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Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
Effectively Wild Episode 2420: The Stories We Missed in 2025 (NL Edition)
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- [00:00]
A
They'll still be speaking statistically rambling, romantically, pontificating, pedantically bantering, bodily drafting, discerningly giggling, giddily, equaling Effectively Wild.
- [00:16]
B
Hello, and welcome to episode 2420 of Effectively Wild, a Fangraph Spaceball podcast, brought to you by our Patreon supporters. I'm Meg Rowley of fangraphs and I'm joined by Ben Lindberger of the Ringer. Ben, how are you, buddy?
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A
Happy to have you back. Welcome back.
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B
Thanks. Thank you.
- [00:33]
A
The week in the mountains was restorative.
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B
It was, you know, it's so quiet up there. You can hear the river. There was snow. There was snow on Christmas.
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A
Oh, nice. Yeah, we got snow the day after Christmas, which was not perfect, but close. It's been snowy a lot lately, which I very much appreciate. So nice to have you back.
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B
Thanks.
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A
And we're going to do some stories that we missed in 2025, as we do at the of every year.
- [01:04]
B
Yeah.
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A
We have not missed too many transactions. Well, you missed some while you were in the mountains, but we didn't miss too many major ones here at Effectively Wild. Though you missed the windfall that Moran's contract gained you in the free agent contracts over underdraft just catapulted you from negative territory to a commanding lead.
- [01:27]
B
Yeah, I, I, you know, look how they massacred my boy. I feel bad. Last it was, it was so nice, you know, because I, I, I was down big, which felt not good. And then Juan Soto, like, dramatically exceeded trade rumors, expectations, and, and then I pulled into a lead that I would not relinquish. And, and that felt better than this, where it's like, you know, when you're, when you're outperforming Ben because Murakami is underperforming his expected market. Like, my stakes, you know, low. I can appreciate them being low stakes for him. So high. So I, I felt, I felt bad about that. But, you know, there's still some distance yet to travel, and you could still, you, you know, you've, you've got Kyle Tucker on the board. That's a big one for you.
- [02:24]
A
Yeah. Though I think he's unlikely to underperform that prediction by as much as Murakami did. So rough st. Yeah, well, we'll see. The biggest transaction that has happened since I last recorded was Tyler Soderstrom's. Well, I guess I may have mentioned it briefly on an intro, but didn't banter about Tyler Soderstrom's extension, which became public knowledge on Christmas Day.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And it didn't Go official until the following Monday, which is when we're speaking. But I always wonder when a significant transaction like that occurs on Christmas Day or at least is reported on Christmas Day. Yeah, I don't know when they actually agreed and signed the papers.
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B
Sure.
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A
Of course, it wasn't official yet, and so any. Any paperwork that had to be completed could have waited for a few days after Christmas. But I always wonder about the sequence of events I. I haven't seen it reported that led to that coming to light on Christmas of all days, especially because he wasn't a free agent signing with. He could have signed an extension anytime.
- [03:33]
B
Anytime.
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A
Yeah, like, he could have done it anytime between now and spring training, anytime since the end of the season. But no seven year, $86 million deal, which is a franchise record, and. And yet it. It breaks on Christmas. So I always wonder, like, I mean, it's a good presence to give yourself, and I guess both parties are hopefully happy with that signing. So. But I, I just always wonder, like, couldn't you just kick the can down the road a week? Just be like, let's. Let's wrap it, right? Let's. I mean, no, I don't. Not that many reporters are covering the A's. For all I know, this was agreed to a few days earlier and it just slipped out then. But, yeah, I always wonder about how that happens. Exactly.
- [04:18]
B
It's particularly funny to your point, when it's an extension, you know, the degree to which there is urgency, you know, And I want to compliment the broader community of executives in Major League Baseball. Everyone so well behaved, you know, seemingly so fond of their families. And I. I don't want to impugn the good folks who work for the A's. When it's an extension, it's like, hey, you've been talking for a while. Maybe you just send. Send a little text, you know, on Christmas. Ben, I don't know about you, but I. I send some texts. I send some, hey, Merry Christmas. I send some wishing you a merry Mary. Hope that the day is merry and bright and. And so maybe, you know, they're. They're sitting there and the. The Christmas beast is not ready or the goose or whatever other you know, traditions they might have. And there's just like a little, hey, how's it going? Because was it passing that reported it? Who reported the.
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A
I think it was passing. Yeah.
- [05:24]
B
Yeah. It's like, hey, Jeff. Mary.
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A
Mary.
- [05:26]
B
I mean, you know, I hope you're having a good holiday season, but by the way, you know, who else is Having a good holiday season. Tyler Soderstrom. And maybe it was as simple as that. So low effort kind of a deal. I mean, not to get done potentially, but to. To communicate anyway.
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A
Yeah.
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B
So.
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A
Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's a career A. I mean, it's not that long a career, but he was drafted by the A's. Now he'll be with the A's for quite a while. And yeah, he had himself a heck of a year. It was his first full season in the majors.
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B
Sure did.
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A
125 WRC plus worth more than three war. And he is only 24. Still. He's a young 24. He turned 24 about a month ago. So I would be pretty bullish about that. A's young position player core, which is one reason why I. I hope they figure out their situation and where they're going to be playing to some people's satisfaction at least. Just because this team could be good, could be quite compelling by the time they are supposedly moving. So, you know, you look at the extensions that they've signed already, Soderstrom and Rooker and, and others and. And you figure they're probably working on more. I would imagine they'd be interested in discussing things with. With other young players, young bats. But that. That lineup, you know, pretty impressive. Suddenly Kurtz arrives and just the other talent. They're all somewhat young, but you know, like Butler signed the extension, Jacob Wilson. It's. Yeah, it's. It's a pret team at least sometimes. At least at the plate.
- [07:04]
B
So put it this way, I am set up to once again overestimate their potential and like have them be a sneaky wild card pick. I anticipate being disappointed, but I'm going to talk myself into it, Ben. You know, I'm going to talk myself into it. The pitching piece of it is still wanting. You know, I don't know, given, you know, Severino's experience that they are likely to persuade free agents there without a massive overpay and even then they might just be kind of out of luck. But it's a good group. You know, that position player group is a good group. And if they are able to make some progress this year, they might put themselves in a position where like, you know, this is an imperfect comparison for a number of reasons, but you know, when the Mariners signed Robinson Cano, they had to pay a premium to. To get Robbie to come to Seattle. They paid that premium. But they, they had to like put themselves in a position to pay a premium, if that makes sense. Right. You have to have sort of passed a threshold of viability as a franchise. I think the A's are approaching that. I really do. So congratulations, West Sacramento A's. You have now put yourselves in a spot where in a year you can write a check that 20% bigger than the market would otherwise bear. But, you know, you'll have some fun baseball on the back end of it.
- [08:32]
A
So I guess it says something, or it should, that players who are already on the A's seem to want to stay there. Yeah, I get why it would maybe require an extra boost to an offer to get someone to come there, but once you're there, if you've maybe always been there or if that's the team that's given you your shot, then seemingly they've done enough for those guys to want to stick around despite all the uncertainty. So that's something, at least. And. And Soderstrom, he had an interesting progression because, you know, of course, he was drafted as a catcher, and then he started the season as a first baseman, but then Kurtz showed up, and then they moved him to left field, which he had not played as a pro previously. And. And granted, I guess it's the easiest position in theory, on the field or at least in the outfield, you get, you know, fewer opportunities, less involvement than at any other position. And often it is sort of where you stash someone who's not that great at anything else. But. But, you know, he started out out there a hundred games, and he ended up being a Gold Glove finalist for which, you know, low bar, I guess, defensive left fielder, but still, he. He rated quite well out there relative to the baseline, which is not that great.
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B
But still, it's a bar to clear.
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A
Right, and it's still impressive if you've never played the position before. So.
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B
Yeah. So I. You know, my sense when. When we have talked to friend of the pod front rooker, is that that clubhouse seems to gel well. They seem to like each other. You know, the experience of leaving Oakland was upsetting, but I think kind of brought a cohesion to the group. We have talked about ad nauseam, probably at this point, about the challenges that the A's face and continue to face. And I don't think that all of those are sort of expunged from the record because they have an exciting position player group. But it isn't all bad, and it does feel like there is enough of a remove from some of those broader institutional issues, for lack of a better word, franchise issues, ownership issues, that guys in that clubhouse are Able to sort of just have a coherent and cohesive unit. So I don't know, it seems okay.
- [10:50]
A
Yeah, I could see it being a bonding experience to go through all that just with your teammates, but. But not necessarily with your team. Like you could bond with your teammates against your team, if anything. But that doesn't seem to be quite what has happened for days, so. Okay, well, I hope that they get good and they develop a fan base who can count on watching them for a while and some stability and certainty. What else has happened? Let's see. Pete Fairbanks left one Florida team for another, went to the Marlins. Actually worked out well for him because the rays declined an $11 million option for him and he. He signed for $13 million with the Marlins, which I don't know if it was worth the hassle or if he liked being a member of the Rays or whatever. But it's fairly rare, not, not unheard of that someone gets their option declined and then makes more money on the open market. But yeah, you could. It makes sense, I guess, because it's the raise.
- [11:50]
B
Maybe they feel like a team adjustment to expectation there.
- [11:53]
A
That's useful. Then again, I guess the Marwans aren't exactly big spenders either. But the Rays at least have a history of finding pitching and making effective relievers. And so maybe they think we don't have to pay that, but some other team might. That seems to be what happened here, by the way. I. I would like just to come up with an example of. You cited the Robinson Cano signing. That sort of just like statement signing, where it's like we're changing the narrative about the team. I always think of Jason Worth signing the Nationals. That was a big one.
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B
Yeah, that's a great example.
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A
What else fits that description? Other people can write in and, and let us know. And I wonder how often that actually precedes success. When you change the narrative, does the narrative really change? Like, are you then able to sign a bunch of other free agents at market rate and does it proceed and foreshadow some success by the team? It's not like the Nationals signed Jason Worth and suddenly got great. I mean, they won the World Series like eight years later or something. So it's probably not exactly cause and effect, but. But I like, I like that practice.
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B
What about Manny Machado in San Diego?
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A
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good one.
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B
I think it's like. It's a statement signing do over. Because their statement signing was supposed to be Hosmer.
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A
Yeah, I guess that's true.
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B
But they were undeterred by that, not sort of resulting in the kind of production they were expecting and they went out and signed. They went out and signed Machado.
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A
Yeah, that's a good one. And that was a prelude to some success I suppose and certainly some star power. Okay. Yeah. Submit other good examples if you're listening to this and yelling at us to cite some specific signing, what else happened? The Orioles brought back Zach Eflin and we'll surely hope that he will pitch better and more for them than he did this past year. The Cubs signed Hunter Harvey which I thought that was a nice little move because that was just one year six million and he didn't pitch a whole lot in 2025. He had various injuries but when he has been healthy he has been one of the more effective relievers. So yeah, I don't mind that as a buy low kind of move. And let's see. Well the Reds plucked in an athletic of their own with JJ Blood day. The Mariners signed Rob Ref Snyder a week ago. That was a, a record contract for Ref Snyder which in his case was one year six and a half million. He's, he's, I wonder what the record for a record contract is age wise because he's, he's coming up on 35 I think and this is just a one year deal. So I, I wonder, you know it's like Rich Hill esque to sort of backload your earnings in your career. But I don't know how does he fit into the Mariners mix. He's, you know, he's been good of late for the Red Sox just as like a part time platoon bat role player, clubhouse guy fits in well.
- [15:01]
B
Yeah, it's pretty hard for a one year deal of that size to be a bad contract. Even if he doesn't end up hitting particularly well because it's like $6 million. I will be interested to see how his bat translates to T mobile but in terms of the roster fit, I you know for a $6 million signing I quite like it. He pairs well with Dominic Canzone as a platoon. You know they announced him as a first baseman and outfielder which suggests to me that they might use him to shield Josh Naylor from tough lefties. This isn't any kind of groundbreaking analysis here, but I think it was fine. Like it's a tidy bit of business.
