Jorge Lopez-New York Mets debacle, Blue Jays go ‘night mode’ | Baseball Bar-B-Cast | Yahoo Sports
[Music] hello and welcome to baseball barbar cast the only baseball podcast in the world for whom every Regional is a Super Regional because I’m super I’m Jake minz and I am not joined by Jordan schust because he is still moving he’s taking his time instead I am joined by the woman who puts the pro in wo a Long Meadow Lancer Legend the Garrett stubs of ivy league softball one career triple someone who I’m humbled to call a contemporary proud to call a friend one of the few people on planet Earth who might like baseball more than I do she played for the 18 and under Massachusetts destruction club team and was an all State tenor saxophone player and first chair in the all-western Massachusetts Wind Ensemble the national baseball writer for the Washington Post Chelsea James hello and good morning good morning wow that was more than I expected to hear about myself at this hour but thank you yeah the internet is a is a beautiful place Chelsea and before we get into it I want to know about your one career triple as a softball player e you know it’s actually if it’s what I’m remembering and there weren’t many to mix it up with so it was like one of the first games my dad had not attended um I was very lucky to have him at every game and I hit a 3-1 pitch up the right field line and I you know it was like on Gamecast my dad was following it and he saw that I was like had an extra base hit and texted my mom and he’s like I think Gamecast is broken like she got a hit and my mom was like no it’s real and I like got to second base I was like holding my batting gloves they were like no you got to like or third base and they were like you got to put those in your pocket I was like sorry I’ve just like never been here before I don’t know what the rules so my first time it’s my first time this close to home play did was I correct to describe your your playing style you were a defense first catcher correct yeah yeah the Garrett Subs of yeah I mean perfect generous yeah how does your history as a catcher influence your uh baseball watching talents now as a professional baseball Watcher it’s a great question I’ve always really appreciated the backup catchers of the world so that’s part of it I think I really root for them and I I am always very happy when I see them you know come up with a big hit or something but other than that I don’t know that I learned a whole lot that helps me sort of think think along with major league baseball catchers because we just didn’t have the we didn’t have the arsenals in our pitching staff to really get too creative we were kind of just like please go over the plate so please throw it over the plate you weren weren’t Leaning On The Rise ball all too much on today’s episode we are going to not talk about ivy league softball much longer I am going to shout out Ivy League Baseball because this is regional weekend for division one college baseball very exciting the ivy league champ pen Quakers will be in Charlottesville Virginia as the four seed um but we’re going to focus on for the first trunk of our show the Jorge Lopez debacle fuffle that happened on Wednesday night in Queens uh we will both tell our perspectives uh on the story I barely missed it in person I’ll explain why we’re going to talk to Chelsea about the Nationals and the Orioles the two teams within driving distance although I guess everything is within driving distance if you have the stamina we’ll think about Clark Schmidt’s injury we’ll talk about the blue jay City connects and then we will get out of here with The Good The Bad and The ugla but let’s begin in Queens New York where the the ever calamitous Mets the Eternal disaster the blue and orange Landslide continued they they stayed true to themselves the I’m sure there are some people who don’t know what happened so I’m just going to quickly run through the beat by beat of the Jorge Lopez situation for first thing to know who is JY Lopez right JY Lopez is a mediocre starter on the Kansas City Royals and then he is a bad starter on the Baltimore Orioles in 2021 they move him with a bullpen and what do you know he’s throwing harder incredible in 2022 he’s an All-Star one of the best closers in the sport they trade him to Minnesota at the deadline for a package in 22 that includes y Canó who is now the best relever in the Orioles Bullpen he’s bad for Minnesota in 22 bad for them in 23 they cut him he he ends up with the Marlins he’s bad for them they cut him he ends up with the Orioles he’s still bad for them met sign him into a one-year $2 million deal this past off season couple other points of context that are important to know about Jorge Lopez he’s had some mental health issues in the past including a 15-day I elant last year when he was with the twins he has a kid named Michael it was a very rare illness that requires like a ton of Maintenance when Jorge was in Baltimore it was a thing the team rallied around uh quite often and then you know this year up until this week was like a perfectly solid Workhorse reliever for the Mets just coming in out of the bullpen Chelsea did you have any overlap with him when you were around the Orioles at all I know you probably weren’t like as frequent a presence on the 2022 Orioles as you are nowadays um but I’m curious if you had any direct interactions with h Lopez I don’t think anything other than a few quick like one-on-one interviews about teammates but he was super super nice absolutely no red flags that I saw you know nothing nothing stuck out in a bad way or a good way frankly yeah okay so what happened this week so J Lopez does something incredibly normal and that is allow a home run to show he Otani okay I’ve done it you’ve done it we’ve all been there we’ve all been there and that is you know I’m not gonna have too many other jokes here I will say allowing the Homer to Otani being the thing that really set him off is like dude it’s okay like if if if it had been David Fletcher or Andrew benintendi or some you know Lis arise then you know throw your glove but you know we’ve fall alled a home run to aani there’s no shame in that so he L home run to Otani in what is eventually the Met’s eighth loss in nine games on the very next pitch after the Homer Freddy Freeman checks swing he doesn’t go not really even that close Lopez screams at the third base umpire Ramon de hesus who ejects him after some back and forth on the way off the field Lopez throws his glove over the 20 foot netting heck of a throw best throw of the day throws his glove Over The netting into the crowd walks off the field bad luck right not something that you want to do it’s uh that’s the type of thing where like if one of my little leag kids did it I would be like you can’t do that I can’t DFA a 10-year-old but you know I would definitely bench them at least for a second okay so in the postgame