[SPEAKER_01]: Hello, everybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: JJ Cooper, Jeff Pots, Incundible Baseball America Prospect podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll give you a little bit of a sneak by in the curtain.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the crew this week.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have a lot of people on vacation, but we're holding down the fort, excited to join you guys for a Prospect podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: And once a little different this week, we just thought it was probably a good time to talk about this Joshua Bias, had his remarkable Saturday, a couple days ago by now by the time you're watching and listening to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: cardinals are a team that are kind of in an interesting spot.

[SPEAKER_01]: We kind of wanted to dive into kind of what they've done, how far are they away.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to kind of take a look at the St. Louis cardinals today and great to see you guys.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think we have to start with Jeff because Jeff has been our Joshua Bias correspondent.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like for years now, but

[SPEAKER_01]: Jeff, okay, I feel comfortable in saying Joshua Bias is not going to do that regularly because no one hits three home run games regularly, but what is a realistic expectation for 27, let's just say, for what could Joshua Bias be and what could trip him up?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think, you know, if he does, you know, win one of the corner out field spots, whether it's right or left field, going into next season, I think this is a pretty good trial for him, you know, here at the end of the year.

[SPEAKER_02]: He was already on the 40 man roster, so there was just very little risk in terms of calling him up at this point.

[SPEAKER_02]: He has had, it's funny when somebody leads a league in home runs and you say he's had an up and down season.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I think if you sort of look at Josh Bias historically, it took a few years of really being way out there in the wilderness, the type of stuff that when you see this kind of way, if you see this kind of swinging mesh, this lack of production.

[SPEAKER_02]: For a player, usually it's a non-starter, usually those guys don't have any futures, particularly in major league baseball, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: They kind of are organized and they don't figure it out.

[SPEAKER_02]: There was a substantial change in 2025 in terms of approach.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that led to better batsball skills.

[SPEAKER_02]: He flattened out a little bit, or he had been really, really lofty prior to that.

[SPEAKER_02]: it seemed like they tried to find a little bit more of a happy medium this year of like hey you have this huge outlier power but you're not putting up the home run totals that you know your natural power hitting ability such should suggest they tried to add a little bit more loft to the swing which with any hitter it comes with a little bit of swing of this is right off

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's, you know, there's trade off, there's like kind of like, you know, it's almost like it's a bad analogy for people, but like like a mixing board and a studio like there's there's certain things you can tweak, but you're going to you're going to sacrifice potentially something else.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think it was a matter of trying to find that happy medium.

[SPEAKER_02]: He had a really, really hot periods during the season where he would hit 10 home runs, and this is kind of throwing numbers out here.

[SPEAKER_02]: But like 10 home runs and like 15 games, 16 games.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then he would go pretty cold for stretches as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: And he wasn't walking as much as he had been previously.

[SPEAKER_02]: Some of that, like just to be a little bit more aggression as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: just to kind of echo what you're saying here.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in April, this year, Bias hit 223-195-12 with six homeruns.

[SPEAKER_01]: In May, he hit 274-347-632 of 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: In June, it was 293-2677 with 10.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then in July, it was back to down 208-3035-06 with six.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then August before the call up 308-372-538.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now there's

[SPEAKER_01]: up and down to his seasons that most right.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think I think some of it is just kind of adjustments with an approach and it's not

[SPEAKER_02]: using that term we're generally right like it's not just do you swing it strikes do not swing it strikes it's more the types of swings that he's taking to catch up to high fast balls which is something that has plagued him at periods and time and then that will sort of sacrifice his ability to hit breaking balls and soft stuff low in the zone.

[SPEAKER_02]: So there's been some trade

[SPEAKER_02]: over the last maybe three weeks leading up to the call up was him kind of going back to what he did in 2025 a little bit more he flattened out a little bit more he was making a little bit more contact he was swinging and missing and chasing out of the zone less and I think ultimately that's maybe the best version of Josh Bias because you can still have these games where you know he sees a soft toss in lefty which is kind of like you know there's

[SPEAKER_02]: Soft, you know, soft side platoon splits a little bit, which I think could be a bit of a concern, especially when you consider how many right-handed pictures you're going to see in guys with velocity, guys that can land that high fastball, that high inside fastball.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it's going to be how he makes those adjustments and just kind of finding that happy medium.

[SPEAKER_02]: But he's hit all different pitch types of periods, really successfully.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not like he's been overall terrible against one thing, just like throughout the last two years.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so I kind of wonder if there is just some growing pains with this profile and him having taken such a massively forward, then getting thrust into the highest level of the miners.

[SPEAKER_02]: And now we saw what he did in his big league debut.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's just going to be up and down.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be inconsistent.

[SPEAKER_02]: So he's going to put up big power numbers.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to drive and runs.

[SPEAKER_02]: Overall, the OPS probably won't be too bad.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, the over under I think is probably like a 31% strikeout, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Like do you think it will be over that?

[SPEAKER_02]: Do you think it will be under that?

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's going to be like 40% or anything like that.

[SPEAKER_02]: But he's going to strike out quite a bit.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hopefully that comes with more walks than what we saw in AAA for a majority of the season.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a tough profile.

[SPEAKER_02]: But he's also super exciting in the sense that it's incredibly high in quality of contact.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's a good, straight, fast, straight line runner.

