The Book of Joe: 25 Exciting MLB moments coming in 2025!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey Eric, welcome back.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
It's the latest episode of Joe with Tom Berducci and Joe.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Madden and Joe. Happy twenty twenty five to you, Happy
new year, Thank you brother, you too.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
That a different kind of twenty twenty four. A lot
of things happened both on and off the field, but
very excited about on a personal level. I got through
back surgery, so I got to consider it a success.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
That's awesome. Well, let's look ahead, Okay, this is a
big year coming up. It's the year twenty twenty five,
and what I want to do, Joe, is run through
twenty five reasons to look forward to the baseball season
in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Is that okay with you?

Speaker 5 (00:53):
Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I want to get your take on this. Yeah, let's
be positive here, right listen. Okay, we're going to be surprised, right.
We all love surprises. We see things happening that we
never thought would come, like the Kansas City Royals making
the playoffs last year after losing one hundred and six
games the year before. But let's stick with things we
know are on the agenda. If you will, in twenty

(01:14):
twenty five. We're going to go in reverse order, Joe,
so we'll get through these pretty quickly. I'll start with
number twenty five. What a fantastic finish for once. I'm
waiting for one of those. You know, night you went
through this the night of one sixty two with all
this races came down of the last day of the season.
That's why they moved a starting time to the last
day to the same day noontime Eastern time. The Greater

(01:37):
season this year ends on September the twenty eighth, and thankfully,
eight of the fifteen matchups that day involved division rivals.
That's the way you want to see it end, right,
how about the Yankees finishing with the Orioles, the Diamondbacks
with Corbyn Birds now against the Padres. Nothing better than
Cardinals Cubs on the last day of the season, how

(01:59):
about that?

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah, that's about right the planet in that mel I mean,
I just think that takes obviously a little bit foresight,
nothing spectacular in that regard. So when you get to
that part of the season, I think you should want
to be able to control your own destiny to have
to sit around and watch somebody else, probably possibly a

(02:20):
lesser team, like you're saying, another division, not as much
on the line. It's always difficult regardless, it's when you're
playing for something at that time of the year. The
vibe going to the ballpark is completely different, your motivational levels, everything.
I know, we're professionals. I know it's always supposed to
be the same, but it's not. You just look at football,
what's going on with some of the teams that are
not involved right now.

Speaker 5 (02:39):
If they play a better team, it's just just the
way of the world. So it's better. It's better for everything.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
It's better for the game, it's better for spectators, it's
better for you as as a baseball person to really
have to earn this thing. So I like the idea
of going up against those that it means something within
your own division.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Number twenty four.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
On July nineteenth, we'll retire, David writes number five.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
How about that?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Remember last year they retire the numbers of Dway Goodin
and Darryl Strawberry. You don't have to be a Hall
of Famer to have your number retired. David Wright not
a Hall of Famer. He's close, but boy, he's the
definition of franchise player, isn't he Joe Number five being
retired by the Mets.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
I love when organizations retire numbers. I do you know.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
I was with the Angels. There was a couple of
numbers up on the board up there. Of course, the
Cubs have a bunch of them, and not so much
with the race obviously trying to build the tradition, and
I'm just so into that.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
You know, call me Stogie if you want. But like
I love tradition, I don't like tradition. I love it.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
I love that group that has come before and to
try to learn from them, and they're the ones you
really hold in the highest esteem. So I think it's great.
I think what Cohen's doing there is wonderful. And yes,
I'm very happy for David. Yeah, you're right. Had he
just stayed well, this guy probably would have been almost
like a rockaball DELI would have probably ended up in
the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, he's the Mets version of Don Mattingly as well,
close Hall of Famer.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Probably injuries kept them just short. By the way, it's the.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Eighth number five to be retired, the first one since
the extro has retired.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Jeff Fadwells number five in two thousand and seven, and
also will be the first single digit retired by the
New York Mets.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Interesting, mister DiMaggio, I mean I just mentioned Rockobaldeli. There's
all kinds of great fives out there. Johnny Bench, Johnny,
that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Moving on to number twenty three. Things to look forward
to in twenty twenty five. Number twenty three, Joe, this
is the fiftieth baseball season coming up in the city
of Seattle. That includes one year with the Seattle Pilots.
The city has never hosted a World Series, the longest
such drought by any metropolitan area. Yeah, year number fifty,

(04:54):
Is this the year Seattle finally gets to see a
World Series?

Speaker 4 (04:59):
I don't think so. But I do love the fan
base up there. Rocks when they're doing well. That place
really does rock. Even when they're not doing well. They
have this kind of a consistent fan base. It's not
unlike San Diego. It's almost like this cult following up there.
The Pacific Northwest has that way about them. They're very
loyal to their group. It's it's very internal. I mean,

(05:23):
this is the Pacific where this is Seattle, this is
the Grungeerry, this is you know, the big beautiful trees
in the clean air. It's all about that very fresh place.
So I've always liked going up to I've always liked
beating them up there, but it's always been a tough
place to play. And if they you know, the year
that they one hundred and fifteen whatever that was with
lou Panelo up there as the manager and intro et cetera,

(05:43):
that's that was the time.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
I don't know. I I like a lot of what
of their players.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
I like their pitching, of course, but there's always seems
to be something a little bit missing.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
And that's the best way I could describe it. I
don't know if it's the travel.

Speaker 4 (05:56):
It's a tough place to endure, just based on having
to go somewhere constantly happier season. So anyway, I always
always liked the I I would never always thought it
would be a great place to work, but I don't
think it's going to happen in the near future.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I'm with you on all those counts, you know.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
I mean, it's it's a beautiful place, as saying, you know,
the bluest skies you'll ever see, or summers in Seattle,
and that is definitely true. But yeah, I mean, listen,
they're short of offense. Still, pitching is outstanding top to bottom.
But there's something about that ballpark, Joe. I mean, it's
an extreme pitchers ballpark, and really good hitters have gone

(06:33):
there and just totally tanked in that ballpark. And you
look at the ballpark factors year after year is always
at the bottom.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
It's funny.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
You've got the two outliers, course Field and Denver obviously
pure hitters park, and you've got Seattle It's Safego, which
is a pure pitchers park, and I think it's hard
for teams to win when their ballparks are such outliers.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
It is, I mean, that's where you play half your games.
You go to the ballpark every day as a hitter,
you're faced with this and it kind of wears you
down a little bit and ins factor as big as
your confidence takes a hit, no pun intended, I guess,
but as it does, it's difficult.

Speaker 5 (07:13):
It just wears you down mentally.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
And on the other side of it, pitchers, No, listen,
if I just get this guy hit a fly ball
to center field, he's going to be out. So there's
all these different mind games, metal games going on that
really is conducive again to that wonderful pitching.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
Again, we've talked about.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
This before, the paradigm shift, doing something different with your
group and trying.

Speaker 5 (07:32):
To play different kind of a game.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
I don't know if that they would ever consider doing
something like that. I mean, just like extreme defense, extreme speed.
You know, a couple bangers would be gone and just
see if that would make a difference. But it's hard
to imagine that group that is so analytically based that
they would ever shift from the long ball norm.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, what's odd is they do have a pitching staff
to me that is World Series capable. Just in terms
of pitching, they prevent runs so well, just kind of
find more offense. By the way, behind Seattle, we talked
about metropolitan areas waiting for a World Series right behind
them Pittsburgh at forty five years, Milwaukee at forty two years,

(08:15):
Baltimore Baltimore at forty one, and Cincinnati at thirty four.
Those are two traditionally great baseball towns. Baltimore at Cincinnati.
I've seen they're more than they're fair short of World Series,
but they are on the list of waiting thirty four
years or more to see another Fall classic.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
You know that really also dates you and I I
mean just to think that I was forty years ago
in Baltimore, it's like ridiculous even to think about that. Yeah,
it's not easy to accomplish all those things people annual basis.
You know, everybody's talking about the World Series hopefuls and
who's going to get there. It's just everything's got to
break right. You gotta have the right team. God, the

(08:53):
chemistry's got to be right, the group within the clubhouse.
I'm so big into that.

