June 27, 2020 • 53 mins
Davis Mattek hosts DailyRoto Hour and is joined by Chrisotpher Pacheco, as the guys continue with their MLB team previews with the baseball season looming! Davis and Pacheco preview the AL East today and talk about the New York Yankees powerhouse lineup and the young juggernaut of the Blue Jays. The guys also talk about Pacheco's boys, The Boston Red Sox, the sneaky Rays, and a little O's talk as well.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thanks for downloading the podcast. If you want to
listen live, all you have to do is download the
I Heart Radio app and search for Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Also,
if you want to catch this show on video, for
sure to check out Zoo TV channel seven nineteen and
that's where you can find sports Grids Fantasy Sports Network.
Enjoy the show and thanks so much for listening. Hello everyone,
(00:21):
and welcome to the Daily Road to Our here on
Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Maddock, joint today by Christopher Pacheco.
Now that baseball is back in our lives officially, the MLB,
the MLB Players Association, they have all agreed to terms.
Everyone's heading to uh, I guess summer training. Now it's
no longer it's no longer spring training. We are marching
(00:41):
towards a baseball season. The season is going to be
sixty games long. All of these rosters are going to
be expanded, So teams that have a lot of depth,
teams that have, you know, some interesting young players, those
guys are going to get more playing time. Pacheco, are
we are we excited? Are we feeling great about the
return of baseball? We're definitely excited about the return of baseball.
(01:05):
I just hope it actually happens, uh Davis this time around. UH.
I'm just grateful that both the MLB and the mlbp
A finally reached an agreement on this stuff. UH. And
they have every intent to play baseball. Of course. You know,
the one looming question is will will COVID nineteen allow them,
(01:26):
because it seems like this stuff is just getting out
of control every day. But if everything holds, uh and
we get baseball back in our lives, of course it's
going to be great. So what we are doing on
the show this week is we are doing team by team,
division by division previews, the same way that we were
doing our NFL shows. We got some good news, so
(01:46):
we switched it up midstream heading back to baseball. Yesterday
we did the Al Central on the show ran running
through my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, the Indians,
the Twins, the White Sox, and the Tigers. Pacheco is
a Boston Red Sox fan, so we're just gonna switch
it over nice and easy to the a L East,
(02:07):
featuring some of the best teams in baseball. Patchecko, UM,
I actually think the shortened season is gonna be a
big boon to the Red Sox in this division. I
think the Rays were a much deeper team. I think
Yankees are a more talented team. But you know, I
think the fact that they're able to shorten down their
(02:27):
pitching rotation a little bit. You know, I think one
of the things we could see as a result of
these shortened seasons is more bullpen games. And you know,
I think that would probably be a plus for the
Boston Red Sox. They have a pretty strong bullpen. They
don't have a ton of high end starters, so that
is definitely gonna be a problem. Are you feeling optimistic
(02:49):
or pessimistic about your Boston Red Sox right now? So
I'm gonna agree with with you that in a sixty
game season, I think the offense could really carry them. UH.
The big stuff that happened over the off season for
the Red Sox UH two very meaningful things. One, Mookie
Bets got traded and they got Alex Rodougo in a
(03:12):
few prospects UH in return. Alex Verduga was not going
to be ready for opening day, but now because of
of the COVID nineteen situation, which gave them months to
prepare in advance. Uh, he's going to be ready for
opening Day two point on. So that's really big news
for the Red Sox. The other thing that happened over
the off season is Chris Sale is not going to
(03:33):
pitch this season at all. So he had Tommy John
surgery and he's going to be in rehabbing mode throughout
the entire season as the Red Sox play their games.
That is a very, very meaningful thing for the Red
Sox because behind Sale, there's no longer David Price. He's
a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. So really the
(03:53):
only you know, ace that the Red Sox have is
Inwada Rodriguez, and then behind Rodriguez, it's just a bunch
of no names. Uh. They did sign Colin McHugh to
a minor league contract. I think he's going to make
the team because they just they really don't have much
of of starting pitching quality starting pitchers. You know, maybe
(04:13):
mckeugh could get back to to the who he wants was,
but I don't really feel great about it given the
fact that he's gonna pitch in Federally Park and against
all these A L e's teams. So you know, to
your point, Davis. I think bullpen games might might be
a thing, uh might be more of a thing for
the Red Sox this year. It's not that they have
a great bullpen, but you know, they have a good
(04:36):
enough bullpen. I mean they have they have some guys,
right Like, they have a bunch of guys who are
projected for low for e r A s pretty good
for guys coming out of the pen. Colin mckeugh probably
starts the season as a long reliever. Brandon Workman pretty
solid closer, Matt Barnes pretty solid set up man's You know,
(04:56):
they have some guys. I think the clear strength of
this team's starts in there. At the top of the
line of though, Andrew Bennontendie um projected Actually wow, even
here on fan Graphs we have updated projections for the
sixty game seasons. Benintendie projected for a three forty nine
on base, six home runs, five stolen bases um. And
(05:17):
you know, benn Intendie kind of gets a bad rap
because he's not a huge power guy, not a huge
steels guy, so fantasy players don't like him that much.
But you know, ben Intendie in terms of a a
leadoff guy, you know, you feel pretty good about him.
As a Red Sox fan, I think you have to.
Oh absolutely, Um. I feel great about Ben and Tendi
at the top of the lineup. And that's the thing.
(05:40):
Even with Mookie Bett's gone, I think this offense still
has plenty of talent uh still remaining. Uh, even Alex Verdouga.
I really don't think it's it's too bad of Again.
I think the problem with that was that he was
hurt and people thought that, you know, it could to
rail his career because it was a back injury. So
we'll see what type of version we get of Alec Verdugo.
(06:01):
But he was once a really highly talented prospect out
of Los Angeles, so I'm excited to see him in
the Red Sox. But we still have Ralphie Oldevers who
broke out in a big way last year. Uh, and
he's really really young still, so I think more of
that is yet to come. Uh. We still have j D. Martinez. Um,
you know, Michael Javis, who had a great season last
(06:23):
years a rookie I think could step up once again. Uh.
Saying that Bogart's is still a part of the team.
So from an Alpha SI standpoint, Davis. I think, uh,
this team is is still gonna pack a punch. I think, uh,
pitching wise, I think it's gonna be a struggle even
though the season got shortened. Yeah. So, Uh they have
Jade Martinez, who is projected to be about the eighteenth
(06:47):
nineteen twenty best uh D H outfielder type in um
in in baseball. His projection right now is for him
to get appearances fourteen, home run batting average three seventy
two o b P is his ZIPS projection right now.
Um I. I again, I think in a way this
(07:09):
season is going to be beneficial too, players like j D. Martinez,
like Mitch Morland, who are over the age of thirty,
because it's just they're just gonna have less opportunities to
get injured. You know. Any Like if if at the
end of the year, in a hundred and sixty two
game season, j D. Martinez played a hundred games, you know,
maybe maybe he didn't get injured until three months into
(07:29):
the season. Well, we're not even gonna have that much baseball,
So it would not surprise me to see some older
players have really strong seasons Pacheco, just because they their
equivalent of a full season wasn't actually a full baseball
season on their body. So I think that J. D. Martinez,
Mitch Moreland four or five spot against um right handed
pitching is gonna be huge for the Red Sox. Yeah,
(07:52):
no doubt about it. Um. JD. Martinez is one of
the best hitters in the entire planet. Very consistent, hitor. Uh.
He's hit over three of your batting average for now
four straight seasons. And if you don't like batting average,
which I actually don't, Uh, he's generated a WHOBA above
three seventy uh in like six consecutive seasons. Now, this
(08:13):
dude is an absolute animal. And the move for him
to the a L East has has really paid off dividends.
But it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter where he hits.
He's just going to be a quality hitter regardless of
of where he's hitting. So I think he's going to
have a great season as well. And I think, you know,
with Raphael Devers really stepping up like he did last year. Um,
(08:35):
given his age, you know, he's he's under twenty four
years old. Uh, it's it's kind of scary because of
the numbers that he put up last year. I think
it's possible that at some point we see you know,
even bigger numbers out of them. Obviously in a condensed season,
that's just not going to happen. But I think with
Devers you could probably expect you know, somewhere around fifteen
(08:56):
home runs, uh as well. So again, Davis, this is
Red Sox lineup. Is is not going to be an
easy one. Uh, especially against right hand to pitching. I
expect them to do really well. Yeah, and uh, I
think the secret weapon to make them, you know, sort
of undefeatable against right handed pitching could very well be
alex urdugo last season three seventy seven plate appearances, twelve
(09:20):
phone runs, four stolen bases, three one weighted on base average.
And you know, obviously Red Sox fans hated to see
Mookie Bets go, you know, one of the best players
they've had of the last twenty years, you know, pretty
much their best hitters since David Ortiz's peak. And you know,
I don't think it's crazy to say that alex urdu Goes,
you know, nine percent outcomes are very similar to what
(09:43):
Bets was able to give the Red Sox. I mean,
this is a guy who had uh, you know, a
fifty five grade raw power forty five grade speed power
basically is a a five tool player about as five
tool as a guy can get. And you know, bats
from the left side of the plate, which is a
huge advantage in uh in the Red Sox Park in
(10:04):
Fenway because of that short wall out there and right.
So you know it's gonna be it's gonna be big.
Like I think, a very good season coming for Alex Verdugo. Yeah. So,
the biggest thing with Verdugo was the back injury. I
think once you heard back injury, people started to get
really freaked out. Um. But given what he has said,
he said that he feels a So I think that
(10:27):
if the back injury is behind them and we really
soon we really see the five tool Atx Verdugo. Um.
I think the Red Sox are going to benefit because
they ultimately, if they weren't gonna pay Bets, they needed
to trade them, so that they ended up trading them
for for what they felt was the best package, which
included Alex Verdugo. I mean, I personally I didn't love
(10:49):
to trade Davis, but with Verdugo now healthy, that certainly
changes the equation. Yeah, I I definitely, I definitely think
that it does. Okay, digging into their pitching rotation a
little bit not pretty. Um Eddie Rodriguez projected for a
four two e r A Nate Vivaldi, a four R
A Martine Perez Guy I I for a long time
(11:12):
have not enjoyed watching play for eighty Ryan Weber for
seventy five non roster invite Brian Johnson with a five
forty seven. This is the weakness of the Red Sox. Now,
maybe you say, okay, maybe we are able to get
something out of Colin mce uh. You know, maybe there
is I And you know, we don't know exactly how
(11:33):
teams are gonna be treating the trade market this year,
but it's possible that a team with a really good
offense might be more aggressive in the trade market for
starting pitching than usual. But you know, it might be
it might be hard for us to trade for starting
pitchers projecco because so many teams are gonna think that
they are drawing live for the playoffs. That's gonna be
(11:53):
you know, that's gonna be just a huge change overall.
So you know, it's it's not great for the pictures.
There no it's it's certainly not. I'm mostly in agreement
with you there, and I think as much as you said,
you know that maybe col mq steps up to the plate. Well,
I'll tell you what, if anything, Neobaldi doesn't do anything
this year for the Red Sox. They are cooked, especially
when you're talking about you know, like like a postseason
(12:16):
run they're getting. You need pitching. Uh. And Neobaldi was
one of the premier pitchers in two thousand and eighteen
where he had, you know, a marvelous season with an
r A under four, a case per nine above eight. Um,
you know, can that be repeated again? We'll see. But
last year was really brutal for rio Baldi. He posted
in the r A uh closer to the sixes, had
(12:37):
a great case per nine. But he's really gonna have
to step up in order for the Red Sox to condemn. Yeah,
maybe they're able to get something out of Dustin Pedroia.
