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CCT: Former Astros GM Jeff Luhnow · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: What's up? Everybody. Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: M Chandler roam along with Tyler Stafford and the most
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: special guests that I think we could get any of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: you guys, former Astro general manager Jeff Luno. Jeff, Before
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: we get into we want to talk to you a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: lot about what goes into a trade deadline, what a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: GM's life is like around this time of year, mid July,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: when the trade talks start to have them. Before we
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: get into that, I think a lot of fans are
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: wondering simply how you're doing, how you're doing, what's been
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: up and for those that haven't seen you in a
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: little bit, what you've been up to.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well thanks, it's great to see both of you.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Miss I miss being around the ballpark and all that.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I live in Houston. I'm in Houston right now. I
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: never I never left, but I spend about half my
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: time in Europe. I got into footboard known as soccer
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: here in the States. And actually today's a milestone day
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: because we just closed the transaction we've acquired. My group
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: required to leak one team in France, so now we
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: have a team in Spain in addition to team in
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Mexico and a team in France. So I'm actually in
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the middle of my own sort of trade deadline. It's
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: different in football. You have a transfer window that's open
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: until the end of August, but doing it for about
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: four to five teams instead of just one. So pretty busy,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: but overall doing well and love and living in Houston
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: and happy to be around, and obviously been watching the
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Astros success from from nearby, and it's really incredible what
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the organization has been able to accomplish. I'm pretty proud
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: of everybody there and still know a lot of people
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: there and still know a lot of the players, So
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: pretty happy to see what's happening.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: How often do you watch how often? I mean I
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: imagine not watching every game, but how often do you
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: tune into the Astros kind of keep up with what's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: going on.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: When I can?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: It's not that often because you know, when I'm in Europe,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: it's the middle of the night. When I'm here, you know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I try and turn on the TV the background when
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I can, but I keep track. I mean mostly I
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: go online and make sure that see what the results
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: are from the night before.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: What so you said you're closing. You just closed a
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: deal with a to acquire a team in France. Is
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that going to require you to learn French to move to.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I downloaded a couple of language apps and yes, it's
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the words are one thing, the accent is something else.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: So the team we acquired is.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: In a town called Luov, which is Lejrve or the Aarve,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: depending upon where you come from.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Texans would probably say Laharve.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: It's support city at the end of the river Senne
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: and it's you know, first division team, historical team. It's
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: actually the oldest team in continental Europe. It was founded
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: in eighteen seventy two, so talk about history. It's pretty
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of responsibility taken over a team
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: So are you are you just purposefully buying teams and
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: all the best vacation spots You've got Cancun, Madrid, France? Now, like,
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: what are you doing? You just what's next?
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: It's actually part of the strategy.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: You want teams in places where players want to go,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: shouts want to go see, you can hire coaches and
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I want.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: To go quite frankly, so it works out pretty well.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: And usually you know, at some point you're gonna end
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: up selling these teams in the future, and the more
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: desirable location you're in the better.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: So could I interest you in the Sacramento Athletics. So
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: in Madrid, So you're spending a lot of time there.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: My wife and I went there a few years ago.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: What's the what's the Cheiro place with the dip chocolate?
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: How often are you going there?
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean the food in Madrid is amazing. It's everything,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: the food, the wine. Everything in Europe's.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Healthier than the US. I got to tell you.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: So you don't feel bad having a glass of wine
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: or a truro because you know that it's not made
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: with seed oils and all that stuff that are American
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: food is made with.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Mm hmm. That's what I was thinking too, all the oils.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: That's what I'm concerned with.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Jeff's you mentioned it is kind of around your trade
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: deadline in football, you know when you were around, when
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you were with the Astros. Had they moved the draft yet?
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Had they moved the draft to July? Where it was all.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Compact, no, no, and pretty intense.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, I still keep in touch with Mike and
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Sick and every draft week I talked to them a
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: little bit. But and you know the guys around here,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: I see them in the neighborhood and so forth. But no,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: it's uh, it's you know, it's changed. I mean a
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: lot of the rules have changed actually since, so I
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: would have to do a refresher course to catch up if.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: I ever came back into baseball, that's for sure.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: So in your time, you know, trade deadline this year's
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: July thirty first, we're recording this on July eleventh, twenty
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: days out from the deadline. In your tenure, kind of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: where were you, guys as a front office at at
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: this point where calls being made, where exploratory talks had
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: or were you guys kind of still in every year
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: you ran the team after maybe twenty fifteen, you guys
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: knew you were going to be buyers basically every season.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: How did those conversations go. Was it exploratory right now?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Were you guys still in kind of wait and cemo
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to see what you really needed?
