Latest / Foul Territory / Red Sox Reality Check w/Chris Cotillo + Marlins talk w/Isaac Azout

Transcript

Red Sox Reality Check w/Chris Cotillo + Marlins talk w/Isaac Azout · Foul Territory

0:11
Speaker 1: Yes, we're gonna talk about the Boston Red Sox right
0:13
Speaker 1: now as mass lives. Chris Catilla joins us, Chris, how
0:17
Speaker 1: you doing, man? And how are the Red Sox doing
0:19
Speaker 1: after a week of their performance on the field while
0:22
Speaker 1: watching what I gotta say it the Yankees are doing
0:25
Speaker 1: on the field against their opponents.
0:28
Speaker 2: I'm doing fine despite the sky falling around us here
0:31
Speaker 2: in Boston. So fans are done. The season's over. It's
0:37
Speaker 2: the worst five game losing streaking history of baseball. Now,
0:39
Speaker 2: I mean it's a small sample size, but they have
0:42
Speaker 2: not looked good, especially in Houston. Lots of strikeouts, not
0:46
Speaker 2: passing the baton, big time free agent addition, and Ranger
0:50
Speaker 2: Swarez struggling, big time trade edition and Sunny Gray struggling.
0:53
Speaker 2: So if a team's ever needed an off day on
0:56
Speaker 2: April second, it's today. And they start their home schedule tomorrow.
0:59
Speaker 2: But definitely an ugly week after opening day, and I
1:03
Speaker 2: think there are some real concerns that people are starting
1:06
Speaker 2: to be worried about.
1:08
Speaker 3: Like the offense. Is it the offense? The pitching's gonna
1:12
Speaker 3: I firmly believe the pitching crochet pitch grade. He's gonna
1:15
Speaker 3: be fine. I think, listen, Sonny Gray is a five
1:18
Speaker 3: inning guy, so everyone's like all the way through four innings.
1:20
Speaker 3: He's been basically a five inning guy the last few
1:22
Speaker 3: years of his career, which is fine. Range Yah, The
1:26
Speaker 3: Rangers going to be fine once he gets settled in Beyo.
1:28
Speaker 3: They know what they have in Beyo. Early looked great
1:31
Speaker 3: when he pitched right. So is it just offense that
1:34
Speaker 3: they're worried about or is there something else we're missing.
1:38
Speaker 2: I think the strength of this team needs to be
1:40
Speaker 2: run prevention pitching. You know, they built that roster around
1:43
Speaker 2: it over the offseason. Bregman leaves, they pivot to Suarez.
1:47
Speaker 2: They already have Gray, they acquired Oviedo, who they were
1:49
Speaker 2: really high on, But to me, Gray didn't pitch grade
1:52
Speaker 2: the other day. Suarez had a weird build up because
1:55
Speaker 2: of the WBC, struggled a lot in spring training, and
1:58
Speaker 2: then the other night in Houston, Avato seems lost his
2:01
Speaker 2: velocities down. He's in a long man piggyback role and
2:04
Speaker 2: you could see him getting optioned here in the next
2:06
Speaker 2: few days. So if they don't figure out the rotation
2:10
Speaker 2: and those pitchers, they're in real trouble. I think because
2:12
Speaker 2: this is a team that's not built on pop, it's
2:15
Speaker 2: not built on the big inning. It's a station to station,
2:18
Speaker 2: put the ball in play offense. And we saw the
2:21
Speaker 2: strikeouts really pile up, you know, against Hunter Brown, against
2:24
Speaker 2: the Colors, against Burrows over the last couple of days.
2:27
Speaker 2: So the offense I think we knew was going to
2:29
Speaker 2: be maybe not clicking at the beginning as they kind
2:33
Speaker 2: of find themselves with Roman Anthony as the featured piece,
2:36
Speaker 2: and how Contreras fits in Durban, who's over eighteen, how
2:39
Speaker 2: he fits in. They think the pitching is going to
2:41
Speaker 2: be a lot better, and it really has to be
2:43
Speaker 2: because the first time, other than a good opening day
2:45
Speaker 2: start from Crochet and a good one from Early, was
2:48
Speaker 2: really lacking and it shows up in the record.
2:51
Speaker 4: How about their defense, which is directly tied to pitching.
2:56
Speaker 4: You're pitching unless they strike out the world like Crochet
2:59
Speaker 4: usually does, is tied to your defense. Like, is this
3:03
Speaker 4: defense going to be what we're going to watch the
3:04
Speaker 4: entire season?
3:06
Speaker 2: It should be better than it was last year. Just
3:08
Speaker 2: because Contreras has good numbers at first in a small
3:11
Speaker 2: one year sample, Meyer has a chance to be elite
3:14
Speaker 2: at second. Durbin at third is a guy they're comfortable
3:17
Speaker 2: and comfortable with. He's been okay over there, and on
3:20
Speaker 2: opening Day, They've had lapses, some throwing errors from the catcher,
3:24
Speaker 2: some things here and there. Really haven't been fully locked
3:27
Speaker 2: in over this six game stretch. But I think the
3:29
Speaker 2: defense in general is going to be a little bit
3:32
Speaker 2: better or a lot better than it was in previous
3:34
Speaker 2: years where they were cycling through so many guys at
3:36
Speaker 2: second and so many guys were coming up, and first
3:38
Speaker 2: base was a mess. And I think it has to
3:40
Speaker 2: be with a guy, you know, like Suarez in the rotation,
3:43
Speaker 2: lots of weak contact Gray, same thing. They have no choice.
3:46
Speaker 5: Really, Do we ever.
3:48
Speaker 3: Find out why Narvaia's got benched? Does that ever come out?
3:51
Speaker 3: Why he was not in the lineup? Do we know
3:54
Speaker 3: the reason for that because that was odd so early
3:56
Speaker 3: into the year.
3:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and that is I can't take full blame
4:01
Speaker 2: because I wasn't in Houston on the trip. So I
4:04
Speaker 2: will be digging as the weekend goes on, as everybody
4:07
Speaker 2: on the beat will be. What I'd say about Carlos
4:09
Speaker 2: Narvaas is he is one of the most well like
4:13
Speaker 2: guys they have in there. Super friendly, super good teammate,
4:17
Speaker 2: a guy everybody likes. Work ethic not an issue at
4:19
Speaker 2: all as a rookie. To me, it was a little
4:22
Speaker 2: bit strange that he was the guy that got pulled
4:25
Speaker 2: out of the lineup and made an example of yesterday.
4:27
Speaker 2: I have to wonder if he was late, or if
4:29
Speaker 2: he missed a meeting or anything like that. I do
4:31
Speaker 2: think it behooves the team or any team in this
4:35
Speaker 2: situation scenario to just say it, because we're getting text
4:39
Speaker 2: from scouts like, hey, what's going on here, what's going on?
4:41
Speaker 2: What's going on? If they just said, hey, he was
4:43
Speaker 2: late or he missed a meeting, it could kind of
4:46
Speaker 2: put some theories to bed. But to me, the earliness
4:50
Speaker 2: of it, as you mentioned, I think is kind of
4:52
Speaker 2: the striking part. You don't see managers do this super often,
4:55
Speaker 2: where they pull a guy and say kind of the
4:58
Speaker 2: reason why that it was a disciplineary their manager's decision.
5:02
Speaker 2: I think that might speak to Alex Corraz trying to
5:04
Speaker 2: get to this group a little bit and telling them
5:06
Speaker 2: to lock in. We're in the regular season, it's not
5:08
Speaker 2: spring training anymore. They had an instance the night before
5:11
Speaker 2: where they as a team didn't know the count. They
5:13
Speaker 2: cost themselves a beyo strikeout. So there have been lapses
5:17
Speaker 2: and I think they're trying to get out ahead of
5:18
Speaker 2: that a little bit. But no, we don't know the
5:20
Speaker 2: exact reason for this one.
5:22
Speaker 4: Well, you're saying, so Alex Korra possibly had to keep
5:26
Speaker 4: the young guys under control, like if they had somebody
5:29
Speaker 4: in their lineup or something like that that was like
5:32
Speaker 4: a leader that was played say third base and had
5:36
Speaker 4: the initials AB. Do you feel like it was something
5:40
Speaker 4: that Alex Cora has noticed all spring training that hey,
5:44
Speaker 4: who's going to be this veteran leader. Maybe I don't
5:47
Speaker 4: see it, and I need to step up and possibly
5:50
Speaker 4: be that guy as the manager of the team.
5:53
Speaker 2: They really have that in Trevor's story, you know story
5:56
Speaker 2: and Bregman really kind of co led from the position
5:58
Speaker 2: player perspective. Last your story is super well respected in there,
6:02
Speaker 2: and I think is, at least of the position player
6:05
Speaker 2: group the clear captain, with Roman Anthony even at twenty one,
6:09
Speaker 2: taking on more of a role there, which is a
6:10
Speaker 2: scary thing. He's so young, he doesn't have that much
6:12
Speaker 2: time in the big leagues, but he's so mature that
6:14
Speaker 2: they trust him to do that again. I don't know
6:17
Speaker 2: the real true reasons behind this Narvallas sting. It just
6:20
Speaker 2: speaks to Coorra saying, hey, if there's any lapses, they're
6:24
Speaker 2: going to end week one and I'm going to send
6:25
Speaker 2: a message to the group. He clearly did that. I
6:28
Speaker 2: can only remember Alex Verdugo, I guess two or three
6:32
Speaker 2: years ago getting benched and pulled out of a lineup
6:34
Speaker 2: for a couple of different things. That was very well
6:36
Speaker 2: covered some of the stuff that him and Korra were
6:39
Speaker 2: feuding over at times. I can't remember another instance where
6:42
Speaker 2: just randomly Korra does this. And you guys know, managers
6:46
Speaker 2: can cover for anybody, Oh he has a tight hamstring,
6:50
Speaker 2: or he's under the weather, even if it is a
6:52
Speaker 2: disciplinary thing. Here it was pretty clear there's no injury,
6:56
Speaker 2: there's nothing physical, but something happened where he's out of
6:59
Speaker 2: the lineup. Nip it in the butt. That's I guess
7:01
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8:05
Speaker 3: What about cases? Where's Tristan cass I know he had
8:07
Speaker 3: a setback on his ribs. I thought he was recovering
8:09
Speaker 3: from a knee problem. What's going on there? Because that's
8:14
Speaker 3: somebody the Red Sox fans have been banging the drum
8:17
Speaker 3: for for years. This guy can be this, and this
8:19
Speaker 3: guy can be that, and he's going to be our
8:21
Speaker 3: next great player, but he gets hurt all the time
8:24
Speaker 3: and it sucks. And but then he puts on the
8:26
Speaker 3: show with all the stuff he does, you know, not
8:28
Speaker 3: when he's not playing right. So when are we going
8:30
Speaker 3: to get to see, excuse me, the real Tristan Casses
8:34
Speaker 3: show up.
8:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's a make or break
8:37
Speaker 2: year for him, And in a way, it's kind of
8:39
Speaker 2: already on the break side of that because they went
8:42
Speaker 2: out and they said, we're not going to keep this
8:44
Speaker 2: seat warm for you. We're gonna go out and get
8:46
Speaker 2: Wilson Cantreras to be our full time first baseman. He's
8:49
Speaker 2: under control for this year next year in an option
8:52
Speaker 2: for a third year, So that's kind of a sign
8:55
Speaker 2: to Casas like, just get healthy. We'll figure it out,
8:57
Speaker 2: but we can't rely on you as the everyday first base.
