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A's Midseason Checkpoint: Bolte, Injuries, and a Teetering Rotation · The House Always Wins Media Network | A’s Baseball Podcasts

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Episode 11.
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It is May 11th of All on Green and if you guys are tuning in, we appreciate you guys.
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Big stud, my friend.
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It's been a week.
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Another road trip behind us for the A's.
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How we doing, man?
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Not too bad.
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You know, I feel like there's parts in every single week of the season so far where I get
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ready to come on halfway through the week and I'm like, hey, we're winning the World
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Series.
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And then there's another half where it's like, this team's not going to win 75 games.
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So it makes sense that they're 500 because those are my thoughts every single week.
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But it's exactly, you know, 3-3 week.
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It's exactly, I don't know, the whole season has kind of been like this.
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But curious your thoughts.
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Yeah, you know, we're a quarter of the way through this season, a 40 game mark here and
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the A's are 21-19.
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They're on pace for that 84-85 win mark.
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I don't know if they'll hit that number exactly just because of how streaky this team can
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be.
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I don't really know which team you're going to get each series either.
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It's just been kind of up and down in Philly.
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They just they kind of run into a buzzsaw.
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The Phillies are playing pretty good baseball and, you know, they get the big win to avoid
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the sweep.
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But it's just when they face good pitching, it feels like they just aren't going to get
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it together.
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And even, you know, Chris Bassett comes in after an opener and you just had that feeling
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of like Chris Bassett is going to have a good start against the A's.
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Like, of course, he's going to have a good start against the A's.
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And he does.
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He pitched really well.
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Really couldn't get anything together against him.
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But with all that said, I think 3-3 on a road trip like that, especially going back to the
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East Coast again, you'll take it every single time.
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It's much better than 2-4.
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It's a lot better than 1-5.
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So they avoided a sweep.
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And they also just come very, very short of completing a sweep in Baltimore, which was
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actually the notes that we had from last week was saying we could potentially see this team
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get swept in Philly and then potentially come back and sweep Baltimore.
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So curious your thoughts.
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OK, so we're 40 games into this thing.
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All right.
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And the AL West is horrible.
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It's pretty it's just like it's is Seattle going to get going at all?
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Is Texas going to get going at all?
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I don't really know.
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It doesn't really seem like it as of right now.
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But the A's find themselves in first place.
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It's not quite yet time to look at standings.
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But we currently have two teams with losing records holding a wild card spot in the American
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League.
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So what are your thoughts right now for the A's and just the American League in general?
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Yeah, I think it's a good year for obviously the A's that are not quite there yet from
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an actual competing standpoint to have the American League be this bad.
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So right now they're plus 164 to make the playoffs.
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So that's down a little bit from last week.
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And they're currently minus 120 to win 80 games.
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So 80 and a half is the over and over under.
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And it was 74 and a half before the season.
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So I feel like they're at a pretty good spot.
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And I keep saying this each podcast, if you would tell me that they're 21-19 after 40
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games, I would sign up for that all day, every day.
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And especially seeing how bad the rest of the division has been.
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I think we could write off obviously the Angels.
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The Astros, they feel like they've started slow the last several years and then they
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kind of turn it on.
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But we were not very high on them to start the season anyways.
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So I think their win total right now is 75.
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So I don't really expect to see them too much down the line, kind of climbing those standings.
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Rangers, again, I feel like their offense isn't great.
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Their pitching's decent.
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I think that they're probably not as good as the A's overall.
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And then even the Mariners, like Cal, which we called before the season, is one of the
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worst hitters statistically to start a season of all time.
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And someone said that he is pacing a break.
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Chris Davis is 168 record.
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I think he's at 161 right now.
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So I don't know if he's going to get going.
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Julio has been fine.
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The pitching's decent.
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But they're still minus 220 to make the playoffs.
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So right now it's pretty much Mariners, A's, Rangers.
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But overall, pretty happy.
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Now I know we have a lot to talk about in this past week with injuries and kind of some
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of the pitching luck.
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But I don't know.
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I'm trying to take stock 25% in and just say, hey, I'm pretty happy.
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And last year it was 22 and 20 before the massive negative stretch that they had.
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And the only difference, because right now 21 and 19, so they're basically right around
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the same time, is we knew how hard that schedule was going to be last May going into June.
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And now we look at the schedule moving forward, and there's a lot of winnable series.
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And I know we'll touch on the Cardinals and the Giants, but Giants have been not pretty
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good.
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Horrible.
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So bad.
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Horrible.
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So yeah.
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I don't know.
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I think we could stack some wins here.
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And heading to June, five games over 500 isn't too crazy.
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100%.
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And it's so funny about Seattle, too, because their pitching has been fine.
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But Castillo's been terrible for them.
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He's supposed to be their guy, and he's just not coming into his own so far this season.
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So I don't know, man.
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It's really hard to make out.
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If someone's going to get hot, we keep on saying this, and I hope it's not Seattle.
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I'd rather it be Texas, because I feel like Texas is a much more...
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You can get around them a little bit more, because their offense is so streaky, and Corey
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Seager still is not hitting.
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So I feel like the rest of this division right now is just so...
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These next handful of series for the A's are so important just to get ahead of things,
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especially against some of these bad teams coming up.
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So it was nice to get two out of three against Baltimore, who is not the best in the rest
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of the American League.
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Just not the best.
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But there was some breaking news today as we have Mr. Henry Bolte coming up from Las
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Vegas.
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I mean, he has been impossible to ignore down there.
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He has been on a tear.
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I mean, he had 12 straight at-bats, 12 straight hits.
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He's 22 years old, from Palo Alto High School.
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He's hitting .348.
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He had a 1,076 OPS, 12 homers, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 28 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases in
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just 37 games.
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He's actually improved in every aspect of his offensive game from last season in AAA.
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His average exit velocity is now up to 90.4 miles an hour.
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His chase rate went from 26% to 21% in his average launch angle, which is still something
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to look out for, according to AtArmondLayton8, is 3.1 degrees.
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So I think Henry has just been insane for Las Vegas.
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And I know you got to see him firsthand this spring, and you got to see him in person doing
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what he does best, running around, hitting the ball out of the ballpark, hitting the
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ball hard, which he does so often.
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What are you most excited for for his game and what he brings to this day's offense?
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Yeah, you could just tell, and I said that last podcast, there's something different
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watching him in spring training, him and Leo specifically.
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And it was funny because we were talking about him middle of April, and he was hitting like
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.250 in Vegas.
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And we're like, oh, he's probably still a ways away.
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Good thing he got some bats in AAA, hopefully he can work on some kinks.
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And all of a sudden, I checked yesterday, he's hitting .350.
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And even if you had Aaron Judge against Paul Blackburn, he's not going 12 for 12.
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That just doesn't happen in baseball.
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So for him to be 12 for 12 is just absolutely insane.