- [15:45]
A
So yeah he's, he's turning 35 in March so this would be his age 35 season. And yeah he's never made more than 2.1 which was his salary in 2025 and he's tripling that or more in his age 35 season. So that's kind of got to be kind of uncommon. I guess it's because of the shape of his career. He, he just cleared seven years of service time so. Because he didn't exactly debut that late but he just was a part time player and up and down for years and years and kind of has gotten established late in his career and has had a career high playing time late in his career. So just hitting free agency at this stage, I guess if it takes you a while to accrue service time, then inevitably you're going to have a big contract late in your career when you really reach free agency. But by that point often you're not that good anymore so you might not actually command more. So kind of atypical. And what else I guess I mentioned but didn't discuss in any depth that the Pirates signed Ryan O'. Hearn.
- [16:52]
B
Yeah.
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A
For two years and 29 million which is sadly a Pirates franchise record for a position player for a free agent position player. So yes, it's not a big number but you know, we've been hearing all off season Pirates primed to spend and they did I guess. And, and you know, they've made some trades. We talked about the three way trade they were involved in while you were off Rhino Hearn. You know, it's not really an inspiring addition but as we said when we talked about that three way trade, it's like the, the bar is so low for offense for the Pirates that just getting a kind of competent hitter is, is an improvement.
- [17:34]
B
Yeah.
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A
Just, it's not exciting. He's coming off a career best year, but he's also 32. I don't know how much he helps them in the long run or even in the short run frankly. But yeah, it's something, you know, avoid that grievance.
- [17:50]
B
Yeah, well and look, avoid that grievance. Sure. And you know, he had a year where he was, you know, able to, to hit well from both sides of the plate in a way that has kind of not been true for him throughout the course of his career. He's often been platooned but he hit lefties pretty well. It's a perfectly respectable signing. You know, he was a top 50 free agent for us. Like he's a real bat. He'll help to extend their lineup. Like I, you know, I don't want to be overly harsh on the Pirates in moments where they do something good. Like this is, this is nice now for most teams, Ryan O'Hearn might be a complimentary signing as opposed to like the marquee guy that they get. And we're still feeling the difference between the Pirates and other clubs in sort of the magnitude of this for their lineup relative to what, you know, a real contender would do. But like, he's a respectable bat. You know, that's a, that's a respectable signing. I, I think it's fine. Like, I, I continue to wish that they would do more. The fact that a two year, $29 million free agent signing has any sort of place in like Pirates history is pretty embarrassing. But that doesn't mean that he's an embarrassing addition to their club. You know, this is a guy who's had like a 121, 27ish WRC plus over the last couple of years. Like, that's a useful guy. That's a useful guy again on any club as like a really useful guy for them. Now, is he gonna be able to like crush lefties pretty well going forward? Probably not. Will he run a 330 BAB going forward? But like, you know, he was one of the better available bats on the trade market this past summer. So he's respectable. It's respectable. Ben.
- [19:34]
A
I guess you could say that Spencer Horowitz is kind of a younger version of him that they already have. He projects to be better than o', Hearn, but o' Hearn can play outfield. If that's how they end up using him, though, that would not be an inspir. Defensive outfield.
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B
No, it sure would not be.
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A
Yeah, you're better off. Yeah. And Brian Reynolds and o', Hearn, that would be, that would be rough. But at least they spent something. It's just. Yeah. I don't know. It's not maybe the highest impact move that they could have made or position that they could have made it at. But again, if they're not nutting at this particular time, then we'll give them credit for that.
- [20:16]
B
We'll give them something.
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A
All right. So at the end of every year, we usually devote an episode or two. This time we'll, we'll do it in two episodes. Just two stories that we missed, we overlooked, we didn't talk about in the preceding 12 months. And I put a call out on all the various channels and asked people to submit stuff and people nominate various stories. And sometimes we end up with one thing, and sometimes we end up with a few. And sometimes it's silly. It could be anything. It could be an unsung player who had a pretty productive year. It could be some statistical quirk or obscure record or heartwarming debut. You never know really. But we talk about a lot of things here on Effectively Wild. We don't talk about all of the things though. And because we try to have at least one story for every team, these might not be news to you if it's about your team and you're following things on a local level and you're super plugged in, you know, all of this stuff, but on a national level level it might not be as well known. And maybe we knew it, came across it but just didn't mention it on the podcast. Maybe we did. And I completely forgot we did a lot of podcasting this year. Who knows? But maybe could we start with the National League? Because I sure, it doesn't really matter, but if we do NL today and AL tomorrow, we just, you know, AL always gets to go first. It seems like it's. It's like alphabetical. I don't know what it is, but National League has seniority. It's the senior circuit.
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B
It's the senior circuit, yeah.
- [21:49]
A
So junior circuit can go on the next episode and we'll just go through the teams alphabetically here and I will shout out the people who submitted these things where applicable. So we'll start with the Braves and I should say bear with me because this is always one of the more like labor intensive preparation processes for Effectively Wild because I'm trying to solicit all these submissions and then trying to record them. I have a massive spreadsheet with all these links and names and notes and such and I will link to that on the show page if you want to check out any of the links here. And I end up doing a fair bit of reading and opening of tabs. But I guess the the main story we got a bunch of Braves submissions from Jorge and Paul and Sammy and some people wanted us to talk about Ozzy Albis for various reasons really. And some people wanted us to talk about how he had a big down year. Trey, for instance, wrote in. Said one player whose underperformance went a bit under the radar was Ozzy Albies. He missed time in 2024 due to injury, was back up to 157 games and 667 plate appearances in 2025. It was easily his worst full season at 1.3. Fangcraft swore in his lowest WRC plus in any season at 87 at just 28 years old. Still, I was really surprised by his season. It's possible that lingering effects of injuries hampered him, but he honestly just looked cooked at the plate. Watching him on a daily basis. Atlanta has been lost at shortstop for a few years now, but this year made me concerned about both middle infield spots. And then I guess more optimistically, we got one submission for Ozzy Albies and his second half surge, which started about a year after his wrist injury and of course his hamate got shattered so that put a stop to the surge. So it, it was an up and down year for him. More down than up probably. Another little tidbit I discovered while I was reading about Azzy Albi's player. I've quite enjoyed in the past and you know, we've talked about how he had this below market extension and everything. Though I guess if he keeps playing poorly then maybe it won't be so below market. But he was the, the farthest back in the box of any hitter and also the closest to the plate of any hitter or any qualified hitter on the baseball savant leaderboard this year, which I guess is a blow to my one size fits all blanket. Everyone should move farther back in the box. Note that seemingly didn't really help him all that much this year, but the real headline I think about Ozzy Albis is that he has huge aquariums. Aquaria, I don't know, but he has, he has huge fish tanks in his house. He loves fish. And this is not new that he has huge aquariums in his house. There was an MLB.com story about this back in 2023, but he got even bigger. He, he got an even bigger fish tank that he didn't get it even bigger, but the fish tanks that he got. So he got a, a 6,000 gallon aquarium this year.
- [25:04]
B
So 6,000 gallon. How does Ben, how does that compare in size to like the aquarium in the first Mission Impossible movie? Is it the same size?
- [25:16]
A
I think it's probably smaller than that.
- [25:18]
B
It's smaller than that.
- [25:19]
A
Yeah. So. So in his house in Marietta, Georgia, he has a koi fish pond, which is always nice and soothing. But then in 2023 he had three tanks, 550, 300 and 450 gallons fresh water. The biggest was 12ft long. The other were 8ft long. And apparently his grandfather used to keep koi fish when he was a little kid. And so, yeah, and so it was, you know, and, and he grew up in, in Kursao and clear waters and reefs and so it reminded him of home and his upbringing and he loved animals and wildlife and, and the sea and Such. And so like these tanks barely fit Ozzy Albis. And I know that because there was a picture of him in one of the tanks and he was like lying in it. So that's how big his pre existing.
- [26:14]
B
So much smaller than the Mission Impossible tank.
- [26:18]
A
Much smaller, yes. And, and he doesn't just have fish, he has turtles. He has, yeah, he's got all sorts of. He's got a shark in there, like a small shark but you know, freshwater shark. But he's, he's got names for them and everything.
- [26:33]
B
Sure, there's.
- [26:34]
A
Yeah, he takes care of them. His wife, his mother in law, you know, they've tricked them out with reefs and artificial driftwood and, and such. And he said, yeah, it's relaxing, it's not a hard thing to do, it's easy. But this year he upgraded, he supersized and he got this 6,000 gallon tank. And yeah, it's like this custom job. And there's a company that does this for celebrities, I guess they do like custom installations and they go to your house and they build this big fancy thing. 6,000 gallons. My only objection to this is that it's in his garage or at least one of his garages. I don't know if he has multiple garages. And so I'll, I'll send you a picture on Instagram and you can look through the various tabs here. And so it, it does seem to be a bit awkwardly positioned because it's like it seems to be right next to where he keeps his car. And so when he parks his car in here, it's like jutting up against the aquarium. Actually, I don't know if you can see it in the thing I just sent you, but other places you can see it, the car is just like right up against the glass. Like be careful, don't, don't pull in too far or you know, there will be a fish massacre. Sea life would be just gasping for air. Yeah. And so he has all this aquarium equipment and then also like, I guess he, he has an ev and so there's all this charging equipment for the car and it's all kind of crammed into this garage, which makes me think it would be hard to appreciate the scenery if he has a car in there because it takes up all the space that you would be standing in front of the aquarium to admire the soothing sea life. But other than that, I think it's nice that he has this hobby and it seems to bring him joy. And I guess he needed some joy as he was struggling this season?
- [28:30]
B
Yeah. My understanding is that both Oziabi's and his wife, they do like a lot of sort of rescue and wildlife and animal related charity work. It seems like this is a pretty consistent through line for them because I think they do a lot of dog and shelter work in the greater Atlanta area, but yet it's an odd spot to have it. Oh, why is one of the Paul brothers on this, on this company?
- [29:01]
A
They have a giant aquarium too, but.
- [29:05]
B
It'S like Ozzy Albies and then a bunch of guys who seem like they aspire to be Bond villains. What's up with that? Like, come on now, come on now.
- [29:14]
A
Here's another page where you can. And again, this will be in my massive spreadsheet with all the links, but you can see how it's like the car is parked directly in front of the. It's like the car barely fits in front of the massive aquarium when, when, when the garage door is closed.
- [29:31]
B
So, yeah, well, but maybe, maybe it's not gonna live there. You know, maybe it's temporary.
- [29:39]
A
I don't know how portable this thing is.
- [29:41]
B
Maybe, maybe. No, no, the aquarium is gonna live there. The car mobile. Yeah, maybe. Maybe the car's only being included in the photos for scale because they were like the anticipating my question of express. This fish tank in first Mission Impossible movie fish tank terms. And they're like, well, that's a useless frame of reference for many people. But everyone knows what this car is. So maybe, maybe the car is for scale. Or maybe, maybe his wife was like, hey, I support these, these fishy impulses you have, but I can't have the entire living room taken up by this fish tank. You know, maybe this was the compromise.
- [30:22]
A
Yeah. There are only so many places to fit a 6,000 gallon aquarium.
- [30:27]
B
Do they need natural light fish? Are they. Well, I guess, you know, depends. In the sea, it's sort of filtered light anyway, so you're not. It's not like a house plant. I'm worried I'm killing a house plant. But anyway, that's not the purpose of this conversation, but it's a nice setup.
- [30:42]
A
And I. I envious. I wish I had an aquarium. I like when I worked.
- [30:47]
B
You're an aquarium guy, huh?
- [30:48]
A
Yeah. When I worked briefly at Bloomberg Sports years and years and years ago, they had fish tanks all over the office. And it was very nice. It was distracting, I mean, because I would just go and stand and stare at the fish. They had, famously, infamously, an open floor plan, which I do not care for in a working Environment.
