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Episode 7: MLB Opening Day is Upon Us!
16 Plays2 months ago
The boys prime the season to come for the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays! From the pitching staff to the lineup to the front office and management, what can we look forward to and what do we need to look out for on this penultimate MLB season before the impending threat of the 2027 lockout. Enjoy baseball while we have it and believe in your squad as they are undefeated as of now!
Also, in college hockey, the Frozen Four is in full effect, the boys recap and recover after an electric opening weekend to March Madness, the Texans continue to fill out their offensive line, and the WBC has closed with a whimper from the US lineup.
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Transcript
Introduction to Coastal Launch Sports Talk
00:00:01
Cody Atkinson
Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
00:00:08
justin_daulton
And I'm Justin, coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
00:00:12
Cody Atkinson
We are your premier destination for the sports stories that move the needle. From the national stage to the grit of the Southeast, we're bridging the gap between our two space cities and bringing you the sports stories that matter most to you.
MLB Opening Day and March Madness Accountability
00:00:25
Cody Atkinson
And today, we have all eyes on MLB opening day this Thursday. ah Yes, we know technically the Giants and Yankees open on Wednesday night, but Thursday is what we have our eyes on because we don't care about the Giants or the Yankees. Don't worry, though, we we did not forget March Madness, and we will check back in on our brackets to hold ourselves accountable to the perfectly mediocre standard we
Wisconsin Women's Hockey Championship and Men's Frozen Four
00:00:48
Cody Atkinson
promised. So with our trajectory set, it's time to sit back, lock in, and get started with the rundown. This is the Coastal Launch, and we are ready for liftoff here on Episode 7.
00:01:00
justin_daulton
Episode seven. All right, man. Let's get into this because I want to i want talk baseball with you, man. We haven't been able to talk baseball yet outside of World Baseball Classic. um But going into the rundown this week, we have college hockey.
00:01:12
justin_daulton
um This is something you threw in there, so i don't have a lot in terms of it. So I'm gonna kick it to you real quick to give us the the rundown on some college hockey.
00:01:20
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're not going to deep dive college hockey here, but just a quick shout out. Wisconsin women's hockey defeats Ohio State. three to two to secure the national championship this Sunday. It was ah it was a banger of a game, man. It was two nothing in Wisconsin within like the first 10 minutes.
00:01:37
Cody Atkinson
And then within the first, I think, seven minutes of the third period, Ohio State ties it two to two. And Wisconsin is able to weather the storm, finish it off three to two for the championship. The main thing I wanted to shout out for ah current Wisconsin players were on the U.S. women's gold medal team.
00:01:55
Cody Atkinson
ah That's Layla Edwards, Caroline Harvey, Ava McNaughton, and Kirsten Sims. Caroline and Harvey, Layla Edwards were major contributors to the gold medal team. So I'm excited to excited to see them get another victory.
00:02:10
Cody Atkinson
And it's just an opportunity that I will always take to tie something back to the U.S. Olympic hockey because i'm still I'm still living it. I haven't let it go yet. I still think about it.
00:02:19
justin_daulton
Yeah.
00:02:20
Cody Atkinson
And so any chance I have to tie back to that, I'm going to do it. And that's just fair warning right there. um Also, men's Frozen Four bracket was released last night as well.
00:02:32
Cody Atkinson
ah The only thing I have for this, I'm not a college hockey expert, but I do root for Penn State. College hockey on the men's side runs through Michigan this year. ah Michigan is a one seed. Michigan State, a three seed.
00:02:45
Cody Atkinson
Western Michigan, a four seed. And that's not like that's not the March Madness setup, right? That's the number one three and four seeds out of the 16 teams that make it. So three of the top four teams in Michigan. So that means three of the four pods you got to get through Michigan to win. Penn State ends up in the University of Michigan's pod, which is about worst case scenario for me, that Michigan team is is way too good. um So rooting for Penn State to make the Frozen Four, but likely going to end in round two against Michigan.
Houston Texans' Strategy and Player Signings
00:03:19
Cody Atkinson
That's all I got.
00:03:19
justin_daulton
all right yeah no uh always good to keep an eye it especially as we get closer to the end of the nhl season here soon um because then the teams that won't be making the playoffs shift their focus over to college hockey and obviously world junior or not just world juniors but like the the high school players all that stuff especially uh international We're going to you know shift our focus over there at some point to see what we got in terms of the draft this year for the NHL.
00:03:43
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:03:43
justin_daulton
But good stuff, man. um ah Before we hopped on today, we you and I are talking a little bit of Texans, as we do. um ah And just kind of what we assume is Nick Casero must be a loyal subscriber to this podcast.
00:03:56
justin_daulton
um Because after every time we publish a podcast, Nick Casero makes a new deal um with another player. So in true fashion, last week, to as soon as we posted the podcast, the Texan sign left guard Wyatt Teller to a two year $16 million dollars deal, which has been kind of like right in Nick Casero's ballpark this offseason of just very much doing this, these two year deals on a budget, kind of like a prove it veteran deal, which has been really good to see.
00:04:23
justin_daulton
um Wyatt Teller, former All-Pro ah left guard in the NFL, all with the Browns. So he's leaving Cleveland to come to an actual um true contender, which is probably good for his his his career going forward.
00:04:41
justin_daulton
I'm a big fan of this this move. I think both of you and I kind of raved pretty heavily when when this deal came out. Now we talk about you know the Texans having a true starting left guard where it wasn't... Who was it? Not Braden Smith, the other one that we signed, right?
00:04:56
justin_daulton
The other...
00:04:56
Cody Atkinson
The left guard was Evan Brown.
00:04:59
justin_daulton
Evan Brown, that now truly becomes a depth piece. But also, for him, he's played all three positions throughout his career. So we you have guard and center backup depth.
00:05:10
justin_daulton
with with evan brown with why teller now being the true starting left guard and we talk i think we talked about what two weeks ago right that you putt a true left guard next to Ariante Ersery, and that makes Ariante Ersery better left tackle because he doesn't have to play two positions with a platoon guy next to him.
00:05:26
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:05:28
justin_daulton
So he gets to truly play left tackle. On top of, obviously, we have our right tackle Graydon Smith, death piece with Trent Brown, and then you have Eddie Ingram on the right guard position. So that really only puts us in a position of Who is center?
00:05:42
justin_daulton
I don't know about you, but I saw a lot of chatter around Jared Patterson going into the as of right now, going into the new year as the Texans starting center. I feel better about that than I did probably two or three weeks ago. i don't know about you, just with the line that they put around him. And he's someone that's been there with CJ since day one, they both walked into this building. So there's already...
00:06:02
justin_daulton
a rapport and communication. Obviously, I still want to see if we can upgrade the center position, whether it is a trade or in the draft. But I feel a lot better with Patterson being the guy now at center rather than what we were looking at couple weeks ago with no guards and Trent Brown at right tackle.
00:06:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, this is this is kind of the kind of move that I was waiting to see Houston make before I got ah even like remotely excited about what they were doing this offseason. um I kept kind of saying, like, it looks like Casario is going to bargain bin shop again. He's going to look for a reclamation project that he can hit on.
00:06:39
Cody Atkinson
And if he doesn't hit on that, then you're going really have to swing him. swing for the fences and hit with an offensive lineman early in the draft. You know, i was still looking at like pick 28, you got to take a guard or a tackle pick 38. You might need to double up and do it again and get this line in order because you can't run Evan Brown out there next to, you know, whoever you have at center.
00:07:03
Cody Atkinson
Um, and And then Ingram and, you know, Brown or Ingram and Smith on the other side and and and feel like you improved, right? Like this is the second offseason in a row that you've let the best, the highest graded player on your offensive line go.
00:07:17
Cody Atkinson
And the first time you did it, I was a fan of it and you improved your offensive line. in the aggregate. And I was still a fan of it this year with Titus Howard, but I wasn't seeing the the improvement. and i think this is it, right? If if the number that I pulled was right, and it's two years, 16 million. So you're looking at 8 million versus I think Titus Howard was 20 21.
00:07:39
Cody Atkinson
um incredible savings there. and And this is a guy, he's played 109 career games, 101 career starts. um I'll give you a couple of things here. whole Career holdings, 20 in eight seasons.
00:07:57
Cody Atkinson
Career false starts, 12 in eight seasons. um It's just, a he's a road grader.
00:08:03
justin_daulton
And for, I mean, I
00:08:04
Cody Atkinson
He he great he grades out and in the, sorry,
00:08:09
Cody Atkinson
I'm sorry, what you got there?
00:08:12
justin_daulton
i was saying, like, ah just in terms of where this line has struggled over the last two seasons, this is a this a big step forward, obviously, for a player that doesn't create personnel penalties.
00:08:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:08:23
justin_daulton
So i'm a I'm a big fan of that move just in terms of the penalty aspects of things.
00:08:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'm a big fan of it, too. And and ah like you said I wanted to see investment in the offensive line. I wanted to see them show that the offensive line was a priority, that they knew for a fact that they had to get this right so they could know once and for all what they have in CJ Stroud. And this is the kind of decision that I think tells me that they understand that.
00:08:48
Cody Atkinson
um And like you said, whoever you, whoever you play at center, as much as I would like you to upgrade there. I don't think there's a lot of upgrades available immediately. um It makes you feel better at that. I know you you're saying Jarrett Patterson. I've heard Jake Andrews as well.
00:09:01
Cody Atkinson
um Whoever it is that's there, you feel better about what you have around them to give them the best chance to succeed. And now, now you could go,
00:09:13
Cody Atkinson
And let the draft fall where it may because you're not, you don't have your hands tied that you have to take offensive line early. You have five starters, you have a swing tackle and Trent Brown, you have.
00:09:27
Cody Atkinson
backup developmental guards now with the, with like Evan Brown, obviously Blake Fisher, your swing tackle from last year is still there as depth. You know you have, you have two guys that have taken steps back from the roles that you asked them to do yesterday. Trent Brown goes from starting to swing tackle, Blake Fisher, swing tackle to depth.
00:09:44
Cody Atkinson
Um, and, and, and now you can go, and if you want to go defensive tackle at pick 28, you can do that. And you can use your two, your second round picks on offensive linemen because you don't need them to start day one, or you can take one of these, uh, one of these, you know, four year starters at center,
00:10:06
Cody Atkinson
that aren't valued and go super late in round four and you can you can put them there to learn and try to have them ready by next year um i think it's i think the guy from indiana's name's like pat coogan something along those lines like so you can get somebody like that that's like a sixth round pick and just be like we got a dart throw and i don't need it to hit anymore so you don't to to me this opens up the draft you don't have to reach anymore um and it shows It shows significant and honest investment in the offensive line in a way that I think is, at least to me, is a little bit of Nick Casario admitting that he hasn't invested as much as he should.
00:10:43
Cody Atkinson
And he's not going to make that mistake again. And for that, as you can tell with how much I'm rambling on this, I'm thrilled by this more so than any of the signings that we've discussed up to this. It's like this and Reid Blankenship are like I'm thrilled by those.
00:11:02
justin_daulton
No, that makes sense to me, man.
00:11:02
Cody Atkinson
That's all I got.
00:11:03
justin_daulton
it's so A lot of it is for yeah no for me, it's um the the the signing really puts an emphasis on the point of Kisiro knew what he needed to do going into this offseason, and it was improve the offensive line.
00:11:17
justin_daulton
And seeing that we spent, I don't know, what for this year alone, probably upwards to $20 to $30 million dollars on the offensive line, just in three or four pieces on top of obviously extending that in room.
00:11:29
justin_daulton
um So, yeah, I think for the draft for me now, I look at best available rather than what are your needs, right? I think there are two other needs for this team and it's D-tackle and it's wide receiver.
00:11:42
justin_daulton
A wide receiver tight end combo depending on kind of which which way you look at it. But, you know, i think the Texans obviously improved with Foster Moreau. Coming over from the Saints, you know, he's a blocking tight end. So you're going to really see that balance out between him and...
00:11:56
justin_daulton
and who is the name Dalton Schultz. So you're going to really see that kind of balance out.
00:11:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:12:02
justin_daulton
And then, you know, what is your second year look like? And then obviously Tank Dell coming back into the picture um going into the season after after a really gnarly injury. So there's ah there's ah there's a lot to be hopeful about it and really puts you in a position with the draft to draft best available rather than, like you said, you have to hit on two or three picks for the offensive line for it to make sense.
