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Taj Bradley joins Twins' 200 K club, plus our offseason wish list · Twin Cities Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taj Bradley joins an exclusive Twins club. Walker Jenkins hits
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: another home run. Emmanuel Rodriguez hit another home run. Aaron
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sabato made his Major League debut. A pretty eventful couple
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of days for the Twins despite the games being meaningless
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco, at least in terms of the standings
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: with the Twins officially eliminated. This is Twin Cities Territory,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: your Minnesota Twins podcast here on the Foul Territory Network.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: No Dan Hayes today. He is awake. He's in San
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Francisco with the team. but told us he's sharing a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: hotel room with his dad who is not awake yet,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: so he can't jump on. So just Tyler and me today.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: We'll see if Mr. Hayes rises and Dan is able
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: to join later.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Don't want to wake the bear.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Don't want to wake the bear. Definitely not. We have
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: plenty to talk about today. We're also going to talk
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: about our off-season wish list later in the show, but
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: it turned out to be a pretty newsy couple of
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: days today. In Twinsland, we'll start with Taj Bradley, who
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: made what should be his final start of the season
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday night and needed just one strikeout to hit
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the 200 strikeout plateau. Tyler did so. I think he
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: had six total on the night, six solid innings from
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: him to end what was a career-best season. He joins
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a very short list of Twins who have hit 200
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: strikeouts in a season in their career If you're watching
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: on YouTube, I just threw the club up on the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: screen right now, but it's Camilo Pascual did it four
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: straight years from 1961 to 64. This is just in
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the Minnesota tenure of the franchise, not including Senators. Jim
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Cott did it twice, 66 and 67. Dave Boswell in 67.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Dean Chance in 67 and 68. How about that 1967 rotation?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: My goodness.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, decent squad there.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Not bad.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Not bad.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Then Burt Bleileven, five straight times in the 70s and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: again in 1986. Johan Santana, of course, four straight times
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: in the aughts. Francisco Liriano, Jose Barrios, Pablo Lopez all
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: did it once as well. A total of 23 times
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in Twins history by 10 different pitchers. Taj, the latest
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to the list. Tyler, certainly plenty was made last year
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: about the fire sale, all the trades the Twins made.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Taj Bradley was a player acquired during that season, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: that's about as good as you could hope for in
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: a situation.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Like that back of the year. Yeah, that was an
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: ace type of night.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: And obviously getting the punch out, I think his first batter,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: second batter of the game, he knew what he was
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: going for.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: He got it. You could see that smile, which is
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: always fun to see guys.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Within the season, it is such an individual game, and
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: the accolades that do happen along the way, you've got
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: to enjoy them while you can. Um, you know, so
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: it was great to see, and then great to see him,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: like just do what he needed to do. That was,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: you know, he, today he's going to show up to
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: the yard and he's probably going to be the happiest
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: guy there. He's got nothing to do until next February
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: on a baseball field. Um, he's checked every box this
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: year for pretty much everyone. Um, you know, it's a
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: hell of a year and an emphatic way to end it,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: you know, and he, last night I really liked, he,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: he threw that curve ball a lot, um, which he's
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: used it here and there throughout the season.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know percentages.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: Um, but it's a pitch he threw last night and it,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: and it's a potential weapon for him, um, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: to go along with the 99 to a hundred and
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: the 93 mile an hour slider and the splitter that's
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: unhittable as well. Like this, this is a polished, like
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: if he's right, running at full steam, like that's an ACE, uh,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: in anybody's rotation. And, and that's what you want when
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: you trade a guy like Griffin Jacks, who is so
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: good for you. Um, you, you make all those moves
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: last year, you get a piece like him back. Like it's, uh,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: that's paying dividends and now it's keep him healthy, keep
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: him riding this wave.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And, you know, 200 strikeouts is great.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: You know, 200 innings, I think is the next benchmark
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: for him. You know, he's had great years and he's
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: getting stronger and stronger. And now it's get deep into
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: every game. You go starting, start to expect it of yourself.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I think that's his next step is to anticipate getting
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: deep into these outings and things like that. And I
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: think the staff as a whole and the rest of
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: his teammates would tell you the same thing. I think
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: this is a, Incredible year for him. Like I said,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: great way to end it. Pitching in San Fran against
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: a team you need to take advantage of, which Twins
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: have had trouble doing at times this year. He showed
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: up and made his presence known and walked away with
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the win because of.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: It. 9% curveball usage. Figured I'd look it up.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Bolt up those numbers and you never know what happens.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Just four games left for the Twins. So he should
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: be done. It sounds like the Twins intend for him
