Big 12 Conference review (Hour 4)

We miss college football. Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun throws for the corner.

Brock Bowers one on one. Caught! Touchdown!

He ate him alive! Falls down into the end zone. Six more for Georgia. We can't wait for the 2023 season. Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner.

Oh my! Touchdown Trojans! And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? I said no! Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix. Only on the Zach Gelb Show. We continue the Zach Gelb Show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Time to preview the Big 12 for this upcoming football season with Big 12 Media Days underway. Out in Jerry's World and now joining us from Big 12 Radio.

Obviously a part of Sirius XM and that of course is our pal and Ari Temkin. Ari, I appreciate the time. How are you? Doing great Zach. How are you buddy?

I'm doing fantastic. There's for the first time in a while excitement around this Texas football program and it's actually warranted. I don't want to go is Texas back the first question out of the gate because we've been asking that for a long time but what are your expectations on Longhorns this year?

Yeah, I mean look. There have been high expectations for Texas football a lot in recent history but for being honest, not quite like this. They haven't been picked to win the Big 12 in the preseason poll in a long time.

And look, as somebody that did not pick Texas to win the Big 12 this year, I would certainly not be surprised at all if they won it and beyond. I mean their talent level is very high. And look, Zach, we've been talking about their talent level for years, right?

It's different though. They've got three offensive linemen that are NFL players, okay? Two guys, Cole Hudson and Kelvin Banks that could probably be in the NFL this season. Banks is certainly what he did as a true freshman last year.

And that's to me where I start, right? Like we know this team has had talent. They've had skill position talent. They've had quarterback talent. But it's the substantive stuff. It's the offensive line stuff.

That's I think what separates them this year. The big question to me is based on a guy we just spoke with to end our first day here at Big 12 media days, which is Steve Sarkeesian. He checks up a lot of boxes. The guy knows offensive football. He knows quarterbacks. He knows how to develop quarterbacks. He can recruit. The recruiting he's done at Texas has been second to none.

But can he be a head coach? And there's a track record here that questions that. And last year this team was in position to win a lot of games. They blew leads. They did not finish. And so there are questions about Sarkees as a head coach.

And until we can see it, those remain. But look, their talent is there and sometimes talent wins out more than anything else. So we were expecting this epic QB battle between Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. I know Malik Murphy has been a part of it as well. Ewers wins that QB job rather quickly. There's so much to ask about with Arch Manning. Out of 100 percent, what are the chances at some point this year that we see Arch Manning on the field for the Longhorns starting again?

Man, that's a great question because they'd have to get through two quarterbacks to get to them. You know, Malik Murphy is their backup. It's funny because Murphy is, I mean, first of all, I don't know how he keeps all three of these guys on campus. And that's something I asked him. And he said, look, you just got to be honest with everybody throughout the process and hope that your track record and ability to develop stands tall.

But it's super funny. Last year, Quinn Ewers wasn't here. He was in a quarterback competition, quote unquote, with Hudson Card. And all the hype was around Quinn Ewers. I mean, you know, Quinn Ewers was as hyped as a quarterback as ever. And yet now here we are with a guy that was hyped even more than Ewers was in Arch Manning. And it's like suddenly Quinn Ewers, all the hype is gone.

It's all washed off. And it's so it's such an interesting dynamic where a year later he's here and all the questions to him are more about Arch Manning as opposed to previously where it's like we're all asking questions about how Quinn Ewers looks, you know, he's in the middle of a competition. So, look, I don't know that there's a very high percentage that we see Arch Manning this year again, because it's not like he's going to back up Quinn. He's going to be the first string quarterback. Mike Murphy is an absolute monster.

He's 6'5", he's 250 pounds, and he's a big boy. And so he brings another dynamic to this offense that, you know, if something were to happen to Ewers in terms of an injury, you know, I think we would see Murphy. And I think if things go horribly awry for this team this year, then we see Manning. But I do expect this team in Texas to be towards the top of the conference all year to be competing for a Big 12 championship. And I think they only do that with Quinn Ewers as a quarterback. Yeah, Fauzi Whitaker, what you just said a few weeks ago basically told me the same thing.

And I'll just follow up this way, Ari Temkin. If Ewers either stinks or gets hurt like what happened last year, and it's one thing in relief during a game to put Murphy in, but the next week, I know he's listed as two on the depth chart, is Sark really going to have the stones where the hype is all going to be all the fans? You know what Texas fans could be wanting to see Arch Manning?

