Our 2024 First Base Tier List (with Jolly Olive) | February 28

Jolly Olive is here to rank all of the 1B in MLB ahead of the 2024 season!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome awaken Jake, myself, Davis and as we've
been joined through this baseball off season. It's Jack Oliver
address one two three Fake Street. Hey, Hey, hey, hey, sorry.
You may know him Jolly Olive aka Big Time Now
one hundred k Jolly Olive YouTube. We like that. We

(00:21):
support that, Jolly. How are you doing and what are
your feelings on first base on.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
The field, hoping to get there one day? Good, Jake,
I'm having a good day. We're midway through hump day,
which is prime energy for me and we're ready to
to Oh. Josan McClay appearing in the side room. I'm good.
I'm excited to rank first basement because it's needy. A
lot of potatoes here, a lot of meat here, the weak.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Links John Boy Media. One of our strengths is peeling
back the curtain when we need to, and we'll tell
you the truth about it. That's this is this is
a whole truth pod.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
By time, somebody told the truth.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Last week we were debating which position to do and
we were a little up against it time wise, and
Jolly was scared to do the basement because of how
meaty you think it is. That's just true. You don't
have to be mad.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
About feelings, right, you know, you know how you get
passionate at the time when your first baseman hits thirty,
you get passionate about it.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
We haven't had any players chime back yet on any
of the tearless.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right Grady and have Chimeman Live Live.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
And then we had Blake. We had Blake Perkins respond
to our MLB the show.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Watched those videos. That's awesome, that was awesome. He was
in those videos on.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
It's a Game. Oh yeah, it's pretty good. On his
Twitter follow Blake Perkins, let's do first baseman jolly Like
you said, it's a meaty position. I think this is
a position that we'll have maybe the most movement in
the next year. I like the young talent. There is

(02:06):
a layer of there's a layer of really good that
I think in a single season. You're like, I'd have
to elevate that guy. I will go through the tiers
we currently have laid out. If this is your first
time joining us for a tier list, hello, go check
out some of the previous ones. The categories. I'll go
from the bottom to the top on this one, the

(02:28):
bottom category and we are pretty player friendly here at
John Boy Media, so you know this is a gweiser.
Just go on the team. Bottom we have young and
the restless, a lot of youths that maybe we'll see
what they've got in. One or two other fellas hates
playing one B. A couple guys that maybe would prefer
to be dhing or just playing any other position, but

(02:49):
they've ended up at first base. Twenty nineteen was the
best man, is what I have it written down on.
We may tweak with the name, but you'll see why
that category is because twenty nineteen who Orioles first baseman?
Above that is like the I like this kid's look

(03:12):
in quotes and it says from your uncle. So it's, uh,
you know someone who looks like a ballplayer that may
be climbing this list soon. The next tier is Kim
Kardashian because they've got everything but really good, but really good.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
But do you get it, dude, you have it.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
The next one above that is seven time All Star,
pretty straightforward, and the s tier of first base is
number retired. With the Braves, we were debating where to start.
I mean, the top is pretty obvious. I think I
think we can kind of do a work, will work

(03:58):
our way up a little bit. Then I think we
funnel down, get rid of names, and we'll see if
we're a little tidier this time. We did pregame this
list a little more than we have previous lists, So
let's see. H Jolly Olive, I will kick it to you.
We love highlighting the youth in this great game that
my idol, Rob Manfred runs. I like the look at

(04:22):
this kid. Who do you like the look of Who's
the future of first base?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
This is a fun place to start, Jake, because we've
got some guys that I'm really excited about watching play
this year, partly because the guys that I think end
up here aren't really in my division, so I kind
of just get to appreciate them from afar and we've
gotten like a glimpse into what they can be. And

(04:46):
the first one I'm gonna name since we are a
dirty water pod, Tristan Cassas. I like the look of
this kid. Now we had some we had some Bobby
Dolbeck years in Boston, but I think we fully trans
into the Casas hive. And last year he's really good man.
I mean, he's he's something worth getting excited about twenty

(05:07):
four home runs, one twenty nine ops, plus some fun
off the field stuff that you can sink your teeth
into potential video one day. I don't know, but I
really like Tristan Cassas. I like his look for the
Boston Red Sox lineup, and I think he's very important
to that lineup as well. And that's kind of a
big thing, a big factor for me in this tier specifically,
not only do I like your look? How important to you?

(05:29):
How important are you to your team's trajectory right now?
Because I think Tristan Cassas, if he can have if
he can build on last year, that's huge for Boston.
Who really you know, we've talked a lot of the
offseason about not a lot is going their way. If
Tristan Cossas can click and be a thirty homer bat,
continue to build upon that sophomore season, I think everyone's

(05:49):
gonna like his look.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Tristan cass A Red Sox first base. You know something
I should be giving a history lesson in Red Sox
first base hasn't always been a strength of their team,
like even a lot of their championship teams, the first
baseman I don't want to say bonus piece, but even
going back to Minkayevich to like, uh, I don't know,

(06:16):
Cossas has a chance something that I like, Uh, you know,
every year we get the picture of player X next
to Aaron Judge and go, oh my god, Judge is
so big. Who was playing? There was someone playing first
base last year that was like five ten and it
was just like damn because Judge is standing on the

(06:37):
base and they're holding him on and it was just like, ooh, uh.
Cossas is like in the same league as Judge. So
when you show me that interested, when you show me
twenty four home runs in one hundred and thirty two games,
interested two sixty three, three sixty seven on base for

(07:00):
over one hundred points better than the batting average. He
was drawing walks last year, finished third and Rookie of
the Year and he did that at twenty three years old,
So like, everything is there for me. I've seen him
hit home runs the opposite way. If he learns how
to do that at Fenway, that's gonna be a problem.
And the ones he does turn on also not too

(07:20):
much of a problem because he is a big old boy.
Lot of red on his Baseball Savant page if you're
into that, and uh yeah, I would not be. Man,
it feels like every other team is looking for left
handed hitters except the Boston Red Sox. Dever's Yoshida Casas

(07:41):
ye Ary Duran.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
If Yoshida is the guy he was in the first half,
the way that Cassas was the guy that he was
in the second half one point zero through four ohps.
By the way, Yeah, that's like a lefties murderer row
in Boston. That lineup you can really get excited about.
It's weird. Boston's offense kind of grated out, somewhat a
little bit above league overge, like not nothing crazy, but
I look up and down the names and I like it.

(08:04):
And a big piece of that is I think Tristan
Cossas is going to be really good. He's only gonna
be twenty four next year, like the kids.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Look, let me find the final jaky butter knife, because
I think this is going to be a powerful one.
If we go from let's go from June third, second
game of a double header, why not Tristan Cossas's final
eighty three games, so half a season a little more

(08:32):
three oh seven, batting average four to oh four, on
base nine to seventy four ops. He was twenty three
years old, plays in a hitter's park, plays in a
pretty good lineup. We'll see what's going on with the pitching.
Tristan Cassas has a chance to be climbing this ladder
pretty soon, and jolly I like balance. I'll pair him

(08:56):
with a guy that can give a very similar argument.
A less hitter friendly environment, but a big second half,
big prospect. Cassis is lefty. Spencer Torklsen is a righty,
and we will this year doesn't dictate everything, but with
a big second half last year, the Tigers, I don't

(09:18):
want to say with expectations, but if they are to
dream of expectations, Spencer Torkelsen has to take it to
the next level. And he finished with thirty one homers
last year, so I know. We play in a home
run era where I don't know. I think twenty five
gets scoffed at sure at the end of the season,
when you still look to see who gets thirty, it's

(09:40):
smaller than I think you'd think. Like two years ago,
Santan Dare had like thirty three and he was a
top ten homer hitter, and I was like, WHOA, So Torkelsen,
him and Riley Green are going to dictate a lot
of the future of the Detroit Tigers. And his splits
from last year second half not as gaudy the seventy

