Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / MLB Talk with Matt Snyder, Scott Dochterman on College Football & the Hawkeyes & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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MLB Talk with Matt Snyder, Scott Dochterman on College Football & the Hawkeyes & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Hour number two, welcome back. It's Miller and Condon on the
0:02
Iowa Sports Radio Network and off today.
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Back with us tomorrow. But it is Monday during the
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summertime and that means it's time to talk baseball. 1:00 hour
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means baseball with Matt Snyder from CBSSports.com as he joins
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us here. Well, football right around the
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corner. Matt Snyder certainly excited
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about that. But there is something about
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August baseball, the importance of these games after the trade
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deadline, fun weekend overall in a lot of good series in
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baseball. How are you doing today?
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I'm great. Yeah, it's there have been a lot
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of good series and good grief, the Brewers, man, I just this is
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outrageous. 24 and four since July 5th.
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Unthinkable that this team is the one that's doing that and,
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and not just in first place in the National League, but they're
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creating a little bit of separation between them and the
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Phillies and the Dodgers, which is, I mean, unthinkable.
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Go back to this team that we saw the first couple of months of
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the year is Christian Yelich Cook, Dave Churio.
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Is it actually going to happen for him right away?
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This staff? Well, it looks OK, but there's
1:06
no depth anymore. And here they are 73 and 44.
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He mentioned 24 and 4 over the last 28 and no signs of slowing
1:15
down because I mentioned Churio. He's going to be back here
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pretty quick. Yeah, I it's, they've always
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been this current generation of Brewers, you know, going back
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about a decade ago, probably 2017 or so, it started.
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They've always been one of those teams that they play better than
1:36
their personnel looks on paper. They've always been like a punch
1:39
above their weight type team. But just to look at the
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personnel that they had heading into the year and to think
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they're going to have a 5 game lead over the Dodgers and
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Phillies for the best record in the National League, in that
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huge cushion for the best record in the majors.
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I don't think even the most ardent of Brewers fans would
1:57
have agreed with you. They would have said, oh, come
1:59
on, we're not going to be back. Good.
2:01
It's it's absurd just destroying everybody.
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A good summary is yesterday when I saw the score when they were
2:10
losing 5, nothing. Early in the game I texted my
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dad and brother and I said this. The Brewers comeback is going to
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be epic. Sure enough they came back and
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won. Like it's just wow man.
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The National League Central, though, has struggled come
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playoff time. Is that just a small kind of
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weird kind of nuance that happens in playoff baseball, or
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is that still a concern when you look at the depth of, you know,
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what the Coastal divisions are able to spend?
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Where was it, 2019, the last time that a team from the NL
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Central even won a series in the playoffs?
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I didn't realize that I I would just yeah, you're right.
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That was the when the Cardinals got to the NLCS against the
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Nationals then got to be just a coincidence really.
3:00
The funny thing is you could see it continuing.
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Like I could totally see it. You know, it depends on where
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the seeds shake out. But I could see it right now the
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way the Cubs are playing. I could see them losing in the
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wild card round. And I could see if it's like the
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Padres, you could, you could totally see the Padres knocking
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off the Brewers and then the NLDS, something like that.
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And it's a small sample. It's a fluky.
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It can be fluky. They had that Mets series one
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last year. They just gave up that bomb to
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Alonzo in the 9th inning. Yeah, it's more coincidence than
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anything else I would say. But yeah, I I don't as good as
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they look right now, They've they've played at 122 win pace
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since Memorial Day. That surely can't keep up.
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And when's it going to happen? When's the backslide going to
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happen? Will it be in October?
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That it's always a big question. It absolutely is.
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I, I love the makeup of this team.
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I, I love the guy pushing buttons.
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There's a lot to like about this team, but it still tells us the
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gap between them, at least in the betting markets, is
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significant. Between them and the Dodgers and
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the Phillies even to come out and win a Pennant not only win a
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World Series there do you I know betting markets are different
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right but and you're you're a better too Matt so you know
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about betting markets but to see that the gap still is as
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significant as it is between the Dodgers Phillies and then the
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Brewers is that. Fair.
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Yeah, well, as you know, for the Game wars, and this has long
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been a pet peeve of mine, if somebody looks at like, oh, wow,
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Vegas doesn't think the Brewers are going to win the world.
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No, it's the betting public. It's trying to get the most
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action possible on there. There's a tax, generally
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speaking, on the mega market teams, the Yankees always look
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like they're too high. The Dodgers are especially right
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now, are always going to be the favorite because the casual
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sports fans who are throwing money on the bets, they see the
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Dodgers and the Yankees and those things pop out at them.
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The Brewers are not that well known of a team.
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And honestly, there also might be a component to what I just
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talked about where there are also in addition to people not
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really thinking of the Brewers when they think of the the big
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time the best teams in baseball, there also might be a component
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in there that include they cannot keep this up.
