MLB power rankings, Skubal's future, Roman Anthony's hand issue

00:00:04
Speaker 1: You'll never believe this new show. Alert you've heard about this one? You have you believe me? Really, thank you.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: I don't like the name of it, but it's their name. It's fine, it's totally fine. Why not because there's no dirt in the dugout? Like you sweep the dugout out. That's what the clubbies do, That's what the freshmen do in high school. You sweep the dirt out of the dugout.

00:00:27
Speaker 1: What about literly, well, somebody better do it. They don't not in my tone, dug out full of dirt. Dirt from the dugout? Is the show? The Dirt from the Dugout? Karl Ravage and Justin Mussel. Yes, yespn's Carl Ravitch, great broadcaster in our sport for a long time now and their first guest was on last night, Mark de Rosa. This one's geared towards the kiddos and the parents of the kiddos. They are exploring the dos and don'ts in youth baseball and AJ, I mean you and Krats at some point will be a guest and I'm sure you would love to talk really for hours about that topic alone. Is there a many things that you have seen that you love and many things that you probably would benefit or parents would benefit from learning. When listening to people like you, tell them what they should actually be paying attention to with their kids as they are trying to give them the best experience both for fun and for training as young baseball players.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: The name is good.

00:01:30
Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean dirt from the dugout. It makes total sense. You're trying to get dirt meaning the tee from the dugout. It makes I get it. I get the name, and I don't. I mean, I'm sure I had dirtin the dugout. Heck, in the minor leagues, we had durned the dugout all the time. So I like the name. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool. You know, people need resources in order to manage the way youth baseball and youth sports in general are, and anything we can give them to help people manage those There's some precarious situations that come up. How to do this and how to do that, and how to deal with this, and how to deal with these things. So whether it's recruiting to high school, to Little league to travel ball, I'm all for any help and any resources we can give people. The more the merrier because it is not an easy world to try to try to navigate through.

00:02:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the guests will be big. I mean we're talking some of the big names in this sport. I'll just give you a sneak peek. I'm not going to tell you the names, but I promise you there will be some good ones. I saw some of the lists that they're going to announce I think over the next several days, and I'm getting confirmation for pre people but behind the scenes. And also say Gratz apparently is the only one that has these OCD spotless dugouts. A lot of people have dirty dugouts. That's the name of the show from the dugout. Check it out wherever you get your pods. YouTube channel is up just launched late last night, So if you can give them a sub that would be awesome. Rabbi's excited about it, so is Justin and where We're excited to start off the show with Power Rankings and it is presented by Game Changer. Okay, AJ, You're going to go first. And just know that I've been witnessing the braves atop many power rankings lists. The Athletic has them number one. CBS has them number one. Believe ESPN has them number one, but as the representative of foul territory, which team is number one in the power rankings?

00:03:31
Speaker 3: Wait?

00:03:31
Speaker 4: Name those people again? Name the people you said athletic people who work there? We don't like Ken Katie. I mean the list goes on Evandrelk. I mean who else works there? I mean there's a whole long list of those people we don't really like, so we can. Okay, so they're wrong. What was the next one?

00:03:46
Speaker 3: CBS?

00:03:46
Speaker 1: CBS Jim Gowden.

00:03:49
Speaker 4: He works for them, right, Yeah, he's wrong. He also thinks McGonagall is going to be Rookie of the Year, so he's wrong.

00:03:53
Speaker 1: Next, Yes, Ben, Well, they think follow.

00:03:59
Speaker 4: ESPN thinks the Houston Astros won the two thousand and five World Series, and they also think Lebron James plays in every sport, so they're out that.

00:04:07
Speaker 5: Red Sox are the only thing that happens in baseball.

00:04:09
Speaker 3: So also true.

00:04:11
Speaker 1: I think America had the Braves number one too on their power rankings. J Yeah, we do, like JJ, I can't. I'll confirm that as you talk, So you lay out what you think the top ten should look like right now, and why.

00:04:25
Speaker 3: Okay, I mean, y'all can laugh. I don't care.

