Latest / Foul Territory / BIG April Awards, Twins neglected pen, Mets IL Luis Robert Jr.

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BIG April Awards, Twins neglected pen, Mets IL Luis Robert Jr. · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to a brand new episode of
0:06
Speaker 1: Foul Territory. You know those guys. That's A J. Pierzynski,
0:10
Speaker 1: Eric Kratz. I am Alana Rizzo filling in for Scott Braun.
0:13
Speaker 1: Do not worry, everybody, he will be back tomorrow. Happy
0:16
Speaker 1: to be with you today. Don't forget you guys. Joined
0:18
Speaker 1: the conversation tweet us at hashtag ft live by the
0:22
Speaker 1: Merch to support the show foul Territory shop dot com.
0:25
Speaker 1: Good to be with you both. Aj I'm digging the
0:28
Speaker 1: shirt for those at home, but you may not be
0:30
Speaker 1: able to see. At Castle Pines Golf Club, I am
0:32
Speaker 1: born and raised in Colorado. Do you remember, first of all,
0:35
Speaker 1: did you play the course? And if so, do you
0:38
Speaker 1: remember what you shot?
0:40
Speaker 2: I played it a few times. Do I remember what
0:42
Speaker 2: I shot? No, because I was probably intoxicated. I'm not
0:44
Speaker 2: going out with the views intoxicated with the views. Yes, yes,
0:52
Speaker 2: it is beautiful there. I've been on some boys trips
0:55
Speaker 2: out there, so we don't uh, I don't know. I
0:58
Speaker 2: don't remember. It was probably seventy somewhere between seventy five
1:01
Speaker 2: and eighty two is usually about what the number is.
1:04
Speaker 1: Alana Hey that's pretty good, especially if you're a bit inebriated. Ek.
1:08
Speaker 1: Good to see you. I'm not with you guys tomorrow.
1:10
Speaker 1: Any big plans this weekend?
1:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we got college baseball tournament, the championship,
1:17
Speaker 2: we got softball tournaments, we got let's see. I think
1:23
Speaker 2: that's it. But that's enough.
1:26
Speaker 1: Enough, That is enough, all right, guys, let's get to it.
1:28
Speaker 1: A big show for you today. Jim Bowden, Courtney Turner,
1:31
Speaker 1: Ricky Romero joining us on the show. We are going
1:34
Speaker 1: to start though, with our April Awards right digging the music.
1:46
Speaker 1: Our April Awards are broken down into the following categories.
1:50
Speaker 1: The biggest Surprise, the biggest disappointment, the best moment of
1:53
Speaker 1: the month, Player of the Month, Picture of the Month,
1:56
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Month. First up, a j let's say
1:59
Speaker 1: you your biggest surprise.
2:02
Speaker 2: Uh, My biggest surprise is the fact that the NL
2:04
Speaker 2: Central every team is over five hundred. And the biggest
2:06
Speaker 2: surprise in the NL Central is the Cardinals because everyone
2:09
Speaker 2: thought they were rebuilding and here they are kicking ass
2:13
Speaker 2: and uh yeah for me it's the same tho as Cardinals.
2:16
Speaker 2: But more importantly, the NL Central every team is five
2:19
Speaker 2: hundred or above, and nobody had that going into May
2:22
Speaker 2: that they would all be at that point.
2:25
Speaker 1: Now we all thought that the Central, both divisions of
2:27
Speaker 1: the Central were going to be down. Shows you what
2:29
Speaker 1: we know. What about your biggest disappointment.
2:32
Speaker 2: I mean, I think this is pretty the Phillies, the
2:34
Speaker 2: Phillies firing Rob Thompson, just the Phillies in general. I mean, yeah, yeah,
2:40
Speaker 2: that's it. And then if I'll just keep going here,
2:42
Speaker 2: if you want a lot of down the thing, Yeah,
2:44
Speaker 2: my player is youred On Alvarez. No one's talking about him.
2:47
Speaker 2: Check out his numbers. He's leading the league in ops.
2:50
Speaker 2: He's sitting three something, three forty something, nine homers a
2:54
Speaker 2: bunch of are I think he might be. He's not
2:56
Speaker 2: leading the league, he's top two or three in RBIs. Uh.
2:59
Speaker 2: No one's talking thing about him caause the Astros are terrible.
3:02
Speaker 2: But check out his numbers. He's healthy. And then I'm
3:04
Speaker 2: going a little bit off the off the board here
3:06
Speaker 2: for Picture of the Month, just because Clay Home so
3:13
Speaker 2: he's doing everyone on there, uh, the team, And then
3:21
Speaker 2: for me, mooney moona Taki moona Taka Murakami is the
3:26
Speaker 2: Rookie of the Month. Just because the Homers hit supposed
3:28
Speaker 2: to play for the White Sox. And then my best
3:29
Speaker 2: moment is just abs challenges in general because I think
3:32
Speaker 2: that they h Yeah, I think they've been cool. The
3:36
Speaker 2: fans are into it, and it's every time there is
3:38
Speaker 2: when you hear the fans who went off, So I'm
3:39
Speaker 2: all for.
3:40
Speaker 1: It, all right, Eric? What about you? First of all?
3:42
Speaker 1: Are you are they massive agreements or disagreements there with
3:46
Speaker 1: with AJ's board, and what do you have for your
3:49
Speaker 1: awards for April?
3:51
Speaker 2: First, I have no disagreements. I think those are all
3:54
Speaker 2: awesome and you'll hear them in my awards. My awards
3:57
Speaker 2: actually parallel some of AJ's, which is kind of rare,
4:01
Speaker 2: but I mean it shows what these guys are doing.