00:12:25
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, you were in a desperate situation where you had you were going to have to hit in the draft to have a good offensive line, which is where you found yourself last year, but you did hit on Ursary.
00:12:36
justin_daulton
Yeah.
00:12:37
Cody Atkinson
You just can't count on necessarily running that back again, because if you don't hit – the season tanks and you have to make a decision on a quarterback that you didn't really get the best look at.
00:12:49
Cody Atkinson
um and And so it's good to see that they i corrected that this year. this year
00:12:55
justin_daulton
Yeah, I did hear some chatter, and that we can move to the next topic, something that hits a little close to home for us, is I heard some chatter in the late rounds of the Texans could go after a Casey Concepcion um to kind of bolster, you know,
00:13:10
Cody Atkinson
Well, probably not conceptual. He's going to go early.
00:13:13
justin_daulton
I've heard that he's looking like a late second, early third draft-like grade.
00:13:17
Cody Atkinson
and i I've seen as high as late first, but it moves around. Maybe the combine shifted that up. shifted that I know I've seen late first.
00:13:25
justin_daulton
yeah so
00:13:28
Cody Atkinson
I've seen early to mid second. Kind of in that range. But if he fell and you could get him, that would be sick. But for his sake, I definitely root for him to go as high as he can.
00:13:38
justin_daulton
i i do wonder that if he falls to what our second or our third pick is what, 60-something, right? um I wonder if he falls in that round or in that realm, if like you go D-tackle slash O-line for your first two picks to see if you can get those depth pieces.
00:13:48
Cody Atkinson
I
00:13:58
justin_daulton
And then if KC falls to that point, do you... Do you almost chalk up that is the Jalen Noel experiment over or is that it's a plus Jalen Noel and have Concepcion in there and then what does that look like with tank?
00:14:11
justin_daulton
So you would have three speedy guys.
00:14:12
Cody Atkinson
i mean, it's just, it's good competition.
00:14:14
justin_daulton
Yeah, for sure.
00:14:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, like I don't think you need to chalk anybody up as a failed experiment after one year, right? like Jalen Noel, I think a guy that they used a third-round pick on, you're not necessarily expecting him to be ready round one, but ah if a guy like Casey falls and you just have more competition and that that's your four, is like Collins, Higgins, Concepcion, Noel, like you could create a really good ah like iron sharpens iron situation there.
00:14:46
justin_daulton
I mean, yeah, and you you got to factor in, you know, I don't know if Tank is ready for for week one, game one, but at some point, Tank drives that room as well, right? That's that's CJ's boy. It's been CJ's boy um at this point. So obviously Tank is going to liven up that room it whenever it comes around to it as well. So just ah just a thought as we get closer to draft day and all that
World Baseball Classic: U.S. Performance and Critiques
00:15:07
justin_daulton
stuff.
00:15:07
Cody Atkinson
in Yeah, no, there's a lot to look forward to in the draft. I'm excited for it. We'll we'll preview it. wellll We'll recap it. um If Concepcion fell into the 60s, I would lose my mind.
00:15:18
Cody Atkinson
father If he ended up in Houston, I'd be so stoked. Yeah.
00:15:21
justin_daulton
Insane upside for that laid up a pick too for him.
00:15:25
Cody Atkinson
I mean, because I i think he's a, like, I've seen him as high as late first round, and my belief is he's a late first round talent, if you got that, in the late second, because he has a stutter or whatever that, like, lost him some people at the combine.
00:15:38
Cody Atkinson
Like, you jump on it as fast as you wait, but trade up for it.
00:15:40
justin_daulton
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:41
Cody Atkinson
Don't let don't don't wait till 60-whatever. Trade up. Like, you got to take it.
00:15:45
justin_daulton
I mean, even then, you've got to talk about him as like someone that immediately transforms the special teams unit, right? so even if even even if you don't talk about the – yeah, even from the wide receiver room, like, yeah, maybe there's some upside in the wide receiver room, but the immediate impact on the on the special teams unit, Frank Ross and that that unit would, I'm sure, fall in love with Casey Concesio on the moment he walked into the building.
00:15:51
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, dude, yeah, from the punt return, kick return.
00:16:08
Cody Atkinson
And you could really do some rotation stuff at that point too because Noel, that was one of his big um big contributions is he's a good kick returner. And you could start sharing the load between the two of them, which is something they did at A&M. Casey Concepcion got some work. Terry Bussey got some work.
00:16:25
Cody Atkinson
ah There's a third third person who's slipping my mind at the moment. Craver, I think, got some work um in the power turner.
00:16:29
justin_daulton
Yeah, Mario Craver, yeah.
00:16:33
Cody Atkinson
You start doing some of that. Keep it keep their legs fresh. keep the Spread the hits out. and make sure they've got their best left for for when they're playing ah offense too.
00:16:41
justin_daulton
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely more to look forward to as we go over the next couple weeks. But shifting to the next topic, surprising that this is our third topic of the week. But the World Baseball Classic wrapped up this past, what, Tuesday?
00:16:55
justin_daulton
So six six days ago.
00:16:56
Cody Atkinson
It's Tuesday, yeah.
00:16:58
justin_daulton
So both of us have had enough time now to let the the wound kind of heal a little bit with U.S. falling just short of beating Venezuela. um My initial thought and something that my my immediate text to you the moment the game wrapped up is the bats just never came alive. Like, I know we had a couple of games where there was some offensive explosion and may have been more so on the the opposing team. Like, we look at Great Britain where they walked in a lot of runs, and whatever it may be, right?
00:17:25
justin_daulton
the The stat that I saw, and then I'll kick over to you for your thoughts, is this lineup for the entire tournament batted for less than 250. And that, to me, is just...
00:17:34
Cody Atkinson
That's insane.
00:17:36
justin_daulton
Like the the talent that's on this roster to go for less than 250 batting average is unacceptable for for the, you know, and for what for what we had. But not even just that, but I saw some people going out and saying that like, oh, bats don't come alive until May or whatever.
00:17:51
justin_daulton
Maybe that didn't look like the same thing for the DR where they were putting up.
00:17:56
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, DR's bats were awake. Venezuela's bats were awake. Japan's bats were awake. Now, granted, none of only one of them won also, but still, bats were awake in the tournament, just not in the USA.
00:18:01
justin_daulton
Correct.
00:18:07
justin_daulton
Not for the US.
00:18:08
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:18:08
justin_daulton
Yeah. So I'll kick it to you for your thoughts and then we can kind of ramble on a little bit about it. But that was my my first initial reaction as everything kind of wrapped up.
00:18:18
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, so I wasn't able to watch the game Tuesday night. I recorded it to watch it the next day, and then I kind of got the gist of how the game went. And truthfully, to be honest, I never went back and watched it. i was like, oh, if that's how the game went, I've already seen this game because I've already seen every other game the U.S. has played in this tournament. um ah My ultimate thought is I'm happy for Venezuela that the then and the DR were teams that really bought into this tournament hook, line, and sinker. The the teams, the the team, the manager, of the players, the fans ah bought in hook, line, and sinker. And this was the most important thing in the world to them.
00:18:56
Cody Atkinson
And I'm glad that a team who treated this like it was the most important thing in the world is the team that won. Because I want, I want, I want to see US win, but I want to see US care as much as I saw the other teams care. And and I knew we've kind of done the back and forth of like, yeah are they bought in? Are they not? Like, you know, we were kind of at the beginning, i was like, this team doesn't care at all. And then I was like, okay, I think they're starting to catch fire. And, and but but ultimately the majority of this tournament, I was left disappointed in the on-field performance of the US, but also in the passion of the US. I mean,
00:19:33
Cody Atkinson
You know, i Venezuela, it seems like their manager just didn't care what the teams told him he had to do in the finals. Like he threw the guys that he was going to throw.
00:19:44
justin_daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:19:46
Cody Atkinson
We didn't. Mason Miller did not throw in the top of the ninth. um So he must not have been available to tear Tarek Skubals in the dugout, we've dressed in full uniform, not throwing um for the team.
00:19:59
Cody Atkinson
It's just a disappointment. like Venezuela approached the tournament the way i would want a team to approach it. I'm glad they won and were rewarded for that. and I hope that the next time we get the tournament that I see a U.S. team that's that's as fired up as I saw Venezuela and DR. And if that's the case, look out world because we're running we're running this tournament with ease.
00:20:21
Cody Atkinson
if we can get that kind of fire and i know i know not all of the negative performance is related to like they didn't want to be there um sometimes you want to be there and you just don't play well but like you said the whole lineup to be sub 250 there something was wrong for that to have occurred like that's just unreal
00:20:42
justin_daulton
Yeah, I mean, we we ended last week right talking about, you know, do you throw skeins in the eighth right to to get you to the ninth inning to win, right? And we had the we we had the game tied going into the ninth, right? And for you to, you know, and DeRosa to come out being like, well, Mason Miller was only going to go out in a safe situation.
00:21:03
justin_daulton
There was no safe situation at that point, right? So you just left.
00:21:06
Cody Atkinson
It was impossible for there to be a safe situation by the top of the ninth.
00:21:10
justin_daulton
Correct. So at that point, like, why don't put out Mason Miller for a push just to give your bats the opportunity to, like, you don't need to get a runner on base.
00:21:11
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:21:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:21:18
justin_daulton
You just need to get someone to hit one, right?
00:21:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:21:21
justin_daulton
That's all you need is one. So, like, why didn't you go aggressive, right? i Like, what was, in you know, you and I talked about, like, how electric it would have been for Skeens to go um in the ninth, right, or the eighth.
00:21:33
justin_daulton
What was the conversation like in Pittsburgh to to throw schemes for three outs, right? you know he was
00:21:40
Cody Atkinson
Or was there one?
00:21:41
justin_daulton
Or was there a conversation?
00:21:42
Cody Atkinson
Was that something? Because that was a bit of a pipe dream idea, right? Like the likelihood that happening was almost zero.
00:21:46
justin_daulton
Sure.
00:21:48
Cody Atkinson
But was that wasn't even discussed or was it just like app probably can't do that.
00:21:51
justin_daulton
Right.
00:21:52
Cody Atkinson
and Not going to worry about it.
00:21:53
justin_daulton
Yeah, I mean, if I was a manager, I would be on the phone at Pittsburgh the moment that we're done with the DR game. Be like, hey, in 1-0 type of scenario, can I throw a scheme for three outs?
00:22:05
justin_daulton
If it goes past three three batters, then I go back to the pen. right and i And I throw in a high leverage three outs and you know we we talk about a gold medal rather than a silver medal. right So I don't know.
00:22:16
justin_daulton
It just to me it didn't feel like DeRosa didn't want it he didn't really push the the envelope to really go out and win this thing. so But I agree with you, man. Like, you know, i hope this lights a fire under these these guys.
00:22:26
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:22:30
justin_daulton
I really thought losing to Japan last time really would have lit a fire underneath this team. But um to come in second place two times in a row after winning it the for the the second time ever, you know, what, six years ago, whatever it was.
00:22:44
justin_daulton
um No, it would have been... eight years ago right um so you got to do something obviously this tournament got a lot bigger this time around so i think you only see more names interested skeins talking about that that was the biggest opportunity that for his that he's ever been in and for this country um so i mean there's obviously hype and excitement around this tournament so
00:22:47
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:23:08
justin_daulton
You know, we'll see what happens in four years. But yeah, you got to come out pumped up and ready to go and in four years for to take this take this thing again.
00:23:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'll say a couple more things before we close this topic. um The WBC did outstanding from a ratings perspective. I believe that final was up there with World Series games.
00:23:26
justin_daulton
Yes.
00:23:29
Cody Atkinson
So I am completely stoked to see how well the tournament did, how much buzz it created for the sport of baseball, because that means that it's going to continue to get investment. But we need better investment from MLB this as well. We need more participation from players, which means we need owners to not encourage players to not play, which I know was happening in Houston.
00:23:53
Cody Atkinson
That's why almost no Astros played. There was high encouragement to not play because Altuve got hurt. couple pitchers got hurt in the last one. So we we we need that participation. um i want to see a real manager manage the U.S.
