Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Questions on Braves, Mets, Phillies, Reds & Red Sox

Transcript

Fair Territory: Questions on Braves, Mets, Phillies, Reds & Red Sox · Foul Territory

0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:12
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo and Alana. I received
0:15
Speaker 1: a text this morning from a friend who posed the
0:18
Speaker 1: question which team is in greater trouble, the Mets or
0:22
Speaker 1: the Phillies. That will be the top of our show.
0:27
Speaker 2: Ken.
0:27
Speaker 1: The answer is yes, good answer, a lotta and we'll
0:33
Speaker 1: throw the Red Sox in there. We'll get to them
0:34
Speaker 1: as well later. Yeah, no doubt about it.
0:37
Speaker 3: Let's start with the fact though, that it is an
0:41
Speaker 3: interesting stite of affairs when the Mets have finally won
0:44
Speaker 3: a game, ending a twelve game losing streak with a
0:47
Speaker 3: three to two win over the Twins, but it doesn't
0:50
Speaker 3: come without a loss to Lindor. Ken more, can you
0:52
Speaker 3: tell us right?
0:53
Speaker 1: Lindor suffered a left calf train in this game, and
0:58
Speaker 1: the New York Post reporting this morning he's likely to
1:00
Speaker 1: go on the injured list. Not a surprise. He's getting
1:02
Speaker 1: an inh sorry, an MRI today. So with Soto, he
1:07
Speaker 1: missed about a couple of weeks with that calf strain
1:09
Speaker 1: he had. That was a right calf strain. That's what
1:12
Speaker 1: these things generally take. Sometimes they're worse than others. So
1:15
Speaker 1: we don't know yet exactly the severity of Lindor, but clearly,
1:20
Speaker 1: while they yes won last night, finally ending that losing streak,
1:24
Speaker 1: to lose Lindor would be a huge blow. Ronnie Mauricio,
1:28
Speaker 1: according to some reports, is coming up. They can move
1:31
Speaker 1: Bashett the shortstop, they can do some different things here.
1:34
Speaker 1: But Lindor. I know he has struggled, of course, but
1:37
Speaker 1: he's one of the centerpieces of this team, so to
1:40
Speaker 1: lose him would be a real problem. Now they're in
1:43
Speaker 1: the middle of a stretch. They're facing the Twins, the Nationals,
1:47
Speaker 1: the Rockies, and then after that the schedule remains somewhat easy.
1:51
Speaker 1: They need to get going here and no more excuses.
1:55
Speaker 1: No more oh it's early. No. They obviously are in
1:59
Speaker 1: quite a position, and they've had starting pitching issues. They've
2:02
Speaker 1: had all kinds of issues. So to answer my friend's question,
2:06
Speaker 1: which team do I believe is in greater trouble, I
2:09
Speaker 1: would say the Mets because the Phillies. To me, while
2:13
Speaker 1: they're having some severe offensive issues, their starting pitching is
2:17
Speaker 1: in better shape. They released Tyrone Walker this morning, and
2:20
Speaker 1: that was obviously a failed experiment, not an experiment, a
2:24
Speaker 1: seventy two million dollar free agent investment. But Zach Wheeler
2:27
Speaker 1: comes back Saturday, So you're looking at at that point
2:31
Speaker 1: a much different looking rotation, a better rotation, assuming Wheeler
2:35
Speaker 1: is something resembling the old Wheeler to start with. And
2:39
Speaker 1: I don't know that you can expect him to be
2:40
Speaker 1: the old Wheeler right away, but at some point at
2:44
Speaker 1: least the Phillies rotation should be somewhat more stable than
2:48
Speaker 1: the Mets. Is The question then, will be will this
2:51
Speaker 1: team hit? They currently rank twenty eight, The Phillies are
2:54
Speaker 1: twenty eighth in the majors in runs.
2:58
Speaker 3: Well, let's go back to the Mets for just a second,
3:00
Speaker 3: and we do have more to dive into when we
3:01
Speaker 3: talk about the Phillies. But Juan Soto and the Mets
3:04
Speaker 3: can now Wan Soto is on the IL obviously, so
3:07
Speaker 3: typically when you're on the IL, you do not travel
3:10
Speaker 3: with the team. You're not around the guys. Are we
3:12
Speaker 3: making too much about the fact that he said he
3:15
Speaker 3: didn't talk to his teammates while he was on the IL.
