Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / ANGELS MAILBAG: What free agents should the Halos target? What style of baseball should they play?

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ANGELS MAILBAG: What free agents should the Halos target? What style of baseball should they play? · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: WWMMD, what would Mark and Mike do? That's the gist
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of the first question and what we're calling a modified
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: mailbag edition where we fashion today's show from the comments
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and questions on the Halo Territory YouTube page. We really
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: appreciate all the input. It keeps the conversation going and lively.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And some of you got some interesting opinions and some
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: great questions, so we're going to get right to it.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: From RejectDigitalID, I'd like to hear what both of you
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: would propose if you were GM for next season. How
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: would you begin to build this team for the long haul?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: What manager do you select? What extensions would you give?
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: What free agents would you target? Who would you be
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: looking at in the draft? What style of ball would
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: you play? And what is your timeline for success?
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Let's hear it.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: We could probably fill the whole show with this question,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: but thanks, Digital ID.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: As you want.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: You're a social security number too? What in the world?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Well, he's thorough. We'll give him that.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: In terms of how would you begin to build this
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: team for the long haul, I'm going to sort of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: lump that into what style of ball you would play
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: because they sort of go hand in hand for me.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: And we've talked about this before, but I would build
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a team with much more focus on pitching and defense
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and much more focus on contact A little less emphasis.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: On pure power.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Now, I don't mean, you know, like we've talked about
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: with the first baseman.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: We want guys to hit home runs.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: We just don't want guys hitting home runs and striking
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: out 200 times a year. So that's how I would,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: you know, look to build a team. Deep rotation, power
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: arms in the bullpen, deep bullpen. And I would also
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: try to emphasize a more aggressive style of offense in
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: terms of base running. Not necessarily the stolen base, but
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: going first to third, maybe an occasional.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Sacrifice here and there.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Just more of an offense where you're putting pressure on
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: the defense and not just relying on the long ball.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: So that's the kind of offense and total team I
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: would like to see. What manager do you select? You know,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: we did a whole show on managers, and for some reason,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Daniel Descalso is sticking out in my mind. I just
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: like the idea of a utility guy, a hard-nosed guy.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I would go with a guy like him. Maybe he'll
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: be a Walt Wise type. The Braves manager's done such
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: a fine job. And if possible, I don't know if
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: you could get him to take this job, but I
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: would love to see a guy like Torrey Hunter as
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: my bench coach. What extensions would you give? The only
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: extensions I would consider with this team right now are
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Zach Netto and Reed Detmers. They're the two best young players,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: pitcher and position-wise, who are getting a little close to
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: free agency. And, you know, we've gone back and forth
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a little bit on Netto in terms of would you
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: commit to him long-term? How would you react to a
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: long-term extension? I just have a feeling from what we
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: saw in the last month or two, especially after John
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Mosalek sat him down and talked to him, that he's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: going to be much more focused, much more just an
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: all-around productive player who could emerge as a team leader.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: And Reed Detmers goes without saying, he's a tremendous young lefty.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And he's the guy I would lock up. What free
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: agents I would target. This is a good one. First
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: guy I would go after, Brandon Loud, the second baseman
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: for the Pittsburgh Pirates. One, he's a left-handed bat. Two,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: he had an 824 OPS with 35 homers, 29 doubles,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: 96 RBIs last year. His strikeouts were a little high
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: for him this year around, I.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Think it was 189.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: He's normally in the 120 to 140 range, but you
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: can certainly see how he may have sacrificed a little
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: contact for that power. Pitching-wise, Tarek School, yeah, it'd be
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: great to get him, but I'm not sure the Angels
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: are at a point where they can justify spending that
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: kind of money on a pitcher. I would go for
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: maybe a shorter-term guy like Nick Martinez, a 36-year-old, wouldn't
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: cost you more than probably a two- or three-year deal.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: And if Michael King is available, though, I would probably
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: go longer-term on a guy like him. And I think
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the bullpen is clearly a target. I like Evan Phillips.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: He would give you that option of closing if Ben
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Joyce is not up for that job, if he's not healthy.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Great character guy. Looks like he's recovered from his injuries
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and his surgeries. Surgery, I'm sorry. And then I would
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: look for bullpen depth. Brian Abreu. There's a bunch of left-handers.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Adrian Morahan, Alex Vessia, Brock Burke. Those are the kinds
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of guys I would pursue. As far as a timeline goes,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, you look at the White Sox, Mark, my goodness,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: they lost 100 games three years in a row. They're
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: maybe on the verge of going to the ALCS if
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: they can knock off the Guardians. I don't think the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Angels can pull off that kind of turnaround, but I
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: don't think two to three years is doable if they
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: make the right moves. Let's turn it over to the
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: former Angel Slugger, Mark Trumbo. What do you got on
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: this one?
