Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Edwin Díaz IL trip, Ketel Marte's MIA mystery, Chicago baseball buzz, deGrom’s destiny

Transcript

Fair Territory: Edwin Díaz IL trip, Ketel Marte's MIA mystery, Chicago baseball buzz, deGrom’s destiny · Foul Territory

0:08
Speaker 1: Hi, Hello, and welcome to Affair Territory with Ken Rosenthal.
0:12
Speaker 1: I am not Ken Rosenthal. I am also not Alana Rosso.
0:15
Speaker 1: My name's Katie Wu filling in today with both Ken
0:18
Speaker 1: and Alana out on assignment. Thrilled to be with you all,
0:21
Speaker 1: Thrilled even more so to be joined today by the wonderful,
0:24
Speaker 1: talented Tim Kirkton of ESPN, who is kind enough to
0:28
Speaker 1: be our guest today.
0:29
Speaker 2: Tim. Welcome to the show, Thanks for joining me.
0:32
Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie.
0:33
Speaker 4: It needs to be noted every time I do this
0:35
Speaker 4: show is that Ken Rosenthal and I covered the Orioles
0:39
Speaker 4: together in Baltimore when we were beat writers for newspapers,
0:43
Speaker 4: and it was right about the time that Ralph Sampson
0:47
Speaker 4: and Akeem Olajuan were the Twin Towers in the NBA,
0:51
Speaker 4: and we were kind of affectually known as the twin
0:55
Speaker 4: Towers in Baltimore. The average height of those two guys
0:59
Speaker 4: was like two and ours was close to.
1:02
Speaker 3: Five to five.
1:03
Speaker 4: Maybe, so we will always be known as the twin Towers,
1:07
Speaker 4: me and Junior. And I haven't been able to call
1:10
Speaker 4: him anything but Junior since he got that nickname when
1:13
Speaker 4: we covered the Orioles together in the eighties.
1:16
Speaker 2: That is a great story.
1:18
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine calling Ken anything other than Ken.
1:23
Speaker 2: Please forgive me. I messed up something, which is.
1:24
Speaker 1: Usually how our conversations go over at the Athletic. Great guy,
1:29
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal taking some time away, well deserved.
1:32
Speaker 2: But let's let's get into some baseball things, Tim.
1:34
Speaker 1: Let's let's kick it out to the NL West, where
1:37
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off a serious sweep
1:40
Speaker 1: of the Colorado Rockies thanks to win in extras last night,
1:44
Speaker 1: but they have once again lost their prize to free
1:46
Speaker 1: agent closer Edwin Diaz to the IL.
1:49
Speaker 2: Let's break down a little bit of that.
1:51
Speaker 1: Diaz missed three months early in the season with elbow surgery.
1:55
Speaker 1: He came back in late July and just has not
1:57
Speaker 1: looked good. Since July twenty ninth, Edmond Diaz has allowed
2:01
Speaker 1: eleven earned runs on sixteen hits.
2:03
Speaker 2: That's a twelve nine to one ERA. That is not
2:06
Speaker 2: what you want.
2:07
Speaker 1: After allowing three runs on Monday while he was pitching
2:10
Speaker 1: with a nine run lead in the ninth says a
2:12
Speaker 1: lot about how things were going. He went on the
2:14
Speaker 1: IL Tuesday with what the Dodgers have termed as neck
2:17
Speaker 1: inflammation MRI results on Wednesday revealed no structural damage. Dodgers
2:22
Speaker 1: believe Diaz will return this season. Tanner Scott, who leads
2:25
Speaker 1: the team with saves with eighteen, will.
2:28
Speaker 2: Take over closer duties.
2:29
Speaker 1: Now my question for you, Tim, now that we're all
2:31
Speaker 1: caught up, the Dodgers are going.
2:33
Speaker 2: To be without Dias at least for the immediate future.
2:36
Speaker 1: Is there concern over their bullpen or will their depth
2:40
Speaker 1: cover them come October?
2:42
Speaker 4: No, I'm not really concerned about the bullpen for the Dodgers.
2:46
Speaker 4: Remember they didn't have a bullpen last year and they
2:50
Speaker 4: won the World Series. And the year before that they
2:54
Speaker 4: didn't have a starting rotation and they.
2:56
Speaker 3: Won the World Series.
2:57
Speaker 4: So the Dodgers have so many different resources and so
3:01
Speaker 4: many flexible moving parts that they'll figure out a way
3:05
Speaker 4: to handle the end of a game even if Diaz
3:09
Speaker 4: isn't there. And I expect him to make a return
3:12
Speaker 4: this year. Now, exactly how good he's going to be,
3:14
Speaker 4: we're not quite sure. A couple of years ago, when
3:17
Speaker 4: they took the sticky stuff away, I had a major
3:20
Speaker 4: league manager tell me that Diaz is hurt by not
3:23
Speaker 4: having the sticky stuff as much as any pitcher in
3:26
Speaker 4: baseball because he just hasn't been able to grip his
3:29
Speaker 4: slider properly. But it's been more than that, injuries everything else.
3:33
Speaker 4: But with the surplus of starting pitching that the Dodgers have,
3:38
Speaker 4: they'll be able to find somebody who can get out
3:41
Speaker 4: late in the game. And Tanner Scott's had a much
3:44
Speaker 4: better year this year than he did last year, So
3:46
Speaker 4: one way or another, I'm pretty sure the Dodgers will
3:49
Speaker 4: figure out the end of the game.
3:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tim, I think you're spot on here covering the
3:54
Speaker 1: Dodgers this year.
3:55
Speaker 2: For the athletic we've seen a lot of Tanner Scott.
3:57
Speaker 1: They also have the ability as we've seen many teams
4:00
Speaker 1: do before, but certainly not to the extent of talent
4:03
Speaker 1: that the Dodgers have. They can slought some of their
4:05
Speaker 1: starters that are not going to make that postseason rotation
4:08
Speaker 1: to the bullpen, where we'll probably see that with Roki Sasaki,
4:12
Speaker 1: who's had a nice second half. We've seen a lot
4:14
Speaker 1: of teams do this, I think, most notably before the
4:17
Speaker 1: Dodgers last year. The team that had the most success
4:19
Speaker 1: where with the Giants and the twenty tens. You're thinking
4:22
Speaker 1: Madison Bumgarner Peak twenty fourteen, things like that have you.
4:27
Speaker 1: Do you think the grit of having survived the Blue
4:30
Speaker 1: Jays doing the bullpen in this fashion will help this
4:32
Speaker 1: year's Dodgers at all.
4:34
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
4:35
Speaker 4: I mean the way they got through the World Series
4:38
Speaker 4: just mixing and matching with starting pitchers.
4:40
Speaker 3: You know, Tyler Glass Now had that three pitch opera.
4:44
Speaker 4: That was just ridiculous to think about how he got
4:47
Speaker 4: through that and how that inning ended.
4:50
Speaker 3: But that's what the Dodgers do.
4:51
Speaker 4: And again, when you have that many quality starters and
4:55
Speaker 4: you tell them all, look, we're going to have to
4:57
Speaker 4: change your role for the World Series. This is how
4:59
Speaker 4: we're going to win. Everyone's going to fall in line.
5:01
Speaker 4: And the fact that some of them did it last
5:04
Speaker 4: year in the postseason will make them more comfortable doing
5:06
Speaker 4: it potentially this year.
5:10
Speaker 1: Yes, only the Dodgers, it seems, can go out and
5:13
Speaker 1: lose their sixty nine million dollar closer twice and.
5:15
Speaker 2: We sit here and say they're going to be just fine.
5:19
Speaker 2: Let's stay in the division, staying in the NL West.
5:22
Speaker 1: We have to talk about what is going on with
5:24
Speaker 1: the Katel Marte situation, which is a hard topic because
5:28
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody knows, including the Arizona Diamondbacks. Katel
5:33
Speaker 1: Marte backstory, placed on the restricted list after not showing
5:36
Speaker 1: up to a game while the d Backs were in Boston.
5:38
Speaker 2: Now, Tim, as we all know, he did take that
5:40
Speaker 2: flight to Boston, he.
5:41
Speaker 1: Was on the charter, was supposed to be in the
5:43
Speaker 1: lineup on Monday, and just didn't show up. Now we
5:47
Speaker 1: have a little bit of an update. D Backs general
5:49
Speaker 1: manager Mike Haysen scheduled to speak today with Marte in person.
5:53
Speaker 1: He is also Marte set to undergo an MRI on
5:56
Speaker 1: his left knee. This we're unclear if the knee is
5:59
Speaker 1: related to the person matters that have prevented Marte from
6:02
Speaker 1: showing up to work. Mike Hasen said he is hopeful
6:05
Speaker 1: Marte returns this season, but he did not commit to it.
6:08
Speaker 1: This is all per the Wolf and Luke radio show
6:11
Speaker 1: on Arizona Sports. Now a lot to unpack here, But
6:15
Speaker 1: with the Dbacks firmly in the mix in the nationally
6:18
Speaker 1: wild card, if you're going to be without Katel Marte
6:21
Speaker 1: for potentially the rest of the regular season, what does
6:24
Speaker 1: this do to Arizona's wildcard odds?
6:26
Speaker 3: Well, it really hurts it.
6:28
Speaker 4: This guy is one of the best second basemen in baseball,
6:31
Speaker 4: and after Corbyn Carroll, certainly the best player on that team,
6:35
Speaker 4: and not having him potentially for the rest of the
6:38
Speaker 4: season is going to be harmful to the Diamondbacks. And yet, Katie,
6:44
Speaker 4: I must say, I did the beat for ten years
6:47
Speaker 4: at newspapers and I don't remember a time where one
6:51
Speaker 4: of the players on the team that I covered every
6:54
Speaker 4: day they just couldn't find him.
6:57
Speaker 3: He just went a wall.
6:58
Speaker 4: I mean, guys missed games for whatever reason, but they
7:01
Speaker 4: always found the time to call the team and say,
7:05
Speaker 4: I'm not going to be able to make it.
7:06
Speaker 3: Something has gone wrong here.
7:08
Speaker 4: Could tell Martee didn't do that, which makes it very
7:11
Speaker 4: troublesome for him and the team.
7:13
Speaker 3: And you know where are they going from here.
7:17
Speaker 4: He was with the team and with friends on Sunday
7:20
Speaker 4: night in Boston and everything seemed to be okay, and
7:23
Speaker 4: then without warning, he didn't show up to the ballpark
7:26
Speaker 4: on Monday. This is just so confounding. I'm not sure
7:30
Speaker 4: I've ever seen anything like this. But even if he
7:32
Speaker 4: does come back, and we're not sure if he is,
7:35
Speaker 4: you gotta wonder. This is the second time this has happened.