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So I don't know, we can expect a lot of speed, and not just the speed, but I think the home
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run power obviously is there too.
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And he is graded out as potential gold glove outfielder as well.
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So I don't know, I'm excited.
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They keep surprising me with some of the prospects.
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Everyone's kind of hit, Wilson, Kurtz, Soderstrom.
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I know he hasn't been as great this year, but I feel like just one after another, people
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are just really coming into their own.
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And even Tommy White's another guy that's been making some noise in Vegas.
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So I don't know, I'm excited for it.
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Like I said last time, I hope that he doesn't get the brow treatment.
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I think this Wilson injury kind of frees up some spots.
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They can get creative, you know, sticking Gelof at third.
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I don't know if I want to see Hernandez at short every single game.
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So it's going to be really interesting to see what they do here.
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But you got to give them two, three months of ups and downs.
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So what are your thoughts, though?
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Are you excited?
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He's got to play every single day, man.
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And I'm super excited because he is.
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He's been so raw in his minor league career so far, just a ton of strikeouts for the kid.
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But he's really starting to cut those down.
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And that's been really, really good to see, because we saw it, I think, in twenty twenty
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four.
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He had almost two hundred.
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I think it was one ninety for that year.
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And then he brings it back down in twenty twenty five, which is one hundred and forty
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and now just thirty nine so far in twenty twenty six.
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So you can see that he is actively working on what troubles him.
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And that's been the strikeouts and the swing and miss.
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So I think him just stepping up because he's not a college player.
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He came out of high school.
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He's still very young.
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Twenty two years old.
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I think his the steps that he's made this year, impossible to ignore.
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And he's just forced his hand.
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He's just saying, you can't keep me down here any longer.
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You're going to have to bring me up.
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And I love that from this kid, because, look, right now, there's a lot of opportunity, especially
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in center field with Lawrence Butler's not going to hit.
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OK, that's a great spot for him because we know Denzel Clark's not going to get out there.
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This is a great opportunity because Gelof can play center, sure.
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But Muncie still has not returned to baseball activities yet.
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And that broken finger could linger a little bit for him.
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And now with Jacob Wilson probably going on, you know, hopefully just two weeks of an I.L..
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Henry's got two weeks here to really just put himself in the lineup every single day
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and do an incredible job.
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Now, if Wilson comes back in two weeks and maybe three weeks after a rehab assignment,
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what happens from there?
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We'll see.
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I was just going to ask you, too, because Boltz, a man like short, compact swing, good
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power.
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He does a lot of good things to play, and he also can steal a ton of bags.
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I was going to ask you, what does he look like in this lineup and where do you put him
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in this lineup going forward with Jacob Wilson out?
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Yeah.
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So, I mean, Katsi's famous thing is, you know, batting someone third or fourth that they're
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going to DFA a week later.
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So he's kind of hard to kind of pin down of who he wants to bat where.
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But he's probably going to be seventh or eighth.
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Ideally, it's tricky because you want Kurtz and Shea to get at-bats in the first inning,
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right?
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Obviously.
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And then I like Wilson leadoff, so I would do Wilson, and then I would do Kurtz, then
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I would do Shea.
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Then I probably would do Rooker, who's looked a little bit better as of late.
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And then it kind of gets open.
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Probably Soderstrom and then maybe Boltz.
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But man, that's a really good lineup.
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But you obviously want some speed at the top of the lineup.
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And Boltz against Big League Arms, he is still projected to be a 260-270 guy with 25-30
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homers.
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So, I don't know.
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Ideally, maybe you try him out at two.
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But I think for the foreseeable future, next few games, next few weeks, probably like seven
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or eight.
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But is that kind of where you think he's going to be?
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Yeah.
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So, against the right-handed pitcher with Hernes probably more than likely taking the
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shortstop reps every single day with Wilson out, I would go against the righty, Kurtz,
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Shea, Rooker, Sode, Cortez, Gelof, Bolte, McNeil, Hernes.
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And then against the lefty, I would probably do Shea, Rooker, Kurtz, Thomas, Gelof, Sode,
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Bolte, Hernes, McNeil.
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So McNeil and Hernes holding it down for us.
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I mean, Hernes has just been awful.
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I don't want to see him like you just said.
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I don't want to see him out there every single day.
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But there isn't really any other options to play it short.
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I mean, I'm sure they can ask Zach Gelof to go over there and play it.
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I mean, the influx of outfielders is so great to have, but it would be really nice to have
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someone who could play shortstop and come up immediately.
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I know Leo DeVries is in the wings for sure, but he's going to be in Midland for at least
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another month it feels like.
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But just to mention Zach Gelof too.
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He's cooled off too lately.
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Yeah, definitely.
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I was going to mention that later too.
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And there's a couple of guys in Midland that have definitely cooled off, and we'll talk
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about those guys later.
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But Zach Gelof, okay, this guy has been incredible.
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And what Floppy Disk here says, super happy for Gelof, getting his confidence and swing
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back from 2023.
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He was one of the only bright spots and hope to the future back then, glad they still held
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on to him.
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And I am as well.
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And Rance and I, who is in the chat over here, he's talking about Henry Bolte, shout out
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to Rance.
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I'll be on Rance Live tomorrow night on Tuesday night against the Cardinals, so you guys better
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tune into that one as well.
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But dude, the Gelof believers, I know you need to stand up right here because I'll stand
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up all day.
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I've always believed in this guy.
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It's just been the injuries.
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I think the fact that he can play so many positions, Andrew, that this just proves that
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he wants to be a ballplayer.
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He doesn't care where he is.
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Just put me in the lineup somewhere and he produces.
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This is my thing now, okay, with Max Muncy still, again, not going back to baseball activity,
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still with that finger wrapped.
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What is the plan?
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If Gelof continues here at third base, what do we do with Max Muncy?
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If Jacob Wilson has a long-term injury, do we move Max Muncy over to short?
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What's going on?
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What do we do?
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Yeah, that's going to be the tricky part.
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So if Wilson's injury is only two weeks, that's when you kind of get a problem.
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And I think it's a good problem to have, obviously, but if he's out for the rest of the season,
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I think it's easy to kind of patch together a lineup.
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But my thinking was if Wilson's back in two weeks and Bolte shows that he's a guy, what
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do you do?
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It's going to be how much do they like Butler and how much do they like Muncy, right?
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In an ideal world, it will be Shea, Kurtz, McNeil, Wilson.
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And then at third, you probably put in Gelof if Bolte shows he's a guy, right?
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So that's the infield.
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Söderström, and then Bolte.
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And then what, you know, right, it's do you want Cortez?
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Do you want Butler?
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Do you want Thomas?
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It's going to get really tricky.
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So I don't know.
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My fear is Wilson, not a fear because I hope he's back in two weeks, but my fear is he's
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going to come back in two weeks.
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Bolte is kind of hitting 200, 210, shows some flashes and they're like, hey, you know
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what?
