Latest / Foul Territory / MLB proposes November/January signing freeze, Weekly roster limits, New Rule 5 draft + Red Sox check up

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MLB proposes November/January signing freeze, Weekly roster limits, New Rule 5 draft + Red Sox check up · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, here we go. Proposals exchanged. The drama continues. MLB
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and the players chit-chatting pretty frequently, but of course it
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: all revolves around one core topic. MLB is throwing stuff
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: out there to the players association. It was quickly rejected,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: you know, parts of it. Plus MLB keeps saying, we're
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: not doing any of this without a cap. So eventually
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that's going to be the real battle that occurs. But
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, I think we should go through some
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: of these exercises and the point of a collective bargaining
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: agreement when it comes up is to evaluate the entire sport,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: not just one portion of what's going on with the sport.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: So let's run through some of these ideas guys. And
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I think that graphic really helps to tell the story
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of the first part, which was the headliner. It would
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: drastically affect the way that we follow the off season.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So I want to get your thoughts and I've seen
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: many fan comments on both sides of the spectrum here.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So with the latest proposal, In terms of free agency,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: this is what MLB would like to do. They want
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a dead period until the first day of the winter meetings.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: So picture this, okay? I'm going to walk you through
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: your off-season while this board helps to tell the story.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: World Series ends. Let's say World Series ends a little
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: bit early, October 25th, okay? Now from October 25th to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: early December when the winter meetings begin, let's say they
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: begin on December 5th, nothing happens. except for a player
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: being able to resign with his own team. And that's
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: not going to happen very frequently. So otherwise, nothing happens.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: You like this show? Guess what we're covering?
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Not much.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Now, there's a free agency window that begins. And what
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: that does is say, okay, officially teams can now sign players.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So let's say it's December 5th, around when the winter
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: meetings would begin. And for, what, two-ish weeks, a little more,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: up until December 21st, Signings occur.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Then no more signings again after December 21st. It closes
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: on the 21st. What are you doing in January? Nothing.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Not allowed.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: No signings.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: February, we resume signings.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: There would be a second free agent window where you
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: could sign and trades would be allowed again from the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: first Monday in February onward. Let me first begin with
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: a summary of what would occur if this actually became
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a thing. Everyone would be signing in February. So the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: World Series would end and nothing would happen legally by
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: how MLB works in November, December, January, and we get
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to February. Now, am I exaggerating a little bit? Sure.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Will some guys sign?
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No? Crats?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Let's... Bring in our trusted friends. Yes.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: I don't think you're exaggerating.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: No, you're not zero.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: There will be some, you'll get the top guys. Yeah.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: You'll get the top guys.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Not all of them.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you'll get all of them.
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: No, I think you'll get majority of them. If, if
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: there is a cap, I mean, what are they really
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: going to be? They're going to go to the team
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: that they feel is the, you know, their best fit.
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: But at the same time, um, You're going to have
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: some people that's going to wait until February, especially guys
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: that are going to be top guys. It's going to
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: be easy for them to find a space, but everybody
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: else in between is going to squeeze them out. And
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: that's why you're going to have everybody wait until February,
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: which will put everybody in a mass panic. Oh, I
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: got to go somewhere, which is what we've already experienced
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: in years past without this happening. Because when owners decide
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: they want to go into a dead period, they'll go
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: into a dead period regardless. It happened, I want to say,
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: the spring of 18, going into 18. And I say
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: that because I was physically affected. I was leaving Pittsburgh
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: on my first free agency year. And I think it
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: was the new year to CBA. I didn't get an
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: offer till February games had already started. So, so if
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: you put this in and it's already laid out and
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: you got this time slot, what's going to happen when
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: December 21st comes and everybody hasn't signed, everybody's going to
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: wait till February. Then you got, it doesn't help the
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: team either. That's trying to fill out a team, but
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: you will have guys waiting until February. Cause what about
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: the guys that have been injured guys that are trying
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: to come back on bounce back years? Um, it's so
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: many things, but I don't think you were far off.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: I think the only people you'd see sign in December
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: would be guys that are going to be securing what
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: you would consider the best offer out there. And guys
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: that may be signing with their team just to resign back.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: I'm going to be, I'm going to be less contrarian
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: in this at the beginning, and then I'll give you
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: the real stats. I'll take the dead period from December
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: 21st till January 2nd. Let's do it. Let's shut down
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: for Christmas. Let's give players the holiday that they want.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Let's give front offices and people that are working there
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: the holiday that they want over that winter time there
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: where kids are home, all that stuff.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: That's fine.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: But if you do this, you're going to alienate a
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: group of fans that enjoys connecting and watching their team
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: grow during the offseason. Fans are going to say, oh,
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: I love it. Look at what happens at these other leagues.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: It generates a lot of excitement during that two-week signing period.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Does it? Does it?
