Latest / Foul Territory / Susan Slusser on melting Giants + Injury updates across the league

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Susan Slusser on melting Giants + Injury updates across the league · Foul Territory

0:04
Speaker 1: Hey, we're talking to Susan Slesser right now. You can
0:06
Speaker 1: hear her as a regular guest on splash it territory
0:09
Speaker 1: and also, of course read everything in the San Francisco
0:11
Speaker 1: Chronicle from where the Senior Baseball beat reporter and lately Susan,
0:14
Speaker 1: the headlines have not been pretty. How you doing and
0:18
Speaker 1: how tough is it to watch this Giants team? Like
0:20
Speaker 1: there are some guys on there that seem like they're
0:22
Speaker 1: fun to root for as a team with actually some
0:25
Speaker 1: names compared to what they had a few years ago,
0:27
Speaker 1: and it is just not working for them right now.
0:30
Speaker 2: What are you seeing a lot of guys who are
0:32
Speaker 2: kind of traditionally slow starters and have started extremely slow.
0:37
Speaker 2: And Louis a Rice who is very good and has
0:40
Speaker 2: just been very good. So he's been sort of with
0:43
Speaker 2: the lineup that we all just i mean projected to
0:46
Speaker 2: be much better than last year's, he's really been the
0:49
Speaker 2: one consistently bright spot along with Casey Schmidt. Maybe who's
0:55
Speaker 2: you know, a guy who's an elite infielder defensively and
0:59
Speaker 2: yet has somehow been an excellent DH. So all very strange,
1:04
Speaker 2: and then the Giants go into a little bit of
1:06
Speaker 2: shake up mode here, as I reported last night, So
1:10
Speaker 2: they've actually been interesting. The games themselves have been varied
1:14
Speaker 2: from either they either play some sort of wild, crazy
1:17
Speaker 2: thing like the other night with a disallowed home run
1:20
Speaker 2: or the two walk off lost double header the other day,
1:24
Speaker 2: or they get shut out.
1:25
Speaker 3: That's it, Susan, We love you. But does interesting mean
1:30
Speaker 3: good because they're not good? They're not good. No, Okay,
1:34
Speaker 3: I just wanted to clarify that because you're like, they're interesting,
1:37
Speaker 3: they're not good, and this is kind of you know,
1:41
Speaker 3: everyone wants to talk Vitello, I Tello, I Tello, but
1:44
Speaker 3: this is a roster construction thing. I feel like it's
1:47
Speaker 3: they're just not a good they're not well put together team.
1:50
Speaker 3: They're just not and it sucks because the Giants traditionally
1:54
Speaker 3: have always been well, especially out there at the ballpark
1:57
Speaker 3: and all that. But what can they do? You know,
1:59
Speaker 3: you mentioned the roster shakeup, Eldridge coming up. They're trying
2:02
Speaker 3: to make some moves, but is this gonna help them?
2:04
Speaker 3: And can this answer the questions that this roster has.
2:09
Speaker 2: I think this is more of a shake up thing
2:11
Speaker 2: than anything else. But look, Eldridge and Hay sus Rodriguez.
2:16
Speaker 2: I'm very excited to see. He's a he's a bright spark.
2:19
Speaker 2: He brings a lot of energy, and he plays everywhere,
2:21
Speaker 2: including catcher. A kind of guy who maybe could make
2:25
Speaker 2: a little bit of a difference even in the clubhouse,
2:27
Speaker 2: even as a rookie who's never played in the big league.
2:31
Speaker 2: Everyone loved him during spring training. He's just he's terrific.
2:34
Speaker 2: Eldridge obviously has a big bat. The Giants are last
2:38
Speaker 2: in runs, they're last in homers, they're last in walks.
