Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: New Ketel Marte drama details, Red Sox-Yankees roster questions, Reds dump deadline

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Fair Territory: New Ketel Marte drama details, Red Sox-Yankees roster questions, Reds dump deadline · Foul Territory

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:10
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with the guy you can see right there,
0:13
Speaker 1: the king of all things foul territory, Scott Braun. He's
0:16
Speaker 1: going to be our co-host today. And Scott, we've got
0:19
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about. We're going to get into
0:21
Speaker 1: the story that I wrote about Cattell Marte, a long
0:24
Speaker 1: story in The Athletic today. But first, we want to
0:27
Speaker 1: talk about some of the things going on on the field.
0:30
Speaker 1: Yamamoto versus Sell tonight in Atlanta. That's going to be
0:32
Speaker 1: really good. And then, of course, four games coming up
0:36
Speaker 1: this weekend. Yankees, Red Sox, the rivalry is actually alive again.
0:41
Speaker 2: Hey, and let's start real quick with this being on deck,
0:46
Speaker 2: presented by Fox One, because what you're mentioning, both of
0:49
Speaker 2: those games can be seen on the Fox One app,
0:51
Speaker 2: and our buddy, another king of foul territory, AJ Pruszynski,
0:55
Speaker 2: will be on that game. Yeah, it's a really good
1:02
Speaker 2: pitching matchup, so make sure you check that out. Ken,
1:04
Speaker 2: I want to jump to yours. Your game, Red Sox, Yankees.
1:07
Speaker 2: Let's start on the Boston side. What do you have
1:09
Speaker 2: for us on this team that is definitely way back
1:11
Speaker 2: from the dead over the last month and change and
1:13
Speaker 2: maybe have some players coming back from the dead too?
1:15
Speaker 1: If you remember, their revival started with a four-game sweep
1:18
Speaker 1: of the Yankees at Fenway Park. And that's what led
1:21
Speaker 1: to this 41-14 surge, which has been incredible. It has
1:26
Speaker 1: changed the entire perspective of the Red Sox season. And now, Scott,
1:30
Speaker 1: they face an interesting crossroads. Because they have several players
1:35
Speaker 1: coming off the injured list. Trevor Story, Roman Anthony, Garrett Whitlock.
1:39
Speaker 1: And how are you going to find room for these guys?
1:42
Speaker 1: Where are you going to play them? I forgot to
1:43
Speaker 1: mention Isaiah Kainafalefa. He's another one. And one thing that
1:48
Speaker 1: is so interesting about this particular situation they're in is
1:52
Speaker 1: that the players who have helped the Red Sox get
1:56
Speaker 1: back in the race and become what they've become are
1:59
Speaker 1: some of their lesser lights, so to speak. Andrew Monasterio,
2:03
Speaker 1: Nick Sogard, Sigler, Anthony Sigler, all these guys. And I
2:09
Speaker 1: don't know exactly how you fit in a Trevor Story
2:12
Speaker 1: who is 4 for 30 on his rehabilitation assignment over
2:16
Speaker 1: some of these players. Chang's another one. They've had a
2:19
Speaker 1: lot of good contributions from players who we did not
2:22
Speaker 1: expect necessarily to be major parts of the Red Sox.
2:26
Speaker 1: You're messing with the team dynamic, of course. You also
2:29
Speaker 1: have players who are under big contracts. Trevor Story, of course,
2:34
Speaker 1: is one of them, and you're going to have to
2:36
Speaker 1: mix them in. Anthony's not a problem. You want him back.
2:40
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure they want Trevor Story back, at
2:42
Speaker 1: least playing a meaningful major role. They're going to have
2:46
Speaker 1: to manage this delicate balance, and I don't know that
2:49
Speaker 1: it's going to be easy. Yeah.
2:52
Speaker 2: How do you send the message to your team that
2:54
Speaker 2: has gotten you to this point? Then someone comes back
2:57
Speaker 2: and I mean, you're going to quickly judge who is
2:59
Speaker 2: performing and not. So it'll be an interesting case for
3:02
Speaker 2: a manager who's still young to the party here too
3:05
Speaker 2: in Chad Tracy, right? He hasn't dealt with much of
3:07
Speaker 2: this yet at the major league level. He's done a
3:08
Speaker 2: great job.
