Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / Angels trade breakdown, Josh Lowe scouting report with Marc Topkin

Transcript

Angels trade breakdown, Josh Lowe scouting report with Marc Topkin · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo Territory,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: which is part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm Mike
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: di Giovanna, former La Times sportswriter, joined by my co host,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: former Angel slugger Mark Trumbo, and today we welcome to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the show Mark Topkin, longtime sports writer for the Tampa
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Bay Times. Mark is the only writer who has covered
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: the Rays since their inception in nineteen ninety eight. So
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: welcome to the show. Mark, Thanks for joining us. As
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you might guess, the topic today is the three teen
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: trade the Angel swung on Friday with the Rays and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Reds. The Angels are getting Josh Lowe, a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: left handed hitting outfielder, from the Rays, and in turn,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the Angel said left handed reliever brought Burke to the
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Reds and a minor league pitcher named Chris Clark to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the Rays, and the Reds sent infielder Gavin Lux to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the Rays. Now, Keith Law of The Athletic wrote of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: this trade quote he called it a three team deal
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: that works for everyone. While technically I guess that's true,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the Angels certainly needed a left handed bat, the Reds
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: needed a left handed reliever. The Rays needed an infielder.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I'm just not sure how this deal works for the Angels.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Lowe was a pretty good player in twenty twenty three
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: at an eight thirty five OPS, twenty homers, eighty three RBIs,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: but the last two years were not very good at all.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: And last season he hit two twenty with a six
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: fifty ops, eleven homers, forty RBIs and one hundred and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: eight games. He was solid against right handed pitchers with
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: a seven to twenty seven OPS, but four point fifty
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: nine ops against lefties. Now that's not the kind of
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: bat that's going to replace Taylor Ward's thirty three homers
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and one hundred and thirty one hundred and three RBIs.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But I don't want to just dismiss this trade before
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: getting a more complete picture of this guy, and for
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: that will turn to who was covering him in Tampa
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Bay for the last five years, Mark. What are the
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Angels getting in Josh low.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Well, they're getting a really good guy, which I know
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: from the clubhouse culture standpoint, a lot of teams have
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: put value on and that's definitely something Josh is known for.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: He's a very athletic person, went healthy but that's been
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: kind of the issue is staying healthy. The last two
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: seasons started with injuries. He was hurt in spring training
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: in twenty four and started the season on the il,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: and then there was like a stop and start of
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: he's going to be activated, he's not, and really didn't
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: get going till you know, sometime in June. And then
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: last year, you know, did the best shape of his life,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: came into camp, right Mark, that's every player.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: You got to do that best shape of your life.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And then he came in ready to go, had a
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: pretty good spring, and then opening day, third at bat
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: of the season, pulls an oblique and that knocks him
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: out for a month and a half or so, and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and just it seems like, you know, timing, obvious is
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: important all hitters, but it seems like timing is a big
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: part of his game. He needs to kind of get
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: it back, and just you know, the combination of miss
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: time not playing well, it just seemed to kind of
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: build on itself and just two really disappointing, frustrating seasons
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: or trumball.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: What did you what was your initial reaction to this
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: deal and what do you feel like Daniels are getting.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I think that I'm open to the idea that it
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: could really work for him. I think they're getting, as
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Mark said, very athletic outfielder to fill a hole. It
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: appears as if he has experienced in all three outfield positions,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: with I believe left field grading out the best, followed
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: by right and then center. Limited experience in center. But
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: you know, when I was looking at the advanced numbers
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: with the bat, I can get into that a little more.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: There were a few things that stood out compared to
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: to his I guess breakout year in twenty twenty three,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: you know, I compared it to his most previous year
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: in twenty five, and there's some questions I wonder that,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: you know, as far as the injuries go, especially the obliques,
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: maybe he tried to implement some of the trend yar
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: swing stuff over the winner or possibly during the season
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: to you know, maximize or keep up with the rest
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: of the league for whatever reason. And I think that
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: that can really lead to those types of injuries in specific.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: So I guess maybe Mark can expand upon that if
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: he saw that or a swing change or anything that
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: looked like it was, you know, deviated from twenty twenty
