Everyone welcome back to
inside the diamonds podcast.
I'm your host JC and I'm
joined again tonight by CJ.
How you doing CJ?
I'm fantastic.
How are you?
Not bad Sitting down in
Virginia Beach just last
year before Yeah a little bit today.
It's the only day we're
gonna get a son so we kind
of Spent it out by the beach all day,
but it was hazy all day.
So it kind of caught up with me quick and
didn't realize I was getting
burnt which is fine is what
it is but last little
vacation before school
starts back up and all the
kids sports start back up
because that'll take up our
time probably until next
summer when everyone's out
so uh get away one last
time and I actually last
night we got in late
yesterday sunday so the
cubs and cardinals were on
so I got to enjoy
little bit of that um at the
restaurant right here in
the hotel so that was the
most baseball I got to
watch this weekend because
it was pretty hectic before
leaving trying to finish
everything up and some
different things but uh
excited to be back tonight covering
you know, the trade deadline, what was,
and kind of what it looks like now,
because the wild card picture,
at least in one division
continues to get even
muddled even more than what
it was the last time we talked.
So, uh,
without any further ado the
only thing I wanted to kind
of bring up tonight to kick
it off because I want to
get rid of the bad things
first and hopefully we do
better than they are but
the chicago white sox have
lost 20 in a row no major
league team has done that
since 1988 and I don't
think it's going to get any
better for them nope nope I
don't think I've seen a b I
was looking at the
standings I do they get do
they get to 50 wins
No.
I mean, it's going to be close,
but I don't know.
That's tough.
They don't look good at all.
You need 23 in 62 games or
something like that.
Watch,
they'll make the playoffs in
September and they'll get hot.
And they'll just make it over 50.
They are right now, current day, 27 and 87,
which is 114 games,
which leaves them with 48 games.
So they have to be just
under 500 for the last.
There's no way.
The run differential is disgusting.
Minus 247.
When was the last time
somebody ever saw that?
I mean,
the next closest is 140 when that's
the Marlins.
No, I'm sorry, 180 with the Rockies.
That's 67 more.
It's pathetic.
You look at everyone around the league,
you see streaks of win two, loss two.
win four, lose 20.
There's no other team that's
got a streak of anything
else with any longevity.
I can't remember.
Their second long one, but not
Not of 20 games.
The last one against the Red Sox?
Yeah.
It's been pretty ugly,
but with all that said,
and just wanted to get that
bad juju out of the way,
let's talk about the trade
deadline winners.
I know that you and I have
talked throughout the deadline,
during the deadline that day.
Why don't you give me your winners first?
Well, the first one is,
and they're not my number one winner, but
they're definitely winners
in my book is the Miami Marlins, you know,
a team that's rebuilding,
but at the same time, I guess really not.
They're a playoff team last
year and they've just been
dealt with injuries all year.
I mean,
you and I talked at length about
how great Yuri Perez looked
last year and what we expected this year.
He's done for the year.
Sandy Alcantara had Tommy John last year.
He's done for the year.
Jesus Lizardo was in there.
He was going to talk about
for the deadline in the off
season to be traded.
He's,
Who knows when he's coming back?
So realistically, that team was just done.
And it started with the Rise
getting traded earlier.
But then they made the moves.
They traded Tanner Scott, Jazz Chisholm,
Josh Bell, Brian De La Cruz,
Trevor Rogers, AJ Puck,
and some other bullpen arms.
But what they brought back in,
they brought in a nice
pitching prospect from the
Padres and Robbie Snelling.
They added to,
which I've talked about in
my prospect recaps,
they have a good farm system pitching.
They just developed pitching.
But now they brought in some bats.
They brought in Connor Norby
and Kyle Stowers from Baltimore.
That Augustin Ramirez
catcher from the Yankees is good.
Daylo Santos needs to be
talked about more.
He can't get covered as much.
From what I've seen,
he's been pretty good.
So they built their prospect
system with the bats now.
And so they have something going that...
again I tweeted it out right
after the trade deadline
and said tomorrow's gonna
be a problem come 2027 when
all of these names come up
and you know that window
might be closing for the
phillies you know we all
experience the nebrowski
effect where he trades away
prospects and he gets he
spends money but you know
the window closes on him
and then you know the
braves they have their guys but
you know,
they're going to start to get older.
And the Mets are the Mets,
and the Nationals are going
to be right there.
But the Marlins have a
window now coming in three
years where they could be
up there in the East, even the wild card.
And, you know,
with all these prospects
they just acquired,
we're hearing these names down the road.
Well, the Marlins aren't afraid to –
Empty their roster when it's
needed for the prospects,
but they're also not afraid
to pull a trigger in the
opposite direction if they need to.
Use some of these assets
that they've got that are a
little bit clogging the
lanes for other players to
get there that they won't
hesitate to make a move if
they need to get someone
that will benefit the team for now.
They're a very self-aware
organization where they
know where they stand and
and when to go for it and when not to,
it seems.
If you look at their runs, they get there,
go to the World Series,
and then they're gone.
The best thing about,
like you were saying with these Marlins,
they added a lot of bats.
Norby, Storrs, Ramirez,
those guys added with their
pitching that they have.
It's not a long turnaround
if they pan out.
Yep.
So I thought the Marlins, again,
they were another team for
me that was just clear in a way, you know,
outside of, you know,
the people looking at the
way of who's going to win this year.
They look a lot at who wins
the deadline due to that,
the impact for this year.
This was another one where I
just think it was kind of,
unless you're a Marlins fan
or a big baseball fan,
miss out on how well the
Marlins did this deadline.
Yep.
So who was your second team?
The Los Angeles Dodgers.
And, I mean, the rich get richer.
It seems to be always the case.
And we talked last week
because the trades had gone through where,
you know, they got Rosario and, you know,
they added Tommy Edmund.
And then Michael Kopech
looked great in his first
relief appearance.
But then they go out and
right before the deadline
hits and they go get a really,
at the end of the day,
he's probably not going to
hit come playoff time.
I mean, if he does,
I wouldn't be surprised, but...