7:39
Speaker 4: And you know, can his teammates really truly trust him
7:43
Speaker 4: to come back and be the best player he can
7:45
Speaker 4: be when this has happened twice in two years and
7:48
Speaker 4: I don't really remember as a beat writer ever seeing
7:52
Speaker 4: anything quite like this.
7:55
Speaker 1: You're spot on, Tim, And that's what I was going
7:57
Speaker 1: to ask you next, is I mean, this is such
8:00
Speaker 1: a peculiar situation, not just because this is the second
8:03
Speaker 1: time this has happened, but it's not very often you
8:05
Speaker 1: and I both beat writers where we genuinely both tend
8:08
Speaker 1: to believe that the front office it really is as
8:11
Speaker 1: in the dark as they're letting on.
8:12
Speaker 2: I mean, I think Tory Leavello has.
8:14
Speaker 1: Done a commendable job talking to the media, trying to
8:17
Speaker 1: protect his team and also giving them something to work with.
8:20
Speaker 1: There is just so much the DBACS do not know
8:22
Speaker 1: about the Marte situation. He's essentially disappeared. Do you think
8:26
Speaker 1: this act is growing tiresome internally, whether it be with
8:30
Speaker 1: the clubhouse, whether it be with upper management, or maybe
8:33
Speaker 1: collectively within the organization.
8:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, you have to think this is detrimental to the
8:40
Speaker 4: team in one way or another. And let's not forget
8:42
Speaker 4: Katie just you know, Tory Leavello is one of the
8:46
Speaker 4: great communicators in baseball. I've never seen him ever have
8:50
Speaker 4: a problem talking to anybody about anything.
8:54
Speaker 3: He is so good at that.
8:56
Speaker 4: And even he has not been able to have the
8:59
Speaker 4: conversation with katel Marte.
9:01
Speaker 3: That he really needs to have.
9:03
Speaker 4: I was told he reached out multiple times and got
9:06
Speaker 4: nothing in return, and that is troublesome in itself.
9:10
Speaker 3: Now we just have to hope caateel Marte is.
9:12
Speaker 4: Okay, and we have to hope that his knee is okay.
9:16
Speaker 4: But this is a tricky.
9:17
Speaker 3: Spot, and you know, we can't stress enough.
9:20
Speaker 4: This is a really good player doing this in the
9:23
Speaker 4: middle of a playoff race. That's what is even more confusing.
9:27
Speaker 4: Not like this would be okay if he were on
9:30
Speaker 4: a last place team and he went a wall. It
9:34
Speaker 4: makes it even more important that he's on a contending
9:36
Speaker 4: team trying to make the playoffs.
9:41
Speaker 1: Agreed, And the National League wild card is wide open,
9:44
Speaker 1: maybe not as much as whatever the heck the American
9:46
Speaker 1: League wildcard situation is looking like. But you think of
9:49
Speaker 1: where the padres are the phillies. I mean, this is
9:52
Speaker 1: really those three spots are anyone's And you know, I
9:54
Speaker 1: don't even want to discount the Saint Louis Cardinals, who
9:56
Speaker 1: who are just a few games out and could make
9:59
Speaker 1: a run.
9:59
Speaker 2: We've seen them do that before.
10:01
Speaker 1: So these games matter for the Diamondbacks, And of course
10:04
Speaker 1: you hope that kud Tell Marte of course is okay,
10:07
Speaker 1: and that mentally he's in a solid place. But this
10:10
Speaker 1: is anyone's anyone's birth to attain, and the Diamondbacks probably
10:14
Speaker 1: could have been a little bit more aggressive this deadline.
10:16
Speaker 1: That pursuit of Clay Holmes did not work out, they
10:18
Speaker 1: go out and pick up Lars new Bar. He hasn't
10:20
Speaker 1: seen as much success in Arizona that he did in
10:22
Speaker 1: Saint Louis as it yet, but without Marte, this is
10:25
Speaker 1: a vastly different ball club. And it's hard for me
10:28
Speaker 1: to say, given how well the Padres have played as
10:31
Speaker 1: of late, the Phillies and the stars that they have
10:33
Speaker 1: on their team, that this Dbacks team can hang around without.
10:36
Speaker 4: Him, right Phillies are way better right now than they
10:40
Speaker 4: were two weeks ago, and the Padres are finally starting
10:43
Speaker 4: to score some runs to go with that really good pitching.
10:46
Speaker 4: So those are the two teams that the Diamondbacks are chasing,
10:51
Speaker 4: and now they're going to try to catch him without
10:53
Speaker 4: their really good second basement.
10:57
Speaker 1: All right, let's kick it to some inner leagues with
11:01
Speaker 1: on deck presented by the Fox one app, the Nationals
11:05
Speaker 1: take on the Rangers. There it is the Nationals take
11:12
Speaker 1: on the Rangers tonight on FS one. The Rangers, despite
11:16
Speaker 1: a soft cell at the deadline and their sixty two
11:18
Speaker 1: to sixty five record at the moment, are just two
11:20
Speaker 1: back from Houston and the Al West and half a
11:23
Speaker 1: game out of the wild Card. Now, they tried to
11:26
Speaker 1: sell more and when they approached Jacob de Grom about
11:28
Speaker 1: waving his no trade clause, he said politely, no, thank you.
