CLEVELAND, Ohio — The AL Central arms race just escalated dramatically as future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander has returned to Detroit on a one-year, $13 million deal. The Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast dove deep into what this means for the division — particularly for the Guardians, who have faced Verlander more than any other team in baseball.

“He has faced Cleveland 58 times. His most starts against any team in the big leagues,” noted Paul Hoynes on the podcast. “He has the most wins, 24, and the most losses, 25, against Cleveland as a single team in his career.”

The signing brings Verlander full circle, returning to where his illustrious career began back in 2005. At 42 years old, the three-time Cy Young Award winner and former MVP isn’t the overpowering force he once was, but he remains a formidable competitor who posted a respectable 3.85 ERA in 29 starts for the Giants last season.

What’s most striking about Verlander’s return is how it transforms Detroit’s rotation from promising to potentially dominant. As Hoynes observed: “He’s kind of like the cherry on top of that rotation now. Skubal, Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Verlander… all of a sudden that rotation is looking very, very dangerous.”

For Cleveland fans, Verlander’s presence in the division brings back memories of his dominance during Detroit’s heyday. Host Joe Noga reflected on how intertwined Verlander’s career has been with Cleveland: “You’ve got to look at what his career has been and he sort of, in a lot of ways, he’s built that on the backs of the Guardians because he was in the division for so long and he faced him so long.”

Indeed, Verlander’s major league debut came against Cleveland in July 2005, beginning a rivalry that would span nearly two decades. Even after he departed for Houston, the matchups continued, with Verlander often seeming to save his best performances for games against Cleveland.

“He kind of rises to the occasion when he sees Cleveland across the opposing players chest,” Hoynes said, noting that Verlander performed well in his appearances against Cleveland last season.

The addition of Verlander adds intrigue to the division’s competitive landscape. Detroit had already made significant upgrades by acquiring Framber Valdez, and their stable of young arms like Skubal and Mize has already developed into stars. Now, with a first-ballot Hall of Famer bolstering their staff, the Tigers have emerged as legitimate contenders.

For the Guardians, this means more challenging matchups against a pitcher who has consistently brought his A-game when facing them. Though Verlander is in the twilight of his career, his competitive fire and pitching intelligence remain intact.

The AL Central, once viewed as baseball’s weakest division, suddenly features formidable rotations in multiple cities. Kansas City has improved, Minnesota remains competitive, and now Detroit has assembled what might be the division’s most imposing starting staff.

As the podcast made clear, Verlander’s return to Detroit isn’t just a feel-good story about a star returning to his original team — it’s a significant competitive development that could reshape the division race in 2026.

Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s an AI-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Podcast Transcript

Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, The PECOTA rankings are out. That’s Baseball America’s algorithm and its projections for wins and losses and, you know, playoff possibilities for teams this season. The Guardians picked to finish fourth in the American League Central behind Kansas City, Detroit and Minnesota at 75 wins. The PECOTA rankings giving them a 10.1% chance at the playoffs. This on the heels of the fan graphs rankings coming out with, you know, a similar projection, I think, you know, third or fourth in the division. What do you make of the PECOTA rankings and where they have the guardians projected at 75 wins?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, you know, you really can’t argue with them too much based on the work the Guardians did over this over the winter. You know, concentrating mostly on the bullpen, doing nothing to improve the offense. But it should be pointed out that last year the PECOTA rankings had them in a similar spot. Fourth place, or I should say third place in the, in the division, you know, in the range of 80 wins. And lo and behold, they won the division with 88 wins. So, you know, preseason projections are just that, preseason projections. But this is a lot of work, Joe, by PECOTA. I mean, this is, that’s a. And then, you know, I, I think they, you know, take it serious. Obviously, it’s, it’s a serious endeavor and we’ll have to see how it works because, you know, fan grafts and, and, and PECOTA are hand in hand and fan grafts had him at 75.6 wins and a fourth place finish in the division.

