Latest / Foul Territory / Manager Tony Vitello and 3B Matt Chapman join FT @Giants camp + 2026 Giants Season Preview

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Manager Tony Vitello and 3B Matt Chapman join FT @Giants camp + 2026 Giants Season Preview · Foul Territory

0:12
Speaker 1: Giants manager Tony Bytello is here, and Tony, it's great
0:15
Speaker 1: to have you on. We really appreciate the time. We
0:18
Speaker 1: really enjoyed our chat with you at the winter meetings,
0:20
Speaker 1: looking forward to this one here, I have sources, so
0:22
Speaker 1: these guys are going to ask most of the questions,
0:24
Speaker 1: but I'm going to start the conversation like this. I
0:26
Speaker 1: heard you have the sickest house in Arizona and that
0:31
Speaker 1: is total rock star status out there and the players
0:34
Speaker 1: are freaking loving it.
0:37
Speaker 2: Well, it's a good setup.
0:40
Speaker 3: The first year of doing this, there are a lot
0:43
Speaker 3: of people that want to join in the fun or
0:46
Speaker 3: you know, come to games and things like that. So
0:48
Speaker 3: I want to make sure I could accommodate anybody that's
0:50
Speaker 3: coming through town, uh, you know, but also make it
0:54
Speaker 3: a place where the coaches could come or certain you know,
0:57
Speaker 3: group of players wanted to come over.
0:59
Speaker 2: We could do that as well.
1:00
Speaker 3: So but as of late, falling into the spring training routine,
1:04
Speaker 3: it is very early to bed and very early to rise.
1:10
Speaker 4: So what do you what is what is what is
1:12
Speaker 4: your routine? This is your I mean you're told a
1:15
Speaker 4: spring training routine because this is really you know, it's
1:17
Speaker 4: your first year. So what is your routine. Have you
1:19
Speaker 4: avoided the nap?
1:22
Speaker 2: Yes, I have.
1:23
Speaker 5: I have.
1:23
Speaker 3: Fortunately, Uh, we got about everything you can imagine in
1:26
Speaker 3: the building for guys, uh, you know, snack wise, energy, energy, drink,
1:31
Speaker 3: whatever it might be.
1:33
Speaker 2: And then there's just a lot of natural energy in
1:35
Speaker 2: the building.
1:36
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of guys here who have
1:38
Speaker 3: an edge to them about, you know, responding to last year,
1:41
Speaker 3: whether it be team or individual status, you know, having
1:45
Speaker 3: a little bit better goal of it this year.
1:47
Speaker 2: And then our coaching staff is unique.
1:49
Speaker 3: There's a lot of guys getting an opportunity that that
1:53
Speaker 3: maybe they couldn't envision the year before.
1:55
Speaker 2: So the natural energy has helped for sure.
1:58
Speaker 3: But the routine, I say that, you know, we're playing
2:01
Speaker 3: games every day, we got workouts every day. But because
2:03
Speaker 3: it is my first year, there is kind of still
2:06
Speaker 3: a feeling out process of Okay, when do we add
2:09
Speaker 3: in this meeting, or or when do we accomplish this thing,
2:12
Speaker 3: or when do we address this. But it's been fun.
2:16
Speaker 3: It's been a fun set of trial and error circumstances all.
2:19
Speaker 4: Right, before we get to the team and all the
2:21
Speaker 4: goals and all that stuff. I texted your bench coach
2:24
Speaker 4: Chase Tingler, I said, has Tony messed up at all
2:28
Speaker 4: this year? Because Jase the first time he came to
2:31
Speaker 4: the team, he gave his clip, his laundry clip to
2:35
Speaker 4: the GM of the team. So have you like put
2:39
Speaker 4: your foot in your mouth or like done like a rookie,
2:42
Speaker 4: a rookie mistake here now in your first few weeks
2:45
Speaker 4: of being in spring.
2:47
Speaker 2: Training, you know, there's so much help.
2:51
Speaker 3: I don't know that I've been given the opportunity to
2:54
Speaker 3: screw up too bad to be honest with you know,
2:55
Speaker 3: I'll illustrate that with one of my biggest mistakes is
2:58
Speaker 3: I went and bought my own scrubbing bubbles, put them
3:02
Speaker 3: in a certain area, and they they were the next day,
3:04
Speaker 3: they were gone.
3:05
Speaker 2: They took it away.
3:06
Speaker 3: I think they knew what I was scheming, trying to
3:08
Speaker 3: take care of my own deal right there. So you know,
3:12
Speaker 3: I will say this at Tennessee, if we did anything well,
3:16
Speaker 3: we had a really unique.
3:17
Speaker 2: Culture of.
3:19
Speaker 3: What what stays in the locker or what goes on
3:22
Speaker 3: in the locker room stays in there, and we were
3:23
Speaker 3: just very open with each other. And uh, I don't
3:26
Speaker 3: know if this group's ready for a couple of my
3:28
Speaker 3: jokes they've they've they've either fallen on deaf ears or
3:31
Speaker 3: I've gotten looked at like you're not supposed to say that.
3:34
Speaker 2: But we'll loosen up as the year goes on.
3:37
Speaker 6: Now, you just mentioned Tennessee, and I know you got
3:39
Speaker 6: a couple former players here, Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell
3:42
Speaker 6: and some other guys there that do you You might
3:44
Speaker 6: have already talked to them, So this is my first
3:46
Speaker 6: time getting to really meet you. How is that jump
3:47
Speaker 6: then from straight from college to pro bawl? And do
3:50
Speaker 6: you kind of seek out guys that you're familiar with
3:52
Speaker 6: to lean on them a little bit for some some
3:55
Speaker 6: questions or answers a little behind the scenes because it's
3:57
Speaker 6: a familiar face, or is it kind of business as
3:59
Speaker 6: usual you don't want to treat anybody differently.
