Gang Back Together, Padres Storylines One Week from Opening Day

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The gang is back together and we've got one week until opening day for the Padres.

How are we feeling about the club?

Some big questions, certainly.

Some injury concerns in the rotation.

See how Tatis Machado and company look as they get back into the flow of things

after an emotional exciting stay in the WBC.

And they're actually in action as we speak right now against the white socks.

Michael King just gave up another home.

Tough spring for Michael King.

We'll get into that.

Yeah, I think, uh,

Manny was up with two outs bases loaded popped out, uh, and the threat.

They were leading six four, it is now six five again, so white socks.

So there is your cactus league, uh, update.

Much discussed on the Padres hot day in Peoria.

They had the ice cream truck and everything Craig stamina,

maybe just trying to keep the guys excited motivated, spirit high.

Very much in the dog days, hot times in Arizona,

week to go until opening day.

Keep everybody excited.

Invest in the process, right to the go as a wine thing.

as they wind things down there and very excited to catch up with Ryan Phillips of sports illustrated.

He was on a few weeks ago. Back again to kind of get his thoughts, his pulse of the Padres as

opening day fast approaches. Appreciate OGs, the sponsor, the on-fire podcast. Thanks to OGs and all

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See you on-fire podcast brought to you by NBC7. I am Darni Tripp Derrick with so much

deserved time all this week. So he is not with us. Please do have Ryan Phillips back on the pod

once again. Ryan, I know, hey, busy day for you. All of us a little bit distracted. I spent my

afternoon at Vieja Serena and scrambled back to the station. Listen to Fernando Tati's junior

and man in the chat to talk about being back turned on this game, Michael King getting shelled.

Let's go on right now. Has everything in your world? I mean, I feel like the World Baseball Classic

has become my personality over the last two weeks. So I'm trying to like return to normal and then

we got basketball all of a sudden. So it has been a lot, but you know, excited for the season to

kick off. I mean, this is my favorite time of year. It's not just opening day for baseball. It's

the tournament. It's the build up the NFL draft, which I think every football fan gets excited about

they all think their team's going to have the greatest draft and there's just hope everywhere

across sports about to get the NBA playoff. So all of those things at once is just it's crazy

for us covering things, but it's fantastic as a sports fan. So very excited to spend the entire weekend

on my couch watching basketball and then occasionally taking notes for baseball to start next week.

Yeah, that is the right way to do it. And yeah, forgive me if my mind is a little bit scrambled

today because it's been that type of afternoon, a little bit of V.A. Haas had to do some S.D.F.C.

stuff now talking baseball with you and excited to do so. And while kind of keeping an eye on this

game against the White Sucks, something about like Cactus League games under the lights,

whole teams back together. It's like, okay, we're almost back.

Dress rehearsal. Yeah, I mean, you know, and you mentioned Michael King giving up runs.

If there are two guys, I'm not really worried about what their Cactus League stats are. It's

Povetta and King. I just feel like their stuff is not going to play well in the desert and just kind

of I feel like balls have been flying at spring training this year, by the way, too. So I mean,

I don't know if it's the elevated heat or what, but I do feel like a lot of these home runs we're

seeing both from the Padres and given up by the Padres are going to come back down to Earth once

we get the pet goes. So not super concerned about anything we're seeing, but definitely a lot of

questions for the Padres moving into the next couple of weeks. Yeah, Michael King is, you know,

we were going to get into a might as well launch into that because again, as we're kind of tracking

this game and and obviously we'll eventually get into the larger conversation about the rotation.

But that's certainly, you mentioned King and Povetta with Joe Musgrove starting on the aisle.

And you know, there are already questions about the last spot or two in the rotation. Those are

magnified now with Joe having to make a kind of gradual return and having to slow things down

a little bit after that start that he had. The pressure is on these guys, Michael King and Nick Povetta.

And it has not been a strong spring for Michael King 11, seven ERA at this point now.

Now, five homers allowed if I'm not, oh, I don't know if my math is right there.

One, two, three, four, I think it might be eight now. If I'm not mistaken, looking at his game

log, I don't know if this is completely up to date, but now the game is bad just for those people

out there who I gave him back to back against the A's last time out three total and three

tonight if my math is correct. And you know, going back to that game against the A's like the stuff

didn't, his offerings are so squirrely and all over the place and so much movement and so fun to

watch. And they just seem flattened. Maybe you mentioned kind of the atmosphere, like maybe that

has something to do with that the environment. You know, I'm sure somebody smarter than me could

look at his baseballs of on page and say, hey, spin numbers are down or, you know, horizontal

movement is down and looks like it is a little bit, you know, significantly so I don't know.

But when there are so many questions about the rotation and one of the guys that you're like, oh,

we need Michael King to be Michael King and that has not been the case. Forgive me if I am a little

bit concerned. Yeah, and look, I mean, it's easy to forget. You signed into a big contract. He

barely pitched last year and his first year. For the first couple of weeks of the season, he was a

Homer just given up Homer's left and right. I mean, that was like his thing and he did settle in

obviously and it became really the ace of that staff. But and, you know, culminating with the

playoffs where he was unbelievable. I do think that there is a little bit to not pitching a whole

lot last year, getting back into that groove and being there and feeling healthy and having to

sort of put it all back together. I'm sure he, you know, there was some stuff in the off season to

get him ready for that. But we'll see, you know, when the lights turn on how it goes, I know a lot

of guys who are veterans don't take spring training numbers. Seriously, they're more working on things.

