all right let's get into it say goodbye to busted brackets because FanDuel lets you bet on every game of the tourney whether you're betting on big up sets or a one seed it's time to go dancing on America's number one sports book right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins that's 200 bucks use on point spreads money lines you can even pick who's going to win at all just visit fanduel.com slss and bet on all college hoops until they cut the Nets down is anybody daring
to bet against Yukon yeah be hard this is the most boring tournament men's season I've ever had seen in my life I have very little interest there no drama yeah they uh and I I even thought I was going to put a little spread I I bet uh that San Diego State would cover 11 and a half and it wasn't even close I mean they had had in six minutes goodness another 30-point win the question now is I I saw them debating this yesterday on ESPN the question is are they going to win the question is is anybod
y can play them within single digits that probably would be one close Jay Williams firmly believes no yeah Seth Greenberg who I know and love and work closely with for a long time said he thinks that perhaps Illinois yeah with the way they play more upbeat Temple Tempo that they could possibly play them with intent but I think the drama's gone I think they're going to punch their ticket all the way for two in a row all right uh I'm going to let you start uh I know you're pent up and ready to go
about this Guard team what's your reaction and first of all I listen before the game I was not happy with the lineup I didn't like that uh that uh bone was not lineup and and in fact you know so everybody start when I put that out there he was like well he's going to be Bieber's personal catcher no they said no ST V told hammy because I was listening to the to hammy last night I was watching the game I synced it up right and he said that Steven V specifically said there's no personal catcher yea
h that he just wanted Hedges to play two of the first four games all right I'd still like Naylor in the lineup now I would have put him in for fry but fry had a great game you I I loved your T it's funny when you look back on things you're like you were concerned about the middle of the lineup and bull with good reason not a lot of punch there well I didn't like laurano hitting third right I want Jimenez higher up in the lineup but in the end great game by the Guardians they did everything right
they played they played very well on defense uh they had that one inning when they scored a bunch of runs they got help by that Austin Hedges ground ball which they scored a hit but I thought that was an obvious error3 yeah uh well it wasn't they gave him a hit but only one RBI they gave the first baseman the air which was surprising me the throw I thought it was the throw too the throw clearly pulled him off the bat look there's a lot of crazy stuff going on in Oakland that score scoring decis
ion was like the least crazy thing from last night because if you were watching the game the one shot that was is going to be burned in my mind forever Oakland's a great baseball town in the 70s they they won World Series they were always competitive there was a protest when they took the opening shot The Telecast last night I'm like uhoh yeah yeah yeah there I mean the scan the stands were empty the official tenant was 13,000 the day where everybody sells out weren't they were weren't they booi
ng at the end of the game well what happened they were booing but what happened was there was an organized protest that fan base has been very organized throughout the turmoil over the last couple years SC those people they're great fans the city of Oakland has has been playing hard ball with the owner the owner is out to lunch doesn't know what he wants to do it's rumored that they're going to build a new facility in for them and they're going to move the team there although I wouldn't I wouldn
't Bank on that yet yeah but what was crazy was they showed during the the game a wide shot of the stadium parking lot yeah it was packed right and all the fans were there having their own party the protest was we're going to go yeah and we're going to exp express our displeasure by not going in to watch the game they L to it on their radio and they're you know the team is terrible wow I mean it's a terrible team minor league team yeah and so I I I feel bad for those fans and I don't know where
they're going to play next year they you know they may play in Sacramento they may play Le Park the next so who knows but uh The Good the the best thing about the game last night and again I know the A's lineup is a minor league line there's no debating that but it was just how Shane Bieber looked right I mean he looked like Shane Bieber again regardless of who he was doing regardless yes he's going to be even more dominant against a bad lineup but he looked phenomenal I mean he was on point he
had great Pace he had great movement he had great everything was right for him and that was great to see because if the Guardians who look to me like you know on paper as a midling team because their lineup is as question marks if they're going to win this division which is possible because nobody in this division is that good it's going to be on the shoulders of the pitching led by Shane Bieber they've got to be great because the the Guardians have the best rotation in this Division and if they
