Chapter 1: What is the significance of the American League East in baseball?
It's it's a fact. It's true. It's absolutely true. And this is I'm very fortunate because when we did the other podcast, it was remote. It was Zoom. It was fine. But now we are in person watching the great game of baseball. Fungos being hit. Right. I don't know if like for you, if that's a thing.
Oh, it's my favorite thing. Is it spring season? Rob, I think spring is one of the most underrated parts of just the season. I know, yeah, when you win games, the division, all that, and fighting for a postseason berth, that's great, don't get me wrong, but that smell of grass, and being on these backfields, I was telling you, I haven't been back here since I was done playing.
Yeah, we're at Jet Blue Park, yeah, Fort Myers, yeah. So seeing all this, it brought back... Some bad memories, but but also some great ones. Right. So it's you and I were the same. I'm just a baseball guy.
Yeah. Well, that's the thing I told you. I said, I think I did, you know, whatever, six and a half hours of talking baseball on the radio. But that's easy. Like, honestly, this is easy. This is easy. And watching the games, it's easy. And we might not even know who the players are, but you're like, holy crap, what a play. Or that guy.
For instance, we have a guy, or I'm doing the Red Sox broadcast, and this guy Braden Ward, who played in the Colorado system last year. And this guy is going to set the spring training record for stolen bases. Wow.
it's crazy so for me and a lot of people won't care about that but for me every time the guy steps on the field i'm like i want to watch that guy right so anyway for you as we sort of head through march now we have a couple weeks to go here let's say from when all these guys reported when spring training started to now and you've been in different camps you've been the orioles camp
Has your perception of, let's start with the American League East, has anything changed at all for you?
No, not at all. Even with the injuries to the Orioles, which that's not ideal with Westberg and Jackson Holiday on the shelf to start the year. You know, I'd like to say we can look into spring. The reality is it means something different for whoever's there. You're on the team, right? Yeah. Stay healthy. Do you feel good enough that you can go out there and play?
You know, we're here in Boston or Fort Myers. Crochet, if he goes out there and has an ADRA, I ain't worried about him because you see what he does during the regular season to get ready. So nothing's changed. But I do think it's a reminder that this division is going to be a gauntlet. Best division in baseball? By far.
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Chapter 2: How do injuries impact team dynamics in the AL East?
Cease has the upside that, you know, and he's been a bulldog. But, again, the results have been a little inconsistent. But I buy his talent. I buy what the Jays are doing. I just am curious, losing Bichette, How their offense, is it going to be an encore? Are you going to have those guys playing at that level? Is Barger going to continue to be what I think he can?
But that is the one question mark I have with Toronto. It's just hard to replicate that when it hasn't been done consistently.
Well, the fork in the road guy, one of them springs to mind, is Okamoto. I mean, if you're going to duplicate it without Bichette, You have to figure out if he's going to be good or not.
And I think that's one of those, those are the wild cards, right? So when you're looking at the teams, you're going, who do I for sure know, no matter what, is going to be a surefire great addition to the squad? That's one where you're going to sit there and go, he could. But he might not pan out, and that's the part of it. Vlad Guerrero Jr. have a pretty good indication of what he's going to do.
Bo Bichette, you had a very good indication of what he was last year before Bo went down. Him and Vlad, two best hitters, but Bo was one of their best average. I think he was their best average guy at that point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was one of their top RBI guys.
Can you replicate him? And they panicked when he went out of the lineup. But they figured it out.
And then guys like Springer, great player, but had a great year. Can you continue it on? So you get my point. I love what they're doing, but the encore is what I'm curious about. Now go to World Tour 4.
Because you know what?
Here's the thing. I want them to be slept on. I want people to forget that this team really, really underperformed in 25. Count them out. I think the Orioles can win this division. I really do. But talk about guys where we don't know yet. Shane Boz, upside's there to be a top-end rotation. But is he going to be that Shane Boz that you saw pre-Tommy John?
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Chapter 3: What makes the AL East the best division in baseball?
I think he can. He's got to prove it. Trevor Rodgers, fantastic last year. Best pitcher in baseball for like three or four months. If he does that for a full season, Rob, you know how many pitchers have a better ERA than Trevor Rodgers? Zero, right?
Zero.
