Latest / Foul Territory / MLB in-season tourney lurking? Royals ballpark shrinking for homers

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MLB in-season tourney lurking? Royals ballpark shrinking for homers · Foul Territory

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Well, if the NBA has an NBA Cup in season tournament,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: then why shouldn't baseball do the same thing. So this
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: was lightly floated out there by Rob Manfred, and we
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: are going to kick around an article from The Athletic
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that was put together by Chad Jennings, Andy McCullough and
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Sam Blum. They said, could this really work in baseball?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: They talked about how baseball's had the one sixty two
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: game season since sixty two, and how the NBA Cup
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: is a regular season round robin eight teams advanced to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: a week long, single elimination tournament and every game counts
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: towards your regular season record besides the championship game. If
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you don't advance to the knockout round, you play non
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: tournament games so that they can keep the schedule even.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And in the article they floated how thirty two team
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: expansion would help this, but of course it would be
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: really difficult to actually execute doing this and keeping the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: same number of games and keeping everyone even, and it
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: would start to of course mess with baseball records, and
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: that's a big deal in baseball. Like Cal's sixtieth homer,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a Tany's fifty to fifty season somewhere.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Those were some of the best storylines of the year.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's just start with this. The travel would be
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: a namer do you know how far in advanced teams
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: have to book hotels.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: But the NBA does this. They do it in Vegas.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: They do it in one spot.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So you do it in a neutral spot?
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: What spot?
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: You could switch that around? Or you could do it
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: in one place. Okay, you could do it in John
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Fisher's new Vegas Ballpark.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Okay. So let's say that MLB goes ahead with this. Okay,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: and in the NBA it works and this and that.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: But baseball's played every day. So you take a week
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: out of the season and only these eight teams are
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: playing for something and the rest of the teams are
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: just playing. But these games col even though they're technically
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: more intense in the NBA. Nothing has become more irrelevant
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: in the NBA than the regular season. Twenty of the
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: thirty teams. We had this suscussion, Twenty of the thirty
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: teams in the NBA make the playoffs.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: That is insane. Some former fashion, right, they diluted the product.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, so people only pay attention to the playoffs and
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: even then their look at their ratings are way down
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: to Okay, baseball makes the regular season matter. And how
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: many races have we had in the last even since
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: they went to even more expanded playoffs come down to
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the last two games? How many times, scrats have you looked?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: I look back on my career and I'm like, in
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: twenty thirteen when I was with the Rangers, we lost
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Game one sixty three, and I go back and I think,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: if we just would have won one more game. The
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: year I was with the Giants two thousand and four,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: we lost, we missed the playoffs on the last day
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: of the year. What you know, what, what if we
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: would have won one more game somewhere along the way.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: But then you're gonna have some teams playing games that
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: are because it's so much harder to get into the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: playoffs for baseball.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: But that's what NBA teams say.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: What if we just won one more game, we would
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: have been the twentieth best team and not the twenty
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: first place team. I'm kidding, But do you know who
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: would have made the playoffs this year if we did that?
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Past who already made it? The Astros, Astros, Mets, the Royals,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the Rangers, the Giants, the Marlins, the Rays, the Braves,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and the last three teams I said all were sub
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: five hundred teams. That's the setup that the NBA currently has,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: twenty of thirty. That's disgusting. I know that it's playing.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Someone's going to try and throw somemantics at me. You
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: have a shot of winning a title after the regular
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: game's end. Ten teams don't everyone else does? It makes
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: it mean nothing. We've already battled right with people that
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: didn't want expanded postseason. I thought it was so small
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and so difficult. There is a line, right, and you
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: also do want From a business perspective, I'm presenting MLB
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: side fans to keep interest all as it is.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Krats.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Let's use the A's as an example, because they had
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: an historically awful May.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And what lost like twenty out of twenty one. Whatever
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: it is. Your season's done, right, you're the pirates.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: You have a slow start, Your season's done, and you
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: have months and months to go of meaningless baseball. Every
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: once in a blue moon, a team comes back, but
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: usually they don't if they're double digit games back at
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a wild card spot or whatever. Early on in the season,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: you're not coming back, so you try and keep the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: fan interest. And if you can't keep expanding the postseason,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: then they try and come up with other your favorite
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: word gimmicks to keep fan interest.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Okay, so keep fan interest.
