Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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It's the winter time. You know what that means? Baseball. Right. Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch. A two-part baseball segment. Combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock. Bet you didn't expect to see us right now. Hi, everybody. Pitch clock.
Yeah. We're here. We've been renewed.
Yeah. For one episode. For an episode. Yep. That much we know. Season three. Yes. Wow. How about that? Look at us. It's the winter meetings, and we wasted your time because we're going to talk to Adnan Virk soon about everything that happened. Well, I won't. All right, so I will.
I'll talk to Adnan Virk soon about everything that was going on in the winter meeting, starting with the big Kyle Schwarber contract and continuing on through last night. But first and foremost, you know what we got to do. This is the pitch clock. We got to play some trivia. Yes. Ethan. What's our trivia for today?
This week's suggestion comes from, or this week's game, comes from a suggestion that we received on Blue Sky. Shout out to Andrew Story on Blue Sky, who came up with this awesome idea that I'm really excited about. We're going to use exactly what Andrew suggested, which is we're going to draft a team of players, and what we're going to do is, you're going to add up
You're going to subtract their career RBI total from their career stolen base total. What you want to be searching for here is guys that stole a lot of bases but didn't necessarily drive in a lot of runs because you don't want to end up with negative numbers. You obviously want to end up with positive numbers.
I'll keep it at five. We're going stolen bases minus RBIs. Correct.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights from the Winter Meetings?
So Cody is starting this game. So this could be fun, guys, because we could bounce him back and forth in big waves. We're going to both end up like zero. 56.
Look at that, man.
All right. You're off to a start. I've got a guy that was in the league, I think, only to steal bases. Raul Mondesi Jr., Adalberto Mondesi had 133 career stolen bases and 157 RBI. That is negative 24 for Jared.
Really?
I'm trying to think of guys that were just pinch runners. I mean, I have a couple names here, but I just know these guys have more RBI than stolen bases.
I wouldn't overcomplicate it. Okay. That's a hint. D. Gordon. That's a good one. That's a great shout. That's a really good one.
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Chapter 3: What trivia game do the hosts play and how does it work?
D. Gordon, 336 career stolen bases. 236 RBI. Game. Exactly 100 more. Cody, you are back in the ballgame. You're at 44 now. Yeah. And I'm at 14. All right.
I feel better about where I'm at. Oh, boy. So we're drafting how many players?
We're doing seven. So we've each got five left. Oh, man. This is tough. Okay.
Chapter 4: What are the rules for the trivia game related to player stats?
I'm going to go... I'm going to go with Dave Roberts. When I think stolen bases, I think his one stolen base in that championship series. Nice job, Jeremy. Nice pull here. 243 stolen bases, 213 RBI. That is plus 30 for Jeremy. All right, now we're exactly tied right now.
Wow, that's impressive. I could just picture this guy. All right, I can't think of right now. I'll get him on the next call. Juan Pierre. Oh, no. I wrote down Dee Gordon, Kilvio Veras, and Juan Pierre. That's it. Now I'm tapped.
All right. 614 stolen bases, 517 RBIs. Oh, God. So that's plus what? It's plus 97. All right, so we've still got one more episode here in 2025. And so it's our 2025 Major League Baseball expert Adnan Virk back with us. Yes, he will transition into being our 2026 expert, but that's not until next month. We've got him here. He was just in Orlando for the winter meeting.
So he's the perfect person to break things down. Adnan, welcome back for season two and a half. we'll say, of the pitch clock, and I want to get right into it.
The two big signings of the winter meetings were Kyle Schwarber signing his five-year $150 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies and Pete Alonzo leaving the National League East for the American League East, a five-year $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, cashing in after his one-year deal with the Mets last year. Adnan, which signing needs more?
I think it's Pete Alonso, the Baltimore Orioles, because if you look at their first base position, they were dead last in home runs and RBIs a season ago. And this was an Orioles team that we thought, Jeremy, for years to come, had this great young nucleus. They were going to contend.
Then last year, they were dead last, the ALAs, to go, wow, now you signed Pete, who no matter what, you pencil him in. He's 40 home runs and 100 RBIs, and he plays 162. Last two years, he played 162 games both times. Matter of fact, John Heymanton with this nugget, which I didn't know,
He and his wife scheduled the C-section at midnight just so he could play in a game that night because this guy does not want to miss any baseball games. I didn't know that. I said, that's crazy. So I think for Baltimore, it's a massive move. It proves that, hey, we needed power and we got it. Between Ward and Alonzo, that's 70-plus home runs.
