Latest / Foul Territory / Top 10 Starting Rotations, Ken Rosenthal joins FT for USA pitching updates, ABS Challenge System HEATER

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Top 10 Starting Rotations, Ken Rosenthal joins FT for USA pitching updates, ABS Challenge System HEATER · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: FT senior insider Ken Rosenthalis here, okay, Ken, let's start
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: with the WBC. We learned the news the other day
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: about Trek Scooble making just one start for TSA and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the WBC, and then you wrote a story last night
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: about Paul Skean's and his involvement.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: What can you tell.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Us he expects to make two starts? And as I wrote,
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: he's in a different stage of his career than Schooble is.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And I know fans are.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Like, oh, you should pitch. I get it, and we
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: all want to see the best guys play. But Schooble
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: is entering his free agent year. He is with a
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: team that has World Series aspirations. Sken's not in the
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: same place. Four years of club control left. He's still
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: on the minimum salary or roughly above it. And the
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: pirates are going to be improved, I believe, But I
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: don't know. They have World Series aspirations. So we're talking
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: about two different people, two different scenarios. I was surprised
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Schooble was willing to play at all under these circumstances,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: and certainly the fact that he's gonna make one start,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: it's one one. They would have had Otherwise, schemes will
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: be on the same schedule or the similar schedule to
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Logan Web, who also told reporters yesterday that he expects
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: to make two starts now. The two are predicated, of course,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: on the US team advancing out of pool play, which
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: everyone expects to happen. But it's not too automatic. It's
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: too assuming they advance.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: Hen By the way, everyone's all up in arms on this.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: You know, Oh, I can't believe Schoobol would do this,
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: But in reality, starters only get two starts in this tournament. Anyways,
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Am I wrong on that? Because I'm assuming schemes will
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: throw again and again. I don't know this against either
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Mexico or Italy, which is their back end of their
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: pool play. So if they advanced, then they would only
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: have one start. Schemes will only have one more start
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: lined up. It's not like they play thirty games in
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: this thing. They play the four pool and then then
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: they go quarterfinals, semis finals like boom boom boom. So
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: it's not like they would get I don't understand why,
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Like School's gonna make his one start, He's gonna pitch
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: his innings and then he's going back to his team,
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: but at least he agreed to do it. I don't
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: know why any of Ruin's up in arms. There's only
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: two starts anyways.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Aj, I think you're aware that everyone is always up
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: in arms about everything in this day and age, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: it's just the way it is now. Maybe Scooble will
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: reconsider at some point, but I don't believe he will,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: and I don't know that he should. Honestly, his season
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: is very important to him, his regular season. Not that
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: it's not important to Skiens Logan Webb, of course it is,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: but he has different stakes at play here, and I'm
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: gonna talk about the kindie eat. I'm talking about stakes,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: high stakes. So I certainly again was surprised he even
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: agreed in the first place. Skeins kind of talked them
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: into it. It sounds like, and the fact that he's
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: making one start, people should be happy that he's gonna
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: pitch one time and we'll be able to see him
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: on that stage.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Did Skins give any inkling of what game he's gonna
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: pitch and then are they setting him up to basically
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: be in the final?
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: He did not, and I'm not sure they have that
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: totally mapped out.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Actually, I'm pretty sure they do, but I didn't hear that,
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: So I would think Eric, what you're saying is essentially
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: what's going to happen, that they'll set him up to
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: be the starter for the final, if indeed they get
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: that far. And the real question now with the rotation
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: is Joe Ryan. Joe Ryan of course left his starter,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: didn't even start the other day from Minnesota with lower
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: back inflammation. Turns out it was just that. The question
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: is will he be able to pitch at all?
