Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Front Office HOT seats, Cardinals q's, Mets woes

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Fair Territory: Front Office HOT seats, Cardinals q's, Mets woes · Foul Territory

0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory of
0:12
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal. Here with my friend Alana Rizzo. Alana, good day,
0:16
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of ways we can go
0:19
Speaker 1: with the show today. We can talk about Shoeo Tani
0:23
Speaker 1: taking over his pitch calling last night, the problems he
0:25
Speaker 1: had with Dalton Rushing. We could talk about Paul Goldschmith's
0:29
Speaker 1: two home runs off Terror scoobl the Yankees beating Schooble.
0:32
Speaker 1: We could talk about the Phillies back to back ninth
0:34
Speaker 1: in and comebacks. We could talk about the Orioles lulling
0:37
Speaker 1: yet another game. However, a team that continues to dominate
0:42
Speaker 1: the news in this sport, not in a good way. No,
0:46
Speaker 1: is the other team in New York.
0:48
Speaker 2: Yes, the Mets and the woes that continue to haunt them.
0:51
Speaker 1: Ken absolutely Alana. And the doubleheader sweep yesterday by the
0:57
Speaker 1: Cubs at City Field. We might say, oh, this is
1:01
Speaker 1: a new low, but of course they seem to reach
1:03
Speaker 1: a new low every other week, or even every week,
1:06
Speaker 1: and this one though, was particularly embarrassing because of the
1:09
Speaker 1: nightcap and the six errors that occurred. The Mets have
1:12
Speaker 1: now lost five in a row. There are twelve games
1:15
Speaker 1: under five hundred. They're dead last in the National League
1:18
Speaker 1: et you can see it right there, six and a
1:20
Speaker 1: half games behind the Nationals. But that game last night,
1:24
Speaker 1: the six errors each infielder made at least one, which
1:28
Speaker 1: is kind of an amazing cycle to attain for a team.
1:33
Speaker 1: That was an embarrassing effort. The Mets own television announcers,
1:37
Speaker 1: who can be, of course quite objective and critical at times,
1:40
Speaker 1: were quite objective and critical, and it just seems that
1:44
Speaker 1: this team is going nowhere. And of course last night
1:47
Speaker 1: they made a trade as well after the game, left
1:50
Speaker 1: handed David Peterson, who was their longest tenured player, believe
1:53
Speaker 1: it or not, and he goes to the Cubs for
1:55
Speaker 1: a prospect who is a third baseman, maybe he can
1:58
Speaker 1: play first base ultimately. And Peterson is a guy who
2:01
Speaker 1: has struggled this season with the Mets, no question about it.
2:04
Speaker 1: It's been a huge disappointment after being an All Star
2:07
Speaker 1: last year. But go into the Cubs, who desperately need
2:10
Speaker 1: starting pitching, maybe with better infield defense. And remember the
2:14
Speaker 1: Mets were supposedly going to improve their defense, but maybe
2:17
Speaker 1: now Peterson gets untracked. So we'll see how it goes
2:21
Speaker 1: for him there. But for the Mets, Alana, as you said,
2:25
Speaker 1: the woes continue.
2:26
Speaker 2: And Will Salmon wrote an article ken in The Athletic,
2:29
Speaker 2: your counterpart that it doesn't necessarily mean that the Mets
2:32
Speaker 2: are going to be in full sale mode. But what
2:34
Speaker 2: does the moving of David Peterson's signal to you?
2:38
Speaker 1: It signals that they are headed down that path. And no,
2:42
Speaker 1: no team is going to announce itself as a seller
2:45
Speaker 1: in late June June twenty fifth, because you've got home
2:49
Speaker 1: games to play, You've got fans who you don't want discouraging,
2:52
Speaker 1: although of course Mets fans are incredibly discouraged right now.
