Latest / Foul Territory / MLB AI crackdown + Astros checkup

Transcript

MLB AI crackdown + Astros checkup · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Awesome to have Chandler Room on the show, friend of
0:08
Speaker 1: the program and also the co host, of course of
0:10
Speaker 1: Crush City Show. He does a great job as the
0:14
Speaker 1: beat writer of the Houston Astros for the Athletic Chandler,
0:17
Speaker 1: good to be with you. As always, We appreciate your insight.
0:20
Speaker 1: What's more important for you right now for this club
0:22
Speaker 1: right now, pitching or outfield help?
0:25
Speaker 2: Well, judging from Dana Brown's comments, It's going to be
0:27
Speaker 2: outfield help. And this is something that he has been
0:30
Speaker 2: trying to He's been beating the drama about improving this
0:32
Speaker 2: outfield since the offseason. Remember they salary Damte sous Sanchez
0:37
Speaker 2: onto the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Joey lo
0:39
Speaker 2: Berfido in spring training, and then after he did that,
0:42
Speaker 2: Dana Brown said, we're not done yet. We're going to
0:45
Speaker 2: add more to the outfield and that never manifested and
0:49
Speaker 2: you're seeing kind of how bad that's aged for him.
0:53
Speaker 2: The Astros outfield has the lowest batting average in baseball
0:56
Speaker 2: if they have the second lowest on base percentage in
0:58
Speaker 2: the third lowest ops in baseball. It has been one
1:02
Speaker 2: of the most unproductive offensive outfields in the sport. One
1:06
Speaker 2: thing they do very well. They catch the ball. It's
1:08
Speaker 2: one of the better defensive outfields in the game. But
1:11
Speaker 2: it is really weakening their lineup. Couple that with jose
1:14
Speaker 2: Al Tuve not playing to the level that we have
1:17
Speaker 2: expected Josel tub to play to Couple that with Jeremy
1:20
Speaker 2: Pania battling injuries throughout the first half, and this lineup
1:24
Speaker 2: at times this year has really been Jordan Alvarez, Christian Walker,
1:29
Speaker 2: Esach Paratus and then six other guys that they just
1:32
Speaker 2: kind of have to throw a dart at a board
1:34
Speaker 2: and see what happens.
1:35
Speaker 3: Wait, okay, I want to hit on the outfield first,
1:38
Speaker 3: because you can't have one without the other. And when
1:42
Speaker 3: they couldn't go or weren't able to go whatever Dana
1:46
Speaker 3: Brown wants to spin it, they weren't able to get
1:48
Speaker 3: the slug and the super all star outfielders they went defensive. Now,
1:53
Speaker 3: this is a bad pitching staff outside of Hunter Brown
1:57
Speaker 3: Spencerraghetti that has benefited from this. So are they willing
2:03
Speaker 3: to say it's either a Byron Bucksta Hint type or
2:06
Speaker 3: we're gonna keep catching the ball in the outfield because
2:10
Speaker 3: there it's hard to say, Well, we want a really,
2:12
Speaker 3: really good defensive outfielder that also banks. Yeah, everybody does.
2:16
Speaker 3: They just watched them on Tuesday in the All Star Game.
2:20
Speaker 2: Well listen, crazy, Cam Smith's not going anywhere, and Cam
2:23
Speaker 2: Smith is. He was a Gold Glove finalist last year
2:25
Speaker 2: in right field. I thought it was very interesting that
2:28
Speaker 2: in the Astros last game of the first half, their
2:31
Speaker 2: hand was forced to do this. They had an injury
2:33
Speaker 2: happened in the game and they kind of ran out
2:35
Speaker 2: of outfielders. But for the last five innings of their
2:38
Speaker 2: last game of the first half against the Rangers, Cam
2:41
Speaker 2: Smith played center field, and it is something that they
2:44
Speaker 2: have been working with him on. He's played it in
2:46
Speaker 2: spring training before, he's taken fly balls before games there,
2:50
Speaker 2: but they had never played there in a major league game.
2:52
Speaker 2: So the fact that they felt confident enough even though
2:56
Speaker 2: they were forced to do it, the fact that they
2:58
Speaker 2: still felt confident enough to play this kid center field
3:01
Speaker 2: against a division rival in the Texas Rangers in a
3:04
Speaker 2: tie game and a series, in a pretty consequential series
3:06
Speaker 2: for the beginning of July, to me, that kind of
3:10
Speaker 2: opened the door for well, if they go find if
3:13
Speaker 2: they can go find either a either a right fielder
3:16
Speaker 2: or a left fielder. Could that open the door to
3:18
Speaker 2: maybe getting Cam Smith some more time in center field,
3:21
Speaker 2: because look, he's a brilliant defensive right fielder. I have
3:25
Speaker 2: and the Astros have no doubt he could transition to
3:28
Speaker 2: be an elite defensive center fielder. So from that aspect,
3:32
Speaker 2: when you look at it defensively, totally, Cam Smith's not
3:34
Speaker 2: going anywhere. Cam Smith's the best defensive outfielder they have.
