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00:35One day later, what, 24 and a half hours later than normal.
00:38It's all right.
00:39Now that Terp's back in Boston.
00:41But every Thursday at 1130, we talk to Rob Bradford of W-E-E-I,
00:45the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast.
00:46He's brought to you by a whole bunch of people.
00:48You ready for this, Keith?
00:49I'm sitting down.
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01:17Rob Bradford, how are we doing this week?
01:19Oh, I got out of a speeding ticket by telling the cop, McFarlane,
01:23he just walked away.
01:24Really?
01:25I'm surprised your car goes that fast with the low gas in there.
01:28Good Lord.
01:28Running out of gas one week, pulled over the next.
01:31What an adventure.
01:32I've been very, very – it's Florida, Caba, man, right?
01:37I mean, come on.
01:38It's true.
01:39It's true.
01:40This is half the fun about spring training, about all the hijinks,
01:43spooky bets, having the golf cart go in the lake and, like, all this stuff.
01:48So, yeah.
01:49Yeah, good times.
01:50Okay.
01:50Well, we can get to some more spring training hijinks here in a moment.
01:54Lou Maloney said yesterday he thinks this offense can be better
01:57than it was a year ago.
01:59He cited Wilson Contreras as an offensive upgrade over Alex Bregman.
02:04Do you think this offense can be better than last year's?
02:08Potentially.
02:08I think it'll be different.
02:09You know, you go to the first two months of last year,
02:12and nobody swung and missed more than they did.
02:15Nobody struck out more than they did.
02:17And I do think that they have absolutely seen what the Toronto Blue Jays did.
02:22They saw how baseball is going.
02:24And it's not just this thing swing straight up
02:27and try to hit the ball in the air every single time.
02:29We have to make contact between Durbin and Contreras.
02:32I think they will make contact.
02:34But, guys, it comes back to still, if you don't hit some home runs,
02:39you're putting pressure on everybody.
02:41And they have some people that potentially could hit home runs,
02:44but we don't know if they're going to be.
02:47There's not like the Pete Alonzo, thou who shall not be named, Pete Alonzo,
02:50or Rafael Devers, who you know is going to roll out of bed
02:53and hit 35 or 40 home runs.
02:56You don't have that guy right now.
02:58So, yeah, why it might work, there's a potential of it working, like Lou said.
03:02I think the biggest problem here is that you don't have that fail safe to just say,
03:07hey, you know what, there's a three-run homer,
03:09and now we don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day.
03:11If you had to make a prediction right now on who leads the team in home runs,
03:15who would it be?
03:18Ooh, what a question.
03:19Your instincts are so keen.
03:22Yeah, yeah.
03:23I mean, by the way, Lucas G.
03:25Lee just says thanks a lot for ruining his market.
03:28I just wanted to free him up for more dork podcasts.
03:31Yeah, it's true.
03:33I mean, the bad part about that, as a quick aside,
03:36the bad part about that is that now when he comes on the podcast,
03:39he's going to actually ask to be paid for it now that he's not going to pay.
03:42Ooh, yeah.
03:43What's that hashtag dork podcast guest budget?
03:46It's low.
03:48It's low right now.
03:50I can tell you from experience, yeah.
03:57Who leaves the team in the home runs?
03:58Who's the most homers, Brad?
03:59Yeah, yeah.
04:00That's hot under these lights, Brad.
04:01Roman Anthony.
04:02Roman Anthony.
04:02Oh, okay.
04:03Finally.
04:04Yeah, Roman Anthony.
04:05And I think that you will your braise in the conversation.
04:09Now that he has no sugar and no soda,
04:11everybody knows that that makes everyone's life better.
04:14By the way, Keith, did you see this story?
04:16No.
04:16He cut soda out.
04:17I'm like, he's a professional baseball player.
04:19He's drinking soda until last year.
04:21Like a lot of soda?
04:22I don't know.
04:23You tell me, Brad.
04:23I was stunned that he's like,
04:26it took him this long to cut soda out.
04:30Yeah, I would say this,
04:32is that as someone who,
04:33thanks to Awaken 180,
04:35I did cut soda out as a game changer.
04:37But I also will say this.
04:38I have seen him drink a Red Bull.
04:40Is that a soda?
04:41Oh, no.
04:43That's an energy drink.
04:45That's not a soda.
04:45As somebody drinks energy drinks,
04:46I can tell you they're worse.
04:47They're worse for you.
04:48This is like my dad saying that a cruller is not a donut.
04:53I feel like, yeah.
04:55It's nice working around.
04:56Yeah, it's true.
04:57I didn't eat a donut.
04:57I just had a cruller.
04:58I'm done with pizza.
05:00I had six calzones last week,
05:01but I'm done with pizza.
05:06Yeah, so anyway,
05:08Captain America,
05:09Team USA,
05:10Roman Anthony.
05:11Roman Anthony, good one.
05:12All right,
05:12what's going on with our guy,
05:13Marcelo Meyer?
05:14Does he have a better chance to being the starting second baseman on opening day
05:18or with the Woo Sox?
05:20Oh, starting second baseman.
05:22He plays tomorrow.
05:23He goes up against Chris Sale tomorrow.
05:25What a matchup that's going to be.
05:28And I think that the shot across the bow with him earlier in camp was sort of just saying,
05:35hey, listen, you need to make the team, man.
05:37Like, you need to make the team.
05:39You were okay in a lot of respects,
05:42but you've got to show that you're healthy.
05:43You've got to show that you're productive.
