Latest / Foul Territory / FairT: Altuve officially to LF, Phillies lawsuit, LA challengers

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FairT: Altuve officially to LF, Phillies lawsuit, LA challengers · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: This is a team that, the way I described it,
0:02
Speaker 1: they're a blight on the sport and it's kind of
0:04
Speaker 1: a cynical way to run the franchise when you might
0:07
Speaker 1: be inviting agrievance from the union and seemingly we're good
0:10
Speaker 1: with that. Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo and Alana can
0:17
Speaker 1: you believe it? The domestic opening day is one week
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Speaker 1: away from today. That's right. The season starts in one
0:24
Speaker 1: week and as spring training winds down, we've got some
0:28
Speaker 1: interesting things to discuss we do.
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Speaker 2: Ken, always great to be with you. Let's get right
0:32
Speaker 2: to it as we get going with the lead here
0:35
Speaker 2: on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal and Ken, I know
0:38
Speaker 2: it's hard for me to say this, but it's not
0:41
Speaker 2: just about the Los Angeles Dodgers. You have a team
0:44
Speaker 2: in mind that could literally be their biggest competitors. Who
0:47
Speaker 2: is it?
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Speaker 1: The Atlanta Braves. And I am intrigued by the Braves
0:52
Speaker 1: obviously because of what the projection systems say. Most of
0:55
Speaker 1: them have the Braves as the second best team in
0:57
Speaker 1: baseball behind the Dodgers. I'm also intrigued by the depth
1:01
Speaker 1: that they're building with some of these minor league contracts
1:03
Speaker 1: in recent weeks, Hector Narris, James McCann, Craig Kimbrel, and
1:08
Speaker 1: finally Alana. I know it's spring training, it doesn't count.
1:11
Speaker 1: I shouldn't even be paying attention, but the Braves starting
1:14
Speaker 1: pitching is starting to look like well, not starting to
1:17
Speaker 1: look like it could be quite formidable. And I'm talking
1:19
Speaker 1: about three performances in the past week and again spring training.
1:22
Speaker 1: I'm going to qualify it. But these guys all are
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Speaker 1: either established as decent major league pitchers or really good
1:29
Speaker 1: major league pitchers. And you go back to Saturday, and
1:32
Speaker 1: that's a j. Smith Shawver, he's a young prospect twenty two,
1:35
Speaker 1: struck out eight and four innings against the Twins. Spencer
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Speaker 1: Streider his first appearance since his elbow surgery in April
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Speaker 1: of twenty four, eight k's and two and two thirds,
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Speaker 1: including five in a row at one point, and that
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Speaker 1: was incredibly encouraging for the Braves with Strider coming back.
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Speaker 1: And then last night Thursday night, actually it was Wednesday,
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Speaker 1: I guess Spencer schwellenback ten k's six innings against the
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Speaker 1: Yankees again spring but the Braves. Once they get a
2:01
Speaker 1: Kunya back, once they get Sean Murphy back, they're going
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Speaker 1: to be quite interesting. Are they as good as the
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Speaker 1: Dodgers on paper? Well? No, not according to the projection systems.
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Speaker 1: But this is a formidable team that frankly, I don't
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Speaker 1: believe we've talked enough.
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Speaker 2: About, certainly a challenger to the Los Angeles Dodgers in
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Speaker 2: the National League can And I want to go back
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Speaker 2: to that graphic for just a second. What I noticed there.
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Speaker 2: Not only are they all with s's as far as
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Speaker 2: starting their last name with, but look at the swing
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Speaker 2: and miss. I mean, there's twenty six strikeouts among the
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Speaker 2: three of those guys, a lot of k's as far
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Speaker 2: as that is concerned. In those three outings that you mentioned,
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Speaker 2: Are they all the same type of picture? How do
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Speaker 2: you break them down when you look at those three
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Speaker 2: in particular.
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Speaker 1: No, they're not the same type. And of course no
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Speaker 1: two pictures are exactly alike. Strider is the ace, the
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Speaker 1: cy young Candiate, the guy that you think might ultimately
2:52
Speaker 1: be one of the great pictures of this generation should
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Speaker 1: he stay healthy and keep it together. Smith Sharvor again
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Speaker 1: promising different kind of picture to some degree, but he's
3:03
Speaker 1: a guy with a world of talent and Schuella Mack.
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Speaker 1: We saw this guy last year. He was really good
3:08
Speaker 1: last year. He has an incredible athleticism and poise on
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Speaker 1: the mound for someone who really hasn't pitched all that much.
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Speaker 1: So he's intriguing. And of course the one s who
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Speaker 1: is missing from that list is the raining Cy Young winner.
