Latest / Foul Territory / 1st Half Recap & 2nd Half Predictions + White Sox checkup w/James Fegan

Transcript

1st Half Recap & 2nd Half Predictions + White Sox checkup w/James Fegan · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Awards and predictions of what the second half is going
0:06
Speaker 1: to look like. But first off, let's do some of
0:09
Speaker 1: the keys from the first half of the season what
0:11
Speaker 1: we've seen so far. So Kevin tell me, we'll start
0:14
Speaker 1: with teams, most surprising team on the positive side and
0:17
Speaker 1: on the downside.
0:20
Speaker 2: Okay, So I picked two teams most surprising teams for me.
0:23
Speaker 2: Miami Marlins and the Chicago White Sox are the most
0:26
Speaker 2: surprising team from where they're at, both teams above five hundred,
0:30
Speaker 2: both playing pretty good baseball, and the most disappointing teams.
0:34
Speaker 2: I put obviously the New York Mets, and then I
0:36
Speaker 2: put the San Francisco Giants too. I thought bringing in
0:40
Speaker 2: Tony Vattella was going to be a great thing for
0:42
Speaker 2: this team. You look at their roster. They have a
0:45
Speaker 2: lot of great players there and it just hasn't worked.
0:47
Speaker 2: And not to mention Buster Posey's kind of taking over
0:50
Speaker 2: a baseball guy back in a front office position. It's
0:53
Speaker 2: just kind of been a dumpster fire there.
0:57
Speaker 3: Spot on, I'm.
0:58
Speaker 4: Gonna go Mets worst team and by far by far,
1:03
Speaker 4: because I'm kind of believing in this team now, the Marlins.
1:08
Speaker 4: I almost said to Nats because I didn't think they
1:12
Speaker 4: were gonna win seventy games this year, but it shows
1:15
Speaker 4: that offense can win games. But I mean, by far,
1:20
Speaker 4: the Marlins are the team that I'm like, wow, Like
1:24
Speaker 4: they're not just winning games. I like the kind of
1:27
Speaker 4: ball that they're playing. So that's my most surprising team.
1:31
Speaker 1: And crats right back to you. What about player wise,
1:33
Speaker 1: anything that has stood out on the plus or minus
1:36
Speaker 1: from the first half of the season.
1:39
Speaker 4: On the pitching on the pitching side plus. For me,
1:43
Speaker 4: I love when a guy Foster Griffin makes the All
1:47
Speaker 4: Star Team. Did you know who Foster Griffin was? No.
1:51
Speaker 4: Plenty of teams go, well, we'll just find somebody on
1:54
Speaker 4: the cheap over in Korea or Japan or you know
1:58
Speaker 4: rarely and you know, played in Triplay of the Year before.
2:00
Speaker 4: But they come over and he's not just done it
2:03
Speaker 4: with a new repertoire where he went over and he's like, oh,
2:08
Speaker 4: he figured out how to throw one hundred miles an hour.
2:11
Speaker 4: He's a throwback pitcher that picked up a strikeout. I
2:14
Speaker 4: think he might even picked up two strikeouts in the
2:16
Speaker 4: All Star Game, and maybe it was just one. But
2:20
Speaker 4: he is really dominated in a really, really tough division.
2:24
Speaker 4: So for me, it's Foster Griffin.
2:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll stick on the pitching side too. I put
2:30
Speaker 2: my biggest surprise. I put Louis Varlin. I mean, this
2:34
Speaker 2: was a guy who the baseball world didn't really know
2:37
Speaker 2: a ton of coming from Minnesota getting traded over to Toronto.
2:40
Speaker 2: He kind of blossomed in the postseason. He kind of
2:43
Speaker 2: came that fireman for the Blue Jays. He was pitching
2:46
Speaker 2: all the high leverage situations aside from actually closing out
2:50
Speaker 2: the games. Comes into the season in that same role.
2:52
Speaker 2: He's been able to take over the closers role in Toronto.
2:55
Speaker 2: First time All Star. You can make an argument that
2:58
Speaker 2: he had the best statistics of any pitcher or reliever
3:01
Speaker 2: in baseball. And then I put Biggest struggles because I
3:05
Speaker 2: kind of want to tie this back to what we
3:06
Speaker 2: did in the opening with Chase Burns Zach Gallan. I mean,
3:10
Speaker 2: this was a guy that we were talking about being
3:13
Speaker 2: a legitimate ace, a number one, a guy you would
3:15
Speaker 2: want to pitch your first game of a postseason, a
3:17
Speaker 2: guy who's pitched multiple times on Opening Day, a guy
3:21
Speaker 2: who probably had at some point. And I'm not saying
3:24
Speaker 2: I know this definitively, but I'm sure at some point
3:27
Speaker 2: there was probably discussions with Arizona Diamondbacks of keeping him
3:30
Speaker 2: there long term. He didn't sign a long term deal.
