Which players on track for a star-like 5 WAR season? Ep. 710 5 26 26

One third of the way through the twenty twenty-six baseball season. We're gonna take a look at where the players are in terms of reaching five war this season, where the teams are, and what this week in baseball was all about. You know what we haven't had in twenty twenty-six so far, and we didn't have time. Well, hold on a second. Just wait, just wait. that's if you're a Met fan, yeah no doubt. I'm wearing orange today, by the way, and that is in honor of not the Mets, the New York Knicks.

Because the Met fans right now like me are saying let's go Knicks. Yeah, yeah, there's a there's not a lot going on. We we briefly crawled out of last place in the NLEs to promptly get swept by the Marlins and get put right back there. They they they still can hit and the May Mets, which we're looking up, are looking more like the April Mets. Right at this point. But what we haven't had in twenty twenty six and we didn't have in the entire season in twenty twenty five is a no hitter.

We have it's been a while since we've ha after we had a run of them that one year. Exactly. So and and I think, you know, part of it is number one, you know, it's really hard to pitch the whole game right now as we see fewer and fewer complete games. And so the no hitters we seem to see more of now are these combined no hitters, which are just the least sexy thing by the way, in terms of a baseball game. You do see managers lifting guys like, Look, I gotta take you out, you've you've reached the pitch limit.

So and then and the old-time pitchers and and I kind of feel the way they do, going, let the guy try until he gives up a hit for God's sake.

So it's just tough though, 'cause you know, we see how fast these innings can go wrong and let him go until he gives up a hit. It's like okay, it really only takes one or two hits to really get a rally going. So if you leave a guy out there and he gives up a hit, then you leave him in for one batter too long, all of a sudden the a closed game isn't anymore. We were we did that yesterday, we were watching the Met game and we're like, Okay, is he gonna leave this guy in for one more hit to try and get another out and Mendoza came out and took the guy out. Didn't help the Mets win the game. Yeah, that was a Marlin pitching. That was a Marlin pitching. It was Clayton McCullough who did that.

Almost Cooperstown (02:00.458)
Right, with he said, okay, you've reached the end of the line, I'm getting you out of there, and and it was the right thing to do, obviously, as it turned out. So yeah, we're we're fifty, you know, depending on where you are. It's it's Monday Memorial Day here when we're recording this. So, you know, after today, some teams will have fifty-four, fifty-five games, some teams will have fifty-three, fifty-four, but we're a third of the way through the season at fifty-four games. Things are pretty much kind of roughly holding where they're supposed to where they've been kind of now for a while. There hasn't been any kind of major shake up recently. Teams have kind of held pat.

You know, the the biggest change has been the Guardians have really asserted themselves now at the top of the AL Central over the last week or so because they've gone eight and two and now they're the only team in the division with a winning record. Well, I think the the bigger story is the Tigers losing 16 out of 18 since Scuba went down, and and so that's gonna make life a lot easier for the for the Guardians. You were previewing what what what might have been my potential story of the week is which was going to be Tarek Scuba is not going to be a Tiger at the end of this season. I completely agree. Right, and I think we could just talk about that because it is in my

Story of the week. But yeah, there's no way Tiger Terry Scoobel is going to be a tiger at the end of this season. Well, and and and I sort of suggested my my lead story of the week, which is I want to go through the five war players for in terms of who's on pace for that this season. and so before we get into that, I do want to talk about Scoobyl because I do think it's interesting that we looked at the Tigers off season this year and we're like, okay, yeah, they did everything right. They made their moves, they went all in to try and maximize the year on Scoobyl that they were gonna have to try and convince him to stay, and then he gets hurt.

