Episode 378 - UNTIL MONEY DO US PART

In this episode of Bat Flips and Nerds, host Ben is joined by Rob and Russell to discuss the recent Rafael Devers trade from the Boston Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants, the implications of this trade, and the ongoing performance of various MLB teams. The conversation also covers Rob's recent trip to San Diego, the experience at Steinbrenner Field, and the return of Shohei Ohtani to pitching. The hosts share their thoughts on the unpredictable nature of the AL Central and the quirks of baseball fandom.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Batflips and Nerds, the Baseball podcast
with a British twist. I am your host this evening,
Ben Carter, and I'm joined on a very hot evening
by two other baseball luminaries. First of all, Rob Navera,
how are you good?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm I'm yeah. You may notice, for those of you
who are watching on YouTube, I have a different background today.
It is because I am with cats and new cats
have taken over my normal podcasting zone, so I am
standing in my spare bedroom trying to work all this out.
So but otherwise good. Yeah, it's been a while since
I've been on the pod. It's good to see you both.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
It has been a while going on.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
They give us a cat's names because you were just
telling us that they are baseball ladies, and if Becky disagrees.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, so I mean they're called Chicago and Tampa and
they are ladies. Initially I was going to go for
I wanted Carl Clawford and Tyler Glasmiow, but Becky said
absolutely not, that's ridiculous. So she suggested, what about places
we've been? So I said, Francisco and Diego like really

(01:07):
cool cat names. But i've fortunately it turned out to
be ladies, not offortunately fortunately they're wonderful cats, they turn
out to be ladies. So I went with I said,
what about Hilda and Ethel? Because I quite like old
lady names for cats. And then she went back to, oh,
what about the places we've been? Because she hated Hilda
and Ethyl, So we settled on Tampa and Chicago. What

(01:27):
Becky doesn't know is that Tampa's middle name is long Ago.
But secret Squirrel, I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
I'm sure we're going to come back to a lot
more catch Out in future. It's a good job John's
not here. It would be an entire podcast dedicated to catch.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Out, I fear.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
But joining the two of us is russall Eesam, who
I think is maybe a little bit boozed up after
after the pub from from the math work drinks.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
How you doing, Russ?

Speaker 4 (01:48):
I'm doing good. I'm ready to spit fire. And what
we what we've missed talking on? It's it's been a
it's been been a while, and it's been been a
few beers. So I've got some opinions and he's gone.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Takes were too hot for the in net to handle,
and so am I, well, a great start to the pot.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Can you tell where Russy?

Speaker 1 (02:06):
We lost Russ for a minute there, but we do,
we think have him back now, And yeah, we've got
lots of baseball to chat through. Some pretty exciting news
that dropped. I'm trying to remember when it was now,
was it Sunday night or Monday night? Of course, the
raphaile Devs trade, which I think we're going to get
into first and talk about a little bit, and then
cover off a few topics at the end, including Bob's

(02:26):
trip that we're going to hear about and any other
baseball lated stuff that you guys want to talk through.
But yeah, let's start with the topic du jour, the
rafaile Dev's trade to San Francisco from Boston bombshell. I
think we'd he'd been a topic on almost every podcast
we've done this season for one reason or another.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Through his clear sort of fallout.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
With a Red Sox front office that was manifesting itself
in various ways in public. But I don't think anyone
really saw this coming out of the blue, him being
sent to San Francisco for a small cadra of prospects
for players coming back the other way. Including Kyle Harrison,
left handed pitcher who was at one time at a
top prospect in Jordan Hicks, who people will know as

(03:06):
the guy who throws the ball very very fast but
doesn't really know where it's going. So obviously, I guess,
first question, who won the trade? Do you guys have
a strong view on whether the Giants have fleeced the
Red Sox? The Red Sox have fleeced the Giants? Russall
come to you first? Is there a winner? Or am
I stupid for asking that question? Obviously, yes, I guess

(03:27):
it's been a week since the trade.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
Now there's only one winner. It's a San Francisco Giants. Basically,
the Red Sox have bungled this beyond belief. This sort
of trade never happens like that. There's it's simplistic like
this is as probably one of the single biggest failures
that the front office has done in maybe the last
twenty years of baseball. But the funniest thing is that
the other biggest bungle probably that's happened in Britain in

(03:51):
America baseball was Mookie Bett's being traded to the to
the Dodgers. Like this Red Sox ownership maybe there have
been different people charge, but Sam Kennedy and John Henry
are basically have shown that they are incapable of paying
a franchise player to stay at their team. Maybe Devas
was not the right person that they should have given

(04:12):
that franchise deal too. Maybe it should have been Bogots,
Maybe it should have been Bets. That's some other parts
to do this, but this is a fundamental failure within
the Red Sox system that has allowed a player like
Rafael Devers to become available. Everybody who is a San
Francisco Giants fan is jumping with joy with this. You
do not get players that are going to get four
to five war become available in trades for multiple seasons

(04:35):
like this is. It's not a Luka dontig deal to
compare it with some other sports, but it's like it
is after the unheard of in baseball for this sort
of thing to occur, and there is there is nothing
but failure on the Red Sox side. Yes, there are
potential talking points to whatever should have done or shire
not done, but John and I had conversations with Kyle Body,

(04:58):
We had conversations with like Tyler Gill, and we had
conversations with others around kind of about how the Red
Sox should work, howat how building a culture works, and
that so obviously has failed at the Red Sox, that
they had to do this deal, and then they had
to have that press conference where car Breslo and Simon Kennedy,

(05:21):
wh were trying to make it sound like this was
a good think There's no way that this is a
good thing. So I don't know if either of you
saw that press conference from the two of them, but
it was so bad that I can now understand while
Rafiel Devers has had issues communicating with these individuals up
to this point because seemingly neither of them really know

(05:43):
how to talk to human beings.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, I mean a timing I think was also bizarre
in that the Red Sox had just swept the Yankees.
Devas had just hit a very important home run in
helping him achieve that sweep. Vibes were maybe for the
first time or season high in Boston.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Prospects had just been called up.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Things seemed to be on the up for them, and
then this happens, and we very rarely see superstars get
traded full stop, but very very ready to then get
traded mid season, Rob were you as shocked to everyone
else when this news happened? What was your instant reaction
to it? And now the dust have settled a little bit,
what are your thoughts a shock?

