Latest / Foul Territory / FT at Astros camp: GM Dana Brown, SP Spencer Arrighetti

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FT at Astros camp: GM Dana Brown, SP Spencer Arrighetti · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: You had. The hardest thing, of course, was you know,
0:01
Speaker 1: trading Kyle Tucker.
0:02
Speaker 2: You know, we saw an opportunity there to continue to
0:05
Speaker 2: be good in the present and build toward the future.
0:10
Speaker 3: Spencer Araghetti joining us in the rotation for Houston. Spencer,
0:13
Speaker 3: great to have you on.
0:14
Speaker 4: Man.
0:15
Speaker 3: How's camp going for you now that you feel like, hey,
0:18
Speaker 3: I've been here, I experienced last year and you can
0:21
Speaker 3: get yourself really geared up for the season in the
0:23
Speaker 3: big leagues.
0:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, Man, camp's going great. I mean, like you you
0:28
Speaker 5: hit the nail on the head there. I kind of
0:29
Speaker 5: got a little bit of experience last year. I feel
0:31
Speaker 5: a little more comfortable around the guys in the locker
0:33
Speaker 5: room this year, and obviously I know my process a
0:36
Speaker 5: little bit better. I know that it's a really long
0:38
Speaker 5: season and at this time of year is about gearing up,
0:41
Speaker 5: and I feel like I've done a really good job
0:43
Speaker 5: of staying inside that and just knowing that these games
0:45
Speaker 5: are for a reason, These bullpens are for a reason,
0:47
Speaker 5: and I'm just I'm really getting my work in right now.
0:51
Speaker 6: Sorry, I just got shocked by my microphone. As I apologize.
0:56
Speaker 4: When you got what's uh that was me?
1:00
Speaker 3: I just was trying to tell your your next question.
1:02
Speaker 3: So I shocked you.
1:03
Speaker 6: Well, no, but I was gonna had the question lined up,
1:05
Speaker 6: and all of a sudden, my ear was was buzzing,
1:07
Speaker 6: and I was like, that's not normal, specially you get
1:10
Speaker 6: called up last year, and before you get called up everyone,
1:12
Speaker 6: you were kind of the next guy, right it was
1:14
Speaker 6: it was it was for us, and then it was
1:18
Speaker 6: Hunter Brown and then it was you.
1:20
Speaker 4: Right.
1:20
Speaker 6: So then when you get there, your career didn't get
1:23
Speaker 6: off to a blazing start. I mean, you did okay,
1:24
Speaker 6: but then as the year went, you could tell you
1:26
Speaker 6: got more comfortable. You kind of realize like I fit
1:28
Speaker 6: in here. So how does that transition work from going
1:31
Speaker 6: to top prospect and then realizing like I could get
1:33
Speaker 6: these dudes out?
1:34
Speaker 7: Yeah?
1:34
Speaker 5: Man, I mean it's uh, it's obviously a very It's
1:37
Speaker 5: an interesting experience when you know the expectation coming in
1:40
Speaker 5: and you know that in this organization specifically, like guys
1:44
Speaker 5: don't typically see that that that growing pain stage that
1:48
Speaker 5: that some rookies tend to. I mean, we've had arm
1:51
Speaker 5: after arm come up and excel right away. So obviously
1:54
Speaker 5: that the moment I walked in the door, I knew
1:55
Speaker 5: that was the expectation was to come in and contribute
1:57
Speaker 5: and help us win ball games and give us a
1:59
Speaker 5: chance every five days. And I mean that's a big responsibility, obviously,
2:03
Speaker 5: when you go from top pitching prospect to now I'm
2:05
Speaker 5: in the back of the rotation.
2:06
Speaker 7: I'm trying to prove that I belong.
2:08
Speaker 5: I'm trying to prove my stuff's good enough to not
2:10
Speaker 5: just myself but everybody around me. And it felt like
2:12
Speaker 5: I put a lot of pressure on myself internally to
2:15
Speaker 5: impress people all the time rather than really make the
2:18
Speaker 5: most out of my innings. And I think that some
2:20
Speaker 5: of that external pressure and internal pressure on the days
2:23
Speaker 5: that didn't matter weren't really contributing.
2:25
Speaker 7: To me getting better.
2:26
Speaker 5: In a way, it was kind of me beating myself
2:27
Speaker 5: up for not being the guy I thought I was
2:29
Speaker 5: capable of being right away. And then I think I
2:33
Speaker 5: had to start at home against the Rockies in July
2:36
Speaker 5: and I punched out ten the double digit punchouts first
2:38
Speaker 5: time on our staff for the season, and that moment
2:41
Speaker 5: was really important to me, not only because I felt
2:44
Speaker 5: like recently before that I had shifted my attention more
2:48
Speaker 5: to just getting my work done and being ready for
2:50
Speaker 5: the game rather than working every day like it's a game.
2:54
Speaker 7: You know.
2:55
Speaker 5: I think sometimes I had a tendency to try to
2:58
Speaker 5: impress too often, like throwing programs, bullpens, things like that,
3:02
Speaker 5: and then one day I just made it about my
3:05
Speaker 5: start that week rot or one rotation around. I didn't
3:09
Speaker 5: really do too much in throwing program, didn't do too
3:11
Speaker 5: much in the bullpench kind of like felt what I
3:13
Speaker 5: needed to feel and shut it down. And that was
3:15
Speaker 5: really when things started to change. Was just really maturing
3:17
Speaker 5: and cleaning up that process. In between games.
