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let's jump right into it. Welcome back to another Saturday episode everybody. This time,
Kenji and I are going to go through some of the newsworthy events of the week around the league.
We got some fun comments from Travis Hunter, Shohei's back playing, Cody Bellinger's doing
well for the Yankees, Basaio's doing great for the O's, I already called him out,
Snake Peak, and then the Red Sox top prospects continue to pop. That's what we're going to be
talking about here today. First and foremost though, Kenji, happy Saturday. We're recording
this on a Friday, but happy Saturday to all the wonderful people listening, whenever you're
listening really. But how you doing? I'm great. Happy to be home. Just got home a couple minutes
ago. Interesting fact, kind of TMI, I went the entire day without deodorant today and I was fine.
I forgot to put it on this morning. I came home before work, forgot it again. But luckily we're
in that perfect season where it's not too hot, it's not too cold. I haven't broken a sweat in
months it seems like. You are a special human, you know that? No, I think you're a special,
I think you just sweat more than most people. Hey man, we're not airing me out out here. What
the heck? What did this turn into? Anyway, but you know I'm at that time of the night where I'm like,
do I put it on or do I not put it on? You know, it's like I made it this far, might as well see
where I can go. Did you know Matthew McConaughey doesn't wear deodorant? No way. What does he use?
It's just natural odors, baby. That's crazy. He either has the Japanese gene where you don't sweat
as often or he just dumps himself with cologne. But poor wife after a long day. He's on set in
like the desert. Oh my gosh. No thank you. Yeah. But let's get into some baseball. What's going on?
Hold on, I'm fact checking my deodorant take on McConaughey. Oh, he wants to make sure
Matthew McConaughey doesn't come on. Yes, he doesn't wear deodorant because he doesn't think
it's necessary and prefers his natural scent. Anyway, this is not a Matthew McConaughey deodorant
pod. What a guy. What a guy. We're talking baseball, but we're going to start with a little
football actually because Travis Hunter, the NFL combine has kicked off. They're doing PR and press
conferences and Travis Hunter was asked about Shohei Otani and if playing wide receiver and corner
in the National Football League is comparable or better than hitting and pitching in Major League
Baseball. And he believes, I don't have the editing wherewithal to cut in the clip, the audio clip,
but he said that he thinks what he does is more impressive basically that he playing wide receiver
in corner is more impressive than hitting and pitching. So I 100% disagree with his statement,
completely wrong. I'm curious, I mean, you're a big Shohei fan guy. Where do you stand on this?
I mean, it's crazy. I mean, it's like, I understand that athletes believe that they are like the best
athlete in the world, even though you clearly aren't sometimes. I mean, every NFL player is like,
oh yeah, who's the number one player in the NFL? Me, me, me. I'm like, well, I hate to break it,
say it ain't you. Okay. That can only be one number one. I know. And you have a conversation
about MLB and these contracts, how everybody's just getting paid. Like it doesn't, you don't
deserve to be paid to be the top paid player in your position. If you suck, like Trevor Lawrence,
right? I think he still is the highest paid player or quarterback or Justin Herbert is. I'm like,
you're telling me that you can, with a straight face, look at your general manager in the entire
world and say, Hey, I haven't won a Superbowl or really made the playoffs or done anything in the
playoffs, but I deserve to make more money than Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson,
and Joe Burrow. Just not a football. You know that there's just people are so delusional when it
comes to themselves. Like I love the conference, but you gotta have a reality check and Travis
Hunter. I'm sorry, but you can have a reality check here. Um, you can't hit a ball. I guarantee
you, if I saw you with the bat, you would look like every guy that says baseball is the easiest
sport. All you do is you hit a ball and run around in a circle. That's not a real athlete right there.