9:00
Speaker 2: The two injuries he had were two freak things. The
9:02
Speaker 2: ribcage two years ago the pateeller tendon last year, which
9:06
Speaker 2: is a very serious thing. He was progressing really pretty
9:09
Speaker 2: well to the point where he was hoping to be
9:12
Speaker 2: on a rehab assignment around opening day. He got hurt
9:15
Speaker 2: on May second of last year, and it's a year
9:17
Speaker 2: long recovery, so he was a little ahead of schedule,
9:19
Speaker 2: and then something happened where he pulled a muscle or
9:23
Speaker 2: came up with some soreness swinging the bat and trying
9:26
Speaker 2: to get that rib area back to one hundred percent.
9:31
Speaker 2: As any player would know, and I'm certainly not one
9:34
Speaker 2: of them, but I've been told when you are hurt,
9:37
Speaker 2: it's not just the area you're rehabbing, it's obviously getting
9:41
Speaker 2: back into game shape with everything else. And so that's
9:43
Speaker 2: why you see setbacks across different players, different body parts.
9:47
Speaker 2: But this doesn't seem to be something that's going to
9:49
Speaker 2: keep him out extra months, but he still is far away.
9:53
Speaker 2: I mean, if he shut down from swinging right now,
9:55
Speaker 2: take a couple weeks to do that, get in some
9:57
Speaker 2: extended spring games, then get on a rehab assignment. What
10:00
Speaker 2: the Red Sox have done for themselves is build in
10:03
Speaker 2: that contingency where Contreras not a contingency but a replacement.
10:06
Speaker 2: Really Contreras is at first he's going to be playing
10:09
Speaker 2: there every day. They already have five guys for the
10:12
Speaker 2: three outfield spots in the d H spot with Yoshida
10:15
Speaker 2: and Anthony Duran, Rafaela and a braw so someone would
10:20
Speaker 2: need to get hurt for Casas to really have a
10:22
Speaker 2: role anyway, so they can slow play it a little bit.
10:24
Speaker 2: But he's definitely had a crossroads, no question about that.
10:28
Speaker 4: You mentioned You just mentioned will you or Abrad the
10:31
Speaker 4: lone positive piece in this lineup. He's been crushing since
10:36
Speaker 4: the season started. He was crushing into WBC. Is there
10:40
Speaker 4: an indication or was there an indication coming into camp
10:43
Speaker 4: before the WBC that he had made a change that
10:46
Speaker 4: would say, okay, this is going to take him to
10:49
Speaker 4: the next level as a hitter where he already is
10:52
Speaker 4: as a two time goal glove winner.
10:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were really excited about him from day one.
10:58
Speaker 2: He came in looking trimmer and more athletic. Last year
11:01
Speaker 2: he had slimmed down, but because he had a horrible
11:04
Speaker 2: case of the flu when he got to camp like
11:05
Speaker 2: a gastro thing, he wasn't a healthy leaner. This year,
11:09
Speaker 2: he really was. He was smoking the ball in early
11:12
Speaker 2: spring before he went to the WBC. Was obviously really
11:15
Speaker 2: good there. This is a guy that had a similarly
11:19
Speaker 2: really hot start last year then cooled down and got
11:22
Speaker 2: hurt a couple times, and that has been what's happened
11:24
Speaker 2: with him here and there. But they want him to
11:26
Speaker 2: face lefties, which has been something he has not done.
11:29
Speaker 2: Because if he's doing that, he's in the field for
11:31
Speaker 2: every inning and right field and that's very valuable, especially
11:34
Speaker 2: at Fenway where it's so spacious. This is a guy
11:37
Speaker 2: that really could be, you know, a running mate for
11:40
Speaker 2: Anthony in the lineup if Anthony truly is that star
11:43
Speaker 2: that they envisioned him to be, and a guy that
11:45
Speaker 2: I think is going to turn heads and you see it.
11:46
Speaker 2: You know, they barely scored over the first six games,
11:49
Speaker 2: but he's got three homers. He's tearing the cover off
11:52
Speaker 2: the ball already. They were excited about him from the
11:54
Speaker 2: start of camp and they still are.
11:57
Speaker 3: Chris, what would make Red Sox fans happy? How would
12:00
Speaker 3: we get them all off the ledge? How would we
12:02
Speaker 3: get the mass holes all off the ledge? The Patriots
12:06
Speaker 3: they were good this year, the Celtics are doing their thing.
12:09
Speaker 3: What can make the Red Sox faithful get off the ledge?
12:13
Speaker 3: If they go and win three games this weekend, if
12:15
Speaker 3: they sweep this weekend, will they be like, oh, we're
12:17
Speaker 3: just kidding, We're fine.
12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I I if I knew the answer
12:22
Speaker 2: to that question, I'd probably run my Twitter account in
12:24
Speaker 2: a different way. Uh be able to figure it out
12:27
Speaker 2: over time with readership. But a good homestand would go
12:31
Speaker 2: a long way. The thing that I think is tricky
12:33
Speaker 2: for them is they have a pretty tough schedule early.
12:37
Speaker 2: The Padres this week. Michael Kang will be who they
12:39
Speaker 2: face tomorrow at Fenway, So the Padres for three, the
12:42
Speaker 2: Brewers for three, with Woodruff and miss Rowski coming into Fenway.
12:47
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, a winning homestand and going
12:50
Speaker 2: on the road against two probably inferior opponents in Saint
12:53
Speaker 2: Louis and Minnesota, that would be a good start, but
12:57
Speaker 2: just cleaner baseball, better performances from some individuals. You know,
13:02
Speaker 2: a guy that's getting a lot of heat right now
13:04
Speaker 2: is Durbin, oh for eighteen story is striking out a lot.
13:07
Speaker 2: As I said, Suarez and Gray struggle. A good start
13:10
Speaker 2: from Gray tomorrow would be a good start. It's one
13:12
Speaker 2: in five, it's not one in forty. But I think
13:16
Speaker 2: the off day today will help in coming home. There's
13:18
Speaker 2: no letup because there's just you know, two really good
13:20
Speaker 2: opponents waiting for them. But the pomp and circumstance and
13:24
Speaker 2: baseball at Fenway makes everyone happy, even though there is
13:27
Speaker 2: a huge Monster energy ad that's now on the Green
13:30
Speaker 2: Monster Apparently that's been the focus of the last twenty
13:33
Speaker 2: minutes on Twitter. Once you get past stat home cooking
13:36
Speaker 2: should help them.
