E 719 - 8.4.26

The twenty twenty six Major League Baseball Trading Deadline is over. And now we're going to review whether or not any of the teams did enough to actually give the Dodgers a real shot.

The Dodgers did what everybody expected them to, you and me included by trading for a Tarek Scuble, which everybody thinks is an eventuality. And and and and that's the lead here, right? You can talk about all we'll talk about a lot of deals that happened, a lot of teams that tried to position themselves in a way that they actually could have some sort of a chance against the Dodgers. and in in the long run

You know, the field still I think you said this before the podcast, the field has a better chance to win the World Series than the Dodgers, but if you had to bet on one team, it's so overwhelmingly the Dodgers right now, it's not even far and this is where I think gambling and the odds are kinda funny, 'cause if you go to Vegas right now and you had to choose between who has the highest chance to win the World Series, the Dodgers or anybody else. The Dodgers are not over fifty percent chance to win the World Series.

But I think if you asked baseball fans if it's a coin flip between whether the Dodgers win the World Series or another team, you'd say it's pretty much a coin flip. It it it is. And you know, we were joking before the podcast about the Dodgers going, Yeah, you know, in the first series the Dodgers might play, a best of five, and they're gonna pitch three pitchers, you know, Shohei Otani might be the number three. Right, they're gonna go scooble Yamamoto Otani, which means guys like Blake Snell and Glasdow are just like

Sasaki,

no, you we don't need you guys. Yeah, yeah, you guys you guys come at the bullback. Take a rest. Take a rest. So yeah, it's you know, and and so that's what's come out of it. And and and and I think I I you know think more than anything else about this going, does the major league baseball owners or do the major league baseball owners feel that they really want the Dodgers to win the World Series because that will force baseball to accept the salary cap.

And that the everybody else's the players in particular are hoping not. Right. It it certainly feels like they sort of allowed you know, people were kind of commenting on, you know, wow, the Dodgers didn't spend a lot to get you know, they didn't give get you that they weren't charged a ton of in prospects. But I think it was less that it was a specific set of collusion and more just sort of the current issue with the Dodgers in that teams looked at and go, Do we really wanna give up our top prospects?

For a half season of Tarek Scuble when the Dodgers not a half. Right, not even a half, a third of a season of Tarek Scuble. And when the Dodgers are just gonna sign him in the off season anyway. And there it is. Right. Right. In fact

Not only did they not sign Tiger Tarra Scuble, but they didn't sign Casey Myes either. So that just tells you where the Tigers heads are at going. We don't want to obviously, you know, pay overpay our players. We'll just try to do it the hard way. And you know, so the Dodgers are are in a position now where, you know, obviously they they are even more the team to beat than they were before the trading deadline. And and I saw today and let's talk about this. So the Dodgers have one point one billion dollars in deferred contracts on on six players. And that's the issue is because we can talk

Talk about how other teams can increase their salary and we can put in a salary floor and they can definitely do that. But not every major league franchise can leave a billion dollars plus floating in deferred contracts and be a functional business. Right, which is now kind of afforded them a

So,

you know, the the idea that the players like never, never, never want a salary cap. You know what?

think a salary cap and a salary floor might be the only way we can make a difference. Right, right. I don't think the players are gonna ever want a salary cap. That's true. But I think what could happen and and this is what and this is the the major league baseball balls nightmare. The Dodgers stomp the playoffs in the NL, play the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series and win four zero in a really boring World Series. That is the nightmare. That's the owner nightmare. Right, that's the that's the nightmare for baseball. Right. Right.

No, that's a nightmare for baseball because now you're going into a lockout with that as the last thing in your baseball memory.