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: So basically they're going to have a the MLB Cup
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: is going to be this past year, it would have
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: been the White Sox, Angels, Nationals, Pirates, Rockies, and then
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: there's two wildcard other crappy teams. Like that's how you're
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: keeping interest. No, the only way MLB is gonna have
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: it is if you have all the best teams in
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: this tournament.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Like why did you just name crappy teams? Though, I'm
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: confused where did you get that from?
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: Because your argument was that they're they're they're trying to
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: keep interest for the A's, for the Pirates fans, for
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: the Rockies fans. They ain't gonna be in the NBA,
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: they ain't gonna be in the MLB Cup, Like these
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: are these are things that are gonna be won by
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: teams who are like good, know how to win games,
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: put rosters together to win games, like we're not, Like,
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: the MLB Cup's not gonna be won by the Rockies
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: just because they put it in there. Whow man, that
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: really kept my interest. To me. The gimmick, the gimmick
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: isn't about. Isn't about the events that happen on the field,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: you know, not having the Zuperstars come to games. The
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: gimmick that will get people to come to the park
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: is a full push for every team to say, you
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: know what, we're putting the best team that we can
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: out there. That doesn't always mean money, It just means
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: the best team out there because we want what the
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: fans want. As an ownership group, we want to win
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: and we're gonna do that in whatever way we can
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: possibly fiscally do it.
• 6:18
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• 6:21
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• 6:23
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• 6:25
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• 6:31
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• 6:33
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• 6:33
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• 7:13
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• 7:17
  Speaker 1: America's number one meal kit, Hello Fresh. What about either
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: some type of split season format or some type of
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: format that rewards more performance in the beginning of the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: season and then gives you some showcase scenario that waits
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: games Like I know this sounds confusing, So like you
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: you have a strong first half, they end up doing
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: some special thing in one neutral site and.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: You win the first half championship ya team, and it.
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: Gives you one of the buy spots or a playoff
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: spot or something like that, And it incentivizes teams to
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: I mean not that they need it, but to.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Kill You can't even get MLB to take a break
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: for the Olympics.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a money insurance thing.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: You think they're gonna take a break for this in
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: season cup thingy.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: If they make money. Yeah, everything's about money. We know.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: We always talk about this, especially in baseball, more than
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: probably any.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: How much more money are they gonna make?
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: The NBA apparently is making a ton of money from
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: their tournament for two reasons. One, they were able to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: use it as another chip in their media rights deal
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and it mattered to places number. Two, they have found
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: significant sponsorship money just for this, just laying out the facts,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I think an n season tournament in baseball is so
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: fucking stupid. So just to lay that out, I'm just
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: presenting what is being put in these articles and what
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: leagues and teams are doing.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: And three, they actually have their stars playing in games.
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: They have an issue of stars not playing in the NBA.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: So how do you incentivize them? I think every player
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: gets a few hundred thousand dollars check for the winning
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: for winning it. Okay, yeah, I'll go out there like
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: they actually have a banner that they're going to hang
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: in the in the Knicks rafters. They were the NBA
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: Cup champions this year. They can't win the NBA team
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: for that.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean, I'm not going to speak for
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: all basketball fans. I'm not gonna act like I'm a
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: die hard. But most people think it's a joke. And
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: even though it's short term gain financially, I do think
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: it further proves that you don't really believe in your
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: regular season product. You're like, Eh, it's not that important
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to me.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Here's my.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Regular season has lost a lot of its luster because
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: of the now twelve team and they're possibly talking about
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: going to it what.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Was sixteen, gonf it may.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Lost a lot of its luster because you can lose
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: two games. Before, if you lost one game, you were like, man,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: we're not making We're not making it. Now the Alabama
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: made it this year with three losses. Yeah right, so
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: you can argue, we're not even gonna get into that argument.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: But you know, Notre Dame Miami the team that got
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: over Notre Dames in the championship. But it has people
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: say it's diluted the regular he's in college football because
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: you can lose two three I remember back, you know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: fifteen twenty years ago, you were like, please go undefeated. Please,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: my team has any chance. I got to go on
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: to field, maybe lose one game early in the year
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: to a really good team. Other than that, you had
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: no chance.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I'll counter that it was so small back then, just
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: like we're talking about with the playoffs. It's like once
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: your team would lose one game, especially if it was
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: early on in the season, then you would lose interest too.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: So I will say there is a happy medium. Now,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: are they going to extend it too much?
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Yes? But do you agree with that? Right?