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: The challenge is you need to be prepared, and preparation
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: is huge in every front office and every general manager,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and I'm sure Dana's doing the same thing. You really
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: start preparing in June once you have enough feedback on
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: how the season's going and you feel like you kind
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: of have an idea where you're going to end up.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: And obviously you know if you get off to a
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: bad start like the Astros have a couple of times
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: in the past few years, you kind of wait and
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: see and make sure that you get back into contention.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Obviously the Astros did that and are dominating right now,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: so really the only thing that they're probably thinking about
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: is how do we improve this team to get back
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to making the longest possible run in the playoffs and
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: getting back to the world. And so it all starts
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: with the objective and being clear about what you're trying
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: to accomplish. Now, that objective could change from from July
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: first to July twenty ninth or thirtieth, and in some
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: cases it did, but you're going to have to constantly
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: think about where you're at, not react too much to
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: short term injuries and stuff like that. But a big
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: part of the preparation in June and early July is
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: making sure that ownership, the coach, the manager, the coaching staff,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the scouts, and your front office are all aligned in
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: terms of what the goals are because if you have
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: different goals and you're going to be hearing a lot
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: of noise from the press, from the fans about what
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: your goals should be, and sometimes that they're spot on,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: but sometimes the fans lack the perspective of, you know,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: some things that they don't know, like the budget that
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: you've been allocated, the injury status, the maybe the psychological
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: status of the players. Ones that would be okay, leaving
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: ones that wouldn't be, and so forth. So you've got
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: to have to really, you know, the month of July
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: is intense because while it's the All Star break and
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: you know there's some time off and all of that,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: you really have to be paying attention every single day
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: to what's going on in the market. And the challenge
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: is that a lot of the players that you would
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: fit what you want don't really come available until their
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: team either goes through a winning streak or a losing streak,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: or they have an injury or something else happens. So
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: you know, you can have your list on July first
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of the players you want and start attacking them and
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: try and do an early trade deadline.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: But if you're done by July.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Fifteenth, you might miss out on the player that was
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: perfect for you, that had you waited a little longer,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you might have been able to get. So it's it's
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: a little bit art, a little bit science, and it's
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of work, a lot of preparation and also
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of communication. The communication with you know, with
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: all the stakeholders has to be there, including the other teams,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: and there's a lot of you know, touching base of conversations,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: a lot of bound calls for your your players, and
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: then you've got to make outbound calls without appearing too desperate.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: And that's part of the art of it. You want
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: them to think you've got options, and you want them
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: to think that. You know, there's a lot of people
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: after your prospects, so you know they're just one of
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: like three, So stand in line and give me your
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: best offer and we'll see what you can with what
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I can do for you.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Is there like an unwritten rule of you know, you
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: mentioned in July you're you're kind of waiting to see
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: where these other teams end up. You know, if a
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: teams like seven games out on July eleventh, right now,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: is there is there like a you know, is it
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: rude to call the GM and say like, hey, are
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: you are you selling? Are you by you know what?
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: How do you how do you figure those things out
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: with all these other general managers.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a great question. First, how do you figure
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: it out for yourself? And you know, obviously fans can
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: go to fangrafts and see the playoff probabilities and all that,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: and that became relevant for us in twenty sixteen because
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: even after you know, we made the playoffs in fifteen,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: got to you know, five games with the Royals they
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: went on to win the World Series, we felt like
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: we had a team that could go deep in the playoffs.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: But we got such a horrible start in sixteen and
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: even though we made it back and got into got
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: into contention, you know, looking at the Rangers and the
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: other teams that we were going to have to pass,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: and looking at what was likely to be in the playoffs,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: we realized that our chances of making the playoffs were remote,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: and our chances are.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Going deep in the playoffs. Were sorry about that, We're remote.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: Busy guy, Frances calling, Yeah, you know, that's the year
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: where really, even though you said we were buyers from
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: twenty fifteen on twenty sixteen, we were sellers, and the
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: fields for Avre has turned out to be one of
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: the best investments we ever made, giving up a proven
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: reliever for a young young man.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: But I think that's the key, is to understand what
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: you think your chances are. And also in twenty seventeen,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: it wasn't so much are we going to make the playoffs?
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: It was are we going to win the World Series?
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: And that I mean, it was pretty clear to me
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: we had a World Series caliber team, and so every
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: move we looked at, you looked at it in the
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: context of how much will that player improve our chances
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: of winning a World Series? And that's how we valued
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: those moves. And I think obviously the Astros have been
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: in that mode since since twenty seventeen and probably have
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: a similar mindset now in terms of no GM will
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: ever be offended if you call him or her and
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: say I'm interested in your player, you know, and they'll
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: tell you, well, we're going to wait, you know, ownerships
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: not doesn't want to sell quite yet, We're going to
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: wait until right before because you have the most information
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: right before. But the reality is, if you look at
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: those playoff odds by mid July they're pretty well set
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: and they're not going to change that much by the
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: end of July, so you know, I think it's good
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: to start having those conversations.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: At least let them know that you're interested, because you
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: never know.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: There have been times when players get traded and you're like, Wow,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: I wish I had known that player was even on
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the market, because I would have liked to at least
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: throw my hat.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: In the ring.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: So you don't want that to happen. So communication between
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: gms is key. A lot of text messages and WhatsApps
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: and phone calls going around, probably more messages than phone
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: calls these days.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Jeff. One of the code words that always makes me
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: laugh around the trade deadline is untouchable. There were a
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: lot of prospects in your day, some of which have
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: matriculated to the astros and done very well, some of
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: which have not that were I guess we, as media
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: and fans thought of as untouchable. I believe you came
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: out a couple of times and talk specifically about Kyle
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Tucker and Forrest Whitley as guys that you didn't want
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to move. Is there such thing as an untouchable?
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Truly?
