Latest / Foul Territory / Padres checkup w/Kevin Acee: Pitching Hype, Misunderstood Manny

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Padres checkup w/Kevin Acee: Pitching Hype, Misunderstood Manny · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: What Manny Machado has done in the last two seasons.
0:03
Speaker 1: It's one of the most impressive things I've seen. I'm
0:06
Speaker 1: not overstating it, I promise you.
0:11
Speaker 2: Virtolie Air kratz Ada Prasinski, joined by Kevin ac Kevin,
0:15
Speaker 2: how are you Padrey's beat writer?
0:17
Speaker 3: Longtime Potter's beat writer? How long you been? You even
0:19
Speaker 3: covered the Potter's Kevin, I back.
0:22
Speaker 1: Doing baseball for only eight years. Actually, when I say only,
0:26
Speaker 1: it's only May, so by August that'll feel like twenty years.
0:28
Speaker 1: You know how that is?
0:29
Speaker 2: They're dog years though, so really so really it's what
0:33
Speaker 2: sixty four years?
0:35
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, but hey, I've only been on a couple
0:38
Speaker 1: of times, but every time the lead in I always
0:40
Speaker 1: find it very fascinating. I love your guys conversations.
0:45
Speaker 3: Thank you, Kevin, appreciate it.
0:47
Speaker 2: So we were talking about this last segment a little bit,
0:49
Speaker 2: but take me through the Padres jump out to this
0:53
Speaker 2: incredible start, And you know, when I saw you in
0:56
Speaker 2: spring training, I think the vibe was kind of like, well,
0:59
Speaker 2: this team's window might be kind of shut or behind them,
1:02
Speaker 2: and nobody really had outside big expectations. What has kind
1:07
Speaker 2: of propelled them through this first month. I know, they
1:10
Speaker 2: got spupped by Tampa Bay come down to earth here
1:12
Speaker 2: a little bit later in April, but what has propelled
1:15
Speaker 2: them into such a good month and being able to say.
1:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe they can't compete with the Dodgers again this year.
1:23
Speaker 1: Maybe. I mean, one sixty two is a long time
1:25
Speaker 1: to compete with the Dodgers. But they are a dangerous team.
1:28
Speaker 1: And I don't know that anyone why anyone would have
1:31
Speaker 1: thought that twenty twenty five was the closing of their window. Now,
1:36
Speaker 1: the start to the season, I mean, Jackson Merrill was
1:39
Speaker 1: just so significant in you know, his first ten games
1:42
Speaker 1: and then had to obviously go on the injured list,
1:44
Speaker 1: and that had a lot to do with the slide.
1:46
Speaker 1: Jay Coronerworth goes on the injured list right after him,
1:48
Speaker 1: and then a little bit after that, they lost Luis
1:51
Speaker 1: a Rise for a week and that's three of their
1:53
Speaker 1: six core players, but Fernando Touchies junior start to the season.
1:59
Speaker 1: The pitching staff, in particular the bullpen, which you thought
2:02
Speaker 1: was a strength. I think what happened is they had
2:05
Speaker 1: the kind of stretch, whether you go to the ten games,
2:10
Speaker 1: the twelve games, the nineteen games, when they were fifteen
2:12
Speaker 1: and four before they went to Houston the middle of
2:14
Speaker 1: last month. They had the kind of stretch that good
2:17
Speaker 1: teams have. They had it at the beginning of the year.
2:19
Speaker 1: And now that's not to say they can't have it again,
2:21
Speaker 1: but it just came at the beginning of the year.
2:23
Speaker 1: You know, like when a player starts out hitting four
2:26
Speaker 1: fifty for the first month, and you know, guys do that.
2:29
Speaker 1: Good players do that in the middle of the season.
2:32
Speaker 1: The Potterys did it at the beginning of the season.
2:34
Speaker 1: Everything was going right. They're playing a certain kind of way,
2:37
Speaker 1: which I do think bodes well for them to be
2:40
Speaker 1: a playoff team, to not go and sustain slumps. They
2:44
Speaker 1: have good players, then most of them are playing well.
