Who Wins The AL East & West: Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays?

Who Wins The AL East & West: Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays?

It’s John Smoltz day here on Flip and Bats where every single week the Hall of Famer from the Atlanta Braves joins us to talk about any and everything around the game of baseball. This week we’re going to talk a lot about what he just saw in person on the call for Astros Rangers last weekend. A couple things to talk about there. One, our Frammer Valdz’s days as a Houston Astro coming to an end. He’s a free agent at the end of the year. There’s been a lot going on with him. He’s also a very good pitcher. So contractually he’s do a lot of money. Does he sign elsewhere or does he think the Astros sign him back? Who who wins the ALS? We’re going to talk about that. The Rangers are breathing down their necks. Who’s the better team between the two, the Rangers and the Astros after seeing them in person? And I I got to ask about Brian Abrao. Brian Abrao is one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball. One of the most dominant eighth inning pitchers in all of baseball. But he can’t figure it out in the ninth inning. It has been brutal the last couple outings in the ninth. He just blew a game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth. So, who better to ask than John Smoltz. What’s happening? Why are some guys good in the eighth and bad in the ninth? I’m going to talk to him about that. We have about 18 games to go as of today when I am talking to John Smoltz. Who wins the American League East? The Yankees and the Red Sox are three games back of the Toronto Blue Jays. Who wins the American League East? And who wins the American League West? The Mariners are one game back. The Rangers are two and a half games back of the Houston Astros. So, I’m gonna ask him those two. Who wins the East? Who wins the West? And then when it comes to the East and the Yankees, what do you do with Anthony Vulpi? Anthony Vulpi has been going through it. Um, it’s been really tough at the plate. It’s been bad in the field. This isn’t a tough stretch anymore. It’s just a bad season. He has not been good at all against right-handed pitching. So, I’m going to ask John Smoltz if if you’re the Yankees, if you’re Aaron Boone, if you’re that organization, what do you do with Anthony Vulpi and and how do you handle it? So, those are the questions for John this week. I’m excited to hear his thoughts. I hope you all are as well. Remember, Flip and Bats is presented by FanDuel Bet Baseball with us all season long on America’s number one sports book. And please check us out wherever you’re listening. Um, you can also watch on our YouTube uh platform. Flipping BatsPod is our YouTube channel. So, check it out there. Leave a comment, like the video. All of that really does help. So, as we’re heading into this, if you’re watching on YouTube, like the video, comment. It really does help. I appreciate you all. But without further ado, let’s welcome in now, the Hall of Famer, John Smoltz. All right. And I am pumped to be joined, as we are every single week, by the Hall of Famer, John Smoltz. John, how we doing this week? We’re doing good. Uh, Green Bryer to Chicago, Chicago to New Jersey, New Jersey to Philly on Thursday. So, a lot of good golf. I love that. And you last week were at the Greenbryer and went from there to Texas to cover Astros Rangers. Correct. That’s right. Yep. So, I want to start there. You were there. You were on site. You saw the two teams up close and personal. Obviously, I I believe the game you called the Astros won, but the Rangers ended up winning that series and they are breathing down the necks of the Houston Astros. Who do you feel like is the better team between the two, the Astros and the Rangers? Well, right now the roster uh for the Astros is healthier um and they have a better balance between their pitching and their offense. Texas, I just don’t understand the amount of injuries you can sustain offensively. They weren’t having a great offensive year before it happened. And now, you know, all of a sudden, you t you’re talking about a team that um is missing some of their stars and they can put together these kind of wins and be this close. It’s incredible. Yeah, absolutely agree with you. Uh when when it comes to the Astros, I believe so Hunter Brown is is an ace of a staff. I believe he was your your player of the game. You talked to him after the guy’s a stud. Uh in that same rotation is sort of a co-ace and Framber Valdez who’s there’s been a lot going on with Framber over the last you know year the and then the recent situation potentially allegedly throwing at his catcher intentionally. Do you believe Framber Valdez is making his last few starts as a Houston Astro? He’s a free agent after this season. probably financially that seems to be the path that the Astros make in these situations. Um, you just hope that, look, I’ve been a a fan of his pitching for so long. I think the always narrative is can he get to the next level mentally? Is he tough enough? He showed signs of that. He showed turning the corner. Everyone’s going to have a mistake. Everyone’s going