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Let's send you down.
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We don't have a spot for you.
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And I'm just not a fan of sending guys down, you know, especially that aren't getting enough
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opportunities to prove themselves.
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And these, you know, track record is horrible with some of these guys that they've ruined
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confidence wise for their whole careers.
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And I always mentioned Franklin Barreto, but, but yeah, I don't know.
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I'm curious to see what they do there.
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And I was going to say, maybe you put McNeil at short, but then I looked it up and he's
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had one ending at shortstop his career.
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So probably not.
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And he's obviously getting a little older.
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And then anyways, what do you do at second?
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You're going to have to still put her nays there.
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So it's interesting.
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I mean, maybe Tommy White gets a look if he continues to kind of mash and triple a, but
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I don't know.
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It's going to be interesting to see two weeks from now where things are at.
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So hopefully good news and Wilson here in the next day or two.
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Yeah.
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It'd be huge.
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And that, that play where he got hurt on is just such an awkward play.
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He's diving and just up the middle, trying to stop a runner to get a next, next night
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of feet.
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And those are just tough because he does make the play the balls in his glove, but his shoulder
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just kind of gets tweaked in there.
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That's either going to be an extremely long-term thing, or it could just be a little sprain
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like they're saying it is.
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So we're hopefully, hopefully today they can maybe announce it tonight.
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I'm sure we won't find out until tomorrow when the team gets to the ballpark, but if
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it, even if it is just two weeks, I don't want to see her nays every single day.
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This guy has just done absolutely nothing.
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He's, he's got one extra base hit and it was the meaningless Homer and the blowout.
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So defensively, he's fine, whatever.
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That's not a big deal.
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I wonder, I really am curious if they're going to be like, Hey Zach, do you want to just
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go play short and we can maybe do something else at third?
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Like I'm really, I don't know what the answer is because there's just not enough guys in
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the infield that can play consistently.
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It'd be, it'd be great if they can maybe force Cortez to play a little bit more infield because
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he's not, he's not going to be great at third for sure, but he's done it in the past.
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He's done a couple of innings here and there for the A's.
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So I wonder if, if they'll stretch Carlos Cortez's versatility here in the next couple
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of weeks and to see what they can do with this lineup, because there's just so many
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options here and look, and it comes down to Lawrence.
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If you're not going to hit, that's fine.
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We have a kid named Henry Bolte who's probably going to do his absolute best to hit.
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Okay.
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And if he doesn't hit, okay, that's, that's fine.
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You still have to play him every single day, but then we still have Cortez out there and
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then we still have Colby Thomas is probably going to hit lefties pretty decently.
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Right.
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And then there's Soderstrom who's, you know, hit or miss, but he's pretty consistently going
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to drive the ball for you.
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And we also have Brent Rooker as a DH.
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Okay.
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He's looked a lot better these last seven games.
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So it really just comes down to who's going to hit because defensively, it's not going
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to matter for me.
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If Carlos Cortez is getting a start at third base, cool.
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That's a good offensive lineup.
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I mean, I'm, that's, I'm all for that, right?
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If Zach gallops at short and Carlos Cortez is a third, that means we're putting out our
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best bats to get after guys.
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Okay.
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Cause at the end of the day, man, the defense, how many truly, like how many times is like
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a defensive play going to affect a third baseman?
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Like range is probably going to be an issue, right?
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For Cortez and maybe arm strength.
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Right.
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But other than that, would you be okay with Cortez getting some third base reps again?
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Yeah.
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So that's going to be tricky.
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I honestly think they might be better off putting McNeil at third, more experience there.
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And I, you know, her nays has quite a bit of experience playing second in the minor.
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So that might be a little easier transition for Cortez.
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And I think obviously he'll be down because he's like, Hey, I know you don't like me.
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I went a play of the week and you want to play me two games the next seven.
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So I don't know.
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You could put Cortez a second.
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I don't hate it.
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You could put obviously, um, you know, Gallop a third or, I mean, a McNeil third, and maybe
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you ask Gallop to try it out there at shortstop.
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But I don't know.
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I'd rather probably roll with that than see her nays out there for the next two weeks.
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I just don't know how much more I could take.
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And I thought after they cut wins that we can stop having pitchers hit in the lineup.
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So we're not her nays guys.
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And we were hopeful, man.
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Like there's some flashes, but he just hasn't proven it.
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And maybe this, Hey, her nays, this is you prove it to us.
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If not, you know, we'll, we'll move on from you in the next couple of weeks.
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Like this is your opportunity.
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So I don't know, maybe he it's the ACE curse of her nays hasn't had that much consistent
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at bats over the last couple of years.
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So maybe that's it.
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But yeah, I think Cortez a second McNeil third, I'd be a little bit more comfortable with.
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And you know, it's funny because her nays took over last year for Wilson when he came
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down.
19:00
Right.
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And we saw some spurts out of her nays and he he's done it before, but I don't know what
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the case is this year with him.
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He just hasn't really hit the ball hard a whole lot.
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They're asking him to do a couple of different things for sure, you know, playing third and
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playing short every now and then, but overall it's just, I don't know.
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I just wish the A's had something in the wings ready to go and triple a, because when you
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look at the rest of the infield and if it's not Tommy white, cause he's not going to be
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a good defender for you.
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I don't even know what the plan is for him, honestly, because it's, he's a great hitter
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for sure.
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He's been doing a great job spraying the ball over the ballpark in Vegas, but he's obviously
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not going to help you on defense.
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So it's, it's another one of these guys who's, you know, all mash, no glove, and he's not
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even really hitting homers, which is hilarious.
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Tommy tanks hasn't hit any homers, but I don't know, man, because I wish they could just
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find somebody to place for shortstop if Wilson is out for an extended amount of time.
19:56
But I, I just love the versatility of Gallop because it feels like he is going to be able
20:02
to do anything that you ask him to.
20:03
And he's a good athlete.
20:04
And I think if he's down for it, I think he could try it.
20:08
He's, he's definitely got the speed enough to play short.
20:10
It's a completely different game compared to third 100%.
20:13
But yeah, man, just like what Q saying right here, Gallop has made a great defensive impact
20:17
at third.
20:18
Don't love her nays in the lineup, but Cortez might significantly hurt the staff.
20:21
And that is, that is the one thing here that really doesn't help you at third, right?
20:26
Because it's, it's, it's plays coming in and making throws on the run to first, you know,
20:30
it's, it's a whole different ball game over there at third.
20:33
And I don't know.
20:35
I don't know what the true answer is if you, if you don't try out her nays, because it's,
20:39
it's really just a crapshoot and you're, and you're basically given away and out every
20:43
single time.
20:44
Hernandez comes to the plate at this point.
20:46
And you know, if McNeil against the lefty too, who's been okay, he just doesn't give
20:51
you a lot of, you know, slugging at any points in a ball game.
