Season 1 Episode 3

MLB Predictions Team by team analysis Sunday Roast

Transcript

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This is Walk Off Slams with Greg Zahn on AM 1150.

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Welcome to the program. I am your host, Greg Zahn, and I'm here for all things Major League Baseball. And in this week's installment, we're going to talk about some MLB news. The WBC is mercifully over. I've been very vocal about my opinion of the WBC. We'll also discuss the new pitch challenge, ABS system, Trey Savage, and the Blue Jays rotation, who's in, who's out. In our second segment, we'll talk about my predictions on how the teams are going to finish the year. A few surprises, in my opinion. And in this week's Sunday roast, I'm going to take my shot at the notion that there are already five managers on the hot seat. Can you believe it? We haven't played one single game.

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Leading off the latest MLB news.

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Well, mercifully, the WBC is over. And, you know, there were several injuries to key players in multiple organizations. The nightmare that I predicted came true. You have impact players being injured in exhibition games, and I don't care what anybody says. The fan base of those organizations, the GMs, the ownership, they don't give a rat's ass about the insurance money that they're going to collect for the time that these guys are going to miss. And, you know, here in Canada we saw, you know, Sid the Kid go down in the Olympics and not good. Not good for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And same thing happened in the WBC. People need to get a grip. They need to understand that this is, you know, professional sports and the impact is huge. And so these guys don't, in my opinion, have any business playing in these tournaments. So with that, we go to the topic of the tournament, which was the United States of America getting beat by Venezuela. Thank God it was a baseball country that won. I don't think I would have lived it down if Chechia had been in the tournament final and beaten the United States. At least we can feel good about a baseball nation beating the U.S. But people are very critical of Mark DeRosa, the coaching staff, for their lack of experience, their mismanagement of multiple situations, including including not knowing that they had qualified or had not qualified for the final, wondering why Mason Miller wasn't used. Of course, you're going to get criticism, but let me tell you, these guys are not there in this situation to manage a ball club. The coaching staff had very little coaching experience. I mean, Sean Casey, Mark DeRosa, I don't think either one of them's ever coached or managed professionally. They are broadcasters for the MLB network at this point. I'm not 100% sure why they were asked to do this, other than the fact that they were neutral observers that, you know, they would come in and basically kowtow to the super elite talent that they assembled. You know, you're not going to go in there and actually try to manage games. You're not going to pinch hit for guys. Too many egos, too big to manage. Uh too many organizations, too many GMs, too many cooks in the kitchen to actually be managed. And I think that was probably the way it would be across the board, unless, of course, some of the smaller, you know, stardom teams that are out there. Uh you saw, you know, Francesco Cervelli do an amazing job with a team of unknown Americans, basically, who were representing Italy. Did a great job there. Um, now being talked about as a as a potential managerial candidate. Well, uh I hope somebody hires him to actually manage real games for a real minor league team somewhere so that you can catch your ebb and your flow. And I can tell you, catchers make the best managers, they make the best analysts, but you have to catch your rhythm. There's a lot of things that go into managing a team, and if you don't have experience doing it, uh it takes you a little while. But once you catch your rhythm, then it becomes you know, that ability to see things happening two, three, four pitches ahead, three, four innings ahead. You know, the greatest manager I ever played for was Jim Leland, and that guy, he had the game entirely scripted in his mind before it even took place. Um I'm happy to see that the WBC's over. Uh let's get onto some real baseball. We've got uh opening day coming up, and ahead of opening day, we've got you know one major thing that's gonna happen uh in the game of baseball that has never really happened before at the big league level. You got the ABS pitch challenge system, you know, and people are wondering like, how's this gonna work? Well, I'm here to tell you that they have actually certified measurement technicians, they're usually members of the medical training staff, that stand-up player against the wall. Um, they go ahead and they measure these guys, and they do it in a certain way that it's very consistent. So your feet are together, you're against the wall, there's no slouching, there's no feet, no shoes on, no hats. And so they measure the players uh because not all people that are six foot tall are exactly the same. Some guys have longer legs, some guys have longer torsos, and so that matters when it comes to measuring the strike zone. So I can tell you, as I've said in previous broadcasts, these measurement devices, if everything's perfect in a perfect world, they're completely stationary, they're