Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Cycle. I am Ryan Warmley, joined as always by Mike Mayor. We are talking all things fantasy baseball. This is part one of three parts of the cycle, as we give to you every single week. We are rounding the basis with some trending topics, some news updates, some bigger picture stuff. This is kind of the catch all part of the show where we talk about really whatever it is that comes to mind for us. How are you doing here today, Mayor?
I'm doing good. I'm really excited to get into this first segment to see if you're actually gonna drink alcohol on camera.
Yes. Our first topic here is Brandon Hyde was fired a few days ago, and Worm does a tequila shot. Now. I promised to our audience that I would do with tequila shot on the show if Brandon Hyde was fired. It is ten am my time, Mayor here in Denver as of when we're recording this today, and I am still going to live up to it. So I have brought a little espolonneo and how do you pronounce it? Repisodo tequila here. I'm also rocking an Oriol shirt today
kind of in celebration. Is a Funne One. It's like the Beatles, but it's like it's you know, Crossing Abbey Road, but it's four Oiols players. If anybody's watching YouTube, it's great shirt. They get compliments on it all the time. And I brought the bottle. I think it's it's Cal, it's Frank Robinson, It's it's not in this order, but it's Cal, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Brooks Robinson.
Okay, so it's like famous.
It's not like zach efln correct, It's it's like all time. It's probably the four best Orioles ever. I mean when you when you think about the oils, like the numbers that are retired to Candy Yards, it's like these guys and Earl Weaver, who's obviously a manager, not a player. So it's like pretty much the four the four Goats. I mean you could, I guess you could make an argument for like Eddie Murray in there and some other players, but yeah, I mean's that's pretty much what it is.
But yeah, I brought the bottle so people would not accuse me of like just pouring something that wasn't tequila earlier. This is literally tequila and I'm pouring it on camera.
I mean, that could be apple juice in a tequila boba for all we know.
It is it is not, And I'm hoping I'm not gonna get in trouble for this because I did message you. I was like, I'm allowed to do this on air, right, and you said I don't see why not?
So that and we asked no one else for for permission.
Zero follow up. So uh, cheers to a new era for the Orioles.
Cheers to you.
All right, gonna be a great show.
I would I would have done one too, But somehow I feel like showing up to daycare to pick up your kids with tequila on your breath is probably frowned upon.
Uh well, I want everybody to notice too that, like you know, I'm this is a real tequila shot. There was no line, there was no you know, chaser here, just straight tequila. That's all you need when you're doing is shop. That's my stance on and do. I always say if I'm a if I'm drinking, if I'm sipping, it's gonna be like scotch or some kind of whiskey. If I'm mixing, it's gonna be wrong. If I'm shooting, it's gonna be tequila. That's that's definitely they go too.
That went down really well. Actually, that's pretty I actually did tequila that, Teddy. More often you don't have to go back.
And do like a slow mo of you taking in and see like what your your facial reaction.
Was, see the reaction. Yeah, Well, anyways, I Brandon Hyde is fired, right, this is this is kind of why we're celebrating. I want to be really clear before we dive into this that fundamentally I don't really love like dancing on the grave of somebody who's lost their job like that's I recognize that there is a negative side to somebody getting fired, and we are having fun with it, but I, you know, I recognize that like a man
lost his job, and I feel for that. Having said that, Brandon Hyde has more money than everybody in my family combined will make in our entire lifetimes, he will be fine. And the other thing with kind of celebrating and or at the very least being enthusiastic about moving on is it's not like he was given like short shrift here. He was given seven seasons as the Orioles manager. I know half of that time, he was dealing with the rebuild and was just kind of the guy having to
wear those losses. I have a lot of respect for Brandon Hyde. I thought he was a very, very good manager for the rebuild. He was a good dude. I met him in person when I was back East covering the team, nice guy like. I have nothing bad to say about Brandon Hyde, except for once his team became a contender, he was just in over his head. I thought it was very clear when they got swept by the Rangers in the playoffs in twenty twenty three, I got very I thought it was very clear when he
got swept by the Royals last year. Every time there was a serious, big, major series or game, I felt like he was getting out managed. I had a ton of problems, as I mentioned on this show, a lot with lineup decisions and sitting guys like Jackson Holiday and really not letting any young players get into a rhythm. Bullpen decisions I thought were crazy. A lot of the time.
I just thought he was in over his head as the manager of a contending team, but as the manager of a rebuilding team, he was a lot of fun. I wish him definitely the best of luck moving forward. No ill will and even though we're having fun here. Like I said, I I do recognize and have empathy for the fact that he lost his job, But I do think this is a good step for the Orioles. The biggest problem is that it took as long as it did, Like it shouldn't have. We shouldn't have taken
until now to replace him. And I'm really curious where they go from here.
Well, I think they had to give him some leeway. They were like, look, you would take your lumps for a few years, Let's give you a long leash on the back end of this to see if you can turn this around. I think his biggest mistake was allowing them to build the Great Wall of Baltimore out in left field instead of chaining himself to the fence and forcing them not to move that wall back. Because that ruined Ryan Mountcastle.
