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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,
some of the top prospects
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
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inside the diamond.
And like we've mentioned,
reach out to us if you're
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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.