[SPEAKER_02]: He will steal some bases.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's really good in the corn route field.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's got a big arm and can make all the throws, throw guys out, every base on the diamond.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I think there's some, he's going to be really exciting.

[SPEAKER_02]: But he's probably like your number six hitter.

[SPEAKER_02]: And when I started preparing for this show and kind of thinking about, like, what's a good comp?

[SPEAKER_02]: I think like Tiasco Hernandez is kind of like what the high end outcome is with like like I think he just a kind of fits fairly well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Ian, that kind of brings up a bigger picture question, which is, we are in a year, gonna have a post at some point about this updating this pretty soon, but we know that powers up all across the miners.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like to just give you an idea, we are sitting here recording this on August 17th, and there are 11 minor league hitters with 30 home runs this year, and there are 27 with 25 home runs,

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, to just give you an idea last year, they were 18 in the entire season with 25 homeruns, and there were five who hit 30.

[SPEAKER_01]: I bring that up because I would say that among our readership, among our viewership and our listenership,

[SPEAKER_01]: Those are some of the players that we get asked about the most.

[SPEAKER_01]: It is, we're not getting asked about the guy who's hitting 320 with not a ton of power.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why is this guy not ranking as high as we expect?

[SPEAKER_01]: But it is the Andrew Fisher's who have 37 home runs.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the Blake Berks.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the Lazarum onthuses.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the bias.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the, I mean, to take it to another level.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the Billy Amix and the Miguel Penyes and the Carson Rock of Forteis and all.

[SPEAKER_01]: How, like, what do you, like, when you have a year where offense and especially home runs are up across the board, I have a theory on this, but I wonder what you think as far as, like, does that like help the best power hitters kind of stand out more or what do you think, like, how do you kind of compare what year when you have offense up like this, home runs up like this, compared to a year where a home runs an offense are really down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's an interesting question because I think it does help the top-end guys separate themselves and that they can get up into numbers that we usually don't see like Andrew Fisher's about to what he's pushing 40 homeruns, which I don't, I mean, I'm sure you have more historical contacts on that than I do, but feels like something that doesn't happen very frequently.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think we're actually you see them, the game's more is with the guys who are kind of

[SPEAKER_00]: outlier seasons where we've never seen this type of power before for them because I know like this week I'm working on something just looking at some under the radar guys and there are players there was the number of times I had to write the line he said a new career high in home runs was shocking and it's you know you're seeing guys who are you know seven eight nine home runs get to 20 25 that they've never gone before and so I think it's

[SPEAKER_00]: It's more noticeable with kind of the lower end guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think with the higher end guys, you know, the power is there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, as you said, as Jeff was talking about with bias, like, we've known about his power.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can look at his exit losses.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can watch it swing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can look at the way he impacts the baseball when you're watching it on synergy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you can tell I think Blake Berk Fisher guys like that fall into that same category, but.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think what really separates them and that's why it's kind of more nuanced is when we're talking about things like the top 100 list and everything is you have to look at the some of the player's parts, the entire tool skill set that they have at play and that's where someone like bias has those secondary skills that are going to be able to carry it because what we've seen at the major level of this year are not just this year but over the last few years is if you're just a one trick pony who only hits her power and you play a non you know

[SPEAKER_00]: teams don't really value that much anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the the days of a first base slugger who can't play defense and hits 30 home runs, that's a fine player, you know, some teams like that, but most teams don't really want someone like that in their lineup.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's why someone like bias, I think, is such a unique case, because of his ability to run, because of his ability to play defense, because he's got a plus arm.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what separates him and why like I know JJ, you had a good back and forth about someone with Lizara Montez.

[SPEAKER_00]: I saw on social media this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's another one.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like it's outlier power, but the the contact questions and he at least at least can fake it in the outfield that looks like maybe, you know, that which gives him some value, but then you have, you know, you go move down to here and it's like Blake Burke and your fish are like those guys are probably first base only.

[SPEAKER_00]: And

[SPEAKER_00]: When you when you get shoehorned into that, it really really backs you in the corner where the power gains and the power ability you shown this year with I don't know maybe a different baseball or whatever other factors are a play that are contributing to the huge home on totals is that going to carry over from year to year that's uncertain so that's why I think that bias.

[SPEAKER_00]: brings that baseline and has that ability that some of these other guys, some of the other big power hitters that you've talked about this year that don't and why like when you're looking at that top level, I think that you need those secondary skills when you get lower, though, as where I think we're kind of seeing the biggest gains with this new run environment that we're playing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of do have some kind of evidence of what you're talking about there and I'll kind of kick this back to Jeff kind of what your thoughts are.

[SPEAKER_01]: So here is everyone who had 35 or more homers in the minors.

[SPEAKER_01]: this decade.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so 2021, M. J. Melendez 41, Griffin, Conan I'm 36, Nick Proto 36, 2022, Moises Gomez 39, Alexander Canaria 37, 100 Goodman 36, Matt, Mervis 36, Unir 23, Unir Severino 35, Shay Witt come 35, 2024, Devisadilla, Santa's 40, 2025 Ryan Ward 36, Spencer Jones 35, and then

[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that stands out about that is that this is kind of why we remain a little bit skeptical on these is that the 100 good been is a massive success story out of that group and kudos to him, but to kind of go what Ian was saying there, that's a catcher.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a guy who has real value and did has power to go with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: got a lot of first basement on that group, like Proto, like Matt Mervis, like you near Severino, Shay Whitcom, Devisa Deliz Santos.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like there's a lot of guys there who've had very good minor league seasons and it didn't translate.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jeff, kind of what are your more like differentiators of what of when it's going to translate to the big leagues for a guy versus it's not.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I do think a large part of it is the supporting tools and skills.