Probably not. Maybe they're able to have some of their
prospects come up. They do have Jonathan Luke Roy and
one sinten you on their minor league rosster. Maybe those
guys are able to give them some at bats this year.
(12:59):
We are going to go ahead and head into break
here in our MLB division by division, team by team preview.
When we get back, we're going to be discussing the
Toronto Blue Jays and their roster for fantasy and gambling purposes.
In see you guys on the other side of break.
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
(13:20):
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com. Hello everyone, and welcome back to
the daily Road to Hour here on sports Grede TV.
(13:41):
I'm David Maddock, joint today by Christopher Pacheco as we
continue our team by team, division by division preview of
Major League Baseball. We had just been doing this for football,
but with the news that baseball came back, we thought
it would be, you know, right just about a good
time to remind everyone that, uh, baseball is happening. You know,
we kind of refresh everyone's memory for for the league.
(14:04):
And today we are going through the A L East,
which means that, uh, we've got to talk about Pacheco's boy,
the Boston Red Sox. But now we are heading into
the Toronto Blue Jays sneakily Pacheco. I mean this team.
They I actually think if I had to make like
an underdog bet for who hit the most home runs
of any team over this sixty game season, I might
(14:26):
actually bet on the Blue Jays. I mean, they have
power one through nine. You know, you even go look
at their at their bench bats, Rowdy tell As, Brandon Drury,
Jonathan Davis, these are all dudes who have uh some
home runs in their bat uh that I think. I
think the Blue Jays can can win this division, you know,
I think that they could. Their problem is starting pitching.
Actually much like the Boston Red Sox. But what a
(14:47):
terrible division. I mean for really really good teams, and
then the Baltimore Orioles. It's it's tough for them to compete. Yeah, certainly.
So I think this year more than ever, David is
there's gonna be some chaos, uh in the MLB, right,
which we had spoken about that in the NHL because
(15:07):
of the way that they have set up their Stanley Cup. Uh,
you know, maybe you should start thinking about some some
you know underdogs potentially winning at all. I'm not sure
that the Blue Jays can you know, win it all.
But when you start, when you start to look at
the lineup, um, you start to get really excited about things.
So right now I'm looking at the Fandal Sports book
(15:30):
and I see them as you know, plus ten thousand
uh to win the World Series. I don't think it's
I don't think it's an awful bat. I I really don't.
Um if if you're rooting for chaos, I still think
the most likely scenario is that the New York Yankees
win this division. They have the bats, and they have
(15:51):
the pitching. I think they're gonna win it. But maybe
the Blue Jays can make some noise as a wild
card team, and I think they can. Um. The thing is,
these hitters are really really young, right um, Bobachette, Vladimir
gur Junior, Ludus gariell kebon b Geo. These are all
guys that that project to be you know, strong hitters. Uh.
(16:12):
The question is, you know, can they do it in
their age like three season uh and catapultas line up
over the top. That's a really big question, and and
it's they don't deserve that type of pressure. But you know,
Vladiger Jr. Honestly, last year I thought he underperformed. I
think we could see, you know, home run per flyball
rate out of this guy flirting with like fifteen to
(16:35):
twenty percent. Last year we saw twelve percent. So he
only hit fifteen home runs in over five plate appearances.
I think he has the potential to be one of,
you know, one of the better hitters, uh in the game.
So the blue Jays last year, Davis, We're already exciting.
Uh you know, who's to say they're not going to
be more exciting and year two out of a lot
(16:57):
of these prospects, I certainly am and very excited to
watch this line up day and day out. Yeah, I
I am too, And I think that, um, in terms
of long shot bets, I'm more gonna be using my
long shot bets on teams that have really strong upside
on the hitting side as opposed to pitching, because I
think pitching over sixty games it's just very hard, Like
(17:20):
it's just gonna be extremely hard to predict, like who's
going to have these upside pitching seasons? But for the
for the Blue Jay specifically, there's going to be correlated
upside and they're hitting because like it's it's almost sort
of like a parlay that Bobichette, Cavan, Biggio, Vlad Jr.
Toscar hand To, Oscar Hernandez, and Derek Fisher like kind
(17:42):
of all are simultaneously having great seasons because these are
the ages of their starting line up, their projected lineup
against right handed pitching. They have one guy over the
age of thirty, that's Travis Shaw, who probably is not
even gonna be an everyday player. I would imagine that
Brandon Drury is gonna platoon with him a good bit
and uh, you know, maybe we even see Rowdy Teller
(18:03):
is playing first base instead of just backing up catcher,
which I think is probably a positive expectation decision for them. Um,
you know, so between Bashette, Visio and Vlad, which one
do you like the most for for like fantasy and
and and uh betting purposes, Like do you have do
you have a favorite of those three guys? Oh man,
(18:24):
that's tough, I think. Um, ultimately, the guy with both
double digit home run and double digit stolen base outside consistently,
it's gonna be Boba Schett. So if you're into and
if you're in two events, he's the one that brings
out to the table in a consistent way. I think
vladgirero Or Jr. Has the potential to hit a lot
(18:45):
of home runs at some point in his career. He's
he's really going to be a very talented power hitter.
Perhaps it doesn't happen right away, as we saw last
year that wasn't the case. But I think Baschette, uh,
you know, over a hundred and sixty two games, has potential,
no doubt about it. So I think he's He's easily
(19:06):
one of the more exciting, uh pieces of this offense.
But you know, David's Ludusgiel Jr. Is often not talked
about with with a lot of these young guys because
he's not twenty three, he's about to enter his twenty seven,
and he's not the son of a former major leaguer.
Like That's another that's such a that's such a true
thing about Bushett, Visio and Guerrero is people all remember
(19:30):
their dads, you know, people remember Craig Visio, Dante Bishet, obviously,
people remember Vlad and Ludasgriel Jr. Is you know, he's
just a year older than Cabon Bugio and last season
he had a three fifty eight waited on base average,
hundred and twenty four waited runs created, plus twenty home
runs in six deals, and three hundred and forty three
(19:50):
played appearances. Like he was. You know, he was a
very solid player for them last year, in fact, one
of their more consistent players. And uh yeah, I mean
ludscre Dale Jr. Should get more hype for sure. So
he hit twenty home runs in eighty four games last
year because he got hurt. Uh, this guy, I think
(20:10):
projection systems are kind of having a hard time with him,
and it's because they're expecting regression because that season that
he had last year. It's just tough for it to
happen again. You know. Well, he's entering which means he
should be entering his prime year. Uh. And if we
were talking, you know, over a hundred and sixty games sample, Um,
(20:32):
this is a guy that could flirt potentially with thirty
home runs and I think projection systems would not project that,
but I think the upside for him would start to
enter that equation because he's entering his prime year. Uh,
he's arguably because all these hitters are getting all this
this hype. I think he's arguably the best hitter out
of all these young guys, and he doesn't get talked
(20:54):
about enough. Yeah, and you know, I, I mean, I
do think depth is going to come in play because
I I haven't seen a schedule come out for this yet.
I don't think we have one, but you know, really
would not surprise me if there are a lot of
double headers and stuff. And you know, the bench for
this Blue Jay's team really is pretty solid. You know,
a bunch of good Major leaguers here, Rowdy Tallis, Joe Panic,
(21:16):
Brandon Jury, Jonathan Davis. You know, these guys are are
all roughly league average players. Um where where they run
into problems is they don't really have an ace. So
I think the one thing you could argue is uh
hunjun Ryu has been an ace before, Like he has
given ace level stats. It's just that he has not
(21:36):
been allowed to pitch enough innings. He's never gotten to
two hundred innings. Actually, the last time he threw two
hundred innings Pacheco. Do you know, do you know when
it was? I know what it was. It was with
the Eagles, it wasn't fact that the han Wa Eagles
and the KBO in two thousand and seven he threw
four two hundred eleven innings, had a two nine f
(21:57):
e r a uh. And basically what have been with
the Dodgers is they kind of just always treated him
with kid gloves. In fact, he's only last season was
only the second time he got over a hundred and
fifty two innings pitched as a member of the Dodgers. Uh.
He is like a super elite control guy. He never
walks anyone, you know, doesn't have a crazy k rate
(22:19):
or anything like that. So one, you know, I think
that pitching in the American League is a little bit harder.
But that's also true for everyone this year because the
NL is gonna We're gonna have a UNIFI designated hitter
this year. So even if he was still pitching for
the Dodgers, this would have been something that projection systems
would have had to account for in projecting him. So
(22:39):
if he wanted to be a backer for the Toronto
Blue Jays, I think one of the things you would
for sure think is well, Ryu has to have a
great season. He's got to be one of the ten
best pitchers in baseball, probably because after him in the
pitching rotation for the Blue Jays, Uh, things get rough,
you know. Chase Anderson, Tanner Rourke, Matt Shoemaker, Trent Thornton
(23:00):
are they're they're they're two through five, And I gotta
be honest, I don't think highly of any of those guys.
I think they are all pretty much below average major
league baseball pitchers. Well so I'm I'm mostly agreeing with
you there, but I think they're like three to five
honestly might be better than the Red Sox two through five,
(23:22):
which which is uh not great news if you're a
Red Sox fan. But uh so with hundred RIEU Davis,
you kind of hit it pretty perfectly there. Uh. The
one thing that you left off two is that he's
a lefty pitching in the A at least, which is
just brutal. I mean, imagine having to phasey Yankees as
(23:43):
a lefty, uh, and as a lefty that just doesn't
miss bats, which is the biggest reason why. Uh if
you if you're looking at a hundred US E R
A and then his projected he are A for this year, uh,
it doesn't really make any sense over the last couple
of seasons. Actually, you can expand it. Over the last
three seasons, he's had the r as A three point
(24:03):
seven seven, one nine seven and two point three two.
This year has projected d r A. Most projection systems
are calling for an r A closer to the fours. Uh.
And that's because he's having to pitch, you know, likely
the most difficult division uh in all baseball when it
comes to facing all these elite offenses. And it's because
he doesn't miss bat so he's he's a quality pitcher.
(24:25):
But you're right, if they're gonna make a lot of noise,
they're gonna need a bunch of really great starts out
of free you. Um, it's we'll see. Um. You know,
maybe this year the offense is the biggest thing. Uh.
And I think their offense can certainly care them, just
like the Red Sox. Yeah, I I definitely think Um,
I definitely think that's true. Now, they do have some
(24:47):
good arms in their bullpen. They have Ken Giles, who
is you know, one of the best closers in baseball
for sure. Um. Sami Biglio was not a good starter,
but is away a pretty good bullpen arm. Thomas Pinone,
same thing, Jacob wogs Back, same thing. You know. I
think that's kind of the that's kind of how we
(25:08):
are thinking about things is just you know, some of
these guys are good at the bullpen, not going to
be great, you know, actual starting pitchers. But Nate Pearson,
the number eighth overall prospect in baseball. I mean, Nate
Pearson could really change things for this organization if he
comes up right away to checko. Yeah, certainly, Um, he
(25:32):
could change things in in in a really big way. Um.