00:24:07
Cody Atkinson
which is obviously not an active one. They've got to do spring training, but ah Venezuela's manager was is is the one of the bench coaches for the Astros. I'll take a bench coach or I'll take ah i'll take a recently retired or currently out of work manager who wants to go, you know, put some extra tape on out there to to to prove he's still got the the chops to manage.
00:24:29
Cody Atkinson
And I just want i want to see players fired up on the U.S. team. I want to see energy on the U.S. team and preferably i'll I'll throw some hater takes out there. maybe Maybe give me some juggernauts who show up when it matters the most, not not the not the not the juggernauts who wilt away in the playoffs like we had on this team. I won't name names, but I'll throw some hater takes out there. Some of the some of the loudest bats that get real quiet in in October were also quiet in the WBC.
00:24:56
justin_daulton
I mean, I'll all name names because he plays in my division. Aaron Judge did not show up at all um in this tournament. So I'll name names because I'll stand 10 toes down against the Yankees any day of the week.
00:25:08
justin_daulton
um
00:25:09
Cody Atkinson
That's right.
00:25:10
justin_daulton
ah um I will say one
00:25:11
Cody Atkinson
That's all I got, man. stoked for it.
00:25:14
justin_daulton
uh one last quote that i have for you that i want to bring up is that derrick jeter came out i write right right before the championship game him and put a quote out there saying that if you think that the wbc environment is better than the world series then you've never played in the world series so he at that point just inadvertently threw shade on his former team that was in the world series two seasons ago um so obviously aaron judge saying that this is bigger than the world series or the environment is bigger than the world series um and Derek Jeter basically saying you don't know what you're talking about because you haven't played in the World Series.
00:25:45
justin_daulton
My guy just played in the World Series and was, what, two games away from being a World Series champion against the Dodgers? So just...
00:25:51
Cody Atkinson
I mean, was Jeter at the WBC or is he just talking like, i don't know if he was there, i don't know, maybe, maybe the crowds don't match to the world series crowds he played in front of. Um, but every single person I've heard that went to a game against the Latin American country.
00:26:06
Cody Atkinson
it came back talking about how over the top electric the environment is because they've watched sports differently than we do. And they are loud from the moment it starts the moment it ends, regardless of the situation. They don't wait for moments to get loud. Like, like us fans do. They, they get loud and they stay loud. um And so everyone I know who went to the Mexico game, who, who was at the DR game, who was up to Venezuela game.
00:26:29
Cody Atkinson
don't know. They're all saying the same stuff Aaron judge was saying. So i don't know. Maybe Jeter wasn't there.
00:26:34
justin_daulton
Yeah, i don't know. But moving on, man, we'll obviously talk more at baseball here
March Madness Highlights and Bracket Review
00:26:39
justin_daulton
a little bit. um I'm going to kick it to you for a March Madness update that we got done a Weekend 1.
00:26:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i mean, how much of the how much of the tournament did you get to watch this weekend, or or did you?
00:26:49
justin_daulton
I'm going to tell you, man, TikTok and Instagram reels are are my best friend when I don't get to watch sports because it catches me up real quick. I didn't get to watch any games in full, unfortunately. um Just a busy week last week in the office, but um did get to catch a lot of highlights from the A&M game.
00:27:06
justin_daulton
against St. Mary's and they got a lot of updates elsewhere. So the and I saw the close game against Duke. I saw the, obviously, the almost buzzer beater for Vanderbilt.
00:27:19
justin_daulton
So i was I was in the loop on things. I didn't get to watch the games as much as I would like to.
00:27:22
Cody Atkinson
Nice. I gotcha. Yeah, it was it did the tournament this year. I think, in my opinion, undid all of the concern that people had for the future of the tournament from last year. Last year was a very chalky bracket.
00:27:37
Cody Atkinson
um And a lot of people, the question was asked, like, is the Cinderella dead? Is the tournament not what it used to be? Is the madness tamed? um And so to me, it's, And you will get differing opinions on this.
00:27:50
Cody Atkinson
To me, this undid any concerns. um You were like like we had some near misses. if If two more of these games hit, this goes down as one of the most iconic March Madnesses in history. Like we had Siena versus Duke.
00:28:06
Cody Atkinson
where Siena led that game from start until four minutes and 30 seconds left in the game. We were that close to seeing the the overall, I believe the overall number one seed, maybe the number two seed, eliminated from the tournament to 16 seed again that you had never heard of.
00:28:19
justin_daulton
Yeah.
00:28:25
Cody Atkinson
We were that close. and And the fact that it didn't happen, some people will say that the Cinderella is dead. I will say that if we do some quick math here, that for 16 minutes and 30 seconds of a 20-minute game, that was electric.
00:28:38
Cody Atkinson
And you can't take that away from me just because the last three and a half or four and a half minutes or whatever – It ended chalk. Like I still was on the edge of my seat watching that. um yeah We almost had the 10-7 upset Santa Clara over Kentucky. Kentucky hits a half court buzzer buzzer beater to send it to overtime.
00:28:58
Cody Atkinson
Pulls off the win. If that rims out and Santa Clara moves on. You know, we have a chance to see another 10 seed um try to advance to the second weekend. We were really close, but we have, there were some blowouts, I'm gonna be wrong, but we had some incredible games starting with TCU, Ohio State, the very first game of the tournament.
00:29:18
Cody Atkinson
um The use of Vandy, Nebraska was about as electric as can be. I thought that final shot went in and my bracket was saved. It bounced out and my bracket died right there at my feet.
00:29:30
Cody Atkinson
um And that was incredible. Iowa over Florida. I mean, ah part of me thinks if you have a bad take on this tournament, you must have recorded your podcast before the Iowa-Florida game ended because that was electric.
00:29:42
Cody Atkinson
um We had coaches fighting, we had players fighting, and we had a coach pressing with eight seconds left and giving up a a wide open three to lose the game. Man.
00:29:55
Cody Atkinson
man i the The tournament's back. um Again, we don't have Cinderella's making ah a large push in this tournament, but Water finds its level. The G5 will find its new edge. It's got to find a new edge. They can't hold on to players like they used to.
00:30:10
Cody Atkinson
um and and And, you know, that gives the Power 5 a step up. But they will find their new edge. They will be back. And we saw it from last year to this year. It was a step up for the G5, a step up for the mid-majors.
00:30:24
Cody Atkinson
um And March Madness is fine. and and And if you watched every second of every game this weekend, like I attempted to do, ah you loved it.
00:30:32
justin_daulton
Bye.
00:30:33
Cody Atkinson
you loved You loved It it was incredible. um quick bracket check in for us, Justin. We promised mediocrity and and we are a show of accountability.
00:30:44
Cody Atkinson
So we will be held to the standard of mediocrity. And I would like to to proudly announce that I am in the 50.8 percentile, which is about as mediocre as you can get.
00:30:51
justin_daulton
ah
00:30:53
Cody Atkinson
So I nailed it. um I did lose my champion, as we mentioned, when Vandy's half-court buzzer beater bounced out. So that might kill my attempt at mediocrity, but I do still have three out of four.
00:31:08
Cody Atkinson
uh, final four participants. And I still six of the elite eight alive, six of the eight elite eight, um, alive. So I think I got a real good shot to end, uh, and towards that 50th percentile here. i'm I'm feeling, I'm feeling pretty good about it.
00:31:21
justin_daulton
Yeah, I ashamedly have to announce that I'm at the 22nd percentile. um So ah below mediocrity, I would say for my, but, you know, ah for the first two days of the tournament, I think I texted you saying that the the vibes are working and that the and it it it looked like the vibes were going to work.
00:31:42
Cody Atkinson
They were early.
00:31:43
justin_daulton
the the vibes were going to run me into a pretty good bracket for a little bit there. And then the obviously the Florida game really busted it is for not just me, probably for most of the country, right, that would have assumed that Florida at least a sweet 16, at least a lead at the, you know,
00:31:59
justin_daulton
the probably bare minimum is elite eight right um so obviously that uh hurt me a lot um but similarly to you i have six of my eight um elite eight still in play um as well as my champion and runner up still in the in the run of of of it all so i have a good chance to sneak my way back up to a higher percentile As we get going into, you know, the Sweet 16 Elite Eight weekend.
00:32:23
justin_daulton
And then, obviously, as we get closer to to Final Four in two weeks. so But, yeah, man, it was an electric weekend.
00:32:29
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:32:31
justin_daulton
Was it the Kentucky game, right, that the team that they're playing the first round sinks the three with two seconds to go up one, and then Kentucky nails the third-court shot to win it because the coach didn't get the timeout off in time?
00:32:40
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:32:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, the coach was trying to get the timeout off. he He looked towards the wrong ref. Basically, he looked towards the ref that was running away from him and not the one that was coming towards him.
00:32:57
justin_daulton
Yeah.
00:32:58
Cody Atkinson
Isn't able to get the timeout off. um But at the same time, like Kentucky just hits an immaculate shot. And at the end of the day, if if that's what your tournament rides on, you've got to feel like they're going to miss that way more than they than they make it. and He hits it.
00:33:12
Cody Atkinson
ah sends them to overtime and and they kind of choke them out from there but that that was an incredible game because you get you jump off this you jump off the seat and in reaction to the first buzzer beater and then before you even have a chance to to calibrate you're you're watching a second one that sends it to overtime I was because I had I had the upset on that one I had Santa Clara over Kentucky so I was I was fist pumping my bracket and then I i look up and
00:33:32
justin_daulton
Yeah.
00:33:37
Cody Atkinson
And they're kind of over time and I'm like, what the heck? My my bracket's not not alive anymore. Like I was i was feeling good about it. um here's ah Here's a fun staff for you someone sent to me today, just a little Florida nugget for you.
00:33:50
Cody Atkinson
And this will help you on your bracket next year. um The only defending champion to reach the Sweet 16 in the past nine tournaments was UConn, who who ah went back to back.
00:34:04
Cody Atkinson
So everyone shocked Florida didn't make the Sweet 16. As it turns out, if we were paying attention to trends, we we probably should have seen that coming. Defending champs don't make it back to the Sweet 16 very often.
00:34:18
justin_daulton
Yeah, but that's not what we promised the the our great audience out there. We promised mediocrity, and that's what they got.
00:34:25
Cody Atkinson
That's true. That is what they got. That's a fun fact. If you want to be if you want to beat mediocrity next year, you can keep that stat in mind. The moment you learn a stat is the moment the stat's dead.
00:34:32
justin_daulton
kiin
00:34:34
Cody Atkinson
It'll it'll undo itself next
Tampa Bay Lightning and Texas A&M Sports Updates
00:34:36
Cody Atkinson
year.
00:34:36
justin_daulton
But also, you know who's not going remember that in 11 months from now? Me.
00:34:41
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that's true. I might. There's a chance.
00:34:44
justin_daulton
Hey.
00:34:45
Cody Atkinson
I'm not going to lie. That's probably going to just get in the back of my mind until next March Madness. And I'll be like, oh, yeah, didn't someone send me a ah meme of that last year?
00:34:49
justin_daulton
Fair enough.
00:34:54
justin_daulton
Um,
00:34:54
Cody Atkinson
So good good chance your bracket beats me in the long run because you still have the champion alive, but I'm feeling real good 50th percentile after ah after week one. I feel like I did the fans did the fans proud there.
00:35:08
justin_daulton
Very good. Very good. Well, man, that's all we got for the rundown. We'll move into the our weekly wrap-up for our our teams, right? um I will kick off with the Lightning update. um'm A much better week for the Lightning this week, going 3-1.
00:35:21
justin_daulton
For most of last night, it looked like they were going to go four and oh on the week. um Ultimately, goes the wins this week was against Seattle, Vancouver, Edmonton. um edmonton obviously a fringe playoff team uh seattle not really going to be too heavily considered in the in the playoff race they might sneak in towards the end um and then vancouver it's a laughing stock right um but our
00:35:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, they're they're in the race for the one pick, right?
00:35:46
justin_daulton
Yeah, so obviously the teams that we needed to beat to make sure that we stay where we need to be. One loss obviously coming last night against Calgary. um It goes to overtime, so we still get a point in the in the playoff race.
00:35:57
justin_daulton
um So that helps out a lot. um Some notes I've written down for you. 13 games left them the Lightning season um and four points behind Buffalo for the division. Five points behind in the conference with Carolina leading.