they're calibrated, great. But the problem is the stadiums move. When you're in a loaded jam-packed stadium and it's ruckus and there's lots of energy and people are jumping up and down, the stadiums actually move. You can feel it. And so, as I've said, if it's a off by a millimeter 420 feet away, how accurate can it be? So, in the biggest moments of major league baseball games, we're gonna have flawed measurement systems that are determining the fate of players, teams, and franchises. So I have a little bit of a problem with that. Now, are they gonna make the obvious mistakes by umpires fixable? Yeah, that part I get, but I'm also here to tell you that at the bottom of the strike zone, there's a pitch called the 12-6 curveball. Uncle Charlie, the drop ball. If it crosses the front of the plate at the hollow of the knee, it will not be in the air when it reaches the catcher, it will bounce. So now we have the rule book strike zone being interpreted by a machine, and you're gonna see a pitch that can be crossing the plate at a player's knees that is not catchable in the air by a catcher, and if the batter is standing in the back of the batter's box, probably not hittable in the technical technical uh rule book strike zone. So I have a major problem with that. That's a pitch that really no one with a bat in their hand wants to see call to strike. And at the other end of the strike zone, you have that same 12-6 breaking ball that catches the very, very tip of the strike zone, the top of the strike zone. Well, if the the hitter's in the front of the batter's box, that ball is looking like it's coming through at neck height. And then all of a sudden it clips the top of the strike zone. Also a very unhittable ball, very difficult ball to hit. And we are talking about a new generation of so-called guys who can really run it up there uh in triple digits. Well, that's not entirely accurate because they measure velocity out of hand now instead of at home plate. But like I said, I I like the ABS system because we want to make sure that the obvious mistakes by umpires are fixed. Um, and we want to make sure that in big situations they don't pucker up tighter than a snare drum and make huge mistakes like they do from time to time. They're human beings, but that's that's one of the great things about baseball the human element. So I'm a fan, but I'm not a fan. The instant replay is slowing the game down as it is. Now we're gonna get this challenge system, and so technically, another thing I love about the ABS challenge system is the fact that it's gonna render this new style of one knee catching, you know, slapping the ball around the strike zone, trying to trick umpires with their their glove movement. It's gonna render it pretty much useless because you can't fool the machine. I mean, the machine's gonna say whatever whatever it's gonna say. So now it's gonna come back to the way it was when I played, which is ball control. The name of the position is catcher, and you have to be able to catch the baseball, you have to be able to block the baseball, and you need to be able to throw runners out. So we'll probably see a renaissance of old school technique catching techniques come back. The only problem with that is there's really not a whole lot of guys in the game that can teach them. Um there just really aren't. They've hired a bunch of a bunch of dudes who will do and say whatever they need to do and say in order to have jobs. And those are the guys that are teaching this generation of catcher how to butcher it behind a plate. And we're gonna see if there's anybody left that can teach it the right way. Moving on, we get to the Blue Jays rotation, which was a huge strength of the Blue Jays. Their depth, I mean, holy smokes. They had, you know, seven, eight guys that were a possibility to be starters. Well, Kevin Gossman is gonna be the opening day starter as of right now. He's got a 0-0 ERA, but he's only had four technical, technically four innings pitch, but he's done a lot of work on the backfields as these guys do nowadays. Dylan Seas, 193 in spring, Ponce, 0.66 spring, Scherzer 0-0 in in spring. Uh Usavage is down, Barrios is down, Bieber's down. Now Yesavage, in my opinion, I think they just coddled this guy, or they didn't really explain to him how to get ready for a season because he's got shoulder impingement. I don't know how you go from being healthy at the end of the season, taking time off, and then coming back to get ready to pitch for a season and not being ready because now your shoulder hurts. That doesn't make any sense to me. You know, Barrios has got a stress fracture in his elbow. Um, Beaver's got forearm fatigue, tightness. Well, that's to be expected after Tommy John surgery. In my opinion, the MVP of that team last year was Eric Lauer. I mean, this guy would be a starter for almost every other team in the league. 