[SPEAKER_02]: Does a guy have defensive value?

[SPEAKER_02]: Is he good at that position?

[SPEAKER_02]: Does he have the ability to fill multiple positions?

[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously without fielders, if a guy is in above average, corner out field, there would some speed.

[SPEAKER_02]: You could play a guy like Josh Bias.

[SPEAKER_02]: You could play Josh Bias.

[SPEAKER_02]: in center field in a pinch, if you really need to, he's played the position before.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think with infielders, you know, if you're not a shortstop, you got to be a guy who's at least very capable at like second or third base or be able to jump into the outfield when needed, obviously catchers anybody that can catch

[SPEAKER_02]: consistently in like these reasonable as a catch-and-throw guy back there is certainly valuable.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then I think there's a approach and there's

[SPEAKER_02]: how much contact does the player make, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: We're like, my concerns with Andrew Fisher really come down to Viroguys who hit a lot of home runs in the minor leagues that hit 200 that under the hood, blind taste test, look exactly like Andrew Fisher.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, Jay Slavio lets dad, it doesn't look that different from Andrew Fisher's, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Fisher, barrel rate is much higher as eggs.

[SPEAKER_02]: But like as far as contact and all the things that we've seen with Jay Slava let and some of these other guys like that's what we've seen thus far with Fisher.

[SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm a little more concerned about that.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's like a lower-end defensive profile as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where if it was a guy who was putting up those numbers who was a center-fielder or a shortstop or a shortstop that had a plus arm and could handle third base without a problem.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm probably a little bit more into that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Joey Gallo was kind of like that, what I just mentioned, right, a third basement or an outfield or the huge arm.

[SPEAKER_02]: There has to be like some sort of, you know,

[SPEAKER_02]: supporting skills and value outside of just what they do as a hitter because they're going to be so feast or fam.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think what we see so often is it's not necessarily the bat that keeps hitters or position players away from getting extended run in the minorly.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm in the major league, excuse me, it's really like, do they have a position?

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, because there's

[SPEAKER_02]: 30D age spots and a lot of teams like to be able to use, you know, maybe some depth they have in the outfield and whatever to rotate guys in there.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's a really tough position of crack is to just be a daily DH.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think I would add to that that when you even do when you get a chance, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're a first-based DH type and you're not a great first-spaceman,

[SPEAKER_01]: your window.

[SPEAKER_01]: You better have kind of a Saturday like Joshua Bias had pretty quickly, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where you do something so remarkable that you then kind of extend that window because I think of a guy like David Sedilla Santos who to be honest is kind of had some of the

[SPEAKER_01]: some of the kind of the path of a bias from a standpoint of always working on contact, now he's working on getting back to the power, kind of back and forth.

[SPEAKER_01]: But doesn't have the same defensive profile, doesn't have the chance to play in the outfield, and

[SPEAKER_01]: Devastadela Santos' opportunities in Miami, which is not a place where it's like, wasn't with the cobs, and it was like, well, you're, you know, the problem is that Michael Bush is the first spaceman.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're just not going to play or you're a Dodger, and it's like, Freddie Freeman's there, and show you what Tony said, D.A., I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_01]: No.

[SPEAKER_01]: The marians had kind of the opportunity, but it was like, you've got this liver of a window.

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't show much in that a little bit of time.

[SPEAKER_01]: Boom, here you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're back in triple A again.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing to challenge of this for when we talk about these these top of the minor league home run chart sluggers.

[SPEAKER_01]: They'll want to them kind of fit this profile.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fisher is a perfect example also of if he ends up being able to play through a base,

[SPEAKER_01]: That's a whole lot different profile than if you're purely a first-based DH.

[SPEAKER_01]: Still to see on that, but that's kind of the challenge that these guys face.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's kind of looking at sluggers, but when we come back to this break, we're gonna talk about the Cardinals in general and kind of the question of, how far away are they?

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll do that right if this could break.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're back and Jeff kind of, when we look at this Cardinals team, they have basically flushed,

[SPEAKER_01]: If you're an old guy, you're gone.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Nolan R. Now does the Paul Goldschmitts, a couple years ago, they Adam Wayne writes like, you know, great players.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that was a team that was getting older and older.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now it is one of the youngest teams in the big leagues.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have played one hitter this year, who's 30 years older, Roman Euras, who's on the aisle now.

[SPEAKER_01]: But this is a team that also kind of seems like it has taken at least some steps is 2027 a realistic time table for playoff contention division contention or is that this is more like a team that's probably still a year or two away.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, if they were in the American League, I think they would actually have a playoff spot right now.

[SPEAKER_02]: There are two games ahead of way the Orioles are.

[SPEAKER_02]: They're above 500, they're 63.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that would put that, I mean, you'd be a lost in the Yale.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, they would be an American league playoff team.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think for the Yale Central title.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I think like when you look at the division that they're in, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Of course, they're going to have to compete with the brewers who are good year after year.

[SPEAKER_02]: And they just keep on, you know, kind of turn in the crank there.

