Latest / Foul Territory / Former Orioles GM Dan Duquette joins; pushes back on leaving a “mess”

Transcript

Former Orioles GM Dan Duquette joins; pushes back on leaving a “mess” · Foul Territory

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Former Big League gm Danduquet joining us right now on
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: ft DAN. Great to catch up with you again. It's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: good to see you and how's everything been?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: See you guys. How are you doing?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: We are good, So we have a lot to get
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to with you. But I do want to start with
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the headliner. I mean, you sent in some words to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the Baltimore Sun that I thought were really cool. I mean,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you had a great run, and I remember covering your
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: team there with you and Buck for a good run
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: at the time, and many other notable names and faces Machado,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Adam Jones, etc. So can you run through kind of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: what you've seen in terms of the narrative around Baltimore
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and then what your response was.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, the I wrote a short letter because I
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: didn't like the fact that they said that the organization.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: When I left it was a mess, because it wasn't
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: a mess.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: I've always prided myself I'm having a good organization and infrastructure,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: and I left good teams, actually my best team I
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: left in Montreal when I left there to go to Boston.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And in Boston when I left, I left them the
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: foundation which they leveraged a couple of championships, shortly after
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I left.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: There, and then in Baltimore, we did the same things.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: You know, Bill Parcell says, you know, you got to
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: have some groceries in the cupboard, and I think we
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: left some groceries in the cupboard there and a pretty
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: solid foundation.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, anytime you're in baseball for a long time,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you're going to have some good years and some bad years.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: And of course when you have a bad year, a
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: lot of times you don't get the opportunity for another year.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: But I thought that we did some really good work
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: in Baltimore, and J. C.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Meyer just dismissed our work entirely, saying it was a mess.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: And it really wasn't a mess because the team had
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: a lot of good players that they could use for
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a foundation to come back and make the playoffs just.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: A couple of years later.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: And I think Mike Mike Elias acknowledged that when he
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: gave us credit for a lot of the players that
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: helped the Ools get back to the playoffs in twenty
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: three or twenty four. But I just didn't like the
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: reporter didn't really do any fact checking, and I just
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: wanted to point out a couple.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Of facts and that is that we had some good years.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: In Baltimore, and when we did leave, they had the
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: foundation of a decent organization.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: Good for you, Dan, Good for you for firing back
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: on you know, whatever you want to call it, fake news,
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: false reporting, bad report, whatever you want to call it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Good for you on firing back. I have a couple
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: of questions for you. One, you did a great job.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Once you got there, the Orioles became relevant again because
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: for years the Orioles were like, Oh, we're going to Baltimore,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: we're winning at least two out of three, and we're
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: probably gonna sweep them. But once you got there, things
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: change for the Oriols of low So I want to
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: give you credit a ton of credit for that. And
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: then the the other thing is I wonder how handcuffed
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: you were because we've heard for years that the Oriols
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: didn't sign international prospects. And I don't want to bag
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: on the Angelo's family. I know they don't own the
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: team anymore, but how handcuffed were you as the GM
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: as far as international prospects and free agent signings go, Well.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: When you talk about international prospects, you know that, and
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: signing international prospects and good ones.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: That was a core competency of mind.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: And actually the reason the Red Sox hired me is
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: they wanted me to help them develop an international recruiting
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: network like we had in Montreal. So I went to
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: Boston and I did that. In fact, our international did
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: really well.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: We we signed Handley Ramiers, the left handed pitcher we
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: sent to Colorado. He ended up in Colorado. We sent
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: him to Arizona. The Red Sox center for Kurt Shilling.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: They were from our international. I mean, I always was
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: good on recruiting and sourcing players from international markets. And
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: when I got to the Orioles, one of the biggest
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: disappointments I had was that I couldn't compete. I couldn't
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: convince Pete Angelo. So the value of that to the team.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: And when you're competing in the American League East against
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: all these other teams, the Red Sox, the Yankees, the
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Blue Jays, those are all major market teams in Tampa
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and they're all active in the international market. You have
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: to have some sort of foundation. And I wasn't able
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: to convince mister Angelos to that. His sons, when they
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: started operating the club, they understood that, and the Orioles
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: opened up their international signings much bigger than when I
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: was there, when when Michael Aias got there. But that
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: wasn't that wasn't a choice of mine, you know that
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: that was it. That's a handicap because that's a source
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: of talent. And you look at the players in the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: big leagues, I think, what about thirty percent some of
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: the stars, maybe even more coming from international markets. And
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: if you're trying to compete without being aggressive in the
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: international markets, you're you're really going into a fight with
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: one hand tied behind your back. But be that as
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: it may, that was the choice of the ownership and
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: I wasn't able to convince them during my time there
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: that we should be aggressive in that regard, and I
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: think the club paid a price for that.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: You know, you've seen the Orioles.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: They got a terrific catcher there in Bassalo, right. He
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: was one of their first signings that they got coming back.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: But you know, to me, Harry Dalton told me that
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: aggressive scouting builds winning ball clubs, and being aggressive and
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: scouting recruiting on the international market would be, you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: one of the pedestals to support your stool to have
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: a competitive team.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: We talk about it all the time on here about
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: how some owners just get in the way of a GM.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Is it because you wanted to keep your job that
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: the owners you know that that gms don't want to
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: get fired. Is there a way to navigate that or
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: how hard you try to navigate that because that was
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: something that you were good at?
