Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / NEXT MAN[AGER] UP: Flaherty, Conger, Lombard, Descalso could be Angels managerial material

Transcript

NEXT MAN[AGER] UP: Flaherty, Conger, Lombard, Descalso could be Angels managerial material · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Yuck. What was that? Those two games in Sacramento was
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: tough to watch. Tough is one way to put it,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: but we will talk about that a little bit on
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: today's show. What we are going to cover, too, are
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: four candidates. Actually, we have more than four, but four
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: that stood out as potential next managers of your Los
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Angeles Angels or whatever name they may go by in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the future.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And I would categorize those as sleeper candidates because I
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: think some of the names might surprise you. But in
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: terms of what the heck was that, the Angels were
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: swept in a two-game series by the Athletics in West Sacramento.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: They fell to 60-98, and now they have to win
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: three out of four of their four final games in
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Seattle to avoid their first 100-loss season in franchise history.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: But the good news, because, you know, we at HT
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: like to emphasize the positive, the Angels have clinched one
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: of the three worst records in baseball. The Rockies are
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: 57-100 entering Thursday. The A's are 63-95. But the San
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Francisco Giants are the fourth worst team in the league
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: at 65-94, and the Angels cannot catch them. What does
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: that mean? That means the Angels will now have a 16.5%
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: to 22.5% chance of getting the number one pick in
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: next year's draft. Had they been even the fourth worst
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: team to the 10th worst team, their chances of that
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: top pick would have fallen from 1.5% to 10%. So
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: that could be a pretty big difference in the Angels
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: maybe getting a premier talent such as Norco High School
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: shortstop Dylan Seward, who looks like a heck of a prospect,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Oregon State right-hander Dax Whitney, or University of Florida third
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: baseman Brendan Lawson, or maybe a second-tier prospect. So kudos
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: to the Angels. Well done, Mark. You've got to at
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: least give them props for that.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Well, if you're going to do it, do it right.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And this year has been– the on-field play has been miserable–
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: it would be a shame to not try and at
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: least get something out of that. This does not guarantee
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the first overall pick, but it definitely improves your chances.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: If they were to have lost 88 games, 90 games,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: still a lousy season, but this at least should net
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: them something of value, and that's what you're going to
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: need because the free agent market is– not attractive. It's
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: not attractive at all. And I think as the game
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: moves forward and more and more guys get longer extensions earlier,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: there's just not going to be enough guys to supplement
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: a team that hasn't done a good job of, well,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: winning and establishing a group of players capable of contending
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: in the postseason. Do we have the young players? That
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: young core is no more. I guess there's a couple guys,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: but This series was against another team in the Sacramento
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Athletics who they have their own struggles. Their pitching has
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: been abysmal, but they played better baseball and they have
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: looked like a better team to me than the Angels
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: all season long. That could be one of those matchup
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: things or it could be they have better talent. I
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: think they have better athletes. I'm wondering what you think
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you look at what they threw out
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: there in this series. Nick Kurtz has been out for
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: a long time. The shortstop Jacob Wilson didn't play. He's
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: been hurt. He has some pretty significant pieces out of
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: the lineup. And as you mentioned, their pitching has just
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: been abysmal all year, especially in the bullpen. But yeah,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: the Angels had a 6-0 lead in the sixth inning
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: on Tuesday night. And then they end up losing that
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: game 9-7. And then one of the few real bright
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: spots for the Angels this season, Walbert O'Reilly gave up
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: five early runs in Wednesday night's 7-3 loss. A couple
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: things that jumped out at me in this series. Jose Fermin,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I can't quite put my finger on this guy and
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: where he might fit going into the offseason. He's got
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: a nice 98-mile-an-hour sinker. He's got a pretty nice slider.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: The stuff seems like a pretty good mix for a
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: short reliever, but he gave up three earned runs Tuesday
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: night and another two Wednesday night. He's now got a
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: 3.93 ERA in 52 games. I don't know, Mark. What
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: do you think of this guy? I see him as
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: maybe an okay minus two, minus one, you know, guy
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: to bring in when you're trailing in the sixth or
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: seventh inning. You need a bridge. I just don't see
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: him as a, you know, a plus one, plus two guy,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: even in the sixth or seventh inning.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I would agree with you. He's got the big stuff,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: big hulking guy out there, but he gives it up
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: a lot. He walks a lot of guys, gets that
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: look that I don't know what's the next player. Maybe
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit easier to see, but he gets
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the wide-eyed look too often where it looks like the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: confidence is just not there. Opposing teams, and I think
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I messaged you this, but You kind of label a guy.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: You see him enough when you know that they're a
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: little shaky. I mean, the saying is this guy gives
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: it up. So you kind of get excited when somebody
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: who has a history of kind of struggling to put
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: hitters away when it matters comes into the game. Now,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: he's a young guy, and he has the big stuff.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But it's a matter of putting it together. He's probably
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a great candidate to streamline the pitching, whether it's the–
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Not that he has a ton of pitches. I think
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: he's just got two. But maybe it's his locations that
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: have struggled or it's a mindset thing. Just not aggressive enough.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: He's got the big stuff, but why doesn't he trust it?