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: It really does. You know what else it does? Is
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: it restricts another aspect of player salaries. And people are
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: going to say, well, you're pro player. You're just always
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: pro player on here. I'm not. I'm pro growing the game.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Having it open the entire time brings eyeballs to Major
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: League Baseball when we're not playing games. So that's what
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: closing this gap down, closing the signing period down does.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: It takes eyeballs away from the game. For Major League
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: Baseball owners... They love the fact that they're able to
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: not only, by a salary cap, restrict the best players'
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: salaries and squash those salaries, but making a shorter signing
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: period enables them to take money off of the fill-in players.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Once you get your superstars, now you fill in players,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: and they're going to be like, hey, you know what?
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: It's February 3rd. It's the last day. Spring training starts
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: in 11 days. Here's our last best offer, $ 1. 2 million.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: And you're like, wait a minute, I should have gotten
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: $ 2 million. And they're like, oh, sorry, take it or
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: leave it. It's $ 1, 150. And that's how they're going to
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: squash that down. So to me, this part of the
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: proposal is very disingenuous to what they originally said when
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: they offered or when they proposed the salary cap.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: And also just for exercise purposes, this has no chance
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of being accepted, right? Cause obviously if you're on the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: player side, like this, this is just a leverage ploy,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: but let's put that aside for a moment.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Cause I'm, I'm looking from the fan perspective, baseball wins
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: with volume content volume. We have games every day during
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the season. And in the off season, there are signings
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and trades that are sprinkled throughout. Would be like some
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of the moves to happen a little bit earlier. Sure.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: But you're punting on two of the months. So right
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: after the World Series, then you say, thanks, everyone. Thanks
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: for coming. There's nothing happening now for six weeks, so
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: we'll see you later. We'll see you in December for
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: our little two-week ride where not many players still won't
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: sign because it's really difficult to create a real deadline, right?
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: The deadline then becomes, oh, we're in spring training like
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Jay Hayes talking about, and that's when a lot of
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: activity would happen, and that's late, okay? January? You want
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: us to just twiddle our thumbs in January? And I'm
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: with you, Kratz. Christmas to New Year's. Perfect. Shut it down.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Nothing happens.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: We can change. All good for that. Let everyone be
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: themselves for five seconds with their family because our sport
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: is super demanding in terms of the day-to-day with the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: way that we win by content and volume. But January?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Let me give you an example of a team that
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: actually ended up being terrible this year. The Mets are
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: not good. Not been a playoff team all year. they
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: made a lot of those moves in January. They were
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: stealing the show among other teams in January with some
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: of the moves that they were making. Like you'd go
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to some of the sites that have been around forever, right?
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: CBS and ESPN. And you'd look top headline, like Metz
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: signed Boba Shett and it's, you know, deep into the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: NFL playoffs. Are you serious? Do you want to compete
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: with the rest of the world in the entertainment world?
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Like this is not even a smart move from a
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: business sense for the league. Entertain your crowd, entertain your,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: fans over a longer period of time. To me, it's
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: so stupid to even throw it out there, Kratz. That's
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: my point is like, you're not winning on either front.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: The players are not all going to sign during that
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: two week window. Most of them are not. And fans
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: will not give a crap for 80% of the off
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: season because you're only allowing two weeks for anything to happen.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Most things won't happen. And so then we're just bunching
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: up all the moves into spring training when we're back
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: to paying attention again. I'm sorry, what? Who is sitting
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: in a meeting talking about this? I'm befuddled. I don't
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: understand where I used to work. I really don't.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: This is a common thread for Major League Baseball and
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Major League Baseball owners. Not the players. It's a common
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: thread of owners that it feels like they're missing the
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: boat on selling the game. Players feel like the game
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: can be sold as a competitive sport. Owners feel like
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: You know, what? It's pretty much up to random. We
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: want to win 54% of the time playoffs. We're not
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: sure what happens. So we're not going to spend an
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: extra few million to try to make our team better.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Then they miss on the fan aspect of it, which
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: is I think one of the reasons is that major
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: league baseball chose to say, this is what fans want.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: They want parody. And so they, I feel like they
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: miss out on opportunities like this. Are they ever going
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: to beat the NFL during the NFL season?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: That's not what we're, that's not what I'm getting at.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: I'm getting at how do we grow the game 1%
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: every year, every CBA. So every five years and then
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: throughout the season. And if content is King and volume
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: is King for major league baseball, delve into that. Don't
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: diminish that. Don't take games away. Don't take, signing periods
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: away it's time for me to stay excited for baseball
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: especially after like if this was last year and the
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: world series maybe one of the most entertaining energetic awesome
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: down to the last play of the world series type
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: of world series and then you would have a dead
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: period where they just say man what a game and
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: you sit there and you turn a tv off and
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: you go oh man nothing for a month and a
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: half oh, man, I feel like it's a letdown, and
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: you're going to go find other things to do, and
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: you're not going to come back to baseball out of
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: necessity or based on the fact that they did this.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Major League Baseball did this, and I don't think it's
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: very conducive to grow the game.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of fans in the world now
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that are specialized, right, Josh?
