2033 Playoff Prediction Podcast

[RonCo]

Right. There's no question in my mind that Omaha and Mexico City will be contending soon. The Heartland is the place to be. It will be very good for a very long time.

[RonCo]

Man, I was a little surprised to hear my team come up on so many 'Not in the next 4 years' lists. If that's the case there's going to be a bunch of very good young pitchers on the block in the next few years. In all seriousness I fully understand the difficulty of competing in the current landscape in the Heartland, especially when I have no answers at C or SS. I would be very disappointed, however, if my playoff drought continues to 2038.

I think it's probably more of a reflection of the season you're having this year, combined with how difficult that division currently is. It's also easy to overlook your pitching prospect depth because there aren't any big eye poppers there. In retrospect thought, it's deeper than I thought and quite good.

Everyone wants to see this bevy of 5-star prospects. And, yes, you need a few. But give me full team of 3 and 4 star guys, and couple great 2-star platooners, and I'll show you a playoff team.

[usnspecialist]

Man, I was a little surprised to hear my team come up on so many 'Not in the next 4 years' lists. If that's the case there's going to be a bunch of very good young pitchers on the block in the next few years. In all seriousness I fully understand the difficulty of competing in the current landscape in the Heartland, especially when I have no answers at C or SS. I would be very disappointed, however, if my playoff drought continues to 2038.

at least in my case, it wasnt because of the quality of your team, it is because of the depth and talent ahead of you. If you were in the pacific i wouldnt have even brought you up, and maybe not in either of the JL divisions either.

[udlb58]

Tyler, you're not getting kicked out of the league.


Also, was that a toilet flush I heard in there?

It was part tongue in cheek (I love the league but know that I hate team news writing and it will always be the first thing to fall away any time my free time evaporates), and part Hot Take. I'm always looking for an opening to pull the chute if the market landscape changes, but with good veterans being so cheap and so many teams re-building, it just makes sense to keep rolling the playoff dice.

Ugh- why did I get started on this....now I can not stop. Checked out the free agent scrapheap, and there's some potential upgrades hanging out there too....

40 year old Miguel Lara would be a huge upgrade for setup. Sure, he sucked eggs for Omaha this year but it took me about 0.2 seconds to see why (.360 BABIP compared to career .299 BABIP).

I'll give you one more...why hasn't a guy like Juan Urdiano found a job yet when there's bullpens like yours?

Not sure why Lara and Urdiano haven't gotten jobs. I was looking at both, but at the time they wanted over $1m and I was in the market for minor league contracts (Fernando Rivera, Eddy de Greef, Jose Olvera, Joe Hart, Chris Grant, Martin Pacheco, Bernardo Garcia, Bertil Hofstra, Ed Staples, Josh Rosser, Ron Clulow, and Jeffrey Moody were all post-all-star break minor league free agent acquisitions)

Man, I was a little surprised to hear my team come up on so many 'Not in the next 4 years' lists. If that's the case there's going to be a bunch of very good young pitchers on the block in the next few years. In all seriousness I fully understand the difficulty of competing in the current landscape in the Heartland, especially when I have no answers at C or SS. I would be very disappointed, however, if my playoff drought continues to 2038.

I have learned to never bet against Fred Holmes teams. Hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd somehow put together a team that was in playoff contention next year. You could have a worse foundation than Estrada, Pendleton, Rios. If one of Pham/Silva/Rocha can become a #2, and just two of the other SP prospects become #4/5 guys, you have a rotation that is very good; there are intriguing relief prospects (and relievers are easy to come by). Biggest question is offense outside of Estrada, Delage, Harper.

[Spiccoli]

Tyler, you're not getting kicked out of the league.


Also, was that a toilet flush I heard in there?

It was part tongue in cheek (I love the league but know that I hate team news writing and it will always be the first thing to fall away any time my free time evaporates), and part Hot Take. I'm always looking for an opening to pull the chute if the market landscape changes, but with good veterans being so cheap and so many teams re-building, it just makes sense to keep rolling the playoff dice.

Ugh- why did I get started on this....now I can not stop. Checked out the free agent scrapheap, and there's some potential upgrades hanging out there too....

40 year old Miguel Lara would be a huge upgrade for setup. Sure, he sucked eggs for Omaha this year but it took me about 0.2 seconds to see why (.360 BABIP compared to career .299 BABIP).

I'll give you one more...why hasn't a guy like Juan Urdiano found a job yet when there's bullpens like yours?

Not sure why Lara and Urdiano haven't gotten jobs. I was looking at both, but at the time they wanted over $1m and I was in the market for minor league contracts (Fernando Rivera, Eddy de Greef, Jose Olvera, Joe Hart, Chris Grant, Martin Pacheco, Bernardo Garcia, Bertil Hofstra, Ed Staples, Josh Rosser, Ron Clulow, and Jeffrey Moody were all post-all-star break minor league free agent acquisitions)

Man, I was a little surprised to hear my team come up on so many 'Not in the next 4 years' lists. If that's the case there's going to be a bunch of very good young pitchers on the block in the next few years. In all seriousness I fully understand the difficulty of competing in the current landscape in the Heartland, especially when I have no answers at C or SS. I would be very disappointed, however, if my playoff drought continues to 2038.

I have learned to never bet against Fred Holmes teams. Hell, I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd somehow put together a team that was in playoff contention next year. You could have a worse foundation than Estrada, Pendleton, Rios. If one of Pham/Silva/Rocha can become a #2, and just two of the other SP prospects become #4/5 guys, you have a rotation that is very good; there are intriguing relief prospects (and relievers are easy to come by). Biggest question is offense outside of Estrada, Delage, Harper.

