Danny Unleashed on The Program Sponsored by Easton Roofing March 27th

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Welcome to the Danny Klingscale, reasonably irreverent podcast.

Insightful and witty commentary, probing interviews, and detours from the beaten path.

Every once in a while, we have to bring out the big dog.

Yeah.

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It's time for Danny Unleashed.

Sponsored by Eastern Roofing, where integrity matters, go to EasternRoofing.com for more.

Hour number two of the program on Sports Radio 810, WHB.

I'm your host, Jack Johnson, villain, influencer, and petro, courtesy bolts here, cow colliers

here.

In studio, Danny Klingscale for Danny Unleashed, Danny, how we doing on opening day for the

Royals?

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a new roof, and heck, the insurance company will cover it anyway.

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Yeah, the slogan of the company is integrity matters, and I can vouch for the fact that

that is true.

Yeah, it's glad to be here on opening day.

We had to wait an extra day for the royals to get into action.

But it was quite a full opening day.

A lot of rookies came out with a splash, hit home runs, a lot of cool things happened

on opening day.

I'm sure you had the chance to see it, but I don't want to start with this because game

one of the entire season for everybody was the Mets and Pirates.

Oh, right.

Yeah, Mets and Pirates.

And...

Well, game one.

Well, the day of opening day.

Yeah.

And...

I watched about five minutes of the youngest game.

That was about how long it was.

Oh, true.

Yeah, worth watching.

Yes.

Game one of everybody's opening day.

Yes, the Netflix game which had a bad score bug and bad product.

I didn't like any of it.

Yeah.

But yesterday, with the Mets and the Pirates, I want to say the total for runs, and the first

five endings was set at like four and a half, and it was like the most bet under because

you had Paul Schienes, you had Freddie Peralta, two batters in a Freddie Peralta stint.

He gives him a two run bob in a brain and laugh, newly acquired Pittsburgh pirate.

And then in the bottom of the first, maybe an ending that Paul Schienes will never experience

again because of how good he is, and also the randomness of that ending.

His command wasn't as sharp as it usually was, but I want to get your thoughts on O'Neal

Cruz, misplaying a ball and center.

By the way, O'Neal Cruz, he's six foot seven.

He was a shortstop.

They moved him to center field.

He was negative 14 and defensive run save a year ago.

They continued to put him out there in center field.

After the game, he said it was the sun.

The sun was in my face.

It was uncomfortable all day.

He misplaced the ball and center field off the bat of ignoring the fact he wasn't wearing

sunglasses.

No, he was not.

He was using his glove, using his hat, misplaced the ball right after that.

When you think you're already shell shocked by the money, he should've given up one run.

He should've given up one run.

Yes.

Should've missed that fly.

You get a good read.

I mean, he came five, six, seven steps in.

And still wasn't that far away from him.

He's six foot seven.

And still missed it.

Then he's got the ball coming in.

It's off the bat of Tyrone Taylor, I believe, shallow fly ball.

He loses it in the sun again.

It drops and Paul Schienes, because we know this stat is always stupid.

He was charged for all five runs.

His ERA is at 67, if that matters to anybody out there.

And he has to leave before getting the third out in the first inning.

Well, they decided, which I guess is probably a good decision.

He thrown 37 pitches, but if this was June, he probably would've thrown four scoreless

innings after that, but not at the opening.

Yeah.

It was literally, they got the two runs.

I'm like, I was eating lunch.

And I'm like, well, I think I'll just watch Schienes strike out a few batters.

And I enjoy watching it.

One and a half.

And then I'll know the game's over.

And I'll check the box store tomorrow.

And the pirates will win three to one or three to nothing or whatever.

Nope.

There's a wonderful, there's a clip that's been kind of viral for years, a wedding.

And it's focused on the groom and the best man.

And the groom's facing away from the camera.

And the best man taps him on the corner on the shoulder as he turns around to see his

bride.

He disperses in the tears.

And someone said, that's Paul Schienes, anytime of all, at the center field, with a new

cruise out there.

And he turns around and immediately begins crying after the game.

After the game, he says, you know, I'm not as upset as you, you probably think I would

be.

And I think what his thought process is, well, I didn't really bitch that bad.

Yeah.

And I get that clown a lot of self-contained field.

Everyone knows it wouldn't mean.

Although he was not sharp.

