SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hello and welcome to Talking Cards with Grand Salami and the Juice. I am your host, The Juice, along here with my co-host Bert. How are you doing, Bert? I'm doing good, Juice. How are you, man? I'm doing good. It is opening week, and I'm going to talk like it's the future. The Mets have one another opening day. This is awesome, man. And you are enjoying Mexico or Arizona right now.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, today we get to talk about the National League, right? So the coin flips over to you.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yes. So last episode we talked about what we are most excited for each team in the American League for one player from each team. We will do the same for the National League. Let's start with the National League East. The Atlanta Braves. Let's talk about a vet. Ronald Jr. used to be a top five name in the hobby.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

I mean, if he stays healthy, the sky's the limit, right? Uh we'll see. We'll see. You know, I could he could be a 50-50 guy. He's already done the uh the 30-70, right? Or the 40-70, was it?

unknown 1:17

I never know.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

40-70, yep. Insane talent. Insane talent. He's one of those guys, right up. I know we talked about trout. Like, I just really want to see Trout stay healthy, get a full season in. I feel the same way about Ronald Acunio Jr. Special talent. The game needs him.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, when he's going and he's healthy, top five exciting guy to watch in baseball. You talk about these guys that are like electric, you say Ellie Della Cruz. For example, even though Neil Cruz, everyone loves his exit velo and stuff. But Ronald Acunio Jr., he sets the bar for everyone. 40-70 season. Doesn't get more exciting than that unless you're a Mets fan having to watch it. But besides that, for from a pure baseball perspective, yes, I'm hoping for good things from him.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Braves are going to bounce back this year, too. You can't keep them down at the bottom of the NL East for too long. They're going to be right back.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Next up for the Marlins, we have a pitcher who has not yet made his debut and is still in the minors. Big pitching prospects. A lot of people very, very excited about this guy. If you talk to people that know prospects, this is the pitching guy they're saying to target. Tommy White.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Thomas White. Yeah, Thomas White, probably the probably the top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball. A little bit banged up, which is always scary. I think uh, you know, you look at his prices, and they've been ever since Bowman came out in May. Steady, steady rise up for Thomas White, but now they've kind of stagnated with some of these injury concerns. But uh after a couple uh after some of these pitching prospects graduate, he may end up being the top pitching prospect in baseball. We'll we'll see how quickly the Marlins rush him back up. He was a guy that could have broken camp if he stayed healthy. A lot of people expected him to. But I think with the injury concerns, they'll be a little bit more hesitant, especially because I don't think the Marlins are really planning on competing this year.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Definitely keep an eye on him. Look out for when his debut is coming up because he can really hit the hobby scene like another Jacob Mizerowski. So definitely keep an eye on him, someone to watch out for. All right, we will go to the Mets next and a rookie. We've talked about him a few times as well in past episodes, but he is the guy to talk about for the Mets. Nolan McLean. How are you feeling about McLean now?

SPEAKER_01 3:37

I feel like his pr his uh card prices are really high all of a sudden. I was I was pricing out that 2025 Bowman Mega Box break that I did the other day. Like his uh his base mojo Chrome Prospect Auto, not a first, by the way, is like$200, which is just an insane, insane price for a Mega Box auto. The WBC helped. I think he had a he had a the the the first start was shaky, right? Not good, but what he did in the championship game, I think, turned a lot of heads. He looked he looked strong. And I think uh he's he's been one of the people's favorite fantasy baseball picks. I think the standards are set pretty high for McLean. The expectations are are very high. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 4:21

When people talk about filthy stuff, filthy movement, it's Nolan McLean. That's what they are referring to.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

His spin rate like on his breaking stuff is insane. I mean, you can see it too. That I mean, it's just nuts.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

He's a highlight reel just waiting to happen with the nasty stuff that he throws. And I'm just hoping that he can prove that he can do it over a full season. It was just eight starts last year. World baseball classic. Not great, not terrible, but we'll we'll see how how he does uh once the regular season starts going. Next up, let's talk about the Phillies. Big prospect out of them, Aiden Miller. How are you feeling about him?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Aiden Miller was uh one of the biggest names in 2024 Bowman. And then he kind of underwhelmed early in his minor league career, fell off a little bit, but now all of a sudden people are very high on Aiden Miller again. Um, good good hobby market in Philadelphia. I think he uh he could be a guy that you see as a midseason call-up this year, too. And if he does get called up, I think his cards still have a little bit of room to grow too. I I'd expect him to be one of those call-up, big call-up bump guys.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, right now you can only find him in Bowman products if he gets called up by June 1st. Hopefully you can see him in Topps Update or something like that. But yeah, something to keep an eye on, if especially if you're a Philly fan. All right. One of the guys that we've talked about a few times for the Washington Nationals, James Wood, and I am sewing on him too. I'm saying this about a few guys. I missed him in my fantasy draft, and I was pissed. But yeah, he's saying it's not not an easy grab. More eyes are getting on him, but I'm expecting big things from him this year. What are your expectations?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I'm expecting big things too. I think he's gonna be in the MVP conversation at the end of the year. I don't know if you know it's gonna be hard to beat out a healthy Shohei, but I think he'll be in the conversation. I I see James Wood being a top five MVP guy this year in the NL.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

