Yankees cut DJ LeMahieu, Orioles trade Baker to Rays, Phillies trade rumors, Rooker in HR Derby, All-Star subs

00:00:00
Speaker 1: He does, so Dave Dombrowski does. I'll tell he does. He trades his best players. He tries to win. Get your team to the World Series. You might not win it. That's what he does, and I love it.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: I love this time of year. We're gonna talk about a trade later. Trade season has begun again. I know Dever's already happened, and aj I feel like it doesn't get a ton of attention because it's placed in the wrong spot and we're not going to rent on it forever. But do you know what Sunday night is?

00:00:31
Speaker 3: The Draft?

00:00:32
Speaker 1: I do know what is the draft? Well, the first just the first what round or two? What do they do the first night? Just the first round? How does this work?

00:00:40
Speaker 2: I believe it's one and maybe the comp something like that. I gotta look because I'm obviously not hosting it. So maybe one through sixty five or something like that, and then they do the rest the next day. I'm old enough to remember when it was three days.

00:00:58
Speaker 1: I remember when it was fifty rounds or it used to be. Actually was unlimited rounds at one point, and then they decided, oh, we'll just cut it down to fifty rounds because you know that was unlimited was too much because people were picking like daughters of gms and cousins of nephew's uncles, brothers, sister and all this stuff, right, and then they cut it down to fifty rounds. And the fifty rounds was cool because there was dudes drafted like in the thirty fifth, the fiftieth round that still would make the big leagues every once in a while, Mike Piazza, those kind of guys. But then there was also the guys who were drafted that late then went to Juco and then they signed, They were you know, draft and follows. They got rid of all that because they cut down all the minor league teams, got rid of development and just say hey, go play and we'll you know, don't pitch every don't start. But that's a whole week and do a whole subject on what they've done to developing players by cutting all the minor leagues down to save money. But we don't have time for that today.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: What round were you? Krats?

00:01:53
Speaker 3: Twenty ninth doesn't even exist anymore. I tell people I was twenty ninth by the Blue Jays, and then they'll be.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: Like, you can't say overall you have to just say, oh, twenty ninth.

00:02:08
Speaker 3: Twenty ninth overall by the Blue Jays.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: Right, twenty ninth pick by the Blue Jays.

00:02:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that too, m hm.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: I mean, now, the narrative from MLB essentially is that if you are in that range, go to the independent league's and if you're good enough, they'll figure it out, which is not the worst case in the world in terms of the debate, but it's still not.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: It's much harder. It's a much harder it's a much harder road because they're not scouring the independently. You have to go to the independent leagues and just nash and do something incredible in order for an MLB scout to go find you there. I mean, yeah, it happens, but it doesn't happen as much as a twenty ninth rounder getting into a minor leagues and surprising people because sometimes the crowds played at a D three school, right, So people really not that they didn't know what he could do, but a lot of peop people might have been surprised by his power and what he could do, and then they see him in life and they're like, oh, wow, this guy's better than we thought.

00:03:06
Speaker 3: And they don't know. There's no way because you're not playing against great competition besides summer ball, but you're also like indie ball, indie ball. As a ex pro guy going back to indie ball, dudes get picked up rare, rare, rare cases. Guys go straight to indie ball and then they get picked up with an affiliated team.

00:03:28
Speaker 2: Draft is rounds one through three on Sunday and then four through twenty on Monday morning. It's okay, Monday morning, there's nothing going on, just kidding. It's Derby Day and our show so gets a little bit overshadowed. But that's okay. Anyway. Let's charge. Let's start with a good players, had a good career and a big contract getting cut Aja. The Yankees designated DJ Lemayhew for assignment, and then now today they have officially released him from the roster. It sounds like he's not pleased. He signed a six year, ninety million dollar contract. There's twenty two million dollars left for the rest of this season plus next season. Important caveat. When they signed him, the winning bid was more in the five year range close to that number. What the Yankees did with him was say let's stretch it out. You'll have a much lower average annual value. It will help us going up against MLB's fight for a salary cap, which at the moment is called the collective bart or not the collective barning the luxury tax number, which penalizes a team for going over that numbers. The Yanks are like, help us out, Let's try and stay as close to under that number as possible, or barely over that number. So I just want to reiterate that technically, I look at this as the contract ending at the end of this year, even though he did have one year left on. It would have been great, nice bonus if he could still kick it. But the Yankees do not deem him good enough to be on their roster. As Jazz moves to second, they don't want him at third, and we'll see if someone else picks him up.

00:05:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, but they're eating twenty two million dollars still, even if you can try to you can try to say, however, you want to say that they added an extra year, but they're still eating twenty two million dollars for this yes year, next.

00:05:23
Speaker 2: Year, I disagree, you disagreed.

00:05:26
Speaker 1: There twenty two million dollars they're eating. How can you disagree they twenty two million? There's no disagreeing with that.

00:05:33
Speaker 2: Wait, can I just explain my side here? So ninety, let's say you go, hey, this player's worth ninety million over five years, right, that is the winning bid. The Yankees say, can we just make it six because that'll be the end of your career and we will pay much less money on the tax on a per year basis. So we deem you a five year ninety player, but we would like to make it a six ninety because you'll be essentially done by then. And I mean it looks like he is. He's done at that exact time period. So to me, it's like the money was already paid. Sometimes you look at that with these long term deals, right, Trey Turner signed a what twelve year contracts something like that? Do they think Trey Turner is going to be start forty one years old? He might not even be on the team, But it stretches the money out. So I just look at it as they got their value during that time period, or that's what they were paying for.

