Latest / Foul Territory / Anthony Rendon’s Angels era is officially over + A’s checkup

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Anthony Rendon’s Angels era is officially over + A’s checkup · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Show me the money.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Never was it more relevant than what we just showed you. There,
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: money moves Anthony Rendon. That's him on the phone yelling
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: at the Angels, show me the money and let me
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: stay in my home in Texas and not spend any
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: time with you in California this year. And they said, okay,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: can we extend that money to pay it out over
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: a three to five year span a few years from now?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: And he said yes, goodbye Angels and likely goodbye baseball.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: He's still going to technically be on the roster, but
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: then you get to spring training and you can use
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the spot again with the sixty day I L. We
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: had talked about this a month and change ago when
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: it came out that he was probably gonna get bought out,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: but now it's official.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: It's done.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: So his career is likely over, thirty five years old,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: thirty eight million dollars due for the final year of
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: his contract that'll get paid out later and maybe open
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: up some money for the Angels.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is an unbelievable contract. If you want the
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: true it's crazy.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: The numbers.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, with the Angels worse than his final season with
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the Nats. That's one of the tweets that popped up yesterday.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Can we show this while Todd's sucking? Look at that Todd.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: In the final season, Anthony Done had more home runs
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: thirty four in RBI one hundred and twenty six in
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: his final season with the Nationals than he did in
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: seven seasons with the Angels twenty two and one twenty
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: five by Dan Clark. Yeah, listen, man, you take the
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: stats and it's just not good. We know that it's
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: not good. I'd love Anthony Rendon. I have a good
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: relationship with him when we played. I think he's an
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: awesome guy. It just didn't work out. It didn't work out.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: It was one of those things where, you know, injuries
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: piled up a little bit, he struggled, h there was
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: other you know, unforeseen circumstances. I go with, I go
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: about the guy who he is, dude. I think he's
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: an incredible person.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: I like him a lot.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: It just again, things didn't work out. He struggled and
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: just wasn't the right fit. And to see how it
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: ends like this, I know he's probably not happy. I
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: know the Angels are probably not happy, and it just
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: I think it's good for them to kind of let
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: go a little bit. Even though the money situation, he
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: still has to get paid out, and I'm sure he's
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: happy about that.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: What you should be What do you mean he's not happy?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I feel like he's super happy because he doesn't have
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: to go back to the team and play. I mean,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: that's the one thing that I don't think anybody can doubt.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: He does not like baseball. He's very clear about that,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and he didn't want to play anymore. Injury is a
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: pain in the ass. I get that right. He's been
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: hit with the injury bug. Actually, if you go back
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: to his career since college, I think he would have
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: been a one to one. He ended up being I
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: don't know, like a one five, like fifth overall something
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: like that. He had injuries starting back in Rice when
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: he was a superstar there, but he was not playing consistently.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: There were concerns And what.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: I meant by not happy just when he was there
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: like that, I don't think, Yeah, I didn't mean not happy.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Now you know what I'm saying.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Now he's like, I'm done kickback Texas taxes on that
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: contract too, right, the deferrals will push it to no
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: state income tax versus California, which probably helped to balance
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: and out how they made a deal here.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, but I mean.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I think this is closure for Angels fans too. This
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: is a tough look when you've got to see this guy,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: you know, on your payroll every year. I'm not saying
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: fans don't or shouldn't care too much about, you know,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the billionaire's checkbook, but you should care that your team
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: spent so much money on a guy that basically did
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: nothing for you. And I think that it was stinging
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: for a long time. Krats with fans and even just
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: within the organization. Kevin Polar played there and has talked
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: about it right like, you're there and it's just better
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: if Anthony's not there, like as a presence in the organization,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, et cetera, because he doesn't want to
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: be there.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, And maybe we're blowing it out of proportion a
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: little bit when you say, oh, you know, it's it's
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: a burden.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: It's just a.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: Burden at times. It's not a burden all the time.
