it done

maybe on the flight back on tomorrow,

tonight, tomorrow, whatever.

And then it was like the second inning,

deal is done.

So I'm like, the core,

just go down the tunnel and

just sign the contract with Breslau.

That was just how it came out.

I mean, that just to me speaks volumes.

Like you're getting to flying out,

showing how important it is.

to Cora,

to the organization and get that done.

That to me was, I did,

I guess it was out of sight,

out of mind with everything

else going on that I didn't

expect it right now.

Maybe at the end of this season,

expected maybe something to happen.

They kept saying,

we're not doing it during the season.

We'll be done in the off season.

And that was literally like

just everything broke that day.

Like I think the first pitch was at 310.

One o'clock,

it's like the news started to

trickle out.

Yeah,

it's definitely interesting and good.

And as bad as this last

series with the next team

we want to talk about, the Yankees,

they didn't play well last night.

necessarily didn't pitch

well another tannahawk

outing that was just

lackluster which we can get

into later I wouldn't say

he doesn't he's not the

punch out numbers no he was

punching some people out

earlier on and he's just

not missing the bats like

he was before his control

has definitely gone down

but I mean thankfully you

got six things out of him

because after the first at

least you're gonna get

three or four and the bullpen is taxed

And so, thankfully, he was able to go six.

I thought it was interesting

that I think in the aspect,

we're getting a little off topic,

but just in the aspect of I

thought it was interesting, you know,

everybody had the gut

feeling Weissert was going

to get optioned to AAA.

And, you know,

they let him go to the eighth,

and then you brought out

Cooper Criswell for the ninth, which...

Cooper Criswell is now in

the bullpen with the

acquisition of Paxton.

But why would you not have

Cooper Criswell as your one

healthy arm going into tonight, you know,

with Pavetta going and what

Pavetta has been doing lately?

Thankfully,

he's pitching fantastic right now.

But it's a question mark you had where,

you know,

pretty much all of your bullpen

except for Criswell and

Weiser had thrown both

Friday and Saturday.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it was just –

one of those situations

where I didn't know why

they just didn't let

weissert ride it out the

game was pretty much out of

hand yeah everybody kind of

just knew it but to go to

criswell for one was an

interesting call and now

weissert sent down to to

worcester and here we are

yeah yeah a little little

confusing but you know I

think the big thing is

reslo sees the value in cora

But also sees how he's

getting production from

some of these guys that no one, you know,

role players or, you know,

some of them maybe on other

teams would be down the minors.

But they're getting

production out of them.

They've got Teal,

Marcel Meyer and Anthony coming up,

as you've mentioned previously.

They've got options now

where they can make some moves.

I know that we've talked

about them perhaps looking at a, you know,

whether it be crochet or

someone else for a stud

pitcher to kind of throw

into this mix as a lefty.

They've got the pieces now.

You see them making a move today,

but they've got some pieces

to really compete with the

teams like the Orioles and

the Yankees over the next few years.

They've got some interesting

options with things that they can do.

I'm really excited.

I'm glad to have Cora back.

With all that said,

what's your take on the

Yankees now that we've

seeing them for the last three days.

Well, they had a good series.

They played well.

Realistically,

that could have gone either way.

Friday night,

they definitely could have won that game.

Red Sox came back.

Saturday, again, either way,

Tyler O'Neal makes that

catch against the wall.

Red Sox win the series.

Sunday was all Yankees.

The one thing about them

from the past week was that

team does not want to see

the New York Mets ever again this season.

For instance, this season, just simply,

the Yankees are 0-4 against the Mets,

and they've been outscored 36-14.

And I watched – I want to

say it was Wednesday

night's game because the

Sox played early –

And Garrett Cole got the start,

and it was just – they

destroyed the Yankees.

I think it was the eighth inning,

and I had it on,

and Garrett Cole obviously

was out of the game,

and it just kept getting –

they just kept scoring.

Like,

the Mets lineup was just fun to watch

that night.

The one player on the Mets, though,

that is destroying the ball

right now is Francisco Lindor.

And since May 18th, in 61 games,

he's hit just under .300.

929 OPS, 15 home runs, 45 runs scored,

41 RBIs, 15 stolen bases.

The more so question from

transitioning from the

Yankees is the other team in New York,

the Mets,

and they are currently in the

final playoff spot.

Is this team good enough to

make the playoffs?

And also,

I know Otani is having the season

he's having and

realistically should be the

National League MVP.

Yep.

But should Francisco Lindor

start to be in the

conversation a little bit?

So I'm thinking about

National League in general, right?

Obviously,

the loud noise in the room is Shohei,

which rightfully so.

But after that,

if the Mets were to make the playoffs...

you've got a pretty strong

case if Lindor getting at

least consideration and a

good chunk of some votes.

I don't think,

I think unfortunately due to,

I think due to what

baseball is trying to do and everything.

Yeah.

And again,

I'm not saying that to take

anything away from him,

but at the same time,

what you're saying about

Lindor is valid because,

He's got the different stats to back it up,

and he's doing everything.

And Ohtani's got the Dodgers.

We all came into the season

and saw their roster.

That's loaded.

101, 100 wins.

Realistically, as we're watching it now,

when we're in the end of

July heading into August in

the stretch run,

the bottom half of that

lineup isn't that great.

Look at the moves they're making.

That kind of, to me, says, okay,

it is Otani's.

But realistically,

if all the names produced

and they did what everybody

expected them to do for 100 wins,

then they still might get there.

But in the day, like, you know,

that lineup doing what they're doing,

if they were where they're

at and not going to reach 100 wins,

you got Lindor climbing

into the factor and doing

what he's doing for a team

that nobody had made in the playoffs.

What's he doing?

Two ways, though.

He's not the DH of the Mets.

He's also doing it daily in the field.

I think too often that gets

overlooked because he's got

to focus on everything.

Gold gloves to me is a great thing,

but at the same time,

it also takes away from the MVP talk.

It's almost like in football,

a defensive player can be

the best player in football, but

MVP?

Nah, never really in consideration.

And in this case here with these two,

Lindor and Otani,

Otani's offensive numbers stand out.

Power numbers are there above and beyond.

But Lindor's aren't that far

off with as you take it as a whole.

But then you put in the

piece that he's playing great defense.

You can easily make a case

for Lindor to get votes and

finish high in the MVP voting, you know,

knowing that the percentage

of votes are where they're going to end,

but still.

Right now he's third on

DraftKings for the favorite to win MVP.

Who's number two?

Bryce Harper.

Hmm.

Which, again, I can't disagree with,

but it goes to the conversation of,

like I said,

with the Dodgers of it's

another team you expect to

make the playoffs.

