Opening Day Analysis: Twins vs. Cardinals & More Previews

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00:00Twins and Cardinals, as Pablo Lopez gets the opening day start for the Twins, it is Sonny Gray,

00:06George for St. Louis. A lot of people, you know, George asked me this time of the year for my

00:13picks, you know, for my season picks as to like who I like, who I don't like. I'm in a little bit

00:18of a different position this year as opposed to years past doing broadcast work. But I will just

00:23say this, George, I have a lot of concerns with the Cardinals. I have a lot of concerns with the

00:30Cardinals going into the season. Up and down the lineup, in the pitching rotation, and also the

00:37fact that your next general manager is not your current general manager with no allegiance

00:44whatsoever to any of the current players on the team. Listen, I think the future is going to be

00:50really bright. Hein Blum, look what he did with the Red Sox. All these kids that they have coming

00:54up, those are all his guys, drafted all of these players. I think the Cardinals are going to be in

00:58great shape in the future. I don't think this is their year. I think everyone's pretty much on

01:04board with you here, right? They've got a lot of interesting young players. They just haven't

01:08quite hit, you know, with Donovan, the Gormans of the world, the Walker. It's just a truckload of

01:14these guys they just haven't hit here. Sonny Gray's lined up to start opening day. We find

01:18out his velocity's down. He says he's healthy, but his velocity's down. That's not a good

01:24sign, right? They want to trade him, but he has a no trade clause. He didn't move. Aronado, same thing.

01:29It's sort of a mess here, right? It's just a complete mess of the Cardinals here. It's a weak

01:34division, so I guess, once again, you want to play Professor Optimist here. If things go well, I think

01:39they can compete, but I sort of lead where you're going here. This is going to be a fourth, fifth

01:44place team. Yeah, I think so. All right, Tariq Schubel gets the Dodgers coming back from Tokyo

01:50here. Dodgers haven't really announced who's going to start. I think we kind of have an idea, but not

01:56positive there. So, you know, we'll wait on that, but certainly Detroit's going to be much improved,

02:00I think, going into the season. Their offense still will be a challenge. Interesting that on

02:04Saturday, I noticed the Tigers started Javier Baez in center field. I don't know if you saw that one,

02:10George. So, they're just trying to figure out anywhere for him to play. Meadows has been out

02:14there, too. So, you got Schubel on the mound, and it's the Dodgers. They'll get tested there.

02:20Yeah, I mean, Baez, what a bust. That was not going well. Everything I've heard, by the way,

02:26is Snell's going to start the home opener there on Thursday, and then Glasnow goes Game 2.

02:33They haven't announced Game 3. It'll be Yamamoto or Sasaki. I don't think it'll be Dustin May,

02:37and I think he'll be Game 5 the week after there. So, I expect Yamamoto will go Game 3,

02:42but Snell and Glasnow look like they'll finally get on the board here for Game 1 and 2. I guess

02:46they can reverse Games 2 and 3, as well, with Glasnow. The Game 1 pitching match-up's fantastic,

02:52all right? Schubel, a young award-winner for the Detroit Tigers. He has to pitch well,

02:58by the way. That offense is not very good in Detroit. I don't care where Baez plays.

03:01They need their pitching staff to step up and pitch well. We'll see what Casey Mize does,

03:05but he pitches also here. Flaherty, I guess, is pitching for his former team,

03:09so that'll be emotional somewhat, but everyone in the World Series with the Dodgers there.

03:13Looking forward to it, but Game 1, Schubel versus Snell should be the—it's not

03:19Skeen's Alcantara, but it's right there. All right, Cubs and Diamondbacks. Cubs,

03:23of course, played a couple of games. Interesting that the Diamondbacks gave the opening day nod

03:27to Zach Gallin. I think that's just kind of like he's been there, he's done that with them,

03:32and then Corbin Burns, I'm assuming, George Wright, is going to start the second game of

03:35the season. I haven't seen anything official there, but I'm assuming that's the case.

03:39That's a heck of a one-two punch. I mean, dare I say, I mean, George,

03:42the Cubs fans may be freaking out here a little bit after facing the Diamondbacks here

03:47after the first week of the season. I mean, the Cubs could lose like three out of four

03:51of this series. Arizona's really good. Maybe the Cubs are like one and five, one and six

03:55to start the year. It's a possibility, all right? It's a possibility. Tough start there,

04:01you know, so I agree with you about Gallin. They're trying to trade Jordan Montgomery,

04:05too, right, to pitching leading teams. I think Montgomery is a guy who'll be on a new team,

04:10I don't know, by opening day, but surely thereafter, I think he'll be on somebody else's squad.

04:15The Nomad A's take on the Seattle Mariners on opening day. They announced yesterday Luis

04:20Severino is going to start for them, Logan Gilbert for Seattle. Of course, Seattle is going to be

04:27down George Kirby to start the season, so he will not be in that rotation as they open up,

04:32but, you know, the A's have to be curious, man, like Rooker and that extension for

04:37Yelof and some other players. I mean, maybe with the spending they did and

04:41getting ready to go to Vegas in a few years, maybe they surprise some people. We'll see.

04:45They want to be good when they get to Vegas, right? They'll score some runs this year,

04:48especially when they're playing in Sacramento. Not in this game. No,

04:51I think it's gonna be a lower scoring game with Gilbert on the mound.

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