BREAKING: San Francisco Giants EXTEND Matt Chapman! Did They Get Ripped Off | Bad For Baseball Ep.17

Intro [Music] hello everybody and welcome back to bad for baseball the baddest baseball podcast on the internet presented by bet way I'm your host Donna pedal right across from me is the other host Nicholas poog and today we woke up to some pretty interesting news is it already extension season because Matt Chapman just got the bag we're going to get into that and and talk about whether we like the deal or not for the San Francisco Giants and as well looking around baseball we had a huge ale episode on Monday we got a lot of talk about the NL we got tatis coming back darish coming back schwarber doing amazing things and as well with Mayfield with some pretty interesting comments we're going to get into all that as we are in the month of September but before we do Nick it's football day today it first day of football I know we're a baseball podcast but I think a lot of people share a lot of uh common similarities here if you're a baseball fan you probably like the NFL and today you got the Chiefs versus the Ravens listen uh September is the best month when it comes to sports all right when it comes to sports September is the be best month you get football coming back you get uh you know NF or uh excuse me MLB kind of like ramping up towards playoffs you got hockey on the on the horizon and then following September the second best month is October because then you get to finish all those things and then start the other one so we are now entering into what I would call like the best best season of all North American Sports right now so I'm [ __ ] hyped for and I also love to see that you got Matty Ice getting himself the bag Matt Chapman Extension $151 million six years guys 6 years $151 million that excites me not only because you know Matt Chapman getting himself paid he always love to see that but that's like the first big deal from what I expect to be a very active off season there is a lot of free agents who are going to be available Matt Chapman this past off seon him and Scott Boris kind of fumbled the bag a little bit the Toronto Blue Jays I remember this they offered him over $100 million at one point he said nuh uh uh I don't want to do that then ended up getting like a one or a two year something like that I think they literally offered him this exact same deal did they yeah 6 or 150 yeah and then he said and he said no well I mean you know what honestly fair enough at the time I thought that was a huge mistake and it was for a long time however now that you get to do it again just a year later I mean you're really mad maximizing your value right there and apparently he did come out and say uh you know just a couple weeks ago he's very comfortable in San Francisco everything like that but 6 years 151 million you love to see that additional one right there you know that it's like I want to be a little bit more higher paid than that guy or that other guy who gets 150 like George Springer for instance you know just like one extra million dollars but 6 years 151 Matty Ice is 31 years old what do you think about this deal is this an overpay is this the right contract for mty ice yeah I mean well of course I think this is a great contract cuz like you were saying I thought it was an overpay for the blue JS at the time but this contract is going to kick into effect next season it's going to overtake the his previous contract so essentially if you really think about it what did Mighty ice get paid this year about 25 million somewhere around that something like that somewh around those lot ball just's say 25 just to make it Frank that means um he would have got paid a 7year $175 million contract so at the end of the day he actually got paid quite a lot because he had to prove himself again getting one year older so I think it's an absolute steal of a deal just looking at Matty Ice's uh uh you know stats this season I mean offensively you could say dude's pretty good you know I mean he's got a batting average of 247 he's knocked in 22 home runs kind of hard to do uh at San Francisco's ballpark o on base percentage of 333 slogan to 445 but the Ops plus is where it's like okay you could really see some value here it's a 121 ps+ so he's definitely an above average player much better than he's ever been uh in the last couple years never this good with the Toronto Blue Jays and the war is still very high a six War we always knew Matty Ice was a great defender and he's proving it here but that's always been the question like are you willing to pay $51 million for a guy who yes is 31 years old six more years he'll be 37 at the end of this deal are you willing to pay that much money for a right now and above average bat probably will be declining at some point and a gold glove Platinum Glover well before I answer that I do want to backtrack a little bit you said steal of a deal I assume you're talking about this for Matt Chapman yes absolutely never from never from the Giants the Giants would have in my opinion the Giants are paying up for that war and that glove that's thing and we we got to clarify that right because you know we are talking about a 31y old right now we are talking about $151 million granted he is doing better than the years that he had in Toronto but I remember when some of the rumors were coming out about him being offered something like this from the Toronto Blue Jays and you know turning it down I was thinking to myself wow thank God Blue Jays dodged a bullet right there as many of you know we are Toronto Blue Jays fans I was like Jesus Christ do not pay him that type of money now granted he is playing a lot better in San Francisco and he has come out and he said that he's more comfortable there so maybe they have a good rapport maybe him and uh uh Bob Melvin believe is the you know manager over there maybe they really like each other and Matt Chapman when you look at the career this is a very solid MLB player so you are paying for that do I think that $151 million at age 31 for somebody who is batting 247 right now is that a bit of an overpay probably but I think that if you're San Francisco you have to recognize that well we know that we're going to get the defense the defense isn't going to go anywhere at least for a couple years we anticipate that he's still going to be that guy and do we think that Matt travin is going to be a mid 700s Ops guy for at least three or four more years if the answer is yes okay you know you might you might take that deal right right then at the end of the day again relating us to Blue Jays you look at someone like George Springer around the same age got paid very similar money like literally $1 million off for this exact same age um and he was a good Defender out in Centerfield I was great as Matt Chapman of course but now we're starting to see yeah I'm not you know saying chman is going to decline heavily like George Springer but now we're seeing that wow we have two more years of George Springer who is a well below average bat and you're paying a lot of money for this guy and the defense is not I wouldn't say tapering off it's still pretty solid but damn do we ever think damn I wish we could just get out of this deal right now and at some point I have a I have a suspicion that this exactly what's going to happen with Matt Chapman I mean he's never a lot of those career numbers