Splash Considerations Ep. 10: A Meteor & A Reaper

On the latest episode of Splash Considerations, Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) has Justice blindly rank six "fluke" games to begin the episode. Alex and Justice then talk about Mike Trout's insane series against the New York Yankees, Mason Miller's absurd dominance and Jordan Walker's breakout.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to another episode of Splash Considerations. My name is Justice Delosanto, San Francisco Giants B reporter for the Bay Area News Group, San Jose Mercury News, East Bray Times, whatever you want to call us, as long as you read, as long as you subscribe. And what you're about to hear is a solo episode of the MLB corner that I've been doing with longtime Pittsburgh Pirates for Alex Stump. For those of you who may have been listening to previous episodes, previous segments that we've done, you'll notice that, or you've noticed that these have pretty much come at the end of episodes, and that's pretty much past the hour mark once I do Giants talk, once I do a series preview. So I just wanted to break this into its own separate episode so it's kind of not buried at the end of episodes, and that's kind of gonna give us a little more leeway to dig into more subjects going forward, so there's no concern with time. So what you're about to hear is a conversation that Alex and I recorded on Friday. It was initially gonna be lumped into the last episode that I did with John Shea and Alex Golden. So you'll hear some references to earlier in the podcast. Uh, there is no earlier in the podcast with this episode because it's stuff that was referenced in the Friday episode. So looking forward to doing these, uh, continuing to do these going forward. It's a lot of fun to talk with Alex, as I mentioned. I've known him for years now. He's a really good friend of mine, and I think I hope that kind of gets reflected in the episode and the banter that we have going back and forth. And I also wanted to quickly highlight that on the YouTube channel, we passed a thousand subscribers, and that means a lot because when I started doing the YouTube stuff, I think I was at like 25. So definitely hasn't been the uh the most meteoric of rises, but definitely uh appreciative to everyone who subscribe. Appreciate anybody who follows on Apple or Spotify. And if you're not subscribed, if you're not following on Apple or Spotify, please do if you do feel so inclined. A lot of stuff in this world costs a lot of money, but you can take some solace in knowing that it is still only$3.99 to subscribe to follow on YouTube or Spotify or Apple. So that's my little preamble uh for this episode. Here's my conversation that I had on Friday with Alex. It's time for another edition of MLB Corner, and I'm joined once again by longtime Pittsburgh Pirates Reporter and my good friend Alex Snuff. Alex, how are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Doing well. How much pirate talk are we doing today?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Alex, I regret to inform you that the SWAT team is outside. They've got snipers pointed at me. They said if you talk buccos for more than 30 seconds, we're not just gonna fire away. We're gonna take away the podcast entirely. So there will be very minimal, if any, buck. I do have a pot uh a Pittsburgh reference for you based off one of the subjects we're gonna talk about. I think you can figure it out by the time we get there, but uh there will be no bucko talk. And uh this was not part of the original itinerary when we planned this out, but there's two things I want to quickly touch upon. Uh, first is that right before we started recording, great uh news came out that Garrett Anderson, uh longtime angel, one of the best angels in franchise history, passed away. He was 53. So it just incredibly you know sad news to you know, right as we're about to start recording. Um, obviously I don't have like a ton of memories about like watching Garrett Anderson play like live, but you see the highlights, you see the stats. Like he was just one of the best angels in franchise history, and it's it's a sad day in baseball.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah, I mean I I never got the chance to talk to him. Uh growing up though, like the 2002 World Series was the first one that I really locked in on, and obviously he's gonna be one of the main characters of the eventual world champions. Uh good thing to say on a mostly giants podcast, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. I'm sure. Let's relive those memories. Yeah, I'm sure anybody who's made it this part in the podcast is is thrilled to hear about the two. This is that's actually not the first time the 2002 World Series has been referenced during this episode.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Um that's crazy work, but no, no, that was, I mean, like I said, it was the first World Series I really locked into, so I always took a gleam to Garrett Anderson as a player and a sad day for the game.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Sweet swinging lefty, 53 years old, far too young. Uh, the other thing that I wanted to mention is that we didn't, you know, put in any research to this because it literally just happened. But the San Diego Padres got sold. I think it's 3.8 billion. That's the highest uh a team has sold for. And again, I didn't do a ton into it, but it looks like it's gonna be a little more private equity coming into the game. And you know, maybe next week we dissect that a little more. But um, I'm just interested to see which direction you know these Padres go in because under the late Peter Seidler, he kind of enabled AJ Prellor to do a lot of wheeling and dealing, and we've kind of seen with some of these private equity, you know, owned or partially owned teams that not as much wheeling and dealing. So we'll kind of see we'll kind of see. I I do want to take some a couple days to digest this, but just kind of curious to see which direction this Padres team goes in.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah, uh, like you said, I think it's 3.9, uh biggest for biggest sell of a team in MOB history. Still pales in comparison to like a lot of NFL teams and you know, some NBA, you know, sales right there. So I can't help but keep that in mind whenever you know the salary cap is going to be such an important part of this next impending lockout, and you know, that's a big reason why NFL teams get valued so high is because owners know how much they are going to make every year. It is a very safe investment. So interesting sale to say the least.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, I think it was tipping pitches had a tweet that was like, yeah, here's the the highest grossing sale, or whatever the language is, like, here's the highest sale in MLB history. It's proof that you know we need a first salary cap. Do not look at the tweet below about how much this sale was worth. So again, maybe we talk about that a little more uh next week. Uh, we've got some baseball to talk about. It it feels like now that we're in the thick of the season, we do this once a week. And initially when I started this, I was like, how much baseball are we gonna actually? There's a lot of baseball to talk about, but before getting into what is happening now, I want to follow up on last week. We tried to figure out like off the top, like the biggest flute games of all time. We came up with some names, Philip Humber, uh Michael Perez with his three-homer game. And you texted me and you said, I want you to blind. I'm gonna give you, you're gonna give me some games to blind rank. How many do how many did you come up with?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

