Latest / Foul Territory / Nick Hundley on his SF/SD managerial interviews + Rays to-do list

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Nick Hundley on his SF/SD managerial interviews + Rays to-do list · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: All right, Rangers special assistant and former Big Lea catcher
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Nick Hunley joining us right now. Nick, great to have
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: you on the show. And of course you've got the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: AJ Kratz Day, so you've got a lot of catchers
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: on this screen. How you doing and welcome.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I'm great. I'm not coming on if he's not Catcher day.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: So we lined it up.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Every day is catch your day on here. Nick. By
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: the way, just definitely everybody catch your day.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: That's why you guys are going off, you know.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Just about just about every day. Okay, So Nick, first off,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: busy little time period for you. Just now, how was
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: some of the interview processes going for you during this time?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And then you know, how do you wind up back
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to where you are right now? I know for you
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: when you've been weighing things some of it it definitely
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: has been based on what you're looking at, location, family,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the whole deal. So would love to get your tape.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a while month for sure.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Never really thought about managing until about a month ago
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: when Buster called me said I'd love for you to
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: come get some experience go through this process with us
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: in San fran I love the Bay, Love Buster, the
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: type of is the leader, one of my favorite teammates
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: of all times. So I was like, yeah, let's let's
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: go through it. He got pretty serious there, and we
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: had to make a decision as a family, Hey, with
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: this work would it at this stage with my with
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: my girls there twelve and nine and it's such an
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: awesome time to be with them, Uh, take them to school,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: tuck them in, hang out, so you know, went a
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: different route, went through a couple of days of I
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: don't know if it's called morning or what, but I
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: was like, man, was that that was an awesome opportunity
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: up there. But you know, love love everything about san
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Fran and Buster, And then went through this Padres process
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: a couple a couple of weeks and that was that
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: was great to go through too, And you know, so
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: good good experience for sure, but really figuring out what
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: you want to do and where you want to go
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: with your career. It's been it's been a good month.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: All right, Dick. So I got asked, did you actually
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: get an offer? And what did you do so right?
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Because Kratz is begging for a job, so he wants
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: to know what you did so right so he can
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: get these interviews because he can't get an interview. So
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: what did you do so right? And did the giants
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: actually offer you the job? Because if they did, man,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: you're impressive you turned it down.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: No, I think Kratz is doing a great job. Where
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: is that? I think you're you're in a great spot.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: I had a lot of conversation with Buster. They never
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: offered me the job. I ended up taking myself out
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: of it before before that and just had to be
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: honest with them.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I didn't want to go up there and uh and
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: continue the process if if they offered me, and I
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: wasn't going to be all in and accepted.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So I told him, Hey, if if.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: I go up there and meet with the you uh
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: another couple of times, I'll take it if you offer
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: it to me. But if i'm if I'm not one
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: hundred percent, I'm not going to come up there and
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: take and uh continue this process.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So No, never got to that stage.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: But it was it was It was interesting to go
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: through and and tough to tough to pull out of
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: it for sure.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: Right, Well, we only work in facts on this show,
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: and what Aj was just spitting was not facts, so
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: I could care less about that job. You are at
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: the same stage as I am. You want to be
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: home with the kids, and we don't. We don't all
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: have the popularity that AJ had to be able to
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: just be front and center and be the prancing pony.
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: We were kind of the backup guy that just you know,
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: kind of kind of learned the roast behind the scenes, right.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Nick, Yeah, you know, it takes a lot to be
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: able to go out there and play every day. I
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: was fortunate to do it a couple of years of
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: my career, not as many as AJ, but you know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: I really really enjoyed that.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: And uh, you know, I'm glad. I'm glad he's on
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: TV now.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: When I was playing, people used to say he had
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: a face for radio, but I disagreed. I said, hey,
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: you know, if there's one guy that can be on TV,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: it's him. Just don't put him next to better looking
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: people in him. And they didn't listen because Waine Wright
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: and those guys were way better looking to him.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: But that's all right, Okay, Well that's why they got
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: me on the show, because now he is definitely the
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: second best looking guy on this show, and I'm third
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: so it's fine, but I want to know the difference
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: between the two managerial interview process or like the steps
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: that you got to. The giants are at a different
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: stage and the padres are Busters your buddy. I mean,
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: I know, I know the affinity that Buster had because
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: the year after the year after you left San fran
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: I came into San fran He wanted you to come back.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: They didn't want you back. They went and got a
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: rental in me. So I know how much Buster likes
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: you as a person. So you're going to get a
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: You're going to an interview essentially with a buddy. Then
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: you're going in an interview with the pot who, like,
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: I mean a J. Peler is there, he's been he's
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: been a GM forever. How different was that process and
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: were they asking any significantly different questions that you were.
