Rookies SHINE, Alec Bohm sues parents, Nico Hoerner’s Cubs extension

00:00:03
Speaker 1: And now it's day two.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Yes, wow, that's a different craft stance today, but it is Opening Day still for some teams. Yeah, that was the crab.

00:00:13
Speaker 3: What do you call that, the krusty krab.

00:00:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Krusty krab. Oh, it's cash because we're money season.

00:00:22
Speaker 2: It is the extension season extended into the regular season.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: This time, we're not going to do that.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Give me one minute first, you know what I want to point out becase we're not going to do a whole.

00:00:31
Speaker 1: Segment on it.

00:00:32
Speaker 2: My favorite part of Opening Day, Todd Father is debuts. Because you're a kid, you dream of being the big leagues. You go through a crazy path. Nowadays it's a quicker path usually to the big leagues if you're really good, from the draft to the show. But Man even late into the night, Chase the latter, in his first regular season game, hit two home runs. McGonagall had four hits and two doubles. Carson Bench had a home run in a stolen base for the Mets. Who else am I missing? JJ Weatherholt had a home run for the Cardinals. I mean, it's like everybody we were looking forward to seeing all had huge games. Not everybody, but many of the big boys.

00:01:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's it started in spring training when the name started coming out and you're trying to figure out, ah, well, this guy gonna be any good?

00:01:13
Speaker 3: Is he a suspect, is he a prospect? Is he a big leaguer?

00:01:16
Speaker 4: And these guys, they're more polished, They have more stuff they can look at to get them ready to go.

00:01:24
Speaker 3: You know, it's not just raw talent anymore.

00:01:26
Speaker 4: It's guys that you know, have the film, have the extent of looking where my body is, two degrees right left center, all that kind of stuff, you know, all joking aside that could get them in the right places and put their bat path in the right better path on any pitch that they're looking for and squaring the ball up and they go four for four and McGonagall, I mean that's absolutely phenomenal. So yeah, pretty good star for these young men. And then you look like you look at a veteran guy and Aaron Judge, what the heck? You know, it's like all the world's coming in and so four strikeouts for him. So do I think this is gonna be the whole rest of the season. No, When I think these kids they have a bright future, of course.

00:02:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, nerd on technicality McGonagall four for five started the day, three for three had a two run double.

00:02:14
Speaker 1: I think it was to start.

00:02:14
Speaker 2: Then he had the double follow up, but yes, still same point and Todd, you weren't on yesterday's show, so AJ was on. I think like a barstool show where one guy was like, oh, and do you think Judge is washed? Yeah, dude, one game, that's not really how this. This is baseball, not football, So we're gonna let things play out a little more than than one game. But Kratz, I actually think, for you and me talking so much offseason stuff, a day like yesterday proves why teams are so stingy with prospects.

00:02:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, you look at all of them and you go, who's going to be the best. Who's going to be the one that has the best not just career but season this year? And to me, it's the one. It's the guys that are getting put in the lineups that are maybe hit sixth or seventh to start on playoff contending teams, and then if they continue to have the success that we saw them have on opening day, then you go, okay, we move them into a different spot. In the lineup. Like, I don't think Kevin McGonagle is a seven hitter, but I love that aj Hinch put him there. A j Hinch gets it. He understands how to let prospects kind of like transition into the big leagues. Look at the guys that he's helped transition in, you know, George Springer, a Carlos Corre, those kinds of guys that were early in their careers when he was managing Kyle Tucker.

00:03:34
Speaker 2: There's many, yeah, that aj Hinch saw early in their career and they've blossomed.

00:03:39
Speaker 1: So the Tigers win the game.

00:03:40
Speaker 2: By the way, we'll go over some of what we saw from day one and we'll push it forward to day too.

00:03:44
Speaker 1: But also there's news. Let's talk Kashish, let's charge it out. Look at the Cubs.

00:03:53
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, Todd Father dropping bills left and right. So Nico Horner signed a six year contract extension.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: He was the guy.

00:04:03
Speaker 2: I mean, he was mentioned in trade rumors this offseason, but it didn't sound like it was serious on the Cub side. And yeah, it wasn't because they wanted to keep him and they are keeping him on a six year agreement.

00:04:13
Speaker 1: We haven't received the money yet.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: He actually has a press conference and for those of you that are watching us right now on TV on Marquee, you're going to go to that at the top of the next hour, so two o'clock eastern, one o'clock your time. We'll stay, of course on FT on YouTube like we always do. But Top Father Pekar.

00:04:29
Speaker 1: Armstrong just signed an extension with his team.

00:04:31
Speaker 2: Horner is way deeper into his career, so that's why I think the money will end up being somewhat similar. I think you'll end up seeing a number in the low to mid one hundreds, maybe one twenty five mil something like that for Nico Horner, which is somewhat similar to the guaranteed cash that PCA got, but PCA higher ceiling. Nico Horner has been one of the best players at his position in the sport for about half a decade now. Our sport loves variations of wins above replacement, and he's been like a four or five last I think if he went by Baseball Reference in the sixes win player and.

