Latest / Birdland Territory / Mark Trumbo, the 2016 MLB homer leader, joins Birdland Territory

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Mark Trumbo, the 2016 MLB homer leader, joins Birdland Territory · Birdland Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Aos fans welcome in another edition of Birdland Territory with Steve, Brad,
0:11
Speaker 1: Tim and a special guest today, former Oriole, Mark Trumbo.
0:16
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't like saying former Oriole. I
0:18
Speaker 1: think when you have guys like Brad Brock and Mark around,
0:21
Speaker 1: they're Orioles. If they played here, they're always Orioles. That's
0:24
Speaker 1: the way we feel about these guys in Baltimore. They
0:26
Speaker 1: don't have to be on the current team. So we
0:30
Speaker 1: got Orioles with us today, Brad and Mark and Marcus
0:33
Speaker 1: with one of the shows in our family of networks,
0:35
Speaker 1: if you will. Of course, Stout Territory is the national show,
0:38
Speaker 1: Birdland Territory is the Oriel Show, and Halo Territory covers
0:43
Speaker 1: the Angels and Mark's been doing that.
0:46
Speaker 2: So Mark, how you enjoying media life.
0:49
Speaker 3: It's been a lot of fun, a lot of learning involved,
0:53
Speaker 3: made some mistakes as you would expect, but tried not
0:56
Speaker 3: to make them twice and it's a whole different world,
1:00
Speaker 3: a lot more respect for this side of things. Trying
1:03
Speaker 3: to cover stories accurately. Sometimes they're not the most pleasant stories.
1:10
Speaker 3: Following the action. I mean, you have to pivot quite
1:13
Speaker 3: quickly at times. It could, at least for us planning episodes,
1:18
Speaker 3: and you know, we kind of have this and then
1:21
Speaker 3: the team comes back out of nowhere and you know,
1:24
Speaker 3: recovers from a seven run deficit and you have to
1:26
Speaker 3: go to a different storyline. So a lot more appreciation
1:30
Speaker 3: for how hard some of this stuff is. But we
1:33
Speaker 3: just try and cover things as we see it. Don't
1:36
Speaker 3: pull on any punches, but you know, not unfair either,
1:39
Speaker 3: and it's been fun so far.
1:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're thrilled to have you.
1:43
Speaker 1: I want these other guys that jump in with questions
1:45
Speaker 1: from Mark Trumbo of course, was traded to the Orioles
1:48
Speaker 1: December of twenty fifteen.
1:50
Speaker 2: And what a first year you had. Mark.
1:52
Speaker 1: Not only did you leave the Oriols in homers, you
1:54
Speaker 1: led major League Baseball in homers with forty seven if
1:58
Speaker 1: I remember correctly. I remember interviewing you early in the
2:01
Speaker 1: year and you gave me some great insights on your
2:03
Speaker 1: winter work. And you were telling me at that time,
2:06
Speaker 1: remember we're going back ten years about things like launch
2:09
Speaker 1: angle and exit velocity and things you were seeking which
2:12
Speaker 1: were new to me. Maybe not the baseball players then
2:15
Speaker 1: now they're really obviously everybody hears it all.
2:18
Speaker 2: The time in baseball.
2:19
Speaker 1: But do I remember that correctly that you had kind
2:22
Speaker 1: of worked on some things that winter, and then man,
2:24
Speaker 1: when the season started.
2:26
Speaker 2: They worked. You are correct.
2:29
Speaker 3: I don't know how much I expanded upon them, but
2:33
Speaker 3: there were some goals in mind. I knew that this
2:36
Speaker 3: is I mean, it was a primitive time as far
2:39
Speaker 3: as the stuff goes. So I think over that winner.
2:43
Speaker 3: I come off a season, an interesting season. I had
2:46
Speaker 3: got traded from the Diamondbacks to the Mariners. I got
2:49
Speaker 3: some really good advice from Edgar Martinez in Seattle, and
2:53
Speaker 3: it helped me become a better hitter, at least on
2:57
Speaker 3: pitches on the inside part of the plate, which had
2:59
Speaker 3: always been fairly big weakness of mine. But I knew
3:03
Speaker 3: I didn't hit the ball in the air quite enough.
3:06
Speaker 3: I cringe now because long angle, exit velocity, they're just everywhere.
3:11
Speaker 3: I think most at least me in particular a little
3:14
Speaker 3: bit fatigue hearing them. But at that time I kind
3:17
Speaker 3: of thought that that was something I could improve upon.
3:20
Speaker 3: Fortunately it did work out in twenty sixteen, especially to
3:26
Speaker 3: my advantage, to the Oriels advantage as well. So that
3:29
Speaker 3: was a great memory and it gave me a background
3:32
Speaker 3: piece here so my loan, well, I guess I got
3:35
Speaker 3: two ones off camera, but yeah, it was my best
3:39
Speaker 3: season statistically and a great experience.
3:44
Speaker 4: Hey, Mark, just kind of going on twenty sixteen. I know,
3:47
Speaker 4: for me, one of my favorite memories was getting to
3:49
Speaker 4: go to San Diego with you, Zach wieders Man. He
3:53
Speaker 4: just got to have that All Star experience with guys
3:55
Speaker 4: on our team. But most particular was the home run derby.
3:58
Speaker 4: If just any memories you have from and that, to me,
4:00
Speaker 4: that was one of my favorite memories of the whole experience,
4:02
Speaker 4: was getting to watch you go out there. It's just
4:04
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a action packed a couple of minutes.
4:07
Speaker 4: I'm sure you were tired as you're going through that.