Like, can I locate this pitch? Can I get this to where? How's my velocity? Can I build this up over time?

You see Jeremiah Strata, for example, I know he's not, you know, a veteran like King in the way

that King is, but his velocity was way down to start camp. And then he's all of a sudden right back

where he needs to be. And it was probably just building up a little bit, getting, you know,

knocking the rust off, getting back there. I think with a lot of these veteran guys, especially

pitchers, they're working on things versus really trying to get out and trying to mow down lines.

Now they'd love to just go right through lineups and have it be easy. But I do think, you know,

you'll see guys again, they go to like a minor league rehab start, you have seven runs and then come

up to the majors and throw like, you know, I have to run outing, giving up a couple hits, you know,

it's, it really is more practice, especially for the pitchers than it is for say the hitters

who are really trying to get up to speed with velocity and all of that stuff. So the numbers don't

matter, but you would like to feel better one week out from spring training about the way things

are lining up for the Padres and the rotation right now. I'm gonna chalk up King's bad start to

to 104 degrees on the field. So you could understand he isn't going tends to sweat too. So I don't,

you know, that's affecting him a lot. That's true. That's true. You mentioned Pavetta as well.

And only three appearances so far that long break from March 3rd to March 14th his last time out.

Hasn't gone more than three innings yet. Do we know if he's pitching tomorrow or I haven't seen

this guy Saturday? I would imagine one of those two days, I would think. And then that would have

him on track for potentially opening day. You know, he got hit with a little arm fatigue and,

you know, it's pretty typical in spring training. Sometimes for guys to have that, you know,

better to have that early than hit it mid season. So yeah, we'll see if he's built up enough to,

I mean, they they may carry a lot of relievers to start the season and, and you know,

go with a four, they have a lot of off days early and make it with a four man rotation and just,

you know, have got, you know, he's got to go four innings and the start get back to buy that

bullpen fine, you know, just get through it and build up. But yeah, it's it's a different year

this year too. With WBC, some guys are off. I mean, we'll see how it lines up for everyone across

the league. Yeah, just looking at the UT Kevin AC and Jeff Sanders. And this is from a few days

ago, March 14th. So yeah, five days ago, this is after his start, I believe was against the guardians.

Yeah, yet to mention opening day starter, but, uh, Stamman could be in line for one more

cactus league start in five to six days, which would give him five or six days of rest ahead of the

March 26th opener against the Tigers. And Pavetta, like when he had the arm fatigue, you know,

he was pretty adamant that this isn't going to be a thing once the season rolls around.

Knowing Pavetta, I mean, he's a very competitive kind of all business type guy. And so he is not

the type that would want to add any fuel to like concern of that. I mean, he's just very kind of

cut and dry. Like, hey, guys, don't worry about this. We're going to be fine. Um, we'll see if he's

right. Cause I think it'd also be in his personality to say that just to like, quite any concerns,

but you don't ultimately know until another five, 10 days, rolls around. We get close to March 26

and we see whether or not he is the guy we expect him to be. Yeah, Nick Booth is not going to beg out

of a start for for any reason. No, and it's going to be very hard to get him off the mound once you

have him on it. So, uh, yeah, I think that the again, normal, you know, kind of rust and sort of

bumps and, you know, bumps in the road that you go through in spring training. I don't think

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No, much she sent off alarms just for the rotation as a whole.

You mentioned having to rely on the bullpen once the season starts.

We saw that through stretches last year.

Like, the levers get tired too.

And so you don't want that to become too much of an issue early on.

And then also what arms do they use?

I mean, Kyle Hart, other guys, you don't have Brian Hoing this year.

Kind of those those long reliever types. Do we see more of those guys?

But that's I think the clear kind of question storyline one week out from opening day is like

the status of the rotation, the level of concern for the rotation and then the domino effect with

that bullpen. Yeah, and I think that you were thinking, you know, Randy Vasquez's stuff has

played up this spring. And again, he led to questions of, are the guns juiced in Arizona?

And some people are still asking that question, but his stuff has looked much better.

And I thought he pitched really well last year, but I thought he pitched above his stuff last

year a little bit. And you know, I thought that he sort of was fighting through stuff and

did really well and better than expected. But the stuff really was dictating that he maybe

should have been doing a little worse. His stuff has played up a little bit this spring credit

Ruben the evil and the staff are working with them on it. But you looked at him, you're like,

hey, if he's our fourth starter, that's not too bad. Well, what would you must go about now?

He might be your third for now. And it's like, okay, well, how does that line up? Is that,

is he is he good enough to be that? And then where's who slots in behind that? And so I think Walker

Bueller with his last outing probably has a rotation spot locked down. The question is, who do you go

after that? And what order do you put him in? And, you know, do you give Hermann Marquez who has

struggled this spring a shot and struggled really vitally last year? Do you give him that last spot?

And a chance to prove himself until Musco is back. So, and who knows what we get from Musco

this year? You're having Tommy John surgery at his age is not a guaranteed. You're going to be

back to who you were. So not to set off alarm bells. I don't know anything about that, you know,

specifically his case. But he wouldn't be the first guy that struggled to come back from that

his age. So really those are the question marks. And look, I look at the potteries and I think

on paper, they are probably the second best team in the National League West. But that's

if they are delivered as is. How do all of these things change it moving forward? And does AJ

Perler go out and try and swing a deal to get another starter if he is not confident in Musco

returning? What does the timeline for Joe even look like at this point? You know, he has one

appearance and then they're having to shut him down. It's probably too strong a word. But like,

you know, hit the brakes. Yeah. Rain him in and, you know, surely there after we find out, okay,

you know, I'll just start the season. And, you know, you're having to reset a little bit and

build him back up. And they're wanting to obviously build him back up responsibly. And so

are we talking a couple of weeks? Do we see him in April? I mean, again, just speculation here.