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: It's not dragging down their their play on the field.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: Every day. Nobody's looking over to doug out and being like,
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: oh great, there's Rendons con but I think it it doesn't.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: It manifests itself in wins and losses because of the
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: fact that we just talked about imai Em sign for
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: essentially eighteen million dollars. Could you get two players if
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: you're worried about if Ardi Moreno's worried about the luxury tacks,
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: could they get two pitchers, which is what the Angels
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: have needed to offset what Rendon's contract would have been
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: these last few years. And what would those eighteen million
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: dollar pitchers look like? You know, you don't know, there's
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: for every eighteen million dollar Frankie Montas, there's an eighteen
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: million dollar, you know, resurgence pitcher that was really good
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: and just is now coming back. I can't name a
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: player that would have really been that guy. But that's
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: the part that really that it hits. That it hits
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: for Angels fans because it's also on top of a
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: lot of the other contracts that haven't played out because
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: of injury. I think Rendons is different because his liaise
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: fair like attitude towards different things makes him look like
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: he doesn't want to be there. Him saying, hey, you
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: know what, you know, there's more important things to me
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: in life than baseball. That makes a fan go, what like,
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: I'm I'm giving a lot of my money to come
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: and watch you play. The rest of your guys play,
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: and that's what you hear. And it's just it wasn't
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: a good look and it's not a good look for
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: the Angels because they signed Puhos, that contract didn't really
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: work out, the Justin Upton contract, the Mike Trout contract.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: Right now, while Mike Trout's still the face of the Angels,
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: he hasn't played since he signed that contract. The percentage
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: of games that he's played hasn't been a lot. And
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: now Rendones. So it's like Angel fans, I think the
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: the ire of their their misfortune is going to be
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: towards towards Anthony Rendon. But it's been a cycle of
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: poor position player contracts that have not kept those players
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: on the field.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Josh Hamilton, So it gets me thinking Josh Hamilton, right,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: And there was clearly a lot of background there. Josh
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Hamilton was a risk. It was a risk signing, higher
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: risk than most other signings. Could you make a case
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that Anthony Rendon was a risk when someone like me
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: at that time of his signing is just a broadcaster
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: slash part time reporter in the playoffs, And I'm around
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: teams and players enough to know that Anthony Rendon is
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: there because he's good, but not because he wants to
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: be there every day. I mean Anthony, I covered him.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I tried interviewing him a few times, and he was
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: always super nice.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: He just was like, dude, this isn't my thing.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Like he gave off the auracrats that he didn't want
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to be there, and it wasn't like an I'm too
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: cool to be here. I think that's why most people
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: around him will be like, Oh, he's a nice guy.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: He just was super straightforward that he recognized how talented
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: he was, and yet it kind of pained him to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: go to the ballpark every day. And it pained him
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: so much that sometimes he even made it public. So
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I've got two questions for you guys. One, should there
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: have been more backgrounds on a player like this?
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: If you are going to spend a quarter of a
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: billion dollars, shouldn't you make sure that it's a guy
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: who gives a shit about showing up every day?
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: And Two?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Does it bother other players when something plays out like
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: this because many fans in the chat are like, hey,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: this could cause Ardi Moreno or another owner in baseball
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: to be like, I'm not giving out a big deal
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: like that, and risk of it being a rendoin situation
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: that hurts other players, and just the perception of giving
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: a crap when most people would, you know, give an
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: arm and a leg to play the sport for five years.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: I'll answer the first one. I think they all do
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: their They have to do their background on a guy,
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: talk to players that on their team, and I'll manage, Hey,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: you know, I know you've played with them. Are you
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: even in college? You're you know, against him? What do
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: you think about this guy? I know, if you're a
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: manager on the other team or a GM and you're
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: like trying to trade a guy or get rid of
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: a guy, you know you're gonna tell them all the
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: good things. You're not gonna You're not gonna tell them
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: all the bad things. I mean, that would just be silly.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: So they do. They have to do all their homework extensively.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: Health for sure, see how he's healthy, all that stuff.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: I don't see that being a problem because it caused
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: riffs in the locker room. Maybe a few people. I
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: mean for me, it would just be like, hey man,
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: you know we need you a kind of deal. Can
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: you pick it up a little bit, that kind of talk.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: You want your guys to make money, you want everybody
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: to make their money. But you know, just give me,
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: give me whatever you got that day, each day without
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: being a problem. And I'm fine with it.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think they I think they try their best.
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: I mean you heard when Ron Washington came in. I
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: thought he said one of his first calls was to
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: Anthony like, I'm not saying the Angels did everything right
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: in this situation, saying there's a different way to manage
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: there's a different way to coach different players. I can't
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: coach Todd the same way I would coach Anthony Rendo.