4:09
Speaker 4: It's a very unusual type thing. But just any experience
4:13
Speaker 4: you have from the home Run Derby, in particular during
4:16
Speaker 4: that All Star experience, So.
4:18
Speaker 3: I think I'm still tired from it, to be honest
4:20
Speaker 3: with you. That was the time format I had done
4:25
Speaker 3: the other one as well, the previous one with the outs.
4:29
Speaker 3: I much preferred that the time one was grueling, and
4:33
Speaker 3: towards the end of it, I felt like something was
4:36
Speaker 3: going to blow a bleak or otherwise. I mean, it's
4:38
Speaker 3: just a lot of swings, a lot of maps, efforts swings,
4:41
Speaker 3: so it's not really something. I mean, you can try
4:44
Speaker 3: and prepare a little bit, but you can't nail it
4:47
Speaker 3: and if you do well in it, and you I
4:49
Speaker 3: think I had to work quite hard in the first
4:51
Speaker 3: round to take Corey Seeger out and that was a
4:55
Speaker 3: lot more work than I want to do. Some guys
4:57
Speaker 3: are able to breeze through, and then Stanton I I
5:00
Speaker 3: think sent me packing and maybe soon after. So I
5:05
Speaker 3: think it was a fun experience. It was something. It's
5:08
Speaker 3: way more for the fans. There is some prize money
5:11
Speaker 3: and stuff on the line.
5:12
Speaker 2: Now, but.
5:15
Speaker 3: It is nerve wracking too.
5:16
Speaker 2: I think.
5:18
Speaker 3: You kind of do realize once you're up there and
5:20
Speaker 3: there's no turtle. I think that's the weirdest thing. As
5:23
Speaker 3: you're hitting out in practice in the game, you know
5:25
Speaker 3: you're used to it, but in that situation and it
5:27
Speaker 3: kind of dawns on you how many people might be
5:29
Speaker 3: watching at home, and you just you try and I mean,
5:32
Speaker 3: you don't want to be embarrassed at the end of
5:34
Speaker 3: the day, so you just try and put on a
5:35
Speaker 3: good show. And that one I think I did do
5:38
Speaker 3: that didn't win it, but especially down in San Diego too,
5:42
Speaker 3: that was a rock and environment. I think you'd agree, Brad,
5:46
Speaker 3: really fun place to host something like that.
5:52
Speaker 4: Mark.
5:52
Speaker 5: It's always a topic of conversation every single year following
5:56
Speaker 5: the home run derby, like, oh.
5:57
Speaker 4: My gosh, don't do it.
5:58
Speaker 5: It's gonna mess up your swinging the lasting effects from it.
6:02
Speaker 5: Is that overblown to you, Mark? Or is there maybe
6:04
Speaker 5: something to that.
6:07
Speaker 3: As far as guys changing their swings or affecting them
6:10
Speaker 3: as they move forward. Yeah, yeah, there's probably evidence on
6:15
Speaker 3: both sides of it. I think some guys do it,
6:18
Speaker 3: and you know, we're having great seasons and continue to
6:22
Speaker 3: have great seasons. I think sometimes things do go the
6:25
Speaker 3: other way. The advice I would give is my Drought,
6:30
Speaker 3: for example, has expressed a little bit of open willingness
6:33
Speaker 3: at least to do it this year in Philadelphia. He
6:38
Speaker 3: has never done it before. I think he probably wants
6:41
Speaker 3: to possibly explore doing it once in his career. He's
6:45
Speaker 3: from that area. This would make a lot of sense.
6:48
Speaker 3: He is also injured right now, so that's something to
6:51
Speaker 3: look at. I think that, like Pete Alonzo, I mean,
6:55
Speaker 3: it just doesn't that's him all day long. I've never
6:58
Speaker 3: seen anyone better at it than him, and it doesn't
7:00
Speaker 3: seem to affect his in game. But if and it
7:03
Speaker 3: does affect it, it it's in a positive way. I think
7:06
Speaker 3: that if there's anyone that could probably give advice on
7:10
Speaker 3: the subject, it's Pete A. Lonzo.
7:14
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo's with us, Mark and Brad Orioles as I
7:18
Speaker 1: called him, not former Orioles. And of course we were
7:22
Speaker 1: talking about that twenty sixteen All Star Game, and Mark
7:26
Speaker 1: has been an All Star twice, twenty twelve and twenty sixteen.
7:29
Speaker 2: Twenty sixteen.
7:30
Speaker 1: Mark and Brad two of the Orioles five All Star
7:33
Speaker 1: reps that year. Silver Slugger winner in twenty sixteen. And
7:38
Speaker 1: so Mark, let's talk about Taylor Ward, a little bit
7:41
Speaker 1: guy you've seen play a lot for the Angels the
7:43
Speaker 1: last few years, had that incredible season last year, comes
7:47
Speaker 1: to Baltimore. I think the media would say, Man, we
7:49
Speaker 1: love this guy. He's been great to deal with. I
7:51
Speaker 1: think he won the good Guy Award from the Angels media.
7:54
Speaker 1: I can see why. And so the power has been
7:57
Speaker 1: slow to come. There might be some reasons for that.
8:00
Speaker 1: At what kind of player was he with the Angels?
8:04
Speaker 1: The last few years, Taylor was very consistent. Numbers were,
8:12
Speaker 1: at least on the power side, always very impressive.
8:15
Speaker 3: The batting average was respectable in today's really actually maybe
8:21
Speaker 3: a little above average, depending on how the game keeps trending.
8:25
Speaker 3: But but really he was counted on to hit, clean up,
8:29
Speaker 3: provide some protection, drove in a ton of runs. But
8:34
Speaker 3: in the outfield defense was at times a little perplexing it.
