Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / SECRET SAUCE: Unorthodox Rays are a shining example for Angels; Marc Topkin joins

Transcript

SECRET SAUCE: Unorthodox Rays are a shining example for Angels; Marc Topkin joins · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo Territory
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with Mike Di Giovanna. You're host of the show. Former
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Early Times baseball writer Mark Trumbo, the former Angels slugger
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: and co host of the show, and back with us
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: for his second Halo Territory appearance. Mark Topkin of the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Times, the Tampa Bay Rays beat writer, Mark,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: welcome back. How you doing today?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Doing good? How are you guys doing good? Good?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. So, the Angels have just won
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: two out of three in Detroit. They swept the Rangers
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: at home last weekend, so they've won five or six
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: from some very bad baseball teams. But the schedule definitely
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: stiffens a bit this weekend with a three game series
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: at Tampa Bay, which is leading the American League East.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And we thought this would be a good time to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: sort of take a look at the Rays, who for
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: so long have done so much was so little in
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: terms of financial resources, while the Angels have done so
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: little was so much. Throw some numbers at you here, guys.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: The Tampa Bay Rays have never had an opening day
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: payroll of over one hundred million. Their highest luxury tax
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: payroll was one hundred and thirty two million in twenty
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: twenty three. They've ranked twenty fourth or lower in payroll
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: over the last sixteen years. Yet they've won four ALE
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: East titles, reached the playoffs nine times in the World
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Series twice since two thousand and eight. They also made
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the playoffs for five straight years from twenty nineteen to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, and they lead the AL East with
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: a thirty four and nineteen record. Topper going in another weekend, Yeah.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've actually yeah, they've actually lost four in a row. Sown.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, good for the Angels. The Angels, on
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the other hand, have had a top ten payroll in
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: eight of the last eleven years, two hundred million payroll
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in two of the last three years, and they have
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: not had a winning record in the last ten years. Topper,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: How are the Rays able to do what they do
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: year after year? What is the secret sauce here?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: It's clearly just in the water. I think we'll just
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: leave it at that and can go there. Now. Look,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: they you know, they they have developed a bunch of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: kind of you know, not necessarily different philosophies, but they
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: try to be ahead of the game. They try to
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: be innovative. They're willing to try stuff. It doesn't always work.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: You know, the opener, which was actually unveiled at at
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Angel Stadium. I think we're coming up on your mark.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Get you look to that Sergio Romo, right, The first
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: time that was used, I think was twenty eighteen, so
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: we're not quite ten years.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: He did it two nights in a row, isn't he.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Yep, that's right. If they tried it, it worked, so
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: you know they'll try it again. You know, this is
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: some of the stuff goes back to Joe Madden obviously
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: when he you know, took over you know, six, and
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: then they kind of evolved in eight. But you know,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: some of the platooning, some of the defensive shifts, things
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: that are now very common throughout the game, but that
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the Rays were out in front of this year, they're
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: they're trying it a little differently. They're going with the
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: small ball, old school, throwback type approach, so always doing
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: different things. That would be one part of my answer
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to the other one is they're very disciplined. They let
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: players go ahead of the curve. They try to stay
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: ahead of the payroll curve. They try to stay ahead
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: of the decline and performance curve. They don't like to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: pay players for what they did in the past. They
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: like to pay them for what they're doing now. So
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: you don't see them that, you know, carry a lot
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: of big money veterans obviously, as you alluded to, Mike,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: with the the low payrolls over the years. Uh. And
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: they try to win on the edges and and sometimes
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: that means, you know, as I said, doing things a
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: little differently, doing things with less to try to get
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: more out of it. They just they know they can't compete,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you know, in the traditional ways that they find other
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: ways to do it. They try to be smarter, they
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: try to be progressive, they try to be different. And
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I think the discipline to like I said, to let
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: guys go to trade guys when they're gonna get more
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: for them and realizing they may you know, piss off
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: their fans, they may hurt their team. It would appear
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: in the short term, but it still works out for
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the most part.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: That's a polar opposite philosophy. Then another team takes But
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: all right, I have a lot of stats and a
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: lot of names in front of them. I'm going to
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: try and make this easy but we're trying to figure out,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: as Mike said, you know, how are they doing this?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: I want to start least with my first question, the
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: pitching and the defense. Four starting pitchers, Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmussen,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Shane McClanahan, and Steven Mattz. These guys are getting it done.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: They have an MLB best ERA of three point seventy four.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: They're not striking a ton of guys out though they're