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Eric, You know, every every team has its challenges, right,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: And if you're a top executive, you have to learn
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: to work with all.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Sorts of people, right.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: You have to learn to learn to work with people
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: alongside of you, people that you supervise, people that you
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: report to, and you know that.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: That's really part of the job.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Having said that, there are some ownership situations where you
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: know they understand the value of empowering people and letting them,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: you know, do their job.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: So, as an executive, if I know what I'm good
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: at and I go and do that that's my core competency,
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: then I try to find other people that are good
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: at things that I'm not so good at to fill
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: out the team, right.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: And I think I think, uh, you know, every executive
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: has those challenges. Uh, It's just that you know, in baseball,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: some of those challenges are a little bit more significant,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: and certainly Baltimore was a significant challenge when it came
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: to dealing with the owners.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: But you know, having.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Said that, you know we still found a way to
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: have a very highly competitive team and be very good
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: for a period of time. And then, uh, you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: mister Angelos his health situation changed, and then you know
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: that changed the big dynamics around.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: In that franchise.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Science experiment for the one minute, we had to tell
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you about why we love Quint's electrolytes, including watermelon salt,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: raspberry salt. And I'm holding a citrus salt, just opened
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: it and pour some powder into my water, shake it up,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and AJ, why do you love it?
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: I love Quints because after a long night out, a
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: long day at the gym, a long walk in this
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: Florida humidity, it tastes great and it gives me all
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: the electrolytes I need. Why sugar free, Stevia free, keto
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: approve and taste sweet because of that delicious fermented rice.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: It does taste really good. I'm drinking it right now
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: while we talking about it. It's also made in the USA,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: rigorously third party tested. Give your body what it really
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: needs to stay hydrated. Go to quints dot com slash
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: foul for free shipping on your order and three sixty
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: five day returns. That's qui ncee dot com slash foul
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: for free shipping and three sixty five day returns quins
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: dot com slash foul. These statements have not been evaluated
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Can you delve in a little bit more.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: You went on a record and say that you weren't
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: in favor of the Chris Davis signing when he signed
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: his seven year contract. Can you go through maybe even
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: a little bit of that process, like, hey, yeah, we
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: want to sign him and you're like a bet or
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: not and how that all plays out. Obviously we know
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: he got that large contract.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Well, Chris got a large contract. The reason he got
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: a large contract is he was a good power hitter.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Having said that at the opening press conference at the
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: night we signed him, when they asked me about how
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: the contract came together, I made it very clear that
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: Chris's agent had finished the contract with mister Angelo as
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: the owner of the team, because you know, I had
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: done my own work on.