11:32
Speaker 1: I would like to stay in Arlington. Jacob de Gram
11:34
Speaker 1: is the probable pitcher for the Rangers tonight. Tim, do
11:37
Speaker 1: you have a story about another player refusing to wave
11:41
Speaker 1: his no trade clause?
11:43
Speaker 4: Well, I think there are a few of them out there,
11:45
Speaker 4: But I do remember a long time ago, Ken Griffy
11:49
Speaker 4: Junior using his ten years and five with the last
11:53
Speaker 4: same team, the ten and five rights to he was
11:57
Speaker 4: going to be traded before the two thousand after the
12:00
Speaker 4: two thousand season to the Mets, and he said he
12:05
Speaker 4: used his ten and five rights to say no I
12:08
Speaker 4: don't want to go there.
12:10
Speaker 3: I would rather go to the Reds.
12:12
Speaker 4: And then Jim Bowden, our good friend who was on
12:14
Speaker 4: our podcast, recently went through the whole story about how
12:18
Speaker 4: they finally got Ken Griffy Junior from the Mariners and
12:22
Speaker 4: how ownership of the Reds and ownership of the Mariners
12:24
Speaker 4: couldn't figure this out and for three weeks it was
12:27
Speaker 4: just kind of sitting there, but eventually they got it done.
12:32
Speaker 4: But that's just one of them that I remember. And
12:35
Speaker 4: these are tricky things. When you have, you know, no
12:38
Speaker 4: trade clauses and ten and five rights, you have every
12:41
Speaker 4: right to do what you think is best for yourself
12:44
Speaker 4: and your career.
12:45
Speaker 3: That's what Jacob Degram did. He said, I want to
12:47
Speaker 3: play in the.
12:48
Speaker 4: World Series with the Ragers, and Ken Griffy Junior wanted
12:52
Speaker 4: to get back to Cincinnati, which he did through a
12:55
Speaker 4: trade eventually, So I understand.
12:57
Speaker 3: But that's just one of them. And that was I
13:00
Speaker 3: was twenty six years ago.
13:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was covering the Cardinals at the time where
13:05
Speaker 1: Nolan Arnado mixed his deal to the Houston Astros at
13:09
Speaker 1: the end of the twenty twenty four season and the
13:12
Speaker 1: chaos that followed for the Cardinals bled into the twenty
13:14
Speaker 1: twenty five season as well. But you make a great
13:17
Speaker 1: point to him. These are things that players earn and deserve.
13:20
Speaker 1: And if you get to the point in your career
13:22
Speaker 1: where for so long you have no control or no
13:25
Speaker 1: say over yourself, why not exercise that right now? Now
13:29
Speaker 1: that we see where the Rangers are at, what do
13:31
Speaker 1: you think about de Gram's choice? Rangers still somehow I
13:35
Speaker 1: feel like every team is in the mix of the
13:36
Speaker 1: American League, but still very much.
13:38
Speaker 2: In it here.
13:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have no problem with what Jacob Garam did.
13:43
Speaker 4: He's very comfortable there, and you know he hasn't done
13:47
Speaker 4: enough in his mind to be a part of the Rangers,
13:51
Speaker 4: and this is the way that he wants to say, Hey,
13:54
Speaker 4: this was a great idea to acquire me, to bring
13:57
Speaker 4: me in here. I need to stay here and help
13:59
Speaker 4: us win. And you're right, Katie, the American League is
14:03
Speaker 4: so confusing right now. From day to day, I change
14:07
Speaker 4: who I need to keep an eye on because maybe
14:09
Speaker 4: this is a team on the rise or a team
14:11
Speaker 4: who's starting to fade, and every day it changes.
14:14
Speaker 3: So Ragers still have a chance to win the division.
14:17
Speaker 4: Jacob Degram is going to be instrumental in that if
14:20
Speaker 4: they do so, I didn't have any problem with what
14:23
Speaker 4: he did.
14:26
Speaker 1: Well, you have MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox one.
14:30
Speaker 1: The Race to October starts now, and we have your
14:33
Speaker 1: front row seat to the wildest walkoffs, lights out, pitching,
14:36
Speaker 1: and clutch plays all season long. Follow every camp miss
14:39
Speaker 1: matchup as team's battle for a spot in the postseason.
14:42
Speaker 1: Then stream the twenty twenty six World Series live on
14:45
Speaker 1: Fox one at home or on the go, live or
14:48
Speaker 1: on demand. Never miss a moment. Stream now. Start your
14:51
Speaker 1: Fox one three day a free trial today at foxone
14:54
Speaker 1: dot com. All right, it's not Grill and Ken, but
15:06
Speaker 1: it is Grill and Tim, and we have some good
15:08
Speaker 1: questions here in the chat that I'll read to you
15:11
Speaker 1: Tim from our fellow listeners. Thank you so much for
15:16
Speaker 1: oh just kidding. We're gonna do something else first, m
15:19
Speaker 1: we are going to talk about the Chicago White Sox
15:22
Speaker 1: and the Chicago Cubs. The Crosstown series here, I think
15:26
Speaker 1: has been the most exciting series in a long time,
15:29
Speaker 1: certainly the one that had all of my attention this week.