scrum when he’s asked about it we get a hurricane of miscommunication where for a moment it sounds like Lopez is saying he’s the worst he’s on the worst effing team in baseball it was later kind of confirmed that he definitely said the worst effing teammate in baseball he’s being really self-critical he looks really frazzled it was pretty obvious that this was a person who is not okay in the moment the team then DFAS him they cut him they designate him for assignment and then we get a statement from Lopez yesterday kind of reviewing the entire situation so Chelsea James when you first saw this whole thing what came to your mind yeah I first saw the clip that SNY tweeted that said like he said he’s on the worst you know effing team in MLB and I was like holy moly like what and then I watched it and I was like uh like you know actually I did it in the wrong order because I retweeted it and then I watched it which is on me um but then I I was watching and I was like oh my gosh that’s wild but like he wasn’t in a rant he was just kind of demoralized I couldn’t really hear him but I assumed like you know they’re saying that’s what he said that’s probably what he said um and then just kind of following along it was like it was just a really confusing situation because it felt like he was being conveyed as very angry in that scrum and he didn’t look it right so it just was like kind of a strange interaction it felt like there was more angst built up there behind the scenes than like I was aware of not being there but um yeah in in the ification was I think also confusing because there were a lot of the Mets be writers trying to get it right who were like okay we checked with him we asked like did you mean this and he was like yeah whatever I meant that and it was like well it’s kind of an important thing you don’t really yeah whatever that so it just it just felt like everyone was misunderstanding everyone and he probably didn’t understand the stakes and I don’t know not being there it was it was a very confusing thing to watch so I will just say now I was there when he threw the glove and then I left I did not stay for for postgame Clubhouse because I had concert tickets and I have a schmuck for this and like I I wish I had stayed so I could have you know gotten to seen and experience this and but I and I also missed I biffed that right I think the the key point for me is the Mets did not do enough in this moment to protect Lopez from himself and I think the reason that that happened and this is understandable is that he was dead weight already that the decision to cut him DFA him the uh whether that had happened before or after what he said it was clearly being discussed it was on the table after what he did on the field right and so what that means is the Mets were less incentivized to send someone in there to protect him if this had been theoretically Edwin Diaz who the Mets have under contract for you know a lot more years at a lot more money who is a vital member of their future I would think that this would have gone differently right I think that they would have been more encouraged to ensure that he did not say anything stupid or silly and that everything was conveyed clearly I think that not having a translator did him a huge disservice I I I’m sympathetic to a point to the Mets PR staff because because you can’t go up to a player who does not want a translator and force an interpreter on that player think about that look that’s a bad look right it’s a very difficult situation that required tact where in the middle of him jumbling through the response someone should have been like hey Jorge it seems like you’re really struggling to kind of convey what you’re feeling here let’s bring in a translator just so we can get it right that’s the way this situation should have been handled but in the moment that’s really difficult right and that is it’s all just very unfortunate and very sad I’m confused too by just how quickly it seemed like he became Persona NADA in that room you know I think that’s like sure you threw the glove and it was a bad day but I like I’m confused about how quickly he was sort of left out to dry because you know seeing clips of teammates and stuff there was no one sort of it was nobody kind of has gone in and been like yeah he got screwed for lack of a better term like it’s just been a weird weird situation and you’re right like you can’t tell him use an interpreter but what you can do is like many you know you can listen in and realize something’s wrong and and try to fix it and I I just feel like everyone kind of failed him and it’s my worst nightmare personally so like misquote someone who didn’t know what they were saying basically um and so you know I just kind of feel for him and I feel for everyone who like watched that happen and was not in a position to kind of like understand it fully and yeah I think that let’s let’s talk about just the conduct on the field the glove throw I think it’s fair to call it a tantrum an outburst right you paid witness to a similar situation in DC I believe 2018 you can correct me if I’m wrong I believe it was I I I will check that it was Davey at the time though yes so I’m pretty sure yeah a reliever on the Washington Nationals by the name of Shan Kelly is pitching uh in a baseball game as was his job uh sorry uh yes August 1st 2018 uh pitching with a 24 run lead okay I’m just GNA say that again a 24 run lead against the Mets the the Nationals these were these were the Nationals the Nationals are up 25 to one over the New York Mets and Sean Kelly allows a two-run home run to to I believe that is Austin Jackson on the Mets that is hilarious and he is pulled from the game because he slams like grank spikes his glove on the mound after allowing the Homer and turns towards the duck out now allowing a home run in a 25-2 game and throwing your glove on the ground like that’s childish he is then removed from the proceedings and DFA shortly thereafter what do you remember from the Shan Kelly situation so much um I think the context there was that like you know Sean Kelly was a veteran reliever I think at that point he was in the third year of a three-year deal with the Nets and I’m pretty sure he had been giving up just like a ton of homers and so I think he was mad he was in the game like I think he had turned off his brain for the day and thought like throw a kid in there like I shouldn’t be there I think they were out of arms or trying to get him some work and he was mad he was in the game and then he watches you know his ER go up and he spikes the glove and my understanding of what happened after that and you know sha Kelly is a really good-natured guy like he probably laughs about this now to be honest um I think he went in the clubhouse and there was like a confrontation with Mike Rizzo uh that had to be broken up because you know like and my understanding too is like Sean Kelly