Speaker 5 (08:56):
I am.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
I almost after almost every World Series victory, you're going
to hear the group talking about we are family, really
tightly knit, you know, all this kind of good stuff.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
And then to get to that point is difficult.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
How you nurture that, what the daily the day looks like,
and the conversation sound like, all that stuff matters.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
It's not just about a number.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
So yeah, it's it's incredible that it's been that long
for all those folks. And like Pittsburgh, I was a
that was my second favorite team growing up, and I
don't know their ballpark right now. Among the top three
four five all in baseball. I mean, it is it
is so wonderful a they do have a legitimate traditional

(09:37):
fan base. I've always loved everything about Pittsburgh and the Pirates,
so love to see it happen again, I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Let's move on the number twenty two of our reasons,
twenty five reasons to look forward to the twenty twenty
five baseball season. How about National League dominance? Joe, to me,
it's not even close which the better league is. I mean,
Joe Kelly took some grief, but I think he was
a little close to heart to the truth when said
the Yankees had such an easy path to get to

(10:06):
the postseason, whereas in the National League, you know, you
had teams like the Braves Andres and Phillies getting knocked down.
Last year, the National League had seven teams that won
eighty nine games. The American League had three. I don't
see it changing much, Joe. What do you see about
National league dominance this year?

Speaker 4 (10:27):
You know, is it parody or is it just a dominance?
On the one side, I mean the nationally I think
the fact that there's a couple of super kind of
super teams there. The other teams. Really, you really have
to get effort to even be considered part of getting
to the dance rows. On the other side, there is
not that, like you say in the Yankees, the easier
path to get to I don't even know, as you're
putting your team together is the what is the goal?

Speaker 5 (10:49):
Who do I have to beat to get there? And
what is it going to take to to get there.

Speaker 4 (10:53):
Maybe it's just a more passive method of putting your
group together, just knowing what I have to fight through
to get to the brass ring. So I don't know.
I mean, that's a thin slicing it, but it's true.
The National League is just full of and Atland has
been so successful and they've had a great methodology. Same
thing with Dave Dombroski and Philadelphia could talk about Andrew

(11:14):
and the Dodgers all we want, and we know what
that what that's like, and how true that is. But
there's these groups that just they're annually intimidating, whereas others
it's just like they they surface a little bit, then
they go away that they put their head back into
their shell. So I wonder if it's just it's just

(11:35):
the way things are put together in advance based on
who do we have to beat and what is it
going to take. Listen, if you're gonna you're gonna try
to beat the Dodgers, man, you got to get after it,
and you got to really and the aggressiveness of the
Padres is an example. I mean, you got to get
after it to beat those guys. And because you're if
you're just trying to like and if you can't spend

(11:57):
dollar per dollar that they do, you would almost think
it's impossible. So you've got to really get a sort
of aggressive and other areas somehow to make this thing work.

Speaker 5 (12:05):
And I think it can be done.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
But again, I just think that there's more of that
on the National League side. The American League side, maybe
not as motivated because they see there they could see
themselves getting to the playoffs regardless.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
I mean it reminds me back in the day when
the Red Sox ownership was changed. John Henry's group came
in and they realized they needed to compete with the
New York Yankees. That was where the bar was set,
and they started building teams to win ninety five games,
not just eighty eight or eighty nine, and I think
you're seeing that in the National League.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
And here's the one who said the tone.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
There's no question every year they were running up more
than one hundred wins. Didn't get there last year. The
bar is set so high, and you've seen other teams
like the mess the Phillies, the Braves try to get
to that bar, whereas the Yankees. Yeah, the World Series
team last year, but the year before that they weren't
even a playoff team.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
So you know, you can build, if we've seen.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
It, eighty six to eighty seven win team and be
comfortable win a division in the American League.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
What if I told you, Joe, for argument's sake, that.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
I could say the top five teams in baseball in
the National League Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Phillies.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Hadres buy that case. That's true.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
I'm listening. Yeah, I again, I'm just hearing that for
the first time. I yeah, that's definitely a reasonable thought.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
On the other side of the Ledger, the New.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
York's of the World, et cetera, Houston, the other groups
that have been successful in American League. It just seems
like the teams that you mentioned in the National League
are annually well, you have to consider the Mets now
annually are going to be included within that that group
that definitely is.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
Going to be vying for it.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
They got there, they got the recipes in order. You know,
everything's there. It's not just you know, the players, just
the infrastructure and their leadership and the stability in regards
to what they're building and how they're building it that
really matters too. I think it's the stability of the
group in regards to what do we think here and
what are we trying to do here? And I don't

(14:06):
care what these other teams are doing. This is what
we're going to do here. Annually, we've shown the two work.
We believe it's going to work again, and you just
keep building on those concepts or thoughts. These other teams
I don't think really know who they are or how
they want to go about their business. I mean, actually
one hundred percent believe that it's not as easy as

(14:28):
you think to develop that culture within the group, that
methodology that on an annual basis you feel strongly about that.
You even if you take a little bit of a
hitch or still stay with it and you know it's
going to be okay. And I think that's what these
groups do. They're resilient during the season. They get people hurt,
they're still abel to cover, whereas some once they get hurt,

(14:48):
they can't cover. Do you have to consider that who's
in charge, leadership, consistency of leadership, the fact that there's
not a lot of turnover constantly.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
That matters. When you report the.

Speaker 4 (14:59):
Camp as a coach, manager, as a player, and you
always see like the same dudes around and you know,
we've been pretty successful, We're going to do it again.

Speaker 5 (15:08):
That matters.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
Can I give you one more factor?

Speaker 5 (15:10):
Sure? Money? Yeah, yeah, right, here's the staff for you, Joe.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
In the last two free agent classes, there have been
fifteen players who signed contracts worth seventy five million dollars
or more. Twelve of those fifteen players signed with National
League teams, So there you go.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, and now listen, I'm not going to dispute that
at all.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (15:31):
But the big butt in the room is that when
I was with the Rays, we had to beat the
Yankees and we had to beat the Red Sox and
we did not have that. We didn't have that kind
of dough, we didn't have that kind of support financially,
but we did it. You know, we didn't win the
World Series. We took a pretty big step there. I've
always I've always believed that. And again it's back to
what I just had been talking about. You got to
build this structure and you've got to be consistent with it,

(15:53):
and you got to you got to make it work somehow.
And it just can't be exactly like them because you can't.
Like you said, you can't keep up with them step
for step. But closurally, I'm a big that you can
make a lot of noise. And I always used to say,
what difference is the money make? And I think we
went to the World Series with forty four million dollars
payroll in two thousand and eight. It wasn't as an

(16:14):
exaggerated amount of money being spent then as there is now,
but that was still percentage wise, was pretty heavy. So
I don't know, I listen, I'm not gonna argue that point.

Speaker 5 (16:23):
It's obvious. It's true.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
However, given the opportunity, that's why you got to get
after it. And it's wait, you can't if you're the Rais,
you can't try to be like the Dodgers, or if
you're the Pirates.

Speaker 5 (16:34):
You can't try to be like the Dodge.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
You got to build this within in a different way culturally,
leadership wise.

Speaker 5 (16:40):
How we're going to get this done. And you got
to be right.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
I mean with the Rays, we can never make mistakes. Financially,
you couldn't do it because it was just devastate you.
So I don't know. I still think it could be done.
I know it's not easy, but I think it could
be done. And it's got to come from consistent leadership
and not worrying about what everybody else is doing.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Let's move on to number twenty one Power Pitchers. We
saw Paul Skeins breakthrough last year. You can pretty much
book it. We know that technology now is driving run prevention,
especially pitching much faster than run production.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
That trend is not going to stop.