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: Like, Oh, I didn't really think about that.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know, they offered me a minor league
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: deal coming back.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: I just told him, Hey, thanks, I feel like we've
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: been you know, married for two years and you want
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: me to date you again. So I said, I'm not
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: not coming back on that deal. You know, Thankfully they
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: got somebody good or you know, to come back in
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: and be better than me and you cratzy and went
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: to Oakland. So the managerial side, in terms of differences,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: I think they're both in very similar spots. I mean,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: they're both really good organizations, have have had a lot
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: of success in the past, both looking to get over
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: the hump, both spending money, have have all star players,
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: both ready to try to go win. So from a
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: strategy standpoint, it was pretty similar in terms of, Hey,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: what do you think we need to do in the
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: off season, what do we think, uh, this organization needs
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: to get over with hump? Who would you bring in
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: staff wise? What are some non negotiables? You know, all that,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: very very similar things. The leadership styles, just trying to
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: you know, get comfortable. And I think kind of how
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: kind of how a J and the and uh and
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: the Potter is one about hiring Craig Stamon was probably
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: very similar to the comfort level that I have with
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Buster in San fran You know, he had been a
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: padre for a long time playing and then been in
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: the front offs with them, So I think that was
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: a great, great hire on that end. And uh, and
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: he's gonna do a good job because there's a lot
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: of film familiarity there.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: First of all, the fact that you insult me after
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Brian Anderson is one of your best friends on Earth.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: That's insulting everybody involved. Okay, because that's.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Did he tell you that?
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Hey, there's there's both sides every I'm just telling you
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: used to guy. You guys used to go to meet
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: market all the time in Tucson and hang out. I
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: don't even know what that means. But I'm just saying
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: I don't even know what that is, but I'm just
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: saying that.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: He's lucky if I text him back, just let him know.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Good. Okay, Well that's that makes two of us, so
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: thank you. But now you brought it up. You brought
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: up Stamman, right, So Stammon was in the interview process
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: where you're going through it and then he gets hired
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: as then as the manager. Like is that knowing the
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: answers to the test, because was Preller like, well, we
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: tried all these other guys and now, oh, Craig, you've
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: been in the interview. Why don't we ask you the
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: same questions and you know the answers, So let's see
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: if you can do that. Like that was one of
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: the things that confused me was if he was in
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: the interview process and then he becomes a manager. Doesn't
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: that seem like he already knew the answers to the questions.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: You know what, That seems a little off. But I've
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: known Craig for a long time, and he actually called me,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: uh after he got the job and apologized for the
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: for that and uh, you know, I have a lot
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: of respect for him, and I know the timeline of it.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I know they asked him to interview. He initially declined
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: was uh was on the on the zoom calls with
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: me and and the other candidates and went through that process,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: and then they asked him again and he said yes.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: So I totally understand that it looks a little weird
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: from the outside, but talking to him, he's a guy
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: that I trust. I know who he is, I know
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: who he believes in, and you know, I know for
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: sure that he wouldn't do something like that.
• 8:16
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• 9:17
  Speaker 5: All right, last question for you. The hiring that Buster
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: ended up having going to get by Tello somebody with
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: zero big league experience as ex players, you sit there
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: and you go. But for me, when I was asked
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: when he first got hired, I said, if Buster wants
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: to hire him.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: I'm all on board.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I think Buster has as good a feel as anybody
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: there is in the game, and I think he's kind
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: of shortchanged by how good he was.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Honestly, he is so such a good baseball player and.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: So talented that his vision and his knowledge, I mean,
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: how many no hitters did he catch? How many perfect games?
