Yankees have a closer problem, Justin Verlander's quest for 300 | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

Introduction [Music] hello and welcome to baseball Barber cast the only baseball podcast in the world that with a little bit of work and a whole lot of time could one day throw a baseball 105.5 kilometers per hour I'm Jake Mintz that's Jordan Schusterman and that's what I call real heat yeah I feel pretty good about about that that we could touch 105 km pH um Ben Joyce is going to be our first topic on this Wednesday edition of baseball Barber cast yes we are going backtack days which uh Ben Joyce could not do for a while and now seems to be able to do which maybe had something to do with him being a third rounder uh but yeah we're gonna talk about Ben Joyce a a real closer I should say then we're gonna talk about clay holes someone who has not been closing a lot of games successfully recently and then we're going to talk about Kyle schwarber because what he did in Toronto last night after not homering for quite some time was quite the watch but let's begin my dear friend Jake minz with Mr Joyce and Anaheim and the team he was playing against the fact that Ben Joyce could kind of seize the headlines from this game maybe is a good place to start the fastest pitch ever recorded in the Major League Baseball belongs to one Mr ralis Chapman who threw a ball Ben Joyce throws 105.5 105.8 miles an hour against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000 and finish my sentence well I I believe it was 105.9 and the reason I know that is because I believe he has a tattoo of it so pretty sweet yes yes so that is a every should have to get every big leager should have to get a tatto of the hardest pitch they've ever thrown yes it was 2011 um I like the idea yeah when do you think he got the tattoo like if he throws 105.9 day well no because it can't be the next day because if I throw if I'm a oldest and I throw 105.9 on a Tuesday in my mind that I'm not done like I think there's another level above that for me so he probably had to wait at least a year when he realized I'm never throwing that hard again you know what I mean yeah well but he he got pretty close uh he had has you know crested 105 a few times since then but Ben Joyce going 105.5 last night to strike out Tommy Edmond because the thing about that Chavin pitch is it was a ball but when this pitch is blown past Tommy Edmond trying his best to make contact with two strikes now we have a highlight uh with the 106 showing up on the TV broadcast that will really live on forever um and that's why it is our first topic today it's the best highlight ever of a super fast pitch that simple the oldest one was a faster pitch duh but it's like an up and in fast ball that makes Andrew McCutchen back out of the way a little bit and then the crowd kind of she once they realized what just happened whereas for this it was two strikes two outs heater on the corner loow and in Edmond swings and misses and then Ben Joyce just has the swag walking off the mound back to the Dugout we have never seen anything like this like it's the best it is the best and that's why I think like it's unfortunate that it's happening to such an irrelevant team right now that this game doesn't actually mean anything for the Angels both makes it even more impressive and also kind of underwhelming but Ben Joyce deserves a whole lot of credit for throwing a baseball 105.5 and I would like to admit Jordan that we were wrong about Ben Joyce that when he was at the University of Tennessee throwing 102 103 in low leverage situations for a very good Tennessee team you and I thought it was a bit of a shtick that it was not a a trick I mean throwing a ball that hard is repeatable and impressive but it was not exactly leading to Great results all the time and so when he was making headlines you know I were like well you know who's really good is Seth Halverson like that guy's you know getting out big leager Seth alerson um yeah I mean I like you go back like it's not like penro didn't have success at Tennessee but that is an important thing to understand when you under totally do not blame people at all being like why would this guy go in the third round that is a completely valid response because ultimately he was throwing I think verified 104 with some radar guns that had him up to 105 in college too but yeah it was he they were not using him in he was not closing games for them uh really at all um zero saves in that season of Tennessee he was throwing sometimes multiple Innings and then he he was throwing really like once a week it was there was a lot of time between outings now at the time he was still not as far removed from a lot of injuries I mean this is a guy who had a lot of different injuries during his amateur career which is both contributed to the degree to which Tennessee was probably being careful with him but it also lend some skepticism to the idea that this could be a major league reliever that you could count on three times a week and that's where he's really proven us wrong you know that's where and whe that's a credit to him whether that's a credit to the coaching staff the medical staff in Anaheim he has been able to pitch a a good amount and we've even seen him go back-to-back days a couple times but that's what's really enabled him to quickly Ascend to what is now clearly especially since they traded carlosz the top of the Angels wpen hierarchy and he is a show I know they lost last night's game but he's what got it to extras and he is still going to be a spectacle in a way that even in this age of velocity I think is pretty impressive you know I like to play in one baseball game per year as a washed up D3 relever who hit so poorly his freshman fall that he was moved to the mound um and chose that path over the library yeah when I play in my one game per year I am floored by how fast 80 miles an hour looks when you don't see speed now obviously Major League hitters are doing this all the time but the idea that Ben Joyce is throwing 25 miles an hour faster than that I it it it twists my brain into a pretzel I can't it is 5 miles an hour