pretty quickly was like yeah that wasn’t cool but uh yeah it was kind of like a very heated moment in the season that was falling apart and uh but again like there was context there like he didn’t want to be in the game he thought he was being disrespected he’s a veteran it’s 25 to1 so like the glove slam was childish and a tantrum but it like made sense um and it wasn’t like they didn’t DFA him just because he did that they dfade him because of how he handled the situation both before and after the fact right if he doesn’t get into with Mike Rizzo in the clubhouse he probably doesn’t get cut and I think we have a similar situation here based upon my understanding in regards to J Lopez says is that the final decision to cut him was not made until after he spoke to reporters now the Mets have been very hoam about this uh Carlos Mendoza their manager yesterday during his presser was like I’m giving you he basically said I’m not giving you guys a iota of timeline here okay yeah but my understanding based upon people I’ve talked to is that while it was being discussed before Lopez spoke to reporters the final decision did not come until after right and so that tells me that when they talk about his conduct is both how he treated it how he treated the team and the whole situation on the field and how he acted afterwards which I think is a little bit unfair there was a situation I believe two years ago where Bryce Harper was ejected at home at Citizens Bank and threw his helmet into the crowd to a fan and a kid caught it and the response to that moment was oh that’s so cute Bryce Harper’s the best and I do think that the way that we’re talking about these two different scenarios is really interesting right where we have a no-name reliever for a team that is like falling apart is disintegrating at the seams and he becomes the villain I think Lopez is really here just in the wrong place at the wrong time speaking the wrong first language yes yeah I mean the word scapegoat sort of comes to mind um and I think too like the Mets you know it’s a different era but only barely like when their players were booing their fans I mean like what are we talking about you know it’s it’s not like I don’t know they’ve seen worse so the whole thing is kind of just a little bit it’s surprising it feels like it escalated much more quickly than it needed to and I’m just sort of stunned at the the lack of people in the Mets Clubhouse offering any kind of yeah deescalation like it’s weird yeah I do you should those our friend of the program former colleague of mine put it really well to me yesterday when we were talking about it she’s like like the Mets when the Mets try to be a serious organization and where they’re really intent on not metsing themselves is when they Mets the most yeah such good they can’t get out of their own way and I think we saw that a little bit yesterday I think the last Point here is just I’m glad that the discussion on this has changed somewhat and I think that it’s really easy to see the video and to see the clip of him saying I’m the worst player on the worst team or whatever right and turn this guy into a punching bag and and a punch line I mean this is someone who was not having a a good time this is someone who in that moment was not healthy you know and I think that specifically his own situation where he has a sick kid and yesterday was the sick kid’s birthday which makes this even more sour and this is someone with a history of mental health issues I just hope that people continue to give him some Grace I know that if I was in this type of situation that’s what I would want understanding empathy and not ridicule I am pretty hopeful based upon how he threw for the Mets that he will get picked up somewhere else and throw again in the major leagues this year or another year um but this whole thing just makes me feel sad you know I just think it’s just a bummer and it’s as simple as that any final thoughts on this Chelsea before we move on to happier days no totally agree hope he pitches again I don’t think anything he did would scare teams off or should scare teams off and when we talk about the spectrum of immorality people okay there are way worse people throwing baseballs way more often than Mr Jorge Lopez although actually you know what not more often you know how much they were pitching this guy this guy was throwing every day why underhand the glove yeah yeah he was sore right you know softball pitching you throw it underhand you would get sore you just keep going I I on the broadcast yesterday they were like well we gotta find someone to replace all these Jorge Lopez innings it’s like actually yes yes you do you absolutely do good luck uh all right let’s drive down I95 and towards where Chelsea James lives I won’t you know dox your specific address but you are in the Washington DC metropolitan area and that means you spend quite a bit of time around the gats and the O’s this season has belonged to the O’s more than the Nats the orol are one of the best teams in the league however I would say it is about as optimistic things have been down at Nats Park since 2019 so let’s begin with them what has gone well for the Washington Nationals in 2024 to this point I think the easiest way to explain it is that Sean dittle was added to their coaching staff and has great all right wrap it up that’s all we got to know yep I I mean really though I mean for years I mean since 2014 or before they just were never able to turn young pitchers with potential into actual Big League starters and the ones they did were like strawber you know you it would be hard to not so he could have done that right yeah exactly and so I think what’s happened this year that’s made everyone so hopeful is that not only is a guy like McKenzie Gore who you want to be the next Ace of the Nationals turning into that guy but some frankly randos are are turning into real big league pitchers I mean Jake Irvin is a guy who you know they thought I think could maybe help but certainly wasn’t penan as a four or five long term and now looks like he might be that um Mitchell par I don’t know if it’s going to last but he’s been really really good over and over a lefty who I think doitt has probably had a big effect on I mean basically they’re just making pictures better and that’s not something they’ve ever done and from what I hear a large part of that is sha dle and his kind of what he described to me as like inability to sleep if he hasn’t figured out some guy’s problem um so I don’t know if that’s good for his long-term Health but it’s it’s great for the Nets and there’s a lot of promising stuff happening there Mak it a nap Sean uh do you remember a character from Even Stevens named beans of course Mitchell Parker wow yes looks not exactly like beans but not not like beans and I asked around about this to the Nats Chelsea and apparently some of his teammates have been calling