00:00I was high on the Rangers here.
00:01Again, a couple games into the season.
00:03I'm also quite high on the Orioles here, so a fantastic matchup here.
00:06Leiter versus Bassett, DeGrom versus Eflin, Rocker versus Rodgers here.
00:10And understand this, Craig.
00:12East Coast temperatures typically in late March, very cold.
00:15Not going to be the case to start this week in the Northeast.
00:18Close to 80 degrees Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday here.
00:21We might get some home runs flying out of the ballpark.
00:24Yeah, we could.
00:24This is a great matchup offensively here.
00:26A lot of big players on both sides here.
00:29And remember, what you're seeing now for the Monday, Tuesday, for some teams, not all,
00:34is the four or five starters, or at the very least, the five starters for some of these
00:38teams as well.
00:39So, you know, for Baltimore, they had too much pitching, which is shocking going into the
00:44season.
00:45They even optioned Dean Kramer, who was one of their better starters, to the minor leagues,
00:49which was very surprising here.
00:51But they signed Eflin.
00:52They signed Bassett.
00:53They finally made that commitment to the pitching.
00:56And so we'll get to see him on Monday and Tuesday.
00:59But obviously, the main course here is seeing Jacob deGrom on the mound.
01:03And he is scheduled right now to go Tuesday for Texas after being scratched with the neck
01:09issue.
01:10Naturally, deGrom, when he's on the mound, one of the best pitchers in baseball, just
01:13hasn't been on the mound the last decade or so as much as he would have liked to.
01:17But he's a critical piece to that team.
01:20You know, a lot of opening day is still going on.
01:23Remember, it may not be opening day, Donnie, but it is the home opener for a lot of teams
01:27too, going into next week.
01:30Exactly.
01:30And understand this too, in that Rangers-Oriol series, because, you know, I like to bet
01:34typically team total city over.
01:35Like, hey, you got to slow play the first part of the season.
01:37Why?
01:37Because the Aces are on the mound for games one and games two.
01:39And as Craig pointed out, now you're down to the fourth and fifth starters.
01:41But I'll tell you what's interesting here.
01:43A couple years ago, if you would have said like, hey, two guys healthy, lighter, and rocker on
01:46your staff, like, you might have two of the best young power pitchers in baseball.
01:49Craig, what are the expectations for you this year for the Rangers and Kumar Rocker?
01:53Last year, 5.74 ERA, whip was a little bit high, four and five record here.
01:58Can we get something out of Kumar Rocker where, remember when the Mets drafted, they're like,
02:02hey, we think he's going to be talented, but we don't know if he's going to be healthy
02:04enough to stay talented.
02:06Yes, it's still too hard to say here, even with lighter, too hard to say.
02:10But the Rangers do have a very, you know, back-end young staff here, as you can see.
02:17Look, Texas sort of, I think, felt like they're a team that after they won the World Series,
02:23Donnie, which was, you know, honestly a little bit lucky, a little bit surprising.
02:26I still feel like they felt they should have been better than what they were.
02:29So exit Bruce Bochy, in comes Skip Schumacher, more of a, hey, day-to-day kind of guy, like,
02:36not laid back.
02:37Like, we got to win today.
02:39Every game, it's seventh inning, and we're bringing in the closer, you know?
02:43And that worked for Skip in Miami that first year they went to the playoffs, too.
02:47So I would expect more energy there.
02:51Defensively could be a position, a space that they're challenged a little bit, Donnie.
02:55We saw that over the weekend, too.
02:56Jake Berger dropping a couple of foul balls there.
02:59Kind of wild games that the Rangers played.
03:01Not sure how great their defense is going to be.
03:05But I don't know that I'm necessarily bullish on Texas,
03:08but they should be better than they were last year.
03:10I think there's no doubt.
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