Yeah, and we may not have baseball. Right. And the last thing you're gonna remember is a dominant Dodgers team kicking the teeth of everybody in after they bought Tarek Scoobyl and have more money than God. And what and if that's the case, a salary cap's inevitable because it's just the every optic is pointing towards it in that case. If you don't want a salary and cap in baseball, root for anybody but the Dodgers. Well, speaking of what those other teams did, and so that's does anybody out there have a chance? And I would say yes, and I have to say I'm impressed maybe

Even a little surprised at the level at which all the other teams actually made deals to try to improve themselves, to give them a chance. And you're hoping in that series against the Dodgers that you know things happen that just fall your way. But if you're not good enough to even compete with them in the first place, you know, so that's why teams like the Padres and teams like the Phillies did all these things to bring in players going, you know what? When we get our shot, we want to take our shot. And I would say to me, the four big winners of the trade deadline are the Yankees.

the Red Sox, the Cubs, and the Phillies. I

Don't know if anybody else the Brewers surprisingly did less than them to do. The Rays some things. They brought in Freddie Peralta. They well we'll go through all of the trades, obviously. The Guardians made some moves, you know, the Orioles made some moves. Question mark. Some of the teams made moves to position themselves to make the playoffs, like the Pirates that decide and the White Sox to say, look, we making the playoffs for those two teams would be so incredibly huge, they don't need to win the World Series. Right, and I think if we go through it, I'd say the trade death

Deadline really kind of got started on July 30th with the Mets trading AJ Minter to the Twins. That was sort of the first, that was sort of the the heralding of the here it comes. And that was a signal that the twins said, you know, hey, we think we can win this division. Well, we're gonna we're buying a little bit. So then we saw the twins trade it again the next day. They, you know, again, it's Dean Kramer from Germard O'Reilly. Obviously, not big names, but now is when we move into the big names. As now the Guardians go out and they get Boneylor in, who is not having a great season for the Guardians. No, no, that's a big name. Right, but the brave.

Went out and got Lane Thomas Camilo Duvall went to the fr went to the Pirates moving from the Yankees, which I thought was interesting. Them going the Dodgers obviously traded for Terry Scuble that day, and the Mariners moved off of Castillo, who was having a dreadful season. Yeah, yeah, and and the Mariners, I don't I certainly don't think they did enough in the division that is also up for games that is currently led by the Houston Astros, who on the on the strength of a recent winning streak, they made some changes to add to their team. And you know what? I I it's anybody's game.

And and so the question is, you you just want to get into the tournament because I think that's how some of these teams think the White Sox feel that way. The twins feel that way. And you can see that in the way they made the moves. The White Sox trade for Hoy Scar Brazzabon. Like you're seeing the the Cubs went and they traded a bunch of guys to show up their their postseason attempt. You could see that in what they were doing with the guys they went to go. Yeah, Clay Holmes to go with David Peterson already. you know, they got you know two fifths of the Met's starting rotation, and the Met's starting rotation wasn't that great this year, so that's kind of interesting.

Yeah, well, who was a a very good defensive player a couple of years ago, and now has sort of sort of been you know hiding behind the fact that his bat's so bad and if his defense slipped a little bit, which it did, he's not quite that coveted player that he was. So I I think y you're trying to you know get in we were talking about this before the podcast. you know, if you're a team like the Brewers who we say didn't really do that much to imp improve their chances because they couldn't sign Scoobyl, they could have signed Scrubble, but they didn't. Right, right and and outside

Of Adley Rutschman, who the Brewers weren't going to trade for to begin with. But outside of him, it wasn't like there were a ton of huge names moving around at this deadline. Yeah, I think Rutschman would be among the big besides Scoobyl, obviously, being the Scoobel obviously. Right. But but like there the drop off between Scoobyl and anybody else being traded in this class is pretty big. And everything was sort of like tinkering and positioning. you know, the the the Rays bringing Liam Hicks from the Marlins and to to catch for them because you know the Rays hey, look they

They've got one of the best records in all of baseball. But do you really believe that they have a chance to to go all the way? Right, right. If you're telling me if you were we're counting out we're moving Terek Scuobel from the equation, if we're saying Clay Holmes is the prize of the free the trade deadline pitching class and Taylor Ward, Joe Adele, and Adley Rutschman are the prize of the free agent hitting class, I mean Yeah. That's like they're good players, but that's not that's not like, you know, Terek Scubel.