him Beans since spring training I did oh my gosh I didn’t know that that’s an incredible fact and it’s spoton as soon as you said it yeah he’s like hotter beans is the way I would describe Mitchell Parker because comparing someone to beans is is not kind but Mitchell Parker yeah he’s been amazing my favorite thing when you look at the national starters so far this year right you have irrationally excellent Trevor Williams who was spectacular again last night against the Braves like sure and Jake Irvin’s been very good McKenzie Gore has an ER under three Mitchell Parker came up and has been solid but Patrick Corbin tough day for him yesterday 30 0 and 34 yeah Patrick Corbin has a 612 ra so it he is unfixable he has been so available for the Nationals during his disastrous tenure so just let’s do a little context here for People Patrick Corbin signs a contract with the Nats in 2019 for seven years six years six years 6 years40 something million dollar more than more than we both have in our piggy banks um and he’s spectacular in year one and finishes 11th in the sa young and helps the Nets win the World Series like legitimate postseason hero for the Nationals okay and then everything falls apart since 2020 Patrick Corbin has started 116 games for the Washington Nationals he has run 630 Innings at his Workhorse behavior and he has an RA of five 67 so let me ask a very simple question what happened and why hasn’t anything changed in the last five years with Patrick hervin I think two things happened I think everyone the Nats leaned on in that run broke and nobody was the same after that and he I think probably had lost a little life on everything and needed every ounce of life he had because his mix is not you know that vast I also think he’s predictable and he’s had trouble developing anything to go with the the slider fastball everything like he he’s tried to use a cutter this year it has not changed anything um there’s been times where like the change up has been something it just hasn’t clicked and you know I don’t I think the Nationals have a lot of respect for him because he has just kind of warn this but they’re getting to a point now where Josiah gray is going to be coming back uh from injury and they’re going to have to decide whether a couple more months of Patrick Corbin is like something they’re willing to wear or not like that the decision is coming so like the Patrick Corbin Legacy discussion which might be brief uh is is underway because like he might it might be time if Patrick Corbin slips on a banana peel at the 2019 World Series parade and lands on his elbow and doesn’t throw another pitch for the Nationals he might have his jersey retired legitimately I mean go back and look at the game log from 2019 this guy was vital vital for that team they do not win the World Series without Patrick Corb right totally it was it’s you know the dumb Batman quote you live long enough to see yourself become the villain that’s exact but it happened right away too right he he was bad immediately and I think that it is fascinating what the Nats are going to do when he gets back because if you send down Mitchell Parker you can’t send Mitchell Parker back down he’s been so good and I I am fascinated just to see what they do here uh last question about the Nationals what does a successful season look like for them because as f as this has been as successful as things have gone they’ve had some unbelievably fun performances from Jacob young who does everything but hit but hits enough to be very valuable we’ve seen a lot of good things from CJ Abrams Jesse Winker has a 121 sure Ops plus if I don’t think either of us believe they’re going to make the playoffs is that fair do you agree totally okay so then what does a good rest of the season look like does it involve them trading these pieces that have overperformed and are maybe going to reach free agency at the end of the the year does it look like them adding at the deadline and maybe giving fans a reason to care in the second half of the Season what does success look like I think for them and and I think that’s like an open question because I think they’re kind of caught in this place where like if we’re around 500 you kind of gotta try but Trevor Williams could get you something I mean I don’t know if Winker and Rosario and guys like that will get you much more than a lottery ticket but hey that’s that’s something but I think for them they need to get to a place by the of this year where they know what they have and they know what they need to contend next year so if you can get through this year and you believe in the starting rotation and you’ve called up James Wood and you see him there in August and September you can go out on the free agent market and try to get yourself take the next step and finally kind of get out of rebuild mode I think that’s where they need to be and you know I don’t expect them to add at the deadline certainly I think they would be probably a little bit negligent not to subtract but you know if they’re around 500 I don’t know what you do but but yeah I think you need to get to a place where this offseason you go into it you say okay let’s turn into somebody that can compete and right yeah it I couldn’t foresee a scenario where Mike is like Broncos Nation let’s ride like let’s you know let’s let’s push the pedal to the medal at the deadline but probably doesn’t make too much sense and you mentioned a lottery ticket you know sometimes those lottery tickets turn into O’Neal Cruz that was a lottery ticket for Tony Watson I believe at the deadline and yordon Alvarez was a lottery ticket for Josh Fields right and so there are moments where it is worth it to trade these guys because sometimes it works out Dylan floro on the Nationals right now has a 0 n6 ER at 28 Innings he is a free agent at the end of the year he has 33 the Nationals should trade that guy for some you know six foot five high school kid or Venezuelan shortstop who’s in the DSL that is good business it makes sense that’s a good job of running a baseball team um we talk about the Orioles enough on this pod but let’s talk about them very briefly you have been making the drive up uh the Baltimore Washington Parkway more often this year to see the baby birds what have you enjoyed the most there are a lot of good things happening in Birdland but for you as someone who’s you know around the team much more regularly regularly than I am what has what has like stuck with you when you drive home from caming yards I think I find it remarkable how good those guys are when they get to the big leagues and how you know Jackson holiday being the exception but just how ready they are for sort of the whole thing like you know cower Westberg I mean obviously adley and Gunner but like there’s no there’s not only no fear there’s sort of just like no angst it’s like a very different Clubhouse than any I’ve ever experienced