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: There can be and I think in the case of
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: those two players, we weren't going to trade them. We
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: felt like we had enough inventory in our system to
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: acquire whatever players we needed. So I don't believe either
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: one of them wherever in serious conversations. And I think think,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: you know, if you if you start to I mean,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: there's some gms that will just hound you, regardless of
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: whether you say they're untouchable, and they'll just keep adding
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: players and other things and calling you back. And that happens,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: and that's fine, But the reality is, yeah, I mean,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you've got to decide who you're going to build around
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and take a chance. And you know, I think one
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: of the things that build DeWitt told me back when
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: he hired me in two thousand and three is that
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: he had been studying the trade deadline quite a bit
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: with the Cardinals and watching how all the teams do things,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and the trade deadline, especially those last few days, is
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: when you can really destroy value more than more than
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: improve your team. You can really destroy value by giving
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: away good young players that could help you for the
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: next ten years.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: For short term, short term improvements.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: And that stuck with me and I always thought about
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: that and you know, it's hard to know young players
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: how good they're going to be. I don't think the
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Dodgers really anticipated Jordan Ovres, which turned out to.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: Be the way he was.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: And you know, we underestimated ti Oscar and ends. You know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: we sent him away for a lefty reliever who got
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: a couple out kiots for us down the stretch. But
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: it was a rental and ti Oscar has had a
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: great career, so that, you know, same thing i'd say
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: with the uh, you know, the other lefty that we
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: traded away, Josh Hader. You know, we traded for him,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: so obviously we knew he.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: I was going to say, you got to claim that
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: part too, if you've got to claim trade.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: But he wasn't ours to start with. We traded for him,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: got him all the way up to double A. We really,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: you know, we're trying him as a starter. Didn't know
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: if he was going to really be an e leade closer.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Made a mistake on that one as well, And that happens.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I mean forecasting a double A or triple A or
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: even recently promoted major league player their entire career, there's
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: a big error bar around that, and you've got to
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: take your chances and force Whitley didn't turn out to be,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: at least so far, the player that we thought that
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: would put him in that untouchable category. But Kyle Tucker, Yeah,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I mean he's been He's been unbelievable in every sense
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: of the words. So you know, you take your chances
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: and see what happens. And you know, like like with
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: the actual game of baseball, you're gonna you're gonna have
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of wrong moves. You just got to help
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: your batting average is better than you know, at least
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: the teams in your division.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: I'm offended you didn't call me. I was working for
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: the Hooks in twenty fifteen, and I would have told
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: you you're insane for trading Josh Hader. So I don't
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: know what you were doing there. I would I would
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: have helped you out.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I knew he was good and that it
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: wasn't gonna happen without him, that's for sure.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: How much do you reflect on that trade, that the trade,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the Carlos Gomez, Mike Fire's trade for for Hater and
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Brent Phillips and who else was in there, Domingo.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: It was good.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: I mean it was. You know, we traded a lot
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: of value. We knew we were trading a lot of value.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I think we didn't properly evaluate Carl Gomez. I mean,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: if you look at what he did prior to us
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: trading for him, he was reaching status of being a
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: superstar and was athletic and you know, filled a lot.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Of needs for us.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: You know, I had had a nice home run in
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: the wild Card game, but that didn't make up for
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: the four players we sent away and Fires had. You know,
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Fires was really good for us at certain times. For sure,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: he was our most consistent pitcher, I think in twenty sixteen.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that one if I could have
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: that one back, that would be I would be probably
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: number one on my list of trades I'd want back.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: I was at as no hitter, so you know, we
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: at least have that going for us.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I believe that was the pinnacle of his
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Ashrews was that deadline though a couple things. So that
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: was when you guys had just sort of ascended AJ
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: in his first year, guys taking steps forward. Correa's up,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: but that was a year you guys were always in
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: a contentious battle with the Rangers. For the division, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I wonder like, how much did you guys think that
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: team was for real? And that was really your first
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: deadline as a buyer, you how did that deadline differ
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: from maybe the many that preceded it.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the ones before that, we were just
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: accumulating as much talent as we could, and we were
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: moving salary off the books and trying to get younger
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and really kind of get, you know, reset everything so
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: we could we could make that jump. And twenty fifteen,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I think with AJ arriving and the dynamic of the team,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: we felt like we could make the playoffs and that
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: was really the only goals to make the playoffs, and
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: we accomplished it. So, you know, there were other deals
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: that we had considered in July, and I remember there
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: were a couple others that I was more excited about
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: that didn't end up happening. But we also had accumulated
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: a pretty nice inventory of good young players that had interest.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I mean the first couple of years, I was trading
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: you know, players that were okay, but they were like
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: second tier prospects or older veteran players like Brett Myers
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: who could serve a role, but you know, weren't that
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: sexy or exciting either, So you know, I was getting
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: what I could for those guys. But by twenty fifteen,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: we had had some good drafts, we had some good inventory,
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: had made some good trades in the years prior, and
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: so it felt like we could you know, take some
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: of that inventory and turn it into more security to
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: get to the playoffs. And that's that's, you know, we
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: accomplished that. I'm not going to say we accomplished it
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: because we got those two players, because I think we
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: would have made the playoffs without those two players.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: But and it came at a cost. I think, as
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: you know, Kashmir is the other one. I think we
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: got better. We needed a starter.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: So it was all about figuring out, you know, how
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: we could, how we could make the playoffs.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: And that was so for us, that was successful.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Since we're in that time frame you talked about you
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: were trading veterans for for you were trading second tier
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: prospect for assets. But one of your counterparts, Dayton Moore,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: went on a podcast with er Cosmer a couple of
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: week a couple of months ago and claim that I
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: believe it was in twenty thirteen. This is Dayton. This
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: is Dayton Moore saying you offered him Jose Altuve for
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Eric Hosmer. Yeah, I'm going to give you the floor
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: on that one.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, No, So he's not He's not lying. Dayton is
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: a very honest, high integrity guy. We did have a
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: conversation about it. It didn't go very far. You know, at
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: the time, we weren't looking to trade Jose Al tub
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: We were looking to acquire Eric Cosmer time and you know,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Kansas City was on the rise and we we tried everything.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: We didn't have a lot of players that would bring
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: you on Eric Osmer, so at the end of the
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: day were like, well, is he going to trade him
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: or not. Let's just throw our best guy out there,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: our best young guy, and see if you'll even react.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: It was not an official trade offer. It was one
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: of those hey, would you consider it? And it was
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: a very short conversation, so it didn't go anywhere. But also, yeah,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: we all have to remember jose Al Tube at that
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: time was not what Jose Al Tuba became, and obviously
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: we had a lot of confidence in him. We signed