How many I I will admit two of these are kind of similar, so I'll give you the choice. Do you want five or six?

SPEAKER_01 7:19

Let's go six. Six is we're gonna do let's give the people what they want. I don't even know if they want this, but it's it's gonna be fun for us. That's all that matters. Okay, then yeah, biggest blind ranking, biggest flute games.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah, and and just to clarify if you missed last episode, uh Joe Adele robbed three home runs for America's team.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

And then Alex, why are they America's team?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Oh, buddy. So he robbed three home runs for them, and he still ranks uh in the as a below average fielder. He was one of the worst fielders of all time. It really was kind of like an out-of-nowhere game. So I've got a list here. Some of these are very accomplished players, some of these are players that you know them just for this one thing. All these I look at where did that come from? So we're gonna do six. One we talked about last week, so we're gonna have that to set the pace for you. Okay, Philip Humber's perfect game. Now, I'm also gonna give you an option here. Yes, I can give you additional stats or context, or you could go in blind and just go.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

I'm gonna go into this completely blind. So I have my notebook right here.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

So And I'm also gonna clarify real fast, these are all in the last 30 years, so I'm not gonna hit you from something from the dead ball era or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

We're not gonna do a snuffy, I forget what his last name is. The Yankee shortstop. He probably had some crazy game back in the day. Um Philip Humber's perfect game. The immediate temptation is to say number one. Um, because like Philip Humber was not in a super accomplished major league. Like, that was to borrow a Bill Sim. I'm gonna I'm already borrowing the Bill Simmons term as far as like MLB corners, so we might as well keep going where this is like that was his Apex Mountain. Um, but because I'm a little scared of what your brain can conjure up, again, this is blind, so I'm gonna I'm gonna say two for net. Like this this might look foolish in retrospect, but I think there might be some shenanigans coming up. So for right now, I'm gonna say Philip Pumber, uh, his perfect game. That's gonna be my number two.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Just to give a little extra context for the readers, Philip Pumber pitched in eight years. Only once made 20 starts of a season. That's a lot longer than I thought he pitched. I mean, there's a lot of like two games in one year, three games in one year. So, like parts of eight seasons, 97 games played, 51 starts, 16 and 23 with a 531 ERA. He was perfect for one day, though.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, I think I might look back on this ranking and just say, like, why didn't you have Philip Humber as number one? But that's the beauty of it. I don't know what other five games you're gonna give me, and I'm very scared. So, second, second game you got for me, Alex. What do we got?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

