Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Phillies early exit, Judge/Ohtani status + Pete Fairbanks KEEPING rib after surgery?

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Ken Rosenthal on Phillies early exit, Judge/Ohtani status + Pete Fairbanks KEEPING rib after surgery? · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Inside scoop is presented by the Fox one app. Ken
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Rosenthal is covering the Braves or yeah, the Braves and
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Dodgers upcoming series starting on Saturday. But first let's get
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: to the Phillies who are now making off season plans.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Ken, good to be with you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: You wrote recently in the athletic that they just can't
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: get it done and it is time for dramatic action.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Tell us more.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Well, This is a team that, since the 2022 World Series,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: has regressed in the postseason every year. 23, they go
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: to the NLCS, take a three-game-two lead, going home to
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Citizens Bank Park, and lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks. 24
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: and 25, they lose to the Mets and Dodgers, respectively,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: and now they're out in the wildcard round after barely
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: making the playoffs. So, you've got an aging group of players,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: a bunch of guys 33 or older who are the
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: core of your team, It's Harper, it's Turner, Ryomuto, Schwarber, Nola, Wheeler.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: What are you going to do to fix this team?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: What are you going to do to make it better?
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: And I would suggest, as I do suggest to that
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: column this morning, that they have to consider anything and everything.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: And do I expect them to trade Bryce Harper or
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Kyle Schwarber? Absolutely not. I don't expect that. If anything,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I expect them to double down. But this is a
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: time for them to get creative. and to maybe do
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: some things that will jolt this roster, get it younger,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: more athletic, and into a better position.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: All right, so hear me out here, and I'm not
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: battling here or anything. I just, I think about stuff
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: in the past, you know, and I know the Mets,
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: I talked about the Mets, and they, you know, Nemo
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: was a guy, Jeff McNeil, they didn't bring back Pete Alonzo,
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: which they had a really good chance to. Edwin Diaz,
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: they had a really good chance to. and they got
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: Soto and Bichette. Talk to me. I believe this team
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: can still be really, really good with what they have
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: unless they can find another piece to the bullpen or
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: another starter. I don't think it's a necessity for them
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: to get rid of. I know they have a lot
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: of free agents, but Alec Baum is one. Besides him,
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: who else can step up? How's the minor leagues? I
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: don't know. I just don't think that's the.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: The end-all, be-all for them is to find a way
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: to get new guys in there.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Well, Todd, you make a good point. And the Mets
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: are certainly a cautionary tale for them. And I made
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: the point in the column that you lost Alonzo as
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: the Mets, the guy who was proven in New York.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: You've got Harper and Schwarber, guys who were proven in Philly.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: These are demanding East Coast markets. And when you have
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: players who are capable of handling those markets and thriving
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: in those markets, you've got to be really reluctant to
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: part with them. That said, you can't ignore the age
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: on the roster, and you can't ignore the defense that
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: was among the worst in the league, an offense that
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: at times was great, at times inconsistent. So what do
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: you do? Do you just run it back? I don't
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: know that this team warrants running it back when, again,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: it's been a progressively worse outcome in the postseason for
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: each of the last four years. It's kind of a
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: difficult puzzle to solve, And Dave Dombrowski, the president of
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: baseball operations, will be tasked with that. And maybe, as
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I mentioned, they double down and simply go sign a
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: free agent or two and bring back essentially the same group.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: They could do that. It just seems to me that
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: after this amount of time and not getting to where
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: you want to be, you would want to do something
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: a little more drastic.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: One of the things in your article that you kind
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: of started out with was possibly maybe a Trey Turner
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: to center field type of move that would shake up
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: the below average defense that they were getting from him
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: because they still have seven more years of him. And
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: you also brought up the lack of bullpen. Are those
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: two things that can be addressed and taken care of
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: by Dave Dombrowski from his MO, from his historic Hall
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: of Fame career? Has he ever been successful? in changing
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: a superstar's position and building a bullpen consistently over a
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: couple of years?
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Well, they've changed Bryce Harper's position a couple of times now.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: So yes, the answer to that is yes. Trey Turner,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: it seems that that is one thing that is a certainty,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: that he's going to move to the outfield. His play
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: at shortstop is simply not good enough anymore. It's not
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: to say he's a bad player or anything like that,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: though he had a bad year. But Maybe getting him
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: to center field would unlock him a little bit offensively
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: to free him up overall. I don't know, but they
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: need better play at shortstop. That's one thing. As for
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: the bullpen, it's been a bugaboo for Dave Dombrowski pretty
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: much throughout his career. There have been some exceptions. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: bullpens are tricky. They're tough to compile. They're tough to
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: get quality results. understandable performance out of year after year.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: It's impossible. They're so volatile. So they've had some bad luck.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Kirkman went backwards, obviously, and it just didn't work out
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: the way they thought it would with him because of
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: perhaps what happened last year at the end of the
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: playoffs with the Dodgers. But there's always a challenge for
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: every team in building a bullpen. And I don't know
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: that any head of baseball operations would say there's anything
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: or any art to it or any science to it.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Some of it is just luck and hitting on the
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: right guys at the right times. The Braves have built
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: a really good bullpen. And yes, they've had, in this
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: particular group, a lot of success. But even here, Dylan
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Lee struggling down the stretch. Iglesias has been good. Suarez
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: was out for a time. It's just not a short
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: thing that you can count on. Year to year, sometimes
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: even month to month.
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: Is Dave Dombrowski to blame for the fact that the
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: Phillies are a bottom five considered minor league organization?