00:05:07
Speaker 4: Quietly, you know what I mean, you know about him, but what's the old Nurses Ryan Little Nico Corner and Horner sat in the corner in his pines and his curves. Now he's eating steak and kebab's. This guy has got them. He's gonna get some cash. This guy is absolutely phenomenal. Quietly, those are the guys you want on your squad, the guys that go out there day in and day out and just perfect their craft. Gold Glover hits the ball, gap, the gap hits gop, has power, speed, He's got it all. And guess what nobody's really heard about this guy. Honestly, unless you live in the Midwest.

00:05:41
Speaker 3: It's a dude. He's a dude. He's a dude.

00:05:43
Speaker 4: And if you're the Cubs, if thinking about the Cubs and what they've been doing, absolutely phenomenal.

00:05:49
Speaker 3: This is what you.

00:05:50
Speaker 4: Want as a fan, as a baseball fan and a Cubs fan, this is what they should be doing, This is what teams should be doing. And seeing what the Cubs have done, spend in the most money. Hey, kudos to you, Chicago. Now go out there and get a win.

00:06:05
Speaker 5: I mean, I'll be interested to see how much this this is for. Because he's coming off the best season of his career from a war standpoint, from an OPS plus standpoint from every aspect like he but he's also kind of been blossoming into this everyday player over the last four years. Like it's kind of been the fact that the guy just has always put together great at bats, the fact that he was able to not up his not up his UH walk rate a ton, but more lower his strikeout rate from years previous. And to me, I think it's something that I guess it's like an old adage like this guy's a ballplayer like this guy, And I always hate when guys say that because it's like, what does that mean? Like he just doesn't do anything super awesome, Like to me, short arms, quick to the ball, understands, understands the situation that he's that he's playing in. He's kind of like a you know, I don't know if people remember Eric Ibar. Eric Ibar was a switch hitter back in the day. I think, you know, that was more my time when I was playing. So for Nico Horner, is he going to have a better career? To me, the way he's matured at the plate and the way that he's been able to when he gets every day at bats drive the ball to different locations. He's not going to hit you a ton of dingers, but he's going to play gold glove defense. So to me, I think it's it's something that you see the Cubs they don't want him to go to free agency. Shows what he means to this team. But it also shows he likes Chicago. This is his second extension he's signed. I think he signed a three year piece to kind of avoid all his arbitration years, and now he stays for six more years. And I love when I see this kind of stuff. And I love when I see it because now you have Gold at Second locked up for six years, and you have Olden Center locked up for six years.

00:08:05
Speaker 1: All right, sek kupus get some tickets.

00:08:07
Speaker 2: You know you got the ten percent off with the code territory one zero. So let's look at the weekend. Boys, you excited about anything in particular? Crats, I'll go to you first, because when I was looking at the matchups for tomorrow Saturday, if I'm trying to grab a seat on Sea Geek Aaron Nola against Jacob de Grom. Remember the other day, we're like, when's de gram pitching? Only he's pitching on Saturday.

00:08:27
Speaker 5: That's okay, that's fine, But to me, I'm going where I thought it was one of the best opening days because I never got to go to Cincinnati for an opening day Toronto. Toronto gets to play the A's, which is kind of a weird team to team I said this earlier matchup, but you get to see Dylan Cees. I get to see the guy that the Blue Jays were like, what nobody's moving in the free agency market, We'll just go get the best player, best pitcher that we think is available. Bang, he gets to go and he gets to pitch in Toronto for his first start second day of the year, after Gosman goes tonight. That to me, that's the marquee matchup because the A's they got a good lineup.

00:09:10
Speaker 3: They definitely do. They definitely do. And for me, I'm I'm staying close to home.

00:09:14
Speaker 5: Man.

00:09:15
Speaker 4: Rangers Phillies, Dude, I just think Rangers are going to be in the mix when we talk about playoff teams. Phillies are going to be a mix of NL East champions. I got the ground throwing with Nola on the mound. M HM, can't really get anything better than that. So I'm I'm just gonna take a cab over and uh get my get my tickets and uh go watch a good game.

00:09:39
Speaker 5: That's right, come on order the pre You're welcome. We welcome you. I know you don't like to leave home.

00:09:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, friendliest crowd in baseball, Friendliest crowd in baseball. I think they bowed the robot up for the ABS Challenge system last night, is what I heard. So which I Hey, I tipped my cap. I love Philly fans, mess around with them. But each ticket for Seakeek is rated on a scale of one to ten, so you know you're getting a good deal with the green dot, not as good of a deal with the red dot. With over thirty five million downloads, see Geek's the number one rated ticketing app. We've got the code for your territory ten ten percent off your next set of tickets at Sea Gek. That's ten percent off any tickets, it doesn't have to be Baseball with promo code Territory one zero.

00:10:21
Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in the description to.

00:10:22
Speaker 2: Download the app, and then you have the code automatically added to your account at.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: That point so that you can use it later.

00:10:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:10:30
Speaker 2: Last year his wins above replacement from Baseball Reference and it was a big gap between fangrafs fangrafts.