00:04:27
Speaker 4: I went Homer. I went so Homer on this, But first of all, I went LA because LA is never going to go anywhere until someone beats them.

00:04:34
Speaker 3: They're number one. They're gonna be number one until they lose.

00:04:36
Speaker 4: The Braves are number two, though they moved up because they have the best record and they're playing really well. Then the Yankees, who are also playing really well. Then this hurts my heart. The Cubs four, because they are unbeatable at home. I mean Michael confordo walk off. Homer says that last night. Then the Rays because their record's really good. And then it's then we're gonna get this. Surprises Cardinals because they're playing really well, and I love Allay Marma. We went to same high school, so he deserves love for what they've done earlier this year. Then we're going reds Padres. I need someone from the West. So the Mariners, I think, are gonna win that division, even though the A's are beating them. And then Lo and behold, the mighty Chicago White Sox are just creep grip grip grip, led by Davis Martin who went on city cruises with me along with Sean Burke, and they have pitched out standing the last couple of games.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: So poopoo poop, Chicago White Sox number ten.

00:05:25
Speaker 1: Very nice. So just to clarify for Braves fans that might be angry, what do the Dodgers need to do to not be number one? When you say they need someone to beat them, you mean, no matter what, if they're in a playoff position, you are not knocking them off a power rankings list based off their past two years until you see them lose in a postseason battle. And of course if they somehow shock the world and don't make the playoffs, I don't think anybody sees that, so I'm not even gonna bring that up.

00:05:54
Speaker 5: But they're gonna win the West.

00:05:55
Speaker 4: I mean that's pretty much given. Look at the rest of the teams in the West. I mean the Padres, Yeah yeah, I mean yeah, yeah.

00:06:03
Speaker 3: We'll see.

00:06:03
Speaker 4: We'll see over one hundred and sixty two where they finish. But the Dodgers are going to win the division. So they're going to get in. And we saw all they got to do is get in the last two years and they win. So until someone beats them in the playoffs, are going to be number one. If the Dodgers could be one in one and sixty one and the rest of the teams in that division could be oh in one sixty two, and I still have the Dodgers one in.

00:06:22
Speaker 3: My power rankings because they're in the playoffs and they have a chance.

00:06:27
Speaker 5: That's why, right.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: I mean if I told you before the season started that on May fifth, AJ would have the Rays, the Cardinals, and the White Sox as three teams in his top ten, what would you have said to future AJ.

00:06:47
Speaker 4: I'm just going off what I was the assignment. I was told to do the power rankings as of right now in today's game, because I look at it like this. The Cardinals in the in the central are playing really well. And I like the Cardinals too. I'm a big Cardinals fan. As you guys know, I played there. I'm going to put my Cardinals hat on because people like when I put my Cardinals hat on. So I'm gonna put my little Cardinals homer hat on. Okay, I mean they are just behind the Cubs two games back twenty one and fourteen. Their run differential is in the positives. They beat the Brewers last night, and they're playing really well. They're seven and three, they're twenty one and fourteen, and I love their manager John Jay and Daniel descalso not so much, but their manager Ali. I love Pop Warner is a great third base coach, and I think they, I don't know, they have something going right now. And this again was for right this second. It wasn't for three weeks from now, a month from now. This is for May fifth, Cinco de Mayo, May the fourth be with you yesterday, all that stuff, but on Sinco to Mayo.

00:07:43
Speaker 3: Right now.

00:07:43
Speaker 4: I have the Cardinals. Yes, I have the Rays because look at their record, what are they They're twenty two and twelve, nine and one in their last ten. Hard to argue against that. And they're keeping the Yankees on their toes, and then the White Sox because who the heck, someone's got to win the Central and right now, the Tigers just lost Google Frowner hasn't been great, the rest of their rotation hasn't been great, and the Guardians are five hundred and the White Sox are coming, so that's why they're ten.

00:08:09
Speaker 3: And I'm a Homer, So there you go. Let's talk love life ft family. I know it's an important part of everyone's.

