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Transcript

Panic Button Time · The 3-0 Take

• 0:00
  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take where we talk
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  all things Major League Baseball.
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  Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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  It all starts right now. Welcome back to the Three O Take
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  presented by a seat kick. This is episode 458 of your host
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  Kyle Corwin. I'm here with my Co host Nate
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  Reyes. Nate.
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  Here we are. Here we are, here we go.
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  Welcome back, everybody. I'm going to have to, I'm going
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  to have to dampen that enthusiasm a little bit.
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  I know we've rolled into episode 457 on a high.
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  We're feeling good. We are sounding the alarm, but
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  that was that was not the panic alarm.
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  Some negative stuff we're going to have to get into today
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  because I'll be honest with you, there's some teams right now,
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  there's some players that are on an absolute slide.
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  And to be quite honest with you, I don't blame them because we're
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  we're in what I think has been labeled as possibly the worst
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  month in in baseball, baseball. Dude.
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  This is just the we, we've talked about it before, recently
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  in in fact, I think in it's, it's just the worst for
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  baseball. It's the.
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  Worst Can we just say it's one of the worst months in general?
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  Just that's what I was getting at.
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  Just in general. I mean, even as like as kids,
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  summer was kind of for all intents and purposes, summer was
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  pretty much over by that point. And you're just like, I just
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  want to get back to school and see my friends as as we'll very
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  much get into it just sucks for baseball because.
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  It's hot like all of us. I'm ready for hoodie weather.
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  It just when you when you zoom out and look at the the big
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  picture of the season, it almost looks like you could you could
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  remove the month of August and be like all.
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  Right. Yeah.
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  Let's wrap up the summer portion of the season.
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  Let's get rid of March and August.
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  Get rid of, yeah, get rid of August, March and August.
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  You remove the month of August, we'll finish up the summer
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  portion of the season for baseball and then we'll just
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  jump right into September. Playoff chases and races.
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  Nailed it. We don't need August.
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  I, I hate it. The month ahead of August,
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  though, just when it comes to order, that would be the month
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  of July. Do you know what's in the month
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  of July, Nate? The 4th of July.
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  That's correct. That's correct.
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  Baseball wise, you know what's in the month of July we actually
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  like just had it. The trade deadline.
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  Getting there. We're close, We're close.
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  What else is in the month of July?
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  Big, big event. Big event.
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  All Star game. Big week.
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  There you go on that on that note, words, things on that
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  note, wanted to let you know haven't even shared this with
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  you over tech. So this is new to everybody.
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  I've officially booked a rental spot.
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  So like we're in there now and and ticket prices are falling
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  rapidly as more as more become available.
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  That seems to be how supply and demand works.
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  People trying to make it make a deal here.
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  ATL here we come. Given that we are now kind of
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  officially in there, do you want to like brainstorm here real
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  quick? Is there anything that we, we
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  need to do that we that we would like to do while we're down
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  there? Because we, you and I were
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  talking about the, the weekend ahead of the All Star game and
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  and Home Run Derby. Like prior to, I don't know, is
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  it the same for every team? Is it the same for every park?
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  Like do they have a, do they have a, a like a fan fest?
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  Do they have the red carpet thing?
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  I feel like we've seen this across.
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  I feel like the red carpet thing is A is a new standard.
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  That seems to be a a common place.
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  I don't know. About the fest thing, I don't
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  remember the oddly enough, this year was like the first time I'd
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  ever seen a fest. Fantastic.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  I mean, it didn't. I mean, it certainly helped the
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  fact that they had an entire stadium across the street in
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  which they could. That's what makes me like
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  wonder. They can hold this festival.
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  Is Turner Field still up? I think it is, but they're not
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  anywhere near each other. They're like 20 minutes away
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  from each other. Yeah, it's a bit of a hike.
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  Yeah, weird. I don't know.
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  I will. We'll find out.
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  I will say though. Some chicken and waffles.
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  I know that that's happening. The spot that I've booked, I
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  looked around, there are some incredible memorabilia stops.
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  Oh. Very like hole in the wall,
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  looking places right around where we're at.
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  So that's going to be. Pissed.
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  We're going to spend so much money, they're going to hate us
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  so. Much Every time I bring
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  something home to put up on the wall, she's like really another.
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  One another. How many?
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  How many? There's room and I'm like,
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  there's, it's there. Ceiling somewhere the ceiling's
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  wide open. Man.
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  Yeah, I think we're going to get down there for that weekend
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  because even like we're, we're just going to find stuff to do
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  and we're going to, I know there's going to be some some
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  three O Tech listeners, some three O Tech supporters down
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  there. So maybe we'll just meet up with
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  them. Maybe we'll do a little little
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  gathering little kit together. Didn't want to spend too much
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  time on that, just wanted to let you know.
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  That I just like that it's official.
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  I had recently done the booking, so we are good there, but that's
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  a little. That secures a chipper jersey
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  for me. I'm going to get a chipper
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  jersey. I've wanted one for a long time.
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  That's. There's your excuse.
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  If you win this fantasy league, you probably have the the pick
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  of the litter. That's a little brief glimpse
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  into the positivity. We got to talk.
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  We got to, we got to, we got to hit the panic button and I do I,
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  I. I negative Nate, Negative Nate
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  is what they call me on the streets.
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  Negative Nate I I do have the panic button queued up on the
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  sound board, so prepare your hearts.
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  I know so for some of you, this is your this is the alarm that
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  you wake up to in the morning and I this may little.
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  Trigger Warning This is a trigger.
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  Warning. Yeah, just beware.
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  Just just know that this is. It better not be mine.
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  Mine's actually kind of nice. It's the classic, it's the
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  classic iPhone alarm. For those who who know which one
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  I'm talking about, It's it'll make your skin crawl if it's
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  what if it's what you wake up to, it's it's not fun.
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  But all that to say, we need to talk about some teams, some
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  players that have been sliding, have been scuffling.
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  But before we do that, just a little house housekeeping here.
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  We have yet to talk since the firing of Pedro Grafal was made
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  official. We don't need to spend too much
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  time on it, but we do need to point out the fact that you and
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  I, the night before this happens, I've, I even put a
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  video out on this. I, I cut the clip.
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  It's you and I going back and forth going, well, he's going
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  to, he's going to ride it out. I mean, he's going to make it to
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  the end of, of, of 2024 at least, because this is what your
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  season's going to be. So why?
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  I mean, there's what, what's the point in firing him now?
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  And then less than 24 hours later, the White Sox have have
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  decided to fire manager Pedro Grafault.
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  Like for what? Once the streak ended, too.
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  Like, that's such a tough thing. Like what?
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  There was on a high note? Like what?
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  What was the thought, Ross? Not even on a high note.
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  They lost the game the next day. So was.
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  There it was. After it was after the following
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  game. Yeah.
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  So was there some sort of like agreement behind closed doors,
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  Like, hey, we'll keep you, we'll keep you around if you went out.
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  But the first, the first time you, Oh yeah, you get handed an
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  L after this losing streak, you're gone.
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  Maybe they were just like, maybe this was an agreement going back
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  to July, you know, in June, July, they were just like, hey,
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  if you can win, all I need you to win is 2 out of 24 games.
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  It's all you got to do. Worst case scenario, you're
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  gone. If not and look here we are one
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  for what were what is it? What was the stretch one in 23?
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  Was the that 24 game stretch? No, it didn't get to 22.
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  Was it one in 23? No 21, well, I don't know what
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  the the stretch was through like 25 whatever, but they it was 21
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  straight. Yeah, whatever.
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  He he made weird comments anyway, he said some weird stuff
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  and like he continually put it on the players and like you
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  could very much see the like the separation and it's like, I
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  don't know, I there's got to be some form of leadership in your,
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  in your manager. So it's like the guy didn't
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  excite me when he was hired. And forgettable.
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  Forgettable. Did you see the the Chris Getz
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  comments? No on board for it though maybe
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  No, not on board for it. Lacking, lacking a good deal of
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  sense, I'll say it sounds very organizational theme, very tone
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  deaf, very just not reflective of this, of the point in the
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  season at which we're at. If he would have told, if he
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  would have said these things back in May, OK, but we are now
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  in mid August, he said. You look at the 2023 season, the
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  2024 season, winning projections, win loss
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  projections and how dramatically below we were in the win column,
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  there was underperformance, there were some misalignments
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  along the way, some different belief systems and there was
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  lack of production. Overall.