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They are not that good, they cannot keep this up.
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That's got to be another factor in there.
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Let's go to the Cubs Cardinals over the weekend.
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The frustration continues. I mean, Matt Shaw's keeping him
5:28
in the game last night. Well, Matt Shaw is the guy
5:30
keeping you alive now. Matt Shaw's been good, you know,
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since the break and he had the one home run.
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He's been good. The problem is nobody else
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offensively has been good for the better part of a month.
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I mean that it's a pretty major concern there.
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And yet I say all that. I opened the show up with this
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today. Matt looked over at Baseball
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Prospectus. The Cubs are still 99.7% to make
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the playoffs. Yes, yeah.
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I mean, they're in terms of a playoff spot still six games in.
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The Reds are 6 game behind them. The Reds are the first team on
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the outside looking in and the cuts are still ahead of the
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Padres, still ahead of the bets, who, by the way, are in a
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complete freefall having lost 1112.
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It's kind of remarkable because like Tucker's awful right now,
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stay at Suzuki's awful right now.
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PCA is awful right now. And yet there's still these bad
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stretches are still basically 500 like they're they're 500
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from the at the time that the Brewers got awesome.
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There were 500 from essentially around 500 from the All Star
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break, essentially around 500 from the start of July.
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They're still finding ways to win games without going into a
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complete tailspin. They still have not been swept
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in a three or four-game series. They're one of the only two
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teams in baseball along with the Reds who hasn't had that.
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So they're not hitting these extended skids like we've seen
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the Tigers having lost 12 of 13. One point the Mets right now is
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the Astros. All of these good teams have
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gone through these horrific stretches.
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The Cubs have kind of avoided those.
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So they're still finding ways to win some games.
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But the Brewers have been so good.
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It's 12 1/2 game difference from I believe the start of June.
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And that's at some point they're they're going to you would
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expect just as I said, the Brewers can't keep playing as
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well. At some point, you would expect
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Tucker's going to get hot again, Stay is going to get hot again,
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PCA is going to get hot again. Until that happens, yeah, you're
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getting carried by your the back end of your order.
7:22
What is the plan for Kate Horton?
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You don't want this guy out there throwing 180 innings yet
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kind of looks like they might need him to throw 180 innings
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this year. I mean, what?
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What's the best thing we saw, You know, Miss Linski in
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Milwaukee? He's got a, you know, a little
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tweak and all of a sudden you put him on the IL?
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Yeah. Did the Cubs need to start
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thinking about that with Horton? I'm sure they already are.
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Last outing he got pulled after 67 pitches.
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I mean, he got through five or five and 2/3 innings, I believe.
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But it was only 67 pitches and Council said we're trying to
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dial them back. We're trying to extend them to
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the end of the year. My hunches once Javier Assad,
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who people might have forgotten about because he's been hurt all
8:02
year and James and Tyone get back, then Horton's going to
8:06
have like lower back discomfort or something going to the
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injured list. That would be my guess.
8:12
You can try to go to a six man rotation once you get those guys
8:15
back if you want, maybe skip him one start.
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But I think they'll probably have a phantom injury injured
8:21
list situation just to try to bring him back at some point in
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September and and then hopefully have him firing and also by the
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playoffs. Because at this point, if you're
8:32
in the wild card round, he's probably your number, your game
8:36
3 starter ahead of Tyon, depending on how Tyon throws
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when he comes back. But it's after Imanaga and Boyd
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right now. I'm Horton, looks like a great
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#3. Yeah, absolutely.
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And if he can do what he's done, what the last basically 8
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starts, I mean, he's been tremendous.
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And I think six of them has to even give up an earned run.
8:52
Why don't jump over to the Cardinals and watching them a
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little more closely this weekend than I normally do?
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They're in this weird purgatory right right now that they're not
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awful. They can't tear it down because
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they believe it's going to impact attendance too much and
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just kind of the way that they are built.
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So they don't want to go that route.
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What do you do if you're Saint Louis and looking towards the
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future? Yeah, well, they have a lot of
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young talent there already. So you're like you said, it's
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it's kind of like a reloading situation instead of a rebuild.
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But like Jordan Walker, who had a home run against the Cubs over
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the weekend, like trying to get him back on track.
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Yvonne Herrera is great, a good young player there.
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Mason Wynn is an exceptional, exceptional defensive player.
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You continue to try to develop him on the offensive side.
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That's three guys. Victor Scott, that's four guys
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right there that you can probably build around.
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So it's I think it's just continuing to do stuff like, you
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know, move away from the veterans, move more towards the
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kids they've got. They've got plenty of guys in
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their 20s who are talented. So it's probably not going to be
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that hard to turn things around as long as they've got to start
10:00
hitting more on starting pitching.
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I think like Miles, Michael Lewis, Eric Fetty, those type of
10:06
moves just aren't aren't working for them.