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: I can't coach think about the Nationals James Wood the
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: same way I can coach c J Abrams. And so
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: how do you how do you look past, you know,
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: how somebody's view of baseball is and figure out how
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: to get the most out of that person. Maybe it
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: was a lost cause, but I think the Angels did
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: their best. I remember talking talking to Ron Washington on
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: here and he was like, we're not guaranteeing him a spot.
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: He's not guaranteed any spot, Like, that's not that's not
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: how we're doing this. And maybe nobody ever, maybe nobody
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: ever said that to him. Maybe he was fine, Hey,
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: you know what, you don't want to guarantee my spot,
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: then it's fine. I'll just I'll give you what I
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: got when I got it. Everybody tries their different ways
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: of doing it. And as a player, quctually you asked
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: about other players. Are they Are they pissed that he
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: got his money? No, because you're I shouldn't say that.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: Maybe there's some guys who are jealous. Maybe Todd's like, well,
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: I played third base. I would have loved two hundred
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: and forty six million dollars and to that. If I
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: would hear a player say that, I'd be like, sorry, Dodd,
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: I don't care how much you wanted it. You weren't
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: as good as him because he put up the number
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: that put him in the in the situation like if
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: you're always looking at other people's contracts and you're like,
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: my numbers were exactly the same, I should have gotten
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: more than him, or I should have gotten the same
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: as it. Okay, that's different but Anthony Rendon hit the
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: jackpot when he had his career year on his platform year,
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: won a World Series and had an owner who missed
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: out on a big time free agent pitcher and said, Pivot,
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: I got all this money, we're giving it to you.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: It was a perfect storm, and he would have gotten
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: paid regardless. Would it have been at that level maybe not,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: but I mean he would have gotten Still, what do
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: you mean, I mean he still would have gotten a
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: ton of money. So either way, but your point is,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I mean he got He got the top end of
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: what people thought he was going to get based on
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: this perfect storm. Lining up and he's talking about Artie
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Mourno going after Garrett Cole. They come up short, they
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: go to Rendon. It's like, who else you got? Okay,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: let's work on Rendon. Remember there were serious reports that
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers were very interested in Anthony Rendon. How different
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: things could have looked for LA if they threw a
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: couple hundred million bucks at Anthony Rendon?
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what would have happened with him?
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: What would have happened with Anthony?
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Is it all injuries or could someone have motivated him
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: to want to be there?
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: More frequently.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: You know, those are two different teams too, right, Dodgers
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: are in it every year. Unfortunately, the Angels have been
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: one of the worst teams in baseball for a minute now.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: They're never in it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you put guys around him, You put guys around
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: and maybe maybe a guy Mooie Betts is that guy.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Maybe a guy.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: Like like Freddie Freeman is that guy. You hear Max
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: Munsey talk all the time on this show, like we
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: keep each other accountable. We make sure everybody has a
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: base level standard that we're at. And maybe that's why
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: the Dodgers didn't give him that money. Maybe they did
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: a little extra effort. Within two years of me quitting playing,
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: I was still getting calls about guys I played with
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: that were becoming free agents from organizations that I never had.
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: You know, I never saw any connections with that said
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: free agent, but they were like, hey, what did you
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: think about this guy?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Hey, how is this guy when this happened? How you know?
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: So that that work is done behind the scenes, and
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, maybe they missed it here with
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: the Angels.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe the Angels heard the Dodgers.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: We're looking at him and we're like, no, no, no, no,
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: we're not letting player who was the number three best
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: player in the twenty nineteen season go to our crosstown team,
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: not crosstown rival, go to the Dodgers.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: We're going to pay that money.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: And kudos to Arty Moreno for saying, you know what,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: I think he's the best player. I'm willing to pay.