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And that's where quality coaching can come into play.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, another guy in that bullpen who has really been
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: an enigma for me is Sam Bachman. Speaking of big stuff,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: 99 sinker, similar mixes for me with the power slider.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: but he gave up three earned runs, including the Carlos
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Cortez two-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday night. Has
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a 4.50 ERA in 43 games. Yes, he did miss
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: a little more in the month because of forearm inflammation, but.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Where do you.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I remember going into the season, he was your pick
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: to click, and I don't mean that to be an
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: I told you, so I liked him too. I really
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: liked his stuff. I'm just not sure, once again, much
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: like Firmino, if this is a guy you can label
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: as a guy you can count on going into next season.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I was right more than I was wrong on a
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: lot of these players. Not that I know what you're saying.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to get that line in, but, uh,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Sant Bachman slider rates is elite. It is a terrific pitch,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: but this fastball is it's flat and it, and it's not,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: he's not blowing it by anybody. He's, uh, To me,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: when I've watched him, obviously I thought that he was,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of all the candidates they had, and coming out of spring,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: this bullpen, I mean, you may recall, if you don't,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: go look at the names. And they moved on from
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of the guys. But it was thin as
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: thin gets, and he had the biggest stuff. I noticed
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: the wipeout slider, but it's the fastball command that's holding
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: him back and the health, too. So right now, I mean, they–
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: now September baseball is different than– when I was a
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: young player, the entire 40-man roster could have been brought up.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: But with the more limited rosters, they almost are running
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: out of pitching fairly often, with Ben Joyce being down
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and Bachman coming off injury, doing an up-and-down inning, you know,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: came in to finish the inning and went back out.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: So it is kind of strange to think that you'd
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: be running low on arms, but the new rules... Are
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: they better? Are they worse? You probably don't want all
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: those guys hanging around just doing nothing, taking up space.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: But there's probably a happy medium, too, as far as
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: health and wellness.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Denzer Guzman, the young third baseman, he continues to impress
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: me defensively. He made a great play Wednesday night. Cortez
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: hit his opposite left-handed hitter, slaps one down the line.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Denzer makes a backhand grab, really long, accurate throw while
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: his body's going in a foul territory. I really like that.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: And Troughton Grissom, the wedding crasher, as he's known. Back-to-back
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: homers Wednesday night, and another one to right center field
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: for Grissom. He's hit a lot of his homers to
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the opposite gap. We've always talked about that as a
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: sign of a decent hitter, but Once again, another guy.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure where he stands. He seems to have
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: certainly surpassed Peraza in the utility role, but he's not
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: really good defensively at any of his positions. But the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: bat does play. Is he a guy you like on
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: this team moving forward, Mark? To me, he's a guy who,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: if you can put him on your bench, and he's
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: not starting every night, he probably has a better impact
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: than a guy who's probably going to be a little
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: more exposed as a starter.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I think he has good energy. I think that that's
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: part of what the appeal is. He can, air quotes,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: play a few positions. His defense needs to get better.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: That needs to be said. I don't think, and it's
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: not a criticism as much as it is an observation
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: and something that is he can work on and he
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: needs to work on his first base play. And, and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I will have to look first base is probably newer
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to him. Uh, and people that we've last time I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: will mention a bit, but playing a good first base
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: is highly valuable and it's a lot tougher than you think. Um,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: he made a throwing error this series, uh, on a
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: potential double play. There's just a number of things that
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: if you're not used to it, you can get caught
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: off guard. Um, so if you look at his baseball
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: savant page, it's a lot of blue. Red is good.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Blue is not as good. I don't see much foot speed,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: so he's not probably going to steal a bunch of bases.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: He's got a little pop in the bat, a little
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: more pop than maybe the other first baseman. Both teams
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: had their big power left-handed first baseman out of action
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: this series. For the fans, maybe they were a little
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: hoping to see some long balls, but... I, uh, I