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: The market, and my work on the market found that
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: there wasn't as robust a market anywhere near as close
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: to what the Oriels ended up giving Chris Davis, and
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: as an executive, it was my.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Duty, if you will, to report that to the owner.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Now, if the owner wants to decide and go ahead
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: and sign him and give him the money, that's his prerogative.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I understood that. But when we signed Chris, I made
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: it very.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Clear that that contract was completed between Pete Angelos and
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Scott Boris. Now, my good friend Larry Luchino said, well,
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: if you let the agent get to the owner, then
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: you didn't do your job. So the agent got to
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: the owner in that case, and in that case I
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: could have done.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: A better job.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: But it wasn't really a Of course, I supported Chris
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Davis and his contribution to the team.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Did I support the values in the contract? No, I didn't.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I made that clear.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: I feel like that's a meme waiting to happen in Baltimore,
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: like Scott Boris crossing you up and you've fallen down,
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: and then him just going to the hoop to find
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: Peter Angelos to roll his contract into But I want
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: you to. I want you to conversate about your eight
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: years as the GM of the Oriels, comparing it to
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: michae Elias's eight years success or lack of success, and
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: how those two it's ironic that they're both the same
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: time period or the same amount of time.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: All the time. Yeah, the well, I don't I don't know.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I can talk about the success we had when I
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: first got there. The biggest challenge when I got there
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: was to build a pitching staff.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: You know, the Orioles for years.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: They thought that if you had sluggers, you could have
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: a competitive team. But lo and behold, we know in
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: the American League, eese, you need all the components of
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: a team, right, and the first thing you need it's
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: a game of defense. And the first line of defense,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: of course, is on the mid You guys know that
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: as catchers, right, you got to have a good pitching staff.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: So you know, my job when I got there.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Was to build a pitching staff and then to go
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: out and you know, recruit some depth to the organization.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: We didn't have a lot of depth in the organization,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: and we were able to do that. I signed chen
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: we Chen the left hander. When I got there, we
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: signed uh, We traded for Jason Hammel, We got Mike
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Gonzalez from the Mexican League, and we were able to
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: develop Chris, Chillman and Lo and behold, we had four starters.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: We had a pitching staff, and then you know, we
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: built the bullpen.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Buck artfully managed the bullpen to secure the leads. And
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: then you know, we had some emerging talent. JJ Hardy
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: had a great year. We had Matt Wieters, Adam Jones
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: emerged as a good player, and then Chris Davis and Manny.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: They filled out the ball club and we did pretty good.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: Our our best year was twenty fourteen, and ironically we
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: didn't have Machado, Widers or Davis on those teams for
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: the playoffs. Remember, Manny got hurt, Matt Wieterers got hurt
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: during the season, and Chris Davis got suspended for a
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: temporary use exception violation. So if you remember, Steve Pierce
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: started at first base, and I think Ryan Ryan Flaherty
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: was our third baseman and our catcher was what was
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: his name Nick? His dad was a football coach there.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: We got it from San Diego, N yeah, Nick Counley.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Nick Counley, Nick did a great job managing the pitching staff,
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: working with Dave Wallace and and and that that was
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: as close as we got that that fourteen team. You know, unfortunately,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: that's the last team that won a playoff game for
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: the for the Orioles, and.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: We didn't We didn't win any playoff games any Alcyes.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: We advanced in Kansas City, beat US the first game
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: at home, and we ended up getting getting swept and
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, Oriols fans are frustrated by that.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: We made the playoffs again in sixteen, but we got
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: we got eliminated there and then you know, after that
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: we had some issues with the organization was in transition,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: but we had five good years where the team had
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: I think just about the best record in the American League.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: We had good leadership from Buck, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: those guys.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: We were well received in the community, and.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I think the frustration of the Oriole fans is that,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: you know, the Earls got back to the playoffs I
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: think in twenty three and twenty four, and they expected
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: that that would continue, and you know, that's not the
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: way it goes in the American League.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: He's a tough, tough place to do business.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: Then I got clean one thing up. The Royals. We
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: were an incredible team. Even though I didn't play. I
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: was on the team and I got to watch. But
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: I think leaders play in the series. But I remember
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: thinking Chris Davis not playing because he took out of
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: all the therapeutic use in whatever the thing that the
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: twenty five game suspension, I thought Chris Davis not being
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: in that lineup was the biggest hurt for you guys
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: because you just didn't have that one dude.
• 15:09
  Speaker 8: That was like, oh ah, well, you know, I agree
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: with you, because at the time it happened, I thought,
• 15:16
  Speaker 8: you know, this is this is going to really hurt
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: us because here's a left handed power hitter.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: He's a significant power threat. And you know that Kansas.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: City Ballpark that plays pretty big that ballpark, and I
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: knew that if we didn't have the left handed power
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: threat in the lineup with Chris.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: That that was going to be that was going to
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: be an issue for us.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: So you know, it's interesting that you said that because
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: at the time it happened, I thought, you know, all
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: the things that could happen to us down the stretch.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: This is going to be a blow that's going to
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: be hard to overcome.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Dan, How long should a GM have? How long should
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: a DM president of baseball?