Really, they got a guy for, I think,
the late innings
defensively in center fielding,
Kevin Kiermaier.
But then the big move they made,
which I was surprised about,
was Jack Flaherty.
And, you know,
everything came out the next day.
The Yankees were in on him heavily,
had the trade done,
and then some things came
out about his back.
And the Dodgers came in
right at the last minute and got him.
And he didn't disappoint in
his first outing.
Six innings, five hits, seven Ks,
and only walked one.
So...
That's a guy that's
definitely turned the corner,
figured some stuff out.
I really wanted him in Boston.
I thought he was a piece to
the rotation that that team
could have used.
And they really didn't give
up much at the end of the day.
Like, Trey Sweeney and Lorenzo to Detroit.
And Lorenzo sneaks right in
the top ten quick for them.
And Sweeney is swinging a
hot bat now with Toledo.
So, I mean, at the end of the day,
those two guys might turn into something.
But, you know, at the time of the trade –
Doesn't seem like much.
So the Dodgers,
I think they made a nice
pivot to be right there
with the Phillies.
And obviously,
like I said earlier in the year,
I thought they were losing the NLCS and,
you know, Dave Roberts would be gone.
It'd be Alex Cora.
I said that at length,
but they definitely made
the moves that keep them right there,
especially after, you know,
they DFA Paxton and Kershaw
hasn't looked like Kershaw
coming out of the gate and
So they definitely need pitching,
and Flaherty fills that need.
Kopech is going to be a
great out of that bullpen.
And they got, you know,
some nice depth now,
especially whether or not
Mookie comes back at the issues with Lux.
You know,
they just DFA'd Kevin Biggio today.
Yeah, I see that.
I was going to bring that up.
So they definitely took the
deadline and got a lot better,
and they seem to get the
team that's going to cause
some havoc come playoff time.
the other thing just for me
is adding clarity it still
doesn't make a whole lot of
sense with paxton but you
still don't know what you
have in yamamoto when he
comes back either yeah and
I don't think what he's not
coming back in september
I was a little shocked that
they let Paxton go so
quickly without knowing.
But they still have Bobby Miller.
Or no, Bobby Miller shut down.
He's in AAA, I believe.
I thought he had a good outing recently,
but I could be screwing that one up.
But it was just odd to me that.
Paxton went.
I thought that they would
have made a move for another arm,
perhaps.
But Flaherty looked good,
and if everyone comes
healthy and Kershaw can pitch,
they'll be fine.
They got a decent lead in the West.
So, who's your third winner?
No.
That's the thing.
They make these moves.
They look good,
but they're starting to
choke things away.
I think that's why they make the moves,
but
partners look good and
they're coming and I they
were almost my third team
but I went with the cards
yes go ahead and I went
with the cardinals because
I feel like the more I saw
that trade with uh the
dodgers and the white socks
that gave you know the
dodgers copec and edmund
the cardinals didn't give
up really anything except
for tommy edmund and they got
Tommy Pham and Eric Fetty,
which they had good pitching,
which we talked about going
into the season,
that they were going to be
right there because of their pitching.
And they had somebody like
Fetty who's come over from, you know,
I think it was the KBO League,
and he's had a good season.
Yeah.
And then they went out and
they added a bullpen arm in
Sean Armstrong and moved
You know, Dylan Carlson,
who I think they're a team, like I say,
with the Red Sox,
they have a plethora of outfielders,
especially in the AAA,
that you can – one of those
guys is expendable.
And so if you can move a guy
like Dylan Carlson and get
a bullpen on him to help
you in the stretch run,
it's not a bad move.
They seem to be similar to, like,
the Marlins with pitchers
and Tampa Bay with pitchers.
The Cardinals just breed or
bring up a ton of outfield prospects.
Hitting and pitching.
I mean, I talk about Tim Kentz a lot.
And Quinn Matthews is another one.
He's on the new Top 100 that's updated.
But those are two guys.
And we talk about Mason Wynn, you know,
another bat that he looked
good last night.
He hit a home run last night, yeah.
Marcelo Suno.
Randy Roseana,
and then they still have
Jordan Walker down at AAA
who can't seem to figure it out.
They tried to move him at the deadline.
Yeah.
So the Cardinals may have won it,
but they did just lose the
series against the Cubs.
Yeah, and they're still right there.
Yeah, which is tricky.
So I have two winners
because I did think the Marlins,
because we had talked about it,
and I liked what the
Dodgers did for what they needed to do.
But for me,
one of the winners was the Cubs.
And similar to the Marlins,
they held on to James Tyon.
They didn't move Cody Bellinger,
which to me speaks that
they are in belief that
he'll be around next year in that opt-in.
Because he hasn't played well either,
and I think he knows that.
But as much as I loved Christopher Murrell,
I was calling for Paredes back in March.
just because of the type of bat,
more consistent,
not as big of a swing and
miss as Murrell was.
So I think for the opposite
reason of the Marlins,
the Marlins didn't give up.
They gave up a lot,
but they received so much
for what they were doing.
Jed Hoyer, love him or hate him,
didn't panic.
Yeah, it's not the season you want,
but at the same time,
you've got plenty of young talent now.
Let's see how you can finish out this year,
where things shake out,
see what happens in free agency.
And then you've got all
these young guys that if
you need to make a move here or there to
better your roster next year
when you have a better idea
of what's going on then you
do so they didn't panic
just to grab stuff for
nothing but morel for
parades made a lot of sense
to me and I was happy that
they didn't make some of
the moves that I was
hearing you know the only
way bellinger moves is if
you know you're not
bringing them back or if
the opt-out isn't in play
Because I still think he's
their best center fielder
all the way around.
PCA is great.
You know, he's fun to watch.
But until he can hit 260,
he's just going to hurt you offensively.
Did you see the story about Paredes?
Which one?
About him going out and thanking the fans?
Well,
so he played five straight games
against the Reds.
Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Rays played the Reds,
and then he got traded on
the 30th or the 31st?
I think it was the 30th.
The 30th,
and then the Cubs played the Reds
right after the Rays did.
