00:00Let's start with some Texas Rangers roster news, because there is all kinds of stuff happening with the Texas Rangers.
00:10And you know what? Go ahead and give me a little taste of last night. Give me cut number three,
00:14will you please?
00:15Brandon Nimmo down the right field line. It's hooking. If it's fair, it's gone and it's out of here.
00:20A two-run home run for Brandon Nimmo. And the Rangers strike first.
00:26All right. So I just wanted to play that because that is going to be your leadoff guy.
00:31But in a day where we've got all kinds of Rangers roster moves to talk about, was it, I'm assuming,
00:39Carter Baumler that stole your heart and you were most interested in yesterday?
00:44Yes. That moment that he got to share on the mound was exceptional.
00:51Hold on, are you talking about that or are you talking about the pitching of Carter Baumler?
00:54Because he was awesome. I mean, yes, but more.
00:58He had one full inning, no runs, no hits, one strikeout. Let's go.
01:01It was more the, hey, here's the manager, here's all of your teammates, and you made the team.
01:09Yeah, this is cool. Like, this is a cool thing.
01:12A badass moment in sports whenever you get told that you just made the team.
01:17Now, I don't know, like, you just made the team.
01:19It took how many pitches before they were like, you know what?
01:21But I think he just made the team, guys.
01:24I mean, don't you feel pretty confident that, like, as long as he stayed healthy, that he was going to
01:29make the team?
01:30I don't necessarily know it was only in that exact moment.
01:34I think they already knew.
01:37This looks good for Skip, though.
01:39Like, it's a cool look because people see that and they're like, that's my manager right there.
01:43There are a lot of people talking about it this morning, too.
01:45That's my manager.
01:47We already like Skip a lot.
01:49Like, we've gotten our opportunity to talk with him.
01:52We already enjoy the conversation with him.
01:55A lot of the players feel like he's a stand-up dude and they have a lot of respect for
01:59him.
01:59So there's a lot going on there.
02:01So that moment right there was really an opportunity for any Rangers fans who haven't gotten their chance to see
02:07his interactions with the players.
02:09That was their opportunity to see the manager in action.
02:12And so I like that a lot for him.
02:15And I hope that the team kind of gets a little lift from that, too, as they get ready to
02:19get this season started, man.
02:21And it is a nice, feel-good story in general because this is somebody that they got through, essentially, through
02:28the Rule 5 draft.
02:29And so you appreciate what he went through or what kind of the stops he's had along the way to
02:37get onto this team.
02:38Yeah, for sure.
02:39Now, you keep going because Hotmail's giving me problems.
02:42I'll also say this.
02:43I like seeing McKenzie Gore go out there, have four innings, pretty clean.
02:47Only gave up three hits, struck out three throughout the night.
02:50Watching him and watching his delivery and watching how he goes about his business is very fun.
02:59Because, Kevin, when it comes to Evaldi, we know how tough-minded a dude that is.
03:03When it comes to DeGrom, we know how nasty the stuff's going to be.
03:06Like, we already have that expectation.
03:08But even whenever we were out at spring training, I didn't get to see enough McKenzie Gore out there.
03:13So seeing him last night was a good opportunity to get a little bit of that action.
03:17And then I was just surprised that Michael Wacca had as many, like, he was up over 85 pitches last
03:24night.
03:24And I was like, what are they doing right now?
03:25And he's like, I'm ready to go right now.
03:28All right.
03:28I don't care about that.
03:29I don't think you really care about it either.
03:31I want Michael Wacca as a pitcher for my team now.
03:33Now, there are a lot of opinions about the hand-washing.
03:39It is actually probably surprisingly more split than I would have guessed.
03:43So, Baumler is on the team.
03:45You guys both said yesterday, Andrew McCutcheon needs to be on this roster.
03:52Andrew McCutcheon is on this roster, as you guys said should be the case yesterday.
03:57As we said that would probably be the case yesterday, Zeke Duran is also on the team.
04:04And let's go back to, I hate to do this, but one of the questions that we asked Jacob Latz
04:12when we were in spring training,
04:14and he was great to talk to, was, do you ever worry if your versatility could be a negative thing?
04:20Which I know feels counterintuitive.
04:22Well, Kamar Rocker was named the fifth starter, and Jacob Latz is going into the bullpen.
