Episode 31 (8/17/22): Rutschman’s Positive Effect on Orioles, Texas Rangers Clean House, Oakland A’s Exemplify Need For MLB Salary Floor, Rant On A’s Payroll & Attendance Rate, NFL Training Camp News

In this episode, Joey starts by talking about the Orioles holding the 7th best record in the MLB since rookie catcher Adley Rutschman’s debut on May 21st. He mentions the Red Sox’s 5-3 victory over the Pirates last night in Pittsburgh and highlights Alex Verdugo’s success as the cleanup hitter over the last 9 games. Joey talks about Pirates 1B Michael Chavis who will play against the Red Sox for the first time since being traded to Pittsburgh last July at the MLB trade deadline in 2021. Then, Joey moves onto the Texas Rangers who fired manager Chris Woodward on Monday after four seasons with the club and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels after holding the position for 17 years with the franchise before being relieved today.After that, Joey goes off on a 30-minute rant (5:39-33:39) about the Oakland Athletics and their failure to try to stay remotely competitive. The A’s currently have the lowest payroll in the MLB after designating Jed Lowrie, Stephen Piscotty and Elvis Andrus for assignment over the last few days. He argues that the MLB needs a salary floor in order to improve competition as there are 10 clubs with payrolls under $60 million, which is a third of the teams in the league. The Moneyball formula has not been effective for Oakland as of late and their failure to spend money is the reason they have the lowest attendance rate in the Majors this year. He compares Oakland’s payroll to the rest of the league and to contracts of some notable players. Joey points out other franchises that have some of the lowest payrolls and explains the correlation between attendance rate and payroll amounts, as there are eight clubs in the bottom-10 of payrolls in the Majors with bottom-10 attendance rates.Following that, he touches on the Justin Verlander versus Dylan Cease matchup from last night and White Sox 1B Jose Abreu’s hot streak over the last month. He updates listeners on how the AL East has performed in the month of August, headlined by the Yankees holding the worst record in the MLB in August. At the end, he closes the episode by talking about news in the NFL over the past day, which includes Derwin James’ contract extension with the Chargers and the four fights at the Patriots-Panthers joint practices. Joey questions whether or not Bill Belichick could potentially be losing control of the team.