20:55
So without Wilson, then how much, how much does this limit the A's offense going forward?
21:02
Yeah, a lot, obviously.
21:05
And especially because he's just been on a tear as of late.
21:07
And I don't know, that's the thing is if you told me, you know, Soderstrom was hurt for
21:11
a little while, or, you know, Rooker was hurt and they still may do.
21:15
It's a shortstop spot, which is absolutely horrible.
21:17
Because even then it's like you bring up Tommy White and then you still are asking Gallup
21:20
to play out of position again.
21:22
And then you're asking Cortez to play out of position for what he's comfortable with.
21:25
But I was looking at Tommy's stats, he's hitting 330 and triple A and you know, he was hitting
21:30
310 and double A and he's been good.
21:32
But yeah, he's has two homers this year and he hit like two or three last year.
21:36
You look at college, he was mid 20s all three years.
21:38
So it is interesting, but it's gonna hurt a lot.
21:41
And thankfully, it's not, you know, the Yankees and the Dodgers and you know, that kind of
21:45
stretch right now coming up.
21:46
It's a lot of winnable games.
21:47
So I think they can probably make do but yeah, I'm probably gonna have to, you know, hold
21:51
my nose and close my eyes if Hernes comes up to bat for two weeks in a row.
21:56
Yeah, exactly.
21:57
And what Chef Dub is saying here, I'd be shocked to see Cortez in the infield.
22:00
I could see them bringing up Drew Swift to play shortstop as a backup to Hernes.
22:04
And that's the thing like, because Brett Harris is still on the roster over here and like,
22:07
what is he doing on the team?
22:08
To be honest with you, Drew Swift is probably gonna not even hit his weight.
22:14
That's gonna be his issue if he comes up to face Major League Arms.
22:18
He's just never been a great hitter in minor league baseball.
22:20
And he's also aging.
22:22
He's a good defender, for sure.
22:23
He'll give you that.
22:24
But like, is it really worth like, is the difference between Hernes and Drew Swift's
22:30
defense really that big of a difference?
22:32
No, it's really about it.
22:34
Can somebody hit 230 while Jacob Wilson is out?
22:37
I mean, that's, that's literally all I'm asking you to do.
22:40
And what Dylan here is saying about hopefully Henry Bolte can just make up for that lack
22:46
of offense that has been occurring with Darrell Hernes and then even with occasionally Jeff
22:52
McNeil.
22:53
But he's been pretty solid overall.
22:55
And I don't really have too many complaints about Jeff McNeil as a as a second baseman.
22:59
It's just a good veteran player.
23:01
But I think it's just middle infield is going to be really interesting going forward without
23:05
Jacob Wilson.
23:06
If it's a huge if if he's out for a long term.
23:09
I hope he's not.
23:10
I hope we get good news tomorrow.
23:11
But going forward here, these next couple of weeks could be rocky.
23:14
It is nice to see, you know, the Cardinals are a solid team here coming into Sacramento.
23:19
They're 23 and 17.
23:21
They're currently in third place in the NL Central.
23:24
They're they're pretty much riding Jordan Walker's back to start this season.
23:27
And he has been incredible to start the year, his fourth year in Major League Baseball.
23:32
And he is hitting the cover off the ball.
23:33
He's hitting almost 300 right now.
23:35
He's got 11 homers, 29 RBIs, his OPS is 955.
23:40
He's been incredible for them.
23:41
And there are a lot.
23:42
I know a lot of Cardinals fans are ready to move on from him and to say he just doesn't
23:45
have it.
23:46
This is not it.
23:47
And here he is.
23:48
He's he's announced his presence with authority this season for sure.
23:52
And he's looked really great.
23:53
Now the A's on the other side of it are going to have to face a couple of decent arms here
23:58
coming up for St. Louis.
23:59
OK, Andre Palante is on the bump Tuesday night.
24:02
He has been much better this season compared to last season.
24:05
He's from Mission Viejo, California, a UC Irvine guy.
24:09
He was not good last year.
24:10
He gave up a ton of homers and honestly, the home run ball has kind of bit him the
24:14
last five starts.
24:15
He has given up a homer in the last five starts last out against the Brewers.
24:19
He went six innings, five earned, eight hits, two walks, one hit batter and just three Ks.
24:24
But when he keeps the ball on the ground, he is fine.
24:27
Fastball slider sinker cutters, what you'll see from him, kind of a herky jerky motion.
24:32
What do you like our odds against these St. Louis Cardinals coming in to Sacramento?
24:36
They've actually been a really good road team.
24:38
I think they're 13 and seven on the road so far this year.
24:40
Yeah, and he's kind of stuck at home and that's kind of the case in Sacramento.
24:45
So well, yeah, so I mean, not terrible, but the track record even from last year, you
24:49
know, they seem to play better on the road.
24:51
But if you go to the Cardinals odds on Fandle, they're plus 320 to make the playoffs.
24:55
They're plus 130 to 180 games.
24:57
So they do think the start's kind of fluky tomorrow.
25:01
The A's are minus 148, the Cardinals are plus 126 and the over under is 10.
25:06
So I do think they probably went two out of three and I think they probably went two
25:09
out of three from the Giants, but I don't know.
25:12
They don't really scare me.
25:13
Look at the lineup.
25:14
Their pitching's decent.
25:15
Their bullpen's okay.
25:16
But nothing crazy that would make me think that the A's can't win two out of three here.
25:21
I left you there for a second.
25:22
I'm sorry.
25:23
This thing's crashing a little bit on me.
25:24
But I like our chances because McGreevy is pitching on Thursday for the Cardinals and
25:30
he has been so good for the St. Louis Cardinals.
25:34
He's been on my fantasy team, which has been really cool.
25:37
And it's about the pitching, I think, because the top of this lineup for the Cardinals has
25:43
been really, really good for them.
25:45
It's been the other guys.
25:46
J.J. Weatherholt's been fine.
25:47
He's had a solid start to his rookie season so far this season.
25:50
And it's been Jordan Walker.
25:52
Alec Burleson's been decent to start this season.
25:55
He started off really hot.
25:56
He's really cooled down these last handful of games, couple of series.
26:00
He's really not hitting a ton.
26:02
So I'm really curious to see how this thing will roll out for the A's, especially with
26:07
no Jacob Wilson and Henry Bolton in the lineup, hopefully every single game in this series.
26:13
It's really going to be interesting how they attack Jordan Walker because right now he's
26:16
the entire lineup, it feels like, for the Cardinals.
26:18
He's mostly pull-side power.
26:20
He can spray it all over the yard when he gets his opportunities to.
26:23
But overall, I think if you can limit Jordan Walker in this series, you can do a lot of
26:30
good things.
26:31
So it's going to be Springs, it's going to be Ginn, and it's going to be Jacob Lopez
26:34
for the A's in this series against the Cardinals.
26:37
I'm really curious about Jacob Lopez now that we've got you back here.