00:10:36
Speaker 1: Is four point eight still an awesome number, that is.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: That is all star level wins above replacement for a player, but six point two is superstar and he was fourth among all National League position players. You can agree or disagree with parts of the number, and I know you know some people do and some people don't that watch and listen to this show.

00:10:56
Speaker 1: But it is a key factor in how players are evaluated in our league.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: So he is looked at super highly, and he was going to get paid more than whatever he gets here. He was going to get more on the free agent market in my mind. But you get the security here heading into your free agent season. Also stole twenty nine bags. He makes contact, third lowest strikeout rate among qualifiers last year.

00:11:17
Speaker 1: And here was the key quote that I dug up.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: I was looking for it while you guys were chatting, and I know you'll both like it. Craig Council at the winter meetings said, Nico's great at some things that I think other people think they're good at, and they're not as good at it. I'm not talking about just players, I'm talking about people. When you say show up every day and compete every day. Every rep is completed perfectly. That is who Nico is. That seems like that's easy. Everybody can do that. I do that, well, you don't do it. I would put Nico at the top of the list for how he does that. I think that's a really good way to put it in and it's pointing to what you're talking about. Top father is he actually does what he preaches. And there are so many players in baseball that think they do that, and they probably do it better than almost anyone else on the planet.

00:12:02
Speaker 1: But when you get to the elite of the elite, Craig.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: Council is saying, I've seen a ton of baseball and a ton of players. This guy is at another level in terms of his preparation. That means he's got the respect of him and all of the youngsters that are going to come through the Cubs organization.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: One hundred percent. And that's the guy you want to look up to.

00:12:21
Speaker 4: That's the guy you're like, you know what, I want to emulate my game after When I came up, there was a couple of guys, Brandon Phillips, Scott Rowland, like the way they went about their business, the way they play the game, and they it's just an understanding. Like it's weird when you come up and you see guys like they command respect out of you without even saying a word. And that's the guy you walk by, put your chest up, walk by, Hey, how you doing?

00:12:47
Speaker 3: Good to see you instead of me? How I was? Hey, big dog, what's going on.

00:12:50
Speaker 4: It's a different way of talking to somebody, and you just respect that kind of person.

00:12:56
Speaker 2: Hey, the Cubs got smacked in the opening game of this Who cares, it's one game. They lost ten four national sit a bunch of homers. The one thing I do want to point out is when you look at the box score for that game, and of course you see that Saya Suzuki isn't starting off the season. So if you've been sleeping under a rock and you're a Cubs fan, you're like, Okay, Saya's hurt right now, what does the outfield look like? Well, that's where I think the last piece of the puzzle here gets interesting. Last year we were talking about Matt Shaw is one of the better prospects in baseball and the guy of the future for the Cubs at third base. Matt Shaw started in right field yesterday for the Cubs. This might be a little bit of a shaky season for him because Kratz. He's got to learn a new position in the outfield now that Bregman is there for many years, Horner's at second, Swanson's as short, there's no room for him in the infield. Michael Bush, I think, is also one of the more underrated players in the game. Cubs have done a really nice job with their core. For Shaw either gets traded or I think more likely, he learns outfield and plays it well.

00:13:54
Speaker 1: They've got free.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: Agents coming up. Ian Happ is a free agent after this season. That doesn't mean they're necessarily going to sign him. Say a Suzuki is a free agent after the season. They traded Owen Casey, who was one of their top prospects, to the Mirlands for Edward Cabrera.

00:14:06
Speaker 1: I think they're going to give him a runout there.

00:14:08
Speaker 2: Times like this, Let's say say it takes another couple weeks to return, they get to see what they have in young Matt Shaw in the outfield.

00:14:15
Speaker 5: And I think maybe the extension, I mean, yeah, the extension for Nico Horner is good for Matt Shaw in the sense not that because he was he was a really good defender at third base, and I think his bat will continue to continue to mature. But there's always that Okay, well Nico is going to be gone next year, so maybe I'll learn second while I'm kind of learning outfield. I might be fluctuating between Triple A and the big leagues, or I'm going to be that fourth outfielder. Say it gets hurt, the extension comes out. Now it's almost like, okay, Matt Shaw, your choice is you can flounder as kind of that like utility infield guy who doesn't play shortstop in the big leagues, or you can say I'm all in, You're I'm athletic. I can learn to play the outfield. And there's not a lot of ground to pull up ground to cover in Wrigley Now. The wind is another is another is another level as we saw last night and in Ian Hap's dinger that wasn't a dinger, but I think there's I think it's it's something that may help him push all in to be an outfielder and not worry about Okay, well, maybe I'll I'll get back to second once Nico leaves.

00:15:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, there were metrics last year that showed Pete ker Armstrong is even better than you think based on how difficult the wind can get for outfielders a wrigular field.

00:15:41
Speaker 1: So he's probably not going to learn it in the day.