4:05
Speaker 2: My biggest surprise was specifically the Cardinals. I think, and
4:09
Speaker 2: I say that not because of where we are, like
4:13
Speaker 2: our opinions really don't matter, but the organization. The organization
4:17
Speaker 2: was giving away players. They got rid of Noel Ernado
4:21
Speaker 2: and they got rid of Sonny Gray. They were getting
4:24
Speaker 2: rid of payroll, everything they could do to not have
4:28
Speaker 2: the team that they had before. And now look at
4:30
Speaker 2: them like this is it's incredible, and you know they
4:33
Speaker 2: look like it's a bunch of young guys that are
4:35
Speaker 2: finally getting the opportunity to play and play every day.
4:38
Speaker 2: My biggest disappointment was Boston's front office for the absolute
4:43
Speaker 2: massacre of the coaching staff that they had for a
4:46
Speaker 2: team that was essentially built to pitch and hasn't pitched
4:52
Speaker 2: that great. But they kept all the pitching coaches, So
4:56
Speaker 2: it just just the front office and how they handled it.
5:00
Speaker 2: The biggest thing for me. The reason they got their
5:02
Speaker 2: biggest disappointment was because of how they told the players,
5:06
Speaker 2: We're not going to have a discussion in this moment. Now.
5:09
Speaker 2: Obviously we found out more that Breslo was willing to
5:12
Speaker 2: talk to veterans like Trevor Story, but you know, hey,
5:16
Speaker 2: we're not going to talk about this. We're just going
5:17
Speaker 2: to go ahead and move on. So my best moment
5:20
Speaker 2: was just the entire month for Ildemaro Vargas, who almost
5:24
Speaker 2: has a two hundred ops plus for the month of April.
5:28
Speaker 2: A true journeyman catcher, I think the Diamondbacks. He's been
5:32
Speaker 2: to the Diamondbacks four times. He plays winter ball every
5:35
Speaker 2: single season. He's thirty four years old, like I said,
5:38
Speaker 2: and he is one of the best hitters in baseball
5:43
Speaker 2: right now for this season, he's not the best. I
5:46
Speaker 2: actually I actually had Yourdon, your donno, sorry, your Don
5:53
Speaker 2: like AJ had, but I ended up choosing Ben Rice
5:57
Speaker 2: for Player of the Month. All three of those guys,
6:00
Speaker 2: Ben Rice, Jordon, and ild Tomorrow Vargas like have been
6:04
Speaker 2: incredible for the month of April. Jordon's probably the better
6:07
Speaker 2: known name, Ben Rice is in a bigger market, and
6:11
Speaker 2: Ildamorrow got it because anytime you see an older guy
6:15
Speaker 2: have just a ridiculous breakout month, like, I gotta go
6:20
Speaker 2: with that show, Hey, show Hey wants to be a
6:23
Speaker 2: really good pitcher this year. Not that he didn't before,
6:25
Speaker 2: but he's clearly got a lot on his plate and
6:28
Speaker 2: this year, this month of April, he said, now you
6:31
Speaker 2: know what, I'm gonna be the best picture I can be.
6:33
Speaker 2: And obviously with AJ, I got Murakami as the Rookie
6:38
Speaker 2: of the Month, easy hands down. McGonagall had a great month,
6:42
Speaker 2: but it was definitely Morikami's month. We love our Dogabella,
6:48
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6:51
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7:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the three of us have some commonality.
7:50
Speaker 1: Of course, in all of our April awards, there's a
7:53
Speaker 1: couple of differences, though, So I'll go mine. As far
7:56
Speaker 1: as biggest surprise for me, the New York METS. I
8:00
Speaker 1: can't believe that the Mets have fallen as much as
8:03
Speaker 1: they have and now getting basically absolutely man handled by
8:08
Speaker 1: the Nationals. Yes, they've had some injuries, I understand that,
8:12
Speaker 1: but perhaps the majority of the injuries will also allow
8:16
Speaker 1: Carlos Mendoza to keep his job and not get fired
8:20
Speaker 1: already before it's forty games into the season. Like the
8:23
Speaker 1: Red Sox did not afford to Alex Korra, and like
8:26
Speaker 1: the Phillies did not afford to Rob Thompson, so the Mets.
8:29
Speaker 1: That's a huge surprise. It also goes to show you
8:31
Speaker 1: that Bunny doesn't guarantee anything. Steve Cohen gave the Mets
8:34
Speaker 1: the biggest payroll, and here we are they are ten
8:37
Speaker 1: and twenty ten games below five hundred. Biggest disappointment is
8:40
Speaker 1: the Phillies, just the way that I mean again, this
8:43
Speaker 1: is a team I have a tremendous amount of faith in,
8:45
Speaker 1: but they are also not performing. And again I don't
8:49
Speaker 1: like the way that this whole situation was handled with
8:51
Speaker 1: Rob Thompson. I don't think it's necessarily fair giving the
8:54
Speaker 1: man an extension in December of twenty twenty five and
8:57
Speaker 1: then releasing him, relieving him of his duties here in
9:00
Speaker 1: April of twenty twenty six. Ultimately, the production falls on
9:04
Speaker 1: the players, and Rob Thompson was the scapegoat, and kudos
9:07
Speaker 1: to him for addressing everything with reporters the day after
9:10
Speaker 1: he was let go. Not many people will do that.
