Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Realignment predictions, Red Sox-Yankees juice

Transcript

Fair Territory: Realignment predictions, Red Sox-Yankees juice · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:04
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo. I am in New York.
0:08
Speaker 1: Fox has the Yankees Red Sox series opener tonight. But
0:11
Speaker 1: we're not just going to talk about the Yankees in
0:13
Speaker 1: Red Sox. We've got realignment, We've got Kyle Tucker, We've
0:17
Speaker 1: got dudes in dorks. We've got your questions as well.
0:19
Speaker 1: So Alana, greetings, I hope you're doing well.
0:23
Speaker 2: It's good to see you.
0:24
Speaker 3: You're in New York, I'm in Boston. Do we have
0:27
Speaker 3: a rivalry? I am not sure, but Ken, the rivalry returns.
0:31
Speaker 3: How much juice is there with this series beginning?
0:35
Speaker 1: Alana, It's a really good question, and I like the
0:37
Speaker 1: way Chris Kirshner put it in The Athletic this morning.
0:40
Speaker 1: In his mailbag. He thinks that this is the most
0:43
Speaker 1: meaningful meeting between the Yankees and Red Sox since the
0:46
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one Wildcard game, and I would tend to agree.
0:50
Speaker 1: Both currently in wildcard position, Yankees at the top of
0:54
Speaker 1: the standings based on their recent run, and the Yankees
0:57
Speaker 1: have closed by winning seven of eight too, with a
1:00
Speaker 1: four games of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Al East,
1:03
Speaker 1: so things are heating up. The Red Sox need to
1:06
Speaker 1: kind of start getting going again. They're three to seven
1:09
Speaker 1: in the last ten, have not played well of late.
1:12
Speaker 1: They've made some moves in advance of this series, some
1:14
Speaker 1: pretty interesting moves. They send down Isaiah Campbell, bringing Richard Fitz. Now,
1:19
Speaker 1: Richard Fitz has been a starter his whole career, but
1:21
Speaker 1: it appears for now the Socks are going to use
1:23
Speaker 1: him out of the bullpen at least in this series.
1:26
Speaker 1: And then just today it was reported that the Socks
1:29
Speaker 1: also have designated Abraham Toro for assignment. He gave them
1:33
Speaker 1: some good playing time at first base until kind of
1:36
Speaker 1: fading after the All Star break, and they've brought back
1:38
Speaker 1: David Hamilton. Now, David Hamilton gives them additional speed for
1:42
Speaker 1: this series so they can pressure the Yankees. And David
1:44
Speaker 1: Hamilton also plays second base, and perhaps that will enable
1:48
Speaker 1: the Socks to move to Don Rafaela playing more in
1:51
Speaker 1: center field, where he is so brilliant. Rafaela has struggled offensively.
1:55
Speaker 1: Perhaps it's related to moving back to the infield. I
1:58
Speaker 1: don't know, but this is going to be a really
2:00
Speaker 1: interesting series for sure. Alana.
2:03
Speaker 3: Does it solve their issue?
2:04
Speaker 2: Though?
2:04
Speaker 3: At first base, Ken we're talking about the Boston Red Sox.
2:07
Speaker 3: Obviously there was a platoon situation there between Abraham Toro
2:11
Speaker 3: and romy Gonzalez, especially when you know there was a
2:14
Speaker 3: left hander on the hill. Romey Gonzalez, though, is starting
2:17
Speaker 3: to play against right handers as well. Rob Refsnyder is
2:21
Speaker 3: on the il. What is the plan for the Socks
2:23
Speaker 3: at first Well.
2:25
Speaker 1: The signing of Nathaniel Low changes everything for the Red Sox,
2:28
Speaker 1: and that really is what led to the move with Toro.
2:31
Speaker 1: So the other night, Low at the game tying home
2:33
Speaker 1: run in the ninth inning, it would have been a
2:35
Speaker 1: huge moment if the Red Sox had won that game.
2:37
Speaker 1: They did not, So now going forward, they've got Low,
2:40
Speaker 1: They've got Rome Gonzalez in the mixed. Roman Gonzalez also
2:43
Speaker 1: play second. Once ref Schneyder is healthy, he'll be in
2:46
Speaker 1: the equation as well. What they are clearly trying to
2:50
Speaker 1: do here as we enter the final six weeks of
2:52
Speaker 1: the season is put their best team on the field,
2:56
Speaker 1: and that is the goal here and with these moves,
2:59
Speaker 1: that is clearly the intention, and it's going to be
3:02
Speaker 1: interesting to see the lineup tonight. It's going to be
3:04
Speaker 1: interesting to see how this plays out going forward, both
3:07
Speaker 1: at first base, at second base, and in center field.
3:10
Speaker 1: There shouldn't be a both there. There's three positions, all
3:12
Speaker 1: three of those positions, and.
3:14
Speaker 3: You know Roman Anthony ken is going to be in
3:16
Speaker 3: that lineup for the Red Sox, a big extension for him.