I mean, he was, you know, missing edges.

They actually did get a, there was a game.

There was another play last night, first successful challenge that actually resulted in something

important.

Yeah.

Which game was it?

I was watching the quick pitch today.

They challenged.

Next batter got a hit.

They scored a run.

And it would have been the third out, I think.

So it was impactful.

It was very impactful.

I thought yesterday, as you had already pointed out, Danny, it was the day of rookies,

whether Homer's chased a lot or in the late game in Seattle for Cleveland, Homer's twice.

Carson Bench for the Met's, Homer's as well.

Four hits for the Tigers.

Kevin McGonigal.

Yes.

In San Diego.

And now that brings me to the royals, they are not going to have a true rookie in the

lineup tonight.

But it's Carter Jensen, who played one month last year, hit 300, really burst onto

the scene.

Local kid, high expectations for him.

Everybody right now, not the betting favorite to win rookie of the year, because how can you

watch Kevin McGonigal go for four for five and have two doubles and not be betting for

him.

But with a guy like Carter Jensen, what should the expectation be for these young hitters?

You don't have to focus specifically on him.

Jack Cagliones, not a rookie.

He doesn't have that status anymore.

But those two guys, in my opinion, they have to be at minimum league average bets.

They just have to be league average.

And I think we'll see a drastic difference in this offense.

Or you looking at them and saying, they got to be better than that.

One of these guys has to either be rookie of the year in Carter Jensen, or Cagliones

to be a 30 to 35 home run back.

Well, I agree in a way with what you said first is that if they combined our league average,

then I think that will represent some really good improvement for the royals offense.

Now that could manifest itself in Cagliones being quite good in Carter Jensen, showing

that he's still got growth and that it was, you know, they got him scouted up or the

opposite.

Cagliones continues to struggle in Carter Jensen as great, or they're both league average.

But one way or the other combined, if they're two of them together, our league average

are a little bit better than that will represent some great improvement for the royals because

they had disastrous outfield production.

So they couldn't help but be better.

I will say this.

I think they, I under the radar key for the royals offense this year is Salvador Perez

because sooner or later, it ain't going to happen, you know, somebody who just swings

in a lot of iffy pitches, goes into cold funks, but remarkably has still been at more than

productive.

I mean, he's been an excellent power source to the point where, and obviously he's

in cleanup tonight, but you just hope, you know, at some point, you're three months

along and Salvi's totin' around a 185 batting average, which would mean you'd have about

a 205 on base percentage and you're like, oh, the end is near and we've had 150 bats

of bad production in the middle of the lineup.

So I don't expect that to happen, but I think for him to be bad, but I think that that's

something to watch for sure.

You have an instant insurance system in place in Carter Jensen, but you're not going

to employ it right away because I think you still have faith in Perez.

Yeah, I do agree with that because I think in a perfect world, Salvador Perez is

hitting about seventh on his lineup.

Oh, if at some point this year, he is hitting seventh, I think that's very good.

I don't think it would be just because he is failing.

I think that he would be down in seventh because other players have shown that, you know,

they're just better and, you know, then they can provide a little more on base, et cetera.

He's still pretty productive, but, you know, the more, also, the other part of it is the

more that he only catches half the games, which he has done basically the last three years.

I think he's caught 89, 90 and 90, I believe that's right.

He's playing another position, either first base or DH, where you are really expected

to be an excellent hitter.

When he's catching and doing the stuff that he did, that's like double bonus, you know,

at a time, and that's what he's been for a long time.

A catcher who can really hit, and there aren't very many of those.

So I think Sal is a very important cog in the wheel.

To me, the royals are very disparate.

I don't think there's any team that I think has a wider variance than the royals.

I expect them to be good.

I picked them to have, you know, have 84, 85 wins.

I think that would be my prediction, but they've got some things that could definitely

go wrong.

You know, I think you know the Rockies are going to stink, and, you know, the twins aren't

probably going to be very good, and the Guardians won't hit, but they'll still probably compete.

And, of course, they went out and scored six runs in the first game.

But I think the royals, because of the age of their pitching, the, I, I don't look at

that bullpen, and I get all swelled up with confidence.

And the fact that their offense possibly could be not so great, I think it is, they're

intriguing.

I think the royals are very intriguing team.

