Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / Buy, Sell or Believe? MLB's Second Half

Transcript

Buy, Sell or Believe? MLB's Second Half · Rosters to Rings Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Roster Serrings. Alongside co host Chet West,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I am your host Dad Levine. Today, Chet, We're going
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to take stock of the first half the twenty twenty
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: six Major League Baseball season. We're going to take a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: deep dive dissecting three teams and we'll predict their distinct
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: paths in the second half of the major league season.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We're going to begin with the biggest surprise in baseball,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the Chicago White Sox. After three consecutive seasons with at
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: least one hundred losses, Chicago entered the year with almost
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: no expectations. Shockingly, the White Sox reached they All Star
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: break tied for first place in the beleaguered American League Central.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: From there, we'll look at two preseason playoff contending teams
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: moving in quite different directions right now. Have the Boston
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Red Sox played their way back into contention in the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: San Diego Padres, whose disappointing first half may force one
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of the baseball's most aggressive front offices to make a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: very difficult decision at the trade deadline. We'll discuss the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: deadline from the fans perspective. What does it feel like
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: when your team is What does it feel like when
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: another promising season turns into a selloff, and winterfront Office
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: says it believes in the roster it already has. Is
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that confidence or simply an excuse for doing nothing? And
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: of course we will wrap up the show with some
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: listener questions, but chet, let's start the conversation with the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to dive into this. I've got friends
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: all over Chicago. There are Socks fans, Carol family, Brandon family.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: This one's for you, guys. We're gonna cover your team.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: So the Socks went from the outhouse to the penthouse here,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: maybe not quite the penthouse, but three quarters the way
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: up building at least in a little bit nicer spot there.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: They're moving on up to the east side.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: They are, they're moving.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I think there's a dlux sky apartment in the.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Sky, deluxe apartment in the sky.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: They get three straight one hundred loss seasons, that modern
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: era record one hundred and twenty one losses in twenty
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: twenty four, but we're putting that in the reary mirror.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: They were projected to have around sixty seven wins this season,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and they're about what sixteen seventeen shy of that. Right now,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: at the halfway point, they get a fifty and forty
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: five record. You know, they're picked to have almost no
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: playoff chance whatsoever. Their pre season projection from Fangrafts gave
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: them about azero point five percent chance to reach the playoffs.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: That is, that's bad, and most of us that cover
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the Ale Central knew that they were. They were expected
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to kind of finish last once again based on the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: talent that was there. Later on in the show, we're
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: going to talk about some of that Ale Central. We're
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: going to tell you kind of why the White Sox
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: may be uh cresting to the top of the division.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: There.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: These guys had a plus thirty five run differential in
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the first half. They are tied with Cleveland. I'm going
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to tell you right now, though Cleveland does not have
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: a plus thirty five run differential, they have a negative
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: run differential. That makes those two teams quite different. Their
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: expected record aligns with that are approximately fifty one and
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: forty four is their expected record based on everything else. Uh,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: And you know, that's just success that's being supported by
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: some underlying numbers that I think Socks fans have something
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: to look forward to here in the second half. Based
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: on some of those numbers, I don't see.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Them falling off.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: There are a few red flags. But you know, when
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: does we're gonna answer this question today? When did the
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: rebuilding team become a legitimate contender? Are SOX fan is
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: ready to get excited?
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I ched? I think there is a reason for optimism here.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I think you have to analyze the team itself, and
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: then you have to analyze the competitive landscape, which is
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the division. Let's dive into the team first. I look
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: at this as a franchise that had they've done this before.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: They've made some exceptional trades to jumpstart their rebuilding process.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: They did it in twenty sixteen. In twenty seventeen, at
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the time, they traded Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, and Adam Eaton.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And before we go too much further, boy, is it
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: better to jumpstart or rebuild? You're when you're trading guys
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: who are perennial All Stars, zy young candidates, and guys
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: who are MVP in the discussion for MVP and All
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Star consideration. At that time, they netted Joan Mancata, Michael Kopek,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Eloy Jumenez, Dylan Sees, Lucas Giuliedo, and many many more. Well,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: fast forward, now they're now trading some of those very
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: same players. To jumpstart this reveal, they traded Dylan Ceese
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: to the San Diego Padres. They net four guys in return.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Drew Thorpe and Hiro Iriarte were the kind of headliners,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: two pitchers, and I think jet this goes to show
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: that not all trades are easy to make because Drew
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Thorpe has basically been injured since the acquisition. Hiro Iriarte,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: who looked like he was going to be a premium
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: back end arm, maybe now is cresting and maybe is
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: just another reliever. He may not even be a major
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: league arm for them. Well, the other trade they made
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: really has returned a cache of players, and that was
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the Garrett Crochet deal. At the time they traded him,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: he was the best player, the best pitcher on the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: market bar none. They had a ton of competition. They
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: met Kyle Teel, Chase Madroth, Braden Montgomery, all three of
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: whom have already made it to the big leagues. They're
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: making some contributions. They did an excellent job in this trade.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: And then the kind of trade that no one talks
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: about is they made a very interesting three team deal
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: with the San Diego I mean with the Los Angeles
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Dodgers and Saint Louis Cardinals, in which they ultimately parted
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: ways with Eric Fetti, a kind of veteran starting pitcher,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: to stabilize Saint Louis, and they netted Miguel Vargas from
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers, a prospect who maybe wasn't realizing
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: his full potential. But boy, is he come into his
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: own here in twenty twenty six.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Chip.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: I it's so.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: It's always tough to trade pitching because you never know
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: what it's coming back. Right, you got these great pitchers.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I know White Sox fans were not thrilled to get
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: rid of Carrett Errett Crochet. I know they weren't thrilled
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to be getting rid of Dylan Ce. So they see
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: pitchers like that. I'm look Tiger's fan, I'm dealing with
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: it right now as school. Nobody wants to trade schoobl
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: That's a true Tigers fan, but true fans of baseball, no,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: you have to trade those guys when the time is
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: right to get the goods coming back. I think they
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: may have already, you know, passed that time with a schooble.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: But these guys went out and traded Seas, traded Crochet.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: They got players. Kyle Teal is going to be a
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: catcher of the future for them. Chase Mead draft, I
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: love that guy second base, a gritty player. And Braden
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Montgomery's already showing why they picked him up. He's had
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: a little power in his first hundred at bats, few strikeouts,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: that's all right, And like you said, Miguel Vargas, what
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: a great what a great pick up there from the Dodgers.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Pitchers also carry so much injury risk. I wish I
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: could put a like a due date on every pitcher
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: and just say you got to keep them through this,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: but get rid.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Of them after that.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: It's it seems you can get stuck with a bad
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: contract with an injury to a pitcher. And these are
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: young everyday players that they're getting the Teals, the meat
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: dross in Montgomery's. These guys can build a great corner lineup.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: So I think, what would you say.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I think they've done enough to validate that Crochet trade.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I think they've gotten more than enough out of.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: That that question and check. To your point, you know
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: you can't win without pitching in defense. But to your point,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: pitching is very unreliable. There's so many more injuries sustain.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: There's a reason in the Major League Baseball draft the
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: preponderance of picks in the first fifty are position players.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Those guys go off the board, and they go off
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the board pretty quickly. So kind of the old adage
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: is when you're looking at major league players, the peak
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: performance tends to come between twenty four and thirty years old.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: And so if you have the discipline, you try to
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: buy twenty nine and younger. You try to sell thirty
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: one and older. And so when some of these pitchers
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: who are kind of matriculating to free agency a they're
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: going to be massively expensive. See the deal that Dylan
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Cee's ultimately signed with the Toronto Blue Jays two hundred
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: plus million dollars. But also the injury risk starts really
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: mounting as they start entering their young thirties. And so
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: when you can turn that pitcher into multiple position players
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and you spread it out, you know, that's what they
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: chose to do here. They didn't put all of their
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: value into one player. In the acquisition. They gotten multiple
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: players in these deals. They're spreading it out. One deal
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: is proving today to be better than the other one.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: You never know as you track it. But boy, it
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: seems as if the Crochet deal really set them on
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: a nice trajectory.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I've always found it interest you trade a pitcher, you're
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: trading guy goes once every You know, if your starter
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: once every five days contributes to one out of every
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: five games, you're getting guys back that will contribute daily.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: So that's if the need is there, you almost have
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to do it with that timing. I'm going to bring
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: somebody up for I'm curious about your take on this,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Munataka Marikami. What are your thoughts When they signed him,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: there were a lot of question marks around his ability
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: to keep from striking out often against major league pitching.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Is that have they proven this has this proven out yet?
