Sports On Deck 5-17 - Spice up the schedule release, William for MVP

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
You were listening to Sports on Deckwith Dave Gasper. Welcome to Sports on
Deck with Dave Gasper here on thirteento ten WIBA. I'm Dave Gasper.
Of course you can follow me onTwitter or x or whatever it is you'd
like to call it at de Gaspertwenty four. Lots of stuff I'm busy

(00:30):
on there, especially this time ofyear as baseball season is ongoing, and
a lot to talk about, alot to get to on the program today,
and we'll get into baseball, we'llget into brews a little bit,
but first I want to start withthe NFL and the NFL schedule release that
happened this past week, and it'sall this big deal. It's like,

(00:52):
Okay, the Packers have their scheduleout, you know, Week one,
they're in Brazil against Eagles. Wealready knew that. They just kind of
go on down the line, Okay. I mean, really, this is
one of the insane things that Ithink about the NFL offseason. I mean,
the NFL has found a way tomake pretty much something happened some sort

(01:14):
of event every single month of theoffseason. They're always finding a way to
get themselves in the headlines, whetherit's the combine, the draft, the
you know, OTA's mini camp,training camp, whatever. The schedule release
is one of these now, andI just I can't get into it.

(01:37):
I'm sorry, Like all this thishoopla about oh, those schedules are coming
out on this day at this time, the schedules are already done. All
the teams have put together their theirvideos announcing their schedule release, and they
all just kind of get just kindof thrown out there. It's like,
eh, and the schedule's out,and it's just Okay. All I really

(01:59):
care about is when is the byeweek. That's pretty much it when I'm
looking for the schedule release, becausewe know who the opponents are. We've
known who the opponents are going tobe on this schedule since the end of
the regular season. We have knownfor months who it's going to be,

(02:22):
where they're going to be playing.We've known they're going to play at Seattle,
they're going to host New Orleans.We know they're going to go to
the Rams, that they're going towelcome the Cardinals and the Texans. We've
known this, we've known the opponents. Just which order you know in weeks
one through eighteen, is it goingto be the only thing I really care

(02:43):
about is the bye week. Whenit comes to this, is the bye
week early? Is it late?Packers got a bye week in week ten?
Okay, pretty much right, smackdab in the middle of the season,
perfect spot. Great having a byeweek right there. It's not like
it's in week four and then youhave to go, you know, the
entire final three months of the seasonwithout a bye. But all this hoopla

(03:07):
about about the schedule release, Idon't get it. I don't get it.
All it is is just the TVnetworks claiming which games do they want.
I want to put this game onMonday night. I want to put
this game on Sunday night. That'sall it is. So you say,
oh, well, in week twelve, we're gonna have this matchup, you

(03:29):
know between these two teams. Weknow we know that they are going that
those two teams are going to playeach other. And when we get to
week twelve, is anyone going tocay It's just one of the games.
When you get to week twelve,that's just oh well, you know,
okay, that's just one of thegames. Is that one of the things

(03:49):
worthy of being leaked early? Thatwhen the schedule lease comes out, it's
like, oh, here's the nextgame that we know in Week twelve,
it's going to be the Bills andthe Bengals. No one cares, I
don't care. You know who theopponents are. There's no real drama or
intrigue with this. The Sports Centerspecial or whatever it is on ESPN where

(04:13):
they're having the schedule release, it'sjust kind of like everything's out. It's
not just all at once. It'sjust, oh, we'll just talk to
coaches and whatever one at a timeand go through all these team schedules.
You've already seen it for everyone else. There's no drama, there's no intrigue
with all of this, and they'remaking it out to be a big thing,
like it's one thing to make thecombine or free agency or the draft

(04:36):
or you know even you know,rookie mini camp or whatever, to make
that out to be a big deal. At least, that's like some like
new stuff that's happening. Okay,the schedule release. You've known who the
opponents are going to be, You'veknown for months, but yet every single

(04:57):
time they're going around to be like, oh, week one is this,
it's this opponent. Oh not too, they're starting the season. Oh big
headlines. I don't care. I'msorry, I don't. I just I
can't get into it. And everyone'sgonna like, oh, here's a schedule,
now, let's run through each gameand call it a win or a
loss right now, and we'll predictthe schedule based on how it's going.