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: him to two extensions while I was there. He's been
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the franchise player ever since. But you know, he was
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: a non a heralded prospect.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: He made it up.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: He was still kind of getting his he was a
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: high batting average, low ops.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: You know, but boy, his career is really spectacular.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, good call not trading him.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I would say, I guess that does just I mean
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: from how we started this segment, I guess it goes
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: to how it goes to show like there really are
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: no untouchables, like you'll just see what happens. I mean,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: you said you were not he were never going to
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: trade jose Al Tuve. But I guess and there really
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: is no such player that it can never be off limits.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I guess in conversation, Yeah, I think that's right.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And you want to know how rational the other team
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: in is, how serious they are, and so you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: part of negotiation is seeing where you're at.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Is there really a deal to be had here? And
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: there wasn't for Osmer, So we moved on.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Is there is there a trade kind of in that
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: early in those early days that either I think people
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: always want to know what could have been, what was
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: on the finish line, what was what was some things
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: were making.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: That was not those early days. Right, it was done,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: players were agreed to. The only thing left was ownership approval,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: and the ownership said no, even though they had kind
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: of pre cleared the deal. So that was that was
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: huge and that would have changed a lot of stuff.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Bryce Harper would have looked pretty good. And and as you,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I think we discussed. I think we talked before the
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Ashers played the Phillies in the twenty twenty two World Series, Jeff,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: you and I talked about what that package would have
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: looked like with the players were agreed to. Yeah, it
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was I don't want to say you would have fleeced them,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: but you would have.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: You would have fleeced them, yeah, I mean it would
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: have been in the Justin Berlander category of you know,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: players that all had value that they have shaded but but.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Didn't end up hurting the Astros had they had they gone.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: So that would have been nice.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: And that would have been I mean, the day we
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: thought we got him, you know, I called AJ and
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: he's like Christmas in July.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: This is the most nice I can't even imagine.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: So do you have to be careful about that, like
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: telling the clubhouse, telling AJ, like what you guys are
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: working on as as just to maybe not get their
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: hopes up, because like the learners can veto a trade
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: at the last minute, how do you how do you
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: have to balance that of not getting your clubhouse's hopes
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: too high.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Well, with Aj, it was different than with other managers
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: because Aj was a general manager and he and I
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: were so closely attuned and aligned in everything that you know,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: a lot of he would he was involved in a
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: lot of the trade discussions in who we wanted, and
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: you know, he helped negotiate the Verlander trade very much,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: so because he's very close. Obviously he's close with them,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: he got hired by them, but he was very close
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: with al l Avila in the front office over there.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: So whenever we.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Needed to do a bad cop good cop, I would
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: be the bad cop and I'd say we're done, we're
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: not going to do that, and then you know, AJ
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: would call up Havila a few hours later and say, hey,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: you know he's serious, He's not going to do it
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: unless we changed this out or the other.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: And so it kind of worked to our advantage.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think with managers, they need
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: to be involved, but they need to understand that this
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: is out the front office's process, and you certainly don't
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: want word to filter around the clubhouse. It does anyway,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: because rumors get out and conversations get leaked, but you know,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: you certainly don't want a ton of that.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: And you know, obviously I.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Had my fill of that when we didn't make a
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: big splash trade in twenty seventeen, and then Kikle went
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: to the locker room and said, you know, he was
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: disappointed in me and what we were doing. And but
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: you know, that happens. That was sort of after the deadline.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, managers are key, and I think
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: more and more managers are heavily involved.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: In the process.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: Speaking of you know, Kaykle, that was obviously a big
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: story in twenty seventeen. You mentioned, you know, your job
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: is to try to tune out as much as you
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: can outside of that. I have to imagine that that
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: made its way, you know, to you that's a big
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: deal in the office, Like when when a player has
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: comments like that, Does that affect how you go about
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: your job or are you like altering plans based on
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: things like that?
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, definitely not.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I mean I went down to the clubhouse, and I
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: spoke to Kaykele individually and explained to him, gave him
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: a little bit more context about what we had tried
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: to do and get kind of what the way we
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: saw things, and he appreciated that at the time. But
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: you know, I think he was seeing himself as the
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: leader of this team, you know, having won the wild
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Card game and been sort of the cy young and
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: been our ace for a long time, and you know,
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: he had the right.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: To express his opinion.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: But it's really more the manager and the pitching coach
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: that I think have to manage that to make sure
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: that if there is some comments that they don't kind
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: of negatively affect the team. That's really that was really
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: more astronomy and AJ's role.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Since we mentioned it earlier, I do want to for
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: those that are listening and that haven't heard the package.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: The package that the Ashers had agreed to send to
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the Nationals for Bryce Harper in twenty eighteen was Randy Caesar,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Abraham Toro, Josh James, JB. Bukalskis, and Kent Emmanuel. Abraham.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Toro is still a very nice role player for the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox. Having to play a little bit more.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: He's carved out a very nice career for himself. Those
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: other guys have had their fair share of struggles, So
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Bryce would have been a rental Jeff. But I think
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: I asked this at the time. Do you think that
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Jim would have entertained the sort of money and years
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: it would have taken to keep him in Houston beyond
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: that expiring contract?
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Don't I don't know the answer to that, but I
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: think had Bryce Harper come in and done what Bryce
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Harper normally does and we win the World Series with him,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: it would have been certainly something that the organization would
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: have made every effort to try and sign him for sure.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: I mean that was a hope.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: It was not one of those you know, negotiate a
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: deal before we trade for him. We knew it was
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: a rental, but we also knew that, you know, we
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: were a franchise on the rise and could afford to
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: spend on a free agent like that.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: How much since we since we brought him up, how
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: much did Jim get involved when you were I mean,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: he runs a budget, he has the money, he signs
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the check, so obviously he is involved inherently. But was
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: he maybe more involved in some trade deadlines than I know,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: you've only worked for two owners, but maybe more involved
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: in than some other owners in the game, and how
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: he wants to be kept abreast of things and things
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: of that nature.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: No, I mean Bill to it, Junior was very involved
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: and wanted to know everything, every conversation that was happening
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: and so forth with and with the draft as well.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: So I'd say de Watt was more active. Jim certainly
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: wanted to know what was happening, and you know, certainly
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: wanted to be asked if we were going to require
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: any more resources, because a lot of times you're taking
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: on extra salary or you're taking on a contract.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Are you trying to move a contract?