are inflated from when he was a lot younger and then the last few years yeah this is definitely an up year best year since 2020 short short season right there but like at one point this is I feel like this contract is going to look really bad well I I think that I would agree with you I do think that that's definitely the case but I think that that's that is the way with a lot of these guys who when they're age 31 are signing these contracts I mean personally I think that and this is a this is a deeper this is a longer conversation but personally I think that something needs to be done about the fact that first off when you bring somebody up to the MLB you have them under control for six [ __ ] years that's a crazy amount of time and especially a crazy amount of time when you're talking about players who get called up when they're 24 25 years old because you know okay then my clock starts ticking well I can only become a free agent when I'm 31 and then you end up with these contracts well well now you're paying for what they did in the past and you might get two or three good years but then they're going to fall off and it's going to hurt you later down the line like I think something again deeper conversation entirely but this is why you're ending up with all these 31 year olds and everything like that signing these big deals yeah it's almost like you got to sign only Superstars cuz it feels like Superstars age well they're younger they come up younger they they get free agenc a lot faster like for example Awan stto coming up this this off season it feels like those are the only guys that are really worth are worth the investment yeah I I agree with you right and Matt Chapman is a phenomenal baseball player in his own right but he is not at the caliber of a of a wodo or a Muki bets or Bryce Harper or one of those players who has those you know uh decade long extensions right so it typically works out for guys who are going to make it to the hall of fame but for all these other guys who are very solid and good baseball players um you know like obviously it's not like match's going to go anywhere not like he's going to retire but at the same point you know do I think match Chapman's going to be great at age 36 probably not for these guys this is where you end up with yeah like rough contracts in two three four years I do think that it is a little bit of an overpay for I you know what what you're going to get in a couple Seasons however when we're factoring in like the market for these third basem when you're looking at the free agency this upcoming class you really only have Alex bregman that's it and you're going to lock in your guy you know in third base as we know very valuable position Matt Chapman plays it at an exceptional level defensively speaking so we don't want to take anything away from him I wouldn't be shocked if he walks away with one or two or three gold gloves in his time at San Francisco that is something that could absolutely happen and you know what if if if he does do that and he finishes with a 750 Ops is that an overpay probably not that's you know you're you're paying market value for that yeah and to and San Francisco's credit I'm looking at their entire team right now you in terms of War leaders you got Matt Chapman leading the team at six and then you go Logan web at 3.3 at second so there's he's almost drop off literally a massive drop off then it goes down to 2.9 etc etc but like literally they paid guys like Jorge Solair offseason one war granted Blake sell was injured for a lot of the Year doing a lot better now 1.3 War so there's definitely a lot of value in Matt Chapman and San Francisco Giants fans let us know in the chat if you are happy with this with this payment at the time I feel like yes like what he's doing this year is worth $25 million absolutely I would pay that it just depends on the age and we all know all know how age can really hurt you well and you know what there with uh with high risk comes a lot of high reward right with these contracts I do wonder what implications this has on Alex bregman he is going to be the biggest third basem free agent walking into this season right now he's got an Ops plus of 115 granted his War significantly less than Matt Chapin he's got a 3.1 War however over the course of his career You could argue he has been a better baseball player than Matt Chapman especially offensively speaking do you think that the uh the the six-year Alex Bregman's Contract 151 contract is right around what we're gonna see for Alex bregman or are we gonna see more or less I think it's it's a good starting point I mean if a lot of teams are factoring in war and clearly they're factoring in war into the decision with Matt Jam because if he didn't have the glove he's not getting paid $100 million of not not at all right where Alex bregman's still a good Defender but definitely not as good as Matt Chapman so I I would say it's a good starting point I think bregman should get paid 100 Mil especially he is one year younger I think some team out there would give him for at least four years 100 Mil I think 25 mil per year is the starting point um because you also got the P pedigree there too you know an experienced guy who's been in the World Series twice won it twice so you definitely got a lot of pedigree there which I think also the bluejs speaking of them and George Springer paid up for to get George Springer uh so yeah no I think it's a starting point but not the not the definite I don't think 150 is is in bregman's Future No you don't think he'll he'll hit that level no just because of the again the glove right like what like what's the difference here he's hitting the almost the exact same as Matt Chapman this season and he's around the same age but doesn't have the glove you know yeah yeah that's unless someone really values the pedigree like I'm talking about yes and you we do have to factor in like you know the career offensive numbers are significantly better than Matt Chapman you know like we're talking about 60 70 Ops points higher like it is it is very very good but it has been a few seasons since we've been hitting that Mark uh in the past two seasons prior to this one he haded an Ops over 800 so if if you believe that you're going to get like I think if you believe that you're going to get somebody with an Ops over 800 you know year in and year out and again Alex bregman's defense let me pull up his baseball saon page very quickly I know that he's never won a gold glove or anything like that but I thought he was in the the top percentile I thought he was solid 89th percentile and out it's above average there go so I don't know why the war isn't looking you know nearly as good as Matty Ice that's just [ __ ] War for you actually yeah he's in the 89th percentile outs above average Matt Chapman's in the 93rd percentile outs above average so they're effectively the same and yet Matt Chapman's got almost double the war of Alex bregman so you again explain War to me I don't understand it it pisses me off to no end all right well if if I didn't know it was that close if it's that close and people are going again it all depends on what clubs are going to value and also didn't even consider this in my in my um you my thinking about how much he's going to get paid he is the only third basem someone's going to you know get into a bidding war a few teams are probably going to