RaysUp - Tampa Bay Rays a winning week with Rockies & Angels

Tampa Bay Rays Baseball,
 228 BaseballBiz On Deck, #RaysUp

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Let's get started. Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I'm Mark Corbett, and with me today is my other big fan who enjoys all the things with the Tampa Bay Rays, and that's Mr. Mat Germain. How are you doing today, Mat? 

[00:00:16] Mat Germain: I'm winningly good. How about yourself? 

[00:00:20] Mark Corbett: I love it. I love it. Winningly good. That's appropriate, brother, because that's what we were all been wanting for.

[00:00:26] Mark Corbett: Waiting for and wanting. I guess you just have to leave home sometimes for good things to happen. 

[00:00:32] Mat Germain: Yeah, it's nice to see the team gelling and struggling through things sometimes when you go through battles together and you come out on the positive side of things it can make the team strong for a long time.

[00:00:45] Mark Corbett: I know I heard one of the announcers on the game the other day, I think it was the second game with the angels and the announcer saying, yeah the rays are much like the Marlins. I thought, dude, not real. I don't know what capacity, but it certainly wasn't when the winning. Lost Colin. Thank God.

[00:01:00] Mark Corbett: Those poor guys. What are they now? Are they like 11 one in 11 or something along those lines? It's scary. 

[00:01:06] Mat Germain: One in 11 and they're facing the Yankees right now. So I don't know if they'll go one in 12, but that's a tough way to start this season. Yeah. 

[00:01:15] Mark Corbett: Yeah. I don't know. We'll see what happened then, but man, today was an exciting let's just give a rundown.

[00:01:22] Mark Corbett: Like I said, we had a little bit of a tough time at home, but then we went on the road with the Rockies and the angels and. I gotta tell you that first game in Colorado and geez, I'm thinking Petey, Fairbanks, what's going on, man? Walk. What's happening here in the ninth inning?

[00:01:46] Mark Corbett: And geez, he wasn't the Pete Fairbanks that we normally see out there. So you just had to realize that's going to happen sometimes, but still what's the cause of And what did he say? It was because of the the balls. The balls were weird. 

[00:02:05] Mat Germain: I don't know about that one. So there's two things that are wrong with that.

[00:02:10] Mat Germain: Number one, we already know he has a condition that in cold weather affects him. We know it was cold in Colorado. So to me, that should be the first go to quote unquote excuse or reasoning. Yeah, but the other red flag that I notice is his velocity is down big time. It's down two miles per hour on his pitches from that series onwards.

[00:02:33] Mat Germain: So I, I think there's something else going on. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's by design. It could be that he's trying to get more spin by going lower velo. I don't know. And maybe that's messing with his location as well. But to blame the balls, it didn't Mater which game it was. He was struggling both times anyway. 

[00:02:55] Mark Corbett: Yeah. And he did say They were just overall bad. I'm not going to elaborate further than that. He said, some of the long lines are they're horrible or horrible. But then he said that's what happens when you don't throw strikes. That's, that was a quote. He said, and he said, you get punished for it.

[00:03:15] Mark Corbett: So I love to see those come out of the humidor tomorrow and a little better shape before they get rubbed up, but there's nobody to blame, but myself for not being able to adjust to some of the quality issues. So he didn't throw. The full blame on the balls. He did say that he hoped that there'd be some continuity to it.

[00:03:33] Mark Corbett: And yeah, if you look at those temperatures, it's unbelievable. And then there was one of the Rockies pitchers, let's see, Peter Lambert. And he was asked about the baseballs. He said there's definitely a difference. So maybe there's still something there. I don't know. That would, I was surprised nonetheless to see Pete Fairbanks suffer as much as he did on that first game with the Rockies.

[00:03:58] Mat Germain: He wasn't alone either. The whole Raysd pen seemed to be out of sorts to some degree. So I, what I would say is how, why would it be different for the starters than it would be for the relievers? The Raysd starters had pretty decent starts all the way through the series. So you would think that they would have an issue with the balls as well.

[00:04:18] Mat Germain: I don't know. Maybe it was just the batches were different. I don't know. 

[00:04:21] Mark Corbett: I don't either, but you said there's some, the the other stars were doing real well. Here. We look at it. Ryan Pepio, my gosh, what'd he get? 11 K and six innings. 

[00:04:32] Mat Germain: Yeah. He'll take the bad balls any day now. 

[00:04:37] Mark Corbett: I love it, brother. Yeah.

[00:04:40] Mark Corbett: Some of us are still, we're scratching our head about this run. Pepio guy coming in here. We're losing Margo. We're losing glass now. And. Anybody who felt like that, we got short changed. That was a great performance by Ryan Pepio. But here's the thing last night, just, he just threw 14 strikeouts and seven innings the other day for when they were dodgers were facing the twins.

