Latest / Foul Territory / Cubs & Padres interested in FA Lucas Giolito + Tatsuya Imai's viral quotes about adjusting to America

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Cubs & Padres interested in FA Lucas Giolito + Tatsuya Imai's viral quotes about adjusting to America · Foul Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Hey, let's it hot corner. Remember Lucas Giolito, he's still
0:09
Speaker 1: a free agent. We're in mid April. Ken Rosenthal's Haadev
0:13
Speaker 1: Sharma and Patrick Mooney from The Athletic. Also those two
0:17
Speaker 1: on North side territory. Ken, of course with fair Territory
0:19
Speaker 1: coming out with a report in The Athletic about some
0:22
Speaker 1: teams interested in Lucas Giulio's services. They mentioned the Cubs
0:27
Speaker 1: and the Padres. Now, when it came to the Cubs
0:31
Speaker 1: in this article, it sounded like they view him as
0:34
Speaker 1: more of a back of the rotation starter. That is
0:38
Speaker 1: an interesting way to put it when you are negotiating
0:42
Speaker 1: with a player who thinks he's worth this and the
0:44
Speaker 1: team is saying this what I got it? But hey, Kratz,
0:50
Speaker 1: the market has spoken, you can. And we'll get to
0:53
Speaker 1: some sound from Lucas too, because he was on a
0:55
Speaker 1: podcast the other day. What is baseball is boring? That's
1:00
Speaker 1: not my words, that's the name of the show. So
1:04
Speaker 1: Lucas has mentioned how he thinks he's worth this, and
1:08
Speaker 1: his agency and team thinks he's worth this, and they
1:11
Speaker 1: used their own algorithm, and then teams use their thing
1:13
Speaker 1: and they're not seeing Ida I mean for Lucas, the
1:17
Speaker 1: strikeout rate went down quite a bit. The ERA was
1:21
Speaker 1: in the mid threes last year for him, he had
1:23
Speaker 1: for the most part, a pretty good bounce back in
1:25
Speaker 1: a strong finish to the season, besides then not being
1:27
Speaker 1: available for the playoffs. But the league starts looking at
1:31
Speaker 1: other things. Like X I mentioned earlier in the show,
1:34
Speaker 1: is a big thing. XCRA expected era based off quality
1:37
Speaker 1: of contact and some other metrics five oh six versus
1:40
Speaker 1: a three four one twenty six starts. But you know
1:43
Speaker 1: the team calls as well, where were you at the
1:45
Speaker 1: end of the season. You had elbowserinus. So this is
1:47
Speaker 1: just the back and forth battle you get. And he
1:49
Speaker 1: didn't get a qualifying offer. And you know, I looked
1:51
Speaker 1: at the athletic they thought he was going to get
1:53
Speaker 1: three years fifty seven million bucks. He's gonna end up
1:56
Speaker 1: signing for a year on a pro rated So that's
2:00
Speaker 1: when you come back. You start activating that and it's
2:02
Speaker 1: going to be like a year and maybe ten mil.
2:04
Speaker 1: That'll turn into like five because he's only going to
2:06
Speaker 1: pitch half a season.
2:09
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess this is the this is the
2:10
Speaker 2: crux of being a player. Like you say, well, I'm
2:13
Speaker 2: worth this, And there's no other way of knowing how
2:17
Speaker 2: valuable you are until you ask other teams, until you
2:20
Speaker 2: ask teams and say what do you think of me?
2:22
Speaker 2: And clearly teams say, na, you're not worth I think
2:26
Speaker 2: he was obviously looking for that multi year deal. He
2:30
Speaker 2: went out last year. It wasn't one hundred percent healthy
2:32
Speaker 2: the whole season, but he went out last year and
2:35
Speaker 2: put up what he thought was good numbers. The league
2:37
Speaker 2: said no, and it was a way that the league
2:40
Speaker 2: could lower or squash his salary. There's plenty of dudes
2:45
Speaker 2: that pitched way worse and were way less healthy than
2:48
Speaker 2: Lucas Gilito that got multi year deals and since just
2:53
Speaker 2: been a crater of a contract for teams. And so
2:57
Speaker 2: for Gildo to get that moniker put on him, and
3:00
Speaker 2: the fact that it's not you know, that he hasn't
3:03
Speaker 2: succumbed to whatever the league wants him to take, I
3:07
Speaker 2: think is it's a testament to him. But now he's
3:11
Speaker 2: sitting here and not playing like he's He's getting the
3:13
Speaker 2: same amount as innings as Todd and I are getting
3:16
Speaker 2: right now, and that's that's an ultimate like to me,
3:20
Speaker 2: it's an ultimate slap in the face after you come
3:22
Speaker 2: back from what he came back from to have the
3:24
Speaker 2: year he had last year from a baseball standpoint on
3:27
Speaker 2: field baseball standpoint, and then not get a contract.