(10:01):
two games, nineteen homers in eight one six ops.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Here's what I'll say. One twenty five players had more
than thirty homers last year. Spencer Torkolsen was one of them.
I think you take that and you go, oh, that's exciting.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
I like that for a young ballplayer went on playing
in Detroit.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Detroit's kind of been a second half team for the
past three years, Like they always get off to these
stumbling starts, and I think a reason for that was
their younger guys not fully clicking as soon as they
got there. Torque, the big thing with me is that
the heater was not beating him last year as much
as it did the year before. He slugged nearly five
hundred against fastballs in twenty twenty three seventeen home runs

(10:40):
the year before he slucked three to seventy one. It's
one hundred point difference on the pitch you're seeing the most,
and I think that's the reason why you saw a
huge uptick in his power numbers. Now the concerning thing
is the Camerica effect, because his ops at home games
below seven hundred. On the road it's above eight hundred,
So I mean there is a factor there. At the
same time, what do we just say about Cassas He's

(11:01):
going to be twenty four years old this year. So
Spencer Tourklesen, I think that they're both first first round picks,
but it changes a little bit when you're number one
overall and Tourglesen. You know, you mentioned expectations. I don't
think there's expectations for the Tigers to go out and
win the Central I think their players think that they
can and they will, and that's exciting for them, and
like I can buy into that too. But at the

(11:21):
same time, there's expectation to improve, to show that there's
some sort of progress being made in Detroit in twenty
twenty four, and a massive part of that, in addition
to their revamp rotation is Spencer Tourgelsen starting to enter
All Star conversations and MVP vote conversations to start being
the guy in that lineup. So I'm really excited to
see what he does in twenty twenty four, because I

(11:42):
think he can build off what was, you know, a
really good second half in a solid overall year, and he.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Had compliments to Cassas in hitting, environment and lineup by
things I do believe in, probably more than analytics does
so far. His butter knife would be his final forty
eight games, nine ops, five seventy six lucks. So those
two these are kind of big ceiling years. They got
full run in last year. Let's see what it looks

(12:09):
like this year. Uh, did we have someone else we
want to throw with them yet? Or do we want
to jump.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Another guy that I think we were consitting there. I
don't know if we were saving it for later, but
somebody who the company really likes.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, let's just do it and rip a band aid
a little bit's trip it because I could see some
people I don't want to say, fighting us a little bit.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's some passion for this player.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Vinnie Passmentino, who has become a friend of the company.
Missed all last year basically basically, uh, sixty one more
than I thought.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Actually, when Rob and I were looking.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Career seven ninety nine ops through age twenty six birthday
October tenth, one day before mine. So we like that
he's played one hundred and thirty three games at the
major league level two seventy two, three fifty five seven
ninety nine oh ps. So for a young ballplayer, that's
very impressive. Arm or shoulder injuries with baseball players always tough.

(13:15):
I'm always gonna believe in a young ballplayer putting in
the work to get back.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
And something that Trevor Goof has always pointed out walk
strikeout ratio. That's where guys can really separate themselves career
sixty walks, sixty five strikeouts. Vinnyp is seeing it. He's
got some pop a little bias here, but he's a
very young, talented first baseman. And that's it's kind of

(13:41):
not a discussion, and it's kind of where where this
argument has landed.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, I mean you can, yeah, very inspirational.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
And that's this first basement.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
You can you can say a lot of the same
things for past squatch as he can. Fortorical send you know,
al Central team trying to show some progress in this
new year and they're that bad is going to be
a big part of it. His background is cool because
he was an eleventh round pick in a pretty stacked
twenty nineteen class, or at least name value stacked, and
was an unranged prospect for two years and then jumped

(14:13):
to number five before he made the big league club.
And I'm excited because of exactly what you said. The
walk to strike out ratio gets me really excited because
the power will come if you're selective and you swing
at smart pitches. That's the kind of talent that becomes
intangible and that can use you can sustain that over
a longer term playing career. So I'm excited for him.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
Man.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
I mean the Royals, I think they're a little bit
of a step back from the Tigers in my opinion.
But at the same time, like Bobby Witt, mikel Garcia
get there's there are things to get excited about.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Salviy. Let's bop.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Forget about Salviy.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Royals lineup, Let's bop at the top. Why not. I'm
a simple man, that is. I like the look of
this kid. Let's see, we'll see if anyone else there.
I think one that's easy to check off. And I'm
actually heading the opposite direction. Ryan O'Hearn, Are they both

(15:09):
Ryan's yeah, Ryan O'Hearn, Ryan mant that's perfect.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's perfect.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Lefty, righty. I already talked about how I like the balance.
I am a sneaky, big Ryan Mountcastle fan. I you know,
no offense, Chollie. I talked about him on an episode
of Foolish Bailey. Okay, that's fine, how do you edit, bro?

Speaker 2 (15:33):
Let me call him up.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Ryan Mountcastle can hit. That's what I believe in. He's
had a positive OPS plus in every season. He's not
a big on base percentage guy, and I'm okay with that.
I have him lumped in my Eddie Rosario category of like, hey,
this guy can hit. Maybe you could beat him on

(15:57):
a good pitch out of the zone more than other guys.
But this guy is there to hit a baseball and
Ryan O'Hearn.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
I still haven't like fully compar I know it's been
a full year. How did that happen? Like good for
Ryan O'Hearn.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Off the Royal scrap Heap where he had a career
eighty three OPS plus in three hundred and forty two games.
He comes over to Baltimore and he has an eight
hundred OPS He's in the middle of that lineup. And
it's one of these funny things we do on Talking Baseball.

(16:33):
We do position unit drafts, we do best off seasons,
and so the Orioles kind of never come up, which
is really rude. And I think this is the last
year of that, because, like say, Jackson Holiday establishes.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Himself between Jackson Holiday Gunner Adlade, at least one of
these two guys like that next year will have a
better picture of what we can bank on.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
The always have Jordan westbrookh so low on the second
pace to your list, Go listen that. Yeah, I don't know,
we just made an Orioles teer because both these guys
almost had eight hundred ohps. You got some lefty righty stuff.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
I mean, there's not too much to add outside of that.
I'm happy that Ryan O'Hearn got another shot, got to
play for a competitive team, where maybe in the Royals
lineup in those lost years he was looked at us
like a hey, can you do something for us kind
of guy, Whereas in the Oriols lineup, it's so stacked
that just coming here in Mash against Writing's like he
always had great hard hit numbers and he just got

(17:34):
put in a really good situation. So it's good for
Orioles fans because they're basically getting like MVP level first
baseman production out of two guys named Ryan who maybe
were not slated to ever be that level of player,
but together they become a fearsome tandem, which is awesome.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Ryan O'Hearn, I'm trying to find out how much he
was purchased for, and that a weird one that still
happens in baseball.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, it's it looks weird when you read it baseball
reference to like we bought this guy.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Purchased from the Royals.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
I think it literally because there's just like a transaction feast.
It's like, we'll cover the fee.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Wasn't who was the it was it Geo or Schellow
that was traded for like thirty k or something twenty five.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
The Mets bought Cameron Maybn for one dollar.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
Once there's a good list of one dollar trades. That's
like for me, those ones are doing doing like give.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
The because there's a like how how did the trades
go down? When it's like twenty thousand, twenty five, twenty
two five. All right, we've got our Orioles off the board.
Let's get elite, we're elitists. WHOA, because I actually I
think the those middle tiers from the Kids, seven time

(18:49):
All Star and Kim Kardashian, the names in there is
where first base gets truly needy. So let's check off
our s tier. Nomber retired with the Braves. You know,
this one might take a little time. Heals all wounds.
Remember when he signed with the Dodgers and then everyone

(19:11):
was like, he didn't want that every he wanted to
be a brave.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
He had to sit through the lockout and stuff, but
everyone kind of thought braves were gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
But yeah, Frederick Freeman, who is amazing, is amazing, I mean.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
And no one wanted to give him that contract.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
When he was a free agent. Isn't that nuts?

Speaker 2 (19:37):
I think about that, I think once a day.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Because that was two years before the crazy free agency, right,
he's on a what is it?