00:15:43
Speaker 2: I mean, Todd father, you didn't go through this exactly, but you had to wait your turn a little bit, in my mind, a little bit longer than you should have. But you did, and you came up and did some third and eventually some first two for matchaw imagine if you're him, you come up, you've been doing third, you feel like you've got it right. You've you've barely had a minut in the bigs. You were improved on defense over time in your first season. And then they're like, oops, sorry, we signed Alex Bregmant. You're gonna be part of a much better team, but you need to learn the swirly outfield at Wrigley.

00:16:12
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:16:13
Speaker 4: It's a punch in the stomach for sure, especially when you think like you did every when you think you did everything you were supposed to do. So we saw yesterday the wind was blowing out the right. It was tricky. Anything to you was going over you, and anything over you was going out of the park. I played in a couple of those games, dere Wrigley Field. If you're anywhere from if you're looking at second base from the high camp, from the right side second base, first base, just understand, any pop up to center field is gonna come back and you might have to catch it.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: So yeah, you don't see those too often there.

00:16:48
Speaker 4: But when the wind is blowing that way, good luck right side of the field. If you're looking from home plate.

00:17:00
Speaker 1: Move over, ipey.

00:17:01
Speaker 2: There are new thieves to talk about, and it's a court case, so we'll let it play out first. But it does sound like there is some serious, serious conflict between Alec Bohm and his parents. He filed a lawsuit, and of course this news breaks on opening day. Boem hits an Opo three run homer. I think it was three run homer for the Phillies in a win, so it clearly didn't affect him on the field.

00:17:25
Speaker 1: I can only imagine what he's going through off the field.

00:17:27
Speaker 2: But in the lawsuit, he alleges that his parents defrauded him of millions of dollars, and I highly.

00:17:35
Speaker 1: Encourage you to read it.

00:17:36
Speaker 2: It was first what Philly Inquire to report on it, but it talks about multiple LLC set up all kinds of stuff they got him to sign, all alleged in the lawsuit, and then he wants real estate and they're doing weird things with him. I mean, it is everything in the book that you would think looks like a scam. So if it is true, it is horrific. And then when he finally wanted to see the books that his parents were keeping, its sounds like they basically got a lawyer right away and sentim a note like, oh, we're billing you for our time over these past several years to do your finances, so instead of showing them the books, they said, pay us money. It sounds like a damn disaster. And again, the court case has to play out. We're not putting anyone guilty yet, so I'm throwing that out there. But if what is alleged is true, Kratz, it is a nightmare.

00:18:25
Speaker 5: Nightmare because you're sitting there going, okay, I gotta focus and lock in on playing. And he's not just dealing with this just because just broke. He's not been dealing with this like ooh the last two days of spring training, like this is something that is clearly ongoing. It's clearly something that maybe over the last few years his mind's gone like that's kind of weird, that's kinda and people some people will say, well, why do you have somebody else working on your finances? It's not how it worked, like, it's not how it works for everybody, like you graduate from college. I played with him in twenty nineteen. He was drafted in eighteen. He was up in the big league soon after that. He's been in the big league for a long time. And you're a young you're a young man getting a ton of money. You need to focus on what's going on in the field. So you know what, if your parents come to you and they say, hey, we'll help you out with this, I don't know about you guys, but I would trust them. I would trust my parents. And that's what's tough is now he has to kind of question if these allegations are true. He has to question, well, who else can I trust? Because when you have that much money and you're willing to trust people, people take advantage of it. People take advantage of of your and sometimes I think when it's parents, they feel like they're kind of like owed some of it. Like, Oh, I did a lot for you, I'm gonna go help you, and now all of a sudden, it's like you weren't helping me, You're helping yourself.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: Hey, it might be time to have a heart to heart with your phone and be like, I love you, but you cost too much.

00:20:09
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00:20:18
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00:21:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is tough, man, because I think you said it best. You're gonna be second guessing everybody, and I think he has a right to do that, you know, barring all these allegations. If this is all true, Imagine the conversation you first have with your parents, Hey man, can I just see the books? What's what are all the holdings? And then they lawyer up. I mean your mom and dad, Laurier en up? Oh boy, the family men, holidays, birthdays, when he has kids. If he does, I mean, you got to think about everything. They're not going to be around, like I don't know. Hopefully they can, they can mend this back together. Money is a root of all evil guys. We've all been a part of it. We've all been a part of it. I've lost friendships over it. You know, it's it's very hard. It brings out the worst in people, and you know, you've got to always have a backup plan. You got to always make sure you know where your money is going through. It's hard to keep up. These guys are making millions and millions of dollars, but every day you got to always take ten minutes out of your day just to look everything up and make sure everything's going well and happen to be your mom and dad allegedly part of this. Oh man, this is something whether you hang out with them again or not, is something that's going to be Hey, how you doing. You know, but in the back of your mind, you know you're not gonna be able to trust it anymore if that's the case.

00:22:27
Speaker 1: And I encourage everyone to read this.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: I have in the chat, and some people in the chat are like, damn, you're making me do homework on the weekend. It's a two minute article if you go fast, and it is well worth the read. And this has been going back to twenty nineteen when he kind of handed the keys to his parents, who were like, we'll handle it for you. But they were just throwing things at him left and right that don't look like they're real.