3:31
Speaker 3: That's that's frustrating. Yeah, there's there's more to it. In
3:36
Speaker 3: my opinion, there's always I don't know. I don't know.
3:40
Speaker 3: I'm a big believer in something else is going on.
3:45
Speaker 3: What is it? I don't know. We might not even
3:47
Speaker 3: find out. But you know, for a guy like him,
3:49
Speaker 3: not even to get picked up or brought back or whatever,
3:52
Speaker 3: there's something something really strange about this one.
3:57
Speaker 1: Let's get some word from Lucas. Usually when you're going
4:01
Speaker 1: through free agency, you don't hear a ton from players.
4:04
Speaker 1: But it's been a minute. So he popped up on
4:06
Speaker 1: a Baseball's Boring podcast it's called and he said.
4:10
Speaker 4: This, why aren't you signed? The last few months has
4:14
Speaker 4: been been very strange to where, you know, talks seem
4:18
Speaker 4: like they're heating up, and then it's like, okay, never mind,
4:20
Speaker 4: and and so I just want to play for close
4:24
Speaker 4: to what my value is. Everything is based on these models, now, right,
4:28
Speaker 4: Everyone uses projection and models and things like that kind
4:31
Speaker 4: of determine and like my agency does the same thing.
4:34
Speaker 4: So it's like, all right, cool, give me something that's
4:38
Speaker 4: relatively close to that, and let's go and get it.
4:41
Speaker 4: That's why I'm here. That's why I'm coming here six days,
4:44
Speaker 4: five six, seven days a week, depending on where I'm
4:47
Speaker 4: at in my routine and throwing live and staying ready.
4:53
Speaker 4: You know, I'm kind of maintaining a pitch count around
4:57
Speaker 4: seventy five each time I throw live, so that when
5:01
Speaker 4: I get the opportunity, it's like, all right, cool, what
5:03
Speaker 4: do you want me to throw a game in triple
5:06
Speaker 4: A to get ready? Or do you want to put
5:08
Speaker 4: me right in for five innings?
5:10
Speaker 5: Like, I'll do whatever.
5:11
Speaker 4: I'm happy to do whatever once I get the opportunity
5:14
Speaker 4: to help a team.
5:16
Speaker 1: Interesting comments there from Jilido. What Kratz, why are your
5:20
Speaker 1: eyes getting so big?
5:22
Speaker 2: One game? Just go in and throw five innings in
5:25
Speaker 2: a big league game? Sorry, I think I think we're
5:28
Speaker 2: past that. I'm not saying he can't. I'm not saying
5:31
Speaker 2: it's impossible. I just think the track record of that
5:33
Speaker 2: happening is low, Like teams aren't going to be willing
5:39
Speaker 2: to make that the adjustment, and so it's just more
5:42
Speaker 2: money out of his pocket less money that the teams
5:45
Speaker 2: have to pay. And this is the other part that sucks,
5:48
Speaker 2: is most likely he's going to sign a minor league deal.
5:52
Speaker 2: He's going to be a big league deal. But no
5:54
Speaker 2: team's going to go, oh, yeah, we'll let your rehab
5:56
Speaker 2: for four months or not rehab, but build up for
5:59
Speaker 2: four weeks. So I think it's I think it's thirty
6:01
Speaker 2: days is what pitchers get on a quote rehab assignment.
6:05
Speaker 2: But so they're just gonna give a minor league contract.
6:08
Speaker 2: So he goes out and makes three or four starts.
6:10
Speaker 2: In the second start, he says he's ready. In the
6:12
Speaker 2: third start, he gets hurt. In the minor leagues. Guess
6:15
Speaker 2: who's not getting his money Lucas Giuliedo. And the team's like, well,
6:19
Speaker 2: you know what, it's just not So I commend him
6:23
Speaker 2: for that, but I also got to say, like, teams
6:26
Speaker 2: just aren't willing to make that connection, and I would
6:29
Speaker 2: feel bad at the end of the season if there's
6:30
Speaker 2: a team that didn't, that misses the playoffs by one game,
6:33
Speaker 2: you don't think Lucas Giulito could have helped you, especially
6:36
Speaker 2: if you're a team like the Blue Jays. A team
6:39
Speaker 2: like the Astros, a team like the Padres, who I
6:41
Speaker 2: think are just losing. Nick Pavetta, like, you need some innings,
6:45
Speaker 2: and you need it from big league pitchers and not
6:47
Speaker 2: just dudes. Or you're like, ah, we'll call that guy up.
