TRANSKRIBEERI 🔗
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Kyle Stowers, and you're listening to Fish On First. Fish Unfiltered, Episode 132, Free Agent Position Player Draft.
00:00:28
Speaker 2: I'm here with AJ Ramos, Isaac Azut. I'm your host, Kevin Baral. And we're going to start with the World Series. It begins tonight as we're recording Friday. It'll be Nick Martinez against Jacob Mizorowski, Rays and Brewers. Should be a fun series. Two of the lower payrolls in baseball, but I think if you're a Marlins fan, at least it gives you some hope that there is a chance, even with a low payroll. But, uh, Isaac, thoughts on the matchup? Thoughts on the Rays going with Nick Martinez to start Game 1? And really quick on Martinez, the guy who signed a one-year deal, $ 13 million, a team that doesn't really spend a whole lot of money in free agency, more going with their homegrown players, a lot of development, banking on that. It's probably one of the better free agent signings of the offseason now, starting Game 1 of the World Series.
00:01:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, as efficient as we think Peter is with some of his waiver wire pickups and his minor league free agents, the Rays are just so efficient with everything that they do on the field. And that includes your major league free agent signings. And, you know, when you get Steven Matz and you get Nick Martinez and you're able to spend upwards of $ 20 million on a free agent class, it helps you out a lot. And Nick Martinez was arguably one of their better starters all season long. And in regards to the world series, these are probably the two best teams in major league baseball. And it's nice to see, you know, the big dogs face against each other in the biggest stage in the world. So I'm looking forward to it. If you're a Marlins fan, there's plenty of Marlins connections all over the place in this World Series. You've got Victor Mason Jr., you've got Liam Hicks, you've got Nick Fortez over in Tampa. And on the other side, you've also got Cole Sulcer, former Marlin. And then you've got Christian Yelich on the Milwaukee Brewers. So it should be a lot of fun. Game one tonight, like you said. And I'm very much looking forward to it, man. There's nothing better than playoff baseball. And especially when it's two young, scrappy teams that have each never won a World Series. I'm sorry, raised and never won a World Series. You've got another team that's looking for their first one in a while. It's always going to be a lot of fun. And Milwaukee should be a crazy experience atmosphere today and tomorrow. And hopefully the Trop is as well.
00:02:26
Speaker 2: Don't forget Ray's first base coach, Corey Dickerson.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: Of course.
00:02:30
Speaker 2: AJ, thoughts on the matchup? How do you think this is going to play out? Brewers, obviously. Probably with the older players for the most part. And a lot of experience, a guy like Christian Yelich is in there, you know, former Marlin. Now they're captain of the Brewers. Crazy
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to think that he's been there for so long now, but thoughts on this matchup and how it plays out.
00:02:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I'm extremely happy for Christian Yelich, man. I mean, he was a great teammate. He was a young guy, but you can always see the leadership qualities that, that he possessed and just the calmness that he had. I mean, being around him and JT Romudo, those two guys, for how young they were whenever I played with them, they both just felt like they were leaders in training already, just to have that certain mindset to be able to, one, handle the load of the season and then also be able to communicate messages between players and try to get guys together and stuff and just have great mindsets. So it is two scrappy teams. This is going to be kind of like a traditionalist mindset like baseball world series. Uh, I mean, I know like, you know, the rays use a lot of, um, analytics and stuff too, but they also, they just buck the system. They find ways to win. Uh, you're going to see a lot of contact, uh, you know, maybe not guys that hit a lot of homers with the exception of, you know, junior Caminero. Uh, I mean, there's guys throughout each lineup that can hit homers, but that's not going to be the main thing unless they just somehow get some, some pitches right down the middle where they can do damage. You're going to see some good starting pitching from both sides. I think the Brewers have a better bullpen, or they've been performing better than the Rays, but the Rays have a lot of variability. They have Kelly that goes from way down below. They have Baker. They have all kinds of guys that go from up top all the way down to the bottom, so they have different looks. They also have the advantage in starting pitching, I feel like. The Rays do. They have guys that go deeper into ballgames or that have gone deeper into ballgames. This is all like, you know, what has happened, not what is going to happen. So they have guys that go deeper into ballgames. I like the move of putting Nick Martinez game one. One, he has a better ERA on road starts. Two, he's an older guy and can really calm, be as calm as possible in that type of situation. And so those two things and he has reverse splits. He's better against righties or he's better against lefties and righties. So I feel like, you know, he that's a good move. Also, I would like to see Peralta pitching in Milwaukee. That'd be cool. But they're going to have to save that for potentially depending on how it lines up, maybe like a game seven or something like that. so I know it surprised everybody. Everybody thought Rasmussen was going to throw, but a few more days of rest is good, and also, too, if you do lose this game, you have your ace going the next day to even out the series to stop any momentum, so I like the move that's going. I think it's going to be a really scrappy World Series. It's going to be fun, and I'm looking forward to watching it.