get into a bidding war for Alex bregman and that might drive off the price but I think it's a good starting point where it ends up who knows I I do think that $25 million average annual value feels about right right you know what I mean like that feels like it's like okay you are a very quality player it's like you could be on a World Series caliber roster you know you could be batting you know top five in effectively any lineup that you go to and like we'd be happy about that on any given year you could be an Allstar like [ __ ] I want them on my team I'm sure that you know anybody who doesn't have a I don't know Raphael de type of player at third base already it's like you're going to be looking at Alex bregman and going this is an upgrade for us so I do think that he will get paid especially because of the market um and I would argue like probably pretty close to match habit I I feel like that contract could be right around similarly similar I could see it right like and again it all depends on uh What uh Alex bregman wants in in terms of what he's expecting right like because some players go into uh these offseason especially at ag30 because they are waiting for so long they're and they're going okay well how can I get another payday maybe I want to take like a Scot Boris client deal where I get one or two years with a player opt out we just max it all in and then we go out who knows it all depends on you know what and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't right like remind me I I forget right now but do you know Jordan Montgomery's deal what that is cuz that's not if if he's trying to do something similar to Matt Chapman that is is not going to work out also here's here's something funny to note uh total side note but Scott Boris is Matt Chapman's agent and also Alex bregman's agent so there could be some Forward Thinking right there you know yeah I don't want my two guys competing right here like we'll get you your 150 you get to stay in this nice place that you like in San Francisco my other guy can monopolize the market in two months time right dude that's so genius I mean Scott Boris honestly the fact that he got this deal done is actually good for SC pors he had to save himself you know what I mean cuz because of the whole Jordan Montgomery debacle there was a bad rap going around him yeah I mean Jordan Montgomery you still got paid $25 million this year with a $25 million player opt out uh which I think he took he took that yeah uh Pond player whatever that means status is C like for next year but he's been terrible this year it's a player option so he decides yeah but he's been bad Jordan Montgomery exactly so he's like well I've been bad so let me get paid my other 25 oh I'm sorry I thought you meant he opted out of it I was like no [ __ ] way yeah of course he's got to take that he took the second year yeah of course he's got to play op so I mean yeah you could get all mad at your age at all you want for having a bad year but now you get paid another 25 million after you shouldn't be getting paid 25 million to prove yourself once again in the free agency Gerrit Cole Opt-Out Rumors did you actually hear uh speaking about player opt outs and stuff that Garrick Cole might be taking his that's wild uh people were were speculating did he come out and say anything was that rumor uh where did I see that I I I effectively saw an article breaking down how it's like Garett Cole is is looking like he might take his opto kind of a bad year to do it well I mean it's still like honestly it I was looking at his numbers right when I saw that and I was like it's still very good like he's got an erra now like once he's gotten healthy now his ra is down to 3.65 so like he's like getting better effectively every single start he's six and three he's pitched 69 Innings now he's healthy so it's like if he has that like solid you know second half or whatever let me look at his game LS right here then I could understand it um and again looking at the pedigree like you won Sai Young last year it's you know you've obviously been phenomenal yeah like since um so from August to okay yeah so from August 4th to right now so for the past month and like he also just started on September 2nd he's got an erra of 1.85 okay so it's like he's all the way back now basically and how old is he he is uh 30 3 years oh turning 34 in two days time turning 34 in two days time so it's like you know would he effectively it's like well do you want to get one more kind of like Max Sherer Justin Verlander like payday where teams are like okay well we can win a chip with gar Cole you know let's just like give him four years uh you know $200 million you know something dumb right that's that's actually not a bad de decision right there player op so yeah I mean he's guaranteed 36 36 36 36 so do the map there it's still a lot of money that's still a lot of money then still a lot money the thing and like you I thought you wanted to be a New York Yankee you know what I mean so like 36 mil is a lot and you're going to be 38 when you finish G Cole's type of player that like I could see him being a maxer Justin berlando where he pitches into his 40s and uh plays for a couple more seasons yes if he's healthy you could get paid then I don't know interesting maybe he wants to get reworked his deal I don't know I yes uh yeah so I'm I'm reading right now it's a bleach report says like amid opt out rumors so apparently this is just rumors right now he could be available he could opt out um I mean I don't even think he I don't think he should honestly you don't think so you don't so 36 Mill I it is the one time you can opt out here's the thing $36 million for what is that four SE so does that including this season or uh next season on 2025 what does that work out to be like 140 $144 million can Garett Cole make over $144 million maybe I think yes dude I think absolutely I mean well would you pay him more year or sorry would you get him more years there or just increase it would be the increase of value yeah cuz like I wouldn't give him more years I like those years I'd probably sign him for If I Was A Team I'd want him for 40 million 5 years like 40 million 200 million you know like whatever that yeah like whatever that works out again like you know now that he's now that he's healthy like and we're seeing it's like like I knew that this was going to happen right the second that he got healthy it's like boom like you're going to be all the way back you know if he finishes with a low three erra which is well within the range of outcomes then you are looking at you know you're not looking at any down year actually like you know it's just [ __ ] Elite so yeah I think he could get more than $144 million I could see the argument I could also though see you know what $144 million is a lot of money I love it here in New York I am playing well I don't want to I don't want to have to move or anything like that I could also see him just stank put well his agent is Scott Boris so exactly how many guys of Agents how many guys of Scott porus are agents listen you know like Scott porus gets a bad rap but he gets results he gets a lot of money that's the thing he gets a lot I actually do wonder what the net worth of Scott Boris is look it up right now the net worth of Scott Boris cuz like if you're if you got your hands in the pockets of every single one of these elite players