Latest / Foul Territory / Tim Kurkjian joins Friar Territory

Transcript

Tim Kurkjian joins Friar Territory · Foul Territory

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome to Friar Territory, part of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: foul Territory network. I'm Darren Smith. That is Marty Caswell,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and up until like a couple days ago, I was
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the most recent addition to the foul Territory family. But
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: now here we have a little bit of royalty. Of course.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: He is our longtime friend for many years on the radio,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: my former colleague at ESPN, and now my colleague here
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: at foul Territory. He's the winner of the Spinx Award.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: He's baseball royalty. Am I laying it on thick enough?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Tim Kirkchin, it is good to see you, get the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: chat with you as always.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was plenty thick.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Darren, Marty, great to see you,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: Great to see you as will cho you Tim, And
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: you said that the name of your show is is
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: this a great game or what? And it's with your
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: son Jeff. Now, the thing that kind of got me
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: Tim when I saw the release was you are claiming
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: no hot takes on this show, So what do you
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: have against hot takes?
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Well, the whole world is a hot take right now,
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: That's what I have against it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: So I'm trying.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: We are trying to do a slightly different show than
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: everyone else.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: That doesn't mean we don't deal with difficult situations. We do.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: But I'm not gonna sit there and yell at my
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: son and have him yell back at me on a podcast.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Everyone else does that, So we're gonna just try something else.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: We laugh and we learn on our podcast instead of
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: scream at each other. And anyway, it works for us
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: because Jeffrey is not a big baseball guy. You know,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: he was like the star of all the school plays
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: in high school. And I know like three things in
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: the world baseball, basketball, and sitcoms from the sixties, and
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Jeffrey knows everything else. So we're a good team. When
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: there's something I need to know about music or pop culture,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: I go to him and then I tell a baseball
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: story or two that maybe he hasn't heard yet.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: That's how our show operates.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I do love that, Tim, and I think people can
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: relate to it as well. You know, even just recently
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: last summer, my father passed away, and like literally the
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: only thing we had in common was sports. So you know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: as I'm listening to you talk about this opportunity with
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: your son. You know, it does make me realize how
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: special that connection was that I had, and I'm sure
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: people that are watching and listening feel the same way.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Part of it, i'm sure is for you, for the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: benefit of you and your son, but it's also i
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: think something that will resonate really well with people that
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: are going to tune in and appreciate that connection.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we get a lot of response to the whole
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: father son thing, and we've had fathers and sons on
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: our show, Karl Ravich and his son, we had Cal
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: Ripken Junior and his son Ryan, so we really play
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: that up as much as we can.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: We have Eduardo Perez on every year. Of course, he's
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: the son of.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Tony Perez, so it's a natural connection. So we just
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: connect fathers, sons, mother's daughters, all that and baseball. It
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: seems to work for us. And again we're not screaming
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: and yelling. Hopefully we're having a little fun along the way.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: Well, Tim, it is it is great seeing you here
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: and look forward to that podcast with you and your son.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: It's called let's say it is called is this a
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: great game or what? And boy, it's so far a
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: lot of storylines heading in the baseball season. Now I'm
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: bummed out because normally when I go to Peoria, I
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: always see you at Padre spring training, usually you know,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: wearing your basketball shorts, usually pestering AJ Prowler. Have you
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: made your rounds around camps this the spring.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm kind of ashamed to say, Marty, I've already
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: been to Arizona. Okay, I'm already back home. Traffic budgets
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: are what they are. I used to I used to
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: be the first guy to spring training. This year, I
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: think I was the last. I used to spend six
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: weeks at spring training, then we got cut to flour.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: This year was closer to eight days. So to make
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: some very difficult decisions, I did not even go to
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: Peoria to see the Padres. I am shamed, but I
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: didn't have a choice. I had other assignments I had
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: to do. So it's bad, but I did the best
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: I could.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Now I get it.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Listen, when I was there early, there wasn't there wasn't
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: much national media. There was mostly local. Imagine if you're
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: the if you're the national you're going You're you're b lining.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: If the Dodgers can't because of all the storylines and
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: of all the superstars that are there. But but Tim,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: when you look at the Padres, what's the one thing
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: that jumps out at you?