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: If you're a big fan of your team and you're
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: all in, then your team loses like Week three in
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the SEC and you're just like, all right, fuck it,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: we're not making it this year. I mean I never
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: cared about bowl games besides the actual championship game, so
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: for me, it would actually it made me worse of
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: a college football fan because it was it was too small, right,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: small Hall, it was too small. So for the NBA,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: they have the other problem going. I think the NBA
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: is telling casual fans nothing matters until the playoffs, so
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: go to sleep and wake up when playoffs start. Everything
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: else does not matter at all.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Sure you see say it?
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the big leagues.
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: You they already took away your division games so that
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: everybody can go and see everybody in play. It kind
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: of shows that they want everybody to play it.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: If you have a tournament, the MLB Cup, now you're
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: having a game. Now you're having games against teams, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: it's not a balance schedule. They wanted to. They just
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: made a move a few years ago to have a
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: balance schedule, and now they don't have that. Like they're
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: trying to go away from the divisions. They're trying to
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: go away from all that stuff. To me, this doesn't
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: make sense because of how baseball's played and how it's sport.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: I agree, yeah, it's a part about being able to
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: get through the grind yeap okay, But here the NBA
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: teams are already they already come out and say it, Oh,
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: we don't care what seed we are to get in,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: we just got to get in.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: And sometimes it's better to be the seventh seed than
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: the eight seed because teams will, oh, I'm the sixth seed.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: If we lose a couple of games at the end,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: you become the seventh seed. It's a better matchup against
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: the two than the three. It's it's not what I
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: want as a fan. I want to I want I
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: want to watch games where the team is trying to
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: win every game.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Right, But the NBA felt like they already had an
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: issue there where it wasn't happening. They have a much
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: more significant load management issue in their sport than MLB does. Right,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: They play half the game that MLB does, and guys
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: were sitting left and right. Why because everybody makes the playoffs,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: So that's their issue they're dealing with. I just don't
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: think this is an issue that MLB is dealing with
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: at all now.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: And by the way, MJR. Sports Cards when I said
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: making the playoffs in baseball is the hardest thing to
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: do in the world, it is because look at the
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: other sports. The NBA has twenty, right, NFL has fourteen
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: out of thirty.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Two Yeah, so it's on more half, so.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: It's almost half. And then I don't even know NHL
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: is sixteen I think out of thirty. Either way, MLB
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: is twelve out of thirty, which is by far. That's
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: why when I said that, this guy keeps mocking me.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: So but that's what I meant. It's the hardest sport
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: to make the postseason because of the teams, the amount
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: of teams to get in. Think about it, when it
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: was two.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: Teams, it's not it's it's not even close, and it's
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: more than it used to be and it's still not close.
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: Like other leagues have added more teams, yes, Major League
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Baseball has added more teams, but before like when you guys,
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: when you guys won the World Series and O five,
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: what was your route? The route that you guys took
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: to get there?
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: What do you say?
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I heard something about a route, but my my thing
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: is you can see is just cooked.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: What is it? You're wired?
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know it's going in and out, but I
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: was getting like every third word. It was like crats
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: had a bad cell phone reception.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'll switch your pack in a second.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Hold on, sorry, I think you said what was our route?
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: We played the Red Sox, then we played the Angels,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: and then we played the Astros. The Red Sox defending champions,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: smoked their ass, swept them. Angels have Bartolo in the
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: so Young I think Vlad was MVP that year. We
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: beat him for one and then we played the Astros
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: at Clements pettit Oswell Berkman Now you've got a whole
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: another round.
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: Guys, Now you've got a whole another round, like like
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: I'm getting up, all.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Right, you switch it.
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: It's so it's It is definitely the hardest sport to
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: make the playoffs, Okay, of the four major ones.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know what the banter is online right now,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and AJ is going to switch his ear coming up
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: in a second, so he's going to pass me righty,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: here he comes.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: And I love big, but I do.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Have one more component of this. I do want to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: get to. Okay, here's something that you can do without
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: disrupting the regular season and really just changing the complexion
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: of this at a pretty significant level in terms of
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: how the regular season plays out and the records and
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the whole deal. You want a gimmick, you want marketing,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: figure out more games like Field of Dreams. I know
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the NASCAR version had its issues this year, but I
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: do think there's a lot more room to go there
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: where it does make things exciting and we look forward to, oh,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: what's going on.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: All right this month?