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: The stuff that he does? The field got.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Tough.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I caught a perfect game. I caught a no hitter.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: I caught a perfect game. I mean, I'm not a
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: president of baseball off, I caught one. He caught more
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: perfect games than me. I caught one. I caught a
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: no hitter. Okay, so we're even. So why am I
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: not president of baseball off? I can hire you, Nick,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't. I'd hire someone else, but I would at
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: least interview.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I wouldn't hire you. Use my president of baseball
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: ops either.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: That is crap. Because I have a perfect game and
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I have a no hitter, So that is crap.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: Oh A.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: J wants your job, Get aj a job. I'm actually listen.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: That's why.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: That's why my phone stinks. I'm driving to the GM
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: meetings right now, going to Vegas driving to the desert.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: So I'll go lobby for you. Text me your resume,
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: a I'll go talk to the thirty gms and presidents
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: and uh, you know I want other things than your
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: stats too, because I can look at your stats.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I don't care about how you have any home runs.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Give me all year, give me your resume, and I'll
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: send it to you.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Here. Here's here's what it is, Nick, here's my resume.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Check my baseball reference. That's it. What do you mean
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: that's not a resume. If he just said Buster Posey
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: gets less value because he caught a no hitter in
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: a perfect game, well then we're on the same level.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: No, he gets dings for it.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: He doesn't get no credit how smart he is because
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: of how good a baseball player he was, Like he
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: was such a talented player. He was so talented. Everybody's like, oh,
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: he's just really good. Like no, he's like super visionary,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: super bright, sees the game incredibly well, knows people like
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: just because he's.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: More talent than everybody else.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: I feel like he doesn't get enough credit in terms
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: of his vision and his and his knowledge.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: So if he hire.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: State is going to Florida State, like going to Arizona
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: like dings you the wrong way? Or does that dingy
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: be down or up?
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: No, it's like the Harvard of the Southeast, just like
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: two songs of Harvard of the Southwest.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, okay again Brian Anderson went to Arizona. Let's
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: let's slow that role, let's slow that roll down.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: That's because he got in tuition.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: He lived right there.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: True.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Hey, we got to jump too. I know you do too.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: The last thing, Nick, when you're passing out AJ's resume,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: show the owners how many followers and subscribers his show has.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Maybe that will help his cause. True if they're unaware
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: of of foul laratory, Well.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Next time I will phone will cut out ten times.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Well, we'll do it, yes, And also make sure you
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: tell how many perfect games and new hitters I almost had,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: because then I mean, gosh, yeah, it's done. Well you almost.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Hey, you tried to mess up. You tried to mess
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: up the one you had? Yeah, I box up all
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: the backstops.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: True, but I didn't. But I didn't.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: You didn't remember.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Skillet. I always had the skillet back here Icond knocked
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: at your hope.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Sorry, Nick, This was great. Thank you for joining us. Yes,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: when you're not mobile, we'll get you back. Okay, I
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed it.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, sorry about that. Thanks Fellas.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Time to talk raise their offseason to do list with
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Mark Hopkins, who's been covering the race for the Tampa
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Bay Times for a long time, and the topper. It's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: great to see you. The way we play this game
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: is you lay out the three for us, and then
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: we'll ask you some follow ups and try and dissect
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: what the race should do versus what they will do.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: So the floor is yours, my friend.
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: Fair Fair.
• 13:45
  Speaker 7: Oh, they got to do something about the outfield. There's
• 13:47
  Speaker 7: not enough offense in the outfield. They were thirtieth in
• 13:51
  Speaker 7: home runs, twenty sixth in ops, twenty seventh in RBI.
• 13:54
  Speaker 7: They've got to find some more thump in the outfield,
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: and then they've got to find it. This is funny
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: because the Rays are usually deep and starting pitching. They
• 14:03
  Speaker 7: traded two away this year in July, Tys Bradley and
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: Zach Lyttel, but they need to prove and starter. There's
• 14:09
  Speaker 7: just too much uncertainty about Shane McClanahan to count on
• 14:13
  Speaker 7: him to be their anchor. So I think they're going
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: to need to go find a veteran starter. And this
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: is a little offbeat here, but they've got to kind
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: of get adjusted. They've got to hope that Tropicana Field
• 14:23
  Speaker 7: gets finished and that they get back there. It was
• 14:25
  Speaker 7: a very disruptive year last year for the Rays, obviously
• 14:28
  Speaker 7: as a result of the hurricane. Because of the damage
• 14:31
  Speaker 7: to the trop they ended up playing at Steinberger Field.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: You know, great hats off to the Yankees for making
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: that work for them, but they were not at home.
