Welcome, welcome back to the show everybody.
It has been a long tumultuous three weeks,
but we're back.
The whole crew is here.
Tensions are a little high.
We have a fantasy football draft in a couple hours,
but we're going to talk football,
or baseball for a little bit.
Welcome back to the show.
Let's hop right into it everybody.
We are back.
It's been almost a month.
We've been working on the show for a while.
We are back.
It's been almost a month since we've released an episode.
I haven't seen everybody here in about a month, but we're here.
We're going to talk baseball today, not football.
A lot of topics to cover.
Playoffs are getting near.
It's August 20th when we're recording this.
All the series are wrapped up except for Phillies Nationals,
which is on TV right now.
Brady's on the edge of his seat.
But yeah, we're going to talk some ball.
But first and foremost, we've got
to do our little check-ins.
Joe, I think it's been the longest since we've
had you on the show.
How are you doing first, my man?
I'm doing good.
Up and down, kind of like the Rangers,
but we can get into that later.
Overall, all right, I would say.
Yeah.
OK, good to hear.
Kenji, what's here?
What do you got to say?
I'm cool.
You're cool?
You always got something to say.
I'm cool.
You're cool.
He's just that kind of guy.
I'm just a cool guy.
He's got his dress for the draft later.
Yeah.
That's true.
Yeah, just, yeah.
He's got his Japan baseball jersey on for those
that are listening.
That's country in the world of baseball right here.
USA, who are you?
Japan is your daddy, that's right.
Three time, what was it, MVC champs, right?
I'm the three time world champion.
Yeah, three time world champs.
But whatever.
Brady, lastly, but not least, how are you doing?
Oh, we're here, baby.
Brady's here.
I didn't be here today.
New face cam.
Brady's feeling good.
New face cam, baby.
Yeah.
Look at the water on the first day.
Like a camera?
Well, we can talk about it later.
No, but now it doesn't look like he's
recording with a toaster.
Yeah, I know.
I was wondering why it looks so good today.
I'm actually curious why.
It's actually my phone camera.
It's been our buddy Tom told me about how to do it.
So we're chilling.
Is it like something weird about it?
Is that why you're dictating to tell me?
There's an app on the computer and an app on your phone,
and they connect together.
Word.
Is it just me, or I feel like he's being really sus about this
for some reason?
Because Kenji, the people are here to listen to baseball.
They don't want to know how you're
feeling about technology.
We've already lost 50% of our viewers to this point.
So without further ado, maybe everybody's favorite topic,
we're going to headline with this one.
Maybe the biggest news of last few weeks.
22-year-old Wander Franco getting with some 14-year-olds,
supposedly.
I mean, yeah.
The crew has a lot to say about that one.
Kenji, let's go ahead.
What do you have to say about Wander's situation?
I didn't know he was 22.
I thought he was older.
No, he's 22.
Still not OK, by any means.
Eight years, yeah.
You're not excusing his behavior, are you?
Come on.
Hey, one more.
Chill out.
Hey, hey, hey.
Someone's going to get the wrong way.
I'm going to be next.
Hey, he's the same age as me.
That's freaky, dude.
That's freaky.
You're old, dude.
Jeez.
Dude, I'm old.
How's the 14-year-old?
What grade are they in?
Eighth grade?
They're in ninth grade.
Eighth grade, ninth grade?
I have a little brother that age.
Dude, that's the age of kids that I teach Sunday school to.
That's freaky.
That's crazy, man.
That's wild.
That's weird.
Yeah, Wander, you better stay away from my Sunday school kids.
Yeah.
So do you guys know all the drama behind it?
Like, people from both sides?
OK, so there was a report.
There was a tweet that went viral,
because this guy from the DR, I think that's where he's from,
was posting stuff about the situation, said, oh, yeah,
he's been hooking up with his 14-year-old.
There were people from Wander's side that said that the girl was
actually 19 and has a kid, but that she
was trying to clout chase and pretend to be 14,
because Wander wouldn't give her money.
But so then she came out and said all this stuff.
But apparently, it's pretty serious stuff.
There were people within the DR, inside sources,
that said that Wander supposedly may never
play a baseball game again.
Yeah, I've heard that.
It's a hot blue mind.
Yeah.
I mean, this is like something you don't take lightly.
I mean, 22-year-old dating a 14-year-old is crazy.
I hope that it's not like a money grab from her.
And I hope that the truth comes out regardless.
But I mean, that's crazy.
I hope he gets back to the game.
Yeah, I mean, we have friends that
like to date women that are a couple of years younger than them.