Joe Noga: Yeah, the, the Baseball Prospectus, you know, it’s the Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test algorithm. That’s, that’s what they’re up against here. It’s a mouthful, but then they went back and, and, and found that that, that acronym also lines up with former major leaguer Bill PECOTA. So they named it the PECOTA System, developed by Nate Silver in 2003. Nate Silver, of course, the genius behind the FiveThirtyEight website and for political and all sorts of elections, races. This is a guy, this is a, you know, basically a, a way of determining how strong a team is going to be in term, in terms of the runs that it scores, the runs it’s going to allow, you know, is ranked here. They have the Guardians at, you know, not only does it give, like, playoff chances and percentages and all that, but it simulates, you know, runs allowed and runs scored for the season. You know, projected runs allowed at 721 projected runs scored at 672. Meanwhile, it’s projecting, PECOTA’s projecting that the Royals are going to score 723 runs and they’re going to allow 698. So, you know, the, the totals aren’t, you know, super far off once you think of it. But, you know, the, the difference there is that, you know, they, they think the Guardians are going to have a pretty tough time scoring runs compared to the other teams in the division. You know, Minnesota, 709 runs scored, Detroit, 686 scored. So these are just the projections there, but really they’re taking a look at that offense and they’re saying that they’re just. There’s just not a lot there.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, well, at least they have a, a positive differential for, for the Guardians this year. Last year that they ended the season as a division winner with a negative run differential, they allowed 6, 649 runs and scored 643. So I guess this is a step in the right direction.

Joe Noga: Other teams projected to win their divisions, they’re picking Seattle over Houston in the AL west. They’re picking New York over Toronto. In the AL east, they’re picking New York and Toronto essentially with the same number of wins, with 88 wins each, but they’re giving the edge to the Yankees. They’re saying that the Yankees are going to score 777 runs. They give New York the playoff percentage chance of 0.5% even ahead of Toronto. After all the offseason work there, they have Baltimore ahead of Boston in the AL east as well. So some of the projections for the division races there over in the National League, they’re picking Atlanta to win the NL East. Very competitive. They’re. They’re picking Atlanta with 92 wins. That’s. That seems pretty high for the Braves. The Cubs with 90 wins to take the NL Central over Milwaukee. And 105 wins for the Dodgers. They’re projecting in a runaway in the NL West.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that’s. I guess with everything the Dodgers have done and this, this off season and had already done before that, I guess 105 wins is, you know, it makes some sense. It’s about that. 105 wins is a lot of wins, Joe. I think they had that the. Was right around there last year and I, I don’t think they reached 100 wins, did they?

Joe Noga: No, they were, they were wild card team last year.

Paul Hoynes: That’s right.

Joe Noga: Yeah. So. Yeah, I, I don’t know. You can. Everything looks good on paper at this Point. But I just keep going back to fourth place again for the, for the Guardians again in the AL Central. Why do the algorithms and why does, you know, fan graphs and PECOTA always seem to think that the Twins are going to finish ahead of the, the Guardians? The last couple of years that’s been the case. That’s been the case in their projections, and it’s just not been the reality on the field.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I’m not sure. I mean, you know, the, the Twins have undergone kind of an ownership shakeup, a front office shakeup. They underwent a fire sale last season at the deadline where they traded 10 players, and they really haven’t done that that much this winter. They didn’t get the okay to start spending money until late December, I think. Then they fired Derek Falvey, you know, their, their director of baseball operations. So, you know, it, it’s. That’s a little, that’s a little befuddling, I guess. Maybe they like, you know, PECOTA likes their young players, but, you know, time and time again they like the Twins, so we’ll have to see how that unfolds.

Joe Noga: Well, speaking of liking young players, I mean, they must see something in, in Kansas City to put them ahead of Detroit. I mean, obviously Detroit now with Framber Valdez and Tarik Skubal in their starting rotation, and you add in, you know, Justin Verlander, who we’re going to talk about here in a second, it makes them pretty formidable. I think these rankings must have come out before they realized, you know, Verlander was going to sign with the Tigers. But even that, that rotation’s got to be, got to be looking like one of the better rotations in the division, certainly. And in the American League. What, what about Kansas City? Do you think the, the, the, the, the, the algorithm says points to the idea that, you know, they can come out on top in this division.

