Houston, We Got A Problem

CJ & JC discuss highlights from the past week, which division races are most intriguing, and what is going on with the Astros. As well as CJ's top prospect performers! 

For more from us, visit insidethediamonds.com 

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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.

hey everyone welcome back to

inside the diamonds podcast

this is episode seven I'm

your host jc and I'm joined

again tonight by cj how you

doing cj I'm fantastic now

after a long day and being

sick this weekend I get to

talk some baseball this is

like a stress reliever for

me so I'm excited to get

this going yeah it's happy

to not be alone that is one

thing for sure

I felt bad.

Work's been kicking my ass left and right.

Last Monday, I couldn't even move.

It's getting better now,

but I couldn't even move.

I stayed in bed until I

could and then got up

Tuesday and went back to work.

I apologize for that.

Sorry.

I'm glad you made it through

and you kept it to the end.

the time limit we wanted.

So I'm sure it wasn't easy,

but I appreciate you moving

forward without me.

And hopefully that doesn't

happen too often for us.

So I think everybody's going

to be glad it's not just my voice.

That's going to be the one thing.

Well, eventually,

eventually if we get more

people on board with the

website and joining us and stuff,

we'll find some more people

that can filter in and give

a little bit more direct

views on certain teams.

They're talking about, you know,

you and I,

pay very close attention to, you know,

everything that's going on,

but eventually it's going

to be nice when we do get

those lined up and have

additional people in here

with a little bit different

point of view and a little

bit of different perspective on things.

So why don't we jump right into tonight?

We'll start off with just

some kind of highlights,

some things that have

happened in the last week.

And you know, the first thing I have is,

have we seen a team as bad

as this Chicago White Sox team before?

It's been a long time and to

go eight games in this

early of his year and been

shut out eight times.

It's pretty putrid.

Now, mind you,

loose Robert Junior been out.

Jimenez just came back and

Makata 60 days worth.

He's still a bat.

He's out.

So they're missing.

They're probably missing

their three have been at different times,

been missing three of their best bats,

but still.

It's awful.

Yeah.

It's tough to watch.

You ready for this?

Yep.

So the only player on that

team right now that starts,

that is hitting over 250 is

Gavin Sheets at 254.

On top of that,

now this is my interesting thing.

Now granted, this is only,

we're only in mid-April.

We still have five months of

a season left.

So this can change.

They can catch, they can get hot.

You know,

they're not gonna make the playoffs.

I think that we can rule

that out right now.

But these stats can change.

But here's where they're at right now.

190 is a team batting average.

That's 30th in the league

and the third worst all time.

Their on-base percentage is 263.

That's 30th in the league

and the seventh worst all time.

Their OPS is 549,

which is 30th in the league

and seventh worst all time.

They've also scored 45 runs

this season through 22 games.

They're playing tonight, though.

They've scored three runs.

But through the 22-game pace,

they've scored 45 runs.

They're on pace for 331 runs.

The lowest ever by a team is

372 by the St.

Louis Cardinals in 1908.

Holy shit.

Now, I'll add in the three tonight.

So, let's do – I'll do 48.

Divided by 23 times 162.

So they're on pace right now

for 338 runs with tonight's

game being played right now.

They're up 3-1.

And that's still lower than

the Cardinals by 33 runs.

34 runs, actually.

That's awful.

I was looking at it just

curious in regards to this

is going to be someone, you know,

in my mind thinking without

really diving into it, without looking,

pulling it up.

I was like,

there's got to be a couple of

teams that have got to be, you know,

within 10 runs, you know,

of the White Sox.

The next closest in runs

scored is the Oakland Athletics at 65.

Chicago currently has a

minus 78 different differential.

That is by far the worst in

the league right now.

The next closest is the

Rockies at minus 50 minus 57.

That's it's horrendous.

And they don't really have

much in by the means of pitching either,

you know, they've got some nice stories,

but at some point in time,

Yeah, probably.

What are they going to?

They can't.

Are they just going to hold

on to the kids down in the

minors and let them continue?

But do they have anyone

that's worth bringing up?

I know.

Montgomery's the only one

that anyone ever really mentions,

but he's not ready.

They have a lefty, Noah Schultz,

who's pretty good.

But other than that,

they have no one coming.

No.

So that to me was when I...

You know,

this morning before heading into work,

I do all the rundowns of

every single game the night before,

watch them all, wake up an hour early,

watch them all.

And it came up while they

were talking about it.

And I was just like,

it just sparked my interest

in how piss poor the

Chicago White Sox are.

And it's sad because it

wasn't too long ago that

they were a decent team and, you know,

in the playoffs and were

barely winning the World Series.

So, yeah.

Don't you feel like you're

friends with that division?

Like,

don't you feel like every team in

that division has a run of dominance?

Like, the Tigers did it a couple years ago,

like, 2013.

Like, that was the Tigers' time frame.

Then it was, like, in 2007,

that time frame was the Guardians.

You know, the Twins ran it, like,

for a while.

The White Sox had it in, like, 04.

And, like,

I felt like they were always there in 04,

03, 02.

The Royals had their run

where they won the World Series.

I feel like that's the division where –

somebody always just stakes

their claim and it's their

division for a couple of years now,

granted last year, the twins won it.

And right now the guardians seem fantastic,

but I don't know.

That just seems like it

seems like a team of runs

in that division.

Yeah, no, I agree with that.

And I think probably just

without even diving into it

to me with that statement,

the one that seems to be

always average or above in that,

in the run is the guardians.

And it's been a long time

since they've been in the bottom.

Now, mind you, that you've had the Royals,

you've had the Tigers who

are building back and the

White Sox fought back and

the Twins have been

horrible to a couple of years.

But it is very much so a

division where they do go in spurts.

They're either really poor

or they're all the way at the top.

And it'll be very

interesting to see that division,

how that shakes out.

But the other thing that

caught my attention,

and this actually happened

when I was doing some

fantasy baseball reviews

and I was looking for

catcher help because I'm

still missing some catchers.

Not in our league because I

need a hell of a lot more help than that.

But Travis Darnot.

He had five home runs and 10 at-bats.

I think it's six now, right?

Six in his last four games?

No, this is before play today.

I pulled the numbers.

He has six home runs in four games.

And through those four games,

he's hitting 600 with six home runs,

10 RBIs, and only one strikeout.

It's not sustainable, obviously,

because when Murphy comes back,

he'll be there.

But that, to me,

was just to get that kind

of unexpected production

from a catcher who's a backup,

who could catch and start for many teams.

I'd love him on the Red Sox

as much as Wong does well,

but you have a power bat like that.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wong's fine.

McGuire's fine.

We'll get to that in a little bit.

But those two are fine,

and we got Kyle Till coming.

I'm not worried about the

Red Sox catching him.

Let's slow the time down.

I'm glad you brought that up

because that's something I

want to ask you later on

when we get to the prospect situation.

There's something I was

talking about with my son,

and I just want to bring that up later.

But that was one that caught my attention.

And then the –

The other thing that really

kind of caught my attention for me was,

again,

we're not meant to focus on the AL

Central, but the Twins twofold.

