00:00How about Dylan Cease here?
00:01Toronto Blue Jays, Craig.
00:03Five of the third innings pitched, one earned run.
00:05But boy, he is swinging and missing up there with the people at the plate.
00:0912 strikeouts.
00:10That's how you get a debut, Craig, in Toronto.
00:13Yeah, and the Blue Jays out of the gate without Bieber and Yee Savage
00:17and some of their starting pitchers.
00:19Man, you know what they were looking at with this start here with Dylan Cease.
00:22You make a big investment into a player in the offseason.
00:25At the very least, he pays dividends in game one.
00:29It is against a team with a very, very, very high strikeout rate.
00:34I do want to mention that because you're going to see,
00:36I think, the A strikeout may be more than any team in the American League.
00:40But that being said, 12 strikeouts in five and a third.
00:43And I know the bigger question is, is like after one start,
00:46what do you make of this sort of thing?
00:48Well, look, you know, for me at the start of the season,
00:50when you're looking at the betting markets,
00:52and Cy Young, and we'll get into it with Rookie of the Year and everything else,
00:55I mean, there's really nothing to talk about
00:57until we're sort of exiting the month of April
00:59because so many things can change.
01:01I think from a Blue Jays perspective,
01:03it's not that they wanted this to happen.
01:05They had to have this happen, Donnie.
01:07Like, I mean, they're down so many starting pitchers to open up the year.
01:12They're going to have to use, I guess,
01:13openers and relief pitchers just to get through.
01:16And that American League East is very tough,
01:17but very positive signs for the debut of Cease,
01:21who signs that big deal with the Jays.
01:24Yeah, and by the way, that start that he had,
01:26five and a third innings, pitch 12K,
01:27he's like, oh, that game probably easily stayed under the total.
01:29Well, bullpens are still trying to work themselves out, Craig.
01:31That ended up 8-7 in 11 innings in that game,
01:34so high scoring late in those ballgames,
01:36something you can anticipate early in the season.
01:39How about Jacob DeGrom?
01:40We've talked about this before, Craig,
01:41both on the early line
01:42or whenever we bring up topics of Jacob DeGrom
01:45and how dominant he was with the New York Mets.
01:47We say, wait a second,
01:47the AL Cy Young race had him opening the season at 10-1,
01:51which is third or fourth in line in the odds market,
01:53depending on where you were shopping here.
01:55And the question always was brought up,
01:57can he just stay healthy enough
01:58to even be in that Cy Young race?
02:00Well, starting the season, looking good,
02:01and then, oops, Jacob DeGrom will not make his start
02:04against the Philadelphia Phillies
02:05in game number two of the season
02:06because of neck stiffness.
02:07Now, understand this.
02:09I don't know if it was,
02:10I woke up on the wrong side of the bed,
02:11my neck was a little bit stiff,
02:12but understand this too, Craig.
02:13He wasn't pitching in a dome in 72 degrees
02:15or 85 degrees, easy to get loose.
02:17It was 30 degrees in Philadelphia yesterday.
02:19And if you're taking precautions early,
02:21I think that might've been a smart one with DeGrom.
02:24I think you said it,
02:25and I think he said it in the postgame.
02:28It was like out of precaution.
02:29You have a player that is as integral to any team
02:33as DeGrom is to the Rangers
02:35in terms of starting pitching
02:36because their starting pitching is not great.
02:37It's okay, but it's not great.
02:40So they're going to have to try and piecemeal together.
02:43I mean, is it optimistic to say
02:45he could get 25, 30 starts?
02:47Probably, but when he is healthy,
02:49he is one of the very best pitchers in baseball.
02:51So probably the right call here.
02:53My guess is, Donnie,
02:54that you will see him this coming week
02:56and then we'll put this to bed.
02:57But look, we can't not acknowledge the fact
03:01that there always has been something
03:03with DeGrom over the years.
03:04And it has been unfortunate.
03:07Rangers are going to need him.
03:08Wild games for them this week too.
03:11But look, we'll see.
03:12Long season, can't really get too caught up
03:14in one missed start for DeGrom.
03:17Certainly.
03:18I mean, the length of the season
03:19in Major League Baseball for a pitcher
03:20that's going to put, you know,
03:21if you're healthy the whole year, Craig,
03:22200 innings on your arm, he can't do that.
03:24It's almost like the Joel Embiid infect
03:25here in Philadelphia.
03:26Hey, is he injured or not?
03:28Don't worry.
03:28We just want him healthy
03:29when the playoff time comes.
03:30And that's what's going to be the bonus here
03:31for the Texas Rangers.
03:33Take a look at another pitcher.
03:35Trevor Rogers, seven innings pitched,
03:37three hits, Craig, no runs, five Ks.
03:39You don't like the four walks there,
03:41but danced around it.
03:41If that's what you want from a maybe ace of your staff,
03:44we always thought Baltimore was going to be able to hit
03:46this two to one final that they won in that game.
03:48Thank goodness they had good pitching
03:49and Rogers was the key.
03:50Yeah.
03:51Yeah.
03:52Rogers, Miami traded to Baltimore.
03:55They got back Kyle Stowers,
03:56who was an all-star last year.
03:58They got back Connor Norby.
04:00Stowers is out for a month.
04:02Norby playing right now for Miami.
04:04But, you know, this trade, Donnie,
04:05when you look back on it,
04:06it looks pretty darn even here.
04:08Like, I mean, Stowers is great
04:09and Rogers is great too.
04:12Nobody saw this coming with Trevor Rogers
04:13as good as he was last year at the end
04:15and now getting the opening day start for Baltimore.
04:18Wow.
04:18As you mentioned, four walks here.
04:21I do believe that what we saw
04:22from Trevor Rogers last season is legit.
04:24I think he's going to be really good.
04:25I do take things with a grain of salt
04:27with the Twins a little bit.
04:28I really don't have them projected
04:29to win a lot of games.
04:30And as you said, four walks
04:32against a really sharp hitting team,
04:33I don't think gets it done.
04:35But kudos to him for getting through that
04:36as Baltimore really, really,
04:39at the beginning of the season,
04:40to me, maybe looks like
04:41one of the more underrated teams.
04:43Take a look at some of these aces
04:44a little bit later in the show,
04:45but I did like what I saw, Craig,
04:47out of the Detroit Tigers here.
04:48Number one and number two,
04:49Valdez and also Scooble
04:50look really good opening out of the gate.
04:52And talking quickly here
04:53about Jacob deGrom.
04:5410-1 in the Cy Young market
04:56in the American League
04:56to open up the season, Craig.
04:58Misses one start.
04:59He's now listed at some outlets
05:00at a 16-1 price.
05:02Already losing steam
05:03after one supposed missed start.
05:05Stop the Madness.
05:06That's what we talk about
05:07right here on Pro Baseball Today.
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