3:20
Speaker 8: Did they talk to you can I'm not sure if
3:22
Speaker 8: you can hear me with the Can you hear me now?
3:24
Speaker 1: Yeah?
3:24
Speaker 7: I got it.
3:26
Speaker 8: Can Did they talk to you about the right things
3:28
Speaker 8: in the minor leagues as a pitching prospect, as that
3:32
Speaker 8: guy coming up that needs to be in this rotation
3:36
Speaker 8: to help this team win and go back to the
3:38
Speaker 8: World Series like they always have? Did they say the
3:40
Speaker 8: right things?
3:42
Speaker 7: Yeah? Definitely.
3:43
Speaker 5: I mean the group of support that we've got from
3:46
Speaker 5: the minor league end to the big league end here,
3:47
Speaker 5: it's top notch. I mean everybody ever come alongs had
3:52
Speaker 5: their bit, had their piece that's helped me get that
3:54
Speaker 5: much better. And yeah, I firmly believe that a lot
3:56
Speaker 5: of the stuff that we're doing here on the minor
3:58
Speaker 5: league side directly gets guys ready to own compete. And
4:01
Speaker 5: then once you get there, it's kind of figuring your
4:03
Speaker 5: game out, I think, which is that's not something anybody
4:05
Speaker 5: can teach you. You kind of just have to get comfortable
4:07
Speaker 5: doing what you're good at and executing that at a
4:10
Speaker 5: high rate and making adjustments as fast as these guys
4:13
Speaker 5: do in the big leagues. And obviously that's like a
4:15
Speaker 5: kind of intangible thing. You have to get out there
4:17
Speaker 5: in the arena and see if you have it or don't.
4:19
Speaker 5: And that was that was a really big test for
4:22
Speaker 5: me early on. I was just seeing if I could
4:24
Speaker 5: let my brain catch up to these other brains around
4:27
Speaker 5: me that are thinking and seeing baseball in real time.
4:29
Speaker 5: And I think I spent a little bit too much
4:31
Speaker 5: time thinking in analytic terms when I was on the mound,
4:34
Speaker 5: And the more I got away from that and just
4:35
Speaker 5: made it about competing, that was really Uh. That was
4:38
Speaker 5: the difference maker for me last year. But yeah, obviously
4:41
Speaker 5: the whole base of years that I had in our
4:43
Speaker 5: minor league system definitely got me ready for for my
4:46
Speaker 5: big league debut, for for facing challenges after the fact
4:49
Speaker 5: that all of it.
4:50
Speaker 7: You threw a bullpen today, I did, yeah, yeah, right
4:54
Speaker 7: over there.
4:54
Speaker 4: I have to ask you because this is intriguing.
4:56
Speaker 6: I mean, we ask a lot of I've been we've
4:57
Speaker 6: been kind of asking pictures this while we're in spring training.
5:00
Speaker 6: They have the cameras, they have the iPads, they have everything.
5:03
Speaker 4: Over there.
5:03
Speaker 6: You said you were heavy analytics. So when you throw
5:06
Speaker 6: your bullpen, do you stop and look at every pitch.
5:09
Speaker 5: I'm looking at one pitch on track man right now,
5:11
Speaker 5: and it's because I got a goal there, and that's
5:13
Speaker 5: in my head. That's what the data driven training is
5:15
Speaker 5: really for, is if something is standing out as could
5:18
Speaker 5: use some work, that's really what we nail it on.
5:21
Speaker 5: And the things that aren't asking for it. I've learned
5:23
Speaker 5: to stop tinkering because I feel like I want to
5:25
Speaker 5: know what pitch. I can't say too much.
5:27
Speaker 6: Oh come on, ah, you got a splinker?
5:31
Speaker 4: You got what's the new change up thing?
5:33
Speaker 8: There?
5:34
Speaker 4: Everyone kick change kicha.
5:36
Speaker 7: I like that one.
5:37
Speaker 4: Okay, knuckleball. Maybe you're trying to get the spin down
5:39
Speaker 4: under one.
5:39
Speaker 7: On I don't know. I mean I hear there's like
5:41
Speaker 7: guys sawing knuckleballs eighty eight now, and I saw that
5:43
Speaker 7: my thing? Yeah, wow, that's my thing.
5:46
Speaker 4: How about that he won't tell us what pitch he's
5:48
Speaker 4: working on. What the heck's going on here?
5:50
Speaker 7: Too many guys watch this?
5:52
Speaker 1: Yeah?
5:52
Speaker 6: Oh so you don't want to get so the first
5:54
Speaker 6: time opening day you're gonna bust out a kid.
5:55
Speaker 7: I'm just gonna I'm gonna rip something that nobody's ever seen.
5:58
Speaker 4: Oh ye, hopefully I like it.
6:01
Speaker 7: Hopefully nobody's ever seen it.
6:02
Speaker 1: For me? It in spring training.
6:08
Speaker 7: Time. Yeah, I haven't thrown it yet.
6:12
Speaker 4: Have you thrown it to any of your own teammates?
6:13
Speaker 7: I haven't thrown it to them.
6:16
Speaker 6: So if we got like if we got Jeremy Payne here,
6:19
Speaker 6: Jose over here, they and I said, hey, Spencer's.
6:21
Speaker 7: Got no clue. Yeah they got no clue.
6:23
Speaker 5: Oh okay, but yeah, I think that's what the track
6:26
Speaker 5: mans really for is if you're you're trying to get
6:28
Speaker 5: better at something, you know the difference.