13:38
Speaker 3: And Don Rozillo, Don, is she going to get a
13:42
Speaker 3: standing ovation? Is she going to get a montage? Because
13:45
Speaker 3: I was there the first game he came back and
13:47
Speaker 3: he got a montage. It was a surprise. He almost
13:49
Speaker 3: started crying in the booth. But Don Riscilla has a
13:52
Speaker 3: special place in Red Sox fans heart, so hopefully he
13:54
Speaker 3: gets something tomorrow.
13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're ten years into that storyline and Red
13:58
Speaker 2: Sox fans are still as pissed off about it as
14:01
Speaker 2: they were on day one. But it's a reunion weekend
14:05
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways. Bogarts hasn't played here since
14:07
Speaker 2: he left. He was hurt the first time, so that's intriguing.
14:12
Speaker 2: Walker Buehler coming back and pitching over the weekend. Nick
14:15
Speaker 2: Covett is not going to pitch, but he'll be here,
14:16
Speaker 2: so there's some crossover with the teams and it should
14:20
Speaker 2: be an interesting series. I got a lot of Interer
14:21
Speaker 2: League play early, which is a little different than you'd
14:24
Speaker 2: be used to.
14:27
Speaker 1: It sounds like a clever marketing player. People pissed because
14:31
Speaker 1: they don't want anything historic to be touched.
14:36
Speaker 2: I just saw it for the first time. It's it's
14:39
Speaker 2: a little big I would say energy or it were you?
14:47
Speaker 2: Were you by AI at thirty, It's time to hang
14:51
Speaker 2: it up. Okay, we'll see people.
14:55
Speaker 3: Fool I got some people yesterday.
14:58
Speaker 1: It is the second, right, it is a second so
15:01
Speaker 1: that would just be cool. All right, Well, keep an
15:04
Speaker 1: eye on it. Chris, you're the man. Thank you for
15:06
Speaker 1: joining us. Great to catch up with you. More work
15:08
Speaker 1: from Chris on his Penway Rundown podcast and of course
15:11
Speaker 1: on masslab dot com with all of his articles.
15:13
Speaker 5: Follow him on x as well.
15:14
Speaker 6: Thanks Chris, Thanks guys, appreciate it. All right, let's talk Marlins.
15:26
Speaker 1: Isaacazook joining us right now from Fish on First and
15:29
Speaker 1: you can listen to Fish on First podcasts part of
15:32
Speaker 1: the FT Network.
15:34
Speaker 5: We love having them as part of the fam.
15:36
Speaker 4: Isaac.
15:36
Speaker 1: Great to have you back on man, Good to see you,
15:38
Speaker 1: and good times for the Marlin so far in their
15:40
Speaker 1: first week of the season. What are you seeing that's
15:42
Speaker 1: working well for them?
15:44
Speaker 5: Yeah?
15:45
Speaker 7: Five and one start Before the season started, I sort
15:47
Speaker 7: of targeted the bullpen as a strength of this team,
15:50
Speaker 7: and they've only allowed Warner and run in seventeen and
15:52
Speaker 7: two thirds innings. But I mean, I think you can
15:55
Speaker 7: not point at, excuse me, Liam Hicks and Samuel Contra
15:59
Speaker 7: their starts with the season, and I don't think even
16:01
Speaker 7: Peter Bendix expected this from Liam Hicks. It was just
16:03
Speaker 7: great to see all the all the work that Liam
16:05
Speaker 7: put in the off season to swing a little bit faster,
16:07
Speaker 7: get a little stronger, and to see it paid dividends
16:10
Speaker 7: right away is really awesome.
16:13
Speaker 3: Is the pitching the greatest pitching of all time? Sorry, Scott,
16:16
Speaker 3: you're good pitching. No, because the pitching all I've heard about.
16:19
Speaker 3: I've been yelled at on Twitter that the pitching. And
16:22
Speaker 3: by the way, they played the Rockies in the White Sox.
16:24
Speaker 3: No offense to the Rockies and the White Sox, but
16:26
Speaker 3: they played the Rockies in the White Sox and the
16:27
Speaker 3: White Sox hammered them one game. Just saying, the White
16:30
Speaker 3: Sox have one win and it was against the marlw
16:31
Speaker 3: So let's not get too excited over there. But is
16:34
Speaker 3: the pitching the greatest pitching of all time. By the way, Sandy,
16:36
Speaker 3: ninety three pitch complete games. Pretty awesome.
16:39
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know about the greatest pitching of all time.
16:41
Speaker 7: You mentioned the competition, but you know what, Hey, the
16:43
Speaker 7: Rockies went out and beat one two out of three
16:45
Speaker 7: in Toronto, and the White Sox had a pretty good
16:47
Speaker 7: opening series in Milwaukee. And the White Socks have a
16:50
Speaker 7: little bit of offense in that lineup.
16:52
Speaker 3: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Whoao. The White Sox had
16:55
Speaker 3: a pretty good series. They got swept well.
17:00
Speaker 2: In Milwaukee, was an amazing series.
17:02
Speaker 3: Thanks well.
17:04
Speaker 7: To answer your question, Sandy, We'll focus on Sandy because
17:07
Speaker 7: he really has looked fantastic and he since twenty twenty two.
17:11
Speaker 7: I have not seen this side of him in a while.
17:13
Speaker 7: This was vintage Sandy. He's averaging just about ten pitches
17:15
Speaker 7: an any He's not gonna rack up the strikeouts. He's
17:18
Speaker 7: gonna pitch to weak contact right away, and he's done
17:20
Speaker 7: a fantastic job without sixteen scoreless innings to begin his season.