3:33
Speaker 2: This is a guy who has a forty four percent
3:36
Speaker 2: hard contact right now, a six y arra. It's been
3:40
Speaker 2: kind of a nightmare year and a half for him
3:44
Speaker 2: in terms of finding success.
3:46
Speaker 3: So he's kind of been a big disappointment for me
3:48
Speaker 3: this year.
3:49
Speaker 4: And position players wise, KP. I mean, my guy, if
3:53
Speaker 4: you talk about any surprise player, you cannot not mention
3:58
Speaker 4: Jordan Walker. Like what he's done has been awesome. Like
4:04
Speaker 4: every other year you'd be like, WHOA, yeah, this is
4:06
Speaker 4: this is the prospect that we think he is. He's
4:09
Speaker 4: been at the big leagues for a minute before this.
4:11
Speaker 4: I know he's still young, a very young player, but
4:14
Speaker 4: he's in the big leagues at twenty. The ORG thought
4:16
Speaker 4: he was gonna be ready to go. The ORG didn't,
4:19
Speaker 4: and then he's kind of just been given chances, and
4:22
Speaker 4: then he's lost his chances because and then to do
4:25
Speaker 4: what he's done, to come out of the gate, to
4:27
Speaker 4: have a struggle during this season and then recapture it.
4:32
Speaker 4: I think he's number one and RBI's on this on
4:35
Speaker 4: the year. If not, he's at number two. Like it
4:38
Speaker 4: is an incredible first half and it has been awesome
4:41
Speaker 4: to watch. He'll be he'll get MVP votes this year. No,
4:43
Speaker 4: he's gonna be Shore hate, but he'll get MVP votes
4:46
Speaker 4: this year.
4:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean another All Star too, and I wouldn't
4:49
Speaker 2: say surprised. I changed it to the guy I'm most
4:52
Speaker 2: proud of, and it's Miguel Vargas. I got a chance
4:54
Speaker 2: to play with him when I was in Tripaa with
4:56
Speaker 2: the Dodgers and he was a young kid. He's an
4:59
Speaker 2: amazing hue being. He's a great teammate. He comes from
5:02
Speaker 2: pedigree of his dad being a great player in Cuba
5:06
Speaker 2: that no one's ever really heard of. I always felt
5:09
Speaker 2: like he was going to be a great Major League
5:11
Speaker 2: baseball player. He just had the ability to hit, and
5:14
Speaker 2: you don't see that a lot at the young age
5:16
Speaker 2: you get. You see guys getting caught up with trying
5:18
Speaker 2: to pull homers, trying to put up big numbers, power numbers.
5:22
Speaker 2: The way he hit his batting practice, this right center approach,
5:24
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised what the success he's having. Finally, I
5:28
Speaker 2: know it took him a little bit longer than you know.
5:32
Speaker 2: Probably I even thought it was going to take him,
5:34
Speaker 2: But I'm not surprised at the success he's having. Just
5:36
Speaker 2: really proud of the player he's become.
5:39
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
5:39
Speaker 1: Second half predictions. We'll let the director gap behind the scenes,
5:44
Speaker 1: run point. Whichever board do you put up, they get
5:47
Speaker 1: to go first.
5:50
Speaker 4: Come on, Gab.
5:53
Speaker 3: Gab's my favorite.
5:56
Speaker 4: Ah So my second half predictions for American League Rookie
6:00
Speaker 4: of the Year Kevin mcgonagal. I feel like he's gonna
6:03
Speaker 4: wrap this up unless Murakami does what he did in
6:06
Speaker 4: the first half and stays healthy the whole year, and
6:08
Speaker 4: then he might overtake him. JJ Weatherholt. I think he's
6:12
Speaker 4: gonna outlast some of these other really really good rookie class,
6:16
Speaker 4: but I think he's kind of taking it to the
6:18
Speaker 4: next level. I think Cam Schlittler should have started, no
6:22
Speaker 4: matter what my roommate John Schneider said, he should have
6:25
Speaker 4: been starting the game. Now. Cam should have pitched also,
6:29
Speaker 4: But I think the Miz is going to take this
6:32
Speaker 4: all the way. I do also think that Zach Wheeler
6:36
Speaker 4: is going to give him a run for his money now.