But given that we've already run into a bit of a hitch and not saying this is going to be an

issue all year, but just in terms of having the right runway for Joe. Because I think that's been

a problem in the past and he's admitted that himself, you know, when was it 20 was it 23 when

he heard his foot and then made that throw in a minor league game and landed on his shoulder

and then was having to kind of rush his way back. And then there, you know, elbow things and he admitted

like probably pushed it, you know, a little bit too fast. And I think that's that's in Joe's nature.

Very competitive wants to be out there. But they can't do that with a situation like this. And so

you wonder just how long they're going to have to kind of piece it together. I do think I feel good.

Again, you mentioned like if they have all the pieces that we expect them to have, like I feel

pretty good about the rotation, you know, with King Pavetta, what we saw from Randy Vasquez and what

we've seen from him this spring. And I'm pretty optimistic about Walker Bueller. Like that could be

a pretty stellar one through five, but how often are you seeing those guys in succession, like

copy and paste week after week? Yeah. And I mean, and Bueller was coming back from injury last

year, but there were stretches where he was awful last year and then turned it up and was pretty good

and then awful and then good. Again, coming off of, you know, basically a couple of years where he was

injured and came back and pitched in the playoffs for the Dodgers, you know, pretty well. And then,

you know, as a free agent and with Boston at Philly, I, you don't really know what you're going to

get for him, but you hope far enough away from that injury, you can at least get consistency. Whatever

it is consistently, you know, that guy's not going to throw 99 anymore, but can you get him maybe a

tick faster on the fast pole when you get back to Pekko and get him in his groove and it builds up.

How is the secondary stuff going to look? You know, all of that, can you get, you're not going to

get classic all-star Walker Bueller, but what, how much can you get out of him and can he stay healthy?

And so again, there are these question marks after the top two that I think we were hoping there

would be question marks after the top three. And, and you know, with Randy Vasquez, it's not,

can he pitch at the major league level? What, you know, you feel he could pitch a full season as

a starter? It's, is he good enough to be in number three? And maybe he is. Maybe that stuff

ticking up has moved him into that level. I think everyone would be surprised if he is a good

number three and not like a, okay fine, you can be in number three. But I will say at this point

of the spring compared to last year, I feel better about the offense, I feel better about the

lineup than I certainly did last year. And so maybe that balances out your question marks with

pitching as you as you head into the season. Yeah. You mentioned Bueller and Marquez, Marquez really,

you know, encouraging performance. What was that Tuesday against the Mariners?

I gave up three runs, a couple of homers, but nine strikeouts over five innings and Craig

Stamins seemed very pleased with what he saw. So it feels like they're probably begging her

Marquez to win one of those spots. And that was, you know, he's making it easy on us.

That was a big step in that direction. And then Walker Bueller's last time out as well against

the Giants, five innings, scoreless three hits, couple walks, seven strikeouts.

And I mean, sign me up for Walker Bueller Seth Lugo era. I'm here for it. You know, he drove like

seven different pitches, you know, 92, 93 with the four seamer. And he seems very comfortable with

like the new style of pitcher that he has had to become and the work that he's done with Ruben

to be able to figure out that mix and then to deploy it effectively.

In like a two year span, he goes from young phenom to savvy veteran, you know, like, you know,

just going, going right out with with with a completely different style of pitching. But hey,

if it works for my, I'm on here for it. Yeah. And they've, you know, they're, again,

they've had success with those types of guys. I think they found, you know, again,

Michael Walker was a guy and he was starting to figure it out. I think with Boston,

if I'm not mistaken, kind of the half year before he came here and had a really good 2023 season,

and so hopefully that's that's where we're at with with Bueller. Yeah. Pavec King,

Strandy, Bueller and Marquez that like feels like what we're going to have go into the season and

relievers. Be ready. Yeah. I mean, they've got like 12, they've got like 12 guys who could

probably pitch the eighth inning. So, you know, it feels like so they should be fine in that

respect, I think. Yeah. You buy in buying the early odds on Randy V for Padres MVP this season?

No, I don't. I think that I think he'll he'll be the MVP and some people's hearts,

but I don't think he'll actually, he'll actually get the nod. Well, you probably would have guessed

would not have guessed Adrian more at home last year, but that's true. There's a case to be made.

I mean, you know, and they're like to credit that guy. I mean, everything he's been through since

he was signed by the Padres to turn into the guy he has. I mean, I thought, you know, look, they

I know they made the Mason military aid. If you follow me on Twitter, you know, my feelings about

that. I love watching each of Mason Miller pitch, but I'm not sure they should have done that.

I would have been completely fine hating heading into this year with Adrian Maron as your

closer. I thought if they didn't make him a closer, they should try and move into the rotation

given the holes there. And that guy, I mean, again, so many ups and downs in his career and he's

become a top what five or six reliever in baseball. And, you know, relievers, I know you are very

year to year. And so banking on the exact same years you got last year with anybody is you're

probably going to be upset if you do that. But just this, this stuff is fantastic. And, you know,

he just is unfazed out there. I love watching that guy pitch. Yeah, for sure. All right. As Bob

Scanlon's talking to Manny Machado, let's transition to the WBC guys coming back. Manny and

Tatis spoke with reporters today, Mason Miller back as well, fresh off the WBC. How'd you feel about

the way things ended there for Team USA? There was a lot of talk about Mason Miller and being kind

of the big storyline with DeRose to say, and hey, I had to honor the Padres wishes. I was only

going to use them in a safe situation, Harper tied it up, but Aaron Judge unable to give them

the lead going into the top of the ninth. If that were the case, we probably see Mason Miller.