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Like obviously they didn't even have Fetty anymore, but those
10:11
types of moves just haven't worked for them other than Sunny
10:13
Gray. But they're going to have to go
10:15
out and and try to build a rotation somehow in the
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offseason around like Liberatore, Palante.
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And those guys shouldn't be at the front end either.
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They they need to be like the three and the four starters or
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something like that. So we'll see.
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It'll be interesting because Heimbloom is taking over for
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John Mosley. I can Mosley, it's been there
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forever. So it'll be interesting to see
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how how they turn things over. But my expectation is they're
10:40
not going to get much worse. They're probably just going to
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stay around right here and the until they get better.
10:45
Talking Major League Baseball with mattsnydercbssports.com.
10:48
His power rankings are up right now on CBSSports.com.
10:52
Jumping over to the American League with you, Matt.
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And want to go Astros, Yankees over the weekend.
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So Altuve becomes the 25th player in MLB history, 250 home
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runs, 250 stolen bases. We know the hardware that he
11:05
has. He's a memorable player because
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he's a little guy. Yet there's also the lingering
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cheating scandal with the Astros.
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Is Jose Altuve a Hall of Famer? I think that it, gosh, I was
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going to say yes, I don't know. I don't know.
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People are going to treat. Yeah, I don't know how people
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are going to treat that. The scandal, it's difficult.
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Like Carlos Beltran, for example, was definitely going to
11:29
be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But then that stuff came out and
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he was like considered like the the ringleader of the operation.
11:37
He's probably going to make it this year.
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But he was on his last legs in 2017.
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He barely even played. If people are are considering,
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hey, the Astros were cheating through 2019, It is.
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That's a lot of Altube's prime is MVP he's included in there.
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So I, for me personally, I'm still going to vote for him.
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But I, it's, it will be very, I'll be very interested to see
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once, you know, once he retires and then once he gets his five
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years to see what the discussions are like around him
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in that offseason. When it's, I always call it Hall
12:13
of Fame season when we talk about the Hall of Fame for like
12:16
6 weeks. I'll be very interested to see
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what a lot of the voters who did not vote for Beltran in the
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first try, or obviously it's not PEDs, but some of the how the
12:25
people have treated the players who have been connected to PEDs,
12:28
what they have to say. I'll be very interested to see
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how that goes. I don't know.
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It's kind of 5050 in my head right now.
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The more I'm talking through it because I, like I said, I'm
12:40
going to be a yes, but I could see a lot of people saying no,
12:44
no, he was cheating through 2019.
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So I yeah. And I think in a way, him being
12:50
small, which made him, you know, kind of this cult figure, right,
12:53
this little guy out there doing at this level and it.
12:57
Yes. And he's got pop that goes along
12:59
with him. Just how crazy it is a guy
13:00
that's 5-6 hitting with that kind of power.
13:03
But then he couple it with the cheating scandal.
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I think it maybe impacts him even more because he is a little
13:08
guy. If he was just a normal 511
13:11
squatty kind of guy out there playing second base, I think
13:13
it'd be different. But because he's so small, it
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kind of goes hand in hand and making him maybe I don't know,
13:18
more culpable in the whole argument that's going there yet.
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He's even doing it late in his that that's going to be an
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interesting one in a lot of conversation.
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I'm with you. I think he is a Hall of Famer.
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But well, we still got time to see before that one.
13:30
Don't look now, Matt Snyder, but the Cleveland Guardians are 1/2
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game out of overtaking the Yankees for the last playoff
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spot. Man, they lose.
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Class A, they've lost two of their top end relievers.
13:42
This team, this organization, I mean you talk about, you look up
13:46
and down and and outside of Quan and Ramirez, you say this team
13:49
sucks, yet here they are half game out.
13:52
Exactly what I said with the Brewers, the Guardians, or
13:55
another one of those teams that always just seems to put punch
13:57
above their weight and look better than they should or win
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more games than it looks like on paper.
14:03
Funny thing though, like, remember it was just over a
14:06
month ago that they lost 10 games in a row and then word
14:09
started to circulate that they were going to trade Stephen
14:11
Kwan. They were going to trade
14:12
Emmanuel Coste. That was obviously before the
14:13
investigation. In my head was like, well, why
14:16
wouldn't they just trade Jose Ramirez?
14:17
Then what? Just over a month ago we were
14:19
thinking about that. Now they're half came out.
14:22
Kyle Sarto right now is out of his mind hot.
14:25
Seven home runs in his last 20 games, 19 RBI.
14:28
Pitching is coming around. That's what they do as an
14:31
organization. They're so good at developing
14:33
pitching, getting the best out of guys on the mound.
14:36
Their bull pen last year was one of the best bullpens of all
14:39
time. Early in this season it was
14:41
really, really struggling. But now he's got Class A under
14:44
investigation and it doesn't matter.