2:49
Speaker 4: Kevin, you said that the Dodgers and Potters have to
2:52
Speaker 4: compete for one hundred and sixty two.
2:53
Speaker 5: I disagree.
2:54
Speaker 4: All the Padres have to do is get into the
2:56
Speaker 4: playoffs and beat them four out of seven or three
2:58
Speaker 4: out of five, like the one sixty two doesn't matter.
3:02
Speaker 4: Just get in and take your shot. Because they had
3:04
Speaker 4: them last year. I mean, if you look at it,
3:06
Speaker 4: you asked the Dodgers, you asked the Padres.
3:09
Speaker 5: They had them. They were the last team to beat
3:10
Speaker 5: them them in the Diamondbacks. Remember in twenty two they
3:13
Speaker 5: beat them in.
3:14
Speaker 4: That great series with the Goose and all that stuff,
3:16
Speaker 4: and then the Diamondbacks did in twenty three.
3:18
Speaker 5: But the Padres are not afraid of the Dodgers.
3:21
Speaker 4: I think that's what we overlook And if they get
3:23
Speaker 4: into a series, forget the one sixty two, just get
3:26
Speaker 4: in and play them in a five game series or
3:27
Speaker 4: a seven game series, and they'll take their chances against them.
3:30
Speaker 4: They love playing and the fans, oh baby, the fans
3:34
Speaker 4: in San Diego beat Lachin and pet Goo is as
3:37
Speaker 4: good as it gets.
3:39
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree with you. I was responding to the
3:42
Speaker 1: Dodgers competing for the division title over one sixty two. Look,
3:47
Speaker 1: the Potters will not concede that, but they also feel
3:50
Speaker 1: the way that you do. And it's the way that
3:52
Speaker 1: I feel as someone who has watched them face the
3:55
Speaker 1: Dodgers and watched the Dodgers in the postseason and knows
3:58
Speaker 1: what the Padres bring and turns their off three starters
4:00
Speaker 1: in terms of their dangerous players, in terms of how
4:03
Speaker 1: Fernando Tatis Junior rises to the occasion against the Dodgers
4:07
Speaker 1: year after year, so that you Darvish if you know
4:11
Speaker 1: if he's back and healthy at that point, and how
4:14
Speaker 1: he pitches against the Dodgers. Absolutely, that is what it
4:18
Speaker 1: has become about. I mean, it's I happen to like it.
4:21
Speaker 1: I happen to like how you go into postseason baseball,
4:25
Speaker 1: and then it's it just changes so much. I just
4:28
Speaker 1: think over one sixty two, the Dodgers can kind of
4:32
Speaker 1: you know it, it's gonna be tough. But look, like
4:35
Speaker 1: I said, the Padres are a dangerous team, very very
4:39
Speaker 1: dangerous team.
4:40
Speaker 6: Before we get into the nooks and crannies of this team,
4:44
Speaker 6: have they made enough adjustments to beat the Dodgers in
4:48
Speaker 6: the playoffs? Because in the offseason you go and you say,
4:51
Speaker 6: all right, I want to make this adjustment. I wanted
4:54
Speaker 6: to make this adjustment.
4:55
Speaker 5: All we heard about the Padres.
4:56
Speaker 6: Was we might have to get rid of Dylan Ce
5:00
Speaker 6: shed payroll with getting Luis a rise off the and
5:03
Speaker 6: it was like, wait, what, you were so close that
5:05
Speaker 6: Dodgers even said you were so close. So have they
5:08
Speaker 6: made the adjustments with the personnel on the field.
5:13
Speaker 1: I would have said emphatically so before they just went
5:15
Speaker 1: thirty innings without scoring, But that was thirty innings without scoring,
5:19
Speaker 1: without Louis a Rise without Jackson Merrill, without Jake Cronenworth,
5:22
Speaker 1: and so I do believe that this team, the way
5:26
Speaker 1: that they play, the way that Mike Shilt has them playing,
5:30
Speaker 1: and it is pretty remarkable how they have responded to
5:32
Speaker 1: that over a season, plus every player and the buy in.