3:10
Speaker 1: No, no question. And he's done a great job giving
3:14
Speaker 1: these guys roles and helping them along here. And again,
3:21
Speaker 1: The Red Sox are the Red Sox because of the
3:23
Speaker 1: games or the way they've played the game in these
3:26
Speaker 1: last few months. Not totally small ball because they've hit
3:29
Speaker 1: a bunch of home runs lately, but they've had a
3:32
Speaker 1: functional roster. They've had guys who are versatile filling in
3:36
Speaker 1: in different ways. And now if you mix Trevor story
3:39
Speaker 1: and kind of Falefa back in, okay, but it changes
3:44
Speaker 1: the dynamic.
3:46
Speaker 2: And on the Yankee side quick, I mean, they did
3:48
Speaker 2: just get another injury. to pop up Fernando Cruz, who
3:51
Speaker 2: hasn't looked right. It sounds like he might miss significant
3:54
Speaker 2: time here.
3:56
Speaker 1: Well, they're in this tough spot, too, because as Brendan
3:59
Speaker 1: Cuddy wrote today in The Athletic, they didn't add a
4:02
Speaker 1: reliever at the deadline. Remember that. And they wanted one,
4:06
Speaker 1: and it seemed like they set themselves up to get one.
4:09
Speaker 1: They traded Dottal. I'm not Dottal. Dottal. They traded Jake
4:13
Speaker 1: Bird and Doval. I'm sorry. I screwed the name. Yeah, Doval. Yep.
4:18
Speaker 1: And they... obviously looked like, yeah, they're creating room for
4:22
Speaker 1: another reliever, didn't get one. So then you had the expectation, okay,
4:26
Speaker 1: Ryan Weathers, Will Warren, they can pitch in the bullpen
4:29
Speaker 1: if the rotation is healthy. Ryan Weathers is now hurt.
4:33
Speaker 1: Freed is just coming back, expected on Saturday. So you
4:37
Speaker 1: have all these different things going on with their pitching staff.
4:40
Speaker 1: And as Joel Sherman has written a number of times
4:42
Speaker 1: in the New York Post, their depth is not what
4:44
Speaker 1: it should be. And it's costing them or could cost
4:47
Speaker 1: them down the stretch and into the post season. Yeah.
4:52
Speaker 2: So a lot to hit. And last time these two
4:54
Speaker 2: teams met, they were in such a different spot. I'm
4:56
Speaker 2: talking about Boston. We'll still be looking out for Aaron
5:00
Speaker 2: judge news and all that.
5:00
Speaker 1: All right.
5:01
Speaker 2: So, you know, the deal, we have some major games
5:03
Speaker 2: that you can check out through the Fox one app,
5:06
Speaker 2: of course, Fox TV wise too. And FS one tonight
5:09
Speaker 2: was AJ's game that we're talking about with the Dodgers
5:11
Speaker 2: and the Braves. So you can stream it live on
5:14
Speaker 2: demand on the go. phone, on your computer, on your tablet.
5:18
Speaker 2: Go check out the Fox One app. Never miss a moment.
5:22
Speaker 2: Stream now. Start your Fox One three-day free trial today
5:25
Speaker 2: at foxone.com. To me, this is new news because of
5:34
Speaker 2: some of the quotes that were involved in your story, Ken.
5:37
Speaker 2: Let's get right into the Quetel Marte situation and what
5:40
Speaker 2: you learned. If you don't mind, I'd like to start
5:42
Speaker 2: with Some of the quotes that you received from teammates who,
5:45
Speaker 2: of course, have to speak anonymously. You can't just start
5:48
Speaker 2: blasting your teammate in the middle of the season and
5:50
Speaker 2: put your name on it.
5:52
Speaker 1: Right. And in this story, basically, I tried to lay
5:55
Speaker 1: out what is going on here and why the Diamondbacks
5:59
Speaker 1: are willing to basically tolerate what some would say is
6:03
Speaker 1: not acceptable behavior. What Quetel Marte has done each of
6:06
Speaker 1: the last two years and even in previous years, kind
6:10
Speaker 1: of bailing on his team, right? So I did talk
6:13
Speaker 1: to a few players, and those players, and this is
6:17
Speaker 1: not a unanimous sentiment in that clubhouse. There are players
6:19
Speaker 1: who are fond of Marte and speak more highly of him.
6:23
Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale had a quote today from Brendan Fott saying,
6:26
Speaker 1: we love Cattell Marte. But some of the players I
6:29
Speaker 1: spoke with expressed frustration with the fact that he did
6:33
Speaker 1: essentially leave the team by not coming out of his
6:36
Speaker 1: hotel room that night, going on the restricted list, then
6:38
Speaker 1: going to the injured list, and When he appeared in
6:42
Speaker 1: the casino, that kind of rubbed salt in the wound
6:45
Speaker 1: in the eyes of some. That's part of this story.