The thing is, I don't know what to think about
these guys, uh this year, Davis, because of the fact that, um,
the season is going to be you know, significantly condensed.
I don't know how big of an impact. Uh, these
you know, highly powered prospects are going to have off
(25:52):
the get go. I'm not sure how many people, like
I don't know if how many games are they gonna
be playing before they even get called up, Like Reathing.
It's just kind of under turmoil this season because of
COVID nine teams, So we will see. But Pearson could
certainly change an equation for them because he was, you know,
a quality picture at the at the minor league level.
(26:15):
So we'll see if he gets called up and could
make a really big difference for them. Yeah, definitely good.
So everyone, we are going to continue our preview of
the A L East on the other side of the break,
going to go to the division leader, New York Cankies
on the other side of breaks. You guys, in just
a few minutes, sports grid dot Com betting insights and
(26:36):
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot com, you're watching sports Crade.
(27:07):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Daily Road of Hour.
Here on Sportscrade TV. I'm Davis Mannock joined by Christopher Pacheco.
We are pursuing our team by team, division by division
preview for baseball instead of football. Here on the Daily
Road to Hour and Pacheco. We are now at the
best team in the We're now at the best team
(27:30):
in the division, the New York Yankees. They are they
are very good right there. Just there's no way around
looking around the AL East and being like, well they're
they're week here, they're week there. Because this team just
really they really don't have a weakness anywhere. Uh. No,
they they certainly do not. They are plus four hundred
(27:52):
on fandable Sports book to win the World Series. That's
the second highest favorite. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers are
ahead of the ink as far as uh the odds
to won the World Series. Uh. This season, the weakness
Davis was supposed to be uh their health. Both Aaron
Judge and Jian Carlos Stand were not going to be
(28:13):
ready uh for opening Day. Uh, and neither was James Paxxon.
I mean they had a lot of injuries uh for
opening Day one point Oh, Well, COVID nineteen had its
its its own schedule. Uh. And so now the Yankees
are going to be pretty much fully healthy um on
(28:33):
opening Day two point oh. Both Aaron Judge and Jan
Constan I believe are are going to be in the
lineup uh come day one, um, which is really scary
uh for for everyone uh in the league, because you
know what if the Inkies finally get you know, healthy.
Jian Carlos Stand, they they certainly just don't seem like that.
(28:54):
They can never to have him healthy. Uh, same thing
with Judge last year he got hurt. Um, They're they're
gonna need He's got to be healthy in order to
make a you know, a legitimate postseason run. Yeah, I
I certainly think that's true. So we should take a
look at their lineup. Well, I guess first off, this
is a great way to start, because if there is
a weakness for the Yankees, it would be you don't
(29:15):
believe in DJ lem Mayhew. You think that his season
in twenty nineteen where he absolutely tore the cover off
the ball was you know, maybe a little bit of
an aberration. Uh three seventy five weighted on bays average.
It was only the second time in his career he
was above league average in waited runs created plus are
you are you a believer in DJ lem Mayhew or not?
(29:39):
So I am. I am a believer in some of
what d J le Mayhew did last year. But what
I can guarantee you Davis pretty much willing to bet
on it is that his home run profile I ball
rate is unlikely to be at like percent, which is
where it was last year. Last year it was a
nineteen point three percent, which is clearly his highest UH
(30:03):
in all the years that he's played baseball, and he
has I believe, seven seasons under his belt. I realized
how he's you know, in in Yankee Stadium, but before
he was with the Rockies. UH in Colorado is like
the best hitting environment and all baseball by far. So UM,
I think what let may You did from a power perspective,
UH is unsustainable. And that's a big reason why you
(30:25):
see most projection systems over a hundred and sixty two
game sample projecting him to hit under twenty home runs.
I believe that's the correct thing to do with let Mayhew.
Even then, I still think he's a quality hitter. UH.
And even then, Davis, if you don't believe what let
Mahu did is sustainable at all, the Yankees offense is
just too deep for this to matter too much. So
(30:48):
I think let maheu Is is likely going to have
a fine season. I don't expect it to be anywhere
near where it was in Yeah, you know, I think
that is. I think that is probably fair. Another advantage here, though,
I think for the Yankees is Aaron Judge and gian
Carlos stand have had time to just sit back and
get healthy. Both of them were kind of minor le
(31:09):
dinged up when we thought spring training was gonna start.
But as of right now, Aaron Judge and gian Carlos Stanton,
both who are projected to hit fourteen or more home
runs into this shortened season. Both of these guys seem
like they are just good to go. Both of them
seem good to go. And um, uh, you know, I
think we'll see what what stand can do. Um. Obviously
(31:32):
they traded for him, give him that massive contract. Uh,
he really has underperformed relative to expectations in New York. Uh,
and and so they they're certainly needing him to to
pick it up. Um, we'll see how much he can do.
But even then, Davis, that's the thing with the Yankees lineup.
Even when you start thinking, okay, well, maybe this guy
(31:52):
doesn't uh doesn't replicate what he did last year. Maybe
this guy just doesn't live up to what who he
once was. Do you know about this guy Labor Torres,
who's three years old. That guy pretty good. But that
guy is pretty good. He was twenty two when he
hit almost forty home runs at the major league level,
(32:12):
and you know, he was like hitting like eight when
all these guys were healthy doubt that's gonna happen anymore. Uh,
this guy looks like a perennial superstar. He's entering his
his you know, year twenty three season. Um, I don't
know what. I don't know what to say about him.
He just looks phenomenal last year. And I think when
(32:33):
you have a guy hitting almost forty home runs when
he's twenty two, like, what's the what's the upside? I
think it's unlimited. Yeah, I think Glabor Tourists has pretty
much unlimited upside. And you know, how about that Gary
Sanchez fella. He he's not a very good defensive catcher,
but last season thirty four home runs eighteen home runs
(32:54):
in eighty nine games. The year before thirty three home
runs in has had had a waited on bass average
for his career of three fifty four waited runs creative
plus of one. And you know that's coming from their
picture spot or coming from their catcher spot. And many
teams just don't have that luxury for catchers. No, typically
(33:16):
you don't have a catcher that has thirty home run upside.
That seems impossible. And yet you know, here we are
sitting talking about the Yankees and they have, uh, they
have a catcher that has you know, thirty home run
upside over over a full course of a season. Um.
And that's why I think it's scary to think about
what if stand can return to who he once was.
(33:40):
This lineup didn't even need him last year, Davis. And
so that that's where I think the Yankees have all
the upside in the world because they don't really need
like huge seasons out of these superstars. And if they
get it, um, they're they're probably just gonna run run shot,
like rough shot out of the the American not just
the a L East, but the American League in general. Yeah,
(34:02):
and I totally think I think running rough shot is
definitely possible because you know, look at the look at
the bottom half of their lineup. You know, we have
Luke Void, very good platoon first baseman, Aaron Hicks, you know,
likely is going to take over for Brett Gardner. We
would imagine it sometimes. And then I mean Clint Frasier
and Mike Talkman are starting outfielders on pretty much every
(34:23):
other team in this division. Maybe maybe not the Rays,
but Mike Ford, you know, good first baseman. Miguel and
you are is a very good replacement level in fielder.
I mean, this team has an embarrassment of riches for
hitting Miguel and hard before he got hurt. Last year, Um,
he hit twenty seven home runs and almost drove in
(34:43):
a hundred runs, uh in over six hundred plate appearances.
It's two thousand and eighteen. And then you're telling me
this is a guy that's gonna come off the bench
for them. I mean, it's just it's kind it's just
kind of absurd because when we're talking about bench players
for other teams, you know, we're simply talking about mostly um,
you know, fringe potentially fringe major leaguers, you know, guys
that can they can get called down, you know, option
(35:05):
down to the miners, um, whereas the Yankees have like
starters in their bench. It's just and so that's why
last year, when some of these guys got hurt, all
of a sudden, they just kept plugging in guys and
plugging in guys, and they kept getting, you know, good
performances out of them, because these guys are legitimate Major leaguers.
And so no matter how you talk about the Yankees lineup,
(35:28):
whether it's you know, stand judge Void Sanchez it's always
gonna be some sort of powerful you know, above leak
average it or that we're talking about. And that's why
they projected the whole well for sure. Yeah. And you know,
unlike the Blue Jays and some of and the Twins,
you know, these teams with a lot of power bats,
things don't fall apart when you get to the starting
(35:49):
rotation for them. Garrett Cole pretty much the best pitcher
in baseball. And then you'd be like, okay, well maybe
it gets weaker after their Tanaka Mega Ceiling, James Pacton,
James Paxson. I guess heiling Jay hap you know, turned
himself into a really good picture when he got to
the Yankees. Now you know, there are a lot of
theories on how he did that, but you know it
is definitely true. And then look at the bullpen, Adam
(36:12):
Modovino or Aldis Chapman, Tommy Kinley, Chad Green, like these
are these are all super elite. I mean they have
project they have five guys in their bullpen projected for
better than lee average e rs. Like it's just it
seems almost not even fair how good this Yankees team is. No,
and that's why, you know, that's why you heard so
(36:33):
much chatter about them just getting a like a legitimate
number one, uh type of picture to to kind of
just bolster their rotation, because if they did that, then
they would become unstoppable. And so then this offseason they
went out there and got Garrett Cole. You know, it's
just they it's it's really not fair because they I
(36:53):
don't even think they necessarily needed him because their offense
could carry them if they're healthy. Now they got Garrett Cole,
they still have Tanaka, who I don't think he has
a massive ceiling, but I think, you know, he's he's
a fine like number three. I think Paxson is the
one because he strikes out so many batters that if
he can stay healthy, that's a guy that has, you know,
(37:14):
a monster ceiling. I think Jay have as a serviceable
picture doesn't have monster upside, but they don't need him
to have monster outside. Uh. Luis Sevrino is not going
to pitch this season. The big o Verman, who is
another talented pitcher there's I believe he's gonna be serving
in suspension for a long time, so I don't think
we're gonna see him much this season. If at all.
(37:35):
But again, just the new or Yankees don't need these
type of pictures because they're so loaded everywhere. Yeah, and
you know, I guess we should. We should dig a
little bit into Tanaka, who has been a great picture before.
You know, his first couple of years in Major League
Baseball to seventy seventy r A three one three oh seven,
uh four seventy four in seventeen, then another you know,
(37:57):
a pretty good year in two out to not a
great season for him. Last year his k rate fell
down to you know, about seven per nine innings and
and you know, granted his walks weren't as bad. Are
you are you a Tanaka guy? Are you out on him?
Depends on what we're talking about. If we're talking about
(38:18):
Tanaka an ace, I'm probably out on that conversation because
I don't think that he is an ace. I don't
I don't think he has a repertoire. I don't think
he has a velocity uh to really be an ACE
eight type of picture. If we're talking Tanaka the above
league average picture, I'm a dent uh in on that conversation.
Even last year where he had you know, more of
(38:41):
a down season, I thought that was that was mostly fine.