(05:19):
I hate that. It's boring,it's cliche, it's been done before.
I go through. Oh Eagles,that's gonna be a win. Oh Colts,
that's gonna be a win. OhTitans, that's gonna be a win.
Who vikings? Oh I don't know, Oh Rams? Then maybe,
like I hate that, I'm tiredof it. If the NFL truly wanted

(05:41):
to create some intrigue with their schedulerelease, if they truly wanted to create
drama and really get me invested inthis schedule and coming out and making me
watch whatever Sports Center special or whateverelse and getting me glued into what this
is going to be, they needto do it March Madness style. They

(06:06):
need to have the whole show.The entire schedule doesn't come out until after
the show is done, okay,and you just go one at a time,
in the Week one regional and youjust list off matchups like you can
check off. You know who's goingto be in your schedule. Okay,
just just kind of like in MarchMadness, you know basically who's going to

(06:28):
be in the tournament. Okay,you know, you have your automatic bids,
you have your at large bids thatyou pretty much know are going to
make it. There's some bubble teams, of course, you know, so
there's that kind of drama that you'renot gonna have because you know who the
opponents are. None of that ischanging, but it's you know what week
are you going to be playing them? And you can try and figure it
out from there. It's like,okay, you know week one, we

(06:50):
got this game, we got Packersand they will be playing the Eagles,
and just kind of go on down. Then we move on to the Week
two regional and you just kind ofgo through your noon time slots, your
three thirty time slots, and youknow it's like, okay, who's gonna
be playing Sunday night football. It'sgoing to be and like maybe you have
Greg Gumbel come back and he doesit. I don't know, but you

(07:12):
need to have some sort of dramaand intrigue with this kind of like March
Madness in order to get me toreally actually care about this whole schedule release
thing where you're just kind of watchingit unfold and you don't know where your
team is going to be or whoare they going to be playing. You
had their list of their opponents andyou can kind of check them off as

(07:33):
you're going along, but it's like, Okay, which week is the bye
week? Am I going to behere? Is this going to be my
bye week? You know? It'slike all right, and our week ten
byes. We have the Packers,the Lions, the Texans, whoever,
and you can just go that way. It's like, okay, now we
know this is our bye week oror whatever. It's like Monday night football

(07:55):
and it's like, wait a minute, we haven't been we haven't been called
yet. Ah, we're playing Mondaynight, you know. And then you
can do the whole Okay, nowteams can put out their schedules afterwards and
things like that, and that createsdrama that is intrigue. Do a March
Madness style bracket reveal, just kindof go week by week week one,

(08:16):
two, three, four, five, on down the line. It may
take a while if you really wantto add that much intrigue with it,
because there are eighteen weeks instead ofjust four regionals and sixty eight teams in
March madness, So it'd be alittle different and maybe it might take a
little bit longer, But I meanyou can also just kind of go through.
There's not quite as much drama.You don't need to do as much

(08:39):
talking in between. But still,I mean, that's really the only way
for me, that's my idea,to really add drama and intrigue to the
schedule release because frankly, just theway that it's done, Like, I
can't get into it. I'm sorry, I can't. I love the NFL,
I love watching football, but Ijust can't get into this schedule release

(09:00):
and pretend like, oh, thisis you know, this is some great,
big thing on the NFL calendar.It is the weakest part of their
offseason calendar. It's the schedule release. It's all about the TV networks just
picking which games they want, andyou know, teams basically just kind of
have as much fun with it asI can. On their socials, the

(09:22):
Tennessee Titans, I think they havetheir best one. Uh, they have
the best one of everyone where everysingle year they just kind of go down
to Broadway down there in Nashville andthey ask people, you know that they
show them the logos of the teamsand they ask them what team is this?
And they always pick the funniest answers, and you know a lot of
them get strong, like the onelady is just kind of like, oh,

