Locked on Rangers: Adolis Garcia's contract extension, importance of avoiding an arbitration hearing, 5 Rangers who will be better this season
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00:00 The Rangers and Adoles Garcia have avoided arbitration,
00:03 signing a two-year deal.
00:04 On today's show, I'm breaking down why that's so important
00:06 and five players who are poised to improve in 2024.
00:10 All that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers.
00:12 Let's get into it.
00:13 You are Locked on Rangers.
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00:28 [intro music]
00:37 You are Locked on to the World Series Champion Texas Rangers.
00:40 I'm Bryce Patrick, a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers fan
00:43 covering this team for ten seasons,
00:44 including all five as the founder and host of this podcast.
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01:14 Now, the big news of this week that came out on Thursday
01:18 is that the Rangers and Adonis Garcia have avoided an arbitration hearing
01:23 and signed a two-year contract extension for $14 million guaranteed
01:29 and up to $20.25 million over the two years with Escaliers,
01:35 according to John Heyman of the New York Post.
01:39 Now, this is a great deal for the Rangers
01:43 and a great deal for Adonis Garcia.
01:46 The arbitration process is a weird part of baseball labor rights.
01:52 It is an awkward process.
01:55 It is at times contentious,
01:58 and it has led to souring relationships between players and teams in the past,
02:04 as recently as Corbin Burns the last couple years with the Brewers.
02:08 That's part of the reason why they traded him this offseason
02:11 is he had been felt-- he felt like he was deeply unwanted
02:16 because the whole process is the team arguing why usually making less
02:21 and the player and their agent arguing why they should be making more money.
02:25 And the Rangers and Adonis Garcia were pretty far apart,
02:29 as far apart as any arbitration eligible--
02:31 actually, further apart than any arbitration eligible player
02:34 in that first offer at $5 million from the Rangers
02:38 and $6.9 million from Adonis Garcia and his agent.
02:42 But with this deal, he's making more than that $6.9 million
02:47 and guaranteed an average for the next two years.
02:50 Now, the breakdowns haven't quite been released yet
02:53 of how much he's making which year and what those escalators are.
02:59 I'm assuming there are some incentives for if he wins another ALCS MVP,
03:05 if he wins a World Series MVP,
03:07 if he becomes an All-Star for a third time,
03:10 if he wins a Silver Slugger, Gold Glove--
03:12 usually those are kind of the escalators in there.
03:15 Sometimes there's statistical escalators,
03:17 like say he has another 30 home run season or if he gets 40,
03:21 or just some kind of baseline stat incentive or awards voting
03:27 if he wins the actual MVP,
03:29 which, who knows?
03:31 After what he did in that postseason,
03:33 I cannot wait to see him in the batter's box for the Rangers again
03:38 and so ready for baseball season to be happening.
03:40 But this was one of the last things that was on the Rangers' to-do list
03:45 before pitchers and catchers report next week.
03:48 That's right, it's Friday as you're listening to this,
03:50 Super Bowl's on Sunday, and then officially it's baseball season
03:53 because pitchers and catchers report next Wednesday,
03:57 and I'm sure we are all very, very ready for that.
04:01 But this is a big deal for Adoles Garcia.
04:02 This is a big deal for the Rangers,
04:05 establishing and maintaining that relationship
04:07 and not having to go to an arbitration hearing
04:09 where you're telling Adoles Garcia, the star of your team,
04:14 the heart and soul of your franchise,
04:18 who just put on the most insane postseason display
04:21 I think we've ever seen from a single player
04:24 and won you that first title
04:26 with the most amazing walk-off home run in the history of mankind
04:31 in any sport ever in the 11th inning of Game 1 of the World Series.
04:38 And you go into arbitration, he's got a lot of things in his favor.
04:41 He is on the older side for a first-year Arb player at 31,
04:45 so that was part of the factor in the decisions.
04:48 But he does have a lot of hardware,
04:49 those two all-star appearances, that gold glove he got this year,
04:53 the--I don't think he's had a silver slugger yet.