And Kevin AC had a piece today and spoke to Mason. And he said he didn't think that there was going

to be a chance period because they didn't want to do three appearances in five days. It pitched

in the quarterfinals in the semis against, you know, closed out that win against Dominican Republic.

And then, you know, found out that there was some leeway there, but seemed to know going into it

that he's probably not going to pitch in the championship game, which had to be a tough pill

to swallow, but you can understand it from the Padres standpoint, I think.

I thought it was very generous of the Padres to give them the option to use them to close it,

honestly, given the restrictions everybody's had on their players and three games of five days would

have been a lot. And look, the WBC is very compressed. And, you know, to have that, I mean,

Venezuela played in the game and then played in the championship the next night with all of their

relievers, you know, a lot of their relievers having already pitched. So, um, I, you know, I, one,

I, Mark Dorose, you could say like, well, I respect Mark Dorose and not throwing him up there. Well,

they, he didn't have any choice. I mean, you know, if you do that, your black ball from,

from baseball using a guy against his restrictions, which he was on his way to getting black balls

anyway, with some of his decision making, but, um, no, I, I respected all the way around. The

Padres said, look, we're not going to take the chance to close out the WBC away from Mason Miller.

But if it's not that, then, you know, he can't go. He already got you there. And, and I,

I think that's fair and Mason seemed to accept that. He didn't seem to be upset about it. I mean,

the worry is you're setting your player for not letting him go out there and do something, but he

seemed to, to be perfectly fine with it. Um, so yeah, I, I think that, you know, respect all

the way around to everybody for, for understanding the situation and, and playing to it. Um, tournament

as a whole. Fantastic. I am fully on board. I think it's great. And, and I thought that, uh, some

of the, that's, I thought those last three games were some of the best baseball games we've seen

in a long time. Um, and, and it's great that they happen the way they happen. At the time of

year, they happen when people are usually casually paying attention to baseball, not really focused

on it and got a lot of eyes on the game and, and think it was great for it. And I don't think

they should move it. I think I should keep it right where it is. That's a great question. Yeah,

I think I should keep her. I think because I think mid season, if you have it at the all-star

break or something, guys are going to want to vacation at that point. They're going to opt out.

They're not going to do it. And I think that also mid season, if you've got a team in a pennant

chase, they're not going to risk their players. And I think early season, everybody's building up,

everybody's kind of getting into the groove. And maybe, you know, you saw it with Team USA's hitters.

I don't think if you put that line up together in June or July, they struggled the way they did.

But everybody else is in the same boat. And so I think, I think I really like it when it is. I

think if it's post season, same thing. Guys are going to want their vacation. They're going to

want to go home. They're going to want to, you know, that play, you know, pitchers aren't going to

want to add anything to their arms, all of that stuff. But they'd be pitching and playing

anyway. They're just doing it for another outlet, basically. I think it's the right time to do it.

And may not be perfect, but it's never going to be perfect. It's really interesting.

You know, also what impact does it have on the All-Star game? And it's not every year. It's

every few years. But I don't know where I saw this or if this is even in consideration. But

do you take, you know, a nod from soccer and have kind of some of the preliminary rounds,

the group play, so to speak, this time of year. And then once you're in the quarterfinals,

you're generally speaking in the United States, easier for travel, you're only playing, you know,

three nights worth of games. Maybe you can take a week off and do that in the middle of the season.

You get some of those early, your plan, you know, is real. And, you know, some of these other

teams that you don't necessarily expect Canada, expect to make a run. You maybe you do that

this time of year. It's a little bit shorter. You miss less spring training. And then those

teams that advance to the quarterfinals and semi-finals, then they come together for a week,

a few days in the summer. Maybe in lieu of the All-Star game, you play them all at one stadium?

Potentially. Potentially. All-Star game. You know, or do it with the All-Star game. I mean,

you have a slightly watered down All-Star game. But if I'm somebody who's not playing, you know,

in, if I'm somebody from a player from Canada, and I'm not going to make it to the semi-finals

of the championship, but I have a chance to make the All-Star game. I still want to play in the All-Star

game and be considered an All-Star. So I don't know if there's a way to do both, but I think that's

a good thought. Like, do you do it all on one site for however many days? And it's just this like

week-long baseball extravaganza you got the maybe have the home run derby between like the semi-finals

and the championship and All-Star. I don't know how it works. He's could call it College World

Series it, put them all up in dorms. No, I need to build in some days. I mean, because those guys

need some rest, but I think for the players that aren't participating that you do instead of having

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, like three days off, you get potentially a full week off to kind of

rest and reset for the home stretch. And maybe I'm just thinking about the 2025 Padres who are

clearly fatigued from like June on. I feel like some guys could probably use that. Yeah, I think

it would be interesting to see if the teams would want that, you know, because this all comes back

to teams releasing the players. I mean, that's the bottom line and the insurance and all of that stuff.

But we saw insurance be a huge issue this year that we really hadn't seen it popped up before.