because number one I think all those guys came up together in genuinely are friends and I think in other rooms the amount of shuttling back and forth to Triple A the amount of competition over spots like could really cause some issues and it just hasn’t they just seem to handle those conversations very well in that organization and I think that for me is the thing I’m impressed with because I mean even going to like Jorge Mato and IAS and all these guys who you know have kind of had one foot out the door since the young guys started coming up they’re still performing they still find it bats for them you know they they just kind of seem to manage the people very well there right now and I don’t know if it’s because the guys in the clubhouse are particularly good I don’t know if the way that you know the organization is is handling it as good but I’ve just been really impressed with how everybody handles everything and just doesn’t other than that Series against Texas I have never seen that room flustered and I I don’t expect to it’s like where’s The Strife right where’s the a what like in a lot of rooms some like Kyle Stowers who has been up and down between tripa and the big leagues and who has crushed it in Triple A would be frustrated that he’s not getting playing time and maybe Kyle Stowers is frustrated you know underneath the surface but not allowing that to detract from what’s going on in the room is a pretty impressive Dynamic yes that they’ve been able to Foster and I also think it’s interesting within the context of who Mike Elias is and where he comes from because in Houston that was a real critique of that room was at times the Astros organization was criticized for not always treating the people like people right and it appears to me whether this is Elias’s call or whether it’s random chance he has in some ways learned from that experience and has made that a priority in Baltimore at least to this point right again or at least as the result we can’t it’s harder for us from the outside to just understand whether that is a priority or they just got lucky with Colton cowser liking Legos right I mean that’s who knows but the result is positive uh for the Orioles yes let me ask you the same question I asked about the Nats like what is a su a successful Orioles season look like I think I think you got to get to the the Cs I think at least show that you can move forward but you know I don’t know they’re in they’re in kind of an interesting spot I think they also probably need to make a couple really good deadline deals and start to weed out some of these extra bodies they have that I think is going to be really important because you can’t do this forever so I think getting their roster in a little bit of a more manageable spot and and making the most of who they have is going to be is going to be important you mentioned the room after the Texas series it it was fascinating so you know they had not gotten swept in 85 years up until the Rangers took all three games in the ALDS and it the lights just seemed so bright yeah I was not at any of those games because you know I was busy winning the nlds against the Braves um but um but I’m curious for you as someone who’s around that like what about that moment got too big for the Orioles pitching they just weren’t ready I mean I think Grayson Rodriguez is ready now I don’t think he was then bradish was fine but I just the pitching they needed an ace they needed someone who could set a tone and they just ran into something they weren’t ready for but I I don’t think that’ll happen again I think they’re short on pitching but like I those guys understand now but it was uh I think they just they didn’t have enough didn’t have enough arms all right that’s enough that’s enough Beltway sludge let’s drain the swamp and take a break and when we get back we will talk about the blue jay City connects Clark Schmidt and do The Good The Bad and The ugler and welcome back to baseball Barber cast Jake Mintz and not Jordan Schusterman I’m joined by Chelsea James of the Washington Post we’ll do The Good the Bad and the Ugly in a second but let’s talk about the New York Yankees the only baseball team that actually matters daughters too uh Clark Schmidt is going to go on the I I believe he was already put on the iil he is not going to throw a baseball for four to six weeks the Yankees rotation to this point in the season has been absolutely phenomenal Garrick Cole who has been hurt since spring training they really haven’t missed a step they’ve gotten great starts from Schmidt Carlos Ron Neer Cortez um Luis heel and Mark strowman they’ve been probably the second best starting rotation in baseball behind the Phillies but now we have Clark Schmidt hitting the Shelf with a lat strain let me ask a very stupid question does this change the way meaningfully change the way we are thinking about the Yankees moving forward during the regular season for me yes only because one injury as soon as you get one more you’re starting to look short uh that’s just my pitching paranoia I think but you also don’t necessarily know what you’re going to get from Garett Cole I mean it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll get Garett Cole but I think it I think it matters I think anytime you take somebody who’s been that good out uh it matters but I don’t know I still think they’re in pretty good shape and if they need something they can get it I always yeah that’s that’s a great point because the yanes have been willing to go get people at the deadline every year particularly starting pitching whether it’s Jay hap or Lance Lyn or you know Frankie Montas like they don’t always work but they will go get bodies to fill in and so if they do think they need to do that that’s something Brian Cashman is going to do um I think this is adorable you know Garrick Cole and Clark Schmidt Clark Schmid’s little brother gar Cole’s big brother and you know now they gets a hang out on the I together it’s a bummer for Schmidt though who’s just been so good this year who’s you know really taken some slow steps forward it is hard as a homegrown player to break into Yankee world because the standards for being an everyday guy there are so high and we’ve seen this happen with so many prospects who come up whether it’s on the pitching side or or not that can’t stick for the Yankees they have a reputation for developing pitching at the minor leagues and very few of those guys have become starters so far and that’s in part because they’re getting traded away at the deadline for pieces that are helping them or they’re getting moved to the bullpen and they’re being impact guys there like Ron Mario or Michael King was another good example that was a big win but to see someone like Schmidt make that leap into the rotation has been very impressive bummer for him hopefully he gets back healthy soon one more topic before The Good The Bad and The