26:42
Jacob Lopez with a solid start against Baltimore.
26:48
And he goes, I believe, five and a third, just a couple of earned runs.
26:51
And he's looking a little bit better.
26:53
It seems like he's maybe coming back into his old form.
26:56
But this is a big start for him on Thursday coming up to end this series against McGreevy,
27:01
who has been awesome with a 2-1-8 ERA.
27:04
Are we kind of getting back on the Jacob Lopez train here as we get more into the season
27:09
here?
27:10
I'm probably still a bigger believer in Lopez than I am in JT Ginn.
27:15
So I don't know, that matchup's going to be huge because it's going to be the rubber match
27:18
most likely.
27:19
I'm sure the A's probably split the first two.
27:20
So I don't know, I agree with you.
27:23
There's probably not too much pressure on him because there's not too many other options
27:26
in the minors who are going to come up and take his spot.
27:29
But I don't know, I think he's thrown the ball a little bit better lately.
27:32
I think he's had some bad luck too with a couple of bad bounces here or there.
27:35
So we'll see.
27:37
I think that that's going to be a big one on Thursday.
27:41
And I think with the Giants lingering as well, it's going to probably feel like a road game
27:45
for the A's in their own ballpark because Sacramento is a big Giants town for sure.
27:50
But the Giants are coming in for a weekend series.
27:52
It's going to be packed in that stadium and they're going to probably sell it out all
27:55
three games.
27:56
It's going to be a fun atmosphere.
27:57
It's going to be a very small atmosphere, but it's still going to be fun.
28:01
The Giants on the other hand, man, they are reeling and they have a lot of bad contracts
28:07
right now.
28:08
I actually, I was watching a TikTok that was sent to me from a friend and it was someone
28:11
on I think 90, it was either 957 the game or KNBR.
28:15
And they're just ranting about all the bad contracts and you have a horrible defensive
28:21
team everywhere except Matt Chapman essentially.
28:24
And they're just throwing money at guys who just are not producing whatsoever.
28:27
What are your thoughts on Buster Posey so far as a front office baseball ops guy?
28:32
Yeah, I didn't hate the move because I've hated the Giants my whole life, but I've always
28:37
been a Buster guy, but Buster only came on, I don't know if he's ESPN, but I saw it on
28:42
Twitter today and he was basically defending every move that Posey's made.
28:45
And he's like, in the moment, they were actually good deals.
28:47
Like they moved on from Kyle Harrison, who's looked really good.
28:50
They took on all Devers money.
28:51
I think we were texting earlier.
28:53
I think they have $1.2 billion in future contracts.
28:56
Adonis has been really bad.
28:57
Devers has been really bad.
28:58
And even Chapman, I wouldn't mind a reunion, but even then look at the contract, 25 million
29:03
for the next four or five years.
29:04
So they're going to be in cap, well, I was going to say cap hell, but not really in baseball,
29:11
but they're going to be handcuffed for the future.
29:13
And then a lot of people, I know you're a big college baseball guy, are soured on Tony
29:19
and he, apparently he's not a good clubhouse guy.
29:22
You know, he's kind of afraid to talk to some of the players and, you know, pump them up
29:26
and whatnot.
29:27
So I don't know if that's accurate or not, but I, I do think some guys feel like they
29:30
are, and you see it in the NBA too, from college coaches to the NBA, they don't really speak
29:35
to the locker room.
29:36
They're like, Hey, we're above you.
29:37
You're you're a college guy.
29:38
So curious, your thoughts there, cause you, you know, you liked the move initially.
29:42
Do you still like it?
29:43
Or does it seem like he needs to be back to a college baseball?
29:45
Yeah.
29:46
I don't know, man.
29:47
I think he is, he's a super energetic guy, which has kind of been weird to see him in
29:51
a major league setting for sure.
29:53
Because college baseball is a very emotional sport and jumping in to the major leagues,
29:58
making a huge jump.
29:59
This is not a very common thing to do in baseball.
30:02
No one really gets hired from college to be a major league manager right away.
30:06
I can't even name another one off the top of my head, to be honest with you.
30:08
I think it was the first technically actually.
30:10
Yeah.
30:11
And there's a reason, right?
30:13
So this is, this is why you're seeing it.
30:16
I don't know if it's really the right move long term for him.
30:19
I think you see guys like they crawl their way through the minors to get up to be a major
30:23
league manager, right?
30:24
You're seeing a ton of former players do that.
30:27
I know Steven Vogt like basically went straight in from playing to managing, but like he's
30:32
been around a major league clubhouse.
30:33
He's been a catcher.
30:34
You know, you're basically managing as you already are.
30:37
So I think I love Tony V, man.
30:40
I don't know if it's really for him, but also the giants aren't really for anyone right
30:46
now.
30:47
Like who would be managing this team the best right now?
30:51
Because when you have a ton of guys making a ton of money and not producing whatsoever,
30:57
it's pathetic and they're getting the bluebirds out there in San Francisco.
31:01
And Tony V is trying to answer that to the media.
31:03
I don't think he's used to West Coast media.
31:05
He comes from a Southern state, Tennessee media all the time.
31:08
And he comes, he has to deal with Susan Slusser all the time.
31:11
That's a huge, that's a huge difference, man.
31:14
That's a completely different ball game.
31:16
And he's already had to watch what he's said a couple of times because he's a pretty heart
31:21
on his sleeve kind of guy.
31:23
And I love him for that.
31:25
I think eventually he'll probably find his way back into the college game and whoever
31:30
gets him is going to get a gem of a hire.
31:33
But I don't know, because they've set him up to fail and it's not fair to him whatsoever.
31:39
It's kind of like when the old school Raiders, shout out to Rance, when they hired Lane Kiffin
31:43
when he was really young and it was like, this isn't going to work.
31:47
Like there's no way this is going to work.
31:49
And this feels like the exact same thing.
31:51
He's going to be a good coach.
31:52
I feel like Tony V is a great coach, just like Lane Kiffin ended up being a good coach.
31:56
It's just, this is not the best scenario for him.
31:59
This is not a good situation for really anybody.
32:02
I think the Giants should probably look at an older manager because they just had Bob
32:07
Melvin, right?
32:08
And they got tired of him.
32:09
They moved on and now they're going to the young one and it's just like, it's too extreme.
32:14
It's been, it's been too much of an extreme back and forth.
32:16
They need to look for someone who's been in a major league clubhouse for a long time,
32:19
has done it before and can kind of just get these veterans and these guys who were making
32:23
a ton of money just back on their saddle.
32:26
Let's just relax boys.
32:27
But personally, like you just said, hate the Giants.
32:30
Love that they sink.
32:31
I love it.
32:32
It's been great.
32:33
And I hope the A's beat the crap out of them this weekend and these, everyone wearing San
32:38
Francisco stuff and the Sacramento ballpark, go home sad.