2:56
Speaker 1: You're not going to give up when in theory over
3:00
Speaker 1: the next month the Mets might play better. Francisco Lindor
3:04
Speaker 1: is back now, they're getting other players back as well,
3:07
Speaker 1: and maybe this can turn around some I don't see it,
3:10
Speaker 1: code I Sanga another one of their projected starters this
3:13
Speaker 1: season is going to the bullpen. They are in every
3:17
Speaker 1: way failing, and it's just a situation where I know
3:21
Speaker 1: people are going to ask, okay, what about the manager,
3:24
Speaker 1: Because if there was a night last night where you
3:28
Speaker 1: might think, okay, the manager might get fired tomorrow it
3:31
Speaker 1: was that kind of game. However, keep in mind that
3:35
Speaker 1: two big earthquakes hit Venezuela last night. Carlos Mendoza, the
3:39
Speaker 1: manager of the Mets, is from Venezuela. To fire him
3:42
Speaker 1: today would be particularly heartless. We can all see with
3:46
Speaker 1: his head. For Mendoza, who in my opinion, is a
3:50
Speaker 1: good manager and ultimately one day will be proven to
3:53
Speaker 1: be a good manager. But for the Mets right now,
3:56
Speaker 1: I don't know who would be the right guy. And
3:58
Speaker 1: we'll see even if they have an obvious replacement if
4:02
Speaker 1: they choose to do it in season, because I'm not
4:04
Speaker 1: seeing that either. Maybe it's their farm director Andy Green,
4:07
Speaker 1: maybe it's Kay Carrea from their coaching staff, but they
4:10
Speaker 1: don't have a guy sitting there who you can just
4:13
Speaker 1: plug in. So in every aspect, the Mets are problematic,
4:18
Speaker 1: and of course most of the responsibility goes to their
4:21
Speaker 1: president of Baseball Operations, David stearns Ken.
4:24
Speaker 2: Is this a situation where like code I Sanga going
4:27
Speaker 2: to the bullpen or changing managerial spots for Carlos Mendoza.
4:31
Speaker 2: Is it a change of scenery or is this a
4:33
Speaker 2: situation where Mendy might just be the scapegoat because something
4:37
Speaker 2: has to change with the situation with the Mets.
4:40
Speaker 1: I will say this, Elana, I firmly believe and I
4:44
Speaker 1: said this on my Monday show that Carlos Mendoza can
4:47
Speaker 1: do some good things in that dugout, and I know
4:49
Speaker 1: Mets fans aren't seeing it, but I had a stat
4:51
Speaker 1: that I gave Monday about how, at least at that point,
4:55
Speaker 1: they have the fewest back to backs of any bullpen,
4:57
Speaker 1: fewest pitchers pitching consecutive days in the bullpen, which is
5:03
Speaker 1: obviously a strong statement in a positive way about his
5:06
Speaker 1: bullpen management with a starting rotation that of course has
5:09
Speaker 1: been short all seasons. So he is someone who is
5:13
Speaker 1: caught up in their malaise right now. And that's what
5:16
Speaker 1: this is. It's a malaise that goes back years and years.
5:19
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying he's blameless, don't get me wrong,
5:22
Speaker 1: but you show me who is going to be better
5:25
Speaker 1: with this particular group of team, this particular group of players,
5:29
Speaker 1: a team of misfit toys, and not in the way
5:32
Speaker 1: that the Oakland A's back when were when they had
5:35
Speaker 1: all these pieces coming together, guys from released backgrounds, all
5:39
Speaker 1: kinds of different situations. These are misfit toys because they
5:42
Speaker 1: don't fit together as a team, and that is the
5:44
Speaker 1: biggest problem.
5:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, weird to think that the Mets are not going
5:48
Speaker 2: to make the postseason, whereas the Athletics the A's are
5:51
Speaker 2: going to make the postseason this year. In all likelihood,
5:53
Speaker 2: I never would have thought that in twenty twenty six.
5:56
Speaker 2: Much more to come about this and some others in
5:58
Speaker 2: terms of executives or managers that might be on the
6:00
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Speaker 2: you back to Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal as the
7:39
Speaker 2: lead continues here Ken and for those as we were
7:41
Speaker 2: just talking about the new York Mets. For those waiting
7:44
Speaker 2: perhaps for the head to roll of David Stearns, maybe
7:47
Speaker 2: now is not the time you just wrote a column
7:49
Speaker 2: about this that you have to pump the brakes a
7:51
Speaker 2: little bit on managerial changes perhaps or executive decisions because
7:55
Speaker 2: of the timing.