I would be very interested to see if this is part of the new CBA negotiation. And if the players

want it that way, or if they prefer to do it all early. And if the, again, if the teams are willing

to release their guys midseason, I mean, you've seen it with hockey for the Olympics and things like

that. You've seen that happen. And, you know, we're talking about 2028. Are they going to allow

major league players to do baseball in Los Angeles? And the players seems like a lot of

Bryce Harper's leading that charge. They want to be able to play. So what does that look like?

That's two weeks. You know, do they get those two weeks off to go do this or do, you know,

the teams are going to be scraper placement players for two weeks. You know, we've done this before

how that go over. You know, I mean, it's it will we'll see what this becomes. But I do think this

whole thing and the Olympics thrown into it will be part of a discussion. Also, I would not be

shocked if the world baseball classic decides to go every other year with, with how popular it's

become. You know, they skid to skip it in 2020. But 2017 did great did a great job of really

modernizing it. They, they changed the format around made it a little bit better 2020 it 2023

perfect format. Just group play the knockout rounds. They used to do like two group plays and then

like, you know, the top teams from those groups go on and it was it was odd. And now it's the right

format. It's the right length of time people are into it. And I thought this one built on. I

didn't think anything would anything would top. Oh, Tony get judge out 10 10 2023. I thought this

year's tournament was far better. There's far more competition. The teams are better guys are more

into it. And so I wouldn't be surprised if the WBC tries to capitalize on that and maybe says,

hey, why don't we do this again in in, you know, maybe not the Olympic year 2028 will go 2029. But

then after that, you go every two years. Yeah, that's it's interesting. And again, the players,

I mean, it seems to really resonate with them. It seems to be a lot with them. You, you know,

conversations about like WBC or World Series. And the fact that that is even a discussion like even

if you think, okay, that's crazy. The fact that it's even a topic and some of these players are like,

you know, having to think about it, I think is is saying something it's a credit to to the tournament.

And so, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how that evolves to, um, are you,

are you bummed out? You didn't get Mason Miller against Fernando Tatis Jr. I thought it would have

been fun. Yeah, I mean, you know, it would have been a diet version of Otani versus Trout, I guess,

you know, not in the finals. Maybe not as big a deal. But, you know, it would have been fun. I

think, and I think both guys would have embraced it just given their personalities. I think, you

know, I think Fernando would have smiled a little coming up to the plate, you know, get the face,

you know, having to face this guy. But, um, yeah, I think it would have been great. I think it

would have been great for the game to have the guy who was one of the hottest hitters in the tournament

face. The guy who has been unhateable since like, what, August, um, last year and, and would have been

a great way. I thought the way that game ended sucked, um, you know, it was, it was a close pitch,

but it was a ball. And I would expect them to go with ABS next time in the knockout rounds.

But, uh, it was a little bit like, like, Xander Bogart said, Wrigley last year.

Yeah. Same exact feeling. And, uh, you know, especially because it's something that we know

can be corrected, you know, that can be now be defeated. And so, um, you know, I honestly,

I really respected the Dominican team saying, okay, it wasn't one pitch that lost us the game,

you know, and not, it was saying like, yeah, it was low, but, you know, we're not going to

complain about it. I really respected that because they could have just hung on to that.

Tightly, um, but yeah, I would have loved to see that actually at the end and, and, uh, you know,

for a little bit of team, team wide bragging, right?

I'm good. It's Friday for me and at ABS challenges, by the way. Have you seen some of these?

Some of these guys, some of these guys, this is going to be a skill. You know, framing was a skill

for so long. And that's probably kind of, I, I think framing is still going to be a thing

because you can't challenge every pitch. So I think it's still full of the ump and they can

fool the hitter. You know, that's, that's an underrated part of framing is fooling the hitter.

And I think this is going to be a skill like framing is a skill, just knowing your strike zone so

well, knowing where the pitch is coming from, where across the plate, not where you caught it,

all of that stuff. It's going to be a huge skill for, for hitters and, and catchers. And I do

think it's going to be fun to have that as a catcher stat, maybe add it to the war. Uh, how many

challenges you get, you, you, you, you nailed your percentage. I love it. I love it. I,

I'm excited for opening day, you know, somebody facing scuba and there's something just on the

boy, if it's manny, you know, and he's fired up on the fourth inning and does one of these and

whether it goes his way or not, I mean, just the potential for content and things for us to talk

about is immense. I mean, tennis fans have loved it for years. They get into it. They clap during

it. It's going to be great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very, very excited about that. Um, you know,

there wasn't much that jumped out, you know, Mason Miller talking about that situation. Manny spoke

with reporters, you know, nothing really earth shattering from Manny. Um, but Tatees, you know, I

think he had a, he had a cool line. He was asked, because I think this is one of the things that

we've been wondering about is like, how do you deal with emotional peak of WBC to coming back to

Piori and then getting yourself going for game one of 162 and, you know, he was asked like, you

know, what, what's your plan? What's your approach? Like what do you plan on doing? He's like, bring

the same energy I was bringing during the WBC. And I was like, there it is. That's what we need

you to do. Now I, he even kind of acknowledged like seasons of marathon, you know, that's hard to

do. But WBC for sure. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. But and it's easy to understand why you'd be full of

adrenaline and so excitable and, and the emotion and the passion. Um, it's just in the environment

in a way that it is not in Piori, Arizona. And the way it will be on opening day, but it might not be

the following Tuesday or Wednesday, you know, um, there are the ebbs and flows of it. But I think

just him saying like, this is my approach. This is what I plan on doing. Um, I just thought that was

that was a good answer. And I, that's what they need. That's what they need from him is kind of the

emotional heartbeat of the team that was missing for stretches of last year. And um, hopefully he's

able to kind of keep that up because he did do it to start last season. And then he got

plunked against Pittsburgh and for whatever reason, just wasn't the same guy. Um, but they,

they need him to be as consistent with that as possible during the season. And it seems like he's

going into it with kind of the right approach. He was very like, you know, high spirits, very

cheery today, you know, he didn't come across like a guy who's like, I'm here. Now I got to do this.