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: think Von Grissom does have a place. He's young and controllable. Um,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: and that's part of the reason that some of these guys,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: you will keep them around too. I obviously a little
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: bit tongue in cheek with, with Sean. Well, but he
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: is also not making a fortune and, uh, does have
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: great hand. I got the ball skills, very divisive player.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: If you look at the comments, a lot of people
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: think he is excellent and, uh, most definitely a guy
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you can pencil in for many years. Um, and just
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: as many see, you know, kind of what, what you do,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: what I do, um, just not enough pop at that position. So, uh,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: not going to duke it out anymore. It's asked and answered, but, um,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I did want to point out one thing before we
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: get to, uh, the other topic. Well, two things, shout
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: out to the trash pandas, Southern league champions in double a, uh,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Austin Gordon two and oh, in the playoffs, he's a, uh,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Very promising pitcher. That sounds like an awful scouting report,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: but he does have nice stuff. You know who he is.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: He threw out a. 79 ERA. I hear people do
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: that stuff, and I think you don't know who you're
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: talking about. You know the last time the Angels AA
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: affiliate won a championship? Mike, pop quiz.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: God, would it have been Arkansas?
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: You got it. Oh, look at that. Who was on
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: that team?
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: 2008 would have been Mark Trumbo.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And young Hank Conner both got called up, which actually
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: is a good... Good little nod to what might come later. Yeah,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I don't remember much fanfare. I don't think anyone really
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: knew it.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: That was back when the Angels– that was back when
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: our speculation around this time of year was who's going
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: to be the number one and two starters in the
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: playoff rotation and will this team get to the World Series.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: So we had a couple other things on our plate.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: All right, we're going to take a quick break for
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: a word from our sponsors. When we come back, we're
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: going to get into this managerial situation and who we like.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: as maybe being the next Angels manager.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, definitely.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: I found myself on the golf course a lot lately.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: And sometimes, you know, it can be long days out there.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: So I reach in my golf bag. I keep the
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: ultra focus pouch right here with me, keep it in
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: my golf bag. And it's part of my golf bag,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: as I said. Yeah, and so what are some of
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: your favorite effects of the Ultra Pouches? Definitely, you know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: gives me a little bit of focus, that little bit
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: of energy that I'm looking for, and obviously not having
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: any caffeine in it is always a plus for me,
• 13:53
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• 14:12
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• 14:15
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• 14:17
  Speaker 2: And welcome back to Halo territory with Mark Trumbo, the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: former Angel Slugger and regular co-host of the show, and
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Mike DiGiovanna, the former LA Times baseball writer and host
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: of the show. Well, Stan Kroenke's ownership group is expected
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: to close the deal to purchase the Angels in the
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: first quarter of 2027. That means the next manager of
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: this franchise is almost certainly going to be Kroenke's guy,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: not Artie Marino's. And if you paid any attention to
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: how Kroenke and his other teams operate, they have a
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: pretty clear pattern. They like young, first-time coaches. Sean McVay
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: was 30 when the Rams hired him, took him to
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: two Super Bowls. Mikel Arteta had never been a full-time
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: manager when Arsenal and the English Premier League gave him
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: the job. Jared Bednar had no NHL head coaching experience
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: when the Avalanche hired him These people, they identify someone
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: they believe in, and they give that person a runway.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: So if that's the model, Kurt Suzuki, who's on a
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: one-year deal and has been a rough first season as manager,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: is probably a long shot to be back. The new
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: GM that John Moselock is supposed to help hire by
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: December is going to want his own partner in the dugout.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about four names that, for us at Halo Territory,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: make a lot of sense in that young first-timer lane
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Ryan Flaherty, the Chicago Cubs bench coach under Craig Council.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Hank Conger, the former Angels catcher, is now the Baltimore
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Orioles bullpen coach. George Lombard, the bench coach under A.J.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Hinch in Detroit and a former Dodgers coach. And Danielle Descalso,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: the St. Louis Cardinals bench coach. Mark, you're the new
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Angels GM. You're walking in next winter. Which of these
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: four sort of jump out at you and why?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Tell me you didn't get another Italian name wrong.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Discalso.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Daniel Discalso. Daniel.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I said, what did I say?
