Splash Considerations Ep. 7: You Had My Curiosity, But Now You Have My Attention

SAN FRANCISCO — In Episode 7 of Splash Considerations, Justice talks with Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle about the Giants' intriguing bullpen, Daniel Susac's hot start, and the offense's struggles through 13 games. Justice is then joined by Josh Tolentino of the Baltimore Sun to discuss the Baltimore Orioles, as well as Pittsburgh Pirates reporter Alex Stumpf for the latest edition of MLB Corner. 

Time Stamps

Bullpen Talk (3:15)

Daniel Susac and Patrick Bailey (15:55)

The Offense (22:30)

Josh Tolentino on the Baltimore Orioles (33:40)

MLB Corner with Alex Stumpf (54:15)

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Welcome to another episode of Splash Considerations. My name is Justice Delos Santos, San Francisco Giants B reporter for the Bay Area News Group, San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Times, whatever you want to call it, as long as you read, as long as you subscribe. And we've got a three-part today. We're going to be talking with Alex Stump for another edition of MLB Corner. We're going to be talking with Josh Tolentino for a preview of the Orioles series that starts today. But before getting into that, we are going to be talking with the pride of San Francisco State University. She ain't Rick, but she is a Rubin. Shayna Rubin, San Francisco Chronicle. Shayna, how are we doing? I told you I was going to have an intro. I told you I was going to have one.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

That was impressive. You're forgetting about the real pride of San Francisco State, which is Annette Benning icon.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Yeah, whatever. Not on the podcast for right now. For maybe why? For my intents and purposes, you are the true pride of San Francisco State. Uh, random question that I want to get into, and the reason I bring this up is because I went to a concert last night. Got a fun little excerpt from that. But I'm gonna I want to throw this over to you before getting into Giant's Talk because that's what we're here for. That's what the people want to hear. Best concert you've ever been to, off the top of your head.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Off the top of my head, it was I'm aging myself. Um 2013 Rock the Bells. I don't know if that's a concert, but it counts, it counts as a concert for me. It counts. Semini festival, whatever. Um, it was a pretty stacked lineup. It was like uh Tyler the Creator was not a headliner type of type of era. Um and uh Cade Cuddy was there, E40 and Too Short were there. Uh Kid Cuddy was insane. Um I I bring that up because it was it brings a it's a very nostalgic sort of uh type of type of uh a lineup there that that uh it really it was awesome. And I was with all my friends uh from college, so it's great.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

That is I mean every festival is kind of like this, but that's like such like artist by artist, the vibe is so different, especially 2013 era Tyler. That's like that there's that running joke that you know Tyler fans from 2013 would absolutely hate Tyler fans from 2026. I might fall into that category. Uh I want to bring mention this super briefly. I went to the Masayoshi Takanaka concert last night. For those of you who don't know him, my super lazy comparison is that he's basically the Japanese Carlos Santana, which it's not a one-to-one, but that's my super lazy comp. Um, he actually performed a Santana song and it made me think of my dad. Like, I just like instantly tugging at the heartstrings. My dad brought me up on Santana. And shout out to my guy Max yesterday. I was walking into the venue, I showed him my little digi cam. I was like, hey, I can bring this in, right? And he was like, Yeah, for sure. He's like, Are you Justice? And I was like, How do you know my name? I didn't show you any idea. He was like, Oh, I listened to the podcast. So we got a loyal listener out there at the Masonic in San Francisco. So shout out to Max. Hope you enjoy this episode. And where we're gonna start this episode, Shayna, is we're 13 games into the season. We had an off day. I feel like we have more off days than usual, but that's neither here nor there. Uh, there's a lot of places we can start, and I want to talk about the bullpen. I'm gonna throw this over to you. You obviously just wrote about the bullpen. I think we all kind of have wrote about the bullpen, and I thought of the line from uh Django from uh Leonardo DiCaprio's character. I'm forgetting what his name is, Moshua Candy. You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Shayna, thoughts on the bullpen.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

It's just that. I mean, I feel like when I was writing about the bullpen, I was um it was like a little adventure. Because the bullpen is such an adventure where you get moments like on Monday where uh you bring in um they bring in uh Ryan Baruchi. I pronounce his name because there's there's a Hebrew prayer that goes like Baruch at Aronoi, and then I always pronounce it like the Baruch, but it's Baruki, Baruki. Baruki?

SPEAKER_03 4:13

You told him that yet?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

No.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Hey, we had a whole season.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Uh yeah, well, I don't know, I don't know how that would land. Uh so you get moments like with uh the one on uh with Ryan Barucky on Monday where uh there were runners on against the Phillies, you bring in a lefty to face Kyle Schwarber and um and Bryce Harper, and then a few minutes moments earlier you saw that the warming up uh Matt Gage, and then all of a sudden Baruchi comes out, he's gonna give up two home runs, and you're thinking, what's the logic here? And not for nothing, it doesn't really go according to plan. He walks Schwarber, Harper gets a hit, they they lose the game, the bullpen blows it. That's the story. So then it becomes more about what is this bullpen management? Why are they making these decisions? And then a couple of days later, they bring in uh Caleb Killian to face the same guys, uh uh holding on to this shutout streak. And it uh Killian's a right-hander. The core of that lineup is left-handed, so you're thinking, what's the thinking here? But it pays off and he gets too key out against their best hitters. So I guess that is to say that when you talk to Tony Vitello about the decision making, he's very much like, yeah, we're kind of with he doesn't say it like this, but it's like, yeah, we're kind of winging it based on the fact that we don't have defined roles. And also, you know, he's we have these these analytic things, we have these numbers that are telling me what the best matchups are, and we're kind of kind of going by that, kind of going by feel, kind of going by experience. So it feels very much like a work in progress. So it's every decision is is um has a has a uh thought process behind it. And every time the bullpen door opens, you're not ever quite sure who it's gonna be and why. So it's it's kind of like a fun experiment, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

They should just start doing like they should just cover up the bullpen, cover all the cameras in there, put a tarp over it, and then you just go like full WWE, like we don't really know who's gonna be coming out the bullpen, get the the smog or the fog machine too. You're not gonna know who's coming out of that bullpen until somebody starts running out onto the field. But you said winging it, the the term that Vitello used in spring training was work in pro or fluid, and this bullpen definitely is a work in progress, and I kind of want to isolate the Killian one in particular because I think the way that Andy Baggerly said it in his story, he said it like was a galaxy brain moment. And the Giants had a little bit of leeway. I think they were maybe leading by three or four at the time, but I remember he walked Trey Turner, and I think I'm pretty sure that brought the tying run to the plate, and it's like, oh, there's Kyle Schwarber, the guy that hit 50 plus home runs, and oh, there's Bryce Harper. And then it just he didn't just retire them, he kind of like walked them down, and it was like, oh. So, like, let's let's let's run through that moment a little bit because I think of all of the bullpen moments so far, that's the one where I'm most like, this is like a I don't want to say it's a crazy pull, like that as you mentioned, they have their numbers, but this that was the one where I was like, this is a this is a heat check. That's how I kind of felt. This was a managerial heat check.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

It did feel like a heat check. I felt like uh I'm not gonna be beholden to the expectations. We know that I mean the I think the most shocking, not shocking, but the the moment where it felt like a like a heat check was uh the Kyle Schwarber strikeout where he I think he buckled him kind of like out of sword or something like that with his knuckle curve or whatever it was, some breaking ball. And it was like, oh, that's uh the the vision is panning out. And then he sort of had this like fun baseball moment where you see the vision panning out. Um and yeah, uh it's I guess it gives credence to the vision, which is they're not, you know, they're not afraid to mess up. And maybe that's going to piss off a lot of fans because the margin for error, even though it's 162 games, it feels like early on you're looking for reasons or you're you're looking for a pattern. You're looking to figure out how Tony is going to run the team, how he makes his decisions, who's he's listening to, if he's listening to numbers more than his gut. And that's such a big conversation when it comes to managers. And he's just kind of throwing all that burden of I don't know, I don't want to say he's throwing the burden of expectation out the window because he's always acutely aware of how we're going to ask him about these things and interpret it and knives out or knives not out. Um, but it's definitely uh an open experiment that we're witnessing with the bullpen.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

I'm glad you brought up the throw knives quote. That was like such a crazy thing he mentioned that at the end of like one of his quotes, he's like, you know, I'll pick who I pick, and if it doesn't work out, you guys can throw knives at me. I was like, Tony, we're not gonna be throwing knives at you. Like, I get what you meant, like metaphorically, but he's he's had a lot of those moments. I think that on the on the hierarchy of what he's said so far as a Giants manager. I think that's kind of lower. Um the one thing I do want to bring up, and as I throw this over to you, they've only had one of their five wins, only one of them hasn't been by at least five runs. And it was the it was the one where Ryan Walker entered in the San Diego, he allows the two-run homer to Jackson Merrill. That could have easily been like a three-run win. So I'm I'm still a little hesitant, like with the bullpen, but again, like there are pieces there. But as we know, it's a lot more than just stuff. It's kind of like, for lack of a better term, you kind of have to have that dog in you. And I think that's another thing that Vitello's kind of looking for. It's like it's like the DMX, where my dog's at?

unknown 9:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Where my dogs at?