6:37
Speaker 4: Christopher Sanchez Zach Wheeler, the AL MVP. I'm only a
6:42
Speaker 4: year late with Jordan Alvarez is going to hold off
6:47
Speaker 4: Cam and Arrow. I think Cam and Arrow is giving
6:49
Speaker 4: a really, really good run for it. Obviously, show hey
6:52
Speaker 4: chalk will vennable manager of the Year for the American League,
6:56
Speaker 4: Pat Murphy first ever three time winner for the National
7:00
Speaker 4: League Manager of the Year, and my predictions for the
7:04
Speaker 4: end of the season are going to be American League Central,
7:07
Speaker 4: the Guardians, American League East. The Yankees is gonna overtake
7:10
Speaker 4: the Rays. The Mariners are gonna win the AL West,
7:14
Speaker 4: which used to be the AL best now it's the
7:17
Speaker 4: AL least. National League East, the Braves are gonna hold
7:20
Speaker 4: off the Phillies the Central, the Brewers are gonna lock
7:23
Speaker 4: that John down and the West. That one's obviously also
7:28
Speaker 4: chalk in the Dodgers kp got one minute.
7:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I love this because we don't see what
7:35
Speaker 2: each other picks until now, so I'm gonna skip over
7:38
Speaker 2: some of the stuff we had the same McGonagall. Yes,
7:41
Speaker 2: I love south Stewart. I love the combination of his power,
7:44
Speaker 2: the batting average, he's stealing bases. I think Dylan Ceese
7:47
Speaker 2: is just on a heater. I think he overtakes Camp
7:50
Speaker 2: Sutler and wins the al Cy Young. We have the
7:53
Speaker 2: same MVPs, the same nl CY Young where we differ
7:56
Speaker 2: a little bit. I think the Rays go on to
7:58
Speaker 2: win the American League East. Kevin Cashwin's al manager of
8:01
Speaker 2: the Year. The Marlins a surprise team. And I love claytonmccola,
8:06
Speaker 2: one of my most favorite coaches in the minor leagues
8:08
Speaker 2: the Dodgers organization. I had him there briefly. I love
8:11
Speaker 2: what he's doing with that young group. If they're able
8:13
Speaker 2: to get a playoff spot, I think he's your manager
8:15
Speaker 2: of the year. Brewers obvious. This was an interesting one
8:19
Speaker 2: for me.
8:19
Speaker 3: Cratzy. I picked the Phillies because.
8:21
Speaker 2: I think the Braves ultimately are going to go on
8:24
Speaker 2: and be a playoff team. I think they're just so
8:26
Speaker 2: hurt at the starting pitching. I think they just have
8:29
Speaker 2: better pitching right now than the Seattle Mariners.
8:37
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8:39
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8:43
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8:55
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8:58
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9:00
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9:02
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9:04
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9:06
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9:07
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9:09
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9:11
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9:13
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9:15
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9:20
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9:22
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9:25
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9:29
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9:36
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9:51
Speaker 1: huge huge news on the FT network. People have been
9:54
Speaker 1: calling for a White Sox show on the Ft network
9:57
Speaker 1: for a long time, and there's already been one out
9:59
Speaker 1: there and now there joining the fam Sox Machine. James Figan,
10:02
Speaker 1: a writer for them, covering the team on the scene
10:05
Speaker 1: with the team, James, we love having you on and
10:06
Speaker 1: now we love having you part of the FT Network.
10:09
Speaker 1: So a lot more from the Sox Machine crew. How
10:11
Speaker 1: you doing.
10:13
Speaker 3: Pretty good? Just got back from the All Star Game yesterday,
10:16
Speaker 3: which I had never covered before because the White Sox
10:19
Speaker 3: didn't give me a ton of reasons to go to
10:21
Speaker 3: an All Star Game before. But you know, three members
10:24
Speaker 3: this year and at home run derby participants. So continues
10:28
Speaker 3: to be a surreal season for a franchise I thought
10:30
Speaker 3: was going to stay dormant for maybe just one more year,
10:33
Speaker 3: longer than they did.
10:35
Speaker 4: First, Welcome to the fan. Second, welcome to major League
10:39
Speaker 4: Baseball too for a White Sox because they were the
10:43
Speaker 4: laughing stock of not only this show, but really how
10:47
Speaker 4: the team was run. Before we get into the team
10:49
Speaker 4: in general. Did the team actually believe in what this
10:55
Speaker 4: team could do this year? Because I'm going to say no,
10:59
Speaker 4: but I guess I shouldn't sway your decision because if
11:02
Speaker 4: they did believe this, they would have made different moves
11:05
Speaker 4: to make this team a contender contender, not just oh wow,
11:10
Speaker 4: look at what happened.
11:13
Speaker 3: I think it's like short answered no, Like it's not
11:16
Speaker 3: a no like a major league where they were like
11:19
Speaker 3: wanting the team to fail and like we're going to
11:22
Speaker 3: tank for a draft pick and now they're winning and
11:23
Speaker 3: they're fighting us. But it's more like they didn't think
11:26
Speaker 3: that they were this for a long far along, Like
11:28
Speaker 3: their big talk like preseason was like, I think we're
11:32
Speaker 3: closer than some people think. Or at Socksfest, people were
11:36
Speaker 3: asking Gets like, you know, you improved nineteen wins from
11:39
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four to twenty five, what can you do
11:41
Speaker 3: this year? And he was like, how about another nineteen?