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Or do you want to see him for a full season?
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: So, I think there's a few things to consider here.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Murakami came over from Japan, where he had established himself
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: as one of the pre eminent power hitters in the league.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I think for a long time, Major League Baseball probably
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: wrongfully so looked at the Japanese leaders called the end
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: as maybe more akin to double or triple A baseball.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I think now that we've seen on the World Baseball
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Classic stage, Japan has shown up, and they've shown up,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and they've won this tournament before, and they won it
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: with Mirakami playing every game for them. So I think
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: we have a heightened level of respect for these guys.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: So I think on one side of the coin, the
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: guy's coming over from Japan, we have a greater appreciation
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: for their ability. But you brought up a point chet
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: which has been an age old adage in baseball, which
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: is if you strike out at a certain level, which
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: you know typically is thirty percent or greater, you almost
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: have no chance in the big leagues. He is disproving
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: that right now would be able to do that over
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: a sustained period of time. I'm not perfectly sure, but
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: so far he looks excellent.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: It.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can get injured in the first half.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: He's he's yeah, he's an all star. He was you know,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: he showed up in the home run derby yesterday, And
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I think it just speaks to check. Why do I
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: think this team is a contender? I think it's a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: contender because it's building up this incredibly strong core of players,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: albeit most mostly on the offensive side. There are a
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: few pitchers to be interested in here. But your comedy
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: is one of those guys. Now they don't have him
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: for an extended period of time. They may be able
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to extend him, but he also maybe the next guy
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: that they trade to continue to jumpstart this process.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, so what do you I've there's a lot of
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: caution here, okay, because I do see some of these
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: numbers at home, they're thirty one and seventeen on the
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: road nineteen and twenty eight, so they like the home
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: cooking not so good when they get away from from home.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: There they have a kind of division that's all over
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the place. Detroit is massively underachieving, sitting in fourth place,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: but only six and a half games back from both
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: the Guardians and White Sox. We're tied for first. Cleveland's
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: offensive struggling. They've been with ault Josey Ramirez. They're big
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: bopper there in the lineup. They're probably first ballot Hall
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: of Famer at some point in time. Maybe I'm making
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: a maybe I'm making a little bit of an exaggeration.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I assume he will be Hall of Famer. Kansas City
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: is collapsing. I don't understand what's happening with Kansas City.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: I think I chalk it up to just maybe a
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: lack of pitching and some guys around Bobby wit So.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: We've got some red flags there. They have a record
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: against teams above five hundred. They have a losing record,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: so they're not they're not. They don't have a winning
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: record against teams above five hundreds. For me, that's a
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: red flag. I like the run differential. This other stuff
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: looks a little dicey. I don't know are they good
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: enough to win the ALE Central? When we come back,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: we're gonna talk a little more about the AL Central
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: here on rosters the Rings.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to rosters for Rings Check. We're breaking down
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: not only the Chicago White Sox, but the American League Central.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: And as you pointed out, you know they were They
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: had a point five percent chance to win the division
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: according to Fan Grouse before the season, and Fan Grouses
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: made up of very smart people. They do that based
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: upon evaluating the talent on each team, the schedule that
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: they have, the degree of difficulty it would take to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: get to the playoffs. Well, they had the Tigers as
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the class of the division, as most of us did.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: They were prohibited to win this division fifty four percent
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: chance to make the playoffs. But as you just referenced, also,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the Kansas City Royals had a forty eight percent chance.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: They have really shifted roles now with the Chicago White Sox.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: As we sit here today, the Cleveland Guardians are now
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the prohibitive favor to win the division. They have a
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: sixty two percent chance to make the playoffs. Chicago's up
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to forty one percent. Detroit is surging right now though
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: at twenty eight percent. Kansas City is coming up bringing
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: up the rear at point two percent. They've gone from
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: forty eight percent to point two percent. So I think
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Fangrafts would agree with your assessment on Kansas City, which
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: is the roster was much more talented than the performance.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: You have to start looking at injuries, you have to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: look at misfortune. But this is a season that probably
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Kansas City wants to forget. And I think maybe we
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: turn our attention a little bit more to your beloved
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Tigers surging now and where where are they coming on this?
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And what type of competition do we think Chicago has
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: down the stretch with Cleveland and Detroit.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Well, we've got some questions here. So first of all,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: do we trust Chicago's numbers so far or do we
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: trust Cleveland's organizational track record? I think these guys always
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: end up making the playoffs somehow. As a Tiger fan,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: it's always been it's for the last decade, it's been Cleveland.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Where is Cleveland? What are we going to have to
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: do to get by Cleveland? Especially for the last couple
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: of years, they've been a thorn in our side. And
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: then you know, I look at now Detroit. Detroit's showing
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: signs of life, one of the best records since I
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: believe it's a last week of May or something like
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: that in the entire al at this point, which.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Blows me away to the best record.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Check the best record. Okay, so the best record. So
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: we have a run differential that is a plus twenty four.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: The Tigers and the White Sacks are the only teams
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: in the division with a plus run differential, which is crazy.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Everybody else is negative. The Tigers are, you know, six
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: to eight games off of five hundred right now, they're
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: digging themselves out of that awful May It's nineteen blown
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and saves. They've got all sorts of crazy stats. So
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: they've got a bad bullpen, They've got some you know,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: weak right handed hitting. They need a right handed hitter
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: over in Detroit. I look at Cleveland. Cleveland's guys, you know,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Ramirez injured. They probably have a few needs likewise, But
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I start to look at these things, start looking at
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: what the White Sox need. They need a starting pitcher,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: absorb intings. So what do you think is out there
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: thed for these teams? Do you think that the White
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Sox can keep doing what they're doing? And do you
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: think that they're gonna get anything at this trade deadline?