4:01
Speaker 5: I guess yeah.
4:02
Speaker 3: I think Drew's Blade's a smart kid too, but it's
4:06
Speaker 3: a little easier with the everyday position guys to gather information.
4:09
Speaker 3: And Drew's been a great resource as a player at Tennessee,
4:13
Speaker 3: a player here during the process of you know, being
4:17
Speaker 3: a potential higher and I think you know, I've leaned
4:21
Speaker 3: on him a little bit, but also when he's on
4:23
Speaker 3: the field, even when he was there in Knoxville, kind
4:27
Speaker 3: of always been harder on him than anybody else because
4:29
Speaker 3: he can handle it. Now at times you got to
4:32
Speaker 3: back off because he's so hard on himself. But you know,
4:34
Speaker 3: the transition has been a little easier because of all
4:38
Speaker 3: the familiar faces. It's not just those two guys. There's
4:41
Speaker 3: several guys like Sam Henches. I don't know if you
4:43
Speaker 3: ever played with Sam Henches, signed him at Arkansas, knew
4:47
Speaker 3: him very well. Just a lot of other guys through
4:49
Speaker 3: recruiting or competition, the first round pick from last year, Right,
4:53
Speaker 3: Sam's a little bit older, but I think there's a
4:55
Speaker 3: Tennessee guy that yeah, yeah, Gavin Keelyn. Gavin Keelyn's here,
5:00
Speaker 3: mau Yahuna's here. Uh So, yeah, there's there's a lot
5:03
Speaker 3: of guys in the building that you know. It's it's
5:05
Speaker 3: made things a little bit easier, and you know, it's
5:08
Speaker 3: also been painful too.
5:09
Speaker 2: And we're playing opponents.
5:10
Speaker 3: Yesterday, Charlie Connon from Georgia and Jordan Beck from Tennessee
5:15
Speaker 3: both combined to score the first run against us. So yeah,
5:20
Speaker 3: it's been interesting. These guys are just older, smarter, and
5:22
Speaker 3: maybe even a little bit stronger.
5:25
Speaker 4: Have you watched your old school, have you watched the
5:28
Speaker 4: college baseball as it started, or is it something that
5:30
Speaker 4: you've been able to turn it off and focus solely
5:34
Speaker 4: on big league stuff.
5:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not an intentional I'm only gonna focus on this.
5:39
Speaker 3: It's just kind of organically happened that way. With again,
5:44
Speaker 3: I mentioned visitors. You know that'll be sorry for a
5:47
Speaker 3: personal tangent, but it'll be important to say no at
5:51
Speaker 3: times during the season.
5:52
Speaker 2: I can already since that.
5:54
Speaker 3: But with how many people have come to Scottsdale, visited
5:58
Speaker 3: former Giants players, just getting to know all these people
6:01
Speaker 3: and also trying to do a quality job up here,
6:04
Speaker 3: I've had my hands full. So Coach Van Horn and
6:08
Speaker 3: I were going back and forth about something non baseball,
6:12
Speaker 3: and I said, are you guys playing well? And I
6:13
Speaker 3: was like, oh, man, I hope I'm not saying that
6:15
Speaker 3: right after a day they lost or.
6:17
Speaker 2: Anything like that.
6:17
Speaker 3: I kind of had no idea how things were going
6:20
Speaker 3: for them, but I would think eventually, you know, I'd
6:24
Speaker 3: be able to settle in and catch up a little
6:26
Speaker 3: bit on college ball.
6:28
Speaker 4: All right, the game is based on superstars. You have
6:31
Speaker 4: a superstar in Rafael Devers. What kind of ability have
6:35
Speaker 4: you had to communicate with him, especially hearing you know, ah,
6:39
Speaker 4: you know, some of the stuff that happened in Boston
6:42
Speaker 4: last year, precipitating the fact that he got traded was
6:46
Speaker 4: based around communication. How has that been for you communicating
6:50
Speaker 4: with one of your best players.
6:52
Speaker 3: It's been comedic. I don't know if is you know what.
6:56
Speaker 3: I'm a big stand up comedy fan, and I know
6:58
Speaker 3: those guys have to work just as hard as actors
7:00
Speaker 3: or baseball players, and timing is really important. I don't
7:04
Speaker 3: know if he's doing it on purpose, but his timing
7:07
Speaker 3: is really good with some of the drop ends he's
7:09
Speaker 3: got or the answers. And I know we're talking about
7:13
Speaker 3: big o' hitter, but comedy is literally the first thing
7:16
Speaker 3: that comes to mind. So when people are laughing, it
7:20
Speaker 3: makes it easier to get along and and form a
7:22
Speaker 3: relationship or you know, just communicate in general. But I think,
7:27
Speaker 3: you know, kind of like I've learned, there's so much
7:29
Speaker 3: help around here. When Wash is working with him on
7:31
Speaker 3: the infield, Hunter and Ob have been with him in
7:34
Speaker 3: the cage a bunch. My job's been easy just to
7:38
Speaker 3: get to know him and some of the other guys
7:39
Speaker 3: a little bit better.
7:41
Speaker 2: And if I see.
7:42
Speaker 3: Something that I think I can help him with, you know,
7:44
Speaker 3: I'll give that input. But he's kinda he's kind of
7:47
Speaker 3: shown in attitude, like a lot of other guys, of
7:51
Speaker 3: a desire for improvement in certain areas and including defensively
7:55
Speaker 3: at first base, even on the basis So I've just
7:58
Speaker 3: kind of been complimentary to the other coaches to this point,
8:01
Speaker 3: and I think you know, I've gotten along with him
8:03
Speaker 3: as well as you know the other guys, and you
8:06
Speaker 3: don't have to go far to know that the guy's
8:08
Speaker 3: a great teammate.