Ben.
But I mean, that's not that crazy.
Hold on.
How old is Ben?
21?
He's dating.
He's 21.
OK.
He's 19.
He's 21.
He goes after like 18, 19-year-olds.
That's weird, but that's not too crazy.
Right?
Yeah.
No.
Eight-year gap.
If you think about it, eight years ago, we were 13, 14.
All right.
We're just a junior high.
I was going to say this, but I didn't even know I am.
What?
I was just going to explain how innocent of a kid I was when I was 13.
Yeah, no, we don't need to go into that.
Never mind.
I do not.
Yeah, so WanderFranco, I guess kind of a felon, maybe.
A felon.
Definitely a bad look for the Raze.
We signed him to that long extension.
And he's a crazy good talent.
Anyway, we're going to get into some updates on our primary biases.
Why do rich people and famous people just do dumb stuff?
There we go.
Yeah, no, go.
Tell us, Kenji.
Talk to me.
If you've got millions and you're a 20-year-old baseball player
and you have to go for a minor, I don't get it.
Can't you have any girl in the world almost just
throw your 100 bands in front of their faces at a club
and they'll be all over you?
Isn't that how the world works?
This is true.
Right?
It's fair.
Why on God's green earth would you go after a 14-year-old?
Some people are just different, Kenji.
Not saying that Juan De Franco is just different.
Or no, no, no, I'm not defending him.
By any means, I'm not defending him.
It's just most people aren't like you.
And there's going to be some people that are weird,
some people that are more normal than you.
Hold on.
And it just happens.
The Earth is just the human population is very diverse.
So I'm not defending him by any means.
But by no means is Kenji normal, respectfully.
None of us.
Hey, yo, hey, yo.
I feel like I'm one of the more normal ones out
of our friend group, right?
The more normal ones?
Yeah.
Oh, jeez, that's a hot take.
I'm not going to do the sizzle sound because that's,
I think you're dead wrong there, Kenji.
You might be the weirdest one in all of this.
The Clamhorn.
Should we make a poll or a chat saying
who's the most normal in our group?
I don't think anyone would win.
You would win by a landslide, Kenji.
You would be easily the weirdest.
Hey, I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.
I think it's easy.
We can do that another episode, man.
We're getting sidetracked so quick today.
We're going to go into our bias.
Our favorite teams give some updates on those teams
that for the most part includes Rangers, Angels, O's, Phillies.
Just to give you a little bit of a preview of what
we're going to do today, we're going to go into our bias.
We're going to go into our bias.
We're going into our bias.
We're going to go into our bias.
And then we're going to go into our bias.
So we're going to go into our bias and then we'll start
with the Phillies.
Just for the kicks, I mean, Brady,
what's going on with the Phillies?
I mean, we're just going to start with you.
Lead us up.
Well, last episode I was not in a very,
I was not happy with them.
He was not.
We're kind of working our way.
I'm satisfied with where we're at,
two home run game in the same inning.
Schwerber had multiple two home run games.
Cassiano's had a couple home runs this week.
Everybody's just those are bangin.
Those are bad.
That's what we need.
That's what we need to do.
Our hitting kids stay consistent and our pitching is even mediocre
will be pretty good.
All right.
Okay.
I mean, I don't have too much to say about the Phillies my guy
Michael Lorenzen through a no-no.
That was funny.
Are you guys in first place in your division?
No, no, not even close.
Wooping everybody's trash.
Oh, that's right.
They're in your division.
That sucks.
Not even close.
Well, hey, we have the number one wild card spot by a three game
lead which is a very easy play in the playoffs right now.
We would play the Brewers assuming they hold the division lead.
Yeah, we play the Brewers.
Assuming they hold it, which is it that's a that's like a snoozer
of a series.
I'm going to be really honest.
That's a weird.
I'm not watching that series.
I'm going to keep the buck.
Joe Rangers tough weekend in Arlington.
What's the what's the what's the news on the Rangers?
I feel like like the doctors just diagnosed the Rangers with
like bipolar disorder or something.
It's crazy.
Like I don't get it.
I just don't get it.
Like sure, you're going to have bad series.
But when you think about the way they played against the Brewers
this weekend compared to the beginning after like the trade
deadline when they swept the Rays, right?
So the Guardians, I think they were 8-0 the last games before
they lost lost one game to the A's or the A's or the Giants.
I can't remember but I just don't get it.
I mean, it's baseball.
I get it happens where you just gone cold streaks, but it's
really frustrating especially when you're you're hitting
as so much potential and you just strike out 17 times in
one game.