Yes, I really believe so. Because even though it's a hard decision, fans want to see him, I mean, you listen to fans, Zach, sooner or later you end up sitting with them. And Sark mentioned this, and I don't know how offhanded it was, but he's developed quarterbacks for a long time now. And we can question his head coaching record, we can question a lot of things about Sark, but the development of quarterbacks is something we can't really question.

And there's a process there, and there's no skipping steps within that process. And that's not to say that a true freshman couldn't start, but Malik Murphy is further ahead in that process, and he's up against it. This team is picked to win the Big 12. The Big 12 is wide open, it's a league of parity. You've got to win the league this year, or at least get to AT&T Stadium, where I'm standing right now on the field at AT&T Stadium, and play for a Big 12 championship. Because otherwise, you go into the hardest conference in America next year with negative momentum, and that is devastating for Texas.

Then you start to wonder, if they don't play in the game here at AT&T Stadium, and things go awry, is Sark going year one in the SEC on the hot seat? So, he's got to do what he needs to do to put the best team on the field to be successful, and at least right now it appears Malik Murphy is the second best guy that he has on his roster, and second best in terms of positioning to be a starting quarterback if, as you mentioned, Ewers suffers an injury, or he is, as we saw, kind of in the back half last year, not as good. You know the Manning family is very calculated. There's a reason why they selected Texas for Arch Manning, whatever it was. For next year, though, like at the end of this season, with what you just said about Murphy, you know, Quinn Ewers, if he plays well, will be off to the NFL, you would think. Would it surprise you if Arch, at the end of this year, transfers and goes somewhere else in this football climate that we're in right now?

Yeah, it would surprise me. It would, because I think as impatient as everybody is, and certainly the fans you alluded to, I think this family has a level of patience. They didn't just choose Sark of Texas for the ability to try to play this year. They chose Sark of Texas for a bunch of reasons, and one of those is what we just talked about in terms of the ability to develop quarterbacks, and they know that that's a long process. You know, they, I believe as a family, as they do the right things for him, know that this is well beyond a one-year process.

And so, yeah, I mean, I absolutely think that, I'll say it this way. I would be shocked if Arch Manning left after one year and entered the transfer portal, regardless of any of the circumstances surrounding what happens in Texas this year, because a lot of contacts were missing there when we had this conversation. I would be a lot less shocked if Malik Murphy transferred after this year. I think if anybody transfers after this season in a very crowded quarterback room, it could be Malik Murphy.

Talking to Ari Temkin right now on CBS Sports Radio, a little college football fix on the Zach Gelb show. So you said you didn't pick Texas to win the Big 12. Who was your pick? Oh, so if you saw the Big 12 preseason poll, you might have seen a number next to each team that was picked to win the Big 12, and there was only one team that had a one next to its name. That would be the team that I picked.

That would be the Oklahoma State Cowboys. And people who are very upset at me, they're up in arms, as if I've done something that's egregious and terrible and I should be shunned. One person was like, oh, I should have his credential revoked. I mean, I get the vitriol at times when voters vote for egregious people when it comes to an MVP or a Heisman or substance. This is a preseason standing.

That doesn't matter. I thought this was about having fun and getting ready for the season. The preseason poll doesn't matter. And here's the other thing. If you believe that Oklahoma State cannot win the Big 12 this year, and you haven't been watching the Big 12, I'm making a bet on who the surprise team is going to be this year.

Here's a guarantee for you, Zach. There's going to be a surprise team in the Big 12 this year. That's a fact because this is a league of parody, and it has been. Oklahoma won the conference six straight years. And since then, we saw a team in 2020 that won two games win the conference the next year in Baylor. And then we saw a team that people picked in the preseason to finish seventh last year go play for the national championship. Oh, by the way, K-State won the conference last year. Nobody expected K-State to win the conference. There's going to be a surprise team that competes for a conference championship this year.

I placed a bet on it being Oklahoma State, and I did that for a couple of reasons. I did that because of all the coaches, right, we've got questions about Brett Venable as the head coach, right? I mean, second year for him as the head coach, great track record as a DC, different animals as head coach.

We've got questions about Sark. I mean, how could you not have questions about Sonny Dyche even after the year that he had? So of all these coaches within this conference, the one coach I'm going to bet on is Mike Gundy. Now, people will say, well, they only have won one Big 12 championship in his history.

Okay, I get that. But they've won 17 consecutive winning seasons. He's won 10 games seven times.

He has a proven track record of success. That's why I'm betting on Oklahoma State. But look, for me, it was really about who's the surprise team? It could be Iowa State. It could be Baylor. It could be Oklahoma State. It could be Kansas.