[00:05:05] Mat Germain: And it's fine. I like to see both of them have success to be quite honest. I think we all love Tyler and nobody has any hard feelings towards him at all. It's more of a realization that ultimately until Tyra glass now can do it for a full season and put up 180 innings plus I have a feeling that we're going to see that from Ryan Pepio at some point in the near future.

[00:05:29] Mat Germain: I'm not exactly positive that we'll get to see it from Tyler, but if he does it, I'm more than happy for him. And I hope we get the cheer for him, but not the Dodgers 

[00:05:40] Mark Corbett: Here and the thing is what he's a hometown boy out in California anyway. So I'm sure there's a certain level of ease that comes from being out there as well.

[00:05:53] Mark Corbett: But man, oh man, still looking across this series. And with the angels, I don't know in today's game and maybe in all of them, but it sounds like Chris Farley has been resurrected out there in the fandom. I'm hearing this loud screaming fan voice, just ragging on the umpire for every throw. It's who is this dude?

[00:06:17] Mark Corbett: But it's amazing what we allow fans to do in the game, but some say that just adds the color to it. 

[00:06:28] Mat Germain: There should be a limit to it, right? And you hope ethics comes into it, but I think he got Ron Washington all riled up because Ron came out at the end of the game and was all over the umpire about the strike zone. 

[00:06:39] Mat Germain: I think you're going to see Ron Washington he's trying to get. His team riled up and working consistently and to get them to believe in themselves, which is something that nobody in baseball right now has for them other than him. So I love to see that from Ron and I love to see that he's having a positive impact.

[00:07:01] Mat Germain: On a lot of the guys and including Anthony Rendon, Anthony Rendon actually showed signs of life during the series. 

[00:07:09] Mark Corbett: And That's the first time in a long time that's happened. So I think the pitching was surprisingly good from the angels, More steady than I would have given it credit for before the series.

[00:07:22] Mat Germain: I think they've got some pieces there that are intriguing. They're once they get Robert Stevenson back in the pen, they'll be that much better for it as well. I don't know if he'll be there for the race series when he come to Tampa, but if you're in the Tampa region, when the angels come, I think, Mike Trout proved that you should be getting a ticket and going to see one of those games because he's playing at the top of his game.

[00:07:47] Mat Germain: He's a threat every time he's at the plate. He's playing well defensively. Go out there and see a Hall of Famer. That's a surefire in my opinion. 

[00:07:56] Mark Corbett: No doubt that it is interesting seeing Rob Washington out there. I love it. He used to love watching him with, I think he used to be the third base coach for the for the Braves, right?

[00:08:08] Mark Corbett: The Atlanta Braves. 

[00:08:09] Mat Germain: Yeah. And he was a manager before that with Texas and he had a really good run. But then he got into some personal issues that he needed to take some time away for himself. And the team decided to go in another direction. Yeah, he's worked through some things and he's earned his way back to that position.

[00:08:26] Mat Germain: And I think a lot of infielders credit Ron Washington for the energy and time that he put in making them better players, including Dansby Swanson and a whole bunch of other guys that Austin Riley he'll sit there and work with the guys over and over again, trying to get their game to to work.

[00:08:44] Mat Germain: An above average level and in tirelessly do it. So there's not very many managers that put that much time and effort into those little tiny details and he's all about them. And I think the angels need that they needed to go back to the basics and get themselves press the reset button basically and do all the little things right so that they can actually have success.

[00:09:08] Mark Corbett: I look forward to seeing them when they come to town, but we've also got another team coming before that, and that is the Giants. And We might see an old Rays a lump next week as well. 

[00:09:21] Mat Germain: Yeah. I don't know if bleak smell is pitching yet. They haven't announced everybody. I know when's getting their first start. 

[00:09:27] Mat Germain: So three 

[00:09:28] Mark Corbett: innings the other day, I believe. They didn't. Yeah. I don't know if 

[00:09:31] Mat Germain: we're getting them in this series though, or not. 

[00:09:34] Mark Corbett: I don't, it was like, it was early this week. So if he's going to be in it's not like they just, it's not like he was just on the mound. It was like a couple of days ago and he only was in there for three innings.

[00:09:46] Mark Corbett: Let's see. Have web 

[00:09:48] Mat Germain: on Saturday and yes, no on Sunday. There you go. 

[00:09:51] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Three innings, pitch three hits, three runs, two walks, five strikeouts. 

[00:09:56] Mat Germain: Blake Snell against Kevin Cash in a Rays. 

[00:10:01] Mark Corbett: That's going to be something brother. Yeah. So that 

[00:10:05] Mat Germain: If they pull him in the fifth inning, it 

[00:10:12] Mark Corbett: feels like home. Oh, gosh.

