Mets and Brewers make a trade! | Baseball Today

Chris Rose and Trevor Plouffe discuss the hottest offseason stories in baseball!

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00:00 INTRO
01:22 Mets and Brewers make a trade!
06:57 Padres sign Japan’s best closer to $21M
13:08 Angels pursuing Blake Snell… good idea?
21:37 Andrew McCutchen returns to Pittsburgh for $5M
25:42 Best sports Christmas gift you ever received?
29:12 OUTRO

Featuring: Chris Rose and Trevor Plouffe
Edited by: Dan Rourke

#JMBaseball

It is Thursday December 21st 2023 this is another edition of baseball today that is my man Trevor poof I am Chris Rose producer Dan along for the ride as well we didn’t call each other before we got dressed today did we let’s go pirates that’s right for

Those of you that are Audio Only I came wearing a pirates lid plof had his hat backward until the big reveal oh look where are thoughts are well always with cutch our guy we’re gonna get to cutch in a little bit but I’ve been a pirates fan for a while

Because C Rosie back in the day I used to get a pirates hat because of the pee plof all that thing oh okay so I’ve always been fond of the Pirates hat I am old enough to have remembered their last World Series championship in fact it’s really one of my first baseball Memories

The We Are Family Team of pop starel and that whole crew I could I think I could almost go around the entire lineup and give it to you but I won’t do that today I’m sure you could I’ll spare I was eight I was eight years old when they

Won it in 79 I loved it because the Pirates wore it felt like during that seven game series against Baltimore they wore seven different uniform combinations they were like the Oregon Ducks before the Oregon Ducks so it was pretty neat pretty neat stuff and they

Were great it was easy to root for even though I was from Cleveland so there you go um let’s get to it we had a little trade activity since we last met Metson Brewers pull off a swap Adrien Hower and Outfield Tyrone Taylor to New York for minor league pitching Prospect Coleman

Crow who I believe is coming back from Tommy John’s surgery are you more interested in how this immediately helps New York’s rotation or how much more destruction the Brew Crew will do to its roster uh I’m more interested in in the Brewer side of this you know I’m happy

For the Mets Adrian Hower is a great like back end of the rotation piece to have like they they need more depth there they’re obviously in the running for Yamamoto but putting a guy like Hower in rotation great awesome uh Brewers though I’m just curious where

They go because they have a it’s kind of like they don’t have many choices you either go ahead and you trade your guys right now I’m talking basically Burns and and adamus trade them before the season but then you go into the season kind of telling your fan base we’re not

Really competing this year guys and I I don’t think they want that c Rosie they had you know the hater deal wasn’t great with the fan base and then if you do this I think it just signals to them like hey don’t like don’t come out to the stadium necessarily this year which

Sucks you don’t want that as an ownership group or or for your team at all so they have to decide and I think the right move uh for them uh is to keep Corbin and uh adamus on the roster and just see like what’s go what’s going on

Can we compete this year and and maybe we add some pieces worst case scenario you compete and then you get a draft pick for Corin Burns you know have to decide on a qualifying offer for adamus um but but if you go into the season and

Things don’t work out you can trade them at a deadline and I don’t think there’s going to be a huge disparity and a package from now until the deadline I think they’re going to be you know around the same so uh it’s interesting you know you got to make a choice man

And um I think the best choice for the buers is is to probably keep those guys and try to compete in the NL Central and then kind of make that decision you know around July early August so let’s start with the Mets and what this means for

Them uh SGA canana seevi Hower and then what Mill Luc Casey a couple other younger guys fighting it out for that back end okay decent decent they need a dude the dude actually and then all of a sudden the Mets become super super interesting and if they don’t

Get whom they’re chasing after from the Far East then where do they go it’s sure as heck doesn’t feel like Blake Snell is is the right one didn’t they say it was Yamoto or that’s for them yeah that’s what it sounds what they’ve been saying but that doesn’t make sense either but