Well, it sounds like you're pretty into the league in general, so instead of Team News, maybe League News (reported from your teams' perspective) instead.... Just random tidbits of stuff you're seeing from around the league. I can understand that it's tough sometimes to find enough material to just talk about your own team. Especially if you're not really a creative writer... like me.

I do like writing analyst and comparison stuff though.

And finally, to be honest. I like reading that kind of stuff more anyway, like when Ron does league wide position comparisons or how the Heartland infield position players are superior to the rest of the league... which they are lol

[udlb58]

It's more just writing in general. I hate it, and I'm bad at it. Which means it takes me forever and I have to force myself to sit down and do it. Not fun for me. I will sift through the game for 90 minutes and think of things to write, but when I actually start to type it out, it just doesn't come out right and I end up getting frustrated and dropping it. My computer is littered with half written things for this league and my other league.

I do enjoy writing prospect stuff for the league (and with the way the OSA lists are broken, they have even more value than at other times), but things change a little too quickly to do top 100 lists or organization top 10 lists like I've done in other leagues in the past. I had to re-arrange, and edit lists many times when writing the top 10 lists for the media guide as trades rolled in and teams relocated this offseason. Plus, I have a hard time justifying writing something like that for this league over a similar piece for the league I actually commish.

[ae37jr]

I think you guys are wrong about Mexico City.

-José Estrada is probably the most under rated player in the league.
-Pendleton, Rios, Delgado, Pham, Silva, Romero, Rocha, A. Rodríguez, Carlson and Archer are all solid young starters
-The team has loads of cap room to fill in the gaps

The only thing I don't like, is that they are weak at C, SS, and CF. Those are the three hardest spots to fill. But I think they'll be a playoff team by 2035 or 36

[bcslouck]

I think you guys are wrong about Mexico City.

-José Estrada is probably the most under rated player in the league.
-Pendleton, Rios, Delgado, Pham, Silva, Romero, Rocha, A. Rodríguez, Carlson and Archer are all solid young starters
-The team has loads of cap room to fill in the gaps

The only thing I don't like, is that they are weak at C, SS, and CF. Those are the three hardest spots to fill. But I think they'll be a playoff team by 2035 or 36

I agree on all accounts. Was about to post yesterday on it with similar points.

I don't like the division argument. Things can change in a couple seasons. The Heartland is full of good teams and GM's with some bright futures, but all it takes is some lumps and bad contracts for some of those teams. Granted, MEX needs things to continue going right as well and need to make smart financial decisions to supplement the future pitching.

[udlb58]

Should be interesting to see how those turn out. I think I was the only one to pick Nashville, Des Moines, and Edmonton for no playoffs before 2038.

[Rubaboo]

I think you guys are wrong about Mexico City.

-José Estrada is probably the most under rated player in the league.
-Pendleton, Rios, Delgado, Pham, Silva, Romero, Rocha, A. Rodríguez, Carlson and Archer are all solid young starters
-The team has loads of cap room to fill in the gaps

The only thing I don't like, is that they are weak at C, SS, and CF. Those are the three hardest spots to fill. But I think they'll be a playoff team by 2035 or 36

I knew I liked you...

I'm definitely in need of some help at SS and C and have been working on some deals there on and off. My hope is if Gagne can stay healthy he should be a solid option in CF.

[ae37jr]

I knew I liked you...

I'm definitely in need of some help at SS and C and have been working on some deals there on and off. My hope is if Gagne can stay healthy he should be a solid option in CF.

I must have looked right past Gagne. He should do fine in CF. Especially with Lynn backing him up during DL stints.

[Ted]

Did anyone actually pick Mexico City? I knew I said I considered them, but were they actually picked? I considered all the currently last place teams. I initially planned to post a list of everyone's picks with the podcast post, but I didn't want to reveal them early. I guess I can do that now.

Edit: Done. Any yes, Randy picked Mexico City.

[Lane]

Thank you Mr. Bayless

[indiansfan]

Finally got to listen to this. Great job, fun to listen to.

[usnspecialist]

Finally got to listen to this. Great job, fun to listen to.

somewhat ironically i still havent listened to it, but im glad everyone enjoyed it. We definitely had a blast recording it.

[felipe]

Just finished this

(Can u believe I’m working in a place without WiFi? My phone data usage is crazy)

Very good cast

Not near enough Louisville adulation, but I’m used to that

[RonCo]

We need more podcasts. I'm willing to participate almost anytime...and maybe even host something once I get past early March.

[usnspecialist]

im always down to participate.

[recte44]

Me too. Ted show me how to make one.

[Ted]

Me too. Ted show me how to make one.

It's not that tough. You need a computer with a mic (almost all have integrated mic's now), recording software (audacity is free and quite good, and there are good tutorials for just about anything with it on youtube), and somewhere to post the output file. I use youtube because they give you tons of free space, but that means I have to use something like moviemaker to convert the .wav to an mp4. Then upload. Now, actually truly making it a podcast so podcast trackers can find it is a bit different, but I don't see the reason to bother with that for such a small group. Almost all devices stream fine now, so it's not worth bothering to put it in a downloadable format.

For each recording, it obviously takes the time of the recording itself to listen to it. Any additional editing usually runs me about half the time again of the recording, and then formatting and uploading is about an hour (but I don't do anything besides clicking the occasional button.)

For the forseable future, my schedule is exceptionally manageable, so if anyone has an idea, but doesn't want to do the labor, or doesn't want to talk tothemself, I'm available.