00:22:46
Speaker 1: Oh, we need ten percent of this to open up this LLC. Oh, it's just what you have to do. They weren't saying like, oh, we're charging you.

00:22:52
Speaker 2: They were like, Oh, it's just it's what we have to do to be able to set this up. Where the allegations and then within the article it says in January is where this really blasted off. So Boehm asked his parents to give him information about his money, his holdings, his account statements, his login information. Right, this sounds a lot like a story that broke a couple of years ago about Otani, where everyone's like, no, everyone knows everything going on. No they don't, And I get it. This is parents versus an interpreter, but still same line of story. And in the lawsuit, instead of showing their son his login information to his own accounts and what do his accounts look like, they immediately grabbed a lawyer who provided minimal information this is from the article, and then later indicated they were going to bill Boem for all of the time they spent to administer his affairs at a rate of fifty dollars per hour since twenty nineteen. You cannot make this garbage up. I mean, the parents clearly say he is, but we're going to find out what happens in court.

00:23:58
Speaker 1: And if you read that story.

00:23:59
Speaker 5: Who this this is just this is just his holdings, This is just like money he's made. When stuff like this happens, rarely are parents or family members going, hey, I'm gonna come and see you. You know, we'll see you there. I already got my hotel. No, it's a lot of like, yeah, can you give me a fly? Can you give me tickets? Players can be taken advantage of. And I'm saying the parents did this. I'm just saying that players can be taken advantage of. And for it to be at this scale where they're holding and quote helping with his accounts, that just means to me there's more than just the monies that they are like that they're moving and manipulating and allegedly taking from him because it's like, you know, hey, hey, congratulations, you made this. You know we'll come to we'll be there. And it's like, well, who's paying for this? I haven't seen you guys foot the bill yet. And players get taken advantage of, and that can really add up. We had Spencer Arraghetti on he said first year, he's from Texas, so he's playing in Houston. He spent twenty grand on tickets. He's like, didn't even know it, million dollar watch, didn't even know it.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: You know what I think of? Do you guys like the biopics?

00:25:22
Speaker 2: It's mostly in music where you see the manager take advantage of the client. Of course this isn't in all cases, but the point is that this happens frequently, and I think for some people they look at a story like this, like, how.

00:25:35
Speaker 1: Did you not know twenty nineteen Boem's a kid? You're 't during the Biggs. I know you got to grow up fast, but there's a lot coming at you.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: You're playing major League Baseball games every day. You think your parents are going to help you out. But Elvis, Queen, Elton John, all of those movies have a similar narrative where there was somebody that was taking advantage of them. I want to spend this forward, Codfather. This is going on for Alec opening day of the season, Philly's win, fricking party, Weather looked good, Schwarber Appohomer, same with Boem, Sanchez with his new money pitching. Well, how does Boem concentrate? I mean, clearly it didn't affect him for day one, and it's been a thing for I guess years now. But really coming to a head, now, can this distract you?

00:26:17
Speaker 5: Yes?

00:26:18
Speaker 2: Can it also be your escape for a few hours where he maybe he'll play better because it's the only time that he can really just have fun, be a kid and do his thing for a few hours and not worry about lawsuits.

00:26:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's one of those being a professional.

00:26:31
Speaker 4: You go to the field, you know, maybe it's on your mind, but once the lights come on and they're say, now batting, your mind just flips. And that's in any sport really, So I think your mind can go away from me a little bit, maybe on the defensive side, just because you're standing out there, But when you're in the middle of the game, I feel like those two and a half two hours and forty five minutes of game time is your time to shine. And you know, you want to be a professional baseball player a lot longer then you want to be at home. So he's going to work his butt off to be great, and I think he's got a great opportunity for the fellies, and I think he's going to have a really good year.

00:27:10
Speaker 1: Yemi too. It's free agent year too, Kratz right, Massive Massive.

00:27:15
Speaker 5: He just never want anything off the field to effect on the field. And I know stress fractures are not caused because of stress, but I think stress does inhibit your body from recovering. So I hope he has people around him. I hope he has people that can delve into him and the only reprieve is at the field. That would suck, you know. I hope he can get this resolved and get people around him so that his mental space is where he needs to be to be healthy and to be on the field for one hundred and sixty two games.

00:27:48
Speaker 3: AJ.

00:27:49
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00:28:11
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00:28:25
Speaker 2: Start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Box one Streaming Now, Hey we're back, and Mike Trout says, I'm back the quote post game, I felt like myself again out there being in center and stealing bags. It was a fun win. Trout had a day. They kept walking.

00:28:47
Speaker 1: Them, and then when they didn't, he made them pay.

00:28:49
Speaker 2: Todd Father, we've seen this was it last year of the year before where he got off to a banger start and he was running and doing the whole deal. I'm not doubting that part. And I'm I mean, I'm actually on the other side here where Todd Father. People be like, oh, Trout's washed. I'm like, nah, he's just injury prone and the body's breaking down when he plays.