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to answer all these first of all. That's,
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: that's for certain. I think I, your answers were quite good.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: We've covered some of these things before. Another name for,
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: for manager that, uh, I said, I would mention, uh,
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: for Ben Golsan, actually my own father, uh, is a
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: huge Miguel Rojas fan. Oh yeah. That his name has
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: come up, um, that I can recall. I don't, uh,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: know if he wants to continue playing. Most guys do
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: if they are, uh, able and, uh, physically capable, but, um,
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: as I don't watch a ton of Dodgers baseball right now, uh,
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: I am watching, but, uh, throughout the year. Um, and
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I didn't really overlap with him all that much, but, uh,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: I do know that he shows a lot of leadership capability,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: obviously has made a strong impression on many. And, uh,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: that's a name that, that, uh, figured I'd throw out
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: there as far as building a team. Uh, first of all, we,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: we kind of need a little more information I think is,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: is part of it. Um, I don't know what Mr.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Kroenke's vision is or the vision that their group has
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: as far as spending. I think that this is going
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: to be their first foray into a market that most
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: likely does not have a salary cap. Although the Premier League,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: I believe, may be similar, but everyone's so wealthy that
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: it's kind of null and void from what I remember.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: But yeah.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: It appears as if this could be a team that
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: spends like the big boys. So if that's the case,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I'd like to see them construct a roster that's when
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: we talk about, and I think you were talking about
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: built on pitching and defense. Sometimes when you think about that,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: I saw an article today on the Rays and how
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: bunting is so integral to their success. And why might
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: that be? It's because of their payroll constraints, the guardians
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: and their pitching. And, We'll see if their bats can
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: come alive enough. They were very quiet the other day.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: So with the Angels, ideally, if they have the resources,
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: you're going to want to see a lot of really
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: good players out there. You want to see the aging,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: overpaid players? No, that's not what I'm saying. But you're
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: going to need really two to three impact position players.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: And right now, you could argue that there may only
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: be one at most times. So the pitching is a strength.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: As far as manager, they'll decide that. Extensions... Wobbert Urania
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: is probably the one that comes to mind first and foremost.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Would he be willing to entertain it? Probably in his
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: first year. Yeah. The other guys I think are a
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: little bit too far along. So it's going to take
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: a much bigger financial commitment. Timeline for success, hard to say.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: A few years.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Well, Miggy Rojas, I didn't even think of that one.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: That's a good one. And, yeah, there's a chance we are.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: He's already doing it in the postseason. This year had
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: a big double for the Dodgers Sunday night.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: But if he does decide to hang.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Him up, I have gotten to know Miggie pretty darn
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: well over the last few years. Really high character guy.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: You know, Latin American background. Just a great communicator. And
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: he's really taken it upon himself over these last few
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: years to, one, not only... get involved with really having
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: in-depth discussions with Andrew Friedman, their president of the baseball ops,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: with Brandon Gomes, their GM. He talks to front office
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: people all the time in an effort to really get
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: a feel for how these things work. And he's really
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: taken a strong leadership role in mentoring younger players, especially
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the infielders, even the outfielders sometimes, in terms of you'll
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: see him out there at 3 o'clock every afternoon drilling
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: with guys, working with younger guys, especially guys who maybe
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: are moving to a position switch or just got called
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: up from the minors. Seems to have a pretty good
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: understanding of how things operate. And he does seem to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: fit the mold of the type of guy cronky uh
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the cronky group would hire as a as a manager
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: having no experience uh in terms of coaching and managing
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: might be a little drawback maybe he's the type of
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: guy you want as a bench coach and he could
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: grow into that uh managing role so a really uh
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: really interesting name you threw out there mark Really, really
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: liked that one. Hey, we're going to take a quick
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: break for a word from our sponsors. And when we
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: come back, we're going to talk a little bit more
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: about the current angel manager.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Kurt.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Suzuki. The 2026 MLB playoffs are here. And guess what?