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: They were not comfortable there.
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: I think, you know, in retrospect they realized it kind
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: of wore them down with just how the heat and
• 14:45
  Speaker 7: everything worked. So those are kind of their three things.
• 14:48
  Speaker 7: Number three obviously not as much in their control as
• 14:50
  Speaker 7: the first two.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: All right, well, let's go to outfield offense, because the
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: last I checked outfield offense in the free agent market
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: cost a lot of money. We're gonna hear the whole like, oh,
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: they offered Kyle Tucker this really neat contract. I get that,
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: But how do they how do they how do they say, Okay,
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: we're gonna go and get this outfield offense. Are they
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: hoping that some of their outfield will stay healthy and
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: have a resurgence or is this something that you think
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: they will actually go out and find it on the
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: market or even on the trade market.
• 15:27
  Speaker 7: I think it's gonna be more of the latter. Pratzy.
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: I mean, Josh Low can do better. Josh Low had
• 15:32
  Speaker 7: another rough year. I got hurt right at the start,
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: and that I think was a big factor. But you know,
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: Josh Low of a couple of years ago with an
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: eight hundred plus ops and the you know, some incredible stats.
• 15:42
  Speaker 7: I think the line on that was the only player
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: better that year was Akunya if you parch the stats
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: the right way. So Josh Low has got to do more.
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: That's the internal improvement there. But they just had too
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: many complimentary type players last year. They're playing Jake Mangham,
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: They're playing Chandler, Simpson, cam My there. For the first
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: half of the year. They were guys that were good
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: defensive players, but it didn't have a lot of power,
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: didn't get on base a ton that got better, Mangum
• 16:08
  Speaker 7: obviously got better at that. Simpson with the great speed
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: Misther just got DFA. So that kind of shows you
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: that you know, he didn't fit in anymore. Christopher Morell
• 16:17
  Speaker 7: didn't really do a lot.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: Now.
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: Johnny de Luca was hurt almost all year. He played
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: only nineteen games. Richie Pelasios is a guy they were
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: counting on. Could play in field or outfield. But you
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: know they're not going to go get Randy Rose Arena back.
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: But that's the kind of bat you need ideally, right,
• 16:31
  Speaker 7: You had that guy a couple of years ago. Somebody
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: who can hit the ball out of the park and
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: drive the ball in the gap. Put some fear in
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: the opposing pictures. I just don't know they're going to compete.
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: They're not going to sign Kyle Tucker, They're not gonna
• 16:42
  Speaker 7: get Bellinger. You know they're not going to be at
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: the top of the market Grisham, But you know, they
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: find their way to find these guys sometimes and sometimes
• 16:51
  Speaker 7: it works out.
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: Sometimes it doesn't.
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: But it maybe somebody we've never heard of it, Maybe
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: somebody who needed a second chance, change of scenery.
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: That type of situation is my sense.
• 17:01
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• 18:03
  Speaker 3: All right, Well, he'allfield's one thing, but you mentioned starting pitching.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: On the other thing. The Rays are always great at
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: finding pitching, and you just mentioned did it go out
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: and find this guy or that guy? How have the
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Rays now found enough starting pitching? Because that's always been
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: their thing. They find relievers and they find enough pitching
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: to sustain them and then well do we get enough offense?
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: So how have they not found enough starting pitching?
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: Or they find relievers and turn them into starters. Right,
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: They did that with Zach Lttel and that worked out
• 18:29
  Speaker 7: pretty good for them, at for Zak because.
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: He's gonna make the money this last season.
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: But yeah, look, I think they're just they traded two
• 18:36
  Speaker 7: guys away. So if you assume that the Rays are
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: usually and still are really smart in the pitching department,
• 18:42
  Speaker 7: they must have had their reasons. We'll tell had an
• 18:44
  Speaker 7: expiring contract, that was one thing, but trading Tys Bradley.