7:57
Speaker 1: Executive decisions for sure, and last year grand did. The
8:00
Speaker 1: Washington Nationals fired Mike Rizzo in July sixth, shortly before
8:04
Speaker 1: the draft and the trade deadline. But those kinds of
8:07
Speaker 1: changes at the top of an organization are extremely rare
8:11
Speaker 1: because of those two major events that I just mentioned,
8:14
Speaker 1: the amateur draft which will be held during the All
8:16
Speaker 1: Star break, and the trade deadline, which is August third.
8:20
Speaker 1: So I listed eight executives today that are under a
8:24
Speaker 1: lot of criticism and scrutiny right now to varying degrees,
8:28
Speaker 1: and their fans in many cases are fed up and
8:31
Speaker 1: wanting a change, but those changes generally don't happen until
8:35
Speaker 1: the end of the season. Now, those are the eight
8:36
Speaker 1: I listed. I could have had a few more on
8:39
Speaker 1: theres as well. The Tigers fans immediately responded where Scott
8:42
Speaker 1: Harris Reds fans asked where Nick Crawl? Okay, these were
8:46
Speaker 1: the eight that it seemed to me are not in
8:49
Speaker 1: the most jeopardy necessarily, but the ones who have undergone
8:53
Speaker 1: and are undergoing the most scrutiny. And I came about
8:57
Speaker 1: this idea to write this the other day when I
9:00
Speaker 1: was thinking, Wow, David Stearns, we know he's under fire,
9:04
Speaker 1: Craig Breslow and Boston the same, and Buster Posey off
9:08
Speaker 1: of what has happened this week, and we will get
9:09
Speaker 1: to that in Dudes and Dorks. But then I thought, Okay,
9:13
Speaker 1: well are those the only guys? And I started making
9:16
Speaker 1: a list, and I came up with those eight names,
9:18
Speaker 1: and again could have included a few more. And in
9:21
Speaker 1: each case the circumstances are different. Some of those executives
9:27
Speaker 1: may help themselves at the trade deadline. Mich Elias of
9:30
Speaker 1: the Oriols would be one, Dana Brown of the Astros
9:33
Speaker 1: would be another, and perhaps they can change the narrative
9:36
Speaker 1: around them with a big deadline. Others. Stearns would be
9:40
Speaker 1: a good example, so would Breslow. I don't know that
9:42
Speaker 1: the deadline is going to matter much, at least in
9:45
Speaker 1: the perceptions of fans. Now, a couple of things to
9:49
Speaker 1: consider here. The lockout is a factor here in kind
9:54
Speaker 1: of an unusual way or unusual ways one just because
9:58
Speaker 1: the lockout occurs December. If an executive is fired at
10:01
Speaker 1: the end of the season, a team can extend the
10:03
Speaker 1: search beyond the expiration of the collective bargain agreement and
10:08
Speaker 1: the start of the lockout. Why because what the lockout
10:11
Speaker 1: does is freeze transactions for players. Players can't do anything
10:17
Speaker 1: they're locked out, but teams can certainly hire and fire
10:21
Speaker 1: other employees, so you may have transactions during the offseason
10:25
Speaker 1: or during a lockout. They just would not involve players,
10:28
Speaker 1: they would involve executives. The other aspect is will teams
10:32
Speaker 1: want to make a change going into a lockout or
10:36
Speaker 1: be compelled to do it knowing that they might not
10:39
Speaker 1: have to pay an executive until the end of the lockout,
10:41
Speaker 1: and who the heck knows where that might be for
10:44
Speaker 1: when that might be. And I mentioned the Angels Ardi
10:46
Speaker 1: Moreno as an owner who probably would like to not
10:50
Speaker 1: pay people for a while. So there are some different
10:53
Speaker 1: dynamics in play here. And certainly I don't expect every
10:57
Speaker 1: guy on that list to be fired in or do
10:59
Speaker 1: I think every guy and that list necessarily should be fired.
11:02
Speaker 1: It's just the circumstances each you're in. And that was
11:05
Speaker 1: the analysis that I dated in.
11:06
Speaker 2: That story about six weeks to go for the tradeline
11:10
Speaker 2: is here August third, a little bit later this year
11:12
Speaker 2: than it has been in the past. Can thank you
11:15
Speaker 2: for that. Make sure you guys check out Ken's article
11:17
Speaker 2: in The Athletic. Please make sure you've also subscribed to
11:20
Speaker 2: Foul Territory on YouTube and wherever you listen so you
11:23
Speaker 2: don't miss an episode. We want to spread the wealth.