04:56 I'm sure he will at some point, if not this upcoming year,
04:59 and obviously the ALCS MVP.
05:02 But getting those two years, buying out arbitration next year
05:06 so you don't have to go through this exact same process again next year
05:10 is great.
05:11 It is great for him, it is great for the franchise,
05:14 it is great for fans, it is great for everybody.
05:17 Except, I'm sure there are some teams that he obliterated in the playoffs this year
05:23 that are thinking, "Oh, I don't want to see him again."
05:25 Well, too bad, because he's going to be in Texas for at least another two years,
05:28 probably another three, because he's under contract for three more years.
05:31 So they did not buy out all of his arbitration years,
05:34 they did not buy out any of his free agency years,
05:36 which is something I thought was probably on the table.
05:39 I'm sure there were a lot of discussions of a lot of different variations
05:42 of this contract, what it would look like,
05:44 whether they wanted to go a three-year deal.
05:46 A two-year deal is a good stopgap, so they only have to do the arbitration process
05:50 one more time.
05:52 And neither side wanted to bank on what the third year,
05:56 heading into his age 33 season, would look like.
06:00 They wanted to give him a couple years to see, "All right, let's see what it is."
06:03 And if he has an amazing couple years, and maybe at that point
06:07 the Rangers look at signing him to a longer-term extension
06:10 to buy out some of those free agency years.
06:12 But this is just a good deal all around, a good baseline salary for him this year,
06:18 and buying it out next year, and giving those incentives that could add
06:22 another $6 million, basically another 50% of what he's guaranteed to make,
06:28 is a great deal for him and for everybody involved.
06:32 And just to have that not hanging over their head anymore,
06:35 and to do it the day of the arbitration hearing, the morning of,
06:40 when it was supposed to happen in the afternoon,
06:42 is just great news to end your week on.
06:45 Thank you, Chris Young, for giving us this.
06:47 Thank you, Dolores Garcia's camp, for not making us worry
06:51 if that relationship had soured.
06:55 Just a delightful way to end the week.
06:58 The only better way to end it would be news of Jordan Montgomery signing,
07:02 but hey, maybe we can wait until Monday for that,
07:05 and then be like, "All right, everything is absolutely glorious.
07:08 Everything is golden. Everything is wonderful in Rangers land."
07:13 But this wasn't the only big contract extension in the AL West this week.
07:18 The Astros, unfortunately, signed a five-year, $125 million extension
07:24 with their star second baseman Jose Altuve.
07:26 Congratulations to him.
07:28 It kind of felt like an obvious move.
07:31 Jose Altuve was up for free agency after this year,
07:34 but I don't think anybody ever thought there was another possibility
07:38 of Altuve going literally anywhere else.
07:42 He will now be signed through 2029, which is his age 39 season,
07:48 which is kind of freaking wild that he'll be signed for that long,
07:52 but hey, he's earned it, and honestly, even as an Astros hater,
07:56 even as a sports hater of Jose Altuve,
08:00 it's really cool to see star players spend their entire careers with one team,
08:05 have that baseball reference page look clean,
08:08 not have a bazillion different teams,
08:11 because for me, when I look at a baseball reference page,
08:13 I love there to be either 20 different teams or just one team.
08:17 It's nice for that uniformity,
08:19 but the only thing I'd say in how this relates to the Rangers
08:22 is the contract extension announcement from the Astros' Twitter.
08:28 The highlight of Jose Altuve they chose to include
08:32 was not from many of the playoff series that he has won
08:37 over his 13 years with the Astros.
08:41 Unfortunately, they have done a lot of winning playoff series,
08:45 but no, they chose to use a highlight from a series that they lost
08:51 to their biggest rival very recently.
08:55 The Game 5 home run, the game-winning home run that broke all of our hearts
09:00 and then ended up not mattering at all was the highlight they chose to use.
09:06 Are you serious, Astros' Twitter?
09:08 The admin? That's the one you chose to use?
09:12 There are so many more!
09:13 There are so many more home runs of Jose Altuve you could have chosen.