But it is a guarantee, Zach. There's going to be a surprise to the nobody expected to be competing towards the top of the conference that's going to. Why did Spencer Sanders transfer from Oklahoma State?

It's a great question. I think sometimes you I don't want to say you've worn out your welcome because that isn't exactly the case here. But I do think there was like an element from both sides of wanting to move on. And look, I mean, this is a program in Oklahoma State that's purged a lot of its roster. A lot of guys left. Sure, some of them were not guys that Oklahoma State wanted to leave.

My guys wanted to leave. But a lot of times you look at the roster turnover that they've had. You look at that as a negative. I think it's a positive.

I do. And, you know, Alan Bowman comes in and started quarterback. It's the guy that is a prime candidate to be a Max Duggan of this year, if you will. And again, I'm painting that picture because that's the way that I went.

My preseason ball and chances are I'm an idiot and I'm wrong. But Bowman's a guy that had a ton of success at Texas Tech. I mean, he started as a true freshman and lit it up. Then, of course, he goes and spends two years. So he's under Cliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech.

Right. Then he goes and spends two years under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. A completely different offense. Something he had to relearn how to play offensive football. Doesn't play.

So I think this is a smart player. He's 24 years old. He's experienced. Yeah, he's had some injury issues.

But I mean, what quarterback do we not say, well, if they stay healthy? Right. I'm like, that's just that's football. That's the sport.

So everybody's got to stay healthy. So I'm betting big on Alan Bowman that he's going to come in here and have a ton of upside. It helps that you've got a guy like Brendan Presley out wide, a proven guy that can be can be a feature, wide receiver for you.

And here's the other thing. And I think this is where people are sort of misunderstanding how to pay attention to the Big 12 this year. This is not you get to play everybody this year.

So it's the 14 team league now. So the schedule matters because you're not playing everybody. Texas has a very difficult schedule. Of the preseason favorites, Texas plays everybody in the top four. Oklahoma State does not. They have a very easy schedule by Big 12 standards. In fact, they they close the season playing the four newcomers and in their five final games.

It's believe it's UCF and then Oklahoma. Then they play three more newcomers. I'm of the belief you'd rather play the new members of the Big 12 late, because I think the biggest difference between power five and group of five is depth, right? Like 11 on 11. You can match up pretty well.

But how deep can you go when you suffer injuries? So as we know in football, you're going to have injuries. I think playing those teams the end of the year are really going to test their depth. So the schedule to Zach has played a major role in why I picked Oklahoma State. Again, maybe it's the dumbest pick ever, but somebody's going to surprise in this conference. Our temp kid here with us.

You're two for Brenton Venables. What happens with Oklahoma? So I picked Oklahoma State to play Oklahoma individual championship game, which would be, in my opinion, best case scenario for the conference. What this the conference that obviously has centered a lot on the brand of Texas and the involvement of Texas.

But I think there'd be no better way to sort of close this era of the Big 12 than Bedlam, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, seeing as we have no idea when or if we'll ever see that game again. And so, look, I have high expectations for OU because I just don't believe that a Brenton Venable defense will be that bad in consecutive seasons. And look, there's reasons for why their defense was bad last year. Brenton Venables chose to rip the Band-Aid fully off last year.

He did not do a transitional here. When you talk about, you know, the personnel that he had from OU's previous defense under Alex Grinch versus the personnel that Brenton Venables traditionally needs to run his defense. So they were the wrong personnel running the wrong scheme.

And that was by design. I think they're going to have more players to fit the scheme. Despite their bad record last year at six and seven, they still recruited an extremely high level. They brought in a big time transfer as a true freshman from Indiana to Samokola, who I picked as the newcomer of the year in the Big 12.

I think he's going to be a monster. And I think the fact remains that OU's offense was really good last year. But we don't really recognize how good it was because it was overshadowed by how bad OU's defense was.

Dylan Gaber was really good. I think Jeff Lebby, in terms of his smarts at offensive play, Clark. How many times Zach do we see a defensive-minded head coach come in and hire a defensive-minded offensive coordinator, right? They don't usually hire guys to spread you out and want to throw the ball a ton. That's what I love about the Lebby hire from Brenton Venables when he was hired. It was not a defensive-minded head coach type offensive coordinator hire. So I am bullish on OU this year.

Again, there's major questions, right? I mean, Brenton Venables had a ton of success as a defensive coordinator at Clemson. The results speak for itself, but it's different from a defensive coordinator to becoming a head coach. He's got to prove that this year.