15 starts last year, a sub-4 ERA. Let's let's put that into perspective. If a guy gets 15 starts in the first half, throws up a sub-4 ERA, and maybe he gets eight or nine wins, he's on the all-star team. And this guy was a question mark, kind of a swing man kind of guy. Like I said, this this guy did whatever the Jays wanted him to do. He did it at a really, really high level. How this guy lost in arbitration to the Blue Jays is beyond me. I guess his agent must have asked for too much money. Because the onus is is really you just have to prove that you're worth one dollar more than the midpoint, and you win. So clearly, a sub-4 ERA in 15 starts, he must have asked for too much. I don't get it. But uh the Jays have five solid guys to start this season. I think they're looking pretty darn good going into uh opening day. I I I love what they've assembled. And and you know, I was talking to my boy Jamie Campbell earlier uh this week, and and he told me, you know, this is what you you you want to have backup plans and you want to have some guys that are gonna be ready to go come September. Well, with guys like Eric Lauer on the team and an attitude that these guys are gonna do whatever it takes to help win ball games, I think they're pretty well poised. There's gonna be more in injuries, there's gonna be guys that struggle. Uh having this kind of depth is a really good thing, and and having a few guys go down early and maybe they're coming along a little slower than you'd like them, that's okay. They don't have the innings for all eight guys, but they'll they'll have the innings over the course of 162, without a doubt. Um and so I look at it as a pretty darn good thing. You know, before we wrap up this first segment, we could talk a little bit about the Blue Jays lineup. You know, I I like this Blue Jays lineup. They're all swinging the bats really well in spring training. I'm really excited to see Dalton Varshow and what he's gonna do. He's absolutely raking this spring. And I liked, I liked what he's done. He I watched his swing last year and I saw a great bat path, but the guy had no load whatsoever. His hands were very still. There's no what we call separation, kind of a preparation to swing the bat. You know, when you see boxers, when you see fighters, they they look they load up to make that big that big punch. They jab, jab, jab. And it actually, you kind of like you draw back as if you were drawing back a bow, and you get that thing loaded up, ready to deliver that big right cross, that big hook. Well, you got to load it up. Well, Dalton Barshow didn't have much of a load last year, and I thought, you know what? Very inconsistent. You know, in physics, you talk about a body in motion, it tends to stay in motion. So you want to get some movement before you get your swing going. You load your lower half, you load your upper half, you separate, meaning your lower half reaches for the mound, your upper half draws back, so that there's some tension, some flex in that front side. And that creates a snapping motion that allows for the hands to really deliver the knockout punch, which is necessary in a baseball swing. And I think Dalton Barshow is really poised to be as good on the offensive side as he has been in the outfield. Other notable guys that are gonna be in that in that opening day lineup, we think George Springer will DH, Addison Barger is gonna be in right field, Vladdy Jr. at first, Kirky's gonna be behind the dish. Uh, you know, we mentioned Dalton Varshow in center, Nathan Luke's will probably get the bulk of the at bats against right-handed starting pitching um in left field, Akamoto at third, Ernie Clement uh at second base, and then Andres Amenis. Shortstop. You know, you can move some guys around. I I like I like the fact that they've got some some mobile parts and they've got some other guys on that roster that are going to be able to fill in against uh left-handed pitching, but this is a good lineup. And you know, obviously coming off a pennant-winning performance, uh, we like this this group. Uh, I think they're they're poised to repeat as the American League champions. And uh I'm excited to see what these guys can do. Obviously, pitching, defense, timely hitting is what it's gonna take to get them there. They're gonna need health, but they've got a lot of depth and they've got a lot of character. And so I think it gives the Blue Jays fans a lot of a lot of stuff to uh to be really excited about. You know, we we we heard, you know, before they they got into last year, the veteran guys on this ball club who were there last year, they went to management and they said, hey, listen, we have some concerns about certain guys. We have some concerns about guys who are only worried about personal statistics, and I think they've gone a long way. Uh people look at the loss of Bichette as, you know, it's a huge loss. Well, I think it's really just a loss on the offensive side. I think from a clubhouse standpoint, I think upgrades have been made. This is a guy who can definitely swing the bat, but I've said it a number of times, a defensive liability. Uh you don't need any more proof than this year's free agent season. The guy was not a desired shortstop. And now he's playing third for the Mets. I mean, when when you come out and you say you're willing to move to a different position, because there's only one reason for that. It's it's because you're either not desired at the position you uh uh want to play, or you're going back to the team that you are coming, you know, uh were with last year, and you're thinking, I want to win a championship and I want to stick around. So, and they've got somebody younger coming up the pike that's that's better. So this is a good club. I love the love the additions, you know. Dylan C's, Ponce is gonna get it out of depth, obviously. So um time is gonna tell, but this is a good ball club, and I'm really excited to see it. In my uh next section, we're going to really take a hard look at the pundits' predictions and see where these teams stack up, what the Vegas odds makers are saying about Major League Baseball teams and where they're gonna finish. And that'll be coming up in next uh segment of Walk Off Slams.