It's just tough.
That's all I'm going to say.
17 times?
Injuries too, right?
I think it was 17 or something like that.
It was it was what I mean, like to be fair Peralta had a
good game, but he went five innings five or six.
He either had 10 or 11 K's but still giving away 7 to bullpen
guys. I don't know.
It's just it happens is baseball, you know, their their
offense is electric but sometimes, you know, every every
team has downfalls.
Yeah, like the Rays with Blondie Franco.
I'm getting sidetracked though, but yeah, so that's kind of
where the ranges are at where I think we're still two and a
half games back or Astros are two and a half games back from
us.
Yeah, cuz I see you will see how it goes.
We'll talk about it.
I mean, it's the Mariners struggles is like because of
your injuries.
I think now you that you look at it because our injuries.
Yeah, cuz it's been crazy since the second half how many guys
have gone down.
I'm gonna keep it a buck.
Josh Young is out right now our third baseman Ezekiel Duran
our replacement third third baseman made three errors today.
Oh, Josh Young's fraudulent fraud rookie of the year Gunnar
Henderson Gunnar Henderson to win rookie of the year.
If he didn't get injured, you're probably right.
You didn't get injured.
He probably would but you're lucky.
Hey, what about our boy Yoshida?
Huh?
What happened to him?
I forgot.
All right, Kenji, you want to take the Angels?
Yeah, do the Angels.
What's up?
You don't want to talk about it.
So I mean first some context for listeners.
We watched was it raised Angels on Friday night where they
gave up three or four runs in the top of the 10th times are
real rough in Angel Land.
I mean, Otani is leaving for sure.
They keep bringing up rookies that have been in the organization
for like 30 days.
The rookie got on base more than like half of our team.
Better than Rendon.
What team does Rendon play for?
I don't understand.
I mean like we look so good and then just fell apart and then
we barely beat him 7 to 6 and then the next second game we
lose like 4 to 15.
I just I don't I don't know.
Yeah, Angel Land.
Angel Land.
It just boils down to consistency.
I mean you guys are so young.
They haven't learned that part of the game yet and just bound
to happen.
Yeah, I mean I think the team will be really good in a couple
years pitching wise because every pitcher is so young.
Yeah, but besides that, I just don't know because we have just
terrible contracts like we can't get rid of Rendon's contract.
It's enormous.
Yeah, and he has a lot of good players.
It's enormous.
And he has to pick.
Even though he's awful this year.
I just I'm definitely going to pick a new team this off season
probably.
So let me know what team I should choose.
At this point pick the Oakland A's.
Yeah, I'm good.
I don't enjoy watching them and I enjoy watching baseball, but
I don't enjoy watching.
Tigers on the come up Kenji.
I'm telling you.
Hey, they're offensive.
They're Royals.
The Royals. Hey Bobby Whitby my boy, you know what I saw.
So this is a good transition into let me I'm going to geek out
about the O's for a second.
The Royals and the O's had back-to-back picks in the first
round of the 2019 MLB draft.
The O's took Richmond and the Royals took Whit and the Royals
farm system is ranked in like the late teens early 20s and
the O's has been number one for five straight years now.
I don't think that's like just by coincidence.
I think the Royals just suck at developing talent.
Sorry, but I'll be what's bad.
Bobby what is good, but the only picture they've developed
since then is Brady Singer and he's been okay and what is
great?
What is fantastic?
He's going to be a superstar for years to come.
But if they can't Salvador Perez getting old, I'm not here
to talk about the Royals.
I'm so sorry.
I don't want to either.
No, the O's we just got off a West Coast Road trip.
We won six out of the nine games.
We swept Oakland this weekend.
That was delightful to see Oakland come up on the schedule
after losing two out of three of the Padres.
Yeah, we smacked Oakland.
They are they suck.
We scored five runs in the tent yesterday and we dropped
11 or 12 on their head today.
O's are banging in.
We're 30 games over 500.
I don't remember that ever happening before and they sure
the organization and according to fan graphs, they have a
99% chance to make an playoffs.
Wow, having a good day.
Having a good day a good year to be an O's fan, but that's
because I suffered for like the last seven.
Since you guys have known me my teams have been bad.
So I'm enjoying this year.
My team is being good.
Frankly respect.
Yeah, and then we'll move forward a little bit here.
Talk about the Padres briefly.
They're the weirdest team in baseball.
I know I said that I think they sneak into the playoffs.
I am here to declare them dead right now.
They're not going anywhere.
What happened?
They beat they beat two out of three against the O's.