00:06:21
Speaker 1: I'm asked this question. Did they get the value out of dj Lem that they thought they were going to get when they signed this deal, because if you look at his numbers over the length of the contract, he did not live up to what he did when he first got to the Yankees. I'm sorry, that's just the facts, right, no doubt. Yeah, every Yankee fan was super excited when they signed him. Now that everyone, all the Yankee fans are super excited they.

00:06:41
Speaker 3: Got rid of him.

00:06:41
Speaker 1: Which one is the Yankee fans can't have both.

00:06:43
Speaker 3: But I don't know.

00:06:45
Speaker 1: This sucks for DJ, but everyone Father times undefeated, It catches everybody. And he's still making twenty two million dollars this year next year. So if you want to right off into the sunset, DJ, enjoy your money and go enjoy your family. But I don't know, I mean, it still sucks with guys get DFA and release late.

00:07:00
Speaker 3: In their career.

00:07:04
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00:07:33
Speaker 1: Listen as somebody right now that needs a Harry's, I've just been lazy. Harry's. I have plenty of them lined up or need to use. You can use them for more than one shave, which is huge for me, and the pricing is right. I gotta go get my Harries because my neck beard is sick. But Harry's will fix that. It'll line me up straight and no bumps, no cuts. It's exactly what I need for a great price.

00:07:53
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00:08:06
Speaker 3: Does suck because he didn't want to leave yet his body said he can't play third base. That was a big I was listening We're driving home last night and I was listening to the fan and Susan Waldman interviewed Brian Cashman, and sounds like DJ put up quite a fight. Sounds like he was like you know, but he was also honest with the team. Maybe sometimes you could be like no, no, I can definitely play third. But DJ didn't do that. He said physically he could not. Whatever the riggers of third base added to his body, he wasn't able to recover from that. He wasn't able to play every single day. So he was honest. Yankees made the move.

00:08:51
Speaker 2: He was a good not great player for most of his career with Colorado. Right, very good defender, what's putting up? What is him putting up? Monster War numbers? And offensively, I mean OPS was below league average every year with Colorado except for twenty sixteen. What you're saying, I'm off on one side or the other.

00:09:12
Speaker 3: I mean you said he was good, not great with Colorado.

00:09:16
Speaker 2: He was below average offensively every time you look after twenty sixteen, when you look at.

00:09:21
Speaker 3: His career, would you say he was above average player?

00:09:24
Speaker 2: Hold on, I was going through the career arc. Then he signs with the Yankees for two years and for those two years, one of them was a COVID year, So I get it. It was short, but he was the top four MVP finisher his first two years there and obviously super clutch in the playoffs in twenty nineteen for them. Then he signs the deal after that time period. Again nice player on defense, but only had one season with the Yankees where he was above average offensively for them ten percent above average offensively for the Yankees in twenty twenty two. Besides that below average, and then ye had the last couple of years the body down. So that's why Yankee fans look and they're like, damn, he was really good for us for a couple of years and the rest of the time the contract wasn't worth it. I'm gonna answer your question. I'd say he was overall and above average player if you put the whole career together. On the whole career, yeah, I'm not knocking the whole career.

00:10:15
Speaker 3: Good player, and I'm just using his words. These are not This is not my opinion. The Rockies did nothing to help players get ready for their games when he came over. There was so much information given to him. He goes and he doesn't say anything. His has a big old' lipper in pre game and he's like so much easier to hit when they tell you before the game, like this is probably what they're gonna throw. And he used to watch him. He used to sit breaking. He used to sit fastball, drive in to the opposite field, and when they throw a breaking ball to him and it was up in his zone, he would hammer it to left like professional hitters. And I felt like he was a above average hit or anybody that wins a batting title in two leagues. First one to do that in two leagues and then you come to a place where they say, hey, did you ever do this? Did you ever have pregame meetings that let you know what guys percentages and tendencies are? And he's like huh. He's like, yeah, I'd love it. What do you guys got? And he feasted. He feasted for a while. And you know, foot injuries. I haven't seen anybody but Albert poolhos come back from foot injuries and still be productive.

00:11:39
Speaker 2: Does he have a case aj to be upset or this is fine.

00:11:46
Speaker 1: You can't play third where they need you to play, then you can't be on the team. I mean, I know he's personally upset. In a lot of times, your ego gets in the way, But at the end of the day, no, he doesn't have a case because they're trying to win. They're trying to get back in this race, and they need every all hands on deck right now. And if he can't play third, and he can't do things they need him to do, then the Yankees have no other choice. I guess they could have tried the fan of my el trick again, but I mean, what good z Thatcham to just send him to Tampa for a couple of weeks and hope he finds something and try to bring him back. But if you can't play third, there's no reason. Especially with Jazz moving a second. You have a first baseman and Goldschman and Bellinger, they rotate through their nicely. Volpi's gonna play shortstop. DJ doesn't play the outfield. DJ is not going to be your DH as long as Stanton's on the field and on the team. So yeah, there was no room for him. It sucks again, but that's just he doesn't I mean, your ego gets in the way. As a player, We've all been there. But at the end of the day, you have to understand the situation, the team and the organization is in and got to go from there.

00:12:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're left side of the infield needs work right now. I mean, obviously Volpi's Volpi's gonna play. They're not gonna replace him this year, even though Yankee fans lately have been losing their mind about him. Let's show the clip about who is it Boonie addressing Anthony Bolpi and then or Cashman sorry, and then we can talk about the third base replacement options here.