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00:08:51
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00:08:54
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00:09:04
Speaker 1: Visit blue you dot com for more details and important safety information, and we thank blue ch you for sponsoring the podcast. Yep, you're a homer, but you haven't been able to put them in a top ten of basically anything in four seasons of this show. So I'll give you the hall pass.

00:09:22
Speaker 4: You know, listen, when you have when you have multiple bubble heads, then yes they deserve it.

00:09:29
Speaker 1: You're bringing it today, all right, Kratz, Where do you differ?

00:09:33
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, AJ doesn't even believe that the White Socks are in the top ten, So that's an easy one.

00:09:38
Speaker 4: I don't think the car who's better? Who's better than the White Sox? Get my list, we'll get there. You don't believe it yourself, so I put them there.

00:09:50
Speaker 2: So when you let's let's just put my Let's just put my my list up, and that way I can explain what I'm thinking. I also agree, I think the Dodgers are They had a little swoon here when they go like six games, five games without hitting a homer, and they're still one of the best teams record wise in the league. So I have the brave second, the Yankees are easily the best American League team. I struggled putting American League teams in here. I really did, and I made it.

00:10:19
Speaker 5: I made a.

00:10:19
Speaker 2: Concerted effort to say, Okay, there has to be three American League teams in my top ten, and the reality is to me after seven. I don't think any of these teams deserve to be in the top ten. But I had the Cubs, who I think I could have put ahead of the Yankees. But I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just gonna make sure I have an American League team in the three spot.

00:10:45
Speaker 5: I had the Padres.

00:10:46
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think the Padres have this like vaunted unbelievable lineup, but I think they have like just a knack for winning that I think, yes, they're starting rotation. You would look at it and you go, I don't know, is it gonna be enough to be a playoff contend or to be a force in the playoffs.

00:11:08
Speaker 5: I could care less what their rotation does.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: It's the one team in the league where I'm like, this bullpen is elite shutdown. And I think who had a Mory Holne I think has a has a six era in that bullpen. And I still believe in this bullpen, like anytime you have Mason Miller, you have a strata, you have Adam Who's back, Like those guys are legit. I really love the Reds. I know they went on a little meh streak and the team that beat them, the Cardinals. I don't have them in the top ten. I don't think they're a top ten team, and I think a lot of it revolves around their pitching or their lack of pitching that I think is, you know, kind of ballooned up there. Their real record, their expected record is probably closer to five hundred, and I think they're playing like a five hundred team that's figured out ways to win, which is awesome. The Rays pitching staff is killing it the exact opposite, and I think the Mariners are. Yes, the record isn't as good as the A's. Yes, they're not winning the West right now, and cal Raley's been out. I think they're slowly getting better. The last two weeks. I feel like the Mariners have slowly been getting better. I think the Pirates could have been ahead of the Mariners because I think they have shown that the moves that they made has increased their offense. I think their offense is like fifth or sixth in the league right now. Their defense hasn't gone down as much, even though I think they have guys that are not necessarily in the positions that would be the best. Before they were built on defense, and they were kind of they were a little above average on defense, and I think they're continuing that, but they're doing it with better offensive guys in each position. And obviously the pitching is ridiculous. And the Brewers, I don't know if they're a top ten team or not, but I can't not put them in there. That's my homer pick.

00:13:01
Speaker 1: Is it fair to say that when you had to make a decision between some teams that were in similar spots standings wise, you sided with the team that had more pitching because you believe in them more long term. The Cardinals are a good example of leaving them out, and say the Mariners coming off a rough weekend. I know they rebounded yesterday, but being placed in there based on the pitching that they have, I mean, there's a big difference between Seattle and Saint Louis with pitching.

00:13:29
Speaker 2: Right, But I mean, I think it's the power rankings for the first month here too. I don't think it's necessarily what's going to happen. I think it's the power rankings for the first month, and I think I believe more in the Mariners than I do in the Cardinals. And is it because of what I see out they're starting rotations.

00:13:47
Speaker 4: Yes, White Sox beat the Brewers too, I mean the Padre's two out of three, so shouldn't they be ahead of them in the power rankings?

00:13:57
Speaker 2: I mean, the Marlins beat the Dodgers two out of three. Social the Marlins to be ahead of them?