're going to make the playoffs the rotation got to be great it's got to live up to its potential right and it starts with Bieber and it it started great last night cuz he was absolutely lights out they could have thrown him another inning I think he vote made the right call I was screaming one more I know I always want to see his pitch count was so low I know I get why he did they had a big enough lead that he was like all right let's get to because of the injury last year but I'm with you I whe
n I have an A I have a horse like Bieber I want him to pitch as much as he can yeah also think because there was no drama in the game he wanted to get some Bullpen work absolutely I totally get it I understand the six Innings I wouldn't even second guess that decision I'm just saying as a pitcher and you got to drag off the mound I think he wanted another in absolutely and I as a fan wanted to see it for another inning he he was pitching pissed off I I I I it was this smoldering thing I'm watchi
ng the game I'm staying up late watching it and um there's something to be said for somebody who won't pay you what you feel you worth and I thought when I saw him pitch there's two things that stuck out first of all shout out to you for getting you a change up how do you just go he just comes in and just says you know what let me just develop a new pitch you can speak to how difficult that is later on in your career not only did he give you the change up his his his off speed pitch had crazy mo
uh just movement on it it was dancing everywhere for and for to be April I don't know how warm it was out there but I know what it feels like in for his ball to have that level of movement in in the first outing was crazy and it was going like this he this this was like playoff Bieber like I'm like oh mo these guys are getting mowed down one after another so right now he put everybody on watch I'm out here I I'm working on my game I feel like I'm still a Top Flight pitcher in the whole season h
e's set it up where we gonna be like is this is kind of hard to get rid of a guy who's throwing the ball like this if he continues to throw like that it's difficult for any organization to say let's put him on the Block he gonna make it difficult because when this this right here that's S Young Bieber he looked like he was two three years removed right here they had they had a lot of bad swings Oakland and even their four hits like I think only one was hard hit it it was few bloop two of them we
re opposite field uh to that point bull after the first three outs he struck out the side yeah I said watching at home he could throw no hitter tonight and that's going to leave Steven vote in a really precarious position because the Cleveland Guardians are the franchise that are on the clock in terms of no hitters they haven't thrown a no hitter since Len Barker's perfect game in 1981 81 which is mindblowing it's mind-blowing that it's been that long they've had a couple of close calls but I in
itially and I'm always this guy by the way my son laughs when we watch games together after the first three outs are made I go no hitter he's like I me he had that kind of stuff last night doubt I I believe that with the kind of stuff that he had and the lineup that he was facing factor that Steven vote could have been in a really difficult position in the seventh eighth and Ninth Innings cuz as he watched his starter who's coming off injury last year get into a deep pitch count situation but he
has a no- hitter you can't take him out the only no hitter thrown in the history of Major League Baseball on opening day was done by Bob Feller with the Cleveland Indians I didn't realize that so to to have an opportunity to go into that kind of Stratosphere Stephen V would not have been able to pull him out so early in the second inning when they got the cheap base hit the other away I immediately said I I'm sure vote wasn't even thinking that way yet but I'm like well that takes one really di
fficult decision off vote well that's the type of lineup too because not only are they bad but they're young so they're going to be overly aggressive and Bieber strong strikes so they're going to be anxious not to get in an 02 hole and they were they were swinging the bat you know for the most part I think he walked one guy he did have one walk 11 K he's now the he joins a group of about five or six other pitchers all of them who are going to the hall of fame or in the of Fame yeah who has doubl
e digit strikeouts on three different opening day occasions for whatever reason and and everybody gets amped up on opening day you want the baseball in your hands to start the season so all the pitchers are Aces or A+ front of the rotation guys he's now one of about Five Guys that is second on that list only once or only one pitcher has four times on opening day had double- digit strikeouts Bieber Rose to the occasion and did it again you know part of the reason especially nowadays why it's rare