You know, I hate those kids in high school and yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see how
listen, we stopped doing the NFL show because we didn't enjoy it as much. We don't like the NFL as
much as we like baseball, but I will be curious to see how we adjust because let's be really
honest. Shohei does it at the top level of his sport. Travis Hunter did it at the top level of
the big 12, which is arguably the third best conference in college football. And so I think,
yeah, cool. He won the Heisman. Like he won the bullet in the cough, but like he hasn't done it
with the pros. Like snaps played is until you're going out there and you're trying to cover, you
know, Devontae Adams or CD lamb or, I mean, Jamar chase. And then you got going out and then go and
then exactly. And then going and scoring on Patrick Surtan or something. Exactly. Until you go out and
do that. Then I got nothing else to say because Shohei can Homer off the best. He can strike out
the best. That's like what makes him as good as he is. The equivalent would be, I think is Travis
Hunter playing the entire game, going up against, we'll say Justin Jefferson, holding him to zero
catches and zero yards and interception on one-on-one coverage against him. Then going out
and going up what let's say 15 for 200 against Pat Surtan with three touchdowns. That's equivalent
to what Shohei does when he pitches and hits in the same night. I reported that game two years ago
against the tigers, two or three home runs and a complete game shot up. It was the tigers, but
he's the man, but he's doing that. So it's a crazy, again, how happy you have confidence in
yourself, but let's have a reality check. Now people, you guys aren't as important or as amazing
as you think you are. The only person that can say that is the most humble human in the world,
and his name is Shohei Otani. So believe that. Speaking of Shohei being humble, his first at bat,
which actually just happened about 20 minutes ago, 20, 30 minutes ago, he's playing his first spring
training game leading off against Yusei Kikuchi and the Angels. And of course he Homers. Of course
he Homers. A three-two count, high fastball. Yeah, Homers into the bullpen in left field. Of course
he does. He's the man. He's the dude. He went 50-50 last year for a second. He's the guy who's
the first player to ever do it. He's going to be back pitching in a couple of months. He's just,
he's the man. He's the man. So I'm curious, when did you, I would assume that you think he's
probably the best baseball player of all time. 100%. At what point, because you've been watching,
because you've been watching baseball before you even came into the league. At what point of
watching him, did you, did you go like, oh my gosh, he is actually the best baseball player to
ever live? That's a good question. I mean, this might, I mean, I don't know if there's one moment
where I was like, definitively this is like, he, he's the greatest. But watching what he did,
even that year that he got Tommy John, what he did with the Angels trying to fight with, you know,
an injured injury prone Mike Trout to make the playoffs. They ended up not selling him at the
deadline and then he got hurt shortly thereafter. But like just what he does day in, day out, like
you just get him. I mean, you had him in fantasy a couple of years ago and you get to, and that was
crazy. Cause when I'm playing you, you just show, he's either pitching or he's hitting every night
and he's always doing something good. If he's, if he's hitting, he's getting extra base hits.
He's stealing bags. If he's pitching, he's going like six innings and two earned runs. Like he's
doing like giving you a quality start and really quality at bats every time. It's unbelievable.