17:23
Speaker 7: We saw glimpses of it last year in the second
17:25
Speaker 7: half after a really uneven first half coming back from
17:28
Speaker 7: Tommy John, but this is something different. You could see
17:31
Speaker 7: it in just the way he's executing his pitches. He's
17:33
Speaker 7: you going back to sinker, changeup with the occasional slider
17:36
Speaker 7: and sweeper. It's just vintage sand. You could see it
17:38
Speaker 7: on his face. We have not seen that smile on
17:40
Speaker 7: his face in a long time, and this yesterday's complete
17:44
Speaker 7: game shutout meant a lot to him.
17:45
Speaker 5: You could tell, all.
17:47
Speaker 4: Right, well, the guy behind the dish, Liam Hicks. You
17:50
Speaker 4: talked about that, You talked about his fast start. I
17:54
Speaker 4: actually one of my assistant coaches on my baseball team
17:56
Speaker 4: worked with Liam all off season down at the Cressey Institute.
17:59
Speaker 4: Is it something that the Marlins pushed him to do
18:03
Speaker 4: or is it something that he took upon himself and said, Okay,
18:07
Speaker 4: this is what I need to do to be the guy.
18:08
Speaker 4: Because a lot of people were looking at like Augustine
18:11
Speaker 4: Ramirez is a guy that would be that guy in
18:14
Speaker 4: that position early on. Here, Hicks has proven that he
18:18
Speaker 4: should be he should have that spot.
18:21
Speaker 7: Yeah, something the Marlins have been focusing on is really
18:23
Speaker 7: just increasing bat speed, right, And I think with certain
18:26
Speaker 7: guys it doesn't make too much sense. But you look
18:27
Speaker 7: at a guy like Liam Hicks, who was just ninety
18:29
Speaker 7: eight percentile and chase rate. He puts the ball in play,
18:32
Speaker 7: he gets on base, and if he's someone they could get,
18:34
Speaker 7: you know, a little bit of more power in that bat,
18:36
Speaker 7: which is what he worked on in the offseason. Like
18:38
Speaker 7: you said, that's all of a sudden, a really valuable
18:40
Speaker 7: commodity who was someone who's really a good catcher as well,
18:43
Speaker 7: who caught Sandy's complete game yesterday like you mentioned.
18:45
Speaker 5: And if he continues to put the ball in play.
18:47
Speaker 7: And not chase pitches and have maybe ten to fifteen
18:50
Speaker 7: home run power, you know, Miami may have something here.
18:54
Speaker 7: And this was just a rule five big a couple
18:55
Speaker 7: of years ago, if you remember correctly. So really nice
18:58
Speaker 7: find by Peter Benda. I don't think he's gonna hit
19:01
Speaker 7: thirty home runs this year. I don't think we can
19:02
Speaker 7: expect the sixteen hundred ops forout the whole year. But
19:06
Speaker 7: it's really exciting to see that Tanda behind the plate
19:08
Speaker 7: in Ramirez and Hicks and just Jill Mack waiting behind
19:11
Speaker 7: the wings.
19:12
Speaker 4: All right, stop being such a hater. He can hit
19:14
Speaker 4: thirty homers and he can have a sixteen hundred ops. Okay,
19:18
Speaker 4: because everybody's all smiles down in Miami either like seven
19:22
Speaker 4: to eight people that watched him play so far. So
19:26
Speaker 4: is this five and one start a facade? And is
19:30
Speaker 4: it covering up the things that weren't addressed in the
19:35
Speaker 4: absolute negative offseason, besides Pete Fairbanks that they had.
19:41
Speaker 7: I think a really good test is gonna be this
19:43
Speaker 7: weekend in the Bronx. They're gonna have a really tough
19:45
Speaker 7: situation there. They're gonna have to face Max Freed, They're
19:48
Speaker 7: gonna have to face wil Warren, and they're gonna have
19:49
Speaker 7: to face old friend Ryan Weathers. It's gonna be Yuri
19:52
Speaker 7: Perez and Chris Pattick and Max Meyer for Miami. And
19:55
Speaker 7: So to answer your question, do I think they're gonna
19:57
Speaker 7: be having an eight hundred win percentage of the whole year.
20:00
Speaker 7: I don't think so. But I do think that it'd
20:01
Speaker 7: be silly to not take these first six games and
20:04
Speaker 7: put a little bit more than a grain of salt
20:06
Speaker 7: on it, because you know, like we said, the Rockets
20:08
Speaker 7: went into Toronto and they won two out of three
20:10
Speaker 7: against the defending American League champions, and they were it
20:13
Speaker 7: wasn't easy. Like you mentioned, the White Sox put up
20:15
Speaker 7: eight runs against them, and I think that if you
20:18
Speaker 7: see the Miami Marlins take at least one or maybe
20:20
Speaker 7: two out of three in New York, then they face
20:22
Speaker 7: the Reds at home, then they go to Detroit. I
20:24
Speaker 7: think after fourteen games or so, you'll get a proper
20:27
Speaker 7: gauge of what this team can really be. And I
20:29
Speaker 7: think at this point in twenty twenty six, after the
20:32
Speaker 7: year that they had last year, winning eighty games seventy
20:34
Speaker 7: nine games to be exact, you're gonna see them add
20:36
Speaker 7: at the deadline, if they're anywhere near the postseason race,
20:39
Speaker 7: you're gonna see them at significant talent to this roster
20:42
Speaker 7: come trade deadline in July.
20:45
Speaker 3: Really, oh, I was gonna ask something completely different, but
20:48
Speaker 3: not wait what repeat that again? What you just said.
20:52
Speaker 7: I think that there's a strong possibility that when Miami,
20:55
Speaker 7: when and if Miami is within five hundred, within you know,
20:59
Speaker 7: striking distance of a postseason spot, you will see them
21:01
Speaker 7: sort of attack the deadline similar to what they did.
21:04
Speaker 5: In twenty twenty three.