They played fantastic against Baltimore.
I went to all three of those games.
I was in there in person.
The Padres played great.
That stadium is awesome, too.
So are those fans, but then they get the Diamondbacks who
had lost like eight of ten coming in.
They get them at home and they lose three out of four to the
Diamondbacks in San Diego to like just essentially seal
their fate.
Yeah, three out of four to the Diamondbacks including their
doubleheaders.
I think they got swept in the doubleheader yesterday.
It's yeah, I just I don't even know what it is because they
played so good against the O's.
I was like, oh, they're easily going to take three out of four
against the Diamondbacks at home and then they lose three
out of four.
It was just really bizarre.
Talk about bipolar.
Yeah, no, no kidding.
I mean if we're gonna yeah, we're talking bipolar.
I think Rangers are up there.
Rangers, San Diego, Phillies occasionally.
Angels are just like clinically depressed.
They're just bad.
Yeah, they just suck.
The Padres just play to the level of their competition.
Just plain and simple.
They do.
Yeah, but yeah, just too bad because you love to see them
in the Padres are good.
That crowd is great.
The family, the team is great.
They got a lot of fun guys, but they just cannot win ballgames.
So what is it?
Is it their bullpen or is it just they just can't hit?
No, there's not winning close game.
So it's kind of yeah, so it's crazy because you can go look
at their run differential on like any standings anywhere.
They have virtually the same run differential as the O's do
but the problem is is that the Padres when they win their
smacking teams like they're beating the brakes off of them,
but they lose all the close games one run to run three run
games.
They're losing all of them.
Which is crazy because they got Josh hater, right?
Like, you know, they have hater in the back.
They've got the one through six in that lineup.
Yeah, one through six in that lineup is gross.
You go from Kim to Soto, Tatis, Machado, Bogarts.
Like that's Gary.
Yeah, Gary who had a grand slam this last week.
Yeah, hater still has a sub one ERA.
That's the thing.
So it's not hater who's blowing.
It's the guys ahead of them.
Yeah, it's middle relief and the big guys aren't just hitting
either like when they need to be hitting they're not hitting.
They can do it in the average time when they're up eight runs,
but yeah, so they can each hit a home run in the same game.
Yeah.
Padres continue to struggle.
I'm declaring them dead.
I think they're out.
And now my favorite part of the podcast, the Yankees have lost
eight games in a row.
I'm so happy.
Always a good day.
God is good, my friends.
God is good.
God is so good.
Yanks have lost eight in a row.
They got swept by the Red Sox this weekend.
Who did they get swept by before?
I don't remember, but it's all been at home.
That crowd has been so mad at them.
Garrett Cole gave up six earned yesterday.
Yankees are just really struggling and it couldn't happen to a nice organization.
Frankly, they haven't been this far below 500 since like 1990,
this late in the season.
You'll love to see it.
We have some Yankee friends, but we're wallowing.
Not wallowing, they're wallowing.
We're really excited.
We're rejoicing.
We're just extremely glad.
I bet our Yankees friends couldn't name five players on the Yankees right now.
I guarantee you they couldn't even start to name the starting roster.
No, Jaden could, Ben could not.
Did you guys see that?
I think Justin Turner had a go ahead three run homer in the eighth or ninth today.
And I think in that same inning, Volpe hit a three run, three on homer to tie it.
And they still lost.
So that's when you know, it's a good day to be a Yankees fan.
It's just a good judge on the IL and just haven't been done for the year to prevent any further risk.
I don't know, man.
You know what the craziest part of all the Yankee stuff is?
Is that the team still thinks they're in it.
Like you can listen to Boon or judge talk like post game and Boon this entire week.
He goes up to the podium and he's like, we're just a couple of streaks away from being right in it.
And judge is like, we have all the guys we need.
We're right where we want to be.
And we're like, dude, you're four games below 500 in AL East.
You're not going anywhere.
Like you got to start.
It's August 20th.
The regular season is done in like 35 games, 40 games.
Like you got to get it going now.
So, I mean, I'm rejoicing.
I'm so happy.
I frankly, this is the happiest I've been talking about the Yankees ever.
How far did they go last year?
First round of the wild card was in it.
They lost the championship series last year.
I thought that judge would be terrible and they just went nowhere.
Didn't they play Houston this year in the championship series?
Yeah, they lost to Houston.
In the championship series.
Did they get swept?
Yeah, they got swept.
They got swept in the LCS.
Even better.
Even better, man.
Even better.
Go that far, just go that far.