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: three Toper.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Do you see anything like that.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously not having the technical eye you do Mark,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: But it's what seemed obvious to us was when he
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: came back from the injuries both times and again they
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: happened at the start of the season, he didn't have
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: that natural swing, like he was protecting himself a little
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: bit as he would swing, and I think that's what led,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: you know, to to some of the strikeouts, to some
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: of the not hard hit balls.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: So I don't know about the change.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe that led, if any factor, on him getting hurt,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: but I do think once he came back, you just
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: did not see him cutting loose and kind of taking
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: that all out, super smooth swing. So he has a
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: nice swing when he is right, you know, it's one
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: of those guys where you said he a sweet swing
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: and kind of thing, and he does have that ability,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: but it just didn't seem like he was able to
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: cut loose in twenty four to twenty five when he
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: came back from the oblique injuries.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: That injury and specific is one that you come back generally,
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: you know, depending on how severe it is, and it's
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: always going to kind of linger and you'll feel it.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: And I think that you got to kind of push
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: through it to some degree. I doubt, you know, I
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: don't think I had one specifically. I had maybe minor ones,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: but never something major. And I think it's kind of,
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: you know, you tolerate it, hopefully you don't reaggravate it.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: But he might have been battling that for the majority.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: And then if what you saw, you know, look like
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: somebody that was guarding their swing and not really cutting
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: it loose, then I am almost certain that's probably what
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: was going on. DJ. If you want just briefly, I'm
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: enough to look down with some notes, but you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: some of the quick stuff this is savant. I think
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: it's very useful at times. They put ratings and values
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: on batting. He was plus fourteen and twenty twenty three
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: he was minus fourteen this most previous year. It's pretty
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: big difference his base running as great as a positive
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: both years. We're just going to compare these two years
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: for sake of brevity. His fielding looks like it took
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: a pretty big step back for some reason. It was
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: rated as a minus five this most previous year and
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: our overall negative one twenty three. So maybe we can
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: explore that a little bit. His arm strength seems to
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: have declined somewhat too, and that one in particular pretty
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: out of it. That is within the player's control. He's
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: a younger guy. I don't see any reason why his
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: arms should be declining. Sprint speed also appears to be
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: roughly twenty percent down league, you know, eighty fifth percentile
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: and twenty three sixty seventh percentile in twenty five. That's
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: a step that can be a little troubling, but maybe
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: there's an explanation there.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think the defense was puzzling to the
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Rays too, because I think it was a surprise. He
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: was a pretty good defensive player. He's tall, he's athletic,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: he's fast. I mean, he has some instincts, so you'd
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: think that that would be I translated, well, playing the defense,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: and I do.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Think that was surprising him.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: And the lighting at Steinburger Field was an issue last
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: year for a lot of people in the know, the
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: race playing in the minor league ballpark.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: You know, you know, we can go as deep as
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: we want him to these statistics and.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Kind of parse them sometimes how you want to, but
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: you know, that could have been a factor. I know
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: that was mentioned by a lot of teams. In fact,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: I think Trout was one of the first. Angels were
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: one of the first teams in last year, and Trout
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: mentioned that that not being able to see a fly
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: ball does make it a little tougher to play the outfield, though.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I think that was part of it. But I do
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: think Mark, I wonder.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Again, you know the physiological aspect of this more, but
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: you know, having that oblique issue probably has the impact
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: on the throwing too, because I just think he was
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: not able to cut loose, like I mentioned with the swing,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: and I think probably the same with throwing. The running
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: is atle surprise because he is a fast guy. He
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: had a bunch of stolen bases in that twenty three season.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: He's really good. He has probably high percentage. I think
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: at one point he had one of the highest percentages
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: ever over x amount of attempts like that, So he's
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: smart in his base running.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: He kind of prides himself on not getting caught.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: But I do think the overall speed did seemed limited too,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: So I don't know, it just felt like he was
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: maybe never like one hundred percent healthy.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Once he got hurt at the start of last year.