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: If you had been there?
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Are you gruel and agent peller on Craig Stanman, a
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: relief pitcher, our first time manager?
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: What are you thinking?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Is it about Nick Castillano's in his fit with the Padres?
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: What what's your hook with the Padres? I should you
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: be Imperial Peeria?
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Well, I no longer ask questions about the managers that
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: get hired today. Okay, the manager and the general manager
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: of the Washington National combined are not as old as
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: I am. So I have stopped asking, like, how can
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: you hire a thirty three year old manager? How could
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: you hire a relief pitcher who has never managed in
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the big leagues before? The rules have changed, Everything has changed.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: That job has changed as much as any job in
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: the game since I first started covering forty five years ago.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Craig Stammon is a great guy. He is smart, he
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: knows what he's doing. So I'm going to give him
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: every chance in the world to be really good at this,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: and I expect him to be really good at this,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: But you know, the thought of you know Jim Leland,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and you know Bruce Bochie and Shoe Walder and Joe
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Madden not being in the game really at all right now,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: that worries me and it makes me wonder.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: But this is where we're going.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: We're always looking for somebody new who's got a different
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: idea that no one's ever thought of. My guess is, however,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: any really good idea. Dusty Baker thought of it a
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: lot the way, or Buck show Alder did or someone else.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: But I'm gonna give Craigs Dammin every chance of the
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: world to be good at this. And it's just a
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: different era in baseball.
• 6:11
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• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Well, Tim, can you expand on that a little bit?
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: When you talk about it being a different era in baseball?
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: How would you what is the job description of the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: manager in twenty twenty six? So I know it might
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: change team to team, right, different gms have different philosophies,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: But how would you overall describe what the job description
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: is today, Let's say by comparison to fifteen, twenty thirty
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: years ago.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, the job today is to follow the rules
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: set by the organization.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Again, I'm a really old.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Man now, but when I first started covering, you have
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: the general manager and the manager, and they spoke every
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: single day about what the team looks like.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: What the lineup should look like.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: And now we have an army of people in the
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: front office, all of whom have a say in what
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: should be going on. And in a lot of ways
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: that's a good thing. But now, to me, ultimately the
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: manager has to do, essentially do, at least until the
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: game starts, what he is told to do by the
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: front office. I talked to a manager no longer managing,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: and I said, I'm sorry, you're not managing anymore, and
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: he goes, well, I'm not. I don't want to manage
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: anymore because it's not the same job it's you it
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: used to be. I talked to another manager and he said, well,
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: the job I used to do as the manager no
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: longer exists.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And that's how we have to look at things. And
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: this may not be a bad thing.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: I just know that when the Padres had Bruce Bochie,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: he was great.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: He went to the Giants, he won three times.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: He was brought to the Rangers and he won because
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: they left the game in his hands. I think we
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: need to do more of that, but we don't do
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: as much of it as I think we should.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: And now to your point, Tim, Now all those the
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: managers that you just mentioned. They're still in baseball, but
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: a different role. So when I was in Pyeroid, there's
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Buddy Black. Buddy Black is now a special assistant to
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: AJ Peller, Bruce Bochi is now a special assistant with
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: the Giants to Buster Posey, and I believe Bob Melvin
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: is now a special assistant with the A's. I'm not
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: sure if they're the Sacramento of the Oakland and whatever
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: they're calling themselves these days, but it is changing. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: I'm thinking about what Jackson Merrill said earlier about how
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: guys took on so quickly to Craigstamn and moving on
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: from Mike Schultz, was the game has really changed a lot,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: and these players want someone relatable, like it matters to him,
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: it matters to guy like Nick Castellano's number one, that
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: he has a guy that actually played and that was
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: most recently in the game that he can be relatable
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: when you when you're talking baseball. So we'll see trend.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: It's really important.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: You know, when I grew up, the coach told you
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: to do something, if your parents sold you, if a
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: teacher told you, or a neighbor's parents told you, you
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: did what you were told Today's players, and I'm not
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: being critical.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: I've grown up in.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: A way where you have to explain to them why
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you have to do this. So when I hitting coach
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: says we need you to go take extra VP or
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: less batting practice, they need a reason why. And when
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: the guy providing those answers has played in the big leagues,
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: that's a really helpful thing. I just know when Paul
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Moldor was the manager of the Twins, they went back
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: to Milwaukee and his number four is retired in Milwaukee
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: in Miller Park, and one of his players, young players,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: looked at him and goes, is that you up there?