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: We don't agree with the people that he's signed, but
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: Arty Moreno's he's always making big splashes and he's always
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: bringing in these good position players, and you know it
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: just it hasn't worked out for whatever reason. And I
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: think it's probably lying more in what Scott said that
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: clubhouse somebody to motivate each person. What does it take
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: when you bring Albert Poolhos in to motivate him? Is
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: he the guy that is going to fit right into
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: your clubhouse? That's where you take that next step after
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: you spend money on players.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: I think it'll just help to get all of the
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: questions and everything out of there. Now nobody has to
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: deal with any more questions.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Like it's done. He's not there anymore. It's over.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: There's nothing else to say about it anymore. Right, nobody
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: has to answer for him. It is it's good closure
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: for them. And there's one or two reports that I
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: saw over the last few days saying that the Angels
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: might look into Nolan Ronado. That would be a big difference.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, Nolan wants to play. Yeah, you know, Nolan's
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: showing up every day to play. He is not the
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: same guy anymore. He's towards the tail end of his career.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: That's no secret.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: He said.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I think sub average offensive seasons two years in a
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: row now, but he can still pick it at third
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: and maybe he does find it a little bit with
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: an everyday spot on the Angels and less pressure.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Hunting money too, Like where does there's a lot that goes.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: They're gonna have to eat a lot of the money
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: the Cardinals. So we'll see. We'll keep an eye on
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: that one. That might come later in the offseason. I
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: do think he would waive the no trade to go
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: over there. Ken Korak is longtime radio voice of the
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: A's and joining us right now on foul Territory.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Ken, great to have you on.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Happy New Year, and we looked We're like, we got
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to get Ken on because the A's are one of
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: the loudest teams over the past week with the big
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Tyler Soderstrom extension. So how you doing and what did
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: you think of that news.
• 15:03
  Speaker 6: I'm doing well, Scott. It's great to be with you guys. Yeah,
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: it was good news. I was at the press conference
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: in Vegas, and I think it's a real positive sign.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: I think to show that the A's really are pretty
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: serious about making this thing happen. And he's the third
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: player as you know that they've signed to a long
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: term deal over the last year or so, so I
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: think it sends a really positive message.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: Do you know if this process was a long process,
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: because I wouldn't say of anybody it's Nick Kurtz who's
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: the guy, or Shae Langaliers who have established themselves as
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: guys like, oh, you got to get them now or
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: else you're not going to get him. And now Shae
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: Langaliers is farther into the process. But Soderstrom, was this
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: a long process to get to the number that they
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: got to.
• 15:52
  Speaker 7: I don't know, honestly. The answer to that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: My sense is that the discussions may have started at
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: the end of the season, but I'm really not sure.
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: But you mentioned those two other guys or three other
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: guys obviously they would love to get Langeleir signed. I'm
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: sure they would love to get Kurtz and Jacob Wilson.
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: So you're talking about guys who they really believe will
• 16:17
  Speaker 6: be the foundation for the ball club going forward.
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: Now, I heard from the source that Matt Chapman was
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: offered a very similar type of contract early on. Do
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: you feel like the A's are changing, this changing the
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: culture for young guys to say, yes, I want to
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: accept it, because if they had kept their Matt Olsen,
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: if they were able to keep their Matt Chapmans, this team,
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: you know, look at what those guys have done, would
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: be running, would be would be continuing to move in
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: the right direction.
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: It's a fair point, it's an excellent point, and I think, yes,
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: things have changed, and it's it's very simple. And if
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: you drive down to the corner of Tropicana and Las
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: Vegas Boulevard on the Las Vegas Strip, you can see
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: the reason why, and that is the building of the
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: new stadium there, and that's why they feel that the
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: time is right to extend these long term deals and
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: that they'll be you know, added revenue coming in.
• 17:17
  Speaker 7: So the focus is certainly different now.
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: Than it was during that time you were talking about
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: when they had guys like Chapman and and Matt Olsen,
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: et cetera.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: I want I want to go talk about Jeff McNeil
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: a little bit, play with him for a while. Now
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: he's over there with the A's talk about well, you
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: think he's going to bring to the table and and
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: you know where where do you see this guy playing?
• 17:40
  Speaker 6: You would know more than me, right, I mean you
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: played on the infield with him, So I think he's
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: you know, it's a big addition for them because they
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: needed you know, things didn't work out with Zach Yeloff
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: last year and that was a you know, it's a
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: hugely disappointing year. I think in some ways because of injury.