So he went from the Rays to
the Cubs and played the Reds again.
So he had five games against
the Reds and then four
against the Cardinals.
But I thought that was interesting.
Yeah, he got to see some –
Hittable pitching, I guess,
is the best way of putting it.
So the whole rotation.
Yeah, at least.
And all their bullpen arms, most likely.
But the other NL Central
team that I think was quiet
but did what they needed to
was the Pirates.
They brought in Brian De La Cruz.
They brought in Nick York
and Wyatt Sanford.
No, they signed Wyatt Sanford.
Nick York from the Red Sox
in that trade for Quinn Priester,
who Quinn Priester is most
likely probably blocked
with the pitching they've got now.
Jared Jones coming back.
They've got Bubba Chandler.
They've got Paul Skeens.
They've got Marco Gonzalez.
Where's he going to fit?
So they traded him for an
infielder and now they're healthy.
and I think with their
pitching I think their best
acquisition is coming in
jared jones who's ready for
a minor league stint or
here in a rehab so that'll
be happening soon but the
pirates to me again nothing
really flashy they didn't
go out and do anything huge
but they got what they want
and going to put it to you.
So those were my two winners
other than like, like I said,
the Marlins and the Dodgers
and Cardinals were in there.
I'll start with my losers.
Okay.
One is one that you had,
but my biggest loser and I
think my biggest confusion is Oakland.
Yeah.
We've talked about it.
If you're moving to Sacramento for,
let's say, two years,
you can't anticipate
competing in a 5,000 to
7,500 stadium fans unless
they plan on adding seats there,
which perhaps they do.
And I really think it hurt
them when Mason Miller broke his hand.
I think regardless of what
they were going to say,
I think he would have went.
Someone would overpaid but
holding on to the likes of
Brent Rooker Who should
have went at the deadline in my opinion?
just made no sense to me and
Even JP Sears with it with
the arms that were going a
little shocked that he
didn't go and I mean he was
very similar in my eyes to
a Kyle Freeland that What
the hell not gonna hurt you
throw him at four or five.
Mm-hmm,
and they're gonna already be better
and the twins
just acquiring trevor
richards there made no
sense of all the teams that
are in the wild card hunt
in the al or in a division
battle they needed pitching
as much as anyone in a
left-handed starter you
know they all did but they
made trevor richards was
their only acquisition I
just I shake my head at
that it just made no sense
whatsoever and just really
really confused of what
they're trying to do I also
I don't know why I missed it
and ran over it.
The Mariners were a big
winner in my eyes with what they did.
I think I kind of glanced
over it just because we
covered pretty much
everything they did last time.
My two losers were just
Oakland because none of it
makes sense with what's to come.
And why would you need them?
Cause that's two years of
use that you're going to
get out of them and control
that is basically
meaningless in my eyes with Mason Miller.
It just didn't make any sense to me.
So, um, who was your first loser?
Well,
so I'll piggyback cause you send one
of mine and we'll follow it
up with the twins.
Um,
they were a team and I think
you and I talked about this
last week where we talked
about you know we could see
maybe it was two weeks ago
before the trade deadline
um we talked about maybe
the red sox were a team
that we could see buying
and selling you know we
move up guys where they're
expiring deals or whatever
and bringing something the
twins are against the
salary cap so there was
tough for them to bring in
anything and you know
you're in pretty much a
close not even wild card
race but a division race
like you're not far behind the guardians
And you see them go out and
they had somebody who
wasn't even thrown this
year in Alex Cobb.
And you don't do anything.
Like you said, they needed, what was it,
a left-handed pitcher.
Yep.
And you got a couple guys
you could move and bring in,
free up some salary cap,
and you go out and get a
left-handed pitcher.
But they didn't do anything
besides what you said, Richards.
And does that really make them any better?
Like, as a Red Sox fan,
I'm more excited about
You know,
the fact that we have a chance to
pass the Twins more than the Royals.
You know,
we have a chance with this series
tonight.
You know,
you can start making some ground
on the Royals, but you can realistically,
you should pass the Twins.
I don't think that team
should really make the playoffs.
And, you know,
the reason why they're so
good and what they've done
this year is Royce Lewis is
one of those names.
And he's been in and out of
the lineup all year.
So you take advantage of stuff like that.
So that's one of them.
Um,
although David Festa has been fun to
watch and he's pitching
tight against the Cubs and they're up one,
nothing.
Yeah.
So I wonder if they're
banking on him to be great.
He's not a lefty,
but to be the guy in the
rotation that they can
trust as an extra arm.
Um,
next one you have to wonder
if they're injuries with
joe miranda royce lewis
carlos correa and even some
of their outfielders were
banged up because they do
have a log jam at that
middle infield spot and in
the corner outfield spots
that they could have
perhaps moved someone for
an arm that would have been
almost cash in hand you know trade
Even Steven,
but they just stand in pack
and just grabbing Trevor
Richards is just not gonna
do it for them I got like Brooks Lee.
I mean,
and that's your probably your short step.
What was that play?
Oh my lord Who was it the
Cubs game and they just up
big hose them though it was
like a deep fly ball like
right center field and they
just must have lost it in
the lights and the ball dropped and
And they just hosed whoever
was trying to score.
So I think they kept them to
– I think they actually held them.
It's 1-0 still.
Yep.
So, yeah, I mean,
Correa was a name I was
interested to see.
Maybe you could get a haul
for that prospect-wise because Brooks Lee,
they like him a lot.
He's been up most of the year.
And it's probably, like I said,
the shortstop of the future.
I forget when Correa's deal is up.
I think he's had a four-year deal,
so I think he's maybe one
year away from free agency.
That wouldn't have been a bad idea,
but maybe that's an
off-season move they're looking at.
They may just realize, like the Marlins,
that this is not going to be their year.
Play out with what we've got
and go from there.
It's interesting.
Very interesting.
The next one is the Houston Astros.
They went out and got what they needed.
I mean, I saw them link to Jack Flaherty,
but it sounds like Detroit
thought they could get more
for Flaherty than what the
Astros were offering.
And from what it sounds like,
it was the same deal.