I was gonna say, you only feel that way because you love Ryan Mountcastle.
I mean there were some other people didn't do any favors either. I don't think Austin Hayes appreciated it for his career development either.
Yeah, and I recognize too that this year's team is not solely Hide's fault. There have been some injuries, and very importantly, there has been a real lack of pitching availability because Michael Ayas did not do a good enough job building the team of the offseason, and also the lineup isn't good enough. They lost Anthony Santander, who had mid already's homers last year, and they replaced him with Tyler O'Neil, who hasn't been good since opening day, you know,
adlely taking a step back. It seems like there's some bad luck in there. But it's now been a year of this. Gunner has not been his usual stuff. I think he was rushed back from the injury that he had in spring training. But we're now into late May, like you know, those excuses start to run a little thin at a certain point. It seems like it's just kind of a down start to the year for him. Mullins started off hot and then got cold. You know,
Westburg's been hurt, Cowser has been hurt. But this lineup wasn't good enough going into the year, I don't think.
And the rotation was not even the top twenty rotation in baseball coming into the season, and that was before Eflyn got hurt and before, like you know, knowing that Grayson Roaldriguez has had a lot of injury problems like this, it just simply was not good enough that they lost Corbyn Burns did not replace him, They lost Santainder replaced him with Tyler O'Neill, And I recognize that, so I
don't want to hold those issues against Tide. There were other reasons that I felt like Hyde should have should have been let go, But this was not a good job in the off season by Michael either.
No, and that's with getting the best case scenarios so far with Tony Yuki Sigano. Like you, this is the highest range of outcome for him too, So if you weren't getting that, it would be even worse. Do you think from a fantasy perspective, are there any major changes here? Do you think we're going to see like a Kobe Mayo come up and get a long run here or do you think it's still going to be status quo for the words.
The thing that's hard to answer about that is one of the litany of issues that I have with Brandon Hyde is I felt like he was far too deferential to Elias and it's hard to know how many of the lineup decisions we're coming from Hyde versus Elias and Sigma Dell saying like, Hey, our computer says X, Y and Z, So start these guys here and play them there.
And Tony Manzilino is as an interim guy who's has it's basically admitted publicly that he's kind of run around like a chicken with his head cut off and is just like trying to.
Think.
I mean, he hasn't said that phrase, but it's been kind of implied. I think he said he didn't sleep until like the third night after this promotion. And you know they the Orioles didn't get the new manager bump. They lost like four in a row after after the firing.
What is that the dead cat bounce? Is that what that's called?
Yeah, but like the dead cat stay dead in this case, he has made it clear that he is here for the players, like he is not really concerned with anything else, is his his own coaching record, whatever. He is there like, you know, these players have been through a lot, and let's try and get this on track for them and put them in the best possible chance to succeed. Jackson Holliday has been batting lead off a lot since he's
taken over. You know I did that some, but you know, I hope to see that continue throughout the rest of the year. And what I really hope, if you want to say, like and you Bordomine, have to write off the season, like for the playoffs at this point, they are just so far the whole day of digging them
they've dug for themselves is just too too deep. I think that you should be thinking about twenty twenty six and you should be saying, I want to get Hessen, Kirstad and Kobe Mayo and if he gets called up, Samuel Bissio every at bat possible, and I don't care if it's against a lefty orl righty. I don't know if Elias is gonna approach it that way. I mean, another thing that really bothered me with Hyde was the just being so so driven by righty versus lefty, even
ignoring when guys had reverse splits. And I want to see Holiday develop against left handed pitching. I want to see Kirstad do the same thing. I want to see Mayo if he gets called up again, just play every day and getting two We've seen it so often that these really strong prospects come up and don't hit the ground running. And it's happened across baseball, but it happens most consistently in Baltimore. And I think a large part of that is because these guys don't get consistent at bats.
The only two players that I can remember right from the get go, as soon as they're called up they're playing every day are Adley and Gunner, and even they to a while to adjust. But everybody else has been this like, we're gonna wait for the right matchups and oh, you had two hits today, we're gonna sit you tomorrow just because you're facing a left tea and said, well, no, let's get the let's get the momentum going right. I'm locked in. It's a it's a rhythm sport. I just
that was really frustrating. So I hope Tony Mansalino says, like, listen, we're just gonna play the young guys and get them at beats. And by the way, this team is talented enough that they could go on a run. I don't think it's a run to the playoffs, but they could go on a run just with guys getting hot, and if you ad they had a three run homer yesterday, and if Gunner looks like his MVP candidate itself like
you did a year ago. So the fantasy implications is a long winded way of answering that is, I hope they just let the players play, and it's not like the whole coaching staff has turned over. I have a lot of problems with like their approach in the batter's box, and I think that does need work, But that's something that you revamp with a whole new staff. It's not gonna be the change in manager is gonna change all that. What you can hope for is that guy start playing
hard again. I though I was really telling that in yesterday's game, their first win with Manson was one of their classic like comeback late, winning extra innings, like the kind of wins that they were doing all the time in twenty twenty three. So if they just start playing with a little more heart, excuse me, and giving guys every day a chance to get into a rhythm, I do think this can benefit fantasy managers.