3:21
Speaker 1: That would be Chris sale Rinaldo Lopez. Also a part
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Speaker 1: of that rotation. They've got Ian Anderson who has not
3:27
Speaker 1: had a good spring in Grant Holmes also for depth,
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Speaker 1: I just kind of like where they are with their
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Speaker 1: starting pitching for starters and then the offense. Once a
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Speaker 1: coon you comes back and remember this is his second
3:38
Speaker 1: knee surgery on the other knee, but he's gone through
3:41
Speaker 1: this rehab before. He knows what it entails. He knows
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Speaker 1: that it's going to take time for him to keep
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Speaker 1: his recovery process going and then come back as good
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Speaker 1: as he hopefully can be. So this is a team
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Speaker 1: that had some offensive regression last year. Of if it's
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Speaker 1: Grade twenty three, I would expect they're going to be
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Speaker 1: really good.
4:01
Speaker 2: I would never count out an Alex Anthopolis or Brian
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Speaker 2: Snickert led squad love the Land of Braves what they've
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Speaker 2: done over the course of the last ten years at least.
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Speaker 2: All right, Let's go over to a team ken in
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Speaker 2: the American League that has always been a perennial power,
4:14
Speaker 2: at least for the last decade, and that is the
4:17
Speaker 2: Houston Astros. This is a little perplexing to me. And
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Speaker 2: I understand you're going to put guys in positions to succeed,
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Speaker 2: and you're also gonna put guys where your roster dictates
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Speaker 2: in terms of positions. But I'm a little confused about
4:28
Speaker 2: the move of Jose Altuve to left field. I understand
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Speaker 2: he's not the great, you know, the best defensive second basement,
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Speaker 2: but what do you make of the move.
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Speaker 1: To left Obviously this week there were some hiccups and
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Speaker 1: he had some plays you might have seen the videos
4:43
Speaker 1: by now that did not go well. But it is
4:45
Speaker 1: spring training and you would hope that as time goes
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Speaker 1: on he gets more accustomed to the position. But a
4:51
Speaker 1: lot of you hit it on the head. He had
4:53
Speaker 1: become a well below average second baseman. By any metric
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Speaker 1: you use, he was among the worst in the league.
5:00
Speaker 1: Maybe he was a little bored at the position and
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Speaker 1: maybe he needed a new challenge. So remember this idea
5:07
Speaker 1: began to germinate after well when Alex Bregman was a
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Speaker 1: free agent, and at that point the Astro said Altuve
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Speaker 1: had volunteered to change positions. They would move Paradis to
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Speaker 1: second base, keep Bregman at third if they kept him.
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Speaker 1: But actually, this idea has been kind of getting kicked
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Speaker 1: around with the Astros for years. And what was interesting
5:28
Speaker 1: to me, or what has been interesting the spring, is
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Speaker 1: to see how two they so energized again, so excited
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Speaker 1: about his move to the outfield. I don't know that
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Speaker 1: he was happy being a below average second baseman. Now
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Speaker 1: maybe he'll be a below average left fielder. Of course
5:42
Speaker 1: that's the risk you take here, but he is going
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Speaker 1: to be the primary left field the Joe's spot of
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Speaker 1: the manager announced that yesterday, and I expect that he'll
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Speaker 1: play a competent left field in time. Might not happen
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Speaker 1: right away, but this move was made for a few reasons,
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Speaker 1: and the fact that he is so into it and
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Speaker 1: so energized by it that to me indicates that yeah,
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Speaker 1: it was the right thing to do. Well.
6:05
Speaker 2: You can certainly get more on Crush territory with chand
6:08
Speaker 2: Lerom among others here on the Foul Territory Network. You
6:11
Speaker 2: said a competent left fielder ken Is that enough? Obviously
6:15
Speaker 2: he's not going to be the DH with jor Don
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Speaker 2: Alvarez there. He's a below average second baseman. Is a
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Speaker 2: competent left fielder for the Houston Astros enough, especially without
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Speaker 2: the services of Kyle Tucker, and.