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: twenty eighth and k's for the pitching staff as a whole.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: They don't allow a lot of walks either, so the
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: fifth least walks. Looking at that, that probably means they're
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: allowing the other hitters to put the ball in play,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: which goes hand in hand with the above average defense,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: which I'm fairly certain, at least in the outfield it
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: always rates as elite. And they have a short step
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: in Taylor Walls, who if you look at the hitting line,
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: you'd probably not much to look at, but he rates
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: extremely high defensively. If you could just you don't have
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: to answer all of that or any of that, but
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: the pitching and the defense and what you see from
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: that side of it, we're going to get the offense
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: a little later, But how are they kind of doing
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: it on the pitch and defensive sides.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Mark, I mean that's their number one goal. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: mean they are into run prevention. That that is what
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: they try to do. It's it's kind of their ideology.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Their philosophy just goes back to Andrew Friedman, a guy
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: from your neck of the woods now, but when he
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: first took over here, when they transition, like I said,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: from the lovable losers of their not even that lovable
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: of their first seven eight years, to the team that
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: has been contending pretty much ever since. It was all
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: you got to do is win by one. And that's
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: how he put it. It sounds so simple when you
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: think about it, but there's actually some validity to that.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: You don't have to win, you don't have to score
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: ten to win, and you can win if you score three,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: if you hold them to two. So they put an
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: incredible premium on defense and pitching. They prioritize that as
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: far as how they're getting it done. This year, they
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: are throwing I think there's still number one in the
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: amount of change ups thrown, the percentage of change ups thrown.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: That's kind of become the vogue pitch right for a year.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: It was the high, the four seamer at the top
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: of the zone, it was the sweeper was kind of
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: in vogue for a while. Now they're trying to do
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: it with change ups. It seems to be pretty effective
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: and they just have a way to by putting the
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: good defense and Kyle Snyder does a great job. They're
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: pitching coach. He's got to be one of, if not
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: the best in baseball of telling these guys, you're really good,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: you throw this one pitch a little differently, take our
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: suggestion on this do one thing differently. You're gonna go
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: for being really good to great and it's gonna pay
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: off and you're gonna make a lot of money down
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the rod. We're gonna win a lot of games. And
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: trust this defense. And like you say, most teams wouldn't
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: carry Taylor Walls when it's a battle to get over
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: two hundred, but he does so much in terms of
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: how it anchors that defense. I mean, there was a
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: game recently where Junior Caman Arrow, who is their all
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: star third basement and one of their best players, cut
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: in front of Walls to try to make a play.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Screwed it. Up and it kind of cost him. And
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Kevin Cash usually doesn't say much negative about anything, and
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: we asked after the game and what happened on that play.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: He said, he needs to let Taylor walls field the ball.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, just let Taylor walls field the ball. And
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I was expecting them all to have T shirts the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: next day. You know, just let Taylor. Let Taylor do it.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: But that was a pretty clear message as to how
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: they think that works. So I think, as I say,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: it's by design. They build the team that way to
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: have as good of a defense as they can. Their
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: outfield defense was very bad last year. One of those
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: guys that was part of that, Josh Low, who was
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: traded obviously to the Angels, and I got admit, I'm
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: surprised that he was sent to the Miners. I thought
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: we would see him here this weekend. But they so
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: they went out and they basically flipped their outfield over.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: They went and got a bunch of new outfielders and
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: they're dealing with some injuries now, but that outfield defense
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: has been noticeably better. The infield defense good up the middle,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: on the corners, not as much with Kevin Arrow at
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: third and Ronda, who's okay. At first, they still don't
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: throw it enough runners. They stuff to work on that,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: but overall, that defense first philosophy put it in play.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: As you say, Snyder's kind of creed o to them
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: is it's a race to two. Try to get avoid
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: hard contact. If you have contact earlier in the account,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: make it be soft contact. Try to get the two
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: strikes as quickly as you can. And they incorporate all
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: of that on a pretty consistent basis.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take a quick break for a
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: word from our sponsors. When we come back, we'll talk
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about that rotation the bullpen and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: get into a very interesting and different raised offense. We'll
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: be right back.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: It's getting hot out there, people. Let's talk Mack Weldon
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: fashion show real quick. AJ's got the Pima crew neck
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: T shirt, frop heather.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: Frost heather. It's it's got little pieces of gray heather
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: in there. It's nice, it's soft, it fits really well.
