Latest / Foul Territory / 2nd Half storyline roundtables: NL West, AL Contenders, NL East

Transcript

2nd Half storyline roundtables: NL West, AL Contenders, NL East · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: It's not a lineup full of stars and guys we
0:04
Speaker 1: think of us traditional sluggers, but they've had success, they've
0:07
Speaker 1: had a good offense, but they do a lot of
0:09
Speaker 1: little things. Well.
0:14
Speaker 2: Hello everybody, and welcome back to a special episode of
0:17
Speaker 2: Foul Territory. I am your host, Alana Rizzo. I am
0:20
Speaker 2: pleased to be joined by Kyle Glazer, does a great
0:23
Speaker 2: job covering the San Diego Padres among the other twenty
0:26
Speaker 2: nine teams, and Jack Sommers, who does a tremendous job
0:28
Speaker 2: covering the Arizona Diamondbacks. We welcome you to the NL
0:32
Speaker 2: West Round Table as we get set for the second
0:35
Speaker 2: half of the season. So let's start with you.
0:38
Speaker 3: Kyle.
0:38
Speaker 2: Great to be with you. Are the Dodgers, in your opinion,
0:42
Speaker 2: inevitable in terms of obviously making it to the postseason,
0:45
Speaker 2: but winning it again.
0:48
Speaker 4: I don't know about winning it again, but winning this
0:50
Speaker 4: division and reaching the postseason. Absolutely. The depth of talent
0:54
Speaker 4: that Dodgors have a mast goes beyond what any other
0:56
Speaker 4: team in baseball has, and I don't mean just the
0:58
Speaker 4: major league roster higher organization. Let's be clear, the Dodgers
1:02
Speaker 4: had fourteen pitchers on the IL at one point this season,
1:05
Speaker 4: including most of the best starters, most of their best relievers,
1:09
Speaker 4: and despite that, they've had the best record in the
1:11
Speaker 4: division pretty much the whole year, and one of the
1:13
Speaker 4: best records in baseball pretty much the whole year. If
1:15
Speaker 4: the Potters or Giants had fourteen pitchers on the il,
1:19
Speaker 4: their records would look like the Rockies. It's incredible what
1:21
Speaker 4: the Dodgers have done and how they've been able to
1:23
Speaker 4: withstand this, and they do it every year.
1:26
Speaker 2: Jack, let me ask you about the Arizona Diamondbacks. This
1:29
Speaker 2: is a team that obviously came into the twenty twenty
1:31
Speaker 2: five season with high expectations, so much so that they
1:35
Speaker 2: spent more money this year on their payroll on their
1:37
Speaker 2: roster than they have any other year previous. They've been
1:41
Speaker 2: decimated more than anybody, I believe with injuries. Are you pleased?
1:45
Speaker 2: I guess with what they have that they're even still
1:48
Speaker 2: in the mix.
1:49
Speaker 5: I think that Tory Leavella gets a lot of credit
1:51
Speaker 5: here for keeping this team fighting and in it. Unfortunately,
1:56
Speaker 5: the truth is is that despite losing Corbyn Burns and
1:59
Speaker 5: Agu and Justin Martinez, they were not playing great baseball
2:03
Speaker 5: even before all those injuries. Went down. They were kind
2:06
Speaker 5: of underperforming a little bit, but then the injuries just
2:11
Speaker 5: kept rolling and got into the second thirdier players, and
2:14
Speaker 5: it's looking like it's becoming too much to overcome.
2:17
Speaker 6: Unfortunately, Kyle.
2:19
Speaker 2: When you look at the San Diego Padres and what
2:21
Speaker 2: they need to do moving forward in terms of this
2:25
Speaker 2: second half, what needs to change in order for them
2:28
Speaker 2: to be legitimate competitors in that in a West to
2:31
Speaker 2: get to the postseason.
2:33
Speaker 4: There's two key developments that have to happen with the offense.
2:35
Speaker 4: Let's be clear, the Potters pitching has an excellent top
2:38
Speaker 4: ten in pretty much every category in Major League Baseball.
2:40
Speaker 4: They're a great defensive team. They've been running the base
2:42
Speaker 4: as well. The problem is an offense that has been
2:45
Speaker 4: bottom five into baseball and virtually every category since May fifteenth.
2:49
Speaker 4: First and foremost, they need to get their stars going.
2:51
Speaker 4: Fernanta Teast Junior and Jackson Merrill have been marred in
2:54
Speaker 4: terrible slumps for the better part of two months. They
2:56
Speaker 4: need them to snap out of it. Many Mitchel's been
2:59
Speaker 4: doing his job. Rise has mostly been doing his job,
3:02
Speaker 4: but they need the best versions of Tatisan Merrill for
3:04
Speaker 4: this offense. Toruly get going again. The other part of
3:07
Speaker 4: it is the bottom of this lineup is just non competitive.
3:10
Speaker 4: You look at the bottom two spots on any given night,
3:12
Speaker 4: they're basically automatic outs, and if anyone else has an
3:15
Speaker 4: off night, you're looking at three or four automatic outs
3:17
Speaker 4: in the lineup. Realistically, the Padres need to go out
3:20
Speaker 4: and acquire at least two everyday hitters, and they need
3:24
Speaker 4: to improve their bench as well, getting another bat to
3:26
Speaker 4: help there. So it's going to be too pronged. This
3:28
Speaker 4: is not something where this offense is one player away
3:31
Speaker 4: or one player who's slumping snapping out of it away.
3:33
Speaker 4: They need a lot of things to happen for this
3:35
Speaker 4: offense to even just be an average offense in Major
3:37
Speaker 4: League Baseball. This has been a truly terrible and unwatchable
3:40
Speaker 4: offense for the better part of two months now.
3:43
Speaker 2: Jack I feel that regardless of where the Padres are
3:46
Speaker 2: in the standings, I feel like aj Preler, they could
3:48
Speaker 2: be twenty games out and AJ Preler is going to.
3:50
Speaker 7: Be making moves.
3:51
Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit different for the Arizona
3:53
Speaker 2: Diamondbacks because they're in a bit of a precarious situation.
3:56
Speaker 2: They're not definitely going to make the postseason, but they're
3:59
Speaker 2: certainly not out of it. Are the Diamondbacks buyers or sellers?
4:03
Speaker 2: And what are their biggest needs in terms of the deadline.
4:06
Speaker 5: What general manager Mike Hasen has been talking about is
4:10
Speaker 5: how many teams they're behind and how far back are they.
4:14
Speaker 5: He's not really pegging it to a wins total. The
4:16
Speaker 5: question is is are there enough games left before he
4:19
Speaker 5: has to make the decision, and it's starting to appear
4:22
Speaker 5: that there aren't. So in order for him to become
4:24
Speaker 5: an aggressive buyer, this team needs to get on a
4:27
Speaker 5: very hot run and give him the opportunity to add
4:30
Speaker 5: to the team. If he can add to the team,
4:32
Speaker 5: certainly the bullpen. He needs to pick up a couple
4:36
Speaker 5: of strong relievers to be able to sustain or run
4:39
Speaker 5: laid into the season. They could probably use a left
4:41
Speaker 5: handed DH as well. Peven Smith got off to a
4:44
Speaker 5: hot start, then slumped for over two months, and now
4:47
Speaker 5: he's on the injured list with an oblique injury, so
4:50
Speaker 5: they really could use a good left handed DH as well.
4:52
Speaker 5: But they've had a top three, four or five offense
4:55
Speaker 5: the entire year, so offense isn't the biggest need. They
4:59
Speaker 5: need pitching and specifically bullpen.
5:01
Speaker 1: Hey have you heard of Built?
5:03
Speaker 6: No?
5:04
Speaker 4: Do you pay rent?
5:06
Speaker 6: Yes?
5:07
Speaker 8: Okay, good, let's talk. There's no cost to join, and
5:09
Speaker 8: just by paying rent, you unlock flexible points that can
5:12
Speaker 8: be transferred to your favorite hotels and airlines, a future
5:15
Speaker 8: rent payment, your next lift right, and much more. When
5:17
Speaker 8: you pay rent through Built, you unlock two powerful benefits. First,
5:20
Speaker 8: you earn one of the industry's most valuable points on
5:23
Speaker 8: rent every month, no matter where you live or where
5:25
Speaker 8: your landlord is, your rent now works for you, and
5:28
Speaker 8: you gain access to exclusive neighborhood benefits in your city.