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You're listening to Walk Off Slams with Greg Zahn on AM 1150.

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Welcome back to the program. I'm your host, Greg Zahn. In this segment, we're gonna talk about predictions. Now, I'm not gonna claim that I'm good at it, so I'm gonna look at the Vegas odds right now as it stands. They sit here today in the AM 1150 studio in beautiful downtown Kelowna. The Dodgers, well, as you might imagine, they're favored. Uh the odds plus$230. Uh the Yankees are next at 10-1, followed by the Mariners at 12-1. The Mets 13-1, and surprisingly, the Blue Jays. One, two, three, four, five slots from the top. They added Dylan Sees and Senor Ponce to the rotation, and yet they're the fifth most likely team to win the World Series, according to the pundits. I don't get that. Boston slots in underneath the Blue Jays at 16-1, followed by Philly, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Houston, Texas, Milwaukee, San Diego, Kansas City, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Guardians. They were a playoff team last year, and they're 70 to 1. Arizona, uh the Oakland A's. Now, this one, these I don't understand. Oakland A's, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins, Marlins, Angels, Cardinals, the Cardinals. Wow. That's uh unbelievable number at 300 to 1 to win the World Series. The Chicago White Sox, 500-1, Washington Nationals, 500-1, Colorado Rockies 500-1. Well, I'll give you my predictions on how they're gonna finish. Let's start with the American League East, because that's where the Toronto Blue Jays are. I still got the Toronto Blue Jays winning it. Uh Yankees are gonna finish second, followed by Boston, Baltimore, and Tampa. In the central, I've got Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Minnesota, and the Chicago White Sox. Out in the west, I've got Seattle, Houston, Texas, Oakland, and the Angels. And my prediction will be uh that Perry Manassian will be the one to go and not Kurt Suzuki. But uh we'll see how that one shapes up. Might have something to say about that in segment three when I get into my roast. Moving on to the uh senior circuit, the national league. We go Philly winning the East. See, I'm going against the the odds here. I got Philly. I got Atlanta in second place in the in the NL East, and the Mets simply because they didn't re-sign Pete Alonzo, the heart and soul of that ball club, and Karma's a bitch. So the Mets fall to third place in the NL East, and the second highest payroll in baseball doesn't make the playoffs, or maybe they're the tops this year. Who knows? Miami, and then of course the Lowly Washington Nationals. First year manager Drew Butera, finishing dead last in the National League East. Moving on to the central, I love the Milwaukee Brewers. I really do. That's a great ball club. They got a really dynamic offense. They score a lot of runs, they get a lot of people on base, create a lot of havoc. The Cubs will finish in second in the central, probably make the playoffs. But uh I got the Milwaukee Brewers winning the division, followed by Cincy. You got the Terry Francona factor there. They got a few decent prospects, but if you want to see managing at the big league level done at the highest level, go watch Cincinnati. Go watch the moves that Terry Francona makes in that dugout. Pittsburgh Pirates will finish fourth place in the Central. Uh who knows whether Paul Skeens will even finish the year as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Uh the St. Louis Cardinals will finish dead last in the Central. And uh it's a shame. Best looking home whites in the business, the St. Louis Cardinals. It's a shame they're not a good team anymore. Um out in the uh American League, or excuse me, the National League West, got my Dodgers. Sorry, sorry about it. That's the best team in the game right now. Followed by the Padres, Arizona, and the San Francisco Giants, coached by a college skipper. Um, and then the Colorado Rockies, an organization that has been basically just mismanaged and has fallen off into oblivion. So you look at these organizations and you ask yourself, you know, what are the specifics? Well, let's get into some of the nuts and bolts of why we are where we are. So we'll start with the Blue Jays. I mean, we talked about their lineup in the first segment with you know, Springer, Barger, Guerrero Jr., Alejandro Kirk, Dalton Varshow, Nathan Luke, Akamoto, Clement, Jimenez, those would be your mainstays. An opening day rotation of Cease, Gosman, Scherzer, Ponce, Lauer. Love Lauer, just does his job. The Baltimore Orioles could be a fly in the ointment. I'm gonna tell you. Because, you know, they keep messing around with the field, the left field dimensions. Well, they added a guy in Pete Alonzo who's gonna give them some serious presence in the middle of that lineup. That guy could hit one out of Yellowstone. He's gonna be a big, big factor for them. That's that's a a lot going on there. Uh