Latest / Foul Territory / Rangers sign Andrew McCutchen, World Baseball Classic begins, Hunter Greene’s elbow issue

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Rangers sign Andrew McCutchen, World Baseball Classic begins, Hunter Greene’s elbow issue · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, the ft Spring Training Tour is engineered by Fastenal.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: To learn more information about the company, head over to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Fastenall dot com. Fas t E na L dot com
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: calendar for you. As we're in week three of our
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: five week tour, thank you to the Nationals for hosting
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: us today, and then an easy little hopover to Astro's
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: camp as they're next to each other. Then Braves, Raise Orioles, Twins,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Red Sox next week, and we finish up our tour
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: with the Tigers, Pirates, Blue Jays, and Phillies camps. That's
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: from the sixteenth to the nineteenth. All right, we're back
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna go over a little breaking news that
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: actually went down right before the show. Andrew McCutcheon had
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: been trying to find a home and wanted it to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: be Pittsburgh. It's not Pittsburgh. It's a minor league contract
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and it is with the Texas Rangers. So what do
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: you think about this?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Guys?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Krats, I'll start with you. I mean, you played a
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: little bit with the Pirates. I know there was a
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: little back and forth with McCutcheon on social media about
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: how he was not pleased that he was not invited
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to FanFest and ultimately doesn't end up getting a contract
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: with the team either.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: It's tough, it's tough to see, but at the end
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: of the day, the season is going to start. He's
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: going to make the team, or he's not going to
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: make the team, whatever it is. That's the ugly part
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: of baseball. But it's also part that you know, Andrew
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: McCutcheon through his career, hasn't had to deal with that.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And I know it's tough on him. I know it's tough,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: and I know he knows in his mind he's not done.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: He can contribute to a winning team. And I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: that was a part that was probably the hardest for him,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: was the fact that they were planning to win and
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: he's been there during some lean years and he's like,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: wait a minute, Like you guys, he wasn't looking for
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a handout. He's looking to be part of a winning
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: team in his city, the city he now lives in,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: the city is family and his kids are he's raised,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: they're raising their kids in like he's been a part
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of the city, and he felt like this was the
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: time that it was going to be to win and
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: they don't want him to be a part of it.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Like it's just it's I think it was tough for him,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: but I think he's going to an organization that also
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: wants to win, so good for him. He does still
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: need to make the team. That's that's huge that some
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: people don't think, oh, well, you know, he's definitely gonna
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: be on the team. He has to make the team,
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: and he's kind of starting a little bit late here,
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: but knowing Cutch, he'll be ready.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: I can't imagine him signing with Texas without him having
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: some sort of a you're gonna make the team hawk
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: with Chris Young before he signed it. He's not going
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: to Texas Rangers camp and not having a somewhat of
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: an idea of him making that team.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: And I also think that it just sucks for Pittsburgh.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: It sucks that they couldn't figure out a way to
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: have him back in some sort of role. He's a
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: winning player still, He's a winning guy in the clubhouse,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: He's a winning presence in the city of Pittsburgh.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: I just think this is this sucks for the fans. Yes,
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: I know Kutch is.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Living there and he's kind of embedded himself in the
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: fabric of Pittsburgh. I just wish he could have figured
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: out a way to spend the rest of his career,
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: whether it's one more year or two more years, whatever
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: it is, and go out at Pittsburgh Pirate the way
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: he should. There's certain people that are synonymous with organizations.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I know Andrew McCutcheon went and played for other teams,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: but he's a Pittsburgh Pirate and he should end his
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: career one way or the other as a Pittsburgh Pirate.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: But how do you do that if the team doesn't
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: want you and we can make a case for the team.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Well that's my thing, Scott, Like, you can't tell me
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: they can't find a spot for him on the on