[SPEAKER_02]: The Cubs have continued to, you know, invest in trying to win now.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if I think the cubs long term over the next two to three years are necessarily better than the cardinals.

[SPEAKER_02]: The pirates tried, but they can't really get out of their own way.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that kind of seems like it's the same for the reds.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't think it's unreasonable.

[SPEAKER_02]: If a lot of these guys take a step forward that are in the big leagues right now, that are getting valuable experience and have played really, really well.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's reasonable for us to expect that JJ Weatherhold could be better next year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care too much better because he's already going to be a five-war player this year.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's still possible, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, he's an excellent player, a future superstar.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think he's kind of cemented that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Should've been an all star, et cetera.

[SPEAKER_02]: Alec Burlson has had a great season.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think kind of under the radar, great season.

[SPEAKER_02]: I saw a number today, and I was on Twitter and I wish I had saved the tweet, but it was looking at all the different, you know, they have the expected home run totals if someone played their home games and certain parts, whatever.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if he was outside a bush, if he was just about anywhere in baseball, he's a 28 to 30 home run bat right now with batting average, some positional versatility, has really locked down that first base job.

[SPEAKER_02]: Where's we know what Jordan Walker has done?

[SPEAKER_02]: Even if Walker isn't one for one with what he was this season, if it's even 85 to 90%, that's still a middle of the order bat.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, defensively they're very strong.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's in win obviously up the middle with weather halt.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's a pretty dynamic duo in your middle and field.

[SPEAKER_02]: And both of those guys are under 25.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we'll be under 25 again next season.

[SPEAKER_02]: Nathan churches a good defensive center fielder.

[SPEAKER_02]: They have a couple of really nice bench pieces, which is funny to say in Brian Torres and Jose for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Just guys that.

[SPEAKER_02]: like a winning team can, you know, be bench guys that can fill a variety of positions, you don't want to run with them every day, but can be valuable.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think there's some spots to fill on this lineup.

[SPEAKER_02]: But you look at this team, you look at their pitching.

[SPEAKER_02]: They've gotten some success out of a guy like Michael McGreetie and others.

[SPEAKER_02]: There's others coming up.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think they have an ace.

[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about that ahead of time.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think there's any like stand out.

[SPEAKER_02]: ready made four or five type of starters that could be pretty interesting.

[SPEAKER_02]: And they have enough depth in this system to trade for an ace if they really feel that their contention window is there next year or the right out buying opportunity presents itself.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I think they've set themselves up fairly well.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if you look at the money that's on the books, they have some money that could be earmarked to go and sign a free agent picture and not really, set your budget on fire or start pushing into areas where their ownership has not been comfortable spending.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I think high in bloom in this group really deserve some credit.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then you kind of fold in a really strong draft where they had a lot of bonus pool money to spend.

[SPEAKER_02]: and it came away with one of the deepest draft classes of any team and baseball.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think that you kind of hit on it, like one of the things that does stand out here is is we've got the Cardinals that are number two farm system as far as current talent, obviously as we always like to say, that's a snapshot because a guy can go from being the number one prospect in baseball one day to graduated the next or top 10 prospect or whatever amount will change that's calculations, but the Cardinals were a team that sold at the deadline and sold big dust in May, obviously the big one being that they traded dust in May of

[SPEAKER_01]: But they've made other moves, too.

[SPEAKER_01]: They may move in the offseason as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: The depth of this system is partly because they've brought guys in from Intray, DefterTray, DefterTray, DefterTray.

[SPEAKER_01]: But kind of with that Ian, this is also, I would lay this out and I asked you this, because you watched when Heinbloom covered the Red Sox very closely when Heinbloom was running the Red Sox.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the part that Heinbloom has done very well.

[SPEAKER_01]: get it in Tampa, did it in Boston, it's now doing in St. Louis, right, which is building up this kind of deep and well-rounded core of talent, that's kind of either at the big league level or on the cusp.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, how does this do you see some similarities here?

[SPEAKER_00]: 100% I mean, and that was, it was very stark because that was, you know, what, what high him was able to do in Boston was, as you said, the same thing is, you know, he took over a farm system that had been depleted by Dave Dubrovsky and a team that just didn't have a time of talent and he was excellent at bringing in depth and making trades where he was the one, you know, trading away the major leagueers.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I, I think back

[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of reminded me of one that he made with the Red Sox was when he traded Christian Vaskas for William Rae and Emmanuel Valdez.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the time, this was a much maligned trade in Boston because Christian Vaskas was like, you know, a clubhouse favorite, the players were not pleased about it to say the least.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the fans weren't because, you know, they didn't know when it heard of William Rae at the time realistically in the Boston area, unless they were reading baseball America, of course.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they, hum.

[SPEAKER_00]: The will you're brave now is, you know, one of their franchise cornerstone players.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's one of the best, he's arguably the best defense of right field during baseball.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's hit career high 22 home runs this series of chance for a 30 home run season.

[SPEAKER_00]: Playing right field at Fenway is a left handed hitter, which is not easy because obviously that's a huge.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the hardest right field to play in the league and it's a huge park for left handed hitters.

[SPEAKER_00]: Unless you could pull it right down the line and so that trade has worked out great.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's things like that that he was excellent at.

[SPEAKER_00]: He maximized every return.

[SPEAKER_00]: He did very good job drafting.