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Danielle. Who's Danielle? Oh gosh.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Wow. My former wife. Yeah.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, see, this is why, here's a loose
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: episode for you out there that think that we're too rigid.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: All right. So, uh, we were talking about what, what
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: we can talk about beyond the on-field play. And, uh,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the most likely. And I think that as you said,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: if I'm going to spoil it, but I think Kurt
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: would have had a better chance to land a gig
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: and a gig with multiple years of a contract. Had
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: he not taken this one? Um, that's the irony of this.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: That's the hard part. So we're not saying that he's,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: he could very well be, be back. But, um, as
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: it seems that things have not gone well, the team, well,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it's not been good, but, uh, The model that Kroenke
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and associates like to use is interesting to me. I
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: haven't heard any explanation as to why they prefer this,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: but it's led to success. And I think that if
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: something works, you would stick with it, even across multiple sports.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: They don't seem to have any problem doing this. And
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: baseball as a whole is trending very young. And the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: coaching players, everything. It's kind of a young man's game. Umpiring,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: you may recall we talked about that. But these names
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: made sense when I was putting those together. We have
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: a couple wild cards, too. Did you want to give
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a little background on a couple of these guys? Yeah, yeah.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Let's start with Ryan Flaherty. He's been one of the
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: hottest managerial candidates in the game over the last couple
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: of winters. I didn't even realize this. He interviewed with
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: the Twins, Padres, Orioles, and Braves. Has not gotten the
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: job yet, but everyone around the league thinks it's coming.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: He's a former big league infielder. And he rose fast
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: through the Padres organization. Now he's sitting next to one
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: of the best managers in baseball in Craig Council. Analytics comfortable.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Player development background. Still around 40 years old. It's a
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: pretty nice profile, Mark. And I know, you know, there's
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: no secret here. You know Ryan pretty well. So from
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: what you know of him and try to be as
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: objective as possible, why do you think he has the
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: chops to be a big league manager right now.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: He's got the lineage. His father is a legendary college coach,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Ed Flaherty, I believe. And Ryan's always had that in him.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Played at Vanderbilt under Tim. It's the last name search
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of the sea, but I will get the name. That is,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that is some of that lived, but yeah, Hall of
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Fame college coach. And then he played for Buck Showalter.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: And he's absorbed all of these influences and really made
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: it his own. He was, as a player on the field,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: he had his moments and had a nice career, but
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: immediately hit the ground running with the Padres. A.J. Preller
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: entrusted him immediately, nearly, with working with all of the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: star-studded members of that Padres team. He became integral there.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: And when the time came, the Cubs didn't hesitate. And
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Craig Council saw the potential and made him his bench coach. Now,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Ryan's name has been circulated for a few winners now
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: for managerial gigs. And he has interviewed for some of them.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: He didn't. get them that doesn't mean that these guys
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: are not quality candidates you never know what exactly teams
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: are looking for and sometimes you also don't know that
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: candidates could potentially remove themselves from consideration even if the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: media is is drumming it up may not make sense for,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: for both parties. So Ryan is a guy that likes
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to tell me that I'm completely out of touch and
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: lost and I'm not keeping up. So when we're talking
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: about analytical, analytically driven forward thinking we've argued a lot
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: about the process. And I said, well, what about the results?