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: the team.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: But that's what they are saying, AJ, So I'm trying
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to get past that part, right, Like they for whatever reason,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: they don't want him back. At many times last year
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he was probably their best, most reliable hitter. But the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: team has decided they don't want him back. I mean,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: clearly it has been spoken there, whether you know what.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: At some point we'll probably find out if they had
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: conversations and how serious it got. In my mind, clearly
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: it didn't offer him a big league contract, right, otherwise
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: he would be there. So he ends up signing a
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: minor league contract. The team can say, oh, we had discussions,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: so we would have given him this deal. Yeah, we
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: would have given Schwarber that deal. We would have given
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: this guy that deal. I don't give it. Oh we
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: had Gina. That doesn't mean anything. Twins offered fran bervald
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: As a deal. Okay, most of that stuff is BS.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: So in this case, I'm trying to push forward AJ
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and say team didn't want him, Like, whether you agree
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: with it or not, team didn't want him. So could
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: it have been handled better before that point? Could the
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Pirates have said to him last year, Hey, dude, this
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: is a really hard topic for us, but we're going
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to move on.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: After this year.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and maybe told him before, because then the fans
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: could have given him a proper salute, a proper sendoff. Again,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: they got to figure out a way to bring him back,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: even if it's on one of those one day contracts,
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: to end his career as a Pirate. Have him throw
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: out the first pitch, have him signed some autographs, give
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: him that moment in Pittsburgh, in that ballpark at PNC Park,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: so that the fans can salute Andrew McCutchen one last time.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: My thing is, I think Cutch is going to play
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: this year. You know, I know he's got to make
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the team. And maybe I'm off, but I mean there
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: was still quality at bats from him. He was around
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a league average hitter Kratz. I think he's still going
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: to play. I mean, whether he makes the Rangers or
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: another team, I think he's going to be on a
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: big league roster.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: He's going to play. He shows he can play, and
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: people are saying, oh, you know, well he would just
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: be a DH or he would just like there's a
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: spot on every team for a guy like Andrew McCutcheon.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Our teams willing to not have a certain piece of flexibility.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Maybe maybe not, but to me, he has. He has
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the ability to still play. And I think, like AJ said,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: like the dude played, the dude played at home the
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: last few years. Now he's got to go to Texas,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: and so to go to Texas, to go to spring
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: training with Texas, I think there's an opportunity there that
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: the Rangers. Skip Schumacher, who have talked to a few times,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: has talked about changing that culture in that clubhouse to
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: be the culture that he wants. Not necessarily you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: there was negativity or something last year, but just a
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: culture that he wants. So to bring in a guy
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: like Cutch, it's a no brainer when you're talking about
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: a culture guy, a guy that just brings a different
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: kind of energy and professionalism.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: And when it comes to play discipline, he is off
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the charts good. He is still one of the best
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: in baseball. Like if you look at his stack caast
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: page from last year, he was ninety second percentile and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: chase percentage, eighty eighth percentile in walk percentage. He's been
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: really good putting together those long AB's for a long time.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: You know, some guys stick around, maybe Carlos Santana is
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a good example, or even make some more money or
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: get signed on my teams because they just want his
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: plate to splendid rub off on the rest of the team.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: It doesn't Cutch bring that vibe a little bit too.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: If you watch his absy he does.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: He gives you a professional at bats all the time.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: That's why I mean they have some you know, let's
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: be honest. I mean, as much as we like what
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: the Pittsburgh Pirates did this offseason.
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: Are they winning the World Series this year?
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: No?