Paul Hoynes: Well, they, they were 82 and 80 last year. You had some injuries, a lot of injuries in the pitching staff. I think they’ve made, they made a couple moves this winter, but I think, you know, they, you know, these projections are, are probably based on really good health for the Royals, especially in the rotation. I think that’s what, that’s what they’re looking at right now. And, you know, they, they have some young hitters that some work in the outfield where, you know, they really needed some help offensively.

Joe Noga: Yeah, and Sal Perez keeps bathing in the fountain of youth during the off season. He, he keeps coming back and performing every year. And I guess Bobby Witt, any team that Bobby Witt is on, you’re going to have a tough time betting against. But just all the, the, the moves that Detroit made in terms of its off season pitching, I think put it, put the Tigers in a position to maybe win the division. I would, I would definitely flip flop the two of them at the top of the division and then have. Have Cleveland third just in my projections. But that’s for a podcast that, you know, maybe closer to the start of the regular season. We’ll, we’ll get into that a little bit more. We do have to talk about Justin Verlander, who signs a one year, $13 million free agent contract to rejoin the Tigers. This is a guy who started his career in Detroit. Started his career. I think the team that he’s faced the most has been Cleveland in his, in his career, if I’m not mistaken. So he comes back to the American League Central to I guess torment the Guardians at least for one more chance, one more go around here. What do you make of Justin Verlander, the multiple Cy Young and MVP winner, multiple World Series winner? This is a guy he’s, he’s going to be a first ballot hall of Famer and the Guardians are probably going to have to face him at some point. More than once this upcoming season.

Paul Hoynes: I think so, Joe. You know, I thought it was when I first heard this that Verlander was coming back to Detroit. I thought it was kind of maybe a, you know, goodwill gesture. Maybe he comes in, you know, signs a one day contract and retires as the Tigers. But they’re paying him $13 million, you know, 11 million of it deferred. So they must think he has some, you know, fuel left in the tank. You know, he’s coming off a so. So season with the, with the Giants 4 and 11, but with a, you know, respectable 3.85 ERA in 29 starts. He pitched well going down the stretch for the Giants and that must have kind of got given, you know, given Detroit. Maybe they, they, they decided to take a chance on Verlander. And you know, Joe, you’re right. He has faced Cleveland 58. His most starts against any team in the big leagues. He has the most wins, 24 and the most losses, 25 against, you know, against one a single team in his career. Against, against Cleveland. He’s, he’s pitched over almost 400 innings against, against Cleveland in his. A guy that’s familiar with Cleveland and always seems to, you know, they bring out the, he seems to bring out the best in, in the. Cleveland seems to Bring out the best in him. He, he, you know, he, he, he pitched against him last year against the giants in a 4, 2 loss. Then he faced him twice with Houston in, in 2024 and pitched very well. He gets a win and one, you know, he goes one and oh in two starts plus a seven inning no decision. So you know, he kind of rises to the occasion when he sees Cleveland across the opposing unit, opposing players chest.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And this is a guy who, he has 266 wins in his career and I know the win is sort of a devalued stat. You know, it’s not like at this point he, he needs to be stat chasing or anything like that. I mean it’s not like, you know, hanging on to try and get 300 wins is, is, is not something that he’s going to be able to accomplish. There’s no way he pitches, you know, a full season for the next three or four years to try and get to that level. But you know, so to me it has a deeper meaning for him to go back to Detroit and you know, you know, sort of finish where he started. And that’s the message that he shared on social media, you know, when he, when he announced the signing, you know, back when, back where it all began is sort of what his, his idea was. And his theme was early on the, you know, Verlander wasn’t very good against Cleveland. The Cleveland KN around a bit and, and really sort of owned him early, early in his career before he sort of became Justin Verlander. But then once he took off, you’re talking, you know, a former MVP, Rookie of the Year, nine time all Star. He’s won two ERA titles, three Cy Youngs he won, he actually won the pitching triple crown, ALCS MVP, two time World Series winner. I mean this guy is going to just, he could walk in backwards to, to Cooperstown six years after he, you know, finishes playing. But he’s been through, he’s been through all the injuries, he’s had all the surgeries and all the ups and downs and you’ve got to look at what his career has been and really he sort of, in a lot of ways he’s built that on the backs of the, of the guardians because he was in the division for so long and he faced him so long and, and then when he went to Houston he had always seemed like he pitched against him with Houston as part of that rivalry.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he made his big league debut Against Cleveland on July 2005. And Joe, I mean he’s kind of like the cherry on top of that, that rotation now. Skubal Valdez, Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize and Verlander, and you’ve got a couple guys, you know, that we, we’ve seen a lot of Troy Melton and Reese Olson kind of sitting in reserve. So all of a sudden that rotation is, is looking very, very dangerous.