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to be done. There is an off day.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: A nice spa day today.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Theoretically, he could pitch Sunday on normal rest if
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: for some reason it was needed, but it doesn't sound
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: like that's the intent. So if that is it for him,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: he finishes 12-6 on the season with a 3-7-3 ERA. And,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of the Twins projections for next
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: year for the starting rotation are really hinge on Pablo
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Lopez coming back from injury, hinge on Joe Ryan returning
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: to the first half version of Joe Ryan, not the
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: second half version. To have Taj emerge like this and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: hopefully at least give you one player that is at
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the top end of that rotation without question marks is
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: a huge deal.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and like I said, it's a solidifying piece. You've
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: had so many things this year, obviously all the injuries
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: and surgeries that have happened, but then even Joe having
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: his little rocky midseason injury you know, with his hip
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: and back, whatever exactly it is, you know, it's, it's
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: stuff though, that hopefully it seems to be in the
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: progress of getting better on, on all fronts, you know,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: to the point where we kind of hit on it
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: the other day, they're going to have a lot of
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: decisions to make on guys that, you know, for, for
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: good reasons, but it's a tough spot for the twins
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: to be in. They're going to have to make some
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: moves on guys, you know, like Zebby's one who, lost
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: a spot out of camp and then got it back
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: because of injuries. You know, it's guys were already getting
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: pushed out and now there's going to be more guys,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: assuming everyone's healthy that spring, you know, that's always asking
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: a lot, you know, things happen in the off season
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: mysteriously sometimes, but they're going to have a lot of
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: great arms, experienced arms at that. And especially in Pablo
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: that are going to be ready to come back. And it's,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: it sets up for a big potential rotation and that
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: being a strength next year. And if, you know, the
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: twins hold true to their word of spending some money
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: and things like that, like all these guys are already
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: on the books.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: You know, there's some hard guys in there. Pablo's on
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: a deal.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: You know, Taj is very inexpensive at that point for
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: what he's going to be doing. Prelip too, Zebi, you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: the money to be spent can go elsewhere, you know,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: whether it's a big defensive guy to play short or whatever,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: your first baseman, you know, big slugger, you know, and
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: then there's that Jeffers guy that he's going to be,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: asking for some big checks. There's some things that definitely
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: are going to have to happen, but the rotation being
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: set for all things considered, that's a big step forward.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: He had had some bumpy starts in August, and it
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: looked like he might be part of the scourge of
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: players hitting the wall at one point, but finished pretty
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: strong over his last five games, three of them just
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: one run in. allowed or fewer and went seven innings,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: two of them, six innings and two of them to six,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: one ERA to finish it off, uh, capped by that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: pretty nice one against, albeit a largely, uh, quad a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: giants team.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: They're missing their big boys.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: But that's what you're supposed to do to a team
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: like that. Shut them down.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Exactly.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Career highs in innings in strikeouts, uh, career best ERA
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: for sure. Certainly, this is everything the Twins hoped for
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: when they picked him up from Tampa Bay in the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Jacks deal. A 4.3 war as well.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Which is... I think he still made 31 starts even.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: With going on the IL, which I was trying to
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: do the math there. So that means when they were
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: skipping pre-lip and guys like that, that meant he was
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: getting plugged right into those spots. He posted, he had
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: the little peck thing. It was probably more minor than
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: it was significant. To post like that, that's something a team,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: guys like guys like that, it's great to have a
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: piece like.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Him. 104 pitches, too, in the finale. A big load there,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: but that should do it for his season. Certainly one
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to remember for the Twins as Taj Bradley joins that
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: short list of 200 strikeouts. If you like what you hear, guys,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: please follow along, like us, subscribe, whether you watch on
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: YouTube or listen on Apple, Spotify, wherever. There is a
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: QR code on the screen right now for the YouTubers
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to join along. We'd love to have you following. It's
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: going to be a very busy off-season, plenty to talk
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: about today and throughout the next few months. We'll take
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a quick break and be back with more on Twin
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Cities Territory.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, definitely. I found myself on the golf course
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: long days out there. So I reach in my golf bag.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: I keep the Ultra Focus Pouch right here with me,
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: keep it in my golf bag. And it's part of
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: my golf bag, as I said.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: And so what are some of your favorite effects of
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: the Ultra Pouch? Definitely, you know, gives me a little
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: bit of focus, that little bit of energy that I'm
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: looking for. And obviously not having any caffeine in it
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: is always a plus for me. So I enjoy those things.