• 18:47
  Speaker 7: They just don't know about mcclatahan. That's been a big blow.
• 18:49
  Speaker 7: He hasn't pitched in April of twenty three. He's supposedly
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: going to go to camp healthy, but he hasn't pitched
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: a game since April of twenty three.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: So even if he's.
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: Perfectly healthy and over that, how much can you count
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: on him to do this season? So they're gonna come
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: back with Drew Rasmussen, who's coming off a great year,
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: you know, came back from that third significant elbow surgery.
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: Kyle Snyder said, he's probably the only pitcher that's come back.
• 19:11
  Speaker 7: It wasn't a third Timmy John, but it was pretty close.
• 19:15
  Speaker 7: Come back and had a great year. Ryan Pepio had
• 19:18
  Speaker 7: a pretty good year. E Ra in the mid to
• 19:20
  Speaker 7: high threes. Shane Boz he looks like he had a
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: pretty good year. But Eddi Ra was pushing five. And then,
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: like I said, mcclanahan's at uncertainty. You've got Joe Boyle
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: who's been, you know, very inconsistent. Ian Seymour did well
• 19:32
  Speaker 7: and an opportunity wasn't probably expected to get last year.
• 19:36
  Speaker 7: But there's not enough depth there. They need a kind
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: of a veteran guy. I mean, maybe they bring Adrian
• 19:41
  Speaker 7: Hauser back. I've heard maybe they talked to Zach Zach
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: Efflin who was here before. I'm sorry, mixed up my
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: Zach's for a second. Zach Efflin was here a few
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: years ago and they traded him to the Orioles. He's
• 19:51
  Speaker 7: a free agent now, was obviously a great fit when
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: he was here. So you know, maybe one of those
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: rebound guys short term deal that type of situation. I
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: think they'll find somebody aj But yeah, it is a
• 20:03
  Speaker 7: bit surprising that they don't really have that pipeline going
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: right now from the minor leagues I had in the past.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: And maybe they go get Joe Ryan back they had him.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: That'd be an interesting trade.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: I never thought i'd say this on The show Man.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: They can't wait, the Rays can't wait to get back
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: into the trap. They're looking forward to the trop do
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: any do you have any new info? Obviously we're not
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: driving by, we're not driving by the stadium right now.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Is it going to be ready?
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: Is there a fear that they have to play a
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: few more games up until May in Steinbrenner again, although
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: the Yankees said we're not doing this is a one
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: year thing.
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: I mean, I think right now, as we sit here
• 20:42
  Speaker 7: today on November tenth, the people that are in charge
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: of this seem to feel pretty good that it's going
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: to be ready. They were very fortunate. The whole obviously
• 20:51
  Speaker 7: area was very fortunate. No hurricanes this year that hit
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: the area. There wasn't a ton of rain, there wasn't
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: a lot of bad weather. I mean, there's some videos
• 20:59
  Speaker 7: out there, these guys up there on the roof. I mean,
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: they talk about being a challenging job, these guys climbing
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: up the roof, having to basically sow the pieces together.
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: It's done in panels. There's twenty four panels as of
• 21:12
  Speaker 7: Friday nineteen. We're up, so a j I'll help you
• 21:15
  Speaker 7: with that. Five to go and then you know, they've
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: got to work from there going forward. Once they get
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: the roof on that, all the inside work starts right.
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: They've got new turf, they've got to replace some seats.
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: Almost everything that was you know, hit by waters damage
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: has got to be replaced. You know, some of the
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: walls water leaked all over the place. So there's a
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: ton of work to do inside. But there seems to
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: be a pretty good confidence that they're going to be ready.