09:17 Honestly, the only funnier result,
09:19 the only funnier highlight they could have chosen to include
09:23 would probably be the ninth inning Game 7 homer of Jose LeClerc
09:28 that was absolutely in garbage time.
09:32 I think that would have been a little bit funnier,
09:34 but I could not think of a just funnier decision to make
09:38 to announce this monumentous news that everybody in Astros' world
09:43 was waiting for for the longest time.
09:45 The Houston mayor declared the 7th of February 2/7,
09:48 because he wears 27, Jose Altuve Day,
09:51 and that's the one you choose to include?
09:53 Absolutely hilarious, delightful moment.
09:56 But congrats to Jose Altuve, congrats to the Astros,
09:59 hoping that he can enjoy being the second best second baseman
10:04 in the state of Texas with that delightful extension for him.
10:09 Honestly, genuine congrats to him, because that is a cool story for him and his family.
10:13 Coming up, we're going to look at five players from the Rangers
10:15 who can improve in 2024 from what they did in 2023,
10:18 and why that's so important for repeating as champs,
10:21 right after this word from our sponsors.
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11:48 Now, there are five players. Actually, maybe more than five players,
11:53 but these five in particular are players on the range I think will improve in 2024.
11:58 Some of them have really good 2023 seasons,
12:01 but I think all five of these guys are definitely primed for a better statistical year,
12:06 or better overall year, than they had in 2023.
12:10 Now, the first one may not surprise you.
12:13 The first one is Josh Young.
12:16 Young had an exceptional rookie season,
12:18 and until he got hurt with that thumb injury,
12:21 he was probably the best third baseman in the American League.
12:26 I mean, he was incredibly good for those first couple of months,
12:29 and he was just such a vital part of this lineup,
12:32 and he produced at a level that, you know, honestly,
12:35 I wasn't quite sure that he would produce at right away.
12:38 I mean, I've been a big believer in Josh Young,
12:41 and him finally getting his shot to be in the big leagues,
12:44 and be healthy, and have a healthy spring training, thankfully.
12:48 It was only a matter of time, in my opinion,
12:51 before he showed why the Rangers were so incredibly high on him,
12:55 and believed so much in him, and the first couple of months,
12:58 he was the leader in the clubhouse for AL Rookie of the Year.
13:01 Basically, the first two and a half months,
13:03 it felt like it was almost a guarantee
13:06 that Josh Young was going to run away with this award.
13:09 He had an 824 OPS in April and March, and 29 games there--
13:13 or excuse me, 26 games there.
13:15 In the month of May, he had a 917 OPS,
13:17 which was his highest for any month that he played more than six games.
13:21 And then June came around, and then July came around,
13:25 and he started coming back down to earth quite a bit.
13:27 Then that broken thumb injury by that Jorge Soler line drive
13:31 that just snared him right in the thumb,
13:33 and really kick-started the kind of downturn of the Rangers
13:37 in that second half, especially in August.
13:40 The Rangers maintained it for a couple days
13:42 after Josh Young went down with that injury,
13:44 but not having his bat in that lineup,
13:46 and especially after the Jonah Heim injury as well,
13:49 both of those compiling at the same time,
13:51 that was a rough place for those Rangers.
13:54 And he performed very well in the postseason,
13:57 even though he was hitting all the way down in the 8-hole of the postseason.
14:02 Still a vital part of this Rangers run.
14:04 Hit over .300 in the postseason, an 867 OPS,
14:07 and three postseason home runs,
14:09 including a couple in the same game in the ALCS,
14:13 one against Christian Javier,
14:15 in a game where nobody could touch him outside of Josh Young,
14:18 but still a very valuable part of this Rangers team,
14:22 and did fantastic, low-key fantastic in the World Series.
14:26 Hit .350, had an own base of .350,
14:28 and had just one extra base hit, which was a double,
14:30 but still a very important part of lengthening that lineup out.