in MLB it's like you have got to be fcking like rolling in it right now oh my god he has a net worth of $450 million oh my God yeah that makes sense I mean think about it right like you signed gar Cole's deal you signed Matt trapman's deal you signed Cody Bellinger's deal you like every single person it feels like that gets these big contracts is with Scott poris and like I don't know what the percentage is but let's say you're taking 10% off of all of this stuff might be even more than that honestly that ends up being a lot of money after a while that's insane yeah Scott Boris just made like 15 mil you know last night exactly yeah you know that you never think about it that way but it's like wow you're good now for the whole year but he does that like M times you know oh my god oh honestly yeah I mean if if G Cole think thinks he can get paid like over 150 like sure I'm just surprised that he'd I mean like you think he'd want to go back and be a Yankee but I mean what I guess he just wants the money if that's if that's the case I'm not maybe he does you know maybe he just wants it to be reworked like if you could get you know if you're gar Cole I think you would want to be a Yankee but if you can I guess convince the New York Yankees and be like I want five years now for 38 million a year well you know there's 20 million and yeah like I'm I mean that's why the player op that's why the player option is there right cuz at some point your contract if you are still playing at Elite level will start to look like you know not lack of a better return it start to look like a pipsqueak compared to the deals that other guys are getting at your Elite level so I guess get it reworked and honestly it's like when you look back at the the years that he's had in New York he's pitched five years now in New York he's got a 57 and 26 record a 3.13 erra 733 Innings pitched and uh obviously mult like aai young and then multiple like top top finishes as well even better you know it's like yeah exactly like that's like you know the opt outs there it's like you are still doing it right now so who knows maybe maybe takes it maybe he doesn't you guys let us know in the comments down below let's move on and talk a little bit about the San Padres Got Momentum Diego Padres who are one of the most exciting teams in baseball right now they had a killer walkoff last night Fernando tatis Jr remember that guy feels like ever since the peeds he just hasn't really been like in the news as much recently but you do love to see that guy back and like you know just like doing what he does you know making highlights winning ball games apparently last night they intentionally walked Lou Aras who was batting right in front of him Fernando tases Jr took that [ __ ] to heart and decided to walk it off yeah first pitch slider he pulls it into right field and uh and it was a walk-off and and look at that like that's that's phenomenal and he he's it's what a way to come back honestly and the padr are on a great run right now you know they've been absolutely killing it uh as of late they're first in the Wild Card seaing right now 80 and 61 there's another 80 win team joining that uh that community that small community of teams s and3 in their last 10 on a three- game win streak and what's what's great is like the Padres you know they were starting to heat up but now they got more reinforcements with Fernando tatis and they just got UD darish back granted last night got beat up a little bit gave up five earn runs but that just goes and bolsters the rotation it's one of those things where again like gar Cole he's injured he strug like he's going to struggle out of the gate but you could have you darish be great going into October then that's just another addition like somebody like you know guys of the caliber of gck Cole and UD darish like you just know that eventually it's going to figure it out they just need a little bit of time to like ramp up and get into the rhythm of things right but once they get cooking it's like they are going to get cooking yeah honestly Padres for me are a sneaky a I I don't want to use the word sneaky Dark Horse cuz they have such a good record yeah but we don't talk about them enough because we talk about the Dodgers we talk about the billies you know and we're looking at these other like Wild Card contending teams like the Mets have got maybe you know an MVP candidate Lindor and and Cubs are are doing fun things down there but the Padre's are a really solid team and they've got a guy Jackson Merrill as well on the team which is going to win I don't I think no I don't think you can say that yet I know it's very close the odds are very very similar because Jackson Merill just hit is 82nd RBI that breaks all rookie records for a n for a padre and that guy's carrying the team it feels like they just got an all of a sudden Superstar out of nowhere yes and and the Padre's are a sneaky team to make a big run if they're getting hot at the right time they could go do it yeah and Adam was referring to right there everybody obviously the Rookie of the Year uh you know Award right there and it is very much between Jackson Merill and Paul SK honestly in my opinion both of these guys are deserving of it and it is it's going to suck to see one of them not win it cuz you look over at Paul SK with his 5.1 War his whip under one his ER of 2.13 his win loss record on the [ __ ] Pirates of 9-2 you're thinking to yourself well that is a guy who deserves to win rookie of the year right there however Jackson Merill like you just said 82 ribbies in his first season in the MLB 16 stolen bags as well we are we are driving them in and we are creating runs as well 22 bombs as a 21-year-old batting 294 with an Ops plus of 128 across the board these are solid solid numbers he could have a 2020 season in his first season in the big leagues like that's huge he could hit the 90 RBI Mark so yeah I mean it just sucks for Jackson Merill that you got Paul SK like I still think Paul skes you know I forgot about paulski for just a moment there Paul actually doing some funky things too never throws a change up and then last night he was like let me try some new things through like you know 30% change ups and got so many strikeouts on it no one was expecting him no one's expecting does some fun things but I mean yeah it's going to come down to the you if Jackson Maro was in the AL he'd smoke colen cower smoke I mean like the the N that's why I said it's like it almost sucks that one of these guys isn't going to win it because I think that they are both so deserving of it in their own right you know and it's like if you finish second like whoever it is just know like you could have finished first in any other year but yeah Jackson Marl is phenomenal for those San Diego Padres right now and I do think that they are you know sneaky might be the right term but honestly like exciting might even be a better way to say it like these padr could 100% go on a run it feels like you know we we were talking about them for for so many years when they went out and they got one sto and you know they were so active on a free agency in the tradem mark and it never really panned out for them you know I don't know if this is the year but I I certainly like what I'm seeing right now you know I think that they they got a serious shot there in the National League and with that being said putting you