8:09
Speaker 2: I said it the other day to the media's.
8:12
Speaker 3: Alex Bregman's probably got as good of a brain in
8:15
Speaker 3: this for this game as anybody, and I know he's
8:18
Speaker 3: a huge Raffi fan and vice versa.
8:21
Speaker 1: Hey, Tony, I'm going to relate Rafi to another player
8:25
Speaker 1: on your squad new to the party here, like you,
8:28
Speaker 1: Luisa Rise? So do you look at a player like
8:31
Speaker 1: a Rise? And I guess we can still talk about
8:33
Speaker 1: Devers here and be like, what was I missing?
8:36
Speaker 7: Right?
8:36
Speaker 1: The Red Sox did ultimately trade Devers away and for
8:39
Speaker 1: a Rise. A lot of teams said no this offseason.
8:41
Speaker 1: So do you look at two guys like that, of
8:43
Speaker 1: course and say, hey, I'm grateful they're on my side,
8:45
Speaker 1: but do you also question, like, why the heck were
8:47
Speaker 1: these guys one traded as a superstar and one not
8:51
Speaker 1: looked at by many teams in the offseason.
8:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, sorry to be Johnny College here, But recruiting is
8:58
Speaker 3: all about a match. And if there's any kids you know,
9:01
Speaker 3: watching a lot of times you're you're looking for the
9:06
Speaker 3: shiniest object, or the best sales pitch, or who's got
9:09
Speaker 3: the best Nike uniforms or whatever it might be, or
9:11
Speaker 3: any any brand uniform you know, and it's really more
9:15
Speaker 3: about match. Who do you vibe with? Where are you
9:18
Speaker 3: going to become the best version of yourself? So it's
9:22
Speaker 3: vice versa two at Tennessee or other colleges or major
9:25
Speaker 3: league organizations. I think it's the same thing as what's
9:28
Speaker 3: what's the best place for you? And then again college
9:32
Speaker 3: stuff now it's nil, but scholarship back in the day
9:35
Speaker 3: was you have to manage money and you have to
9:38
Speaker 3: manage your rosters. So there's so many moving parts that
9:40
Speaker 3: go into a guy landing in an organization. And then
9:44
Speaker 3: also it's got to be a match for it to
9:46
Speaker 3: be the best thing for that organization and that player,
9:48
Speaker 3: And you know, I can only go off present experience.
9:51
Speaker 3: A rise covers a lot of blind spots for us,
9:54
Speaker 3: and then also he brings a lot of intangibles every
9:57
Speaker 3: day to.
9:57
Speaker 2: The park with his energy.
9:59
Speaker 3: I say at the other day to the media, and
10:01
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, man, I hope they know I
10:02
Speaker 3: was saying this is a positive.
10:04
Speaker 2: He kind of.
10:06
Speaker 5: No twisted.
10:07
Speaker 3: I've kind of sized up who's looking to twist things
10:10
Speaker 3: and who's willing to just listen. But but that's another topic.
10:14
Speaker 3: He's like a walk on out there the way he
10:16
Speaker 3: plays the game, and I think you guys can relate
10:18
Speaker 3: to that and understand where I'm coming from because of
10:20
Speaker 3: your backgrounds.
10:21
Speaker 6: I like that. Now, speaking of matches, did it not?
10:24
Speaker 6: We know you have a little connection in friendship going
10:26
Speaker 6: with Max Scherzer. Yeah, the match not fit. How hard
10:29
Speaker 6: did you try to get your friend to come in
10:30
Speaker 6: here and be on this staff and help you out
10:31
Speaker 6: a little bit?
10:32
Speaker 5: Yeah?
10:33
Speaker 3: We we never really cross that line. I don't know
10:35
Speaker 3: if his mutual respect or probably.
10:38
Speaker 5: More my risks with pleasure.
10:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I.
10:40
Speaker 3: Would always joke with everyone like they'd ask, and I'm like,
10:43
Speaker 3: it's not like I'm inviting this guy to a Halloween party,
10:46
Speaker 3: you know, or a social event. It's uh again, it's
10:49
Speaker 3: got to be a match, and there's contracts and things involved,
10:52
Speaker 3: and I just know there was a really good go
10:54
Speaker 3: back and forth between he and the Blue Jays and
10:57
Speaker 3: immense appreciation for one another. You know, it's not my
11:02
Speaker 3: business to say his deal, but he's pretty East Coast
11:05
Speaker 3: flavored right now with you know, both both sets of
11:08
Speaker 3: parents or grandparents are there.
11:09
Speaker 2: They got four kids.
11:11
Speaker 5: Match for him.
11:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great match. So I'm happy for him.
11:14
Speaker 3: And the group chat smack talk has already started. But
11:20
Speaker 3: it's all very lighthearted.
11:22
Speaker 5: All right.
11:22
Speaker 4: One of the things that new rules that Major League
11:25
Speaker 4: Baseball institute this year is third and first base coaches
11:29
Speaker 4: have to stay in the boxes because of fear of
11:32
Speaker 4: pitch tipping. How much pitch tipping was going on in
11:36
Speaker 4: or fear of pitch tipping was going on in college,
11:38
Speaker 4: because I remember back, I mean I didn't play at
11:41
Speaker 4: a Division one level, but when I was in college,
11:43
Speaker 4: I heard Division one guys in summer ball talking about, oh,
11:46
Speaker 4: we went into this place. They had a camera set
11:49
Speaker 4: up in the house across the street that was focused
11:52
Speaker 4: on the fingers of the catcher, Like, how much of
11:55
Speaker 4: that is still going on in college baseball?
11:58
Speaker 2: Yeah enough.
11:59
Speaker 3: One of the guys I'm mentioned earlier, his you know,
12:02
Speaker 3: his prowess on the field was being doubted, and you know,
12:05
Speaker 3: is it technology or whatever?