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Absolutely, now, I would say there was always going to
be something that was going to happen here. Clearly people
weren't happy. There had to be a resolution. I think
we all probably thought what would eventually happen is Devers
is gonna gonna begrudgingly play first base for the Red Sox.
I don't think anybody had on their on their bingo
card devas happily playing first base for the Giants instead.

(06:38):
I mean with the Giants says an element of will
take him, We'll take him, you know, like they've been desperate,
desperate for a big, big player for a while. So
you know, if you actually think about it, where else
would he have landed? Know that this is spot on,
This is exactly where he probably should have gone. But yes,
it's a failure. It's a failure in one sense in

(06:59):
that that this team should have Raffi Devers for years
because he's a fantastic hitter. I think the computer has
clearly spit out numbers here, which is saying, we don't
want to pay two hundred and fifty million dollars to
a DH who may not be any good in five
of his nine years remaining. It's a spreadsheet deal, you

(07:21):
can see it. It's it's gone spreadsheet. What they haven't factored,
and of course is is the Raffi Devers of it all.
And the guy is the guy is a special hitter.
You know, he doesn't he doesn't conform to the numbers,
you know, he is, He's a bit better than that.
So yeah, shocking, it is. It is shocking. Absolutely. However,
this car crash of a communications saga with the Boston

(07:45):
Red Sox was always going in tears for either Raffi
Devers or for Craig Breslow or both, you know, And
a little part of me is saying, is this Craig
Breslow balls up? Or is this a Craig Breslow playing
a master plan that he was told to play by
John Henry. Piss him off, make him go. You know,
I don't doubt he had no trade clauses in his

(08:08):
in his deal, so has he been told to piss
him off enough that he needs to go? Was this
Craig Breslow's balls up or was this I'm going full
on conspiracy theorist here, but was this the plan all along?
I don't know. Nobody sorry coming though, but there had
to be an out here, and essentially both of these
guys weren't going to be with the Red Sox for long.

(08:28):
Breslo may still not be with the Red Sox for long,
but it had to finish.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
I think he didn't have a no trade clause, weirdly
because almost all of those contracts do, but I think
Devers didn't for whatever reason, so he could have gone
anywhere in theory. But yeah, the Giants made the most
sense for a lot of reasons. They've been trying to
acquire a superstar hitter for several years of free agency
without really imagine to get there, hadn't they So for them,
obviously a huge move and the knife in the back
for the Red Sox. I guess Russ is that in

(08:53):
his very first press conference, Devers comes out and said
he's happy to play first base starts taking ground as
their pre game before his first game, clearly exactly that.
You know, it was upset with the Red Sox, not
necessarily with the request. But the way they went about it,
and what I find slightly puzzling is like for like
a spreadsheet guy maybe as you called them, Rober, I'd
understand it where someone who wouldn't have that empathy for

(09:15):
being a player. Greig Breslow was a player, Like he
understands what it's like to be in a clubhouse. He
understands what it's like to be a guy who's involved
in these deals and to understand the importance of communication.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
How has this happened with him?

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Like you say, Russ, he just seems robotic in the
way that he communicates, And I can't quite understand how
you would have that view as a former player. But yeah,
it doesn't look great for them right now, especially with
the whole Devils now seemingly open to playing first base.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
I think what you get at is the fact that
players are very different. Like Breslo was a Yale graduate
before kind of coming into baseball. That is a very
different way of operating mentally and as an individual to
get to there before we even kind of by coming
into baseball, he has brought in consultancy firms which have

(10:05):
taken this team from having virtually even number of scouts
and analysts to having four x the amount of analysts
and they have scouts. Now, I'm going to tell you
that analytics is a good way to run baseball, but
you have to have the quality side to what's going on.
There are things that you cannot quantify to work out

(10:26):
how things going on. And for baseball deals, like the
annoying thing that I've seen a lot of people report
is that like, oh, yeah, the back end of this
contract is doesn't look good. The back end of every
major contract doesn't look good because you're paying for this
player to be good now and you deal with the
consequences of them being bad later. Also, there's a certain

(10:47):
thing that you don't understand. A lot of them seem
to understand. That's called inflation and the fact that basically
this contract will not look that bad in five or
ten years time because guess what will be on one
or two further cbas and so see how much you
can pay somebody or the salary cap is going to
be much larger than it is right now. And just
over the last five ten years of baseball, think how

(11:08):
those contracts have gone. But brass Harper was getting like
three hundred million Ghan Sodo got seven hundred million. Like this,
Deva's contract is not going to look bad come the
end of the season. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how
this works that really annoys me with how a lot
of people have like reporting on this. Yes, I think
that Breslo has shown that either him or Sam Kennedy

(11:31):
have just just decided that basically this wasn't the right
way to do this. And after Devas had that first
round of miscommunication about hey, you're not going to play
third base, even though that's basically what hein Bloom and
the other people that made that decision, which like Sam
would have been one of those people, so we can
say that like, oh yeah, like the president of baseball

(11:54):
operations have changed, but the person above him and the
people below him haven't changed, So those promises should have
the same. Like it's just because you have like a
different person in he's making those decisions. A lot of
that should have sayed the same bad communication one. Then
effectively they put him to DH he becomes amazing. They're
then like, hey, mate, do you want to go to
a first base And it's like, well, actually, you just

(12:15):
told me I didn't need to defend so I don't know,
like there is a part of me that's saying me like, yeah,
you should have maybe gone like, yeah, you know what
I'm gonna I'm gonna take one for the team here,
But maybe that's not who Rapiel devis is. Like I
don't know how you guys feel, but I see like
people like Big Pappy coming out and being like, oh yeah,
Like I've measured devas a long time a lot of times,
and he didn't didn't respond to me, and we didn't

(12:36):
sort it out. I'm like, dude, you don't play for
the Red Sox anymore. You're a freaking media person. You
may have been like the face of that franchise anymore,
but literally, if I was a player, you can sod
off like your opinion matters nothing to what's going on
right now. Like you're just coming out here now with
basically a pro Boston view on what's going on, because
that's what you're there to be, Like, you are a