5:31
Speaker 8: Built neighborhood benefits or things like extra points on dining out,
5:34
Speaker 8: complementary post workout shakes, and much more unique experiences that
5:38
Speaker 8: only Built members can access. And when you're ready to travel,
5:41
Speaker 8: Built points can be converted to your favorite miles and
5:43
Speaker 8: hotel points around the world, meaning your rent can literally
5:45
Speaker 8: take you places. So if you're not earning points on rent,
5:48
Speaker 8: my question is what are you waiting for? Start paying
5:51
Speaker 8: rent through Built and take advantage of your neighborhood benefits
5:53
Speaker 8: by going to join Built dot com slash file that's
5:56
Speaker 8: JOI n b I lt dot com slash foul makes
5:59
Speaker 8: sure to use our URLs that they know we sent you.
6:03
Speaker 2: I think every team, all thirty teams, could say that
6:06
Speaker 2: bullpen is in need, and guys, the Los Angeles Dodgers
6:08
Speaker 2: are no different when it comes to that. Coming into
6:11
Speaker 2: the season, Andrew Friedman, the president of Baseball Operations, was
6:14
Speaker 2: very clear that he wanted to make the biggest moves
6:17
Speaker 2: in the offseason, so at this trade deadline period, he
6:20
Speaker 2: did not have to really look for much. Of course,
6:22
Speaker 2: when you have one hundred and two million on the
6:24
Speaker 2: il Tyler glassnow back, of course, Blake Snell on his
6:27
Speaker 2: way back, you're kind of thinking about what are the
6:30
Speaker 2: needs for the Dodgers moving forward, and I think to
6:32
Speaker 2: Jack's point with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers need bullpen
6:36
Speaker 2: help as well. You look at the fact that Blake trinin,
6:38
Speaker 2: you're not certain when he's coming back. Evan Phillips is out, obviously,
6:42
Speaker 2: Bruce dark Gratterol is not back yet. You know a
6:44
Speaker 2: couple of key pieces in that Dodgers' bullpen are down.
6:47
Speaker 2: What does that mean for them? Do they go after
6:49
Speaker 2: a guy like Joe Kelly who is toomping at the
6:51
Speaker 2: bit to come back for the Dodgers and certainly has
6:54
Speaker 2: pitched in beginnings before for that team, as well as
6:57
Speaker 2: the Red Sox and the Cardinals as a starter. Do
6:59
Speaker 2: they go back and find somebody else to solidify what
7:03
Speaker 2: is a bullpen that's already very tired because the Los
7:06
Speaker 2: Angeles Dodgers and their starters have not gone deep into
7:09
Speaker 2: the game and the bullpen is tired. So I think
7:11
Speaker 2: every single team, Kyle needs that bullpen help from your perspective,
7:16
Speaker 2: looking at what is the juggernaut in the NL West
7:20
Speaker 2: for years in the past, obviously for a decade, What
7:23
Speaker 2: are the Dodgers' biggest needs moving forward besides bullpen help?
7:27
Speaker 4: I think you always look to the Dodgers to make
7:30
Speaker 4: a starting pitcher addition at the deadline, even though they
7:33
Speaker 4: have all these great starters. We know that year in and
7:36
Speaker 4: year out, Andrew Friedman likes to fortify it for the
7:39
Speaker 4: stretch rund Last year they went out and acquired Jack
7:41
Speaker 4: Flair to the year before, they went out and acquired Lancelid.
7:43
Speaker 4: Obviously that one didn't work, but they still went out
7:45
Speaker 4: and got a notable pitcher twenty twenty one, making the
7:48
Speaker 4: trade for Max Scherz or and Trey Turner. Just given
7:50
Speaker 4: the Dodgers injury history with so many of their starters.
7:53
Speaker 4: We talk about Tyler glassnaw, we talk about Blake Snell,
7:56
Speaker 4: Roki Sasaki. Obviously we have no idea of Holly Back
7:59
Speaker 4: this year, Showani or ramping him up slowly. There's always
8:02
Speaker 4: going to be concerns about starting pitcher innings with this club.
8:06
Speaker 4: I would not be shocked at all if Andrew Freeman
8:08
Speaker 4: went out and acquired a starter at the deadline, because frankly,
8:11
Speaker 4: that's what they do pretty much every year, and there
8:13
Speaker 4: is a need for it this year despite all the
8:15
Speaker 4: starting pitchers they signed.
8:16
Speaker 2: Jack, what is it like from your perspective covering the
8:19
Speaker 2: Arizona Diamondbacks? Obviously, Jack Summer's the host of Snake's Territory
8:23
Speaker 2: here on the Foul Territory Network. Do the Diamondbacks still
8:28
Speaker 2: believe that they can compete with the Dodgers and the Padres,
8:31
Speaker 2: and to a certain extent, obviously the Giants this season
8:33
Speaker 2: in the division, with the way that the roster is
8:36
Speaker 2: right now and kind of the injuries that they're dealing with.
8:39
Speaker 5: I don't think they believe that they have a shot
8:41
Speaker 5: at taking the division. They probably just don't have the
8:44
Speaker 5: horses if they were speaking from their heart. Of course,
8:47
Speaker 5: they're never going to openly or publicly state that until
8:51
Speaker 5: they're forced into a cell position. If we're looking at
8:55
Speaker 5: the trade deadline, the other point that we need to
8:57
Speaker 5: consider is that the Diamondbacks need control glible starting pitching
9:01
Speaker 5: going beyond twenty twenty five. So in their case, don't
9:05
Speaker 5: be surprised if they do kind of a buy sell
9:07
Speaker 5: two step. I would not be shocked if they moved
9:10
Speaker 5: a player or two, and it would give the appearance
9:12
Speaker 5: that they've given up on the season, while at the
9:14
Speaker 5: same time moving a prospect or to to bring in
9:17
Speaker 5: some controllable pitching and then see where it goes from there.
9:20
Speaker 5: They still have a shot at the Wildcards, so I
9:23
Speaker 5: would say that the time is running out for them
9:26
Speaker 5: to be buyers at the deadline, but it's still far
9:29
Speaker 5: too early to count them out for a shot at
9:32
Speaker 5: the postseason.
9:33
Speaker 2: I know we don't have a Giants representative on this
9:36
Speaker 2: NL West round table, but let's talk about those San
9:38
Speaker 2: Francisco Giants. I think a lot of people maybe wrote
9:41
Speaker 2: them off or I'm not certain, you know, what they
9:44
Speaker 2: thought they were going to do this year. But they're
9:45
Speaker 2: in the mix of things right. They're making it very
9:47
Speaker 2: interesting in the nationally west. Rafael Devers making splashes in
9:51
Speaker 2: terms of news in our industry. When the Boston Red
9:54
Speaker 2: Sox elected to trade him to San Francisco, some say
9:57
Speaker 2: it was a salary dump, say some say it was
9:59
Speaker 2: to get that personality out of the clubhouse. Kyle, do
10:03
Speaker 2: you think that so far Rafi has made the impact
10:07
Speaker 2: that the Giants have hoped that he would not Yet.
10:11
Speaker 4: He's not hitting for a ton of average, He's not
10:13
Speaker 4: hitting for a ton of power. But we see that
10:16
Speaker 4: players when they get traded, especially in season, it can
10:19
Speaker 4: take a little bit of time to get acclimated again.
10:22
Speaker 4: He's new league, entire opposite side of the country, new teammates,
10:26
Speaker 4: new clubhouse, new coaches. It takes some time, just as
10:29
Speaker 4: we saw in New York. It took Juan Soto two
10:31
Speaker 4: full months to get going. It wouldn't shock me if
10:33
Speaker 4: it takes Raffaeld Devers around the same time period. Eventually,
10:36
Speaker 4: you expect him to pick it up. And I think
10:38
Speaker 4: if you're the Giants, you're really just waiting for Raffaeld
10:40
Speaker 4: Devers to get comfortable, get acclimated, and also Willie Damas
10:44
Speaker 4: to start hitting. If those two players start doing what
10:46
Speaker 4: they can offensively, I actually think the Giants the team
10:49
Speaker 4: that's going to finish second in the division. Both the
10:51
Speaker 4: Giants and Potters have been struggling to score. Both have
10:54
Speaker 4: been bottom five offenses and runs scored for the better
10:56
Speaker 4: part of two months now. But it's easier to see
10:58
Speaker 4: how the Giants get better. It's just okay, one or
11:01
Speaker 4: two players really start picking it up. They're actually getting
11:03
Speaker 4: decent production from a couple of hous in their lineup,
11:05
Speaker 4: whereas on the Podtery side you have to have about
11:08
Speaker 4: five different things happen. It's just going to be very,
11:10
Speaker 4: very difficult. So I actually have more bullish on the
11:12
Speaker 4: Giants and their chances down the stretch than I am
11:15
Speaker 4: the Potters, because I do think Rafael Devers and Willie
11:17
Speaker 4: Damas will click it into years sooner rather than later.
