Latest / Foul Territory / Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy joins FT + Marlins still kicking

Transcript

Phillies broadcaster Tom McCarthy joins FT + Marlins still kicking · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're back and we're getting close to bringing on
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: our next guest. I'm going to actually let Eric Kratz
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: do a proper introduction for him. So tell us a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: little bit about the Phillies play-by-play broadcaster, Mr. Kratz, before
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we bring him in.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, if there was such a thing as a
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: heavy silk blanket, that is Tom McCarthy's voice in a nutshell.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Like a heavy silk blanket that you're just like, I'm
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: going to go take a nap and just listen to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Tom McCarthy. speak just whatever's going on. The Phillies, they're
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: not doing well. Same voice. Same. He's been doing it
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: for a long time and he's actually even a better
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: person than he is an announcer. And unfortunately, he actually
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: did a Nats game the other day and it hurt
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: one of my son's feelings because he's like, I saw
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: a Nats highlight and Tom McCarthy was doing a Nats game.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: He's like, what's the deal with that?
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: TMAC?
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Is he bailing out on us?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: But That was a national game, son. That's called a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: national game, which he does plenty of that too.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: National nationals game.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: But I'm telling you, Tom McCarthy, Tom McCarthy, the voice
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of the Phillies is a legend in this area. And
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: when people meet him, they like him more than they
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: did before they met him.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Well, we're going to ask him about his buddy that
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: he sits with in the booth many nights.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Here he is. He's ready.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: It is Tom McCarthy, Philly's voice for a while on TV. Tom,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: great intro from Kratz, so I'm not going to beat that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: How are you doing? I honestly wish I had my
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Brick Memorial stuff up here on the side for Frasier.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, I wish I had something. Get out of here.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Brick Memorial, Mustangs. Golden Mustangs, Frasier. Golden Mustangs. They were
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: good at wrestling.
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: They weren't good at anything else.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: There's some truth to that. I mean, there's some truth
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: to that. Women's soccer, pretty good. Men's soccer, pretty good, right?
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yes, for sure, for sure.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Not as good as you guys and the brothers, but,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, the Frazier fam. Hey, one of your family members
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: in the broadcast booth, John Kruk, was on the Philly
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: show live when they did their show down the shore today.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I heard, yeah.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure there were some good sound bites from
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: that one. The way I wanted to start here, actually,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: before we get to Philly's talk, T-Mac, is does he
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: realize how viral he goes every other week for something
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: during the broadcast and how fun it is?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. I don't think he does. I mean,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Kratzy knows this. I mean, Todd, you've met him before. Scott,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: you've seen him before. I mean, you've met him before.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think that he understands some of it.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: I don't think that he cares. I think he just
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: does what he does. I think it's what's on his mind,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: quite honestly. I mean, it's really funny. Like he'll be,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: he'll be laying, I mean, Kratzy has seen this couch. Todd,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've seen this couch. Scott, I
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: don't know if you've seen this couch before we have
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: in our office. We've had it in there for 20 years.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: He'll lay on that couch for like two hours and
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: just talk to Larry Anderson or, you know, or me or,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: you know, Scott Franski or Kevin Stocker. And all of
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: a sudden he'll be on the air and and nothing
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: that he says on the couch is what comes on
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: the air, which I think is what makes him great.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's so natural about everything he does, you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: but I don't think he really, I don't think he
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: realizes or cares. I think he just says what he
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: wants to say.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Is there a time in the booth when you go,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Oh no, no, I gotta, I gotta make sure I
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: stop because it's gonna, it's gonna go not off the rails.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Cause he does a good job of keeping it on
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the rails, but when he's going in a certain direction
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that you're like, Oh.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Boy, You know, there was a time he told a
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: story about playing in a prison against a prison team
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: in San Diego. I mean, it was a nondescript day
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: in San Diego. I mean, I don't even think much
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: was going on in the game. And he said, did
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I ever tell you about the time I played a
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: prison team? And when I was at San Diego, no,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I was with the Mexican Winter League team in Mexico.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And I was like, no. And we started talking about it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: He starts telling the whole story. And it was a
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: really funny story. And at the end, when he talked
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: about the fact that the catcher had no equipment on
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: and he had burned the car of the woman he
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: was dating, you know, I don't know, husband or whatever.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I went, here's the O2 to Trey Turner. But it
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: was funny. I mean, the whole story was very funny.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, it is. It's funny when you look back
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: and listen to it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: What?
