Latest / Foul Territory / AL Cy Young race debate + Jonathan Papelbon on rigged MLB mounds

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AL Cy Young race debate + Jonathan Papelbon on rigged MLB mounds · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: In the weeds, AL Cy Young race. We haven't covered
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: it much. Let's do it right now. Todd Father, you've
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: watched a lot of Cam Schlittler. You've watched probably a
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: good amount of Dylan Cease. Schlittler has the edge in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: most numbers. Is the AL Cy Young race even a
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: race or is it over where we can very clearly
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: go Schlittler one, Dylan Cease two?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's over. I don't think it's over.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I think Cam Schlittler has the edge. I think he
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: has the edge slightly.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Um, Again, you know me.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: You can put all the numbers in the world, but
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: eye test. I've seen both of them pitch. I love
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: the one time Schlittler went out and dominated with 14 strikeouts,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: and I think Cease came right back with another 13
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: or 14 in the one game. So these two guys
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: are going to battle through thick and thin. I love
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: what Cam Schlittler did last night. Absolute gem of a performance,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: only giving up one run on a home run. Where
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: everybody thought it was a pop fly to center.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: But guess what?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It's a home run at the end of the day.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: He didn't get the win. Dylan Cease is a strikeout machine.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And he's just coming on strong. Again, the numbers are there.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: You guys can all look at him. But again, I've
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: seen both of them pitch probably a little bit more
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: cam slowly than Dylan Cease.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I think Cam has the edge.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: And I do think Cam will overall be the Cy
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Young at the end of the day. Innings pitch, he's
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: probably got... What, 171.2 to 156.1? I look at something
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: like that. He's got basically two more starts of innings
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: in his book than him. The ERAs are pretty similar.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I just think it comes down to who finishes stronger.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And I think Cam can go with another bad game
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: if he has one. I still think he has that chance.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: But if Cease comes on strong in these last four
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: or five starts that he's going to have, He's going
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to make a tight little push, and he's going to
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: get some votes from some guys. But for me, Cam
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Schlittler is your Cy Young if I decide today.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, this is straight Corbin Burns, Zach Wheeler all
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: over again. Zach Wheeler ended up losing to Corbin Burns,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: who had 167 innings and less strikeouts, but more strikeouts
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: per nine. So is that the path that Dylan sees today?
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: ends up going? Does he have more strikeouts per nine,
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: which I think then elevates your ERA plus, all the
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: things that people look at when they're voting. But it's
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: like Todd said, the eye test. Who's been more dominant?
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Because this isn't an MVP. This isn't like, oh, well,
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: where's the team without this guy? It's really just the
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: pitching award because we've seen guys with Below 500 records
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: win this award. So it's not a wins. It's who
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: do the writers think has been more dominant. And I
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: think Cease has a shot at still catching them here
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: in September because some of these races are won or
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: lost in September. But first strike goes to or first
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: punch goes to Cam Schlitler with what he did last
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: night in Anaheim against a.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: Pretty poor team. And he dominated them.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: And I think Cam, over the season, if I were
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: to vote, has dominated more than Dylan Cease has. Not
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: taking anything away from Dylan Cease. Just if you're comparing
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: the two, the two best pitchers in the American League,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Cam Schlittler takes it from me right now.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: And the strikeouts are close enough. Some of the other
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: advanced metrics, FIP, Fielding Independent Pitching, I mean, Cease has
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the edge there, but it's close enough. For me, guys...
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: The 15-inning advantage is big because the ERA advantage is there,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: and that's, of course, going to still be a huge
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: deal when we're talking about this. 204 ceases further back
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in innings. For me, if Cam Schlittler just pitches well,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: it's just a barring injury for me at this point,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: and then it's his. That's how I look at it, right?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Because even if Cam makes his starts, Cease isn't catching
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: up to him on innings, right? So then at that
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: point you're looking where else can he get an edge?
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: And usually ERA is still a big deal in the voting.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: It's a very big deal.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: Right?
