Today, the Geezers fight over who's doing a better job under MLB's luxury tax (CBT), and in their Fantasy Freebie segment, provide their top fantasy catchers for 2025.
[00:00:11] All right, all right, all right. Hello, we are the Diamond Geezers. You're home away from home, but the game never gets old. How is everybody today? Yo, doing good. Living the dream. Living the dream. That's wonderful. As soon as I can get my prompter up. There you go.
[00:00:40] So we circle back from last week's everything and nothing episode into our normal routine, where we have a podcast every Saturday until the season starts. We're going to go back to the routine being that we discuss the topic and then provide some fantasy baseball advice. We once again want to thank all of our listeners, subscribers and the occasional clicker to our site and our YouTube page.
[00:01:08] Based on our recent nasty WhatsApp exchanges over the week, I sense verbal violence is in the air. And as we get into our topic of the day, I've changed the topic of the day, by the way, to topic thunder guys. That was like an executive decision. I think it stinks. That's okay. All right. Thank you. That's horrible. I thought, you know, what about current events? Like, should we talk about Max Scherzer signing? Sure. Let me talk about it.
[00:01:37] Before I, before you start off our topic. Sure. How about Kenley Jansen? I read today spurred the Mets because he wanted to get his 500 saves. So he didn't sign with them. No, it was the spurred the Mets thing. He did. I didn't use the word the article says. Nobody, nobody spurred the Mets. I'm sorry. Last team. The present conversation and Kenley explained very nicely and politely that he still wants to go for that, that save record, you know, that kind of thing. And the Mets said, no. I've been told.
[00:02:07] He's the selfishest we always thought. I felt spurned. So I'm going to use that word. And there we go. Yeah. So he's as selfish as we always thought. I always knew that guy was selfish. What? He wants to actually still close. Yeah. Instead of winning a world series. I don't know. We're away from. Where did he sign? Has he, does he sign anywhere or is it? No. Okay. I don't know how many closing tops are still available. That's what I was saying. I didn't, I don't know what he's doing. You know what? Oh, I meant to look this up today.
[00:02:35] And I, the other day I forgot because I was thinking, wait, didn't Verlander sign? And he did with the giants. And I want to know, because if you notice when, when they signed the Yankees, when the Mets signed Scherzer and Verlander, they had to do the exact same dollar figure. And I was wondering if like, if Verlander signed for 15 million. So then Scherzer said, I have to have 15 million. You know, Is that what happened? Did you look up? I don't know.
[00:03:03] Is that a competitive thing between the two? I didn't, that's where I was going. Just to say, I was curious. Um, so what do you think of that 15 and a half million to the blue Jays? Right? Oh, I, I am not one to argue with, oh, the blue Jays. Yeah. The second I was thinking of the Tampa Bay Rays. It was, here's the funny thing. If it was a Tampa Bay Rays, I'd say, okay, they must know something. I have no, I have nothing to say, but the blue Jays are just, uh, they just want to spend money to spend money. I guess they had to hold this money that they lost out in Soto.
[00:03:33] They lost out in all these other players. And this is the guy that they want to throw money at and it's a name. Right. Yeah. So, you know, uh, but I don't think that's a good use of the money. I, I, I can't imagine these would be worth $15 million, but what do I mean? Durability. That would be a concern for me. Yeah. Right. There's, you know, same thing with the free contract. Easy. We had this discussion already. If you want to get into it again, I'll I, I won the first debate.
[00:04:03] I'll win this one again. Well, we might, but what Pete's going to do for us is Pete's going to start the fireworks off. Um, so no, I take it back. Sure. Verlander's for 15. Scherzer said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want more with 15, five. There you go. F you. Nice. There you go. Is this like a friendly rivalry? The same as Canadian money. So you can do the conversion. Yeah, that's true. He actually, that's a good point. $75 for this.
[00:04:32] That's a good point. But Verlander also has, Verlander also has Kate Upton. So yeah, he wins. That's true. That's true. I will, I will, I will end this, this topic of, you know, this, this thing with Scherzer for, with this thought when he signed with the Blue Jays, my friend, okay, it looks like the Blue Jays are serious. I think he did. I mean, you obviously you signed Scherzer because you think it's a one year, I think you're going to, he's going to get you over the top. So that I started wondering if it would impact them going after Alonzo, right?
[00:05:02] If you're going to go all in, go all in. Yeah. Alonzo met with them. What? Alonzo met with them. Right? Well, right. I don't see Alonzo walk out with a Blue Jay uniform. No, I don't think he, I think everybody realizes he wants to resign with the Mets. So. And then, and this is the thing that wants to throw money at people. Yes. And he didn't sign with them. That says even more, but you know, we'll, we'll get to that in a second. Whatever. But before we do, we're actually going to do something that we rarely do on this podcast is actually talk facts. Facts. Yeah.
[00:05:32] And Pete's going to be our, yeah, Pete's going to be our data center to provide some, yeah, some framework to, to the structure of the CBT, the luxury tax. So that we have some sense of what we're talking about during our expected whiny battle to the death. So. That will destroy our friendships for sure. Go ahead. So I, I think the best part of what you just did here is, gave complete insight as to how this show goes.
[00:06:02] Because right before we go on, I said, I do not want to go into the details. I mean, those words came out of my mouth. I said facts. I said facts. Look, a fact. Pete's going to give you a fact at all. Here's a fact. Here's a fact. You know, that's all you got to do. Here's a fact. Just throw it out there. It'll be, it'll be, it'll be in the vicinity of a fact. Okay. That's still more than what we do. So. That's not true.
[00:06:29] We try, we try and be accurate, but so Ray, what is our, our topic funder today? What you think you're not supposed to throw it back on me. You're supposed to. Yeah. Well, I don't know what to say. You haven't shown our audience the topic yet. I thought, I thought, I'm sorry. I was going to have Pete talk about it beforehand, but that's not a problem. Here's our topic funder. There you go. Rich New York baseball team is penny wise and which is pound foolish. So.
[00:06:56] And I can tell you, let me just say, this is the topic of heated discussion. Heated discussion over WhatsApp. Well, look, we spent a lot of time on the WhatsApp talking about, you know, you know, who can afford what, you know, this week was, why is house time renter so cheap, you know, and, and Steve Cohen can afford to buy the Yankees and the two other teams.
[00:07:24] I think, you know, let's, we got to start with some preps. Okay. And regardless of the owners, individual wealth, baseball teams want to play with within some set of rules within some type of budget. Okay. Whether they might be willing to go over it for a season or go over it with some logic or whatever. This isn't, you know, Cohen is not going to spend $800 million on a team just because he
[00:07:52] could spend $800 million on a team. Right. So you're not going to just buy everything because you can't, first of all, it doesn't work. And second of all, I don't think that's what they want to do. So the money makes a difference. Okay. I think, and regardless of the ownership and you know, the topic came up for two reasons. One, one member of this group was berating the other two members of this group because
[00:08:21] their owner might not have wanted to spend an extra $100,000 for a, for, for some, for some crappy third baseman or whatever the case may be. And so that started the, you know, what is how, Oh, sorry for that. So what, what is, you know, what is how cyber are doing? Not signing the better player for an extra $5 million.
[00:08:46] And that evolved into, you know, we read an article that if the Mets sign, you know, Alonzo, it goes up, you know, their, their salary cap number, it goes up. So if we're going to get back to Penny, I think the, I'd be honest with you. I think the Yankees have done a very good job with their money. I don't believe in the freed signing. I think that was, that was ridiculous.
[00:09:10] But they've done a very good job with their, with, you know, reallocating the Soto money and to go and pee, you know, a pound foolish and go sign Bregman. Because the, you need a third baseman would be foolish. Okay. To make that kind of commitment to go over the cap, deal with the, at that point, that'll be their third time over the cap. At least, I don't know.