Louis Varlin, for me,

going into this season,

I was at high hopes for him.

Rocco Baldelli has now

basically disowned him and

doesn't even want him back

until he finds whatever it

was he had previously.

But he is lost.

And that's too bad because

they do need starting pitching,

even though they brought up that – shoot,

they brought up a guy with

a hyphenated name,

came up and pitched a great spot start.

Simeon Richards-Woods.

Yes, yes.

Simeon,

he looked – I think he was acquired

from Toronto a couple years ago.

He was a prospect.

It was just a throw-in.

Oh, for Brad Barrios.

Yeah.

He threw a great game, and he went down.

I'm hoping he gets called back up.

But the bigger thing when I

was looking at the Twins –

is that they've been started

the year without their dominant closer,

you know, Honda, right?

Yeah.

He went on a rehab

assignment today down to St.

Paul.

So when looking at the

central and seeing this news, Varlin was,

you know, getting lit up.

I think he's given up 27

runs in his four starts.

So if they find someone to

fill that void and they get, you know,

Joe Ryan's pitching well,

and now they get their backend, uh,

closer back they shift

everyone down into those

late you know seventh and

eighth inning hopefully

they can start to rebound

and I think that'll be a

team that'll be fun to

watch um going into may and

june to see how they read I

see if they see what's

really there uh but duran

is one I like to watch I

love I like to watch him

throw as a closer they have

injuries though I'm trying

to pull out right now

Correa just went down.

Kepler just came back up.

He's not even hitting 200 yet this year.

Royce Lewis is hurt, last I thought.

They got a lot of problems,

and they don't have DiScafani.

Nope.

Royce Lewis is a string quad.

Oblique for Correa.

DiScafani's hurt.

I mean...

Listen,

I wrote about why the Tigers are

going to run away.

I thought they were going to not run away,

but win the AL Central.

And I said the Twins didn't

have the pitching to compete.

Now, the Tigers have played the Twins.

I'm going to pull this up

out of the Tiger schedule

because I believe they

played seven games now.

And so there's only six left

against the Twins.

Yep.

And the Tigers are two, three, four.

Four and three through those seven games.

Yep.

No.

Let's go through the scores

there for a second.

I'll ignore the first one.

It was 11-5.

4-1, close game.

4-3, close game,

which the Tigers won that game.

Ooh, actually, no.

Okay, 8-2, the Tigers won that game.

Tigers won 5-4, and then they lost 4-3,

and then they won 6-1.

So a lot of one-run games.

And let's also not mention,

forget that the Tigers'

offense has been struggling,

and in this Tampa series right now,

they've picked it up.

So that article looks okay.

I mean, granted, like we said,

the twin and I go back to

the twins pitching is just not there.

Like my eight,

letting my eight ago as a

tiger screen and watching him pitch,

I get why they let him go.

I mean,

the home run ball is just killer to him,

but they're going through it.

I think Sonny gray is a tough loss.

He looked good.

This first start for the Cardinals.

So it'll be interesting, but that, that,

the,

Duran going on a rehab assignment for me,

just not that I'm – I don't

think the Twins have what

it takes to win that division.

I still think the Tigers are up there,

and I think the Guardians

are still – they've got so

many bats that are just

putting the bat on the ball right now.

They're producing,

but their numbers aren't staggering,

the Guardians.

No, just consistent from top to bottom.

Like I looked at it today

because we were going to do

a segment on them,

but I pulled up some numbers today.

Like the bat that really

stood out to me a lot was Josh Naylor.

He had a good year last year.

He had over 300 last year.

The Naylor brothers are

something to watch there.

But the pitching.

And again, I went back,

I go back to the article I

wrote about the Tigers in the division.

Shane Bieber's done for the year.

And I don't know.

I've,

I've heard this in multiple places that,

Tristan McKenzie's coming

back from an injury from last year,

and they're keeping him on a pitch count.

He's not the same pitcher.

Somebody said this the other day.

I was listening to something,

and somebody mentioned it.

I think he was touching 92-93 last year.

He's dropped to 89-90.

So he neglected surgery and

chose to go through, I forget what it was,

physical therapy or something.

He went through something

else instead to try to

figure out the arm issue.

And clearly,

whatever it is he's going

through isn't working.

I mean, granted, he is 2-2,

but he has a 5 ERA.

Yeah, it's high.

With a 1.61 whip, 11 strikeouts,

and an 18 innings pitch.

Now, who does he remind me of?

Marcus Stroman.

Is he going to strike people out?

No.

But there's something going on,

and you lose that arm on

top of Bieber already.

Now we're talking trouble.

And so.

Curry can come up and fill in for,

I don't mean he can fill in for Bieber,

but he can fill in a rotation spot.

He's not Bieber,

but they don't have much

more depth further down.

No.

So that,

that division to me is just going

to be interesting,

but I think getting Duran

back allows the twins to

battle in that second,

third place and then see

the white socks and, and, uh,

you know,

hopefully not the guardians fall

off the face of the earth.

Cause I did pick them to finish second,

but we'll see, it'll be very interesting.

But those were just the, the, you know,

outside of the norm and

basics and some we'll get to later,

but those were the things

that kind of stuck out to

me as intriguing when doing

some little bit of quick

research this morning and

over the weekend.

What about for you?

I got four.

So the first one we bring up

and everybody's talking

about this and I think it's hysterical.

Have you seen the Aaron

Boone video from yesterday?

Yeah.

How do you – what do you do?

The poor guy,

he's looking at the other bench coach,

right?

And you can clear his day seeing the video,

see the guy behind the home plate yell.

I don't know what he yelled.

I didn't hear it.

But it was a quick hook.

And poor Boone because generally, you know,

Boone is always running his yap.

But it was great.

When I watched the video,

I was at work and I saw it pop up on my,

I get notifications for

everything baseball, Twitter related.

I saw it pop up and Boone

gets ejected and there was

a video so I pull it open

and all I see is Boone,

he's checking his fingernails like,

did I cut them long enough

or short enough this week?

Am I good?

And all of a sudden he's

tossed and he's like, what did I do?

And then they slowed it down,

and there's the video of

the guy in slow-mo yelling

something to the umpire,

and the umpire takes his

mask off and tosses him.

I couldn't stop laughing.

That's Aaron Boone.

Everybody talks about it.

He's the guy that only has a

job because of one home run.

Oh, fuck.

And, yeah,

it breaks all of the Boston fans' hearts.

I'll have to tell you a story about my –

That year in the heartbreak

and what I was physically

meant to personally going

through during that time.

And I don't want to share it on air,

but when Boone hit the home run,

I was woken up.

I'll tell you off air.

It was, it's gross.

You don't, no one else wants to hear it,

but I just,

I thought that was hysterical.

And I, I really, I didn't watch the game.

Like I forgot.

I had a lot going on at work anyways.

And I was dealing with, you know, my,

I was sick all weekend.

So I was dealing with getting better.

But so when I saw the video pop up,

I completely forgot there

was a one o'clock game.

And so I tuned in after that.

So I don't even know like what led to it.