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah, it's he's definitely looking for the dogs, and that's like uh maybe something you don't want to openly admit when games matter, uh, because you don't want to be experimenting when games matter. But that's what we're looking at. And the experimentation is sort of they're very open about it. It's like who's everyone has an opportunity to prove their dog, and uh we're seeing it now. And we're going to uh decide the pecking order based on what you guys do in these first few series. And the series that I mean they've been playing some really tough teams, they've not played well in a lot of games, and they've been surprisingly good in a couple others. So there's there's as you said, there hasn't been a whole ton of save opportunities or very close high-leverage late innings, but uh you're seeing some of the stuff uh where that can play, and you're seeing where some of the experience can play as well. So it's it's it's uh it's an interesting process.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Yeah, and so what you mentioned you know last year about about um, or just like the fans in general, like they want like a clear structure. Like when you think of some of the better Giants teams uh in recent memory, you obviously had the core four, you had last year where it was Randy Rodriguez pitched his way to an all-star game with the seventh, Tyler Rogers owned the eighth, Camilo Duvall had the ninth. And you're just not gonna have that this year, at least right now. Like maybe that structure emerges. Maybe we never see that structure. But I think one thing that's interesting too is I don't know if this is your read on it, but I think right now it's kind of just quote, like in a way, just trying to weather the storm in a sense, because there are some guys that are as the season goes along, again, there's gonna be injuries that always pop up. Obviously, Jose Butho is gonna be out two to four uh as he remove the blood clot. Like you never know what injuries are gonna happen. But my kind of read on it, I don't know if you feel this way as well, is it feels like once we get to like May, June, even July, maybe even August, if they start making moves, I think this bullpen definitely has the potential to get really strong as the season goes along. And then maybe that provides an opportunity for more structure.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah, I mean, I think that there's a lot of pieces there, and I hate to be like a stuff merchant where you're looking at like No, be a stuff merchant.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

I love being a stuffed merchant.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

But like there's more, there's a little more stuff than you might have anticipated going into the season because in its bare sort of um bones where there haven't when the when the roster wasn't decided, it it looked fundamentally like there was a stunning lack of stuff. And now when you have Tidwell and Killian Keaton win in there, it makes it far more dynamic than it was a couple weeks ago. Uh and it sort of makes the prospect of of how it could look as the season goes on a little bit more intriguing. Um and you have those guys like Tidwell, like Keaton, um like uh like Killian, uh, who could be could elevate the entire group and and make them something to contend with, and in addition to Eric Miller and Ryan Walker, and then some of the sort of more seasoned guys MAC Age, um, and more of the seasoned guys who uh create that balance. So there's there's a broad spectrum of stuff of experience, um, of uh reliability that could potentially make them uh an interesting group. And I think they don't want to, you know, have it be like this all year. I think we'll see, like in any other season, iterations of who goes where, depending on this the everything, injuries, status of the season, etc. Um, so I think that we'll I I don't anticipate it being this fluid for that for for super long, but it's hard to tell how long because we don't know.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

We really don't know. I think the one thing that was you mentioned stuff, and I think I think Tony referred to I think it was Blade and Caleb Killian specifically. I think he said they were they're stuff guys. And you look at you know, any you know, pitch modeling, like if you're not familiar with the pitch modeling, basically blue means you're not great, orange or red, whichever site you go to means you are great. There's a lot of orange and red with some of these guys, especially like Tidwell's sweeper, like like man, like that that pitch is just disgusting. So there's definitely some stuff, guys, here, but you know, as we mentioned, it's more than just stuff. And one thing that I want to note as well is the strikeout rate for some of these guys. Again, it's super small sample size, but one of the things that I mentioned going into the season is that these guys didn't really have an established track record besides maybe Miller and Walker of having an above strike average strikeout rate. And the strikeout rate of that bullpen is above average. So if you're looking for encouraging signs, like some people might be like, why does strikeout rate matter? Well, the thing I always say is like run around second, third, one out, like you don't need a ground out. Sometimes you just need you just need a punchy.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah, exactly. And you you again being a stuff merchant, you need you need that option. You you can't always rely on getting the ground ball. And on its face, it feels like they have options to do either, to get either out, to get a variety of outs in different ways. And they like Tidwell, for example, he's he's throwing more strikes than he was in spring training. So there's a lot of things going right with some of those stuff guys that you maybe were worried about when it comes to guys that have stuff and don't necessarily prioritize or are necessarily getting it over the pot, as Vitello says, as uh as much as necessary.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

One quick note on Tidwell. I think he might be the only major leaguer that I've ever seen reading the Count of Monte Cristo side note in all this. Yes, there's like a huge book in his locker, and I was like, what are you reading? He's like the Count of Monte Cristo's like the first 70 pages are kind of boring, but you gotta get through them in order to get the plot developed. I was like, Blade, that's that Tennessee education right there. That's that Tennessee education coming in. But I want to transition, you know, talking about the bullpen. I want to transition to the guys catching them. That's of course Patrick Bailey, and that's of course Daniel Susack. Daniel Susak's been setting the world on fire. I'm I'm gonna start it here. He's been setting the world on fire, five for five, first guy since Ted Cox in 1977 to start his major league career at least five for five. Got his first RBIs, he had the beer shower a couple days ago when he got his first hit. Vibes have been incredibly great every time he has started, which is only two games. And that's where I want to transition to this. It has been two games, and this is not an indictment on Daniel Susak's ability. He is a former first rounder, which you know you don't really get when it comes to Rule 5 draft picks, but I'm online. I see the discourse, I see the people asking for more Susak, which is fair when you see Patrick Bailey have a WRC plus of I think 12, but Shana. I don't think we're going to be seeing a drastic change at the starting catcher position anytime soon.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

No, I would not. I think it's easy to say, especially given the weirdness of the offense, like, why wouldn't you just play the hot hand? Why wouldn't you get the hottest bat in baseball more opportunities to do that? And you know, that's that's an immediate spark plug that you're just opting out of. So I understand the logic of being annoyed that the hot hand isn't being playing a lot, being played a lot or only for two games. But this idea that he's going to replace Patrick Bailey is a kind of a non-starter. Or not even replace the the fact that there's going to be more of a shared responsibility or that there's some controversy or anything like that is it it's a non-starter just for the mere fact, other than a bunch of other things, that uh Patrick Bailey is uh the defensive value is real when you talk about uh the publicly available stats like the runs that he's saving from just pitch framing, being behind the plate, et cetera, et cetera. Uh that's real. That's something you run a gold glove, that's real. He's providing um an outlier type of value defensively that is not just something you can opt out of because of two really good games from the uh the backup catcher. And I think that it's it's more something that you want to look at in terms of how you can optimize Susac in the hot hand as long as you have it hot without uh sacrificing the defense that Bailey provides. Um, something that was brought up during Vaitello's media session was oh, maybe you can DH SUSAC and uh bring up Jesus Rodriguez if you really need a catcher, because Rodriguez is not only positionally versatile, he plays in second base, but that's an option you have on the roster and uh moving the the hot bat to the DH, which is more of a fluctuating position anyway. Um so there's options, and then there's the left-handed aspect. Patrick Bailey is not someone that you necessarily have to rely on against, uh you want to rely on against left-handed pitching, and Susac is. So maybe there's more of a matchup situation that you can exploit and when you had someone like Christopher uh Sanchez, that was kind of the perfect uh scenario because Susak's approach at the plate is exactly what they needed to do against a pitcher like that, which is going the other way, not doing too much, uh, not trying to swing for the fences, just get it get a handle on something that he's offering. Uh so there's gonna be a certain matchup where Susac just makes a lot of sense uh as the catcher or at least in the lineup.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

And then it does make a lot of sense, particularly against lefties. I think that that's something that we could potentially see going forward. But I want to get back to the Bailey defensive value. He's a two-time gold glover. Probably should have been a platinum glover. I know it's a fan vote, but you know, if you just look at the fielding run value, he's depending on your your perspective, like he is the most valuable defender in the game. And it's kind of one of those things where you know, defense you don't really it's easy to not notice it, especially with catchers. Like it's one thing if you have Pete Crow Armstrong like running around the outfield, that's one thing. But his defensive value is a lot more subtle because it is the catcher position. And the Giants aren't just gonna, you know, throw their like they're not gonna see like the two and a half seasons of Bailey being an elite defender and say, hey, Daniel Susack, you had two games. You're going to be the the start. Like, that's just not how it works. That's not how this that's it's what's the what's the meaning?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

That's not how any of this works. Yeah. Yeah, that's not how this works. I it's it's just a classic, I feel like this happens a lot as a classic early season, like, oh, there's a hot hand, play him, play him every single day. Why aren't you doing that? It's malpractice if you don't get this guy in there, but it's also malpractice if you, as a manager, as a coaching staff, are reactionary to something like that and make declarative decisions on how the lineup is going to roll out every day based on two games. So um, maybe I don't maybe it's not even worth a conversation, but I uh I it is something that I saw on Twitter, uh people getting upset that Susac there there isn't a a positional shift or I don't know that there there's not a conversation about that. And I understand that has a lot to do with you know, Bailey isn't he Suzac has like double the hits that Bailey does. So it's a couple games. Like I think everyone can look at Statcast and understand that the stuff that you're not noticing, it's being registered in ways that you don't understand um just in terms of watching the game, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

And the thing I I will say could because I don't want to just completely disregard that maybe SUSAC, there might be opportunities to play more. If if we get to the end of April and his OPS is more in like the 800 range, and he's particularly hitting lefties well. And again, this is a first round talent. It's not uh it's not often you get like a first round talent as a rule five person. So if we get to the end of April or even mid Night. May and he's consistently hitting lefties, then maybe it's like, okay, like how can we configure this roster a little more to get Susak a little more playing time? You mentioned Jesus Rodriguez, who's just incredibly versatile. I think he has more gloves than like anybody in the Giants organization right now. Like he can play second base, he can play left field, he catches, he might be able to play first base if you really need it. But that conversation is not right now. If it's a conversation that they want to have in April, then sure, if he's still hitting. But I think as of right now, it's like let's let's appreciate this for what it is. It's a his it's really it's a historic start to a career. Like he's he the the last giant to at least start their career four for four was Willie William McCovey. And he is now the first giant to start his career five for five, at least that we know of. So it's fun. Uh vibes have been high the last two times that he has been a starting catcher, but let's also not forget the value that Patrick Bailey brings on the defensive end. Anything else you want to talk about in regards to this little catcher discussion. So we're 13 games into the season. They obviously play their 14 tonight later uh in Baltimore. A lot of baseball that we've had an opportunity to watch. We've seen some good, we've seen some bad, we've seen kind of in the middle. What are the other things just over this really again, small sample that have really caught your attention as we're trying to digest this first two weeks of the season?