I lean toward the, the better side of it right now, and it's not just because, you know,

I'm from here, you know, the royals are not my team per se.

I'm just viewing them, but I watch every single royals game, so I, I would like them

to succeed.

But, so I think that there's enough things in place that, you know, they can have a

few things go wrong, but, I mean, Michael Wacken, you know, Seth Lugo, haven't looked good.

They're older, like I said, the bullpen, you know, Estevez is not throwing strikes and he's

not throwing hard, which is kind of a bad combination for your close-in-the-problems

there.

So, and, and Caglione might be a feast or fam and a player, and that may be just what

he becomes.

And, you know, which still could be a valuable piece who goes out there and can escape

away hitting 30 home runs with a low batting average and good on base, who's to say.

And Carter Jensen may be great, maybe not.

So, I think there's just a lot of different things in place, but one thing you know is

that you have, if not the best player in the American League, one of the best, and you

have another player who looks like an emerging one of the best players.

Now, still, Michael Garcia has had one outstanding season and is the MVP of the most recent baseball

we've watched, and most people think that this is for real.

I do too, but he still wasn't even starting for the Royals a year ago today.

So, yeah, he was a, he was a utility guy.

They tried him in center field a little bit, despite being a goal-gloved third baseman

when it was all said and done.

It was a, a burst onto the scene type of year for Michael Garcia, Michael, Michael, whatever

you want to call him.

I guess that will find out.

Michael.

Michael.

Michael, I guess I'm Monday when they announce his name in the starting line up.

Well, no, for sure, because that'll be the official pronunciation guide for the Royals.

You brought up Seth Lugo and Michael Walker, and this is something I've been mowing over

now for about a month.

Is there a world in which one of those guys, not being in the rotation in September, is

a good thing, because that could mean a Ryan Berger, a Lewin der Avala, Steven Koelik,

has pitched so well that a younger arm, more explosive stuff, more swing and miss, is

now in the rotation, or is that a negative thing where, oh boy, if one of our more expensive

arms in Walker or Lugo is in the bullpen at that point, clearly something has gone incredibly

wrong.

We're now we're scratching and clawing to fill out a rotation before the postseason.

I think it's bad from the standpoint that you're probably going to run them out there

quite a bit before you would turn to another alternative.

And that means you would have wasted games.

I don't think you're going to have four or five, you know, lackluster starts from Seth

Lugo and you send him to the bullpen.

It's going to have to be like July and he's totin' around a five and a half ERA or something

like that and you've lost two-thirds of his starts, you know, that's why I think it would

be a negative.

I mean, the other guys could come in and eventually do a good job, but it would be eventually

doing a good job.

That's the problem.

Yeah, this rotation, they're going to be led by Cole Reagan's and his health.

It's never been an issue of success or effectiveness for him.

It's only been about the durability.

When he's been on, when he's been healthy, that is a top five pitcher in the American League.

Is he somebody and let's throw Chris Babuch into this conversation because he's somebody

that suffered the same injury that Cole Reagan's had last year, the Rotator Cup strain, only

Babuch didn't return Reagan's return for four or five starts in September.

Are those the two best arms in this rotation where if they're healthy, this can still be

a top five rotation in all of baseball or is it really going to matter what the other

three do because we just discussed Lugo and Waka, but the other guy in this conversation

is Noah Cameron, who even though the advanced data didn't support his overall numbers and

he could be a regression candidate, he's somebody that's going to have to pitch not as

well as he did last year.

He's the number five star.

He doesn't need to have a sub three ERA.

It'd be nice, but you can live with a three nine five ERA from your number five starters.

How it's going to be broken down here where Reagan's in Babuch, if they're great, it's

not going to matter what these other three do or is it going to be just do what you can

Reagan's in Babuch and if the other guys can be fine as well, that's the best version

of this rotation.

It goes back to what I said about the variability of the royals.

I think there's, you know, real question marks on Cameron because of you look at the other

stuff and it's kind of how's he doing this?

I think if Reagan's in Babuch, you're both healthy.

They're different pictures though.

They've generally just been effective if they've been healthy, period.

Yeah.

But Babuch is more of a craftsman and Reagan's just has electrifying stuff.

But you know, Reagan's has been hurt enough that there's no way you can just sit there and

pencil him in or you can pencil him in.

I guess you can't put him down an ink for 32 stars.

That's for sure.