to do certain things and blew their cool. I certainly did my career. But I think he’s got the ability to show which what’s which what’s which what’s which a shame of the way pitching is today. You would think that his value goes through the roof because his health has been so much better. I hope that’s the case for him, but we’ll time will tell. What was your Did you Did you see the video of him a couple starts ago in the mixup with the catcher? I did. Yeah. What was your reaction to seeing it as as a pitcher yourself? obviously pre- pitchcom days. Um, what was your immediate reaction to seeing it? My immediate reaction was he was frustrated when I thought I saw the catcher try to get him to stop before the home run. Correct. The pitch before he tries to tell him to stop and step off. Yeah. So, that that probably com combined with the home run just got super frustrated. And sometimes you go a little blind as a pitcher and the next thing you know you’re just going to throw a pitch that you’re going to throw. And and I I tr I truly do believe that there was there was more frustration than there was intention. And you know that can be very easily misunderstood. I’ll never forget getting uh so fired up at at Greg Olsen, one of my best friends on the team and a catcher, because I thought he was ignoring me and I missed a sign. And so I I kind of showed him up a little bit and he come running out there and said, “Don’t you ever do that again.” And I asked him, “Why didn’t you put down fastball?” and he said, “I did.” So that’s that can happen. Like those scenarios can happen where you get out of body and the next thing you know you you you’ve done something you would never do if you were thinking about it. So I don’t know if I go as far as to say that, you know, that was intentional, but I think he could have just been totally blocked off mentally and just said, “I’m throwing the heck out of this pitch.” And they got crossed up. How did you show up, Greg Olsen? I I I kind of waved him off, you know, like I can’t believe you’re not you’re not because I kept I I shook and shook. I’m like, I can’t believe he is not giving me. And um it was it was my fault 100% and uh never happened again. But I it was just in the heat of the battle where I was like I missed it. Obviously, I missed the sign he had given me. And so when you when you see repeated signs, you’re like, “What are we doing?” Like, “I want I want this other pitch.” Uh Millio Mazone got between us said, “You guys are best friends. What’s going on?” I said, “We’re good. We’re good.” I want to stick with the Astros for for one more question. I feel like you’re the perfect guy to ask about this, but Brian Abrau is one of the best eighth inning guys in all of baseball. One of the most dominant pitchers. great numbers in the eighth inning that I think we have in the league. In the ninth inning, he’s just not able to get it done right now. It’s been a real problem him in the ninth inning. He just blew another game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the ninth inning. What What’s the big difference, John? Why are some guys really good in the eighth and really bad in the ninth? You know, and that’s the old analytical anybody can pitch anywhere they want, right? Answer. or they don’t understand the personalities in some situations are not even close y to conducive. You get very comfortable in something. You’ve had success in something. Now you’re pushed up into what I call the most important role that has too much blame and too much credit. You could blow seven straight in the seventh inning and your team come back to win and nobody thinks twice about it. You blow the last three outs. Yeah. It’s always magnified. So there’s a little extra pressure. There’s a little extra expectation. And sometimes your save is by the eighth inning guy. Even though the closer gets the save in the ninth, he pitched the most important inning. Yeah. But but when you have to get the last three outs every single time, that is a monster role that not everybody can do. Yeah. Yeah. And the best way I explained it to somebody who asked me this question that didn’t understand that was pushing numbers, I said to him, I said, “Listen, you think everybody’s interchangeable and it’s really not that way.” I said, “You’ve got your iPad and computer and you can get a lot of information. You’re comfortable on it. What if I told you for the sake of the analytic team that I need you to put your computer away, you can’t use it, but you can use your iPhone.” you might you still can get that information, but you’ll be a little less um quick about it and it might make you uncomfortable because you’re used to using another piece of equipment that was faster. And I said, we constantly are putting young pitchers in positions that have no experience, but they have a great arm and they think they’re just going to fall in place. It doesn’t work that way. And that’s why I think you have a lot of people just frustrated with the way that pitchers are being used and the way that their identity is being crushed. They think the strong will survive. And maybe that’s true, but in the mix of all of that, they lose a lot of pitchers along