harder than 100 now yes that's just math but it's so freaking fast I did a little you know tip typing on the old computer machine on the calculator box 349 seconds from hand to front of plate and guess what if you make contact with Ben Joyce right at the front of the plate you're probably fouling it off because you need to go out and get that thing right like it's it's even less than that and I just it's so fast that a human being could do this is just remarkable and I think it's worth noting he's going to pass a r this right like well that's that's the last topic here right um is I mean we've just had this conversation as velocity has gone up across the league like what is the fastest pitch we will see thrown and we've seen like in our life guess we just say in our lifetimes but even like as we move faster and you think about that the average fastball velocity has gone up so much over the last 20 10 5 years however and I've made this point before while there are a ton of guys hitting 100 there is a very shorter list every time you go to 101 and 102 and 103 and 104 it's a smaller and smaller smaller list which makes sense now ultimately you have enough guys throwing triple digits one of those is going to be able to throw 105 and we've learned that with Ben Joyce now 105.5 makes me think now that we've seen him touch 105 multiple times it does make me think in the right situation with the right amount of arrest against the right opponent we probably will see 106 we probably will see 106 proper I know we got 106 on the gun here's just a super nerdy note that I learned when I was doing like Jordan Hicks research at some point normally 105.5 does not show up as 106 on the broadcast normally you have to get to 6 so I was actually surprised by that because in my past history of researching fast pitches normally to get to that upper level it has to get to0 6 and not5 either way the point is I think we will see him get to 106 proper much higher than that is hard to Fathom but I do agree with you I think we will see it whether it's this year whether it's not um he will probably make history in that sense because adrenaline plays a role it feels like the type of thing that old timey baseball people believed and was then proven false by modern science that depending on the importance of the situation and the environment that leading to more velocity feels like you know the yish word Bubba Misa right however it's totally a thing it is absolutely 100% real last night Ben Joyce after the game said quote I looked right up after and S it was just a big time game and all the fans were into it so I feel like that helped a little bit it was two strikes so I just tried to give it everything I had we get Ben Joyce on a contender in a playoff scenario he's throwing 125 dude I mean well again he saying the same thing about you know Mason Miller throwing 104 in in the empty Coliseum like I think that that's why I do believe we'll see it he's gotten close enough now it's what for a while when we had guys throwing 103 it felt like a big leap to ask them to throw 106 right which chadman had done it did not feel like something if anything I was like if anyone's going to do this again it's going to be Chapman and we've seen that again this year where he's still been able to touch 104 105 even all these years later but I do think we will see it whether it's this year or not now I do think there is a worthwhile conversation to be had about whether the uptick in Extreme Velocity is good for the sport there were some interesting quotes last night from Whit marfield after the Braves game he got hit in the head and he was talking about how guys are just trying to throw as hard as they can and they're not trying to hit spots and we've seen that become more of a thing over the last decade or so that being said all that mine 105.5 that's freaking cool like that's cool right I think they are related um conversations like there is again it's not an accident like hit by pitches are up more than ever and we're losing guys to broken hands and thumbs all the time right like that sucks and I don't like that um however when we are talking about these individuals that are making history I I think it's worth to pause in and appreciate it fire up the multiple things can be true at the same time horn yes throwing baseballs 105.5 is cool and maybe everybody throwing 99 with no control isn't exactly the best let's stick on this game and talk about what we thought was going to be our main topic before Ben Joyce broke our brains shoh Otani went home not to Japan but to Anaheim what is home right what is home yeah that's really getting at the base of this question his first regular season game back in the stadium where he spent the first six years of his MLB career where he became a legend a household name one of the best players in baseball the organization that gave Shohei Ohtani returns to Anaheim him the opportunity to prove that he could do both I think that that is an important note the Dodgers the team for which sh Otani obviously now plays played a uh preseason game uh in Anaheim for the season and Otani got some booze not alcohol and so there was conversation about whether or not he would receive a warm welcome and he kind of didn't receive either kind of Welcome because not a whole lot of people were at this game on the angel side Dodgers fans flocked down to Orange County to cheer on their Club what did you make of otani's Journey back to where he started at all yeah I mean it's it's kind of kind of went how I expected like I think that it's a little bit tough to talk about the fan perspective when we've had a lot of discourse about he was asked about it again is oh the Angels they didn't match you know what a failure uh they didn't match an offer they didn't try to retain him seriously and like yeah that's a you could absolutely criticize the angels for that of course duh right um but then how does that at to to the fans who could understandably feel maybe not betrayed but like I'm not going to ask Angels fans to not be upset that he went to the Dodgers I mean that's pretty basic stuff he's now tearing it up on the team that