May 8, 2024 • 48 mins
Jake & BBD are going around MLB seeing how the upcoming free agents have performed in the first month of the season, then get excited about how fun the NBA Playoffs have been.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Hello
2:30 Supposed to be a BIG Free Agent Class This Offseason
6:20 Juan Soto
10:00 Teoscar Hernandez
11:10 Paul Skenes Called Up by the Pirates!
16:05 Cody Bellinger
18:25 Anthony Santander
19:50 Jesse Winker & Tyler O'Neill
20:35 Alex Verdugo
21:30 Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, & Gleyber Torres are Struggling
26:30 Paul Goldschmidt, Matt Chapman, Rhys Hoskins, & Willy Adames
29:30 The Pitchers
32:35 New York Knicks
38:15 OKC-Dallas
39:45 Timberwolves Beating the Nuggets
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Waken. Jake myself, Jake Story, Ellie,
David Mendelssohn. Make sure you guys are following everything we do.
I say that because we normally don't say that, but
our partnership with Dan Patrick Show has been going pretty cool.
We've gotten some new listeners and followers, so if you're
one of them, thank you so much. And we like
to talk sports and have some fun here. So what
(00:21):
we're gonna do like we kind of normally do. I
want to do a little baseball chatter. I think I'm
gonna do some player talk and look at some of
the upcoming free agents a little bit and just how
they're doing a little bit of landscape of how they're
looking this year. You know, three of the big ones
Alonso Bregman, Glaber Torres. I don't know if you'd label
(00:43):
him as a big one, but I mean a guy
that's been a multiple time All Star second baseman having
tough starts. So I want to dive in. We'll see
if there's anything there, and maybe a couple other guys that, Hey,
if your team's having a bad time, these guys could
either be on the trading block easily if they are
struggling in a contract, hearing their teams out of it,
(01:05):
or like this was kind of a dark talk I
had with Yankees fan Joe's McFly the other day. You know,
if Glabor Tour, if the Yankees look like the Yankees,
and it's they've got a chance this year, let's do it.
If Glabor Torres doesn't turn it around by like June
or July, I don't know, you have an obligation to
(01:28):
the team at that point that becomes very interesting. So
not gonna deep dive into that part of it, because
Glabor Tour has will turn around. Sure, yeah, no doubt scary,
but I want to look into that a little bit,
see where some guys are at. And then honestly, the
NBA playoffs are in a beautiful spot, especially the Western Conference,
(01:50):
so I want to talk about some of those games.
The performance the Timberwolves put on has kind of like
taken over basketball and the sports conversation for the past
couple of days because nobody's really seen anything like that,
which is really cool. So and then we'll see if
we'll round up. I'm probably not gonna hit you with
hockey today. Rangers can't be beat, so never. If you
(02:13):
have a problem with that, go bleep yourself. WHOA, let's
talk a little baseball and just I'll start out wide
and we'll zoom in a little bit that this upcoming
free agent class is supposed to be a big one.
Like we went from the shortstop class with Judge a
(02:35):
couple other guys mixed in there, to this year's class
that was Otani the headlighter. Otani and Yamamoto were the
biggest fish. And then the Boris thing. Everything kind of
got out of control. Was he being was Boris in
trouble or were the free agents themselves that had interesting resumes?
And Snell, Chapman, Montgomery, Well, it's am I missing JD.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Martinez.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
He snuck in the mix that I don't know. It
became a weird, funky free agency. I think it led
to a little more trading, which which we like. But
it was segue into this year which everyone kind of
thought was gonna be a bigger, better class all around.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And the tricky part with free agency is so much
of its timing and the closer we've gotten to the
baseball world like this, this is an anecdote. We went
to Milwaukee in when did we do the sausage Race
twenty twenty two or twenty twenty one, twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty one, we went to Milwaukee, we did the
(03:39):
sausage race. If you haven't seen that, pretty electric content.
Jimmy did legitimately pull his hamstring mid sausage race. Uh.
But we hung out with Corbin Burns for a little
bit and it was cool. It was just like guys chatting,
which you know sometimes with the players, you don't know
if they're gonna look at us as like traditional media
or do they want to talk to anyone in general,
but pictures, if it's not their pitching day and you're
(04:01):
as good as Corbyn Burns, you're kind of good. And
he's a Cali boy. So him and Trevor Plue were
yucking it up over that. But it was funny how
quickly Trevor, being a former ballplayer in Cordon Burns Cordon Byrns,
basically said like, yeah, you know, I'm two and a
half years from free agency, like he was. He was
(04:22):
already eyeing it at the time. That it's if these
guys do it right, If Corbyn Burns has a Corbyn
Burns like season this year, he is about to go
into two hundred million dollars ish, he's got a cy Young.
He's been consistent, like that's old thirty right. Yeah. And
(04:44):
then on the other end of the spectrum, a guy
that will be on this free agent list and will
have a very different free agency also has a cy Young,
also has pitch really well, but got hurt Shane Bieber.
So if you don't time things right in baseball, it
can be absolutely crushing to these guys kind of careers.
(05:05):
And that's why the Blake Snell free agency frustrated me
so much, because Snell won the cy Young. Now he
has some other question marks about his walks in his
way he pitches and consistency innings a little bit. And
then was it Boris? Was it him? I don't know
where the percentages lie, but it's kind of screwed up
that the guy that won the cy Young his second
(05:28):
hit free agency and didn't have the mass appeal and
now he's been hurt, yeah, and pitch bad when he
was out there.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Won the second cy Young in what was otherwise a
pretty weak.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Class, and right Yamamoto got three hundred mil age is
an enormous factor, and pitching they can measure easier.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
But and Corvin Burns will turn thirty right after.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
This season, So okay, I mean that sounds like seven
seven years, thirty five mill. What's that come out to.
I'm not a math guy. Seven times for sure. I
mean that's kind of a number. Don't sound wrong, that's
kind of light. So a go, Gordyn Burns, go unless
(06:11):
it's against the Yankees. But checking in on the free
agent pitching class or the free agent class in general.
I'll actually start with the position guys, because I think
the guy that's gonna lead it off is so Ot Soto.
Juan Soto is making thirty one mill this year. He
is off to an electric start. I think he's one
(06:34):
of two players in baseball who have a one dot OPS.
He's actually under as of today nine to ninety six,
but he has two war already on the season. Uh.
He has been electric for the Yankees. He's leading it
on base percentage, he's leading in total bases, he's leading
in OPS plus games played. Juan Soto has been everything
(06:55):
advertised and more and something that I was saying a
lot before the season because Yankee fans can be brutal.
No defending that sometimes April is Juan Soto's worst month
through basically every season, Juan Soto by month April, he
(07:18):
had an eight seventy two oh ps in his career
one hundred and twenty five games, like not not a
small sample at this point. Every other month is in
the nines or July is a one dot. So Wan
Soto's off to a good start. Wanson's off to a
great start. And if there was any month that I
think would have been the hiccup for him, I do
(07:40):
think it would have been April. So the fact he's
out of the gate and running April.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
New league, new team, start of contract year, it was
prime to be a bad one Soto month.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Ain't seen the effects of that at all. So that's
pretty exciting for Juan Soto, who also is hitting free agency,
had an age A lot of guys don't hit free agency. Uh,
you know, we played a round the office. What's Juan
Soto's final number gonna land at? Reminder, Otani's technically landed
at seven hundred mil. One of the oddest contracts we've
(08:13):
ever seen. They pushed off a lot of money till
after the fact. I don't think Juan soda will do that.
I mean if he wants, if any team wants to
throw him one hundred mil over ten years, in ten
years after he's done playing, they will gladly throw that
in because that becomes not real money to them, the
deferred money. But Juan Soto, I think my guess I
(08:36):
threw out there was five fifty or five hundred and
fifty million or five hundred Yeah, five hundred and fifty million.
I was gonna say five hundred, five hundred million.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
We're not in the front office. The conversation seems like
it'll start with the five. You'd like to think November first,
he'll be twenty six years old. So if you want
to do you know, judges contract roles through He's forty one, right,
his age forty one season.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
If Soto does it till his age.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Forty, your fifteen years would be forty.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So yeah, play with your calculators at home. Juan Soto
is about to get a ton of money. I do
think it's gonna end up being the Yankees. He he
is a Yankee marketable all time. If the Yankees are
the Yankees, you keep that guy around. Let's see what
the Mets drive up the price. Let's see who else
gets involved. But a reminder, Aaron Judges free agency, who
(09:29):
became the captain, acts like a Yankee is a Yankee?
You know, the Padres offered him a ton of money.
Aaron Djudge went back to the Yankees and said, hey,
get in the ballpark, and I'm a Yankee. Things work
themselves out, Judges. Cologne signs are all over the subway. Now,
how about that Juan Soto, it will be pretty good.
(09:52):
A couple other names, fun one tasker, Hernandez. He started
to go for the Dodgers. He signed a one year
twenty three point five. He's a fun watch. He is
leading baseball in strikeouts.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
He did just hit his tenth omers for recording this right, which.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I mean gets him near the lead. He has a
one to twenty nine ops plus coming into today. And
by the way, watch the Dodgers if your team has
an off day. Monday night, the Yanks had an off day.
I put on the Dodgers at ten o'clock and they're
I wanted to compare it to a circus, but it's
(10:30):
more beautiful than that. It's like seeing I Actually I
haven't seen circ day Sola, but it feels like they
brought in people from all over the world who are
like the best at what they do. Like Taoscar Hernandez.