9:13
Speaker 1: Best moment for me was a singular moment Jake Mangum
9:15
Speaker 1: throwing the ball to a fan in the stands that
9:18
Speaker 1: was wearing his jersey number, and that young man turned
9:21
Speaker 1: around and gave it to his little sister, and how
9:23
Speaker 1: emotional that was for that family, and how much that
9:27
Speaker 1: little girl appreciated her brother giving that ball and Jake
9:30
Speaker 1: for noticing them in the crowd. I thought that was
9:32
Speaker 1: just a really cool moment that they will absolutely never forget.
9:35
Speaker 1: Player of the month. This is where you and I
9:38
Speaker 1: Eric have some commonality. Ben Rice, I think has been tremendous.
9:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to look at some of his numbers here
9:44
Speaker 1: second in ops, third and extra base hits, tied for
9:47
Speaker 1: fourth in home runs in his second full season. He's
9:49
Speaker 1: just twenty seven years old. A great tandem with Aaron Judge,
9:53
Speaker 1: kind of an unexpected tandem right with the New York Yankees.
9:55
Speaker 1: They added some extra thump in the lineup with him.
9:59
Speaker 1: That's going to be big. John Carlos Stanton is out,
10:01
Speaker 1: so ben Rice becomes even more valuable to the New
10:03
Speaker 1: York Yankees. Again, other considerations your Don Alvarez, matt Olsen,
10:08
Speaker 1: perhaps picture of the Month. I can't believe Jose Soriano, guys,
10:12
Speaker 1: isn't getting more love. I understand he's.
10:14
Speaker 2: Lost to the White Sox. He lost to the White soxand.
10:18
Speaker 1: I understand, but he has That's why I didn't pick them.
10:21
Speaker 2: That's why I didn't pick them.
10:23
Speaker 1: But do I get that you're a homer in that regard?
10:25
Speaker 1: He leads the league and wins with five he leads
10:28
Speaker 1: an era with point eighty four. I mean that is microscopic, AJ, microscopic.
10:34
Speaker 1: He made thirty one starts last year, guys, through one
10:36
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty nine innings, So this isn't a case
10:39
Speaker 1: where he's going to fade out.
10:41
Speaker 2: I love it.
10:41
Speaker 1: Twenty seven years old. Good for him. Jose Soriano is
10:43
Speaker 1: a bright spot for the Angels. And of course all
10:47
Speaker 1: of us picking Munataka Murakami. So the fact that the
10:50
Speaker 1: three of us picked him as far as Rookie of
10:53
Speaker 1: the month, is this something AJ will start with you.
10:55
Speaker 1: I defer to you on all things, pale hose, is
10:58
Speaker 1: this something that he can keep up.
11:01
Speaker 2: Homers? He can keep hitting homers, I mean hits homers
11:03
Speaker 2: or strikes out or walks. I mean that's kind of
11:06
Speaker 2: he's the three true olcome guy. He's Jay Gallow again.
11:08
Speaker 2: I mean he hits more homers than Joey Gallah did.
11:10
Speaker 2: But absolutely, I think he can do this. I think
11:13
Speaker 2: this is what he was brought in there. He was
11:15
Speaker 2: brought in to hit forty plus homers and he's doing
11:18
Speaker 2: exactly what they thought he was going to do. He's
11:20
Speaker 2: been okay at first base. Yeah, I think he on
11:24
Speaker 2: ndred percent could keep doing this And that's why I
11:25
Speaker 2: picked him before the year started to win the Rookie
11:28
Speaker 2: of the Year in the American League. And also, uh,
11:31
Speaker 2: they beat they swept the Angels and Jose Soriano just
11:33
Speaker 2: throwing that in there for fun.
11:37
Speaker 1: Point eight four ERA point eight four ERA.
11:41
Speaker 2: Loss to the Palelhos and you didn't choose and you
11:44
Speaker 2: didn't choose show hey because you knew you did. You
11:47
Speaker 2: aren't going to be the first one to be called
11:49
Speaker 2: a homer. So be the Dodger show. Because he harps on.
11:56
Speaker 1: You're the one that harps on the homer thing all
11:58
Speaker 1: the time. It's not my fault. I didn't for seventeen
12:00
Speaker 1: teams like you did. I did not say anything.
12:05
Speaker 2: I have the word homer on aj. Aj was just
12:07
Speaker 2: sitting here and you caught he caught astray because he
12:09
Speaker 2: picked the best rookie in the league this year, and
12:13
Speaker 2: you were like, oh, you're a homer. Be nice, Alana.
12:16
Speaker 1: Oh wow. It's the first block of the show and
12:19
Speaker 1: I'm getting yelled at. Eric and Todd Frazier are going
12:23
Speaker 1: to have their May predictions tomorrow with Scott Braun on
12:27
Speaker 1: foul territory. So Aj is off, he's doing a swimming
12:30
Speaker 1: you're heading for the Fox game. Yes, what are your
12:34
Speaker 1: May predictions? Let's go into that for you.
12:37
Speaker 2: Uh May, I'm going a little bit crazy and uh
12:40
Speaker 2: so for May, I'm gonna start with my surprise. Okay,
12:43
Speaker 2: my surprise is going to be the Rais are going
12:44
Speaker 2: to hang in there with the Yankees. They're one game behind,
12:47
Speaker 2: and they're right there with the Yankees and they're playing good.
12:50
Speaker 2: Junior Caminary took a ball of the face. Doesn't matter.
12:52
Speaker 2: I didn't stop him. He keeps you whacking. Uh the
12:56
Speaker 2: biggest disappointment's going to be the Astros because they stink. Sorry,
13:00
Speaker 2: the Astro stink. Their pitchings beat up, they're not hitting,
13:03
Speaker 2: They're just they're not a good team. I don't know
13:04
Speaker 2: how to fix it. Sacho's spots fault, he'll get blamed,
13:08
Speaker 2: not his fault. Player of the Month Ronal Cooney Junior.