you don't like very much like that's that's pretty understandable but are you booing him because he like are Angel fans aren't happy with the State of Affairs either and that's not otani's fault right don't announce Arty Moreno in the lineup the owner of the team before every game right it's not like this team is managed by Ron Washington and owned by Ry Moreno boom right but but because Otani standing up there wearing a daughter's Jersey he becomes something that represents the failures of the Angels right and that that's unfortunate uh but also because it wasn't a whole lot of booze and maybe if it was 100% Angels fans it would have been more of that and part of that would have been understandable for what I just described but at the same time I think Otani will always understand and I think everyone understands that like the angels for all of their failures they were the team that managed to convince him you can do whatever you want here and for that I am grateful there is no way around that that's how I feel an absolute fact I feel that way about my high school girlfriend who told me that I could be a professional podcaster you know not the one year about to marry no no the one I'm about to marry yet oh okay okay all right thank you for clarifying that was that was a interesting way to refer uh your fiance I um but to that point it's like right you have to appreciate that that that you can never take away from them everything that went wrong because of it Otani is both every bit the face of it and the last person you should be blaming so it kind of goes both ways that weird sense and I I imagine that that prompts a lot of complicated emotions from the fans Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times dropped some total fire take about this game this is the headline sh Otani returned to Anaheim and proved why Dodger Stadium is a better home I see no lies I see no lies right I think that him being in La is better for the sport it he is around competence he is going to play in October okay on the biggest stage the first time for the first time that's great do I wa can I can I just send astray really unnecessarily wouldn't maybe I'm not sure that would have been the case if we signed with the Blue Jays boy wow apparently Maybe not maybe show the blue J but anyway but the but I I'm glad you're saying this because like it's so obvious and yet I've had that thought so many times during this show season where I'm like yeah duh like we had that when he first sign with the Dodgers but it's like good yes this is where he should be playing this is great I am enjoying this and I'm looking forward to seeing him do it in October seeing him hit a triple down the right field line Sprint around those bases and then stand next to Anthony rendone however must give those in Orange County a glimpse of what could have been instead whoo nothing but wo however shouts out to Logan ohappy the true face of the Anaheim Angels he goes yard in this game the savil Slugger proving that there is life after shoh there is a future there is a tomorrow maybe who knows the funniest part of this game Jordan was Otani comes up in the 10th inning and Ron Washington the Angels manager walks him and then mookie bets it's a three run right um yeah nice to see ohy get Homer he has been really really struggling the last two months uh I would encourage you not to look at those numbers the really encouraging thing is that Reed deaders look really good great nice to have him back so that was nice but yeah I mean this is just kind of the the state of play here and Otani is probably exactly where he is supposed to be and I don't think there is much more to say other than that all right let us take a break and when we return we will talk about the New York Yankees closer situation woo and welcome back Jake Mintz Jordan shman baseball Barber cast neither of us are the Yankee closer should we be no we should not be because it's very difficult it's a hard job mariana rivera spoiled the Bronx for two decades that being said clay Holmes does not inspire confidence last night he surrendered his 11th blown save of the Season allowing a walk-off Grand Slam to Wyatt lenford rookie outfielder for the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers no shame in that as the Yankees drop behind the Baltimore Orioles top the AL East for the first time in two The Yankees' Clay Holmes problem weeks and of course after the game the vitriol was directed at the tall alabaman for his inability to lock the ninth inning down Jordan Shusterman where would you like to begin with closer gate although gate is more of like a scandal this is this isn't really a scandal it's not really right there's not really like uh any sort of secret uh here what's going on um but I also think that your what you just said is the vitriol point towards clay Holmes I think that this situation while yes when the players are not doing their job like that is that is basically still the first point you can make and and understandably that is where fans will point at first but the fact that we are on Blown save number 11 I mean we're probably four or five blown saves past where the first thing I see Yankees fans getting mad about is is the decision to keep putting him out there more than how he's actually pitching and that shift does take some time to get to but that is where it becomes more more of an Aaron Boon conversation but also more of a of a larger roster conversation because this is a great example of people screaming he can't be the closer anymore and then you you see one respond being like okay so who should it be and then it's like I don't know but it shouldn't be him and then it's like all right well okay like you have there has to be a next step and so that is where the Yankees find them eles in in a rather difficult position because I I don't know where I would turn I too feel like we're probably pass the point where I would uh keep running him out there in the ninth but I I don't I look at this roster and I don't know who I would turn to it's not like Josh hater is just hiding in Triple A for you right right but to that point it is an interesting