And and and and teams like the Jays

Who we thought should be sellers did turn out to be sellers, moving Gaussman, Kevin Gaussman to the Cubs. They did trade to the Angels for Jose Soriano, but that's basically for next year. They were like the guys locked into a contract going forward. So the Jays are already thinking they they they picked the lane. Right. And I and I gotta commend them for that. The Cardinals picked the lane. They started selling off their guys. They've finally it was starting to catch up to them. They were fading now, and it makes sense. Just make the trades, don't try and go all in to save what might already be a finished season.

Obviously

the Mets sold big, the Giants sold big. Both of those teams should have.

So yeah, that I mean the Mets basically we we watched the game a little bit on Sunday where, you know, Brazzabon, Brooks Rayleigh, and and Luke Weaver all pitched for the Mets and we were like, Well, is that just a dare by the Mets to say if you don't trade for them, we're gonna keep pitching these guys? All three got traded immediately. Right, right. And the next day all of them got traded. So so I don't know who's gonna be out of the bullpen for the Mets the rest of the you a bunch of guys named Joe. Anybody. So and and you know, the the the teams are just hoping that, you know, if you're a really good team.

Like I'm gonna use the Brewers an example. And let's say you've got Mizarrowski in your rotation and and and he you're counting on him to win a playoff game by basically pitching a darn shutout, which is kind of the way you're gonna have to beat the Dodgers at this point. all of a sudden you've got a chance with just one other good start from from your starters to actually beat a team like the Dodgers. And just because the Brewers got swamped by the Dodgers last year and couldn't score off them, doesn't mean that the same thing's gonna happen this year. Right. And that's the thing you gotta remember. Yes, they lost last year. Yes.

But that was last year and this is this year. And you cannot assume that the playoffs are gonna go exactly the same for the Dodgers. Now, at the same time

Why wouldn't it? They you could argue they're better this year. Yeah, and and they're better than any team in not only their league and and and better team than any but here's the thing, a better team than any American league. The team that that has a chance in the American League to sort of surprise everybody, it's already done that by by going twenty three and four, are the Red Sox. And and their biggest acquisition may be as they drive to the playoffs now, and they're the number one wild card team, is that Garrett Crochet actually is healthy enough to pitch for them. Right, right, exactly. They need it for them to have any chance they

need if they do and they're able to somehow do a two thousand and eighteen thing and run the table and get to the World Series and there are the Dodgers again, just like they were eight years ago. you know, the karma, you know, Mojo, all those things right start creeping in and it's just like every time you think like there's no way the Dodgers lose. They couldn't

Possibly this this is this is the like one of the most stacked teams of all time. Baseball has a way of making you go, Yeah, not so fast. Not so fast. Not so fast, you know, you're going to lose. So, you know, the I I like that the teams were really active and they tried to position themselves. They didn't just fold up their tents once the Dodgers signed a scoobal and said, Right, yeah, we're done. The Yankees didn't. The rah you know, the Yankees made a lot of moves too. So it's not like the Red Sox are gonna run away that division. I think the Yankees show they're here to play. Because I think you have almost a better chance.

in the American League to beat the Dodgers if you can get to the World obviously in one for the team that makes it to the World Series, than in the National League where I I just don't I just don't know which team in the National League has a chance. I I think it's well I I I I think it's actually really not that different. Only because you have to look at it that in both series, if anything, the team that has the best chance of beating the Dodgers is whoever plays them first, 'cause it's a five game series. Right. Win that first game and then beating the Dodgers becomes a real possibility. I think it's really hard

For those American league teams. I think the Yankees would have the best shot just because of their starting pitching. Provide because even if the Red Sox get crochet back, they don't have that second guy that's that level. No. Right, right, right. And so it's like I could see the Yankee starters between Freed and and Cole. It's like, okay, yeah, the Yankee team could get him, but like that Yankee team.