[00:10:16] Mark Corbett: Let's talk a little bit more about that game today with when the Ray's winning and taking the series with the angels, were you surprised to see Austin Shenton as the DH? Because I was, I thought maybe, I think hair was on the bench today. Was he having health issues? 

[00:10:33] Mat Germain: No, I think they, they just knew that for the most part, they were going to face right handers and they did something interesting today.

[00:10:40] Mat Germain: And I actually agreed with it where they had two righties and a lefty, two righties, then lefty, two righties, then a lefty. And to me that through A little bit less balanced to their lineup in terms of rhythm that a pitcher can settle into. And basically they tried to maximize the effectiveness of their left handed hitters.

[00:11:01] Mat Germain: So they had Ben Roordveld in there and they had Richie Palacios actually hitting third, which I think a lot of people were surprised by. The Rays right now are just shorthanded when it comes to hitters. So this is my thing that I'm trying to preach to people and trying to get them to focus on.

[00:11:20] Mat Germain: What we're seeing right now is a completely off balanced Rays roster. Meaning, When you look at it on the whole and you say, okay, the right-handers are all there. They're all the big the guys that you expect to have on the right-handed side of the plate. But when you look at the left-handed side, you're missing Josh Lowe.

[00:11:40] Mat Germain: You're missing Jonathan Miranda. You didn't have Brandon Lau because he's hurt. And then. Yeah you have on top of that, Johnny DeLuca, which is actually a guy who has reverse splits and it's actually good almost like having a lefty in there. So the rays are completely missing four of the regular bats.

[00:12:02] Mat Germain: When you add those back in and they will come back at some point, you're going to have a completely. More effective way for Kevin cash to attack opposing pitchers. And I think that's what we're seeing right now at the race. You're not getting those completely productive runs that they're putting up on the board.

[00:12:20] Mat Germain: Because the, unlike last year, when the, for the most part, they had guys healthy for the majority of the year they're able to, they're struggling to find guys in the right moments performing at their peak level in a situation that they're supposed to be in. So Austin Shenton, in this case I think he's MLB ready.

[00:12:41] Mat Germain: He needs the reps, though, and he needs the reps at the right times. And he needs the reps probably after he's a little bit hotter at the plate than in the beginning of the season, the way he's being thrown at it right now. So I think he's adjusting and he's getting there. The one thing I noted with Austin Chen is that he was closer to the plate, which is great because the first game he played, he was so far from the plate, he reached out to a pitch that was a strike.

[00:13:06] Mat Germain: It was actually like on the outer third, but it was still inside the zone. He couldn't reach it. And literally his bat just went right by it. I was like, Oh maybe he wants to stand closer. And sure enough, the next game, he was about half a foot closer to the plate which can make a big difference, especially when you have the open stance the way he does.

[00:13:27] Mat Germain: Yeah, I, the Rays are going to figure it out. They're going to get more dangerous, but let's talk about Jose Caballero. Oh 

[00:13:38] Mark Corbett: yeah, please do. What were your thoughts on him? Oh my gosh, this guy he's fantastic. And when I was watching the game last night and a ball kind of popped between his legs, I was like, how could you let this happen?

[00:13:53] Mark Corbett: And the only reason I felt that so deeply is because he has just been amazing. Today he went three for four with a double represent yesterday. And He's just, he's electric, right? To me, Jose Caballero was a steal of a trade. And I said that at the time when they traded Luke Raley, there was a lot of people that were angry about seeing Luke Raley go The Rays knew that he was a baseball player.

[00:14:25] Mat Germain: He was a guy that he, that would be able to play a little bit everywhere that could do all the little things. Yes, there's mishaps here and there where he looks like a clown for a second, because the the basic easy thing gets by him, but he's adjusting to a new position. He's adjusting to a lot of things.

[00:14:44] Mat Germain: And I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself and that you can see the genuine nature. Yeah. That he has even in what happened there with the Jays, right? He just, he doesn't have the repetitions yet as a regular in MLB. So he's still working extremely hard to earn that. So that puts a lot of pressure.

[00:15:03] Mat Germain: And sometimes you make some little goofs because of that. So I chalked those up to that, but you can tell the talent wise, as a shortstop in a new position, he looks like a gold Glover right now. When you look at the plays he's able to make, ranging out, really spinning his whole body around to get the throw off and to get it off accurately, like that, those are not easy things to do.

[00:15:27] Mat Germain: And for Rays to go from Wander Franco to adding this guy to do that same kind of thing, who has even more speed than Wander Franco had, and could still grow into some power the more he gets comfortable with it. It's a great way to play. They're talking on the broadcast today about the work he's doing with Chad Mottola about holding the ball more, which is the exact same thing they did with Isak Peraitis, where they said, when you have a chance.