[00:09:38] I didn't go back to 2022, you know, and we calculated out the penalties at 60%. I mean, it's just a, I mean, for what, you know what I mean? To be marginally better at third base and have this longer contract to deal with. I don't, I don't. Now for the Mets on the other hand, if you're going to go three years and you're going to go over that cap,
[00:10:05] you're now going to get up against the Cohen tax for a Pino Lonzo. I understand that. It makes more sense. Okay. Because they have a hole to fill, a substantial hole that, again, one unnamed member here thinks that Henry Winkler can fill that hole, you know, almost as well. Okay. Okay. Um, I, I, I tend to disagree a little bit. Again, I want to know who this person is.
[00:10:34] We need to find out. I'm not going to throw that person under the bus, but, um, yeah. And I mean, and I think that's a legitimate, you know, anyway, that that's where these whole, these arguments going back and forth. I think the Yankees would be foolish if they went ahead and made some significant sign for an older player that's going to put them against substantially over that threshold. Okay.
[00:11:00] Everything over, I believe three or one is taxed at a one-to-one, you know, rate. Uh, whereas the Mets, they need to, they need to go ahead and get that other player. If it's not going to be a Lonzo, it's gotta be somebody cause it's not going to be Henry Winkler. So, and if I keep saying Henry Winkler's name, you think maybe we need to listen. Just so, just so people that are watching this would keep your friends to Jesse Winker. Okay. Just.
[00:11:24] It's okay because every once in a while I'll refer to Soto as Sosa for no reason whatsoever. So, so listen, I, I, I get it. You know, it's, uh, it's nice. The Yankees did a nice job. I don't, I don't dispute that the Yankees did a nice job. All right. Wait for it. Wait for it. It comes. They deserve, they deserve a, you know, a Benny Hill patting the head. Yeah. Nice job.
[00:11:51] Um, but you know, it's just, it's not the Yankees, right? It's not the, it's not the Yankees of old. So I, Oh, I was trying to say in our, in our exchange or in the past week is that this, except the fact that you're not the Yankees of old. So I don't, I gotta be honest. I'm going to go one step further. Uh, Vinny came up with the wild bunch, uh, last week, which, uh, which teams are on the wild bunch, Vin? It's the Mets, the Dodgers, the Phillies and the Yankees. Yeah. The Yankees don't belong there.
[00:12:20] I mean, they're not, they should just like leave the club, come back when you actually show some chutzpah to spend money and say, you know, screw the 300 million. Vinny doesn't get you in the club anymore. Is that what? Well, I mean, they won't even meet last year's, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Will the Mets meet last year's? Uh, you know what? Here's the difference. No, no, no. It's a yes or no question. Here's the difference. It's a yes or no question. Here's the difference. Don't know your way out of this. Here's the difference. Here's the difference. Go ahead. What's the difference?
[00:12:48] The difference is we know that Cohen will do it. Right. What happened to me? Did I just go to Joe? Would you have the mothership? I don't know if it's a sign or not, but. Oh my God. That's not his window. Holy cow. Now that's a mothership coming to see that this is what an expensive camera does for you. Just, you know, I got a brand new camera this week, but look, uh, they're just not the
[00:13:18] same. The Mets, the Mets will take that step. How has made it clear. They will not take that step. They're not taking that step. They're not. They're not going to take that step. He hasn't made it clear. Really? Okay. Well, I also. Then if he hasn't made it clear, let me ask him. If he, if, if that's the case, then why is it? We have, uh, I forgot. Who's the guy that the, uh, Kiki bit. Not Kiki Vand away. Wow. Oh my goodness.
[00:13:47] Where did that come from? Wow. Kiki. Kiki. Kiki. Kiki. Oh my goodness. I know. Kiki Hernandez is sitting there. Up your hands, man. Kiki Hernandez is sitting there waiting to play third base for the Yankees or be their super UT to play multi third base. Kiki. And they don't want to spend the $5 million more. They need to get them because they need to trade Stroman. That is unheard of. That's that's, that's, that's Wilpon Mets talk. That's all my point is.
[00:14:16] And you guys, you guys, you guys, and that's what I mean. You guys just dig yourself. Well, the more you dig your heels in the more ridiculous you look in this argument. Carlos. Last point. I'll bring last point. I'll bring last point. I'll bring, uh, we're going to use a metric called weighted runs created plus WRC plus. And that's, I don't know if you've heard of that, but the standard, the average baseline every year, they've determined it to be, they assign a number of 100.
[00:14:44] So if you are above 100 or below 100, that dictates how good you are. But in the, how, how you are compared to the average positional player for that position. So, uh, last year, the weighted runs, the WRC, but third baseman, right? The average one is 100 and the Yankees total, whoever they played at third base, we're counting, we're adding to a jazz Chisholm. Who's not going to play their face. He's going to go to second base.
[00:15:11] They're, uh, weighted runs, uh, created was below league average, like 94 or 95. Okay. That means their third baseman combined were worse than the average third baseman in the league. Is that Bregman? Well, hold on. Bregman who's sitting out there. Okay. Had a way to do this. I got you. I'm going to get you on this way to run a weighted run, uh, created plus of 118. Okay.
[00:15:41] So his way to run is almost 25 points higher than the Yankees total one. So he's sitting there. Yeah. Right. And the Yankees of old, they would assign him already. He'd be in a Yankee pinch, pinch stripes, pin stripes, right? It's all about the pin stripes, the mighty pin stripes and your 27 championships. You have 27 championships that you haven't been around that. And I watched like, you know, 16 year old girls wear Baybrook jerseys, which is ridiculous. So tell me, tell me exactly what is going on with the Yankees because
[00:16:10] First of all, they are the pound. They're the pound foolish. That's a different discussion for a different day. That was weird just now. All right. But really quickly, Carlos. I don't care. I'm going to jump in just to Bregman. They're the pound foolish. They're the pound foolish. They're the pound foolish. One RBIs, 11 runs scored and two steals. The last homerun he hit at Yankee stadium was almost three years ago.
[00:16:38] The last stolen base he had at Yankee stadium was in 2018. I had Jeff pass and he was on somebody's podcast. Oh, I'm shocked that they're not going after him. Well, maybe they know something you, maybe they just saw those type of numbers and said, you know what? If he plays 81 games in this stadium, maybe his swing and his game is not conducive to playing in Yankee stadium. So you know what? Why spend, as Pete said, five minutes ago, seven years, $25 million a year. Are you going to be saddled with that?
[00:17:07] If the analytics show he does not hit well in your stadium. That's why even the waiter once before Ray interrupted you. Yeah. Where it is. I got the floor. I understand. Knowing the stat that I brought up. No, but you're, but this, you're talking about that was a stat playing his home games in Houston where he hits well there. If he now has half of his games in a stadium that he hits poorly in, he's not going to be. He's not going to have that same.
[00:17:36] Again, you find an obscure stat that just bolsters your argument that, you know, it's fine. You used it. But now I use actual stats of what he did in the actual stadium where he would be playing. And they're horrendous. And I'm pretty certain the Yankee analytics. Go ahead, Pete. What's Kiki Hernandez's weighted runs? It's, it is 85. Okay. And what was the Yankee? What was the Yankee third baseman? 95. But the difference is that. You want to spell the five minutes out. Let me finish. Thank you, Pete. Thank you.
[00:18:06] The difference is that Kiki, look, I look, they're the ones that are interested in Kiki. The Dodgers haven't even resided. Wait, the Yankees are the ones that are interested in him. So, so using your logic, Vin, the Yankees are not interested in Bregman because he won't perform, but there is just something Kiki Hernandez? Really? Yeah. Because he would, first of all, he'd be cheaper. He'd be a cheaper solution. Oh, so now it's money again. What is it, Vin? Stats of money. Stats of money. Stats of money. They're not independent of each other.