Struggled in the World Series on defense last year. In the in the playoffs. In the playoffs. And Yeah. They might be worse this year defensively. Well, and and particularly if they try to figure out how they're gonna employ Luis Garcia Junior, who they got, which was a nice deal for the Yankees. Right. They needed bats. You know, from from because g given the fact that Bellinger and and Judge are still out, they needed some hitting, so they got that. But I d I don't know how they're gonna figure out how to put in Luis Garcia Junior, Heliot Rama Rice, Heliot Ramos they just brought in. They've just got a lot of guys that are are

you know in the l gonna be in the lineup jazz chisholm there's just how are you gonna play all these guys so you're gonna have to and and when if Stanton if Stanton ever comes back from the He has to be DH like if he's the DH then you're gonna get a platoon at DH. There's just a lot of guys and maybe that's what you need. Just a lot of guys because you don't know who's gonna be healthy when it comes time to play the darn games. The other team I wanted to ask you about and and they didn't

they they they didn't fold up, they didn't go away. They play in the same division with the Dodgers. They're currently I think they're the third place team behind the D backs is the Padres. And you know, they made a lot of deals, including getting Robbie Ray from the Giants, which was not a s another small deal. And and so what do you think the Pad are the Padres like really serious about competing with the Dodgers or just want to make the playoffs? What what do you think the thinking is there in terms of, you know, we we've made some deals. Do we do we think that they're good enough to actually win a playoff series?

And go further than that. No, I think the Padres were a team that had to go all in because their roster is constructed in a way where if they don't go all in, what are they doing? They're a team that has a lot of money. They don't have a lot of places to go in free agents. Last roundup kind of thing? Right, right. I don't think that they don't have a lot of moves left they can make. And so they can either continue trying to push it forward here with their guys and go, okay, all it takes is the right guys in our lineup getting on a hot streak and we can play above our current level. And it's like

Okay, you only have so many years of good Machado left. You know, it's like you gotta you gotta make maximize and you got so much money tied up in your roster already. It's not like you're gonna be able to bring in reinforcements anytime soon. Makes sense why they kind of went for it. I kind of think the Padres of the RT, when you look at all their individual players, if all of them were at their best selves, that's a really good team. But when's the last time Xander Bogartz was his best self? If all of those players played like themselves of, you know, th five seasons.

their career. They they've got s all stars at at almost every position, you know, on the team, but I think that's what A. J. Prellor was hoping for. The problem is they're not playing like their best selves and they haven't for a long time. Right. So I I don't I don't think they and and the Diamondbacks, you know, also in that division, they more conspicuously didn't really do very much to to change their fortunes. And they they've had a nice season. They won't got Lars Nudbar. there you go. And

And so I d I think that the rightly so the diamonds are like, Yeah, we can be better but we're not gonna compete.

Right, exa right, right. We're not gonna be able to compete, so it doesn't make sense for us to shed you know, give out a bunch of money just to kind of like prove a point, essentially. And the Braves I I gotta believe Alex Anthropoulos, who's a noted deal maker, right? Couldn't find a deal. That's just not their style. They couldn't find a deal. But like look, when do you remember that when was the last time you remember this Braves organization making a big swing trade? Right, but but they don't make big moves.

The type to go and trade for Scoobul, and if you're not gonna go again in Scooba, who is the guy this Braves team should go take it to? Well, you know, that that's an interesting point when you make like a had the Braves signed Scooba. Okay, right. All of a sudden you're looking at them against the Dodgers going, maybe they have a chance. Right, totally. The kind of the issue is where the hell who would the hell to trade for Scooby? Give them right, right? So I I think you know, the the the the the Braves surprised me by doing as little as they did, thinking that okay, maybe we're good enough at

As we are and and I don't know why they would I don't know why they'd think that they would think that other than being in first place, I guess as long as they have and they're they're they're doing all this without much of a contribution from Spencer Strider who was supposed to be their anchor and now he's hurt. So, you know, you you you gotta think this might not be their year, is my point. And it's interesting when you look at a guy like Spencer Strider and you look at guy like Sandy Allen Contra

Who both guys coming back from injuries. They they're both the the the hell of baseball is trying to predict which one is which. Because you you when you look at it, you're like, okay, both of them obviously aren't gonna come back and just immediately be. But Alan Contra's come back and now he is him old himself and Strider looks like a sh just not like the pitcher that we thought he was going to be. And now he's hurt. Okay.