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: It does fall on him, sure. And they are considered that, Eric,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: you're right. And as I wrote in the column, since
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Dombrowski took over in December 2020, they've had only two
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: players drafted beyond the first round who have surfaced with
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: them on their major league roster. It's Kirkering and it's
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Alex McFarlane. Not a great record. Now, in the first round,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: they've done OK, certainly. But you've got to get players
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: beyond that as well. And overall, their system is just
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: not all that deep. Aiden Miller got hurt this year.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: He was supposed to be the replacement for Turner and
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: still might be. But that hurt them, certainly. At the
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: same time, they've got to do better there.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: And I want to ask you a little bit, just
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: kind of focusing our attention now, moving forward with the Braves,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: who obviously are being hosted by the Dodgers starting on Saturday.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: You had addressed in your article with The Athletic that
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: they didn't really adequately address their starting pitching needs. And
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: they did get past the Phillies, obviously, but you saw
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Chris Sale come out of the bullpen. Is that going
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: to potentially hurt them moving forward in this postseason run?
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: And if so, how?
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: It's funny, Alana. We've kind of been waiting for it
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: to hurt them since the start of the season. And
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: they've danced around it. They've done really well in patching
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: it together early in the season, especially getting contributions out
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: of guys like Martin Perez. And now with Tyler Mallee
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: coming on, it's been a tremendous addition to the team.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: He was and has been the best starting pitcher performance-wise
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: since the trade deadline of the pitchers who changed teams,
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: even ahead of Scooble and in terms of what his
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: ERA was. So they've done it. They've got Malley in
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: this series. Obviously, it's going to be a bullpen game
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: in Game 1, and then they'll just have to take
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: it from there. But it's going to be a challenge
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: for them, no doubt. Now, Sale can come back in
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: Game 2. I didn't love them bringing him in last
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: night with the lead that they had. I definitely understood it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: You want to close the thing out. You have to
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: win that day. But Chris Sale has been basically... Handled
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: very delicately all year long for good reason. He's 37.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: He's had an injury history. He hasn't pitched on four
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: days rest, normal rest, since I believe April. So here's
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: a guy who's pitched on four days only twice the
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: entire season. And now you're asking him to do something
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: like he did last night, which was come back out
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: of the bullpen on a day's rest off a start. Okay.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Does it cost him? Does it tax him in game two?
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Because now they're going to want him to pitch two
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: and five with Malley in three. We'll see. But again,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: they had to advance. They did. You can't question that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: I'm going to go to the Dodgers. And because you
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: work with Alano and Fair Territory, I'm sure you hear
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: about how the Dodgers are struggling and all this stuff.
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: And we just saw the stat. They have 100 wins.
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: Are the Dodgers exactly where they want to be going
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: into game one from where they wanted to be at
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: the beginning of the season and how they built this team?
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: I would say pretty close, Eric. And we're talking about
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: health first and foremost. And it's funny you mentioned the
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: 100 wins because the other day in a column that
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: was about competitive balance, I wrote that they performed below expectations.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: And somebody from the Dodgers reached out to me and said, hey,
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: wait a second. I thought about it. We probably were
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: all expecting them to win 120 games. So from that sense,
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: my sentence was accurate. But to say a team didn't
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: perform the way it should when it wins 100 games,
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: it just shows you What we do expect from them,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: and it's a high bar, obviously. Right now, assuming Snell
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: is healthy, their rotation is in great shape. Their bullpen
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: is in great shape.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: Diaz down.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Throwing well again. And offensively, while they've seen some underperformance
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: at various times from various players, they're in a pretty
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: good spot. Freddie thinks that he's going to figure it out.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Freddie Freeman... During the break, what was wrong with his swing,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: if he wants to say anything is wrong with it,
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: he does believe that. I don't know that others would
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: say the same. Mookie has come way on in the
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: last two months, and Muncy's been consistent. Tucker has even
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: been better. So they're in a great spot, great position.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: Are they beatable in this series? I don't think so, necessarily.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: I do like the Dodgers in this series, but... We'll
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: see what happens going forward. Nothing is guaranteed in the playoffs.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Nothing is guaranteed in this game. And we've seen enough
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: inconsistency from the Dodgers at times this season to at
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: least wonder, okay, if they run into a hot sale
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: twice and they run into Tyler Malley in game three
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: as well as he's been pitching, and if, I don't know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: the Braves can steal one in some other way, who
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: knows what might happen. And that's what we're looking at here.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: All right. Dave Roberts managed better than I think anybody's
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: ever going to give him credit for the last two
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: world championships. The one, he had no starters. He won
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: with all bullpen guys. The second one, he had no
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: bullpen guys. He won with all starters. Where is Dave
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Roberts going to pull a rabbit out of the hat?
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Even though he has an incredible team and all this money,
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: where do you see him possibly needing to reach into
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: his bag of tricks to be able to get his
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: team going? Another championship that's different from the last two.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Eric, I don't know that he's going to need to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: because of what I just described with the pitching staff. Now,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: there is some question who is going to close. Will
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: it be Sasaki? Will it be Tanner Scott? Will it
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: be Edwin Diaz? I don't know. And the beauty of
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: their situation is they don't have a set closer so
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: they can match up if they need. Sasaki, they like
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: the matchups in the seventh, go with him there. If
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: they prefer it in the ninth, there are all kinds
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: of combinations that you can employ. But that is the
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: one question. Now, I don't expect this postseason, based on
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: where they are, to be seeing Yamamoto coming out of
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: the bullpen on zero days rest like he did in
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: Game 7 last year. But we'll see how this all
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: evolves because the one thing that they have done, and
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Roberts deserves, as you said, Eric, a lot of credit
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: for this, but really... Their entire front office and collaborative
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: team deserve credit for adjusting on the fly and adjusting
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: to their circumstances. They've done a really good job of that.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: For sure. We'd be remiss if we didn't ask one
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Otani question. Is there any inclination that he's going to...