6:30
Speaker 4: Are you a shape guy? Spin guy?
6:31
Speaker 1: I was?
6:33
Speaker 5: I mean I am a shape guy technically, Like my
6:35
Speaker 5: my break chart is spread out, you know, like that's
6:39
Speaker 5: what you're usually looking for. But uh, I don't really
6:42
Speaker 5: spin the ball too crazy, I think, uh, for the
6:44
Speaker 5: most part, my uh, my game is separation. Like I got,
6:48
Speaker 5: I got a pretty good four seam and I got
6:50
Speaker 5: a bunch of other stuff behind it that I think
6:51
Speaker 5: is uh, it's big enough that it looks straight but moves,
6:54
Speaker 5: you know, like the whole deception aspect of pitching. I
6:56
Speaker 5: feel like that's really what I leaned into last year. So, yeah,
6:59
Speaker 5: shapes are.
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8:01
Speaker 8: Is there a guy on your team? Is there a
8:03
Speaker 8: guy on a roster, in a pitching staff, bullpen or
8:05
Speaker 8: starters that you go in and you're like, whoa, I see,
8:09
Speaker 8: I see haters fastball. You go in and you look
8:12
Speaker 8: at the track man data, You look analytically and you're like,
8:16
Speaker 8: could I do that?
8:20
Speaker 5: I look at the way Hunter Brown started ripping two
8:22
Speaker 5: seams at everybody last year, and I mean, like analytics
8:25
Speaker 5: can say what they want, Like the results speak way
8:28
Speaker 5: more than that. His four seems like the same shape
8:31
Speaker 5: as my two seam, But for some reason does the
8:34
Speaker 5: complete opposite. People swing over it. They hit it on
8:36
Speaker 5: the grounds, all crappy contact. I really wish I could
8:38
Speaker 5: do that, Honestly, I wish I could just get guys
8:41
Speaker 5: to hit the ball on the ground on command. But
8:42
Speaker 5: that's that's been a pretty big challenge, is your flyball guy? Yes,
8:46
Speaker 5: extreme flyball guy. I've been packed in a park that's
8:49
Speaker 5: not supposed to be conducive to fly balls. But okay, right, yeah,
8:55
Speaker 5: you don't have them hit it from left field, foul
8:58
Speaker 5: pull to like fifty feet, just hit it. Hit it
9:01
Speaker 5: to center field. Please, that's the whole game.
9:03
Speaker 4: I just don't want him to go that one.
9:04
Speaker 7: Yeah, don't hit it to left. Hit it the center, because.
9:06
Speaker 4: If you have to go like this, you're you're usually then.
9:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I know I got I got Jake
9:11
Speaker 5: in center field. Usually that guy hawks everything down, and
9:14
Speaker 5: we got the biggest center field in the whole league.
9:16
Speaker 5: It feels like so I don't really think too much
9:18
Speaker 5: about it, like the whole fly ball thing. But yeah,
9:20
Speaker 5: if it's going to left field, I don't look at
9:23
Speaker 5: it sometimes I don't really want to know what.
9:25
Speaker 6: But so you missed when when well min of made Yeah,
9:28
Speaker 6: when they had the hill hill, Yeah, it was like
9:30
Speaker 6: thirty feet farther back. They moved it in and made
9:32
Speaker 6: some changes. So think about if you could have had
9:35
Speaker 6: Jake running up the hill dodging flagpoles.
9:37
Speaker 7: I think Jake's doing it trying.
9:39
Speaker 4: I mean you've seen the.
9:39
Speaker 6: Highlight of lanceberg Is running up there and catching and
9:41
Speaker 6: then having a you know, somersault, yeah, little then having
9:45
Speaker 6: a whole thing. We had to lay down and catch
9:47
Speaker 6: his breath and then Jose and left. Yeah you ready
9:51
Speaker 6: for that? Yeah, I think we all are. It looks
9:53
Speaker 6: good man.
9:53
Speaker 5: I mean, he's he's been he's been really grinding out there.
9:56
Speaker 5: We've seen him in a few games now, I mean,
9:58
Speaker 5: I love it.
9:59
Speaker 7: He's Superman. He can do it whatever he wants.
10:02
Speaker 8: Speaking of Superman, you guys lost, I asked your manager, Joe,
10:06
Speaker 8: you guys lost a little bit of edge in that bullpen,
10:08
Speaker 8: in the in the clubhouse. When you lose Alex Bregman,
10:12
Speaker 8: who do you think is gonna be somebody that's gonna
10:14
Speaker 8: step up? You were rookie last year and you saw
10:17
Speaker 8: the you know how the feel the clubhouse is. Who's
10:20
Speaker 8: going to bring that edge for that your team as
10:23
Speaker 8: a mindset?
10:23
Speaker 5: Now, I mean obviously, uh you name drop Alex. I
10:29
Speaker 5: mean that guy's one of the one of the best
10:31
Speaker 5: competitors I've ever met. I mean he leaves a big shadow.
10:34
Speaker 5: But I know that we have a locker room full
10:36
Speaker 5: of guys that he's instilled that that attitude in.
10:39
Speaker 7: I mean, uh, when you.