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of in this boat, right? Like, do I
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: pay attention to other things and other sports a little bit,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: but like, I'm a diehard baseball guy. Every single day
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: of my life, I want baseball content. I want to
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: read about something, whether it's the off season and it's
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: speculation or where will this guy sign? Like, that's what
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: I care about. So you're stripping away multiple months of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: content for me.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And it's more than that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: Cause obviously we, we know the salary cap is something
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: that is always going to be out there. We, that's
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: always going to be a thing that the owners want.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: But when we're.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: Talking growing a game, fan interaction, another step that goes
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: even further is if you're doing this, you know, this
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: dead period, you're not signing anybody, you're not making any trades.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: What happens in the offseason? All teams have their caravan,
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: they have their things in the offseason that they bring
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: these fans back to, especially when you got a new signing. Oh,
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: we got a new signing right before our, you know,
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: Pirates Fest or, you know, Tigers, whatever they call it.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: You don't have that anymore.
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: You know what I mean? That's another thing. So how
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: do you continue to grow the game if you're not
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: going to be excited in the off season? So just
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: those were some things that popped up in my mind too,
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: where it's like, you know, every off season there was
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: that period and, you know, early January where, Hey, we're
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: going back to, you know, surrounding cities, maybe to our
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: city convention center, do a signing, you know, we're on stage,
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: you know, the fans are getting excited because spring training
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: is coming back.
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: And, At that point, you're introducing new signings, trades. How
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: do you introduce that? You just wait until you get
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: to spring training now, and you don't have that offseason
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: interaction with the fans and saying, let's get ready for
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: this next season. To me, that takes away a whole lot,
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: especially when you've got a long season. Yeah, we know
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: the offseason is precious, but at the same time, that's
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: where you get things done. And if you are taking
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: away the big part of the offseason, which is making
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: your team better, And putting that into a two-week period,
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: that's tough.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, winter gets depressing. You want to make it more
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: depressing for me? You're like trying to force me to
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: watch the Chiefs or the Patriots make the AFC Championship
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: game every year. I'm good. I'd like to see some signings, please,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: in January. Thank you. Hey, before we get to the rest,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: there's two or three other changes that were proposed that
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: I'd like to get your thoughts on because it's very
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: roster transaction-y. And I think you guys will have a
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: good take here. Subscribe to FT. That'd be cool. Baseball,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the way it should be covered. Click subscribe if you're
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: watching right now. Thank you very, very much. Okay, next up.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: MLB wants weekly rosters set. Some of these categories are
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: where I'm going to rely on you guys. So like, crap,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: start us out here. They basically want to have the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: rosters and the moves set so that it's once a week,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: like Sunday into Monday, okay? You can still do waiver claims.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: There's going to be certain... you know, paternity lists kind
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: of situations, injury lists, that stuff will pop up. Although
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the IL will change according to this proposal, the IL
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: instead of being 15 and 10 would be a one
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: week and a two week IL. And then you'd still
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: have to spill the IL through a Monday. Hopefully I
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: explained that well enough, right? Cause everything kind of revolves
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: around setting rosters at the top of the week. Now, again,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: they said all of this is contingent on a cap,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: so that's its own beast. But what do you think
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: of setting weekly rosters?
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't understand how a cap makes you
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: need to set the rosters differently.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Whatever. It is what it is.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Kratz, you don't understand. You can't breathe without a cap.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: So they just want to keep mentioning that. Nothing changes.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: We're never going to advance the world without it. So
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I just have to put the disclaimer in there because
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: that's what they put in there.
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: Everything, right?