2:41
Speaker 2: I'm not sure necessarily, surly it's roster construction, because this
2:46
Speaker 2: lineup should be good. You've got Willia Domas, You've got
2:50
Speaker 2: Rafael Devers, You've got Matt Chapman. You've got Jung Hu Lee,
2:53
Speaker 2: who for a couple the three weeks was hitting up
2:57
Speaker 2: a storm. He's shown that he's capable, but he's gone
3:00
Speaker 2: back into a funk. And Elliott Ramos, who has power
3:06
Speaker 2: and has actually played pretty well. Casey Schmidt like this,
3:09
Speaker 2: this lineup should be producing so much more. The problem
3:12
Speaker 2: is really these big bats. So you bring up Beldridge,
3:15
Speaker 2: maybe some guys start to feel some heat. Look, I
3:17
Speaker 2: don't think this is a lack of effort on anyone's
3:21
Speaker 2: part or work. I see it their work in they're trying.
3:24
Speaker 2: Maybe it's too much, Perhaps you just shift the dynamics.
3:29
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't you would know more than I.
3:31
Speaker 3: AJ.
3:32
Speaker 2: Does something like that help a team that's underperforming, a
3:37
Speaker 2: little shake up like this, bring up your top prospect
3:39
Speaker 2: and then a kid that can play everywhere and is
3:42
Speaker 2: incredibly energetic.
3:43
Speaker 3: I don't know now, team approach, okay, AJ answered it. No,
3:50
Speaker 3: it's not unless they come up and they hit, unless
3:52
Speaker 3: they come up and just start banging. No, it doesn't
3:55
Speaker 3: do it. It's cool to see guy, I mean, crowds
3:57
Speaker 3: agrees with me that it doesn't. It's you. Guys aren't
4:00
Speaker 3: trying to suck, Susan. They're really not trying to suck.
4:04
Speaker 3: Contrary to what fans think. Guys aren't trying to suck.
4:06
Speaker 3: They're doing the best they can and bringing up guys
4:08
Speaker 3: and trying to shake it up. It doesn't do anything.
4:11
Speaker 3: And you know what, the guys that are there saying, man,
4:13
Speaker 3: look at this front office. They're really panicking. They're making
4:15
Speaker 3: all these moves, Like when Tony Vaitelo after two games
4:18
Speaker 3: had to come to Jesus talk that he have with
4:20
Speaker 3: the team and everyone's looking at him like, what are
4:22
Speaker 3: you doing? We have one hundred and sixty more games
4:24
Speaker 3: to go here, right Like, it just doesn't send a
4:27
Speaker 3: message of hey, we believe in you guys. That's why
4:30
Speaker 3: I find the Mets thing with Carlos Mendoza so fascinating
4:34
Speaker 3: that David Searns would come out and say that, because
4:35
Speaker 3: it shows, hey, I believe in you guys a little bit.
4:38
Speaker 3: Even though he might not, but at least he said it,
4:40
Speaker 3: and now they don't have to worry about it. So no,
4:42
Speaker 3: I don't think it helps at all. But I don't know,
4:45
Speaker 3: just my opinion, and my opinion doesn't matter.
4:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think you're wrong, But this offense is
4:52
Speaker 2: underperforming and they're bringing up to you guys who are hitting. Well,
4:57
Speaker 2: maybe they come in they maybe they do great, Like
5:00
Speaker 2: there is a little bit of leeway here on this
5:02
Speaker 2: roster with Harrison Bader being out and Patrick Bailey. I
5:06
Speaker 2: think everybody knows I am so high on his defense.
5:09
Speaker 2: He's such an elite defender, but he's just providing nothing offensively.
5:14
Speaker 2: They either have a kid who's hitting who could catch,
5:18
Speaker 2: or they have a third catcher and that frees them
5:20
Speaker 2: up to do more things potentially and not worry about
5:24
Speaker 2: losing a backup catcher if they pinch hit for Bailey's say,
5:27
Speaker 2: more often, or use a catcher to DH. I like
5:31
Speaker 2: that idea a lot.
5:35
Speaker 1: You know, we don't always have to do things because
5:37
Speaker 1: that's how it's always been.