00:29:09
Speaker 1: He's still a star.

00:29:11
Speaker 3: Oh, I agree.

00:29:12
Speaker 4: One hundred three walks, a monster home run to basically win the game, to get him up one nutting in the seventh inning. He looks good. He's a superstar. I don't care what anybody says. Yeah, he had a couple of years where you know, it hurt him. It hurt him a lot, knowing that what could have been he was breaking all types of records. He's on track to break some of the oldest records alive, you know, help by Mickey Mantle and all those guys. But again, he's a star. He's a stud. I need him healthy for the whole year, no matter what he does. A good healthy Mike Trout not only gonna help himself, it's gonna help the Angels and it's gonna help baseball.

00:29:50
Speaker 3: And this is a great start for him. And if he's talking.

00:29:53
Speaker 4: About how he feels right now, sky's the limit for this guy getting back to being one of the top five guys in the league for sure.

00:30:02
Speaker 5: I mean, he's not gonna sit there on opening Day and go three walks in a thinger and go ooh, I'm gassed. The only person that ever did that was Lorenzo Kane. Lorenzo Kane first opening Day, He's like, my legs are tired of my feet hurt. But no, it's good. I mean, obviously we got to see him out there the whole year. Looked a little looked a little more spelt, looked a little skinnier. I didn't I didn't read anything about him losing weight. But he looks good. Maybe he got that tailored, maybe got that Nike tailored fit this year instead of just like the boxy one size fits all jersey. But he looks good. I want to look at him for one hundred and sixty two games. He'll be an All Star, that's for sure.

00:30:43
Speaker 3: Yep.

00:30:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, It's team won three nothing and Jose Soriano shut down the Astros in that one. Well, I mean they were flailing chasing knuckle curves left and right.

00:30:53
Speaker 1: Soriano looked really good.

00:30:55
Speaker 2: That's a classic name that basically nobody knows, and he pitches like what a number two starter.

00:31:02
Speaker 1: I would say, borderline one. I mean, he's their best starter.

00:31:05
Speaker 2: But I'm saying, even on a playoff team like this is a guy that would start playoff games, And maybe this is the year that you know, he makes even more noise because even if you're on a crappy team like you can win a sy Young Award. So maybe he puts it together this year. I wouldn't be surprised. He's got the stuff to do it.

00:31:22
Speaker 5: Yeah. I don't know that he's necessarily got the cy Young finisher to the season, But to me, I think his he was he was kind of off and on hit and miss, and I felt like last year about three quarters of the season, it just seemed like it was like a smooth fluid. You know, you could count on this guy every five days and he Yeah, he's definitely one of those. He's a top five underrated pitcher in the game because a lot of guys don't know about him because he pitches every five days in Anaheim.

00:31:53
Speaker 1: Exactly.

00:31:55
Speaker 2: Next up, the late game last night that started a round ten ten o'clock East Coast time, seven o'clock in Seattle. The Guardians beat the Mariners, and Tanner Bybee was on the mound to begin that game. He was not on the mound for as long as he wanted to be. He left the game with right shoulder inflammation. Never great when you see that news. Cleveland's got some pretty solid pitching, but it does not help when bybe leaves I mean technically, I mean he gave them five innings, so it's not I mean seventy eight pitches. Maybe he would have gone one more, but it was just more about the shoulder. Never good. So for Cleveland, Todd Father, they still have a nasty bullpen. They were able to hold down the Mariners for the most part. I think they gave up one run, yep, one run After that point, he three were charged.

00:32:43
Speaker 1: To Bibbey's account, they won.

00:32:44
Speaker 2: They showed some more pop than I expected because Chase Dallatter was a dude in his first regular season game. But to me, Cleveland is playing with fire this year. It's just they've got to have a lot of things go their way. I know we say that and then they still met around and end up swiping the division from the Tigers. But I do think that it does eventually catch up to you when you're barely touching your big league roster in the offseason.

00:33:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it does.

00:33:14
Speaker 4: You know, you look at Chase the Lauder, who I don't know about Kratzy, I got him as the rookie of the Year over there. I think, wow, I think you guys caught me off guard and I can't speak.

00:33:26
Speaker 3: I think they will be good.

00:33:28
Speaker 4: I don't know how great they will be, if that makes any sense to you.

00:33:31
Speaker 3: They're gonna win the game.

00:33:33
Speaker 4: They're beating a Mariners team whose pitching staff has been top notched for the past some odd years.

00:33:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, they beat a really good Gilbert I mean Logan Gilbert. And you know.

00:33:45
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, is this the offense that's gonna bring it day in and day out. We'll see Jose Ramirez with a big two out or two RBI double to get them, you know, in the lead for good pretty much.

00:33:58
Speaker 3: The latter had two home runs.

00:34:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll see, but an injury like this Ah could hurt him in the long run.