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: need days off and I know there's days off that
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: are built in but as he played through the end
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: of the season coming off his his injury is there
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: any fear because they have set they set Freeman down
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: two years ago when he had the ankle issue as
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: they were going through the playoffs and it helped them
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: have a healthy MVP of the World Series is there
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: any fear that they're going to have to do that
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: for Otani.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: I don't know that going into the postseason that they
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: feel that and Obviously, they'll have to see how he
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: feels and how he reacts and recovers one day to
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: the next. He is talking today to the media. So
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: it's going to be interesting to hear where he thinks
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: he is physically. And it certainly seems like he's in
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: a better place than he was before they had to
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: put him on the injured list. I would imagine, Eric,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: it's day by day. And they're assuming he's going to play.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: But if something comes up, if that biceps or knee
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: bothers him in a particular circumstance, then maybe they back
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: off for a day. But you're right. There are extra
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: off days in the offseason. In the NL side of
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: the division series, it's going to be two games, day off,
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: two games, day off, and then the final game if necessary.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: So from that perspective, he should be okay. And he's
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: also coming off a nice break here because they didn't
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: have to play in the first round.
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: We kind of gave a little inkling here about Aaron Judge.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: It was said that there was still opportunity for him
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: to make this roster and to try and help the
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Yankees win this divisional series. I want to hear your
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: thoughts on this. My opinion, if he's anywhere near any percentage,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: I think you put him out there and just understand
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: that he might not be able to run 100%, but
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: his bat is going to play. I want to hear
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: what your thoughts is and what do you think your
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: chances are he does play make an appearance here and
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: makes the squad here going to Tampa tomorrow.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Well, my friends, Joel Sherman and John Heyman from the
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: New York post have made the point repeatedly that a
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: calf generally takes much more time than judge would be
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: giving you credit for. If indeed he plays, that's my concern, Todd.
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: If he's healthy or even remotely close to being healthy,
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: I want him out there, but what's the risk of
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: re-injury cast calves. I'm sorry, are tricky. And, How is
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: he going to be with regard to hitting, running, playing
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: the outfield? Even as a DH, he'd still have to run.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: And man, the worst thing that could happen would be
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: if he re-injured himself. And remember, he wasn't that great
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: when he came back by Iron Judge's standards, of course.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: And I just don't know the idea of him standing
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: in the box and being intimidating is enough. I think
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: you need a healthy Iron Judge to be really confident
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: about including him on the roster, especially when, if you
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: don't include him and he's not right physically, maybe you
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: get him for the next series rather than the possibility
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: of him playing again and then needing more time and
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: possibly missing series if the Yankees advance. That's my concern.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: It's just a tricky injury. We know that. And if
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: he's not right, what are you doing here? You're putting
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: him kind of in harm's way and That should be
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: the last thing they're thinking about.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Ken, we look forward to seeing you and hearing you
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: on the call this weekend on Fox.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Braves at Dodgers. Wear your sunscreen.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Bring an umbrella because it's supposed to be 100 degrees
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: at first pitch, and it's going to be even worse
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: on the field. Ken, we appreciate it. MLB on Fox
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: is streaming on Fox 1. The postseason, it is here,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and we have your front row seat to the wildest. Walk-offs,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: lights out pitching, and clutch plays all October long. Follow,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: stream each NLDS and NLCS. game than the 2026 world
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: series live on Fox one at home or on the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: go live or on demand. Never miss a moment stream.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Now start your Fox one three day free trial today
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: at foxone.com.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Todd, we're going to start with you. I want to
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: see your series predictions. Thank you so much lids for
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: being a part of the show.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: What do you got?