3:19
Speaker 3: He wrote about it currently in the Athletic This kid
3:22
Speaker 3: is way beyond his years in terms of maturity and
3:25
Speaker 3: specifically played discipline.
3:27
Speaker 1: That's exactly what I wrote about Alana. And it's interesting
3:31
Speaker 1: to me that this kid just turned twenty one in
3:34
Speaker 1: May and is unphased by everything that he has encountered
3:38
Speaker 1: so far. And I am sure quite certain he will
3:41
Speaker 1: be unphased by playing at Yankee Stadium. He's going to
3:44
Speaker 1: be a centerpiece of this rivalry for the next eight
3:47
Speaker 1: or nine years at least, and Yankee fans, I'm sure
3:50
Speaker 1: are going to come to dislike him. But it's hard
3:52
Speaker 1: to dislike this guy. He's kind of quiet on the field,
3:55
Speaker 1: doesn't show much emotion at all, just plays really well
3:59
Speaker 1: a really high level and yes, play discipline. In this column,
4:02
Speaker 1: I wrote Alex Cora compared him, Wait didn compare him
4:06
Speaker 1: to Barry Bonds. He said, I can't compare him to
4:08
Speaker 1: Barry Bonds, but he kind of thought maybe like an
4:11
Speaker 1: early Wan Soto. And that's high praise obviously for Roman Anthony.
4:15
Speaker 3: And I love the fact that you talked to Alex
4:17
Speaker 3: kra about this, and he said that when they told
4:20
Speaker 3: Roman Anthony Ken that he was going to start the
4:22
Speaker 3: season in Triple A, he shook Alex Korra's hand. He said,
4:24
Speaker 3: I'll see you soon, and Alex Corr was like, I'm
4:27
Speaker 3: sure you will, and sure enough, Roman Anthony had to
4:29
Speaker 3: wait until June. But it's been a good change ever since.
4:33
Speaker 3: Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge, what more can you tell
4:36
Speaker 3: us about the disagreement, if you will, in the throwing
4:39
Speaker 3: ability of Aaron Judge right now?
4:41
Speaker 1: Well, it seems that Aaron Boom when he said that
4:44
Speaker 1: Judge might not throw the way he normally throws for
4:47
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, was kind of getting ahead
4:49
Speaker 1: of himself, and Judge quickly corrected him. I don't know
4:52
Speaker 1: that this is going to be any issue. Those two
4:54
Speaker 1: are very close. But the real question is when does
4:57
Speaker 1: Aaron Judge get back into the out field. And I
5:00
Speaker 1: don't know that it will happen this series. I would
5:02
Speaker 1: not be surprised if it did. He has been throwing,
5:05
Speaker 1: and clearly, when you're playing with some kind of elbow issue,
5:09
Speaker 1: it's going to be a little bit dicey at times.
5:12
Speaker 1: But fully, the full expectation of the Yankees, I should say,
5:17
Speaker 1: is that he will be back in right field. Then
5:19
Speaker 1: you have judge and right Grisham and center, Bellinger and left.
5:22
Speaker 1: That's a really good defensive outfield. And that's where the
5:24
Speaker 1: Yankees are heading with this.
5:26
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about the New York Yankees a
5:28
Speaker 3: little bit more. Can their schedule stiffens beginning this weekend? Obviously,
5:32
Speaker 3: the Red Socks are trying to make the postseason team.
5:35
Speaker 3: The Yankees obviously are doing the same. It's not going
5:37
Speaker 3: to get much easier for them going forward.
5:40
Speaker 1: It won't for this particular period, but going forward totally.
5:45
Speaker 1: When you look at Fangrafts and the remaining strength of schedule,
5:48
Speaker 1: they actually have the Yankees as the easiest remaining strength
5:51
Speaker 1: of schedule based on a couple of different factors. Now,
5:53
Speaker 1: other websites Alana don't have them with the easiest, but
5:56
Speaker 1: it's not that bad. And they end the season with
6:00
Speaker 1: a pretty easy schedule with a number of non contenders.
6:03
Speaker 1: So the Red Sox after this series, play I believe,
6:06
Speaker 1: five straight series against non contenders and they're going to
6:10
Speaker 1: have some different teams that they play to that are
6:12
Speaker 1: more competitive. So well the Yankees. The Yankees play each
6:15
Speaker 1: of the division leaders one series each remaining this season.
6:19
Speaker 1: So it's funny we talk about schedule all the time.
6:23
Speaker 1: I talk about it constantly, but it really depends on
6:27
Speaker 1: which teams are playing the best at that particular time. Now,
6:30
Speaker 1: it certainly helped the Yankees to beat up on these
6:32
Speaker 1: three sellers as they did in these last three series,
6:35
Speaker 1: but they've got to play well to win games. We
6:38
Speaker 1: know that. We've seen that with them, So that really
6:41
Speaker 1: is their challenge here to play at a high crisp level,
6:46
Speaker 1: something that they haven't always done, regardless of who the
6:49
Speaker 1: opponent is.
6:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, no question about that. It's going to be interesting
6:52
Speaker 3: to see how many teams in the Al East can
6:55
Speaker 3: get into the postseason. As far as that picture is concerned,
6:58
Speaker 3: Let's talk about another topic here, unfair territory with Ken Rosenthal,
7:02
Speaker 3: where there is a lot to unpack, and that is
7:04
Speaker 3: realignment and a lot of folks have been talking about
7:07
Speaker 3: this ken for a long time.
7:09
Speaker 1: What is the latest. The latest day is Rob Manford
7:13
Speaker 1: went on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and of course talked
7:16
Speaker 1: about the possibility of expansion, which would lead to realignment.
7:20
Speaker 1: Now it's important to note as Jason Starke did this
7:24
Speaker 1: morning in The Athletic in a really good article that
7:27
Speaker 1: gave a lot of context to the situation. Basically, Jason
7:30
Speaker 1: starts by saying this isn't close. None of it is close,
7:34
Speaker 1: not expansion, not realignment, and not, as he mentions here,
7:37
Speaker 1: the possibility of the schedule shrinking. And Jason makes some
7:40
Speaker 1: very good points in that article about why the schedule
7:44
Speaker 1: could shrink if the sport indeed goes to thirty two teams,
7:48
Speaker 1: That too, is a discussion to come. But the realignment
7:52
Speaker 1: conversation is one that got fans really excited or I
7:55
Speaker 1: would say intrigued, because obviously it would lead to major implations.
8:00
Speaker 1: It might lead to the sport looking unlike the way
8:04
Speaker 1: it has looked for quite some time now. So there
8:06
Speaker 1: have been a couple of proposals thrown out there. Let's
8:09
Speaker 1: get into them, all right.
8:12
Speaker 3: So if you think about the proposal from Jim Bowden,
8:16
Speaker 3: two years ago. Let's look at that one first, because again,
8:19
Speaker 3: this has been talked about for quite some time, and
8:21
Speaker 3: there's a bunch of realignment when it comes to where
8:24
Speaker 3: teams are going. But moreover, where are the new teams going.
8:28
Speaker 1: To be housed? Right?
8:29
Speaker 3: Is it going to be Nashville? Is it going to
8:31
Speaker 3: be Charlotte? Like, that's a whole other picture too, in
8:34
Speaker 3: terms of another piece of this puzzle.
8:36
Speaker 1: Can a lot? It sure is, And you make a
8:40
Speaker 1: great point, we don't even know who the expansion teams
8:42
Speaker 1: are yet. Is it Charlotte? Is at Nashville in the east?
8:45
Speaker 1: Is it Salt Lake City? Is it Portland in the west?
8:47
Speaker 1: Are there other cities that are perhaps in the mix
8:51
Speaker 1: that we don't even think about or haven't even considered yet.
8:53
Speaker 1: I don't believe so. But all of this will depend
8:57
Speaker 1: on where those expansion teams end up. Games proposal, what
9:01
Speaker 1: he brought about a couple of years ago, basically is
9:05
Speaker 1: done purely on geography and natural rivalries. So you see,
9:08
Speaker 1: the Midwest division would have the Cubs, White Sox, Brewers,
9:12
Speaker 1: and the Twins. They're all rivals. Even the Brewers and
9:14
Speaker 1: the Twins have a rivalry. Southwest Astros Royals, Cardinals, Rangers,
9:20
Speaker 1: Pacific Coast down that Rockies don't belong on this Pacific coast,
9:23
Speaker 1: but it doesn't always work perfectly. Colorado, the Athletics wherever
9:27
Speaker 1: they might be, Seattle, San Francisco. Then the Western Division Arizona,
9:31
Speaker 1: the Angels, the Dodgers, and the Padres. That makes a
9:34
Speaker 1: ton of sense. And then you go to the East.
9:37
Speaker 1: This would be an amazing division. The Red Sox, Mets, Yankees,
9:40
Speaker 1: and Phillies, the North Reds, Guardians, Tigers, Blue Jays, and
9:46
Speaker 1: you see the others as well. Mid Atlantic with the Orioles, Charlotte.