[SPEAKER_00]: problem came when it was time to buy you know there was there were some trade deadlines where there was some in decision it was you know how much how many chips you willing to put in to push things over the line are you willing to go to that next level because you know it as we've seen and I think age or freedom has the fames quote that if it's like if you basically more or less if you make a trade that you're comfortable with you're never getting a trade on it that that line and

[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the area he struggled with and I think that's that's the big question is has he learned from that because that was obviously hit went into it but he had other people that sounding bored it wasn't just him making the decisions in Boston he was the ultimate decision maker and now in state list he's in that same role again, but I think Based on what we've seen so far, I think he's learned from what he did in Boston.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we'll see, the big question is going to be, what's going to happen when they start next season, when their contention window really opens?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because you look at this team right now, I think their lineup is Jeff said, I think their lineup's in great shape.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have, it's young, it's talented, it's athletic, there's power, there's different arc types of player, it's really balanced, and they have reinforcements coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have Rannail Rodriguez coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have some other players, you have the catchers, obviously the Supreme catching depth they have.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have guys coming that can kind of fill out the spots in their line.

[SPEAKER_00]: It may be third base.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want to say there's maybe some questions there.

[SPEAKER_00]: But my big question is what does he do with the pitching?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I look at that pitching staff and I see some find back end starters.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure they have a ton of mid rotation or above starters.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you look in the pipeline what's coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Liam Doyle, I think they hope that he could be that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that Jerry's still out on that.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he, I think he's had some good start.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's had some bad starts, but as a whole, I think it's not just him, frankly.

[SPEAKER_00]: The college pitching class from last year at the top has been kind of a disappointment across the board.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, because you've got a hopes like Liam do and this is obviously excluding Cain Anderson because Kate Anderson.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's not the fun at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's not very good.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really not.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm talking about Tyler Bramner, Jamie Arnold, and Liam Doyle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I think if you're the Cardinals, you would hope that he may be not doing the full Cain Anderson, but if you've got 70% Kate Anderson from Liam Doyle, you know, they'd be in a lot better shape than what they are right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So is he a number three?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is he a number five?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is he a reliever?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I don't know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Really know.

[SPEAKER_00]: where he's that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you look, you know, they have some other interesting arms.

[SPEAKER_00]: I really like Yoker.

[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, Yoker for Hardo.

[SPEAKER_00]: He used someone with the red socks that I've seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I worry about his fastball quality.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, is that going to be something that plays above like a number four starter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Um, Tanner Franklin is huge stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe he's their best bet as someone.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the odds, there's a pretty good chances of reliever, but he might have the highest ceiling of this crew that we've mentioned so far.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have some interesting arms, but they just they lack that those guys that I feel confident you know, putting a mid rotation or better projection on and I think that's the question is how is he going to be able to use the farm depth he's accumulated on the position player side to go out and get those pictures or they're going to be able to go out and get them in free agency and that's something that you know, he was not able to do in Boston.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was not he was not good at trading from prospect depth to get major leaders or he wasn't comfortable doing it because I think it ultimately you know, you look at it and

[SPEAKER_00]: You're paying a lot, you're overpaying.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like you look at the design.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at what they got for Dustin May.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think all of us at the time were kind of shocked that they got as much as they did for Dustin May.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's at the trade design.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the off season, if you're talking about controllable starters, you're giving up more than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the question is, will the Cardinals be willing to go into and trade and Alexander Freyese?

[SPEAKER_00]: They just got a Trevor Con and who they just drafted, just the throwstone names.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have the depth to be able to make those trades, but the question is will you be willing to do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's where the jury still out, because we just haven't seen it from time yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen him build up the system, and I think they're gonna continue to build it up over the course of the rest of the season.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think even in the off season too, I think that's their best bet is maybe you trade Ivan Herrera and you get back a major league pitcher as part of the deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of like what the nationals just did, where they traded, they traded Curtis Meeting got back connolly early.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like something like that, I wonder if that's the route

[SPEAKER_00]: start accumulating the starting pitching depth.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I really think the pitching is the question made marked for me because you look at what that division, who they're competing against, you know, debt brewers pitching staff.

[SPEAKER_00]: You put those two next to each other and it's night and day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And granted, that's partially the brewers also.

[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, when you're competing against those teams, you need to have that high-end pitching talent.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just don't know if there's enough in the pipeline yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know where they're going to be able to have access to it, if they're not going to be willing to spend money.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why I want to get into a little bit more with Jeff.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to take another break.

[SPEAKER_01]: We right back, right, it's quick break and we're back.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Jeff kind of looking at that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like what Ian just laid out there, I think is kind of a important part of this, which is,

[SPEAKER_01]: If I try to spell out starting pictures who could be ready, are already established for them in the big leagues and are under control for next year, or are the upper minors and could be plausibly capable of contributing next year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I come up with and cannot say this for most teams.

[SPEAKER_01]: I come up with too many names, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: We've got 3D, we've got Kyle Lee, we've got Andrew Palante, Matthew Libertore, 100 Dobbins, all are up in the big leagues this year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would say liberators kind of have the least success that you have that group.

[SPEAKER_01]: But he's kind of had more success in the past.

[SPEAKER_01]: Those are all guys who are relatively established.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then we've got Quinn Matthews, we got Liam Doyle, we got Dranzola Sintia, we've got to call Roby coming off of injury, we've got you like a Ferrari.

[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about, we got Tanner Franklin, we're not even done.