SPEAKER_01 23:32

I mean, the offense it feels like has been a focal point of uh where things have gone wrong when they have. Uh just because when they lose, like most of their losses have just been because they've had a couple bullpen blow-ups, but most of their early losses came early against good pitching, which you're gonna face good pitching in this league. There's a lot of good pitching in this league. That is a problem that happened last year too, where it's also simplistic, like, oh, you can't hit good pitching. It's yeah, okay, that's that's a very um I don't know, it feels like a like a basic uh problem that if you're an offense, you might run into.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

Good pitching is good pitching for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Good pitching is good pitching. It's like, oh, you know, if if you talk to a pitcher about, oh, or uh if you talk to the the the hitters about like, oh, why couldn't you hit Cam Schlitler? It's like uh because he's good. He's like you try to hit that. You try you try to hit that uh whatever you know, insane cutter, and and he has every variety of uh of fastball just blowing by you.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Or Nolan McLean, too. Like that sweeper that he had to Elliot was just absurd.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah, exactly. So, but then that's that's when you think about the context of that and why they haven't been able to sort of get off the mediocrity table, it has to do with that. Like what separates the good teams from the mediocre to bad teams is your ability to separate yourself. And you separate yourself by hitting the good pitching. The Dodgers are hitting good pitching, uh, the Yankees are hitting good pitching, the the Toronto Blue Jays were hitting good pitching. That's that's what separates you. So it's one thing to say, like, oh, understandable. It's really hard to hit that uh type of pitching, but it's also puts into context for people who are trying to figure out why are the Giants always so mediocre. That's a that's a trending reason that separates them from the the good teams that are parentally in the postseason, is that they figure they're having trouble figuring it out. And that's why the Christopher Sanchez game was so encouraging from an offensive standpoint, is because that's the caliber of pitcher that you have to do something against if you want to emerge as a uh a leader in the division, if you want to separate yourself from the media mediocre to the good. Um their approach against him worked. They he that's the second most hits he's allowed in his career, is 11 hits or whatever it was. Um so you're seeing little glimpses of where the game planning, which is supposed to be a major focal point with the new hitting coach, Hunter Medz, who came from the Blue Jays. That's supposed to be something that should change this year. And uh we haven't seen it early on, but that was a game where you started to see where the and it's a case by case basis. Sometimes you have to adjust in the middle of the game. They didn't adjust against Pivetta, but that's a that's a situation that stood out to me as something to put a pin in is the game against Sanchez.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Yeah, they definitely went into the off-season or not off-season off day with a little bit of momentum offensively. They scored six runs, they scored five runs. They're still averaging only a little over 3.5 a game. And I think, you know, the game on Wednesday, we obviously saw Rafi Devers kind of wake up a little bit. He entered that game with two RBIs and he totaled four, three coming on a three-run homer over the center field fence, just one of those classic like Rafi Devers ones that like hovers in the air forever. And you know, to the element of good pitching, like at some point, yes, they are going to need to be able to be like figure out a game plan against the likes of like you're not gonna face Max Freed a lot. You're not gonna face him the rest of this year, barring they make the World Series, but they might they're they might see Nolan McLean again. They who else? They they might see Christopher Sanchez later this month. Like there's going to be pitchers, like good pitchers. Like they have to be able to, you know, adapt on the fly. They're probably gonna see Nick Pavetta again, and it's kind of no secret what he wants to do. Like he's going to spam them with fastballs. Like, and I will say to the fastball point, too, uh, they were not good to like they were really bad to start the year, uh, not as bad in recent games. I think they kind of figured it out a little bit against Philadelphia. And one thing that I wanted to throw over to you on the offensive end, though, the one person that's like really stood out, and it's not just for the numbers themselves, uh, it's Elliot Ramos. And the strikeouts really jump off the page. Uh, I think it's 20 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances. That just isn't who Elliot Ramos is. But I think the one thing that's really like reson not resonated, it's like jumped out is that the bat speed's down. It was like 74 miles an hour to 70, but also like the like the tilt is different, like the attack angle is different. Like, it's just I haven't had a chance to talk to Elliot about it. I'm probably gonna try to do that in Cincinnati, but it's just one of those things where it's like Rafi Debra's being cold, okay. You shrug your shoulders. He started last year, oh for fifty or oh, for 19 to 15 strikeouts. Like he figured it out. But Elliot, it's like you don't see guys lose that much bat speed, especially he's in his 20s. So it's it's I think it's one of the more curious things that's kind of popped up from anybody offensively these first couple of games.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Yeah, that's definitely uh a red flag when the bat speed goes down. I remember it happened, and and uh Tony was asked about it the other day, two days ago. Um and something that I think that Tony said was he's working through some some stuff and basically insinuating that it wasn't a huge concern. And I remember this happening last year with Willie Adamas, where I don't think it was as drastic of a difference between his 24 and his 25 batspee, but it was down like two miles an hour or something like that. And um I remember asking um Pat Burl, who was the heading coach then, about it, and I think I talked to Willie about it a little bit. Um and the answer was when you're just trying to figure it out at the plate, the batspeed goes down a little bit. And it's not necessarily a mechanical flaw or an injury or anything like that. But sometimes when uh a player is just trying to see the ball better and sort of break down a swing a little bit in real time and and get a better feel, then the bat speed is one of the first things to go because you're not just sort of swinging as freely as you would like to. So it is an indication that he's working through some stuff at the plate, perhaps. But um, it's definitely worth a conversation with Elliot. He's very honest about it, about what he's going through mentally, physically, etc. Uh, but to the to those who might be concerned that something's like wrong with him, I would probably assume that it's more to do with the fact that he's working through some stuff at the plate that uh and and and the batsby is just sort of the the result of that. The symptom.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

One last thing that I want to get to before we get out of here is before the season, we talked a lot about Luisa Rise's defense. We talked about his transition back to second base. He had been not a great defender pretty much in his entire career at honestly any position. But as we stand here right now, I guess sit technically, Luisa Rise is plus two outs above average. And I know assists don't mean as much in baseball as they do in basketball, but he's leading all NL second basemen in assists. And I don't know if that's gonna hold, but I think strictly based off here, if the visual listeners or visual watchers, they can see I'm pointing at my eyes. Based off the eye test, Shayna, it's look good.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Yeah, I think um I don't know if it's like the Ron Washington effect, or he's just, you know, it's based on the the defenders around him. Maybe he has better chemistry, or maybe he's just, you know, locked in a little more. Who knows? But uh he's been good. He's made a couple plays, he his range has been pretty good at the position. Um and it's showing in the numbers. So so far, uh all the the concern about his defensive second base is not uh manifesting into something tangible.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

I think when I looked at the Giants' numbers overall defensively, I think by field and run value, they're like in the bottom half. Uh, which I think if I told you 13 games in, they'd be in the bottom half. I think you would expect, I think you'd expect Matt Chapman to be, you know, pretty rock solid. I think you'd expect Luisa Rize to be below average. So uh just something interesting moving forward. I don't know if he's gonna be a plus two guy all season, but if he's plus two while batting, I think he's batting 320 right now, one year 12 million. That's again, it's super small sample, but that contract so far turned out pretty well for the Giants.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yeah, so far he's doing exactly what he came as advertised to do, which is you know, is getting putting the ball in play and getting hits. Um so it's uh and the defense is he's very confident that he's a second baseman, and sometimes you just have to put the performance behind confidence like that, and he has. So the the contract is looking very uh very smart right now.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Luisa Rias stacking up hits on the field. Shayna Rubin stacking up hits with the clicks. Shayna, where can we find your work?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

At the San Francisco Chronicle, sfchronicle.com or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Where can we find you on Twitter or at Blue Sky, wherever, whatever we're calling it these days.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

At Shayna Rubin. It's my full government name.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

You got your full government name in there. Shayna Rubin, not Rick Rubin. They couldn't get mine in there. Filipino discrimination couldn't fit the whole thing in there. It's just Delosantos over there. But Justice Delosanto, Shayna Rubin, we're gonna transition now to the latter half with beginning with my conversation with Josh Talentino, and then we got Alex Stump to finish us out. Shayna, this was fun. We're gonna do this again sometime soon, and uh catch y'all later. Now joined by a sports columnist from the Baltimore Sun. He's the former president of the sports task force of the Asian American Journalism Association, and he's also one of the other Filipinos that you'll see in a major league press box. Josh Tolancino, Queyah Josh, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Hey, I'm a buhai, man. It's uh great to link. I've uh you know, I've rambled on and on off uh the camera about how much I admire your work and rise in recent years, man. But uh glad to link on the pod and happy to join, man.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

Appreciate you for coming on, appreciate you for the kind words as well. And I think the one place that I want to start, I saw a clip that you posted on your IG story a couple days ago that during during football season, it's one haircut a week. So I want to know, I want to know, can you are you because the podcast now is a video form, like we're seeing you, is that can you expense that? Are you expensing those? Man, I'm not expensing my barber.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

My barber is a family member though, so that helps. Uh he's actually he's he's a kuya, older kuya. Um, and so you know, I the timing of the pod. So we're recording on a Thursday. My last haircut was actually last Friday, and I know we're not in NFL season, but uh the Orioles, the Giants, this is gonna be on national television. You know, we got Apple TV tomorrow, Apple TV game. Fox game on Saturday. So I might have to get right uh before heading to the ballpark tomorrow. But yeah, man, during the fall, especially that that's it's a it's a once-a-week thing.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

Nah, I feel you because right before opening night, it was the same thing. Like I had barely been home for 72 hours. My main barber actually wasn't available, so I had to hit like hit up the had I had to go to the bench real quick. And if you know how it is, it feels weird doing that. But it was like I had I got his stamp of approval.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

You feel tense in the chair, you know, when yeah, when it is their first time.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

I got I got the stamp of approval though. It was the same barbershop, though, so it wasn't anything kind of crazy there. Um there's a lot of places that we can kind of start with this Baltimore Orioles team. Uh they're six and six, they just swept the Chicago White Sox uh there obviously into their first season under new manager Craig Albernaz, who used to be a coach with the San Francisco Giants. So 12 games into the season, just generally speaking, what have your thoughts been overall on this Baltimore Orioles team?