00:36:10
justin_daulton
We have one game against Buffalo left. It's in like the second to last week of the regular season. um So the the division may very well come down to that game. um As we get closer, obviously, the last the last time that Tampa on and Buffalo played, we talked about on this podcast, right, that over 100 minutes in penalty yeah over a hundred minutes of penalty time ah almost looks like a baseball score rather than a hockey score.
00:36:25
Cody Atkinson
that game.
00:36:34
justin_daulton
So definitely two teams that are going to be fighting it out very heavily down there, especially the it's ah that week and half before the the the regular season ends. So definitely looking like the Lightning get little bit of swagger back.
00:36:47
justin_daulton
We'll see how this week goes. You know, obviously, at a very tight race as the playoffs get closer and closer. We have, yeah obviously, I said 13. Buffalo has played two more games than us, so they only have 11 games left.
00:36:58
justin_daulton
So only being four games behind, obviously, we'll catch up in the and the games played. So obviously, if we can get two more wins so before or as we meet them,
00:37:09
justin_daulton
We're talking about that game um in April, probably deciding the division more than likely, as long as everyone kind of stays competitive down the stretch. So that's only in the only that I got invested interest in. So I'll kick it to you for ah quick A&M update.
00:37:25
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, man. So before we do that, it the last, I swear, the last two updates, everything since the international break has been the lightning and a free fall. At least that's been like my interpretation of it.
00:37:35
justin_daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:37:38
Cody Atkinson
So what you're here to say today is that the season's not, in fact, and that they are still alive and kicking.
00:37:41
justin_daulton
No, if you if you remember what I said last week, right? I said that the the panic meter is rising, but I'm not ready to break the glass in case of emergency button to hit the, you know, ejecto Cito, get out, get out, get out.
00:37:50
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:37:54
justin_daulton
um I just needed us some swagger to get back into the building. We weren't playing like we were before the all-star break. You know, Vazzy was letting in easy goals. He wasn't looking like the Vinza finalists that he'd been playing in or like through the, you know, three quarters of the season.
00:38:09
justin_daulton
um obviously still some points got put up on us over this week um not as much as that was as we were seeing in the last two weeks right where we were talking about lightning losing so you know five to four five to three four to two whatever it was so the defense is looking a little bit better still not stellar not where i would like to see us playing in terms of you know quality going into the playoffs but we still got three weeks or yeah about three weeks left to play to get everything kind of moving again.
00:38:37
justin_daulton
Nikita Kucherov takes the point lead in the NHL this week. So definitely, like you said, offense is there. You just got to see everyone else kind of fall in line, which is kind of where, you know, what we were what we were talking about last week, right?
00:38:43
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:38:50
justin_daulton
Now with the the international break, Vazzy obviously and ah gets a little bit of rust. Victor had been playing with a a lot of injuries, ultimately ended sending out the last two games of the Olympics, right?
00:39:01
justin_daulton
And then wasn't healthy coming back to Tampa. So there's definitely, you know, some time to get back into shape and, you know, get the rust knocked off. Yeah. you know it seems like after, you know I think it was it was one of the younger guys that came up from Syracuse a couple weeks ago that just said, like hey, were using a wake up like we just need to wake We need to get energy back in the building. We need a different playlist. We need to get different energy at practice. and We need to get the puck moving the way that we expect lightning hot like lightning hockey to play.
00:39:29
justin_daulton
So definitely, like I said, back in the right direction this week. We got a couple of lower teams again this week. So I expect us to get skating again and playing the way that lightning hockey should um and get ready for what is going to be an electric matchup against Buffalo here in about two and a half weeks.
00:39:47
justin_daulton
That very well, like I said, could determine the the winner of this division. And you know, who knows, maybe we kept Carolina and we get the number one seed and then the East runs through Tampa, which would be great because you've been to a game down there and in Tampa. It's one of, if not one of the best environments and in any sports that I think you and I have ever attended down there. And for home ah home playoff games to go through ah what it's It's got a different name now. i don't remember what it's called now, but formerly Amelie Arena, right?
00:40:17
justin_daulton
The home ice advantage and down there at Tampa is is second to none. So if we can catch Carolina and get and get home ice for the playoffs, man, I feel really good about making a run in this playoff.
00:40:28
Cody Atkinson
And the sky's the limit if you can make it run through Tampa. I like it. A big matchup tomorrow too, right? ah Tampa Bay, Minnesota, i believe.
00:40:37
justin_daulton
Yes, I believe that's what it was.
00:40:37
Cody Atkinson
i keep seeing advertisements. I'm pretty sure it's tomorrow night. on Tampa Bay, Minnesota, nationally televised. So i might I might try to catch a little bit of that, see how the the lightning are doing.
00:40:48
Cody Atkinson
And i also committed myself to the wild for this season and haven't watched a second since I did that. So that's a...
00:40:54
justin_daulton
might be ah might be a good Might be a good pick, too, because Minnesota's been catching some fire recently, too. So it might not be a bad pick for you there.
00:40:59
Cody Atkinson
Quinn Hughes is all you need to know. Yeah, it's Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy. ah that That's all you got. i'll Just watch me and watch me make it about U.S. hockey. and Before we get tied into that, lets so for for me, um really just A&M sports going on right now. A&M baseball hosted number seven Georgia this weekend. I don't know how their rating changed after the weekend. haven't looked, but going into the weekend, Georgia ranked number seven. A&M goes one and two in those games.
00:41:31
Cody Atkinson
ah Losing Friday nine to four That was a a rough game and then losing Saturday 8-2. ah and Turning it around and and winning 18-5 on Sunday in run rule fashion. Game ended after six and a half innings by the run rule.
00:41:48
Cody Atkinson
ah So in in that sense, the the offense was uneven this weekend. um Obviously, huge game on Sunday, ah lesser games on Friday and Saturday. but the But the main concern remains to be the pitching staff. um I noted, you know, we had a going one and two at Oklahoma the weekend before was a good showing.
00:42:10
Cody Atkinson
All things considered, it's, you know, the formula in the SEC is don't get swept on the road. And win your home win your home series. So they go to Oklahoma 1 and 2. Don't get swept on the road. Job you know job complete. That's checkmark. But they lose Josh Stewart in the process, which put a lot of pressure on the starters and meant you needed somebody else to step up in the bullpen to take that. And and that continues to be a concern. Obviously, you look at Friday nine runs, Saturday eight runs.
00:42:38
Cody Atkinson
Sunday, five runs. the um you know The starter on on Friday battled through, gave up five runs, but still went six innings. a starter on on That was on Friday. Starter on Saturday only went, I think, three and two-thirds, put you in a real bad spot.
00:42:53
Cody Atkinson
um And then what was ultimately a dominant performance by the starter on Sunday ah to kind of rebound and let you hand it off to the bullpen to salvage a game. But ultimately, you're The pressure is still on the starters, and and I can't say that they, as a unit, answered the call this weekend.
00:43:13
Cody Atkinson
um And there was no new name in the bullpen that showed you anything more than a flash. There was a couple guys. Grant Cunningham had some good innings, and I think his name's Cooper Powell, had a good inning.
00:43:26
Cody Atkinson
But nothing that you can say. This guy really put a stamp on on this. So you're still looking for who's going step up, and you're still looking for the – for the for the the pitching staff in general to show you that you have something this year.
00:43:38
Cody Atkinson
Otherwise, it could be a long and high-scoring season. So I'm going to keep keep an eye out on that. We go to ah Missouri this with this upcoming weekend. That's the the the worst team in the SEC who you allowed to sweep you and basically end your season last year. So this is the one – The one road series that I will say going one and two is not the goal. You need to take this series against Missouri and put a stamp on, on the season. And then the only other A&M sport i'm I'm really tracking right now is basketball. Obviously we slightly covered that in the March Madness update. um Just shout out to, to Bucky and and the boys for ah beating St. Mary's in the round of 64, making it to, to, to round two. Obviously they got,
00:44:23
Cody Atkinson
ah you know, pretty comfortably blown out by Houston, but that was always a size mismatch and athleticism
MLB Season Primers and Astros/Rays Analysis
00:44:29
Cody Atkinson
mismatch. when you when you When you put together a team as late in the process as they did with such an unproven concept like they did, um they weren't able to put a well-rounded team together. So the team had objective holes that that could be uh exploited and u of h was a team that was going to exploit that so no shame in in what was done there and just an incredible foundation set so shout out to every single one of those players for committing to to this coaching staff to this university representing it well um and giving us and so much hope for the future buckyball um ah just an incredible incredible tournament run no matter how it ended
00:45:09
justin_daulton
Yeah, I agree, man. it's you know I can't say enough about what Bucky has been able to do in College Station this year. Obviously, we'll be interested to see what he does in the transfer portal window for college basketball here soon and really see what he can do with that and obviously recruiting to put together what we can only imagine is going to be a much better a and m squad and position themselves to be up there in that top third of the SEC, which is where we ended up, obviously, this year, but more secure in that top third than I think what we would have anticipated going into this season.
00:45:40
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, they were picked 13th in the preseason to finish tied fourth. um Just incredible. Incredible job. Absolutely.
00:45:48
justin_daulton
yeah um just circle back real quick because you asked about it yes tomorrow night lightning versus the wild um and then thursday this we got a nice little home stretch which is nice on thursday we have seattle coming to town saturday we have ottawa um and then sunday nashville comes to town um obviously we'll cover that next week on the pod um and then next tuesday we have the canadians coming to town um and then two more uh two more home games after that going into april so
00:46:11
Cody Atkinson
o
00:46:14
justin_daulton
Definitely good little home stretch here that we should be able to make some ground up on Buffalo and hopefully even Carolina as we get closer and closer to the playoffs.
00:46:27
Cody Atkinson
I like it, man.
00:46:27
justin_daulton
Well, man.
00:46:28
Cody Atkinson
and
00:46:30
justin_daulton
No, go ahead.
00:46:30
Cody Atkinson
Go for it. Yeah, no, i think with that, it's time to transition. we're So we promised and an AL primer, an MLB primer of sorts. where where We're kind of working on together how we want to structure our primers. Obviously, there's so many places you can go for the Intel.
00:46:47
Cody Atkinson
that are going to do a better job than than two guys that that do this as a hobby, as a part-time as a part time thing. I mean, there's people whose full-time job is to make content on the um MLB and they're going the details for you. So we're we're working on how we how we how do we do primers? How do we give you that that coastal launch flare? um How do we make it something worth worth tuning into? So for the time being, what we're going to do is we're going to do an Astros raise primer because That is something that we can do without without a – that's on my brain at all times. if you If you just see me in the street and you say, you know, what what's up with the Astros, I have it for you. So we're going to do a little Astros primer, a little Rays primer as the as the opening day roster still gets set.
00:47:31
Cody Atkinson
And then we're going to work on how we structure our primers and how we put it together to make it the best – ah Best podcast product. and And we're going to get you that AL primer and the NL primer that we promised.
00:47:42
Cody Atkinson
There's 162 games. So there will be a few that are played before the primers come out. But don't worry, the majority of them won't have been played yet. um And we'll just use those data points.
00:47:50
justin_daulton
Thank you.
00:47:51
Cody Atkinson
So we're just going to dive right in. I don't know exactly how we want to structure Justin. We did this as kind of a a last minute audible. So this raise Astros. So I've got our categories here, you know, kind of the main um structure of of teams.
00:48:07
Cody Atkinson
i don't know if we just want to do a little back and forth Astros rotation, then raise rotation, kind of then get into the bullpens and then, or or do we want to do a team by team, you know, full Astros breakdown, full raise breakdown?
00:48:20
Cody Atkinson
What are you thinking here?
00:48:21
justin_daulton
I like the one for one. I like going rotation for rotation. And then what we what we look at is, you know, um almost because we can almost do position by position because I think i think it's still at least on the Tampa side, it's still a little too early to talk about what opening day lineup is going to look like just because there's still a lot of moving pieces.
00:48:30
Cody Atkinson
yeah
00:48:39
justin_daulton
um so I think we can go position by position. We can talk about what we're excited about.
00:48:43
Cody Atkinson
yeah so if we start with rotation from an astros perspective um i think you could see it on my notes later i think there is an a legit so The Astros rotation, their pitching staff in general, is the thing that I am the most excited for this season.