It sounded like it was like

a hit batter before.

And like,

Boone was arguing or something like that.

And then the fan,

the fans reaction behind

him was hysterical.

Like you just yelled something.

You just sat there stone-faced like,

and Boone's saying it wasn't me.

It was him.

Like even the bench was

bench coach was yelling.

It was him.

And he's just sitting there stone-faced.

Yeah.

They both immediately turned around,

but how empty is that stadium up front,

you know,

in a one o'clock game that Boone,

they knew exactly who it was too.

They pointed right at him.

How about the umpire

doubling down after it?

I didn't toss a fan.

Nope.

I think I saw, I haven't read them yet.

I should have read them before we did this,

but.

he came out today and said something.

I don't know what he said today,

but I just thought the

whole scene... If you

haven't seen the video, just go look.

It's hysterical.

He's literally just checking

his fingernails like, oh, okay.

It wasn't animated enough.

Just a simple conversation

with a bench coach, keeping quiet,

and then they both

immediately kind of perked

up when it was said, too.

Then the ump throws him.

It was pretty comical to watch and just...

If he was any other team,

probably wouldn't care.

But where it's the Yankees and Boone,

everyone's kind of posting it out there.

So it was definitely – that's a good one.

Unless it was Angel

Hernandez behind the plate,

then I really wouldn't know about it.

He would have pointed in the

other direction, though.

He would have missed that

call and called the other coach.

It would have been somebody in left field.

That's right.

You're out.

God, that guy is horrible.

If I got a dollar for every

meme I saw with the phone

calls Angel Hernandez missed, you know?

The best one I got,

and I got this before the season started,

was one of my best friends posted it,

shared it, or tagged me on Facebook,

and it really said, like, November,

I miss baseball.

December, I miss baseball.

January, I go so on and so on.

April 1st,

and it's a picture of Angel

Hernandez that said, F this guy.

Yeah.

Oh, the guy's horrible, but hey,

he's going to have

something over somebody

because he's still doing it.

All right,

so the second one I want to talk

about is the Oakland A's.

We all knew we're not going

to be a good team this year.

I think we all checked it.

I mean, granted, they're in fourth place,

so kudos to them through, what,

less than 25 games to start the season.

Mason Miller, that guy is nails.

180 ERA, a one-width.

20 strikeouts and 10 innings pitched,

eight games, five saves,

and he's touching 103.

The A's could trade him at the deadline.

Oh, my gosh.

And they might get a top 10

prospect and maybe another

one in the top 100.

So Saturday,

Saturday I watched the Cubs

and Adelzai blow the save

against the Marlins in the first game.

So then I go and watch

Miller the other day, and I'm like,

holy shit.

You know,

the Cubs have got a log jam out

in the outfield.

They've got a couple of different,

you know, arms out there.

I'm like,

I wonder what it would take to

get Miller.

The guy's just a power arm.

I mean, he sat those three guys down,

lights out, hitting 103.

He's pretty incredible.

Yeah,

I just couldn't believe when I – 103.

You see Soto just stare at him afterwards?

Yeah.

It wasn't a stare like, holy,

I'm going to get you.

It was like out of disbelief.

What the fuck did I just face?

I think he struck out all three.

Yeah.

And there wasn't a single

pitch net at bat that was under 100.

Of all three at bats, I think.

Yeah, Judge included.

It was Volpe, Soto, and Judge.

How about Judge getting booed?

Yes.

It's only about our time, right?

Something's wrong with him.

That toe is not right.

We said it in the AL predictions.

Yeah.

It's only a matter of time.

See,

he's turned into a Yankee that I like

because I like the fact

that he came out and he literally said,

yeah, I get it.

If I was them, I'd boo me too.

And I love that.

I went up to it.

You had a bad day.

You're having a bad start.

I love that.

But Mason Miller, that guy could take it.

Oh,

he could fetch so much talent for that

A's team.

That's Sacramento A's.

Gosh.

I mean, I don't know.

So the third one,

you're going to enjoy this one.

Jared Jones.

Did you see the strikeout

when he made Terang just

basically buckle?

That was part of my notes for this part.

So I want to go through his

numbers really quick.

He's 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA, a 0.83 whip,

39 strikeouts, and 29 innings pitched.

And he has touched

seven-plus strikeouts in

every single start he's

made in his big league debut,

big league career so far

through five starts.

And then that video of Terang.

And some of you said it today,

and I don't know if it's true.

I didn't look up the stats

or anything like that.

But apparently they faced

each other in the minors before.

I mean, probably,

if you look at how these teams play,

and most likely they have,

but that was ugly.

That's not something that

Terang's going to live down

or let down in that clubhouse.

That'll be something that

they'll share quite often.

I just couldn't believe that swing.

That was fantastic.

That was a great pitch,

and he walked off the mound like he knew,

like, yep, I got you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's a guy – no, I said it last year,

all last year,

that I loved watching Uri Perez,

and Uri Perez is out for the year.

So my new guy to watch,

I'm tuned in to every Jared

Jones start this year

because that guy looks really good.

And I've said it before,

and we'll talk about it later,

what they have pitching coming.

That team is going to be good.

They are going to be very good.

I don't know if they won tonight.

I haven't seen them come up actually,

so I don't even know if they won today.

I don't think they played yesterday.

But entering play today,

if they didn't play yesterday,

they've lost six straight.

They got swept by the Mets

and they got swept by the Red Sox.

And they look like against the Red Sox,

they look like the Oakland A's.

I mean, they didn't look whatsoever.

And the Red Sox were walking wounded.

No O'Neal, no Devers.

That's next.

We'll get there.

Yeah.

So I guess we'll just go there, I guess.

So we'll be right into it.

The Red Sox, I mean,

let's talk about a road team.

what'd they come home?

10, uh, seven and three, the first 10.

So they're 10 and three on the road.

They lost tonight.

So 10 and four.

And think about what they're doing.

Devers is still out.

Costas is going to be out for some time.

And Tyler O'Neill just came

back and I don't even know

what he did tonight.

I was at my nephew's

baseball game and I got home,

showered and then I had a

meeting and then I came into this.

So I didn't get to see much of the game,

which I don't like doing, but I had it on,

I had it on the radio.

Um,

Rafael looks great at shortstop.

I mean, I love that.

Finally.

Finally, they make the call,

and finally you have a

shortstop for the season.

But the big thing about the

Red Sox that I want to talk

about that some people seem to forget,

and I said to a lot of people,

was the Andrew Bailey effect.

Mm-hmm.

Entering play tonight,

they had a 1-7-3 ERA as a team,

as a starting pitching.

Yep.

That's ridiculous.

And I wrote about it on Saturday.

I think I posted it where I

include Pavetta.

I include Whitlock.

I had Bayo.

Bayo during, I mean,

everybody says this and I

actually heard it somewhere else today.

Everybody says Bayo during

the day is a problem.

Bayo at night is fantastic.

His numbers this year,

I believe from what I heard,

and I'm doing this off the top of my head,

so if I'm wrong, don't come after me.

During the day this year,

he's under three for an ERA.

At night, he's over three.