To me, it's somebody that, like,

who's the leader of a team

that you didn't expect to

make the playoffs?

Now, granted, you look at the Yankees,

we both, I don't think,

had them make the playoffs.

A lot of people did,

had them finishing right

there with the Orioles for the division.

Judge is the runaway

favorite right now for the

American League.

So, you know,

it's a tough conversation to have.

But I think he needs to

start being talked about.

You know,

we had the conversation for the

All-Star game.

where Alonzo was the

representative for the Mets,

and I went on my tangent

about how this should have been Lindor.

You know,

people can also say Brandon Nimmo,

but Lindor's having a better season.

And Lindor's numbers,

that's the stats I gave

from May 18th to now, you know,

he is carrying the team.

He had a terrible April,

wasn't talked about much,

and all of a sudden May

18th hits and he turns things around.

He's having a great season.

Realistically, he's hitting,

even with that bad April,

he's hitting .255 with an .807 OPS,

27 doubles, 22 home runs, 62 RBIs,

70 runs scored, 21 stolen bases,

and 40 walks.

That's entering tonight.

I really think if you see

the Mets creep in and get in, he's...

all around he's definitely

there because both harper's

been playing a lot of dh

too right and first mostly

first because schwarber's

dh ah that's right sure

yeah that's right so and

that's right reese hoskins

is is in milwaukee so you

know for me I i get the

three I just don't think

lindor is going to get the

credit due for the year

he's having unfortunately so

With that all being said,

and we can give a quick

rundown and stop me,

interrupt me at any point

in time with these

standings update that I'm

going to give that you

helped you put together.

But if there's anything that stands out,

stop me.

So we're going to go through

the standings division leaders first.

The Phillies are safe right now.

They have a eight and a half

game lead in the American League East.

The Brewers currently have a

six-game lead in the

National League Central.

The Dodgers have a

six-and-a-half game lead in the NL West.

In the American League East,

the Orioles have a one-game

lead over the New York Yankees,

previously mentioned.

The Cleveland Guardians have

a four-and-a-half game lead

in the American League

Central over the Minnesota Twins.

And then out west,

which could very well be

one of the funnest,

other than the American League East,

division battles to watch

will be Houston and Seattle tied,

both making moves,

which we'll get to in a little bit.

But that's going to be a fun

one to watch to see what

plays out there in the west,

to see who can hold on and

who ends up taking that division.

In the National League wildcard,

the Braves are one and a half game up.

Then you've got the Padres.

Wait a minute.

Is that... Just one second.

That's from the... I believe

the first team out.

Yep.

So I'm just pulling it up

here from my own knowledge

to make sure that I'm not screwing up.

So the Braves are a game and

a half up with the first wild card.

The Padres are a half game

up with the fifth spot.

And...

The Mets hold the last place

in the playoffs right now.

They hold a game and a half

or a half game lead over the Diamondbacks,

but they have a game in hand.

And then the Cardinals have

a game in hand with the

Mets and are one game back.

And then Pittsburgh has a

couple games in hand and

are two games back.

The Giants are three and a half back.

Then you've got the Cubs at

five and Cincinnati at five games back,

and the Nationals are six

and a half games back.

I think realistically it

will come down to the first

three teams mentioned, the Diamondbacks,

Cardinals, and Pittsburgh.

The Giants aren't that far back,

but unless they do something.

They're moving snow from

what it sounds like.

Okay, so we'll get to that in the trade.

piece next.

And I want to get your

opinion on that in regards

to when we get to that.

I'll finish the American

League wild card and then

we'll get into these trades.

But right now,

the Yankees have a four and

a half game lead over the

first wild card spot.

The Twins have a two game

lead in the fifth spot.

And Kansas City currently

has the last spot in the playoffs.

With that said,

Boston is a game behind Kansas City,

but they have two games in hand.

Then you have Seattle a game

and a half back,

which would mean the Astros

are also a game and a half back,

and they both have

they played one more game than Kansas City,

both teams.

Tampa Bay is three games

back with the moves they're making.

I would assume that they're

okay if a miracle happens,

but I think they're retooling, I guess,

and resetting for 2025.

And then you've got Detroit

at five and a half and then

Texas at six games and

everyone else below is

already moving pieces.

So

The playoff picture is

starting to take shape.

I think over the next couple of weeks,

we'll see that final wildcard spot.

You may see some people jump.

jumping in levels in regards

to the the fourth fifth and sixth spot,

but it's gonna be

interesting to watch and

I'm really Interested and

tuned in to the American

League West with the Astros

and Mariners right now

because they both have made

moves Which we'll get to

but it's gonna be a fun

stretch if you will to see

what happens anything

Is there any team that you

see in these wildcard races

that are further back than, say,

three games that you'd be like, yep,

I can see that happening,

them sneaking in and grabbing, like,

the sixth spot?

Anybody really in the

National League wildcard.

Yep.

Any of those teams.

You know,

it's the Pirates have the

pitching to get there.

We talk about that almost all the time.

Jared Jones,

I haven't seen any update on him.

But...

Again, at the end of the day,

I think Passon put it out

yesterday or two days ago

or something like that,

where the Pirates are like

his sneak pick to get in on

the lines of they're going

to be scary with Jones, Skeens,

and Keller.

That's one team.

The Diamondbacks, you know,

they're making some quiet moves.

The Cardinals, they made a move today,

which we'll get to.

The Giants are an iffy one

at three and a half.

Like we said, we'll get to that one.

And then the American League wildcard,

that Seattle, Houston, Boston, Minnesota,

Kansas City race is a lot of fun.

As a Red Sox fan, I really, obviously,

I'm hoping the Red Sox get in.

But, I mean, thankfully right now,

a big series,

I think the next two weeks

for the Red Sox is going to

tell you everything you need to know.

Correct.

I agree with that.

Seattle tonight,

I think they got Texas and

then I believe Kansas or Houston,

then Kansas City, then Texas again.

That Kansas City series

could be a key one.

Yep.

Depending on how both teams play.

All of them are right there

because I guess we just

said Seattle and Houston

tied one and a half back.

So you're,

I think what you're facing six games,

I think they have for those

two between those two.

So you really think about who the Rangers,

you know, the Rangers are further back,

but they're getting healthier.

And if they're playing weaker competition,

while the rest of these

guys that are fighting are

battling it out,

they could creep up and

make it closer too.

So it's going to be very interesting.

There's a, there's a lot of stuff here.