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I'd say, you know, the trade that he probably got
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: most involved in, sort of emotionally was the Granky trade
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: because we were we were on the fence about the
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: Granky trade, and there were other options that we were considering,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: but Jim did seem to want that player on our
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: team and wanted the sort of sex appeal of of
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Granky and all of that, and so, you know, would
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: we have made the trade without Jim's pushing us, I
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: don't know the answer to that. To be honest, I mean,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: I think he was definitely excited about it. And you know,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: every time the trade would die, which trades die a lot,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: and that one died like four times in the twenty
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: four hours before we did it, you know, he would say, well,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: what about you know, if we took on a little
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: more of his salary.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: Well, in that case, yeah, I mean, you know, sure,
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: we'll make another run at it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: So that was one where he was he was involved.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: I'd say, you know, Verlander, he was interested in what
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: was going on, and he had to approve the money
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: and they were you know, we had had limits and
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: the deal wasn't done because of those limits, not just
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: players but money, and so he had to make a
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: decision in the last few hours to approve more budget
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: for that.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: And he did.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: So that was you know, without him, those two players
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: certainly wouldn't have gotten to the astros.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you you know, when you're communicating with
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: ownership about trading and things like that, Like it's hard
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: enough to know all of the guys in your own organization,
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: much less when you're trading outside of the organization. How
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: do you present to ownership why you like a certain
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: player or why you're comfortable moving one of your own guys.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: You know, like, how are you How are you presenting
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: that to ownership?
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: No different than the way we would talk about it internally.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: This is how much value we see in the player's career.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: This is how much we're going to have to spend
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: to have that value on our team. And here's what
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: the alternative looks like. So, you know, we had our
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: own and I'm sure they still have some version of
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: it today, our own way of forecasting player performance into
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: the future based off of a lot of factors, including
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: their past performance, and so you know, we'd look at that.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: And with the Verlander situation, it really came down to
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: what's the additional amount probability that we're going.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: To win the World Series?
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: And no one player in all of baseball increased our
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: chances more than bringing in Justin Verlander at that point
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: in time because of what he did, knowing he was
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: going to pitch probably three times in a seven game series,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: knowing you know how he was going to probably help
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: us get home field advantage. Those two factors were huge
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: and it meaningfully changed. I mean, a one percent chance
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: increase of winning the World Series is worth millions, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: especially for a franchise that had never won a World Series,
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: because then it propagates in branding and all kinds of
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: other things that it's hard to value in a spreadsheet.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: But that's really the way we presented it. I forget
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: the exact number. It was obviously low single digits, but
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: it was meaningful, and we said, each each percent equates
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: to this many millions of dollars. So whatever we're spending
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: right now in prospects, I mean, the prospects are worth
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: a lot too. You know, each prospect we valued it
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: not just in career performance, but also how much value
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: you would have to spend to get that same performance
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: back from free agency.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: Did your spreadsheet take into account Verlander just yelling with
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: hairy arms in the dugout in the World Series that
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: that had to have added a couple percentage.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Points now, but make up makeup matters a lot, obviously,
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: and it didn't take into account gate Upton.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: And since you since you mentioned makeup matters, I want
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: to take you to a deal you made in that
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: that deal that did go through in the twenty eighteen
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: deadline for Roberto Osuna. That deal was maligned very very much,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: by a lot of people that were uncomfortable with trading
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: for a player that was under a suspension for domestic violence. Yeap,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: what made you comfortable executing that trade and what kind
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: of backlash did you receive, maybe from maybe within your
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: own organization and from the outside.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know that was that was a challenging one.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: That's probably one that falls into the category if I
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: you know, if I had to do it all over again,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: would I do it?
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: The answer is no.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: You know, the talent was clearly I the first thing
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I wanted to do. You know, Jim Garcia pitched with
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: him as a teammate and when we went to Toronto
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: that year, he said, hey, by the way, you know,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: he talked to me about the whole situation, said the kids, really,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: you know, feels bad about what happened, and he's remorseful,
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: and you know, he needs a change of scenery. I
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: really recommend that you guys look at him. And that
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: was the first time we even considered it. We you know,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: we did a lot of research. The research was really
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: split into two camps. There was the talent and you know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: I know that Kevin Goldstein and others have talked about
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: the fact that they had objections to the trade, not
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: because of the talent, but because of the other stuff.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: But I asked our scouts.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Look the the the issue of whether or not the
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Astros should trade for a player that has, you know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: has been suspended. I'm going to handle that with Jim
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: and Anita and Giles and you know, the HR everybody else.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: What I need now from you guys, is is a
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: clean talent opinion. How much will this player help us win?
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, Ken Giles was imploding, We didn't have a closer.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: We'd come off a World Series win. We needed back
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: end any you know. We knew Presley would be a
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: good setup man, we didn't know if you'd be a
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: good closer. And at that time Alsuna was the most
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: successful closer of his age in the history.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: Of the game.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, really incredible what he had done. So I
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: asked the guys to just look at that. And I
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: know that got misinterpreted as I didn't want anybody's opinion.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I knew that there was going to be differences opinion.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't want the whole room to be talking about
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: whether or not we should, you know, bring in someone
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: that's been suspended separate from that, had a lot of
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: conversations about with Jim, with Anita, with Giles. We did
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: our own research as to what we could find out
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: about the situation, a lot of the information was not
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: out in the public, and also spent time talking to
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: the player, talking to his agent, talking to his teammates
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: and so forth. And really the decision I was trying
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: to make is this, Do I think this is a
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: one time event that he regrets and is remorseful about,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: or do I think that this is a we're bringing
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: ourselves a problem that what I didn't really take into
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: account was and you know, I talked to a lot
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: of people that had dealt with issues like this, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: if you don't give people second chances, you know, there
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: was that whole argument. You know, you're hurting their family,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: You're hurting the person that was the victim, potentially more
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: so because they're losing income and all that.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of issues going on there. I
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: didn't really take into account.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: I didn't take into account as much as I should
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: have the impact they would have on our fans, especially
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: our female fans, and how they would feel.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: And that was a mistake.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: And you know, I did talk about it with female
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: friends and family, but I probably should have spent a
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: little bit more time thinking about it, but it wasn't
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: you know, Yes, I made the decision to trade for him.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I did not do a human Laterally, the talent checked
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: the box for sure, and there were you know, everybody
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: that was around me that I collaborated with was you know.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: There was nobody saying don't do it.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Because if if someone had said don't do it, I mean,
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: obviously we wouldn't have done it. So but you know,
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: that's a tough one. I mean, I will say he
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: you know, he's he's been a pretty good pitcher, got
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: injured and he hasn't been really able to pitch in
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: the US, but he's been a good picture. Did he
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: you know, did he help us accomplish our goals on
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: the on the field to a certain extent, he did.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: I still think he could have been better. You know,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: giving up that home run in Game seven against the
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Yankees was was not great. But thank thank goodness, we
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: had all two there.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Then goodness shed all to man, not Eric Cosmo.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: Right exactly. That's one that you know, it's a tough one.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: I learned.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: I learned a lot from that experience, you know, and
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I think I would I would do things differently today
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: than I did that.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Let's hear from our friends at foul Territory one more
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: time before we continue with Jeff Luno.