3:37
Speaker 2: They also have Bryce Matthews, who's a converted infielder whos
3:40
Speaker 2: played some outfield for than this year, he's turned himself
3:43
Speaker 2: into one of the better defensive outfielders in baseball. They
3:46
Speaker 2: can use him lading games. And I think you bring
3:49
Speaker 2: up a good point, Cratzy, like this, Astro's pitching staff
3:52
Speaker 2: before the All Star Break was allowing the fourth highest
3:55
Speaker 2: fly ball rate in baseball. So it helps when you
3:58
Speaker 2: got a pitching staff that's given up a lot of
4:00
Speaker 2: fly balls to have an outfield that's pretty good at
4:02
Speaker 2: catch them.
4:03
Speaker 3: Okay, obviously it's the best nine players out on the field.
4:06
Speaker 3: And it just kills me to even ask this question,
4:08
Speaker 3: because I know you've probably been asked and answered so
4:11
Speaker 3: many times. Would they put yordn in left and really
4:17
Speaker 3: see your face for everybody listening, you have to see
4:20
Speaker 3: Chandler's face. But would they do it? Because I even
4:24
Speaker 3: asked the question about the Phillies. If they find a
4:26
Speaker 3: mashing right handed first baseman, would Bryce go back to
4:30
Speaker 3: right field for a half? And so I got to
4:32
Speaker 3: ask for the Astros, would they be willing to put
4:35
Speaker 3: yor don in left to add to this offense that
4:38
Speaker 3: they need.
4:41
Speaker 2: I will say this, Cratzy, he played more left field
4:44
Speaker 2: toward the end of the first half than maybe I
4:46
Speaker 2: thought he would. They have been so resistant to this, though,
4:50
Speaker 2: and Jordan Alvarez is mounting the most serious run out
4:53
Speaker 2: of Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera won it in twenty twelve.
4:56
Speaker 2: I don't think they want to disturb anything that's going
4:58
Speaker 2: on with him. I don't think they want to put
5:01
Speaker 2: him in any more undue risk than they have to.
5:05
Speaker 2: So my gut would tell me no. But who knows
5:09
Speaker 2: what's available on the trade market. Who knows what they
5:11
Speaker 2: can go get? Another thought to me has been and
5:13
Speaker 2: again I don't think they would do this either. But
5:16
Speaker 2: remember Jose al Tuove played some left field last year.
5:19
Speaker 2: If they have if they can find an infielder, like
5:22
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of maybe Luisa Rise. Like again, this is
5:25
Speaker 2: just me completely speculating. I want that out there right now, Like,
5:28
Speaker 2: this is not sourced information, This is not me reporting anything.
5:30
Speaker 2: But you know I've thought about it. You know, Luisa
5:33
Speaker 2: Rise is available, He makes a ton of contact. He
5:36
Speaker 2: would be great in this lineup. Would they move jose
5:39
Speaker 2: Al Tuvay to left field? Again, I'm not sure. It
5:41
Speaker 2: didn't go well for him out there, but he wasn't
5:44
Speaker 2: a liability by any stretch of the imagination, so I
5:47
Speaker 2: don't know if that's something they'd even broach with him.
5:49
Speaker 2: I know they respect him too much to move him
5:52
Speaker 2: around and kind of jockey him around a ton like
5:55
Speaker 2: they like to keep him in one place. So I
5:58
Speaker 2: have a hard time thinking that will happen. But look,
6:01
Speaker 2: I think anything should be on the table because this
6:04
Speaker 2: is a manager in Joe Espada, and a general manager
6:06
Speaker 2: and Dana Brown that don't have contracts for next year.
6:09
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying getting to the playoffs is the
6:12
Speaker 2: end all be all that they're going to get another one.
6:15
Speaker 2: But if they don't get to the playoffs, it's pretty
6:17
Speaker 2: clear what's going to happen. So they they need to
6:19
Speaker 2: get this team to the playoffs in whatever way necessary.
6:22
Speaker 2: So I would take nothing off the table in terms
6:25
Speaker 2: of how they could configure this thing. Depending on who's
6:27
Speaker 2: available to go.
6:28
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6:32
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6:53
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7:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I agree with it.
7:33
Speaker 6: I had them in the playoffs, so that would make
7:36
Speaker 6: me look good too, So ultimately we need them to
7:38
Speaker 6: find a way. But I want to talk about al
7:41
Speaker 6: two va again here a little bit about its hitting,
7:44
Speaker 6: strikeout rate is up a little bit, swinging out of
7:46
Speaker 6: his own What do you think ultimately is the problem
7:50
Speaker 6: with him? Is it you know, getting old?
7:53
Speaker 3: Is it? The age?
7:54
Speaker 2: Is it? Is it?