on a spot here power rank right now the national league teams NL Postseason Power Rankings power rank the national league teams in the you know in the postseason or in the postseason race because I think you can include the New York Mets right now in those power R right okay okay well here's the thing personally I'm going to say this right off the top I want Phillies I Phillies are my favorite but I think just based on an overall season long thing you got to put Dodgers number one but I think Phillies are right there number two even with all of the the pitching injuries even with all the pitching injuries yes power ranking right now you taken in in a series oh in a series i' take Phillies that's the thing but right now just looking at the season standings Dodgers are over them okay but but okay well let's let's refresh then it walking into the postseason I like power ranking your teams in the postseason right now cuz yeah you're right we could just go down the standings then and be like oh you have 84 wins you have what be you no no like I'm saying right now like your power rankings for who you like in this National leag walking into the post so Adams I what who do I like to go into anyone can look at the standings I want to know what you think okay okay what I think is I think Phillies are number one then I'd go Dodgers number two then I'd go Padres number three I like them a little bit more than the Brewers cuz I think they got momentum in their favor then I'd go Brewers 4 uh Diamondback 5 honestly I like New York better than New York Mets Surging Atlanta at this point and that's gonna be a talking point at least in this podcast because New York yes they're eight- two in their last 10 they got Francisco Lindor doing magical things their pitching is unreal right now Braves are injured we're just kind of floating along this entire season it feels like where the New York Mets got momentum and I I put them over the Atlanta Braves that's kind of where I'm at no I I'm actually I think I agree with effectively everything that you just said there that might be my power rankings as well but you know that's that's showing some respect to the San Diego Padres obviously the Phillies and the Dodgers are kind of in their own separate tier right now but the Phillies are or excuse me the Padres are right there like I could 100% see them knocking some people off maybe making it to the semi-finals the NLCS let's talk a little bit though about that Atlanta Braves and New York Mets battle that's going on down there that is right now I think the most exciting uh you know in postseason or out of postseason type of battle you look over at the American League and the Boston Red Sox are five and a half games back it's you know we got 20 games to play it's starting to feel like we know what's going to happen there we do I mean even here's the thing about it's so funny look at the national league everyone's getting hot who are in the in the postseason race but on the American League side of things everyone's cold even the guys that are trying to get in like the Boston Red Sox are cold they're on a five-game losing streak and in the last 15 days the Red Sox are 29th and Ops and 15th inray like they're done you you fumbled the bag effectively Red Sox yeah I mean we were uh we were talking about this uh last podcast but just like well is the is the bracket set for the American League I mean every every single game that we get closer like we're 20 games away and you're five and a half back and you're not playing good baseball it's looking like it's set for me even though Kansas City and Minnesota are both leaving the door open on the national league though it is far from set because you have the New York Mets who are 8 and two and the Atlanta Braves who are 6 and four in their last 10 both of them have 76 wins the New York Mets are out of the wild card spot by half a game but if the Atlanta Braves lose and the New York Mets win we can flip-flop that no problem this is a tight battle right now you're thinking that the New York Mets are going to walk away with this I I think so I mean Mets right now last 15 days they're 13th in Ops and second in pitcher ER however I will give some credit to Atlanta Braves they are first in erra right now in the last 15 days but 19th in Ops so very similar numbers but it feels like on the Met side of things I'm a big believer in momentum they got a lot of momentum and they are going into this stretch and they and and it feels like they're going to they're going to pull off for some wins I'm looking at their schedule right now they got a decent schedule to get some W's they got the red series coming up this weekend they got the Blue Jays as we know personally that's a game that they can series they can absolutely win they do have a tough Series against the Philadelphia Phillies then the Nationals then the Phillies again and this is the big one last week of the season the Atlanta Braves they got a three-game series there that could be the deciding series and then a tough one against the Brewers so it's not going to be easy but they're going to have to pick up in the next week while they're hot and they can do it while they're hot they got to take care of business with Toronto and Cincinnati I think they will too I mean I feel like Cincinnati and Toronto like you can absolutely pick up some wins there I am looking at that final stretch like their final 10 games of baseball is tough because you got four against Philly three against Atlanta and then three against the Brewers all of those are going to be teams that you're that you could be up against in in the playoffs right you we'll have to see if the Braves are there or not um but that finally 10 games for the Mets really could decide everything and then specifically that series with the Atlanta Braves I mean for me I am pretty back and forth on on who I like here you know because Atlanta even though it's like yeah they're like it feels like the momentums with the New York Mets Atlanta it's like I feel like they don't choke under the pressure and I I know that they can do it right whereas the New York Mets like I have watched them choke this all way before you know and part of me like The Devil Inside Me almost wants them not to make it just so we can see Steve Cohen have a temper tantrum of temper tantrums and just lose it in the offseason because you know that that would be coming so it is going to be very tight right there however winning seven of you know in a row is what the New York Mets have done recently it's hard to bet against that so I do think that the New York Mets are looking pretty good right now yeah they are and I mean a lot of uh a lot of the reason why they're doing so well is because of Buck Showalter Makes WILD Statement the guy on their team it's Francisco Lindor and I mean we made a podcast literally one week ago talking about Lindor and Otani and how someone brought up I think it was uh Mike petriello brought up the fact that little Lindor don't you know the MVP race close and we had a lot of reactions on our comments being like it's not close guys you guys are on drugs and listen I'm not saying it's close I'm saying this guy says it's close right we're just we're don't shoot the messenger right now this is the source but another source right now is coming up out of nowhere former Mets manager maybe it's the Mets bi in there Buck sha Walter is coming out