Nobody thinks of him as one of the best baseball
players in the world. I think he has some of
the fastest like wrists swings in the world. It's like,
(10:52):
here's it, and here's this guy from the Dominican Republic,
here's show hey from Japan. Mookie Betts can play every
position on the field. Freddie Freeman might be the best
hitter baseball scene in a while. Max Muncy well thick
as Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
The Pirates have called up Paul Skins.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Really okay, it's a Paul Skeen's breaking news pod now, uh,
I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Good good, excited to watch it.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Paul Skeens has been ready to pitch. The thing that
I told, the thing that I kept saying to the
Pittsburgh Pirates was stay in the standings until you could
call up Paul Skeens, Because when you bring in a
guy like that, hey, if he's the guy he's supposed
to be, which I think he is. Man, I mean
a lot of the a lot of the young pitchers
(11:42):
that get the real hype at this point they pan
out at a pretty high rate, at least like you
see it and it's like, oh, that makes sense, And
I mean, this is a different level of hype, Like
Paul Skeens is like Strasburg, Like, you know, I'm trying
to think who else had crazy? I don't know. I
(12:04):
guess I'd have to dig a little deeper. Strasburg was
an unreal time. Skeens is close to that. He obviously
has the v low And I wonder if the Pirates
they said they were waiting for him to get built up,
and everyone was like, I don't know how true that is.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
He was.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, his first couple of minor league starts were
like three innings, so maybe there were some truths to that.
The Pirates have been skidding for a little while. Now,
they're three and seven in their last ten. They're seventeen
and twenty one on the season after getting off to
a hot start. So I wonder, And I think I've
said this thought on here before. We always look at teams,
(12:44):
and I think our conversation was like, should the Pirates
even call up Skeens this year? Like what's that gonna
do for them? I think the Pirates look at their
team and they're like, let's go, Like not necessarily this
is the year. But Brian Reynolds, they locked him up. Key,
Brian Hayes, they locked him up. O'Neil Cruz like it's
(13:04):
go time for him. Jack Sawinski, young, solid ball player.
The pitching was the more of the concern for me,
although the lineup is starting to look a little thin
as the season has continued, and their pitching's actually been awesome.
Jared Jones came to the office, good guy. He's been shoving.
(13:27):
Mitch Keller has blossomed the new good starting pitcher, martem Perez.
They have a top ten starting pitching r and Baseball, so, hey,
calling that guy up is going to give them some life.
I'd love to see their lineup get a little life.
As number one one pick Henry Davis just got option
to the Miners, I'm kind of hoping that guy was
going to click for them as their twenty eighth and
(13:49):
o ps a bottom five offense, So I don't know
if Skeens is gonna help with that a lot a lot.
I will say his first start will be appointment television,
and that's something baseball struggles with. So I'm excited for that.
Have they announced which day he gets the start?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I haven't done a Twitter deep dive trying to see
roster resources has hasn't fully updated.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I'm seeing May eleventh, so that would be Saturday. Okay,
so hey, if you're a baseball fan, I mean, this
guy's kind of supposed to be next. So Saturday against
the Chicago Cubs, we get to see a guy who's
supposed to be next, and the Vilo is supposed to
be insane. So I don't know. I'm I'm fading Villo
(14:40):
a little bit just because guys are getting hurt because
of it. But interested to see, interested to see what
he looks like. Good for Pirates fans that you don't
have to play that game anymore. And uh hey maybe
it will jump the offense a little bit. Maybe juice
is real. I like to think it is. But they're
have to bring something on that side of the ball
(15:01):
to help him out. Man, No, it used to be awesome,
and this guy's falling out so hard. Harvey days with
the Mets, yeah he was. Harvey days were awesome, dude.
I remember Harvey Strasburg. I saw one of those games.
The Mets were doing like twenty five dollars for a ticket,
a T shirt and a hot dog. Times were good.
(15:25):
So maybe Paul Skins can even just fill the ballpark
for them, and maybe they can make some moves in
free agency that they couldn't if they didn't sell out
those eleven Paul Skins games, Go, Pirates, go back to
the free agency a little bit, a little breaking news
for the people there. We love that? Or was I
the hitters Soto Teoscar Hernandez, sure like? At this point,
(15:50):
I don't know if Michael Confordo is going to break
the bank in free agency with where his age has
been at and consistency the past couple of years, positive
OPS plus rooting for you, Michael Conforto. I think the
outfielder who's actually on this website not listed as an
outfielder that needs to be talked about is Cody Bellinger.
(16:12):
If you remember, Cody was part of the free agent
class and he had his questions about injury with performance
tied to injury. I suppose he got banged up a
little bit this year, but he is back and hitting.
It's a smaller sample size eighty eight at bats, but
a one thirty two OPS plus an eight twenty five OPS,
(16:33):
which that's in line with where he was last year
OPS plus wise, hitting down across the board in baseball
so far. But if you're a team that, if you're either,
you're probably eyeing next year's plans because the Cubs seem
to be in the mix and they're gonna keep Cody
Bellinger around. Cody Bellinger, the guys that accepted opt out contracts.
(16:57):
Me and jim went back and forth on talking baseball
a little bit for where they landed. Obviously, guaranteed money
is better, and Jimmy was coming from the baseball side,
which I fully agree with. Like, if you're a Chicago
Cubs fan the day Bellinger signed, you should go out
and get a Belly jersey. I tweeted out the other
day on when and if Sodo signs with the Yankees.
(17:18):
I'm buying a Sodo jersey. I'm all in on it.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
He's a sick puppy. He reminds me of like when
people talk about legends, like the fact we get to
see that guy play. I'm in for Cubs fans Cody Bellinger.
If you like the way he covers grounds, or you
like that sweet, sweet lefty swing should say say I
like him, I want to buy a jersey with the
opt out kind of how could you do that? And
(17:44):
if he keeps playing at this rate, he's gonna opt
out and he's gonna get more guaranteed money. So circle that.
If your team is going to have an outfield need,
maybe a first base need, maybe both, Cody Bellinger could
be back in play for you coming up.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Have you seen what is bold on his baseball reference
page for this year?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I have not.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
He leads all of baseball and intentional walks.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
How about that?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
In with an I Elston a little scared interested, little
scared interested?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Uh, I think the other two guys that jump off
the map, this guy's playing off the map. Uh. Anthony
Santan dare from your Baltimore Orioles, those Orioles that have
been leading baseball on home runs. He might be the
best pure power threat on the team, although Gunner Henderson
may be passing him as just one.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Of the best in baseball.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Uh. He's gonna be hitting free agency at age thirty,
a guy who's been a consistent switch hitter. The defense
is mad that you might have to plan a corner
outfield slash DH spot for Anthony Santandre. He's been around
league average, uh and it's a tough man a seven
(18:57):
h six ops two thirteen to eighty nine. And again
the impact of a contract year because his two seasons
before this he's been a one to twenty ops plus
switch hitting averaging thirty homers a year. There's not a
lot of guys you can say that about that. If
he plays to his stats the past couple of years,
(19:19):
he's going to run into a nice little payday. And
he's been a guy consistent for the Baltimore Orioles transitioning
from the bad times to the good times. A couple
other guys, I mean, like Mark Canna is having a
nice year, but he's gonna be thirty six next year,
so that's you know, excited for him to get maybe
(19:40):
a one year or a nice two years opt out deal.
I think the other outfielders as I as I transition
out a little bit, because there's Jesse Winkers who I'm
rooting for Jesse, and hey, Jerkson Profar has been going
nut job this year.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Jesse might end up similar to what Belly had last year.
It's like every other year is this and then there
were two just bad right. I don't know what he
had going on.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Belly might be his best friend for a little bit
because he might get him a little paid if he
can keep it up for the year. The two names
I see jump out Tyler O'Neil has been going nuts
for Boston that if he can stay healthy the rest
of the way, that can turn into a real payday.
Because he's twenty eight, so if he can go nuts
for Boston this year, he can turn in a nice
(20:30):
free agent contract. Alex Verdugo with the Yankees, the other guy.
Ever since he was traded to the Yankees, he was
kind of looked at as the other guy. He's still
twenty seven. He turns twenty eight soon, but again, hitting
free agency right. Hitting free agency right and at the
(20:50):
right age, that's what matters. He plays strong defense, and
he just moved up to the cleanup spot and the
Yankee lineup and he's looked awesome. The guy I has
always had the contact tool. I think he had to
do a little growing up. Maybe he has, or maybe
we're hiding it, or maybe it's both, but Alex Verdugo,
(21:11):
his stock is going way up for a potential free
agency and obviously rooting for him in a big way
with our Yankees. Now I mentioned the guys that are struggling,
and I mentioned those big three in the infield, Pete Alonso,
Alex Bregman, Glaber Torres. I mentioned Glaber off the rip.
(21:35):
He's shown signs of coming out of it a little bit.
It's just very interesting because Glaber Torres is a hit first,
second baseman, which if you're not hitting, you're not a
plus defensively, you don't have speed as part of your game,
and you're getting paid fourteen mill this year. Things could
(21:57):
get loud for Glaber pretty quickly if he doesn't fit
figure it out, because it always seemed like this was
gonna be the last year with the Yankees. He's got
to go a little bit. Uh. And for a lot
of these guys, I went to their baseball somevants, and
none of them are pretty like that's just how it
works at this point of the year if you haven't
(22:17):
gotten off to a good start. But yeah, I'll tell you,
for anyone who's a Yankee fan or not a Yankee fan,
it's a scary thing. But like, let's say this continues.