Speaker 3 (17:18):
If you asked me to pick one guy the group
coming out in twenty twenty five, you saw him a
little bit last year at clearing the postseason, I'd say
Jackson Job Detroit Tigers, but also throwing Bubba Chandler the Pirates,
Andrew Painter the Phillies, Kyden Dana of the Angels, and
Kumar Rocker of the Rangers, young pitching Joe.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
It just you chalk it up.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
I know they're not designed or not built up to
go two hundred innings and make thirty two starts, but
if you want swing them as stuff, it just keeps coming.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah, and it gets there quickly. That's the part that's
so in congruentum. Guess maybe like the outliers even years ago,
would get there more quickly than others. So you got
a lot of young guys here that are just jumping
very quickly and getting to the big leagues. And like
you're saying, without the I don't think the appropriate number

(18:07):
of innings pitched prior to that that permits them then
to be more inning eaters when they get here. It's
almost like, listen, they're gonna get hurt at some point here,
They're gonna blow out at some point. It's one of
those something's gonna break in their arms. We got to
get the most out of them while we can before
that does occur.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
Kind of a philosophy. But they are their wonderful schemes.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
Like I'm watching him pitch, and man the way his
arm unfolded behind him, I thought, Wow, this is gonna
be tough. To stay healthy with. But obviously he has
to this point, and maybe they again, it's just like
a Nolan Ryan, guy that grew up throwing that hard
that young, just was able to do it because he
was so strong in his legs. Anyhow, Yes, it's happening,
They're there. It's incredible to see it continue. But I

(18:48):
still like the idea of nurturing a minor league pictures
throwing mornings there and getting more more bang for your
buck out of your starters, just when it comes to
eating up innings during the course of a season.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Okay, let's go to number twenty. Let's start talking about
milestones that are upcoming.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
In twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
John Carlos Stanton needs twenty one home runs from four hundred.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
And fifty career.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
He gets another three, so that's twenty four home runs.
He will pass Carl Yastremski. It's a fortieth place on
the all time home run list. Don't look now, but
John Carlos Stanton is starting to put up Cooperstown worthy numbers.

Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah yeah, Well I saw him young, you know, and
I remember once with the Rays Andrew came back. He
went down to watch Birmingham play and I guess he
was playing against Birmingham and he came back and talked
about this guy Stanton that there was Mike stant I
think at that time, and just how hard he could
hit a baseball. And then I saw him, of course
with the Marlins, and he's had that couple of big

(19:48):
years there. The thing is, you see him at times
and up I mean quite without a better way of
putting it, I mean the chasing and really a stiff swing,
et cetera. But then when it matters, the guy just
really narrows his focus up and he's really able to
produce in very difficult moments. The fact that he can't
play the outfielder, play defense really and his inability to

(20:08):
really move and run kind of detracts when you watch him,
and it's just purely an offensive performer, which can't even
make the argument like Frank Thomas, right, you know, Frank
Thomas wasn't the best of first baseman, but god can
he hit.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
He could absolutely rake.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
So there's going to be a strong you know, you're
right if he continues his path and he gets those
homers and he keeps moving it forward and stays healthy.

Speaker 5 (20:32):
He stays healthy. Of course, he could eventually reach five hundred.
It just don't know that.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
The body breaks down, and he's so inconsistent regarding contact. However,
you cannot overlook what he's done to this point and
how will he plays in big.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Moments, which brings us to number nineteen, which is also
a milestone for John Carlos stan this one not so positive.
With twenty seven or thirty seven more strikeouts, he will
have two thousand strikeouts in his career, and that will
place him eighth my list, the eighth player ever with

(21:07):
two thousand strikeouts and by the way, not far behind him,
needing one hundred and twenty one punchouts for two thousand.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Paul Goldschmidt is new teammate.

Speaker 5 (21:17):
Really, I didn't know that about Goldie.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
You know, there was a time that you know, you
really have to be obviously a power hitter in order
to be able to be permitted to strike out that
many times. You have to be good to get the
permission to strike out that many times. And the way
the game is played over the last several years, strikeouts
really are not even considered a bad thing anymore. I
just think you have to be really, really good, like
I said, to be given permission to strike out that

(21:40):
many times.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, Reggie's is still number one in the list.

Speaker 5 (21:43):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
That proves your point. Yeah, And we're going to take
a quick break.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
When we come back, Joe, We're going to talk about
number eighteen in our list, which is a major milestone,
historic anniversary coming up, and we will talk about that
right after this. Cool Welcome back to the book Joe podcast.

(22:11):
We're going through the twenty five things to look forward
to in twenty twenty five in Major League Baseball, and
twenty twenty five will be the fiftieth anniversary of a
major decision. On December twenty third, nineteen seventy five, the
arbitrator Peter Sits ruled that pictures Andy Messersmith and Dave
McNally were free agents. Now, the major league owners disputed

(22:35):
that decision. They went to court, they appealed, they lost,
and then they figured out, well, we've got a bargain
now in our collective bargaining agreement, this new system of
free agency. When should players be free agents? Well, it
was the owner of the A's, Charlie Finley, the Maverick owner,
who said, hey, let's make everybody a free agent every
year he understood supply and demand right flood the market. Well,

(22:58):
a couple of things worked against good old Charlie. Number one,
he was such a maverick. The other owners really didn't
like him, so whatever idea he came up with, they
were not going to go along with. And the other
part was on the other side of the table was
a very smart man named Marvin Miller running the Players Association,
and he understood, you know, total free agency was too
much of a good thing, and that was not going
to work. Somehow, some way, Joe, they came up with

(23:21):
a system that is still in place today. Fifty years later.
You still need six years of service time to become
a major league free agent. Boy, it's changed baseball free agency.
They got it right the first time as far as
who should be able to be a free agent, and
we've seen it this past year, Joe. The money just
flows to these guys who are good enough to make

(23:41):
it to that point.

Speaker 5 (23:42):
I remember all that, We both remember all that Messuresmidt.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
It's kind of unique to get it right the first
time and nail it as well as they did. Yeah,
the thought of idea of being a free agent annually
really totally blows up the concept of a team and
that would not make any sense to me whatsoever. So
whoever was the cooler head, I guess Marvin Miller may
have been the guy that came up with the play,
and I'm not sure exactly how that was ironed out,

(24:06):
but yes, I cannot agree with you more. It works perfectly.
I think gives everybody an opportunity to get this right.
It was well done.

Speaker 3 (24:14):
And if you all look forward to next winter, because
we saw it was a robust and has been a
robust free agent market, just as Juan Soto and Corbyn
Burns and Max Freed and the like on the market,
I expect it to be La Guerrero Junior, Kyle Tucker
from er Valdez, Zach Gallon, Oba.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Shit, and Devin Williams.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
That's probably the top of the class for the twenty
twenty five twenty six winter.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Kyle Tucker for me, maybe that's why the Yankees did
not go after it as heavily, you know, getting Bellinger
in there.

Speaker 5 (24:43):
I mean, because Kyle Tucker to me is big.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
He's the guy that is like another version of Jan Soto,
truly is I don't people don't talk about him enough,
but if you get to work against this fella. He's
as devastating as Soto is is at bats. And the
thing about this guy, he hits lefties like their rightings.
I'm a big, big fan, so I think he's going
to be the number one sought after player this year.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
You talk about and plays defense too.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
He's outstanding at all.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
Yeah, that's why I didn't realize they was coming up
this year, So that makes more sense. I don't know
that the Yankees wanted to go through another Soto situation,
you know, getting a guy giving up a lot for
one player and then having him leave possibly the next season.
So it makes sense that they can go out and
bid on him next year because Kyle Tucker and the
Yankee uniform makes a lot of sense to me.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Moving out to number seventeen. This is interesting. Jacob de
Gram and Clayton Kershaw. He's six years old. They're both
making comebacks in twenty twenty five. You're probably not going
to see Kershaw until mid season. He did have tow
and knee surgeries. He got a two for one special
in the offseason. Jacob m Gram should be on the
opening days roster for the Texas Rangers after he made

(25:50):
three starts coming back from a second Timmy John surgery.
So between them Kershaw de Gram they've got five Star
Young Awards, but last year only ten starts. De Gram
hasn't thrown one hundred innings since twenty nineteen years ago.
What do you expect from de Grom and Kersha thirty
six year old Young Award winners in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
Again with Kershaw was the surgery was on his toe
and yeah, so, I mean.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
It was a real problem.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
I mean he did get back from the shoulder surgery
the year before, but he never got right with that too.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, well that's that's just watching the Grom. I mean,
you would think this guy should never get hurt. If
anybody does it easily, it's him. I really not studied
the you know, the arm behind him as much. It
just looks perfect. I Mean I've always when he was
with the Mets, along with Zach Wheeler, I thought Zach
Wheeler was like the slightly less end version of the
Grom because I thought, I've always been a Zach Wheeler fan,

(26:47):
and at that time Wheeler used to get hurt too,
and then all of a sudden, Wheeler screens it out
and de Grom just can't seem to get it done.
But I don't know there's any easier gas out there
than the Grom. However, to Tommy John's, you could almost
bet on something happening to him again, I think whereas
the the guy toe, he's the shoulder has been fixed,
and the knee. I'd almost have to bet because just