I had the best time of my life. And now I'm back in pure Arizona. Like he seemed happy to be there

and kind of now get ready for this phase of the year. Well, he got an orange sickle ice cream,

which would cheer anybody up. But uh, I think it's one of the most underrated flavors. Um, but no,

I think that he, you saw him in that world-based book, classic, just loving it. And I mean,

that whole Dominican team was the vibe in that dugout was as good as I've ever seen in sports.

I mean, they were just having a blast. And I think that it's those guys all getting a plane

together. You know, I mean, I'm sure that the Soto thing brought back some memories.

Maybe at the beginning, maybe a little bad, but, but ended, they seemed to all just be super into it.

And I just think it, it is something that can galvanize a player and really lock him in. I mean,

Luis Arized was completely different guy than he's been in the past in that tournament. You know,

he's in for power. He's crushing balls. He's, you know, giving the energy he always gives,

but to a different love. He's been third for the championship team. You know, I mean,

so I do think it's a way for guys to really actually, you know, sort of energize themselves.

I mean, you're right. They'll let down a going to, you know, a two-thirds empty

peoria for the next couple of days because it's over a hundred outside and people don't want to be

there is a change. But I think Fernando needed that. I think he needs, on the alternative team,

he was amazing the whole time. I think that could be really a catapult for him into a really good

season. And you're right. Last year, he started well. Look like, oh, was this, is this the year,

he's the MVP and they got hit and struggled with that and just seemed to, that seemed to sap him

this power for a while. And I just think that a guy like him, you know, man, he's usually a slow

starter. I thought he played really well in the WBC. I mean, his defense was unbelievable. But I

think that, you know, he had some really good at bats. I think those things can really carry guys.

And so I'd also probably bonded them even closer, you know, and man, he talked about today about

Tati's being there and, you know, happy was to see that and all of that. And so yeah, I do think

these are things that can really lift guys and maybe give them a boost heading into the season

because it also builds your confidence early that you were playing really well in some games that

really meant something. Yeah. And one thing, I mean, Tati's kind of talked about just like, or

maybe he's just asked about like the excitement for his teammates. And you saw so much of that with

EMDR. It's like guys seemed as excited to watch somebody at junior Kamenero hit a nuke,

you know, as they were to do so themselves, which is always cool. And I think we saw that in 2024.

And I do think that's something that we could see with this team, obviously with like Tati's,

Manny, Meryl, Gavin Sheets coming on the way you did last year, Nikas Tiano's like, I think if

those guys see Nikas Tiano's like, you know, turn it on and he's got a 20 to 25 home run season on

Duhar. You know, I think Louriano, I mean, there's so many guys that can contribute. And it would

be nice to see kind of that 2024 vibe where like there's so much belief in each other up and down

the lineup and then so much confidence and then so much excitement when those guys come through

in big spots because like, I think that's one of the things that's like jumped off the screen when

this team is going well is like, there's a togetherness and an excitement for one another.

Yeah. And honestly, I've said this to some people. I'm not sure I said it on here, but

one of the things that team was missing last year and they got to play offs and, you know,

how to chance against the Cubs and all that and had a chance to get out of that first round. But

the thing they were missing and it's as loaded to say this now, they were missing Jericho and

Pro4 and and and and Hassan Kim and some of those personalities that really like kept guys loose

and lifted and guys who were really and not saying the other guys weren't into it for their

teammates, but those guys were pure joy when things were going well. And I think they were and

hype men. I think that kind of missed that last year a little bit. And I think that, you know,

Merrill can do that, but he struggled a lot last year. He was out. He was really down on his

own performance. And I think that that held him back a little from being more, you know,

sort of effusive with everything. I think he's a huge key for this team this year. I think,

I think he might be the key that unlocks things offensively for them in the middle of that line

up and getting back to the guy that we know he can be and that he knows he can be quite frankly

and seeing him just get comfortable again. I think is really the key to see to driving this

offense to where it can go. Somebody was going to give you 42 million dollars and all you had to do

at worst was suck at baseball for three years. Even if you were bad, you just had to suck at

baseball for three years and collect 42 million dollars. I know. I know. And he's still got a year.

And I think it's about 15 left with them. And I wonder what's going to happen there? Like,

are they going to just, I mean, I guess they have to invite them to bring them back. You can't just

eat 15 mil if you're the breeze. I mean, they're not the Dodgers. They can't just cut a guy from 15

mill. I, you know, it's, it's a shame because I, Jerkshire Prober is a guy I love watching play.

I love that guy. Even last year when he came back from the suspension and he was playing, I was kind

of like, it feels right to be back playing baseball. And I was like, he shouldn't have been. He

should not have been playing baseball. And yeah, it really is a shame because he's a guy who's very

likable, easy to root for. And when stuff like that happens, it's, you know, it's tough. Man,

I mean, it's tough. It really is. Yeah. The Tati's tonight so far, a couple of RBI is a hit,

run scored two walks. RBI was off the bat at 104. He's got a 500 on base, this, this

cactus league. It was what, 368, I think last year to lead the team. And that was kind of the

breakthrough is we were like really looking between the lines to give Fernando Tati's junior a

positive grade for 2025 when so much was missing that we expect from him the way he went about

his business as lead off hitter. Like there was something there. And, you know, strikeouts down,

walks up and you take the platinum club defense for granted now. It's all about finding that offense.