• 10:11
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• 10:14
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• 10:28
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• 10:30
  Speaker 4: our show and tell them our show sent you.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: Welcome back.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Other notable news from the week. Aaron Savato made his
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Major League debut for the Twins on Monday. After a
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: long run through the minor leagues, he was a first-round
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: pick back in 2020, I want to say.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: 27th overall.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: His big upside coming out of North Carolina was his power.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: But he spent a long time in the minors. Had
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: some injury issues over that time. And what was especially
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: interesting about the story, and cool, I thought, was He
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: was with the Saints, had a great year in AAA
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: with the Saints, and they were playing their regular season finale.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: He thought he was ready to go home. He had
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: one foot out the door, like offseason is here.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Vacation planned.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: And it was especially notable, as Dan Hayes wrote about
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: on The Athletic, he was about to go home into
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the offseason, and he would have been eligible to be
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: a minor league free agent if the twins hadn't promoted
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: him and he thought for sure he had no reason
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to suspect it was going to happen. Uh, and basically
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: at the last minute twins told him, Hey, we're changing
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: your flight to go to San Francisco to play in
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: the big league. So he's now part of the 40
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: man roster protected from that minor league free agency situation.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know what the twins have planned for him
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in the future. Obviously too early to, uh, judge his
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: major league career at this point. He did go, he
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: went over next year. first base DH. Those are sort
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of the options with him, but still, nevertheless, it has
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: to be, I just can't imagine after seven years, I think,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: or six in the minors to have that moment, what
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: that must feel like, Tyler. I mean, at any point,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: it's got to be great, but especially when it looks
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: like it's not going to happen for you.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: No, it's definitely big.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: And it reminds me of Tyler Rogers, Taylor's brother, who,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: you know, he kind of had the same route he
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: pitched forever with the giants.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Oregon finally got it up after six years. I think
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: it was.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: And, uh, you know, like you said, I remember when
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Sabato was drafted and, you know, COVID obviously was a
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: weird year.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: Um, you know, kind of ruined everything for a lot
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: of people.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Um, but it's, you know, it's a testament to him.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: You know, he kept putting in the work, kept posting,
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: showing up, you know, obviously your first round or you're
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: going to get some chances.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Uh, and he's taken his opportunities and here he is.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: And, you know, it's, uh, especially those, those dog days
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and triple a, you know, especially in his scenario, like
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: he's not on the 40 man, you know, he kind
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: of sees what's coming ahead. You know, he's, he wasn't
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: checked out. You know, you're still playing your game, things
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: like that, but you're, you're already planning your off season.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: You're thinking about a lot of things. And then, you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: that I still remember vividly my, you know, getting called
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: into the office for my call up the first time,
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: you know, it's something that you work your whole life for. You, you,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: work tirelessly over it and and try to get better
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: every offseason and it's all the workouts and the hitting
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: and the everything in between and to to get there.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: It is it's a you know it's realizing a.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Dream and you know for him you know the the
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: call-up story you know is great too you know the
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: the flight gets delayed he gets stuck in Dallas takes
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: the you know the morning flight out I guess got
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: there for the game you know doesn't have any of
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: his own stuff um you know it's it's something that
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: you know, it happens all the time in baseball, you
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: don't always hear about it, you know, but that's a
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: story he'll never forget, and, you know, to get to go,
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: and especially in a historic park like AT & T,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I think is still the name, or Oracle now, you know,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: it's just a great place to play a baseball game,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: you know, it's such a historic place, and seeing it,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: you know, for memory's sake, it's pretty special, and I
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: know it's exciting for him, and Hopefully for his sake,
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: his family got out there at least afterwards, whenever. They
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: probably beat him there for that matter with his flight issues.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But hell of a way to finish.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Your year off.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Get a week in the big leagues and get a
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: couple nice paychecks under your belt for sure.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: It doesn't hurt.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: How did they tell you, Tyler, when your time came?