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Ye before the next year was like the Judge Turner.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Okay, that was the crazy year. Freddy's contract seems laughable.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
It's ridiculous when you.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
See that, what four guys got three hundred mil the
next year or whatever? Uh, but that happened. Why didn't
they Anyways, don't don't even make it. They traded. The
Braves traded for Matthew Olson. They did because they said, well, hey,

(20:15):
this is what we do. Let's go to the A's,
let's extend them for longer. This guy is younger, the
only guy that plays as many games as Freddy, and
I don't know, kind of became a joke on Talking
Baseball where I said, Matt Olsen date my daughter. It's
similar to Freddy. There's something about a left handed first

(20:38):
baseman that hits, and these guys play pretty fine defense.
And now they're kind of linked together because the Braves,
in theory, turned their back on Freddy, but neither side
wanted to turn their back on each other. But the
Braves find a way.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
As you well know, jolly oh yeah, the Braves are
nightmare who I alter midlely respect. And I hope people
who listen to me talk about the Braves can come
to realize that they will never they never will. But
the point is, the funny part about all the top
of these tier lists is we kind of get to
a point very quickly where we're like, what can we
even say and what can you even say about either

(21:15):
of these guys? Other than they're very clearly the two
best first basemen in baseball. If you want to do
a Who's Number one debate, you can do it for
an hour on end and come to no result. Because
Matt Olsen is coming off the best year of his
career by far, where he hit fifty four frickin' home
runs and slugged six o four on the year and

(21:35):
finished fourth in MVP voting seven point four war casually,
and he finished behind Freddy Freeman, who finished third in
MVP voting with an unworldly amount of doubles at and
also nine hundred ops and amazing defense. I mean, you
can go on and on and on, but what a
time to be a Braves fan. How it's hard to
not be spoiled if you're an Atlanta fan because you've

(21:57):
gone from one future Hall of Famer to maybe another,
because if madd Olson continues on this trajectory, there's no
reason to doubt that he could probably get into the
Hall of Fame as well. And I want to commend
both of you because you guys are much nicer than
I was. My original idea for this part of the
tier list was going to be wearing a Braves cap
at Hall of Fame ceremony. That felt a little pointed,

(22:19):
so we went with Brave's Ring of Honor instead.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
The Dodgers crew, you don't want them coming at you.
They're normally pretty peaceful until October, and they have Freddy Freeman,
so they don't really care. And yeah, the side by
side comparison is just gross at this point. Freddy Freeman

(22:44):
played one hundred and sixty one games. Jolly, that's pretty
good days every day, right, miss one game one day?

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Was he sick?

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Matt Olson played every game last year for a Braves
team that won the division in August maybe earlier. Matt
Olsen led the league in homers, RBI and slugging. Frederick
sadly only led the league in doubles well and intentional walks,
and finished higher than him in the MVP because he

(23:14):
had a three thirty one batting average. I don't know, man,
I know, you just said you could do this all
day for one season if you had to pick. If
you had to pick, well, it's just it turns into
what's your flavor of ice cream? Like matt Olsen, you're
kind of guaranteed. I don't want to say guaranteed more

(23:35):
home runs, but kind of yeah, you're guaranteed more home runs, Freddy,
you're looking at a little more batting, average base running
if you're into that, which twenty three steals, one caught stealing,
that's I think that's where Freddy won our battle last year.
Just because it's unreal. You know, you don't have to

(23:57):
answer Freddy. I watched him play for ten years.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
I mean, I know, I've seen so much Freddy Freeman
that like, I can't not pick him.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Depend on how you'll watch medals.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
And yeah, exactly, and then we'll ask you again. I'll forget.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Maybe they'll have like a dual brave Ring of Honor ceremony.
How nice would that be? Playing the Mets, Well, they
have to. He went to the Dodgers out waited out.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Leaving the league in intentional walks with the Dodger various
Dodgers three hole hitters behind him, by the way, mostly
Will Smith and Jad Martinez.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
If you think even for a moment that Freddy Freeman
isn't going to get that Albert Poohles like reunion contract
at the end of his career, your mind.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
Oh a little d h hear him.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
And also there's a place where I can bet on that.
I would bet my house.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Have room in their lineup for that.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Go find a way.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
The top of the first is tea that's free Freddy
and Meddles and funny that they are connected, hilarious, brave
stuff that they are able to let Freddy go. And
it's I don't want to say an afterthought at this point,
but a little bit. But it's fine, man, And yeah,

(25:16):
the true answer would it would come from your the
rest of your team's composition. If you had Ariahs and
Tim Anderson up top, you might want Meddals and for
a little thump. If you have some thump, you might
want Freddy. Freddy's my pound for pound best hitter in baseball.
So it's tough for me when he's locked in. It's
just there's nothing you can do.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
And you agreeing with me too, and.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
He just should have been it. I'm not gonna do that.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Okay, okay, one of them.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Let's uh, let's go back down the list before we
get to the tough part. Let's do actually, jolly, I'll
let you lead on this one because you I think
we we came together on this category a little bit.
Twenty nineteen, it was the best, Jake, what's the best man?
What were you doing in twenty nineteen?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Not working here? I was working on my education degree, Jake.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
But you like a reference, BBD was working right, graduating
halfway through, halfway through.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
I graduated in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
It was a year off.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's my final year in Denver. Times were good. Go
to the gym, set up the laptop here and there
talk some Yanks.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Baby working all here, working a little there. That's me again.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
What were these guys doing in twenty nineteen, Joly, Jake.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
They were busy at the Midsummer Classic, playing in the
All Star Game, because twenty nineteen was the freaking best
time to be a starting first baseman. And we've got
a couple locks here that I don't want this to
be construed as a negative category, because I think all
these guys are good players in the year of twenty
twenty four. Some of them don't have the recent results. Whatever,

(26:58):
they're good players, and they have named value.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Chance of really nice years this year.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Still, the textbook definition of this category is my guy,
Carlos Santana, who has been playing for fourteen years, has
been doing it basically every year along the way, a
couple of thirty homer seasons in there by the way,
just sign a new deal. And would you believe that
his only year where he made an All Star team
was a wonderful twenty nineteen campaign with the Cleveland Indians

(27:23):
where he clipped thirty four home runs and walked one
hundred and eight times. Carlos Santana was a man alive
in twenty nineteen. And he's just He's one of these
players that I think we'll look back on and we'll
realize we didn't appreciate him enough. He's creeping up on
forty war for his career, by the way, and I
just love him. I'm glad that he's still kicking. He's
gonna be thirty eight next year, and I have no
doubt that he'll be probably above league average with twenty

(27:46):
home runs for the Minnesota Twins.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Still kicking. Uh yeah, he's He's projected to hit right
around twenty homers this year. Yep. Like we've talked about
having a good eye at the plate. Will forget he
led the league in walks twenty twenty short season counts.
Hey credit to him. Man, it looked like it was
ending Cleveland, Kansas City back to back years Ops and

(28:12):
the sixes kind of felt like, you know, father time.
This guy caught a lot of games early in his career.
He's bounced back the past two years. He's been really solid.
And the fun fact with Carlos Santana is that he
plays great defense at first base apparently, which he grated
out as like the best defensive first baseman last year.

(28:34):
And that's thirty turns thirty eight in April, and he
came up as a catcher. So I don't know, happy
for Carlos Santana. He is kind of funny because you
almost know what you're gonna get. His Baseball Reference projections
are at an eighty six percent reliability, which if you

(28:56):
look through those, they don't give a lot of those.
That's awesome, but you kind of know what you're gonna
get with him. I think the next person I'd like
to pair with him, who I believe was also a
twenty nineteen All Star, and then followed that with a
shorty MVP Jose Brew. Yeah, so there's two ways to

(29:16):
skin this cat. You could point at the regular season
and say, hey, that's an old baseball player that took
a step back. I was getting paid a lot of money.
I don't like that. Could also say, as a guy
who's won an MVP that when the playoffs came, he
banged his first year with a new team. And if

(29:39):
we're being honest, if jose Brew goes out and has
an eight hundred ops this year, I wouldn't be shocked
at all. I think jose Brio can still hit. You
wonder if it was just a weird year, or sometimes
there's an injury. Maybe father times caught up more than
I'm depicting. He's thirty seven now and he was also

(30:00):
uh IN All Star in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Yeah, I'm a believer in uh accolades. You know, they're
not everything, but they are something, and I think sometimes
we like to push them aside too much. Rookie of
the Year MVP, one team guy for nearly ten years.
When they gave him that three year, sixty million dollar contract,
whatever the number was, at the beginning of last offseason,
all of us were like, how did the Astros get