But they traded, you know, realistically,
two guys that were right in
the big leagues to Toronto
for Yusei Kikuchi, who, not for nothing,
he's pitched well,
but he hasn't been the kind
of guy you move that kind of talent for.
So that should have told you
going into the deadline, like,
this is what the market is.
You know,
I think the trade actually broke
while we were recording.
Yeah.
But we didn't know what the
trade back was.
I said it was going to be
definitely Jake Bloss
because he was scratched,
so I figured that was there.
But the other piece has moved.
It's just, what are you guys doing?
You guys don't have a farm system.
Like, Jacob Melton, I think,
is the only guy on the
Astros I have in the top 100.
Yep.
So, like,
you don't have a farm system to
be doing stuff like that
where you have an arm and
Jake Bloss who's up and
people are excited about him.
And, yeah,
we're going to scratch him and
just trade him away for Kikuchi.
Yeah.
So...
But that's the thing I said
to you earlier about the
teams with the window closing.
I think the Astros, that team,
because Bregman's a free
agent after this year,
and somebody tweeted the
other day about him leaving, and I said,
he just screams tire.
So... I like that better
than the pinstripes.
Yep.
He just... AJ Hinch, him, just screams it,
and, like, they're losing Arshela.
I know they have Jace Young coming up,
but...
You can move Keith to first
if Torkelson still
struggles and put Young at
second and you've got Bregman at third.
That would be an interest.
I'd like that a lot more
than him going to be the
answer over in New York.
Yeah.
Well, if they don't get Soto,
they might just give him
the bag and he might be the answer.
Yeah, no,
the Astros definitely got fleeced
in that trade and just they overpaid.
And I just don't I know
they're in a panic mode
because of that window.
So I guess that's that makes some sense.
They they did exactly what
some other teams were reluctant to do.
And the final one is the White Sox.
They moved off.
They did move off the Eloy
Jimenez contract.
but you didn't trade luis
robert and you didn't trade
garrett crochet and you and
I just talked about it
they've lost 20 straight
crochet I think was
realistically him and his
agent shot himself in the
foot with their comments
you mentioned it last week
the white socks not saying
like the white socks just
not wanting to move robert
was interesting like I
don't get what you're
you're building for like
you don't have much talent
in the pipeline coming up besides maybe
Drew Thorpe, who's already up,
and Noah Schultz, who looks pretty good.
But there's – oh, maybe Kiro.
But there's not much other
than that that I can think of.
Oh, there is one more.
It's Montgomery, Colson Montgomery.
Yeah, Colson Montgomery.
There is some talent,
but those four guys aren't
going to be the end-all,
be-all for your future.
So, you know,
moving Luis Robert and
getting a haul for him,
you probably could get one
– like the way the market was,
you probably could have
gotten one or two top prospects for him.
at least or even crochet you
could have gotten two or
three like it'll be very
telling because I thought
about this in regards to
the other side of the story
right we already knew that
the demand and seeing what
others were giving but at
the same time what were the
questions with both these
guys robert's injury history
and Crochet is a reliever, now a starter.
So do you want to trade for
someone that's going to
shit the bed on the back
end because of innings?
If they go out and Robert
can stay healthy for the
rest of this year, for the next 48 games,
and Crochet can go and stay steady...
What's the return like at
the deadline or not the deadline,
the winter meetings?
Yeah.
Can they help themselves by
staying healthy and maybe
answering some of those questions?
That's where I think crochet
is going to get moved.
I think the fact that he
said was I want an
extension to pitch in the postseason.
Nobody wanted him at that point.
Let's see if you last season.
Let's see what you do.
And then maybe we'll trade
for you in the offseason.
Give you the extension you want.
Ain't that's exactly the way
they're going prove it.
That's the way I'd look at
is they go he's gonna prove
it and I think what happens
is Max freed sign somewhere
and it's a bidding war
between two teams first
call should be the losing team Yeah, yeah,
I mean who didn't get him
and then Robert is a guy
that you've got a lot of
teams that have some guys
that could move on and free agency and
And he could be one that
could be talked about there.
I mean, I hate to say it, but the Yankees,
if they don't get Soto,
they're going to need.
someone to pair with judge
out there stanton's not
getting any younger they
got dominguez but he
doesn't seem to want to
stay healthy at all spencer
jones yeah he's a good one
so right now I think the
white socks shot themselves
in the foot yep but but on
the other side is like
To me,
it's like the only hope they have is
that these two guys can
stay healthy the rest of the way,
and then they can get some
sort of return.
They can get a haul.
Because what happens if they
go out and Robert misses 20 games?
And then all of a sudden,
Crochet all of a sudden
starts getting tired,
lasting five innings and falls off.
Now all of a sudden that
window – we talked about
teams' windows closing –
those players' trade value just plummets.
And now a team that can't
even win 50 games in a year
is stuck with two more guys
hoping that that's just going to change.
I mean, Crochet, they can work on that.
They can build up the stamina.
Robert just seems to be
someone that doesn't and
can't stay healthy.
So it's going to be very interesting.
But that's a mess out in
Chicago right now.
Yeah.
All right, so with that said,
let's take a deeper dive at
the NL wildcard right now,
where it stands.
I'm going to give a brief rundown,
and then I'll let you kind
of step in and talk about
where you want to talk.
The Braves right now hold
the first wildcard.
And then, wait a minute, hold on,
my computer just froze.
Just one second.
Sorry about that.
Hopefully you can still hear me.
Yep All right, good.
I Just had to refresh it So
right now as it stands the
Braves had are in the first
wild card spot with a game
and a half up Then the
Padres with a game and a
half in the second wild
card spot with the Diamondbacks and
At the last spot,
it's followed by the Mets, Cardinals,
Pirates, San Francisco Giants,
who are 7-3, and then the Chicago Cubs.
The 7-3 Giants are one that
I wanted to talk about.
just a minute ago um because
they didn't make any
significant moves but the
guy that we trashed on
quite a bit blake snell
comes out and throws a
complete game shut out no
hitter no hitter can't
can't go past the fifth
inning he's washed up he
this is his off year and he
just comes out and
dominates if they get that
blake snell for the rest of the way
And they can get hot.