00:13:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember the viral TikTok of me and Jel Sherman discussing whether our development program produces hitters or not. So I'm a fan of Olpie. Uh yeah, I know it's been streaky. You know, it depends on what month he might ask, So right now, I know he's had some struggles. The one thing I do tell you I admire about Anthony Volpi is his strength and fortitude. Obviously, he's the starting short stop for the New York Yankees, helped us get to a World Series last year, performed in the World Series last year, and lacks He does not lack confidence. And yes, there's struggles that have happened. That's why you're asking the question understandably, So and yet you know he's like this, you know, it's to him, it's you know, turn the page, and he's theocused on tonight's game. And and I do have belief and optimism that that he obviously will impact this in a really positive way on both sides of the ball. And so, yeah, he's our shortstop. And as I said, doesn't I don't forget where he was and what he was doing in the biggest stage of the game last October. And yeah, despite the twists in terms of how the season currently is playing out, a lot of season left to be played, so I would not I'm not counting him out. I know he's going to be part of the solution and rather than the.

00:14:40
Speaker 1: Here's my thing with that. Yeah, that's great that you think this and that. But he's right on pace for where he's been for three years now. This is his third year in the big leagues. He plays a good, solid short although he started making some throwing errors, which has been kind of awkward for him. But offensively, I mean, he was a eighty one ops plus his first year, eighty six last year. He's at nine. Obviously, that's still got a ways to go. We got over almost half the season left, so he's right where they want him to be. He's his numbers are lining up pretty much with where he's been the last two years. So if that's what the Yankees went out of their short stop, then yeah. Brian Cashman believes in Anthony Volpe because he's defense first. He'll steal you some bases. He'll get a hit every once in a while. Yea, he's streaky, but when he goes bad, it goes bad. And that's but this is what he is. This is what he's been for three years. It's not like, oh my gosh, he has a one forty oh ps plus one year and then he fell back down to ninety. I mean, he's been around eighty mid eighties his whole career. So he's right where he needs he's been.

00:15:35
Speaker 2: Some teams have prospects that get overhyped and some teams have prospects that get under hyped. The Cardinals seemed to be that team for years where you like, wouldn't hear about anyone and then they would come out of nowhere and be great. The Yankees are on the other side of the spectrum. That has helped them with some trades too. No Crats you disagree. I mean for Volpe and hey, I live in the area. Where I lived in the area, people were like, oh, we got the next Jeter coming up on this shit, dude, hold up, hold up. But his defense has taken a little step back too. So right now he's okay. I mean he's he's about an average to a little slightly below average player.

00:16:11
Speaker 3: Right now, he's a big league shortstop. I'm gonna go out and say it. I get it. He's got eleven errors. He's leading the league right now, or he's leading shortstops with the most errors right now at eleven. To me, he's a big league shortstop. I think if the expectation is that you have a Jeter, you have a a Rod, you have whatever whatever shortstop like from the past, I guess ay Rod've never played short for the Yankees, but you're not just gonna have a superstar at every position. And I would say temper your expectations because this guy adds above average value to your team. Just don't expect him to hit twenty five thirty homers. He's gonna steal his fifteen to twenty two backs. He's going to play. To me, plays great short shortstop but this year he's got a few airs. Maybe maybe he is incredible the rest of the year and he ends with his fifteen to eighteen airs that you know, a slightly above average shortstop mix.

00:17:17
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think even for tempered expectations, he has not hit them yet. And he's young. It could still happen. But I think at this point we know he's not going to be a superstar player. I think that's pretty safe to say he's not going to all I bet he.

00:17:30
Speaker 3: Could make an All Star team at some point in his career. I think he could make an All Star team, and you don't get rid of that. So I would tell Yankees fans, chillax, you got bigger issues than Anthony Volpi.

00:17:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then last thing, so on the third base replacement side for the Yanks, we actually talked about this a lot on yesterday show. There's a video out there on YouTube too, So if you want to click into that and see our take on a Gino Suarez, maybe a Ryan McMahon buying low at this point since the offensive numbers are down for him, then you can check that out. And for LeMay, he you just give me a thumbs up or thumbs down while I read this. Do you think he latches on with another team? We've had a few jokes in the chat saying maybe he goes back to the Rockies. Joel Sherman said he was mainly hitting the ball hard, but on the ground, swinging and missing more than ever. Range at second was small, so pro who can help someone's bench, But for the Yankees they have Stanton as DH only three left handed hitting catchers Lea Mayhew made their bench way too inflexible, not verstle enough. You guys think he'll latch on with someone, Okay, I'll give you the thumbs up there too. You just hope it's not just a call from the Rockies or the White Sox or something like that. But we'll see what happens. Yeah, we'll see see. I mean, it's not like he wasn't hitting terribly. I think he was a ninety ops plus and like Joel mentioned, hitting the ball hard. So we'll see. But for now, the DJ Lem Mayhew deal with the Yankees is now done. He has cut his tenure with the Yankees is over. Hey, let's do a little player spotlight thanks to Arena Club AJ give me a player this season that you think is underrated and you might want to try and grab his card.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: James would.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: I don't know that he's underrated, but Washington National's superstar in the making, and the first slab pack I ever opened had him in it, his rookie card, and the value is only going to go up and up and up. And I'm not gonna sell it Kwi yet. Scott. I'm gonna hold on to because after he continues to hit big homers and put up the stats make All Star teams, it's gonna get more expensive for someone to buy. For me.

00:19:20
Speaker 2: This is his first full season in the majors. Keep that in mind. I think he's underrated. He's on a Nationals team that's man hadding enough attention.

