00:00One of those big, you know, home run boppers to drop. Kyle Schwerber was actually getting a push
00:04from, could have been the Pittsburgh Pirates, could have been his hometown team, the Cincinnati
00:08Reds, but in the end it was, Tom, the Philadelphia Phillies. As you see the tweet by Jeff Passon
00:12here, Slugger, Kyle Schwerber, and the Philadelphia Phillies are finalizing a five-year $150 million
00:17contract, so he comes back to Philadelphia here. It was one where I would have been surprised if
00:21he left. Dave Dombrowski and also the ownership group of the Middletons said, we can't let this
00:25guy leave. They paid him a lot of money. He stayed in Philadelphia, Tom. He stayed. They
00:30should have paid him. It should have been much simpler than it was. They could have gotten
00:34it done weeks earlier. Like, if you want him to stay, you got to increase that number by
00:38$10 million, $15 million, whatever it is. But, you know, they needed him in that lineup. You
00:43know, the consistency that we've gotten, and frankly, Donnie, that park is perfect for his
00:47swing. It's what it comes down to. You want him in that type of park. You want him at the
00:51top of that lineup with Turner and with Harper. You know, new news on Harper, and quotes not
00:56withstanding. But you want that consistency at the top of the lineup. And just a threat for a player
01:01to give you 40 and 100 every single year. That type of player in a lineup is a benefit to
01:07have
01:07and something that you need. Absolutely. And by the way, take a look at that Phillies lineup
01:12anticipated. A lot of the same faces there. You have Trey Turner, Kyle Schwerber, Bryce Harper,
01:16Alec Baum, Brandon Marsh, Adolis Garcia appears there, hoping to regain some of that Maddox
01:21from a couple years ago. Bryson Stott, JT, and also Justin Crawford expected to get an extended
01:27look here in spring training and into the regular season. But look at the Phillies lineup. It just
01:31would not have been the same if Schwerber wasn't in there, Tom. It really wasn't. It really wouldn't
01:36be the same if Schwerber wasn't there. And again, having the balance at the top, knowing that you
01:41need some of the bottom guys in the lineup to step up and prove themselves. You know, we should also
01:46note, as you mentioned, Real Muto did re-sign with the Phillies as well. So bringing back two
01:50consistent pieces, very important for the Phillies. And why? Because we'll get to the
01:55Mets a little bit later. Mr. Bichette decided the last hour, last minute, he was going to go to the
02:00Mets. We'll get to that in just a bit here. But let's keep it in the Big Apple here. And
02:02that's
02:03the New York Yankees brought a big piece back to their lineup. And that was Cody Bellinger goes back
02:07to the Bronx. And we take a look at your left-handed batter. No better place to be than hitting
02:12home
02:12runs in Yankee Stadium here for the New York Yankees. And he'll fit right back into that three
02:16slot there in the lineup. But Bellinger coming back to the Yanks, that one made some sense.
02:21It really does. Again, another park that is perfect for his swing with Schwarber in Philly
02:26and Bellinger in New York. And, you know, the Yankees not only re-signed Cody Bellinger,
02:31they also re-signed Paul Goldschmidt, a little bit of the platoon at first base,
02:35whatever we're going to be doing there with Ben Rice. It again, the Yankees have largely the same
02:39lineup as they did last year. But the power that Bellinger brings and the lineup protection
02:45that he can afford to judge and hitting behind Judge is fantastic. So when you have
02:51whoever leading off, you know, Judge in the two-spot, Bellinger in the three, and then the
02:56power behind him, that's what you need in the lineup. That's what the Phillies did with Schwarber,
02:59and that's what the Yankees did with Cody Bellinger.
03:02Yeah, some re-works in there, too. You take a look at that Yankees estimated lineup,
03:06that depth chart here, leading off Trent Grissom, followed, of course, by Aaron Judge in the two-spot
03:09here. Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, Giancarlo, Stanton, if he can stay healthy.
03:13Jazz Chisholm Jr., a lot of boomer busts there with him. And then McMahon, who was brought over
03:17last year. We'll see what he can do. He's also a left-handed bat. You want as many left-handed
03:20bats as you can get into that lineup here, Caballero, and also Austin Wells. But as we know,
03:25that MVP in that spot, if Cody Bellinger, as you said, Tom, can help protect Aaron Judge
03:30where he sees fastballs, that's a good signing for them. And there we go, five years, $162 million
03:36of that money coming his way.
03:38A great deal for him. Honestly, the deal that he deserves, the deal that needed to be done.
03:43A lot of the signings this year, Donnie, took a little bit of time. We didn't get some fast
03:47and furious start to the winter meetings at the beginning of December. We had all these
03:52free agents signing left, right, every single day. Some of these took weeks. It's the money
03:56that the players deserved, and they got it. Let's get the season rolling at this point.
04:00And there's still some free agents out there that still need to be signed.
Comments