They're a team with Birdsong,
who's most likely going to
come up and pitch now and
be the fifth guy on the spot.
And the rotation's been doing well.
It's far-fetched,
but they could certainly climb.
They've got the talent to
climb that ladder and make
it interesting.
But of that rundown of the
National League wildcard,
what stands out to you?
I want to start with the brave safes.
you know they went on guard
for a solar and they just I
mean they're getting max
feedback but they just lost
ronaldo lopez he's on the
injured list and you know
they've lost they lost two
straight to the marlins
that's a series that you
should have taken at least
three or four they end up
splitting now they're you
know a half game lead over what is it uh
a half game lead over the Diamondbacks.
They're two games up on the Mets,
which is now one and a half
because the Mets won today.
You know, I kept saying the Mets, you know,
I think that's a team that realistically,
if this brave struggle continues, I mean,
not really a struggle
because they're six and
four in the last 10,
but the Mets could very well catch up.
I'm still not sold on the
Diamondbacks being there.
And, you know,
the fact that they are is
kind of surprising to me.
I still just, I stand by,
I think it's going to be
one team from each division.
I really think one of those
central teams is going to get in.
I think the Padres are getting in.
I'm 100% on I think the
Padres are getting in.
Well,
they're getting Tatis hopefully back.
Depending on how they play
will depend on when he comes back,
I think.
And I think Darvish might be
coming back soon.
But that's still hit or miss
like you eat up in the air.
No one knows but they got
Perez Martin Perez is
someone that is Pitched
well his first time out there for them.
He's a guy for me.
That is a stopgap lefty
veteran that can come in
and kind of piece that
together for them until you
comes back which he's you
Darvish is 37 years old and
Yeah,
what no one really knows what he's
going through right now
because they've kept it very hush-hush,
but some parties Yeah,
nothing else has been
really said about it.
So they'll be interesting
And then I think I I think
the Braves even though I
asked the question are they safe?
I think they really are I
think they have the talent
there so then that goes to
the last playoff spot and I
think it's I Just think
there's something about
Baseball all around wants
the Pirates there to showcase Jones,
Skeens, and Mitch Keller.
So I really think they have
a good shot to get the
Cardinals lost today.
I don't think the Pirates play today.
I don't believe so.
They do not.
So they're pretty much going to be tied.
And then the Pirates, this is their week.
This is the week where you are out of it,
really, if you don't have a good week.
Yep.
And I put it on the sheet I
sent you earlier on the rundown.
They got three against the
Padres to start the week,
and then they got three
against the Dodgers this weekend.
You go 2-4, 1-5, 0-6, you're all done.
But, you know,
Skeens will probably pitch
in there probably once.
So there's your stopgap, hopefully,
at least to keep a skid.
And I don't know.
More importantly, they need to.
I think the Cardinals are in
the moves to get there.
But they got a tough stretch, too.
Three against the Rays and
two against the Royals after today.
And they haven't played well.
The Rockies and three
against the Mariners.
The Braves have the best week.
They got a tough one with
three against the Brewers.
But, you know,
that's a chance to help the
Cardinals maybe or the
Pirates if they can do something.
And the Rockies.
The Padres have the Pirates
and the Marlins.
So, again,
that's just a chance for you to
make some distance and put
yourself really into that playoff spot.
The Diamondbacks have it tough, too.
Yep.
Three with the Guardians,
four with the Phillies.
The Giants, like you said,
this is their week to make
their statement.
If they really want to be in
the run and they really
want to make that push for the playoffs,
you have four against the
Nationals and three against the Tigers.
If you go 5-2 this week after being 7-3,
so you'd be 12-5 in your last 17,
that gets you right into
that conversation.
They could realistically end this.
They could gain two games, if not more,
depending on the Mets.
The Mets should hold their ground,
but the Cardinals,
the way they're playing, and the Pirates,
with who they've got to play,
Washington isn't great.
And they could be tough.
They're fun to watch.
But I do think the Giants...
There's just something about the Giants.
They've been lurking, lurking, lurking.
And now it would be interesting to see...
where they can go because I
know they play the diamond
backs still this year that
would be fun to see them
creep up be a couple games
back and go into a series
where they can even
themselves out with the
diamond backs and who knows
with the padres with what
happens it's going to be
that the nationally wild
card right now we stopped at the giants
Because I think that's the
most realistic thing.
Even if the Cubs go on a tear,
which they could,
I think the most likely jumper,
if you would, in this leapfrog,
better yet, from, say,
the Cardinals down,
would be the giants I could
see the giants pushing that
last 10 days to make a run
the pirates I think
unfortunately this stretch
that they've got these next
six games will be very
telling if they can split
them win one series lose
one series that that would
again be interesting it's
if they can win the padres
series I think that helps
them more than losing the
dodgers you know it's
still losses or whatever,
but they're pinning two
losses on the Padres in
this race that would make more sense.
It's crazy how close and
tight this is right today.
Next week could look and
should look different.
Yep.
The schedule for the Giants
with the Diamondbacks being
the team that's holding that final spot
that they could
realistically just be one
to two games back.
I mean, think about it.
The Diamondbacks have three
against the Guardians and
four against the Phillies,
whereas the Giants have
four against the Nationals
and three against the Tigers.
Realistically,
and they're four and a half behind.
You go five and two,
the Diamondbacks go two and five,
and granted,
if everything between you
evens out and they go, you know what,
three and three, two and four,
you could be sitting, what,
one and a half games behind
yeah I mean it's not out of
the realm that they're
right there after next week
like you said it so it
could all change in the blink of an eye
It's going to be close.
So with that,
just we'll give a quick
rundown of the American
League wildcard right now.
Right now,
the Yankees have a four-game
lead at the top spot in the wildcard,
followed by the Twins,
who have a half-game lead
over Kansas City currently,
who is the last playoff wildcard spot.
Then you've got...
The Boston Red Sox,
who are two and a half games back,
but like we said,
open this week with the Royals.