00:14:01
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:14:01
Speaker 4: I'm just asking you said, I'm just asking you. I know, maybe they should, but the Dodgers are the best team.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: I think one thing that we can agree on. I don't think after six or seven on this list, you could probably find five teams. One of those teams wasn't the White Sox that I found. But I'm not really disagreeing, Like, go through the standings and look at the teams, and who really are you going to choose? Who really are you going to say? Man, it's solidified, has to be a top ten team here. And I may have put the Rays a little bit too low. I may have put the Brewers shouldn't have been in the top ten. The Cardinals could be in there. You know, are the Tigers? Are the Tigers? Am I saying?

00:14:48
Speaker 5: Oh? Schools out?

00:14:49
Speaker 2: Now? I can't put the Tigers in there? You know, I think the Tigers are still the best team in the Central, but it's it's very it's very muddled there, very muddled.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: And I do think it's fair when you're discussing power rankings still look at a team like Detroit and say, Okay, they're in a similar spot as many other teams in the American League Central and even the American League, and they just lost by far their best picture. I think it's fair to ding them for that when it happens right before we're releasing our power rankings. Yes, we know for those of you listening afterward or those of you live in the chat, it is May fifth, but we like to dance around a little bit and just get a check on where we think everyone is. If you have thoughts, let us know in the comments. Otherwise, a thank you to Game Changer for presenting this segment in the Power Rankings. The number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect, live and replay the action. You can watch your kid from anywhere. For one of those workers where you're not able to hit your kids game or not every game. This is a life saver. Learn more at GC dot com. Hey, Hey, Randall Gritchick found a new team, and it's the team that's number ten on AJ's power rankings. White Sox picked them up after the Yankees cut them AJ.

00:16:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, just another another another weapon to add to the arsenal for Will Venable in the tenth place White Sox.

00:16:07
Speaker 3: They're coming, yeah place.

00:16:11
Speaker 5: They're gonna smash lefties now, that is for sure.

00:16:15
Speaker 3: That's just everybody right now.

00:16:19
Speaker 1: But that's his job. He gets some platoon action in there, get grit chick in the right matchups, and the dude can still hit the ball hard.

00:16:26
Speaker 4: Their outfield hasn't been good either, so they need something out of the outfield.

00:16:31
Speaker 1: Right, So this makes a lot more sense.

00:16:34
Speaker 3: Really good, And.

00:16:35
Speaker 1: They moved him up? Did they move him up to lead off?

00:16:38
Speaker 5: Yes?

00:16:39
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:16:40
Speaker 5: When's Teal coming back?

00:16:42
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:16:42
Speaker 4: Last I heard, he wasn't even running yet, so he was supposed to go and rehab and he tried to run and didn't go good.

00:16:47
Speaker 3: So is it his hamstring or hamstring? But the Romo, Drew Romo is doing all right.

00:16:54
Speaker 2: So he's he's stepping up.

00:16:58
Speaker 1: Are they making them sit on the traject machine for four hours a day? That two homer game he did like four hours on it? And then they were like, Okay, now you have four hours of your life. You're losing every single day. You're gonna have to do that every day you can't hit.

00:17:12
Speaker 5: I do it. I'd do it for two homers.

00:17:16
Speaker 2: I would bang my head into the traject machine. They meant two homers. There's nothing Aj maybe AG doesn't agree with me. There's nothing I wouldn't do for two homers on the baseball field.

00:17:29
Speaker 1: Hey, didn't you just see him the other day?

00:17:31
Speaker 5: AJ?

00:17:32
Speaker 1: Jonah him who let go by the Braves because Sehn Murphy's back, so the A's quickly scoop him up. I mean, he's barely played so far this year because Jerke Baldman was getting most of the pt. He's not gonna play a ton with shy langer Lears in front of him. But he's looked a little bit better in his plate appearances that I've seen.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: Jonah Hymen is actually doing all right for the Braves. And this is a nice pickup for them. He he he started with the A's. Let's not forget he started with the Athletics his career before he went to Texas winning a World Series.