7:54
Speaker 6: You know he's seeing different types of pitch? And talk
7:56
Speaker 6: to me a little bit about this whole situation with him.
8:00
Speaker 2: I mean, father time comes for everyone, Todd, you know
8:03
Speaker 2: that everybody. Kratzy knows that. Everybody knows that. But al
8:07
Speaker 2: Tuove has defied odds and defied aging and defied kind
8:11
Speaker 2: of logic for his entire career. So I never want
8:13
Speaker 2: to count him out by any stretch of the imagination.
8:16
Speaker 2: But since August first of last year, he has been
8:20
Speaker 2: by WRC plus, he's been a below average hitter. He's
8:23
Speaker 2: had a ninety five WRC plus since August first of
8:27
Speaker 2: last year. That's five points below league average. Like you said,
8:30
Speaker 2: he's striking out at his highest rate of his career
8:33
Speaker 2: this year. He's whiffing at a highest rate of his
8:35
Speaker 2: career this year. Joe Spata is hitting him fifth in
8:38
Speaker 2: the Astros lineup, which is the lowest he has ever
8:40
Speaker 2: hit in his major league career consistently in a lineup.
8:44
Speaker 2: But I will say this, toward the end of the
8:46
Speaker 2: first half, you saw Al two ve out on the field,
8:49
Speaker 2: taking more early BP and doing more early work than
8:52
Speaker 2: I think I've ever seen him do. And a lot
8:55
Speaker 2: of it talking to Victor Rodriguez, a hitting coach, talking
8:58
Speaker 2: to people around the team. A lot of it has
8:59
Speaker 2: to do with his leg kick, right he Kratzy. You
9:03
Speaker 2: played with him, you're remembering Todd, You've seen it, Like
9:05
Speaker 2: he's got that big leg kick. Sometimes when he gets
9:08
Speaker 2: his foot down and he's timing up things, they want
9:10
Speaker 2: him to maybe temper that a little bit, maybe not
9:13
Speaker 2: take it out entirely, but make it a little smaller
9:16
Speaker 2: of a leg kick, and I know he's been working
9:18
Speaker 2: on that. But the interesting thing too, is he's maybe
9:22
Speaker 2: shown a little more frustration in that first half than
9:25
Speaker 2: we're accustomed to seeing from him. Look, I'm not oblivious
9:28
Speaker 2: to the fact that he probably goes down in the
9:30
Speaker 2: tunnel like everybody does, and takes it back to something
9:33
Speaker 2: and shows his frustration outside of public view. But there
9:37
Speaker 2: were a couple times in the first half that we
9:38
Speaker 2: saw it publicly from him, and that is rare for him.
9:41
Speaker 2: It's odd to see that from him. So they need
9:45
Speaker 2: him to bounce back. They don't. Look, they don't need
9:48
Speaker 2: him to carry this lineup. Jordan Alvarez is doing that
9:50
Speaker 2: just fine. Jeremy Pania can do that. They've got Christian
9:53
Speaker 2: Walker who's on pace to hit thirty homers again. Like
9:56
Speaker 2: they don't need al tuo Ve to be peak twenty nineteen,
10:00
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen jose L Tuove, but they need him to
10:02
Speaker 2: be something close to that. They need him to be
10:04
Speaker 2: a meaningful contributor in this lineup, and there have been
10:07
Speaker 2: stretches this year where he just hasn't been.
10:10
Speaker 1: Chandler. He recently wrote in The Athletic about Tutsia am
10:13
Speaker 1: I and what the Astros need to do with him,
10:15
Speaker 1: or perhaps just a question mark about what they need
10:18
Speaker 1: to do with am my eighteen million dollar paycheck. Perhaps
10:21
Speaker 1: the only thing preserving his spot in the Astros starting
10:24
Speaker 1: rotation owns a six point zero six ERA is seventy
10:28
Speaker 1: plus seventy ERA plus, which means it's thirty percent below
10:31
Speaker 1: league average. I mean, it seems like it's just the
10:35
Speaker 1: elephant in the room. Do they part ways with him?
10:38
Speaker 1: Where do you see this thing going?
10:41
Speaker 2: Even worse than all that, Alana, He's made thirteen starts
10:45
Speaker 2: and he has failed to throw five innings and seven
10:48
Speaker 2: of them. Oh wow, that in and of itself is bad.
10:51
Speaker 2: It's bad on the day he pitches. But what that
10:55
Speaker 2: does to the next two or three days, because the
10:57
Speaker 2: Astros have to run through their bullpen, they have to
10:59
Speaker 2: make a bunch of roster moves after games to get
11:02
Speaker 2: fresh arms. Here, not only has he impacted the game
11:05
Speaker 2: he is pitching, he's impacting the next two or three games.