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: They're supposed to play April sixth. MLB has them on
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: the road for the first nine games, and they come
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: home and I'll play the Cubs and the Yankees. I'm
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: not sure playing the Cubs have made the most sense,
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: because if you had to flip it, you probably should
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: have been playing another Al East team there, so you could, hey,
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: we'll play up at your place and you come back
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: here later. But their plan is to be ready to
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: go April six. I'm sure you guys will be here
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: A j gonna come over.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'll be there. Why wouldn't I be. It's the
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: day after Easter because Easter is April fifth, So absolutely,
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: as long as you get me tickets STOPPERR. But I
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: can't count that far ahead. As you mentioned, my math
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: is awesome. So what I want to know, though, is
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: there's a new owner in town, Patrick Zlovski. What have
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: we heard anything from him, because I haven't really seen
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: much from him, and what he's gonna do. And where
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: is there going to be a new stadium? Because Orlando
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: still would love to give a stadium, although I think
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: that's kind of dead now. But have we heard anything
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: about a new stadium? We're talking Trump here, but we
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: have a new owner, a new ownership group, and a
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: new hopefully hope for a new stadium. Can you give
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: us some details on that?
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean there's been one media session with the
• 22:46
  Speaker 7: new ownership group.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: Was a couple three or four weeks ago.
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: Well it's early October, so I guess it was about
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: a month ago actually, and they came out pretty strong
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: and Patrick Zelewski the head guy, and they ken Babby
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: who owns the Jacksonville and Akron Minor League teams is
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: gonna be the CEO and he's gonna kind of be
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: the day to day guy. But they came out and
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: said they are looking for a new stadium. It's gonna
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: they want to be just like the Battery. They want
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: a hundred acres which is pretty pretty big, larger than
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: the Battery, and they want to have it open for
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: the twenty twenty nine season. And they admitted that was
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: aggressive and maybe audacious, and it's definitely ambitious, all those things,
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: all the A words, because that's gonna be pretty hard
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: to get done. I mean, you got to build it,
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: and it's gonna have a roof fixed the roof, not
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: a retractable.
• 23:32
  Speaker 8: So that also means.
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: Mark your froze there still with us?
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Oh back, now, we were just line.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: You guys hear me too?
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, I hear you, just me and you Now
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: that's good.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: All right, We'll get to Topper one second.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: Working on I have to ask I have to ask
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Topper because the Rays are always smarter than us. The
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: Rays are always smarter than us, especially in pitching. Well, the.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: League is.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Catching up via copy cutting, and they've been poached more
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: than any team in ORG probably in baseball over the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: past fifteen years or so, right, I would say that
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: probably a good case.
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: All right, top, we got you back.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: The last we miss Like the second portion, I would
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: say probably at the A.
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: So they want to open a stadium for the twenty
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: nine season. They want it to be like the Battery
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: in Atlanta.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: They're looking for one hundred acre site would be bigger
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: than the Battery.
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: One that seems to fit.
• 24:53
  Speaker 7: That would literally be right next to Steinbrenner Field where
• 24:56
  Speaker 7: the Hillsboro Community College or Hillsborough College is now called
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: it known we right across Raymond James Stadium. Be kind
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: of like a Philadelphia thing. You'd have a bunch of
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: stadiums there all together. There's some other possibilities as well.
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: They said there's some sites that probably people aren't aware
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: of that also would fit that. It's been really quiet.
• 25:13
  Speaker 7: I agree with you, it's surprisingly there hasn't been more sad.
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: But I think what we're hearing, you know, through some backgrounds,
• 25:19
  Speaker 7: is they're having a ton of meetings, they're trying to
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: work on this, and you know they're gonna have to
• 25:22
  Speaker 7: have a site picked here. I would you know, I'm
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: not great at math here like aj but also, like
• 25:28
  Speaker 7: you know, they're gonna have to get started here sometime
• 25:30
  Speaker 7: early in twenty six. If they're gonna have this thing
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: open for twenty nine, I would think.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: All right, well, the Rays are always smarter than all
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: of us. So maybe they have the idea of why
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: getting rid of Pete fa Fairbanks for eleven million dollars
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: was a good idea. Is there something that we don't
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: know because normally when you see the Rays not keep
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: a picture or trade for a picture, you did look
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: back and you go, Okay, well, shoot, we shouldn't have
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: gotten rid of that guy, or wait, what's wrong?
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Would the get rid.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Of them because there's eleven million dollars for a closer
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: in the big leagues too much?
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: I think that's a fair conclusion. I think that's a
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: fair conclusion Crassy to make that they felt that way.