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've got Kansas City here, They're in the toilet.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: They're not doing anything. In my opinion, they're done. Do
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: you think Kansas City has a shot at getting back
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: into this thing?
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't, And I think they're one of
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the very few teams in the major leagues who is
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: a clear and present seller. You know, check one thing
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: that I know will nauseate you. I hope you have
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: some banoca only here is that the Detroit Tigers are
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: leading the major leagues. They have had one thousand IL
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: days of their players, so check, just to put that
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: in perspective, that means for each game they've played, they've
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: had ten players on the IL, which is just an
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: absolutely disgusting number.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But it also had somebody sent me that number the
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: other day and I was like, you got to proof
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: read that.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: There's no way thousand. That's incredible.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: They currently have ten players on the sixty DAYIL. And check.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: You were told that, you know in spring training that
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: fourfests of your rotation in Verlander, Olsen, Job and Myz
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: would all be on the IL at the trade deadline,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I mean at the All Star break. That's four fasts
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of your starting rotation. And Schooble's spent at least half
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the season on the ILE themself. So I look at
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: that with a silver lining, which is Cleveland, in contrast,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: has had sixty six ILE days as a team, Detroit
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: one thousand. That's unbelieve Cleveland has had sixty six. Cleveland
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: has not missed a start in their starting rotation. Detroit
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: has probably not had a turn through the starting rotation
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: yet this season. So if Detroit can start getting healthy
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned they since June began, They're twenty two
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and fourteen. They're they have the best record in the
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: American League. Nobody wants to see the Detroit Tigers coming
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: because they thought at the beginning of the season this
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: was the most talented team in the division.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, so they have to win over sixty percent,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: sixty five percent of the games going out to to
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: theoretically put a playoff bid in, you know, to qualify
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: for the playoffs. At this point, you got to have
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: like eighty five wins at least even think about playoffs,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: probably ninety in this division. I'm looking at Cleveland, though,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: and this is what Cleveland does every year. They survive
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: on their pitching. They're one of baseball's lowest scoring offenses
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I don't can you think back then, have they ever.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Had a terribly prominent offense in recent history?
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Well?
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: Am I wrong in thinking that?
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: Is this just something I'm imagining because their pitching has
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: been so good.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Well, you know the John Hart Cleveland at that time,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Indians was a juggernaut offensively. That's skating ourselves. I think
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the last time they had a kind of more prominent offense,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: it was headlined as you referenced, but I agree with you.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: First time Hall of Fame ballot guy Jose Ramirez and
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Michael Brantley. Oh, we are going back formidable guys on
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: that team. But no, over the last five to six years,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: this team has won on defense, on pitching, and base running,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and that's no different this year. And the other thing
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I think has always been something that we've regarded in
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the game. Their front office is certainly respected as one
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of the best in the game. I think Terry Francona
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: got the most out of the players. But lo and
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: behold Stephen Vote. They haven't missed a beat with him.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: It seems as if they have the same culture there,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: which is just chronic overachieving. And yeah, it's the type
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: of team when you're playing them, if you keep them
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: within two runs, somehow they eke out those two runs
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: late and they just beat you. You wonder how the
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: heck it happened, but they do. It came in a
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: game out, and they just take series from teams. I
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: think until they're officially knocked out, you can never count
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: them out.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I feel like with Cleveland, you're going to get Jose
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Ramirez back and then all guns are firing. They're going
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: to stay up there at the top of the division.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: This could be a three team race by the time
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: it's all done, if Detroit can get their stuff together.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: But you know, we're forgetting about Minnesota a little bit here.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: They've they've kind of shown a pension for competition this
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: year that this is kind of amazing to me.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: I thought that they.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: Were kind of dead and gone forgotten in the NL
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Central with all the talk of you know, ownership change
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: the last couple of years, they front office movements, whatnot
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: you know well about. But what do you think Minnesota's
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: got in the tank? Do you think they have even
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a chance at making a run at the top.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: So I think what you're evaluating the Minnesota Twins, you
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: have to give a ton of credit to Derek Shelton
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: and his coaching staff. They have created this mentality clearly
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: of the next man up and that never say die.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: To your point, Chet, I don't think anyone was talking
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: about them preseason. I'm not even sure anybody's really talking
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: about him now. But Low and behold, they're in contention
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: as well. I think some of this has to do
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: with the fact that the division by and large is
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: really not extremely strong right now.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: I was just about to say, is this just more
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: indicative what the AL Central is at this point? It's
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: kind of five teams, well, four teams now scrapping for
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: who the better team is in the division, but they're
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: all kind of middling when you think about them across
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: the spectrum of Major League Baseball.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, Chell, let's let's go on on a limb here.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I think that the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, and Detroit
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: are going to be competitive this year. I think that
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Kansas City clearly is going to sell. And I think
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: probably Minnesota's caught a little bit in between. The rest
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: of the major leagues is hoping that there's more separation
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: in this division and quickly, because they would like nothing
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: more than to Detroit pushed over the line and be
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: willing to trade not only Tik Schooble, but maybe Casey Mize,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: maybe some other players along the way. They would love
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Minnesota to be inspired to trade Joe Ryan. As it
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: stands right now, all four of those teams are kind
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: of in the mix right now, probably not in a
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: position where they can sell. That's not great for the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: rest of the major leagues, but it may lead to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit more of a competitive American League Central
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: down the stretch here.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, we got a month, you know, to see
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: how these things shake out. My bet is one of
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: these teams at least is going to start falling back
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and it'll probably become a two to three team race
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: down the stretch. What do going back to the White size,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: what do the White Sox need to do, What do
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: they need to add? Should they add, in your opinion
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: to or should they keep going down this development path
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: and just be happy where they are? I mean, as
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: a fan, I hate to hear that, but.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, my view is I think that they should not
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: take lightly that the division is winnable this year. I
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: think there is a path forward for them to win
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: this division, potentially even to play a home game or
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: home series in the playoffs. For that reason, I don't
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: think you take those opportunities lightly. I think you do