contrast to the Verdugo Jason dingz conversation right where that one it's like hello we seemingly have an alternative right here what are we waiting for and let's just push that to the side let's keep it focus on holes but but in this case it's not that they don't have any other relievers with decent numbers but they don't really have anyone where it's like okay obviously it should be him I feel like the answer I've seen the most is Tommy Canley um a guy who has certainly pitched in high leverage and succeeded for the Yankees in the past but I mean he's and he's got like a handful of saves over the years I I don't know you you watch this team and you watch this team up close and and you talk about these pitchers and talk to the coaches where where would you turn here if if there was picking an alternative I'm not picking an alternative it's to me I you have to ride with Holmes you I think you continue to ride with Holmes at least for now because the best version of the Yankees includes Holmes getting high leverage outs and if you move him out of the ninth inning you are just whacking that dude's confidence into Oblivion and I think that that is potentially more damaging removing him from any type of important spot than you know the downside of keeping him in the ninth inning now look it he's not been very good over the last handful of months there's no avoiding that his style of pitching where he is throwing a barrage of sinkers that make a lot of weak contact is not great for the ninth inning it's fewer strikeouts than you would ideally having in that spot I think the big issue last night right is he just he allows a one out single and then he's thrown from the stretch and he just gets super out of whack and he's rushing his delivery and whatever I just I think the best option is still clay Holmes now the reason that's a problem is that the Yankees did not go out and get anybody you would feel confident giving the ninth inning to at the trade deadline there were some pites available Tanner Scott could have gotten Jason Adam Carlos Estes would have been a good fit for them right and they clearly had the prospects to do it if that's the package that the Angels got from the Phillies which was a good package still that Yankees have those types of players and I just I think that's the failure right I don't think this is Aaron Boon's fault if you're going to blame anybody because what do you want him to do there's no really no one else you could put in I think this is the front office believing too much in the big league pitching development staff's ability to conjure relievers out of nothing Matt Blake who is the Yankees pitching coach is a wizard okay he's a wizard Harry Jake cousins has been spectacular over the last few months Luke Weaver has been the eighth inning guy all year they sucked freaking amazing outings out of uh Michael tonan for three months Tim like Tim Hill has been really like they do a really good job at this spectacular job and I think that the front office the people who are making decisions about acquiring players potentially are seeing that success and saying oh well we don't need to go out and get you know Big League proven relievers because there the value and that does not make sense we can just conjure them up in the lab and often that is true and the Yankees are where they are right now in part because they've been able to do that really successfully but sometimes just go trade for Tanner Scott you know yeah I I agree with everything you said I don't have any rort to that I I would want to go back to the point about the confidence just because we've kind of had these debates over the years where it's like well you think last night helped this confidence like how many more of those and to your point it's like for now like or as it stands like okay well I don't know what else more you would need to see I don't know how many more of these you would need to see and this is where if I am G to give a critique of Boon is that there is a way to take a guy out and put him back in uh at some point before the gamees start being really important but we are probably past that point and that is where it becomes very difficult because there probably was a version where you know coming out of the allstar break or or before the All-Star break or like in in a earlier in August that you can just be like listen clay we're going to go closer by committee for a week sometimes these they say this happens we've seen this with closers where it's like H we're going to change this and then like a week later he's saving a game again I all first of all it's these guys job like I'm not it's these guys job to pitch in whatever situations that they're asked to do and clearly like if you could get a couple good outings from clomes cuz I totally agree with you like there's no path to a Yankees World Series that doesn't involve Klay Holmes getting important outs that's a fact and I I would hope the Yankees fans could also admit that um but I also just think that there probably was a way to ease off earlier and now they've kind of backed themselves into a corner partly because of the things that you described with the roster so the other options right you mentioned Tommy Canley I think he'd be fine in the ninth Jake cousins who by the way is actually Kirk cousins' cousin did you know this yes also an iy leager we we love yeah he's jako he's struggled the last few times out but then the real wild card that we've seen by the way we should also mention just since you mentioned the deadline they did trade for Mark ligher Jr who in theory was brought to bring in more swing and miss and while he has you know 19 strikeouts and 13 Innings he hasn't been getting outs so he doesn't really seem like an actual option right now the real wild card that you know I keep seeing people throwing out is Luis heel who is the rookie starter who has only started this this season he's currently injured um he's got 124 Innings we've talked about having to maybe move him to the bullpen to preserve his workload now his stuff is absolutely closer worthy the strikeouts are there right he also has the highest walk rate of any