8:39
Speaker 3: I would say I would have rated him as probably
8:42
Speaker 3: an average defender. The arm maybe a little below at times,
8:48
Speaker 3: but I think the metrics always looked more favorably than that.
8:51
Speaker 3: I think he did play a nice left field. He
8:55
Speaker 3: was always in the right spot, so I think he
8:56
Speaker 3: did his homework and that in that regard. And he
9:00
Speaker 3: was patient at the plate, sometimes too much. So there
9:02
Speaker 3: are a lot of strike three lookings that at least
9:05
Speaker 3: the Angel fans at times would implore him to take
9:10
Speaker 3: the bat off the shoulder. But that's part of the deal.
9:14
Speaker 3: It's part of the trade off of being a guy
9:15
Speaker 3: that walks upon you. I think the new mindset is
9:18
Speaker 3: to let the umpire decide with the pitch challenging. That's
9:22
Speaker 3: been interesting too. I don't know how it's gone for
9:25
Speaker 3: the Orioles exactly. But the Angels have done well, not
9:29
Speaker 3: that great a job at least from the hitters that
9:31
Speaker 3: are challenging. So as far as Taylor this season, it
9:37
Speaker 3: appears the walks are through the roof and the home
9:40
Speaker 3: runs are a little bit down. Do you guys have
9:43
Speaker 3: any thoughts on why that might be? Brad?
9:46
Speaker 2: Do you see anything?
9:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, we don't know. If he got hurt. He got
9:51
Speaker 4: hit with a pitch in April and he started wearing
9:53
Speaker 4: a heavy pad on his left hand, and from there
9:55
Speaker 4: it was his plate discipline was through the roof. He
9:59
Speaker 4: just wasn't swinging and he was walking. I mean, it
10:01
Speaker 4: felt like he was walking at least once every single game.
10:03
Speaker 4: To me, lately, he's been seeming to be lee a
10:05
Speaker 4: little bit more aggressive, so I think he's starting to
10:08
Speaker 4: get the power back a little bit. He had a
10:09
Speaker 4: home run the other day at Dodger Stadium, so we're
10:11
Speaker 4: hoping to see a little bit more from that from
10:13
Speaker 4: him in that regard. But to me, it just kind
10:15
Speaker 4: of seemed like early on it was just it's hurt
10:19
Speaker 4: is the only way I can kind of see that
10:21
Speaker 4: something was bothering with his hand. He just wasn't able
10:23
Speaker 4: to get to the inside pitch and drive it, especially
10:25
Speaker 4: came the yards, you know, how the ball flies there.
10:27
Speaker 4: So it's it just hasn't seemed to be quite as aggressive.
10:31
Speaker 4: But it's starting to change here a little bit the
10:33
Speaker 4: last couple of weeks, so hopefully the power will be
10:35
Speaker 4: come from there. But you probably know more than anybody,
10:37
Speaker 4: a hand injury that you play through, you're able to
10:40
Speaker 4: play through. He's probably got to be one of the
10:42
Speaker 4: most difficult things as a hitter. If you know you're
10:44
Speaker 4: not going to go on the il, but you're feeling
10:46
Speaker 4: it every swing you take. It's you know, certain pitches
10:48
Speaker 4: that you're just not going to go after anymore because
10:50
Speaker 4: you can't drive it. So that's just kind of what
10:52
Speaker 4: we've seen a little bit, and what I've seen from
10:54
Speaker 4: watching him throughout these games.
10:57
Speaker 3: I think that makes a lot of sense. He's a
10:59
Speaker 3: guy that really too. He will go on these streaks
11:03
Speaker 3: where you get the end of the year total thirty
11:06
Speaker 3: plus home runs and sometimes you know, it seems like
11:09
Speaker 3: there's patches where there weren't that many, but he'll bunch
11:12
Speaker 3: them up, you know, hit seven, eight, nine, in a
11:15
Speaker 3: matter of you know, fourteen days, fifteen days or something,
11:18
Speaker 3: or a months total or whatever, and that's kind of
11:21
Speaker 3: how he gets it done. So I have a little
11:24
Speaker 3: surprise looking at it so far, though it doesn't seem
11:26
Speaker 3: like the same version of Taylor that I saw last
11:30
Speaker 3: year with the Angels.
11:32
Speaker 1: Tim, I'm gonna let you jump in in a minute,
11:33
Speaker 1: but we got to keep this show moving on time.
11:36
Speaker 1: Your little business, we'll do that, and we'll continue with
11:39
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo here in a moment on Birdland Territory.
11:45
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12:39
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo with us on Birdland Territory today. Check out
12:42
Speaker 1: Mark on his show Halo Territory as they cover the
12:45
Speaker 1: Angels with the multiple shows each.
12:48
Speaker 2: Week as part of the Foul Territory Network. Tim you're up, Mark.
12:54
Speaker 5: I think a lot of people in Baltimore definitely bummed
12:57
Speaker 5: the Trey Mancini not going to be a part of
13:00
Speaker 5: this series after getting DFA. But I just wanted to
13:03
Speaker 5: get your thoughts on his comeback story. Obviously, you and
13:07
Speaker 5: Brad played with him when he was first coming up,
13:09
Speaker 5: and for a guy to go three years in between
13:14
Speaker 5: MLB games and his first game back multi hits, driving
13:18
Speaker 5: in runs at how cool was it seeing Trey make
13:21
Speaker 5: that comeback?
13:24
Speaker 3: Incredible to take that much time off. He was all
13:27
Speaker 3: but retired. I mean in his mind he was retired.