00:05:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of think the Peralta thing was done intentionally just because he's so much better at the trop so he'd be pitching game three and I don't know they want him returning to Milwaukee in a World Series game who knows but yeah I think that definitely has something to do with it but I do think it's inevitable that he pitches at some point in his former ballpark and it's probably going to be late in the series like you said and that's going to be like cinema man it's going to be a lot of fun anyone that says they're not a fan of this matchup it's not sexy they just clearly do not know ball or they don't appreciate ball because this is going to be a lot of fun.
00:06:25
Speaker 2: Man Yeah, and I think that's probably a good topic to even dive into because a lot of fans probably are going to assume this is going to be one of the worst rated World Series in terms of viewership. And that's how a lot of people see it, right? But you mentioned it, Isaac. These are the two best teams in baseball are going at it. I believe these were the two top seeds in their respective leagues. And these are the two best teams. There's no other way to put it. The Brewers swept the Dodgers. It was a close one against the Guardians. This is going to be fun. It could really go up to seven games. These are two teams that play a very similar style of baseball. They're raised with their bunting and their contact and doing what they do. I'm excited for this. Let's shift over to the offseason a little bit and talk about the position player free agents. Last week, we did pitchers. This week, we're going to do... position players. We're going to do it exactly the same, except we're going to flip the order. So we're going to do oldest to youngest. So it'll be AJ, Isaac, and then myself. So AJ, uh, I'll let you kick it off. Uh, who is your first kind of similar way where we're going to do realistic, but that we would obviously think can make an impact for the Marlins and help this team out in 2027.
00:07:37
Speaker 3: Um, yeah, you know, when I was doing this, I was looking at, um, I feel like the Marlins, I was looking at the needs, and I feel like one of the biggest needs that they need is someone at third base, a consistent third base. And I know you're thinking about maybe Sonoha could play there, and that is something that is possible and plausible, especially with the way he played. But I also think that he has so much value as a utility player. be able to play anywhere. You know what I mean? And some, somehow play almost every day, but in different places. And I think that's something that, um, that's something that is valuable, especially to this organization. So I was thinking third baseman and I was looking and I'm thinking possibly I'm going to go with Edmundo Sosa, uh, someone like that, uh, you know, He has a little bit of slug. He has nine homers and 250 plate appearances. He's a plus three outs above average. So I feel like that's a guy that can be beneficial. He has some
upside, and I feel like with the Marlins scouting or the analytics, I feel like you can really hone in on how to make him better. So in between him and someone else, I'm pretty sure that guy is going to get drafted by one of you. But yeah, that's the guy I'm thinking about. I feel like he would be a good fit for the Marlins.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Isaac, Leo Jimenez is still available on the board if you want to take him, but you're up.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: I'm up, huh? Well, I do like Mundo Sosa a lot. I mean, watching him just make every defensive play for philadelphia last year in the last five or six years i know they love him i think he ended last year he injured his hamstring i want to say in the postseason against atlanta or something but obviously he's going to be more than good to go and that would make a lot of sense for miami they could always use some defense and some contact hitting my guess is that i think he's going to be a little bit on the older side and i'm not sure how much he fits peter bendix's aura charts here but i'm gonna go with someone that can play both positions that miami needs taylor ward coming off an okay season i know he's 32 years old he can fill in at third base if need be but more importantly he's a right-handed bat that can play the corner outfield spots and i think they need some sort of platooning there aside from burt I don't think they are enamored with Ruiz anymore, and most of your outfielders are going to be left-handed, including the ones that are coming up later on in the year. So I think Taylor Ward would offer some sort of consistent bat in the lower half, middle of the lineup, play some third base, play some outfield, and I think that's someone that would make a little bit of sense for Miami being a free agent for the first time.