11:09
Speaker 2: And with sixty four games left in the schedule and
11:12
Speaker 2: with the urgency, the Ashers are going to have to
11:14
Speaker 2: have to win games to stack wins and to make
11:18
Speaker 2: a run at making the playoffs. Like, I don't know
11:21
Speaker 2: how much longer they can keep starting him every fifth
11:23
Speaker 2: or sixth day. There have been stretches of competence. You know,
11:27
Speaker 2: he had a stretch in June where he won a
11:29
Speaker 2: two start stretch where he struck out twenty two guys
11:32
Speaker 2: and walked one guy and span of two starts. You
11:34
Speaker 2: don't luck your way into that. You don't luck your
11:36
Speaker 2: way into striking out twenty two big league hitters across
11:39
Speaker 2: two starts. It's in there, Like, it's in there that
11:42
Speaker 2: he can do this, but I'm not sure it's going
11:46
Speaker 2: to come at the rate and at the consistency and
11:49
Speaker 2: with the urgency that the Astros need. So what do
11:51
Speaker 2: they do with him? Well, they're gonna he's going to
11:54
Speaker 2: start to open the second half. He's going to be
11:57
Speaker 2: in the rotation, and he's because of the because of
12:01
Speaker 2: everything around him, he's gonna get some runway. But if
12:04
Speaker 2: it keeps going like this and he can't get you
12:06
Speaker 2: at least into the fifth inning every time out, then
12:09
Speaker 2: they're gonna have some real conversations. You know, it's a
12:12
Speaker 2: risk to put him in the bullpen because he doesn't
12:13
Speaker 2: throw enough strikes to be in the bullpen. That's been
12:16
Speaker 2: his big bugaboo is that he throws too many balls,
12:19
Speaker 2: and he's giving up a forty six percent hard hit
12:21
Speaker 2: rate this season, So he's throwing balls and then when
12:25
Speaker 2: he's thrown it over the plate, it's getting mashed. So
12:27
Speaker 2: I don't know if it works necessarily in the bullpen. Emi,
12:31
Speaker 2: like kode I Sanga, has a clause in his contract
12:35
Speaker 2: that allows him to be optioned to the minor leagues,
12:38
Speaker 2: but he has to he has to give his consent
12:41
Speaker 2: to do so, just like kode I Sanga did with
12:42
Speaker 2: the Mets last year. So I don't know if they
12:45
Speaker 2: would ever reach that point. But if he keeps performing
12:49
Speaker 2: as inconsistently as he did in the first half, it's
12:51
Speaker 2: gonna be a conversation that may be forced upon them.
12:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, we shouldn't compare just all Japanese pitchers of Japanese pitchers,
12:59
Speaker 3: but Roki society. He went to the bullpen you have,
13:03
Speaker 3: and when he profiled, he came over. I talked to
13:05
Speaker 3: a scout when he's got signed that watched him over
13:08
Speaker 3: in Japan. He profiled as a bullpen guy because he
13:11
Speaker 3: really just has one above average pitch and that's his slider.
13:15
Speaker 3: And I feel like as a as a starter, he's
13:17
Speaker 3: afraid to throw strikes and that's why he's getting whacked
13:22
Speaker 3: once it's two oh, because big league hitters just crush
13:25
Speaker 3: it pratzy.
13:26
Speaker 2: He throws two pitches. He throws a fastball. He throws
13:30
Speaker 2: fastball and a slider, And I get the slider does
13:33
Speaker 2: a lot of different things. He can manipulate the slider
13:35
Speaker 2: to move so many different ways, so maybe it acts
13:38
Speaker 2: like different pitches within it. But at his core, he's
13:42
Speaker 2: a two pitch pitcher. And the Astros have implored and
13:46
Speaker 2: tried to get him to throw his change up, to
13:48
Speaker 2: throw his split, and he has even said, you know,
13:51
Speaker 2: when I was in Japan, this worked. The Astros signed
13:55
Speaker 2: me for the guy I was in He has said
13:57
Speaker 2: this before, The Astros signed me for what I did
13:59
Speaker 2: in Japan. So I want to do what I did
14:02
Speaker 2: in Japan, and in Japan this is how he pitched,
14:04
Speaker 2: and it's not working well. I will say this to
14:08
Speaker 2: give him maybe a little bit of benefit of the doubt.
14:11
Speaker 2: Baseball Savant and the public pitch metrics have no idea
14:14
Speaker 2: how to identify his pitches, Like there are some times
14:17
Speaker 2: when we'll go through an entire start of EMI and
14:20
Speaker 2: it only shows fastball slider, and we'll go in the
14:23
Speaker 2: clubhouse after the game and he'll say, oh, I threw
14:25
Speaker 2: like ten splits and it didn't even it didn't publicly identify.
14:30
Speaker 2: So maybe in his head he's throwing more than two pitches,
14:33
Speaker 2: but at his core, he's a two pitch pitcher, and
14:37
Speaker 2: those two pitches better be elite if you want to
14:39
Speaker 2: get through a major league lineup two and three times.