00:48:59
Cody Atkinson
I think there's a legitimate chance that the Astros end up with the best one, two, three punch in in MLB this year. um Not to say that Each of the three are the best, but as ah as a unit, that that's the best 1-2-3 combo. And Hunter Brown, obviously, i think either Cy Young, AL Cy Young, either second place or third place last year.
00:49:23
Cody Atkinson
Tatsuya Imai, one of the biggest Japanese... uh, signings this off season. His, his stuff's been incredible as we've, as we're recording. Um, he's, he's been pitching in a scrimmage exhibition against, uh, uh, space Cowboys, uh, three to three and two thirds, no runs.
00:49:41
Cody Atkinson
Um, The dude's stuff is filthy. um And then Mike Burrows, a part of that three-team trade with the the Rays and the Pirates, he's been almost unhittable in spring training. i think his I think his last spring training outing was the first one that – that he gave up any kind of significant earned runs in. he's He's filthy. He was filthy against us last year. I think that's part of why we traded for him.
00:50:07
Cody Atkinson
And I think that one, two, three punch is going to get slept on because, you know, when you think ace, you think Scoogle, you don't think Brown. He kind of flies under the radar a little bit. Yeah.
00:50:20
Cody Atkinson
And then I just don't, I don't think people are on to, to email Burroughs yet. So those are, those are names to know. We round out the rotation with Javier McCullers, two guys coming off an injury, the the highest paid members of the rotation. And the biggest question marks just, is there stuff going to be back?
00:50:35
Cody Atkinson
um And what are you going to get out of them? But I like the moves that have been made. And if those guys don't have it, I think you can, I think you can make the necessary swaps to get a good four five in there.
00:50:46
Cody Atkinson
um But, but we'll definitely be rooting for those guys. I think, I think McCullers' velocity is back. I don't think Javier's velocity is back. um So those are kind of what we're going to keep an eye on. i'm I'm not saying the full rotation is perfect, but I think that one, two, three is a leap.
00:51:02
justin_daulton
No, yeah, and i I think even going back to, what, 2016, 15 range, right? McCullers easily one of my favorite Astros players, man. Like, the dude, electric stuff, and that curve he has is nasty, and i even like not even referred to be a 12-6 curve, just a nasty curve that he has.
00:51:20
justin_daulton
um So I'd be really excited, just as a Rays fan, for McCullers to have his stuff back, because I think the Astros are just a better organization with McCullers on the mound. So hopefully it works out for him, man.
00:51:31
Cody Atkinson
yeah Yeah, we're certainly all rooting for it. um ah He didn't have his fastball last year, and so the teams were sitting on that curve. But if the fastball's back this year, it looks like it might be, then that curve's going to play.
00:51:42
Cody Atkinson
and And hopefully that's what he needs to unlock, you know kind of extending his career.
00:51:47
justin_daulton
Nice. Shifting over to to Tampa, um the starting rotation um has some names in here that you might recognize, some names that you may not recognize, which is typical Tampa fashion.
00:51:58
justin_daulton
I'm sure one of these guys will be a Cy Young contender by the end of the season because that's how Tampa usually goes.
00:52:02
Cody Atkinson
been Or at least in two.
00:52:03
justin_daulton
um Yeah, this year, opening day starter is going to be Drew Rasmussen, someone who came alive last year for Tampa. So definitely someone that should anchor and be that a quintessential ace.
00:52:18
justin_daulton
um Even though Tampa doesn't really do an ace, we haven't really had an ace since Glassnow left Tampa. So really, it's always been... Four starting pitchers and then a bullpen day or even the four or five guys are the bullpen.
00:52:31
Cody Atkinson
like an opener.
00:52:32
justin_daulton
Yeah, the four or five guys are openers and then you flip back over to that one, two, three punch. So the way that it's to shake out past Rasmussen is Ryan Papat or Peapats. I'm probably butchering that name.
00:52:44
justin_daulton
um new addition to to tampa this year acquire via trade um i don't know too much about him see i can get some splits for you real quick on him 2025 stats me um and 19th that's not bad with a three point eight six in yeah yeah a one six seven strikeout it' and a one point one six whip which is nineteen
00:53:07
Cody Atkinson
I mean, that's probably happening.
00:53:09
justin_daulton
that's not bad Yeah, um ah so definitely good to see um someone like him come up into it, see if I can get some information on pitches for you.
00:53:20
justin_daulton
um Came over in the Jackson Terrio trade, it looked like, when I wasn't. Where did where do you come over in?
00:53:30
justin_daulton
Doesn't say. um But yeah, nineteen born in 97, so got some youth on him. So obviously we'll see where he kind of shakes out through this year. The more interesting one for me is the number three guy, Shane McClanahan, coming back finally from Tommy John surgery. He made a couple appearances last year. um Obviously by August when he came back, the Rays were out of the playoff contention.
00:53:53
justin_daulton
So definitely someone that, you know, we shot him down pretty quickly into August and and or into early September to get him, you know, some a couple more rehab starts, get him back, get some game time on Duran. But really this year, stretching him out. Don't expect to see him go.
00:54:10
justin_daulton
those five or six innings right off the bat in April. But I expect by All-Star break, definitely, no plan A&M being back to where he was. And obviously, All-Star game started, what, three years ago?
00:54:22
justin_daulton
And someone that, until he had the Tommy John injury, looked like he was going to win the AL Cy Young three years ago.
00:54:22
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:54:28
justin_daulton
So I'll be very excited to see him get back to kind of where he where he was three years ago. um and Someone that you can talk about probably post-All-Star break being the one to instead of Rasmussen or the two behind Rasmussen. So um I have nothing but high hopes for McClanahan, obviously, an electric lefty um for the Tampa Bay rotation.
00:54:49
justin_daulton
And then four and five, kind of with you, man, Steven Matz comes under number four, and then Nick Martinez comes in under five.
00:54:54
Cody Atkinson
OK.
00:54:55
justin_daulton
So, like I said, they're not household names, but they're definitely names that, in typical, like I said, in typical race fashion, man, like, we go out and go get these guys that...
00:54:57
Cody Atkinson
Nick Martinez.
00:55:07
justin_daulton
um that have longevity in their careers and have really a ah potential to be you know openers you know or bullpen days steven matt's obviously gonna be a bullpen guy or an opener guy to tie to carry it into the bullpen and then nick martinez which i'm sure you're also looking up on your end um last year what
00:55:28
Cody Atkinson
I was, I thought I knew him, I don't.
00:55:31
justin_daulton
Last year going 11 of 14, 4.45 ERA, strikeouts, and 1.21 whip. So I think there's more just based off of those numbers. I'm sure you just didn't get run support or just poor defense behind them.
00:55:45
justin_daulton
So especially when you're you got a 1.21 whip, that the yeah ERA doesn't really match that that number. So i would just as by assumption there, it's more defense and um no run support.
00:55:51
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:55:59
justin_daulton
so i think Like i said, this rotation is not going to look the same when we get to, you know, July, August, September range for for Tampa. It never is um The only names i expect to see there by that point is still Rasmussen and McClanahan.
00:56:13
justin_daulton
And if the Rays are in contention by late July, when the trade deadline comes around, you probably see them make a deal to bolster the back end of the rotation um or even a long reliever.
00:56:20
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:56:23
justin_daulton
So, but typical, typical race fashion, obviously you're going to hear me talk about a lot during this breakdown. don't garner a lot of excitement around Tampa right now just because of the transitional period.
00:56:35
justin_daulton
But there's pieces that you that is going to have cause for excitement long term for for the organization.
00:56:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and I think if you if you know the Rays as an organization, it's easier to get excited by the idea of pieces because they or just, that they're an organization that is built internally so strongly.
00:56:57
Cody Atkinson
um And so it's one where you can see pieces and you can say, there's ah there's a plan for these and and they can make it work. um No, veryre definitely ah not not the not the most star-studded rotation, but you know, excited to see what they can do with that for sure. And and as you mentioned, looking for a long reliever at the that's a deadline, I mean, what about the bullpen? What are you seeing for the Rays from a bullpen perspective?
00:57:22
justin_daulton
Yeah, what's the I mean, it's the same type of mentality, man. You don't have a lot of big names in terms of the bullpen. um One that you'll know, Griffin Jacks, in the bullpen, should be closing out games for us.
00:57:31
Cody Atkinson
here
00:57:34
justin_daulton
Had some competition during spring training with Garrett Clevenger. So we'll see kind of how...
00:57:39
Cody Atkinson
Clevenger, that's a big name too.
00:57:41
justin_daulton
Yep. So the two names that i expect to see kind of bounce between that closer setup role, um you know, to give one guy to one guy a break when and and not as stressful as moments. So definitely two names to keep an eye on.
00:57:55
justin_daulton
um And then we have a guy that's out Edwin, you see that also back end guy um and that set up closer role. So definitely you got three guys back there, especially once you see that comes back.
00:58:05
justin_daulton
your your Your back end's there. is if You can get the lead to that 7-8-9 point of the games. Obviously, it's still very old baseball, right? Gets us the 7th and and you throw your setup guys in your closer in the 9th.
00:58:18
justin_daulton
um In terms of the actual bullpen, I'm going to list out names for you, and I'm sure you're not going to know most of them because it's that typical Tampa fashion for you. Brian Baker, Hunter Biggie, Cole Solcer, Stephen Wilson, and Mason Elgert are the names in the bullpen for you.
00:58:35
Cody Atkinson
I was really prepared to prove that I knew one of those names and I don't. I was like, watch this.
00:58:39
justin_daulton
ah
00:58:40
Cody Atkinson
i'm going to know one of them.
00:58:41
justin_daulton
But I mean, like I said, man, it's typical Tampa fashion, man. I don't expect there to be star-studded people because the Rays trade so much of arm talent, whether it's in the minors or if it's, you know, established guys to get pieces back or draft capital back.
00:58:52
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:59:00
justin_daulton
The minors down in Durham and even down there Port Charlotte for the AA affiliate, you're talking about ah two teams that have done nothing but prove that they can cultivate arm talent for the Rays up here.
00:59:13
justin_daulton
So it's definitely, you can give me nine no-name guys and I would have more faith in those nine no-name guys than proven established bullpen that may have four guys, but the the rest can't get it done.
00:59:28
justin_daulton
So I'll take the no-names because I have more faith in and Kevin Cash and the system that that he's built around this organization um to prove that they can they can bring up the talent.
00:59:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:59:40
Cody Atkinson
For sure, dude. And Kevin Cash has had quite the quite the tenure there. I hated on him from the start. forget. He did something the first year, and i was like, he's done. That guy sucks.
00:59:50
justin_daulton
it would
00:59:51
Cody Atkinson
i guess I was very wrong.
00:59:51
justin_daulton
i i do
00:59:52
Cody Atkinson
I don't remember what it was.
00:59:54
justin_daulton
it was the It was the challenge. It was the first few that the challenges were a thing. And he went out and he goes, that guy was safe and that guy was safe. And the ump comes out and goes the yeah the um comes out goes out he goes, that guy was out and that guy was out.
01:00:02
Cody Atkinson
He was wrong both, right?
01:00:07
justin_daulton
And you just died laughing.
01:00:10
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I wrote him off at that moment. i say this guy doesn't have it. with surface
01:00:14
justin_daulton
And here we are, what, 10 years into his tenure in Tampa, and the the players love playing for him.
01:00:19
Cody Atkinson
And he's still doing it.
01:00:22
justin_daulton
You know, he's gotten a lot of the egos out of the out of the the the the clubhouse, right? You get the the Blake Snells out of the clubhouse, the Glassnow out of the clubhouse that weren't necessarily the biggest, like, culture pieces for the organization.
01:00:36
justin_daulton
um Obviously, you you know, you you can look back at an early tenure, right? that Evan Longoria leaves the organization, came back to this offseason to sign a one-day deal to retire as a Tampa Bay Ray.
01:00:48
justin_daulton
They're going to retire his number this year. like, you know, Kevin and has done a lot of good for this organization. And i obviously in a transitional period for this organization, we, you know, there's a lot of talk around new stadium down in, down actually in Tampa, as opposed to St. Petersburg and this new, this new ownership, obviously wanted to spend money on the organization on the on the organization as a whole.
01:01:11
justin_daulton
um There's a lot of things to be excited for in the longterm for the, for the team. And, I can only imagine what you do when you give Kevin Cash more money to actually spend free agency um and not have to a bargain bin hunt and do everything internally.