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: You know, he just wasn't healthy last year. But they
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: felt he was going to be their second basement for
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: years to come. He may still be because he has
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: tremendous talent. But they struggled offensively at second base and
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: also at third base, and so to get McNeil to
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: play a second base ostensibly to provide that keystone combination
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: along with Jacob Wilson. I think it's a real solid
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: addition and the other thing is at a time when
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: we hear so much about slugging and guys that strike
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: out a lot and things like that. Up the middle,
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: they have guys who make a ton of contacts. So
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: I imagine that they'll hit at the top of the
• 18:39
  Speaker 6: order and maybe try to set the table for guys
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: like Kurtz and Rooker and the rest of those guys.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Can you talk about this lineup because a lot of
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: people don't know much about the A's lineup, and we
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: went over it after they got them, after they signed McNeil.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: This time, this lineup, it's kind of scary. Where do
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: you rank this lineup top to bottom one even with
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: the whole third still that in just the American League West.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: It's a little bit of an old fashioned American League lineup,
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: you know. And I've kind of drawn the comparison.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: I'm not gonna compare this group with that Cleveland group
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: when they had Manny Ramirez and saw Me and by
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: Erga and Alamar and all that, but to kind of
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: use the John Hart and I'm digressing, but to use
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: the John Hart model to try to extend their young
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: players to move into a new ballpark like the like
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: the Cleveland Ball Club did before Jacob's Field open. But
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: I do think it's one of the best offenses in
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: baseball on paper. Now we'll see they still have a
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: lot of young players and there's gonna be adjustments, and
• 19:45
  Speaker 6: you know that Nick Kurtz is gonna have to face
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: the You know, last year was interesting because Kurtz had
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: such an incredible year that you knew once the sixth
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: inning started that the other team's best left hander was
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: going to get up in the bullpen, and that the
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: manager he knew exactly when Kurtz was coming up and
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: that that guy was going to come in to face him.
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: So they're going to deal with things like that. But
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: I really do think they have a chance to have
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: one of the best offenses in the game.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Awesome and I love to hear that, and I think
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: you're definitely right now. My next question to you would be,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: what else is there anything else this Oakland A's team
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: has to do to get them over to hump to
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: where they need to be.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Is there a guy that they're looking for? Have you
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: heard anything?
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: I know they're looking and talking to free agents. It's
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: no question, and to me, I think that would revolve
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: around pitching. I think they could use an experienced, veteran
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: solid pitcher. Doesn't have to be a number one or
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: two necessarily, but I'd be surprised if they didn't go
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: out and get at least one starting pitcher in free agency.
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: And my expectation is that they would also try to
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: fortify the bullpen as well.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Let's look at that starting pitching.
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: Is there any way that this team can start opening
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: day where they're at or are we talking about needing
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: to add two starting pitchers to a staff that in
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: my opinion, Luis sever Reno, I love the guy was
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: great on the road, struggled at home. If they have
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: to add two guys, how are they going to take
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: that to free agency and say we want you to
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: come here? And then they say, well, what happened to
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: Luis Severino at home? And do I have to pitch
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: at home? Or can I only pitch.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: On the road?
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: Well, I think that listen what happened?
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: If what he said had to be said for them
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: to get over that hump, because there was this malaise
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: that hung over the team there for a while. You know,
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: they were twenty two and twenty after they beat the
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: Dodgers in May in the first game of a series
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: at Dodger Stadium. They lost twenty of their next twenty ones,
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: So that was really rough. But credit to them and
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: DeMar Cossi that they bounced back from that and actually
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: had a really good season in the second half. And
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: I think Luise got over the hump from that standpoint
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: as well. If you look at his numbers in the
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: second half, I think he was a lot better. And
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: I think the ball club as a whole made the
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: adjustment to playing in Sacramento, so I'm not too concerned
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: about that. I think their young pitching might be a
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: little underrated. You look at Severino and Jeffrey Springs at
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: the top of the rotation. They called up this kid,
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: Luis Morales, who is just electric. He made nine stories,
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: he had a three to one four ERA. He's penciled
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: in in the rotation. They have several other guys they
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: hope that their talent will come to fruition, including two
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: lefties who I think might make their major league de
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: abuse this year, including one who hasn't even pitched an inning,
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: and the Miners yet their first round pick last year,
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: Jamie Arnold out of Fred out of Florida State and
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: then Cage Jump, who really jumped through their farm system
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: last year. Lefty from LSU. But I'll go back to
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: what I said earlier. I think that they need to
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: add at least one veteran. I think they need to
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: add at least one veteran to that rotation.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: With a Soderstrom signing, with the fact that the stadium
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: is now underway construction in Vegas, and also with the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: fact that they got rid of or traded Mason Miller
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: last year, somebody that had years of control left. Are
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: we starting to see the shape of this team and
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: what it's going to look like when they move into Vegas?