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: SeatGeek has you covered. Let's go. If you're looking to
• 10:38
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• 10:40
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• 10:44
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• 10:46
  Speaker 4: If that green light is on, that means it's the
• 10:48
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• 10:51
  Speaker 4: There's some big teams going. Kratzy, tell us about it.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: I'm definitely going to a Brewers game. There's no bad
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: seats in Milwaukee because the stadium is right on top
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: of the field. It feels like you're in the grass.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: And you know what?
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: If your team lost this year, go get yourself some
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: concert tickets. They have it all. And, of course, we
• 11:10
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• 11:14
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• 11:17
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• 11:21
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• 11:23
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• 11:26
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• 11:32
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mark Trumbo, the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: former Angel Slugger, and Mike DiGiovanna, the former LA Times
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: baseball writer. Before we go on, I do want to
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: acknowledge and send out our condolences to the family of
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Bob Fontaine Jr. and to the Angels. Bob was the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: former Angels scouting director who passed away over the weekend.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: He was the scouting director when I first started covering
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: the Angels full-time in 1995, and just one of those
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: great characters of the game, great storyteller. He had that
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: walrus mustache, and he had a really distinctive look.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Loved the game. And really, if there would be.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: No 2002 Angels World Series title without Bob Fontaine Jr.,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: he was responsible for signing the likes of Jim Abbott,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Jim Edmonds, Garrett Anderson, Tim Salmon, and Darren Erstad, who
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: went one overall in 1995. So it's a little bit
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of a shame that he wasn't with the team when
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: they won the World Series, but he had a big
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: hand along with Bill Babasi, the former GM, of putting
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: together the nucleus of what eventually became a championship team.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Next couple of questions were in response to the episode
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: we did on Kurt Suzuki. I think the headline was,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: should he stay or should he go? And as you
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: might guess, the prevailing sentiment among our fans was that
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: they don't think he should be back. Remember, this team
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: lost 100 games. I'll read you a couple from them.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: From Tom Smith, 522, that would be a terrible mistake
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to keep, Kurt. He is clueless and the worst manager
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: in Angels history. From Voodoo12, the interim GM giving the
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: manager a vote of confidence equates to a substitute teacher
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: that says you're getting a good grade. And from Richard Poundstone,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I would send Kurt to manage in the minors.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: One game that I went.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: To was Philly series and Saturday night's game went to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: extra innings. Kurt had Trevor Martin pitch the 8th and 9th.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Then Trevor went out for the 10th. No one warming
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: up in the bullpen until the Phillies scored a couple
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: of runs. I had kind of a vague memory of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: that game. I'm going to guess Kurt was probably out
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of pitchers. But the interesting thing is not all fans
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: felt this way. From Edgarza2859, I support Suzuki and know
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: he will turn the team around. If you applaud what
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the interim GM has done, I applaud his leaning toward
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: keeping Suzuki. And from Gordonfan291, Part of me looks at
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: what happened on the field and wouldn't want Kurt back.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Another part of me looks at six managers in eight
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: years and wants to let a guy get two-plus seasons
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: to actually get a fair shot.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: That last one kind of resonated with me, Mark. You
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: can make a case for continuity. I mean, it's just
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: been a revolving door in that manager's chair the last
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: eight years.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Do you think.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Kurt would improve? Not that he deserves a second chance.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: But for the sake of continuity, would it be maybe
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: a good move to bring him back and just not
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: have another turnover in that position?