01:01:29
Cody Atkinson
For sure, man. Absolutely. And if we flip it over to the Astros bullpen, I won't, I won't, I won't bore you with this too much. um The Astros bullpen is a mixed bag.
01:01:43
Cody Atkinson
It was one of the best bullpens in the league last year. I don't have the stats in front of me, but it it rated as one of the best bullpens in the league last year.
01:01:48
justin_daulton
Thank you.
01:01:50
Cody Atkinson
And it has the potential to do that again, because you return a lot of guys, but it is already hurt. ah All-star closer Josh Hader is going to start the season on IL with what seems kind of like a re-aggravation of the injury that sidelined him at the end of last season.
01:02:08
Cody Atkinson
So that's a bummer. um ah no No telling quite yet how quickly he'll be back or or if he'll be fully over it or if it's going to be one of those lingering things. ah is something to keep an eye on. Obviously, they do have the depth in ah the bullpen with Brian Abreu to take over the closing role. he This is his last year with the Astros. He is going to hit the free agent market after this season and will almost guaranteed get a closing role with another team.
01:02:35
Cody Atkinson
The only reason he's not a closer in Houston is because they're paying Josh Hader $95 million over five years. um Other than that, Brian Abreu could and would be the closer and and by all accounts, I think it's expected that he will be one elsewhere next year.
01:02:49
Cody Atkinson
So you still feel really good about him taking over that role. However, your seventh inning guy or a projected seventh inning guy, Bennett Sousa, also starting the season on the IL.
01:02:59
justin_daulton
Thank you.
01:03:00
Cody Atkinson
So there's a couple of big hits there that will, will bring into question what this bullpen can be longterm. um But I still like the bullpen. um I think off of last year's you returned and Yael Delos Santos,
01:03:12
Cody Atkinson
ah Brian King, Steven Oker, guys that had great years last year. you You will see the Astros go to a six-man rotation at some point this season. um So you are also going to see guys in the bullpen, or we expect to see guys in the bullpen, who are those kind of long relief players.
01:03:32
Cody Atkinson
um swingarer types um I think AJ Bluebaugh is the guy who could really fill that role. I think you see Ryan Weiss in that role. He was signed out of the KBO this offseason. um I think there's a couple guys um that you see potentially in that long relief swing starter type role.
01:03:52
Cody Atkinson
ah Guys that I really like, I'm a big fan of. Another big off-season signing was Kai Wei Tang, who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants.
01:04:02
Cody Atkinson
um He has had an incredible spring training. The only thing he has to work on is is the walks. his When his command goes, he starts to walk, but um his stuff is filthy when he's on. And my personal favorite, I don't hear a lot of people talking about him making the roster.
01:04:20
Cody Atkinson
um But um' i've been I've been tracking the Sugar Land Astros exhibition today and he pitched out of the bullpen for the Astros team today is Christian Roa.
01:04:31
Cody Atkinson
ah he was He was a former Texas A&M Aggie. I guess former student, you're always a Texas A&M Aggie. But he he played at A&M, has bounced around in the minors and really found something last year moving from starter to relief.
01:04:46
Cody Atkinson
I remember him at A&M. His stuff was filthy. You get him in the pitching lab with the Astros, and they have a a tendency to turn that filth into gold. And I expect a lot out of Christian Roa. So I'm excited that I think he's going to make the the opening day roster.
01:05:02
Cody Atkinson
I think most people associated with reporting on the team or associated with um just generally podcasting about the team um have more of a of a thought for ah for a Peter Lambert type.
01:05:16
Cody Atkinson
um But I think Christian Rowe really makes it. um All that to say, with two injuries already on the books going into the season, I think this bullpen can still be elite. And when it gets to full health, I have no reason to not think that this will be one of the best bullpens in the game again. So start starting to bullpen...
01:05:36
Cody Atkinson
um you can never feel safe because of injuries, but I really, really like what the Astros are throwing out this year. I think it's a step up from last year.
01:05:47
Cody Atkinson
But the question is, the lineup, will the lineup hold its own water? And so we can kick over to the Rays first. I think you were looking at going to the lineup position by position. If you want to go that route, talk about who you think is going to contribute and what you think this lineup can do.
01:06:07
justin_daulton
Yeah, I think ultimately for the Rays, man, it's piecemealed, as a a typical Rays lineup usually is. um i was I was digging into because i was I didn't recognize the catcher's names as I was pulling this up, um so I want to look at those guys.
01:06:21
justin_daulton
Two new catchers coming into the system this year, Nick Fortes and then Hunter Fiducia. friduha i like That's how I'm going to say it. um Nick Fortes making the very long...
01:06:30
Cody Atkinson
fiduciary duty.
01:06:32
justin_daulton
the long, long trek from Miami to play for Tampa. um Looking like he's going to be the opening day starter. Career 225 hitter. Looks like he's more of a defensive catcher than he is an offensive catcher, which is good.
01:06:45
justin_daulton
I never really preferred the offensive catcher perspective. I much rather have someone, as we talked about last week, with World Baseball Classic, where the Will Smith, I think the defensive catchers mean more um in the long run than the offensive catchers do because the pitchers matter more.
01:07:01
justin_daulton
um So that's where I expect to go there. um First base looks like it's going to be a platoon type of situation between Jonathan r Aranda and Yandy Diaz, um the now Yandy Diaz being the longest tenured Tampa Ray.
01:07:17
justin_daulton
um with the Lowe brothers being gone this year. So that's kind of the platoon position that I expect to see at first base. um Looks like as of right now, they have Aranda being the starter, um which slates Yandy to take that DH role, um which is what he really specialized in last year, really sliding in there. And obviously, I think was the also representative for Tampa last year as the DH.
01:07:44
justin_daulton
So that was good to see there. And then The news that we got today, second baseman Gavin Lux goes down. He's going start the season on the 10-day IL. Looks like it's just some shoulder pain that he's been playing with all spring training.
01:07:59
justin_daulton
That is one to shut him down as a precaution, give some time off. um But it's really sliding the scale. and I think something that we're going to about later in the breakdown is what are we looking at in terms of prospects?
01:08:12
justin_daulton
This forces us to kind of dip into the prospect pool um right away where I don't think Kevin Cash wanted to. But you're going to see, i lost the name. I don't want to. Richie Palacios is going to be someone that's going to slide up into the the opening day roster.
01:08:29
justin_daulton
um I was reading today that he was literally packing his apartment to go to Durham when Kevin Cash told him, was like, hey, can you get to can you get to the to the park now um and in play because Gavin's down for with an injury?
01:08:43
justin_daulton
And he was like yep, on way right now. so obviously it's a guy that's obviously bought in into the system. So not sure if he's going to take second base right away. We'll take Ben Williamson.
01:08:54
justin_daulton
who was going to our platoon third baseman, his backup spot, his second base. um So I can see them going back and forth between Ben Williamson and Richie to really start off. And that's because Taylor Walls, our starting a shortstop, also went down with an injury.
01:09:07
justin_daulton
i don't yeah i don't have the timeline on him.
01:09:07
Cody Atkinson
Oh, God.
01:09:10
justin_daulton
um So that's forcing us to call up. um It sucks because he was sitting 300 for spring training. So definitely someone that we were expecting to see step up. Where is that?
01:09:22
justin_daulton
Walls received a cortisone injection and the right oblique is suspected to be sidelined at least three to four weeks. um So you're talking at least the the first month of the season to be without Taylor Walls. um but that is uh as we just talked about with richie classios that is bringing up the number one prospect in the tempeh rays organization uh carson williams um is now going to be the starting shortstop for um for the tempeh rays uh so there's a lot of hype around him someone they The expected um starting date was more so next year, maybe late this year at the earliest.
01:09:59
justin_daulton
um See if I get you some stats on what he did in spring this year. 32 games played, 99 at-bats, 17 hits, 3 doubles, 5 home runs, and 12 RBIs.
01:10:10
justin_daulton
and twelve rbi's um kind of like i said not necessarily there that you would expect to see you know starting day one that's why i think that we talked about taylor walls for one more year at shortstop and then seeing williams come up um obviously taylor walls as long as he responds well to the horizontal injection and does rehab well down in durham i don't see why in a month the taylor isn't back up here um being the starting guy and taylor as long as he's healthy you expect him to play 130 140 games that's just the type of reliability that you're gonna get from him a shortstop so that's gonna allow Carson to go back down and allow the platoon guys around Taylor to really step up but maybe maybe as we go the season maybe Carson comes back up if he gets his swing right down in Durham and
01:10:56
justin_daulton
We should be good there. um The star power comes from third base. um And we've we've talked about this guy a lot because of the World Baseball Classic. Junior Camarino is going to be the guy for the Tampa Rays.
01:11:10
justin_daulton
The entire offense is going to come through Camarino. 45 home runs last season. I haven't seen a 45 home run guy in Tampa in years.
01:11:16
Cody Atkinson
Unreal.
01:11:20
justin_daulton
and it it And it's insane, the the production he put up last year.
01:11:25
Cody Atkinson
It just feels like he's locked and loaded for better this year, too.
01:11:25
justin_daulton
um
01:11:28
justin_daulton
Especially what he did with DR, right? I don't have the numbers in front of me what he did completely with the DR.
01:11:30
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:11:35
justin_daulton
But, man, last season, this was his splits for you. 264 average, 45 home runs, which was sixth for the entire Major League Baseball. 110 RBIs, which is eighth in MLB, and then 846 OPS, which is 23rd in MLB.
01:11:52
justin_daulton
So i as long as he puts up similar numbers if and it seems like it's going to be better, you're talking about a preent perlineal all-star, potentially all MLB at the end of the year.
01:12:03
justin_daulton
um You could be talking about Silver Slugger honors there at third base, just depending on how everything shakes out around the league.
Rays' Outfield Strategy and Management Changes
01:12:10
justin_daulton
But I mean, that's the type of position he's in. It really has a chance to drive forward this organization into the future and be that guy. We talked about it last week right when we broke down the DR game against the U.S. s that you have to feel good about the raise going forward junior Camarino, especially with this, the new management coming in, like you expect them to give him the contract um that we, we gave to the guy that we don't talk about that no longer plays in Tampa um that squandered that squandered his opportunity.
01:12:35
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. It's no longer allowed back in the US, I believe.
01:12:38
justin_daulton
yeah Yep, correct. um So you do expect a lot in terms of Camarino going forward, and there's not much else I can say about him. It's going to be the cornerstone that this of this organization going forward.
01:12:52
justin_daulton
um ah Shifting to the outfield, left field day one starter looks like will be Chandler Simpson. Don't have too much on him. It seems like it's just another those bargain bin finds of the Rays.
01:13:04
justin_daulton
um jake fraley um is going to be looks like your starting um right fielder to start the season off um and then your center fielder will be cedric mullins That's a name that you should know.
01:13:14
Cody Atkinson
Okay.
01:13:15
justin_daulton
Yep.
01:13:15
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:13:15
justin_daulton
um It seemed like the the approach this offseason was um dump the outfield and restart. And that's something that's going to show off. I think there's there's immediate power there with Cedric Mullins.
01:13:29
justin_daulton
there's Everyone was really excited about Jake Fraley. Let me see I get some stats for you on kind of why they were...
01:13:33
Cody Atkinson
The name rings a bell, but I could not tell you. oh wait.
01:13:38
justin_daulton
yeah Yeah. 2025 stats, 241 hitter, six home runs, 23 RBF, 714 OPS. um But that was because of where he came from.
01:13:50
justin_daulton
He wasn't a starter. Last year was a platoon guy for Atlanta.
01:13:53
Cody Atkinson
They only had 191 at bats last year.
01:13:56
justin_daulton
Yeah, wasn't a well, he bounced between two teams. He was with the Reds to start the season and then went to Atlanta, which I'm assuming Atlanta was trying to get him to be a bench guy because he only played in nine games. So definitely hindered kind of where he was at in terms of potential going forward.
01:14:12
justin_daulton
But for spring training, 13 games, played 25 at-bats, five runs, eight hits, three doubles. Six walks, two strikeouts. So definitely someone that puts the ball in play and doesn't really rely on getting too deep into the count. So definitely someone that I expect to see a lot on going forward.