even though there Aces going is cuz guys don't pitch that many innings true you know back when you were a kid when I was a kid the opening they started with Go the Distance quite often but nowadays it's hard to get double- digit strikeouts early in the season cuz they're extra cautious you know if that start happened in the summer he would have gone the seventh inning he would have for sure because he would have been stretched out by then funny you said that about the complete games in in getti
ng ready for the series on the 94 Indians yeah I was doing some research about some things that stood about that team you'll remember what stands out about 94 was they didn't have a World Series that year of course yeah the Indians got to 113 games they were one game behind the white socks uh the white socks for first place they were in the wild card spot yeah and they had at that point in the season bow 113 games in they had 17 complete games by their pitchers you won't find a staff that gets w
ith to double digits in complete games again well what's funny is the Guardians let's say just say since 2020 this decade right they've had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball I don't know if they've had 17 complete games this decade doubt very seriously that they've had it in this I don't know if they had 10 yeah it's crazy that's how much theame more specialized by the way speaking of which a real quick sidebar sure my buddy and I who's a huge baseball fan also right this morning I was
sitting here talking with him and we were talking about how much pitching has changed and how Hall of Fame voters are going to have to look at pitchers differently because you're never going to have a pitcher win 300 games you're very rarely going to have a guy get 3,000 strikeouts guys just don't pitch enough in the new bars are and you're going to have to like look at it because we were talking about is Chris S a Hall of Famer is Zack ranky a Hall of Famer we were talking about some of those
guys and you're going to have to look at pictures differently to get theall of Fame that's a great Point bu because your gut is to say no but that's by the old Ste understand we were we were even talking about Cory clubber and Johan Santana who for like only got like aund he's low on a win but those guys for like five six years were the best pitchers in baseball do you think that how low will that bar go will it go to 200 wins well I I don't even think to me I don't think the win should matter y
ou don't count wins I care more about the erra the whip the dominance the sa young how long they were dominant right because think about it Sandy kofax was is like the one example from back in the day where he was great for five six years that was it and then he got hurt but so was clubber and so is Johan Santana those guys will be interesting down the line but the voters are going to have to change their ball CU nobody's going to get like you said I don't know that the I looked I looked this up
in the offseason the the pitcher closest to 300 is Verlander right but he's still from the old school era sure and he's not still not going to get there right I mean how do it's doubtful he'll get there he's already having arm issues like how many does Kershaw have you know K 200s but I don't think anybody's going to get to that old threshold it's funny remember sa young won 511 games right I know holy cow talk about the unbreakable record sport we talked we we had on the show we talked about t
he unbreakable records and and 60 70% of them were pitching records not going to be broken uh I wrote some notes I'll go through them quickly cuz we we got a lot to get to today uh Shane Bieber obviously lights out um six scoreless 11 strikeouts one walk four hits none of them were loud none of them they didn't even really record loud outs you got a lot of ground ball outs and the one good hit by the way was the A's could have had something going and Butler slid off the base and it was a great p
lay by Jose to stay with it wait for come patient agressive um it's just it's a veteran move by him to wa for the uh wait for the hand to come off the bag I noticed and we talked yesterday in the chat I like you did not like uh him he so down in the line he's not a seven hitter no no not his lineup and and so I can't imagine that he's going to live there all year um I I said in the chat and I'll repeat it here yeah I'm going to give Steven vote a two-month honeymoon that's fair I'm not going to
nitpick all of the little things um I'm I'll talk about them but I'm not going to harp on them because he's new he's figuring things out he's clearly going to be a manager that does things differently Tito I think it's safe to say was a by the book guy he used analytics but he was for the most part Jose Ramirez is a three hitter you hit him in the three spot well and mil STW would still be on this roster no question he Tito was in love with mil straw the a couple of things I didn't like I'm not
going to harp on I just would have done it differently and and now it's only one game small sample size but the way it played out last night is exactly the way I felt it would play out he's got hosy in the two spot I don't like it I don't like it I know the idea is put him behind a guy that gets on base a lot he's going to see better pitches if you looked at the game and the way it played out Juan was 0 for his first four right he got on base in his fifth at bat yeah josy with a patient at bat g