6:50
Speaker 2: See how it goes.
6:51
Speaker 1: He'll get a major league deal. It just gets pro rated.
6:54
Speaker 1: It only starts when you hit the major leagues. That's
6:57
Speaker 1: how those deals, right.
6:58
Speaker 2: But you have to but you have to, but you
7:00
Speaker 2: have to be in the big leagues to make your money.
7:03
Speaker 2: And these teams, I mean Todd went through it. You know,
7:06
Speaker 2: Todd had his last year, he had to sign the
7:08
Speaker 2: forty five day clause, the consent. Todd wanted to be
7:11
Speaker 2: in the big leagues. He didn't think some team was
7:13
Speaker 2: gonna screw him over that, like, oh, you know, it
7:16
Speaker 2: doesn't go well, look at look at what dudes are
7:18
Speaker 2: doing right now. There's a lot of people that will
7:20
Speaker 2: get cut if they're not on guaranteed contracts. So that's
7:23
Speaker 2: part of it. With Gilido, he wants his money because
7:27
Speaker 2: of what he did, and he came back from an
7:28
Speaker 2: injury in twenty four and he showed he's healthy. It's tough.
7:32
Speaker 2: I feel for him.
7:36
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7:40
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8:02
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8:06
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8:08
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8:10
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8:15
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8:37
Speaker 1: Let's finish with this. Which team do you think needs
8:40
Speaker 1: him more? Todd Father First, the Cubs, who have recently
8:44
Speaker 1: lost pitchers like Matt Boyd on the short term Cad
8:47
Speaker 1: Horton on the long term, or the Padres, who, yes,
8:52
Speaker 1: just lost Nick Povetta. They've got the longest wind streaking baseball.
8:55
Speaker 1: POD's had a nice win over the Mariners to start
8:58
Speaker 1: up their series. It's six in a row now for
9:00
Speaker 1: San Diego. But Nick Pavetta, who also was a value
9:03
Speaker 1: signed for the Padres because he got screwed over by
9:06
Speaker 1: the compensation pick qualifying off for a couple of years ago,
9:11
Speaker 1: and the Padres took advantage and he's been a great
9:13
Speaker 1: pitcher for them. But he is hurt right now with
9:15
Speaker 1: right elbow inflammation. Which team do you think needs him more? Oh?
9:21
Speaker 3: Man, this is a tough one because I think both
9:23
Speaker 3: of them would would be happy to have him, you know,
9:26
Speaker 3: come up and you know, get a spots start here
9:29
Speaker 3: and there, and maybe stay there for good. I would
9:32
Speaker 3: always say, you know, the Cubs. I think the Cubs,
9:36
Speaker 3: they're going back and forth with winning games and losing games.
9:39
Speaker 3: I think there's an opportunity for him to stay, you know,
9:43
Speaker 3: not only pitch there, but to stay there for a
9:45
Speaker 3: long time too. If he's healthy. So going through the
9:48
Speaker 3: whole thing, there's other teams too, but for this opportunity,
9:51
Speaker 3: I think he would fit well with the Cubs, and
9:55
Speaker 3: I think he would just ride that way with them.
9:56
Speaker 3: It's a good team, they're fun, they're playing a really
9:59
Speaker 3: good division, and I think they'd have the best opportunity.
10:02
Speaker 3: I mean, the Padres have the Dodgers over there and
10:05
Speaker 3: it's just hard to even get in the mix. But
10:07
Speaker 3: I think the Cubs would have a chance, you know,
10:09
Speaker 3: with him there not only to make some noise, but
10:11
Speaker 3: be tops in the division too and maybe even have
10:13
Speaker 3: an opportunity to win that division.
10:16
Speaker 2: I'll take choice.
10:17
Speaker 3: See the Braves.
10:20
Speaker 2: I think the Braves' injuries are different than the injuries
10:22
Speaker 2: that the other teams that the other teams that we
10:25
Speaker 2: were talking about, they are the Cubs and the Padres
10:28
Speaker 2: have sustained. Now I think there's guys that have stepped up,
10:31
Speaker 2: but what does every team need?