So they could very easily,
depending on how that plays out,
close that gap.
Tampa Bay Rays are five games back.
Houston Astros are five game backs.
And then after that,
I think it drops off and
you've got the Rangers at
nine and a half.
I really think the Astros
are that bottom line.
layer right now at five
games I think five games
right now is the cutoff
nine and a half to me is is
a lot to make up I think
those al west teams are all
fighting for the division
anyways I think it's
rangers astros mariners off
the division they're not
focused on the wild card
yep and that you know right
now the astros I believe
are a game back from the mariners
And then you've got,
that means the Rangers are
four and a half,
five and a half games back.
So yes,
I think whoever doesn't win the West,
I could,
unlike what you mentioned for the
national league with one
wild card from each,
I could see two from the
American league East or two
from the central and just that be it.
Um, so very interesting.
With the wild card.
Anything you'd like to add
with the American League wild card?
And then I'm going to throw,
before we get into the minor leagues,
I want to throw something
out to you that I heard,
and I want your opinion,
but I didn't want to share
it with you because I want it to be,
I want to get your,
I'm not sure if you saw it,
but we'll see.
So anything on the American
League wild card?
I just think the Twins are
going to somehow fall off coming up.
I think it's, like you said,
it's going to be,
I think it's two American
League East teams.
which, be biased as I can be,
but it's Red Sox, Yankees,
or it could be Red Sox, Orioles.
I mean, I don't know.
And then I think the Royals are just good.
I think they're going to get there.
I mean,
we talked about that in the
offseason coming into the
season where the pitching
additions they made just
made them significantly better.
Is Bobby Witt undervalued?
No.
I think the tough part for him,
we're in that conversation
where we had for the last four years –
where Judge was the shadow of Shohei,
but we all knew who Aaron Judge was.
I think that's the same
thing we're seeing now,
is Judge is having this
season where Bobby,
if it's not for Aaron Judge,
Bobby would stand VP this year,
and it's not even close.
Okay,
so that's you and I. We watch the game.
Yep.
Any other,
you take some random Joe that's
a big fan for the Texas
Rangers or the Anaheim
Angels or the New York Mets.
Where do they see Bobby Witt?
I think you're starting to see him now.
I think this is his breakout
season where he's starting
to make... You and I know
about him from years before,
but I think this is his
breakout season for the mainstream fan.
Okay.
That was just something to me.
I absolutely love watching him hit,
and I watched something...
It was this morning.
I had to read the subtitles
because everyone else was sleeping,
but they were breaking down
his swing It's just it's
awesome any like young kid
that's playing baseball
should watch that breakdown
and just how he stays
Balanced throughout his
swing with his power.
It's because he's a little
guy too You know in stature
compete you throw him up
against some of these other
guys that are hitting bombs Yeah,
so that was just some a question for me.
I
So I love AJ Brzezinski.
Loved him as a catcher.
He was almost like a Brad Marchand to me,
where you either loved him or hated him.
If he's on your team, you loved him.
If he wasn't, then you hated him.
But there was something he
said the other day,
and we talked about Angel Hernandez,
about how awful he was.
And then he retired or whatever.
So AJ is talking on this podcast,
I believe it was,
and I don't know the name of it.
Foul Territory.
Did you see it?
No, I'm just familiar with the podcast.
Okay.
So he said,
what if he knew that they
wouldn't all outfire him
and he wasn't going to retire?
But if he was bad enough...
they would give him a
settlement and he could
walk out the door he showed
he he showed the last few
calls that he made the last three strikes
And they were a good foot.
It's not close in terms of
where it crossed the plate
and then where it ends up.
He said, I haven't heard anything.
I haven't seen anything.
But if you're a smart man
and you've been this bad
for that long and you still
have a job and you're just
sick and tired of doing it
and then finally they come
out and give you perhaps a settlement
i mean you see it in the
workplace all the time
where people have the
companies by the you know
short and curlies and they
can't do anything so they
have to give a settlement
to get them out yep so it
was just an interesting
thought because it's
something that any baseball
fan even a novice fan knows
who angel hernandez is and
how bad my dad who doesn't
even really watch baseball
knows who angel hernandez
is so I mean that just
tells you everything you need to know
So I just thought it was very interesting.
And again,
it's kind of like all these
conspiracy theories that
you hear about politics or
UFOs or whatever.
There's no detail to it.
But to hear AJ bring it up was...
interesting because the guy
knows the game he knows a
lot about the game and he
knows a lot about he's he
was a catcher right so he's
got some sort of
relationship one way or the
other than a second
different than a second
baseman would with some of
these guys so I take a
little bit of what he says
more more seriously and
with a little bit more validity to it
Because he's not going to
just throw at anything
that's stupid and far-fetched.
So that was just something
to me that I was like, holy cow,
if that's the case,
Angel Hernandez has been
playing chess while
everyone else thought he
was just playing checkers and piss poor.
The guy was just bored.
Just bored.
You know what I mean?
He's like a weatherman
that's wrong 65% of the time,
but you see him on TV every single night.
Nothing's changing.
That was just something to
me that I wanted to write
to you about it this past week,
and I'm like, nah,
I got to wait and just kind of throw,
see if he heard it first,
because I need to process
it a little bit myself too,
because it's pretty far-fetched,
but at the same time, knowing what I know,
it makes sense.
I see this shit at work all the time, and
it's not easy to just fire
people anymore no so if
that's truly the case and
even if it's not then you
have to wonder how much
this angel hernandez poor
calls was just to stay relevant yeah
how many other umpires other
than Jerry West, who's since retired,
how many other umpires do
you really know?
CB Buckner and obviously Jim Joyce,
but that's for obvious reasons.
Yes.
Yes, of course.
But that's four.
You know what I mean?
It's, it's,
it was pretty interesting to me.
So that was just a little
piece that for me,
that was interesting that I, uh,
thought about and I wanted
to bring it up so just to
kind of finish up and wrap
up we got a couple more uh
topics to cover I wanted to
get and I'm glad looking at
your sheet I was going to
yell at you if you didn't
have him go through your
minor league players of the
week and number two is the
one that should have been
there because I've been
watching quite a bit of them
So the tough part for me was
I had one pitcher, a bunch of hitters,
but the hitters are so
similar that it was hard to
leave any of them off.