ot a pitch he could handle and almost hit one out he got a triple knocked in a prior to that his at bats looked middling I know it's five it's a very small sampling size I just want him in a in a position because you look at this lineup and you say where are the runs going to come from if he does hit 30 home runs and he's hitting in the lead or in the number two spot his RBI total will be down here's what I here's the only we'll see how it plays out right I yesterday my bold prediction you guys
are going to give him in a little bit was that and you know bold predictions are things you're not expecting to happen sure it's small percentage but I said that that Brian roio would be an All-Star okay I'm I like Brian roio I'm really excited to give him an opportunity if he plays well and he's batting ninth well then you you know after time you're resetting the lineup think about as the two hitter how many more bats over the course of the Season that might give Jose yeah you know they were I
can't remember exactly what it was I think it was like 0 five per game and the reason I I can remember that is because Aaron judge when he was going for 60 home runs if you remember Aaron Boone put him as the lead on and the whole idea was to get him more at bats and a lot of the statisticians were doing the math on that how many more at bats will he get if he's in the one as opposed to the three four or five what I would do though Jay is if you're going to hit Jose 2 I would hit Naylor 3 Josh N
aylor it makes perfect sense you know if you're going to do that cuz I want cuz Naylor is the second best hitter on the team and so I that's the best protection for Jose if you're going to put Jose in the two yeah I I I hope it doesn't play that you're right I complained about the lineup yesterday but we do have to give it some time also like you um I was in agreement with you when you sent the text to the group about well that um burner Murderers Row in the middle of the lineup fry and Freeman
I I I thought for sure that they were going to struggle to score runs yeah just because the way the lineup was you know Jos in the two yeah H way down in the bottom and four and five or five and six I think yeah five and I just thought that's not going to work five of the 11 hits came from Fri Freeman they both had a great game uh Freeman I loved when Freeman knocked in the first run with that double and then he's like fired up I thought that brought a lot of energy early that's what you need fr
om Young Players I love his aggressiveness on the base running great 90% of the time where that ball was hit you stop it first but because it was the start of the season and he wanted to get something going he took the extra bag it was a smart play it was predetermined it was like one of them things off the bat you like you know what I'm I'm shooting this three right real quick I'm driving into the I think that's a point he probably in his mind he said I'm going if the Guardians are going to hav
e success offensively they've got to play like that they do they're not going to hit a ton of home runs hopefully it'll be up from last year but we know they're not going to live and die by the Home Run they've got to be aggressive on the base now to that point one of the things I jotted down was I did not love that Josh Naylor tried to steal a bag immediately after get hit in the wrist that was a we it was said in the text was like it was almost like he was so pissed that he got hit maybe he wa
s scared that he was going to be that he was hurt that he's like I don't know catcher has a gun yeah um he he was out by two two steps I want to see I want to see rokio run and Naylor stay at first he's the one guy that's great idea he's the one guy I don't want running there were a couple times and we may have been chatting about it during the game in the in the text chain I there were a couple of times where I thought they would run and I wanted to see them run just to get something going and
they didn't so that was a little odd sustainable for like for fry to give you three hits no I'm like like when I saw him at DH I said who's what why yeah that was odd yeah why but it work it worked it was one game it's a small sample size and again it's against Oakland they're pitching it is like they're playing a minor league team I'm not going to make too many decisions based off this series it's just two games right four oh it is four they have four then three at Seattle three and three yeah
and then they come home so 10 game Road Trip that's like they started on the road seven straight years well it's kind of better weatherwise no I I understand that it it it's it's good you want to get the Midwest in the Northeast teams into warm locals Oakland's not a warm local by the way but what was what's interesting is I was talking to um to Bart and to Curtis at spring training about this I I wanted to know who genius idea was it to have opening day on the day of the eclipse and they said i