And the way other players talk about him is unbelievable. It's just larger than life. Like
these guys are already the best at what they do. And then somebody who's also the best at what they
do, but at both things. I mean, it's, it's crazy. It's crazy. He's worth every penny of that 700
million and more. Yeah, he does. What he's getting. Yeah, he does. Double. I think in like 10 years,
we'll look back on that deal and we'll go, wow, how was that? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I, uh,
I just thought, sorry to keep going show. You're okay. So amazing. But you know, people like to
say like Babe Ruth, like compare them to Babe Ruth. Um, but just imagine if show, hey, Oh, Tony
played when Babe Ruth played, he would have probably, he probably would have hit for 600
average, a hundred home runs, a hundred stolen bases, and probably would have had a zero ERA
against them. I mean, it's great that you like, you know, we like to put these past baseball
players on these greatest baseball players of all time. You get Pete Rose, you got Babe Ruth,
and you got a bunch of other players that I've never watched or cared about, but you just can't
do that anymore. Or show it like he is so significantly better than anybody that I've
ever watched. And I think anybody's watched and he does it the right way. That's what I love about
show. Hey, is he, he has every right in the world to act like who's a really, like a, like a, like
a Sanders, you know, who was a Dion. Yeah. Dion, but Dion's kind of, I don't know, but a big mouth,
like a Tyree kill. Um, anybody who just thinks that they're the shiz the whole time. Tim Anderson,
a couple years ago. Yeah, but he doesn't, right? He is the most humble. He plays baseball the right
way. He, he plays hard. He cares for his teammates, his teammates love him and he shows emotion when
it matters. Um, he's just the model baseball player. Like he's just, he is your kid to be,
he's the best player of all time. And I have no shame in saying that, uh, he's the best player
speaking of the Dodgers. Yes. And they're amazing Japanese talent. Roki Sasaki is going to throw on
Tuesday. Oh, really? We're going to get him in some game action Tuesday. He, I don't know who
they played Tuesday, but he got shelled in a couple of BP sessions against the white socks from what
we saw. Kyle Teal took that boy up top. You said you saw another prospect take him up top. Yes.
Roki, I think will be a really exceptional big league player. I think his rookie year will,
there will be some growing pains as with everybody. We saw Yamamoto last year to different
baseball, different hitters, but he's got the stuff to be successful. I am excited to watch him pitch
on Tuesday. Any other takes you got on Roki Sasaki? I mean, people in the comments section
are freaking out like, Oh, I'm so glad we didn't get in. This guy sucks. I'm like, guys, chill out.
Okay. Chill out. Okay. I guarantee you every single, but everybody's just butthurt that the
Dodgers got him. Um, but he, he's 23 years old. He throws a hundred miles an hour and he has a split
finger that is gross. And he's going to the best team with probably one of the best coaching staffs
ever assembled. Really? I mean, they do such a good job. Their pitching staff is so good. Um,
and yeah, I, we said it from the beginning that the first year is going to be hard. Um,
Yamamoto struggled his first couple of games. I mean, in Korea, he got demolished. I mean,
that was the worst way to wake up at 3 AM to watch Yamamoto not even make it the first inning or the
second inning. And then he comes home in his first, I think his season opener at a really hard time,
but then he did a great job after that. You know, he, I don't know if he's worth the contract yet,
but he's going to be, I think, cause he's going to get better. And Sasaki is the same way,
but he's just younger. And I think he has more potential just because of the velocity that he
has. You can do more when you have more velocity. Yeah. People can freak out and he's not going to
be some amazing pitcher this year. I think he'll be all right, but I mean, give him two, three years.
I mean, he's got all this stuff to be successful. Their mouths are going to be dropping when he
gets in his prime. Watch out. Yeah. So it'll be fun to watch him throw Tuesday. We're going to shift
from the Dodgers to the other biggest brand in baseball, the New York Yankees. Uh, they got some
bad news today. Uh, Luis heal to get an MRI on his right shoulder. He's has some discomfort.
It's a good thing they didn't trade Marcus Stroman. So, uh, the, the talk in campus Stroman's kind of
the odd man out. They didn't know where he was going to fit. They were shopping them around,
but now immediately a few weeks in, you get maybe an injury to heal that would keep him out an
extended amount of time. I'm not going to speculate. I don't want to say anything. Hopefully he's
totally fine. It just needs a few days off and he's back in a few days. Uh, but worst case scenario,
he's out for a month or two. Uh, that's why you keep a guy like Marcus Stroman around. So Luis
Hill coming off rookie of the year, Colton Couser got snubbed. He's, he's an exceptional pitcher and
the Yankees could really benefit from him sticking around, but they also have the luxuries
of other talents in that rotation to hold them over for the time being. Yeah. I know that they
got Clark Schmidt. I think he, I don't think he's going to be ready for the, for the beginning of
the season. Um, I think he's got some, some injury. I can't remember what it was. So that
it's kind of unfortunate. They got two pitchers, um, who are going to be sidelined to begin with,
but yeah, the Stroman thing really works out. Um, cause he's come out and said, um, I'm not,
I'm not, I'm not a bullpen guy. I'm a starting pitcher and he's really expensive. And I still
think if they have a chance to trade him, get rid of him. Um, but you need him for that.