11:21
Speaker 2: Jack the Diamondbacks will face the San Francisco Giants six
11:24
Speaker 2: times in the month of September. They've always had good
11:27
Speaker 2: starting pitching the Giants have. That is certainly the case
11:30
Speaker 2: this year. This team seems to be more legitimate than
11:33
Speaker 2: many had thought. What is your perspective from the outside,
11:37
Speaker 2: looking in at what the Giants need and what makes
11:40
Speaker 2: them good.
11:42
Speaker 5: Well, the Giants look like a team that obviously could
11:45
Speaker 5: use a little bit more offense. I'm not sure what
11:47
Speaker 5: Buster Posey's going to do there. I'm sure that they
11:49
Speaker 5: have their eye on their schedule, so I would expect
11:51
Speaker 5: them to be very aggressive going forward. They're not done adding.
11:56
Speaker 2: And with you, Kyle, if you look at the San
11:58
Speaker 2: Francisco Giants, well, it's so funny to me still hearing
12:01
Speaker 2: what Jack was just saying. Let's see what Buster Posey's
12:03
Speaker 2: going to do. What I still imagine Buster Posey behind
12:06
Speaker 2: the plate, not president of baseball operations for the Giants.
12:10
Speaker 2: Are they as good as they seem to be?
12:13
Speaker 3: Kyle?
12:15
Speaker 4: The pitching is as good as it seems to be.
12:17
Speaker 4: You look at what Logan Webb's been able to do
12:18
Speaker 4: at the front of the rotation, what Robbie Ray's been
12:20
Speaker 4: able to do at the front of the rotation. These
12:22
Speaker 4: are two pitchers that are Syung Award contenders at their peaks.
12:25
Speaker 4: Robbie Ray has a Sign Award, Logan Webb was a
12:27
Speaker 4: SI Young runner up. The bullpen has been lights out.
12:30
Speaker 4: Randy Rodriguez is excellent, but they have so many arms
12:33
Speaker 4: they can throw at you that are just really, really
12:34
Speaker 4: high quality arms. Eric Miller's left you with real stuff.
12:37
Speaker 4: Camilla Daval can bring it any given night. This pitching
12:40
Speaker 4: staff is absolute legit. And their defense is pretty solid
12:43
Speaker 4: too when you look at having a Damas and Chapman
12:45
Speaker 4: on the left side of the endfield. In some ways,
12:47
Speaker 4: they and the Potters mirror each other. Great pitching staffs,
12:50
Speaker 4: great bullpens. These are probably the two teams in baseball
12:52
Speaker 4: that actually don't need bullpen help. I could probably trade
12:54
Speaker 4: from the bullpen to go get some bats, but it's
12:58
Speaker 4: just going to come down to the offense and the
13:00
Speaker 4: stars clicking into gear. The Giants and Potters have the
13:02
Speaker 4: exact same problems. It's just going to be a matter
13:05
Speaker 4: of does it happen or does it not? And we'll
13:07
Speaker 4: see Jack.
13:09
Speaker 2: Do the Arizona Diamondbacks make the postseason in twenty twenty five.
13:15
Speaker 5: I do not believe they do. There's just too much
13:19
Speaker 5: to overcome. I think that, ironically, just as their pitching
13:24
Speaker 5: actually has been improved of late this month in July,
13:28
Speaker 5: their offenses regressing to the mean a little bit. Just
13:32
Speaker 5: too many injuries, too much depth has been taken away
13:35
Speaker 5: from them. I don't think they're going to make it.
13:38
Speaker 2: Kyle, how do the Padres make the postseason in twenty
13:41
Speaker 2: twenty five.
13:44
Speaker 4: Everyone has to start hitting and they need to bring
13:46
Speaker 4: in multiple bats, and realistically, I think it's hard to
13:50
Speaker 4: say right now with the way the Potters have been playing.
13:53
Speaker 4: Let's be clear, I talk about this two month stretch
13:55
Speaker 4: of the offense struggling. They're a below five hundred team.
13:58
Speaker 4: In that time they go off to a twenty seven
14:00
Speaker 4: fifteen start, but since then they've been an under five
14:03
Speaker 4: hundred team. It's very, very hard to say right now
14:05
Speaker 4: that the Potters will make the postseason when you look
14:08
Speaker 4: at what so many other teams are doing, whether it's
14:10
Speaker 4: the Brewers, whether it's the Cardinals, of course, you know
14:12
Speaker 4: the East with the Mets and the Phillies. One of
14:14
Speaker 4: them is going to take a wild card spot. There's
14:17
Speaker 4: about five different headers that have to suddenly, after struggling
14:20
Speaker 4: all year, find it, and it's just hard to bet
14:23
Speaker 4: on that happening.
14:24
Speaker 2: Jackie brought up the point that the Dodgers and the
14:26
Speaker 2: Diamond Dodgers and the Giants rather see each other many
14:29
Speaker 2: more times this season. Who wins the division in your opinion,
14:32
Speaker 2: the Dodgers or the Giants.
14:35
Speaker 5: The smart money has to be on the Dodgers, of course,
14:38
Speaker 5: but if you're looking for maybe a little bit of
14:41
Speaker 5: a long shot bet, I think the Giants serve possibility
14:45
Speaker 5: for somebody to make a little bit of coin there.
14:48
Speaker 2: All right, if I'm a betting person, all right, got
14:50
Speaker 2: We appreciate you guys very much. Kyle Glazer, host of
14:53
Speaker 2: Friar Tory, Jack Summer's, host of Snake's Territory. Thanks for
14:57
Speaker 2: watching this NL West Roundtable everybody. We look forward to
15:00
Speaker 2: watching how the second half unfold. Subscribed to Snakes, Friar
15:03
Speaker 2: and Dodgers' Territory on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
15:08
Speaker 6: Welcome back to Foul Territory.
15:09
Speaker 9: I'm Chandler Roam of Crush City Territory, joined by Cody
15:13
Speaker 9: Stavenhagen of The Athletic and Tiger Territory and Max Goodman
15:17
Speaker 9: of NJ dot Com covering the Yankees. Guys, we're gonna
15:21
Speaker 9: talk a little bit about the American League and a
15:24
Speaker 9: first half that I don't think played out as many
15:28
Speaker 9: people expected it. Cody, you cover the best team in baseball,
15:31
Speaker 9: which I don't think is something you expected coming into
15:34
Speaker 9: the year. I don't think it's something I expected to
15:35
Speaker 9: say coming into the year. In the American League Central,
15:39
Speaker 9: though the Tigers have obviously run out to a massive lead,
15:42
Speaker 9: what has been the biggest storyline maybe in that division
15:46
Speaker 9: aside from the Tigers. That's allowed the Tigers to really
15:49
Speaker 9: gain so much ground and really run away with this division.
15:54
Speaker 1: You know, I think it was hard entering this season
15:56
Speaker 1: to pick a clear favorite in the Ales Central. I
15:58
Speaker 1: heard people pick the tig hired people to pick the Royals,
16:02
Speaker 1: the Twins, the Guardians, everyone but the White Sox was
16:05
Speaker 1: kind of supposed to be in this Now, you know,
16:08
Speaker 1: we're here more than halfway through the season and the
16:10
Speaker 1: Tigers are the only team with above a five hundred record.
16:13
Speaker 1: They've obviously had a million things go right. They've played
16:16
Speaker 1: really good baseball. They've also gotten some unlikely comeback stories
16:19
Speaker 1: Javi or Pias spin twirkleson. But the Guardians have been
16:23
Speaker 1: a disappointment. The Twins have been really up and down.
16:26
Speaker 1: The Royals have not taken off based on the foundation
16:30
Speaker 1: they built last year. It's maybe hard to boil that
16:32
Speaker 1: down to one storyline. But some of these teams that
16:36
Speaker 1: were supposed to be good, not great, have been more mediocre.
16:40
Speaker 1: And meanwhile, the Tigers have swored to, like you said,
16:42
Speaker 1: the best record in all of baseball. Certainly unexpected, but
16:46
Speaker 1: they've played really good, really consistently for more than more
16:51
Speaker 1: than half a season.
16:52
Speaker 9: Now, Max, the AL East always right for storylines, there's
16:58
Speaker 9: never a shortage of it's never boring. And that division
17:01
Speaker 9: the Yankees, they began the season, really got out to
17:06
Speaker 9: a nice little lead, and then the Blue Jays have
17:08
Speaker 9: come on very strong toward the end of this first half.
17:10
Speaker 9: What have you sized up about the Al least maybe
17:13
Speaker 9: from top to bottom that has the Yankees right now
17:16
Speaker 9: in a position to get a wild card spot, that
17:19
Speaker 9: certainly not in the position to win that division.