Could it happen?

Yes.

I mean, they had it happen a couple of years ago.

That's why they went to the playoffs.

And they got almost every start was taken by the person who was supposed to start at

the start of the year.

That doesn't happen.

Last year was more of a normal year.

The Royals weren't, that wasn't disastrous.

That was normal.

All kinds of teams, there were teams last year who made the playoffs who by the time the

late part of the season rolled around, they didn't have a single person who had started

the year in their rotation pitching.

So I mean, that's commonplace in baseball now.

To that degree, to have all five of their opening day, starting pitchers spend at

least, you know, 20 or 30 days, multiple teams and that really, it seemed like, because

there was like, there wasn't any point last year where they had generally more than two

or three of the guys.

There were long stretches of what was going to, it seemed like that was, no, I don't think

it that's what I said.

I think that's, you know, maybe slightly worse than normal, but the, for instance, the

Astros, my team, they had their whole rotation and they just able to list at the same time

last year.

That's true.

So, you know, I don't think it said the Dodgers won the World Series without a starting

rotation.

Right.

Hey, the Mariners, they were on the opposite side of that where I believe the last year

they had just about everything.

I think they had the same five guys for opening day.

Yes, pitching health is going to be vitally important for the Royals.

Offensively, I've said they need to be middle of the league to take a lot more pressure

off the starting rotation, the bullpen than what it was last year.

Last year, you had to count on the rotation, the bullpen to hold together two to one games

far too often.

That offense was bottom five in all baseball.

The amount of runs scored was there with the white socks and the Rockies.

Does bringing the fences in, I know we've had this conversation before, Danny, but bringing

the fences in, if you were to apply those dimensions to last year, the home runs would

change where I want to say it was like 24 added home runs in games at Kaufman Stadium

for the Royals.

That would have bumped them from 26th, I believe, to around 15th, which of course would

be middle of the league.

Are those dimensions going to change a lot for the offense where you have a lot of the

same guys out there, but now this offense, I test wise, advanced data wise is going to

be better just with the fences coming in.

You know, what is it?

10 to 15 feet, basically, a lot of those balls in the height of the wall.

Is that going to be something where we look back in June or July and go, this offense

is much better even though it has largely the same guys that they're running out there.

I don't think that just the fences coming in is, it will clearly help.

For instance, you know, it's reading David Leskey's newsletter today and his research

said that he thought that Bobby Witt Jr. would hit seven more home runs last year.

He was just talking about him in general.

You know, that's a lot, that's, I assume that the ball, several of the balls would have

been extra raised.

It's anyway, but it's still at least, probably at least, and he said, well, let's just

be err on the side of, you know, the lesser side say five, but that's probably 10 runs,

you know, just by itself, just for Bobby Witt.

So yes, I think, but it is, I can't imagine it's going to be more than a push with the

other team.

I mean, what's your, what, what the design of it is based on the fact that you would,

you were hoping that your pitching staff, and this is true at their best, are not a

home run pitching staff generally.

You know, there's guys who've been due soft contact, they keep the ball on the ground.

You know, so you would, they're hoping that it's going to be a plus for them, but I would

think it's going to be closer to a push.

So I think guys are just going to have to get better, you know, I don't, I don't think

the fence is coming in alone.

The other team plays there too.

Yes.

And there will be some moments too, where a lot of balls that were caught at the warning

track from, you know, pitching from the likes of Seth Lugo or Michael Waka now are going

to be home runs.

And it's going to hurt a lot more than it did last year.

You're just hoping that the offense gets the benefit of the doubt playing 81 times a

year there where most of these teams at most are playing about six teams in American

league central.

And the part is that, you know, the, the, the government stadium was a good offensive

ballpark.

You know, yeah, it just didn't give up, you know, home runs and it was a good place to

hit.

People like the background.

I was reading something yesterday about the fact that it's, that the government stadium

is, was the third hardest outfield to play on defense in the American, I mean, all

of baseball, only San Francisco and I can't remember what the other one of Fenway Park,

I think, were more difficult, but a lot of it, how about this stat?

Did you know that the government stadium has the fourth highest elevation in all of baseball?

That's the price of it.

Wow.

That does surprise me.

Isn't that amazing?

What?

Well, I think what it, if you think about it through and I was actually doing this last

hour.

So many of them.

No, most cities are built on a river.

Yeah.

Or by water, right?

So that's sea level per se.

A river doesn't have to be at sea level, but generally it is close and you can even think

about it.

From the river downtown, you do go uphill to the government stadium.

Now, it isn't a lot, but most ball parks are downtown.

They're near a river.

So they would be lower.

Now, it's not coarse field, obviously, but I found that extremely sharp.

The three of them.

On all these ball park things, there were so many funny stats in there.

Petco Park has been open for 22 years.

They have had four rain outs.

Wow.

In 22 years, the Dodgers have, the angels have had one this decade.

Insane.

By the way, we know the Denver's one, but what are the other two that you remember?

Who?

It was Denver and San Francisco's the worst.

No, I mean, higher.

Oh, higher.

I don't know.

I didn't say what the other ones that aren't high.

I'm trying to think just.

We know what walked the top of my head.

Yeah.

No, I don't know what the other.

We need to look for ball parks that are not downtown, not in your body of water.

St. Louis.

Oh, they're nearby.

They're at the river.

They're at the river.

Right.

They're at the river.

Everybody is.

But San Francisco has a whole confluence of things.

It's right next to the ocean.

It's literally.

Windy water.

There's a lot of nooks and crannies in that ballpark, too.

Well, the elevation of their new ballpark, Danny, do we know where we're going to?

I think it's going to be built in the same place, isn't it?

No, it did.

Royals.

Oh, yeah.

I think it's going to be.

What's the elevation of Washington Square Park?

Yeah.

It's probably low.

Probably significantly lower.

Yes.

All right.

Let's take our first break here of Danny and Least.

Maybe we'll have some time to research where those other ball parks are that are not

downtown.

You're a body of water.

We can find that out during this short break.

Short break up.

Yeah.

You'll listen to the program.

More of Danny's reasonably irreverent podcast after this.

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Look forward to hearing from you.

All right, the law of finadillic attest in end of the hour answer.

Royals are opening against the National League team for the second time ever.

There are three AL teams they've never opened against.

I asked for any one of them.

There is a logic to all three.

I'll say they've never opened against the Yankees.

No they have.

I believe Sidney Pond's own started one of those games.

I don't know exactly.

I think I had the list of...

Wasn't that long?

They did.

They've done it three times against Yankees most recently, 2001, also in 84 and so

much.

There's no way I'd just be throwing dust.

They're a bit of a logic.

Houston.

What's the National League for years?

Astros.

They weren't...

Right.

Right.

The Rays haven't been around that long.

Diamondbacks.

And actually it is the Mariners.

They've opened against the Diamondbacks.

According to this.

I...

No, I said American League.

I said American League teams.

American League teams.

Okay.

Yeah.

AAL teams.

Well that does.

There is some logic there.

The Rays and Astros don't stop me.

I don't know why I would have thought at one point in time they would have opened against

Seattle.

That one is relatively small.

That's the American League team that's been in the league the longest that they have

played against.

Because they've been opening against the Blue Jays five times, but the Mariners never.

And the Orioles.

And another fun note.

Curt Nelson told me this as well.

This is the...

They've...

They've opened on all seven days of the week.

Orioles.

This is the seventh time they've opened on a Friday.

They're a record on the previous six.

Oh and now...

Six.

No.

Oh no.

That's not the streak tonight.

No then.

Including the first game of the 2020 season when they opened late.

I imagine they're not going to note that on the pregame show.

Probably not.

Probably not in the...

Unless they win.

Unless they win.

Not on the pregame.

Yeah, to pregame.

It'll be in the post-game though.

It's not the pregame though.

Post-game, yeah.

Well, then you can...

I mean the notes.

I think that the notes to me are the Royal's notes are pretty straight down the line, you

know.

The broadcast, obviously, it's a home broadcast.

They're not going to say, well, Royal's never want to single one of these.

Tune in next.

Something about Friday.

Well, that's what got the...

They're probably going to lose.

Royal's baseball is coming up.

That's what got the Baltimore Orioles played by play guys suspended for a little bit.

I remember back in 23, when he brought up the poor numbers against...

Maybe it was the Yankees or something like that, and they suspended him because he had

acknowledged the poor record against this team.

Maybe it was the raise.

It was some random team.

They had been three and 15 against in their last 18, but, hey, maybe that's why I won't

hear it on the pregame show.

But beat him to the punch, K.

Yes.

If they win or lose tonight, put that stat out there before anybody else knows.

Or if we've got a, it's leaning toward one way in the ninth inning, like it's seven

to one.

Get out ahead of it early.

Exactly.

I'm going to give you a right, Kevin Brown suspended for mentioning the team's historically

poor record against the Tampa Bay race.

Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay.

I can't imagine what that conversation went like.

They showed up for what?

And I'm looking at it now.

They showed...

They produced...

There's a graphic.

Yeah, there was a graphic.

Everything was put together, and I can't imagine like, oh, I guess I'm a hot mic moment.

Something happened off air.

We're now you're going to suspend me.

It's like, no, you said the words that were told for you to say.

I mean, clearly this was not his idea.

This was relayed to him, put this information out before the series begins.

And embarrassing moment for that franchise, I think.

I think so.

Well, Fever gets suspended tonight.

We'll have him on next week explaining himself.

Why did you say it?

Well, Danny, around the league yesterday, of course, we know that the Netflix game was

the true game one in San Francisco, Yankees and Giants.

But yesterday, a lot of teams were able to begin their season.

The Royals were not one of them.

In fact, the Royals and Braves are the last two teams to begin their season, and they'll

be playing in the evening.

We'll see if they'll snap that windless streak of losing on Fridays and opening day.

But as for the rest of the teams, was there anything outside of the rookies that played

outside their minds that really stood out to you?

Is there anything?

I know it's game one of 162, but of yesterday's storylines across Major League Baseball.

Anything, catch your eye?

I think it would be the Guardian's getting two home runs from a rookie player because

they need offense.

And if they get offense, they're probably going to be good.

And they're in the Royals division.

So to me, that was, you know, there's nothing really interesting about the Dodgers kicking

somebody's ass.

They were trailing at one point.

Two and nothing.

Yes.

You know, I think the Tigers aren't going to be good.

The Ace pitchers generally pitched well, except for Paul Skins.

You know, the White Sox is supposed to be a little bit better.

You don't want to get beat for day to two on opening day if you're looking to give your

fans a little hope.

But I would say that for a significance and maybe local significance, the potential emergence

of a bat for the Guardians, a young bat is, I think it's, that would be quite significant.

Yeah, that was, I think most people just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with

the Guardians.

And it never does.

That's a double magic.

Last year was the ultimate example of that.

Right.

They were, like, fifth worst in the, in all of baseball and in offense.

They had a 10 game losing streak at some point to 14 or 15 back.

Yeah.

A month and a half to go and it took it a short collapse as well.

But yeah, that's, that was a takeaway I had last night as well.

Seattle, who I consider to be the best team in the American league.

They get to open at home.

It's a pitcher's ballpark.

You're facing one of the worst offenses from last year and yet chased a lotter.

One of their star rookies comes up and crushes the ball.

And they also get a fine start from Tanner Bible.

I, I look at the AL Central Danny and I would like to say it's there for the taking.

It's very winnable.

It's one of the more winnable divisions in the sport, but I've always felt that for

the royals to have the best chance.

It's got to be a two horse race.

Last year, it was a three horse race because Cleveland was hanging around.

The royals were hanging around.

Detroit had led the division for 75 to 80% of the season before they collapsed.

This gets down to a two horse race, whether it's Kansas City in Detroit or Kansas City

in Cleveland.

I do like the odds of that and I understand.

I mean, it's a simple thing to say.

You've got two teams as opposed to three.

You got to worry about an extra team there.

Do you see Cleveland being able to keep this up or we can have to fall back on, never count

them out because they can win 90 games with a 12th best rotation, a 28th ranked offense

in a top five bolt.

But I mean, I would like to say the other shoe is going to drop.

We discussed Salvador Perez at some point the shoe is going to drop.

Is it a scenario where we can't say anything about it, we can't doubt them until it actually

happens?

I'm going to lean toward I'm going to not doubt them until it happens.

There's something about the organization, their ability to develop pitching.

I thought there might be a drop off when they lost to Terry Francona.

That has not happened.

They continue to produce new pitching when they trade off and or let go and free agency.

Other pitching.

Somehow Jose Ramirez ends up being a top five MVP candidate, despite the fact he has

no coverage whatsoever around him in the lineup.

So I don't doubt them.

I don't doubt the guardians.

Now I will admit that I have somewhat of a soft spot for the guardians.

I listen to a lot of their broadcast because I like Terry announcer and their game start

early.

Terrific.

So they started five, 30 or six o'clock a lot.

And so I like a lot of times I'm driving around at that time and I met Tom Hamilton

last year and I actually went up to him and told him that I listen, I pick my games based

on the broadcast teams and I like your broadcast and I know I said Tom.

I know that the ballpark is at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario because you say that

before every game.

And the amazing thing about Tom Hamilton is you don't even need a radio to hear with

you.

His voice is he has the loudest voice I've ever heard.

You certainly don't need it when you're at the ballpark if you're walking down the

hall.

He's terrific.

Yeah.

He is a good guy.

So, so I don't, you know, they they've just are consistently good and they know what

they're doing.

They've been in an analytically driven team for a long time.

So I won't doubt them.

But sooner or later, I guess you can't just defy odds completely, but they continue to

do it.

So I will lean on that the guardians are probably going to be part of the mix.

I think the key for the royals having the success to win more games, et cetera, is whether

the twins are as bad as people think they're going to be, which I don't really think they

are.

I don't think they're going to contend, but I don't think they're going to be bad.

And how much improvement the White Sox make.

Yeah.

And whether they take just a few steps, you know, when five or six more games, or they're

a true improvement project, which some people think they're going to be.

You know, if those two games teams are going out and winning in the 60s this year, that's

a lot of games to win, although you're playing more of a balance schedule than you used

to.

Uh, to me, it, I, I think Detroit's got, especially if they got the rookie of the year, which

you, they've got the early favorite.

I mean, they're not only did he get four hits, he had the, the fastest sprint speed on his

infield hit of anybody in baseball and opening day.

So any play short stuff.

So I mean, what, what more do you want?

So I think that the rows don't have what the Tigers have, especially when they added

pitching.

Uh, but I like the rows to be in the mid 80s and wins and whether that's good enough

or not, we'll see.

So what needs to happen for them to, well, we can't play the game of, okay, well, Detroit

gets banged up, right?

Detroit gets hurt and they bottom out like, let's play the game of what the royals have

to have happen or what they need to do to ensure they at some point in the season become

the favorite to win the central.

I think that the rows are likely to be an improved offensive team.

And if they're pitching is relatively healthy and their bullpen doesn't stink, I think that

makes them make a tender.

I think they only need, they don't need crazy stuff to happen.

I think a, you know, reasonably improved offense.

Good, but not great health out of their starting rotation and a bullpen that just doesn't

blow a slew of games, which right now I'm looking at their bullpen.

I'm like, that could happen.

Especially in modern baseball, generally even in the, the best scenario, you're starting

pictures only cover 55 to 60% of the game.

Maybe a little bit more.

You hope for a little bit more, but, you know, if they cover two thirds of the game,

that's a big night, okay?

So you're, you're at least a third of the game and usually a little bit more has to be

covered by the bullpen.

I can't say I'm in love with the bullpen.

Right now, what do you think about the bullpen?

Yeah, I'd say that the main concern is what's on everybody's mind.

Carlos, that was in the velocity and the lack of command.

A closer cannot be throwing 88 to 90 in this current landscape.

You have to be sitting mid 90s if you're a one-ending guy, which is what he is.

He's falling back on the, I'm a slow build up guy.

He was last year.

He was.

And, but I also say this that in that exhibition game last year in Arlington, he was still

at 94, 95 before they headed off to Kansas City for the opening series.

He was still at 90 at a 91.

And I just have a hard time believing when the adrenaline kicks in, if he throws tonight

in the ninth inning in a three to two game, that all the sudden, here's 95, 96.

The good news is compared to last year, the addition of Matt Strom gives them another

closer like pitcher, where last year was Lucas Ursig.

And then you said, well, how do we bridge the gap to Lucas Ursig, right?

Now, of course, Esteve has led the league and saved, so they never had to worry about

it.

But this year, if Esteve has never figured it out, and this is the velocity he's throwing

in the commands not there, he's removed from the spot.

Maybe Ursig becomes a ninth inning guy and you have John Shriver, Nick Mears, Matt Strom

look to bridge the gap into the ninth inning.

It's not an overpowering one.