Gunnar Henderson, um Adley Rutschman, they got some guys that can bang. And, you know, they were pretty darn good offense in 2024. And you know, it's one of those things where you know when you live and die by the home run, you're gonna have ebbs and flows. Last year was certainly a flow or an ebb, I should say. You know, holidays on the uh on the DL right now with a broken hammock bone, he'll be back. But I wouldn't expect big things from him. Hand injuries are a weird thing. I had one when I was playing for the Blue Jays, I busted up my thumb pretty good uh on a foul ball hit by my former teammate Eric Hinsky, and you know, my hand was uh you know good enough to play, but it wasn't all the way back for a full year. These hand injuries can be a big deal, especially when you get cut on. Uh their rotation, you know, includes a familiar name in Blue Jays land, Chris Bassett. That'll give them some depth. Um, they should be uh a little more competitive. I still don't think they're gonna have enough. Now, the Rays, they're gonna go as far as their pitching takes them. They got three of the most talented hitters in the game in Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Camanero. I mean, you saw Camanero in the World Baseball Classic. Like, holy smokes, that guy can absolutely mash. So they they they're gonna be pretty much as good as that rotation makes them. Gavin Lux is around, he could be an effective left-handed bat if you put him in the right situations. The rotation, who knows? I mean, McClanahan, Shane McClanahan, lefty, he he's uh uh, you know, he's a guy that's formidable. And uh, you know, he's missed two and a half years due to injuries, but you know, that guy could be pretty good. Uh Rasmussen Drew Rasmussen is an is a very uh underrated guy. He could be huge for them. It just depends. You never know. Reds Red Sox are they're gonna be good. I mean, Roman Anthony is an amazing young talent. He could be really huge for them. But you know, it's weird when when you see guys making adjustments, you know, the league's gonna make an adjustment to him, he's gonna have to make an adjustment to them. Uh they added Wilson Contreras, he should be an impact you know bat for them. They got Garrett Crochet at the top of the the rotation. Sonny Gray is uh is is about as good as they get as far as a middle of the rotation guy. This is a better pitching staff than Boston's had in a while. The Yankees, that some people claim they got the best rotation in baseball. I'm not 100% convinced of that. They're a team that lives and dies by the home run. So, and you saw at the end of the year, you know, they can be pitched to, and when you're in the postseason, you're facing really good pitching staffs. So, you know, they may need to refocus and learn how to play some fundamentally sound baseball. Better defense, better base running, better ability to play small ball when they need to. So, you know, we're gonna find out about the Yankees. They're they're rated pretty high, but they are the Yankees, and that's kind of the way it goes. The rotation, pretty solid. Opening day guy is gonna be Max Fried. Uh he's a he's a solid, solid lefty, about as good as they get. And, you know, they'll be getting Carlos Rodan and Garrett Cole back at some point. So, you know, not a bad rotation, not bad depth there in New York. You know, moving on to the Central. Uh, you know, I like the Cleveland Indians. I can't believe their odds are so long to go to the World Series. I'm not saying they're a World Series team, but certainly better than Vegas has them. You know, added some some key guys, I think. I think you know Reese Hoskins is gonna be a nice addition. Um He's on a minor league deal. Uh so that that should be pretty cost effective. Uh they they they put up some some runs last year. One of my favorite players in baseball, Jose Ramirez, is there. That's gonna be a fun team to watch. I that it's just a a well a well put together club. They they can play a little bit of small ball, a little bit of a little bit of bang brothers. So we'll see how it goes. Their rotation, uh not not exactly household names, but they'll pitch well enough. The intriguing team is the Royals. I think they had the most players of any organization at the WBC. That's a good ball club, and then it's anchored by the veteran catcher, Salvador Perez. I like it. Obviously, young stars like Michael Garcia, Bobby Witt, they they could be a spoiler. You never know. Uh the Blue Jays proved it. You get going, you get guys rolling the boat in the same direction, and good things can happen. It's about a feeling. Unfortunately for the Jays, you can't bottle a feeling. We'll see if the the Royals can get something going with some of those young, talented players that they've got. Uh I like the Tigers. Tigers, they got they got a good rotation now. They added Frambert Valdez, so they got two solid lefties at the top in Scuble and Valdez. Jack Flaherty's a guy that he can mix and match, but don't forget about the veteran Justin