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: And Paul molder have to explain, yes, that's my number
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: up there. I used to play here, and I played
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: here so well that they retired my number. So with
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: today's players, you can't just tell them something. You have
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to prove to why they should listen to you. That's
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: a big difference in the last forty five years.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, Tim, we were just talking a little
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: bit about, you know, how you have to explain to
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: players why it is that managers are making these decisions.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And we've been talking a lot about the Podres lineup,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Last year, it was Fernando Tatis Junior who led off
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: for the potteris all season long, and by almost every metric,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: he was really good at that. This year, it appears
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the potters are going in a different direction. Let me
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: just ask in the abstract, the leadoff position is such
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: an interesting one.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Show.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, Otani leads off for the Dodgers, and he's an
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: MVP Award winner. He's great at it, he's, you know,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: a future Hall of Famer. But some would ask, why
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: is a guy like that leading off? He hit thirty
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: nine solo home runs? What do you make of modern
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: lineup construction and some of the stuff that we're seeing
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: from some of these managers just in general before we
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: get into the potrace.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Well, again, I'm almost seventy years old. So when I
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: grew up, your best hitter hit third or he hit fourth,
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: I'm all for getting my best hitter up in the
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: first inning of a game. And yes, I'm the son
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: of a mathematician MIT undergrad doctor in mathematics. I understand
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: if you hit lead off, you get more chances to
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: hit during the course of a season. Everyone understands that.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: But in a perfect world, I would still have my
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: best hit hitting third, because he might come up in
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the first inning and hit a three run homer and
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: then you win the game after one inning potentially. So
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: am I okay with Kyle Schworber hitting lead off? Of course,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: they go to the playoffs every year. Show Hey is
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: the most remarkable player we've ever seen. It would be
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: stupid to argue with that. But if you're asking me,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I have no problem with taking show Hey and say
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: you're gonna hit third this year, or tatist Junior, you're
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: gonna hit second or third this year. You know, you
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: get him up with more men on base in the
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: first inning. I think that's a good thing.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: M Yeah, I mean, and it seems like like, you know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the player himself is making this decision, you know, like
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: like he let off all last year, and you know
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: there's a bunch of these new stats with you know,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: w RC plus him and whatever. But but you know,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the people like the idea that he brought that energy
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in the first inning. But he's another guy that wants
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to bat seemingly in the middle of the lineup, And like,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: to your point, I mean, this is just math, right,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Like this is why we're seeing show Hey Tny, Francisco Lindor,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: et cetera. These guys all about first or second on
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the sport.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Right, it's the math, and I understand, and we go
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: by the math all the time in baseball. You have
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: to wonder do we go by the map a little
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: bit too much? And yes, everything starts with the Phillies.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: When Kyle Schwarber hits a lead off home or to
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: start a game, that's a great boost to have at
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: the top of the order. Just when I first started covering,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: you know, Bert campan Eiris would hit lead off because
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: he was the diggy, little pixie, little middle infielder.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Who could run. Well.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Those days are over, and I get it, and I'm
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: not so old that I refuse to adjust to what's
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: going on. But if Tatis Junior says I'm more comfortable
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: hitting third, then let him hit third, and let's see
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: what he can do. If it doesn't work. You know,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: he can hit lead off and make that work.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: I know. I'm not even to use his name.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: As that point, he could only hit second in the order,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: and the manager hit him lead off and he said,
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I can't do that, and then they moved him to third.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: I can't do that then they've moved him down in
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the order.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: I really can't do that, he said, I hit second,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: otherwise I can hit now. I'm not sure about that either.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: But let's listen to the player once in a while
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and if he's more comfortable hitting in a certain place,
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: let's give him a shot, especially when he's as decorated
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: and as talented as Fernando.