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: Hey, let's do a little player spotlight thanks to Arena
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: Club AJ. Give me a player this season that you
• 35:17
  Speaker 6: think is underrated and you might want to try and
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: grab his card.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: James Would.
• 35:21
  Speaker 7: I don't know that he's underrated, but Washington National's superstar
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: in the making, and the first slab pack I ever
• 35:26
  Speaker 7: opened had him in it, his rookie card, and the
• 35:29
  Speaker 7: value is only going to.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: Go up and up and up. And I'm not going
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: to sell it KWI yet. Scott.
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: I'm going to hold on to because after he continues
• 35:35
  Speaker 7: to hit big homers and put up the stats make
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: All Star teams, it's going to get more expensive for
• 35:39
  Speaker 7: someone to buy.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: For me.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: This is his.
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: First full season in the majors.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: Keep that in mind.
• 35:44
  Speaker 6: I think he's underrated, He's on a Nationals team that's
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: may adding enough attention.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: He underrated.
• 35:50
  Speaker 7: When he makes the All Star team this year, They're
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: not going to be underrated.
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: That helps.
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: He's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway,
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: if you want to try and find a wood rookie card,
• 35:58
  Speaker 6: go check out slab packs on Arena Club and right
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: now you can get twenty percent off your first lab pack.
• 36:03
  Speaker 6: Or if you just want to go with a card purchase,
• 36:05
  Speaker 6: go to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use code foul.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: We already talked about you mentioning Hosel Tuve in a
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: trade conversation, so that probably takes the cake. But is
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: there one trade or permutation of a trade that maybe
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: advanced a little bit further than that one that included
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: a player that Astros fans have come to fall in
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: love with that would surprise them to know that you
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: guys were considering moving on.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: I don't think so.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: I mean Gregman, Correa Springer, they were never really in
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: any serious conversations. I think Kyko we did talk about
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: trading a couple of times. I can't remember the exact
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: context there, but because he was a high achiever with
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: sort of marginal stuff, you know, we weren't going to
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: get back return if he if he through ninety eight,
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: and this is my young winner, that'd be different, but
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: throwing eighty eight to ninety and having to rely on Finesse,
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: I mean that, you.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: Know, he's a good pitcher, He's had a good career.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I can't.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: I'd have to think about that. Nothing nothing comes to mind,
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: you know, Uh, catch your wise. Trading from my team
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Aldonato two years in a row is hilariously.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: I mean he was.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: He was good for us, you know, Jed Lowry coming
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: and going like every every other year.
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: That was interesting.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: But now you know, once you get good players that
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: fit and are part of your clubhouse chemistry, like Springer
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: and Korea and Altuve and Bregman, you don't want to
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: trade him unless you unless you really do the math
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: and figure, we're not gonna be able to resign this player.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have to trade them in order to do
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: kind of the Herschel Walker thing and bring in a
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: boatload of talent and you know, try and try and
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: extend our window for another four or five years.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: I mean, speaking of Korea, when when you guys took
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: him number one overall, it you know was not expected. Certainly,
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: can you talk a little bit about, you know, the
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: process leading up to the draft that at what point
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: did you know you were taking Korea over Buxton or
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: you know, whoever else you guys were looking at and
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: the top of the draft. How close were you to
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: not taking Korea?
• 38:19
  Speaker 7: I guess we were.
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: We weren't close at all.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: We were going to say, but the number of people
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: who knew was limited to Michael ISAs Sig, myself, and
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: Enis Cabell. That was it because the on our draft
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: board he was like number eight or nine. And you
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: don't want to go into your first year's GM and
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: grab a magnet from our number eight or nine and
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: PLoP them all the way at the top and say
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: I'm the GM.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: You got to do what I You got to do
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: what I want.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: So, you know, there was a lot of work behind
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: the scenes, and the week leading up to the draft
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: we were trying to figure out more importantly, we didn't
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: want anybody to know we were going to take him
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: because then team's number two and three would be like,
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: well wait a second, you know, maybe we should be
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: thinking more about him, and you cred to create demand
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: that wasn't there. We knew the Cubs were going to
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: take him, and that was really are you know, we
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: knew we had to pay him more money than the
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Cubs were going to pay him at their position. I
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: think it was five or something like that, maybe six,
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: and that was it. Nobody above the Cubs was going
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: to take him. And so we also knew we had
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: an opportunity because he's the player we wanted. We thought
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: he was the best player in the draft. He was
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: the youngest high school player in the draft, and you know, everything,
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: he checked every single box that we liked. We knew
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: that we could also potentially get him at a discount
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: relative to the one to one price and go and
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: get a Las McCullers and a Rio Ruiz type player
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: with the surplus, and so managing that meant we had
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: to keep the information circle really really tight.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: I don't even think Jim. I didn't even think.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: I told Jim until a few minutes before, and the
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: draft room didn't know. I mean we we walked in
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: there because I didn't get the final okay. Carlos was
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: in New York for the draft and his agent was
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: somewhere else, and we didn't get the final okay on
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: the you know, on the fact that we agreed to
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: an amount until I mean I ran down the Hallway
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: and basically Bobby heck was it was a great scouting
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: director and did a good job managing the process.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: You know, he was kind of waiting. You know, we had.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Appel and Austin, there were other players in the mix.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Bucks Buckston was the other player in the mix. In fact,
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: it had gotten to the point where I didn't hear
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: back from Koreas, so I called Buxton's people five minutes
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: before the draft or that if we took him we
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: could get a discount on him as well, and that
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: he was signable for us.