I think the other thing that could potentially benefit fantasy managers is and it's kind of hard to project this, and I'm not saying you can really buy low now, but it seems like the season is not going anywhere for the Orioles, which means what you're talking about, playing the young guys every day is either likely or more likely to happen in the second half of the season. And so if you can kind of like heading into the All Star break, make stash of Kobe Mayo, you know,
get Kerestad, you know, on the cheap. I do think those kind of players could play every day in the second half of the season when there isn't a whole lot to play for other than player development.
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to claim your prize. That's long enough on the Orioles, Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. Mayor and for celebrating to the degree I wanted to and for doing it tequila shop.
And so everyone helped fast forwarded. Now we're heading on to second base.
Because they were Yeah, that's too much Orioles. Stop for one episode. All right, let's go to our second topic here. This is more, you know, along the lines of close to you, near and dear to your heart. The tush push survives in the NFL. So we can take maybe thirty seconds on that of the I'm sure we've already turned off enough of our audience talking too much Orioles, but I wanted to kind of spin this into our show. What baseball rules would you like to see successfully get banned?
I will just quickly say, Mayor, and I know you're an Eagles fan, so you might hate me for saying this. That's actually should have been banned. Now, the reasons for it being banned had nothing to do with a lot of the talking points from like the Packers or NFL media. It is not a safety concern. It is not a pace of play concern. It is not because one team has perfected it. In fact, most teams are really really
effective at it. The Eagles just do it way more often than everybody else that the Eagles are the best at it, but like other teams can be, like the Ravens run their own version of it with Mark Andrews, Like this is not an Eagles problem. I just don't think you should have any plays in football that are designed to be one guy gets pushed from behind by his teammates or pulled. You know, if it were the kind of going the way forward, progress exists to not
allow that for the defense to push you back. I don't see why we allow it for the offense to push you forward. It feels unfair to me if it happens kind of in a fluke scrum. Like I'm not saying you can never push anybody, although I wouldn't be opposed to that as a rule, like that's what it used to be prior to two thousand and five. But I don't like designing plays where the whole point of the play is like a guy gets pushed from behind.
Just let them do sneak, you know, QB sneaks. Jalen Hurts will still be the best in football at it. So I wanted a band, but not having anything to do with the Eagles or safety or any of these other talking points, just kind of a general approach to the role.
Yeah, that was the That was the whole reason, and I think that's why it failed too, that they like it was this sham attempt to like call it for like player safety and for like pace of play, which the only the only time I ever sold down a game was when the commanders jumped off side seven times in a row. But yeah, I know I didn't feel that strongly about it. Obviously as an Eagles fan, I
was very happy to see the result. And social media has been amazing the last one of four hours, especially the actual Eagles account just like trolling everyone involved in this was it was amazing. But I do agree in
a lot of senses it could be banned. I do agree with the kind of still that was like a sham attempt, but kind of expanding it more than just the toush push into like you can't because I think one of the more dangerous things is when like an offensive lineman comes running from five yards away and whow, I was into a pile to push everyone forward too, like that is a dangerous play and it's also kind of a not fair one. So I think, like, like you said that kind of stuff could be banned out
of the game too, and I think it. I think it will next year. I think we're just going to get one more year of the Brotherly chev.
I hope it is, but again not for any kind of Eagles reason or anything like that. What baseball rules though, would you like to see? Band We did kind of an episode where we do have a little deeper on this last year, but we have a lot of new viewers this year. We're our YouTube now, the podcast has grown, which were really grateful for, so for kind of some
of our new listeners. And this is more of just a quick kind of reminder because these are similar rules that I picked last year and I put two down. One is the DH rule, and I said this last year, this is my favorite rule change that I would like to see. I don't want dhs, but I also don't want pictures to hit. I want just eight batters to bat in a lineup. And I know there's a lot of symmetry with nine in nine innings, and I get it, but I don't see why we just designate one player
to do only half the game. And I know, like the Players Association will never let this happen, but like I think it should just be the eight players other than pitcher do both. And this would get the best players more at bats in a season because those guys hitting early there would be one few or batter before
they get up again. I think it would help with some of the pitchers are too good problem in baseball too, because you're getting through the lineup more quickly, and therefore maybe pitchers, you know, are forced to If starters are forced to not go as deep when they're not pitching well because they're getting through the you know, the face and the best hitters more often, then the relievers are forced to cover more outs and then you don't get this guy coming in who can just throw one hundred
and three because he's only facing one batter. Like I think it helps in a lot of ways, but at the end of the day, like I do, think it increases offense and it makes every player kind of unequal footing, and so I would really like to see the DH rule removed, but without bringing back pitchers hitting. What do you think about that one?