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Speaker 1: Right right, you're talking about a guy who's still going
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Speaker 1: to be I would expect an elite hitter, and he
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Speaker 1: is jose L Tuve. Now the question I have is
6:36
Speaker 1: if he does struggle defensively, does that carry over to
6:39
Speaker 1: his offense. But you can make the case that he's
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Speaker 1: struggled defensively for several years now and it really hasn't
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Speaker 1: carried over much. So he is still a fast player
6:48
Speaker 1: at thirty five years old, I believe, and he's still
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Speaker 1: a guy that to me is savvy enough and veteran
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Speaker 1: enough to figure this all out. And as far as defensively, yes,
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Speaker 1: confidence would be enough. We're not looking for gold glove
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Speaker 1: out there from him. We're looking for him just simply
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Speaker 1: to handle the position.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that'll be interesting to see what the offense does
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Speaker 2: without Kyle Tucker and right Field as well, and without
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Speaker 2: Alex Bregman their third baseman. All right, before we continue
7:13
Speaker 2: on with the Phillies and what's going on with their
7:17
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7:20
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Speaker 2: giving it to her. All right, Ken, let's get back
9:02
Speaker 2: to the show here. As far as the Philadelphia Phillies,
9:04
Speaker 2: the analytics department, I guess they were outsourcing some of
9:08
Speaker 2: the things and it came back to bite them in
9:10
Speaker 2: the rear. What more can you tell us.
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Speaker 1: Well, it's a very interesting situation first reported by Front
9:16
Speaker 1: Office Sports yesterday and Matt Gaelbo The Athletic has a
9:19
Speaker 1: very detailed explanation of the lawsuit the Phillies have filed
9:24
Speaker 1: against the company named Zealous, and Zealous is a company
9:27
Speaker 1: that provided to one team in each division exclusive analytical material.
9:32
Speaker 1: And what the Phillies are saying in the lawsuit is, hey,
9:36
Speaker 1: you guys are now giving this to another team or
9:38
Speaker 1: maybe multiple teams in our division. That's not what is
9:42
Speaker 1: in the contract. We were supposed to have exclusive rights.
9:46
Speaker 1: What's interesting here is that in this day and age,
9:49
Speaker 1: most teams have their own analytics departments, and most of
9:52
Speaker 1: them have quite large analytics departments. Actually all of them
9:55
Speaker 1: have them. So why are the Phillies even using z
10:00
Speaker 1: That would be the first question when you have your
10:02
Speaker 1: own department, match Gil reports today it's one of the
10:04
Speaker 1: largest in the league, forty one people, something along those lines,
10:08
Speaker 1: And what Matt explains is that teams sometimes want to
10:13
Speaker 1: use these companies to sort of get a benchmark on
10:16
Speaker 1: their own information, make sure it matches up, and some
10:19
Speaker 1: began using it using companies like Zellis because initially they
10:23
Speaker 1: didn't have great analytics departments and they needed kind of
10:26
Speaker 1: a foundation to build from. I don't know where this
10:30
Speaker 1: lawsuit is going to end up, obviously, but it's quite
10:33
Speaker 1: interesting that the Phillies believe that their information that what
10:37
Speaker 1: they were paying for exclusively is going to another team
10:40
Speaker 1: in their division. And you can understand why they're upset.
10:44
Speaker 1: My question would still be, hey, just do it yourself,
10:48
Speaker 1: and if you've got forty one people, you should be
10:50
Speaker 1: able to check each other pretty well. But for whatever reason,
10:53
Speaker 1: the Phillies decided at some point that they wanted to
10:56
Speaker 1: use Zellis and now I don't know that I would
10:59
Speaker 1: say it's bitten them. They feel like their contract has
11:01
Speaker 1: been violated and now they're seeking remedies in court.
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Speaker 2: It's insane too when you think about it, ken in
11:08
Speaker 2: terms of the amount of money that they're paying Zella
11:11
Speaker 2: six hundred thousand dollars in twenty twenty two. They paid
11:14
Speaker 2: another one point two seventy five million to use the
11:16
Speaker 2: company's services in twenty three and twenty four, and those
11:19
Speaker 2: contracts included division exclusive licenses. I mean, you would think
11:23
Speaker 2: with forty one people on your staff, that's money that
11:26
Speaker 2: could be better spent in other areas. All right, make
11:29
Speaker 2: sure you load up your questions for Grill and Ken
11:31
Speaker 2: as we get to that segment of our program here
11:34
Speaker 2: and that we do have one question so far. Can
11:37
Speaker 2: I want to ask you this? And I'm not sure
11:39
Speaker 2: if this one's from Avery Gibson, We're going to get
11:41
Speaker 2: to that one soon or if it's regarding the Astros.
11:46
Speaker 2: So I'm just going to ask you this when Avery
11:48
Speaker 2: Gibson says earlier this week, Ronald Acuna said that he
11:51
Speaker 2: isn't going to be as aggressive on the base pass
11:53
Speaker 2: due to both of his ACL injuries. So obviously talking
11:56
Speaker 2: about the Braves here, do we believe him and how
11:58
Speaker 2: critical is he to the challenge to challenging Los Angeles
12:02
Speaker 2: Dodgers As you said earlier to start our show, that
12:05
Speaker 2: the Braves are the biggest challengers Stella, The second.