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: It's great for summer down here in Florida. And I
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: got a couple of linen shirts and linen pants that
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: are gonna look nice when I go to Europe.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Here in a couple of weeks. Very nice.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very smooth, very thin. I'm wearing the eighteen
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: hour Jersey short and Heather Gray, I'll leave that down
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: here for you, and the PEMA short sleeve Henley. The
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: color on mine is Desert Spring, but it really resonates it.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: It fits in, kind of matches with everything in the
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: wardrobe too. It's the classic look. They know what they're
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: doing here, so check it out. We've got the code
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: for you to get moving with Mack Weldon Comfortable anywhere.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: Go to Mack Weldon dot com get twenty percent off
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: your first order of one hundred and twenty five bucks
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: or more with promo code foul. That's m A c
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: K W E L d O N dot com code foul.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mike d Giavanna,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo and Mark Topkin, the Tampa Bay's Rays. Veteran
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Rays writer for the Tampa Tribune. Topper one
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: last question on the rotation. You know you mentioned the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: four main starters, Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmuss and Shane McClanahan
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Steve Mattz. These are guys with significant injury histories. Steve
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Matts kind of flamed out with the Mets a few
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: years back. Some of them have bounced between the bullpen
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: and the rotation. How are they able to sort of
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: get four guys they're not no names, but they're not
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: stars of the game to sort of gel into the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: best is one of the best, not the best rotations
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: in baseball right now?
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think, you know, to be fair, that's
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: probably something that they have to watch and they are
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: aware of those inning limits and there's gonna be you know,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: some some creative ways to give guys time off. I mean,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Steven Matz just took a two week il stint for
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: some elbow inflammation that didn't even need to rehab assignment
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: for was able to come back. Pitched well the first
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: time back. That not so well last night in Baltimore.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: But uh, I think they are pretty experienced and knowing
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: how to handle these guys. They stress transparency with them
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: and honesty. They want them to tell them when they
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: need to blow. And they run through a lot of pictures.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: We know that it's been their history. They make a
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: lot of roster moves, they shuffle it a lot. They
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: the back end of the bullpen has constantly kind of
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: got a revolving door there, but uh, they're gonna monitor them,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: you know. Losing Ryan Pepio for the season hurt, he
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: led them and wins and innings. Last year he got
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: hurt in spring training. That kind of created this open
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: fifth spot. They were going to use Joe Boyle in that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Then he got hurt and they kind of had a
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: journeyman filling at Jesse Schulten's. Now they have taken their
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: specialty here, taking guys who were starters in the miners,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: relievers in the majors and making them starters during the
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: middle of a season with no prep. And they did
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: it with Drew Rasmussen, he was an All star. They
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: did it with Jeffrey Springs, he's pretty good. They did
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: it with Zach Lettell, who made himself a decent amount
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: of money and now he's I think he's at Washington now.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: And now they're doing it with Griffin Jacks, who they'd
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: gotten from the Twins and honestly with a disappointment as
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: a high leverage reliever. But now he's actually been pretty
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: good as they switched him over in about a four
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: or five star period now to being a member of
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: the rotation, so they find a way, and they sought
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: these guys in, but they I think they are aware.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, McClanahan missed you two and a half seasons.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: He when he came back this year, it was his
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: first game since August of twenty twenty three, so they're
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: aware he's probably not going to go wire to wire.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: He's gonna need a blow at some point, Rasmussen. They
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: kind of created that for him last year to kind
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: of nurse him through his first year back after an
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: injury absence and then a return at the end of
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: twenty four as a reliever Matts. You mentioned Nick Martinez.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: The think with Matts too is he hasn't been a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: full time starter twenty one. He's been bouncing swingman reliever
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: type thing, so he's trying to go fully back into
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: starter mode for the first time in a while. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: then Nick Martinez another guy who's bounced between bullpen rolls
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and starting, and they kind of thought that might be
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: the case this year. But and he'll pitch on Friday
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: here and four and one with a one point five
