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#MLB Pitchers and catchers report in about 10 days. So officially baseball winter is over as the sound of balls hitting gloves is imminent! Watching video of #Rangers Jacob DeGrom is compelling and full of promise! The fate of the team is likely tied to how DeGrom pitches in 2025 and how much!

We talk about the American League teams and what they did of interest since the 2024 season regular season ended in early October. Four months is a long time! Which AL teams got better? Did any? #Yankees lost Juan Soto and Clay Holmes as well as Anthony Rizzo. They brought in Max Fried, Paul Goldschmidt, and Cody Bellinger. Seems like it could be a good exchange if the three play to their best selves.

But who's gonna play third base for the Yanks especially when Max Fried pitches? We cover every team on the Junior Circuit - even the team that formerly played in Oakland and was called the Athletics. We have no idea what they will be when they play in Sacramento this and the following two years at least.

"This is the year" is one of our favorite expressions that is too often hope triumphing over experience.

Correction - Matt Manning did not pitch for #Tigers in playoffs. It was Matt Boyd who is now with the #Cubs.

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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Dan was not the voter who didn't vote for Ichiro. But we all wish we knew who it was! For the 3rd straight year Dan joined the podcast to discuss the final HOF voting. He voted for Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Chase Utley, and Billy Wagner. 9 in total and we discussed why he didn't vote for one more - could have been King Felix, Andy Pettitte, or Dustin Pedrioia or even David Wright!

We also discussed allowing voters to vote for more candidates than the current limit of 10. Gordon suggested that if a player got one vote in his first year on the ballot he could stay on for year 2 and then be subject to some sort of minimum percentage - 5% or even less.

As #Mets fans we are thrilled that Billy Wagner finally made it. New Yorkers will be traveling to Cooperstown this coming July to celebrate CC and Billy.

Dan is working on a couple of new articles including an upcoming one on Babe Dahlgren's foray into video analysis more than 70 years ago!

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

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#pirates and #whitesox Smoky Burgess had a pretty good career with a career OPS+ of 116. But he's third all-time in pinch hits and was a beloved player at the end of his career. We talk about the changes in pinch hitting and why all-time pinch hitting records are likely safe!

Intro & Outro music this season courtesy of Mercury Maid! Check them out on Spotify or Apple Music!

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you can give us 4 or 5 star rating that means a lot. And if you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com. You can also follow us on X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel. And please tell your friends!

www.almostcooperstown.com