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, I think you have a proper cutch and he
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: can teach some of your younger kids. Think about how
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I'm good Connor Griffith would be if he could watch
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: Andrew mccutcheons at bats and he could have Andrew McCutchen
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: in the dugout, talking to him about pictures, talking to
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: him about situations, talking to him about how to be
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: a big leaguer.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: It's invaluable. That's the thing I have about this.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: If the Pittsburgh parson were going out and they're trying
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: win the World Series, I get it, But they're not
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: gonna win the World Series.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: That's that's the issue. Aja The issue is they don't
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: see the value in that. In my opinion, they don't
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: see the value in that. I'm not saying Marcelo's Ozuna
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: can't do that or Brandon Loo can't do that, but
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: I don't think teams necessarily see the value in something
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: that you just said is invaluable. Because they aren't trying
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: to make the World Series, I shouldn't say that they
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: would like to make the World Series this year. I
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: don't think they are, But what is this year going
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: to build for them to be able to make the
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: World Series, for Connor Griffin to be the best big
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: leaguer that he can be, for the entire Pittsburgh tenure,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: for his entire twenty year career, whatever it ends up being.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: And to me, I think Andrew McCutcheon pays dividends way
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: more down the road than saying, ooh, well, we could
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: assigned this guy who has a career, you know, who
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: might give us a one six ops plus and Cuts
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: is just gonna be a one oh one ops plus.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: I just think the value is so much greater to
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: have a guy like that on the roster. But I'm biased.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And also, none of us are saying he's a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: superstar anymore. He used to be a superstar. He's not
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: a superstar anymore. We get that, right. This isn't defending
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: a player. It's just like, hey, this isn't somebody who
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: was a five hundred ops you know, a seventy ops
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: plus like this guy was still putting up decent numbers,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you know, on a team in a ballpark. That can
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: be difficult on a team that wasn't doing much last
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: year offensively and yes, like AJ mentioned, did they patch
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: up a few holes, No doubt, they didn't patch up
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: every hole. So I'm curious to see how this plays out.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: And I think most people are rooting for Cutch. He's
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: going to have a massive chip on his shoulder to
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: try and prove something to the rest of the league,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: even if this is his last season. You saw it
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: on social media. You'll see it from a guy who's
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: a competitive guy. We'll see what he looks like in camp. Kratz,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: the wb has begun. We are watching real games. Yes,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: it is really nice. It is awesome. We've had two
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: games so far and many, many, many more coming up.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: But Australia won three nothing over Chinese type. Travis Pizana
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: is legit number one overall pick a year ago homeward.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: There he is.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: He's having a little fun representing a country that's really
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: proud of him.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Kratz.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: We've had him on I don't remember if it was
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: this show or I think it was on this show,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: but if not, on our Baseball America Hot Sheet show.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: And I mean he knows how much he's carrying, not
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: just in this WBC, but I mean he's really the
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: face of baseball in Australia right now.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: He did a different route from my other Australian teammates,
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: you know that were coming over, like the Glenn Williams,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: the Jonathan Chapel, like different guys. Maybe they didn't make it,
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: but they came out of high school where Travis went
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: to college. And then he was a first pick.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: So you sit there and you go, okay, like all
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: eyes are on him.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: I remember talking.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: We didn't we talked to him, but we also talked
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: to somebody else and just talked. It was a one
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: of the Australian announcers and I'm forgetting who it was.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: And he just said yes, thank you, thank you, and
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: he uh, he's just like yeah, Like it's that kind
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: of signing, that kind of accolade getting picked first in
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: the draft. That makes other kids now ten to twelve
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: years old in Australia they are playing baseball like have
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: somebody to look up to. And I remember Ryan Roland
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Smith saying that about Glenn Williams, about other guys that
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: had kind of like paved the path for Australian So
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: it's awesome to see him hit a dinger and my
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: buddy Catcher I don't know him, but he's a catcher.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: So Robbie Perkins going OPO thirty one years old. Dude's
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: not even an affiliated ball OPO in Tokyo.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Love that.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And yeah, Korea smashed Chechi eleven in the other game,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and then Checchia plays again. The next game is tonight
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: ten o'clock Eastern time, because remember they're overseas there in Japan.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: They'll play Australia. So and then we had eight games
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: on Friday, by the way, including USA versus Brazil, which
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: we're about to talk about Team USA next on FT.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Already, let's hold.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Let's charge about Let's charge the Mound presented by Fox One.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Jeremy Pana had to leave yesterday's exhibition game, and the
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: problem for him is he took a bad hop on
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: a ground ball and suddenly it looks like there's a
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: finger issue there.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: He's going to see a hand specialist today.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: There's news that's coming through as we're talking about it,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: so it sounds like he'll miss at least the first round.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, my guest, Kratz is a team like Houston's
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: not gonna let him keep rolling in a WBC after this.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, you're shaking your head, but I'm just saying,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: jose L Tube got heard last time around and had
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to miss some time. There is a permission factor. This
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: is a guy who's pre big ass contract. I'm just
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: throwing it out there aj you know too, even if
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: it ends up not being something like too drastic and
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: it's a short recovery. It's hard to see a team
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: saying okay and clearing a player to go when he
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: just suffered an injury.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he suck. This is what happens.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: And he could have happened anywhere, you know, just because
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: it happened in the WBC, and people say, oh see,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: we knew the WBC was bad. People are gonna get injured,
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: just goulda happen in a spring training game right here
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: at Cacti Ballpark behind me.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: So, I mean, I hope he's okay.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: I hope he's good, and I hope this doesn't affect
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: anything for contract for him down the road, and as
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: certainly hope it doesn't affect him for the season.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, bad, no doubt.