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: Nobody likes a bloated cell phone bill. It can consume you,
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: it can take over, it can be very annoying. So
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: I know that twenty twenty five ended crafts and that's
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: when you have your end of your sales, but there
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: actually is still one sale that is running until the
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: end of the month.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Mindmobile, they still have their fifty percent off their unlimited
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: premium wireless offer that you got to go and get
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: and take advantage of it because it's not necessarily.
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: Going to be around all the time, and all plans
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: come with high speed data and unlimited talking text delivered
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: on the nation's largest five G network. Quit overspending on
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: wireless with fifty percent off Unlimited Premium wireless plans start
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: at fifteen bucks a month at mintmobile dot com slash territory.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: That's mintmobile dot com slash territory. Limited time offer upfront
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: payment of forty five dollars for three months, ninety dollars
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: for six months, or one hundred eighty dollars for twelve months.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: Plan required fifteen dollars per month, equivalent taxes and fees
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: extra initial plan term only over fifty gigabytes may slow
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: a network is busy capable device, required availability, speed and
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: coverage varies see mintmobile dot com.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: DJ If you I'll just wrap this up on the
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: stat side so you know, we can get it out
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: of the way. It's been mentioned, but as ground ball
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: rate did go up forty six point six percent, the
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five ORAS in twenty three was a thirty
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: nine percent rate, so that can be a fairly significant jump.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: The biggest thing that stood out when kind of trying
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: to figure out, maybe you know, offensive explanation wise, his
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: battleball profile, especially in the air. Most people they really
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: want to hone in on the pull side, you know,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: the pole side air contact, and for obvious reasons, it's
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: a very trendy thing. Now his is virtually unchanged very little.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: But what did change quite a bit was his percentage
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: of contact to the middle of the field. That dip
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty three was a twenty three point five
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: percent of his battleballs, with twenty five it was sixteen
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: point two percent. So it looks like he and maybe
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: the field itself.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Had a big.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: That could be a big reason why maybe center field
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: played very unfriendly at Steinbrenner as opposed to the trop
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: although the trap but felt was pretty neutral. But though
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of things that can play into that,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: but that that did kind of stand out to me,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: that he's not using maybe the gaps as much or
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: just taking shots at dead center, where he seemed to
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: be doing a lot of that a couple of years ago.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Let's we're gonna talk a little bit more about Josh Low,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: but let's talk a little bit about what the Angels
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: are giving up in this trade. Brockburk was a pretty
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: good left handed reliever for the Angels last year. Now
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Drew Pomerantz veteran lefty, a guy who can, you know,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: probably take over that role as the lead left in
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the bullpen. But I don't know. Most seem like most
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: competitive teams have at least two good lefties in the bullpen.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo, do you see a pretty big void there.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: I think it's one that can be filled. I think
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: this was a calculated decision knowing that they're gonna have
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: to give up something to get something. I think Rockburk
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: had a very nice season last year. He seemed to
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: blossom playing for the Angels, which is a really nice
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: thing and probably spoke to a nice connection with the
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: staff at the time, and now that staff has changed.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: He was with Mike Maddocks in Texas. It didn't look
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: like the results were near as good, So I don't
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: know if that maybe had a little bit to do
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: with it. I doubt that though. I think that they
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: just wanted to get a every day or a potentially
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: every day outfielder. We can talk about how they may
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: use him with his platoon splits, but you know, they're
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: banking on a guy they could really have a nice
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: bounce back season and return to form in a big way.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: And I think that Brady Anderson and John Abray have
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: the track record and the credibility to really get this
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: guy back on track.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Arper, you mentioned best shape his life. There's been some
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: questions about his conditioning and for fans who don't know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Josh Lowe is a big dude. He's six foot four