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, I still have a couple more for you here.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Let me start with fan perspective on someone like Scooble.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: If I'm a fan, and I'm a diehard WBC fan,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I want Team USA to win, right they lost last
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: time around to Japan. Schooble and Skiings are best in
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the base. If I'm getting one Schoogle start Ken, I'd
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: rather save him for like the semi finals or maybe
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: even the finals. So I'm wondering, I mean, not that
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you necessarily know, but if you think in your opinion
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: that the strategy could have been shifted that way.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: If the phone call is hey, you get one Schooble start.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I'm like, cool, you know he can even stay in
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: camp do his thing, and then show up for a
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: couple of days because I know he wants to be
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: at the finals. If they make it anyway and do
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the Semis or the finals, depending on how he's feeling,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: he should be able to give you maybe another inning
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: or two at that point. The restrictions are different, So
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: curious if you think, in your opinion, they should have
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: tried to set that up. And the overall question here
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: has to do with getting these stars pitching wise, especially
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: for Team USA to pitch in this thing, because then
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I start to think, should we have made this a
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: week later in March so you're even closer to the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: start of opening Day and almost ready to go full board.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Anyway, Scott, these are fair questions, and I would say
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: that with all of these pitchers and many of the
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: position players, there is pressure coming from all sides on
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: what they should do, their teams, their agents, and whoever
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: else might be in the NIX with them. So there's
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: a lot going on with these guys, always with the WBC,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: and I remember last time around, I was doing the
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: games for Fox, and I believe I questioned one of
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Mark de Ros's pitching moves on the air. I don't
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: exactly remember the circumstances, but I went in to him
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: afterward and I said, Hey, what about this? And he said, dude,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: you have no idea. I got this guy on this restriction,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: that guy in that restriction. I can't use this guy
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: two days in a row. All these different things were
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: going on, which explained why he made the decision he made.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: My guess would be, and it's only a guess, is
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: that you want Schooble or his people, and maybe the
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Tigers want Schooble in a lower stress environment. You want
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: to pitch, fine, but we don't want to pitching in
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: the final when there will be maximum stress. That would
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: be my guest here. And again, the WBC is a great,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: great event. I love it. The last time was one
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: of the great sporting events I have ever witnessed, no kidding.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, there are things that go
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: on in players' careers. There are different considerations that take place,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: and fans can get as outraged as they want or not,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: but there's just more to it than meets the eye.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: In many cases, as I learned myself, covered it the
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: last time.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Let's look at some matchups coming up for tomorrow thanks
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: to Sea Geek. So we're gonna pull up some pitching probables.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Like I mentioned, Hey, here's what I want to focus on.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: We just started talking about them. So the Mets play
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the Astros on Thursday, we're gonna get to see Nolan
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: McLain and Tatsuya am I. So right away, I'm circling
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: that one as my favorite. And you can get the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: tickets for that one over at the Sea Geek app
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: because I'm sure it's going to be a hotter ticket
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: for this one. But aj we get to see Ami,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: who I think has a lot to prove. He also
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: might pop up in the WBC, but I think he
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: has a lot to prove because there were some teams
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that clearly doubted him. And then Nolan McLain has sky
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: high expectations coming into this year and he's also prepping
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for the World Baseball Classic.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I love this matchup. Are you kidding me? For
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: a spring training story? You get to see two guys
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: that are expected to be big parts of their team rotation. Now,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: they might only throw an inning or two, but this
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: is still fun. These are the matchups you look for.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: This is the matchups I always look for. If you
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: want to go to a spring training game, Yes you
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: want to see your team, but if you can find
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: a good pitching matchup. And the best part is gott
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: you can buy those tickets on siki that you can
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: go down the line, like say you want an a
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: my autograph. After they're done pitching, they usually walk by,
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: they go out and do some work extra workout in
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: the field. You can stand there, you can have your
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: ball and you can say, you know, Nolan McClain, can
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: you please sell my ball? Am I? Can you please
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: sell my ball? So it's a great opportunity to get
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: an autograph.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're looking for spring training tickets, this is
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the spot glass House pitching for the Dodgers out in Arizona.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Chase Burns for the Reds up against Nick Povetta for
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the Padres in that matchup. These are Thursday matchups. Gossman's
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: pitching for the J's Crochet for the Red Sox. See
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: geek is the spot. Okay use code territory ten ten
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: percent off tickets on sea geek. That's the code and
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: with that promo code t E R R I T
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: O R Y ten. Make sure you click the link
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: in the description to download the app, and you have
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: that code automatically added to your account so you can
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: use it later. Thank you to see Geek. And remember
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: when you're on the app, you get a good deal.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: That's the green dot. If they don't like the deal
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: for you, it's red. It's like a personal assistant.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: On the app.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: Tell them tell him Ken, it's an exhibition. Tell him,
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: don't tell him, fine, tell them.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: It's an exhibition exhibition.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: I know I love it. I think it's one of
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: the I think I love it. No, I know I
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: love it, and I think it's great. But you know
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: who is happy that Schooble is pitching that one game? Ken?
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Who?
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Me and you because we get to cover his one
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: game that he gets to pitch against Great Britain on Fox.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: So I'm super excited that he's pitching one of the
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: games that I get to do. And then you get
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: to call it too, So I'm super excited. So thank
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: you Terrek for picking a game that I get to call.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: I'm selfish at this point.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: There you go, It's all that right, yep?
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: And you and you Ken?
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Ken?
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Will be there and Dash Chisholm is on Team Great
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and all right, I got one more for you, and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I'm going to keep Aj on the screen for this
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: one because he was at this camp Ken, I think
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: replacements are going to start to be talked about.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Plus they have that pool.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I know, for example, Tatoyami is not initially on this
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Team Japan roster, but he might pitch if they end
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: up in Florida, which I assume they would be for
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the Semis or for the finals, so that could be
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: an X factor for them. I'm wondering if we could
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: see a few big names pop up, like Logan Gilbert.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: We were at Mariners camp the other day. Aj, maybe
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: you can help pileon to the question here. It sounded
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: like he was interested and just didn't get a phone call.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: He'd look pretty damn good pitching in one of those
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: big games.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: You think, yeah, he would. Does he get a chance?