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: We blackouts across the country. We can't have, you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Iowa can't watch baseball because there's no salary cap. You
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: think I'm joking about that. That's a real thing that
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: was said in the past month. But anyway, your thoughts
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: on the, I'm saying to the fans, if anyone's listening
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: right now and being like, Oh, Scott's trying to crack
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: a joke. I'm not. That was literally told to us.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: There's quotes, but anyway, go ahead.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: I don't, I don't a hundred percent. And I want to,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: and I want to know more about why they feel like,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: this Monday to Monday or the rosters need to be
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: set at the beginning of the week. I'm not 100%
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: versed on it, except for the fact that how are
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: teams going to use this as a roster manipulation? We
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: just had Dylan Smith on. As a guy trying to
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: get called up to the big leagues, getting called up
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: and then having options getting sent down, also injuries, also
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: teams using it, how to manipulate it. If they're putting
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: this in here, I'm just fearful of where this lands
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: in the roster manipulation for players that are usually the
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: less sought after player. So that's my fear without knowing
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: a ton about exactly how this is going to work
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: from a mechanic standpoint for teams to use this new
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: IL placement.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I have some other concerns, too. Obviously, the IL
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: placement is, I mean, injuries got to take their own time.
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: And to say it's got to be marked starting on
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: a Monday to this or that is a little tough.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: But more than anything, the set roster is confusing to
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: me more from a pitching standpoint, especially in baseball, the
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: day-to-day grind of, you know, you might get rained out. Obviously,
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: I know the 27th man, whatever, they'll probably still have
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: stuff like that. But What happens when your bullpen is
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: taxed three days in a row and you got guys
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: doing multiple ups that aren't used to it and you
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: have a roster set that you're telling me I can't
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: make a change?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: We got guys in a bullpen that aren't used to
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: throwing three days in a row and this dude threw
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: three days in a row. You know what he has options?
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: We have to send a dude down to bring a
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: guy up. So does that affect that now to where
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: it's like, oh, you got to wait till Monday next
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: week to send them down and then you're possibly sending
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: out guys that I'm just looking at it from an
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: injury standpoint where if you got– pitching is one thing
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: that is always a revolving door because, I mean, we
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: saw it a couple weeks ago or just last week.
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: I think, granted, you can put a position player in
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: when the score is, you know, eight– you know, more
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: than eight after a certain time. But, you know, there
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: are times where teams are putting up 12 before the
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: fifth inning and you're dipping into the bullpen. Baseball is
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: a crazy game. So mine is also with that injury list,
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: sometimes you might– It could lead to more injury because
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: you got a roster set that you're telling me I
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: can only move if somebody gets injured. That was my
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: other concern as we're in. And I don't know if
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: I'm reading into that correctly, but that's how it sounds.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: If your roster set, you can only move if somebody's
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: got injured or if they're on like the, you know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: like maternity list or something.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Is that is that what it's saying?
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: It sounds like, yeah, you can't do the shuffle, right?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: They're trying to get rid of the shuttles. Up and down,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: up and down, everybody up and down.
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: The shuttle's needed for pitching in moments where you're in
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: a stretch of 20 straight and your bullpen's taxed.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: You might need to bring that guy.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: You'll just IL people. You know what it'll create? More
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: phantom IL.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: But then it'll be a backlog because you can only
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: be on the IL starting from a certain day though, right?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Well, no, you can place them. So let me give
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: you an example, right?
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Thursday.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Thursday. bullpen got taxed. You want to call someone else
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: up and do the shuttle. Instead of that, you'll say, Hey, uh,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: random reliever. Um, something's wrong. You're going on the Phantom IL.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: So you're out today, uh, Thursday cause we need an
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: arm and then you're going to be out through Monday
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and then we can bring you back next Thursday or,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: or maybe it's the next Monday, whatever it is.
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: But I thought pitchers had to do 14 days. Oh, wait, sorry.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So it would go Thursday.