This is the oldest entry on the list. This is the only one that's going back to the 20th century. Fernando Tatis Sr. hits two grand slams in one inning.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Ah, so that's another one where I'm like, that might be number one because that's just there have been 27, I think it's 27 perfect games. The Tatis one has never been done before, and like not just never been done, but never it's off the same pitcher. Um man, this is this is what I mean when it's like it's so hard because I just don't know like the spectrum of like what you can pull from. I'm tempted to if it helps you out here. No, no, no. I don't want any help. I want this to be as blind as possible. I think these are all bangers for what it's um I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go with another safe option because I think that there's there's room for another number one. So I'm gonna go three. Despite the fact that this has never been done before, I will say like Fernando Tatis was like like senior was a good major league player. So um despite the fact that it's never happened before, like the fact that it was him, not necessarily shy. I'm actually gonna go number four. I'm gonna go number four here. I'm gonna go number four. So we got Humber at two, we've got Tatis Sr. at four. So I I again I'm still concerned about the direction of where we're gonna go. All right, third entry.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Uh, that was in 1999, by the way. Fernander Tatis hit 34 homers this year. He never hit more than 18 in his 11-year major league career. Outside of that, the third one I got for you. Benji Molina hits for the cycle.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Oh my god, pigs have flown in Boston. Um oh my god, this is an this is a banger. Okay, as I as I think about this, I do you know about the Benji Molina Homer where he doesn't score? No. Do you know about this? So big shout out to Andrew Baggerly for this friend of the program, Andrew Baggerly. I think this was like the very first, one of the first years of replay review. What basically happens is Benji Molina, I think it was an opposite field homer that didn't get initially called a homer. I think it was at probably what was ATT at the time. And if I'm remembering correctly, it's a single. I think it's Emmanuel Burris pinch runs, but then after the fact, they go to review and they deem it, it was actually a homer. But Emmanuel Burris is already on first base. Benjamin Molina's out of this game. So Emmanuel Burris has to finish rounding the bases. So Benji Molina homers, he does not get the run scored. I think I'm remembering that correctly, and it just absolutely broke baseball reference. I think that there is like I'll have to dig this up. I think I'm remembering it correctly. Um, but as I'm stalling, trying to think of Benji Laheed from the talk, I'm actually, you know what? I'm gonna go I'm gonna go last. I'm gonna go last because you can get some this is this this is the crazy the reason I say that is because sometimes you can just get a fluke copy at like yeah, Benji, Benji's a big guy. He's a big guy. There's a reason to the call is pigs have flown in Boston, which is a crazy call in retrospect, but because you can get some weirdness, and it was Fenway, it was a Fenway special there, crazy bounce. I'm gonna go Benji Molina last, and I'm gonna guess that that's the only triple he's hit in his career.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

No, he hit six in his career. Six? Okay. That was the final one of his career. Uh, he was 35 years old too. So Benji was never fleet of foot. MOB season.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Was that 2010?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

That was 2010.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

That was 2010. Obviously, Benji Molina famously traded uh to the Texas Rangers so that they can make room for Bush Deposey, and then we all know how the World Series went. So we've got Humbert 2, Tatis at six uh four, Benji Molina at six. I fear that I may have miscalculated this, but who cares? We we go on.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Armando Golarado, which is the twenty-eight out perfect game.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

This is great. This is great podcast I can do the the visual the you can't see it, but I'm like hitting my foot with this pen. Um I mean obviously like there's it obviously isn't statistically a perfect game, but it's a perfect game in our hearts. It's a perfect game in our hearts. I think there's like been an instance of somebody taking a perfect game into extras, if I'm remembering that it's for sure happened with a no-hitter. Wasn't that the Rich Hill thing? Like, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah, Rich Hill took a no-hitter in Pittsburgh where he had a perfect game going into the ninth, and then an error happened in Yeah. Josh Harrison in the tenth.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

I'm not ready to give away my number one slot. I do kinda I'm gonna go three. I'm gonna go three. You're gonna go three. I'm gonna go three. I I don't know if I like it at three, but I wanna keep that number one slot open. So I'm gonna go Gallaraga at number three for right now. So we got two more slots, the one and the five. We got Humber at two, Gallaraga at three, Tatisa at four, Benji Molina at six.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah. And for Galaraga future context, he only pitched 13 starts after 2010. Which is the year that he had that 28L perfect game. So he he had a nice little run beforehand, three straight seasons of at least 24 starts. But that was pretty much the apex. Sounds like a good apex. It's a damn good apex. Prince Fiodor. It's an inside the park home run.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Five. Just instant five. And I don't know, I don't know if I'm gonna like who the number one is, but this is my bed. I must lay in it. Alex, who is my who do I got for my number one?