3:18
Speaker 3: Will Samon looks into it a little bit more A.
3:21
Speaker 1: Lot we me and you are not making too much
3:24
Speaker 1: of it because we read Will's article, and Will's article
3:27
Speaker 1: explains in detail why this is not repeat not a thing,
3:32
Speaker 1: and basically Will quoted three Mets anonymously they didn't want
3:36
Speaker 1: to talk on the record, basically saying this is not
3:39
Speaker 1: a big deal. When a guy is on the injured list,
3:41
Speaker 1: he's away from the team. Generally, the Mets were on
3:43
Speaker 1: the road and there isn't this daily communication pep talks
3:48
Speaker 1: from the injured guy. That doesn't happen. So while it
3:51
Speaker 1: sounded weird, and I'll admit when I first heard it
3:54
Speaker 1: it sounded a little jarring, the reality is that this
3:58
Speaker 1: is kind of standard operating PERCEPS. So it is not
4:01
Speaker 1: a big deal. And that was the point of Will's article,
4:04
Speaker 1: which was, by the way, very good because everyone was
4:06
Speaker 1: freaking out at the time. And our job at the
4:09
Speaker 1: Athletic and journalists everywhere is to provide context as well
4:14
Speaker 1: as news, of course, and in this case Will provided
4:16
Speaker 1: the context. End of story.
4:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is making too much out of something that's
4:22
Speaker 3: not even there, something that could quite possibly be there. Ken,
4:25
Speaker 3: and I'll ask you this for both the Mets and
4:28
Speaker 3: the Phillies managers, how in danger if at all? Mike
4:32
Speaker 3: Carlos Mendoza of the Mets and Rob Thompson of the
4:36
Speaker 3: Phillies be in terms of the hot seat, how hot
4:38
Speaker 3: is it?
4:39
Speaker 1: It's hot and Alon I wrote about this situation earlier
4:43
Speaker 1: this week. I listed Thompson, Mendoza, and Jospota of the
4:46
Speaker 1: Astros as guys who could be under scrutiny sooner rather
4:50
Speaker 1: than later. Now the Mets have this relatively easy stretch now.
4:55
Speaker 1: Tim Britton wrote about this in The Athletic the other day,
4:57
Speaker 1: saying ten days to make or break your season, and
5:00
Speaker 1: that's what this is. They need to get going now. Obviously,
5:04
Speaker 1: the injury to Lindor if he is out for any
5:06
Speaker 1: length of time, may get Carlos Mendoza some forgiveness. Actually,
5:11
Speaker 1: he deserves a lot of forgiveness. This isn't on him
5:14
Speaker 1: for the most part. But yes, if the Mets do
5:17
Speaker 1: not get it going, he will be in trouble. Same
5:20
Speaker 1: with the Phillies. Now, as with the Mets, the issues
5:24
Speaker 1: with the Phillies really stem from the front office. Dave Dombrowski,
5:29
Speaker 1: President Baseball Operations, essentially chose to run this team back,
5:33
Speaker 1: and that's understandable. They've got really good players. They brought
5:36
Speaker 1: back Schwarber, they brought back Real Muto. They did not
5:39
Speaker 1: address left field, and Otto Kemp was supposed to be
5:42
Speaker 1: part of a platoon there. He is now in the miners.
5:45
Speaker 1: And of course they just have not hit for whatever reason.
5:48
Speaker 1: And they've also had the bomb distraction, at least for
5:51
Speaker 1: Bohm with his family and all that he's going through
5:53
Speaker 1: with the lawsuit against his parents, almost certainly contributing to
5:57
Speaker 1: his struggles. Bryce and Scott has not played well. So
6:01
Speaker 1: beyond Turner, Harper and Schwarper, you look at their offense
6:05
Speaker 1: and it's WHOA, what is this? Where is this? Real
6:09
Speaker 1: Muto has done okay, but they've got a real problem there.
6:12
Speaker 1: Last night this told you all you need to know
6:14
Speaker 1: about the Phillies. They changed their lineup, put Schwarber in
6:18
Speaker 1: the leadoff spot for the first time since twenty four
6:20
Speaker 1: But more significantly, Felix Reyes, in his second major league game,
6:25
Speaker 1: batted cleanup for the Philadelphia Phillies. That tells you everything
6:29
Speaker 1: you need to know.
6:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, second major league game and he's batting cleanup for
6:33
Speaker 3: the Philadelphia Phills, as you mentioned. But you know what,
6:36
Speaker 3: the Mets and the Phillies can not the only team
6:39
Speaker 3: that is scuffling We're wondering what the heck is going
6:41
Speaker 3: on in the NL East. But the AL East is
6:43
Speaker 3: an interesting story, particularly with the Boston Red Sox. Now
6:47
Speaker 3: they've lost both of their games against the Yankees at home,
6:50
Speaker 3: They've scored just one run. They're entering the series finale
6:54
Speaker 3: with the Yanks today a nine to fifteen record. What
6:57
Speaker 3: is going on with the Red Sox?
7:00
Speaker 1: This one, to me, Alana is the least surprising of
7:03
Speaker 1: the three. And I'll tell you what we knew going
7:06
Speaker 1: into the season, or we expected going to the season.
7:09
Speaker 1: They were going to have offensive issues. They in my estimation,
7:13
Speaker 1: were putting way too much on Roman Anthony and they
7:17
Speaker 1: lacked punch in their lineup. Well, we've seen that play out.
7:20
Speaker 1: They're ranking last in the league in home runs, I believe,
7:25
Speaker 1: and it just hasn't worked offensively for them. And they've
7:29
Speaker 1: talked about run prevention and we're gonna pitch and as
7:31
Speaker 1: long as we pitch, we'll be fine. And that hasn't
7:34
Speaker 1: gone so well either. Crochetas struggled at times so far
7:37
Speaker 1: as inconsistent. Okay, all of that is happening, but to me,
7:43
Speaker 1: the pitching will stabilize. The pitching will be fine. It's
7:45
Speaker 1: the offense. And they have been in these two Yankee games,
7:49
Speaker 1: or two games against the Yankees, relatively uncompetitive, non competitive,
7:53
Speaker 1: and that to me is a glaring miscalculation of what
7:57
Speaker 1: this offense could have been. Remember, and I know Red
8:01
Speaker 1: Sox fans don't like Peyermid. Time and again, they had Devers,
8:05
Speaker 1: they replaced him with Bregman. They lost Bregman, and while
8:08
Speaker 1: Bregman is not a slugger per se, he had an
8:12
Speaker 1: outsized impact on that group because the young players look
8:15
Speaker 1: to him, and they really have not replaced what they
8:18
Speaker 1: lost with Devers in the first place. Wilson catreros, okay,
8:22
Speaker 1: but he's older. He's not going to hit thirty forty
8:24
Speaker 1: home runs. And this is where they are right now.
8:28
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk about some positives. The portion of
8:30
Speaker 3: the lead is powered by game changer. More on game
8:33
Speaker 3: changer in a moment. Lanta Braves can at the lead
8:38
Speaker 3: of Walt Weiss doing a lot better in the NL East,
8:41
Speaker 3: perhaps surprising many, surprising me. While the Mets and the
8:44
Speaker 3: Phillies have struggled, the Walt Weiss led Braves are thriving.
8:48
Speaker 1: Why is that they're thriving because their offense has been outstanding,
8:53
Speaker 1: that's one thing, and we thought that might happen. That
8:57
Speaker 1: seemed the reasonable expectation that their offense would better than
9:00
Speaker 1: it was last year when they had some injuries. They
9:02
Speaker 1: had some underperformance from Harris and Albie's in the first half. Especially,
9:07
Speaker 1: what we did not expect was their starting pitching to
9:10
Speaker 1: be as good as it was. And I talked about
9:13
Speaker 1: how I thought all along the Red Sox offense would
9:15
Speaker 1: be a problem. I also thought the Braves rotation would
9:18
Speaker 1: be a problem, and it hasn't been. Now. This week's
9:21
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a jumble. Ronaldo Lopez through
9:24
Speaker 1: only one inning. Tuesday, they bring up Diddy or front Days,
9:27
Speaker 1: who has a thirty nine pitch first inning. Yesterday last night,
9:31
Speaker 1: and then tonight they're going to have a major league
9:34
Speaker 1: debut from Jr. Richie. So they're a little bit of
9:36
Speaker 1: an unsettled state right now. But they have pitched really
9:40
Speaker 1: well and Weiss taking over. Brian Sticker has done an
9:45
Speaker 1: outstanding job. And I wrote about this at length yesterday.