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So if you're looking at that, I mean, Dylan has
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: some work to do. So even if he catches up
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: and they're pretty close, right? Let's say, let's say he
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: maintains and cam has, you know, a couple of starts
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: that are okay. They're quality, but they're not like he
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: did last night. And he falls back more to the two,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: three range. He's still got the edge. He's got the
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: innings and he's pitching. I mean, for me, he's pitching
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: for a Yanks team. I know it doesn't really matter,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: but that's needed him. Like the narrative I know doesn't matter,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: but damn, look at him last year. And even going
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: into his debut at some point last year, it's not
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: like everyone was like, Oh, here comes camp Schlitter.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: It was like, Oh, here's a nice.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Prospect for the Yankees. He's starting to rise in the system.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, I mean, you blink, he
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: was insane in that one start against Boston and playoffs.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And then now here we are one year later, and
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: he's the best pitcher in the American league. It's pretty crazy.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: It is.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: I just, for people who side with Scott and agree
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: with Scott, I just want you to be aware of
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: the National League 2021, National League Cy Young race. Because
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Zach Wheeler led in innings by, he had 50, I'm sorry,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: 47 more innings. He had 13 more strikeouts. He had
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: three complete games, two shutouts, all compared to Corbin Burns,
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: who ended up winning it and had a lower ERA,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: which was a 2.43 to Zach Wheeler's 2.78. Like, I
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: agree with Scott. I'm just saying humans are voting for this.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: There is a contingent that doesn't necessarily look at it
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: the same way that we do.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: That's why– no, it'll be looked at closely. But if
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: this ends today, right, if the season ended today, I
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: think it's a pretty easy call that it's Cam Schlittler won.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: We'll see what the next.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Few weeks look like. I bet the votes are half
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: and half.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Right now?
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: No, no, no. I'm saying how the players are going
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: to vote. I mean how the voters will vote. I
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: think it's closer to half than we would put on.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Right now, you think it's a split, Jerry?
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: I think so.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: I don't agree with it, but I'm just saying that
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: we'll ask the voter. Well, we can't ask the actual
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: voters because they're not allowed to talk about it.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: We'll ask the writer the.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Next time they come on to talk about it. Because
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: I think they delve deep into it, like they should.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Hey, the Yankees are playing this weekend against the Padres.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: That's another one. On the Fox schedule, you can stream
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the 2026 world series live on Fox one. You're getting
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: plenty of games down the stretch here. Three day free
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: trial is available. Fox one.com.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: Here he is.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Papelbon joining us right now on FT. Pap, I
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: want to take you to, the Miz first and how
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: he's been slipping off the Mount. I don't know how
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: much you caught of the last conversation, but how much
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: do mounds get rigged? How much do you get help
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: when you're home and not when you're on the road, dude?
• 7:54
  Speaker 6: Let me tell you something. I believe everything Kratz is saying.
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: I've seen it firsthand. Uh, every mound in the big
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: leagues is rigged. Uh, when I played it, in my opinion, um, Look,
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: not only pitching coaches, Kratzy, but pitchers themselves.
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: I've seen drop a pretty good coin on some grounds
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: crew keepers.
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: To make that mound the way they wanted to make
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: that infield the way they want it. And, you know,
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: unfortunately for me, I was the last one coming in.
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: So I always knew I'm not going to say any
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: names for former teammates, but I always knew when certain
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: starters before me came in, Exactly how that mound would be.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: So, yes. Now, I've been out of the game, but I.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: Don't know how much it goes on nowadays as far
• 8:45
  Speaker 6: as how much it went when I played.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Stop.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: You know it's still going on. The computer nerds ain't
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: trying to figure out how to get the extra edge.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: The pitchers are trying to figure it out. If you
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: did this, if you had this extension that he has
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: that's going past a certain point, you know, a location
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: that the, the clay is no more is, is no
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: longer there. What's your, what's your recourse?
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: What are you doing?
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Are you being like, Hey, you know what? We got
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: to tell everybody in the major league to change the mound. What,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: what are you, what are the things that you're doing
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: to be able to pitch the best?
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm going to go to the grounds crew, the
• 9:23
  Speaker 6: heads ground crew keeper first and say, Hey man, you know,
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: what's going on here?
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: You know, this shouldn't be an issue. This shouldn't be
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: a problem.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: And then if nothing's done, I'm probably going to go
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: to my manager and say, hey, listen, this is what's happening.
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: I can't pitch on these types of mounds because of X, Y,
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: and Z.
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: And then after that, I guess you take it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Up with Major League Baseball.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: But, you know, it was such a.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Secret.