12:06
Speaker 2: The guy can hit.
12:09
Speaker 3: But going back more specific to your question, I think
12:12
Speaker 3: it's like everything else in the big leagues. These the
12:14
Speaker 3: players in college are really physical. These guys are a
12:17
Speaker 3: little more physical. The players in college now are more experience,
12:20
Speaker 3: they've played more baseball. These guys are more It was
12:23
Speaker 3: going on a ton in college. The technology there because
12:27
Speaker 3: you've got college football fans paying good money for one
12:30
Speaker 3: hundred thousand seat stadium. All the bells and whistles are
12:34
Speaker 3: there too, and the desire to win, and quite frankly,
12:38
Speaker 3: the kind of the cutthroat business it's become. It's like
12:42
Speaker 3: the big leagues in every category. It's just a little
12:45
Speaker 3: bit lower level because minor league teams have been taken away.
12:48
Speaker 3: I keep saying there should be a closer marriage between
12:51
Speaker 3: college and MLB because it's basically like low a baseball
12:57
Speaker 3: or however you want to phrase it's it's a minor
13:00
Speaker 3: league feeder to major league Baseball. And I say that
13:03
Speaker 3: with comfort because I think everything you see at the
13:06
Speaker 3: major league level, it's going on at college level, maybe
13:09
Speaker 3: just to a little bit lesser extent, and I think
13:11
Speaker 3: it applies to that as well.
13:14
Speaker 1: Tony, thank you so much for the time. We appreciate that.
13:16
Speaker 1: Notes busy out there, and you don't need to hear
13:19
Speaker 1: this from me, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
13:20
Speaker 5: Keep being you.
13:21
Speaker 1: I'm loving you know the way that you're doing media
13:23
Speaker 1: interviews and everything else. It's entertaining, it's fresh, and it's real.
13:26
Speaker 1: So thanks man, good luck this season. We'll chat with
13:29
Speaker 1: you at some point.
13:29
Speaker 3: All right, thank you guys so much. Sorry, I got
13:32
Speaker 3: bad AirPod heres. My AirPods always pop out, so maybe
13:35
Speaker 3: I get an nil.
13:36
Speaker 2: Deal with them during the season. If we win any games.
13:39
Speaker 1: We can work on that for you. We'll collab on
13:41
Speaker 1: that one.
13:41
Speaker 5: Thanks Tony.
13:42
Speaker 2: All right, appreciate you all. Take care.
13:51
Speaker 1: Let's do a season preview on the San Francisco Giants
13:53
Speaker 1: while we're at their camp. We'll look at additions and
13:55
Speaker 1: subtractions for this team. They're trying to get out of
14:00
Speaker 1: mediocrity range. Luisa Rise added Harrison Bader to man center field,
14:06
Speaker 1: some pitching depth with Tyler Molly and Adrian Hauser. Verlander
14:11
Speaker 1: moved on. They traded Doval and Rogers last year. Yaz
14:15
Speaker 1: didn't come back. So there's your additions and subtractions, Kip,
14:20
Speaker 1: what do you got for us? You're at camp right now.
14:22
Speaker 1: San Francisco's looking up at a team that they wish
14:27
Speaker 1: they were right now in the Dodgers. Everybody does. They're
14:29
Speaker 1: the dynasty at the moment before them. You could maybe call,
14:33
Speaker 1: you know, what Houston was doing somewhat of a dynasty,
14:35
Speaker 1: and then you can definitely point back to the Giants
14:37
Speaker 1: winning three titles in five years. They had it, they
14:41
Speaker 1: had it going. Can they get it back?
14:44
Speaker 6: Talking to Chapman a little earlier, I do like what
14:46
Speaker 6: they've been doing. Bringing in a little bit older guys
14:50
Speaker 6: with Arias saddamis a lot of these guys I think
14:53
Speaker 6: will help lengthen this lineup. I think it'll give them
14:55
Speaker 6: a little bit more of professional bats throughout the entire lineup,
14:58
Speaker 6: allow those young guys to kind of he's in or
15:00
Speaker 6: not put as much pressure on them. But to me,
15:02
Speaker 6: this team goes as far as Devers goes, I think
15:05
Speaker 6: you need to get him back into a full season
15:08
Speaker 6: of him where he's healthy, happy and hitting the way
15:11
Speaker 6: that he always has really up until this point. So
15:14
Speaker 6: I think he's the catalyst for the lineup, as he
15:17
Speaker 6: would be in most lineups. But I think this offense
15:19
Speaker 6: and this team goes as far as he goes, you're
15:21
Speaker 6: gonna need some quality pitching. You know that they're not
15:24
Speaker 6: gonna back down from anybody in this division, but you're
15:27
Speaker 6: gonna have to be on your game if you want
15:28
Speaker 6: to mess with the big dogs at the top his division. Unfortunately,
15:30
Speaker 6: that's just the way the Dodgers are a position. But
15:33
Speaker 6: I think as if they stay healthy, if a Riot
15:36
Speaker 6: is getting on base, maybe at the top of the order,
15:38
Speaker 6: and Chapman's healthy doing what he does, there's gonna be
15:40
Speaker 6: a lot of RBIs out there for Devers. But they're
15:43
Speaker 6: gonna need that for this offense to kind of score
15:45
Speaker 6: runs to compete with those other teams.
15:48
Speaker 4: If we're talking about this team in this division, not
15:51
Speaker 4: even in this league, the National League. Ron Washington was
15:55
Speaker 4: just doing talking about all this hard work, hard work.