All right, Temkin. Kansas State must have been the quietest conference champion ever because of what TCU has done. Totally. They haven't even gotten their praise, and Kleiman's done a fantastic job there. What's kind of the vibe around that team this year? Yeah, breaking news. Kansas State won the Big 12 last year.

I mean, seriously, it's like been a major talking point for us on Big 12 radio. By the way, I hate to say this, they shouldn't have because, and I said this to Sonny Dykes when he joined me a few weeks ago, should have gave the ball to Duncan at the end. What did Sonny say? He actually agreed with me. He talked about how Max was winded, and that's why it went into that decision, right? And they asked so much of him, but he agreed with me. Looking back, he said, I can't really say that you're wrong on that one.

But you're right. Look, this was a year of purple in the Big 12. Obviously K-State winning the Big 12 championship, TCU playing for national championship, TCU baseball team went to the Final Four, their basketball team made it to the second round. K-State, their basketball team made it to the Elite Eight, their football team won a Big 12 championship. So this was the year of purple, certainly, from all sports, and certainly the big ones that we pay attention to. You know, when I just talked about the favorites of this conference, the question marks around head coach, there's somebody I didn't mention, and that would be Chris Kleiman, because there really aren't questions about Chris Kleiman, right?

I mean, this is a guy with a proven track record of success. First, you know, at the FCS level, winning championship after championship after championship, and then now here with what he's done at K-State, you know, culture, understanding how to win at K-State, development of players, that's what he's done. You know, I'm a KU alum, and it's sort of funny how much attention there's been on Kansas football. Jalen Daniels is the offensive player of the year, and he was remarkable last season.

He was transcendent. But if anybody had a Jalen Daniels end to the season, that would be Will Howard at K-State, and he is very quiet, like there's just not a lot of talk around Will Howard. Jalen Daniels started off the year in the Heisman Trophy race, but he was injured at the end of the year. Will Howard stepped in for Adrian Martinez and led K-State to a Big 12 championship. Kansas State does not win a Big 12 championship without the play of Will Howard.

And so I just think they're severely underrated. Chalk for a Big 12 championship is Texas versus Kansas State, because though Kansas State lost Luis Vaughn and lost Felix Aniduke Izama, two very impactful players, they still have Will Howard back. They have the best offensive line or one of the best offensive lines in the Big 12 along with West Virginia, and those two have some of the best offensive lines in all of college football. And again, we talked about how Texas has three guys that are NFL players along their offensive line. So I'm also bullish on K-State, and a lot of that has to do with a proven track record of success from a proven head coach with a lot of talent back and a really talented quarterback. What is Dave Aranda as a head football coach? Because we saw first year not so good, second year amazing, and then last year very underwhelming. They're the biggest wild card at the conference, Zach.

I mean, their floor, their ceiling is about as wide as you can get. Aranda, I don't know if you've had a chance to interview him. One time.

But you only need about 45 minutes to get three questions in. He's awesome. I like him. He's unlike any other coach I've ever been around ever. He is the most introspective, deep thinker. Normally coaches are not introspective, at least publicly. They don't admit their flaws.

They only talk about, well, we'll watch it on film and get better. I told him he had to smile more. I said even when he won that championship, he had resting coach face. He kind of got a chuckle out of that out of him. First time I heard him laugh, actually. He probably listened to that. He internalizes things that people say.

He's the smartest guy in the room because he knows the things that he doesn't know. Look, he mentioned when we talked to him, last year he was probably a little bit too loose. He probably gave guys a little bit too much of a leash. He probably didn't have a willingness to be tougher on certain guys at certain times. I think the willingness to be that introspective, to understand you need to make changes, you need to evolve and get better. From what I've seen, it's just unprecedented in all sports in terms of coaching.

For me, that's a breath of fresh air. How does that translate to wins? They've turned over coaching staffs a couple of times now in terms of after year one, he hired a new offensive coordinator. Now he's hired a new defensive coordinator in Matt Pollage who comes over after Ron Roberts. Aranda coached under Ron Roberts.

He's a tremendous amount of respect for him, but he knew he needed to move on from him after last season. I think the willingness to get better, to evolve from your mistakes, that's what I love about Baylor and Dave Aranda. We'll see. Again, this is a team I picked last year to win the conference. Obviously, they did not play well. They were very inexperienced. Their quarterback took a lot of the lumps for their lack of success last year in Blake Chapin. They think they're better in terms of their weapons on the outside.