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: want to push some chips in. But as you referenced earlier, Chad,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: there are some underlying concerns here, but really they shouldn't
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: be that concerning. This is where they are on their
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: trajectory because they have five players in what is considered
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: basically Baseball's top one hundred prospects. They have five players.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: They also just picked first in the draft and had
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: an excellent draft, so Rock Schilowski, who they took one
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to one, will certainly be joining that top one hundred.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: They have the ability to make a trader two here.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: The criteria I would strongly consider if I was advising
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: them is twofold. One is, let's acquire players that either
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: don't cost much that may move the somewhat this year,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: or more importantly, if we're going to trade somebody of significance,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: let's make sure we get a player back who we
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: will control beyond just this season. Because this is not
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: where we're putting all of our eggs in this basket.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: We are.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: We want to be contenders, we want to take a
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: step forward, which we clearly have, but we're building for
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven and beyond. That's when we're really going
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: to strike with this core nucleus that we're building.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So we're thinking, we're looking for a starting pitcher can
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: absorb some innings, but we're not going after an ace
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: by any measure. I mean, you want to some bullpen depth,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: some a little workload protection for some of those young starters,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: maybe some fill in pieces in the lineup to take
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: a day or so away from those guys. I'm thinking
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you're looking at trading some guys way down the prospect list,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: probably a few years off from playing outside of their
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: top ten, probably maybe getting on number four or five
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: starter to fill into that starting rotation. Is that kind
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: of what you're looking at. You're not trading a top
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: one hard prospect for a controllable starter right now.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Right I don't see those opportunities presenting themselves. They'll have
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the prospect capital to do that if those types of
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: players become available, but with the playoff format, with twelve
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: teams eligible and so many teams still in it, I
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: just don't see those types of controllable starters being traded
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: at this time. There are a lot of starters. Well,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: we'll discuss some of those later chat in terms of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: guys who are unexpiring. Deals that may be available, but
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: certainly the White Sox shouldn't be in a position now
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: where they're trading top one hundred prospects for expiring pitchers.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: This is not the time where they're pushing all their
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: chips in. I think this is just a time where
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: they're continuing to build their franchise really with an eye
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: still towards twenty seven to twenty eight when they're going
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: to strike, and they believe they'll be the class of
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: this division.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: So I think fans need to hear you say that. Okay,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: I think fans need to say that, because as a fan,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I absolutely cannot stand did it two years ago with
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: the Tigers. We kind of popped a little early for
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: you for what we were supposed to be doing at
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: the time. We had a terrible first half of the
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four season. Back hast half of twenty twenty five.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Was unimaginably good.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: We end up in the postseason, we see all these
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: young guys going crazy statistically, I even guys that shouldn't
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: have been. He had the Zach McKinstry's of the world.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: You had the Matt Vilings. He had other guys contributing.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: Parker Meto's looked the part at the time, you know,
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: for the Tigers, and then I go over here and
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: I look at the White Sox and it's it's not
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: a mirror image.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't know that we had like a
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: somebody with like Murakami's depth in his veteran ability that
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: translates over of course, but we didn't have maybe quite
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: the pitching staff that the Socks have.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Maybe we had, you know, we had Scooble, but and
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: he was starting to become that guy. But at the
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: time we didn't have the depth that the Socks. I
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: think his socks have like three or four guys pitching
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: quite well right now.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: So I don't know.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I don't want to a mirror image. But when I
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: saw that, and then I saw a sort of Stan
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Pat in twenty twenty five. We didn't do much to
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: trade deadline last year when we needed help, they just
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: sort of didn't do anything. And now, like I look
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: back at that and say, oh my gosh, I wish
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: we would have bought. As a fan, I want them
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: to buy because you don't know when you're getting back
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: to the postseason again. I mean, is that as fans
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: do we have to check that mentality and say, look,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: we got here a little early. It's gonna happen. We
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: just have to give it one more season or two
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: for some of these pieces to mature. A Looder, because
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: you've talked about this is the championship. If the if
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: the goal is to win a World Series, okay, you
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: got to go through some failure first. You got to
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: harden that roster a little bit. It's still very young.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: They still have a ton of youth that has to
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: kind of grow into that champion role first, right.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Well, Cheded, I think look no further than the actual
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox themselves. You know, we just talked about
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: that nucleus that they built when they traded Chris Sale
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and Jose Canton and Adam Eaton. They thought they were
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: going to be building around a low Jimenez and Yoan
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Moncata and Dylan Ceci and Gilido for five to seven years.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: They ended up peaking in twenty twenty. They go to
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, they basically had like a year and a
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: half of the playoff run, and here they're back now
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: trying to rebuild again. So I think I see two
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: things coming out of that. One interpretation is, don't sleep
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: on these opportunities to contend. You just don't know when
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: they're coming back around. The Other thing, I would say
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: that fans may not be overly inspired to hear this
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: one thing as you reference some of those guys with
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the Detroit Tigers who peaked when you guys made that
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: kind of surprise run in the playoffs, I think the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: White Sox are doing the same thing. They're looking at
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: those guys. Are those guys really overachieving or is it?
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Can we count on them sustaining this type of run
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: moving forward, because we all have exceptionally smart systems right
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: now that are trying to inform us just about how
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: lucky these players are being versus how sustainable is the
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: contribution in their.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Make on office has all those analytics they're looking at,
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: so they have this very balanced view of what they're seeing.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Whereas a fan just seeing a player and saying he's
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: going to be this great forever. I mean, he's been great,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: he's hitting everything, or he you know, his fastball is
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: unhittable right now.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: But you guys are.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Seeing stuff behind the scenes in the front office that
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: we're not seeing. You're tracking more analytics, so our emotions
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: run away with it and you guys are saying, nope,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: hold it. But is that hard to communicate to a
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: fan base?
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: How do you do that?
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Not only is it hard to communicate to a fan base,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: it's hard to accept yourself because when you see McKinstry
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and Carpenter and Erling.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: You think you're a genius for picking these guys up
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: or something.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Right, and you think, why wouldn't they be able to sustain?