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  You look at how many games, no, the this, this finish to the,
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  the bit was what got me, he said.
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  You look at how many games that we've LED early and weren't able
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  to finish or how many games we haven't been able to come back
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  to get a win, obviously there were something that was broken.
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  Obviously there were something that was broken.
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  And now it's fixed. You were 60 games under 500, and
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  it took you reaching that mark to say, well, you know,
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  something's probably broken. Right, How do you feel about So
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  again, just another reminder of how old we're getting.
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  He's a player that we grew up watching is now stepping in as a
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  manager. How do you feel about it?
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  And were you aware of the lack of post retirement experience on
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  the resume? No dude.
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  Dude was like an intern. Did you see, did you see the
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  details of that internship though?
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  No, I think it was front office sports.
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  Hold on, let me find it. Here I mean nothing against I I
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  like Grady size more. No, no, no, I think I've heard
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  good things about how he was. It's like a teammate and like,
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  well. The whole post retirement
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  resume. Tell me.
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  Tell me who's managing the Cleveland Guardians right now
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  and tell me how that's going. Sure.
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  I mean, I I get that I think. Hold on, before we get too far I
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  need to read you this this front office sports tweet.
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  They said last year Gray Sizemore took a $15.00 an hour
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  internship with the D backs because all other positions were
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  taken. We you mean we can't get that
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  guy a like a job somewhere doing something he's.
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  Making plenty of pension money. I'm not worried about the
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  pension money, but you're going to tell me Grady Sizemore is is
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  kicking it? Making what Uber drivers make.
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  Kicking it in the metaphorical slums with the other like 18
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  year olds that are trying to make a living with an
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  internship. Come on this.
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  Is just. It's just weird.
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  It's weird to go outside of the organization.
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  It's it's random. And I to counter your argument
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  with that this Stephen Vogt thing, there was no gap.
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  You know what I'm saying? Like Stephen Vogt was was a
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  backup catcher and very much involved with with a lot of
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  almost like player manager role. There's a big gap.
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  I don't even know, wouldn't Grady retire?
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  I would guess 15, maybe even 13. And what has he done since?
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  You know what I mean? Like I, I think at the very
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  least, like Steven Vote is was in the league a few years ago
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  and he's like seeing how analytics has now been
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  interjected into a game plan around putting A-Team together.
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  15 by the way, 15, yeah, no, I mean, and I understand it's not
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  the the greatest. Comp but it's it's no.
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  I get what you're saying though. I mean it's.
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  It's just a lack of experience, generally speaking.
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  But yeah, it it for me, the it's less about the resume and more
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  about going outside of the organization to fill or to fill
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  the void to get you through the rest of this historically awful
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  season. Coaches were let go too, right?
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  Like some of the staff was. I believe the base coaches, the
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  hitting coach. I'm not sure about the pitching
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  coach, but yeah, I know. I believe those three, at least
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  at the very least, were gone. But it could have been done a
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  while ago. Yeah, it it's like, why not just
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  keep it in house, ride out the remaining Yeah, call it two
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  months of the season and then begin the search.
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  I mean, you know, there's nothing saying you can't start
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  the search now, but like just crawl to the finish line and
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  then do what you got to do. Is this there?
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  We is this some like weird try out for Grady Sizemore?
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  Because if so, that's a very, I would, I would argue very unfair
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  situation or place him in like, Hey, we'll give you a shot.
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  If you if like, if you have any interest in managing a big
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  league club, you can try it out with us.
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  By the way, the team sucks. If you avoid the worst record of
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  all time, we may bring you back. I don't.
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  It's a weird scenario, man. It's a weird scenario.
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  It's I'm, I'm surprised, but like not surprised.
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  I don't know how they move forward.
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  I don't know how they move forward.
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  It actually makes me like I I'm glad I'm not a White Sox fan it
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  because it it legitimately makes me mad seeing how poorly run
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  that organization like you there.
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  There's no way. That just go to Portland, go to
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  no. Like there's no way that as a as
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  a professional in the industry, that as someone in ownership,
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  the front office management, whatever at, at, at the top of
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  that or at or near the top of that organization running it or,
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  or at the table in the decision making process that you can look
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  at the job that's being done right now and go this is this is
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  adequate, this is acceptable. I mean.
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  No, no. What?
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  The whole the whole house needs to be cleaned.
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  This does go along with my long time theory.
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  Not so much a theory, but categorizing of typical
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  managers. It's it's the grinders, the the
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  best managers or most common managers.
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  They don't even have to be the best managers are the ones that
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  are grinders. They weren't the superstars when
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  they were playing superstars. Just this stuff happens
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  naturally. I don't know how to teach you
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  how to do it. I just do it.
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  It's the guys that just grind and do whatever they can to stay
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  in the league. And I, I think Grady Sizemore is
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  a little bit above that level, but like just you look at a lot
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  of names, Cora, you know what I mean?
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  And and David Ross and Stephen Vogt and reluctantly saying
• 17:52
  Aaron Boone. But like there's a lot of names
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  that you can even go back to, you know, Joe Torre, Tony Lucia,
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  like these guys aren't like household names when they're
• 18:01
  playing. It's the guys that like have to
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  do everything they can to stay in the league that seem to get
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  these manager roles because it's connection with with that.
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  I, I don't know, it's, it's just weird, but it isn't a common
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  theme, right? Like no, I agree, but I will say
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  I'm I'm here for all of the memes saying that if Aaron Boone
• 18:24
  hadn't hit a particular home run in 2003, he'd be.
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  Flipping burgers right now. Incredibly true.
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  Incredibly true. I didn't mean there's a lot of
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  weird stuff. If he didn't, if he didn't tear
• 18:35
  his ACL playing pick up basketball here, Alex Rodriguez
• 18:38
  wouldn't have been a Yankee, he would have been a Red Sox.
• 18:42
  There's a lot of weird stuff. Yeah, and included in in weird
• 18:49
  stuff happening in a baseball. You can chalk up going outside
• 18:52
  of the team to bring in Grady Sizemore to manage this circus,
• 18:59
  but that's all I'll say on that. Any other thoughts before we
• 19:01
  move on? I wish him well, but I would
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  kind of well, I was kind of rooting for the worst season of
• 19:07
  all time. So like I'm I'm in, I'm caught
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  in a rock and a hard place. So sorry, Grady, I'd like to see
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  I'd like to see a new low personal.
• 19:16
  Yeah, well, that was the other thing too.
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  I think Chris gets there asking him like, you know, like what's
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  the what's the plan for the rest of the season?
• 19:23
  I think he said something to the effect of, well, if if we can
• 19:26
  avoid the 120 loss mark, I think that'd be good luck.
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  That'd be the goal. Whatever team is a clown show.
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  All right, let's let's transition into some panic
• 19:41
  button time the Boston Red Sox. If you're waking yourself up to
• 19:50
  that sound, you're a psychopath. Yeah, I mean, look.
• 19:53
  We re evaluate. We gave you the.
• 19:55
  Warning that it was coming, but also maybe make some different
• 20:00
  life choices because that's an important part of your day, what
• 20:04
  you wake up to. I mean, that's to willingly
• 20:07
  choose this. You hate yourself I.
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  Mean, if you're a heavy sleeper, I get it, but trust me when I
• 20:16
  say that there are other options out there like you don't have
• 20:19
  to. You don't have to do this.
• 20:22
  Please don't seek help. You don't have to subject
• 20:25
  yourself to that, no. But the Boston Red Sox, they
• 20:30
  currently are in the midst of a 27 games and 27 days stretch,
• 20:37
  and boy are they playing like it right now.
• 20:41
  The pitching is God awful. Their offense is doing what
• 20:46
  their offense always does. But the pitching, you want to
• 20:52
  talk about crawling to the finish line.
• 20:54
  Yeah. But I don't even know if we're
• 20:57
  going to have enough extremities on these guys to even make it to
• 21:02
  the finish line. Guys are dropping like flies.
• 21:04
  He had James Paxton today. It look, I think his calf
• 21:08
  exploded. That poor guy man.
• 21:11
  Like walk watching him walk off if it hurt me to watch. 55
• 21:18
  pitchers into the game and on a day where the team absolutely
• 21:23
  needed him to go deep. I'm pretty sure we had AI.
• 21:26
  Think we had a bullpen game yesterday.