[00:18:34] I don't know what signing, well, first of all, I will say this. I said this in the chat. I think Hal Steinbrenner looked weak with his comments that he made about the Dodgers. Oh, the Dodgers spending his money on the owners. Absolutely weak. Because Hal, I'm sure you were alive when they said the same thing about your father. They used to say the same thing about him. You looked weak. I mean, I just, that disgusted me as a Yankee fan to see that because you're still spending $300 million.
[00:19:02] So it's not like you all of a sudden became the Miami Marlins of spending and oh my gosh, the Dodgers are hurting us. You're right there too. And you could do everything they're doing. You could do all the deferments that they're doing. You know, and that, and all, he can do everything they're doing. He could play, they're playing by the rules. That was very weak of him. The one thing I do, Pete said at a second, a few minutes ago, excuse me, what does going to that next threshold? Like if you, if the players, if you're on the fence about them, but going that extra
[00:19:31] 5 million, what does it actually cost an actual money? Cause you've been over the payroll. You get hit with the surcharge. Does that 5 million become 15, 20 million? Then it's not worth it for a guy who as Pete astutely asked you is WRC using your stat was far worse than the crap the Yankees threw out there last year at the position. So your argument is flawed in so many ways. I use your stat against you and I use actual stats against you. You don't use any stat against me.
[00:20:01] The Yankees show up. I used all Bregman stats. The Yankees, on one hand, you're saying the Yankees are smart. They have no interest in Bregman because Bregman wouldn't perform, but they do have an interest in Kiki Hernandez, who clearly is worse than Bregman. Two. But maybe they wanted him as a super U team. You're totally discounting. Maybe they wanted him as a super U team. You're totally discounting. I don't know of any team that's been a player for the game. A team, historically, but they had three guys platooning at one position that worked out well. I mean, I just don't see it. So they're going to put three guys at their base. Yeah.
[00:20:31] And they were below average. And they made it to the World Series. Now, if they get somebody who's half as good and look, they're not done just like the Mets are. But you know, what's the difference between last year and this year? Mr. 22. Number 22. All right. So spare me with the last year stuff. Okay. Well, actually we were better defensively now that he's gone. Yeah. I can tell. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You're better defensively. Bregman's the best. Bregman's considered one of the best. I'm talking about the team is better defensively. You have nobody playing third baseman.
[00:21:00] All your third baseman. Stank at third baseman. You're better defensively as a team. Your third baseman stink defensively. And I found a video where the Mets, Yankees playing at Citi Field, where I think it was Darling or Keaton and it said, I don't know why the Yankees played him in right field in this stadium. He's, he's defensively horrible and he looked horrible in the games. Enjoy 81 of those for the next 15 years. Yeah. I love how the Yankees knocked Soto's defensive prowess. It was. It's not good. He's not a good defensive player. He's average.
[00:21:29] He's average. He's average. I was like my field. He's average. He's average. The question is which team was Pennywise and Pound Foolish? Honestly, I don't think any one of them would pound foolish. I think they've, I don't think the Mets have been Pennywise, but I don't think they've been foolish. It's a Soto contract. You know what? Hang on. The Soto contract. They didn't overpay. You've had your place in the sun. They didn't overpay. You got, you got the call. The call is the one to know. Hey, is anybody going to answer the question? Carl, speak some sense into your partner.
[00:22:00] I think, I think, I think, yeah, yeah, I don't have to. I think, I think Ray is representing a section of Mets fandom that's ironically, you know, somewhat disappointed, kind of like an unappreciated. You know what? I'm sorry I called you, Carl. Just let him speak. There is. There is. There is. So I'm going to, I'm going to dumb it down because I'm good at that. Russ Mets fans. Did he just call me that? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think it's for Ray. I think he just called me.
[00:22:27] The segment of Mets fandom that Ray is representing, the disappointed, the petulant child who doesn't appreciate their Christmas gifts, you know? Look, Uncle Santa Cohen, he got you a super slugger soda and you should be really happy. Okay. I understand the rest of the signings were more like getting socks and underwear for Christmas. Very important when you need them, but not sexy. Okay.
[00:22:55] So the real problem here, what's frustrated you guys off season is, is Alonzo. Right. Um, now Uncle Santa Cohen was going to buy you the Alonzo figure. Okay. But, you know, he's been around for a while. So they want to go on eBay, you know, because Uncle Santa Cohen doesn't spend his game for you. Okay.
[00:23:20] The problem is the reseller evil, let's call him Tati Torres wants to sell Alonzo as he's mint in box and he's not. Okay. He's not. Um, and they are haggling to this day because Uncle Santa Cohen does not just throw his money around. He is penny wise. You see on the other side, right? We call him right now. Happens how, because I'm, I'm going to do Vinny.
[00:23:46] I hate the comment that he made, like including himself, like, you know, like he's a little remarketing. He lost the super sort of action figure. And he looked on his shelf. It's missing. It was there. It was wonderful. It was a great compliment to my other number one piece and it's gone now. But instead of crying, he went out and he said, listen, I could sign this guy, you know, Freed and J for belly and that Debbie and ask and even a goalie.
[00:24:14] Goalsmith offered eBay at a proper price. I'm like Alonzo. And now I'm more, I'm a well-rounded team. Okay. They are also penny wise. Okay. Then that's the problem. And that's, and that it's expectations for the Mets fans. Alonzo. I think it's ruined, it's ruined your off season. Okay. So you're saying that the Mets want Alonzo. They're just playing a game. Yeah. You want Alonzo. Yes. No, we don't want Alonzo.
[00:24:42] You see, I love, I love what you did. Yeah. It was a very nice, well put, but you're wrong. And I will say, I will say, I will say accurate to a point. Okay. Where we as Mets fans feel ruined is the fact that we don't have a resolution. Not that we don't have Alonzo. We, we feel, and Ray and I had started having this argument before. Well, we have resolution. Well, but today. Yeah. Okay.
[00:25:12] It's not heavy weight. Today. I'll show you how it is. Go on. Today. Hey, the New York team is not appreciably better than the team last year. Okay. Okay. Because while we, while putting soil there makes us better by removing that Alonzo type player offsets a little bit of that.
[00:25:39] And the pitching staff, you know, is as again, unknown. Okay. And the game, they potentially could be as good as last year. Who knows? So we're not really much better. We're, and what's annoying us is we know we need that position that, that Alonzo person. Okay. And whether it's Alonzo or somebody else, and the longer we wait, the less options we have. And that is what's annoying. Not that we don't get Alonzo.
[00:26:03] I don't, if they had said no Alonzo and we're making the other, and it's not going to be Henry Winkler, then it would, then that's fine. Okay. But if it's, if we go into the season with, with, you know, Winkler playing first base. Okay. I don't, I will be disappointed. Now at the end of the day, Ray might be right. And Winkler's going to hit, I think Ray said 47, 48 home runs and bat, you know, three, three 15. I never said that. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. He's paying attention. Yeah.
[00:26:33] No, but, but, you know. He would if he got a thousand at bats. Yeah. But, but I think Alonzo, I think Alonzo put a little, little thing in your off season plans. I think. It's not the Alonzo. It's the position. No, no, but I think, I think they were expecting to go, we got Soto, we're going to get Alonzo, and then we're going to keep going. And I think the Alonzo thing didn't happen. And I think it helped stall things up. You're right. Alonzo per se, but I think he kind of put a log jam in the, in the process.