Joe Noga: Yeah, if they can put Troy bullpen and not have to see him as often, that, that’s great because that guy’s a beast. And I think, you know, the Guardians would, would appreciate not having to face him as much or maybe you face him even more coming out of the bullpen, who knows? But yeah, Melton’s, you know, real tough. They, they, they’ve had a little bit more success with Reese Olson I think, in the past. But yeah, it’s a, it’s a loaded rotation now. It’s got a name, you know, at every spot in the rotation. And you just, you wonder what the health is going to be like. What, you know, how many starts Verlander at What, he’s what, 40? How old is he? He’s 42. Yeah, he’s. Boy, he’s going to be pitching at 43. Yeah, he’s going to be pitching At 43. So at 43 years old, you know, how many starts does he make this season? It’s, you know, the last couple of years, it, it hasn’t been, Geez, I’m just scrolling down his baseball reference page and I still have to keep scrolling to get to the bottom. So 29 starts last year, but the three previous years, 16, 17 starts. You know, you wonder how, how many starts they’re expecting to get out of him in, in 2026. We’ll see. But again, a very familiar face will be on the mound against the Guardians at some point this season. And that’s, that’s Justin Verlander, another familiar face on the mound, who is in a familiar, I guess is in familiar company. Now, according to Major League Baseball Network, you know, we’ve, we’ve been working our way through each position according to the Shredder, the MLB Network’s ranking system, and they got to their relief pitchers last night and Cade Smith appears in their top 10 on their rankings. Last year, Cade Smith was the number two overall ranked reliever. I, I believe Devin Williams was, was the top guy on that list this year. The, the, the Shredder ranks Cade Smith at number four on the list. What did you think of the ranking of Cade Smith at number four by Major League Baseball Network according to its Shredder metrics.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no problem with that, Joe. I mean Cade Smith had a really strong, another strong season. 8 and 5, 2.93 ERA, 76 appearances, 16 saves out of 22 chances and 104 punch outs and 73.2 innings. Just you know, he’s, he’s an emerging closer, Joe. And I thought he really stepped in when they lost Class A to the gambling scandal, stepped into that closers role and it took him a while to get his bearings but he really, you know, he shut the door for Cleveland. He’s, he really kind of saved that bullpen for them. And he finishes behind Aroldis Chapman from Boston, Mason Miller from San Diego and Edwin Diaz from the Dodgers. Now that you know, they, those were the three guys that finished in front of them, Joe. But the stat that, that jumps out of me, Joe. And you really don’t I guess appreciate it when you see him every day. 207 strikeouts in 149 innings in his first two seasons in the big leagues. I mean, you know, Cave Smith isn’t fooling anybody. He’s coming out there to, you know, to shut you down, to strike you out and just say next, to get the next guy up there. I mean he’s, he comes right at hitters and he, I mean he’s just, he’s kind of a force of nature, right?