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Flute. You gave you gave the giant Homer answer. Travis Ishikawa walking off to send the Giants to the World Series.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Oh, that's uh that's that's that's perfect. This was not planned. I want the podcast listeners to know this was not planned.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Um, I don't think I tried to bait you.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

I really tried to try to perfect world. That would have been. It just ended with the the perfect harmony. Like, Giants fans obviously don't need to know Ishikawa's arc. Like he was, I think it was a rookie in 2020, 2010, had like a solid rookie season, bounced around. The man was on the verge of quitting baseball, last ditch effort, somehow ends up back with the Giants, ends up back as a left fielder, and then just the biggest swing of his career by far. And it is interesting because like when you think of like you know, some of the best moments in postseason history, like what the typically the guys, like it just ends up like the guys who take these swings are like legendary Hall of Fame players. Okay, the the blind ranking is over. Ishikawa's number one. So we're going I want to get to something in a second. So Ishikawa number one, Humber 2, Gallaraga 3, Tatis 4, Prince 5, Benji 6. I don't hate that list. Uh what's a bigger I'ma I'ma turn this to you. What's a bigger fluke? The Ishikawa home run to send them to the World Series, or Miguel Rojas to tie up the game, game seven.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I mean in both cases, not the guy you expect for very different reasons. Show he was on deck over Rojas. Nobody outside of San Francisco or Pittsburgh who he debuted with that season pretty much knew who Travis Ishikawa was before that home run. And then Rojas, it's just like if you were told that someone in that lineup was gonna hit a game time home run, he was gonna be ninth. He would be the last guy you would expect right there. I I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go with Ishikawa, though. Just like it was so he has his career highlight. There is no question of what he hit one of the greatest home runs in his franchise's history. He is forever immortalized. He never has to buy a beer in the bay. Where you know, Miguel Rojas, as great as his home run was. Man, there's just so much in that game that I could see you kind of forgetting that he was the one who sent it to extras.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

I will never forget that because it's one of my favorite baseball calls of all time. And I know that's recency bias, but no, I I mean this. Joe Davis, just this cathartic, no way. Like, he's like, he hasn't had a hit in a month. It is just the it's just such a great call. Because if you listen back to it, Joe Davis was like setting up for the Blue Jays to win the World Series and that battle with Otani and then Miguel Rojas. No way. It it was such a I mean, that was my reaction. Just no way. Um this was fun. We need we need to figure out like another way to make this either a recurring thing or run this back.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

This is gonna be recurring.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

This has we gotta we gotta have a bit. It's always good to have a podcast bit, and a podcast bit that you have, Mr. Stumpf, is America's team. Because we're gonna transition back to the California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County. And last podcast we talked about the Joe Adele game. We're gonna talk about the Mike Trout series. And, you know, when it's all said and done, like maybe this series is like maybe it doesn't crack like his top five, ten. Who knows? Like, I haven't done like the crazy amount of research on this, but there's a deleted, there's a deleted scenes podcast that we recorded cut like earlier this month. Deleted on my part because it just got way too long. Um, but one of the things you talked about, like what you wanted, actually, you know, tell the people like what you wanted for the season. We were talking about like our biggest curiosities, and one of them that you said was I wanted to see Mike Trout have another year in the sun.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Like, I have no false givings that you know America's team is going to compete for a division or the playoffs or a world series. Alex, why is it America's team? Oh, brother. I mean, they are it's you're in America and you'd be like, that's the team. So I just wanted to have one more year, at least one more year, where Mike Trout was just him. And no, not like, you know, he's gonna put up nine, ten war like he did in his prime, but just a year where he hits 30, 40 bombs. We see him in an all star game. There is no, oh, he's hurt, or oh, he's slumping, or oh, this team is just not worth checking in at all, and he gets lost in the in the shuffle. It's like this guy was so important to this game. 15, 10, 15 years ago. He doesn't deserve to just go out, you know, patting the stats a little bit to like barely get to 500 homers or anything like that. No, he deserves some moments in the sun. I wanted it this year. That series in Yankee Stadium, I loved it. I love that he went into the biggest venue in this sport and he just shoved. He and Judge had some fun, but he came out on top.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

It's one of those series where, like, I can't pretend like I was watching every game, like, but I do go on uh r slash Reddit or all-size baseball, and you know, you just see like Trout Homer again. Trout Homer again. It's like, wait, how many homers? He had five homers in four games. And I do want to point out that four of those homers, they were either they either tied the game or they gave the angels the lead. He's the first player with five homers in a series against the Yankees since 1990. Uh, I think the Sarah Lang stat was like the first to Homer in four straight games against the Yankees. Was that the stat?