32:41
I'm all for that.
32:42
So it sucks for Tony V. It's, it's, it's great for the agenda, 100%.
32:47
But yeah, man, they're coming in this weekend.
32:49
Any last thoughts on the Giants?
32:50
No, I, I think just, yeah, I was going to say more of the A's.
32:54
I keep thinking that Forrest kind of set Kotzie up to fill in certain areas, but then I watch
33:00
how he manages the bullpen, keeping in Severino too long.
33:03
And it's like, I, my sympathy kind of dries up.
33:06
So I do feel like Posey's kind of done that because you play the cards that you're dealt.
33:10
We talked about that too, that baseball compared to specifically the NFL or college football,
33:15
that coaching quarterback combo matters about 75%, but the entire team and a baseball, it's
33:20
like, what can you truly do?
33:22
I mean, obviously you saw when Guerin got fired and Bomell took over and it was the
33:27
same team and they found their rhythm and, you know, they ended up being a upper seventies
33:31
and then went on a nice little run, but obviously prospect wise, they, they had a little bit
33:35
more during that time.
33:36
And then, I don't know, you, you see some of that, but yeah, I don't know.
33:41
So Kotzie wasn't set up to fail.
33:42
I think he's also an idiot.
33:43
I'm going to be jumping on the Bomell bandwagon, you know, getting back on.
33:48
So I don't know.
33:49
Yeah.
33:50
I'm excited.
33:51
I think they can sweep the Giants.
33:52
So I think if you tell me they're four and two and we're doing the podcast next Sunday,
33:55
I think I'd be pretty happy.
33:56
That'd be a good, that'd be a good home stretch here.
33:59
And then it's even easier after that too, I believe after, so the Cardinals for three
34:03
and then the Giants for three here at home.
34:05
And then after that, they go back on the road and it's the Angels.
34:08
Okay.
34:09
You can get the Angels.
34:10
And then you do have to go on the road to San Diego, which is definitely going to be
34:12
a hard place to play.
34:14
That is a difficult series for sure.
34:17
But then you come back home, Seattle, that's going to be a very vital series, especially
34:21
right.
34:22
This Memorial day is May 25th.
34:24
And that is right when you, that's the old rule of let's, we can look at the standings
34:28
now.
34:29
Okay.
34:30
This is kind of what baseball is going to shape out to be for the rest of the year.
34:31
So that's a pretty important series.
34:33
That's a good one.
34:34
Right before June starts to get off on the right foot against the Mariners.
34:37
And you've already played them pretty well so far.
34:39
You're two and one against them.
34:40
You took the series earlier from them and then you take that day off and then the Yankees
34:44
come into town.
34:46
And that's going to be a very interesting series because you already took two or three
34:49
from them when you were in New York.
34:50
So this, these next nine, actually 10 games here are gettable.
34:57
After that at San Diego, Seattle, New York, Chicago Cubs, and then Houston on the road.
35:01
So it gets tough here in a second, but these next 10 are really important.
35:05
I think seven and three would be massive going forward.
35:08
If they can get a seven and three stretch here and really beat up on the angels down
35:12
there.
35:13
I mean, get greedy and try to sweep them for four.
35:15
It's hard to do, but if you can get seven and three going into that San Diego series,
35:19
you can feel like, all right, Hey, we can drop a couple here.
35:21
As long as you play them tight, you know, lose, lose like he did in Toronto to start
35:25
the season.
35:26
You can feel a lot better about yourself, but Chicago's going to be tough to, they do
35:29
not lose at home.
35:30
It's insane.
35:31
It's not at one point, but yeah, I mean, to your point, if they're seven and three and
35:36
then they can go three and seven, that's scratching, they're still two games over 500.
35:39
So exactly.
35:40
Yeah.
35:41
They got to stack some wins here for sure.
35:42
Yeah.
35:43
And I think it's, it's important to just to keep on beating up on the bad teams.
35:46
That is what's going to make your record look so much prettier by the end of the year.
35:50
And I think the A's have done a pretty decent job of that so far.
35:52
And they've had a couple of slip-ups for sure.
35:54
But overall this, this first quarter of the season, these first 40 games, in my opinion,
35:59
have been a success.
36:00
Chat.
36:01
I don't know if you agree.
36:02
Totally.
36:03
I think there's been a couple of games for sure that got away from them, but I think
36:05
overall 21 and 19 exceeded my expectations starting this season.
36:10
And you could put a bow on it that they're in first place just because the rest of the
36:13
OS has been terrible.
36:14
So I think it's going to be really, really interesting.
36:17
These next 10 games, because even Q mentioned up here a lot, he was about six 30 when he
36:22
put this, sorry, four 30.
36:23
When he put this A's have had the hardest schedules in the division, good to see the
36:26
A's at the top while facing some of the solid teams at the other divisions of the division
36:30
team.
36:31
So I think it's, it's been good.
36:34
It's been positive so far.
36:37
What do we need to see though, these next two series to be like, let's make a move.
36:44
This team's legit.
36:45
Yeah.
36:46
I think better overall, I mean, more consistent starting pitching because he knows the ball.
36:50
I mean, he's a career four, three guy.
36:51
He's not going to be a two, five or two, eight kind of guy.
36:54
So he's going to snap back to reality and you just need better starts from Lopez.
36:58
You need better starts from JT JT's look pretty good the entire year.
37:02
Um, Severino has thrown the ball a little bit better.
37:04
So I think you just need a little bit more consistency.
37:07
The pan.
37:08
I don't get too nervous when they're out there.
37:09
I mean, Sterner hasn't been fantastic, but he's been decent.
37:13
Uh, Barlow has been pretty good.
37:14
Like you go down the line and it's really just Mark lighter.
37:17
Yeah.
37:18
Yeah.
37:19
Besides lighter, lighter is the only one where it's like, dude, if we're out there throwing
37:21
lefty, I think we got a better chance, but I think, uh, checking, I mean the lineup too.
37:26
So I think obviously more consistent from the rotation and then seeing what they can
37:29
do with Wilson.
37:30
So, you know, if bolt is going to come up and be a force, if her nays can just at least
37:34
hit two 40, two 50 and give sneaky pop, then that's, that's something, uh, you know, Muncie's
37:39
injury and getting kind of report on their Butler turning around.
37:43
So there's a lot of what ifs, but like I said, I, I 40 games in 21 and 19, I would have taken
37:49
it all day every day.
37:50
So I think that that's what they need for the next, at least a couple of weeks to, you
37:54
know, be 500 moving into June.
37:56
Yeah.
37:57
And I think, and shout out to Hobbs here going to the ball game on a Wednesday for the A's
38:01
and Cardinals.
38:02
So shout out to you Hobbs and hopefully it's a nice ball game for you.
38:04
The A's can get a win for us, but, um, yeah, I think going forward, it's really important
38:09
that these boys, cause JT again, man, I cannot say enough about this guy.