14:42
Speaker 2: And I think it's proven through the first half of
14:44
Speaker 2: this season that those aren't elite just yet.
14:47
Speaker 3: Yes, I've caught guys who throw sliders that also throw
14:51
Speaker 3: splitters and they register the exact same and hitters don't
14:55
Speaker 3: see the difference in the pitchers, Like.
14:57
Speaker 2: What what is that?
14:58
Speaker 3: So is this a is this a fault by the
15:03
Speaker 3: Astros who never really have dipped into the Japanese market,
15:07
Speaker 3: And will this create some trepidation next time Jim Crane,
15:12
Speaker 3: maybe his next GM comes to him and says, we
15:17
Speaker 3: want another Japanese pitcher.
15:19
Speaker 2: Cratzy Dike and Park. The naming rights on Dike and
15:23
Speaker 2: Park are there for a while, so there's gonna be
15:25
Speaker 2: no trip. There's gonna be no trepidation about getting more Japanese.
15:28
Speaker 2: Japanese players here, don't worry about that. But I mean,
15:32
Speaker 2: I think we need to see how the second half goes, right, Like,
15:35
Speaker 2: I don't think we can write Tetsuya EMI's entire season
15:38
Speaker 2: story right now. He did not have a good first half.
15:41
Speaker 2: Maybe he rebounds in the second half and maybe he
15:43
Speaker 2: turns into what they imagined he could be. Maybe it
15:46
Speaker 2: takes another year because he's got an opt out after
15:49
Speaker 2: this year, and if he keeps pitching like this, he's
15:51
Speaker 2: gonna opt in because he's not gonna get anything in
15:53
Speaker 2: free agency that would be close to the eighteen million
15:55
Speaker 2: dollars that the Astros are on the hook for. So
15:57
Speaker 2: maybe it takes him a year and he turns into
16:00
Speaker 2: something better next year. But yeah, as of right now,
16:03
Speaker 2: you have to really do a really deep audit as
16:07
Speaker 2: to whether they knew this was like this, whether they
16:10
Speaker 2: knew whether how much they knew about the arsenal, how
16:13
Speaker 2: much they knew about the makeup things like that. You know,
16:16
Speaker 2: Jim Crane was pretty forthright and saying they did not
16:19
Speaker 2: have a ton of scouting infrastructure in the Pacific RIM
16:22
Speaker 2: and in Asia when they signed tetsu Emi. Now they
16:25
Speaker 2: have it. Now, they have really bolstered it up there.
16:28
Speaker 2: They've hired more scouts, they've put a lot more resources
16:31
Speaker 2: into it, so they're better prepared for the next time around.
16:34
Speaker 2: But I mean, Jim Crane set it out right like
16:37
Speaker 2: we bolst I mean he said it when they introduced
16:39
Speaker 2: tetsu Emi. We've bolstered our Asian and Pacific RIM scouting infrastructure.
16:44
Speaker 2: But that didn't help with this one.
16:48
Speaker 6: Jordan Alvarez, absolutely fantastic ballplayer, won the best in the league,
16:53
Speaker 6: going going for a triple crown. Like, think about that,
16:57
Speaker 6: he's got all the accolades he's hitting. Well, let's talk
17:01
Speaker 6: about how impressed impressive it is to watch him play.
17:04
Speaker 6: It seems like every time he gets to the play
17:06
Speaker 6: and it looks like he's gonna do damage, no matter
17:08
Speaker 6: if it's a right hand or left handed thrown.
17:12
Speaker 2: Todd. The thing that just amazes me every time I
17:14
Speaker 2: watch him, it's not just the power. Everyone thinks it's
17:17
Speaker 2: power because he has thirty one homers and he hits
17:19
Speaker 2: balls four hundred and fifty feet effortlessly, but it is
17:23
Speaker 2: he is a hit over power guy. And he has
17:25
Speaker 2: been that since day one. If you talk to scouts
17:28
Speaker 2: that initially found him, if you talk to guys like
17:31
Speaker 2: in the minor leagues that had him, he has always
17:33
Speaker 2: been hit over power. And I think you're show he's
17:36
Speaker 2: showing right now. He's got a three eighteen batting average,
17:38
Speaker 2: like he's got a lifetime two ninety nine batting average.
17:41
Speaker 2: This is not just a big slugger that strikes out
17:44
Speaker 2: and hits a bunch of homers. This is a guy
17:46
Speaker 2: that is if he has to come up and move
17:49
Speaker 2: a runner, move runners in a scoring position, he can
17:52
Speaker 2: do that. If he has to come up and he
17:54
Speaker 2: sees a side vacated and they're not going to intentionally
17:57
Speaker 2: walk him, he can just go out and get a
17:59
Speaker 2: ball and hit it through the right for a base hit,
18:01
Speaker 2: like never trying to do too much, never gets out
18:04
Speaker 2: of his plan either. And I think the thing that
18:06
Speaker 2: fascinates his teammates is like he'll go down looking at
18:09
Speaker 2: a change up and like his first at bat, and
18:11
Speaker 2: then if the pitcher tries to throw him a change
18:13
Speaker 2: up in his next to bat, he's in a crush
18:14
Speaker 2: at four hundred feet, Like you can't get him out
18:17
Speaker 2: the same way every time. I don't think his cerebral
18:20
Speaker 2: nature and his intelligence and his hitting aptitude get enough
18:24
Speaker 2: credit for how good this guy.