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: What would it be like if John Kruk and Keith
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: Hernandez and you did a game together in the morning?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Oh, you know, so they talked about this, Todd, a
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: couple weeks ago. They did. Because I think there was
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: a point where it was a Mets-Phillies game that was
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: on national TV. And it was like the national announcers.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, it was the local announcers that would do
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: it with, I don't know if it was Jason Benetti
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: or if it was Matt Fitzgerald or whatever. And they
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: talked about that. And Keith couldn't do it. We would love.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: And honestly, I think baseball would love to hear it.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Because I think that the biggest thing about those guys
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: is that they know where the line is. And sometimes
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: they erase it and move it, but they still know
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: where it is, if that makes any sense. But I
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: think the stories would be awesome. Because we actually did
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: a game where it was me, Cole, and John with
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Don Mattingly in the dugout and Keith in the other booth.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: And we talked about the gold gloves that were won.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: And then Keith came in and Oh my gosh, the
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: stories for that were unbelievable. And I think sometimes that
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: is what's missing. I know that it's 20 years ago
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: and some folks don't want to hear it, but my goodness,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: they have some great stories and some great lines that
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: they could give. I think it would be awesome. I
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: really do. I think it would be awesome.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I think something that people forget about both those guys,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Keith and.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Kruk, they were really good players.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: They were really good players, so they know what they're
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: talking about. And this Phillies team... has some really good players.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Why are they doing so well from what you've seen
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: day in and day out?
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: You know, Kratzy, it's a great question. I think it's
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: the ebbs and flows of a season, but I do
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: think that there's something that came up at the end
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: of July before the trade deadline. One of the things
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: that Don Mattingly has talked about, and listen, Rob Thompson
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: was one of the greatest managers I've ever been around.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: He's probably, you know, one of the one or two
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: greatest managers I've been with between him and Charlie Emanuel
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: and Larry Boa and actually Willie Randolph when I was
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: with the Mets. The one thing that he has done
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: and they have done is that every month they kind
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: of go over some of the stats that are floating
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: around baseball. Hey, this is what defensive runs save show
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: about what's going on at first base or second base.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: This is what the analytics show about the take percentage
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: or the swing percentage. And I don't know how many
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: teams do that. Many teams might do it, but they
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: kind of go over it with the players and say, hey, listen,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: we're at the bottom of the strikeout percentage. And these
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: guys have been around for a long time, and they
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: sit there and say, wow, we need to be better
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: at that. And I do think that has changed. I
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: will not underscore what Luis Arias has meant, even though
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: his batting average is less than it was with the
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: San Francisco Giants. He's in a different spot batting cleanup
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: compared to where he was with the Giants. I do
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: think he has added something to this lineup. I think
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: he's helped a lot of guys like Justin Crawford, as
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: strange as that sounds. But I do think the fact
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: that Bryce is playing the way he's doing, I think
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: that's sort of flipped the switch a little bit. And
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: I think that's what's lent itself to the success the
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Phillies have had since the first of August. I mean,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: they're 22-8 since the first of August. Nobody has a
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: better record than they do. I know that there's teams
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: that have a better record, like the Red Sox since
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: the All-Star break, but They were 9-15 in July. So
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: they were not even in the conversation about being successful
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: going into September. So I think that the Arise pickup
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: has really helped them. And I think there's also some
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: other small moves that have been made by Dave Dombrowski
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: and Preston Mattingly. I think the Derrick Hill pickup has
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: been unbelievable. I think the Brian De La Cruz pickup,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: he was with them the whole year in AAA. They
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: brought him up. I think that's been huge. For some reason,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: these guys have really picked it up. I don't know.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I wonder how Derek Hill is not an everyday
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: player somewhere because defensively, man, he is a glider. He
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: reminds me of Doug Glanville a lot, guys. I know
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: you guys have both watched Doug play. All three of
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: you guys watched Doug Glanville play. He reminds me a
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: lot of Doug Glanville, the way he plays center field.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You brought up a rise, so I'm going to ask
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: my arise question with a comment also. Can you put
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: this to bed that Arise is not the protection that
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Bryce Harper needs, but he's having success? Because this is
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: my argument when people say he comes in and he's
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: the protection. If he was the protection, Bryce Harper would
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: not be leading the league in walks. They're walking him
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: because they're fine with Luis Arise hitting. Am I right
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: or wrong?