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: to one that's second best in the American League, third
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: best in the Major So they're not worried about any
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: bullpen dudy for him right now he might be pitching
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: in the All Star Games.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Well, the bullpen hasn't been quite as dominant as the rotation.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: They're four point three to ninety array ranks twenty first
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: in baseball, but they've been amble to hold things to go.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: There was some unheralded guys such as Brian Baker, their
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: closer right handers Griffin Jackson, Kevin Kelly, and they have
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: a left to you named Ian Seymour. Is this an
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: area that the Rays can be improven at the trade deadline?
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Will they be aggressive in search of a reliever at
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the deadline?
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: You think? I think they'll know more in the next
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: few weeks. They've got two guys that are both gonna
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: come back or should be back throwing bullpens and probably
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: minor league rehab assignments here by the middle of June.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: In Edwin Ucetta, who was a pretty big piece of
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: their bullpen last year, and Many Rodriguez, who was a
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: pretty good piece, not as much at the back end,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: but a seventh eighth inning kind of guy for them.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Both those guys should be back, probably well enough in advance,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: and the trade Deadlins don't know if they're gonna be
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: able good enough to help or if they need to
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: go out and get some more help. But they did
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: pick up a pretty big name the other day too.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: I know you mostly had un heralded bullpens say, but
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: they did sign Craig Kimball the other day. Four hundred
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: and forty saves make him pretty legit, did he? He
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: pitched the other night in Baltimore, and you know, all
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: things considered, it had been like a week since he
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: was last in a game. They were pretty pleased with
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: what they saw out of him. And you know, going
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: back to what you asked earlier, Mark is, I mean,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: here's Craig Kimberl. Guy's got a pretty good resume. And
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: when part of signing with him was they said, here's
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: some things we want you to try, we want you
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: to incorporate, we want you to be open to this.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: And he agreed to it, and he said, you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: just even some of the pitch mix he did a
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: little differently the other night, and he's very interested in
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: some of their pitch shaping type of you know, analytic
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: type stuff. He wants to talk about a little bit
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: more so even a guy like that, they can kind
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: of get to buy in to their approach and we'll
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: see how that pays off or not.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Let me ask you something, does Kevin Cash does he
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: like guys that run hard on the basis.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I think he'd like to have more guys. I think
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: he'd like to have more guys that run hard on
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: the basis. Yanni Yanni gets a pass because that's just
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: how Yanti Diez is And when you're not wondering why
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: he's not running hard, you're marveling at how he's been
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: one of the most consistent hitters over the last four
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: or five six years in the game and probably doesn't
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: get the credit or the notoriety for it. He won
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: the batting title a couple of years ago. I think
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: he's leading the American League and hitting still as we
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: sit here today this year, So that one I think
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: they get a pass for. I think Junior Kevin Aro
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: can do a better job at running hard on a
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: more consistent basis, and I think that they're working with
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: him on that and making sure he fully understands that.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: But I think I get your point.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: It's been an issue with another club and the fans
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: are a little bewildered by, you know, no discipline for
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: or consequences. I should say it was just a little aside.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: I'm going to try and get in first of the well.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: MLB's counter proposal. Interesting, So the low pay roll Ray
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: is if this was accepted, would be the floor would
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: be one hundred and seventy one million. Wrap your head
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: around that. But the Ray's offense, there's a podcast. I
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: guess podcast doesn't exist. They did a fantastic episode the
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: other day covering the I guess enigma that is the
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: Ray's offense. They described it as a market deficiency. The players,
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: the types of players they are bringing in going to
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: rattle off a lot of stats, so just these are
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: what they are. But this team, the Rays are lasting
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: exit velocity, hard hit percentage, barrel percentage, and they've seen
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: the second fewest pitches in all of baseball. They're twenty
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: eighth in home runs, twenty seventh in RBI's twentieth in walks.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: They have the fifth lowest launch angle, so they're not