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Through two Mondays then, I guess, Kratz? Does that sound right? Yeah,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: because it said it's not a typical.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I don't know. That's why I don't
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: know the mechanics of it.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: That's why I was like, it sounded like a dude
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: could literally need to be on a... list for 10
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: days but due to it being in the middle of
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: the week he could be on there 17 that's what
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: i was saying then you might.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Have guys no you're right that's what they mentioned it
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: has to get through the cycle i don't know sounds
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: confusing sounds kind of stupid And the last thing, by
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the way, the only way it's happened is if there's
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: a salary cap, it will save everything.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: You're an idiot.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: You're wearing your hat backwards.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Yep, exactly. And the last thing was they want for
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the rule five draft. They said that they would make
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: guys eligible earlier and you wouldn't have to keep the
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: guy up in the major leagues. If you pick him
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: from the rule five draft, he could still go down
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in the minors. So, again, only if there's a cap
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: because it's all related. blackouts rule five, all of that.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: So just make sure you know that. And if you
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: don't know that there's commercials during many MLB games on
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: MLB dot TV, that will help convince you how to
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: solve world peace. It's time to remind everyone why baseball
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: is glorious, especially nowadays where you could think your team
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: is out of it, but they might be back in
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: it again. Let me introduce you to the American league
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: wildcard KP. And let's tell everyone why they might need
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: to head back to see geek, grab some more tickets for,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: what is a playoff race before the playoffs actually begin.
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: Well, speaking about being out of it, I'm an American
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: League East guy, and I'm talking to you Toronto fans.
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: I'm talking to you Baltimore fans. A couple weeks ago,
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: probably not a reason to come out to the games.
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: Look at the standings right now. Both of you teams
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: are right back in this wildcard race.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Rangers fans. We can go on and on. Mariners fans,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you might be feeling a little queasy, but you're still
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in this thing too. So all of you should head
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: to SeatGeek.com and get yourself 10% off your next set
• 21:29
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• 21:33
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• 21:36
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• 21:38
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• 21:46
  Speaker 1: On Deck, presented by the Fox One app. Let's get
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: into the Yankees and Red Sox. Really, mostly Red Sox
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: focused here, of course, as we talk to Chris Cotillo
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: back on the show. MassLive.com, co-host of the Fenway Rundown podcast.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Go check that out. Chris, great to catch up as always.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I actually want to start with what you were talking about, Kratz.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I'm going to throw it right to you. Forget me
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: for first question. Go ask him your Trevor Story question.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: You mean besides the fact that Trevor Story's down in
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: the bushes and he's not doing well and Aaron Judge
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: just came out and said, I don't want to go
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: down to the bushes. I can just rehab in the
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: big leagues. But Trevor Story's getting roasted and now you,
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: writers like you, you demons that you are you're like
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: where's he going to play so was it worth it
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: for him to go down to the bushes or should
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: they need to and does he have a spot to play.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah I mean right now trying to figure out if
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: he's going to be in the lineup tonight for the
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Red Sox it's still unclear if him and Anthony are
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: in New York or headed that way or what's going
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: on they're not in the Worcester lineup but apparently Anthony
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: was there earlier in the day so lots of confusion
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: I mean I just think with Story I know a
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: lot of people have talked about, does he deserve to
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: start every day? At the end of the day, this
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: is one of the guys who got them to the
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: playoffs last year, played well once they got there. And
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: he was really dealing with this hernia thing for the
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: first month and a half when he was on the field.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: And he really thinks that affected his play. We've seen
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: from Monasterio the last few weeks, offensively have not been great. Defensively,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: his range is at the bottom of the league. Look
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: at stat cast. There's a lot of blue there when
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: it comes to Monasterio's glove. He's a good depth infielder.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: He had a really good offensive July, but I think
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: at this time it's time to turn it back to Story.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: That's not to say he doesn't have an unlimited leash.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: I think if he struggles for two or three weeks
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: and you play the hot hand with the Sogards and
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: the Sieglers and the Gaspers, whoever's around. But still, Trevor
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: Story I think offers the biggest ceiling of these guys,
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: especially defensively at shortstop. And I think that's what they're
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: going to do.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: All right, what's going on, Chris? Obviously talked about Trevor Story.
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: You mentioned Roman Anthony too and a handful of guys
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: that have been kind of playing in their absence recently. When, say,
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: both of those guys get activated together or one day apart,
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: who are the two odd men out? I know Gasper's
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: played pretty well since he's come up in the names
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: that you've said. So, obviously, you mentioned Story is probably got,
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: you know, somebody that they're going to trust a little
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: bit more shortstop given to, you know, what he's done
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: in the past. But who are the two odd men
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: out right now that you see if they are bringing
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: these two guys up?