(12:56):
pro Boston guy. You will be a pro Boston guy
for your entire media career. That's just the what it is. Like,
there's so much that we do not know what's going on.
Like to me, reading the reports from like June Lee
over the last couple of days that he's put out
on your host Sports about just the way that the
Red Sox organization works. It sounds like an absolute nightmare

(13:18):
to be in. I cannot fathom like parts of what
is being talked to us about, like how that organization
runs from an analytical perspective. As an analytical person, it
would drive mean nuts. And so if it's driving a
person who's not analytical, that's then yeah, like it's just
not a good place. It wasn't the best place for Devas,

(13:40):
and Devas is basically just once he's been given the
chance to go somewhere else where he's appreciated and he's
gone to the pobosi that himself, and so we get
the chance to go to an organization which has gone
from hey, we need to be really analytical to like
we need to maybe get some feelings into it. And
obviously having Bust in charge, he's gone, yeah, you know what,

(14:03):
we want to play like this. The only chance we
have to get a player like this is this trade
or spending what half a billion dollars on Kyle Tucker
next year. There's no player like this that's available. So
they did the best thing that was a possible for
this team, got rid of guys that what are going
to be maybe back end starters and relievers, and our

(14:25):
prospect that we'll all forget about the next of Jita
downs as we say, like, it just makes no sense
from the red possible effective apart from we need to
dump the salary, we need to restart. We don't want
this guy around our young players, and that really to
me says to that they did not want to Raffield
Devas to have any impact on their young prospects that

(14:47):
were coming through.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Well, I personally didn't have Russell Tell's big puppy to
sod off of my Bingo Kotha tonight. Con grasps for
the listeners that did, I just wish you get off
the fence and she's aside here, I think you're I
think you're dead right, and I did enjoy the theory
I think tongue in cheek going on social media that
Femway Sports Group was shipping the money off the books

(15:09):
to help fund Florian Verts joining Liverpool imminently, which is
just a great crossover of UK and US sports and culture.
I guess the final point on this that again another
knife in the back for the Red Sox. I guess
where they're playing this weekend, San Francisco, so fans will
very quickly get a chance to see there as an
action in in the Giants jersey, which should be good fun.

(15:30):
And him in the Giants jersey looked a bit weird.
So I did task the guys with maybe coming up
with a few other players who looked odd wearing new
laundry with different teams, different colored pajamas. Rob, I think
you've got a few that you were going to sort
of start off with. Which guys on new teams did
you find most offensive to the eye.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I didn't realize you said players didn't just have players.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Oh sorry, yeah, yeah, no, take it in different And
I had others.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'll come back to them, Okay, all right, So I've
got one for Russell to start with. I had Josh
Naylor playing in Arizona Colors. Just looks weird to me,
like he's he's got quite a distinctive face, like and
it was he was to someone who's not watching the
The The Guardians every day. He kind of was the

(16:14):
face of that franchise for the last few years to me.
And so, yeah, Josh Naylor playing for the d Backs
is a weird look. Did you get that job, Josh,
Josh isn't here, Russell.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
No, definitely, I can get that from some of those things.
I think from like a from a Cleveland perspective, like
you'd be like, he's he's one of those guys that's
come through your system, and you're kind of like, yeah,
he's gonna be one of those guys, and then when
you go see them play with somebody else, it does
look look a bit off. I think personally, as someone
who quite likes those d Back Cityknect uniforms, it doubly

(16:47):
hurts because I'm just like, man, he looks good wearing
some of those, like City can X, whereas like our
City can X was a pretty freaking boring.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Who else has got one? I've got several, but you
know someone else picked one.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
I've got a few. Were sort of strowing you out
in the group with't me? I think Darius suggested both.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Brandon Crawford when when he joined the Cardinals from the
Giants having spent obviusly a long time in San Francisco,
that definitely looked weird. I think you maybe then threw
out Brandon Belt who I agree, And no, the guy
who left the Giants and didn't look right in his
new with his new team with the Blue Jays, that
was odd. Andrew mccutchon on the Yankees, I'd like completely
memory hold that. I think John came up with that one.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
That was weird.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
I always think the Yankees have got a whole section
of their owner. A bunch of players on the Yankees
that I just don't think looked right. Goldschmidt this year,
I'm still getting used to. Anthony Rizzo never looked right.
Each row on the Yankees was weird. Donaldson on the
Yankees was weird.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, Garrett Cody Bellinger, that is that is a weird
slide like Dodgers. You like, yet absolutely he fit. Then
he went to the Cubs and you were like, this
is a bit odd. Now he's hit the Yankees. He's like, no, no,
this this this is not a Cody Bellinger team.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
And that definitely was like a facial hair element to
it as well, before the new rules instituted of just
guys who you always knew is having a beard suddenly being.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Beardless that that's never looked right. But God, give us
a fear of your other ones.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
Rob.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Justin Turner. Now it's a strange one, this one again
because like Dodgers, I mean, Orioles is is. Yeah, that
was kind of his origin. But like Dodgers is where
we all know Justin Turner from. Somehow he looked okay
with the Red Sox, with the Blue Jays, kind of
okay with the with the Mariners. But for some reason
as a Cub, it just I don't know if it's

(18:30):
a color thing with a ginger beard, but like it's
just not working for me. I cannot look at Justin
Turner as a Cub. I cannot remember that Justin Turner
is with the Cubs. If you had to ask me
before I started flicking through players looking for this, I
would have told you he was still a Mariner. So yeah,
I just can't. I can't take Justin Turner as a Cub.
Rhys Hoskins like it feels like he's a rental still

(18:50):
on the on the Brewers like the guy as a Philly,
so he shouldn't be there. I agree totally with John
he put in that group as well. Kenny Jansen just
just weird. As a Dodger. I thought about Kyle Hendrix,
but somehow it just really fits. And I don't know why,
but like a thing about that match up, like it
shouldn't work, but it does, I think. And then I

(19:14):
had the last two. I've got I've got Tommy Famm,
but only because his his profile photo with the Pirates,
he's looking he's kind of smiling and looking friendly, which, no,
that's not right for me. And last, well, Billy the Marlin.
Like so, Billy the Marlin came of a time whereby
they were in the like the orange, like the colorful
Marlin's one. Now they've got the kind of the almost

(19:35):
cool and it is. It is a good standard jersey
the Marlins jersey. They've got the kind of cool, edgy,
kind of the Cuban vibes, you know, with the colors
and everything, and that's just not suiting Billy the Marlin.
I think Billy the Marlin was supposed to be in
like cartoonyan orange colors and his face does not fit
the current jersey. So I really can't see Billy the
Marlins as a current Marlin.