• 21:30
  You've got Tanner Howe progressing, Cutter Crawford's
• 21:34
  regressing. Both of them are dealing with
• 21:36
  like workload concerns and that was something that was public,
• 21:40
  not common public knowledge on opening day.
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  And these, these concerns have amounted in, have amounted to
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  one of the worst. Let me see if I got the numbers
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  right. The I'm pretty sure since the
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  All Star break, I want to say the worst team ERA in baseball.
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  Brooksgate on Twitter has the Red Sox having the best ERA in
• 22:10
  all of baseball in their first 40 games.
• 22:13
  But since they're ranked 28th. So no matter how you slice it as
• 22:20
  of late just have not been good. But like I said, offensively
• 22:26
  they are. You go a month back over the
• 22:29
  last 30 days, they have the third highest team OPS in all
• 22:32
  baseball at 855 behind just the Yankees.
• 22:35
  And you know who they're just in front of?
• 22:37
  By the way, I just included this because I thought it was
• 22:40
  interesting. Boyles.
• 22:44
  The Oakland A's the last month the Oakland A's have the fourth
• 22:49
  highest team OPS in baseball. But yeah, the, yeah, I mean,
• 22:56
  you, you can lump Nick Pavetta into that conversation as well.
• 22:59
  He's dealing with some fatigue and, and just overall stamina
• 23:02
  issues right now. It, like I said, August sucks.
• 23:06
  And I you, you have to look no further than the Boston staff,
• 23:11
  the Red Sox staff, to see the effects of that.
• 23:15
  I I, how much are you going back to the deadline and scratching
• 23:19
  your head? Like how much is that?
• 23:21
  Like, I get it, like it's done. It's it's over with, but like,
• 23:27
  it's just so disappointing to be delightfully in my mind, to be
• 23:31
  delightfully surprised about your team's performance and
• 23:35
  they've put themselves in a position to be competitive and
• 23:38
  your front office doesn't do anything like adding Paxton was
• 23:44
  not enough. I had a quote.
• 23:48
  I want to say it was at the start of last year or the year
• 23:52
  before. You can apply it to both.
• 23:54
  Well, like, yeah, arguably you can apply to both.
• 23:59
  It was something to the effect of the Red Sox need a lot of
• 24:05
  things to go right, and I just don't see all of those things
• 24:08
  happening. It was something along those
• 24:10
  lines. And it applies right here.
• 24:13
  Right now we are in the middle of you need a lot of things to
• 24:17
  go right, some of which some of which are, but the majority of
• 24:22
  them are not. And a lot of those issues focus
• 24:26
  center around pitching and you, you can hit the baseball all day
• 24:33
  long, but if you make it to October somehow, some way, you
• 24:38
  are not getting by with what you have right now because it is
• 24:40
  not, it is not enough at all. So to answer your question, yes,
• 24:45
  the deadline, it would have been nicer had they made some more
• 24:48
  additions. But like, I don't want to get
• 24:49
  into all revisionist history mode because if you recall, post
• 24:53
  deadline, my take on the Red Sox was that would I have liked them
• 24:58
  to do more? Absolutely, but at the cost of
• 25:03
  what was being asked for some of these higher end names.
• 25:09
  No. I'm so I'm glad we didn't
• 25:10
  offload a whole lot for just a little, but I guess the Red Sox
• 25:15
  fixed that is bringing back Rich Hill because apparently.
• 25:18
  Saying. Rich Hill is on his way back to
• 25:20
  Boston, So because. It's like if you if you there
• 25:23
  were ways to get innings, I'm not saying they should have been
• 25:26
  in the hunt for a Tarek school. I'm not saying I'm not saying
• 25:29
  they should have been, you know, bidding for those types of guys.
• 25:32
  But like, I got to assume like Tyler Anderson would have been
• 25:37
  cheaper. You know, can you, can you work
• 25:40
  your way around the league and and find cheaper names?
• 25:43
  But it makes you wonder though, if I, I mean, the decision
• 25:46
  making behind the angels organization is, is a whole
• 25:50
  issue in and of itself. But it makes you wonder though,
• 25:53
  the fact that he wasn't even either he wasn't shipped
• 25:55
  anywhere, makes you wonder what that asking price was.
• 25:59
  I mean, I can't imagine it objectively being that high, but
• 26:02
  we saw how inflated the results of these trade deadline packages
• 26:06
  were. If all you needed was depth to
• 26:09
  survive, I felt like it was out there.
• 26:13
  You know, I'm not, like I said, I don't, I don't think, I think
• 26:17
  you're right. I think the asking price is
• 26:19
  pretty high on on a lot of names and on a season where it seems
• 26:24
  like and it's not the best time to push all your chips in the
• 26:27
  middle of the table, I would have liked to seen something a
• 26:30
  little bit more than American. Look, I I'm not going to sit
• 26:36
  here and say that those that the guys in the front office aren't
• 26:40
  immune to getting swept up in the good vibes of what was going
• 26:44
  on right around the deadline. Even even post deadline where
• 26:49
  you're winning series, you're you're figuring out ways to win
• 26:51
  baseball games. You're having some exciting
• 26:53
  moments scattered throughout a given week and you kind of get
• 26:57
  swept up that in that. And you're like, all right,
• 26:59
  things seem to be moving in the right direction.
• 27:01
  The things that we need to go right are all things considered
• 27:05
  going relatively right. So let's just ride this thing
• 27:08
  out and see what happens. But all it takes is a couple
• 27:10
  guys to show up to the to the field when they go, yeah, my
• 27:13
  arm, my arm is dead. And then takes the next day for
• 27:18
  a guy to go, yeah, my calf exploded.
• 27:20
  And then you're you're back to square one, seemingly.
• 27:22
  So tell me, do you feel you're do you feel that you're being
• 27:27
  rational or is this like a semi irrational because like I'm not.
• 27:35
  I'm I think I'm cumminess. Because like, I saw two out of
• 27:38
  three against the Rangers, they took two out of three against
• 27:41
  the Royals, who are back and forth for a wild card spot.
• 27:47
  Now we're just coming off of a sweep from the Astros.
• 27:49
  Is this Are you saying this is the beginning of the end?
• 27:53
  No, I'm not saying it's the beginning of the end, but to
• 27:56
  your point about the our our recent stretch, we're losing
• 27:59
  games that we should be winning. So it's those things you get
• 28:05
  later in the season, those things start to add up.
• 28:07
  I mean, sure, every game is important, but especially when
• 28:10
  you get down to crunch time, those things are important.
• 28:13
  But I don't think I'm being irrational.
• 28:16
  I think I'm coming back down to earth a little bit because I, I
• 28:19
  can't speak at the front office getting swept up in in the good
• 28:22
  vibes, but I certainly was getting caught up in like the
• 28:26
  remember. I mean, not too long ago I was
• 28:28
  making, making I, I was poking a little bit of fun at the at, at
• 28:32
  you and the rest of the division being like, Hey, don't count us
• 28:35
  out for the division just yet because we're only at the time.
• 28:39
  I think it was like six games out and I was like, crazier
• 28:41
  things have happened. But now I think the Red Sox are
• 28:44
  coming back down to earth ever so slightly.
• 28:48
  I'm not saying they're, they're plummeting, but I, I do think it
• 28:51
  is a little bit concerning that we are now entering mid August
• 28:57
  and we still have a month and a half left and we have.
• 29:01
  Really no answers when it comes to falling off a little bit.
• 29:05
  I could see that. I mean, yeah, I'm looking at
• 29:07
  this next stretch. You got three against the
• 29:09
  Rangers, you got four against the OS, you got three more
• 29:12
  against the Astros, and then you got three against the
• 29:15
  Diamondbacks. Next off day isn't until next
• 29:18
  Thursday. Yeah, there's there's got to be
• 29:23
  some, some double header sprinkled in there or something
• 29:26
  because like I said, we're in the midst of a 27 game and 27
• 29:30
  day span. So I mean do that information
• 29:35
  what you will Red Sox slash baseball fans if if you're
• 29:40
  keeping an eye like if if you're a fan of the Royals and you're
• 29:43
  keeping an eye on the Red Sox kind of sort of on your tail
• 29:47
  being like what's going on there?
• 29:48
  That's that's kind of where we're at right now.
• 29:51
  Zero pitch 0 answers for pitching The offense continues
• 29:55
  to hit, but it's. Struggling at home.
• 30:00
  Four games under 500 at home. Yeah, it's an issue that existed
• 30:06
  on opening day, and it's an issue that exists in the middle
• 30:09
  of August. Not much has changed.