00:19:28
Speaker 1: He might underrated. When he makes the All Star team this year, they're not going to be underrated.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: That helps. He's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway, If you want to try and find a wood rookie card, go check out slab packs on Arena Club and right now you can get twenty percent off your first lab pack, Or if you just want to go with a card purchase, go to Arena club dot com. Slash f oul, use code foul. If you I sell, trade, collect go for it. Last year sy young winner and a strong contender. This year, Tarry Scooble hates the good part of the lineup for your favorite team. Here's some evidence two three four hitters against Schoogle this season on base percentage one ninety six, best mark for schoobl against that portion of the order among qualified starting pitching. So aj, we know he's clutch. We know he goes deep into games. He also gets the best hitters out.

00:20:23
Speaker 1: He's the best pitcher going right now. I mean in the American League for sure. I mean you can make an argument for Skeens, I guess in the National League. But Terrek Scooble gets everybody out. And when I was it just in Atlanta, his face was right when I walked into the hotel, I said. An instagram posted him actually pitching right handed, which looked so weird. And then Wheeler was next to him with throwing left handed because it was the backside of this big giant sticker they threw on this window. But man, this guy is the best, and his personality is coming out. He's a great interview and he's great for baseball.

00:20:54
Speaker 3: Right now.

00:20:54
Speaker 1: He is great not only for all of baseball, but especially baseball in Detroit. Man when it's schooball day in Detroit. Who how place is electric.

00:21:03
Speaker 2: High corner time powered by Next Playgrounds. You want to get active this summer, If you're inside AND's super hot in an area of the country that you're at, then check out Next Playground in the new home run Derby game. We'll give you more at the back end of this segment. Let's go right to trade news. I think this one was pretty significant. Aj It's a name that most of baseball fan wise does not know, but he's had a really nice year. The peripheral numbers are good. Brian Baker, he's got multiple years of control. So here it is Robert Murray reporting on it this morning. The Rays are acquiring reliever Brian Baker from the Orioles, according to a source familiar with the deal, And we can roll a few of the other tweet tear gab two just to give her one more information on what Baker was bringing to the table mid threes era for the Oriols this season. The Rays obviously have had a really surprising start to the year. The Orioles are ten games under five hundred seven games back of a wild card with like six or seven teams between them, and even teams that hold a spot. So they're done. This is the beginning of the cell. John Haymon said, Orioles sold here, but there was some urgency to make this deal since the Ras are sending number thirty seven overall, pick a compensation balance round pick to Baltimore or to Tampa Bay. I should say for Baker, the Orils may be trending sale, according to Hayman, but they have time to decide on bigger pieces like o'hearne, Eflyn, Chicano, Mullins, Bautista. For me, by the way, I put Bautista in a different category because he's got multiple years of control left. He costs nothing. But that is Baker, guys, Gay So here's stuff plus from Alex Fast. We'll give you two more. Baker not only has had the best change up on the ools, it's the fourth best change up in all of baseball. I'm sure the Rays are drooling about that. Two of five sleven percentage was top twenty amongst changeups. He said, no surprise. He started to increase the usage as the season went on and he's curious to see how the Rays utilize it. But Fast also, who's super dialed in on the Ools in a front of the show, was surprised by the movie figure the O's would sell. But a good reliever with three years of control and a thirty three percent strikeout rate wasn't who I thought would be first to go, especially this far from the deadline. And to me, aj, I'm going to continue to pile on the Orioles doing a terrible job of making trades cute cool. You got to pick your winning window is now stop playing the ten year game.

00:23:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean yeah, But I don't know why they traded this guy. He was having a really nice year until he pitched against the Mets the other It was the Mets. He gave it, Yeah, the Mets the other day. His numbers are really good toil, you get the two homers of Lindor and Alonso the other day. But I don't get it. I just don't understand. You trade your other guys first, And I get they wanted that thirty seventh pick. That thirty seventh pick had also turned into nobody, Like, I don't get it. The Orioles have had all these prospects for years and they have this guy and they have that guy. Well, guess what, Kirston Here's dead. Gustin Herestad is back in Norfolk right now, right like they had the chance to trade him. Look at Stours. They traded him and he's going off right all these guys. Norby's doing a nice job for Miami. But Koby Mayo hasn't proven that he can do anything yet. So at some point, prospects got to turn into suspects or the prospects got to turn into proven big league players. And right now they're having a problem doing both. And they got to proven big league player and Baker, why not keep them and trade one of the other guys that they could get some more prospects and try to turn them into something. I don't know this. Migalaiaz is smarter than me, so go Orioles.

00:24:25
Speaker 2: Just to clarify, their winning window is over this five year period. It's not this season. Because they didn't make the right moves in the off season. We smash them to pieces and all of that has played out to a t. We are often wrong, but when we are right, we have to make sure we emphasize how much they messed up their offseason, and it wasn't the spending, it was the way that they spent. Let's show this one other tweet and then we'll get Kratz's thoughts, because again, I think they're gushing way too much about the ten year plan slot value for pick thirty seven. According to Jake Rill on Twitter, two point six million dollars. He said, this means the Oils will have the most bonus pool money of any MLB team, increasing it to nineteen million dollars. No doubt. You need to draft and develop well, and you need to have players on league minimum and our money and all of that that are stars and lock them up long term. But krats enough, We're trading a guy with three years of control. I mean, he could be pitching in the World Series for you in the seventh inning next year and you just got rid of him.