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: to at least that's what he's listed as. I don't know, Mark,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: is that his actual rate weight? And what did you see,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you know, outside of the injury, you know, was this
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: guy maybe having some trouble with just not being the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: best of shape, maybe the season warm down. What did
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you see anything physically that might have led to some
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of his struggles.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised that you said two twenty I was looking
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: down to see what the media guy had because he's
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: kind of a thin guy. I mean, he actually is
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: a pretty thin guy. So I don't think you know
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: anything as far as like being out of shape overweight.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I can't imagine him. He looked at one of those
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: guys who's never been overweight personally, I mean, okay, kind
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: of you know, sleek, lanky and slim and like I said,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: pretty fast. So I'm gonna just throw it back to
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the injuries. Like I said, it just he's you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: the muscle issues, you get the oblique and then it
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: just seemed like he didn't play free and easy, and
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I think maybe that just kind of led all over
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: to different parts of his game. But I know he
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: had like a different workout routine going into twenty four
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: and maybe that didn't work out as well as he
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: had hoped. He'd had some hit issues in the offseason
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: that year and he tried to work that out. And
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: then just prior to this trade to talk to one
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: of the coaches who said they had heard that he
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: was in really good shape this year, that he had
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: kind of tried something differently and was in super good
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: shape and was, you know, obviously looking forward to coming
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: into camp, which he will do now on the other
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: side of the country here in Arizona and then going
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: out to Anaheim. But I think it's a you know,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: he's just he's a he's still relatively young, he's very athletic.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I think he's pretty driven and wine succeeded. His older
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: brother is obviously a major league player too, Nathaniel Nathaniel Lowe,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: and I do think not to be confused with Brandon Lao,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: who also got trade.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: At the SAFT season.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And every time, I right, I literally just finished the
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: story before you guys called, and we have to use
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the both first names every time because he just can't
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: separate them because even though they're pronounced differently, they certainly
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: look the same four letters in the paper. So I
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: do think Josh is a guy that, you know, maybe
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the fresh start helps. I don't know, you know, he's
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: from the Orlando area, so playing at home was convenient.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: His mom's had some significant health issues, which we'll probably
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: talk about here in a minute, but I think being
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: home helped. So there'll be a little bit of a
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: transition for him. But yeah, maybe sometimes that helps Mark.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I mean again, you you know more than Mike or
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I do. But you know, sometimes players say playing near
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: home is there's some distractions involved with that.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: They like to be somewhere else when they play.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: So this will be something new for Josh and we'll
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: see how he handles it well.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: I have experience with that. There's a lot of requests
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: and a lot of people that are available to come
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: to games, and a lot of them at times, and
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: you can get a little bit expensive. I don't know
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: if everyone knows the tickets work, but they are not free.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: They are there's a percentage, and you know that the
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: players do pay, and normally you'll try and cover as
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: many as you can. But you know, let's say you're
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: playing on the other side of the kind. Maybe you're
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: only coming in for one series as opposed to playing
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: half your game somewhere. So I don't know, especially with
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: an illness in the family, that's you know, a ton
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: to go through all the while trying to put together
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: a nice season. I too looked at it, you know,
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: at least pictures and everything else. He looks like a
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: very fit guy. I'm a little bewildered about any of
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: these talks about being in or out of shape. It
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: seems like something that would never be discussed with a
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: physique like that, but it is being discussed. So I
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: guess we'll monitor.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Mark Tok and what was going on with Josh's mom
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and did that impact him or did he acknowledge maybe
