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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
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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
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Ask any questions you may have.
We cover anything from
roster moves to opinion
pieces to covering the trades,
giving details, series recaps,
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we talk you know cj's been
doing a lot about the the
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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.