Hurt and then you lose sixteen out of eighteen. And now it's Memorial Day. You're twelve games under five hundred. You're having a season like the Mets where you're like, it's a lost season, and now we don't know what we have as a team. Yeah, and I and I think that that those are those are two teams that of the four teams that I think are the most disappointing in Major League Baseball. the Tigers would certainly be there, the Mets would be one of them, the Red Sox would be one of them. And I would still say the Phillies, because they're under five hundred, and even though they've played a little better lately, and I

do expect them they have a better chance to right the ship than the other three teams. that's still really disappointing to be under five hundred. I think the Baroners would probably all the Baroners and the Blue Jays would probably both be there right now. The Blue Jays have kind of started to climb out of there, but that still leaves them three games under five hundred. Right, right. And and and I think it's it's that's a really good point 'cause I think if I look at the West with the athletics right now in first place, I not sustainable in my opinion. I don't I don't think so. The Astros are are bad, maybe. You know, I think everybody

Almost Cooperstown (04:29.996)
In the West is kind of bad, so it's going be So the Mariners are gonna, I think, are gonna be okay in the end, is what I'm trying to say. Well, unless they just kind of don't hit, they didn't get they've been shut out six times this year already. Met fans say hold my beer. Right, right. But the Mariners weren't shut out six times all of last season. Now they've been shut out six times before June. Well, they they don't Jorge Polanco in that lineup. I know that's really hurting. Well, they're the I he I mean he was good for them last year, but I think more the absence of Kyle Raleigh going, we we knew he was gonna take a step back this year, but we didn't think he was gonna.

And like so obviously when he is not hitting what we knew was already an off somewhat of an offensively anemic lineup, when he's not going is truly has nothing going for it. Do you think the Rangers can make a run at them?

No. Yeah, I I'm not feeling it either. Maybe two, three years ago, but like this is the same ra we've done this song and dance with the Rangers for I want them to make a run, but I you know you know, there's it's it's theoretically possible because th they're they have enough collection on the talent of the roster or if things break if guys play the way they're right, they could. They they they would be good, but like

they've not done that for like all since they had that World Series appearance. So Evan Carter never got back to where he was. Corey Seeger is is injured l enough that even if he's good and he you know he never you know he never can s sort of sustain it, you know, in terms of picking the team up on his back and do that. He's a great player, but but you can't expect him to carry a team entirely on his own. And I think when you look at these guys Why Langford hasn't been what they expected. And now we've seen all of these young guys come up. We've seen guys like Gunnar Henderson, we've seen guys like like Mark Vientos.

We've seen guys like Evan Carter, and we have these free swinging young stars that come up PCA. That they have these initial really hot starts in the league. I think purely because pitchers kind of ego challenge them for a while and they're willing to throw pitches, and then all of a sudden, okay, yeah, the guy is good enough. Then all of a sudden the pitchers all adjust to a guy like Mark Vientos and go, if we throw a slider, literally at any point in the game, this guy will probably swing at it. So, okay, we're just gonna do that. And they're never able to make that adjustment. All these young guys aren't making that.

Almost Cooperstown (06:40.016)
First adjustment to the pitchers. And now you're running into the situation where right now the league is technically on pace for its lowing bat lowest batting average since the season before they lowered the mound. Yeah. And and that's I I think the the story this year, and we talked about that on the prior podcast, is the defensive positioning is so good that I see it all the time. Guys hit the ball sharply and there's a guy standing there. Now it goes right to him. That that is a deceptive statistic because basically every single year offense is down for the first two months of the season and then it

Always rises and you will see the league batting average typically go up three to eight points over the course of the the rest of the season. So guys are gonna start hitting better across the board. It's funny you say I wrote a post I don't know a year or two ago about you know when the weather gets hotter, do hot the hitters get hotter? And the and the and the conclusion was, yeah, kinda. Right. You the I think they warm up. And I think the pitchers also start getting a little bit tired, and all of a sudden you start having more games where you have guys giving up hits. You don't have these dominant beginning to end.

And starter to reliever performances that you get a lot in the beginning of the year. So so you you know you mentioned the the Guardians and I I agree with you there. I the only team I think that has a chance, because I'm I'm counting the Tigers out of it at this point, I don't think they can come back from where they are without School Bull for most of the season. Right. I I'd say the Royals, I keep expecting the Royals to like turn a corner and and given the fact that the Twins, although they swept you know, the series over the weekend against the Red Sox, which ain't saying much these days, there's no other team right in that the White Sox.