Let's say it's a first half thing, the Yankees drag
Joey Gallo to the trade deadline as long as they could.
(22:37):
If Glabor doesn't show signs becomes a really interesting conversation
because I mean, even someone like Oswald Pirazzo, who's a
top prospect for them, he's been hurt this year. If
you're looking at it from a money standpoint, whether it's
getting off of Glaber's money, and you can have a
(22:59):
person that you know has speed and defense if they're
not gonna hit, or if the Yankees are trying to
win a World Series, you might want to swap a
piece in and a piece out. So that's a little
nervous for Glabor in a thought exercise I did the
other day. The other one that's just wild is Alex Bregman.
This whole Astro situation, which two weeks ago I told
(23:20):
you on this program Subscribe Thank you, like the Astros
need to figure it out. They've been five and seven
since then. They are in last place behind the Angels
in the Al West. They just got blown out by
the Yanks last night justin Verlander, and Bregman is really
really struggling this year. One ninety five, a two sixty
(23:44):
slug a five thirty five. Ops, Hey, you can wash
this stuff. You can, but also things can get heavy.
Things can get heavy quick. And Breggy, I'm not gonna
doubt him out. He's got a career fifty oh ps.
He's been eight hundreds the past couple seasons. You know
(24:04):
he does, has a couple those juice ball years are
a little boosted. And that's fine, so so ore glabers ironically,
but yeah, for him, it's gonna be wild to see. Hey,
what happens with this Houston team in general? Their GM
just came out and said, we're not gonna sell. But
if things continue like this, I bet that tone changes.
(24:26):
And for Alex Bregmant, if you turn it around, do
they have a conversation do you want to stay? Do
you want to go? You'd like to think a player
of his ILK that's had the run they have, they
consider it because they can still attach a qualifying offer
to him and get that kind of reimbursement from it.
Interesting to watch. And then my safest one of the three,
(24:49):
Pete Alonso. The numbers are kind of funky Pete alonzo ish,
and what I mean by that is he's he's hitting homers,
He's got nine home run everything else is a tick
low across the board. And I guess the thing that
is interesting to me is this is what we said
last year. Last year Pete Alonso two seventeen, three eighteen
(25:13):
but a five oh four slug for an eight twenty
one ops. He had forty six homers in a down year. Uh.
And he got banged up last year and he tried
to come back. And you can see those like in
his numbers.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Like especially in like his batting average, because like his
in his career, he he hits hits. Yeah, and he
though those specific couple months that he rehabbed and was
getting back into it.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I would say Pete is the one I'm the least
concerned about because again that he's out there to hit
home runs and he's still doing that. So I want
to be surprised if just more comes around it. And remember,
you know he was rumored for trades this offseason, so
interested to see if something like that develops, uh and
where could he land? And again, is that a good
thing or a bad thing? Change his scenery for the
(25:59):
final two months before your free agency. It can either
be like beautiful poetry and you just locked up crazy money,
or it can be like, ooh, that ending was weird
for Pete. I don't know what we should do with that,
And you know what kind of sucks when you think
about it. These players know that and they like go
to bed with it every night, which I don't know.
(26:21):
I would not be great at handling that, but maybe
that's just me. The other fun ones that we talked about.
We talked a little bit on talking baseball. Paul Goldschmidt
A he's older now, I mean he's thirty six. His
upcoming free agency, I think he could become a really
(26:42):
fun trade deadline piece. Sorry Cardinals fans, I know you
don't want to hear that. Matt Chapman. Matt Chapman, he
took one of those opt out contracts. He's been struggling
this year, eighteen mil for next year. Reece Hoskins, he's
been doing Reee Hoskins things. He's got a seventeen mil
opt out that could become interesting. I mean, you almost
(27:04):
can't let his current start to the season sway that
one way or another. A guy who may be breaking
the bank. His teammate, shortstop Williadamas. Willy has been balling
this year and go look at what contract shortstops can get.
Go look at what contract a shortstop can get if
(27:26):
you have a one thirty three ops plus eight OHO
nine on the year and you play good defense at short.
If Willy Adamas keeps this up, he is twenty eight
years old, turns twenty nine in September, he will get
a real deal contract that again, think of the ebbs
and flows of baseball. Let's say Willy has a bad
(27:47):
second half. That can happen to literally any baseball player.
I mean, he might have the most on the table
of any free agent if he continues at this pace.
I mean easy over one hundred mil. If he slows
down and has a little funk like he did last year,
a ninety five ops plus Williadamas's free agent see gets
(28:11):
very different, very different. So a big part of the
Brewers hot start slick Willia Damas, Christian Walker's been going
for the Snakes. He'll be a free agent. That one's
gonna be interesting. Let me see if there's others that
jump out here. Polanco's got a club option, I mean,
there's more. And tell me other guys you're seeing or
watching that you think jump out, like, I think Randy's
(28:34):
a free agent right. I didn't see him listed, so
I wonder if he's got a funky something that we've
been missing. But he's had a tough start to the season.
The pitchers are just wild in general. Max Schurzer will
be a forty year old free agent this year after
making forty three point three mil. Justin Verlander has a
vesting option for this year, which that could be interesting
(28:56):
between Houston's antics he got banged up to start the season.
Snell has an opt out thirty one mil of the
next year. What was that face, beebes, Randy's out a
free agent for a while. Yeah, why do you think
it was a contract year? Trev said that at one
point we just believe it.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I think next year's is first year of arb.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Okay, we'll get to the bottom of that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Second year of our Maybe it looks like free agent
twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I'll be honest. The pitchers are kind of a disaster
because everyone is either vesting or opting out. Besides Corbyn Burns,
Max Freed has turned it around. That guy is gonna
get paid a lot. I've got one that'll just surprise you.
Just and this is horribly rude. Max Freed older than
Corbyn Burns. Yeah, I don't know. I just have Corbyn
(29:51):
Burns as this like big mountain man and Max Freed
is like a sweet la boy.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Max Freed like a little over a half year from him.
And how about the third shout out of those crew
Giolito who got hurt right before the season, so he'll
be opting into his contract. Jack Flaherty has been shoving
for Detroit. We're a little close to the situation there,
but his one year, fourteen mil that could be paying
(30:18):
off in a big, big way. Uh, let's see you
say Kakuchi is a free agent that's been shoving. Uh,
and we've been talking about could he potentially be a
trade guy? Bullpen just gets ugly real quick, so I
won't even dive into that. But I don't know. I
thought that was a fun little around the horn, a
little wrap up to see what's going on. Phebe if
(30:43):
you could research one more thing before we keep it moving.
Joe's McFly just popped his head around the corner and
I think he mouthed the words epe to me. So
if you could see if there was an update on
that or if he was just messing with me.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, he's pleading guilty.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah that adds up because you know what he didn't.
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(31:17):
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Speaker 2 (31:43):
They reestimating closer to seventeen mil. What's that looks like?
Closer to seventeen mil is what he took? Okay, previous
number was sixteen faces up to thirty three years.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
All right, Hey, I said no relievers, but Clay Holmes,
if he keeps going, that dude's going to get a contract.
My God, he's been nasty this year.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
I see you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Ken Lee Janssen will be.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Required to pay full restitution to his victims, which includes
sixteen point nine to seventy five million to Otani and
one point one five million to the irs.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
What if he does not have that money.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
It feels like that money's been gambled allegedly.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I mean, maybe, uh, maybe place a never mind, let's
do some of the other sports. I told you, Uh,
I don't. If you're following hockey, you can speak of
it better than me. Although the Rangers double overtime win
was a lot of fun and their power play has
(32:48):
been excellent uh and the Hurricanes has not, which has
been the difference in that series so far. Interested to
see if Boston keeps a rolling because we could get
a Boston New York Boston New York Hockey basket Ball Finals.
So I'll talk our New York Knicks a little bit.
They get the win in Game one over the Pacers.
Game two is tonight. Bronson is unbelievable. How much of
(33:13):
the offense rolls through him is exciting and scary at
the same time. Forty four minutes, twenty six shots, forty
three points, fourteen to fourteen from the free throw line,
six assists. Him and Josh Hart have just been unbelievable. Unbelievable.
Josh Hart his DraftKings over under on rebounds. I sent
(33:35):
this to our chat it was twelve and a half
he has.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Do you know what it is?
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Tonight he got thirteen thirteen and a half. I don't
know and a half, twelve and a half. I mean,
that's crazy. Josh Hart's sixty four. Josh Hart is six
to four and that goes without mentioning his eight assists,
his three steals in twenty four points. There was time
when he felt like the only other option on the court.
(34:02):
It's funny looking back at the Knicks stat line now
Ananobe had thirteen, Hartens Sheen had thirteen and a three
point shot that changed the game. My god, where would
they have been without that? And Defonncenzo put up twenty five,
ten for seventeen, shooting five of nine from three. Honestly,
(34:26):
I'm a little more nervous for this series than I was.
