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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Lunch shouldn't be an afterthought. Fresh-cut meats, stacked sandwiches, and house-made sides. Done the McGregor's way. Stop into the McGregor's Butcher Shop in Overland Park today.
Fourth quarter of the program begins right now as we talk to Jeff Passan, our Major League Baseball insider from ESPN. Joins us each and every Monday here in the program. Jeff, how are you, my friend? I'm great, Saran. Welcome back. Yeah, thank you. Been a little bit since I chatted with you with the holiday, and then I was out for one more day.
So I hope everyone is good in the past in the household. Is everybody ready for some World Cup soccer?
Chapter 2: What insights does Jeff Passan provide about the current MLB season?
Not really. I have no idea when it's even going to be here, honestly.
Okay. Okay. Good to know. Let me cross off that final four question.
How excited are you for the game? Only this week did I find out that Lionel Messi is going to be in Kansas City for like a whole month. I had no idea.
You know who's in all the papers? What are those? Yeah, exactly. Says the former Kansas City Star employee.
Listen, I'm not proud of it. I'll say this. The English national team is staying about a mile from my house, which is pretty cool. Yeah, I know. Not bad. I'm wondering, are they going to go out and license? Are they going to look at all the fine things at Prairie Village, Kansas?
I expect them to be shopping at the Hen House in Corinth on a regular basis.
Oh, if they do that, then... I'm sure they will be taken into a conversation with Barry. Oh, Barry's the best. Yeah, absolutely. Everyone knows Barry. Barry loves talking ball.
Yeah, he does. Yeah, he does. Barry's great. I have no doubt they'll be down there talking to Barry and grabbing an award-winning Hen House salad bar salad. So, you know, looking forward to it. seeing all the Harry Kane roaming around the aisles of the hen house.
I feel like Harry Kane would stand out, though, just because he's a very long man. But if Jude Bellingham were in the hen house at Corinth, Would anyone recognize him?
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Chapter 3: How do the Cleveland Guardians maintain their success despite challenges?
It's a big we'll see for me, and... I like the fact that he's got a multi pitch mix. You know, it's not just like fastball slider.
He's.
got the four-seamer, he's got the sinker, he throws a change-up, a curveball, a slider, he's got all those things. But it's the walks, dude. Like, are the walks going to hinder him and keep him from being the type of pitcher who, with an average fastball velocity at, like, 96, 97, like, there's a chance for him to be pretty good. But if you're not throwing strikes, that chance...
is very, very, very unlikely.
Yeah. To me, my vision was always that the Royals' bullpen was going to need some help, and if they weren't going to trade for it, that Luinder Vila could become the lights-out eighth-inning guy in the bullpen. But they've needed him as a starter because Bailey faltered.
Yeah.
Bailey Falter lived down to his name.
Yes, he did. That did not go well.
Are you saying that a 1.596 whip is bad for a pitcher? Yeah. I can't believe it was that low. I would have thought it was even higher.
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Chapter 4: What factors contribute to a team's performance despite a poor run differential?
Go with someone else.
Well, I mean, his last 19 appearances, it's like 17 innings. It's kind of an odd little K to walk ratio, too. He's got a few more walks than you'd like. I think it's like 15 Ks to like 10 walks. Yeah. But his ERA is below two. I mean, he's only given up like three or four runs. He hasn't given up a run his last eight appearances. The strikeouts have come up a little bit more. A little bit?
He has lately. More than, well, actually, it's against the others he's going against. Yes. Competing against. He looks like, you know, Billy Wagner next to some of the guys they toss out there.
Yeah. Why wouldn't you put Lynch in there?
Well, that's where I was going to go next because we've talked about it, why they didn't go to him and why they kept going to Erceg and haven't put Lynch in there.
I mean, look, Daniel Lynch was pretty good two years ago coming down the stretch, and they wouldn't go anywhere near him in the playoffs, which had us all thinking like, OK, they just really handpicked the moments that they would use him, and they don't really think he's that good. I mean, he's better now than he was then. He's more real now than he was then. The velocity's higher.
There are other things. As far as the metrics, that'll tell you that he is, you know, the numbers are a product of being better than he was a couple of years ago. But it brings me right back to where I was. I don't think they're that confident in him.
You know, I get that you are concerned about the splits. Like, Daniel Lynch is a terror. on left-handed hitters. And right-handed hitters, I mean, they haven't been great against him this year. They haven't been... It's been, like, a little bit above league average.
So I get that if you're putting him in a situation in a close game in the ninth inning and there are any left-handers there, the likelihood is the opposing manager is going to go to the bench and you're going to see just a spate of right-handed hitters against him. But, man...
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Chapter 5: How does the Royals' pitching staff compare to others in the league?
! Like, you know, but for the Royals, they're being aggressive.
And we're like, OK with it. I get risk reward if you're good at it. You said risk reward when you suck. It just takes guys off the bases for you to not hit a home run.
I'm not even mad at Quintero for answering the questions after the game like that, because because he's not going to throw his guys under the bus. So I get it. I just hope that that's all it is, is him covering for it. And then he walks in there and goes, hey, Mikel. You know, head out of ass. What are we doing here? Right.
Like at some point, those conversations or JJ to come on down and be like, dude, what were you doing? Oh, I was being aggressive.
You know, ultimately, to me, that goes back on the manager. And here's why that goes on the manager. You need to know what your team is and isn't. And I don't just mean in the sense, Seren, of fast or slow. I mean in the sense of can we score or do we struggle with that? And, man, if you're struggling to score runs ā there needs to be an emphasis on the value of every out.
Every out is precious. And let's not give them away if you don't have a very good reason for doing it.
Yeah. And he keeps saying it. And, again, if he believes it, then this ā and I've said this. This is my frustration with Matt Quattro is the base running and is the way he talks about it. I'm hoping he doesn't really believe the words that are coming out of his mouth. But I'm with you. When you're not scoring runs ā
Well, we're going to be aggressive, so we're going to give away some more outs, but we're going to try to get an extra 90 feet. No! No, hold on to those outs, like the precious commodities they are when you can't hit.
Not a good trade. Every reason they give for doing it is actually a reason to not do it.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the trade deadline for MLB teams?
This kid hit two 60-yard field goals in a game. 60 is nothing now. It's starting to become the new 50. Yeah. 70 is coming. Yep. Like an end of half, end of game 70 is coming.
Jacksonville hit from 68 and had room to spare. Yeah. That might be one of my bold and daring predictions when football season comes around.
70-yard field goal.
Somebody bangs one through from 70.
Yeah. I think it's coming. Well, now it's not little like former soccer guys.
No.
They're all like 6'4". Yes. They're all like Harrison Bucker. Yes. You know, bombing the ball. Athletes. Yeah. That's going to do it for us. Back at it tomorrow. We'll be down at the FIFA Fan Fest. Looking forward to that. We'll see you then.
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