6:49
Speaker 1: Also part of it, and a big part of it,
6:51
Speaker 1: is the fact that Quetel Marte is such a good player.
6:55
Speaker 1: Talent is so hard to find. You're getting 137 games
6:59
Speaker 1: a year out of him. That's his average the last
7:01
Speaker 1: few years. You're willing to accept, from the Arizona Diamondbacks' perspective,
7:07
Speaker 1: some of these hiccups. And it's not pleasant. It's not
7:10
Speaker 1: easy to go through. In this case, and I get
7:12
Speaker 1: into this in the story too, it undercut the manager,
7:16
Speaker 1: Tory Lovello, who was in the last year of his contract.
7:18
Speaker 1: And Lovello admits, this is a direct reflection on me
7:21
Speaker 1: that we couldn't get this guy going. So there are
7:24
Speaker 1: all of these layers here. And Scott, I know you've
7:28
Speaker 1: got a lot of questions. I'm sure a lot of
7:29
Speaker 1: people have a lot of questions and I'll try to
7:31
Speaker 1: answer them best I can. Okay.
7:33
Speaker 2: Well, let's start with explaining to people why This is
7:37
Speaker 2: a business, and you wrote about surplus value and how
7:41
Speaker 2: he's one of the better players in Major League Baseball,
7:43
Speaker 2: and this is not kicking a kid off your high
7:46
Speaker 2: school team or sitting a player at Little League because
7:50
Speaker 2: he's causing trouble. This is a business that the Diamondbacks
7:53
Speaker 2: are running, and that's part of what I received on
7:54
Speaker 2: the management side from your article. Is that accurate?
7:57
Speaker 1: Absolutely accurate, and Mike Hazen is quoted to that effect.
8:00
Speaker 1: He's the general manager, and he said, we are in
8:02
Speaker 1: the business of winning baseball games today. Cattell Marte is
8:06
Speaker 1: one of the best second basemen in baseball. And as
8:08
Speaker 1: you mentioned, the surplus value, previous three years, he earned
8:12
Speaker 1: $ 38 million. What he was worth, according to Fangraph's dollars metric,
8:16
Speaker 1: which is based on war and it kind of extrapolates
8:19
Speaker 1: what a player's estimated value might be, is almost priceless.
8:23
Speaker 1: four times that, three times that. So yeah, you want
8:27
Speaker 1: him on your team. He's a game-changing player. He has
8:30
Speaker 1: the six highest exit velocities of any Diamondbacks player this year.
8:34
Speaker 1: So from that perspective, yes, you want him. And what
8:36
Speaker 1: Hazen said, and I thought it was a well-put quote,
8:40
Speaker 1: you have to balance your clubhouse and the idea of
8:43
Speaker 1: winning games. Now, again, I want to make it clear
8:46
Speaker 1: that I don't know that every player is down on Marte.
8:48
Speaker 1: I don't believe every player is. But There are some
8:52
Speaker 1: who are. And the other part of this here, and
8:54
Speaker 1: I brought this out in the article too, and this
8:57
Speaker 1: is important to remember, and I talk about this a lot.
9:00
Speaker 1: We never know what's going on in these guys' lives
9:03
Speaker 1: off the field. And sometimes there are things going on.
9:06
Speaker 1: And in Cattell Marte's case, there actually is something personal
9:10
Speaker 1: off the field that he is dealing with. And it's
9:14
Speaker 1: the possible loss soon of a close family member. He
9:17
Speaker 1: lost his grandmother in spring training of last year. Did
9:21
Speaker 1: not leave the team then. And now he is facing
9:24
Speaker 1: the loss of another close family member. So these are
9:27
Speaker 1: things that obviously carry weight and different players handle them differently.
9:33
Speaker 1: You shouldn't leave your team. I think we all know that.
9:35
Speaker 1: Cattell Marte knows that. He's apologized to Lovello, to Hazen.
9:40
Speaker 1: And I know he's going to apologize to his teammates
9:43
Speaker 1: as well. The Diamondbacks have all but announced that he
9:45
Speaker 1: will be addressing the team as well as reporters when
9:48
Speaker 1: he returns as soon as Monday. But, like I said,
9:52
Speaker 1: a lot of layers here.
9:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, and continuing on these layers, I think for me,
9:58
Speaker 2: as a fan who's interested in... how the dynamic is
10:00
Speaker 2: with a star player who is not doing normal protocol
10:04
Speaker 2: here by missing a game there were two things that
10:06
Speaker 2: i learned in terms of the actual story one let's
10:09
Speaker 2: start here if you can take me through it is
10:11
Speaker 2: what happened What happened then? I know you don't know
10:14
Speaker 2: every single detail, but I did learn a little bit
10:16
Speaker 2: about what happened and then the process over the next
10:18
Speaker 2: few days that led to him having a long meeting.
10:22
Speaker 1: Yes, and this was something that in the story came
10:25
Speaker 1: out in my reporting that I was not aware of either.
10:28
Speaker 1: So the perception was he was AWOL. They couldn't find him, right?
10:32
Speaker 1: That night in Boston when he did not show up
10:34
Speaker 1: at Fenway Park. What I learned is that the Diamondbacks
10:38
Speaker 1: knew where he was. Everyone knew where he was. He
10:40
Speaker 1: was in his hotel room. The Diamondbacks were communicating through
10:44
Speaker 1: his agent, Sharice Espinosa-Dash, but they were communicating with him,
10:49
Speaker 1: and they were communicating with him because they knew he
10:52
Speaker 1: was in his hotel room. Now, they still didn't know
10:55
Speaker 1: until game time whether he was going to show up
10:57
Speaker 1: because apparently the communication was not all that good, but
11:01
Speaker 1: it wasn't as if they were looking for him and
11:04
Speaker 1: couldn't find him. They knew where he was. And then.
11:09
Speaker 2: The apology afterward, right? I know there's going to be
11:12
Speaker 2: more apologies. You would think he's going to say something
11:15
Speaker 2: to media as in addressing fans, really. That's what it is.
11:18
Speaker 2: I know sometimes people think like, oh, the media, they
11:20
Speaker 2: want to, the media are doing this because he wants
11:23
Speaker 2: to obviously, you would think, communicate to fans or fans
11:26
Speaker 2: want to hear from him. That's one piece of the puzzle.
11:28
Speaker 2: You would think that he's going to apologize to teammates.
11:32
Speaker 2: That's another piece of the puzzle. It sounds like they
11:35
Speaker 2: already met him, Mike Hazen, Tori Lavello, for a long
11:39
Speaker 2: period of time to talk out what just happened.
11:42
Speaker 1: Yes, they did. And this was reported by some of
11:45
Speaker 1: the Arizona outlets and elsewhere. That meeting took place, I think,
11:50
Speaker 1: three days after this incident when he did not show
11:53
Speaker 1: up at Fenway Park. And it was a multi-hour meeting.
11:57
Speaker 1: And a lot was said, from what I understand. He
11:59
Speaker 1: did apologize to both Lovello and Hazen for not showing up.
12:03
Speaker 1: And at that point, they made the decision to take
12:06
Speaker 1: him off the restricted list, which is procedural thing where
12:10
Speaker 1: a player does not get paid and put him on
12:12
Speaker 1: the injured list when you do get paid he did
12:15
Speaker 1: have also this left knee issue that he's been dealing
12:18
Speaker 1: with so it's the left knee it's the possible soon
12:21
Speaker 1: loss of a close family member things were going on
12:24
Speaker 1: here and things that maybe he didn't deal with the
12:27
Speaker 1: way that all of us would like to see a
12:30
Speaker 1: player deal with and the casino appearance certainly didn't add
12:33
Speaker 1: to a positive perception of Marte but again you It's
12:39
Speaker 1: important to always realize these guys, they do have lives
12:42
Speaker 1: going on and things are going on. Again, it's not
12:44
Speaker 1: to excuse a guy who leaves his team in the
12:47
Speaker 1: middle of a pennant race. Not good. We all know that.
12:50
Speaker 1: But he was hurt. He was frustrated. He is worried
12:54
Speaker 1: about his family member. All these things are going on.
12:57
Speaker 1: And that's a part of a lot of guys' lives. Actually,
13:01
Speaker 1: everybody has their own things going on all the time
13:04
Speaker 1: in all walks of life. It's a question of how
13:06
Speaker 1: you deal with them. And he would be the first
13:08
Speaker 1: to admit, and I expect he will admit that he
13:10
Speaker 1: didn't deal with it particularly well.
