00:00We just ran through 25 through 21 on Peter Apple's power rankings going into the 2026
00:05MLB season. Again, 25, the Athletics, 24, the Marlins, 23, the Guardians, 22, the Rays,
00:11and 21, the Minnesota Twins. The reason I think you're a little too low on the Marlins and the
00:16Athletics, you teased it a little bit with the A's, they may not pitch. I counter with they've
00:22got pitching prospects ready to come up and show out, I think. There are young arms that may start
00:27in Vegas or, honestly, Midland, their AA affiliate, that could be a net positive for this team.
00:34They also have one piece of the lineup that I'm not convinced by, and it's what the heck is going
00:40on at third base or second base, and the answer is going to be Leo DeVries at some point. Is
00:44it going
00:44to look awesome in the back half of the year? I don't know, but he could be the first teenager.
00:49I saw Peyton Genis put this out. Could be the first teenager to debut in the show as a position
00:54player since Juan Soto in 2019? 2018? 2019, I think it was. Yeah, 2019. So I'm fascinated
01:02by DeVries. I'm also fascinated by guys like Braden Nett and Perkins and Barnett. Luis Morales
01:09could be good. Yeah, not Medina. Medina's in the pen. Morales is in the rotation. But other
01:14guys could fly like a rocket ship, man. Gage Jump, what's stopping him from getting up in
01:1826? Jamie Arnold, what is stopping him from getting up in 26? They went quickly with Kurtz.
01:23It's easier, I think, to go quicker with college pitchers. I'll take you to my Marlins
01:27line of thinking as well. And again, can I be a bias? Can I quickly? No, you clap back.
01:31You go. Because I think you make a lot of really good points, but I also could almost use that
01:37as an argument for my side. This is an A's team waiting on guys in the minor leagues to
01:42up their prowess? Like, you know what I mean? Like, if they need guys who are starting the year
01:49in AAA, if they need a 19-year-old to debut in order to fill a spot, how good are
01:54they?
01:54Right? When we're talking about the better teams in baseball, we're not talking about,
01:58well, they will get good when they pull up their minor leaguers. These said minor leaguers could
02:02be good players, but there's a reason that they're starting the year in the minor leagues
02:05and not in the major leagues is because they're not quite ready. So if all of those work and they
02:09hit the ground running, yes, I will be wrong on the A's. However, it's just hard for me to
02:14factor that in because we don't know how those minor leaguers' years are going to go,
02:18how well they'll transition into Major League Baseball. That's my point on the A's.
02:23No, I get it. You hate prospects. You've always hated prospects, and you'll never turn the corner
02:27on that. And it's okay. I'll fight a losing battle here, but I think that I will come out on
02:32top,
02:32and that will be kind of majority rules there. The Marlins, they've got a lot of young guys that
02:36are stepping into their first full season and maybe a better season of Major League Baseball,
02:40I think. Uri Perez off of Tommy John surgery looked the part in spurts. I think we get a more
02:46consistent Uri Perez this year, and I think this guy could be getting Cy Young votes when it's all
02:51said and done in 2026. The other piece to this that I think could be an absolute game changer,
02:57Jacob Marcy, I think could be a four, four and a half win player. He has that kind of well
03:01-rounded
03:01nature to his game. The 20 homers, I question if he can get there this year, but I think comfortably
03:07he can be 10 to 15. 40 stolen bases, I think, is absolutely within the realm of possibility for
03:12Marcy this year, and he can play a high-level defensive center field. Marcy as the straw that
03:18stirs the drink for the Marlins, I think he could push them well beyond this, what, 23rd ranking that
03:24you have tagged on them? Yeah, I think all of those things are fair. Actually, when you look at public
03:29projections, I'm one of the high guys. The market is at 72 and a half, and I'm at 75, so
03:34I would even
03:35recommend an over on their win total based on a lot of the things that you said. I do want
03:41to
03:42tail it back a little bit and just see, all right, some of these big breakout performances, how many
03:47of them last, and I look directly at Kyle Stowers, who burst onto the scene last year but is already
03:53starting the year on the IL. I think they have a lot of good young players. I think they are
03:58ahead
03:58of schedule in their plan. I think Peter Bendix, the GM of the Marlins, has the right hat on, has,
04:03you know, has the right plan for the Marlins going forward, so I'm with you. I'm actually higher than
04:10the market, but it's like, how much farther can we push this team? And when I ran the projections,
04:17again, I'm one of the higher guys in the market.
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