15:58
Speaker 4: It just seems like you pushed all in with Devers
16:01
Speaker 4: and you're like, yeah, we got them. Essentially, they the
16:04
Speaker 4: Red Sox didn't really want anybody because they've gotten rid
16:06
Speaker 4: of everybody that except for one pitcher that they traded
16:09
Speaker 4: for him. So they took that salary on. That was
16:12
Speaker 4: their big move offensively. To me, they got to finish
16:17
Speaker 4: with the They got to finish with this rotation. This
16:20
Speaker 4: is how you win in San Francisco. I don't think
16:23
Speaker 4: Buster Posey is like, oh no, we're gonna win with offense.
16:26
Speaker 4: I think the offense is where it needs to be.
16:28
Speaker 4: I don't think they needed any big moves. And then
16:30
Speaker 4: they added a rise. I think the Batter move was good.
16:35
Speaker 4: I don't think you're going to get the same thing
16:36
Speaker 4: you got last year out of Beata. It'll be closer
16:38
Speaker 4: to especially in San fran closer to what he normally did.
16:43
Speaker 4: Last year was a career year. To me, it was
16:46
Speaker 4: that rotation. To me, there's a lot of guys for
16:49
Speaker 4: them to make that move. That would have maybe pushed
16:52
Speaker 4: them up a little bit, because right now you have
16:55
Speaker 4: Sion candidate Logan Web and you have Robby Ray's.
17:00
Speaker 2: Gonna give you some good innings.
17:02
Speaker 4: You're gonna have maybe Tyler Maley's gonna be in there
17:06
Speaker 4: and giving you something. Adrian Hauser is probably that consistent,
17:11
Speaker 4: high value in San Francisco type of pitcher where he's
17:14
Speaker 4: gonna get some balls on the ground for you that
17:17
Speaker 4: are gonna get those easy outs. But there's just too
17:20
Speaker 4: much in that three four five range that is a
17:25
Speaker 4: question mark for me, and I thought that Buster Posey
17:28
Speaker 4: was gonna address it. But if you also look back
17:31
Speaker 4: at the times that Buster Posey was there, they had
17:34
Speaker 4: those guys from within, they had Matt Kine from within,
17:37
Speaker 4: had ten ten Linse to come from within, and then
17:40
Speaker 4: later on they were winning from got with guys from
17:43
Speaker 4: the outside and Madison Bumgarter. So to me, I just
17:47
Speaker 4: I feel like I felt like there was one more
17:49
Speaker 4: move and it didn't have to be Framber. It didn't
17:51
Speaker 4: have to be you know, the Ranger Suarez type of move.
17:54
Speaker 4: But I thought, Zach Allen knows the league, I thought
17:57
Speaker 4: that type of move would have pushed this team to
18:00
Speaker 4: be a playoff team because currently I don't know. I
18:03
Speaker 4: think they're on the outside looking in.
18:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree with you a little bit.
18:07
Speaker 6: I think, uh, like I said, there's a lot of
18:09
Speaker 6: stuff that probably needs to go right for this team
18:11
Speaker 6: to be there at the end. But bringing in Ron Washington,
18:14
Speaker 6: bringing in some of these older guys, I think they're
18:16
Speaker 6: gonna play a better brand of baseball.
18:17
Speaker 5: Though.
18:18
Speaker 6: I think they're gonna not shoot themselves in the foot
18:20
Speaker 6: like a young team might. I think they're gonna they're
18:23
Speaker 6: gonna force you to have to beat them. They're not
18:24
Speaker 6: gonna lose it themselves. So I like out They're just
18:28
Speaker 6: they're getting a little bit more mature with their approach
18:30
Speaker 6: and their lineup.
18:31
Speaker 5: So we'll see.
18:32
Speaker 2: We'll see.
18:33
Speaker 6: They've got some they've got some interesting pieces, and if
18:36
Speaker 6: things go right, they are gonna be a tough team
18:38
Speaker 6: to beat.
18:38
Speaker 2: But they are gonna need some things to go right.
18:42
Speaker 1: Kratz, I'm with you on the rotation side. Let's look
18:45
Speaker 1: at the projected starting lineup here and I'll read it
18:48
Speaker 1: out for people listening on the podcast. So they signed
18:51
Speaker 1: a rise. He's gonna play second. He's a one tool guy,
18:54
Speaker 1: We get it right. It's contact. He's got a hit tool,
18:59
Speaker 1: not gonna walk a ton, not going to play the
19:02
Speaker 1: best defense, not going to run the bases like a
19:05
Speaker 1: speed demon. But does he take advantage of a big
19:09
Speaker 1: ass outfield.
19:10
Speaker 5: I think so.
19:11
Speaker 1: I think that ninety nine ohps plus from last year
19:13
Speaker 1: goes more towards the one to fifteen range. Devers comfy
19:17
Speaker 1: in there for a full first season with the Giants.
19:21
Speaker 1: A Domis Chapman, Jung Hu Lee. I think this will
19:24
Speaker 1: eat some pressure off him. Center field was not his
19:27
Speaker 1: spot right, that was not scouted correctly. Corner outfield should
19:30
Speaker 1: be a better place for him. Elliott Ramos who had
19:33
Speaker 1: a pretty nice year and really good the year before.
19:35
Speaker 5: We've talked about him.
19:36
Speaker 1: Bader out there in center. Bryce Eldrids is a huge
19:40
Speaker 1: X factor because he's a massive hitting prospect that you're
19:43
Speaker 1: looking at a forty two oh ps plus number that's
19:45
Speaker 1: not real, it's in five seconds of played appearances. But
19:48
Speaker 1: I mean that could be a big impact. And then
19:50
Speaker 1: Patrick Bailey is definitely more of a glove first guy.
19:52
Speaker 1: So thoughts here, Yeah, thoughts here, Kratz.
19:57
Speaker 4: I mean, for me, I would disagree with what Up said.