9:48
Speaker 1: Talked to a number of people about him and just
9:51
Speaker 1: kind of who he is, and you see it here.
9:54
Speaker 1: His job has changed in Atlanta. He has gone from
9:57
Speaker 1: bench coach to manager, but his personal approach with players hasn't.
10:01
Speaker 1: I encourage people to read it because obviously it's more
10:04
Speaker 1: in depth that we can get into here. It's also
10:06
Speaker 1: a free link, so it's free for all to read.
10:09
Speaker 1: But he has had a positive impact on that team,
10:13
Speaker 1: and they just look right now as they've looked most years,
10:17
Speaker 1: except for last season when they were a bit of
10:18
Speaker 1: a mess. They look like a solid Atlanta Braves team
10:22
Speaker 1: and it's impressive to see based on where they were
10:26
Speaker 1: with their rotation. And we'll see how it all plays out.
10:29
Speaker 1: I don't know that they are comfortable with where they
10:32
Speaker 1: are in their rotation yet, but so far, so good. Yeah.
10:36
Speaker 3: Fifty or better in terms of a run differential, thirty
10:38
Speaker 3: or more home runs, two hundred or more pitching strikeouts,
10:41
Speaker 3: zero blown saves. In Major League Baseball history, only one
10:44
Speaker 3: team has had the following numbers over the first twenty
10:47
Speaker 3: five games. Ken, you wrote about it, the twenty twenty
10:50
Speaker 3: six Atlanta Braves. Well the lead is powered by Game Changer,
10:54
Speaker 3: the number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter,
10:57
Speaker 3: connect live and replay the action. Learn more at GC
11:01
Speaker 3: dot com. Get those questions in. We'll be back with
11:03
Speaker 3: grillin Ken right after this.
11:05
Speaker 2: There are more than seventy thousand events listed on the
11:10
Speaker 2: sea geek app. So if you're looking to do basically
11:12
Speaker 2: anything this spring or summer, there's one place to go.
11:15
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:15
Speaker 4: See gk has all the concerts, baseball games, World Cup tickets.
11:19
Speaker 4: Whatever you need is on cke Trust me, I'm going
11:21
Speaker 4: to be hitting some concerts and some festivals this summer.
11:24
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be looking for seek.
11:26
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see aj g adding the best tickets
11:29
Speaker 2: he can for concerts and festivals. We'll get plenty of
11:32
Speaker 2: pictures there. But also when he's looking what he does
11:35
Speaker 2: is he looks for when he's going to, say an
11:37
Speaker 2: arena for a concert, a green dot meaning he's got
11:40
Speaker 2: a good deal in a good spot. That's where seekek
11:42
Speaker 2: helps you out. With over thirty five million downloads, see
11:45
Speaker 2: Gek is the number one rated ticketing app. And of
11:47
Speaker 2: course we have the code for the FT network Territory
11:51
Speaker 2: ten for ten percent off your next set of tickets
11:53
Speaker 2: at se geek. That's ten percent off any tickets with
11:56
Speaker 2: the promo code Territory one zero. Make sure you click
11:59
Speaker 2: the link in the description to download the app and
12:01
Speaker 2: have the code automatically added to your account so you
12:04
Speaker 2: can use it later. Props to see Geek.
12:11
Speaker 3: All right, time out for Grill and Ken. Don't forget
12:13
Speaker 3: to get your questions in. For Ken, not often do
12:16
Speaker 3: you get an opportunity to ask him a question directly.
12:18
Speaker 3: We're going to start with the Cincinnati Reds. Can We've
12:21
Speaker 3: talked a lot about some other teams, but we want
12:23
Speaker 3: to make sure that Cincinnati is covered. So the first
12:26
Speaker 3: question here on Grill and Can if if I can
12:29
Speaker 3: pull it up here, It's not up on our screen,
12:30
Speaker 3: and so I'll find it from our chat. Hold on, Sorry, guys,
12:36
Speaker 3: let's talk about the Reds. There there's not a question
12:38
Speaker 3: that's that's my bad. So are we making a bigger
12:41
Speaker 3: deal of the Reds? Are we not making a big
12:45
Speaker 3: deal out of them? Should we be making a bigger
12:47
Speaker 3: deal out of the Reds? What have you seen so far?
12:50
Speaker 3: You know, a quarter of the way into this season.