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. I'm going to go with a third baseman. this guy was mentioned on our round table article at the end of the season as an option. And the more I look at it, the more I think maybe just, it could be a good opportunity for this player. It could be a cheap deal, one-year deal, prove it deal. And it was in Mundo Sosa's teammate, Alec Boehm. I think a third baseman right-handed hitting, you know, bat, I think it helped. And it just seems like Philadelphia didn't really fit him too well. You know, he had those comments about Philadelphia and that all didn't, you know, they obviously supported the guy, but, It just maybe wasn't the right environment for him. Maybe he just needs to change the scenery for him. And just two years ago, it was the best season of his career, three-war player, solid, you'll take it. He hits very well against left-handed pitching, something that the Marlins struggled in. And obviously we're going to talk about it in the next episode, but the rumors about X and Otto, if you move off a guy like X, you could put Sonoha at second, Bohm at third. And I don't know, just a guy who could potentially be a solid fit for this team. One-year deal, prove-it deal. Won't be all too much expensive. So just a possibility of a guy who I could see maybe the Marlins trying to do something with. Doesn't strike out a whole lot either. So I think it's a solid player that they could bring in and has postseason experience as well. So would be on the older side of one of the, you know, on a very young Marlins scene. I think he's only 30 years old. Yeah, he's 30. So still has a couple years, a couple good, hopefully good years left in him if he were to join the Marlins.
00:12:10
Speaker 1: He's coming off a real bad year and he's been so fascinating to watch with Philadelphia ever since 2020. I think he got called up for the first time relatively early for his, you know, with based on the year he was drafted and he took the world by storm in that 2020 season. He was a pain in the ass. No one could get him out. And we all thought John Crow, everyone thought he was going to be a superstar and it's just been sort of an uneven, uh, career trajectory for him, both defensively and offensively. There's been off the field, weird stuff with him. Um, I'm not sure if I love the offensive profile for Lone Depot Park. I can't tell what this player is, honestly. Maybe he'd accept a buy low deal or I don't know what he would command in free agency, but I'm not sure, man.
00:12:54
Speaker 2: With the year he's coming off of, though, he may as well just take a one-year deal, prove it deal, and see what you got. Kind of like what it's been with the Marlins. If he isn't good, you just DFA him, and that's it. You move on. It would be another failed signing, but at least maybe this one could help you out a little bit in the short term defensively.
00:13:13
Speaker 4: I don't know.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: I mean, he can help out a little bit. And two years ago he was an all-star. So, and those weren't any, those weren't phenomenal numbers by any means. And they just need a right-handed bat. He, he hits lefties. Well, you could count on that at least at most. And, you know, worst case, he's a platoon player and that's what he is right at this point in his career. Who knows? But I don't know. Thought it was a, A realistic option, because at the end of the day, as much as I want to say Randy Rosarena, it's not realistic. But, you know, Boehm is in that realistic category.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's probably the best of the realistic category, if I had to say. Probably, you know, the biggest name of all those realistic names. He's definitely got the best curls and the best hair in the National League East, so he's got that for him. But it should be tough. That was an interesting name.
00:14:01
Speaker 3: I like it. All right, AJ. All right. For this one, I'm going to go in the outfield. That was one of the things that I think that they could use as well. I'm going to go with Tyrone Taylor. I feel like he's a kind of realistic one. Yeah, he had a 127 WRC plus and 241 plate appearances. He played 27 games in
center, 40 in left, 18 in right. He had 11 home runs, hit 279, as you see right there with 11 homers. He seemed to find something in his swing, you know, last year. And I felt like he was someone that, you know, really took off. And he's, yeah, once you get that feel, once you have an understanding of how to be successful, it kind of stays in you and you can always kind of lean on that to try to figure out how to recreate that stuff. So, Um, he's, he's what he's 32 years old. So, you know, over 30, but he's one of those guys that I feel like would be a good clubhouse fit. Um, you know, he's not going to be disruptive at all. I feel like he can also help some of the younger guys as well. He's not, he may not be crazy expensive. I don't think he will be. Um, so I think he fits in the, in the category that the Marlins could possibly go after. Uh, and yeah, I just, I like what he does. Um, he is plus four outs above average in 25. Uh, he had a smaller, um, workload in 26. So I, I haven't seen the numbers on that and what he was, uh, but he, he has potential to still be a, you know, above average outfielder in all those positions. So I think that's, that, that can be a plus.