11:44
Speaker 3: And it came off as like big talk even though
11:46
Speaker 3: he's talking about theoretically a seventy nine win season. So
11:50
Speaker 3: I thought they felt like they were going to take
11:52
Speaker 3: a step forward. But for the most part, it's like,
11:54
Speaker 3: you know, even the Murakami signing, like you know, greatest example,
11:57
Speaker 3: when you're talking about it, it's not like, oh, yeah,
12:00
Speaker 3: we see something everyone else is going to didn't like
12:03
Speaker 3: this guy is going to be awesome. The rest of
12:04
Speaker 3: the league is an idiot for you know, not thinking
12:06
Speaker 3: it's gonna be good. It's more like, hey, why wouldn't
12:09
Speaker 3: we take this chance, like the stealings high If it clicks,
12:11
Speaker 3: If it doesn't, we're kind of the same place we're at.
12:14
Speaker 3: And that was kind of their risk appetite across the board,
12:17
Speaker 3: which is like, let's take some shots. Let's bring dudes
12:19
Speaker 3: in that we think can pop. We don't know, and
12:22
Speaker 3: certainly like it's it's too risky for like a team
12:24
Speaker 3: like the Dodgers, you would go for a more proven
12:26
Speaker 3: guy for spots like this, But there's across the board
12:29
Speaker 3: where they're taking opportunities. Let's see if Anthony k can
12:31
Speaker 3: you know, be a major league starter. Let's bring in
12:34
Speaker 3: some guy like Tristan Peters and you know, give him
12:36
Speaker 3: a shot, see if we can do something of the
12:37
Speaker 3: bat to launch, just like kind of like defense for
12:41
Speaker 3: his profile. It's just kind of like little moves across
12:44
Speaker 3: the board like that that worked out, But they weren't
12:45
Speaker 3: going to tell you, like, yeah, we're gonna hit on
12:47
Speaker 3: all of these the start of the season. That's not
12:49
Speaker 3: even how they talk about it now.
12:51
Speaker 4: So that brings me to the trade deadline. Now, if
12:55
Speaker 4: you went about the whole offseason, like, I hope this works.
12:58
Speaker 4: I got an extra twenty two million. I can give
13:02
Speaker 4: eighteen a year to Murakami, I can give y'all a
13:06
Speaker 4: little bit to Anthony k And you bring this team
13:09
Speaker 4: together and this is what's happening. Does it make Red
13:13
Speaker 4: White Sox fans fearful for the trade deadline that Chris
13:17
Speaker 4: Guess is gonna be like, well, you know what, if
13:20
Speaker 4: my magic eight ball says this is what's happening, I'll
13:22
Speaker 4: see what like his process? Does his process give fans
13:26
Speaker 4: the hope that it's gonna work at the trade deadline?
13:29
Speaker 3: I think maybe the fear among this fan base is
13:32
Speaker 3: that they've been, you know, process oriented in the way
13:34
Speaker 3: where they're maybe I would say the most way I
13:38
Speaker 3: hear back is thinking like they're gonna be rather conservative
13:40
Speaker 3: the deadline. And I think that's probably the appropriate like
13:43
Speaker 3: side to expect them to err on of like we're
13:46
Speaker 3: not going to like trade Caleb Bonhamer or to like
13:48
Speaker 3: bring in a rental sort of like move or mentality.
13:51
Speaker 3: It's more like what can they do that fits into
13:53
Speaker 3: their long term plan. I think you've definitely heard them
13:56
Speaker 3: like shift on what they want to do. Or how
13:59
Speaker 3: much attention they're going to give this team over the
14:01
Speaker 3: last you know, two months. The way they talk about it,
14:04
Speaker 3: and I think the general idea of like, hey, they
14:07
Speaker 3: need to add a starter, they need to add something
14:08
Speaker 3: to the bullpen, but not go crazy. That's like the
14:11
Speaker 3: good like that's a good bucket to put them in.