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Something something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

It was something to that effect, and it was just like it's one of those series where it's like, oh, that it's the it was reminding me, it's it's this dumb Lightning McQueen meme, and it's like when you're when Unk still got it, or something like that. And it was just a beautiful thing to see because of what you mentioned, how important he has been for the game of baseball. And I remember in 2024 when he ended up having to be out for the season, he only played like 30 games. I remember listening to Effectively Wild, and they said like he just kind of might be Griffy at this point, and like not in a good way, like Griffy in the sense that we never really saw him get to kind of ride out into the sunset. It was injuries, it was inconsistency, and by the time we got to the end of it, it just wasn't the Griffey that you know you think of in your mind's eye when that image comes to mind. And this was if it was only even if it was for just but a series, this was 2011, 2012. Oh my god, that is the best player in the game, Mike Trout.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah, and like I said, I have no yeah, he's not gonna win a fourth MVP. We get that, but you know what? Every once in a while he can have those bursts, and I just want to see a couple of those this year. En route to like a 30-something homer year. I think that's very achievable. The effectively wild Griffey comp is disgustingly accurate, in my opinion. I mean, it's one of those I hate that, I can't argue it. So yeah, I I want him to have just a couple more days like that. It it was fun to relive and you know, uh have the ratatouille moment and be like, oh, it's 20, it's 2012 again.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, and it's kind of an outside. I know, like, this is not gonna be like he's a hall of famer. Like, it should be 100%. If you don't vote him in, I don't know what to tell you. But to kind of get really nerdy about it, I think for me, I want to see him get to 100 war. It's just like it is it's for me, it is like the ultimate benchmark of like you are inner circle hall of fame. He's currently at about 88. He's already been worth about like one point something this year. So it would take a couple like really good seasons, like at the minimum, like two, like a couple more two or three war seasons for him to get to that point. And this this type of season, again, it's super early. The the thing with Trout is always can he stay healthy? He's been healthy so far, he's playing center field again. But if this ends up being, you know, the start of like a kind of a renaissance season or whatever you want to call it, like this this uh this could honestly be our next kind of blind ranking thing. Like one of my favorite types of seasons is like the unexpected, like he's still got it season. Like the out of nowhere, like he'd kind of been down for a couple seasons and then like boom. That's why I say like Buster Posey's 2021 for Giants fans might be their favorite season for him, because it was like we didn't know you still had this in you. So it's off to a great start. We can't say definitively like he's gonna hold, but it does seem like the juice is there, and if anything, we just got this beautiful four games in the Bronx. So much so the Yankees fans in the in the stands fighting it out. Too much greatness to comprehend. They had to fight it out. I don't know if you saw the clip, but there was some fisticuffs thrown.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

I didn't see the clip, but you sold it so well. You sold it so well.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

It was so great. So we're gonna transition from uh America's team, as you say. You won't give me an explanation, don't know why. We're gonna we're gonna transition to I don't know if he's technically a Yinzer, but he has played at PNC Park. But we're not talking about a pirate. Alex, we're talking about Mason Miller. Good God, man. That's that's all I'm gonna say. Good god. Like, oh what the hell, man? What the hell? This dude is unreal.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

I'm I'm gonna hit you with a question right off the bat, and maybe we should hold on to this, but I I don't know how you can look at Mason Miller without this being a thought. Yes. Does he have a shot at the Sayo? And I know I'm saying this after 10 innings for him. And it is mid-April, and it's way too early to have, you know, take any of this seriously. But it's one of those like what if he doesn't let up the gas and the ERA, I mean it's not gonna be zero, but it's disgustingly low, and he's striking out 60-70% of the batters that he's facing, and it's just unadulterated dominance. Can we can we put him in the discussion?