His start this season was

against Baltimore.

And if you remember that game,

it was opening day.

He gave up three runs, but one was earned.

I mean, Durant catches that ball.

Yeah, exactly.

So,

and I don't know if you saw him Friday

night,

but that looked like – I don't want

to do it.

I don't want to say it yet,

but that reminded me of Pedro.

It reminded me of Pedro.

And it was Pirates.

Spent a lot of time with him.

They're on a scuffle.

Like, the Pirates are not good right now,

but that looked like Pedro.

Pirates won tonight 2-1,

and three hit the Brewers.

So, finally, they're back.

Falter went seven innings

and struck out eight.

Jared Jones pitched last night.

We just talked about it.

So they did play last night.

I think they won.

They've taken the first two

games against the

division-leading Brewers.

So very weird team, but pitching is key.

But I just – one last one I

want to talk about is did

everybody hype up the Dodgers too much?

I mean, that division isn't great.

Blake Snell, look at what he's done.

Jordan Montgomery made his

first start on Friday.

He looked okay.

I mean, that division's wide open,

but it's probably still

going to be the Dodgers,

but they're not going to be.

I don't think they're going to be the 100.

I mean, they may win 100 games,

but they're not going to be

whatever you thought they were.

They're going to run away with everything.

Doesn't look like it yet.

Yamamoto could figure it out.

Perhaps Buehler's going to come back.

I know.

Buehler's going to come back eventually.

The bats will all come together.

But they're missing more

pieces in that lineup than Milwaukee.

Yep.

I said it before.

We all know what the deal was.

Paxton's there.

He can't go the second half of the season.

He'll probably be out the second half.

Kershaw comes back, they replace him.

I said it before.

I'll say it time and time again.

But I also said this multiple times.

As a Red Sox fan, my manager, Alex Coro,

is not in the contract.

And my bold statement was

the Dodgers aren't going to

win the World Series.

And Dave Roberts is going to lose his job.

And Alex Coro is going to

manage the Dodgers.

You were sick this weekend.

And I got sick.

when I saw Glasnow's pitching line,

he was lights out the other night.

And I talked so much trash

saying that he wouldn't, you know,

he hasn't done this, this, this.

And right now after, you know,

the opening game series,

when he was over in, in Seoul, Korea,

he's been pretty good,

pretty damn good as advertised.

And I think the last time out,

he pitched seven innings

and had eight strikeouts and just was

So that team will be very

interesting to watch.

But I think that without

seeing Yamamoto face on a day-to-day,

game-in, game-out sequence,

I think they very easily

could have been overhyped

and people on paper had

them winning 110 games and

going all the way and

basically being handed the

World Series trophy.

Not quite like that right now.

all knew a glass now was

going there as long as he

stays healthy he's the

number one yamamoto nobody

knew what he was they threw

the bag at him I mean

granted red sox fans wanted

him so bad he doesn't look

great I mean I and I wrote

he could he be a bust I

wasn't saying he was but I

said could he be very

easily could be his uh

spring training stats

against minor leaguers were

not good so if you want to

go to the website and find that article

Or when this video gets posted to Facebook,

I'll tag it in the bottom.

Yeah.

He might be.

He very well might be.

And that was, again,

that goes back to that was

just spring training.

And then if we all remember

to start in Sewell, that wasn't pretty.

Yeah.

Soto just homered, or was that earlier?

I don't know.

Ugh, this team.

Yeah.

I think that's the biggest

thing with anything, though,

is these guys coming from overseas –

What is the true expectation?

What do you expect to get

from them in regards to boss?

Because you'll hear people

know this is exactly what we expected.

It'll give them through June

and then see what you have.

When it counts in crunch time,

that's when you'll see him.

Early on, he does not look good.

And that team in general

looks average at best

compared to what everyone was thinking.

Aside from Mookie and Shohei and Freeman,

those three.

yeah and like you said glass

now but I mean you could go

through a handful of teams

or you can name three

hitters and a pitcher that

look good to start the year

the orioles the yankees you

know there's yeah go

through and say that about

you know so but like you

said average that average is the word

I mean, are they going to win the NL West?

I don't see the NL West

being that competitive.

Maybe the Padres figure it out.

Maybe somebody steps up for

them and that's it.

But Snell looks terrible in San Fran.

So I don't know how I feel.

Has he made it into the fourth inning yet?

I don't think so.

I can pull it up.

It's been pretty bleak.

I think it's been pretty bleak, Sam.

I made that argument.

Like, well,

I didn't want him in Boston for

that reason.

He's not a guy, even if he is on,

how often does he really go

more than six?

Very little.

Maybe,

but I bet you he's a pain in the ass.

He seems like one.

How much is Bailey going to

have for an impact on a guy

that's won two Cy Youngs?

Not saying that Bailey's not

a great pitching coach,

but is he one of those guys

that thinks he knows

everything and kind of just

blows him off?

I don't know.

I don't know the guy

personally and haven't read

anything like that,

but I kind of get that vibe.

Let's also not forget that

every year after he wins the Cy Young,

he falls off.

Shit.

shit after that.

That's all there is to it.

So far, this season... Oh,

that's not what I want.

I want his game logs.

Don't mind me.

I'm still working.

I'm pulling it up.

So three starts.

He hasn't made it into the

fifth inning yet.

Oh, no, he has.

Four and two-thirds.

Most recent start.

Wow, impressive.

Those are Jordan Witt numbers.

Those are Jordan Witt numbers.

That ERA of 11.57 is ugly.

Yeah, it's bad.

But he also didn't have a spring training.

I don't care, right?

You're only throwing side sessions, this,

that, and the next thing.

You're still working out.

So if you look at it and you give him,

if we come back to Blake

Snell and just look at his

May numbers and take out April,

I'll be interested then to

see what it looks like.

That's when we revisit them.

I agree with that.

Okay.

All right.

So is there anything else

that kind of just hot topic

that kind of hit you this week?

That was it.

I think we're going to,

I think we plan on covering

the other one a little bit later on.

Yep.

All right,

so right now you've heard CJ and

I talk about the website,

some of the articles.

We've mentioned it in every

single podcast that we have.

If you're a baseball fan and

you like talking baseball,

writing about baseball,

covering your favorite team or player,

plays on a different team, you know,

and you want to join us,

follow the website.

H-C-T-P-S colon backslash

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We'd love to have some more people come on,

join us writing about

whether it be minor league baseball,

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that you can work with CJ

on that if he needs help

covering or someone you're

interested in or any

baseball team in the major

leagues or even minor leagues,

reach out to us,

let us know what really your passion is.

And we'll work with you to

get you covering a team and

generating some content.

And like we mentioned earlier, you know,

depending on your passion

and where it links up with

what we're discussing,

join us for an episode or

two or more to kind of hit

on some of these topics so

that we can get a different

point of view and

everything that we're doing right now.

We've got.

all kinds of different

people that are joining us,

writing about different teams,

but we still have some

voids out there that we

would love to get covered

so that we can continue to

grow this website.

And we're willing to work with anyone.