(27:10):
the fact that I think Kershaws can be more into pitching,
doesn't have to rely on velocity as much, and you
might even see like a Franklin Ana version of Kershaw
in a latter part of his career where things dial
back a little bit, but still a really good and
effective pitcher. And I would bet that he's not even
thinking velocity right now, and he's gonna it'll reach for
it when he needs to, but you're going to see
a very good pitching version of Kershaw. This should be

(27:31):
my bet, so that I would go with Kershaw over
de Grom.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Yeah, to me, de Grom is when he's at his best,
which is just basically when he's healthy, he is pitching
elevated to its highest form. I really have not seen
anybody combine mechanics, command and pure stuff, especially velocity, like
Jacot de Grom. Nobody and I've seen grates, but there's

(27:56):
something about it. Joe with his body, I like his mechanics.
I just and this sounds weird. I think he's one
of these guys he throws too hard for his own good.
He just continues to break down at just incredible. I mean,
this guy's throwing sliders in the mid nineties and a
starter throwing averaging ninety nine hundred miles an hour. I'd

(28:16):
like to see him dial it back a little bit
because he can command the baseball, he can pitch. He's
not a pure thrower. So yeah, I'm with you. I
think it's hard to count on twenty five to thirty
starts from Jacob deGrom.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Listen, the Rangers would love that.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
But if they can just get him through a season
healthy to get to the postseason, he's on the mound
of the postseason.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
That guy's a difference maker. Agreed, All right, let's move
on to number sixteen.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
I got a couple of more older pitchers, even older
for you, Joe, the twilight of Justin Burlander and Max Schurzer.
They're both still free agents. Both have been not signed yet.
Verlander he turns forty two in February, Suzer is forty. Now,
I don't think either one you're gonna say that's a
front of a rotation guy.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
He's gonna start Game one of the postseason.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
But listen, they're both fierce competitors. I would take a
flyer on either one of them. Joe, what do you
think about what Erlander and Shures are having the tang.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah, contenders, contending teams absolutely, whomever that you know, And
it sounds again like we were talking about almost like a
National League situation, but a contending team that would like
to show up and consider these guys your fifth starter, absolutely,
fourth or fifth starter. Build it in at actually fifth started,
build it in where that you're going to give them
a little bit extra rest on occasion two. And this

(29:30):
would have to be part of the conversation. They both
would probably not want to hear that. They're both probably
going to say they're going to make their thirty plus starts,
and that's fine because that's who they are, but you
just can't count on that. So I would say a
real contending team that doesn't like the backside of their
rotation definitely give them that kind of an opportunity even
like a Yankees, like, maybe they might be able to
throw one of those dudes in there after they set

(29:52):
this whole think up and see what they got. But
somebody that, yeah, right at the very end, we just
need a little bit more to get us through this.
And one of those two fellows, whoever they perceive to
be the better gamble right now, you're gonna end up
seeing that.

Speaker 5 (30:05):
Are they're going to pitch for a team that has
a chance to win?

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, maybe they borrow a page from Pedro Martinez. Remember
when it looked like he was retired, he stayed out
until middle of the season. Knowing that you can't make
thirty starts, you know, make yourself available once you see
where the pennant races are, who's a contender, who's not.
You take your choice of where you want to pitch
at that point. Who knows, But I think we'll see
both of those guys at some point, if not opening

(30:28):
Day in twenty twenty five. Speaking of opening Day, Joe
number fifteen on our.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
List, do you know where baseball opens this year?

Speaker 3 (30:36):
We're going back to Japan, Cubs against the Dodgers at
the Tokyo Dome Otani Yamamoto Suzuki Inmanaga. Can you imagine
how big that's going to be. Now, show Hey is
not going to be ready to pitch. He will not
pitch in that series. I imagine Yamamoto will make a start.

(30:56):
Showed that Imanaga also will make a start. But Shoey
obviously will be a dh for the Dodgers. He's a
little bit behind schedule after the off surgery offseason non
throwing surgery on the shoulder. I think it's great to
see the Dodgers going back to Japan to play in
Tokyo against the Cups.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
What better way to get it rolling right to the
fan bases are incredible in the Japanese culture regarding baseball
is fantastic.

Speaker 5 (31:22):
So yes, I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
That is that's again scripted in advanced could not have
chosen two better teams to open this thing up, So
it's going to be very exciting to watch and I'm
into that.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
I think that's great, a great idea.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
You mentioned the fan base there.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
How about this Game two of the World Series, which
yamamotos started last year, had a higher rating o'clock in
the morning in Japan prime time in the United States
of America overall, the five game World Series in Japan,
and again we're talking about these games are played in
the morning outrated the twenty twenty four NBA Finals in

(32:00):
the US.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
No surprise, that's no surprise.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
I think that if you really thought about it, that's
an easy get right. I mean, the fact these folks
are really that much into it, and I love that.
I absolutely love the fact that there's just so involved
in baseball.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Number fourteen on our list of twenty five things to
look forward to in twenty twenty five, four thousand total
bases for Freddy Freeman. He needs only one hundred and
thirty four for four thousand total bases. Some days, sit
down and look at the back of Freddy Freeman's baseball card, Joe,
it is amazing. So how big is four thousand total bases? Well,

(32:40):
keep this in mind. He will become only the tenth
first basement of all time with four thousand total bases
and one thousand walks, And obviously he's still got a
lot of baseball left in him. Of the previous nine
first baseman to reach those thresholds, all are in the
Hall of Fame except Albert Pooholz, who's not yet eligible,
and Rafael Palmero, who's got the ped teams. So Freddy

(33:04):
Freeman's got a lot of baseball left, but he's already
putting up some huge, huge numbers.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
You know, you watch him, He's got kind of a
choppy swing. You think, how does that work? But it works?
And then the guy's a really good athlete. He runs
the base as well, he feels well, he throws really well.
He's a complete baseball player, and he's a winner.

Speaker 5 (33:24):
Man.

Speaker 4 (33:24):
I have not been around him, only heard the stories
about it. How he really come into his meetings in
regards to hitting meetings, et cetera. I think he sets
a high bar when it comes to accountability within the
groups that he plays for. Okay, so Brays are pretty good, right,
big part of that, we're talking about the culture and
how they're running, the consistency within the group. Snip being

(33:44):
there for a long time big part of the reason.
And then you go to La and of course he's
surrounded He's surrounded by some pretty good talent obviously, but
I think he's had a big influence.

Speaker 5 (33:53):
On how the game is being played out there.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Last year he gets hurt and he's still playing through
and that had hurt him a lot actually running the
way he did so different animal, different motor, absolutely deserves it.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, he's one of your level five players. All he
wants to do is win.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
I mean, when he first got to the Dodgers, he
noticed everybody had their own individual iPad. So when he
get back to the dugout, he knows all these guys
with their head down, buried in their own iPads, nobody's
talking to each other about what they see the pitchers
trying to do. So I think he reduced it to
just three iPads and the dugout, so that guy's had more.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Conversation among themselves.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
And the irony of that is his huge Kirk Gibson
like home run off Nestor Cortez Game one of the
World Series, he actually looked at an iPad and he
usually never does. And as Cortes comes into the game,
he picked up Otani's iPad and he figured, let me
see because Otani was watching how Cortes had pitched him
in the past, and Freddy said, let me see how

(34:48):
he pitches Otani because there's some similarities left handed hitters
with power Otani and Freddy.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
And so he sat on fastball in It's.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Exactly what he got from Nestor Cortes, and the rest,
as they say, is history.

Speaker 5 (35:02):
Does that make sense? That's that's the exact right way.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
I mean, as when you get a new picture in
the game most of the time, and this guy's not
a relief pitcher, you'd almost have to bet under the
circumstance he's going to throw a fastball. Now, if you
want to guess center out, that's great. So, yeah, that
makes a lot of sense to me. And here's the
other part about it.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
He didn't miss it. You know.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah, you can know it's coming. You could make that guess.
You could sit on that sucker, but you can't miss it.
You can't foul it off, and you can't go gosh,
I should have killed that pitch.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
He did.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Number thirteen, We got a new place to play Major
League Baseball, Joe, the MLB Speedway Classic. We played a
Bristol Motor Speedway August two. The Braves against the Reds.
Left handed pole hitters. They can he home run into
turn one the speedway right and pole hitters, they'll try
to go deep into turn number two. And there's something

(35:54):
very cool about the idea of watching cruise steel bases
at a speedway.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
Well done.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
Yeah, interesting. I've never been in that ball there, I've
driven by that speedway. It's great. I'm good with that too.
I think that's very interesting, it's very creative. And again,
these to me are the kind of things that hopefully
could generate some new fans. However, I think this is
a perfect scenario for the established fans. You're talking about
NASCAR world Definitely down to Atlanta, Cincinnati, Absolutely, there's that's

(36:25):
there's got to be a ton of NASCAR folks that
are into all of that.