00:34:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, is Reys Hoskins gonna be able to hit some dingers for him? Is you know, where are they gonna where are they gonna get the offense from? Where? Where's that which is always the issue? Or the Tigers going to collapse like they did last year? To me, they're going to be chasing the Royals again this year. You know, Royals took kind of a year off last year. I think they're gonna be better this year. And it's not gonna happen without Bibby's staying healthy, without Mesek having you know, a similar year that he did last year down the stretch, without big truck, Big truck. Gavin Williams needs to be legit SHACONI has to take the next step, and I just too many things have to go right for them to be a playoff team. But it's a great start for them, except when Bibby goes down with shoulder. If it was I don't know. You never want to hear any any injuries, but shoulder inflammation you just you hate to hear it for a guy, especially for a guy who is locked in to be a guardian for I think till twenty thirty. I think he's his extension took him to twenty thirty, so you know, he's he's there for a while, he's he's the guy, or he's one of the guys, and it's just tough to see on a team. Fortunately they got the win, but hey, have you hit the age where everything feels a little bit more difficult the jim, yes, but everything like energy crashes in the afternoon.

00:35:37
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00:36:49
Speaker 1: I know.

00:36:49
Speaker 2: And there's more to the story. You got to look at peripheral numbers and all that. So the IRA wasn't as shiny last year as it was the year before or even the first two years really of his career, but he is still looked at as one of their top starters. And the extension was last spring training five years forty eight, which brought out at least one year free agency, maybe two. So yeah, that takes him through twenty thirty, that is correct. So they're going to make sure that everything's good. That's a long term asset making some cash with the Cleveland Guardians. Okay, next up, one more debut that I did not mention towards the top, just because I mean, unless I miss something, he didn't do something crazy. Justin Crawford makes his debut yesterday for the Phillies, and this was him pregame doing what he apparently does before just about every game, gets to the park, takes a walk, takes it all in, and of course does it without any socks or shoes on, no cleats, just grounding. So this was Sam Jellinick tweeting. Fun fact, it's not just a one off stroll for his debut. He did this every day in Lehigh Valley where he played there, typically right when he arrived to the park, like clockwork, headphones, barefoot, warn't in tracking back, very meticulous with his routine.

00:38:09
Speaker 4: Did you do that Todd grounding? It's called grounding yourself. I remember Noah Cindergard used to do that in Colorado. I guess because the high elevations, and I don't know. They say it's really good for you. So yeah, man, listen, if you got a routine, stick with it. I don't care if.

00:38:26
Speaker 3: You're the young buck or you're the old veteran.

00:38:29
Speaker 4: That's what he wants to do to get going, keeps getting knocks and helping his team win.

00:38:33
Speaker 3: I might jump in and do it with him too.

00:38:38
Speaker 5: I would do it, get it not. I mean, it's it's a thing like I love that a rookie feels comfortable enough in the clubhouse to be able to do that. Now, it's nothing as crazy as like what Tristan Cassis was doing. And sometimes that kind of stuff borders on the line of distraction. But routines, routines are so important. I couldn't imagine going to your big league, first big league game and having to play a different position than you played in the minor leagues because you don't have a routine. And so his routine was he comes to the ballpark, he does grounding, or he walks around on that nice green painted grass because I'm up here in Philly and there you no green grass right now, because that John's been frozen under some snow for the whole year. But he's walking around on He's walking around on it just like he did in Lee High. So then his day starts just like it did in Lee High. Now he goes out and he's facing a pitcher on the mound that's gonna throw a baseball over the plate, just like he did in Lee High. If you make it bigger than it is, if you make it bigger and you're like, oh my gosh, we're facing Jacob de Grom in the second game, we faced Nathan e Valdi. That dude's got unbelievable stuff. You're cooked. You're cooked because you're building it up to be more than it really is.

00:39:58
Speaker 2: The grounds crew anywhere in baseball is exceptional. They're the best in the world. So you get to enjoy that. On the grass, I like it. You get some of the freshest, most perfect manicured grass, and you get to walk on it with your bare feet.

00:40:15
Speaker 1: I would do that every day.

00:40:17
Speaker 5: The grass is tremendous. I loved big lea grass. You laying it, you rub your hand across it.

00:40:23
Speaker 1: You know what you're gonna say, how do you walk across the warning track with bare feet?

00:40:28
Speaker 5: I'd be getting them stones I'd be like, oh ah, and then you get to the grass and you're wiping, you're wiping the dirt off, and then you're like, I gotta get off the grass back into it. Maybe he's got his sandals across the track, parks his sandals on the grass, and then we go to business.

00:40:47
Speaker 3: You know one field that you wouldn't do it on if you can take your guess anybody.

00:40:53
Speaker 5: I can't. I can't think of it.

00:40:56
Speaker 3: Tampa ta.

00:40:59
Speaker 5: On turt I wouldn't hate I won't hate it. They got new turf this year too, so it's it's fluffy like it's fluffy like Scott's hair, that new turf. It's not Maden down fluffy.

00:41:11
Speaker 3: I have a walk on there.

00:41:13
Speaker 5: I would welcome you here.

00:41:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you.