10:40
Speaker 5: Have leadership like that, like the the effect remains. In
10:44
Speaker 5: my opinion, I think I've said that already. I think
10:46
Speaker 5: that that that attitude is still in our clubhouse and
10:49
Speaker 5: the guys that are facilitating it. I mean it's it's
10:51
Speaker 5: exactly who you would imagine it's it's Jordan Alvarez, it's
10:54
Speaker 5: Josel Tuve, Lance McCullers. I mean, Hunter Brown even is
10:58
Speaker 5: stepping into a big role. It fills with some of
11:00
Speaker 5: our some of our American pictures. Like there's a lot
11:02
Speaker 5: of guys that look up to him a lot, and
11:03
Speaker 5: that that his intensity and on the mound and in
11:06
Speaker 5: between games, like it just gets passed down and I
11:08
Speaker 5: think that the vibe is still the same. I mean,
11:10
Speaker 5: we know that the expectations to go out there and
11:13
Speaker 5: win ball games, and we're doing everything we can to
11:15
Speaker 5: just do that.
11:16
Speaker 4: Okay, So two more questions for that.
11:18
Speaker 6: You you mentioned Hunter Brown, Yeah, what's you gonna do
11:20
Speaker 6: without JV here to copy to come back this year?
11:24
Speaker 6: I mean, listen, if you put them side to side
11:28
Speaker 6: for a while, it was very Everything was like.
11:30
Speaker 7: If you were a kid from Detroit growing up, then
11:32
Speaker 7: who would you throw?
11:33
Speaker 4: Like why not Colorago?
11:34
Speaker 1: Why not?
11:35
Speaker 4: Why not? Ain't a ball? Sanchez?
11:39
Speaker 7: Rick Porcello, no comment.
11:44
Speaker 4: Kenny Rogers, Kenny Rogers.
11:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I can't blame him. I don't think
11:49
Speaker 5: he's I don't think he's copying him too much anymore.
11:51
Speaker 5: Hunters Identity, Yeah, oh yeah. It was the mechanics. I
11:55
Speaker 5: mean yeah, like the up down like all that stuff. Yeah,
11:58
Speaker 5: it is like you could you could put the side
12:00
Speaker 5: by side. I remember, I think I was probably fresh
12:03
Speaker 5: in the ORG when when they were releasing those videos
12:05
Speaker 5: and I was like, yeah, I mean that's pretty cool.
12:07
Speaker 5: Like I'm sitting there thinking if I was in Detroit
12:09
Speaker 5: watching JV pitch when I was a kid, I mean
12:11
Speaker 5: I probably do everything he did. Also, you know, I think, uh,
12:16
Speaker 5: it wasn't JV for me, but you can see the
12:18
Speaker 5: way that I throw in. Some of the guys I
12:20
Speaker 5: looked up to a lot. I loved watching Tim Linz
12:22
Speaker 5: to come when he was in San Francisco. I really
12:25
Speaker 5: really loved watching Max Schurzer in Washington. There was just
12:28
Speaker 5: those guys with like the weird, funky low slot, getting
12:31
Speaker 5: really close to the hitter. That's like always been what
12:33
Speaker 5: I thought was really cool or really nasty. So I
12:36
Speaker 5: tried to do that, and you know, I mean kind
12:38
Speaker 5: of see a little bit of it now. Obviously I'm
12:40
Speaker 5: not side by side, picture perfect with anybody, but I
12:43
Speaker 5: think that the influence part is it's pretty natural when
12:46
Speaker 5: you're growing up nice.
12:46
Speaker 6: Sorry, before we let you go, I don't know if
12:48
Speaker 6: we can get a shot. We kind of see him
12:50
Speaker 6: right here. Best shoes of the spring so far. You're nice,
12:53
Speaker 6: Jordan Eleven's nice. I'm just saying the best shoes of
12:56
Speaker 6: the spring right here on Spencer. So, man, I don't
12:59
Speaker 6: even know what those are, but I have a pair
13:00
Speaker 6: of those.
13:01
Speaker 4: They're the best.
13:02
Speaker 5: I am a bit of a sneaker guy. You can
13:05
Speaker 5: see it in the cleats I wear on the field.
13:07
Speaker 5: I like the Jordan ones putting the spikes on the
13:09
Speaker 5: bottom of them, and I have the Year of the
13:10
Speaker 5: Snake ones not too I'm gonna break those out this year.
13:12
Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah, they look sick.
13:14
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, so you're obviously your name.
13:18
Speaker 5: I'm not a contractor, yeah, because I was always wondered
13:21
Speaker 5: if you're not, how do you get cleats?
13:23
Speaker 4: And then you send them.
13:24
Speaker 5: You yeah, you just you get the spikes or you
13:27
Speaker 5: get the shoes and you send them off. The guy
13:29
Speaker 5: that does it for me is custom Kicks on Instagram.
13:31
Speaker 5: They do a great job. He does Marcelo Zuna's. He's
13:34
Speaker 5: had some of the Travis Scott's on field last year.
13:36
Speaker 5: I mean, this guy does crazy work. It's awesome.
13:38
Speaker 4: Nice. Yeah, I like it.
13:40
Speaker 6: There you go, Dana Brown Getty Rock and Style today.
13:47
Speaker 3: And he's a he's a shoe free agent. So now
13:51
Speaker 3: the world knows. And you said, guys, watch get a
13:53
Speaker 3: phone call and you know what you're talking about. So
13:56
Speaker 3: you want guys that that obviously are into it. So Spencer,
13:59
Speaker 3: this was awesome man. You super well spoken. We'll have
14:01
Speaker 3: to get you back on during the season. But have
14:02
Speaker 3: a great rest of camp. Okay, I really appreciate that.
14:05
Speaker 3: Thank you guys for having me today. We've got Astros
14:08
Speaker 3: general manager Dana Brown with us right now on foul Territory. Dana,
14:11
Speaker 3: great to.