- [31:08]
B
Amen, brother.
- [31:09]
A
I'm hopefully posting office in my life. I hope at least an office that I have to commute to. But. But I did appreciate the fish tanks. I missed the free snacks and the fish tanks. That's about it. So someday I'll have a fish tank again, but probably not. 6,000 gallons. That's maybe a bit too big.
- [31:27]
B
Yeah. I mean 6,000 gallons. That's just a New York City apartment you're just describing.
- [31:32]
A
Right? Exactly.
- [31:33]
B
A studio apartment.
- [31:34]
A
Yeah. I don't think I have the square footage.
- [31:36]
B
I don't think you do.
- [31:38]
A
No. Other stories that were submitted for the Braves, some people mentioned the, the hockey, the ex hockey player connection for this franchise. Tom Glavin famously grew up playing hockey and Drake Baldwin the same. I don't, I don't know if that's really that noteworthy. I mean it's interesting that Drake Baldwin has a hockey past, but Glavin and Baldwin, it's. It's two players separated by decades. I'm not sure that's quite enough to make it about the Braves really. And Tyler Kinley had a great second half and maybe had some pitch usage changes. It's, it's true. He went from the Rockies to the Braves and his ERA was like five and a half for the Rockies and sub one, I think with Atlanta. Although he had almost identical X fips with the two teams. So I don't know how, how different he actually was under the hood.
- [32:31]
B
Time will tell.
- [32:32]
A
Yes. And minor leaguer Jacob Gomez of the Braves organization, he was released for shoplifting sports cards. This is kind of an unusual story. He was, yeah, he was arrested and released from the, the Rome Braves. The, The Rome emperors, that is, after he was caught shoplifting $60 worth of collectible sports cards from a Walmart. So that's an odd story. I don't know if there were additional details, but he actually had pretty good stats overall. So I don't know if there was more to this story or there's zero tolerance policy for shoplifting or what, but he evidently took NFL cards out of a box, put them in his shorts pocket in August and he was reported he paid for other items at the register so he didn't slip out entirely, but he paid for other things, but not for the football cards. And then they reviewed the surveillance video, they nailed him and, and that was that for his Braves career. So it seems like an ill advised decision. I don't know what else is going on there, but that was a weird one.
- [33:55]
B
Yeah.
- [33:55]
A
Also the freeze, you know, the famous between things, entertainer beat the Freeze. The very fast guy in the suit.
- [34:04]
B
Yeah.
- [34:05]
A
Who. Yeah. Gives a head start to the fan and then almost inevitably catches up with that fan and makes them look sort of silly. The Freeze has stepped down and Atlanta is auditioning new freeze candidates for 2026. I had the freeze on the Ringer MLB show years ago when it, when it first. That promotion was first introduced and it was sort of a. A sensation. That was like 2017. Yeah. And I think it's been the same Nigel Talton. I, I think it's been the original Freeze all that time. But he's a flag football coach and a special education paraprofessional at an Atlanta area high school, so he's moved on from being the Freeze to teaching and high school coaching. So. Cool. Yeah, I guess it's not the first time that they've replaced the Freeze, I suppose, you know, it's. It's tough to tell when the Freeze is inside the suit. It's just a, A fast guy in the Freeze suit. But that's what the original Freeze, whom I once interviewed, has gone on to. That's cool. Yeah. Lastly, for the Braves, and this will come up again for the division rival Mets below. But the Braves set a record while they actually tied a record because the Mets had set the record earlier this same season. But most pitchers used In a season, 36 pitchers used by both the Braves and the Mets this year. And the Braves set a record for overall position players or no, just overall players used. There were 71 Atlanta Braves this year. I think it was when Charlie Morton debuted for them at the very end of the season before he retired. He was the 71st player which broke the record. Used the 70 used by the Marlins last year and the Orioles this year. So that's why these records are not quite so exciting because they're broken basically every season at this point. Sure, sure. You know, the minor league shuttle and pitcher usage these days and guys getting optioned and. And called up repeatedly. So the bar keeps being raised here. But yeah, it is currently the high bar. The Braves, which is a testament, I suppose, to their disappointing season. Yeah, I mentioned the Orioles there and the Braves. Things did not go great for those teams this year. They were sort of similarly disappointing relative to expectations. And it's not the more the merrier when it comes to teams generally. It's, you know, not really strength in numbers. Like if you use a lot of players, typically that's bad because you had a lot of injuries or you had a lot of underperforming players whom you had to replace.
- [36:53]
B
Yeah. Too bad.
- [36:54]
A
Yep. Okay. That was a lot of brave stories. We will not have as many, but we just happen to have a bunch of submissions for the Braves, for whatever reason. So that was well covered. Okay. For the brewers, we got an email from listener John here, who suggested maybe that the brewers have now played more games as a National League team than as an American League team. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't realize that they had passed that threshold. That's interesting, because it entirely depends when you started following baseball or a team, whether you just sort of think of them as belonging to one league or another. And I think of the brewers as a National League team. So, you know, I don't know how old you have to be to kind of still have to remind yourself that. Oh, right, yeah, they're a National League team, but I'm not that old.
- [37:47]
B
I guess I think of them as a National League team. I think. I think I do. Part of it is that, like, I think of them and the Mariners as being sort of coupled, and it's.
- [38:00]
A
Yeah.
- [38:00]
B
Which would, you might think, make me think of them as an AL team. But it's like. No. Then they're in, like, opposition to one another. I don't know. I have a funny little. Funny little Pilots, you know, tie in there. So.
- [38:12]
A
Yeah. When we started following baseball, the brewers were in the American League. They didn't move to the NL until 1998. So I. I remember that, but that's most of my life and the vast majority of my life as a baseball follower ago. Yeah. So they have rebranded themselves as a National League team in my mind, and also just in terms of total games plate. So. Yeah. Okay. And John also Suggested Andrew Vaughn's 1.422 win probability added in his first five brewers games, the second highest with a new franchise in the retro sheet era to Boob Fowler. Boob?
- [38:53]
B
Did you say Boob?
- [38:55]
A
I did say boob, yeah.
- [38:57]
B
Boob.
- [39:01]
A
Fowler. Yeah. Though that's. That's not a typo. It's actually.
- [39:03]
B
What a Boob.
- [39:04]
A
Boob Fowler.
- [39:05]
B
How do you end up with a nickname like that? Boob?
- [39:07]
A
It's a good question. His actual name, according to Baseball Reference, is Joseph Chester Fowler.
- [39:15]
B
Makes me think that Boob isn't complimentary.
- [39:18]
A
Right. The funny thing is that under nicknames, Baseball Reference lists Gink, as in was.
- [39:26]
B
Oh, boy.
- [39:27]
A
That was not the Gink. I mean, close enough. Yeah. But, I mean, it lists Gink as his nickname, but clearly Boob is also his nickname, because that is not his. His given name. But, yeah, I'll see if I can find out where. Where Boob came from. It's interesting because his baseball reference bullpen page says Joseph Chet Fowler Chet there listed as his nickname for. For Chester. So he's got multiple nicknames that are not actually listed as his nickname on the baseball reference page.
- [39:59]
B
Is Chet a nickname for Chester also? How many do you know? A single. Do you know a single Chester? Do you know any Chess?
- [40:06]
A
I do not know. Chesters seems to have fallen kind of out of fashion.
- [40:12]
B
Chet is a name that people have.
- [40:15]
A
Yeah. The baseball reference bullpen page just says he was called Boob and Gink. And then. You got to give me more than that. I mean. Yeah, I know. Tell me why, though.
- [40:25]
B
It really makes me think that his teammates didn't like him. I mean, no offense, Boob, but. Yeah, because isn't your cousin want a boob? They're kind of like a fuddy duddy. They're like a. They're like a boob, you know?
- [40:36]
A
Yeah. It could be just kind of a, you know, blunderer or something.
- [40:40]
B
Yeah, Blunderer.
- [40:42]
A
His Saber bio leads with Joseph Chester Fowler was known as Boob by some and Gink by others, but the nickname the Waco, Texas native preferred was simply Chet. And then again, does not elaborate on the Boob or the Gink. It appears to be a pretty short bio, but, I mean, do a little legwork here. So anyway, I guess I'm gonna have to do more research or dig into the newspaper archives or something. But anyway, Boob Fowler, Obviously, we talked plenty about Andrew Vaughn and his resurgence with the brewers this year, but I did not know the fun fact about it being the second best start in the first five games with a franchise trailing only Boob Fowler of the 1923 Reds, who was at 1.443 WPA just ahead of Vaughn.
- [41:30]
B
Boop.
- [41:31]
A
Yes. Also, John tells us that the brewers scored exactly one run in each of the first six innings on May 17, tying the retro sheet era record since 1901. Also, the Brewers 56 runs that had no run batted in were the most for a team since 2000, when Colorado had 63 and Cleveland had 61. And also, I can't recall whether or not you mentioned that The brewers scored 101 unearned runs. I don't think that we did, but those things probably go hand in hand. The lack of rbi. The unearned runs. Yeah.
- [42:05]
B
And the fast guys. And a bunch of fast.
- [42:07]
A
Right. Yeah. And. And Sam wrote about that at some point this season, how they just sort of managed to hit batted balls that should not have led to good things for them. But did they just beat out routine ground balls, seemingly routine ground balls, or they forced the other team into errors or they just lucked out with errors and maybe that luck ran out in the nlcs, I don't know. But they did have a knack throughout the season for just hitting lots of balls on the ground and just beating them out. You know, give them credit. Hustle was partly responsible, but 101 unearned runs, and that was by far the most in the majors. The Marlins were second with 83, so just about an eighth of their runs scored this year were unearned. So, you know, but maybe they did earn it in a way. I don't want to completely take it.
- [43:00]
B
Away from them by being fast.
- [43:01]
A
Yeah, I think the league average was something like 36 unearned runs. So they, they really outstripped everyone by a lot. So, so good for them. Or maybe, maybe that wasn't a final season stat. I think the, the league average was 36. That was when someone unearthed that stat in around the All Star break. So that's not actually true. But still, they, they did exceed the second place team. They made them a distant second. So that's a good collection of fun facts for the brewers, the Cardinals. I had to dig deep here. I struggled, which I think was appropriate because they were the team that we talked about least this season, we determined. And I guess that might mean, well, we talked about them least. There should be more stories about them that we didn't mention because we just didn't mention anything about them. But Cardinals fans wrote in to tell us that we didn't miss much. So there just wasn't a whole lot to talk about with the Cardinals. So I could skip them, but I won't. I have a few things that were submitted or mentioned in our discord group or that I dug up myself. One interesting thing that I saw in a post at the local Cardinals Sports Illustrated site by Kurt Bishop, he pointed out that the 2025 cardinals really resembled the 2007 cardinals in a lot of ways. So they, they had a 78 and 84 record, the same as the 2007 team. And they were both poised for a transition. They were on the precipice of a transition. And so following the 2007 season, John Moselak replaced Walt Jockey as GM. And this year Heim Blum is replacing Moselak and they're doing some front office restructuring also following 2007, maybe going along with the disappointing season and the change in leadership, there were some big trades that happened. So Scott Rollins was traded and Jim Edmonds was traded. And this winter, of course, Sonny Gray has already been dealt and Wilson Contreras and maybe Nolan Arenado will, will follow at some point if they find a taker for him this year. So I guess you could say that that bodes well maybe for the Cardinals coming out of things and you know, winning a World Series a few years down the road as they did in 2011. But there certainly are some parallels there.
- [45:30]
B
Sure.
- [45:30]
A
Also, they had a lot of catchers this year. They were. They were carrying three catchers for a lot of the season, which I was. I was sort of look a scance at carrying three catchers. It seems like more catchers than you can really regularly use.
- [45:48]
B
Well, but if it's the first two. Get her, Ben. Then you have one left over.
- [45:52]
A
I know, but how often does that happen? So it seems to be planning for a contingency that probably that glass will not be broken.