01:14:33
justin_daulton
And then Chandler Simpson last season, 295 hitter, no home runs, 26 RBS, 671 OPS. Coming from the way of... if I can get everything work for me.
01:14:46
justin_daulton
Oh, he comes from the Razor organization. So last year was his first year up on Tampa. So this will be his second year fully on the main roster. So that's what you're looking at.
01:14:56
Cody Atkinson
a
01:14:57
justin_daulton
There
01:14:57
Cody Atkinson
It was 2022 second round pick out of Georgia Tech.
01:15:01
justin_daulton
there you go. And then rounding off the lineup, obviously, already talked about Yandy Diaz is going to slide himself into the DH role. Behind that, they're saying that Aranda and Camarino are going to be um the backups on the DH role whenever Yandy slides into first base and the other guys need a little bit lesser workload day.
01:15:21
justin_daulton
So definitely the Rays will be very much in typical race fashion they're they're gonna play the analytical baseball they're going to put those guys they're gonna they're gonna workload them and make sure that they they can play a full 162 and be ready for playoff push um a little bit more as i think you and i talked about over the years a little bit more elevated approach to moneyball uh not necessarily playing moneyball fully right um but making sure that they they have something with them to tank when they get to to the playoffs
01:15:50
Cody Atkinson
For sure.
Astros' Post-Scandal Strategies and Lineup Challenges
01:15:51
Cody Atkinson
I think that's a good transition because i' so I'm going to mix a little bit of lineup and a little bit of management here for the Astros. I feel like the Astros and the Rays used to be so similar in the way that they were on the cutting edge of baseball.
01:16:05
Cody Atkinson
um And just pushing, pushing the limits, pushing the boundaries. Obviously, the Astros pushed too far um into a cheating scandal.
01:16:12
justin_daulton
Thank you.
01:16:13
Cody Atkinson
And I think that's undone a lot of the the good side of the being on the cutting edge and being on the front end of new strategies and new ways of going about things. And I think as a almost an.
01:16:27
Cody Atkinson
An unfortunate consequence of the scandal is they the Astros seem much more timid as far as looking for new edges because they don't want to do what they did before. um it and And I think that is is part of what why i'm not super I'm not over the moon about the Astros projections this year.
01:16:51
Cody Atkinson
Because the lineup, if the Astros want to do the lineup well, it's going to take a lot of creativity. The Astros have a significant infield surplus. And I'll go through that in a second. But the only way to solve that is going to, in my opinion, the only way to solve that, put your best nine out there.
01:17:10
Cody Atkinson
on any given day is to really get comfortable with the idea of Jordan Alvarez playing left field and they do not want to do that they don't want he gets hurt frequently they don't want to put him in left field because they don't want to give him more opportunities to get hurt no mind that he has never gotten hurt playing in left field he's always gotten hurt while hitting or crossing home plate most recently um they they they would then They need to find something creative or they will have a highly paid, highly contributing piece on the bench every night of the season. so if and And my current view of the management is that I don't trust them to do that. I don't think this management is creative.
01:17:53
Cody Atkinson
I think they are very tied down to the simple rules of baseball and they back themselves into corners and and there's a significant roster construction issue. So at at catcher, we have Yainer Diaz, no concerns there.
01:18:07
Cody Atkinson
um he's He's proven himself. He obviously, he has room to improve pitch selection um as far as his hitting, you know, not chasing um and not getting swing crazy. is He has a very Jose Altuve approach with the plate, with which not everyone can get away with like Jose Altuve gets away with. um and And he can also improve defensively, but he is ah he is he is a quality MLB catcher.
01:18:29
Cody Atkinson
ah Behind him will likely be either Christian Vazquez or Cesar Salazar, who's been kind of the up-and-back AAA MLB catcher ah for the last few seasons, but is very limited offensively. So i likely Christian Salazar will be the backup catcher.
01:18:47
Cody Atkinson
um At first base, you're looking at Christian Walker coming off of a really down year last year, but owed, I think, $20 million a year and has no trade value. So they have not been able to move him and clear up the infield surplus. So he he is your first baseman and, you know, really hoping that you see a bounce back year from him. But he he is aging, so you can't guarantee a bounce back year.
01:19:07
Cody Atkinson
Second base, you're going to see Jose Altuve. He's back at second where the left field experiment with him that we did last year is done. He will be the second baseman, which I prefer.
01:19:17
Cody Atkinson
um We just don't have some second baseman barking for for playing time that's forcing him to left. i don't really know why they did that last year. Shortstop, you're going to see Jeremy Pena.
01:19:29
Cody Atkinson
ah He will start the season on the injured list, unfortunately. um That's a bummer. It does clear up the infield surplus for a few weeks until he's back, and and we don't we don't have an idea. i don't know if he'll go formally on the IL and we'll have to wait 15, 10, 15 days for him to come back, or if he's just going to start – um you know, on the roster, but not playing for a couple of days until he's ready to go. It's a little unclear on that. So you will see Carlos Correa as a shortstop when the season opens, which will be a nice, just ah a nice touch for for fans who who who had to see him go. Just seeing Carlos Correa back at short will be a really cool experience. He will be the natural third baseman when healthy, ah but you'll see him at short and the surplus comes into play as well. Correa's at short, you're going to see Esau Paredes
01:20:15
Cody Atkinson
at third base. ah But when when fully healthy, there is no place for Isak Paredes to play. So you will pretty much every game, if they're not playing Jordan and left, you will have one of Isak Paredes, Carlos Correa, or Christian Walker on the bench, which in my mind is a waste of your, it's it's an improper allocation of resources. It's a waste of talent.
01:20:38
Cody Atkinson
You don't need a name that big on the bench. especially when you're paying all of them. You don't need one of them on the bench. um They're going to have to figure that out. I don't have faith that they will figure that out. and And the fact that there will be uneven and probably unpredictable playing time has me concerned that these guys won't find a rhythm that they're used to, um just as creatures of habit. We shall see. In the outfield, you have...
01:21:04
Cody Atkinson
similar, but you have a surplus in the sense that you have just a lit you have a grab bag uh, unproven options and you can just pull out on any given day and hope you got the one who's playing well. So center field, we expect to see Jake Myers. He had a breakout year last year, but his breakout year was still basically league average offensively um and, and great defensively expect to see him in center field and right field.
01:21:34
Cody Atkinson
I expect to see Cam Smith. um There's a lot of people thinking that'll be a platoon. I believe in Cam Smith. I believe that he will not platoon. He was so good for the first half of his rookie season, having played only like 10 minor league games in his career above double-A or something like this. He was so good. And then he hit a wall and hit a wall because he had never played more than 60 games in a calendar year because he was fresh out of college.
01:22:04
Cody Atkinson
um and And the grind was too much. And he had an awful, awful end of the season due to fatigue and just the grind of the MLB season. He's come back bigger.
01:22:16
Cody Atkinson
He's come back stronger. He's having a great spring training again. And now he has the experience of having done it before. So he's going to be ready for it. He knows how to pace himself.
01:22:24
justin_daulton
Thank
01:22:25
Cody Atkinson
He knows how to lean on the vets for the day in, day out routine. um Big year for Cam Smith. I think he's your everyday starting right fielder, personal opinion. He also might get platooned.
01:22:38
Cody Atkinson
And then after that, it's it's it's a bit of a mystery. My hope is that you see a lot of Jordan in left field so that you can see Isak Parade is at DH and we can round out the best lineup we can put. You won't see that often, um most likely. So you'll see some combination of Joey Lope or Fido, who was formerly in the system, traded away to Toronto. Now he's back.
01:22:58
Cody Atkinson
um You might see Bryce Matthews, who is one of the top prospects in the organization as a middle infielder, who is being potentially, will potentially make the roster as a kind of utility man type um and has been playing a lot of outfield in spring training. So you might see him and you might see Zach Cole. I don't think both Matthews and Zach Cole make the roster, but I don't know who does. Zach Cole made the team with like two weeks to spare.
01:23:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:23:32
Cody Atkinson
um just hitting the lights out of the ball he was the juice they needed to try to make a playoff push ultimately it wasn't enough ah but he was awesome he just has too much swing and miss in his game and and to strike out the strikeouts are high and if they stay that high there's a chance that he's getting passed up um by other players. When he hits the ball, he hits it hard and it goes far, but he swings and misses a lot. So that that's kind of the lineup that you can look to see.
01:23:56
Cody Atkinson
Again, in a perfect world, i think you get really comfortable with Jordan playing a career high number of games in left field. Obviously not 162, maybe not even 100, maybe not even 90, but you know a career high in left field so you can get your best nine players in the lineup. I don't have faith in this front office to do the creative things. I don't have faith in this front office to take the risks that they need to take. So I don't expect Jordan to play a lot of left field because everything they've told me in this off season is that they don't want him to play a lot of left field. So I think we're going to waste a lot of talent on the bench.
01:24:34
Cody Atkinson
um And you're going to run out a very young threefold outfield while you have Jordan you know, Esau Paredes or Christian Walker or Carlos Correa or whoever sitting on the bench waiting for a pinch hitting opportunity.
01:24:46
Cody Atkinson
And that scares me because these guys, the names I'm saying are everyday starters in the league. They deserve to be everyday starters. um And I don't know how that all works together. If you're taking that away from them and they don't know when they're going to play and they don't have their routine. Like, I don't know how this affects it. And I, you could see,
01:25:08
Cody Atkinson
um you can see a drop off in production from that. And also you're just generally, you're not putting out your best lineup if you do that. So we'll see. um the lineup has potential, the management from the GM to the manager, it's guys on lame duck contracts. They both expire at the end of this year. And if they don't put it together, they're not going to be with the team.
01:25:32
Cody Atkinson
um I hope they get creative. I hope they risk it all because they got nothing left to tough to fight to like, to try to save. Because I think if they do that, you could see, um i think you could get a lot of juice out of this and you could have a really good year. But the,
01:25:49
Cody Atkinson
the range of outcomes for the Astros this year is wide. If the lineup works and the pitchers stay healthy, this is every bit of a playoff contender, a World Series contender. If if they if it if they the lineup doesn't come together, if they don't get creative, if there's injuries on the pitching staff, they could be third or fourth in their division.
01:26:11
Cody Atkinson
It's a wide range of outcomes. um I like what the lineup can be. I don't have faith in the management to put it together. You've already talked a little bit about the management of the Rays. you think about the management of the Rays?
01:26:25
justin_daulton
No, I think, I mean, ultimately we brought back pretty much the entire the entire staff. There wasn't a whole lot of turnover in the in the front office and and into it all, right?
Rays' Future Plans and Market Investments
01:26:34
justin_daulton
The biggest change this year coming in, the change in in ownership.
01:26:37
justin_daulton
um With the the the new ownership coming from Jacksonville um being home builders. So they really come in and said that we're staying in Tampa, we're building, we're going to build the future in Tampa.
01:26:51
justin_daulton
um So put to put the bed the rumors of team going to going up to Montreal or doing that weird split thing that we talked about. So it's really keeping everything intact and really trying to figure out, you know, what they want to do for, to being a quote unquote small market team down here in Tampa, which I think once you move them into Tampa proper, you're no longer a small market team, right? You're a small market because you play in St. Petersburg, um which is 45 minutes away from downtown Tampa.
01:27:19
justin_daulton
So
01:27:20
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:27:21
justin_daulton
I think once you solve that problem and you build the what looks to me like a pretty impressive looking stadium. Right now they're they're dealing with the funding aspect of things, which is the current you know reality for all sports organizations of building you know these massive stadiums and not using taxpayer money.
01:27:40
justin_daulton
so how do you do that how do you navigate that um but it seems like there there's a lot of positive movement with this um with this proposal um that sounds like the state's behind it um and the city of tampa is behind it um so this is making sure that we make the money makes sense and we're not allowing billionaires to not pay for their facility um which is a big thing because you have money so you should spend your money um
01:28:01
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:28:04
justin_daulton
So we'll see what that what it looks like. i've I've said it for probably the last month now. This is the transitional period for the Rays, man. So I expect Kevin Cash and them to stick around. I expect to see this the the the same staff moving forward, maybe some small tweaks here and there.
01:28:19
justin_daulton
Something that we talked about a couple weeks ago, Kevin Kiermaier came in on as a consultant role for spring training to really talk to the outfield and really coach up those young guys that were that got invited to spring training. Obviously, Cedric Mullins does not need someone like Kevin Kiermaier teach them how to play center field.