They still need pitching, but apparently they're in on Frambois Valdez. So David Rubenstein took over as the owner in 2004. This is his first big splash. It's his first big signing since the Chris Davis trade as far as Orioles are concerned. The $161 million that Davis signed, which didn't work out well. But I think for Pete Alonzo, it's great, man. I mean, I'm really happy for him.
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Chapter 5: What were the major player signings discussed in the episode?
Billy Hamilton.
Oh, this is a good shout.
F***.
I don't even know if he played for the Banners, but I was just like, who is this red center fielder? Oh, thank you. I have been looking for that name. I have been looking for that name for my last three guesses. It's over. It's over. It's over. That's got to be a plus. 200.
Just for context, Billy Hamilton is third all-time. I cannot believe this, actually. Third all-time in stolen bases. Third all-time in stolen bases. No, he's not. I can't believe he played long enough. Like, I knew he came into the league as, like, this guy's going to steal 100 bases. We have learned a lot of stats on the course of this show over three years.
That is the most surprising thing I've learned, is that Billy Hamilton is third all-time in stolen bases. That's crazy. So he is third behind Lubrock with 912.
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Chapter 6: How does Pete Alonso's signing impact the Orioles?
It's over. I'm screwed. He had 736 career RBI. Wow. That's way more than I thought. How long did Billy Hamilton play? Dude, I cannot believe these stats. So what is that? That's plus 176. Wait. We have a problem. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What is it? As we look at the rest of the action, what's something that didn't happen that surprised you the most, Adnan?
Well, Tucker was the big one because I kept hearing the Jays are really aggressive in on him. And the numbers, it's interesting. Originally, I thought $400 million. And you go, ah, it's too much money. Like, listen, Kyle Tucker's a really good player. But I don't know if he's a superstar. He's a star player. Like, he's a pretty little all-star. But I don't know if he's a superstar. So...
I, at one point, thought 12 for 360. You know, you get $30 million a year. But it seems like more of these teams are skittish about giving these long-term deals. There's a better chance of a higher AAV in short years. So even now, he's, oh, God, here we go again. The Dodgers could give Tucker like a Bregman-type deal. The Red Sox did. Three years for $120 million. $120 million.
$40 million a year for Kyle Tucker, but it's not big years. It's only three years, and they'll figure it out. So you go, oh, my God, that might happen. So I thought Tucker would get done. I just thought Toronto seems really aggressive. They've obviously already signed Dylan Cease for 7-2-10. Now that the Mets have lost these guys, maybe that will up the bidding a little bit.
But I thought Kyle Tucker was going to go to the winter meetings, and I still think Toronto's the spot. I think the Jays are really high on him. So those are the moves that didn't happen previously.
We're talking about some splashy names here, but what's one of the under-the-radar moves that you saw that you go, hey, that's going to have a big impact?
Yeah, you know, a couple of pitchers. Steven Matt's got a couple-year deal. You know, he's still going $15 million there. And I also think that Kyle Finnegan for your Tigers, two years, $19 million. You know, the big one out there is what if Tarek Skubal gets traded to the Dodgers? And you go, oh, my God, it would just be just bananas. You couldn't even imagine it, right?
Skubal is going to be a free agent after this year. He's going to get a $300 million contract. I don't know if it's going to happen or not. Scott Harris, by the way, the Tigers president, was on our set. And he said, no one's untouchable. So like, you know, read that light. He did not say Tarek Scooble is untouchable. No one's untouchable. We listen to everybody.
But Finnegan's a guy who I do think is a good pitcher. I think he can offer some more depth in that rotation, which was a concern, right? Too often you look at it and you go, okay, it's Scooble and who else? So Finnegan's a guy I do think gives him a little bit of a, veteran experience and it can be a decent number three, number four for that Tigers team.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Mets' recent trades?
And yes, you will officially move into 2026 MLB expert territory the next time we speak. Enjoy your holidays, Adnan.
There's another Billy Hamilton that's third all-time in career stolen bases.
What? How do you know which one? How do you know which one?
I clicked on his profile on Fangraphs. Don't you dare try to insinuate.
This could end up being worse for you. Hold on, hold on, hold on. So he has 300 stolen bases and like 20 RBI. This could end up being worse for you.
I clicked on the old-timey Billy Hamilton's. So I'm erasing my plus 176. This guy was like a certified Hall of Famer. 70 career award, 142. He played 142.
All right, give me the right Billy Hamilton. Played from 88.
All right, give me the right Billy Hamilton. Give us the right Billy Hamilton. He had 326 career stolen bases and 189 career. Okay, so similar. Basically the same. Let's set the table. I'm plus 60.
Chris. Plus 100. Wow, what a comeback. Plus 100. Billy Hamilton?
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