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: You get a bad hop at the camp that we're
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: going through tomorrow in Houston's camp, like it's it's unfortunate.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: I don't think, yeah, if there's nothing wrong, I don't
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: see them saying like, if it's not broken, I don't
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: see the Astros saying, yeah, you can't play because going
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: to come back to Houston's camp and play right away.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: To me, position players get out there, go play real games.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: We just talked to not seeing Nunaz and he's like,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: kind of over camp. What do you think some of
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: these veterans are, like, you want them to be playing
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: in real games pictures. I understand, But if it's broken,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: I also understand like he's out, like he's not he's
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: not coming back.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So for the Dominican Republic roster, I mean, it
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: would be a tough loss for them in the WBC
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: if it doesn't end up happening, we'll get more news.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: We don't know a ton yet on what's going on there.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I am going to transition us to for the TV crowd.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: We did talk a little bit during our break about
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: how games have already begune. We're super stoked and while
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: we're on the Astros, Shay Witcombe, you know, he's trying
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: to make a name for himself in the big leagues.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: He hit two home runs for Korea in the WBC,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and his manager on the Astros, Joe Spota, was just
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: asked about it and said, Hey, we're all watching those
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: abs count. We're tracking pitch les and track and quality
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of pitching, hitting, all that kind of stuff. Those at
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: bats count to our spring training count. So I thought
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: that was an interesting quote AJ to say, Hey, I
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: know he can't be here for potentially a couple of weeks,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: but he's still trying to make a team and make
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a place for himself on a ball club, and we're
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: going to count that towards what we're seeing.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: Well, it's interesting take right by Joe spotting the Astros,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: and then also for the player because they have to go,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: They have to leave the team they're trying to make,
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: which is their bread and butter, and which is where
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: they're going to make their money, to go play for
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: their for a country and for glory in the WBC.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: How does the team look at that and how do
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: you evaluate them if they're not here. It's a tough
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: it's a tough thing. We talked to Freddy Peralti yesterday.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: He said, I didn't go to the WBC because it's
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: a contract here and I'm on a new team and
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: I wanted to get to know the new people. So
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: for him to go over there and know that the
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: astros are watching and then to perform like that, that's
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: a big deal. It can only help because these are
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: the front of big crowds, meaningful games early in the year,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: and if he's doing what he keeps doing what he's doing,
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: it's going to help him make the team.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: The competition sometimes can be super high and super low,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: Like you're going to face some dudes of Chinese TYPEI
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: they you'll never see in the big leagues. But you're
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: going to face some dudes when they play against Korea
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: in Japan that you're going to see you're going to
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: see in not even ever even seeing big league spring training.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So it's a hard evaluation. But like Joe Spota said,
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: like they have it all. They have the tracking, they
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: have everything, so they know when he's making good decisions
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: and when he hits a dinger off with somebody that's
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: throwing seventy nine miles an hour.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Let's talk big picture here.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: We've got one more day until the Team USA roster
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: gets to show what it's got in a real game.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: They did two exhibition games where they scored I think
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: twenty nine runs. They played the Rockies in the last one.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: We got to see Kershoff for a couple outs, which
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: was cool, and the team reaffirmed that he's really just
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the breaking glass emergency situation guy.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: What do we think? Who's winning this thing?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And a J do have an MVP and X factor
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: and named to watch something like that. I mean, you're
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: about to go call some games out there too.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: Who do you think I'm gonna say, Scott? Who do
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: you think I'm gonna say? Where am I from? Scott?
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I think you're gonna say New York Courtago in Poland?
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well we need we need, we need a little
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: more love for Polish baseball. By the way, the Polish
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: Baseball Federation needs to figure out a way to get
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: US Polish people into the WBC. But of course I'm
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: going to say USA. I'm from the USA, I'm I'm
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: proud of being in America. I'm proud to be an American.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: So yes, I'm writting for the USA. Who's my X factor?