00:41:16
Speaker 2: A couple things before we get to Pap while we wait for him to call us from games yesterday, just to finish up recapping the miz shut down the White Sox. AJ was here with me yesterday. We were watching that game fourteen to two. The Brewers look good. The White Sox obviously are not going to be great, but there were higher expectations for them.

00:41:36
Speaker 1: It is one game Shane Smith did not pitched well.

00:41:40
Speaker 2: That was my big thing Todd Father, was you know, there's a lot that you can overreact to in the first game of the season, but I did want to see Miz control swing and miss the whole deal. Five innings, a run, eleven strikeouts against an offense that was pretty good the last few months of the year the White Sox last year, and Murakami eventually got a home or not off Miz but later in the game in the ninth that was a bomb. But if the mizz can pitch like that, that's what the Brewers need, right They lost Freddy. Hopefully Woodroff stays healthy this season. Who did there, well, Cheerio's hurt. That's on the position player side. But you need a guy like this, who could be one of the top arms in the leaked to put consistency together in his first full season here coming up and all of a sudden, it changes the narrative for the Brewers and actually doesn't change the narrative. It would put them in the same place where they always are, which is in the playoff mix.

00:42:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Krasty eleven k three walks gave up.

00:42:36
Speaker 4: When you saw the game, they gave up the first inning home the first at bat Homer, and I was like, oh, no, here we go, that's a miss little left center. And then got the next strikeout, next strikeout, and it kind of simmered down after that. So you know, solo home runs aren't going to beat you, but the first batter giving it up, you're like, oh, man, what a start to the year. But he came into his own and threw really really well. What a presence, What a presence him on the mound, man, Just the height, the length when he finishes, he's like forty five feet from home plate. So if this is where he's going, this is where he has to be really really good things for Milwaukee.

00:43:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I don't hate their rotation. I think their rotation can do a lot of great things. When you talk about Big WU, you talk about sprot you talk about what could Kyle Harrison do. If there's a place that's not turned guy's careers around but really gotten them closer to their ceiling, it's Milwaukee. But also you've sat there and you've had the last few years. You've had Big WU, You've had freddie p, you've had Corbin Burns, Guys that had high ceilings, But had they been somewhere else, they would have done the same thing. To me, it's about health for this team. If you look at the fact that you know Roberts on the DL, Logan Henderson's on the d L, the fact that iol I'm sorry il, the fact that DL Hall a guy that they had expected when he came over in the Corbyn Burns trade to kind of be one of those reclamation projects. Well now he's in the bullpen currently. Could he be a starter again? He needs to stay healthy. They need to stay healthy for them to do what they've done. But then again, I sit there and I go, they've had injuries every year, they've lost, they've lost aces, they've lost closers or gotten rid of them, not lost them, gotten rid of them, And all of a sudden, there they are in the playoffs again. So what it is that the Brewers do? They just figure out how to win. But is this bad because they won fourteen to two on opening Day and they got molly wopped last year on opening day in the whole opening series by the illegal torpedo bats? So is this the opposite reaction? We'll wait and see.

00:45:12
Speaker 1: One thing.

00:45:12
Speaker 2: For me here, we always do the happy retirement. We got one right before the show started, Jason Hayward's calling it. So congrats to Jason Hayward. Successful career, World Series ring, a bunch of money, very well respected in the game.

00:45:29
Speaker 1: Cheers to you.

00:45:32
Speaker 5: Never heard a bad word about the guy. And for him to be able to have a ring, Yeah, the money's awesome too, But he was going to make a lot of money no matter what to be able to get the ring, and the way people talk about him, it's a guy I wish I had as a teammate.

00:45:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember him, Yeah, remember him hitting that home run in Atlanta, Remember his first first time first It was.

00:45:55
Speaker 3: So cool man.

00:45:56
Speaker 4: So congratulations man, go out and get some warm weather and enjoyed life.

00:46:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, sixteen seasons in the Big Oh. When he first came up, we already knew that he was a super athlete and he was a great defender, and so then we were like the bat. There was a lot of variants throughout his career, right, and he was always tweaking and trying to figure out what would get his swing to the right place. But even through all of that, he was so good defensively that he always had a spot that was the thing.

00:46:25
Speaker 5: They both came up around the same time. I think it was very close, Freddy Freeman Jason Hayward, and they were like, one guy is this type of player? Another guy is this type of player? And people were like, I don't know, you know, Jason Hayward ridiculous. He runs like a deer in the outfield. Freddy Freeman's a first baseman. Who's going to have the better career? I remember those discussions and they both broke into the scene popping. Freddie Freeman had some big dingers against Roy Holiday, so it was cool to see now where the careers are.

00:46:57
Speaker 2: Yep, Freddy's still going, probably for several more years. He wants to all right, enjoy the weekend, the games crats hats on the way out.

00:47:07
Speaker 5: Netherlands. The WBC hands Netherlands. It's actually a really nice hat. I'm a rocklers John.

00:47:14
Speaker 2: All weekend Boom Dutch, see everyone enjoy the games.

00:47:19
Speaker 1: Happy real games Weekend