14:45
Their bullpens great. Again, it's it's unbelievable
14:48
the way that they do things. A testament to that front
14:51
office, such a good front office that identifying where they can
14:56
help guys, that they can get the most out of guys.
14:59
And we've seen them so many times trade guys, trade
15:02
Francisco Lindor years ago. This time, this past offseason,
15:06
it was Josh Naylor that they traded.
15:08
And now we've got Kyle Manzardo hit hitting, really, really
15:11
swinging a really, really hot bat.
15:13
It's again, it's just a great well run organization.
15:17
If you could only pick one team moving away from betting public,
15:22
those kind of things, one team to win the AL Pennant right now,
15:25
who would it be and why Is it the Seattle Barriers?
15:30
I was going to say, yeah, it might be yours because Ayu Genio
15:35
Suarez has not hit at all. He's been terrible since they
15:37
acquired him. You would expect that at some
15:39
point they'll get going again. Josh Naylor adds a nice just.
15:45
I know he's a big bigger looking guy, but he's more of a batsman.
15:50
Like a good batting average takes his walk sports great at
15:52
bats that's resonating through the lineup.
15:55
And like since those trades, the best player they've had has been
15:58
Julio Rodriguez. He's been outstanding and
16:01
they've got a Rose Arena having a very good year.
16:03
Obviously Cal Raleigh and the MVP conversation, the best
16:06
hitting catcher of all time right now this season in terms
16:09
of an individual one individual season.
16:12
And then that pitching good rotation, good bullpen, good
16:15
closer. Like, yeah, they, they, they're
16:18
a good, they'd be a good bet. But the other one I was thinking
16:21
about was the Blue Jays. But, and they other than that
16:25
series against the Rockies, which was they outscored them
16:27
like 45 to 6, They've been struggling the last few weeks
16:30
other than that series against the Rockies.
16:32
So, but like I said earlier, like almost everybody has had
16:37
these awful stretches. So it's just hard to know.
16:40
It's going to be so unpredictable.
16:42
So Javier's coming back for the Astros.
16:45
They're also going to hear maybe by the end of the month they're
16:49
going to get Alvarez a back out there.
16:52
They have not hit their apex yet.
16:54
And even though a Seattle's chasing them down Houston, they
16:58
have the pedigree certainly. Do you like the makeup of this
17:00
team? Those they're going to get some
17:01
of these veterans back? Surely, yeah, it's I mean, it
17:05
seems like the Carlos Correa has been rejuvenated and rejoining
17:11
the team and stuff like that can be contagious and feels like
17:14
once now they have Correa back along with Altuve in there.
17:18
Jeremy Pain, you came back from injury when you're done returns
17:21
the lineup. I feel like they'll have like a
17:23
we're just getting the band back together feeling and though they
17:25
can kind of ride those good vibes.
17:28
Yeah, the pitching has been a problem, but as you said,
17:31
they're going to start getting guys back.
17:33
They've had 4 rotation guys hurt who are all kind of working
17:38
through their rehab at the same time.
17:39
The biggest name obviously is Christian Javier, as you said,
17:45
but there's a couple more coming in there.
17:47
JP France, Spencer Getty just came back and Luis Garcia also.
17:53
So like we'll see on the on the terms of the makeup, how it all
17:56
comes together. But they definitely will have
17:58
the talent in it to get it done. They they, of course, have not
18:02
played well ever since it was they swept the Dodgers in LA and
18:06
then there were 20 games over 500.
18:08
And it's like, wow, they're the best team in the league.
18:11
And they've had all these injuries.
18:12
What's going on here? And they've gone 11 and 17 since
18:16
then. So they, again, another one of
18:18
those teams that's really, really struggling.
18:19
But they've got guys coming back.
18:21
They're starting to look better. They won that series against the
18:23
Yankees. They'll be formidable heading
18:26
toward the postseason. Jim.
18:28
Paywall becomes the first female Major League Baseball umpire.
18:33
Just tremendous. I I thought the press conference
18:36
was great and breaking through a barrier that sure a lot of
18:40
people thought maybe would never happen.
18:41
Pretty pretty important moment this weekend in the Braves
18:44
Marlin Series. Yeah, it was cool.
18:47
I she's going to be held to an unfair standard by a good number
18:52
of sports fans. We have so many sports fans who
18:55
are closed minded on that front and it's just because it's a
18:58
woman she's going to every single.
19:00
I already saw a bunch of crap on Twitter about two strike calls
19:05
that she had that were that should have been called balls
19:07
and they were they were missed calls.
19:08
But she's going to be overly, overly scrutinized.
19:12
I I like it. I hopefully she does a great job
19:15
the rest of the year because that can pave the way for more
19:17
than it. It should be a meritocracy.
19:20
It shouldn't matter if your gender is just are you good
19:23
enough? It's as simple as that.