This is why you have to give you any, he's going to give you any innings. And honestly,
it's not the worst thing for heel. Obviously last week had an innings limit. They were kind of
worried and kind of tailed off and they, they really, um, what put a restriction on him.
Yeah. He starts off a couple months late. I don't think that's the worst thing for them. It's like
the Stanton thing. It's like, you want these guys to be there at the end of the year. Yep.
The Yankees team really is good enough to, I think, get through first couple of months without
Stanton, heel or even Clark Schmidt. They'll figure it out. Cause they went, they, they did just fine
without Gary Cole last year. Yep. So a hundred percent. I'm not too worried. Um, just unfortunate
cause he is an awesome pitcher and an awesome talent, but, uh, hope it's nothing too serious.
Hopefully it's nothing too serious on the brighter side for the Yankees, Cody Bellinger,
Homer, uh, in the game tonight against the Toronto blue Jays. That's a good sign. They need Bellinger.
I don't think he's going to be able to replicate what Soto gave him exactly, but I mean, if he's,
if Soto is, I mean, sorry, if Bellinger is what, like half of what Soto gave him, like, like what?
20 bombs, like 60 ribbies, 70 ribbies behind judge, wherever, like if he gives him that,
what is, what does Bellinger have to do for the Yankees to be successful?
What belly has to do. Um, like end of year stat line, what does belly stat line look like? And
you're like, okay, the Yankees had a good year. 25 homers, if belly can get 25, I had like what?
250. I think like 270. Okay. That's a really good year. 72, 25 homers, 80 RBIs I think is the
minimum, especially where he's going to hit in the lineup. I think he's going to hit cleanup or,
or third behind judge five, six within that range. Yeah.
Um, and you know, heck maybe in 2015 stolen bases, cause he's got speed. Um, but really what he
really needs to do is bring defense to that team. He, they really need a hitting center fielder.
They love judging, right? Although he wants to play center. He said, um, he's better in center
field than judges. So I'll drop. That's true. That's good. But he's got more range than judge
does and he's a great defender out there. And then he's got a lot of, a lot of, a lot of
defense. And the Yankees have really changed their defense. Um, and they brought in so much
athleticism compared to what they were last year. Yeah. They should pitch really well this year
because they've got an upgraded defense and they've got a good staff. They should. The defense is
actually really good. Um, so I'm excited for them. Yeah. You, do you think belly or Goldie will have
a bigger impact for them? Ballinger. Really? Goldie's a 38 year old stop gap first baseman.
So they can get Murakami or Vlad next year. Paul Goldschmidt, I'm telling you right now,
in fantasy, I'm drafting them. I'm out on Goldschmidt. I'm out on Goldschmidt.
If he hits four in that lineup, the RBIs. Staying, staying in the AL East, uh, the Red Sox,
their top prospects continue to pop. Marcelo Myers having a great camp. Roman Anthony's having a great
camp. Those two guys killing it. They just have a litany of great prospects and it's a, it's,
yeah, it's an embarrassment of riches. They've got so many great players. They don't know where
to put them. I've got Marcelo Meyer and a dynasty league. I know Roman Anthony is the number one
prospect in the game, I believe. And they just, they got dudes, they have dudes all over the place.