5:38
Speaker 1: I do absolutely believe that a healthy Padres team is
5:42
Speaker 1: still that team that you know, the twenty four innings
5:45
Speaker 1: at the end last year, that pretty much explains it, right,
5:48
Speaker 1: Dylan Seas didn't have a great start in Game five,
5:51
Speaker 1: they chose to go with Dylan twice on short rest.
5:55
Speaker 1: I absolutely believe it to me, like the off season
6:00
Speaker 1: and this isn't good for business, but it's like, folks,
6:02
Speaker 1: like year after year the Potters have won the off
6:05
Speaker 1: season and it hasn't worked out, like spectacularly hasn't worked out.
6:09
Speaker 1: The Potters have been kind of like, as you said,
6:13
Speaker 1: that was the narrative and it was not a false
6:15
Speaker 1: narrative for this off season. And now look they're, you know,
6:19
Speaker 1: arguably one of the top five teams in baseball. They're
6:23
Speaker 1: certainly looking like a playoff team. It's like the off
6:26
Speaker 1: season like.
6:29
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7:31
Speaker 1: And yes, you answer your question, it's not like they
7:33
Speaker 1: did nothing. They have made some strategic moves. Nick patheta
7:37
Speaker 1: for goodness sake is like a revelation.
7:41
Speaker 3: Yeah. Still, though they haven't done that much.
7:44
Speaker 2: Considering aj Preller is their GM and it seems like
7:47
Speaker 2: he just loves making move after a move and surprise
7:49
Speaker 2: after surprise.
7:50
Speaker 3: With the ownership situation, Kevin, is that.
7:53
Speaker 2: A little more Has it given them a little bit
7:56
Speaker 2: more stability kind of knowing who's in charge and if
7:59
Speaker 2: they are going to continue to compete like this, do
8:01
Speaker 2: you feel like aj Powler will be allowed to make
8:05
Speaker 2: adjustments at the deadline and maybe take on some more payroll,
8:08
Speaker 2: even though, like you said, they've done so much over
8:10
Speaker 2: the last couple of years, it would be a shame
8:12
Speaker 2: to all of a sudden now tighten the purse strings
8:14
Speaker 2: or to say, no, we're not going to go all in.
8:17
Speaker 1: It is my understanding that they have what some in
8:20
Speaker 1: the organization called dry powder for the trade deadline like
8:24
Speaker 1: they had last year. I mean, those were some incredible,
8:28
Speaker 1: cost effective moves that made them, at the end of
8:31
Speaker 1: the season probably the best bullpen. Now I stayed that
8:35
Speaker 1: and then they ran up against the perfect bullpen game
8:37
Speaker 1: against the Dodgers. So that was a pretty good bullpen
8:39
Speaker 1: in the postseason. But the Padres had a really good
8:42
Speaker 1: bullpen as a matter of fact, one of them's with
8:43
Speaker 1: the Dodgers now, and so I do believe they have
8:48
Speaker 1: that dry powder. They need to stay healthy. Like their
8:53
Speaker 1: bullpen is pretty darn good. They have some ascending guys
8:56
Speaker 1: in there in Estrada Mora Hoane Jason Adams one of
8:59
Speaker 1: the best. Robert Suarez is picked very well that he has
9:03
Speaker 1: done some things to add to his repertoire and become
9:06
Speaker 1: very very efficient as a closer. They have to stay healthy.
9:13
Speaker 4: Try I don't know what dry powder is, but you know.
9:18
Speaker 1: Either do I. But the gist is I think this
9:20
Speaker 1: goes back to you know, guns and that sort of
9:23
Speaker 1: thing and and all that they have the ability to spend.
9:27
Speaker 4: Okay, good, I was thinking something else, So thank you
9:29
Speaker 4: for getting me back on the right track.
9:31
Speaker 6: Okay.