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Though I don't know who's on the reserve roster. Ken
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: might not better than me.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: I don't, but I do know this it could be
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: relevant And in talking with some tam USA people yesterday,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: they're waiting to hear on Ryan, and my guess would
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: be the Twins put the clamp down on Ryan and say, listen, Pal,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: he batiled out of that start, understandably back issue, but
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: we want to be as careful as possible. We don't
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: want to risk anything. Pablo Lopez is having Tommy John
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: surgery and we cannot afford to lose you as well
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: going into the season. Now. A pitcher can get hurt
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: throwing a live VP and get hurt soft tossing for
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: all we know. But there is that concernative teams, sometimes reasonable,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: sometimes not about the risk of injury.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: Ken, you mentioned Joe Ryan and the Twins. Because Pablo
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Lopez goes down the way he did sadly with Tommy John,
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: does this make him more likely to be traded? I
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: think it does, because I don't think the Twins want
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: to sit on him, and God forbid, something happened to
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: him like happening with Pablo. Do you think that's a
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: possibility that they would be quicker to act on Joe
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Ryan to possibly get something back in return.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: AJ Based on the way their new control person, Tom
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Pollad is speaking, they're intending to compete this year. Now,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: whether that's realistic or not, that's another story. And I
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: don't expect that they will compete even in the modestly
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: talented Ale Central, but I certainly expect this enhances the
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: chances of Ryan getting moved at the deadline, and those
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: chances were always high to begin with. So here's a
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: guy that, obviously, if he's healthy, can be a real
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: difference maker at the deadline. The Twins could I'm sure,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: do quite well for him then, as they could have
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: done quite well at last year's deadline. So that's the
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: scenario that I envision. They're not going to give up
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: on the season before it even starts. Teams rarely do that.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Might it be the best thing for them to do? Yes,
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: it might be, But you've got ticket buyers to consider,
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: You've got all kinds of considerations that go beyond simply
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: putting together the best possible roster or the best possible
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: roster for the future.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And I know a team that might be calling for
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: his services at the trade deadline. Let's get to your
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: column about the Atlanta Braves. So they sign up Chris
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Sale and get them for another year maybe two with
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: that team option. But the real story right now is
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: what's the plan with their starting rotation? Can you dive
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: into your expectations. I think many Braves fans work expecting
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: them to be more active for a starter. At the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: beginning of the off season. It appeared that way from
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: public comments they said they felt fine. Now down two starters,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: they still feel fine.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: They do. But Scott, you're absolutely right, and what you
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: just described was what I wrote about today. Now, Alexandthopolis,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: that president based operations goes into the off season insane.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: We would like to add a playoff caliber starter now
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: for a variety of reasons, some of which I get
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: into in the column. They didn't do that, And okay,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: they still have a pretty formidable group. You look right there,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: with Spencer Schwellenbach in the mix, it's even more formidable,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: right Sales, Schreider, Lopez Holmes. The problem is, even with
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Schwellenbach injured and Waldrup injured, it doesn't mean the rest
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: of your rotation is, oh, this picture of health. It
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: might be, but all of those starters, with the exception
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: of Elder, perhaps have injury concerns surrounding them. Sales going
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: to be thirty seven, Streyder, Yes, he looks it. Fastball's
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: got life on it again. But I don't know that
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: it's an injury concern as much as how much can
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: you expect him out of him from an inning standpoint.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: Grant Holmes dealing with a tear in his elbow, he's
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: pitching with it that could go at any time. And
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Ronaldo Lopez pitched once last year before ending his season
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: after his first start because of shoulder inflammation. So it
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: seems to me they're in a perilous place. And that's
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: what I wrote about that Alexanthope was is playing with fire.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Now you might say, well, why not sign Giolito, why
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: not sign Zach Lttel? Fair question in my opinion, maybe
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: the Braves don't see them, either of them as significant
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: upgrades over Bryce Elder, who they are high on, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Joey Wentz, who also is out of options. They're high
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: on him. But at the same time, the concern I
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: have is they're one injury away from being desperate to
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: sign one of those guys, and if, for instance, joe
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: Ryan did become available right now, that would be the
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: perfect team to go get him. In my opinion, they
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: need one more and I know Bryce elders out of options,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I know Joy Wentz is out of options. That complicates it.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: It jams up your roster. But if you're going to
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: put your best foot forward and you can get somebody
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: maybe better than one of those two, you go do it.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Is it also hard to predict what Alex Anthropolois is
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: gonna do because he is notorious at keeping everything close
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: to the vest.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is hard to predict and would have shock
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: me if he did something big before opening the day. No,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: it would not surprise me. But generally speaking, and I
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: touch on this in the column, he likes to operate
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: early in the offseason. He's a guy who does things quickly,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: wants to jump the market rather than beat the market later.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: So the options right now do not appear to be numerous.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Could he surprise us all with a guy that we're
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: not even thinking about, not even on anyone's radar. I'd
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: be surprised if that happened in spring training, But no,
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: you can't rule it out. And also in fair I