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: All right, so we're going to first start off with, oh,
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: wrong team.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: Look at me already. Excuse me, excuse me.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: I got to find them. Look, I got my box here.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Liz. I got to move it over a
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: little bit. I got my box of goodies. Where are
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: my boys here? Oh, there they are. Excuse me. This
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: makes for good TV here. All right, get out of here.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: All right, here we go. Boom. Braves. Dodgers, both beautiful
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: hats here. I love every second about this. My God.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: Braves coming in hot here. They're not afraid to play
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: against the big doggies. But guess what? I still see
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers coming out on top. They have all the
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: pieces that they need. Look at me here looking beautiful here.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: If I could fix my hat.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: What a good-looking guy.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: Make sure you put it to the side a little
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: bit so Doug Eddings can get a kick out of that.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: Uh-oh.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Too soon, Ilana. Too soon.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Okay, sorry, sorry.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: All right, so you're going with LA over the Braves
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: in the NLDS. Todd, all right, that's yours. EK, you
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: too are wearing a Dodgers hat. I'm assuming that is
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: your prediction, sir.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: That is my prediction. The black Dodgers hat, it's pretty sharp.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: I know Alana's a big Dodgers fan, but the black
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: Dodgers hat is sharp. And it kind of is a
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: little overwhelming, like the Dodgers team is going to be
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: for the Braves. I think the Braves team... had a
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: good warm-up series against the Phillies. I think everybody knows
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: that this Dodgers team understands what it takes to win,
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: and I think it's going to be an uphill battle
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: because of one reason for the Braves. A five-game series
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: using your bullpen, using sale out of the bullpen because
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: you never picked up that starting rotation piece that you
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: can add to it, especially after Martin Perez is down.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: They're just going to be a little short in that department,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: and it's just going to be a little too much
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: in a five-game series. I see this going four, and
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: I see the Dodgers winning in the fourth game.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: All right, guys.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Cap It is presented by Lids, your home for all
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: postseason headwear and apparel needs. Text TERRITORY, that's T-E-R-R-I-T-O-R-Y, to 29017.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: It's going to get you 20% off your next in-store purchase. Message,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: data rates, and.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Exclusions, of course, do apply.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: This is Cap It presented by Lids. Earlier, we did
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: a couple of different things with the National League. Let's
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: talk about the White Sox versus the Guardians. So, Todd,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: since you have your Lids with you, we'll let you
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: go first.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: White socks guardians who do you predict well first.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: Look at these cool hats i think they're absolutely dynamite
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: i know they really are this this is a tough
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: one this is a really tough one kratzy knows i
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: love riding the wave i love riding the team that's
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: been playing The Guardians haven't played a lot. You can
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: even say that about the Dodgers, but the Dodgers have
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: some dogs on that squad. I am going to go
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: with the White Sox, bro. I think they're going to
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: find a way to do it. I think I love
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: everything about this team, and they're just playing for each other.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: They don't care who does it. They just want to
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: play for each other, and I want to see them
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: pop those champagne bottles too. I think it's going to
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: be the White Sox finding a way in five to
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: get by the Guardians. And I think they're going to
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: do it in Cleveland. I think they will.
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: I love your confidence. And I'll be honest, for every
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: reason that you said, I want the White Sox to
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: win too. Like I enjoy watching this team. I don't
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: think this team has any superstar on it.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: No.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: So I enjoy watching them. But if we can go
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: to the two box, I want just me and Todd.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: I want.
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: Todd, to hold up the hat of who I truly
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: think is going to win this series and I think
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: will give the Yankees a tough run at the end.
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: So I need you to hold up that Guardians hat
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: for me.
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: I lost it. Sorry.
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: Well, just hold it up. You don't have to put
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: it on.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: I know. I'm kidding.
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: I'll put it on for you. Make it cover your
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: face because that's definitely better for our sponsor. Like, one,
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: that hat is sick. That C is so tough. But
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: I honestly wavered a little bit on this pick. I
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: had the Guardians beating the White Sox. I was like, well,
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: this is it. And then I saw Parker Messick is
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: starting game one. Nothing against Parker Messick. I have like
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: I think he is a tremendous pitcher. I don't think
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: he is Gavin Williams. Does that mean he can't win? No,
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: that doesn't mean that. I just thought Gavin Williams was
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: going to throw game one. And it confused me a
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: little bit. And it kind of. I just don't want
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: to see the Guardians go, well, we'd love to be
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: able to have him game two and game five or
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: game one of the next series because never look ahead.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: So I can't wait to find out why Parker Messick's
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: throwing game one. Not saying he's not a dog, not
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: saying he hasn't had an incredible year. But to me,
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: Gavin Williams has been that dude that's had double digit
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: strikeouts and can really shut a lineup down, even a
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: good lineup that's hot like the White Sox.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: All right, so let's talk about that.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: No better to hear than from Steven Vogt about the
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: starting pitchers, what he had to say going into this series.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: Given you don't need five, six starters for this series,
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: is it safe to say there could be some pitchers
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: in new roles, I guess?
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: And how do you broach that?
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, obviously we're talking
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: through all of these different things right now. And, you know,
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: we're going to communicate with the players all along the way. But, yeah,
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: it's playoff time. Guys are asked to do things differently
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: at times that maybe you wouldn't do with 162 games.
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: Now it's a five-game and seven-day sprint. And so we're
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: going to be doing things maybe a little bit differently
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: in some areas, but not a whole lot.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: As a rookie, what convinced you to go with Messick
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: in game one?
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: How consistent he's been all year. I mean, really, he's
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: taking the ball every time and giving us a chance
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: to win. And just the way he pitches. It just
• 23:32
  Speaker 7: felt right to go with Parker.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: So there you have it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, postseason's a completely different animal. We're going to
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: see how he responds to it. I think the reason, Kratzy, though,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: that you were saying that you really kind of waffled
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: in between who was going to win this series is
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: because these two clubs are really quite similar. I mean,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Chicago held at least share of first place for 96 days.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Then Cleveland had it for 89 days. I mean, the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Guardians assumed first place by winning a three-game series over
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the White Sox. Chicago won the head-to-head series, 7-6. while
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: outscoring the Guardians by one run. I mean, they're so
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: very similar. How much more difficult is the fact that
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: there's so much parity between these two teams make it
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: when you make that type of decision?
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: I don't feel like there's a lot of parity. I
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: think the stats tell me there's a lot of parity.