You know, a k rate around Uh the r A
was above um like it was starting to get close
to four and a half. That's where you start to
run into issues. He will need to tone that down
a little bit. Um. But you know more than not, Davis,
I think to Naca, uh is a good picture. I
(39:03):
think the conversation, uh, you start to have a conversation
about whether he's a great picture because I don't think
you know, he's like k rate guy moving forward. Yeah,
um so everyone, we're gonna go ahead and head into
our final break here on the Daily Road to hour
on sports Gride TV. When we come back, we're gonna
talk raise and well we'll talk about the Orioles for
(39:24):
just a little bit, even if they don't deserve that
much airtime. So see you guys with some final alias
chat on the other side of our break in a
few moments. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips seven as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
(39:46):
the grid. Sports grid dot com Hello everyone, and welcome
back from break Here on the Daily Road to Hour
on Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Maddick joined by Christopher
for check out. We're doing our team by team, division
by division breakdown of Major League Baseball because baseball is
back in our lives. Uh. In our final segment here
(40:09):
of the a l East, We're gonna run through the
Orioles real quick, then head over to the Tampa Bay Rays.
I think a team that pocheck when I both see
some upside with you know, I mean, I guess the
nicest thing I can say about the Orioles is, you know,
Renato noon Yez seems like a good player. Seems like
he will He'll hit some home runs. Austin Hayes, young guy.
(40:33):
He will probably have a little bit of power. Speed.
Upside is not played very much in Major League Baseball.
Seventy five plate appearances last year, four home runs, two
stolen bases zips has him projected for home runs and
nine stolen bases over a full season in a hundred
and twenty games. Um, yeah, the Orioles. The Orioles are
(40:53):
worse than the Royals. They're worse than the Tigers. They
are straight up not a good team. They're not a
good team. And it's you know, Davis, it's just really
hard to to do a full rebuild in baseball and
like just go from one of the worst teams in
baseball one year to you know, a contender the next year.
It's really difficult. And h the Orioles are just not
(41:16):
in that position. Uh this year, this year there once
again going to be one of the worst teams in
all baseball. Uh. My guest for them is they continue
to take continue to to get good, good prospects, um
and and that way maybe they can turn it around.
But you know, typically they don't spend a lot of
money on free agents, so, uh, they're gonna have to
(41:38):
They're gonna have to get some of these guys, uh,
you know, in the draft and hopefully it pans out
for them. But you know what, one of their guys
used to be Chris Davis, But now he's not one
of the guys anymore. He's still with the team, but
now we're talking about Chris Davis, the thirty four year old. Uh,
and so it's just it's just not the same, right
this This once used to be a guy that had
(41:59):
forty five home run upside, you'll be lucky if you
get twenty home runs out of him at this point
against career. So the Orioles they're still in full reable mold.
Yeah they are. Uh. It doesn't get any better with
the pitching staff, by the way, John means Alex Cobb,
Asher Ascher, Wogianowski, Wade LeBlanc, Cole Stewart. Uh, these are
(42:20):
definitely gonna be guys. But Jecko that we are targeting,
you know we're gonna get We're gonna the Yankees stacks
against Orioles pitchers. Just pretty much write that down as
one of the Uh, Like those guys are gonna be
super chalk and they're gonna get so many home runs
against the Orioles this year, just so many home runs. Yeah.
So John means, who's like, they're they're young, I guess younger.
(42:43):
He maybe All Star team for them because every team
has to have an All Star representative, right, So he's
he's actually twenty seven, so he's not actually that young. Uh.
And he's a lefty pitching in the American League East.
And it's also a lefty uh that in his first
season posted as per nine of seven, So you know,
(43:04):
it's even their best guys Davis are just are just
not great. Um and and that includes John Means he
you know, he he completely overperformed last year. Uh, the
expectations this year for him to to regress heavily to
the mean you know, stinks for the Orioles. But they
just they really don't have much in the way of pitching,
(43:24):
and they really don't have many talented offensive players either.
So that's all you're getting. If you're an Orioles fan
and you're watching this, We're sorry, but you know, spending
another five minutes talking about Anthony Santander, who is the
number three hitter for the Orioles, it's not it's not
something we are particularly interested in doing. So heading to
the Tampa Bay Rays an actual interesting team. The team
(43:46):
that uses openers, you know, that's a big part of
their strategy. But you know, just so many talented guys
they're they're one through nine, Brandon Low, Awesome, Meadows, Yandy Diaz,
a platoon of g man Joy and Nate Low Hunter
Renfro brought in this off season. Uh. You know, sheets
Moo Sugo is uh over from the Nippon League, which
(44:09):
is the highest professional league in Japan is beloved by
projection systems. Here in Major League Baseball, Willie Adamas will
be keeping the shortstop seat warm for Wander Franco. Wouldn't
actually surprise me, given the rules for Major League Baseball
this year with expanded rosters, if Wonder Franco is just
the day one starting shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays,
(44:32):
Kevin ker Meyer going to be in a rotation in
center field with Manuel Margot. I actually think Marco is
the way better players, certainly the higher upside player at
this point. And then my boy, Mike's Anino all power,
nothing else. Home runs and strikeouts is all that guy
is gonna give you. I mean, this is an attractive
starting lineup. It is an attractive starting lineup. It's also
(44:56):
sorry lineup that that gets. You know, outside of their
home games, pretty much every other ballpark in the American
League East uh is a good one for hitting, except
of course, their their home ballpark because it's a dome
and and it's just it's it's very difficult for them
to generate power in that ballpark. But you know, the
race sneakily. David has had a pretty good off season.
(45:19):
I think a name that a lot of people aren't
talking about. Uh. Of course of the races is Hunter
renfro Um. This is a guy that's entering his his
uh year eight uh season. So he's twenty eight right now. Um,
coming off a season in which he hit thirty three
home runs. Uh and at the MLB level outside of
(45:41):
his first year, in which he he only have thirty
six plate appearances, uh, he hasn't hit fewer than six
home runs in all in all these seasons. So UM,
I think this is a guy that, over the course
of a full season, has the upside of of tapping
into the forties. Um. But will it happen this year?
Of course, not because it's it's a condemned season. But
(46:02):
I think he has that upside uh. And them when
you're talking like nine percent upside, percentile upside. Uh. So
I I really like Hunter run for like Mikes Andino
low right, this is a guy that's that's not gonna
do much of of anything else other than hit for
for a lot of power. But now that he's in
the Al East, I think he's going to be a
big threat. Yeah. And uh, you know, Susugo a sort
(46:26):
of interesting player. I I kind of I always love
when I just always find it fascinating when guys come
over from other leagues into professional baseball. Guy was just
absolutely crushing it in then pon league, made All Star
there five times, lead his league in home runs, led
his league in r B. I's has won the you know,
(46:50):
basically made the the UH Japan League's version of you know,
the gold Glove over the silver Slugger for his position
on multiple occasions. Kind of kind been interesting ad for
the Raids because generally you'd think in terms of spending
on free agents, you really would not think of the
Raise as a team interested in doing that. And you know,
they spent a good amount They spent a good amount
(47:12):
of money signing him onto the rossro but only you know,
only a two year, twelve million dollar contract. But they
you know, they had to sign the posting fee. Do
you know anything about suits? You go so um. I
hadn't watched him play um overseas. That's really the only
sample that that we have from him, and and it
(47:33):
was a good sample. I think the interesting part, Davis
is right off the get go, all of these projection
systems are are thinking that this hitter is going to
be at least league average and have upside beyond that. Uh.
And so most of these projection systems are projecting and
I so above two hundred uh in a way to
Dombas average right around three thirty or three forty. Uh.
(47:57):
And this is just for for his first year at
the major leagu level. He is twenty eight, so he's
he's not exactly you know, young, um, but I think
this is it looks like he's going to be a
quality hitter. Uh. So they add another quality hitter to
an already quality quality lineup. UM. I think things are
certainly looking up for the raise offensively, but I think
(48:19):
when you start to to to really see the upside
for the raise, Davis is on the pitching. And I
realized what you said earlier. You know, maybe this is
a year that, because it's only sixty games for the
regular season, maybe we should be talking more about offense
as well. I think teams that have this caliber of
pitching are gonna have a leg up on the competition.
(48:40):
And what I mean by that is they have you know,
one through three of Blake Snell, Charlie Mooren, entirely Glass. Now,
so I mean all these guys one through three project
to be well above league average pitchers. And I think
Glass now Davis, if we continue to see him, uh
impro of, he could easily be one of the best
(49:02):
pictures in all baseball. And I can't believe I'm saying that,
but that is enough time. Yeah, I mean, and I think, uh,
if the Rays get there, it's definitely gonna be as
a result of upside hitting. So you know, that means
that Blake Snell has a great year. It means that
Glass now, you know, really approaches the next level. And
(49:24):
you know, I think something people are forgetting is the
Rays have a combo hitting and pitching prospect, which is
I mean, this is literally my favorite thing in baseball.
You know, show he a TONI and low for low
for the raise. I mean, I I just I love
dudes who can hit and pitch. And uh now, granted
(49:46):
it's not gonna it's not gonna matter this year at all,
but well, I guess it matters a little bit because
you can carry less dudes, but that doesn't matter this year.
I just I just find it interesting. Yeah, And I think, uh,
as you can see what with these guys starting to
emerge a little bit more in baseball. I don't know who.
Who knows. Maybe ten years down the line, this becomes
(50:09):
uh more of a norm. Now we have a couple,
but who's to say, you know, down the line, uh,
we can't have more in the league. I think that.
I think teams are are interested more in that type
of player because they can kind of do it all. Right, Well,
we'll see what type of impact that has this year.
But obviously was someone of the calvar of Shoheo tying.
(50:30):
Uh that could change your franchise. Yeah, yeah, no, it
really can. It can totally change the way things go.
I think if we were going to point out some
of the by the way, I meant Brandon McKay, not
not Nate Low that's uh. I I mix that up
so just so no one gets mad at me. Um.
I think the weaknesses you could point out for them
would be Yanni Tornos and Ryan Yarborough are pretty middle
(50:54):
of the pack, fourth and fifth starters. You know, Glass
now has had injury issues. UM. I never like really
good pictures being left handed, just because it's so easy
for them to get tagged up. In the case of Snell.
Charlie Morton, thirty six years old, you know, just they're
they're all again. You know, as guys get older, there
is some more risk there. But I I I'm really
(51:15):
talking myself into this team just as a whole. I mean,
Manuel Margot, Josie Martinez, Nate Lowe sitting here on the
bench for the Raids. I mean that, Like again, I
think I think this division is way more up in
the air than the odds suggests. I know that we
just talked about how amazing the Yankees are, but there
are other amazing teams in this division, no doubt about it.
(51:37):
And and to your point for with Charlie morn that
he's you know, he's he's thirty six years old, which
is a really good point. Thing with Moreen is he
was a real lay bloomer at the MLB level, which
is you know, it's it's not that you don't always
hear about these typic guys kind of coming up and
doing this. But he's still like last year he had
(51:58):
a case per nine above eleven. Davis like this guy.
Uh is a very good picture. And I think for
the Raise, the biggest thing is can there one through
three stay healthy in the rotation? Because yeah, I agree
with you, four and five is an issue, but they
can easily piece that together with a bullpen game, and
they have the depth to do that. So that's gonna
(52:20):
be the main question for them. Can the pitching stay healthy,
because if it does, then they're gonna have a really
good season. Yeah. I think that's true. So everyone, thank
you very much for listening and watching to the daily
Road to Hour here on sports grade TV. Today, you
just watched a division preview for the A L East
team by team. Sorry, if you are an Oils fan,
(52:40):
you didn't get very much chattered. But the next time
you see us, we will continue this discussion with yet
another Major League Baseball division. Sports grid dot Com Betting
Insights and Entertainment at your fingertips seven as our team
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, sport picks, and more. Want the edge
(53:01):
than get on the grid. Sports grid dot Com m
Hey, thanks for downloading the podcast. If you want to
listen live, all you have to do is download the
I Heart Radio app and search for Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Also,
if you want to catch this show on video, for
sure to check out Zoo TV channel seven nineteen and
that's where you can find sports Grids Fantasy Sports Network.