5:39
Speaker 3: Look, people consider me old school, and I thought I was,
5:42
Speaker 3: but then we had to pitch clock and the abs
5:44
Speaker 3: and ban on shifts and all these things that we've
5:46
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6:36
Speaker 4: When you watch this team, do you feel like they're
6:38
Speaker 4: having poor team at bats?
6:41
Speaker 3: Like I was?
6:42
Speaker 2: Like.
6:42
Speaker 4: My example was when I watched the Phillies in their
6:45
Speaker 4: skid that they were playing. You would watch the team
6:47
Speaker 4: and every at that was four pitches or less, every
6:50
Speaker 4: at bat was take a strike, which is like, okay,
6:53
Speaker 4: now we're trying to work the count and then flail
6:56
Speaker 4: at something. So when I watched the Giants get swept
6:59
Speaker 4: by the Phillies after they changed managers, I was like,
7:04
Speaker 4: holy cow, the Giants they must have been hitting in
7:06
Speaker 4: the Phillies cage because in that series that's what I saw,
7:10
Speaker 4: and the Phillies started to hit. So is that what
7:12
Speaker 4: you're seeing on a day in and day out basis what.
7:15
Speaker 2: I've seen is really it's been a little strange. They
7:20
Speaker 2: tend to do nothing against a you know, a very
7:23
Speaker 2: good starter. Pretty yeah. The other night mclanhan good instance,
7:28
Speaker 2: do very little against him, and then they finally get
7:31
Speaker 2: to the pen and that's somehow then get worse late
7:35
Speaker 2: in the game. We are seeing some of the worst
7:37
Speaker 2: and I don't know if that's pressing, like, oh my gosh,
7:40
Speaker 2: you know, we haven't scored yet, We've only scored one run.
7:42
Speaker 2: We're down and trying to dupe too much. But we
7:45
Speaker 2: see guys going out of the zone late so much,
7:49
Speaker 2: and they are just they're just not good in late
7:52
Speaker 2: any situations. They keep showing that time and time again.
7:57
Speaker 3: What about the homers, Susan, we're the homers. We just
8:00
Speaker 3: showed their homers. They've went on how many they went on?
8:03
Speaker 3: What a seven game road trip and didn't hit a homer?
8:07
Speaker 3: I mean, has almost that many? Just saying second place?
8:16
Speaker 2: It's bad, it's bad.
8:21
Speaker 3: I mean, is elger answer is he? Is he the
8:23
Speaker 3: answer to homers?
8:26
Speaker 2: Probably not, but I'm can't imagine he's not going to
8:31
Speaker 2: hurt at this point. They need devors to get going,
8:35
Speaker 2: They really need divors to get going. And he shows
8:37
Speaker 2: small signs. You know, he hits one out the other way,
8:40
Speaker 2: you go like, okay, that's it. He's getting locked in.
8:43
Speaker 2: That's usually a good sign, and then kind of drops back.
8:47
Speaker 2: He's kind of not even a lot of extra base
8:49
Speaker 2: hits lately. Nobody's walking, which hurts. You know, that hurts too,
8:54
Speaker 2: But they they are not patient, they're not taking walks,
8:58
Speaker 2: they're frank. They look like they're not that hard to
9:01
Speaker 2: pitch too right now, so they need to get it together.
9:05
Speaker 2: And these are guys with good track records, you know,
9:09
Speaker 2: and Adamis can hit thirty in a season, Devers can
9:13
Speaker 2: hit thirty. Chapman's a twenty five plus guy. Nobody's doing anything,
9:17
Speaker 2: so I can't look. If they knew, you assume they'd
9:22
Speaker 2: fix it. If I knew, I would write it like
9:24
Speaker 2: it's just it doesn't make any sense. Maybe if things
9:29
Speaker 2: even out, they get super hot and make up for
9:32
Speaker 2: it at some point, but we're not seeing even the
9:35
Speaker 2: slightest signs of that happening.