21:05
Speaker 7: They brought in Jake Berger, they brought in Josh Bell,
21:09
Speaker 7: they brought in David Robertson. I don't think you're going
21:10
Speaker 7: to see the same sort of attack on the farm
21:13
Speaker 7: system that Kim Aying did because Peter Bennixy knows what
21:15
Speaker 7: he's doing.
21:16
Speaker 5: But I do think you're going to see some talent
21:17
Speaker 5: added to the.
21:18
Speaker 3: Roster like payroll. Yes, well wait, hold on now earpieces.
21:27
Speaker 3: I think my earpiece is broken. Hold on, let me
21:29
Speaker 3: into my good ear Wait. What was challenge? Challenge?
21:32
Speaker 5: No?
21:32
Speaker 1: No, hold on, I'm gonna tap me in, tap me in.
21:35
Speaker 1: They didn't spend it all in the off season, and
21:36
Speaker 1: there were articles and they were heading in I know,
21:40
Speaker 1: but they do have to spend a little because the
21:42
Speaker 1: blackouts coming up, and they have to show that they
21:44
Speaker 1: tried a little bit more on the financials since they're
21:47
Speaker 1: getting more money and share than what they're funding.
21:50
Speaker 5: Season. Yeah, you take on a name or two.
21:53
Speaker 3: Yeah. I just think if they would have done that
21:55
Speaker 3: in the off season, they wouldn't have to worry about it.
21:57
Speaker 3: Just I mean that.
21:59
Speaker 7: I think following the one there's clarity on the collective
22:01
Speaker 7: bargaining agreement, you're gonna see some spending in free agency.
22:04
Speaker 7: I think until this year didn't make much sense to
22:06
Speaker 7: do it. I think you saw them sign thirteen million
22:08
Speaker 7: dollars for Pete Fairbanks. You saw them have to sign
22:11
Speaker 7: a couple of other guys, two minor deals, I will admit,
22:14
Speaker 7: but I think these next couple of seasons, whether there's
22:16
Speaker 7: a cap or a floor or whatever the case may be,
22:18
Speaker 7: you're gonna see them. I don't think they're gonna be
22:20
Speaker 7: signing the Cal Tuckers of the world. I'll be honest
22:22
Speaker 7: with you, but I think there is an avenue in
22:24
Speaker 7: which they could spend more money than they have in
22:26
Speaker 7: years previous.
22:29
Speaker 4: All right, well, then, right off of that, let's go
22:30
Speaker 4: to Sandy's comments post complete games. Sandy's been here forever,
22:35
Speaker 4: and maybe it feels like we're just attacking Marlins fans,
22:39
Speaker 4: but it's so recncy biased by me watching the WBC
22:44
Speaker 4: in that electric stadium. AJ's been there, people behind the
22:48
Speaker 4: scenes on our show have been there, and it's electric.
22:52
Speaker 4: And Sandy says this after a complete game. Hey, you
22:55
Speaker 4: know what for the guy for people who didn't show
22:58
Speaker 4: up or not many of them showed up, or whatever
23:00
Speaker 4: it was. Can this change be caught without what you
23:06
Speaker 4: just said, that's spending at the break or spending in
23:10
Speaker 4: the off season.
23:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
23:11
Speaker 5: I found Sandy's comments interesting. I put out a tweet
23:14
Speaker 5: about it earlier.
23:15
Speaker 7: I pure speculation, but I think it was a well
23:18
Speaker 7: orchestrated maneuver by the Marlins to have him sort of
23:21
Speaker 7: say that because Miami can't say that. But if it
23:23
Speaker 7: comes from your star pitcher, maybe it comes out a
23:26
Speaker 7: little bit better. And yeah, I think the Marlins were
23:28
Speaker 7: a little bit disappointed with the turnout, not only just
23:31
Speaker 7: for the White Sox Series, which is during the week
23:33
Speaker 7: but games two and three over the weekend. Unfortunately, they
23:37
Speaker 7: had a little bit of competition to deal with. They
23:38
Speaker 7: had Ultra Music festival going out right here in downtown Miami.
23:41
Speaker 7: The President was here speaking at the Fayina Hotel in
23:44
Speaker 7: Miami Beach. You had concerts going on at the Cassea
23:46
Speaker 7: Center in downtown. So I think not only that, you
23:49
Speaker 7: just had some fans that were maybe uneasy about driving
23:51
Speaker 7: and all that traffic, which is just not a good
23:53
Speaker 7: excuse if you ask me. And then, yeah, the White
23:56
Speaker 7: Sox series was six thousand per game around and I
24:00
Speaker 7: think they sort of hinted, hey, maybe if it comes
24:02
Speaker 7: from our.
24:03
Speaker 5: Ace pitcher, that'll help out a little bit.
24:05
Speaker 7: I think another factor also for the low attendance could
24:07
Speaker 7: be maybe a little bit of a baseball hangover coming
24:09
Speaker 7: from that WBC that you mentioned maybe thirty six thousand
24:12
Speaker 7: every single day for ten days straight in that tournament.
24:15
Speaker 5: Maybe there's a little bit of a hangover there.
24:17
Speaker 7: I'm not sure, but I hope that the fans come
24:20
Speaker 7: out a little bit more for that Red Series that
24:22
Speaker 7: starts next week, because I think Miami was a little
24:24
Speaker 7: bit disappointed with the turnout.
24:28
Speaker 3: Wait, but they've never done They've never drawn. No, that's
24:31
Speaker 3: my thing. I mean, obviously it's like why what because
24:36
Speaker 3: everyone says Miami, listen. I'm a Florida guy. I love baseball.
24:40
Speaker 3: I grew up playing baseball. I was when I grew up, though,
24:43
Speaker 3: the Marlins were I was about to graduate high school,
24:45
Speaker 3: the Marlins appeared. The Rays weren't a thing, right, so
24:48
Speaker 3: team they always got bigger crowds for the Yankees and
24:51
Speaker 3: the Mets and the Red Sox and whoever else. It
24:55
Speaker 3: was a visiting crowd. But now they've been here for
24:58
Speaker 3: over thirty years. Why is the Marlins so dry and
25:02
Speaker 3: the only thing? And people ask me, and I say, well,
25:03
Speaker 3: the stadium's on a great spat. The stadium's inside, so
25:06
Speaker 3: you know you're gonna get a game. It's not in
25:08
Speaker 3: a great spot. The parking kind of sucks, you know.