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: And you know, especially when you look at over longer
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: time horizons, those guys all perform very well for the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: better part of a season. Why the heck wouldn't they
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: continue to do so? So you start taking kind of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the over on your projections and just assume these guys
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: will sustain. I think that's the intelligence you want to
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: have around you, that the kind of voice is of caution.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: But you got to balance that against the fact that
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the American League Central is one of the weaker divisions
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: in the winnable now right, and it's winnable. So once again,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I think you want to do something to take a
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: clear step forward. If you're the Chicago White Sox, I
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: think the fans can expect that and demand that. I
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: don't think you want a mortgage the future for the present,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: because I think the future is just simply more bright
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: than what the present will be for them in twenty
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: twenty six.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Okay, So White Sox fans, my friends out there who
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: are White Sox fans, Brandon Carroll family, don't get crazy yet.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: All right, this is good, this is great. Enjoy this
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: little run. But you don't want them selling off the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: future to go buy a six month rental or something
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: or three month rental or whatever we're calling it to
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: get us to the World Series this year, because you're
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: probably not getting by some of the powers that be.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, expect a moose bousch this year, but the main
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: course is on the horizon and a.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Moose bousch a little appetizer, a little that's great, very good.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: You just said it. You just said it really well.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Like they have a chance to win this division. They do,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: but I don't think they have a chance to really
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: end up winning multiple playoff series against some of the
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: prohibitive favorites in the American League East in the American
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: League West. That's where they will when they are competing
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: with those teams and have the roster do so they
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: will strike because they will have a prospect grouping that
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: will allow them to acquire players to put them over
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the top. That is more likely to be a twenty
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: twenty seven and twenty twenty eight conversation for the Chicago
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: White Sox and their fans.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, White Sox fans. That's the download. You got a
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: lot to look forward to. When we come back, we're
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: going to talk about a team out east and what
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: they need to do. Will they be buyers or sellers
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: in the Boston Red Sox and a team out west
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: on the other coast, the San Diego Padres. Are they
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: buyers or sellers? When we return, Welcome back, listeners, We're
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: gonna take you out to Boston. I'm gonna start talking
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: about the Boston Red Sox. Here they were sellers.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: Long ago.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Things were falling apart, managers were being fired. They've they've
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: seemed to have caught a little fire here of their
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: own towards the end of the first half. They could
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: be a buyer now. Their records forty six and forty eight.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: They're one and a half game outside the final wild
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: card spot at the moment. That is a crowded pack
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: of teams in there. They're nine game winning streak entering
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: the break, which is exceptional. That's a great way to
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: go into the All Star Break. And they went fourteen
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: and two during a late surge here. So some earlier
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: possible sellers here, those some of those trade discussions are
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: now less likely to happen due to their success. They
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: do have an odd number here, and it sort of
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: pains me to see this because I'm going to be
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: heading out to Fenway this weekend to see my first
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: game at Fenway Park. Bad but their record at home
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: is seventeen and twenty seven. They're twenty nine twenty one
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: on the right rode seventeen and twenty seven at home.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: What do we think here? There are plus twenty seven
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: run differential overall? What's going on with this roster? Is
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: this poorly constructed for Fenway? Is it just random?
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: What do we have?
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: I think this is a fascinating team to look at
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: because at the beginning of the season. Preseason we talked
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: about fan grafts, they weren't very bullish on the White Sox,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: while they were very bullish on the Red Sox. They
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: had them as having the third best playoff odds in
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the entire American League, which, as you reference, chet outside
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: of the Central was chuck full of teams that were
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: supposed to contend this year. So they had the Red
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Sox as the third best, and I think the industry
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: by and large also felt that way. They were coming
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: off some playoff contention. They had a very interesting and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: compelling young nucleus of players. I think one area, and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much this links directly to what's
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: going on in Fenway, but I do think this is
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: one of the most difficult places to play in the game.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: The fans are extremely demanding, They're sitting almost on top
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: of the players, and this team is relatively bereft of
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: senior leadership. So keep in mind, you know, over the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: years they have divested themselves of guys like Xander Bogarts
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: and Mookie Betts and last year Rafael Devers. They replaced
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Rafael Devers with effectively Bregman, and then this offseason they
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: tried to resign Bregman and they weren't able to do it.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: So they go into the season with a relatively young
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and inexperienced team. Wilson Contraras was kind of the guy
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: who was holding it down, and he's had a marvelous
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: season so far at first base, really capped by a
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: very entertaining home run derby performance last night as we're
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: recording here on Tuesday. But by and large, I think
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: they're missing kind of that anchor of a veteran presence,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: and then level on that. You let go Alex Korra,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: who is a very veteran manager, and replace him with
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Chad Tracy, who's an up and comer. So it took
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: them a second to stabilize, but I think you're now
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: starting to see some really compelling energy from this team.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: They're fourteen and two, as you mentioned in the last
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: sixteen games, this is a team I don't think you
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: want any part of playing in the second half of
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the season because I think they're heading exactly in the
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: right direction.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: So they need a right handed middle reliever or excuse me,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: right handed middle infielder, a second base, shortstop flexibility, so
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: some middle infield there is definitely on their list of needs.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Production against left handed pitching, so they need a right
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: handed you know, some right handed hitting. They don't need
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: a superstar. So I'm starting to see this theme that
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of teams have similar needs. You know, they're
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: only a game and a half out of the wild
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: card better, you know, they probably are playing better than
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: their actual record. They are another of these teams. I'll
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: relate them to my Tigers, who had a bad month
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: or two they're bad month and a half. They're probably
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: a better team than record dictates. They do have some
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: front office stuff going on right now. There's some weird
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: culture stuff going on there. They got a youngster named
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Marcelo Mayer, and there's some there's some very strange rumors around,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: like just how their treatment of him and the back
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: and forth with him go. They're still blow five hundred.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Are you a buyer? If you're the Red Sox, are
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: you buying right now?
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: Well? I think you look at a few things that
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: are very positive. As you mentioned, there is a positive
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: run differentials, So I think they are optimistic that maybe
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: they've been playing a little bit unlucky baseball so far.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: The stats would tell you that they're sixth in the
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: major leagues in pitching, there's seventeenth in offense. You just
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: said a lot of.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: They need the hitters. Yeah, they got to get some hitting, okay.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: But so similar to your Tigers. They've had seven players
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: who have spent fifty or more days on the al
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: this year. And they're the big boys. These aren't the
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: utility infielders. It's crochet. It's how can Crawford out of
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: their rotation? It's story Anthony and Cassis, who are supposed
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: to be stalwarts in they're starting lineup. Those guys have
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: all been missed. They're starting to come back. The inexperienced
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: manager is starting to feel confident. I think their division
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: isn't maybe quite as strong as we had all thought.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: You know, Toronto hasn't been as formidable as they were
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: last year. Baltimore is staying around five hundred. There's an
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: opportunity for them to strike here. But I think another
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: thing you mentioned here Chet was right, wrong or indifferent.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: There's been a lot of smoke around the stability of
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: the front office there. This is a franchise that has
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: made repeated changes with their general manager. It feels with
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: that type of pressure, with this type of resurgence of
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: the team, I think you've got to be in a
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: position of why wouldn't you be buying.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: So much like Chicago though you're not looking for pure
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: rentals right now, because you are still sort of in
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: this developmental phase with some of these young players. They
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: have some young pitching that's coming along. They have the
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: young position players. I mean mentioned they had an issue
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: with Mayor, but we're also talking about Romane, Anthony or
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: you know, and so we're not we're not ready to
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: mortgage the future. If you're a Red Sox front office
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: person here, you're looking for just some some depth beyond
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: the next three months. You're a buyer, you're still a buyer.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Let me clarify that.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: I see them as a buyer and said I'm going
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: to I'm going to peel the curtain back a little
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: bit here. And I don't mean to sound like a vulture, okay,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: but often oftentimes when you are sitting in another front
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: office and let's say you are okay selling, you want
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: to talk to guys that may be on a little
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: bit of a hot seat because as much.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: As you just lay got to make a move right, well.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: You just blaid out a very rational reason why they
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: shouldn't necessarily push all chips in and that, like what
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: we said about the White Sox, maybe they're more active
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: towards twenty twenty seven and beyond unless there's enough pressure
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: there that they have to do something a little bit
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: or irrational. And you want to be the team that's
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: on the on the phone if and when that takes place.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: You want to at least feel out because as you mentioned,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of young players here that are very exciting.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Some of them are injured. It may be easier for
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: them to trade them now because they don't see a
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: path forward for them to help their team this year.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Are they willing to do something a little bit shortsighted
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: in the name of chasing a playoff run in twenty
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: twenty six?