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: The whole stinking lineup for USA and Aaron Judge finally
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: hitting the postseason? Can he carries that over to the
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: WBC because these are meaningful like postseason games.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Me and keep keep WBC.
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: He's Dominicana, Mi Farito, Barra, Bardaves, Bull, Kieri, Kiero, Kiero, Dominicana,
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: Bara Mucho Dinero part To me, I want the Dominican
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: to win because that's big money for me.
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: I think the Dominican is gonna win. I did something
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: about how their pitching staff has a much better chance
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: of not just being just slinging the rock up there.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: I think they have a pitching staff that matches their lineup.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: Does it Does their lineup match other teams lineups? Absolutely?
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: And I think if the Dominican wins it, I think
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: Junior Cameronaro is gonna be the MVP if they have
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: an MVP. I don't even know. I think if US
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: wins it, I'm looking at like a like a Bryce
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Harper or like an Alex Bregman. Guys that have done
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Team USA, guys that have you know, been there, done it,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: those are gonna be the guys. But to me, I
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: got the Dominican. They're also giving me plus bet MGM
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: was giving me plus four fifty when I locked it in,
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: so I like you.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we talked about this. The lineup can
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: keep up. I think the starting pitching can keep up.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: AJ is kind of shaking his head. What what are
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you shaking your head about.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, no, I'm just listening to the music back there.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have a problem.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're hearing something too in the background. Somebody's got
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: their mic open or something like that.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Just just throwing that out there. All right, anyway, let's
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: show the schedule.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I want to show the schedule because this ties into
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: what we're talking about here with Fox one. Of course,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: you can catch in games on TV two, FS one,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Fox the whole deal. But we've got Japan getting going
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: on Friday. Team USA, do you want to watch Cuba?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Mexico is playing Great Britain. USA is playing Brazil, by
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: the way, and Puerto Rico against Colombia. So tons of games.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of like even more baseball all day,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: all night than the playoffs is for the wildcard rounds, AJ,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: because we've got some funky times with teams in different
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: time zones too. So there's a ton of baseball that
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: you can watch and it is meaningful, and you can
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: catch it all on the Fox one app. So if
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: you would like a free trial, a seven day free
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: trial can come your way foxwe dot com, or you
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: can scan that QR code that is currently on your
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: screen to make that happen as well.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: It's WBC.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: It's the beginning of the baseball season and every Fox Saturday,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: including many AJ games for you all season long. It's
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the postseason, it's the World Series, it's the NFL, it's
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: college football. There's so much you can find on that
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: beautiful Fox one app here we are. Yeah, AJ lay
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: out your schedule for us, so we started to talk
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: about it here. But you've got a couple games, and
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I know you're excited about it. You get a school
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: game in there for Fox.
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I get the two big games on Fox Tomorrow night
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: and Saturday night the USA, both USA games against Brazil
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: and against Great Britain. Then I give it up to
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: John Smoltz and Joe Davis for the next two USA games,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: and then I get to go to Miami for the
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: quarterfinals whatever that one of the quarterfinals on Big Fox,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: which could be I think Dominican, Japan, Venezuela. Whoever makes
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: it through those two pools will be the quarterfinals. And
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: then I give it up again to Davis and Smoltz
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: to do the Semis in the finals. So I'm looking
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: forward to So you guys know how much I love
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: the WBC, and I mean, just to get to be
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: around the USA team for a couple of days is
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: going to be. It's gonna be pretty pretty solid thing
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: to walk in there and see basically an all star
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: team playing against. Listen, let's be honest, Brazil and Great
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: Britain don't have the greatest rosters, but hey, it'll be
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: It'll be hopefully a nice tune up before Mexico and
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Italy step up to the US.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I know, yeah, And I was gonna ask Aja, you
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: know you've gone to many clubhouses all year, You're at
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: many spring training spots right now, how do you think
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it's going to feel for you when you walk into
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a clubhouse that's I mean beyond all star status, right,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: It's like superstar status in that clubhouse. Everybody in one
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: spot too. It's not even al and n outside. It's
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: just like the biggest names in the sport all in
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: one place. You walk around in your first glance, like
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: looking at the.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Lockers, Uh, what's it gonna feel like?