They're going to need to be. That was probably their biggest issue. They've been a proven group of running backs in Robert Richard Reese and Quaalyn Jones. Now it's about can they get the firepower down the field with weapons. Because they run that Jeff Grimes outside zone, they're going to run the football a ton, but they need to be able to hit down the field off play action. They didn't do that enough last year, and that was what killed them.

Ari Temkin, only got a minute left, really do appreciate the time today. Out of the newcomers to the Big 12, can anyone go make a run this year in your opinion? The answer here is UCF, but I'm starting to believe it's BYU. Look, BYU played five power fives last year. Now, they play ten this year. However, one of those that doesn't count last year is UCF and Cincinnati, right? And Houston, the team that played in conference, those are all power five opponents this year.

You can make that stat say whatever you want. When you look at just historically BYU, the physicality offensively and defensively, these are grown men, right? In the sport, it has a lot of kids. To be able to have guys that come back off of missions and be 22, 23 years old, that's huge. Obviously, UCF in terms of newcomers is the one that returns to the starting quarterback.

Everybody else is replacing a lot of players. But I just look at BYU culturally, and I think they're a team that can have a lot of success this season. But I picked three of those four to finish the bottom three in this conference, and I think it's going to be tough for all four of them to have success this year, year one, in the Big 12. Ari Temkin, kickass job as always. Make sure you listen to him, Big 12 Radio out in Jerry's World for Big 12 Media Days. We appreciate the time as always, Ari. Appreciate you, Zach.

Take care, brother. Great stuff with Ari Temkin. We'll take a time out. Come on back. Zach Gelb's show right here. But where else?

CBS Sports Radio. If I'm being totally honest, I've been scrolling through the music folder and just saw Kanye. I was like, yeah, this one looks good.

Okay. That was a bizarre rejoin, I will say. And earlier, at like 6.40, I think it was, p.m. Eastern, you had like the circus rejoin music, as if it was like a blooper at a baseball game. It was like...

It was the Benny Hill theme. Geez, Louise. You know what? Let's just stick with what we usually do on the show.

The job for you today is to make sure the plane gets off the ground, and then make sure we land from point A to point B. That's not usually... And you know what? I used to like Kanye. I do not like Kanye anymore. I used to listen to Kanye a lot.

I didn't even know that was Kanye, but that was definitely a peculiar rejoin music. Anyway, Peter Schwartz is here. I haven't seen Peter Schwartz in a while in a studio setting. Nice to see you. I did see you a few weeks ago at Bob's Bar, where your son, it was Bradley, right? Bradley, yeah. It was very early in the morning, and let's just say I had a few drinks at that event. You were a few in already, huh?

Bradley was snapping donuts. You weren't parking the cars. No, no, no, no, no, no.

That is something that we are very serious about on this show. Okay, I just want to make sure. I definitely was not drinking and driving. I made sure I parked the cars completely sober, and then I said to Mraz and DA, am I done parking cars for the day? Yeah, all right, Boyle, let's hit the bar.

Then you threw them back. Let's go. I made it clear from the start, this was a one-way valet.

It had a cutoff at about 7 a.m. You better get there. I parked your car at Bob's Bar, and then after that, I give you your keys. It was funny, though, how many listeners showed up and just gave me their car. I parked their car. I come back.

They're in there enjoying the show. You've got to take your keys. I'm not getting your car at the end of the event. I think I missed the cutoff. Yeah, you were there a little bit late. Also, I don't think you would have made me park your car.

No, no, not at all. But your son was snapping donuts into the mouth, what a sentence to say on a radio show, to Badlands Booker, who is a competitive eater, well-known, won some Chug competition this year at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, and is a very big deal and a wonderful guy, so how was that for you? That was fun, and after the first few, Bradley got into a rhythm and was right on target. The problem was is that Badlands, he had accumulated a few of the donuts in his mouth, and I don't care how accurate Bradley could have been, there was nowhere to go, so he was hitting them right off his mouth. So at that point, Badlands had no other choice but to just grab the donut, and he kept shoving more and more into his mouth. There was not enough of an opening for Bradley to get them in, so Badlands kept catching them and then just shoving them into his mouth. Yeah, that was some sight to see. I guess you had to be there to fully understand it, but it was absolutely wonderful. It was amazing, because within a 48-hour period, Bradley was snapping donuts into the mouth of Badlands Booker, and then 48 hours later, he was snapping at the Rutgers football camp at Rutgers Stadium.

So it was a really weird 48-hour time period. Is that still SHI Stadium? SHI, whatever they call it, yeah. Yeah, which I always think it's a word that I can't say on the radio when talking about that stadium. Yeah, you're missing a letter.