12:08
Speaker 1: Question is easy to answer. He's critical, there's no question
12:11
Speaker 1: about it. If he can get back to anywhere close
12:13
Speaker 1: to where he was in twenty twenty three when he
12:16
Speaker 1: had that historic season, that makes a huge difference. Now.
12:20
Speaker 1: As for him being less aggressive, he wants to be
12:23
Speaker 1: less aggressive, and we'll see once he gets into the
12:26
Speaker 1: game flow whether he will indeed be that way, because
12:29
Speaker 1: players in the adrenaline that takes over during a game
12:34
Speaker 1: sometimes obviously do things that maybe they don't intend to
12:37
Speaker 1: do or wouldn't otherwise think it's sensible. Now Acuna is
12:42
Speaker 1: maturing as a player obviously, of course, and I would
12:46
Speaker 1: imagine he's going to in his mind try to make
12:48
Speaker 1: decisions that would not put him in harm's way, and
12:52
Speaker 1: he'll try to do that as often as possible. So
12:55
Speaker 1: might we see a difference in his play, Yes, we
12:57
Speaker 1: might see a little bit of a difference. I would
12:59
Speaker 1: expect that, actually, But I don't know that you're ever
13:02
Speaker 1: going to take away Ronald Lacunya and his spirit for
13:06
Speaker 1: the game and the way he plays. I don't know
13:08
Speaker 1: that he wants that. I don't know that the Braves
13:09
Speaker 1: want that. They want him to be Ronald Lacuna Junior.
13:12
Speaker 1: But I believe what Acunya was talking about there is
13:16
Speaker 1: simply maybe being more sensible in certain game situations at
13:20
Speaker 1: certain times.
13:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, read the room, read the scoreboard, understand what's going on. Again,
13:25
Speaker 2: I agree with you, Ken, I don't know that you
13:26
Speaker 2: can take away the one hundred and fifty percent effort
13:29
Speaker 2: that Ronald Acunya Junior always gives when he is on
13:31
Speaker 2: the field. Another question for you, as far as the
13:34
Speaker 2: Houston Astros are concerned Camp Smith making the Houston roster
13:39
Speaker 2: locked on Astros wants to know if camp Smith is
13:42
Speaker 2: on your opening day roster for the Houston Astros.
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Speaker 1: I would be wary of this, and I know it's
13:49
Speaker 1: intriguing for teams to carry guys from the start of
13:51
Speaker 1: the season because of the prospect promotion incentive. They become
13:55
Speaker 1: eligible for Rookie of the Year and not just that,
13:58
Speaker 1: but you can get the team. I don't know that
14:00
Speaker 1: that's the Astros motivation, and I don't know that the
14:03
Speaker 1: motivation is to justify the Kyle Tucker trade. The motivation,
14:07
Speaker 1: it seems to me, is that they think cam Smith
14:09
Speaker 1: is going to be a star and make an impact
14:11
Speaker 1: on their club really quickly. The question as Chandlerome is
14:14
Speaker 1: written and talked about on Astro's territory or whatever we
14:18
Speaker 1: call a Space City territory. He's discussed how they need
14:22
Speaker 1: to find the spot for him so he can play regularly.
14:25
Speaker 1: Manager Joe A. Spota is adamant that when a young
14:27
Speaker 1: kid comes up, can't put him on the bench you've
14:30
Speaker 1: got to play him. So that's the question. Chas McCormick
14:33
Speaker 1: in right field or or some kind of combination with
14:37
Speaker 1: cam Smith. I don't know how it would work, but
14:40
Speaker 1: we're gonna see cam Smith at some point, and it
14:42
Speaker 1: looks like that's going to be a really good trade
14:44
Speaker 1: for the Astros if indeed he proves to be a
14:48
Speaker 1: quality player. Remember they also got we was Nesky the
14:50
Speaker 1: pitcher in that deal, and it looks like it might
14:53
Speaker 1: come out okay.
14:55
Speaker 2: Question in regards to the Washington Nationals talking about the
14:58
Speaker 2: NL East here a little bit. Jay wants to know.
15:00
Speaker 2: So Ken, now that the Nats are out of the
15:02
Speaker 2: Massen deal, do you see the Learners selling the team.
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Speaker 1: This is a big question. And the mass In situation,
15:11
Speaker 1: I used to call it the baseball version of the
15:13
Speaker 1: one hundred Years War with the Orioles, was something that
15:16
Speaker 1: was hanging over the franchise and it was kind of
15:19
Speaker 1: preventing the Learners from maybe getting the price that they
15:22
Speaker 1: would want because a buyer would look at this and say,
15:24
Speaker 1: we don't have any resolution here. Now there is resolution.