14:34 And the main reason I think that Josh Young can do better is
14:37 not only because that was his rookie year,
14:39 his first time facing big league pitching every single day,
14:42 but there's one thing that I really would like him to improve.
14:46 The defense was solid.
14:48 He hit the absolute crap out of the baseball when he made contact with it,
14:51 and he hit it exactly on the sweet spot at great angles,
14:55 his sweet spot percentage,
14:57 which is basically the trajectory, the launch angle,
15:00 the ideal launch angle is if you're hitting it in the sweet spot.
15:03 That's what this measures.
15:05 He was in the top 2% of baseball at launching it exactly where he wanted to.
15:08 He was in the top 20% of hitting the ball hard,
15:11 average exit velocity top 15%, expected slugging also fantastic.
15:15 But the main thing that I want Josh Young to improve on
15:19 is his swing decisions.
15:21 He was a guy who had a really great batting average,
15:23 great batting eye at Texas Tech,
15:25 a lot of walks, not a lot of strikeouts,
15:27 more walks than strikeouts at Texas Tech,
15:30 a pretty high, pretty decent walk rate, not elite,
15:33 but much better than it was at the big league level.
15:36 And it got a little bit worse.
15:38 The swing decisions, he walked a little bit less
15:40 and struck out a little bit more when he went from the minors to,
15:43 or the college to the minors,
15:45 and then from the minors to the majors, those numbers jumped way up.
15:48 So in college, he had a 14.1% walk rate,
15:52 in the minors, 8.3%, so still down.
15:54 And in the majors, 5.5% walk rate.
15:57 That is very, very low.
15:59 In college, his strikeout rate was 13.2%,
16:02 in the minors, it jumped all the way up to 21.2%.
16:05 And in the majors, it's been 30.8%.
16:08 That is more than double what it was in college.
16:12 Obviously, big league pitching is a little bit better
16:14 than minor league pitching and in college.
16:18 But also, he has improved as well.
16:21 And I think being a little bit better, more judicious
16:23 about when he's swinging, what pitches he's swinging at.
16:26 And also, it feels like every single time I was looking up,
16:29 you know, guys who were getting rung up on pitches
16:31 outside the strike zone, looking, it happened quite a bit in the ALCS,
16:35 especially against Justin Verlander and I think Christian Javier as well.
16:39 But he was really getting rung up on pitches that were called strike three
16:44 that were not in the strike zone, which was making him expand
16:47 and be a little bit more aggressive.
16:49 And I think if he can just, you know, bite the bullet
16:52 and be okay with taking that called third strike
16:55 and improving his swing decisions, kind of--
16:57 because that's what's going to happen when you're taking more pitches
16:59 and you're taking more borderline pitches.
17:01 You're going to have some strikeouts looking.
17:04 And I think, you know, learning from Adoles Garcia,
17:07 that was something that he improved on massively this year,
17:10 which is what led to his massive, massive breakout,
17:13 is being more selective, being more judicious with his swings.
17:17 He still strikes out a decent amount, but he also walks a lot more,
17:21 which allows that light tower power to play up.
17:24 And I think the same could be the case with Josh Young.
17:27 So just improving those swing decisions, which I think he will.
17:30 He's an absolute baseball rat.
17:32 Like, he's just obsessed with baseball.
17:34 And that is something I think he'll be working on quite a bit this offseason,
17:37 and that's why I think he's going to be--
17:39 have a much better season in '24 than he did last year.
17:42 The next player I think is going to improve is Jonah Heim.
17:45 Now, Jonah Heim had an all-star season.
17:48 He finished second in-- or he was selected to the second team all-MLB,
17:53 his first all-star season, and I believe he also won the Gold Glove, yes, this year.
17:57 And offensively, he was really hot and cold, really hit and miss,
18:02 which kind of has been the case with Jonah Heim for his career.
18:06 He'll have an amazing month and then kind of really quiet down for a little while.
18:11 And I think just being more consistent from month to month could really, really help him,
18:16 especially in the back half.
18:18 Now, the first half versus second half splits of his OPS were massive this year.