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Very true. No, I don't think you're wrong about that, Karatsi.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: I do think that This started before Arise came here.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: The success of Bryce Harper, what he's been doing from
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: a walk standpoint. I do think that, I think you're
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: right about that. I think they're thinking, all right, it's
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: not Schwarber. It's not a rise. They won't pop the
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: ball out of the ballpark with the number four hitter.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: But I think from a Phillies standpoint, you look at
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: it and his runners in scoring position numbers are down
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: since he came over from the Giants. But there's still
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: that presence. There's still something about him that he'll make contact,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: he'll do something. His first at-bat with the Phillies was
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: a clear indication of that. I don't think he's the prototypical,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: all right, let's get Rooker from the A's and have
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: him bat behind Bryce Harper. Let's get Dave Kingman when
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: he was playing years ago. He's not that at all.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: It was a really big chance that Don Mattingly took
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: by putting him in the cleanup spot. But I do
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: think there's something to, all right, let's walk Harper. Let's
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: go to Arise. I think he's come through a little
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: bit more than people anticipated, but he's definitely, I don't
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: think that what Bryce is doing is because of Luis Arise.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: I think it started before that.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Okay, so four games back. You got seven games. left
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: against Atlanta Braves.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Awesome, right?
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: Awesome, right?
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: It's phenomenal. This is a baseball fan, whether you're a
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: fan of these teams or not, is where the action,
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: this is where you want to be. What do the
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Phillies have to do against this Atlanta Braves team? I
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: talked about a record where I need them to be
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: against them without asking for help. What do they have
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: to do in those seven games?
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: So I think five and two is what they need
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: to be. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: I think if you take three or four, uh, and then,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: and then win the series in Atlanta. I think that
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: that's doable. Um, I love from a baseball standpoint, what
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: this means. Let's, let's look at even game one of
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: the series. It's Christopher Sanchez going up against the arguably
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: one of the best pitchers in the last five years
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: in major league baseball. How great is that for baseball
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: on Friday night? Um, But I think 5-2 against these
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: guys makes it a legitimate last two weeks of the season.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: And you know what? This is not an easy homestand.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: You've got the Braves and you've got the Astros that
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: you guys just put up. That's huge. And then you've
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: got the Braves again. And then you have Washington, which
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: scores a lot of runs. Their bullpen is not great, obviously.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: And then you go to a Mets team that they've
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: been playing a lot better. There's no doubt about it.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: But I think 5-2... against the Braves, at least set
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: you up for the end result. I don't want to
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: say six and one. I don't want to say sweep
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: them out. If you sweep them out, great. I just
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: don't think that's realistic at this point in Major League Baseball.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: I really don't. But man, if you're baseball and you
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: have September 4th, 2026, and you have a Friday night
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: at the bank and you have that matchup, you're probably
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: sitting there thinking, this should have been a national game
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: on so many levels.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure if we have the graphic or not
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: of the Phillies rotation. We ran it earlier and maybe
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: our crack producers behind the scene can get it on there.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: The lineup of guys who are where they're pitching the rotation,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: starting rotation for this series is Christopher Sanchez, Zach Wheeler,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Aaron Nola to Jesus Lizardo. If you were to take
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: a snapshot and you only watch the last five starts
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: of all four of those guys, Who are the best
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: two in that group of four?
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's one in four, you know, honestly.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: And I know where you're going, Kratzy. I mean, I
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: know Noah's been great. He's been great. And honestly, I've
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: told this to people before, that Zach Wheeler, in my
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: 26 years in the big leagues, and Todd and Eric,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you guys feel this way, he
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: is one of my favorite pitchers of all time. All time.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: for everything that he does, how calm he is and
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: what he does before games. But I do believe it's
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: 1-4 for the Phillies. But I'm excited to see what
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Zach does in his outing this weekend against the Braves
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: because I think he's kind of feeling it a little bit.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: The Angels are not a great team, but I think
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: he pitched better. I think he's figuring some things out.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But I think 1-4 for me. is what I'm looking
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: for from a Phillies standpoint, for a Major League Baseball standpoint.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: The reason the team lost, yes, I know they didn't
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: hit in the last few postseasons, but I still don't
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: think it was the lineup.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: The bullpen.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Is the bullpen in a spot, or do they need
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: somebody to have a great September to solidify the last spot,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: or even the last two spots, to make this team
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: a World Series team?