00:25:18
Speaker 3: Unless they're not going for it, unless they don't know how to go for it. I mean, basically, they're collecting coupons and they're like, we're gonna get so much value out of all of these coupons that we're collecting nineteenth almost twenty million dollars that they can use in the bone in the slot pool. Draft money like that does nothing. Adlie Rutchman may not even be there when any of those draft picks that they take this year are finally in the big leagues. Like right now, Addlie Rutchman, Gunner Henderson, Jake Westberg, Coldn Kowser, these guys are the future World Series contenders for the Orioles, They're like, you know what, Scott, you were right. We did blow this offseason. We had our opportunity. We actually got seventy I think three million dollars to put to put into our roster. Some of it was arbitration. We missed on a few trades. Sonny Gray didn't want to come over here, Corbyn Burns spurned us, and you know what, We're just gonna go back to getting more prospects, hoarding all of them. And you know what, if the guys in the big leies don't do well, oh well, this trade, while it's not on the same level at all, makes me feel like maybe they will get rid of Felix Bautista. Maybe if you, if you entice him with enough coupons, if the Phillies come and say, hey, you can have all of our bonus pool, We're not even gonna draft anybody this year. We'll take Felix Bautista. They might be like, oh, we could have more coupons for players that haven't ever done anything at the pro level. Need oh gang.

00:27:00
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00:27:13
Speaker 3: And I can heat and eat Because this summer I've got like three days where I'm not doing anything. I'm sure those are going to get scheduled with something. Let's give me something super quick that I can heat up the whole Famili's eating healthy.

00:27:26
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00:28:04
Speaker 5: Dave Dombrowski would be drooling, He'd be like, he would look down, he'd look at this, He'd be like, holy cow, they think all these guys are gonna be as good trade trade.

00:28:15
Speaker 3: You get a prospect, you get a prospect, I'll take your veteran. I'll take your veteran, and Dave Dombrowski will be in the playoffs again with a chance to win the World Series.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: Aj they tanked for a half a decade, a half a decade of a disgusting product, and then you reap the benefits of having some really really nice core players. What the hell is going on there? Now?

00:28:37
Speaker 3: We need to get Mike Elias on and ask him.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: I don't know what what.

00:28:41
Speaker 3: Can we say?

00:28:42
Speaker 1: We've said it, we've been We've been saying this for how long?

00:28:45
Speaker 3: Now?

00:28:45
Speaker 1: How long are we talking about this? I mean it's been for two years. They haven't won a playoff game with this core? Right?

00:28:52
Speaker 3: They have it? Yes, that they had some injuries.

00:28:53
Speaker 1: Yes, has every other team had injuries?

00:28:55
Speaker 3: Yes, they lost.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: They got swept by the Rangers two years ago, they got swept by the Tigers last year. They haven't won a playoff game. They're not going to the playoffs this year, so they ain't gonna win again. I don't I don't know what there is to say. I really don't know what to say other than you need proven big league players.

00:29:12
Speaker 3: Right.

00:29:13
Speaker 1: It's great again have all the prospects you want, but at some point they got to turn into players. And if you don't have proven big league players, you usually aren't making the playoffs, and you usually aren't winning in the playoffs if you do make it. So listen, Adlie Rutchman has had a downturn. He's doing a little better now. Gunner hasn't had the year we expect. Jackson Holliday has been better. But some of these other names we hear firstad Kobe Mayo, all these names we've been here. Even besides what's the name Basillo the catcher he's in he's in the minor leagues right what they're gonna call him up with Adley there and they're gonna split time at dh Tyler O'Neill has been hurt this entire signing. Right there's Ramon Loreano has been good. Trade him well. His values as high as it can because he's been he's been bouncing around every team. He's having a great year. Trade him took a tender. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is, but I know the answer isn't what they're doing right now because they haven't won a playoff game.

00:29:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, and blaming then injuries is soft. There's plenty of teams.

00:30:01
Speaker 3: To with injuries right now.

00:30:03
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just bringing it up because I mean the owner said it. I think it was yesterday the day before owner David Rubenstein, who's a new owner taking over the team, and he's given payroll out. I mean, the thing is they increase peril. I think by like fifty million bucks. That's a lot in Major League Baseball. I'll give him a ton of credit for doing that part. The GM did not spend it well. Corbyn Burns didn't spurn them, by the way, he got less money guaranteed offered from Baltimore. Almost every pitcher, especially pitcher, is going to take the higher guaranteed money. Now he ends up needing TJ. They can look at it and be like, we dodged a bullet in terms of injuries whatever. We didn't know that was coming. Max Freed would have been nice on the Oriels right about now, but Rubenstein said, we have a lot of injuries. We lead the major leagues. I think in injuries. No, you don't. And what are you supposed to say to a young person who injures his arm. You can't say, go out and play when your arm's injured. So it's difficult. I'm not able to coach these players very much. I can't tell them what to do. I'm seventy five. These guys are twenty one to twenty two years old. No doubt, you should not tell the players what to do. They know how to ball, and they know if they're hurt or not. But what you should tell your GM is that you need to win right now or I'm going to fire your behind period next year. They better win playoff games or there is no chance that that front office should be in place. Even going back, blaming Brandon Hyde for what happened just now is obviously something that you have to use as a scapegoat because this has been such a disastrous season, but geez, this is frustrating. Anyway, Hot Corner was powered by Next Playground. Check out this little clip because we're going to be playing this game and showing it to you next week.

00:31:30
Speaker 6: Even Summer needs a back up with Pal, a little sidekick in the big kind of chaos, the kind of partner that turns living rooms into playgrounds and reminds us what our bodies and our hearts were made for. Play that moves you.