I don't hate it, I do even though I grew up as an American League fan, I do kind of miss the strategy of having to hit and you know the late inning, like do I leave my starter in who's really good, or like sacrifice him because I need, you know, a pinch hitter. It also makes your bench more valuable. We just got to the point where pitchers were so bad at hitting that it just became like a mockery of the game. It was. It was so
bad that they had to get rid of it. But I also don't hate the idea of just getting rid of the DH even though one of the greatest players in Red Sox's history was DH only, but he could play first base. David Ortiz, Yeah, I don't hate the idea overall. I hadn't considered the getting through the lineup quicker aspect of it, because that would make things more interesting, Like having to face Aaron Judge, whatever percent it is, ten percent more times a season is interesting.
Yeah, And like you know, even just from like the excitement of the early parts of the game, like Gunnar Henderson, if he's your leadoff hitter, I want to guarantee that he's batting twice in the first three innings. That happens in the scenario, and your first three hitters are you know, are more. If you just get a couple guys on base, you're not waiting till any four for that second. I it's ending three now, and I just think over time it's gonna add up to kind of more fun and
more at bats for the players. We love. The other rule that I want to throw out, and I've said this one before too, I would change the pitcher wins rule so this isn't an on field one, which is kind of why I made it second. But like, I think the official scorekeeper of a game should have the leeway to decide which pitcher gets to win, or to
decide that none of them should get the win. I don't think we need to be behold into this rule of like whoever happened to be on the mound when your team took the lead is the one who gets to win? Like I think it just happened with Yamamoto, like two days ago, he went seven shutout innings, just awesome start, but then his bullpen blew the lead in the ninth and they won it in the tenth, So he went seven shutout innings, the Dodgers won the game and was the tenth of the eleventh inning. But he
doesn't get the win. It was a bullpen guy who got two outs in the game instead gets to win. That's ridiculous to me. I think we allow the official scorekeeper were to determine what is a hit versus an error, Like why can't we trust these people to say, like very obviously Yamamoto should have gotten the win in that game. It happens all the time. I think we should, uh, we should have that leeway to decide who gets to win there.
I'd love to see the stats if we went back in history and like saw who ended up with the most wins overall. We wouldn't have to go back that that far because way back when they didn't even use bullpens. It was just like you went out and this is your start, and you just pitched to your armfro off and you either got the winner you didn't. That's why stay Young has the most wins and most losses in
baseball history. But it would be interesting to kind of go back and see, you know, if we if we rewrote the rule, like you know, maybe like this pitchure ends up with like eighty more wins than he previously had in the record books.
It's it's the same thing with losses too, though, Like if Paul Skiens gives up one run in six and two thirds and the Pirates don't score any but then you know, after he leaves the game, the next reliever gives up five runs and the Pirates score four, and all of a sudden it's a six to four loss. But Schemes will give up one run in seven innings, like, I don't think he should bet the loss in that scenario.
So it goes both ways for me, but kind of assigning wins and losses and I think too nine times out of ten, ninety nine times out of one hundred. Maybe you're not gonna there's not gonna be a controversy, right, There's not gonna be like, oh wow, the scorekeeper gave that guy the decision in this GUF.
I was gonna say, who's pretty obvious? Who makes the final call? Because we can't let the hometown scorekeepers. It's bad enough we let them do like hits and errors, which are sometimes ridiculous, but we can't have them picking wins and losses.
I would be fine with having them picking wins and losses, because they give you obvious more often than not. I get your point about the hometown bias and stuff. Maybe there's like a you know, kind of a representative of Major League Baseball that can oversee it. Again, most of the time, it's not it's gonna be very clear year, I think. But for those situations where the rule really fails our pitchers, I would like to see it changed. All right, who what are their rules you want to see changed?
So I threw a few out there because I don't think we have to spend too much time on them. And a couple of them, or at least one of my band I banned. I mentioned last year I wrote ban the Shift ban. I hate that we banned the shift. I want to bring the shift back. I think you should line up wherever you want. If you want to put eight guys in right field, I think you should
be able to. I do agree that baseball got a little ridiculous with the you know, second basement like in the extra right fielder, but that was more because hitters didn't adjust. They were just like the Joey Gallo approach, like I'm just going to try it at home run anyway and hit into the shift every time, whereas if they just went the other way, they'd be a three hundred hitter or you know, they'd have to adjust the shift,
but I just always thought the shift was fun. It resulted in like some wacky double plays and guys getting thrown out at first basement right field. I enjoyed the shift and think you should be able to do whatever you want, just kind of like what you can do on defense for the most part in football.
I don't want to go too long on this, but I actually really disagree on this.
I I.
Can't stand watching like the cleanest line drive single that has been a clean line drive single for one hundred years of baseball and it gets caught, and that that's not just like when you were seeing that kind of full Ted Williams shift with three players to the side of a bag, but up the middle. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see a player rip a line drive over the pitcher's head. It is literally a perfect piece of hitting when I was.
In a happen though even with the current role, that still happens.