Verlander. He's going to be good for 10 to 12 wins if he's healthy. Easy. Easy, I think. So uh you look at that club, they're gonna be tough to beat in the central. Uh, but you know, the the the twins are an awfully athletic, talented group. Not a whole lot of household names other than say, you know, Buxton in center field, but we'll see. Uh the White Sox are gonna be, I think they're gonna be basement dwellers again. I'm not even gonna really get into them because I don't think they've added enough to be even an afterthought. The Angels, you know, again, just an organization that has been mismanaged. You look at those guys and you and you see the fact that they had Shohei Otani and Mike Trout in the lineup for what, four years, five years together, and they never made the playoffs. I mean, whose fault is it really? Uh ask yourself that question. Um, because I think the answer is pretty obvious to me. The Astros are getting older. Um, Altuvi is a little older now. I don't know what kind of impact he can still have. You know, Bregman's gone. Uh I'm sure they still got some some young, talented guys, but uh they lost Framber about as so I don't think their lineup's gonna be as potent. I don't think their rotation is gonna be as dominant as it could be. And so you move on to you know, bigger and better things in that division. Still the class of the division is the Seattle Mariners. But uh Oakland's got some talented guys. Nick Kurtz, uh the catcher, Langaliers, he's pretty darn good. Uh they added Max Muncey. That's gonna be weird seeing Muncie in a in an A's U A's uniform. Uh you know, like I said, the the Mariners still the the the class of that division. Cal Raleigh, in my opinion, he was the MVP last year given the fact that he was a catcher and he was able to put up the offensive numbers that he did. Uh Julio Rodriguez, they they've got some good guys. Josh Naylor at first base, they got him a multi-year contract. They got some nice pieces. Hopefully, they'll be able to uh fix the problems that they ran into at the end of the year. Their rotation is solid at the top with Logan Gilbert. I like that ball club. Um, you know, moving on to the National League, I'm I'm gonna skip over the Texas Rangers, but uh the the Braves could be a really interesting ball club. I like that. I like that rotation with Sale and Strider at the top, uh Jr., Ozzy Albis, Matt Olson. They got some guys that can swing it in that lineup, so it could be good. And I feel like if they if they're in contention, they they they might be able to go out and add a few pieces. Atlanta's an interesting team. The Marlins, meh, I don't know. They're just they've got a few nice pieces. Sandy Alcantara at the top of that rotation. I'd be surprised if he's still in the in the rotation at the end of the year. I think he'll be traded to somebody else, but who knows? We'll see how it goes. The Mets are the interesting one here. They replaced, basically they replaced Pete Alonzo with Bo Bichette's bat. Now, Bo Bichette, he didn't hit that many home runs in a home run ballpark in Toronto. Not sure how many jacks he's gonna hit in New York. That is not, in my opinion, a bandbox like the Rogers Center. Uh he'll drive in his runs, he'll get his hits, but I don't know. I I I I I still like Pete Alonzo in that lineup, you know, and then what are they gonna get from the guy at third base defensively? He's playing a new position, certainly not gonna play shortstop with Francisco Lindor there. So uh I think the Mets are gonna come up way short this year. I think they're gonna be in trouble. Um and that's gonna open the door, you know, for a lineup like Philly with you know Trey Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Baum, Brendan Marsh, Sidolas Garcia, Bryson Stott. They got JT Real Meudo in the the bottom third of this lineup. I mean, come on. You know, that's a tough place to pitch, but they they they got a decent rotation. Two lefties, three righties, Christopher Sanchez, Lazardo, Nola, Taiwan Walker, Andrew Painter. Um, that's gonna be a good ball club. And then, you know, we got the Brewers over in the central. I mean, I love that lineup. They they just they grind out at bats. They they play small ball, but they got some guys that can bang in that lineup. And I I think that you know the way they're managed under Pat Murphy uh is just the way you get it done. I mean, they they could add some some talent down the stretch to help them. And this is a good ball club. I I like the way these guys are put together. Um, you know, the the Cardinals for me, just not uh a contender. I don't understand where they've gone. It's just sad to see. Uh the Cubs, you know, you gotta ask yourself, you know, with Matthew Boyd, the opening day starter, I mean, how far is this club gonna go? I I like him. Is he a is he a number one guy? I don't know. Maybe by default he is. Maybe they just got a bunch of bunch of twos and threes, and they just happen to throw him up there at the top of the rotation because it looks like