- [46:01]
B
You said that. But now all the. Now all the Cardinals catchers are going to get hurt next year and I want everyone to know it is Ben's fault and he doesn't feel bad about it.
- [46:12]
A
I encourage them to be incautious, just risk it all on carrying two catchers. But it does, it creates some traffic, as Derek Gould noted at some point this season. And they had Ivan Herrera, who was one of their better hitters and I guess, you know, he could play DH sometimes, but you kind of have to rotate people or else someone just never plays. But at one point they did have five catchers on their 40 man.
- [46:37]
B
So that's a lot.
- [46:39]
A
Yeah, it really is. And not all of them were in the majors maybe.
- [46:43]
B
But on the 40 man like that.
- [46:44]
A
Right.
- [46:45]
B
It's not. Yeah, it's not as precious. I don't want to real estate sounds like I'm talking about people as like a piece of land, but you know what I mean. Like those spots are not as precious as they are on the 26th, but it's pretty close.
- [46:58]
A
Pretty close.
- [46:58]
B
And some are impactful spot. There's a meaningful. It's meaningful.
- [47:03]
A
Yes. And I think they did then jettison one of them last month. Yohel Pozo, I think is no longer in the mix. But. But yeah, they had a lot of catchers. They had Pedro Pages, they had Yvonne Herrera, they had Jimmy Crooks hanging around and then a couple of their top prospects, Leonardo Bernal, And Raniel Rodriguez. They were both catchers. And of course I'm not even counting Wilson Contreras who was around. He did not catch this season, but he could have if Preston Disservice. But he wouldn't have been pressing the service because they had so many catchers again.
- [47:42]
B
Right.
- [47:42]
A
So now they will presumably have fewer catchers. Except I guess some of those prospects could come up and create another catcher log jam. Wow.
- [47:52]
B
Log jam.
- [47:53]
A
Yeah, they're just, they're trying to replace Yachty still somehow just. Let's maybe if they could just Frankenstein them all together and voltron them into. Into one, maybe that would fill the Yachty sized hole in the Cardinal's hearts, but not yet. And lastly, Nick Raque had a good story for them. It's, it's spelled R A Q U E T. So I wasn't sure if it was racket or raquette, but it, it does appear to be Raquet. Oh yeah, sounds sort of classier. I, I used to watch this sold British sitcom with my grandma we used to watch called Keeping Up Appearances and the, the lead character was named Hyacinth Bucket. Spelled like bucket, but she would always say bouquet because she was putting on airs a little bit. Yeah. But Nick Raque, he debuted in September and I don't know, he should have been a. Meet a major leaguer for us at some point because he was just a classic case. He was like out of baseball entirely. You know, he was, he got knocked around in the Arizona fall League in 2019 and he was just done and he went to indie ball. He was, I think out of baseball entirely for a few years. He became an accountant. You know, the, the whole thing, it was.
- [49:16]
B
Got it.
- [49:16]
A
Yeah. During COVID like he, he had a finance degree and so he decided to become an enterprise risk consultant for Ernst and Young. And he just did that. And he didn't think about baseball for a while. And then the classic story, you know, he found himself at a local youth baseball facility, first as a coach and batting practice pitcher and then throwing bullpens. And then he noticed that he was actually feeling pretty good out there throwing. And then suddenly he, yeah. Got a job in the Atlantic League for the York Revolution and pitched pretty well. And then, yeah, he made it all the way back. But that's kind of the, the classic, like out of baseball for a few years and then you're, you're doing something baseball adjacent and you realize, oh, my arm's feeling pretty good actually. Sometimes it's like you had injuries and somehow they resolved themselves while you were inactive. And then suddenly, like, all the kids are encouraging you to try out or something because you're, you're firing it in there and then you're, you know, making demo audition videos and yeah, that, that sort of story happens a few times per season and it's always delightful. So I don't mean to sound jaded about it, so congrats to Nick Raquel. Okay, the Cubs. Okay. This was one submitted by Michael. I was aware of this. I heard about it, but I, I don't think we talked about it, but it was a Jim Deshay's and Boog Shambi event where mozzarella sticks were handed out for everybody. Because in the fifth inning of a Cubs brewers game in late August, William Contreras came to the plate. Two on one out. And Jim Deshay's and Boogie Cubs broadcasters were talking about this. And, and Deshay said, I mentioned somewhat flippantly yesterday that I feel like at least once a game William Contreras hits a ground ball to shortstop. This would be an ideal time for that to happen. And Boog made it interesting and said, J.D. how about this? If he hits a ground ball to short to start the six, four, three, will you buy mozzarella sticks for everybody at the Corner Tap Room? And Deshay's agreed, and Boog said he'd split the cost. And then, lo and behold, on the very next pitch, let's go. Mozzarella sticks for everybody. Carter chat pro, meet up. Flip it and fire it. Mozzie sticks. Contreras hit a ground ball to shortstop Dansby Swanson tossed it to second, Nico Horner had the relay, threw it to first six, four three. And Deshayes yelled, mozzarella sticks for everybody. And it was the Corner Tap Room in Cascade, Iowa, which is the hometown of Cubs pitcher Colin Ray, who induced the ground ball. Okay, the Corner Tap Room had cheese sticks on its menu. Okay, so Boog said, corner Tap Room. Eat up. And later in the game, I think they had like, a live feed. I know I saw some footage from the Corner Tap Room of everybody enjoying their complimentary cheese sticks. And then late in the game, Boog and Deshay's got their own order of mozzarella sticks from the Wrigley Field concession stands. It was not like, shipped in from Cascade, Iowa in the middle of a game. So that's fun, you know, and, and we talk all the time about baseball predictions and how common they are, and they decided to make it count. You know, have some steaks or some sticks, cheese sticks in this case. So that's always fun, you know, because we talk about how you can casually just predict things, but rarely is it actually on the record, on a broadcast preserved for posterity. Everyone can hear it and then you make it interesting and also appetizing. So that was fun.
- [53:13]
B
You fan of mozzarella sticks?
- [53:15]
A
Not particularly.
- [53:17]
B
Is it because they're two. Do you find. Do you find it to be an overwhelming amount of stringy cheese?
- [53:23]
A
Yeah, I think so. I. I don't mind just having like a, you know, a cheese, like a string cheese sort of. I like mozzarella just in general, but. Yeah, I don't know that I would go for the, the corner tap rooms brand, but I'm glad for everyone who got some. Some free cheese sticks. Okay.
- [53:41]
B
Yeah.
- [53:42]
A
Diamondbacks. This was submitted, I believe, on Blue sky by MV Paradomo was the username. The Diamondbacks broke the record for most players with a save in a single season. And this is another one that the bar keeps getting raised. And so it might not sound that interesting except that they broke it by a lot. They didn't just break it by one. 17 different Diamondbacks got a save this year and the previous record was 14, which had been set by the Rays in 2021 and then tied by the Dodgers in 2024. So, yeah, if it had just been 15 or something, well, maybe we would have mentioned it, but it wouldn't have been that interesting. But 17. Yeah, yeah, you break the previous record by three. I mean, that's. That's somewhat notable. So, yeah, this is a trend. Just fewer designated save getters and, you know, people are less precious about who's getting the save. And it's just on matchups and there's not as much of a. One pitcher is anointed as your closer and would be offended if anyone else ever got that opportunity. And so it happens. But. But 17 is still a lot.
- [54:55]
B
Yeah. Well. And you know, part of the problem was that for much of the year, the gink wasn't there. Yes. And so that. That contributed to some of it, the lack of gink. They were without the gink.
- [55:09]
A
You know, MV Padomo said it. It pretty much perfectly encapsulated our season. So I guess, yeah, you probably don't want. I mean, the Dodgers tied the record in 2024 and they won the World Series, but. And you know, they actually had a pretty good pull pen by the time the playoffs rolled around, at least. So it's. I wouldn't say it's necessarily as closely correlated with being bad as as just using a lot of players in general, as I mentioned earlier. But being hurt, it's probably not great. Yeah. 17, you probably had a bunch of injuries and you were going through safe getters.
- [55:42]
B
Yeah, well. And like Puck got hurt, you know, and needed Tommy John. So he was out for much of the year. And it was, you know, they were just. They were. They were quite injured. Their arms were quite injured. Just across the board.
- [55:57]
A
Yeah. The Diamondbacks were 28th in bullpen war.
- [56:00]
B
That sounds right.
- [56:01]
A
Yeah. Sub replacement level.
- [56:03]
B
Oh, yeah, that sounds right.
- [56:04]
A
Better than only the Nationals and the Rockets hurt.
- [56:08]
B
That's right. Martinez needed TJ and not long after. And not long after. So it was just.
- [56:13]
A
Yeah. Pretty bad. They were actually pretty bad. 29th in bullpen. Win probability added or subtracted in their case, better than only the white socks.
- [56:22]
B
Wo.
- [56:23]
A
Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. And Michael, another Diamondbacks story. It was a. A snack item that I also probably would not have, but the churro dog at Chase Fields. I don't know whether you risked no risk at all on a churro dog.
- [56:40]
B
It seemed like it was obviously not going to be good. The true dog. It looked like impossible for it to not be dry. Just seemed like it was gonna. It's a true. And I. I already regret what I'm about to say. I don't want to open up a hot dog as a sandwich. It's not a bun. It's just. It's the same. You can't have shape, consistency and. And try to make it a hot dog, you know, And I'm not saying you have to make it a sandwich, but you need. You need connective tissue. But with the. I still think that their concessions are pretty subpar just across the board. Sorry, dbax. I know you're trying. You're trying new stuff, you're trying to put other stuff in there, but I maintain that it's not good. Bring me the carving station. Why is the carving station never an option anymore? And. And, and why. Why is every IPA in your stadium a hazy. And they're not all, but most of them, the ones on draft are. What's up with that? You know? And most of the time I'm not drinking a beer when I'm at Chase because I'm there in a professional capacity. But if I go to a game and I want to sit and have a beer and a normal piece of food, what options do I have? Very few. Very few.
- [57:51]
A
Well, I'm. I'm not always tickled by the. I mean, it's a A viral story every year. It's just. What's the. Like the most unhealthy kind of.
- [58:01]
B
What's the biggest thing seems to be.
- [58:04]
A
Biggest, highest caloric content. Just like, you know what. The most decadent conspicuous consumption kind of food stuff that's like the most. Most American food that we could possibly construct. And the. The churro dog at Chase was the sequel to.
- [58:21]
B
Right.
- [58:22]
A
The 18 inch bacon and cheese stuffed corn dog from 2024. So they went with something sweeter. In this case. The. The calorie count was 1117 on the churro dog. But yeah, this is. It begins with the base of a Long John chocolate glazed donut. This is filled with a warm cinnamon churro. Top it off with frozen yogurt, caramel, and chocolate sauce and you have the ultimate combination for an epic sugar rush. My goodness.
- [58:53]
B
So there's no actual hot dog in there? The. It's not. So it's a dessert item. I thought it was a. Like they were trying to make it a. So the churro is the hot dog.
- [59:03]
A
It's in the shape of a dog, but it's because there's no actual. Right, but there's no.
- [59:08]
B
It's in the shape of a churro.
- [59:09]
A
Yeah, I guess so.
- [59:10]
B
So, okay, so here's a word to the wise for all you folks maybe visiting the Phoenix area. There are so many good places to eat downtown. There's like so much good food downtown. So if you have time, you're going to a game, eat dinner beforehand and then go to the game. You know, you're like mere blocks from the. From Pizzeria Bianco. And Barbianco is open much more often now. So if you have to wait, which you often do, it's fine because you can just go next door and have a drink at Barbianco and wait for them to buzz you and then it'll be great, you know, go do go. I'm just so spoiled by the concessions at pretty much every pro sports venue in the greater Seattle area. I was home for Christmas. We went to the Seahawks game. Lost years off my life. Years off of my whole life, Ben, you know, waiting for that game to conclude. But before it did and before the Seahawks tried to kill me, I had a. I had like a Japanese curry at Lumen Field. It was delicious. The chicken so tender. So anyway, all that to say. I need. I need Chase to up his. Its game. And you know what? State Farm Stadium. Not much better. Not much better. You know, get. Get it together. There's so much good food in The Valley. None of it is. None of it is manifesting itself in our sports venues. What's up with that? Do a better job.