Ugly the Toronto Blue Jays dropped their City connect uniforms I believe last night leaving us I think there’s just one team left that we’re missing this year and that is the Minnesota Twins that will then give 28 of the 30 teams a city connect uniform with the Yankees and the A’s as the only two teams who don’t have one which is so good the yanies will never do it because they’ve got you know this stick of History up their ass and the A’s won’t do it because they’re literally disconnecting from their city but the we got these Blue Jays Unis uh they’re going with the motif they’re calling them night mode which is awesome it sounds like something Michael Scott would say in the office when he like turns all the lights off in in the room uh what was your takeaway from the uh blue jay City connecting forums I I think it’s probably very difficult to design a baseball jersey okay I do not think it is as difficult as as everyone has made it look this year and as they have been making these I I don’t think the answer is just to put a gray or black Jersey on I I just you had the entire country of Canada you know I’m sure there are restraints I don’t know about I’m sure there I just think I think you guys should do it I just think there are better options than turning something into night mode I love night mode my phones are all on dark mode but I I think we can do better I just think we have to so I agree with you I think the problem now is that every city connect that comes out that is night mode that is dark that is black tops Navy tops black bottoms Navy bottoms they stand out less because they they’re starting to all look the same I think if we get these particular Unis these Blue Jays night mode Unis two years ago I like them a lot more in my brain because I haven’t seen this 10 other times I think the roll out was freaking cool they had Jose Bautista in the city they got Edwin and Carion up there they got um the really cool like release video like when they dropped it I I like the look of the skyline I don’t think we’ve gotten enough skylines in City connect I like the hats however you’re right enough enough night mode someone turn on the lights please like the Angels one crisp rightt you got some bright like it’s bright colors and it’s dark together yeah the I I’m just I’m out on him I I don’t I think the cherry blossom ones really spoiled me because those are like the best jerseys of DC sports team has had in years but I just think we can be I think we can do more be better be better everybody be better Nike be better with all due respect but yes incredible way to go with all due respect by saying this is hard you’re making it look too hard yeah uh let’s hop in to the good the bad and the ugla uh Chelsea James I will kick you the rock what was good for you this week in the world of baseball you know I kind of already talked about it but I’m just I think I think we will look back and think that uh that Shan D will change the trajectory of the Washington Nationals and I know that sounds extremely dramatic but uh he’s been he’s really I mean I thought by now by June they would have fallen off completely they haven’t you know they’re just the pigeon staff looks better you know I’m I’m I’m a home Town focused person right now but I you know I just think like people might not realize that that’s been a a huge transformation there that’s an organization that like had no ability to make anybody better and Sean dittle showed up and they’re getting better I think it’s it’s fun to see him in the dogout and I I hope he can gets his due for that well and remember we were dunking on this team in spring training for I don’t care how hard you throw ball four right this is not something that is going on for that long they have not been he is single-handedly in some ways is making them competent at the big league level in terms of pitching development I hope that that kind of trickles down tot right that he’s able to kind of create that so that pitchers who are in the in the system are benefiting from it I mean you know look at Eric fetty who was a first round pick who got out of the Nationals organization and suddenly got a lot better right I think that is a trend and there’s a reason for something like that he also credits D little though with the fix there you go uh my good this week one thing I did like I’m just gonna briefly touch on uh Wayne Gretzky showing up to truus park at a Braves game and wearing the 99 Spencer Strider uniform is great feel but instead I’m gonna talk about David Fletcher David Fletcher who is just having a time he is the only other big leager who has been wrapped up in the epe shotani gambling ring Scandal he’s currently under investigation over gambling allegations he is also in Triple A with the Braves right now but he’s pitching so David Fletcher who is the prototypical doesn’t hit the ball hard slap it and run middle in fielder who can’t really Play Short Stop kind of a tough profile in the year of ourl 2024 he’s a triple A with the Braves as like a depth piece who can’t get up to the big leagues Z they went out and got Zack short because they don’t believe in David flesher clearly and so he’s like you know what screw it I’m gonna pitch uh he’s throwing knuckle balls in Triple A he threw five innings this week against the norfol tides the Orioles tripa team who is like the greatest hitting minor league team basically ever okay and he struck out six guys in five innings three hits two runs completely regular pitching line and he struck out Jackson holiday which honestly that’s bad that makes me sad that David Fletcher struck out Jackson holiday with a knuckle ball in Triple A that bums me out still d Fletcher just it’s big Kenny pow energy knuckle balls in Triple A under investigation gambling ring no notes absolutely love it just like making the most of it his ability his time just making the most of it he doesn’t know how much longer he’s got left I mean he might be in he might be next to epe in uh in the uh you know in the prison softball team soon so we gota we got to keep him uh keep him pitching Chelsea what’s bad for you this week besides you know prison um right sure definitely uh in some cases um I I have a very specific bad yeah which is you know we’re in the era the Golden Era I would say of Home Run celebrations I think and the Reds have decided they’re going to go do theirs in the tunnel out of sight so the Reds they like CH chucked their Viking helmet and now after every Homer they like run down the tunnel and do something in the tunnel out of sight and I think that that is a bad call because the celebrations aren’t for them they’re for the cameras they’re for the kids like if you’re doing something Shady it just makes us wonder I think you got to bring it in the Dugout I don’t like it I don’t I don’t want any part of it I think they should change it I want public celebrations or no celebrations I don’t I don’t