And yeah, I will say the spring's been interesting. I mean, you know, Gavin Sheets has eight walks

for strikeouts, not something I expected. He's being very selective. He's swinging off last. Yeah,

I did see that. Chronoin worth seven walks five strikeouts. If that guy's selective, the way he

was when he first came up has that good hand eye coordination, all of that, that changes things

for you. I mean, that guy, the problem that Jake runs into is he swing gets along and people

challenge him with velocity and he swings right through it. And if he can shorten up, if he can

be more selective, again, another guy, he bumps up his on base percentage by a few points. It's

the difference between this team having a average to below average offense and having a top 10 top

eight offense. You have a top eight offense with that bullpen and those the front of that rotation.

Pretty damn good. Yeah. Bullgarts hit in 318 now with a 900 OPS homer the other day.

And one thing I was going to say about Tatis, you know, watching him in the WVC, obviously the

results were great, but so much quieter at the plate after a year of like just trying stuff.

And like, you know, a short stride, barely noticeable, no big leg kick. And I think it was the

grand slam really short and direct with that swing. I mean, it was like the barrel the bat

traveled like maybe two feet like it went nowhere. And then the ball went everywhere. And it's like,

okay, I think and I think when you watch that, you're like, yeah, this is I think what it looked

like in 2021. He's so strong. He doesn't need a long swing. I mean, he just is. He just needs

to be quick to the quick to the ball. But yeah, he's a tinker. He's always been a tinker in

in season tinker with the swing. And sometimes you overdo it. And I think that he just

was overdoing it last year a bit. And he's he's had other seasons like that. But when he,

you're right, when he's quieter, it just looks better. And it all seems to come together for.

Yeah, well, it looked really good in the WBC. We talked about the lineup last time. And here we are

whole gang back together. Jake Kronoworth hit and lead off, followed by Tati's, followed by

Merrill, followed by Machado, then Sheets, Bogarts, and Duhar. For me, and then Loriano is your second

what, second lead off guy. So to speak, he's got a 368 on base on bases and something. I think he

hit a little lead off to start his career, not necessarily been like a super strong suit of his,

but if he's doing what he's doing this spring, that'll work well. But Kronoworth, like pretty

even splits last year, he was just a tick below for Annotati's in on base. And you know,

Stamman said they like what they've seen from him from that standpoint, particularly against

Rites. Although again, he's shown that he can hit lefties. And so, you know, I wonder how often we see

this arrangement of guys. And then when they are facing lefties, what is the change? Is it

Xander Bogarts who's got a 400 on base this year? And we saw him hitting out of that lead off spot.

Is it Tati's who obviously, you know, we've seen him do it. We saw him doing the WBC. But I'm kind

of excited about Jake potentially getting that opportunity, especially after a year where like,

I felt like he should have gotten a chance if Mike Schill wasn't incredibly stubborn and just

wouldn't change the script at any point in the season, despite what the results hold on.

Yeah, no, I think that if Jake is seeing a lot of pitches and is being selective and is,

is, you know, back to sort of the guy that sort of broke through with the Potter is where he was

kind of a walk a guy who's going to see a lot of pitches and be selective, go the other way and

do those things. Then yeah, I can see him being a lead off hitter. It's just the question is

sometimes he gets going bad and it's, it, it, he loses what makes him successful. And so I'm

down to give him that shot. I 100% because I think that the lead off guy is in there. I mean,

this is a team that does not have a lead off hitter, like a classic guy who gets on base of tons.

He's a lot of pitches, you know, whatever has the speed up top to, you know, go get you an

extra base and all those things get in scoring position. They don't really have that guy on the line

up. And so you're going to have to kind of make things work. And that's fine. Plenty of teams don't

have a pure lead off hitter. They have a guy who fits that role and does that role for them.

Can Jake be that? I mean, I think he, I think he and Bogart both have some of the things you want from

a lead off hitter, if not all of them. And so maybe it is something where you switch them right,

be lefty. I don't know. But I definitely think there is, I would be shocked if the lineup stays

pretty similar all year long like we saw last year. I would be very surprised if that's the case.

You know, obviously barring injury and whatever that's going to change it. But I do think this

will be more of a how are we going? Let's tinker with things here. Let's look at matchups. Let's do

those things. And quite frankly, it should be that way. You shouldn't just throw guys out there

based on fields. You should check what the data says and check, you know, if this guy does,

if there's a lefty out there that Jake Corona work has never gotten on base against, he should not

be leaning off against that guy. You know, I mean, you should, you should set that up differently. And

so I do think this will be more of a flexible situation than we saw last year.