And that's starting to rot a little bit over time. Right, right. What we're seeing is is that's not necessarily a bad thing, but what it limits is your flexibility later on. All of a sudden there's thing times where you're like, we would like to do those things. But wait, we've got all of this money tied up in Austin Riley and But the s the the end of the day you would still rank them probably third in the NL if you want to put the Brewers behind the Dodgers. I might even rank them fourth behind the Phillies.

So I I think that you know they they didn't do as much as some of the other teams did, but in general the teams did a lot to try to position themselves as having a chance to go for the playoffs. I think I mean when I looked across the league, there was so much movement that what we saw in the American League is that all these American league teams clearly think, hey, this is wide open. We don't you you know, which which I wonder means that I wonder if that means they've got a better read on where Aaron Judge really is. Yeah.

Maybe we do have a chance. Right. If you're thinking, you know what, there's a chance that Aaron Judge isn't coming back till right close around the playoffs and we don't know what he's going to be looking like. Well, then that Yankee team is not the Yankee team that we expect them to be, which means anybody can win the American League. On the other hand, the Yankees at full strength, if Judge were to come back and be judge. They're better than everybody in the American League.

if you have Stanton's back and all this like all of a sudden Stanton, I don't even care about Stanton. You put have to be back. You put you put a healthy Aaron Judge back in that lineup and Bellinger and the pitchers are all there, they're the class of the American league, and I don't even know if it's close at that point. I kind of tend to agree with you there. So I wanted to you know be let maybe we should turn away from the trade deadline at the I think we've covered a little bit, unless you've got other things. No, no, no, we'll cover there. So, you know, we don't give the the the women much, you know, women's baseball women's baseball much recognition here but

The inaugural season of the women's pro baseball league began on Saturday this past weekend. And we talked about it a little bit. and and they're playing in one location of all the games over about a four week period. And it's really exciting to, you know, finally have s and the the women have a chance to play real baseball like it was in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in nineteen in the nineteen forties and they have

had yesterday ninety nine year old Dorothy whatever

And she threw out she actually from her wheelchair, she threw the ball, threw it right on target and all that. And then the people went nuts. And it's really fun that they're they're playing these games and I don't know that you'll you know find them easily on television some places, but if you get a chance, I I think what you're gonna see, and I haven't watched the game yet myself, is a quality of baseball that might surprise you a little bit. You will see baseball. You're gonna see baseball it

And and and and it's I don't want to say if it's sad it's surprising to me that Monet Davis, who was known as a little league star

Well over ten years ago is one of the notable names in the league that we have to go ten years later and she's still the name that's being carried through. They there there are a lot of other women that play baseball at a very high level. Kelsey Whitmore is probably the the one that gets the most notoriety today, but people don't know her. She doesn't have as much name recognition as Monet Davis. Well, that's because you know you haven't ever had a platform like this to start getting these names out there. And that's the best thing that we know now we're starting to hear these names on a regular basis. So all week

And and if there happens to not be a major league baseball season for at least part of the year next year, you know, besides the Savannah Bananas, you might have the opportunity to watch the women's professional baseball league as an alternative, at least for some of the time. And that might be better baseball. It might be better baseball. So hey, you know, we know what the teams are are are are looking like now for the rest of the season. the stress drive is here. I think maybe next

podcast we'll talk a little bit about okay so who are your playoff teams because I think we're at that point where we're past the you know the two thirds mark and and pretty much they're just positioning for the playoffs and there we know there are teams that aren't in it but there are teams that you know really still have a chance who it would be great to see them make the playoffs. You're a brave man for picking the American league playoff picture next