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: And he tells me you're too far gone. It's about
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the process. It's about, and I said, I said, all right, well,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: we'll agree that I need to look into this more.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: I'll leave it there. I think he's very nuanced in
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: what teams want today as far as player development. That,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: I will say, is a real strong suit. In-game strategy,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: very strong as well. I think that he's got the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: youth on his side, and for all these reasons, I
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: think he would be a very nice fit. He's extremely
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: well-connected in the game, too. I'll say that. He's got
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: everyone's numbers. He does a great job keeping in touch.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's not joking. I'm mainly saying that when
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: you're talking about assembling a support staff. And that could
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: come from above, too. But if you're a guy that
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: is kind of a lone wolf and you've got to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: find a bench coach and a hitting coach and all
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: these things and you don't really know anybody, sometimes it's
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: not great.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Hank Conger, and full disclosure, one of my favorite guys
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: to cover in the Angels and a close friend and
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: former teammate of Mark Trumbo's. But first rounder out of
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Huntington Beach High, as Angel fans will remember, he played here,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: then went on to Houston and Tampa Bay. He did
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: coach in Korea. And I do remember during COVID, I
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: somehow got a hold of Hank on a WhatsApp call
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: and wrote a story about him managing or coaching over there.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: So that was cool. Came back as the Twins first
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: base coach and catching coach, then the assistant bench coach there.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: And this year he's the Orioles bullpen coach. 38 years old,
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: local kid, catching background, which has played well in the
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: manager's seat in a lot of places. Already has four
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: years of coaching experience under his belt. And it's easy
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: to see why the new regime would like that combination. Mark,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: once again, trying to be as objective as you can.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: You know Hank as well as anybody. You know what
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: it takes to be a big league skipper. What does
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: he have that maybe we don't know about?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: The whole world is not objective. Who cares about that?
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I said as objective as possible.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: All right, I'll give you– Hank is obviously a great
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: friend of mine, but he also is someone that jumped
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: right back into the coaching fire and has progressed up
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the ladder and you don't get to be a big
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: league bench coach. He's not that with the Orioles, but, uh,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: he was with the twins and the second. Okay. Here's
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: an example. When the twins, um, they were, I guess
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: the entire staff was let go. Uh, his phone was
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: ringing off the hook and, uh, there were many, many
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: teams lined up, uh, I guess a list or your
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: name is, uh, distributed. If people were wondering how that works, when, uh,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: you're relieved of duties, uh, somewhere, um, your name becomes
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: available and his phone was quite busy and he had
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of suitors. The Orioles made sense for a
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: few reasons that I don't want to explain here, but
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: he has got an extremely high baseball IQ and he
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: has really done a fantastic job of understanding the trends
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: of the game on the pitching side, especially. I think
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: he'd be very good at managing a bullpen. And for
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: anyone who, that has managed in the past, or you
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: hear people talk about what really separates a good manager
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: from maybe a not as good one is the bullpen management.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Bruce Bochy was the epitome. Buck Showalter even heaped praise
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: on Bruce Bochy, and as did everyone else that I
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: ever heard. Part of it is having the right guys
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to call on when you need them, but part of
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: it is knowing and keeping meticulous track of who's available,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: who are you running the risk of overusing, And I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: think Hank being a catcher and then, you know, working
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: with the bullpen stuff now with the Orioles, I mean,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he's got a leg up in that regard. He has
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: seen and played with the best players. He has the
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: attitude where he can get on you if he needs to,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: but he can also keep it loose. He's not as stiff.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: I think that he is also another young guy and
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: at least should be considered if this is the model
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: that they want to go with.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Next guy on our list, Daniel, Big Dan, Danny,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Dan the Man, Descalso. Ten-year big leaguer, really nice utility
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: infielder to me, kind of. I mean, if you were
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: to sort of compare him, maybe a Walt Weiss type
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: in the manager's seat, we'll have to see. But he
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: spent a year in the Diamondbacks front office, so he's
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: got that background. The Cardinals manager, Ali Marmal, brought him
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: in as a bench coach in 2024. I think he's
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: 39 or 40 years old. Relatable former player who can
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: talk to young guys, and John Moselock already knows him
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: from the Cardinals, and that could be meaningful, especially if
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: John does stay, as we expect, in some kind of
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: strong advisory or president of baseball operations mode role. I
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: don't know Descalso very well. I can't remember if I've
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: talked to him over the years. Mark, what do you
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: know about him, and why does he make this list?