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Did they play it straight? Did they mess with you
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: a little bit?
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I had– who did I have? Was it Quaddie?
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: I think I had Quaddie the first time. I believe
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: it was quality.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: And, uh, you know, he, he was old school coach,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: you know, all the things and, um, you know, stuff
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: was happening. So we weren't sure it was like, mine
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: was an injury. I wanted to say it was Tommy
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Malone or urban Santana. Um, you know, and so game's
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: over and there's kind of like murmurs, like stuff's going on.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: And so I didn't really know what was happening.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, you get called in and quality,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: like I said, it was more of a straight shooter,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: but it was, you know, the, when the moment starts,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: you know, you feel it, you know, it just wells
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: up and, you know, I'm, I'm crying and excited and
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: everything else. But the, the wrinkle for mine, which I'm sure,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot of twins fans remember this, but
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: I was started the year in double A had no
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: aspirations of being a big leaguer that year.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't a big.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Prospect or anything and they get to the series in
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Toronto and I don't have a passport. And so my dad,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: my dad had to, I get the call and I'm like,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: you know, elated.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I'm losing my mind. I'm like, holy crap, I'm going
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: to the big leagues. And then I call my friend.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: I'm like, hey, bud, I don't have a passport with me.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: So they got, I think they helped get my dad
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: a flight to New York. He flew up and then
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: we got to drive from Rochester to Toronto together, which
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: was pretty sweet.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: So you had one that's not with you.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a passport, just did not even cross
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: my mind to bring it with me because I was,
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: you know, I was the guy in the back of
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: the rotation. You know, I was pitching the the first
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: game of every series so Jose didn't have to pitch
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: after bus rides.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: That was my job.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say you had to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: call the Obama administration and fast-track a passport.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: That would have been something. Sneak across the border.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Right. Sabato's call-up also reminded me that Alex Jackson had
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: been on the team this whole time.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Still there.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: That was an early August call-up when the Walker Jenkins
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: team hysteria was that fever pitch and uh they called
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: up alex jackson instead and i think he made five
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: plate appearances over over the entire.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Month well i mean hey good for him god.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: It's yeah no it's it's definitely good for him i
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: just you know that's when we look back at this
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: collapse um you know not that i don't think the
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: twins had a magic playoff button to push to bring
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: somebody up who would have changed everything. But when almost
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: every day the lineup looked like it had, was leaving
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: something to be desired at the bottom to have a
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: guy sitting there who wasn't, wasn't playing is, is interesting.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I wonder if, I mean, so many guys, we haven't
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: even talked about Trevor Larnik, who obviously has been hurt
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: and not playing the last week or so, but like
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: so many guys have had these issues. I wonder if
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: they were worried about something with Jeffers or Caratini in
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: terms of health or what, but yeah.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And you never know.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: I've talked about that a few times, like, you know,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: guys by the end of the season, like everybody's got
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: naggy stuff and, you know, yeah. Carrotini, you know, he's
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: not a spring chicken anymore. He may have had a little,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: you know, barky something, but yeah, you never know. And
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, Jeffers had hamate surgery. So, you know, you
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: never know with that. I mean, we've seen like Jose
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: Ramirez with Cleveland, he's had a kind of down year
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: for his, his historic numbers. And it's like, yeah, it's
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: not always a guarantee guys come back smooth, but, Good
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: for Jackson, man.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: He did his job. Obviously, he's doing something right. They
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: kept him around.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: If he was an issue in any form or fashion,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: he wouldn't have been there.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: For sure, he's a great teammate and great guy. Congrats
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: to Sabato at the end of the day.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Speaking of other recent call-ups, Walker Jenkins continues to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: be doing just fine since we raised the five-alarm bell
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: of should you be worried about Two more hits. He
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: had a single on Monday night and then what turned
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: out to be a pretty big homer, the game-winning run
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday night. Just a line shot over that high
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: wall in right field. He's been doing fine. Emmanuel Rodriguez
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: had been slumping after his hot start, but he also
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: homered on Monday in that loss. The Twins are obviously
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: going to be banking a lot on these rookies going forward,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and so you know, the, they're not getting the playoff
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: race experience that it looked like they might, but they
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: are at least getting some of these things worked out.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: It seems like.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: And they're, I mean, they, they're going to finish with
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: the Rangers who are in a playoff race. So they're
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: going to get, they're going to get a team that's,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: they're going to get a team that's trying to finish
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: up their season, which I think is always a good thing.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: You know, find, find a way to get inspired to
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: play one way or the other, you know, the Michael Jordan,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: you know, he talked about me and it's like, well, I,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: he actually never did, but you know, either way it's a,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Getting these guys up, we've talked about a lot. Getting
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: the at-bats, getting the reps, even seeing a lot of
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: these stadiums for the first time will get all that
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: stuff out of the way because it's literally down to
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: your locker room and not having to wonder where things
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: are or who certain people are in the clubhouse to
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: help you out. It's just getting the lay of the land.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: It's a weird– I said it. I comped it to
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: going to high school the first time as a freshman.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: It's a whole new world. It is still baseball. Some
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: of the faces may be similar, you know, friends you've
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: had in the past, whatever, but it's a whole new staff.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: There's cameras, there's media, there's things you just don't have
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: in the minor leagues. And it's a thing you have
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: to adapt to and learn on the fly and figure
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: out about yourself. And what I've liked hearing from Dan is, too,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: that these guys are pretty... It seems like well-trained isn't
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: the right word, but they're not afraid of the media.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Walker spoke with them. He was slumping and took it head-on,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: which is something I... took a lot of pride in
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: when I was there. Especially as a starter, you pitch
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: your game, it's kind of on you. Yeah, we got
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: to score this and that, but you got to do
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: your job, take care of your business. And when you
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: have a bad one, sometimes the last thing you want
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: to do is talk about it. But I took it as, look,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to get ahead of everything and tell everyone
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: what happened.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: There's no harm in that. And I think fans respect that.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: And I think that's something that as these guys become
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: a face for this team, which they already did, people
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: are clamoring for them, but as they develop and grow
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: into be these stars that they have the potential to be, uh,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I think that's going.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: To go a long way for everyone.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Uh, you know, it gets fans excited when there's a
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: guy that's approachable and personable and it seems like they
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: are that. And, uh, it's like I said, it's just
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: getting up there and getting all this stuff on your belt,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: getting acclimated for next year.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Um, it goes a long way, you know, without a doubt.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Walker Jenkins, a six game hitting streak on this, road trip, 11,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: 11 hits total, three, six, eight, nine, 10, 11. Yeah.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Hitting four 40, three homers, uh, small sample size, two
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: bad teams, but it doesn't matter. Like when, when you were,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: when you're brand new to the league and you were
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: struggling the way he was, that's, uh, that's a good
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: way to get right.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Finish strong.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Speaking of finishing strong, this, um, This series is a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: homecoming for a few Twins players. Luke Kieschel from Northern California,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Brooks Lee as well. He had a homer on Monday,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: an RBI on Tuesday, and I said to myself, dang,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I feel like he's been playing well lately. Going back
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to August 9th, he's hitting.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: 299.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: He's second among position players on the Twins in war
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: now behind Buxton. We're going to talk a lot in
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: future episodes, Tyler, about what the team next year should
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: look like, but he's, I mean, a healthy Byron Buxton
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: is the number one, most obvious player that should be
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: in that opening day lineup. Luke Keyshaw is the number two,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: most obvious player to me. And I think Brooks Lee
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: is through number three.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: You can, you can kind of lock those guys. I said,
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: as I said the other day, you know, write them
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: in pen.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: He's definitely one, you know, I think D span last
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: night said threw around a batting title contender in the
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: future as he figures himself out. You know, it's, He's
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: a switch hitter, which is always tough. It's two swings,
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: all the things like that, but a guy like him
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: sliding over to third base midseason and taking to it
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: like a duck to water. It's been fun to watch.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: He's made some great plays over there. They were talking
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: to him about him and Joe Ryan about surfing last
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: night on the game and how he likes to turn
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: in the waves. I guess he turns to his left
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: well or whatever it was, how he's He kind of
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: uses that in the field, which is like, hey, man,
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: whatever works, do it. Because he looks great over there.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: He's got the arm. He's got the personality. And that's