17:21
Speaker 10: Well, if we were having this conversation a month ago,
17:24
Speaker 10: maybe a month and a half ago, I would have
17:25
Speaker 10: said that the Yankees were cruising to a division title.
17:29
Speaker 10: Maybe it was a little too early to say cruising,
17:31
Speaker 10: but they were a positioned to really run away with
17:33
Speaker 10: this thing. And credit to Toronto. I think a lot
17:35
Speaker 10: of people underestimated them for this year. I mean, I
17:38
Speaker 10: quite frankly haven't thought about their core as a unit
17:42
Speaker 10: that was going to be able to get it done
17:44
Speaker 10: after all those years where they've disappointed in the Al East,
17:47
Speaker 10: Tampa is always around. I think Boston's had a disappointing
17:50
Speaker 10: year with all they've been going through, and the Dever
17:53
Speaker 10: situation is a big part of that. I guess they
17:56
Speaker 10: could still be in striking distance, but they've got certainly
17:58
Speaker 10: a lot of work to do and are one of
18:00
Speaker 10: the biggest stories and disappointments in baseball. With they're in
18:04
Speaker 10: the cellar, they're going to be sellers at the deadline probably,
18:07
Speaker 10: and they've got such an impressive young core that this
18:10
Speaker 10: is a wasted year for them. But the Yankees are
18:14
Speaker 10: It's been a high and low type of season for them, right.
18:16
Speaker 10: I mean, they've got Aaron Judge, They've got Max Freed,
18:19
Speaker 10: a lot of guys have been stepping up on that team,
18:21
Speaker 10: but they definitely have holes and we've seen with their
18:24
Speaker 10: basically annual summer swoon that they go through that this
18:27
Speaker 10: is not a perfect roster.
18:29
Speaker 3: So they've definitely got some work.
18:30
Speaker 10: To do before the trade deadline.
18:31
Speaker 8: The way to buy, sell or trade your cards is
18:35
Speaker 8: Arena Club. It is the top marketplace in the biz
18:38
Speaker 8: to get that done and krats. We love the slab
18:40
Speaker 8: pack situation because rolling through a ton of cards, physically
18:45
Speaker 8: opening them, finding all kinds of commons that end up
18:47
Speaker 8: folded or in the garbage is old news. Why not
18:51
Speaker 8: get a slab pack and get a chance at a
18:53
Speaker 8: card where thousands of dollars.
18:56
Speaker 7: I was a common card. It's okay if you don't
18:58
Speaker 7: get me in your slab pack because as you put
19:00
Speaker 7: as little as twenty five dollars into for a slab pack,
19:04
Speaker 7: and you could pull out something that's worth thousands of dollars,
19:09
Speaker 7: and it's a keepsake that you get to like, wait,
19:11
Speaker 7: you know what, it might be worth this much today,
19:14
Speaker 7: but I get to watch the value grow.
19:17
Speaker 8: And right now, you can get twenty percent off your
19:19
Speaker 8: first slab pack or card purchase by going to Arena
19:21
Speaker 8: club dot com slash voul and use the code foul.
19:25
Speaker 8: That's twenty percent off your first card purchase or slab
19:28
Speaker 8: pack at arenaclub dot com slash foul code foul.
19:31
Speaker 9: Watching the Yankees play the Mariners, you are getting an
19:33
Speaker 9: up close look at everything the American League West has
19:36
Speaker 9: to offer with the Seattle Mariners, who win in a
19:39
Speaker 9: Yankee Stadium and got swept. The final sweep clinching game,
19:44
Speaker 9: they carried a no hitter into the eighth inning and
19:46
Speaker 9: still somehow lost a five run lead with their closer
19:50
Speaker 9: on the mound. And it's just par for the course
19:51
Speaker 9: for an American League West that is again chasing the
19:54
Speaker 9: Houston Astros, and Astros really kind of a skeleton crew.
20:00
Speaker 9: Alvarez has only played twenty nine games in the first half.
20:03
Speaker 9: Jeremy Panya has a broken rib. They have five starters
20:07
Speaker 9: on the injured list, including three members of their season
20:10
Speaker 9: opening starting rotation. Two of them are out for the year.
20:13
Speaker 9: This is a team that has dealt with injuries all season.
20:16
Speaker 9: They have dealt with underperformance from Christian Walker, their premier
20:20
Speaker 9: edition at first base. They have dealt with underperformance from
20:23
Speaker 9: catcher yiner Diez, but again find themselves where everyone presumes
20:28
Speaker 9: they'll be. That's atop the AL West. Part of that
20:30
Speaker 9: is the Texas Rangers have severely underperformed. They have the
20:35
Speaker 9: league's lowest ERA but somehow can't hit, to the point
20:39
Speaker 9: where they got Bret Boone to come be their hitting
20:42
Speaker 9: coach in mid May to try to turn things around.
20:44
Speaker 9: The Angels have been a surprise, but certainly I don't
20:47
Speaker 9: think a team that anyone fancies a contender. The A's
20:50
Speaker 9: are miserable in a Triple A ballpark, So it leaves
20:53
Speaker 9: the Astros and the Mariners jockeying for the division lead.
20:57
Speaker 9: And the Astros have kind of shown that they're inevitable
21:00
Speaker 9: and until someone dethrones them, I don't think I'm gonna
21:03
Speaker 9: pick against the Astros to win the AL West. They're
21:06
Speaker 9: doing this with, like I said, a skeleton crew of people,
21:11
Speaker 9: but they have found a way to tap into the
21:14
Speaker 9: little organizational depth they have to compensate for some of
21:18
Speaker 9: these injuries, for some of these underperformance. You know, as
21:22
Speaker 9: we look going forward, guys, what do you think is
21:27
Speaker 9: the biggest threat maybe to your team's pursuit of a
21:32
Speaker 9: playoff spot, your team's pursuit of a division title. I
21:35
Speaker 9: just said the Astros, it's gonna be injuries. They've got
21:37
Speaker 9: to get Jeremy Panna back. They've got to get Jordan
21:39
Speaker 9: Alvarez back from his broken hand. They've got about four
21:43
Speaker 9: or five guys rehabbing at their West Pitchers rehabing in
21:47
Speaker 9: West Palm Beach at their spring training facility. They need
21:50
Speaker 9: at least two or three of them to come back
21:52
Speaker 9: and give a boost to this pitching staff.
21:54
Speaker 6: Max.
21:54
Speaker 9: As you look at the Yankees, what is maybe their
21:57
Speaker 9: biggest threat trying to get a AL playoff spot or
22:01
Speaker 9: win the American League East.
22:03
Speaker 10: I mentioned that they have a lot of work to do.
22:05
Speaker 10: I think it comes down to the injuries and the
22:08
Speaker 10: holes with this roster and Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke
22:12
Speaker 10: recently about the trade deadline, and even he admitted that
22:15
Speaker 10: he's got quite a hefty shopping list that he's going
22:17
Speaker 10: to have to try to take care of here. And
22:18
Speaker 10: they're going to go to town this month of July and
22:21
Speaker 10: try to upgrade this roster. But there are no guarantees
22:24
Speaker 10: that you're going to be able to bring in a
22:26
Speaker 10: third baseman, which was a weakness even going into this season.
22:29
Speaker 10: Finally they cut ties with DJ Lemayhew, but a mix
22:32
Speaker 10: of Oswald, Perrazza and your beat Vivas is not going
22:35
Speaker 10: to cut it at third, especially not offensively. Starting pitching,
22:39
Speaker 10: Garrett Cole hasn't thrown a pitch all year and he
22:41
Speaker 10: won't heet Tommy John surgery. Clark Schmidt recently went down
22:44
Speaker 10: with the same procedure and Luis Heel might not be
22:46
Speaker 10: back for another month, if not at the very least
22:48
Speaker 10: in early August. So they need a starter who's going
22:51
Speaker 10: to pitch Game three of a playoff series behind Freed
22:54
Speaker 10: and Rodin, and then the bullpen too. Man, it's been
22:56
Speaker 10: a rough go for that bullpen over the last several weeks.
23:00
Speaker 10: Williams has distinguished himself as the true closer for them,
23:04
Speaker 10: and Luke Weaver is still that setup guy. But you're
23:06
Speaker 10: missing Mark Lighter, Junior Fernando Cruz, They're both hurt. Jonathan
23:10
Speaker 10: Wisega has not looked like the old version of himself
23:13
Speaker 10: this year. So they got to go out and get reinforcements,
23:16
Speaker 10: not only to have more high leverage options, but to
23:18
Speaker 10: get to October, because you don't want your best leidening
23:21
Speaker 10: guys to burn out too early.
23:24
Speaker 9: Cody biggest threat maybe internally or externally to the Tigers,
23:30
Speaker 9: and they're as we just have talked about their best
23:32
Speaker 9: record in baseball. What's maybe their biggest threat the next
23:35
Speaker 9: couple months of the season.
23:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, at least in regards to the Ale Central, I'm
23:40
Speaker 1: not sure they have to worry much about an external threat.
23:43
Speaker 1: Last year, the Tigers overcame near insurmountable odds. They had
23:47
Speaker 1: zero point two percent playoff chances in August. That's nearly inverse.
23:52
Speaker 1: Now they have enough to weather anything that might go
23:54
Speaker 1: wrong in the second half. But if we think bigger,
23:57
Speaker 1: if we think the American League got large, how can
23:59
Speaker 1: the Tigers maintain the best record in baseball? And when
24:02
Speaker 1: the AL I think you really have to look at
24:05
Speaker 1: their pitching. We've seen some cracks in that framework. In June.
24:09
Speaker 1: The Tiger's bullpen era ranked twenty sixth. Will Veast and
24:13
Speaker 1: Tommy Cainley have been very good at the back end.
24:16
Speaker 1: Chase Lee has been an interesting story, but otherwise there
24:19
Speaker 1: are not a lot of dependable options in the bullpen.
24:22
Speaker 1: Scott Harris and the Tigers are going to be tested
24:24
Speaker 1: on how aggressive they will be at the trade deadline.
24:27
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna have to get at least one
24:29
Speaker 1: leverage reliever, maybe two, add some swing and miss to
24:33
Speaker 1: this bullpen. And then even in the rotation the Tigers have,
24:36
Speaker 1: of course, Trek's scouble Casey miz is having a nice
24:39
Speaker 1: year resols and just got back from injury. Jack Flaherty
24:42
Speaker 1: hasn't been very reliable. They don't have a stable fifth starter.
24:47
Speaker 1: There's a case they should add starting pitching too, And
24:49
Speaker 1: that's another thing. The Tigers ride so heavily on Trek's scooble.
24:54
Speaker 1: What if something goes wrong there? What if he gets
24:57
Speaker 1: takes a comeback or off the foot and has to
24:59
Speaker 1: miss some time. I mean, I think there's a case
25:01
Speaker 1: to both bolstering the rotation. They're gonna lane on some
25:05
Speaker 1: internal improvements, guys like Tyler Holton who have been very
25:08
Speaker 1: good in the past and maybe not quite as good
25:11
Speaker 1: so far this season, but they're gonna have to shore
25:14
Speaker 1: up the pitching a little bit to fully get the
25:16
Speaker 1: job done.
25:17
Speaker 9: I think, Cody, I'm insanely jealous. You get to watch
25:21
Speaker 9: Trek Schoolgill pitch every fifth day. Max, I'm insanely jealous
25:25
Speaker 9: you get to watch Aaron Judge take a bats every day.
25:27
Speaker 6: You two guys.
25:28
Speaker 9: Cover probably the well not probably. You cover the best
25:31
Speaker 9: pitcher in baseball, Cody, Max, you cover the best player
25:34
Speaker 9: position player in baseball. So the answer to this next
25:37
Speaker 9: question is pretty can be pretty obvious for you guys,
25:40
Speaker 9: but I want you to think outside the box a
25:41
Speaker 9: little bit. Why are the Yankees' best position to exceed
25:46
Speaker 9: in October Max and Aaron Judge can't be your answer.
25:51
Speaker 10: Can I say the offense as a whole?
25:53
Speaker 6: Sure?
25:54
Speaker 3: Sure, Okay, I'll say the offense as a whole.
25:57
Speaker 10: I think that you mentioned the Brian Wu game, and
26:00
Speaker 10: I think that's a perfect example here that this offense
26:02
Speaker 10: is really never out of a ballgame, and they can
26:05
Speaker 10: put up crooked numbers like the best of them. And
26:08
Speaker 10: that summer swoon that they've seemingly emerged from was a
26:12
Speaker 10: sign of the fact that it's an imperfect offense in
26:15
Speaker 10: the sense that they do struggle at times with situational hitting.
26:19
Speaker 10: But when they're firing on all cylinders, when John Carlos
26:21
Speaker 10: Stanton is leaving the ballpark, when you're getting more production
26:24
Speaker 10: from those youngsters who have stepped up this year, Ben Rice,
26:27
Speaker 10: Jason Dimingez, when the veterans Cody Bellinger has looked great
26:31
Speaker 10: this year, the whole Plan B experience trying to figure
26:34
Speaker 10: out who's going to step up after losing out on
26:37
Speaker 10: Juan Soto and free agency. Paul Goldschmiz had a pretty
26:40
Speaker 10: solid season too. A lot of the guys that they've
26:42
Speaker 10: brought in have have performed and in many cases exceeded expectations.
26:46
Speaker 10: So the left side of the infield, it's been a
26:49
Speaker 10: disappointing year for Anthony Volpi, and again, third base is
26:52
Speaker 10: still a black hole on offense for the Yankees.
26:55
Speaker 3: If they can bring in.
26:56
Speaker 10: A slugger to play third and shore up that spot,
27:00
Speaker 10: then this offense really has the ability to beat any
27:03
Speaker 10: pitching staff out there. Granted, you face Detroit in the
27:07
Speaker 10: playoff series and you've got Scooble for two or three games,
27:10
Speaker 10: and it gets a little tougher and you wonder if
27:12
Speaker 10: it's enough. But the upside of this Yankees offense can
27:15
Speaker 10: take them all the way through October.
27:19
Speaker 9: Cody, you can't take Trek Scobel out of the equation.
27:22
Speaker 9: He's obviously going to be a big reason the Tigers
27:24
Speaker 9: excel in October if they do. But maybe outside of Schooble,
27:27
Speaker 9: what is the Tigers' best attribute that will allow them
27:31
Speaker 9: to excel in October?
27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, in like a five game Alds having Schooble pretty
27:37
Speaker 1: good built in advantage. But if you're looking to win
27:39
Speaker 1: a seven game series, that's more where the Tigers are
27:42
Speaker 1: geared this year. I think that's where it's worth considering
27:45
Speaker 1: the fact they're really well rounded. This is not a
27:48
Speaker 1: perfect team. I just talked about some of the weaknesses
27:50
Speaker 1: and the pitching staff. It's not a lineup full of
27:54
Speaker 1: stars and guys we think of as traditional sluggers. But
27:57
Speaker 1: they've had success, They've had a good off but they
28:00
Speaker 1: do a lot of little things well. They go first
28:03
Speaker 1: to third at the highest rate in baseball. They get
28:05
Speaker 1: the platoon advantage nearly as often as anyone in baseball.
28:09
Speaker 1: They have a manager in aj Hinch, who has both
28:12
Speaker 1: won in the postseason before and is regarded as one
28:15
Speaker 1: of the best tacticians in the sport. I think you
28:18
Speaker 1: look around and it's hard to make it case there's
28:21
Speaker 1: another team as well rounded as the Tigers. The Astros
28:24
Speaker 1: are always a looming threat, but the Tigers beat the
28:27
Speaker 1: Astros in the playoffs last year. This is a better
28:29
Speaker 1: Tigers team, at least on paper. I'm not sure it's
28:32
Speaker 1: a better Astros team the Yankees. Man, there's some star
28:36
Speaker 1: power there, there's some slug there, but we've already seen
28:39
Speaker 1: midseason like how quickly things can go wrong in the Bronx.
28:42
Speaker 1: The Mariners are an interesting team. The Jays are an
28:45
Speaker 1: interesting team. I think there's still a lot that could
28:48
Speaker 1: change in the second half in the American League. I
28:50
Speaker 1: think the Tigers well roundedness, the way they do the
28:53
Speaker 1: little things is going to serve them well and give
28:55
Speaker 1: them a chance to compete with anybody.
28:59
Speaker 9: Yeah, on paper, this is a worse Astros team than
29:02
Speaker 9: the one that lost the Tigers in the Wildcard Series
29:05
Speaker 9: last year. But somehow they have a better record, and
29:07
Speaker 9: somehow they have soared to seventeen games above five hundred.