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I played against him extensively. Maybe 2008 was the first time.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Either the same age or plus or minus a year.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: I always respected the way he went about his business.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: He was the type of guy that you knew was
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: there to take care of business. I'll repeat the word.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: But he was a gamer, kept his head down. He's
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: not out there bro-hugging. He wasn't doing any of the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: things that are kind of great on a lot of ex-players.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: He played the game the right way, played hard, real
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: student of the game, smart hitter, and had a very
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: fine career for himself. The Angel fans probably don't hear
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: that name as often, but if you're in the Midwest,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: if you're with the Cardinals, you know that he is
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: definitely a rising star. The Cardinals are very lucky to
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: have him. He's another very strong candidate if he were
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: to want to pursue this, and I think the connection
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to John Moselec can't be ignored as they're already familiar.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: George Lombard, if that name sounds familiar. There's a reason.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: His son, George Lombard Jr., 21 years old, called up
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: by the Yankees in early August. He's now their starting
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: shortstop for a team that's heading into the playoffs, hitting.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: 236 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 40 games
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: for the Yanks. And his other son, Jacob, Jacob Lombard,
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: another middle infielder, first-round pick of the Marlins in last
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: year's draft. He's a Class A Jupiter, so he's already
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: produced two really promising young ballplayers. George I knew as
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: a coach when I covered the Dodgers for many years.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: He's been on a short list for some teams, the Marlins,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: the White Sox, Braves, and the Tigers before they hired A.J.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Hinch as manager. He spent six years with the Dodgers
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: as their first base coach. was there, I believe, in
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: the 2020 World Series. Huge player development reputation, a little
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: older than some of these guys, but still a first-time
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: manager and the kind of guy front offices keep circling
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: back to. As a first-base coach on any team, you're
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: not the third-base coach. You don't have those kinds of
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: big decisions. But I know George worked a lot with
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the position players on those Dodger teams and got a
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: lot of those guys better. Very personable guy. Always enjoyed
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: talking to him. Can't say I know him that well. But, Mark,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: why do you put him on your short list?
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: I think that his name is put on short lists
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: when you look him up. Admittedly, this is the one
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: I know the least about. But the player development side,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: I did look into. And when you hear guys crediting,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of times with player development, names aren't always mentioned.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Guys aren't, and I don't know, intentional or not, but
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: it makes it that much more meaningful to me when
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you actually hear a player credit someone with really helping them.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: And especially in the game today, player development, I can't
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: overstate how important this topic is. If you are not
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: getting the most out of your guy's and making them
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: better to either help your team or use as prospect
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: capital to acquire players, it is just a crying shame.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: One thing the Angels, for many, many years, I mean,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: this is decades, have paid their minor league coaches poorly.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: That is not speculation. I know this for a fact.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And I think Perry might have done a little bit
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: better job. But I think as an organizational philosophy for
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a long time now, you get what you get. It's
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: a job. And I saw a number of coaches quit.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: You know, it just wasn't worth the squeeze, and they
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: probably didn't feel appreciated. A little bit of a tangent,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: but I really hope that that area improves for the
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Angels franchise. And I have to think it will because–
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that's really low-hanging fruit. It's something, yes, it's money, but
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: it can be taken care of. You want the reputation
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: for churning out quality coaches, not taking whatever's out there
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: that was, you know, unfortunately, guys didn't get gigs elsewhere probably.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: But the Rays, for example, their coaches are always desirable.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Everyone wants to, and they pay well. Now, why doesn't
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Tampa Rays pay more for their coaching than the Los
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Angeles Angels? Hard to say. but they are celebrating going
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: to the playoffs, and the Halos are headed to Seattle
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: to battle it out with the Mariners. I think there
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: were a couple names beyond these four made the most sense,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: but are there some other names that you.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Think may not fit this mold? Yeah, we did have
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: on an earlier show, we did mention Albert Pujols. I
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: still think he sort of fits this mold, has not
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: been a major league manager. We've mentioned Torrey Hunter. To me, Torrey,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: you know, if you look at Sean McVay, he's always up,
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: he's animated, he's always just, he's got an energy that
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: you can feel when you're around him. And I think
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: it permeates through his team. And I think, you know,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Torrey would be that type of guy on the Angels.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Another guy, I haven't talked to him about it in
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: a while, but when, uh, When the Dodger job opened
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: up and Dave Roberts was hired, one guy they wanted
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: to interview was former Angel outfielder Darren Erstad. At the time,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Darren turned down the interview. And that shows you, first
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: of all, what the Dodgers, a pretty good judge of
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: talent and character, thought about Darren Erstad. At the time,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: I believe his kids were still, I don't know if
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: they were middle school or high school age, but he's
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: got kids now who are in college. Maybe I'm going
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: to have to reach out to Darren. Maybe we should
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: have him on the show. But I think, you know,
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: his life situation has changed. Maybe he might be open
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: to that. And we talk about a guy who would
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: not tolerate some of the shenanigans we saw on this
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Angels team earlier in the year, Darren Erstad. If he's
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: not cut from the same cloth as Mike Socia, he's
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: definitely in the same wardrobe, same closet. He would be
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: a very interesting choice when it comes to playing hard.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: I'm sure him and Wade Meckler would get along. Mark,
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: you got any other?