They just have dudes. It's a, Red Sox are a scary team for years to come. I will say Jeff Pass and
kind of hurt my feelings because he wrote that the Red Sox top three prospects is the best,
like top three prospect trio, like this generation or this decade or something. And I was like,
really dude? Do you not see? Jackson. Okay. No, Jackson's the number one prospect. Hold on. No,
no, no. You're not about to piss me off. Jackson's the number one prospect. Like,
but they're not prospects altogether though. Is he saying that this is the greatest
like combination of prospects, three prospects all at once or? I don't know. They were,
they all had them in the system at the same time. The O's did. They all did. Like the three that
Boston has is like right now in the farm system, they have the three like best prospect. I could
listen to that argument. You've had them kind of spaced out is what I'm saying. They always did
have three top prospects for three years in a row. They had three number ones, three seasons.
Adley, Gunnar, Jackson, three years straight. And this, and that, that's a great pivot. Thank you
so much for that great pivot point, Kenji. Samuel Besayo, who was on here last week yapping about
how good he's going to be. And then he comes out here a couple of days ago and he hits a 500 foot
homer in Florida, over the scoreboard. It was in Gar, it was, it was against some random pitcher
for, I believe Toronto, but absolutely crushes one over the scoreboard. They were doing calculations
on Google maps to find out how far he hit that ball. He hit it to the outfield on the backfield
behind the stadium. That's how far he hit that baseball. So I was on here. I was, I was harping
and yapping about how good he's going to be. They also have another great prospect and I love it.
I love it. He could be up this year. You think so? He could, he could be up this year.
Do you want that? I don't know, man. How, I think like it was a couple of times ago,
how he could actually fit into your lineup with Adley being there. I think he'll be up next year
for sure. I like Gary Sanchez and he's had a good camp. So I don't know, unless something were to
happen to Gary or Adley, I don't think he would come up, but definitely like next season. I think
he's up. He'd be a 21 year old rookie and I don't know what you do because he's the kind of guy you
have to play him every day. I don't know where you put him, but he can swing it with the best of him.
So I love to see it. I shouted him out on the show, stoked to see Besayo do his thing
and keep having a great camp. They love him. He's a great framer. He knows the strikes on.
He's been good with the ABS system so far. He's won a bunch of challenges. He's the man. I'm all
in on Besayo, but of course I was going to be because I'm wearing an O's hat. I'm from Baltimore.
So a little biased, a little, a little biased, but it's okay cause he, he is very talented.
And that Homer, wow. He's a freak. Dude is yoked for 20 years old. He's swole. Yeah. These, these,
these kids these days don't look the same as they used to when we were kids. No, not at all. They're
feeding them something different. You know, you feel old when I look around and I'm like, I'm 23.
We're both 23 and you look at them and you're like, that kid's like Gunnar Henderson's 23.
Bobby Woods, 23. And you're like, Oh my God. I know. And you're like, hold on. I,
I was going to my office job and Bobby Woods going to camp and cash in checks for hundreds of millions
of dollars. So it's a, it makes you evaluate what spot you're at in life. Yeah. I mean,
I've said to you many times before, if I made that kind of money, we wouldn't be doing the show.
So, you would be the show. Yeah. I would hope people would talk about us, but that's,
that's kind of the newsworthy points. That's what I had from the week. I wanted to keep it short
for the people. Didn't want to give them anything too crazy to listen to on a Saturday. We know you
got a lot of things to do. You got wives to hang out with or husbands to hang out with. If you're,
if you're a woman listening, which would be a shocker, you have family to be with friends to
be with things to do parties to go to workouts to get done lawns to mow. If you're in a warm climate.
Yeah. You got a lot of stuff to do. So keeping it short today, Kenji, I got, I got, I know you,
you have a question, so I'm going to let you random question for you. And I tee you up for this
question. Here you go. Go ahead. Okay. Okay. Who, uh, I want you to give me a, a sneaky MVP candidate
that's never been considered as an MVP candidate before, but a guy who's probably not going to win
it, but it all goes well. You could potentially see winning MVP. So you're a sneaky dark horse
MVP candidate for the year. That isn't your usual name. That's a good question from either league.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter either league. Just, just go on. We're just going to put it up,
put that name out there as someone to watch out for who you think has potential to become an MVP
player. Well, I can't pick anybody in the national league because the guy named Ohtani plays in it.