38:13
He has been so good.
38:14
And then going eight innings in Baltimore, that's just unheard of from the starting rotation.
38:19
And if you were to tell me, Hey, JT, again, to me, the first guy to get into the eighth
38:22
inning this year, you'd be like, I would shoot you.
38:25
I would, I would, I would, I would be dead.
38:28
Okay.
38:29
Uh, it's, it's been great from him.
38:30
And I think if the A's can find just another gear from someone else, it doesn't even have
38:35
to be several Reno.
38:36
It doesn't have to be Springs.
38:37
They need to find it with, with Jacob Lopez.
38:40
He is definitely the guy who needs to find that next gear and get back into the group
38:43
that he was in last year, because if he can get to that point again, this rotation becomes
38:48
pretty solid.
38:49
Especially if Savali is going to keep, you know, dodging traffic like he always does.
38:53
That's fine.
38:54
You know, he's going to run into a bad start again.
38:56
He's due for one, honestly, but overall he does his job.
39:00
So if Jacob Lopez can find himself, this rotation gets that much better.
39:05
And then maybe we can add a bullpen arm as we go here, because like we just said, a lot
39:09
of guys that can move on from in the minor league system that don't really have a shot
39:13
right now on this roster.
39:15
So yeah.
39:16
Do you go ahead?
39:17
Yeah.
39:18
I was going to say, I just on Savali, I remember our texts, you know, I hope they don't get
39:23
released when a Savali was signed and I watched him spring training twice and I'm like, this
39:28
guy sucks.
39:29
And it's funny because I actually think he's the MVP of the team right now.
39:33
I know you can make an argument for Shea, Shea's the best catcher in baseball, but we
39:36
knew Shea's a top five catcher in baseball.
39:39
We did not see this from Savali, Severino has been, like I said, up and down.
39:43
I don't know if I had to pick one MVP that has helped them, you know, even if they've
39:49
had a couple of bad games in a row, Savali takes the bump and all of a sudden, you know,
39:52
he gets back on track.
39:53
So it's been absolutely amazing and it's, it's wild to think where would the A's be
39:59
without Savali this year?
40:00
You know, that's something I never thought would come out of my head.
40:02
I just spit sparkling water everywhere when you were like, this guy sucks.
40:06
It's been crazy though, because you're right where they would not be very good if he was
40:10
not, you know, eating good innings for this team right now.
40:13
And he's been the unsung hero for sure.
40:16
And even with Severino and shout out to Ryan Young here, he's been good the last five,
40:21
yeah, 100%.
40:22
He's been very solid again.
40:24
And it's been really good to see him kind of get back into his Severino likeness.
40:29
But I think he's, he's not really like an ace per se, but he's looked good.
40:34
Aaron Savali has looked good.
40:35
Jeffrey Springs so far, you know, very solid, a couple of rough outings in the last handful
40:40
of innings for him.
40:42
But I can't say enough about these guys, these veteran guys in this rotation who have stepped
40:47
up when we thought this was not going to be a very good rotation.
40:50
So that's been the difference so far this season.
40:52
That's going to continue to be the difference as we get into June and July here is if they
40:56
can continue to pitch like this, it'll be so good for this team.
40:59
It'll be so great.
41:00
And we still have a couple of guys in the wings ready to go, waiting for them to kind
41:06
of get going here.
41:07
And Jamie Ardo last year in the draft did fall to us.
41:10
And are we maybe seeing why he fell to us?
41:13
Because he has not been great.
41:15
His last couple of outings, CRA has now ballooned up to 5.34 and 28 and two thirds innings.
41:20
He's got 37 strikeouts and his whip is almost one nine.
41:24
So what are your thoughts on Jimmy Arnold so far in Midland for him?
41:29
Yeah.
41:30
Panic meter, maybe a two, you know, I was going to say one, maybe two, just because
41:36
it's going to take an adjust or it's going to be an adjustment anyways.
41:39
And they had him skip, you know, low A and rookie ball all the way up to double A. That's
41:44
a one.
41:45
The other is he put together three really good starts in a row right before then.
41:48
And then obviously you see the case per nine are still like at 12 or 13.
41:53
So I'll say it's probably a two, but I will say that my eyes will be glued to the box
41:58
score next time.
41:59
I don't miss pitching because if you get a third bet start in a row, then it's like
42:02
confident.
42:03
I don't know, but he's young, so I'm not overly worried.
42:06
Yeah, it's just been the hits, man.
42:08
He's given up a ton of hits, 42 hits and 28 and two thirds innings.
42:11
And it's just a lot of contact, you know, and hits don't tell the whole story.
42:15
You don't know if every single ball is getting hit hard.
42:17
It's just a double A box score for the most part.
42:20
But you know, the stuff is there for him.
42:23
I think he's just got to he's just got to find it a little bit more.
42:26
And I don't know if he'll find himself in triple A this year at all.
42:29
But you're what you just said, man, that this next start for him is pretty important just
42:35
to get him back into the good flow of things, because you don't want to see numbers like
42:39
that.
42:40
But good numbers have been waiting.
42:41
And he's been awesome.
42:42
Do the 34 innings are 11 to a whip lower than 143 K's and 34 innings to an O and just seven
42:49
starts.
42:50
He's been great.
42:51
He can maybe potentially find himself in a triple A ballpark here pretty soon.
42:56
And then I wanted to finish out this episode of all on green and thank you guys so much
43:00
for watching us.
43:01
We appreciate you guys make sure you like comment and subscribe as much as you possibly
43:05
can and tell your friends and check out Foco as well for all your A's official merchandise.
43:10
Leo DeVries, he has definitely cooled off.
43:14
We kind of anticipated that he would definitely not be, you know, scalding earth hot all the
43:20
time.
43:21
And he's played 33 games in double A now.
43:24
He's got, I believe, 124 at bats, it says here, four homers, 32 strikeouts.
43:31
He's in 266 with an on base of 361 as OPS is 764.
43:35
He's young, man.
43:36
He's 19 years old.
43:37
I think we forget these things a lot of the time.
43:39
And when your shortstop is currently injured, I've seen a lot of people be like, what's
43:43
Leo DeVries doing?
43:45
Well, not that great as of late.
43:48
So maybe we just pump the brakes a little bit.
43:50
What are your thoughts on Leo in Midland so far?
43:53
Yeah.
43:54
Up and down.
43:55
I mean, I think a week ago he was sitting over 300 and I kept seeing tweets about, you
43:58
know, Miller's Mason Miller's great, but what did the Padres do?
44:01
And I will still bang the drum that even if he doesn't end up working out, you don't make
44:05
that trade like, and we were big Mason Miller guys.
44:09
I think he's the best relief pitcher in baseball, but it's a guy that throws one inning per
44:14
game maybe every two or three games.
44:16
So to have a chance, Leo moved up a third right now on MLB pipeline to the third best
44:21
prospect of baseball.