Enjoy the show and thanks so much for listening. Hello everyone,
(00:21):
and welcome to the Daily Road to Our here on
Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Maddock, joint today by Christopher Pacheco.
Now that baseball is back in our lives officially, the MLB,
the MLB Players Association, they have all agreed to terms.
Everyone's heading to uh, I guess summer training. Now it's
no longer it's no longer spring training. We are marching
(00:41):
towards a baseball season. The season is going to be
sixty games long. All of these rosters are going to
be expanded, So teams that have a lot of depth,
teams that have, you know, some interesting young players, those
guys are going to get more playing time. Pacheco, are
we are we excited? Are we feeling great about the
return of baseball? We're definitely excited about the return of baseball.
(01:05):
I just hope it actually happens, uh Davis this time around. UH.
I'm just grateful that both the MLB and the mlbp
A finally reached an agreement on this stuff. UH. And
they have every intent to play baseball. Of course. You know,
the one looming question is will will COVID nineteen allow them,
(01:26):
because it seems like this stuff is just getting out
of control every day. But if everything holds, uh and
we get baseball back in our lives, of course it's
going to be great. So what we are doing on
the show this week is we are doing team by team,
division by division previews, the same way that we were
doing our NFL shows. We got some good news, so
(01:46):
we switched it up midstream heading back to baseball. Yesterday
we did the Al Central on the show ran running
through my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, the Indians,
the Twins, the White Sox, and the Tigers. Pacheco is
a Boston Red Sox fan, so we're just gonna switch
it over nice and easy to the a L East,
(02:07):
featuring some of the best teams in baseball. Patchecko, UM,
I actually think the shortened season is gonna be a
big boon to the Red Sox in this division. I
think the Rays were a much deeper team. I think
Yankees are a more talented team. But you know, I
think the fact that they're able to shorten down their
(02:27):
pitching rotation a little bit. You know, I think one
of the things we could see as a result of
these shortened seasons is more bullpen games. And you know,
I think that would probably be a plus for the
Boston Red Sox. They have a pretty strong bullpen. They
don't have a ton of high end starters, so that
is definitely gonna be a problem. Are you feeling optimistic
(02:49):
or pessimistic about your Boston Red Sox right now? So
I'm gonna agree with with you that in a sixty
game season, I think the offense could really carry them. UH.
The big stuff that happened over the off season for
the Red Sox UH two very meaningful things. One, Mookie
Bets got traded and they got Alex Rodougo in a
(03:12):
few prospects UH in return. Alex Verduga was not going
to be ready for opening day, but now because of
of the COVID nineteen situation, which gave them months to
prepare in advance. Uh, he's going to be ready for
opening Day two point on. So that's really big news
for the Red Sox. The other thing that happened over
the off season is Chris Sale is not going to
(03:33):
pitch this season at all. So he had Tommy John
surgery and he's going to be in rehabbing mode throughout
the entire season as the Red Sox play their games.
That is a very, very meaningful thing for the Red
Sox because behind Sale, there's no longer David Price. He's
a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. So really the
(03:53):
only you know, ace that the Red Sox have is
Inwada Rodriguez, and then behind Rodriguez, it's just a bunch
of no names. Uh. They did sign Colin McHugh to
a minor league contract. I think he's going to make
the team because they just they really don't have much
of of starting pitching quality starting pitchers. You know, maybe
(04:13):
mckeugh could get back to to the who he wants was,
but I don't really feel great about it given the
fact that he's gonna pitch in Federally Park and against
all these A L e's teams. So you know, to
your point, Davis. I think bullpen games might might be
a thing, uh might be more of a thing for
the Red Sox this year. It's not that they have
a great bullpen, but you know, they have a good
(04:36):
enough bullpen. I mean they have they have some guys,
right Like, they have a bunch of guys who are
projected for low for e r A s pretty good
for guys coming out of the pen. Colin mckeugh probably
starts the season as a long reliever. Brandon Workman pretty
solid closer, Matt Barnes pretty solid set up man's You know,
(04:56):
they have some guys. I think the clear strength of
this team's starts in there. At the top of the
line of though, Andrew Bennontendie um projected Actually wow, even
here on fan Graphs we have updated projections for the
sixty game seasons. Benintendie projected for a three forty nine
on base, six home runs, five stolen bases um. And
(05:17):
you know, benn Intendie kind of gets a bad rap
because he's not a huge power guy, not a huge
steels guy, so fantasy players don't like him that much.
But you know, ben Intendie in terms of a a
leadoff guy, you know, you feel pretty good about him.
As a Red Sox fan, I think you have to.
Oh absolutely, Um. I feel great about Ben and Tendi
at the top of the lineup. And that's the thing.
(05:40):
Even with Mookie Bett's gone, I think this offense still
has plenty of talent uh still remaining. Uh, even Alex Verdouga.
I really don't think it's it's too bad of Again.
I think the problem with that was that he was
hurt and people thought that, you know, it could to
rail his career because it was a back injury. So
we'll see what type of version we get of Alec Verdugo.
(06:01):
But he was once a really highly talented prospect out
of Los Angeles, so I'm excited to see him in
the Red Sox. But we still have Ralphie Oldevers who
broke out in a big way last year. Uh, and
he's really really young still, so I think more of
that is yet to come. Uh. We still have j D. Martinez. Um,
you know, Michael Javis, who had a great season last
(06:23):
years a rookie I think could step up once again. Uh.
Saying that Bogart's is still a part of the team.
So from an Alpha SI standpoint, Davis. I think, uh,
this team is is still gonna pack a punch. I think, uh,
pitching wise, I think it's gonna be a struggle even
though the season got shortened. Yeah. So, Uh they have
Jade Martinez, who is projected to be about the eighteenth
(06:47):
nineteen twenty best uh D H outfielder type in um
in in baseball. His projection right now is for him
to get appearances fourteen, home run batting average three seventy
two o b P is his ZIPS projection right now.
Um I. I again, I think in a way this
(07:09):
season is going to be beneficial too, players like j D. Martinez,
like Mitch Morland, who are over the age of thirty,
because it's just they're just gonna have less opportunities to
get injured. You know. Any Like if if at the
end of the year, in a hundred and sixty two
game season, j D. Martinez played a hundred games, you know,
maybe maybe he didn't get injured until three months into
(07:29):
the season. Well, we're not even gonna have that much baseball,
So it would not surprise me to see some older
players have really strong seasons Pacheco, just because they their
equivalent of a full season wasn't actually a full baseball
season on their body. So I think that J. D. Martinez,
Mitch Moreland four or five spot against um right handed
pitching is gonna be huge for the Red Sox. Yeah,
(07:52):
no doubt about it. Um. JD. Martinez is one of
the best hitters in the entire planet. Very consistent, hitor. Uh.
He's hit over three of your batting average for now
four straight seasons. And if you don't like batting average,
which I actually don't, Uh, he's generated a WHOBA above
three seventy uh in like six consecutive seasons. Now, this
(08:13):
dude is an absolute animal. And the move for him
to the a L East has has really paid off dividends.
But it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter where he hits.
He's just going to be a quality hitter regardless of
of where he's hitting. So I think he's going to
have a great season as well. And I think, you know,
with Raphael Devers really stepping up like he did last year. Um,
(08:35):
given his age, you know, he's he's under twenty four
years old. Uh, it's it's kind of scary because of
the numbers that he put up last year. I think
it's possible that at some point we see you know,
even bigger numbers out of them. Obviously in a condensed season,
that's just not going to happen. But I think with
Devers you could probably expect you know, somewhere around fifteen
(08:56):
home runs, uh as well. So again, Davis, this is
Red Sox lineup. Is is not going to be an
easy one. Uh, especially against right hand to pitching. I
expect them to do really well. Yeah, and uh, I
think the secret weapon to make them, you know, sort
of undefeatable against right handed pitching could very well be
alex urdugo last season three seventy seven plate appearances, twelve
(09:20):
phone runs, four stolen bases, three one weighted on base average.
And you know, obviously Red Sox fans hated to see
Mookie Bets go, you know, one of the best players
they've had of the last twenty years, you know, pretty
much their best hitters since David Ortiz's peak. And you know,
I don't think it's crazy to say that alex urdu Goes,
you know, nine percent outcomes are very similar to what
(09:43):
Bets was able to give the Red Sox. I mean,
this is a guy who had uh, you know, a
fifty five grade raw power forty five grade speed power
basically is a a five tool player about as five
tool as a guy can get. And you know, bats
from the left side of the plate, which is a
huge advantage in uh in the Red Sox Park in
(10:04):
Fenway because of that short wall out there and right.
So you know it's gonna be it's gonna be big.
Like I think, a very good season coming for Alex Verdugo. Yeah. So,
the biggest thing with Verdugo was the back injury. I
think once you heard back injury, people started to get
really freaked out. Um. But given what he has said,
he said that he feels a So I think that
(10:27):
if the back injury is behind them and we really
soon we really see the five tool Atx Verdugo. Um.
I think the Red Sox are going to benefit because
they ultimately, if they weren't gonna pay Bets, they needed
to trade them, so that they ended up trading them
for for what they felt was the best package, which
included Alex Verdugo. I mean, I personally I didn't love
(10:49):
to trade Davis, but with Verdugo now healthy, that certainly
changes the equation. Yeah, I I definitely, I definitely think
that it does. Okay, digging into their pitching rotation a
little bit not pretty. Um Eddie Rodriguez projected for a
four two e r A Nate Vivaldi, a four R
A Martine Perez Guy I I for a long time
(11:12):
have not enjoyed watching play for eighty Ryan Weber for
seventy five non roster invite Brian Johnson with a five
forty seven. This is the weakness of the Red Sox. Now,
maybe you say, okay, maybe we are able to get
something out of Colin mce uh. You know, maybe there
is I And you know, we don't know exactly how
(11:33):
teams are gonna be treating the trade market this year,
but it's possible that a team with a really good
offense might be more aggressive in the trade market for
starting pitching than usual. But you know, it might be
it might be hard for us to trade for starting
pitchers projecco because so many teams are gonna think that
they are drawing live for the playoffs. That's gonna be
(11:53):
you know, that's gonna be just a huge change overall.
So you know, it's it's not great for the pictures.
There no it's it's certainly not. I'm mostly in agreement
with you there, and I think as much as you said,
you know that maybe col mq steps up to the plate. Well,
I'll tell you what, if anything, Neobaldi doesn't do anything
this year for the Red Sox. They are cooked, especially
when you're talking about you know, like like a postseason
(12:16):
run they're getting. You need pitching. Uh. And Neobaldi was
one of the premier pitchers in two thousand and eighteen
where he had, you know, a marvelous season with an
r A under four, a case per nine above eight. Um,
you know, can that be repeated again? We'll see. But
last year was really brutal for rio Baldi. He posted
in the r A uh closer to the sixes, had
(12:37):
a great case per nine. But he's really gonna have
to step up in order for the Red Sox to condemn. Yeah,
maybe they're able to get something out of Dustin Pedroia.