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great question. I think it, I do
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: think that it's a legitimate question. I believe that what
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: you saw yesterday with Bowen, I mean, he had a
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: little flying saucer that he, that was hit out for
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: a home run. I really think that he's okay to
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: be a seventh or eighth inning guy. I do believe
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: that somebody is going to move to the bullpen. You know,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: people talk about this all the time, like, who's it
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: going to be? It's not going to be one of
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: the top three. So, I mean, Kratzy, you know this,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: and Todd, you know this from playing. Scott, you've seen this.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: I believe that it's going to be Painter that will
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: go to the bullpen at some point in the postseason,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: even though he's been unbelievable, but I think he's got
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: such great stuff. But I believe from a bullpen standpoint,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I love Bolin. I love everything about him. I think
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: McFarlane is still It's not David Price in 2008 where
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: he's on the outside looking in, but I don't know
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: if he's up to the seventh or eighth inning yet.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: They're going to rely on Kirk Ring. They're going to
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: rely on Raley, who I think is really good. But
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: I do think that that's an issue for the team
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: as to whether they can establish seventh and eighth inning
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: before Duran because he's arguably one of the best closers
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: in baseball. Yeah.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: One of the guys that used to work with you
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: in the booth, Gary Matthews, the Sarge, just got inducted
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: into the Negro League Hall of Fame. Can you speak
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: on that a little bit? Somebody that probably was one
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: of the better storytellers, even though he may not have
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: gotten every fact exactly right in the story.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right. Still a good story. You know, Kratzy,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's one of my favorite people of all time.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: And I'm telling you this to you, who is also
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: one of my favorite people. No offense, Todd. Ocean County's own.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: But Sarge is one of those eclectic guys in Major
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: League Baseball that is amazing to be around on every level.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Energy level, talking the game, understanding the game. And you
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: think about this class that's going into Negro League Baseball
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. It is a class amongst itself on
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: so many levels. But I am so proud of him.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: I love him. I laugh every time I see him.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: I smile every time I see him. I think everybody does.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: But to think about him going in with the likes
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: of Reggie Smith and I'm just in awe of what
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: he's accomplished during his career. And he was an amazing
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: partner on so many levels because he made me laugh
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: every time I went into the booth, no matter what
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: he did. And I know from a postgame standpoint, he
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: made all the players laugh too when he did the
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: postgame interviews. So I'm proud of them. I think the
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame is an amazing place,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: and I think that they have really done this year's
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: class an amazing amount of justice by putting in this
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: particular class itself to spotlight how much greatness they've done
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: in baseball. They may not be Major League Baseball Hall
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: of Famers overall, but they've done an awful lot for
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: the game itself.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, they do.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And also, yeah, congrats to Sarge. A lot of memories.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Listen to him on calls. Okay, I got one for you, TMAC,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: my last one. Different turn here, kind of random, but
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you've been calling games in this division for a while.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Are you surprised how irrelevant the Mets were this year?
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: It's just been Braves, Phillies, and some Marlins being cute,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: but the Mets were out of it a few weeks
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: into the season.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, honestly– The biggest thing, though, Scotty, is I don't
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: want to face them next week. You guys know my
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: son does the Mets games on radio. I know Todd
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: knows that. I know Kratzy knows that. I still think
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: they're dangerous. I am surprised that they are as irrelevant
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: as they have been. I think they're playing a lot better.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's addition because of subtraction. But I will not
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: take them lightly when they face them next week. It's
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: four games in New York. It's a great rivalry. I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: think it's awesome for baseball. I think it's awesome the
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: way they've set it up. But I will not take
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: them lightly next week when they face them. But I
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: am surprised that they have not played as well. Listen,
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: there are two managers this year that I thought were
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: really good managers. Everybody knows how I feel about Rob Thompson.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I think he's one of the greatest managers that I've
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: ever been around. I think Carlos Mendoza is a really
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: good manager. And I think if somebody picks him up,
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: I think that they'd be really happy with him. So
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: I think that they were two teams that underachieved the
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: first part of the year. It's just fortunate for us
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: that the Phillies did not continue to underachieve, but the
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Mets did up until the All-Star break.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: All right, last one. Everybody asks us, what do you
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: guys do on your off day? Can you explain? Because
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: this is a show. This is a show and a podcast.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: You're going to have to explain this picture about what
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: you were doing on your off day today.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Ha ha ha.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Well, it's the greatest off day in the history of
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: off days when I get a chance to enjoy my granddaughter, Quinley,
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Patrick and Emily's daughter. So she came over for a
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: couple hours. I've been running with the dogs. We have
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: an adopted dog that's been sitting at my lap the
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: whole time that I've been doing this interview. But Quinley
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: and I have spent some time here today. We'll spend
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: some time later today. And family is the most important thing.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: And everybody in baseball knows how much off days are important.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: But for me, getting home at 2 a.m. and being
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: up at 7.30 to see this face is the greatest
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: reward for anybody that's around life itself. Not only baseball,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: but life itself. So cute. Isn't he awesome, though?