[00:27:00] In all honesty, you see, the reason why the Mets are penny wise is because they, you know that they have the money to do it. Whatever the hell they want to do, but they're not going to do it stupidly. That's why they haven't signed Alonzo. Alonzo has to come to them at their price. And, and he is, he's going to, he's going to stick his tail between his legs. He's going to come back to the Mets and I'm almost paused. I would be shocked if he was in the first place for a minute, but if he wasn't, if he wasn't, you're wrong. Pete, you're wrong. Henry Winker.
[00:27:30] Henry Winker. Now you got me. Yeah. Ray, Ray, Ray. Flay. He got the two. That was good. All right. Sorry. I got back. That was good. That was good. I want to see Henry Winker. Jesse Winker. Jesse Winker. He, his, and I showed you this a few, a week ago. His hard hit percentage is not just a few points higher than Alonzo's from last year.
[00:27:59] It is double. That means he hits the ball, generally speaking, twice as hard when he hits it than Alonzo. Wait, we will move on. When he hits it. That's a great one. Yeah. But let's talk about when he hits it. Let's talk about, let's come back to the weighted runs created. The weighted runs created. Cause that's what you want. Say that fast. Three times. You want your hitters to create runs. Well, guess what? Henry, Henry. Jesse Winker. Jesus.
[00:28:27] If you start drooling, I'm sending 911. I'm going to smack people when I see you next time. Jesse, Jesse Winker's weighted run creation percentage. Okay. Is 118. Alonzo, 122. So I pose to you. How many at bats? Between. I mean, it's a, it's a percentage. So it's not, there's not, it's a ratio. But I'm just saying. It's a ratio. It's a ratio. It's a ratio.
[00:28:55] Jesse Winker has showed the more he plays. Jesse Winker's. No, you're wrong about that. I know. The season. The season he had over 400 at bats. That was his best season. So you're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. He's had one really. His best season. He had over 400 at bats. When was that? A couple of years ago. I don't know. Was it a couple? I think it was. I think it was the last decade. What is Jesse Winker like 40 years old? I mean, come on. No, he's not. He's not. He's not.
[00:29:24] He's been around for a bit. Listen, Jesse Winker has the ability. If what we saw, if we saw what Alonzo last year, especially in September, who was horrible. He almost blew the Mets chances for the playoffs. All right. And I'm sure that they struggled with keeping him in the number four. So in fact, they dropped him in a liner for a game to number five because that's how bad he was. Okay. Not that, you know, drop you to number five, but he's like your print on number four hitter. And you're basically telling him by moving to the fifth spot.
[00:29:54] You're not doing your job. That's Alonzo. He doesn't hit that home run in Milwaukee. The Mets aren't even. They've already got a first baseman. Okay. Jesse Winker, should Jesse Winker play first base, he will provide the numbers that Alonzo provided last year. Maybe not as many home runs. I'll concede that, but everything else, it'll be the same last year. Now, if Alonzo signs of the team and it was last year was a aberration. Okay.
[00:30:21] Then we eat crow, but we only eat crow for a year because then we're going to get Mr. Vlad to play first base for us. And I think, right. I mean, so, so that's the plan. That's a Pennywise plan. And they are a playoff team right now. Sounds very, sounds very Wilpon-esque to me. Pete, they are appreciably better. We don't need Alonzo. We have Henry Winkler to play first. They are appreciably better. We don't really need Alonzo. They are appreciably better. Very Wilpon-esque. We know that. Talk about the Yankees being Wilpon-esque. That's a Wilpon-esque move. We don't need Alonzo. We know.
[00:30:51] We don't need Alonzo. We don't need Alonzo. We don't need Alonzo. We can get this. What did he do last year? We can get this Sherman Muth over here. What did he do last year? What did he do? Who all his claim to fame was, you know, throwing his hat, his helmet off when he hit a game winning No cojones. That's it. Mr. Alonzo, no cojones. You know what's cojones? Judge. When Judge was going into his contract year, he had 62 home runs. He basically said he had the same player. That year it was pound two-ish. That was pound two-ish. No, no, no, no. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about in terms of the player.
[00:31:21] I don't want to hear him anymore because I'm going to land up saying it again. Judge. Judge is 62 home runs. Right? When his contract with Alonzo sucked wind. What? Go ahead, Pete. He had 219. Who's this? Who's this? Winkler. Winkler. 28 years old. Seattle. He's younger than Alonzo by two years. Go ahead. 4-5. No. He's saying when he was 28. Alonzo was 38.
[00:31:51] Oh, okay. Good. What are you reading? What year are you reading? That's... What are you reading? 219. What? What are you reading? Baseball reference. What year are you reading, Pete? I said 2022. Okay. What about? 21. He had 485 at bats. That was his one year. 24 home runs, 71 on guys. Exactly. 305. Right. Then he had 430 at bats.
[00:32:20] He had 14 home runs and hit 250. I read on that he was injured. That was last year. Okay. He was injured. Last year? Yes. He was injured. He was traded. He had an injury early in the year. Okay. Okay. Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Guys, guys. I just saw Jesse Winkler just liked and subscribed and said, great. That's my number one fan. I never had a fan before other than my mom and dad. So we should be interested in as well.
[00:32:46] Look, you know, would I rather have a better first person? Of course. But why the hell should the Mets pay Pete Alonzo over the mark rate? Not even Watson's face in Atlanta. Olsen. Olsen doesn't even get paid the money Alonzo's face. Who would you rather have? Who would you rather have? Olsen or Alonzo? Hold on, baby. Hold on. No. Who would you rather have? Who would you rather have? I don't hear Ray tell the Mets are appreciably better without Alonzo and Henry Winkler playing first base. Oh, they are. They are. He did.
[00:33:15] Well, we're not getting ready. Ray, seriously. Say it, Winkler. No, I'm serious. I said if Winker, if Winker, look, look, we're working in stats, right? That's all. You don't know what's going to happen. But if we work with the stats that we saw, all right, and Winker play first base, he will be projected to run 20, 23, 24 home runs driving 80. All it says he produced the same numbers Alonzo did last year, right? That would make your stress. Hold on. Hold on. No, no. But what's the difference?
[00:33:45] Who do we have this year that we didn't have last year? Ray, let me ask you a question. Seriously. That's why we're appreciating the guy's been in the league since 2017. And Alvarez hopefully. He's never had more than 456 at bats. And he's only hit 24 home runs. That's his career high once. And that was when. You're focusing on the home runs. How many RBIs? I'm saying. He is, what's his career high in RBIs? What do you care how many home runs? And the guy's driving the same runs. 71 the same year. Right. And what did Alonzo do last year? 88. Ray, that was 2021.
[00:34:15] That's not going to make the playoffs over 17 RBIs? The guy has never had, he's never had over 500 at bats in a season. Why is that? Again. Is he either. He's not injury prone. Again. Or maybe he's just not. The numbers Alonzo put last year. Pedestrian. Winker could do the same thing. He could just come close to doing it. It doesn't matter because they have Soto now in the lineup. It's a simple thing. Who's protecting Soto in that lineup?
[00:34:45] I mean, Winkler. Yeah. Is that, is that, are you serious or are you just being funny here? Because if that would actually be. Oh, I've just got this. First of all. First of all. First of all. That's a great point. You're the big Francisco Alvarez fan, Vin. I am. Right. So you got, you got a series of guys. You have Alvarez. You have Winker. You have Vientos. You have those guys. That's who I think will hit behind him. Okay. It's Vientos. I don't think it'll be Alvarez. Whoever it is.
[00:35:13] Pete has had reservations. What makes you think Soto's starting third though? It could be Soto starting second. No, I didn't say third. I just said, who's behind him. I did. Did I say where he was bad? I, I. Are you drooling? What's going on? If Nemo, if Nemo, if Nemo got it behind him. Vientos has been a mirror last year. I got to see him do it for a couple of years. Okay. And I completely. You know, you know, I don't have to wait for Mr. Nemo, who is a veteran. You know what Nemo did last year? 22 home runs, 90 RBIs. He had no RBIs. But isn't he leading off?