04:28And I want to go to...
04:30Rocker doesn't have the versatility.
04:31Correct.
04:32Okay.
04:32Correct.
04:33And I want to go to something that Skip Schumacher said.
04:37Roster construction really played the part in this thing.
04:41Jacob Latz is arguably one of the most valuable pieces in our bullpen,
04:45and potentially in the rotation down the road.
04:49I don't know what's going to happen.
04:50This thing is opening day, but things can change quickly.
04:53The fact that Latz can do both and do it at a high level and also in high leverage situations
04:58is extremely attractive.
04:59And, like, I appreciate the fact that that versatility got him on the team.
05:04But it sure does sound like a little bit that they're like, hey, you're really good in the bullpen,
05:10and we do not know quite yet if Kamar Rocker would be usable in our bullpen.
05:14There is some thought about that, or is there a thought he'd go back to AAA and do some starting
05:18there?
05:19But it sounds like that played a part in it.
05:21It did.
05:22And I do wonder if he's on the team if he didn't have the versatility.
05:27That's a fair question.
05:29And I don't know the answer to that.
05:30Yeah, I don't know.
05:30I don't know either.
05:31I'm sure we can ask somebody.
05:33But I have not reached out to ask that question yet.
05:36But I think that because, like, Rocker has, he was the third pick.
05:42Like, that's the reality.
05:44He was the third pick.
05:45They have expectations for him.
05:46See, it's interesting that you say that.
05:48Like, obviously, that is correct.
05:50I thought that factored in more last year than this year when they forced him in to the starting rotation
05:56last year.
05:57It's time to see something.
05:59Sure.
05:59Like, that's what I mean by this.
06:01Like, last year when they forced him in, it was, we need this dude to be pitching.
06:04We need experience.
06:05Yeah.
06:06This year, I think it's more about we've got to start seeing the result now because of what we spent
06:11on you and where you need to be.
06:12We need to see the work's paying off.
06:14Whatever you're doing in the offseason to take care of whatever you're going to be whenever you get here, we
06:18need to start seeing that.
06:19So I think that's where he was the third pick in this year is completely different than last year.
06:24Yeah.
06:24And they have expectations of where his trajectory needs to be.
06:29He needs to get his value up.
06:30Now, I do believe, Kevin, that it's going to continue to be a, you're probably going to be looking at
06:34Rocker and going, all right, if he's good, you keep going with him.
06:37Well, if something's happened and now you can get some advantage getting into their bench a little bit with lats
06:43by going to the lefty and piggyback like we discussed yesterday, then that option's still there.
06:48Well, and Schumacher did have positive things to say about Rocker in something that we've all been concerned about.
06:53He goes, I mean, look, he's checked off all of the boxes, more strikes.
06:58The command obviously was better.
07:00And I think that's probably what springs to a lot of people's mind when it comes to Rocker is, hey,
07:05give me, give me some better command.
07:06Now, Austin Gomber and, or Gomber, and Cal Quantrill were both, sorry, it just sounds fancy.
07:14Just say Gomer.
07:15It just sounds fancy like that.
07:17And Cal Quantrill were both informed that they will not make the roster.
07:22And then this is another thing that we talked about all spring training.
07:26Evan Carter is going to be the team's primary center fielder.
07:31However, there will be opportunity for Wyatt Langford.
07:35Wyatt Langford is going to play center field when Evan Carter sits out against some lefties.
07:41But it's not really a platoon.
07:44It's not he's going to sit out against all lefties.
07:46So Evan Carter is going to get starts against some lefties, but might sit versus others.
07:51And so he is going to be in center field with Nemo in right and Langford in left.
07:58But it does sound like you'll see a, I don't know, if it's going to be 30 or 40 games,
08:01if everybody stays healthy or what the actual number is.
08:04But you will see some Wyatt Langford in center field as well.
08:07I think that's a positive thing as far as they're going to, they're also going to use matchups as to
08:16their advantage.
08:17Right.
08:17It's what a manager should do.
08:18Manager and everybody in the clubhouse needs to understand that as well.
08:23Look, guys, we need growth out of you.
08:25We need these things, but we also have to win baseball games and we're not going to sacrifice the win
08:30of baseball games because of your feelings.