SPEAKER_01 28:00

I think the thing well, I think it's important to contextualize it. This is the first season where we're gonna have the reliever of the year award, the BBWA a reliever of the year award. So he's already like that's that's his that's his to lose. But like my my my head, it it automatically, I'm pointing to my head, it automatically wants to say no, but my heart, it wants to say yes. And I remember I saw this tweet back in October because I think he he hasn't allowed a run in like 30 innings. It I'll give just to provide some numbers, 23 strikeouts, he's faced 30 batters, his ERA is zero, his FIP is negative 1.45. For those of you who don't know, yes, you can have a negative FIP. That's how dominant he's been. He's sitting at 102 with a devastating slider. I think it's gonna have to be like I think it will have to be a perfect storm, and I want to know your thoughts on this too. It's gotta be like 70 innings.

unknown 29:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

He's gotta like, he can't blow a save all year. It has to be like not just a sub-1 ERA, it has to be like a 0.5 ERA with like a borderline negative flip. I think that's what it's gonna take, especially because like if you are a starting pitcher who can throw 180, 190, 200, that's just technically more valuable. But if he if he even like is in the realm of holding this up in August and September, I think it will be a legitimate conversation, and I think it will force a lot of voters for the Cy Young to really reconsider what they deem to be the most valuable because he's just been that good.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

He's just been that good. Yeah, he has been. And and look, I get he is not gonna come close to uh the war title, you know, for pitchers, you know, like Skeens, and and there's just gonna be so many guys who are gonna be ahead of him. But how many pitchers every time they throw? Do you always see tweets? Do you always see Instagram posts? Do you always just be like it's always on you know the highlight reels? It's it's he is just destroying, right? And it's just untouched. And I I do think you can vibe your way to a Cy Young.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

This okay, this is like this is a really good point because both of us Alex, let's face it, we're we're nerds. We use savant all the time. We like to dig into savant, but we are also purists. And sometimes, as you said, sometimes it's just gotta be vibes, man. And this is a this is a vibe. And speaking of vibe, I I think we should have known this was gonna happen when his first save appearance at Petco, he comes out the blind by corn. And like this, it just has like the I'll I'll throw this over to you. It just like aura for aura. This is an incredibly gen Z question, I'm sorry, but it's coming to me right now. Aura for aura, vibe for vibe, Mason Miller, Edwin Diaz. Nothing more than aura for aura, vibe for vibe. I know I I just had so many listeners. If you got to this point, they're like, this was the point where we're done. Because like it is just such like a like there is there is something beautiful to this game with like a dominant closer. Even I think okay, here's the question I'll pose for you. What is even more entertaining? A dominant starter or a dominant closer?

SPEAKER_00 31:44

I mean starter for me. I'd rather watch a whole afternoon than one. But but it's a fair question. I'm gonna for Miller and Diaz. Right now, I would say Miller. Now, like Metz Diaz, I think was better, but like I think one of the things that goes into the aura, whatever the kids are gonna be saying, is it has to be for a team that's for lack of a better way of saying it, a little bit of a little brother. Like the Padres are still the Dodgers' little brother, the Mets are the Yankees' yet little brother in New York. And you know, you take them on, it's like, but we've got the ninth. You gotta beat us in the first eighth because we've got the ninth locked down. So I I think just because I I can't get as excited for Edwin Diaz just joining a Death Star and becoming part of the bully because of it. So for that reason, I'm gonna go with Mason Miller, even though a year or two ago I probably would have said Edwin.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

That's fair.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Here I am saying the 380 million Mets are a little brother, but you you get what I'm what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Yeah, I mean, you know, you can do the 27 rings and all that stuff, but you know, it's the the Mets haven't been in the World Series in a while. Like they still like it, it it's it's duh Jankees lose, it's not the Mets lose. Yeah, for a reason. It's I I I hate I try not to be a prisoner of the moment. And there's a lot of career left for Mason Miller, there's just so much career left. And there's obviously like can he stay healthy? Like, yeah, yeah, like I get all that. But there haven't like even when I think of like Kimbrell and Jansen, like for me, like just the automatic, like, like I don't think of Miller like in that conversation. Like my mind automatic just as as far as like how nasty he is, it just automatically goes to like this is Rivera Hoffman. Like, this is like inner circle cloak best closer of all time trajectory that we're watching. Because it's not, it's this is the thing, too. And if you want to nerd out about this part, please do. It's not just that he has 103, that slider is just like unreal. And like, if you're a hitter, you have to expect the 103. And then you like you can't really just prepare for the slider, like it's like a 14 mile an hour difference, and the 14 miles an hour is 89 to 103. So that's where my mind goes, is like we might legitimately be watching someone who could just be like the best closer of all time, if not for the actual amount of saves, just pure and utter, as you said, unadulterated dominance. I don't want to get like too far ahead of myself, but it's like, dude, it's just it's just unreal. It's just unreal. And a question I'll pose to you because I I I I drank too much coffee this morning. I've been way too excited. Um what would it take for Mason Miller to do as of right now to make it that the Leo DeVri trade doesn't be one-sided on the A's end? Like, like how good would Miller have to be? And like how like like how good can Devri be? And and you kind of look at it and still say, like, yeah, the Padres won that trade.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