The only one that had a sub-2 ERA last year was Paul Skeens. So, Trevor Rodgers, if he can be 80% of what he is, he's going to be a damn good pitcher. If he's 100%, he's going to win the Cy Young. Kyle Braddish, who's one of my good friends, my teammate. He was a Cy Young finalist two years ago that people forget. He's healthy. But there is the what-ifs. Yeah, Westy's going to be out.
Jackson's going to be out. How do you find pieces to replace while they're there? Kobe Mayo has looked really good in camp swinging the bat. So I think there's just some what-ifs. I love Craig Albernaz.
Yeah, I was going to ask you. Alby's the man. Being around him and in case people – I think people, the generic baseball fans, aren't really familiar with him. Now their familiarity with him is he's the guy with the really thick Boston accent. You know, he's a pretty young guy. Oh, yeah. But everybody you talk to, like everybody you talk to, said this guy is cut from a different cloth.
Being around him a little bit, what is the thing that jumps out for you?
I mean, you talk the phrase culture setter. That's Albie. You know, we were doing a game, a spring training game for Madison, and we were interviewing him in the second inning. And I swear he could have done the whole thing. We could have not said a word because he was yelling, passionate, watching as the game was going on. He says, sorry, this is just how I roll.
but he's engaged and the thing I love too, he's building confidence with the guys that are trying to find their footing and he's accountable and he demands accountability from the players at the same time because the one thing for me of why I want the orders to be slipped on, but one of the question marks is, can they set that culture properly?
You had a huge change here, you changed your staff, a huge disappointment, and you have some talent, but that talent didn't necessarily take that step you wanted last year. So Albie's job is, can we find a way to create this new Oriole way? And the way that he's blended confidence, detail, and also personality to the team, I think that that's going to be the big part.
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Chapter 4: How do power rankings affect team expectations in the AL East?
I mean, yes. Adding a guy in Alonzo, polar bear Pete that averages 40 jacks and 120 ribbies for his career. Yeah, I mean, that has value on the field. No doubt about it. And they needed that. But you needed the guy that understood playing with pressure, understood, you know, playing the big market in New York and constantly year in and year out the last few years.
It was, well, Pete's going to fall off. No, he doesn't have a position long term. It was all these negatives around what he couldn't do. And all he did was go out there and prove what he can do. And what he proved is he was the best right-handed bat in this free agent market, and he got picked up. And he wants the team to embrace the challenges ahead, but he wants to do it together.
He wants people to feel comfortable. You mentioned Chris Bassett. Buck Showalter, a friend of ours and... Buck loves Bassett. He can't sing his praises enough.
And Bassett's another guy where if you talk to people around, they said, really intellectual, but if you're going to talk to him about baseball, you're going to talk about the game, you also better be doing what you're supposed to do, and he will be in your corner, but you've got to be doing it right. And he's not afraid to say, that was awful.
He's going to tell you that was awful, but let's figure out what we need to do And so when you mention all these other teams, yeah, that matters to have that. And with the Orioles, yes, of course, you'd be great to see one of these younger players take that leap of being the quote unquote leader of the squad.
But man, does it help when you have guys that have walked the walk, who've done it in a round. And that's why the Orioles, in my mind, they could win the AL East and go to the World Series, or they could be stuck in the middle somewhere, could finish fourth in the AL East, because there are some variables that are still yet to be determined.
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Chapter 5: What are the key strengths of the New York Yankees this season?
And by the way, another manager, why the Rays have been so well for all this time? Yeah. Cash.
I mean, they've been consistent with their... That's crazy that he's the longest tenured manager. Like, that's crazy to me.
Yeah. And here's the other thing for the Rays. Maybe you knew this or not with the AL East. You know who had the... They might be third most wins now, or if it's fourth. One of the two, they're top five. Since 2010, top five in wins in baseball?
Yeah, well, that's our favorite talking point. Every time you walk into the clubhouse, it's like, well, what's the secret sauce? What's the secret? And that's why I say about Matt's and Nick Martinez, like, oh, welcome. And Ryan, one of the things, and this is a quick aside, but you talk about the secret sauce for the raise.