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: They're going to play a game on an aircraft carrier whatever? Right, Like,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I do think there's more there that we can do,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: and hey, what's one of our favorite things that's so
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: easy and basic. That seems to have been an issue
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: ever since it was created. It's like they created something
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: good and then they ruined it. Players weekend with the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: names on the back of the jerseys.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: That was awesome. People fucking loved that.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And I know they've had their issues with the uniforms
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: and getting stuff approved whatever, But there are things like
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: that that you can do that don't affect the regular
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: season numbers and the playoffs and even the games themselves. Right,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: they do affect the game because they're play in a
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: different environment. To me, I would like to see more
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: of that. I don't think we've reached our cap on that.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: That's fair, But listen, the problem with that is are expensive.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: They have to build these stadiums in places. And I
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: was fortunate to play in twenty sixteen for Brag. They
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: built the stadium on for Bragg and then they ripped
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: it down right after. They didn't even keep the stadium.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Williamsport they go back to every year, which is cool
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: because they have a minor league stadium. They're going back
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: to Field of Dreams this year. Some of them have
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: worked some of them haven't worked right. I thought the
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Field of Dreams honestly should have been a one and
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: done because that game was so epic. No Yankees on
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: the White Sox. But the next year didn't have near
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: the hype or any of it. But I know this year,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: do you even know who's playing at Field or Dreams?
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: This year?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I know one of them. I think I do know
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: the teams, and I know not one of them.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Twins. I know that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I know that's not good. This is not a good
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: year to be promoting.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: But the year they did Cubs in reds.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, I mean people it did, okay, clubs fans, I
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: mean there's actually a lot of Cubs fans in Iowa.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: And also I would love I haven't been out there.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I would love to go. I think it's still a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: destination for people.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I know that's not about just selling the tickets, but
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I do think visually it's cool ass crushed it. I
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: know Netflix is going to do stuff now with that too, right,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I think they're carrying it, But like, I think there's
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: a component there that they found that works even if
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the ratings aren't here.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: If they're here, I think, but they need more for.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Me they need more signature games, which is what the
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: The one at Bristol last year was, right, like figure
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: out different places that you can have cool games. Now, listen,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: you said aircraft carrier. I went to a basketball game
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: on aircraft carrier. It was a disaster. They couldn't even
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: make it through halftime because the field pork got too wet,
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: so it was they didn't even count as Florida versus Georgetown.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: They got wet because of rain because it's a.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Condensation, so they couldn't play the second half. So that
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: was kind of They're kind.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Of I just threw something out there, I know, but
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: I'm saying, like some of these works, some of these,
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: but don't but at least try them.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: That's right, try them right and everyone complains, Oh, the
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Cubs and the Dodgers opened to Japan last year, but
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: it was huge ratings and it.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Was cool for the game.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: It's cool, right when they used to open in Australia
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: and they used to open in Korea and they opened
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: they play those games in Mexico City. Isn't it about
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: growing the game? We I went and did a London game.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: It was unbelievable atmosphere, right, they haven't done it in
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: a couple of years. Right. They wanted to do them
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: in France, but they lost. They couldn't find the right sponsor. Right, Like,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: if the NFL does this better than anybody, and even
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: the NBA. The Magic right now, the Orlando Magic overplaying
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: in Germany. Right, the NFL was in Madrid this year,
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: they were in Berlin, they played in London. Right, you
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: can figure this out if you really want to make
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: this happen, if it's truly about growing the game globally,
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: send a team here there for five games or week
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: whatever and make too you know, whatever it is. I
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: don't know. There's got to be a way to figure
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: this out to help the game grow globally.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: And people don't be so insular if you're in the
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: Major League Baseball higher creative people don't don't say it
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: works for the NBA. We're going to do that. Oh,
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: the NFL does this, We're going to do that. Like,
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: be creative, don't don't try to keep playing catch up.