Speaker 4 (19:55):
Yeah, and I agree with most of those ones. Hadn't
quite thought about Bill Billy the Marlin in uh, for
me watching Phoenix Hernandez basically where anything that wasn't at
Maredon's journey as he was trying to kind of like
continue his career, just Orioles and even Atlanta. I think
for a while in spring training it was just it
was wrong. It didn't match up. I think I think

(20:19):
I said it when Ben was talking about the Yankees,
I briefly said, just Donaldson. It didn't work for me,
Like I just see him kind of like wearing wearing
that blue like that that that whole entire time. There's
no one as a Cleveland fan and and maybe as
a as a questionable character, but yeah, selpweg probably wearing
Cleveland gear to a lot of people seems like a

(20:41):
completely wrong thing. He is as an he's an LA
player like through and through. It would be the same
way of like everyone, it's never gonna happen. But there
was always that talk about Kershaw like, oh, going back
maybe to like the Rangers for a season, it would
just be so wrong. And and as the same thing
where even when he look with Berlander, he seemingly has
gone everywhere that he wears orange. So it just about

(21:02):
still looks okay to kind of like fit fit with
the vibe, but there are there are so many guys.
I think then if you guys have watched Charlie Morton
wearing orange, I don't like it, mainly because he's been
pitching really bad at the same time, whether like the
color as a has has really has really funked him.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Up, but he was famously an orange I know, but it.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Just doesn't like you have these different ideas about like
when we've all like started to watch baseball, or whether
where we got to these points where I remember this
player being X, Like there are gonna be times where
it's gonna be like, yeah, you know, like pooholes, like
what what what?

Speaker 1 (21:38):
What?

Speaker 4 (21:39):
Where do you think that he plays or whatever, and
you're just kind of like, well, actually, like the more
that I remember is the terrible end of the career
because I didn't really start watching baseball while he was
actually good. Even like the same with like Miguel Cabrera.
It's like I remember them being bad players, not good
players because I missed I missed that part of their career.
So you just have an idea in your head of

(22:00):
like this person fits this, and as soon as they
go somewhere else, you're just like no, like to me,
Corey Kluber wearing anything that was in a Cleveland jersey
was just was an outrage when we when we traded him,
like Michael Brantley wearing an Astro's jersey really annoyed me
for quite a while before I got round to the
fact that kind of like, yeah, I still like him

(22:21):
because he's a good player, but it just felt wrong.
He was the guy that I'd watched be a Cleveland
guy for like six years and then go see him
wear another jersey just it felt ick ick.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Totally on trend with the young the young, and.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
I think it's definitely a cascode as well. The guys
who just were rentals for a few months that you
kind of forget ever played for that team. Like I
think Tom called out Cesspadas for the Red Sox. That's
one that, Yeah, it's weird to think about. I still
sort of forget that Howwie Bayer's paid for the Mets
for a few months. There are a few of those
guys who just sort of popped up in the uniform
that five years later you look back like, huh, I
forgot that ever happened. Anyway, Please do send in any

(22:57):
of your own thoughts. Dear listeners, if you have any
young guys that looked weird in other uniforms, we be
happy to hear them in quite out some of the best.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Ones on our next podcast.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Should we go on to some of the other news
going on around the league, Let's maybe start with you
know what, Let's go to you, Rob and let's hear
about your adventures, and then we can get into some
of the other news. I want to hear about your
trip that actually probably wasn't that recent now, but we
haven't speaken to you since it was like.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
A month ago. Now. Yeah, sure, I was at the
same time as Russell was there, and you've all heard
Russell's stories many weeks ago. I was fortunate enough to
board a plane and Heathrow and fly over to Los
Angeles very briefly and hopped on a twenty two minute
flight to San Diego, which Greta Thunberg would not have enjoyed.

(23:46):
Twenty two minutes in the air like I've never seen
a distressed air stewardess launched bottles of water at someone
down a aisle quite so quickly like that before. But yeah,
twenty two minutes in the air, and then I landed
in San Diego, and my god, what a place. If
you are looking to go to a city which is

(24:07):
not of the team that you currently follow, I cannot
rate San Diego high enough. Absolutely phenomenal city, beautiful city,
fantastic nightlife, really good to look at, like the touristy
crap is top notch as well. You will will not
have a better time than if you go to San Diego.
I really really cannot tell you how good that place was.
And the ballpark, too, is such a part of the city.

(24:32):
It is really built in. The fan base is loyal,
it's friendly, It's aggressively on the side of the padres,
yet it is still somehow friendly and welcoming. The colors
are spread through the town, really really town, the city
really really really brilliantly. And the ballpark it's just sort
of nestled right in the middle of kind of the

(24:54):
touristy bit and where it kind of connects onto the
nightlifey bit. And what a ball park. Absolutely beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful place to watch baseball. It was it was It
was super brilliant, I mean partly brilliant. Has it raised
one all the games whilst I was there, I didn't hurt.
They got Gallagher Square behind the behind the big screen

(25:17):
in the outfield, which is which is just like you
just walking around the stadium and it suddenly opens up
and you feel like you're back out in the street again,
but you're still within the confines of the ballpark, and
it's this huge area just for people to just kind
of hang out and have a drink and have some fun.
Absolutely beautiful city, I will say, though. They put fireworks
on at the end of the second game. I was there,

(25:38):
and you know, like you go if you if you've
been to a Major League baseball park where they put
fireworks on, you normally sit in the stands and then
you look somewhere well beyond beyond center field they have
fireworks going off. No no, no, no, no no no. They
put the fireworks roughly on on second base, and so