and is talking about how Francisco Lindor is his MVP and the reason behind that and it makes sense when he makes the statement where a shortstop could win you a ball game going 0 for four he's talking about Lindor whereas a DH shotani can't win you a ball game going 0 for four when I hear that I'm like okay yeah but you're forgetting the fact that shoh Otani overall is going to win you way more ball games and has probably done that based on Warren looking at the rest of his stats this year with his Bat than Francisco Lindor has done this year with his glove and his Bat okay let me tell you why why all of that is [ __ ] I'll tell you all all why that's [ __ ] in a in a vacuum if you're just looking at two completely no-name players completely no-name players then you're right a short stop could could do that you know if you don't have anything there but but Choy Otani he doesn't go 0 for four that's the thing he doesn't do that you're talking about these make belief scenarios where it's like yeah you're right if this guy goes over for four and that guy goes 0 for four then I guess this guy but he doesn't [ __ ] go over for four he's going to hit 5050 this year he's going to hit 50/50 this year there's just no debate for me people have done what Francisco Lindor have done you know you you almost get this season from him from somebody every other year right we always see Seasons from this yeah he's hit 30 home runs and don't get me wrong he's been very very good at baseball I don't want to take anything away from Francisco Lindor you get yourself an MVP too on your baseball reference and that's going to be good but there has not been a single goddamn person ever who's got 44 home runs and 46 stolen bases and nobody has gotten 50 and 50 which I really hope that Cho Otani goes on and finishes man this is your MVP he doesn't go 0 for four so that argument is [ __ ] I don't think that there's any argument here it's stupid I I almost want to I almost think he does it for clicks or he does it to support his guys that that's what it is former Mets manager Buck show Walter cuz it's just incorrect you have to be high to be think you know people talk about the drugs that were on what is the drugs that Bo show Walter's on that's what I want to know yeah exactly man like again Francisco Lindor has been very very good at baseball we don't want to take anything away from him give the guy a gold glove [ __ ] give him a platinum glove if if you know if that's your whole argument where it's like well this guy can win you the game going over four all right great give him a a platinum glove there but don't give him the MVP because he has not stolen 50 bases and he has not hit 50 home runs granted sh Otani has not done that yet either but he will because he sh freaking Otani so otani's my MVP I don't think we need to talk about this anymore man and uh this is just going to be probably the first of many more to come in Dodgers blue oh yeah and honestly and this probably won't be the last thing if if Lindor look going back to the whole Mets thing if Lindor brings his team into the postseason then there there's going to be more I already know there's going to be more people talking about it well look you can if you're Lindor you can make it closer right like he's going to have a 3030 season probably you know he's got 30 bombs right now 26 stol on bases so he's probably going to end up with a 3030 season if you can get your Ops like if you go crazy and get your Ops up to 900 I mean okay now argument yeah exactly now we can start talking about it because I think that that makes it a lot closer but right now you got an Ops plus of 138 sh otani's got one of 175 for me that is just too much of a gap for me to think that you can be the MVP when this guy is doing stuff that we've literally never seen before ot's got 111 runs scored like that's a lot of runs scored you know what I mean that's a lot of runs scored and he's got 99 RBI on the year so the production from sh Otani is just unrivaled from Francisco Lindor even if he is a DH and I've seen a lot of people use the argument of like well uh you know lindor's got a higher fangraph War than sh Otani well well sh otani's got a higher baseball War than Francisco Lindor which one you going to believe yeah that's where that's where War gets a little bit stupid that's what I've I've said it time and time again I think war is the dumbest thing ever because nobody has any idea really what it means we all have these different metrics where it's like this guy's getting ranked higher over here this guy's getting ranked higher over here I'm going to use my eyeball and I'm going to say the guy that's hitting bombs and and and putting numbers on your board we said this last week have it's obviously sh Otani and also to that argument I'm not going to go through right now because it would take me forever but I'm really curious how many times somebody in the comments if you have the time and you want to do this how many how many times did CH Otani gone 0 for four this year I bet it's not that [ __ ] many I really bet it's not that many you know I'm not going to go through and look at everything but I bet it's not that many because he's sh Otani and that's what he does yeah literally I'm part part of the devil I me I want to go through that I'm going to guess games like really it's not going to be that many you know what I mean and then and then how many times has he gone two for four probably more times lot of yeah exactly probably more times than he's gone over you know what I mean I'm seeing way more twos than I am seeing zeros this whole Buck scha Walter argument does not make any sense to me no no sir it does not um speaking of controversial things I want to I want to Pivot to this one because uh this is this is starting Whit Merrifield Calls For Change to raise a lot of uh eyebrows I guess you could say around the MLB um Whit Mayfield and he's part of the um you know rules committee I actually don't know what it's called but he's part of the MLB rules committee they they have meetings regularly and um Players Association type thing it's something like that yeah where he like discusses what ways we can improve the game of baseball and he's like one of the members on there so his his word actually has a lot of weight uh because he's talking about the subject right now of pitchers you know not being held accountable for hitting baseball hitter players you know he's talking about pitchers not being held accountable for hitting players and he's got a good point because the other night Whit Mayfield got drilled in the head with a 95 mow fast ball right in the head and he went to his knees he got upset about it he left the game and post game he was talking to the media saying how yes it is ridiculous that pitchers are not held accountable because look you could bring up pitchers who throw 100 miles per hour because that's where the game of baseball is let's just throw get up a pitcher throws 100 miles per hour but he has no control of the baseball and you want to pitch inside to hitters to get off the big big part of the bat but if you have no control now now you're risking injury to these players that are big part of your game you're going to get hit in the head you're going to break a hand you're going to break a shin you're going to damage these players that we've seen all season long and there's no punishment for