25:11
Speaker 3: Could they put in a different spot, sure, but they
25:13
Speaker 3: put it where they put it. Why. I just don't
25:16
Speaker 3: understand why people they advertised. People know the Marlins are there.
25:19
Speaker 3: It's not like it's a new product. Oh, the Marlins
25:21
Speaker 3: are here. They came for WBC, So why do they
25:24
Speaker 3: not come to these games? I can't figure. They've had
25:26
Speaker 3: stars Stanton. I mean, they had a team with Stanton,
25:29
Speaker 3: Rio Muto, Christian Yelich, right, Jose Fernandez they had. I
25:33
Speaker 3: was there, I played against those guys. That was a
25:35
Speaker 3: team they drew. Okay before that, you know, in the
25:38
Speaker 3: old stadium when they won in ninety seven, two thousand
25:40
Speaker 3: and three, they did draw a little bit. But why
25:43
Speaker 3: is Miami not supporting baseball the way they should?
25:46
Speaker 5: I'm not sure.
25:46
Speaker 7: I wish I had the answer for you, because, like
25:48
Speaker 7: you mentioned, they had Stanton chasing sixty, they had Jose
25:51
Speaker 7: pitching every fifth day. They went to the postseason in
25:53
Speaker 7: twenty twenty three with a young team that added to
25:55
Speaker 7: the roster at the deadline, and yet no one showed up.
25:59
Speaker 7: People blame previous pr moves by the team. For example,
26:02
Speaker 7: when Jeter bought the team, it was oh no, more
26:04
Speaker 7: of the same when he traded all those stars. But
26:06
Speaker 7: I think it's time for fans to just sort of,
26:08
Speaker 7: you know, just realize that there's Major League Baseball being
26:10
Speaker 7: played in your backyard. So if I was a team,
26:13
Speaker 7: I think there's one thing that could maybe help you,
26:15
Speaker 7: just make it more of a destination. We've all been
26:17
Speaker 7: a wrigley Field, right Wrigleyville is just incredible to go
26:20
Speaker 7: before the game, after the game. There's just a destination.
26:22
Speaker 7: There's things to do around the ballpark. The Marlins aren't
26:25
Speaker 7: working on that with the construction of Miami Live, which
26:28
Speaker 7: should be ready towards the.
26:30
Speaker 5: End of this offseason.
26:32
Speaker 7: But I think years and years of continuity when it
26:36
Speaker 7: comes with the President of Baseball Operations, Peter Bendix, when
26:38
Speaker 7: it comes with the manager. This is my fifth year
26:40
Speaker 7: on the beat, and this is already the third manager
26:42
Speaker 7: that I've covered, So I think once you see continuity
26:45
Speaker 7: both on the roster, in the management and in the
26:47
Speaker 7: front office, along with some winning, which I think they're
26:50
Speaker 7: going in that direction, that may equate to some more attendance.
26:54
Speaker 5: I hope.
26:57
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Speaker 3: Oh definitely, I can't wait. I actually want to try
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27:41
Speaker 1: One Streaming Now, Isaac, do you think that the current
27:45
Speaker 1: front office group is aware of how to do that?
27:48
Speaker 5: From a marketing perspective?
27:50
Speaker 1: I say that because you know this group is trying
27:52
Speaker 1: to take the Rais model. From a business standpoint and
27:57
Speaker 1: fan affinity standpoint, that model doesn't work if you're looking
28:00
Speaker 1: for wins and losses.
28:01
Speaker 5: It helps.
28:02
Speaker 1: Although we can make the case that the Rays haven't
28:04
Speaker 1: actually won a World Series. They come close, but the
28:07
Speaker 1: constant churn is not good for it's not creating an identity.
28:12
Speaker 1: I lived in Miami for a while, so I saw
28:15
Speaker 1: what it takes there too, And the mix is you
28:18
Speaker 1: have to have guys that are going to stay there
28:20
Speaker 1: for a while that people know. Yes, Jose Fernandez, I mean,
28:23
Speaker 1: we were just kind of scratching the surface of his impact.
28:26
Speaker 1: Of course, that's an impact that's only once per week
28:28
Speaker 1: or so. So that's the one concern that I have
28:31
Speaker 1: is will they create a team that's more competitive but
28:34
Speaker 1: that isn't sexy enough for Miami.
28:37
Speaker 7: That's a fantastic point. That is my concern as well,
28:39
Speaker 7: because yeah, you could have a ninety win team every
28:42
Speaker 7: single year like the Rays had, and yet people do
28:44
Speaker 7: not show up to the trump. I think Miami has
28:46
Speaker 7: a little bit of an advantage with their stadium. It's
28:48
Speaker 7: a really nice, state of the art ballpark that is
28:50
Speaker 7: in the middle of Little Havana. But that's that's not
28:53
Speaker 7: Peter Bendix's concern. You could tell the way he's he's
28:57
Speaker 7: handling this roster. He does not care about the pr
28:59
Speaker 7: That is a line O'Connor's job the president of the Marlins,
29:02
Speaker 7: and I think that department has done a better job
29:04
Speaker 7: as of late with the ballpark experience, with the marketing,
29:06
Speaker 7: with the social media. They have taken a step forward
29:08
Speaker 7: in that department, no doubt about it. If you look
29:11
Speaker 7: at their intro videos the last couple of years, it
29:13
Speaker 7: was all AI. Now it's actually done by a really
29:16
Speaker 7: fun team, and I think in that part they're doing better.