(30:25):
away with it? How did they How were they the
ones that were able to get this guy.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
I will say everyone was surprised it was three years
and not two, just because he was old, sure, but
it was very as three years for any guy you don't.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Like, if the White Sox gave him a bonus third
years like thanks retired, would have been like.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
Oh yeah yeah. But even if even before the bad
twenty twenty three you butter knife his last three years,
it's two eighty nine, three sixty six, four eighty nine,
one thirty six ops plus Jose Brew hits. That's what
he does. That's what he's been doing. And uh, I
still am kind of in your boat too, Like it
would not shock me at all if he just returns
to for him next year. I always saw it in

(31:03):
the playoffs and for him, unlike Carlos Santana, I don't
know if twenty nineteen was the peak, because he has
some really good years, especially early on. But Jose brea man,
he's a guy that's been doing it, and in twenty
nineteen he was fun to watch that he fits here.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Perfectly, famously famously. If you're a talking baseball person, Trevor
Pluff opened my eyes one day. He does it probably
once a year. Bobby Witz player Confentray Turner, and one
time he said, because he played a lot of games
against Jose Brew, He's like he was often the best
player on the field. Not a lot of guys you

(31:40):
could say that about Man, So I part of me
sneaky loves that he has the short season MVP, And yeah,
April could roll around and he could have a one
dot ops hellough the baseball savant. If you get lost
in that tells a different story.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Cool.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
But he had a little playoff juice this year, and
I don't know, Houston finds a way.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
So is the You know it includes a bad and
potentially a little bit injured August, but is June on numbers,
including a bad month? You can work with that.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Correct me if I'm wrong. I think there's another MVP
twenty nineteen All Star.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
I think I think I've seen two guys we were
saying we're gonna end up in here.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
I know what name you're alluding to if you want.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
To, Kelsey Wingers, Rocks, Chris Bryant. Like I just said,
All Star in twenty nineteen, Chris Bryant could go nuts
next year and we'd say, hey, good ballplayer Colorado Rockies
playing first base. Now, sure, Chris Bryant puts up sixty

(32:54):
five games to the tune of not great numbers. You're
also not shocked at this. Yeah, so it's tough. I hope,
I hope Chris Bryant has a second half of career
resurgence locked in at first base. You're gonna be here,
pal go bang at Coors Field. But he uh, I

(33:17):
don't know, y'all eighty games less year bad?

Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yeah, no, just straight up like bad like and maybe
a move to first base will help with that with
health or defensive issues whatever that they were trying right
field and left field. I don't think anybody, including Rockies fans,
ever really believed in that. It just never really felt
like a fit. I know he had experienced there. But
the larger point is that it's wild to look at

(33:41):
his reference and see Rookie of the Year MVP, breaking
the longest curse in baseball history. In your first two
as a twenty four year old, You've already accomplished all
of that. So it kind of a little part of
me rationalizes it and says, yeah, he accomplished basically everything
he could have accomplished in the first two years of
being a big leaguer. At the same time, it's Chris Bryant.

(34:03):
There is talent there, there's a reason he got handed
a seven year massive contract to the Tea there, and
it's not surprising to think that he could be an
eight hundred ops bad again and have some nicer years
in his thirties. I actually got in some trouble yesterday
on Twitter, because not trouble of like kind of a
funny happenstance, because I didn't know that Chris Bryant was

(34:24):
slotted at first base, and I fired off another one
of my Rockies tweets begging them to do anything, and
I want them to go get Joey Vana so he
can get five hundred foot bombs at course Field. But
apparently first base is taken up. So Chris Bryant, here's
my petition to you. If the Rockies aren't gonna go
get Joey Vando, I need it to be worth it.
I need you to be great this year.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
He might as well. And BBD, you're right. There is
another person that gets thrown in this column. Josh Bell
is only All Star Game twenty nineteen thirty seven homers
that year. Was a little juicy that season around the league,
and Josh Bell was a tail of two kiddies last
year slightly below league average with Cleveland, goes over to

(35:07):
Miami for fifty three games, eight one eight ops obiach
and that's closer to his career numbers and switch it
in Josh Bell. I don't know. It's almost like these
the other guys in this category have a little more
chance to pop. I think like if Jose Obray or

(35:28):
Chris Bryant puts together a big season, we'd be like, yeah,
I thought, I thought that might happen. Josh Bell is
probably the safest bet of these guys to have a
good season, but I don't know. I think there's also
some risk there that we've seen him struggle in different environments.
His sample size with Cleveland is sample sized with San Diego.

(35:51):
Maybe he's just been moving around a lot and looking
for a home.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
But that was the point I was going to raise.
You know, it's four teams in two years, Like that's
a lot to bounce around to. A big thing for
me is if you're gonna be a Marlin and you're
gonna hit. I always look at your numbers at their
home stadium because it is cavernous to play there, and
like a guy like Louis Rias is perfectly built for
it because he can go basically anywhere.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
He wants find a gav rack up some doubles.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Exactly for power hitters. It's tough because they don't have
a ton of albatross home run numbers outside of the
John Carlo years. And Josh Bell is a guy that
I think could put together a really nice year in
the Marlins offense. But he is a guy that's gonna
be kind of really heavily relied on, like they have
Jake Berger, they have Arias at the top, and that's
kind of where the offense ends in my opinion. So

(36:35):
they're gonna really need to see something from him this year.
And I like the situation he's in. You just hope
that at the end of it he can kind of
find a longer term home. Because he was in Pittsburgh
for all those years, he really got time to develop,
and then he exploded in that twenty nineteen season. I
don't know if we ever see that guy again, though.
I'm really curious to see if he's ever able to
get back to that level because his swing is fun man,

(36:57):
There's like a ton of moving parts in it, but
just explodes when he hits the ball.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Hard and can I tell you what that trade might
be worth a flashback. I believe the Fish traded Jean
Segura and Khalil Watson and got off of his contracts.
They got Josh Bell, but Cleveland paid that year's contract
and then he was so good with Miami they ended

(37:24):
up picking up his sixteen and a half mil option. Yeah,
so that's that's kind of rare that you see that happened.
But yeah, maybe Josh Bell, you know again, a sixteen
and a half mill option picked up instead of hitting
free agency. That's kind of nice.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, that is really nice. Yeah, you're right, eleven million
paid by the guardians of sixteen point.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Five especially, and not to be rude to Josh Bell,
but after watching this free agency, Josh Bell would get
signed and maybe it's around similar money, maybe it's two years.
I don't know, but the fact he's a switch hitter
is nice. Teams would not have been clamoring for Josh
Bell because defense is a little bit where he's him
two that.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, I mean, look up and down this tier list.
There's a lot of options there. For there's a lot
of great.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Men still looking for a job as we record this
breaking that's our twenty nineteen was the best. Man. Hey,
let's chew through some of the bottom of this list
because we got a lot of good guys that we
need to talk about. Let's do Let's do some young
in the restless. Who do we have there? Michael Bush?

(38:31):
We think is playing first base.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
This looks like is the first chance he's going to
get at some extended run.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Sorry, Hey, the MLB numbers have been tough, the minor
league numbers have been great. Let's see where we are
next year. Michael Bush rooting for you, joy Mness rhymes
with restless. Why not go cool? Has had some years
where he's hit, has always been looking for a defensive position.
Could be this year's Jamer If he hits for a

(38:59):
couple months, I could see that guy in a different
ball club, like you, Joey rooting for you. A good story, all.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
Things considered, one of the better, you know, ten years
in the miners guys, he's getting extended run in the
big lay a mob ball. He's having his third season
of substantial mob time.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, his story is really cool. And you know, there's
not too much to say outside of that. I mean,
twenty twenty two is great, Like sixty games. Oh ps,
maybe he gets back there. That'd be cool.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
Trevor poof teammate, this is where first base gets.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Oh no, we have problems. Okay, I'm getting away from him. Well,
rowdy te les, those kind of rowdy, restless, those are
kind of fun.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Rowdy.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
He's gonna get a look in Pittsburgh. I really like rowdy.
He's kind of gotten every other year thing going on.
I wouldn't be surprised if that guy becomes a Pittsburgh
heart throb. You kidding me? Rowdy and I kind of
like that lineup in Pittsburgh. But he was tough last year,
so I would love to see it back.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
But I mean, thirty five homers two, that's right, that's
really good.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
He could he could have that in the bags. Why not?
As I look around young and the restless, I got
a name? Who do you got?