the way. Yeah, I I couldn’t agree with you more. I think that’s really well said. Uh, I think a lot of people get confused why a guy can pitch in the eighth or can pitch in the seventh or the sixth but not the ninth. And a lot of organizations continue to do it because the numbers say his fast ball is 100, his spin rate’s incredible. That plays in the ninth inning against anybody and we want him to pitch our ninth inning, but analytics omit the mental side of baseball and how difficult it can be or how much pressure it can be. And um I I think that’s a honestly a really good explanation. And I’ll tell you where a lot of people uh general fans watching the game don’t understand and I don’t blame him. A guy comes in the eighth, he mows him down in 10 pitches and there’s no chance he’s going out in the ninth. I would put him back out in the ninth when you’re in a roll. Like see the thing about pitching and the thing about teams that have to use many components. You only need one guy to not be on. So if you have to use six pitchers every night, you’re only needing one guy to not be on that cost you the game really fast. And so that’s that’s why this the more you can shorten a game and the more high leverage pitchers you can use it it it works better. And you know I I I would be of the mindset and again maybe I’m the minority but I would be training a guy to go two innings every four days, every three days, three times a week. I would be training a twoinninging eat them up guy. And there’s plenty of guys that can do that, but we’ve preconditioned that. Nope, it’s got to be three outs, next guy, three outs, next guy, three outs. What about six innings and some some guy finishes it with three innings? Like, there’s not it’s it doesn’t always have to be a cookie cutter situation. So, I’m looking for that team that takes a power arm that might be a starter down the road and eats up bulk innings, especially when the situation calls for it and he’s on. I look back at some of the dominant playoff teams over the last few years and when when they were just running out Andrew Miller for like, you know, the starter would get through the fifth or sixth, get through five or six and then Andrew Miller would come in and throw the six, seventh, sometimes the eighth or the seventh and the eighth and just bridge the gap as this dominant guy. It just felt like it was game over a lot earlier. And it feels like to your point, teams don’t do that. You come in, you throw your seventh, you’re done. Go hit the showers. Thanks for your time. Whereas I feel like Andrew Miller is the perfect example of what you’re talking about. Yeah, absolutely. The the Kansas City Royals, good or not, ruined it for a lot of baseball organizations because they all wanted to get that model of 2015 and 16 where they had four super starter super levers and then they all went an inning. And but here here’s what I’d say. If guys were allowed to go three days in a row, I’d say, “Okay, that might work.” But the formula has to be in a winning formula because starters only go five or six. You have to use your horses every single time. So, if you can save one, you could have a closer in theory with some of these staffs every day of the week. But if you don’t, your closer can only pitch three to four times a week max because of the way they’re using them. So, I think the bulking guy is a necessity. And by the way, when rule changes do come and they limit how many pitchers or they do things to change the philosophy, that’s when you’re going to see the team that gets ahead of the curve that’s got that guy ready because if you can shorten the staff of how many pitchers you have, you have to increase the role of what they’re asked to do. Yep. John, there’s about 18 roughly 18 games to go in the season as you and I speak right now. Two predictions from you. One, let’s talk AL West. We have the Mariners one game back and the Rangers two and a half games back of the Houston Astros who are not playing good ball right now. Who wins the AL West? Well, I thought the Astros had a chance to and and we talked about this before. I thought they had a chance to bury the other two teams in that division. They didn’t. So, now it is wide open. And I’ll tell you what, it’s hardressed for me to not think Seattle’s not in the best position. Yeah. But at the same time, they went on a massive road trip and just absolutely played terrible. Thankfully, they won the last couple games. So, I’m going to say Seattle has the best inside track. If anyone’s going to catch uh Houston, it it’s Seattle. All right. AL East, you have the Yankees uh sitting there right at three games back from the Jays and the Red Sox are tied with them. So you have the Yankees and the Red Sox three games back of the Toronto Blue Jays with about 18 to go. Who wins the AL East? I thought for sure New York was out of its funk. They keep showing signs of really weird games, whether it’s defensively or like the other day, nine runs in an inning with all the It’s just crazy that certain cracks can come in that team and and show that they’re not quite ready to take that division. I still always felt they had the roster, but Toronto has gotten over the hump. They