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: understand thop was. Then I made this point in the Calm,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: this is a model franchise. Until the last season, they'd
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: gone to the postseason seven straight years under Anthop Was,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: so he warrants the benefit of the doubt. I still
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: just think he's taken too bigger risk here.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems dicey, especially when you have names on
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the free agent market that you feel like could be
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: a big help, and you might. I know, they're different, right,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: they have their pros and cons LATEL might be a
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: little more durable based on Julido's and to last season.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but yeah, Brace fans are just like
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it's staring at us in the face, and your column
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: just helps to show that they might not be playing
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: in those waters, at least for now.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: But Ken, thank you for the time. Appreciated. As always,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: we'll chat with you later this week.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Thanks guys.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: All right, we're back.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And we have another channel to add to the mix here,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: So let's introduce a Marlin show to the FT Network. Yes,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: we keep growing, family getting bigger, and the show already
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: has been out there part of a platform that covers
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the Marlins as well anyone in baseball, and it's called
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: fish on First. They have been excellent reporting on this
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: team for a long period of time, and now they'll
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: be under the FT Network representing our Marlin's coverage. As
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you can see on the screen, there's a new co
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: host for the shows and podcasts that they're doing under
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: the FT Network, and that is aj Ramos, former All
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Star Closer for the Marlin.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So we're excited about that one.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: We've had aj on here before, Kratz, but now we
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: get to see oh, hold on, hold on, let me
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: correct myself. We'd had Ramos on Foul Territory as a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: host before, and now we get a lot more Ramos
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: on Marlin's shows.
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: With fish On First, He's good, he's embedded down there.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: I loved when he was on too, because we got
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: the show a video of me hitting a dinger off
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: of him. Found out his arm was almost falling off
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: when I did it. But hey, you know what, anytime,
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: just like you know, you get drafted in front of
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: somebody or behind somebody, you get to you just always
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: have bragging rights. So there's always those bragging rights there time.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Hopefully I've become a guest on the fish On First.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: All right, this is the good stuff. This is what
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I've been hyping for a long period of time. Kratz
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: is already making the motion. Eric, you can help lead
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the way to start this one. We have seen some
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: highs and lows already in the first what five days
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: or so of the ABS Challenge system.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: It has been a wild ride.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: And we had one ump who went through the fan
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: experience that you can anticipate to see quite often during
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: this season. I'm going to butcher the name, and he's
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a minor league gump who is getting some time in
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: a major league spring training game, Mitch Tresiak. And this
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: isn't about him, right, I'm not saying like, oh, he's
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: really good, he's really bad, whatever. He just he was
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: off on some calls and they kept banging the good
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: old ABS Challenge system and it became a thing craft
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: where there were five consecutive calls from him that were
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: overturned before the end of the third inning. Three of
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: them happened in just over an inning's worth of baseball.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And then finally he gets one right in the fourth
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: inning on an ABS The call stood and the crowd cheered.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: The crowd engagement will be off the charts for the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: ABS Challenge system, and that is the component that I
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: think has been underrated with this new rule.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Is it going to help us get more calls?
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: Right? Sure?
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Does it add more strategy to the game, yes, Does
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: it keep fans more engaged? In the game, especially when
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: you're at the ballpark, and it gives you another reason
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to boo or cheer. Yes, boo if your player messes
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: up on a challenge, cheer if they get it right,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and then you can have this back and forth fun
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: with the umpire. I don't want to say I feel
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: bad for the umps. It's part of their job, but
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: it is going to add another wrinkle to their job.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: With fan engagement, the game is to be watched.
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: You want people to engage in the game, aim and
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: not on their phones. We live in the screen ager
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: time of life right now, where it's like if something boring, oh,
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: I don't even want to see I don't want to
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: see this at bat, Like I just get enthralled in
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: my phone. As soon as I watched it happen in
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: Triple A games. I watched it happen in spring training
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: games last year. As soon as there was a challenge.
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: I saw people look up from their phones to see it. Now,
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: the argument would be, while they're going and looking at
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: another screen, Okay, well that's fine, but you're engaged in
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: the game and this will engage. Unfortunately for Mitch, he
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: didn't have a good day, but it's not like umpires
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: are sitting down there in the offseason, you know, finding
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: games where they can you know, figure out their strike zone.
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: This is spring training for them too, And I think
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: for him, it wasn't five consecutive pitches in a row.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: For anybody who hasn't watched the video yet, it was
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: five consecutive challenges that the call was overturned. So it
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: kind of just it's snowballed for my guy, Like it happens.
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: We just we just talked to PCA. He's like, yeah,
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: you know what, sometimes I'm just going to swing him.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: I'm still gonna miss. Like you have to learn the
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: strikes and you have to learn hey, you know what
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: he called and it was I felt bad for Mitch
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: because the umpire because one was off, he called it
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: a strike, one was on, he called it a ball.