12:52
Speaker 1: Well, I didn't mention Monday talking about some hot teams
12:56
Speaker 1: and received a verbal assault in the comments section. Kidding,
13:00
Speaker 1: But at the same time, they have played really well.
13:03
Speaker 1: And let's give credit to the NL Central in general.
13:06
Speaker 1: This division has been the best division in baseball so far.
13:09
Speaker 1: The Cub's eight game winning streak, want to mention it.
13:12
Speaker 1: It's built on the backs of the Phillies and the Mets,
13:14
Speaker 1: So we want to see them against better opponents. I
13:17
Speaker 1: say that kind of facetiously. But Reds are an interesting
13:21
Speaker 1: story because they have not hit. They've got Ellie Dela Cruz,
13:24
Speaker 1: They've got Sal Stewart, and the rest of it isn't
13:27
Speaker 1: all that much from an offensive standpoint. Their rotation is
13:31
Speaker 1: missing Hunter Green and Nic Lodolo, two of their best starters.
13:34
Speaker 1: And yet they have built this very strong start to
13:38
Speaker 1: their season, and they've done it with a surprising aspect
13:41
Speaker 1: of their team, the bullpen. I didn't know or didn't
13:45
Speaker 1: expect their bullpen would be this good, but knock on wood.
13:49
Speaker 1: So far it has been particularly at the back end
13:52
Speaker 1: with Tony Santhion, Amelia Pagan, Graham Ashcraft not in that order.
13:57
Speaker 1: They have looked pretty good and they've got a great
13:59
Speaker 1: manager and Terry Francona. So I expect the Reds to
14:03
Speaker 1: be in the thick of it in the annual Central
14:05
Speaker 1: and I expect the Pirates to be in the thick
14:07
Speaker 1: of it. It's a really good division right now. The
14:09
Speaker 1: Cardinals two have been a surprise, but good for Cincinnati
14:13
Speaker 1: getting off to a start like this. Let's not forget
14:16
Speaker 1: they made the playoffs last year again with help from the.
14:18
Speaker 3: Mets Zez Reviews. Has a question for you, mister Rosenthal,
14:23
Speaker 3: what is more likely to happen the Boston Red Sox
14:26
Speaker 3: making the playoffs after this disastrous start, or the Red
14:29
Speaker 3: Sox firing either Alex Cora or Craig Breslo if the
14:33
Speaker 3: team continues to spiral. We talked about perhaps Mendoza and
14:39
Speaker 3: Thompson on the hot seat, but his Cora.
14:42
Speaker 1: Cora is in the second year of a three year,
14:44
Speaker 1: twenty one point seventy five million dollar contract that alone
14:48
Speaker 1: gives him some security. He would be owed, I don't
14:52
Speaker 1: know what ten million or so if they fired him
14:54
Speaker 1: right now, and they gave him that contract because they
14:58
Speaker 1: believe in him, so I don't expec him to be
15:00
Speaker 1: on the same kind of hot seat now. The question was,
15:03
Speaker 1: what is the greater likelihood of them making the playoffs
15:06
Speaker 1: or one of these guys Breslow or Core getting fired.
15:09
Speaker 1: They can make the playoffs. The American League is not
15:12
Speaker 1: all that strong, as we've seen. So if they get
15:15
Speaker 1: their pitching together, find some offense, and they're gonna need
15:18
Speaker 1: to add at some point, it would seem to me
15:20
Speaker 1: then the playoffs are not necessarily unrealistic. If they don't,
15:25
Speaker 1: We've seen Red Sox ownership before, what do they do?
15:28
Speaker 1: They look for scapegoats, and certainly Breslow in this particular
15:32
Speaker 1: season is, if not on the hot seat, certainly it's
15:36
Speaker 1: time for them under him to take a step forward
15:39
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Last year that was good, but now
15:41
Speaker 1: they've taken at least to start the season a step back.
15:45
Speaker 1: So there's going to be heat there if this team
15:48
Speaker 1: indeed figures to sputter the rest of the way. Yeah.
15:52
Speaker 3: More on the Red Sox and dumb moves coming up
15:55
Speaker 3: later in Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Wicked Better has
15:58
Speaker 3: a question for you, Ken, do you feel like the
16:00
Speaker 3: d Backs will be able to continue to play the
16:02
Speaker 3: way they have to this point? Any early concerns going
16:05
Speaker 3: into today? They are third in the division and have
16:08
Speaker 3: a fourteen and ten record. Are you buying the d Backs?