I think there's only Jesus is only really,

Looking at it,

there's only two divisions

in all of baseball that I

think probably won't change,

and that's the Phillies and the Dodgers.

any other division even with

the Brewers at six games I

think given the recent news

and them being very quiet

at the deadline to this

point I think they're the

only two the Guardians have

a four and a half game lead

and seem to continue to

keep that at the Twins at

bay but there's a lot of

divisions that are still up

for grabs and that's good

for baseball very good for baseball

perfect so before we get

into what's going on you

know we'll take a break

here and we'll do uh a few

little things but uh anyone

that wants to join us uh

we've mentioned this each

podcast we've put it out on

socials but if you're

looking to join our team

and write about baseball

whether that be a favorite

team favorite division

or even a favorite minor league team,

reach out to us at

insidethediamonds.com

backslash join us and let

us know what you're thinking.

Ask any questions you may have.

We cover anything from

roster moves to opinion

pieces to covering the trades,

giving details, series recaps,

series previews,

we talk you know cj's been

doing a lot about the the

prospects so if you've got

any interest at all don't

hesitate reach out ask

whatever questions you have

cj can give you a little

bit of a rundown in regards

to how it all works how the

flow goes what the

communication is how you

claim articles that you

want to write but also the

expectations in regards to

what we're hoping for we

are still trying to grow

getting the views up on a monthly basis,

daily basis.

So if you're interested in

writing about baseball or

just interested in joining

us and have questions,

please go to the website,

insidethediamonds.com,

backslash join us and let

us know what you're thinking.

And then CJ can give you a

rundown of what we need and

what would be a best fit.

So, all right.

We've touched about it

briefly and I can't get it

out of my head.

The Dodgers made two moves.

Today alone, they got Rosario,

who's played short for them before.

He also played second for

them before last year when

he came over from the Guardians.

You've got Mookie Betts, who's banged up,

who's been playing short.

Then they made a trade with

the Cardinals earlier today

in that three-team trade.

They got Tommy Edmond,

and they got Michael

Kopchak from the White Sox.

In a perfect world...

If you've got Betts healthy,

Edmund healthy,

and obviously I'm going to leave Lux out,

but you've got Rosario healthy.

Do they look at their

outfield right now and be like,

our best bet is moving

Mookie back out to center.

Let Rosario and Edmund play up the middle.

Or do you just let Edmund and he...

I'm not sure if he's played

yet this year or if he just came back,

but he's banged up too.

So they're getting someone in.

I don't know his contract details,

but it would be very interesting.

It's going to be very

interesting to see what

happens out in Los Angeles

in regards to how they

utilize these assets.

You mentioned it earlier about Kike.

And to me,

you only move Kike if you know 100%.

The Edmonds coming back

within the next 14 days.

Betts is healthy.

But even so, at this rate,

are you going to get a

prospect now for Kike that

you couldn't get in the offseason?

No.

You know what I mean?

So when you mentioned that, I was like,

yeah,

that can make sense if and only if

these guys are healthy.

And it also makes you wonder,

what do they know about

Betts that we don't?

Right.

I mean, Muncy's on the 60-day IL,

so Kike's realistically

could be the third baseman.

The other interesting thing, too,

is so you just said they got Rosario,

they got Edmund, but Kevin Biggio,

they have Nick Ahmed.

So there's definitely something going on,

I think,

with Mookie that we don't know

about that they're just

addressing the infield

because the outfield isn't that bad.

Hayward's been okay.

Teoscar is having a great season.

And Andy pages is not too

bad in center field.

So, I mean, they're okay in the outfield.

And again, at the end of the day,

you can put, it has been great.

You can put out and out there.

You can also put Kike out there.

Chris Taylor's hurt.

Miguel Rojas is hurt.

So those two names that,

like I said with Mookie,

are they just more hurt than we thought?

And I don't know enough

about Ahmad Rosario.

I know in the past he's been

strictly a middle infielder.

And I know that if Gavin Lux

can't make the throw from short,

he sure as shit ain't moving to third.

So in Edmond, I don't believe...

I know he's played second,

I know he's played short,

and I know he's played out

in the outfield.

I don't believe he's ever played third.

I don't believe.

He might have.

But I'm just thinking in

regards to... Kevin Biggio

is a nice depth piece.

Yes.

I'm a little shocked they

didn't go after Justin Turner,

to be honest.

Same.

You know, to play third.

Because that seems to be a

glaring hole right now.

And...

They seem to need some

stability in that bottom

half of the order.

Turner batting seventh in

that lineup changes some

things in how it looks.

It fits.

He would be terrific there,

but I'd be very interested.

Edmund has played third base,

94 games at third base.

He just hasn't played at all this year,

which is –

Well, he hasn't played at all this year.

In 2023, he played second, center, right.

I think that's all I see.

Second, center, right, and short.

The last time he played

third base was eight games in 2022.

And he also played third base in 2020.

He played 31 games of the 60 games there.

And he came up as a third baseman in 2019,

playing 55 games at third base.

So they're definitely making

some different moves to

prepare themselves for whatever.

But I really think it's

going to be interesting to see.

Hopefully Mookie comes back healthy.

I would assume if that's the case,

Rosario goes to second.

But if Edmund comes back,

which I haven't heard

anything about him in regards to what

what his timetable is that

could have just been a move

to a piece thrown in for

them for next year at this

rate or playoffs, you know,

it'll be interesting.

So with that said,

let's talk about some of

the other trades.

We talked about the Dodgers trade.

Why don't we finish out the,

that three team deal where

Vargas and two other

prospects went to the

white socks with cope check

going to the dodgers and

the cardinals ended up

getting tommy pham and they

received um eric friede

well that's see that's the

interesting move to me

because eric fetty made

sense to go to the brewers

yep and the team that's

chasing you in your

division just swooped right

in and got him in a three-team deal so

you know,

we talk about the struggles for

the Cardinals right now,

but that's a move that says

we're taking away from you

and he's going to benefit

us and we're going to catch you.

And that to me makes the conversation of,

you know,

we talked about the Brewers

start the podcast and it's,

if they Brewers don't do anything,

Then the door is wide open for the other,

really, I think the other four teams.

Because even 11 games back,

you're going to face each other.

You're going to beat up on

each other come September.

It opens the door for everybody.

I really like Tommy Pham going to St.

Louis.

And also, I saw this random stat today.

Haim Bloom loves Tommy Pham.

Yeah, he does.

He acquired him when he was in Tampa.

Yeah.

He acquired him when he was

with the Red Sox,

and now even though he's

not the chief baseball operations for St.

Louis, they find a way to bring him to St.

Louis where Haim Bloom is.

Yep.

So I like the interesting

move I really like that I

don't think it's talked

about from that trade.

Miguel Vargas to the White Sox.

Yep.

Is that a signal potentially

Luis Robert being traded by tomorrow?