No but let’s look at it to me the more interesting part is what you talked about Milwaukee let’s say that the Brewers don’t do anything further either add or subtract what are they are they a 75 win team could they be 500 could they add a couple more wins maybe win a downtrodden

National League central because there’s some teams that have made interesting moves in my opinion where are they I think they always Teeter around that line don’t they they’re never a juggernaut that’s going to win a 100 games I mean they try to win 85 to 90 games somewhere around there that’s just

Kind of like their MO or or I don’t know if that’s what they’re trying to do but that just seems like what they do on a on a yearly basis so where would I put do you think they are right yeah what the current roster construction because

We always say well we got to wait for moves let’s just say they don’t do anything plus orus 500 yeah I I think you got to rip the bandaid off man I think we know what we’re doing it started with them with Craig counil going elsewhere it

Certainly sounded like they made him a fair offer maybe not the8 million that he’s getting from the Chicago Cubs but an uptick in what he was earning to keep the hometown kid it just didn’t work out um so it feels like at some point over the next 12 to 18 months they’re pulling

The bandaid off and so you mentioned Burns you mentioned Adamas who are both in their walk year we’ve heard the prospects of them Trading Elli he still has a ton of money left on his deal and then to me the biggest piece they’ve actually got is Deon Williams yeah I

Think that once you see where hater signs that the Brewers are going to try and figure out where he fits like I think that they could get something really good for I think he hasn’t he won the national league reliever of the Year award the last two years is that possible

Something I’m not sure about that I don’t want to say yeah I’m not sure but he’s obviously one of the Premier relievers in the game and I agree I mean look he is an amazing trade trip if you end up trading all three of those guys you’re you’re in a full on

Rebuild so it’s like is that what you want right now does any team ever really want that especially the Brewers I feel like the Brewers have just they’ve almost mired the Cardinals and being like kind of like a a model of consistency over the last few years and

Uh you know we know what happened with the Cardinals last year do the Brewers want they saw that firstand do they want to go into that and that’s and and if they’s trading those guys I think the Cardinals can bounce back and and compete this year I don’t know if the

Brewers if they trade all those guys are going to compete anytime soon so it’s you got to make a decision and that is a tough tough one to make and a tough cell to your fan base uh by the way Williams has twice won the the um Trevor Hoffman

National League reliever of the year last year and then 2020 was the first time when he was just balling in front of Josh hater uh speaking of Trevor Hoffman is his old teams the Brewers and now let’s move on to the Padres and relievers they are bringing in Yuki

Matui who led the league over in Japan in saves I believe he had 39 last year it sounds like the deal is going to be 4 years and 21 million for the 28-year old how big a deal is his arrival uh it’s like a decent sized deal

I think I don’t know not impressed huh I I am impressed I think it’s a smart move by them obviously you’re losing they lost a bunch of guys in their bull who’ they lose they lost ha they lost Luis Garcia they lost they traded bar Martinez so you know where are you okay

This guy’s coming over from Japan he’s had a lot of success over there uh and you know short King what’s up I love that about him but where are you GNA find a guy that you can kind of maybe um project to be a backend type guy in the

Big leagues for four years 21 million no posting fee so this is a value play by the Padres you know they’re trying to shed some payroll they’re going to have a little bit of room to work with but they have a lot of they still have a lot of stuff they got

To do and players to fill but I think so this move you know every team needs to shore up or at least try to shore up their Bullpen before the season comes I always talk about how fluid the position is um but you want to have you know a

Sense of where you’re going to be you know the bullpen has become a very very important part of today’s game and to get a guy who you know you can like I said project to be in the back end four years 21 million it it makes a lot sense

Now is this going to like propel them into the top of the noos no uh like I said they still have a ton of work to do but I like the signing I I’m curious to see how he does there has been some reports that like he didn’t love the WBC

Ball which is I don’t know if they use Rawlings Major League baseballs I don’t think they do it’s still a little bit different there you never know how these things are going to turn out but again I think it’s a great value play for the Padres and and that’s kind of where

They’re at right now like they’re going to have to be smart you know with that I think they got like 25 around 25 30 million left to stay under that first tier of the CBT which they want to do they’re going to have to be smart with