9:38
Speaker 4: All right, So obviously everyone points to coaches. Well, it
9:41
Speaker 4: must be the coaches fall they're all new. Well, I
9:43
Speaker 4: know for a fact that guys like Jace Tinkler and
9:46
Speaker 4: Shane Robinson are you know, guys who've played in the
9:49
Speaker 4: big leagues or guys who have played professionally. Is too
9:53
Speaker 4: much being made about the whole Tony Vitello and even
9:56
Speaker 4: with the with Kevin Anderson just the other day the
10:00
Speaker 4: umpiring crew, like were that was that umpiring crew? The
10:04
Speaker 4: things they were saying, just saying out loud, what other
10:07
Speaker 4: umpiring creuse or how the industry is looking at at
10:11
Speaker 4: this team or is this just a one off by
10:14
Speaker 4: this crew.
10:15
Speaker 2: Well that crew is the crew that also ejected Aaron
10:19
Speaker 2: Boone when a fan was criticizing them, So I'm not necessary,
10:23
Speaker 2: and they completely blew a home you know, it disallowed
10:27
Speaker 2: a home run that clearly went off the catwalk. I mean,
10:29
Speaker 2: there's just no doubt about it. Absolutely was a home
10:31
Speaker 2: run and they didn't see it. I think they knew it.
10:34
Speaker 2: And one reason I know they knew it is because
10:37
Speaker 2: Vic Carrapoza then later apologized to Elliott Ramos, So I
10:41
Speaker 2: think maybe that was it more than anything. But that
10:43
Speaker 2: to me was outrageous to you know, to say who
10:48
Speaker 2: do you think you are? To Frankie Anderson, to say
10:53
Speaker 2: say things about raw rab palm poms, to Tony Vaytello.
10:57
Speaker 2: First of all, it makes an umpiring crew look by
11:00
Speaker 2: Frankly like, well, we don't think you're the professional team,
11:03
Speaker 2: where you know, the professional team is on the other side.
11:07
Speaker 2: That's that's not right. They're supposed to be, you know,
11:11
Speaker 2: not weighing in on anything team wide or make it
11:15
Speaker 2: you know, if you're going to make it personal, make
11:16
Speaker 2: it personal in a I don't know. I don't want
11:19
Speaker 2: to see umpires square. But you know the tribnle you're
11:23
Speaker 2: a leap that's okay. I'm not taking you seriously because
11:28
Speaker 2: of your background. That's just not okay. So I don't
11:31
Speaker 2: know if that's an industry wide thing. That's certainly the
11:33
Speaker 2: first time I've heard of it happening, and you would
11:36
Speaker 2: think you would know. But maybe there's an undercurrent of
11:39
Speaker 2: it that we don't know, or it's subconscious that would
11:42
Speaker 2: not be okay. Now, the Giants have known, and I
11:46
Speaker 2: talked to Zach manasi In for a long time about
11:48
Speaker 2: this the other day. They've known that there would be
11:50
Speaker 2: a learning curve for Tony Vaytello, for the staff. This
11:55
Speaker 2: is built in, you know. I don't think that there
11:58
Speaker 2: is any chance we're going to see any massive shakeups.
12:01
Speaker 2: I don't think with the coaching staff. Uh, I mean,
12:05
Speaker 2: who knows, but certainly not with Fightello when they knew
12:08
Speaker 2: it would take a while, and he does bring a
12:10
Speaker 2: lot of energy. He clearly cares about his players. He's
12:14
Speaker 2: brutally honest, maybe too much so, but he does seem
12:18
Speaker 2: like he's starting to feel a little bit more comfortable
12:21
Speaker 2: in the role. But they it's going to take some time.
12:25
Speaker 3: We knew that, Susan, I know why this has happened,
12:31
Speaker 3: Hunter Wendelstadt, Where did Tony Vitello come from? What's school?
12:36
Speaker 2: Tennessee?
12:37
Speaker 3: Do you know who? Hunter Rendelstadt is a huge fan
12:39
Speaker 3: of Oh Oh Who, Florida? So he watched does he watched?