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so cute. I can see the personality in the picture,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: for real. Actually, on the picture here, let's finish with this.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Best pup ever, completely... Behaving. Can we get a little peek?
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: How big are we talking here?
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: All right. So literally at my hat, at my, my
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: other one, my main one is there, but this is a, Hey, Nova, Nova,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: come here. This is Nova. She's a city Bernard. Right.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: My other one is out there lounging on the couch.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: It's too dark over there to see. So we're, we're
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: fostering this one. And my son, Tommy, who you guys
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: may know works for Victus and handles a lot of
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: the gloves and bats for Victus. So Nova is going
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: to be living with Tommy moving forward, but spending some
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: time with us and has been by my side the
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: entire day today.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Love it.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Nova's a gem. I mean, the utmost behavior. We've had
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: some pups and some babies recently. make the show about them.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: Literally, guys, has been at my lap the entire time
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: with her big, gigantic head on my lap the entire
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: time we've been doing this interview. I'm glad you mentioned it.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: What's that?
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: You want me to bring her over to your house?
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: I can bring her over. I'll be there in a
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: half hour.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: I thought you named the dog Rutgers or Scarlet Knight
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: or something. I guess we can hang with Nova.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: That's fine. Frazier was taken.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: T-Mac, thank you. Enjoy the rest of the day. Appreciate it.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Great to catch up with you.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Always great to catch with you guys too. Be good.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: They're still alive. Isaac Azud from Fish on First covering
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the team and telling us why the Marlins might sneak in.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Is that how we're going to go? Like, are you
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: looking at this saying, Hey, I, I see a lane.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: The optimist in me says yes the fan graphs odds
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: were pretty more favorable than I thought they'd be at 9.6%
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: to make the postseason they're just going to need a
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: little bit of help but a lot of things are
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: in their control so like I said the optimist in
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: me says that.
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: There is certainly a lane here so go ahead tell
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: us about it tell us the optimistic optimist in you
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: so that I can just absolutely squash your hopes.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: All right, well, let's see. They got 22 games left.
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: 18 of those games are against teams that are ahead
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: of them in the standings. From our calculation, I think
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: they need maybe 86 or 87 wins in total to
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: secure one of those spots. So they only have about
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: six or seven losses to play with here. So they're
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: going to have to play really well against some tough
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: teams in the Padres, Diamondbacks, Braves. But the good news
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: is that they're all ahead of them in the standings.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: So they do have an opportunity to make up significant
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: ground here. But the unfortunate reality is that they have
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: just not performed very well on the road. And a
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: good chunk of those games against the Diamondbacks and the Padres,
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: they're all on the West Coast. So that's the bad news.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: But the good news is they have certainly an opportunity
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: to make up a lot of ground here. And they're
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: only two and a half games back. We've seen crazier
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: things happen in the month of September in Major League Baseball.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Isaac, I love your optimism. I'm just trying to bring
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: some realism here. And you said all 18 of 22 games,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: you said, are touchdowns. teams with better records than the Marlins, correct?
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Ahead of them in the standings, correct.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: And the Marlins are two games over.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: 500.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Do you know what their record is versus teams over.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: 500 this year?
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: They have struggled significantly against teams with better records against them.