05:44But I think that in terms of their options,
05:47they still know that Marcelo Meyer is probably their best option.
05:51Somebody could still emerge.
05:53Stranger things have happened.
05:54But he is starting tomorrow unless there's a physical setback,
05:57which, you know, who knows?
05:59But I do think that he's going to be on track to be the starting second baseman.
06:02Okay, so they wanted to send a message to him that he had to earn his spot on the team.
06:07Why did they feel that message needed to be sent?
06:09Like, what, what, what is he, what, what vibes is he giving?
06:12Because he had to earn his spot on the team.
06:15I think that, I think that.
06:16I know, but are they, well, Brad, Brad, I guess what I'm asking you,
06:19are they, are they unhappy with how he's approached the off season?
06:21Like, he's acting like he's already on the team.
06:23Like, why send the message if it doesn't need to be sent, in other words?
06:27No, I don't, I don't necessarily think that he absolutely said, oh, I'm on the team.
06:32As he told me the other day, like, I mean, listen, he's telling me this is on the record.
06:37So he's, whatever he says, I don't know if that's absolutely how he feels.
06:40But he said, I know that I have to earn, every single time I have to earn my spot.
06:45I knew that from day one, I have to earn my spot.
06:48I think it's just overall, like, just across the board, not only to him, but to everybody else in camp,
06:54that, like, when you come to camp, like, it's not, there are certain spots that are locked up,
06:59and that is not one of them.
07:00So a kid like Mikey Romero, who is a first-round pick, who is trying to make the team,
07:07they just want to make it clear to everybody, including Marcello and everyone competing for that job,
07:13that that is a competition.
07:15And Marcello Meyer hadn't done enough to not have it be a competition.
07:20Have you run the Scrappy Dude nickname by Caleb Durbin yet?
07:25I've run it, I've workshopped it with others.
07:27Oh, thoughts?
07:28So, before I approach it, and I'm going to be honest with you,
07:33eh, it's not, I don't think it's happening.
07:36They're not liking it.
07:36I don't like it's happening.
07:37That's fine.
07:37Okay.
07:38Don't worry, we'll keep it going.
07:39I mean, you were really grilling Crochet about his baldness, so what's the difference?
07:44Well, we have, you know, we have a long-standing relationship.
07:47I'm still building up my relationship with Caleb Durbin,
07:51but it's sort of like when I was workshopping my Baseball's and Boring Canadian shirt,
07:55and we put A, you know, I'm like, is this offensive to Canadian people if I put A at the
08:01end?
08:02Baseball's and Boring A.
08:02Yeah.
08:03I get it.
08:05Where did you land on that?
08:06Did you end up putting that on there or no?
08:08Yeah, we put it on there because I workshopped it.
08:11Got it.
08:11But when I workshopped the Scrappy Dude things, people were like, eh, he might not like that.
08:16You got to pull a few other short kings.
08:18He's an angry little elf.
08:19That's what you got to do.
08:20You can call him a South Pole elf.
08:22You can call him a South Pole elf if you wanted to.
08:25Well, it's a long spring training.
08:27I'll get to it, I promise.
08:28On the field, though, is he a lock or is there a chance, not like on the team or whatever,
08:34but I just mean for this season, or could we see in a couple of months like Marcello
08:38Meyer actually at third and somebody else at second base?
08:40It's like, how sure are we that Caleb Durbin is the answer over there at third base?
08:45I think they're giving him every single opportunity to be the everyday third baseman.
08:50I think that's what we've learned so far.
08:53And he was that level of player last year, but keep in mind, it was one year.
08:58It wasn't even a full year.
08:59It was one year.
09:00But I think off of what he did, finishing third and rookie of the year and doing everything
09:04he has and doing everything he's done out here, too.
09:07He's looked fine.
09:08He's looked great, despite the fact that he can't dunk a basketball.
09:11I still don't know how tight it has anything to do with playing third base.
09:15But anyway.
09:16Just ask the history of the baseball, Bradford.
09:18But over 100 years of baseball.
09:19Well, you know, here's the thing.
09:21It's called evolution.
09:23Connor Griffin, the number one prospect in baseball, is eight feet tall.
09:27He's playing shortstop.
09:28Yeah.
09:29Shortstops are tall.
09:30Right.
09:31Yeah.
09:31Well, not always.
09:32Anyway, so I just think they're going to give him every single opportunity to be the everyday
09:38third baseman.
09:38They think he's good enough.
09:40They think he's that level of player.
09:41And to be honest with you, so far, he looks that level of player.
09:45Okay.
09:45He is Rob Bradford.
09:46Joins us every Thursday at 1130 here on Jones and Keefe.
09:50Check out Baseball Isn't Boring.
09:51Check him out on WEI.
09:53He was talking to our bald king, Garrett Crochet, a few days ago.
09:57So you can go listen to that.
09:59Orteez this morning.
09:59Orteez this morning.
10:00Oh, how about that?
10:01He was talking about Devers this morning.
10:03You know what?
10:03I did read some of those comments from Ortiz.
10:07He's rooting for him, he said.
10:09Very Brady-esque of him.
10:10But anyways, go check that out.
10:12The latest on the Odyssey app with Bradfoe.
10:14We appreciate the time, Rob.
10:15Thanks so much.
10:17Always a pleasure, guys.
10:18I'll see you.
10:18Thank you, sir.
10:19All right.
10:19Rob Bradford joining us here.
10:20Okay.
10:21On WEI.
10:22Brought to you by just the litany, I guess.
10:24Yeah.
10:25McFarlane energy among them.
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