[00:15:52] Mat Germain: Hammer it inside instead of trying to go the other way or up the middle, and it's something he hadn't been doing. So you could see Jose Caballero today, his home run was 430 feet. That's not tiny power, that's significant power. So if his isolated power goes up, and you consider his speed, you're talking about a five war shortstop.

[00:16:16] Mat Germain: Essentially, and then you're wondering how do I fit in all the other guys I have behind them, and he's controllable through 2029. So you're, the reason just, I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they identified them. I don't know how they get it. Him in the comfortable position as fast as they have, but it's nice to see race fans being able to have a conversation about a shortstop without mentioning Wander Franco at all.

[00:16:47] Mat Germain: Other than is he better than him? That's it. After that, maybe we can move on and never talk about him again. 

[00:16:55] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully they'll be able to drop him from the 40 man completely because it's just a waste of time and money. Yeah. Pardon me. The one thing it was Caballero, geez, like I said he's still young as far as being at the show, but he is performing, man. 

[00:17:13] Mark Corbett: Like I said, I was being critical of that one. A little miss last night, but I watched it today. I thought defensively what he was doing, getting that boss, getting it over to Yandi and a couple of those, like they were just like, he was a midair and the ability to get it straight over to Yandi this well, I think Kevin or somebody may have said, yeah, there's two golden gloves right there.

[00:17:33] Mark Corbett: And I thought yes, that could be. 

[00:17:37] Mat Germain: And also I want to give some props to Jose Siri at the plate and on the basis too, like he's really focusing on getting on base more so he can use his speed and be more productive offensively. And I think that is just outstanding. He'll still run into some home runs.

[00:17:54] Mat Germain: But I see his value skyrocketing overall, if he's able to do that. And the more he has success with that, the more it keeps him focused and playing well in the field as well. And he made some really nice plays this week that kind of limited the damage that the other team could make and I think.

[00:18:13] Mat Germain: For him, it's easy to lose focus sometimes. And he made a couple of errors, what we're talking with Caballero. But I'm really encouraged by what we're seeing from him. So when you look at it that way you say, what was a series looking very solid. He sock parade is looking great at third base.

[00:18:30] Mat Germain: Caballero is looking great. And Ben Rortfeld has been a revelation behind the plate. You add Yanni Diaz and Randy Rosarena, then you're like the filler. Is what you're worried about. And those are the four guys that I'm talking about that are on IL. And that's why it's so frustrating because if they had those pieces also performing, no doubt in my mind right now, the Rays would be more like the Yankees record than their record that they have today. 

[00:18:56] Mat Germain: And that's even with the few kind of pitching woes that they've had here and there.

[00:19:05] Mark Corbett: I'm going to pause for a second. Cause I got, there's an air show in Lakeland and they're going over. I don't know if you're hearing me, any of that or not. No, I'm not actually good. Better yet. Better yet. Okay, good. See, come back to this. Yeah when you're looking at performances, some of these guys, and you were, you mentioned earlier, of course, our new catcher and what he did today, watching him in Caballero in tandem, when one of the angels was trying to steal second base and man, he snapped that ball from home plate over to, Caballero and Caballero tagged that poor angel because did you see what, I can't remember who the daggone guy was who he went to steal second, but then he overran it.

[00:19:52] Mat Germain: Yeah. Adele wasn't 

[00:19:54] Mark Corbett: Adele. Yeah. And, but Caballero tagged him. Bam. That was the end of that inning. It's yes, those are some of the most fun moments for me in baseball. You, when you see somebody move so quickly. And man, a strong arm at the kid in the catching position is always good. And Rortford certainly brought that in there.

[00:20:12] Mark Corbett: So that's that's exciting. And Zach Littell oh boy he had a tough start out today, but he kept it together all in all. What do you have? Like 40 some odd pitches in the first inning, but there's a lot of foul balls, man. 

[00:20:32] Mat Germain: Kevin Cash has to be elated that he got through 4. 1. And he.

[00:20:38] Mat Germain: You could tell that the stuff was there. It just, his release point and where his slider and sinker were winding up just were not the right area. He wasn't commanding them at all. So he was having a hard time because with his stuff, if he doesn't have those pitches in the right locations, he's in trouble because the rest of it can be somewhat hittable if he's throwing it in the zone.

[00:21:03] Mat Germain: So what is he supposed to do? And he fought through that extremely well for somebody that wasn't locating the way he wanted to I thought it was really encouraging. It saved the pen. They were able to focus the pen on the right guys after that. And Kevin Kelly looked really solid other than the home run.

[00:21:22] Mat Germain: He gave up. I thought the stuff looked really good. He was working the bottom of the zone like crazy. And I think that's why he gave up the home run. The guys were just like, okay I know where he's throwing it. But yeah, and then he changed it up after that, but. Yeah the pen in general after the Angel series has to be a lot, a little bit more confident.