I just got his gold strokes from Bowman's Best.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Nice. I got the Cruise actually. I hit it in a break with Deep Friday.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah, yeah. I think I saw that. Yeah, that was sick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Cruise, I mean, a lot of people surprised that he got the demotion. I don't know. Maybe they're just trying to help him build confidence again.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Um, let's move on to the NL Central Chicago Cubs. We will be talking about he is no longer a rookie, he's been in the league a few years now, and last year, the first half of the season, he was amazing. He was the hobby guy, PCA P. Crow Armstrong. What are you looking for him this year?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

My dear P PCA from 2020 Bowman draft. The Mets. My favorite product ever. God, 2020 Bowman was so good. The full border, everything about it was just awesome. Um, yeah, PCA, man. I don't know, a tale of two halves, right? MVP, probably leading MVP candidate in the first half, and then below replacement level player in the second half of the season. You get the feeling he might kind of cut that in the middle this year, be a little less volatile, maybe, and but still be like a potential all-star level guy. I mean, he's he's a fan favorite, he's got a great personality, he's very charismatic, he's explosive as heck. He could steal 80 bases if he gets on base enough. Probably the best defensive center fielder for my money in the game.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Um, yeah, I'm thinking that he's eventually going to be an MVP guy. I think he will get an MVP one year. I'm wondering if he is gonna just be one of those streaky players, kind of like the opposite of Julio. You know, first half versus second half. But yeah, I'm very excited to see what he can do. And I would love for him to sustain it for a full season because he's just so much fun.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Let's move to the Cincinnati Reds and we will talk about Ellie De la Cruz. So much fun to watch, such a big name in the hobby. Probably bigger than he deserves, but he's just they call him electric, and it's more a reason. What are your thoughts about him this year?

SPEAKER_01 8:35

You know, with all the changes in people's heights this year because of the ABS measurements and things like that, wasn't he actually taller than advertised? Was he one of the guys that's actually one of the few guys that's gone up in height?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

I missed that. Maybe he just had a spurt.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Six, seven, shortstop. Jeez. Anyways, yeah, I mean, I have my doubts about Ellie. You know, same doubts as everybody has. Can he make enough contact? Does he strike out too much? But I did end up taking him in my first round pick for fantasy baseball, so I'm definitely rooting for Ellie. And his card prices have never really come down. They they went up, they had their meteoric rise in 2024, and they have not really come down. So I don't know. I think this year might be the year where the rubber hits the road a little bit. Like if he doesn't, if he if he has another year this year like he did last year, I think his prices start to come down card-wise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

To put up a shut up year for him, I think for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

All right. Next up, we got the Milwaukee Brewers. We will go back to a picture again. We will talk about Jacob Mizarowski, the Miz. Got called up last year, took the hobby by storm for a little while. Things sort of calmed down, but he is one of the rookies to get in the top's products this year. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

I don't know if he's going to be able to stay healthy. The man throws too hard. It comes like just physically, comes down to a point where these guys are just inevitable injury risks based on how hard they throw. And I think Mizierowski not only throws really hard, but he's also pretty high effort. You know, he I have doubts whether or not he can reel it back in. He's a real competitive dude. He's always going out there and trying to strike out the side. Um, I think the challenge for him will be to kind of reel it back in. How can you be a big league starter for an entire season? He's not gonna be able to do it at the at the type of effort level he's been putting in. So and load management too. You know, the Brewers are gonna be super careful with him. But, you know, he's gonna have his moments throughout the season where he's, you know, striking out nine and four innings, ten and four innings, stuff like that, where it's gonna be like you're gonna see some serious hobby blips.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

He's one of those guys where I'm listening on eBay, 50% above market, buy it now. And then if he has a great game, just hope that someone just tries to snag it.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah, same thing with Chase Burns. I think uh they're just so electric when things are going well for them, it's it's pretty fun to watch and very impressive.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Pittsburgh Pirates always seem to have a guy around the hobby right now that you gotta talk about. As much as we could talk about Paul Skeens, you could probably have a whole episode on him. We will talk about Connor Griffin, probably the fastest rising name in the hobby for the past few months. His prices have gotten absurd. We've touched on him before. But where are you feeling? How do we stand on opening day? What are we looking for? I think a lot of Connor Griffin He did not get the call-up. He got sent back down, as I'm sure you know. He got sent back down.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