• 30:15
  Let's switch gears here. Pirates.
• 30:18
  You want to talk about a team that is falling from grace?
• 30:21
  I mean, what was it? Was it like a week and a half
• 30:28
  ago that we were talking about them maybe messing around and,
• 30:33
  and, and swiping a wild card spot and now they've lost seven
• 30:37
  straight again, I'm not going to say, you know, I'm not going to
• 30:42
  sit here and say it's the beginning of the end, but.
• 30:47
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and I'm at the point now
• 30:52
  with the pirates that I and don't let, don't let me forget
• 30:56
  this. I'm at the point now where I'm
• 31:00
  going to treat the Pirates as a serious organization.
• 31:03
  I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
• 31:05
  Be constructive criticism. Because yes, because I I that
• 31:11
  and that I'm trying to manifest it into them being a legitimate
• 31:16
  franchise worthy being taken serious.
• 31:19
  So I'm not going to sit here and be like, Oh yeah, it's a
• 31:21
  pirates. What did you expect?
• 31:22
  I I'm not doing that anymore. So to your point, constructive
• 31:26
  criticism, pirates, what are we doing?
• 31:29
  You've lost seven straight. You just got walked off in LA to
• 31:32
  to finish out that series. Yeah.
• 31:38
  I mean, I think I think Pirates fans are, are, are down so bad
• 31:42
  right now, or maybe not Pirates fans, but base the baseball
• 31:48
  landscape is, is viewing the Pirates in such a poor light
• 31:52
  right now that I'm seeing headlines attributed to Paul
• 31:56
  Skeens with like, yeah, Paul Skeens is having his.
• 31:59
  He just had his, his word, the worst start of his career.
• 32:01
  And I look it up. I I look up and he's giving up
• 32:03
  like four runs. I'm like, I would take four runs
• 32:06
  from a starting pitcher seven days a week.
• 32:10
  And we're sitting here talking about, well, he, you know, Paul
• 32:12
  Skeens is is is sliding. Is this a concern for the
• 32:15
  Pirates? Paul Skeens is the least of
• 32:17
  their concerns. We need to figure out elsewhere
• 32:21
  where we need to look to, to, to get this thing back on track.
• 32:25
  Because I, I was looking at it, I think, I think pitching wise
• 32:32
  since the break, I think their staff is in the middle to upper
• 32:39
  half across the league just in terms of performance.
• 32:42
  I mean, they're not, they're not, they haven't been
• 32:45
  atrocious. They're like middle of the pack
• 32:49
  and the same thing goes offensively.
• 32:50
  I think they're I think they're kind of hovering there.
• 32:53
  Yeah, in the middle of the back too.
• 32:54
  Bullpens, bullpens tough. And I was watching a game last
• 32:59
  week, I want to say Thursday or Friday against the Padres, and
• 33:05
  it was like a poorly managed game.
• 33:08
  It felt like the Padres, that Matsui, that small lefty for the
• 33:14
  Padres was left in a little too long.
• 33:18
  And the Pirates, I think they hit.
• 33:19
  I think I think Joey Bart hit like a go ahead home run in the
• 33:24
  eighth. And you were like, OK, like the
• 33:27
  you fought back. Like let's, let's nail this
• 33:29
  thing down. Joey Bart.
• 33:31
  Another name That's the least of their concerns right now, right?
• 33:34
  Been very well. Popping off.
• 33:35
  Yeah. And then, yeah, Bednar came in
• 33:40
  and it just imploded. And it's it's the what you were
• 33:44
  saying earlier, like the the games you should be winning.
• 33:47
  Like you, you hit a home, but go ahead home, run in the eighth.
• 33:50
  Like you need to, you need to hammer things down.
• 33:53
  You need to take that dub. Yeah, man, Bednar is I, I don't
• 33:58
  know, it's start. It's starting to feel like last
• 34:01
  year was a little bit of a fluke just based on what they've been
• 34:05
  doing this year. It's like I, I think if there's
• 34:07
  any hope, you got to consider Chapman looks good.
• 34:10
  Chapman was one O 4, one O 5. One O 5 didn't even realize he
• 34:14
  still had that in the tank. But the deal with Bednar,
• 34:16
  though, he, I mean, I don't know like how he did over this
• 34:20
  weekend, how, how he fared or even like the last week.
• 34:23
  But I heard at one point last week that he had, he had righted
• 34:28
  the ship from the start of the season.
• 34:30
  Because if you remember, I mean, he just fell off the map and was
• 34:33
  blown games left and right. But I think, I don't know if he
• 34:37
  strung together consecutive save streak, but it, it was something
• 34:41
  like 14 out of his last 15 going back a couple months or
• 34:48
  something to that effect. I, I don't have the numbers
• 34:51
  written down, but they, I, I heard him talking about on the
• 34:54
  broadcast talk about how Bednar had kind of seemingly figured it
• 34:56
  out. So I don't know, like I said, I
• 34:58
  don't know the last four or five days if something's changed,
• 35:01
  but. Yeah, he's blown.
• 35:03
  He blew two consecutive save opportunities Friday and then
• 35:08
  obviously the walk off today. OK, yeah.
• 35:10
  So this this would have been before then because they were
• 35:12
  they were given the praise that he it's sounded like he.
• 35:15
  Deserved. It's tough.
• 35:16
  It's like a it's like a field goal kicker, you know what I
• 35:22
  mean? It's like a kicker in football
• 35:23
  where you're like, I've watched you miss it in big moments and I
• 35:28
  don't know if I have the full trust in you.
• 35:31
  And what are what happened to the days of lockdown closers, by
• 35:36
  the way, closers? Suck now well we talked about
• 35:39
  that when it it it seemed like you you turn left you turn right
• 35:44
  no matter where you look some closer was being presented this
• 35:47
  like big grand entrance like walk out performance.
• 35:51
  I'm like, I'm all, I'm all for the entertainment and, and
• 35:56
  growing the game and all that. But like we got to there's, we
• 36:00
  got to draw the line somewhere for these closers.
• 36:02
  Like, you can't be, you can't be bringing a guy out to like ACDC
• 36:07
  and he's blown like 12 of his last 14 saves who just can't be
• 36:12
  doing that. Yeah, yeah.
• 36:14
  But just cleaning up the pirates a little bit.
• 36:17
  I, I mean, I, I think I, I appreciated some of the effort
• 36:21
  they put in at the deadline. I didn't realize how rough
• 36:28
  O'Neill Cruz has been at short. He's been really bad.
• 36:33
  And that was one of the losses. And during this streak was, I
• 36:38
  think it was that day where it was supposed to be a double play
• 36:42
  and he like threw it away and two runs scored from him thrown
• 36:46
  away up the line at first like. Well, his NL Central counterpart
• 36:50
  has also been pretty rough defensively.
• 36:53
  Ellie De La Cruz has been, I think he's near at the top of
• 36:57
  the. One of the like most air
• 36:59
  leaderboards and I think it's like on casual plays too, if
• 37:02
  you're a stat nerd. I it's been one of the like the
• 37:05
  routine plays that they're messing up.
• 37:07
  But yeah, Kebryan Hayes has not like lived up to the hype.
• 37:14
  I here's to see how that goes moving forward.
• 37:19
  Luckily it was a team friendly deal that he signed, but there's
• 37:23
  some things that need to be shifted.
• 37:25
  But I'll I'll all think I'll go ahead and just call it dead,
• 37:30
  dead on, dead on scene here where there are five games back
• 37:34
  in the wild card. So and they are now four games
• 37:38
  under 500. I just don't.
• 37:42
  I don't see this happening, sorry.
• 37:47
  Calm dead and look it it it's common sense it it doesn't
• 37:51
  necessarily need to be stated, but it's it's worth a gentle
• 37:54
  reminder. You hear you hear whether it's
• 37:58
  the wild card or the division because the the the playoff
• 38:01
  picture shapes out in different ways.
• 38:03
  So sometimes your your chances are better of making the the
• 38:06
  postseason or your chances are are greater to make postseason
• 38:09
  the division versus the wild card yada yada.
• 38:11
  We've we've seen how that works out, but you hear six games back
• 38:18
  at the beginning of August and you're like, all right, no need
• 38:20
  to, no need to panic. We're good.
• 38:23
  But you hear six games back at the start of September.
• 38:26
  Yeah, you can't have implosions. Like this, it's not, it's not
• 38:29
  the same because you just have to look at the sample.