starting pitcher now maybe you think that the command becomes better in shorter stins because he's not going longer into games but you're kind of playing with fire there for like a hundred different reasons both injury related both asking him to change his role like that seems like such an extreme move that I would not I just would be stunned if the Yankees were to land on that like that would require them to basically decide right now okay you're going to the bullpen but you wouldn't start with him pitching in the ninth like he'd have to get healthy get used to pitching in relief multiple times a week and start throwing more strikes and then maybe you have a closer in a month but that where then you're throwing a rookie out there in October as your closer that seems so unrealistic that I kind of wanted to move that to this side but I know a lot of people are calling for it so I wanted to mention it manager Jordan earlier this year we had you tell David Bednar that he's no longer closing games uh no it was it was Paul seal actually Paul sewalt sorry I just assumed it was David bnar I need you to sit me clay Holmes down and I need you to tell me that I'm still your guy that I'm still your closer okay I think I like to do this bit because if you were my dear friend uh hired tomorrow as a minor league director of operations or something you would do that job incredibly well I believe however I think you I think you could do that job maybe not tomorrow but I I think you could do many jobs within an organization I think you'd be a horrible manager so I want you to sit me down and I want you to tell me clay Holmes that everything's going to be okay go but but I what if I don't believe it's gonna so hold on you're you're basically Brian Cashman in this scenario no I'm clay Holmes no no but I'm saying that like I'm being giving this assignment because okay so right now I'm Brian Cashman right now I'm Brian I'm Jake mince actually but right now I'm Brian Cashman Okay g the Yankees hey Aaron we don't really have a better option right now I need you to go talk to Klay let him know he's still the guy got it now I'm Kay Holmes yeah uh Hey clay uh your stuff still looks your your stuff still looks great and I'm not worried about it tough one out there uh we're gonna go right back to you you're going to be ready to go you're gonna be ready to go uh in a close game tomorrow right I mean I we can count on you right whatever you need skippo all right then I then I think all I've said all I need to say because I I have not concerned I'm not worried and you seem like you're in a great place that walk off Grand Slam I didn't even what walk off Grand Slam you're fine right I'm certainly not in a great place because we're currently in Arlington Texas I can't change that what I can tell you is that I have full faith in you I'm looking at your baseball Savant page right now uh on my computer here at my desk and it I still see a lot of red so I'm not worried as all in major League teams use internally baseball Savant you know they don't have their own systems or anything no they don't but so I see a lot of red and I've been told red is good so there I have no issues and I look forward to handing you the ball in the ninth inning uh in the next couple of days I appreciate the confidence coach Aaron one more question for you if you guys could just call up Jason freaking Dominguez please that would be great for everyone thank you so much considering oh we're considering all of our options um and you know I know that would probably help you know maybe get a few more runs so that you don't have to protect as small of a leadon I'm not I'm not you could shoot straight dude all right fine clay you want you want you want the truth yeah yeah I would like I'd like it to be on the team that' be really nice I would really like hey clay close the door close the door let me let me let me tell you how I really feel uh anyway that's the Yankees um do we have anything else on this before we we take War break no Aaron judge Homer last night no right that's the thing eight games season High uh and then that's uh unacceptable I I see one for five with two strikeouts it's your MVP all right sure if you say so anyway uh I think that's it that's that's the Yankees talk for today clay Holmes has more blown saves than me in my career it's true it's true he does um more saves more blown a lot of us much richer yes that is the other thing uh clay Holmes free agent fascinating hey have do you know what clay Holmes looked like on the Pirates by the way yes of course wait you I told this story on the podcast go ahead I okay I'll tell this goofy story and then we'll take a break I in 29 [Music] yeah it must have been 2019 or 2018 I was in Pittsburgh because that's where my wife went to grad school and we were out and having uh having a lovely dinner and on our walk back on our walk home we walked past okay we like saw Brian Reynolds out there at some point and then we saw Colin Moran and it was like oh I guess the pirates live around this neighborhood but then on the way back we saw clay Holmes like with a beard and and he's huge right so that's the first tip that like that's probably like a professional athlete and I had already just seen two other Pirates right but I was like oh that's Klay Holmes now again this is when he was like a 6 with the Pirates and nobody knows who he is and that's when I knew like oh man I'm out here recognizing clay hols in street clothes this is a tough look for your boy so yes I do know what he looked like on the and this is this is back when you didn't know how to iron a shirt too so it's like a long time ago develop anyway SKS anyway yeah so uh yes wait why why did you bring that up just because he looks very different now it's wild a beard well it's not just that he didn't have a beard like he had he was kind of a very hairy boy maybe if the Yankees here's here you go it's a Samson situation Yankees got to let clay Holmes grow it out just once see if that if he starts throwing 105.5 like Ben Joyce that's the solution Aaron hey Aaron go to go tell clay to grow do it that'll do it uh all right let's take a