00:31:46
Speaker 2: Anyone worried about the Dodgers six game losing streak, Show of hands, Bueller Well, Buelier's not there anymore, but nobody cares. Anyone cared, anyone worried. No, Okay, that's why we're only spending a minute on it during a break with our favorites, our YouTube crowd, which, by the way, if you're watching right now and you haven't subscribed, it'd be cool if you pressed the button. But anyway, aj, what's gone on in the past week for LA besides Max Mounsey not being there?

00:32:14
Speaker 1: Uh, well, the Brewers pitched really well against them. That was one thing. They didn't get a lot of clutch hitting, and you know they came off the big the big series against Houston or before Houston. Houston came in and swept them. But Houston pitched really well and they knew what was coming. So anytime the other team knows what's coming, according to orl hirsche as.

00:32:32
Speaker 3: Or they hit better.

00:32:33
Speaker 1: Okay, but I mean they're pitching is destroyed. They're pitching. They're pitching for the for the Dodgers, especially against Houston as we as Alana said on Monday, wasn't their best three. But then they went to Milwaukee and they did run Yamamoto, who didn't last very long. Kershaw pitched actually pretty well, but miss pitch better, and then they made They've also made some slight mistakes defensively, which we normally don't see from the Dodgers, throwing to the wrong base and doing some fundamental things that we haven't seen from them in the past. They'll clean it up. They'll be fine, but they kind of get healthy and we glassed out pitch pretty well yesterday, so they're getting their guys back. It's just a matter of getting it all together. They're gonna be fine. They haven't hit, but they have hitters. They'll be fine.

00:33:20
Speaker 2: Better than box scores, we go let's show the latest Home Run Derby participant announcement, and it is one we're excited about because he's great for the game. He tweets, he does interviews, he's super smart, he's a great story in. His name is Brent Rooker. That's cool, hey, j I love Brent Rooker getting into the derby.

00:33:39
Speaker 1: Can we have a mic up live for FT during the Home Run Derby and just have Michael out on the field with him during Home Run Derby and filming him. We can just run it on FT the next day live and have him talk and just go like vlog it. Right, Let's have a vlog with Rooker and Michael and they've vlogged the whole Home Run Derby and hopefully he makes it past the first round and makes it to the finals. And we can have Scott run out there with the towel. We can have Crafts run out there with the half drank Gatorade, and then we can have me just sit back and watch and laugh at how sweaty you guys are in Atlanta.

00:34:11
Speaker 3: Only if Scott doesn't have a shirt on. Scott needs to bring the towel out around his neck no shirt on, and then Rook takes the towel off his neck and is like, I think I got this one, guys.

00:34:25
Speaker 2: Well it's fine, guys. I mean it's a retractable roof in Atlanta, so we'll all be oh wait, they built the new ballpark wide open whatever. I like heat, so I'm not going to complain. But I am excited for Rook. I mean, he has really earned everything that he's done in Major League Baseball. You signed the big extension in the offseason. This was a guy who was what waved by two three teams and then all of a sudden latches on with the a's takes off and the power is super impressive for him. He's, in my mind, one of the more cerebral, intellectual, whatever you want to call it hitters out there. We used the example earlier about DJ Lemayhew and how he finally learned how to get legit info once he went from the Rockies to the Yankees. Brent Rooker is that kind of guy too. Uh, let's list.

00:35:12
Speaker 3: Is sorry. Is Rook enough of a neanderthal to be able to win the home run Derby in the sense of like like just go out there and just you're exhausted, keep hitting those dangers, get the extra one that goes four hundred and thirty five feet all that stuff.

00:35:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, he'll be fine.

00:35:31
Speaker 2: He'll be fine. You think he could win it though. My only thing is I feel like Rooker is less than natural born versus some of the other guys. So can he do that consistently and put on a VP show for a few rounds.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: As long as his matchups are good where he gets a little break in between if he has to go back to back like sometimes when you see most of the guys get tired is when they have to go quick back to back. That's when you really see it catch up to him. As long as he gets that break right in between, I think he can. He's gonna go inside. You're gonna tell him off. Scott Kratz is gonna give him the gate right, and Michael's gonna be there to vlog it all. We need to make this happen.

00:36:02
Speaker 3: By the way, I need the mic.

00:36:03
Speaker 2: You have his number, Yeah, I need the mic on you have his number a J So text him and ask him and obviously if he says yes to all of those things will make it happen. MLB won't let me on the field. Probably in that form, they'd have a heart attack. When I was working for them, they wouldn't even let me have a beard. All right, Let's get to the replacements on the All Star roster. Congratulations in seriousness to Zach McKinstry, another guy who has fought for everything that he has gotten on the field. He replaces Jeremy Panya, who will be there but obviously can't play because he's got the rib injury. Andrew Abbott, which we talked about yesterday, takes over for Yamamoto who's starting on Sunday. Esach Paratus replaces Jose Ramirez who's taking a break. He's dealing with some achilles issue. In Paratus has been exactly what we expected in an astro's uniform pull power for days. Joe Ryan replaces Hunter Brown, Trevor McGill, Bruce Closer replacing his buddy Freddy Peralta who's starting on Sunday, but Freddy p will be there, maybe he'll come on the show. Junior Camonaro is now starting at third base because of Ramirez and breg not involved. And then Robert Suarez, the Padres closer replaces Chris Sale, who also will be there. I know who you want to shout out from that list. I just said, Kratz.

00:37:11
Speaker 3: You don't know me.

00:37:13
Speaker 2: Zach McKinstry.