Speaker 2 (40:21):
It's it's a little I feel, and I don't want
to say unfair, but he had some really good moments
last year. Finished the year with a one twenty one
o pos plus. It's a nice number. Ryan Noda, I.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Just talked myself out of it.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
I don't know we can talk about it because walks
are nice and fun.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
If those numbers were on another baseball team.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
The thing is, I don't know how much run Ryanoda
gets on another team because he's in a situation where
he's gonna get to play every day, kind of similar
like Brent Rooker found his spot there and was able
to play every day and rebuild his value. Noda, I
would like to see it for another year, and I'm
not doubting him. I think he can be a really
good player. I think it's cool when first baseman batanar

(41:00):
like the top top of the lineup, because I just
think that's like a fun baseball thing. But yeah, I
mean outside of walks, it's just Ryan Note.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
It's tough, man. I don't know looking at the statistics.
It hurts my soul a little bit because I thought that.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
But like, is he a darling on baseball savant?

Speaker 1 (41:22):
I just you know two point three war as a
young baseball player. He's a little older. I wish does
he hate playing first base?

Speaker 2 (41:32):
He is an outfielder technically, probably ends.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Up there because then, okay, what are you gonna do
with your guy? Shaneul? Yeah, people really like him.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Als first baseman who's young and walks a lot. Do
we want to create a tier for that, Yes, als
first baseman who's young and walks a lot. Yes, maybe
even scrap young, just a al Wes first baseman.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
I like young too. Notice twenty I think that's below
twenty nineteen is the best.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Sure above hates aost first baseman, Ao west or At
young walks.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Okay, that makes me feel great. Ryan Noda Boom, no.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
One, shanuel O shanuel Am.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
I saying his name right now. Nobody's sure shan Shamble
hates playing first base. Let's try to chew this off
because we still aren't even to the great stuff. Uh.
Andrew Vaughn, Yeah, maybe he's okay playing first base. I
don't actually personally know. I know he was kicked to
the outfield, and coming from the outfield to the infield

(42:40):
is tough. Ian Happ, who contributed on our left field
tier list. I asked him once because Ian Happ came
up and he was like a versatile guy, a little second,
little third. Uh he said, once he started playing the outfield,
coming back to the infield is tough. Yeah, so I
there's a little bit of facetious in this. I like

(43:01):
Andrew Vaughan as a hitter.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
I think his hates playing first base is like being
compared to the other first basement. It is tough, for sure,
get me out of there. I'm not tall.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
He's listed six foot, third pick overall, had a positive
ops plus last year, but a tick down from twenty two,
so I think you can still have some real hopes
for him. But again, comparing to these other first basemen,
it's tough out there in the streets sometimes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
I mean if I look at these numbers and he's
my corner outfielder, I'm like, okay, nice, like cool, like
give me some solid defense, twenty bombs, run one oh
five ops plus. I can get on board with that
first base Naturally, there's a lot more ass to you
out of that position. And for him, I think there's
still time. He's gonna be twenty six, so he's gonna

(43:47):
be younger than Ryan Noa, who had just sung the
praises of Andrew vaugh He's a guy that was a
top three pick in twenty nineteen, so I mean you
can't really ignore that. That involves some pedigree. And now
there's no xs really on this White Sox team, and
sometimes that does wonders for guys when they can kind
of get a full season of reps, not really have
to wear that burden as much, and just kind of

(44:08):
get their feet under him. So maybe we could see
a great season from Andrewvaughan.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Who knows climb the list, climb ring the bell. Uh,
this one's easy because how this guy is a first baseman,
came up with shortstop capabilities and would probably be one
of the best second basemen in the league.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Jake Croninworth, and by every indication I think does hate
it at first base.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
I kind of just a victim of the circumstance here
a little bit. Uh, kudos to him, got that contract extension,
but I know the padres kind of want to get out.
Just feels like he would be a better fit elsewhere.
At this point you have Kim Bogart's and Machado. Yeah
that I don't trade j Croneworth where he can play

(44:50):
second base every day and rack up probably easy for
war guy from our second base list.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
I mean, how often do you see a first base
when who's ninety first percentile on base running value like that?
That reeks of middle infielder who probably has a great
glove and I just remember that extension because you just
brought it up. Why I don't. I still am unclear
why they did that, because they had him under team
control for a little bit. I guess they're just trying
to get the band together, get everyone paid. So good
for Crown.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, I think the Braves were sexy because they've extended
everyone and it. Zeidler was still given out a lot
of contracts, like two.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Time All Start runner up, Rookie of the Year twenty twenty, like.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Bounce back guy. If I was doing a bounce back video,
which maybe I will, I'm I'm in on croning Worth
and he was nice to me when I went to
Arizona Sola. Second base, Uh, this one ooh ooh ah,
but he's not young. Okay, let's do this one quick

(45:47):
because however this lands, it's gonna be okay. Lament Wade, Yeah,
Lament Wade a little bit of a victim of playing
first base. Uh he got on base at a three
seventy three clip last year, which that's a real number.
Part of me says he hates playing first base. Where
that falls on this tier list is a little low.

(46:08):
What we could.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Do West first baseman who walk a lot.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
Take out young, takeout al, Western walkman, Western walkman, Westerners,
West coast walkers, West coast walkers, and you throw a lamont.
Wait nice on your feet, west coast walker?

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Oh wait? Does he walk a lot?

Speaker 1 (46:29):
This guy who now?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
No, not enough to be in there?

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Okay, somebody in Seattle.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Somebody in Seattle, BBD ty France. This is tough man.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
I already put him on hates playing first base. He's
there again, shorter than your normal first baseman. If he
came up with another team, he'd probably be playing some
third base, second base. Utill And I think if we're
just being honest, and I think Mariners fans would be
honest back with us had a down here last year,
And this is the big pivot. Is that ty France?

(47:01):
Or is ty France the guy that the city fell
in love with and had bag guettes and berets in
the stand. So it's kind of tough. But I know
Mariners fans are talking a lot about trading ty France.
I don't think they'll be super mad with his placement
on this list.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
He's got to win me back a little bit and
has a squatty body.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
We talk about that on Rose Rotation. Oh, I'm feeling
so much better with the bottom of the list than
I was.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
We needed a new tier, we needed West Coast walkers.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
The meat and Potatoes.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
Have a couple more hates for a space.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
There might be we can circle back.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
There might be I think you're right, Beeps, but let's
do this one for sure. Seven time All Star. That's
a pretty impressive number.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
It's a hard number to get to.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
And there's no really, no joke we made about it
looking at Matt Olsen and Freddy and looking at this
list and say, who are guys that can give them
a run this year? For just the twenty twenty four season,
Like one baseball season, one guy just made the move

(48:15):
to first base. Another guy you're familiar with Jolly, oh yeah.
And e Leaster, Oh yeah. Bryce Harper is now a
first baseman. He played there half a season with half
an arm. Yeah, still put up fine offensive numbers. And
I went it bet against that guy in anything that
I wouldn't it be surprised if he ends up with
a gold glove at some point. M he's kind of

(48:37):
a work ethic hard oh and I love it. And
I also if he's out there for a buck fifty.
Could he have a better year than Olsen? Could he
have a better year than Freddy? Yes, but I can't
pencil him in for that. Yeah, Bud, he's a seven
time All Star, which that's pretty impressive.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yeah, I mean, he's an unfortunate victim of get healthy.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
I know.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Let's see you back at your twenty twenty one MVP
not that long ago. We were all working together at
that point. And I mean last year you talked about
fine offensive numbers. He had a nine hundred ops with
one functioning arm, which is insane. It's ridiculous to even
think about it. And he's only gonna be thirty one this
year because he's been playing since he was nineteen, Rice
Harper could easily end the year with insane numbers. And