Joe Noga: Yeah. And really to me the names on that list that you, you mentioned that are ahead of him according to the, the shredder metrics. Chapman 1, Mason Miller 2, Edwin Diaz 3. Those are impressive. Those are guys are going to be there. I was impressed with the guys, you know that he finished ahead of on the list. You know he’s fourth. Andres Munoz from the Mariners. I mean that’s a, that guy’s scary. And he finished you know, fifth according to the, the, the, the algorithm there. Whitlock from the Red Sox was sixth, Matt Stram of the Royals seven, Andre More John of the Padres. So the Padres have a couple of guys. Actually The Padres have three guys in the top 10 because Jason Adam was 10, you know, more John is eight, Josh Hater from Houston is nine and Jason Adam 10 on that list. Yeah, I think one of the reasons and one of the big separators for Cade Smith is the, the fastball run value is 4 seam fastball was one of the most dominant pitches in Major League Baseball in, in the 2024 season and in the, in the 2025 season as well. Hundredth percentile with that four seam fastball and it’s the extension that he gets coming down the mound, that, that really makes the difference there. The run value according to baseball savant was, I believe it was in the plus 16 to plus 20 range. He averages well over 96 miles an hour. And you know, the opposing hitters are only batting like 147 in his career off of his forcing fastball. He will tell you if you talk to him that he has more pitches than just the fastball. He has the splitter and the, you know, a couple of breaking pitches. But, but really it’s the four seam fastball. Is the, the big difference with Kate Smith.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he, he gets insulted if you just say he throws a. Concentrate on asking him about the fastball because he goes, I like to throw my other pitches. But when you got a fastball like that, I mean, wow, what an advantage. And then, you know, you can, you know, break a change eye levels with the breaking pitches on a hit. Really gives him an advantage. But when he comes out there, I’m, you just look at him, I’m thinking power all the way.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And, and that’s, that’s really the profile of a lot of the guys in the Guardians bullpen right now is that, you know, your traditional typical, you know, 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5 power pitcher who’s going to come out there and blow you away. But a lot of these guys can pitch and Kate Smith, he’s precise and, you know, he doesn’t miss a lot of spots. He has really good command and, and you talk about how unflappable he is. That’s the thing. When you ask Stephen Vogt about him, how locked in and how, you know, nothing phases this guy when he’s on the mound. I mean, I was in Seattle last year when he took a line drive off the bill of his cap and got up and struck out the next guy. So you talk about a guy who doesn’t get rattled, I guess 110 mile an hour line drive back to, to your face that knocks your baseball cap into right center field. Think, you know, facing down, something like that and then getting back up on the mound immediately after that and striking out the next batter kind of demonstrates that you’ve got nerves of steel.

Paul Hoynes: Definitely. He looked, yeah, he, he looks the part too, Joe. Like you said, like 6, 5, about 220, 130 pounds. And he just, he’s like so serious when you talk to him. You know, everything is, it looks like, okay, let’s go, let’s get this thing over with as fast as we can. And maybe you’ll get a sp. Smile out of me. But maybe not either.

Joe Noga: No. Well, part of it I, I think might just be, you know, just being a little cautious with the media and, you know, not wanting to say the wrong thing or, or whatever. But his teammates point to him and, and say like, that’s the guy who does everything right. I mean, he’s the, he has the, the really good routines. He works really hard off the field and, and when they’re pregame and post game and all that, I mean, this is a guy who’s so locked in and focused. Stephen Vogt said that if he wasn’t a relief pitcher, he’d be an eye surgeon. So you talk about a guy who, who’s you put a lot of faith and a lot of trust in, in somebody like that. I mean, that’s where that all comes from. That’s where that feeling is and that’s how he’s regarded in the, the clubhouse. Yeah, a lot of, a lot of people would, would sort of, you know, put their faith and their trust in a, in a closer when, when you turn the ball over to him in the ninth inning. Sort of the same way if you were turning your eyeballs over to your eye surgeon, I guess would be the, the equivalent number two. It goes from number two last year to number four. I don’t think it’s necessarily an insult. I think it’s, you know, just the way the, the, the rankings there fluctuate. The guardians have, have had now what, you know, Jose Ramirez at the top of the third base pro or, you know, rankings this season and now Cade Smith, number four in the rankings for the relievers.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe. And he, you know, when you think about what he did last season, you know, Class A is an all world closer, three time all star franchise leader and saves. And all of a sudden he’s gone in the snap of a finger, your fingers, he’s gone. Somebody’s got to step up. You know, Stephen Vogt was talking about closer by committee for a while, but everyone in the board, everyone that covered the ball club and everybody in the locker room knew it was going to be Cade Smith in the ninth inning and that’s how it turned out. And I thought he handled it really well, the ups and the downs of it. I think he seems like he was made for that position that’s talked about.