(25:59):
never have I seen sort of forty thousand people cowering
from the explosions happening seemingly feet from their face. It
was shocking, or like, you know, you left knowing that
you've been at a fireworks displayed. There was no doubt
about that. It was awe inspiring. But my God, what
a town. Absolutely fantastic place to watch baseball.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
If either of you.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Ever had had the luck to go to San Diego
at all, I haven't.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, I was there last year, actually, but I would
cosign everything you said. I would also say compared to
because we did San Diego and Los Angeles last year,
compared to La especially, but I think a lot of
American cities. San Diego is shockingly walkable, Like you don't
have to have a car to get around, which was
refreshing because so many places. Yeah, they look at you
funny if you say you want to walk places, as
we found San Diego, you can basically get everywhere on

(26:45):
foot if you're willing to put some steps in. So
and the food there was amazing. I mean you're right
on the Mexican border, amazing Mexican food. Like we loved
it as a city. And yeah, like you say that,
the ballpark's built in so well, amazing views, friendly people,
suns always shining. I really don't know why we left,
but it was great, So yeah, co sign.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
And then from from the sublime to the ridiculous, we left.
We left San Diego, brief stopover in Atlanta, didn't manage
to get to a ball game there, but you know,
Atlanta is Atlanta five whatever. Then we went to we
went down to Tampa. I thought, you know, this is
my chance to go and see Steinbrenner Field, and my god,

(27:23):
won a pile of crap. Honestly, Yeah, you've been to
spring training. I've been to spring training places before, absolutely
I have been. I went to see the Look, it's
not the facility. The facility isn't the problem, and this
is nobody's fault because the Rays were put in this
situation with the Dodgy roof that they're having to play

(27:44):
these games here. However, when you go to spring training,
it is early to mid March. Now, I did not
go late in the year. I went mid May, and
my god.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
The heat.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
It is insand there is a very very good reason
they do not play baseball outdoors in Florida in the summer.
It was insane like that. The stadium. The stadium is fine.
The Rays have done a decent job of turning this small,
very clearly a minor league ballpark into something that can

(28:15):
can look There was no cues. Everyone managed to get
in properly despite it being sold out every night all
the concessions. There was no major cues form like they
they've done a decent job. You know, they put buses
on to get you in. You know, the car parking
is very close. Can't fault any of that. But you
just cannot play baseball outdoors in Florida in this heat.
Like I was sat there for the night game, Like

(28:38):
the night game was was sufferable from about you know,
the fifth or sixth inning, like you could start to
sort of okay, like I'm starting to feel human again.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
I went to a day game on a Thursday, And
if you were to go back and look at it
on TV and look at any of the raised day games,
bear in mind they have sold out like all but
three of their three of their games so far, there
was no nobody in the stands because even the locals
by the middle of the second were like, I can't
sit here anymore. It is ridiculous. So my advice would be,
if you are if you're going to Steinbrenner Field because

(29:10):
you fancy going and seeing because it's a novelty, it's
a one off, absolutely do it. But my god, go
at the night game. It is insane. During daytime they
are handing out free free drink, free water because it
was too hot. They were handing out free suncream like
they knew this was a problem, but there was sod
all they could do about it. And there was no roof,
there was no shade. You could not get ten thousand

(29:31):
people in the shade in that stadium.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
It was.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
It was insane, so great. But my god, just just
just going a night game, because you know, I am
a ginger fellow. Don't get me wrong, I don't suffer
the heat well, but this was otherworldly. Other worldly. Do
not go into daytime.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
As someone who's unaware, I suppose of the geographical challenges
at the Ray's face at their old stadium. It's interesting
you mentioned they've sold out of every game. Is it location wise?
Is it a massive upgrade on Tropicana Field? I mean,
what is that the kind of place you think they
should be base full time if they were to, I
don't know, have a roof for something to prevent the
sun getting in.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Absolutely. Now, when you say they've sold it every game,
I will I will cavey at that I went to.
So the first game I went to was a game
against Royals. Also, all of the games I went to
in Florida. The Rays lost and lost badly, so that
wasn't fun to start with. But it was a game
against the Royals and they had a I guess they

(30:25):
didn't know about it in advance. There was a there
was some kind of country music fair on the parking
field where we're supposed to park our cars, so they
decided us to park further down the road. It's it's
it's all surrounded by the Raymond James, the Raymond James Stadium,
which is the Tampay Buccaneers enormous cathedral of a stadium,
and this is a tiny, timey little ballpark on the

(30:46):
side of it. So you park in the foot football
ones and the football stadium parking is all around the stadium,
which is enormous, so they use the ones that are
closest to the ballpark. Now that one had this country
music festival on, so we had to walk twenty it's
in you know, blazing heat to get back to the
cars afterwards. So as a result of that, they offered
four free tickets and free parking to anyone who attended

(31:09):
the game. So I think the Rays are doing an
awful lot of this to fill those stands out of
the minute. And I think this may have something to
do with with the ownership situation. And look, it's fantastic
here in Tampa. We sell all the tickets all the time,
so I think there's a little bit of that going on.
But is it a better place to go? The area
itself is sort of dusty scrub lund. There isn't an
awful lot around that specific area. But if you are

(31:31):
traveling from the rest of Florida, you are you are
chopping forty five minutes on a good day off of
the trip, and with with the bridges, if you come
out of a game at the Trap, it's it's probably
closer an hour and a half.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Like it.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
It absolutely is the right place to put baseball in
Tampa Bay, actually in Tampa rather than some Pete and
Pete is a great place to go and visit and
sit on a beach and have a have a you know,
Pina Colada and look over some beauty visitas of the
gold from Mexico. But it probably not a plays for
a baseball stadium. So yes, absolutely they should be putting
that stadium in into Tampa proper and they will sell better.

(32:12):
They will sell better, guaranteed.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
I'll playignorance again. Then where are we with the stadium?

Speaker 1 (32:16):
What is do you know anything about where they're planning
to play next year? Is their genuine chance they're going
to be moving? Is the plan still to renovate Tropicana
and fix the roof? What where are we with that?