9:32
Speaker 4: So I gotta know this as somebody that that Brent
9:36
Speaker 4: covered for years, Manny Machado. Does he not get enough
9:39
Speaker 4: credit because we've heard bad things, you know, There's been
9:42
Speaker 4: a lot of stories about Manny and you've seen it
9:45
Speaker 4: and this and that. But he's the one constant on
9:47
Speaker 4: this team since he got there. He plays every day,
9:51
Speaker 4: he plays through injuries, he plays their base, He hits
9:53
Speaker 4: third in the lineup, he gets big hits for him.
9:56
Speaker 4: Does he not get enough credit? And maybe brit can
9:58
Speaker 4: also answer this because she covered him. He was a
10:00
Speaker 4: younger player. But does he not get enough credit? And
10:03
Speaker 4: do we still look back and think, man, he's still
10:05
Speaker 4: the guy that threw the bat at the picture and
10:07
Speaker 4: him and Donaldson got into it.
10:08
Speaker 5: Has he matured to a point where we need to
10:10
Speaker 5: give him more credit as a leader.
10:12
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you asked I must. I don't
10:16
Speaker 1: want to say astounded. I like to think that I
10:18
Speaker 1: have great faith in human beings, but I got to
10:21
Speaker 1: if I am astounded. It is a one compliment to
10:24
Speaker 1: Manny Machado and the growth as the person, the growth
10:28
Speaker 1: as a leader, the growth as a teammate, the maturity,
10:32
Speaker 1: the buy in. I give a lot of credit to
10:35
Speaker 1: the guys around him, to Mike Shilt as well, but
10:38
Speaker 1: Manny Machado's the guy who had to say, like I'm
10:42
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna actually be this leader and I'm gonna
10:46
Speaker 1: actually be this guy. And that's not to say that
10:48
Speaker 1: he didn't have those some of those qualities, that he
10:51
Speaker 1: didn't do some things, but like we all evolve, and
10:54
Speaker 1: many will be the first person to tell you that
10:56
Speaker 1: in not so many words, that you know that we
10:59
Speaker 1: all grow right, thankfully so, but I could not be
11:05
Speaker 1: And I talk about all the time. I talk about
11:06
Speaker 1: it with teammates. I've talked about it with Manny. I've
11:09
Speaker 1: said it elsewhere. Like what Manny Machado has done in
11:13
Speaker 1: the last two seasons to become the Manny Machado he
11:16
Speaker 1: is now the member of this the member of this team,
11:20
Speaker 1: so leader and teammate. It is one I've been doing
11:25
Speaker 1: this for thirty years. It's one of the most impressive
11:29
Speaker 1: things I've seen. I'm not overstating it, I promise you.
11:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree with that, Kevin. I also think
11:36
Speaker 2: too what people don't realize. And I had somebody in
11:39
Speaker 2: the organization say, you know, there's no one that's misunderstood
11:42
Speaker 2: in baseball as Manny Machada, which I find is a
11:44
Speaker 2: perfect way to kind of encapsulate it. What I kind
11:47
Speaker 2: of point to a lot is that many posts, and
11:49
Speaker 2: I think that's a dying thing in baseball, in the
11:52
Speaker 2: age of workloads and in mode management and all this
11:56
Speaker 2: other stuff. Manny Machada plays, he plays hurt, he plays
11:59
Speaker 2: banged up. He prides himself on not going on the
12:01
Speaker 2: injured list. And I think even when he wasn't this
12:05
Speaker 2: great leader even when he was evolving and figuring out
12:07
Speaker 2: who he was. That speaks volumes, right, And that goes
12:10
Speaker 2: back to Adam Jones Pickmark Cacus days in Baltimore. But
12:13
Speaker 2: you know, I think that guys now watch guys like
12:16
Speaker 2: that and they're like this guy I saw in the
12:18
Speaker 2: training room for two hours.
12:19
Speaker 3: He could barely walk and he's still playing. I'm gonna play.
12:21
Speaker 3: I think that speaks volumes as well.
12:23
Speaker 2: And I hope we get back to a place in
12:25
Speaker 2: baseball where we are still valuing games played as well.