pitchers for pitching this way and he got very upset about it and he actually said he would go and talk to the committee about this and what we could do what are your thoughts on just this reaction this conversation well I I just want to like direct quote him right here saying you can't hit a guy anymore in retaliation there's no fear that oh if I hit this guy our guy is going to get hit that's not in the game anymore and what he's referring to is pitchers don't have to hit anymore so they don't have to stand in the box and the teams are bringing pitchers up that don't know where the hell the ball is going they throw 100 Mil an hour so it's all right we'll see if we can get the guys out just set up down the middle and throw as hard as he can and it's [ __ ] and it's driving me nuts and you know what with marfield I'll be completely honest folks he's not my favorite guy in the world I watched him on the Toronto Blue Jays and I know he's got a little bit of an attitude to him however in this instance I really do think that he is making a lot of sense right here I've always thought as somebody who watches MLB I'm like oh my God like when those guys get drilled with the fast balls I'm like holy [ __ ] like that is that has got to hurt and it does you can break bones in your hand you you can break a rib you could do a bunch of stuff and you know even if you make it out okay you are going to have a crazy bruise there and that's not even assuming you get hit in the head yeah I think about other sports and I think about I think about hockey I think about football I think about honestly like literally any other sport if you hit somebody in the head in football uh whether it be accidental or on purpose uh like that's it you know like you're getting seriously penalized for that you could get a serious fine for that you could you know you could get suspended for several games for that this is something that's put in to try to uh you know make the game healthier and safer for players right they always try to you and probably to a fault even uh you know keep their quarterback safe because they want to make the game as fun as possible and keep people as safe as possible so you don't have guys you know getting you know season long injuries every other game I do think that Whit marfield is making a lot of sense in in um talking about how there's not enough punishments for these players right back in the day it's like you hit somebody well now you get a warning you hit somebody again now you're of the game that's so loose now like an Unwritten rule it was an Unwritten rule but now it's so loose like we don't we don't abide by that cuz it has to be intentional and everything but I legitimately think that it should be a rule and it should be you hit a batter you get a warning hit a batter anywhere but the head you get a warning you hit a batter again you're gone from the game because hitting two batters in a game now you're a liability you probably don't have great Command right but now you're a liability it makes you pitch a little bit better might be a way to increase offense too well crap I just hit a batter maybe I I can't go inside maybe I do got to put it over the harder plate then he's going to get a hit so don't hit a batter right you got to be careful and then you hit a batter in the head immediate ejection fine right you can't bring up these guys who can throw 100 and are wild anymore now as an organization you got to be careful maybe the organization gets fine too sure right cuz if it's a young kid who's like I got put in the spot I don't know what to do maybe he gets a little fine but then a big part of it is the organization cuz that a lot of it is their fault too yeah you know I think it's got to be onus on on both people right there uh and you know like you can do it in so many different ways right like you can make it just a one game thing or alternatively like this stuff can carry over right it's like if you've hit I don't know five batters in three games or something like that like if that's how it works well okay now you're suspended for a week or two weeks you know I I don't know what it is but it's like you can't make your next start because you've done it in this period of time like this is like a continued thing and you can have various tiers of like well if you do it this amount of time now it's this and if you do it again then it's like a a harsher thing cuz think of it this way right you go hit uh let's take um you know Whit Mayfield's teammate Austin Riley for example he's got to miss 6 to8 weeks now because of because you pitched one inside and you didn't get tossed from the game you stayed in the game and you continued to pitch that's I think that's kind of [ __ ] you know what I mean for no for no punishment I know there might be a a couple um older heads out there that are thinking wow suck it up back in the day we had to like you know we had to take this well back in the day people weren't throwing 100 miles per hour at your Dome you know like that's not it's a different game nowadays and we're going towards of safety it's not about sucking up and being a man or whatever you want to say it's genuine safety genuinely it's about safety because God forbid as wh Mayfield says if it hits him in a different spot something terrible is going to happen and I feel like the rules got to change before something terrible happens what if someone gets gets hit in the head God forbid something really does happen we're serious yeah exactly right I mean you think about what happened in hockey like a year ago or a year and a half ago where you know in the minor leagues right where somebody you know took a skate to the neck and you know they they passed away right and now they're you know new rules coming in immediately like trying to get more neck guards in trying to make all that happen I don't want that to happen in baseball right nobody wants to see uh you know somebody in in MLB like [ __ ] die or like get put in a coma or something like that because somebody was a little too wild with their 100 mph pitch no you just need to be a better uh a better pitcher and you know for all those guys who were thinking well you got to suck it up all this [ __ ] I don't actually think it's got anything to do with that I think it's got to do with taking responsibility you know it's like in any other aspect of your life literally any other aspect of your life like if I walk in to the middle of the road not abiding by the rules of you know like Road and you know I jwalk and [ __ ] like that I'm going to get hit by a car and then I'm going to probably get you know uh talking to by the police for not abiding by the rules in any other area of my life if I do something that like is impacting other people I am going to have a [ __ ] consequence but in this game right here where we're throwing 100 m per hours you know baseballs which is hard as [ __ ] you're telling me that there's no consequences whatsoever it's just about taking responsibility for your actions you got to be a better pitcher if you're going to be in that spot and putting that guy's [ __ ] life on the line I I can agree more man I can agree more so we'll see what happens there I feel like this should be a no-brainer I mean you have a lot of people disputing between like the players committee and then the MLB like on rules this one feels obvious I mean I think everybody can get get behind