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: I'm well aware. However, though, the last series of the
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: season is against the Braves. Will they have the NLEs
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: locked up by then? Will they be able to rest
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: some starters? Maybe that could go in their favor. Their
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: last road series is against the Cobbs. Well, they already
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: have the NL Central, their playoff spot locked in. So
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: certain things like that could go in.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: The Marlins' favor.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: But hey, you know, that doesn't make for entertaining content.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: It's true.
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: You talk about, you wrote a little thing on X
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: the other day, or excuse me, today about Xavier Edwards.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: Talk about him and how deeply he's going to be
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: missed too as well moving forward.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he and Otto Lopez were forming one
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: of the better middle infields in all of Major League Baseball.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: It was really unfortunate.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: He had been playing a little bit hurt with a
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: little bit of a sore thumb. And then when he
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: stole a base the other day, he just re-aggravated it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: So it put him out for a little bit. But
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: from what I was told this morning, he should be returning,
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: nearing his return very soon. And yeah, that was a
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: tough one because that's not only your leadoff man, your
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: number four hitter, your gold glove caliber second baseman. He
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: was someone that was really versatile for the Miami Marlins,
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: but like I said, he should be back within seven,
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: eight days, and that'll be a really big catalyst for
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: the lineup.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: What are we looking in Jared Cerna, the call from AAA?
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: He's going to make his major league debut. Talk about
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: him a little bit. Is he an exciting player, as
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: they're saying, coming up here? We'll see what happens.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: He actually debuted last night. He was in the starting lineup.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: He contributed an RBI on a pretty well-hit ball to
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: right center. I don't think the expectations are extremely high
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: with Jared Serna, more of a utility middle infielder that
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: can play all three infield spots. They acquired him in
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade from the New York Yankees
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: in addition to Agustin Ramirez. But with Serna, I think
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: he's just sort of a stopgap option while Xavier Edwards heals.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: I think they have in love with what they've been
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: getting from Leo Jimenez and a couple of their other
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: infield options, so they just wanted to try something different
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: and more importantly, someone that was on the 40-man roster.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: And Serna filled both those boxes, so Hence his call-out.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Xavier Edwards going down on the IL. Does it feel
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: like it's more like a finally he's going on the
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: IL type of thing? Do you feel like they pushed
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: it too much, causing this team to possibly slip a
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: little bit?
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, with X, he had, along with the
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: whole team, they've been running crazy, right? They're stealing a
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: lot of bases up and down the organization. I think
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: with X, yeah, he was, it was himself that was
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: pushing it a little bit. And he was a little
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: bit hurt towards the end of August, towards the middle
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: of August as well. But, you know, every athlete's mentality,
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: they don't want to sit out any games. So I
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: think that did play a part in it for sure, unfortunately.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: But the fortunate part is that there's still 22 games left.
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: There is time for him to come back. But, yeah,
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: he was trying to make up some ground because he
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: struggled a little bit after the All-Star break. And you
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: could tell he just did not want to sit. He
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: was one of the most available players on the Marlins.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: He had played in every single game up until this
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: IELTS thing.
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: That's part of it, too.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: You want to push it because you're like, I'm an
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: everyday guy and those type of guys always play through something.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: But unfortunately, my guy X, hopefully this 10 days we'll
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: get it and get it 100 percent. Max Meyer, do
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: you have any update or new status of where he's
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: at with his? I think it was a neck something
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: next strain.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, next train. He went to go get a second
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: opinion up in Pensacola a couple of weeks ago. But no,
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: he hasn't even started throwing yet. He's all but out
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: for the year. The team hasn't officially announced it yet.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: There is probably a 1% chance he could come back
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: in some sort of relief role, but he won't be
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: able to be stretched out in time for anything. So no,
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: he's out for the year.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Relief role. Pete Fairbanks. We obviously, you look at his
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: baseball card for this season, doesn't, to me, it doesn't
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: reflect the value that he's brought this team besides a
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: few bad stretches. I feel like he's been a massive,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: massive positive piece, him going on the IL. What does
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: this mean for this bullpen trying to make this final run?