(49:20):
we'll look back at this teerless and say, what were
we thinking putting him below Olsen and Freeman. But right now,
with those two guys finishing fourth and third in MVP
voting and very deservedly so, possibly winning the award in
any other year where Mooki and Ronald Acunya, don't go crazy,
you have to put Bryce a tier below. In my opinion,
and he's alongside another seven time All Star who won

(49:40):
the MVP the year after him, in my.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Opinion, Paul Goldschmidt. Yeah, another lefty righty balance. You guys know,
I'm oddly into that for whatever reason. H Goldie had
a bit of a quote unquote down here last year,
and he was still really good one hundred and twenty
ops plus twenty five home three, sixty three on base,
four time goal glover in his own right. So I

(50:06):
I don't know how it looked defensively last year. If
it was a little different, let me know, Cardinals fans,
I know everything felt a little different last year. So
Paulie still deserves the respect coming off you know, twenty
twenty two won the MVP. Yeah, so if Paul Goldschmith
bounces back, I will not be surprised at all. Saint

(50:27):
Louis had the opposite of the juice last year, the fluce.
Let it that out some of your best I think,
get that out that. Yeah. I could Paul Goldschmid have
a better season than Freddy or Matt Olsen. He did
two years ago.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Yeah, not that long ago. And his story is really
cool because a couple times he finished running up for
MVP for some Arizona team, so that he was basically
carrying on his back, and I thought that that window
kind of closed when he went to the Cardinals. Yeah,
everyone knew that he was going to be good. And
then in twenty twenty two he was just consistent, solid,
great every month of the year and finally got the MVP.

(51:06):
And now that kind of completes what I consider to be,
you know, a Hall of Fame track career, and I
think that next year he could still be great. It
is weird to think that twenty twenty three is a
quote unquote down year. It was his first full season
not hitting at least thirty home runs since twenty sixteen,
so a pretty decent margin there. But at the same time,
one twenty ops plus still ranked eightieth percentile. That's above average,

(51:28):
like still doing it all and stole eleven bases too,
just for fun. So Paul Golchman definitely deserves to be
that that top four echelon. It's a nice top four.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Is anyone else with them?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
John, I'm looking because the tier is labeled seven time
All Stars, so technically no no one else is with them,
and that's why the Kim Kardashian. Tier is very important
because I'm looking at four to five to six guys
here who any team could pick them out and say

(52:01):
we could build a lineup around this guy, but there
might be one facet of the game that maybe they're missing,
and it's.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Tough I will start. I don't think anyone is with
those four like what they can do in this upcoming season.
I really don't. I guess the first guy that I
think could because first base, we can overlook defense if
you do enough offense. He's your guy, Jolly and I
am as big of a fan of his just watching

(52:29):
his at bats, even when he's just being goofy in
the field. And the fact you can pencil in forty
taters for zero h Pete Alonzo that you know. I
don't think the defensive metrics will ever love him, but
has the ability. How many players can you say could
hit fifty this year?

Speaker 2 (52:51):
I can count them on probably one hand.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Okay, Solaire, oh Salvy, what year is it? Trying to
do his ugliest cuts of fifty? I could you want
to talk about him at all?

Speaker 3 (53:05):
Or no?

Speaker 2 (53:05):
Yeah? I mean we're gonna be talking a lot about
Pete this year because it's looking like it's gonna be
a contract here, which we've seen New York superstars have
amazing contract years and turn the narrative around. It doesn't
look like the extensions happening. So Pete has a lot
to prove this year, which is weird to say for
a guy that's basically at forty home runs every year
of his career, Rookie of the Year winner, two time

(53:28):
All Star at this point, forty bombs back to back
seasons last year was weird, man. I mean, when the
Mets disappeared in June that a big reason for it
was Pete Alonzo disappearing, which, if nothing else, he's been
very consistent offensively. You mentioned the defense. The defense will
never truly love Pete, but he has made strides in
my opinion, to getting to league average, where at one

(53:49):
point he was very much a liability defensively. But he
is a guy that's Kim Kardashian. He's really good, but
the defense hurts him. He profiles as a d h
later in his career, in my opinion, and I do
hope that he's with the Mets when he enters those
later years of his career because it's really really hard
to find forty bombs in the middle of your lineup.
I think people take it for granted, and I think

(54:11):
Mets fans don't because no one else in that lineup
really provides that level of power. Like we're looking at
guys like Nimo and Lindor to do it, when really
it's Pete carrying the load. And that's how important he is.
And for the other guys, it's a fun discussion because
they don't maybe they don't have that level of power,
but they do things that Pete can't do. And that's
what makes first base a sneaky, very diverse and dynamic

(54:33):
position because you can bring the power to the table,
but there's so much more you can add to your game.
And I still feel like Pete Alonso has more that
he could add to his game.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
I love Pete. If he's out there, he's gonna hit.
Last year was kind of a down year for him.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Just weird.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Did hit forty six? Yeah, forty six home runs. I
wonder if you butter knife out that June what everything
looks like. Was he banged up? It looks like he
played eighteen games.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Yeah, this was They played the Raves at truest. He
gets hit on the hand, comes back after like seven days,
and then it's just a non factor for that whole month.
I think it was a little bit I got to
come back and save the team, right kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Chance Lens is the guy that would do that.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
You want, Pam, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
I'm I'm not going to say thy free contracts. I
think there's other players on this list and a lot
of lists that aren't that guy come back with the
hand hurting. Yeah, and I respect Peter for that. Interesting
year for him, is right?

Speaker 2 (55:37):
What about a guy playing with the concussion.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Let's just do it. The New York segment brought to
you by Wayfair. No, we're not actually sponsored by them.
Check out the Jam Football combine. A couple of competitors
here was very jealous this time. This is out.

Speaker 3 (55:56):
The quarterback challenges out.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
Wow, that's already out.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
I think it already is.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
Anthony Rizzo. There's an argument he could be lower on
this list. He doesn't grade out great defensively, but not
a lot of first basemen do Carlos Santana Rizzo.

Speaker 3 (56:17):
Districts have no idea what to do at first base.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Rizzo's a good first baseman, and if you don't know,
he got a concussion at one point last year, his
ops was eight eight at the time something like that.
Yankee Stadium definitely helps him out a little bit. He
will be bad and clean up for your Yanks. We
think behind Soto and Judge.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
And they are currently planned lineup. It seems like he
will break up Judge and either Stanton or Glabor be
lefty in the middle.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
There his butts Kim Kardashian, was it just injury, which
go look at the stats, people like a lot of
it was. He is getting older, and I the the
only other argument against him would be it's tough to
put him lower on this list because he's got a
lot of good MLB history. Yeah, it's hard to put

(57:11):
him higher on this list because his I think he's
hit his career high thirty two home runs in four seasons,
which again that's a compliment, you know, like, but to
put him like I can't put him with Harper, Him
and Alonso is a fun game. If you gave Rizzo
a full season last year, I think he could have

(57:32):
could have gotten him all in defense included.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
And before preconcussion there was because it essentially became a
Rizzo or Olsen conversation in the Yankees corner of the Internet,
and first year plus a month and or plus six
weeks of those two contracts, might he close?

Speaker 2 (57:57):
It's just talking Yanks episode over?

Speaker 1 (57:59):
I mean, come on, yeah, let's the New Yorkers.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
He was on pace for thirty three home runs. Think
I hurt, and he's been doing it.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Forever normally just hits thirty two.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
If you want to count the All Star Nazi's the
closest one of this group two seven. He deserves to
be here. But you're right, you can't put him higher.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Another fun hitter can go contact mode. We'll lean into one.
Uh Pete Alonzo let MLB and hit By Pitchers last year.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
How about it? One of them was pretty costly.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
New York is. Hey, we'll walk in here. Let's get
all our New York sound clips. Let's get a slice
of pie.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I could go for a street dog. They stole a
win from us at the garden. They did, They really
did steal win from us.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
Crazy, I've I've got another Kim Kardashian that I don't
think we'll have to linger on too much. Sorry, the
laundry he wears it doesn't breed much discussion. But Yondi Diez,
I think is in this group really really good batting
title last year the butt for him is like just
not quite enough power for you'd be like all in,

(59:07):
all in at first base production, but gives you enough
defensively over there, gives you a really good at bat.
He did some career highs in homers and doubles, I
believe last year, so maybe he's trending the right direction there.
But uh, last year is just a little bit of
an outlier.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Yeah, the year before screen the year before, two years.
It's funny because offense was down last year that he
still had a one forty two ops plus even though
a lot of the numbers aren't as impressive. Only nine
home runs the year before, but literally everything else more
walks and strikeouts. But last year doubles like last year,

(59:51):
wins the batting title, like Beep said, twenty two homer,
sixth in the MVP.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Yondi Diaz, Yeah, I don't know the messed up thing
about it all. When the Rays got him, the whole
thing that they told him was, hey man, just pull
the ball. Just swing as hard as he can to
your pull side. Because when he was with Cleveland thirteen percent,
when he joined Tampa Bay twenty percent, twenty two percent.