There's a conversation being had,

and Luis Robert is out.

Now, I know Robert plays right.

Miguel Vargas is usually this year.

It seems like he played left field.

But it's an outfield bat that is younger.

I think he's younger than Robert.

Robert is young.

What if Robert ends up in Milwaukee?

Now we open the door to

conversation again.

Milwaukee is a team again.

They need it.

So Milwaukee's in a phase

where either they're going to do,

they're going to do nothing and be like,

Hey, look,

we probably shouldn't have been

here anyway.

We've got a,

we've got young pitching coming up.

We've got some underperforming young guys.

Do we want to take away from

our core when we're not

going to win the world series?

Do they just stand pat,

which I can see them almost

doing something like that

or doing something similar

to what Tampa has done in the past,

looking at let all the big

guys go and start fishing

in some smaller ponds to see if they,

you know what I mean?

But I think anything they do,

I do not see Milwaukee going at, sorry,

I do not see Milwaukee

going after a rental.

If they're going to give

something up... Robert is younger.

Yeah,

so I think they'll be very calculated,

see what they do,

see what the asking price is,

and grab pieces that are

not just for this playoff stretch,

potentially, but for next year.

Because they do have the arms coming.

You've mentioned Woodruff coming back.

They still have Freddy Peralta.

They have some of these

young pitchers in the minors.

It'll be interesting.

But the Brewers...

are a team for me that I'm

watching because if they

don't do anything,

I think it could be almost

just as good for them as if

they went out and got

something given in regard.

I mean,

they're very realistic organization

of where they're going to be.

So that'll be interesting.

Some of the athletes are high, too.

Yeah, right now, I'm sure.

They don't want to move certain pieces.

They like what they have in the system.

We talk about Jacob Misurowski,

we talk about Gasser.

There are names like Tyler Black,

who's made his debut this year.

Teams asking for that,

for guys that have control.

Is that the thing they're looking for?

Are they looking for names

that have control for beyond this year?

And obviously, if that's the case,

then teams are coming and saying, hey,

we want so-and-so,

like a bigger name prospect.

That's one thing with all these trades.

You don't really see a top

10 prospect being moved.

except for I think the

biggest one was yesterday

was Jason Adam going to

Tampa and the key piece going back,

I mean,

going from Tampa to San Diego and

the key piece going to

Tampa from that was Dylan Lesko,

who was in the top 100 for ITD.

So, I mean,

I think that was the biggest

name prospect-wise to be moved.

Yep.

And so that just goes to the asking part.

So the relievers...

are fetching the biggest prospect hall.

Whereas the starting pitchers, the bats,

they're not bringing in

what you would expect them to bring in.

No.

So let's, uh,

run down just a couple of

others that have happened.

Jazz Chisholm,

who went to the Yankees and

actually started at third

base night and hit his home run.

I believe that it was tonight.

Um,

Carlos Estevez has been

traded this weekend to the Phillies.

I think that makes the

Phillies World Series favorites.

100%.

Because now they have the best bullpen,

I think, in baseball,

and they rank in the top in

most of the categories.

Yeah.

They had, what, two,

maybe three relievers named

to the All-Star team?

Yeah.

In another trade we'll talk

about in a minute, like, they moved –

Sir Anthony Dominguez and

Kristen Pache to Baltimore

and got Austin Hayes.

And Austin Hayes isn't anything special,

but it's a piece in the

outfit that they needed and

has helped out.

So I think realistically,

if that's the two moves and

that's it for the Phillies,

that team is easily the favorite.

He's definitely a defensive

upgrade out in the outfield.

He's not going to wow you,

but he's not going to kill you.

at the plate either, you know,

bottom of the order.

And I think obviously moving

Sir Anthony Dominguez,

you knew something else was coming,

you know, but like you said,

if you have a bullpen like

that and you can afford to

give up and make a swap to

make your team better and

not really damaging your team,

and then to go out and get Estevez,

basically,

Look at it.

You traded sir.

Anthony Dominguez in a prospect,

I believe for Austin Hayes

and Carlos Estevez another

prospect his passion.

Oh, yeah a couple.

Yeah, he's been around for a couple years.

I think yeah posh a started

he started with a He

started with the Braves.

Yeah,

I think so so they they swapped some

pieces around there and if

you're a Phillies fan and

You have to like what they're doing.

They're not taken away from the future.

You know, that's going to crush you.

They're just continue to add.

And because you got to think for them, too,

they know just as well as

anyone that what they're adding now,

they're hoping helps them

not just this year,

but next year as well.

It's a day because the

Braves aren't going away.

What he does,

Dave Dombrowski just loves to

sell prospects in both of these trades,

which helped the Phillies big time.

He's not getting any top

prospects in Boston.

People have to say all the

time about the prospect

system after he left,

and he actually helped some prospects.

Durant is one of his.

People forget that.

You know what I mean?

They forget once they're gone,

they assume it's the new regime.

So I believe, am I wrong?

Was Randy Orozarena the first trade?

Really big trade?

Who was the first one?

first big trade it was the

second one the first one

was um aj puck from oh yes

arizona yep that's right

another reliever so randia

rosarena is now with

seattle which we spoke last

week about julio rodriguez

injury so getting randy out

there in seattle he hasn't

been the same or it hasn't

produced to the level he

did his rookie year when he

made that playoff run.

But at the same time,

he hasn't been surrounded by the same.

So it'll be interesting to see.

I think that was a good move by Seattle.

And I think he will play well.

Did he just Homer?

Yep.

Guys, he's a gamer.

He really is a gamer.

And I think he's the type

that when you're in it and

you're up at the top of the

standings and it's,

impactful each night,

he just comes to play.

So I'll be very interested

to see how that does.

What do you think of how we handle it all?

So I don't know if you saw

the clip from the weekend.

He got traded Thursday.

It was like 1.30 my time or

our time when I saw it.

But so apparently he told

Seattle he would be there Saturday,

stayed behind Friday,

and actually sat in left

field in Randy Land at the drop.

and watched the Rays play

and sat with the fans.

And then I think it was in

the third or fourth inning

or something like that,

he left and got ready to leave.

But he wanted to take it in

with the fans and be a part of it,

which I really liked a lot.

I mean, that's a team.

He didn't start there.

He got his big league debut there.

It was a Cardinals start.

Then he ended up with the Rays,

and that's the team that

gave him his big break.

So he stayed to take it all

in for a couple innings and then left.

Yep.

I like it.

I think that spoke volumes.

I mean, obviously,

anytime a guy gets traded during a game,

you're interested to see how they react.

I think what he did for the

fans and just the

appreciation makes you like him even more,

root for him even more.