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: Is this a desperation thing? They're not quite there.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Chad, I would say no. And this is
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the reason I'd say no is they are the quintessential
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: reason why we should always be patient. And that's one
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: of the best attributes your front office can have, because,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: like the Detroit Tigers, they could have been left for
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: dead about six weeks ago. Now, all of a sudden,
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: they're on a run. Now, all of a sudden, they
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: are back in the playoff discussion. Like the Tigers, if
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: they had chosen to sell prematurely at that time, they
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: may have sunk this ship in twenty twenty six. I'm
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: not saying either of both those teams will definitely get
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: back in the race. I think the fact that they've
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: shown some patients suggests that everything I just said about
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: getting on the phone with them very well may not
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: prove to be positive because they've shown enough patients so far,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Why won't they do that through.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Again from the front office. That's a torture spot to be.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: And when you know you've got a better team than
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: your record is indicating, and they are another one of
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: those teams that's in that situation, it seems like it
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: would be very difficult to make the right decisions, especially
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: if you've got some heat on your seat. There Shall
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: we switch back out over to the West coast?
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: Here? Do we want to go out to San Diego?
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Yes? And just the last thing I'll say about Boston,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: and that is I agree with you. And this is
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: where if you are the class of the division, you
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: want to bury teams like this. You want to bury
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Detroit and you want to bury Boston so that they
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: don't gain additional confidence. By hey, they let us hang
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: around long enough that we can still strike late. Both
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: those teams have a lot of talent. They have the
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: ability to be very problematic in their divisions. I would
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: argue that the Central and the East have let those
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: teams hang around long enough that they now may factor
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: into the postseason runs in those divisions.
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: So now it's be patient develop your guys though, but hey,
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: you still got to go sign somebody, so you don't
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: let these guys creep up on you.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: Basically, I think that's right. That's a tricky spot to
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: be it.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, you got to find the right pieces and
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: you're not just renting somebody and you're not mortgaging the future.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: That's tricky, all right. So San Diego Padres first half
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: disappointment records forty eight and forty eight. These guys have
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: spent all the moneies over the past coal of years.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: They've gone out, they've made the trades. They're twelve and
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: a half games behind the Dodgers. I think being the
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: NL West is a very difficult place to be. You're
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: basically playing for a wild card at this point. If
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: you are an NL West team and you're not the Dodgers,
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: I just don't I don't see anybody competing with them
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: head to head. They're three and a half games outside
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: of the wild cards, so that's probably what they're playing for.
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: They're a minus forty three run differential and they're still
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: a five hundred ball club, which is they're probably doing
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: a little better than their run differential would dictate.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: There.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: They are eighteen and thirty two against teams that are
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: above five hundred. They were eleven games over five hundred
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: a one point. They held the top wild card spot
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: for a while. They went on a three and nine
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: slide before July ninth. Their playoff odds fell to twelve
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: percent and probably fifth best playoff odds of the NL
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: in the preseason. So they've really just disappointed that, I mean,
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: talented team in a slump, mediocre team previously outperforming its
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: true level. What do you think I mean where? This
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: looks to me like I'm a seller. I'm not gonna
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: lie to you as a fan if my team was
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: in this situation and I had some of these underlying metrics.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: I'm in the NL West, I'm going up against the Dodgers.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: I have to do something to get better for the future.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I'm probably selling some of these big pieces, But go ahead,
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: what do you think.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: I'm with you? Chet here? I as optimistic as we
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: are about the White Sox to a certain detent, the
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Tigers and the Red Sox. I don't see it here.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: For the Padres, I think they're in very precarious footing.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: I don't see the underlying positive lines of story is
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: that we can tell ourselves to convince that, hey, listen,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: if they just let us hang around a little bit longer,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: maybe we're going to have run sure that the roster
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: is still chuck full of exemplary names. You would be
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: ecstatic to have some of these players in your team.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: It's not working out this year. You referenced it. Their
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: starting rotation has been as decimated by injuries as anybody
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: in the game. We talked about the Tigers earlier, but
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: Musgrove and Paveta are rehabbing elbow injuries. You Darvish was
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: lost for the entire season. It is an unrelenting division
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: they're in. At some level. There's no particular shame in
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: being well behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, except they don't
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: have the manpower to catch up at this point. And
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: I think you have to be strong that Dodgers have
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: had it closed as many injuries as the Detroit Tigers.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: They're going to come back to full strength at some
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: point here that Padres may not. And I think they
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: are in really precarious footing because the other thing that
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: they've got going on, which is really problematic, is that
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: the way they've built their roster they have a ton
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: of payroll commitment in the future. As they head into
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty seven, they have the fourth most guaranteed money
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight, the second most guaranteed twenty twenty nine
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: to the third most guaranteed. So your point, chet which
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: I'm on board with, is if they could divest themselves
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: of some of these future obligations, it may be the
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: time to do it. Candidly, I'm not exceptionally optimistic about
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: their ability to pull it off, except for the fact
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: that I think you've got one creative idea about how
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: they may be able to attach a very exemplary reliever
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: to one of these these types of guys and potentially
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: move out from underneath one of these big contracts.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: Well, we're looking at Mason Miller, right, and he got
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: acquired last year. He was the big blockbuster trade Leo
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Devriese gets traded. He's like number three overall prospect. He's
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: under control for three more seasons. I have always looked
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: at closers as kind of a luxury item. These are
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: not you don't keep closers when you're losing.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: It's not a they're finishing peage.
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: They're a finishing piece, and if you can't get to
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: the finish then they're not going to provide as much value.