9:49
Speaker 1: Perhaps maybe it's Nashville, Pittsburgh and Washington, and the Southeast Atlanta, Nashville,
9:54
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay and Miami. Another one that makes a lot
9:56
Speaker 1: of geographic sense. Now that's that's an interesting proposal, no
10:01
Speaker 1: question about it. But what I liked a little bit
10:04
Speaker 1: better because it kept the leagues kind of more intact,
10:08
Speaker 1: was what Stephen Nesbit suggested in the Athletics the other day. Now,
10:12
Speaker 1: what Stephen doesn't have that Jim does are the Mets
10:16
Speaker 1: and Yankees and the Dodgers and Angels and all those
10:18
Speaker 1: teams necessarily in the same divisions. He did it more
10:22
Speaker 1: like the way the leagues are currently constructed. I'm not
10:24
Speaker 1: going to read all the names here, but you can
10:25
Speaker 1: see them. And in the East, for example, he doesn't
10:29
Speaker 1: have the Mets and Yankees together, but he has the Mets, Phillies, Pirates,
10:32
Speaker 1: and Nationals. And then another example for him that would
10:35
Speaker 1: be interesting would be in the West the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Padres,
10:39
Speaker 1: and Giants. No Angels, but you have the four natural
10:42
Speaker 1: remaining n L West rivals. It's sort of the same
10:46
Speaker 1: in the American League the way Steven has it laid
10:48
Speaker 1: out East kind of preserved the way it is now
10:51
Speaker 1: without Tampa Bay, every other team is in there. And
10:54
Speaker 1: in the West it's a little bit different. The A's
10:57
Speaker 1: wherever they might be, the Angels, saw Lake City or Portland,
11:00
Speaker 1: plus the Mariners, and you can see the North and
11:03
Speaker 1: South divisions there too. Now the question is going to
11:06
Speaker 1: be if this all comes to pass, and again we're
11:09
Speaker 1: not close yet. We're not close to expansion, we're not
11:11
Speaker 1: close to realignment. But if it does come to pass,
11:15
Speaker 1: then at that point Rob Manford, whoever is Commissioner of
11:20
Speaker 1: Baseball at that point, will have to decide, Okay, do
11:22
Speaker 1: we want to sort of preserve the leagues or do
11:24
Speaker 1: we want to go just pure geography and natural rivalries.
11:28
Speaker 1: That's the decision. But again, we're talking about something that
11:32
Speaker 1: is years away. A lot of fun for us to
11:34
Speaker 1: talk about, no question, but we're not there yet.
11:37
Speaker 3: Okay, do you have a different opinion or different solution?
11:40
Speaker 3: Do you or do you have a preference and how
11:43
Speaker 3: important is it to you, Ken Rosenthal to preserve the rivalries.
11:48
Speaker 1: I don't have a preference. I would lean a little
11:50
Speaker 1: bit toward Nesbitz, but I understand Boden's And I understand
11:53
Speaker 1: Bodens because if you're a met Yankee fan, if you're
11:56
Speaker 1: a White Sox Cubs fan, if you're a Dodgers Angels fan,
11:59
Speaker 1: you want to see those teams and you want to
12:00
Speaker 1: see them in the same division. I assume not everyone
12:02
Speaker 1: would agree. No one ever agrees entirely on anything, but
12:07
Speaker 1: that would be the appeal of Jim's proposal. I kind
12:09
Speaker 1: of lean towards Stevens a little bit, and that's where
12:13
Speaker 1: I am with it. I don't have my own proposal.
12:14
Speaker 1: I've not sat around thinking about this too much, but
12:17
Speaker 1: it is cool to imagine what might be and then
12:20
Speaker 1: of course, if you have a reduced schedule, as Jason
12:23
Speaker 1: suggests this morning, what would be the point of that, Well,
12:26
Speaker 1: mathematically it might work better with thirty two teams, and
12:29
Speaker 1: the other point would be more playoffs. I don't know
12:32
Speaker 1: that we need more playoffs. I don't know that Baseball
12:34
Speaker 1: agrees with me on that.
12:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're going to have to find a way to
12:37
Speaker 3: make up the revenue if it is only one hundred
12:40
Speaker 3: and fifty four game regular season, so perhaps expanded playoffs
12:44
Speaker 3: are the play I do think it's funny, though, that
12:46
Speaker 3: Colorado would be in the Pacific Coast Division if it
12:49
Speaker 3: were to be new divisions, because some would argue Ken Rosenthal,
12:52
Speaker 3: me not you, that Colorado doesn't even belong in Major
12:55
Speaker 3: League Baseball.
12:56
Speaker 1: Okay, boom boom, we don't have relegations. If we ever
13:01
Speaker 1: get your relation.
13:02
Speaker 3: Maybe yeah, although they have taken two of three so
13:05
Speaker 3: far from the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that's for another conversation.
13:08
Speaker 3: All right, get your questions in for Grill and Ken.
13:11
Speaker 3: It's fair territory continues here on all of our different networks.
13:15
Speaker 3: We appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break
13:17
Speaker 3: and we'll be right back ft FAM.
13:20
Speaker 4: When you're playing games, you kind of have some stress anxiety.
13:24
Speaker 4: Teammates need somebody something to help. Now it's at your
13:27
Speaker 4: fingertips with Rula.