Just, you know,

a lot of guys would be like,

I'm out of here.

I want to go.

But he knew they weren't

making the playoffs,

but he stayed around for appreciation.

What?

Jalen Beeks going to the Pirates.

Really?

Mm-hmm.

And they are getting

double-A left-handed

pitcher Luis Peralta to Colorado.

Okay.

That's interesting.

But I like it.

I think Beeks is left-handed, right?

Reliever?

Mm-hmm.

Was a Red Sox.

He's out in Colorado.

Tampa.

Okay.

Tampa, that's right.

He was part of the Eovaldi trade.

Yes, he was.

Interesting.

He was the name.

Okay.

So the other trade,

there's a couple of other trades.

We've talked about Tommy

Edmond and Koczek going to the Dodgers,

Pham and Fetty going to St.

Louis, Vargas, Alexander Albertus,

and Jarrell Perez back to the White Sox.

That trade keeps changing,

so I don't even know who the problem is.

Yeah,

and I think it probably will continue

until they figure it out.

But the other trade,

raid that happened today

that you and I have talked

about was between the

boston red sox and the

pittsburgh pirates nick

yorkie or nick york heading

to the pirates for quinn

priester and we both have

talked previously and I

like the trade I mean I

like the priest uh priester

as a potential holding that

fifth spot for Skeens to start the year,

just due to the fact of his

control and the ground ball pitcher.

What did you think of the trade?

I like the trade for both sides.

And realistically,

when we talked about this,

I've followed Priester

since he got to Altoona.

And I've thought he could be

something that, in the right situation,

if he figures everything out,

he could be a good pitcher.

Um, Nick York liked him for the Red Sox.

Obviously when he got drafted,

nobody was thrilled about

it because he wasn't a first round guy.

Like nobody saw him as a first round guy.

Red Sox loved him out of high school.

I think, believe he had a shoulder issue,

um, his senior year and didn't play much.

I think it was also the COVID year,

if I remember correctly.

No, that was Meyer.

So it might've been a year

before a couple of years before.

But he's one of those guys

where we talk about at end

that the Red Sox are blocked.

Every outfield position is a question mark,

and that's where he started

to play outfield.

And then the infield got blocked.

You traded Sale for Von Grissom.

You got Meyer.

You got Devers.

You got Casas.

So where does he fit in?

So the writing on the wall

was for York to be traded

this trade deadline or this offseason.

Um,

I think a lot of Red Sox fans judging

by what I saw on Twitter wanted

it to be a bigger name for

York because of what he had

been doing at AAA.

I mean,

he was tearing the cover off the

ball once he got to AAA.

So I think people expected more.

The thing with Priester is he,

despite not being in the top 100,

because he's not a prospect anymore,

he's right away going,

both of those guys are

going right to AAA for

their respective teams.

But Priester is a guy where we,

especially me, you know,

have glorified the Andrew

Bailey effect where he's a

guy that I think with

Bailey can turn in something.

He's a five pitch pitcher.

You know,

he's got a high ground ball percentage.

He doesn't issue walks.

He is the definition of

fitting into the Andrew Bailey mold.

And that's why I think this

trade was done.

He's under control.

So he's under team control.

He fits right in to what the Red Sox need.

He's not...

when I say it fits in right

to the Red Sox need,

it's more along the lines of, like,

we talk about their farm system and,

you know,

the big three that are coming up.

But we don't talk about the

pitching that's there.

And there's a couple names to watch,

but they're not top 100 guys.

They're just barely, you know,

trickling into the top 10.

But Priester's a guy that

you could watch this year

at Worcester and

along the lines maybe

towards the end of the

season when the bullpen

might be tired or there's

an injury and you need a

starter you could see him

called up and see what he

can do when you know you

have a glimpse into

something so realistically

the trade from both sides

because I love watching the

pirates I got the game on

my little tv right now

because they're playing the

ashes with schemes on the

mound I think both guys

realistically should be up

by the middle to end of august

I think York deserves his

shot at the big leagues,

and I think he should get it this year.

It's an outfield bat that could be used.

So that trade I like a lot.

The other trade that

happened today that I don't

think you mentioned was

Justin Turner to the Mariners.

Yeah.

And I thought he was coming to Boston.

Yeah, that one made a lot of sense.

I thought that was a reunion.

Now he's coming to Fenway,

but not for the Red Sox.

The one thing with the Turner move,

I think it makes perfect sense.

Ty France was also traded today,

who after being designated,

he's going to the Reds.

The trade from this weekend

that really to me is like,

I understand why the leash was so long.

And it kind of,

when we were talking about

Randy Stan and Randy Land,

is the Christopher Morrell

going to Tampa and Isaac

Paredes coming to the Chicago Cubs?

I watched that video several

times of Morrell leaving

and just saying his goodbyes.

The guy is just such an energetic guy.

So much appreciation for the game.

And I look at him and Randy

being very similar in

regards to their approach.

to the life I guess the life

of baseball and the

appreciation and for me as

much as I loved christopher

morrell just because of his

energy he wasn't hitting

the ball for average he was

just power I had mentioned

it early on that the cubs

trying to get isaac paredes

and actually randy in a

trade to play you know out

in the outfield because at

that point in time

they hadn't signed Bellinger,

but I think Isaac Parades

is a great move.

I also,

the Cubs also traded for Nate Pearson.

The Red Sox traded the

reliever from Toronto.

The Red Sox also made a

trade and got Danny Jensen,

who could be the first

player ever to play for

both teams in one game

because of that suspended

game with Toronto.

So I thought that's pretty cool.

Obviously,

the coinciding move was Reese

McGuire had been DFA'd,

which there's a whole

podcast we could do on DFA.

Him alone.

Yeah.

Reese McGuire and his stuff.

That might be a different one.

But there's been a lot of

trades happening.

There's a lot more.

Paxton, that's right.

I think that the biggest names left,

Robert, Crochet.

He's not moving.

You don't think he's going to move?

Crochet shot himself in the foot.

True.

His comments about he won't

pitch in the playoffs

unless there's an extension.

All of a sudden,

his name's dropped off the table.

Nobody wants him anymore.

Well, it is funny.

Well, how much of that's got to do with,

you know, a guy saying he, well, I mean,

unless he likes Chicago that much,

all of a sudden,

since he shot himself in the foot,

as you mentioned,

Blake Snell's popped up.

And to me, I don't,

how the hell do you move

Blake Snell and get

anything in return other

than someone being utterly

ridiculously like overwhelmed with,

people being blocked

prospect wise that could

benefit san francisco and

taking a shot on a guy to

get him for who he was last

year we had this

conversation early on he's

an every other year guy it

seems recently I i don't I

can't even imagine what

would you I mean okay let's

say it's boston where are

you starting with what are you offering

I think so.