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: To tease jud Speaking of Tatis, and it's been a
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: pretty hot topic. I mean, with padres found in this
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: market over the past year, how do you evaluate the
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: season that Fernando had last season? You know, set a
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: personal high in in runs scored, right, but the slug
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: was down, the home runs were down, and I think
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: he was pretty down on himself, saying that I know
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: and Craig Damn's are the same thing that we know
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: this this player can be, can show that he's an
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: MVP type player. How do you judge what Tatis showed
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: last season?
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Well, I thought for his standards, and his standards are
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: really high, this was a I would say a subpar
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: season for him.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Marty.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: You remember I came out to San Diego in the
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: middle of the summer covered a series against the Rangers,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: did a game for the Booth on on a Saturday
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: night or whatever it was, and.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I talked to a bunch of guys and one of
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: the guys said, Tatis is just lost right now. He's lost.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Now, How can Fernando Tatis ever get lost when he's
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: that talented and has says this kind of track record. Well,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: of course he figured it out. He had a bunch
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: of homers. He had a very productive year. But he's
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: even better than that. So when I say it's subpar,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: it's better than nine ninety five percent of the players.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Let's be clear about that.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: But when we're talking about a talent like him, you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: you're thinking even more than what he did.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: And at no point, like for a six week stretch,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: should he have all sorts of hitting issues. He's too
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: good for that.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Tim The clock is ticking. You know, I would give
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: anything to go to be thirty three years old again.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: But Maddy Machadah and Zander Bogarts are going into their
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: age thirty three season in twenty twenty six. You know,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Tatis younger, Jackson Merrill younger, some of the pitching getting
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: a little bit older, just in terms of where the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: potterys are they've emptied out their farm system to really,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you know, to add to the big league roster. How
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: do you just gauge the Potteris sense of urgency here
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: with their window of opportunity and where they might be
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: heading into another season like this.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, when you're in the Nashally West, a cent
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: of urgency exists all the time because the Dodgers are
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: there and they are dynasty right now. Last six years
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: they've won three championships and had a winning percentage of
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: six point thirty. Last team to do that was the
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: fifty three through fifty eight New York Yankees. That's what
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: we're dealing with here with the Dodgers. And this is
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: the best Dodger team that I've ever seen. I saw
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: them in spring training and they are loaded beyond words.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: So yes, if the Potterys are going to make them
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: run at the division title, be competitive for a wild card,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: the sense of urgency is, we got to win now,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and we got to do this before anybody else gets
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: a year older. Now.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: I think Bogarts will have a good year.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: Manny Mitchel is a future Hall of Famer who doesn't
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: seem to be slowing down significantly to me, but sure,
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: any every year that goes by is another year that
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: maybe you haven't won. So yeah, sense of virgin see
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: no doubt about it. But that goes for like twenty
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: nine out of thirty teams right.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Now, Okay, Tim, I'm definitely gonna hold you to this
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: based on what your answer is. So here we go.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: The Padres are a legit playoff team in twenty twenty
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: six if what happens.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Well, I think they have to.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, I think they're a legit playoff team no matter
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: what in twenty twenty six. But what is going to
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: have to happen is the young pitching or the pitching
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: that they've.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Acquired really has to be good again.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: Michael King has to come back and be great because
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: when he's right, he's not good, he's great. Nobody can
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: hit him when he's right. Joe Musgrove is coming back,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: that would really be helpful. Nick Pavetta has to be
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: as good as he was last year. And you know,
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Mason Moore, just Mason Miller sorry, has to be a
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: dominant closure that we know he could be, but he
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: doesn't have the same supporting cast around him. With some
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: of the moves that they made so it all comes
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: down to pitching. Normally, I think they'll score enough runs
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: to be a competitive team, but I think it's their
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: starting pitching, like ninety percent of the teams out there,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: that will hold the secret to this team.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: And Tim I would just follow up as well, because
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I'm watching the World Baseball Classic and clearly there's so
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: much young talent in the game today. It makes you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: feel good about the future once we get beyond the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: collective bargaining agreement chat. But Jackson Merrill, you know, was
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: in and out last year. He was on the IL
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: a couple different times, went healthy. Jackson Merrill does belong
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: in the same categories Wit Junior as some of the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: other big you know, younger names that we're seeing featured
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: in the World Baseball Class again in the sport correct.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: He's really really good.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: Look, he's not Bobby wit Junior, because Bobby wit Junior
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: plays shortstop and has a longer track record and steals
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: more bases. He's a better player than Jackson Merrill. But
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Jackson Merrill is on the very short list of really
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: good players and good young players in the big leagues.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: And we saw it when he came up a couple
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: of years ago.