There's a it's it's a lot, is it's a lot to consider. This is not fair to Mason Miller. This is not fair to him at all. But there's really only one answer to this, and it's really the only thing to justify the entire AJ Prelor era, and that's hoisting a trophy. Like we are it Mason Miller is just another offshoot on this all-in approach, and why you sign Manny Machado, why you extend Manny Machada, while you sign a Xander Bogartz, while you extend a Fernando Tatis, while you make a Juan Soto trade, while you make a Mason Miller trade, while you it just keeps going on and on and on, and how their farm system is finally, after all these years, coming up empty. But no one's gonna care if they have that, you know, first title. So I I it's not fair to put it all on Mason Miller. He could win Cy Young's, he could be great, but if they I mean there is a there is an outcome where you know if he wins Cy Young's and he becomes one of the most dominant, has one of the most dominant runs for a closer era. That and of course, you know, the the the Ace players have to pan out also in this whole scenario. But I I really kind of view the Padres through one lens anymore. They are no longer, they are always going to be competitive. At their worst, they are going to at least be above 500 and competing for a wild card late into the season. They have to finish it. They've beaten the Dodgers in the playoffs. That's not enough. They have to win it all at this point. So I I just view this trade as another extension of that of this is either all worth it, or we're going to remember AJ Prellor as a more aggressive and much richer Billy Bean of just always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Want to give a quick shout-out to friend of the program, Foolish Baseball, Foolish Bailey, for his video that he just did. 50-minute video, I guess technically 49, on uh AG AJ Preller and uh his tenure with the San Diego Padres. I want to stay in the National League. I want to transition to your division, my old division, the NL Central. Because Alex, it finally happened. Jordan Walker has finally arrived. He is broken the hell out. His his, I think it's eight Homers now. The OPS is above a thousand. The baseball savant pays, it's it's like Playboy Cardi. It's a whole lot of red, and he has finally broken out.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

Everything on the savant page I looked up from X Woba to Bat Speed is 95th percentile or higher. It's ridiculous. Yeah, uh I'll admit it. I think I kind of wrote him off coming into the year. Maybe not like fully, but like kind of accepting like he's never going to be what we thought he was going to be. Uh, he was in his fourth major league season, saw tools, a lot of up down, and he's just been brilliant this year. I also was kind of struck. He's still only 23.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

He's 23. This is like the new Jason Tatum, he's only 19.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

Yeah, I mean, that's I I will admit, I thought he was a little older at this point. I did too. I thought he was like 25. I did too. It's like, oh, okay, he's breaking up. No, but then you look at like baseball history, like, yeah, 23, age 23 breakout season is very reasonable. That's what a lot of players do. What do we why is this so but yeah, he's doing it on the biggest stage. He's keeping the Cardinals. I don't think the Cardinals are gonna compete for the playoffs or in an essential spot, but like he's keeping them relevant in the early goings. Uh, let's see how far he can keep this going. I I don't think he's gonna finish the year with a 7-10 slant percentage, but I think it's reasonable that he can have a 900-something OPS, you know, and that he can hit 30 homers and that he can establish himself as the type of player everyone in St. Louis thought he could be. Uh he wasn't that guy who could, you know, extend that window post-Yachty for them, but he looks like he's in a position that, hey, if this rebuild goes right, I will be at the center of it.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Yeah, and the thing with Walker, and this is gonna be this is one of my favorite baseball terms, is he's always been very toolsy. Like the bad speed has always been elite. Like he's a really good runner. He's just never been able to put it together. And I'm guilty of this too. It's like he made his debut in 2023, got off to the really hot start, kind of tapered off the rest of that season. 2024 and 2025 were awash. I can't, I don't remember the exact numbers, but he was a below average hitter. I think his OPS last year maybe start with a five or a six. Like it's it's and again, you you never want to write off a 23-year-old. And you know, we talked about Joe Adele in the last one. It's like it took him a couple years before really establishing himself as a quality major leaguer, and he hit 38 homers last year. But it's always just fun to see somebody, you know. I I talked about like it's always fun to see like the older players where they have those couple seasons where they're at the end and then they have a breakout, like an unexpected one. It's always also fun to see somebody struggle for a couple of years early in their careers and then just snap of a finger kind of break out. And again, small sample size, yada yada yada, but he's doing all the right things. And uh, you kind of have to see him quite a fair bit amount of times. The buckos, we're we're talking about the buckles, I'm ducking my head. But the the Buckos are gonna have to see him uh quite a fair amount of times going forward.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