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: And he's like, man, where am I at? This is
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: not going to cause him to not be a big
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: league umpire. That is not how they evaluate the umpires
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: from Triple A to the big league. So this is
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: just it's a case that to me, I think this
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: is a success for the ABS, and I think it
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: engages fans, which is what we need for one hundred
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: and sixty two games.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: I've watched a lot of spring training. I've started watching
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: spring training games. I've been in spring training games, and
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: you know what, every team is doing this, they're trying.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: I mean, I saw one last night. I forget what
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: game it was. It was zero point one inches that
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: they challenged and they were right right. It was point
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: one one, not one inch point one, which is like
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: this much. And all these teams are trying it out.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: And then I also saw a game where the Mariners
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: they ran out of challenges and there were some close
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: pitches and they couldn't challenge. So I love it. And
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: the you know what, it's more fan engagement and umpires
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: are gonna miss calls. They miss calls, and you know what,
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: that's why we have this. But it's early in springlight,
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Cratzy said. But the fans are engaged in every pitch
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: because they at any point they can see that little
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: thing pop up on the screen. They see the umpire
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: go like this, and a little thing pops up the
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: screen and ten seconds later here comes the ball. Ball
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: are striking. Then they cheer, they boo or they ooh
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: and ah, and it's a good thing for the game.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Let's keep fans engage, let's keep everybody engaged for the
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: full nine innings. I think it's awesome and I love it.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: I'm not a full robo ump guy, but i am
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: a full challenge guy like this because it's more strategy.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Anytime you get more action, more strategy, I'm for it.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: And AJ playing to your point, Sometimes there is going
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to be a challenge where it just missed or it
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: just made it, and someone might go, ah, no, that's
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: not what this should be about. Well, you can't differentiate
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: like it's either a ball or strike. Kratz has been
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: adamant about this too. It's a ball or strike. Now,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: what you hopefully will often see is some egregious misses,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: which is what we saw and we're showing some of
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: them here during what was a bad little stretch for
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the Sump, and you fix them. That's the whole point,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: so that you don't have people going nuts. They're still
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: going to go nuts on some calls because you're not
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: going to fix everything, but there are going to be
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: some egregious misses that are very obvious for major league players,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: whether it's a catcher or a batter, and they'll be
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: able to fix that. An update here about an hour
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: ago aj from our friend Jesse Rodgers, who works for ESPN.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: He said early abs spring update, there have been three
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: hundred to two challenges through five days of games, an
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: average of four point sixty five per game, of fifty
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: three percent overturn rate so far, and he says pitcher
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: catcher Combo has a fifty four percent overturn rate. Hitters
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: are at fifty one percent. So this is somewhat what
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: we expected, and we'll get a lot more of a
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: sample size going here. But we're getting close to five
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: challenges per game and you're about fifty percent, right.
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So that means jumpires are right almost fifty percent
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: of the time too, So it's fifty to fifty.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: I've seen a couple that are like two inches, but again,
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: two inches is like this, It's not like the old
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: days where they would get like six eight inches a
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: foot off the plate with laden games and high and
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: low and everything was a strike. I mean, the most
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: egregious one I think I've seen so far as one
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: point seven inches, which again is like this far off
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: the plate, right, and it's probably I think it was
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: like a big, nasty like breaking ball. That was like
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: the catcher didn't catch it very well, umpire balled or
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: I think he called it a strike and and the
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: guy challenged and again it was an inch and a
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: half off the plate. So this is gonna be cool.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: This is gonna be a good thing, and I'm all
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: for it. I'm looking forward to to calling a game
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: and saying, oh wait, stop, we got our first ABS
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: challenge of the year, and then waiting and watching the
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: crowd react and the players react.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I'm pumped.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Very cool, all right, So we'll keep you post on
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: how that's looking in spring training and then also part
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of hot Corner. Here one quickie update. We didn't get
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to this the other day when we first heard the news.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Sebastian Walcott is one of the best prospects in baseball,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: and it initially sounded like he'd be done for the year.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Now he might not appear in a major league game
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: this season. But we did learn the other day or
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: I guess yesterday, that he had internal brace surgery, not
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Tommy John And this is a position player, by the way,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and he should be able to hit in games late
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: in the season in early August or in August. Return
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: not early August. In August, return is on the table.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Just wanted to throw that one out there, all right,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: let's end. We were in Rangers camp the other day,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: by the way, So if you want to see much
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: more on the Rangers, including conversations with Skip Schumacher, Brandon Neimo,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and more, then you just backtrack for our show from
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the weekend, or if you're listening podcast wise, we have
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: a bunch of those posted on the podcast platforms. We're
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: going to get into all of the nitty gritty details
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: about why you should switch to Mint Mobile. But I
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: brought a special guest in for this one to alert
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: you that you might be paying way too.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Much for your wireless bill.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz, Can you give me the bullpen dugout phone please?