• 38:33
  So you have to look at what's left and and be reminded of the
• 38:37
  fact that standings don't shake up that much with a month left
• 38:42
  to go like it just you need to, you need to close the gap and
• 38:45
  they are struggling to do that. August is definitely like the
• 38:49
  the month of true colors. You know, we're just starting to
• 38:52
  see teams. They they are who they who they
• 38:55
  are, who we thought they were kind of enter enter that meme in
• 38:59
  here. Tough, tough scene.
• 39:02
  I was ready. I'm I'm still ready.
• 39:04
  I'm anxious to raise it, but like, I think with Skeens being
• 39:12
  who he is already right away, money has to be spent.
• 39:17
  I, I, I'm expecting a big offseason.
• 39:22
  And I mean like, you need to go. You need to put some money down,
• 39:27
  get yourself a big first baseman, get yourself 2 starters
• 39:31
  and and shore up that bullpen and figure out what the heck's
• 39:34
  wrong with Bednar. Rowdy Talez is not the move.
• 39:38
  You need to go get a big first baseman, spend some money then
• 39:42
  and get some support in that rotation.
• 39:47
  So literally, it's not really. Everything.
• 39:49
  Yeah, but I mean, it's not like the no.
• 39:51
  No, I I get what you're saying. It's not like the OK like skeins
• 39:54
  is still growing and finding himself, you know what I mean?
• 39:57
  Like you could if you look at like a.
• 40:01
  Bobby Miller with the Dodgers, right, Like if he was healthy
• 40:04
  and you're like, you see him first year, great.
• 40:06
  And then you see like this come down of like, all right, well,
• 40:10
  maybe it's not like a frontline rotation guy.
• 40:12
  I don't foresee that happening with Paul Skeens.
• 40:14
  I don't think he's going to go from Cy Young conversation
• 40:18
  rookie to your conversation to like completely sophomore slump.
• 40:22
  So if we're talking Prime is now, then that is who you build
• 40:27
  it around and that's they got to start doing some things.
• 40:31
  No idea what the free agent market looks like, but they're
• 40:34
  going to have to spend some money.
• 40:37
  Wrapping up here with the Pirates, the I guess you could
• 40:41
  say the standard has been lowered.
• 40:42
  The, the, the threshold for excitement has been lowered
• 40:48
  because I think there for a brief moment we are like, maybe
• 40:51
  we get a taste of, of the Pirates in the post season this
• 40:55
  year. Paul Skiens, Jared Jones, we see
• 40:57
  what that's like. I think now, assuming this kind
• 41:01
  of holds this, this maintains the way they're playing right
• 41:06
  now. I mean, not seven straight
• 41:09
  losses bad, but assuming they they don't figure out a way to
• 41:12
  make make it into wild card. I guess the take away from this
• 41:16
  season for them will be, well, at least we got to see the buzz.
• 41:20
  Trending. We're trending up.
• 41:23
  Yeah, we got to see the buzz that this city can build around
• 41:28
  the guys that we have here and will have here for some time.
• 41:32
  Let's build off that. It would have been nice to get a
• 41:34
  little bit of a taste of the post season with these guys,
• 41:36
  just a little. Maybe you could even call it a
• 41:38
  premature taste because I don't think the pirate many people
• 41:42
  have the pirates doing much this year.
• 41:44
  But I guess like I said, the take away will be well, we we
• 41:47
  could we could see that we're at least trending in the right
• 41:50
  direction. So let's build off that so.
• 41:52
  My other takeaways like does Paul skins need to commit to the
• 41:55
  mustache long term? Like is that?
• 42:00
  Is that like? A pass to.
• 42:01
  You know what it like can you you can't Can you believe that
• 42:05
  you can't decommit from that? Are you just a mustache guy
• 42:09
  forever? Are you the next on Mattingly?
• 42:11
  Like are is that just how we associate your face?
• 42:17
  Can you deviate from the mustache?
• 42:18
  I mean, if it's a big. Thing to look forward to.
• 42:22
  I think I've seen some mock ups of him or.
• 42:25
  I hate it. I can't imagine not.
• 42:27
  Yeah, without the mustache. And I've seen people call that a
• 42:30
  face that only his mother could love.
• 42:32
  And yeah, I, I'm not saying it, but you know, if that's being
• 42:36
  floated out there, maybe sticking to the mustache is the
• 42:38
  move. If the mustache got you Livvy, I
• 42:42
  think you got to stay there. If you can pump 101 and and be a
• 42:47
  a an annual threat to win the the Cy Young, just stick with
• 42:53
  what stick with what you know, stick with what works.
• 42:58
  Let's talk about the NL W picture real quick.
• 43:02
  Los Angeles Dodgers Look, I know you're coming off a big, big
• 43:06
  walk off win here to wrap up the weekend against the the
• 43:09
  aforementioned Pirates, but Los Angeles Dodgers, what are we
• 43:24
  seeing the rest of the division right now?
• 43:28
  Can we just take a quick peek at what's pulling up the rear in
• 43:34
  the National League West? The Dodgers, as it stands right
• 43:37
  now, 69 and 49. They've won three straight.
• 43:42
  But behind them ever so closely, the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3 1/2
• 43:48
  back and the San Diego Padres, 3 1/2 back.
• 43:54
  Both of those seem 66 and 53. They're both eight and two in
• 43:59
  their last ten. The D backs have won three
• 44:01
  straight. They got a sweep this weekend, I
• 44:03
  believe. Yeah, 'cause that wasn't AI.
• 44:06
  Don't believe that was a four-game.
• 44:10
  And even the Giants are seven and three in their last ten.
• 44:14
  The gap has been narrowed in the National League West, and I
• 44:21
  think it's time for the Dodgers to start sweating a little bit,
• 44:23
  if I'm being honest. Yeah, young hopeful River Ryan
• 44:31
  just got announced that he's done for the year.
• 44:35
  I'm hearing a little bit of a walk back from Mr. Dave Roberts
• 44:41
  about Mookie now. He's for sure going to go to
• 44:45
  right. Going back to the outfield, so
• 44:47
  that whole him being a a, a, what did he say?
• 44:51
  A shortstop permanently or a second baseman permanently?
• 44:55
  That didn't last very long as we expected, as we anticipated
• 45:00
  would be the case. Yeah, he's back reportedly
• 45:03
  Monday. So if you're listening to this
• 45:05
  Monday, he should be back today. At least that was the report.
• 45:10
  Need it. They need it.
• 45:13
  First, that line up needs a little bit.
• 45:16
  And I, when I say that I think it's time for the Dodgers to
• 45:19
  start sweating, I also like, I have to have some perspective
• 45:22
  here and recognize that like you're getting an MVP back just
• 45:27
  in time, I would say. So that will certainly help.
• 45:30
  But in a similar fashion, there have been some question marks
• 45:35
  surrounding the rotation. Just with overall health and
• 45:40
  ability to stay healthy or inability, I should say.
• 45:47
  And like the Padres, man, I'm starting to hear more buzz
• 45:52
  around the Padres. And I think it's, I think it's
• 45:55
  valid Like they're I. Do too They're.
• 45:59
  Winning games and it's it's putting pressure on a team that
• 46:04
  if you go back to the before the season even started, I know I've
• 46:09
  referenced this a time or two throughout this season, but I
• 46:13
  said that you're a fool if you think this Dodgers team is going
• 46:17
  to cakewalk to a World Series. It's just not going to happen.
• 46:24
  And that's that's yet to be determined.
• 46:27
  That still may happen. I'm, I'm not saying the cakewalk
• 46:30
  part of it. I'm saying they may still go go
• 46:33
  on to win the World Series. That has yet to be seen, but
• 46:37
  they've had they like there's been pressure on them for for a
• 46:41
  little bit now you you go back a couple weeks that get like I
• 46:44
  said, the gap has been closing for some time.
• 46:48
  And I would venture say, I'm not saying one of any one of these
• 46:52
  three teams will overtake them for the division, but I think
• 46:56
  one of these teams, if not more, is going to be awfully close to
• 47:03
  putting their foot on their throat by the end of the regular
• 47:06
  season if they hadn't done it already by that time.
• 47:11
  All things rolling for the Diamondbacks, too.
• 47:15
  Padres, I think the bullpen is real.
• 47:19
  I know I was just talking about Matsui getting touched up a
• 47:23
  little bit last week, but like, Jason Adam coming in.