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: one of these teams that are trying to get under
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: everything on the flip side. They're thirteenth in runs, they're
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: ninth in ops, they're first in contact, so they're put
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: the put in the ball in play more than any
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: other team. They strike out the least, so it'll be
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: polar opposites going head to head. I think the angeletad
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: what at least eleven today against a Tiger's team that
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: more resembled a road spring training team than an MBI
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: MLB team. But if you can, and I know the
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: Rays are extremely aggressive on the basis for those guys
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: that do have speed, they take a lot of extra bases,
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: they steal a lot of bases, so they're putting a
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: lot of pressure on guys. Can you describe, I know
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: that's a lot of stats, but just what the Rais
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: offense looks like to you and how they're able to
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: kind of get it done, bucking the trend big time.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when it's right, and it hasn't been right for
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: the last week or so, which I think is part
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: of the reason they've lost four in a row. But
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: when it's right, it's basically the three big guys, which
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: is Diez, Ronda and Caminaro, who sit usually together two
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: three four three two three four three four five, depending
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: on how Catch is doing it that day. Some times
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: one two three, he mixes it up, but basically you
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: get the three big guys and then a bunch of
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: other players and their Baseball operations president Eric Neander. I
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: gotta give him credit for this line because he keeps
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: saying they're complimentary players, but he means that with as
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: a compliment. Complimentary players, and he means that as a
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: compliment because they are the guys that you alluded to there.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: They're the guys that are putting balls in play early
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: in count make accounts, making a lot of contact. I
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: think if you want to add some more stats to
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: your list there, Mark, they lead in bunt hits, they
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: lead an infield hits. They're pretty high on sacrifice bunt percentage.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I don't have the total on squeeze bunts, but I
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: know they I can just, you know, anecdotally recall a
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: handful of those that they pulled off kind of the
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: old Don Zimmer first and third play. They bought into
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: that one where you put the bunt down. So they
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: are doing all of those little things you mentioned. The
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: speed Chandler Simpson is the catalyst, to quote John Schneider,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: the manager of the Blue Jays, And I hope this
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: doesn't get you guys in trouble with the FCC. But
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Chandler Simpson's a pain in the ass. And I think
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: that's a pretty good way that John Schnyder put it
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: because his and you watch, you watch this, and when
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: you watch these games this weekend, watch how the Angels
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: infielders adjust when Chandler Simpsons come up to the plate,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: and it just creates these holes. And and I'm not
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying Chandler Simpson is Tony Gwynn here, I
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: want to preface this, but he has developed that swing
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: where he tries to hit that ball in the five
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: point five hole, and he's done it pretty well, and
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: it almost looks like he's aiming the ball when he
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: tries to get some of these base hits. He's got
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: that swing where he just has it flat and gets
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: it through the infield. Uh. And then that just creates
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: all kinds of pressure. You watch these infielders just tighten
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: up and panic. Pitchers infielders throw, get a ball hit
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: back to him. If Simpson's either at the plate or
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: on the bases, and they just make these errors, they
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: just throw the ball away, they drop the ball. He
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: just kind of puts this fear into them, and it
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: really has a trickle down effect. And then yeah, some
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: of the other guys in this lineup, you're not going
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: to look at them and think you're concerned about them,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: but because of they're having to only perform in kind
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: of these complimentary roles. Just put the ball in play.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: It works, and it's worked so far. I mean, Kevin Cash,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, bunting was the B word.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: He did not like that. He did not like that strategy.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: And they realized, with some of the personnel they have,
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: they needed to do that. And the way the game
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: has evolved a little bit with a little bit more
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: athleticism coming back into the game and the stolen base rules,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera, it's more fits their style of play,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: and they have gone all in on that this year.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna take one more quick break for
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors. When we come back, we'll
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the race scouting and player
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: development program.