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: You could make that argument. I mean, there's arguments on
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: both sides here. Everyone's got their opinion on the matter.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: I don't think it is important for said individual. But
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: as far as the team goes, I mean, the only
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: things that I really harp on at this point with
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: this club are, um, instilling the correct, uh, fundamentals in,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: at least in my opinion. And why I say that, well,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: look at Pat Murphy. Uh, he benched, uh, arguably their
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: best hitter in Contreras later in the year for lack
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: of hustle. And, uh, that sets the tone. If you're
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: going to play for Pat Murphy, whose club is hanging
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: in there, um, Padres had some momentum, but, uh, did
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: they really, they weren't, uh, unable to cash in on, uh,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: Some of those things and the Brewers, they are coming
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: and they're going to at some point in the game,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: they will make it happen. So that's the type of
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: team that I knew as a player. It's a team,
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: a type of team I think that everyone should aspire
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: to have. There's only one Pat Murphy, but I don't
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: think setting the standard for some of these things, you know,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: as far as what's expected hustle wise. And effort-wise is
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: a hard thing to do. It just needs to be
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: done a lot sooner than it was this year.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: All right, from Eric Lund, you mentioned George Lombard, but
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: what about the other side of the diamond for the Dodgers?
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: George is the first base coach.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about Dino Ebel, ex-Angels coach, and has been
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: part of recent World Series teams. He's been a part
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: of every World Series team with the Dodgers since I
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: think he went over there in 2018.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Look, I love Dino.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: I think he got some interviews for managers' jobs back
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: when he was with the Angels. I think he would
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: be a great manager, but he's 60 years old now,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and he just, I don't want to say that window
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: is closed, but it seems that window is usually only
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: open for ex-managers who are coming back into the game,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the Ron Washingtons, the Bruce Bochies. I don't know if
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: that door would open for a guy like Dino. as
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: good as I think he would be. This guy is
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: as good on the fundamentals as I've seen. I think
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: coaching third at such a high level and so many
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: really intense, important, you know, post-season games has given him
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: a real feel for the game. I don't know, you know,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: he's probably not heavily involved in managing the bullpen, but
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I know he's heavily involved in managing players and personalities.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: And he's dealt with pretty much everything you can imagine, uh,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: with the Dodgers, uh, in terms of star power. And,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you know, he's been with, uh, shohei otani uh for
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: a long time now too so i don't know i
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: just don't think he fits the mold that maybe the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: cronky group envisions for a manager or a head coach
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: i don't know mark you have any other thoughts on this.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: He fits the mold like a glove for the position
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: you've nominated some others for uh that would be a
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: bench coach oh yeah If he wanted to, that's where,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, what is a bench coach's responsibility? I'm not
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: sure what John Gibbons did this year, to be honest.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I know that he was revered as a manager for
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: the Blue Jays. And how much could any coach have
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: really done? And I say that and kind of regret it,
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: thinking on the pitching side somewhat, because obviously you can
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: have an impact. But as far as a bench coach,
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: I think oftentimes you're a sounding board. Um, you're doing
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: a lot of the clerical work, but, uh, you're also
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: heavily involved. You got your hand in everything. And I
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: think a guy like Dino who has managed, uh, managed, uh,
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Salt Lake bees for a number of years. And, um,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: as a player, I, he was the manager when I was,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I was, uh, they used to mix rookies in with
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: AAA guys to fill out the spring training rosters. And, um,
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: you got a brief stint there, but, uh, Dino's got
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: a lot of leadership qualities. Um, the fact that he
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: is a little bit older, um, I'll agree with you
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: on that, but he has a lot to offer in
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: the game. Great energy, exceptional batting practice. And that's probably
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: why you see him out there a lot. I think
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: he's probably taken home a few trophies along the way
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: or his player has, but yeah, he's beloved and I'm
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: sure he's hoping that they can kind of get it going.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Their bats are going to need to get it going. Yeah.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: This next is more of a statement that I'm going
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to really look for some input from Mark on. I'm
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: not even going to try to pronounce his handle.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: But he said, or he or.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: She, I love it when Mark preaches hustling. You bat
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: four times in two and a half hours. You literally
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: just have to briefly hustle four times in two and
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: a half hours. Compare that to how much exertion is
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: required to play hockey or basketball. Literally two shifts in
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: hockey are more than you have to do all game
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: in baseball. Now, I'm sure there are extenuating circumstances and
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the biggest one is 160. seasons and brutal heat and
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: nagging injuries. But, Mark, it does seem like you're not
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: asking too much for guys to hustle down the first
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: baseline when they make contact, however, three or four times
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: a game. What are maybe some of these things that
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the typical fans doesn't see with guys who, I don't
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: want to say are dogging it, but clearly they are
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: conserving some energy on certain plays when it comes to
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the game of baseball.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: How long is a shift in hockey?