29:10
Speaker 9: How that happened is what will allow the Astros to
29:13
Speaker 9: succeed in October. They have two of the best starting
29:17
Speaker 9: pitchers in baseball, and Hunter Brown and Fromer Valdez. In
29:19
Speaker 9: a seven game series, if you can get four starts
29:22
Speaker 9: out of them, that's an advantage that not a lot
29:25
Speaker 9: of teams will have. They have two of the best
29:27
Speaker 9: relievers in baseball and setup man Bryan and Bray you
29:30
Speaker 9: closer Josh Hater, who is pitching like every bit of
29:33
Speaker 9: the ninety five million dollar closer the Astros believe they
29:36
Speaker 9: were getting last season. So when you can shorten a
29:39
Speaker 9: game in the postseason with those four arms, you have
29:42
Speaker 9: a pretty pretty good advantage in October. But I think
29:45
Speaker 9: the Astros' biggest advantage in October is twofold one. It's
29:49
Speaker 9: Jose al Tube. He was just a steady heartbeat, a
29:53
Speaker 9: guy that will enter this October second in a second
29:57
Speaker 9: all time in postseason home runs behind Manny Ramirez, as
30:00
Speaker 9: he is the engine that makes this thing go. Even
30:03
Speaker 9: if he is not maybe the most vocal ra ra guy,
30:06
Speaker 9: He's gonna be the guy in the playoffs that really
30:09
Speaker 9: this entire team turns to. And you know that segues
30:12
Speaker 9: into what the next thing that makes the Astros so
30:15
Speaker 9: dangerous in October it's just their aura, It's their inevitability.
30:18
Speaker 9: You kind of just I think other teams. The Tigers
30:21
Speaker 9: may have dispelled this theory last year, but when a
30:23
Speaker 9: team runs up against the Astros in the postseason, it
30:26
Speaker 9: just seems like, no matter who is wearing in the
30:28
Speaker 9: Ashers uniform, someone is able to come through. Someone always
30:32
Speaker 9: steps up on the biggest stage.
30:34
Speaker 6: It is a.
30:35
Speaker 9: Playoff experience team that there's few other teams in the
30:39
Speaker 9: AL that can claim to have that much October experience.
30:42
Speaker 9: And I think that's gonna be maybe what tips the
30:45
Speaker 9: scales in the astros favor as this October comes and looms,
30:50
Speaker 9: and you know it's a it's a difficult AL playoff
30:52
Speaker 9: picture to maybe maybe diagnose at the moment, but this
30:56
Speaker 9: is an Astros team with enough experience and enough just
30:59
Speaker 9: in ability about them to make you think they have
31:02
Speaker 9: a deep run in them. Thanks for watching this AL
31:05
Speaker 9: Contenders Roundtable. Be sure check out Max's work at NJ
31:08
Speaker 9: dot com and subscribe to Tiger and Crush City Territory.
31:13
Speaker 11: Welcome back to Foul Territory. My name is Brad Rowland.
31:16
Speaker 11: I'm one of the hosts of the Hammer Territory podcast
31:18
Speaker 11: covering the Atlanta Braves all year round, and I'm joining
31:21
Speaker 11: this NL East roundtable by a couple of friends. We
31:24
Speaker 11: have Jim Salisbury from The Philly Show and James Chiano
31:27
Speaker 11: from Mets Up. Guys, welcome, how are we doing?
31:31
Speaker 6: Doing great? Thanks Brad, Good to be with you.
31:33
Speaker 12: Doing great, Really excited to talk about a very interesting division,
31:36
Speaker 12: National League East.
31:38
Speaker 11: It has been interesting. The team that I covered the most,
31:41
Speaker 11: Atlanta Braves, is interesting for a not so good reason.
31:44
Speaker 11: We'll probably come back to that at some point of them.
31:46
Speaker 11: But unless you're a Metrophillies fan, of course, But what
31:50
Speaker 11: would you say is the kind of biggest first half
31:53
Speaker 11: storyline in the division could be a team that could
31:55
Speaker 11: be the team you cover, could be another team. But
31:57
Speaker 11: what do you guys think is the kind of lead
31:59
Speaker 11: storyline of the first quote unquote half of the season
32:01
Speaker 11: of the division?
32:03
Speaker 13: Can I say the Braves are in fourth place? I
32:05
Speaker 13: think that's pretty significant, But yeah, I'm not sure if
32:10
Speaker 13: I can pick the biggest storyline. One of my big
32:13
Speaker 13: interests coming into this season was could the New York
32:16
Speaker 13: Mets recapture that great chemistry they had for the final
32:23
Speaker 13: really four months of the regular season last year and
32:25
Speaker 13: into the postseason. I think they've done a pretty good
32:28
Speaker 13: job at it. It's really kind of shaping up as
32:31
Speaker 13: a two team race with them in the Phillies. Mets
32:33
Speaker 13: have had some injury problems in their rotation, but I
32:36
Speaker 13: think they're going to make it interesting as their guys
32:38
Speaker 13: get healthy. But honestly, for me, probably the biggest storyline
32:42
Speaker 13: is the fact that the Braves are not going to
32:44
Speaker 13: be at this party in the second half.
32:48
Speaker 12: Yeah, sadly, I do agree with Jim that I think
32:51
Speaker 12: the biggest story is the fact that the Braves have
32:54
Speaker 12: fallen off to the degree that they have basically the
32:56
Speaker 12: only team baseball and they can beat is the Mets,
32:58
Speaker 12: which is much to my chagrin, but the fact that
33:00
Speaker 12: we're going through this race and something that was really
33:03
Speaker 12: meant to be a three team race, something that it
33:05
Speaker 12: would have delivered well as a three team race because
33:07
Speaker 12: the Mets in the Phillies are while they have both
33:10
Speaker 12: had amazing seasons, they both have hot streaks and cold streaks,
33:12
Speaker 12: they are have both shown some flaws bye being some
33:15
Speaker 12: of the better teams the National League. Like it would
33:17
Speaker 12: be the perfect trio with the Braves as a three
33:19
Speaker 12: team race, but they've just between the injuries and the
33:22
Speaker 12: inconsistency and the poor play from some stars.
33:24
Speaker 3: Brad.
33:25
Speaker 12: I remember when I came on your Guys show as
33:27
Speaker 12: for a Mets previews the beginning of the season. You
33:29
Speaker 12: guys ask me like, what has to happen for the
33:30
Speaker 12: Mets to win this division? And I was like, I'm
33:32
Speaker 12: going to tell you ten things that have to go
33:34
Speaker 12: wrong for the Braves, and we need about seven of
33:36
Speaker 12: them to come through, and somehow maybe eight or nine
33:38
Speaker 12: of them have actually come through, with the exception Broald
33:40
Speaker 12: Dacrune Junior returning and being a superstar. But that is that,
33:44
Speaker 12: to me, is the story, along with something I'm sure
33:46
Speaker 12: we're not going to talk about much past this, so
33:48
Speaker 12: I want to give it some mention. The Marlins going
33:51
Speaker 12: on becoming something like an okay decent team over the
33:53
Speaker 12: last two months, I think is something that needs more
33:55
Speaker 12: recognition because they're likely going to sell against the deadline,
33:58
Speaker 12: They're likely not going to compete for a while cart spot.
34:00
Speaker 12: But this was a team that many thought in April
34:03
Speaker 12: and May was destined to have one of the worst
34:05
Speaker 12: records in Major League history, and they've gotten themselves within
34:08
Speaker 12: a stone starre off five hundred, which is amazing. And
34:10
Speaker 12: the fall off of the Nationals that has now coincided
34:13
Speaker 12: with the firing of Davey Martinez and general matger Mike
34:15
Speaker 12: Grizzo in theast the last couple of weeks. So I
34:18
Speaker 12: think that those are interesting storylines, but there are far
34:21
Speaker 12: behind the race of the Mets and Phillies and the
34:23
Speaker 12: complete dissolution of the Braves.
34:26
Speaker 11: I certainly agree. I was going to mention the Marlins
34:28
Speaker 11: if you did, just to give them a little bit
34:29
Speaker 11: of a shot out for playing better baseball, and they're
34:31
Speaker 11: right there with the Braves, which is not where anybody
34:33
Speaker 11: would even the biggest Braves hater would not have had
34:34
Speaker 11: the Marlins even or ahead of them at the All
34:38
Speaker 11: Star break, and I think that the answer is the Braves.
34:41
Speaker 11: But look, I'm actually intrigued to watch the Phillies Mets
34:45
Speaker 11: battle for the rest of the season at the top
34:47
Speaker 11: of the division. Intrigued is not excited. I'm using intrigued
34:51
Speaker 11: in a less excited or positive sense, But I am
34:55
Speaker 11: interested in it to see which team kind of you know,
34:58
Speaker 11: crowds out the other and wins the division and then obviously,
35:00
Speaker 11: you know, good set up for wildcard stuff as well.
35:02
Speaker 11: I want to look ahead of the second half a
35:04
Speaker 11: little bit and say, you know, that's kind of the
35:05
Speaker 11: I think that's probably the headline topic looking forward is
35:08
Speaker 11: the Mets versus Phillies battle. I'm sure you guys both
35:10
Speaker 11: have big time thoughts as to what's going to be
35:12
Speaker 11: happening in this race. I will leave it up to
35:14
Speaker 11: you to see who has the first salvo in this
35:16
Speaker 11: back and forth in the Phillies and the Mets.