Speaker 5 (36:28):
So you're going to get that group there.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
Are you going to Are you going to get new
NASCAR fans or new baseball fans? I don't know, but
I think it's a pretty cool idea.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Absolutely, Let's go to number twelve. Mike Trout. Mike Trout,
he needs forty six RBIs for one thousand in his career,
and think about it, his numbers, what they might have been,
are still outstanding. Mike Trout closing in on one thousand RBIs.

Speaker 5 (36:56):
Yeah, I just got to stay well.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
I mean, the injuries have been so awkward, even to
the point we were playing.

Speaker 5 (37:02):
I can't remember.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
Exactly the month whatever hitting over and he's walking over
to Brian Butterfield to give him his helmet. I swear,
I'm watching this whole thing, and all of a sudden
he grabs his calf and he's out pretty much the
rest of the year. I think it was the rest
of the year, just walking over to give butter his helmet.
I may have been bothering him before that. He never
said anything, but yeah, it's stuff like that. I mean,
when you're in a you know, on the field with

(37:23):
them and batting practice with him. Everything about him, he's wonderful.
He's so strong, so athletic. At top golf, I saw
him hit a golf ball over the back net using
one of their creepy little drivers and whatever their limited
flight golf balls are all about. He had hit over everything.
Just a different world, different level. So I'd love to

(37:45):
see him stay healthy for an entire season. It would
be wonderful. And that's one of the only ways I
think they could even be considered having an opportunity to
make the playoffs is that Trotey stay solvent.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
Which brings us to number eleven, which is another guy
who's very close to one thousand RVI is actually even
closer twenty four and that's Bryce Harper. I mean, how
perfect is that that two rookies of the Year from
twenty twelve, Harper and Trout both should get to one
thousand career RBIs in twenty twenty five. And if and

(38:18):
Wayne Harper gets there, he'll be Tom thirty two only
the fourth player with a thousand RBIs one thousand walks
stolen bases. The others are Mickey Mantle, Carlastremsky and Barry Bonds.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
A nice company, right, I mean, and this guy was
ordained from the time he was a kid, oh the
hoopla bottom coming out of Las Vegas. I've been around him.
I've been with him on an All Star team. At
conversation with him, I like him a lot. He is
all of that. He's very well. He's single mind in
regards to being great, and he goes about it in

(38:54):
the right way, you know, within the group. I think
he has a tremendous amount of cachet just based on
is it again, the way he goes about his business.
He's been injured, he tries to get back as quickly
as he possibly can. And he's another guy that loves
the big moment. I've seen that in person on the
negative side, So just wish him nothing but the best
as he moves forward to even more records than he

(39:15):
ventually the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Moving on to number ten, let's stay on the milestones theme.
How about two thousand hits for Manny Machado. He needs
one hundred hits to reach two thousand. He would become
only the fifty fifth player to reach two thousand hits
by age thirty two. And if you're thinking about three thousand, Joe,
there have been ten other players this century so since

(39:39):
two thousand to reach two thousand hits by age thirty two,
half got to three thousand, and half did not. The
ones who got there Miguel Cabrera, Albert Boohls, Adrian Beltray,
Alex Rodriguez, and Derek Cheeter.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Manny Machiado two thousand, You like him?

Speaker 5 (39:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Thousand?

Speaker 4 (39:56):
Yeah, I think he's I think he's able to. He's
pretty much stayed healthy his career, right, There's not been
a whole lot.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
Of he's played with the same by he's the same
kind of hitter, just a very consistent performer.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, you know, you know he'll get accused of playing
with the governor. You know the fact that you know,
running the first space, et cetera. Listen, I'm all about
running hard the first base. I am, you know, one
of my tenants as a manager, and I'm not accusing
him of not running hard. But different players play with
a different gate. I mean, there's certain guys that look
like their hair is on fire all the time, and
you think, God, this guy's a hustler. And there's other

(40:29):
guys that just play at a gate that's really actually
pretty phenomenal, but we accuse him of not caring as much.
Garrett Anderson Ga had that same kind of an issue,
where Ga would be you just don't it came more naturally.

Speaker 5 (40:44):
They're they're more they're more fluid in what they did.

Speaker 4 (40:46):
Jimmy Edmonds, so he's one of those guys. It's a
fluidity thing. I think by the way he plays and
how he plays and how his body works, he has
a chance to stay healthy for a period of time,
which is the reason why he'll be able to get
three thousand hits a number nine.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
We've touched on this a little bit, but I have
a separate from a milestone, just the return of Mike
Trout on the baseball field. He's thirty three years old.
He hasn't played more than one hundred and forty games
in nine years. Over the past four years, he has
missed fifty nine percent of the Angels games, but when
he has played, he slug five to seventy five with

(41:20):
a nine to fifty one OPS. There's plenty left in
the tank. Mike Prows a different kind of player than
the classic version we remember in his twenties. He has
become a dead pull side home run power hitter. Wouldn't
surprise me if Mike played a full season and he
pushes fifty home runs.

Speaker 5 (41:36):
Well, it's in there. He's that strong, there's no question.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
The big thing about that is his ability to deal
with elevated velossy a little bit better, which normally is
hard pitched to pull. I mean, if the ball's down
down middle down middle in, he's going to absolutely kill it.
I don't care how hard it's been thrown. So I
just still think he needs to make a couple adjustments
overall in his approach regarding how he's getting pitched and
where he wants hit those particular pitches. I think that's

(42:01):
going to matter a bit, because obviously he has the
pop at Anaheim Stadium, that right field, with the way
it's been constructed where you don't have to hit it
over the high wall anymore, that's really a very fertile
ground for guys right at home runs the right center Listen,
if I'm there, If I'm there, I would really encourage
him to understand that the elevated fastball easier to go

(42:22):
that way with and take advantage of that side of
the field, that it can make him an even better hitter,
because there's no ballpark that can hold him if he
grabs one.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
It's just that strong. It's going to go that far.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
But if there's going to be a hole there with
the fastball and elevated velocity, to me, the better way
to do that would be to really focus on that
right center field spot in Anaheim because it's very fertile.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Well, Joe, we talked about baseball in twenty twenty five
will be played in Bristol, Tennessee, and in Tokyo, Japan,
and we get back we'll talk about the top eight
things to look forward to in twenty twenty five, and
at number eight, a couple of different venues added to
the major league schedule in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
We'll talk about that. Up to this.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
We are reviewing the twenty five things to look forward
to in twenty twenty five. We are at number eight
and I don't know how many visiting players are looking
forward to this, Joe, But the A's and there's no
more Oakland, and there's no more Sacramento. There's no city
attached to It's just the A's are playing in a
minor league ballpark in West Sacramento and the Tampa Bay

(43:36):
Rays are playing in a minor league ballpark in Tampa.
Two minor league ballparks hosting regular season, full season major
league seasons for the A's and the Rays. It's, let's
face it, it's not a good look, Joe. It's they're
minor league ballparks. I know they will be retrofitted to
bring up to major league standards in terms of lighting, clubhouses,

(43:57):
training facilities, that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But you're gonna have weather issues in both places.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
West Sacramento brutally hot, Tampa, all the rain delays and
rain outs, and it's going to affect the raysed team,
There's no question about it. I always thought being inside
there was an advantage to them. It's such a funky
place and you never lose a game. We'll get used
to it. You're going to need a deeper roster to
cover the schedule, So it's not ideal that we've got
the A's West Sacramento and the Tampa Bay Rays playing

(44:25):
at George Steinbern and Field, the Yankee spring training site.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Classic example of it is it is what it is.
I mean, there's nothing you can't complain or worry about it.
You just have to try to adjust to it in
advance as well as you possibly can and take into
consideration what you know is going to be weather related difficulties.