12:48
Speaker 3: Does he have he watched get the pomp Poms out
12:51
Speaker 3: of Tennessee for all those years? So Hunter wendel Staff
12:54
Speaker 3: understand the Hunter wendel Stadt just got to just, you know,
12:58
Speaker 3: took some shots at him. That's okay, It's okay. This
13:00
Speaker 3: is old school umpiring, Susan. You know you consider yourself
13:03
Speaker 3: an old school beat writer. This is some old school umpires.
13:07
Speaker 3: Remember Joe Wesson on the show. Umpires never take anything personal.
13:10
Speaker 3: So Hunter went else that it wasn't personal.
13:13
Speaker 2: Hmm, I'm gonna take your word for that, AJ, I'm
13:17
Speaker 2: not personal.
13:18
Speaker 3: Susan doesn't agree. Put that down. Susan not agree.
13:25
Speaker 2: I don't agree with AJ.
13:26
Speaker 3: What a shocker locker, No kidding, but I'm just saying
13:32
Speaker 3: the Hunter is a big Gator fan, and so maybe
13:35
Speaker 3: he just remembers, you know, the way Tony treated Florida sometimes,
13:38
Speaker 3: and he's getting back at.
13:40
Speaker 2: Look, hey, i've heard crazy your theories. Actually, if you're
13:43
Speaker 2: it's a joke.
13:45
Speaker 3: By the way, Susan, it's a joke. I want everyone
13:47
Speaker 3: out there to know. I'm joking. Okay, just I'm joking,
13:50
Speaker 3: but one of my I'm joking. I'm joking. He would
13:53
Speaker 3: Hunter would never do that. Hunter would never do But
13:56
Speaker 3: I do. I did love talking Hunter about Gator football
13:59
Speaker 3: when he was behind the play. We had lots of
14:00
Speaker 3: good talks. All right.
14:03
Speaker 2: Did that help you?
14:04
Speaker 1: Do you think?
14:06
Speaker 3: No? He still rung me up all the time, so
14:07
Speaker 3: maybe maybe it was just me.
14:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
14:15
Speaker 3: Thank you.
14:16
Speaker 1: I love when Susan comes on, and this is a
14:18
Speaker 1: perfect way to end it. Actually we'll let her drop
14:21
Speaker 1: the mic and also make sure you check out what
14:23
Speaker 1: she's got in the San Francisco Chronicle and of course
14:25
Speaker 1: listening to her frequently on splash Hit Territories.
14:29
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Susan. Good to catch up. Thanks guys,
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15:32
Speaker 1: the podcast. Let's speed through some weekend injuries and we're
15:41
Speaker 1: going to start with one of the best teams in baseball,
15:44
Speaker 1: not getting a lot of production from Ronald Ducunya Junior
15:48
Speaker 1: this year compared to what they usually get, and it
15:51
Speaker 1: not mattering right now. So he's going to take some
15:54
Speaker 1: time off here due to a hamstring issue over the weekend.
15:58
Speaker 1: AJ he didn't make it the fir you saw, You're like, okay,
16:01
Speaker 1: that's looking like a hammy. I think whatever they initially announced,
16:04
Speaker 1: most people were like, I don't know. I think there's
16:07
Speaker 1: gonna be some more to this, And there was. The
16:09
Speaker 1: MRI revealed the Grade one hamstring strain on his left leg.
16:13
Speaker 1: This is Wyley Ballard, who is on the Braves TV network,
16:16
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, basically, it looked like it
16:19
Speaker 1: could have been worse here. He said it was going
16:23
Speaker 1: to be more than a few days before the Braves
16:25
Speaker 1: opted to place him on the injured list. Wallet Wise added,
16:28
Speaker 1: all things considered, it could have been a lot worse.
16:35
Speaker 3: Hopefully he comes back better than ever. I yeah, good news.
16:39
Speaker 3: I guess right that it's not as bad as I thought.