Probably not. Maybe they're able to have some of their
prospects come up. They do have Jonathan Luke Roy and
one sinten you on their minor league rosster. Maybe those
guys are able to give them some at bats this year.
(12:59):
We are going to go ahead and head into break
here in our MLB division by division, team by team preview.
When we get back, we're going to be discussing the
Toronto Blue Jays and their roster for fantasy and gambling purposes.
In see you guys on the other side of break.
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
(13:20):
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
and more want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com. Hello everyone, and welcome back to
the daily Road to Hour here on sports Grede TV.
(13:41):
I'm David Maddock, joint today by Christopher Pacheco as we
continue our team by team, division by division preview of
Major League Baseball. We had just been doing this for football,
but with the news that baseball came back, we thought
it would be, you know, right just about a good
time to remind everyone that, uh, baseball is happening. You know,
we kind of refresh everyone's memory for for the league.
(14:04):
And today we are going through the A L East,
which means that, uh, we've got to talk about Pacheco's boy,
the Boston Red Sox. But now we are heading into
the Toronto Blue Jays sneakily Pacheco. I mean this team.
They I actually think if I had to make like
an underdog bet for who hit the most home runs
of any team over this sixty game season, I might
(14:26):
actually bet on the Blue Jays. I mean, they have
power one through nine. You know, you even go look
at their at their bench bats, Rowdy tell As, Brandon Drury,
Jonathan Davis, these are all dudes who have uh some
home runs in their bat uh that I think. I
think the Blue Jays can can win this division, you know,
I think that they could. Their problem is starting pitching.
Actually much like the Boston Red Sox. But what a
(14:47):
terrible division. I mean for really really good teams, and
then the Baltimore Orioles. It's it's tough for them to compete. Yeah, certainly.
So I think this year more than ever, David is
there's gonna be some chaos, uh in the MLB, right,
which we had spoken about that in the NHL because
(15:07):
of the way that they have set up their Stanley Cup. Uh,
you know, maybe you should start thinking about some some
you know underdogs potentially winning at all. I'm not sure
that the Blue Jays can you know, win it all.
But when you start, when you start to look at
the lineup, um, you start to get really excited about things.
So right now I'm looking at the Fandal Sports book
(15:30):
and I see them as you know, plus ten thousand
uh to win the World Series. I don't think it's
I don't think it's an awful bat. I I really don't.
Um if if you're rooting for chaos, I still think
the most likely scenario is that the New York Yankees
win this division. They have the bats, and they have
(15:51):
the pitching. I think they're gonna win it. But maybe
the Blue Jays can make some noise as a wild
card team, and I think they can. Um. The thing is,
these hitters are really really young, right um, Bobachette, Vladimir
gur Junior, Ludus gariell kebon b Geo. These are all
guys that that project to be you know, strong hitters. Uh.
(16:12):
The question is, you know, can they do it in
their age like three season uh and catapultas line up
over the top. That's a really big question, and and
it's they don't deserve that type of pressure. But you know,
Vladiger Jr. Honestly, last year I thought he underperformed. I
think we could see, you know, home run per flyball
rate out of this guy flirting with like fifteen to
(16:35):
twenty percent. Last year we saw twelve percent. So he
only hit fifteen home runs in over five plate appearances.
I think he has the potential to be one of,
you know, one of the better hitters, uh in the game.
So the blue Jays last year, Davis, We're already exciting.
Uh you know, who's to say they're not going to
be more exciting and year two out of a lot
(16:57):
of these prospects, I certainly am and very excited to
watch this line up day and day out. Yeah, I
I am too, And I think that, um, in terms
of long shot bets, I'm more gonna be using my
long shot bets on teams that have really strong upside
on the hitting side as opposed to pitching, because I
think pitching over sixty games it's just very hard, Like
(17:20):
it's just gonna be extremely hard to predict, like who's
going to have these upside pitching seasons? But for the
for the Blue Jay specifically, there's going to be correlated
upside and they're hitting because like it's it's almost sort
of like a parlay that Bobichette, Cavan, Biggio, Vlad Jr.
Toscar hand To, Oscar Hernandez, and Derek Fisher like kind
(17:42):
of all are simultaneously having great seasons because these are
the ages of their starting line up, their projected lineup
against right handed pitching. They have one guy over the
age of thirty, that's Travis Shaw, who probably is not
even gonna be an everyday player. I would imagine that
Brandon Drury is gonna platoon with him a good bit
and uh, you know, maybe we even see Rowdy Teller
(18:03):
is playing first base instead of just backing up catcher,
which I think is probably a positive expectation decision for them. Um,
you know, so between Bashette, Visio and Vlad, which one
do you like the most for for like fantasy and
and and uh betting purposes, Like do you have do
you have a favorite of those three guys? Oh man,
(18:24):
that's tough, I think. Um, ultimately, the guy with both
double digit home run and double digit stolen base outside consistently,
it's gonna be Boba Schett. So if you're into and
if you're in two events, he's the one that brings
out to the table in a consistent way. I think
vladgirero Or Jr. Has the potential to hit a lot
(18:45):
of home runs at some point in his career. He's
he's really going to be a very talented power hitter.
Perhaps it doesn't happen right away, as we saw last
year that wasn't the case. But I think Baschette, uh,
you know, over a hundred and sixty two games, has potential,
no doubt about it. So I think he's He's easily
(19:06):
one of the more exciting, uh pieces of this offense.
But you know, David's Ludusgiel Jr. Is often not talked
about with with a lot of these young guys because
he's not twenty three, he's about to enter his twenty seven,
and he's not the son of a former major leaguer.
Like That's another that's such a that's such a true
thing about Bushett, Visio and Guerrero is people all remember
(19:30):
their dads, you know, people remember Craig Visio, Dante Bishet, obviously,
people remember Vlad and Ludasgriel Jr. Is you know, he's
just a year older than Cabon Bugio and last season
he had a three fifty eight waited on base average,
hundred and twenty four waited runs created, plus twenty home
runs in six deals, and three hundred and forty three
(19:50):
played appearances. Like he was. You know, he was a
very solid player for them last year, in fact, one
of their more consistent players. And uh yeah, I mean
ludscre Dale Jr. Should get more hype for sure. So
he hit twenty home runs in eighty four games last
year because he got hurt. Uh, this guy, I think
(20:10):
projection systems are kind of having a hard time with him,
and it's because they're expecting regression because that season that
he had last year. It's just tough for it to
happen again. You know. Well, he's entering which means he
should be entering his prime year. Uh. And if we
were talking, you know, over a hundred and sixty games sample, Um,
(20:32):
this is a guy that could flirt potentially with thirty
home runs and I think projection systems would not project that,
but I think the upside for him would start to
enter that equation because he's entering his prime year. Uh,
he's arguably because all these hitters are getting all this
this hype. I think he's arguably the best hitter out
of all these young guys, and he doesn't get talked
(20:54):
about enough. Yeah, and you know, I, I mean, I
do think depth is going to come in play because
I I haven't seen a schedule come out for this yet.
I don't think we have one, but you know, really
would not surprise me if there are a lot of
double headers and stuff. And you know, the bench for
this Blue Jay's team really is pretty solid. You know,
a bunch of good Major leaguers here, Rowdy Tallis, Joe Panic,
(21:16):
Brandon Jury, Jonathan Davis. You know, these guys are are
all roughly league average players. Um where where they run
into problems is they don't really have an ace. So
I think the one thing you could argue is uh
hunjun Ryu has been an ace before, Like he has
given ace level stats. It's just that he has not
(21:36):
been allowed to pitch enough innings. He's never gotten to
two hundred innings. Actually, the last time he threw two
hundred innings Pacheco. Do you know, do you know when
it was? I know what it was. It was with
the Eagles, it wasn't fact that the han Wa Eagles
and the KBO in two thousand and seven he threw
four two hundred eleven innings, had a two nine f
(21:57):
e r a uh. And basically what have been with
the Dodgers is they kind of just always treated him
with kid gloves. In fact, he's only last season was
only the second time he got over a hundred and
fifty two innings pitched as a member of the Dodgers. Uh.
He is like a super elite control guy. He never
walks anyone, you know, doesn't have a crazy k rate
(22:19):
or anything like that. So one, you know, I think
that pitching in the American League is a little bit harder.
But that's also true for everyone this year because the
NL is gonna We're gonna have a UNIFI designated hitter
this year. So even if he was still pitching for
the Dodgers, this would have been something that projection systems
would have had to account for in projecting him. So
(22:39):
if he wanted to be a backer for the Toronto
Blue Jays, I think one of the things you would
for sure think is well, Ryu has to have a
great season. He's got to be one of the ten
best pitchers in baseball, probably because after him in the
pitching rotation for the Blue Jays, Uh, things get rough,
you know. Chase Anderson, Tanner Rourke, Matt Shoemaker, Trent Thornton
(23:00):
are they're they're they're two through five, And I gotta
be honest, I don't think highly of any of those guys.
I think they are all pretty much below average major
league baseball pitchers. Well so I'm I'm mostly agreeing with
you there, but I think they're like three to five
honestly might be better than the Red Sox two through five,
(23:22):
which which is uh not great news if you're a
Red Sox fan. But uh so with hundred RIEU Davis,
you kind of hit it pretty perfectly there. Uh. The
one thing that you left off two is that he's
a lefty pitching in the A at least, which is
just brutal. I mean, imagine having to phasey Yankees as
(23:43):
a lefty, uh, and as a lefty that just doesn't
miss bats, which is the biggest reason why. Uh if
you if you're looking at a hundred US E R
A and then his projected he are A for this year, uh,
it doesn't really make any sense over the last couple
of seasons. Actually, you can expand it. Over the last
three seasons, he's had the r as A three point
(24:03):
seven seven, one nine seven and two point three two.
This year has projected d r A. Most projection systems
are calling for an r A closer to the fours. Uh.
And that's because he's having to pitch, you know, likely
the most difficult division uh in all baseball when it
comes to facing all these elite offenses. And it's because
he doesn't miss bat so he's he's a quality pitcher.
(24:25):
But you're right, if they're gonna make a lot of noise,
they're gonna need a bunch of really great starts out
of free you. Um, it's we'll see. Um. You know,
maybe this year the offense is the biggest thing. Uh.
And I think their offense can certainly care them, just
like the Red Sox. Yeah, I I definitely think Um,
I definitely think that's true. Now, they do have some
(24:47):
good arms in their bullpen. They have Ken Giles, who
is you know, one of the best closers in baseball
for sure. Um. Sami Biglio was not a good starter,
but is away a pretty good bullpen arm. Thomas Pinone,
same thing, Jacob wogs Back, same thing. You know. I
think that's kind of the that's kind of how we
(25:08):
are thinking about things is just you know, some of
these guys are good at the bullpen, not going to
be great, you know, actual starting pitchers. But Nate Pearson,
the number eighth overall prospect in baseball. I mean, Nate
Pearson could really change things for this organization if he
comes up right away to checko. Yeah, certainly, Um, he
(25:32):
could change things in in in a really big way. Um.
The thing is, I don't know what to think about
these guys, uh this year, Davis, because of the fact that, um,
the season is going to be you know, significantly condensed.
I don't know how big of an impact. Uh, these
you know, highly powered prospects are going to have off
(25:52):
the get go. I'm not sure how many people, like
I don't know if how many games are they gonna
be playing before they even get called up, Like Reathing.