[00:35:43] Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. All I'm trying to say is if you put so, I don't know what the line is going to be. If so, you said, who's going to bat behind Soto. That's what I asked. Soto bats second. And you got a Nemo batting third. 22 home runs, 90 RBIs. And then Vientos. That's pretty good. I'm sorry. The projected lineup that I've seen so far. Now, as you know, this is just people opinions that they're giving. It had, I think it had Nemo, Lindor, Soto, Vientos. And I'm sorry. We don't know.
[00:36:13] We don't know. No, no, I'm just saying this is, these are things I've seen. Obviously, look, neither team is set. The question I have to that. And if people have been asking it, Soto had Judge batting behind him last year. Was that, I mean, he, Soto's put up great numbers before. Yet last year, I think, crossed the board. If I'm correct, correct me if I'm wrong, might have been his best season. Completely, like, crossed the board. All categories. Might have been his best. Yeah, not looking at it, but I think so. Yeah.
[00:36:41] Who, now, now that's because he had Judge hitting behind him all year. Is it, can you expect potentially some tail off? Right. I'm asking you guys. Is that a concern of you as Met fans that, without someone protecting him, his OBP will still be through the roof? Of course. His best year. His best year. I think it was last year. When he won the batting, well, all right, fine. But the batting title year? Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. Nobody hit behind him. It was crap. That Nationals team was terrible.
[00:37:11] And he still did it. I'm not, I'm not worried. Yeah. But they were crap. Who batted behind him? Was it Harper? I don't know. I don't know if it was Harper. I don't know if it was Harper. No, I got a better point. Let's start following. Who's going to have the better year? Goldschmidt or Winkler? Goldschmidt. Who's going to have the better year? Oh, Winkler. Absolutely. Goldschmidt. Hands down. Goldschmidt easily. Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt is going to project, Goldie's projected for 12 home runs, and I will, and I have a bet with Vinny on that. Yeah, you're going to lose that bet. I'm not going to lose that bet. We got another bet.
[00:37:40] I'll bet you Goldschmidt has a better year than Winkler. Not a chance. No? Not a chance. Not a chance. I'm saying, assuming they're playing first base. Ray, let's keep betting. I won't eat. Assuming that- Once the season's over, I'll have the home run of October where I won't eat. I won't pay to eat. You'll be paying for my money. I'm assuming Winkler's going to play first base. No, no, no. We didn't put conditions on it. We said who's going to have the better year. You said Winkler. We say Goldschmidt. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not going to play first base. Oh, I'm sorry.
[00:38:08] No, wait a minute. If he's not going to be the first baseman, he's not good enough to play anywhere else. All right, all right, wise guy. You know the Mets are- You're the one that said when I said, oh, the Mets are going to sign a lounge before spring training, you said, oh, gee, that's like saying- Yeah, that's breaking news. Well, you actually predicted they signed him yesterday. So you agree. What? I said that that was the report. So you agree. Yeah, what a shot. You agree. You agree. You know what? Half our stuff comes from F.A.N., so shut up. Not my stuff.
[00:38:35] Who do you think is going to be the first baseman for the Mets this coming year? Alonzo, right? Yes. Okay. Who's going to have the better year, Goldie or Alonzo? What? Who's going to have the better year? Actually, if Alonzo keeps- You're actually thinking about that. If Alonzo is a king, right, was last year an aberration for Alonzo? Because we've shown it. We talked about this in earlier podcasts. Even his aberration year is better than Goldie's year. He's had a- No, he's been declining over the last four years. His O.P.A.
[00:39:04] Everything's been coming the opposite way. No, no, no. You're falling for Ray's crap. He wants to deflect because he knows Goldschmidt's going to have better numbers. Here's the thing, Ray. As a first baseman. Let me ask you this. Hang on. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where you want. It doesn't matter where you want. It doesn't matter. Ray, if Winker- Otherwise, who has a boost and everybody is? No, but Ray. So do you with Goldie? No, no, no. Ray, if Winker's good enough to replace Alonzo, that means he's good enough to be in your
[00:39:33] lineup somewhere, whether it be in the outfield or as a DH, correct? Which means he should get every day at-pats. The point was, why did you bring- This is absurd. Why did you bring up Goldie? Me? I didn't. Carlos did. I brought him up. I brought him up. We were talking about first baseman. That's why. He brought him up. Yeah, because you were talking about first baseman. So if Winker's not playing first base, what's the point of that comparison? That's the whole point of the discussion. No, no, no. So you want to compare it? No, no. Your point is you're counting the offensive prowess of Mr. Winkler.
[00:40:01] At first base compared to Goldie. It doesn't matter where he plays, sir. It doesn't matter where he plays. He's only good here. He's only good if he's a first baseman. I clearly was talking about Winker as a first baseman compared to Goldie, because you brought up Goldie. Okay. Now, is he going to play somewhere for you guys? Winker? Yeah. Probably if the Mets sign Alonzo, Winker will probably play maybe some first base, but mostly the outfield. Over who? They'll rotate four guys in the outfield.
[00:40:31] But we're talking about off-backs. And he'll DH. He'll probably DH too, right? Yeah, probably DH too. With the numbers you project him to get, his WRC being near Alonzo's, you should get We're talking about positions. We're all in positions. You guys are obsessed. We're all in positions. We're all in positions. You guys are obsessed. I didn't say it's so stupid. Move past it. Move past it. Move past it. Yeah, let's move past it, because what you're seeing is absurd. We move past it. So now- You're gonna lose. You're gonna lose. I'm gonna lose. The bet is the bet.
[00:41:01] Winker versus Goldie at first base. No. End of story. Absolutely. The bet is the bet. Absolutely. That's the bet. We move on. We move on. It's being recorded, so we got it. Yeah, I know. It's being recorded. Any final thoughts? Any final thoughts on this? Yeah, for the record in 2020, Howie Kendrick batted behind Juan Soto. There you go. Okay? So I'm not worried about who's gonna hit beyond Juan Soto. There's a reason why he's a generational player that the Yankees let go. Oh, Jesus Christ.
[00:41:30] The Yankees let go or the Mets just paid money? Well, listen, either the Yankees have the cojones or the cojones. The guy couldn't even bring himself in a charted flight to come to MetFest. He told all the Met fans, you Met fans, oh, we're gonna get to see Soto finally in person. I know, I know, I know. The deity was gonna show up. Can I bring up a different topic? He didn't even make it. Can I bring up a different topic? Yes, please do. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Have you guys ever heard of the Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski?
[00:42:00] I've seen it, but I've never looked into it. So somebody I work with had suggested I read it and whatever. So I downloaded it on Audible. And it's actually, check it out. It's actually pretty interesting because it's, it's, he goes through and he picks, you know, the best top 100 players of all time. Now, he says very clearly this, I mean, the whole point of this is you debate it. You know what I mean?
[00:42:30] It's not, you know, but he, but he does it not just on stats, but also people who saw them play. You know, that kind of thing. Like, you know, if, if you're one of the big, if Yogi Berra tells me that so-and-so was the greatest catcher he's ever seen, then that's got to count for something, that kind of thing.
[00:42:53] It's an interesting book and I just started it, but I just wanted to, it's funny because so far I'm a little concerned because the play, I'm up to like 96 and they're all contemporary players. But here's something I think you guys would appreciate. So number 100 was Ichiro Suzuki. Okay. And he explains why, right? And you know, you're okay.