15:32
Speaker 1: Sorry Dodgers, Rockies, but there was something a little bit
15:34
Speaker 1: more excited going on let's talk about it. Two potential
15:38
Speaker 1: postseason contenders. The Cubs take the first two games and
15:41
Speaker 1: walk off style before the White Sox shut them out
15:44
Speaker 1: in the finale yesterday, PCA Pete crow Armstrong adding to
15:48
Speaker 1: his potential MVP credentials. My favorite, of course, the two
15:52
Speaker 1: homer game on Tuesday. Hits a lead off dinger and
15:55
Speaker 1: then walks it off in extras Go Cubs go playing everywhere.
15:57
Speaker 2: Everybody's happy at Wrigley.
15:58
Speaker 1: Field, thirty one homers on the year, a nine to
16:01
Speaker 1: twenty eight ops plane, and elite center field.
16:04
Speaker 2: He's become the superstar the Cubs deserve.
16:07
Speaker 1: But we can't forget about sho Hey Otani and what
16:09
Speaker 1: he's doing for the back to back champs. Tim who
16:12
Speaker 1: if the season ended today, who's your MLMVP.
16:17
Speaker 4: Well, it's a toss up, Katie, But at the moment,
16:20
Speaker 4: I'm going to take Pete crow Armstrong just based on
16:23
Speaker 4: what he has done lately. Now we're going to revisit
16:26
Speaker 4: this every day for the rest of this season, and
16:29
Speaker 4: if Shohey returns to the mound and pitches like crazy
16:33
Speaker 4: in September, that's going to change the dynamic completely.
16:36
Speaker 3: But PCA has been amazing.
16:39
Speaker 4: You know, he's the first Cub ever to have a
16:41
Speaker 4: thirty thirty season, thirty homers, thirty steals in back to
16:44
Speaker 4: back years. The thirty one homers just proves again how
16:49
Speaker 4: how good a hitter he has become. But Greig Counsel,
16:52
Speaker 4: the manager of the Cubs, has told me that Pca
16:56
Speaker 4: is by far the best player defensive player at any
17:00
Speaker 4: position quote on the planet. And he said, I think
17:04
Speaker 4: he's the fastest player in the league.
17:06
Speaker 3: And he said he is the.
17:07
Speaker 4: Type of fast that I've never seen from a major
17:11
Speaker 4: league player. I mean his quickness start and stop everything else.
17:14
Speaker 4: So here you have a guy who can beat you
17:17
Speaker 4: with his glove in center field, beat you with his legs.
17:20
Speaker 3: He just did that the other.
17:21
Speaker 4: Day, stealing third and scoring on the throw to the outfield.
17:26
Speaker 4: And of course he's a really good hitter, so I
17:28
Speaker 4: would give him the slight edge at this point. But
17:32
Speaker 4: this is going to be one of the closest MVP
17:34
Speaker 4: races that I repeat, we still have to see what
17:37
Speaker 4: Otani does down the stretch. And this is Katie, this
17:41
Speaker 4: is when the MVP races should be decided. The last
17:44
Speaker 4: five weeks of the six weeks of the season to
17:47
Speaker 4: see who takes their team into the playoffs and what
17:50
Speaker 4: they look like when they get there. So it's a
17:53
Speaker 4: dead heat. I'll take Pca by inches, and.
17:57
Speaker 1: The Dodgers do believe so hey Otani will pitch again
17:59
Speaker 1: in the regular season. He's thrown a couple of bullpens
18:01
Speaker 1: at Dodgers Stadium and they could work him back up
18:04
Speaker 1: in the regular season similar to how they did last year.
18:08
Speaker 2: So should be a tight race. I'm excited.
18:10
Speaker 1: Both the Dodgers and the Cubs certainly look like playoff teams.
18:13
Speaker 1: Let's kick it to the American League, where the White
18:15
Speaker 1: Sox are up to a four game lead in the
18:17
Speaker 1: AL Central Collective breakout season for will Bevenables Young ball club,
18:21
Speaker 1: there's a growing chance playoff baseball is coming to both
18:24
Speaker 1: the North and the South Side this October.
18:26
Speaker 2: And not a sentence I personally thought.
18:28
Speaker 1: I would be saying, Tim, who, in your opinion, is
18:30
Speaker 1: shaping up to have the better postseason right now, the
18:33
Speaker 1: White Sox or the Cubs.
18:36
Speaker 3: I like the Cubs more.
18:38
Speaker 4: I think they're a great defensive team led by Pca
18:42
Speaker 4: in center field, but their infield defense is so good.
18:46
Speaker 4: Jed Hoyer, their general manager, told me recently he said
18:49
Speaker 4: there are guys on other teams, pitchers on other teams
18:52
Speaker 4: that have gone to our players and say, boy, we'd
18:55
Speaker 4: really like to pitch for your team, just so we
18:57
Speaker 4: get to have that infield defense behind this. Now again
19:01
Speaker 4: Dan sby Swanson is hurt, so that's you know, that's
19:04
Speaker 4: going to take away from it. He'll be back for
19:06
Speaker 4: the playoffs, it appears, And I really like where the
19:09
Speaker 4: Cubs are. Granted they had a ten game losing streak
19:12
Speaker 4: this year, but when they're right offensively they are really dangerous. Defensively,
19:17
Speaker 4: they're as good as any team in baseball, and their
19:20
Speaker 4: pitching is getting a little bit better now. Kevin Gossman
19:23
Speaker 4: being added will really help things. But I love where
19:26
Speaker 4: the White Sox are. The White Sox were eighty games
19:30
Speaker 4: under five hundred two years ago, and now I'm pretty
19:34
Speaker 4: confident they're going to win that division, which is stunning
19:38
Speaker 4: to me.