[00:21:45] Mat Germain: They'll have to do it about with some better teams before they're really confident. And I still have questions about a couple of them in there, like Clevenger and Pache which both have seen a lot more erratic than we'd like from the left side. 

[00:22:00] Mark Corbett: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'd hoped a little more from Pache as well I think he'll work that out. 

[00:22:07] Mark Corbett: If I'm looking at the MLB standings right now, Looking at American League Geese, and again, obviously we've finished probably the first game of the day. We are now seven and six and thank, thankfully this got us above 500 we're now 5 38. Blue Jays are beneath us with six and seven Orioles above with five 600%.

[00:22:31] Mark Corbett: Let's see, they're six and four Red Sox, seven and four and Yankees 10 and two. And as we mentioned earlier. The the Marlins are struggling the most. And some of that's been the schedule and some of it's been other things. Marlins are one and 11 right now. It's gotta be tough. 

[00:22:51] Mat Germain: Yeah they're getting to that point where already they have to start looking at the assets they have and whether or not they're going to stick them on the market and see what they can get because they're not going to be around long term sadly, because it's also a location that has a harder time drawing when they're not competitive.

[00:23:09] Mat Germain: So I'm guessing that the attendance is going to match the record pretty soon. 

[00:23:14] Mark Corbett: Yeah, 

[00:23:15] Mat Germain: that's not easy thing to go through. 

[00:23:17] Mark Corbett: No, it's not. But it's very. I'm looking at two, I'm thinking from a front office aspect, think about the Red Sox. Think about from the Rays. And we talked about the x ray sometimes of the, let's talk about front office, x rays were high in bloom went to the Red Sox.

[00:23:34] Mark Corbett: He Mookie Betts. And that was part of what his job was. Then you're looking now we have another Rays person who's now just signed up with the Marlins in the front office, Mr. Peter Bendix. And he's probably going to have to make some hard decisions. So they say it's the Ray's way, right?

[00:23:58] Mark Corbett: You come in and you cut the salaries or you cut all that money and you bring in fresh new blood. But I don't know that the Marlins have that right now. I have to get Lou Schiff back on here and talk about them because I don't know if they have a strong enough farm system to do that. 

[00:24:13] Mat Germain: The Marlins have some of the worst position player scouting in, in the league.

[00:24:19] Mat Germain: And although they're great with the pitching aspect of things, they are completely terrible when it comes to the hitter side of things. You look at their lineup and you look at who they've targeted, who they've brought in. I think Luis Arreaz was the first. First guy I can actually point to and say, you know what?

[00:24:37] Mat Germain: That's an above average hitter consistently in MLB in a long time. I'm not talking about in her history, but in the last decade, let's say so I think it's sad because they have had strong pitching all the way through. And they need to invest in those guys financially.

[00:24:57] Mat Germain: And I think that's why Kim Ing left. And she saw that there's no investment value in those guys. And they're not deep enough to build it. Like they can over the long term, obviously. But they're going to need a think tank like what the Rays have. And I don't think that they have that right now. And it's a long term thing to build.

[00:25:16] Mat Germain: Alex Anthopoulos did it with the Jays way back when. He rebuilt their entire scouting department. He had I think he invested Double what they had invested in the scouting department at the time. And and it revolutionized how they were able to target talents and who they were able to bring in afterwards, but the Marlins don't seem like the kind of team that is ready to do that and they're just happy skating by and pocketing money all the way through. 

[00:25:44] Mat Germain: I don't know why, because the pitching is there, which is the hardest thing that all teams are looking for. So to me, they have the easiest. Part left to do really, which is to put a productive lineup together. Right now, today you have Tommy fam and Brandon belt sitting at home. Both of those guys would make the Marlins way better than what they are right now, yet they're hanging on to these, what I would call triple A or quadruple A players for no particular reason.

[00:26:16] Mat Germain: They have they're never going to be above average MLB players. So why are you keeping them? Why? Why are you giving them extra playing time? They've proven for a long time that they're not going to get there. Go get the actual MLB talent, support your pitchers the way you can, and then go see if you can win some games.

[00:26:37] Mat Germain: Now, last year, they did that, and they had success with it, and they made the playoffs because of it. I don't understand this year why things changed so much. And if they're, I don't want to say they're tanking, but they know that they're missing four huge starters and unlike the Rays, they're not fighting through it.

[00:26:55] Mat Germain: They are deciding to tank, I think. 

[00:27:00] Mark Corbett: No it has that feel it. And that too was sad to see Kim and go, but. I felt like she was probably doing the same hot seat. The Derek Jeter was, and that's well, maybe not hot seat because she just wasn't getting any support for what that team needed to make a success.

[00:27:18] Mark Corbett: She did what she could. It wasn't going to continue that way. It just I was looking at Luis. All right. It was the earlier this. But what a couple of games ago now you can't judge in one game, but I saw the average pop up there and it was under 200. for no, that's not that's not that guy.