13:10
Speaker 2: We had CJ. Nikowski on yesterday. He said, they're signs. Well,
13:13
Speaker 2: the signs are going to point to Ronal cuone having
13:15
Speaker 2: a huge month. My pitcher is Schlitler. We talked about
13:19
Speaker 2: him the other day, how nasty his stuff is. I
13:21
Speaker 2: just think he's going to just keep dominating in ninety
13:24
Speaker 2: nine to one hundred and ninety five cutter balls, and
13:26
Speaker 2: then I was one day ahead of myself. Dammit. JJ
13:29
Speaker 2: Weather holds my Rookie of the Month and he homered
13:31
Speaker 2: up Paul Skeens already today. So could he have saved
13:34
Speaker 2: that for tomorrow and made the first day of May happy?
13:37
Speaker 2: But no, he had to go and ruin it by
13:39
Speaker 2: Hilmern today. So that's my awards predictions. We'll see, all right.
13:43
Speaker 1: I always have to be very careful when I say
13:45
Speaker 1: Cam Schlitzler, that is a tough one to say. By
13:47
Speaker 1: the way, I am getting blown up in our chat.
13:49
Speaker 1: You guys, make sure you're a part of the conversation
13:51
Speaker 1: here on Feul territory. We want you to be a
13:53
Speaker 1: part of the conversation. I need money, Underscore sixteen said
13:57
Speaker 1: shocker that Alana is calling someone a home. I'm surprised
14:00
Speaker 1: her entire list wasn't all Dodgers. I don't know if
14:05
Speaker 1: you know this. I need money, but the Dodgers aren't
14:07
Speaker 1: playing very well right now. But I see you, sir,
14:10
Speaker 1: and I raise you that I'm not doing made predictions today.
14:13
Speaker 1: So okay, there you have it, all right, guys. Johann
14:17
Speaker 1: Duran and the oblique issue. Matt gild saying on X
14:20
Speaker 1: that he is throwing a bullpen session today for the
14:22
Speaker 1: first time since his injury. He's been on the injured
14:25
Speaker 1: list for sixteen days. Phillies are optimistic about his progress.
14:29
Speaker 1: They need him back, guys, Philly's a huge disappointment so far.
14:33
Speaker 1: Johann Duran coming back would be a step in the
14:36
Speaker 1: right direction. AJU.
14:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't know if he's he's the whole,
14:43
Speaker 2: end all be all getting him back. I think there's
14:46
Speaker 2: other issues with this team. I mean, yeah, it's not
14:49
Speaker 2: just him. I mean it's cool when he comes in
14:50
Speaker 2: with his walk out, his music and all that stuff,
14:53
Speaker 2: But I don't know that it's he's the end all
14:55
Speaker 2: be all that the bullpen actually hasn't been that terrible.
14:58
Speaker 2: It's been other issues. So we a lot of this
15:00
Speaker 2: is not Phillies show. So we don't have all two
15:02
Speaker 2: hours to just go the Phillies problems because we could
15:06
Speaker 2: be here for about three days if we really wanted
15:08
Speaker 2: to dig into it.
15:09
Speaker 1: No question, but you can watch the Phillies Show on
15:11
Speaker 1: our Foul Territory Network. Check out those guys. Of course,
15:14
Speaker 1: you see the QR code there. Aj you know or
15:16
Speaker 1: excuse me, Eric, you know this this organization, Well, what
15:19
Speaker 1: is the underlying issue with them? Like, if you had
15:22
Speaker 1: a broad stroke in terms of this team, what's going
15:25
Speaker 1: on with them right now?
15:28
Speaker 2: Uh?
15:28
Speaker 1: Oh no, hitting? They're not hitting?
15:31
Speaker 2: Not hitting? Yeah, I mean right now, right now they're
15:35
Speaker 2: the team is like the numbers on their team right
15:39
Speaker 2: now are essentially my career numbers. And we all know
15:41
Speaker 2: how good I hit. It wasn't good? Like is that
15:45
Speaker 2: going to continue? Of the teams that are struggling? You
15:48
Speaker 2: know I put them in like the in the Phillies,
15:51
Speaker 2: the Mets, the Red Sox. I have most faith in
15:54
Speaker 2: them because I don't think all these guys are not
15:56
Speaker 2: going to hit for the whole year. So but they
15:58
Speaker 2: ain't hitting right now. So Yohan, unless you're taking VP,
16:01
Speaker 2: ain't gonna.
16:02
Speaker 3: Help Todd Father. It's getting a little warm out. I means,
16:10
Speaker 3: let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games. And
16:13
Speaker 3: where am I gonna go to find those tickets? And
16:14
Speaker 3: if you want to sing the answer you can.
16:17
Speaker 4: We're going to seek hey, hey, listen. Ultimately, at the
16:20
Speaker 4: end of the day, it is getting warmer and people
16:22
Speaker 4: want to leave the house, and it's time to leave,
16:24
Speaker 4: go see a ball game. I guess where you can
16:26
Speaker 4: find the best tickets, best spots, best places to go seat.
16:30
Speaker 4: Geeks got it all, man, They got their red and
16:32
Speaker 4: their green signs, letting you know what's good in bed,
16:35
Speaker 4: all that good kind of stuff. They make it really
16:37
Speaker 4: simple for you at the end of the day, for
16:39
Speaker 4: a guy like me who's running around, I just need
16:41
Speaker 4: five minutes bing bang bom.