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Lulu, lu lu lu Lulu.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: You want to pay fifteen bucks a month unlimited switch
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  Speaker 5: to mint Mobile.
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  Speaker 1: You were the man unlimited talk, text and data at
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• 26:05
  Speaker 1: We're trying to find ways to incorporate power rankings into
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: our lexicon, aside from just the Hey, who are the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: best teams in our mind right now? CBS helping us
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: out a little bit here Matt Snyder writing an article
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: about top tens, So here's a few of them. We're
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: going to start with his top ten starting rotations, so
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: AJ we're going to look at what he throws out
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: there and slice and dice however you want if you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: think there's teams missing or a team that shouldn't be
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: in there. But also, I think the rankings are important here,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: so I'll read them and then we can have fun
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: with this. And for him, qualifications very roughly, and I
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: like the way he does this. It's not just like
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: super nerdy numbers for everything. Projections looking back at last year.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: He wants an ace, He wants at least one, if
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: not two, frontline starters, and he wants to see depth.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: You're not necessarily going to see that with every team
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: on here, but those are the qualifications where he's trying
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: to judge things. And I'm with you, right, you want
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: to see to get through the season, but then you
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: also want to make sure you have what it takes
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to last through October. So let's start with the Yankees.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: He has them at ten, the Blue Jays at nine,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: then the Pirates led by Schemes at eight, The Reds
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: are at seven, and here are the Phillies at six,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Mariners checking in with the five spot, Rangers at four.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: He has Schooble and Fromber with the Tigers at three,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Red Sox and all of their depth at two, Dodgers
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: at one.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: I got no problem with the Dodgers at one. They have,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: you know, ten starters like we talked about the last
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: last year, Red Sox at two, okay, with Gray Crochet,
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: Ranger Suarez, Brian Bayo. Okay. My thing is is I
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: think the Mariners should be maybe three or four a
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: little bit higher, and if the Phillies had Wheeler for
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: the whole year. Even with Sanchez and Nola and then
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: Painters he going to step into that. They can, they
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: could maybe move into that top five. For me, The
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Rangers are the one here that's a little bit too
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: high because the Graamvivaldi and Gore, Ken de Gram and
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Evaldi stay healthy, right, that's the big, big question mark.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: Can they stay healthy for real the whole year. And
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: then when we were at Rangers camp the other day,
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: we were like, who's the fifth We don't even know that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: So to put them at four when you don't even
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: know who the fifth guy is is a little high
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: for me. But other than that, I don't mind this list.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: You know, the Reds again have to stay healthy to
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: be a top ten team. The Cubs are sneaky good.
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: By the way, Matthew Boyd Kate Horton tie on steal
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: when he comes back showed a yeah.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: I mean, I don't disagree with what AJ's saying that
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: Dodgers have to be up there. Even if you're gonna
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: sit here and argue like pitcher for pitcher, like they
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: have the depth. They have more cy youngs than any
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: starting rotation in the game. To me, the team that
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: I look at on here they did a lot this offseason.
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: Did they do enough? We'll see when the rest of
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: the power rankings come out.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: It's the Pirates.
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: The Pirates have the opportunity to have the highest ceiling
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: of any team on this Yes, I get the Phillies.
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: If Wheeler comes back, they could have two cy young
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: candidates in a rotation. To me, the Tigers, And because
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: you have Trek Skoobell in your rotation, you say, okay,
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: well who's the Okay Framber's behind him? What is justin Verlander?
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: Casey Miies is going to be awesome? Flaherty's always up there.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: To me, the Pirates have potential, potential, just potential to
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: be the best on this list. Because of the fact
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: that you have Paul Skins in your rotation. You couple
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: anybody with Paul Skins. All of a sudden, if Bubba
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: Chandler or Braxton Ashcraft or Jared Jones becomes the guys
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: that you think they're going to become, you have a
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: chance to say that is an Elite one two, maybe
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: an Elite one two three. Now, all of a sudden,
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: you're shortening series when you have two guys going in
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: a three game series that are legitimate number ones. And
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: then you have Paul Skeins, who is an ace, probably
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: the second best pitcher in the game, maybe the first
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: best picture in the game. All of a sudden, that
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: rotation just takes other leaps and bounds. So for the
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: Pirates to move up any more than they are, they
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: have to prove what they have to prove the potential
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: that these young guys have been. You know, we've been
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: reading so much about since they burst on the scene
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: in Pro Bowl, in the minor leagues.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: That's a pretty hot take that you think the Pirates
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: could be at the top of the list. There's potential
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: they've got one or two in terms of best starters.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I have a little bit of an issue with the depth.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: On that one.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: So the one part of the offseason that I didn't
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: like for Pittsburgh was that they did have to trade
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: guys they could have been part of this twenty twenty
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: six roster, even if they weren't cracking the star arting
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: rotation from the jump they traded away. I joke, but
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: I know you like the guy and I think he
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: could farewell in Boston. Johanno Viedo. They traded away Mike Burrows,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: who I think could be a very effective starter in
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the big leagues. Did they both have spots? I think
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: they probably did, but it would have been a nice battle.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: You need depth.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: My one issue with Pittsburgh is they might get off
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: to a nice hot start, but is there enough there
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: when we get later on in the season. They actually
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: are a team that will often give you a little
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: sign of life in April and maybe that carries through May, June, July.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: But I didn't like that they had to trade those
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: kinds of guys away. If I'm them, I'm looking at
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: my higher ceiling but lower level talent, right. I mean,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: maybe that couldn't get the deals done. Maybe right, but
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: a ball guys that weren't going to necessarily impact the
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five team or the twenty twenty six sorry
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: team that they're hoping makes the playoffs for the first
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: time in a decade.