And I think with getting sent back down, a lot of Connor Griffin holders were really disappointed, you know, and a little bit a little bit scared that their collections might take a little bit of a monetary hit. Um, I going back to what we talked about in the last episode about Travis Bazan, I think it's kind of the same, except at a higher level with Connor Griffin. I think him going back down to the minor leagues is only going to allow him to build more hype. He's going to tear up the minor leagues in his short stint before he inevitably gets called up in May or June. And I think it'll allow him to get back to the same peak levels that we saw when he hit those two home runs early in spring training, where it was just Connor Griffin, pandemonium across the hobby.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Follow that kind of Griffin news, everyone. You want to know when this guy's making his debut because this is going to be the debut of the year to follow.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

He didn't when you look at his spring training numbers, he didn't have very good numbers, though. I think that's a good thing. So I think expectations have been tempered a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

But as I said in our spring training preview, you can't take those numbers too seriously. Obviously, you want them to be good, but it's not really no alarm bells for me just yet. Next up, big time prospect for the Cardinals. He did make the opening day roster. We just found out today. JJ Weatherholt. Oh man, a lot of people are very, very in on him. But where are you at? I think he hits the ground running.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

I do. I think he's gonna have a solid year as a big leaker. I don't think he's gonna have an amazing year. I don't see him putting up any type of crazy numbers. I think from like a hobby perspective or fantasy baseball perspective, like I don't think I don't expect him to go very much higher than he is right now, but really good player, awesome skill set, sky's the limit.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah, I think that Cardinals fan base too, very excited. Of course they're very excited for him, but they're waiting for that next elite talent, and they're hoping that's him. So I really think his market can be looking really, really good if he does hit the ground running, like you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Yeah, it feels like there's been a it's been a minute since the Cardinals had like a real household name. But they always seem to have one each generation. I don't know. JJ could be that could be that next guy.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Good baseball town. They they deserve to be a good one. And then our last division up for the National League, the National League West, Arizona Diamondbacks. This guy, there are so many of us that have just been waiting for this guy to finally put it together, finally get an opportunity to play every day. Jordan Lawler, I've spoken about him before too, and how I have a nice Jordan Lawler PC. Some of my favorite cards are Lawler's, and what I'm just looking forward to him is him getting that playing time and really getting an opportunity this season. Where are you at on him?

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Let me ask you then a hypothetical. Let's say he comes he comes out the gates hot. All the cards that you own of Jordan Lawler go up by about 40-50%. Are you then selling or are you continuing to hold?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

I'm continuing to hold because the prices have dropped so much. 40% 50%. No, that doesn't move the needle enough for me. No, no, no, no. I am because it's also PC, it's also a little more difficult to hold. Like some of the cards I have are you're ready to go to the grave with Jordan Lawler. Oh yeah. Ride or die with Jordan Lawler.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

I can't blame someone for for selling though. If he does. If he starts out the first half of the year, makes the all-star game, and they're saying, Alright, I'm ready to sell. I can't blame you. But but no. I really want to see that that value go up even more than that. I want him to come out of the gate, have like a PCA start. I know that's a ton to ask for, but yeah, that that's what I need out of him in order to consider uh selling at this point.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, one of the stars of 21 Bowman draft. I mean, him and Marcelo, right? We're kind of the poster boys. 21 draft could use a little bit of love. The secondary prices out of all the draft years are the lowest in 21. I think going back to like 2019.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah, I remember them being the two guys to get. I hit a nice uh Marcelo, I remember, out of Sapphire, actually. That year the Sapphire didn't have Otos either, so it was just uh just color. All right, next up, Colorado Rockies, Charlie Condon prospect. I don't remember what year Bowman he was, but he was definitely one of the guys to get. Colorado seems like they always have those prospects where you're like, okay, this guy I'm very in on, and then nothing really comes to fruition with them. But how are you feeling on Condon?

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah, Condon and JJ were two of the big holdovers from the 24 draft that got their first Bowman in 2025 Bowman. And I think one of the things I've been noticing, because I've been running a lot of 2025 Bowman breaks, but the the the Charlie Condon market seems to like not a whole lot of demand, not nearly as much demand as there as there was in May when the product came out. I think people grow very cautious of Colorado Rockies hitting prospects. You know, it it's kind of counterintuitive because playing up there in that thin air, you'd expect Colorado to pump out and kind of maximize the potential of some of these prospects, but their development is so bad that I think a lot of people have some doubt about their ability to develop content. Such a good player, though, Golden Spikes Award winner, and I don't know. So somebody down there in Colorado's got to eventually take advantage of this thin air thing. Maybe it's gonna be Zach Vean this year, but uh it's been a while since the Rockies had a big power guy.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yeah, I was I was sewing on Amador and he just just nothing.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

He seems to be a zero.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Next up we have the Dodgers, the biggest name in the hobby. I don't even need to explain who or why. Shohei Otani. This is the guy running the hobby pretty much right now. It seems like every day his prices still keep going up. What what could you possibly be looking for out of Shohei Otani this year?