00:18:02
Speaker 3: I like this pickup for them.

00:18:03
Speaker 4: He'll give lang Lears a chance to d h when he when he needs a day off, and they have a backup catcher that's trusted and can also do some damage, especially right handed when they excuse me, when they face a lefty.

00:18:15
Speaker 3: So I love this pickup.

00:18:17
Speaker 4: It's not going to cost him a ton, and for the A's, any little piece helps to try to fend off those pesky Mariners.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. Hey, the A's didn't crack the top ten for either of you guys in your power rankings, but I'm sure they were pretty close right on the piff free there. Okay, Yeah, it's the same story cords there. I'm not worried about the offense. I don't think anybody is. Jaylanklears was on fire at the end of last year and he's carried it right into this year. He's been freaking great for them. They have a couple slow starters that you're not worried about. It's just are they going to have enough pitching in August in September to stay in the race. Don't you feel like that's the only question.

00:18:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the question.

00:18:54
Speaker 4: I mean, Sevarino needs to figure out how to pitch in Sacramento. The rest of their starter, there's springs hasn't been great for him, right, It's like, ah, they would really count on him, So yeah, they need to figure out the pitching. The bullpen's actually been all right. It's been the starters that have kind of put him in a hole.

00:19:14
Speaker 6: You know, we don't always have to do things because that's how it's always been.

00:19:17
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00:19:32
Speaker 6: It's a good call. You can ditch over priced wireless.

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00:19:57
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00:20:14
Speaker 5: It's great.

00:20:15
Speaker 7: I'm feeling really great. I feel like this is a great time for me to get brought up. I told I told Jared earlier. You know, I'm feeling sexy.

00:20:23
Speaker 3: At the play right now, so I'm trying to.

00:20:25
Speaker 7: Keep that moving. And you know, obviously this is it's a different ballgame, but it's not. You know, it's the same ballgame. I'm gonna keep trying to trust myself and trust my teammates and.

00:20:35
Speaker 5: Urm me a long way.

00:20:37
Speaker 1: Bryce Eldridge bringing the viral quote, you want to hear that aj from a guy coming up to try and honestly rescue a team they they need pop.

00:20:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he hopefully feels sexy right now. He just got called up to the big league. He's been doing all right down in Triple A, down down in the minor league, so he got called up. Hopefully he's feeling sexy and he can help this team because right now they need all the help things, especially with Devers struggling and adamis no power.

00:21:02
Speaker 3: They have no power on this team.

00:21:06
Speaker 2: He'll add some power, I mean, but how much power can one guy add. It's kind of like over in Boston, how much pressure or how much can you put on Roman Anthony's shoulders? Young guys, that stuff gets put on their shoulders. It's tough for Bryce Eldrids if he does well, if he hits for the power that they hope he does. It's because the Big Three are clicking and teams are like, well, we're not really as worried about Bryce Eldred's strikeouts, and then he's gonna clip a few of them. But if he has to carry him and a Domis and Devers and Chapman don't step up, it's gonna be a lot of the same stuff.

00:21:44
Speaker 5: It's just it'll be a cool story about Bryce Eldrid.

00:21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. Buster Posey called that out, saying, we need the Big three to get us out of the funk. Can produce the way we know they can produce. Dever's, Chapman and Adamis. If Eldridge does hit from the ump and brings a spark to them. AJ. This might lead to a big sexy nickname. I know we had one in basketball, but we didn't have one in baseball, right Colne, Oops, I forgot about Big Juicer.

00:22:16
Speaker 2: Should have been but no, I mean, Eldrid's still striking out. He might feel sexy. But I've never seen anybody go from the bushes as a power hitter and come to the big leagues and strike out less. I just haven't seen it. So the hitting coach in the big leagues, it's got a lot of work, more of just an approach. Because the power is there, how do you unlock it consistently?

00:22:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what he said.

00:22:41
Speaker 6: That's what he said.

00:22:43
Speaker 3: That's what he said.