And even if it's a team

that's already currently being covered,

We have a program here where

you can kind of come in and

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a little different.

So, you know, don't be afraid to reach out,

ask any questions you have

and just let us know.

We're more than happy to

welcome new people in and

kind of help us out with us.

So I wanted to kind of touch

base because it has been, you know,

almost under 25 games,

but there's been some injuries.

There's been some different

developments and some surprises,

but I wanted to kind of

just ask you a question in

regards to right now, AL and NL,

which division race now in hindsight,

you know,

we've done our projections and everything,

but right now with everything,

the way it is,

which race is most

intriguing to you right now

after the first few weeks of the season?

So wait,

I'm doing one AL and one NL or am

I doing one?

No, just one, one division in general,

which one?

I had one, you know,

panic figure out another one.

Um, no, no.

And I'm going to go to the

American league East.

Okay.

And so the reason I say that, Oh no,

is my computer about to die?

Hold on.

I saved it.

We're all good.

Sorry.

I'm sticking with the

American League East.

The reason why I say that is

how tight it is.

Everybody seemed to think

the Yankees were just going

to run away with it once

the season started.

I made a bunch of notes.

The first one I have is the

Blue Jays are starting to

figure things out after

their rough start.

They're right up there.

I didn't mention this in my

news and notes from

you know, the first quarter,

first 25 games, whatever.

Jose Barrios, a 0.85 ERA, which is,

I believe,

second or third in the American League.

I mean, they got an ace.

He's finally figured some stuff out.

And that team has depth.

I mean, Alec Manoa looks good in AAA.

The Orioles are back in

first place at Frank tonight.

And that's despite their

number one overall prospect,

Jackson Holiday, when his struggles,

they're still finding a way to win games.

So,

and they're still giving him a chance to,

oh, Otani just went Yabo.

And then they just called up

Heston Kirchstead.

I don't even know how you

say his last name.

It's one of those last names.

The Red Sox are still there.

They're fighting all these injuries.

Like,

I don't know what's going on with

Devers and who knows what's

going on with Yoshida.

but they're dominating with the pitching.

Their bullpen looks fantastic.

I mean, great.

They lost tonight, but a four to one score,

some runs.

I mean, the offense is fine,

but you're missing two, three solid bats.

I mean, at the end of the day,

I had to add costs as soon

as maybe on some time, Devers,

who knows what he's going through.

No, she is this lineup.

They'll be right there.

I think, I think there's still going to be,

they'll probably be a 500 team.

They just went back to back.

Freddie Freeman.

On the very next pitch.

Oh, no.

Just like the wind blew it in.

Wow.

That looked out.

These camera angles this

year are terrible.

Oh, my God.

Every game I watch,

the camera angles are terrible.

Like the camera just made it

seem like it was the

biggest bomb at the Nationals Park.

And it was just a routine

fly out to right field.

So I don't know what the

wind is there or what's going on,

but that looked like it was a bomb.

Sorry.

Okay.

So the Red Sox, I think,

will still be there.

I think the pitching has surprised people.

If they can continue that

and there's no injuries,

they should be right there.

The Yankees.

I mean, as a Red Sox fan,

the rivalry will live forever.

But they're doing what

they're doing with Judge

Struggling and no Garrett Cole.

Yeah.

I mean, and then on top of that,

the Rays were 500 entering tonight.

And

Like,

I had them in last place in my

prediction.

But they're still the race,

and they find ways to

compete every single game.

I mean, Tyler,

they've lost two straight now.

The Tigers won the first two

games of the series.

They're going for a sweep tomorrow.

And they're going to face

old friend Tyler Alexander,

who I actually liked.

I'm excited to see him

actually make a start

tomorrow against the Tigers

and see how that goes.

But you can never count the Rays out.

Like, they find a way.

They're just a scrappy.

They're scrappy.

They have been for years.

It's, you know, they've always got the,

the pitching has always

been something they find arms.

It's a pitching factor.

I think they're going to

struggle for at least the next two weeks.

I think losing your closer,

because I think they just

put Pete Fairbanks on the 15 day aisle.

Losing your closers is tough.

And yeah,

If you're 500 right now,

if that hurts you over the next, what,

I think he's 15-day IL.

So you're looking at

probably – I forget when it

was retroactive too.

So probably we'll say two weeks.

That's tough.

That's tough.

That could hurt.

They do have Jason Adam, though,

that has closed before.

Because let's face it,

Fairbanks misses at least –

He's on the IL or injured

list at least twice a year.

So they've got other guys with experience,

which is, again,

goes back to the pitching factory.

They just have arms that

come out of nowhere.

You could never count them out.

And I mean,

it's hands down right now the

best division in baseball.

So that race, Red Sox,

even if the Red Sox weren't

in it as a fan, I love that division.

So I...

I'm always locked into the AL East,

even being a Tiger swim.

The AL East is just such a

wide open thing.

So for me, I'm, I was instantly, you know,

where I'm doing a lot of

work for the NL central

instantly drawn there,

but due to the injury to

Spencer Strider and knowing

how the Phillies bats

generally are hot and cold.

And right now they're, you know,

not everyone's clicking and,

But they're pitching.

Ranger Suarez,

I think it's 16 straight

innings without an earned run.

And he was hurt a good chunk

of the beginning of last year.

The NL East, and it's just in my eyes,

it's a two-team race.

You know, one's going to win the division.

The other one's going to win

one of the top wild cards.

But with Strider going out,

and we've discussed Sale

before in regards to his injury history,

can he make it through a full year?

Do the Braves have enough pitching depth?

Although Ronaldo Lopez has

looked pretty good as the

fifth starter to start this year,

has been, you know,

a lot better than what I

think anyone expected.

Doesn't he have the best ERA in baseball?

That I'm not 100% sure of.

Wouldn't surprise me,

but he's been lights out.

It was up there.

He must have pitched recently.

It was up there the other

day when I looked.

But the Phillies only trail

the Braves by two games.

The Braves going into tonight were 16-6.

The Phillies,

who just lost tonight 8-1 to the Reds,

are 15-9.

Let's not forget, too, the Braves –

They have Bryce Elder,

who they just called back up.

Yeah.

And they still have Smith

Shauver down in AAA.

So, I mean, the Strider injury hurts.

He's got some depth.

The Strider injury hurts

because of who he is.

But the depth, like you said,

the depth they have,

add him back to this or add, you know,

any of these names that can produce.

I love that team.

I would not be surprised, though.

when all the bats, Schwarber, Harper,

all the bats start to click

in Philadelphia,

if their pitching can stay healthy,

I would not be shocked to

see the Phillies win that division,

just knowing what could

happen to that Braves pitching staff.

So that to me is going to be an even more

interesting race now there's

right now early in the year

there's plenty of divisions

that we've talked about

that are all great and

going to be fun to watch

but this philly's team now

where I had them finish in

second is this enough for

them to perhaps pick up

three games and win that

division who knows um did

you see tonight it's gonna

be interesting huh did you

see tonight's game

They got swamped.

So the Braves – I'm going to the Braves.

Oh, the Braves.

Okay, no, I didn't.

I know they were winning.