I know, and it's frustrating. I don't like that either. I just hate what should be that there's a very obvious straight for a clean single and it's just an easy out. I really don't like that. And I said from the beginning with the shift that I was comfortable with, you know, fielders being wherever they want it to be as long as there were two infielders on either side of second house. That's just all I'm asking is that we don't have three on one side, and beyond that,
you can do whatever you want. I'm not saying they should change it from that, but I am getting more and more frustrated with You're like you said, it's still happening when it goes up the middle now and guys are just standing right there. I don't think it really works to put like a zone that you're not allowed to start in up there. But I get frustrated and
it feels like it's not baseball. I'm like again, like you use the other thing too, mayor is it is so hard to hit now with the velocity you face on every pitch, with the movement that these pictures are capable of doing. Pictures are so good that I really push back against the argument of hitters didn't adjust properly. It's hard enough to hit against modern pitching. To then also say like, by the way, this like you know, clean single that you hit that has been a clean
single forever is now also an out. Like that's just so frustrating, and I get why batters are then just say listen, I'm just swinging for the fences or taking the strikeout. When that keeps happening, I just think pictures are too good and it doesn't feel like baseball to me.
I'm fine with that. I know I'm in the minority there. You want you only to hit my next three rapid fires so we don't go too long. Okay, So the other one I wrote is banned the check swing nonsense, and I have a very simple take on this. I think the check swing is one of the most subjective things in sports. And like you said, if we're if we're letting people pick wins and losses, you have like
a ninety nine percent accuracy. I think we're around fifty to sixty percent accuracy and check swings because no one knows what the actual rule is. It's absurd and they're just like you point down to first base. I have no idea what that. I'm just going to say because they're just making it up. And so I think we need to figure out what an actual check swing is define it and then do away with whatever we're doing right now because it's not working. And I feel like
I'm the only one who gets annoyed by that. I also want to ban umpire immunity. I hate that these atrocious umpires can just work in baseball forever and like not get fined, not get punished, not get suspended. There was an umpire in the Red Sox game the other day. He there was a player I don't know if he saw the Walker Buehler play, but he threw a picture ye right down the middle, and the catcher jumped up
to throw out a runner who was stealing second. The ump missed the call because the catcher stood up to throw out the runner. But this picture was right down the middle. And then Buehler said, like, that was right down the middle. And then the umpire like came out and confronted Walker Bueller, and Walker Bueller like walked to him, and then he threw Bueller out of the game for coming off the mound. But it was like, you went after the pitcher first, and so I hate that aspect
that umpire's going to do whatever they want. And then the last one I wrote is band Yankee Stadium, and I don't I wrote that as a joke. I don't really mean band Yankee Stadium. But one thing I love about baseball is how every ballpark is unique and has all these fun dimensions. I think rightfield Yankee Stadium is just a joke, and I know that the pushback for me, as Red Sox fan, is a Fenway Park is crazy.
My comeback to that is always that they just built Fenway Park out of necessity because of the space they had. That's why they built the wall. They just had no more room. Nankee Stadium brand new, and they rebuilt the same thing again as a joke. So I do think there should be like some minimums and maximums for these fences, and within those you know, dimensions, you can do whatever
you want. But like the fact that you can hit a foul pop up to right field in the Yek Stadium and get forty home runs is absurd to me.
I want to quickly respond to these the check swing. I think that you should be able to check your swing even if your back goes past the front of the plate. Like I think we should just say, like that's it's not a full swing unless it's a full swing. Like, I think the line of this is too far for a check sing should be a few inches in front of the plate. I think a lot of people might
disagree with that, but I, like, I just don't. I don't think like that extra two inches like constitutes a full swing, Like it just needs to be.
That's what I want, Like whatever it is, make it like like what you said would be more obvious than like, oh, I think he went strike, Like at least what you're saying, like it would be clear you went too far.
And then the umpire immunity stuff like yes, half the times, the problem with the umpires is that they go after the players, and the players get in trouble free retaliating. I saw somebody say during the Walker Bueller stuff, I said,
I thought it was a great point on Twitter. If if a player gets ejected for arguing a call, not for like being disrespectful or whatever arguing the call then and the end they get ejected, then there should be an immediate review of the call and if the player was right, they are not ejected, like and the umpire I don't know, has to pay a fine or something.
I thought that is that the umpire gets ejected.
But well, I was going to say that, but then I don't think that's actually should be the case, because you can't have like a bunch of umpires like at the ready to come in or.
Whatever but play a man down but figure it out.
Yeah yeah, but yeah, these are good ones. All right, let's go through our news and notes. We're running a little long here, so we'll go really quickly on these. You had, you had the first few of these, so go ahead through that.
So I have Spencer Strider returns and it wasn't great, So that there was newsworthy in a good way that he's back on the mound, but it didn't didn't look great. His velocity was down. I've seen some people making a much bigger deal about the velocity, Like he's still touched ninety seven a couple of times. So I still think this is just him working back, and you know, like even if he's around like ninety five ninety six, I think he'll be fine. But it was concerning that, you know,
he came back and it didn't look great. And then a good Ronald mccuna development is that it sounds like he could be back as early as this weekend. I know we've been talking recently recently on the show that I was a little frustrated that he hadn't really started a rehab assignment, you know, by mid May, and I was like, you know, he hasn't had a spring training. Who knows how long this rehabit signment's going to be. But it sounds like then he started the rehab assignment,
he was already playing full games, playing the outfield. And it sounds like, according to some of the reports I read, that he was already kind of doing his own mini spring training, like you know, playing like sim games and playing the field and so like, it wasn't like he was going out to these this rehab assignment cold. He had already really been kind of playing in games. And so he's a lot closer to returning than we thought. So it sounds like he could be back a SORTI
this weekend. By the time you're listening to.