14:12
Speaker 1: Have you on.
14:13
Speaker 3: You had a lot of work to do this offseason.
14:15
Speaker 3: Do you feel like you can take a breath now
14:16
Speaker 3: here in spring training and just watch all the new
14:19
Speaker 3: additions thrive.
14:20
Speaker 2: Nah, We're still grinding. You know, we did have a
14:23
Speaker 2: busy offseason. You know, ultimately we made a lot of
14:28
Speaker 2: different moves, and you know, we wanted to work in
14:31
Speaker 2: the president and build toward the future, and so that's
14:35
Speaker 2: probably pretty much why we did some of the things
14:37
Speaker 2: that we did.
14:38
Speaker 4: What was the hardest thing, Yeah, the hardest thing.
14:40
Speaker 1: Of course was you know, trading Kyle Tucker.
14:42
Speaker 2: I mean it was very difficult, but you know, we
14:46
Speaker 2: saw an opportunity there to continue to be good in
14:49
Speaker 2: the present and build toward the future and getting a
14:52
Speaker 2: guy like Cam Smith, and so you know, we felt like, look,
14:56
Speaker 2: this is a good move for the organization. You know,
14:58
Speaker 2: you you gained fourteen years of control by giving up
15:02
Speaker 2: one year of control.
15:04
Speaker 8: And was any of that precipitated? Was that preluded by
15:09
Speaker 8: the fact that you saw what Wan Soto got and
15:13
Speaker 8: you're like, whoa, Kyle Tucker, wait a minute, this is
15:15
Speaker 8: gonna get expensive or is this already in the works
15:18
Speaker 8: before the whole Jan Soto getting a jillion dollars?
15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:22
Speaker 2: So, you know, part of baseball operations what we do
15:24
Speaker 2: is we have these conversations and you know, we think about, like, hey,
15:28
Speaker 2: can we sign this guy long term, what's the percentages,
15:31
Speaker 2: what type of shot that we have on getting this
15:33
Speaker 2: guy done? And we knew all along that, look, if
15:36
Speaker 2: Kyle Tucker goes to free agency, you know it's going
15:39
Speaker 2: to be you know, a guy that you know that's
15:41
Speaker 2: going to demand probably a lot.
15:42
Speaker 1: So look, we took a look at it.
15:46
Speaker 2: We had been talking about it, and then we just
15:48
Speaker 2: put the works in play during the winter meetings and
15:51
Speaker 2: we felt like, look, this was the best thing for
15:53
Speaker 2: the organization.
15:55
Speaker 4: Take us.
15:56
Speaker 6: I've always I've always wondered this about a general manager,
16:00
Speaker 6: president of baseball offs or whoever is running the day
16:03
Speaker 6: to day and making these moves. Yeah, how far in
16:06
Speaker 6: advance do you guys think about this stuff? Because did
16:09
Speaker 6: this start? Did this enter the astro's mind last year?
16:12
Speaker 6: Because there was some rumors about Tucker maybe getting traded
16:15
Speaker 6: because of this coming up last year? So how far
16:17
Speaker 6: in advance did these things come into play? Because I'm
16:20
Speaker 6: sure Jim Crane comes to you the owner and says, hey,
16:22
Speaker 6: here's our budget.
16:23
Speaker 4: Does he give you a one year budget? Does he
16:24
Speaker 4: give you a two year budget? Is there? Is it
16:26
Speaker 4: spread out?
16:27
Speaker 6: So you're like, man, I got to get to this
16:28
Speaker 6: number this year. The next year I have this or
16:31
Speaker 6: is it fluent?
16:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're always thinking about this. Look, yeah, you
16:34
Speaker 2: know you're always thinking about the president and the future.
16:38
Speaker 2: You know, when you work in baseball operations, if you
16:40
Speaker 2: don't think about the present and the future, the future
16:42
Speaker 2: gets on you quick and before you know it, you know,
16:45
Speaker 2: you know, you're caught in a bad spot. And so
16:47
Speaker 2: we had been talking about, like, look, what is the
16:50
Speaker 2: percentage of getting this guy signed. We felt good, you know,
16:53
Speaker 2: he came he came up through the organization. But you know,
16:56
Speaker 2: the more we talked about it, the toughest scenes that
16:58
Speaker 2: it was going to be. And so you know, we
17:01
Speaker 2: had to put our heads together and say, look, is
17:03
Speaker 2: this an opportunity where you know, we could continue to
17:07
Speaker 2: be good here in the present build toward the future.
17:10
Speaker 2: And so these conversations start, you know, eighteen months out,
17:13
Speaker 2: sometimes two years out, you know, and then it get
17:16
Speaker 2: more intense, you know, when you get within the six
17:18
Speaker 2: month period.
17:18
Speaker 1: But uh, this isn't something.
17:21
Speaker 2: That you wake up one morning and you say, oh,
17:23
Speaker 2: we should do this now. This is something that we
17:25
Speaker 2: look at, you know, years out, sometimes sometimes months out. Uh,
17:30
Speaker 2: because you always have to be thinking about the organization
17:33
Speaker 2: where you're going, you know, and you know what you want?
17:36
Speaker 1: You know, do you want to be competitive now? Do
17:38
Speaker 1: you want to be competitive in the future?
17:40
Speaker 2: Should we you know, just let this guy play out
17:43
Speaker 2: here or what should we do?
17:44
Speaker 1: And you're always having those conversations.
17:47
Speaker 8: Dani, you are. I really appreciate you coming on here talking.