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: It can range from 40 to 50 seconds up to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: depending on, you know, sometimes the play will not, the
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: whistle will not blow and there's no stoppage in play
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: and you'll have to go for two, maybe three minutes,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: which can be pretty grueling.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: So, Yeah. I, um, it's a little light in the knowledge, uh,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: in a couple of sports, but, uh, namely the ones
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: where you do a lot of exertion, uh, soccer, um,
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: did enjoy it in person, but hated playing it, um,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: distance running, not, not my thing. Um, and some of
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: those sports is, you know, uh, requires a ton of that. Now, baseball,
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: I think that this comment a little bit simplistic there,
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: there's a lot more, uh, you know, for an outfielder,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: for example, you might think they're not doing anything, but
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: if you're doing it properly, you're doing a heck of
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: a lot of running because you're constantly backing up, uh,
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: ground balls. You're backing up fly balls that you are
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: not fielding yourself. You shouldn't be backing up throws coming
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: from a third base across and say the right fielders
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: who I have in mind here, but that's a heck
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: of a lot of running. And you're, is it a
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: hundred percent all out? No. And does it compare to
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: what a hockey player is doing? No, they're, they're not comparable,
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: but there's a certain amount of mental fatigue that gets,
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: if you're really in tune with the game, you should
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: be exhausted both physically and mentally. Sometimes the physical part,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: you know, if you're hitting balls in the gap and making,
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: you know, diving plays, you are going to exert a
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: lot of energy. Some days you are not really contributing
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: like you probably want to. But I think that the
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: real point here is conserving energy. Nobody ever thinks of it.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: That's not the mindset of why someone doesn't hustle down
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: the line because they're conserving energy. they're doing it because
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: they're pouting and they're, uh, it's a, no, it's petulant. It's,
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: it's immature. That's what it is. I, when you see
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: a guy that doesn't hustle on the line, I mean,
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: it's almost always the same. They don't like the outcome
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: of the abat and you know, their minds elsewhere. Um,
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: but if you establish that that's unacceptable, you just, that, that,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: that decision, uh, of should I, or should I not,
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: it doesn't even factor in. You just put your head
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: down and, bust your rear to get to first base
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: because that's all you know. But when you open the
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: door to give guys a, you know, hey, whatever, he
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: doesn't do it. That's where it can go wrong. And
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: if you have multiple guys on a team that do that,
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: it's a bad look. It's not the way that I
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: think the game should be played. And you're getting paid
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: a lot of money to be out there. So give
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: it your all, you know, because people are watching and
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: your teammates are watching too. Set an example. I think
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: I saw a terrible take on Machado, for example, yesterday. Now,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Manny in the past, yes, he's had some instances of that.
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: I think the tradeoff is always he's older now, but
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: was an MVP caliber player. Are you willing to accept
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: a few mediocre efforts down the line? Gun to my head.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: Special rules for special people.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Probably, yes.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Ideally not. But he did not get thrown at a
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: third base yesterday due to jogging, as was insinuated by
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: some clickbait guy. Manny gave his best effort. He is
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: in the eighth percentile sprint speed, Fernando Tatis in the 90th.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: So you want to know why that play was at
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: third and not at home. They picked on the guy
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: whose foot speed is near the bottom of the league
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: and probably ill-advised for Manny to take that extra base.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: So that's happened a couple of times. I know you
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: want guys going first to third, but you got to
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: pick your spots too.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: And I'll say this in defense of baseball players. I know, yeah,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: hockey does seem a little more grueling. Soccer, for sure.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Football seems a little more physically, well, it is a
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: lot more physically grueling. But to get through 162 game seasons,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: first of all, just standing in the field for three hours,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: you know, you try standing up for that long. And
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: sometimes those outfields are a little baked or the infields
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: are a little hard. And look at the infielders, you know,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: every pitch for what, 90, 100, 120, 130 pitches, they're
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: doing the prep step where you're bending at the lower back,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: you're bending at the knees, and let's not even get
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to the demands of the catching position, which are extreme.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: You know, 162 games, nobody has that kind of schedule
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: with the travel, the weather, the nagging injuries.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: It is not easy, and I have The utmost respect
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: for these guys.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: The irony is a lot of times catchers come out
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: on the back end with better mobility than some of
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: the other position players.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Because they work so hard to physically prepare?