break and when we get back Jordan Will cosplay the 29 other managers welcome back to baseball Barber G Jake Min George hosterman Let's head north of the Border where the Phillies are right now uh Phillies go down six runs early immediately instantaneously Tyler Phillips the local kid gets plastered by the Blue Jays does not get out of the first inning but the Phillies claw their way back thanks in large part to Kyle schwarber who ripped three home dingers last night breaking what was the longest homerless streak of his entire MLB career now it is his second three Homer game of the season his last one was on August 7th against the Dodgers in between those two three Homer games he had a 13 for 92 stretch with one Homer for a 141 245 27 Kyle Schwarber hits three home runs line that's a 463 Ops across 23 games now a great example of how cherry picking dates changes a narrative and puts whatever you want out there if you include the two three Homer games in his stats his line then becomes 22 for 102 with seven homers and six doubles which is a 216 30848 0 line that's a 788 Ops across 25 games hilarious yeah and schwarber I mean this was a was this his first career five hit game I mean that was the thing that I was wondering because I know he's uh had a a three Homer game as you just mentioned not that long ago but I mean this wasn't just a three Homer I mean this was three homers that they would have lost the game without they end up winning the game by one this was a pretty impressive listen I know these Blue Jays pitchers are trying their best but when you know when you talk when we see how high the Blue Jays end up with the draft pick depending on their Lottery luck this is a game these are the games the teams that are you know trying to lose in the in over the final six weeks it's like they sure found a way to lose that one and those young Blue Jays hitters sure are doing their best they have played very well since they traded away their entire team uh Vlad had four hits we got Springer back at the top of the lineup but man will Wagner is swinging it's spener Horwitz Addison barger's hitting home runs but the Phillies needed this they they needed to come back here because while the Tyler Phillips start was I guess in place of Taiwan Walker correct um he is essentially replacing tywan Walker in the rotation tyan Walker still pitched in this game and managed to give up a couple runs again out of the bullpen but I mean yeah schwarber is one of the just flip to switch guys that we have and uh it's pretty cool when it when it all comes together especially because like when he's I think the third home run was at a nine or 10 pitch at bat like you just know you're just dialing it in and it's just a matter of time yeah if you're going to throw him another pitch in the zone that the next one is either going to be another foul ball or it's going over the fence for a homer people often ask us the following question who is your favorite baseball player you get that a lot right from people yeah yeah and standard question in our line of work although it becomes a little bit different now because it is our line of work and I think that you know I always struggle to answer that question I think Spencer shrider would have been my answer last year the end of last year even this spring training Kyle shorer watching Kyle shorer when he's locked in is a singular experience because he it feels inevitable like you watch that whole last at bat it's like well if he throws him another one more fast ball in the zone this is going to be a souvenir I don't know I I being around teams gives you a different type of appreciation for players and I think we de I don't want to say devalue but like when you are around people and you see the way they interact with their teammates and the coaches in the media whatever you maybe maybe like we should just be appreciating Shani and Aaron judge the most because holy crap watch them play the baseball but Kyle Scher is just an absolute wonder he is a delight he is yeah I love watching him hit I love I just love it I just love it the way he does it is is uh is pretty unique I I would say that his style of hitting is in some way like kind of what you like say oh this is everyone just the three true outcome guys now that's that's just what baseball is it's like I mean kind of but like stylistically and really mastering that craft like that's really only him and he's now done it for a long time and then that's really what makes him so impressive and uh yeah I mean you know he's lead leading the league and walks again he's he's at 31 homers I mean he's probably not you know he had 46 and 47 in his first two years in in Philadelphia he's probably not getting to that uh again this year I feel pretty good saying that because you know he did have some more prolonged cold stretches this year he was H wasn't hitting the ball in the air quite as often as you would maybe want for a guy with this profile uh but at the same time it's when it when it's working it's it's working about as well as you could possibly hope he's on pays for his highest OPS plus as a Philly right and then dude he's gonna be a free agent after next season like he might just get freaking paid again by some yeah I mean again he he has been a very safe bet right like you kind of know what you're getting he has an identical slugging percentage as he did a year ago the OBP is a lot higher um but again it's just like he hasn't the homers haven't come quite as consistently to the point where he's not going to get to 45 again but even still that that is a player that if you're betting on players to hit 40 home runs next season he's still one of your first picks and it's not even a question I talked to him recently probably going to write this up about his transition to full-time DH I think in our minds As baseball Watchers we saw Kyle schwarber this slightly pudgy big swinging slow guy and just thought why is this not a DH this guy is just gonna be a DH in schwarber's mind I mean this is he was a catcher for so long and when you're a catcher you see yourself as part catcher part hitter total baseball player when there are types