15:27
Speaker 1: They will be out of this deal after the season,
15:29
Speaker 1: So it would seemingly pave the way now for the
15:33
Speaker 1: Learners to put the team back on the market. This
15:36
Speaker 1: team has gone on the market, off the market, on
15:38
Speaker 1: the market, off the market. But I don't know what
15:41
Speaker 1: the Learner's intentions are, only they know. It just seems
15:44
Speaker 1: to me that now with this resolving, would be the time.
15:50
Speaker 2: Or it kind of reminds me too, Ken of the
15:52
Speaker 2: whole Angels situation and the TV deal and whether Artie
15:55
Speaker 2: Moreno was going to the team, whether he's not going
15:57
Speaker 2: to sell the team. Seems like they're there's a lot
16:00
Speaker 2: of uncertainty when it comes to the Washington Nationals. All right,
16:03
Speaker 2: Another question for you in terms of the Los Angeles
16:07
Speaker 2: Dodgers Elisjeva Jones, who is a great friend of the
16:10
Speaker 2: program on Dodgers' territory. Do you expect Dodgers might trade
16:14
Speaker 2: Dustin May and or Gonsolin or what about other teams
16:18
Speaker 2: signing Hunter Fiducia as some teams do need catchers.
16:23
Speaker 1: On the May question Gonsolin question, they need to see
16:28
Speaker 1: how it goes, and they need to see if they
16:30
Speaker 1: can keep their pitchers healthy and whether they will need
16:32
Speaker 1: Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin if at the deadline they
16:36
Speaker 1: see a surplus of sorts. Yes, I think they would
16:40
Speaker 1: consider it. Now. The question, one of the questions with
16:43
Speaker 1: the Dodgers is this year, what are they gonna do
16:45
Speaker 1: with all these guys? How are they going to pitch?
16:47
Speaker 1: And that might prompt them to do something at some point.
16:50
Speaker 1: You can't stash Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin and Triple
16:54
Speaker 1: A and or in the bullpen necessarily. I actually could
16:57
Speaker 1: put May in the bullpen, but they've got a numbers problem,
17:01
Speaker 1: and the numbers problem would indicate to me that at
17:04
Speaker 1: some point, yes, they would have to entertain things. But
17:08
Speaker 1: they also have an issue of well, the Japanese pictures
17:12
Speaker 1: Sasaki and Yamamoto and Otani as well, once he starts
17:15
Speaker 1: pitching again, we'll be honest, every sixth day program if
17:18
Speaker 1: not more. And their pictures, let's face it, have gotten
17:22
Speaker 1: hurt over the years. It's been a repeated problem for them.
17:25
Speaker 1: So they're going to be reluctant to trade off their depth.
17:28
Speaker 1: But at some point it might be a situation where
17:32
Speaker 1: they are looking at it and saying, what are we
17:35
Speaker 1: doing here. We've got to get something for some of
17:37
Speaker 1: these guys to give them an opportunity to play and
17:38
Speaker 1: give us an opportunity to maybe rework our organization in
17:44
Speaker 1: other ways.
17:45
Speaker 2: And Andrew Freeman was very clear that he wanted to
17:47
Speaker 2: make all these moves in the off season so he
17:49
Speaker 2: didn't have to deal with these sort of things at
17:51
Speaker 2: the trade deadline. Only time will tell. They're going to
17:53
Speaker 2: go one sixty two in open I mean they already
17:55
Speaker 2: started the season two and oh, all right, let's talk
17:57
Speaker 2: about the Texas Rangers. Booker Washington a great name, by
18:01
Speaker 2: the way, Booker wants to know what the moves the
18:03
Speaker 2: Rangers made in the offseason. They will make a lot
18:06
Speaker 2: of noise this year. He's asking, do you think that's
18:08
Speaker 2: the case? They're in the Al West.
18:10
Speaker 1: I like the Rangers in the Al West, and I
18:13
Speaker 1: expect them to be resurgent. Remember last year, they're coming
18:16
Speaker 1: off the World Series title. Teams always struggle, it seems,
18:20
Speaker 1: coming off World Series titles, playing so deep into October.
18:23
Speaker 1: They also regressed offensively. They weren't the same team offensively.
18:27
Speaker 1: And now they're bringing in Jack Peterson, they've traded for
18:30
Speaker 1: Jake Berger. With the pitching staff, they have some questions
18:33
Speaker 1: in the bullpen, but Bruce Boche's their manager, so you
18:36
Speaker 1: would expect he'd figure it out. John Gray obviously out
18:39
Speaker 1: now at the factored risk. Cody Bradford is out as well,
18:42
Speaker 1: so the starting pitching. That is why they signed Patrick
18:45
Speaker 1: Corbyn this week to enhance their depth. But I just
18:48
Speaker 1: expect their offense is going to be better. Wyatt Langford
18:51
Speaker 1: in his first full season, Evan Carter coming back, Jace
18:55
Speaker 1: Young is healthy again. Just seems to me that this
18:58
Speaker 1: is going to be a team that we're going to
19:00
Speaker 1: be talking a lot about this season. Yeah.