19:25
So we needed a trailblazer here. She's that trailblazer.
19:29
Finally, a selfish one. Are you hearing anything at all?
19:32
I in the Twins category, obviously.
19:35
Let's talk about my favorite team.
19:36
Who? What?
19:37
A series over the weekend. They're playing better after
19:39
trading off everybody. Yeah.
19:42
When it. Comes to ownership and the poll
19:44
ads are just disgusting, terrible people as it pertains
19:47
to owning a Major League Baseball franchise.
19:51
Have you heard any names? Because every time I hear from,
19:54
you know, a Twins writer or somebody in Twins Twitter that
19:57
it sounds like it's getting close, there's never any names
20:00
attached. Have you heard any names
20:01
potentially attached to the Twins sale?
20:05
No, not at all. So I know, I'm sorry, I don't
20:09
know. Yeah, it's, it's hopefully
20:13
somebody that will be more interested in spending like the,
20:18
the, the model For me it, it was Peter Seidler with the Padres.
20:23
And you know, it remains for me John Middleton of the Phillies
20:26
who said I don't do this for the money.
20:29
I look at it as a partnership with the fan base and and so
20:32
that's why they spend a crapload on salary on player salary.
20:36
You. You wish that.
20:37
There was more of that and Minneapolis, Saint Paul, it's
20:40
not a small market, it's middle market.
20:43
So they can keep up with some of these things like they they
20:46
could keep up with the the Braves, for example, in in terms
20:49
of spending. So hopefully it's somebody who
20:51
will view it less as a money making vehicle and more as an
20:57
opportunity to have a partnership with fan base, the
20:59
way that John Middleton phrases it that would.
21:01
Be nice. I'm not holding my breath
21:03
though. Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com joins
21:05
us as he does each and every Monday during the course of the
21:08
summer months. It is always great to catch up
21:11
with you, Matt. We'll talk to you again soon.
21:13
All right, take care, Matt. Snyder weekly on Miller and
21:16
Condon kicking off the one O clock hour When we get to
21:18
football season, Matt, we'll move to Tuesdays because we just
21:22
have something so much to recap over the weekend and sets up
21:26
pretty well. But a couple more weeks here in
21:28
his Monday slot with Matt Snyder.
21:30
Coming up next, we're talking with Scott Dr. Man to look
21:32
around college football thoughts on the AP Top 25 to release
21:37
Texas is #1 Cyclones check in at #22 We'll talk about that more
21:42
with Scott Dr. Man as we continue.
21:44
It's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. 1. 32
21:52
on a Monday. It's Miller and Condon on the
21:53
Iowa Sports Radio Network, taking up until 2:00.
21:58
Sean and Lucas waiting in the wings.
22:00
I'll get you started at two. Time to take a look back at what
22:03
we saw over the weekend at open practice from kids Day.
22:06
Plus more on college football. Scott Dr. been from the athletic
22:11
college football writer joins us here to kick off the week.
22:15
Doc busy weekend. I know for you lot going on now
22:18
what you're you're diving into some numbers.
22:20
How are you doing today? I'm doing.
22:23
Well, you know, I, I didn't go to school to be an account, but
22:25
it seems like it right now, you know, going through a bunch of
22:28
spreadsheets stuff on another, you know, kind of heavy money
22:32
run, you know, money story. So, but other than that, now
22:35
everything's going well. So I hope things are going well
22:37
for you and and mighty Des Moines.
22:39
Oh, absolutely. Things are going great here and
22:42
that kind of goes hand in hand with the piece that you wrote
22:44
last week at The Athletic. That is something that I'm
22:48
always very interested in, but I'll be honest, it's very
22:51
difficult to kind of wrap my mind around.
22:53
And that is private equity trying to become a piece of
22:57
college football, college athletics as a whole.
22:59
And Ross Bjork, the AD at Ohio State, he said something that
23:03
that just really caught my attention in your piece.
23:06
He said, quote, it may be impossible because you're truly
23:09
a public entity, UN quote. I mean, that says it all, right?
23:12
They're trying to manage this world.
23:14
As we know, college athletics, that is a business.
23:16
But we're still a lot of times in the Big 10 talking about 16
23:20
public institutions. That is the most difficult piece
23:24
when you start to deal with with private equity and and private
23:29
firms and and the money that comes along with the capital
23:32
that does is that you're dealing with state institutions.
23:35
It's like basically lending that type of money for a piece.
23:40
Of. Your state government.
23:41
And that doesn't work very well, especially when you have as many
23:45
diverse states as the Big 10 does. 14 states, 16 public
23:49
universities, you just can't own a piece of, you know, whatever
23:54
program, their, their, their university and whatever, it just
23:57
isn't going to work that way. So when it comes to private
24:01
equity, that's something that it's probably going to have to
24:05
be more at the conference level. And, and even then there's a lot
24:09
of reservation. But I know the Big 12 really
24:12
looked at it, ACC and SEC sorted it and individual schools like
24:16
Florida State did as well. But it's really hard to put up
24:19
the kind of collateral to make it happen.