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And what's the last piece this offseason that they need
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: to say, Okay, this is definitely what this team is
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: going to look like for the next five years. Is
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: there something that they can do this offseason to push
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: them into the new stadium.
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: I think it's great question because if you look at
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: twenty twenty eight, it's not that far off now, and
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: you could assume that Langlers will still be their catcher then,
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: and that Kurtz will be at first and Wilson will
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: be at short, and that Soda Storm and Denzil Clark
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: and we haven't talked about and Lawrence Butler will be
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: in the outfield and that Rooker.
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: Will be their DH. Now, you never know. You guys
• 24:24
  Speaker 7: know better than me.
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: I mean, the's two you've played for years in the
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: big leagues that things can change overnight. But I mean
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: that's what they're hoping. They're hoping that that'll be the
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: core group. You know, you mentioned that the Mason Miller deal.
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: Leo devrees. If he's as good as everybody says he is,
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: then that's the guy you might be talking about. Now,
• 24:45
  Speaker 6: that's not a move this offseason, but he's still a kid.
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: But he's the consensus, like top three prospect in the game.
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: So if he turns out to be as good as
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: the as the analysts say that he should be, then
• 24:59
  Speaker 6: that might the piece you're talking about.
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: For sure, he's a he's an organization, organization, franchise changing
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: type of prospect, but he is still just a prospect yet,
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: right question, you watch.
• 25:13
  Speaker 7: The prospect is the prospect until they show something.
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: Right correct, and then they're called suspects. So exactly a
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: lot is on that young man's shoulders. But you watched this,
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: you watch this team play in Sacramento. I don't care
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: what anybody says. Everybody plays in Sacramento against another team
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: in Sacramento. Nobody's playing, you know, half their game in
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Sacramento and half their game in the games in Sacramento.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Did you feel like because of the home.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: Run, not just home runs, but just the amount of
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: runs that were scored, did you feel like it was
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: something that drained on the position players, because if it was,
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: because I saw that with guys in Colorado sometimes it
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: was like we scored seven runs and now we're in
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: the third inning and we're losing eight to seven. Did
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: you feel like it rained some on the position players,
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: because obviously the starting pitching is something we've hit on already,
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: needing to address that, But could you see that in
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: the position players, like, all right, here we go. We
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: got to score nine to win tonight, No eleven to
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: win tonight.
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: You know, Eric, I think we might have seen that
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: early in the year when they had that long stretch
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: when they lost twenty of twenty one, because during that
• 26:24
  Speaker 6: stretch they gave up the lead late several times, and
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: there's nothing more deflating than having the lead and then
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: losing it. And losing an eight to seven game or
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: a nine to eight game. I didn't feel that was
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: a factor in the second half. If you go back
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: to the way they played, they played really well in
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: the second half and you can still pitch there. I
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: would not compare it to cors Field some people have.
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: The weather was actually better than we thought it was
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: going to be. It wasn't quite as stifling in terms
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: of the heat. Actually was a comfortable summer out there.
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: So yeah, I mean, I think you have to accept
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: and it's not going to be the Colisseum and that
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: was one of the I mean, you guys hit at
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: the Colisseum and hitters hated it, so it's not going
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: to be. It's never going to be like that. But
• 27:11
  Speaker 6: I don't I mean, there's still a young group, so
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: I don't think that was a factor.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Well, Ken, we appreciate the time, great to have you on.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Thanks for filling us in on what's going on there.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: And I would say hopefully they're able to throw more
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: of these extensions to the young core to continue to
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: keep it intact for several years. It seems to be
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: the best play for them right now, and some guys
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: are taking that on right.
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: I would agree for sure, Scott, I would agree. Yeah.
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: Now they've got to take care of the broadcasters too, right.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: But you know, yeah, where's the where's the five year extension?
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Team friendly? But five year extension?
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I just signed.
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: A new deal for the next two so I'm looking.
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: I'm kind of going, you know, year to year anyway.
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: So but thank you guys. I appreciate it.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: And Ken, you know that in broadcast terms to your
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: extension that actually is pretty that's probably five in baseball
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: player terms, so we'll take it, right, Just congratulations.
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: Just like dog years, right, yeah, exactly.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Well, happy to congrats on the available look forward to
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: listening to you during the season.
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: Sounds great. Thanks for having me.