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: that that impacted him in any way during the season.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean she was diagnosed in the summer of
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: twenty three with a pretty aggressive former brain cancer, and
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: he left the team for a few days at one point,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: and you know, kind of was just said to be
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: a personal situation, and he came back and he talked about,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: you know, he's at you know, his stand up kind
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: of guy after gaining and stuff like that. But even
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: in a personal situation, was willing to talk about it,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: and it was a pretty sweet moment. Actually, this season,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the Rays had her come out to a game at
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: steinber in her field and she threw out a first.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Pitch, So that was kind of a big moment.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: But when she was first diagnosed, that was when Josh
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: and Nathaniel were playing together for the first time. They
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: actually had a bunch of like one hundred people coming
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: into Tropic Cana Field to see that and then she
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: she was kind of some you know, one of the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: symptoms hit are really bad during that weekend and they
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: had to get her hospitalized and she ended up getting diagnosed. So, look,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: everyone has things going on, and you know pro athletes
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: people like say they get paid a lot of money,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: that's their job, but you have to you know, there's
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: a compassion factor there too. And you know, small family,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: two boys, parents who are a big part of their upbringing.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: So you could see why, you know, anybody that would
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: be on their mind, and certainly a pro player who's
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: out there, you know, kind of having to do things
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: public and when you.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: Screw up, you have to talk about it.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, something effectory, And I think Josh would say it's
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: not an excuse. He said that many times when we've
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: talked to him, but it is something that's going to
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: be on, you know, his mind. She's had some different
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: treatments last time toward the other season. He said she
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: was doing well, and that that's kind of usually his
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: typical answer. But just something to know about him and
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: the amount of care that he has for her is
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: part of that. I think indicative of what I said
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: at the top about him just being known as a
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: really good guy around the team and in the clubhouse.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Now, Mark Trumble, you've bounced back from a couple of
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: tough years yourself, and you mentioned Brady and John Mabery.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: When you look at this guy's swing, are you seeing
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: anything mechanically, anything approach wise that Brady Anderson and his
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: hitting crew might want to hone in on with this guy.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: I did see as much as I could, and I
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: looked at some of the advanced stuff. He is a
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: tall guy, first of all, so I think one of
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: the things that was Tim Salmon actually was the one
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: that sat me down and said, you know, the bigger guys,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: and he was kind of him and I were. He
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: was parallel in us, and he said, it's always going
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: to take a little bit more to maintain the swing.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: I very really do believe that, you know, six foot four,
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: six foot five or more players as you know, longer
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: limbs and everything to maintain. And he does look like
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: a lankier guy to me, So I think that there's
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: some of that, you know, his if you really want
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: to get into the geeky stuff he you know, to me,
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: he has a very flat swing. You know, his his
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: attack angle is about seven degrees like Julio Rodriguez is
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: also my guy, so that that's on the flatter side
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: of things. But he's got a swing path tilt that's
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: the same as trouts, So essentially the vertical angle of
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: the bat coming into the ball, and if you have
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: a flat swing and a bat that's angled significantly, I
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: don't know, I think that matchup could be improved a
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: little bit. I don't know if all of our audience
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: is all that interested in that stuff, but we can
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: kind of keep going as we go. He also one
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: other note. I know his stance was four point two
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: inches wider in twenty twenty five as opposed to twenty
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: twenty three, So that's not nothing. Yeah, maybe there's an
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: explanation there. But when I looked at him, I thought,
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: maybe he actually is a guy that would be better
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: suited to stand a little bit taller, a little more
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: narrow and uses leverage topper.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Can this guy get back to that twenty twenty three
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: form in your estimation?