10:33
Speaker 3: Depth?
10:33
Speaker 2: And to me, I think the Braves have started out
10:35
Speaker 2: hot build on that build on, as Todd says, ride
10:39
Speaker 2: the wave, like, continue to continue to make sure you
10:43
Speaker 2: have enough depth because they've clearly lost guys other years,
10:47
Speaker 2: but some of their losses have been massive losses, and
10:50
Speaker 2: I think if you take them, if the Braves take them,
10:54
Speaker 2: the Cubs can't have them, that's going to be a
10:56
Speaker 2: team that you guys are going to be coming down
10:57
Speaker 2: to the end of the year battling again.
11:01
Speaker 1: Good point. Anyone else with thoughts on where he'll sign
11:04
Speaker 1: a B or C a different team, let us know
11:07
Speaker 1: in the comments. Here we go, Crush City Territory host
11:13
Speaker 1: and the Athletics Chandler Rome joining us right now to
11:15
Speaker 1: talk astros. We're going to do this segment a little
11:17
Speaker 1: bit differently as we'll ask some questions to Chandler, but
11:20
Speaker 1: I want to get some reaction from the players here too,
11:22
Speaker 1: So Chandler, great to have you on. We're going to
11:24
Speaker 1: talk astros, but we're going to start with some individual
11:27
Speaker 1: storylines Tatsuo am I and what he told you and
11:31
Speaker 1: the rest of the media out there about trouble getting
11:34
Speaker 1: adjusted to the lifestyle. What are your thoughts. Then we'll
11:36
Speaker 1: get our players to chime in.
11:39
Speaker 5: Man, there's a lot of thoughts. And first of all,
11:42
Speaker 5: I want to be sensitive to the situation that is
11:48
Speaker 5: in he's speaking through an interpreter, and I think it
11:52
Speaker 5: should be noted that this is his third different interpreter
11:55
Speaker 5: since he reported to spring training on the first day
11:58
Speaker 5: of camp. So I'm not sure, but if that, you know,
12:01
Speaker 5: has some impact here too, that he's now had three
12:03
Speaker 5: different people, you know, relating to him what's being said
12:05
Speaker 5: and vice versa. But I wrote the story like I
12:09
Speaker 5: did yesterday because the way that this interpreter spoke, he
12:13
Speaker 5: didn't translate a lot of the answers as Emi. He
12:17
Speaker 5: translated it as like a summation of what he said,
12:20
Speaker 5: using the pronouns he and him as opposed to I.
12:24
Speaker 3: So the translator.
12:25
Speaker 5: The interpreter said that Emi is having trouble adjusting to
12:30
Speaker 5: American life, both on the field and off. He mentioned
12:34
Speaker 5: the travel. It should be noted that the Asher has
12:36
Speaker 5: just finished a ten game, three city road trip through Sacramento,
12:39
Speaker 5: Denver in Seattle. Amai has has said that the mounds,
12:44
Speaker 5: the different mounds and different ballparks have given him problems.
12:47
Speaker 5: He mentioned that pitching in weather is not something that
12:50
Speaker 5: he had to do much in Japan. He has talked
12:52
Speaker 5: since spring training about the baseballs and the differences between
12:56
Speaker 5: the baseballs here in an MPB. I think the thing
13:00
Speaker 5: that caught a lot of people by surprise is that
13:02
Speaker 5: he mentioned that, you know, he's eating dinner at different
13:05
Speaker 5: locations and at different times than he did in Japan.
13:09
Speaker 5: The way the interpreter spoke, he said, he used that
13:12
Speaker 5: as a for example. I think you know that that's
13:15
Speaker 5: what he used that as an example to say of
13:18
Speaker 5: some stuff he's had trouble adjusting too. So you know,
13:22
Speaker 5: I can only read between the lines here. I don't
13:24
Speaker 5: speak Japanese. I can't tell you if there was more
13:26
Speaker 5: context in the question and the answers that Emi gave
13:29
Speaker 5: as opposed to what we were given. Uh, But reading
13:32
Speaker 5: between the lines, it sounds like a guy that that
13:34
Speaker 5: that's just struggling to adapt. You know. Jospada said that
13:39
Speaker 5: every image they have taken on his arm has come
13:41
Speaker 5: back clean, has come back positive. Am I said that
13:44
Speaker 5: as well. There does not seem to be anything structurally
13:47
Speaker 5: wrong with his arm, and if there is, no one
13:50
Speaker 5: is saying it. So they're just going to give him
13:53
Speaker 5: some time, I guess, to better adjust, to build his
13:58
Speaker 5: arm strength up, and then from there he'll start throwing again.