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: This episode is brought to you by fan Duel Baseball Fans,
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: the MLB season is in full swing and fan Duel
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: is giving you a chance to call your shot with
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: daily Dingers Joining the action is easy. Just make your
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: free pick on who's hitting a home run in their game,
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: and if you're right, you'll get a profit boost to
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings.
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: It's just another reason why FanDuel is the home of
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: home runs. So are you ready to play your game?
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: Head over to FanDuel dot com Slash podcast to get started.
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: That's FanDuel dot com Slash Podcast. To opt in for
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: a homer. Playball and swing for the fences on FanDuel,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: an official partner of Major League Baseball. No purchase necessary,
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: opt in required. Bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: See terms at sportsbook dot FanDuel dot com. Gambling problem
• 22:42
  Speaker 6: call or text one eight hundred gambler and.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Halo Territory with Mike D. Givanna, Mark
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Trumbo and Mark Topkin, the Raise beat writer for the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Times. As we mentioned at the top of
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the show, the Rays do not spend a ton of money.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: They are not the players in the free agent market,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: never really have been. So there has to be topper
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: a scouting and player development component to this success. Where
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: do the Rays sort of shine in this area? What
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: kind of players do they generally pursue in the draft?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Do they have a significant footprint in Latin America on
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: the Pacific Rim? Where do they kind of stand out
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: in this area?
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Not as much Pacific Rim, but I think they They're
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: basic philosophy otherwise is they try to be good at
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: all of those things. They try to be good in
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Latin America, they try to be good in domestic scouting
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: and where they I'm gonna lump this into scouting and
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: player development. I don't know if we need to get
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: a technical ruling on this. But they trade for a
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: lot of prospects, right, They trade for a lot of
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: young players, and that's they kind of get these guys
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: and then develop them as well. And I think that's
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: part of this. You go through their roster, there's not
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: a not a whole bunch of guys that they drafted
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: and got to the big leagues, but there are guys
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: that they got in trades. And you know, Junior Kevinaro
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: would be one of them. He was a you know,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: they acquired him when he was playing, and we used
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: to call it what the Florida Gulf Coast, the Gulf
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Coast League, I think is what it was called back then.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Now it's the Complex League. But uh, you know, they
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: get these guys when they're young and they develop them
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: that way too, So you add that factor to this,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: so draft, international signings and guys they acquire as young
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: players and then kind of try to get them to develop.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: They haven't had a ton of success. I mean a
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: lot of times the guys that end up starting for
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: them are guys that they acquire, you know, closer to
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: the majors or as young Major leaguers. But they're getting there,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: and they've got a couple of prospects. Now, catching has
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: always been a sore point. They've got a guy that
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: they drafted out of Canada of all places, Nathan Floelling,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: and then they just traded when they traded Shane Bose
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: this past offseason, they picked up a catcher who has
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: just taken in the previous year's draft, Caden Bodine. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: those are two guys that they're pretty high on. They'll
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: probably both be top hundred prospects, you know, on the
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: lists next year. I think Floelling's actually made it on
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: a couple of ones this year, so they try a
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: little bit of everything. Is probably my best answer for you. Now,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: this year they have the number two pick. Usually when
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: you do well, you don't have a high pick, so
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: you kind of pay that penalty of course, but they
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: had They used Brett Phillips as they're a lucky charm
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: for the draft lottery this year and they moved up
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: from ten to two. So the guy, I mean he
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: did he did the airplane, a little run and everything.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: So he works for them as like he's like andor
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: fan ambassador. He has a fancier title. But yeah, they
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: used him for the draft lottery and he touched it
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: to turn the gold.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Wow, another team could benefit any play. The question that
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: we had kind of written here basically what could the
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Angels front office learn from the Rays and WHI should
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: they mimic? I'm not sure if there's They're pretty secretive.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: I'm assuming about most of these things. You can answer
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: that if you'd like. The one area I did want
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: to kind of touch on is their player development and
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: if I told it the last time you were on,
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: but if not, when I was rehabbing. In twenty nineteen,
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: we were playing in Durham. I guess was the Triple
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: A affiliate correct, And I was kind of, you know,
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: just had time to kill and I said, you know what,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: what are the Rays up to?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: What are they doing?