• 47:28
  I, I, I like the depth that they have.
• 47:31
  I like the moves they made. They're getting Tatis back.
• 47:34
  Like, I'd be a little nervous about the Padres.
• 47:39
  I think the Diamondbacks are feeling like this, like Deja vu
• 47:47
  going on from last year, you know what I mean?
• 47:49
  Like, yeah, I I'd be a little nervous if I'm a Dodger fan.
• 47:55
  I would, I, I don't know if it's too much of A stretch.
• 48:01
  I mean, I, I know there's still a month and a half left of the
• 48:05
  regular season, but this Diamondbacks team feels less
• 48:09
  like a team, at least with the way they're playing now.
• 48:10
  They've won eight straight series.
• 48:13
  This feels less like a Diamondbacks team that we saw
• 48:19
  last year where they kind of backed backed their way in a
• 48:24
  little bit and, and you're looking around going, what are,
• 48:28
  I mean, we, they were in the World Series and you and I and A
• 48:31
  lot of other people were sitting there going, I mean, what are we
• 48:35
  really doing? This has been a a, a great
• 48:37
  story, but like, come on, this Diamondbacks team doesn't
• 48:42
  necessarily feel like that. And I, I, I would hope that I'm
• 48:46
  not buying into like the recency bias there, but it just the, it
• 48:49
  just feels different. I think having last year under
• 48:52
  your belt certainly helps the organization to go like we we've
• 48:57
  can act like we've been here before because we have like
• 49:00
  we've been a we've figured out ways to win, to put ourselves in
• 49:03
  a position to go deep into this thing and to be quite honest,
• 49:10
  beat teams that we probably shouldn't have beat.
• 49:12
  What was it that last year, the Dodgers, the Phillies, I'm this
• 49:21
  is this is a special D backs team, I think.
• 49:23
  And like I said, the Padres are no joke either.
• 49:26
  It seems So. This NL W picture is scat a
• 49:31
  little spicy. I like it.
• 49:36
  I like it. And I'm, I, I feel like we, we
• 49:40
  focus on those three teams. You, I, you can't leave out the
• 49:44
  Giants in this conversation. As much as you personally may
• 49:47
  want to leave out the Giants mathematically, you just can't.
• 49:51
  No, I'm just saying as as part of the picture.
• 49:53
  As a competition goes. As part of the playoff picture
• 49:59
  as a whole, I mean, yes. So 9 back then Vision as it
• 50:02
  stands right now, but they're only 1 1/2 back of the wild
• 50:05
  card. Two of the three wild card spots
• 50:07
  are held by these two teams, the D Backs and the Padres.
• 50:12
  Just looking at the Dodgers September, September is going to
• 50:17
  be interesting because they do get the Diamondbacks we get, we
• 50:21
  get the beginning of September, Dodgers, Diamondbacks.
• 50:27
  We do get to see the Braves in the middle and the second to
• 50:32
  last series of the season is going to be a Padres matchup.
• 50:40
  I'm interested, I'm very interested to see how this thing
• 50:43
  shakes out. According to Tankathon, Strength
• 50:47
  to Schedule, the Dodgers have the 14th toughest strength to
• 50:50
  schedule the. Middle of the road, yeah.
• 50:53
  D backs have the 17th toughest and the Padres have the 25th
• 50:59
  from here on out, the Padres strength of schedule is 490 is a
• 51:05
  is a winning percentage with a clip of 490.
• 51:07
  So we're they're looking pretty good in San Diego, if that's
• 51:12
  what you're, if that's what you're pulling for.
• 51:14
  I'm telling you, though, postseason baseball in San
• 51:17
  Diego? Sweet.
• 51:21
  The ballpark is sweet. I need some more random old guy
• 51:28
  acapella group getting after it in the streets.
• 51:33
  That's what's in man. Who's going to cruise?
• 51:40
  Where are those guys you know? Who knows, they they may have
• 51:45
  locked themselves away in a cave or somebody's they have left the
• 51:49
  country. Yeah, they may have fled the
• 51:51
  country. I mean, that was I don't want to
• 51:54
  have to relive that again. But, you know, I'm sure they'll
• 51:56
  be back if if this team decides to go on a run.
• 52:00
  Yeah, well, talking about guys that have not showed up as of
• 52:07
  late, let's talk about some guys that need to turn things around
• 52:13
  if their team has any hope of either A, even making it to the
• 52:19
  postseason or B, if their team is sort of a lock.
• 52:25
  Not an official lock, but a team that we can assume will be in
• 52:29
  the postseason. A team that has any hope of
• 52:33
  doing anything in the postseason once they're there.
• 52:39
  You know, a starter. I had asked, I had asked you.
• 52:43
  I had asked you to select a hitter and a pitcher.
• 52:46
  I did. All right, all right. 2 foot
• 52:52
  Gold Star for you. You go ahead and lead us off
• 52:56
  here. Who are who are your guys?
• 52:58
  Who are your names that need to turn it around for their team's
• 53:03
  postseason chances to improve? Yeah, I'm not going like super
• 53:07
  recent. I'm not looking under a
• 53:09
  microscope here. I'm looking at names that I
• 53:12
  think I'm just looking at 2024 as a whole that I'm a little
• 53:16
  just disappointed in. But they play very big roles,
• 53:22
  you know, very big cog in the machine of of the team success.
• 53:27
  My first one being Will Smith of the Dodgers.
• 53:31
  You know, if you're going to be hitting four hole and you're
• 53:33
  going to have guys like Shohei and Freddie in front of you,
• 53:36
  like you need to do your part and you need to be able to
• 53:43
  produce at a level that has these guys seeing the pitches
• 53:46
  that they need to see to do their thing.
• 53:49
  If not, they're going to continue to work around Freddie
• 53:52
  to get to you. So I was just looking at
• 53:55
  numbers. You know, this year versus last
• 53:58
  year, overall batting average on base percentage, slugging, OPS
• 54:02
  are all down from his career average, not just last year.
• 54:09
  2024 versus 2023 is K rate is up 4%, his walk rate is down 2% and
• 54:16
  his fly ball percentage is up 9%.
• 54:20
  So look, we've seen what Will Smith is capable of doing.
• 54:25
  We know the numbers he can put up, but like when we're talking
• 54:32
  go, go get a ring and bring it back to LA kind of thing.
• 54:36
  I think you need your cleanup hitter to be providing some
• 54:41
  things. And if it doesn't start to
• 54:44
  happen, I, I, I think Dave needs to consider changing 123.
• 54:48
  I think you got to space that out a little bit.
• 54:51
  Especially well, I'm, I'm referring when Mookie gets back,
• 54:53
  obviously, because it sounds like show his staying in the
• 54:56
  lead off spot. And I think they're talking
• 54:59
  about just putting in Mookie to split up the lefties a little
• 55:02
  bit. But I'm really first separate
• 55:05
  note. I'm not going to pull too much
• 55:06
  in this thread, but I'm very, very, very sick of the righty
• 55:10
  lefty matchup nonsense that managers have fallen into.
• 55:14
  I'm very over it. I'm so tired of the obsession,
• 55:19
  Orioles fans, you get me? But that's my, that's my hitter.
• 55:24
  That I'm, I'm, I'm not saying he's been like horribly
• 55:27
  disappointing. He's just been below what he's
• 55:30
  normally doing. And like, if, if the Dodgers do
• 55:34
  what they want to do with it, if they're going to, you know,
• 55:37
  succeed in this postseason like it Will, Smith needs to be able
• 55:40
  to do his thing. Can I sprinkle my hitter in
• 55:43
  there? Yeah, that.
• 55:44
  Was good selection by the way, I agree.
• 55:46
  Not a bad name. And to to what you were saying
• 55:52
  like we can sit here and look at Dave Roberts and go, I mean, how
• 55:56
  hard is it to to manage those names?
• 56:00
  The the issue for Dave Roberts though, is knowing how to
• 56:06
  organize and construct your lineup each day in order to get
• 56:12
  the best out of each guy. And you probably hear that go,
• 56:15
  well, obviously you want to line up to be the best it can be.
• 56:18
  But looking, for example, you look at a guy like Mookie Betts,
• 56:22
  where does he hit best in the lineup?
• 56:25
  And if you know the answer to that question, you may be
• 56:28
  looking at the decision that Dave Roberts is making right
• 56:30
  now, now that Mookie's back. And it may be it may cause you
• 56:34
  to to raise your eyebrows a little bit going, Dave, look at
• 56:41
  the numbers. Why are we trying to get cute
• 56:43
  with lefty righty matchups here? You know what Mookie Betts is
• 56:47
  capable of doing as your lead off hitter.