The Knicks bench is missing. Mitchell Robinson gets hurt, so
he'll be out for this series and probably the next
right if.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He returns as soon as when he's reevaluated, it would
be like game.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Six of the Finals, six of the NBA Finals, which
I don't know, not a lot of Knicks fans are
penciling in. I'll say so, they're gonna need someone to
step up from the bench, whether that's Precious at Chewa,
Miles McBride Alec Burks has been shout out. I wonder
if they played Jericho Simms. I'd like his body. I
don't know about his gameplay, even for two fouls. I
(35:10):
think for this series it's gonna just be some extra
extra precious and I'm I'm getting scared. Well a, the
Pacers are the opposite where they just roll depth at
you and maybe pulling TJ McConnell out of that game
lost them the game. Also for being honest, Nick's got
the whistle a little bit, just a little bit down
(35:32):
the end that game one at home that they had
to battle back and felt like they were surviving the
whole time. Very interested to see tonight's feel. I mean,
they're pressuring Bronson full court, They're pressuring everyone full court,
and the Knicks, I mean, they just don't have the
bodies that I'm a little more scared for this series,
and especially looking back now you know the Knicks went
(35:55):
eleven of twenty three from from three. They got to
the free throw line twenty six times. Although that's a
big part of Brunson's game and he's good at it
fifty three percent from the field.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think I'm a little nervous for tonight. I'm interested
to see where the line's at Haliburton. Though he's gotta
be hurt because the Haliburton everyone was talking about. I
don't think he was six points, eight assist, four steals
and he hasn't been the same since he's gotten hurt,
(36:31):
so that kind of scratches, unfortunately for them. But where
are they gonna get the bucket when they needed? And
you saw a little bit of that down the stretch.
I thought it was It's so funny sports broadcasting. You
can get your thoughts across without saying anything. And I
think Nemhart shot it. There's like one minute left, tie game,
(36:57):
and I think they let out of like a Nemhartz
ever scared or he's not scared, And I don't know
that can go two different ways. You make that shot,
you're that guy, pal, you miss that shot, never scared
as being like you probably shouldn't be taking that in
the nicest way. I don't know. I think it's lined
up to be a really fun series. I'm interested to
(37:19):
see if the Knicks either step on the gas pedal
and they can break Indiana before their bodies start to
get tired because they are thin, or does Indiana they
have the depth? Man?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
It has me has me a.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Little concerned, a little concerned anything on your knicks, Beebs.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I think in you know, not much time after this
comes out, before the game just happens. Yeah, I think
game two the the Knicks should be better equipped to
handle the pace a little bits. Again, I don't think
the Mitch injury hurts them of this series. He's one
of the guys at the pace was killing I think.
And like, how many inbounds got like messed up? Like
(38:03):
I think Tibbs and the Fellows will have that cleaned
up today. Let's get the end bounds in pop that
was crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Uh. Boston Cleveland unfortunately doesn't need to be talked about. Okay,
see Dallas. Uh, we'll see as I as I talked
about the Tea Wolves series, which we'll get to and
second and felt like Road Road, Road Road, which has
currently passed the test. For me, again, that was one
game at the time. I'm kind of a historic game.
(38:32):
Let's see what goes on with OKAC in Dallas. I
I honestly I did not watch a ton of this game.
We were Rangers and Yankees game went to so it'll
be late night viewing for me. I kind of don't
have a horse in the race. Uh. It would be
funny if the Oklahoma City Thunder, who everyone's just been
like they're young, who won the West, have been pretty dominant,
(38:55):
like the nut the Tea Wolves are the new sexy
team because they're given the Nuggets the business right now.
It would be funny whoever comes out of that looking
like the Wolves if they play OKC and Oka see
just kind of wins the series in sixteen, like they've
their hype train has been nothing like.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
During the regular season, they were liked and praised for
out like deep they are, and it's like, yeah, so
much so many young talent. That's much young talent and
good players and high picks and and guys they found
later and all that. But like, but in the playoffs
young nobody said anything. They're just they're young.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Anthony Edwards is young.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
They'll have to consolidate these things eventually, haven't They might
not need to.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Uh, let's talk about the good juice, uh, because it
is kin a phrase that's not said a lot in sports.
And I forget there was a random episode where we
were just bumbling around. The t Wolves are a historically
bad franchise. If you go year by year, you know
(40:01):
obviously the KG and they had like one year Kevin
Love was kind of in the abyss out there for
a while when he was like thick, bad facial hair
outlet past Kevin Love, the t Wolves, who people were skeptical.
A lot of the people I depend on for NBA knowledge,
(40:25):
Simmons Roscillo have killed the Rudy go Beart trade as
one of the worst trades of all time, and they're
still saying it is value wise and Rudy Gobert did
not play in this game. Potential defensive player of the Year.
They put on one of the most dominant performances that
anyone's ever seen, because you can everyone's seen people dominate
(40:48):
offensively in the NBA. Like some of those games when
guys are just on it's it's unreal like it gets
you glued to this, glued to it. When when Curry
and Harden are going back and forth Golden State Rockets
games or whatever it may be, like you've seen that,
like bring the ball up, get a good look. How
(41:09):
good are these guys defense?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
You see it?
Speaker 1 (41:14):
And NBA basketball in the playoffs is just completely different,
which I it's a good thing for the product. The
Timberwolves put on a defensive performance. I jumped to it,
and I didn't know if I was being dramatic, and
I was happy that some of the kids on Twitter
called me old. My Pistons not the bad boy Pistons.
(41:37):
That's like when I was born. So I can't. I
can't confidently speak on what they looked like day in
day out. Bill Lambier pushing people, Rick Mahorn's massive body,
Sicko Rodman at a certain point.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
I can't. That's not my lane. I know the follow
up Pistons, Shawn Rip, Tayshawn Prince. Uh, I mean Big
Ben Wallace, obviously Rashid. People forget how good Rashid Wallace was. Uh.
They were the best defensive team. It was Larry Brown
(42:16):
like they were a team of all teams like everyone
did everything. There was something to it though that like
they were built kind of how a signature defensive team
is built. Like you got the old main head coach,
check big Ben Wallace protecting the rim, like go check
out his highlights. It was electric, the fear, the fro
(42:38):
go watch his NBA two K commercial with Tracy Morgan.
Doesn't apply to this, but just a good watch. And
it was a different generation where like it was Ben
Wallace like defending Shack and all these monster of men.
And then they had the lockdown guy, which was Tayshawn
Prince like and Tayshawn was fun man. He was so long.
(43:00):
He was just such a nightmare. And you know, Rip
and Chauncey were good and they chase you and they
play strong d and they were the guards. He had
the lockdown guy, Rashida sneaky, lockdown slash, great help defender
as well. That probably the best defensive team I've seen
in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
What the Wolves did.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Was for one night, it was more impressive than those
teams because everyone was dogging everyone and they're so long
and they're so tall, and Jada McDaniels is an absolute
problem and this was Game two in Denver, right, Like
Denver got punched in the mouth defending champs home court.
(43:44):
Let's answer back, Let's get him everything they got, and
they just got broken, like mentally and physically. Kat who's
probably their weakest defender, but he's a massive human and
went ten of fifteen from field, three of five from
three twelve rebounds. He had two block shots. McDaniels is
(44:10):
just swallows people alive. And if you're in the NBA world,
you've heard that talked about all year whenever anyone mentioned
the Tea Wolves. Anthony Edwards is everyone's ruined this word.
He's actually him. There's a lot of him people jump
to when comparing him. If it continues like this, My
(44:31):
god Mike Conley, which I thought is funny. He's always
been solid and he's just been nice guy of the
Year Mike Conley for the past couple years. But I
think him being such a good veteran presence. I love
that they talked about how Finch, their head coach, got
hurt and like can't run the sideline, so they have
the assistant coach. They were like having Mike Conley is
(44:52):
actually massive for them, and I believe that Mike Conley's
played a lot of basketball. He's the point guard. H
Jaden McDaniels and Aunt Edwards will lock down anyone they
need to at any time. Kat is massive, slow mo,
Kyle Anderson is mixing it up, and they did all
(45:15):
of this. Nikolai Alexander Walker he's the other He will
just these guys swallow you whole like basically, they have
three Tayshaun Princes, not exactly, but and they did all
Nas reed four blocks, a guy that when he was
coming out of college people didn't know if he'd have
(45:35):
like NBA quickness. The whole team is bought in. They
have stoppers and size everywhere. It feels like a future
NBA team. They did all of this without seven to
two defensive player of the Year him or Wimby Rudy Gobert,
which again you could use that as a knock on
Go Beart. I don't think you should. I think even
(45:58):
if it's you know, if you tray Go Bears minutes
for a couple nas couple slow mo minutes, I still
think you get some similar performance. They look awesome. And
Game three we teed it up last time. I told
you Simmons and Risillo, and this is where Simmons has
(46:19):
like a weird scent for this stuff. He was like,
the Tea Wolves might just floor them and rout them.
And it's currently on path for that. That's like the
favorite going back to Minnesota after the ass kicking they
just gave them at what we just saw that should
be what you're thinking should be. Nothing felt wrong, like
(46:43):
Jamal Murray was in hell, Joki was in hell, like
there wasn't a solution eminent And maybe Mike Malone and
the boys will draft it up. And we've seen Jokers
solve every defense he's come against, so maybe that's coming.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
And I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
I think there's some into being a former NBA champion
that they'll they'll have something for Game three. I might
put a little sneeze on them. And I told you
my road road, road road theory every team winning the
first four road games. Still I don't believe in that anymore,
if I'm being honest, because I didn't think they were
gonna do that. Like Ann Edwards didn't even play that
(47:21):
great till later in the game. He ends up with
a fine box score. The te Wolves, they really turned
some heads deservedly so and I mentioned the people who
I respect talking about basketball. They also kind of compared
them to the Pistons team I talked about. So might
be something special going on in the Great North with
(47:44):
a guy who could be next in Anthony Edwards, and
it might just all be happening in front of our eyes.