18:24 I mean, he had an 8-12 OPS in the first half this year in 12 of his 18 home runs.
18:29 And then in the second half, it dropped all the way down nearly 150 points to 656.
18:34 I mean, everywhere from the batting average, slugging, on-base percentage as well,
18:38 all of those dropped off significantly.
18:40 And I think a decent part of that was him coming back from injury maybe a little too soon.
18:45 The month of August was absolutely horrendous for him, nearly over 40 plate appearances
18:49 and hit 150 in a 434 OPS.
18:53 That's OPS, not his slugging.
18:55 His OPS was in the 400s.
18:57 It was a rough, rough way for him.
19:01 And it didn't get all that much better in September.
19:04 I mean, he had a 675 OPS in September.
19:07 Still solid in July and in June as well, and he was amazing in April and March.
19:12 Five home runs that month and a 979 OPS in the 23 games he played in.
19:17 But I think even coming off of his all-star season, a little bit more consistency,
19:22 just a little bit more belief in himself of knowing,
19:25 "I'm for sure one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball,"
19:30 and having that confidence of that success and being a little bit lower in the lineup,
19:34 I think he might be.
19:35 We'll see where he gets every day.
19:37 I don't think that really particularly matters with the construction of the lineup.
19:41 But I think a little bit more consistency, a little bit more, hopefully, health in the second half.
19:46 Hopefully he doesn't have to miss some time with a--what was it?
19:52 Not a thumb injury.
19:53 It was the--whatever injury it was that caused him to sap his power
19:58 and was just not quite the same when he came back.
20:01 But, hey, I think having that consistency under his belt, having a season like that,
20:05 having a championship that he's coming off of will instill some confidence in him
20:09 and make him be even better than he was when he was the second-best catcher
20:12 in all of Major League Baseball, according to people who were voting on AllMLB.
20:16 Coming up, we're going to look at the other three players I think are going to have big seasons in 2024,
20:20 including one who I think most people are still overlooking despite his postseason success,
20:26 right after this break from our sponsors.
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21:17 The next guy on my list who I think will have a better season this year as opposed to last year
21:26 is more about his regular season than his postseason, because his postseason was amazing.
21:30 But this guy is Josh Spors.
21:33 Coming off a truly-- the most up-and-down Jekyll and Hyde regular season I think I've ever seen from a player.
21:40 He went into the World Series as the Rangers' number 7th inning guy,
21:44 and he had an absolutely sensational, incredible run in the postseason.
21:49 Just one singular earned run in 12 innings pitched, 13 strikeouts, just 4 walks, no home runs allowed, only 4 hits.
21:59 I mean, the guy was just locked down as locked down, as automatic as you can get.
22:05 And also got the save in the final game, the clinching game of the Rangers' first ever championship,
22:14 with an absolutely beautiful curveball dropped in there for a strike 3 called as the Rangers won the World Series.
22:20 But we all saw in the postseason the highs, the highest highs that Josh Spors can hit.
22:26 And for him, last year was mostly about health.
22:30 Whenever he was healthy, he was dominant, he was sensational, he was untouchable.
22:35 But when he wasn't healthy, he was very gettable, very hittable, and he was hit incredibly hard.
22:44 The ERA splits per month are just the most back and forth and back and forth and back and forth of anybody,
22:50 any pitcher I think I might have ever seen.
22:52 In 5 games in April and March, he had a 108 ERA.
22:56 Then in 9 games in May, it jumped all the way up to 831.
22:59 10 games in June, absolutely sensational, 16 innings there, and a .55 ERA.
23:06 Go to July, jumps up to 15.
23:09 August back down to 5.79.
23:13 And then in 4 games in September/October, or regular season October, a 14.5 ERA.
23:21 The guy was so it's-so-over, we're-so-back as a pitcher.
23:26 But you look at his expected numbers, and he is the king of expected numbers being much, much better than his actual numbers.
23:34 I don't know exactly why that is, mainly because his stuff is very good.
23:38 His home runs are brilliant.