14:14
Speaker 3: But you know, if they find the right thing, that's
14:17
Speaker 3: like you know, Redebt, Mert gets thrown around a lot,
14:20
Speaker 3: and if they really believe in that that someone who
14:22
Speaker 3: has multiple years control, they can maybe justify that a
14:25
Speaker 3: bit more as an investment of like, hey, we're we're
14:27
Speaker 3: building towards like this window than saying like, hey, we
14:31
Speaker 3: have to get we have to upgrade our starter, even
14:33
Speaker 3: if it's a pure rental situation and we have to
14:35
Speaker 3: pay the cost for it no matter what. Because I
14:37
Speaker 3: think there's not a lot of proven sellers, at least
14:40
Speaker 3: at this juncture to the point where you assume that
14:43
Speaker 3: the prices are going to be very high in a
14:45
Speaker 3: way that's like maybe disqualifying for a team that doesn't
14:48
Speaker 3: feel like they have to maximize it right now. I
14:50
Speaker 3: think it would take a little momentum, or take a
14:53
Speaker 3: little window of the sales of the clubhouse and not
14:55
Speaker 3: do anything of the deadline. I know everyone's like, you know,
14:58
Speaker 3: most of the people on your kind of been in
15:00
Speaker 3: clubhouses where you know, you want that fortification or feeling
15:04
Speaker 3: that the front office is in for it, you know,
15:07
Speaker 3: has the belief in the team to go at a
15:09
Speaker 3: distance and add something. So I think they have to,
15:11
Speaker 3: you know, kind of respect that in some way, but
15:14
Speaker 3: they're not in a position where they want to have
15:17
Speaker 3: any feeling that they're mortgaging someone who's a long term
15:20
Speaker 3: piece or could be really like a big like regular
15:23
Speaker 3: in this organization years down the road for the sake of, hey,
15:27
Speaker 3: we need another righty leverage guy down the stretch for
15:29
Speaker 3: this season.
15:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned read debt merge as kind of a
15:33
Speaker 2: realistic possibility. What are the areas you believe that they
15:37
Speaker 2: need to upgrade and give me kind of your realistic
15:40
Speaker 2: possibilities versus kind of your dream scenario possibilities of you know,
15:44
Speaker 2: front end rotation. Give me what you think.
15:49
Speaker 3: I think, like generally, you know you can bring up
15:51
Speaker 3: Shane Smith like looking a little bit better in the
15:53
Speaker 3: Triple A recently, but like you kind of need a
15:55
Speaker 3: starter and you need a reliever, and you could bring
15:57
Speaker 3: up relievers like, hey, Jordan Hicks has looked awesome the
15:59
Speaker 3: last couple of weeks, maybe he becomes a leverage option
16:01
Speaker 3: down the stretch. I would say like one of each
16:04
Speaker 3: of that backup catcher is certainly weakness right now. It's
16:06
Speaker 3: not necessarily like a huge like needle mover as far
16:10
Speaker 3: as like deadline moves, but that's something you could kind
16:12
Speaker 3: of wing in there. And you know, they they want
16:14
Speaker 3: Austin Hayes, they want Everson per Ayer back for like
16:16
Speaker 3: kind of right handed outfield help down the stretch, but
16:19
Speaker 3: you know they both should go on rehab sense after
16:22
Speaker 3: the break. But a little bit of an unsettled picture
16:24
Speaker 3: there where you could you could maybe rope that in
16:26
Speaker 3: as well, but that'd be another low level move. I
16:28
Speaker 3: think Detvers is kind of both the dream and the
16:31
Speaker 3: realistic option. The dream because it is multiple years of control,
16:36
Speaker 3: but also because like the price is probably going up
16:38
Speaker 3: in a way just because the lack of sellers and
16:39
Speaker 3: the fact that the Angels have been resistant to selling
16:42
Speaker 3: in any form or really like kind of a very
16:44
Speaker 3: helpful form over the last few years. Where it's it's
16:47
Speaker 3: kind of unclear like what you know, moves that would
16:50
Speaker 3: are are really going to be open for them? I
16:52
Speaker 3: would I would say like dream or something like Bigger
16:54
Speaker 3: is like, you know, is Kevin Gossman available the deadline
16:58
Speaker 3: because the Blue Jays like tap out? I think it's unlikely.
17:01
Speaker 3: It's really kind of easy as far as like seeing
17:03
Speaker 3: what the picture is of of who's even going to
17:05
Speaker 3: be available, because we're talking about like four or five
17:08
Speaker 3: teams that are like clearly going to sell at at
17:11
Speaker 3: line and you know, one competing that market, but also
17:14
Speaker 3: finding something that you know is a solution from it,
17:16
Speaker 3: I think it's pretty tricky.
17:19
Speaker 4: Is there a case where they're while they don't want
17:22
Speaker 4: to stunt the development of these young guys, definitely don't
17:25
Speaker 4: want to get get you know, a case where it's like, okay,
17:28
Speaker 4: rental and we get rid of one of these young guys,
17:31
Speaker 4: are they okay sending a guy down that's struggling, like
17:34
Speaker 4: a Noah Schultz who's I think he's his last start
17:37
Speaker 4: was very promising. But if it like if it means you,
17:41
Speaker 4: if you bring somebody in, whoever it is Redebtmer's or
17:44
Speaker 4: another proven starter, is this organization okay where it's at
17:48
Speaker 4: in the kind of rebuilding but having success mode, sending
17:52
Speaker 4: one of these guys out back to Triple A that
17:55
Speaker 4: in a normal case, a normal season of under five hundred.