Joe Noga: Letting Cade grow and get comfortable in that position, but there was no getting comfortable right after. It was pretty much just every save opportunity he was put into. It was, it was trial by fire I think the first day he gave up a couple of home runs in his first attempt at being the guy right after class A, you know, went on the suspended list. And then after that he just locked it in and was, was lights out.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah. And, and he, and you can tell by the way he handled things, the good times, the bad times. I thought he was really even keel. He was always at his locker. He wasn’t. Sometimes a closer will tend to, you know, after a bad one will tend to, you know, stay in the trainer’s room or, or hide out a little bit. But he was always there to talk to reporters. You know, I thought he handled it well. He handled like a professional.

Joe Noga: Okay, so there’s. We got word yesterday the Guardians released their promotional schedule and tickets are going to go on sale for individual games. Coming up a ticket on sale for the guardians on 216 day. So February 16, get ready to get your tickets for the regular season. 10am at cle.guardians.com tickets all tickets for like single games will go on sale at that point. They also released a promotional schedule. Hoynsie and I know I get excited about seeing when the bobbleheads come out and who’s going to be on a bobblehead and who’s getting a jersey. And sometimes that’s maybe an indicator of, you know, who might be sticking around for the whole season. And things like that is clearly not as big an indicator as the, the COVID of the media guide. So we’ll have to wait for that. It was really interesting to see some of these promotional items that are coming out. We’ll start with the bobbleheads. Kyle, I know you’re a big Star wars fan, just like me. Kyle Manzardo. Manzardo is going to get a bobblehead on May 9th. The Manzardo-lorian, just like the Mandalorian from Star wars, he’s going to be dressed up on Star wars day in a bobblehead featuring the Mandalorian armor. I think that’s going to be really cool and a lot of people are going to really like that. What do you think of Kyle Manzardo getting a bobblehead this year?

Paul Hoynes: I like it, Joe. I, I, I like the idea. You know, I kind of lost touch with the, the new phase of Star wars. So I’m not, I’m not really sure what that means. Man’s man. I’m not sure, but I remember to see it.

Joe Noga: Do you remember Boba Fett?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Noga: Okay. Mandalorian is. Boba Fett’s a Mandalorian So I have no. I could do an entire podcast sitting here explaining the new Star wars to to hoy if you want me to, but I don’t think a lot of people will be tuning.

Paul Hoynes: So he’s a bounty hunter.

Joe Noga: I mean, he’s going to be dressed. It’s going to be Kyle Manzardo dressed like a bounty hunter.

Paul Hoynes: So.

Joe Noga: Okay. Which is better than Kyle Manzardo dressed in a flannel and a beanie chopping wood in Coeur d’, Alene, Iowa, Idaho. I’m just saying. Although I’m sure people would really like a bobblehead like that too. Other bobbleheads on the giveaway list, they’re going to do a Rajai Davis 2016 game seven home run trot. Roger Davis pointing to the sky after he hit his home run against Aroldis chapman in the 2016 World Series. It’s the 10th anniversary and commemorating that 2016 team. They’re going to have a whole weekend surrounding that and that’ll be May 16th, the giveaway for the game seven bobblehead. 15,000 fans. That’s going to be a real fun one as well. Also, Gavin Williams and Cade Smith get their own bobbleheads. So a couple of six foot five bobbleheads will be make room in your shelves for those. Gavin Williams and Kate Smith, certainly deserving of bobbleheads on this roster. I think you got to look up and down and say Gavin had an outstanding season last year as well as Kate.

Paul Hoynes: Well, no doubt about it that they definitely deserve a bobblehead. I’m waiting. Yeah. Definitely have to add those to the collection for sure.

Joe Noga: Among the jersey giveaways, Tanner Bibee City Connect jersey, which will be really nice. It’ll be in the new Blue City Connect design. That’ll be on June 27th. We get, we get an Austin Hedges jersey. How cool is that? We get a hedgy jersey on May 30. So a lot of the that first month or that second month of the season. May 9, May 16, May 30. Some really interesting giveaways there for the Guardians hedgy jersey. What do you, what do you think? How do you think Austin Hedges is going to react to seeing a bunch of people wearing his number in the stands?

Paul Hoynes: Think, you know, Hedges gets excited just being at the ballpark. So when, if he gets a little extra motivation, it’s going to have a, they’re going to, you know, Stephen Vogt’s going to have a hard time keeping him grounded, I think. So I think he’ll be excited about that.