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: I completely agree with you, Kratzy, because, yeah, he struggled
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: a little bit to start his Marlins career, but when
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: he went on the IL, it was at the most
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: inopportune time because he was really solidifying the back end
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: of that bullpen and saving games the way we were
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: accustomed to seeing when he was pitching in Tampa and
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: pitching at World Series games in 2020. So it was
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: really tough timing when he was– placed on the IL,
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: but he's also throwing again. Him and Anthony Bender are
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: both throwing. So the hope is that Miami could get
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: both of those guys back at the back end of
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: their bullpen before season's end, and that would play a big,
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: big boost for this team because their bullpen, a lot
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: of these inexperienced rookie guys have really sort of been
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: used and abused a bit here in the month of
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: August and September. So they're going to need those guys back,
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: and they'll be getting them back hopefully before September 10th
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: or so.
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: I had a question before this, but something came to
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: mind here talking about the trade deadline. Do you think
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: this team, if they even tried a little bit and
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: picked up some guys at the trade deadline, they could
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: have won a couple more games and been a little
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: bit closer in this race?
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was probably one of my bigger critiques of
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: the front office this year. You can't blame them too
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: much because look at where they are in the standings.
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: Look where they were last year. They've been competitive, but yes,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: I'm with you. They should have added at least some
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: starting pitching to help because once robbie snelling and thomas
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: white their two top prospects went down max meyer was
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: gonna he had never thrown this many innings in his
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: life he sort of knew something was gonna come they
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: dfa chris paddock right away they could have used some
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: pitching help help and now granted a lot of those
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: guys that were on the market haven't been performing too
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: well But still, I think any sort of innings would
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: have helped this team in the long run. They could
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: have acquired a third baseman. And I guess that 12-game
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: losing streak, Todd, really sunk the hope out of the
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: front office. So still, following the deadline, Peter Bendix did
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: say that he believes in this team. He thinks that
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: they can make the postseason. But I would have liked
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: to see some sort of addition. The only addition they
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: made to the big league roster was relief pitcher Victor Vodnik,
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: who has been fine. But yeah, there were a couple
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: holes that I thought they were going to fill.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: The Marlins make the playoffs if this person does what
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: he does best. Give me one name that's going to
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: have to carry the load and be like, okay, this
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: is that dude right here that's going to have to
• 30:42
  Speaker 5: carry this team. You can go offense or defense, either one,
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: or you can say both.
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go with Augustin Ramirez here. He just
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: got called up probably a month ago, and he was
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: someone who had a hell of a rookie year last season.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: acquired from the Yankees in the same Jets-Chisholm Jr. trade
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: as Jared Cerna. And he has just been hitting the
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: ball so hard, but unfortunately has just not been translating
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: to much in-game power. He wasn't hitting great in AAA Jacksonville,
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: but now that he's not catching anymore, granted because Joe
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: Mack is doing what he does best, I think Augustine
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: Ramirez could have a sneaky really good month of September.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: And if you have some right-handed power, we know how
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: good the Marlins are with left-handed power. They've got Stowers,
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: they've got Casey, they've got Conine. They can get some
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: semblance of right-handed power in that lineup that would really
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: even things out and help his team long-term. He's just
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: being used as DH right now. We've been told he'd
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: play some first, but that hasn't really happened yet. But
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: if Augustine Ramirez can get things going, I think that
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: would be a huge, huge upgrade to the offense.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: You said Joe Mack. Obviously, Augustine Ramirez is not going
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: to be catching. I went to a Marlins game earlier
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: when they played the Phillies, and Joe Mack was out.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Is he dealing with something? in his shoulder or is
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: he dealing with first year, trying to play a long
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: season in the big leagues, kind of burning him out
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: a little bit?
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's actually caught more innings this professional season than
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: he has in his entire life. So the wear and
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: tear is obvious, but if you talk to him, he'll
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: tell you he's ready to catch 162 games a year.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: But yeah, he was dealing with some sort of shoulder
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: ailment earlier in August. Since then, he seems to be
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: back to 95% ish. But the team really wanted to
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: avoid any IL time because the aforementioned Ramirez behind the
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: plate and they have Brian Navarretto on the roster as well.
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: I think they really need and value Joe Mack a lot.
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: So he was dealing with it a little bit. It
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: is surprising how much they're having him catch considering how
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: young he is. High school catcher who has never caught
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: this much in his life. But like I said, he's
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: a gamer and he wants to catch all 162 games
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: plus everyone in the postseason if it gets to that.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: If he wants to catch 162 games, he just needs
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: to get fat. Just the fat catchers can play all
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: the time. Or JT Romito. He's a freak. But my
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: last question for you kind of goes into what we
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: were talking about with the 500 teams. Watching this team
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: all year, do you feel like this team is not
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: as good as the teams that are over 500? Or
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: do you feel like it's a young roster team? that
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: maybe plays or looks a little bit different when they
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: play those better teams, when they play the, the big time,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: you know, names or the name on the front might
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: get to them a little bit. Do you see a difference?