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: Man, let me tell you something. Fenway Park.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: They got a new groundskeeper there. But the old groundskeeper there, man,
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: he would stuff his pockets full of cash on every
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: start from home starters.
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: And, man, I remember.
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: Like you said, the grass– Man, that grass could be three,
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: four inches long.
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: On some starts.
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: If somebody like Tim Wakefield was pitching, getting them ground balls, man,
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: Tim Wakefield would come out of.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: His pockets, put money up for them, that long grass.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: But what do you do?
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: What do you do?
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: What do you do if it's on the road, though? Like,
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: because you can't change. Do you think guys would go
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: to a groundskeeper on the road, or do you think
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: guys go to Major League Baseball? Because that's where the
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: Miz is slipping the most. I think he's got it
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: locked in at home. Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: Well, on the road is a different story, Kratz, because
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: you know that you're dealing with the enemy, so to speak.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: And so, yeah, I mean, you got to go to
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: your manager and say, hey, look, Ace Kilt, this mound is–
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: is is horrible i i can't i can't go through
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: my normal delivery because there's not enough clay there's not
• 11:13
  Speaker 6: enough tackiness my spikes aren't digging in i'm bailing out
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: of my delivery x y and z and then uh
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: you and the manager sit down and probably figure out
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: how to deal with it with major league baseball.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I like that manipulation at its finest um crazy Because
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: us hitters, we don't do anything like that. How are
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: we supposed to get a feel, you know, perfectly how
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: it's supposed to be? It's all about the pitchers. The
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: pitchers get that.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: No, all good. I'm just having a little fun.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: No, I agree with your phrase. Them star pitchers, man,
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: they cry babies.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Yep, of course. Of course. I want to talk a
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: little Red Sox here.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, I haven't talked about Garrett Crochet, it seems like,
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: since 89. How's my man doing? Talk a little about him, man.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: They're trying to go on a little run here, man.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: This Red Sox team, I'll be honest with you, it's
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: a team I don't think many want to see come
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: playoff time.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: No, Fraze, it's not. But look, your boy Crochet, he's
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: doing good, man.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: He really is.
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: I think he's to the point now where he realizes that–
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: He's just doing whatever it takes to get back and play.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: And I think he knows now that it's probably not
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: going to be.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: As a starter.
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: He realizes that his ability to be able to build
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: up and to get those innings in is too late
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: in the season.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: It's not going to happen.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: So I think that he's looking at a relief role.
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: come last week of September possibly and into the wild card. But,
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: you know, he's just a guy, and you know this, man,
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: he's just a guy that you don't leave on the
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: bench when he's able and capable of going out there
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: and giving you innings.
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: I don't care what kind of innings they are.
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: If they're innings in relief, then you give him innings
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: in relief because he's going to go out there and
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: be able to dominate, but he just won't be able
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: to dominate throughout the course of a start like he's
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: been used to. But he is feeling healthy, man. You know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: the Red Sox, they measure your shoulder strength, your elbow strength,
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: and your capsule strength.
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: It's all about his capsule.
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: So they're measuring that day-to-day, and he's making strides.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: He's making strides up.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: And so that's a great sign for him because, look–
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: They're kind of worrying me a little bit right now.
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: They're having to play. They got Contreras on the IL
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: right now. They're having to play a few guys in
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: different positions that aren't.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Used to it.
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: Now they are playing well, but how long that will last,
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: I don't know. It's kind of putting pieces together to
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: string out some wins and get by through the season
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: right now.
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: Do you feel like him going on the IL was
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: more like, hey, we're going to try to push through
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: this Yankees series. If the Yankees series had gone the flip,
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: you know, where they had won three, they had won
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: four of those games, Wilson would have still gone on
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: the IL, or are you fearful of this IL stint
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: being longer?
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: No, I think he still would have gone on the IL, Kratz.
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: And Chad Tracy spoke on that the other day. Chad
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: Tracy said, You know, hey, we're trying.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: To find time for him so.