So I got to go with the American league. That's true. Well, I mean, he can be in the consideration
for MVP. Doesn't mean he has to win it. The first two names that came to mind were, uh, Fernando
Tatis, but he's kind of like a front runner guy. Hasn't he won MVP before? I don't think he has.
And then the next one called me crazy. Michael Harris, money Mike. Really? Like he's got,
he's got the talent to be really successful. I mean, maybe not MVP, but he's got, he's got a
lot of talent. Uh, that's not my actual answer though. I'm thinking out loud. It's hard to do
it on the spot. You know, the best way to look at it, just go to your ESPN fantasy, uh, fantasy
roster. Then you just look up, you scroll down the list until you see a player that you think, uh,
Vlad jr. He's been considered for MVP last year though. I'm saying a guy who's never,
Oh my, I never considered. Yeah. So he's literally just going to like break out.
Like the fact that Matt McClain almost wasn't the MVP voting like two years ago, I think like 10th
and MVP voting his rookie year, like stuff like that. You just, or Cattell Marte, right? Nobody
expected Cattell Marte last year to be in the MVP voting. And he was like second or third.
So kind of, kind of like that is what I'm saying.
Cause I got, I got some name that I think could really do it.
Jaren Duran. Ooh. Okay. So what does he have to do to get MVP? Cause last year was a great year.
He was an all star outside MVP. I need like 30 bombs. Okay. I need 30 or 40 stolen bases.
I need a bunch of ribbies, probably like 90 plus. I know it'll be the top of the
order. So that's tougher. It's a tough ask and I need him to play exceptional defense.
Okay. I think if he goes 30, 30 or 30, 40 or 35, 35, then he's right in the thick of the
discussion. And he just hasn't been concerned. I mean, he's, he's got all the talent to be in
that discussion. He just has to put it all together for a full season. And I think he can.
I'll give you a answer. I ran out of what he did last year. So last year he,
he had 20 homers, 74 RBI, 34 stolen bases, hit 284, 342 OVP with a 488 slugging.
Yeah. I need, I need 30 plus homers. I need 90 ribbies and I need 40 stolen backs and I need
him to hit at least 280. So like that Marcus, Marcus Simeon, you're a couple of years ago,
but with stolen bases, much more homers. Okay. I love that. That's a good one.
I'm going to go Jackson Truro. Oh yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. I think he has a really good
chance. Do I actually think deep down here that he will know, but he's got all the talent. I mean,
he's projected. I've seen people project like 30, 30 for him, which is wild. He's in that category.
I mean, he can great defender freak. I mean, when MVP, you have to do more than 30, 30, 30, 30, 30,
but I think he just has the talent and the potential to win an MVP. Yeah. Too bad. He
plays in a league with a guy named Ohtani. I know it's a shame. It's a shame, but, uh,
I don't know. What did it call him? I wouldn't be shocked if one day he won MVP,
but that's it for my question. Okay. I mean, listen, you want to hear a really crazy one? Tell
me a crazy one. I mean, I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I'm not
really crazy one. Tell me a crazy one. Lawrence Butler. Dude, you know what? I literally thought
about him right before. And I was like, there's no way Lawrence Butler can do that, but he's so
talented. He's so good. I can see it, man. I could see it. There's a crazy universe where he's an
MVP. Cause he's predicted like 2020 this year. That's the problem is. Yeah. It's just not enough.
Like if he went like 35, 35, 40, Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. With a bunch of rubies and that small
park too. He could do it. That's my answer. Jaren Duran, honorable mention Lawrence Butler. Okay.
I love it. I love it. I love it even more. Well, that's it. All right. Thanks for listening,
everybody. We'll catch you guys on Tuesday. Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. Kenji,
anything you want to leave them with? Bye.