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: Frankly, I think that they're a team that just lacks
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: the depth to be a true contender right now. I
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: think that their bullpen is making that clear. I think
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: that the fact that they only believe in two starting
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: pitchers to go deep into ball games is, That's also
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: going to hurt the bullpen, and I think they're just
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: missing a lot of key pieces that would make them
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: a legitimate contender this season. Now, could they sneak in somehow,
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: just sort of like they did in 2023?
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: But to me, they just don't have the pitching depth
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: that these other teams have. They don't have the offensive
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: pieces that the other teams have, and frankly, they don't
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: have the experience in the dugout that these other teams have.
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: You know, Clay McCullough and his second-year staff, a lot
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: of them are doing these roles for the first time
• 34:07
  Speaker 4: in their lives, starting from last year. So you don't
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: have a lot of experience in the manager spot. You
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: don't have a lot of experience in the coaching staff.
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: So I think all those factors play an unfortunate role
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: in the fact that this team just isn't quite there yet,
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: in my opinion. Next year, it could be a whole
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: different story. And like I said, they could sneak in
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: this year. But to me, this team is just sort
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: of an incomplete team.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like they're on their course of what
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: they want to do, which is essentially mimic the race
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: long term and mostly be in it, not have to
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: do the big scrap it all down? And rebuild, you know,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: I will say we've had you on obviously frequently here.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I don't love the idea because the raise churn is
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: not good for capturing an audience. I know that's not
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: the job of the front office, but in Miami, it
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: actually does matter, right? You want to make money and
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: you want fans to show up. If fans show up,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: presumably you're going to spend more on your team because
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: you're making more.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Money, right?
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Fans need to connect, right?
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Liam Hicks comes in as a great first half. See
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: ya with tons of years in control. Not saying he's
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: the one I'm just using him as an example.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: So like, where are they on the path? And does
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the path still make sense in that market?
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: We'll see.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: I know that their path, they are right on path
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: with what they want. If you look at the AAA
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: depth and the AA depth, they're, they're very happy and
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: very content with what they've got. And they think that
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: that's going to create a sustainable winner for a long
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: period of time. Um, And then I still think they're
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: not quite there yet in the lower levels of the
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: minors in single A and high A. I think they
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: would like to add more depth there. Once they get there,
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: maybe you could see some sort of continuity on the
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: big league roster. To answer your question regarding the big
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: league market, I think that they, yes, correct, some continuity
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: at the manager spot, some continuity in the outfield, and
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: continuity in the infield would go a long ways in
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: having fans go out and support the team. Because like
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: you said, the Rays, despite being one of the best
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: regular season teams ever, Every year, year in and year out,
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: they don't churn out great attendance. And I think that
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: should be a part of the baseball operations role is because, hey,
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: if you bring in some big free agents, that will
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: help all facets of the organization. So they are on
• 36:18
  Speaker 4: target with what they want to do developmentally wise and
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: organization depth wise. But to answer your question regarding continuity,
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: the big league team, I'm not sure that's ever going
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: to be a thing for Peter Bendix and his staff.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the part that I'm worried about long term.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: You build a team, they're kind of floating in wildcard contention,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: fans still aren't showing up and connecting, and then you're saying, well,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: no one's coming and we can't spend. I mean, that
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: could change. I know they're hoping that changes with a
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: cap and a floor, but I would call that 50-50
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: at best. You can't bank your whole franchise off that.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: To be determined.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: We'll see what comes out of the CBA, and then
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: we can talk about what the plan looks like. going
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: forward for this team cool to see them involved right
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: they're playing meaningful games in september so and that's why
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: you're here and people can check you out on fish
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: on first so isaac appreciate it man thanks for the
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: time and we'll have you back on soon that was
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: great thanks guys thank you all right fish on first
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: you can find it by smacking the qr code on
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: the right side of the screen if you want more
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: mylands coverage this is the spot it's part of the
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: ft network they've got plenty of shows for you weekly
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: great written coverage as well our guy aj ramos is
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: on with isaac and company frequently