13:13
Speaker 2: And you wrote about how his personality has to do
13:15
Speaker 2: with him being pretty quiet. That's what I've received from
13:18
Speaker 2: his teammates and past teammates too. Josh Reddick played with
13:21
Speaker 2: him for not much time, but was on FT the
13:23
Speaker 2: other day saying like he barely spoke when he played
13:26
Speaker 2: with him for several months. So it sounds like he
13:28
Speaker 2: is kind of an introvert. Is that a good way
13:31
Speaker 2: to put it?
13:33
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would put it that way.
13:35
Speaker 1: but he is not someone who is disruptive or loud.
13:39
Speaker 1: I didn't include this in the story, but I was
13:41
Speaker 1: told this by one of the front office people. This
13:44
Speaker 1: is not a guy who people hate. And when Fats
13:47
Speaker 1: said that yesterday about how the players love him, I
13:50
Speaker 1: don't know that that's entirely true, but I don't think
13:54
Speaker 1: they dislike him. It's not like he's a bad guy
13:56
Speaker 1: or grating or anything like that. But at the same time,
14:00
Speaker 1: No matter what your personality is, you have a certain obligation, obviously,
14:04
Speaker 1: to your teammates. And that is where, both with last
14:07
Speaker 1: year's situation, which resulted from the burglary at his home
14:11
Speaker 1: in Scottsdale, and he was in the Dominican Republic at
14:14
Speaker 1: the time during the All-Star break when he left the
14:16
Speaker 1: team then, and this year's, that's the thing that separates
14:20
Speaker 1: this story from others. Guys go through stuff. Players lose
14:24
Speaker 1: family members. They suffer injuries. Very rarely do they leave
14:28
Speaker 1: their team, and that is why this one is different
14:32
Speaker 1: than some of the others.
14:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you mentioned how there was somebody talking
14:36
Speaker 2: about him retreating during certain time periods, right? Tori said that.
14:41
Speaker 2: Tori Lavello said that.
14:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, when he's frustrated, he retreats, and that is what
14:46
Speaker 1: has happened here.
14:48
Speaker 2: And he was saying something to his teammates right before
14:50
Speaker 2: that too, right? Because this hasn't been his best season.
14:52
Speaker 2: He's still really good. And this is one of my
14:54
Speaker 2: favorite players to watch. I mean, he is a fantastic hitter.
14:58
Speaker 2: He's got the hit tool for days. 2023, he stole
15:00
Speaker 2: the show in the postseason. But he clearly isn't happy
15:03
Speaker 2: with his performance. And it sounded like he was kind
15:05
Speaker 2: of hinting that to his teammates right before that day
15:08
Speaker 2: where things changed.
15:08
Speaker 1: One thing I was told was the series in Atlanta
15:11
Speaker 1: right before Boston, he got taken out of the first game,
15:14
Speaker 1: missed the second game with the knee issue, I believe
15:17
Speaker 1: it was. And then the third game, he returned, and
15:20
Speaker 1: that was the only game in the series they lost.
15:22
Speaker 1: And he expressed to some teammates, you guys don't need me.
15:25
Speaker 1: I'm not playing well, etc. He does seem to be
15:29
Speaker 1: someone who needs positive reinforcement, according to this player, and
15:33
Speaker 1: a guy who, like a lot of players, has times
15:38
Speaker 1: in his seasons when he's down. And that is apparently
15:42
Speaker 1: what has happened here. And again, the other things contributed.
15:45
Speaker 1: The injuries. the situation with his family members. So it's
15:50
Speaker 1: a lot going on. And basically, when I wrote this story,
15:55
Speaker 1: my original thought was to put it on the Diamondbacks
15:58
Speaker 1: to say, you guys, you enabled him, you did all this.
16:02
Speaker 1: And that's part of it. And that's an argument that
16:04
Speaker 1: can be made. But in reporting it and reporting it out,
16:09
Speaker 1: I came to understand the Diamondbacks perspective, why they are
16:12
Speaker 1: willing to put up with this, because he is such
16:14
Speaker 1: a good player. The story starts with an anecdote in
16:17
Speaker 1: which he hits a walk-off home run to even a series,
16:20
Speaker 1: give us Diamondbacks a series split against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
16:24
Speaker 1: Hit that off Tanner Scott, 113 miles an hour, sixth
16:29
Speaker 1: hardest hit ball by a Diamondback player all year. And
16:31
Speaker 1: he's also got the five hardest before that. It's a
16:34
Speaker 1: special player. So you can understand all perspectives here. And
16:40
Speaker 1: I tried to make this a nuanced story and not
16:42
Speaker 1: be too judgy one way or the other. I don't
16:44
Speaker 1: believe you should be judgy in this case. Because there's
16:47
Speaker 1: a lot, again, that goes into this whole situation.