They're kind of amusing that they're doing okay, but that's not a team you think is gonna be there at the end. So the Royals are the other team. And it is interesting that we're seeing across the league that really, with the exception of like the Guardians and the Rays, a lot of these defense first, you know, make sure we can run prevention. Those teams aren't doing well this year. You gotta hit. You gotta hit. And you're seeing a lot of teams like the Royals, like the Mets that have the they might have one singular superstar in their lineup that's even having a great year. Bobby Wood Jr. is leading the league in war.

I think. And that's not making a lick of difference. Except for one guy. That's not making a lick of difference for their record. Yeah. No, and and I think the the Royals, you know, have been doing this for now three or three years or so, and I'm, you know, there's no reason when you see something over and over again to think it's going to change all of a sudden. Right. So yeah, and they do I think the Yankees ha will ch catch the Rays who are playing unbelievable baseball. Yeah, I do because like everybody, every week we talk about this. I doubt them. I doubt the Brewers. And they can't

Almost Cooperstown (09:09.622)
Making me look bad. The fun for the Rays fans is we'll all sit here doubting them all year. And there's some years well, we'll sit here going until probably about like the third week in August, going, I guess they're for real. They're good. They're good. So no, in the National League, you know, the the Braves have, you know, run away with it in that no other team in the East has really distinguished themselves as being a team that's worthy of gonna make a run at those guys. I would you agree with that? Right, they've played pretty much to their record. I think they're they the best thing for them is that they might not really have to deal with much of.

Of anything else for the rest of the the East this season. That they're all kind of those teams are all middle around 500. Maybe one sneaks into a wild guard, and none are gonna actually give the Braves any kind of chance. Right, right. I I I expect the Phillies to emerge. The Nationals and the Marlins are they're better, right? They're they're more fun to watch. they're certainly a pain in the neck to the mess having both of those teams sweep the Mets recently. and so I I think that's that's a plus. in the central, I think I think the same thing about Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, who are having decent years.

Years, it's kind of amusing. Maybe they're better than they have been, but they're not ready yet. The the a the that central, I mean, cause cut it's kinda happened because the Cubs have fallen apart here over the year. Really bad stretch. Really bad stretch. Ever since one of their pitchers went down, it's just been absolute nightmare season for them. And so I think you run into Matthew Boyd went down a couple weeks ago. Right. And I think you're just gonna run into something here with the central that the first team to get hot and go on a run will probably be able to at least get away. And maybe the Brewers have already done that. Right. The Brewers maybe and

So they're still only one and a half games up, so they still haven't given themselves. I expect the Cubs to be there at the end. I'm not sure I I don't believe in the Cardinals, although good for them that they have done as well as they have for as long as Molly Marmal buying himself another year. You know, he makes me look dumb because I keep calling for his head, and then they have overperformed, I'd say, this year, to their fans' delight at this point. and then in the West, you know, the Dodgers and the Padres, and we should give the Padres a little shout out. Hey, I I was I was bullish on them this year. So yeah, they you know, and and my my friend Tom.

And his son Jack and they they listen listen to our podcast in in the mornings sometimes. And you know, they they we we we talk about the Padres not enough. and they are what he said yesterday when we were talking is the Padres are the only professional team in San Diego. And so you have to think about that for a second. So if you're in San Diego, you kinda have to be a Padre fan 'cause there isn't any other team to be a fan of Right, and they're doing all this without getting a season from Fernando Tatis Junior 'cause he's been dreadful now. He's I think he has had the longest homerless streak of his career.

Almost Cooperstown (11:39.121)
One finally. Finally, but he had just gone through that. So I mean that's a big that's a big deal, the fact that they're playing this well without getting anything from their s one of their superstars. So and so the Padres support, and I don't think about it this way, the fan support is incredible. I the ballpark is amazing and they sell out like crazy. So I I I think we kind of forget sometimes because in the shadow of LA and with the way the Dodgers play, you know, the the the San Diego Padres sometimes get forgotten. Other than that, in that division, the Giants well, I was wrong about them, but

They're they're they're like I don't know if they're a disappointing team, but they're not a good team. They're disappointing team. I'm sure their fans would say they're disappointing. And and then the the Diamondbacks, you know, with Corbin Carroll leading Major League Baseball with eight triples, twice as many as anybody else. I didn't realize he had 17 last year. and while he's good, I don't know that I'm ready to, you know, pick the D packs to make a run at the Padres and the Dodgers. The best thing for the D backs right now isn't that they might not need to make a run for the Dodgers and the Padres. Everybody else's bad name. Everybody else's bad