35:18
Speaker 6: God, James, we hear you.
35:20
Speaker 12: One thing that I'm a little disappointed in between what's
35:23
Speaker 12: going to be a great second half between the Mets
35:25
Speaker 12: and the Phillies is the way that we've now changed
35:26
Speaker 12: the major league schedule over the last few years, so
35:29
Speaker 12: the Mets and Phillies haven't seen each other for a
35:31
Speaker 12: while now, and then we're not going to play again
35:33
Speaker 12: until Monday, August twenty fifth, and then we'll play the
35:35
Speaker 12: Phillies seven times in about a three week stretch as
35:38
Speaker 12: the series closes. This would be a great summer to
35:40
Speaker 12: have the old school schedule. We have six series, five
35:43
Speaker 12: series against the Phillies to figure out this division.
35:46
Speaker 3: Mono Imano, but the Phillies are like.
35:48
Speaker 12: Just sadly, who we thought they were is probably right
35:51
Speaker 12: now still the best or one of the top three
35:53
Speaker 12: rotations in all baseball with four guys who are just clicking.
35:56
Speaker 12: I know, hey, sus Lazar, they'll have his has his
35:58
Speaker 12: blow ups ever here and there, but still on the
36:00
Speaker 12: started and start out basis, he's somewhat to fear. Zach
36:03
Speaker 12: Wheeler is the best pitcher in the National League right now.
36:05
Speaker 12: He's pitching like the best pitcher in the National League.
36:07
Speaker 12: Aaron Nola will come back. I'll never believe that Aaronola
36:10
Speaker 12: will is the guy who saw in the first half.
36:12
Speaker 12: I think we'll see a rebound in Aaronola and Christopher
36:14
Speaker 12: Sanchez and Ranger Suarez just man as in terms of
36:17
Speaker 12: lefties in the National League.
36:18
Speaker 3: Like who is the better guys than that?
36:20
Speaker 12: With Lazardo on top, Like, that's a five man rotation
36:23
Speaker 12: that is terrifying to me as a Mets fan and
36:26
Speaker 12: one that I'm not excited to have to catch games
36:29
Speaker 12: against guys who go through the second half.
36:31
Speaker 13: It is a fantastic rotation, one that we often draw
36:35
Speaker 13: parallels with the twenty eleven rotation, which was also a
36:40
Speaker 13: great one with Halliday, Lee Cole Hamill's roy Oswalt.
36:45
Speaker 6: And that rotation.
36:46
Speaker 13: The Filis rotation has lived up with you know, the
36:48
Speaker 13: preseason copy on this team was a good, great rotation,
36:53
Speaker 13: and they've really been a great rotation.
36:55
Speaker 6: Lozardo has been a nice pickup. He had a couple.
36:59
Speaker 13: Pretty serious blips, but he's you know, he's overcome them.
37:03
Speaker 13: And that rotation is so deep and so effective. I
37:06
Speaker 13: think it's going to help them down the road solve
37:10
Speaker 13: some issues in their bullpen. Bullpen inconsistent offense. You know,
37:14
Speaker 13: they have some wild highs on the offense and they
37:16
Speaker 13: have some very low lows on the offensive side. So
37:20
Speaker 13: that and the bullpen I think are this team's two
37:22
Speaker 13: biggest weaknesses. Dave Dombrowski's going to address that bullpen. They're
37:26
Speaker 13: going to get a shut down down arm at the
37:29
Speaker 13: trade deadline.
37:30
Speaker 6: They have to. They have to.
37:32
Speaker 13: They can't risk going forward with this bullpen the way
37:35
Speaker 13: it is. And then I think they'll get somebody out
37:37
Speaker 13: of that rotation that'll go down there and help.
37:39
Speaker 6: I agree with you, Aaron Nola. I don't count him out.
37:42
Speaker 13: I think he's going to come back and have a
37:44
Speaker 13: nice stretch drive and Zach Wheeler for Mets fans, that's
37:47
Speaker 13: got to really sting watching him, you know, leave the
37:50
Speaker 13: Mets and just have this kind of mid career ascension,
37:55
Speaker 13: not just to be very good, but to be among
37:57
Speaker 13: the one or two very elite pictures in this game.
38:01
Speaker 13: He's a really great one, a fun one to watch.
38:04
Speaker 13: And that the Phillies rotation, you know, I expect him
38:08
Speaker 13: fully to play in October. I expect that rotation to
38:12
Speaker 13: give them an advantage on most nights, but they have
38:14
Speaker 13: to avoid you know, the nights where they have tons
38:16
Speaker 13: of swing and miss, tons of strikeouts left on base,
38:20
Speaker 13: you know, those one for ten with scoring runners and
38:22
Speaker 13: scoring position nights, and they need to fix the bullpen.
38:26
Speaker 13: If they do that, I think they're a legit World
38:27
Speaker 13: Series contender.
38:29
Speaker 11: It's actually a good opportunity to look at a tried
38:32
Speaker 11: and true topic during the All Star break, and that
38:34
Speaker 11: is the deadline, which Jim just brought up. What teams
38:37
Speaker 11: are going to be trying to do, I know, covering
38:39
Speaker 11: the Braves. It's different than I thought it was going
38:42
Speaker 11: to be. They're talking about maybe even selling a little
38:44
Speaker 11: bit in a way that was not anticipated. There's been
38:47
Speaker 11: pushback locally. I would say all on the record and
38:50
Speaker 11: off the record that they're not going to sell guys
38:51
Speaker 11: with future contracts. But they're weigh in this balance now
38:55
Speaker 11: where it's like, hey, if you're really going to be
38:56
Speaker 11: out of it, you might want to consider a more
38:58
Speaker 11: big picture overall change. But it's mostly do you sell
39:00
Speaker 11: or do you kind of hold steady. I wonder what
39:02
Speaker 11: you guys think about. Obviously you would be a buying
39:05
Speaker 11: motive for the Phillies and the Mets, But we can
39:07
Speaker 11: go back to gym like, is it just is it
39:09
Speaker 11: as simple as the bullpen as the priority?
39:11
Speaker 8: Like?
39:11
Speaker 11: What does the priority list look like for the Affillies?
39:13
Speaker 11: They have the deadline.
39:15
Speaker 13: Priorities bullpen, big arm, shut down on leverage arm, maybe
39:19
Speaker 13: with some experience, maybe even with a little control in
39:23
Speaker 13: future seasons, because I think they're willing to give up.
39:26
Speaker 13: They have, you know, a handful of really nice prospects
39:28
Speaker 13: at the high end, top end of their minor league system,
39:33
Speaker 13: and they're willing to to, you know, bite down and
39:36
Speaker 13: give up somebody to get the right reliever.
39:38
Speaker 6: Here.
39:39
Speaker 13: You look at this nucleus, you know you only get
39:41
Speaker 13: Zach Wheeler is going to retire in two years. He's
39:43
Speaker 13: thirty five years old. Bryce Harper's over thirty, Trey turn
39:47
Speaker 13: is over thirty, Castiano Schwarmer, Real Mudo all over thirty.
39:50
Speaker 13: The odometer on this team is high. They're not going
39:53
Speaker 13: to be together forever. It's sort of like win now
39:56
Speaker 13: when next year times are getting you know, the clock
40:00
Speaker 13: is running on this team. So they are prepared to
40:02
Speaker 13: give up a prospect, maybe two, for the piece they
40:06
Speaker 13: think will put them over the top. So I think
40:07
Speaker 13: it's going to be a busy trade deadline for the Phillies,
40:10
Speaker 13: prioritizing a leverage arm or shut down arm at the
40:13
Speaker 13: back of the bullpen. If they can get two of them.
40:16
Speaker 13: They'd love to get two of them. I'm talking you know,
40:17
Speaker 13: one upper tier maybe one mid mid tier guy back there,
40:21
Speaker 13: and they would love to bring in a right handed
40:24
Speaker 13: bat to help out in the outfield. But you know,
40:28
Speaker 13: you look at the guys that are out there, and
40:29
Speaker 13: nothing really jumps out at you. I think there's guys
40:32
Speaker 13: out there that could mitigate some of their problems, maybe
40:35
Speaker 13: in left field, maybe as a platoon guy on the
40:38
Speaker 13: right handed side, but first and foremost it's bullpen.
40:45
Speaker 12: I think the Mets have a similar approach to the Phillies
40:47
Speaker 12: where but even more so where we need kind of
40:49
Speaker 12: one of everything. The Mets could use at least one
40:51
Speaker 12: or two relievers. They could probably use one mid level
40:53
Speaker 12: rotation star the even with the returns of Coda, Sang
40:56
Speaker 12: and Sean and I, you just never know what the
40:58
Speaker 12: second half will hold in terms of health for those
41:01
Speaker 12: guys and the rest of a rotation. Even with those guys,
41:02
Speaker 12: the Mets only have a five man rotation. In the
41:04
Speaker 12: past with codes Sega, they've shown to prefer six man
41:07
Speaker 12: rotation most of the time, and then the Mets lineup
41:10
Speaker 12: as talent as the top half is. It's been inconsistent
41:13
Speaker 12: for most of the season, especially with runners in scoring position,
41:16
Speaker 12: which is something.