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: Half?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: Because you you said eight years? Michael Lias is on
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: his eighth year, right, they haven't won a playoff game.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: There's some gems that last short, and there's some gems
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: that last long. So what should be the time? And
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: I always joke on here, Oh, every GM says give
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: me five more years, because I got to get a
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: new wave of players, right.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Oh those were my players.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: Now I get five years with my players, right. So
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: what's it? What's a good timetable for a GM to
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: have success and get to the point that you were
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: just were talking about.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: How about how about these guys that come into these
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: jobs and they tear it down, They say, we gotta
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: we got to get a rebuild, right, and the yeah,
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: they they go through the rebuild and then they said, oh,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: we got we got to get another rebuild. My my
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: mentor was Harry Dalton, and he told me, he said,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: if you can't get it done in seven years, you
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: got to start looking for another opportunity. A guy named
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Lee Cluck just wrote a biography on Harry Dalton and
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: it's called Leave while the Party's Good.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: And Harry left Baltimore when when they were winning Penance
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Right and and winning World Reason. He went on to
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: California and then he was there for about seven years.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Then he went on somewhere else. And in my career,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: I was seven years in Milwaukee. I started out with
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the Brewers. I went to Montreal. I was seven years
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: in Montreal. I went to Boston. I was there for
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a little more than seven years, and I went to
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Baltimore and I was there for seven years. So I'm
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: kind of on the seven year thing.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: If you can, if you can get it done and
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: win a pennant, you should be able to go on
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: to a tenure, you know.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: I mean very few guys do what Brian Cash has
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: been able to do.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: It's actually remarkable to stay with one club for as
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: long as he as he has and to have a
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: competitive team every single year. That's the gold standard and
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: that's what we should all aspire to, I believe as executives.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: But it doesn't always happen that way.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: This is that time of year, aj it is Baseball's
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: time to shine, and it is geeks time to shine
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: with MLB tickets and finding the best pricing, seating and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: games that are even sold out available on sea geek.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Absolutely if you want to go to the biggest matchups
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: coming up. We have Yankees clubs coming up. Where's Yankees
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: red sox? That means stuff Again, there's some big moments
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: that are coming up here in the as the penachases
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: really heat up. Go to cke can find those green
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: tickets with the best deals and get yourself out to
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: an MLB game.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're straightforward with you. They will actually put
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: a red dot next to a ticket that they don't
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: feel is your best. Look. Green dot means very good
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: code for you. It's Territory ten ten percent off your
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: next set of MLB tickets at sea Geek. That's ten
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: percent off MLB tickets when you use the promo code
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Territory one zero. Make sure you click the link in
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the description to download the app and have the code
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: automatically added to your account so you can use it later.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Trade deadline just ended and teams to kind of didn't
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: quite go all in. As a former GM, do you
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: look at it and go man like If you don't
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: go all in who cares or do you now look
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: at it in a different way of like, well, you
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: know why you keep your job and you don't get fired.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm you know, I'm still I'm still of the
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: mind I'm kind of like George Allen was when he
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: was in the NFL. Right, George Allen says, you go,
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: go go, And George would commit to veteran players to
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: try to have as good a team or as competitive
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: a team as.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: He wants as he could have every single year.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: So I'm more of that mindset, and I have a
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: lot of respect for the guys that give up the
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: prospects when they have an opportunity. You know, Brian Savian said,
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: you know this is my reason to be around the
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: trade deadline, right. You know Dave don Browski, he'll do
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: whatever it takes to get his team in a position. Now,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: when you do that and you're more aggressive, I think
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: you're showing some leadership. You're also opening yourself up to
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: criticism right in that you could give up a player
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: that you know could go on and be very good,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: and that would count against your track record. But you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: given that the playoffs are there and there's more teams,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: there's more opportunity. To me, I think you should get
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: after it now. You know, are there's some teams that
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: are not as strong as others. Yeah, but look what
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Texas did a couple of years ago, right, they got
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: into the tournament on the wild card and they they
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: rode the experience of Bruce Bochi and the way he
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: handle his pitchers in the series and they ran the table.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I think the Red Sox got in got in the
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: playoffs one year as a wildcard team and they were
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: in the table. So, you know, if you can add