• 19:08
  Speaker 6: They took him a shortstop and put him in the outfield,
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: and to play that well when it's that big of
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: a change was just remarkable to me and get to
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: know him a little bit, not surprised at all that
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: he was that good.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: But I say this all the time, Darren Marty, this
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: is the hardest game in the world to play, and
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: guys who are really good at it aren't really good
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: at it every single day. And guys have subpar seasons,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: they have down seasons, and out of nowhere they come
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: back and they're great again. I fully expect Jackson Merrill
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: to be the best Jackson Merrill we've seen this year,
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: which is really saying something because two years ago he
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: was sensationally good.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: He's a game ginger and to your point especially, I
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: know last year was tough for him, dealt with the
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: hamstring injury, the concussion, a bunch of different injuries. But
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: I'm he's filling pretty good. He's talking about growing into
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: his power. So I just think that right now we're
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: just beginning to see, beginning to see how great Jackson
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: Merril can be.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: No doubt about that.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Tim.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: It is always our pleasure we appreciate you. Let's remind
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: everybody where they can find you, not only all the
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: years that we've come to expect to find you on ESPN,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: but also now I hear part of the foul Territory
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Network as well.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's our podcast is called is this a great game?
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Or what?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: It's?
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: My son Jeff and I to repeat, I don't ever
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: yell at him, and he yells at me once in
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: a while when I foul up the technology or I
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: can't fix my printer right, or my screen doesn't work,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: or I have to adjust something and I have to
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: take out my phone and do like a FaceTime with
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: him so we can look at my computer and fix it,
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: because poor old pop pop here.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Has so much trouble with technology.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: But it's a lot of fun that we get great guests.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: We've had maybe ten Hall of Famers on our show
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: the last couple of years. This is year number three,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: and starting next week, well two weeks when we start
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: the first week of the baseball season, we'll have three
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: shows a week, including one interview.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: So it's great fun. At least it is for Jeff
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: and it is for me. What are you gonna book?
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: As?
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: Like Marty they have no hot takes on the world
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: baseball class.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: That's nice to have ATA on the World base last
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: night's game.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: We might have had to have had a hot take
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: a last night, but that's okay. We'll handle that some
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: other time. And yes, we'll get a j Preller on
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: good and we will just probably discuss how he just
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: schooled me so many times. He is an absolute nightmare
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: to guard on the basketball court.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: At He doesn't need he does not need that for
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: his ego. I'm gonna make sure that I said in
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: this club. By the way, I have to ask you
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: this question speaking to WBC. Okay, if you were gonna party, you,
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: Tim Kirchin, go out and party with one team, which
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: WBC team is it?
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I would party with any last an American team. It
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: doesn't matter where they're from, because I did this WBC
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: a couple of years ago at Chase Field. I would
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: leave the ballpark and it was like Marty Garras was
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: taking place in the streets. It was a gigantic party
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: from whatever country was playing, and the Latino countries. It
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: was incredible. It was like going to a parade. It
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: was like going to the county fair and there was
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: a baseball game being played.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: It was absolutely fabulous.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: And that's why this tournament really works, not just because
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: the players are great, what a collection of players, but
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: it's the fan base and how just emotional and how
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: much they love being there. That's what makes WBC a
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: stunning success.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: It is it is a ton of fun. Tim Krkschen,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: we appreciate you. You are a stunning success as well.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for the time.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you Aaron, thank you Marty.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: By Tim all Right