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: It's okay if you do something and that's creative and
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: you're like, ah, fell on our face, But we're trying
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: new stuff. Hire some younger people. But all the owners
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: are all the same. They're all the same ilk, and
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: they all try to agree on the same thing.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Kaufman Stadium, home of the Royals, getting a little bit cozier.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: They are moving in the fences around a good chunk
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: of the ballpark by around ten feet. They also are
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: lowering the fences by about a couple feet, so they'd
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: like to make it a little less picture friendly. They
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: did a very detailed, multi year analytical study, and it
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: became a running joke in the GM suite with JJ
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Picolo that a deep flyball caught at the track is
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: going to be a home run in twenty twenty six,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and so we'll see if that actually happens. They think
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: that with the new run values on flyballs, they project
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to add one and a half wins annually.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: In home games. There's been years of discussions.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Like I mentioned, Piccolo said, I'm going to try to
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: summarize here so we can get to your thoughts. That
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the organization felt like guys were changing their swing even
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: if they didn't try to change their swing, and that
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: it was affecting their overall game. Of course, it also
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: affects free agency when you're recruiting hitters. I don't think
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: this kind of change is suddenly going to make it
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a bandbox and a hitters ballpark. So it should help
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: them be able to recruit pitchers like they always do,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: but then hitters as well.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: They think it'll help them win games. YadA, YadA. I'll
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: get some more details as we go, but your overall thoughts.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: To start, I loved hitting in Kaufman Stadium, so I
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: had no problem because I could just hit in the
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: gap and get my stand up double and not have
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: to hustle all the way and there breath huge out
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: and everyone. So I also got a two RBI sack
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: fly once in Kaufman Stadium, so that I also like
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: it for that. But you can hit your homer's there.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Here's my thing with this. Every team did Baltimore moved
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: their fence and move their fence back, put the wall up,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: put this, do that. I love that they're lower in
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: the fence, more chance for home run robberies, but just really,
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, I know the analytics say this or that,
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: and you know, but are they going for a more
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: offensively powered team? Because when the Royals won ten years ago,
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: eleven years ago in twenty fifteen, they had pitching, defense,
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: guys that could fly around. Yeah, they had a couple
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: of dudes that could hit Homer, Salvi, Hosmer and Mustachus,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: but they were more athletic and they just covered all
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: the ground and they just were better at pitching and
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: defense than every team they played. So now it's a
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: shift in philosophy, like we want to go full power
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: and then just bring them in like twenty five.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Feet, make it a bandbox.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: Let's make a great American small park. Let's make it
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: somewhere like that, or you can just hit Homer after
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: bring them into Like what if they just did something revolutionary,
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: were like, you know what, center field is going to
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: be three point fifty, the Lions are going to be
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: two fifty. We're just gonna outmash you.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: League would not approve it.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: Why not? It's my ballpark. I can do what I want.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: No league wouldn't approve it, But.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: They'll approve an end season tournament. That'll change.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: That's another segment I know, but I'm just so jump it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Don't jump it.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: But anyway, they do have raw power guys right now.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna be excited. Jack Aglion, Carter Jensen,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Vinnie Pascorentino has already been talking about it. Bobby Witt,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: former Royal R Kratz shaking his head, what's wrong.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: I don't think the I don't think the raw power
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: guys care about moving the fence there. You think they
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: care about like the ball like they're still you got
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: to get a ball to get it out. I get that,
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: you get jammed, you get a home run. I feel
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: like I feel like in general, yes you might. I mean,
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: I remember they had the or they just showed the
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: chart for mikel Garcias some of his doubles and triples
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: that would be home runs. Not many outs turn into
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: home runs, but there are some. I get that. But
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: to me, it's just like looking at Colorado, you are
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: not necessarily hitting so many more home runs. You're getting
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: so many more hits. By the third game of a series,
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: a team comes in is not used to the elevation
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: or running after the ball on the outfield. That's where
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: you start getting hits. You start getting games where it's
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: like fourteen hits to eleven hits. You get games where
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: guys aren't throwing strikes. To me, I think I felt
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: like when I was there, obviously we lost in Game
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: seven of the World Series in fourteen. We won the
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: World Series in fifteen. I felt like Kaufman was an
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: advantage that the organization said, we're building guys to play
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: at Kaufman. We're not building guys to play anywhere else
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: in the league. We're not saying, guys, you gotta swing.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: You gotta have a different elevation to swing. You know,
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: you got to you gotta take your shots. If you
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: strike out more, it's okay. No, like the entire organizational philosophy,
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: how are we gonna win in Kaufman? And if you
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: didn't do those things, especially as outfielders in the minor leagues,
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: you weren't going to get a shot. There was guys
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: in Tripaa that I saw playing that were good players,
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: went on played other places in the big leagues for
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: a little bit, did not get a shot the Royals
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: because there was a there was a level of expectation
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: of how they're gonna play the game based on the stadium,
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: to the point in twenty fourteen and the seventh, eighth
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: or ninth inning, we would bring in Gerrod Dyson, move
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: Lorenzo Kine, who is one of the better center fielders
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: of my generation that I've seen play to right field
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: and Nori Aoki would go sit on the bench. Obviously
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: Locane and Rod were better than Nori, but they were
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: playing that matchup to the defense, to what that looks
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: like for the field.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: True.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Derek Carty is a Fangrafts writer in similar Actually you.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Get to the Fangrafts sing it's similar to San Francisco
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: when they were good for those when they won those
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: three titles in five years. Unbelievably good pitching, really good bullpen,
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: tremendous defense. They didn't have a guy that hit thirty homers.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: They had guys that could get hits some big situations.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: They had some high average guys, guys would hitch you
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: twenty right, but they'd played to their ballpark. It's just
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: what Kratz said. If that's why I always say, if
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I'm Colorado, I just go out and go ninety five
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: Blake Street Bombers and just get a bunch of mashers
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: and say we're gonna outscore you. We're gonna try to
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: win sixty home games, win our thirty on the road,
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: and that's ninety wins and we go from there. Just
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: you have to play to your home ballpark, because guess what,
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: you play eighty one games a year in your home ballpark,
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: so you need to win the most of those if
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: you're going to be any good.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: But their stat nerds think that it's not working. What's
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: all working the current setup, and at least I don't
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: want to say it's not working.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: But they think this is the solution.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: They think this is going to help them, and it's
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: not going.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: To help the other team because guess what, the other
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: team gets some defenses moved into.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Of course, but is this such a drastic change that
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: it's going to affect the way that the Royals can
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: win games?