18:26
Speaker 1: Is Chandler before Oh go ahead?
18:29
Speaker 2: Is baseball?
18:29
Speaker 3: Is Baseball going to recognize it? I know Kyle Schwarberg
18:33
Speaker 3: got a lot of votes last year as a DH.
18:36
Speaker 3: Is Baseball going to allow Jordan Alvarez if he doesn't
18:39
Speaker 3: quite get the Triple Crown to win the MVP over
18:43
Speaker 3: say a junior Camenaro who's gonna continue to stay hot
18:46
Speaker 3: but play third base.
18:49
Speaker 2: I don't if he wins the Triple Crown, I don't
18:51
Speaker 2: know how you don't. I don't know how he doesn't
18:54
Speaker 2: win the MVP. If if it's one of these situations
18:56
Speaker 2: where it is now where he leads the al and Homers,
18:58
Speaker 2: he leads the AL and RBI, and YONDI Diez has
19:01
Speaker 2: a four point lead on him in batting average. Like
19:03
Speaker 2: if it's that close, then maybe you know we have
19:06
Speaker 2: a debate. But I don't think there's a better player
19:09
Speaker 2: in the American League right now than Jordan Alvarez. Like
19:11
Speaker 2: I don't know how you look at everything he has
19:13
Speaker 2: done and everything he's meant to this team too, Like
19:16
Speaker 2: you take this team's four games under five hundred. You
19:18
Speaker 2: take Jordan Alvarez off this team and they're what ten
19:22
Speaker 2: to fifteen under five hundred, and they are dead, buried
19:24
Speaker 2: in gone. This the value he brings to the Astros.
19:29
Speaker 2: Just to me, he is the He was unquestioned the
19:32
Speaker 2: most valuable player in the American League in the first half,
19:34
Speaker 2: and I think, barring just a complete fall off, I
19:37
Speaker 2: can't see him not winning the award.
19:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, which begs the question, people better be paying attention
19:42
Speaker 1: to what you're done Alvarez is doing in the American League.
19:44
Speaker 1: For that MVP. Before we let you go Chandler, Lance
19:47
Speaker 1: mccullor's junior wearing a different uniform. He had said at
19:50
Speaker 1: one point that he didn't ever want to wear another
19:53
Speaker 1: team's uniform and at once told the team's fan base
19:56
Speaker 1: to bury me in the h he's no longer there.
19:59
Speaker 1: What do you make of it?
20:01
Speaker 2: You know? It was something that the Astros have been
20:03
Speaker 2: trying to do for a while now. He was in
20:05
Speaker 2: one of the packages that they talked about with the
20:08
Speaker 2: Cardinals last year for Nolan Arnado. They had explored trading
20:12
Speaker 2: Lance a couple different times, but I think this was
20:15
Speaker 2: a more graceful and nice way to end his tenure
20:19
Speaker 2: in Houston, because it was going to come to an
20:20
Speaker 2: end here pretty soon, whether it was going to be
20:22
Speaker 2: a DFA, whether it was going to be just because
20:24
Speaker 2: they don't have room for him. They don't have room
20:27
Speaker 2: form in the rotation. I think he would have been
20:29
Speaker 2: amenable to a bullpen roll, but I'm not sure how
20:32
Speaker 2: effective he would have been out of the bullpen. This
20:34
Speaker 2: allows him to go to a Milwaukee Brewers team that's
20:36
Speaker 2: obviously very high up in contention. They've got their renown
20:40
Speaker 2: for their pitching development, they're now for their pitching infrastructure.
20:44
Speaker 2: It allows him to go have a fresh start, and
20:48
Speaker 2: you know, I think when he talked to me yesterday
20:51
Speaker 2: or two days ago when he got traded, you know,
20:53
Speaker 2: the one thing he said is he didn't want his
20:55
Speaker 2: selfishness and he didn't want him to be the reason
20:58
Speaker 2: that the Astros could not do with the wanted to
21:00
Speaker 2: do with the trade deadline. Trading him gives them an
21:03
Speaker 2: extra two and a half million dollars under the luxury
21:05
Speaker 2: tax I thought it was a very noble thing by
21:09
Speaker 2: Jim Crane, the owner, to call him and to you know,
21:12
Speaker 2: lay out the situation. I thought it was a very
21:13
Speaker 2: noble thing by Lance to to, you know, understand the
21:16
Speaker 2: respect he has for this organization, that he didn't want
21:19
Speaker 2: to be the reason that this team couldn't accomplish what
21:21
Speaker 2: it wants to accomplish going forward. So you wonder a
21:25
Speaker 2: lot with Lance what could have been just given the stuff,
21:29
Speaker 2: the nastiness, the swag that he has. He had the
21:33
Speaker 2: makings of like a Front of the Rotation style ace,
21:36
Speaker 2: but just his body betrayed him. And it's a tough
21:39
Speaker 2: it was a tough thing to watch. But hopefully and
21:41
Speaker 2: go to Milwaukee in his in this contract on a
21:45
Speaker 2: good note and who knows what's next for him. Channeler.