16:12
Speaker 1: I'm buying them because I believe they're going to get
16:14
Speaker 1: better as the season progresses. They're going to get players
16:17
Speaker 1: coming off the injured list. That should help them Lord
16:20
Speaker 1: Escuriel Junior from the position side. Then on the pitching side,
16:23
Speaker 1: they're waiting on aj Puck, They're waiting on Justin Martinez,
16:26
Speaker 1: and they're waiting on Corbyn Burns. Now, injured players might
16:30
Speaker 1: not come back in the same form that we left
16:33
Speaker 1: them at before they got injured, but the Diamondbacks have
16:37
Speaker 1: the chance, as I just detailed there, to improve their
16:40
Speaker 1: pitching as the season goes along. So far, what I
16:43
Speaker 1: have liked is the sheer spunk that they've shown and
16:49
Speaker 1: getting contributions from guys like Vargas, from Jose Fernandez unexpected sources.
16:56
Speaker 1: They have done a great job in that regard, and
16:59
Speaker 1: they they've got some really good players at the top
17:02
Speaker 1: of their food chain too. Corbyn Carol and Coutel Marte
17:05
Speaker 1: and Heraldo Perdomo are three of the better players in
17:08
Speaker 1: the game. So yes, I like them. Do I like
17:11
Speaker 1: them to win the Division over the Dodgers or even
17:13
Speaker 1: the Padres. Probably not, But I don't rule them out
17:18
Speaker 1: for a playoff spot because there is a lot there.
17:20
Speaker 3: Dodgers scuffling a little bit, a bit of an early
17:22
Speaker 3: season gut check for them. Ken Right now, the San
17:25
Speaker 3: Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers are tied for
17:28
Speaker 3: the top spot in the NL West. They're sitting at
17:30
Speaker 3: sixteen and eight is six sixty seven winning percentage. So
17:34
Speaker 3: right now the Padres are a top of the division
17:37
Speaker 3: if you you know technicality technically, if you will, are
17:40
Speaker 3: we buying the sixteen and eight Padres and what makes
17:43
Speaker 3: them different than the sixteen and eight Dodgers.
17:46
Speaker 1: I'm buying the Padres to an extent. And like the Braves,
17:51
Speaker 1: they enter the season with big time questions in their rotation.
17:54
Speaker 1: They still have those questions. Paveta is out, Darvish isn't
17:57
Speaker 1: coming back, Musgrove is still out. They've taken a lot
18:01
Speaker 1: of hits to their rotation. Now. They signed Lucas Giolito yesterday.
18:05
Speaker 1: He won't be part of their group probably for another
18:07
Speaker 1: month or so as he builds up, so that has
18:11
Speaker 1: been a question. But they have this unbelievable bullpen, of course,
18:15
Speaker 1: led by Mason Miller. They have an offense that at
18:19
Speaker 1: times has struggled, but with Loreano and others doing some things,
18:23
Speaker 1: they've looked pretty good. And of course they've got Machado
18:25
Speaker 1: and Tatis and all of the big names. What I
18:29
Speaker 1: like about them is that they seem to find a way.
18:32
Speaker 1: They almost remind me I was thinking about this this
18:35
Speaker 1: morning of Milwaukee. Now, Milwaukee's a much different kind of team,
18:39
Speaker 1: much lower payroll. They're more of a scrappy, overachieving unit
18:42
Speaker 1: every single year. The Padres aren't that, but they play
18:47
Speaker 1: better than we expect in the regular season, at least
18:50
Speaker 1: quite often, and that's what we're seeing so far. There's
18:53
Speaker 1: a lot there and I don't know if they can
18:56
Speaker 1: overtake the Dodgers, But at the same time, they've played
19:00
Speaker 1: really well amid difficult circumstances and again have shown to
19:04
Speaker 1: be competitive. And we know at the deadline perhaps excuse me,
19:10
Speaker 1: perhaps with new ownership coming in with more financial flexibility,
19:14
Speaker 1: aj Preller is going to fire. So they're an interesting
19:19
Speaker 1: team to watch for sure.
19:21
Speaker 3: Absolutely it's better when there's competition in the division anyway,
19:25
Speaker 3: all right, coming up, we have Dude and Dork of
19:27
Speaker 3: the Week after a few words from our friends at.