So if you get a chance to watch them, must
if you're a general sports fan, like they are must
watch TV, and so is Paul Skins, and so are
all of the sports And that's what we do here
(48:05):
at Waken Jake. So I hope you guys are enjoying it.
Thank you so much, and we'll see you guys monyay.
Waken Jake is a production of Dan Patrick Productions, John
Boy Media, and Workhouse Media.
Hello, and welcome to Waken. Jake myself, Jake Story, Ellie,
David Mendelssohn. Make sure you guys are following everything we do.
I say that because we normally don't say that, but
our partnership with Dan Patrick Show has been going pretty cool.
We've gotten some new listeners and followers, so if you're
one of them, thank you so much. And we like
to talk sports and have some fun here. So what
(00:21):
we're gonna do like we kind of normally do. I
want to do a little baseball chatter. I think I'm
gonna do some player talk and look at some of
the upcoming free agents a little bit and just how
they're doing a little bit of landscape of how they're
looking this year. You know, three of the big ones
Alonso Bregman, Glaber Torres. I don't know if you'd label
(00:43):
him as a big one, but I mean a guy
that's been a multiple time All Star second baseman having
tough starts. So I want to dive in. We'll see
if there's anything there, and maybe a couple other guys that, Hey,
if your team's having a bad time, these guys could
either be on the trading block easily if they are
struggling in a contract, hearing their teams out of it,
(01:05):
or like this was kind of a dark talk I
had with Yankees fan Joe's McFly the other day. You know,
if Glabor Tour, if the Yankees look like the Yankees,
and it's they've got a chance this year, let's do it.
If Glabor Torres doesn't turn it around by like June
or July, I don't know, you have an obligation to
(01:28):
the team at that point that becomes very interesting. So
not gonna deep dive into that part of it, because
Glabor Tour has will turn around. Sure, yeah, no doubt scary,
but I want to look into that a little bit,
see where some guys are at. And then honestly, the
NBA playoffs are in a beautiful spot, especially the Western Conference,
(01:50):
so I want to talk about some of those games.
The performance the Timberwolves put on has kind of like
taken over basketball and the sports conversation for the past
couple of days because nobody's really seen anything like that,
which is really cool. So and then we'll see if
we'll round up. I'm probably not gonna hit you with
hockey today. Rangers can't be beat, so never. If you
(02:13):
have a problem with that, go bleep yourself. WHOA, let's
talk a little baseball and just I'll start out wide
and we'll zoom in a little bit that this upcoming
free agent class is supposed to be a big one.
Like we went from the shortstop class with Judge a
(02:35):
couple other guys mixed in there, to this year's class
that was Otani the headlighter. Otani and Yamamoto were the
biggest fish. And then the Boris thing. Everything kind of
got out of control. Was he being was Boris in
trouble or were the free agents themselves that had interesting resumes?
And Snell, Chapman, Montgomery, Well, it's am I missing JD.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Martinez.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
He snuck in the mix that I don't know. It
became a weird, funky free agency. I think it led
to a little more trading, which which we like. But
it was segue into this year which everyone kind of
thought was gonna be a bigger, better class all around.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And the tricky part with free agency is so much
of its timing and the closer we've gotten to the
baseball world like this, this is an anecdote. We went
to Milwaukee in when did we do the sausage Race
twenty twenty two or twenty twenty one, twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty one, we went to Milwaukee, we did the
(03:39):
sausage race. If you haven't seen that, pretty electric content.
Jimmy did legitimately pull his hamstring mid sausage race. Uh.
But we hung out with Corbin Burns for a little
bit and it was cool. It was just like guys chatting,
which you know sometimes with the players, you don't know
if they're gonna look at us as like traditional media
or do they want to talk to anyone in general,
but pictures, if it's not their pitching day and you're
(04:01):
as good as Corbyn Burns, you're kind of good. And
he's a Cali boy. So him and Trevor Plue were
yucking it up over that. But it was funny how
quickly Trevor, being a former ballplayer in Cordon Burns Cordon Byrns,
basically said like, yeah, you know, I'm two and a
half years from free agency, like he was. He was
(04:22):
already eyeing it at the time. That it's if these
guys do it right, If Corbyn Burns has a Corbyn
Burns like season this year, he is about to go
into two hundred million dollars ish, he's got a cy Young.
He's been consistent, like that's old thirty right. Yeah. And
(04:44):
then on the other end of the spectrum, a guy
that will be on this free agent list and will
have a very different free agency also has a cy Young,
also has pitch really well, but got hurt Shane Bieber.
So if you don't time things right in baseball, it
can be absolutely crushing to these guys kind of careers.
(05:05):
And that's why the Blake Snell free agency frustrated me
so much, because Snell won the cy Young. Now he
has some other question marks about his walks in his
way he pitches and consistency innings a little bit. And
then was it Boris? Was it him? I don't know
where the percentages lie, but it's kind of screwed up
that the guy that won the cy Young his second
(05:28):
hit free agency and didn't have the mass appeal and
now he's been hurt, yeah, and pitch bad when he
was out there.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Won the second cy Young in what was otherwise a
pretty weak.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Class, and right Yamamoto got three hundred mil age is
an enormous factor, and pitching they can measure easier.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
But and Corvin Burns will turn thirty right after.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
This season, So okay, I mean that sounds like seven
seven years, thirty five mill. What's that come out to.
I'm not a math guy. Seven times for sure. I
mean that's kind of a number. Don't sound wrong, that's
kind of light. So a go, Gordyn Burns, go unless
(06:11):
it's against the Yankees. But checking in on the free
agent pitching class or the free agent class in general.
I'll actually start with the position guys, because I think
the guy that's gonna lead it off is so Ot Soto.
Juan Soto is making thirty one mill this year. He
is off to an electric start. I think he's one
(06:34):
of two players in baseball who have a one dot OPS.
He's actually under as of today nine to ninety six,
but he has two war already on the season. Uh.
He has been electric for the Yankees. He's leading it
on base percentage, he's leading in total bases, he's leading
in OPS plus games played. Juan Soto has been everything
(06:55):
advertised and more and something that I was saying a
lot before the season because Yankee fans can be brutal.
No defending that sometimes April is Juan Soto's worst month
through basically every season, Juan Soto by month April, he
(07:18):
had an eight seventy two oh ps in his career
one hundred and twenty five games, like not not a
small sample at this point. Every other month is in
the nines or July is a one dot. So Wan
Soto's off to a good start. Wanson's off to a
great start. And if there was any month that I
think would have been the hiccup for him, I do
(07:40):
think it would have been April. So the fact he's
out of the gate and running April.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
New league, new team, start of contract year, it was
prime to be a bad one Soto month.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Ain't seen the effects of that at all. So that's
pretty exciting for Juan Soto, who also is hitting free agency,
had an age A lot of guys don't hit free agency. Uh,
you know, we played a round the office. What's Juan
Soto's final number gonna land at? Reminder, Otani's technically landed
at seven hundred mil. One of the oddest contracts we've
(08:13):
ever seen. They pushed off a lot of money till
after the fact. I don't think Juan soda will do that.
I mean if he wants, if any team wants to
throw him one hundred mil over ten years, in ten
years after he's done playing, they will gladly throw that
in because that becomes not real money to them, the
deferred money. But Juan Soto, I think my guess I
(08:36):
threw out there was five fifty or five hundred and
fifty million or five hundred Yeah, five hundred and fifty million.
I was gonna say five hundred, five hundred million.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
We're not in the front office. The conversation seems like
it'll start with the five. You'd like to think November first,
he'll be twenty six years old. So if you want
to do you know, judges contract roles through He's forty one, right,
his age forty one season.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
If Soto does it till his age.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Forty, your fifteen years would be forty.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So yeah, play with your calculators at home. Juan Soto
is about to get a ton of money. I do
think it's gonna end up being the Yankees. He he
is a Yankee marketable all time. If the Yankees are
the Yankees, you keep that guy around. Let's see what
the Mets drive up the price. Let's see who else
gets involved. But a reminder, Aaron Judges free agency, who
(09:29):
became the captain, acts like a Yankee is a Yankee?
You know, the Padres offered him a ton of money.
Aaron Djudge went back to the Yankees and said, hey,
get in the ballpark, and I'm a Yankee. Things work
themselves out, Judges. Cologne signs are all over the subway. Now,
how about that Juan Soto, it will be pretty good.
(09:52):
A couple other names, fun one tasker, Hernandez. He started
to go for the Dodgers. He signed a one year
twenty three point five. He's a fun watch. He is
leading baseball in strikeouts.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
He did just hit his tenth omers for recording this right, which.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I mean gets him near the lead. He has a
one to twenty nine ops plus coming into today. And
by the way, watch the Dodgers if your team has
an off day. Monday night, the Yanks had an off day.
I put on the Dodgers at ten o'clock and they're
I wanted to compare it to a circus, but it's
(10:30):
more beautiful than that. It's like seeing I Actually I
haven't seen circ day Sola, but it feels like they
brought in people from all over the world who are
like the best at what they do. Like Taoscar Hernandez.