13:31
Speaker 3: He wasn't training, He was playing tennis at a local
13:34
Speaker 3: country club and being a dad. I mean, baseball was
13:39
Speaker 3: not at the forefront of his mind. I think that
13:42
Speaker 3: there was probably mentally that some unfinished business that when
13:47
Speaker 3: guys retire, very few get to do the heroes exit
13:53
Speaker 3: with teams, you know, gifting you this parade and whatnot.
13:57
Speaker 3: A lot of times it is what it is, and
13:59
Speaker 3: maybe it's injury, maybe its performance and your time comes
14:03
Speaker 3: to an end. And I think for Trey he was
14:06
Speaker 3: never after the cancer diagnosis and treatment, he wasn't able
14:12
Speaker 3: to quite produce the results that he had previously, and
14:15
Speaker 3: I think that that kind of was something that wore
14:18
Speaker 3: on him a little bit. But it's also completely understandable.
14:22
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's huge life changing stuff, and he
14:24
Speaker 3: was still able to be a very good ballplayer, just
14:27
Speaker 3: maybe the power side wasn't quite there. I do know
14:31
Speaker 3: that Brady Anderson, who everyone you know Oriel Territory and
14:35
Speaker 3: you know, fans of the Orioles knows well, was very
14:38
Speaker 3: pivotal in getting Trey to give it another shot, getting
14:41
Speaker 3: in his ear saying that he still had a lot
14:43
Speaker 3: more to offer. And Brady is now the hitting coach
14:46
Speaker 3: for the Angels, so he had kind of an insider
14:50
Speaker 3: perspective there and said that at least with the depth
14:53
Speaker 3: that they have. You don't come into camp non roster
14:58
Speaker 3: invitee type thing. And to Trey's credit, he stuck it
15:02
Speaker 3: out for quite a while in tripa A. Even when
15:05
Speaker 3: initially Nolan Shaanawell got injured, Trey didn't get the call,
15:09
Speaker 3: but I kind of thought if there was a time
15:11
Speaker 3: to pull the plug and maybe.
15:13
Speaker 2: Take it to the house, it would have been there.
15:14
Speaker 3: But he stayed around a little bit longer, and fortunately
15:18
Speaker 3: another injury and Von Grissom and Trey did get promoted
15:21
Speaker 3: and performed quite well in the limited stint. He got
15:25
Speaker 3: shorter than he would have liked, and I would have liked,
15:27
Speaker 3: and everyone would have liked. But being I think he's
15:31
Speaker 3: thirty four years old now and the Angels going with
15:34
Speaker 3: a younger group, that's the nature of the game.
15:37
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, well over the years in Oriole playing the Angels
15:43
Speaker 1: in Camden Yards, so it hit the ball to the
15:44
Speaker 1: center field, better hitted ten feet over the fence or
15:47
Speaker 1: Mike Trout was going to catch it. We've seen that
15:49
Speaker 1: time and time again. Kind of bums me out that
15:52
Speaker 1: he's on the il We're not going to see him
15:53
Speaker 1: in this series. I just so much appreciate the greatness
15:58
Speaker 1: of Mike Trout over the years, Millville, New Jersey would
16:00
Speaker 1: empty out and come to Camden.
16:02
Speaker 2: Yards for those series. What's it like watching him?
16:06
Speaker 1: Maybe getting to know him a little bit, I mean,
16:08
Speaker 1: give us a little insight inside.
16:10
Speaker 2: What makes this guy great for so long?
16:15
Speaker 3: I think he's I mean, look at the numbers. First
16:18
Speaker 3: of all, this is a player that's Mike is also
16:23
Speaker 3: about the same age as Tray thirty five years old,
16:25
Speaker 3: I think thirty four to thirty five and having a
16:29
Speaker 3: big research in year this year. Now, the last handful
16:32
Speaker 3: of years have been very injury prone and he's missed
16:35
Speaker 3: quite a bit of time. A lot of people have
16:37
Speaker 3: thought that not even close to the player he once was.
16:41
Speaker 3: But this year he came in. Last year the experimenter
16:45
Speaker 3: was playing in the right field, thought it would be easier
16:47
Speaker 3: on the body. Tried to get him some more days
16:50
Speaker 3: at d H just to keep him on the field,
16:52
Speaker 3: and over the winter they hired a new manager in
16:54
Speaker 3: Kurt Suzuki, and that's been interesting. But the news came
16:59
Speaker 3: out that Mike was going to be the everyday center
17:01
Speaker 3: fielder again. He said he thought it would be better
17:03
Speaker 3: for him, better for him availability wise, health, wise, and
17:08
Speaker 3: he's played almost every day up until these last few games.
17:13
Speaker 3: Very productive as well. The average is lower than it
17:16
Speaker 3: once was, but he's taken a ton of walks, maybe
17:19
Speaker 3: a byproduct of not having as much protection. Taylor Ward
17:23
Speaker 3: was a guy that actually did a nice job of that,
17:26
Speaker 3: and it's been a mix and match this year with
17:28
Speaker 3: who they've chosen. But I've talked to him in the
17:32
Speaker 3: last few days. The hamstring injury, said is very you know,
17:36
Speaker 3: it's a Grade one. It's not going to be a
17:39
Speaker 3: big deal. Probably going to be ten to fourteen days
17:43
Speaker 3: best case, and he'll be back out there. Unfortunately, it's
17:46
Speaker 3: not going to be against the Orioles, but I don't
17:48
Speaker 3: think the Oriols mind that.
17:50
Speaker 2: They don't I wish. I'd love to see him.
17:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, well.
17:56
Speaker 1: Go ahead.