23:39 The things that he can control, the not giving up a lot of walks, check, I mean, it's about average-ish in walk rate.
23:46 His strikeout rate is insane.
23:48 His swing and miss rate is in the top 2% of baseball.
23:51 His strikeout rate is in the top 10% of baseball.
23:53 Fastball velocity is there.
23:54 The expected batting average and ERA were both very good.
23:57 His actual ERA was around 5-was actually exactly 5.5 last year during the regular season.
24:02 It was 3.35, his expected ERA.
24:06 So he got very, very unlucky, more so than-than almost any other pitcher, at least on the Rangers roster,
24:14 maybe even in the AOL West, maybe even in the entirety of Major League Baseball.
24:18 That difference between his actual ERA and his expected ERA.
24:21 The guy's got nasty freaking stuff, and a lot of being a reliever is about confidence.
24:25 How could you not have all the confidence in the world after that postseason he just had?
24:29 I feel like this is going to be a monster year for Josh Spors.
24:32 There are still questions all the way into even September of, is this guy even a guy who the Rangers should have on their roster?
24:38 Is he worth a roster spot, let alone a high-leverage spot in the pen?
24:41 He showed in that postseason that he is that dude, and he can bring it.
24:46 He can be one of the nastiest relievers in all of baseball.
24:49 The next player I think that's going to have a big, big, much better season in 2024 than in 2023 is one Nathaniel Lowe.
24:57 Now his defensive improvement was absolutely massive last year.
25:01 He was so, so, so much better.
25:04 I don't think I've ever seen a player improve their defense that much from one offseason than Nathaniel Lowe did.
25:10 And that was amazing, and that was awesome, and it was so, so needed.
25:15 Because every out, every play mattered quite a bit, and Nathaniel Lowe's defense really helped the Rangers out.
25:20 But his bat wasn't quite the same as it was when he won a Silver Slugger in 2022.
25:25 It just wasn't quite as consistent.
25:27 He kind of went back to the old me, as I would say, in the more passive version of Nathaniel Lowe.
25:36 Of the guys on the Rangers roster, I don't know that anybody has more raw power than Nathaniel Lowe.
25:43 That's even including Adoles Garcia, whose raw power is just off the freaking charts.
25:48 But in batting practice, nobody puts on a laser show like Nathaniel Lowe.
25:53 And one of the reasons why he had so much success in 2022 was because he was a bit more aggressive.
25:58 He did strike out a little bit more. He did swing and miss a little bit more.
26:02 He did walk just a little bit less, but he was doing some damage to baseballs.
26:08 The second half of Nathaniel Lowe in 2022 was on another level.
26:12 He was absolutely nuclear in that second half, in a way that I thought he might repeat this year in going off in the second half.
26:21 But that wasn't the case this year.
26:23 Last year in the second half, he hit .339 with an on-base just a point below .400 and a .964 OPS.
26:31 This year, in the first half, he had a .781 OPS in the first half, and then a .766 OPS in the second half.
26:38 Not quite the elite level hitter the Rangers were expecting him to be, and not the number three hitter that the Rangers were hoping for him to be.
26:47 I mean, he was supposed to be the protection for Corey Seager all year long.
26:50 He moved much further down in the lineup. I think he'll probably still be further down in the lineup this year.
26:55 I don't think they're going to go back to hitting him third.
26:57 They could, but I don't see that as a likely scenario.
27:01 But the Rangers need a big year from Nathaniel Lowe.
27:05 I feel like all the tools are definitely there.
27:07 He's an incredibly patient hitter.
27:09 He usually makes pretty good swing decisions.
27:11 He's got some insane raw power, and he's figured out how to hit fastballs a little bit better than he did when he was with the Rays, and they didn't think he could hit fastballs or lefties.
27:22 And that's also why he was so good overall in 2022, is because he hit the crap out of lefties.
27:29 This year, not so much.
27:31 He also had a lot going on in his personal life of his mom being diagnosed with brain cancer.
27:35 And how can that not weigh on you?
27:37 How can that not make it harder to go and succeed at your job of worrying about his mother?