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Or is it just going to put them in a.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Place where a few of the wall screen vpers end
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: up going.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Over the wall?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Or are they putting in new fountain under fountain stay
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of the same.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: And also, isn't the batter's eye there really nice?
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah? That's whatever year that stadium was building, like in
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: the sixties. I think it's still really nice.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: It's a really nice park. Yeah, they're trying to get
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a new park, and I'm like, no, I don't want
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: to do well.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: They had a new park, they thought, and then Frank White,
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: the ex player shot it down. He was on the
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: city council and he's like, oh, I don't know that story.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: That's that's a crazy story.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: The public vote too.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: But no, but before it got to that, he had
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: already You got to read that sort. It's great because
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: they thought they had it down by power and light. Yep,
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: brand new stadium. That was the thing. Remember we signed
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: Bobby Whitt, We're getting a new stadium, blah blah blah.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: And then it fell apart. Now the Chiefs are going
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: to Kansas, so now they're really going to be the.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Kansas, putting the Kansas in Kansas City.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: And the stadium deal they just got is actually the
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: crazy and I know it's football, but look up that
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: stadium deal. What they just got is absolutely incredible.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: The deal that Mahomes and Kelsey built.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, anyway, good for them. The Chiefs got good.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: God blessed the Hunt family. Ain't selling that team forever, no,
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: because they ain't gonna be able to stop printing money
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: in the stadium deal, it's a mint. But talking about
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: the Royals need a new stadium, the Royals need a
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: new stadium. There's a build back in the sixties. It's
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: still nice. They do a great job of keeping it up.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: But the thing about it is where it's located is
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: in Crouch. You played there. It's in the middle of nowhere, okay.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: And the way every team wants now is the battery
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: is the stuff around it, and where that stadium is located.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: It's not a destination. So a stadium in downtown Kansas
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: City makes a lot of sense. But then they got
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: to get public funding, and they got you know, so,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: so instead they're like, we'll move the fences in ten
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: fee well, hat a fountain here and there, maybe a
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: passuatch walking back and forth. I don't know.
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: All right, Well, the stadium, the Chiefs. If the Chiefs
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: are gone, now you have all that area. The Chiefs
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: practice facilities there. Knockdown, knock down the Chiefs Stadium whatever
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: it's called, Higi Hiji Parker Stadium, and build you it
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: wasn't our it's not our head anymore. It's it was
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: renamed to the to the local. But anyway, why can't
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: they build up that area. There's so much open area.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: Make it a destination, leave it there, do something, do something.
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: Because I love I love Kaufman too much. But what
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: you were talking about the Giants, I didn't think they
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: had like the greatest pic Yes, Madison Bumgardner was awesome,
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: ten limpsecom was ridiculous at the beginning of their three
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: championship runs, I guess came, but absolutely they had. But
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: the biggest thing that they would do is Buster Posey's
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: back there catching. He would make you beat them with
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: three singles, fastballs down in a way. Here you go,
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: try to get three singles. And their defense was good
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: enough that they wouldn't allow those things. Their pitching was
• 29:01
  Speaker 5: good enough that they could execute. Yes, they had, but
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: they didn't. They played a different style baseball game that
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: even the Royals played a different style baseball game when
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: I was there pitching wise, like, how do you win
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: a World Series with your Dona Ventura, James Shields, Chris Young,
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Jeremy Guthrie. Tho, those were your start Edison Volcez after
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: he was Edison Volceez, Like, those were your starting pitchers.