Their moves and I think this is a smart move for them I think it’s fascinating you just start with his Dimensions 58165 how many big Leaguers do we have that fit that I mean unless Pedro is struck you know snuck in under my nose I

Don’t know how many dudes not a lot yeah they’re good when they’re there in the big Lees aren’t they usually pretty dang good hell yeah Billy Wagner might get into the Hall of Fame this year he was under 510 I believe so now different deal even though they’re both

Left-handers uh this guy sounds like he touches 95 96 sits more 9294 but has a nasty split like a lot of the pitchers from Japan who come over here do there has been some pedigree of guys that have done very very well usually when Japanese closers come over here they’re

Actually in their early to mid-30s certainly the guys that we have seen do fairly well right Koji was 34 when he got here now he started out as a starter for the Orioles and then became an extremely successful reliever and was on the mound when the Red Sox won it all I

Believe in 2013 kazaki for people don’t don’t remember him he had a short-lived career with the Mariners about two decades ago he was 32 when he got here but it was nasty he could really throw the ball now this kid’s stats look they read great he struck out 32% of the

Batters he has faced in Japan but he has a career walk rate of almost 11% it dipped down under 6% last year which is good you can live with that 11% over here no no no no that ain’t any good but I’m fascinated to see how it works out

So for me it’s two thumbs up in terms of Interest yeah I think so too I watched some of his um his outings he’s got a nasty uh breaking pitch as well Splitters there I could see how he’s going to miss some bats you know it’s 58

Angle left-and side it’s going to be interesting to see how everyone you know adjusts to him um but yeah I I dig it man I think it’s a good move I think a lot of teams probably should have been in on this guy just from the value

Aspect of it do you face any real short dudes in your career I mean I can’t imagine 5’8 you faced um Ventura for the Royals rip he was short guy threw really hard um he wasn’t that short though maybe 5’11 I think he was pretty short if I

Remember correctly okay was dice K short I don’t know I told you I told you on the show I tuned him out I stopped watching everything with him watch him long strowman’s shorter guy yeah you don’t see a lot of shorter pitchers uh when he was pitching I would is when I

Would make my dentist appointment because I’d rather do that than watch dice gatech oh my gosh couldn’t handle it sorry you like the gyro ball it’s not that it’s was a gyro ball I don’t know come on Pitch six K was six foot nice you pitch shorter than that

H he shortened my temper I could tell you that all right today’s episode of baseball today is sponsored by SeatGeek if you have no idea what it is welcome to the party go download it on your phone because it is the number one rated ticketing app it makes buying tickets to

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Download the app and off you go we continue on with a buckle up for safety John Paul morosi report that the angels have been having discussions with one Blake Snell does that do anything for you by the way I can say that JP is a buddy of

Mine I reached out to him just to lend my support even though that’s nice he’s owning it yeah he’s owning it and it sucks for him but we’re not still pissed at him so whatever you have your support but not mine right well I’m just kidding

I don’t care at all support wouldn’t you support a friend I would yeah absolutely you I just I sent him a text and just said hey man thinking about you I get it I know you’re bummed but you got a lot of people who care about you that’s all

Even though is he really that bummed out I think that that one really hurt um like is Toronto Toronto excuse me just pissed at him well he lives in Michigan let’s start with that okay he and his wife who’s a doctor very successful and so you know he’s right

There he’s right in the thick of it and I don’t think these guys they Pride themselves on being right and sourcing information and he was way off and he’s got to own it and he has but that’s all I’m not here to you have my support John

Y you don’t have to give it to him if you don’t know him you don’t have to yeah but I trust by the way if you know him you don’t have to I trust you okay in your judgment in character yeah that’s why you like me so much okay well

One at a minute back to the question about Blake Snell and the angels does it do anything for me I mean not really C Rose like a lot of talks lot of this lot of that I don’t know what are the Angels gonna do with 17 left-handed starting