11:25
Speaker 2: Let's hit Grill and Ken. All right, Ken, let's start
11:35
Speaker 2: here with the Saint Louis Cardinals. Do you think that
11:38
Speaker 2: the change to their approach? Will this change their approach
11:41
Speaker 2: rather to the trade deadline? Bob Knight? And go with
11:44
Speaker 2: a tweet here that says the Saint Louis Cardinals promote
11:47
Speaker 2: a nuke. Oh boy, how do you say that? Ken
11:50
Speaker 2: Cornante to President of Business Operations, build a wit. The
11:53
Speaker 2: third is the new CEO principal owner. Bild Dew Junior
11:55
Speaker 2: remains as the Cardinals chairman. So I apologize, I don't
11:58
Speaker 2: know how to pronounce that name, but changing of the guard,
12:01
Speaker 2: if you will, for the red Birds.
12:03
Speaker 1: Right, and basically what this is is the elder, Builder
12:05
Speaker 1: with Wit kind of taking less responsibility with the younger
12:09
Speaker 1: one becoming essentially the control person. And with the Cardinals,
12:14
Speaker 1: they're in a great spot right now because they're ahead
12:16
Speaker 1: of schedule. And Builder with the Elder made the point
12:20
Speaker 1: yesterday that they are not going to deviate from the
12:24
Speaker 1: plan that they're on and as him Bloom, their president
12:27
Speaker 1: of baseball operation, said, they're not going to take shortcuts.
12:30
Speaker 1: So what does that mean, as build Dewitz said, it
12:33
Speaker 1: probably means. It does mean actually that they're not going
12:37
Speaker 1: to be interested in rentals. If they make trades, it
12:41
Speaker 1: will be preferably for control players, guys they can control
12:45
Speaker 1: for a while. Doesn't mean they would ignore rentals entirely
12:47
Speaker 1: if they can get one for the right price. But
12:50
Speaker 1: what they're trying to do is build something sustainable. You
12:53
Speaker 1: hear this all the time for rebuilding teams. We want
12:56
Speaker 1: a sustainable winner, and actually that's a worthy goal. So
13:00
Speaker 1: that's where the Cardinals are, and Builder with the Elder
13:03
Speaker 1: made it clear yesterday, and that's been the expectation all
13:07
Speaker 1: along for them, maybe less so for the White Sox.
13:10
Speaker 1: I can see them going more for rental if they
13:12
Speaker 1: feel the opportunity is right. The Nationals seemingly fading a
13:16
Speaker 1: little bit here, We'll see if they can keep it
13:18
Speaker 1: up until the deadline, regain their equilibrium until the deadline.
13:22
Speaker 1: So all these supposedly rebuilding teams that are playing well,
13:26
Speaker 1: they're going to face interesting choices.
13:30
Speaker 2: Next question is from Tyler Max Smith on the Atlanta Braves.
13:33
Speaker 2: Can the Braves rebound from a terrible June ken It
13:36
Speaker 2: seems like every Cinderella story on their roster has crashed hard?
13:39
Speaker 2: According to him, are their moves to be made now
13:42
Speaker 2: versus waiting for the deadline? Do they do anything right now?
13:45
Speaker 1: It's difficult to make moves now. For one thing, teams
13:48
Speaker 1: are mostly focused on the draft. Also, teams are in
13:54
Speaker 1: general waiting, and they're waiting to see what needs they
13:57
Speaker 1: might have a month from now, because remember we're almost
13:59
Speaker 1: sick week's still out from the deadline, before determining where
14:03
Speaker 1: they want to spend their money, which prospects they want
14:06
Speaker 1: to trade at, which positions they want to fill. So
14:10
Speaker 1: all these things make it difficult for teams to act
14:14
Speaker 1: right now. The sellers don't want to act right now
14:16
Speaker 1: because the prices only go up. The Braves have slowed down.