Enough that you just might get one of the other wildcard spots purely off of the fact that you'll be better than all of them right now. And of the two teams we haven't mentioned, they are tied for the worst record in baseball, and that would be the Rockies in the NL West and the Angels in the AL West. They're both 20 and 34 as of starting to play today. But I think it's more fun. The Rockies are more fun at 20 and 34. They're like more watchable than the Angels. The Angels, the Angels, it feels like it's coming to a boiling point there with ownership. Fans are now like there's just every night there's a chance to sell the team.

They're just so frustrated because the team feels directionless. At least you kind of have an idea of what the Rockies are going for. You look at this Angels roster and you're like, what are you even doing? Well and and so here I'll ask you the question right at this point. Do you trade Mike Trout?

Okay, better question, what does that actually do for you? turning the page in terms of saying we're gonna we're gonna okay, we we this guy was one of the greatest players of of all time. We couldn't make it work with him here. You know, let's what are you gonna get for him? Right, that's what I'm saying. You this is not trading Mike Trout of five years ago. This is trading like right now, like a two thirty heater with solid pop and okay. Sounds like he'd be a met. Right with okay and not great defense. So at best you're getting like a mid level

Almost Cooperstown (13:56.603)
prospect from somebody, maybe you can get a little more purely on name value and like the idea of like, maybe if he plays for literally not one of the most dysfunctional franchises in baseball, he has a bit of a rebound, at least this season. Yeah. Yeah. But you're not d all that is doing is page turning for the Angels. You're you're just like, okay, well now we go from having no idea what we're doing and having Mike Trout to just having no idea what we're doing and not having Mike Trout. Like nothing's really changed other than the absence of Mike Trout. And and I d and I don't want the Mets to

think about trading for him or bringing him in as the power because they certainly need the power they're they're not accomplished. But I I don't want and no the Mets have brought up, you know, all of every outfielder who is in their organization is now on the team it seems. bringing up Nick Morabito this week who when he came up to the Mets and this is following obviously Carson Benge was on the opening day roster and they brought up AJ Ewing a couple of weeks ago who's done well. So they had an an outfield this week where all three outfielders were rookie outfielders starting at the same time.

That night. The thing is that, you know, if you're going to watch a bad team, at least let's watch a young bad team right now. You know, and even that only goes so far because watching a bunch of young guys that don't hit the baseball isn't any more fun than watching a bunch of old guys not hit the baseball. But it's come on, it's better. You can't say that you'd rather watch MJ Melendez and Jared. To be fair, right now with the Mets I'm sort of at, I'd rather not watch because it's just not like they've scored four runs in five games or something insane. Yeah, let's not get into Metfan mode.

delays here because it it goes it goes downhill very very quickly but you know they are they are so off right now that they they somebody Tim Britton I think wrote today in The Athletic that they're looking like the 2009 Mets and that was the first year in City Field and I had season tickets that year I went a lot to a lot of games I don't remember anything good about that year other than the ballpark was nice so that's kind of what this year feels like for for Met fans. And and we've had some exemplary things out here going. We've seen you know in the Nick Kurtz for the A's has had the

47 game on base streak, which is the longest on base streak in A's history, which is cool just to see a guy. Well, actually Maguire has it over two seasons. Right, nobody I I feel like two seasons, everybody really doesn't count those because it just doesn't feel good to count those. But more so that you know, when you look at that, we were a guy that we were saying, okay, here he has, he had a great rookie year. Is he gonna be able to continue to reproduce that in his second season? And he's definitely doing that. Maybe not so much as a you know, maybe not so much as partner in Jacob Wilson. And and and hey, right, and and and it's not necessarily that he's hitting the

Almost Cooperstown (16:26.052)
bought at the ballpark at the same rate he did last year, but that kind of says he's a better hitter now. Right. Because he is being selective and and you know the the the power is there. We know that already. But I think if you're the age, you gotta be very excited about the fact that he's being more discerning at the plate. I think one of the more interesting things that you brought up was there was a you posted a substack post here from Neil Payne showing how the NL is just dominating the AL in inter league play so far this season. Which, granted, really small sample size was still interesting.