17:56
Speaker 4: So yeah. So Mark's one of the most prepaired hitters
18:00
Speaker 4: I think I ever played with, just guys constantly went
18:02
Speaker 4: to him. Last night, he's texting me about some of
18:04
Speaker 4: the oil stuff. He looked up and he happened to
18:06
Speaker 4: see the quotes about Samuel Bissio and I just wanted
18:10
Speaker 4: to kind of get his thoughts on. It's the guy's
18:13
Speaker 4: twenty one years old. And he hasn't played a ton
18:16
Speaker 4: of games period across his career. Just what is that
18:19
Speaker 4: like for a young hitter? If you remember when you
18:21
Speaker 4: first came up, what you had to deal with, just
18:23
Speaker 4: all the stuff getting thrown at you throw the catching
18:25
Speaker 4: stuff on top of it. Just how difficult is it
18:28
Speaker 4: to adjust to major league life? And he's only twenty
18:30
Speaker 4: one years old, So just any insights that you have
18:33
Speaker 4: on what he might be going through right now, and
18:35
Speaker 4: just maybe some of your insights on what you thought
18:38
Speaker 4: on some of the we kind of called the bizarre
18:40
Speaker 4: comments that came out about everything, and just a kind
18:42
Speaker 4: of a bizarre scenario that happened a couple of weeks ago.
18:46
Speaker 3: Twenty one years old, I was floundering in the Midwest League,
18:50
Speaker 3: my second tour of duty there.
18:52
Speaker 2: So I.
18:54
Speaker 3: It's just a different world, I think. In that same article,
18:56
Speaker 3: Ken Rosenthal and Britain Gearari, I believe it was Ken
19:00
Speaker 3: that that wrote that a lot of stuff to unpack there.
19:07
Speaker 3: As far as Bazollo goes, it appears that Craig Albertus
19:13
Speaker 3: was trying to send a message to some degree playing
19:16
Speaker 3: through injury and what it takes at the big league level.
19:20
Speaker 3: And I think that there's a point there. I think
19:22
Speaker 3: that that's an old school approach unless I'm, you know,
19:27
Speaker 3: not not getting it correct. But the story seemed pretty definitive,
19:31
Speaker 3: and and that's what happened, U benching one of your
19:34
Speaker 3: most productive bats. That's a tough thing to do if
19:38
Speaker 3: if the offense as a whole, looking at the numbers
19:41
Speaker 3: kind of to prepare to come on today, it looked
19:43
Speaker 3: like the offense is a fair amount of strikeouts, a
19:48
Speaker 3: lot of walks, and then the very middle of the pack,
19:52
Speaker 3: and in most other regards, the ops didn't really There
19:56
Speaker 3: were a couple of guys north of eight hundred. Pat
19:58
Speaker 3: Alonzo seems to have really heat it up. And there
20:03
Speaker 3: was another player. You're gonna have to remind me, Brad,
20:06
Speaker 3: but Alexander Okay, he came from the Diamondbacks, I think
20:10
Speaker 3: at one point. Okay, yeah, he's looked really promising. But
20:16
Speaker 3: beyond that, I guess Rutchman has suffered an injury too.
20:21
Speaker 4: Yep, yeah, cushion, I L can cussion, I L I
20:24
Speaker 4: got hit. Yeah.
20:26
Speaker 3: So there were a few guys like Mayo whose numbers
20:29
Speaker 3: quite honestly didn't look that impressive, and he's getting quite
20:33
Speaker 3: a few at bats, and I wonder if they're you know,
20:35
Speaker 3: it's tough to piece together it is to stay in
20:37
Speaker 3: success if if you have really realistically in any lineup,
20:42
Speaker 3: you're probably gonna have two guys that are really going well,
20:45
Speaker 3: which seems to kind of be the case. But you
20:47
Speaker 3: can't have three or four guys going really poorly. And
20:50
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if that is what's going on, but
20:53
Speaker 3: you've got to have some anchors that are, you know,
20:55
Speaker 3: on any given day, capable of getting two hits, three hits.
20:58
Speaker 3: They're not going to do it every day, but still
21:00
Speaker 3: able to competitive at bats, productive outs, manufactured some runs
21:04
Speaker 3: to you know, have some comfortable leads. The pitching seems okay.
21:10
Speaker 3: Starters for you guys have had some injuries, so at
21:15
Speaker 3: least in the series coming up with the Angels, you're
21:17
Speaker 3: not going to be seeing the three really good pitchers there.
21:22
Speaker 3: There may be Urania on the last day, but it's
21:25
Speaker 3: going to be Alde Gary Uh tonight, tomorrow. It could
21:29
Speaker 3: be anyone. It could be an opener, it could be
21:33
Speaker 3: who knows uh. And then that third game, if it
21:36
Speaker 3: is Urin, yeah he's been really special. If it's someone else,
21:40
Speaker 3: delete that. But the Angels at least. I know it's
21:44
Speaker 3: kind of you know, wandering here, but have had some
21:46
Speaker 3: really real bright spots with their starting pitching the bullpen.
21:50
Speaker 3: Totally different story though.
21:53
Speaker 1: Workout whether it's today on Birdland Territory. Got to squeeze
21:56
Speaker 1: in another time out and then we'll continue here in
22:00
Speaker 1: a moment.
22:02
Speaker 3: When my puppy Bella has something wrong, I'm not going
22:05
Speaker 3: to go around googling what to do.
22:07
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23:02
Speaker 1: Birdland Territory today with our special guest, Mark Trumbo, the
23:06
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen MLB homer leader and now part of Halo
23:11
Speaker 1: Territory covering the Angels and Tim you're up.