13:29
Speaker 2: That's right. Telehealth has been a huge help for millions
13:32
Speaker 2: of people, but it can be time consuming and expensive
13:34
Speaker 2: to find the right therapist. Rula is on a mission
13:36
Speaker 2: to make this process smoother, and make sure you go
13:39
Speaker 2: to rula dot com slash file for more details. They
13:41
Speaker 2: take most major insurance plans and the average copay is
13:44
Speaker 2: only about fifteen dollars per session. Every provider on Rula
13:49
Speaker 2: is carefully vetted and chosen for their expertise. Thousands have
13:53
Speaker 2: already trusted Rula to support them on their journey toward
13:55
Speaker 2: improved mental health and overall well being. Head on over
13:59
Speaker 2: to rula dot com slash foal to get started today.
14:01
Speaker 2: After you sign up, they ask you where you heard
14:03
Speaker 2: about them. Please say that ft sent you there to
14:06
Speaker 2: support the show, but also worry about yourself here at
14:09
Speaker 2: ruleer dot com, r u la dot com slash foul
14:14
Speaker 2: and take the first step towards better mental health today.
14:16
Speaker 2: You deserve quality care from someone who cares.
14:25
Speaker 1: All right.
14:26
Speaker 3: Time now for Grill and Ken, the first one comes
14:28
Speaker 3: from Armand. We always appreciate the conversation and the questions,
14:31
Speaker 3: which National League team do you trust? Believe in more
14:34
Speaker 3: Ken to clinch the third wildcard spot. He's putting you
14:37
Speaker 3: on the spot, either the Mets or the Reds. I
14:40
Speaker 3: don't trust and believe in my Mets. Armond is obviously
14:43
Speaker 3: a big Met fan.
14:45
Speaker 1: Armand might have a point. Now. The Mets lead the
14:48
Speaker 1: Reds by one game for the final wildcard spot. If
14:51
Speaker 1: you had to pick this based on starting pitching, you
14:54
Speaker 1: would pick the Reds Winter Green, Lindolo, everything that they
14:58
Speaker 1: have Andrew Abbott. That's a stronger rotation than the Mets
15:02
Speaker 1: are offering right now. Single last night again not great,
15:05
Speaker 1: and David Peterson really has been their only consistent starter. Now,
15:09
Speaker 1: perhaps Norm McClain, will Nolan McClain not Norm, will give
15:12
Speaker 1: them something that they've been looking for, and perhaps they'll
15:15
Speaker 1: bring up some of their younger prospects as well in
15:17
Speaker 1: addition to McLain to kind of fortify themselves. But they
15:22
Speaker 1: still have the lead. They don't have as good a
15:24
Speaker 1: run differential as the Reds. For whatever that is worth.
15:27
Speaker 1: I just trust that their players, their position players. In
15:30
Speaker 1: the end will carry them, but I'm not convinced of that.
15:33
Speaker 1: And the Reds rotation is dangerous, and if the Reds
15:36
Speaker 1: get in, they're dangerous for that reason. And their offense
15:39
Speaker 1: has been a little bit better of late, so armand
15:43
Speaker 1: I would say that I cannot give you words of
15:44
Speaker 1: comfort here. I'm not so sure this is going to
15:47
Speaker 1: go exactly the way the Mets want it.
15:49
Speaker 3: Is that the biggest collapse in your opinion of the season,
15:52
Speaker 3: ken considering if they don't make the postseason, considering all
15:56
Speaker 3: that was put into in the offseason, obviously Wan Soo,
15:59
Speaker 3: all of the different things. I mean, that would be
16:01
Speaker 3: an epic fail, would it not?
16:03
Speaker 1: It would? And in fact, my friend Joel Sherman and
16:06
Speaker 1: your friend as well, Alana, wrote a column recently basically
16:09
Speaker 1: asking the question, would this be the most disappointing Mets
16:12
Speaker 1: season in history? Now there's some competition there for most
16:15
Speaker 1: disappointing season in Met's history, but the mere fact that
16:19
Speaker 1: Joel would be asking that question in Juan Soto's first
16:22
Speaker 1: year with the team and a year when they've resigned
16:24
Speaker 1: Pete Alonzo, that is troubling alone. And we'll see what
16:28
Speaker 1: happens here. I still expect the Mets big players Alonzo, Sodo, Lindor,
16:33
Speaker 1: et cetera, to step up, and certainly the loss of
16:36
Speaker 1: Alvarez for however long it is behind the plate, hurts them.
16:40
Speaker 1: I just see their position club as being stronger than
16:43
Speaker 1: the Reds, and that's the question I have with the Reds.
16:45
Speaker 1: Will they score enough to support that rotation? Now?
16:47
Speaker 3: The fact that the Reds are even in the conversation
16:49
Speaker 3: is fun. I'm not certain that I would have put
16:51
Speaker 3: the Reds in the postseason picture. Good for Cincinnati. Another
16:54
Speaker 3: question on Grill and Ken in regards to realignment. Of course,
16:57
Speaker 3: a lot of folks want to talk about this because
16:59
Speaker 3: it's been a topic of conversation for some time. Bernie Suarez,
17:03
Speaker 3: in what world would it make sense to have the
17:05
Speaker 3: Dodgers and Giants in different divisions, preserving those rivalries? Bernie
17:10
Speaker 3: wants to.