21:48
Speaker 3: I want people to go to Crush City Territory and
21:50
Speaker 3: watch your show. But I gotta ask, do you like
21:52
Speaker 3: dad jokes? Because you're very stoic on camera.
21:57
Speaker 2: I mean, Tyler's got the dad jokes. Tyler's a co host,
22:00
Speaker 2: Tyler is the is the dad jokes guy. So I
22:03
Speaker 2: let him. I let him handle that. He is a dad,
22:04
Speaker 2: he's got three kids, So I am not a dad.
22:06
Speaker 2: I don't mind dad jokes. I really don't.
22:09
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, then I have one for you today. What
22:11
Speaker 3: happens when a frog's car dies. I don't know he
22:16
Speaker 3: gets it, Toady. We got, we got Chandler. Smile. That's
22:22
Speaker 3: all we needed. That's all we need. Chandler. Now he's
22:26
Speaker 3: back covering Jim Crane's astros.
22:31
Speaker 1: Thank you, Chandler.
22:32
Speaker 4: We appreciate it very much.
22:33
Speaker 1: We were waiting for that. I tell you what has
22:35
Speaker 1: been waiting for that all day. You can go check
22:37
Speaker 1: out Chandler on Crush City Territory with Chandler, Josh Uddick
22:40
Speaker 1: and Tyler Stafford. Obviously we'll be right back to stay
22:43
Speaker 1: with us. Hot corner, Hot topic of conversation. It is
22:51
Speaker 1: a I and by that I do not mean Alana Ayanetta.
22:54
Speaker 1: I mean artificial intelligence. Guys, there is a crackdown that
22:58
Speaker 1: has ranked some front office officials. It's ruffled some feathers,
23:02
Speaker 1: if you will. Major League Baseball eric has effectively outlawed
23:05
Speaker 1: the growing practice of using league provided dugout iPads to
23:10
Speaker 1: access generative artificial intelligence. Some teams had increasingly leaned upon
23:15
Speaker 1: this to help shape in game strategy. This is way
23:19
Speaker 1: above my pay grade, way above my understanding of what
23:22
Speaker 1: is going on. But I know that there are Major
23:25
Speaker 1: League Baseball approved iPads in the dugout, but apparently you're
23:29
Speaker 1: not allowed to use artificial intelligence at the level in
23:33
Speaker 1: which some of these teams are using it.
23:35
Speaker 2: EK.
23:37
Speaker 3: So obviously everybody gets if you watch a game, all
23:40
Speaker 3: the coaches and everybody gets a printed out piece of
23:42
Speaker 3: paper and then they put like fifty more of them,
23:46
Speaker 3: and I know, and it's all color coded, and it's
23:49
Speaker 3: who's gonna who looks good in this matchup? That matchup
23:52
Speaker 3: green red. You know, you get a queue of different colors,
23:56
Speaker 3: and that helps them. It has numbers. Big fan of
24:00
Speaker 3: that going digital, like, that's totally fine. When you start
24:05
Speaker 3: mixing in the AI stuff, when you start losing the
24:09
Speaker 3: human aspect of it, I think that's when technology has
24:12
Speaker 3: gone too far. I don't think they should have fifty
24:16
Speaker 3: pieces of paper printed out, but I also think that
24:20
Speaker 3: all this information can be paralysis by analysis for teams.
24:24
Speaker 3: But this is also the reason I cried so loud
24:29
Speaker 3: when they started bringing in the PitchCom and I said this,
24:33
Speaker 3: they have to put their foot down and say this
24:36
Speaker 3: cannot be from the dugout, because now all of a
24:38
Speaker 3: sudden you're going to have some type of connection with
24:42
Speaker 3: AI to the PitchCom and if it's allowed in the dugout,
24:46
Speaker 3: now someone else is pushing those buttons and essentially the
24:48
Speaker 3: guys are just gonna be out on the field as
24:51
Speaker 3: video games.
24:53
Speaker 6: Christya, I think you said it right, man, whatever happened
24:57
Speaker 6: and going with your gut, you know, whatever happened?
25:00
Speaker 2: Hey, man, well why didn't you get to that ball?