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Yeah, I mean, obviously it's such a small sample size, but I think a large part of the fan base. So we you just mentioned the sweep of the White Sox. Well, uh predating that, the three games prior to that, they they were swept in Pittsburgh. Uh no one really uh saw that coming. And and you know, of note, they never saw Paul Skeins during that series. Um so I think after that series, uh the fan base was definitely a little tense, and it's like a um is this a rewind or uh just basically uh uh the the same movie that we saw uh last year with the Orioles getting off to uh such a terrible start where they fired their former manager Brandon Hyde in May. It's definitely not that, and there are so many uh encouraging signs, and you know, I I even recently wrote uh a column earlier in the week of of those encouraging signs and why those aren't necessarily you know, you shouldn't have to feel that type of PTSD, but it is natural, just you know, given the success this team had uh three, two seasons ago, and then for them to miss the the dance completely finishing last place last year. So I think Craig Albernez, he definitely deserves um the a longer leash here. And you know, I think there there is pressure though with with Michael Lyas coming off, uh their president of baseball operations coming off last year and just not having um an appearance at all in the postseason. But man, a long-winded way to say it's too early. And I think there are encouraging signs. And you know, just to tap into those uh really quick, um, you know, the rotation, they're already dealing with injuries. Their opening day starter from last year, Zach Efflin, who opened as their their number five starter in his one start, Justice. He's already uh he's already on the shelf for the rest of the year with Tommy John. Um but they've got depth. Uh and you know, it's so just at that fact that he was last year's opening day starter slotted to the five, that shows you um the level of talent that has risen, the ceiling level uh in that. And then offensively, I mean, I mean, obviously they can go out and get a Pete Alonzo. Um, but man, their leadoff man, Taylor Ward, who had led off every single game up until uh yesterday with Gunnar Henderson uh leading off, he has definitely been a bright spot. Still getting used to that left field and Canyon yards, and he even had some defensive miscues in Chicago. But uh man, that that combination right there. And Pete actually did not have a great series in Chicago, uh, you know, but uh just given his uh historic um everything that he's accomplished in New York, I think that's gonna you know soothe itself out soon. But um offensively, there are some things to like, but again, uh some some concerning signs here early on.

SPEAKER_03 38:23

Yeah, Taylor Ward, I think I was looking at the numbers earlier today, and his WRC plus is like 200 or something like that. He's been off tape a great start this season.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

My uh or one of our beat writers, I was gonna say my my fellow uh beat reporter, I got the columnist title now. Um, one of our beat reporters, uh Matt Weyrick. He's actually he's trying to trademark Taylor two bags. I think he's got nine or ten doubles. Uh Taylor Tubags to start to start the season, yeah. Taylor Two bags.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

So if you if you're why if you're listening, this and you're trying to use that Taylor Two bags, hey, you gotta make sure you you you take it up with the Baltimore Sun. Uh you had mentioned Pete Alonzo there, and I kind of want to use this as an opportunity to talk about the Orioles offseason as a whole, because I think one of the biggest marks on this Orioles team, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you know, after their great run in 23, they just you know didn't really supplement the team. They didn't really go out and spend. And they had one of the more active offseasons by any team this off season in this winter. They obviously go out and get Pete Alonzo, they traded for Taylor Ward. I think there was some I don't want to say confusion necessarily by trading, you know, um Grayson Rodriguez, but there was definitely I was a fan of the move.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

It was definitely a fan.

SPEAKER_03 39:29

It perked up. Oh, well, that's that's a good you know jumping off point. Like, why were you a fan of that move?

SPEAKER_00 39:33

Yeah, because I mean you look at Grayson Rodriguez and uh you know, high upside pitcher, and it's funny that they go in and acquire a Shane Boss, who, you know, from the same area in Texas, uh similar trajectory in terms of where they were as prospects many years ago. Um but it's all about availability. And you know, if you're not ready to take them out and you know, uh you want to root for Grayson the person to get right, but you know, even here early on, as you see him start the season with Dead Arm and have some issues down there um with the Angels. That that's just what Orioles fans are are used to, where you get a uh, you know, the trade-off in a in a rare player-for-player acquisition is that you get an offensive piece where last year offense, I mean, the rotation clearly a big issue, the injuries were a huge issue. They they had the most players in MLB tied with the Marlins from a couple seasons ago. Um, but offensively, they just had did not have that guy. I mean, Gunnar Henderson, you know, rising superstar, but he was dealing with injuries last year. They did not have a consistent uh offensive piece. And, you know, Taylor Ward coming off a career best season into a walkier, man, that that's benefiting both sides. You know, he's looking to get paid, and the Orioles are trying to maximize this one year that they get out of him or over a few years of control of an oft-injured uh pitcher. So uh, but you know, tying back to their aggressiveness this offseason, certainly this is the highest payroll in Baltimore Orioles' uh history, floating um, I believe, uh in the$165 million range, just sort of um$700. And um, man, for there weren't really any splashes at the winner meetings, man. And you know, Pete Alonzo definitely was one of the uh splashes and kind of set the tone for what this could uh mean for uh the Orioles. And again, he's coming off a shaky uh two series in Pittsburgh and Chicago, but just based on all of the career success that he's had, I think he's gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

You you mentioned Pete Alonzo right there. You mentioned, you know, the Orioles kind of need for that quote unquote that guy along with Gunnar Henderson. They obviously he's gotten off to a shaky start. He obviously has a very long track record of, for lack of a better term, mashing. This is a guy that's a kind of a walking 35, 40 home run guy, hasn't really shown it yet. But what have you made of his plate appearances so far? Maybe even the conversations that you've had with either him or guys around the team about, you know, maybe his impact as a clubhouse leader with that team.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Yeah, clubhouse leader is a big way to put it justice. Uh uh a frequent term or a phrase that has been used uh over the past half decade with this team is a young core. You know, obviously featuring Adley Rutschman. Uh, you know, you talk about all the other pieces that are coming up now, uh Gunnar Henderson, a big one, uh Jackson Holiday, Jordan Westburg, you know, the list goes on. But they never really had that established veteran presence. And when they did have those guys, they, you know, obviously shipped them all off at last year's trade deadline, by the way of Cedric Mullins, uh Ryan O'Hearn, etc. So um that that was really a vacant uh spot that that was missing this offseason, and Pete Alonso certainly fills that uh void. We've seen him do that in a multitude of ways, man. And my first day at spring training, I was down there in Sarasota for a couple weeks, and my very first game that I was covering, it was an exhibition against the Netherlands. A very news filled, uh news-filled day. That was jerks and profar was uh slotted to hit leadoff.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Welcome to spring training.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Yeah, so he he was slotted to hit leadoff, and I literally see team officials like pull him off to the side, and five minutes later we get the the passing tweet. So very weird day. And then, anyways, that they've got their ace going, Trevor Rogers. Uh he was their opening day starter. He's looked great to start the season, just continuing his dominance from last year. Uh, anyway, so Trevor Rogers, he's struggling to get through the first inning, and uh, you know, I we're like probably halfway through the uh order, and Pete Alonzo actually calls his own moun visit, and he he he you know, and Trevor's like, what's going on? You know, he was kind of confused at first, and that just showed like the dynamic presence and voice that Pete Alonso is. And you know, I think there's a um there's this uh wide belief that that Pete Alonzo is just kind of like a funny, goofy guy, and he certainly has that personality about him. But I mean that kind of proved it's right there to me that they're in the this meaningless exhibition game, you know, and stats from this thing do not count at all. And he's just trying to make sure that they they end up or I'm sorry, that they clean up all of their mistakes. And you know, you you talk about his plate uh are his plate appearances. Is at bats. I think they've been quality uh PAs uh to start the season, and yeah, the exit velocity is certainly there. I mean, like in the Chicago series, he had, man, uh a handful of lineouts with uh 105, 110 exit velos. So um I think it's now it just comes to you know hitting them where he ain't, where which he's proven to do uh time and time again.