t was an accident yeah they they had Major League Baseball um normally would have had them home before that but the Guardians said we're going to need the extra time because we're renovating right so we need every second every minute of every day so can you put us on the road for a little longer and the way it worked out was we'll give you three series on the road to start which is good if they can come home six and four on a 10 game buz I need a seven and three seven and three would be even bet
ter but I'm saying that because the West Coast Swing is always brutal if you get those 10 Road games out of the way early what that means is you have 81 of the last 152 on the road on the at home so you know that gives you a the back end of the schedule should be home loaded and you you look at the you know the offseason gave you nothing to be excited about right there was no buzz for the team yeah people like you and me that love baseball we're going to be into it but for the casual fan there w
as no buzz this off season so if they can get off to a good start plus the eclipse and the women's final four and everything going on leading up to opening day it would be fun it's going to be exciting I I think you hit the number on the head I think six and four everybody would be pleased but s and three you get into seven and three eight and two yeah and then everybody's like uhoh what do we have and I think that will really jump start the season and I'm tell you and you said something before
the show it's not like the Cavs got you like jumping no right now now the C stin and normally they would so you get an opportunity cuz you know the people is the in between money it's the in between fans and by the way I again it's 10 days out but I just looked at the forecast for opening home opener yeah 62 and sunny as of today when I looked back okay now would that be amazing I'll give you a warning with that my good friend upst bety cing she says it doesn't chief meteorologist of channel 3 u
m we've had long discussions about boy look at that beautiful sky that would be nice if we had a day like that and look I'm not I'm not I'm not going to piss on that forecast maybe it is going to be great I hope it is but Betsy has told me that forecasting is a very tricky game um you can with pretty good certainty give you 24 hours when you start to get to 72 hours you know there's a lot of variables that could change it's weather it's by definition it changes but when you start getting to five
seven and 10 it's a crap shoot what really what what you're really looking at there is some model play that comes in but what you're mostly looking at are averages and and history you know like your average high your average low keep my fingers why don't you just plagiarize I'm going off hey what Al Roker say I'm one I'm yeah it's going to be sunny and there's a lot of agreement I bring up this this happened to be on Weather Channel because WK I use wkyc's forecast but it they don't go as many
days ahead as channel does which I get CU and that's why Betsy even on WKYC they give you a week yeah and I think on the weekends they give you 10 days yeah okay I think or maybe it's at 11 clock we give you 10 days I'm not sure things your parents do wake up and check the oh absolutely at all times that should be a I'm sure Progressive in their in their um you're going to grow up and be your parents DS I'm sure at some point they've done did you see the one with LL Cool J one of my favorites oh
don't freak out listen I saw you doing it I Boo that is you I see he tries to play cool at first I've got a I've got a video of my nephew playing the piano this is my uh this is my kid's literally team you want to see him it's so good I love you know they make us laugh because they're true those commercials are the best that guy who plays the doctor is phenomenal he's really good he is yeah he's really good okay uh one other note because I know we got to go uh I thought and this is maybe it is
confirmation bias uh when I was in Arizona I heard a lot of talk that there's going to be a pivot in their offensive philosophy they're going to be more aggressive they're not going to you know they're not going to be so afraid to swing and Miss I thought and maybe again it was confirmation bias but to me it felt like the Guardians were more aggressive early in the count where in in past years and that this was Tito's message yeah they were spitting on pitches that were too good to spit on right
I thought last night when they were down the- middle fast balls to open account guys were going for it and I hope to see that Trend because that's that's leads to more offensive production in my view yeah yeah yeah don't be afraid to strike out okay Earl I I we probably went a little longer than planned but I'm my bad you all good man so if you're trying to get down to Progressive Field to see the Cleveland Guardians this year take the guest work out of buying tickets with game time all you hav
e to do is download the game time app create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase so make sure you download game time if you're trying to get down to the game Jay G you all were not here yesterday uh bu Jason and tiis gave their big bold predictions for the Cleveland Guardians this year so we are curious to know what you uh got cooked up for your Big Bowl predictions you want to go first G yeah man let me listen listen I said this to Mike uh let me let me get what we