Speaker 2 (32:29):
So next year? So essentially the some Peak Council is
obliged to fix the Trup part of the deal. So
originally the Rays were going to be out after twenty
twenty seven, but that was requiring that the stadium was
available to play in every year of the deal. So
now that they've not been able to play in twenty
twenty five, that extends by a year on the end.
So the council is fixing the roof of the Trup.

(32:52):
They absolutely will be back next year. They are aiming
to have it done by the by opening day. I
think you'll probably see the race playing somewhere else for
the beginning of the stadium beginning of the season, but
they will. They will likely be back in the Trup
at some point next year. The deal that they had
on the table was done. That is that is gone,
that is that is dead in the water, that is

(33:12):
there's nothing anymore. You may have seen in reports over
the last few days that a letter of agreement has
been signed or a letter of interest has been signed
for selling the raise. Stustoneberg is finally looking to get out.
I think an awful lot of this, this stadium deal
dying and making a go of Tampa and filling that
stadium up. I think an awful lot of that will

(33:33):
will be something that has been in the background for
this potential deal going for quite a while now. So
the new guys are looking to keep it in Florida.
The deal is led by a guy from Jacksonville who's
a property developer, but the rest of the people on
the deal with the money, they are Tampa guys. So
I would imagine the Tampa bay Rays will stay in Florida.

(33:53):
Where in Florida, I don't know. But it's the question
of the short term is the difference now? So long term, yes,
they're going to be around. Someone is gonna get a
stadium deal bit Orlando, b it Jacksonville be at Tampa.
Goodness knows. But what we do beyond the end of
the twenty twenty eight season, that is a real question.
Right now, do you, as a fan of the team.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Do you feel that like this sale is happening because
he's been forced out by the m ORB ownership group,
Because to me, it's like there aren't many owners that
basically had a billion dollar of worth investment from like
local areas to build the stadium, then effectively lost that
deal or renegged on that deal and is now in

(34:38):
a position where I'm like, I feel that like this
is like we're not quite Washington National's territory, where effectively
m ORB have just gone like, yeah, you know what,
fuck off, Like you are not fit to basically be
in charge, Like you are going to make it worse
with how what you've done. Sell it, take your money,
get somebody new into sort this out, because it's clear
that you're not going to do it. It's something that personally,

(34:59):
I've feel that we might see for John Fisher in
a year or two when it's clear that he's not
going to be able to get anything built in Las
Vegas because guess what, nothing has been signed off on
any of that yet. But I feel that like this
is actually more of an MLB being sell the team
than him wanting to sell the team.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
It could well be there's a few things here. Number one,
as a fan, you understand watching all of the stars
of that team walk out. The door has been horrible
over the years. Likewise, since two thousand and eight when
it took over the rays of the third most successful
team in major leagues. You know, only the Yankees and
the Dodgers have won more games than them since two

(35:37):
thousand and eight. So look's something I'm right, absolutely it has,
so you know, be careful what we wish for. Like
a lot of success has come and it may not
be the way we've always wanted to see it, but
it's happened. You know, there's something going on there now.
When it comes to is this a jump or push situation,
a lot of people said that this deal suddenly dying

(35:59):
in in St. Pete just didn't make any sense, that
why is he just he's he just killed this in
You know, I would imagine that there was an awful
lot going on with with rumors of sales long before
we've heard about it, and I would say more than
a couple of other people in this billionaires group saying
stop it, we don't like it, go and do something else,

(36:20):
sell your team. I think it's much more likely that
that he got wind of some guys who are interested
in buying his team, but not with now These are
property developers as well, may I add, not with the
noose of a new stadium, not on their their property,
land around their neck. So I would I would be
very surprised if the deal didn't come before the death

(36:41):
of the Tampa deal and the push out from MLB
is is likely to be very very good.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
A little detour into the world of Tampa Bay rais
and politics.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
I suppose it sounds slatly promising.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
No, Hopefully they can get somewhere with the sail and
they can find a more permanent home going forward. But
we'll see many full storms in the last few years,
haven't they been. We've managed to go along way. In
his podcast is a saying the name show Hey o Tani.
I feel like we have to cover him off, don't we.
He's good, very good, and he's back to doing the
two things he's good at, being hitting and now pitching.

(37:17):
Got on the mound for the first time as a Dodger,
first time in eighteen months or so last week or
started this week, pitched one inning, touched one hundred miles
an hour. It is effectively doing his rehab in the
Major's right, because they're never going to send to the
miners to rehab because they need to bat in the
line every day. So it makes for a strightly strange
situation where he's presumably going to ramp up his pitches

(37:37):
over the next four or five weeks, and it sounds
like the plan is for him to just pitch once
a week rather than you know, enter a five day rotation.
But Russ exciting to see him back. I think any
time we get him doing both is really exciting. Even
if it's going to be, you know, a slightly lower
level than it was pre Tommy John, still good to
see him up there and looking as sharp potentially as

(37:59):
he did pre surgery.

Speaker 4 (38:01):
Yeah, it's like there's it's a fundamental reason why we
call show you Atani a unicorn, like he's he should
be mythical, No one should be able to do this.
Everybody else he's played baseball in the last twenty years
has been completely, nutterly not capable of hitting at a
good level and pitching at a good level. So seeing
this it is always awesome. I'm kind of a little

(38:24):
bit waiting for him to kind of get three or
four innings under his belt, get to the point where
he's actually probably gonna pitch eighty hundred pitches a game
before I'm gonna get truly excited, Like, hey, by now
he's got a nine era that's not particularly good, but it's.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
It's one inning of baseball.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
And if somebody would have come in and be like, oh,
this guy's supposed to be like the one of the
best pitchers in the baseball it's like, well, yeah, he's
doing this thing that's different to everybody else. Because he
actually does this, it's a little bit tiring sometimes to
be like, oh, yeah, we have to think about Otanian
differently to everybody else, Like by doing this one inning pitch,
he's basically helped the Dodgers because he will be next
season a a two way player and be allowed to

(39:02):
do that sort of thing. You have to remember that
MLB literally changed their rules multiple times to accommodate Attorney,
and so we want to see this be at his best.
We want to see Atani pitching one hundred miles an hour,
striking guys out, hitting home runs in the same game. Personally,
I kind of want to see you Atani in the
field and this is also one way that kind of