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: That, like, he's got a hamstring going on, man. You
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: know how these hammies are. You know, they're every day,
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: and they're just nagging. And his is to the point
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: where he's having to go out there and play a
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: little bit differently and protect that hamstring because it is
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: so close to, getting to a point where, man, you
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: might tear something, you might really get a grade one
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: or two strain that, hey, we're not looking for that
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: right now. So I think they're in a comfortable enough
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: position and they feel comfortable, especially with Mickey Gasper at
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: first base. Man, the way this kid has been playing
• 15:24
  Speaker 6: first base, this guy has been hitting the lights out
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: of the day, daylights out of the ball, man, and
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: hitting home runs. I think they're happy with his substitute,
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Mickey Gasper. And so they're going to roll the dice
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: with Mickey Gasper right now in hopes that Wilson Contreras
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: can get this thing back under control, get this hammy
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: back under control, and so that it's not to the
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: point where he's over there at first stretching three-quarters of
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: the way to the baseball instead of fully stretching or
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: really taking a full hack or a full stride in
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: the box and stuff like that.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: So.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's mainly just to get him and
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: get that hamstring back going again.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: We're obviously a national show.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: You follow the Red Sox.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: Can you explain what you've seen out of Mickey Gasper,
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: who I'm so disappointed he has a goatee right now
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: because his mustache. But when you watch a Red Sox game,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: the way they talk about Mickey and what he's done,
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: can you explain it to the national audience?
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: Well, this is what is so impressive to me about
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: Mickey Gasper, what he's done is he's done it by
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: going back and forth from AAA to the big leagues.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: You know, this is a.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Very, very hard thing to do, as you guys well know, man.
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: This kid has gone back and forth. He's been a DH.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: He has caught. He's been behind the plate. He's been
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: at first base.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: He is basically filling every void in.
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: Every position on a daily basis that the Red Sox need.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: And when you have that ability to do that, man,
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: I compare that to like a Deion Sanders who plays
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: on both sides of the ball is going to go
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: and shut down your best receiver and go catch touchdown passes.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, this guy right here, he is doing it all.
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: And single-handedly right now, these last few weeks, saving the season, man.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Mickey Gasper and Deion Sanders, you heard it here first.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Jonathan Papelbon. The prime, Mickey Gasper and prime. Speaking of
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: the catching position, Adley Rutschman, maybe the biggest trade of
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: the trade deadline. The Red Sox pick him up. He
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: misses all three games of the last series. Is this
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: move going to, in this season, this season, 2026, not
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: the future or anything like that, is it going to
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: put the Red Sox in the best position to win
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: a World Series this year, or at least the American League?
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm not going to say that. I don't believe
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: that one player does put you in the best position.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: I think he's a huge, huge piece.
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: But at the same time, at the end of the day,
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: Jaron Duran's got to stay hot. Sadon's got to get
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: going again. His defense is always there, but I'm talking
• 18:32
  Speaker 6: about the bat.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: Trevor Story has to be Trevor Story of old.
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: And Woody or Bray has to keep doing what he's doing.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: And you've got to get Wilson Contreras back.
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: But as far as behind the plate, I'm worried about
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: Adley as well.
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: Just because the other day they did an MRI on him.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: I think this was yesterday or two days ago. Did
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: an MRI and.
• 18:59
  Speaker 6: You know, nothing came back as far as glaring or
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: nothing came back as far as like, oh man, he's
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: got slap tear or he's got.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: A full tear in this wrist of his. But at
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: the same.
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: Time, he's just not able to go out there and
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: play night in and night out.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: And so that's a little bit worrisome for me because... Then, you.
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: Know, when you're not able to do that, you're not
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: getting the at-bats that you're used to. And so, for me,
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: he's got to have the at-bats because he just came
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: off the IL. And when you just come off the IL,
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: you want those at-bats.
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: You know, I'm not a hitter. Y'all can speak on
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: that more. But if it was for me, I'd be
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: wanting those at-bats. But yet, he's not.
• 19:42
  Speaker 6: Getting them because he's having to rest the inflammation that
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: he has in his wrist.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: Now, is it carrying on for two interceptions? three days?
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: Sometimes it can, sometimes it can't. So it's a day-to-day thing,
• 19:55
  Speaker 6: and when you're dealing with a day-to-day thing, it's hard
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: to project what he can do night in and night out.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: All right, let's go to that rotation now. Tonight, it's
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: Bennett versus Brandon Young. This rotation... Outside of Sonny Gray,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: and obviously Ranger, I don't care if he gives up
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: 10 runs a game for the rest of the season,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: he's clearly going to start game two of the postseason
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: because of his postseason chops. Or do you evaluate what
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Ranger Suarez is doing the last month and possibly if
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: he doesn't do well, he doesn't pitch for you in
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: the postseason?