So the Braves in two games this week,

they're playing the Marlins,

have outscored the Marlins 8-0.

Yeah.

In two games.

But Max Freed had a complete game shutout.

Really?

Nine innings, three hits, six strikeouts,

didn't allow a walk.

Wow, that's –

Getting him back and having

him healthy is good.

Yep.

Tell me about something from

the Braves that actually

made me think of it.

I kind of feel like getting

kind of feel a little bit

from Michael Sirocco.

Yeah.

Getting shipped off to Chicago.

And he hasn't been good.

That sucked.

No.

He got teed off on the last

start from him.

I haven't tuned into many White Sox games.

But the last start.

I saw him play the Royals.

That was it.

Yeah, I saw him play the Tigers,

and that was early,

but he didn't look good.

But, no, I agree.

I agree with everything you said.

That's a two-team race.

The Phillies are exciting.

The Braves are good.

I don't know how I feel

about the Phillies

potentially winning the division.

I think the Braves make it

like a seven-game difference.

It all depends on sale, honestly.

I'll say this.

It'll be Sale and Freed.

Can they both stay off the

IL for a significant amount of time?

I think Sale's the only one because,

like we just said,

the call-up of Elder

doesn't replace Strider.

It fills the void,

and he looked good yesterday.

I mean, he went 6-2 third shutout innings.

But I think they still have

pitching in the system.

They call up that if sale goes on the IL.

Now, again, like you said,

if it's freed goes on the IL,

then we're causing concern.

Yeah.

Even if it's Morton or

somebody else gets hurt,

then the one pitcher going down,

I'm okay with.

After that is where I start

to get a little nervous about them.

And that's where I think the

door opens for the Phillies.

I mean, the Nationals,

despite them being down, I think it's 4-1,

haven't been bad.

No, they've got some talent.

Gore's looked good.

Abrams has looked fantastic.

They've got a lot coming.

There's a lot of different stuff.

And I think at the end of each month,

it would be interesting to

see where each race lands

and who's surprising us.

But now moving on from that,

There's a team out there

right now that isn't as bad

as the White Sox,

but they look fucking horrendous.

They're close to it.

Yeah, to the Cubs, the Astros right now.

And they just, all their bats,

and I kind of kiddingly

said this to you about the pitch calm.

Now, you know, everything's being,

all these pitches are being

called from the remote

control back and forth

between the pitcher and catcher.

But the Astros look horrible.

Jose Abreu is lost,

has four hits as the time we started.

Four hits and I think 59 at-bats.

He's barely touching that

.050 batting average.

Oh, it's horrible.

I think he was under.

He was under.

He was under.

He was like, I think he was .096.

That was 5'6".

Maybe I saw the number wrong.

Maybe, yeah, one of the two.

But...

For me,

with this team and knowing the

division they're in,

and they've got some older assets,

at what point in time do

they start selling some pieces off?

So when you sent me this

manifesto to plan this out,

I started thinking about it.

And the one thing is I will

say to start the season,

they just look old.

Yeah.

We just look slow.

Everything about them.

We were excited, what,

two weeks ago about a no-hitter for them?

Yeah.

They just don't look hot.

But the thing about this

Astros team and their lineup with Altuve,

Bregman, Peña looks okay.

He's the only one that's

really looked good.

altuve too um jordan alvarez

I the astros as much as I

dislike them because of

that whole cheating scandal

I still find myself

watching them and like

locked into their games

this is a team that can

catch fire at any time yeah

and so going to your

question of when do they

sell I think they're gonna

as long as there's that

possibility and with the

rest of the division

having the issues they have.

I mean,

they're in that AL West where the

A's aren't good, the A's aren't good.

The Rangers are missing pitching.

Granted,

they're going to get Scherzer back,

it seems like, what, by May or June?

Yeah.

And the Mariners haven't looked great.

They're off to another slow start.

The door is open.

And so, the Astros catch fire,

they're right back in it.

So, are they even going to sell?

So, I think no matter what,

they're a team that

week before the trade

deadline we talked about

they that's where they do

things unless things are

real bad at the end of may

and but even so like you

said they've they've

depends how far they're

gonna get hot eventually

right for how long because

of the age how far out if

they're five like seven

games out they're not

selling if they're 12 games

out then they the doors open yeah but

Verlander just came back,

so we'll have to see.

Hunter Brown has been a huge letdown.

I thought Hunter Brown was

going to be their best

pitcher this season,

which is unfortunate.

I agree.

I think a lot of this as

we're going through and as

we continue to build

podcasts as the season goes on,

we'll have more discussions around

what are the needs?

Who are these teams that

could be selling off?

I know you and I share

different messages back and

forth in regards to teams

and where certain players would fit.

But right now, this Astros team,

I don't think there's a

better way to describe it

other than the fact that, like you said,

they just look old and slow.

And that's how it's

translating on the field,

is they're just slow right now.

And maybe once the season

and the weather heats up,

obviously it's always warm

down in Houston, but

maybe those old legs will

get stretched out a little

bit and they'll start doing

a little bit better.

But if not,

it will be very interesting to

see what they do.

So you've done a lot of work

for the website with

covering the prospects.

And I just want to kind of

each week kind of touch

base with you and see who

do you think the top

prospects were from your

top 100 prospects list?

Yeah.

All right.

I'm really, this is my favorite.

Give me my favorite part of our podcast.

So I'm going to try my plan going forward.

We'll try to be pick a

pitcher and a hitter each week and do it.

My, I guess ITDs.

And as I get better with the graphics,

maybe even make one.

ITDs hitter and pitcher of

the week for the minor leagues.

And I hate picking the same person for,

Back-to-back weeks,

and I talked about it last week.

My pitcher of the week for this week,

it has to be Paul Skeens.

And for those of you that

have seen our top 100,

it will be updated.

My plan is probably May 6th

or 7th I'll have it updated.

My birthday is May 3rd,

so I'll be busy that whole

weekend doing birthday stuff.

And so once I get back to

the grind on the 6th or the 7th,

I'll probably have this updated.

He'd probably be my number one prospect,

assuming Jackson Holliday

has graduated by then.

But this past week for the

Indianapolis Indians,

he went three and a third in one start,

zero runs, one hit, two walk,

and eight strikeouts.

So that's what?

Ten outs recorded,

eight of them were strikeouts.

Am I dreaming or did he have

an immaculate inning too in that outing?

I feel like that was, yes, I believe so.

I believe so.

And so to just go over his season numbers,

he doesn't have a decision yet.

He has not a lot of run yet or run yet.

He has a 0.71 whip in 27

strikeouts in 12 and two thirds innings.

And so everyone knows you

can't have a decision and,

In baseball,

unless you go into the fifth inning.

So he's not going to have

his – he's not going to get

a win or a loss,

and he can't get a loss if

you're not allowing any runs.

No,

you can get a loss if it's less than

five innings.

Really?

Even if you haven't allowed any runs?

That's not – I mean,

that's not – I'm saying, yeah,

right now with his earned

runs that he's allowed, he's not –

he's not in trouble of facing a loss.