23:16
Speaker 5: Mark, I wanted to continue to drill on something that
23:19
Speaker 5: you were bringing up prior to the break, and that
23:21
Speaker 5: was the Rosenthal ritual only piece, but also you mentioning, hey,
23:25
Speaker 5: when you were twenty one years old, you were on
23:27
Speaker 5: your second tour of duty and the miners and Brad
23:30
Speaker 5: has brought this up a lot on the podcast too,
23:32
Speaker 5: Just how young these guys are. And this isn't an
23:36
Speaker 5: Orioles thing. This is a baseball thing where development is
23:41
Speaker 5: happening at the major league level that's becoming kind of commonplace.
23:45
Speaker 4: Just how what have you thought of kind of the.
23:48
Speaker 5: Evolution of that and trending more in that direction in
23:53
Speaker 5: recent years.
23:55
Speaker 3: I think it's a byproduct of the agent curve that
23:59
Speaker 3: is quite a it around the game. Some guys are
24:02
Speaker 3: able to play and sustain success well into their thirties,
24:06
Speaker 3: but a lot aren't, and the teams are aware of that.
24:09
Speaker 3: We've seen it reflected in free agent deals, and then
24:13
Speaker 3: you guys did an episode I believe on the upcoming CBA.
24:19
Speaker 3: All of that is, we haven't broached that subject yet.
24:22
Speaker 3: A lot to unpack, and I really wanted to have
24:25
Speaker 3: a little better understanding before I, you know, maybe look
24:29
Speaker 3: foolish saying things, but the game is going very young,
24:33
Speaker 3: and development at the big league level is a new
24:36
Speaker 3: trendy topic. I've heard Give Kapler talk talk about it
24:40
Speaker 3: a bit. What it really means to me is there's
24:43
Speaker 3: going to be some sloppy baseball, and there's going to
24:46
Speaker 3: be some things that fans hopefully can give a longer
24:51
Speaker 3: leash and have a bit more patience because we're going
24:55
Speaker 3: to have guys up here that may not know some
24:57
Speaker 3: of the fundamental aspects of the game. Sliding could be PFPS,
25:02
Speaker 3: it could be any number of things. And the for
25:05
Speaker 3: a guy like it was all of twenty one years old.
25:07
Speaker 3: The big league season make no mistake, is one hundred
25:10
Speaker 3: and sixty two games is a lot longer than the
25:12
Speaker 3: minor league season, and there's you don't get a day
25:14
Speaker 3: off every seven days. I think Pete Alonzo had some
25:19
Speaker 3: comments that as far as the minor leagues go, it's
25:22
Speaker 3: never been more comfortable. It's a different world, and it's
25:28
Speaker 3: hard for an ex player to not come off as
25:31
Speaker 3: you know, I get off my lawn kind of a
25:33
Speaker 3: boomer because I remember no names or anything. But I
25:41
Speaker 3: saw a guy come into a day game when I
25:43
Speaker 3: was rehabbing years ago and told the manager at the
25:46
Speaker 3: time in the minor leagues that he didn't get a
25:48
Speaker 3: good night's sleep and he he wasn't able to go.
25:52
Speaker 3: And I sat there and almost jaw on the floor.
25:56
Speaker 3: But any the manager at the time, you know, you respect.
25:59
Speaker 3: I guess that was that was an organizational thing and
26:02
Speaker 3: a big deal. You know, he didn't recover well and
26:05
Speaker 3: we're going to give him the day. Had I said
26:07
Speaker 3: anything like that, probably would have been cardboard box in
26:11
Speaker 3: front of my locker ready to hit the road. So
26:15
Speaker 3: it just is it right or wrong. It's just different,
26:19
Speaker 3: and I think it is. It is tough for guys
26:21
Speaker 3: that only know one way. It looks soft, to be
26:26
Speaker 3: honest with you, and and it's very tough, you know,
26:29
Speaker 3: trying to do what I'm doing now is seeing it
26:31
Speaker 3: from both sides? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages?
26:35
Speaker 3: But I think if you can get a guy comfortable
26:37
Speaker 3: and producing at the big league level as early as possible,
26:40
Speaker 3: you're gonna get a lot of really good years out
26:42
Speaker 3: of him. Uh, Basolo, did he sign an extension? Is
26:45
Speaker 3: he like an eight year contract?
26:47
Speaker 2: Yeah?
26:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think that. I mean, you already have him,
26:51
Speaker 3: you're paying him. Why not get the most out of it.
26:54
Speaker 3: How's the catching? Do you guys have it?
26:55
Speaker 4: Steve?
26:56
Speaker 3: How does he look back there?
26:57
Speaker 2: He looks fine.
26:58
Speaker 1: He's got a big arm, and he's pretty agile for
27:00
Speaker 1: his size, and the Orioles have always insisted he could
27:03
Speaker 1: continue as a catcher when some scouts thought otherwise, and
27:07
Speaker 1: he has. He's been pretty solid. I think the guys
27:10
Speaker 1: like throwing to him. Obviously, there are some finer points.
27:12
Speaker 1: He's got to clean up and learn and develop at
27:15
Speaker 1: just twenty one. But I mean the other night when
27:17
Speaker 1: Rogers throw a great game against the Dodgers, he cited
27:21
Speaker 1: Basio back there, for helping him. So I think he's
27:24
Speaker 1: playing pretty good reviews overall. You know, from twenty one
27:28
Speaker 1: years old, Yeah, came out of the Dominican Republic and
27:31
Speaker 1: he was the shining star of their international program, and
27:34
Speaker 1: hopefully you're going to be a shining star in big
27:37
Speaker 1: league baseball.