SPEAKER_03 44:21

You had mentioned Adley Rutschman there very briefly. And you know, a lot of people have been circling this as a very big year for him, especially when you consider the incorporation of Samuel Basallo as well. How is that dynamic kind of function? Because it's obviously two catchers there and they have a lot of faith in Basal. Am I pronouncing that right? I just want to make Basal. It's the double L's, it's the double L's. But you know, how is that dynamic worked out with Rutschman Basal? Because they're obviously catchers, you obviously want to get both bats in the lineup, but you know, when it comes to those up the middle positions, they're a little more at a premium than maybe, you know, it's not like they could just stick him in first base because Pete Alonzo's at first base. So how's that dynamic function and how do you maybe foresee that dynamic evolving over the course of this season?

SPEAKER_00 45:03

Yeah, I think Adley Rutschman's return to form has actually been one of the most encouraging uh storylines of this early season, man. He's he uh, you know, uh injuries and just uh struggles defensively, struggles at the plate uh last year. We've really seen a return to uh 2024 or 2023 Adley uh Rutschman when he was at the top of his his game and on that trajectory as one of the top uh catching prospects in this game. And then now you've got a young buck and Sammy Bissau, freshly 21 years old, uh coming off a contract extension this past uh summer. And you know, Adley's definitely gonna be their everyday uh catcher. Uh we've seen a um you know rotation where Sammy will get uh the last day of the series. And you know, you mentioned that DH spot, that's also a frequent um place where Sammy has been placed. And you know, they they're not um the yeah, I know Pete Alonzo's the everyday first baseman. You know, he's got the track record of never missing a game over the past two years, but we've already seen him um take a couple days off in place of Ryan Mountcastle, and we've actually seen Sammy Basil there as well at first base. So um I I think especially with Adley returning to form, you know, they don't want to um mess up the the vibe or you know what what he's got uh going on now because he definitely looks like the uh Adley Ruschman of old, not the Adley Rutschman last year who went through so many struggles.

SPEAKER_03 46:27

Pasayo is obviously part of that young core. Another member of this young core is Jackson Holiday. We're not gonna see him over the course of this series. Just what's the latest on Jackson Holiday? What's he dealing with, and you know, where does he kind of fit into this team going forward?

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Yeah, sad stuff for Jackson Holiday, man. Uh broken ham ape bone in his right hand uh suffered right before the start of spring training when he just got got down there early eager to work. And you know, that's such a uh an injury. I mean, it's a common injury. We saw a handful of players, uh star players uh go through that this uh uh offseason or going into to spring.

SPEAKER_03 47:00

It was like three guys in like the same day.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

It was, yeah. And but you you know, just getting back to Jackson Holiday, a sad situation. Actually, the opener against the Giants Friday, April 10, I believe, is his uh bobblehead night. And it's not just his bobblehead, it's a dual bobblehead with him and his dog Coconut. So he's gonna be in uh missing that. Yeah, he's gonna be missing that. You know, I'm sure they'll they saved a bunch for him and they got a ship to his house uh, you know, for fresh for him in uh Coconut, man. But man, just you know, you you bring up Jackson, another uh rising piece, still very young, and you know, I think still has a long way to go defensively. Uh one of the biggest observations that I had in spring training is the um dedication and amount of time that uh Miguel Cairo, their infield coach, you know, served as the interim manager for the for the Nats uh last season. Man, every single day, him and Jackson Holiday. And you know, at first I thought Miguel Cairo was just tough to please, but he was just so meticulous with Jackson's uh body movements, making sure that you know his lower body is in sync with his basically no wasted uh movements. I mean, you see these drills up close, but the the way that he was hammering it with Jackson not satisfied, um, I think that's uh defensively. Jackson Holiday still has a long way to go. And hopefully, you know, that that broken hammade injury is a tough one to navigate in in terms of like getting your power back. Um so uh, you know, hoping for a speedy recovery, but even you know, just a couple days ago, he he realizes he's not 100% yet. So he's it sounds like he's still got a little bit of ways to go.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Josh, the last question that I want to throw your way, and you can interpret this question any way you like. Who is the player this season? It can be in the majors, it can be in the minors. Who is the player you're most curious about? Like when you kind of like project, like, ah, like which way is this gonna go? Do they make a leap? Do they add something? Like you can interpret that however you like. Who is the player in the Baltimore Orioles system, major league level, minor league level, that you're most curious about?

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Oh man, I'm gonna give you two. Um one is actually, yeah, one's related to Jackson Holiday. It was someone who, so you know, the Orioles, they have Jackson Holiday and Jordan Westburg shelved. That's their that's half of their starting infield or projected starting infield. And Michael Lyas claims to have acquired this player before those injuries happened, but Blaze Alexander, man, he has been a great uh fit for him. So I I guess I'm curious on how long he can continue uh this this trend of being a do-it-all player. He plays basically every single uh position except catcher. Um and I mean he's been slotted all over in an outfield, um manning those infield spots that where they need um help now filling those those voids. And most importantly, he's he's like a natural everyday shortstop, so that defense uh comes across uh you know uh at various spots, but he's also been coming through for them in the ninth spot. I mean, he's one of their best, hottest hitters right now. So uh how long can he sustain that? And you know, can he hit enough to that when the point when Jordan Westburg and Jackson Holiday are back uh with the big league club, is he gonna be able to maintain a position? Because I mean, he doesn't really have a position because he's just the you know, he's a utility guy who's who's hitting. So uh I'm curious how long that can uh sustain. And he's such a great personality too for the for the clubhouse and and one that needed it, you know. A lot of uh bland, uh, you know, just you know, straight, like the the not giving you much, Blaze is a great personality in the clubhouse, and I'm sure you can appreciate that um, you know, being in in clubhouses. Uh so uh Blaze Alexander, how long can he sustain uh his trend now? Man, and the other one would probably be uh the prospect who was most heralded with alongside Samuel Basayo, and that is outfielder uh Dylan Beavers. Uh we saw his impact. Uh, you know, he he was one of those late uh call-ups last season, made his debut. Um you know, big pop guy and and especially uh plate disciplined guy, man. I mean, I'm forgetting the numbers, but he had dozens, at least two dozen walks last year in like less than a month of time. And man, he I think he just got his first walk. It took uh certainly a long amount of time. Uh this so it was like, you know, where you know, is it just a matter of um MLB pitchers find figuring figuring this guy out? Um, because I do think he is one of the patient, most patient approaches at the plate alongside with Taylor Ward. So um I'm just curious on his trajectory as one of their top uh prospects alongside Sammy Bissau, Dylan Beavers. This this this Orioles team, they they've got a handful of uh funky names, man. You got a Blaze Alexander, you've got a Gunner, you've got a Cowser. Uh you know, we go with a Beavers. They're all over the place, man.

SPEAKER_03 51:36

I was just about to say, so you want to you're trying to trademark the the Taylor two bags. Uh I think you might have a little difficulty uh trademarking just blaze. I think that might be a little hard. I think that might be a little hard. Yeah, man. So maybe I don't know, go to New York, see if you can see if you can convince him.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Bust it out. Right. No, no, yeah, I'm I'm just blazed. That'd be a great one. And they they're actually uh the his acquired from the the Diamondbacks who are pitching prospect cage trout. So the Diamondbacks are actually coming to town right after the uh the Giants, so he'll see his uh former mates right after the Giants series.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

We got a revenge game. I love nothing more than a little revenge game. Josh, this was a lot of fun. I'm hoping we can do this sometime down the road. Josh, where can we find your work?

SPEAKER_00 52:19

Man, you can follow me at JCT Sports on all platforms. We've got a podcast going on, trying to keep up with you at Early Birds Podcast and uh obviously everything across the uh Baltimore Sun. I've got I've got a very uh quick spontaneous question, Justice. How many uh what is the strikeout high for the Giants this season?

SPEAKER_03 52:37

Ooh, like single game? In a single game, yeah. Like team wide, I I think they've hit 13 at least. I don't know if that's the highest. I know they've had at least one game with like 13. Why do you ask?

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Okay. So, you know, we talked about Taylor Ward, Pete Alonso, Gunnar Henderson, and man, the Were you talking about pitchers or hitters? No, I'm talking, I'm talking about hitters. How how often had uh I'm I mean a single game high for for uh San Francisco hitters?

SPEAKER_03 53:05

Yeah, I think it's like it's if it's not 13, it's in it's in that vicinity.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Okay, so again, the Orioles have had some games where they burst out and they need way more of those, man. They've had three games of 13 strikeouts, 14 strikeouts, and a 16 strikeout performance in the game two game two of the season. So hoping hopeful hopefully the swing and miss is you know out of the way, and uh, you know, we'll we'll see what uh comes out. You know, a lot of familiarity with um Craig Albanaz, Donnie Ecker there um in San Francisco. So uh a revenge game for for them as well.

SPEAKER_03 53:42

Revenge game potentially on deck for Craig Albanz. And I will say I think the Giants collectively rank about 20th in strikeout rates so far. So I think if the Giants pitchers are able to stack out, stack up, you know, 13, 14, 15 strikeouts against the Orioles, that might be that might be that might not be the best sign for the Orioles going forward. But Queyaji's was a lot of fun. Looking forward to doing this again, and thank you for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Audien Justice, always a pleasure, man.

SPEAKER_03 54:15

It's time for another edition of MLD Corner, and I'm joined once again by longtime Pittsburgh Pirates supporter Alex Stump. Alex, what's happening, man?

SPEAKER_02 54:23

Hey, doing well. Got through the intro finally.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

Took me only three times, man. It's uh I got the it's right here. I got the the for those of you that are on video, I got the Bucky's mug full of coffee. I need I just needed a little more than I thought I needed, but it's an off day for the Giants, it's an off day for the pirates, it's an off day for a lot of teams around Major League Baseball. So as I try to get my bearings together, I'll I'll shoot it over to you first. Off day in the middle of a season or just off day at any point, how you spending it?