don’t fear anybody. And I think Toronto’s going to win that division. I really do. I think the fact that they have uh minus a major slump. They’ve got the Yankees and the Red Sox going head-to-head what six more times or something. Yeah. Uh whatever that is. So, so I think that’s a good thing for a team that has a three-game lead uh on on both of their uh the closest chasers. John, when it when it comes to the Yankees, Anthony Vulpi, shortstop, young kid, supposed to be the next Derek Jeter and a phenom at shortstop. He’s been a problem there defensively, offensively. Um, what what do you do with him? If you’re the Yankees, what do you do with Anthony Vulpi? In his last 200 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, he has an on-base percentage of 198. This isn’t a tough stretch anymore for Anthony Vulpi. This is a bad season. Yeah. I I think because of the quality he is and the place he plays, that doesn’t always mean it’s going to work, right? Like he’s such a great kid and you think he’s ready and and he can handle it, which from the outside, you never know how people are handling New York cuz the attention is again so spotlight on. and he’s in an incredibly tough situation. I think sometimes, I’m not suggesting this is what needs to happen, but sometimes if he was in a different organization, this wouldn’t be the rhetoric. I mean, he may not have the greatest year, but it wouldn’t be because he’s replacing Derek Jeter and, you know, he’d just be an upand cominging guy that needs to keep making adjustments. And I think if he can get through this season, however it ends, um, go to work in the off season and find a way to crack the code on some things that creep in, that’s the only way hitters can shut doors of how pitchers are getting them out. Because when they start having all having success, that’s a problem. And that’s when you’ve got to make certain changes that in some ways might be radical, but they have to change your muscle memory. You have to change the mechanics of what you’re doing. It’s not that easy on the fly. You can’t just get into the season with a month to go and go, I’m going to make this change and maybe it’ll work for October. You kind of are what you are and you just hope that you find a week where it just clicks and it feels better and the pressure comes off of you. But it it definitely is going to be off season. That’s the only way you’re going to be able to get to a place where the true talents and the true things that they’re expecting this young man to do will will come to fruition because he’s unlock some things mechanically that right now he hasn’t unlocked. Yep. John, always a lot of fun, my friend. I really appreciate it. Enjoy the week. Enjoy the week of golf and we’ll do it again next week. Look forward to it. It’s almost playoff time, my friend. We’re getting close. We’re almost there. All right. Thanks, John. All right, just wanted to thank John again for joining us. Always really, really appreciate him taking the time every single week, no matter where he is or what he’s doing, to join us here on the show. It truly means a ton. And I I really did think it was fascinating what he said about the closer situation and a guy pitching the eighth and a guy pitching the ninth and analytics say they’re the exact same, but the eye test and your mentality does not say it’s the same. It isn’t the same. Um, so it’s really interesting hearing him talk through that fun one. this week. A fun show about 17 18 games left in the season. So, we’re It’s crunch time. There are still like three divisions that aren’t completely wrapped up. AL East, AL West, NL West, still totally up for grabs. A fun weekend of baseball ahead. The Giants and Dodgers face off this weekend. They also face off next weekend in LA. Giants and Dodgers have seven games left against each other in the regular season. So, a lot can happen here in the next couple of weekends. There’s still a lot to go on. Uh, this weekend’s going to be awesome as well. And we’ll be back Monday to talk all about it. So, really appreciate you all for listening or watching. Subscribe, follow wherever you listen to your podcast. Check us out on our YouTube channel, Flipping Bad Pod. Leave a comment, like the video. I always respond to you guys in the comments and love continuing the conversation there. So really appreciate that as well and follow us on all social media pod everywhere. Hope you all enjoyed it. I know I did as well. Thanks again to John Smoltz. And until next time, my friends, enjoy the weekend of baseball and remember, find your bat and flip it. face.

Ben Verlander welcomes back MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz to the show to discuss the saga with the Houston Astros and Framber Valdez. They also chat about who Smoltz thinks is going to win the AL East & AL West between the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. They also talk about whether or not there is a big difference between pitching in the 8th inning and 9th inning & why some guys just can’t handle pitching the 9th.

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Who Wins The AL East & West: Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays?