Latest / The Craig Way Show / MLB Mid-Season Observations, Draft and All-Star Weekend Notes with Gene Watson

Transcript

MLB Mid-Season Observations, Draft and All-Star Weekend Notes with Gene Watson · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you expect to win and don't put it off. One,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you've got the ace in the hole. Well and the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: four o'clock.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Now, we always say we bump back with our ace
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: in the hole. There we we have uh George Strait musing,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: But when it comes to.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Baseball, our ace in the hole is.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: None other than Gene Watson, the uh front office man
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: from the Chicago White Sox, who has been called both
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: an ace in the hole in just an a hole
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: right sometimes you know?
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Is that right?
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: That's exactly right, more more more times the ladder.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: Than the other.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: So on, Hey, it's great to visit with you again.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to catch up.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously I'm coming off vacation, but you're coming
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: off the draft.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: We're at the All Star break.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: It just seemed like a great convergence to visit about
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of things before we.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Get to the draft.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Let's let's let's kind of work backward a little bit.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: First of all, your thoughts on the home run derby
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: last night. Did you like the changed format and the
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: excitement it seemed to generate? And you've talked at length
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: in the past about what a exciting young talent Jordan
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Walker is.
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: I really did love it.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I loved it for Meunia Miracami, especially because he's coming
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: off in an injury, and for the fans globally to
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: be able to see him swing the back in the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: home run derby.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: I thought that was great.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: And had there been a timer on it, he wouldn't
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: have been able to do it coming off the injury.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: It just wouldn't have been something that he physically could
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: have done. So we loved it as an organization because
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: he got to get some extra swings in, get his
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: rhythm and timing back coming back from an injury. But
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: my gosh, Jordan Walker, I'm so happy for that young
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: man and his family. He made more in the home
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: run derby by winning than he will all year long
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: in his salary with the Cardinals. And this is a
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: guy that a couple of years ago, you know, a
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: lot of teams could have had him.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: He was not playing well and it was sent back
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: a triple A.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: And I know it's just a home run derby, but
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: anytime you can gain some personal momentum in your career
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: and put yourself on the radar like he did last night,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: it's certainly great for the game and certainly great for
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: the player, and I'm so happy for him.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Do you think also that this is really poignant given
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: what the storm clouds on the horizon about the possibility
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: of a work stoppage and a new collective bargain and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: gram all of that kind of stuff is out there,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and yet here's a guy who's making in the Major
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: League Baseball world peanuts in terms of a salary as
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: seven hundred and ninety nine thousand, four hundred dollars, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: he gets a million dollars for winning the home run derby.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: It's kind of a nice poetic thing for him to
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: be able to get that right, especially in this day
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: in time of what we're talking about about labor and
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: money and all that stuff.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: It really is, it's such a great thing for a
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: young man like him on a lot of levels to
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: be able to win it in the exposure it brings
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to him. The Cardinals have had a great year so far.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: They've had a lot of young players that have stepped
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: back up and done a good job, and so just
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: a great event. I love the new format, which was
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: basically the old format.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: It gives the.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Fans a little more time to get to know the players,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: and it's just it's just better all around for everybody participating.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Uh, gino, Let's let's talk about the draft. And I
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: know you were very very busy as well, and in
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: looking at what your your team and your organization did,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I saw a lot of really good comments about your
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: second round pick, Cole pro sec I guess and uh,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: is it Rock Chilowski the shortstop?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: You know there? I want to give you a chance
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: to talk about the guys you got.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Well, we're so excited about Rock Chillowski. It really came
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: down to him the college shortstyle from UCLA versus Grady Emerson,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: the high school shortstop from Fort Worth Christian High School,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Who's going to be just a tremendous talent. But at
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, with where our major league
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: team is right now and really the unexpected surge that
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: we have in twenty twenty six, rocks timetable to the
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: major leagues just fits a little bit more.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: He's a tremendous leader.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: The best line I've ever heard about his defense is
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: that he's an arrogant defender because he does it so
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: easy at shortstop and just a quality human being. His
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: father's a scout with the Cincinnati Reds. He was raised