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: I think they are going to, either team, whoever wins
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: this series, is going to do it in completely different ways.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: If these become like, okay, five to six ballgames, I
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: think it becomes the White Sox game. I think if
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: they're 3-2 games, 2-1 games, I think they're the Guardians games.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: I think if the starters don't go very long, I
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: think it becomes the White Sox series. I think if
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: the starters can get the Guardians, especially five, six, seven innings,
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: then it becomes a Guardian possible sweep here. So I
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: don't think they're the same. I think the Guardians line up.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: doesn't have the ability to be as deep. They have
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: some guys that can do some damage, especially with Hosey
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: starting to get a little bit better. But I think
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: the starting rotation is a massive, massive advantage for the Guardians.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: So I think they, while their numbers have been the same,
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: I think they are apples and oranges.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Todd, don't you want to get... Oh, go ahead. Go ahead,
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: my man. Go ahead.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm... I'm just looking at some of these stats.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: 11 games were decided by three runs or less. Seven
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: games decided by one run, four walk-offs. This is why
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: this one intrigues me so much. You take everything away
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: from both of them. They all, they play the game
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: hard and they know each other. And I think that's
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: what's going to decide everything. I mean, you talk about
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Steven Vogt, like what he's going through, like he's going
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: with his gut on this guy or this guy's been
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: playing better. decisions matter. Coaching matters. So, do you go
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: with what has always been going on between the two
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: thinking that you're still going to find a way to win?
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: Yes and no because it doesn't matter because one of
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: these guys that wasn't doing well against you one time
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: is all of a sudden getting hot and that changes
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: the whole scenario for you, how you pitch to people. So,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: the game within the game, it's going to come down
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: to coaching is going to play a big part, when
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: to take guys in and out and We've seen it
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: already with the Red Sox, you know, and Tully. I
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: thought he got taken out way too early. So we'll
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: see what kind of decisions both these guys are going
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: to make. And, you know, we talk about one little
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: problem that happens during the game on the field. Well,
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: in the dugout, too, as well. They got to make
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: some big, big-time decisions.
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: As we were talking here, I'm like, Eric, you're such
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: an idiot. I know why they're starting Parker Messick. Do
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: you know what the route for the American League wild
• 26:50
  Speaker 5: card is? It's... Game Saturday, off day Sunday, game two,
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: off day. And what do the Guardians do really well?
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: They have a great bullpen. So while Steven Vogt said, well,
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: he's been more consistent here, blah, blah, blah. My mind goes, oh,
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: is Gavin Williams, is he dealing with something? No. They
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: want to get three, possibly five innings out of Parker
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: Messick and then go to Gattis, Holderman, Scherzer. Cade Smith
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: all out of their bullpen. And then all them boys
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: get the night off and then they're back again. And
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: Gavin Williams gets to throw. And you know what? If
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: he gets in a little bit of a jam, bada bing,
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: the boys are back out of the bullpen again. So
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: in my mind, if I gave Steven Vogt truth serum, oh,
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: and I forgot about Sabrowski. I mean, these dudes, these
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: dudes have been just, just impossible to hit out of
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: that bullpen. So, Truth serum, Steven Vogt. Actually, I'm going
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: to text him. Is that why you did it? And
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: he would say, you'll never know.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Isn't that the key, though, Todd, getting to Cade Smith?
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, this guy's been just absolute money all season long.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: A 195 ERA, 69 appearances, and tied for the Major
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: League lead in saves with 41. I mean, we were
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: wondering what they were going to do as far as
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the bullpen was concerned, the back end of it.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: Well, there's the answer.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think it comes down to the second
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: time around once you get back to the top of
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: the order. Let's see how they do through the first.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: That first inning is going to play large, and that third,
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: maybe fourth inning, that's where the deciding factor is going
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: to come along. Are you going to take a chance
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: with two outs? And you're like, oh, man, no, don't worry.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: We'll see if somebody gets on. Boom, double. Now you're like, ah, well,
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: that's why we don't manage, Kratzy. That's why you manage
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: high school right now, and I'm sitting here managing young kids.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: So that's the hardest part. But Cade Smith is an
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: absolute beast. You feel real comfortable whenever he's on the mound.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: Hunter Gattis. I mean, there's some goons on that squad.
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: So it just seems like everybody's bullpen gets better and
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: better as the year goes on. And if they're healthy enough,
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: how do they win these ballgames? By holding runners in
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: scoring position and not letting them score.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: All right. Battle of the bullpens.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: It usually comes down to that in the postseason, gentlemen.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Lids, for being a part of it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Cap It is presented by Lids, your home for all
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: postseason headwear and apparel needs. Text TERRITORY to 299 to
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: receive 20% off your next in-store purchase. Message data rates
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and exclusions do apply. Always a pleasure to have Pete
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Fairbanks on the show with us, Miami Marlins relief pitcher
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: over the course of this 2026 season.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Good to be with you, Pete. Thank you again.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Before we get into the nitty gritty about this 2026
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: post season outlook, it was reported that you were supposed
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to have surgery, thoracic outlet syndrome. They announced that in
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: middle of September. Where are you at with that? Have
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: you had the surgery yet?
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: How are you doing?
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: No, I'm having it next week. Get that nice first
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: rib resection and yeah, get to enjoy a little, get
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: to enjoy telling two kids that just be a little
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: more careful since careful is not always in their vocabulary.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: You're going to keep the rib? Zach Wheeler kept the rib.
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: Are you going to keep the rib?
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah. We'll find a use for it. I don't know
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: exactly what, but it'll be around the house somewhere.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: Hang it around your neck. It'll kind of give that little, like,
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: put a little edge. Like, whoa, that's a dude that's got, like,
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: one of his own bones hanging from his neck.