14:20
Speaker 1: There's no question Drake Baldwin came off the injured list,
14:23
Speaker 1: has not been good. It's been surprising to see him struggle,
14:26
Speaker 1: really for the first time in his career. Acuna, of course,
14:29
Speaker 1: is out. They're starting pitching growing increasingly problematic, and it's
14:34
Speaker 1: been a problem. I wrote about them this week about
14:38
Speaker 1: them being a potential team for Trek Scuoble. They should
14:41
Speaker 1: be a potential team for Trek Schouble And ultimately they're
14:46
Speaker 1: going to act. Alexanthropolis, the president Baseball Operations, not a
14:49
Speaker 1: shrinking violet. He will do what he thinks is necessary
14:54
Speaker 1: to make this team better. Right now, they're in a lull,
14:57
Speaker 1: and when you play on one hundred and sixty two games,
14:59
Speaker 1: it's going to happen, no.
15:01
Speaker 2: Doubt about that. Wicked better fifty four. How are you
15:03
Speaker 2: always a participant here? On Grill and Ken, Mike hasn
15:06
Speaker 2: came out and said last week that the Dbacks Ken
15:08
Speaker 2: would be buyers. Since that time, though they've had a
15:10
Speaker 2: few impactful injuries. If they end up reversing course, how
15:13
Speaker 2: much will they sell, if at all?
15:16
Speaker 1: That's a good question, And the reason it's a good
15:18
Speaker 1: question is because the Diamondbacks are a team that has
15:22
Speaker 1: not rebuilt under Hazen. They've retooled and they've kind of
15:26
Speaker 1: gone in different directions at times, but they've never gone
15:29
Speaker 1: fully backwards, never have tanked. I don't expect them to
15:33
Speaker 1: do that, but if they are indeed out of it,
15:37
Speaker 1: they will have some pieces that they can move. Most
15:39
Speaker 1: are signed long term, but ed Waldo Rodriguez would be
15:43
Speaker 1: interesting for sure. I'm sure he has years left on
15:47
Speaker 1: his deal, but he is really hot right now. Now.
15:50
Speaker 1: The problem for the Diamondbacks is they need starting pitching.
15:53
Speaker 1: They've had injuries to their rotation, the latest being Ryan
15:57
Speaker 1: Nelson and Michael Soroka. That's on top of Burn's being
16:00
Speaker 1: out and out longer than they initially envisioned. So I
16:04
Speaker 1: don't know that you want to do that. That's just
16:05
Speaker 1: the name that popped in my head, simply because he's
16:08
Speaker 1: had an all star first half. But the Diamondbacks they're
16:12
Speaker 1: going to try to regroup here, and they've got some
16:16
Speaker 1: interesting young players that they've mixed in in recent weeks.
16:19
Speaker 1: They dfa Carlos Santana yesterday because they want to keep
16:22
Speaker 1: those opportunities flowing for the younger players. So I'm not
16:25
Speaker 1: ruling them out yet, but they're pitching injuries in particular
16:29
Speaker 1: have been rather devastating.
16:31
Speaker 2: Ken Earlier in the leads, you were talking about things
16:33
Speaker 2: being a little bit suspect because of a pending lockout,
16:36
Speaker 2: and Armand has a question a big obviously a big
16:38
Speaker 2: Mets fan. Armand is amazing how much will the CBA
16:42
Speaker 2: affect the trade market and the deadline? He thinks players
16:45
Speaker 2: with contracts beyond this year will be affected and not traded.
16:47
Speaker 2: For example, Matt Chapman, in his opinion, rentals will not
16:51
Speaker 2: be affected. How do you see it playing out?
16:54
Speaker 1: I wrote about this, I don't know a month ago, Alana,
16:56
Speaker 1: and the guys who are signed through towenty twenty seven,
17:01
Speaker 1: they're the ones that are difficult to price because we
17:06
Speaker 1: don't know what twenty twenty seven is going to be
17:09
Speaker 1: now at the end of the day, this was the
17:11
Speaker 1: conclusion from that article. Teams are going to do what
17:14
Speaker 1: they do, and they're not necessarily going to be scared
17:17
Speaker 1: off by the lockout. If there is a player who
17:20
Speaker 1: is under contract or eligible for free agency after twenty
17:26
Speaker 1: twenty seven, under control through twenty twenty seven, and a
17:29
Speaker 1: team has a need, they're going to try to fill
17:31
Speaker 1: that need and win in twenty twenty six, So it
17:35
Speaker 1: will have some effect I would expect, at least in
17:38
Speaker 1: the negotiations. But in the end I would expect those
17:42
Speaker 1: players would get moved, just as any players would get moved.