That was when I left off,
and I kind of debated putting him back in,
but I didn't.
So we'll start with the pitcher.
I mean, this is a guy I talk about,
I feel like, every week.
And I believe I saw
something about he might be
getting promoted to AAA pretty soon.
There's been talks of him
being in the bullpen come September.
And if you haven't had a chance to look,
Yes, you updated him.
Top 100 for August following
the trade deadline is out on the website.
So he is now the 94th ranked
prospect on my top 100.
It's Brandon Sprote.
He's a double-A right-handed
pitcher for the New York Mets.
And he got to start the
other day going five innings,
didn't allow a run, gave up two hits,
didn't issue a walk, and struck out 13.
This guy, again, I talk about him,
I feel like, every week.
You got to watch him.
Pitching right now in double
A at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
I tried to see.
I have to figure out if I
can make it work if they do come back.
I haven't had a chance to
see if they do come back.
But I want to go to the Fish
and Cats game up in New
Hampshire and see if I can see him pitch.
But we'll have to see how that works out.
So we'll move right along to the hitters.
And I have one, two, three, four hitters.
So, the first one is your guy,
93rd-ranked prospect Cam Collier.
Played a high A in the
Cincinnati Reds organization.
Last week,
he went 8-for-17 with three doubles,
two home runs, five RBIs,
eight runs scored, and three walks.
This guy, high A, too.
So, you mean, what,
two years maybe before you
see him up with the Reds?
But it's an issue we talk
about in the offseason
where they have a log jam
in the infield where
something's going to have to happen.
Fuck.
It's a good week for him.
Next one is the big one.
I just said his name a little while ago.
I've got to imagine he's
going to be up there,
if not by the end of this year,
at the start of next year.
It's Spencer Jones.
He's a 68th-ranked prospect.
He's played a double-A
Somerset for the New York Yankees.
He went 9-for-22 last week
with four doubles, two home runs,
nine RBIs, five runs scored, six walks,
and two stolen bases.
Not a bad week.
Your next one is your guy.
Another one.
He just got promoted.
He is at AAA.
Yeah.
Or he's getting promoted,
whether it been today or tomorrow.
Probably tomorrow when they
start playing again.
Yeah.
The 46th ranked prospect,
Matt Shaw from the Chicago Cubs.
He was playing at AA,
now promoted from sounds like to AAA.
He had a hit in every game last week.
And he went 14 for 27.
with a triple, a home run, three RBIs,
nine runs scored, three walks,
and three stolen bases.
The final one,
he's starting to figure it out, I think.
He got off to a little slow
start at the start of the year,
but started to put it together.
So just like this next guy,
who is the 47th ranked prospect,
it's Dalton Rushing, AA from Dodgers.
He went nine for 23 last
week with a double, four home runs,
nine RBIs, four runs scored,
and three walks.
So, I mean,
that was a guy that I was
surprised wasn't moved
during the deadline.
He was a name that everybody
talked about for a big name
pitcher and ends up, you know,
silencing the critics on
the trade deadline front
and goes out and has one of
his best weeks of the season.
The other two things,
unless you want to talk
about any of the prospects.
i think the you're gonna see
for prospects I think with
especially matt shaw I
think it's matt shaw I
think owen cassie is moving
up to aaa as well I think
they're preparing them for
the september call-ups
because similar to what you
said about the reds uh in
terms of their infield
depth the cubs have some
decisions to make of their
own yep coming up so I
think that it'll be very interesting
wouldn't say I'm excited yet
because I want to see how
the playoffs turn out and
how that tightens up but
I'm very interested to see
where some of these teams
that are out of it what
they do and who they allow
to play and and show
because it's going to be a
little telling into what to
expect for next year so
with matt shaw especially
uh and I really would like
to see owen cassie come up
but I don't want to see ian hap go so
That's a spot there where
the Cubs are kind of, you know,
they're tight in the outfield right now.
And there's some stuff to be done.
I want to see some of those
Rockies prospects come up.
That's what I'm waiting for.
That team I really like watching.
Should they wait?
You could.
But those guys see some big
league pitching now.
Yeah,
but do you wait until September is my
point.
Yeah,
there's a guy that's not even in the
top 30 anywhere, but Grant Levigny.
He's playing at AAA for Albuquerque.
He's been pretty well.
So that's just something.
But two call-ups that
happened this week that we
should talk about is
starting with the 16th-ranked prospect,
Kobe Mayo.
He hasn't had a great start
to getting his call-up.
He really got called up
after the trade deadline.
He went 0 for 9 so far with
two walks and a run scored.
But the big one making the
most of his second call-up
is the number one overall prospect,
Jackson Holliday.
who, since getting called up,
is 7 for 18 with a double, two home runs,
seven RBIs, five runs scored,
and two walks.
And he made a statement,
I believe it was in his
first game since getting called up,
he hits a grand slam,
which was his first home
run of his career.
And, I mean, clearly...
He got hot at the right time down in AAA.
They made the right call to bring him up,
and that transitioned right
to the big league level,
and he's still hot.
I mean, he looks good.
Can he sustain it?
You know,
what happens when he goes back to
that slump?
Because it happens.
It's a long stretch run.
You know, he gets back into a slump,
and what does he do then?
But we'll have to see.
But I'm glad to see he's hitting the ball,
and he's back up with the big club.
Well, they say it's, what, 90% mental,
10% physical?
And for a young kid like that,
a slump when you're talked about,
and his dad followed him
around to almost every series he played,
there's a lot of un...
underlying pressure there
for that young kid and it
got to him a little bit he
went down took him a little
bit to even figure it get
back to this point so
hopefully maturity wise and
that experience will
benefit him and he is one
I'm rooting for and it was
nice to see the grand slam
ball the kid that caught it
a young kid maybe nine ten years old
they pulled them into the
stadium and into a room and
he got to meet Jackson.