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: My guess is Siegler is number one just because he's
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: a guy who's barely played the last two weeks or so.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: He got a couple starts in Miami before that. Sogard
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: was basically playing every day at second, and they like
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: what Sogard's given them. So I would guess Siegler goes down.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: And then the wild card to me is that second move.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: You know, they could delay one of these guys until
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: tomorrow and get an extra player for the doubleheader and
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: then not have to worry about this until Sunday, which
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: might make some sense to do. I think when they
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: do make that decision, Monasterio going down is a real
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: possibility just because they will probably feel covered at shortstop
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: with Story, with Sogard who can do it, and with
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Keiner Falefa coming back, likely when rosters expand on Tuesday.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: And like you said, Gasper has been so good with
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: the bat. Sogard has been really, really good. There's, I guess,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: an outside chance they send down Connor Wong and make
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Gasper the backup catcher behind Rutschman, but they like what
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Wong does with the pitching staff, and he's spent really
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: the majority of the last four years with the big
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: league team. So it's not an easy decision. I didn't
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: think we'd be sitting here on August 28th and talking about, oh,
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Roman Anthony and Trevor Story are coming back. What are
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: they going to do with Mickey Gasper, who's an up-and-down guy?
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: But they've forced their hand into making these tough decisions,
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: and we'll see it play out here over the next
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: couple days.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: Let's keep Mickey hitting. And maybe not as much catching.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: We'll get to Adley in a little bit here, but
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: I got to just ask a general Roman Anthony question.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Did they see what they needed to see in the
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: minor leagues coming back from that mysterious hand injury? Or
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: was it just, well, the amount of time that we
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: said we wanted to see him in the minor leagues,
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: that's it? Like, do they see the bat speed? Do
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: they see the bounce back health from everything for Roman
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Anthony to come to the big leagues and play every
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: single day?
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think they've kind of learned from
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: the mistakes they made earlier in the year. Romy Gonzalez
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: was rehabbing and spent only a handful of games with
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: Worcester and Portland, had a setback in the middle of it,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: came up, and his timing was not there, and he
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: wasn't the same bat he was last year, and they
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: actually had to option him because other guys had passed him.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: With Adley Rutschman on your shirt there, they had two
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: games of rehab for him when he was in Worcester.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: He got activated, and he's had two two-hit games, and
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: other than that, basically an offer or one hit and
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: 32 at-bats, something like that. So I think they've kind
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: of realized, all right, even if these guys and these
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: names would look good in our lineup, makes more sense
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: to be deliberate. I still think they think Anthony can
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: be a game changer. They like Duran's defense and left,
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: so that's a part of this too. They're probably going
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: to keep him out there over Anthony, and I have
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Anthony DH a lot. But with these long layoffs for
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: both Anthony and Story, they wanted them to get a
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: lot of at-bats. They obviously have. Apparently they might get
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: some more. As we sit here, it's a little TBD,
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: but I think that Anthony's shown them, at least results-wise,
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: if that matters more than story, and people are excited
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: about him coming back too.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, sticking with Roman Anthony, obviously you said he showed
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: probably being in the position where he's ready to be back.
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: I want to change gears because I think he gave
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: you a quote about something with his social life.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Was he able to tap into that a little bit more?
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: Could that be something that could not, I don't want
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: to say hinder him or is that something that he's
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: going to try to, you know, block out the most
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: that he can when he comes back? Cause obviously it's
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: a different day, you know, different time of, of air,
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: you know, from when I was playing and social media
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: and all this stuff. So I know he gave you
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: a quote on, you know, his social life and stuff.
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: And one thing you want to not intertwine, obviously when
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: he's making this comeback, he doesn't want it to overshadow
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: what Boston has going on. What was, did he speak
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: on any of that or is this something that you
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: see just, you know, he's a young kid that is
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: going to be okay.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think the way he put it was,
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: you know, when you're a 22 year old kid and
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: you do anything other than, you know, go out, people
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: are going to have something to say. And I think
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: it was a really mature way to handle it. I mean,
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: for me, it was a question I felt like needed
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: to be asked because it's been a narrative here for
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: the last three or four months that he was too
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: busy hanging out in the seaport, getting dinner in the
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: North end to rehab that hand. And that's why it
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: took so long. And, and honestly, I, I think that,
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: you know, that was a little harsh on him. It
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: was a very, very mysterious, weird injury. It was something
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: doctors hadn't seen before. And it basically came down to
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: the guy couldn't grip a bat, forget swing it, could
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: not put his fingers around the handle. When you can't
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: do that, you're not going to be able to hit
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: a hundred mile hour fastball. You're not going to be
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: able to hit soft toss or even swing. So I
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: think that, you know, it was kind of an opportunity
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: for him to kind of buck some of the narratives
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: that have come up over the last few months. He was,
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: you know, not, I don't think, excited to be having
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: to answer those questions but they're what have been talked
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: about on talk radio and what fans have said on
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: twitter and all those types of things and it's the
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: first time i think in his career really interestingly that
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: he's faced this type of criticism adversity you guys know
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: top prospects can do no wrong because it's all upside
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: no downside then we saw what he did last year
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: before he got hurt we saw what he did in
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: the wbc and then this year he was you know
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: getting mvp hype before the season including from those of
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: us on the red sox beat so Maybe it's just
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: another lesson that these things are not linear. You know,
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: guys have ups and downs and injuries and those types
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: of things. But I think he's the type of person
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: that very, very mature, very, very well thought out answers
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: on all this stuff. And it bodes well for how
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: he'll kind of bounce back from this weird period that
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: he's been down. And, you know, the Red Sox just
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: need him to get hot here for five, six weeks
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: and into the postseason and see what happens.