I think the best bullpen and baseball spill at Elfia, because they have all the

these flamethrowers out there with Terkering and Johan Duran.

They added John to the bullpen.

The royals are fucking the trend.

Yeah.

Their bullpen does not throw hard.

No.

And if you're going to do that, you have to have pinpoint command and induce soft contact.

And that's something that we're going to have to find out early on in the season.

The weird thing though is last year, though the bullpen didn't appear to be a top five

bullpen.

I want to say ERA, ERA wise, they were top seven.

And so maybe that's because in some of these games where they were down four to one,

the bullpen was really good.

And in those moments where it was two to one in the sixth inning and you need to get the

baseball saves later, he was good.

Yeah.

He was good.

Yeah, that's an important aspect of it because in most games that you win, he obviously

is saving it.

It's almost a given now in a baseball game.

So I would say if I had a major concern, it would be right now the bullpen.

I just look at it and going, huh?

You need more swing and miss that the current day in baseball craves the swing and miss.

Not so much when it's May and June and you're holding a three run lead against a bottom feeding

team.

It's about October.

The teams that can generate the swing and miss and get out of a jam war second and third

and one out by striking out to you're going to need that.

And Matt Strom, I believe, is a good addition to the back end of the bullpen.

He's also not the Matt Strom who could throw 97 to 98 and more.

He's going to have to rely on his slider a lot more.

He's going to have to rely on command.

Nick Mears comes over from Milwaukee in the trade that sent on hell, Sarpa there.

He's going to have to be a swing and miss guy like he was in 2024.

And even though the ERA wasn't good, he struck out North of 10 guys per night.

You need that again in your bullpen.

Otherwise too many moments where you're teetering and it's bases loaded.

One run game, one out.

Here comes that gapper.

Here comes that at bat where they foul off six pitches and then they bloop one in the

center field and now you're down by one run.

Just to confirm they were tied for sixth in baseball last year in bullpen, ERA, guess what

they ranked in strikeouts?

Oh, it had to have been bottom three dead.

Dead last.

Yeah, that's the only team that didn't strike out 500.

That's hard to maintain.

I mean, it is.

I mean, it just by simple logic, a ball in play just is, you know, it's way more vagaries.

You know, it can be the worst, most the softest contact in the world and find green

grass.

So that's why that's a tough trend.

Yeah, the batting average on a strikeout is trouble zero.

The on base percentage could actually go up because it's a drop third strike.

But hey, put the ball in place.

What the royals said for years, putting the ball in place better than a strikeout.

Now we're actually seeing the opposite philosophy from some teams of I'll take a lot of strike

outs.

If you can do a lot of damage by putting the ball over the wall or putting the ball

in the gap.

We'll see though with this royals bullpen.

I'm very curious tonight if Cole Reagan's go six sending, six settings and you're up

three to two.

How they'll handle the bullpen, right?

You might not know what Carlos Estevez has until he gets on the mound like ninth inning.

If you've already burned, strong and ursick, you go out there with Carlos Estevez and

that first pitch is 90 out of the zone down on the way.

Oh, he's pitching until they lose tonight.

Well, then let's hope it's seven to one and the royals look good from the first

inning.

In that case, he wouldn't be pitching.

Yeah, no need.

No need to unless you want to see where the velocity is at.

And you want to put him in a very low-leveraged situation just to be sure.

I doubt it though.

We'll take our second to last break in hour number two.

You're listening to the program.

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All right.

We're wrapping up Danny Unleashed here on the program, a little bit of college basketball

talk before we let you go.

Final four picks, Arizona has to be in your national title game, right?

Yeah.

I think so.

109 last night on Arkansas.

I win the bracket.

I will say Arkansas doesn't defend, so that doesn't prove a lot to me.

I think Michigan, I was mighty impressed with Illinois.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, the defense too.

Yeah.

Great defensive team.

I think the, you know, team Euro is, so I guess I don't know what the bracket, I don't

have a bracket right in front of me.

Could Illinois and Arizona play each other in the, in the championship?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I'll, I'll go Arizona over Illinois in the title.

I would love that match up.

I thought it's been a lot of fun.

We ought to sweet 16 that had no Cinderella's in it, but the basketball has been generally

really fun to watch.

Early games are amazing.

All right.

Thanks, Danny.

All right.

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