19:38
Speaker 3: This year.
19:39
Speaker 4: The biggest difference is they're fourth in the Major League,
19:42
Speaker 4: tied for fourth in the major leagues in home runs.
19:45
Speaker 4: Last year they were twenty third in home runs. Just
19:48
Speaker 4: another reminder in Baseball twenty twenty six, if you hit
19:52
Speaker 4: the ball out of the ballpark, you got a.
19:54
Speaker 3: Chance to win.
19:55
Speaker 4: And that's what's happened with the White Sox this year.
19:58
Speaker 3: They have gotten.
19:59
Speaker 4: So much more power production from their guys and that's
20:03
Speaker 4: the reason they're four games ahead in a very winnable division.
20:09
Speaker 1: All right, let's take it to the chat for a
20:11
Speaker 1: couple of questions. First we have from armand is amazing.
20:16
Speaker 1: He wants to know tim if Mets right fielder Carson
20:19
Speaker 1: Bench has made the nationally Rookie of the Year a
20:22
Speaker 1: three player race between himself, the Cardinals, JJ Weatherholts, and
20:25
Speaker 1: the Red Sal Stewarts.
20:29
Speaker 4: I'm not sure Carson Banj has had a really good year.
20:33
Speaker 4: And those two throws he made the other night on
20:36
Speaker 4: successive plays which he threw guys out of the plate, Wow,
20:40
Speaker 4: I could watch that all day. But JJ Weatherholt has
20:43
Speaker 4: had a great year and he's just set a record
20:46
Speaker 4: the other day for the most errorless games by a
20:50
Speaker 4: rookie second baseman in Major League history. He has been
20:53
Speaker 4: so important to them defensively and at the top of
20:57
Speaker 4: the at the top of the lineup.
20:59
Speaker 3: And Sal Stewart. I know we don't care about RBIs
21:02
Speaker 3: like we used to, but I do. He leads the
21:04
Speaker 3: league and RBIs as a rookie.
21:06
Speaker 4: And Tito Francona has told me multiple times, this is
21:09
Speaker 4: one of the most confident young hitters.
21:11
Speaker 3: I've ever seen.
21:13
Speaker 4: He thinks he can hit anybody, which is part of
21:15
Speaker 4: the battle when you're facing the kind of pitching that
21:18
Speaker 4: you see right now. So I would have Ben third
21:22
Speaker 4: in the Rookie of the Year voting, but a strong third.
21:24
Speaker 4: He is right there, power, speed and defense in right field.
21:28
Speaker 4: And this is one of the one of the good
21:30
Speaker 4: things that has happened to the Mets this year. They
21:33
Speaker 4: got a chance to play this guy every day and
21:35
Speaker 4: they realize he's pretty darn good.
21:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, if any team could benefit from a silver lining,
21:41
Speaker 1: it would certainly be that team out in Queen's All right,
21:44
Speaker 1: we're going to take it back to the NLMBP conversation.
21:47
Speaker 1: A question from at C Carrera nine five to one.
21:50
Speaker 1: If cal Rawly did not win the MVP over Aaron
21:53
Speaker 1: Judge last year with sixty home runs playing as an
21:56
Speaker 1: everyday catcher, how can PCA win an MVP he over Shootny?
22:03
Speaker 4: Right, Well, it's a really good question, which we tried
22:06
Speaker 4: to cover earlier. It's almost impossible to put anybody.
22:10
Speaker 3: Over show Hey. But Katie, I'm.
22:13
Speaker 4: A big believer that you can't start a season already
22:17
Speaker 4: knowing who the most valuable player is. And that's what
22:20
Speaker 4: we've been doing the last few years with Show Hey.
22:22
Speaker 4: We just say, if he pitches well, he has to
22:25
Speaker 4: be the MVP. And for ninety nine point nine percent
22:28
Speaker 4: of me, I agree with that.
22:30
Speaker 3: But we still have to let the season play out.
22:33
Speaker 4: And when you see how much better the Cubs are
22:36
Speaker 4: when when PCA is leading them.
22:41
Speaker 3: That's what I think.
22:41
Speaker 4: And I think last year, you know, cal Raley had
22:45
Speaker 4: a more historic season and a more spectacular season than
22:49
Speaker 4: Aaron Judge, But when you really break down the numbers,
22:52
Speaker 4: Aaron Judge had a better season.
22:54
Speaker 3: I think that's how you have to look at it.
22:58
Speaker 1: One thing I know is that all of the argument
23:01
Speaker 1: Stone will ever be happy, and that's what makes this
23:03
Speaker 1: game so beautiful.
23:04
Speaker 2: Tim thank you guys for the questions.
23:05
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break week Crowned Dude
23:08
Speaker 1: and Dork of the Week next week or next right
23:10
Speaker 1: after this.