24:22
And then also you kind of wonder what are you going to give up to
24:27
get that kind of money? Now the Big 10, any kind of
24:29
private equity deal that they're going to get is going to, you
24:32
know, it's going to have 9 zeros, it's going to have a
24:34
billion dollars plus. And but if they're going to do
24:38
that, what do they give up? And, and the most part it'll be
24:42
probably percentages on future earnings or something that in
24:47
fact of their media rights, which of course they still own
24:49
39% of BTN. That's still a lot to give up.
24:54
And I think a lot of their investigation was done before
24:59
the house settlement was approved.
25:01
So at this point they're still looking into it.
25:03
They're still not saying no to anything, but they are very, I
25:09
would say very cautious in how they're approaching this today.
25:12
The. AP Top 25 comes out Texas #1
25:16
followed by two Big 10 teams in Penn State at #2 in the
25:19
defending champion Buckeyes at #3 It's a poll.
25:23
You know, we see so many polls throughout the course of the
25:25
year. It feels like sometimes maybe we
25:27
get a little bit of group think the coaches polls already out
25:29
there. Was there any take away, though?
25:31
Anything that left you scratching your head or saying,
25:34
yeah, I think they got this one right.
25:37
I think this one was a better poll than what we saw last week
25:41
with the coaches. The coaches had Ohio State ahead
25:45
of Penn State and and I think at this point you've got to grade
25:49
them how you see them going into the season.
25:51
And I think in some cases there's a, you know, you kind of
25:56
look at things differently where you're if you're putting Ohio
26:00
State ahead of Penn State, you're projecting them to be
26:02
there versus Penn State already has the roster in place to
26:06
deserve to be there. And Penn State was only five
26:09
points away from Texas in the AP.
26:11
But I, I would say that this one is probably, you know, right,
26:15
Clemson is 4th instead of 6th. I thought that was a little low.
26:19
I think they've got a really good team coming back and, and,
26:22
you know, and some of the other teams, I think we're also in
26:25
there now. You know, Iowa State was down a
26:28
little bit compared to where they were.
26:29
I think once one spot, you know, then in the coaches bowl and
26:33
Kansas State's up what, 3 spots from where they were in the
26:36
coaches poll. But, you know, I, I think that,
26:39
you know, it's all about kind of differences of opinion.
26:41
I I think the poll has been fine this, this one and and what came
26:46
out last week there. Is a group of three teams that I
26:49
couldn't put together from the SEC in the Big 10.
26:52
Those surprise teams from a year ago, Illinois, South Carolina
26:56
and Indiana. Now for all three of them, just
26:58
the way that I work, I'm probably going to be fading them
27:01
a lot this year. I, I, I need to see it from
27:03
programs like that to stack up back-to-back kind of years of
27:07
Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina.
27:09
Who do you believe in the most this year that is going to
27:11
continue what they build a season ago?
27:15
It's got. To be Indiana for me.
27:16
Of the three, Illinois has the pieces in place that deserve to
27:21
be ranked #1216 returning starters.
27:24
You can bring back a guy who won, you know what?
27:27
3 games with touchdown passes in the final minute or in overtime.
27:31
Left tackle, pass rusher, corner.
27:33
A lot of pieces on the offensive line and running back.
27:36
So Illinois deserves to be there.
27:38
But Illinois has yet to really put it back-to-back together
27:41
forever. They tend to slip back quite a
27:44
bit and last year they were five and one in games decided by a
27:47
score or lesson. That tends to revert the
27:49
opposite direction. We've seen it with Iowa, we've
27:52
seen it with other teams in the in the past and South Carolina,
27:56
I think with Lenora Sellers, I think has got a chance to be in
27:59
that position again. Whether they can win the SEC
28:03
East or get in the playoff is another question.
28:05
They did lose a lot on defense especially, but Indiana, I like
28:10
the way they're they're built. I like the coaching staff who
28:13
they bring back, who they brought in from the portal.
28:16
Fernando Mendoza is a terrific quarterback that I thought
28:19
Curtis work was really good. But I think Mendoza, it's that
28:22
system to a tee and I think they can be really good.
28:25
But I also think that they may not win 11 games again.
28:28
They may never win 11 games again because that was the first
28:30
time they ever did it. So I think all three of those
28:33
teams are good, but I I think Indiana has this longer staying
28:38
power to me. And the.
28:40
Beginning of the schedule for Indian after their joke of a non
28:43
conference, but having that Illinois Rd., the Illinois game
28:46
and then the road trip to Iowa City.
28:48
I mean we're going to know a ton about that team.