17:47
Speaker 2: Armand has a statement and opinion, if you will, in
17:50
Speaker 2: regards to David Stearns. Ken. He doesn't believe that Stearns
17:53
Speaker 2: gets fired, and by the way, if he does, he's
17:56
Speaker 2: not going to feel sorry for him. He does believe
17:59
Speaker 2: that Cohen's Cohen, the owner of the Mets, should hire
18:01
Speaker 2: Dodgers assistant GM or GM Brandon Dome. So I guess
18:05
Speaker 2: the question here Ken is does David Stearns deserve more
18:09
Speaker 2: time in the role before he perhaps is on the
18:13
Speaker 2: hot seat.
18:15
Speaker 1: I wrote about this in that column today, and certainly
18:19
Speaker 1: Stearns has had two years of poor decisions in many cases,
18:24
Speaker 1: not all many. And at the same time, Steve Cohen
18:30
Speaker 1: waited two years to get David Stearns. That was after
18:32
Speaker 1: having three GMS in four years or something like that,
18:35
Speaker 1: four and three years, whatever the case might be. They
18:37
Speaker 1: ran through people while waiting for David Sterns. It was
18:41
Speaker 1: four and three years. I don't expect Steve Cohen is
18:44
Speaker 1: going to be too quick to fire David Stearns when
18:49
Speaker 1: all the reasons he wanted him, the good things that
18:52
Speaker 1: happened in Milwaukee still are not or still are part
18:56
Speaker 1: of his history. He has done a lot of good
18:59
Speaker 1: things in the past. He's a smart guy. He is
19:03
Speaker 1: relatively humble. Actually shouldn't even say relatively. He's humble. He
19:07
Speaker 1: gets it, he gets that they're failing, and he gets
19:09
Speaker 1: that it's on him. So do you fire that guy
19:12
Speaker 1: off a couple of bad years? Maybe you do. I
19:15
Speaker 1: know he's making ten million dollars a year through twenty
19:17
Speaker 1: twenty eight. That's not something that's going to stop Steve Cohen.
19:20
Speaker 1: But the danger in firing a Sterns or any of
19:23
Speaker 1: the people on my list today is the sport is
19:26
Speaker 1: not exactly teeming with GM types guys you can point
19:30
Speaker 1: to or women and say, man, I need to get
19:33
Speaker 1: him now. Armand is pointed to one Brandon Gomes. But
19:38
Speaker 1: there aren't a lot of them, So be careful what
19:41
Speaker 1: you wish for. In certain cases, Sterns might be the
19:44
Speaker 1: best guy who you can have with this organization. Certainly,
19:47
Speaker 1: there is value to continuity. I know They've had a
19:50
Speaker 1: down year with their farm system in many ways, even
19:52
Speaker 1: with youing and Bene coming out. But he has put
19:55
Speaker 1: processes in place in player development that have been good
20:00
Speaker 1: the Mets, So I'm not ready to give up on
20:03
Speaker 1: him yet. I didn't like a lot of what he
20:04
Speaker 1: did last offseason. I'll admit that, and I wrote it.
20:08
Speaker 1: But again, sometimes it's too quick to make a decision
20:13
Speaker 1: on executives who have a couple of bad years.
20:16
Speaker 2: Can I have a question about the Giants, but I'm
20:18
Speaker 2: gonna wait to get into that in Dudes and Dorks
20:21
Speaker 2: of the Week. But before we get to that, I
20:23
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21:09
Speaker 1: I'm the dude, so that's what you call me.
21:15
Speaker 2: All right, it is time for our Dude of the Week.
21:19
Speaker 2: I'll go first on this one. And it's not because
21:21
Speaker 2: I cover the Dodgers. Guys. This guy deserves some accolades
21:24
Speaker 2: in my opinion, first ballot Hall of Famer Freddie Freeman
21:27
Speaker 2: coming up on four hundred home runs five hundred and
21:30
Speaker 2: sixty six career doubles, he is in really great company
21:36
Speaker 2: in terms of that. Only twelve players have hit five
21:38
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty doubles and four hundred home runs in
21:40
Speaker 2: their career. Almost all of them can are in the
21:43
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame. Freddie Freeman is twenty home runs from
21:46
Speaker 2: joining that club. You can see the list of Hall
21:48
Speaker 2: of Famers with four hundred homers five hundred and fifty doubles,
21:50
Speaker 2: all but three are in the hall. So congratulations to
21:55
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman, who is just a class act and unbelievable player.