Yeah, I wonder like, you know, if you go with two different arrangements based on lefty or

righty and Fernando Tatis Jr. for whatever reason hasn't always been a lefty killer. And this

is part of the reason why they went and got Miguel and Doohar. But, you know, if you are facing a

righty, you go crone Tatis Meryl Machado. When you're facing lefty, can you really switch it up

and go Tatis Meryl, Manny, maybe Manny's third instead of fourths that you make sure you see him

the first time in the first inning and then follow, you know, those three with a sheets or a

bowgarts. What have you? And that way you get like a little bit of Fernando Tatis Jr. with some

RBI potential. Then you get a little bit of Fernando Tatis Jr. with like, this is the guy you got

to face out of the gates. Good luck and kind of put that scare. You know, I don't know from a

hitter standpoint, like if it's, you know, two jumbled from one day to the next. But I do like

the potential of having kind of a couple different arrangements. Like you said, that will be flexible

that you'll change depending on how things are going throughout the season, but kind of put

in guys in different roles, depending on who you're seeing. Yeah, and I'll tell you the one thing

I do like, there's not a whole lot of lefty lefty respect. We haven't seen that at all this spring

and that was something that happened a lot last year. That's six, seven, eight last year and just

killed them against the cubs. And it's just, I mean, you know, after the first time that happens,

you say, maybe we break this up a little bit. Maybe we just just slide one guy in there. But no,

you just kept going with it, like keeping guys where they are. And you know what, these are

professional athletes. They can adjust. I bet if you asked them, they'd say, sure, yeah, let's do

that. Yeah. But yeah, I, again, I do think this will be a more flexible situation. I think that

inflexibility was part of the story last year with how things, how things ended and why there's

a new manager this year. So the 30,000 foot view we got from opening day on this team is what?

I think there's like a best team in the National League West. I think they, in my opinion,

this is a playoff team. I think that, you know, one or two things go wrong with, you know, I think

there are a lot hinges on these guys playing. And again, with, with, you know, the question mark

of Musgrove, the back end of the rotation, it's not necessarily that the players, the back end

of the rotation, the pitch of the back end of the rotation are bad. It's how reliable are they?

You know, given their recent track records. Can they actually do it?

And then the lineup, I definitely feel better than last year. I think Bogarts isn't a better spot

mentally. I think L'Oriano gives you the left fielder. You were missing all last year.

Gavin Sheetz looks far better. At the catcher spot, for me, is a much more solid

option there than they had last year. Merrill, I think, will bounce back. How far does he reach

the heights of his rookie year? I don't know. And he's not going to surprise anybody like he did

then. But I do think it'll be better than last year. So I think, and I think the bench is better.

So I, I like the offense better. A lot of questions with the pitching staff. No questions with the

bullpen. I think it'll be the best of baseball yet again. Injury health is going to determine this

team season. But I feel pretty good that they're the team that, that comes in second, the naturally

guist. And I think they'll be back in the playoffs. Probably the line from Manny that stood out from

his scrum today was asked about like his goals for the season and for himself and for the team,

he said, just stay healthy, which I mean, I think that's kind of nail on the head. Like it doesn't

guarantee anything that you're going to be in the world series to get back to the CS if you stay

healthy. But you know, you have no opportunity. And last year, like just a snake bit year for Merrill,

you going through what he was going through. You didn't have Joe at all. And

to tease, I mean, you know, deal with getting hit and all that stuff. I mean, yeah. So, you know,

I think that that was I think a mature thoughtful response from Manny, just knowing that

that's often kind of the difference with some of these teams, especially

especially a team like them that like I agree with you. I think it's a playoff team. But you could

see if the couple things go poorly if a couple guys deal with health concerns. How could not be a

playoff team? Nothing's guaranteed for them. But I think there is that potential for them to

reach the highs of 2024, which when they were going and they were one went away from really doing

something special. Like I think something like that, like you could you could see the potential

there in this group. But things have to go right. And one of those things obviously is health.

Agreed. And I think again, you say one thing goes wrong. This could do you real the whole thing.

If a couple things go right, it could elevate them even further. You know, and so they really are

in that swing setting. But I think their baseline is good. And that's where you want to be at this

point. It's easy. You never know what's going to happen. But that baseline, middle the road where

they're at, I think is a playoff team. What's your cooking for SI? I got top 50 prospects coming out

on. I believe Wednesday. And I hate to disappoint. But there's only one podriest prospect on the list.

Well, I'm maybe there's a cry. There's even one. There's a few X podriest prospects on the list.

Very high. Sadly. But now I got crew school craft coming in at 49. I really like him. I got

him hired in a lot of them in there. I got I got him hired in a lot of people. He's just,

you know, if you guys haven't seen any videos of him pitching, go go look him up. He's six, eight,

really easy velocity. And it comes on guys even quicker because he's got like seven feet of

extension. I mean, it's it's insane. And the thing about him is, you know, he's that big and

throws that hard. But his secondary pitches are arguably better than his fastball. His change up

is really good. His sliders getting better. We'll be really fun to watch him this year. They've

got him targeted for like 20 plus starts at at Elson or potentially Fort Wayne. And I think he'll

be a fun one if you ever have a chance to get up to Elson or to go watch him. And I'll get

shipped off at the deadline for a starting pitcher. We don't have to put that evil on him.

Darn it at this point. Let's let's let's hope that one day they're going to start developing

some of these guys and bringing them up and have cheap pro, cheap players to fill out the roster,

you know. We'll get the scouting report on crew school craft, the future career San Diego Padre.

All started. Yeah nailed it. Ryan always a pleasure. Thanks for doing it.

Um, thanks for having me, man. Enjoy your opening day. Got any plans?

Uh, seeing if I'm going to be I might be a pet go, but I'm not 100% sure yet. We're still trying

to figure that out, but I'll definitely be. Uh, we've been doing a lot of like, you know, live

update, live blogging stuff that has been so much fun to do. It's like old school 2010 internet.

And I'm loving it. Uh, so go check those out on SI. It'll be on our front page. Uh, we'll just

keep you up to end of all the games around the league. Always good work. And I hope to see you at

pet go. If not enjoy your opening day and look forward to catching up again, uh, hopefully soon down

the road. All right. Thanks, man.