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: Corner infield is very subtly taxing on the lower body.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: I think Scott Morris has even talked about it, but
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: third base especially. And I know a lot of outfielders, too,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: that have hip issues, knee issues. And some of these catchers,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: you know, that act of squatting, well, in other cultures
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: they do it a lot. Yeah. you know, it seems
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: like it would be, but all the foul balls and, uh,
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: you know, just the nether regions. No, thank you.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: From Brett, Brett Hutchinson, nine, two, four, five trout should
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: be leading off or move down to the fifth or
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: sixth spot. He just doesn't hit for power anymore. And
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Neto needs to hit fourth, not first way too many
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: strikeouts to be leading off. Well, Mark, certainly we want
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: to bolster this lineup with some, uh, preferably a good
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: free agent or two, but if, how would you construct
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: a lineup? If you knew like the pieces you had
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: right now, we're going to at least stay relatively the same.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: How would I construct it?
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Uh, I mean, there was a decent comment. Um, I
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: don't know if it's included in this plethora of, uh, stuff, but, uh, I,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: I guess this is what I'll say. With Trout this year,
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: he took an exceptional amount of walks. Why did that happen?
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I would have to assume it's because he still has
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: a tremendous eye at the plate, but he didn't have
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: any protection either. And I did wonder why the guy that's,
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: in my opinion, most capable of providing protection never once
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: this year hit behind him.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Never once.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: Talking about Zach Netto. I am talking about Zach Netto.
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: If they were married to the right, left, right, left. Well,
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: how'd that work out? I, it was something that I
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: would have cut that cord. I don't think Netto's a
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: leadoff hitter. I don't understand why he stayed there for
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: as long as he did. That is one critique I
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: will stand by. You know, he, he, here's another little tangent.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: We might not get to all of these and most
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: of these are actually, they're not questions, they're opinions. I
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: ask you, and I would ask maybe the fans watching
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: here too, how many first pitch outs are we seeing
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: in these playoff teams? The weak pop-outs, the weak contacts,
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: just offering at, and it could be an off-speed pitch too.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: That is something I think the Angels could do a
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: much better job of, and that is one of the
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: things in the last few years. As an ex-player, that
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: was not something you did. You don't offer, as the
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: leadoff hitter of that inning, and just makes them weak out.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: It kills the momentum of the inning. The guys behind
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: you usually have to take some strikes, and then they're
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: behind the eight ball, and I don't really know where
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: this came about and why the Angels have done it
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: so much, but I'd love to see it go away.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: It just is not a successful strategy. Best case, the
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: guy gets into one, you hit a solo home run,
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: but it's still only one run, and you do it enough,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: you're not going to hit that many home runs, so
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: I don't see a lot of production flat out anyway.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: It just seems like a lousy at-bat.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: You don't see it much in these playoff games, and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: I forget which game yesterday. A guy did do it
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: on Mike Taylor.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Whoa, what was that?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I think he popped up with two on, and it
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: was not a great pitch. So, yeah, definitely an issue
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: the Angels need to adjust. In terms of the lineup,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I think Trout's walks had a lot to do with
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: who was hitting behind him for much of the year.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: That was Nolan Shanwell, and I've said it many times.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I think Nolan, if you could slot him in at
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: six or seven in your lineup, he'd be much more effective.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: That's assuming you have guys that you can hit in