- [60:34]
A
Well, the challenge has been issued. Okay. Dodgers. We didn't really get many submissions for Dodgers. I think it's true. I know.
- [60:42]
B
What could we possibly have not talked about? I know we got emails complaining about how much we talked about the Dodgers.
- [60:47]
A
Yeah, so. So I didn't have one for the Dodgers. And some people in the discord group were like, you could just skip the Dodgers.
- [60:53]
B
So there's.
- [60:54]
A
There's no overlooked story possibly for the Dodgers this year. But Craig Goldstein came up clutch with a buzzer beating one here. And I was not aware of this one. It's a minor story, as any story about the Dodgers that we didn't discuss this year would. Would have to be. But Jack Dreyer was a. Or is a Rubik's Cube expert. I did not know this. Yeah. So Jack Dreyer had sort of an unsung season nationally. He was. He had a very good year. He did. I think he was second on the Dodgers in relief war after Justin Robleski. So the, the actually good Dodgers relievers were not the ones that they were supposed to be. And.
- [61:35]
B
And they weren't the ones that Dave went to most often in the postseason either.
- [61:38]
A
Right, Right. Yeah. And. Right. And even the by wpa, it was. It was not the higher paid marquee guys either. Anyway, so Dreyer was good. That might be an overlook story in itself, but also he is a great Rubik's Cuber and he spread his affection for the Rubik's Cube to the rest of the clubhouse. This was a somewhat big spring training story about the doctor. Okay, I'm just looking. There was an athletic piece about this or an LA Times piece, I think, but here's an MLB.com version. The more you look around the clubhouse at Camelback Ranch, the more you'll notice the odd Rubik's Cube partially completed, sitting in a locker or on the arm of a chair. At the center of it all is Dreyer, who has found his expertise with the three dimensional puzzle to be an unlikely bonding tool. I historically have been kind of made fun of or ostracized for nerdy stuff like that, like in college, Dreier said. But here guys are very encouraging and open arms, that kind of thing. I think it's cool that we have so many guys who have at least a minimal interest in the Rubik's Cube.
- [62:41]
B
At least a minimal interest constitutes a minimal interest in.
- [62:46]
A
I don't know, I guess that they don't ostracize him for like not chunking.
- [62:50]
B
It at his head. Yeah, I bet the Dodgers PR was like, yeah, push the Rubik's Cube story because then they'll stop talking about how much money we're spending.
- [62:59]
A
Yeah, maybe. And he beat Tommy Edmond in a head to head contest of Rubik's Cubing. He can complete the puzzle in 20 seconds, which I guess that's good. I don't know. I've seen like the, the true competitive experts do it and it's like instantaneous. It's like they start the clock and they're done basically.
- [63:18]
B
So bonkers.
- [63:20]
A
I don't think he's quite competitive level, but I certainly faster than I could do one.
- [63:24]
B
I love that the Stanford grad is the one he had to best. That's pretty funny.
- [63:28]
A
He makes art out of the Rubik's Cube and this actually happened in 2024. He made a, a painting or a portrait of Shohei Ohtani composed entirely of Rubik's cubes. And that was reported by John Heyman, who said claimed that Dreyer could solve the cube in 14 seconds. So we have some differing times here. I don't know if he got slower or what, but he got hooked on Rubik's Cubes when he was a sophomore in high school. But it wasn't until college that he began exploring the artistic side. With a surplus of time and cubes on his hand, he slowly but surely developed the skills to recreate images in mosaic form.
- [64:09]
B
So interesting.
- [64:10]
A
Yeah, that's unique. That's interesting. I like it.
- [64:13]
B
Okay.
- [64:14]
A
Okay. I never really got into Rubik's Cubing myself, but neither Jesse likes it. She knows, she knows the patterns and how to do it, and I never really tried.
- [64:23]
B
I don't know if we even had a Rubik's Cube.
- [64:25]
A
Tony Gonsolin got into it. He knew how to solve a cube, but he's getting faster. Yamamoto got into it and he, he hopes to have some of the beginners completing cubes on their own by the end of spring. Hope that happens. I'm not sure, but he had a very successful season, so that's that. Dave Roberts was not into the cube. He said, part of my strength is I know my weaknesses. There's like 106 different combinations or something like that, and I don't have the bandwidth to approach that yet. So maybe next year Dave can get into it too. All right.
- [64:59]
B
Maybe if he got into it with that particular pitcher, he would have a different bullpens that's true.
- [65:04]
A
Maybe he would have remembered that Jack Dryer exists. Like.
- [65:06]
B
Oh, right, Jack Dreyer. Jack Dreyer, the guy who taught me.
- [65:09]
A
How to do Rubik's Cubes.
- [65:10]
B
Right.
- [65:10]
A
Right into the game sometime. Yeah. Okay. Well, there's an innocuous Dodger story that no one can be upset about. Jack Jar likes Rubik's Cubes. Okay. Well done, Giants. We got some submissions from Sean and Joe and Alfred and Jessica. One of them was Logan Webb and his increased strikeout getting. And evidently he credited Justin Verlander for helping him record more strikeouts. This is interesting because I. I think we may actually have talked about the fact that Verlander credited Logan Webb for giving him a good attitude about spring training struggles, because Logan Webb had had a really rough spring training in 2024 and then was fine in the season. And so he kind of gave Justin Verlander some perspective on that, which Verlander said helped him because he had a rough spring. He then continued to have a rough early start of the season, at least.
- [66:03]
B
But, yeah, he got things together.
- [66:05]
A
Yeah, eventually. And Logan Webb has talked about this. He talked about it last month on a show called Splash Hit Territory with Susan Slusser. But he's. He's talked about it maybe multiple times. And he has credited Verlander. He advocated for resigning Verlander. He said, I'd love to have Justin back. That he helped so much with the scouting. The scouting part of things helped me so much. Not only just mentality, the scouting part of it, seeing reading, different things that I might not know, I haven't seen before. And he was asked about his increased strikeout rate. He said, maybe it's a fluke. I won the Gold Glove. I was the worst defender and I won the Gold Glove, and I'm not a strikeout guy. And I struck out more guys than I ever have. And. But that's kind of an evolution thing. You're trying to get better in certain ways. Definitely. I think Justin was a big part of the strikeouts going up, finding new ways to get strikes early in counts, throwing different pitches. I felt like before I'd get in trouble with it where I would just kind of heavily lean on my change up. And it's the eighth or ninth time the guy's seen it in a game. It's probably not going to be as effective. And learning I can throw other pitches and different counts. I thought that was really cool. You'd think someone would have mentioned that to him at some point, but I guess he had a lot of success, not knowing that. Anyway, he added some. Some Velo, too, I guess so, you know, maybe that was part of it.
- [67:29]
B
But I really like Logan Webb. He seems like he has a nice way about him, you know.
- [67:33]
A
Yeah, I enjoy him as a pitcher as well, but. But I always like veteran mentorship, you know, not that Logan Webb was like a. A young guy, but he had plenty of experience and success, too. But when Justin Verlander, the ultimate experience veteran, comes along, he might have something to teach you, even if you're very good. And Web, in another piece, said, at the end of the day, it's a copycat league. And I've heard that quote copied many times, so you know it's true. You're trying to emulate what other teams or other guys do. So how lucky am I? I get to sit next to JV every day? And Verlander said, it happens by osmosis. We've talked about some of the ways to scout a lineup that's helped. Maybe you're not relying on the strikeout, but you know where to go when you find yourself in the situation to go for it. The great thing is it's not changing his mentality. He's still efficient, and who knows, it might get him more innings. Instead of tinkering around with a guy who's fouling off your sinker and change up, it's like, okay, let's put him away and move on to the next guy. And that is quite true, actually. The idea that pitching to contact is more efficient, overrated, because sometimes you pitch to contact and it becomes a hit. You get those strikeouts. It might take more pitches per batter faced, but you'll face fewer batters in theory. Some guys just have great feel and the ability to adapt on the fly, and he's obviously one of those guys. It'll benefit him for the rest of his career. So we'll see how sticky that is. And if Verlander doesn't come back, whether Logan Webb is able to continue to apply the lessons. But yeah, he. He did have a 26% strikeout rate. And, yeah, it was a career high by a few percentage points, I guess, except for 20, 21, which he kind of had the same strikeout rate that year. So maybe. Maybe that ruins the narrative. He didn't pitch quite as many innings that year, but he has shown that capacity in the past. But it was. It was a career year. Yeah, fan graphs were. He was. Yeah, yeah, he was excellent. All right. And then Joe wanted us to know this. Okay, so this is a Dispatch from the mascot news, which is always very close to our hearts. But there were some developments involving Lucille this year. Okay, so Joe says. In 2024, mascot Lucille was officially inducted into the Mascot hall of Fame. The occasion was commemorated this July with a delightful pregame ceremony that included other mascot hall of Famers such as the philly fanatic and Mr. Met, as well as Crazy Crab, the previous mascot or anti mascot of the Giants, and Lucille's parents. That's nice. Nice that they could come. Arguably the biggest viral moment of the summer was the infamous Coldplay kiss cam that caught CEO of Astronomer Mid Affair. Lucille's ceremony was merely 11 days later at near peak virality of this moment. And marketing decided to have some fun with it where the kiss cam revealed Lucille's mother canoodling with Crazy Crab. It was hilarious, but also very sad. This is among the greatest days in Lucille's life. He's reached the pinnacle of his career, celebrated his years of hard work to become recognized as an elite talent. Surrounded by friends and family. And in the middle of the game, he discovers that his mother is having an affair with his predecessor. Truly tragic. As far as I know, there was no follow up to this story about his parents getting a divorce or seeking counseling. But what a revelation for poor Lou on this special day.
- [71:03]
B
Okay, so I have a couple of things about this and then I will move on, but I simply can't resist. Missed the invitation to comment on mascot chicanery. First of all, did you know that Lucille is a. Is a boy seal? Did you know that Lucille was a.
- [71:20]
A
He know that because it sounds like Lucille, but it's spelled like Lou L, O, U and then Seal. So I assumed that that Lou was. Was a boy Seal. I didn't know for sure.
- [71:33]
B
I assumed it was a girl seal. I assume cuz like Lucille is like the play. The play on words is about Seal, but also Lucille.
- [71:41]
A
Right.
- [71:42]
B
I thought it was a.
- [71:42]
A
But I guess his given name. We still haven't gotten to the bottom of Boob Fowler. But. But Lucille's name, given name is Luigi Francis Francisco Seal. So Louis short from Luigi.
- [71:53]
B
Yeah, but they were like we can't call him Luigi anymore because I guess has a different association now.
- [71:58]
A
So probably he was Lou before that. But.
- [72:01]
B
But, but yeah, but yeah, yeah. I mean clearly they have proven themselves sensitive to moments of virality.
- [72:08]
A
It's true.
- [72:09]
B
So you gotta watch out for that. But yes, also, that is. I'm sorry, I'm gonna do a big swear and. And Shane, I want you to leave it in so everyone, you know, you know, put your, put ear muffs on. That's like the most up thing I've ever heard in my entire life. That they were like, we have to. First of all, does anyone even know that Lucille has parents? Why would you assume that Lucille has parents? What happened to Crazy Crab? Why was Crazy Crab jettisoned? Crazy Crab is like an 80 grade mascot name. You should just have Crazy Crab. Also, why would you take this moment of like celebration and you're gonna, you're gonna cheapen it with this, this viral bullshit. You're gonna. What is that? That's insane. I, I have some notes for the, the marketing department with. Why would you do. Why would you. Also the, the times follow up story with that lady made me feel bad for her. But I, I. What? Why would you. Because people are learning for the first time one, that Lucille is a boy. Two, that Lucille. See, I keep wanting to say she. Because Lucille is a woman's name, you know, and you could call, you could call Lady Lou as a nickname. Like, and then you're learning that that Lucille has parents. People need to stop assuming that we care about like the, the, the familial situation of mascots. But once you introduce a familial situation, I want to see an intact mascot family. Like, why are we. We don't need to give them tragic back backstories and we don't need to make the tragic backstory. Interspecies infidelity.