20:00
Speaker 4: He said, this lineup goes by Raffie Devers. No, this
20:03
Speaker 4: lineup like you have to have his one forty oh
20:07
Speaker 4: ps plus. You have to have him at his career numbers,
20:10
Speaker 4: not like ooh, he's carrying them. Like, to me, that's
20:14
Speaker 4: that's ground zero. I think the big splash here, not
20:18
Speaker 4: to be pun intended. In San Francisco, what does Bryce
20:22
Speaker 4: Eldrid do? What does he do when he comes in.
20:24
Speaker 4: It's a lot to put on a young kid. But
20:27
Speaker 4: if they're going to give him one hundred and fifty
20:30
Speaker 4: to two hundred a bat leeway at the DH spot,
20:33
Speaker 4: and I'm not saying they are, I'm saying that's what's projected.
20:36
Speaker 4: If they're gonna give him that leeway, that's a you know,
20:39
Speaker 4: that's thirty forty percent of the season at the DH position.
20:43
Speaker 4: If he can figure out how to hit twenty five
20:46
Speaker 4: home runs in San Francisco and I say twenty five,
20:48
Speaker 4: everyone else will be like, he's got forty home run power.
20:52
Speaker 4: Let's pump the brakes in San Francisco. The first guy
20:55
Speaker 4: to do it since Barry Bonds was William Damas last year.
20:58
Speaker 4: So to me, it's a lot to put on Bryce Eldridge,
21:01
Speaker 4: but it's something that has to happen. To me, they
21:04
Speaker 4: haven't projected right there, eighth in the lineup. If he's
21:08
Speaker 4: not hitting fourth or fifth in this lineup, I feel
21:11
Speaker 4: like maybe they missed on trying to add a DH
21:14
Speaker 4: missed on adding a veteran type of DH, which I'm
21:17
Speaker 4: totally fine with because I've seen he has ridiculous power.
21:21
Speaker 4: But they got to give him a long enough runway,
21:24
Speaker 4: and I don't know if that runway at DH is
21:27
Speaker 4: gonna be fair to the team because they need him
21:32
Speaker 4: to hit. I think he can, but it's there's a
21:34
Speaker 4: lot of pressure on him. I think Patrick Bailey when
21:36
Speaker 4: he showed me in the last month and a half
21:38
Speaker 4: of the season, I think he could hit twelve to
21:41
Speaker 4: fifteen home runs. He didn't hit anything early in the season.
21:45
Speaker 4: So for me, I'm looking at that projected lineup and
21:47
Speaker 4: I go the bottom of the order has to lift
21:51
Speaker 4: this order to be able to say, Okay, well, we're
21:53
Speaker 4: just not gonna throw to Raffie Devers because you're not
21:56
Speaker 4: going to hit many home runs out of this ballpark.
21:59
Speaker 4: We're just gonna mitigate our way through the lineup. If
22:01
Speaker 4: I'm an opposing team and say, we're just not going
22:05
Speaker 4: to let the big boys beat us.
22:07
Speaker 1: Matt Chapman joining us right now, Matt, we really appreciate
22:09
Speaker 1: the time. Thanks for joining us house camp. And also
22:13
Speaker 1: I'm going to kind of enter the conversation this way
22:16
Speaker 1: because you've been with this team back when you know,
22:19
Speaker 1: there wasn't as much success and there weren't as many
22:21
Speaker 1: guys like a Domis and other big names Devers that
22:25
Speaker 1: came through. Is it more fun like this version of
22:28
Speaker 1: the Giants You've got some of these star names. Tony
22:30
Speaker 1: Vaytello pops in like there's got to be a little
22:32
Speaker 1: more flavor to camp, right, you.
22:34
Speaker 7: Know, going back to twenty twenty four, my first season
22:37
Speaker 7: with the Giants, I love the organization. I really enjoyed
22:41
Speaker 7: playing here and I know that. You know, I had
22:43
Speaker 7: talks with Buster. You know, he wanted me to stay here.
22:46
Speaker 7: The front office wanted me to stay here, and Buster
22:49
Speaker 7: pretty much just laid it out for me that they
22:51
Speaker 7: want to compete, they want to win the division, they
22:53
Speaker 7: want to compete for a world series. So you know
22:56
Speaker 7: that doesn't just you know, start and stop with me
22:59
Speaker 7: that you know it started obviously they had Webby and
23:01
Speaker 7: some guys here as well, but bringing in trading for
23:04
Speaker 7: Robbie Ray, signing me, bringing you know, signing Willia Damas,
23:08
Speaker 7: trading for Raffi Devers. So you can kind of see
23:11
Speaker 7: it building. You can kind of see the foundation they're building.
23:13
Speaker 7: Then we go and get Baier and Riah's.
23:15
Speaker 4: Buster stepped in when he still wasn't the GM. Some
23:18
Speaker 4: people don't understand he wasn't quite the GM. He was
23:20
Speaker 4: working with the front office. Was that encouraging to you?
23:24
Speaker 4: Was that confusing to you? But it ultimately, like you said,
23:28
Speaker 4: kind of got the contract across the across the finish.
23:31
Speaker 5: Line right, one hundred percent. No, it was.
23:34
Speaker 7: Uh, it was definitely something I hadn't experienced before. But
23:38
Speaker 7: I knew I wanted to be with the Giants. You know,
23:40
Speaker 7: I was coming off a big year in twenty four Uh.
23:43
Speaker 7: Could I have gone to Free Agency, Yeah, and tested it,
23:46
Speaker 7: and you know, who knows what would have happened, But
23:48
Speaker 7: I know where I wanted to be, and talking with Buster.
23:51
Speaker 7: We were already in talks with the Giants trying to
23:54
Speaker 7: work out an extension, so it didn't come out of nowhere.
23:58
Speaker 7: You know, Scott and Farhan had been work working on
24:00
Speaker 7: a deal for a while. But sometimes those things don't
24:03
Speaker 7: always you know, work on the timeline that you wanted to.
