00:00And it's time to talk about the Dominican Republic.
00:03That Dominican lineup is nothing short of amazing.
00:08Austin Wells, noted Dominican, is catching.
00:10Augustin Ramirez is his backup.
00:13You've got a slated projected infield of Vladdy at first,
00:16Ketel Marte at second, Geraldo Perdomo, the seven-win player,
00:20the shortstop for the Diamondbacks at short,
00:22Manny Machado at third, Junior Caminero could DH if you want,
00:26and an outfield of Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, and Fernando Tatis, Jr.
00:31By the way, on the bench, Jeremy Pena could play some shortstop.
00:35O'Neal Cruz could play some outfield.
00:37If they need a late-game defensive replacement, Johan Rojas.
00:40You've got Augustin Ramirez sitting there if you need a 500-foot homer hit.
00:45This lineup is egregious.
00:49The rotation and the bullpen could be the separator between the U.S.
00:53and the Dominican Republic, but I do think you're splitting hairs
00:56when you look at these two lineups.
00:58I think this is the second best team ever fielded in the history of baseball.
01:02Look at this team.
01:04Podcast P, can you throw up the graphic again?
01:06Look at this team, folks, for all those watching on YouTube.
01:10Their lineup is a mirror of the United States lineup.
01:15I would give the U.S.A. just a slight, slight advantage.
01:20But, man, it's close.
01:23I think the separator would be the rotation, right?
01:26Christopher Sanchez is the top-five pitcher in the world.
01:29He's as good as anybody.
01:30But then it drops off a little bit with Sandy and Brian Baio and Luis Severino.
01:34Like, the United States starting staff is just a lot deeper.
01:38The bullpens...
01:39That's gross.
01:40That bullpen is gross.
01:42The bullpen is disgusting.
01:43It's got really good stuff throughout.
01:46And so in the later innings, that's where Dominican Republic can close the gap a little bit.
01:52But when it comes to a start-on-start advantage, that's where the U.S.A. does.
01:57But again, is this not the second best team ever fielded?
02:01I mean, this is...
02:03I'm at a loss for words seeing Jeremy Pena on the bench.
02:06So, yeah, and it's interesting because I think for maybe casual baseball watchers,
02:15they might not know what Geraldo Perdomo has done over the last season and a half.
02:19Last season was his true breakout season.
02:22Geraldo Perdomo was an 100-RBI guy for the Arizona Diamondbacks this past year.
02:26And he's one of the best defenders at shortstop in Major League Baseball.
02:30Perdomo over Jeremy Pena is the right way to look at this.
02:33But Pena also hit 310 last year and played really good defense at shortstop.
02:37So that is like the one place that I look and say,
02:41it's kind of a toss-up with somebody on the bench.
02:43But Jeremy Pena might be the best bench piece in this whole darn tournament.
02:48So it is just crazy.
02:49And I want to run through the bullpen real quick.
02:52Albert Abreu is a name that not many people may know, but he throws fuzz, obviously.
02:56Waskar Brazabon with the Mets, also a guy that throws fuzz.
02:59Sir Anthony Dominguez just signed a two-year deal with the White Sox.
03:03Camilo Doval is going to get closing opportunities for the Yankees.
03:06Carlos Estevez saved, I think, 30 games, 40 games last year for the Kansas City Royals.
03:12Wandi Peralta, Mr. Reliable for San Diego.
03:15Dennis Santana, the closer for the Pirates.
03:17Edwin Uceta, the closer for the Rays.
03:19And then Abner Uribe, the electric closer for the Milwaukee Brewers.
03:23This bullpen might be better than the U.S.'s.
03:26And I do want to go back real quick to your Sanchez-Sandy point.
03:31I think that's a really good one, too, in this tournament.
03:34It is.
03:34But it's just not Skubel-Skeens.
03:36Again, it's comparing Tarek Skubel to Paul Skubel, right?
03:40On the show, we're going through all of our top tens.
03:42It's like comparing Jose Ramirez to Matt Chapman.
03:45I'm saying it's not a great one, too, compared to Skubel and Skubel.
03:48The expectations are so high that I don't mean it to sound negative, but when we have
03:56to split hairs, we have to figure out who's better.
03:59And there really is no debate between Skubel and Sandy and Christopher Sanchez.
04:04It's just, I mean, both Skubel and Skubel are better than Christopher Sanchez.
04:07Right.
04:08So the other thing is the catching situation.
04:11Augustine and Wells.
04:12I thought Yiner Diaz was going to be on this roster.
04:14He's not.
04:16Augustine Ramirez is on the roster.
04:17Augustine is a freak when it comes to just sheer power, but Wells is likely going to
04:24catch in the big games for the Dominican Republic.
04:26I got a text.
04:27Appreciate Connor Onion watching.
04:28Connor does a great job calling college football, college basketball for Fox.
04:32He also does some baseball, Major League Baseball for Fox.
04:35You can find him on FS1 during the regular season.
04:38He texted me.
04:39You just enlightened me.
04:40Austin Wells is Dominican.
04:42Yes.
04:42Austin Wells was born in Arizona, raised in Nevada.
04:46But his mother is of Dominican descent.
04:49So Austin Wells, Nelson Cruz, the GM for Team Dominican Republic, Cruz recruited Wells, and
04:56Austin Wells is catching for the DR.
04:58Austin Wells.
05:00All right.
05:01All right.
05:02Oh,
05:05my God.
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