25:03
Speaker 6: Because I always had Darren Bragg always used to come
25:05
Speaker 6: up to me and say phrase. You can never get
25:08
Speaker 6: in trouble by saying hey, coach, like, hey, what were
25:11
Speaker 6: you doing there? Hey? When I had a gut feeling,
25:12
Speaker 6: I went with my gut because I saw this guy
25:14
Speaker 6: the other day he was pulling the ball here. You know,
25:16
Speaker 6: I didn't get to the ball because I went two
25:18
Speaker 6: steps here. Okay, fine, let's learn from it.
25:21
Speaker 2: You know.
25:21
Speaker 6: And you know, for pitch calling, come on, you guys
25:25
Speaker 6: been around the game like you guys are ballplayers. Recommendations
25:30
Speaker 6: regarding substitutions like what what? What?
25:34
Speaker 2: This is another thing I'm.
25:35
Speaker 6: Like, I'm so bewildered about because these guys have been around,
25:39
Speaker 6: these managers, these coaches, players like dude, just call the pitches,
25:45
Speaker 6: go with a gut feeling. If a guy slider's working
25:48
Speaker 6: that day, and this guy still hits sliders really well,
25:50
Speaker 6: guess what, throw the slider because it's on point right now.
25:54
Speaker 6: You know how hard it is to hit that kind
25:55
Speaker 6: of pitch. So go with your gut, go within stinks,
25:58
Speaker 6: go with what you've seen and what you've been a
26:00
Speaker 6: part of, and just play the game. You're right, you
26:03
Speaker 6: don't want any more robotic than what it is. I
26:05
Speaker 6: love the human element. That's for fans to talk about
26:09
Speaker 6: the next day. Man, why did this guy do this?
26:11
Speaker 6: Oh well, now they're going to talk. Well, he's saw
26:13
Speaker 6: on the computer. Remember when they used to back in
26:16
Speaker 6: the day. Just go with the gut feeling and go
26:18
Speaker 6: with oh man, this guy's a pole hitter predominantly. Now, man,
26:22
Speaker 6: we don't want that. I don't want that. I shouldn't
26:24
Speaker 6: say wait, I don't want that. So go with your
26:26
Speaker 6: gut and enjoy the game. You can bring that human
26:29
Speaker 6: element involved into it a little bit more.
26:32
Speaker 3: Wait, Todd, you said these coaches and managers are qualified.
26:37
Speaker 3: I think this is exactly why they're doing it. I
26:39
Speaker 3: don't think a lot of them are qualified. And if
26:42
Speaker 3: the manager's qualified and they're still doing this, to me,
26:46
Speaker 3: I think it's people above them that are not qualified
26:49
Speaker 3: and are afraid to lose their jobs so they can
26:52
Speaker 3: implement these things.
26:53
Speaker 2: I call them.
26:54
Speaker 3: PowerPoint coaches, coaches that get their jobs from PowerPoint presentations. Well,
27:00
Speaker 3: you know, because this happens fifty two percent of the time.
27:03
Speaker 3: Here's the greatest way to do it. Oh yeah, okay, Well,
27:06
Speaker 3: how do you get your hand underneath the ball like that?
27:08
Speaker 3: How do you get your timing down when you're not
27:12
Speaker 3: seeing the ball out of his hand? How do you
27:14
Speaker 3: receive this pitch this way? How do you feel the groundball?
27:18
Speaker 2: Well?
27:18
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I'm gonna tell you in my
27:19
Speaker 3: PowerPoint that thirty nine percent of the time when the
27:22
Speaker 3: ball bounces three times when it gets to you at second.
27:25
Speaker 3: Bit Like that's it's underqualified people. And I am not
27:31
Speaker 3: at all old man. Get off my lawn. That is Todd,
27:35
Speaker 3: That is aj when he is on That is Chris,
27:38
Speaker 3: Iyanetta in in Alana's house. Like I am, I am
27:43
Speaker 3: not the old guy. Get off my lawn. But you
27:46
Speaker 3: know what I am. I'm a people person. And I
27:49
Speaker 3: think when they start doing this, they are they are
27:53
Speaker 3: effectively taking away why people come to the game and
27:57
Speaker 3: why they don't just stay at home and play a
27:58
Speaker 3: video game on their own. It's because you watch humans play.
28:02
Speaker 3: And we just talked about Jordan Alvarez, how he will
28:04
Speaker 3: not allow somebody to get him out the second time
28:07
Speaker 3: on the same pitch. You know why not because he
28:10
Speaker 3: looked at it on the iPad. Maybe he looks at
28:12
Speaker 3: it and goes, oh, that what pitch was away I
28:14
Speaker 3: thought it was. It's because he remembers, he learns, and
28:18
Speaker 3: he takes that into the next time, and he is
28:20
Speaker 3: a freak of nature and he can destroy the baseball
28:23
Speaker 3: against the opponent that is out there also a human
28:27
Speaker 3: against them.