they're gonna go left, Cade Horton, Ed, Ed, Edward Cabrera righty, and then and then Ibanaga the lefty, and then finish it off with Jameis and Tyone. We'll see. Um obviously we love the talent in Pittsburgh. There's some guys like O'Neill Cruz and Paul Skeens, so it should be interesting, but they won't contend. Um couple other interesting ball clubs, but for the most part, it is what it is, gang. You know, there's a reason why the top payrolls in baseball find them find themselves into the postseason. And so you're probably gonna see barring injuries, barring major injuries, the same thing happens. And so you you've got my predictions. You know, I am definitely not a prognosticator of prognosticator. I am, you know, not Pug Sitaani Phil, you know, from Groundhog Day. I can't tell you whether we're gonna have you know a bleak winter or a nice early summer, but I can tell you it's gonna be a fun summer to watch. There's a lot of juicy things happening in baseball, and uh I'll be interested to see how my predictions hold up over the course of 162 and into the postseason. Coming up next, you know it, you love it, you want it. Your favorite segment, the Sunday roast.

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And now, the Sunday Roast with Greg's on.

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It's a little less than a week to opening day, and five managers are already on the hot seat. If you're like me, you're wondering how that's even possible. Ever since Billy Bean and the Analytics boys introduced Moneyball to the game, real baseball managers have been replaced by puppets, some of whom actually have real baseball experience. But they aren't the ones making the baseball decisions, however. They're simply mouthpieces for the front office. You see, they don't have the guts to put on the uniform and stand on the firing lane. They could never command enough respect in the dugout to get anything done. The players would run amuck as it stands. Now the inmates are running the asylum in most major league cities because the managers that are in place have no teeth. They don't control the one thing that can make a player fall in line playing time. Used to be a manager could bench a player for poor performance or a poor attitude. In today's game, it's rare when a front office backs the manager. Instead, they coddle the players, making them beyond reproach. They dictate the lineups and the strategy. They take up residence in the clubhouse and their performance khakis. Managers are no longer managing, and most of them are not dynamic in any way. They're not dynamic communicators, instructors, strategists, or disciplinarians. If you ask me, it's the front office guys who do the hiring that should be on the hot seat. But for the sake of argument, here's a list of four less than dynamic performers, one lame duck, and a synopsis of their so-called weaknesses. All of them are already on the hot seat, and the season hasn't even started. The managers I speak of are Aaron Boone from the Yankees, Joe Espada from the Astros, Carlos Mendoza of the Mets, Rob Thompson of the Phillies, and Kurt Suzuki of the Angels. Now, I believe catchers make the best managers and analysts, but Suzuki is on a one-year deal. How on earth are you gonna get the players to buy in when you won't even buy in as an organization by offering the guy a multi-year contract? Now, here's a list of some of the so-called weaknesses that you're gonna hear about. There's a lack of accountability, he's a front office puppet, postseason failures, small ball concerns, in-game decision-making crisis, communication and discipline issues, bullpen management, lack of experience, low level experience, lack of fire, he's too passive, old school demeanor, too aggressive, too calm, lack of energy. All of this, in my opinion, is just theater. The owners are happy with their bottom line. Winning really isn't their main concern. If it was, they'd be hiring baseball people, not puppets. It's always the manager's fault. It's never a failure in the front office or with ownership. It's a business and they will always deflect blame. When the manager's too chill, it's a very bad thing. When they're too fiery, he's toxic. When your analytics department fails to measure the human element, the manager is bad at in-game decisions. If the team the GM signed has no power, you're too small ball. When you rely solely on the home run over 162, you're a postseason failure. When they tell you to let the kids play, you lack communication and the players lack discipline. When they hire the yes man they wanted and don't win, it's because he didn't have enough managerial experience. When your entire bullpen is made up of swing and miss guys who burn through 20 pitch counts in order to get three outs, well, you can't pitch back to back days, and the manager mismanaged the bullpen. They are going to fire themselves, of course, so who are they gonna blame? Who's gonna get the axe? Well, you already know. It's Sunday. Can you smell that roast?