Speaker 5 (44:42):
And it's just true.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
I mean, I've been around that part of California in
the summertime. You're right, man, it's going to get super
hot there. But I also believe that's going to be
an easier climate to deal with as opposed to with
the Rays have to deal with in Tampa during the summer.
Not only the rain, man, it's you talk about a
real strong humidity too. That really makes it problematic. Just
your early work, you're batting practices, et cetera. Just planning

(45:03):
in general. However, Marlin's have won a World Series or
two down in Miami without a roof, So it's been
done before. And that's what I keep referencing back to Steinbrenner.
I've not seen the one in Sacramento. Steinbrenner is a
really good ballpark right across the street from Raymond James,
and it'll be up to speed, and regarding the number
of seats, that's not going to matter. Actually, they're going
to be playing in front of full houses more than

(45:25):
likely early on, at least in the season. So it's
I don't know. Outside of the weather conditions, I think
it's gonna be kind of interesting for the Rays and
for Oakland kind of the same thing. That's just going
to be hotter. But it is a bad look. It's
not what it's supposed to be. And they have to
come up with these conclusions and fix things rather quickly
because with the Rays they're gonna have to figure it

(45:46):
out again next year. How long before the Oakland's gonna
be able to move along from there too.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
They're going to be there at least three years, possibly
at fourth if they don't get the shovels in the
ground soon.

Speaker 5 (45:55):
In Vegas, well, there you go, brother, that's for that
period of time.

Speaker 4 (45:59):
Who knows, they end up going somewhere else too, I
don't know, but it is a bad look, no question.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Let's go to number seven and we'll still talk about.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
The schedule here, Joe, because there's a bit of change
to the Major League Baseball schedule. The key interleague rivalry
games have been increased from four to six, and on May,
the weekend of May sixteenth to eighteenth, eleven of the
fifteen series will be key matchups between interleague rivals.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
So that's what they're dubbing Rivalry Weekend in the middle
of May.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
So instead of the Yankees and the Mets playing each
other four times as they had once we went to
this balance schedule, it'll be bumped up to six.

Speaker 5 (46:39):
You like it, Yeah, I'm okay with that.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Well, the fans like it.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
This is why they're doing it, because they you know,
they fill the ballparks for these games.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Why not give the fans what they want?

Speaker 4 (46:48):
No, it's it. I have no issue with that whatsoever.
With you know, I never really liked in balance schedule.
I mean, I thought, you know, playing the same guys
over and over again.

Speaker 5 (46:58):
But this is just bumping up by a couple.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
I think it's good, you know, if the fans do
want that, and it's they wanted prime in the larger cities,
they always try to do the thing with the Marlins
and the Rays. It never really grew into anything substantial.
There are some legitimate rivalries out there, I think, you know,
to a certain extent, the Cubs and the White Sox
is kind of fun, but more than anything, and even
the Dodgers and the Angels used to be, but it's
not quite the same as it had been. I think

(47:21):
we want to talk about the Yankees and the Mets
now you're talking. I mean, that's that's kind of interesting
right there. Oakland and San Francisco not what it had
been obviously, So there's there's some legitimacy to that. Others
are the contrived attempt to make it more of a rivalry.
Fans know Chicago and of course Saint Louis absolutely so

(47:42):
it's it's a good thing. I have no issue with
that whatsoever, But sometimes I think there's an attempt to
make them more of a rivalry than they actually are.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Well, I've already got May sixteen to eighteenth circled on
my calendar, and that is number six on our list
of things to look forward to, because that is the weekend.
Want Soto goes back to the Bronx Mets at Yankees. Oh,
the Yankee fans got They've got it circled for sure
to welcome him back to the Yankee Stadium.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
You know a lot of people will make the argument
and we'll see if the Yankees are not done yet
what they add more. But Plan B for the Yankees
was it better than Plan A. Plan A obviously was
bringing One Soto back. You know, he's I call him
the surest thing in baseball. His floor is higher than
any player in baseball. He never has a bad season.
And you saw what he did for Aaron Judge. Aaron

(48:33):
Judge saw more pitches in the strike zone last year
than ever before in his career. And that's because of
One Soto being on base.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
All the time.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
But you know, the Yankees go out there and they
do well. Devin Williams, Max Freed, Paul Goldschmidt. You know,
they made some really nice moves. But for Planning B
to work, Joe, the Yankees need Freed to be healthy.
He's had some four arm issues the last couple of years.
They need Devin Williams to be healthy, and they need
Paul Goldschmidt to make a comeback from what was his
worst major league season, and he's thirty seven years old.

(49:02):
So when you spread out your options, you're at the
risk of some of those not working out. Where there
was just certainty with Juan Soto. I do love the
way they've pivoted, and I don't think they're done yet,
but the jury will be out until we see this
team on the field.

Speaker 4 (49:17):
I agree, you know, the Soto's Soto, but we've talked
about this before. I kind of I'm okay with putting
my eggs in different baskets and not just one.

Speaker 5 (49:26):
And again we mentioned this earlier.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
I didn't realize, and I think this may be part
of their overarching plan is I didn't realize Kyle Tucker
was just a one year guy. If you get all
these other players Williams, etc. And gold Schmidt and eventually
mixt year because you're really building towards the Kyle Tucker
and land him next year, then plann b absolutely was better.
I think, and I still believe they're going to do
something at third base, which may be rather interesting.

Speaker 5 (49:49):
And if that happens for sure.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
But if I'm them sitting on this thing right now,
and I was willing to spend that much money on
Soto this year, I could sit in the weeds a
little bit and wait on a Kyle Tucker and make
sure that I don't miss on this one, because I
think that would be the big thing. So Plan B
would be what they've accumulated this year plus Kyle Tucker
next ye would be an absolute, an ultimate Plan.

Speaker 5 (50:11):
B for me.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Number five the Baseball Hall of Fame vote. The announcement
will be January the twenty first, and we will get
the answers to these questions.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Will each he ro be a unanimous selection?

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Will fellow first ballot candidate CC Sabbathia get in easily?

Speaker 2 (50:30):
Well?

Speaker 3 (50:30):
Billy Wagner get in he was five vote shorts. This
is his last year on the ballot. Well, Carlos Beltran,
who jumped up about ten percentage points last year, continued
to gain momentum and get further away from the twenty
seventeen Astro sign stealing scandal. And how much support is
out there for guys first year candidates like Dustin Pedroia

(50:51):
and Felix Hernandez we're going to get those answers on
January twenty first.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
Well, yes, I think INTRO has a solid chance of
going unanimous. I think CC would very close to that.
I'd love to see Billy Wagner eventually get to that point.
I mean, this guy, dang, that was good. That was
really good, So I'd love to see him get that opportunity.
I also agree, like I think Beltran might be building
a coalition, but it ain't can happen yet.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
I'm curious about Pedroy and Hernandez.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
You know, p d really a really good ballplayer, very
good hitter, built for that ballpark specifically, Hernandez was outstanding.
I think I think their first rounders, I don't think
if in fact they ever get in there.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
So I'm gonna say.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
I'm going to go with the top three of that's
that's a no brand with the top two. And I'm
saying Wagner is eventually going to sneak on him this
year deservedly, So.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
I'm with you on that.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
I think we get a class of three going in
from this group brings us to number four, the first
full season of Paul Skeins. Can't wait for this, Joe
Listen they took some grief by keeping him in the
minor leagues. And I say keeping, I mean came up
in May. It wasn't like they had him there for.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
A long time.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
They had him making basically three or four inning starts
to you know, make sure he and throw a ton
of innings, and over the course of the season. You
can't argue with the results. This guy had an unbelievable
September and actually his last seven starts he allowed only
four earned runs and had only eight walks. He was
pitching his best baseball at the end of his longest

(52:19):
season ever. So give credit to the Pirates and Paul
Schemes with the way they managed the season. They did
not pitch him with less than five days of rest
the entire year. Now, I think Paul's schemes should be
he good to go to throw one hundred and eighty
one hundred and ninety innings this year. Will they keep
him on this five plus days of rest schedule or

(52:40):
they sometimes pitch him on the fifth day with four
days of rest. I'm curious to see what they do,
curious to see what he does Opening days March twenty seventh,
where I expect him to get the ball at Miami
against the Marlins.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
Year two of Paul's schemes. Do you just let him go, Joe.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
No, I would definitely.

Speaker 4 (52:58):
I think I would want to stay with the same
game plan that we had last year in regards to
days of rest. I would with that and see where
that takes you by the say, the middle of the
season into August in and of course where are.