• 56:49
  So why are we not putting Mookie Betts in the lead off?
• 56:51
  And I think I think that's why Dodgers fans get so fed up with
• 56:54
  Dave Roberts at times because it's like, OK, sure.
• 56:57
  Like we're, we're winning divisions, we're showing up in
• 57:01
  the postseason to an extent, but then we fall flat on our faces.
• 57:05
  But like we can be getting more out of what we have.
• 57:10
  That's the, that's where the frustration kicks in.
• 57:12
  I think for Dodgers fans and I, I, I, I get it from afar.
• 57:15
  I, I kind of see why that would be upsetting because it's like
• 57:19
  you have this mega team or at the very least a division
• 57:23
  winning team every year and you just can't you, you just can't
• 57:28
  seem to figure it out. My hitter heading to the other
• 57:34
  coast, the East Coast, the National League East.
• 57:38
  Bryson Stott since July 11th, the last 30 days he's played 22
• 57:47
  games. He's hitting 200 with just
• 57:51
  fifteen hits, two homers, 4 RB is and six runs scored in a
• 57:56
  month. This month alone in in August,
• 58:01
  he's hitting O 67, which comes out to two for 33 strikeouts,
• 58:08
  one home run, 2 RBIs and an OPS of 233.
• 58:13
  His OPS is a bad batting average.
• 58:17
  That's where we're at right now, yeah.
• 58:22
  A. A.
• 58:22
  Sub par batting average, that's where his OPS is that's we can't
• 58:26
  we can't have that and it it's not look, I, I'm not going to
• 58:30
  pin this all on him because collectively the Phillies have
• 58:34
  been sliding for some time been. A few weeks now, yeah.
• 58:37
  I think both pitching and that offense have been in the bottom
• 58:44
  third of the league since the break.
• 58:49
  I mean, whatever you could look at whatever statistical
• 58:51
  category, I think majority of them are in that in that area.
• 58:55
  So not good. But I think you and I were on
• 59:02
  the same page. Me especially, I think I, I, he
• 59:05
  was, I think I may have brought him up in our hot text and
• 59:09
  predictions episode. I thought this was going to be a
• 59:10
  big year for, for Bryson Stott and he's had his moments
• 59:14
  throughout the year. But we're getting I've, I've
• 59:17
  said on on here tonight, we're getting into crunch time.
• 59:22
  We're going to need to see more out of you.
• 59:24
  And I, I think he may be one of those guys, hopefully for as
• 59:29
  long as his career goes on, that hopefully he's one of those guys
• 59:32
  that seems to show up in October.
• 59:34
  It's it feels that way, doesn't it?
• 59:36
  I I would think so. I would think so.
• 59:40
  But this team needs you to to maybe channel to flip that
• 59:44
  switch a little early and and help them write this shit,
• 59:47
  because right now the the the vibes in Philly are are not
• 59:52
  great. And I think, I think people
• 59:57
  around the league, fans, teams, whatever are are getting their
• 1:00:00
  kicks in now while they still can seeing you.
• 1:00:05
  Not you, Bryson Stott and you Phillies collectively on the
• 1:00:09
  ground kind of holding your side going.
• 1:00:11
  You know what happened? We just got blindsided because
• 1:00:14
  for the longest for the first half, first what, 2/3 of the
• 1:00:21
  season, best team in baseball without question.
• 1:00:23
  But now we're starting to, we're starting to slide a little bit,
• 1:00:26
  like I said. And you're going to need I I
• 1:00:28
  think a guy like Bryson Stott could be a huge X Factor in, in
• 1:00:33
  changing that narrative a little bit.
• 1:00:35
  Yeah. So that's that's who I've got
• 1:00:37
  offensively. I could see him.
• 1:00:39
  I we've seen the moments that he's capable of having in the
• 1:00:43
  postseason. And I think if you're a Phillies
• 1:00:47
  fan, just like, hey, do what you can during the regular season,
• 1:00:50
  but if you can show up the way you did last year in those big
• 1:00:54
  moments and we'll take it. But yeah, you and I are both
• 1:01:01
  Bryson Stock guys. I think cool with that.
• 1:01:04
  My picture again, I'm not going for like just ridiculous kids
• 1:01:11
  here. More so just going with the
• 1:01:16
  overall 2024 just production or lack thereof.
• 1:01:22
  I'm going Pablo Lopez, the Minnesota Twins for my picture.
• 1:01:29
  Look, there's I'm not going to sit here and say that there's
• 1:01:32
  staff that wouldn't take this like Pablo Lopez overall is
• 1:01:36
  still above a league average pitcher.
• 1:01:39
  But I think when you're talking about the commitment that
• 1:01:43
  they're making to him and and giving up a Luis Arias to go get
• 1:01:46
  him AL batting title, Luis Arias to get him.
• 1:01:54
  I can't be looking at Twins pitching stats and say and
• 1:01:58
  seeing Bailey over bleeding a lot of stats.
• 1:02:03
  You know what I mean? Like this is your guy, this is
• 1:02:05
  your horse, this is your ace. We saw a great year out of him
• 1:02:08
  last year. But this year, I mean, you're as
• 1:02:11
  jumped from A366 to A479 at this point this year.
• 1:02:19
  He's averaging last year averaged over six innings a
• 1:02:22
  start. Now he's dead down to 5.6
• 1:02:24
  innings per start. I get it.
• 1:02:26
  We still have like 7-8 starts left in the year, but like some
• 1:02:31
  numbers are just, it's a, it's a little, there's some issues
• 1:02:36
  here. Barrel percentage is up hard hit
• 1:02:39
  percentage is up 5%. So it's just like we're going to
• 1:02:44
  need you to hammer this thing home.
• 1:02:46
  We're going to need you to take it in the ace mode down the home
• 1:02:52
  stretch. And and that's how the Minnesota
• 1:02:54
  Twins should be viewing him. But this is our age-old
• 1:02:57
  conversation of like there's a difference between a #1 starter
• 1:03:00
  and an ace. And I thought based on last
• 1:03:04
  year, he would kind of solidify himself as an ace and it just
• 1:03:08
  hasn't felt that way this year. They need more out of them.
• 1:03:12
  He needs to be without a doubt, no questions asked, your game
• 1:03:16
  one starter with full faith and it just doesn't feel that way
• 1:03:20
  this year. Yeah, because aren't the the the
• 1:03:23
  twins are breathing down the Guardian's neck.
• 1:03:26
  They're right there, yeah. 3 1/2 back guardians are three and
• 1:03:30
  seven in the last 10. Twins are six and four.
• 1:03:32
  So yeah, right there. I mean post season feels.
• 1:03:41
  I think it's there. I, I think they, I think they
• 1:03:44
  get in it. Feels like a lock.
• 1:03:46
  I mean, I know, I mean they're only a half game up in the wild
• 1:03:49
  card. So I know, I know that's that's
• 1:03:51
  quite a bold claim in the middle of August, but I don't know, it
• 1:03:55
  just feels like they're going to be a team that figures it out
• 1:03:58
  and finds a way to get in. But to your point, though, you
• 1:04:02
  have chance, you have a real shot at the division here if if
• 1:04:05
  a guy like Pablo Lopez can can figure it out.
• 1:04:08
  So. Need your number one guy to be
• 1:04:10
  your number one guy? That's a great point.
• 1:04:13
  My arm for guys that need to figure it out, need to improve.
• 1:04:19
  Max Freed, just putting it plainly, he has not been good
• 1:04:27
  lately. Just has not been good His his
• 1:04:33
  last four starts. He has an ERA of 664.
• 1:04:36
  He's O and three. I know It was just like, it was
• 1:04:41
  like two months ago, we were like, this man's going to get
• 1:04:43
  paid, Yeah. And then, and then he gets hurt.
• 1:04:47
  He gets hurt, hits the shelf. So I understand that's a factor
• 1:04:51
  here. But the reality is, is that
• 1:04:54
  you're back. So like we're going to need a
• 1:04:58
  little bit more, especially with the state of that rotation.
• 1:05:02
  I mean, we don't need to rehash the the injuries that that
• 1:05:05
  rotation has had to deal with, but that too is a factor.
• 1:05:10
  Like you're here, you're healthy, you're capable of
• 1:05:15
  holding your own. You've done it before.