14:00
Speaker 5: But there is no timetable for him to start throwing
14:03
Speaker 5: again for when they may get him back on the mound.
14:06
Speaker 5: There's a lot of mystery wrapped in this.
14:09
Speaker 2: Before we get into stories or technically our reaction as
14:12
Speaker 2: players to this situation. Is this just a colossal fail
14:16
Speaker 2: by the ASTROS organization to not be able to make
14:21
Speaker 2: this a soft landing or even like like, because we
14:24
Speaker 2: hear about other organizations the White Sox brought in, brought
14:28
Speaker 2: in the Bidets, when Mori Kamis, when Morikami signed there.
14:32
Speaker 2: You know, the Dodgers have become a destination for Japanese
14:36
Speaker 2: players because of how they've been able to recruit Showhey
14:39
Speaker 2: and then Yamamoto. Is this a fail by the Astros
14:42
Speaker 2: in the sense that they didn't have an interpreter that whatever,
14:46
Speaker 2: for whatever reason didn't work out, and now you know,
14:49
Speaker 2: trying to have they not catered enough to what in
14:52
Speaker 2: my needs as one of their biggest, if not their
14:55
Speaker 2: biggest pitching signing in the offseason.
15:00
Speaker 5: You know it doesn't look good, Kratzy. This is a
15:02
Speaker 5: bad look publicly. But I don't know that I can
15:05
Speaker 5: put all the blame on the Astros right now. I
15:08
Speaker 5: have not looked into this, so I don't want to
15:09
Speaker 5: speak out a turn. But a lot of times interpreters
15:12
Speaker 5: are hired and brought on by the players themselves, So
15:16
Speaker 5: it may not be the Astro's fault really that they've
15:19
Speaker 5: had three interpreters. That could be something that they had
15:22
Speaker 5: trouble getting one guy in, Like, I'm not sure how
15:24
Speaker 5: that works, So I don't want to wade into those waters.
15:27
Speaker 5: I think everyone knew there was going to be there
15:30
Speaker 5: was going to be a transition period. The Astros have
15:32
Speaker 5: never signed a player, much less a pitcher, from straight
15:36
Speaker 5: from NPB. They have had Japanese players in the past.
15:39
Speaker 5: They had you Sa Kakuci a couple of years ago,
15:41
Speaker 5: they had kas Matsui, but they have never brought a
15:44
Speaker 5: player straight from MPB and put him on the Astros roster.
15:49
Speaker 5: So there was always going to be a learning curve
15:51
Speaker 5: because there's a lot of people here that have never
15:54
Speaker 5: done this before. So everyone was going to kind of
15:56
Speaker 5: be learning on the fly. Because they've now lost Brown
16:00
Speaker 5: and Christian Javier to injury, two of their more important
16:03
Speaker 5: starting pitchers, it has magnified Emai's role in the rotation.
16:08
Speaker 5: And it's magnified this as far as have they done enough.
16:12
Speaker 5: You know, I was in spring training for four of
16:14
Speaker 5: the six weeks they were there and I got written
16:17
Speaker 5: about at the time. But every day they had a
16:19
Speaker 5: new word, a new word of the day on the board,
16:22
Speaker 5: one in English, one in Spanish, one in Japanese, and
16:25
Speaker 5: one in Taiwanese for kaiwei tang for you know, guys
16:29
Speaker 5: to learn how to say Japanese words to spell. And
16:32
Speaker 5: they were colloquial terms, baseball terms. And watching Imai in
16:36
Speaker 5: the clubhouse, I mean, he interacted with teammates pretty seamlessly.