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the middle that have more pop. And yeah, I would
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: have had Wade Meckler leading off the rest of the
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: season from early August on. And Neto either second, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: you can almost justify Shanwell hitting second because he's so
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: much more of an on-base guy. Then you bring Neto
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: hitting third. Hopefully you have a better cleanup option, but
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: if you don't, maybe hit Trout cleanup. Yeah, Mike Trout,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: we did a whole show on this recently. He's not
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: the player he once was. I'm not sure he ever
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: will be, but I think he still has some value.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going to close the show with some
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: questions and comments about none other than Nolan Shanwell, the
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: first baseman who is a bit of a polarizing player.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Among Angels fans, and let's start from JohnTodd22. Shanwell doesn't
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: get enough credit, plain and simple. He's been an above-average
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: hitter his entire career, despite being rushed to the majors.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: People forget this dude had 89 contests. at-bats in the minors.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: His defense has improved each year.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I would agree with that.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: His swing rate's out of the zone, and his average
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: went up a solid amount. Yes, he's an outlier because
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: he plays for a space, but not everyone is built
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: to hit homers. Appreciate the guy for what he is
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: and what he's done with no development in the minors.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Another thing I love and you can never question is
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: his effort. He seems to give everything he has and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: also plays through injuries. All right, there's my rant on
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Nolan Shanwell. Nothing against you guys, that being Mark and I,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: but the guy deserves his flowers. From Omar Jimenez728, I
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: think Shanwell's ceiling could be 22 homers. 305 batting average,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: 410 on base. He also needs to shed some pounds
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: to be a better defender. I'm not so sure about that, Mark.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I think he played pretty solid defense this year. I
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: think a 4'10 on base would be tremendous. He'd be
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: my number two hitter or leadoff guy if that.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Was the case.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I think 22 homers is a little high. This sort
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: of piggybacks with Scotty Dojo. I think Nolan Shanwell is
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: a great player and good for the clubhouse. I don't
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: really care if he has power as long as he's
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: hitting around.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: 300 with a 400 on base.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Once again, you know, Nolan's numbers are more like 270,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: and his career on base is around, I think, 350
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: or 353. Do you think that's a ceiling mark? I mean, 300,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: 400 on base?
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: I think that his agent wrote the first diatribe, and
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: credit to him for the burner that screams close family, relative,
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: or representative value. But, you know, there are some solid
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: points in there. People forget this dude has 89 career, okay,
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: in the minor leagues. Well, whose fault is that? That's
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: not his. That's Perry Manazian's fault.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, how much does
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: John Mosalak and company care about his development? And little
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: to none. Nolan's got to carve his own way. Everyone's
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: got their own things. You could also argue on the
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: flip side, his clock started way earlier than than a
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: lot of people in my era, or me, for example.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: I had to put in a lot more work to
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: get there. But here's the thing. I'm seeing a lot
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: of people I reasonably can assume that they might want
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: to platoon them with Von Grissom. How many first basemen
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: that we're talking about are on the league, especially in
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: the playoffs that we're looking at, get platooned? Not a lot. So,
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: you know, for Omar Jimenez, who listed basically Joey Votto's statistics,
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: if you really believe that Nolan's going to vault into the,
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: you know, the Joey Votto caliber player that commands a
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: contract in excess of $ 200 million, you know, maybe want
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: some of what you got. But he's a talented player.