19:30
Speaker 2: Foul Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal is proudly part of
19:34
Speaker 2: the foul Territory Network.
19:36
Speaker 4: Listen to authentic conversations and unique insights across a variety
19:39
Speaker 4: of shows hosted by esteemed writers and all stars alike,
19:43
Speaker 4: the people who know our game best.
19:45
Speaker 2: I see myself right behind me.
19:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have foul territory in the locker room, Snatch
19:49
Speaker 1: up form Land meet all of you.
19:51
Speaker 4: We debate baseball's hottest news while also chatting with over
19:54
Speaker 4: seven hundred current Major League players in laid back, long
19:57
Speaker 4: form conversations unique to FT.
20:00
Speaker 1: All the years I worked, I never missed one I
20:03
Speaker 1: didn't catch.
20:05
Speaker 4: Us live from baseball's biggest events Winter Meetings, all Star games,
20:09
Speaker 4: and award shows with access to other guys wish they
20:12
Speaker 4: could get.
20:13
Speaker 1: That was my whole key to hitting was I mastered BP.
20:16
Speaker 2: Subscribe on YouTube and rate five stars wherever you listen,
20:20
Speaker 2: support your favorites, and share us with a friend. We
20:23
Speaker 2: are changing the way baseball is consumed and we want
20:26
Speaker 2: you right there with us. The Foul Territory Network Baseball
20:30
Speaker 2: the way it should be covered. BET'MGM account holders today.
20:35
Speaker 2: How about in any sport parlay boost token you can
20:37
Speaker 2: score a bigger payout if your wager with that token.
20:39
Speaker 2: Hits tokens can be used on parlays and on same
20:42
Speaker 2: game parlays. Gambling problem or concerned. There's help called one
20:45
Speaker 2: eight hundred gambler.
20:48
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.
20:55
Speaker 3: All right, it's time to give a person or an
20:58
Speaker 3: organization some props. I will go first on this one.
21:01
Speaker 3: My dude of the week Ken is Jake Mangum. I
21:04
Speaker 3: always have a difficult time saying his last name, so
21:06
Speaker 3: I need to say it slowly. Jake Mangam, What a guy.
21:09
Speaker 3: I don't know if you guys saw this, but he
21:11
Speaker 3: the other day had a moment with a fan. He
21:13
Speaker 3: threw his baseball to a young fan there in Pittsburgh,
21:17
Speaker 3: and this young man caught the ball with his glove.
21:19
Speaker 3: That's why you bring a ball to the park, Ken,
21:21
Speaker 3: And then he gave it to his little sister, and
21:24
Speaker 3: his sister was so incredibly emotional. Look at her. I mean,
21:28
Speaker 3: what a moment between siblings and Jake just made that
21:31
Speaker 3: entire family's day. And Jake's own mom went on X
21:36
Speaker 3: and said that she just warmed her heart to see
21:38
Speaker 3: her son be able to do that for that pair
21:40
Speaker 3: of siblings. So good on you, Jake Mangum. Proud of you.
21:43
Speaker 3: That is my dude of the week.
21:45
Speaker 1: Ken. What about you? I've got Mudatakia Mirakami and Murakami
21:50
Speaker 1: was a guy that we all questioned at the start
21:52
Speaker 1: of the season. Teams were like, he's not going to
21:55
Speaker 1: be all that. There's a lot of swing and miss.
21:56
Speaker 1: He didn't get the contract we all thought he would,
21:58
Speaker 1: and yet look at him now, home runs in five
22:01
Speaker 1: consecutive games. That ties a record for a rookie two
22:05
Speaker 1: fifty six batting average, four four on base Now he
22:08
Speaker 1: is striking out a lot. That was expected, But the
22:12
Speaker 1: potential here was the thought was by the White Sox
22:16
Speaker 1: and by his agency excel that he could be another
22:19
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber. I don't know if we're gonna see quite that,
22:23
Speaker 1: but so far, so good. We're gonna Takamurakami due to
22:26
Speaker 1: the week runner up, and this guy could easily be
22:28
Speaker 1: due to the week as well. Jordan Alvarez eleven homers
22:32
Speaker 1: leading the majors. He's off to a red hot start. Yeah,
22:35
Speaker 1: that is awesome.
22:35
Speaker 3: It's nice and we have a lot of people to
22:37
Speaker 3: choose from. Sometimes we have a lot more dorks than dudes.
22:40
Speaker 3: That is not the case this week.