[00:27:37] Mark Corbett: Come on. His on base percentage last year was like 378. There was a while last year he had he was at 400 and held 400 for a while. But they've got to do something more and it's obvious that they're, I don't, they don't seem committed to it. So I hope that mindset changes because there's a lot of fans who enjoy the Marlins that I don't know what's going on with the mindset of the ownership.

[00:28:05] Mat Germain: Yeah. I agree. I agree with all those statements. 

[00:28:08] Mark Corbett: All righty, brother. Let's come back to our beloved race. Let's see here. Yeah. We talked about Zach. We talked about Pete Fairbanks and it's the cold weather, man, by the way, that was just, that was something, it was painful to watch Colorado games out there and the Rays with their little hand warmers and all of that.

[00:28:31] Mark Corbett: Who was it? It was, I can't remember. It was another team completely different. But, I saw a player in short sleeves. It wasn't with us, but it was in a code game somewhere. And I was like, good Lord, man, why would you not have something more than that? But 

[00:28:47] Mat Germain: I think there's a rule that says every thousand feet, you lose two degrees, right?

[00:28:52] Mat Germain: As you go up. So on average, you can estimate that the Rockies games are always going to be two degrees colder. And to me, that has an impact on their pitchers too. So I know we talk about the Rockies a lot of times not getting the right pitching talents their performance also drops significantly when they get there because of not only the altitude and how hitters perform there generally, but also because the weather can be quite testy on occasion.

[00:29:22] Mark Corbett: Oh, that second game was insane, man. Like wind shears going left and right and I would saw Siri, he was going for a ball and then he looked like he had a fish hook. He ran 10 feet in and had to go 20 yards out to get the daggone ball. Cause the wind was just playing with everything that got up in the air. 

[00:29:42] Mark Corbett: It was thought this is where these folks play what, 81 games a year. And I thought. How do they deal with it? Cause they probably had that weather more than most. And they're like, good gravy. But it was an interesting game, that second game, but it's just, it was nasty to watch, have to run around like that.

[00:30:03] Mark Corbett: Like today and after California with, against the angels, a lot of people blocking out the sun to see, but it wasn't a Mater of not being able to see the ball. It's being able to try to figure out what the hell the trajectory was going to be in that second game. With the Rockies.

[00:30:19] Mark Corbett: So anyway, 

[00:30:22] Mat Germain: yeah the other thing I'd like to bring up is the Brandon Lau injury. So I don't know if you heard the latest it sounds like there's a right oblique issue with Brandon and apparently they had an MRI. So it was severe enough that they thought, okay, we need an MRI to look at it. Which normally in my opinion you don't have the MRI for no reason.

[00:30:46] Mat Germain: So if it is something you're looking at four weeks on average at a minimum and up to 10 weeks. So somewhere between there, depending on the severity. And I just, I posted earlier all the significant issues that he's had over the years from low back issues to bone bruises to the little bit of everything basically, where.

[00:31:12] Mat Germain: What it was doing right now is it's compressing the amount of time he has to show his value to other teams. 

[00:31:19] Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

[00:31:20] Mat Germain: And I think it's having a significant issue on his light on the likeliness that his option will be picked up for 2025 because his option is up over 10 million next year. Are you going to pay?

[00:31:31] Mat Germain: Somebody who's been as injured as often as Paul, as Brendan Lau has since 2022. It's hard to imagine that somebody would be interested in that. Somebody might take a chance. I thought the Mets might have the money that they're willing to say, okay we'll do it for one year. And then they have another option for 2026 after that.

[00:31:54] Mat Germain: I don't think the Rays would be equipped to take that on, especially with the talent they have coming. Yeah. So if you're looking at the timeline right now, we're what the April 10th. You're looking at four weeks minimum. So let's say May 10th and then the 10 week would be more like June. Let's say another June 28th.

[00:32:18] Mat Germain: So somewhere between May 10th to June 28th, he'll return. Now, how long does he have to perform well and get the playing time to display his stuff before July 30th when the trade deadline is I think it's going to make it very hard for him to shine enough. And by then you're going to have junior Caminero coming up, you're going to have a healthy Jonathan Aranda on the team.

[00:32:47] Mat Germain: I'm starting to wonder if we've seen the last of Brandon Lau with the race. And that's a sad thing. Like I always. Like everybody else, I was hoping that Brandon Lau would have a lot of success with the Rays and really be part of their next long run. But I think that we're getting close to calling it and throwing the white towel in because of how many issues he's had and I don't know if his back is still bothering at him at all but it always seems to be an issue on his mind, especially after how severe he knew it was originally where he thought it could end his career.