So that was pretty cool. I have to ask you, because I know you're a big baseball fan, Shoei Otani right now is the talk of the sports world, what are the Angels going to do? They probably won't make the playoffs again. They've made it one time with Trout.

They've never made it with Otani. Trout's hurt. If you're running the Angels and Otani is one of one, great pitcher, elite hitter, he is something that no one has ever seen.

I know you're a big baseball fan, a big sports fan. If you're running the Angels and no one knows if Otani's going to come back or not, do you run that risk of getting nothing and keeping on your team and trying your best to sign him in the offseason, or would you be trading him from now until the August 1st deadline? You have to trade him, and I go from personal experience on this, and it was a different sport, because a few years back with hockey... Oh, here we go.

I knew where you're going. The hockey with your boy John Tavares. John Tavares told the Islanders not to trade him. And at that point, if you're the Islanders, you're thinking you're going to be able to re-sign him at the end of the season. And without a guy's signature on a contract, look, the Angels could always try to get him back as a free agent. The Yankees did that with Aroldis Chapman a number of years ago. If you're the Angels, chances are he's not coming back.

But that's the thing. We all say that because we all want him to leave, because the Angels just can't make the playoffs, and Otani's great, and we want to see him on the biggest stage, and the game's best player. I don't know if he's going to stay or not, and that's why I thought Marty Moreno... And I know we talk about prospects all the time, and a lot of times these prospects are 50-50, and everyone's pretending to be a prospect expert. It's almost as if, though, if I was him, if I think I could re-sign him, I'm not trading him, because I don't want to be the guy that they look back and say, oh, that was the guy that traded Shoei Otani. Kind of like when Babe Ruth got traded to Yankees, the guy with the play was Harry Frazee with No No No Net.

Like, I don't want to be that guy. I get what you're saying about Moreno, and if he thinks he's not going to get outbid, that's fine. He still may want to go somewhere else.

He may have had enough of the Angels. So the bottom line to me is it's got to be Artie Moreno in a room with Otani and an interpreter, and you have to say, look, what is it going to take to get a deal right now? Let's go. Here's a blank check.

Whatever it is, what do you want? I want you to stay. And if he says no, then you've got to tell your baseball people, all right, look, I can't lose this guy for nothing. But if I'm Otani, even if they put me in a room and say blank number, I'm not.

You know what, I would say eight, I'll give you a number, and this is unreal scale, I'd say 800 million. Now, I don't think he's going to get 800 million on the open market, but I'm saying something so outrageous, or even 750. Then you have no choice, you have to trade him. Because here's why, if I'm Otani and everyone goes back to spring training where he's like, I'm only focused on this year. Even if you want to stay with the Angels, it makes no sense to say it, because then you want to use other teams like the Dodgers, the Mets, the Giants to even drive up that price even more. Then you just have to trade them. You can't lose an asset like that for nothing.

You can't. So the odds right now, I only think there's six teams that could land Otani, and one of them are the Angels. So I'm looking at the odds right now, and I want to see one, two, three, four, five. Oh, they're actually not in order of the way that I think they're going to go, but they're the six teams that I thought of that I wrote down. Dodgers at plus 250, Mets at plus 350, your Yankees at plus 450, stay with the Angels at plus 600, Padres at plus 800, and the Giants at plus 1,000.

And you know what's a good bet? The Giants at plus 1,000. Because the Giants have tried to get everyone. They tried to get Bryce Harper. They had all that money from Aaron Judge.

Arson Judge with the John Heyman reporting. They even tried with Carlos Correa. They have tried with everyone, and Harper didn't want to go there.

Judge used them, didn't want to go there, go back home. And Carlos Correa wanted to go there, but then the whole thing with the injury did happen. So it would not surprise me if the Giants are very active.

And plus 1,000 right now, those are some pretty good odds. And do you think, let's say there's a team, whether it's whoever, the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Giants, whatever. Let's say they agree with the Angels on a trade. Do you ask for a window to try and sign them to an extension before you pull the trigger?

You know, yes, but once again, if I'm Otani, I don't care. You're going to free agency. I'm going to free agency even if the team's willing to give me a ridiculous amount of money. The only thing he would have to question and contemplate, what happens if you get hurt? Now, if he gets hurt, someone will still sign him because, and he's already had Tommy John, but you sit out a year and then so be it. And now he's got that blister that prevented him from pitching. Yeah, so he got pulled from a star with the blister. I know that it seems like, oh, it's something that's a problem with Otani.