16:40
Speaker 5: From my vantage point, the teams seem to like him,
16:43
Speaker 5: or are the seems to like him. I don't want
16:45
Speaker 5: to talk in past tense, but they they seem to,
16:48
Speaker 5: you know, welcome him in. And the Astros have given
16:51
Speaker 5: Emi a lot of leeway to you know, dictate his schedule,
16:55
Speaker 5: to say, here's how I did it in Japan, here's
16:58
Speaker 5: how I feel comfortable doing it, and they've kind of
17:00
Speaker 5: let him be. And part of that is he throws
17:02
Speaker 5: a bullpen session the day before his starts, which is
17:06
Speaker 5: very peculiar at a major league level, but apparently Emi
17:09
Speaker 5: said he's done this throughout his career. Joe Aspada has
17:14
Speaker 5: said or said before he went on the injured list
17:16
Speaker 5: that as they got to know him better, and as
17:19
Speaker 5: they got a better feel for him, they were probably
17:22
Speaker 5: going to approach him and give some suggestions, give some
17:25
Speaker 5: things that maybe they saw he could be doing better,
17:28
Speaker 5: or things that maybe they thought he should tweak. But again,
17:31
Speaker 5: I think all of this has been hastened and magnified
17:34
Speaker 5: by the other injuries in their rotation. Because look, if
17:38
Speaker 5: Hunter Brown was healthy, if Christian Javier was healthy and
17:40
Speaker 5: pitching well, and if they didn't have the highest era
17:44
Speaker 5: in baseball, then this would certainly be a story. But
17:47
Speaker 5: I don't think it would be, as you know, dominant
17:49
Speaker 5: of a storyline. But because you're paying Tetsuya Imai nearly
17:53
Speaker 5: twenty million dollars this year, like you are paying him
17:56
Speaker 5: to kind of be the guy that shoulders that load
17:59
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18:01
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18:03
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19:07
Speaker 2: When we tweeted out on foul Territory on Twitter, we
19:11
Speaker 2: ended up got a I got a text from a
19:14
Speaker 2: guy who had gone over to Korea and made that transition,
19:19
Speaker 2: and he could not agree more with what Tatsuyam I
19:23
Speaker 2: told you. When when you had that interview through the interpreter,
19:26
Speaker 2: he said, it's a lonely feeling, it's a it's a
19:30
Speaker 2: it feels like you're the only one out there and
19:32
Speaker 2: you're trying to set You know, there's no reprieve from
19:36
Speaker 2: being uncomfortable in a city or a country, even when
19:40
Speaker 2: you get onto the field, which is a new place too.
19:43
Speaker 2: So have the astros talk to you or have you
19:46
Speaker 2: asked them anything about what the next step is in
19:50
Speaker 2: the sense of making it feel comfortable, because it sounds
19:52
Speaker 2: like they've done a lot of things to cater to
19:55
Speaker 2: what he needs, but that comfort level. Is there something
19:58
Speaker 2: that or even his teammates about welcoming him in in
20:03
Speaker 2: some way or or just different things, you know, Cratsey,
20:08
Speaker 2: I think that's a question for the coming days because
20:10
Speaker 2: this kind of came out of nowhere. Yesterday Joe Spota
20:12
Speaker 2: had already addressed the media in his normal pregame media session.
20:16
Speaker 2: The clubhouse was closed, and tetsu Emi came out and
20:19
Speaker 2: was going to address his injury, and all this came out,
20:22
Speaker 2: and it was like all right, Like now, I think
20:25
Speaker 2: now the story starts to kind of move forward a
20:26
Speaker 2: little bit. So I think that's probably a thing for
20:28
Speaker 2: the next couple of days. But as far as he
20:31
Speaker 2: might goes. I think, you know, And he even said
20:33
Speaker 2: his interpreter said that he said this last night. He said,
20:36
Speaker 2: you know, maybe it's a positive to be.
20:39
Speaker 5: On the il right now, so he can have some time,
20:42
Speaker 5: like without the stakes of having to pitch every fifth day,
20:46
Speaker 5: without kind of being in the season. He has some
20:49
Speaker 5: more time to learn how to adjust. And look, I
20:52
Speaker 5: know that's something that Astra's fans don't want to hear,
20:55
Speaker 5: especially for a team that needs every healthy starting pitcher
20:59
Speaker 5: it can get for a team that has the highest
21:01
Speaker 5: era in baseball, and for a team that's off to
21:03
Speaker 5: a seven and eleven start. But you know, I'm kind
21:06
Speaker 5: of with you, like I'm sympathetic to the guy because
21:09
Speaker 5: I can't imagine. And I know he's getting paid a
21:12
Speaker 5: very nice sum of money, and I completely understand that,
21:14
Speaker 5: and I understand why fans will go to that immediately,
21:17
Speaker 5: But I can't imagine being in his shoes. I truly
21:20
Speaker 5: can't like going to a new country, a new lifestyle,
21:23
Speaker 5: a new way of doing things, and having to succeed
21:27
Speaker 5: and fail in his part on in front of a
21:30
Speaker 5: bunch of people, in front of on a national stage,
21:33
Speaker 5: with cameras in your face, with people asking you questions
21:36
Speaker 5: in a language you do not know. I feel for him,
21:39
Speaker 5: but and I wanted to mention this in the other
21:41
Speaker 5: question you asked Kratzy, you know, you mentioned how the
21:43
Speaker 5: Dodgers have you know, gone out of their way to
21:45
Speaker 5: be very amenable to Japanese players and how they recruit players.