Yeah, and and and Neil went back and he's got a great substack, Neil Neil Payne substack. that you know i the the teams over the years, the the A L had a stretch where they were better and that was when the D H came in and because obviously you have nine hitters instead of eight and so they dominated in in all star games, which I never understood was a measure of how good the leagues were by the way, but people used to think that way. and but they won some World Series and that's another measure. But as it's turned out recently, right, this year the NL is putting it to the A L. I don't know if it really

means anything other than I think everybody if you ask them right now which league is stronger, I don't think any baseball fan would say anything but the National League looks stronger than the AL this year from what I can see. Right, right, right now, right. And as I I think that's all that really means. I do think it's interesting that, you know, you you have this gigantic delta at the moment, but you know, all that takes is a week or so where you get the Mets and the Rockies playing a bunch of inter league games and you'll correct that real quick. At this point in time, that's true. former Met JT Ginn had a no hitter into the ninth inning last last Monday, so a week

And and then it it all went wrong. He he not only gave up a hit, but he gave up, you know, a home run and and the and they ended up losing the game. so he came back off of that great start, everybody loved it, and then lasted two innings in his next start and and got got taken out of the game. So maybe that had an effect on him as losing that you know that no hitter at the end of the game. Chase Burns of the Reds is I would say the probably most underrated pitcher in baseball, or the pitcher that whose pitch.

Well he's a rookie. You can't expect major league baseball veterans. This guy's pitching like a ten year veteran right now. He's at an unbelievable start to the season. But we've seen I'm not trying to say that to downplay, but we've seen plenty of rookies come out look amazing for the first half of the season, and then wait, baseball is a tale of two halves, and that second half does not look the same. Right. I I I noticed this week that a guy who signed with the Orioles that's not named Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward, and I thought when he signed there, I thought, you know, that's he was an angel. He gets got

Almost Cooperstown (18:55.682)
Some power, maybe he's the he's having a great year with them. Yeah, you you you were not big on that side, which surprised me because he was a solid player for the Angels. So credit to him. Joe Ryan of the twins, I notice, has been pitching well for a team that isn't very good. and so that tells me that when the trade deadline comes around, he's gonna be at the top of the list of guys like, okay, what what do you have to give the twins to get Joe Ryan if you're making a run in one of those teams that's you know on the edge? And we don't know what's gonna happen injury-wise to the teams in contention, you know. Right, right. We're so

So far away from the trade deadline. But if the Dodgers think they could use him, they'll probably go and get because they've got what it takes. the you mentioned the Tigers, obviously, so we know we think that they're the Riley Green is still, you know, continuing to have a good season, considering the fact that there is very little help in the lineup from anybody else at that at that point. this week, the Mets D FA'd future Hall of Fame closer.

Craig Kimball, who when the Mets signed him, it was like, Wow, is he still around? And and he came out there and gave up some stuff. And so the th his last game was Thursday. He pitched two scoreless innings for the first time in his major league career, which is wild to me. Right. That's the crazier thing. He had never thrown two innings in his career up until that game and then they D F A'd. Okay, we used you up.

You're done. You threw two in and never did that before. You're finished and off you go. another former Met, Dickie Lovelady, I just I just love calling yes, it was Richard Lovelady, and then then all of a sudden it was Dickie Lovelady, left-handed pitcher, is closing gains for the Nationals. And and and the Mess must have DFA'd that guy like three times or something like that. He was on the team, he was off the team, he was on the team, he's off the team. And and for whatever reason, you know, he's gone to Washington and I'm having a good enough season to be you know, in the you know in the lead for the closer job in in Washington.

