Kris Bubic

Yeah.

So talk to me about Bubic.

I have him off the roster but in a separate category.

I know some people have said, hey, the Dodgers went out and they traded for this guy, not that they gave up a ton.

I have him off, so I agree.

I think it's perfectly said, a combination of both.

I don't think we saw anything from Bubic that leads us to believe, oh my gosh, he's going to be a weapon in the future.

I imagine there will be a market as well.

I think he also does end up retiring.

And I think Bubic is absolutely gone.

He's going to get paid a ton of money to be a starter somewhere.

Lauer, same thing.

within that starting rotation, especially in the bottom end of it when you have so much uncertainty with guys that just haven't really put it together over a full season at the major league level.

Yeah, I love Bubic.

I think that's a great ad.

And I was going to do him, but I did hear you sort of, we were chatting beforehand, so I didn't want to double up on him because I knew you'd bring him up.

Why not go to Vessia and just keep him in there? Instead, he goes to Roki Sasaki, which, okay, Roki actually pitched well.

But then why in the top of the fifth are you taking Roki out and you put in Bubic to face the heart of the order? And, of course, Bubic gives up a massive home run to William Contreras to tie up the game.

I mean... we'd taken, we had retaken the lead at that point.

We're up four to three.

We'll do this fairly quick.

And there will be a couple names we probably debate about.

Chris Bubich, free agent.

See ya! See, I actually am turning, turning a corner.

Next one is coming from Steve.

How about Bubic in the bullpen? We talked about that too.

For the right price, I would do it.

I believe he can return to that 2024 form and the Royals would not have to worry about him starting and then missing games.

They do.

They're losing Vessia, Bubic, Phillips, Trinan.

That's it.

And Gratterall, I guess.

He had a lull at the middle of the year and kind of forgot about him a little bit, especially with that Dodgers bullpen.

There's so many other good options he kind of got.

Jack Dreyer was getting more use against him, and then Bubic came in towards the end of the season.

But Vestia finished the season well.

It's one of the things I love about baseball is how many times guys get chances to completely reinvent themselves and go through a bunch of different roles as a pitcher in this league.

Next guy on this list, another 29-year-old, another former, yes, first-round pick of the Kansas City Royals.

This is left-handed pitcher Chris Bubich, who spent the entirety of his big league career with the Kansas City Royals up until this season at the deadline, traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitched five games for the Dodgers, four and two-thirds innings just out of the bullpen, was a starter with Kansas City, was rehabbing quite a bit when he got traded.

and the daughter said we can't probably fully rehabilitate him into being a starting pitcher also we have so many starting pitchers we don't really need him but let's go throw another quality arm in the back end of this bullpen or just in any part of this bullpen he has got an exceptional change up not a whole lot of velocity on that fastball projected to sign a four-year 69 million dollar deal which would be pretty darn nice for him that's 17 and a half million dollars per year his change up his ground ball right his strikeout rate all those are very very good His best season by far was his age, his 2025 season.

He was 27 years old back then, a 3.1 baseball reference for 20 starts, 116 innings and a 255 ERA.

It's, um, the [laughs] things drop off very, very quickly after that, after that top kind of range of pitchers.

I don't hate Kris Bubic.

Yeah.

I mean, Kris Bubic is a playoff pitcher.

He is.

So he is in the sense that he can pitch as your five or when it hits the playoffs, he can pitch as middle relief.