[00:33:26] Mat Germain: So hopefully he gets right and hopefully it doesn't end up being serious and hopefully he's back in action quick enough to rebuild his value. But I think it's something significant to monitor and I know Ray's fans are hard on him. He's hard on himself. But hopefully we get some good news and he's able to rebuild that value quickly.

[00:33:46] Mark Corbett: I hope so as well, Mat. When you look at Brandon, I always think of him in many ways, much as I would have with Lungari or Kiermaier. I could have seen him as being a franchise player. And I see him as a leader with the team. And, pardon me, and as you noted, he does take it personal. And it does Mater to him when things aren't going the way it needs to out there, but this game demands a lot physically, as we see all the more and more injuries every day in baseball, and we'll do that on a whole other show, but yeah, I've wondered that too.

[00:34:27] Mark Corbett: I said how much longer are they going to keep Brandon and if he's not able to show his marketability, as you were mentioning earlier. What options will Brandon have? 

[00:34:39] Mat Germain: Yeah it's tough because he's got over 2000 plate appearances now and MLB, and he still only has 106 home runs.

[00:34:47] Mat Germain: So even though we think about him as a power hitter and a home run hitter it's surprisingly few home runs overall for a guy that's been playing since 2018. And a lot of that, like I said, is because of the amount of games that he's missed and each time he seems to be working his way back in that, in the shape in the game form.

[00:35:10] Mat Germain: So it's sapping a lot of his opportunities to hit a lot of home runs in two different ways. If he was an elite. At that guy where his K percentage was below 20 percent consistently, and he was getting on base like he did maybe in 2020, like in that kind of rate where it was way above average and he had an MVP caliber kind of season for the race.

[00:35:37] Mat Germain: But since then it's just been, yeah, he had a decent year also in 2021 but it's been. With less playing time ever since that point. I don't know if 2021 is what pushed them over the edge. And back and everything else wise. But when you hit 221, 231 and now 185 in 3D 3 consecutive seasons.

[00:36:03] Mat Germain: It's hard to start picking up options after that. And banking a roster spot on you and your health status is always a huge question mark. And for the Rays that's 10 percent of their budget. It's significant. 

[00:36:18] Mark Corbett: Wow. Yeah. I've always thought about Aaron judge. He said, it's just the right time, man.

[00:36:24] Mark Corbett: He said when he was healthy, he said what he was just had a fantastic year. And then the next year he was having problems again because he's had health issues, but unlike unlike Judge, Brandon does not have that kind of history or that he's strong and what he's achieved, but he's not a judge.

[00:36:45] Mark Corbett: So Judge was able to manipulate, that's the wrong word. He was able to negotiate a better contract. And stay with them, even when you think that's judge, he's accident prone, isn't he? Or is he's how many times has he been out because of injuries? That same sort of attitude is not going to hold when the Rays and certainly not with how they look at Brandon.

[00:37:08] Mark Corbett: I agree. So let's look to the future, man. All right, so tomorrow the rays actually have a day off Thursday, the 11th, and then they return to Tampa Bay St. Pete to be precise. Yeah, no, that's a whole other thing. But we're going to be back on the 12th and you got 3 games with the Giants Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

[00:37:32] Mark Corbett: And then we get to see the angels again on Jackie Robinson day, Monday, that'll be fun. And then we'll have all the way up through Thursday with them again. And I'll be curious to see seeing any team twice like that in such close proximity. I always find it curious and try to see what both teams have learned about one another's pictures and changes that they may have made to adapt, if you will.

[00:37:57] Mark Corbett: So I'm really curious to see that angel series. 

[00:38:00] Mat Germain: Yeah, I think there's two starters that they're going to see a second time. So they're going to see the towel and Civale again. So let tell in particular it's going to be interesting because he didn't have his best stuff. Is he going to be on par basically in his next start?

[00:38:15] Mat Germain: So I know he'll be motivated to show this is what I can actually do. Curious to see that they're also going to see Ryan Pepio for the first time. Pepio will get tested against the Mike Trout, looking forward to that. And then they're going to have a pen day or whatever it is that they end up doing now.

[00:38:34] Mat Germain: I'm also curious to see what they do Friday. Because that's supposed to be Tyler Alexander's start. I think he's supposed to be taking it, but will he get the next one against the Angels as well, or will they make a change? We'll see. But I think that the rotation lines up really well because after the angels are going to face the Yankees.

[00:38:55] Mat Germain: So I think the Thursday game for the race is an afternoon game at one 10. They hop on a plane, they go to New York for a quick three game trip. And they're going to have Zach Eflin, Aaron Savalle, and Zach Littell for that series. Those are the guys that you want throwing against the Yankees.

[00:39:12] Mat Germain: And I'd like to see Pepeo against them to see how he manages, but it's still, it's, that one's going to be a good series as well. 