16:52
Speaker 2: And I know for fans, you want the perfect player,
16:54
Speaker 2: the perfect role model. But if you ask most fans,
16:56
Speaker 2: do you want to win at the end of the day?
16:57
Speaker 2: Do you want to watch your team win? They would
16:59
Speaker 2: give you the same answer. And even me, I have
17:01
Speaker 2: to check myself sometimes when you look at a situation
17:03
Speaker 2: like this. Okay, I have one more piece of the
17:05
Speaker 2: puzzle here. You wrote a little bit about this, but
17:06
Speaker 2: I also just want to get your firsthand experience of
17:09
Speaker 2: being at a ballpark so often. Because I used to
17:11
Speaker 2: hit the road. You've hit the road a billion times
17:13
Speaker 2: more than I have, of course. So Two pieces here.
17:16
Speaker 2: One is you wrote, it was mentioned how he sometimes
17:20
Speaker 2: will have his friends in the food room. And then
17:22
Speaker 2: also not to play the casino part as much as
17:25
Speaker 2: him rehabbing in Arizona from a short stint, it appears
17:28
Speaker 2: on the IL, and then going to the casino while
17:31
Speaker 2: his team's playing, you have a guy like Mike Sirocco
17:33
Speaker 2: on the IL and he's in the dugout. So how
17:36
Speaker 2: common are both of those occurrences as far as from
17:39
Speaker 2: what you've seen over the years?
17:41
Speaker 1: So for rehabbing players, that is... Kind of individual. Some
17:46
Speaker 1: guys stay with the team. Judge has, in many ways,
17:50
Speaker 1: been with the Yankees. I don't know that always he's
17:52
Speaker 1: been there, but he's been there for a lot of it.
17:54
Speaker 1: But players aren't always required. And guys who are recovering
17:58
Speaker 1: from Tommy Johns or major surgeries, they're rarely around the team.
18:02
Speaker 1: So when he appeared at the casino, he, as Tori
18:06
Speaker 1: Lavello said, broke no rules. He's perfectly allowed to do
18:09
Speaker 1: whatever he wants to do after he's done rehabbing that day.
18:13
Speaker 1: That was his choice. Bad optics, we can all agree,
18:16
Speaker 1: but that was his choice. So I would say that's
18:19
Speaker 1: kind of an individual situation, that some guys are with
18:23
Speaker 1: the team, some guys aren't, and it often depends on
18:27
Speaker 1: the particular circumstances. As for the food room, that's unusual.
18:31
Speaker 1: And basically, I was told that, yeah, there are times
18:34
Speaker 1: when he has friends who are in the food room,
18:37
Speaker 1: not in the clubhouse, but there's a food room where
18:40
Speaker 1: the players eat, and Actually, maybe I should have explained
18:43
Speaker 1: that better, Scott. That is not typical. I thought people
18:47
Speaker 1: would assume that's not typical, but I'm glad you asked. No,
18:49
Speaker 1: that's not typical.
18:51
Speaker 2: No, that's why I'm asking, and I agree. That's not typical.
18:54
Speaker 2: I've passed the food room for media and all that.
18:56
Speaker 2: It's like you avoid that. You know how it is.
18:59
Speaker 1: It's like you don't even go close to that.
19:01
Speaker 2: That's their space. That's the player's space. I mean, I've
19:06
Speaker 2: passed it a million times. You take a peek when
19:07
Speaker 2: you're walking through, right? But I've only essentially seen players
19:12
Speaker 2: there and some type of staff, of course, that's in there.
19:15
Speaker 2: I've never seen or heard of. family members, aside from
19:19
Speaker 2: if there's a day where the dads are there, these
19:22
Speaker 2: extenuating circumstances. But in a normal protocol, I've never heard
19:26
Speaker 2: of a player having his friends hang out in the
19:28
Speaker 2: food room, at least to any regularity. So same thing.
19:32
Speaker 2: Just wanted to point that out. There's a lot here.
19:34
Speaker 2: There's a lot more in the story. So check it out,
19:36
Speaker 2: including the time he's missed in the past and everything else.
19:39
Speaker 2: It's got a little more beef to it in the story.
19:41
Speaker 2: So read it.
19:42
Speaker 1: And Ken, thanks.