It's just kind of under turmoil this season because of
COVID nine teams, So we will see. But Pearson could
certainly change an equation for them because he was, you know,
a quality picture at the at the minor league level.
(26:15):
So we'll see if he gets called up and could
make a really big difference for them. Yeah, definitely good.
So everyone, we are going to continue our preview of
the A L East on the other side of the break,
going to go to the division leader, New York Cankies
on the other side of breaks. You guys, in just
a few minutes, sports grid dot Com betting insights and
(26:36):
entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
the grid sports grid dot com, you're watching sports Crade.
(27:07):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Daily Road of Hour.
Here on Sportscrade TV. I'm Davis Mannock joined by Christopher Pacheco.
We are pursuing our team by team, division by division
preview for baseball instead of football. Here on the Daily
Road to Hour and Pacheco. We are now at the
best team in the We're now at the best team
(27:30):
in the division, the New York Yankees. They are they
are very good right there. Just there's no way around
looking around the AL East and being like, well they're
they're week here, they're week there. Because this team just
really they really don't have a weakness anywhere. Uh. No,
they they certainly do not. They are plus four hundred
(27:52):
on fandable Sports book to win the World Series. That's
the second highest favorite. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers are
ahead of the ink as far as uh the odds
to won the World Series. Uh. This season, the weakness
Davis was supposed to be uh their health. Both Aaron
Judge and Jian Carlos Stand were not going to be
(28:13):
ready uh for opening Day. Uh, and neither was James Paxxon.
I mean they had a lot of injuries uh for
opening Day one point Oh, Well, COVID nineteen had its
its its own schedule. Uh. And so now the Yankees
are going to be pretty much fully healthy um on
(28:33):
opening Day two point oh. Both Aaron Judge and Jan
Constan I believe are are going to be in the
lineup uh come day one, um, which is really scary
uh for for everyone uh in the league, because you
know what if the Inkies finally get you know, healthy.
Jian Carlos Stand, they they certainly just don't seem like that.
(28:54):
They can never to have him healthy. Uh, same thing
with Judge last year he got hurt. Um, They're they're
gonna need He's got to be healthy in order to
make a you know, a legitimate postseason run. Yeah, I
I certainly think that's true. So we should take a
look at their lineup. Well, I guess first off, this
is a great way to start, because if there is
a weakness for the Yankees, it would be you don't
(29:15):
believe in DJ lem Mayhew. You think that his season
in twenty nineteen where he absolutely tore the cover off
the ball was you know, maybe a little bit of
an aberration. Uh three seventy five weighted on bays average.
It was only the second time in his career he
was above league average in waited runs created plus are
you are you a believer in DJ lem Mayhew or not?
(29:39):
So I am. I am a believer in some of
what d J le Mayhew did last year. But what
I can guarantee you Davis pretty much willing to bet
on it is that his home run profile I ball
rate is unlikely to be at like percent, which is
where it was last year. Last year it was a
nineteen point three percent, which is clearly his highest UH
(30:03):
in all the years that he's played baseball, and he
has I believe, seven seasons under his belt. I realized
how he's you know, in in Yankee Stadium, but before
he was with the Rockies. UH in Colorado is like
the best hitting environment and all baseball by far. So UM,
I think what let may You did from a power perspective,
UH is unsustainable. And that's a big reason why you
(30:25):
see most projection systems over a hundred and sixty two
game sample projecting him to hit under twenty home runs.
I believe that's the correct thing to do with let Mayhew.
Even then, I still think he's a quality hitter. UH.
And even then, Davis, if you don't believe what let
Mahu did is sustainable at all, the Yankees offense is
just too deep for this to matter too much. So
(30:48):
I think let maheu Is is likely going to have
a fine season. I don't expect it to be anywhere
near where it was in Yeah, you know, I think
that is. I think that is probably fair. Another advantage here, though,
I think for the Yankees is Aaron Judge and gian
Carlos stand have had time to just sit back and
get healthy. Both of them were kind of minor le
(31:09):
dinged up when we thought spring training was gonna start.
But as of right now, Aaron Judge and gian Carlos Stanton,
both who are projected to hit fourteen or more home
runs into this shortened season. Both of these guys seem
like they are just good to go. Both of them
seem good to go. And um, uh, you know, I
think we'll see what what stand can do. Um. Obviously
(31:32):
they traded for him, give him that massive contract. Uh,
he really has underperformed relative to expectations in New York. Uh,
and and so they they're certainly needing him to to
pick it up. Um, we'll see how much he can do.
But even then, Davis, that's the thing with the Yankees lineup.
Even when you start thinking, okay, well, maybe this guy
(31:52):
doesn't uh doesn't replicate what he did last year. Maybe
this guy just doesn't live up to what who he
once was. Do you know about this guy Labor Torres,
who's three years old. That guy pretty good. But that
guy is pretty good. He was twenty two when he
hit almost forty home runs at the major league level,
(32:12):
and you know, he was like hitting like eight when
all these guys were healthy doubt that's gonna happen anymore. Uh,
this guy looks like a perennial superstar. He's entering his
his you know, year twenty three season. Um, I don't
know what. I don't know what to say about him.
He just looks phenomenal last year. And I think when
(32:33):
you have a guy hitting almost forty home runs when
he's twenty two, like, what's the what's the upside? I
think it's unlimited. Yeah, I think Glabor Tourists has pretty
much unlimited upside. And you know, how about that Gary
Sanchez fella. He he's not a very good defensive catcher,
but last season thirty four home runs eighteen home runs
(32:54):
in eighty nine games. The year before thirty three home
runs in has had had a waited on bass average
for his career of three fifty four waited runs creative
plus of one. And you know that's coming from their
picture spot or coming from their catcher spot. And many
teams just don't have that luxury for catchers. No, typically
(33:16):
you don't have a catcher that has thirty home run upside.
That seems impossible. And yet you know, here we are
sitting talking about the Yankees and they have, uh, they
have a catcher that has you know, thirty home run
upside over over a full course of a season. Um.
And that's why I think it's scary to think about
what if stand can return to who he once was.
(33:40):
This lineup didn't even need him last year, Davis. And
so that that's where I think the Yankees have all
the upside in the world because they don't really need
like huge seasons out of these superstars. And if they
get it, um, they're they're probably just gonna run run shot,
like rough shot out of the the American not just
the a L East, but the American League in general. Yeah,
(34:02):
and I totally think I think running rough shot is
definitely possible because you know, look at the look at
the bottom half of their lineup. You know, we have
Luke Void, very good platoon first baseman, Aaron Hicks, you know,
likely is going to take over for Brett Gardner. We
would imagine it sometimes. And then I mean Clint Frasier
and Mike Talkman are starting outfielders on pretty much every
(34:23):
other team in this division. Maybe maybe not the Rays,
but Mike Ford, you know, good first baseman. Miguel and
you are is a very good replacement level in fielder.
I mean, this team has an embarrassment of riches for
hitting Miguel and hard before he got hurt. Last year, Um,
he hit twenty seven home runs and almost drove in
(34:43):
a hundred runs, uh in over six hundred plate appearances.
It's two thousand and eighteen. And then you're telling me
this is a guy that's gonna come off the bench
for them. I mean, it's just it's kind it's just
kind of absurd because when we're talking about bench players
for other teams, you know, we're simply talking about mostly um,
you know, fringe potentially fringe major leaguers, you know, guys
that can they can get called down, you know, option
(35:05):
down to the miners, um, whereas the Yankees have like
starters in their bench. It's just and so that's why
last year, when some of these guys got hurt, all
of a sudden, they just kept plugging in guys and
plugging in guys, and they kept getting, you know, good
performances out of them, because these guys are legitimate Major leaguers.
And so no matter how you talk about the Yankees lineup,
(35:28):
whether it's you know, stand judge Void Sanchez it's always
gonna be some sort of powerful you know, above leak
average it or that we're talking about. And that's why
they projected the whole well for sure. Yeah. And you know,
unlike the Blue Jays and some of and the Twins,
you know, these teams with a lot of power bats,
things don't fall apart when you get to the starting
(35:49):
rotation for them. Garrett Cole pretty much the best pitcher
in baseball. And then you'd be like, okay, well maybe
it gets weaker after their Tanaka Mega Ceiling, James Pacton,
James Paxson. I guess heiling Jay hap you know, turned
himself into a really good picture when he got to
the Yankees. Now you know, there are a lot of
theories on how he did that, but you know it
is definitely true. And then look at the bullpen, Adam
(36:12):
Modovino or Aldis Chapman, Tommy Kinley, Chad Green, like these
are these are all super elite. I mean they have
project they have five guys in their bullpen projected for
better than lee average e rs. Like it's just it
seems almost not even fair how good this Yankees team is. No,
and that's why, you know, that's why you heard so
(36:33):
much chatter about them just getting a like a legitimate
number one, uh type of picture to to kind of
just bolster their rotation, because if they did that, then
they would become unstoppable. And so then this offseason they
went out there and got Garrett Cole. You know, it's
just they it's it's really not fair because they I
(36:53):
don't even think they necessarily needed him because their offense
could carry them if they're healthy. Now they got Garrett Cole,
they still have Tanaka, who I don't think he has
a massive ceiling, but I think, you know, he's he's
a fine like number three. I think Paxson is the
one because he strikes out so many batters that if
he can stay healthy, that's a guy that has, you know,
(37:14):
a monster ceiling. I think Jay have as a serviceable
picture doesn't have monster upside, but they don't need him
to have monster outside. Uh. Luis Sevrino is not going
to pitch this season. The big o Verman, who is
another talented pitcher there's I believe he's gonna be serving
in suspension for a long time, so I don't think
we're gonna see him much this season. If at all.
(37:35):
But again, just the new or Yankees don't need these
type of pictures because they're so loaded everywhere. Yeah, and
you know, I guess we should. We should dig a
little bit into Tanaka, who has been a great picture before.
You know, his first couple of years in Major League
Baseball to seventy seventy r A three one three oh seven,
uh four seventy four in seventeen, then another you know,
(37:57):
a pretty good year in two out to not a
great season for him. Last year his k rate fell
down to you know, about seven per nine innings and
and you know, granted his walks weren't as bad. Are
you are you a Tanaka guy? Are you out on him?
Depends on what we're talking about. If we're talking about
(38:18):
Tanaka an ace, I'm probably out on that conversation because
I don't think that he is an ace. I don't
I don't think he has a repertoire. I don't think
he has a velocity uh to really be an ACE
eight type of picture. If we're talking Tanaka the above
league average picture, I'm a dent uh in on that conversation.
Even last year where he had you know, more of
(38:41):
a down season, I thought that was that was mostly fine.
You know, a k rate around Uh the r A
was above um like it was starting to get close
to four and a half. That's where you start to
run into issues. He will need to tone that down
a little bit. Um. But you know more than not, Davis,
I think to Naca, uh is a good picture. I
(39:03):
think the conversation, uh, you start to have a conversation
about whether he's a great picture because I don't think
you know, he's like k rate guy moving forward. Yeah,
um so everyone, we're gonna go ahead and head into
our final break here on the Daily Road to hour
on sports Gride TV. When we come back, we're gonna
talk raise and well we'll talk about the Orioles for
(39:24):
just a little bit, even if they don't deserve that
much airtime. So see you guys with some final alias
chat on the other side of our break in a
few moments. Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment
at your fingertips seven as our team covers the most
important topics in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models,
expert picks, and more. Want the edge than get on
(39:46):
the grid. Sports grid dot com Hello everyone, and welcome
back from break Here on the Daily Road to Hour
on Sports Grade TV. I'm Davis Maddick joined by Christopher
for check out. We're doing our team by team, division
by division breakdown of Major League Baseball because baseball is
back in our lives. Uh. In our final segment here
(40:09):
of the a l East, We're gonna run through the
Orioles real quick, then head over to the Tampa Bay Rays.