- [73:52]
A
Yeah.
- [73:53]
B
Seals eat crabs. So why are you having an affair with a crab? Crazy or. No, it's not a, it's not an objection to the crazy. That's, that's not the problem here. It's a crab. You can't. How does that fit? That doesn't fit. How do you consummate your affair? Seal to crab? You know, they're only the same size because they're mascots in the real world.
- [74:13]
A
Species relationship. Yes. Anatomically challenging, but yeah. Hopefully the seals work things out and maybe this made them stronger.
- [74:22]
B
And then to have no follow up criminal.
- [74:26]
A
Yeah.
- [74:26]
B
Eat it.
- [74:26]
A
Well, Mad Crazy Crab was, was hated and, and retired after a single season. I think.
- [74:33]
B
Why do people hate Crazy Crab?
- [74:35]
A
Items were thrown at Crazy Crab because, because Crazy Crab was like supposed to be a heel, you know, was supposed to be hated and booed, but then the fans kind of took it too far, I think and the, the team was bad. And so it's just abuse was hurled on Crazy Crab.
- [74:51]
B
I think Crazy Crab is so cute.
- [74:53]
A
Anyway. It's, it's an important story that Joe brought to our attention and and as Joseph While this may not have anything to do with the on field product players or saber metrics, this is a personal story of a key member of the Giants family whose life potentially crumbled before our eyes. And the story deserves a moment of recognition, if for no other reason than to give proper due to Lucille, Mascot hall of Famer and I I guess sadly the physical location of the Mascot hall of Fame I think closed in 2024. So I don't know, I think it still exists online in some form. Maybe it'll reopen, but the physical location I believe closed. So maybe Lucio was part of the last class to be and they actually.
- [75:38]
B
They solid the occasion with well no.
- [75:41]
A
This was the following year. This was the following year that the that the possible affair came to light because he was inducted in 2024. But this was this was a 2025 story.
- [75:53]
B
Too much, you've gone too far, you've tried to do too many things.
- [75:57]
A
That's a lot of Lou lore that I just dumped on you there. So.
- [76:01]
B
Well, I mean apart from anything else, I'm glad to know that Lou was a boy because now I'll refute refer to him probably been calling why do you name it Lucille and make it a boy? Though I again, you guys need to go back to the drawing board.
- [76:15]
A
You're.
- [76:15]
B
You're out of control.
- [76:16]
A
And Jessica also noted that Rafael Devers played in 163 games in 2025, which is not unprecedented but. But is amusing nonetheless.
- [76:26]
B
Right.
- [76:26]
A
And also Jessica noted he became the second player ever to go above 162 in a season in which he played in both leagues. So I had not known that bit of trivia. Joining Todd Zeal in 1996 with the Orioles and Phillies. And not only that, but both Devers and Zeal played third base and first base because of course, Devers famously did eventually play some first base. And finally, another Giant story that was submitted. We happen to have a bunch of those Matt Chapman has Tourette Syndrome. I did not. No, me neither. This was just one of those. Oh, didn't know that. And that's why we didn't talk about it on this podcast. But yeah, I was not aware that he had dealt with that. And I guess it's the fact that I'll just read from Susan Slesser's story here. Headline Giants Matt Chapman on his life with Tourette Syndrome. You can still accomplish anything. Sixth grade was probably the worst. Chapman's dad, Jim, said Matt got teased A lot. His mom was a teacher at the school. We weren't even aware of the extent of it. We were shocked when he found out what he had to endure. It was really upsetting. So he was bullied as a child, even into his teens, even as a star athlete. Yeah. And evidently he kept that to himself. Didn't want to talk to his parents. But he's just opening up about this, I guess, publicly now. At age 7, he was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. And. And he said, I've dealt with it my whole life. Something that I was not thrilled about when I was younger. Kids can be rough. That was not fun, but it's made me who I am, so I'm not embarrassed by it. And he said when he got to the big leagues, he was pretty shy about it. He didn't talk about it, but now he's just more comfortable talking about it. And so that's great. Yeah. When he was a kid, he was rubbing his face constantly, vocalizing involuntarily in kindergarten. And, you know, he didn't know what it meant, and. But there was a player in the major leagues, Jim Eisenreich, that his dad was able to use as an example to say, this is not going to hinder you from doing anything you want to do. Some precedent there, but. Yeah, the sudden movements and sounds made him a target for classmates. Some with Tourette syndrome can see it dramatically affect their daily lives, including Eisenreich, whose career was interrupted for a few years for treatment, and then he came back to play. But when you're a kid, you don't understand, Chapman said. You just don't want to be different.
- [78:57]
B
Yeah.
- [78:57]
A
And there were some medications that he tried, but they made him tired and groggy. His symptoms were more pronounced back there, kind of more. More violent tics. And then by the time he grew up a bit, most people just didn't know, I guess, and gotcha didn't notice. But he's developed methods for dealing with involuntary movements, including breathing exerc and shaking himself out. When he feels any extra stress, which can bring on twitching, he usually does a quick shake before he gets in the batter's box, which I had not noticed, but that's something that I'll. I'll look at from now on and. And notice, maybe. And he says mostly he just doesn't think about it now he's so comfortable that he doesn't avoid potential triggers. Drinking a lot of coffee, he said, probably doesn't help, but he likes to drink coffee, and that gets him Amped up and there's a minor facial tick, I guess. But you know, given that it can cause involuntary movements like that, I guess it's maybe even more impressive that he has not only made it to the majors but has been like one of.
- [80:00]
B
The best defenders and basement.
- [80:03]
A
Yeah.
- [80:03]
B
Incredibly just in his generation certainly.
- [80:06]
A
Yeah. So I, I did not know that and I guess most people didn't. And now we do.
- [80:10]
B
Okay, well, I'm glad he's talking about it.
- [80:12]
A
It. Yeah, it's nice. Okay. Story from the Marlins. This is submitted by Daniel and it's sort of a Yankee story as much as it is a Marlin story. But we'll take what we can get here. Daniel says, I don't remember if you took any time to cover the Marlins Yankee series in Miami after the trade deadline, but that's my nomination for a story for the Fish. I'm married to an Orioles fan and we were treated to some major schadenfreude watching the Yankees trade enhanced bullpen collapse, particularly the game on August 1st. I think it was also one of the best attended series in Marlins ballpark history. I'm not going to use the sponsored name for the park. So yeah, this was just a big collapse for the Yankees right after the trade deadline. I'm seeing a story here, Fox Sports about it headlined, is the miserable Marlin series the new normal for the third place Yankees? And the answer is no, not really. I guess, I guess that was a Betteridge's law at work there. But the Yankees ultimately rebounded and ended up making the playoffs, though not quite winning the division. But yes, they did make all those bullpen additions and then all those guys were bad right away and they had just a really tough series with the Marwins who you know, they had a somewhat successful relative to expectations at least season of their own. So maybe they have things that they could feel good about other than sort of playing spoiler for the Yankees or contributing to the Yankees low point of the season. But it was August 1st to 3rd and the Marlins won I think 13 to 12. And then there was a two nothing game I think and then. And the Yankees dropped to third and this was like yeah, the, the Yankees were ahead I think like six nothing and 12 to 10 and then they lost 13 to 12.
- [82:04]
B
I remember that game.
- [82:05]
A
Yes, for that game Camille Doval and David Bednar and Jake Bird allowed nine runs.
- [82:12]
B
Everybody really bit it.
- [82:14]
A
Yeah, yeah, that was, that was bad. I think Duvall took the loss. Oh, and then I think Jose Caballero who was Another addition, I think.
- [82:21]
B
Yeah.
- [82:21]
A
Made an error in that game. So yeah, that was really bad.
- [82:24]
B
And then stolen base leaders. Jose.
- [82:28]
A
Right. And then the Yankees offense cratered and I think it was maybe the first time in Marlin's franchise history that they had swept a series against the Yankees.
- [82:37]
B
Wow.
- [82:38]
A
Of course they've, you know, beat them in a World Series, so that's something. But yeah, and I guess for a while they weren't playing each other all that much. But yeah, that was maybe when the, the 2025 Yankees bottomed out. And yeah, I guess maybe that means it's when the 2025 Martin's topped out at least in feeling good about things. Okay.
- [82:57]
B
They ended up. Look, man, they exceeded expectations. They were respectable ball clubs especially mathematically.
- [83:04]
A
In contention until very late in the season.
- [83:06]
B
Yeah, yeah. Good baseball in the second half.
- [83:09]
A
Yeah. Dennis Patreon supporter submitted that the 2025 Mets broke the all time record for pitchers used in a season with 46, which I mentioned earlier. And so, so they broke the record, but they didn't hold it at least alone for long because the Braves then equaled that tally later in the very same season. So maybe that makes it a little less noteworthy. But we're, we're noting it nonetheless. Dennis wrote a little longer about it. I don't know that you talked about the fact that the Mets broke the all time record for pitchers using the season with 46. I know you've talked more generally about their 2025 pitching collapse and the broader trend of teams churning through more and more pitchers. But I think there are a couple things that elevate this story. First, and most obviously, even though it's part of a larger trend, all time record will always elevate a story. Also, this is coming off a year when they got in trouble with the league for faking pitcher injuries, you know, phantom injuries to give themselves more roster flexibility. Is that timing coincidental or a direct result of increased scrutiny? Is it a failure of Carlos Mendoza to manage a bullpen thereby causing injuries? Adam on Avino, who pitched for him in 2024 and as when he was a Yankees bench coach earlier, didn't mince words. He has no idea what he's doing when it comes to bullpen guys and how to keep them healthy or even how to care about them at all. There's no communication there. There's no feel there, there's no bedside manner. How do you really feel, Adam? Yeah, so yeah, there was. And then Dennis says, could it have been a factor in Edwin Diaz leaving.
- [84:42]
B
For Los Angeles to say, yeah, yeah, I've.
- [84:45]
A
I have no idea. But yeah, it was noteworthy that Adevino just totally let loose on Mendoza. Yeah. Didn't hold back at all. And there was an athletic story about this after the Adevino criticism that tried to see like was there something. Because I think The Mets had six Tommy John surgeries or. Yeah. Five TJs and one flexor tendon surgery. So a lot of injuries, which, you know, who doesn't have some injuries? But that was a lot for one year. And then the criticism. I know that there were a lot of fans who thought cars Mendoza was just bad at managing a bullpen. Just like.
- [85:25]
B
Yeah.
- [85:25]
A
For other reasons. But. But also. Yeah. And so they looked at this at the athletic and found that it was hard to find real red flags. Like over the past two years, the Mets ranked 21st in relief appearances on consecutive days. Of the 58 pitchers who have appeared in 70 more games in either of the last two seasons, three were Mets and all of them were trade deadline acquisitions who were already on pace for that many games when acquired. Of the 62 pitchers who've compiled at least 70 innings in relief in either the past two seasons, only one was a Met and that was a deadline acquisition. And you know, there were guys getting hurt. So that makes it hard to accumulate innings or appearances, I guess. But even if you look by month or anything, I guess the Mets don't super stand out here. So it's hard to detect. Exactly. But yeah, if you go case by case and. And they do to find like are there specific circumstances where they push someone too far or too fast or rush someone back from an injury and maybe. Or like were there issues with rehab assignments? Guys having to shut down rehab assignments and restart in the. I don't know. It's. It's hard to figure from afar really. And then there's the communication issue, which is very hard to assess obviously, but has been reported elsewhere, I guess, you know, if players are airing that publicly and are feeling that way, then I guess there's some kind of communication breakdown, whoever's fault it was. But yeah, so this has been been written about, but it's. It's a point of contention. And then lastly for the Mets, someone submitted Jonah Tong's weird Canadian grilled cheese recipe. So I will just run this by you. Yeah, let's. Let's find out together. So his weird grilled cheese.