Speaker 5 (53:08):
We in the standings that we have a legitimate chance
or not.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
I think I would play it all lot for that,
but I would not vary from the tried and true
plan that works so well. The thing about this fella,
and what's going to really be indicative of that, is
this guy's control and command are ridiculously good, and if
all that stuff is still in place, he's probably he
might get banged around little bit more this year than
he did last year, possibly just because they've had a
chance to see him some kind of the newness, and

(53:32):
you're going to find out his ability to adapt and adjust,
you know, the sophomore jinks. Sophomore Jinks is basically the
league adjusting back to you. Then you have to adjust
to them. So we'll see how that plays. But the
command and control are that good, So I would stay
with the same game plan and as the year goes on,
just read the tea leaves and see if we feel
like we could open it up a bit or just

(53:53):
keep it the same.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
I'm glad you brought that up about command and control,
because Paul Skins he'll get your attention with a velo.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
He's one of the hardest throwers in all the Major
League Baseball but his.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Ability to data his pitches, especially that to seem slash
splinker that he has, is just a devastating pitch and
I am curious to see how hitters adjusted that pitch.
He basically throws at armside all the time, but his
command of that is so good, and you know, hitters
just don't see that that pitch is going to dive
bomb out of his own so we'll see.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
I mean, I love.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
Everything about his stuff, competitiveness and knows how to pitch.
I think he's going to dominate. I really do so.
Year two of Paul Skein' is worth looking forward to
number three, looking forward to year one. Roki Sosaki, he
is going to adance between January fifteenth and January twenty
third the team that he chooses to play for. It's

(54:46):
very similar to when shoey Otani came over to the
States from Japan in that he is limited in terms
of his earning power because he's under the age of
twenty five. He's considered an international amateur, so to speak,
even though he's been lights out pitching over in Japan.
So he's going to sign a contract with a bonus
only you know, putting that in quotes between about five

(55:06):
and seven million dollars and then can pitch for you
at the major league minimum. And this guy, Joe is
going to be one of the best pitchers on the planet.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Now, is he going to be that guy right away?
Probably not.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
He doesn't have a lot of durability underneath his belt
in terms of starts and innings pitch. And of course
there's all kinds of adjustments coming over here to the
state's longer schedule, more travel, different ball, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
But you treated with kid gloves, you're going to get
rewarded with this guy. He is a difference maker.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
He's got crazy movement on his fastball, even though the
one concern is his velocity was down the last couple
of years. His slider needs work. The split is absolutely devastating.
So it's interesting Joe that originally twenty teams contacted his
agent Joel Wolf. Why everybody is not at least putting
in a bid or knock on the door?

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Who the heck knows?

Speaker 3 (55:58):
Why would you not put it in a bid for
one of the best pictures on the planet. Who was
going to pitch in the Major League minimum? I don't
get that. So now he met in person with about
nine or ten teams, and the coming weeks he's going
to narrow that list down and maybe go out on
some visits to see the teams and cities and facilities.
But we will get an answer between January fifteenth and
the twenty third and where Roki Sasaki wants to play.

(56:20):
And I'm telling you he's going to be plug and play.
Maybe not as dominant schemes right away, but a guy
who can pitch with front of the rotation stuff.

Speaker 4 (56:28):
I just got Dodgers on this one, and I know
that I know the Mets and everybody else is going
to be involved, but I the culture on that side
of the world there, and he's closer to his home,
and you know, show Hey being there and all the
other Japanese influence within that group, and then you just describe.

Speaker 5 (56:43):
Where somebody's got to be patient with him a little bit.

Speaker 4 (56:45):
And I think the Dodgers have the best opportunity to
be patient.

Speaker 5 (56:50):
They're not. They just want it.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
I mean, of course they want to win it again,
but they're not pedal to the medal, maybe not as
much as other groups that are really trying to get
to the to usurp. The Dodgers dominant so for so
many different reasons, and I just I would have to
bet on the Dodgers landing him.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Yeah, let me add to that, Joe, because I think
you're right in terms of the Dodgers being in favorite.
And I will add that the agent Joel Wolfe has
emphasized that Sosaki not really looking at geography or size
of the market so much as he is the opportunity
to get better. He wants a good learning, nurturing environment.

(57:29):
And all those things you said about the Dodgers are true,
and so is the fact that probably no team invests
more in infrastructure in terms of high performance, in terms
of staffing and technology in the Los Angeles Dodgers. I
can easily put to see them putting together a package
to show Sosaki of what they have in store to
make him a better picture.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Right, No other teams are going to try to do
the same thing, but they've they've actually done it and
it's tried and true. And then again the influence within
the organization starting the season in Japan next year, I mean,
there's there's so much going on, there'd be hard to
imagine him arriving somewhere else. I mean, I know, Joe,
I believe him that geography may not matter, but I
think again it's going to have somewhat maybe not geography

(58:08):
as much as familiarity with different people. And like you're saying,
training techniques and the tech itself. So I bet on
the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
Yeah, I had the Dodgers slightly ahead of the Padres.
You know, you Darvish was his mentor, good friend, and
you know he offers the Dodgers. The Padres can offer
a lot of the things the Dodgers can. So if
you want to create, you know, sort of your own
ecosystem of being a star rather than falling in line
between Otani and Yamamoto, you know, Darbis has what a

(58:36):
year or two left on the contract.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
I could see San Diego being a player, and this
as well. We'll see.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
We'll get an answer to that between the fifteenth, when
the signing period opens and the twenty third when it ends,
so we'll see, and we'll also get a clue as
to what cities he visits, perhaps between now and then.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
We're up to number two.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
Joe. The second biggest reason to look forward to the
twenty twenty five season, and this is a major change
to the game that you will not see in the
regular season, but you will in spring train.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
And that is the challenge system on balls and strikes.

Speaker 3 (59:07):
I'm telling you people, it's a trial system to get
things ironed out and get everybody used to it because
it's happened in the minor leagues, but you all know
the major leagues a little bit different than the miners.
On every sort of level.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
It's being tried out.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
Every team will go through it, whether Homer Road to
use the challenge system in spring training, and I'm telling you,
as a fan, once you see this, you will want
it on opening Day in twenty twenty five. Sort of
like when PitchCom came along in spring training, everybody fell
in love with it, and they're like, well, let's just
do it this year. Then it's not gonna happen. You're
not gonna love it so much, and they're gonna say,

(59:40):
let's plug and play for twenty twenty five. No, you'll
probably see it in twenty six. Infrastructure not quite ready
for twenty five, but I'm telling you, as a fan,
you will want to see this. It does not slow
the game down. The challenges can be over and done
with in less than ten seconds. If you watch any
kind of tennis, you've seen the Hawkeye system work where
that video pops up immediately and it'll show you whether

(01:00:01):
that ball's in the zone or out.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
You can play along as a fan and the stands
and watch that. It's a very cool thing. There's a
limit on how many can be done, either two.

Speaker 3 (01:00:09):
Or three per game, so it's not like the game's
being stopped all the time. There's a strategic element to it.
You have to be judicious and about when you try
to decide to use one of those.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
And you can literally change a game.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
I mean, you know, you know Joe how important count
leverage is and big spots, the way one call can
turn a rally into the end of an inning, and
we've got now the opportunity, as we do in the
basis to make sure that bad calls do not decide
a game.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
I think fans are going to love it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
The big thing is gonna be the implementation, Like, how
do you know from the dug out one to change
to challenge? Is that dougout challenge? The hitter can't challenge.
It's probably got to come from the day.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
No, it's going to be a hitter, pitcher, catcher. It
all happens on the field. So a manager, you better
instruct your guys, right, Hey, you know, I know you
want to hit three hundred this year, But the strategy
the game is most important.

Speaker 4 (01:00:59):
Yeah, there's there's going to be some discipline involved with
this because you, like you watch basketball, now you're watching
football and everybody's always throwing their hands up in the
air like they need a flag or they always want
the basketball coach to to check the fouls.

Speaker 5 (01:01:13):
I mean, you're going to see a lot of that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:14):
So I think the you know, it sounds simple on
the surface, and maybe it's going to be, but there's
gonna be two or three max during the course of
a game it's almost like we have to you have
to talk about specifically when to utilize this. I mean
like bases loaded, latter part of the game. You know,
a situation that really this this one pitch can it
can turn it around. And that's going to be something
You're almost going to see a presentation in camp from

(01:01:36):
the analytical group to tell them the moments when this
should be most you might need to be most aware
of this and and the greatest chance for opportunity to
go ahead and utilize the challenges.