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: So I went out way earlier and I watched some
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: of the most focused infield work I'd ever seen, and
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: I was like, wow, okay, because I was trying. I
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: don't know why, but I guess I was trying to
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: piece together exactly what we're talking about. How is this
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: team hanging in there? I mean, it's got to be something.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: And then I started to watch and I say, okay,
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: this is not that this stands out from the crowd.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: It's not your normal. Just get your work in. There's
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: clearly a lot of focus. I saw an article by
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: Adam Barry. You may cover the club for MLB or
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: it was an article for me of last year talking
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: about the infield work, in specific, at least at the
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: major league level, hitting very firm ground balls, doing the
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: kind of reps and work that really translate to the games.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Last year, I believe they saved a ton of runs
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: in the infield play, and I think that there's not
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: maybe a huge question here, but it's just me commending
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: them because once I saw and I assume that that
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: extends to all of their work, you know, with hitting
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: and otherwise.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe the hitting isn't you know.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Exactly like some other clubs, but they're getting it done
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: and they always get it done. I know their coaches
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: get poached a lot. I assume they probably pay pretty
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: well too for their minor league staff to be able to,
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: you know, bring bring the best coaching in because they
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: recognize how valuable it is. Would you would you agree
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: with some of those things.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Maybe, I think a lot of that's right. I think
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: they also go for numbers with staff. I mean they've
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: increased the number of coaches I think get every minor
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: league team over the last few years. But yeah, they
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: take round balls at the major league level. And you know, Mark,
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: you know how it is sometimes in a clubhouse with
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: a you know, you get some day games, you get
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: some bad travel, guys don't want to do early work,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: and they do early work on the infield almost every day.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Just affect this last road trip, there was the tart
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: was on I think in three or four of the
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: first five days, and they had some really bad games
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: on the field, and I actually started to think that
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: may have been a correlation there, because there's so that
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: they do. Kevin Cash usually hits balls. They do it
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: at game speed, someone's tossing it to him, you know.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: They don't just you know, go with the old school
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: fungo approach. They try to go at game speed for
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: all their infield drills. They do that on a daily basis.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: They've got you know, they brought Corey Dickerson in this
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: year as the outfield coach at the Rave reviews for
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: the job he's done. So Yeah, they have a high
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: standard and they try to live up to that. And
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: it's it's player development. Like I said, it's staying in routine,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: and there's also a lot of freedom. They don't force
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: guys to do. Like Yanni Diaz. Going back to Yandi
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: for a second, I don't think he's hit on the
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: field in like five years, Like he doesn't. He hits
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: in the cave. That's what he's more comfortable doing. So
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: they're like, Okay, if that's what makes you happy and
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: makes you good, that's fine. We don't need you to
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: come out and take batting practice in the field. Because
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: we have a rule that everyone has to take batting
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: practice on the field, so if he doesn't want to
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: hit on the field, they're fine with that. And there's
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: other guys same thing. As far as how the pitchers,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: you know, there's some guys are like second day bullpen,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: some guys are third day bullpen. Some guys are touch
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: and feel, some guys are full session. They're very open
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: and very communicative to try to you know, it's about
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: the players and the more you make the players feel
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: like they're part of this, they're involved in the discussion.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: You're not just giving them orders and kind of that
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: upbeat clubhouse Cash is, you know, the kind of manager.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: He'll joke with the players. It keeps it very light.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: You know, he'll give him crap, they'll give him crap back.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: That's okay to do. And it's just a positive vibe
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: that they set. They're very encouraging to their players. It's
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: not a dictatorship or anything like that. It's very much
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: a try to make it a communal effort. And are