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: I think we were talking about these guys that the three,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: for example, I think the tough part is, are they
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: going to be open-minded to working with what I assume
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: will be a much more established, expanded analytical department and
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: front office? I can't see it being a small, you know,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: maybe the smallest group analytically in the game right now.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: That's going to expand. You're going to want to integrate
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: both sides of it. Now, junk science or not, opinions differ.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: But the bottom line is this stuff is not going anywhere.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: And it is very useful if you know what you're
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: doing and you have someone that can seamlessly integrate it.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: It's been the battle for years now. Some guys do
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: it well. Some guys have struggled with it. Too much,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: too little. Usually it's too much that we hear about.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: I had an epic rant from Mike Bordick about the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Orioles a day or two ago that you can go
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: find if you want to hear it. But he got
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: his points across. I wonder, too, this is a fun one,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and I don't know if he has any interest in
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: doing it. Mark Goob has his finger on the pulse
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: with these Angel players. He's been in the dugout. Who knows?
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: He probably has no, you know, but that's another name.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Who knows these players better than him?
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting sleeper candidate. And how about this?
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I actually looked this up. He would not even be
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth guy to go
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: from the television booth to the manager's chair. Aaron Boone, remember,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: went from the ESPN booth to the Yankees job in 2017.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Bob Brenley went from the Diamondbacks booth to the Arizona
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Mariners job in 2001 and led the D-backs to a
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: World Series win. Larry Durker in Houston from 97 to 2000.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: Buck Martinez, Toronto, went from the TV booth to the
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: manager's chair in 2000 to 2002. And who will ever
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: forget the legendary Jerry Coleman, San Diego Padres TV guy,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: former Yankees infielder, went to manage the team in 1972
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: to 1979. So he spent a good amount of time
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: there as manager. So it wouldn't be, it's not unprecedented,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: but I don't know. I love Gooby personally. From what
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I've observed, he seems very close to the players and
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with that, you know, his role. My
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: biggest concern would be he's so close to the players
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: that he might run into some of the problems that
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: we think Kurt Suzuki ran into this year with being
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: too close to the players. I'll let you have the
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: last word on this one.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Well, there we go. Anyway, I think that one thing
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: that may be a positive is observing some of these struggles.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: You can navigate them easier if you're aware that they
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: are a thing and I wanted to give an honorable
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: mention to Jose No Hustle Siri for his effort down
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: the line on the double play in the eighth inning.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: 5.5 seconds it took him to get down to first base.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: I timed it myself. He's the seventh fastest player in
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball and averages 4.21 to 4.24 seconds down
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: to first.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: 5.5.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: Mike, you could do that right now. I have faith.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: You've got to understand how slow that is. That is
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: a jog slightly above a jog. And for a guy
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: who is capable of absolutely flying, that is unacceptable. That
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: is bad baseball.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: I'd probably pull two hammies and a calf. Don't worry
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: about that. We've got a medical staff. What were Albert's
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: times generally to first base? And he was about as
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: slow down the line as we've seen, and he was trying.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was a planner. He had a lot
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: going on. Off the top of my head, he was
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: probably in the upper fours. He could have been five,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: but we're not talking, I mean, we're talking about a
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: guy that is seventh fastest in baseball. And baseball is,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, it keeps getting faster. These athletes are Either
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the stopwatches are quicker or they are better athletes, bigger, faster, stronger,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: often injured as well. If there's a trade-off, can't pull fat,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: all those old sayings. I don't know. This is just
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: a guy that's not getting it. I know. What can
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Kurt do at this point? He's 31 years old, by
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the way. No more spec.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: He's 31, and this is what you get. So does
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: he have a place moving forward? Well, if you like...
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: What he does, maybe. But if I were managing, I
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: don't think so. I agree.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: And we're going to close the show on that happy note. Thanks, Mark,
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: for joining us. Appreciate your support out there. Thanks for listening.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning in on YouTube. Please like and subscribe.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And we'll see you next week on Halo Territory.