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Uh I am sleeping in. I am going to the movies at some point, maybe hang out with some friends, have a nice dinner. You know, like live life, I guess, is gonna be the answer to this question. You know, all those things that you try to do, except at least on the social parts, like, hey, let's go out on a Monday night, everyone. That's that's sometimes a harder sell.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

Yeah, this is a good chance to peel back the curtain because our schedules are so weird. Like it's a Thursday, and it's I mean, Thursdays, like Thursdays are kind of becoming the new Friday for some people, but it's like like a Monday, like the Giants' next off day is Monday. I don't know about the pirates, but it's like, hey, who wants to go out on a Monday? Everyone's like, no, I got work tomorrow. I got nine to five. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Yeah, it's sports journalists' schedule does not necessarily go with, you know, usually the friend group's social schedule. We we never have Friday nights off. Never.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

We barely have weekends off.

SPEAKER_02 55:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Anyway, you mentioned the idea of living life, and I think that's an appropriate transition to someone who's living a little bit of life, and that's of course Connor Griffin of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And I promise the listeners, I promise you all, this is not the Pittsburgh Pirate corner. This is the MLB corner. We are here to talk about the happenings around Major League Baseball as a whole. But Alex, as you know, the Pirates have kind of just been the story of Major League Baseball. Not necessarily for their, well, a little bit for the play on the field, but you know, this is obviously a nine-year,$140 million extension for someone that's not even 20 years old. You were obviously there, so I'm gonna let you take the reins. And the question I'll start you off with first is just what was the vibe in the building like? What was the general atmosphere? And uh you think Bob Nutting was kind of feeling himself a little bit, had the the button down, little a little extra button down there for Bob.

SPEAKER_02 56:37

Yeah, right before he sat down at the podium, he took off his classes, put them in his pocket, and delivered it. Like, oh, oh, he is feeling himself a little bit here right now. But no, uh it was a good vibe in in the clubhouse in general. Like, this is hardly a surprise. Like, this was something that had been negotiated, you know, all throughout spring training. The negotiations finished, whenever he came up, back up to the majors. So, like it was expected, but to see it come to fruition, I think is a bigger thing because you you covered this team in 22-23, and you saw like the boost that you know the club outside whenever like Cabrian Hayes got his extension, and whenever Brian Reynolds got his extension, and just kind of being like, okay, they they're trying to put a line in the sand here. I think Connor Griffin was kind of uh look, we really think we're gonna compete for most of this nine-year window, and that's why we are signing him long term. We think that this is going to be a different era of the parts, and he's gonna be the face of it. So yeah, it is something that I think the organization is justifiably excited about right now.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

I think I want to kind of contrast the vibe now on April 9th, 2026 versus April 9th, 2025. Hell, May 2025, June 2025, because it felt like all I was seeing last year, and we've talked about this a lot off camera, is just kind of the ire we had with, you know, Skeens is what in his third year, and in his second year, it's like when is he gonna get traded? When are the Yankees gonna try to acquire him? And you know, I'm not saying that the entirety of the direction of the Pittsburgh Pirates is gonna get turned around just by this extension because Connor Griffin still has to be the player they wanted to be. But can we get a little bit of a vibe check in Pittsburgh? Because it seems like the vibes are at the highest they've been since uh maybe 2016.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Is that accurate? Uh vibes were pretty good in April of 2023. Uh the vibes that was a great month. Yeah, the vibes are pretty good in 2018 after they acquired Chris Archer. Now, granted, they went south immediately downhill, but I mean, I'm just talking about small pockets of time right here. And like I get this is a small pocket of time right now, too, but it has the potential to be, you know, years. That's why the pirates signed them to a nine-year contract. So, yeah, I mean, vibes are higher. This is a team that has an expectation to compete. And not only are they coming out of the gate pretty good right now, they're seven and five. That's definitely a playoff pace. It's also they have the best starting pitcher in the National League. They have the number one prospect, not only in the system, he is up in the majors, he is trying to contribute right now, and he is locked up for years to come. Uh, some of the free agents or acquisitions this offseason, like Ryan O'Hearn and Brandon Lau are really fitting into the clubhouse, are adding that voice that they need. Uh this is a far from perfect, complete team, but it is definitely infinitely higher vibes than what we saw last year. Where last year, kind of, you know, whenever they let go of Shelton in May, there was kind of that feeling of like, do they have to blow this whole thing up? Where right now it's like, no, this is why they didn't blow it up, why they mostly stayed the course. They did trade off some people at the trade deadline. They did have to do more than I think they might have expected. But yeah, it was vibes are better right now than they have been in the past.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

Yeah, you mentioned April 2023. I think they started like what, 29? That was that was one of the craziest, like singular months of baseball that I've ever covered. And it happened after the O'Neill injury, too, which is kind of crazy. The one thing that I do want to mention is that you know, this is obviously a teenager getting upwards of$140 million. It's the largest contract that the Pirates have ever offered in franchise history. And I think it would be a fair question if or for people on the outside to say, like, hey, this is a guy who hasn't done anything in the majors. Like, how are the veterans in this locker room gonna feel? And kind of based off some of the reading that I was doing yesterday and even seeing this the quote by Skeens, it kind of seemed like it was kind of the opposite, if anything, that you know, there was a general vibe of just overall joy, happiness that was kind of exuded by all of the guys in that clubhouse.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:01

Yeah, and I think one of the big things that impressed people on the part side is whenever this started to get closer and closer and closer, Connor brought up how do you think the room is going to react whenever I sign this contract? Because he's not dumb. He recognizes that he has all this immense talent, that he is worth a contract like this. He also is just selling potential right now. He has barely any major league experience at the time. That's and that could be a tough sell for someone who has been in the league for years, who has grinded, who has put themselves in a position and be like, man, the kid is gonna make more money than I ever will see, you know, on his first contract. Like that he had the wherewithal to make sure, like, hey, uh, is this gonna be an issue if I sign this? And the reason why, like, it's it's not an issue, is he is all in on the club. It it is, you know, he wants to be a good teammate, he wants to be part of a winner. So it's those type of things that yeah, it's it's not just like, oh, here's the most talented player in the room, and we are gonna reward him before he does anything. It's like, okay, here's the most talented player probably in the room position player wise, and he is happy to be here and he wants to be with you, he wants you, you know, to be his brother. So, like that, I think goes a long way here.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:23

So I want to pin a ball on this conversation because again, we talked about schemes a lot in the last episode. And when I was thinking about it this morning, I went super macroscopic with it because we obviously talked in the last episode about a lot of the talent that this team has. You obviously have skins, Bubba Chandler rotation makes Keller is a really much an anchor of this rotation. We talked about kind of the upside of O'Neal Cruz and the macroscopic question that I wanted to pose to you, Alex, is again, I want to take the conversation we had last year about kind of the vibes of this team and contrast it with now. If Connor Griffin is good, like if he meets expectation, if he is the all-star superstar that this team thinks he's going to be, and the same kind of development happens with some of the younger guys on this team, if Bubble Chandler becomes a stalwart of this rotation as well. If Braxton Ashcraft and there's another name I'm forgetting, who was just list off some stars.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:23

I'm forgetting who's Jared Jones and Jared Jones. Yeah. Uh there were Karim Bajinski and Antoine Kelly and Wilbur Dotel, and like there's there are a lot of good young pitchers.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:36

Yeah, so there's a lot of good young pitchers. So if those guys pan out and this team is good, the question it might be too early to answer this, but I just kind of want your gut reaction because I want to be able to come back to this conversation later, maybe years down the line. Do the Pirates, having already spent this nine-figure contract on Connor Griffin, do they almost triple that and say, hey, Paul Skeens, we got a winner here?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

The the only way the only way I see it happening is if the CBA that the two sides eventually come to agreement to down the road, so drastically alters the economic landscape of baseball that it becomes viable. Like if the system is anything current to what it is right now, I don't see the path.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Not necessarily even an extension. Like if it was free agency, like could you see that? Oh no. Yeah, no, free agency, it's his free like he goes into free agency. He's had Skeens has had again. This is like way down the line. But you know, I think again, I I mention this now in 2026 because I I kind of do want to see like what like what can change in like honestly the next four years, because you know, that's gonna be you know kind of the looming thing overall. This like if the pirates are good, the skins like do they cough up the money to make sure that skins is something close to a pirate for life?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:02

I mean, uh the counter to that is if skins, if the pirates are good, that's gonna be because Bubba Chandler hit and Braxton Nashcraft hit, and Connor Griffin turned out to be what we thought he was gonna be, and O'Neill Cruz became what we thought he was gonna be. And probably some wild cards like a Tamar Johnson ends up being a stud or whoever, and like that type of stuff comes together, and like at that point, I think just the supporting core is gonna be so good and cost so much that I don't see them being able to spend 40 million dollars for Paul Schienes annually, you know, at any point without like a drastic re overhaul of the current economic system in baseball. I wouldn't even know what it looks like. That's that's basically my out of me just saying, like, no, there's no chance, but like that's kind of how I view it right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:52

I'm gonna go back to the old Yogi Bear quote is that predictions are hard, especially about the future. So let's go let's let's transition from a team. Where vibes are high to a team where vibes depending on your perspective, maybe not as high. The general aura of these two teams, not as high. I don't want to talk about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County. Um, let's start with America's team. You want to elaborate on that? Why you call them America's team?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