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't know if I want my edge to
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: be serial killer. I don't know if that's the edge
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: that I want.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: Hey, it's Halloween coming up, Pete. You're good. You could
• 30:46
  Speaker 4: do it for the whole month.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: We'll put it at A. My neighborhood's big on Halloween decorations.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: Maybe we'll get a little human bone out there to,
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: you know, scare some kids.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: All right. Let me let me ask you this. We're
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: big Halloween guys out here, too. Well, I should say
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: we I said my wife. She's a lunatic, actually, when
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: it comes to this. We got these 20, 30 foot
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: scary things we put out there. I'm out there. I'm
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: in my hands and knees. I'm soaking wet trying to
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: hold this thing. It's just out of control. Are you
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: a lunatic like my my wife is when it comes
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: to putting doing the holidays? Because I know this weekend
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: is going to be absolute hell for me putting all
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: this up.
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: You know, this is a great, this is a great set.
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: I just spent the past three hours putting all of
• 31:32
  Speaker 6: our Christmas decorations into a storage unit and retrieving some
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: Halloween decorations while I was there. We're not, I wouldn't
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: say that she's, you know, too crazy, especially compared to
• 31:42
  Speaker 6: our neighborhood. It goes, it goes pretty hard. Snides had
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: a giant state puff marshmallow man in this house a
• 31:48
  Speaker 6: couple of years ago. So, I mean, there's, there's definitely
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: some people that go a little harder than we do,
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: but you know, we'll have some, we'll have some spooky
• 31:55
  Speaker 6: decorations up for sure.
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: Are you a full-size candy bar guy, or what do
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: you hand out?
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: Come on.
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: So where our house is is on the edge, so
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: we'll just throw the big bowl of candy out, and
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: it's gone by the time we get back. Once my
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: kids can trick-or-treat on their own, then yes, I will
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: be sitting there full-size candy bars, Bill Burr style, trying
• 32:23
  Speaker 6: to knock the pumpkin over with such force.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: Okay, keeping your arm loose, hucking some full-size candy bars.
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: Going through some rehab, just working the shoulder through with
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: a little full-size Milky Way action.
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: I got that. I got that. Rarely have I ever
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: played or heard of anybody that has thoracic outlet that's like, yep,
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: just popped up one day. Most of the guys grind
• 32:53
  Speaker 5: through it. What other... What other avenues did you pursue
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: to try to get this pain or like explain what
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: it is that you were feeling and how long? Because
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: I think you went on IL three times this year.
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: And was it all kind of related to this eventually
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: leading up to this in the offseason?
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I'd say over the last, what, four-ish years,
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: three plus years, basically every time I've had any sort
• 33:21
  Speaker 6: of IL stint, except for when I pulled my lat,
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: it's been nerve-related. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's the
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: easiest thing is like, it's like, it's half asleep would
• 33:32
  Speaker 6: be the best way to describe it. Um, just kind
• 33:34
  Speaker 6: of running down and alter alternating spots, just kind of
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: at random. Uh, I didn't realize it was as bad
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: as it was, um, until I went and saw Pearl
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: and he's pushing on either side of my chest. And
• 33:46
  Speaker 6: like the sensations are, are significantly, were significantly down on
• 33:49
  Speaker 6: my right side compared to my left. And that's when
• 33:52
  Speaker 6: I was like, I think this might be a bit
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: more of a problem than I thought it was.
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: Okay, I got two questions. So my last Halloween question,
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: have you decided what you're going to be yet this year?
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: As of now, we are planning on being Team Rocket.
• 34:10
  Speaker 6: My wife will be Jesse, I'll be James. My son
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: wants to be Wobbuffet. Don't know where I'm going to
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: find a Wobbuffet costume. And then we're in the process
• 34:21
  Speaker 6: of convincing our daughter Lottie to be Meowth. And that's
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: not going very well. So that's the thought. We'll see
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: if it comes to fruition or not.
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: Okay. All right. Okay. It's hard. So as you have
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: more kids, you got to start fitting in.
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: You got to start negotiating with multiple parties. It just
• 34:39
  Speaker 6: makes it that much harder.
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: I want to talk about Tampa Bay Yankees real quick.
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: I want you to explain to me how good Drew
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: Rasmussen is. And just explain to me, give me like,
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: You know, if you were on the other side, like,
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: what are you expecting from this dude? Because what he's done, man,
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: he got quietly, I feel like quietly, he's just been
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: doing it.
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: For a long time. Look, Rass is as consistent as
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: they come. The ability to really command three different shapes
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: to both sides of the plate. And obviously, you know,
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: that's one thing, and then you're doing it with plus-plus
• 35:17
  Speaker 6: stuff as well.
• 35:19
  Speaker 5: Look, I.
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: Expect Rass to look like Rass because I think this
• 35:26
  Speaker 6: starts where Rass hasn't looked like himself. You can probably
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: count him on one hand, I would say. And the
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: ones in which you go out there and Rass has
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: thrown seven, given up two or fewer, and punched out
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: more than one in any. And you're like, yeah, that's
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: just a normal occurrence when that guy takes the mound. So, yeah,
• 35:48
  Speaker 6: I'm excited to see him throw the ball. We're going
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: to go– check that one out tomorrow night. You know,
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: it's always nice to be able to go watch your
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: friends play without any of the pressure associated with it.
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: Wait, wait. So did you call them? Did Westy hook
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: you up with tickets? Did you buy them on seeking?
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: No, no, no. If I, I'm, I got a, I
• 36:12
  Speaker 6: got a third party, not a present for a former Ray,
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: not a present.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: But I got my, I got my guy. Got four
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: tickets through my guy. We'll be there. I'm going to
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: walk down to that visiting bullpen and be chirping yarbs
• 36:26
  Speaker 6: with the best of them.
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: Are you a close-to-the-field kind of sitter, or do you
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: sit far back? Do you like the upper deck? Because
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: it's never open in St. Pete, so there's that.