It brings the point up eventually down the road. Does he just have to be a hitter and not be a pitcher? But I don't think that's a big deal. Who do you think he wants to play for? That's a great question, because here's the thing with Otani. I think he wants to wait for the Dodgers.

Yeah, I can't fault him, right? I think that's what he wants to play for. If you want to stay on the West Coast, and you ask me, like, Zach, you want to win, but you want to stay on the West Coast. And you look at the options, stay with the Angels, go to the Padres, the Giants, or the Dodgers, the Dodgers, they're in it every year.

See, I think you'd want to go to San Francisco so you could be next to Deebo. Oh, well done there by Peter Schwartz. Good job. Nice job. Well, Otani wouldn't do an interview with me.

How about that? I'm very impressed by Peter Schwartz there. I did not know that you had that funny gene in your body. You know, I'm on the DA show every now and then.

You know, the Boomer and Gio down the hall have rubbed off on me a little bit. I've got to ask you a serious question. A serious question? Yes. Sometimes in this business, people embellish. You don't come off to me as someone that embellish and plays up the schtick part of it. Yeah, I'm not really a schtick person. I don't think you drink, right?

Very, very infrequently. You'll have a beer, maybe? I don't drink beer. No, if we go out, I'll have a glass of wine or a glass of champagne or something like that on New Year's Eve. I'm not like an active drinker. When I heard you a few years ago say tequila, and it's tequila. I really thought it was tequila. Wait, see, now this is the tough part for me to understand.

You know what? So many people have said, you did that on purpose. I'm like, I didn't do it on purpose. Let me just ask you this, because it may change my perception of how I view Peter Schwartz. Peter Schwartz seems like a fun guy. Even if you don't drink, you could be a fun guy.

I like to think I am. In your upbringing, you just never heard the word tequila? Or was that just like you got on the air and you had some stage fright? Always the way that I remember hearing people say it was tequila. And maybe I was just at too many Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, but I just... Five percent of the audience got that, but funny. And I'm reading, and I know your dad was pissed at me that day.

Oh yeah, because it's a major sponsorship form. And I'm reading, and wait a minute, I don't know if you know this part of the story. I'm getting ready to do, it's the first time I've ever done it with Boomer and Gia, right? I've got the copy in front of me. I look at my phone, I've got a text from your father on the phone. Uh-oh. And he says, you better not screw this up. It's a sales report.

Right? And then I read it, and then after the whole thing, I look down and he goes, ah, never mind. Well, it worked, because they ended up talking about it more.

Okay. I never got any of it, though. But you wouldn't drink it anyway. My wife might have, I might have tried it. My wife might have drank a little bit of it. That's true.

Peter Schwartz wouldn't do a lot of things, but then if he gets something for free, you definitely try it. Yeah, you try it once, what's the harm? So what's the obscure sporting event that you got on the docket coming up soon? Obscure sporting event? Yeah. I'm doing PA for the Ducks Saturday. That's obscure. Every time I go on, like, I'll see you occasionally at Yankee Stadium, or I'll see you occasionally at the Jets, or you take a trip and see some professional sports. Yeah. If there's a team that I've, like, never heard of, Peter Schwartz is at the game.

It's amazing. Last week, or a week and a half ago, I was on a college trip. You were in screening, right? Well, no, we were in, we went to Cortland. Bradley had a, went to a camp in Cortland.

Snapping clinic in? No, it was a full-fledged football camp. Nice. And so we got there the night before, and we took a ride up to Syracuse to go see the AAA Mets and the AAA Yankees.

How about that? Yeah. You enjoy AAA baseball? It was the Yankees and the Mets. So he, Bradley's a Mets fan, I'm a Yankees fan, we got to see some of the prospects.

Gotcha. I used to, when I worked in Jersey, I used to go to... I love minor league baseball. I used to go to the Trenton Thunder Stadium when they were actually Yankees affiliate, and they would have me do broadcasts from out there, and then we once went to Lehigh, too, and did a little Phillies as well. So you got to, you know, Gleyber Torres, Reece Hoskins, you meet some of those guys throughout the years. And I do public address for the Long Island Ducks, they're an independent team, but you see some former major leaguers that... Yeah, Daniel Murphy was there for a little bit. He was there for a little bit. Al Albuquerque is now a relief pitcher for them.

Alberto Jose Albuquerque, you mean. The first time I introduced him coming in from the bullpen, I recorded myself introducing him, and of course I posted on Twitter, and you could imagine what the responses were. Yeah. Trust me. I wish I could get on Twitter right now and see some responses. All I have from crybaby49ers fans, or as Philly fans have told me, they're 40 whiners fans right now.