28:50
And if they get through that unscathed, I think we're talking
28:52
about sustainability for suddenly Indiana football if
28:55
they play that off. I got one more kind of general
28:57
question and then want to ask you a question or two on Iowa
29:01
football. What you saw over the weekend.
29:03
This is a quarterback question, 2 Upper Midwest teams history,
29:08
but they're likely going to go with freshman Bryce Underwood at
29:10
Michigan, CJ Carr at Notre Dame. High expectations at both
29:14
places, higher at Notre Dame for this season if you had to take a
29:18
guess right now, and that's all it is.
29:19
But what do you think has a better freshman season car at
29:23
Notre Dame or Underwood at Michigan?
29:27
Great question. I I'll go with Underwood.
29:30
I, I mean, when you look at the Big 10 parts of their schedule,
29:34
there's really only one team that stands out as is something
29:39
that they're going to that they should struggle with and they
29:41
haven't lately, and that's Ohio State.
29:44
They, they play a schedule that's that's kind of a match up
29:47
to them, even though they, you know, they go to Oklahoma and,
29:50
and you know, we're, we're kind of almost basing that on history
29:53
because last year, you know, they only want six games.
29:55
Now they've upgraded as well at quarterback in a few other
29:59
spots. But but I like what they have
30:02
around him and especially on offense.
30:05
And I, I think Bryce Underwood, his talent is off the so, so CJ
30:09
Carr, I mean, he's going to be acrylic quarterback, but for
30:12
some reason, I, I do think that, you know, and, and they go, you
30:16
know, Notre Dame go is right in the frying pan right away going
30:19
down to Miami. So I, I think I like Underwood a
30:22
little bit more this year, but well, well, what veins be seen?
30:25
I'm excited to see him both develop and turn into pretty
30:28
good players because I think they both will be I'm.
30:30
Right there with you. Going to be a fun season,
30:31
certainly with both of those programs and seeing them go
30:34
young, which is a little bit different than what we've been
30:36
used to lately in college football.
30:38
Finally, on the Iowa front, you were at Kiddix Stadium on
30:41
Saturday, starts at the quarterback position as we just
30:44
were talking about the quarterback position up and down
30:46
from Granowski. Your take away though on the new
30:49
signal caller for the Hawkeyes. There's a lot I like.
30:52
About him, frankly, I think he he seems to be still fitting in
30:57
the offense and kind of working through the nuances.
30:59
But other than that, he displayed a lot of brains and a
31:04
lot of toughness and and the ability to get rid of the ball
31:07
and put it in good spots. Yeah, he was 10 of 20.
31:09
I had him. Some of those misses were laid.
31:12
There were a few drops, there were some bad placement on a
31:14
couple of passes, but nothing too extreme.
31:17
But he also had some really good throws.
31:20
And and there was not only just the deeper ones, but there was
31:23
one where there was a blitz that kind of was, you know, kind of a
31:27
stunt blitz that left a guy wide open right on his face and he's
31:30
still able to deliver the ball to the wide open player.
31:33
And Seth Anderson, who I was probably most impressed with any
31:36
of the players there. And, and so overall, I like what
31:39
I saw. And, and this also kind of
31:43
important. I I thought I liked what I saw
31:45
at 2:00 and 3:00 at Iowa. Hank Brown and Jeremy
31:49
Hecklinski, I think they've got a pretty good room.
31:52
And I have, I don't know the last time I ever said that.
31:54
Maybe Dave might as well like 1213 years ago.
31:59
Yeah, like that. I mean, it's, it's legitimately,
32:01
you could see all three players start at Iowa or somewhere else
32:06
and and play well, you know, and that's something we just have
32:10
not seen for a decade or more on the.
32:13
Defensive side of the football, when you see good things
32:15
offensively, well, that means there might be something bad
32:18
happening defensively. We saw a step back a year ago
32:21
returning all those guys, yet they took a step back.
32:24
New blood in there. I I like the defensive line and
32:27
the depth that they're building out that defensive line spot.
32:29
But the back seven, that's the question mark what you see out
32:32
of that group when you put maybe the linebacker together with the
32:35
defensive backfield. When it comes to the secondary
32:38
trend, I was probably more impressed with that unit than
32:41
any of the others. I thought that they played,
32:43
they, they made some good plays. They were in the right position.
32:46
A lot of times the throws that were made, they they, you know,
32:52
I really like what they did against the passing game.
32:56
I mean, some of I thought they they looked better than they did
32:59
in the spring against it. And, you know, they were in the
33:02
right position in a lot of cases.
33:04
There were a few times where they had AI won't say a blown
33:07
coverage, but like on the case of the Blitzer, Gronowski beat
33:10
it. It was just a, you know, Rob
33:12
Peter to pay Paul. There was an open receiver
33:14
because they they gave up a a defensive back.