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: to your team and your team gels.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: And you got the depth, then your guys are healthy.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: You got some.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Starting pitching that's pretty good. You know that second season
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: is a second season. And if you got you know,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: some really good pitchers, you know, I think you owe
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: it to your fans and your team and your ownership
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: to get after it, you know. I mean you got
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: to use common sense too, Like like the Red Sox.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: Look at how they turned their season around. I mean,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: just extraordinary work there. Chad Tracy looks like he's a
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: natural manager. Turned that team around.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: But look how quickly they turned their team around.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: They had good defense, they had good pitching and then
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: they started to hit the ball right, they got some
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: offensive contribution, and you know, they turned their team around.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: It matter three weeks. So, I mean, we've all seen it. Right,
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: maybe it's an anomaly. But if you get a hot
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: team and you get turned around, baseball is baseball.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: You can beat anybody. No.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: You know, Oakland beat the Red Sox twice over the weekend, right,
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: nobody expected that that.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: That's one of the lower echelon teams in the league.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: And they go into.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Boston they beat the Red Sox couple of games. But
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't know. I guess I'm an old
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: school guy. I think you should get after. I think
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: that's what the fans really want you to do.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Well, that's what players really want too.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: But do you think gms are don't believe in their
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: team and that's why they don't push all in or
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: are they afraid of the criticism that you had mentioned.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's bold, Eric, But I
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: also think that you know, you can calibrate the risk, right, like,
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: what are your odds of getting into the playoffs?
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: What are your chances of advancing?
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: You know, and you can you can mitigate some of
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: those risks in the moves that you make, and by
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: having as much depth and as good as a top
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: instructional staff to get the most out of your talent.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: But I also think you got to look at it
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: realistically and if if you have some holes in your
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: lineup or your roster construction, I think you've got to
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: do everything in your power.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: To address those, right.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: You know, that shortstop with the with the Marlins, right,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: he's one of the best hitters in the league.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: They picked him up on a waiver plane.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: They got him on a waiver plane from another major
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: league team.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: What's his name, Lopez? Yeah?
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: And that that that kids, he's one of the best
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: players in the league and they got him for whatever
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: the waiver price is.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: You know, so I think you know you have to try,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: You got to push.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: This is the big leagues, and you have to have
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: a certain standard, right for your team and for your
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: big leagues because your fans have certain standards for the
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: performance of your team.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: You hear it every single day, and I think you
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: got to do everything when you're.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: In a leadership position you can to fulfill those expectations
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: of the fans, right, And.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: You know, the guys down in your dugout, in your clubhouse.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Those guys are grinding it out every single day, and
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: you bring up a good point, Eric, that's what the
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: players want. I mean, who's in this just to get
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: a paycheck? Brett met very few people that are in
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: baseball just to get a paycheck.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Right, You have to go to work. You have to
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: grind it out every day.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: You have to compete, you have to get yourself ready,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: you have to get your rest, I mean the whole
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: You have to make all these sacrifices with your family.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's tough, but you know, I think at
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: the end, you.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Know, if you're in the front office, you owe it
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: to your fans and to the people there, and to
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: the owners and to yourself to just get after it.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: When you can.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Andrew Miller, Nelson, Cruz, some of those big acquisitions
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that you guys made at the time. I just really
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: thought it resonated at the top of the note that
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: you sent into the Sun about Hey, team was terrible
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: for a long time. You could have done the scrap
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: it all down five year rebuild instead. A fast forward
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: A year later, twenty twelve, the team starts making the
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: playoffs and goes on that run. So this was helpful. Dan,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the conversation. Thanks for sharing all of
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: that with us, because, hey, it sounds like it was yesterday,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: but a lot of people forget that the Oriels had
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: some nice little playoff runs in there. I remember covering them.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: So thanks for the time. Great to see you again.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good to see you guys again. I appreciate it's
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: good to talked to you. And you know that catchers
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: the tools of ignorance. That's a miss snomer guys. You
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: know that right.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: That's why we have two of them on here almost
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: every day.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: I'm with you. Thanks Dan, talk to you.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot, guys, I appreciate it.