of baseball players I'm not going to say schwarber is this who like look down on dhing because it requires less of you and I talked about this in the MVP context that you there there is less wear and tear and SCH straight up told me like he's like this is the best I've ever felt as a biter because I don't have to run around and throw my body in the Outfield that's a double-sided thing because he's like dude I feel awesome I would love to go out and play Outfield I think if right now I was in the Outfield like I would be really good I would be better than I was previous years because I feel fast I feel healthy um but kind of having to humble yourself for the betterment of the roster is interesting scharber still sees himself as someone who's capable of playing The Outfield now whether that's true or not we can debate he's only dhing because it's what's the best thing for this particular particular team at this particular time but having to learn how to spend all that free time think about how much more free time you have as a DH compared to an outfield sure well but but and listen I know that he hasn't caught for a long time but I am glad you mentioned that because you know normally when we're talking about DH types we we are talking about either Corner outfielders or or first baseman and from when we talk about the defensive Spectrum going from first base to DH is very that's as close as it gets right versus going from catcher to DH is like literally the opposite because you're going from the toughest defensive position to the no defensive position which is obviously that's a transition that he made much earlier on in his career and certainly he was still playing a lot of Outfield recently and maybe still will in the future but yeah from a mindset perspective from someone who it's hard to be a catcher that isn't you know really ingrained in what it you know what it means to to be a part of the whole facet of of the of your team and of your your pitching staff and and figuring out how to hit like all those things that is the most that is the hardest job it is the busiest job there is so I think that's a really interesting transition last thing I want to talk about before we get out of here Justin Verlander so Verlander pitched on Labor Day on Monday and was not particularly good he has made three starts since returning from the I with neck just com he was in the first one and then bad in the last two Justin verer has 260 career wins I wrote about over Yahoo good good website that we work for disclaimer we worked there but it's still good uh how Justin Verlander wants 300 career wins and why he wants 300 career wins in particular is that if Justin Verlander gets there he will prob be the last player to reach 300 wins there are 24 players who have ever gotten to that level he missed basically Justin Verlander’s pursuit of 300 two full seasons in 2020 and 2021 and recorded just one win between those two years because he got Thomas Johnson and now he sits 40 wins away at 41 years old he has been very public that he wants to play another handful of seasons to not he he has said on the record not to me but he has said said that it's not the only reason he's still playing but it is certainly a a a factor right what do you make of his Chase for 300 win yeah I mean it's uh I mean it's in the it's in the headline right of your story it's it's not going to be easy um 40 wins is a lot of wins especially when as we know it ain't really all in your control now playing for the Astros certainly helps in theory but as we've seen over the last couple times out it's it's not that simple you still have to kind of pitch to a certain level on your own uh things just have to go right for you on multiple fronts now the thing is is but but the Astros are an important part of this equation right I think that is if we are projecting forward and we do assume that he wants to keep pitching based on how they have acted in the past and how what they did to reacquire him at his age you would assume that they would keep him as long as he wants but there we are already at the point where we're wondering if he's one of their five best pitchers and for him to just assume that he will continue to be given these opportunities over and over whereas the Astros are going to be his in theory best chance to continue to win games it's just really hard to Fathom it's really really really hard to imagine him racking up 40 more wins when I mean it's I don't have whatever the math is the math I mean even 10 wins a year is is tough so um I don't know and that's new right the game has changed pitchers starters get fewer wins than they ever have because they're throwing fewer Innings pitchers starting pitchers throw on average a full inning less now than they did like 30 40 years ago right and the the shorter you work the less likely it is you reach the necessary five innings to earn the win as the pitcher now pitcher wins are no longer used as a predictive stat to evaluate players that being said they still matter to the pitchers themselves it is something that they definitely care about Jordan there are 18 active players over a 100 wins okay just to give people a sense for how many 300 wins is right there are 18 just 18 active pitchers over a 100 and Verlander is going for 300 how many are over 200 three they are okay Kershaw yep uh who's the third one who's still perander and Max who is and Maser who is still active technically hopefully Jordan let's do a little game let's do a little game okay so those are the three that are between 200 and 100 I want you to tell me the guys or sorry those are the three over 200 I want you to tell me the other 15 active players that have over 100 wins I'm gonna miss some obvious ones because this is a long list and I'm just going to try to R rattle off some some ones along the way so I'm just gonna start naming some old pictures Lance Lynn does Lance Lynn have 100 wins 142 okay thank you um we already said kers we already said Sher okay I think deg Grom is is is deg Grom even there no no he's not right he's at like 80 or 90 okay I'm going to go with some more older pites I'm going to go with with W