21:48
Speaker 5: I do want to make it known, and we talked
21:50
Speaker 5: about this when they signed Tetsuya imi. Imai said that
21:54
Speaker 5: he did not want to go to a place that
21:56
Speaker 5: had a bunch of Japanese players. He said that he
21:59
Speaker 5: wanted to ate his own path, that he wanted to
22:01
Speaker 5: confront any adversity that would hit him, you know, on
22:04
Speaker 5: his own and see if he could do it on
22:06
Speaker 5: his own. He didn't want to have to rely on,
22:09
Speaker 5: you know, if he went to the Dodgers, relying on
22:11
Speaker 5: Sasaki and Yamamoto and Otani or our teams that have
22:15
Speaker 5: other Japanese. So in some ways touch so Emi got
22:18
Speaker 5: what he wanted out of free agency. He said as
22:22
Speaker 5: much that he did not want to go to a
22:24
Speaker 5: team that had a huge Japanese presence.
22:28
Speaker 2: All right now, on another picture from the Astros, excuse me,
22:32
Speaker 2: that's on the il on Hunter Brown, the insinuation that
22:37
Speaker 2: Dana Brown that I'm sorry, yes, Hunter bround that Dana
22:42
Speaker 2: Brown the GM I lost my words, insinuated that maybe
22:47
Speaker 2: he ramped up his velocity a little bit too soon
22:50
Speaker 2: in spring training, and then Hunter came back and said,
22:53
Speaker 2: I did nothing different. I was just getting ready for
22:56
Speaker 2: the season. Is there a is there a kind of
23:00
Speaker 2: a little bit of consternation, a little bit of thought
23:03
Speaker 2: that maybe they're not on the same page or was
23:05
Speaker 2: it just something that was said in passing and they'll
23:08
Speaker 2: get over it.
23:10
Speaker 5: I think it's probably somewhere in the middle. I don't
23:13
Speaker 5: think Hunter is thrilled, but I don't think it's something
23:15
Speaker 5: that's going to, you know, derail relationships, and don't think
23:19
Speaker 5: it's gonna be something that's a constant storyline here, you know.
23:22
Speaker 5: And the odd thing was that when Dana Brown made
23:24
Speaker 5: these comments. So let's go back to opening day, right,
23:28
Speaker 5: Hunter Brown threw one hundred and two pitches on opening Day.
23:31
Speaker 5: That was the most of any opening day starter in
23:33
Speaker 5: the big leagues. His next start, which he made on
23:36
Speaker 5: four days dressed. He only made five starts on four
23:39
Speaker 5: days of rest last year, so he made his second
23:41
Speaker 5: start this year on four days of rest. They pulled
23:44
Speaker 5: him after seventy eight pitches in part because he had
23:47
Speaker 5: such a high workload on opening day. Three days later
23:50
Speaker 5: is when he felt the thing in his shoulder. He
23:52
Speaker 5: has a great two shoulder strain. He's on the ail.
23:55
Speaker 5: I asked Dana when they announced the diagnosis. I asked
23:58
Speaker 5: Dana Brown if he was okay with the workload that
24:02
Speaker 5: Hunter Brown had sustained on opening day, if he was
24:04
Speaker 5: okay with him throwing one hundred and two pitches on
24:06
Speaker 5: opening day. And his answer to that question was about
24:12
Speaker 5: spring training, was you know, I was surprised to see
24:15
Speaker 5: him at ninety seven ninety eight in spring training. You know,
24:17
Speaker 5: I'd like him to dial it back a bit, you know,
24:19
Speaker 5: he and Dane is an old school kind of scout.
24:22
Speaker 5: You know, he was just saying, you know, look, look, kids,
24:23
Speaker 5: you made the team. Like you don't have to try
24:25
Speaker 5: too hard. Like you made the team, Like you don't
24:27
Speaker 5: have to go out here and throw ninety nine every
24:29
Speaker 5: time out and I should. It should be noted that
24:31
Speaker 5: Dana did say, you know, he has no evidence to
24:34
Speaker 5: point to that that's the reason that that Hunter Brown
24:36
Speaker 5: strained his shoulder. And you know, you can't like, there's
24:40
Speaker 5: no one thing that creates a pitcher injury. Pictures are
24:43
Speaker 5: built to break down. But the fact that I think
24:47
Speaker 5: it was said out loud before it was communicated to Hunter,
24:52
Speaker 5: I think that was a little bit odd. And certainly
24:54
Speaker 5: the fact that it was said in response to a
24:56
Speaker 5: question that really had nothing to do with spring training.