33:16
And so there was a lot and I think the safeties, the then
33:19
counting the cash, I think is really good.
33:22
Thanks. Just to see what happens at
33:23
corner. But they didn't look poor.
33:26
I thought the other day, you know, linebacker is one that I
33:29
I'm going to have questions about for a while.
33:31
And that's, you've got, you know, some veterans who haven't
33:35
really played except on special teams, and they got some really
33:38
talented youngsters who haven't played at all.
33:40
And, you know, how much are they going to push?
33:43
What what ends up in the case there?
33:46
I'm interested in finding out. But the one thing I didn't see,
33:49
I thought, first of all, Iowa's offense was very vanilla.
33:51
It didn't show hardly anything and it really didn't run the
33:55
ball. And I think that might be its
33:57
best Forte right now. So I'd be interested in knowing
34:02
how Iowa's run defense stacks against Iowa's run offense,
34:05
because I think Iowa's run offense could be pretty damn
34:08
good this year, yeah. That right side of the line with
34:10
Dunker over there with peeper, you can see the buzzing peeper
34:13
lights popping there and a couple impressive ones going
34:15
that way throughout the course of Saturday.
34:17
Well, Doc, we got to wait a little bit longer.
34:20
But college football inching closer and closer as we are 12
34:24
days away from week zero. I know you're ready.
34:27
Yeah, most definitely. But you know, I always say don't
34:30
let's not wish our summer away. So I got to, you know, suck it
34:34
up for a little bit before the Iowa State game.
34:36
But you know, hey, I'm excited. I'm always excited for college
34:39
football and everybody else should be too this time of year
34:41
because I think there's two really good teams in this state
34:44
can be. A fun year, doc, Appreciate it
34:46
as always. We'll talk to you again next
34:47
week. OK.
34:49
Thanks for having me. Appreciate you, Scott.
34:50
Dockerman from The Athletic joining us, Great piece up on
34:54
Iowa from over the weekend. What he saw in that private
34:57
equity question still lingering. You can find it over at The
35:00
Athletic. QuickTime out.
35:02
We'll come back on the other side, put a cap on things,
35:04
including my picks of the day presented by Circa Sports.
35:07
That's next. It's Miller and Condon on the
35:09
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Back with you one final time.
35:12
Miller and Condon continues on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
35:16
Bench mob, get ready. You're off the bench coming up.
35:19
Appear in 8 minutes with Sean and Lucas.
35:23
My pics of the day each and every day brought to you by
35:25
Circus Sports. Download the Circus Sports Iowa
35:28
app or for friends over in Illinois, Circus Sports Illinois
35:33
app. You can find them and they can
35:35
find a whole lot over there. As Mike Palm told us the last
35:38
Friday, they are updating that app and us here in Iowa are
35:42
going to be a part of the Guinea pigs that are going to be
35:44
getting a first look at that app coming up here in the next
35:47
couple of weeks. But as I was digging around over
35:49
the weekend, a little bit firing away, a little golf, a little
35:52
baseball, some WNBAI went back to what we talked about Friday,
35:57
Kansas State, Iowa State. So the number remains for Iowa
36:01
State, a four point underdog in Dublin, as I mentioned to Scott
36:04
Dockerman, just 12 days away. Boy, that sounds good before we
36:08
will get Week 0 of college football.
36:11
There must have been a little bit of a buyback though as the
36:13
money line was plus 1:50 on Friday on the Cyclones.
36:16
Now plus 140, the price that you can get over there on Iowa
36:20
State. So just a quick look, 12 days
36:23
away from college football. I got 4 bets for you here today.
36:26
One in the WNBA. We got a little East Coast bias
36:29
here for you this evening, starting in the West.
36:32
I'm going to grab the points tonight with the Connecticut
36:35
Sun. Though they have not been
36:36
winning very much lately. They have covered from here and
36:39
there and schooling their last time out.
36:41
I think they continue that tonight out at Golden State.
36:43
Give me the Sun plus the seven and a half and then three in
36:46
Major League Baseball, 3 square against the Twins, it's the
36:49
Yankees. I don't care who's pitching,
36:51
it's Debbie Matthews against Warren.
36:52
I will lay the -172 in that one with the Yankees.
36:56
I'll do the same with the Red Sox.
36:58
This is a fate of Javier coming off the IL coming off of Tommy
37:01
beyond surgery against Garrett Crochet for the Red Sox.
37:05
We will lay -168 there and then take the plus money with the
37:09
Phillies. Good pitching matchup, Walker
37:12
against Abbott, give me the Phillies plus 105 Phillies,
37:15
Yankees, Red Sox and Connecticut Son, A4 pack of picks.
37:20
We'll grade it tomorrow. Thanks for being with us as
37:22
always, Miller and Condon. Ken will be back with us
37:25
tomorrow starting at noon. It's off the bench coming up
37:28
next with Shawna Lucas on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.