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna, well, I'm happy we have FT and I'm
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: happy that I have the Fox job because I know
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: most of these guys, a lot of them through for
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: having them on Foul Territory, so it's not intimidating. I
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: remember when I first started doing this job for Foul
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Territory and for Fox, when you walk into a locker room,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: you're kind of intimidated by going up to guys. But
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: now that we've had most of them on, it's an
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: easy go up to them, say hi, appreciate everything you're doing,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: and of course I'm gonna give them a little pat
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: on the butt and say let's go USA.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, let's do a quickie injury suck segment here. Hunter
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Green has some elbow issues. He's going to get an MRI.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: No UCL damage on this elbow, but apparently it was
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: barking in the last five or six starts, he said.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Of last year where he had elbow.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Discomfort, he said it was a playoff push, so I
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: pushed through it felt fine in the off season, said
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: he got an injection about a week before spring training,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: discomfort came back. Apparently there's some bone chips going on
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: there as well. Terry Francona talked about Hunter Green. Here's
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the quote. He's just not recovering the way he's comfortable.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Ball's coming out pretty good. You're asking a guy to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: go out there and throw as hard as he can.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: We need to make sure he's okay, you know, just
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: talking about again how he's going to meet with doctor
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Kremchik this week and then doctor Ela trash Ela Trosh
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I should say on what is it Monday? So stay
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: tuned on the Hunter Green front. And then that's the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: quote from Hunter Green that you're looking at on the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: screen right now.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: But AJ, that's not good. This is the big boy
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: on the staff.
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: This is not good.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: And I remember him talking about this last year the
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: Reds kind of they were trying to keep it quiet,
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: but it did get out that he was dealing with something.
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: So now we kind of know what it is.
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: You just hope it's best case scenario and it's something small,
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: minor that where he doesn't have to have the old
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: Thomas Jonas. But yeah, this sucks with the Reds because
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: the Reds are expected to really compete this year and
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: so we'll see they still have listen, they still have
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: a good staff without Hunter Green, but they're much better
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: staff with Hunter Green leading the charge. Tough because I
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: still feel like the Reds are a team that if
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: this lineup, Maddy McClain just hit a oppo dinger the
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: other day, like is he healthy? Is Ellie take the
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: next step? South Stewart gonna be the guy that he
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: kind of was is his rookie year, and like take
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: another step. I feel like this lineup could join this
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: pitching staff. But when you lose your number one, therefore
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: they have other guys that can be number ones also
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: that can be that like solid number two.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: But you know you just can't. You can't replace one
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: hundred Green if they miss him for a significant amount
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: of time.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: One other quick injury noe too, Andrew Kittridge has right
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: shoulder inflammation for the orioles. He's not low probability that
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: he'll be ready for opening day. That's the one thing
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. With Baltimore. I'm not sure
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: about the bullpen there, so keep an eye on that.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: And it's not just you get your bullpen's got to
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: be tight in that division. Much more injury news each
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: week on Injury Territory with Will Carroll. It's one of
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: our newest shows, so make sure you give them a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: sub on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. At
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: MGM Futures, we are all about the World Baseball Classic now,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: which has officially begun and Friday starts the journey for
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Team USA.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: So, guys, today, let's look at their pool and the futures.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Of course, setting USA at minus seven hundreundred seven hundred
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: bucks to win one hundred bucks if you've.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Got them winning the pool.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: After that is Mexico at plus six hundred, Italy at
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: plus twenty five hundred, and I'm basically going to stop there.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I think you should stop there too. Could there be
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: an upset of Mexico or Italy over USA? Sure it
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: could happen. Is it likely to happen?
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Hell no?
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: So guys, is there any value here? Like, for example,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: could Mexico pull this off? They've done it before AJ
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and there is some legit major league talent there. I
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: would have liked to see Todd Bradley on this roster.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: He ended up not going over with Team Mexico, but
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: I could have seen someone like that. Stuff wise can
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: shut down a lineup for a few innings and then
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: mix and match with a few other big league guys.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: But what do you think is there any value with
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Mexico winning out in that pool, including beating USA and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: making some serious money.
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: You know you're looking at Mexico. I actually like Italy.