Yeah, he's won the same number of ALCS games last year.
But yeah, can't stand the Yankees.
It's a great day to be a Yankee hater.
It's such a good day to be a Yankee hater.
It's also a great day to be an Astros hater.
Who's with me?
That's right.
Yes, sir.
With the help of Julio, the Mariners have swept the Astros.
Which is big time.
Because then Toronto could maybe squeak in and take Houston out of the wildcard.
I would love that.
I don't know if Houston's not going anywhere.
I don't think.
I'm just happy because Texas got swept too.
That's all I'm going to say.
We got swept.
So we needed the Mariners to pull through and they did.
So thank you Seattle.
I appreciate it.
Maybe as a reward you guys should just like get a little Tony or something.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I'm super glad.
That'd be fun if he was on that team.
That'd be so fun.
I love Scambard.
Every Julio I get there.
And then Ohtani and just be able to mix with the pitching staff that's capable of.
Dude, that pitching staff, if they get Ohtani, will turn into the best pitching staff.
They could have like a solid six man rotation, honestly, where the world would fall apart
when Ohtani doesn't pitch for them.
No, it would not.
Absolutely.
I think they could sell out that stadium every night too.
Oh, guaranteed.
Just think, you go from Ohtani to Luis Castillo.
And then you have three young guys on the back end at Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryce Miller.
Kirby is insane.
I just want to tell you, he's so good.
I've never like, he's a scrawny little fellow, but he throws like 90, 100 and he rocks like
nobody.
He swings to it's crazy.
All rookies, right?
They're all, they're all really young.
I don't think they're all rookies.
I don't think they are.
Because I know they have like their occasional bad games, but like their games are.
Yeah.
Disgusting.
Yeah.
It's wild.
I'm pretty sure, like it's crazy.
I'm pretty sure Gilbert and Kirby are in their second year and Bryce Miller is the only
rookie.
Okay.
Yeah.
He still pitches really good outings.
Yeah.
For first year rookie on the mound.
Great job.
Very good.
Yeah.
It's just their offense is letting them down a lot.
I feel like.
Yeah.
For their first half, those lend them down, but now they're picking back up.
So.
Julio set a record.
What was it for hits in four games?
Seven, 17.
17.
Dude, seeing, going on Griff's team and clicking on Julio and seeing the hits.
Crazy.
Just like does not make sense to me.
No.
Like why does that guy just get the best players all the time?
Yeah.
Oh, Griff?
Yeah, Griff's fantasy team for those that are wondering.
We have a friend, Brady's little brother actually, who has a loaded fantasy team.
Doesn't make sense.
How?
Greatly from Julio Rodriguez setting that hit record.
Yeah, kind of crazy.
Brady, now I'm going to let you take the point on this next topic because you are a resident
college baseball connoisseur.
Paul Skeens is having quite the year.
Tell us a little bit.
Personally, I think he should have been the only player to be brought up this for the
rest of this season.
Aside from the Angels player, I still can't pronounce his name.
I don't know.
I call him Chanel, but anyway, anyway, he looks unbelievable.
He looks so gross.
I don't know why Pittsburgh hasn't already pulled him up.
He's in.
They moved him from rookie ball to single a and he's just been shoving having the best
college boys summer ever.
Yeah.
Best hot boy summer.
I think we've ever seen.
He won the title.
I got drafted number one.
And what did you say, Brady?
Now he's dating Libby Dunn.
Oh, baby.
She's a shoddy.
Yeah, he's having quite the time for himself right now.
But I think regardless, if they're not pirates aren't going anywhere, they'll probably wait.
I think he should be there day one starter to start their opening day starter of next
season because the Pirates have.
I do.
They have a good farm system, right?
From what I saw, they do.
They got some good stuff.
It's just Mitch Keller's great, but he's the opening day guy.
Wow.
I think if they were smart, I think if they were smart, they would.
Absolutely.
Wow.
I think absolutely.
They should.
Who do you think?
Who are they going to start?
Oviedo?
Mitch Keller.
Who else?
It's going to be better than Mitch Keller.
I guarantee it.
I don't think that they start him over Keller in his first year.
That's crazy.
If they're smart, they should.
Do I think they will?
No.
I think he comes up in like June next year.
I think Brady's just getting a little excited because he's dating Libby Dunn.
That's like all I'm going to say.
That's what he wants.
He wants to see Libby Dunn at Big League Games.
That's what he wants.
Brady just brought books of flight to Pittsburgh on March 31st.
I've seen that guy throw 120 pitches and still pump 102 out of his arm.