Speaker 5 (01:01:47):
So that's going to be part of it too, I
would believe.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
So.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Yeah, if it's going to happen that quickly, because I
watch basketball, I can't. I mean, gosh, everybody's everybody's complaining
about referees calls in basketball now constantly. And we'll see
how that turns out in baseball. But if it's limited, yeah,
and if it's going to take that quick yeah, But
I still believe there's gonna be a learning curve among
the group regarding when to do this and how aggressive

(01:02:11):
we need to be.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Joe. Let's take a quick break.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
This is a special edition of the Book of Joe podcast,
and when we get back, we will reveal the number
one thing to look forward to in the twenty twenty
five Major League Baseball season, and of course we've got
Joe Madden closing things with his saying of the day.
We'll be right back, Welcome back to the Book of

(01:02:42):
Joe podcast. We're counting down the twenty five top reasons
to look forward to the Major League Baseball season in
twenty twenty five and to recap at least the top five.
Here at number five, we have the Baseball Hall of
Fame vote. We'll see if e t Ro Suzuki is
a unanimous Hall of Famer. We know he's getting in,
will it be unanimous? Number four is a sophomore season

(01:03:03):
of Paul Skiing, looking forward to how he continues to
dominate the major league level, starting with his first opening
day start.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Most likely.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Number three the decision from Roki Sasaki between January fifteenth
and twenty third international free agent will decide where he
wants to play baseball. Number two the challenge system for
balls and strikes being trial used in spring training and
probably in use in the major leagues in twenty twenty
five twenty twenty six regular season. And Number one Joe,

(01:03:32):
I'm just continue to be absolutely blown away and fascinated.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
By this guy.

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
The return of Shohei Otani to the mound, you know,
as much fun as watching him go fifty to fifty
in an all offensive season, all d eight season. Let's
not forget that this guy is one of the best
pitchers in baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
From twenty twenty one to twenty twenty three, he.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
Was twenty four and sixteen with a two eight ERA
and average eleven point four punch outs per nine innings.
In those three years, he was second in ERA plus
thirty third and strikeout right fifth and winning percentage for
an angel scene that didn't even have a winning record
any year. The Dodgers are going to slow play his
return to the mount. My guess is you might not

(01:04:13):
see him on the mound in April, or it might
be late April before he's back out there. He's going
to pitch him a six man rotation, so I'll have him.
If all things go well, he's probably gonna make about
twenty starts, and my expectation Joe is that he's going
to dominate. He's just a guy who doesn't fail. He
works in his craft. He's supremely talented.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
I think Joe.

Speaker 3 (01:04:37):
We can never get used to the fact that this
guy can go into the season with a decent chance
of being the home run king in the league and
also being the cy Young Award winner.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Think about that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
It's one person who could be a cy Young Winner
and the home run King.

Speaker 4 (01:04:54):
Yeah, they have to start renaming awards twenty thirty years
from now. Right, He's all of that. I won't disagree
with anything you just said. I totally agree with all
of that. He's being challenged, She's going to meet the challenge.
She's going to come back better than ever. I think
the Dodgers are going to slow play it rightfully so
because they're going to keep the big picture of mind
wanting him to be able to pitch in the playoffs
in the World Series next year. So he's all of that.

(01:05:15):
It is going to be fascinating to watch again. When
watching him offensively last year, people kind of put the
pitching side in the back of their mind, and people
have made the argument, why would he ever want to
pitch again with these with what he can do offensively
on a baseball field. Put him in right field, put
him in left field. But no, he signed up to
do one thing and that's what he wants to do,
and that's to do both things. So are you going
to see all that He's going to be very successful again.

(01:05:36):
I would not bet against this guy ever, and looking
forward to watching it just as much as you are.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
He's not going to steal fifty bases, right, and the
wear and tear factor and we know, we know that,
but he's become such a pure power hitter and a
great hitter, not just a power hitter, but especially the
home run numbers are just ridiculous, and I don't think
that's going to change his ability to leave the yard
pick spots. He covers the high fastball so well. And
imagine this, listen. I didn't mention it's been twenty five years.

(01:06:03):
In twenty twenty will be since we had to repeat
World Series champion, going back to the Yankees of ninety eight,
ninety nine, two thousand. I mean, the Dodgers on paper,
they have as good of a shot as anybody in
this quarter of a century where it has not happened
the longest stretch in World Series history. If the Dodgers
get to the postseason with their pitching staff healthy, and
we know that's a big if.

Speaker 2 (01:06:24):
In this game today.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
But can you imagine the Dodgers' rotation the postseason show Aotani,
Blake Snell, Yashinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glassnell. I mean, come on,
you talk about pure stuff. I'm sorry, nobody's beating that
team now. Again, it's a long way off, I get it,
but I can't remember a team that has much pure

(01:06:46):
stuff on the mound in the rotation than the LA Dodgers.

Speaker 4 (01:06:49):
Yeah, yeah, no arguments here, man. And they also have
Michael Jordan. They got Larry Bird I'm always referencing. I mean,
I've always appreciated They've got Tom Brady. They've got these
guys with like a different internal method clock way of
going about their business, never being satiated and never being satisfied.
Whether it's Freeman Betts. Now you got Showhy on top

(01:07:10):
of that too, and others within that group. So they
have that, I mean, that's that to me is the
most important part. It's like Jeter and Posada, Pettitt and
Bernie WiM's all those guys back in the day with
the Yankees.

Speaker 5 (01:07:21):
You got to have that'd be good.

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
But you have to have guys with this different kind
of motor where they're not going to be satisfied. They're
not satisfied with what they just did. They could see
what first time eyes, they could feel that first time
passion all over again, because that's how they live. So
beyond all, I mean, the pitching is great, but I
just think that the motor of that organization is being
powered by the right people and that's that's the difference

(01:07:43):
maker for them, and that's why I think they're going
to be great again this year and in the future,
of course, with good health. But these guys are gamers,
they're different.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
I mean, I would not rule it out because it
is difficult to repeat. We've seen a lot of good
teams get off the slow starts, especially in that year
after effect. But this this this Dodgar team, I'm really
really impressed with the way they get after it and
the way they are not not satisfied at all. And
that's all about leadership with Dave Roberts in the front office,

(01:08:14):
and it's about those players that you mentioned, especially Freeman,
BET's Otani. It's a great culture that they have there.
Besides talent and resources. Well, those are the top twenty
five things to look forward to in twenty twenty five.
It's been a real good fun trip go through those
with you, Joe, But I also look forward to you
bringing something to close it out, words of wisdom. What

(01:08:34):
do you got for us today as we turn the
calendar to twenty twenty five?

Speaker 4 (01:08:38):
I guess at dovetails. Until we just talked about what
the Dodgers. My thought today was chopwood, carry water quotes
that you know, just talking about the new year, everybody
makes resolutions. We're all going to do this different or better.
We're going to try new things. But I just happened
upon the Joshua Medcalf med cap at CLF and it's
really good, and I got twos. They're very short, but

(01:08:58):
they they again they dovetail one another and first one everybody.
Everyone wants to be great until it's time to do
what greatness requires, which the Dodgers do all those pleaple
we talk about, and then dream big, start small, be
ridiculously faithful again all these things that I think and
bodies encompasses that when you talk about these guys, So

(01:09:19):
that's it. When you chop with and carry water, that's
your mantra. You're not going to the days aren't going
to be perfect every day. You're going to have your pitfalls.
Things are going to go poorly, and you've got to
just be able to put it down and realize the
power of twenty four hours, how things could change dramatically
within that twenty four hour period. So that's why I
think the Dodgers are great regardless. We could talk about
all they have going on, but it's the personalities. It's

(01:09:40):
the people and their mindset that I think set them apart.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Well said Joe.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
It's a lot to look forward to in twenty twenty five,
and we'll keep an eye on the La Dodgers and
everybody else.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
And so all of.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Our fans out there, baseball fans, Book of Joe fans,
have a great and happy, healthy twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
And the same to you, mister Joe Madden.

Speaker 4 (01:10:01):
Thank you, Tommy, absolutely back at you and all our
fan base.

Speaker 5 (01:10:04):
While listening to our.

Speaker 4 (01:10:05):
Podcast has been a great year, It's going to be
even better than twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
The Book of Joe podcast is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts,

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