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: in the game, and so we're super excited about him.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: And then at thirty four we took land and told me,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: you might remember that last name, the son of Jim
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Tomey out of Nazareth Academy in suburban Chicago. Jim works
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: for us as a special advisor and Landon is a
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: left handed hitting shortstop that has some sneaky power for
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: a guy that's about five foot ten.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: He's a plus runner.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: He creates a lot of havoc on the base paths,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: and he's the guy that's going to be able to
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: move all over the diamond. And then co second one
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: of the top left handed hitters UH in the high
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: school ranks this year. And so we're super excited about
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: all of our picks. We we've got a we've got
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: a wonderful room full of a lot of super intelligent,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: smart baseball men UH and a lot of super quality
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: X major league players, and it just makes for a
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: fun environment.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: If you never leave a stone unturned when you're when
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: you're you know, perusing the possibility of a prospect and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: you ask some hard questions. How difficult is that conversation
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: with Jim told me about Landing about.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Oh many today, I mean even today. You know, it's like, hey,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: you know, people have got to be able to tell
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: you the truth. And Jim, you know, Jim and Landing,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: it's a very unique relationship. The relationship with the White
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Sox organization is super unique and where a lot of
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: organizations would shy away from the situation. That's what makes
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: this one even more special is that Jim is so
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: understanding how hard the game is, that everybody's got a
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: job to do. And and you know, I asked him
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: last week, I said, hey, have you asked Lando how
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: he feels about this? And he said, yeah, I have,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: and he wants to raise a flag in Chicago. So uh,
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: you know, it's it's a unique situation. But Jim's such
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: a special guy and Landing such a special talent that
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, you take the do
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: you take the best player on the board?
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: And Landon was there for so we took him.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: You know, I could not let this pass, as painful
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: as it is to mention that you got Joey Voltsko
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: in the third round. For folks you may remember, yeah,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: that's the guy who really put it to Texas. In
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: the College World Series. He was amazing. Uh. Keith Morland
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: that night working the broadcast said what he did with
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: his change up and what he did with his slider
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: was absolutely amazing to watch.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a special talent and his secondary pitches
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: are so unique, and he's such a competitor. You know,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: you don't ever want to put limitations on the players.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: The players will always tell you when they're ready. But
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: you know, when you look back, you know, in twenty fourteen,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: you know, we call a reliever up from TCU, first
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: round left hander whose name I can't believe, I can't
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: remember in October, and so you never know what's going
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: to happen. This is a super talented reliever that has
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: a chance to move quick and we were really excited
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: to get it.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Did the draft go?
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's always surprises, there's always unknowns, there's always
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: things that folks may have not expected to happen. But
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: by and large, did this draft go, not only for
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: your organization but overall in the majors go about? Like
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: how most drafts, Even though the draft has evolved and
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: become different over the past few.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Years, I wouldn't say that it did Craig. I mean,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: you know, the thing that's changed so much about the
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: draft is the ni OW money in college baseball. And
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: there's so many kids that are so high academic now
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: that are going to Stanford and other places, Notre Dame,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: and so you know, when the player starts to slide
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: down the board, and because you have a slotting system
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: and a pool in the top ten rounds, as players
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: begin to slide down the board, the signability of them
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: becomes lesser or lesser because the signing bonus is going
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: to be way less than what they might get at
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: LSU or Arkansas or University of Texas. And so that's
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: the one unique thing is that you know, kids are
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: you know a lot of kids are going to school,
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: and you know, I personally believe that there's no better
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: way to become a big leaguer than playing baseball every
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: day in professional baseball with the development and the schedule
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: and the travel and just getting acculated in the pro game.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: But but college baseball is bigger and better than it's
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: ever been, and with the Nile money, it's kind of
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: leveled the playing field once you get past that third round.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: And so college baseball is going to thrive. Professional baseball
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: is going to thrive. But for the players that want
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: to play at the major league level, there's no better
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: thing to do than to sign out of high school.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Well, and and what you did, what you just laid
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: out there, You mentioned Stanford, you mentioned in IL. You
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: think about this in this day and age, how how
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: you know?
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Just absolutely inconceivable?
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Might it be to think about a couple of guys
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: who were highly decorated playing at Stanford who left for
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: an I and IL purposes And one of them is
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: on your major league roster right now and bring Montgomery
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: and then and then the other one is that it
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: comes to mind is Timo Basera who played at Texas
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: this year that transferred in from Stanford. I mean, so
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: even a Stanford education and those guys were going to
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: finish up their degrees anyway. But a Stanford education sometimes
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: or a Notre Dame education, uh you know, in the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: case of a Carson tiny or some other places. Uh,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the the education might wind up taking the back seat.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: If that nil might he is as attractive as it
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: has become.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: No question, it's only gotten bigger.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I think there's going to be eventual donor fatigue with
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: all of this, which may swing it back our way.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: I know there's been a lot of conversation in the
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: collective Bargain agreement about high school players not being in
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: the draft, which could affect a lot of things, players
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: being able to be drafted every year in college baseball,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: which could affect a landscape a lot. But you know,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: it's a difficult decision. You know, my son was drafted
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: out of high school. He was raised in minor league baseball.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: It scared the heck out of me. So every family
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: is different, every player is different, but the NIL money
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: is certainly leveled the playing field when it comes to signability.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Gene Watson joining us here on the program. Right, let's
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: get to the topic that eventually it'll get down the
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: road to when it's going to happen. But I was
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: I got a little chuckle about this, and I wanted
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: to get your thoughts on it. So Rob Mannford, the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: commissioner a Major League Baseball and the interim executive director
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of the Player Association, Bruce May, had some differing views
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: on that level of field ad campaign that expressed the
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: league's desire for a salary cap, and Manford said this morning, quote,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I think when you have a difficult public issue, particularly
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: when the other side of the issue is being very
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: public about what their views are on the negotiation, I
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: think it's incumbent on us to keep our fans informed
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: of our view of the world, particularly given sometimes the
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: other side may not be completely accurate or fair in
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: terms of their recitation of what's going on. Meyer comes
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: back with a quote I've watched over the last two
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: years how the owners the convissioner's office try to convince
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: fans and consumers of their product that the product is broken.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's perverse.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Case in point is leading up to this All Star Game,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: any of us who watch baseball are seeing ads not
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: so much for the All Star Game, not promoting the game,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: not promoting the players, but promoting the league's desire for
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: a salary cap.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: So the two sides obvious.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is emblematic of how things are kind
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: of widespread and far apart right now, aren't they. Genum
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: it is, And you know, the one thing I think
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: is important for both sides to recognize is that you
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: have to see the game through the eyes of the fan.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: That's the most important thing that you can do. I
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: know it's a business. I know the owners have their side,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: I know how the players have their sides. But this
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: is a different society than it was in nineteen ninety four,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: and fans they.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Have a lot of other different options.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: When you put the WNBA and Savannah Bananas and all
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: of the World Cup and all the things that have
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: taken the country by storm this summer, you know, the
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: entertainment dollars being spread thinner than ever, and so I
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: think it's important to recognize that right now, the game
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: is thriving. Attendance is up in almost every ballpark, Viewership
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: is up in almost every market, and even in a
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: time on a national basis where they've spread the the
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: viewership around from Netflix and other Apple TV, viewership is up.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: And so I think it's important to recognize that we
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: have a really, really good thing going and both sides
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: should recognize that. And I know they do, and I
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: know they're trying very hard to reach a resolution, and
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: hopefully they'll make that happen.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Let me get your thoughts here kind of a mid
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: season evaluation, and I just run through this very quickly.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: In the American League, at the All Star break, the
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Ras are up three games on the Yankees. The Red
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Sox by the way of one nine in a row,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and that's pulled them within ten games first. In the
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Central your ball club, the White Sox tied for first
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: with the Guardians, up three games on the Twins, six
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: and a half on the Tigers. In the West, the
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Rangers up a game and a half on the Mariners
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: and three on the Astros. On that first of all,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: your thoughts on the American League? Is there any of
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: the debate that your ball club is the biggest surprise
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: in all of Major League Baseball this season?
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: No question, And it's a testimony.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: And I mean, look at Oklahoma at the collegiate level
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: and what they were able to do because of culture
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: and team and that's really been the driving force of us.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, this team in twenty twenty six, they don't
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: know anything about the twenty twenty four team that lost
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: more games in the history of baseball. You know, they
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: just know that they love to play for each other,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: play with each other, and have a love for the game.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: And that's really been when you inject and you feed
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: a lot of energy and a lot of talent or roster,
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: thanks can turn around quickly. We have a long way
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: to go when it comes to winning a world championship
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: and competing with the likes of the Dodgers and the
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Yankees and teams like that. But we're going to continue
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: to push and feed the machine and do what we
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: can do. But I think the interesting part about the
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: American League is that that's second wild card and the
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Red Sox getting hot and some of these teams that
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: have gotten healthy and started to play well. Most of
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: the teams that I've spoken to in the last twenty
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: four hours in preparation for the deadline are one of
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: two things.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: We're not tap. We're going to keep going, or we're.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: Going to evaluate the first seven to ten day, ten
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: games out of the break and then make a decision.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: And there are going to be some markets that are
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: sitting there three and four games out of the wild
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: card and their front offices and they just say, you
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: know what, we don't have a chance to win a
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: world championship.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: That's our goal.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: To do it, and the only way to do it
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: is to multiply off of some of the talent we
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: have at.
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: The major league level.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: And if you go that route, you can set your
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: organization up better for the next two to three to
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: five years, and if you try to hope to get
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: in on the wild card this year and not do it,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: or get in and get eliminated right away. So there's
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: going to be a lot of teams in the American
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: League that have a lot of really tough decisions when
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: it gets to August.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Third in the National League, the Braves are up two
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: games and that's stumbling down in the stretch for the
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: All Star Break. They're up two games on the Phillies,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: four on the Marlins. In the Central the Brewers are
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: up five on the Cubs Cardinals next back at eight
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: and a half in the West, despite being swept at
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: home to Stagger in to the All Star Break, the
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Dodgers are still up eleven and a half from the Diamondbacks,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: twelve and a half on the Potters.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: How about your thoughts on the National League.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: I think we all know the Dodgers are not only
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: the clear favorite in the National League, but a clear
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: favorite to probably win their third straight World Championship. The
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee Brewers are super, super talented, and I think a
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: lot of what dictates the National League is who's going
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: to push in with their prospects to improve their major
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: league club. I look for Atlanta to be super aggressive
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: at the deadline, and Philadelphia kind of knows who they
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: are as a team. They're in a lot of ways
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: like Milwaukee and the Dodgers, they're wishing a way to
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: get to October. But I think Atlanta, because they've gotten healthy,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: because they're so super talented offensively, I think that they're
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: the team that could push in to go get some pitching.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: But the problem is, the more teams stay close in
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: the next two weeks, the smaller the market's going to
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: be to go out and acquire that pitching. It's definitely
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: a seller's market right now, and so you've got to
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: be willing to give up some really high, high octange
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: talent if you want to improve your club here at
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: the deadline.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: All right, I'm going to get your talks on the
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: All Star Game. And you've been many, many, many many times,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: and I know you've enjoyed it a great deal. What
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: do you look for in an All Star Game when
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: you whether you're in the ballpark or at home watching,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: what do you look for when you watch an All
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Star Game?
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: Well, certainly the best players want to play the best
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: on the biggest stage and with the younger guys you
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: can get some of that. I mean, I get really
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: excited about you know, munim or Comi and him being
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: in the game. Named Miguel Vargas who we acquired from
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: the Dodgers, who went through so much in the last
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: two years to get to this All Star.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Game, Well, what's it look like for him coming out
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: of it? What's it going to do for him as
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: a leader?
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: You know, is he going to carry on to a
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: be a perennial All Star every year or is this
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: a one time thing? And a guy like Tristan Peters
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: for us, who's just been an incredible addition to our
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: organization from Tampa Bay over the winner to make that
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: All Star Game. Like how players come out of the
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: game and so much is learned. I mean, I've heard
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: so many stories about players going into the game not
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: knowing what to expect and coming out of it with
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: as much information from a development standpoint, and what it
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: takes to really stay at the major league level just
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: from being around other players that are just as good
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: as them, are better and so for that, That's what
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: it is for me, is evaluating what it looks like
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: coming out. But we all know that the guys that
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: really really love to play love to play the very
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: best against the best, and so that's that's something to
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: pay attention to tonight.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: And we'll certainly look forward to it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Gino, great to visit with you again, and we'll pick
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: it up next week and do our weekly conversation next week.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Thanks for the.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Time, all right, Craig, thanks so much, you guys, take
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: care of you.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Bet.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: That's Geen Watson from the Chicago White Sox Front office,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: All Star preview recap of the draft and kind of
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: a mid season evaluation a major League baseball.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: By the way, Brandon Finnigan was the picture. He wasnaking
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Brandon finn again. There you go, G know, Brandon Finnigan.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: That's right, Yeah, I remember Brandon finding a good pitcher,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: outstanding pitcher as well. All Right, we have more coming
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: up here on thirteen under the Zone.