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: Hey, you will not catch me in that upper deck.
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: I mean, I know that they just redid the trop.
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: Still don't want to go up there. That's fair.
• 36:51
  Speaker 5: That's fair. You're a little afraid of heights. It's a
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: little steep.
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: I wouldn't say heights. Look, I was I was in
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: the I was in the 300 level back with the
• 36:58
  Speaker 6: Edward Jones Dome on the last days, you know, that
• 37:03
  Speaker 6: it was hosting people. And that's I just I feel
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: like I might get the same vibe and I don't
• 37:10
  Speaker 6: know if that's the vibe that I want.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Pete, it seems a little ridiculous to even ask this,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: but I'm going to do it anyway. Are you taking
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the Rays in the series? I'd like to hear all
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: of your series predictions, if you will.
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: What is it when people say when they don't want
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: to talk about politics, they're like, I think they're good
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: people on both sides.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: As long as each team has fun.
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: Look, this is how, when I support baseball, this is
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: how I support baseball. I hope that if anybody I
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: know pitches, they don't give up any runs. And that's
• 37:40
  Speaker 6: how I... That is how I enjoy baseball.
• 37:45
  Speaker 5: All right. Well, that's going to continue to– that group
• 37:48
  Speaker 5: is going to be larger and larger. You're going to
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: see a lot of 0-0 games in the playoffs because
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: you're going to free agency again with this looming thoracic outlet,
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: with the fact that you had a one-year deal this year,
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: with the fact that the Marlins– don't sign anybody, but
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: they did sign you. Did they have conversations or how
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: does that work for you? And what are you looking
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: forward to when you have these conversations, obviously before September 2nd?
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean, you know, hopefully we can knock it
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: all out in the month of November, but you know, it's,
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: it's going to be another new experience, obviously going into it,
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: you know, rehabbing.
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: I'm, My agent's already– he's been– he was at the–
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: he was in Atlanta for that Braves-Phillies game. He said
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: he was running comps in a Panera bread. So I'm
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: going to, you know, do what I have done and
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: trust him to walk me through the process. But, yeah,
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: I mean, I figure, you know, I at least got
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: a couple months extra of rehabbing given that we're going
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: to be locked out.
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: There you have it. My question to you next is,
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of stadiums in professional baseball that come
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: playoff time are absolutely raucous. I don't know if you've
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: had a chance to play Yankee Stadium at all in
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: the playoff atmosphere yet, have you?
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: No, we had to play in San Diego against them
• 39:21
  Speaker 6: last time. Last time Ray's Yankees matched up.
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: That was beautiful.
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: It was on the West Coast.
• 39:26
  Speaker 5: That was beautiful.
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: Well, talk to me about how how difficult it is
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: on the road especially at some of these big time stadiums.
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: Yeah um it gets loud i mean we played in
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: boston in in 21 and they uh you know i
• 39:41
  Speaker 6: was inside i'd already i think i threw an inning
• 39:43
  Speaker 6: two thirds or two innings in game was it four
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: when we lost yeah So I'm underneath in the weight
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: room laying on the ground, feet up on a bench.
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: Whoever it was hits the walk-off, and I legitimately thought
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: that the weight room brick was just going to fall
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: down on my head. Started getting dust and little concrete
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: shavings falling everywhere. Yeah, I mean, they're raucous atmospheres. I think,
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: you know, once you get to the games that really
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: count and you get the– the diehard investment from the
• 40:20
  Speaker 6: fan bases. You know, I think that, uh, anything that
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: can get grown men to scream at the top of
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: their lungs, uh, consistently typically makes for a good atmosphere.
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: Pete, did you watch the Ray? I mean, the Red
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: Sox Yankee series.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: I did. I did.
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: I anytime you give me four baseball games in a
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: row and my league mandated MLB TV subscription.
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: I had it right on the iPhone and, just watching
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: in every second of free time I had.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: Did you see Sonny Gray going to his neck? And
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: is there some concern there that the umpires were not
• 40:56
  Speaker 5: checking the right thing?
• 41:03
  Speaker 6: Let's see. I mean, you could, if you were a
• 41:06
  Speaker 6: conspiracy theorist, you could, or if you're a Yankee fan
• 41:10
  Speaker 6: and you want to be like, yeah, he was cheating
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: and it didn't like, You can make that– sorry, somebody
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: got an email alert on there. You can take that
• 41:19
  Speaker 6: for what it is. Personally, I thought it looked like
• 41:23
  Speaker 6: somebody that puts rosin on their hand and then touches
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: the back of their neck. Eventually, it's going to get
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: to a consistency like that. Now, the way that he
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: went to it could be nefarious, could not be nefarious.
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: I'm pro pitcher, so as long as they're turning a
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: blind eye, I could care less.
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: But there's no– I don't believe– I said on the
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: show the other day, I do not believe it was anything.
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: Maybe it's because, like you said, I'm a huge Sonny
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: Gray fan, and so maybe my eyes are blinded by that.
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: But you go through those checks after every inning. You
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: come in. You go through the checks. Is there any
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: possible way a pitcher can get by with having something
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: illegal on his neck like that and then it get
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: onto his hand?
• 42:12
  Speaker 3: Look.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: I have watched pictures cheat prior to this for years.
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: You know, I would say that we're in this mess
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: because we had an epidemic of people grabbing the thumb
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: of their glove and going like this real blatantly. So, yeah, look,
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: if you want to get a little extra grip, I'm
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: positive you could find a way to do it. However,
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: Nobody's that blatant about it, right? Like you're not going
• 42:48
  Speaker 6: to be out there in this sticky stuff, heightened era going,
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: let me get that perfect amount of bullfrog on my fingers.