(39:25):
like that makes that like less likely to happen, because
it's just like what, he's actually a good picture and
he's allowed to stay in there's a dh in the games,
then we're not really going to see that, but it's
awesome to see. I think we're probably quite lucky that
the Raphael Devas thing happened when it did, because otherwise,
literally all we would have talked about this week was
like the twenty odd pitches that Ottani threw, and no

(39:47):
one else, nothing else would have been important. I've seen
some conversations from a few of my friends who live
out in Japan, and literally, if you want to find
any other news about baseball or MLB, you have to
sift through like one hundred and sixty articles on no
Tani throwing like one inning of baseball. So we love him.
He's amazing right now, it doesn't really mean anything like

(40:09):
they're literally warming him up to the point where he's
probably not even gonna be useful before the All Star Game.
They're really basically looking to ramp him up towards the
end of the season to the point that he's actually
a good picture when it comes to the playoffs. Like
we know the Dodgers will make the playoffs, we know
that there is potentially like five of ten arms which
they might use as starters when it comes to the playoffs.

(40:31):
We hope that Atani is one of them. We also
hope that like Sasaki and Snell and Glasnow are part
of those as well. Across from right now, as much
as I know he's a great player, we've got kersher
and his questionable politics being like the people who are
out there like picking up the innings and yeah, you
know what, like he had the moment, I'd rather you'd
be passed on and suppressed, I mean, surpassed by the

(40:56):
younger generation. Suppressed probably as well.

Speaker 1 (41:02):
He might have feared Atarney that his you know, job
as a two way player was being taken from him
by key Hey Hernandez. Every time I look at social media,
Henandi's is back on the mound, mostly giving up enormous
stingers in games.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
We pitched where they actually actually bring in banda after him,
Like I think in the first two or three times
that he pitched, when they were winning, he got the outs,
and then I think the third time they actually had
to then bring in a picture because he gave up
like five runs in the inning, so like him wearing
the helmet is absolutely hilarious and seeing all of it

(41:36):
is top notch comedy as far as I'm concerned, And
it is a bigger f you than beaning one of
the various Padres or Dodgers as they've been doing, like
in in their series against each other. Being able to
put a positional player out when you're winning, that is
the truest kind of like f you to to any
team that you can do.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
It's certainly a great I can't I'm looking like my
do not find him, I'm gonna say on TARNI. I
guess my fear is that maybe we've seen the last
of him as a full time picture just because he's
so valuable as a hitter to the Dodgers that they're
never going to over exert him on the mound, just
because why were they when they've got, you know, an
eight nine win player when he's healthy just hitting and

(42:18):
they don't really need him to try and overextend himself
just to just to be able to show that he
can still do it. I hope I'm wrong, and I
hope we do still see seasons where you know, he
can get up to one hundred, one hundred and fifty
innings pitched alongside his amazing hitting and do the kind
of stuff that we did see for a couple of
years with the Angels, But that that would be My
fear is that the Dodgers think the sensible thing to

(42:40):
do is actually start to ramp him down on the
pitching side.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
But am I just being a pessimist? Rob Yeah?

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Probably. I will also add just quickly here Kike Hernandez
currently has the exact same ra show. It's fine, that's fun. Ah, No,
you're not being a kill joy. It's it's the inevitable
decline that we all know is eventually going to happen.
You know, we all knew that eventually Mike Drout would
have to give up center field and shift over, and

(43:07):
we didn't want to see it. But here it is,
it's happening. Yes, Otanni's not going to be Pete o'tani forever.
I think the bloke is looks like the picture of
fitness and health, and you know, if you're going to
put your money on someone doing it for a while,
you'd certainly putting on him. However, it's not gonna last forever,
of course, it's not. We need to cherish every single

(43:28):
moment of this whilst we got it. Eventually they're going
to have to wind him down. Like this guy is
an He's a better hitter than he's a picture. Like
he is a good pitcher. Don't get me wrong, he
is a fantastic picture, but he is an absolutely exceptional hitter.
There is going to come a point where it is
going to be very, very obvious that the pitching is
taking away from the hitting and they're going to have
to stop. Now. I hope this is five, six, seven,

(43:51):
eight years in the future, but it will eventually come.
Of course it will. And you know, you gotta trust
that a decent claim, a team like the Dodgers are
gonna realize the value in his hitting and eventually they're
gonna say, Yep, enough's enough. We're gonna have to do
it now. And you know what, I am still gonna
love watching show Tani hit because because the dudes and adonis.

(44:12):
He's great to look at, first of all, but also
the way he plays is brilliant. So yeah, absolutely like
it's gonna happen.

Speaker 4 (44:17):
The thing is that there's there's more than just being
a starting pitcher, Like if it gets to the point
where they're just like, yeah, you know what, Like we
sacrifice too much for you being a starting pitcher, and
you have the DH maybe a little bit less because
you can't keep up with all of the wear and tear.
Like I definitely remember the last few times that like

(44:38):
Attani was pitching and dhing, Like when he was in
like the sixth or seventh inning, he looked absolutely shattered
going out there to to hit again. But hey, like,
does Otani become a leverage guy? Does Otani become the
Dodgers closer? Like these are all like wonderful things that

(44:59):
we can think of some point, because hey, we know
that he can throw one hundred miles an hour.