this and especially like mooki bets going out for a majority of the Year Fernando tatis going out for the majority actually don't know if it was because of the hit by pitch or not but Austin Riley going out for most of the Year Taylor Ward had to get reconstructive surgery on his face like that Justin Turner in spring training last year had to had to stay for a part portion of the year like it we want to see the good players play and we need to have some accountability here well that's that is kind of exactly what happened with uh with football like I remember like you know couple couple decades ago or you know not even that long it's like you just kept seeing quarterbacks go down right like these are your star players and they're just going down because they're getting killed and now they have like really done the other side of things again to a fault here where it's like we're trying to protect the quarterback so much but I'd prefer that than have you know your franchise guy go down in week three and it's like Welling Clayton ton the ball it's like Clayton ton doesn't want to be here and I don't want to be watching this and you know our star guys is getting paid 30 million to to be in the hospital it's like none of this is good for anybody and then on top of all of that you got the safety aspect of things so baseball we are a step behind right now let's catch up I agree uh we're almost done this podcast but before we do um you know you guys you guys know here that we uh we Kyle Schwarber Went NUCLEAR are blue J fans we have blue jays today and we like to go live for games uh we went live for the Philly series I thought it was going to be pretty fun we predicted we'd split it I think that was pretty optimistic on our part Blue Jays ended up getting swept by Kyle schwarber yeah pretty much single-handedly single-handedly Kyle schwarber beat the Toronto Blue Jays he had four home runs in two games including the one really great game where they came back down six to one they won 10 to9 off of schworer three Homer five hit night night it was only matched by one Philly in Philly history it that's incredible and I know we gassed up SCH I think a few weeks ago on this podcast but he's still doing it dude and and schwarber is just dominating what I'm I'm looking at this right now uh so like the on on baseball reference they have a like um daily fantasy uh Sports points by FanDuel and then they got one by DraftKings and stuff uh for the FanDuel one on the September 3rd game K warber had 78.8 fantasy points according to FanDuel to put that in perspective like you know normally this guy gets like three or six or something you know so 78 right you know this guy goes five for six three bombs single-handedly Wills his team to Victory he this is a two game series two game series everybody K warber starts that series batting 238 with an Ops of 813 he finishes that series batting 248 so 10 batting percent uh 10 batting points higher with an Ops of 853 he upped his Ops by 40 points in two games and up his batting average by two points like klege warber is an animal dude and when you look over at the baseball Savant like they always show this they always showcase like how much of a polarizing player he is but like you don't even really believe it until you watch him play and when you look at some of the statistics the guy strikes out like crazy M but you don't care because he also hits bombs like crazy and he walks like he's in the 99th percentile in walk rate and frankly we got to have a talking to with the Toronto Blue Jays management because we should have been doing that a fuckload more than what we were doing which was throwing them cookies and he was smashing them for home runs we were live and um this was after the uh three Homer game first half B obviously he's leading off the the game and the comments were saying walk him walk them I'm like guys guys guys let's not get ahead of ourselves and College War to start a ball game second Pitch boom gone I felt like I was watching a replay he almost uh a lead off Homer second day in a row um I mean damn dude like at that point it's like is it a good strategy to walk this guy I mean if he's that hot you can't tell when you start a ball game yeah like if obviously if we would have known that we would known yes that would have been better but you know but obviously had a pitch to him Kyle schwarber I think is one of the most exciting lead off hitters in the game and you could argue even the best leadoff hitter in baseball right now the fact that he's got an 853 Ops and this to me is crazy 89 RBI at the leadoff spot that is really tough to do everybody like you know a ton of those RBIs are himself homering himself around but then also like he's turning the lineup over beautifully like he's setting the table great for uh you know Bryce Harper and the boys he's got an Ops of 3 or on base percentage excuse me of 371 like across the board warber is just doing it and doing it right man like I think this is part of the reason why I really believe like the Phillies could could go all the way this year cuz I think they've constructed their lineup in such an interesting fashion it's like they're scary man smash you don't want to face anybody I if I'm walking into game one of the postseason and I'm a pitcher and everybody's looking at me I do not want to deal with this guy first yeah I not want to deal with this guy first speaking of oldheads people like why don't you get your fastest like quickest guy up there at the top of lineup it's like dude I'd rather face that guy than Kyle schwarber I don't want cuz I'm trying to get comfortable but now I can't even pitch into side to this guy can turn over a fast and technically this guy is the fastest guy on your team when we're talking about fastest guy to round the [ __ ] bases cuz he's going to do it in one swing baby that's what he does time and time again Lally literally man well Kyle schwarber you're you're a beast we've seen that firsthand from Blue Jay's perspective uh and like uh like you many of you may know Nick and I are rooting for the Phillies this postseason and they're kind of like not I wouldn't say uh sneaky pick CU they're pretty much no I think they're favorite yeah I I they're the they're the sexy favorite over the Dodgers this year and I I kind of want to see it man I like what they got going on there I think about some of the guys on that Squad you know JT Ruto K warber Bryce Harper when you think about legacies these are guys that I want to see with a ring when it's all said nickos you know even some of the pitchers there wheeler and Nola right all of these guys have been around for minute it's like I feel like all right you did your time Boys you've proven it I when it's all said and done you guys should have something up there in in in the trophy cabinet and they deserve it man guys that's bad for baseball episode 17 here on a Thursday if you enjoyed guys please make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the bad for baseball Youtube channel if you're listening to audio go check us out on our YouTube and our social media we got tons of shorts out there check it all out we're covering a lot of baseball content especially down the stretch here so let us know guys your thoughts about what we should talk about in the following podcast yeah thank you so much for watching everybody we will catch you in the next one cheers [Music]