So I'll go to my story of the week and and I like to look at at the third of the way through the season and think about okay, so we we test attend on this podcast to say five war season, and I'm not the only ones that say that, are a measure of a really, really good season for a player, right? You're like star quality when you have a five B war season. So, you know, and and and I always look at when I'm looking at a Hall of Fame, you know, c a case for a player, if you have five five plus B war seasons, I'm interested now in seeing

Almost Cooperstown (21:22.816)
Of your career because to be a star for five years or more is is really a a you know a thing to accomplish. So I looked at after the third of the season, obviously having 1.7 war would be about a third of a five war season. So that's kind of the level I'm going down to. we've got some guys that are obviously far above that, and led by Shohei Otani. elite pitcher, but he's also an elite hitter, and because nobody else is doing

Both of those things, he's able to put together war numbers that really nobody else is able to match. So he's a three point eight

B war right now and an F war, I don't think. And mostly because he's been an unbelievable pitcher. It's about his pitching. You're right about that. But that would translate to being over an eleven war season. Yeah, yeah. So that's that's a lot for although although he he may not pitch as well the rest of the season, but he may hit a lot better. Right, right. And and probably the most surprise two of the most surprising guys are kind of right behind there. Bobby Witt Jr. is second. He's at three point three. He's the best defensive shortstop in baseball, and he's the best offensive shortstop in baseball. On on pace for almost a ten war season.

Right. Right, exactly. He's probably the guy that is the b he's going to be the guy at the end of his career that people are gonna go, Wow, it was really unfair that he had to play at the same time as Otani and Judge because he's probably not gonna get the flowers throughout his career that he does deserve. If he has a fifteen year career, he might. He might, right. But then I think the two guys on this list that surprised me are obviously Jordan Walker and Andy Paez. Paez is playing the defe it plays the defense that you expect. And he always did. And he always did, but now he's having an offensive season. Now granted the batting average has started to kind of start to come down.

closer to where we expected to him based on his career, but he's always had the pop. So when he starts off the season hitting over three hundred with ten home runs, yeah, he's gonna jump out to three point one war. Okay, so here's the question for you. He's at three point one B war. What are his chances of exceeding five B war this season in your mind?

Almost Cooperstown (23:15.682)
He's got two thirds of the season to do it. You're not confident. I don't know. Is he gonna be able to accumulate past this point? And if he's just hitting home runs without the average, he's not gonna be able to get will he get another

one and a half D war basically or will he put up another one war purely off of his offense. And and so then when you do this kind of stuff, that that's exactly the point is that, you know, some guys will not sustain with what they've done to the first third. Some guys who are lower on the list, you know, will exceed that and do better. Right, right. We at Rookie Kevin McGonagall of the Tigers has a two point eight B war. He that's on pace for over an eight B war. I'm not thinking that's gonna happen at that point. Right. We expect him to have a Shea Len Kaliers, he's at two point six. I wouldn't be surprised if he kept that up. He's a great hitter. He plays he plays at a position

Where you can accumulate a lot of war if you're better more easily because you're it's so much you're so much better compared relative to your peers. A guy like Bryce Tarang and Corbin Carroll, I expect them to keep that up. I think there's guys on this list. If you know you wanted to pick out two guys looking down here that I would say are you'd be nervous about JJ Weatherholt, Rookie Rookie, and Pete Crow Armstrong. Because not only does he not only has he now completely cooled off offensively and he's kind of

Back to what he's been for the second half of last season. He's now in embittered in a sort of he's gone from being the darling to public enemy number one. And it is not easy to dig yourself out of a a slump when you're gonna get targeted now in every stadium by the fans. You're gonna hear it every time you come up. And I don't think he realized he was making himself that kind of target when this all started. One of the guys on the list who's who's on pace for a greater than a 5B war, again, is Matt Olsen.

And so even year. Well, no, no, no, no. Go look at Matt Olson. So I Joe Poznanski put out this week that Matt Olson is, you know, on a Hall of Fame track possibly. And I thought, really? Well, he's got 42 B war, he's 31 years old at this point, he's had five seasons of five plus B war, some of them over eight. We know he's a great fielder. We know he had a fifty-four home run season for the Braves recently. could he put up you know

Almost Cooperstown (25:31.401)
Another twenty five war in in the next six years or something like that. Yeah, I could see that. Possibly. Yeah, he totally could. He's thirty-two, he'll be thirty-three at the start of next season. So he'd be hurt by a lockout, wouldn't he? Yeah, right, right. He's a he is the type of guy that could most significantly be impacted by a lockout in terms of his Hall of Fame career, because losing a season to that is like because then all it takes is losing one year then to an injury. And he's a guy that has had injury problems previously in his