24:07
Speaker 7: And I actually was talking with Buster and I went
24:09
Speaker 7: over to his house and we were talking about the
24:11
Speaker 7: future of the Giants more than anything, and kind of
24:13
Speaker 7: his vision and where he saw this team going in
24:16
Speaker 7: the next few years. And then we kind of brushed
24:19
Speaker 7: over the contract thing at the end, and you know,
24:22
Speaker 7: it kind of I think it just kind of sped
24:23
Speaker 7: the process up and it got kind of all four
24:25
Speaker 7: of us together and on the same page, and then
24:28
Speaker 7: we hammered it out. So it was really cool to
24:31
Speaker 7: be able to feel like I got to, you know,
24:33
Speaker 7: take part in that, and I you know, I wouldn't
24:36
Speaker 7: have done it if I didn't think Buster wanted to win.
24:38
Speaker 7: And you see now all the moves they've made and
24:41
Speaker 7: what we've done to put ourselves in a position to win,
24:44
Speaker 7: and you know, I'm still a firm believer. This is
24:46
Speaker 7: just kind of the beginning of, you know, something really
24:48
Speaker 7: great with the Giants. So you know that's those are
24:51
Speaker 7: the main reasons why you know, I signed up.
24:53
Speaker 2: Now going off those moves.
24:55
Speaker 6: Because we talked a little bit off air before you
24:57
Speaker 6: got on about some of the veteran guys that we
24:58
Speaker 6: brought in, But I want to talk about one of
25:01
Speaker 6: the veteran guys, Ron Wash. How sore are your hamshrinsing
25:05
Speaker 6: back from the morning ground balls? You gotta do every
25:07
Speaker 6: single morning. Yeah, we're tell us about it. We are sore,
25:10
Speaker 6: we are sore. There there's no shortage of grounders. But
25:14
Speaker 6: you know the thing I love about Washes. I had
25:17
Speaker 6: him in Oakland. It was which is crazy, like let coming. Yeah,
25:20
Speaker 6: like the eleven spring trainings ago.
25:22
Speaker 7: My first big league camp was with the A's in
25:24
Speaker 7: twenty sixteen, and Wash was doing infield work.
25:27
Speaker 5: My time slots a little later than it used to be.
25:30
Speaker 7: Then, Uh, you know I don't have to go meet
25:31
Speaker 7: him out at six forty five morning to do grounders.
25:34
Speaker 7: But the thing about Washes, regardless of you know, the
25:37
Speaker 7: health issues or how long he's been in the game,
25:39
Speaker 7: the passion is still there. You know you're gonna when
25:43
Speaker 7: you're with him, you work. You know, he pushes you,
25:45
Speaker 7: he wants you know, he wants to get you better.
25:47
Speaker 7: And you know, I think everybody can appreciate how genuine
25:50
Speaker 7: he is and like the it's cool to see that
25:53
Speaker 7: somebody that's been in the game as long as him,
25:55
Speaker 7: you know, he really cares and how much passion he has.
25:57
Speaker 7: And it's like this dude shows up every morning. He's
26:00
Speaker 7: getting after it. It's not fake and you're getting the
26:02
Speaker 7: same guy every single morning. Uh, I got to play
26:06
Speaker 7: with him or in Atlanta at least for a spring training.
26:08
Speaker 7: So I got my last year in twenty one, so
26:09
Speaker 7: I got to be very, very familiar with the ground ball.
26:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, back in back in Hamstrings were not aware of
26:15
Speaker 6: what the wash time no routine would be. We were saying,
26:19
Speaker 6: we were saying off the air, if you want to
26:20
Speaker 6: sign some some more free agents.
26:22
Speaker 7: Just start a swear jar by wash. Yeah, he'll pay
26:26
Speaker 7: for a bunch of the free agents. Yeah, what can
26:29
Speaker 7: you tell us though?
26:29
Speaker 6: We were talking again, let's go back to some of
26:31
Speaker 6: these signings and new guys that you guys have brought in.
26:33
Speaker 6: Who are you most excited about to team up with
26:35
Speaker 6: this year or get a full season of? And what
26:37
Speaker 6: can you tell us about what you guys are looking
26:38
Speaker 6: forward to accomplish this year?
26:40
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean it's hard to put pick one player probably,
26:44
Speaker 7: you know, I think the biggest thing that I would
26:46
Speaker 7: like to see is, you know, all the the Dever's drama.
26:50
Speaker 5: You know, behind all that, you know that was kind
26:52
Speaker 5: of a weird situation.
26:53
Speaker 7: But you know, for Raffi, you know, he came in
26:56
Speaker 7: from day one and was amazing unreal teammate. You know,
27:01
Speaker 7: great person, works really hard, so I know he started
27:06
Speaker 7: slow with us.
27:06
Speaker 5: There's a lot going on, a lot of a transition period.
27:09
Speaker 7: But the thing I'm most excited for is probably just
27:11
Speaker 7: to see him a full season and just see you know,
27:14
Speaker 7: he's you know, when he's him, he's a catalyst for
27:16
Speaker 7: any team. You know, and he carries the offense, so
27:19
Speaker 7: you know, we fully expect to help him out and
27:21
Speaker 7: you know, not put you know, the load on his shoulders.
27:24
Speaker 7: But I'm excited to see what he can do for
27:26
Speaker 7: us in the middle of our lineup every single day
27:28
Speaker 7: and just makes us so much better. And I mean,
27:32
Speaker 7: our goals is to win the division. You know, it
27:34
Speaker 7: doesn't matter who's in your division. You know, we we're
27:37
Speaker 7: gonna accept the challenge no matter who's who we play,
27:39
Speaker 7: and we want to win the division and we want
27:41
Speaker 7: to win a World Series, So it doesn't matter, you know,
27:43
Speaker 7: if the Dodgers are our division. We have a tough division.