Speaker 3 (45:03):
We know that he can.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
Throw some of the best stuff in baseball. If he
can't do it over six or seven innings, he could
definitely do it over one or two or three. So, like,
there are plenty of other ways for the Dodgers to
use Showotanni and use what he has compared to everybody else,
and simplistically, probably from the analytical perspective, just being able

(45:24):
to get forty innings out of Otanney and not have
to send someone down and send someone back up like
fifteen times during the season. But the Dodgers in a
much better perspective than probably losing his ops for four
or five or maybe ten games a season. These are
the things that like clup Oup like not the clubhouses
will think of, but this is something that the front
offices are going to think of that he just saves

(45:47):
so much effort from actually being able to have that
extra player who can pitch. So I think we'll see
him pitch for quite a long time into this contractor
just because of how well it will help the Dodgers
from so many other perspectives.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
Absolutely, however, we also need like I certainly am guilty
of sometimes forgetting that show here, Tani had an entire
career before he came and started playing in the majors.
And the guy is about to turn thirty one already,
and god knows, I'd love to be thirty one again.
But that is the age when things start hurting and

(46:24):
don't stop hurting when you get up in the morning.
So you know, again, his body is probably many many
years younger than the thirty one I was, but it's
it's not as far off in the distance as perhaps
it would seem for some young starlet that we've seen
six years of And he's only still twenty eight, you know,
So it's going to come up sooner than it's going

(46:44):
to creep up on us, and all of a sudden,
we're going to be staring this in the eye. Think,
and God, he's only just got here and we're already
starting to talk about declines like we are right now.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
God, why don't we even bother following the sport are
doing anything so meaningless we'll get.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, that's never.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Rise to riga mortis or whatever inevitable. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
we're all gonna die. Everyone, Happy Happy Thursday.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
It screw you, big puppy.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
Anyway, I didn't really have much else on my agenda
for today. Are there anything else you guys want to
call out? I do think it's fun that the two
teams are the best records in baseball right now are
the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. Don't think anyone would
have seen that coming at the start of the season.
I personally, I think said the Tigers were going to
be rubbish. So hop my hands up on that one.
Not the only bad take I had but anything from
you guys on what you've watched in the last month

(47:35):
that you want to quickly call out before we call
it a day.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
I'm enjoying the Yankees six game losing streak, but that's
probably just a petty me thing really more than anything else.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
For me, I'm the constant back and forth between is
the Ale Central good or is the Ale Central bad?
We at the start of the season where I was like, Yeah,
none of these teams APO from Detroit are good, and
then they all played well for a month, and now
they've all played badly for a month. So it's like,
are any of these teams actually good? Like someone is
going to sneak in a freaking five hundred record in
the AL I think, and get into the wild card,

(48:06):
like we've had the ineavibility of the Houston Astros being
like the best team in the AL West. Yankees are
far and away the best team, although the six game
losing street really impacts it. And I don't think anybody's
touching Detroit in the middle. But are you are you?
Are you really picking anybody out of like Toronto and
the Tampa and Boston and the Twins, the Royals, the Mariners,

(48:28):
like there's a big, big load of ick there in
the middle of the AL, which is just like, I
kind of don't think any AL team is going to
beat an NL team when it comes to a World
series right now.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Yeah, I see the Guardians are doing Guardians things. Thirty
seven and thirty five with a negative twenty three run differential.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
Oh yeah, be like five and one against the Reds
or whatever. Loser gets swept by the Mariners and then
currently win two games out two against the Giants, so
it's like, yeah, let's just lose to the bad teams.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
And obviously, yeah, I will say the Rangers are probably
a bit lower than there than they they should be,
and they've gone a little bit under the radar. But
other than that, I mean you just look at the
run differentials and they're sort of all kind of playing
out as you'd expect. So it's all a bit in
the AL. The is a lot more fun. Maybe we
should watch more of that.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Yeah, And now it does look fun, doesn't it, especially
that that wild card racing is gonna heat up nicely. Orioles,
they are dead and buried, aren't they. I Mean, the
Rays really put the stake in them last night. Was
it eight nil they were winning and then twelve unanswered
the other way. I keep waiting for them, that was
an awful lot of fun. Keep waiting for them to
turn this round to that. It's just not going to happen.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Is it Deadenbury?

Speaker 1 (49:35):
As you absolutely say, speaking of delan Bury, my Rockie
is four game win streak, shout out.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
It's not over till it's over.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Could still quote from from their manager about you know,
October is a long way off?

Speaker 3 (49:48):
You know that.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
I swear I saw that somewhere online today.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
I think I think that was a fake quote, but
honestly it wouldn't surprise me. Oh, I think I still
love them, Maskie speaking.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
I think it was part way through last month when
everybody was joking that like Scottish Scheffler had won more
wins over like three weeks than the Rockies did, and
then they won like three games in the row and
they were like more wins than the Scottish Scheffler.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Baby, It's just like, yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
You know what, Like I did a social media team
doing a victory lap for winning one series, but they
had so much ammunition in the clip for every single
series they'd lost to the last three months and they
just emptied the whole lot on the Marlins at once.

Speaker 4 (50:26):
Dude, they like what it's still averaging thirty plus thousand
people to a game at Denver.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
I don't like.

Speaker 4 (50:35):
It's basically seemingly just like the greatest hangout spot in
Colorado because people just go and enjoy themselves. So like
they've worked out, they don't actually have to win baseball
to put a product out there that people will come
and watch. So yeah, you know what, people are just
gonna go enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
So you do get the the sad thing where when
the Yankees came to town, the crowd was like ninety
percent Yankees fans and every Yankee hit is getting cheered
and every Rocky strikeout is getting which in your home
stadium not a great look, but hey, bombs bombs in
seats is something, right?

Speaker 4 (51:06):
Yeah, Have the Yankees got the stive Brenderfield yet, Rob?

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I think yes, Yes, they did really early on, I think,
and they they lost, so that was fun. They've done
a really good job of covering up all the Yankees there.
The one thing that you can still see is the
end of every row has a Yankees logo on the
end of it. Other than that they have covered up
everything down to the urinal, so you know, well done,

(51:33):
well done marketing team.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
You thought that ran would the one thing they wouldn't cover.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Up gives on. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
Absolutely. Anyway, let's wrap it up there.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
I said, we don't have much talk about today, and
I think we've ended up wunning post to an hour,
so as always, we found things to talk about along
the way. Thank you both for for for joining me
and talking through a little bit at baseball today. For listeners,
do you make sure you check out the website bapletpsnose
dot com. That's a great content going up on there.
Gavin the team doing an excellent job keeping it updated.
Do follow us on socials x, Instagram, TikTok, obviously YouTube.

(52:04):
Now all of our pods are going on to you
can watch us blabber away rather than just listen, so
make sure to do that and we'll be back with
you very shortly for a new episode. Thanks for listening, goodbye,