Career. He's played a lot of games though. He's an Iron Man. Well, he's missed, he's missed some time though. I think he's a guy who's got like a one of the more longer game games. Right, he's been really good. Game streaks. Right, right. You're I am incorrect. He's played a bunch, he's played 162 games. He missed a bunch of time in 2019. Right. He missed a bunch of time early on with the A's. But since he's come to Atlanta, he's been, you know, a rock solid player where he alternates between putting up like six point, you seven and a half in six war and like just under four war. So if he keeps

And he's having another year where he looks like he's gonna put up a good war number. He can totally get there, provided there's no injury or lockout. You're right about that. And yet at the same time, you know, we know there's a host of players, and I'm thinking about writing about guys that have six D B war that aren't in the Hall of Fame. There's there's a bunch of them. And so, you know, as you've said many times and correctly so, war is an accumulated stat. So you have to be careful about just playing a lot of years. If you play 20 years and you average three war a season, you have a six D B war. That doesn't mean you're a Hall of Fame player. Right, right.

just guy that you know you were shockingly good later on in you just were consistent for your career you know but yeah obviously consistency does not make a hall of famer i i completely agree with that so you wouldn't you let's put it this way if you told you somebody hey you're gonna have a guy he's gonna be in your lineup he's gonna hit 260 hit 20 homers driving eighty five RBIs and he's gonna do that for the next twenty years you Bobby Abreu you'd be yeah I'd like him on my team would you be like is that a Hall of Famer? Probably not I I I I understand great your team not necessarily a Hall of Famer. So I think that

That you know, you we if you look at you know where the stats are right now, you can project out, but you can't count it. Kyle Schwarber has 20 homers. so that would be 60 homers overseas. Yeah, he probably won't hit 60, but he might hit 50. Right. And and Aaron Junge has 17 homers now after he he finally broke his drow yesterday with a game winning walk off homer. Is Murakami or Ben Rice are they gonna hit fifty five homers? It's hard to believe, right? Maybe one of them, you know, one of these guys could. We saw it happen last year, but at the same time, you also can see how quickly.

Almost Cooperstown (28:00.88)
Regular pap quickly power can vanish because you have a guy like Gal Raleigh who led the league in home runs last year, who's hit like none this year. So I want to also mention that the because I've been following college baseball more closely this year than I have because USC is good, that's why. and they lost the Pacific Pacific, the the Big Ten championship game. There is no Pacific 12, to UCLA, you their cross-town rival UCLA, which who's ranked number one in the country, and the tournament, the the elimination tournament began.

So you know, check out the c the college baseball. We were talking about that the just the other day in that there are a lot more college players that are coming out and making an impact in the major leagues. So the paying attention to college players is different than it was even ten years ago, if not more.

Slightly more relevant because as much as we want to be like, following the college because these guys are the guys of your future. Yeah, it's these guys are the kids of your future, like two, three years from now, a lot of the time. It's like you might see them, but then you might get stashed in the major leagues and not he in the minor leagues and not hear from these kids for a little bit. So you don't don't expect to be seeing guys like Paul Skeens who dominate in the college world series and then come straight out to the majors and dominate there are the exception, not the norm. Do go it's not like watching the NCAA tournament or the college football play.

Where you're going to be seeing the guys that are gonna come to the league and immediately make an impact. That's a lot randomly. And I'll do some research on that because that that raises the point that you know you you come out of college and and you'd think because you're hopefully closer to twenty-one, twenty-two when you're getting out of college or whatever, you know, whatever happens, you shouldn't need as much seasoning as an eighteen-year-old kid you just signed out of high school for three years. Right, but that college kid just spent four years hitting with metal bats, and he's gonna need to learn how to hit with a wood bat against guys that aren't

Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, and we didn't talk about injuries today because it's kind of not Yeah, exactly. We hate it that baseball players get hurt, but they keep getting hurt. So hopefully you know we won't have any big time injuries this week.