• 29:29
  Speaker 5: Like you do it by playing your style of game
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: and not trying to mold it to what everybody else
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: is doing. Well, everyone else is throwing riser fastballs. We're
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: just gonna throw riser fastballs and get swinging miss strikeouts.
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: To me, it's okay that teams win it their way
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: if they have something unique about their stadium. By the way,
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: so this is a completely kind of awful. You mentioned
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: the name of the chief.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: So I hung out with the guy this weekend in
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: Chicago that told me the guaranteed rate, you know, the
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: guaranteed rate field Now the White Sox, the amount of
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: money they got that stadium rights for for I think
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: ten years was less than I believe the Cubs wanted
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: for a billboard in their little park.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: That's a good deal.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: It was a great it was a good way. I
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: was like, we got that offered to us. We took
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: it in a second because we were going to try
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: to get the Cubs something at the cub Stadium, and
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: all they would do was put like a day we could, like,
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: you know, they have to I don't know if that
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: park is called outside Wrigley, they have a park where
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: they do concerts and it's right there. It used to
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: be a street, but they moved in and the whole thing.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: But they were going to sponsor that little park and
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: it was more than what the White Sox offered them
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: to buy the stadium for ten years. So they were like, well,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: take the White Sox stadium Gallagher Way, that's it. Yes,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: it was going to be guaranteed rightway. But instead they
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: were like, oh, the White Sox will give us the
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: whole stadium for less, We'll take that.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Which hell yeah, of course.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: But it was just funny. When I heard that, I
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: was like, man, that's crazy. The difference in the markets
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: in the same citat sure.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, the Cubs have the historic component. I get it.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: The White Sox could invest more in what they're doing
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: and create a powerhouse and make more There are plenty
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: of examples of that. The Blue Jays are the latest ones. Anyway,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: let me get to this projections. This was the part
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: that actually threw me off, unless I'm reading this wrong.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Derek Cardy from Fangrafts put out the projections before and
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: after the park change. Old slugin percentage projection for Bobby
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: wit Junior five to twenty one, new slugin percentage five
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: to twenty five. He has him at one more Homer, Salby,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: one more Homer, Vinnie p one more Homer. I agreed, Okay,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I mean they add up because you'll have a lot
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: of people getting another Homer.
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: The other team down. I know batting average will go down.
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: And what are the Royals do? What are the Royals do?
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: They put the ball in play. Now, all of a sudden,
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: you shrunk some of that outfield. The defenders come a
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: little bit closer, they can cover more ground. I don't know.
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: I don't know, So I.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Want to be clear. Krats for you. For example, you
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: were part of the Royals org, would you have done this?
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: If you get presented with years long analysis of what
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: they think should happen and say we will win one
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: and a half more home games.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Per year if we do this, would you do it?
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: And would you buy the data? Would you be into
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: the data? Yes?
• 32:35
  Speaker 5: I would be into the data. I would not be
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: afraid of buying into the data. But I would definitely
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: take a look at what we have spent the last
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: hower many years building our farm system to be guys
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: that make contact and run the bases and play defense.
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: And I need to see I need to see the
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: downside because it's not just get we got one and
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: a half extra wins a year at home, which is
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: a huge jump. To me, that's a huge jump. But
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: where's the downside? What is the down how much more.
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: How much less are we going to be getting our
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: hits because we're a team that is been historically the
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: last three years top two or top three in the
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: least amount of strikeouts, lowest strikeouts in baseball. Now, all
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: of a sudden, it's like, guys, it's okay if you
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: strike out, because we need you to hit the ball
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: over the fence. Now you're gonna have a superpower, which
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: is not striking out going down. Now you're gonna have
• 33:41
  Speaker 5: that defense. Okay. Well, you know, I'm not saying they
• 33:44
  Speaker 5: did this because of Jack Kaglione, But if Jack Taglione
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: doesn't cover the outfield like some of the other outfielders
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: that they've had in the history of their game, you know,
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: maybe this benefits him more. Maybe it's more than one
• 33:57
  Speaker 5: home run like it is for vinnp or South.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Benny p tweeted a lot after this came out. I'll
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: try and take some bits and pieces, he said, from
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: a data perspective. This hits close to home because he's
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: about to go in a room arbitration and here how
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: awful he is, he says the k The ballpark was
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the sixth most hitter friendly ballpark according to the park
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: factor sixth most friendly. That's overall runs, not home runs.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: He said, we'll moving the fences in make this better
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: or worse. Hitters like hitting at the k because the
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: visuals are nice, like we talked about, But everyone else
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: also agrees. It's been a pitcher's park forever. What this
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: means is that you can't hit cheap homers. That's literally
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: all a hitter is. Saying a park is a hitter's
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: park or not means but the data firmly supports it
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: being a hitter's paradise because you can get more singles,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: doubles and triples. Will the park factor actually go down
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: if it's more of a neutral park because there will
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: be less triples Even if there's an uptick and home runs?