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: We had lake u Terra on here, who was I
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: believe the bench coach for Italy last time. They got
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: some legit big league players on Italy. Now I don't
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: know if they're pitching it get them through, but they
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: got some hitters on that team and they've had special
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: runs before. So Italy it was it's twenty five plus
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: twenty five hundred, that would be the one I'd be
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: looking at. I think I think you look in Mexico
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: and yes they have a good team, but I think
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: USA will be really fired up. The US could take
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Italy a little bit lightly, and let's not forget it's
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: one game. All they got to do is beat them
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: that one game, and if they do that, then they
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: can win the pool.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: So if you're looking for me for the value, it's
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: not in Mexico. I go big as you guys know.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I go Italy.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: I'll take I'll take the Mexico at plus six hundred
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: because they have beaten Team USA, and I think there's
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: a big caveat there. Yes, they might not have the pitching.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: If you had TODJ. Bradley lined up, that would be awesome,
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: but they don't. They might be pitching their better pitchers
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: to make sure they get through and don't run into
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: a stinker against Italy and be the team that gets
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: knocked out. So to me, I think I think Mexico
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: could do it because of the fact that Alijndra Kirk
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: is on this team. You have a big league catcher
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: that knows how to call games in big games. I
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: think there's some value there at plus six hundred.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you look at Team Italy, Aaron Nola and
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Michael Lorenzen part of the rotation, and then you look
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: at the bullpen, there are some names you should know.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Ron Meyernaccio has been up and down in the bigs
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: for a while. Adam Outavino is pitching, Greg Weiser is
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: on that roster, Gordon Grisefo. I mean, these are some
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: names that can throw some innings and record some outs
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: So I like both.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: It's interesting, it's bold, but there's a reason why the
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: plus twenty five hundred and the plus six hundred is there,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: so go check that out. And then also if you're
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: betting on the WBC, it's all available for you on
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the betmgm app and at betmgm dot com. You can
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: secure yourself a little odds boost token to score a
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: bigger payout, so you can make that WBC moment a
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: little bigger. Activate your odds Boost token for any WBC
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: bet and you'll receive a bigger payout if that bet
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: comes through. Gambling problem more concern, Call one eight hundred gambler. Hey,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: we've had an awesome run so far with the camps.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I think we're about halfway through the tour, so we'll
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: finish up this week as we talked about the calendar
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: earlier with the Houston Astros, and then keep going in Florida.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: But sometimes it's cool when we have a conversation with
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: someone aj like Miles Michaels today and then he goes
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: out to pitch a game which is about to begin.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: But also a young prospect like Carson Benge who was
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: on the show yesterday and then hit.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: A little homer.
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: That's what happens. You come talk to us, good things happen. Scott.
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: That's all I'm gonna say are some Benji lost a chest,
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: but he hit a homer, so he won.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: He did there it is opposite field blast posted on
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: the Baseball America Twitter account. One of the Mets top
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: prospects trying to make the team.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Remember Krats.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: When we spoke to him, I was like, hey, they
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: left a lane open for you, and he was like, no,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I'm in this competition with all these guys, these veterans,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Like I know, but if he does that, he's opening
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: day out there.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Dingers are dingers oppo dingers. Help you make the team?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: M good call Krats? Hats? What do you got?
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: I used them this year, but this last year's spring
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: training hat. Don't be confused. I always show it. It
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: might be the Twins hat, but it's the NAT set.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Right now, there's more pride with the Nats than than
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: what the Twins have going on right now. Sorry, I
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: had to do it, and you know what, I'm not
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: even gonna be on that day so I can talk smack.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: But anyway, Yeah, we can show the calendar again one
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: more time. We might as well while I'm bringing it up,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: so we can see where AJ's going after this now Friday.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: AJ won't be on the show.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: We'll actually have Danny Graves joining us from Astro's camp,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: and I think that camp is fascinating because of the
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: infield lockjam that they're dealing with. Then we've got Braves Raised, Orioles, Twins,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Red Sox. The Foul Territory calendar is engineered by Fastenall
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: ajf bun dude, you're calling WBC right right.
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: I'll see you guys, USA versus Brazil, usavers Great Britain.
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: I'll see you guys tomorrow night on Fox, on Big
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: Fox and Fox one.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: And on the Fox one app. And then AJ and
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: I will be in the studio together on Monday. Kevin
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Pillar will be at Braves camp. So a lot happening.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: We'll see a Friday