- [87:15]
B
You might have very different opinions of this given our.
- [87:18]
A
Yeah, I don't.
- [87:19]
B
Relative food proclivities.
- [87:21]
A
Right. Yeah. So let's See? Okay. So he expanded on his past claims that maple syrup is the secret to a perfect grilled cheese.
- [87:30]
B
Oh, boy.
- [87:31]
A
Yeah, so he said it's the greatest combination on earth. I don't know. What about the cheese, the butter, the bread toasted with a sweet maple syrup. The darker, the better. Chef's kiss. According to Tong, making the grilled cheese starts with greasing the pan with butter before placing in fresh baked white bread and American cheese. You brown it on both sides. You make sure it's crispy but soft on the inside because the cheese melts. Else then you grab your maple syrup. This has to be Canadian. If it's Vermont, it doesn't count. There's a difference. The grilled cheese is then cut into strips and dipped into a bowl of syrup like a French toast stick.
- [88:07]
B
Okay. Okay. So I have, I have feedback about this, which is the people she. What they like.
- [88:14]
A
Yes. And remember, he's, he's Canadian.
- [88:16]
B
Of course he's Canadian.
- [88:17]
A
Canadian canon. So that's why he has, has a very nationalistic attitude toward, toward the specific syrup.
- [88:26]
B
So I think that actually the most objectionable part of his recipe. And here I'm going to run a foul of a great many people. Canadian and not. I'm not a fan of American cheese. You know, it's you, you.
- [88:42]
A
I feel like it's, it's, it's generic, it's bland. I don't mind it. Right.
- [88:46]
B
It doesn't taste like anything. It just like, yeah, just like oil. Right now.
- [88:51]
A
It's not objectionable to me.
- [88:52]
B
Well, it's objectionable because it's, it's nothing.
- [88:55]
A
Right.
- [88:56]
B
Like, yeah. And, and in a grilled. Now, I think that there is a place for American cheese on like a, like a breakfast sandwich, you know, if you want to do. Now, I still prefer cheddar, personally. Personally. And I know people have melting preferences around cheddar versus American. I am aware of your melting objections, but I prefer cheddar cheese personally. Sharper, extra sharp. It's my, my jam. But on a, on a sausage, egg and cheese. Delightful. On a grilled cheese, the cheese is really the thing you're trying to do. So, like, you need the cheese to, to do a little something to have a little, to have present, you know, to have kick. I, I. So, you know, that's, that's my, that's actually the issue for me now. I wouldn't probably do maple syrup with because I'm a, I'm a savory gal.
- [89:57]
A
I wouldn't do it personally, but I I don't think it's that. That wild.
- [90:01]
B
Now, having said all of that, you'll perhaps be unsurprised by me offering this. I do appreciate how persnickety he's being about it, because when you have food that you like a particular way, you. You should get to have it that way, even if I think it's bonkers. So I respect that. I love how there's a difference. Is it. Is it the variety of, like, of maple tree that yields the difference, do you think? Probably. Right. Between Canadian maple syrup and. And Vermont maple syrup. Because Vermont is famous for its maple syrup. Not as a Canada, but like, it is a. A notable export of the state of Vermont.
- [90:42]
A
Okay, well, I approve of his choices. That's. That's fine with me if he wants to.
- [90:48]
B
You don't. They're not mine, but you wouldn't make them.
- [90:51]
A
But I wouldn't. But I. I support his right to enjoy his maple syrup with his grilled cheese. That's okay. Okay. We have the Padres. No, the Nationals. I don't want to skip over the Nationals listener Dan says, I nominate Dalen Lyle for the Nationals. I mean, yeah, a second round pick in 2021, he's been consistently overshadowed as a prospect by the players the Nets got in the Soto and Scherzer Slash Turner deals, not to mention James Wood and Dylan Cruz. But Lyle made it to the majors for 91 games this past season, and in 351 plate appearances, put up an 845 OPS and a 132 WRC plus. For someone whose arrival was not anticipated by fans at all going into the season, he endeared himself to them as one of the few bright spots in a pretty unwatchable 2025 season. I might even offer him as a true breakout candidate for 2026, even by Ben's standards. Well, now you're. You're playing with fire, but.
- [91:48]
B
So I think that he was too notable of a story to count in. We wrote multiple features on him.
- [91:59]
A
I think we talked about him, though, on the podcast. Or I don't remember talking about him.
- [92:02]
B
I don't remember if we talked. I don't remember what we talked about podcast famously. But. But I guess maybe we didn't ever talk. But didn't we talk about him on the podcast?
- [92:12]
A
Not that I recall. I don't know. Not at any length.
- [92:15]
B
Yeah, I thought we had. I. I maybe mentioned him within the context of not including him on my rookie of the year ballot, but if I did, it was probably a very brief Mention, so maybe he does count. But he's like a. He was like a story. Story. He was like a story, you know, for people and places and things.
- [92:32]
A
Yeah, a little bit. Little more notable than Jack Dreyer's Rubik's.
- [92:35]
B
Cubes, but although people wrote stories about that, so maybe by my own criteria that doesn't matter.
- [92:41]
A
Yes, well, everything we're talking about today was. Was discussed by someone at some point or we wouldn't even know about it. But yeah, but yeah, he had a heck of a season.
- [92:51]
B
He heck of a season hit well.
- [92:53]
A
In the minors too, even before he was in the majors. And yeah, that is 299, 347, 498. Not too shabby for an age 22 season.
- [93:03]
B
Don't talk about his fielding. Everything will be fine.
- [93:05]
A
Well, yeah, I guess we're trying to focus on the positive, I guess. But yeah, the fielding was. That's not great as. Ooh, yeah, but negative 10 from stat cast and 600 plus innings in the outfield. But yeah, yeah, but more than made up for it with his bet.
- [93:24]
B
Yeah. Really, really hit well. Really hit well.
- [93:26]
A
All right. Good for a while. Good for the Nationals. Nice find there. And the Padres didn't get many submissions for the Padres, so I, I freelanced and did a little research myself. And one thing I did not know about the Padres is that they led MLB in sacrifice bunts by a lot.
- [93:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, they. I knew that. Yeah. I did not love to love to sacrifice bunt.
- [93:49]
A
Yeah, yeah, really. So they laid down. Let's see, I had this 48 sacrifice bunts during the regular season. That's a lot. Yeah. The second place team which was the Diamondbacks 37, that's a, it's a really big gap. So yeah, I mean it, that's still stylistically a big differentiator among teams. I mean you have the Padres with 48 and then the Orioles had four. So it's like, you know, different personnel and different offenses and everything. But that, that's, that's largely at that point going to be your manager's just preferences or, or your front office or whatever. But yeah, yeah, so I imagine that that will change with a new manager in place. But yeah, 48, let's see what the. The leader in 2024 was only 34. So yeah, for this era, that's a real, that's a real throwback. Like. Yeah, I'm going back a few seasons here to see the last year when a team had as many as 48 sack bunts and it is 2021. The Rockies had 48 on the dot as well. But I mean, you know, that's probably too many sacrifice bunts. But also, the Padres really were lacking in the power production department too. They were 28th in home runs and isolated power, which I probably would not have guessed. And yeah, me either certainly would not have expected coming into the season because they should have had a lot of firepower, you'd think. I mean, even, even with Petco park, that's just, that's a lot. But like, yeah, Machado hit 27, but then Bogarts hit 11 and Jackson Merrill hit 16. He missed some time. Tatis hit 25, you know, so it just, yeah, like no one hit many dingers. And so they just ended up being sort of a small ball team, weirdly, even with all the, the hitting stars that they had on the roster.
- [95:55]
B
The Thumpas.
- [95:56]
A
Yep. Okay. For the Phillies, another team that we've talked about a lot, perhaps too much in some ways, but yeah, I ran this by a few people, including Michael Bauman and one, I think, the unsung Tanner Banks, who was a stalwart in their bullpen, but just not, not a big name. So he had himself a very solid season. He was second to the recently traded Matt Strom on the team in reliever win probability added. And how often did we think about or talk about Tanner Banks? Not, not often at all.
- [96:33]
B
Only to. To try to get a really bad father of the bride joke going.
- [96:38]
A
Yeah, right. So now we have given him his due. Very solid season. And shout out to Phillies prospect Justin Crawford, who won a batting title in the International League. It's hard to say in the IL now because immediately people think of the interesting. Yeah, but he had a high batting. He actually led the minor leagues in batting average with a minimum of 400 at bats. So that's good. And yeah, I don't know if he's like, I mean, he's, you know, still a highly touted prospect for them. I don't know whether he's the outfielder of the future, the center fielder of the future. He's, he's playing some left down there, still primarily center, but, but he batted.334 and stole 46 bases. And you know, they've been trying to figure out their outfield and their outfield defense for quite a while now and it's been sort of a revolving door. So it would help if, if you could keep up that kind of offensive performance and sure, also go play a decent center, that would help fill a, a hole there. That They've been trying to plug repeatedly for a while, so we'll see if he fits in. And then also shout out to the Phillies and the Twins, really, for syncing up on the Yoanduran entrance ritual, which. Yeah, yeah, was. Was traded along with Duran from so Fun Minnesota. Yeah. And Matt Gelb did a good story about that. This for the Athletic, about just everything that had to happen. Like Twins PR guy Dustin Morse, just, like, you know, helping out. There was like, a transition team with the. The Twins and the Phillies and so great. And so they traded the entrance along with the player, which I think is. Is cool. You know, it's nice. Like, I guess you could say that's like, intellectual property of the Twins or something. Or you could say, well, he has to reestablish the entrance routine with a new team or something. But no, when you trade for a closer now you're. You're trading for the whole entrance experience. Now I wonder whether the whole, like, Timmy Trumpet Mets entrance for Diaz will go with him to the Dodgers. Like, that would feel wrong in a sense. I don't know.
- [98:52]
B
But, yeah, some of. Some of Diaz's stuff now, I don't think the Timmy Trumpet. Trying to remember if the Timmy Trumpet of it all was part of his Seattle entrance, but, like, some of the graphics they used in New York, I think were a remnant of his entrance from Seattle. I think there's some precedent for connective tissue there. And it's like you associated so strongly with the player. Like, can you imagine if you're, you know, I don't know, you're Devin Williams and they play the Timmy Trumpet thing while you're trying to come out.
- [99:27]
A
That's.
- [99:27]
B
That would be odd. It would be weird. Like, establish your own identity. Now, maybe Edwin Diaz wants a new thing. You know, maybe he doesn't want to have that as connective tissue, but maybe he does. Who knows?
- [99:41]
A
Yeah. Right. And I think they left it up to Doran and Morse. The. The Twins guy asked if he wanted to take it with him, and he said yes. And then Morse got approval, ran it up the chain, and everyone decided that it was for the greater good of baseball, for it to stay alive. And. Yeah, I'm sure for years it's been common for closers to take their entrance song with them. It's just that when there's a whole, you know, pageantry associated with it. Yeah. Like choreography, like, you gotta. Yeah. You. You can't recreate it, or it would be tough to do.
- [100:14]
B
So I think, particularly when the player in Question has been traded. It. It's a nice, nice. It's a nice thing to do. Right. Because it's. He didn't choose. Now it seems like he's quite happy to have made the transition. He, he took to the Phillies quite well, but he didn't make the choice to leave Minnesota. He was sent to Philly. Yeah. So it's a nice, you know, smoothing of the way.