16:43
Speaker 1: I got my seat.
16:44
Speaker 3: Yeah. Each ticket's rated on a scale of one to ten,
16:46
Speaker 3: so you know, you're getting a good deal. And of
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Speaker 3: course the code for you Territory one zero for ten
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17:07
Speaker 1: How about these apples, guys. The White Sox finished the
17:10
Speaker 1: month of April at thirteen and thirteen. It's their first
17:12
Speaker 1: month finishing at five hundred or above since the thirteen
17:16
Speaker 1: thirteen record in June of twenty twenty three. Aj your
17:19
Speaker 1: squad going in the right direction, and.
17:21
Speaker 2: They beat Jose Soriano. I'm just saying they did.
17:24
Speaker 1: And for Era, you're right.
17:27
Speaker 2: They doubled as Zra. Yeah, listen, the White Sox look good.
17:30
Speaker 2: They are swinging the bats better. Mark Comi looks good,
17:33
Speaker 2: Montgomery looks good. They have some pieces now, which is
17:37
Speaker 2: what's encouraging for White Sox fans. Pitching right still Davis
17:41
Speaker 2: Martinel though it has been really good. Look at check
17:43
Speaker 2: out his numbers. But you know it's still they still
17:46
Speaker 2: have their ups and downs. They're still young, but there
17:49
Speaker 2: there's definitely some flashes of positivity. And right now is
17:52
Speaker 2: a White Sox fan. That's all we're looking for is
17:54
Speaker 2: some positivity because I can't listen to Homer Alana with
17:58
Speaker 2: the Dodgers in their world, the Homer Crats and his
18:02
Speaker 2: Phillies and there and at least championships wild cards. What
18:05
Speaker 2: do we say for them? Crats? I don't know. You know,
18:07
Speaker 2: then I got scab Ron, who's the mister Pirates lover.
18:11
Speaker 2: You know, it's like, gosh, I need something positive my way? Hey,
18:15
Speaker 2: what would you say? Is the piece? The piece is
18:17
Speaker 2: that the White Sox are building around, Like do you
18:20
Speaker 2: think Montgomery that Montgomery my draw comes back? Can they
18:28
Speaker 2: have a Can they have a championship caliber team without
18:31
Speaker 2: an m v P type of player. Well, they're hoping
18:34
Speaker 2: Montgomery becomes that, obviously, but they need to go spend still.
18:38
Speaker 2: They need more. I mean their outfield. If you haven't
18:40
Speaker 2: seen their outfield, it's.
18:46
Speaker 1: That being said, will take five hundred. Hopefully they just
18:48
Speaker 1: go up from here.
18:50
Speaker 2: We'll be still below five hundred, but just saying to
18:54
Speaker 2: beat Jorse Soriano Kratz the Phillies.
18:59
Speaker 1: Mike Trout has now scored twenty nine runs this season
19:02
Speaker 1: and matches the American League record for March and April.
19:06
Speaker 1: He joins Mookie Bets in twenty eighteen when he was
19:08
Speaker 1: a Red Sox Aaron Judge twenty twenty five as the
19:11
Speaker 1: only Al players to score twenty nine runs before May one.
19:15
Speaker 1: Aj is Mike Trout all the way back.
19:19
Speaker 2: He's having a great start to the season. I need
19:20
Speaker 2: him to stay healthy through I mean the season. But yeah,
19:23
Speaker 2: he's having a great start to the year. White Sox
19:25
Speaker 2: spept him. Sorry, but yeah, he had some homers in
19:28
Speaker 2: that series. Yeah, he's looks good. He looks good though.
19:31
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, this is the guy we want to see.
19:32
Speaker 2: We want to see a healthy Mike Trout out there,
19:34
Speaker 2: because when he's healthy, he can do these kind of things.
19:36
Speaker 2: So I'm happy that Mike Trout is having a great start.
19:38
Speaker 1: To the season. Same. It's better, based Eric, when Mike
19:43
Speaker 1: Trout is doing well.
19:45
Speaker 2: For sure, Has Mike Trout ever done bad when he's
19:47
Speaker 2: on the field, Like, has he ever done bad? Like
19:50
Speaker 2: if you ever take his ad bats to production. I'm
19:53
Speaker 2: sure there's kind of some kind of stat with that,
19:56
Speaker 2: but has he ever done bad? Like, were we ever
19:58
Speaker 2: questioning that eating chicken wings and PEPSI like, it doesn't
20:02
Speaker 2: just happen overnight. He's starting to you know, I believe
20:06
Speaker 2: he's gonna stay healthy. But maybe that's the ignorant part
20:08
Speaker 2: of me, ignorant player in me that I'm like, you
20:10
Speaker 2: know what, He's gonna stay healthy, and when he does,
20:14
Speaker 2: maybe the All Star Game, So maybe he needs those
20:16
Speaker 2: days off.
20:19
Speaker 1: I love him. I love Mike Trout, and you're right,
20:20
Speaker 1: we've never questioned the effort. We've never questioned anything about
20:24
Speaker 1: him except just his ability to stay healthy. And he's
20:26
Speaker 1: had a lot of freak injuries and that type stuff too.
20:29
Speaker 1: But it's you know, good for him, good for him
20:31
Speaker 1: that he's playing well. And you know, I'd like to
20:34
Speaker 1: I'd love for the Angels to be competitive. I would
20:36
Speaker 1: love aj for the Angels to have a competitive team.