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: I hear it, and that's why I prefaced it by
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: saying they have the highest ceiling, because those guys have
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: they have to hit for the and it's this, this
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: is why I'm not gonna pick the Pirates to finish
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: as high as people think they're gonna finish. I think
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: they're projected to finish above the Brewers in the division,
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: Like it's so hard for all those guys to hit.
• 32:14
  Speaker 5: My comment was, they have the potential to have the
• 32:17
  Speaker 5: highest ceiling because they already have Paul Skeens. It's not
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: like they're saying, oh, we don't know what Paul Skeens is.
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: Paul Skeens is the most dominant start first two years
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: of any big league pitcher. Like it's the most dominant
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: two seasons that he's put together. So he's solidified. Who
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: else is gonna step up? Who is gonna be that
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: next guy? And you know, is it Bubba Chandler, Is
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: Mitch Keller gonna take another step? Or is Mitch Keller
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: gonna be just a massively solid three or four. If
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: if Bubba Chandler says, Okay, I'm gonna throw one hundred
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: with my ninety two mile hour change up splitter thing,
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: I just think I think there's such a high ceiling
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: for them that it's worth watching. Because we could also
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: say at the end of the season or halfway through
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: the season, pirates rotations back down to like twelve or thirteen,
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: and that's only because it is being held up by
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: Paul Skins. I don't think there is a group rotation
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: lineup anywhere in the game that is so heavily held
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: up by one guy, and Paul Skins. Paul Skins holds
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: it up more than Aaron Judge for the Yankees lineup,
• 33:27
  Speaker 5: more than Shoho Tani for the fact that what he
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: does with the Dodgers, they're more well rounded, you know,
• 33:32
  Speaker 5: more than any other group. It's Paul Skans and that rotation.
• 33:36
  Speaker 5: And I think some of those other guys are going
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: to do some legitimate things. They have athletic young pitchers.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Bet MGM insights for us on the World Baseball Classic
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: right now some line movement. We're looking at two teams
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: in particular, Team USA from open to now plus one
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: at the open. Now it's at minus one ten. Venezuela
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: has jumped a little bit too. They were at plus
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: fourteen now checking in with ten to one odds to
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: win it all.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: And we're just focusing on two here.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: There are many more that we can talk about at
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: some point, but thoughts online movement so far. AJ Let's
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: start with Team USA. So they go from a plus
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: money odds plus one forty.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: That's cool.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Now at minus one ten, and we're learning a little
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: bit about how it could be rough for them with
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the pitching decisions. Again, I don't know, do you think
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: I don't really like the value there and that course
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: to even money, but I know they're the favorite. But
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: if I'm looking for value on who's going to win
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: this thing, I'm going to look elsewhere.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: If I want to go game by game and bet
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: on Team USA, cool, but I don't think I'm looking
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: at this like they're an easy favorite.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: What's Dominican? Do we do we have a Dominican? Because
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: Venezuela to me is a good bet. I'm not sold
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: on their pitching, but I like the Venezuelan hitters and
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: I like their team, and they were in the semifinals
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: last time, and they were a treat swing away from
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: being in the finals. So I mean plus thousand is good,
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: especially if you're from Venezuela and you think they have
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: a good chance. But I mean I think that the
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: USA is the clear favorite. But man again, Japan, they've
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: won three of these things, right, they know what they're doing.
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, do I want USA to win. Yes,
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: line movement is based on injuries and news that's coming
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: out and teams that don't have guys and teams who
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: get guys. So I mean I'd be more I'd be
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: more willing to bet on a Venezuela and DR something
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: like that than I would on the USA just because
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: of the odds.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: I'll give you some more. Okay, Team Japan's at plus
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: three point fifty. Dominican Republic is plus four hundred, and
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: as I mentioned, that's the one because we were going
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: over some line movement. Venezuela is now at plus one thousand,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: and after that it's a huge drop off. Then you've
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: got Team Mexico and Team Puerto Rico both at twenty
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: five to one odds to win this thing.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Where's your money.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: At tr for me is the one four hundred plus
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: four hundred because they're stacked pitching lineup. They are and
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: they love it. Got you know this? They love it? Man?