This, George Kirby is returning. I believe he's pitching today the day we're recording this. He's gonna be pitching every six days for now. It sounds like before the others, I think he's kind of the biggest name that I did when I at least ask a follow up on where are you ranking Kirby rest of the season now that he's back.
That's a good question because my starting pitching rankings have been all over the place recently. I've been moving people up and down, and there's like bigger names I've been holding on to and just kind of like, I guess I kind of have to drop this guy. I haven't moved him yet because I kind of had him buried because we didn't know where he was gonna gonna be. I have him in like the mid thirties right now, but I don't know how far I'm going to move
him up. Like there was a bunch of pictures above him that I'm completely fine moving him above Gosman, Snell, Aaronola. I can move him above Aaronola, Clay Holmes, Bryce Miller for sure. I feel like I'll like high twenties probably to start and to see how you look.
I think that the only pitching every six days is a little you know, not frustrating, I get it, but like you know, makes it a little harder for fantasy managers. We'll see along that last Robert Hassel the third is making his debut, or he might have already done it actually till and Cruz goes to the IL, so he gets caught up from the Nationals. Another one of these, you know, high pedigree prospects, so we'll see how he does. Somebody to keep an eye on. Jared Jones officially gets
elbow surgery out ten to twelve months. We kind of anticipated that coming, but you know, this is obviously Donnington now impacts twenty twenty six as well. And then the last thing that I do want to get your follow up on is we kind of have some new statcast metrics with this, like a swing, you know, bat tracking stuff. Do you have any thoughts on that, any kind of fantasy relevance to these metrics for you or.
I do and I don't. We talked about it briefly the other day when it was kind of first announced. I love the the access to all this information. I saw something on Twitter this morning with a really cool write up about like Corbyn Carroll and how we fixed his swing and how it was too flat. Like that stuff's all really cool because you can kind of see what went wrong. And not only hear Corbyn Carroll talk about the fix, but then I actually see in the
act data the fixed happening in real time. I do think we're getting like so much information now that it's almost like overload, and I think we're gonna overanalyze some of these players, and we already see like some players who just kind of like consistently outperform their metrics. I do think it's gonna be really valuable for like something like that, like is this player slumping, Like what is drastically different? Like is he hot? What is drastically different
versus in the off season. I think we're gonna go like head over heels into all this stuff and project sleepers and busts based on, you know, overvaluing some of this stuff. So I think it's really cool. The more data the better. It is a little overwhelming that there might be like too much to evaluate now, so I have like mixed feelings about it.
Let's shove into our last segment here, grade the Trade. We throughout some real trades that have happened in some of the leagues that you and I play in, and are going to kind of discuss what we think of them. Like I said, these are actual trades that have happened in our leagues. Some of the ones that I put
in here are like a couple of weeks old. I wanted to throw out it's not like these are all in the last week or anything, but these are just kind of any of the trades that have happened this year. So I just wanted to kind of give that context. I also have a trade from a listener who has DMed me a bunch, Andrew, who's a great supporter of the show, and he actually just this morning messaged me a trade that he did, and so I figured I
would include that one as well. But some of the trades from the leagues that we're in, Reese Olsen traded for Devin Williams. What would you grade this one?
So I wanted to ask how he wanted to grade this. I was thinking more of grading it on the scale of you know those like surveys where it's like neutral, agree, strongly agree, strongly disagree. I was gonna, I feel like on this one, I agree with the Devin Williams side. I'm like agree close to strongly geer with the Devin Williams side, just because I think it's your your banking.
Do you think he gets back to the closer role, That's.
That's what you're banking on. But I also think if if the price to find out is Reese Olsen, like no, no problem.
I actually almost put him Devin Williams as my cell high in our part two of this week's show. I ended up changing that, but I considered Williams because he's pitched really well lately. But it doesn't seem like they're that inclined to put him back into the closer role. And there's only so much value you can give you if he's not getting you saves, and plus who knows that this is just maybe a hot streak like or
if he's actually turned the corner. But I agree with you ultimately that Olsen is a fair you know, I'm willing to spend him to maybe take the chance on getting an elite closer if it works out that way. So I would agree with you on that one. Royce Lewis traded for Francisco Alvarez, and I wanted to point out this is a two catcher league.