(01:00:15):
He just started swinging to his pull side. The power
is not world beating, but before it was non existent.
And when he added that to his game, it took
him to this whole new level where he's finishing sixth
the MVP voting and winning batting titles. And you know,
he's only be thirty two years old. I feel like
we can see a few more good years out of
Yandi Diaz and no one will batony because he's kind

(01:00:36):
of just been doing it very quietly.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
No, it's good being good. I bet Yandi Dias, who's
pretty good about himself the past couple of years. He
has an argument to be above the New York guys,
but we're biased, and I think a little bow me
a little more Yandy, a little bits that. Like Rizzo
we talked about age and injury, Alonso, we talked about fielding.
For Yandi, it's a little bit degree. Like I need

(01:01:01):
to just see more Baseball Savant loves Yandy. You want
to talk about a good Savant page, go click on
it and see some red circles. But like I just
needed to see like maybe two more seasons and then
we can really start to like talk about it. Also,
I think the guy I want to get on my
butt list, and I think this guy's been on a
butt list before. If you follow we got ice Oho,

(01:01:24):
I'm going Vlattie, I think to where I was going next.
I think people inherently want to fight Vlattie a little
bit because it's the numbers have ticked down. I do
want to remind people Vladimir Guerrero is still junior, not senior.
Junior is still twenty four years old as we record this.

(01:01:44):
He'll turn twenty five March sixteenth.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
He's technically a month older than me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Happy birthday, Laddie when it happens March sixteenth. Vladimir Guerrero Junior,
who had a down year last year as a twenty
four year old, had a one to seventeen ops plus
twenty six homers. Uh, the guy plays every day. I
like that, And yeah, are we gonna have to find

(01:02:13):
out how much of an outlier twenty twenty one is? Yeah? Maybe,
but this guy could still be getting better and he's
on the show cover. If you're about that, let's see
where the motivation lies. He's a career one thirty one
ops plus and he's younger than people on your top
one hundred prospects list.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Yeah, I mean, if cho he Otani stays in Japan,
you're talking about a top ten youngest MVP winner in
the history of baseball. Because Lattie would have won the
twenty twenty one MVP Award. Yeah, thesps handling like. It
wouldn't have been close. It would have been him and Semion.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
It would have been like one writer being a knob exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
And that twenty twenty one team I still maintained was
the best version of the Toronto Blue Jays. It just
also happens to be the team that didn't make the
playoffs because the at least was freaking stacked that year.
And I still believe that the Jays can can maintain
this window and make something of it. But it has
to be from vladimirica riage and you're being the best

(01:03:12):
player on their offense, and that can still happen. He's
going to be twenty five years old, so I'm really
eager to see what strides he makes this year because
he does have to be the thirty forty home run guy.
He does have to be the guy that's got a
four to oh one on base percentage, which is what
he did in twenty twenty one. He's capable of doing
those things. Just got to see it again. I mean,

(01:03:33):
the defense, it's not pretty, doesn't great out Well, had
to move from third base because it was so bad.
Coal gloves stop thedn't Volpi one one too? Whoa OHOLLI.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Did not need that. Another one that just is in
this column and statistically has an argument over some of
these guys, was just on a World Series team Christian
Christian Walker.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Because there's two guys that fit that bill.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Then let's talk about Nathaniel Low as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Tell you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Both of these guys are just damn good ballplayers. Nathaniel
Low Uh, Let's see twenty twenty two a one to
thirty nine ops plus YEP. Last year dropped down a
little one eleven ops plus. He did win the Gold
Glove if you're into that thing, career seven ninety six ops. Uh,

(01:04:36):
this is a little bit find out year. Like the
difference between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three is
a little significant. Uh. But like I mentioned before, the
Baseball Reference projections have him in the eighth ops. What wise,
with an eighty seven percent reliability, you're not gonna find

(01:04:57):
a lot of those guys around baseball. And Christian wall
I hope your only time watching him last year wasn't
the playoffs. But that guy's won back to back goal gloves. Yeah,
that guy's head back to back thirty plus homer seasons.
That he is one of the best first basemen in baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
I mean, I'll do low first. You can swing it
one of two ways. You can say low is underappreciated
because he's in a potent lineup, or low goes undetected
for maybe some lesser numbers last year because the Rangers
were so good. Either way, they're happy to have him
at first base, for in a trade with the Rays
where they didn't give up much of anything. So Nathaniel Lowe,

(01:05:35):
I think, just like, keep doing what you're doing. He
draws a ton of walks, He grades out well defensively.
That's all he really needs to be in that Rangers
lineup that has Seekers Semi and Josh Young, you know,
the young White length for all these different pieces for
Sea Walk. His story is awesome because I'm I'm very
familiar with it. Right now because I'm writing for it
for my video coming out this Saturday. Add sorry, the

(01:05:56):
guy went from being blocked by Chris Davis to being
blocked by Freddie Freeman to being blocked by Paul Goldschmith.
He had no chance to play, and as soon as
he got a chance at age twenty eight, he made
the most of it and immediately became a great player.
And he's been that way for the past five years.
San some twenty twenty one rough numbers probably the best
defensive third baseman in this tier of great first basement

(01:06:19):
that we've made together. And he also hit thirty home
runs in back to back seasons and he's a key
piece of that Arizona lineup. So again, another guy where
I'd like to see it longer. But at the same time,
he deserves to be up here with the Alonzo's, the
flatties and the rises.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
They both do. They're both they're both really good at
what they do with consistency track record. I think a
couple other guys are sexier, like you know Flatti's twenty one.
Neither of those guys are going to get near them.

Speaker 2 (01:06:51):
Oh, we can play the ceiling game all day.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
So we don't know if Flatty is going to ever
get back to that again. I have three guys remaining
off our board. Yeah, one guy is gonna be an
ending goof spoof. We'll get back to that. I'm having
cold feet about Josh Naylor.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I don't know what to do with him.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Because Josh Naylor is a guy that's younger than you
probably think. He's been in the bigs for a while.
He's still twenty six. His last two seasons now, he's
had an OPS plus of one twenty one or higher.
That nice got better. He had an eight forty three
eight three point fifty four eight forty two ops. I

(01:07:36):
do think there are some platoony stuff with him. No,
last year he hit both sides, so I don't think.
I don't think he's a very good first base defender. Uh.
For me, it's just a question of former first round
pick has gotten some MLB run. It looks like the

(01:07:57):
light bulb has gone off.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Yeap that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
Do you say I like the look of this kid
because he plays fiery or is he a Kim Kardashian
because I don't think you can go lower.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
Yeah, here's what I'll say about Josh Naylor fully believe
that at the end of twenty twenty four he could
be right along the echelon of these guys. But when
you go up and down the list, I got sea
Walk with two go gloves. I got Pete with fifty
three homers in a Rookie of the Year. I got Vlattie,
who probably should have an MVP award YONDI with the

(01:08:36):
batting title, Nate Low with the World Series ring, and
Rizzo has been doing it for almost a decade.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
I think I think you're right. I think I think
he's a like. I like the look of this kid.
Uh again, you get thrown off because you know torkl,
Sin and Pass. A lot of these guys don't have
the same games played exactly, but they're still in the
same age realm. And I'll tell you what, if I
was a Cardians fan, I'd love I love the look
at this kid. He plays with some piss and vinegar,
he's all. He's close to insane on the field. Looks

(01:09:04):
like the chesher cat tormented the Yankees. Uh that, I
think it's fair. I think being on that line with
what Tristan Cosas did last year, I think there's no
shame in that. Yeah, and if he does it for
another year, then he would get elevated because if I
can count on you to be an eight to o
ps dude again, if you hit, they'll find a place

(01:09:27):
for you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
Get to thirty home runs?