17:58
Speaker 4: Right now, Noah Schultz would never leave because he's finally
18:01
Speaker 4: made it up to the big leagues.
18:03
Speaker 3: I think you have because they've demonstrated doing that. Like
18:05
Speaker 3: they sent Sean Burke down last year, you know, seems unthinkable.
18:09
Speaker 3: Watch him now, he looks great. They've obviously sent Colson
18:12
Speaker 3: Montgomery all the way down in previous you know, junctures,
18:16
Speaker 3: and I think they would have to be like, no
18:18
Speaker 3: Schultz is simultaneously probably the highest ceiling member of that
18:21
Speaker 3: rotation right now if you talk about like prospect pedigree
18:24
Speaker 3: and you know, yeah, the last start was good, he
18:26
Speaker 3: was throwing strikes, but you know, realistic is probably the
18:28
Speaker 3: weak leak of the rotation. We look at the all
18:30
Speaker 3: five of them, like they've been you know, covering Eric
18:32
Speaker 3: Fetti with an oprah a lot, but he's been performing
18:35
Speaker 3: with it for the last you know, five six weeks,
18:37
Speaker 3: so I think it kind of Yeah, it's part of
18:39
Speaker 3: the business. He has options. You'd have to use them
18:42
Speaker 3: if you want to shrink the team, and you can
18:44
Speaker 3: look and say like, here are the clear things for
18:46
Speaker 3: you to work on with them. So yeah, I think
18:48
Speaker 3: that has to be a possibility and something they take
18:51
Speaker 3: advantage of because there's a lot of points in the roster,
18:53
Speaker 3: especially position wise. You know, louisn Helocunya is out of options,
18:58
Speaker 3: where like they don't have that flexibility to necessarily made
19:00
Speaker 3: that move. So when you have situations where you can
19:03
Speaker 3: point to the guy who's underperforming and you know, option
19:05
Speaker 3: of the triple A, like, yeah, I think that's absolutely
19:07
Speaker 3: on the table.
19:09
Speaker 2: Stay with me here. I got like three questions in one.
19:11
Speaker 2: One was it a crime Miguel Vargus didn't win the
19:14
Speaker 2: MVP of the All Star Game?
19:16
Speaker 3: Two?
19:16
Speaker 2: Has there been any talks about extending him long term?
19:20
Speaker 2: And three, if it's not Miguel Vargas, who do you
19:22
Speaker 2: believe is kind of the face of this franchise moving forward?
19:28
Speaker 3: Prime? I could see the case for like Bellinger because
19:32
Speaker 3: like the game was kind of like Miguel's like, uh,
19:36
Speaker 3: his impact. I think he's probably like the best player
19:39
Speaker 3: in the field, but like the moment that he had
19:42
Speaker 3: didn't necessarily sway the game, Like the way the two
19:44
Speaker 3: run single kind of broke it open the way it
19:45
Speaker 3: never came back from Bellinger. Is this known guy, he's
19:48
Speaker 3: a foreigner MVP. You know, there's notoriety there. It's kind
19:51
Speaker 3: of like a reward for that's kind of recognizing some
19:53
Speaker 3: of his career contributions as well that he has and
19:55
Speaker 3: it's on his mantle. I was like, I would have
19:58
Speaker 3: loved to see that for Miguel, Like he's one of
20:00
Speaker 3: the greatest stories, is one of the nicest people to cover.
20:02
Speaker 3: It would have been deserved. And if and he PA
20:04
Speaker 3: has doesn't like rob him of like a bullet double
20:06
Speaker 3: that he would have hit earlier in the game. It's
20:08
Speaker 3: kind of unambiguous, like this guy hit like two balls
20:11
Speaker 3: over one oh three and one of them like gotten
20:13
Speaker 3: to the second deck. So it's kind of like, is
20:16
Speaker 3: one of his best friends in the sport maybe kept
20:18
Speaker 3: him from getting that. But I don't know if I
20:20
Speaker 3: quite reached crying for me. I haven't heard about any
20:23
Speaker 3: talks for him, but I think he's probably the most
20:26
Speaker 3: like his you know, savant Page is just a sea
20:29
Speaker 3: of red. Like everything he does with the plate is good.