19:03
Speaker 2: I love the Rangers. I love Bruce Bochi, I love
19:04
Speaker 2: Skip Schumacher, who apparently is the manager in waiting when
19:08
Speaker 2: Bruce decides to retire again. I actually love this question,
19:12
Speaker 2: and it's the last one here on Grill and Ken,
19:14
Speaker 2: Sammy Boyce Smith says, who will be the starting second
19:18
Speaker 2: basement in the All Star Game? Now that's now that
19:22
Speaker 2: Jose al Tuve is gone, so obviously talking about the
19:25
Speaker 2: al second basement in the All Star Game, This is
19:27
Speaker 2: a great question because it's always been Jose L. Tuve.
19:31
Speaker 1: It has been and I'm not sure what the answer
19:34
Speaker 1: is going to be here. We've had other second basement
19:36
Speaker 1: over the years. Joge Polanco was one from Minnesota. He's
19:39
Speaker 1: down in Seattle. How about Jackson Holiday first full season,
19:43
Speaker 1: Let's see what he does. Jackson Holiday, I would think
19:45
Speaker 1: would have a chance to be really good. Marcus Semion,
19:48
Speaker 1: of course with the Rangers is a quality player year
19:51
Speaker 1: after year. But yes, it will change considerably without al
19:56
Speaker 1: Tuove in that lineup. For the American League, it's second
19:58
Speaker 1: base he usually played. Actually, he hasn't played an All
20:02
Speaker 1: Star Game, I believe since the sign stealing scandal. Every
20:06
Speaker 1: year it's been something else. So he'll get elected or
20:10
Speaker 1: has been getting elected, but he hasn't necessarily been the guy.
20:12
Speaker 1: Simeon's been the guy I know and others as well.
20:16
Speaker 1: So yeah, the outlook does change at that position.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, Marcus Semming, of course, if there's anything, you know,
20:21
Speaker 2: he's going to be in there every single day. That's
20:22
Speaker 2: one guy that absolutely posts. Wouldn't it be funny Ken
20:25
Speaker 2: if Jose Al two they made the All Star Game
20:27
Speaker 2: as a left fielder.
20:29
Speaker 1: It would be impressive if you could do that. And
20:32
Speaker 1: one other guy I'll mention here Andres Jimenez. Jimenez and
20:36
Speaker 1: I love this player. Now. I know he doesn't hit,
20:39
Speaker 1: I get it, but he is an elite defender. And
20:43
Speaker 1: if he can get back to where he was a
20:44
Speaker 1: few years ago. Offensively, he's certainly a worthy possibility for
20:49
Speaker 1: the All Star team as well. Right, I know I'm
20:51
Speaker 1: missing some I know I'm missing some folks. I'm just
20:54
Speaker 1: doing this off the top of my head. So if
20:56
Speaker 1: you got somebody else, I hear.
20:57
Speaker 2: You, that's okay. You get a pass for that. That
20:59
Speaker 2: was kind of a curveball question for you. Okay, time
21:01
Speaker 2: now to get into dude of the week.
21:04
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.
21:13
Speaker 2: All right, Ken, who's your dude of the.
21:14
Speaker 1: Week, Alana, I think we're going to come up with
21:17
Speaker 1: the same answers this week, and it's a great answer.
21:20
Speaker 1: It's Major League Baseball, the Cubs, the Dodgers, the players,
21:24
Speaker 1: the Tokyo Series in general. The Tokyo Series was tremendous
21:28
Speaker 1: in so many ways. It showed the impact of baseball
21:31
Speaker 1: in Japan. It also featured some Japanese stars for each team.
21:35
Speaker 1: It was really cool Imanaga and Suzuki and then Sasaki
21:38
Speaker 1: and Yamamoto and Otani for the Dodgers. And just to
21:42
Speaker 1: see the starting pitching matchup that first day, Imanaga versus Yamamoto,
21:46
Speaker 1: that was, in my opinion, a great day for major
21:49
Speaker 1: League Baseball to show how worldwide the sport has gotten,
21:53
Speaker 1: and it has been for quite some time. But that
21:55
Speaker 1: was kind of a vivid reminder. Hey, look at this.