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: the thing. There are of the bright spots, like those three,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: the two you mentioned between he and Keyshaw, those are
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: great guys to have as guarantees for next season. Plug
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: them in the top or the middle of the order,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: wherever they land. They had Jenkins leading off the other day.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: That's a pretty stout. If you can go like Jenkins, Keyshaw, Buck,
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: and then whoever behind, like that's a pretty solid top
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: of the order if everybody's clicking and banging like that. So, uh, it's,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of things to look forward to. Obviously this,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: this season, you know, it got everyone's hopes up, which
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: is a good thing. You know, they could have gone
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: horribly wrong. Like, you know, as one of the seasons
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I played, we were referred to as the total system failure, um,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: which went down well, but, uh, These guys, they made
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: the most of their opportunities for a lot of them.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: And here we are talking about they're having great years,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: great finishes to the year especially. They're not running out
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: of gas. They've maintained and playing great. Keish playing right field,
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: making sliding plays everywhere. There's been a lot of unsung
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: hero kind of things where they just kind of moved
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: and took it for the team and they're making the
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: best of it.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: We are in our last week here of three shows
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: a week. We're going to be back with you on
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Friday and then we're going to go Monday and Thursday
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: most weeks after this, uh, in the off season. But, uh,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: on Friday's show, we're going to do awards, team awards
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: for the season, which, um, before we get to handing
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: out awards for a team that will end up somewhere
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: in the seventies of wins, uh, we wanted to touch
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: on some of the bigger issues facing this team and
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: how we talked about off season questions on Monday and
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about our wish list for
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the offseason right now. We won't have Dan for this segment, obviously.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: But all this stuff we're going to talk about in
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: more detail, I'm sure, in the next few months. But
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: just setting the stage for this team. I remember, Tyler,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: like a while back we had a mailbag where somebody
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: asked us to describe the team with one adjective. And
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I chose a noun and said limbo. Because it's felt
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: all season long like they're one tug from– being a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: playoff team this way. And then one tug from completely
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: unraveling and the other direction. Well, um, here we are
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: at the off season, I guess, I guess I'll start,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: you know, this is cheating. It's a very broad, broad comment,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: but like we have been told by Tom Polad that
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: they want to make this team competitive. Uh, a lot
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: of that was around the trade deadline. A lot of
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that talk of, uh, investing in the team was around
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the deadline, but that, that has to extend to the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: off season in my mind. Um, so that's my number
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: one wishlist item is that this team spends money, um,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: not throws it, throws it around irresponsibly, but, um, you
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: got to try to keep Jeffers, like seriously try to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: keep him. In my opinion, uh, you have to explore
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: options to improve at several areas. Obviously, you know, the
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: twins are still going to end up one of the,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: highest scoring teams in baseball, but there was a lot
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: to be desired on offense in key moments. Bullpen still
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: needs help. Yes, the bullpen wouldn't need help if they
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: hadn't torn it down last deadline, but they did.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't have Taj.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Right. Wouldn't have Taj. Right. And the lockout, potential lockout
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: is going to hang over all this, of course. I
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: can definitely see a scenario where there is a very
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: truncated off season with limited time to do all this stuff. Uh,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: and I can also see that being used as an
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: excuse maybe, or maybe not by the twins or by
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: other teams of like, Hey, it just, everybody was driving
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: a hard bargain because they knew everyone was trying to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: get business done in a matter of a couple of weeks.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: And we just, we weren't able to get anything done.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: So if, if that's where this goes, if we end
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: up hearing, Oh, we tried, but just couldn't again. Um,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: That's not going to go over well.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: That would be unfortunate.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Reports that the Twins were in on somebody that they
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: didn't end up getting are not going to satisfy. Obviously,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: when it comes to free agents, it's a two-way street,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: especially the most desirable players. They've got to want to
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: come here too, and that's not always easy. The Twins
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: need to start 2027 feeling like they have a better
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: roster than they do today. Some of that will be
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: continuing to have their own homegrown players develop for sure.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: But if it feels like a reduction in terms of the,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: the people who are there when spring training starts, that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: seems like a, that's a huge loss.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I, and I agree wholeheartedly. I, you know, the
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: qualifying offer, I think at minimum for Jefferson, I think the,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: the one thing that's kind of in their favor with
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: on coming from the team side to the player, like
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: with the potential lockout and all the issues coming is,
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: they get to talk to Jeffers before anyone else does.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: So free agency doesn't start until after the World Series.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: They still have all that window to talk to him
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: while he's still theirs. So is there a world where
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: they give him– maybe they have a number. I think
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: he's a Boris guy, unfortunately. So he's one that loves
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: to test the waters because he knows when his guys
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: are of value, which I don't know all the catching–
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: free agents that are available, but I can't imagine there's
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: many that are much better than Jeffers is going to be.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: So he's going to have all the leverage.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: And qualifying offers are going to be low 20s somewhere,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: I would imagine. So that's just the entry point at
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: that point. So he's probably going to want at least
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: three years, I would imagine, maybe four. That's going to
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: be a big check to spend, but it's a piece
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: you need. You go from having him, we've talked about
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: how valuable he's been, and I guess this would be
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: my early pick for what I want. You've got to
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: have somebody behind the dish that's going to be your
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: guy for 80% of the season, whatever. The numbers have
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: changed how often guys play and all that, just workload-wise,
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: but you're every day.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: opening day catcher, it needs to be a guy that
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: you can depend on and lean on at times.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: And that's what Jeff's been. You know, he's great on challenges.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: He's slugged when they've needed him to slug. You know,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: he's worked his walks. You know, he can pinch hit
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: for you at times. He's great behind the plate calling games.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: You know, he does a lot of things well, and
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a glaring change if someone at
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: least comparable to him isn't back there. You know, I
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: think there's ways to get that, you know, I don't
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: think you necessarily have to go pay somebody.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: A hundred million dollars.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: You have all these left-handed arms, sorry, left-handed bats that
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: are in your outfield right now. There's teams that probably
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: have a catcher. Maybe he's already under a contract that
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: you can work out a deal, you know, take on
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: some salary, give some players away. Like there's, there's ways
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: to do it. There's ways to spend money without throwing
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: the whole bank at one guy. You know, I think
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: that's a, a, just at the beginning, like getting a
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: true everyday catcher for behind the plate. I know Victor,
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I think they have him through next season, which that'll
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: help them, you know, have somebody in place already, but
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: you know, is that a guy they want to lean
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: on for, for 120 games next year?
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Maybe, um, you know, maybe they have big plans for him,
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: you know, maybe, maybe Jackson's resurgence again, and he becomes
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: a guy for him.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: You know, you never know, but Yeah, short list right now.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: It's behind the dish.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: The guy that's manning all these great arms you're going
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: to have in the rotation, you've got to have somebody
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: to guide them and work through these lineups with them
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: in the big leagues, and that's a big piece you've
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: got to have, somebody that's ready to roll come opening day.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Besides the obvious offensive and defensive needs of a catcher,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that aspect might get overlooked a little bit, just like
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: what it does for the pitching staff. knowing he's out
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: there every time and knowing they trust him.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: And yeah.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Um, but like you're right about, I mean, I guess
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I don't actually don't know if he's a Boris guy, but,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: but regardless, like any player is going to want to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: try to test.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Um, any player is going to want to test their
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: value and like, sure. Is there a number, is there
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a cost where it's like, it's not worth it to
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: sign them?
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: What's the break even, you know?
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: And that's where I guess Jay-Z, Jeremy Zoll, um, you know,
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: and the brain trust, you know, they've got their computers
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: and analytic systems that determine.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Value and, you know, war and all the things.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: And, um, you know, it's just a, it's, it's so
• 32:36
  Speaker 3: hard to predict now because you really don't know, you know,
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: it's guys like Carlos when he was there, it's like,
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: they pay for war. So I'm going to have high war.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: And that's the way that the game goes. If they
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: decide to change lanes this off season, then who knows,
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: but it's, uh, Yeah.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It'll be interesting to see, you know, the minimum
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: he can get that qualifying offer.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I guess it just comes down to, you know,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: if he walks because someone wants to pay him an
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: obscene contract, good for him.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly. First of all.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Second of all, if the solution is then like, well,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: we're just going to bring back Alex Jackson behind Caratini.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: That's the kind of thing where you go.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Like. Yeah.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: The guy's got five at bats.