08:33So either get over your feelings and get out there and win a damn game or, you know, find that
08:38pine and it's going to be fun for you cheering over there.
08:41You really want to be out there, though, doing some work with them.
08:44Now, I need clarification from y'all about the shout out rules because there are multiple people who are asking
08:52for shout outs.
08:52And I don't know, all I'm going to say, how does that play out?
08:55All I'm going to say is there are about two minutes left in this segment.
08:59Okay.
08:59If you want to waste this segment on the shout outs, then.
09:04Do we say waste?
09:05Well, waste all, like, there are going to be people sending them in.
09:08They might not get them read in the next segment.
09:10So that's what I'm saying is you can collect them if you want.
09:12It all has to take place in the confines of one segment.
09:16Yeah, not one period of time.
09:18You have one segment.
09:18Okay.
09:19All right.
09:20You can start collecting them if you want to.
09:21Yeah.
09:22Or you can go ahead and waste them now.
09:23Okay.
09:24So I definitely feel.
09:25Make everybody out there look like a bunch of chumps.
09:27Okay, Alec.
09:28I feel like he's trying to steer me in one particular direction, and I think that's probably the right direction.
09:34So we'll skip the shout outs for now.
09:38And instead.
09:39Proud of you.
09:39I will tell you something that I saw that I thought was really interesting, and I think you'll get a
09:44kick out of this.
09:46Sean McFarlane, he put together the Rangers' starting five pitchers in the rotation in 2031.
09:53What?
09:54Because I know that's really what you.
09:55Why are we doing it?
09:56I know that's what you've been waiting for.
09:58Dude, you know what, Alec?
09:59You know what I ignored all of last week?
10:02Was that mock drafts?
10:03No, not mock drafts.
10:04Mock drafts are very important to the world.
10:06That's right.
10:06All the people who were like, let's look ahead to the World Baseball Classic in four years and see where
10:11those teams are.
10:12I was like, not doing it.
10:13Whatever.
10:14I don't care.
10:14That's exactly why I ignored it.
10:16Because why do a three instead of four?
10:18It makes more sense to do four.
10:20Why not do two?
10:21Four more years is what we always like to say.
10:23Oh, right.
10:24So that's why I was like, not going to think about that right now.
10:27Some of those people might not even exist anymore in baseball.
10:30I'm going to try this.
10:31This is Corey logic.
10:33It's only in three years, which you think is dumb.
10:35Because it could be four years.
10:37But what if it was even more years here in the future and it's five more years?
10:41That's ridiculous.
10:43What are we doing here?
10:44The number one pitcher for the Rangers in five years, Mackenzie Gore.
10:49Second.
10:50Jack Leiter couldn't even get there, huh?
10:51Jack Leiter is number two.
10:53Oh, there's a name on here that you're going to be like, whoo, have we made a mistake?
10:57So Mackenzie Gore is one.
10:59Jack Leiter is two.
11:00Caden Scarborough is three.
11:03That's fair.
11:04A.J. Russell is four.
11:06Scarborough fair.
11:07And still, oh, I did not get that.
11:10A.J. Russell is still with us, huh?
11:11A.J. Russell is four.
11:12And Kamar Rocker, at the age of 31, is still your number five starter.
11:17He's your five starter to start last year.
11:19He's your five starter to start this year.
11:22And McFarlane says in five years, Kamar Rocker will once again be your number five starter at the age of
11:2931.
11:29You know, I kind of like that, though.
11:31Because after his first start, it's kind of like those are the three dudes, you know?
11:36The three, it goes at any point.
11:38Rocker, Gore, Leiter.
11:40Those three right there in a row.
11:42So that's what you're getting.
11:43So since we didn't do the shout outs here, can I tell you real quick?
11:47I saw the weirdest thing yesterday.
11:49It looked like a pony and a coyote were talking to each other.
11:54And so, like, I walked a little bit closer, and the pony's talking to the coyote, and they see an
11:59eagle.
11:59And the pony tells the coyote, like, I don't like that.
12:02I don't like that eagle.
12:03Will you tell him?
12:04And the coyote goes, well, why can't you just tell him?
12:07And the pony goes, because I'm a little hoarse.
12:16Tough crowd.
12:17Tough crowd.
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