17:50
Speaker 8: You've always been a very open GM and you know,
17:53
Speaker 8: you talk to the media. Do you feel like when
17:56
Speaker 8: you said Tucker will be an astro do you feel
17:59
Speaker 8: like maybe I shouldn't have said that at the moment?
18:02
Speaker 8: Did you feel like that was going to be the case?
18:05
Speaker 8: And then things changed as you went longer and longer
18:08
Speaker 8: in the negotiations.
18:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, you know you can't fall them in for optimism, right,
18:14
Speaker 2: and so you want to be locked into the future.
18:17
Speaker 2: And you know, I felt like, look, this could be
18:19
Speaker 2: a big part of the future. And you know, and
18:22
Speaker 2: I know when I was in Atlanta, we were trying
18:24
Speaker 2: to lock guys up like early on in their career,
18:27
Speaker 2: and so, you know, I was very optimistic that, look,
18:30
Speaker 2: we could probably get this Tucker thing done. And you know,
18:33
Speaker 2: sometimes these things build on you, and you know, guys
18:36
Speaker 2: continue to play well and it gets a little bit
18:38
Speaker 2: more difficult. And so, you know, I'm always an optimistic guy.
18:43
Speaker 2: It's just part of who I am. By nature. I'm energy,
18:46
Speaker 2: you know, I have optimism, and so I'm always looking
18:49
Speaker 2: for the good. I think that's a big part of
18:52
Speaker 2: having some success. You know, you have to have a
18:54
Speaker 2: vision for what you want to do, and so you know, look,
18:57
Speaker 2: I was really optimistic about it, and you know, it
18:59
Speaker 2: just didn't work out. And uh, it wasn't like, uh,
19:03
Speaker 2: you know, we weren't trying.
19:04
Speaker 6: Speaking of trying, it was a trade that was tried
19:08
Speaker 6: with Nolan ar. I don't know how much you can
19:10
Speaker 6: say about this, but were you surprised because we asked
19:14
Speaker 6: We asked your manager and he's like, well, you know,
19:18
Speaker 6: I don't know because I'm not in it, but you're
19:19
Speaker 6: kind of in that.
19:20
Speaker 1: Yeah.
19:21
Speaker 2: I mean, ultimately, we don't really get into, you know,
19:23
Speaker 2: our conversations, whether it's free agents or trades, because.
19:26
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on.
19:27
Speaker 2: But you know, if I'll put it to you this way,
19:31
Speaker 2: if we have a need at a certain position, we're gonna,
19:33
Speaker 2: you know, do our due diligence and we're gonna ask
19:35
Speaker 2: about players and we're going to try to acquire certain players.
19:39
Speaker 2: Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't work out. And
19:42
Speaker 2: so look, you know, Aaron Ot it was an interesting player.
19:45
Speaker 2: He had a good career. He's probably on pace to
19:48
Speaker 2: become maybe a potential Hall of Famer, and so he's
19:51
Speaker 2: an interesting guy. And so we we looked at multiple
19:55
Speaker 2: players that we thought would be a fit, and you know,
19:59
Speaker 2: sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't make sense.
20:01
Speaker 4: How about Jose left field? Leftfield? Jose?
20:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I mean I don't know if you saw
20:07
Speaker 2: that first play. Yeah, it's pretty pretty special. You know,
20:12
Speaker 2: that play against the wall was really nice. And he's look,
20:16
Speaker 2: I don't think we're committing to it yet. I think
20:18
Speaker 2: the energy is there.
20:20
Speaker 4: He gave infield gloves, so he's kind of committed to
20:22
Speaker 4: it already.
20:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's gonna have to place some infield. Like look,
20:26
Speaker 1: at some point, you're gonna have to go back to second.
20:28
Speaker 2: You know, it's the versatility thing where you know, if
20:30
Speaker 2: we want to have certain bats in the lineup, we
20:32
Speaker 2: could put out two v back at second. So I
20:35
Speaker 2: don't think that we're fully committed to it. I think
20:37
Speaker 2: that we are excited about it. We we like the
20:41
Speaker 2: path that is taking the trajectory of it is good. Uh,
20:44
Speaker 2: He's taken well to it. He's actually running balls down
20:48
Speaker 2: in the gap. Sometimes you forget how fast he is
20:50
Speaker 2: until you know he went to the outfields like man,
20:52
Speaker 2: he's got pretty good foot speed.
20:53
Speaker 1: And so I think it's.
20:55
Speaker 2: Working out well and we're going to continue to see
20:58
Speaker 2: what it looks like during spring training. But you know,
21:01
Speaker 2: is there an opportunity that he could play some left field?
21:03
Speaker 4: Absolutely days her left fielder.
21:05
Speaker 2: I mean that's going to be Joe's decision. But look,
21:11
Speaker 2: I give him some ideas, but I don't have but
21:16
Speaker 2: you know, ultimately he's going to make that decision. I
21:19
Speaker 2: think the path of it is is it's good right now.
21:22
Speaker 2: I think the trajectory is good. I think it's moving
21:24
Speaker 2: in the right direction and it's looking like it could happen.
21:27
Speaker 2: But you know, we still have a lot of time left.
21:30
Speaker 3: Dana, You've been a great evaluator of talent for a
21:33
Speaker 3: while in this game. I mean, you can go back
21:35
Speaker 3: to some of the decisions that you helped the Braids make.