• 40:47
  Speaker 3: But then Chris got back and we got it. We
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: got it done.
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: What would you have had to pay Buxton?
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: It would have been more, ubstantially more, because he was going.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: To go I got six million second pick, so he
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: was going to go number two.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: So you know, you can't really say, hey, we're going
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: to draft you number one, and but we're gonna pay
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: a lot less than you would get it the very
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: next pick. So bux was a good player.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: But I think we made the right choice there.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: The Cubs picked six that year, they took Albert al
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: Mora instead of that's a tough it's a tough loss
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: for them to go out from Correa to al Mora.
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: Max Fried went seventh to.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Fed Di go seventh, and then who went after Max
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Freed Tyler?
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: Uh? That was Mark Apell to the Pirates. He did
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: not end up signing that year. He went back in
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: the draft. I don't know if you heard Jeff, but
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: he was available the next season.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: We were actually we liked Mark. We were trying to
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: pull him down to our second pick, the Colors.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: You know, he got.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Jeff. As as we're talking about all this, and and
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: like you start thinking back and the memories start to
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: fly back. I guess the natural question is, like, do
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: you have the itch? Do you have the inches you
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: have to get do you have do you do you
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: have the itch to get back and work in baseball?
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: You know, I have a unique UH perspective now because
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: I'm actually I'm not the GM of my football clubs.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: I'm I'm more in the role of the owner. But
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: I still, obviously I get more involved in your typical
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: UH owner would. And there's so many interesting differences in
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: the world of football and to baseball that I've been
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: in and out for five years and I absolutely love
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: it and I'm enchanted by it. But you know, to
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: be honest, I don't think a lot about coming back
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: to baseball. But but having this conversation with you guys
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: and thinking about all this history and things that I did.
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: Well and things that I didn't do well, and kind of.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it certainly would be fun, uh and
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: interesting to go back into baseball. I know that my
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: my teams and my investors and my partners probably not
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: like that a lot at this point.
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: Do you see Yeah, go ahead, Jane.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Do you think that Pat's open for you, like if
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: you'd ever want to?
• 43:07
  Speaker 5: Uh?
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I've had I'm not going to tell
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: you who, but I've had two or three owners contact
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: me and ask me if I was interested in either
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: a role as GM or another role, maybe as a.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: Different role where where I'd oversee the sporting operation.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: And in all in all, in all cases, I said
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: no because at the time I was raising money and
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: starting my my company. But you know, it's I don't
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: think I'm blackballed from baseball like some people think. And
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: I know I could. I know I would do a
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: good job. I mean I know that for a fact.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: But the reality is I've moved on. I'm very happy
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: for the world of football is is incredible, and I
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: think you know we're doing something incredible with not Uh.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: You know, a lot of investors in football have tons
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: and tons of money.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: We don't.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: We have smart, young, aggressive people and enough capital to
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: go buy teams and grow them. And that's and be
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: smart about player signings and all of that. The biggest
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: difference is a player has to agree. You can't just
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: draft a player or trade a player without the player agreeing,
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: and that changes everything. And you can also sell players
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: and that changes everything too, So it adds two different
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: dimensions to player acquisition and retention and roster management. And
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: fans get used to the fact that you might have
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: a Carlos CAREAUP, but in two years Carlos really should
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: be playing for a bigger team. So they're happy to
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: have him for two years, but they understand.
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: That he's got to go.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: It doesn't happen in baseball because bigger team would be
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: the Yankees, and no astro skin would want Carlos Crea.
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: To play for the Inanks.
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: No, I don't even say that sentence. What are you doing?
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: I mean you mentioned not having a ton of money
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: for soccer. Have you considered how I think some Hollywood
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: A listers make a documentary about your team. I think
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: that's worked out well for Wrexham.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it has, and those guys have done a good job.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: We actually did film quite a bit of content last
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: year and we're in the process of thinking about pitching
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: it as a documentary because I had I had three
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: teams going for a championship, all within ten days of
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: each other, and two of the teams won their championship.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: The other one fell a little bit short. But I
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: hired a camera crew and they followed me around and
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: we were in the locker rooms before the matches, we
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: were celebrating after the matches. It was, you know, one
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: in Czech Republic, one in Mexico, one in Spain. So
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: it was a lot of great content and there's a
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: lot of interesting storylines. We did release a documentary in
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: Spain about the Leganes Championship last year and we were
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: supposed to play Leganess is actually in the US today.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: They're currently in Chicago. They're going to Louisville. I'm heading
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: up there tomorrow. We're playing match against Louisville tomorrow. We're
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: playing against Richmond next week. We were trying to get
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: a match against San Antonio because you know, the Spurs
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: are friends.
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: Of mine and they owned San Antonio FC in the USL.
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: Had we been able to get that match, I was
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: going to bring the entire team here to Houston and
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: we were going to rent out the theater and show
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: the documentary and invite Astros fans to come see it.