00:22:45
Speaker 6: That's what he said.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: Hey, let's start with Roman Anthony. The Red Sox don't need this. And the line I keep thinking about AJ is how Ken said the Socks were expecting him to be a big pop level contributor this year. That's a tall task if you look back at Big Poppies career. So for him, it's not been a great year. This is his first full season, yes, and he's dealing with a hand issue. This is what he said yesterday.

00:23:17
Speaker 8: Yeah, I got X rays right after it happened, so they looked negative. And I'm gonna go evaluate with a hand specialist tomorrow and you know, leave it up to them and probably get an MRI to see, you know, what's actually going on.

00:23:33
Speaker 1: But that's that's what I know.

00:23:36
Speaker 5: What did you feel?

00:23:39
Speaker 8: Just took a swing and it didn't feel good, and as I came back in and went under to continue to swing, it just was painful.

00:23:48
Speaker 3: Okay, what did he say a word? Hurt?

00:23:52
Speaker 5: I didn't see anything. I didn't see anything, because.

00:23:55
Speaker 4: I mean, it could be risked, it could be hand made, it could be thomb it could be there's a lot of little bones and ligaments in here that it could be. So it's going to see a hand specialist. I wonder who's going to see. Probably Thomas Graham, who's the guy who's like the best in the world at dealing with hands and stuff.

00:24:11
Speaker 3: So we'll find out.

00:24:13
Speaker 4: But yeah, they can't afford this, and to put this on Roman Anthony to be David Ortiz, that's not for you. When David Ortiz got to Boston, he barely made the team, and then he was coming from Minnesota where we had defaied him for I don't know why, because he didn't enough for you know. Anyways, there was a whole flu a reason he didn't play defense this and that he goes to Boston, doesn't start right away, and then after a month or so, Jeremy Johnny wan't doing well, so like, hey, let's try David and he took off from there. So like to throw this on a twenty one year old kid is tough. Twenty two year old kid, that's tough to throw David Ortiz on top of them. You know, Roman Anthony's going to be a really special player. But you can't go into the season say, man, we need Roman Anthony, Marcello Meyer, you know, Rafaela, some of these younger guys to carry this team.

00:24:56
Speaker 3: You need guys like.

00:24:57
Speaker 4: Wilsoner Dress who's doing nice job, Trevor Story, you know, you need some of those guys Jaron Duran to step up and really take the lead. And so far that's the one thing the Red Sox haven't had. They haven't had a lot of offense. And also now they're pitching's banged up. So this is just a team that seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong. And if Roman Anthony's out for a while, it can only get worse. Usually you can't do anything about it. But your hands and feet are so so important when you're playing a game one hundred and sixty two times in one hundred and eighty four days, whatever the big league season is like. It sounds stupid, but if you got something wrong with your toes, if you've got turf toe, if you have if you have something you know that you're dealing with, you're always on your feet. If you have something you're dealing with in your hand, you're always swinging. You're always That's why you know you look back at aj stats about how many games he played and how he hit, like you're always getting banged up in your hands and you're having to play through things you're hitting just as much as you're standing like you're swinging you got the bat in your hand. So, yes, the Red Sox are in shambles right now. Yes, it could have been avoided by making a couple different offensive upgrades in the offseason that they didn't want to do. But yes, they need to take time with this. They cannot let him rush back and sometimes hands because of the fact that circulation they don't heal as quick, it's tough, and hopefully he doesn't come back. It's one of those things you go to an MRI and you go, well, I hope you don't find anything in there. But if you don't find anything, he's also saying he's experiencing more pain than he's ever experienced in his hands.

00:26:36
Speaker 5: So you want to find it.

00:26:38
Speaker 2: You want to nip it in the butt, and you want to take the time to say it's one hundred percent.

00:26:43
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, this is one of the bright players in our sport who was fantastic and about a half season of games last year. But see what happens here with the news on the hand, and I want to get to Trek's school Part two. So AJ asked this question to Ken Rosenthal and it was brought up on our Injury Territory show. So we had Will Carroll on our show. But then on his separate show Injury Territory that just talks about yet you guessed it injuries. The thought was brought up that maybe school doesn't return at all. Let's listen to this.