Nobody thinks of him as one of the best baseball
players in the world. I think he has some of
the fastest like wrists swings in the world. It's like,
(10:52):
here's it, and here's this guy from the Dominican Republic,
here's show hey from Japan. Mookie Betts can play every
position on the field. Freddie Freeman might be the best
hitter baseball scene in a while. Max Muncy well thick
as Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
The Pirates have called up Paul Skins.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Really okay, it's a Paul Skeen's breaking news pod now, uh,
I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Good good, excited to watch it.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Paul Skeens has been ready to pitch. The thing that
I told, the thing that I kept saying to the
Pittsburgh Pirates was stay in the standings until you could
call up Paul Skeens, Because when you bring in a
guy like that, hey, if he's the guy he's supposed
to be, which I think he is. Man, I mean
a lot of the a lot of the young pitchers
(11:42):
that get the real hype at this point they pan
out at a pretty high rate, at least like you
see it and it's like, oh, that makes sense, And
I mean, this is a different level of hype, Like
Paul Skeens is like Strasburg, Like, you know, I'm trying
to think who else had crazy? I don't know. I
(12:04):
guess I'd have to dig a little deeper. Strasburg was
an unreal time. Skeens is close to that. He obviously
has the v low And I wonder if the Pirates
they said they were waiting for him to get built up,
and everyone was like, I don't know how true that is.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
He was.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I mean, his first couple of minor league starts were
like three innings, so maybe there were some truths to that.
The Pirates have been skidding for a little while. Now,
they're three and seven in their last ten. They're seventeen
and twenty one on the season after getting off to
a hot start. So I wonder, And I think I've
said this thought on here before. We always look at teams,
(12:44):
and I think our conversation was like, should the Pirates
even call up Skeens this year? Like what's that gonna
do for them? I think the Pirates look at their
team and they're like, let's go, Like not necessarily this
is the year. But Brian Reynolds, they locked him up. Key,
Brian Hayes, they locked him up. O'Neil Cruz like it's
(13:04):
go time for him. Jack Sawinski, young, solid ball player.
The pitching was the more of the concern for me,
although the lineup is starting to look a little thin
as the season has continued, and their pitching's actually been awesome.
Jared Jones came to the office, good guy. He's been shoving.
(13:27):
Mitch Keller has blossomed the new good starting pitcher, martem Perez.
They have a top ten starting pitching r and Baseball, so, hey,
calling that guy up is going to give them some life.
I'd love to see their lineup get a little life.
As number one one pick Henry Davis just got option
to the Miners, I'm kind of hoping that guy was
going to click for them as their twenty eighth and
(13:49):
o ps a bottom five offense, So I don't know
if Skeens is gonna help with that a lot a lot.
I will say his first start will be appointment television,
and that's something baseball struggles with. So I'm excited for that.
Have they announced which day he gets the start?
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I haven't done a Twitter deep dive trying to see
roster resources has hasn't fully updated.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I'm seeing May eleventh, so that would be Saturday. Okay,
so hey, if you're a baseball fan, I mean, this
guy's kind of supposed to be next. So Saturday against
the Chicago Cubs, we get to see a guy who's
supposed to be next, and the Vilo is supposed to
be insane. So I don't know. I'm I'm fading Villo
(14:40):
a little bit just because guys are getting hurt because
of it. But interested to see, interested to see what
he looks like. Good for Pirates fans that you don't
have to play that game anymore. And uh hey maybe
it will jump the offense a little bit. Maybe juice
is real. I like to think it is. But they're
have to bring something on that side of the ball
(15:01):
to help him out. Man, No, it used to be awesome,
and this guy's falling out so hard. Harvey days with
the Mets, yeah he was. Harvey days were awesome, dude.
I remember Harvey Strasburg. I saw one of those games.
The Mets were doing like twenty five dollars for a ticket,
a T shirt and a hot dog. Times were good.
(15:25):
So maybe Paul Skins can even just fill the ballpark
for them, and maybe they can make some moves in
free agency that they couldn't if they didn't sell out
those eleven Paul Skins games, Go, Pirates, go back to
the free agency a little bit, a little breaking news
for the people there. We love that? Or was I
the hitters Soto Teoscar Hernandez, sure like? At this point,
(15:50):
I don't know if Michael Confordo is going to break
the bank in free agency with where his age has
been at and consistency the past couple of years, positive
OPS plus rooting for you, Michael Conforto. I think the
outfielder who's actually on this website not listed as an
outfielder that needs to be talked about is Cody Bellinger.
(16:12):
If you remember, Cody was part of the free agent
class and he had his questions about injury with performance
tied to injury. I suppose he got banged up a
little bit this year, but he is back and hitting.
It's a smaller sample size eighty eight at bats, but
a one thirty two OPS plus an eight twenty five OPS,
(16:33):
which that's in line with where he was last year
OPS plus wise, hitting down across the board in baseball
so far. But if you're a team that, if you're either,
you're probably eyeing next year's plans because the Cubs seem
to be in the mix and they're gonna keep Cody
Bellinger around. Cody Bellinger, the guys that accepted opt out contracts.
(16:57):
Me and jim went back and forth on talking baseball
a little bit for where they landed. Obviously, guaranteed money
is better, and Jimmy was coming from the baseball side,
which I fully agree with. Like, if you're a Chicago
Cubs fan the day Bellinger signed, you should go out
and get a Belly jersey. I tweeted out the other
day on when and if Sodo signs with the Yankees.
(17:18):
I'm buying a Sodo jersey. I'm all in on it.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
He's a sick puppy. He reminds me of like when
people talk about legends, like the fact we get to
see that guy play. I'm in for Cubs fans Cody Bellinger.
If you like the way he covers grounds, or you
like that sweet, sweet lefty swing should say say I
like him, I want to buy a jersey with the
opt out kind of how could you do that? And
(17:44):
if he keeps playing at this rate, he's gonna opt
out and he's gonna get more guaranteed money. So circle that.
If your team is going to have an outfield need,
maybe a first base need, maybe both, Cody Bellinger could
be back in play for you coming up.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Have you seen what is bold on his baseball reference
page for this year?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I have not.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
He leads all of baseball and intentional walks.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
How about that?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
In with an I Elston a little scared interested, little
scared interested?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Uh, I think the other two guys that jump off
the map, this guy's playing off the map. Uh. Anthony
Santan dare from your Baltimore Orioles, those Orioles that have
been leading baseball on home runs. He might be the
best pure power threat on the team, although Gunner Henderson
may be passing him as just one.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Of the best in baseball.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Uh. He's gonna be hitting free agency at age thirty,
a guy who's been a consistent switch hitter. The defense
is mad that you might have to plan a corner
outfield slash DH spot for Anthony Santandre. He's been around
league average, uh and it's a tough man a seven
(18:57):
h six ops two thirteen to eighty nine. And again
the impact of a contract year because his two seasons
before this he's been a one to twenty ops plus
switch hitting averaging thirty homers a year. There's not a
lot of guys you can say that about that. If
he plays to his stats the past couple of years,
(19:19):
he's going to run into a nice little payday. And
he's been a guy consistent for the Baltimore Orioles transitioning
from the bad times to the good times. A couple
other guys, I mean, like Mark Canna is having a
nice year, but he's gonna be thirty six next year,
so that's you know, excited for him to get maybe
(19:40):
a one year or a nice two years opt out deal.
I think the other outfielders as I as I transition
out a little bit, because there's Jesse Winkers who I'm
rooting for Jesse, and hey, Jerkson Profar has been going
nut job this year.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Jesse might end up similar to what Belly had last year.
It's like every other year is this and then there
were two just bad right. I don't know what he
had going on.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Belly might be his best friend for a little bit
because he might get him a little paid if he
can keep it up for the year. The two names
I see jump out Tyler O'Neil has been going nuts
for Boston that if he can stay healthy the rest
of the way, that can turn into a real payday.
Because he's twenty eight, so if he can go nuts
for Boston this year, he can turn in a nice
(20:30):
free agent contract. Alex Verdugo with the Yankees, the other guy.
Ever since he was traded to the Yankees, he was
kind of looked at as the other guy. He's still
twenty seven. He turns twenty eight soon, but again, hitting
free agency right. Hitting free agency right and at the
(20:50):
right age, that's what matters. He plays strong defense, and
he just moved up to the cleanup spot and the
Yankee lineup and he's looked awesome. The guy I has
always had the contact tool. I think he had to
do a little growing up. Maybe he has, or maybe
we're hiding it, or maybe it's both, but Alex Verdugo,
(21:11):
his stock is going way up for a potential free
agency and obviously rooting for him in a big way
with our Yankees. Now I mentioned the guys that are struggling,
and I mentioned those big three in the infield, Pete Alonso,
Alex Bregman, Glaber Torres. I mentioned Glaber off the rip.
(21:35):
He's shown signs of coming out of it a little bit.
It's just very interesting because Glaber Torres is a hit first,
second baseman, which if you're not hitting, you're not a
plus defensively, you don't have speed as part of your game,
and you're getting paid fourteen mill this year. Things could
(21:57):
get loud for Glaber pretty quickly if he doesn't fit
figure it out, because it always seemed like this was
gonna be the last year with the Yankees. He's got
to go a little bit. Uh. And for a lot
of these guys, I went to their baseball somevants, and
none of them are pretty like that's just how it
works at this point of the year if you haven't
(22:17):
gotten off to a good start. But yeah, I'll tell you,
for anyone who's a Yankee fan or not a Yankee fan,
it's a scary thing. But like, let's say this continues.
Let's say it's a first half thing, the Yankees drag
Joey Gallo to the trade deadline as long as they could.