23:12
Speaker 5: Sea Geek is the official ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball,
23:15
Speaker 5: and anytime you want to go to a game, you
23:17
Speaker 5: should go to sea Geek. I used to call the
23:19
Speaker 5: director of team travel. I used to call the traveling
23:21
Speaker 5: secretary whatever they want to be called KP to try
23:24
Speaker 5: to get a seat. But on Sea Geek, I can
23:26
Speaker 5: pick my own seat and I can pick where I
23:28
Speaker 5: want to sit instead of being told where to sit.
23:31
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a great option. And summer is coming to
23:34
Speaker 6: an end here soon. I'm going out and finding all
23:39
Speaker 6: the day games possible, all the warm weather cities so
23:42
Speaker 6: I could stay in this tank top. I can watch
23:45
Speaker 6: very competitive baseball as the calendar turns into fall. I
23:49
Speaker 6: want to make sure that I get the most out
23:51
Speaker 6: of this tank top and warm weather and Sea Geek
23:55
Speaker 6: is where I would go and get my seats.
23:56
Speaker 5: You can use code Territory ten for ten percent off
23:59
Speaker 5: your next set of MLB tickets at SIKI. That's ten
24:02
Speaker 5: percent off MLB tickets with promo code Territory ten. Make
24:05
Speaker 5: sure you click the link in the description to download
24:08
Speaker 5: the app and have the code automatically added to your
24:10
Speaker 5: account so you can use it later.
24:13
Speaker 7: Looking to take your MLB action to the next level
24:16
Speaker 7: this season, Boosted Odds are here to crank up.
24:18
Speaker 2: Every pitch, swing and home run bet.
24:21
Speaker 7: MGM is hooking you up with your very own MLB
24:24
Speaker 7: Odds Boost token to get things started all season long.
24:28
Speaker 7: Just add any MLB bet to your bet slip, activate
24:31
Speaker 7: your Odds Boost token and lock it in. If your
24:34
Speaker 7: bet hits, you're catching out with an even bigger payout
24:37
Speaker 7: gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or one eight
24:41
Speaker 7: hundred my reset.
24:43
Speaker 3: I'm the dude, so.
24:45
Speaker 1: That's what you call me, all right, My dude of
24:52
Speaker 1: the week. Look no further than mister Treymancini, who retires
24:56
Speaker 1: after an eight year career, and you think about what
24:58
Speaker 1: he accomplished. Diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in twenty twenty,
25:03
Speaker 1: comes back to the Oils in twenty one, slugs twenty
25:06
Speaker 1: one Homers, wins the World Series with the Ashes in
25:08
Speaker 1: twenty two. He's out of the Major's tim from twenty
25:11
Speaker 1: four to twenty five, but slugged his way to a
25:14
Speaker 1: comeback return to the Major leagues with the Angels in June.
25:17
Speaker 1: Just a guy who has beloved in clubhouses across the league.
25:21
Speaker 1: What a career, What a story of perseverance. Shout out
25:24
Speaker 1: Trey Vancini.
25:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, and Buck Showalder managed Trey Mancini in Baltimore and
25:30
Speaker 4: He Buck told me once that any question you ever
25:33
Speaker 4: ask of Trey Mancini, the answer is always the same.
25:36
Speaker 3: Good good, Like how'd your swing? Good? Good? That your ankle?
25:40
Speaker 3: You heard it last night? Is your ankle okay? Good? Good?
25:42
Speaker 4: And that's the way that Trey Mancini approached everything in
25:46
Speaker 4: his major league career, and to come back from cancer
25:50
Speaker 4: like he did and be so productive for more than
25:53
Speaker 4: one team. He's one of my favorite players that I
25:56
Speaker 4: ever covered, just because of his relentlessly positive attitude.
26:01
Speaker 3: Good good.
26:01
Speaker 4: In his case, it was great great, given everything that
26:05
Speaker 4: he went through.
26:07
Speaker 1: Love that Love that story, Tim. Who's your dude of
26:09
Speaker 1: the week?
26:11
Speaker 4: Well, I'm gonna go with Fernando Tatiste Junior of the Padres.
26:15
Speaker 4: As we know, Katie, the Padres didn't hit for the
26:17
Speaker 4: first half of the season.
26:19
Speaker 3: Stunningly.
26:21
Speaker 4: I couldn't understand why they couldn't score more runs. Well,
26:24
Speaker 4: now they are starting to score runs. They are in
26:26
Speaker 4: a pretty good position to make the playoffs, and Fernando
26:29
Speaker 4: Tetist Junior is a big reason for that. Remember, he
26:33
Speaker 4: went the first fifty six games this year without hitting
26:36
Speaker 4: a homer. He had five homers the first half of
26:39
Speaker 4: the season and had an OPS just over seven hundred.
26:43
Speaker 4: Second half of the season, he's got ten homers in
26:46
Speaker 4: far fewer at bats and an OPS almost three hundred
26:50
Speaker 4: points higher.
26:51
Speaker 3: And the other night against the Mets, he.
26:52
Speaker 4: Had two home runs and took away a grand Slam
26:56
Speaker 4: from one of the Mets with a tremendous leaping case
27:00
Speaker 4: at the fence. So he's my dude of the week
27:03
Speaker 4: because he's starting to.
27:05
Speaker 3: Play like the star player that he is.
27:07
Speaker 4: It just took him half of baseball to really get
27:10
Speaker 4: the power swing back.
27:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that vision of him robbing the grand Slam.
27:15
Speaker 1: The Padres TV Electric call, the collective grown from City
27:19
Speaker 1: Field just felt like pure cinema.