I think at the end of the day,

no matter what happens with Snell,

I think the reason he's

available is I think

they're expecting like a

5.30 full-blown panic phone

call from somebody.

I think that was just a

rumor just to know Crochet

did what he did.

And everybody's going to watch Scooble.

Scooble's going to be the

name to watch until about 4 o'clock,

and I don't think he's moving.

And then I think somebody's

going to panic once they

see Flaherty get moved.

And then, no,

the other two aren't going anywhere,

and they're going to call

San Francisco for Snell,

and they're going to overpay.

It's going to be a panic move right at 530,

right to get the trade in

right before the deadline.

And that's the only thing

that makes sense to me on

why his name has surfaced

is they know that's going to be the case.

They're going to call – some

teams are going to call

Chicago about Crochet,

and they're going to think about it,

think about it,

and then they're going to

try to talk to him because

they're going to try to get

permission to talk to him.

They try to do a silent trade.

They try to get the trade done,

get the extension done right away.

But if they can't do that,

then they're not going to

waste their time and

they're going to pivot.

And at that point,

it's going to be like 5 o'clock,

last-ditch effort.

They're going to make the

phone call to White Sox.

Not going to happen.

5.30 comes, 5.45.

Okay, fine.

Let's just go get Blake Snow.

We need a left-handed pitcher.

Let's go do it.

So it's funny you mentioned

that because we had talked

last week and I threw out Justin Steele.

You have to wonder some of

these teams that, I mean,

James Tyron is a name that

had been thrown out and it

seems to have quiet recently as an arm,

but Justin Steele.

That's a Flaherty move.

Once Flaherty is decided.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think there's tiers.

Like you said,

I think once this one drops or okay.

Asking price moved down the second tier,

uh,

But I think with the Cubs having Shota now,

and they still have Jordan Wicks,

who I think there's something there.

But he reminds me way too

freaking much of Boston's

Eduardo Rodriguez,

not World Series years.

Because, Jesus,

I don't know if I've seen a pitcher,

two pitchers,

that see more full counts

than those two guys, left-handers.

So I think the Cubs probably

mentioned or maybe leaked

the steals stuff simply to

see what they get for a, you know,

last ditch call when, you know,

crochet doesn't get moved.

So it'll be interesting.

I think we both believe that the,

the most likely next bat to move,

at least I do.

I don't know.

I'll see if you agree is Brent Rooker.

Yeah.

because of where he is in in

oakland they they're moving

they're reluctant to trade

them that came out

yesterday why who the

hell's going to see him in

sacramento for two years I

think they're hoping that

they can you can only fit 5

500 people there yeah but I

think their hope is to

compete and now they're

obviously they're not going

to but no I think that's their hope

I'm shocked, though,

because maybe their whole

plan changed once Miller broke his hand.

You know what I mean?

Because they could have got

a bunch of prospects and

they could have retooled,

like almost grabbed a bunch of prospects,

but then flip some for some

guys with control.

And again,

all this shit is speculation

until it happens.

I mean, I don't think either one of us,

we were talking about York

being called up instead of

Jamie Westbrook.

Yeah.

So,

is there any surprise name that hasn't

really been talked about

that you could see getting

moved in the next, you know, shit,

next 20 hours, 20 and a half hours?

We haven't talked about him.

Actually, I think I might have last week.

I think he was my third pitcher.

I really think with Kikuchi moving,

I think Bassett's the name to watch.

Yeah.

I would rather have him than James Tyon,

honestly.

And one other name that

hasn't been talked about,

he just came back, I want to say like two,

three weeks ago.

What are the Rockies doing?

They're not competing this year.

Are they competing next year?

I don't think so.

I think I said last week

when we talked about prospects,

probably two years from now,

when all those guys in AA

come up and they start to

get their experience and

they're good to go.

Because I think a lot of

those guys get their debuts next season

So what about a name like Kyle Freeland?

That's somebody who, for years,

I've wanted to come to Boston.

But, again, he just came back,

so is that why teams don't

talk about him?

And I don't know his contract situation.

I don't know how long he's

under contract for.

So, obviously,

he's not somebody who's up

after this year.

You know, that's a name that I always...

I feel like I hear about him.

It was the years when the

Marlins weren't good before

he passed away.

You heard about Jose

Fernandez going somewhere.

Every year, he's mentioned at the deadline,

never got moved,

and then everything happened.

But I feel like other than this year,

Kyle Freeman was a name

that you heard quite a bit

about for the Rockies.

And now this year, obviously,

it's nothing.

I think that that is...

If you look at the left hand

and take Snell out of this picture,

because I honestly agree with you,

and I think Justin Steele

is the same way.

They're going to have to

have their socks blown off.

It's going to have to be a

stupid proposal to get him out.

I mean, Snell not so much as Steele,

but Snell maybe will move.

But Freeland after Kikuchi

is probably one of the

better lefties you could get.

Veteran.

He's not going to wow you,

but at the same time,

he generally eats innings.

And if you take him out of

Coors Field and actually

give him some run support,

he's a serviceable lefty that could fit.

I don't know if the Twins

would want to make a call there,

but they're one team with a

right-handed heavy rotation

that I thought Kikuchi made

a lot of sense there.

So the Twins are another

team I'm interested to see

what happens at the

deadline if they do anything.

But with all that said...

Before you move on,

they're down 11-1 to the Mets right now.

Down 11-1?

Yep.

Yeah, I see Alonzo had a home run.

I don't get that.

I don't get the Twins team, honestly.

Their pitching staff is, you know,

besides Joe Ryan,

not Joe Rogan by any means,

Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, you know,

we've talked about Kent Maida,

not Kent Maida,

Pablo Lopez has been off this year.

I really like Simon Richardson.

I think he's... He got teed off tonight.

Is he the one that would pitch tonight?

Yeah.

Probably didn't pull him from my lineups.

He went, uh, three and a third,

give up six runs on seven hits,

walk three and struck out two.

Oh, that's efficient.

Um, great.

So it's again,

we mentioned it from the start.

It sucks that the deadline

is not tonight and that it's tomorrow.

Cause we're not going to be

live or be able to do anything.

We will cover and do a recap.

Um,

hopefully next Monday night

I'm on vacation uh but

hopefully I can do it

Monday night and kind of

break down you know the

trades what happened what

it means for everyone

moving forward but you know

we'll keep you posted if

anything else happens the

rest is tonight while we're

live in the next 10 minutes

or so but I wanted to move

into unless there's

anything else trade wise

that you want to mention

Nope.