19:43
Speaker 2: That was, I think, very informative for everyone on a
19:46
Speaker 2: story that's been, I think, the most buzzy story of
19:49
Speaker 2: the past month.
19:50
Speaker 1: Okay.
19:51
Speaker 2: Let's get to dude and dork.
19:53
Speaker 1: I'm the dude.
19:54
Speaker 2: So that's what you call me.
19:55
Speaker 3: All right.
19:59
Speaker 2: Who do you like this week?
20:00
Speaker 1: A little bit more fun to talk about. So during
20:04
Speaker 1: the week, my guy was going to be Pete Alonzo.
20:08
Speaker 1: for basically carrying the Orioles on his back. But Tristan Peters,
20:12
Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox, home runs in five straight games. The
20:15
Speaker 1: second White Sox rookie this season to manage that feat,
20:19
Speaker 1: Murakami was the other. And he joins a list of
20:23
Speaker 1: people in franchise history that includes A.J. Pruszynski, five-game homer streaks.
20:28
Speaker 1: And Tristan Peters is a guy who struggled out of
20:31
Speaker 1: the All-Star break. He was an All-Star, a surprising All-Star.
20:34
Speaker 1: And then he struggled mightily after the break. He seems
20:37
Speaker 1: to have found it again due to the week. Oh yeah.
20:41
Speaker 2: I mean, he was literally playing banana ball.
20:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
20:45
Speaker 2: What a story. You can't make this up, right? It's
20:48
Speaker 2: almost sounds like a joke. And then you're like, no, really?
20:50
Speaker 2: This guy went from banana ball to the major leagues.
20:53
Speaker 1: He's an all-star. He's great.
20:54
Speaker 2: I'm with you. And don't worry, Ken, I got you.
20:56
Speaker 2: Pete Alonzo was my dude of the week, even before
20:59
Speaker 2: we spoke and talked about things. So for me, where
21:03
Speaker 2: would the Orioles be without Pete Alonzo right now? They
21:05
Speaker 2: would not be in a wildcard race. And at a
21:08
Speaker 2: time when it is so difficult to find premier right-handed
21:12
Speaker 2: hitters in our sport, with power especially, he is even
21:16
Speaker 2: more valuable than I think the numbers show. And guess what, Ken?
21:19
Speaker 2: The numbers show a career year by my favorite hitting statistic,
21:24
Speaker 2: and that is OPS +. You see weighted runs created
21:26
Speaker 2: plus there. It's almost the same stat.
21:28
Speaker 1: That's at 147. He's at 148 on OPS +.
21:29
Speaker 2: That is the best number of his career. He went
21:35
Speaker 2: through a lot with the Mets. I think he always
21:38
Speaker 2: thought he was going to be their guy, right, Ken,
21:39
Speaker 2: long term. And he was going to be 20 years
21:41
Speaker 2: from now showing up at every alumni thing. And the
21:44
Speaker 2: Mets just didn't value him as a long term asset.
21:46
Speaker 2: They valued him as a short term asset. Well, in
21:48
Speaker 2: year one of a five year contract, he is worth
21:51
Speaker 2: every single penny and then some. So that's my dude.
21:54
Speaker 1: Totally agree. And the defense has also been good. Remember,
21:57
Speaker 1: that was one reason the Mets were not willing to commit.
22:01
Speaker 2: Instead, they went with Jorge Polanco and a cavalcade of
22:04
Speaker 2: guys that have not worked out for the Mets. So
22:08
Speaker 2: let's get to the dork.
22:15
Speaker 1: All right. I'm going to be a little bit easier
22:17
Speaker 1: on these dorks than I usually am because there are
22:21
Speaker 1: times when the dork of the week is a person
22:24
Speaker 1: or group that did something bad but owned it. So
22:27
Speaker 1: you kind of lower the boom a little bit. You
22:30
Speaker 1: lessen the boom. The umpires in the Diamondbacks Cubs yesterday
22:34
Speaker 1: owned it. Alfonso Marquez came out and said, we didn't
22:37
Speaker 1: see the balk. Neither, none of us, none of the
22:39
Speaker 1: four saw the balk on Eduardo Rodriguez when he took
22:42
Speaker 1: his foot off the rubber in the middle of his delivery.
22:44
Speaker 1: And that's the play that, I don't know that it
22:47
Speaker 1: was decisive. No one at play ever decides a game,
22:50
Speaker 1: but it was at a pivotal moment in a scoreless game.