[00:43:14] 99, I think it was, or maybe 98 was Mike Mussina. Now, now wait, now wait, now wait, now wait, now wait, now wait. Forget about whether you agree or not. I always thought Mike Mussina was a very good player, a very good pitcher. And I, and I, and I had no problem in this day and age him going to the hall of fame with 270 wins, right? When people aren't going to get to 300 anymore, but I will say this to you, and I don't remember these numbers, but if I go back and I'll write them down.
[00:43:44] When you listen to him, when you actually hear Mike Mussina stats, like, I mean, winning 19 games this many times, the times where he should have won 20, and our friend Armando Benitez blew it for him twice. Okay. The amount of where he was, even the year that he lost to Roger Clemens to the Cy Young, he had more strikeouts than Clemens, more, more better ERA than Clemens, better whip than Clemens. And he came in fifth.
[00:44:14] When you actually listen to that number of no hitters that he took into the eighth inning, the number of perfect games that he took, the number that his actual stats. I was like, holy crap. He was incredible. He actually was when you listen to the numbers, when you in the context in which he presents them, right? You're not just staring at a WRC, right? You're in the context of some of these things. Anyway, I wanted to say it to you guys.
[00:44:42] Every once in a while, I could pop in and tell you something. Like, I just finished Carlos Beltran. And when you listen to Beltran, who I thought a very solid player, sure, going to the Hall of Fame. I'm proud that he was a kind of thing. When he goes through some of the things that he's done, 500 doubles, this many home runs, the greatest stolen base percentage of all time in Major League Baseball history, all these things.
[00:45:11] Some of those things only been done by five players in the history of baseball. Some of them only done by him and Barry Bonds. Now, you can play with the stats, like you can put these combinations of things together. But when you go, the only player in Major League history to have 550 doubles and over 350 home runs, only two players, Barry Bonds and Carlos Beltran. I don't remember if that's the combination. I mean, you start to go, wow.
[00:45:39] But the one that so far blew me away was Mike Messina. I was, you know, I'll try and go back again. I should have written it down for this, but I was thinking about it because at some point I blacked out during this conversation. And I just wanted to share, I just wanted to share that with you guys. You should check out the book. Messina was a great pitcher at 99 though. Well, the thing, Finney, I'm sorry, Carlos, the thing about, I have to, I have to see where this is going because so far they're like Larry Walker is on this list.
[00:46:08] Now, when you listen, because he doesn't, it's not just the stats. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's the stuff, but in the, like, you know, you don't realize with Larry Walker, you know, what those batting averages, the 370, the three, and everyone says, well, you know, it was, it was Coors Field. And he sort of, it's in a different context of things. But so far it has been only contemporary people.
[00:46:35] So I am curious as to where, you know, where this is going to, where this is going to go. You know what I mean? I was going to ask, is there, did it somehow qualify a time period? No, because I know. Like, is he going back to like Ty Cobb? No, no, no. It will go, it's pre-dead ball, post-dead ball. I mean, so he does, but I just haven't heard, I haven't gotten there yet. So I'm trying to see how, with, I mean, when you take the, you know, 100 plus years to get Musita to 99, great pitcher. Yeah.
[00:47:05] Beyond great, but that's, I can't, I would like to see where this goes. Well, that's the thing. I get, I think you have, it's the way he looks at the, like I said, when you look at the number and you go 270, this, that, that. Well, you know, again, when you compare it to someone like Tom Sieb, right, it's not the same, right? Yeah. In any sense, he was never the most dominant. He was never, but what he does show you is you, you, you grossly undervalued how dominant he truly was.
[00:47:33] And that's the part that you, that's very interesting. Like I said, I liked him. I thought he was a solid pitcher. I had no problem with him going to the hall of fame in the context of these current years, but stack some of those numbers up against Greg Maddox. They're, they're, they're better than you would have thought. I'm not saying that Greg Maddox, but they're better than, he pitched into a lot of bad luck. You know, he theoretically, I think it was three different times.
[00:47:57] He would have been a 30, a 20 game winner three different times had Benitez not blown two saves and somebody else blown another set. You know what I mean? So it was like, I mean, and changes things. He's a one time 20 game winner. You know what I mean? So the guy's like Ray, he just uses whatever stats to bolster his argument. It's okay. I get it. I made up, I made up, I made up the stats. That was my shot at Ray. You know, like, like, like, look, Messina's a lot like Jeter, Jeter's, Jeter of the pitchers. We had this discussion last week. Jeter never dominated.
[00:48:25] Well, Jeter, we agree, Jeter didn't dominate among short stats, but his career is, I'm giving him a compliment for God's sake. No, but Ray, at the end of the day, I wanted to revisit that. No, no, no. You guys are so high presented. I wanted to revisit that quickly. Because you keep talking about who was it. Because you lost Soto. Who was it? I can't say a word about Yankees. No. Let me finish my thought. No, no, no. I'm taking the floor back. Because Carlos said this when you said it then. The Hall of Fame is not about who is great. I understand. I'm complimenting your guy.
[00:48:55] Who goes through your whole career. This is incredible. It's your career. I'm complimenting your guy. That's a backhanded compliment. All right? It's not a backhanded compliment. Oh, Mussina was nice and a compiler just like Jeter was a nice compiler. This is a, I tell you, you Yankee fans. You know what? We don't want it. Move on to the fantasy topic. Every day, you Yankee fans. I'm just disgusted with him. I'll tell you what. You want me to say it? I'll give you a backhanded compliment. The Yankees traded from, oh, traded. I think they signed Mussina, right, Pete? They signed Mussina.
[00:49:23] That's when the Yankees used to be part of the wild bunch. Now they're out. They're still part of the wild bunch. So we move on. No, they're not. So now we move on. It's our fantasy segment. Our fantasy segment. I thought we were in the fantasy segment when you were talking. Yeah, I know. When you were talking. Before we move to our fantasy segment, we ask that you please like and subscribe below. Geezers, that's your cue. Thank you. I love you.
[00:49:52] So this is our fantasy segment. Is it? If I could find it. There you go. There we go. So here's the deal. Our fantasy freebie for today's episode is going to be one of around 10 that we'll cover over the next several weeks until opening day.
[00:50:13] The plan is to pick the top three players at each position without getting too deep and including the UT DH spot since a lot of leagues use that. But the catchers will cover either H2H head to head or traditional five to five registry format.
[00:50:36] Clearly, the one outstanding difference between the two formats is that the head to head presents a daily or weekly battle for categories to win. And the other one is more of a cumulative set of categories. We're already the winner at the end of the year. So my approach, generally speaking, and people disagree with it, is that when it comes to head to head, you don't really care about the consistency. You don't want a guy that's necessarily consistent.
[00:51:04] You want a guy that for that day or for that week is the hot hand and you plug him in and you try to win the categories. Whereas rotisserie, it's about consistency over the course of the year. But, you know, there's a flip side to that and that is no way, you know, rotisserie format could be something where you do have the hot hand. So the big homer hitter with the low OBP, you get a high OBP guy to offset it. So there's ways to look at it. But you know what? We're going to focus on each position.
[00:51:33] Today starting with the catchers. We may name three. We may name five. We may name six. I don't know. But Carlos, we're going to ask you to start things off, sir. Who are your top three catchers for this coming year? Well, that was a really nice introduction. But, Ray, I'm going to break format just a little bit. I'm really going to name five catchers. And my view is more of a universal approach to it. It should work for almost any format. So it's kind of funny.
[00:52:02] I'm going to start with five. But the top two, I'm sort of not going to recommend, right? Because here's the thing. When I look at catching, okay, I like home run potential. To me, that's going to be the better catcher, right? You get your home run, your RBI, your run score, and whatever else you do. Some leagues do slugging, whatever. So I'm always looking for a home run potential. And you've got to start the list with, like, Kyle Higashi. Now I'm from it. Higashi, help me here, please. Higashi.