re they so mine was rokio uh to the allstar game yeah uh what was uh Jason and tyus you I can't remember now oh tyus said that the Guardians will finish in the top 15 in home runs that's a that's a they're going to hit more homers I think they're going to hit 150 home runs this year that wouldn't get them into the top 15 no it would not I think last year the 15 team was the Cubs and they hit 170 something and I don't think they're going to be in the top 15 and see I didn't I said to Jason this t
his was not bold enough that's think thank you I was going to say that I mean I think that's that's not a shock if that happen a couple of weeks ago we had the discussion yeah which of the Guardians five starting pitchers right you know in other words like handicap the sa young race just amongst the guardian starters and we were all like I don't think it would be a shock if any of these guys won it this this is where this is where G bush really comes into effect operation stop pil is here this i
s this is uh operation knee-jerk cuz I'm going crazy on these right here I said the guardian young arm stay healthy and become the top rotation in the American League I don't think that's a stretch either I don't think that's not a b predictions hold on now you said B in all of baseball basball now there was uh I think mlb.com put their uh rotation rankings I didn't see them and I think the Guardians were ninth so wow and we looked at it yesterday we uh Jason and I thought we would move him up a
spot or two to maybe seven so I said so that that is way high on that is bold yeah now I got more seasoning I just more seasoning uh theor Brothers combined for 40 home runs plus okay I got more seasoning yeah I can see that Jose Ramirez 30 home runs all right I can see all of that this the big one Guardians win 94 games that's a it is that's bold see how you make a way forward that is how you do it that is bold that's that's bold now I feel bad because um I don't know how often this happens bu
ll you can help me on this I don't think it happens very often yeah um but again talking about this staff it kind of reminds me how much I love it my bold prediction was very simple that they would have three starters win 15 games that you know 15 is kind of the new 20 yeah and that is hard because guys just don't go deep into gam hard right they don't now I you know there have been times where I know the Orioles had four 20 game winners once in the 70s and I think it might have been done a time
or two I don't know that the Braves great staff of the '90s actually ever had four 20 game winners I think the Indians in the 40s or 50s I'm trying to think had 4 20 game winners 86 Mets team that had Fernandez good they oh they may have Fernandez yeah they were really good I I don't know if they I don't think they all won 20 games but they were good that is bold I think it's a long I mean I I can see Bieber and by I think I think Mackenzie I I think MacKenzie's G just worried if he's not going
to p no I think he'll be good but he's not a guy who I expect to go deep into games enough to get those wins yeah possible it's hard so it that that does qualify because if you say it's a b okay I think the other one that hit me while I was I was watching the game last night when I was said after one inning oh wow he has no hit stuff um my other bold prediction is Shane Bieber is going to pitch a no hitter this year the drought will end that's definitely bold yeah it is bold because you're pred
icting you know something that hasn't happened years hasn't happened for a long time for this with you know I just don't want to get no hit again I've seen the Guardians get no hit way too IND a couple of years ago were no hit three or four times yeah it was awful it was one of my I mean like one of the low points of this franchise and they were they weren't a bad team no it was weird but they got no hit I think three or four times it was crazy that year might be a record yeah how much they were
no I got a question if I was to say Gabriel Aras and Bo Naylor combines for 40 home runs this year is that like a bold prediction yeah that would be that would be bo Naylor got 35 of them home runs yeah um Aras not in the starting lineup he's going to get it bats but it was a lefty pitcher though so he'll he'll play against righty somewhat he will play yeah um I I'm with you I think Bo's going to have to hit 30 listen i' saw if you told me Aras hit 10 home runs I'd be thrilled at this point it
would be a huge bonus I I think to to expect a you know a second-year catcher who hasn't played much in the big leagues did 30 home runs is not really by the way I need to see him the rest of these three games I don't stop well he's only catching two of them I hope he'll the other one no I don't like that I I don't like that early on and again I get what Hedges brings defensively the guy just can't hit it's funny he came up at some really big spots last night I mean yeah he had one hit we we alr