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: I know what Ertoney Anders said and talking to him
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: the other night was that, you know, they feel like
• 26:17
  Speaker 7: they've got a lot of death in the bullpen. We
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: know they in the past have liked to use the
• 26:21
  Speaker 7: closure by committee when you know, ever since Fairbanks signed
• 26:24
  Speaker 7: that contract for the last three years he was pretty
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: much the guy.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: But they've got a chance now to mix it up.
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: They've got Griffin Jackson, they've got Avenue set up, they've
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: got Clevenger, They'll have Manny Rodriguez at some point back
• 26:36
  Speaker 7: during the year.
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: So I think you're gonna see him go back to that.
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: But yeah, I think the way Neander explained it was
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: at that much money, they don't they're not expecting the
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: payroll increased. And one thing that Patrick Zelewski said, they
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: said they were to not interfere with fishball operations, but
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: he also did say that, you know, the revenue stream
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: doesn't change until they get a new stadium build. It
• 26:56
  Speaker 7: doesn't change just because they have new owners. So I
• 26:58
  Speaker 7: thought that was a a telling comment that they weren't
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: going to just come in and double the payroll or
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: anything like that. So I do think that they're going
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: to be in that eighty million or so range again.
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: And the way Neander made it explained, it made it
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: sound was that to carry that money as a reliever,
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: they feel like they could spend that money in other areas.
• 27:17
  Speaker 7: We just talked about getting a back for the outfield,
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: talking about getting a starting pitcher. He we also thought
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: why not pick it up and then trade him right,
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: and you get you know, the music, the music stops.
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: There's some teams that don't sign closers in the off season.
• 27:29
  Speaker 7: Somebody shows up in spring training him with an injury.
• 27:32
  Speaker 7: But Neander's point was that to carry that eleven million
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: without knowing could limit their maneuverability early in the offseason.
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: So yeah, I mean, I think you could look at
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: it and say, why couldn't a team a four and
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: eleven a dollar closer? And then what's unset is what
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: is their evaluation of Pete. I know the fastballs come
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: down a couple of ticks, but he's also added a
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: third pitch. I think at twenty seven saves last year,
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: career high were career high sixty innings, but you know,
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: definitely had some blow up type game, some very costly
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: home runs. So I think this was a baseball decision,
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: but I think money was also part of it, as
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: it is with almost every decision the Rays make.
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: All right, if it's money, then our chat has been
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: clamoring about trades. Obviously, anybody can be traded when it's
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: the race, but specifically unless you have somebody else that's
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: definitely like more hot on the market. Yandi Diaz and
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: Brandon Lao. Do you see them getting traded one or
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: both of them this offseason?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: I think part of what they were trying to do.
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: And you know, Brandon Llow's option and Pete Fairbanks option
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: were sent you the same, you know, eleven to five
• 28:41
  Speaker 7: and eleven. I think, you know, by keeping Brandon that
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: was a decision, and you know, maybe it was keep
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: him and let Pete go. But I do think for
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: a team that needs offense, Yandy Diaz had a twelve
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: million dollar contract with an option for twenty seven. Brandon
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: Lao on a one year contract for eleven point five million.
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: Those are two pretty productive players. They don't really have
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: a replacement for Brandon Love at second base. Now, if
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: somehow during their offseason they find somebody who's gonna give
• 29:09
  Speaker 7: them production and happens to be a second basement, that
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: could change that conversation. But I think, as we said
• 29:14
  Speaker 7: here today, they're gonna have both those guys to start
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: the season. Now, come to July, if they're having another
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: season where they're not in the playoff race, then I
• 29:21
  Speaker 7: think that conversation changes.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Topper great stuff, you nailed it on the off season
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to do List, much much more from Topper, Give him
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: a follow. Checkout his work in the Tampa Bay Times.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Good catching up with you sounds good.
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: Valve Territory from the Trop April six, Why don't you
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: guys all come over?
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I love the idea. I'm all four more road shows,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: so we'll jump over there. We got to do a show.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Hey Jay, we haven't done a show from there regular seasons.
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: So my fault, Scott, I keep offering. You keep saying, no,
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: it's not my fault.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: I don't say that's true.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Scott.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: All right, the request has been punched in.
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: We will talk see