Joe Noga: Yeah, hedgy energy that day at the park will be unmatched I think. August 29 Bob Feller 1936 Jersey giveaway so it’s a striped Cleveland jersey with commemorating Bob Feller’s debut from 1936. Another real interesting promotional item. Also there’s going to be $9 dog nights, 12 fireworks nights and four free t shirt Fridays throughout the season. Hoynsie, I know you like the dollar dog nights. I mean those are you know pretty much a given.

Paul Hoynes: No doubt about it. You eat about six of those couple beers and everything’s just right.

Joe Noga: So promotional items, promotional schedule all set. Of course the, the the schedule magnet is always a popular one for the, the first home game on the opener because to slap the schedule up on your fridge and take a look at that. Throughout the season the Guardians folks always do a really good job with their giveaways and there’s a bunch of you know special ticket promotions that are you know not ones that, that are given away throughout the whole ballpark but you have to buy the special ticket. Those include some, some unique bobbleheads as well. Get like there’s also some of the, the odd oddball giveaways. They have you know like they hats they do like a Jose Ramirez camp T shirt or camp shirt giveaway. I think that’s a button down shirt and like a crossbody bag. So all very interesting stuff to look forward to you know throughout the season here wanted to before we get going here Hoynsie, the last little note we got from the Guardians baseball information office, the office of Bart Swain, the folks there with the club and this is a sort of a style note I guess. CJ Kayfus, the rookie who came up at the second half of last season when he arrived from Triple A after you know just having a lights out first half of the season we asked CJ and we asked the folks in the baseball information office how he wanted his name to be written and they told us to write it with, with the two periods after C period J period Kayfus. Things changed yesterday after I guess during the intake process out there. Goodyear EJ wanted to go back to the way that he was. He had it written when he was playing at the University of Miami.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, so you never know about these things.

Joe Noga: Joe.

Paul Hoynes: I remember you know CC Sabathia when he came up we, we spelled, you know, spelled CC with a period after each C. And then when he got traded to Milwaukee and ended up with the Yankees he said he wanted the periods removed so it was cc, you know, with no period. So you never know what a guy wants. And I’m glad we got that cleared up. Joe. That was, you know, that was. So far, that’s been one of the biggest stories of spring training. Spring training or the off season?

Joe Noga: Well, it’s the, it’s the biggest mystery about CJ Kayfus because we don’t, we don’t really know a lot about him. I mean, I did a Q and A with him early on and sat down and was stunned to learn that he’s big into dirt bike racing. But maybe that’s something that, you know, we, we keep on the shelf while he’s playing baseball here just to, to keep him healthy. We don’t want to see any odd accidents there. Colin Joseph cafes. So the CJ is Colin Joseph, much like Carsten Charles Sabathia was cc. Now CJ Kayfus will be just the CJ. No periods. Big, big, big focus here in the offseason. Big joke. You know, we all, we all sort of had a chuckle when we saw the text from Bart passed around yesterday. It’s like, oh, we’re going back to CJ. So that’s the way we’re going to refer to him in, in conversation and in print movies.

Paul Hoynes: Moving forward means he’s feeling a little more comfortable and, you know, you might as well get your name right, right? I mean, it’s gonna be on baseball cards. It’s going to be all over the place. So you better get your name the way you want it so everything, you know, you feel comfortable with.

Joe Noga: Well, that was like when, when Lindor went to, to the Mets and, and he said, you know, I didn’t like it when they called me Frankie in Cleveland. It’s like that was news to us. Everybody was calling him Frankie. He was calling himself Frankie. And then he gets to New York and it’s, well, I’m Francisco. Well, okay, okay. We would have called you Francisco here only could called you Francisco here if that had been the way that you wanted it. But, and I agree is getting more comfortable and feeling a little more comfortable in his, in his skin and in his role now with the Guardians. So we’ll look forward to, to talking to CJ throughout the season and, and calling him by the name that he wants to be called and writing it that way. All right, Hoynsie, that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We will jump back into it with you tomorrow.

Paul Hoynes: Good deal.