Like if they go down one, nothing,

it's not tied up after two

innings that he could take.

Yes.

But it's, he's, he's fantastic.

And I'll add one bit to the

Paul schemes after you're,

you're done with the rest of it.

And then as far as the hitters,

I couldn't pick one.

I couldn't.

Yeah.

I picked two.

So I'll start with the

highest of the rankings.

Yep.

First, baseman Kyle Manzardo,

who is ranked 55th overall

from the Cleveland Guardian system.

He plays for the Columbus

Clippers and AAA.

Last week, he went 10 for 24,

which equates to a 417 average.

He had three home runs, four RBIs,

eight runs scored, and four walks.

This season,

he's hitting .308 with a .985 OPS,

four home runs.

So all three of his four

home runs came last week.

10 RBIs, and 13 runs scored.

And this kid, I mean,

I don't know what

Cleveland's got at first.

I think it's Naylor.

So I guess you're stuck there.

I don't know what you do with DH.

He might be stuck in AAA for a while.

Who's the guy?

Esteban Florio that used to

be with the Yankees.

That's right.

Has been DHing.

Now,

Manzardo was also traded last year

from the Rays for Aaron Savali.

So...

I mean,

the Rays do have a top prospect in

Xavier Isaac,

but he hasn't done much to

start the year.

So I wonder if the Rays are

kicking themselves a little

bit for making a mistake on

trading the wrong prospect

because Manzaro has been

decent to start the year.

I mean, if you look at the rankings,

I believe off the top of my head,

I'm not looking at them.

Isaac and Manzaro were like

right next to each other.

They were close.

So they're in like the 50s.

So Manzaro's 55.

I think Isaac was in the lower 50s.

But they're all right.

They're both right there.

And the final one,

as a person born and raised

in New Hampshire,

I love watching the Fisher Cats.

This guy is actually in AAA now,

but I walked into a lot of

Fisher Cats games last year,

and he was a lot of fun to watch.

He's the 86th overall prospect,

Aurelvis Martinez.

And I've actually seen a lot

of tweets this week that

people want him called up.

and it's time.

And they have, you know,

Keiner Falefa's playing third,

Biggio's at second,

you got Bichette at short,

and Guerrero at first.

I don't hate the idea of calling them up,

but I think you're in a

tough position where then

are you going to mix and

match Biggio and Keiner

Falefa at third base and

play the matchup?

Because I believe Keiner

Falefa's a righty off the top of my head.

So then Vigio's a lefty, so what,

are you going to play the

matchup and you're going to

mix and match a third base?

Tough spot to be in.

I wouldn't be surprised if

there is a move there, but I don't know.

Their bullpen's good.

Their starting pitching's good so far.

But this week,

Martinez went 10 for 28 with

a .357 batting average.

Not as good as Manzardo,

but the stat that's really

stuck out to me is five home runs.

13 RBIs, eight runs scored in three walks.

So, so far this season,

and this is where it really sticks out,

he's hitting .333 with a 1.073 OPS.

He has six home runs.

So five of those six just

came last week with 18 RBIs.

So he had five entering the

last week series and 20 runs scored.

And so he had eight.

eight last week.

He, uh,

he's with the Buffalo Bisons right

now in AAA.

They play the Iowa Cubs.

So I'll at least see two or

three of those games this week,

whether it be live or re rewatch them.

So I'll be interested in

locking in on him to see how he does,

especially following last week.

But when you were talking

about schemes and you and I

talk about them quite a bit,

and I'm looking at Jared Jones,

I'm looking at Mitch Keller and,

And he's not a number five starter.

Skeens is not.

But if you have Mitch Keller, Perez,

then you throw in Jared Jones,

and then you throw Marco Gonzalez,

who's more of a finesse type of guy,

and then you follow with Paul Skeens.

Like,

just thinking in terms of messing

with the opponent's batters.

You go in,

you have to face a lefty who's

more of this, I won't call him...

Jamie Moyer ask,

but he's more of a finesse

guy throwing junk at you,

controlling the zone,

not overpowering you.

And then the next game you

have to face a guy that's on fucking BBs.

I want to see him come up

because the pirates aren't

that bad of a team.

And you throw in there and

you all of a sudden have a

pitching staff.

That's pretty frigging

formidable right now,

the way they're all throwing.

I would, I just,

when you mentioned that

earlier and we've been

talking about them,

There's no pressure on the

guy to come in because you

can still keep Bradley Falter.

And you could almost do

those two guys if you let

him pitch both three innings.

You're saving your bullpen some,

and I don't care who starts.

It would be a waste for him.

I'd like to see him make two

more starts at AAA and see

him get to five innings

pitched in each game and

see how that goes.

I think you were going to

write about it the other day and mention,

like, oh,

the idea of him getting called up soon.

And I said to you that I had

an idea to when that was going to happen.

I saw it a lot of places,

and that's what sparked my interest on it,

was his girlfriend.

For those of you who don't know,

he's dating the LSU Gymnastics.

I don't even know what they're called.

Not player, but LSU Gymnastics girl.

Gymnast, thank you.

Libby Dunn.

they were waiting for it

because she is very popular

on Tik TOK and all social

media that they were

waiting for her to finish

her season or a season finished Saturday.

So are they waiting for the, you know,

cause the pirates can make it's all,

it's all money based for the owners.

So are they waiting for her season to end?

And all of a sudden now

she's coming to Pittsburgh

for games and that brings

in more money for Pittsburgh.

We'll have to see this week,

but I forget what day he,

I think he pitched yesterday.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think so.

It might have been today.

I was going to say, so today's Tuesday.

So that means he pitched

today and he pitches Sunday.

I'm going to pull it up real quick.

Hold on one second.

I'll pull up how they did today.

For anyone that hasn't seen

Paul Skeen's pitch or hasn't,

For some of you,

you may not even pay

attention to minor league baseball.

You may not know who he is.

I highly recommend going to the website,

pulling up the articles,

anything tied with Paul Skeens.

But at the same time,

go to YouTube and see some

videos of this guy throw.

He's unreal.

The only thing right now to

your comment about seeing

him go into the fifth inning, I wonder...

going just just over nine

outs he hasn't seen because

he's not walking anybody

he's not giving up any hits

he hasn't seen and had to

face the lineup more than

once you know unless it's a

series where he's starting

tuesday and then pitching

sunday he's not having to

go through that lineup and

seeing if anyone makes any

adjustments so that to me

is something that I'd be I'd

very interested to see how

that happens because that's

that's what they're going

to do in the big leagues

they're going to make

adjustments so I'd be very

interested to see how it

does at the triple a level

to see what these guys are

doing to kind of adjust to

his speed and just his

arsenal of pitches in

general right and that's

why I want to see him throw

five inks is for that exact

reason I mean he's got it

he looks fantastic I just

want to see if he can go

five in it well I want to

see you said the lineup

turning over yeah if he can

adjust and how he does I

mean great he's gone three

and a third so he's done

that for the top of the

order but yeah you know

from the looks of it going

three and a third he gave

up one hit so he faced the

top two hitters of the

lineup oh and two walks so

he faced the top four

hitters of the lineup yeah so

but a second time, maybe a third time,

you've got to extend him.