- [100:37]
A
Right. Okay. Pirates a few things. Submitted by Robert Justin, John Noel. One of them was Andrew McCutcheon brought back fight necklaces to the Pirates clubhouse. The fight necklaces were almost extinct and then they kind of made a comeback this year. Sort of like a throwback nostalgia thing. But I think it's okay because it's kind of like, you know, no one takes it seriously now. It's just, it's purely a fashion statement. It's purely a stylistic thing. And it's often the older players who remember a time when players did this often and they're just kind of. Because it was like a big thing, you know, the mid-2000s or so. And there were all these hokum claims about aqua titanium technology and the body's bioelectric current and all this stuff. And it was nonsense, obviously. But then, you know, it's kind of, it's retro now. Right. And so it brings you back to when everyone was wearing these things. And as long as, I guess the players involved are not bamboozled, then they're not boobs. Then you know, if they just want to sport a fighting and, and McCutcheon wants to bring it back for old time's sake, then fine. And I guess they scored 10 runs after, after they brought it back and so they kept wearing him for a while. So.
- [101:54]
B
Well, it's not raw milk, so I, I think it's fine.
- [101:58]
A
Yeah, it's not hurting anyone, so it's okay. Also, one of our listeners noted with Henry Davis's 283 plate appearances, a 41 WRC plus ball this year, he has become the worst hitting first overall pick of all time, aside from the few dudes who never made it at all. That's important distinction, but still Davis's career WRC OPS of 53 after 660 plate appearances. Next worst seems to be Sean Abner at 61, Tim Foley at 62 and Al Chambers at 77. If Davis performs as the 85 WRC plus true talent player that Steemer sees him as, then he can get out of the basement in about 258 point appearances. So not an auspicious offensive start for Henry Davis. And then a couple stories that I was aware of, but we may not have mentioned the bucko bricks scandal for the Pirates. So, yeah, there was this whole investigation surrounding PNC park and the Pirates and bucko bricks. And so, oh, no, there were, like, commemorative bricks that people before PNC opened.
- [103:08]
B
In 2001 bought a brick and your name would be on it somewhere or.
- [103:12]
A
Something, some personalized brick. And then in 2024, there was a sidewalk replacement project that was approved. And then the construction company removed the bricks with instructions not to treat them as construction debris. The bucko bricks were set aside, then shrink wrapped on a pallet. 32 Pallets of bricks were handed over to the Pirates. The construction company continued with the sidewalk replacement project. And so when the project was completed in March, fans started asking questions about their missing bucko bricks. And then, scandal. The bricks were found at a recycling facility.
- [103:49]
B
But they were found.
- [103:51]
A
They were found. But they were just.
- [103:53]
B
They all found.
- [103:55]
A
Well, they were just there, like, where their stuff, building materials are brought to be recycled. And so they basically did just trash them.
- [104:04]
B
And.
- [104:05]
A
And this was a big thing. And Katie Ka did a investigation, and then there was some damage control. And Bob Nutting personally apologized to fans for this, saying that he was embarrassed by how the situation was handled with the bucko bricks, and it was a mistake and it was disrespectful. And then the team offered free replica bricks as a sign of goodwill. And, you know, so people are pissed about the buckle bricks and. And maybe it's not the same even if you get a replica replacement. Rick. And then there was, like, you know, no public funds were used to dispose of the commemorative bricks.
- [104:41]
B
Oh, my gosh.
- [104:42]
A
Yeah, so it was a. It was a whole thing that, you know, made fans who were already upset.
- [104:48]
B
With the Pirates even more and more upset. Yeah, that. That's. That's fascinating, though, because how illuminating we've learned what Bob Nodding will apologize for. You know what I mean? Like, you do. You do get little bits of information about these guys when they have scandals like this where it's like, oh, this is really going a step too far.
- [105:07]
A
Another thing, early in the spring, in the same vein, the Pirates apologized to the family of Roberto Clemente because they replaced a tribute to Clemente on the right field wall at PNC with an ad.
- [105:20]
B
With an ad, yes.
- [105:22]
A
And so Chick Fil A, maybe?
- [105:23]
B
Was it Chickfila?
- [105:25]
A
No, I think it was some sort of beers. Oh, Surfside cocktails. I think that was what it was. Yeah. So there was a. A number 21 logo. And then the Pirates apologize for this, too. So. Multiple MEA couples. Pirates president Travis Williams said it was an oversight not to keep the number 21 logo when the advertisement was added to the pad. And, yeah, this was like, you know, the family of Clemente was offended by this and they said, you know, it wasn't intended to diminish his logo and that this space had been used for ads before. And they put the Clemente logo out there in 2022 when they didn't have a sponsorship after Covid. And like, I don't know how many people were even aware that it was there. But then when they replaced it and they didn't keep the logo, then that became a big issue.
- [106:16]
B
So I take them at their word that it had been used as advertising space previously. But when you have a guy whose legacy means so much, not only to your team, but to baseball more generally, whenever you make decisions that involve his likeness or his number or his name, you just have to bring an extra level of scrutiny to bear on those choices. He can't be a filler anything, right? Like, he can't be like, yeah, we'll put. We'll put Clemente's number up there. It's like, if you're making that choice, then guess what? That's where his number lives. Like, you can't. You can't go back on that. That's something that everyone from the, you know, the most senior to the most junior member of your staff just has to be. Be trained on because it's. It is a small thing in the grand scheme, but nothing with Clemente is a small thing in any scheme. So you just kind of have a reverence there. What a bad unforced error.
- [107:17]
A
Yep. And then the last two will be pretty quick. The Reds. We will not ignore the Reds in our recap of stories.
- [107:23]
B
It would be so funny if we did. Kind of funny.
- [107:26]
A
I will read two submissions from listeners. Ian, who says, I have a couple items from a very confusing Red season that I don't think came up on the pod. The biggest story was the Hunter Green injury saga, complete with a piece from Reds beat reporter Mark Sheldon that claimed that Green was slow rolling his return from a groin injury despite a clean mri. Sheldon, carrying a septic system's worth of black water for the organization, finishes the piece with this stunning sentiment. For a guy with a long term contract who says he wants to be a leader, Green needs to start showing it and get back on the field. I almost have to commend him on his candidness here. And if you weren't so breathtakingly wrongheaded about it, I'd almost respect it. At least it seemed to crystallize fan support of Hunter, at least in the online circles. I'm aware of. I was not aware of that. I knew that Green had missed some time, but I didn't know that there was controversy about.
- [108:16]
B
Controversy. He had a great season.
- [108:18]
A
He did. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm. I'm always very skeptical whenever there's like a so and so is not. Not coming back and you know, just like is healthy but is not playing. That's. I. I doubt it. You know, I doubt it. These guys really want to play mostly like. So. I mean, you know, there may be the occasional situation where someone is. Is not devoting their full efforts to getting back on the field, but such.
- [108:44]
B
A crummy thing to put out into the atmosphere if it's not so hard.
- [108:47]
A
To tell from outside. Now maybe if you're stating that you're hearing that from sources who are disgruntled about it and maybe they know something, but I don't know.
- [108:57]
B
You know, it's a big contract, it's $53 million, whatever.
- [109:01]
A
On a lighter note, Ian says I want to shout out a fan. Especially in a season of spotlights on weird and bad fan behavior. In the run up to the playoffs, the Reds were wrapping up their penultimate series of the year with three games against the Pirates. Paul Skeens had just shut down Cincy the day before and lowered his season ERA to 1.97. And the Reds couldn't complete the comeback in extra innings, putting a major damper on postseason hopes. In game three, Nicola Dolo struck out 12 in six and a third. But the hero of the game was indisputably Noel Marte, who robbed Brian Reynolds of a game tying soul homer in the top of the 9th. Fantastic play that I remember and I think you mentioned. However, this catch got plenty of coverage. Yes. But the unsung hero was the Reds fan in the hoodie and backward cap who had the ball knowledge to get the heck out of the way despite being technically entitled to a ball that was clearly over the fence. Hats off to you, fella. Yeah.
- [109:53]
B
Yeah. Good job, guy.
- [109:55]
A
It's true. Yeah. The opposite of the fans who were trying to make it about themselves and get every ball that they could get their hands on. Yeah, this. That's good. That's.
- [110:03]
B
That's great.
- [110:04]
A
That's home field advantage at work when you have a fan.
- [110:06]
B
Yeah, no kidding.
- [110:07]
A
Makes the heads up play to not interfere like that in a. A crucial play.
- [110:11]
B
Hell of a catch. That was a hell of a catch.
- [110:13]
A
And lastly, the Rockies. This was submitted by Brad, who I think acknowledged that these were not that noteworthy. But. But again, we'll take what we could get. You know, sure, we talked about the Rockies being bad plenty this year. I guess Brad was trying to look on the upside here, but Ezekiel Tovar hit four doubles in a game on Aug. 1, which Brad says I find interesting for not being notable. More than 50 guys have hit four doubles in a nine inning MLB game, but none has hit five yet. That's kind of interesting.
- [110:47]
B
It is interesting.
- [110:47]
A
Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals hit four a month later. I guess that could have been my Cardinals fun fact. But yeah, lots of four double games, but no five double games in in a regulation length game. And finally from Brad, Michael Tolia set a franchise record. Again, we're, you know, bottom of the barrel here. Set a franchise record for consecutive starts at first base, surpassing Andres Galarraga. So the big cat has been supplanted by Michael Tolia. However, Tolia was demoted and designated for assignment within the year. So yeah, that's. That's the aftermath of the record setting starts at first base for the Rockies record. Anyway, that's the National League. Those are a bunch of stories that we had not talked about until this time. We'll do AL next time. Well, in case you were wondering, I did indeed look up Boob Fowler. And I found an article in the Minneapolis Star, Saturday, July 11, 1925. Headline, how come that boob stuff? Fowler, a college graduate, got his start in Texas, and the story reads, I guess I got the nickname of Boob from my looks. I know I've had it ever since I played my first game of baseball. That's Chester J. Boob Fowler's explanation of the peculiar moniker that he has been carrying around with himself for a number of years. He got the nickname the first time he stepped on a diamond and it has stayed with him ever since. I guess he was called Monk. Also, he says, I don't know where they get the Monk name. I never had it before I came to Minneapolis, but names don't bother me. Anyway, it's the old bass hits and fielding records that interest me. Fowler is a college graduate, so that boob stuff shouldn't go. But he doesn't mind it. He got his baseball start at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, where most good ballplayers come from. Not that specific university, presumably. The story ends he doesn't mind that boob stuff. But how come with a college graduate they're very fixated on the fact that he was a college graduate, which I guess in those days suggested that one wasn't a boob. But something about his appearance must have struck his teammates as boob. Like perhaps he looked a little dimmer than he was. Seemingly no boob though. Though no dummy. A smart guy with an inept nickname. Glad he didn't mind it. Okay, that will do it for today. Thanks as always for listening. You can support the podcast on Patreon by going to patreon.com effectivelywild and signing up to pledge some monthly or yearly amount to help keep the podcast going. Help us stay ad free and get yourself access to some perks. As have the following five listeners Lydia M, Sarah Thurnquist, Ben Peters, Carmen Muller, and Ninja Origami. Thanks to all of you, Patreon perks include access to the Effectively Wowed Discord group for patrons only, monthly bonus episodes, playoff live streams, prioritized email answers, shoutouts at the end of episodes, personalized messages, discounts on merch and ad, free fancraft memberships, and so much more. Check out all the offerings@patreon.com effectivelywild. If you are a Patreon supporter, you can message us through the Patreon site. If not, you can contact us via email. Send your questions, comments, intro and outro themes to podcastangraphs.com youm can rate, review and subscribe to Effectively Wild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Music, and other podcast platforms. You can join our Facebook group@facebook.com group effectivelywild. You can find the effectively wild subreddit at r effectivelywild. You can check the show notes in the podcast, posted fan graphs or the episode description in your podcast app for links to the stories and stats we cited today. Thanks to Shane McKee and for his editing and production assistance. We'll be back with another episode soon. Talk to you then.
- [114:17]
B
The show is called Effectively Wild.
- [114:21]
A
It's about baseball and stats.
- [114:25]
B
We might meet a major leaguer, break.
- [114:29]
A
Down some of tiny attacks and Effectively Wild effects.
- [114:37]
B
Me Wild.