[00:52:32] I wish I could. I don't know. You're talking about the former Yankee catcher? Well, no. Were you signed with the Rangers? Rangers? And, right? He's got lots of power. Lots of power potential. But he's going to split time probably with Jonah Hyatt. So you're going to have to – I would avoid him. He's a guy you want to avoid. You want to avoid. Unless it's late rounds, depending, or late in your auction, whatever format you have. You know, he's going to split time. I would avoid him.
[00:53:01] You can't talk about power. But the next guy here is Salvador Perez. Nice, nice, nice, nice. But it's on the older side. And my thing is, no disrespect, I would rather just, you know, let go sooner than later. You know, I don't want to be too late. I don't want to be that guy that's going to sign him and draft him, and then he's going to finally start showing his age. So I kind of would not recommend him.
[00:53:24] I know that sounds strange, but I kind of would not recommend him unless it's like late rounds again or, you know, you can get them cheap in your auction. The guy I'm liking is our guy, Pete Carl Raleigh. I can't speak. Oh, my goodness. My throat's tightening up. Carl Raleigh. Oh, God. Help me here. Carl Raleigh. No, you're right. Yep.
[00:53:49] Anyway, look, the power is there, right? And the guy's going to say about the batting average. Well, in our league, we don't use batting average. And if you're in the league and you don't lose batting, you don't use batting average, then you're definitely going to want that power. And so, yes, give our secrets away in our league. Yes, we're keeping him. So don't look for that. So I do like him. If you can snag him up, I do like that. But my next guy is really, really interesting.
[00:54:19] Shea Langlier's, right, from the athletics. Really, really, really like his potential there. They're playing. He's no longer in the Coliseum. That's really going to help his power numbers. I mean, no secret, but I really, really like the potential. I mean, he's 27. I mean, really, I think that's the thing you should go for. No disrespect to Wilson Contreras, but, you know, lots of potential there also. So there you go. Those are my five guys. I like your approach to the ballpark.
[00:54:50] I think we've discussed this over the years that we have a very similar approach in certain respects. So the ballpark is one of those things, guy playing for a contract. So your choices are great. Actually, you took one of mine, so I'm going to have to try to replace it. Took one of mine as well. You could just add something different. All right.
[00:55:07] I'll let you know. Number one is a category or a position. And next, they're probably a catcher. So what I try to do is I try to stay away from the Salvador Perez's. If I lose out Salvador Perez has an incredible year, then he does. You know, I could live with that.
[00:55:36] I focus on the young catchers that are in their second or third year in the major leagues. And the reason is because the first year, they're usually trying to figure out the pitching staff. They don't really perform. Historically, that's shown to be true, that the top hitting catchers in the game, their first years are not that big because they're trying to – your job is to catch your first, hitter second.
[00:56:00] So given that's the case, my number one choice, and Vinny knows this because we had him on our team, is Adley Rushman. He's only 26 years old. He seems to be now – he's pretty much one of the leaders in that team. I think he feels comfortable in this role. He's been interviewed talking where he talks basically what I just talked about, that his first year was about learning the pitching staff and so forth. And now he's one of the leaders in the clubhouse, and I think he's going to come to his own.
[00:56:29] He's a switch hitter, and the Orioles move defenses in for this coming year. So that should help his power numbers. Another guy is Yainer Diaz. Again, young catcher, slugger, 24 years old, hits in the hitter's ballpark. And you can't – I can't emphasize enough, and Carl's praying me – you've got to pay attention to not just the player, but the ballparks they play in. They're going to play half the game in that ballpark. So if they're playing a hitter's park, you know, and the guy's potential is there, you've got to really strongly consider that.
[00:56:58] And then last but not least, one of my favorites, I think he's a future captain of the New York Mets, is Francisco Alvarez. He is only 22 years old. This past year, 2024, he had a couple of injuries that hampered him, but in September, he was outstanding. And to me, he's a star in the making. He strikes me as the future Yadier Molina type, take control guy.
[00:57:26] I remember a couple of times in the mound, I think he was like – he looked angry. He was angry for sure. I don't know if he was angry at the pitcher or not, but that's definitely Yadier Molina approach where they stop pointing in the chest and think, you've got to do this, but they look angry doing it. So Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, and Adley Rushman are the three catches I would recommend for either league. That's your approach, Carl. For either league, they would work in my book. Vinny or Pete?
[00:57:54] Yeah, that's – when we're going at the top catchers, we're definitely going to overlap some of the same names. But, Ray, I'll even take what you and Carlos said a step further. I also look to where they are potentially going to hit in the lineup. I don't want a catcher who – they might be solid, but if they're batting 7, 8, 9, that might limit their production that they're going to get that season regardless of how well they're hitting. So in addition to the factors you guys mentioned, I look to where they're going to hit in the lineup.
[00:58:21] For me, either league, number one, William Contreras. I think he's – I think he's head and shoulders the best catcher in any format. Average, on-base percentage, power. He brings that all. And, you know, even though we don't do average, but, you know, when you're in a points league, you know, average does – you're not doing average, but you're doing other categories. Someone who's getting on base is going to help him with his run score. It's going to – it's definitely going to help with RBIs. Rushman, of course, was on my list.
[00:58:51] As Ray mentioned, you know, we're a fan of his. And for the reasons Ray mentioned, but I'll even add, that team is just – that is a great young team with a lot of great hitters. And I think, you know, especially moving the fences in, that will definitely help his power numbers. And I also did have – and I agree with Carlos here – Kyle Raleigh. The power there is absurd. You know, I think he led 34 home runs last year, 100 RBIs.
[00:59:21] I think when he was going to catch it, I got to 100 RBIs. That's a solid hitting Seattle team. I also had also Yannir Diaz. And I was going to go Alvarez-Ray, but, you know, I think by the end of the year he can be. And if he stays healthy, he will be one of the top hitting catchers in the league. I just didn't want to go there yet because, you know, it's just not something we've seen. That's more potential.
[00:59:49] But, you know, those are my – you know, William Contreras, Rushman, Kyle Raleigh, Yannir Diaz, again, echoing Ray. Ban Box, he's hitting in. That's a good young hitting team around him. Or not necessarily young hitting team. It was a good hitting team around him. And even Wilson Contreras is still plugging away out there and still putting up, you know, strong numbers. So Perez, I didn't – I was thinking of Perez. I'm with Carlos.
[01:00:17] I think this might – you know, it's like – I hate invoking this guy's name, but Bill Belichick was famous for this. Getting out when the getting was good. But – and this might be – and he also might go DH. So you may also potentially in the long term could lose that eligibility if he starts playing less games at catcher. You're good for 2025. But if you're thinking from beyond that as we are in a keeper league, if he – you know, you might lose eligibility if he becomes a full-time UT because catchers don't age well.
[01:00:47] Yeah, and to that point, catchers, they drop up precipitously. It's like they can go from one year to the next and have just a horrible year. And it's just a matter of like a ticking time bomb when it happens. So, okay, Pete, now that I see that you've researched the catchers online, what were you talking? No, I was actually – I'm teasing, I'm teasing.
[01:01:09] I was just a big Francisco Alvarez fan, as we know, because we took him when he was a minor leaguer. And I made Carlos hold on to him for longer than Carlos wanted to. And then he cut him on me and then brought him back when he hit the 24 home run. You know, so I love him. But I just think, you know, again, like Fientos, I need to see something happen.
[01:01:34] And so I was trying to figure out how good a September he actually had because you keep saying this great September. So I'm like, I don't remember him having that great – you know, like what it was. Five home runs, 17 RBI. Yeah, 254, 517. So it was okay. I mean, it was – but then I was looking at his – I thought he hit better in the playoffs. And I was like 091, 200, but then he did because he hit well against the Dodgers. He hit 412. That's why I remembered him being – yeah.