And since you just brought up Joe Adele as a comp, like Joe Adele has established himself as a quality major leader, but is he gonna have more than three war in a season ever? Or thereabouts? Like, I don't think so. Jordan Walker is looking like someone who could compete for an MVP this season so far. So there's this is a different type of breakout. Like, yeah, and I'm I'm not trying to diminish you know Joe Adell's you know contributions. He has he was kind of in that career purgatory of like, is he gonna be a big leaguer or not? And he's proved that yes, he is. He could be a quality one. Jordan Walker is in a fairly similar spot, and he's like, Yeah, not only am I a major leaguer, I am going to be one of the best players in the National League.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

One of the best players in the National League so far. Although I will say there is a certain guy in Los Angeles that might be locking up a fifth MVP, and we're not talking about Edwin Diaz, and uh, we're not talking about Alex Call or Dalton Rushing, although Dalton Rushing, good start of the year. Um, last thing I want to get to, just we're gonna touch on this super briefly. We talked about the Connor Griffin extension. I'm ducking. We're talking we talked about the Connor Griffin extension in the last one. Uh, another extension given out to a young shortstop with not a whole lot of playing time, that being Kevin McGonagall. Uh, I think it's eight years, 150. Just thoughts on the the Tigers making this move and us seeing another super young player without a whole lot of experience get locked up.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

I mean, McGonagall owes uh Connor Griffin and his agents that excel a beer. Maybe not a beer, he's 19. What's what's no beers yet? Uh a LaCroixico. Yeah, he owes them Panera or something. I don't know. But because that that uh Connor Griffin signed nine years 140 with 10 million in escalators, McGonagall signs eight years 150, but because of he signed uh April 15th, it's effectively a nine-year deal, counting this year, kind of like how Connor Griffin's they run through the same amount of years. Uh he just gets an extra 10 million in addition to the 10 million in escalators, also. So yeah, he he he owes Connor Griffin a little bit for setting that contract and setting that precedent that you don't get options and you don't, you know, it it's just bonuses on top. And I get 30 seconds of bucko talk. They did not have uh example, they didn't have a precedent for Connor Griffin whenever they signed him, and that made negotiations somewhat difficult because any other time you sign a veteran or a young player, it's like, well, this player got is in a similar spot. Roman Anthony signed for this, so you're gonna sign something similar for this if you want a contract or whatever. There really wasn't one. I think Connor Griffin might have just changed the game for these uh pre ARP contracts by not including options at the end.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Alex, I don't know if you hear that.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

I I have that clocked at 27 seconds.

SPEAKER_01 43:58

The SWAT team, they're banging. On the door. They said too much. They said too much bucko talk. But this was a fun week of baseball. Again, just I was a little curious like how much baseball we'd able to be able to talk about in the course of a week. And we've got a lot of it to talk about. So I'm excited to see just how the rest of this season uh goes so far. Anything else you want to touch upon before we get out of here? I have three seconds of bucko talk left.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

Cam Sanders just got recalled by the Pirates. I think that's that it's over.

unknown 44:30

Bucko talk.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

Bucko Talk was over, but this is another fun episode, Alex. Justice De Los Santos, Alex Stump. Alex, where can we find your work? Where can we find the more Bucko Talk?

SPEAKER_00 44:39

You can find my audio version at uh North Shore 9. We call it Offbeat. And then I've got a sub stack called Book Rule Bucks.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

It's ground rule. It's ground rule, Alex. No, it isn't. It's ground rule. One day, one day you will learn. Justice Delosantos, Alex Stump. Thank y'all for listening to another edition of MLB Corner, and we will catch y'all next week.