They're America's team.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:25

Okay. Okay. Uh let's start with the good. Let's start with the good. And the good is that Joe Adele had one of the most insane defensive, like singular defensive games that I've ever seen in my life. We're gonna we're gonna pump the brakes here because we got something else we want to talk about. I just want to properly acknowledge this Joe Adele. What a career arc it's been for him so far. I think, you know, he's coming off of a I think a 38 homer season, Rob's three homers in a game. It's not always linear. And I think just to see like Joe Adele kind of struggle for his first couple years with the Angels, I think this is a really cool moment for him. And just it's hard to say like singular best defensive games of all time, but this has to be like something close to it. I there aren't many others that I I can think of off the top of my head where a defense impacts a game this much.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:16

I mean, this is I'm gonna pose a question to here to you here. Because this is the beautiful thing about the Joe Adele game, is last year he was in the bottom percentile in field or in fielding last year. He had negative 12 outs above average. Not good. This year, even after robbing three home runs, he's at negative one outs above average. It is ridiculous. So, like wait, OAA, DRS? Which one? OAA, OAA. He's still at negative one after robbing three home runs. So, like, what is it like you know, Pittsburgh kid, you know, Steelers, like Super Bowl 30 against the Cowboys, they didn't want to throw against Deion Sanders, so they kept throwing against the other corner, Larry Brown, who wasn't very good, but Neil O'Donnell was worse. So he had near Larry Brown caught a couple interceptions and won Super Bowl MVP. And it's like, okay, well, they were just, you know, they were targeting the worst corner out of the two, and he just had a big game. There is no scenario like that in baseball, especially defensively. This is just a wild, you know, Angels in the Alpha. Is this the biggest fluke game for a player ever? Like, like the only one I can think of in the last decade or so that's like this is the Scooter Jeanette game where he hit four home runs and it was a guy, and before that, he was just like hitting 15 home runs a year, and then all of a sudden he hit four. Like, this is just the most out of nowhere. Where did this historic performance come from game?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

I mean, if we're gonna if we want to talk about like biggest fluke games, I mean it's no Zach Duke outdoing Randy Johnson in uh 2002 or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

But like I mean, I if we're going I mean go for it, go for it.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:10

No, if if we're going by like like fluke.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

I've got another name, but I want to see if you get there first. Who who threw the who Philip Humber?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:20

Was it him through the fumble?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

That's the exact name I was.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:22

Yeah, like that's like I think like that kind of qualifies, but I think that's like a I don't I don't know if that's the same. Is it I don't know if it's the same. I don't know if we can count it as the same. I know there's like that there there's like a running joke in like NBA Twitter of like the the random 50-point games, like Corey Brewer's 50-point game, like Mo Williams 50-point game. I think Jalen Suggs had one. Like, there's that. But there was there was also like three, four homer games last year. Wasn't that like I know Gino Suarez hit one. I'm trying to remember who the other two are.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:56

But Suarez had hit 49 homers, had had 40 home run seasons before. It's one of those you don't bat an eye. It's I'm looking for the equivalent as me, a very, very casual basketball fan seeing Bam put up 83, and you're like, where did that come from? You know, type of thing. That's kind of what I'm equating this Joe Adele defensive. Oh man. Except Bam would have to be averaging like eight points a night, you know, for the 83 to really make to really comp here.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:24

Biggest flute game. This can go. I'm trying to think of like just true outlier games. Like I'm stumped right now because I don't know, like, there's probably like a random. I mean, if we're gonna keep bringing up former pirates, like Michael Perez's three homer game like comes to mind in 2022, like coming off the coming off the heels of Brian Reynolds hitting three homers the day before. Like, Brian, like again, it's kind of like Brian Reynolds hitting three homers. Okay, like he was an all-star in 2021, but Michael Perez, which there's like this graphic I think that we were posting in our group chat a couple days ago that was like Michael Perez, Roberto Clemente, like I think I think it was like Latino-born players.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

It was the only Puerto Rican pirates to hit Homer three times in a game. What a what a graphic journeyman backup catcher and the greatest player in franchise.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:17

See, like it's that. So I don't know. Like, maybe you know what? For the next, how about this? For the next MLB corner, we will dive into this. Uh we'll got we'll dive into this, like biggest potential flu games. I think this is gonna be like a very fun thing for next week. I think to pull some names. But okay, the Joe Adele game, fantastic. Whoever, like the shot, like that shot in the stands where he's like the hurrah, um, amazing shot. Um, a lot more valor than the Derek Jeter running into the stands.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:44

Um, I don't because he actually had to go into the stands for that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:47

I don't despise Derek Jeter as much as you do, but I know that you know, bringing that up right now uh made you a very happy man. So that's the good. That's the good from the Angels. Um, I do also want to bring up super briefly Robert Stevenson gonna be out for the season, very unfortunate. Um, with the UCL. I think it's Reconstruction, I think that's what they're calling it. Fellow Filipino American, also from the East Bay as well. Um let's bring up the fight. Yes, let's bring up the fight. I re-watched this fight about five times this morning, and every time I watched it, I came away with something new. I love I I I I want to preface this. I don't it's some real like toxic masculinity to like just you know throw down. I'm never gonna encourage, but it what a it there's it's it's such a baseball thing, like more than any other sport, like maybe hockey where they like throw the gloves off, gloves off. But I feel like baseball like has just the best. When it comes time to have fisticuffs, it's the best. So I've watched it, you've watched it. What are your like just walk me through your instant thoughts of like watching this whole thing go down because it is there's a lot to unpack. There's so much to unpack.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:01

There's so much to unpack. There is. I I love the inspired choice of keeping the baseball in hand. That was what I was gonna bring up too. Yeah, I mean that I think that's the real takeaway here. That's what makes this fight unique, in my opinion. It's it's not just, you know, we've seen a bunch of times where baseball players take swings at each other and you know nobody knows how to actually fight. But then you like, oh, oh, he's hitting it with a blunt object, and maybe like the worst type of blunt object because it's still gonna hurt his fingers along the way. But like, I I I I appreciate the the mindset of well, I have it, let's use it. Uh, my biggest takeaway was you know, just watching it and thinking to myself, like, this is a good one. It's been a while since we've had like a genuinely good one. Like, what when was the last really good one before this? Down goes Anderson.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:51

I was gonna say, Wait, that's gotta be like one of the best like calls to a fight as well. Um I think maybe. I mean, again, uh my brain, it just kind of goes back to the buckos where Amir Garrett wanted to take on like the entirety of the dugout, but like this was like this was a really good. I think there's like subcategories of fights, and this was like a true classic pitcher, hitter. No one else is involved in this. Because the Amir Garrett one, it was him versus the world. The the one with um, I think it was it, Archer and um Derek D. Yeah, like that was kind of like everyone was involved. This was a true Nolan Ryan, Robin Ventura, pitcher, hitter, no one else involved. And I think there's something I don't want to say beautiful because again, I don't want to encourage fighting, but there is something like classic league baseball against Mano Imano and everyone just sprinting and just trying to break it the hell up. Which, if you want to talk about people breaking it up, Walt Weiss. Do the Steelers need a free safety? Like, what a tackle.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:04

Maybe if he can play a quarterback too, that'd be great. Uh yeah. Great tackle on his end. I I I get what you're saying about you know, not want to glorify the fights as as the baseball. I'm gonna wax poetic here about baseball fights for a second. It's something beautiful. Like hockey is a physical sport, and you can see why, you know, the fights where you get out, you know, football, physical sport. You can see why there's an occasional fight that breaks out. Baseball, I feel like a good chunk of the fights are due, at least in small part, out of boredom. That there's just you know, that there's just so much baseball going on, and there's so much time that you're sitting in a dugout, and there's so much time that you're just watching, not actively participating, that whenever it just something primal goes off in your brain, like I can throw fists. I can like this is that's a way to pass the time. We can make this more lively. And I don't know, this had the feel of like a good 80s style, you know, we're bored, let's fight type of fight. I I remember talking to you about this. It's like, man, what happened on the Braves with these two? You know, Lopez and Soler both on the Braves, and you're like, Were they on the Braves together? I I don't think they were. And I'm like, okay, then they were both on America's team, and no, they didn't interline, they didn't share a clubhouse there. So I really don't know what was going on here, what the previous history was.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:30

Like, yeah, I mean, the previous history is that Jorge Soler has five homers and a 2,000 OPS against Reynaldo Lopez. And at some point, and again, to provide a little more context, like he hits the homer in the first at bat, second at bat, Lopez plunks him, and then third at bat up and in. And uh, I I'm not fluent in Spanish, I speak a little bit, but I was looking at the YouTube comments, and apparently the context of I can't remember if it was Soler or Lopez, they were like, What's up? Like, what's like and it's is kind of fighting words, and then you go from there. So, you know, there's a there's a uh Mike Kruko phrase, ownage is ownage, and I think Lopez just decided this was too much ownage, and I'm going to throw fists.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:16

Well, it I think it was it was Soler, though, that like I was gonna say Soler is the one who kind of like if you if he was reacted to the pitch and they thought it was personal, that's one thing, but like Soler instigated the fight, at least in my view.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:30

Yeah, and you want to talk about blunt objects, like obviously what comes to mind is Bryce Harper charging Hunter Strickland. That was another that was another great like 1v1 fight. Also, shameless plug on my end, wrote a story about how Bryce Harper, Tony Vitello, their friendship, how Harper has been kind of a resource to him. Go check that out on Mercury News. I know you're just like, why are you plugging your own stuff on your own podcast? Whatever. Do it. Um, but that was an instance where a blunt object could have been used and it wasn't, thankfully. Um, I think one of the goriest incidents was the Juan Marshall fight in the 60s where he actually had the bat and he used it. Again, not glorifying that at all. I do want to disagree with you know the Amir Garrett one being the greatest fight ever. I think my personal favorite, and again, not glorifying fighting, but the Lenny Randall, like back in the 70s, I think, I don't remember who the pitcher was, but he gets thrown behind him. And then so the next pitch, he lays down just the most perfect butt up the first baseline with the sole, sole intention of leveling the pitcher. And as the pitcher's coming to get the ball, like lowers the shoulder. And my favorite part is he keeps running the first base. He's like, I'm still gonna try to beat this out, and and then it's just like the fight breaks out from there, and I'm like, oh like I there's like again, we could talk about that fight in particular, but that that that's an all-timer right there. Anything else we want to talk about before we pin a bow on the this conversation between I I also do want to mention quickly, he Homered in his first at bat after appealing the seven-game suspension, which that just adds another layer to this.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:16