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: Did you get down there? There was the dr the
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: Latin Maria. Not the USA doesn't love it, not that
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: Japan doesn't love it. But you played in winter ball.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: This is winter ball with big leaguers.
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: This is where I think the advantage is and I
• 36:16
  Speaker 5: think what this is why Japan has won so many
• 36:19
  Speaker 5: of these. I don't necessarily think physically statistically they have
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: a better team. They're ready. There's dr guys that were
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: playing winter ball so that they would be ready for WBC.
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: AJ would tell you, I saw it all the time.
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: Dudes come into their first live at bat and spring
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: training and you're like, you're trying to like, wow, this
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: looks super fast, and they're just like, whack first pitch.
• 36:44
  Speaker 5: It's like, how are they doing this? Like Bobby I
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: got done playing like a week and a half ago.
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: So the guys who are closer to mid season form
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: hitters wise, and also pitchers, but I think it's a
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: little different for pitchers. Hitters wise, they're ready to go.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: If it takes.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: You winnings to get going a little bit because you
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: haven't been playing, that's where you run into a little
• 37:05
  Speaker 5: bit of a a little bit of a problem. A
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: couple exhibition games it helps, but you got to hit
• 37:11
  Speaker 5: the ground running. And if you're in mid season form
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: because you played in winter ball or the Japanese guys
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: they keep playing, they prepare for these these quote off
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: season events. That's why they have the advantage.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, gray value with Team Japan. For me, they won
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: it last time around. They have a ton of talent,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: other reasons for prep like Kratz mentioned, and I don't
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: think they'll have the same drama with the pitching. You're
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: there or you're not. I guess it's a little less right.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Roki Sazaki's not participating. I'm tatuya Amai is probably going
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: to join the team later on. But then aside from that,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: they've got the full stack. I know Otani said he's
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: not pitching. I still think he could in a final appear.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: It's his world. We're just living in it. I'm Amoto's there,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: showed dem Naga's there. There's a lot to like with
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: their pitching staff, at talented pitchers who are not over
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: in the major leagues yet. So I still think there's
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of value there. I'm actually surprised there at
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: plus three point fifty. All right, leading up to that,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: you'll be able to bet on WBC games and get
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: yourself a chance to win a trip to Vegas, Yes,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: to watch the March matchups. It's part of a Court
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: of Legends at Polagio in Vegas promotion that betmgm is
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: running with the Cavender Twins, the former d one hoopers
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: and influencers Haley and Hannah. They're going to host a
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: big event out there. So for more information and how
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: you can participate and opt into this promo where you
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: place qualifying wagers but at least ten bucks plus one
• 38:34
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• 38:36
  Speaker 1: this leader board, go over to betmgm dot com or
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: on the betmgm app. Also, don't forget to use code
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  Speaker 1: foul for that new player offer. If you knew the
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• 38:49
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• 39:01
  Speaker 2: All right, A few things to do.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Here on slappants Number one, let's look at the Foul
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Territory Spring training calendar engineered by Fast and All. Shout
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: out to cubs PR for helping us out today, John,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Joanna Jesse, You're awesome.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the great setup.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you Sloan Park for feeding aj all day and
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: keeping him happy and not cranky. He was very very
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: happy to eat, just like me. If you want to
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: keep me happy, feed me all day. And I think
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Kratz is the same way. So thank you to the
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Cubs for hosting us and rolling out the VIP guest
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: list for us too. We really appreciate that we spend money.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: We spend a lot of time to do this spring
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: training tour. And then two more things. One Bob Nightingale's
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: note that came out towards the back half of the show.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Here Merril Kelly was going to be the opening day
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: starter against the Dodgers for the Diamondbacks, he is sidelined
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: with intercostal nerve irritation, not in the mix to be
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: ready for the season opener.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: That is really tough news.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: So the Diamondbacks will get you more on that once
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: we find it out. But krats, that's a team that
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: can't afford too many of those. You want to talk
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: about starter depth. They've got some good names, it doesn't
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: go really deep down the line, and they need Kelly
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: tough one there.
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: It's good they got gown. But I've never heard of it.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: Intercostal nerve irritation. Intercostal is obviously people say, Okay, it's
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: a oblique or whatever, but nerve, intercostal nerve irritation, it's tough.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Sounds like something we'll have to ask our injury expert
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: will carol about at some point. I'm sure he'll talk
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: about it on Injury Territory. Congrats to Fish on first
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: joining the FT Network and krats hats on.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: The way out obviously, and where we've clearly found out
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: is AJ's favorite Chicago team is the Cubs and they
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: got a nice spring training.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Hat too, so they do.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: AJ loves the Bears, and now he loves the Cubs.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: We'll see you tomorrow as we keep rolling on the
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: camp tour.