• 46:22
  Speaker 3: Decide not to do that.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: I may do that in the future because it's it's
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: it's really fun and the content around sports is huge,
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: and I think both you know, there's obviously been a
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: lot of documentaries. I haven't seen the new documentary on
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: the Astros, and I'm curious as to how they can
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: do an entire documentary about our dynasty and never even
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: call me.
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: But that's okay. I'll leave that to someone else to
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: think about.
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: Well if if if you need help making content over there,
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: you know the story practice Condomyes, So you know, maybe
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: if I live over in Spain for a little bit,
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: I'll get a little bit better. That's all just from
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: learning while while teaching junior high in Highlands, Texas. Why
• 47:06
  Speaker 4: my students taught me quite a bit.
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: So Jeff, you try to stay away from all the
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: all the I guess content that's been created about your
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: your your tenure, your tenure, and the dynasty that you
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: that you helped to construct.
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: I've seen it. I've seen it all, and.
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: So it's not that I'm staying away from it. I
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: see it all, but I don't dwell on it. I mean,
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, depending upon who's producing it and
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: what perspective they have, there's there's a lot of bias
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: in any content production, whether you're trying to sell something
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: or make someone look good or make someone look bad.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: So I don't you know, it's It's not something I
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: spent a lot of time dwelling about.
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: I am very.
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: Proud of the fact that the Astros, I mean, there
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: is no other dynasty in the twentieth first century that
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: comes close at this point. So I know, I wasn't
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: there for the whole thing. I was just there for
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: the beginning, but put them on a good and very
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: happy about what happens. Still know a lot of people,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: I mean I see people walking around my neighborhood that
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: still work for the Astros, and I still in touch
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: with people, so I'm very happy for them.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Have you been back to what is now Dyke In Park.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: You have not.
• 48:15
  Speaker 3: No, No, I have not.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: You think that will ever happen.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to just buy a ticket and go
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: to a game.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: You know, if the if the organization ever felt like
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: inviting me, I'd be I'd be more than happy to.
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: You know, some of my investors at Lucrow are our
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: Astros investors and season ticket over and stuff, and they've
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: invited me.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: But no, I'm not.
• 48:34
  Speaker 7: I'm not.
• 48:35
  Speaker 3: I don't want to distract from what's going on there,
• 48:37
  Speaker 3: and I think me being there would attract some attentions.
• 48:41
  Speaker 3: So no, I don't.
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: I've been to Rockets games. I've been to Texans games.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: I've been to I haven't been to a Major League Baseball.
• 48:49
  Speaker 3: Game since left.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, really, But.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: I mean I've been to Champions League, I've been to
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I've been a lot of I attend a
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: lot of sporting events.
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: Did you go to the Gold Cup Final?
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: No?
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: I didn't.
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: I was I was flying back from We had our
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: own match like and has played Pumas.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: In Mexico on Sunday in front of It was.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: A friendly match, preseason friendly. There were forty five thousand
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: fans there for the Pumas.
• 49:14
  Speaker 3: It was really incredible there.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: There was a large uh, there was a large rivalry
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: in the Astros clubhouse in the semi in the Gold
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Cup semifinals with Honduras was playing Mexico. Paratus obviously a
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Mexican and was very into that. Mauricio Dubon the only
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: player to ever play in the big leagues. Mauricio wore
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: his personalized Honduras national team jersey to take VP in
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: Colorado that day.
• 49:40
  Speaker 3: So that was fun, that's awesome.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: I told him. They kept it close, they tried their
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: best because it was an that was a real underdog story, right,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: Lewis was not supposed to be that far right.
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: Well, a couple of the players are are investors in
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: Blue Crow. I'm not going to tell you who. But
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: so there's there's some there's definitely some football.
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: Fans in there.
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can. I can one hundred percent concur
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: with that. Well, Jeff, I told you, we keep you
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes, we capt you fifty one.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: I enjoy it. I enjoy it, and that's all my
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: fans enjoy it.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: And I hope the fans start checking on CD Leganes
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: scores and l'hav scores in France and cancunec scores in Mexico.
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: Because it's a it's a good sport and it's it's
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: fun and I'm having a good time.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: You're so active on all social media. Tell tell people
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: where they can follow you, if they want to keep
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: up with your ventures, if they want to see if
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: they want to get to know more about the sport
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: of football through you.
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean my my Twitter handle is the same
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: as it's always been.
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: Jay Luno and Blue Crow Sports Group.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: We don't we're not don't do a lot of social media,
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: but actually legan S has a has a social media
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: in English and Legans has probably some of the most
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: compelling content in Spain for football, so you can find
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: it on Twitter and Instagram.
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: CD leg and S is the name of the club.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: I just just found them and I will I'll shoot
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: them a follow. You can always our mascot.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Our mascot is a super Cucumber and always dreamed of
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: Super Cucumber and Orbit getting together and playing around. Orbit
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: is the best mascot in Major League Baseball and Super
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: Peppinos by far the best mascot in European football.
• 51:18
  Speaker 4: On that big Poppy as your mascot over there. All
• 51:21
  Speaker 4: right on.
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: That we can agree that Orbit is Orbit is hands
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: down the best mascot in uh in, in Major League Baseball,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: in Houston anywhere. Get Orbit and the Big Cucumber together.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: That that should be after right after Tyler goes to
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: the zoo with Cam Smith, We're going to Cucumber.
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: He's he's got a cape and he's a superhero.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: The super will end it on the Super Cucumber. You
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: can follow Tyler on X at Tyler c Stabvage. You
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: can follow me at Chandler Underscore Room. As always, please
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: rate and review us on Apple. Please subscribe to the
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel so you can get alerted every time we
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: go h and post a new episode like the one
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: we do with Jeff today. Jeff, again, we cannot thank
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: you enough for your time, for your insight, and for
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: getting us into the mind a little bit of a
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: GM around these busy times.
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having on guys. It was nice catching
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: up with both of you.
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: Thanks for not trading out to Bay.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: Bye bye.