• 29:46
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: The guy on my shirt. I said we get back
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: to it. Adley Rutschman. Much was made about the trade
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: and how, oh, my gosh. How could you give up
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: that much for Adley Rutschman? I'm on the Adley Rutschman side.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: That's why I wear a shirt. What's the sentiment in Boston?
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Are they getting value out of it, even though hitting wise,
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: he has been a disappointment coming off of rehab?
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've kind of argued this with a couple other
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: beat writers who said, you know, it's a catcher. You're
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: not just getting him for offense. Well, to me. If
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: you just wanted good game calling and ABS challenges and
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: everything that comes with catching, they had Narvaez and Wong,
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: who had complete command of the staff and familiarity and
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: all that stuff, and the pitching staff was still one
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: of the best in baseball with those guys. They got
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: Rutschman because they thought it was a huge offensive upgrade
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: over what Narvaez, who's had a bad year, and Wong,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: who has not had a good two years in a
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: row now, were giving them. And if you look at it,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: he's hitting 170 in a Red Sox uniform. He's not
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: to the point where he can play more than two
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: days in a row. He's got this elbow thing going
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: on that's cost him the last couple games. We'll see
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: if he's in there tonight. But I think it's kind
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: of been an underrated storyline because the team has kept winning,
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: and there's been other things to talk about, whether it
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: be Anthony or Story or some of these guys coming back.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: Rutsman really has not given them anything offensively. He's hit
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: some balls hard. He had one home run and a
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: big spot at Fenway. But I think it's been a
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: disappointment so far. Obviously, a very, very small sample size. Obviously,
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: the guys get a lot of talent. and a lot
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: of upside. And if he gets hot in September and
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: they're all firing on all cylinders, it'll be a different story.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: But I think they were hoping for more just because
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: the floor with the catchers behind the plate was pretty
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: high before even getting it.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: My question would be on the acquisition of Adlai Rutschman.
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: Was there other, because the Red Sox have really kind
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: of gone deeper into the analytic side of positions, was
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: there more into the fact that Connor Wong is one
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: of the second worst receivers in the game and Adley
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: Rutschman is one of the top 10 receivers in the game?
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: Because some teams are really overvaluing that receiving stat.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, obviously the
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: playing time, they were just trying to ride the hot
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: hand with the bats. Honestly, at the beginning of the
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: year with Narvaez and Wong, you know, Wong became Sonny
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Gray's guy. So that, you know, for the guy who's
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: been really the staff ace, a really important thing. um
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: and you know Narvaez had different guys he worked with
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: and last year he had a really really good season
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: all around and people were excited um I think that
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: you know all that stuff to me there is a
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: learning curve coming in mid-season and learning a whole new
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: staff I mean he's been with the Orioles his entire
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: pro career comes and has to learn these guys on
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: the fly so any sort of defensive upgrade might kind
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: of be canceled out at least in the first couple
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: weeks in my mind just because of the familiarity, you know,
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: probably better than I, as someone who never caught in
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: major leagues, but you know, I think for them, it
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: really was, I think mostly about the bat just because
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: that's what this team needed. That's why they got Curtis
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Meade who got hurt immediately. That's why they got Rutschman.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: It hasn't shown up. I mean, he's not a rental.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: There's still a month left and next year lockout pending.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: So a lot of time for him to get things going,
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: but they, to me, I just, you don't give up
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: four good prospects and you're starting catcher for a receiver, honestly.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: And I think that they thought it could be an
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: impact that there's still time for them to do that.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: And we'll see, but so far it hasn't been there.
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: All right, Chris, I want to ask you about John
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: Henry is, is he around as an owner more because
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: they're winning or is it more that he's just being
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: shown more where they just weren't showing them on TV?