20:39
Speaker 1: I mean, and again, we could say, let's trade Mike Trout,
20:42
Speaker 1: get him to a competitor. He wanted to stay there,
20:44
Speaker 1: but it would be nice if Mike Trout had an
20:46
Speaker 1: opportunity to go back to the postseason.
20:48
Speaker 2: Been a long time, It's been a long time. Been
20:52
Speaker 2: a long time. He's never Mike trust never won a
20:54
Speaker 2: playoff game. I know who doesn't take Mike Trout if
21:01
Speaker 2: he's available on the trade. What team says no, that
21:04
Speaker 2: is trying to win? Are the Angels money Dodgers? Dodgers
21:12
Speaker 2: say no, they don't need them. I mean, I don't know.
21:14
Speaker 2: I'm just throwing a team out there. Flip your head around,
21:16
Speaker 2: crowds because I know who the hat that is, and
21:18
Speaker 2: they swept the Angels, and you're so excited. That's exactly why,
21:22
Speaker 2: That's exactly why I did it for you. Yeah, just
21:25
Speaker 2: is this glaze glaze glaze fest today.
21:44
Speaker 1: Welcome back to foul Territory, guys. The Twins have now
21:47
Speaker 1: lost six straight games in which their starting pitchers have
21:50
Speaker 1: gone six plus innings and allowed two or few earned runs.
21:53
Speaker 1: They scored a single run in three of those games,
21:56
Speaker 1: and more than four in any of them. The bullpen's era,
21:58
Speaker 1: this is the bugaboo in those games is nine point
22:02
Speaker 1: seven to two. That ain't it? As a starter. I
22:04
Speaker 1: would imagine you're feeling pretty pretty pretty irritated.
22:09
Speaker 2: Wins don't matter, though, Alan, Remember just ask Scott and
22:12
Speaker 2: all the analytics guys. Wins don't matter. Just matters about
22:15
Speaker 2: your whip, your fip, your pip, your dip and all
22:17
Speaker 2: the rest of them. They knew this, Yes they did.
22:21
Speaker 2: But here's the thing. Have you seen talking about their offense?
22:24
Speaker 2: Was it? I think it's is it Walner that has
22:26
Speaker 2: like forty one punchouts and ninety at bats or something
22:28
Speaker 2: like that. It's crazy. He is not getting cheated on
22:31
Speaker 2: the swings. I know that. But the Twins knew this.
22:34
Speaker 2: What day did they trade everybody last year? Like between
22:36
Speaker 2: July twentieth and July thirty first, Like they said, if
22:41
Speaker 2: you have a heartbeat, we're getting rid of you. Even
22:45
Speaker 2: guys on their team were like, holy cow, we didn't
22:47
Speaker 2: know they were gonna get rid of Jacks. They we
22:50
Speaker 2: didn't know they were gonna get Like, yeah, we knew
22:52
Speaker 2: Duran was gonna go.
22:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
22:54
Speaker 2: You know, some starters like their starters. Their starters are cool,
23:00
Speaker 2: like everybody wants Joe Ryan. They said it if Lopez
23:04
Speaker 2: was healthy, like Pablo Lopez was a legitimate starter, Like
23:07
Speaker 2: it's okay. Todz Bradley has been like he he has
23:11
Speaker 2: revamped his stuff and his stuff plus is really really good.
23:14
Speaker 2: This year he had he had a clunker his last
23:16
Speaker 2: time out, not this past time, but the time before.
23:19
Speaker 2: But you can't just find a bullpen. Yes, they've created bullpens. Yes,
23:23
Speaker 2: the Mariners have created bullpens, and that's like a system
23:27
Speaker 2: to find value. But you can't just get rid of
23:29
Speaker 2: so many guys out of your bullpen expect the next
23:32
Speaker 2: year will be fine. We got guys who know how
23:35
Speaker 2: to throw a baseball, not at a big league level.
23:38
Speaker 1: Clearly, does that change with the sale of the team?
23:44
Speaker 1: I mean, are they are they just cleaning house until
23:46
Speaker 1: they figure out what's going on.
23:49
Speaker 2: No, but they're competing this year. They said they were
23:52
Speaker 2: trying to compete this year. Remember stop, stop, you're such
23:57
Speaker 2: a first bruh. You can only take them out their word.
24:00
Speaker 2: You you still get your you still get your Twins pamphlet,
24:03
Speaker 2: you still get the yearly yearly Twins media guide. So
24:07
Speaker 2: that as an ex player, But no, no, it doesn't change.
24:12
Speaker 2: Let's say let's say this team, because they've been they
24:15
Speaker 2: were scoring runs before. Now that's kind of come down
24:17
Speaker 2: a little bit. But let's say they do start scoring
24:20
Speaker 2: runs and let's say they get close to five hundred.
24:22
Speaker 2: Do you think this team who just gutted their team
24:25
Speaker 2: at the at the trade deadline. Last year goes okay,
24:28
Speaker 2: new ownership comes in, you know, yeah, we're gonna spend
24:32
Speaker 2: on our bullpen. Not a chance. There's not a chance.
24:37
Speaker 2: They just got rid of a closer. Johan Duran I
24:40
Speaker 2: think still has two years of of of control. I
24:44
Speaker 2: think he started the year with just over four four
24:47
Speaker 2: years of service time.
24:49
Speaker 1: He's ones. Although that doesn't make any difference because, as
24:52
Speaker 1: you guys so eloquently pointed out, the Phillies hitting all right.
24:59
Speaker 1: The Braves are playing some good baseball, Truest Park magic.