22:53
Speaker 1: Pete Crow Armstrong was on third, would have scored. He
22:56
Speaker 1: kind of went nuts in reaction to this. and the
23:00
Speaker 1: umpires did admit it but i would agree with pete
23:03
Speaker 1: crow armstrong also that they can't miss this one and
23:07
Speaker 1: listen we all make mistakes in our jobs i make
23:09
Speaker 1: them you make them everyone makes them they did own
23:12
Speaker 1: it but that was a big one.
23:14
Speaker 2: And for me i'll stay on the same theme here
23:16
Speaker 2: because i do think this is a true full-fledged dork
23:19
Speaker 2: and apologies to me for not having the name here
23:22
Speaker 2: of the umpire who seems to be going off a
23:24
Speaker 2: different page from every other umpire can right now. And
23:28
Speaker 2: that would be for the Chris sale situation for a
23:31
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago. And then I'm forgetting the name
23:33
Speaker 2: of the pitcher from the other day, but the same
23:35
Speaker 2: exact thing happened. What was it in the Padres pirates
23:37
Speaker 2: game Ashcraft, right? So we've had this situation pop up
23:40
Speaker 2: two times. We covered it a ton on foul territory,
23:43
Speaker 2: but I wanted it to bring it to fair territory.
23:45
Speaker 2: And the dork in this case is not just the umpire, right?
23:48
Speaker 2: Who I'm forgetting the name, But it's the league to
23:50
Speaker 2: me too. Like, hey, you got to talk to all
23:52
Speaker 2: the ups and say, are we either doing this or not?
23:54
Speaker 2: Are you establishing each time? Or once you establish once,
23:57
Speaker 2: you're good. To me, it's so simple. And we're in
24:00
Speaker 2: a league that is worth billions of dollars. Can we
24:02
Speaker 2: make a few phone calls and get this right?
24:05
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Scott. And also the fact that it's non-reviewable,
24:10
Speaker 1: certain things maybe should be reviewable. And I know they
24:13
Speaker 1: don't want to get bogged down. I sympathize with the
24:15
Speaker 1: league in this regard. You can't make everything reviewable in
24:17
Speaker 1: their minds. But this would have been easily corrected and
24:21
Speaker 1: it just wasn't. And in an instant replay world, that
24:25
Speaker 1: was a little tough to swallow.
24:27
Speaker 2: I'm with you.
24:31
Speaker 1: Bella, Bella, Bella, where? I don't know where Bella is,
24:35
Speaker 1: but I know how to take care of my pup.
24:38
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26:04
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26:04
Speaker 1: Thank you to Scott Braun for joining us. We've got
26:06
Speaker 1: time only for one question. I apologize for that. We
26:09
Speaker 1: went long on the Marte stuff. It was kind of interesting.
26:11
Speaker 1: So let's get to the one question we're going to
26:13
Speaker 1: take this week. The question is, Ken, who could claim
26:17
Speaker 1: Eugenio Suarez? Now, I reported last night that Suarez and
26:21
Speaker 1: TJ Friedel are both on outright waivers. Doesn't mean they're
26:24
Speaker 1: going to be leaving the Reds, but they are available
26:27
Speaker 1: to any team during this 48-hour period for the rest
26:31
Speaker 1: of the season if those teams, any team, is willing
26:34
Speaker 1: to take on the remainder of their contract. Suarez is
26:38
Speaker 1: owed almost $ 3 million. This is for one month. And essentially,
26:43
Speaker 1: he really has not been a very productive player this year.
26:45
Speaker 1: He does have 19 home runs. He did a huge
26:48
Speaker 1: grand slam yesterday. But I'd be surprised if anyone took
26:51
Speaker 1: that money on without him being in the middle of
26:55
Speaker 1: one of his hot streaks. So I don't expect him
26:57
Speaker 1: to get claimed. I don't expect Friedel to get acclaimed,
27:01
Speaker 1: but I've been surprised before. So with that, I want
27:04
Speaker 1: to thank everyone for watching, for listening. I want to
27:07
Speaker 1: advise everyone that we'll be back Monday with our normal
27:10
Speaker 1: Fair Territory, me alone. And of course, Foul Territory is
27:13
Speaker 1: coming up next with our host. Eric Kratz, A.J. Brzezinski
27:18
Speaker 1: hosting a show on a night he's doing a game?
27:20
Speaker 1: I expect some serious complaints about that. Scott will be
27:24
Speaker 1: with them. Guests, Carl Ravitch and John Birdie. Again, fair territory.
27:28
Speaker 1: Back on Monday. Thank you, everyone.