41:16
Speaker 3: That we hope does level out over time.
41:18
Speaker 12: Based on the talent we know we have and the
41:20
Speaker 12: process stats, we know the Mets are doing well, but
41:23
Speaker 12: there probably does need to be some kind of right
41:25
Speaker 12: handed bat that steadies this bench in the bottom of
41:27
Speaker 12: the order in lieu of the guys who are there
41:30
Speaker 12: trying to do it like Starling Marte. You know, Mark
41:32
Speaker 12: Fientos has had a very very poor season trying to
41:35
Speaker 12: follow up his heroics of last year. The Mets probably
41:38
Speaker 12: do need to take a bit more of an all
41:39
Speaker 12: fields approach to this trade deadline, find a little bit
41:41
Speaker 12: of everything. I still do think, similar to the Phillies,
41:44
Speaker 12: the number one need for this team is bullpen help.
41:47
Speaker 12: It's not exactly a shutdown guy like the Phillies need,
41:49
Speaker 12: with you know, with us having Edwind Diaz in the backside,
41:52
Speaker 12: but before Edwin Diaz there's Reed Garrett, who is I
41:54
Speaker 12: think a very high, high level believer, but then it
41:57
Speaker 12: still has his moments of inconsistency. There needs to be
42:00
Speaker 12: one or two guys thrown into that mix to make
42:02
Speaker 12: this team have the kind of upside that we felt
42:04
Speaker 12: like they had last year. Getting two games away from
42:06
Speaker 12: the World Series.
42:08
Speaker 13: If I could, do you think the Braves would move
42:11
Speaker 13: any any relievers. I'm not saying they would move them
42:13
Speaker 13: within the division, you know what do you think?
42:18
Speaker 11: Yeah, I was gonna say probably not to the Phillies
42:20
Speaker 11: with the Mets if I had to guess, unless the
42:22
Speaker 11: return was absurd. But yeah, I think that's the one
42:25
Speaker 11: area other than something like like Marcelo Zuna, who's on
42:27
Speaker 11: an expiring contract. He's the other guy that could be available.
42:30
Speaker 11: But yeah, I think the bullpen is probably the natural
42:32
Speaker 11: place for the Braves to maybe trade a few guys.
42:34
Speaker 11: You know, Ray saw Glacis is right of the ship recently,
42:36
Speaker 11: he had a very rough start of the season, but
42:38
Speaker 11: he's an expiring deal, proven late ending reliever, big dollar cost,
42:43
Speaker 11: but as a good picture with a long record. Pierce
42:45
Speaker 11: Johnson kind of a secondary guy to that. They have
42:48
Speaker 11: a couple of guys who are expiring contracts, and even
42:50
Speaker 11: beyond that, you got a couple of Aaron Bummers wrapped
42:52
Speaker 11: up as well, multi year deal. But certainly, if I'm
42:55
Speaker 11: the Braves and I'm looking long term relievers, is where
42:58
Speaker 11: you could probably sell without too much pain, if that
43:00
Speaker 11: makes sense, Like you're kind of looking at the long
43:02
Speaker 11: term and relievers are not going to be generally building
43:04
Speaker 11: blocks for your future, So that is where I would be, Well, guys,
43:09
Speaker 11: do you have any predictions quickly as to who's gonna
43:12
Speaker 11: win National League GeSe. I'm sure're looking to pick the
43:13
Speaker 11: teams you cover, but feel free.
43:16
Speaker 13: I might hold off though, when I got to see
43:18
Speaker 13: what the Phillies do with the deadline. But they need
43:22
Speaker 13: a you know, like I said, they need somebody that
43:25
Speaker 13: comes in and can get big outs at the end
43:27
Speaker 13: of games so they win the games they're supposed to win.
43:30
Speaker 13: They also need Bryce Harper, who's had you know, kind
43:33
Speaker 13: of a down seasons. He's struggled with a wrist injury.
43:36
Speaker 13: He's made some real strides recently in terms of feeling
43:39
Speaker 13: better and producing more. They need him to be Bryce Harper.
43:43
Speaker 13: They need Schwarber, and they need Alec Bohm, and they
43:46
Speaker 13: need production from Tray Turner, who's had a very good season.
43:49
Speaker 13: So I think if the Phillies are gonna win this
43:51
Speaker 13: division for second straight year, they're gonna win it with
43:54
Speaker 13: their big guys, the guys that are here having good
43:57
Speaker 13: second halves and whoever they you know, get as an
44:00
Speaker 13: addition is going to be a solid compliment. So but
44:04
Speaker 13: I do think that bullpen compliment is important enough that
44:07
Speaker 13: I'm gonna I'm gonna hold off on predicting who wins
44:10
Speaker 13: it because it's such a tight race right now with
44:12
Speaker 13: the Mets. I will say this, I think it's gonna
44:15
Speaker 13: be fascinating. I think that those I know there's a
44:18
Speaker 13: September mid September series against the Mets, and it's yeah,
44:22
Speaker 13: it's going to be a great one. So I think
44:25
Speaker 13: either team could win it.
44:25
Speaker 6: I really do.
44:27
Speaker 3: I agree. I do think either team can win it.
44:29
Speaker 12: But I think that the Mets need more things to
44:31
Speaker 12: break right for them to win it. We need a
44:33
Speaker 12: little bit more luck on our side to win this,
44:35
Speaker 12: just because of the strength of that Phillies rotation and
44:37
Speaker 12: the basically guarantee, like you mentioned, Jim, that Dave Dombraski will.
44:41
Speaker 3: Go out and plug the biggest hole you guys have.
44:43
Speaker 12: You will have a new shutdown, high leverage reliever by
44:46
Speaker 12: this time in August. There's no doubt about it. That's
44:48
Speaker 12: the kind of general manager he is. We're in the
44:50
Speaker 12: flip side. That's not exactly the type of general manager
44:52
Speaker 12: David Stearns is and while this Mets team is getting
44:54
Speaker 12: up there in age similar sneakily to the Phillies with
44:57
Speaker 12: Francisco Indoor over at thirty, EP Longs on a one
44:59
Speaker 12: year contract, Brandon nim over.
45:01
Speaker 3: Thirty, most of this rotation over thirty.
45:03
Speaker 12: I don't see them as having a similar type of
45:05
Speaker 12: urgency as as what Dave Dobraski has had his entire
45:09
Speaker 12: career in what they have with this Phillies rosters. So
45:11
Speaker 12: I do think the Mets might take a bit more
45:13
Speaker 12: of a trepidacious approach with the trade deadline and really
45:16
Speaker 12: need the guys in house to take their steps forward.
45:19
Speaker 12: Someone like Brett Bayes' ascension must continue. Ron Marisio must
45:22
Speaker 12: get hot, Fiantos has to wake up. For Cisco alivers
45:24
Speaker 12: back from the miners. I think the Mets will need
45:26
Speaker 12: a huge contribution from at least two of those four
45:29
Speaker 12: players I just mentioned to make this race interesting or
45:32
Speaker 12: just get you know, red hot for a four game
45:35
Speaker 12: series in Philadelphia September.
45:37
Speaker 13: Yeah, big, get big, big urgency here in Philadelphia. And
45:42
Speaker 13: there's no way Dombroski, He's been around long enough that.
45:45
Speaker 6: I know he feels it. I know he hears it.
45:48
Speaker 13: He's made moves a couple of deadlines here that just
45:52
Speaker 13: they haven't really paid dividends. There's a lot of pressure
45:55
Speaker 13: on him to make a big score in that bullpen.
45:58
Speaker 13: And uh, because this rotation is so good and you
46:02
Speaker 13: just can't kind of you can't waste this season. You
46:04
Speaker 13: can't waste the work you're get in from this rotation
46:09
Speaker 13: because you have a shaky bullpen.
46:11
Speaker 6: You got to go out and fix it.
46:13
Speaker 11: All right, guys, that was gonna do it for our
46:15
Speaker 11: NL Least Roundtable. Thank you for watching this NT Least Roundtable.
46:18
Speaker 11: Look forward to watching our second half unfolds. Of course,
46:21
Speaker 11: Subscribe to all three of our podcasts, Messed Up the
46:23
Speaker 11: Phillies Show and Hammer Territory on YouTube and wherever you
46:26
Speaker 11: get your podcasts.