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: there times when the boss has to be the boss,
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: of course, but I think the overall vibe is definitely
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: part of that secret sauce that you guys asked about
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: at the top of the show.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: But we'll close with this question top or we've speculated
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: on this show. You our Angels GM is in the
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: last year of his contract, as is the manager who's
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: on a one year contract. A lot of uncertainty in
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: the game with the potential lockout next year. Maybe Ardie
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Moreno sells a team, maybe he doesn't. But you mentioned
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Eric Neander, the fine president baseball operations for the Rays.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: But we're starting to speculate on who might be the
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: type of guy they hire as a GM as the Angels,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: and I personally think they need to find the up
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: and coming guys from these successful organizations that maybe nobody knows.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Are there any under young stars in that raised front office,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: guys who we may not have heard about, who maybe
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the Angels should poach or hires their next general manager.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, they've actually got an interesting setup here.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: There's no general manager, but there's four people who have
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: the title of assistant general manager, which I really think
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: they just did that for fun, just to like jab
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: at the current structure around here. But yeah, Kevin IBox,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: a guy that probably should a name should be on
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: that list. He's pretty much one of their key personnel guys.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: He'll he's kind of helping run the minor league system
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: right now because Blake buchera who was doing that, got
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: hired away to be the Nationals manager, and they decided
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: that rather than force someone to that job, they would
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: kind of split it up a little bit. So, but
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Kevin Ibach is the name I think would be on
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: that list. Bobby Heck is a guy who has a
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: long history of success in this game with the Astros.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: He's kind of a special assistant here, has a lot
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: of freedom, but he's you know, when they're making a trade,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: he's the guy who's flying in and looking at these players.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: He's got a big voice in this I think his
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: name's come up before for some GM type of possibilities too.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: So those would be the two that kind of popped
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: to mind immediately here. And you know brand not that
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: not for a GM standpoint, but you know, like they
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: have Brandon Hyde on their staff. I mean that was
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: a guy that became available, you know, as the Orioles
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: let him go. He lives here in the area and
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: he's been Cash is raved about just having someone else
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: who's sat in that chair. And you know, even when
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: they plays the American League East teams to talk to Brandon,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: what did you see when you played them? That kind
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: of thing.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: I played for him briefly, and I can attest that
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: he is He's got a great baseball mind. He demands
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: the players play hard. That was that was what impressed
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: me first and foremost. We didn't have a good team.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: It wasn't even close to a good team. But you
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: weren't going to give a bad effort, and he held
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: guys accountable and eventually it did. It did pay off,
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: not in the form of a World Series, but but
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: a lot of success. I was surprised to see that
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: not only was let go, but that he hasn't been
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: hired again as a manager.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: That that can happen.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: But uh, the Rays, credit to them for bringing in another,
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: you know, big asset in that form.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: The last thing, Mike, I wanted to clerical stuff, but
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: thank Bayrod Ganzafard our first purchase in the Halo Territory store.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: So if anyone was dying for any logo merchandise, it's
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: it's live.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: You can go get it.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you can go get it at if you go
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: onto the YouTube Halo Territory site. We have all sorts
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: of merchandise on their T shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: I'm expecting a few grandkids this year guys, so I'm
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: gonna get some of the Halo Territory onesies for sure.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: So you can find those at Halo territory dot com
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: slash shop. And that's gonna do it for today, Mark Topkin,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: always great to catch you up with you from the
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Times. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks for
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: some great insight on a franchise that some would do
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: well to emulate. That's gonna do it for us on
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Halo Territory. We'll see you next time. Please like, subscribe,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Thanks for watching and tuning in.