Pitchers well this one’s a different one though it it is different isn’t he Lefty I will say this I I I’d love for them to make move I am probably higher on the Angels than any other person talking about baseball in today’s media I think there’s still a chance that they

Could be good there’s some young guys there that I really like and like what it takes for a team to be successful is some young guys to step up and become guy guys and that happens all the time your favorite player the best players in the league at one point we didn’t know

If they were going to be good or not and then all of a sudden they’re great so the angels have guys that can turn into that they they really do uh you know new voice at the helm I think Ron Washington’s going be really really good

For that team now I would love a Ron Washington Blake Snell program I think that would be incredible so that Peaks my interest a little bit Blake Snell on the angels I mean sure I I dig it I think it would obviously help their team but just talks right now really doesn’t

Do anything for me and I swear you can’t have four lefties in your starting rotation you just can’t you cannot have that so if he was to come there one of you dudes getting shipped out that’s for sure in my op in my humble professional

Opinion well so I think I’m the reason I wrote this question was because it feels like anybody going to the angels right now it feels like it’s going to be a lost cause like do you want to see the reigning NL sa Young Award winner one of

Less than 10 guys I believe in the history of the sport that has won the award in multiple leagues go to a team that let’s be honest right now what would you have him that division fourth fourth I mean yes you’d have to you’d have to put him fourth I Mariners fans

Don’t want me to start talking about all this stuff but no but I think the Mariners they’re behind the they’re behind the Mariners they’re behind the Mariners yeah and I want to preface this by saying angels fans think I hate them for some reason like I asked Basset I

Don’t know if you saw that clip we put out about Mike Trout Angels fans are they and and they have kind of a reason to be salty and mad at every I mean they been the butt of jokes and and and yeah you know misplaced anger for a long time

Yeah so the the reason I even asked it I think it probably is a good reason to go into it is because Basset is a guy who says anything and is a big opinionated guy about the sport he doesn’t just talk about the Toronto Blue Jays and his

mix that’s not what he does so when I had him on I was like okay well now that sh’s gone would you like to see trout gone we know the deal and everybody’s sending it back like they already said they’re not trading trout why do you bring that up that narrative

Because he’s a baseball fan too and I asked him if he wanted to see it not trying to get Mike Trout out of there although I would personally like to see him go somewhere else um Blake Snell does he turn them the Angels into it no

He’s he takes him from a bad fourth place team to a better fourth place team in my opinion I like Blake Snell hold on let me think about that now Blake Snell does he jump they still don’t jump the Mariners I don’t think so no I don’t

Think not right now I got yeah they could they could could with other moves it’s possible but I would like to see one of the reigning Sai Young winners move into a team where you know going into the year they’re in playoff contention that’s for me now if Blake

Snell wants to go chase the dough and if the Angels want to give it to him and use him as the tent pole for other moves this offseason cool I’m cool with it but as it sits right now like I said he moves him from a bad fourth place team

To a more interesting fourth place team okay I just want to give Angels fans a little bit of love yes or I don’t know if love just some hope some optimism yeah hope we love hope in this country okay uh fangraph has their lineup listed right now I’m just going

To go the bottom for that order right now moniac goopi shenu shenu right I messed that up and Netto like if one of those four guys becomes like an Allstar or a stud like that’s really good if two of those guys become an Allstar or a stud like now you’re talking about now

You’re talking now you’re talking and that very well could happen we’ve seen all of those guys have flashes of times like this guy’s a stud so I don’t think there’re as far off as many people who talk about the sport for a living think they are they need to make some moves

And they need to make smart moves okay like they have to hit they can’t just you know roll the dice and see what happens like they got to be calculated and they really got to hit but I’m I’m buying Angel stock okay I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that

Like like Oh’s got to become what Jonah Heim was to the Rangers last year he was like a decent player and then all of a sudden he jumped through the roof right not only offensively I think he was way better in the first half than the second

Half had a little bit of an injury but nobody stole more strikes it felt like than that dude stuff like that so yeah could could things like that happen absolutely I hope so listen Angels fans have been through a lot of and I’m not rooting against them I’m not am I