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: You want to be a winning team.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Then you need your closer close out those one two
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: run games that make the difference. Plus, I think he
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: could pick up a couple guys. I mean, can they
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: get a couple top one hard prospects, replenish this farm
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: system that's been decimated because of all these deals they've
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: made over the past couple of seasons.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: Nobody is more creative than Aj Preller, who runs the
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: San Diego Padres. If anyone could do it, he could.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: This guy is a unicorn in the game right now.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, he's a finishing piece. He's the best
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: finishing piece in the game. The game is literally over
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: when this guy toes the rubber. I think they would
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: have to consider it because you have one of two
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: choices to go, which you could replenish your minor league
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: system and maybe get two to three exemplary prospects, or
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: you can attach them potentially to one of your bigger contracts.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: And would you entice the let's say the New York
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Yankees with a deal that includes Mason Miller and maybe
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: Manny Machado, would they would they bite on that and
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: would that just be what's best for the franchise. The
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: last wrinkle I'll share with you here Chet, which is
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: very unique for San Diego. A lot was made of
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the fact that they were sold earlier this year. That
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: sale is still being finalized, So I don't know how
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: much artificial pressure there may exist. When you go to
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: San Diego right now, it is one of the most
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: electric environments to watch a baseball game. You see revenue
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: being generated every which way you look. I don't know
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: how selling would impact that, and would it impact a trade,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: a sale which is well along the path but hasn't
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: been totally consummated yet.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: I I agree with you one hundred percent there. They
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: do seem to have this front office kind of stuff
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: going on with the sale right now, so that does
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: kind of mess the footing up.
• 44:44
  Speaker 3: A little bit.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: All Right, you've got your review of the Padres, you
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: got your view of the Red Sox. When we get back,
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: we're going to take some listener questions. Our favorite part.
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: Of the show.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Roster s to Rings. This is the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: time honored listener question segment. Producer Wyatt's got a few
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: lined up for us this week.
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: Bad Chat, How are you guys doing? Happy All Star Week?
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: Thanks Wyatt of course.
• 45:19
  Speaker 4: Of course. First question is going to be from Mike
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: and Adam in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. They want to know
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: what is the rationale behind Major League Baseball teams not
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: being allowed to trade draft picks other than the compensation picks.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: Well, that is a great question from Mike and Adam,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: and I will divulge it. Mike is a good friend
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and Adam is a teammate of my son Quinn on
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: those baseball teams, So not surprising. These guys are devout
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: listeners chet and I'm glad they waited in.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: And I bet you told them I would love to
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: answer that question, but you'll have to listen to the
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: show this week to get the answer and subscribe.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: Answer and subscribe, hit the subscribe button. So I think
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: there's a lot going on here. So as I'm sure
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: most fans know, in most other sports you can trade
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: draft picks. The Major League Baseball just had their draft
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: this past weekend, and you can trade compensation picks and
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: compensation picks only. And I think the reason that there's
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: such a restriction is a little bit of a fear
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: factor from the commissioner's office of two things fundamentally happening
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: that I think every commissioner's office in professional sports is
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: designed to do two things. It's to service the teams
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: and the owners, but also, to a certain extent, police
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: the teams and the owners. And I think this is
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: a case where they want to protect ourselves for the gms,
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: from themselves insomuch as, if let's say I was a
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: GM who was concerned I may be losing my job,
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: what would stop me from trading significant future draft capital
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: to save my current job and get now major league players.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: And I think what the retort would be from every
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: general manager is the NFL and the NBA sure seem
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: to have figured this out. They have restrictions on how
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: many future first round picks let's say you can select
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: or you can trade, and so they've figured this out.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Why can't we? I think the other element of it
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: is there's some extremely convincing and powerful agents in the game,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: and I think there's a concern that the agent would
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: tell the smaller market team, for argument's sake, hey you
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: should go ahead and trade the third pick in the
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: country because my guy simply is not going to sign
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: with you. He wants to go play for the Dodgers
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: or Red Sox or Cubs, and so you guys need
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: to make a trade and get rid of the player
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: or the pick so that he can go somewhere he
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: would actually play. So I think there's a sense of
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: they want to protect us from ourselves. But I do
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: think this is something Every time that general managers give
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: advice to the Commissioner's office about what could change about
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: the collective bargaining Agreement, we always talk about wanting to
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: trade draft picks. From where I sit, you always want
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: as many opportunities to build a championship roster as you
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: possibly can. I want to have as few restrictions as
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: you can. But Chet, one thing I was shocked to
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: read is that in the NBA draft sixty picks give
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: or take in the first two rounds, twenty nine of
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the thirty second round picks were traded, twenty nine of
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: the thirty seventy eight of overall picks. In the NBA
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: trave we watched trade.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: Remember, we were wondering everybody was going to a different
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: team than who had drafted them.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: Right, and so either those trades are done in season, preseason,
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: you know, you're trading future picks that impact future drafts
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: or in the draft themselves. Seventy eight percent of all
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: picks in the NBA draft are traded. That's probably a
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: bridge too far. I think jet for a fan to
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: try to far that's a little work, but it's too
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: restrictive what Major League Baseball has right now.
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: But okay, so I agree with that. I think it's
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: that's too far and it would need a few more
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: restrictions if Baseball picked this up. But truthfully, now you've
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: worked in some front offices, it's really seem like people
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: just start dumping picks if their job was on the line.
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: Is that is that a I mean that seems.
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: To me like the fear of this, you know, throwing
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: away the future of the team for a couple of
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: players now does not seem like a realistic scenario. Now,
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: maybe I'm completely and totally misreading, and there is the
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: rule is there for a reason.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: But if Major League Baseball wants to implement some ability
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: for front offices to trade draft picks, they need to
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: follow no further than what the NBA and the NFL
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: are doing. They already have the restrictions in place. They've
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: where tested this for quite some time now, So to
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: what extent that fear exists, and let's say it's it's
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: fleeting at best, they can put measures in place that
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: you could only trade one future first round pick in
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: any single trade for argument's sake. Okay, And so I
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: think I think they can protect our the general managers
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: from themselves without totally restricting.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: It so they don't trade the next three for round
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: picks for the for the three years ahead.
• 50:03
  Speaker 3: I mean, the.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: Quality of an MLB draft pick drops off significantly after
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: the first two rounds or three rounds or so, would you.
• 50:13
  Speaker 3: Agree with that?
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: Like in football, you've got a guy the fourth round
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: that may start, fifth round that may start on the
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: professional team that next year after being drafted. In baseball,
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: that's not as likely. Once you get down to the fifth, sixth,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: seventh rounds. We're not looking at assets that are going
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: to turn around that quickly. I do think these teams
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: should be able to use draft picks as an asset.