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: And we're not like, could it have built up? Sure. I,
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: I know people that go to the rosin like crazy
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: and get sweat from whichever part of their body is
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: the sweatiest. You know, I'm not too concerned about it.
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: And I, highly doubt that anybody that was playing in
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: that game was super concerned about it either yep.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: Pete how much do you buy into or take stock
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: in the analytical piece and and again staying within that
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: same series right uh peyton holey getting yanked what i
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: believe to be way too early sunny gray who we
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: were just talking about uh really has been over the
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: course of this year really good the third time through
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: the order he wanted the opportunity to go out there
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: um how much do you take in the analytics side
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: of things and how does it differ in your opinion
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: if it does in the postseason?
• 43:47
  Speaker 6: Well, given that I was on, not on the field,
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: but in the bullpen for the, what people might call
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: the worst early hook of all time, it certainly made its,
• 43:56
  Speaker 6: certainly made its rounds in the years following.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: Look, there's a bit of an eye. 2020 with Blake Snell?
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: I don't know. Could be, could be. I mean, I
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: think that there's the eye test, right? Like, if your
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: guy's out there and nobody's made it to scoring position,
• 44:15
  Speaker 6: he gets a guy on, you know, headed into seeing
• 44:20
  Speaker 6: the top of the order for the third time, puts
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: a guy on. There's a, there's a bit of an
• 44:26
  Speaker 6: eye test, but also I'm a believer of if that's
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: what you do, that's what you do.
• 44:32
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: So like you either have run it the whole year
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: where you've ran it off the eye test and be like,
• 44:37
  Speaker 6: all right, I think our guy can get this. we've
• 44:40
  Speaker 6: let him work through these situations before we're going to
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: do it here.
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 44:43
  Speaker 6: But then, you know, if you're the, if you're the
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: team that always hooks it early, regardless, then you, then
• 44:49
  Speaker 6: you continue, you know, to trust your fireman and bring
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: him in and see what he can do.
• 44:56
  Speaker 5: How much has that talked about? You were, you were
• 44:59
  Speaker 5: there in that. How much has it talked about afterwards?
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: Because it blows up on shows like this. It blows
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: up on conversations for everybody else. How much do you
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: guys talk about it? And is it something like, oh, boy,
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: here he goes. Chad Tracy is third year in the playoffs.
• 45:16
  Speaker 5: He's going to hook him again from the players, not
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: from outside sources.
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: I mean, look, have you ever met somebody that's played
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: this game that doesn't love to complain regardless of the
• 45:33
  Speaker 6: decision that's made? Right.
• 45:35
  Speaker 5: We're just a group of complainers, you know. Todd doesn't complain.
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: Relief pitchers are complainers. Todd is not a complainer.
• 45:44
  Speaker 4: Easy.
• 45:45
  Speaker 6: When you got to sit down there for however many
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: innings and you're just watching for that off chance they
• 45:51
  Speaker 6: call down and say your name, you might complain a
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: little bit, regardless of what's going on. It could be
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: completely unrelated. It could be that you don't like how
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: the bullpen bench feels in certain parts. You're going to
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: complain about something. Sometimes we complain– about things that we
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: have no control over. Knowing that we have no control
• 46:13
  Speaker 6: over it, we just like to complain.
• 46:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you're whiners. Complainers and whiners.
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: I agree. You should hear Kratzy sometimes. This guy, whoa, man.
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: We've been here for over four years, and this guy,
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: he's getting a little comfy, actually. But anyway.
• 46:29
  Speaker 6: There's new complaints about everything, you know. We can find
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: stuff to complain about.
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Every day. When you got kids, there's going to
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: be one or two complaints before the morning coffee. I
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: promise you that. My last question for you. I want
• 46:45
  Speaker 4: your prediction. Tell me what two teams are going to
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: make it to the World Series and who you think
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: is going to win, if you don't mind.
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: NL?
• 47:00
  Speaker 6: I think Milwaukee. And, you know, there's... There's things to
• 47:07
  Speaker 6: be said about rotations, about this, that, and the other.
• 47:10
  Speaker 6: I think that this is the year that the longer
• 47:16
  Speaker 6: option out of the bullpen reigns supreme. And I think
• 47:19
  Speaker 6: Milwaukee gets it done. And on the American League side.
• 47:24
  Speaker 8: I don't give me, I mean, I wouldn't, I would
• 47:30
  Speaker 8: love to see, you know, the holy, the holiest of
• 47:36
  Speaker 8: holies continue their, their run, the white South school of
• 47:41
  Speaker 8: witchcraft and wizardry, uh, do it.
• 47:43
  Speaker 6: I think that that's a, that's a incredible story and turnaround. So, um,
• 47:49
  Speaker 6: in lieu of actually having to pick against people that
• 47:53
  Speaker 6: I know, I'm just going to say, let's, let's go,
• 47:56
  Speaker 6: let's go for Pope Leo.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: Very Catholic of you. All right, Pete, good luck.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: I know a lot of people have come back from, uh,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Thoracic outlet surgery and have done a really good, obviously
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Zach Wheeler, Josh Beckett came back through a no hitter.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: So we're wishing the best for you. Good luck with
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: that surgery. Look forward to see where you land next, uh,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: next season. Appreciate your time, man.
• 48:16
  Speaker 6: Appreciate it.
• 48:17
  Speaker 5: Thank you.