21:59
Speaker 2: He is my dude the week.
22:01
Speaker 1: All right. My dude is Dansby Swanson and a week
22:04
Speaker 1: ago you could have named him dork of the week.
22:07
Speaker 1: He was of a horrible slump. But first three games
22:11
Speaker 1: of the Mets series, with one to play, he has
22:14
Speaker 1: fifteen RBIs. Fifteen RBIs and three games. I know RBIs
22:18
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily a fashionable statistics, well, for fifteen is pretty
22:22
Speaker 1: good now, Dansby Swanson. In the last eight days, he's
22:25
Speaker 1: gotten hot. Even before this series he has raised his
22:28
Speaker 1: ops about one hundred points up to six eighty eight.
22:32
Speaker 1: Still not where he wants to be, but good for
22:34
Speaker 1: him for sticking through it and hanging in there, and
22:37
Speaker 1: good for him. Fifteen RBIs and three games is rather incredible.
22:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, he went to bed and had fifteen rbi fewer
22:45
Speaker 2: than when he woke up basically the next day. So
22:47
Speaker 2: congratulations to Dansby Swanson on a heck of a couple
22:51
Speaker 2: of games. All right, time now for our dorks of
22:54
Speaker 2: the week, all right, Ken my dork of the week,
23:05
Speaker 2: and we could choose others I could have chosen Dalton
23:08
Speaker 2: Rushing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. More on that coming
23:11
Speaker 2: up in Dodgers territory with myself, Clympesius and Katie Wu
23:15
Speaker 2: at three Eastern. But my dork of the week is
23:18
Speaker 2: in the division and it is Rafael Devers. And this
23:22
Speaker 2: is a situation ken and if you and for those
23:25
Speaker 2: watching and listening, if you didn't see it, Rafael Devers
23:27
Speaker 2: was at first base and Tony Vittello, his manager, wanted
23:31
Speaker 2: him to come out of the game for a pinch runner,
23:33
Speaker 2: and he basically waved the pinch runner away absolutely in
23:38
Speaker 2: my opinion, and in subordinate call against his manager. The
23:42
Speaker 2: poor guy pinch running was like in the middle of
23:44
Speaker 2: the dugout and first base, like, what do I do?
23:46
Speaker 2: I got to listen to my manager, But Rafael Devers,
23:48
Speaker 2: a veteran player, is waving me off.
23:51
Speaker 1: Now.
23:51
Speaker 2: Rafael Devers went on to say that it was some
23:53
Speaker 2: miscommunication that he was thinking that maybe Vittello wanted to
23:58
Speaker 2: take him out of the game because of a hamstring
24:00
Speaker 2: issue and that wasn't the case. And then he went
24:02
Speaker 2: ahead and continued and blamed it on the media. I'm
24:06
Speaker 2: saying that the media it's our fault can that we
24:08
Speaker 2: blow everything out of proportion. What I'm saying with Rafael
24:12
Speaker 2: Devers is it's one bad look after another bad look
24:15
Speaker 2: after another bad look, and it continues to be. This
24:18
Speaker 2: is a guy obviously that the situation coming from Boston
24:22
Speaker 2: to San Francisco was not handled well by the Boston
24:25
Speaker 2: Red Sox at all, But that to me was an
24:28
Speaker 2: insubordinate and very classless move for him to wave off
24:31
Speaker 2: his manager's decision and then say that it was miscommunication
24:36
Speaker 2: and then blame it on the media. So, for that
24:38
Speaker 2: reason and a number of reasons over the course of
24:40
Speaker 2: his career recently, Rafael Devers is my dork of the week.