This was an interesting one. Obviously, two catcher league is important to one cutcher league. To no brainer Royce Lewis, I am lower than contensus on both of these players, but the Royce Lewis one is most mostly injury related. He just can't stay healthy. But when he is on the field, he looks really, really good. So I think the upside is more on the Royce Lewis side. Even though it's the two catcher league. I have my doubts about Francisco Alvarez and his profile, so I lean royce
Lewis especially. Obviously two catcher leagues and catchers is gonna be very shallow. But like the fact that you can get a living, breathing third basement in Royce Lewis in twenty twenty five, I think it's worth it. So why I would put agree with the royce Lewis side.
I would agree with you on that one as well. This was a really fun one. This one is from late April, so it's not it's you know, a little over three weeks old. But because of the names included I wanted to included. And again two catcher league, it's the same league. Pete crow Armstrong for cal Raley, what do you think about that one?
That's a really fascinating one. Cal Raley.
Obviously that one got some some veto votes in our league. We have a veto rule in that league, and it passed, but it got some some pushback from some folks.
So I'm guessing because it's a couple of weeks old, they didn't leave in the Peaker Armstrong side, and they thought, yes, okay, I mean you're wrong. Now, I know.
It's I was gonna say, it looks it looks like almost a Vito in the other way. I mean, I think ultimately, given that it's a two catcher league, it probably is fair. I think it's a fair I would call this very fair now. But in a moment, a lot of people were like, why would you give up cal Raley for peek Crow Armstrong.
Now, I was just sorry. I didn't mean to rep to you. I was just looking at for some for prepping for other parts of the show. I was actually looking at our Fantasy pros VBR of like stats for the year peak Armstrong is third. He's the third most valuable fantasy player right now through May twenty second, and yeah, like I have him as a cell high. I have
had him as a cell high. I still think he probably is, but it's also kind of hard to argue with the counting stats right now with twelve our months and fourteen still vases.
Probably the most fun story in baseball earlier part of the season. Am I forgetting somebody? I think his emergence has been kind of the most fun thing to track.
Yeah, I would say so, I've already seen other I think I forget who was one of the baseball analysts the other day said he might be already one of the best position players in baseball, or you know, I don't know if he was kind ofab well.
He definitely has been this season. I mean, who knows about if it will last, and it comes down of it, but if you're just looking at what's happened in twenty twenty five, he's unquestionably Yeah, when you consider the defense as well. And the last one from one of my leagues, Ryan Helsley, traded for Kittel Marte. This is a trade that got accepted but then vetoed in the league, and there are some keeper elements. Both guys are pretty good values.
None of them is like an insane elite keeper value. But they're both good values keepers like relative to where they are. But Ryan Helsley and the guy has no the guy who was trading away kittel Marte had zero closers. Helsey for Kittel Marte. It did give Vito so right.
At the mat, I would say strongly disagree with vetoing something that like unless it's like really really absurd, I'm pretty anti Veta veto. So like, if two adult competent managers want to make a trade, like let him as long as it's not like something that's really going to upend the league and piss people off. But I feel like this is fair enough that I don't see why it would need to be vetoed.
So so one thing I will say, the guy who was trying to trade away Marte, I don't and I don't think he listens to the show. I don't think he is a competent manager. It's his first year and it's it's kind of a long running league. But some of the people in the fringe end are just kind of random people that have been picked up, like you know, random users on CBS, like, hey, we're looking for a person to just fill the last spot in this league.
And like his draft this season was jaw droppingly bad, like like to the point where it's confusing, Like it did he make a mistake like almost with every pick? So I do like you say it as long as he's two adult competent, Like I don't know that he is a competent manager for whatever that that matters.
Yeah, I mean you would have to agree with the Catel Marte side of it just because of the upside there. I mean, like I am not the biggest believer in his in his profile, but also like the guy batted like two ninety something with thirty five from he.
Was like the consensus two b one coming into the season for like a good not elite closer. So yeah, I understand the side of you know, obviously strongly preferring Marte, and then I'll read the one from Andrew our listener, and then we'll get into the ones from your leagues.
So he was expecting to get Jesus Lozardo for Luis Robert, so in anticipation of that, he traded Clay Holmes for Rooker, trying to get an outfielder back, figuring he was kind of upgrading a picture from Holmes to Lozardo, so he
traded Holmes for Rooker. Then the guy backed out on the Robert for Lozardo deal, so he felt like, Okay, well now I need to get a picture because I just traded away Holmes, so he traded away He also he picked up Nick Kurtz on Waivers this morning because he had had him and then dropped him out of frustration. Then he had this three home runs to two nights,
so he picked him back up this morning. And so but I know he was messaging me last night and he was like, I had to take one for the community with his bad luck to get him to get Kurtz going. So then he traded away Jacob Wilson for Sandy. So ultimately I know that was a lot of names. Ultimately what ended up happening. He thought he had some other stuff happening, It didn't happen. Ultimately we ended up
doing was trading away Jacob Wilson and Clay Holmes. And this is over the course of two different deals, but trading away Wilson and Holmes and getting Brent Rooker and Sandy al Kintar. So what do you think about that one?
I think the first thing you need to do is not make contingent trades without them both sides locked in. You need to have both sides agreed and then like hit Sam and on both of them at the same time, like because like What happens is you agree to one and then the other person's like, well, I don't I feel like if that player went for that, I can probably get more from my player, and then they back out of your deal, so you need to do them both simultaneously.