21:59
Speaker 1: We have two teams playing in Japan, two Japanese starting
22:02
Speaker 1: pitchers going against each other, and of course the best
22:05
Speaker 1: player on the planet playing for the Dodgers as well.
22:08
Speaker 1: That would be a Japanese star, Shoho Tani.
22:11
Speaker 2: I have to say that Tokyo did such an amazing
22:13
Speaker 2: job as the host city, Japan as the host country,
22:16
Speaker 2: and it was such a good spirit the whole time
22:19
Speaker 2: that the Dodgers and the Cubs were there. I wish
22:21
Speaker 2: I would. I've never been so jealous Ken to not
22:22
Speaker 2: be on an international trip than I was for this trip.
22:25
Speaker 2: But I agree. I mean, I think we give Rod
22:27
Speaker 2: Manfred a lot of grief, but this is the one
22:29
Speaker 2: way that the commissioner Manfred hit the nail on the head.
22:32
Speaker 2: Tremendous week, and it's good for the game of baseball.
22:36
Speaker 2: All right. Time now for the John Fisher dork of
22:38
Speaker 2: the week. All right, Ken, who do you have?
22:50
Speaker 1: I've got a team, an organization, a franchise, the Miami Marlins.
22:54
Speaker 1: Now they're not Oakland a's territory just yet, but they're
22:59
Speaker 1: threatening to be and they have a stadium will give
23:01
Speaker 1: them that. But I wrote about them this week how
23:04
Speaker 1: they have not spent nearly enough money to escape scrutiny.
23:09
Speaker 1: There is a formula in place according to the CBA,
23:11
Speaker 1: for a team that receives revenue sharing by the end
23:14
Speaker 1: of the season, your luxury tax payroll has to be
23:16
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty percent of that number you receive.
23:20
Speaker 1: The Marlins, from what I can tell from the estimates
23:23
Speaker 1: that are out there about their luxury tax payroll and
23:26
Speaker 1: what we know about what they receive in revenue sharing,
23:28
Speaker 1: which is among the highest in the game, they're not
23:31
Speaker 1: anywhere close. They're going to trade Sandy al kont that
23:34
Speaker 1: are no question about that, So they're going to be
23:36
Speaker 1: even further away from that threshold, and I don't see
23:39
Speaker 1: how they get there. This is a team that, the
23:42
Speaker 1: way I described it, they're a blight on the sport
23:44
Speaker 1: and it's kind of a cynical way to run the
23:46
Speaker 1: franchise when you might be inviting a grievance from the union,
23:50
Speaker 1: and seemingly we're good with that. The other thing that
23:53
Speaker 1: Marlins were in the news for this week was this
23:55
Speaker 1: practice squad that they were going to start that basically
23:58
Speaker 1: MLB told them you can't do this to violate labor
24:01
Speaker 1: issues and all kinds of different things, and that might
24:05
Speaker 1: have been more of a blip. I'll kind of give
24:07
Speaker 1: him a pass on that one. But the way this
24:09
Speaker 1: team is operating under owner Bruce Sherman, I don't get
24:13
Speaker 1: it to me. They should be a lot more aggressive
24:15
Speaker 1: in a number of areas. They say, we're building up infrastructure,
24:19
Speaker 1: we're hiring, we're doing things in the Dominican Okay, doesn't
24:23
Speaker 1: mean you can't spend at the major league level too.
24:25
Speaker 1: And we're not asking them to be the Los Angeles Dodgers.
24:28
Speaker 1: We're just asking them to kind of follow the rules here.
24:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you pay your fair share. Nobody's asking
24:33
Speaker 2: you to be the Dodgers, but we are asking you
24:34
Speaker 2: to make some inroads and to invest in your team
24:38
Speaker 2: and put some decent players on the field so your
24:40
Speaker 2: fans actually have something to be proud of. All Right,
24:42
Speaker 2: my dork of the week, and I'm going to give
24:44
Speaker 2: him a pass. Let me preface this. Kobe Mayo on
24:47
Speaker 2: returning to Triple A. I can appreciate the competitive fire
24:50
Speaker 2: under him. He was upset that, you know, that he
24:53
Speaker 2: was demoted to triple A, and he did apologize. He
24:57
Speaker 2: did offer an apology too, So I'm going to give
24:59
Speaker 2: him a pass. Young kid that had a microphone shoved
25:01
Speaker 2: in his face, and he said, it's definitely difficult. It
25:04
Speaker 2: obviously sucks because you feel like you've proven everything you've
25:06
Speaker 2: needed to. Here's the thing I have with this Ken,
25:08
Speaker 2: I think, and this is just a system wide problem.