16:43
Speaker 3: Injury suck man Andrew suck with the Braves. The Braves
16:46
Speaker 3: aren't missing a be with Acuna, without Acunya, with anybody.
16:48
Speaker 3: I mean, as long as they keep doing what they're doing.
16:50
Speaker 3: They're gonna be fine. They're playing really well and a Cunya.
16:53
Speaker 3: It sucks for Ronald. He seems to have an injury
16:55
Speaker 3: history where it just can't stay healthy for long stretches
16:58
Speaker 3: of time. But hopefully he'll be back sooner or later,
17:00
Speaker 3: and the Braves can just keep doing what they're doing,
17:02
Speaker 3: which just win every day house money.
17:06
Speaker 4: You're playing with house money of the fact that well,
17:09
Speaker 4: you know, it's not that bad. Other years it's like, oh,
17:12
Speaker 4: we got a claw and scrap for every win, Like, hey,
17:16
Speaker 4: go get healthy, good teams. This is this is why
17:19
Speaker 4: all wins are equal wins. But early wins help set
17:23
Speaker 4: you up for the rest of the season.
17:26
Speaker 1: And they're missing plenty of guys too. I mean, you know,
17:29
Speaker 1: Murphy's not back yet, Kim's not back. Yeah, it doesn't matter,
17:35
Speaker 1: right Schwellenbach, I don't know what his status is going
17:38
Speaker 1: to be. Smith Shauber will come back at some point.
17:41
Speaker 1: Waldrip for sure will come back at some point. Stryder
17:44
Speaker 1: just came back at some walk issues. We'll see how
17:45
Speaker 1: it goes for the rest of the year. As he's
17:48
Speaker 1: up for ice. South Glacias is hurt, like, there's plenty
17:51
Speaker 1: of talent that's down for them, and it just doesn't
17:53
Speaker 1: freaking matter right now. Michael Harris is on fire too,
17:56
Speaker 1: by the way. Whatever, Remember he made his changes in
17:59
Speaker 1: the second half of the year and then finished blazon
18:01
Speaker 1: in the last couple of months, and he's carrying that
18:03
Speaker 1: into this year. Matt Olson is one of the best
18:05
Speaker 1: players in baseball, showing us through consistency. Drake Baldwin, your
18:09
Speaker 1: boys sale still slinging it. He was money the other night. Again.
18:13
Speaker 1: We're going to get to that matchup. By the way,
18:15
Speaker 1: there's some issues on the other side of that matchup.
18:17
Speaker 1: We'll get to that. But anyway, good for the Braves
18:20
Speaker 1: that they're playing so well and then they can really
18:23
Speaker 1: take their time and make sure Ronald's feeling one hundred percent.
18:26
Speaker 1: Let's get to Joe, Ryan and the twins.
18:28
Speaker 3: What's the deal. By the way, after a couple of batters.
18:32
Speaker 3: By the way, it also helps that the rest of
18:33
Speaker 3: the NL East is not very good.
18:36
Speaker 1: That helps. Yeah, Braves are running away right now. I
18:40
Speaker 1: know the Phillies played well, you know over the last
18:43
Speaker 1: week now with Mattingly, but still Atlanta is a train.
18:47
Speaker 1: Like Kratz said, what about the lesser or another.
18:51
Speaker 3: Phillies not great. The Phillies play though Giants Giants Giants
19:00
Speaker 3: Marlins a no offense to Captain Phillips and his Marlins,
19:03
Speaker 3: but they ain't playing very well right now, and the
19:06
Speaker 3: Giants are a disaster. We're gonna talk about them.
19:12
Speaker 4: Max max Meyer looked nice. I've liked Max Meyer ever
19:15
Speaker 4: since they optioned him down for no reason a few
19:17
Speaker 4: years ago. So I like I like that pitching staff,
19:22
Speaker 4: not as much as Marlins fans love their entire organization pitching.
19:25
Speaker 4: But that's a whole nother topic.