[SPEAKER_01]: We could go, and then we've got guys like Odo and all who could be in the pen.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some of these guys could be in the pen as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: But

[SPEAKER_01]: That's more starters.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's enough starters who that gives you a major league rotation and a AAA rotation, and you might have a guy that you gotta hold back in AA whether he's ready for AAA or not.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of where you say usually that lens itself to making moves.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of the challenge though here, isn't it?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is this that you've gotta identify who you want to move and who you want to keep?

[SPEAKER_01]: How do you kind of shake that out?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, I think they're, you know, very capable of potentially swinging your trade.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I don't think that that's necessarily been high in Bloom's strong suit, particularly when he was here in Boston.

[SPEAKER_02]: This was something that maybe didn't, he didn't have this depth, obviously, at that point where he was still in charge.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think it kind of blossomed and came to the surface maybe six months after.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, I mean, I think that that's something they

[SPEAKER_02]: sort of need to take a good hard look out.

[SPEAKER_02]: They have to self-scout well and say, all right, these are, say, the seven names that we believe are going to be starters for us.

[SPEAKER_02]: who are the secondary pieces that we could package with another player and potentially upgrade and find that number one number two type of starter that I think they need.

[SPEAKER_02]: But they're also in a good position to have a lot of innings available for a lot of these guys that are going to be on the 40-man roster.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think,

[SPEAKER_02]: up in AAA hasn't seen a tremendous amount of success this year.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think that his most recent start where he made the hot sheet struck out, I think, a career high, 11 batters, and just dominated.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was an entirely right-handed start.

[SPEAKER_02]: That was

[SPEAKER_02]: what the Mariners plan was for Saincha prior to the trade.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was announced maybe a week or two prior to him being traded to St. Louis, and then St. Louis said, well, why don't we just explore this and keep the option open?

[SPEAKER_02]: I think eventually what happens is teams get the gnome and are like, all right, this is an undersized dynamic right-handed starter with big stuff.

[SPEAKER_02]: And we should probably just focus on that side.

[SPEAKER_02]: I still think he's going to see a decent amount of time next year in AAA.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think he's the first call-up, especially when you consider where this rule five year is, et cetera.

[SPEAKER_02]: McGreevy will get some run.

[SPEAKER_02]: Quinn Matthews, I think, will be a long term option here.

[SPEAKER_02]: It wouldn't shock me if Kyle Lehi or Palante is sort of the older starters.

[SPEAKER_02]: that have a little bit more track record have built up a little bit more innings as well.

[SPEAKER_02]: Both of those guys could be traded and teams probably would trade something reasonable in return for those two.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's not going to be your trade for a starter, but maybe you get back some some decent minor league pieces.

[SPEAKER_02]: We've seen them trade starters and get back some decent minor league pieces and these guys have cost control and years of control remaining.

[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe that allows them to then trade from some of these, these hitting prospects at the top of the system.

[SPEAKER_02]: That might also have some redundancy.

[SPEAKER_02]: They've had a lot of performances all throughout this top 30.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, they've been a lot of guys that in other systems would easily rank in a top 30, and probably would be featured in multiple riser posts and some of those guys are outside of their top 30.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're getting an example.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, two to the cardinals for us.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think Jack Jarvich, Jack Jarvich, who was on the top 30 in the offseason, you know, fairly not a first rounder, but, you know, a third round pick that got a little bit under a million dollars out of San Diego.

[SPEAKER_02]: Last July, who's hit 279, 364, 527, he's up to AA, he's struggled a little bit, but is up to AA in his first full professional season.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's got 24 home runs.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's not on the top 30 list.

[SPEAKER_02]: They have another hitter who was sort of a big signing out of South Korea many years ago, was like a social media sensation.

[SPEAKER_02]: Juan Bencho, left-handed bat, who's 22 years old in AA this year.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's hit across AA in high A.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of even split over 96 games, 275-398-517 with 19 home runs.

[SPEAKER_02]: In AA, over 40 games, he is a 19.9% K rate and a 16.1% walk rate.

[SPEAKER_02]: There are in a lot of 22-year-old hitters in AA with power with 404 on base percentages that may contact at the numbers she does that would be outside of top 30 lists.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not even sure that he's inside their top 35.

[SPEAKER_02]: They may not have like the high-end starter, they may not have outside of right-end road regas, like a top 25 prospect right now, but

[SPEAKER_02]: They have so many of like the 150 to like 250.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's remarkable.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's just really high and it acquired a lot of it, the deadline too.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's one something we've seen.

[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about this in and I did on the pod or the hot sheet live recently, where we're talking about what the raise did.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the raise showed, like they were trading these guys who were kind of at 30 to 35 range for them and getting real value back for them because those guys do have value in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, that's exactly the point I was going to make is I think they're primed to do the trade similar to what the race did this off season or you know next year if they get into a contention window over the summer where.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you trade from your guys in the 20s and the 30s and the 40s in your system, because those guys in other systems would be, you know, top 20, top 30 easily.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I look at one point of reference is you look at the return they got from the Diamond backs.

[SPEAKER_00]: They got Daniel Egan and Sandra Santana.

[SPEAKER_00]: Both those guys were going to be top 20 Diamondbacks when I was planning out the August update for them and they barely crack the top 30 in this system.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I didn't Jeff knows that I'm a huge Sandra Santana fan.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think he could be pitching in the big leagues as soon as this season.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in this system, I can't like there's no arguing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't belong.