I'll tell you if I get

anything else while we're moving.

The only other guy I want to

see moved is – I don't want

to see him get moved,

but I want to see him play

in Kansas City as Nico Horner at second.

And I'm a Cubs fan.

I don't want to see him go,

but they get a log jam there,

and he could be one that

could be moved there,

and that would be

interesting to see him there.

And the other guy to Kansas

City that makes some sense to me,

if they wanted to make a move –

would be Bellinger because

you don't have to sign him.

But if you're looking for something,

Cubs won't be asking for a

huge amount because I don't

think he's going anywhere

due to injuries.

But the Kansas City Royals

are a team I'd like to see

the Cubs linked up with.

So with that said,

why don't you talk to us

about your top prospects?

And I noticed the one at the bottom,

I was going to send you a

message because I was

watching and listening when

that news broke.

So why don't you go ahead

and give us the rundown of

your top prospects?

So just before we get into all the numbers,

the new rankings is updated.

It will be coming out

hopefully August 1st.

I think I'll put it out.

if not by this weekend.

My goal is I have it all

done on the spreadsheet.

It's all updated.

I just have to transfer it

over to a format.

So the numbers I give you

right now on rankings are

the updated rankings.

So the first one, I did three hitters,

one pitcher,

and then I'll get two names I

want to talk about from this past week.

So the first one is Max Clark.

He's the 10th ranked

prospect on our top 100.

He's just finished his first

week at high A. And he went

eight for 22 with two doubles, a triple,

five RBIs, four runs scored in a walk.

That is Max Clark.

And realistically, I'm starting to wonder.

I'm starting to try to put together.

Probably won't be this year.

It'll be next year because

this whole prospecting is new.

I want to do what MLB

Pipeline does and start

thinking about ETAs.

We can start seeing these guys.

Max Clark is a guy, though,

just climbed up.

He was drafted last year in June,

and he's already at high egg.

So realistically, we could be talking,

we see him probably 2026,

maybe 25 at some point,

depending on where the Tigers are at.

Actually, no, probably 2026.

I don't think he jumps that quick.

A lot of these guys are all

high A. So the next one is

the 76th ranked prospect.

It's shortstop Sebastian

Walcott from the Texas Rangers.

Last week,

he went seven for 23 with a double,

two home runs, four RBIs,

three runs scored,

three walks and a stolen base.

And the final one is one of

my favorite to watch.

He's from the University of Vanderbilt.

I hope I didn't just screw

that up and piss off a lot

of Vanderbilt people.

But he's from Vanderbilt.

I really hope I really – now

it's going to bug me.

So Vanderbilt or University of Vanderbilt?

It's Vanderbilt University.

It's Vanderbilt University.

He's the 96th ranked prospect,

high A for the Baltimore Orioles.

It's Enrique Bradfield.

And I've been high on him

since he got drafted.

He's a guy with a lot of speed.

On the bases,

he went five for 17 with three doubles,

four RBIs, five runs scored, four walks,

and two stolen bases.

So a lot of those high A guys.

It's going to be interesting to watch,

especially with two of them

where I follow a lot of the

Eastern League.

I'll be seeing a lot of them

probably next year because

they're one level away from the double A.

The final one is your guy,

pitcher Rhett Lowder from

AA for the Cincinnati Reds.

Out of the top 100 pitchers,

he had the best week,

and it wasn't even close.

He got a win going six innings,

didn't allow a run, gave up one hit,

didn't issue a walk, and struck out six.

The way he's pitching this year,

you've got to realistically

start wondering.

He's looking really, really good.

I'm surprised they still

have him at Chattanooga and

not up at Louisville.

That's what I was going to say.

Louisville's got to be coming soon.

We say the same thing about

the Red Sox big three.

When are they going to Worcester?

Realistically,

I think the conversation is

going to start for him to

go to Louisville.

Yeah.

So moving aside from the

prospects of the week that

I want to talk about,

the first news is Travis Bazzano,

the first overall pick to

the Cleveland Guardians.

He signed his contract and

he made his debut at high

A. And last week in two games,

he went two for seven with

a double and RBI and two runs scored.

He looked pretty good at the plate,

looked comfortable.

And he was, to me,

one of the best hitting

prospects coming into this draft.

I know everybody wanted

Charlie Condon in the first three picks.

He ended up realistically

going to Colorado.

But Pisano, to me,

was a lot of fun to watch

at Oregon State.

He's a good hitter.

Definitely somebody to watch

that could quickly rise

through the ranks for the

Guardians as if they need

more talent to hit that team.

Kwon loved him.

Kwon spoke extremely high of him.

Another Oregon State guy.

Very interesting.

And the final bit of prospect news,

this one actually was a

tough one this week that I saw.

His 49th overall prospect in the top 100,

also before I say his name.

The rookies,

the prospects that were drafted,

some of them will also be

in this month's top 100,

which is why it's coming out in August.

So Bazana is on the list.

I didn't want to tease and

give away where he's coming

in the rankings at,

so I left the numbers off for him.

But the 49th overall prospect,

Ricky Tiedemann,

has been announced he's

undergoing Tommy John surgery.

This season, an eight-game start,

he was 0-1 with a 519 ERA, a 167 whip,

27 strikeouts and 17 at third innings.

He's the top prospect for

the Blue Jays based on our rankings.

They were hoping on him

coming up this year,

kind of banking on him, I think, to be...

you know, a number five guy for them.

It didn't work out,

and then it's kind of been

a downfall from there since

it didn't work out with his first injury,

where it was, you know,

Bowden Francis got the nod

out of spring training.

Then it was more of a

piggyback where they went

Yariel Rodriguez into Francis,

and Rodriguez just got sent down.

Francis started tonight.

I don't know the score of

that game right now.

I haven't seen it on my TV once, but...

That's tough news for a guy.

So, obviously,

undergoing Tommy John right

now probably ends his 2025

campaign as well.

So, realistically,

probably don't expect to

see him until 2026.

And the Blue Jays are selling.

So, now Kikuchi is going to be gone.

We talked about Bassett.

So, the rotation is starting to get slim.

And they don't have...

Very many prospects coming.

No, they don't.

There's two in the top 100.

They got a little bit better

tonight with that trade for

Cucci as the final names are coming in.

We also have a trade that

just came through.

The Brewers got their starting pitcher.

They got Frankie Montas from the Reds.

No shit.

No return yet.

Okay.

He's been pitching well.

I mean, he just

He hasn't been getting the run support.

He has not been bad this year.

It's been very similar to

previous years for Montez,

where he's been consistent,

but just no run support.

He's had a couple of bad outings,

but he hasn't been bad.