21:37
Speaker 3: They were brilliant. So I wanted to get your take
21:39
Speaker 3: right now on the roster. You're here, you're in spring training,
21:41
Speaker 3: you're actually able to look at the guys, what is
21:44
Speaker 3: something that you feel really good about with the team,
21:46
Speaker 3: and then what is something where you're a little worried
21:48
Speaker 3: about it. You're like, I don't know how this is
21:50
Speaker 3: going to play out. I hope it plays out well,
21:52
Speaker 3: but this could be a weak spot for the team.
21:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:55
Speaker 2: Look, I mean the most exciting thing for me right
21:57
Speaker 2: now is to watch Cam Smith and watch him develop
22:01
Speaker 2: and to see him really played third base. I don't
22:04
Speaker 2: know if you guys know it, but I actually went
22:06
Speaker 2: out and saw some players for the draft. I try
22:08
Speaker 2: to see our first round pick. I end up seeing
22:10
Speaker 2: him last year during the ACC tournament. You know, we
22:14
Speaker 2: liked him, didn't know if he was going to be
22:15
Speaker 2: able to play third Looking like he's developing at third base,
22:18
Speaker 2: so he's really creating a lot of conversation and he's
22:22
Speaker 2: playing well right now. And so we took Walter Yannick
22:26
Speaker 2: the catcher, and so you know, we feel good about Yanick.
22:30
Speaker 2: But you know, he may be you know, eighteen twenty
22:33
Speaker 2: months away or something something somewhere in there. But you know,
22:36
Speaker 2: we were picking in the back part of the draft. Ye,
22:40
Speaker 2: that's exactly that's where you want to pick you want
22:43
Speaker 2: to pick at the back part, and so I end
22:45
Speaker 2: up seeing him, you know, and then when the trade
22:47
Speaker 2: talks came up, I was like, Yeah, we got to
22:49
Speaker 2: have this guy. He's playing very well, so I'm excited
22:52
Speaker 2: about that. You know, we have some openings, you know,
22:55
Speaker 2: in our bullpen, and that's where we have to make,
22:57
Speaker 2: you know, fill some holes. So that would be a
23:00
Speaker 2: big part of my focus is who do we have,
23:03
Speaker 2: you know, for that boat for those bullpen spots where
23:06
Speaker 2: he's gonna be innings five through seven if your starter
23:09
Speaker 2: runs into a little bit of trouble.
23:10
Speaker 1: And that's where we're focused right now. You know.
23:13
Speaker 2: We feel really good about the back end with the
23:14
Speaker 2: bray you you know and Hater, but we do have
23:18
Speaker 2: some spots that we have to nail down in the middle.
23:21
Speaker 3: Dana, just to double down on Cam and how good
23:24
Speaker 3: he's looked, you know, if that continues when he starts
23:27
Speaker 3: off the year, say at whatever level in the minors
23:30
Speaker 3: and he's just raking when you bring him up. Is
23:33
Speaker 3: the plan to have him as a third baseman or
23:35
Speaker 3: could there be some outfield time for him as well?
23:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're working through that right now.
23:41
Speaker 2: You know, he's getting some refs at third base, which
23:44
Speaker 2: is probably his main position for right now, but we're
23:47
Speaker 2: not opposed to seeing what it looks like in right field.
23:52
Speaker 2: I think that could be a potential possibility. But we're
23:56
Speaker 2: not leaving any stone unturned. Look, if the bat's ready,
23:59
Speaker 2: you know, we'd love to have offense, and you know,
24:02
Speaker 2: we'll move them along as quickly as we could. And
24:05
Speaker 2: we're not afraid to go with young players. I mean,
24:07
Speaker 2: that's just you know, part of what we're going to
24:09
Speaker 2: do here. And so you know, we're excited about him.
24:13
Speaker 2: He's bringing a lot of energy there. I love the makeup,
24:16
Speaker 2: the kids pretty special. He's got a nice combination of
24:19
Speaker 2: confidence and humility and and so he's developed nicely.
24:24
Speaker 4: That's great, that's great.
24:25
Speaker 6: I mean, that's well, that's why you mentioned Tucker. You
24:27
Speaker 6: had to trade Tucker to get a player of Camps.
24:30
Speaker 6: It was an esky and uh I blanked them the third.
24:33
Speaker 1: And perettis Yeah.
24:35
Speaker 2: And then it's like you're you're you're you're focusing on
24:38
Speaker 2: you know, the present because you want to maintain, you
24:40
Speaker 2: want to be really good. And then you're focusing also
24:43
Speaker 2: in the future because you get a guy like Cam
24:45
Speaker 2: Smith that look that you guess bring together.
24:47
Speaker 6: The problem is you guys made so many trades with
24:49
Speaker 6: the Cubs. I got I lost. So what about what
24:56
Speaker 6: about Presley? I mean, yeah, and I know he's making
25:00
Speaker 6: some money, but you know, for what he has done
25:02
Speaker 6: for the Astros, the amount of money he was making
25:05
Speaker 6: wasn't like exorbitant.
25:06
Speaker 4: We're like, wow, we just really can't afford this guy.
25:08
Speaker 6: So was that a money move because everyone's like, oh,
25:11
Speaker 6: it's just a money dumb but also you kind of
25:13
Speaker 6: did him a solid right because he wants to close
25:15
Speaker 6: and with Hater, he's not going to close. So it
25:17
Speaker 6: was there's more than just went into it than just hey,
25:18
Speaker 6: this is just a money Yeah.