20:32
Speaker 3: Like I think even coming into the season, it was like, Wow,
20:34
Speaker 3: this guy makes a lot of contact, He makes great
20:36
Speaker 3: decisions to play, He denver chases all you need to
20:39
Speaker 3: add his power and he's done that, so he's like
20:41
Speaker 3: super stable offensively. The next thing down would probably be
20:45
Speaker 3: like they've loved Kyle Teal, Like obviously he's been hurt
20:48
Speaker 3: all this year, but like in terms of like feeling
20:51
Speaker 3: super good about his bat or their belief that he
20:54
Speaker 3: can be like a great framer in this league, and
20:55
Speaker 3: just his positional value and kind of the way he's
20:58
Speaker 3: separated himself, you know more because the other guys have
21:01
Speaker 3: struggled for Meedgar Carro. As far as like their long
21:03
Speaker 3: term you know, Catcher the future, I think that would
21:05
Speaker 3: be obsantly be like another guy that they view like
21:08
Speaker 3: this is a core piece. Colston Montgomery is certainly up
21:11
Speaker 3: there just because like the shortstop defense has been great
21:15
Speaker 3: and that gives like a value of like, hey, there
21:17
Speaker 3: might be a lot of swinging missing here. There may
21:18
Speaker 3: not be like the highest OVP, but like if you
21:20
Speaker 3: have a shortstop, it was like thirty home run juice.
21:23
Speaker 3: That's pretty easy value. So there hasn't been a lot
21:27
Speaker 3: of bubbling as far as extension talk, like Gretz has
21:30
Speaker 3: pretty much downplayed it. Whenever it's been brought up. But
21:32
Speaker 3: I think all those guys would really be candidates. It's
21:35
Speaker 3: about is this team going to have this kind of
21:38
Speaker 3: like are they going to respond to the success they've had,
21:41
Speaker 3: the higher TV ratings they had, the higher I want
21:43
Speaker 3: to say, it's like, you know, the tendance has been
21:46
Speaker 3: way up over the last like two months. Is there
21:48
Speaker 3: more revenue in place where you're going to start seeing
21:50
Speaker 3: them invest in the future in a way that they've
21:52
Speaker 3: been resistant to for like kind of the two years
21:54
Speaker 3: up to this point.
21:55
Speaker 4: They're a fun team to watch. You get to watch
21:57
Speaker 4: a lot of them. But I want to bring up
22:00
Speaker 4: the Tigers, the Angels, the Royals, the Mets, and the Rockies.
22:06
Speaker 4: What would you say when I talk about all those
22:08
Speaker 4: teams pretty bad teams?
22:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, Tigers, not the Tigers, but someone they might have
22:16
Speaker 3: to worry about.
22:17
Speaker 4: Okay, But besides the Tigers, all pretty bad teams. Those
22:21
Speaker 4: are the only potentially sellers. Those are the only teams
22:25
Speaker 4: that have less wins on the road. Can that be
22:30
Speaker 4: something than the White Sox? Can that be something that
22:33
Speaker 4: the White Sox are able to address, or is it
22:36
Speaker 4: something that's just an anomaly, or is it the youth
22:41
Speaker 4: not understanding how to play away from home. Is there
22:43
Speaker 4: something that you see differently with the White Sox that
22:46
Speaker 4: their record on the road has been so poor.
22:52
Speaker 3: It's hard to pin down one thing for sure. They
22:54
Speaker 3: are young. They do seem like they talk about how
22:58
Speaker 3: energized they are from the crowd home, and they have
23:00
Speaker 3: been like getting like this dramatically increase intendance from last year,
23:05
Speaker 3: and you know, they certainly haven't been able to replicate
23:07
Speaker 3: that sort of energy on the road in a way
23:10
Speaker 3: that's consistent.
23:11
Speaker 1: It's been.
23:12
Speaker 3: Last road trip is a bit better. They are an
23:14
Speaker 3: offensive team. They have seven walk off wins at home.
23:18
Speaker 3: Generally with them, it's better when they can try to
23:21
Speaker 3: win the games with their bats. Then they're trying to
23:23
Speaker 3: hold the lead with a bullpen that's been kind of
23:25
Speaker 3: rickety at times. I think you probably see that on
23:28
Speaker 3: the road a bit more than on offense, where they
23:30
Speaker 3: always are at home or they always kind of have
23:32
Speaker 3: an opportunity to answer. I think with their youth, you
23:36
Speaker 3: can kind of just point to like, this is not
23:38
Speaker 3: this battle tested team that's been through it in a
23:42
Speaker 3: way that maybe kind of being away from this support
23:45
Speaker 3: of home atmosphere is just not quite as sustainable yet.
23:48
Speaker 3: That said, like these are not like there's not a
23:50
Speaker 3: clubhouse full of shrinking violets or guys who are not
23:53
Speaker 3: you know, grinders are tough, so you you would not
23:55
Speaker 3: think this would just sustain itself. That they like can't
23:59
Speaker 3: you know, win or play well without everyone like at
24:01
Speaker 3: their backs. So I think the the stat head nb's
24:05
Speaker 3: wants to call it anomaly. At the same time, like
24:07
Speaker 3: there are some things about this team that just clearly
24:10
Speaker 3: click better at home that they have yet to replicate
24:12
Speaker 3: in some consistent way, you know, when they're in the
24:14
Speaker 3: road grade.