17:10
Speaker 1: Know, Bernie, not my world that I don't believe in
17:14
Speaker 1: Alana's world either would that makes sense. So I don't
17:16
Speaker 1: know which proposal had that, but I hear you, man,
17:20
Speaker 1: and certainly the balance here. The trick here, if we
17:24
Speaker 1: ever get to this point, will be for major League
17:27
Speaker 1: Baseball to preserve what is good Dodgers, Giants, Dodgers Padres
17:31
Speaker 1: for that matter, while still doing this realignment, which basically
17:35
Speaker 1: is all revolving around geography anyway, So why would you
17:38
Speaker 1: not have the Dodgers, Giants, Padres, and Diamondbacks all playing
17:41
Speaker 1: each other. I would rather have that than Dodgers' Angels,
17:45
Speaker 1: for instance, in the same division. So I'm with you
17:48
Speaker 1: on that. Put it that way, I agree.
17:50
Speaker 3: I think the rivalries are important for the sport and
17:52
Speaker 3: obviously just for the history of this great game of ours.
17:55
Speaker 3: Next question on Grill and Ken is from Craig Osterberg.
17:58
Speaker 3: Appreciate you, Craig, Well, pitching or decide these divisional races.
18:02
Speaker 1: That's a good one, asking a general question here, and
18:06
Speaker 1: it's a good one. I'm not exactly sure how you
18:09
Speaker 1: can break down each one along these lines, because I'm
18:12
Speaker 1: sure pitching will decide some. It may decide the NL
18:16
Speaker 1: wild Card, for instance, as we just discussed, and I
18:18
Speaker 1: would imagine hitting will decide some others. For instance, if
18:21
Speaker 1: the Yankees slug their way to the Aleast title and
18:25
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays don't start playing better again, that could happen.
18:27
Speaker 1: A lot of things gonna happen, So I'm not exactly
18:30
Speaker 1: sure how to answer that, but basically, put it this way,
18:34
Speaker 1: the team with the best combination is going to be
18:36
Speaker 1: a really good shape.
18:38
Speaker 3: Who do you think has the best combination?
18:42
Speaker 1: Milwaukee has had a good combination, There's no doubt about that.
18:45
Speaker 1: And they're pitching, in my view from a national standpoint,
18:48
Speaker 1: gets a little overlooked at times because we all dwell
18:52
Speaker 1: on their offense and the cool things that they do,
18:54
Speaker 1: the way they generate and manufacture runs. But if they
18:58
Speaker 1: get mis going again and he struggled a little litle
19:00
Speaker 1: bit yesterday again, then there will be a formidable combination
19:05
Speaker 1: for sure. And then you look at the Phillies as well.
19:07
Speaker 1: The Phillies had an incredible offensive series against Seattle. Trey
19:11
Speaker 1: Turner is ridiculously hot, seven straight three hit games. Match
19:15
Speaker 1: Gel wrote about that today in The Athletic and the Phillies,
19:18
Speaker 1: even without Wheeler, if Ranger Suarez pitches the way he
19:22
Speaker 1: did the other night, if Christopher Sanchez keeps it up,
19:25
Speaker 1: you have the makings of a dynamic playoff rotation with Lozardo,
19:30
Speaker 1: with Aaron Nola possibly getting back in things too. So
19:34
Speaker 1: they've got some possibilities there. They're going to be an
19:36
Speaker 1: interesting team in the playoffs.
19:37
Speaker 3: Man, the National League is so interesting because there's so
19:40
Speaker 3: many good teams. You just don't know which way it's
19:41
Speaker 3: going to go. I think a definite easier path is
19:44
Speaker 3: in the junior circuit. All right, much more to come
19:46
Speaker 3: here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. We appreciate the
19:49
Speaker 3: questions on Grill and Ken, but next we are talking
19:52
Speaker 3: dude and dork of the week.
19:54
Speaker 2: Right after this, Okay, Kratz. I opened up Arena Club,
19:58
Speaker 2: put my own money in there, and I wasn't gonna
20:01
Speaker 2: go big.
20:01
Speaker 1: I know.
20:01
Speaker 2: We went over the Ruby pack a week ago. This
20:04
Speaker 2: time I just went for the low level pack, where
20:07
Speaker 2: it's an easy entry point twenty five bucks. You can
20:09
Speaker 2: get yourself a big boy card. The Grail has many
20:12
Speaker 2: good options. I slice open the pack. We're looking at
20:15
Speaker 2: it if you're watching us right now, and I pull
20:17
Speaker 2: a card from the nineteen fifties. Super cool. I enjoyed
20:21
Speaker 2: the experience looking at it. It's Jim Gilliam, It's the
20:24
Speaker 2: top set from the mid fifties.
20:26
Speaker 1: It's cool.