25:20
Speaker 2: There's a lot of decisions that go in the moves
25:22
Speaker 2: that we make off quite often, and so you know,
25:24
Speaker 2: Presley was, you know, a guy that had a lot
25:27
Speaker 2: of success here as a closer. He's been outstanding and
25:30
Speaker 2: so he you know, made it very clear like look,
25:32
Speaker 2: I still love closing.
25:33
Speaker 1: I would love to close.
25:35
Speaker 2: And so you know, thinking like we're thinking present and future.
25:39
Speaker 2: You know, we saw an opportunity to get a future
25:41
Speaker 2: starter in a Wan Beayo, and so we made that
25:45
Speaker 2: trade for Presley had nothing to do with money, dumb.
25:47
Speaker 1: You know, Pretce's really good.
25:49
Speaker 2: He was he was going to pitch for us, you know,
25:52
Speaker 2: toward the back end, eighth inning, seventh inning, whatever, depending
25:55
Speaker 2: on who, what lineup was coming up, and that type
25:58
Speaker 2: of thing. But altimate, he was a true professional about it.
26:02
Speaker 2: You know, he took the back seat to hater and said, look,
26:05
Speaker 2: I understand why we did it. He still wanted to
26:08
Speaker 2: close though at the same time, and I understand that
26:10
Speaker 2: because he had so much success, But ultimately he did
26:15
Speaker 2: he was a true professional. So he took the you know,
26:18
Speaker 2: the setup role, you know, and so he still wanted
26:22
Speaker 2: to close, and you know, we found an opportunity to
26:24
Speaker 2: get him a closing job, and so we wish nothing
26:27
Speaker 2: but the best.
26:28
Speaker 1: And he's been a true pro the whole way.
26:31
Speaker 8: Let's go to Esak. How long have you been tracking him?
26:34
Speaker 8: How long have you and how close did you get
26:36
Speaker 8: to trading for him? Because I think I saw rumors
26:38
Speaker 8: that you're possibly close last year because you know, he's
26:41
Speaker 8: a guy that everyone thinks fits with you guys.
26:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we had conversations last year the trade deadline.
26:48
Speaker 2: We were just talking about acquiring offense and his name
26:51
Speaker 2: came up, and so we had our eyes on him.
26:54
Speaker 2: We knew that he pulls a lot of balls for
26:56
Speaker 2: home runs, and so we were like, look, this guy's
26:59
Speaker 2: bats probably gonna play and dyking Park down back then
27:03
Speaker 2: it was minute May, but we felt good about him
27:06
Speaker 2: and our ballpark, and so he was like a big
27:08
Speaker 2: target for us. And the fact that things lined up
27:11
Speaker 2: with the Cubs, you know, they were very interested, you know,
27:15
Speaker 2: and Tucker. We had interest in Perettes west Nesky, you know,
27:20
Speaker 2: and camp Smith, and it kind of took a little bit,
27:23
Speaker 2: took a little while to come together, but it was
27:25
Speaker 2: like really a good trade, I feel for both sides.
27:27
Speaker 2: I mean they're gonna get, you know, a guy that
27:29
Speaker 2: could potentially be an All Star again, a guy that
27:33
Speaker 2: you know, potentially could be in the top five votes
27:35
Speaker 2: and MVP and top five and MVP and and and
27:39
Speaker 2: then also you know, potentially we're gonna get Perettis, like,
27:43
Speaker 2: you know, he's been an All Star, camp Smith's got
27:45
Speaker 2: a chance to be a really good player down the stretch.
27:47
Speaker 2: And then wes Nesky's a good you know, a good starter.
27:50
Speaker 2: So I think it's gonna be a good trade for
27:52
Speaker 2: both sides.
27:52
Speaker 6: Okay, before we let you go, this last thing. We
27:54
Speaker 6: always have a running joke on the show that every
27:57
Speaker 6: GM wears a quarter is it? So congratulations, you're the
28:00
Speaker 6: first GYM that hasn't come on here on a team
28:03
Speaker 6: quarter ZIP that has the astros Right here, you're dressed loafers.
28:07
Speaker 6: I mean, this is the best dressed GM we've seen
28:09
Speaker 6: in our in our two plus years of doing this show.
28:12
Speaker 4: I mean it was as Peter malar so.
28:14
Speaker 1: So if you would have caught me yesterday, I would
28:15
Speaker 1: have had the logo.
28:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, can we talk about we can't get
28:19
Speaker 6: an astros logo on it?
28:20
Speaker 4: Sure, it's the time, Jean, what's going on here? Gee?
28:23
Speaker 1: The time?
28:23
Speaker 4: Oh?
28:23
Speaker 6: Yeah, GC if your guy Geene has the astros Quarterszip
28:27
Speaker 6: sitting next Toll So it's amazing. Dana came on and
28:30
Speaker 6: by the way, got you your jersey guy, right jersey?
28:33
Speaker 4: There you go?
28:34
Speaker 1: What town? I grew up in New Bruswick, right by
28:37
Speaker 1: Rutgers University.
28:39
Speaker 3: Uh, biggest Rutgers fan right here watching them get blown
28:42
Speaker 3: out by thirty last night, every minute of it with you, man.
28:45
Speaker 3: I grew up twenty minutes away, so I'm with you,
28:47
Speaker 3: and I echo that, I echo that best dressed GM,
28:51
Speaker 3: no quarters in a little, a little nice you know,
28:54
Speaker 3: drive bit I like it. Dana, this was awesome.
28:57
Speaker 1: Thank you for the time.
28:57
Speaker 6: Man.
28:58
Speaker 3: Good to see you all right.
28:59
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. You guys have me on