25:02
Speaker 1: Of course. Matt Olsen with the walk off for the
25:05
Speaker 1: Braves beating the Tigers on Schooble Day. It was Olsen's
25:09
Speaker 1: fourth career walkoff homer, but the first he has hit
25:11
Speaker 1: guys since joining the Braves before the twenty twenty two season.
25:15
Speaker 1: This is a surprise team to me. I did not
25:17
Speaker 1: think that'd be as good as they are. Aj what
25:19
Speaker 1: do you make of what they're doing so far? Early on?
25:22
Speaker 2: They're they're just playing great baseball. The surprise is not
25:24
Speaker 2: that they're hitting, because we always thought they could hit.
25:26
Speaker 2: It's how good their pitching has been, especially their starters,
25:29
Speaker 2: whether it's Sale Elder whoever else they plug in. Now
25:31
Speaker 2: Strider's coming back. Martin Perez has been great for him.
25:35
Speaker 2: It's you know, Lopez has been good for him. So
25:37
Speaker 2: to me, that's the thing. And also the East is down,
25:40
Speaker 2: so they're taking advantage of it. I mean, they hammered
25:42
Speaker 2: the Phillies twice already this year, so that's been nice
25:44
Speaker 2: for them. But they're playing nice, They're playing well, and
25:48
Speaker 2: they look like all all the makings of a World
25:51
Speaker 2: Series contending team from the National League because of the
25:54
Speaker 2: way they pitch, and like I said, the back into
25:56
Speaker 2: their bullpen with Lee Bomber Suarez and who who boy
26:03
Speaker 2: we had we had Nikowski cig Nikowski on the other day.
26:05
Speaker 2: And I'll be interested, he said. He said, Sean Murphy's
26:09
Speaker 2: gonna play sixty to seventy percent of the time. AJ
26:12
Speaker 2: should know more than anybody. Catching helps you win because
26:16
Speaker 2: there's so much that a catcher does, and Drake Baldwin
26:18
Speaker 2: has been back there. I'd be interested. I'll be interested
26:22
Speaker 2: to see because there's a catcher's era stat wins, losses,
26:26
Speaker 2: blah blah blah. Nothing against Sean Murphy, but no, he said,
26:31
Speaker 2: Drake Baldwin would catch sixty to seventy and then now
26:34
Speaker 2: mur he said Murph. He said Murph would because he
26:37
Speaker 2: said Murph throws guys out better, and he's he's a
26:41
Speaker 2: more established defensive catcher and Drake Baldwin wi DH. So
26:45
Speaker 2: I'll be interested when your team is winning, and they
26:48
Speaker 2: haven't won in the past few years consistently, and never
26:51
Speaker 2: at this level since the twenty you know, since the
26:54
Speaker 2: World Series team. I just have a hard time believing
26:57
Speaker 2: that they're going to take a guy out of out
27:00
Speaker 2: from behind a dish as the everyday guy when someone
27:05
Speaker 2: else comes back. Nothing against Sean Murphy, it's just when
27:08
Speaker 2: you're not there and we're winning, there is something about that,
27:12
Speaker 2: and I I'm interested to see how it goes because
27:15
Speaker 2: I think Sean Murphy is really good catcher also, but
27:18
Speaker 2: they're winning with Drake Baldwin back there.
27:30
Speaker 1: All right. Before we get into a couple more topics
27:32
Speaker 1: before we say goodbye, eric Aj said he knew what
27:35
Speaker 1: hat you were wearing, so I'm assuming it's White Sox,
27:39
Speaker 1: But why don't you flip that thing around for Kratz hats.
27:42
Speaker 2: I mean, there's very few times I ever mentioned the
27:46
Speaker 2: White Sox, and this year has broken every record so
27:50
Speaker 2: I mean, I might need to wear a white Sox
27:52
Speaker 2: hat every single day. They are an elite team, and
27:55
Speaker 2: AJS so happy they might even actually invite him back
27:59
Speaker 2: to the field.
28:00
Speaker 1: Actually elite.
28:01
Speaker 2: They just want them in the city.
28:03
Speaker 1: An elite team at thirteen and thirteen.
28:07
Speaker 2: The Mets guys, they're not thirteen thirteen. They're the monkey.
28:13
Speaker 1: One.
28:14
Speaker 2: But by the way, Kratz, I can go back to
28:16
Speaker 2: the field anytime I want.
28:17
Speaker 1: So, just I believe I believe.
28:19
Speaker 2: I said invited anytime I said invite inviting me back.
28:23
Speaker 2: I'm invited back for Alsie's jersey retirement. I they invited
28:26
Speaker 2: me to throw the first pitch on Easter Sunday. I'm
28:28
Speaker 2: invited all the time. Trust me, that's great. I haven't
28:30
Speaker 2: I have an open invite. Just because they don't pay
28:33
Speaker 2: me doesn't mean I can't go there.
28:37
Speaker 1: I don't doubt for one second that you could go
28:38
Speaker 1: there anytime that you would like. What is it guaranteed
28:41
Speaker 1: rate field? That's what it's called now, Mets guys losing
28:44
Speaker 1: the guaranteed oh the rate okay, guaranteed god, okay, whatever.
28:51
Speaker 1: Mets lose to the National fourteen to two. That was
28:55
Speaker 1: an embarrassment. An embarrassment, but we said it because perhaps
29:00
Speaker 1: it's more of the injury situation, AJ or No, they're
29:03
Speaker 1: just a bad team.