29:19
Speaker 7: But no, I'm not sure if their model of constructing
29:22
Speaker 7: a playoff caliber team that's sustainable the way they want
29:25
Speaker 7: it to be is gonna equate to sell out crowds
29:28
Speaker 7: at Lone Depot Park. We were hoping that this offseason
29:31
Speaker 7: was going to turn into maybe an extension for Uri Perez,
29:34
Speaker 7: maybe an extension for Jacob Marcy.
29:36
Speaker 5: It didn't happen.
29:37
Speaker 7: I think that's what we talked about the last time
29:38
Speaker 7: I joined you guys. Maybe Joe Mack is that guy
29:41
Speaker 7: that it could possibly extend to that Cooper Pratt type deal.
29:44
Speaker 7: I'm not sure, but I agree some sort of continuity,
29:47
Speaker 7: even if they it's against what they believe in the
29:50
Speaker 7: upstairs department of the front office. I think you've got
29:54
Speaker 7: to have some sort of face to put where fans
29:56
Speaker 7: can know that they'll have one guy to root for
29:58
Speaker 7: for the next eight years.
30:00
Speaker 4: That was going to be my question about extensions. We
30:02
Speaker 4: had Kyle Stowers on and he would like to stay,
30:06
Speaker 4: you know, in contract extension talks. He was an All Star.
30:09
Speaker 4: So it's like, okay, that face is there. Is it
30:12
Speaker 4: disappointing for fans when you see Cooper Pratt, when you
30:15
Speaker 4: see Colt Emerson, when you see other organizations that don't
30:19
Speaker 4: necessarily spend a ton there's ideas that Connor Griffin is
30:22
Speaker 4: going to Does it hurt more when Marlon's fans see
30:26
Speaker 4: that in other organizations and go, oh, we're worse than
30:29
Speaker 4: the pirates with this stuff.
30:32
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's got to be frustrating if you're a Marlins fan,
30:35
Speaker 7: right you see you know what's going on in Pittsburgh.
30:37
Speaker 7: Even you see Milwaukee extending both Yelich and then everyone else.
30:40
Speaker 5: And Miami had had some.
30:42
Speaker 7: They do have some really good extension candidates, some attractive
30:45
Speaker 7: extension candidates. I thought Uri Perez was the pinnacle of that.
30:48
Speaker 7: A young sow a young right headed pitcher that has
30:51
Speaker 7: all the stuff in the world and actually commands it
30:53
Speaker 7: well and who probably wants to be here.
30:56
Speaker 5: But I think they waited too long and now he's
30:57
Speaker 5: out of.
30:58
Speaker 7: Their price range, unfortunately, So that's why I would pivot
31:00
Speaker 7: towards someone that.
31:01
Speaker 5: Has not made their major league debut yet.
31:03
Speaker 7: In Joe Mack, Jacob Marcy's already twenty four years old.
31:06
Speaker 7: I found that peculiar from the get go, so I
31:08
Speaker 7: didn't know if that made too much sense anyway. And
31:10
Speaker 7: then Kyle Stowers, Yeah, he's another one who is also
31:13
Speaker 7: mid his mid twenties, so I'm not sure how much
31:15
Speaker 7: sense that makes either. But I think you got to
31:17
Speaker 7: look down in the minor leagues for one of those
31:19
Speaker 7: pre ARB extensions, pre debut extensions, Mack would make sense.
31:22
Speaker 7: Thomas White is a Scott Boris guy, so I don't
31:24
Speaker 7: see that happening. Maybe Snelling could be someone who we
31:27
Speaker 7: will see in the next couple of months for sure,
31:29
Speaker 7: But yeah, it's got to be frustrating from Rolands fans
31:31
Speaker 7: alastkay that they extended.
31:33
Speaker 5: I guarantee you guys will not get this.
31:34
Speaker 7: Is Richard Blyer to a one year or two year
31:37
Speaker 7: extension in the middle of the twenty two season.
31:39
Speaker 5: Before that, Miguel Rojas, So it's.
31:40
Speaker 7: Been a while since that big Sexy Sandy extension, So
31:43
Speaker 7: I think that is one thing that would help both
31:46
Speaker 7: the on field product and the marketing as well.
31:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not have gotten Richard Blyer. You said
31:51
Speaker 1: that was one year, what two million?
31:54
Speaker 7: I don't have the exact figures because it was a
31:56
Speaker 7: while ago. It may have been two year extension for
31:58
Speaker 7: Richard Blyer.
32:00
Speaker 4: You would have gotten it, well, only because we were teammates,
32:03
Speaker 4: and then he like teammates and Triple A and then
32:05
Speaker 4: it was like Dick Blier extension was like what he was.
32:09
Speaker 4: He was getting big outs for the Marlins. He was
32:12
Speaker 4: kind of that time when they were COVID time and
32:16
Speaker 4: all that, and all of a sudden he was like
32:18
Speaker 4: yelling on the mound. He was almost getting in a
32:19
Speaker 4: fight with other teams. And then it was like he
32:22
Speaker 4: was the Marlins face of fury and then it kind
32:26
Speaker 4: of dropped off a little bit.
32:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was a cool guy too.
32:28
Speaker 7: It was a two year, six million dollar extension in
32:31
Speaker 7: March of twenty twenty two, and unfortunately I don't think
32:34
Speaker 7: he stayed with Miami for the duration of that contract.
32:38
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna we're gonna give it the college,
32:40
Speaker 1: try and go for a bigger contract extension. But in
32:42
Speaker 1: all seriousness, the team's playing well, so performance is there
32:45
Speaker 1: so far in the first week of the season, which
32:47
Speaker 1: we started with Isaac. Thank you for joining us.
32:50
Speaker 5: Thank you guys so much for having me. Good catching
32:53
Speaker 5: up fish on first.
32:54
Speaker 1: By the way, the spot for Marlin's coverage both to
32:58
Speaker 1: read and to listen to podcast platforms, YouTube channel, the
33:02
Speaker 1: whole deal. There our spot part of the FT network.
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Speaker 1: Aj Ramos new to the party. They're contributing the player
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Speaker 1: perspective as well.