20:27
Speaker 2: It's a Brooklyn Dodger. But it's worth more than the card.
20:30
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm going to sell it back.
20:32
Speaker 2: I got twenty eight bucks instantly, so I can buy
20:34
Speaker 2: another one of those packs and try and get what
20:36
Speaker 2: I want.
20:38
Speaker 4: Absolutely, the excitement I heard Kip say before. The excitement's
20:42
Speaker 4: in the chase. You sold it back. Now you get
20:44
Speaker 4: to open another one. I enjoy when you slide it
20:46
Speaker 4: across the screen there and the pack opens.
20:49
Speaker 2: You know where to go. Arenaclub dot com slash foul
20:52
Speaker 2: twenty percent off your first slab Packer card purchase. Get
20:54
Speaker 2: after it, dude, dude, dude.
21:04
Speaker 3: All right, where You're nearing the end of the month
21:06
Speaker 3: of August, almost to September. The tide is turning, the
21:10
Speaker 3: calendar is turning, the leaves are changing a little bit.
21:12
Speaker 3: Who is your dude of the week this week.
21:15
Speaker 1: Holana, It's going to be the Yankees for hitting nine
21:18
Speaker 1: home runs against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
21:21
Speaker 1: They came within one of the major League record. But really,
21:23
Speaker 1: I'm only naming the Yankees dudes so I can get
21:26
Speaker 1: into another story. And the other story is the record
21:29
Speaker 1: that actually was set in nineteen eighty seven, in my
21:32
Speaker 1: first year on the beat at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium by
21:35
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays against the Orioles ten Homers and Hank Peters,
21:40
Speaker 1: and the Oils general manager later made an instructional video
21:44
Speaker 1: out of that night for the Oriols minor leaguers. He
21:46
Speaker 1: called it the Barrage. He said, this is the lesson
21:49
Speaker 1: on not how to pitch, on how not to pitch.
21:52
Speaker 1: So that is a very distinct memory for me. The
21:55
Speaker 1: next day, I'm twenty four years old. I'm on the
21:58
Speaker 1: beat against Tim Kirkhi and Richard Justice, two of the
22:01
Speaker 1: great beat writers in the country. Tim, of course, still
22:03
Speaker 1: one of the most formidable baseball experts in our game.
22:07
Speaker 1: And I walk into cal Rican Senior's office. He's the
22:10
Speaker 1: manager at the time. I was terrified and I asked him, Cal,
22:14
Speaker 1: after last night, the team's on its way to ninety
22:16
Speaker 1: five loss, as it turns out, are you worried about
22:19
Speaker 1: getting fired? I was terrified of what he might say,
22:22
Speaker 1: and he said, we just put on one of the
22:24
Speaker 1: most embarrassing displays in Major league history. Of course, I'm
22:28
Speaker 1: worried about getting fired. That record still stands. The Yankees
22:32
Speaker 1: challengehip but didn't get there. But they're the dudes of
22:34
Speaker 1: the week.
22:35
Speaker 3: I'm glad that Cal Ripken Senior was kind to you
22:38
Speaker 3: in that moment, He's like, of course, I'm worried about
22:41
Speaker 3: getting fired. What a story, Ken, And you've been doing
22:43
Speaker 3: it at the highest level ever since. Okay, my dude
22:46
Speaker 3: of the week is another journalist to have a tremendous
22:48
Speaker 3: amount of respect for Nick Pikoro, who of course writes
22:51
Speaker 3: for the Arizona Republic. He has covered the Diamondbacks for
22:55
Speaker 3: two decades, you know, doing all of the necessary dirty work,
22:58
Speaker 3: and unfortunately he's getting dragged in the process a little bit.
23:01
Speaker 3: He recently had an article in the Arizona Republic on
23:04
Speaker 3: Katel Marte about how there was a little bit of
23:06
Speaker 3: discourse perhaps and seemingly katel Marte asking for some time
23:11
Speaker 3: off in a various in certain times of the season
23:15
Speaker 3: where perhaps there was a little bit of discord amongst
23:17
Speaker 3: his teammates. Obviously, Ken, I don't think a story like
23:21
Speaker 3: this comes out without basis, and certainly with a tremendous
23:25
Speaker 3: amount of research and the need for it to come out.
23:29
Speaker 3: This is not something that Nick, I would imagine, just
23:31
Speaker 3: heard about in terms of rumblings or without legitimate sources.
23:35
Speaker 3: This is something that I'm sure he's worked on for
23:37
Speaker 3: a period of time. But of course fans are now
23:40
Speaker 3: upset about the story and perhaps wondering if katel Marte
23:44
Speaker 3: is going to be traded, if Tory Lavello is too
23:47
Speaker 3: easy on him, you know, just starting some negative conversations.