29:05
Speaker 2: I mean injuries, yes, but Luise Robert going on the
29:08
Speaker 2: injured list is not the surprise at all. I mean,
29:10
Speaker 2: this happens at least once a year, if not twice
29:12
Speaker 2: a year sometime, So tenth time in seven seasons. And
29:15
Speaker 2: you know, like I said earlier on the show, the
29:17
Speaker 2: fan support couldn't keep him on the field or help
29:20
Speaker 2: him play better. So hopefully you get back soon, Luise,
29:22
Speaker 2: and you can play in front of those big crowds
29:25
Speaker 2: who wanted in New York.
29:27
Speaker 1: That, by the way, to your point, Eric, or excuse me, AJ,
29:30
Speaker 1: the twenty eight year old Robert Luis Junior has made
29:33
Speaker 1: nine trips to the injured list back in the day
29:36
Speaker 1: it was the DL over seven major league seasons. He's
29:40
Speaker 1: been on the IL more times than seasons played.
29:46
Speaker 2: Hey, J, you were never on the IL, right, correct?
29:48
Speaker 2: In the big leagues or on time? I was on
29:51
Speaker 2: it twice real real time twice? Okay, in nineteen big
29:55
Speaker 2: league seasons? Correct? Yeah?
29:58
Speaker 4: Wow?
29:58
Speaker 2: Nineteen many times? Were you one hundred percent healthy in
30:02
Speaker 2: those nineteen seasons?
30:05
Speaker 1: No?
30:05
Speaker 2: You never a catcher never. I mean, listen, you gotta
30:07
Speaker 2: learn to play with stuff. There's a difference between being
30:09
Speaker 2: hurt and being injured, and you have to figure that out.
30:13
Speaker 2: And I think, I don't know some people.
30:15
Speaker 1: Listen.
30:16
Speaker 2: I'll never question anyone's pain tolerance because everyone is different. Okay,
30:19
Speaker 2: I just want to make that clearer. But there are
30:21
Speaker 2: guys that are just chronically on the il and that
30:24
Speaker 2: just sucks. Because Louise Robert Kiby Special and everyone when
30:28
Speaker 2: he got off to the great start with the with
30:29
Speaker 2: the Mets that she was like, Oh, he's figured it out.
30:31
Speaker 2: Look at him go, and then now look at him go.
30:35
Speaker 1: A lumbar spine disc carnation sounds unbelievably painful.
30:40
Speaker 2: I looked. I looked it up just AI, and it
30:44
Speaker 2: says curs when the soft jelly likes center. If your
30:46
Speaker 2: lower spine disc breaks through its outer ring, irritating nearby
30:51
Speaker 2: nerves and causing significant pain, numbness, weakness in the legs
30:54
Speaker 2: or buttocks. I like thee. It says may most cases
31:00
Speaker 2: improve in four to six weeks with conservative care and PT.
31:05
Speaker 2: So if that's what it is, this could be a
31:08
Speaker 2: longer time. Obviously, we don't know injuries, but this is
31:13
Speaker 2: the risk that you take. And why the White Sox
31:16
Speaker 2: I was so surprised they picked up his twenty million
31:19
Speaker 2: dollar option, not because I knew he was going to
31:22
Speaker 2: have a lower Lombard discarnation, but because when you have
31:27
Speaker 2: guys that are routinely on at ten times in seven years,
31:32
Speaker 2: that's routinely on the IL, twenty million dollars is a
31:35
Speaker 2: lot of money for a potential of one year that
31:40
Speaker 2: he had when he was an All Star in twenty three,
31:42
Speaker 2: I think when he hit all those homers and so
31:46
Speaker 2: it's just tough. It's tough to see a twenty eight
31:48
Speaker 2: year old that can't stay on the field.
31:51
Speaker 1: That's it, no doubt, no doubt. What is more surprising
31:54
Speaker 1: to you, guys, the fact that the Mets starting pitchers
31:56
Speaker 1: only have five wins among them belonged to Clayton he
32:01
Speaker 1: has three, yep, correct, Nolan McLain and Freddy Peralta are
32:04
Speaker 1: the other two. Or the fact that they're just not hitting.
32:07
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess, I guess losing Nemo, losing alonsojan
32:11
Speaker 1: Soto is on the IL, Lindora is on the IL.
32:16
Speaker 1: Just all around, it's just just a bad team. But
32:18
Speaker 1: what's more surprising to you the lack of offense or
32:21
Speaker 1: the pitcher's not picking up wins. They're starting stuff.
32:24
Speaker 2: If you don't if you don't score, you can't get wins.
32:26
Speaker 2: So I mean, but also I guess it'd have to
32:30
Speaker 2: be the offense. We don't go past five innings. If
32:34
Speaker 2: you don't go past five innings, you can't get I mean,
32:37
Speaker 2: that was the issue last year. Different staff with Freddy
32:40
Speaker 2: p and Holmes is doing really well. Nolan McLean's up
32:43
Speaker 2: here the whole year, but you got to go past
32:45
Speaker 2: five innings to get a win. It's like a legitimate
32:47
Speaker 2: rule in the figuring out who wins the game for
32:50
Speaker 2: a pitcher.
32:52
Speaker 1: Yes, that that is in fact the quality start. All right,
32:56
Speaker 1: you guys. Good to be with you, to thank you
32:58
Speaker 1: for having me. I appreciate. Ron is back with you
33:01
Speaker 1: guys tomorrow. If AJ is off, it is Todd, Brazier,
33:04
Speaker 1: Eric and Scott coming up next on the Foul Territory
33:07
Speaker 1: Network Rogers Territory, myself, Katie Wu and Pa So log
33:13
Speaker 1: into that tune in. So good rest of your Thursday, guys,
33:16
Speaker 1: see you later. Bet MGM players will receive and any
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