(22:37):
If Glabor doesn't show signs becomes a really interesting conversation
because I mean, even someone like Oswald Pirazzo, who's a
top prospect for them, he's been hurt this year. If
you're looking at it from a money standpoint, whether it's
getting off of Glaber's money, and you can have a
(22:59):
person that you know has speed and defense if they're
not gonna hit, or if the Yankees are trying to
win a World Series, you might want to swap a
piece in and a piece out. So that's a little
nervous for Glabor in a thought exercise I did the
other day. The other one that's just wild is Alex Bregman.
This whole Astro situation, which two weeks ago I told
(23:20):
you on this program Subscribe Thank you, like the Astros
need to figure it out. They've been five and seven
since then. They are in last place behind the Angels
in the Al West. They just got blown out by
the Yanks last night justin Verlander, and Bregman is really
really struggling this year. One ninety five, a two sixty
(23:44):
slug a five thirty five. Ops, Hey, you can wash
this stuff. You can, but also things can get heavy.
Things can get heavy quick. And Breggy, I'm not gonna
doubt him out. He's got a career fifty oh ps.
He's been eight hundreds the past couple seasons. You know
(24:04):
he does, has a couple those juice ball years are
a little boosted. And that's fine, so so ore glabers ironically,
but yeah, for him, it's gonna be wild to see. Hey,
what happens with this Houston team in general? Their GM
just came out and said, we're not gonna sell. But
if things continue like this, I bet that tone changes.
(24:26):
And for Alex Bregmant, if you turn it around, do
they have a conversation do you want to stay? Do
you want to go? You'd like to think a player
of his ILK that's had the run they have, they
consider it because they can still attach a qualifying offer
to him and get that kind of reimbursement from it.
Interesting to watch. And then my safest one of the three,
(24:49):
Pete Alonso. The numbers are kind of funky Pete alonzo ish,
and what I mean by that is he's he's hitting homers,
He's got nine home run everything else is a tick
low across the board. And I guess the thing that
is interesting to me is this is what we said
last year. Last year Pete Alonso two seventeen, three eighteen
(25:13):
but a five oh four slug for an eight twenty
one ops. He had forty six homers in a down year. Uh.
And he got banged up last year and he tried
to come back. And you can see those like in
his numbers.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Like especially in like his batting average, because like his
in his career, he he hits hits. Yeah, and he
though those specific couple months that he rehabbed and was
getting back into it.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I would say Pete is the one I'm the least
concerned about because again that he's out there to hit
home runs and he's still doing that. So I want
to be surprised if just more comes around it. And remember,
you know he was rumored for trades this offseason, so
interested to see if something like that develops, uh and
where could he land? And again, is that a good
thing or a bad thing? Change his scenery for the
(25:59):
final two months before your free agency. It can either
be like beautiful poetry and you just locked up crazy money,
or it can be like, ooh, that ending was weird
for Pete. I don't know what we should do with that,
And you know what kind of sucks when you think
about it. These players know that and they like go
to bed with it every night, which I don't know.
(26:21):
I would not be great at handling that, but maybe
that's just me. The other fun ones that we talked about.
We talked a little bit on talking baseball. Paul Goldschmidt
A he's older now, I mean he's thirty six. His
upcoming free agency, I think he could become a really
(26:42):
fun trade deadline piece. Sorry Cardinals fans, I know you
don't want to hear that. Matt Chapman. Matt Chapman, he
took one of those opt out contracts. He's been struggling
this year, eighteen mil for next year. Reece Hoskins, he's
been doing Reee Hoskins things. He's got a seventeen mil
opt out that could become interesting. I mean, you almost
(27:04):
can't let his current start to the season sway that
one way or another. A guy who may be breaking
the bank. His teammate, shortstop Williadamas. Willy has been balling
this year and go look at what contract shortstops can get.
Go look at what contract a shortstop can get if
(27:26):
you have a one thirty three ops plus eight OHO
nine on the year and you play good defense at short.
If Willy Adamas keeps this up, he is twenty eight
years old, turns twenty nine in September, he will get
a real deal contract that again, think of the ebbs
and flows of baseball. Let's say Willy has a bad
(27:47):
second half. That can happen to literally any baseball player.
I mean, he might have the most on the table
of any free agent if he continues at this pace.
I mean easy over one hundred mil. If he slows
down and has a little funk like he did last year,
a ninety five ops plus Williadamas's free agent see gets
(28:11):
very different, very different. So a big part of the
Brewers hot start slick Willia Damas, Christian Walker's been going
for the Snakes. He'll be a free agent. That one's
gonna be interesting. Let me see if there's others that
jump out here. Polanco's got a club option, I mean,
there's more. And tell me other guys you're seeing or
watching that you think jump out, like, I think Randy's
(28:34):
a free agent right. I didn't see him listed, so
I wonder if he's got a funky something that we've
been missing. But he's had a tough start to the season.
The pitchers are just wild in general. Max Schurzer will
be a forty year old free agent this year after
making forty three point three mil. Justin Verlander has a
vesting option for this year, which that could be interesting
(28:56):
between Houston's antics he got banged up to start the season.
Snell has an opt out thirty one mil of the
next year. What was that face, beebes, Randy's out a
free agent for a while. Yeah, why do you think
it was a contract year? Trev said that at one
point we just believe it.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I think next year's is first year of arb.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Okay, we'll get to the bottom of that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Second year of our Maybe it looks like free agent
twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I'll be honest. The pitchers are kind of a disaster
because everyone is either vesting or opting out. Besides Corbyn Burns,
Max Freed has turned it around. That guy is gonna
get paid a lot. I've got one that'll just surprise you.
Just and this is horribly rude. Max Freed older than
Corbyn Burns. Yeah, I don't know. I just have Corbyn
(29:51):
Burns as this like big mountain man and Max Freed
is like a sweet la boy.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Max Freed like a little over a half year from him.
And how about the third shout out of those crew
Giolito who got hurt right before the season, so he'll
be opting into his contract. Jack Flaherty has been shoving
for Detroit. We're a little close to the situation there,
but his one year, fourteen mil that could be paying
(30:18):
off in a big, big way. Uh, let's see you
say Kakuchi is a free agent that's been shoving. Uh,
and we've been talking about could he potentially be a
trade guy? Bullpen just gets ugly real quick, so I
won't even dive into that. But I don't know. I
thought that was a fun little around the horn, a
little wrap up to see what's going on. Phebe if
(30:43):
you could research one more thing before we keep it moving.
Joe's McFly just popped his head around the corner and
I think he mouthed the words epe to me. So
if you could see if there was an update on
that or if he was just messing with me.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, he's pleading guilty.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah that adds up because you know what he didn't.
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(31:17):
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Speaker 2 (31:43):
They reestimating closer to seventeen mil. What's that looks like?
Closer to seventeen mil is what he took? Okay, previous
number was sixteen faces up to thirty three years.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
All right, Hey, I said no relievers, but Clay Holmes,
if he keeps going, that dude's going to get a contract.
My God, he's been nasty this year.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
I see you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Ken Lee Janssen will be.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Required to pay full restitution to his victims, which includes
sixteen point nine to seventy five million to Otani and
one point one five million to the irs.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
What if he does not have that money.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
It feels like that money's been gambled allegedly.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I mean, maybe, uh, maybe place a never mind, let's
do some of the other sports. I told you, Uh,
I don't. If you're following hockey, you can speak of
it better than me. Although the Rangers double overtime win
was a lot of fun and their power play has
(32:48):
been excellent uh and the Hurricanes has not, which has
been the difference in that series so far. Interested to
see if Boston keeps a rolling because we could get
a Boston New York Boston New York Hockey basket Ball Finals.
So I'll talk our New York Knicks a little bit.
They get the win in Game one over the Pacers.
Game two is tonight. Bronson is unbelievable. How much of
(33:13):
the offense rolls through him is exciting and scary at
the same time. Forty four minutes, twenty six shots, forty
three points, fourteen to fourteen from the free throw line,
six assists. Him and Josh Hart have just been unbelievable. Unbelievable.
Josh Hart his DraftKings over under on rebounds. I sent
(33:35):
this to our chat it was twelve and a half
he has.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Do you know what it is?
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Tonight he got thirteen thirteen and a half. I don't
know and a half, twelve and a half. I mean,
that's crazy. Josh Hart's sixty four. Josh Hart is six
to four and that goes without mentioning his eight assists,
his three steals in twenty four points. There was time
when he felt like the only other option on the court.
(34:02):
It's funny looking back at the Knicks stat line now
Ananobe had thirteen, Hartens Sheen had thirteen and a three
point shot that changed the game. My god, where would
they have been without that? And Defonncenzo put up twenty five,
ten for seventeen, shooting five of nine from three. Honestly,
(34:26):
I'm a little more nervous for this series than I was.
The Knicks bench is missing. Mitchell Robinson gets hurt, so
he'll be out for this series and probably the next
right if.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
He returns as soon as when he's reevaluated, it would
be like game.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Six of the Finals, six of the NBA Finals, which
I don't know, not a lot of Knicks fans are
penciling in. I'll say so, they're gonna need someone to
step up from the bench, whether that's Precious at Chewa,
Miles McBride Alec Burks has been shout out. I wonder
if they played Jericho Simms. I'd like his body. I
don't know about his gameplay, even for two fouls. I
(35:10):
think for this series it's gonna just be some extra
extra precious and I'm I'm getting scared. Well a, the
Pacers are the opposite where they just roll depth at
you and maybe pulling TJ McConnell out of that game
lost them the game. Also for being honest, Nick's got
the whistle a little bit, just a little bit down
(35:32):
the end that game one at home that they had
to battle back and felt like they were surviving the
whole time. Very interested to see tonight's feel. I mean,
they're pressuring Bronson full court, They're pressuring everyone full court,
and the Knicks, I mean, they just don't have the
bodies that I'm a little more scared for this series,
and especially looking back now you know the Knicks went
(35:55):
eleven of twenty three from from three. They got to
the free throw line twenty six times. Although that's a
big part of Brunson's game and he's good at it
fifty three percent from the field.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think I'm a little nervous for tonight. I'm interested
to see where the line's at Haliburton. Though he's gotta
be hurt because the Haliburton everyone was talking about. I
don't think he was six points, eight assist, four steals
and he hasn't been the same since he's gotten hurt,
(36:31):
so that kind of scratches, unfortunately for them. But where
are they gonna get the bucket when they needed? And
you saw a little bit of that down the stretch.