You can't be any better than that guy was in college baseball.
You can't.
There's a reason for that.
No, he was at Air Force.
He was in the Army Transmitting Air Force.
He was in the Air Force actually.
Of course he was.
He joined the Air Force before.
He played at Air Force Academy at the University.
It's like an actual like in the military though to do that.
Maybe.
I'm pretty sure you do.
But all we know that he's a dog.
Brady, how about Cooper Loveridge who plays at Air Force right now?
We both played with him.
He definitely isn't watching this.
But hey, Brady, Trey Turner is back.
He is back.
He has finally kicked it in gear since we've been here last time.
I think the standing ovation ever since then.
He's just been a dog and he's actually like lived up to his potential for his first year in Philly.
Obviously, it's just kind of been a run of everybody who goes to Philly has a terrible first year.
But then figures it out the year after.
Same thing happened with Harper.
Same thing with Nick and Schorber.
Schorber was pretty good, but he still hits under 200.
It's still 200.
It don't matter.
But everybody has not the best of a year to start in Philly, but then they get better.
So I'm hoping this is his turnaround and he gets hot just in time with the rest of the team to go into the postseason.
I want to add something to other Phillies.
Did you guys see on Twitter this morning?
They were at the Little League World Series game cheering on.
Yeah, they're playing.
Philadelphia was it?
Yeah, the Pennsylvania team.
Pennsylvania team.
I thought that was the coolest thing ever.
Oh, yeah.
It's so sick.
Imagine being those 11, 12 year olds having Bryce Harper cheering for you.
Imagine being the other team just like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schorber just praying on your downfall hoping that you lose.
Yeah.
I just thought that was really cool.
I don't know.
Super cool moment.
Yeah.
I could be wrong, but aren't they playing the first Williamsport game today?
I'm pretty sure they are.
The first one?
Yeah, because they're supposed to start playing in Williamsport for like an out of country game.
They've done in the last two or three years.
Have they?
In Williamsport?
Yeah, the O's played there last year.
Oh, well, and they played the Williamsport game today.
Yeah, no, I love the Williamsport game.
I know what's going on right now.
Hopefully.
Are you guys winning?
I don't believe so.
Top five Washington 4-0.
Yeah, we're not doing anything today.
I'm sorry.
That's okay.
Sorry, it happened to Spaceball.
It happened.
I'm going to talk briefly about Jackson Holliday, everybody's favorite 19-year-old called Wander
Franco.
Jackson Holliday is the number one prospect in baseball.
He's in the O's farm system.
He was the number one pick last year.
He's 19 years old, so about four years older than the age of consent for Wander.
He had to ask teachers for permission to use the bathroom a year ago in high school, and
he's hitting 350 in single A, double A. They're about to call him up to triple A. He's 19
years old.
He's got an 850, 890 LPS, something like that, some crazy elites B.
Shortstop?
He's a shortstop.
Ooh, you guys need that.
Dude, can't even drink yet.
No, he can't even drink yet.
He fits the bill because we need middle and field as well as pitching, but Holliday is
better than Adley when Adley was in the minors, if that tells you anything.
Was Adley dominant in the minors?
Yeah, it was just a matter of time before he got called up.
They were just waiting for the rest of the system to be good, but I thought it was worth
noting that Holliday just continues to rake.
You think he'll be starting next year?
I hope not.
Is who's your shortstop right now again?
We have Gunnar Henderson and-
I don't play story.
Mateo.
Corheadt Mateo.
We had this conversation earlier.
We were like, you guys don't have anybody better than Mateo in your entire farm system.
Well, you guys do.
No, he's not the only one.
Holliday is great, but they have another guy, Joey Ortiz, who is hitting 350 in triple A
right now, and they haven't called him up yet.
They're just waiting because Mateo's got elite speed, and I think that's why they like him
as a pinch runner.
Maybe Ortiz will get called up in the September call-ups, but I don't think Holliday should
be up yet.
He's 19.
I'm just waiting for him to hit a cold spell, because I don't want him to get called up
to the base and then hit 120 and then be shot with confidence.
I want him to get a year or two in the minors and then go.
He's only 19, and I also don't want him to be a free agent when he's 26.
Give me a couple more years in the minors, and then we can get you until you're 28, 29.
Is that how it works, the contract system?
You get six years of arbitration where you're really cheap, and then you got to pay in play
after six years.
Six years.
Wow.
Six years in the majors, and then as many years as they want in the minors.
Kind of, yeah.
They have minor league contracts and things, but as soon as you get called up to the bigs,
you have six years until you are qualified for free agency.