Rooting for Mike Trout to get to the playoffs absolutely so if that means it’s in Anaheim great be it’d be a better story but he got moved somewhere else down the road and I know it’s not happening right now but somewhere so he can get back and get more than 13 at

Bats go ahead caller sorry I just thought of something I hung out with Jared Weaver uh at the charity golf tournament in Vegas and I was talking to him about the Angels first of all bring weave back in some capacity like you kind of need a little bit of that in

Your Clubhouse okay number two think about what you did with him and I’m being serious about this you got to use your ballpark everyone else uses their Ballpark and they think about how do we you know uh uh exploit some areas of it those stupid rocks they’re not stupid I

Actually like them but those rocks in like left center field when Weaver used to throw out of those things you couldn’t see the ball like let’s let’s draft or trade for some tall lanky ass right-handers and have them thrown out of the Rocks just do it like you have to

Do things like that I know they traded for or did they trade for Ben Joy or they draft him they drafted him the Angels yeah yeah they drafted him yeah so good more of that more of that big call lanky rties out of the Rocks um weren’t you in the no hitter

Against weave I was and it was at it was in Anaheim okay it’s all blaming on the rocks it he reminded yeah exactly he reminded me the next start I think he started lot with like four or five no hit Innings against us

As well so it was like I love that a lot all right let’s move on to the reason we’re both Dawning Pirates hats today looks like Andrew McCutchen will hit his 300th Homer in a bucko uniform after all one year five million as cool as this

Story is don’t you want to see Kutch play with a contender I want Kutch to do whatever Kutch wants to do he’s earned that he’s at the point now where uh you know J put out a Hall of Fame tweet about Andrew McCutchen like he thinks he’s a sure

Thing because he’s hitting these all these plateaus and these counting stats which I I’m in for it you know me in my hall it’s a big hall for me um I think he’s happy there and I think it’s nice to go back and and reinforce your legacy

In in the city and I think he’s good for a young team and at this point like I think he’s just happy with where his familyes at and and all of that and he wants to be comfortable so I’m okay with him going back to a place where he feels

Comfortable and can kind of I don’t know how long he’s going to play I don’t I’m not going to say right off into the sunset but like he’s earned the right to just go wherever he wants and it’s good for his family would I like to see him with a

Contender only if he was starting and was like doing things I wouldn’t want to see him on the bench with a contender that’s I don’t think that’s a role for him I want to see him playing every day and I think in a pirates uniform is the best fit right now

So they actually improved and I didn’t know this till I looked it up how many more wins do you think they got last year in the previous year oh shoot I have no idea no guess well you just made it sound like 15 15 is the number can

You believe that they improved by 15 wins you know how many at bats O’Neal Cruz got last year not a lot 32 yeah 32 so in a division and we just talked about it with the Brewers story in a division where there isn’t an ironclad Runaway winner at this point maybe may

They just traded for Jesus lazardo right they brought him in it’s interesting no sorry Marco Gonzalez my bad Jesus is still uh stuck in Miami sorry guys barely slept last night so my my bad got you you’re all good um Martin Perez and Rowdy tles so

These are guys that have had success at points of their career um we’ll see where where else they go O’Neal Cruz Brian Reynolds ke Brian cutch Rowdy like that’s a top five that I can get behind yeah absolutely so I I’m good with it now later in the year if things don’t go

The right direction for the Pirates and they come up with a possible idea for him then yeah why not but at the beginning of the year I’m good with it I I loved him seeing get what his 2000th hit last year in a pirates uniform because his kids

I don’t think they were around the last time or maybe one of them maybe the oldest one was like an infant when he something like that now we’re going to get a chance to see him hit number 300 remember we thought it was going to

Happen last year and he had that uh that calf or the Achilles or something go wrong so this is good is Kutch like a Statue Guy in Pittsburgh he brought them back to life C Rosie so there’s three there’s two statue guys you think of in that organization right