I think a team that pocheck when I both see
some upside with you know, I mean, I guess the
nicest thing I can say about the Orioles is, you know,
Renato noon Yez seems like a good player. Seems like
he will He'll hit some home runs. Austin Hayes, young guy.
(40:33):
He will probably have a little bit of power. Speed.
Upside is not played very much in Major League Baseball.
Seventy five plate appearances last year, four home runs, two
stolen bases zips has him projected for home runs and
nine stolen bases over a full season in a hundred
and twenty games. Um, yeah, the Orioles. The Orioles are
(40:53):
worse than the Royals. They're worse than the Tigers. They
are straight up not a good team. They're not a
good team. And it's you know, Davis, it's just really
hard to to do a full rebuild in baseball and
like just go from one of the worst teams in
baseball one year to you know, a contender the next year.
It's really difficult. And h the Orioles are just not
(41:16):
in that position. Uh this year, this year there once
again going to be one of the worst teams in
all baseball. Uh. My guest for them is they continue
to take continue to to get good, good prospects, um
and and that way maybe they can turn it around.
But you know, typically they don't spend a lot of
money on free agents, so, uh, they're gonna have to
(41:38):
They're gonna have to get some of these guys, uh,
you know, in the draft and hopefully it pans out
for them. But you know what, one of their guys
used to be Chris Davis, But now he's not one
of the guys anymore. He's still with the team, but
now we're talking about Chris Davis, the thirty four year old. Uh,
and so it's just it's just not the same, right
this This once used to be a guy that had
(41:59):
forty five home run upside, you'll be lucky if you
get twenty home runs out of him at this point
against career. So the Orioles they're still in full reable mold.
Yeah they are. Uh. It doesn't get any better with
the pitching staff, by the way, John means Alex Cobb,
Asher Ascher, Wogianowski, Wade LeBlanc, Cole Stewart. Uh, these are
(42:20):
definitely gonna be guys. But Jecko that we are targeting,
you know we're gonna get We're gonna the Yankees stacks
against Orioles pitchers. Just pretty much write that down as
one of the Uh, Like those guys are gonna be
super chalk and they're gonna get so many home runs
against the Orioles this year, just so many home runs. Yeah.
So John means, who's like, they're they're young, I guess younger.
(42:43):
He maybe All Star team for them because every team
has to have an All Star representative, right, So he's
he's actually twenty seven, so he's not actually that young. Uh.
And he's a lefty pitching in the American League East.
And it's also a lefty uh that in his first
season posted as per nine of seven, So you know,
(43:04):
it's even their best guys Davis are just are just
not great. Um and and that includes John Means he
you know, he he completely overperformed last year. Uh, the
expectations this year for him to to regress heavily to
the mean you know, stinks for the Orioles. But they
just they really don't have much in the way of pitching,
(43:24):
and they really don't have many talented offensive players either.
So that's all you're getting. If you're an Orioles fan
and you're watching this, We're sorry, but you know, spending
another five minutes talking about Anthony Santander, who is the
number three hitter for the Orioles, it's not it's not
something we are particularly interested in doing. So heading to
the Tampa Bay Rays an actual interesting team. The team
(43:46):
that uses openers, you know, that's a big part of
their strategy. But you know, just so many talented guys
they're they're one through nine, Brandon Low, Awesome, Meadows, Yandy Diaz,
a platoon of g man Joy and Nate Low Hunter
Renfro brought in this off season. Uh. You know, sheets
Moo Sugo is uh over from the Nippon League, which
(44:09):
is the highest professional league in Japan is beloved by
projection systems. Here in Major League Baseball, Willie Adamas will
be keeping the shortstop seat warm for Wander Franco. Wouldn't
actually surprise me, given the rules for Major League Baseball
this year with expanded rosters, if Wonder Franco is just
the day one starting shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays,
(44:32):
Kevin ker Meyer going to be in a rotation in
center field with Manuel Margot. I actually think Marco is
the way better players, certainly the higher upside player at
this point. And then my boy, Mike's Anino all power,
nothing else. Home runs and strikeouts is all that guy
is gonna give you. I mean, this is an attractive
starting lineup. It is an attractive starting lineup. It's also
(44:56):
sorry lineup that that gets. You know, outside of their
home games, pretty much every other ballpark in the American
League East uh is a good one for hitting, except
of course, their their home ballpark because it's a dome
and and it's just it's it's very difficult for them
to generate power in that ballpark. But you know, the
race sneakily. David has had a pretty good off season.
(45:19):
I think a name that a lot of people aren't
talking about. Uh. Of course of the races is Hunter
renfro Um. This is a guy that's entering his his
uh year eight uh season. So he's twenty eight right now. Um,
coming off a season in which he hit thirty three
home runs. Uh and at the MLB level outside of
(45:41):
his first year, in which he he only have thirty
six plate appearances, uh, he hasn't hit fewer than six
home runs in all in all these seasons. So UM,
I think this is a guy that, over the course
of a full season, has the upside of of tapping
into the forties. Um. But will it happen this year?
Of course, not because it's it's a condemned season. But
(46:02):
I think he has that upside uh. And them when
you're talking like nine percent upside, percentile upside. Uh. So
I I really like Hunter run for like Mikes Andino
low right, this is a guy that's that's not gonna
do much of of anything else other than hit for
for a lot of power. But now that he's in
the Al East, I think he's going to be a
big threat. Yeah. And uh, you know, Susugo a sort
(46:26):
of interesting player. I I kind of I always love
when I just always find it fascinating when guys come
over from other leagues into professional baseball. Guy was just
absolutely crushing it in then pon league, made All Star
there five times, lead his league in home runs, led
his league in r B. I's has won the you know,
(46:50):
basically made the the UH Japan League's version of you know,
the gold Glove over the silver Slugger for his position
on multiple occasions. Kind of kind been interesting ad for
the Raids because generally you'd think in terms of spending
on free agents, you really would not think of the
Raise as a team interested in doing that. And you know,
they spent a good amount They spent a good amount
(47:12):
of money signing him onto the rossro but only you know,
only a two year, twelve million dollar contract. But they
you know, they had to sign the posting fee. Do
you know anything about suits? You go so um. I
hadn't watched him play um overseas. That's really the only
sample that that we have from him, and and it
(47:33):
was a good sample. I think the interesting part, Davis
is right off the get go, all of these projection
systems are are thinking that this hitter is going to
be at least league average and have upside beyond that. Uh.
And so most of these projection systems are projecting and
I so above two hundred uh in a way to
Dombas average right around three thirty or three forty. Uh.
(47:57):
And this is just for for his first year at
the major leagu level. He is twenty eight, so he's
he's not exactly you know, young, um, but I think
this is it looks like he's going to be a
quality hitter. Uh. So they add another quality hitter to
an already quality quality lineup. UM. I think things are
certainly looking up for the raise offensively, but I think
(48:19):
when you start to to to really see the upside
for the raise, Davis is on the pitching. And I
realized what you said earlier. You know, maybe this is
a year that, because it's only sixty games for the
regular season, maybe we should be talking more about offense
as well. I think teams that have this caliber of
pitching are gonna have a leg up on the competition.
(48:40):
And what I mean by that is they have you know,
one through three of Blake Snell, Charlie Mooren, entirely Glass. Now,
so I mean all these guys one through three project
to be well above league average pitchers. And I think
Glass now Davis, if we continue to see him, uh
impro of, he could easily be one of the best
(49:02):
pictures in all baseball. And I can't believe I'm saying that,
but that is enough time. Yeah, I mean, and I think, uh,
if the Rays get there, it's definitely gonna be as
a result of upside hitting. So you know, that means
that Blake Snell has a great year. It means that
Glass now, you know, really approaches the next level. And
(49:24):
you know, I think something people are forgetting is the
Rays have a combo hitting and pitching prospect, which is
I mean, this is literally my favorite thing in baseball.
You know, show he a TONI and low for low
for the raise. I mean, I I just I love
dudes who can hit and pitch. And uh now, granted
(49:46):
it's not gonna it's not gonna matter this year at all,
but well, I guess it matters a little bit because
you can carry less dudes, but that doesn't matter this year.
I just I just find it interesting. Yeah, And I think, uh,
as you can see what with these guys starting to
emerge a little bit more in baseball. I don't know who.
Who knows. Maybe ten years down the line, this becomes
(50:09):
uh more of a norm. Now we have a couple,
but who's to say, you know, down the line, uh,
we can't have more in the league. I think that.
I think teams are are interested more in that type
of player because they can kind of do it all. Right, Well,
we'll see what type of impact that has this year.
But obviously was someone of the calvar of Shoheo tying.
(50:30):
Uh that could change your franchise. Yeah, yeah, no, it
really can. It can totally change the way things go.
I think if we were going to point out some
of the by the way, I meant Brandon McKay, not
not Nate Low that's uh. I I mix that up
so just so no one gets mad at me. Um.
I think the weaknesses you could point out for them
would be Yanni Tornos and Ryan Yarborough are pretty middle
(50:54):
of the pack, fourth and fifth starters. You know, Glass
now has had injury issues. UM. I never like really
good pictures being left handed, just because it's so easy
for them to get tagged up. In the case of Snell.
Charlie Morton, thirty six years old, you know, just they're
they're all again. You know, as guys get older, there
is some more risk there. But I I I'm really
(51:15):
talking myself into this team just as a whole. I mean,
Manuel Margot, Josie Martinez, Nate Lowe sitting here on the
bench for the Raids. I mean that, Like again, I
think I think this division is way more up in
the air than the odds suggests. I know that we
just talked about how amazing the Yankees are, but there
are other amazing teams in this division, no doubt about it.
(51:37):
And and to your point for with Charlie morn that
he's you know, he's he's thirty six years old, which
is a really good point. Thing with Moreen is he
was a real lay bloomer at the MLB level, which
is you know, it's it's not that you don't always
hear about these typic guys kind of coming up and
doing this. But he's still like last year he had
(51:58):
a case per nine above eleven. Davis like this guy.
Uh is a very good picture. And I think for
the Raise, the biggest thing is can there one through
three stay healthy in the rotation? Because yeah, I agree
with you, four and five is an issue, but they
can easily piece that together with a bullpen game, and
they have the depth to do that. So that's gonna
(52:20):
be the main question for them. Can the pitching stay healthy,
because if it does, then they're gonna have a really
good season. Yeah. I think that's true. So everyone, thank
you very much for listening and watching to the daily
Road to Hour here on sports grade TV. Today, you
just watched a division preview for the A L East
team by team. Sorry, if you are an Oils fan,
(52:40):
you didn't get very much chattered. But the next time
you see us, we will continue this discussion with yet
another Major League Baseball division. Sports grid dot Com Betting
Insights and Entertainment at your fingertips seven as our team
covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real time odds,
predictive betting models, sport picks, and more. Want the edge
(53:01):
than get on the grid. Sports grid dot Com m
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.