eady that one that was that was an air so I'm and here's the thing I get it it seems like they're like you know we brought him in as a free agent we got at least play him 72 games I I don't mind if they use head like I just want play number how many how many games should Hedges catch uh CU I've got a number in mind I if it were me I'd have him catch 30 games or take I I want Bo Naylor to play 130 games right I want I want and if it's going to be a little more Jay then Naylor DH a dozen games als
o you know what I'm saying like if you want cat 120 fine have him DH 12 games cuz he's he should be one of their their third or fourth best is he Bieber like I thought maybe he was Bieber's that's what everybody saying when I complain about vote vote was a catcher in his career he handled pitchers I'm sure if there was a a Bieber type pitcher on the staff that went to vote and said look I only feel comfortable with with X then the manager would be prone to yeah maybe not every start but he's goi
ng to but that's really but it is rare John Lester had that with David Ross yeah I think it was more common 15 20 years ago I thought back in the day they used to do it all the time it was more common back in the day but I think today if you if you if you're a major league catcher you can handle a pitcher unless just a knuckle baller a lot of times guys hate catching knuckle ballers Doug used to be a guy weld absolutely handy the problem is again I know Hedges is a great guy I don't mean to be m
ean to him personally he knows it he said it he just can't hit yeah his career batting average is like 170 it's it's not that low is it please tell no it's not that low it's got to be in the twos please check that no I could have sworn that that hammy said that last night we need elevator music I'm now but man I I hope it's higher than 170 I would have remembered if it was that low I think it's in 189 God dang 189 all right it wasn't 170 but it's I mean the guy's got a career batting average und
er 200 he's got to be the only player in baseball like that with you know with a enough at B he's got a 2,000 career at bats well you know what it speaks to his value that he's been around that long no doubt as a backup catcher he he is great but I mean he's a zero on at the play unfortunately but they didn't need him yesterday they got no they didn't thankfully there are going to be games where he's in there where he's going to come up in position positions where they're going to need that stic
k and um and maybe then you pinch hit if he came up last night as he did late in the game with the B loaded in a one nothing game then Baylor goes in 100% And and that's the right move to make did you guys talk about this uh what what what's the magic number for this division um I think it's going to take at least 90 but low I don't agree I I just can't see someone winning a division with than 90 88 maybe 8 I I I don't agree I think I think what it last year Minnesota won 90 last year but I don'
t think there was good and I don't think anybody's better than they were last year I'm not sure there was good either that's a good point I I think Minnesota went backwards I think the Guardians are the same I'll say I think Detroit I'm going say the Guardians are better strictly because they're P they only won 76 last yearo no I but I but but their pitching was they were injured right the roster didn't really change the roster is it's just got to be healthier hey did Oscar Gonzalez make the Yan
kees opening day no so where is he he's in Triple A with them so he took the assignment might have gotten hurt right at the end of spring training too 2023 uh American League Central Division standings Minnesota won a division winning 87 games wow so I I I think it's going to be like 80 between 85 and 87 that was but here I'll tell you this here's a bold prediction for you I say that the twins the Guardians the Tigers and the Royals will all finish within eight games of each other so you're sayi
ng it basically be a 500 Division I think it's going to be all close I think they'll all finish between 85 and 78 you know what's funny White Sox terrible couple years ago the Braves uh well hell last year look at the Rangers and the Diamondbacks they were the five and the six seed yeah they didn't you know burn the world down Diamondbacks on the last day of the season I know they did and then make a long run the Rangers same thing two years ago when the Braves won it they were under 500 on Augu
st 10th so were the gats a few years ago they won so I I I like the plan for this team we ran part of my interview with Ste vote yesterday on the 5:00 show that I did when I was out in goodye about and I it was a very pointed question 2024 will be a successful season if and he was and I asked that question to all the guys he was the one that answered it most directly and the only one that used either the words playoffs or World Series and he started his answer with if we win the World Series yea
h and I like that absolutely and you know what I mean I I know that no one I don't think is going to pick them but if you want to throw a flyer on a long shot at the start of the Season they're probably one of the smartest teams to do it with because as you know yeah you still need offense but great pitching can win a World Series absolutely listen the great thing about baseball is if you make the playoffs you can win the World Series there you you never go to the baseball playoffs and say oh th