want to mix of both here okay so I’m now I’m only learning about this now so they hit a home run and the whole Dugout runs into the tunnel yes at least like it looks like all the position players and everyone that’s in there like runs down the stairs like a little giddy horde of mice and it it makes me nervous I don’t know what they’re doing is it is it kid safe I don’t know how do you talk to your kids about this I don’t know huh anyway this is very suspicious it it is it is wow it makes me want to ask questions I shouldn’t have questions about a home run celebration you know yeah what are you doing right and if you can’t share it why why you know you’re calling attention to it I I’m just I’m sure it’s fine but I it just makes me uncomfortable and I don’t want to be uncomfortable with home run celebrations I agree there’s this video this is from a will Benson home run he hits the Homer he touches home and he just Sprints straight down the tunnel and then everyone follows him right okay uh my bad this week is Andrew Ben and tendi who I dunked on already on Wednesday’s show but it turns out I did a little little sniffing around Andrew benintendi is chasing history Chelsea because Andrew benintendi according to the uh website fan graphs a good website that I use quite often Andrew benintendi is going to challenge for one of the worst seasons of all time by negative War the idea of being a negative War player cracks me up because if I put you know and the idea of wins above replacement is that you are better than the replacement level player which is available to every team in theory Andrew benen has been worth negative 1.7 Fang graphs wins above replacement this year through just 49 games now going that far in the red is very rare it is very impressive according to Fang graas the alltime worst season I’m gonna do just the Wild Card era since 1993 uh Jose guen was worth negative 3.1 war in 1997 that is the only season ever to go past the negative3 mark 13 players have gone past the negative -2 Mark most recently no surprise here Chris Davis in 2018 was worth negative 2.5 Andrew benintendi that I think is what he should be shooting for getting a 3.1 negative War feels a little bit Out Of Reach however Chris Davis feels attainable and I believe benintendi will continue to get his opportunities because as I mentioned he is under contract for three more seasons at a the largest contract in White Sox history he’s going to continue to get at bats and he is going to unless his production changes his performance changes he’s going to continue to Tumble down this leaderboard so I will keep an eye on that that is literally bad Chelsea James one last thing and then we’ll say goodbye you have anything on Ben attendi no I was gonna say like you’re making your presence felt it’s just not not the right way that’s true ugla what is ugla you are someone who has spent time around Dan ugla you once came on our podcast and talked about Dan ugla you uh understand the concept of ugla more than I ever will so what is ugler this week in baseball so you might have talked about this but I I opened the X app and I came across a tweet from TMZ this week that read Hayden Hopkins is says her child is with MLB star Joey Gallow not Mark Davis like let’s break let’s break this down so this was who is Mark Davis who is Mark Davis exactly he’s the owner of the Oakland Raiders he has some of the strangest man bangs I think anyone has ever maybe literally in the history of like the modern world and he’s old Hayden Hopkins I didn’t know who she was either she’s a dancer influencer and then there’s Joey Gallow who if you’ve been around Joey Gallow really nice guy pretty introverted not somebody I expected to see in TMZ at all and here he is in this headline so apparently he is the father of Hayden Hopkins and influencer’s child not as you probably suspected Mark Davis and I just it you know it was going to be one or the other right so but I read that I was like this is I mean I can’t think of someone more opposite than Joey Gallow so I think they’re you know they’re Joey’s from Vegas but I just it was a stunning headline to read and I think for anyone who’s been around Joey Gallow no shade like hope everyone’s happy and healthy but just I I mean if those are the two you’re in a really interesting spot I think it’s FAS what happened here first of all this is perfect this is perfect un Hayden Hopkins was again did not know who she is same wish her nothing but the best totally Hayden Hopkins very healthy pregnancy for you Hayden Hopkins Hayden Hopkins was at uh a Raiders game sitting next to Mark Davis and was photographed and so lazy online people when she was pregnant were like well it must have been this 69-year-old weird banged you know Sports owning Scion which first of all is quite a conclusion to draw from one picture I’ve been photographed next to many people none of whom are carrying any of my children I have to say however good to know just want to you know just for the record just put that out there sure sure Joey Gallow just appearing in the story is great and everything seems good Hayden had some comment on her Instagram that said Joey and I are you know the baby’s healthy and we’re very excited to welcome our child great fatherhood no notes but like do I go up to Joey y in the clubhouse and say congratulations and and glad it wasn’t Mark Davis like I mean how do you even I mean it depends on your relationship with Joey Gallo it depends on your relationship with Jo like it’s not yeah going up to Joey Gallow would be like I was worried that Mark Davis was fathering this child thank God it’s you yeah I I it’s great there must be some great ban there on the team playing about this though yeah I guess if if I mean also but like most of the Nationals are like 21 and probably haven’t even heard of Mark Davis so it’s it’s wild it’s wild I definitely haven’t heard of Hayden Hopkins all health and love to The Unborn Child my ugler this week is a video a Tik Tock posted by a uh Media company named Bleacher Report I believe people are familiar it is an interview with Harrison Bader behind the scenes I actually saw this interview being done because it was done on the field of City Field while I was walking around and I was like oh there’s Harrison Bader wearing a a crop top type shirt as he does that he does he does do that now the reason this is ugla is he is asked by The Bleacher Report interview viwer person um who I believe is named Paige mner who is your Mount Rushmore of New York athletes good question to a kid who has played for the Yankees and the Mets who is from New York City there are a couple different acceptable ways to answer this question right one would be to just say four Mets right you’re on the Mets just go Pat Luka Tom sver dog good in whatever Luka Luka I don’t know that’s one the other is you just do one met and then you do like Mark Messier you do Walt