(09:43):
Dallas Cowboys, that's Dak Prescott.Then then they show the logo and
to see Indianapolis Colts and they justplay the Fox NFL bed you know how
it goes like they just play thatand just over and over with all these
wrong guesses whatever it is, andjust say, yeah, that team.
No one ever gets the Jaguars.There's like, I don't know who that.
I don't know who that is.It's a Jacksonville Jaguars. But still

(10:07):
like that is that is the bestone that I have seen. What the
Titans do every single year going downto Broadway asking people what this logo is
for and they have no idea andit's funny, it's good. And the
way they just the way they justcut and do the it's perfect. It's

(10:28):
absolutely perfect. The Packers was kindof like vintage, like old school stuff.
I mean, it was like athree minute skit. In the last
ten seconds were the actual schedule,Like no part of the actual skit really
seemed like it was being like,Oh, this is the opponent this week
like it was. It was kindof confusing, honestly, until John Don

(10:48):
Machakowski the Magic Man, comes outand he's like, here's a schedule and
they just show it for like asplit second and they're like, Oh,
let's go back and slow that down. Oh, here's a schedule, and
they just kind of list it,and I'm just like, Okay, this
is It's kind of weird, allright, whatever whatever I am A I

(11:09):
guess I'm just not that creative,not that imaginative or whatever it is.
But still, I just I can'tget too into the NFL schedule release and
all the whole Oh let me predictthe schedule from it. It's so played
out and cliche, and I'm tiredof it, and so much is going
to change between now and then,and none of those predictions are ever going
to turn out to be right,and by the time you get around no

(11:31):
one is going to remember them anyways. So do it March Madness style.
If you want drama and intrigue andattention on your schedule release, do it
March Madness style. It's kind ofone at a time, just kind of
go down. Okay, we gotyou know, we got sixteen games this
week. Let's break down this,you know, the Week four regional and

(11:54):
just kind of team by team.Okay, the Packers and they will be
playing this team, and you knowthis team they are going to be playing
on Sunday night football. That's howyou do it. That is how you
get drama an intrigue on the NFLschedule release. Coming up, we'll get
back into baseball and talk about theMilwaukee Brewers and loads of injury news that

(12:16):
has been happening with them. You'relistening to Sports on Deck with Dave Gasper
here in thirteen to ten WIBA Sportson Deck with Dave Gasper rolls on here

(12:41):
on your Saturday afternoon. Lots ofBrewers talk to get to here. I
had to get that NFL schedule releasestuff off my chest because honestly, it's
it's the most overblown part of theNFL offseason, like the like they're trying
to make it a but I justcan't do it as a thing the way

(13:03):
that it is, like, Ijust I can't get into it. You
need you need more drama or intriguersomething, but can't do it. Meanwhile,
though, the Milwaukee Brewers, theyhave been continuing to play pretty well
here. They just finished a fiveand two home stand against the Cardinals and
the Pirates, couple of division rivals, and there were some big moments,

(13:26):
some really good moments. Robert Gassermaking his major league debut and going six
shutout in his first MLB game,getting the win, shutting down the Cardinals,
no walks, two hits. Thenhe comes back on Wednesday and dices
up the Pirates. It's amazing.Robert Gasser is is that guy? I

(13:52):
mean, the Brewers got him inthat Josh Hater trade, that Ill fadd
seemingly Josh Hater trade back in twentytwenty two, and Gasser was the prize.
Gasser was who they really wanted inthat trade. Rogers was just kind
of a fill in Lamette. Theywanted to flip Asteria Ruiz. They wanted
to flip and Ruiz. I meanthey flipped into William Contreras and you all

(14:15):
piomps which has been absolutely fantastic.Lamet they had a Lego on DFA and
put him on waivers, but Gasserwas the prize. Gasser was who they
wanted and we didn't see him atall last year. He's down Triple A
and just pitching well, but Brusdidn't call upon him. And now finally
he's getting his chance this year andhe is running with it. So Gasser,

(14:39):
I think you're gonna see You're gonnasee him stick in the rotation going
forward. And I mean just theway that he's been man the poise that
he's got out there, listening toWilliam Contreras, who has just been absolutely
phenomenal, It's exactly what you want. It's exactly what you need, especially

(15:01):
with Wade Miley out, Jacob Junisout, d L. Hall's been out,
had a lot of injuries. You'vebeen relying on Tobias Myers and Bryce
Wilson and guys like that to fillthe gaps. Now Bryce Wilson's done a
pretty good job of filling the gaps, and now that it's gasks turn,
we may not see Tobias Myers fora while. Plus d L. Hall
just in some injury update news D. L. Hall is on the mend.

(15:24):
He will be pitching on Sunday herefor High A, Wisconsin for the
timber Radlers. He is going tobe on the rehab assignment over there,
so he's on his way back.He threw a simulated innings or simulated game,
couple of innings, thirty five pitchesthis during this homestand and that went

(15:46):
well. According to Wade Miley,his velocity was up to ninety five,
which is great to see because hisvelo has been down this year, which
has been part of his ineffectiveness.Because Hall, you know, he came
over in the carbon burns trade andyou know he he was kind of supposed
to be a prize there. TheBrewers wanted to see him in the rotation
and his first four turns through therotation did not go well. They did

(16:08):
not a seven to seventy one Erawas not going deep into games, as
the last start went just three andtwo thirds. The Brewers needed more,
and Murphy it seemed like it waskind of come to the end. It's
like you need more out of yourstarter like that. Maybe he was on
the verge of being sent down tothe minors when that knee injury popped up.

(16:30):
Say, okay, so now he'sgoing to go on the injured list.
He is going to rehab here fora little bit and going a couple
of rehab starts, try to figuresome things out, and then we'll probably
see him back and hopefully by thenhe'll have fixed whatever was causing the issues.
So Haul's on the mend. JoeyWeimer is on the mend. He

(16:51):
is down in TRIPA Nashville as well, on a rehab assignment. He injured
his knee also back in that Cubseries when he came in and he just
kind of buckled on him. Sohe's going down. He's getting some at
bats underneath him. Weamur was strugglingthis season before the injury, changing some
things in his swing, so it'skind of understandable. You know, he

(17:15):
used to have a whole ton ofmovement. He's really quieted all of that
down, but it's taken him awhile to adjust it in terms of actual
results at the plate because he's stillkind of focusing on making those changes.
So it's taken some time. Sohe'll be down there on rehab, and
my guess is he'll be down therefor a little while you know, just
trying to get the at bats underhim to try and figure some things out

(17:38):
before they have to make a decisionon activating him. I mean, he
can be on rehab assignment for thirtydays or might only be twenty days for
position players thirty days for pitchers,but still he can be down there a
couple of weeks and you can justlet him rehab and get those every day
at bats, and even though hemay be healthy, you may not activate

(17:59):
him or call him up until untilhe's gotten enough at bats under him,
or he gets going at the platesomewhat. And if he doesn't get going
at the plate, then you canjust activate him and option them down to
triple A, simple as that.But the big injury that the Birds are
dealing with is to Reee Hoskins.So I mean Hoskins. He's got the
big clutch three run homer over theweekend against the Cardinals, and then on

(18:23):
Monday against Pirates, Reee Hoskins hamstringjust tightens up on him. So he
goes on the il with a hamstringstrain, and he was seeking a second
opinion for a second there, andthen he's not and they're like aeah,
it's actually not that bad. Twoto four weeks is the timeline for Hoskins,

(18:45):
so not awful. Obviously, notyou know, the best news losing
him for potentially a month, especiallyhe is your top home run hitter and
a very clutch hitter, and Murphywas raving about him as a leader on
the field, off the field allof that. Losing him for any period
of time is not good, butit really could have been worse. It

(19:08):
could have been so much worse tolose Hoskins. You know that this for
a couple month absence. You knowthat that was a very real possibility with
hamstrings. I mean, if youreally kind of tear it in there,
that can take you out for awhile. So it's just a couple of
weeks. It's kind of let itrest and let the you know, inflammation
and everything go down, let itrecover, and then work his way back.

(19:32):
You know, there was some amedia concern that it was his knee
has surgically repaired knee. I mean, he's coming off of missing a year
due to an ACL tear. Butit wasn't that gm. Matt Arnold was
able to go on the TV broadcastand just be like now, The initial
report is a hamstring, it's notthe knee. So that's good, just
a couple of week absence, butthat's a big blow to the Spurwers lineup

(19:55):
that just kind of finally seemed likeit had its a lineup in there.
Yeah, Elich is back, soyou got Terrain at the top, you
got Contrera's, you got Yelich,Hoskins at damis. It's perfect and then
injury bites again. You have Yelchback, which is going to make it
a little bit easier to withstand theloss of Hoskins. But still, I

(20:21):
mean that that that puts first basein a much tougher spot. I mean,
you got Jake Bowers. Jake Bowershas been hitting the ball pretty well
these last couple of weeks. Butyou got Bowers, you got Owen Miller,
you got Gary Sanchez who's played alittle bit over there. Completely different
than having Rehys Hoskins at first base, Completely different situation and just frankly nowhere

(20:48):
near as good. I mean,how long is the Jake Bowers renaissance here
going to last? That's my question. Now he has changed from a lake
kick to a toe tap. Maybethat could lead to some sustaining of success
for Bowers, but he's never reallysustained success at the big leagues before,
so it's tough to kind of counton that and depend on that. Even

(21:11):
though he did make that change withhis timing, Hoskins, he's a proven
big league gas set. You knowthat he can sustain success over a long
period of time. You just don'tknow with Bowers. Maybe he can,
maybe he can't. Either way,it puts the line up in a much
more difficult spot. But these injurieshave just been hitting this team one after

(21:33):
another after another after another this season. Something's always broken or battered or something.
But even despite all of that,the important thing, people is that
the Brewers are still winning somehow,despite losing three fifths of a starting rotation,

(21:55):
despite losing your MBP in Christian Yelchfor several weeks, despite now losing
your all star first baseman Rhys Hoskinsfor several weeks. Despite all of this,
the Birds are still in first place. They're still right there in the
thick of the Nial Central. Theystill have a very very good chance of

(22:17):
winning this division. It's still earlyon. We're only about a quarter the
way through, but still they areright there. They are playing good baseball.
They're winning now. A lot ofthat you can contribute. You can
attribute all of that to so manydifferent factors. You can talk about Terrang's

(22:37):
breakout, Contreras's being consistently amazing.You're talking about Murphy and his mentality,
all of it, all these guysstepping up. It's not just one guy.
It's not the same guy every singlenight. Although Contraras's, to be
fair, is kind of doing youknow, he's doing something good pretty much
every single night. It is absurdthe run that he has been on.

(23:00):
But we'll get we'll get to moreon that in a little bit. But
it's such it's such a good team, a deep team that despite all these
injuries, despite losing key players,despite not having Corbyn Burns anymore, despite
not having Brandon Woodruff or Devin Williams, or missing Yelich for weeks and now

(23:22):
missing Hoskins for weeks, this teamis still cooking. They're still plowing right
along getting wins. Hoskins went out, the Brewers won the next two nights.
They did. Now they didn't winthat that game that Hoskins left.
They they tried, They made aclose they were down big and they made

(23:45):
it. They made a comeback,but they ended up losing at the end
there. Jake Bowers had a GrandSlam in that game. So they find
a way. They're never out ofit, even when they're big, even
when they're down big late, they'renot out of it. And it's not
just the guys like Hoskins and Yelichthat are a part of that. It's

(24:11):
the mentality. It's the mentality ofthis team to win tonight, win this
game, win what's in front ofyou. That's part of the Murphy effect.
That's what he's preaching to these guys, and it's working despite all the

(24:33):
injuries, despite everything that's happened tothis group. That's how they keep on
going and they keep on winning.And it is amazing to see talk more
Brewers coming up here. Got alot more still to get to here on
the show. You're listening to Sportson Deck with Dave Gasper here on thirteen
to ten WIBA. Welcome back toSports on Deck with Dave Gasper here on

(25:14):
thirteen to ten WIBA. I amDave Gasper here with you for a little
bit longer on your Saturday afternoon.As Walkee Brewers. They continue their road
series here, their road trip againstthe Houston Astros. Astros have been a
bit down this year, but theystill got a lot of talent, they

(25:37):
really do, and it's gonna bea fun series, it really is.
The Brewers are on the road untilMemorial Day. They're going to be coming
back that Monday, and they're goingto be playing the Chicago Cubs. That
is going to be Craig Council's firstgame back at American Family Field since leaving

(26:03):
in haste to Chicago for a fiveyear, forty million dollar contract. I
imagine his reception will not be verywarm. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
say, we all know it's notgoing to be it's not gonna be warm.
I'm I'm expecting signs comparing him toBenedict Arnold or Judas or things like

(26:30):
that. I think that's what we'regoing to see. It's it's not going
to be pretty. I would imaginewe can keep it civil. You can
keep it civil, but it's notgoing to be pretty. It really will
not be. But that is agame that I am very much excited for
that it's going to be a selloutcrowd on more Memorial Day on a holiday,

(26:53):
so everyone's got off of work,everyone's going to be able to be
there. Everyone's had this part ofthe calendar circled since this happened. But
the Brewers will be on the roaduntil then. Got Houston here this weekend,

(27:14):
then they go to Miami for threegames, and they got an off
day on Thursday, and then theygo to Boston. So Houston, Miami,
Boston all right next to each other, clearly, but that is where
the Brewers are gonna be going onthis road trip, this nine game road
trip for them. Then they comeback and they got the Chicago Series Cubs,
and then Cuts for four and thenthe White Sox for the weekend.

(27:37):
It's gonna make for some interesting games, it really is. But I mean
the Burrs, I mean they're gonnabe facing a couple of down teams right
now. I mean, the Cardinalshave been bad, the Pirates have been
bad. Houston's been bad this year. Miami is already selling off players.
Boston, you know, they've They'vehad a ton of injuries, they really

(28:00):
have. And then out there inthe Al East they are, I mean,
they're five hundred team right now,They're in fourth place in the Al
East. The Yankees are all theway up there. The Orioles are playing
well, so it looks like it'sthose two teams out in that division,
but Boston hanging around five hundred,not playing a ton of great teams through

(28:22):
this stretch. So you got torack up as many wins as you can,
which is very important because all thesewins count the same. You get
down in September and it feels likeevery single game is more and more important.
But the more wins that can rackup early on, a win in
May counts the exact same as awin in September. It just feels different
in September because there's so few leftthat each one counts more, but they

(28:47):
all count the same. The morewins you can you can rack up,
the better bank them, put themin the win column, and move forward.
Win tonight. That like I say, and that's the mentality. Just
when tonight you can't focus on tomorrow, you can't focus on September or whatever.
When you're playing these games and tryingto win those games, you have

(29:08):
to win the one in front ofyou. It's all you can do.
And they're winning a lot of thegames in front of them, because William
Contreras has been an absolute stud andhe is the best catcher in baseball period.
Well, William Contreras has done overhis what twenty three to twenty four

(29:33):
game on bass streak, Who's gotnearly one thousand ops. It's somehow his
ops over that streak is lower thanhis ops on the season. He's been
that good all year. He's playedevery single day, whether it's behind the
plate or as a DH, hehas played every single day Contreras has been

(29:55):
in that lineup. And not onlyis he in the lineup every single day,
but he's getting multi hit games allthe time. He's hitting like three
point fifty, he's got nearly onethousand oh ps, and he's in there
every single day as a catcher.Catchers get beat out. Yeah, here's
the thing, and I saw thisin the Athletic too that this week about

(30:15):
catchers and the beatings that they take. Now, you know, even even
the most you know, just pedestrianbaseball observe, even if you aren't a
super big baseball fan and you don'tpay that much attention all the time,
you know, catchers take a beatingback there. Okay, you know that
they do they get the foul tipsevery single one. They get hit in

(30:37):
the back of the head with abat or whatever. If you're Wilson contraras
to get hit in the arm wherethe back so far up on the plate
that the bat comes through, hitsyou in the arm and breaks it.
That's happened to Wilson Contraris William however, has been has been fine, but
still he's taken a beating back there. He took one the other day off
the shin guard. It hit theshin guard, but he still went down.

(31:00):
It still hurts, you know,those guys, they take a beating.
It is the most physically demanding positionin baseball, squatting all game long,
throwing guys out, having to workin new pitchers, calling pitches,
calling the game. It's a verydemanding job. And Conterrera's has been out

(31:22):
there every single time. I mean, that's why teams are just fine with
good defenders back there. You don'thave to hit. You really don't have
to hit that much to be abig league catcher. You have to hit
enough to not be a complete embarrassmentand a black hole in the lineup.
But I mean Austin Hedges has beengetting jobs as a big league catcher for
years, not because of his hittingprowess. He basically he hits under two

(31:47):
hundred pretty much all the time.He keeps on getting major league deals though,
because he is one of the bestdefensive catchers there is. Contreras,
meanwhile, is one of the bestdefensive catchers also, and he's a force
at the plate, and he's playingevery single day. What he's doing,
his value, how he's doing it, what he's doing should make him the

(32:14):
most valuable player in the National League. It should. I'm just gonna say
it. If I had a vote, I don't, I would say William
Concerras belongs there. He belongs asthe MVP of the National League. What
he's doing, leading this team,playing every single day at a premium position,
the most demanding position where we've seencatchers go down all the time,

(32:37):
and putting up the numbers that he'sputting up, keeping pace with someone like
Mookie Betts and show Hey Otani inthe National League. Contreras is fourth in
OPS in the NL. He's behindBetts, He's behind Otani, and typically

(32:58):
MVP is a that's going to bereserved for Otani. Okay, just you
know, like with what I'm sayingabout what Contreras can bring, with what
Otani brings typically in terms of hishitting prowess and his pitching on the mound.
Being able to do that all thetime, that makes him pretty much
the MVP every single year. Butthis year, Shoheyotani's not pitching. Otani

(33:25):
is not pitching. He is goingto have to win MVP on the merits
of solely playing d H. Hehas no positional value, carries no defensive
value at all. This is theyear that someone else can win the MVP
in the National League. Once Otanicomes back and he's pitching and hitting at

(33:52):
the levels that he pitches and hitsat, it's it's game over pretty much
for everyone else to win the MVP. It's going to take a Ruthian type
season to beat out Otani for MVP. It is. That's what it took
from Aaron Judge to be the MVPover Otani a while ago, a couple

(34:13):
of years ago, Judge had hitsixty two homers in a season in order
to take the MVP away. WilliamContrere is ain't going to do that.
I love William contraras he ain't gonnado that. This is your chance.
This is a chance for someone elseto take MVP in the National League for

(34:35):
the next several years. This isyour sole chance. And William Contrere's he's
certainly taking it. He's making arun at it. I think he should
get there. I think it shouldbe him over someone like Betts or Otani.
Bets, I know he's got hisdefensive versatility and he's always putting up
his good numbers. But I meanit's the Dodgers. I mean they're filled

(34:58):
with MVPs. How much can youreally call one of those guys the actual
most valuable player on that team?If the Dodgers lose a Mookie, Betts
or an Otani, there's still aone hundred win team. You take Contreras
off the Brewers, Are they aninety win team? Are they a first

(35:19):
place team? Probably not. Butyou've got several different voters who are going
to have several different interpretations of whatthe MVP means. Is it the best
season, is it the most valuableto his team? What could his team
do without him? You don't know. But for me, I put Contreras