00:37:16
Speaker 3: A hundred percent. The guy is. He's not a grinder, but I do love watching him. I love watching him play, and I think he embodies what the Tigers are doing. Zach McKinstry should have been a starter, but it didn't happen. Sometimes there's falls in the system. I'm glad they got him.

00:37:35
Speaker 2: In same congratulating deep right.

00:37:40
Speaker 1: After he was announced. Didn't he go deep last night yesterday, right after he was announced as an All Star like the next to Batti went deep. It's pretty cool. It's pretty awesome for.

00:37:47
Speaker 2: Him, very cool. Yeah. I mean they've been singing his praises in Detroit and they were pushing for him and it happened, So I'm happy about it. Those are the kind of stories where it's like, I think grinder krats playing in multiple orgs, plain multiple positions, not a big name, but a solid contributor now putting up All star level numbers. AJ, We're in Vegas right now and I have not had a lot of time to eat during the day.

00:38:14
Speaker 1: No, what could we do? I could I would love a Huel right now. Vanilla Huele would go down perfectly because I'll have to skip meals because I'm too busy doing what you do in Vegas, which is not eat. I need a quick replacement and Fuel is the perfect thing.

00:38:27
Speaker 2: I'm a chocolate guy, myself got the chocolate milkshake vibes to it. If you miss a meal, fuel can be your answer. If you're looking for a big protein boost, fuel can be your answer, So go check it out. Our friends at Fuel are part of today's sponsorship that got You Covered spelled h u e L. That Black Edition is a complete meal to feel full, focused and ready for your day. Little prep basically no prep, shake it, open it. Fuel has sold over five hundred million meals around the world, and now it's your turn to try it. So go to HUEL dot com, slash foul and get HUEL today with the exclusive offer for the ft fam of fifteen percent off for new customers if you use the code you Know It fo UL minimum seventy five dollars purchase. Get after it. I'm going to read this tweet from Rob Bradford, who covers the Red Sox. An interesting thing about Nervaia's throwing so many guys out. He is using the same weighted ball program that pitchers work with, and for Carlos Narbias his throwing bloss he has gone from about seventy four miles an hour last year to seventy eight to seventy nine miles an hour this year. Aj thoughts on the same program that pictures are using for catchers.

00:39:32
Speaker 1: Now it works. Someone at Ryan Jeffers, I think used this last year or two years ago to do the same thing. But here's the thing about way to balls. Make sure you're physically developed before you start using them, because too many kids are like twelve years old are doing this and they're like, oh my arm hurts ow. Well, you're throwing a seven pound ball against the wall from thirty feet Like no, Like, let's let's make sure you're developed before you get into this stuff. Please. That's it. That's it.

00:39:58
Speaker 3: It's a p psa public service announcement. Yes it increases velocity. Yes, it will increase your velocity. No, you should not do it. If you are I'm not even gonna say an age. Just go out and throw an actual baseball that will increase your arm strength. If you're a kid, but that's awesome any I mean arm strength behind a dish that's huge, super important. Right.

00:40:24
Speaker 2: So I'm saying, if you're an established big league catcher twenty five, twenty seven, whatever, most guys should do this right, increase.

00:40:30
Speaker 3: The It doesn't increase everybody's. It doesn't increase everybody's You're not just going to automatically. I mean going to the days where people are like, oh, go do this and you just automatically increase your velocity. A lot of guys use the weighted balls now for maintenance and armcare, like to warm your shoulder up, so cool down postgame stuff.

00:40:54
Speaker 2: So Matt Gelb covers the Affilies for the Athletic and put out a story this morning saying, what we're hearing at the Phillies straight headline plans? Will they take a bigger swing? I mean I'll answer that it's Dave Dombrawski, yes, and the windows closing for them at some point. So he talked about how Major League sources said initial indications are the Phillies want to shop this July in a more expensive aisle than the rental one, and they feel like they have the prospects to pull it off. They have a specific interest in the American League Central. Sounds like they're scouting the Twins. There could be a match with the Guardians as well. The first direction I'm going if I hear those two teams Skratz is wanderand in em manual class they want controllable, high leverage arms to fix the bullpen. Do you think they can pull off a deal like that?

00:41:42
Speaker 3: Are you willing to give up some of your starting pitching prospects, maybe even like a Justin Crawford, I mean classe Is. That's actually I actually said this jokingly to my son yesterday and we're driving home. Would you be willing to give up Mick abel and two of your best prospects? Obviously, I don't think. I think Andrew Paynter is off the table. But Mick Abels shown he can pitch in the big leagues. Is he elite yet?

00:42:09
Speaker 6: No?

00:42:09
Speaker 3: But the Guardians, the Guardians, in my opinion, they don't want just like low level prospects. They always trade these guys for guys who are either big league ready or close to big league ready. So Class A.

00:42:22
Speaker 1: May be a little bit of a push.

00:42:25
Speaker 3: But it's funny because strikeouts the Phillies really need and want strikeouts in the back end of their bullpen. And both of those guys, while they are elite arms, and there's something like some ridiculousness coming out of them. You're not talking about like dudes that are striking out fourteen guys per nine. They're not striking out the world. And will Philly fans be able to be okay with the fact that Emmanuel Classe you know, didn't have a great playoffs last year like that' say, that's a fear. But if you have a chan has to get either one of those closers, an actual bona fide closer, dom Browski will do.