But I would like to keep Holiday in our system for a while, because he's going to be so good.
He's going to get a $300 million contract, which we can't pay.
I guess that kind of wraps up most of our talking points.
We're going to quickly flip around and record a tier list of the playoff teams right after
this.
That'll be released later this week.
But we wanted to quickly go over our DFA watch, player to watch, and some of our series to
watch this week.
So a nice little concise 30 minutes so people can get their list done on Monday.
Yeah, not too shabby.
But first of all, who wants to go first?
DFA watch.
Anybody got anybody on the top of the head?
Kenji, you've been watching your Angels team struggle.
Who's getting cut?
Oh, from the Angels?
Anybody.
Who needs to get DFA?
I want CJ Kronoff, my team, because I can't stand to look at his face.
Very personal.
And he made one bad error at first base a week ago or something, and ever since then.
A, I haven't seen him play.
And B, I just can't stand to look at him.
OK.
Got you.
So I want to get him off my team.
I know we traded for him, but I don't care.
Yeah.
I want him to cut it.
I want them to cut him.
All right.
I think I got the winner of our DFA watch.
Uh-oh.
Here we go.
0-1 in his fighting debut, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tim Anderson.
He has as many home runs this season as he does getting knocked out, which is a one.
So get him out of here.
J-Ram got hands, man.
I just got to say that.
J-Ram has hands.
Bro should have been the starter.
Bro should have been the A-L starter to all-star game.
It's crazy how bad Tim Anderson has played, especially considering he's been a solid 3rd
in the all-hitter all his life, and he got chosen to play in WBC, right?
Yeah.
Because he was legit.
But like, there's the door.
WBC curse.
That might be something to look into.
Trout got hurt.
Schwerber?
Trey Turner was atrocious.
Schwerber's been bad.
Mullen's been injured.
Yeah, Mullen's been injured twice.
A lot of.
Yeah, hey, WBC curse.
I guess Mullen ought to have played good this year.
Yeah, it's a good year.
He's been good.
Mullen was an all-star starter.
KT's been iffy.
He's never known to be a hitter.
Oh, really?
Average is a hitter.
His defense just makes up for everything.
Such a good catcher.
Yeah.
You know, he's like a 260, 7-ish hitter?
Yeah.
Oh.
Actually, he usually hits 280-ish, but he just doesn't get the runs and RBIs that everyone
else does.
Does he walk a lot?
No, not really.
He's usually a little bit of a walker.
Not really.
He's usually one of the guys they have to pitch to.
So, he gets hits.
He's just never the guy who gets runs or RBIs very often.
I didn't know about him until the WBC, so I don't really know.
Yeah.
His catching is unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
Okay.
Joe?
DFA.
A lot of people on the Rangers.
Off the top of my head, I'm going to go with EZ Guildran.
He's been underperforming a lot.
Yeah.
A lot, especially on the field.
And at the plate, he was on fire to start off the year.
He earned himself a spot on left field, but Young's been injured, so he's been playing
third, but his glove is not good.
I think he just needs time to just figure it out, dude.
He cost us a few runs today, and I'm just pretty upset.
I love you, man.
I love you, Durant.
You have a much better life than I do, but that's all I'm going to say.
Yeah, Durant.
I would say he's my DFA.
Okay.
All right.
I got one and a half.
I can't stand Adam Frazier.
I hate his face.
I hate his swing.
I hate how he plays defense.
I can't stand him.
I'm sorry.
I can't stand Adam Frazier.
My brothers can attest, I was at the Padres O's games earlier this week, and Frazier came
up to the plate, and I'm like, I hate this guy.
I hope he strikes out.
I can't stand him.
They pinch hit him in these weird spots, and he's creating this log jam with Ortiz,
hasn't been able to get called up, and Westberg doesn't get all the playing time, because
they have this guy who they're paying $8 million to hit 230 when he's a career 280 hitter.
Just cut it.
Yeah, I want him gone.
But then my honorable mention, Jack Flaherty gave up seven earned in two innings and threw
80 pitches in those two innings on Tuesday night.
I was there in person, watched that game.
He pulled a Gabe in high school.
He walked four straight, and then he grave up a grand slam.
I was like, oh, cool.
That was in the first inning.
I was like, oh, cool.
This game's over.
So I hope he figures it out in his next start.
But that's the Jack Flaherty experience, I guess.
OK.
Quickly, players to watch for the upcoming week.
Brady, hit me quick.
Who you got?
Who's hot?
I'll take the one and a half for this one.