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think he can. It's a big ass.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: You can go through those numbers as twenty twenty three
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: numbers and you know, depend how you put them together.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: The only player better in baseball that year was Ronald
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Acuna Junior and he won the Nationalague MVP Award.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: So that was a spectacular season.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, at least among fans here
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: will put it that way, that there was some you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: people started to get frustrated with Josh having the injuries.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Of course adds to that the lack of performance, the inconsistency.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: So you know, maybe the twenty three season is the outlier, right,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: it wasn't the beginning of something. Maybe that was the
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: best season. But I definitely think he is a better player,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: you know, the last two years together, the comprehensive stats
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: to thirty batting average, six to seventy ops for the
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: two years total, you know, well short of what he
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: did in twenty three. I do think there's certainly a
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: better player in there than those numbers show. Maybe not
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: as good as the twenty three numbers, but you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: he is a guy. He's a twenty twenty you know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: maybe even in you know, it would take a lot,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: but a thirty thirty guy he could do the thirty
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: stolen bases. I don't know if he has the thirty
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: homes in him. But he's a twenty twenty kind of player.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: He was a star at Triple A. Obviously, we know
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: that's a big gap and probably even a bigger gap
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: maybe now if you some people say than ever has
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: been before. But you know, he's been in the big
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: leagues enough. He knows what it takes. He's a you know,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: a big you know, he's kind of a big team guy.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: You know, he's frustrated when they lose. You know, always
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: will talk after the games, but you can tell after
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: they lose, you know how frustrated he is.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: He wants to see the team succeed.
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: You know, it was kind of developing into a little
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: bit of a clubhouse leader with the Rays and obviously
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: now you know, we'll certainly probably take a backseat to
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: the other outfielder guy there, Trout, but.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: If they can get him in the field.
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: He's got that in him.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: You know, he's not he's not a raw, raw guy,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: but he's a guy that you know, will point out
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: to players, you know, maybe what they're not doing right
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: to younger players, talk to them, help them. So really
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: a lot of good things to say about him has
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: just been you know, an unfortunate couple of years for
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: him and trying to figure out how to get back,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: stay healthy first of all, and then get back to
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: somewhere close to that level because he is a much
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: better player than he showed the last two years.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned thirty thirty. I just want to remind you,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: as this guy was a first round pick in twenty sixteen,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: I believe thirteenth overall, so you got to think he's
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: got a pretty higher suing than what certainly maybe even
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, but obviously more in the last two years.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: And just going back to the athleticism for a minute,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: he was drafted as a third basement, so he played.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Infield in high school.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, Hill once in a while, like
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: guys do, will take round balls with the infield. There's
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: just you know, for a pre game, just to kind
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: of mess around a little bit. But he has the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: athleticism to play the infield as well, So he's definitely
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: got the abilities physically.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: I was wondering about his and I don't think we've
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: covered this yet. His splits are pretty significant. Is he
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: able to put a bat together against left handed pitching
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: that is at least competitive or is that kind of
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: an area that is kind of a weak spot for him.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: No, I think he had some more success earlier, and
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I think we can go back into the twenty three
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: numbers and a little bit better success there. And also
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: is a guy who wants to play against lefties. I
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: know there's some player and you hear the game who
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: you know in that situation get bent and they're like,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: that's cool, I'm good. I don't I don't need to
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: play against lefty's skip and whatever you think, buddy, but
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: you know, knowing that protects them. Josh would be a
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: guy that when he sat against the lefty was usually
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: ticked off about it because he wanted that challenge and
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: wanted to get out there.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: So I don't know.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Again, we keep going back to the physical I don't
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: know if it's more of an issue left on left
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: than it would be from the oblique thing or not.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: I don't know the physicality of that.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: But he wanted to play against lefties, and I obviously
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: felt like he could do better than he showed, which
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: was not very good.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: No, I'm just wondering, because he is athletic and speed,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: does he does he bunt of all or is that
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: is that part of his.
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: Game that's really not something that the Rays do too
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: much up until they actually started doing it, maybe toward
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: the end of last year, earlier this year, earlier in
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: twenty five and I went to Cash and I was like,
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: what's the deal here?
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: And he was like, we got to figure something out.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: But yeah, the B word wasn't used much around here
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: up until last year.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: So fair enough, fair enough. Let's talk a little bit
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: about Josh defensively in the Angels. GM on Friday said
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: he can play all three outfield positions he's played. I
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: think he's only started twenty or twenty one games in center.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: He's more of a corner guy most of his games
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: in the right. As much as it would benefit the
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Angels for this guy to take over in center, can
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: he play center field?