(35:39):
up there. I would doing itat a premium position where you really don't
see any sort of offensive production.You are just hoping to get above the
Mendoza line and to be the consistentoffensive force that he is and playing every
single day. He's not taking daysoff. It's not taking him off for

(36:04):
rest and being out of the lineupand only ending up with one hundred and
forty games or whatever throughout the season, one hundred and thirty hundred and forty
whatever. He's planning on playing everysingle game. Now, will he end
up actually playing every single game?We'll see. Pat Murphy did say that
Contreras has a scheduled off day onAugust fifth coming up. Of course,

(36:29):
that is a team off day,so everyone has the day off. That's
just how Murphy loves to roll withit. But for me and what it
should be for voters, in myopinion, William Contreras right now should be
your national leagun in pee. Heshould be the front runner for MVP with

(36:50):
what he's doing offensively, defensively,the yue he brings Otani. You can
consider him a front runner all youwant, and he's putting up great offensive
numbers, but he's a DH onlyhe doesn't have the pitching stuff that typically
goes alongside his eleven hundred ops orwhatever it is he's got. Doesn't have
the two and a half Elady gowith it to make him the MVP.

(37:16):
He doesn't have defensive value. Contrerasdoes, and he's putting up just about
as good offensive numbers. So mybook, that should put Contraras over the
top. Plus a team he's onwhat he means to his team. We'll
see if the voters see it thatway. Obviously still a lot of season

(37:40):
ago, but for me, that'swhere I'm putting them. We are gonna
quickly come right back and we'll wrapthings up. You're listening to Sports on
Deck with Dave Gasper here on thirteenten WIBAU that Sports on Decaday of Gasper

(38:12):
here with you for just a fewmore minutes on your Saturday afternoon. I'm
not sure if you if you Saws, you probably did, if you pay
any sort of attention to golf atall. Scottie Scheffler on Friday morning.
I just wake up to this.On Friday morning. I wake up,
I look at my phone. Allof a sudden, I see Scottie Scheffler
has been arrested outside the PGA Championshipthat's going on this weekend. I'm like,

(38:36):
what what did he do? He'sdriving in trying to, you know,
just just get to the golf golfcourse for his tea time, and
there's all this traffic and he's goingaround and they're trying to direct him wherever,
and he tries to drive on throughto the players area, and I
guess the cops there didn't know thathe was a golfer, and this this

(39:00):
cop latched onto his car. He'slike jumping on the hood or whatever.
Then the dude then Scotty stops.He's like, what's going on? That
cop just pulls me out and thenthey arrest him. So he's just starting
to show up for his tea time. He ends up getting arrested, getting
booked, going to jail, thenhaving to bail out and come back and

(39:21):
make his tea time. I'm justlike, this is absolutely embarrassing. How
do they not know this is theworld number one golfer and there's all those
confusions. Scotty released a statement itwas all a big misunderstanding, but still,

(39:42):
I mean, this is so absurd. I gotta admit it does make
golf a little bit more interesting,you know, especially since Tiger Woods is
not at the peak that he oncewas. Just golfer's getting arrested prior to
their tea time and seeing if theycan make it back in time on bail.
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Imean the assault. He got a

(40:05):
couple of charges, one including asecond degree assault of a police officer.
I mean that's a that's a toughone to get rid of. I mean,
having that on your on your wrapsheet. I guess if you're Scottie
Scheffler, assault of a police officer, that may be a tough one to
to get by. But man,uh he woke up and uh, you
know, he's getting in there andhe is not feeling all right with PGA

(40:29):
Championship is continuing on over there atValhalla in in Kentucky, and the fact
that it was Valhalla, and I'veseen all these tweets Scottie Shuffler is on
his way to Valhalla, and I'mjust like, oh no, it's the
name of the golf course. It'sthe name of the golf course. It's
not it's not the other Valhalla thatthey hear talking about. Oh man,

(40:54):
I am out of time. That'lldo it. For me, Thank you
for listening again. Follow me onTwitter at Degas twenty four. This has
been Sports on Deck with Dave gasperhere on thirteen ten w Iba, you've
got to give me. I don'tsuggest live me me