Trey Turner, as said before.
No way.
Really?
Already.
Yes.
Absolutely.
That's a high take.
Players to watch.
Man's is going off.
So the man's with the Vans cleats.
Michael Lorenzen.
OK.
No hitter.
I do love those cleats.
Dog.
I don't buy that.
No hitter.
I don't buy it.
Framber also pooped the bed his next start after he threw that no-no.
So did Lorenzen.
Yeah.
So, but man's wears Vans cleats.
And there's a doubt.
That's fair.
Welcome to the Phillies, buddy.
Vans?
Vans.
Vans cleats.
Oh, really?
Custom cleats, yeah.
That's pretty sick.
You're cool.
I'm going to clip that, where he's pulling out his shoe to show the candy.
I guess I don't know what Vans are yet.
We're just sitting right there.
Kenji, who's the player to watch?
The new guy?
I don't know how to pronounce his name correctly, but it's the White Sox shortstop, like Elvis
Andrews or whatever.
Oh, Elvis Andrews.
Player to watch?
Interesting.
Did you see how hot he's been?
Oh, no, I did not.
I mean, he's hitting 455 in the past.
Oh, I thought you were going to say Keeber Ruiz.
He's on the AL mid.
Yeah, that's a place for the White Sox.
He's hitting 408 in the past two weeks.
15 RBIs.
I think for our friend Tom, we got to throw Zach Gelof in here.
The old Glenez.
Yeah, Zach Gelof has been amazing.
I watched his games.
He has the most doubles in the MLB or in the month of August, I believe.
He's hitting like 380.
Gotcha.
All fun and games until you trade him to Atlanta for a churro.
True.
Yeah.
Joe?
I'm going to say Jordan Montgomery.
He starts tomorrow against the Diamondbacks.
He's been good for us in his start.
I think it's a really crucial game for us tomorrow to bounce back from the sweep.
We just earned ourselves.
He's been good.
He was good on the cards.
He's good now.
I'm excited to watch him throw tomorrow and see how he does to keep it quick.
Okay.
My player to watch is a tough one, Ryan Mountcastle.
I'll go with Ryan Mountcastle.
Okay.
He's hitting 400 in August.
He had Vertigo.
He was on the IL for quite a while, Vertigo, and he came back and he's just questionable.
He said it's because it's easier to hit one ball instead of seeing three.
Mountcastle has been red hot.
He's replaced Freddie Freeman on my fantasy team and virtually no dip in production, which is nice.
Is Freeman on the market then?
Tom has Freeman.
Let's go behind him.
I don't check fantasy that much anymore.
Yeah, that shows you Joe's level of interest.
Some fun series to watch.
I'm just going to run through them really quick here.
Blue Jays owes to start the week.
Blue Jays kind of need it to stay in the race.
Oes are at home, so they need to defend.
Milwaukee, San Diego.
That one will be fun.
Two playoff teams.
Not really, it's 10-8 goes dead, but this is kind of like the end of their line for them.
Texas v Arizona.
That'll be fun.
Arizona is, I think Arizona is out of it.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Joe, Brady is Arizona.
They're kind of out of it, right?
Nope.
I mean, if they're playing the way they believe in playing since All-Star break, then yeah.
But it could be promising.
So then Miami and Cincinnati are all like a game out of the wild card.
Oh, really?
Yep.
I thought Arizona was below.
Chicago just took the last spot.
Gotcha.
Alright, yeah, nevermind.
San Diego's like five.
Yeah, San Diego's in trouble.
Five, geez.
Okay, Texas v Arizona's good because it's a matchup of two teams you could see in the playoffs.
Two potential playoff teams.
They also play Cincinnati at the end of the week.
Yeah, that's true.
And then the last one, Giants-Philies.
Two teams also budding for that in a wild card spot.
Both teams need the series to stay in it.
We'll see what happens.
Brady will be on the edge of his seat.
So any last little words, guys?
That's our show for the week.
We're going to go do this little tier list.
But Kenji, you got something funny to say?
You always got something funny to say.
No.
Quite a season at the win.
Joe, Brady?
I'm kind of hungry, so.
Great week for some ball.
Great week for some ball, yep.
Excited.
It's getting close to the postseason.
It is, man.
Teams are actually madding now.
They're going to be mad.
Go O's, baby, go O's.
Go Philies.
Brady, you got one more thing?
It's always a bad day to be a baseball.
And it's a great day to be a Yankee hater.
Yes, sir.
A bad day to be a Yankees fan.
All right.
Take care, everybody.
Thanks for listening.