12:31
Speaker 1: Absolutely Bretton And one of the reasons that I mean,
12:33
Speaker 1: I've always I came on because of Britt. I'm pretty tired.
12:36
Speaker 1: I took a red eye, but I was like, I
12:37
Speaker 1: got to get on there with the Manny Whisperer. I
12:39
Speaker 1: got it, so always like to talk to Britt and
12:42
Speaker 1: like to talk Manny h with Britt. I it would
12:46
Speaker 1: be simplifying it too much for me to say, like
12:48
Speaker 1: even look, even when I was one of the guys
12:50
Speaker 1: who wrote stories about and one story in particular about
12:55
Speaker 1: where Manny needed some growth, I was consistently writing about
12:59
Speaker 1: him posting and about teammates looking up to that. What
13:02
Speaker 1: he has added to that is also this like willingness
13:07
Speaker 1: to then Whereas before, let's say, Manny's whole thing was
13:13
Speaker 1: I post and I have a nine hundred ops and
13:16
Speaker 1: that's good enough. That's my leadership. Now Manny is involved
13:20
Speaker 1: in infield before games because that's important to Mike Shild.
13:25
Speaker 1: Now they works together and it's five minutes to keep
13:28
Speaker 1: mister no small talk, you know, keep me engaged, to
13:32
Speaker 1: keep Manny buying into it. And so that's like a
13:36
Speaker 1: you know, work together thing that I give Mike Shilt
13:38
Speaker 1: credit for, but Manny credit for for, like, hey, this
13:41
Speaker 1: is important to my manager, to my coaches, to the
13:44
Speaker 1: young guys to see that I'm also out here doing this.
13:48
Speaker 1: And last, of course, you know I need to be
13:50
Speaker 1: in there because I could barely move my hip or
13:52
Speaker 1: my elbow and I'm still gonna play. But I got
13:55
Speaker 1: to get my two and a half three hours four
13:57
Speaker 1: hours of treatment, like Manny has always done that. What
14:00
Speaker 1: he's evolved to is becoming more of like a guy
14:03
Speaker 1: who's who's involved and everything that the team wants him
14:07
Speaker 1: to be. And like ah, and I guess maybe the
14:10
Speaker 1: reason that I'm so impressed by that is. I was
14:13
Speaker 1: kind of like, hey, this guy plays every day, like
14:16
Speaker 1: leave him alone, dude. Like I mean, I covered a
14:18
Speaker 1: lot of guys like that back in the nineties early
14:21
Speaker 1: two thousands, where it's like that's all they do is play.
14:25
Speaker 1: They don't give you know, whot about anything else. But
14:28
Speaker 1: Manny has now become like this full service like superstar.
14:32
Speaker 1: And that's the part that has impressed me. Kevin.
14:36
Speaker 6: Let's talk about you, not the present you, but you
14:39
Speaker 6: Darvish my favorite when he's oh dang it and when
14:44
Speaker 6: he's coming back, not just him being able to be
14:48
Speaker 6: active and being on this roster and building his pitch
14:50
Speaker 6: count up, but the fact that they're going with a
14:53
Speaker 6: four man rotation right now. How much is this going
14:56
Speaker 6: to affect them? And how are they going to ease
15:00
Speaker 6: him in?
15:01
Speaker 1: Should I say, Yeah, this four man rotate isn't gonna
15:04
Speaker 1: last for like a week because they got six games
15:06
Speaker 1: in our own next week, and the way that the
15:07
Speaker 1: off days line up, it's just not gonna work out.