00:43:04
Speaker 1: It, Tod he does, so Dave Dombrowski does. That's what he does. He trades his best players. He tries to win. He gets your team to the World Series. You might not win it, but that's what he does and I love it. Listen, Tobouz a Phillies fan who cares you're gonna trade your best two prospects. You know what, there's a draft that in about two days where they can go get more prospects and he can refill the system and hype them up and then trade them again for big league players. This is what we just talked about. The anti Orioles, They're not that far away. Dobrowski goes and does it good for you?

00:43:31
Speaker 3: Dave? I love you.

00:43:31
Speaker 2: Plus you're Polish, and hey, they did multiple deals last year that involve bullpen pieces going left and right with the Orioles. I wouldn't sleep on them either. I mean, Michael Ayas is already indicating that he's in more of the ten year plan mode. If you want to backtrack on the show from today, Felix Bautista is controllable for multiple years. He I think can close out a big playoff game, world series, whatever you want to call it, right against big hitters, and here's the night he would look real nice. Yeah, I mean, I don't think the Oil should trade him, but I didn't think they should trade the guy that we just talked about earlier in Brian Baker. But okay, so let's try and do this then. I mean the simple version, Kraft, you brought it up, Mick Abel plus either Aiden Miller or Justin Crawford. Do one of those guys combined with Mick Abel, I think get it done on the Orioles, Guardians or twin side, I say, yes, Do the Phillies do that? Do they take two of those guys and trade them away, Like let's say Miller. I think Miller's rated higher on most sites than Crawford. Okay, so let's go with the higher rated prospect Aiden Miller and Mick Abel for one of those closers. Do you think Philly fans would be okay with that? Because that is a pretty big package. Those are two A list prospects.

00:44:48
Speaker 3: I think they definitely work, and I think that that fit is in Cleveland looking for a shortstop. I only the Orioles necessarily one. I mean Aiden Miller right now is supposedly gonna play a third, so maybe that's where where it where it goes. But he's a shortstop currently, and to me, I think I think Philly fans are one hundred fine with that. Look at the history of Philly prospects that have been traded, and it's worked out pretty well.

00:45:31
Speaker 2: Or Craps, this is all you, baby. I just give you a note. It probably didn't pop up because your basement Wi Fi is slow mode. Yeah, well take it there it is.

00:45:44
Speaker 3: It just came up the h So this is my slap hands obviously, I'm gonna give you, give you my NYPD Yankees hat cool. I just found it in the pile, so I figured i'd throw that. John On but prospect baseball, Carson Glows set the new world record for hardest pitch at any prospect slash, any baseball game ever. He won the pitchers on my son Ethan's team. He threw seven hundred and seventy five miles an hour. I'm pretty sure it's gonna rocket him up the draft board, even though he's only sixteen years old. But if it's on the board, it's not a lie. I was up there for a few days.

00:46:26
Speaker 2: If he's got a repeatable delivery, I'm going Carson number one this year. It was cute, cute little glitch there. Hey, it happens, it happens. What did Carson say?

00:46:41
Speaker 3: Carson said, I've been using the heavy balls for a long time.

00:46:47
Speaker 2: I thought you said you can't do that until what age?

00:46:51
Speaker 3: He's a full grown man. Carson's a full grown man.

00:46:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm going throw seven hundred and seventy five miles an hour. Then, yeah, he is a full grown man. I agree, all right, So today's Thursday. That means Aj not here tomorrow, but we'll see him on Monday in at l Also, this weekend is big for you.

00:47:08
Speaker 1: Aj find Chicago tomorrow to do our twenty year reunion for the White Sox for two thousand and five World Series. It's gonna be interesting, it's gonna be fun, but there's gonna be definitely some sad parts with Bobby Janks not being able to be there and some other guys that can't make it and and or weren't invited, which was also an interesting play by certain people. It's weird, but no comment on that, but certain people that did a lot of things on that team. I actually saw Joe Borcherd, who was on that team yesterday in Atlanta and he's like, enjoy the weekend. I wasn't invited, and he was on that team and played it.

00:47:42
Speaker 3: He wasn't invited either.

00:47:43
Speaker 1: Nope. So yeah, it's amazing. I told you that place I went to Maven Baseball. Joe Borcherd's kid was in there, Andre Ethier was in there with his kid. All these people were in this place. It was pretty it was a pretty crazy place that we're in. But yeah, there's definitely some people that were not invited.

00:47:59
Speaker 2: What was the qualification for getting the invite because most teams invite basically everyone.

00:48:04
Speaker 1: I don't know. Brandon McCarthy didn't get invited, and he started like twelve games a year, so I don't know what the what the cutoff was.

00:48:11
Speaker 2: Wow, I guess you'll find out. You'll be our reporter on the scene.

00:48:15
Speaker 1: I don't know. I always thought again, I always thought, if you played in that in a game that season and got a World Series, you probably should be at three.

00:48:23
Speaker 3: Now. I didn't get invited to the twenty fifteen World Series reunion stuff for the Royals, but I got invited to fourteen and I did nothing in fourteen.

00:48:33
Speaker 1: I don't know whatever, Hey, some mys. So I just I'm going to show up and be there for the fans, and I get to catch the first pitch from Canerico. Canerko, don't bounce it, because if you do, I'm gonna chuck it so hard at your knees you're not gonna be able to move.

00:48:46
Speaker 2: Really, do it all right? Dodger's Territory coming up next on the Ft Network. If you stay there, we'll take you there on YouTube. See you tomorrow. Betmgm's giving you the chance to win a prize every day during baseball season, step into the battersbox for the swing for the fences. Free to play game, visit the betemgm app to access it and you'll score a bigger prize with a successful result. Otherwise play the next day. Gambling problem or concern called one eight hundred gambling