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: It limits them quite a bit in a trade. So
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: as a fan, if it means I can get a
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: better player for my team that year and I don't
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: have to give up one of those homegrown assets and
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: I can instead just give up a pick in the future.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you're a if you're a White Sox
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: fan right now, are you happy or giving up Hagen
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: Smith to get a bat in your lineup? Or would
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: you rather give up next year's I don't know, a
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: second round.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: Pick, yeah, and I think I think yeah, And I
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: think The answer is all general managers want is the
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: most flexibility and creativity they possibly can have to build
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: a championship organization. The more restrictions, the more the challenges,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: and when you don't have a level playing field at
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: the payroll level at the big league level, you want
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: to have as much freedom outside of that to try
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: to contend with the big boys, and being able to
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: trade draft capital would certainly be one of those.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: Next question is from Sam in Detroit. He wants to
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: know how much has the starting pitching TRADEMARKT changed over
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: the last few weeks with the deadline approaching.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: I have no clue why Sam would be asking this question.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: From why would Sam and Detroit want to know the
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: answer to this question? I bet it doesn't have anything
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: to do with a one TEK Schooble.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: Well, you know it's it's not only Schooble. I you know,
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: you you wind three to four weeks. We just hit
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: on a number of these teams in this episode. But
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: there was supposed to be an epically strong starting pitching market.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: Ye know, so Tarik Scooble, who was a two time
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: reigning cy Young, was supposed to be on this market.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: It now looks like there's a strong argument to be
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: made that unless Detroit really backpedals here going into the
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: trade deadline, they may not only be holding him, they
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: may be adding to him. Well, the Boston Red Sox
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: had Sonny Gray, who, while much older and much more
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: veteran than Treek Schouble, has been exceptional this year, and
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: they teams thought he was going to be on the market.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: They go fourteen and two. Now they may be adding
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: I think. Then you had the Miami Marlins and Sandy Alcantra,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: who has been rumored to be traded for the last
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: two to three cycles. Yes, he had an arm injury.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: The Miami Marlins, a team that we probably should have
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: talked about a little bit in this context of one
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: of the more shocking teams, is now not only on
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: the fringe of the playoff conversation. They're squarely in the
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: playoff conversation. And then lastly, we touched on him briefly,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: but the Minnesotaquins are far from out of it. Joe
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: Ryan was a pitcher who I think a lot of
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: teams were hoping were going to be on the market.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: In those four starters chat. You know, sometimes at the
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: trade deadline there's one guy that you can envision starting
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: games one or two of a playoff series. I think
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: all four of those guys would be regarded as guys
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: who could start game one or game two of a
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: playoff series. They all were supposed to be on this market.
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: As of today, they may all be off the market.
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Let's stay tuned. Who knows what happens over the next
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: two and a half three weeks leading up to the
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: trade deadline.
• 53:33
  Speaker 4: And that's all for listener questions, but would love to
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: get your thoughts on the home run derby format from
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: last night and anything you guys are looking forward to
• 53:41
  Speaker 4: tonight in the All Star Game.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to seeing if Justin Berlanders is actually
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: going to pitch. I don't think he is. I know,
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: I know, I couldn't believe you know, he got that
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: nice little nod. He's almost kind of just a representative
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: of the Tigers at this one, and I think it's
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: cool that he gets to end his career this way.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: But a lot of us Tigers fans have kind of
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: been wondering if he's actually going to get into pitch
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: a half inning. Maybe if things get out of control
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: or something, we'll see.
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: I thought, you know, I am blessed to have his
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: sixteen year old son at home. He had five or
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: six of his baseball teammates over and they were hooting
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: and hollering. They were loving up the really home run
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: derby and so much so Chet that they went in
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: the backyard and had their own.
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: Had their own home Yeah.
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. So I think if that's if major League
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Baseball is landing with that demographic kind of the young
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: up and coming fan, that is a testament to the
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: fact that maybe they're getting.
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: This a little bit right.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: To their credit, they've tinkered with it almost every single season.
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: Sea.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what Jordan Walker did yesterday was spectacular, Chet, as
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: we both can attest. I think I think Philadelphia is
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: the most hostile place to play. I think people talk
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: about New York, they talk about Chicago, they talk about Boston.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: No place is more hostile than there. You heard it
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: from the minute Wilson contraras his name was, was injured.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: He was getting booed. Jordan Walker at the end was
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: getting booed, and every time he made it out, he
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: was getting celebrated.
• 55:06
  Speaker 3: It's a different deal in Philly.
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised he didn't tear the street signs down after
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: the home run contest just for the fun of it.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: I you know, I think that this stuff like the
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: home run Contest the All Star Game a year in,
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: year out, I kind of I know they put a
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: little meat in the hook there with the winning team
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: getting home field advantage in the postseason in the World Series.
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: I think things like the home run contest, the more
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: they can tweak them to make them more fun. If
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: you had six kids hooting and hollering in your family
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: room for the home run contest, that's a success in
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: my book. I mean, Major League Baseball is doing something
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: right there with that event. And I know they you know,
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: every year you kind of wonder if certain guys are
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: going to partake and certain guys are going to sit
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: it out and I think they had a good, good
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: lot of ballplayers this year participating in it.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why why. One thing that I love about the
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: All Star Game is the young guys who get to participate,
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the guys who are less experienced, and when you hear
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: them come back to their respective teams, they talk about
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: how much they learned from sitting next to Clayton Kershaw
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: in the clubhouse. And I think they do a masterful
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: job of doing that where they intersperse some of the
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: rookies and the younger players with some of the seasoned veterans.
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: So whether or not justmin Verland or pitches, I'm sure
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: he's going to be sharing some of his wisdom with
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: people that will impact players not only from the Tigers,
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: but probably from other teams for years to come. I
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: think that's one of the coolest things that goes on
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes of these games. Yes, it's a competition
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: of sorts, it's mostly an exhibition these guys. If you're
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: willing to show some respect to the veterans, they're willing
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: to share some of their wisdom and it's passing on
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: some knowledge from generation to generation in the game. And
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: I think when you hear those stories of those players
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: coming back and then trying to share that wisdom with
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: their teammates. Those are really cool moments that maybe the
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: fans don't necessarily get to see, but the players are
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: really ecstatic about.
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Ded, you talk about that, the youth that gets
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: to play in the All Star Game. I actually like
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: the veteran who still gets a little misty eyed about
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: being selected for it. Maybe a guy that's been around
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: the league for a little while and he's getting his
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: first crack at it. As a fan, I love seeing that.
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: Nothing better than seeing a guy appreciate after a long career,
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: appreciating a nod to the All Star Game.
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and I think they've done that with the
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: commissioner selection, which is just a brilliant idea, Like the
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: fan shouldn't have to vote these people in. Justin Verlander,
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: this is an homage to him. He's probably going to
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: retire at the end of year. It sounds like he's
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: announced it, and he should get to go out on top.
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: He's deserved that his career has been absolutely tremendous. Well,
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed A breakdown of three of
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: playoff contending teams who are really on very divergent paths
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the season. Please join us next
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: week and every week on Rosters to Rings. Please join me,
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: host bad Levine, and other general managers every week for
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: Rosters to Rings on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: your podcasts.