SPEAKER_01 17:56

What's he gonna do next? Yeah, I think the natural next step in his progression is to win the Cy Young and go 50-50 again. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, maybe he gets the 60 home runs now. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, just I'm just thinking to myself, no way can he get a Cy Young and go 50-50, but no way can he do any of the stuff he's done.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

And there's been zero shohei fatigue, right? Like it seems that everybody loves the man. Like if you're a baseball purist, a baseball fan, and you can't not like him.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Even as a dodger, you know what I mean? And he's such a for the hobby numbers, you know, just the numbers that his cards do and everything.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Raw, 100 in a PSA 10.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

It's insane.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

You pretty much have to set any Chauve that you have aside and look at it for your grading pile. Yeah, pretty much even at 25 you even at$25 a sub now at PSA, like you could turn a$25 card into a$100 card very, really quickly and uh you know and it will sell fast. It's such a everything show a is so liquid right now that I signed up for a show in mid-April and I had to go through my thousands of cards again just to see if there's any base Otani's that I missed.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Because if I miss like four per box, that could be hundreds, thousands of dollars that I can just be sitting there. It's insane. All right. Um, so yeah, we've talked about otani so much. Let's uh move on from him. San Diego Padres. I'm excited to see Tatis Jr. and what he can do. What are you looking for out of him?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

I think it could be a really big year for 2019 Topps products because I could see Tatis having a big year. I could see Vlad having a big year. I could see Kyle Tucker having a big year in LA. I could see Pete Alonso doing some things over in Baltimore, you know, doing Pete Alonso things. And not to mention, you have the Shohei Rookie Cups, thinking about 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire, 2019 Topps Chrome products, Topps flagship products. Yeah, and Tatisse is a very important cog in that entire equation, right? He he did Nick Kurtz-like things in his first couple years in the big leagues, those just unbelievable numbers that you're like, how could he re reproduce it? Then of course he goes down for steroids, and everyone thinks that he can't do it again. I see no reason why he can't do it again. I think he's still the same athlete that he was while he was taking steroids.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Yeah. Pretty much his hobby value has not recovered since then. But I'm I'm excited for him to be able to put it together like we were all expecting him to be able to and just have that big season. Yeah, I see him as a hold or buy. I'm not selling Tatisse right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

That's where I'm such crazy energy. He had such crazy energy when he came up as a young kid, you know. And I I think he's kind of lost a little bit. I I remember the the Padres came to town and we got seats in right field, so we could kind of watch Tatiste for an entire game. And he he looked he looked pretty bored, you know. I think he's the kind of guy that really benefits from playing with a big time spark, kind of like Julio in that aspect. That uh, and maybe the WBC will spark that because those guys were having so much fun. Maybe some of that spark carries over into the major league season.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Last up, we will finish this out with the San Francisco Giants. Let's talk about Bryce Eldridge. A lot of people very high on him. Obviously, things have fizzled out for his name quite a bit, but it seems like his name is always around where people are expecting it to really break through. Where are you at?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

I see a whole lot of people buying Bryce Eldridge right now. This might be a situation. Situation where people that went big on him early are holding and there's just not a whole lot on the market. But he's not somebody that's coming across my radar very often. I mean, he's got the prospect pedigree, he's got the big pop that the hobby wants to see, but it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot of demand for him. People not people aren't willing to pay the big numbers for his cards that a lot of people probably got in at.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

He's one of those guys where I feel like he can have an all-star season, I wouldn't be surprised, or he gets sent back down and I wouldn't be surprised. It could really go either way with him.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Yeah. I don't know. I tr I trust the Giants to develop players. I don't know if I should, but I I do. If it feels like Eldridge uh might be a good buy right now.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah, I can definitely see it. I got some nice Eldridge and I have. And all right. Well, that actually does it for our opening week season preview. Hopefully you're having a very exciting opening day. Bert, hopefully your future self is winning. Yes. Mets are great on opening day. And uh hopefully that continues.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Elite opening day team.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah, that they have uh the best record in baseball for opening day.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Wow. So usually it's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah, who's the opening day starter? Peralta.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah, it's Peralta then.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Again, Skies.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah, good luck, Carson Bench. Welcome to the major leagues.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, he was someone that I I consider putting in for the Mets name, but McClean is just he's the more exciting hobby name right now. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, thank you everyone so much for listening. That does it for us on Talking Town.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Thanks for listening. It was always nice talking cards with the juice.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Yep. And we will be back next week. Maybe we'll give our initial thoughts for opening week overreactions, underreactions. I think that would be a fun episode. All right. Enjoy opening week. Hopefully, you know, your your teams won.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

Yeah, definitely.