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
If he puts together another like real season, will be
a Kim Kardashian.

Speaker 2 (01:09:34):
Give me one hundred and forty.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
I guess it's just like a little less pop than
you want in bad glove.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
And I'm I'm a little bit of a sucker. Still
that's three h eight batting abage.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Yeah, no, it does something for me.

Speaker 3 (01:09:45):
It really does three dothing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Maybe not in post, but during the season, it's really
you're gonna go up there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
If you're gonna go up there and hit, let's do it. Yeah,
So okay, I feel better about that. Let me get
him on my board. Like the look at him?

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
So I have, I have, I have Reese, and I
have Who am I looking for?

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
Jam Candelario?

Speaker 2 (01:10:09):
Gamer man?

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
So this is tricky. I'm a bit of a jamer
Stan what a sentence. I think his twenty twenty two
is the outlier, not the norm. Even with that, he's
been like a one fourteen o ps plus player. The
past couple of years. Uh, this is gonna be his
first time playing first base. Could you say that Jamer.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Candelario extended period?

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
Could you say that Jamer Candelario and Jake Cronenworth are
in the same lane of ballplayer, don't I don't know
who gets more offended by that. Croninworth can play a
lot more defense.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
They're getting paid con the same two.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Twenty nineteen was the best man. It wasn't for Jamer.
So that's a little tricky unless there was some off
the field stuff. I'm not fully familiar.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
It's not like a debut year where like that that
alone would have been fun.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
He is not a Kim k No, Definitely, he's not
a kid. I don't think. You know, maybe in Cincinnati
they're saying, I like to look at his kid, but
we don't know yet.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
It's tough for me to put him below Noda shanual
In lamont Wade. I think lamont Wade has an argument.
Lamont Wade's been getting on base just proven an elite level.
It's just I've I just said today I'm talking baseball
that Jamber Canelario is one of my favorite signings of

(01:11:30):
the offseason, But there are other reasons around it besides
him being an elite first fit, Like could Jamer outplay
the Orioles first baseman this year? Close?

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
I mean you can. You can take twenty twenty, twenty
twenty one, twenty twenty three, cut out twenty twenty two
and it's a one to twenty oh ps plus over
like three hundred and fifty games. Like that's really good.
He has been a third baseman forever, so you can
kind of take that and be like, well, he probably
ets playing first base maybe a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:12:03):
I don't know. I think I'm gonna surprise you guys.
Oh boy, you know this is something that at a
certain point I get a little scared of. But maybe
my tier list self is evolving. WHOA, I think there's
just a Jamer oh in the middle below Orioles first base.
I'd rather have that pairing, But I would rather have

(01:12:24):
Jamer over Josh Bell, Chris Bryant, Jose Bray and Carlos Santana.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
You just got paid. How many tier does that put
us at? That puts us out in a nice clean ten?

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
Okay, wow, Okay, this will just be Jamer Candelario.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
This is above or below Orioles first base, below Jamer
Candelario in the red color, and that'll be Jamer.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
Yeah, because he can't, but you really can't. He can't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
He has a lot of arguments above the people below him. Yeah,
he doesn't have a lot of arguments for the people
above him. Yeah, And that's kind of how these are
supposed to work.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
I think he just he's a He's a puzzle piece
that doesn't fit anywhere. You know, he needs his own space.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
Hey, that's a hitters ballpark. He just got a contract
three years.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Imagine if he hits thirty and then we look back
at this and he's all the way down there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:15):
It's like, Oh, I like, I believe in Jamber. Yeah
that I'm good with putting him there. Our last player
on the list, Reece Hoskins Love Reese early talking baseball guests,
get as our.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
First guess out of the Bronx office.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
Yeah. As consistent as a baseball reference page. As you'll see,
the guy walks. The guy has power. He's kind of
a righty, righty first basement of this time period A
little bit. I don't think you could say I like
the look of this kid. He's not fully a kid anymore,
just got the contract. I don't think it's a Kim

(01:13:55):
k thing. I think he could be there. He would
have to have a big boy year this year, which
he can't. Like go look at his stat page, pretty consistent.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
After this year, he can be just back to that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
So I will propose, well, I'll leave it up to you,
and I'll well, I'll leave it up to both you
and I'll let the people come at you with venom
Holy Smoke's career eight forty six of.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Yeah, I mean that's really good.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Maybe it is Kim k Oh hang on, because all right,
here's what I'll tell the people. The joke I was
gonna make was put him in Orioles first basement, just
because it's kind of funny. He kind of looks like
he'd hang out with the Ryans, and he's on a
one year contract that if first.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
Base for either of them really don't go great next.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
Year, he can be traded to them by mid season.
If Milwaukee goes sour and the Orioles go up. I
think this guy, if I'm gonna fight for Rizzo, this
guy's but would be that he just didn't play last year.
But it was not like a baseball injury. My only

(01:15:00):
concern about Reee Hoskins is the butt is he didn't
play last year. Yes, Otherwise, dude, look at his page.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
I know, and like his defense. I don't think is
as much of a liability as some other people in
the tier. My only argument was gonna be like, Okay,
what's his career WRC plus and is it equal to
what the Oriols first baseman produced last year? No, it's
better for his entire career. It was better than what
the Oils did last year. You made a joke yesterday
that if you cover the hats, Reese look kind of

(01:15:29):
looks like Ryan Mattcastle and Ryan Ohuran, which is funny.
But I do think that he is one of these
guys where like the Brewers could look like geniuses for
getting thirty home runs out of Reeese Hoskins.

Speaker 1 (01:15:40):
On that deal, what's his worst non twenty twenty season, which,
by the way, twenty twenty he was fine. It's just
he was. He was good in fact, but it's just
a short season.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
By opus plus, it's his best.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Yeah, twenty nineteen, I guess, but he led the league
in walks.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
Like in twenty nineteen. His worst season, twenty nine home
runs led the league in.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
Walks light one hundred and sixty games.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
That's not too bad, good self. So okay, he's up
on the Kardashian tier. I like that. That worked out
for him.

Speaker 3 (01:16:11):
Yeah, good. I'm not happy with that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
And for everything I said about Rizzo, it's kind of
similar like if they didn't have the injury, I would
I just had the hot start but missed one hundred
and ten games or whatever that number would have been.

Speaker 3 (01:16:24):
It he stopped, we'd be saying the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
Alright, alright, alright, so going down quick our final tierless
let us know, and I know you will what you
liked and you didn't like. Number retired with the Braves
Frederick and Matt Olsen, seven time All Star, Bryce Harper
and Paul Goldsman. It's not a bad line to be
on Kim Kardashian everything, but Pete Alonzo, Anthony Rizzo, Yandi Diez,

(01:16:50):
Vladdie Guerrero, Junior, Christian Walker, Nathaniel Lowe and Rhys Hoskins.
I like to look at these kids, Tristan Cassas, Spencer, Torkolsen,
Vinnie Passed Guandino and Josh Naylor didn't know where he'd land.
I'd like it, Orioles one, b Ryan Mountcastle, Rhyan O'Hearn sure,

(01:17:10):
Jammer Candelario, Jammer Candelario twenty nineteen was the best man.
Carlos Santana, Jose Abre, Chris Brian and Josh Bell, West
Coast Walks, Ryan Noda, Nolan Chanul Lamont Waye Junior hates
playing first base, Andrew Vaughan, Typhrass, Jay Croninworth and Young

(01:17:36):
and the restless Michael Bush. Let's see where he lands
next year. That's fun our guy, Joey manesas and Rowdy
Teles handsome as all hell. Speaking of Jolly Olive, thank
you very much, thank you for PbD here. Yeah, thank
you to everyone. Make sure you're subscribed and all the
fun stuff. Thank you, Jolly. We'll see you guys next

(01:17:57):
week with that big Snell signing.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Angels Ove