Frasier you do Eli Manning you do Chad Pennington you do whatever right totally it’s another one Aaron Rogers Aaron Rogers even Aaron Rogers Aaron Rogers was a better answer than what he said okay but what Harrison Bader says is hilarious he says Derek Jeter fine honestly good answer Derek Jeter is the right answer then he says Aaron judge and Anthony vulpi the vulpi one God man the vulpi one’s amazing now the reason there are many reasons this is funny one someone tell bro he’s on the Mets bro thinks he’s on the team still Harrison Bader who very clearly I believe grew up a Yankees fan when he there was like a clip of him leaving the Yankees where he was tearing up when they put him on waivers because that experience meant a lot to him and I’m not trying to make light of that that’s really cool he got to play for the Yankees however you got a beard now you’re on the Mets okay the beard in fact matches the color of the orange Mets logo on your hat right we can’t be saying three Yankees and if you’re saying three Yankees let’s just mix in a met okay we can mix in one met if he had just said if he had said vulpi judge Jeter pet Alonzo that would have been weird but better than this however the biggest problem with this ch is what there’s only three there’s only three Mount Rushmore is four he was not asked for his Podium sure of New York athletes he was asked for his Mount Rushmore of New York athletes and this raises the question that I will get to the bottom of does Harrison Bader think there are only three presidents on the actual Mount Rushmore okay does he believe that Teddy Roosevelt is not there that is an important question that I must ask ask I’m going to ask him for his Mount Rushmore of something else you know Mount Rushmore fruits and if he says banana blueberry and pear then something is a miss here with Harrison Bader and his knowledge of Matt Rushmore yeah I mean he’s probably not the only one you know I mean he could have been like Gary Keith Ron and you know me like anyone but yeah I would say like no shade to Harrison Bader because if he doesn’t know there’s four people on Mount Rushmore he’s not alone in Major League Baseball but right but uh yeah there’s a lot to a lot to worry about there I would say what percentage of American Born big Leaguers one know the number of presidents on Mount Rushmore and two could name them very low very low I don’t even want to guess Chelsea James thank you so much for joining us this week on baseball barcast uh what are you looking forward to this weekend uh in the world of baseball it’s a great question I’m I I’m be up at Camden Yards a bit so check out some more Orioles baseball um but yeah I don’t know nothing specific always just just just ball you know just a lot of ball one thing I actually sorry I forgot to mention I should have done this as as my bad did you know that the uh defending AL Champions and defending NL Champions played a World Series rematch this week yeah no one cared it was if a World Series rematch falls in the forest doesn’t make a sound the Diamondbacks and Rangers played a three game set and both of those teams are blah right now yeah and there was no hype no hype zero zilch they were kind of blah last year in October too like no offense but yeah yeah it was a an October to forget I mentioned this at the beginning of the of the show uh college baseball D1 regionals are this weekend starting today highly recommend turn on Squeeze Play With Friend of the show Mike Rooney if you like B even if you don’t like college baseball it is quad box to Quint box to sex to box to however many boxes you need it is so much endless baseball There are 16 regionals going on at the same time different parts of the country it is competitive it is Meaningful it is high energy it is great stuff I am particularly excited to watch the um Chapel Hill Regional where North Carolina is the one seed and LSU the defending national champions are the two seed LSU is a very very fun freshman that I want people to know about named Steven milm Steven milum is like 58 165 170 an undersized infielder you say at LSU Chelsea James does this remind you of anybody what if I told you that stepen milm is from Albuquerque New Mexico whoa no way the same hometown of Alex bregman Steven milm grew up loving Alex bregman and now he is the second baseman for the Tigers he had a walk-off home run in the SEC tournament for LSU and then this week he dyed his hair black and purple with Tiger stripes okay that is what college baseball is all about Chelsea Jades before we go is there anything you would like to promote or plug no the only thing I was gonna say is no one who grew up watching Alex bregman should be allowed allowed it’s too young I can’t have it too young can’t have it but no nothing I don’t I can’t even honestly recommend that any anyone follow me on Twitter because it’s it’s dark out there but but yeah thanks for asking please uh follow Chelsea on uh on Twitter you can find her at Chelsea James underscore I don’t know who the real Chelsea James is but they took the good one I know they took the good one you can read her work at the Washington Post thank you to Chelsea for Pinch hitting for Jordan I very much appreciate your time thank you to Andrew Harts for producing and thank you to David Fletcher for trying to you we’ll talk to everybody on Monday have a great weekend [Music]
The New York Mets are no strangers to making headlines on and off the field. On Wednesday, they managed to do it again with the actions of their now-former reliever Jorge Lopez and his meltdown after being ejected from the game.
Jake Mintz is joined by national baseball reporter from the Washington Post, Chelsea Janes, as they talk about what led up to the incident on the field, the miscommunication in Jorge’s postgame scrum and why it seems like the Mets let him down for the backlash he received.
Also on this episode of the Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake and Chelsea look at how the Washington Nationals have improved enough to make this a success so far and they talk about why the Baltimore Orioles need to at least get to the ALCS for 2024 to be considered another step forward for their young group of players.
Later, they discuss why there should be some concern for the New York Yankees’ rotation after losing Clark Schmidt for 4-6 weeks, the Toronto Blue Jays releasing their “night mode” City Connect uniforms and give their takes for The Good, The Bad & The Uggla for this week.
0:00 – Introduction
1:00 – Chelsea’s time playing college softball
3:34 – Jorge Lopez-Mets situation
19:19 – Nationals success this season
27:40 – Next step for the Orioles
32:25 – Clark Schmidt injury
34:58 – Blue Jays City Connect
37:57 – The Good
41:26 – The Bad
45:33 – The Uggla
52:50 – Weekend preview
#mlb #baseball #negroleagues #angelhernandez #cubs #brewers #guardians
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