00:27:20
Speaker 9: Trek scooble heading for surgery. We saw on his last time out he was shaking his elbow. I said, hey, let's keep an eye on this, and darn it if it's not loose bodies. The Tigers are calling this loose bodies. We used to call these bone chips. But it's definitely not good news. It goes back to Edwin Diaz, it goes back to Carlos Dan. We're seeing more and more of these. Is that because we're catching these earlier that we have better imaging. I'm not sure, but losing Schooble for two months at the low end certainly doesn't help the Tigers. It probably doesn't help Scott Boris as he's put together his book to get a big, big check. Long term, I don't think this really affects schoobl But the short term, this is a gut punch.

00:28:13
Speaker 10: It makes you wonder if he's going to be pitching in a Tiger's uniform ever again. You know, that was my first reaction when reading the breaking story was there are a lot of reasons, both medically and logistically, why it might make sense for him not to pitch again the rest of the season, and that's devastating for baseball, devastating for the Tigers.

00:28:37
Speaker 5: May not be devastating if you know.

00:28:39
Speaker 10: He plays his cards right for Schooble just because you know, you look at his track record, it's phenomenal. But still, you know what this means long term, there are still a ton of questions where everything around Schooble very much dealing with some real fallout.

00:28:57
Speaker 1: I have to imagine that if tire schools and good, he's gonna be back to pitch late in the year and it's twofold one. He wants to play and win and do some playoff ball with the Tigers. AJF he's doing, he's feeling good, and also he's going to be a free agent. You want to see it come out of the hands like it usually does after the surgery.

00:29:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, I mean he wants plus, he wants to be able to pitch for his team. I mean that's the biggest thing. I mean, free agency is there. But he also has been a Tiger's whole career. They've been to the postseason, they've made some runs, have many able to get over that hump. So I think he'll I think he's going to do everything in his power to be back plus. And then let's talk about this on a personal level. As a free agent, you want to go out and show teams you're healthy, because this is his third elbow malfunction whatever you want to call it, over his career, So teams are going to want to say, hey, man, we don't want to be bidding on damage goods here.

00:29:49
Speaker 3: If you can't prove you're healthy, that's.

00:29:51
Speaker 5: A big deal.

00:29:51
Speaker 4: It means a lot, and that's why he sometimes rush. I hope he doesn't rush back, but I hope he comes back when he's healthy and can pitch, because the game is better when Terrek schools on the mound every five days.

00:30:00
Speaker 2: Had I had bone chips removed from my or a loose body removed from my elbow in the offseason one time. I am not Trek's koble, but I had to throw at the highest possible level that I had to throw at when I got into spring training a month and a half later. So you know, I think he knows his body, and I know that he will. I would say he would push it. The fact that he's not going to pitch for the Tigers, I would be surprised unless they go in there and they find something that says, ooh, you know this is causing or this was caused by this because bone chips just don't happen. They just don't. They don't appear out thin air. They appear, like he told us yesterday, because one there's something else is going wrong, or it chipped off and broke off from another place.

00:30:51
Speaker 5: So what was that? Why did that happen?

00:30:54
Speaker 2: The fact that he the fact that he did this in the middle of the game, he's like, oh, whoa what is that? Gave himself a massage and then he struck out. The side is like Terry Scoble can pitch at a reduced level and still be pretty.

00:31:08
Speaker 1: Good, no doubt, Yes, all of that. So we'll see. We'll look at what the timetable is for him. If it ends up being three months, that's taking us into August. But even if that's the case, I mean you're still in August. You still have a month and change in the regular season, plus hopefully for his cause. Yeah, other people definitely need to step up, and then they're down some other starters like we've talked about. So we'll see. It's not gonna be easy. They're not a lock for the playoffs. The American League is not great. That's the helper, and the American League Central is not great. Either. That's also a help to keep the Tigers involved in the mix. They my guess would be only one team makes it from that division. I know it's way too early to think about that, but that's the helping point for the Tigers to get through this without their their big dog. Hey, back in the break here. The Angels have the worst record in the major leagues. That was fast. They've dropped nine of ten and against Casey, the White Sox and the Mets.

00:32:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, is this surprising?

00:32:13
Speaker 1: Zero zero surprise? Bill shaking with that? Sweet?

00:32:20
Speaker 4: I mean they're not playing good. They don't pitch, they're not hitting that greade either. I mean, Trout's doing all right, but the rest of the I mean it's Netto and Trout pretty much for the for the Angels to score in the offense. And the pitching has not been good. They lost Cacuchi. Soriano cannot pitch against the White Sox. We have discovered that. And if he doesn't pitch well, then it really puts him in a bad spot. So this isn't a surprise. We knew this coming in. They weren't going to be a good team. They keep saying this, they keep pushing this. You know, we love perryman Agi, and he keeps saying, oh, there are best baseballs right around the corner, when it's been a long time.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: It really has. They have not been able to figure out putting the pitching together for a long time, but even more recently with some of the moves that they have made, they have turned into disasters. Robert Stevenson basically never pitched for them. They invested real money in him that never turned into a thing.

00:33:17
Speaker 4: Every time he's gotten hurt, he pitched. Had one basically one good year.

00:33:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was like two good months and that was one of those where I remember Krats we were pretty confused, and then he was out pretty early on in the season. You're just like, really, this is finally where they're going to spend all of their money on a guy who's had all kinds of injury risk. They did, and here they are. The difference for me aj between this team and how we mentioned the Oriols the other day, both teams certainly not pitching or hitting well. I just don't see it for the Angels like I don't see it on paper with the top end of it, and I also don't see it with building a team that's able to last throughout a whole season. Sometimes they'll give you a flash for a couple months. We didn't even make it to that point. It's just not being built correctly consistently a problem.

00:34:04
Speaker 4: You're right, and they haven't been good for one you might trot has him into the postseason since twenty fourteen or whatever it is. I mean, come on, and then now you're starting to see where people want him to get traded. Would they trade him? Would he accept the trade? That's the real question is is it time? And we've talked about this before.

00:34:20
Speaker 5: You would think they have.

00:34:21
Speaker 2: You'd think they have the pieces, like Netto Shanowel. Trout's obviously playing well. Christian Moore is supposed to be legit. Ben Joyce was supposed to be legit. Joe Adell was supposed to be, by these exact words, a future Hall of Famer by Scouts in their organization. Like you would say, there's pieces, so then you have to build around it, and they don't have it.

00:34:58
Speaker 1: All right, Let's slap a couple other things we didn't get to. First off, injuries, Aja angel Zerp has got a talented arm. I watched his first four or five starts with the Brewers were fantastic out of the bullpen for them. He's snuck I think one or two saves in there when McGill was struggling. Then he fell apart and it turns out his elbow was falling apart. So he's got the UCL reconstruction surgery. That's our Kurt Hoague, who is the host of Brewer Territory, doctor Keith Meister, getting it done next week with him. So Zurpa will be out until spring or summer of twenty twenty seven. Remember he was involved in that trade that included Isaac Collins and Nickmuer's moving over to the Royals. So there's low loss for the Brewers. I mean, it sucks, but they're so good at turning so many pitchers into gold. I gotta give them credit. I mean, well they skip much of a beat, I don't think so. And also, I mean he was hurting them as Era ended up being I think in this seven range by the time he was hurt getting evaluated. I know, So he's out one more injury. Stephen Mattz today placed on the injured list left elbow inflammation. That's a bummer for him, I know, he's battled injuries throughout his career. He was off to a pretty nice start too. Seven starts, three eight six cra and you know, he did a lot of bullpen time last year with Boston when he was traded over there, and even with Saint Louis. I mean, he was mostly a reliever last year and he was really good. Rays We're like cool, we like what we're looking at. Do you want to be a starter? And that's part of the pitch for the Rays. They're able to do that with free agents to entice them over. Hey, is your deal close enough to this one. Let's get you a year as a starter and re establish your value on the market. But he's going to miss a little bit of time too.

00:36:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, hopefully he gets back healthy because he was off to a nice star for them.

00:36:43
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