25:00
Speaker 5: So I just think there could have been maybe some
25:03
Speaker 5: more communication behind the scenes to where Hunter wasn't surprised
25:09
Speaker 5: when he read the quote when it could have been
25:11
Speaker 5: something that's like, all right, yeah, they addressed that with me.
25:13
Speaker 5: If they told me that, I don't have to agree
25:15
Speaker 5: with it, but that's what they told me. And I
25:17
Speaker 5: know that, and I know that's coming out.
25:20
Speaker 2: Wait, and this is the cornerstone franchise pitcher for this
25:24
Speaker 2: organization too, So is that relationship? Is this the first
25:27
Speaker 2: time anything like this has ever come to a head
25:29
Speaker 2: because he's your workhorse and then you kind of question
25:33
Speaker 2: him and then now he's heard. But is there was
25:36
Speaker 2: there any other relationship divides that had happened before this
25:42
Speaker 2: between Hunter Brown and the front office or just Dana Brown.
25:46
Speaker 5: You know, I will say this that Hunter Brown wanted
25:49
Speaker 5: an extension pretty badly after his first season in the
25:52
Speaker 5: big leagues. That was the that would be the twenty
25:55
Speaker 5: twenty three off season going into twenty twenty four. That
25:59
Speaker 5: there was some serious thought about an extension then and
26:03
Speaker 5: it didn't get done. I'm not sure if that in
26:06
Speaker 5: and of itself creates a divide. I'm not sure if
26:08
Speaker 5: that in and of itself creates frustration. But yeah, I
26:11
Speaker 5: mean like there was an attempt there and it didn't happen.
26:14
Speaker 5: Hunters since obviously his market and his price has skyrocketed.
26:19
Speaker 5: He's hired Scott Boris since then, and Scott Boris usually
26:23
Speaker 5: does not like his clients to He likes his clients
26:26
Speaker 5: to test free agency instead of signing pre ARB extension.
26:29
Speaker 5: So obviously the dynamics have completely changed since that time
26:33
Speaker 5: two and a half years ago. But other than that,
26:35
Speaker 5: really no, like Hunter's a model citizen inside the clubhouse's
26:38
Speaker 5: He's great with us, he's great with the media, he's
26:41
Speaker 5: great with his time with fans and things like that.
26:44
Speaker 5: I don't know anybody that doesn't like him. So yeah,
26:46
Speaker 5: this is a I see this maybe as more of
26:49
Speaker 5: an anomaly than something that has legs and is going
26:52
Speaker 5: to keep festering throughout the season.
26:57
Speaker 1: A great insight, man, I mean both of those stories.
27:00
Speaker 2: We're not hearing you, Scotty. Scotty, you don't have your
27:03
Speaker 2: mic on, but well we'll hit it. Basically, Scotty wanted
27:06
Speaker 2: you to say, wanted to tell you that he's a
27:08
Speaker 2: huge Astros fan and he thinks the Astros are going
27:11
Speaker 2: to turn it around, even though that's not what he
27:13
Speaker 2: was gonna say, but it was all a good insight.
27:17
Speaker 2: It was all a good insight, and I'm wondering if
27:19
Speaker 2: Scotty wanted to say thanks or if he wanted to.
27:23
Speaker 2: So we're gonna thank you. I appreciate you coming on,
27:25
Speaker 2: and if you guys can hit up Crush City territory,
27:28
Speaker 2: that would be appreciated because you guys absolutely kill it.
27:33
Speaker 5: Cratch You deserve a raise. You're a host now.
27:37
Speaker 2: No no, but I will take the race for sure,
27:40
Speaker 2: or an extension one of the two, just like Hunter Brown.
27:43
Speaker 1: You guys hear me, now got you?
27:45
Speaker 3: Oh yeah?
27:46
Speaker 2: Cool?
27:47
Speaker 1: Well, Chandler, thank you. I'm going to get my mic
27:49
Speaker 1: back on during the break. But you're the man. Two
27:51
Speaker 1: fascinating stories.
27:52
Speaker 5: We'll talk to you, s Budd All right, thanks guys,