Clemente and Pops starel starel so those are the two that you start with and then for decades they just weren’t very good once bons Bonia van sik once that group got disbanded and so then it was pretty slim Pickins and he was the biggest right he won the NL MVP so that’s

Possible it is possible I always say Statue Guy it’s so hard I mean it’s you have to do so much to get a statue with the team but like coming back at the end of his career extending his his Pirates tenure year after year like there there’s something

To it see Rosie I could see a little Andrew McCutchen walking across that bridge statue or something pretty cool I like that all right last thing this is our final show before Christmas um if there’s any major major breaking mes Yamamoto Bellinger Snell things of that

Nature we are going to be around next week if not we’re going to spend some time with our families but because it’s our last show before Christmas regardless what is the best sports related holiday gift you got either as a kid or an older person man um it’s a good question that’s kind

Of what my Christmas gifts were when I was growing up was baseball year because I like my parents like we gotta buy them at anyway might as well you get a jersey or anything no never got Jersey it was always like a new glove which was

Awesome I think my favorite one I ever got and probably the most beneficial to me my dad bought a whiffle ball throwing machine uh that threw like the little Whiffle balls um and so we got that and that was we just we crushed that thing a

Lot we used it so much it’s funny I have one for Teddy now he’s like kind of just getting to the age because it kind of throws pretty fast where he can do it um but that to me I think when I look back at like all the stuff I did Growing Up

The best thing I ever did was hit small Whiffle balls with a small bat so if you’re listening to this and you like hey I need to get my son you know hitting better or you know maybe just a good gift a last second gift the little whiffle ball machine it’s

Nice so when you’re growing up in Ohio the last thing on your mind around the holiday season is baseball because you’re freaking digging out 18 inches of snow every other day by the way our neighbors Mr winter no joke that was his name and he always seemed like he was 90

Years old so I used to go over and shovel his driveway my mom’s like why don’t you go offer that I was like okay yeah Mr winter he must have been like 60 but he looked 90 to me when I was a little kid so the two things I can

Remember one is the electronic football which people who are like maybe in their 40s would remember you line up all of the blockers who are they don’t move or anything like the offensive linemen are all the guards are like this and the tackles are like this and you have this

Little foam football that you could You’ set up the play you put a divider between the offense and defense so they couldn’t see your alignment and you’d turn the thing on and go and the guy would bounce it was impossible to complete a pass nobody ever never

Completed a pass if they say they did they’re lying to you so I got that and I used to like get so excited to put all the numbers down to match up with the jerseys that was one the other thing I got was a Keith Lee Cavs jersey in the

Mid 80s they yeah guy who was a really good college Hooper at Memphis State that’s what it was called back then not Memphis Memphis State and uh we traded uh CH the rights to Charles Oakley with the bulls and brought back Keith Lee on draft day so I got a Keith Lee

They couldn’t stand to me he was terrible and now I don’t think he’s alive I’m sorry I got I got one more I got one more and this is not even well it was for me and my brother we got a Nintendo console regular Nintendo and we

Had Mike Tyson punch out which when you’re young it’s like the hardest game ever but I remember watching my dad sit there and beat the whole thing including Mike Tyson and I just thought this guy’s a superhero like my dad can do it all he can beat Mike Tyson U Mike Tyson and

Punch out that’s when I started to like idolize my father so that’s pretty good wasn’t that the one where it had glass Joe Joe yep yep yep knockout knockout knock him out that one yeah that’s good all right listen have a wonderful holiday season to Olivia and Teddy and

Isa and Dan Rook to you and your family and everybody who Tunes in because we know you have a lot of choices out there you come and seek us out and for that we are forever grateful we can’t wait till we get back to 5 days a week like two

Days a week just doesn’t cut it for us sometimes but that’s the way it goes in the off season so thank you for everybody’s support everybody be safe during the holiday season we want you back whether it’s next week or after the new year so we cannot wait to get

Rolling let’s get some more big signings let’s continue to have fun this offseason all right Bud go pirates for our one of a kind producer Dan Ro the Uber talented Trevor plof I am Chris Rose we will see you very soon here on baseball today