24:44
Speaker 1: All right, a lot. I'm gonna stick with the same team,
24:46
Speaker 1: but go way broader. The San Francisco Giants are my
24:50
Speaker 1: dork of the week, and it relates to the Pride
24:53
Speaker 1: Night controversy. Now, I'm not going to talk about the
24:56
Speaker 1: player's decisions to write on their caps or not where
24:59
Speaker 1: their We're not doing culture wars here. What I'm talking
25:03
Speaker 1: about is the organization and as I wrote today, the
25:07
Speaker 1: organizational failure that took place from start to finish in
25:11
Speaker 1: this thing. Now, let me explain something that a lot
25:14
Speaker 1: of people do not understand. Before getting into the Giants
25:18
Speaker 1: with wearing caps wearing Pride night caps. There are only
25:22
Speaker 1: two teams, the Giants and the Dodgers, who had it
25:25
Speaker 1: grandfathered in that they could do that. Baseball basically does
25:29
Speaker 1: not allow teams to wear caps for a special occasion
25:33
Speaker 1: except in really narrow defined, narrowly defined situations, as the
25:38
Speaker 1: Commissioner Rob Manford explained this week. So a couple of
25:42
Speaker 1: years ago, the Dodgers and Giants said, we would still
25:44
Speaker 1: like to wear the caps to show support for the
25:46
Speaker 1: LGBTQ community. They're large communities, they've supported us, we want
25:51
Speaker 1: to support them, and it was grandfathered in that they
25:53
Speaker 1: could do that. Now, as part of that, the players
25:58
Speaker 1: are not obligated to wear the cap and the Giants.
26:01
Speaker 1: Step one that was a mistake was not communicating that
26:05
Speaker 1: to the players properly. Now. I don't know if that's
26:07
Speaker 1: on Vitello, if it's on President Baseball Operations Buster Posey,
26:12
Speaker 1: but the players should have been told, guys, you do
26:14
Speaker 1: not have to wear the caps, and maybe then they
26:17
Speaker 1: wouldn't have written on the caps. Now, then the whole
26:20
Speaker 1: thing blows up becomes part of the culture wars, and
26:23
Speaker 1: you have a situation a couple of days ago where
26:26
Speaker 1: Buster Posey is facing the media for the first time
26:29
Speaker 1: since the Devs incident and the first time since this
26:32
Speaker 1: all came up, and he refuses to answer questions about
26:36
Speaker 1: the Pride Night controversy, saying baseball questions only well players
26:42
Speaker 1: wore caps with biblical inscriptions on them onto the field,
26:46
Speaker 1: that's baseball. The Commissioner of Baseball, Rob Manford, wrote a
26:50
Speaker 1: letter to a Senator informing the senator that there was
26:54
Speaker 1: a miscommunication with the Giants that they effectively screw this
26:57
Speaker 1: thing up. Throw the Giants under the bus talking about
27:01
Speaker 1: something that happened in baseball. Now, I don't necessarily blame
27:05
Speaker 1: Posey for this, because I don't know that he was
27:07
Speaker 1: the right guy to answer those questions. Giants have a
27:10
Speaker 1: team president named Larry Bear. He could have done it.
27:12
Speaker 1: The Giants also could have coached Posey better and discussed
27:16
Speaker 1: this at greater length than evidently they did, so he
27:19
Speaker 1: could have answered the questions effectively, and the questions were,
27:23
Speaker 1: in my view, not that difficult to answer. All he
27:26
Speaker 1: had to say was our players made their decisions. We
27:29
Speaker 1: support that community. We historically have done that, and that
27:32
Speaker 1: is that. And you want to apologize for the hurt
27:36
Speaker 1: that it coust, you can do that too. The Giants
27:38
Speaker 1: had earlier done that in a statement, but man, they
27:42
Speaker 1: went and screwed this up every step of the way.
27:45
Speaker 1: San Francisco Giants throws of the week.
27:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, top to bottom. It was not handled appropriately. You
27:50
Speaker 2: can get more information on this. Your colleague Grant Brisbee
27:54
Speaker 2: in The Athletic wrote a column on this very thing. Well,
27:57
Speaker 2: that's going to do it for us here on fair
27:58
Speaker 2: territory with Rosenthal. Foul territory is coming up next to
28:03
Speaker 2: Eric Kratz, Kevin Palar with our guy Scott braun Tyler Kepner,
28:06
Speaker 2: Joe Madden joins them, and then the Dodgers territory is
28:09
Speaker 2: after that. After that, Ken is back on Monday. Have
28:12
Speaker 2: a great weekend, everybody. Bye bye,