24:16
Speaker 1: Hey, James, let's finish with this. Tell us all about
24:18
Speaker 1: SOX Machine. I mean, we've done it before when we've
24:20
Speaker 1: had you on, but sox Machine part of the FT network.
24:23
Speaker 1: Tell us more about you know, what fans can expect
24:25
Speaker 1: they are maybe new to the party, how often you
24:27
Speaker 1: guys are contributing with shows, podcasts, and then even of
24:31
Speaker 1: course the great writ and coverage that you guys bring
24:34
Speaker 1: to the table.
24:36
Speaker 3: So I guess we're opening our shows the three times
24:38
Speaker 3: a week as far as you know, our radio podcasts
24:41
Speaker 3: as part of alignment with a Foul Territory. But you know,
24:44
Speaker 3: we try to, I think the way our our editor
24:48
Speaker 3: Jim Margolis puts it as like we're more of a
24:50
Speaker 3: boutique than a one stop shop. You know, it's very
24:53
Speaker 3: like unique to our approach. Like if you read me,
24:55
Speaker 3: it's going to be a lot of like you know,
24:58
Speaker 3: breaking down adjustments of guys made, or you know, talking
25:01
Speaker 3: about player development, like really in depth or really get
25:06
Speaker 3: into their draft, or like talking about like less like
25:11
Speaker 3: hot takes and more like full breakdowns of like where
25:14
Speaker 3: the managerial strategy and like what justifies and what's kind
25:17
Speaker 3: of the principles that you see throughout it. So if
25:19
Speaker 3: you like, if you're a true baseball sicko and just
25:21
Speaker 3: really want to like get to the depth of the
25:23
Speaker 3: how and why things work, like that's what we're all about,
25:25
Speaker 3: and you know it hopes, you know, and lean years,
25:28
Speaker 3: it's kind of maybe more commonly explaining why the white
25:30
Speaker 3: socks are terrible than you know, just kind of freaking
25:33
Speaker 3: out about it. But like, you know, we also do
25:36
Speaker 3: you know, game threads for every single game. You know,
25:38
Speaker 3: a lot of it with me at the Park is
25:39
Speaker 3: about like breaking down like hey, here's what the manager said,
25:41
Speaker 3: here's for things to look for in this game and
25:44
Speaker 3: trying to like give a forum for fans to experience
25:47
Speaker 3: and process the game and real time. And I think,
25:49
Speaker 3: you know, Jim does a really good job of kind
25:51
Speaker 3: of giving like thinking person's analysis from a fan perspective
25:55
Speaker 3: of the team, and you know, Josh is someone who
25:57
Speaker 3: kind of sets us both up to succeed and make
25:59
Speaker 3: our points as well as he can. So I think
26:01
Speaker 3: it's a really harmonious, like full bodied effort towards trying
26:07
Speaker 3: to give that fan experience, kind of to give that
26:09
Speaker 3: like you know, outsider respectable at the same time, like
26:12
Speaker 3: really I know, at least from microspective, wanting to dig
26:15
Speaker 3: in and learn about the game as much as possible
26:18
Speaker 3: to maybe explain some of those things that you know,
26:20
Speaker 3: frustrate or you know Bigger eight fans as much as
26:24
Speaker 3: they do in those big emotional moments.
26:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, beautifully stated, And it's been awesome find you guys
26:29
Speaker 1: this year. Of course, when the team's got just a
26:32
Speaker 1: totally different complexion to it. It is so different from
26:34
Speaker 1: what it looked like a few years ago, not even
26:36
Speaker 1: just the wins and losses and the skill set, but
26:38
Speaker 1: just the attitude, the college Freddy kind of vibe that
26:42
Speaker 1: these guys have. So it's been cool. And the one
26:44
Speaker 1: thing I will say in defense and in hype of
26:47
Speaker 1: FT is yes, the one way we are pushy is
26:49
Speaker 1: we try and tell our shows to up it a notch,
26:53
Speaker 1: and SOX Machine's going to give you another show. So
26:55
Speaker 1: we will make James and the crew work like a
26:58
Speaker 1: dose harder for everyone to give you even more show coverage,
27:01
Speaker 1: because I guarantee you there will be just as many listens, views, comments,
27:04
Speaker 1: downloads for that. So yes, that is my and our
27:08
Speaker 1: team's bad, James, but also the fans will thank us
27:12
Speaker 1: and thank you for working an extra couple hours on that.
27:16
Speaker 3: Fair look forward to it.
27:19
Speaker 1: Thank you you're the man. I love listening to you guys.
27:22
Speaker 1: Excited to have you on board. We'll talk to you soon.
27:24
Speaker 3: Okay, thanks for having me