What I would say in his defense, though, is I don't think you needed to get the Lozardo deal done for Holmes for Rooker to be a good move, Like I like that move just in a vacuum.
Yeah, yeah, as long as it doesn't like upend your roster bounce. What was the I'm sorry, what was the actual trade again? When the dust.
Settled, Clay Holmes for Rooker, okay, and Jacob Wilson for Sandy al Contra.
I feel like, with how good Jacob Wilson, I mean like I am buying well on Sandy, so I get it. I feel like Jacob Wilson has been so good that you're kind of overpaying for Sandy.
He also picked up kurtz off Waivers, and he said he had four a's now because he traded for Rooker, so he was like kind of willing to get rid of one of them.
That's fair, Wilson, I mean, that's there I think ultimately those are all fine deals. I think you overpaid for Sandy a little bit based on where we are, but but.
I also you got a value on Rooker. I really like buying low on Rooker.
Yeah, especially in that ballpark. Is you know, assuming he gets better, which I think you will.
All right, give me your two trades, then we'll get out of.
Here, all right. I think I think I actually made both these trades. I'm in the really fun league. It's my first year in this league, and I've never seen a league trade like this before. It's a big money league.
It was.
It was a high pay in most of the I'm on in it by myself, which I hopefully I won't be in next year. A lot of it's so expensive that a lot of people actually share teams. But there are just trades every day. I get like four or five offers a day in this league, and so it's kind of wild. You know, it's another league that Dan Harris is in. Until we're texting about it all the time, and a lot of a lot of times we're getting
offers from the same managers. So it's kind of fun to like see him kind of like dance around the league and get all these offers. But it is very interesting to see all the trades going down. So this one is, you know, kind of in the lower end, but as Brandon would druft for Xavier Edwards. So it's kind of a by low on Exavier Edwards. But then also I'm the one who traded away Brandon Woodruff. I'd
been stashing him. I have not loved what I've seen in you know, the lower velocity in the rehab assignment. He was someone that I was kind of like stashing, hoping I can get some you know, mid May juice out of him, and I could use a little bit of speed. And I also have I also made to trade, so I have some extra pitching. And so I forget who he This manager initially asked for a ranger Suarez and I countered with Brandon Woodruff and he said throwing ten dollars in fab and it's a deal, and I
said done. So I sent Brandon Woodruff for Xavier Edwards. What do you think about that?
I think I would prefer Woodruff, but I think it's close to neutral, Like it's not like on that scale you said, It's not like a strongly agree or strongly disagree.
Yeah, And for like roster context, it was kind of like Edwards is going to be like my last utility or mid in fielder, like maybe not even start some weeks. And Woodrod was kind of kind of be like an extra arm. I was either gonna have to drop him or someone else. Anyway, when he comes back, I think that helps. Yeah, And then the last one is I kind of wanted some more pitching volume and wasn't loving like what I'd been streaming, and this manager put out feelers.
He just posted on the lead board. Look, he was like, I'm looking for and you know I always talk on the show about trading like hitters for pictures. I see a lot of examples of like, you know, trading this picture for this picture, and I'm like, why are you trading pictures for pictures? You should always be the other way. But this manager posted, I'm looking to you know, I have extra pitching. I'm looking to flip two pictures for potential upgrade. And so I sent him a couple offers.
One of them was Luis Castillo for Dustin May and Sandy al Contra, which I have come concerns about Luis Castillo, and so it was in my mind I was kind of selling high on him for two when I think are kind of bilows because I think, I don't know if this is going to happen, but I think there's a world where both Estamate and Saniel Contra are have better numbers than Luis Castillo by the end of the season. Maybe not, but I think there's a world where it happens.
But getting both of them for just him I was happy to do. But what do you think about that one?
I wouldn't say I strongly agree or disagree. I would say a regular agree on the may Al Contra side.
So I like the move. Yeah, and it's it's possible it blows up on me too, But I think there's also a possibility that Luis Castillo blows up soon.
Well, And I like that you're getting two bylows, right, it's not just one, and so you're you're kind of doubling your chances of if one of them hits that it looks fair. And if both of them hit then it's a great deal. So and and I like the case for both of them as bilow's and I like the case for Castillo as a sell So I'm on board. With that, we'll wrap up this segment of the cycle on that one went a little bit longer for everybody.
Hopefully they enjoyed, uh, you know everything, the long Orioles conversation and the football conversation and all this stuff that our audience usually hates. Sofday, we're okay with today. And the tequila. Oh, they love the tequila. We know that. If there's any rules that you with the audience thinks should be changed in baseball, please drop those in the comments. Let us know what other rules you would like to see band or added, or does any other kind of
fun rules changes you want to see with baseball. Also, feel free to drop any trades you comments, and Mayor will hop into comments and give his thoughts on those. I'll volunteer him as tribute for that. For Mayor, I'm Ryan Wrman. Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to check out part two of the cycle coming later this weekend. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
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