00:15:47
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: He's an interesting player. I mean, has experience in national league East, obviously. So that helps a little bit hits lefties. Well, I mean, I think it'll be interesting to see what the Marlins do with their outfield because Stowers played a lot of first, so did Conine. So maybe those guys just take a bigger role at first base overall, especially Conine. And that could open up a spot for someone like Tyrone Taylor. But I also think of, hey, you have Cam Canarella waiting. But again, that veteran leadership is something to keep in mind.
00:16:13
Speaker 4: All right, Isaac.
00:16:20
Speaker 1: Oh, me?
00:16:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, you.
00:16:23
Speaker 1: Why haven't you said your boy Randy Rosarena yet? What the heck?
00:16:28
Speaker 2: I mean, I would love to. That would have been the first pick, I think, for everyone here.
00:16:31
Speaker 1: Why didn't we start with him? What does he command this year?
00:16:36
Speaker 3: A lot, right?
00:16:38
Speaker 2: I mean, he's the best hitter on the market.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: All right.
00:16:43
Speaker 2: It's between him or Jazz, right? I mean, it's not a very strong position player market this year. I mean, Randy is a very good player. I'm sure he would play down here in Miami, closer to home.
00:16:54
Speaker 1: But I don't see it.
00:16:56
Speaker 2: I don't see it.
00:16:57
Speaker 3: I don't see it, unfortunately.
00:16:58
Speaker 2: Just in terms of the money, I think the player itself, he would make the Marlins a much better team, right-handed back. I mean, you need that. That is the ideal player in Miami here and would bring a lot of people. It's the star name that you want. But the Marlins, I don't think they'll do it. I mean, he's not going to– the Marlins would– be able to what 15 million dollars a year he wouldn't take that he's going to get one blast big contract he's getting up there in age i don't see it i.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: Would agree i would agree it would be the perfect name and it's frustrating we read the barry jackson reports you know despite peter peter lonzo maybe pushing the models over the top they're never going to be doing those five years 100 million dollar deals and i understand the fans from frustration why not why not they just believe it's so inefficient it's the least effective way to make your team better is through free agency and i just At certain times, I disagree wholeheartedly because there are young free agents that make you better no matter what. But that's a topic for a different episode. For this one, my last name, I mean, I'm not enamored with it, but I guess we're being realistic here. So let's buy really low on Reese Hoskins. I'm going to say that Ramirez's days are done in Miami. This is based on that contention on Miami possibly moving on from Gus Buss. But if they do move on from him, there's sort of an avenue for him to play some first base in DH for Miami. He's coming off a really bad year. Injuries have really derailed his whole career since playing really well with Philadelphia. He's with Milwaukee, ended with Cleveland this year. And I think that he has a lot of familiarity with the NL East. I think he's a right-handed power bat that Miami could use. He's shown that he can crank him out at Lone Depot Park plenty. And I think he's someone that could add some both– some skill and some personality to this ball club because I think they could use it. And any sort of right-handed power bat, I'm always going to be an advocate for.
00:18:46
Speaker 3: I like it.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: He had a really good year, was it, with the Brewers before he signed with the Guardians? And then, I mean, it was a really weird deal with Reese Hoskins. He signed like this minor league deal with the Guardians and just barely made the team because of some certain injuries.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:19:03
Speaker 2: It's certainly an interesting– It would be an interesting signing. And he's very familiar with the National League East. He played a lot of games with the Phillies. And I think of all the guys like Sandy's face, Reese Hoskins may be like at the top too.
00:19:14
Speaker 1: It's a funny coincidence.
00:19:17
Speaker 3: What about like, you know, I was looking like a Reese will do bond. Like that guy's, you know, a utility player, but he kind of– Sonoha kind of has that role already for the Marlins. And then the guy that's going to be in the World Series, Jake Bowers.
00:19:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:19:35
Speaker 3: Yeah. He's left. He's left handed, though. That's the only thing. And a left handed heavy lineup already. But and he's thirty one. So the cost would be lower potentially than someone than someone that would be younger. in that same position. Um, I like Ty France. It's just,
you know, with the rotation of first baseman that the Marlins already have first baseman DHs and all that stuff that, that they have. I don't see that being the best fit, although I do like the slug. You know, I do like what he can do, that right-handed power bat. That's something that the Marlins do need. So, yeah, those are a couple guys that were– or a few guys that were– that I was thinking about that could potentially be a fit. Yeah, is there anybody else that you guys were, like, on the fence about or, you know– and who were they?