• 33:27
  Speaker 5: Because the question is, is he walking around proud because
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: they're winning or is it a situation where the stations just,
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: simply weren't showing him you know in his element because
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: obviously there are two different sides of.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: It right yeah i mean i this is something i've
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: tried to tackle uh for a story that ran yesterday
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: over the last couple weeks and i've talked to a
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: lot of people around fenway for it and basically my
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: theory originally was well this season for whatever reason he's
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: around more he's at fenway more he's going to more
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: games all that type of stuff and talking to people
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: around the ballpark and people in the organization they said
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: no he's around the same as he has been in
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: previous years But there seems to be this really kind
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: of purposeful effort to show him on TV, to show
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: him on social media, that type of stuff. And it's
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: interesting because for years, the Red Sox, and I've asked
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Sam Kennedy when he's come on our podcast or he's
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: done his spring training scrums, whatever it is, what's the
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: biggest misconception about you guys? What's the biggest thing people
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: get wrong about Fenway Sports Group? And he always said
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: it's people don't think John Henry is very involved or
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: that he cares. And to me, it was always like
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: that meme, like, we got to find the guy who
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: did this. Like, they hide the guy. And then they
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: say that they're surprised people don't think that he's very
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: involved because he hasn't talked to the media in six
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: or seven years. I mean, he hasn't really done public
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: appearances or been out and about. And this year, he's
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: on the Nessun broadcast a lot. He's showing up, you know,
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: hooting and hollering on his wife's Instagram story in big games.
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: He's going down to the stands at Fenway. And I
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: think To me, it's a purposeful thing by the Red
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: Sox and a really smart one. And fans feel like
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: he's involved and he was involved in the firing of Cora.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: He's been involved since Tracy took over, wins, losses, all
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: of it. It seems like there's a real effort to
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: show him. And I think it's overdue and I think
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: fans appreciate it. And just knowing that the guy who
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: ultimately signs the checks, the ultimate bottom line decision maker
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: guy is there and hanging on every pitch is something
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: that Red Sox fans didn't feel like was happening for
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: the last, I don't know, since 2018, seven, eight years.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: And it feels like this year, just the sightings, the,
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: you know, again, that Linda Henry Instagram story of him
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: when they beat the White Sox in that crazy 13
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: inning game. People love that. People eat that up. So
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: good for them, I think, for doing it the way
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: they have. But there's something going on where they're trying
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: to make him seen. And I think overdue, but a
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: good thing.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good PR. I mean, that's just smart. I
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: can give them a couple other tips. One, hit up
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: a bar and pick up the tab. Always a win, right?
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Very easy to do. I think he can afford that.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: And then the other one I think would be, Oh,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: how about talking to the media maybe once every 10
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: years or something like that? Just give me something.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: I've exhausted myself with that plight and fans. I've exhausted
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: fans with that plight. So, you know, to me though, honestly, Scott,
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: like I think that the other stuff, Like, would it
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: be great to ask him whatever questions are on our
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: mind once a year, whatever, as reporters? And would it
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: give us a ton of stuff to write about?
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: I think the other stuff in this being seen and
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: throwing the fans a bone by going into the stands or,
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: you know, the Instagram stuff, whatever, is more important. Like,
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: that's all people care about. They don't care that, you know,
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: me and McAdam and Ian Brown and Bradford are getting quotes.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: So it's just his involvement. That's all that fans want.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: And I think they're getting more of that this year.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: And it's playing out right in front of their eyes.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: That's true.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: I'm with you. I would say the only thing is
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: don't discount yourself. I mean, the media is a communication
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: line to the fans. If he speaks to you guys
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: after the trade deadline, like, yeah, you know what? What
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Craig Breslow said, not everything has to be slicing and
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: dicing every number. We just felt like this was the
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: right move here. That would resonate, but I see what
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: you're saying.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: We're, we're trying here. Baby steps with him showing up
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: and them showing more shots of him. Chris, good stuff, man.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Appreciate the time, dude. As always.
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Chris Cotillo. Obviously, MassLive. And you can check
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: out his Fenway Rundown pod. And then you can check
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: out the Yankees and the Red Sox. They're playing tonight. Tomorrow,
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: that game's going to be on Fox 1. Fox 1
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: also has the Rangers and the Brewers tomorrow, by the way.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: So both of those games streaming on the Fox 1 app.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Never miss a moment. Start your Fox 1 three-day free
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: trial today. Fox1. com is the spot.