no um okay uh Garrick Cole has 100 Cole so I think gar Cole is the most interesting thing on this list because he's at 151 Okay g Cole has been the the best pitcher over the last half decade basically and he is turning 34 on Sunday yep yep and he's basically halfway there so it's just so hard to get to 300 win uh Robbie Ray no uh no Kevin Gosman yes at exactly 100 and so does Patrick Corbin I believe just passed this 101 or 102 good Patrick Corbin's on a W3 don't don't let Corbin get hot here all right he's took him a while to uh to get that 100 someone is him this winner it's going to be great okay Chris S has 100 yep 136 um one of his teammates uh Charlie Morton has 10037 is Johnny quo technically active he is he is 144 I I don't know if he is going to pitch again but he definitely fits that description um let's go with Luis castio maybe no he's certainly not winning much recently uh we will go with nope that seems like a bad guess who are the other old pitchers NOP there's no way he has 100 um I don't know uh let's go with nope that's another bad guess I two more guesses two more guesses okay um I mean I get I know there's some obvious ones that I'm certainly missing let's go no he doesn't have it all these guys are too young like I was going to say Pablo Lopez there's no way he has it all right here you go I this is not this is too many names and I'm I'm forgetting some obvious ones so who you got Kyle Gibson 112 oh Kyle Gibson I said Lance Lynn why didn't I say Kyle Gibson yeah Carlos grasco 110 Sunny gray Sunny gray 110 yeah should have stuck with the Cardinals Wade Miley who hasn't pitched this year wow he has pitched this year but not very much because yeah one you should have gotten is UD darish okay also hav't not top of mine but yes definitely darish yep one that is understandable you didn't get is Dallas kyel okay don't feel super bad about that sorry but he certainly won a lot y two that you definitely should have gotten in the last two are Aon NOA and Zack Wheeler okay yes honestly wheeler I wasn't totally sure Nola absolutely should have gotten I think Nola has more than wheeler but I could be wrong about that so again um again 100 wins that's 100 wins J gr is not at 100 wins just like Verlander getting to 300 is Bonkers I mean three listen 300 just not it's not it's just not gonna happen like we will just readjust it and it will just become 200 that's but that is why it should be 250 honestly but that is why it should be 250 it should be 250 like what it what are we what are we saying it I'm just saying like it's that that's why it's like it's all made up right I mean 250 is not 250 is not going to happen for any of these guys once we get past Sher in yeah there's only 25 pitchers that got to 300 that's the 24 like that's the thing it should be really hard I don't want to lower that barrier too low um I yeah I the other thing right is he's at 3400 Innings the fewest Innings career for any 300 Win pitcher is Randy Johnson he's at like 4,200 so it's not as if Verlander has failed to win win at an adequate rate it is the total amount of pitching that he has not yet to do and to that point I think that is the the real reason why even though we can look at it and say this is impossible it's not going to happen clearly the reason why he thinks he can is two things one what you just described which is that all these guys get to like 4,200 Innings and I still feel like I can throw another thousand Innings even though I'm 41 like he clearly feels that way when you combine that with the fact that his first season uh or his last season before he got hurt he won 21 games and his first season after he got hurt he won 18 games he's probably just thinking like oh I'll just do that again a couple more times but as we're learning this year it ain't that simple buddy so so I mean maybe he's right maybe he will just be back to Peak not Peak but good enough Justin Verlander to throw 200 Innings again next year at age 42 and Astros will win another Division and he'll win 15 or 20 games but boy is it g to be hard if I'm Justin Verlander who's about to be a free agent I'm signing a league minimum deal with the Dodgers I'm just racking up wins baby in my contract in my contract with the Dodgers if I'm just a Verlander you need to leave me in for five innings every start I have to finish five if you take me out before the fifth and it is not an injury I get to become a free agent on the spot immediately who says no the Dodgers I probably the Dodgers but yeah that will be interesting if if there is if he does go somewhere else this winter or if he continues to think that Houston is going to be the spot uh for him seems unlikely he will be returning to Queens although I guess never say never all right that's a Wednesday episode of baseball Barbie cast you can email us at baseball barcast gmail.com we will take a much needed break tomorrow on Thursday day off sure could use that uh we'll be back on Friday didn't think Jake was going to be podcasting Friday since he's getting married on Sunday but it sounds like he will be we will be recording on Friday morning before I fly to uh the closer to where the wedding will be and uh yeah uh how you feeling doing doing all right I'm good what should I put in the you know the hotel goodie bags anything you want in there tin of Chaw you want some Chaw probably I was just gonna say I mean it's just a matter like the only thing you open is just like what are the snacks so yeah you know I'm not a big snack yeah you know that about me no I know that I know that but again you got to you got to think about your guests here it's not it's not about you anymore I mean it is about you this specific task is not about you so as someone who adors the Limelight okay this is my weekend boy that's true but it's my gift bag thank you to producer Andrew hars uh thank you all for listening we leave us a rating review let us know what you think of the show we appreciate it and be nice because Jake's about to get married keep him in a good mood we'll talk to you all on Friday goodbye you have to be nice you have to sorry let us know what you think of the show but be nice [Music]