27:42 And thankfully, she's been doing well and in recovery.
27:45 As far as I know, I haven't heard that many updates, but I'm hoping and wishing all the best for Wendy Lowe and for the family.
27:53 And I'm hoping that Nathaniel Lowe can have a good, restful offseason comeback.
27:57 And we've seen what this guy can do when he's on another level.
28:00 And if Nathaniel Lowe gets back to the 2022 version of himself, specifically the second half, you add that bat to this lineup that was already so insanely good last year.
28:13 And one of the guys with some of the highest ceiling of offensive potential on this team goes and takes it to that next level.
28:22 Man, this lineup can be absolutely terrifying for everyone who thinks they're going to win 81 or 82 or 85 games.
28:31 That takes this team to a whole new stratosphere of potential.
28:35 And the last guy on this list who I think will have a better year in 2024 than last season, that is one Jacob deGrom.
28:44 Now, that is mainly me banking on Jacob deGrom's health, which has been a risky prospect the last three years, unfortunately.
28:52 But I am an optimist.
28:54 If you're not an optimist about Rangers baseball at this point in time, for right now, maybe not forever, but coming off of that World Series run, I mean,
29:02 that optimism bliss is going to last for quite some time.
29:06 And I'm feeling optimistic about Jacob deGrom's recovery.
29:09 The expected timeline for when he comes back is hopefully some point in August.
29:13 Let's say it's August 1st and he gives the Rangers two months of incredible baseball and then pitches in the postseason.
29:21 Even if he comes back at the midway point in August, I'm just banking on him having more than six starts with the Rangers this year.
29:28 And I'm hoping that he has at least one start in the playoffs of Game 1 of a playoff series.
29:34 Because I cannot wait to watch Jacob deGrom pitch against the best lineups in baseball in a playoff series for these Texas Rangers while the bats absolutely crush everybody and take the pressure off them.
29:45 But he still goes out there and is absolutely amazing, whether the bats light up whoever they're playing or not.
29:50 Because I just cannot wait.
29:52 I mean, you remember what Jacob deGrom looks like regularly, but on a mound, it is scary.
30:00 It is spectacular. It's breathtaking.
30:03 It is honestly my favorite thing to watch in all of baseball is those six starts from Jacob deGrom.
30:10 Well, I take that back. Winning the World Series was very nice and all of that aside.
30:14 But in the regular season, there's nothing I like more than watching the baddest dude in town, the baddest dude on earth, just go to work and just paint the quarters with 99 and 99 and 102 and wherever else he's throwing that thing.
30:31 The nastiest slider in the game, the nastiest fastball, incredibly good changeup, and an exceptional curveball that he doesn't even ever really have to throw because all his other pitches are so insanely good.
30:43 Watching this guy work is an absolute treat.
30:46 And he is a big part of the Rangers hopes of repeating as champs.
30:52 I mean, every time I think about the Rangers World Series, which is probably about 8000 times a day, one or two or five or 10 of those thoughts are how the heck did this team do that with Jacob deGrom not pitching in the postseason at all?
31:08 The Rangers won a championship with the biggest ace in baseball on the shelf.
31:17 They really did that.
31:19 And they played the 98 win race and the 102 win Orioles and they swept them.
31:25 And then they took the Astros seven games and they won every single game in Houston.
31:28 And then they won the World Series against a very good, very scrappy, very underrated Diamondbacks team.
31:35 And they did that with Jacob deGrom on the shelf.
31:38 I'm hoping so much for a quick and healthy recovery from Jacob deGrom.
31:42 And we never have to see him miss any time whatsoever.
31:45 But I'm betting that he's going to make a bigger impact in this year than he did last year.
31:50 Because, man, I cannot wait to watch him take the hill in a playoff series this year because I'm pretty darn sure it's going to happen this year.
31:59 That's going to do it for this week's edition of Locked on Rangers.
32:02 Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing.
32:05 And until next time, don't forget to enjoy World Series champion Texas Rangers baseball.
32:10 [END]