23:51
Speaker 3: I guess about the Diamondbacks clubhouse. But that is Nick's
23:55
Speaker 3: job as a reporter, and he has earned the right
23:59
Speaker 3: and has the resume to write something like this, perhaps
24:03
Speaker 3: without being questioned about the integrity of the article. I'm
24:06
Speaker 3: interested because you, as as a beat writer and someone
24:09
Speaker 3: that is a baseball columnist for a long time, knows
24:12
Speaker 3: how difficult it is to be in the clubhouse day
24:14
Speaker 3: in and day out. What is your take on this?
24:16
Speaker 1: Well, I said this on a foul territory the other day.
24:19
Speaker 1: I'm with you a lot of one thousand percent on this.
24:21
Speaker 1: And here's a message to fans. You say you want
24:25
Speaker 1: to know about your teams, Well, you can't only know
24:28
Speaker 1: about the good things about your teams. We're not out
24:30
Speaker 1: there to be cheerleaders. If you want a certain kind
24:33
Speaker 1: of reporting positive for the team all the time, I
24:36
Speaker 1: can direct you to certain websites that will do that
24:39
Speaker 1: for you. That is not the job of a journalist.
24:41
Speaker 1: The job of a journalist is to tell you what's
24:43
Speaker 1: going on, good or bad. So you can't say I
24:47
Speaker 1: want to know as much as possible about my team,
24:49
Speaker 1: but then say, well, I'd rather not know this or that.
24:52
Speaker 1: And you know what, what Nick wrote is not going
24:56
Speaker 1: to destroy the Diamondbacks. What could tell Marte was doing
25:00
Speaker 1: at the Diamondbacks and he apologized for it so or
25:03
Speaker 1: at least some of it. So when he apologizes for it, that,
25:06
Speaker 1: as I said on FT, further legitimize the story. And
25:09
Speaker 1: it's a really good choice for due to the week.
25:11
Speaker 1: Nick took too much crap for this.
25:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nick is a very good journalist and he's a
25:15
Speaker 3: colleague of ours, and I stand behind that when I
25:18
Speaker 3: say that he is an unbelievable professional. Okay, time now
25:21
Speaker 3: for dork of the week. All right, Ken, who do
25:31
Speaker 3: you have for your dork?
25:33
Speaker 1: This troubles me a little bit because I like this guy.
25:35
Speaker 1: I know him a little bit, Victor Roblos, and he's
25:38
Speaker 1: dork of the week for throwing the bat and getting
25:40
Speaker 1: the ten game suspension. Now, there were extenuating circumstances, as
25:45
Speaker 1: he pointed out in his statement of apology. He's coming
25:47
Speaker 1: off a left shoulder separation, he's missed most of the year.
25:50
Speaker 1: He's been very frustrated about that. He recently lost his mom,
25:54
Speaker 1: and he was hit in three of his first four games.
25:56
Speaker 1: And he also had a history with the pitcher Joey Estes,
25:59
Speaker 1: who had hit him in the So all of these
26:01
Speaker 1: things are true, and all of these things help explain
26:04
Speaker 1: why you see Robust reacting the way he did. There
26:07
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. He still can't throw a bat. And I
26:10
Speaker 1: don't know that Victor Robos would disagree with me naming
26:13
Speaker 1: him dork of the Week.
26:14
Speaker 3: Okay, Mine is a guy that decided that he couldn't
26:17
Speaker 3: get enough either fantasy football or he really needed to
26:20
Speaker 3: make sure that his boss could reach him at all time.
26:22
Speaker 3: Mine man at the game at Wrigley bringing his laptop,
26:25
Speaker 3: and not only can did he bring his laptop, he
26:28
Speaker 3: brought his mouse. Do you not have a computer that
26:30
Speaker 3: at least has a mouse on the keyboard itself? What
26:33
Speaker 3: are we doing? I mean again, if he's working on
26:35
Speaker 3: his fantasy baseball league or getting ready for his football draft,
26:39
Speaker 3: no problem. But if you're actually working, maybe you should
26:42
Speaker 3: not be in a place where your boss can find
26:44
Speaker 3: you on the JumboTron. It's like going to a cold
26:46
Speaker 3: play concert.
26:47
Speaker 1: All right.
26:48
Speaker 3: Thank you everybody for being a part of Fair Territory
26:50
Speaker 3: with Ken Rosenthal.
26:51
Speaker 2: We appreciate it.
26:52
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening, Thanks for watching.
26:54
Speaker 4: Ken.
26:54
Speaker 3: We'll be back on Sunday night with the brand new episode.
26:57
Speaker 3: Bet MGM is giving you the chance to win a
27:00
Speaker 3: prize every day during the baseball season. Step into the
27:03
Speaker 3: batter's box for betmgms Swing for the Fences, free to
27:07
Speaker 3: play game. Visit the betmgm app to access the game,
27:11
Speaker 3: and you'll score a prize if you hit a single, double, triple,
27:15
Speaker 3: or home run. Strikeout, no problem, Try again tomorrow. Gambling
27:20
Speaker 3: problem or concern, There is help. Call one eight hundred
27:24
Speaker 3: Gambler