01:28:33
justin_daulton
So, you know, we're that's obviously going to pay dividends for having someone with so much experience to come in on that consultant basis. Not necessarily being a part of the staff, but was a big, came in for like the first like three weeks of spring training to really talk to them to the young guys.
01:28:51
justin_daulton
and help coach him up um we talked about the the kid that came over in the in the houston trade this off season where he was playing outfield for a lot of the early spring training games um sound like he got sent down uh to either triple a or double a um i don't know sure i'm not sure what exactly where he ended up at but ah you say oof but like i look at it as a as a win because if you have that type of talent whether it is in Durham or Port Charlotte, your time in those two and those two facilities are short.
01:29:19
justin_daulton
Cedric Mullins is not a long-term answer in center field in the Major League Baseball right now. you you You have Cedric Mullins for probably this year, maybe next year, um but you expect to see your depth from the minors come up very soon, which has been the raised way.
01:29:33
justin_daulton
But like I said earlier, what I expect to see is as we kind of figure out what the future of Tampa baseball looks like, I expect more money coming into the organization and I expect to see attendance numbers going to go up, which means the the product on the field goes up. And then, you know, the and the enjoyability of watching Tampa baseball again gets back to where it was, you know, in the 2009 to 2013 range, right, where you had an Evan Longoria, you had David Price, you had Chris Archer, you know, you had all these names that,
01:30:03
justin_daulton
really put butts in seats and put butts in seats for the majority of the season. So that's what I expect to see over the next couple of seasons. Like I said, i don't, I don't expect a lot this year. i think, you know, you just talked about the, the wide range for the Astros, right?
01:30:18
justin_daulton
I think for the Rays, we're, we're a bottom two team in the division. We're in a very stacked division. Um, will make a hot take here that I do think as opposed to where it was last year, I think Baltimore jumps back up and I think the Red Sox fall down.
01:30:31
justin_daulton
Um, I can see the Rays and the and the Red Sox fighting for the bottom two spots in the division this year.
01:30:36
Cody Atkinson
Oh, wow.
01:30:37
justin_daulton
Um, obviously the, you know, we're getting a little, we're teetering a little bit into what, what my AL East primer would look like here, but the, the Red Sox losing out on Bregman. Um, and they also lost, um,
01:30:48
justin_daulton
There are other third baseman that they moved to first base when Bregman came in. I can't remember what his name is now. So now you have no third base depth and you don't have a first baseman. So you're losing your two cornerstone pieces there.
01:31:00
justin_daulton
Obviously Bregman ending up in Atlanta this year, right, was where he landed.
01:31:06
Cody Atkinson
No, Bregman's in Chicago. He's with the Cubs.
01:31:09
justin_daulton
Chicago Cubs, there it is. um I knew it was in that court in that corridor. um So yeah, I mean, the Red Sox, dis zone I don't think have the pieces right. um i don't think they have a pitching to go long-term where I think Baltimore got better. So I think you see Baltimore competing with the top three teams in that division.
01:31:28
justin_daulton
Ultimately, this is still a two-horse race, I think, at the top of the division, which means the Rays are not in this conversation. And I don't think they're in the conversation for the wild card. um i fully expect the race to fall in around 500 or a little bit about a little bit under 500 this year which gives us a top 15 to top 10 pick in the draft next uh next season which is where we need to be you know if you want to keep building this foundation you know around kim marino uh taylor walls you know we talked about uh palacios Carson Williams, you know, you've got these young pieces now.
01:32:00
justin_daulton
We have the kid from from Houston down in the minors that looks like a very promising center of building prospects for this organization. So like I said, this is not the year.
01:32:11
justin_daulton
I'm so excited to watch race baseball. You know, you and I talked about that $100 and I get to watch all 162 games. This year is a steal for streaming rights that are obviously in constant kind of conversation around all professional sports around streaming.
01:32:27
justin_daulton
But very excited to watch as many as much baseball as i possibly can this year and and see what this team can be. i hope I'm wrong, but I do think that's where we end up around 500, maybe a little bit below 500.
01:32:42
Cody Atkinson
There you go. Soak it up this year, man, because we don't know what we're going next year. So.
01:32:46
justin_daulton
i I fully accept that I get a lot of baseball next year.
01:32:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. yeah so So soak it up this year. Good or bad, win or loss. Soak it up and enjoy it. um It's a good preview of the Rays. I think like you know if we're on prediction-wise, I do expect the Astros to be somewhere.
01:33:02
Cody Atkinson
I think I'm probably lower on the Astros than the average Astros fan. um I would put them close to the 85 win total. um I think they have the pieces. If you just look at the roster top to bottom, I think you would come out with a higher number just because of um the names that you see. But Some of them are aging, and I just really don't have faith in the management structure of this team to put everyone in the best position to um to put it together. And quite frankly, this is a team that's been snakebitten by injuries for a few years now.
01:33:33
Cody Atkinson
And I don't think that it's fully random chance or luck. I think there's some issues with the process. And so i don't I don't look at it as like, well, if we get a fully healthy year, this is what we could be.
01:33:45
Cody Atkinson
I think what we're getting is what we're getting until they fix some of what they need to fix. Cause they just, the the handling of injuries has been improper and people are taking too long to come back. um and And you got to fix that. So, I've got them probably around 85, but like I said, the range is unreal.
01:34:01
Cody Atkinson
If they made it into the 90s, I wouldn't be shocked. That would just mean that the lineup came together and the pitching staff stayed healthy. And if they were as almost to the 70s, I'd be like, well, yeah, they they must have just screwed it up and a couple of key guys got hurt.
01:34:16
Cody Atkinson
um the the The range of outcomes for for the last few years, this is the biggest range of outcomes as far as what I think is likely for the Astros. So I don't know.
01:34:26
Cody Atkinson
had a feel going into this season, but it like I said, don't know what we're going to get next year. So I'm fired up for it. At the very least, I will be locked in on every single starting pitcher. And every outing from the bullpen because I love what this rot what this organization does with pitchers.
01:34:41
Cody Atkinson
And I can't wait to see what they've done with the staff this year. So um i got i got my I got a New Jersey for this year. I got the Tatsuya Imai City Connect. Last name written in Japanese kanji instead of – yeah.
01:34:53
justin_daulton
Oh, man.
01:34:54
Cody Atkinson
So I'm pretty stoked to wrap that for this year. um I had to do it. I had to do it. So – I mean, is there any is there any last words you want to say for the Rays? I know I had some other ideas here written down here.
01:35:06
Cody Atkinson
I think we touched that organically. so So if you've said if you've said your piece with the Rays, I think we can wrap it up. And if there's anything you want to add, feel free to.
01:35:16
justin_daulton
yeah i don't think i'm ready to make a jersey purchase i don't think i'm ready to commit that heavily to to to them i still got the ebben longoria one hanging up in the closet so i'll just bust that out every time i need to to have a tampa bay rays moment but uh uh no man i think i got everything i wanted out on the rays you know excited for baseball and baseball is my first love and in sports so always excited when we get to this time of the year i know last week we said that opening day is a holiday a i I completely agree with you, man.
01:35:42
justin_daulton
This should be and um an automatic day off every single year to watch opening day baseball.
01:35:45
Cody Atkinson
It should be.
01:35:47
justin_daulton
So excited that it's here finally. Excited that we don't longer have to speculate on everything going forward now. So excited to have these two teams play. Obviously, Houston is my backup team. It's my second team, right? My home.
01:36:00
justin_daulton
um tampa being my my my adopted home going forward with sports but um definitely very excited to see what both teams do um hopefully one of us makes the playoffs so we can at least talk into october baseball uh with either of our teams um but uh the only question i have for you because i i said where do you think you fall in the division do you do you have a chance of winning the division
01:36:11
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that'd be nice.
01:36:20
Cody Atkinson
Like I said, the range of outcomes is wide. I think they have every chance to win the division. i think they could I think they could legitimately end up anywhere from first to third in the division.
01:36:32
Cody Atkinson
um Most likely is probably second place to the Mariners. um But again, I think the Mariners might be due for regression as well. I don't know i don't know that Cal Raleigh can repeat the performance he last year.
01:36:43
Cody Atkinson
um because that was such an elite performance. We don't know yet if that's his standard or if that was a boom or bust. So you you could see regression from the Rays. um and And at the end of the day, they only won, I think the Rays won
01:36:57
justin_daulton
Mariners.
01:36:58
Cody Atkinson
the shit You're right. The Mariners, um I think they won 90 last year, maybe Astros won 87, something like that. um So it's a very, it's a very, very winnable division. i have the, actually I have the fan graphs here from the original primer I was putting fan graphs projects the Mariners to win the division with only 88 wins.
01:37:17
Cody Atkinson
So um I think it's a very winnable division. I think the Astros have every chance to win it most likely win. second place but you could see them even get jumped by an up-and-comer like the a's if they don't um if they don't come together because i think there's just that wide of a range of outcomes for them this year
01:37:38
justin_daulton
Absolutely. Well, mean, that's all I got for the week.
01:37:39
Cody Atkinson
yeah Yeah, that's all I got too. I'll leave you one note as we leave. I talk every week about how much I want hockey to come to Houston.
01:37:50
Cody Atkinson
And we're not getting in an NHL team, but Houston is getting an AHL team, junior league hockey team.
01:37:55
justin_daulton
Yeah, you are.
01:37:57
Cody Atkinson
Northern Iowa Bulls coming from Mason City, Iowa. My brother used to live there. I've seen their stadium inside the mall in Mason City. They are moving from Mason City to Richmond, suburb of Houston. So we got hockey in Houston. It's not the NHL, but I'm excited for it. And we're definitely going to catching some games. So If you're listening to this in Houston, support the Bulls because we've got to make hockey a big part of Houston so we get an AHL team here.
01:38:25
Cody Atkinson
But that's all I got.
01:38:26
justin_daulton
Are they are they an affiliate for anyone and on the NHL side?
01:38:30
Cody Atkinson
I don't think so. it's It's junior league. I think it's lower than – it's not like WHL or anything like that. I think it's lower than the minor league. So I think a lot of the guys playing here are trying to go to play at like the collegiate level.
01:38:46
justin_daulton
Okay. I didn't know it was going be like something similar to like the Solar Bears or anything like that here like we have in Orlando.
01:38:47
Cody Atkinson
So so it so to
01:38:51
Cody Atkinson
it's below the solar bears. So it's to to to put it in perspective, they're in the same league as the Corpus Christi ice race.
01:39:00
justin_daulton
Yeah.
01:39:01
Cody Atkinson
So I've got a natural rival in this league. So I'm going to come up with something offensive.
01:39:05
justin_daulton
nice sort of Nice little Corpus Christi shout out.
01:39:06
Cody Atkinson
so yeah I'm going to come up with something that's offensive to stingrays. And I'm going to say that about the race. i want to figure out what's the worst thing I can do to a stingray, and then I'll tell you, and I'll start hounding the the Corpus Christi ice rays.
01:39:22
justin_daulton
Very cool, man. But i I'm happy to see that hockey is returned to the city of Houston because obviously you went when we were growing up, we had the the Arrows there that played with and where the Rockets used to play downtown.
01:39:29
Cody Atkinson
Yep. Mm-hmm.
01:39:33
justin_daulton
So definitely happy to see that hockey is returning to the city of Houston, hopefully on a more professional basis in the near future as and NHL continues to talk more and more about expansion.
01:39:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, yeah. I hope this is is simply a step and a sign that that hockey can can exist in Houston. um So I'm ready to support it, and I'm excited for the NHL team in the future. But like said, today it was about baseball, and now you're ready for the Astros. You're ready for the Rays. You're ready to lock in for 2026.
01:40:02
Cody Atkinson
um So that's all we got for you today. and This has been episode seven. Thank you for joining us. If there's anything you want to talk about us, always anything you want us to talk about, always let us know. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe.
01:40:15
Cody Atkinson
um And we will see you next time ah for a a more in-depth MLB, a more in-depth look at the AL. I've been Cody and we'll see you.
01:40:25
justin_daulton
Evan Justin.
01:40:27
Cody Atkinson
Thanks.
01:40:28
justin_daulton
Peace.