[SPEAKER_00]: He barely makes the list because, you know, at the end of the day, he's an undersized left handed reliever with huge stuff, but, you know, that's a limited profile.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in some systems, that's a really good amount of 29 did.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, but in some systems, since he's been with the cardinal watch of it's nasty stuff, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's one of those things that, you know, in other systems, that's a guy that, hey, you know, I'm fine and I look at like thinking some of the systems I have like the Red Sox system right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously that's one of that's a bottom 10 system.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they've a reliever in AAA on Helba Stardo was a rule five pick when he when he was undergoing Tommy John and he's on the verge of the big leagues and he's probably he's right off just outside the top 10 right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, like I like Santana who probably is like a similar future projection.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're looking at like a six seven thinning arm is barely in their top 30 and.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's again, I think that goes back to also what Jeff was talking about with the self-scouting and I think that's one of the most unrated parts of baseball that that doesn't probably get discussed enough is because there's so many different approaches without teams do it too, but.

[SPEAKER_00]: picking, it's not just making the right trades, but it's picking the right players to put in trades.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, knowing when you're making that big trade for an ace picture that, hey, do we wanna trade, you know, one stud player or do we wanna take trade, you know, 155 or do we wanna trade 250s?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or, you know, we have this group of five guys that we have on a similar tier, which ones do we wanna keep, which ones do we wanna trade?

[SPEAKER_00]: So, I'll probably one of the hardest things to do, because,

[SPEAKER_00]: you know, you're looking at your own system and you have as much information as anyone, but you also have the attachments to them, but you need to be able to separate, you know, with these are the guys that we're gonna build around.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are the guys that we want to have, you know, we believe are gonna be filling these spots in the future.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then, you know, picking, as Jeff said, the redundancies and decide to, hey, these are the ones that we wanna flip.

[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I think we've seen over the course of many seasons, like, some teams are better at than others.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think like the, I look at the Dodgers.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Dodgers make trades when they make a trade,

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're the other team, your eyebrows should be immediately raised.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, why are they offering this player to us?

[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't make sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because over and over again, we've seen them.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, hey, we're going to trade, you know, someone like Gavin Lux.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, why don't you give us Mike's to wrote it in that deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's interesting, I guess that makes sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: Things like that, you know, or then you have the flip side of that is you know, you look at other trade, I think of one that, and it's obviously it's a red and socks really to one, but they're crocheted trade.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens if they put Marcelo Meyer in that trade instead, and offer him up, which I don't think he was, you know, someone that they were willing to trade.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do they keep Kyle Teele and potentially also break him on summary in that trade?

[SPEAKER_00]: Would they have meant with the red socks we'd better off if it was Marcelo Meyer, headlining that trade instead of one of those two guys, I think you could make that case.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that skills self-scouting is going to be vital for the cardinals and any end that something, you know, the deeper or especially because there's so much talent to see if through and knowing which of these guys are your future building blocks and which of the ones that you want to use as trade chips is going to be extremely important, especially when you have so many players that are going to have value to other teams.

[SPEAKER_01]: two parts with that, that things are perfectly diverse to wrap this up, which is one is I think one of the challenges that also is you have to make those traits because we've seen players get stale.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you, I mean, it's hard to...

[SPEAKER_01]: repeating AAA, their value is going down, because and often their performance is going down as well, because people are human and if you've done it at a level and then you don't get to come up, it's hard to kind of have that same focus to do it again, unless you have a clear flaw to fix.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there's that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the other part of this that does jump out to me that is also an opportunity for the Cardinals here is this,

[SPEAKER_01]: The Cardinals, like, to start with what the Cardinals have done this year, I think that it's the most important thing is they've brought J.J. Weatherall up to the big leagues and he's been everything that they expected.

[SPEAKER_01]: Great.

[SPEAKER_01]: Awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's important.

[SPEAKER_01]: Developing Jordan Walker from failed.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, all this was a great prospect and he hasn't worked out to an impact player is I would say even more valuable because when JJ weatherhouse case, it was don't get in the way and Jordan Walker's case, it was fixed what's broken.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they have this young corner, you throw the Mason wins and you throw the Alec Burlson to it, you throw you know guys like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now they've got to figure out, okay, which of these catchers fits in our plans and which of them to move on from?

[SPEAKER_01]: Because they got too many of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: We just talked about it, like between Jimmy Crooks, Pedro Pajas, Leo Bernal, and Raniel Rodriguez.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't play four of them, even if you say one of them's going to de-age or, you know, move around a little bit, you're going to have to decide among that group, especially when you throw a von Herrera in there as well, you have that in there as well, but they also have positions like to get better at center field, could they get they need a third base been long term probably things like that and then eat an ace there's there's opportunities here, but Jeff like, okay, if I said to you, among their prospects,

[SPEAKER_01]: to kind of wrap this up, who's the, oh, you just don't trade that guy probably in any deal?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is there a guy or is this more of a organization where it's got, it's much more of a tough call on those kind of things?

[SPEAKER_02]: I think Ryan Alroyrigas is, is definitely one.

[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think you can trade robbery guys frankly.

[SPEAKER_02]: At this point, it looks like it could be regardless of whether he's a catcher long-term

[SPEAKER_02]: And I think there's some hope that you can sort of keep it alive because the arm is huge.