Why not? Have fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:18

Have fun with it. All right. Let let's I want to have a little a little bit of an interlude before getting to this next subject. Now, Alex, as you can see, I am wearing a hat. And this hat for the for the for the visual people, it has a brim. I want to talk about the Dodger with no brim. The Edwin Diaz wearing wearing a Dodger cap with no brim. It's there's this famous clip. I'm gonna insert it here. It's the whoa, Yankee with no brim. Whoa! Yankee with no brim! It's just and then there's like another like Yankee with all brim. I don't care, man. I'm not even trying to be a contrarian. I love it. It's really dumb, but I love it. Any any fashion, any fashion statements that are just all I love it. You're shaking your head, you don't, please elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:15

I I feel like I'm real life has become one of those TikToks where it's like, what year were you born? And I say 19. It's like it starts with a 19. That's what that's what dodger cap with no brim feels like to me. Like we we have just lost the plot with fashion. I can't even really get too worked up. It's I I really do feel like I'm just yelling at a cloud telling kids to get off my lawn. It's just too it's a baseball cap. It's it's it's not a ski cap. It's it's supposed to block the sun out of your eyes. That's the whole point of it. That's why they invented it back in the 1800s. I don't know. I don't know. I I can't get I'm not gonna let myself get too worked up over this. It is a ridiculous fashion choice. I hope I pray it doesn't catch on. I cannot deal with this much stupidity.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:06

Tell the newspapers I'm not mad. Tell them I'm not mad. I am mad.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:09

I am mad. The newspaper can know.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:11

Okay, two two like less crazy fashion trends before we get into the final thing here. Um, hoodie under the jersey. Manny Machado, you had a hoodie under the jersey. Yes or no? It's it's cold in Pittsburgh. That's that's fine. I can dig it. And then Adoles Garcia was wearing a shistie uh during the night game in San Francisco. Are you pro well? I I will say this in the Bay Area, it's not cold enough to need a shisty. You see someone with a shisty at any point, um, at any venue, you could probably just walk away. Um, not probably ideal. Um, pro-shystey, anti-shysti in a baseball field.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:47

I, you know what, this is how I'm gonna hit you with this. I am pro hoodie under the jersey. That is very that is appealing to my going to high school in the 2000s. You know, I wear short sleeve shirts under long-sleeve shirts under short sleeve shirts. It has that vibe. I approve of that fashion choice. Let's bring that back. Uh, I disapprove of Yankees with no brim, and I am not going to get worked up over shisty. So there we go. I ran the gamut of fashion. Yeah, we got we got all three. It's some real we got the the father, the son, the holy spirit. In my plain blue jerk or hoodie that I bought for Kohl's for$25.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:21

Hey, shout out shout out to this hoodie, though. It's a Filipino brand in Chicago. I'll link to it in the description. Um, last thing I want to hit on is uh ABS, the automatic ball strike system. Got to see it in spring training. We've now gotten more of a functional use of it. And what I mean by that is like spring training, it's kind of like you don't know how this is actually gonna impact winning and losing. Um I kind of want to stay away from the winning and losing aspect of it. Like, I mean, that's part of it, but just what are your opinions of it about how it's functioned overall? Like seeing it like in a major league stadium, the way that people react to it, the way that you personally just enjoy it so far.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:59

I mean, it's I am very pro-pitch framing for catchers. I think that is a skill, I think that is something that helps young players, young catchers who maybe don't have the bat yet, give them another opportunity to impact the team, impact the game, make a you know, a mark on the major leagues. Uh, I think the challenge system we have right now is probably the best case scenario for if they were going to use automated in some way that you know the the framing does still matter. Uh, it still matters that you know the strike zone. We saw in Pittsburgh on the top of the ninth inning against the Orioles again on Saturday. Uh Dennis Santana threw a pitch for strike three. It was challenged. Orioles were challenged. They wrong, they were wrong. That was their last challenge of the game. And the bottom of the ninth inning, Nick York probably should have been called out on strike three, but it was called a ball. Orioles couldn't challenge, he rips a game-winning double on the very next pitch. So, like, I I do like that strategy part of it. I I still have a little bit too much purist in me. Like, this is gonna be again an old man yelling at Cloud. But if you are a catcher and you set your glove perfectly right outside of the outside corner, and the pitcher throws it, he just dots it, gets it right here. You don't move the glove at all, that is a strike. If you go for that exact pitch and he accidentally, you know, he lets it fly and it barely catches the top right, you know, inside corner, and that's a ball, in my opinion. And I don't like that it's you know reverse now, that it's more just throw hard and try to get it in the zone rather than hit the glove, master your command.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:41

Yeah, there was an instance in in spring training that really comes to mind where Logan Webb was on the mound, Patrick Bailey sets up inside, Logan Webb yanks it outside, and it's one of those classic, like, even if it is a strike, like you're never gonna get that call just because the pitch was so off, but then Bailey went to the helm, the the the double tap. They went to the challenge and it was a strike. And you know, by the rules, like that's exactly what you're supposed to use it for. Like when you think a pitch is a strike and you have enough conviction, or otherwise you think it's a ball, go to the go to the double tap. I think the one to the purest element, like I don't like outright hate this, um, but there's two things that come to mind when you talk about the purest. Um I thought about this with the pitch clock of like, remember the Harper go-ahead Homer against I think it was Suarez. Um when you think of moments like that, I think mention someone mentioned like what if the pitch clock was a thing, like and there was like a pitch clock violation, and then like that moment never happens. And I do think about that with the ABS, like, what if it's game seven of the World Series? Or I think of like 2010 NLCS game six, Brian Wilson, you know, strikes out Ryan Howard looking. You know, Ryan Howard could just you know tap the helmet and then you know that moment's overturned. So I I think about that, like there's eventually gonna be a point where like a great ending is like it's gonna have ABS, like it's inevitable, it's going to happen at some point. The other thing, and I want to throw this over to you. This is kind of the Michael Irvin, we're losing recipes, we're losing opportunities for people to just get blood red mad and argue. Like, there is no Kyle Schwarber throwing his helmet after the Angel Hernandez if the ABS system is a thing. And again, this is like all purest in me, like someone that like I do love a good baseball argument. And we're we don't have as many opportunities to argue because you can go to replay, you can you can now go to the challenge. Like, maybe that's good. Maybe. But like, would we know Earl Weaver? Well, I mean, we would know him, but like when I think of Lou Pinella, I think of him kicking dirt. When I think of Earl Weaver, I think of him getting tossed, Bobby Cox getting tossed. So I don't know. Like, do you where do you stand on that? Like, is it a good thing that we're losing out on opportunities for people to argue, or is it kind of lose a little would are we losing recipes, like Michael Irvin said?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:02

You know, I I think this goes back to me waxing poetic about the uh the baseball fights, that there's just this underlying small simmer of anger, or you know, like or something that could just explode at any given moment, uh, in in some of the mundaneity of this game. And we are losing those opportunities, and I'm going to miss the the manager yelling at an umpire, you know, throughout history. I I love that in Don Kelly's second game as manager of the Pittsburgh Parts, he got tossed. Uh they didn't have a bench coach at the time, and we were wondering for like a solid ending like who is running the ship here? Like, what is going on here? But it was uh Yeah. It's something that I guess I hadn't fully grasped yet. That we are losing more and more of those avenues. Like I I think we said last time, like, oh yeah, for sure, if any manager was going to be tossed.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:00

arguing the robo on first my money was gonna be on Derek Shelton but he it's he can't do that again you can't argue the robots you can't argue the robots the robots are technically right the best type of right so yeah I'm gonna use that I don't know about that because we are as someone that lives in the Bay Area and has to see the million AI billboards when I drive into the city I think some of these robots need to be a little wrong I think we need to we took that I know you don't know this but we took down the Coca-Cola billboard in San Francisco classic billboard really had no function but and now we got the AI do you know which billboard I'm talking about you look like you know which one I'm talking about yeah with the with the bottle no not not the Coke bottle at the ballpark oh it's oh it's like this it's this it's this old billboard it was it had like it was like super I think it lit up it was super analog looked really cool and now it's all these AI billboards so yeah like you know we got technology we're gonna use it maybe in the NFL we could use a little more I don't think we need to keep the chains I think we can I think we can figure that out oh I love the chains I miss the chains the j the uh the Jadeavion clowney uh moment in college football where like you know the chains were wrong instantly makes a game saving tackle you know sometimes I think we do need I this is all I'm gonna say a human element of the game I don't dislike Alex where can we find your work you can find me on Twitter at AlexJ Stumpf I have a podcast with North Shore 9 called off beat where I take a daily look at the parts and I got a sub stack called Book Rule Books. Book rule book rule book rule book rule it's a ground rule double Alex I'm tired of nonsense it's in the book but anyhow this was fun again we will come back next week and we will talk about our favorite uh MLB flute games I'm gonna be really excited to figure out what we dig up but until next time Alex appreciate you for coming on we'll talk later