It's interesting that

they're doing it within the division.

So that was a two year deal though.

So ultimately it's not a huge, you know,

he wasn't long.

I mean, we just mentioned louder, um,

I'm a little shocked

considering Graham Ashcraft

was just moved to the

60-day injured list.

So, hey, the Reds have to do something.

They realize I'll be very

interested to see what the return is.

Yep.

But that's not a shocker.

Yep.

So that's all I have on the

prospects front.

I have no update on the

return yet for Montas,

but he's one of the Brewers.

interesting uh I will

probably might not be

tonight but I might do a

little recap of that for

the reds tomorrow in

regards to what the return

was and what that means for

the rotation so to end this

I'm not going to get into

too much in depth because

we're already over an hour

I want to keep this short

and sweet um I've already

seen your week ahead and I

think given what we know about the uh

Why don't you go ahead and

do the week matchups,

and I'll do the weekends.

But if you've got something

specific to add in, by all means,

trying to keep it short and sweet.

So who are your top two

matchups for this week?

The first one is Yankees-Phillies.

The Phillies are clearly the

best team in the National League.

The Yankees are making moves

to compete with the Orioles

for the AL East.

So at the end of the day,

we could be talking about

that being a World Series

preview and a 2009 rematch,

which I think the Phillies are better,

just not tonight.

I think it's still – the

last I saw was 3-1.

I haven't gotten an update on a score.

But I think that's going to

be a fun series to watch.

The other one,

and we mentioned the race right now,

it's the Red Sox and the

Mariners with them being

separated by a half a game.

So I think this series is

huge to the long run of the season.

It could make or break either side,

even with the trade deadline, you know,

Rosarena and Turner are

going to be Mariners.

Turner probably will play, my guess is,

tomorrow or Wednesday.

Yeah.

So you get to see the full

Mariners lineup and what

they can be for the rest of this run.

But the Red Sox, you get to see,

are they going to compete still?

Yeah.

This is proof in this tough stretch,

you know, what,

two and seven out of the break.

They're up 14-3 right now in

the eighth on game one, so... That's huge,

because their bats were quiet last night.

Yeah, they were.

Rondon looked good, so...

So your weekend series,

and I think obviously for

what matters for baseball,

I don't think I had

anything different than you

did in regards to what I was looking at.

I think the Orioles are a

team that are going up

against the Cleveland Guardians.

The Guardians have been

consistent just all year long.

And how do they match up

against this young Orioles team?

Can they stay the course?

Can they win the series?

If they win the series,

high likelihood the Yankees

are top of the AL East this weekend.

And if not,

does that give the Twins a chance?

So that, to me,

is a very interesting

series to pay attention to.

And then the other one, again, includes...

the top team in the National

League East against the

tied-for-first American

League West Seattle

Mariners and the Philadelphia Phillies,

which I think will be a big

test for the Mariners with

their new pieces because, like you said,

Turner should play this week,

but definitely this weekend.

And it'll be very

interesting to see how they match up.

The only thing that stinks...

is rodriguez is on the

10-day il because that

would be a better test but

it'll be interesting to see

what they do so all four of

these matchups have

standings implications and

wild card implications

given where the mariners

are tied so it'll be very

interesting to see what

happens but I will not be

shocked if we get together

monday as long as I can and

the yankees are top of the east yeah

Much I hate to admit it.

Unless something else changes,

they're another team that

Montaz going to the Orioles

wouldn't have been horrible.

I'll be interested to see if

they do anything else or if

they stand pat, which we've talked about.

They've got so many places

that are clogged with prospects that

it would have made sense for

them to make a play.

And who knows?

Maybe they still do.

So a lot of good baseball

coming up this week.

What was that?

I think they get Snell.

Wow.

Which Snell?

You getting Cy Young Snell?

Or are you getting Tampa Bay

Rays off year in this

current year with the Giants Snell?

I think he figures it out.

I think that's the thing you're getting.

You figure it out.

especially behind Corbin

Burns and working with him.

Well, here's the other thing, too,

that he's got that two-year deal,

like all of the frigging

free agents of Boris.

So it's a club option.

So no harm, no foul there, really.

So that would make some sense.

It would be very interesting.

Let him figure it out.

You're already going to probably,

unless something drastic happens,

make the playoffs and then bring him in.

Let him pitch in September.

Go from there.

Josh Chisholm hit his second home run.

I love that guy.

I just, I don't, I don't,

don't really care.

Useless now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, but Hey, um,

great week in four.

Dang.

And Stanton just got reinstated.

Didn't he?

Yeah.

And Wheeler's pitch for the Phillies.

Five innings, seven runs, seven hits,

six Ks, three walks.

That lineup is very dangerous.

Again,

reminds me very much so of the 90s

where there's really no gaps.

Standing 0 for 4.

Good for him.

Good for him.

Welcome back.

Another great week.

Again,

trying to keep this between the

45-minute hour mark.

Yes, sir.

Another trade?

No, it's the return.

Okay.

Joey Weimer.

Yeah, center fielder.

And Jakob Janus.

Woof.

Okay.

That...

Okay, I will have to dive into that,

and I'll probably do a

recap of that tomorrow.

I mean, I was high on Giannis,

but he hasn't done anything this year,

and Weimer is a guy that

just hasn't been able to hit.

So, okay, interesting.

Good move for the Brewers, in my mind.

Everything I see is saying

the Reds just fleeced the Brewers.

Huh.

Yeah, well, I'll have to dive into that.

First gut reaction, I don't agree.

But at the same time, Frankie Montaz,

they're not going anywhere.

He's on a two-year deal.

They've got all these young

pitching prospects coming up.

So, hey, great week.

Really, again,

it's going to be interesting

to see what happens in the

next 19 hours or so.

But, yeah.

just stay tuned, like subscribe,

ask us any questions,

interact with us on social

through the YouTube,

anywhere you can listen to us.

Uh, hopefully we'll be back next week.

As long as everything works

out with my travel plans for vacation,

we can do a quick, you know,

45 minute recap of

everything that happened

with the trade deadline

where puts people and, you know,

hit on the prospects and big,

big matchups.

So,

Um, for me looking forward to this week,

looking really forward to

tomorrow and then looking

forward to see how everything shakes out.

Not so much during the week.

I'm interested in those two series,

but the weekend when

everyone's got their full

array of assets in front of them.

So anything else you'd like

to add before we wrap it up?

Nope.

I'm good.

All right.

Perfect.

Thanks again for everything tonight.

Uh,

thank you everyone for listening and like,

and subscribe.

We appreciate it.

Have a good night.

Thanks everyone.

Have a good week.