27:40
Speaker 3: If basio is the pronunciation, sorry, Brad, yeah.
27:44
Speaker 4: Misio, yeah, basio. But it's all right. It's he he's gotten.
27:48
Speaker 4: Even like from April to May, there was a big
27:51
Speaker 4: difference in his catching. You could tell the confidence the
27:53
Speaker 4: pitchers have a him. I think early on maybe there
27:55
Speaker 4: was a little bit more of button pressing and maybe
27:58
Speaker 4: the pitcher going to his belt and that you haven't
28:00
Speaker 4: really seen that the last couple of months. So he's
28:02
Speaker 4: definitely come a long way in the catching side, and
28:04
Speaker 4: then to be able to have his bat produce at
28:06
Speaker 4: the level it has, Like we said, it was just
28:08
Speaker 4: a it was just a bizarre scenario that happened two
28:11
Speaker 4: weeks ago, because it was it looked like he got hurt,
28:14
Speaker 4: like he was swinging hurt, Like he had a game
28:16
Speaker 4: on Saturday or Sunday in Toronto where every single swing
28:19
Speaker 4: he took he was grimacing. And the next day, he
28:22
Speaker 4: takes a slide a home plate where it's an awkward play,
28:24
Speaker 4: and then it's basically I'm gonna paraphrase this and not
28:27
Speaker 4: the words of the organization used, but basically he was
28:30
Speaker 4: being a baby, is what they kind of. I mean,
28:33
Speaker 4: you guys can mistake correct me if I'm wrong, But
28:36
Speaker 4: it was just kind of the way it came out
28:37
Speaker 4: that like, you need to man up and you're not hurt.
28:40
Speaker 4: We had you checked out, and you gotta go play.
28:42
Speaker 4: And it was like him and Atalie both were in
28:44
Speaker 4: the line for two days, and they brought up a
28:46
Speaker 4: third catcher and he was catching, and it was just
28:48
Speaker 4: it was just a bizarre scenario. So to experience all
28:51
Speaker 4: this at twenty one and kind of get I think,
28:54
Speaker 4: like Mark you were saying the minor leagues, I think
28:56
Speaker 4: that guys would get that in the minor leagues, where
28:57
Speaker 4: you mess up, you sit for two days. But at
29:00
Speaker 4: the big league level, when you're trying to win games
29:02
Speaker 4: and there are four or five games under five hundred
29:04
Speaker 4: right now, you take one of your biggest bats out
29:06
Speaker 4: of the line for two days. It was a big
29:07
Speaker 4: message that was sent. That's how I saw it, and I.
29:10
Speaker 5: Think Chris Bassett had the quotes in that article in
29:14
Speaker 5: the Athol like basically saying that, yeah, you need the
29:16
Speaker 5: tough love early on. That way, it's not you know,
29:19
Speaker 5: a culture shock, you know at the major league level
29:22
Speaker 5: one paraphrasing, but the Bassett had quotes very similar to that.
29:26
Speaker 3: I think that's one thing the Oriols seem to have
29:28
Speaker 3: as some veteran leadership that contrasting with the Angels. Trouv
29:34
Speaker 3: does a pretty good job in that regard, but he's
29:37
Speaker 3: not a very vocal guy. You're never going to see
29:39
Speaker 3: quotes like you saw from Bassett or Alonso come from him.
29:44
Speaker 3: So when you guys see him this series, you're going
29:47
Speaker 3: to see a lot of showmanship, a lot of stuff
29:50
Speaker 3: that's not my cup of tea. But if the Angels
29:54
Speaker 3: do play well at all, the short stuff, in particular
29:57
Speaker 3: as a flair for the dramatic, he's been channeling Pokemon,
30:03
Speaker 3: uh you know kind of uh for inspiration and and
30:08
Speaker 3: said that he attributed that the Pokemon character to opening,
30:12
Speaker 3: you know, trading cards and other things. So I'm trying
30:15
Speaker 3: to keep up with the world. But uh, Pikachuu, I
30:17
Speaker 3: guess it was the name of it. It's been interesting.
30:21
Speaker 3: What how's the Orioles bullpen? Look? Uh, who's closing?
30:26
Speaker 4: All right?
30:27
Speaker 2: Now?
30:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, right now it's Hell's he's back, but he's uh,
30:32
Speaker 4: he struggled his last his first two addings off the
30:34
Speaker 4: i L The other night they use I think it
30:36
Speaker 4: was wolf m Was it Wolfram start the ninth and
30:38
Speaker 4: then uh yeniar Cano came in to finish it or
30:43
Speaker 4: the Cano.
30:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
30:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, But they had this guy, Rico Garcia. He was unbelievable.
30:49
Speaker 4: It gave like one hit in the first two months
30:51
Speaker 4: of the season. He's kind of come back to earth
30:53
Speaker 4: a little bit, but he's still gonna probably be seventh
30:55
Speaker 4: eighth inning guy. They had Anthony Nuniez who was pitching
30:58
Speaker 4: really well, but he's a rookie still basically learning how
31:01
Speaker 4: to pitch the big league level. But he just got
31:03
Speaker 4: sent down a triple A. So if most it's gonna
31:06
Speaker 4: be Hellsley, he'll be in the ninth inning. I think
31:08
Speaker 4: if the game is a safe situation, so he was.
31:12
Speaker 4: He's been around a while. Obviously, closer big Arm just
31:15
Speaker 4: kind of got ambushed his first outing. First two pitches
31:17
Speaker 4: he threw in Seattle home runs on and then he
31:20
Speaker 4: had kind of a safe situation he put himself into.