[SPEAKER_02]: The receiving has gotten better.

[SPEAKER_02]: There there have been good enough reviews that maybe this could be a 45 glove with a 60 plus arm.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you're probably not going to have like.

[SPEAKER_02]: a whole lot of pressure on him to be the everyday catcher because of his ability to play first base, but also, you know, what he's gonna carry with the bat, I think it's somewhere profile to Avon Herrera, but better behind the plate, potentially long-term, and I think a better hitter, more power, more impactful.

[SPEAKER_02]: This could be, you know, your number two, three, four hitter or however you design your lineup, that kind of a guy.

[SPEAKER_02]: I would say the next name for me after that two names that I'll throw out there.

[SPEAKER_02]: Leo Bernal, I think he was a little overrated last year defensively.

[SPEAKER_02]: The armist huge, the framing has always been good.

[SPEAKER_02]: The blocking wasn't great.

[SPEAKER_02]: He really

[SPEAKER_02]: put in some work this off season and spring training and just do out the year of improving as a blocker.

[SPEAKER_02]: He controls his bounces much better than he used to keep stuff in front of him.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think that goes a long way with just some of the stuff that I saw last year and breaking it down.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you're comparing him against other good catching prospects at the time with Jimmy Crooks who since graduated.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I think he's somebody that is young enough.

[SPEAKER_02]: He showed enough impact with a bat.

[SPEAKER_02]: He's a switch hitting catcher.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's somebody to me that what's wait two years.

[SPEAKER_02]: Let's give him a couple of years in the big leagues.

[SPEAKER_02]: He might actually be worth more as a trade ship at that point when he establishes himself, especially if Jimmy Crooks is good, or if Rodriguez proves that he can catch half the games or be a primary catcher, then I think you're in a really advantageous position.

[SPEAKER_02]: The other guy I'll throw out there is, I think Tanner Franklin, I would, if I was a GM, it would keep me up at night.

[SPEAKER_02]: If that's not to say that if the right deal is there and they can land a huge, and I don't think they're going to be shopping at the top of the market.

[SPEAKER_02]: But let's say things change whatever some of the economics at baseball change and all of a sudden they find themselves in a great position to go and acquire some talent that needs to be sold.

[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe you moved Tanner Franklin then.

[SPEAKER_02]: Still, that's the kind of guy we're giving up on that too early.

[SPEAKER_02]: Would it really worry me?

[SPEAKER_02]: Because even if it takes another year or so to get where he needs to be, the flashes that you see are incredible.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like this weekend in AA, McCow Garcia, who does not strike out at a high rate from the royals, is on a rehab assignment with Northwest Arkansas.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think you struck him out on four pitches, blue 100 miles,

[SPEAKER_02]: for our buy him at the top of his own.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now, granted, he gave up a double to some Shalabu would know if the base hits, the next hit.

[SPEAKER_02]: But that's like the inconsistencies you have.

[SPEAKER_02]: But you also have to think that he wasn't a starter, kind of, he wasn't a starter, kind of saw state.

[SPEAKER_02]: So,

[SPEAKER_02]: you have to put in perspective, he's kind of learning how to be a starting pitcher right now on the job in the upper levels of the minor.

[SPEAKER_02]: So to me that's a guy I wouldn't want to trade just simply because of what it can become.

[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's the same with Bernal and Rodriguez for me is just it looks like a potential superstar hitter.

[SPEAKER_02]: So those are the three I would say are untradable.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's

[SPEAKER_02]: That is a lot of ammunition in terms of what you could potentially pony up to a choir or big name.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you find yourself the trade deadline next year, way ahead of schedule, with a team that's maybe in first place in division, it looks like a shoe and foot playoffs.

[SPEAKER_02]: You kind of have the kitty to make a deal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I think also then the names you left off, they have what teams want, covet, they have upside.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you look at some of the names that you didn't say, Alexander Furious, Tai Pete, you know, Haseus Bay as Brandon Clark, Josiah Ragsdale.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's guys with ceiling there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when you're making those trades, it's a lot easier to sell teams on the dream than it is on, hey, we have this pretty generic college picture that maybe you can do something where they're maybe not or they just have, they have a lot of youth.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have a lot of high ceiling individuals that I think teams will be able to sell themselves on, and hey, we can get this guy in our org pipeline or in our development system.

[SPEAKER_00]: work with them on their deficiencies and, you know, when you have those lab tools, those those can really catch the eye and go a long way and make it helping you make deals.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just, it's just a testament to their depth that, you know, you listed three guys off there and they're still, you know, you can probably get to 10, 15 guys that are still super interesting that teams would be very, you know, be our after is not headline, maybe a trade, but, you know, could be a key piece in a substantial trade.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is again.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a team that we do think is kind of well positioned, but hey, we thought the Pirates were well positioned this time last year and the Pirates then kind of riffing got hurt and Paul schemes so it could step back.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, those things don't happen, the Pirates probably are a playoff team right now.

[SPEAKER_01]: So there is a challenge to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the steps that we're talking about that they're going to have to make.

[SPEAKER_01]: We hope you enjoyed this edition of the baseball America prospect podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you did, please click the like that helps other people see it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do subscribe on the YouTube channel and also to our podcast feed.

[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously check out all the stuff over at baseballamerican.com for Jeff for Ian.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm JJ.

[SPEAKER_00]: So long everybody.