• 1:05:20
  So like we're going to need that again because and and if they're
• 1:05:24
  sitting there talking to him in the clubhouse, they're going.
• 1:05:27
  Look, Max, if you go listen to the three O take, Kyle is over
• 1:05:33
  there talking about how we can't let the Mets finish above us in
• 1:05:36
  the division. And with the way that you're
• 1:05:39
  going out there every fifth day and throwing the ball, you're
• 1:05:43
  basically making that a lock, Max.
• 1:05:47
  The Mets are going to cruise right on by in the NL East, and
• 1:05:52
  it's going to be because of you, Max.
• 1:05:55
  And I feel like, I feel like your face with your quote is, is
• 1:05:58
  on the bulletin board in the Braves clubhouse right now.
• 1:06:01
  Just as like Max Freed motivation, you know, can't let
• 1:06:06
  the Mets finish better than you. Hey, I I, I said that they would
• 1:06:12
  never hear the end of it if they let that happen.
• 1:06:17
  But yeah, again, similar to Bryson Stott and not necessarily
• 1:06:23
  pinning it all on him. Max, Max Freed with the with
• 1:06:28
  that staff, they have the fourth worst team ERA in baseball since
• 1:06:32
  the break. So it's it's not just him, but
• 1:06:34
  it goes. Back there is a little more
• 1:06:36
  pressure on Max Freed than Bryson Stott, though.
• 1:06:38
  No, no, no, sure. But it to make a, a better
• 1:06:42
  comparison, it, it goes back to your point of what you're saying
• 1:06:46
  about Pablo Lopez, like you're going to need your top guy to be
• 1:06:48
  your top guy. And as it stands right now, like
• 1:06:52
  you say what you will about Spencer Schreider and and what
• 1:06:55
  that looks like at the current. Moment in the present time.
• 1:06:58
  What that looks like in the coming seasons, how that shakes
• 1:07:01
  out. You're the top guy right now.
• 1:07:03
  You need to be better. And I unlike Bryson Stott, his
• 1:07:12
  team, I think is is going to be OK.
• 1:07:15
  They would just be able to take it up a level of if he flipped
• 1:07:18
  the switch, Max Freed and the Braves that I think it what was
• 1:07:22
  it just this weekend was the first time that they were out of
• 1:07:25
  a playoff spot in like I don't how long did they say it was?
• 1:07:33
  I need to look this up. Obviously it was like seven
• 1:07:36
  years or something. I don't know if it was that
• 1:07:38
  long, but it was. It was insanely long.
• 1:07:42
  I. Remember seeing that tweet?
• 1:07:44
  Is that a nugget chef tweet? Hold on.
• 1:07:50
  Please hold. The Braves are out of out of a
• 1:07:53
  wild card playoff spot for the first time since 2022.
• 1:07:59
  But that was. Seven years?
• 1:08:00
  My seven-year guess seems a little embarrassing now.
• 1:08:03
  I mean, they're, so they're back in a wild card spot, but the
• 1:08:07
  fact that you're even flirting with that, you're the Atlanta
• 1:08:09
  Braves. I get it, injuries, but you're
• 1:08:14
  the Atlanta Braves. Figure it out.
• 1:08:18
  Yeep, yeep. That's where I'm at.
• 1:08:24
  Just get through August, everybody.
• 1:08:27
  Just. Tread water man, that sucks.
• 1:08:33
  One last one last panic button to make your skin crawl.
• 1:08:37
  We have another another one. Now I just wanted to close out
• 1:08:42
  with that. You got anything else for the
• 1:08:43
  the folks before we get out of here?
• 1:08:50
  I can't remember Oh told you trying to trying to stop chill
• 1:08:58
  out on the carbs last few weeks. You know, since I was compared,
• 1:09:04
  did it seemed seemingly a pretty hefty guy that on on that Red
• 1:09:09
  Sox podcast. Oh.
• 1:09:11
  Coli Mick. Yeah, the Coli Mick comps were
• 1:09:14
  were plentiful on on Twitter the other day.
• 1:09:16
  I was, yeah, I was wild. Did not see that on my bingo.
• 1:09:19
  Car not a proud moment for daddy.
• 1:09:20
  So carbs have been cut out. And yeah, I had some.
• 1:09:26
  We were at the lake today and had some hot dogs.
• 1:09:29
  No bun, just squirting mustard on there.
• 1:09:33
  That makes me uncomfortable. It's not something I recommend.
• 1:09:37
  It's not for the week, you know, it's not for the week, so.
• 1:09:41
  I would almost just rather not have a hot dog honestly.
• 1:09:43
  If I'm being completely honest, this sole thing to eat, it was
• 1:09:47
  like we just said we had nothing else going on.
• 1:09:49
  If I'm being frank. They were Nathan's any who.
• 1:09:57
  That's it. I mean, it's just, you know,
• 1:09:58
  August is tough for everybody. I just want it's just a reminder
• 1:10:03
  that story should let you know we're all sad at times and.
• 1:10:10
  Yeah, I'd, I would say you're facing a greater uphill
• 1:10:12
  challenge than any name or team that we've shared on this.
• 1:10:15
  Project. I think there's a lot of teams
• 1:10:17
  that are going hot dogs without buns right now, you know, so
• 1:10:21
  moral. Of the story, the biggest take
• 1:10:23
  away today? Yeah.
• 1:10:25
  Find the bun for your hot dog team player.
• 1:10:28
  Whoever you are, figure it out. Get on the right track out of
• 1:10:31
  here. Awesome.
• 1:10:34
  See you guys Wednesday rate review subscribe.
• 1:10:37
  If you're just listening, maybe just push the envelope on the
• 1:10:42
  laws in your in your state like I do.
• 1:10:47
  I put my YouTube up. I put it right there on the
• 1:10:49
  speedometer. No, I just think it's it's an
• 1:10:53
  easy, easy thing to do. Don't meet me.
• 1:10:58
  No where is it. Don't bleep me out.
• 1:11:03
  Just need to watch. Put it there.
• 1:11:06
  Put it right there on the dash, Drive in, watch.
• 1:11:17
  It take that back. Don't tell these people to do
• 1:11:20
  that. I'm not.
• 1:11:21
  I am not paying for any legal fees if something happens, so I
• 1:11:26
  think. We're covered.
• 1:11:27
  I think we're covered. I've seen suits.
• 1:11:30
  Watch watch YouTube at in the comfort of your home.
• 1:11:37
  Watch us on you watch us on YouTube or at your now what I
• 1:11:41
  will recommend is like if you just hate your job, feel free to
• 1:11:44
  pull us up at work. I couldn't care less about you
• 1:11:47
  doing that. But just while you're on the
• 1:11:49
  road. Eyes forward, eyes on the road.
• 1:11:51
  Mine's just a ticket. You're going to get our, our,
• 1:11:54
  our listeners fired. What's worse, you know?
• 1:11:58
  Well, I trust them. That's assuming they're able to
• 1:12:00
  pull over safely. In your scenario, death is a
• 1:12:04
  possibility. So I'm just trying to.
• 1:12:06
  I'm just trying to. Are you willing to risk it?
• 1:12:08
  That's the real question we need to be asking, you know, And
• 1:12:14
  then, you know, anybody that's hanging out with us live, Like,
• 1:12:16
  props to you guys. That's those.
• 1:12:18
  You're the real heroes. You're the real MVPS hanging out
• 1:12:21
  in the chat. Love that.
• 1:12:23
  And yeah, we'll see you Wednesday Slash later this week.
• 1:12:28
  To your point, if you're new, we're usually on here every
• 1:12:33
  Sunday night and Wednesday night.
• 1:12:35
  So if you're going, I'd love to be a part of this job.
• 1:12:37
  I'm like, this is my first time catching the catching the live
• 1:12:40
  stream. How can I how can I do more of
• 1:12:41
  it? When can I?
• 1:12:43
  TuneIn More often than not, we're on here Sunday nights and
• 1:12:47
  Wednesday nights. Sometimes you have to switch it
• 1:12:51
  up and go Monday, Monday, Thursday, but more often than
• 1:12:53
  not it's Sunday, Wednesday. So come hang out with us
• 1:12:57
  sometime. Yep, don't go chasing curveballs
• 1:13:00
  we love. You all and as always, looking
• 1:13:02
  forward to talking more baseball with you guys soon.
• 1:13:04
  Until next time, stay filthy.