44:22
So again, you said it best.
44:24
He's 19.
44:25
Like that's one thing.
44:26
If he was 24 and he was supposed to be this big shot prospect and he said in two 66, but
44:32
he also walks a lot.
44:33
He also plays some good defense and I know he makes some, some errors, but he does make
44:37
some of the flashy plays.
44:39
He's not going to be a 30 Homer guy.
44:40
I don't know.
44:41
I, I agree that they, we got to pump the brakes a little bit.
44:45
I think I'd rather see Stefanik up there, you know, instead right now, because there's
44:50
just no need to rush a guy like this.
44:52
And then all of a sudden he's a head case.
44:53
He plays a lot of passion.
44:54
You already see it.
44:55
The bat flips and you, you set him up and then he hits one 90 and then he's like, maybe
44:59
I do suck.
45:00
And he goes back to Vegas.
45:01
And then he's just like one of those 40 kind of guys.
45:03
Yeah.
45:04
And you know, do you know who the last A's player to be called up from double a to major
45:07
league was give me a year, 2015 or 16.
45:14
Outfield.
45:15
No.
45:16
Speedy.
45:17
No clue.
45:18
Switch hitter.
45:19
You said Marcus Simeon?
45:20
No.
45:21
Switch hitter.
45:22
Switch hitter.
45:23
15.
45:24
Outfielder.
45:25
Speedy.
45:26
Draw a blank.
45:27
Completely.
45:28
Well, to be fair, I was in Africa for two years in 2015.
45:29
This is, yeah.
45:30
Yeah.
45:31
I was going to add that.
45:32
You, you were on your mission for a lot of those years.
45:33
It was Billy Burns.
45:34
Okay.
45:35
He was the last player of the A's called up from double A to the major league.
45:36
Yeah.
45:37
Yeah.
45:38
Yeah.
45:39
Yeah.
45:40
Yeah.
45:41
Yeah.
45:42
Yeah.
45:43
Yeah.
45:44
Yeah.
45:45
Yeah.
45:46
And he was the last player of the A's.
45:47
All right.
45:48
He was the last player to be called up from double a to the major league.
45:49
And that didn't really work.
45:50
So, I don't know if I'm really all for that big jump.
45:51
And like you just said too, he's young.
45:53
His defense has been good.
45:55
And the A's have been asking him to play another position.
45:57
They moved him a third.
45:58
They're trying out different spots.
46:00
Because I think the A's see what's going on here.
46:03
They know exactly what's up.
46:04
They're saying, this kid's going to be ready faster than we anticipate.
46:08
And we already have a shortstop for the next five, six years.
46:11
So, he's going to have to play somewhere else.
46:13
And I think second base is really the move for him going forward.
46:16
But we'll see.
46:17
I don't know.
46:18
They're going to have to figure out a spot for him to stay.
46:21
Because moving a guy around defensively, it just messes with their mental too much.
46:24
I think you just got to find him a spot.
46:26
Let him go.
46:27
Let him hit.
46:28
Let him play defense.
46:29
Let him improve at one spot.
46:30
Just so we can kind of go from there.
46:32
And the infield is, the second base is wide open in the future, 100%.
46:36
Jeff McNeil is not here to stay, 100%, right?
46:39
Even third base is pretty open.
46:41
Once he's off to a really hot start, gets injured, he was struggling before the injury.
46:46
Third base is pretty open to me as well.
46:48
If Tommy White can improve tremendously on defense, I think that'd be a nice little add
46:53
too.
46:54
I think he's a very electric player.
46:55
He can be pretty fun.
46:56
He was awesome in college.
46:57
So, the infield, besides Wilson and Kurtz, is pretty open.
47:01
I think there's a lot of opportunity here for Leo to find himself.
47:04
I think he's just got to relax.
47:06
He's got to age.
47:07
He's got to mature a little bit.
47:08
And then we'll get him in Vegas.
47:09
We'll see how he does in there.
47:10
And get him in the PCL.
47:11
Get him in those ballparks where the baldest flies.
47:14
And we'll see how it goes from there.
47:16
But thank you guys for watching, man.
47:17
We appreciate you guys.
47:18
Henry Bolte is an A. He has been promoted.
47:21
He is going to be in the lineup, hopefully, tomorrow.
47:24
And they'll be going against, who did I say it was, Andre Palante, right?
47:28
He's going against tomorrow.
47:30
And it is Jeffrey Springs on the mound for the boys.
47:34
Got to get Jordan Walker out.
47:35
Got to limit the top of the lineup for the Cardinals.
47:39
Let's win a home series.
47:40
Let's start playing well at home.
47:42
They've only played 16 games at home so far the first 40, which is kind of crazy.
47:46
But get after them.
47:48
Let's beat the crap out of the Giants.
47:49
And when we talk to you guys next time, we'll be going on the road to the Angels.
47:52
And we'll be going on the road to wherever we're going.
47:56
Let's get after it.
47:57
We're in first place.
47:58
Let's everyone just, I know there's sometimes there's just panic.
48:00
And sometimes there's elation.
48:02
Sometimes it's back and forth.
48:03
That's the A's so far this year, right?
48:04
We kind of feel like it's been a teeter-totter kind of a season so far.
48:09
It's only May 11th.
48:10
We've got a long way to go here, okay?
48:14
Keep the good faith.
48:15
Let's keep the good vibes up.
48:16
Okay?
48:17
I think the bullpen is coming around for sure.
48:18
I think this rotation is getting a little bit better as we go here.
48:21
I think a lot of good things are coming.
48:23
If we can just take care of the bad teams, a lot of good things will happen.
48:26
Any last words, my friend?
48:27
Excited for Bolte.
48:28
Wouldn't shock me if Katse Pitch hit him in the eighth.
48:33
We'll see.
48:34
Bolte might be down on the A's.
48:37
He might be down by the next time we have our podcast.
48:39
Yeah, dude.
48:40
It's going to be unbelievable.
48:41
They're so predictably unpredictable.
48:44
No, I'm excited, man.
48:46
It's good.
48:47
Good spot to be in.
48:48
Feels good to be an A's fan again.
48:49
We endured some long, hard years.
48:51
And I think it's only up from here.
48:52
Oh, and then last thing too, actually, is I was in Vegas for work this last week again.
48:57
My view was I was at the W and it literally oversaw the stadium.
49:01
And it's awesome.
49:02
It's coming together.
49:03
Excited for season tickets.
49:04
Excited to fly Robbie out and go to a couple games.
49:08
So, we'll do it.
49:09
Can't wait, dude.
49:10
Make sure you guys tune in to Budget Baseball tonight.
49:13
And also, Rant's Watch Party Live is tomorrow night on the House Always Wins Media Network.
49:19
Thank you guys for tuning in.
49:20
We hope to see you next time.
49:21
Go A's.
49:23
Go A's.