00:20:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, well– Sorry, these hitters, these hitting free agent things, I just don't see them realistically signing any major league hitter hitting free agents just because we know how they feel about their position player prospects and whether it's rational or not, we know the way they operate. That's why I thought the pitching side of this exercise was a lot more realistic because they could always use pitching, could always use relievers, could always sign major league starting pitching, but hitters... For this regime, it's a little bit different because this is a regime that didn't want to block Davies and De Los Santos last year, right? And, you know, they didn't even let him play and he ended up not being very good anyway. So they're very particular about blocking certain guys, whether we believe they're good or not. So I don't see many realistic options on the diamond that aren't blocking someone that isn't blocking someone because there's always someone that's good behind them or at least that they think there is, right? Especially in the outfield. corner they believe that Iva should be ready at some point whether they think he's a shortstop or third baseman they think Cam's going to be ready that they think he's going to be a superstar um so it's tough for me to really pinpoint a position where they feel comfortable giving any sort of money to because they did it at first basic a little bit with Christopher Morell I guess but um in regards to names I would love um I think Conforto makes a lot of sense I think Austin Hayes makes a little bit of sense but are they really going to block the Stowers and the Marcy's and the birds. I just don't think so. I wish they would because it's a good problem to have, but they don't seem to really like to have that problem. They like to live on the edge here, which is frustrating.
00:22:07
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:22:07
Speaker 2: And that's what I think makes this exercise a little tougher than the one we did last week because their system, the system is so much better in terms of what they have position player wise. It's much more layered. They have a lot of guys that could help you at triple a double a and And guys in double-A, that should probably, frankly, go to triple-A as soon as possible. And then on the pitching side, it's so top-heavy. It's Thomas White, Robbie Snelling. And after that, it's a pretty big drop-off. So I was looking at this for Carson Kelly. I like Carson Kelly. The Marlins need a backup catcher. I wrote about him. I think that's the guy. That is a guy that would make this offense a lot better, would be able to DH a lot as well, and what should be a lot of rotation at the DH spot.
00:22:51
Speaker 3: Randall Gritchick.
00:22:51
Speaker 2: And he can play a little bit of first base too.
00:22:52
Speaker 3: So that's.
00:22:55
Speaker 2: Something I can consider too.
00:22:57
Speaker 1: Jonah Heim is another option. The kid I love who I wanted him to sign a couple years ago or last year was Nathaniel Lowe. He can rake. You need ballers that can rake, man. And it goes back to the Liam Hicks trade. They traded the one guy who could just unequivocally rake and be a great catcher. And they traded him instead of Kyle Stowers. And now you're stuck with probably the worst option. It's frustrating, man. But, yeah, in regards to hitters, I like one of those two, especially Carson Kelly. You need someone like that to back up Mack. Haim would be swell as well.
00:23:32
Speaker 2: It's crazy the fall that Haim took because he was on a World Series team, won the Gold Glove, and you look at the numbers the last couple of years, just not been good at all. But I won't forget, I think it was the one who hit the grand slam off of Bacher in that game in Sacramento where they took Uri out of the perfect game.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:23:50
Speaker 2: He played for the Braves this year, played for the Athletics. He'd be a fine backup option. I think for any backup catcher, you're looking at 30, 45 games behind the plate because you're assuming Mack is going to catch them all unless there's, God forbid, an IL stint. And that person would have to catch more because I think the Marlins clearly made it known that Gus is the third catcher on this roster. Wherever, if that is with him on it in 2027 or not, he's going to be their third guy And I think Haim has a lot of experience, World Series experience, kind of what AJ was talking about Tyrone Taylor, just a guy with a veteran presence in that locker room. I think you have that with Sandy on the pitchers, but you need that on the position player side. And I think Haim could be that guy.
00:24:34
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00:25:25
Speaker 1: Was Jeff Mathis that impactful, Mr. AJ? Was he that cool in the clubhouse, or were you not that close to them? Because I know the value that a backup catcher can have, and I know that was Jose's dude every single day.