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: Gratz, if I'm the manager right now, I see how
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: I'm heavily evaluating.
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: Ranger Suarez more than I am anybody right now.
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: Because at the playoffs tour tomorrow, and I'm the manager,
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: Ranger Suarez.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Is not pitching for me. I hate to say it.
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: He's not pitching for me.
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: It's going to be Bennett, Gray, and then Tully. So
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: I'm going lefty, righty, lefty. Or Tully, Gray, Bennett. And
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: Ranger Suarez simply isn't pitching because he just hasn't shown
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: me the ability.
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: And you know how important this is, man. And Frazier
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: will tell you this, too, as a hitter.
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: When the whole ball part knows what pitch is coming,
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: whether it's a fastball or curveball, You got to be
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: able to make that hitter swing and miss and be
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: able to produce an out or, you know, get a
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: pop flyer or a ground ball or swing and miss.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: You got to be able to get him out and
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: the whole ballpark knows what pitch is coming.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: That's when I knew I could pitch at the big
• 21:37
  Speaker 6: league level for a long time is when hitters knew
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: what was coming. I was still throwing it and I
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: was still getting outs with them. So to me, Ranger
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: Swords does not have that ability to do that right now.
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: And I think that ABS, uh, is a total killer
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: for Ranger Suarez because he has to live on the edges.
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: And when he's not living on the edges and he's
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: not on those borderline strike zones, whether it's up, down, in,
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: or out, when he's not on the borders, he has
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: to come back in the zone.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: And when you come back in the zone with 92 that.
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: Really ain't sinking a whole lot, 91 miles an hour
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: with your heater, or a curveball that doesn't.
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: Have a ton of swing and miss, Bro, you in trouble, man.
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, understandable. Understandable.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Last thing for me, man. MLB on Fox here. You
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: got the game. Boston, Baltimore. Talk to me about it.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, Baltimore's coming, baby. Watch out. So give us
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: a little inkling about what you're going to see this
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: weekend here with these squads.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, man.
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: I think it's going to be some great games, honestly.
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: You know, they played earlier in the season, and... games
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: were not that that well played not that competitive um
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: but look man you're looking at a Baltimore team that's
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: rising and a Baltimore team that's swinging the bats right
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: now um I talked to Ben McDonald the other day
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: who does a lot of their uh analysis.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: And he was sitting there saying that he he didn't.
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: See this coming with the Baltimore Orioles this late in
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: the season he thought that um You know, it might
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: be a little bit of a downward swing, but they're
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: on the upside of things, and the Red Sox are
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: kind of treading water right now. And so Bennett tonight
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: is going to have to go out there and give
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: them a start where he's going to have to throw
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: five to six innings.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: He cannot afford to.
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: Go out there and throw an outing where, you know,
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: he only gets two or three innings in and they
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: have to pull him.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: You know, they're going to have to pitch effectively.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: And look, and for the Red Sox, it's all about
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: their bullpen, man. They've got to find ways to get
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: to their bullpen.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: And if they can.
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: Find ways to get to their bullpen, I've said this
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: a thousand times, when we won it all in 2007,
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: they have a very, very comparable bullpen as far as
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: numbers and as far as dudes, the way they pitch
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: and the way we pitched in 07.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: As the same team.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: So, to me, if they can get to their bullpen
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: any way, shape, or form, they're going to be looking good, man.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that first one is tonight, 7-15 Eastern. Pap, good stuff, man.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: You're the best.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: Braze, you got the game tonight?
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: No, I'm working this weekend, man. I got nothing.
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: Okay, buddy.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, enjoy it. Crazy, yeah.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: He's on the weekend shift and the Little League shift.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: All right, okay. He's a weekend guy. Okay.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Good stuff, Pat. All right, boys.
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: I'll see y'all later, man.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Yes. See you soon.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: All right, so that game and that series starts tonight,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and then it goes into the weekend, Boston and Baltimore.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: 7.15 Eastern time is the start of that one on
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: the Fox One app.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: You can check it out.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Start your Fox One three-day free trial today at foxone.com.