25:11
Speaker 2: I think a lot of the kids coming up today,
25:13
Speaker 2: and I had conversations with veteran players in certain clubhouses
25:17
Speaker 2: that have also said that some of the young minor
25:20
Speaker 2: leaguers coming up today have not really had to pay
25:23
Speaker 2: the same types of dues that some of the players
25:26
Speaker 2: in the past have had to do. And I think
25:27
Speaker 2: a lot of these young players are thinking, like, oh,
25:29
Speaker 2: you know, I've always been at the highest point in
25:31
Speaker 2: every level along the way, and they almost have like
25:35
Speaker 2: an elitist attitude and an expectation that because they've been
25:39
Speaker 2: the best at every single level, that it translates immediately
25:42
Speaker 2: to major League Baseball, and it doesn't. It's a very
25:44
Speaker 2: difficult sport to get into. It's an even harder one
25:46
Speaker 2: sustain in terms of longevity, So you got to be
25:49
Speaker 2: careful about how you handle these situations. Again, young kid,
25:52
Speaker 2: I give them a pass, but it's almost an epidemic
25:55
Speaker 2: with some of these younger kids that don't understand that
25:59
Speaker 2: there's as to this whole thing, and just because you
26:02
Speaker 2: are invited to spring training or whatever it is, that
26:05
Speaker 2: you're automatically going to be at the big league level
26:08
Speaker 2: or break camp on the big league roster. I mean
26:10
Speaker 2: there's even some kids in the Cubs and Dodgers organizations
26:14
Speaker 2: that were questioning why they weren't going to Tokyo. Now
26:16
Speaker 2: you could only take thirty one players and you're way
26:18
Speaker 2: down on the depth chart. So again he apologized, but
26:22
Speaker 2: there needs to be more probably media training at the
26:24
Speaker 2: lower levels in pro ball. But he's my dork of
26:28
Speaker 2: the week.
26:29
Speaker 1: I will add this Salana, and it's a fair discussion
26:32
Speaker 1: on Kobe Mayo and whether he said something that was inappropriate,
26:35
Speaker 1: and he obviously did apologize. As you mentioned, the Orioles though,
26:39
Speaker 1: could have seen this coming, should have seen this coming.
26:42
Speaker 1: They've had Mayo, they've got Mount Castle at first base.
26:45
Speaker 1: They wanted to keep all these guys together. Well, this
26:48
Speaker 1: is what happens, and there's nothing wrong with having too
26:51
Speaker 1: many good players, and at some point this season I
26:53
Speaker 1: expect they will need Kobe Mayo. But they also could
26:56
Speaker 1: have used Kobe Mayo to trade for a big starting
26:59
Speaker 1: pitcher this season. I'm sure they could have gotten pretty
27:02
Speaker 1: much anyone they wanted with Kobe Mayo, and yet they
27:05
Speaker 1: chose not to do that. And starting pitching is the
27:08
Speaker 1: biggest question. We'll see how it all plays out. Maybe
27:10
Speaker 1: the Oils are doing entirely the right thing. They've been
27:13
Speaker 1: pretty good at development, there's no question about that. But
27:16
Speaker 1: that's the other angle here, that the Orioles might have
27:22
Speaker 1: not taken the position they should have with Mayo and
27:24
Speaker 1: not headed this off at the pass before they had
27:27
Speaker 1: this logjam.
27:28
Speaker 2: And I would love to see more communication. I think
27:30
Speaker 2: a lot of this stuff happens because there's a lack
27:32
Speaker 2: of communication ken between the team and perhaps the player.
27:35
Speaker 2: You saw it happen with Rafael Devers in Boston. I
27:38
Speaker 2: mean it kind of blindsided by this whole situation with
27:41
Speaker 2: third base and Alex Bregman being signed, and he was
27:43
Speaker 2: not even told that that was happening, even when there
27:46
Speaker 2: was a consideration of Alex Bregman going to the Red Sox.
27:50
Speaker 2: So communicate, communicate, communicate, all right, thank you so much
27:53
Speaker 2: everybody for being here on Foul Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal.
27:57
Speaker 2: I want to shout out our friends that Bett mg
28:00
Speaker 2: drive to the rim with a no Sweat Parley token.
28:03
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Speaker 2: hundred gambler. Thanks for watching, everybody, We appreciate it. Foul
28:16
Speaker 2: Territory is next. Cameron Maybin is out at Braves Camp.
28:20
Speaker 2: We're excited to see that he's going to be joined
28:22
Speaker 2: by Aj Pierzinski and Scott Braun and then after that
28:26
Speaker 2: it's Dodgers Territory with myself and Clint Psias. Ken will
28:29
Speaker 2: be back with the brand new Fair Territory on Monday.
28:32
Speaker 2: See you then,