00:25:36
Speaker 3: He was awesome. Jeff Mathis was really a steady presence. He just had feel, man. He spoke the language. He understood how to talk to each guy. He was like a coach. He was like a coach that would play. We didn't even worry about what he did at the plate. And when he did get his hits, when he did get his RBIs, it was like a party because it's like, we're so excited for him. But he was a wizard behind there, whether it be the way he set up, what he said to you whenever you were struggling, couldn't throw strikes or whatever it was, to off the field things when we would hang out afterwards. It's just the complete package. He made you feel comfortable is what it was, no matter if you had a lot of time or not. And he wasn't afraid to take Jose aside and tell him what he needed to tell him. If Jose was getting a little bit out of line or if another guy was getting out of line, even if it was another veteran getting out of line, he just had a way to communicate so that it was the message was received without the person getting offended. And I think that's something that you have to have. especially when you're talking to another grown man, another grown man that's a major league baseball player. You've got to be able to communicate messages without– they have to be received, and you can't talk to them a certain way.
00:27:02
Speaker 2: Right.
00:27:02
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I mean, he was just great at all that, and then his pitch calling and, you know, what he did on the field. It's just– I never shook with Mathis. Even sometimes he put a pitch down, I'm like, man, I never thought of that, but all right, here we go. You know, if, if math is called it, I'm going to throw it. So yeah, having someone there that has been through it, that can communicate in a way that everyone understands is invaluable. It's like having another coach, except a coach that is there on the battlefield with you on the field.
00:27:42
Speaker 4: Right.
00:27:42
Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's why I remember those years so fondly that everyone just spoke so highly of the guy. I even remember he had a walk-off Grand Slam on my birthday in 2013, which was sick. And, yeah, man, they just don't make them like that anymore, man. They really don't. And we noticed with all this pitch coming from the dugout, it's like who do you think knows what Jose needs to throw to this hitter better, like Jeff Mathis or the assistant pitching coach in the dugout? That's why I'm going to miss those days, man, because it was real ballplayers back then.
00:28:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, and the– Yeah. It's just, it's hard to compete with that experience. I mean, he was in the big leagues for a while, you know what I mean? And that he's seen most everybody that is, that is in the league at that time, he's seen them all. And so he just had a good point of reference of, of how to attack guys as well as his ability to learn pitchers and learn how to set up or what pitch to call based off of where they're missing. That's a big thing. You know, when I was, When I couldn't land my fastball down and away, he'd call a change-up down and away to make sure I get out in front of the ball. If I can get that change-up down glove side, then I'll be able to get out in front enough to throw that fastball and land it. So it's different things and different cues without giving you, hey, get out in front. Everyone knows you've got to get out in front of a ball. But if you force someone based off of what pitches they throw to get more extended or to make them stay closed a little bit longer, then– then they fix their mechanics themselves without overthinking it. And that's what you have to do. When you can't throw strikes, you're overthinking something. You're thinking too much. So little things that he would do would help me get back into the zone. And, yeah, I was thinking about it was against Milwaukee in Milwaukee, and we had a no hitter i think my brother started before we had a no hitter all the way up to the ninth inning i was supposed to be down i had i had uh during that week i had five saves in seven days and um i was supposed to be down they called down hey you got your cleats on i was like yeah because i don't need one out for me i ended up walking the bases loaded and then he called he called a curveball which was a 3-2 count, bases loaded. He called a curveball, and I hadn't thrown that pitch that day at all, and I was missing the zone. My fastball was 87 miles an hour because I was just gassed. Threw a curveball. I struck out a lefty on it, and I was just so pumped. Yeah, it was a really cool situation, but I was gassed, and that was one of those times where I was like, curveball?
00:30:25
Speaker 4: Curveball?
00:30:26
Speaker 3: I hadn't thrown a curveball yet. Sometimes I spike these things, you know, and then just whatever. Here we go. Because I threw good change-ups to that lefty, and he kept fouling them off. I'm like, how are you? First of all, he took a real good change-up that normally everybody swings at. And then the next one I threw, he fouled it off. Then I threw another one, and then I threw a slider, fouled it off. And I'm like, what do I throw this guy? Finally threw a curveball, flipped the curveball in there, and got the strikeout to end the game to get the save. But just little things, man, where he just knew how to command a game.
00:30:55
Speaker 1: Was this the Adam Conley start?
00:30:58
Speaker 4: Yep.
00:30:59
Speaker 3: I was going to say, was this the Adam? It was Conley to Ureña and then to me.