What's the plan here?

What are we doing with him?

Yeah.

I don't think he's seen more

than 60 pitches, 60,

65 pitches in a start yet.

He might have.

It was just some crazy

number they threw out there

when I was listening quick,

but he definitely lights out.

I would highly recommend him.

you know, paying attention,

go to the top 100 prospects,

pull up his page itself,

read that article.

He's a phenomenal pitcher.

And if you're not aware of who he is yet,

you will be very soon.

If he's not called up soon

and Jackson Holiday graduates before that,

then he'll be the number one prospect.

There's no question about it.

Hands down.

Hands down.

So here's something before we close.

You like Kyle Teal as a catching prospect.

I do.

Ethan Solis.

Who would you rather have?

Solis is younger, much younger,

at being only, I believe, only 18,

maybe 19 max.

But who would you rather

start your team with?

And you don't have to answer

me now if you don't want to

wait until the next podcast.

But that was something to me

when I was paying some attention to him.

And I believe he's in high A

for the Padres that that

was one because I've heard

you talk about Kyle Teal.

I've heard about him from

being from New England more

and more than I have Ethan.

But to me, that's one that is something,

if you don't want to answer now,

we can definitely hit it the next podcast,

and maybe you can do a

little bit of work and look at it.

But for me,

those are the two right now

that stick in my mind in

regards to two of the best

catching prospects in the league,

and I don't know which one

I'd rather have.

They are two of the best.

I want to wait and see what

happens this week,

so I'll do it next podcast.

But I will say, so here's the tough part.

This is why I don't want to do it tonight.

I watch a lot of college baseball.

And I've written articles

about college baseball.

Because I have, like I've said before,

I have two TVs in my room.

So on Friday nights,

if my girlfriend goes to

bed or if I'm by myself in

the living room, I have two TVs going.

The big screen,

if the Red Sox and Tigers

aren't on late night,

I got MLB beginning.

And the little TV has college baseball.

So I'm following everything.

it's baseball season in my

house and it's I'm full go

um so I watched a lot of

kyle teal in college and

the idea of him coming to

the red sox was my favorite

like he was it was maybe

one mock draft I saw that

he was projected to come

here but he was even before

all that I said I wanted

kyle teal to be a red sock

and I liked his bat at virginia and

So that's why if I gave an answer now,

I'd probably say Teal.

I've followed Salas in the minor leagues,

but right now I'd say Teal.

But I want to do more research,

and I want to watch both of

them this week,

and I want to give my full,

unbiased answer.

Okay,

it's fair enough to allow you to prepare.

I kind of hit it with you last minute.

Do you have anything else

that you'd like to mention

before we wrap this thing up tonight?

Trying to keep it as under

an hour and a little just

shy of an hour and five

minutes right now.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Well, since you just brought up Salas,

wild to me that the Rockies

just took the lead from the Padres.

Granted, it's the fourth inning,

but it was 2-0 last I saw,

and I looked up, and now it's 5-4.

Also, what's up with the Boris guys?

So we talked about Snell.

Everyone's leaving him.

Not even that,

but none of them are producing.

The Boris four aren't doing anything.

What were they doing?

Again, just like we said with Snell,

I think Montgomery looked the best.

Yes.

But again, now with that,

we also had a lot of

discussion on Montgomery

and thinking he was

probably the worst of the four pitchers.

in more average than error,

not four pitches,

but of the clients that

were still out there,

he was probably the one

that was getting hyped the

most just because of what

he did with the Rangers, you know,

one hit wonder.

I think he is that number three starter.

And I think it'll be very

interesting to see at the end of May,

if we look at those guys

and then compare them and

see where they're at,

but it doesn't look good right now,

holding out all that much time.

What were they doing?

They missed spring training.

Um,

It's just different.

Even the bats, though.

Chapman,

he just popped an egg because he

just popped up to the plate.

He's hitting 226.

Yeah.

I mean, I'll think over 200.

Yeah.

Who's the other one?

It's very interesting.

Bellinger.

Bellinger's been struggling, too.

so not as bad you know not

as bad but they're not they

don't look well yeah was it

bellinger there was another

one I saw that was hitting

a buck something when I saw

it it was just it was

mind-boggling that those

four were struggling out of

the gate stress and

pressure because of the

fact that they were all

talked about from november

until march when they signed

and some of them late march

so that's gonna weigh on

you at some point right are

they are they calling out

boris because according to

reports snow was throwing

full bullpens all off

season so no he did just

win the cyan we already

touched upon it yeah

He's pretty shit after that,

but it'll be definitely interesting.

That's something we want to

keep an eye on and just kind of this,

a lot of different

underlying storylines that

we can kind of touch on.

But, you know, for me,

I think it's going to be

very interesting.

Give them, give them a month of May,

see where things land.

And let's really dive into

these Boris clients that

just were free agents.

And now, you know, another thing,

if you're a Boris client

and you're heading into

free agency next year,

How comfortable are you?

Yeah.

So there's a lot of stuff there.

But I think the biggest

thing for me as we close out and,

you know,

you and I both have full time jobs.

We're both slammed with work,

personal life.

Both have kids and my kids

are starting their softball

and baseball seasons.

But I'm still finding time

as much as I can with this

passion of baseball and writing.

And I think that's where.

for you and I,

and we've mentioned it in

these different little call-outs,

but if you have any

interest in talking baseball,

writing about baseball,

and don't be intimidated if

you've never written before.

I've never written before, you know,

other than work emails and different

proposals and stuff like that for work.

So we have different tools to help you.

We have a lot of good people

that are willing to work

with you and kind of give

you some pointers,

let you know what we're

doing and just work with you.

So if you're interested, but hesitant,

just reach out, reach out to us,

go to the website,

insidethediamonds.com

backslash join us and let

us know what you're thinking.

And at least

Let us talk to you and give

you a couple of ideas of

what we're doing so that

you maybe feel comfortable

and want to join us.

It's a pretty laid back atmosphere.

There's no real true requirements.

Just be active and at least

try to put out some content

a couple of times a week.

And we can show you

different ways of different

ways to engage the fan base

and just come join this

growing team and help us

kind of be a part of it and

see where we can take this thing.

So that was really the last thing I had.

Anything else from you?

The only last thing I want to say,

the very last thing is the Royals.

13 to watch.

It could be interesting and sneaky.

Mike Trout hit another home.

Old watch.

Another one.

I'm watching the bottom right corner.

We got a three,

two in the bottom of the eighth,

but that Royals team,

they put up a good fight

against the Orioles this past weekend.

So they're a team to watch

and a great game.

It's a great game.

Doesn't have to always be a

favorite team either, but no,

we appreciate you all.

Please subscribe, follow,

join us on all the social

channels that we have for

inside the diamond.

And like we've mentioned,

reach out to us if you're

interested in joining us.

Otherwise we appreciate you tuning in and,

uh,

Keep track of us.

We'll have another one out next week.

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks for joining us.

Thanks, guys.

We'll see you next week.