I thought it was It's so funny sports broadcasting. You
can get your thoughts across without saying anything. And I
think Nemhart shot it. There's like one minute left, tie game,
(36:57):
and I think they let out of like a Nemhartz
ever scared or he's not scared, And I don't know
that can go two different ways. You make that shot,
you're that guy, pal, you miss that shot, never scared
as being like you probably shouldn't be taking that in
the nicest way. I don't know. I think it's lined
up to be a really fun series. I'm interested to
(37:19):
see if the Knicks either step on the gas pedal
and they can break Indiana before their bodies start to
get tired because they are thin, or does Indiana they
have the depth? Man?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
It has me has me a.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Little concerned, a little concerned anything on your knicks, Beebs.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
I think in you know, not much time after this
comes out, before the game just happens. Yeah, I think
game two the the Knicks should be better equipped to
handle the pace a little bits. Again, I don't think
the Mitch injury hurts them of this series. He's one
of the guys at the pace was killing I think.
And like, how many inbounds got like messed up? Like
(38:03):
I think Tibbs and the Fellows will have that cleaned
up today. Let's get the end bounds in pop that
was crazy.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Uh. Boston Cleveland unfortunately doesn't need to be talked about. Okay,
see Dallas. Uh, we'll see as I as I talked
about the Tea Wolves series, which we'll get to and
second and felt like Road Road, Road Road, which has
currently passed the test. For me, again, that was one
game at the time. I'm kind of a historic game.
(38:32):
Let's see what goes on with OKAC in Dallas. I
I honestly I did not watch a ton of this game.
We were Rangers and Yankees game went to so it'll
be late night viewing for me. I kind of don't
have a horse in the race. Uh. It would be
funny if the Oklahoma City Thunder, who everyone's just been
like they're young, who won the West, have been pretty dominant,
(38:55):
like the nut the Tea Wolves are the new sexy
team because they're given the Nuggets the business right now.
It would be funny whoever comes out of that looking
like the Wolves if they play OKC and Oka see
just kind of wins the series in sixteen, like they've
their hype train has been nothing like.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
During the regular season, they were liked and praised for
out like deep they are, and it's like, yeah, so
much so many young talent. That's much young talent and
good players and high picks and and guys they found
later and all that. But like, but in the playoffs
young nobody said anything. They're just they're young.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
Anthony Edwards is young.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
They'll have to consolidate these things eventually, haven't They might
not need to.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Uh, let's talk about the good juice, uh, because it
is kin a phrase that's not said a lot in sports.
And I forget there was a random episode where we
were just bumbling around. The t Wolves are a historically
bad franchise. If you go year by year, you know
(40:01):
obviously the KG and they had like one year Kevin
Love was kind of in the abyss out there for
a while when he was like thick, bad facial hair
outlet past Kevin Love, the t Wolves, who people were skeptical.
A lot of the people I depend on for NBA knowledge,
(40:25):
Simmons Roscillo have killed the Rudy go Beart trade as
one of the worst trades of all time, and they're
still saying it is value wise and Rudy Gobert did
not play in this game. Potential defensive player of the Year.
They put on one of the most dominant performances that
anyone's ever seen, because you can everyone's seen people dominate
(40:48):
offensively in the NBA. Like some of those games when
guys are just on it's it's unreal like it gets
you glued to this, glued to it. When when Curry
and Harden are going back and forth Golden State Rockets
games or whatever it may be, like you've seen that,
like bring the ball up, get a good look. How
(41:09):
good are these guys defense?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
You see it?
Speaker 1 (41:14):
And NBA basketball in the playoffs is just completely different,
which I it's a good thing for the product. The
Timberwolves put on a defensive performance. I jumped to it,
and I didn't know if I was being dramatic, and
I was happy that some of the kids on Twitter
called me old. My Pistons not the bad boy Pistons.
(41:37):
That's like when I was born. So I can't. I
can't confidently speak on what they looked like day in
day out. Bill Lambier pushing people, Rick Mahorn's massive body,
Sicko Rodman at a certain point.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
I can't. That's not my lane. I know the follow
up Pistons, Shawn Rip, Tayshawn Prince. Uh, I mean Big
Ben Wallace, obviously Rashid. People forget how good Rashid Wallace was. Uh.
They were the best defensive team. It was Larry Brown
(42:16):
like they were a team of all teams like everyone
did everything. There was something to it though that like
they were built kind of how a signature defensive team
is built. Like you got the old main head coach,
check big Ben Wallace protecting the rim, like go check
out his highlights. It was electric, the fear, the fro
(42:38):
go watch his NBA two K commercial with Tracy Morgan.
Doesn't apply to this, but just a good watch. And
it was a different generation where like it was Ben
Wallace like defending Shack and all these monster of men.
And then they had the lockdown guy, which was Tayshawn
Prince like and Tayshawn was fun man. He was so long.
(43:00):
He was just such a nightmare. And you know, Rip
and Chauncey were good and they chase you and they
play strong d and they were the guards. He had
the lockdown guy, Rashida sneaky, lockdown slash, great help defender
as well. That probably the best defensive team I've seen
in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
What the Wolves did.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Was for one night, it was more impressive than those
teams because everyone was dogging everyone and they're so long
and they're so tall, and Jada McDaniels is an absolute
problem and this was Game two in Denver, right, Like
Denver got punched in the mouth defending champs home court.
(43:44):
Let's answer back, Let's get him everything they got, and
they just got broken, like mentally and physically. Kat who's
probably their weakest defender, but he's a massive human and
went ten of fifteen from field, three of five from
three twelve rebounds. He had two block shots. McDaniels is
(44:10):
just swallows people alive. And if you're in the NBA world,
you've heard that talked about all year whenever anyone mentioned
the Tea Wolves. Anthony Edwards is everyone's ruined this word.
He's actually him. There's a lot of him people jump
to when comparing him. If it continues like this, My
(44:31):
god Mike Conley, which I thought is funny. He's always
been solid and he's just been nice guy of the
Year Mike Conley for the past couple years. But I
think him being such a good veteran presence. I love
that they talked about how Finch, their head coach, got
hurt and like can't run the sideline, so they have
the assistant coach. They were like having Mike Conley is
(44:52):
actually massive for them, and I believe that Mike Conley's
played a lot of basketball. He's the point guard. H
Jaden McDaniels and Aunt Edwards will lock down anyone they
need to at any time. Kat is massive, slow mo,
Kyle Anderson is mixing it up, and they did all
(45:15):
of this. Nikolai Alexander Walker he's the other He will
just these guys swallow you whole like basically, they have
three Tayshaun Princes, not exactly, but and they did all
Nas reed four blocks, a guy that when he was
coming out of college people didn't know if he'd have
(45:35):
like NBA quickness. The whole team is bought in. They
have stoppers and size everywhere. It feels like a future
NBA team. They did all of this without seven to
two defensive player of the Year him or Wimby Rudy Gobert,
which again you could use that as a knock on
Go Beart. I don't think you should. I think even
(45:58):
if it's you know, if you tray Go Bears minutes
for a couple nas couple slow mo minutes, I still
think you get some similar performance. They look awesome. And
Game three we teed it up last time. I told
you Simmons and Risillo, and this is where Simmons has
(46:19):
like a weird scent for this stuff. He was like,
the Tea Wolves might just floor them and rout them.
And it's currently on path for that. That's like the
favorite going back to Minnesota after the ass kicking they
just gave them at what we just saw that should
be what you're thinking should be. Nothing felt wrong, like
(46:43):
Jamal Murray was in hell, Joki was in hell, like
there wasn't a solution eminent And maybe Mike Malone and
the boys will draft it up. And we've seen Jokers
solve every defense he's come against, so maybe that's coming.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
And I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
I think there's some into being a former NBA champion
that they'll they'll have something for Game three. I might
put a little sneeze on them. And I told you
my road road, road road theory every team winning the
first four road games. Still I don't believe in that anymore,
if I'm being honest, because I didn't think they were
gonna do that. Like Ann Edwards didn't even play that
(47:21):
great till later in the game. He ends up with
a fine box score. The te Wolves, they really turned
some heads deservedly so and I mentioned the people who
I respect talking about basketball. They also kind of compared
them to the Pistons team I talked about. So might
be something special going on in the Great North with
(47:44):
a guy who could be next in Anthony Edwards, and
it might just all be happening in front of our eyes.
So if you get a chance to watch them, must
if you're a general sports fan, like they are must
watch TV, and so is Paul Skins, and so are
all of the sports And that's what we do here
(48:05):
at Waken Jake. So I hope you guys are enjoying it.
Thank you so much, and we'll see you guys monyay.
Waken Jake is a production of Dan Patrick Productions, John
Boy Media, and Workhouse Media.
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