27:21
Speaker 2: Nice see Fernandra Tatis Junior figuring it out.
27:24
Speaker 1: Tim For all the dudes of the week, there are
27:26
Speaker 1: a couple of dorks.
27:28
Speaker 2: Let's break it down.
27:37
Speaker 1: Perhaps we bury the lead with this, but you guys
27:39
Speaker 1: do at some point we were going to get to
27:41
Speaker 1: whatever the heck happened to. Pete Alonso's potential alleged could
27:45
Speaker 1: have been would have been go ahead home run yesterday
27:47
Speaker 1: at the top of the seventh against the Yankees off
27:50
Speaker 1: the crack of the bat. He's not thinking, Hey, that's
27:52
Speaker 1: my thirtieth homer of the year. He's thinking, I just
27:55
Speaker 1: mack to go ahead homer for an Orioles team somehow,
27:57
Speaker 1: still in the mix for the Ale wild Card. Third
28:00
Speaker 1: umpire Will Little says it's foul, No big deal. That's
28:03
Speaker 1: what replay is for. Replay upholds the call anyway. We
28:08
Speaker 1: have all this technology that can decide balls and strikes
28:11
Speaker 1: by like fractions of inches, but we can't get this overturned.
28:15
Speaker 1: Yankees end up winning five to three. Come on, guys,
28:18
Speaker 1: we gotta go a little better than that.
28:20
Speaker 4: Right, totally agree. And Buck Showalder same Buck Show Walder
28:23
Speaker 4: told me three months ago. He said, Tim, we've got
28:26
Speaker 4: to put some sort of laser system that goes above
28:30
Speaker 4: the foul pole so we know when a ball goes
28:34
Speaker 4: over the foul pole whether it's fair or foul.
28:37
Speaker 3: Three months ago he.
28:38
Speaker 4: Told me that, and this is the technology that would
28:41
Speaker 4: have saved it. Look, I wasn't there, but I watched
28:44
Speaker 4: it on TV. That sure look like a home run
28:46
Speaker 4: to me. So yes, that needs to be corrected somehow.
28:50
Speaker 4: And my dork of the week. And I think I've
28:53
Speaker 4: been nominated for this more than once myself.
28:55
Speaker 3: By the way, but I'm going to.
28:57
Speaker 4: Go with Julio Rodriguez, the center fee for the Mariners,
29:01
Speaker 4: who we all know is a great player, and in
29:05
Speaker 4: that twenty two.
29:06
Speaker 3: To nothing lost to the Brewers.
29:08
Speaker 4: The other night, he caught a fly ball and then
29:11
Speaker 4: threw it into the stands, thinking there were it was
29:16
Speaker 4: the third.
29:17
Speaker 3: Out of the inning.
29:17
Speaker 4: Look, I'm sorry, you just can't lose track of how
29:21
Speaker 4: many outs are. It happens way more often than it should.
29:25
Speaker 4: I remember asking Cal Ripken ones, did you ever forget
29:28
Speaker 4: how many outs are were? And he looked at me
29:31
Speaker 4: like it was the most insulting question I've ever asked it,
29:34
Speaker 4: which it might have been, because you just can't forget
29:37
Speaker 4: how many outs are were at Dodger Stadium, I believe Katie,
29:41
Speaker 4: many years ago, Hall of Famer Larry Walker forgot how
29:44
Speaker 4: many outs are were caught a flyball and flipped it
29:46
Speaker 4: into the stands, and then when he realized his mistake,
29:51
Speaker 4: he ran and took the ball away from the kid
29:54
Speaker 4: he had thrown it to, picked and threw it back
29:57
Speaker 4: into the infield, which, of course, as soon as a
30:00
Speaker 4: he goes into the stands and touches a fan, the
30:02
Speaker 4: ball is out of play. Larry being Larry Walker, came
30:06
Speaker 4: back the next sitting, gave the kid a ball. I
30:08
Speaker 4: think he gave him a box of popcorn. Yes, you
30:11
Speaker 4: can't forget how many outs are. Sorry, as an old man,
30:14
Speaker 4: there are a few things that I just think are unacceptable,
30:18
Speaker 4: and that's one of them.
30:20
Speaker 2: It's one thing for it to happen.
30:21
Speaker 1: It's bad enough for it to happen in any situation,
30:23
Speaker 1: but for Julia to do that with his team down nineteen,
30:26
Speaker 1: Tim Julio, you're a stud but also dork of the week.
30:30
Speaker 2: Tim, thanks so much for joining us.
30:33
Speaker 1: To everyone out there watching, please subscribe to Is This
30:36
Speaker 1: a Great Game?
30:36
Speaker 2: Or What Tim Show?
30:37
Speaker 1: With his son Jeff, part of the Foul Territory Network.
30:41
Speaker 1: Today's episode out Now includes more PCA appreciation.
30:45
Speaker 2: And a word from Frank from Elias. That's it for us.
30:48
Speaker 1: Foul Territory coming at You Live next with Eric Kratz,
30:51
Speaker 1: Kevin Plara, Scott Braun, Astro's closer Josh Peter, and Tiger's
30:55
Speaker 1: rookie outfielder Brett Callahan, along with the athletic investigative journalist
30:59
Speaker 1: Melody Gutierrez are all on the show. Fair Territory returns
31:03
Speaker 1: on Monday, Thanks for watching SEEA m HM