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: I got to see another year. He'll be playing another year,
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: at least for the Angels team. But the bottom line
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: is I've been trying to find some more comps. Sure,
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: you can throw a Wally Joiner in there. Mark Grace
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: had more power. He was a better hitter than Nolan.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: That's not a great comp, although you can kind of
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: tether him there. James Loney is the one that really
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: stands out. And if you're going to have Nolan not
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: hit for power and embrace the player that he is,
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: then you cannot have a center fielder like Teodosio, like
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: Fletch mentioned, have a 600 OPS. If you're going to
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: sacrifice it at first base, You will need to find
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: it at multiple other positions and that's less than ideal. Um, I,
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: you know, I think this is the last time I
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: probably want to address, uh, Nolan on this show. I,
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: I hope this off season he gets after it. Um,
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: you know, the bat speed thing, I think, you know,
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: who has low bat speed to actually very low Taylor ward.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: I wasn't aware, but I went today and it wasn't
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: like to this year was just an outlier. He, his
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: bat speed is, um, much lower than I thought it
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: would be for a guy capable of hitting home runs,
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: meaning he has to optimize everything to do that. Let's
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: ramble for a second. You asked about Bogart's split grip.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: A little Ty Cobb approach. Well, they talked about him
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: hitting into a number of double plays this year. And
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: Bogart is a guy that, on the hitting side, uses
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: his hands to an extreme. He always has. Very, very
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: handsy hitter. A lot of guys in this day and
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: age with the trendy facility swings would benefit a lot
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: more from using more hands, especially when you see guys
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: take and they're exposing their entire front area to the pitch,
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: whereas guys used to turn and lean and take it
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: off the shoulder. Now they're taking it off the crotch,
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: the chest, somewhere where you really don't want to. But Bogarts,
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: what he's doing with that split grip is trying to
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: incorporate less hands, more body. And Mason Miller probably was tipping.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: I see that that's going around quite a bit. I
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: caught it more when I looked at it midway into
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: his leg kick, especially the angle of his toe, how
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: that was pointed. So I want to look at that
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: a little more. Churio's take was what spurned that because
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: nobody takes against Mason Miller. And you saw some really
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: good ones. So, yeah, we'll try and formulate some more stuff.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: Some of these topics are... a little long in the tooth,
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: so we'll have to keep it fresh. But, you know,
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: hopefully we'll get some answers as to how Mosaic's meeting
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: with Stan's group went the other day with Kevin. I
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: don't know at what point we'll hear from them, but
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: that would make our jobs easier. And we can't keep speculating,
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: but it is a little tough without a little more
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: knowledge to go off of.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: I do want to close. There was one more Nolan
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Shonwell question. question, and it's speaking of comps, and I
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: did want to address this from Gerardo Delgado. So what's
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the difference between Freddie Freeman being a contact hitting first
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: baseman with no power this year and gets praised, but
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: no one gets criticized for being a contact hitter? Is
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: it because Freddie's a superstar, a World Series champion?
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: Blah, blah, blah.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Shanwell has a 727 OPS in three-plus seasons, by the way.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Freddie Freeman, Gerardo, is... 37 years old. He's at the
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: end of what will probably be a Hall of Fame career.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: And he's had.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: 12 seasons of 20 homers or more.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: He's had.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: He's averaged 27 homers over 162 games.
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: Three seasons with 30 homers or more.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: A career 890 OPS. And he's had 12 seasons with
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: 30 doubles or more.
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: So....
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: It's really, yeah, if you took this year in an
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: absolute vacuum, you could make that argument about, you know, Nolan.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: Not getting as much love. 36 years old.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman is a superstar.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: And until, you know, Nolan, I don't know that he'll
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: ever develop into a superstar, but there is no reason
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: he can't develop and evolve and become a very productive
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: everyday major league player. I just think you're asking way
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: too much of a guy like that to hit third
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: or in the middle of your lineup.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And that's going to do it. What do you got, Mark?
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: No, we're not going to do it. I'm going to
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: ask if you think, you know, Freddie Freeman's at 2,598 hits.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: Does he get to 3,000?
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: He's got one more year left on his contract. Health
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: is going to be an obvious concern. I think he's
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: going to get it. It'd be great if he got
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: it with the Dodgers. The Dodgers have a great farm system.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: I know they have a lot of great young outfielders.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure who they have at first base in
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: their pipeline coming up. I don't think they have anybody there.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: So I could certainly see him signing a one-year contract
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: at the end of this deal to try to get there.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: You're looking at a pair of 200-hit seasons, though, Mark.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: It might take a third season with somebody to get there.
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: I was doing the quick math, and I'd love to
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: see it. I mean, we grew up virtually in the
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: same city, and he's almost certainly going to be Hall
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: of Fame worthy. So it's just great to see his
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: 36 years old. You have to factor in. And I
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: don't think he was clicking on all cylinders this year, so.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: He was hurt, too. Yeah, true, true. Nolan will do
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: his thing. If he gets anywhere near the level of Freddy,
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: the Angels would love that.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: And we will close the show with that. So, hey,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening. We really appreciate
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: all your comments on the HT YouTube page, as you
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: can see. They make for good material here, hopefully. Please
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: like and subscribe, and we'll see you next time on
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Halo Territory.