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: If there's another solution out there. Right. If there's another
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: solution out there that, um, If you can address my
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: other off-season wish list item, which is figuring out this
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: outfield logjam of lefties, if you can use that to
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: maybe address catcher or another need in a more sensible way, fine.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: But the bottom line right now, the Twins, with Lopez hurt,
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: with Buxton not playing right now, for so much of
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: this season, when they were in contention, they were trotting
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: out a team that had like $ 70, $ 80 million worth
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: of roster players on it. And, you know, like the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: White Sox and Cleveland were doing the same and they're
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: both going to go to the playoffs. So it's not,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: it's not like spending money is a guarantee that you're
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: going to do better, but you're going to end this
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: season somewhere around 10 games under 500. That's where they
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: are right now. So give or take, if you, if
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: you win five more games over the course of the season,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: you're a 500 team. If you win 10 more games
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: over the course of the season, you're 10 games over 500.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Like it's just, it's that, that turnaround is, is very
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: attainable if you can just make some adjustments. If the
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: players who had great years this year, the Luke Kieschels,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the Brooksleys, continue to do that, which is no guarantee.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of development questions, a lot of
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: questions about whether they're going to put their money where
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: their mouth is, literally, and add to this team. And also,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: there are some real issues. Is Luke Kieschel a right
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: fielder now? Are we going with that?
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Is that what we want?
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: He's done a fine job.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: You don't want to leave guys, you don't want to
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: leave them open-ended, like, you know, going to offseason, like,
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: all right, so what are we doing here?
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: You know, it's like, hey, leave that little glove at home,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: bring your big glove, you know, kind of thing. But, yeah, that's,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: and that's a good thing. You know, they're going to
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: have these conversations.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: They probably, frankly, they're already having them, you know, probably
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: today or when they get back home, you know, Shelton
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: will be grabbing guys, come in, you know, have a
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: quick chat. You know, the guys that had good years
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: will have, shorter ones probably. And be like, Hey man,
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: great year. Here's our plan. Does that sound good to you?
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Sweet.
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: Like see ya.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Um, you know, and then others where it's like, Hey,
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: we need to see this next year or, you know,
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: whatever it may be. Um, you know, there'll be some,
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: some conversations had, you know, good and bad and everything
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: in between, but it's, it's, uh, you know, hope the
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: best thing they can do for, especially guys like him, Kieschall, uh,
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: it's lead them into the off season, knowing exactly what
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: he's going to be doing next year.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: So he can work on it. Cause that's, It's a
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: guy you don't want him having to worry about anything.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: You want him to worry about showing up ready to
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: play 162 games in right field and call it good.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Well, that's a preview of our offseason content. We'll have
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about in the micro on
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: all those issues in the coming weeks. Up next, Twins
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: have the finale in San Francisco this afternoon. It's Connor
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Prelip's final start of the season against Cesar Perdomo. of
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: the Giants. They are then off on Thursday and home
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: over the weekend against Texas in the final three games
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: of the season. Last chance if you want to get
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: out and catch them. I might try to convince my
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: kids one more time to go to a Twins game
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: this season.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: But yes, the Rangers are actually tied right now with
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Houston for the AL West lead. So they're going to
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: be playing for something. Twins have a chance to play
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: spoiler there in the finale. We'll be back with you
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Friday morning. We're going to do season awards. Dan Hayes
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: will join us, we think, for that one.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: If we can get him out of bed.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: If we can get him and his dad to be awake. Thanks, everybody,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: so much for listening. We really appreciate it. If you
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: could follow along, that would be even better. Toss us
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: a like, a subscribe, wherever you watch or listen. If
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: you're on YouTube, there is a QR code on the
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: screen right there to make it super easy for you.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: We will see you On Friday. Thanks, everybody.
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: Bye-bye.