00:31:04
Speaker 1: Okay, well, you'll be pleased to know that you had a minuscule 1.57 ERA throwing to Jeff Mathis in your career. So
clearly he was doing something right.
00:31:16
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I don't doubt that at all. I felt comfortable throwing to him. his target, even though he was a smaller target, you know, like as far as he wasn't very tall, you look back there, it looks smaller. That kind of helped me aim better too, because it's a smaller target. I got to make sure to get over the front. But yeah, that, that, that makes sense.
00:31:39
Speaker 2: Well, the lesson to learn is that backup catchers are very important. So the Marlins definitely need to nail this signing with whoever they end up going with. But, Really quickly before we start to wrap up here and go into World Series predictions, we do have a small announcement, but a pretty cool one. We do have merch now on the Foul Territory site. It is fishonfirstshop.com. So you get that cool Adelope shirt and a lot of Fish on First merch. We have jackets, quarter zips. I saw backpacks in there, shirts, hats, whatever you think of. Even baby onesies. So if you want to have a Fish on First baby onesie, 1000% go to fish on first.com and you'll find it.
00:32:23
Speaker 3: It's there.
00:32:24
Speaker 2: So, but yeah, we'll, we'll start to wrap up here real quick and go into the world series. This is a very interesting matchup as we kind of alluded to at the start, we have rays and brewers. So Isaac, who wins the series and how many games and who is the world series MVP?
00:32:42
Speaker 1: It's going to be a fire series, man. I think the Brewers have the slight edge, man. I think they have the better starting pitching, but not by much. A better bullpen, I'm sorry. So I'm going to go with Brewers. It's either going to be five or seven. I'm going to go seven just for the sake that I want to have game seven on Halloween, if I have that correct. I think game seven, if necessary, will be on October 31st. So Brewers in seven.
00:33:06
Speaker 4: AJ?
00:33:06
Speaker 3: I'm going to go Brewers in six, although... Halloween would be really dope. Probably Freddy Peralta is going to throw in that too. And it just cinema like, like, uh, Isaac mentioned, I'm going to go brewers in six. I'm going to go William Contreras for the MVP. Um, but dark horse MVP, Christian Yelich, he's going to get in there and get some, some big hits. Get some big hits. I feel like this is the time where you're going to see a locked-in Yelich. Not that he's never locked in, but it's going to be another level. I think Aaron Ashby is going to be a big piece as well in that bullpen. I think he's going to continue his run. So that's my prediction.
00:33:54
Speaker 2: Isaac, what's your MVP pick?
00:33:56
Speaker 1: Choreo MVP for me. Nice.
00:33:58
Speaker 2: All right, well, solely because I fight football players on Halloween day, I'm going to go Raisin' Six. and Freddy Peralta is going to be the MVP. I like the Rays. I think they're a really fun team to watch. Yandy, Caminero, rooting for guys like VMJ and Liam Hicks to win their first World Series. That would be pretty cool to see, especially, you know, you would have thought, like, Liam Hicks is going into spring training, and then never in a million years that kid would have imagined he'd be playing in the World Series.
00:34:24
Speaker 3: I think he's going to have some good ABs off of Miz. I think he's a guy that can hit velocity up. And he's one of the better ones on the team that can hit velocity. I think I saw something at 96 plus. He's one of the guys that has a higher average. It's only like maybe 18, 19 pitches or whatever that are 96 plus that he's faced. Him and Junior Caminero are the ones that face velocity and do well on it. So I think today he can have a good game. I think opposite field hits for him. If there's somebody on, that's going to be even better. I'm not sure that they win. tonight the the brewers um i'm not sure about that i think um if if ms can two things and it's fastball related if he can pepper that that uh top part of the strike zone that's going to be great arm side down fastball if he can get that fastball glove side down that's going to open up a whole window of possibilities because then he's going to get more chase on his on his breaking ball and more chase on fastballs at the top of the zone because it's going to be changing eye levels. So if he can do that, I think he's going to be successful and stay out of the top zone for Junior because Junior's going to be hunting that spot. Throw him first pitch curveball and then throw that heat up. But we'll see. We'll see what happens.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be a fun series. We'll definitely be talking about it as the weeks go by. So we'll wrap it up here from Isaac, AJ, and myself. We'll see you guys all next week.
00:35:55
Speaker 3: Peace out.
00:35:55
Speaker 1: And as always, go fish.