27:46
Speaker 7: Padres everybody. I mean, d Backs are great too, so
27:50
Speaker 7: we welcome the challenge. We expect to win every day
27:52
Speaker 7: we take the field, doesn't matter who we play. So
27:55
Speaker 7: that's our mindset and I'm just excited to to go
27:57
Speaker 7: out there.
27:57
Speaker 5: And do it.
27:58
Speaker 6: So I was kind of hoping. I was that should
28:00
Speaker 6: be the motto of every year, the fresh start. We
28:03
Speaker 6: want to go as far as this team can go.
28:05
Speaker 6: You're not scared of anybody. You don't back down from anybody.
28:07
Speaker 6: You've been doing this a long enough time. You said
28:10
Speaker 6: this is your tenth year.
28:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, tenth tenth seasons, ninth full season.
28:16
Speaker 6: And I think with the hand inflammation some other stuff,
28:19
Speaker 6: you played your least amount of games this last season
28:21
Speaker 6: at one hundred and twenty eight or so. Yeah, that
28:24
Speaker 6: people don't know. That's sometimes that's the most games people
28:26
Speaker 6: playing a season. So you've been one of the more
28:28
Speaker 6: reliable guys. How do you take care of your body?
28:31
Speaker 6: What is it about your routine that allows you to
28:32
Speaker 6: play so many games every year?
28:34
Speaker 7: For sure, it's I mean it's definitely a grind, you know,
28:37
Speaker 7: getting yourself ready every day. There's you know, how it
28:40
Speaker 7: goes you're on the road, or you know, quick turnarounds,
28:43
Speaker 7: or maybe you had a big night the night before.
28:45
Speaker 5: Who knows, man, but you know, or you got stuff
28:48
Speaker 5: going on at home.
28:49
Speaker 7: You know, we have people have lives too, so there's
28:52
Speaker 7: a lot of kid on the way, yeap, second kid
28:53
Speaker 7: on the way, so super excited. But it's you know,
28:57
Speaker 7: it takes a lot to be able to tow it
28:59
Speaker 7: up every day and get yourself ready. But luckily, over
29:02
Speaker 7: the years, I've kind of built a good routine of
29:05
Speaker 7: you know where it's like, you know, if you have
29:08
Speaker 7: time and you have a big day and you have
29:09
Speaker 7: energy and you feel good, you know, I have one
29:11
Speaker 7: that is a longer routine or a workout and stuff.
29:14
Speaker 7: But then on the days that you're not, you know,
29:16
Speaker 7: you might just want to save your energy more for
29:18
Speaker 7: the game.
29:19
Speaker 5: You know.
29:19
Speaker 7: I have a short, a short, little routine, whatever I
29:21
Speaker 7: can do to get my body right. You know, I
29:23
Speaker 7: had an injury in twenty twenty. I ended up having
29:25
Speaker 7: hip surgery, and I think that was kind of something
29:28
Speaker 7: that kind of made me start taking care of my
29:30
Speaker 7: body better and realizing that, like, you know, I didn't Luckily,
29:35
Speaker 7: I didn't miss any time because I got it all
29:37
Speaker 7: done in the off season. But like that kind of
29:39
Speaker 7: put my attention to hey man, even if even if
29:42
Speaker 7: you you know, you're tired, whatever it is, it's like,
29:44
Speaker 7: you know, I have my checkpoint.
29:45
Speaker 5: I get my arm ready to throw.
29:47
Speaker 7: I get my hips and back like legs ready to
29:49
Speaker 7: run and do stuff, and then my core ready to swing.
29:51
Speaker 7: So it's like having those little check marks to go
29:53
Speaker 7: out there and play every single day. And unfortunately, the
29:56
Speaker 7: you know, knock on wood. But the only injuries I've
29:59
Speaker 7: had have been of freak ones where last year I
30:02
Speaker 7: dove back into the bag and tore those ligaments or
30:04
Speaker 7: anything about those No, and that sucked because we were
30:06
Speaker 7: starting to roll. I was playing really well, and you know,
30:09
Speaker 7: it just sucks having to watch, you know, watch the
30:11
Speaker 7: guys play when you want to help.
30:12
Speaker 6: At what age did you kind of switch because you
30:14
Speaker 6: always heard about like maybe around the age of thirty
30:16
Speaker 6: you start switching from maybe more weight training to stretching.
30:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, have you made that switch? Probably?
30:22
Speaker 7: I would say probably in twenty twenty four was like
30:25
Speaker 7: thirty was right, Yeah, thirty, It is like thirty one,
30:27
Speaker 7: and I feel like.
30:28
Speaker 6: I'm as strong as I need to be. I know
30:29
Speaker 6: how strong I need to be to play this game.
30:31
Speaker 5: I need to be loose and yeah, yeah, one hundred percent.
30:33
Speaker 7: You focus more on you know, maybe some speed stuff
30:36
Speaker 7: and then you're getting more mobile.
30:37
Speaker 5: Because that was that was when I realized was.
30:40
Speaker 7: Like, you know, maybe maybe I'm more tired towards the
30:42
Speaker 7: end of the year because I'm lifting too much and
30:44
Speaker 7: working out hard. You know, you find that balance, like
30:46
Speaker 7: you want to maintain and stay strong, but also you
30:49
Speaker 7: know we want to play late into October and you
30:51
Speaker 7: want to stay fresh man.
30:52
Speaker 6: Well, we thank you for your time, thank you for
30:53
Speaker 6: joining us.
30:54
Speaker 2: We will keep it too long to keep some of
30:55
Speaker 2: that jury.
30:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, hopefully hopefully you guys heard me live TV. Yeah,
30:58
Speaker 5: you never know. This is what we were quick though
31:00
Speaker 5: we did. It was great. Thanks Matt, thanks for having
31:04
Speaker 5: me appreciate it.