is team can't win I mean that that doesn't happen like we said the Rangers with the five seed last year and the Diamondbacks with a six so they barely made the playoffs those two team kind of crazy CU Diamond Backs won like 84 games last year it's less fulfilling almost I I think if you win okay if you win like you're going to take it but if you compare it to like basketball or or football like you you pretty much know who's going to win like the best teams win football most the teams that get i
n have at least their chances as long as you have a quarterback basketball like we I said I Jason disagreed with me he'd give him at least a little bit of a chance but I said there's no way the Caps can win a championship there's no chance they would have to start playing again like they did for that 20 game stretch after they would have to they would have to have guys that just woke up and like played out of their mind in baseball like I mean there are teams that I would tell you in the NBA no
chance and I'm talking about playoff teams not the guys that aren't going to go there's just teams that will be in the playoffs that have zero chance I think the Cavs have a small single digit chance but they're a long shot if you pull people in the street and say who won the um who won the World Series last year there'll be a lot of people most people wouldn't and think about it the two teams in the American League that most people are picking to go to the World Series this year the Astros and
the Orioles like those teams the Orioles got Corbin burns from the Brewers was a great trade he was great an opening day they have to recreate some magic that's not easy to recreate by the way and listen their lineup's fantastic they got a amazing young players but their rotation outside of burns is nothing special I thought because of their rotation last year they overachieved by a ton now Burns makes a difference cuz he's one of the best pitchers of changes their rotation but the rest of their
rotation playoffs like the the Mariners deep rotation if the Rangers can get the Grom and Sherer healthy deep rotation but the Guardians have a rotation to play with anybody if they're healthy and if they make the playoffs I'm going to assume it's going to be healthy get it would it would be great and if they do uh it's funny they could be the two seed or you know or the three seed yeah but it's in baseball when one road game and you were raised 15 wins from somebody in the regular season so it
's um there it's a big eraser in the when you get in the playoffs if you can just win one road road game before we move on from this we did the same thing upstairs we do it every year we do it's a bold predictions our digital um uh staff puts together like six or seven questions and then they send it out to The Newsroom usually 15 people or so reply and I was reading through some of the replies yesterday and one of the Bold uh predictions was that Shane Bieber resigns along longterm deal to stay
here in Cleveland and a year ago I would have told you that's completely off the table yeah and I still think he's going to move yeah and I think that the guardian's most difficult decision they'll have to make this year is what to do with him at the trade de well if they're in it I mean if you're within three games you cannot trade Shane Bieber you can't now what that you run the risk then of getting nothing for because I don't buy they're going to sign them I I I you know well the reason I I
think that that is doable I still think think he won't but the reason I feel more inclined to at least give that some time is that we know that the Guardians now have a minority partner and he is willing um by if if you look at his track record with his other pro sports franchises he spends money but they spent nothing this off season which is more which yeah it and and follow this logic perhaps they spent nothing because they're all in on Bieber or bust and here's what I mean by that last year
they went to the free agent well and Not only was it dry it turned up puke it was awful I mean Bell when he was here was a pig he got much better when he went to Miami yeah but Zeno's out of baseball right so they spent a lot of money poorly so in talking to antonetti when I brought that up with him one of the things he said was we tried that last year this year we want to look at the kids let's just say they're in a really good spot in July I think they're more likely to do a deal with Bieber b
ecause they didn't spend any money this year I hope you're right um maybe I'm being overly optimistic but if he has a great year he's going to get a he can be able to get a $200 million contract at least 1501 170 minimum and I I'd be shocked if they do it but I mean that would be cool it would be a franchise changer if they did something like that but I don't know yeah going with the kids last thing I mean just like you know you see Nolan Jones and some of these guys but it's all news we're on t
o this year it is all right that's our bold prediction segment what do you have Earl
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