[00:39:21] Mark Corbett: I'm excited about seeing all of those, the giants, the expectations. Like I said, I hope that we get to see Snail, but as far as their winning percentage right now, they're fab and eight.

[00:39:33] Mark Corbett: So they're under 500, they're 385. And I'm really curious to see if that's somebody we can really go ahead and just completely sweep. When they come to town, 

[00:39:43] Mat Germain: predicting sweeps is tough, especially with MLB teams that are run overall. I think the giants are generally trying to manage through a lot of change.

[00:39:55] Mat Germain: And a lot of times in the beginning of the season, when you've changed as many things as they have it's tough to get your feet under you and get everything working. In sync. They have some intriguing pieces. I like Lee and centerfield. I like the Patrick Bailey a lot behind the plate and and really that's where their strengths are center of the field.

[00:40:19] Mat Germain: I think their pitching is supposed to be elite. According to once they actually get Robbie Ray back from the aisle, which they traded for. It'll be interesting to see both Webb and Snell, if the race can sweep and they have those two starters to go up against that, they can then tip their cap and say, you know what?

[00:40:40] Mat Germain: Our lineup is fine. Thank you very much. And especially it works in the race favor in this way. Okay. This is what I'll give them. I'll give you for the sweep. Comment is that the Rays line up right now is strongest against left handed pitching generally and they're going to see left handers. So in theory this is a favorable kind of set up the way that it's wound up.

[00:41:08] Mark Corbett: On a somewhat unrelated topic, but one, I think we need to address and that's the uniforms. Robby Ray, is he going to be able to handle the new uniforms this year? 

[00:41:20] Mat Germain: I don't want them to wear pink underpants and see how it goes. 

[00:41:25] Mark Corbett: Oh Lord. I don't know. So I posted one today about somebody sliding into home and they basically shredded the side of their leggings on the pants.

[00:41:34] Mark Corbett: And it was like expose their leg completely. It's like cheese and crackers. These must be the uniforms they give away on fan appreciation 

[00:41:43] Mat Germain: day. I don't understand the whole thing. You should be making things more. Higher quality, not lesser quality.

[00:41:55] Mat Germain: Oh man. 

[00:41:56] Mark Corbett: That's all I got this week, brother. How about you? 

[00:42:00] Mat Germain: Yeah, I think the minors are interesting. I do, I will say this, I'll just generally speaking for the minors. I'm not going to point anybody out, but the starting pitching overall in the minors has been strong below triple a and the triple a bats have been on fire.

[00:42:18] Mat Germain: Like they put up 28 points in their last game, 28, that's four touchdowns. 

[00:42:24] Mark Corbett: Yeah, boy. 

[00:42:27] Mat Germain: The there's a lot of there's a lot of depth that they can call on when needed. They, they have guys that are hot at every position. So with Brandon Lau going down, Nico Goodrum and Ronnie Simone are two guys that would be potential call ups for a period of time.

[00:42:49] Mat Germain: Until somebody else comes back. And if they do that, they would have to put somebody on 60 day IL. So I think Shane Boz would be the guy that probably gets slid over there because of a setback he had recently. Yeah. So look for that to happen. If it ends up being that Brendan Loud needs some IL time. 

[00:43:08] Mark Corbett: The, pardon me the Raysd Materly system is continues to be exciting.

[00:43:13] Mark Corbett: I know you pointed out Joe Rock before. Yeah, I know you pointed out Joe Rock before, and I've been watching some of what he's doing as well. As you mentioned, you're going to say anybody in particular, but man, there's a lot of good work going on there. So I'll just I'll abbreviate some of this since I'm rambling a little bit, but it looks like we've got a good season ahead of us. 

[00:43:39] Mark Corbett: Who knows what we're going to be? I think we'll definitely be over 500. I know some people were already crying and say, oh, there's going to be less than 500 for the season. I said just. Just wait, take a breath. 

[00:43:51] Mat Germain: You're seeing the worst of the raids right now. Think about that. You're seeing the worst that they're going to be the entire season.

[00:43:58] Mat Germain: When Taj Bradley comes back and fills that fifth spot in the rotation, I have a strong feeling the rays are going to go on a run. It could be multiple small runs. It might not be anything huge and long like last year, but I have a lot of faith in this team. I think they'll figure it out. And come August, I think there'll be in a position to buy for at the deadline To add to it.

[00:44:22] Mark Corbett: Excellent. Excellent. That's Mr. Mat Germain. And if you can always find Mat and what he shares his wisdom on Twitter or x. com and he is located at @Mat_Germain_ Mat, M A T underscore Germain, G E R M A I N underscore. And I am Mark and you can find me @TheBaseballBiz also on x. com. You can find us on pretty much any Show or podcast directory, and certainly on BaseballBiz On Deck.

[00:44:53] Mark Corbett: com. So I want to thank you all for joining us here today and look forward to talking with you again real soon.