[01:02:02] But anyway, the way Ray kept telling me about what it was, I thought I was going to see like, you know, 395 and all this stuff. But I don't know. He was coming up in injury. I'm saying, yeah. Okay. Five home runs a month. That's 30 home runs, my friend. What's that? Five home runs a month. If he does that, it's a 30 homer season. Listen, I think – I think – I personally think that he's going to be closer to the rookie Alvarez than he is to the last year Alvarez. Whereas the injury thing I kind of dismissed because he was – he broke his – he came back and he didn't hit well.
[01:02:31] I think last year was an off year. And that's okay. It's a sophomore year. Well, this is the year. We'll see. You go from Viento's having a great year. This is going to be the sophomore year. Let's see what the adjustment is. And then the critical one will be the third one if he – you know. So this is the one. This is going to determine to me with Alvarez whether he's going to be the real deal or he's going to be something else. And I didn't have to hit 300. I'm not saying he's going to – you know, but we've got to see if he can hold his own. So that's anyway.
[01:02:57] And so for me, you know, you guys mentioned all the catchers. There's nothing I'm going to bring to the table with the catcher thing. But here's the difference between me and you guys. Unless you've got Mike Piazza, unless you've got, you know, someone of that caliber, it is the least amount of money I'm going to spend. It is – I am not looking to – I'm not going after Rushman. I'm not going after Contreras unless they, you know, fall into the lap. I'm looking for the $1.
[01:03:26] I'm looking for the rookie. I'm looking for the thing for all the reasons. They get injured too much. They sit, you know, two, three times a week. You've got to figure out which one it is, which one is the day game after the night game. And the offense, you've got such a – you're going to spend $40 for Rushman, okay? And then, yes, Contreras, he'll be a little bit less and whatever. But still – and then it's nothing after that.
[01:03:53] So either I take $40 and I go after a catcher or I take that money and go after something else who's probably going to put up better stats, just not a catcher. Do you know what I mean? Unless it's Piazza. Unless it's somebody that's so off the charts that you're going to – I wouldn't spend $40 on anybody we mentioned. I'll be honest. I wouldn't spend $40 on any one guy that we mentioned. Somebody's going to spend a lot of money on Rushman. I would feel pretty confident. Now, the difference between now and when we used to – you know, years ago when we first started playing,
[01:04:21] because of a universal DH – I mean, if there was a universal DH where Piazza was playing, probably still be playing. I mean, you know, whatever. He would have broken all records of everything because he could have – but, you know, because now when you – you don't have to sit him. You can put him at the DH spot. So – but still, it's not – they still rest him. You know what I mean? And it's just – so I'm looking for the younger guys. You know, we have that catcher that I can't pronounce his name either. I like Yiner Diaz. You know, it's like – It's Raleigh. How hard is it to say Raleigh?
[01:04:51] Just think of North Carolina. Same difference. Raleigh, North Carolina. Yeah, but I can't do Henry Winkler. So anyway, the thing is I'm looking for the sign Francisco Alvarez for a dollar kind of thing because I just don't want to spend the money there. So that's really – so that's going to change from – when we start to go through, Carlos and I – we're not going to catch him because we have one, but when we start going through the things, that's where I'm going to argue for the least amount of money.
[01:05:17] Let's go find the kid and we'll cut him and get somebody else if we have to. We'll combine and get the money. It's just too hard a position. It really is, unfortunately. Again, unless it's a Piazza. So that's my – Two things. Two things. One is just remember that you said you had a good point about Piazza, but, you know, his numbers are measured as a catcher. So if he was DH-ing, he wouldn't – like whatever he did as a DH wouldn't be – I think it wouldn't be attributed to him as a catcher. No, no, no. Oh, yes.
[01:05:47] Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was saying that's a – Yes, that's a player. But he would have played, yeah. And, you know, the young – Yeah, and these young guys really only have like one day off a week because they're young. That's sort of the other reason that you sort of – thank you for bringing that up because that sort of touches on the issue. They play a lot more often than that guy like Salvador Perez, but whatever. But, Ray, it is a position on the come-up. We didn't even mention guys. Yeah, and in fairness – Austin Wells and the Yankees. Yeah, yeah. And they'll be never in their top ten. Right.
[01:06:14] And in fairness to Pete's position, once you're eligible for a catcher, you're eligible for a catcher. So if you land up playing first base the rest of the season, it doesn't matter. You can slide him in a catcher. Right. Right. And then the second thing is that unless you get – like I said, unless you get this stuck or it falls into your lap, it's just – I just – it just seems too much money to get – Or a high draft pick. Or a high draft pick. Don't spell a high draft pick. Right. Or a high draft pick. That's a great point. That's a great point.
[01:06:44] The risk-reward is too – Yeah, it's a great – It's too great for the injury, for the resting, for the – you know, whatever. And the second thing is, Vinny and I want to thank you for letting us know your strategy for this auction. So, Vinny, you mark that down? Okay. No, we already have wrong. Now, listen. Now, listen. I find it funny. For all these years, we're very secretive, and now we're just spouting out all our strategies. We're a very competitive league, so we don't share what we do with each other necessarily.
[01:07:12] So here we are doing it, I promise you enough. So this is for you, our one fan. This is for you. We share secrets. Not one fan. Not one fan. Here's what I will tell you. We've jumped from 72 – and Vinny's a big thank you to everybody. We jumped from 72 subscribers last week to – when I checked in this morning, 210 subscribers today. Although, you'll get a kick out of this. You'll get a kick. I just checked, and we went to 208. So we lost two subscribers during the podcast. And we're not even on the air yet.
[01:07:42] We're not even on the air. The two people – That's how that happens. Right. We're not even on the air. They realized they misclicked when we started showing up in their feed. Like, what is this? You know what? They just knew – oh, God. I'm not going to believe it. I'm not going to believe it until we have 208 people who just post something on YouTube saying hi. That's it. I don't care. I try to make people a comment. We have our friend in Portugal doing it every once in a while, but that's about it.
[01:08:08] So we've come to the end of another kissy, huggy, lovey episode between four opinionated old farts. Again, we express our sincere appreciation. We mean it. We're actually shocked in a lot of ways. We talk about this one a week, how many people are watching, listening, and bringing our subscribers up. So thank you very much on behalf of all of us. My guess is we're doing something right, even though we say many things wrong. Please continue to listen to us.
[01:08:38] Especially recommend us to your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and people that you actually want to get rid of from your life. That will work well. Watch us on YouTube. Watch us on YouTube. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio. You can also visit our website at dgeezers.com. That's D-G-E-E-Z-E-R-S.com for some of our previous episodes, as well as some announcements we'll make when we get to the season underway. For instance, we'll probably do more episodes.
[01:09:07] By the way, the season starts, guys, on... Yeah, we talked about this before, and we're going to do more episodes. I agree with this. We're going to get out. When the season starts on March 18th in Japan, between the Cubbies and the new evil empire, the Dodgers of Los Angeles... Wait, wait, wait, wait. That game's in Japan, right? Yes. Yeah. I'd say we watch that game. We all get up at 3 o'clock in the morning and watch that game live. You know what? I'm willing to do it. I was kidding.
[01:09:36] I'm willing to do it. Thanks, Pete. I think we should do it so we can get some subscribers from Japan, because we're losing them here. My guess is that this is the commissioner's goal to make baseball a year-round event, along with his other fantastic ideas that Rob Manchild is looking to ruin the game we love. But you'll have an episode just about him one day. Anyway, so until next time, while I'm being pushed into the corner with this freaking light
[01:10:04] across my face, we are the Diamond Geysers, and you are not.