Yeah. Oh, man, just some brutal things they're saying to me. Let me tell you, Peter, my heart is really broken over the entire thing with these 49ers fans.

You ask a few questions about something someone said, and the choir hangs up the phone. As soon as I heard it, I thought about your well-being. I'm like, how is Zach? Is he in a good mental state of mind?

Does he need a fruit basket sent to him or something like that? Well, it's just funny, because when it first came out there, I guess the West Coast wasn't up yet. So everyone on the East Coast was like, you're a savior, you're great, you're awesome. And then ever since then, it was, screw you, screw your family, I hope you drop dead, and your mother should have never gave birth to you. That's when people are messaging me, like, thanks, appreciate it, have a good Wednesday, everybody.

Just a bunch of ridiculous people. But last thing I'll say, because I know we've got to get to the update, like, Torrey Smith ripped me. So I think it's interesting from a former athlete. And then I was on with Channing Crowder today on WQAM, and he goes, I don't see what everyone's freaking out about. You asked him questions, football related, about things he said and you weren't rude. So you never know, it's 50-50. Well, you got the plug-in, you handled everything he was supposed to handle, and, you know, just answer the question and move on.

Yep, that's it. And the funny thing was, I don't think the last thing I was going to ask him, because he was giving nothing for the first five minutes. So, hey, you live and you learn, what can you do? I did nothing wrong, so it is what it is.

But I've enjoyed the reaction. And hello to all the 49ers fans, I love you. I hope you guys have a wonderful season this year.

I won't be dancing on your grave when you end up losing again because you don't have your quarterback situation figured out. Alright, wrapping up shop on a Wednesday, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio 855-212 for CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Lee in San Diego next up on the show. Lee, go ahead.

Hey, Zach. I would like to compare Shohei Ohtani to Fernando Tatis as far as when it comes to a bat and an arm. I know Shohei is a pitcher and Fernando is an outfielder, but I think, I wouldn't doubt that Fernando could be a pitcher and come in for a couple innings.

I mean, this guy has an arm. Do you think the Padres are out of it? And if they got Shohei, do you think they could turn it around and get into a playoff spot? I'm just so disappointed with this team at this point.

Do you think it would be worth it to get him? Well, Lee, if you go get Shohei Ohtani, I'm not going to tell you no. But look how many names that you got in that lineup with Manny Machado and Xander Bogarts and Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. back. And the pitching hasn't really been the problem.

You know, I'm not going to tell you that they're out of it. But I can't sit here and tell you that I have a lot of confidence in them or the Mets to bring up because those are two teams that spent a lot of money the last few years. And both of those teams right now, I saw them play right before the All-Star break.

Kind of look at both of those teams and it does not make you where you think they should go. When you look at them and see the way that they play, it's not like you walk away from that series either way and you have a lot of confidence moving forward. I would have more confidence in the Padres than actually my Mets. But I kind of feel like this season, sure, we've seen the Braves, seen the Nationals last few years start off horribly and then get really hot and go on to win World Series. But this Padres team, it almost feels like they're fortunate only to be a few games under.500 and that's crazy because they were supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball.

Yeah, they keep stringing me along, man. They'll get 10 games under.500 and then they won the last couple of series, I think, to get four games under or wherever they are now. Yeah, four games under. They're eight and a half back of the division and then in the wildcard, I think last time I checked, they were like six games back of the wildcard.

So, Lee, hang in there. Hopefully your Padres can turn it around, but there's no doubt about it. And the NL, I know St. Louis has been horrible this year and you figure they can at least be in the mix, but you look at the way that those teams have just spent recently with the Padres and the Mets. For the Padres to be 43 and 47, the Mets to be 42 and 48, big time disappointment, but even if you do turn it around, I know last year, right? The Padres got to the divisional, they got to the NLCS, so they lose to the Phillies. The Mets lost in the wildcard even though they had over 100 wins. And I don't think, and I know like the Braves lose in the first round last year, so the Dodgers, I don't think the Braves nor the Dodgers are going to be, like one of those teams have to go to the World Series this year in my opinion. I know it's tough to say in baseball, but those are the two best teams in the NL.

In the AL, it's wide open. Alrighty, good show today. Big thanks to Chris Hess, each and every one of you on the phones for calling, listening, and tweeting. You can always follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B.

Big thanks to Ari Temkin and also Sean Marriman. We'll do it all again tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We out. Buh-bye.

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