19:27
Speaker 1: Well. Ryan Helsley also is on the IL. I know
19:30
Speaker 1: we mentioned the Orioles briefly earlier in the show. Uh right,
19:34
Speaker 1: elbow inflammation for him. Doesn't look like there's any long
19:38
Speaker 1: term damage there, but not great, especially for a team
19:41
Speaker 1: where that was the biggest question mark for me heading
19:43
Speaker 1: into the season. Has the bullpen going to look and
19:46
Speaker 1: Helsley's been pretty darn good for them, So he's gonna
19:49
Speaker 1: sit for a little bit of time. See him back,
19:51
Speaker 1: hopefully in mid May if he does the minimum stay.
19:54
Speaker 1: Did you guys see the Mets finally you know, get
19:58
Speaker 1: a really nice win, big first home run for Ronnie
20:00
Speaker 1: Mauricio and then the next day he slides into first
20:03
Speaker 1: base and breaks his thumb.
20:06
Speaker 3: Mets are gonna mat crazy.
20:10
Speaker 4: He has had injuries, he has been not the one
20:12
Speaker 4: chosen he has. It sucks because this was his chance
20:17
Speaker 4: to be Like, Okay, I'm not saying he was hot,
20:19
Speaker 4: but if he gets hot during this time, the Mets
20:21
Speaker 4: are trying to find somebody to play for them every day,
20:25
Speaker 4: and if you're swinging it right now, like this is
20:26
Speaker 4: your chance and Ronnie Mauricio, unfortunately, this sucks. Fractured thumb
20:32
Speaker 4: six to eight weeks. Who knows what the Mets are
20:34
Speaker 4: going to be in six to eight weeks.
20:37
Speaker 1: Well, they're looking for shortstops right now, or it's Bo
20:42
Speaker 1: because they're down there. Top two options s the door.
20:46
Speaker 1: Mauricio up for lindor Mauricio hurt. Maybe it's a sign
20:50
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't sign everybody and put them in different positions.
20:53
Speaker 1: Maybe Bo goes back to short, or eventually he plays
20:55
Speaker 1: second base and feels better at the plate on a
20:58
Speaker 1: more consistent basis. But that's just me.
21:02
Speaker 3: I mean, it could be worth used to play short
21:05
Speaker 3: ten years ago.
21:05
Speaker 1: He used to play short. YEP, I don't think he's
21:08
Speaker 1: going back there a couple more. Two more on the
21:11
Speaker 1: way out to be real nice and depressed Ryan Pepio
21:15
Speaker 1: out for the season. Hip surgery for him. Remember he
21:18
Speaker 1: showed some flashes too. He was in that Tyler Glasna
21:21
Speaker 1: trade and he had a little run, but injuries for
21:24
Speaker 1: him a j. The Raids look really good right now,
21:27
Speaker 1: but this I don't know, Maybe I'm just generalizing. You
21:30
Speaker 1: just see certain guys show you a flash and then
21:32
Speaker 1: they disappear for the rays for a while.
21:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, this sucks because I like Pepio two. He's been
21:41
Speaker 3: on the show. I've talked to him a few times.
21:42
Speaker 3: He's a really nice guy, and he was gonna be
21:45
Speaker 3: one of their big pieces in this rotation and missed
21:47
Speaker 3: the whole year. Stinks. Hopefully you get healthy, comes back
21:52
Speaker 3: next year stronger and better than ever. But I mean,
21:54
Speaker 3: hip is hip is hip is A hip is not
21:57
Speaker 3: when you hear a whole lot about Remember Mike Lowell
21:58
Speaker 3: had to hip a long time ago. Bo Jackson had
22:01
Speaker 3: a hip. You don't hear about a lot of hips.
22:03
Speaker 3: So hopefully this is something get fixed and he can
22:05
Speaker 3: get back and be a piece of rotation.
22:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, it sucks for him. Never throws a pitch here
22:11
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty sixth season, But I mean he'd
22:13
Speaker 1: been healthy the prior too years. Thirty one starts last year,
22:16
Speaker 1: twenty six starts the year before, and you know some
22:19
Speaker 1: pretty solid numbers for this.
22:20
Speaker 3: You know what the Rays are gonna say, See, this
22:22
Speaker 3: is why we don't give guys thirty starts, because they
22:24
Speaker 3: get hurt, wear and tear.
22:29
Speaker 4: You got to figure out a way to win the
22:30
Speaker 4: world World championship at some point. I think thirty starts
22:33
Speaker 4: is probably a probably a place to start.
22:39
Speaker 1: I agree, you'd like to see that McClanahan, by the way,
22:43
Speaker 1: looking better and better for them, trying to get himself
22:46
Speaker 1: back to his.
22:46
Speaker 3: He's miss what three years? It feels like. It felt
22:49
Speaker 3: like it feels like three years.
22:52
Speaker 1: You're right, yeah, it was a long time, right. I
22:56
Speaker 1: think he went twenty three until twenty six? Is that
22:58
Speaker 1: what it was until actually firing a pit in the
23:00
Speaker 1: big leagues. I think that was what the mark was
23:02
Speaker 1: late twenty three and then pops back up here in
23:05
Speaker 1: twenty six, but used to be a number one starter
23:07
Speaker 1: for a team right now. That is I think second
23:09
Speaker 1: best in baseball in our second best in the American League.
23:13
Speaker 1: They've they had a really good weekend. We're going to
23:15
Speaker 1: talk about the team they swept soon. One more. You say,
23:19
Speaker 1: Kikuchi is hurt, and I feel like this one slipped
23:21
Speaker 1: under the radar because it is falling fast for the Angels.
23:25
Speaker 1: Halo Territory covered it over the weekend.
23:28
Speaker 5: I couldn't find a single article asking him about this
23:31
Speaker 5: new pitch, why he incorporated it, And I do wonder
23:36
Speaker 5: it's a very different, you know, type of type of pitch.
23:40
Speaker 5: I know, it's very trendy and it's very nasty when
23:42
Speaker 5: it works, But could it also have impacted whatever injury
23:47
Speaker 5: he's dealing with. If we're talking about him for the
23:49
Speaker 5: entire season, that's that's a big blow.
23:52
Speaker 6: Yeah. I always thought the splitter was a little tougher
23:54
Speaker 6: on the elbow as opposed to the shoulder. Is that
23:58
Speaker 6: what your understanding is? But the armslot, to me, it
24:01
Speaker 6: just seemed like something very strange to do in the
24:03
Speaker 6: middle of the season. You know, that's a spring training thing.
24:06
Speaker 6: You know, you get your mechanics down, you make a
24:08
Speaker 6: few adjustments here and there, and you take it into
24:10
Speaker 6: the season. He was tinkering back and forth from you know,
24:14
Speaker 6: a higher arm slot to a lower armslot than one
24:17
Speaker 6: in between. Just doesn't seem like the healthiest thing to
24:20
Speaker 6: do for a major league pitcher.
24:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and here's the tweet from Jeff Fletcher that the
24:27
Speaker 1: Angels are still collecting info to determine the severity of
24:31
Speaker 1: the industry or the injury. For now, he's just on
24:34
Speaker 1: the il with inflammation. So they're talking about the splitter.
24:37
Speaker 1: By the way, how you know he was messing around
24:40
Speaker 1: with arm angles the pitch. I mean he was using
24:42
Speaker 1: the splitter. It was the second most used pitch. He
24:44
Speaker 1: didn't use it at all last year, so he's messing
24:46
Speaker 1: around with that. So you're never gonna know. But Trumbo
24:49
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo on the show with Mike d. Givanna. They
24:52
Speaker 1: were just theorizing, doing a little conspiracy theory action to
24:56
Speaker 1: see what's going on. But not a good time for
24:58
Speaker 1: the Angels.