22:41
Speaker 2: And speaking of.
22:42
Speaker 3: Dork, is now time for dork of the week. All right,
22:51
Speaker 3: I think I'm probably going to get crushed for this,
22:53
Speaker 3: but I'm going with this anyway. I am one of
22:55
Speaker 3: those people that probably is like old old lady yelling
22:59
Speaker 3: at clouds get up off my lawn. But I cannot
23:02
Speaker 3: stand stadium proposals. I think it is one of the
23:05
Speaker 3: most just lazy, boring, unoriginal proposals you can do. Not
23:13
Speaker 3: only did this person take it to that level, they
23:16
Speaker 3: took it to a whole other level. Because this is
23:18
Speaker 3: a major League Baseball player. This is Austin Hedges, Ken
23:21
Speaker 3: of the Cleveland Guardians, their catcher. On his own field,
23:25
Speaker 3: he asked his beloved girlfriend Lexi if he would if
23:29
Speaker 3: she would marry him. She said yes, obviously she loves baseball.
23:33
Speaker 3: She's out there wearing an Austin Hedges coat and he
23:36
Speaker 3: is in full uniform. Ken Rosenthal after the game on
23:40
Speaker 3: bended knee, asking his beautiful girlfriend on the jumbo tron
23:44
Speaker 3: if she will marry him a lot.
23:46
Speaker 1: I've got no problem with this, problem with this, and
23:50
Speaker 1: let's face it, she said yes. She obviously was not
23:52
Speaker 1: that offended. So more power to Austin Hedges. I'm not
23:56
Speaker 1: going to name him do to the week for this,
23:57
Speaker 1: but I'm certainly not going to go in the door.
24:00
Speaker 3: Like I said, I'm probably going to get crushed. Who
24:02
Speaker 3: is your dork of the week.
24:03
Speaker 1: My doork of the week is Lucas Giolido. And let
24:06
Speaker 1: me explain, we are hard on teams all the time
24:10
Speaker 1: when they misread the market. Now, Lucasgiledo is a really
24:13
Speaker 1: good picture, and he's a guy who saw his value
24:16
Speaker 1: a certain way, and he, as a free agent, is
24:19
Speaker 1: absolutely entitled to do that. And if I were him,
24:21
Speaker 1: I would have wanted what I perceived by value to
24:24
Speaker 1: be as well. But at some point, and I don't
24:27
Speaker 1: know what point that was, in the off season, it
24:30
Speaker 1: was almost as if he had to cut his losses. Now,
24:32
Speaker 1: if he was looking and I'm just throwing a number
24:34
Speaker 1: out there, if he was looking for, say, fifteen million,
24:36
Speaker 1: which I think for a picture of Giolito's caliber and background,
24:41
Speaker 1: was not a unreasonable ask. Well, he ends up with
24:44
Speaker 1: a three million dollar guarantee, so somewhere between fifteen and
24:49
Speaker 1: three maybe he could have compromised. And listen, I don't
24:51
Speaker 1: know all the particulars of the negotiations. I don't know
24:54
Speaker 1: everything that went on. But at the same time, as
24:57
Speaker 1: I said, clubs they misread the market, we rush them.
25:00
Speaker 1: Sometimes players do as well. And I don't know how
25:03
Speaker 1: you can interpret it as any other way right now
25:06
Speaker 1: as him misreading it and his agency. So a mild
25:10
Speaker 1: dork of the week, not crushing Lucas Gilido for this,
25:13
Speaker 1: but I wish you would have done better, and ultimately
25:16
Speaker 1: he ends up where he does and hopefully in his
25:19
Speaker 1: case he has a great year, goes back in the
25:21
Speaker 1: market and gets what he deserves.
25:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know who could have used him as live
25:25
Speaker 3: at Boston Red Sox, who have every single starter on
25:27
Speaker 3: the aisle that is neither here nor there that is
25:30
Speaker 3: going to do it for us On Fair Territory with
25:32
Speaker 3: Ken Rosenthal. Ken, of course, is back on Monday. Fair
25:35
Speaker 3: Territory is next to Foul Territory rather as next Daniel
25:39
Speaker 3: Murphy Buck show walker Jonathan Papelbon will join Eric Kratz,
25:43
Speaker 3: Kevin Polar and Scott Broun. We will see you next time.
25:46
Speaker 1: Have a good weekend.