This is, I guess I'm going to morph it with what we're talking about with leadership, because Jake Diekmann said this. Jake Diekmann, who could not throw strikes, right? Had great stuff, could not throw strikes. Got to the Rays. They said, what you got to do is throw the ball, strike one over the plate with your best pitch.
He said, I heard that before, but it was different hearing it from somebody, an organization that has success doing it. And that's what we're talking about, right? That's what we're talking about with Alonzo. That's what we're talking about, let's be honest, with the Yankees. They have guys in there.
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Chapter 6: How can the Boston Red Sox's pitching staff influence their success?
That's what we're talking about with the Blue Jays having an entire team that don't have to say, hey, listen, we think this is how it works because they know how it works now, right? All of that. I know I'm going on a soapbox.
It walks the walk. They've walked the walk now, Josh, not just talking the talk, but to give even a more idea for people that don't understand the Rays. So playing the Miners, they got the AAA. I played a lot of the Red Sox, the Yankees. Who else in this? I didn't play the Blue Jays a ton. The Rays, though. Rob, dude, they beat the crap out of us. Especially Durham 2021.
That was, have you seen Space Jam?
The Monstars.
The Durham Bulls were the Monstars to us, man. They just beat the snot out of us. But one thing that they teach in the minors is, You know, we talk about, oh, how do you hit the ball harder? How do you try to get more power in your game? How do you develop your pitches? One of the Ray's characteristics is winning. We're going to teach you how to win. Good for them.
And so that was one thing when I talked to Albie, Craig Albernaz, And I said, Albie, I know where your background started, by the way. So Tampa. And so I think that's a lost art of it. But I think that's why Tampa, not only do they figure out how to get the most out of their pitchers to correct mistakes and help enhance their game, there's a way of understanding we have to figure out how to win.
And that's a part of the development process. When you win, there's different reasons, right? You can be on such a bender of a year. You've won 10 in a row. Nothing can go wrong. I would say the 2023 Orioles were a great example. No one expected you to win that division. You were red hot. You rolled the momentum. But once that momentum's gone, what do you do with the rest of it?
And that's when I can look at some of these teams and go, they've done it. They've done it again. They've done it again. The challenge isn't doing it one time.
The real challenge is, can you replicate it? Yeah, well, welcome, you know, preach to the Toronto Blue Jays. I mean, this is...
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Chapter 7: What are the potential game-changers for the Toronto Blue Jays?
So I think if he is what I think he can be, it's a huge plus for the Yanks. For the Red Sox, I mean, look, you can go to the simple part of saying if Roman Anthony is the guy that we think he is, if he plays like an all-star, this lineup question mark will probably change.
I got to say, if we're going to go not for the rotation, but a guy that can help, it's not going to be necessarily the... I don't want to put this... I looked at the staff last year. The numbers are pretty insane, but maybe just because he's on top of my mind. Cutter Crawford's interesting. Yeah, yeah.
Because with that, you need a staff that can be able to get you through the whole time, and you need the depth. So I'd say for Crawford, I'm curious, if he's healthy and he can go out there and play, pitchers, it's not a matter of if, it's when guys get hurt. And I think... If an injury goes down, do you have the pieces in place? So I think Cutter could be a big part for the Red Sox.
The Jays, I'm going to go with Barger. I just think, from what I watched with him... Maybe I'm just living off of what I saw in the postseason last year or the second half of the season, but you're talking about picking up where you left off, picking up for an offense that's going to need that. That dude, there's something about that swing and that confidence at the dish that makes me...
I'm really intrigued to see what he can do. And I think he does what he can. I think that they're going to feel a lot better that Bo Bichette isn't there.
Not that they want him gone. I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Kotb reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deitch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
There's a little bit more relief. And then for the Orioles, yeah, I honestly think the X factor on the mound for them, it's going to be what happens with Shane Boz. If Shane Boz
is the guy that throws 99 or 98, and it's got all this movement, and he's pre-Tommy John, Shane Boz, and you're looking at a guy that's top-end rotation, and the Orioles then would have three of those in Rodgers, Braddish, and Boz. So I would go on with him in that regard. I would say an add-on to that would be the health of Zach Eflin, actually. I'm a big Eflin guy. Oh, I'm a big Eflin.
We're all big. Baseball isn't boring. We're a big Eflin guy. Big, big Eflin guy.
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