15:10
Speaker 1: So they'll they'll go through it right now and then
15:12
Speaker 1: get back and then you the way it's lining up,
15:14
Speaker 1: maybe the end of May, five innings, you know, five
15:17
Speaker 1: innings a couple of times and then beginning of June
15:20
Speaker 1: maybe be able to even face the Dodgers. It was
15:23
Speaker 1: always going to be a plan. It was gonna be
15:25
Speaker 1: thirty nine in August. Has had obviously a little bit
15:29
Speaker 1: of nagging stuff, the verge of serious stuff for almost
15:33
Speaker 1: every year he's been with the Padres, So it was
15:35
Speaker 1: always gonna be a plan. We're gonna find a way
15:38
Speaker 1: to rest you, Darvish. So that guy we saw in
15:40
Speaker 1: September I had like a two era and then that
15:43
Speaker 1: you know, pitched well enough to win one game and
15:46
Speaker 1: should have you know, well enough to win another game
15:50
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Like that that you, Darvish, Like, that's
15:54
Speaker 1: what we need in September and hopefully October. So we're
15:57
Speaker 1: gonna be careful with you. That's what they're doing now
16:01
Speaker 1: with him. They look if Pavetta is really this guy
16:05
Speaker 1: who's not giving up homers, who is getting swing and
16:08
Speaker 1: miss in the zone, whose basketball looks like it's going
16:10
Speaker 1: one hundred and twelve miles an hour when it's going
16:12
Speaker 1: ninety four, Like, if that's Pavetta for the whole year,
16:15
Speaker 1: Dylan Seze finds himself. We haven't talked about that. He's struggling.
16:19
Speaker 1: Michael King is who he's been. If you Darvish can
16:22
Speaker 1: be added to that, that's a heck of a rotation.
16:25
Speaker 5: Agreed.
16:26
Speaker 4: By the way, Kevin, I'm just going from your comments,
16:28
Speaker 4: and you're not a big NBA fan, you know, load
16:30
Speaker 4: management and sitting out and the NBA.
16:32
Speaker 5: Playoffs are going on.
16:33
Speaker 4: There was I know there was quite the I don't
16:35
Speaker 4: know if it was an upset last night, but there's
16:37
Speaker 4: a guy who's all into the load management.
16:38
Speaker 5: They couldn't get it done. I'm just saying, just saying,
16:40
Speaker 5: so let's get him about that of.
16:42
Speaker 4: A certain cover about that, Let's get him out of
16:43
Speaker 4: a certain conversation. Please.
16:46
Speaker 1: Well, I talked about how with Manny wants. You know,
16:48
Speaker 1: Manny likes to lecture me. And I'm not saying just me,
16:51
Speaker 1: but like he likes to lecture me as if I've
16:53
Speaker 1: never thought of these things. But that's one thing electrically
16:55
Speaker 1: on Spring was baseball and how difficult it is and
16:58
Speaker 1: how different it is. Uge NBA fan, so he knows
17:01
Speaker 1: all about that stuff. He talks about that's very important
17:04
Speaker 1: to him that he plays every day. So believe me,
17:06
Speaker 1: Manny has schooled me on the NBA.
17:11
Speaker 3: Well, thanks so much, Kevin. We will let you get
17:13
Speaker 3: back to is that coffee? Is that alcohol? We don't
17:15
Speaker 3: judge either way. I don't know what's in that hotel
17:17
Speaker 3: cup that you got going on right there.
17:20
Speaker 1: This is pre workout, so that's both to keep me
17:22
Speaker 1: awake and so that I can work out at my
17:24
Speaker 1: advanced age.
17:29
Speaker 3: Well, thanks so much.
17:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you. You guys.
17:34
Speaker 5: Enjoy Pittsburgh.
17:37
Speaker 1: You guys need to talk more about Pittsburgh. It's my
17:39
Speaker 1: favorite city.
17:41
Speaker 2: It's great. It's so underrated. Just fix the team. It
17:44
Speaker 2: is like one of the best cities to go to.
17:46
Speaker 3: Agreed. You got primanty brothers.
17:48
Speaker 2: You got the beautiful like walking over the bridge seeing
17:51
Speaker 2: the Clemente statue.
17:52
Speaker 3: You got the awesome press box. It's a great setup.
17:55
Speaker 3: There's just no favs.
18:00
Speaker 1: Hobbies are missing Skemes for the second year, how about that.
18:03
Speaker 1: But they're missing Merrill. So hey, yeah, don't see you guys.