31:23
Speaker 4: It was lights out and then last outing at the
31:26
Speaker 4: against the Dodgers, they they got him pretty good. So
31:29
Speaker 4: I have to imagine it's going to be him in
31:31
Speaker 4: the ninth and then any any combination of the rest
31:34
Speaker 4: of the guys seventh through the eighth.
31:37
Speaker 3: That other Los Angeles team is a pretty good team,
31:39
Speaker 3: by the way.
31:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're pretty good, pretty good, pretty good.
31:42
Speaker 1: We here, we've seen been playing in October the last
31:44
Speaker 1: few years. Mark before we say goodbye and thanks for
31:47
Speaker 1: all the time today, And I hope fans check you
31:49
Speaker 1: out on Halo Territory. And to be honest, I'll tell
31:53
Speaker 1: you man, that's how I found out. I came across
31:55
Speaker 1: you guys one day and was watching your show and
31:57
Speaker 1: I said, geez, do they have an Oriel show like?
32:00
Speaker 1: And found out they didn't. And then here we are
32:03
Speaker 1: a few months later, the three of us doing Birdland
32:06
Speaker 1: Territory because really, because that's all Halo territory. So I
32:09
Speaker 1: enjoy what you guys are doing. Let's edit on this note.
32:12
Speaker 1: When you played in Baltimore, it can be a special place.
32:17
Speaker 1: And I think when you're having the year you had
32:19
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. Hopefully the fans are showing you, you know,
32:23
Speaker 1: the love you would desire or would be great for
32:27
Speaker 1: a player having a great year. So let me try
32:29
Speaker 1: to clean up my sentence here and say, what was
32:32
Speaker 1: it like to play for the fans in Birdland?
32:37
Speaker 3: Exceptional? I had no clue what to expect growing up
32:40
Speaker 3: on the West Coast. Orioles are not a team that
32:43
Speaker 3: was on my radar. You don't get that same experience
32:46
Speaker 3: as a visiting player either. You're kind of in you're out.
32:50
Speaker 3: So I came into it with an open mind and
32:54
Speaker 3: was blown away. I mean that is as Baltimore as
32:56
Speaker 3: a baseball city. They're passionate about their Orioles. They want
33:01
Speaker 3: to look and have a good team on the field
33:05
Speaker 3: as often as possible. I think the fans showed a
33:08
Speaker 3: lot of patients when a full rebuild took place and
33:12
Speaker 3: the team came out better on the other side, and
33:14
Speaker 3: they've still played, you know, really competitive baseball. They're in
33:17
Speaker 3: stacked division. But I think from the fans perspective, there's
33:23
Speaker 3: nothing more I could have asked. It was a lot
33:25
Speaker 3: of fun in my time there, getting you know, around
33:29
Speaker 3: the city and just the polar opposite of what we're
33:32
Speaker 3: used to overhere, So I have nothing, but you know
33:37
Speaker 3: a lot of great memories from that time, and you
33:39
Speaker 3: know it's holds a special place. I think we're planning
33:43
Speaker 3: to come out pretty soon for Chris Davis's induction to
33:47
Speaker 3: the Oriels Hall of Fame, so that that should be
33:49
Speaker 3: a lot of fun. Really good close friend of mine,
33:52
Speaker 3: Hank Congress, coaching in the bullpen for the O's, So
33:58
Speaker 3: we're very interested in what's going on there, enjoy visiting
34:02
Speaker 3: and and you know, it holds a very special place
34:06
Speaker 3: in my heart memories and it was a great time.
34:09
Speaker 3: Steve one one question before I'd let you guys totally go.
34:12
Speaker 3: Are you guys buyers or sellers?
34:16
Speaker 2: Flip a coin? We don't know the answer to that
34:18
Speaker 2: one yet.
34:19
Speaker 1: I think these next three or four weeks Mark are
34:22
Speaker 1: going to determine that. I think they hope they're going
34:25
Speaker 1: to be buyers, and that's the plan all along. If
34:29
Speaker 1: it bottoms out over the next couple of weeks. I
34:32
Speaker 1: think fans are hoping this Dodger series spurs them on,
34:34
Speaker 1: but we've said it before and it didn't, so now
34:37
Speaker 1: they've got to go. It's go time, and there seems
34:40
Speaker 1: to be enough talent to be buyers.
34:43
Speaker 2: So right now. They fired their manager.
34:45
Speaker 1: Last week and the GM is kind of on the
34:48
Speaker 1: hot seat now with Elias and and Birdland wants a winner,
34:51
Speaker 1: as you know, and you know what it can be
34:53
Speaker 1: like when they get one here, So it's going to
34:55
Speaker 1: be an interesting few weeks for first step on the gas.
34:59
Speaker 2: Yes, it's time to go win some games like it.
35:02
Speaker 3: I like it.
35:02
Speaker 2: Okay, got some energy.
35:03
Speaker 4: It should be a good.
35:04
Speaker 2: Serious it should be. Mark.
35:06
Speaker 1: Thanks for taking time with us, man. I really enjoyed
35:09
Speaker 1: covering you when you became an oriol. You were great
35:11
Speaker 1: to me and media guys, and I think you were.
35:15
Speaker 1: You were good for the fans too, so great to
35:17
Speaker 1: hear from you today. Great to have you on the show.
35:19
Speaker 1: Thanks for the time.
35:21
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Thanks guys.
35:23
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo with us today on Berdland Territory. Really enjoyed
35:26
Speaker 1: the conversation. Check him out on Hallo Territory and those
35:30
Speaker 1: fans thanks for watching today.
35:31
Speaker 2: We'll see you next time.