So that was really cool.
That was, it was nice to see, uh,
that side of the story.
So yeah, those two guys getting called up,
uh, interesting top prospects, you know,
within the top 20, you know,
Jackson at number one, Kobe at 16.
So, um, let's talk,
this is the first time I'm
interested in your matchups,
but they weren't my picks.
So for the weekend,
one I did the phillies and
the dodgers because it's
going to be most likely
your nlcs expect to be your
nlcs preview and then the
weekend guardians twins and
the reason I went guardians
twins is I say the twins
aren't going to get there
but if they want to change
my mind this is the weekend
to do it you're I think
they're four and a half
back entering play tonight
so if you can somehow make
that you know three
three and a half you go in
you take two out of three
from the guardians maybe
even sweep and you're right
there for the division or
you open the door where you
do that job you'd have a
tough week you go into that
series and you do your job
as the guardians and the
royals come in and take the
door so it's a big series this weekend
So for my week series is one
that we talked about earlier,
and I was looking at this earlier today,
the Padres and Pittsburgh.
Because, agreed,
this week for Pittsburgh is
going to be a killer week,
and it will make or break
their playoff hopes.
Unfortunately, tomorrow night,
they start off facing Dylan Cease,
who is pitched.
pretty damn well for the Padres this year,
and they counter with Bailey Falter.
And San Diego misses Skeen.
Skeen will pitch against the
Dodgers in the weekend series,
but it's going to be a
tough sled for the Pirates
because they face Michael
King on Wednesday.
And then they'll end up
facing Randy Vasquez.
So the rubber game of that
three-game series is
probably going to be a
high-scoring one with Randy
Vasquez versus Luis Ortiz.
But that's a big one for the
Pirates where they need to
have a good showing.
And if they can win two of
those three games,
maybe lose the game to Cease,
pull out the two other
games against Michael King
and Randy Vasquez,
that sets them up knowing
they've got Skeens and Keller
going against the dodgers to
give them a chance to maybe
you know make a push at
this my weekend series is
another one that has
playoff implications and it
is two teams interleague
it's the st louis cardinals
against the kansas city
royals where they both are
up there trying to fight
trying to move climb that
ladder the royals depending
on what happens this week
against the red sox are
going to need a strong
series against Cardinals.
And just the opposite,
the Cardinals need to
rebound after losing that
series to the Cubs.
They already lost today.
They need to go into the
weekend and settle
themselves and get
themselves back in a
position of stability and
make that final run.
So that'll be an interesting
matchup for me,
plus just watching Mason
Wynn and Bobby Witt do what they do.
So those are my two matchups.
Big playoff implications.
It'll be very interesting
this time next week when we
sit down to take a look at
the standings and see where people are.
Yeah.
And the other thing that
we've got to pay attention
to is the trades that could
happen through waivers in
the upcoming weeks.
Well, that's all done.
Oh, is it all done now?
Yeah, that's no longer a thing.
It's now all minor league trades.
I don't believe you can't trade anymore.
That's all gone.
They all say that once the deadline hits,
that's it.
That's your team.
I thought that someone had posted that.
I thought that was the case,
but I thought I saw that posted.
If so, ignore me.
Just call it too much sun today.
They can do a minor league deal.
If the guy's on a minor league contract,
he can get Oh, okay.
Mine.
I believe that's how that works.
I believe if he's on a minor league deal,
it's not part of the big league club.
So okay, well,
maybe he's not in the 40
grand 40 man roster.
I forget.
Okay, there might be some stipulations,
but they always say it's
like if your team after the
deadline now is your team.
Okay.
Well, we will address that.
Sorry about that, Snafu.
No, you're good.
I'm still confused about it, too.
So, I mean, you're not alone.
Well,
I thought for some reason I read
something or heard
something earlier today,
but I was kind of scrolling
through rather quick.
But anything else you have
to add this week?
I know it's kind of a tough one.
What's the score of that Twins-Cubs game?
Still 1-0 Minnesota.
Cubs only have one hit.
Although it might be 2-0.
It was a guy on second,
so I didn't see what happened.
I was watching the Red Sox game.
Yeah, the Red Sox were up 2-1, right?
It's 2-2 now.
Shit.
Okay.
All right.
I was watching that game.
Yep.
that's all I've got I mean
again I glad I was able to
get this done while on
vacation I know you're off
next week right yep you
leave okay so we'll try to
we'll see if we figure
something out if not we'll
be back in two weeks and if
not you know maybe we'll
surprise you and have one
out next week um
appreciate everyone joining
and cj I appreciate you
putting everything up with
the miners I would suggest
you connect your new
rankings to this one is up
so people can click right
on it it's a great great
informational piece for
anyone that loves minor
league baseball or just
wants to see where maybe
some of their competitors
or even their team have uh
players on the list and when they're
you know,
where they're playing right now
and get a little bit more
information on them.
It also includes some of the
newly drafted players.
Nice.
There's, I think, six or seven.
There's a couple other ones
that will probably be in September's,
but I just didn't have them
making the cut this month,
and we'll have to see what happens,
and guys can follow at any time.
So those 90 spots are always up for grabs.
I mean,
I don't think Sprott's going anywhere,
and Collier keeps doing
what he did last week.
He's staying, too, but...
We'll see.
So if you get a chance to check it out,
go ahead.
It also is linked to some player profiles.
Some of them aren't made yet.
Some of them, for the most part,
most of them have player profiles.
I think there's probably
maybe 15 at most that don't
have player profiles done.
That'll be an off-season
project for me and you.
But if you want to take a look,
by all means,
it's right there on the top website.
If you go to InsideTheDiamonds.com,
right in the top, you'll see prospects.
There's June, March or April,
one of the two, and then August.
Perfect.
All right.
I really do appreciate you
joining me tonight.
Everyone that's listening,
I appreciate it.
Like, subscribe,
and stay tuned for next week's episode.
If it's not out,
we'll skip a week and be
back when CJ's back from vacation.
Thank you, everyone, for listening,
and looking forward to
talking more baseball when you get back.
Have a great week, everybody.