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Mark Tupkin, I mean maybe outdoors he can.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: I think the Troup was a little it seemed like
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: he wasn't particularly comfortable when he was out there, and
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: I don't think he was in center this most recent
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: season's time Brenner, but he has been more comfortable in
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: right field. That's obviously where they've been playing him. The
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: arm can be pretty good, but I think he should
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: athletically be able to play center field. And like I said,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: maybe in that environment, in that ballpark without the roof,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: as a fit actor, that that helps him settle in
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: out there and do it. But I mean, I could
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: see why the Angels would think that, and and I
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: think he has the physical tools to do it.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: But it's going to take some reps.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: It's going to take some work with the outfield coach
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: and getting used to that and you know, taking charge.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: You always you see that, you know that guy who's
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: in center field, you have to know he It seems
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: like they're under end rolls. The center fielder has to
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: be able to catch every ball he can get to
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: right and you wanted to try to get to many
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: balls he can.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: So and you mentioned his uh, you know, stand up
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: guy in the clubhouse. Any other intangibles that you see
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: that he'd bring Danna him.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I just I just think you know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: his kind of his care for his teammates. You hear
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: people talk about that, and you know, just he'd be
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: the guy that would stick around if somebody had a
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: tough game.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: You know, some guys just bust out of there.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: He would stick around and talk to that guy if
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: that guy wanted to and he was.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Going to go to Florida State.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: You know a lot of these guys have you have
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: some kind of either true or preferred college football elite says,
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: so like he and Taylor Walls who did go and
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: play at Florida State with talk and things like that.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't think, you know, there was there
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: was no no real like bad habits and a lot
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: of just being a good guy in the clubhouse, being
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: a stand up guy.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: And you know, like.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: I said, if you have a team that you know,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: turns over a lot obviously, and they had a couple
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: of guys that were here for a while and Brandon
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Lau was one of them, and then he just got
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: traded as well. But I think Josh was the kind
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: of guy that if somebody didn't understand how something worked,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: you know, he'd explain it to him, whether it was
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: on an arbitration thing or a waiver or you know, DFA.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: Or just whatever it was.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I think he was smart enough to kind of understand
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: most of the rules and the tricks and the tips
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: and even sometimes you know, how do you treat a
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: clubhouse guy, what do you know, where are you going
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: on the road and stuff like that. So I do
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: think he you know, just overall pretty good reputation, uh
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: and you know, just needs to be a little bit
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: better on the field.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: That's really what's why we're talking about him and probably
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: why he got traded.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo, any final thoughts.
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: I'm optimistic about it. I think Mark, you mentioned the
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: clubhouse presence, and I don't think you can ever have
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: too many of those guys. And I think especially with
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: the Angels, I know, you know, you referenced one player,
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: but and it's not a not a critique on Mike,
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: but he's not the most vocal leader. I don't think
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: he's ever felt all that comfortable in that role. I
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: know Joe Adell gave an interview the other day where
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: he was talking about him and Ohapi and that kind
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: of taking on more of a leadership role. And I'm
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: not saying Trout doesn't. He does a lot, but you
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: need a fair amount of guys that will contribute in
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: that area. And I think that's probably why, you know,
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: Perry wants some of these high character, makeup guys and
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: he seems to fit that mold.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you guys will like him, and
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: he gives thoughtful answers. I mean, from a selfish standpoint,
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna miss him because he he was always available, pregame,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: post game, whatever you needed him and always gave you
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: thought full answer, So that that's a big plus. From
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: the media standpoint, is Michael tell you too. I'm sure
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: he probably has. The time.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Doesn't hurt. We've had them all. Thanks for joining us.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you again. Mark Tuck and outstanding baseball writer for
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Times covers the Rays appreciate you joining us.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: That'll do it for this edition of Halo Territory.