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: What will this mean for weighted runs creative plus? We
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: get punished, right, That's how it works when it factors
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: in ballpark with the stat playing at the case, what
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: will happen?
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: More home runs, more runs produced.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: But if the park factor goes down, so does the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: punishment for probably the most important stat in our game
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: from an individual standpoint. It's talking about way to runs
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: create a plus, which is very close to ops plus.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: All in all.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I truly believe hitters pitchers arelike just want fairness. But
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: we play one of the only sports where the field
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: size changes, and I think that's one of the cooler
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: parts of our game.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: And then he's just joking, like I rammed a lot.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: It's cool, just he's just putting stuff out there to
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: see what people mark.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Though.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: He gets it. He's one of those guys that gets
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: it and he understands the stats that matter, and he
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: he's kind of what Crat said, it's going to take away.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: That's why I loved hitting there because I wasn't a
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: huge home run guy, but man, I could hit some
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: balls in that gap and the outfielders had to do
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: they didn't take perfect angles. It was such an easy
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: double for me, right, and you can get a lot
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: more broken bats and bloops and hits. It in other
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: parks are the same as Course Field. It's the same
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: exact thing as Corsefield. You make your decision when you
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: go in there. You play shallow with your outfield or
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: you play deep. I always one of my outfielders to
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: play shallow at Course Field. Take away, it's not the
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: home runs kill you, because if a guy hits a
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: home run. Of course field it's going out anyways, it's
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: over your outfitter's head. You're screwed. But you don't want
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: the ones to fall in before the guy hit the
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: home run, right, And so I agree with this what
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: he's saying, and it takes away hits. But remember, batting
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: average doesn't matter. What do they look for home runs?
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: How many home runs and walks did you have? Can
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: you hit a home run walk? You can hit a
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: home run twenty five times and walk fifty times, but
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: strike out two hundred and fifty times? What a great player?
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: Can I affect the way that hitters are judged?
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Like you said, weighted runs created plus akops plus it
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: actually might make some Royals players cost less to the
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Royals if that affects the metric that is used most
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: commonly to evaluate bats. Just saying, you know, it starts
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: to get really, really.
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: Are they taking away? Here's the only thing I want
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: to Are they taking away the plastic warning trick they
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: used to have. They used to have the rubber warning track?
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: Did they are they taking that away they used to have?
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: They probably already they probably already took it away. Okay,
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: because I just I've told the story before. We were
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: playing there and a guy jump tried to jump on
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: the field and he fell and he hit the plastic
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: warning track and broke his leg and they had to
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: come get the cart and cart him off. It was
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: one of the more car mask things I've ever seen.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Like the guy jumped right from the left field corner.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: He jumped on and when he landed, he broke his
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: leg and so he and everyone our outfielders like ay
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: and then jump get the cart and bring him. The
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: cops cuffed him, put him on the cart and drove
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: them off.
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: It was more of a hit thing was going to be.
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the last rubber plastic track that I saw was
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: the Guardians, and they were still the Indians back then,
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: so that that was the last one, and that one
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: only stretched. I think it was just past the dugout
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: like I don't even think it went all the way
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: actually I think it did go all the way out
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: to the right field line. But then but then the
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: warning track in the field was stone. But that was
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: the last one, and I think they'veged.
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: It anyways, just side note, but yeah, we'll see.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: Good discussion, good discussion.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: We'll see what it turns into and we'll be able
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: to see a year of numbers. The problem nowadays is
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: you get to see a year, two, three, whatever of numbers,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: but then people will still.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: Say, oh, well, there were so many factors involved. There's luck,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: there's wind, there's this, there's that.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: So Toronto moved their fences in and it got worse
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: of a hitter's park.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: Well, that's because they did a lot of changes there,
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: I know, But I'm just saying.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: I remember back in the day, Texas had like the
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: wind tunnel out to right because of the way the
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: wind blew and it hit and it would get circulated back.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: And then they made some changes in the old stadium
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: and that went away.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: Cubs have had that.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: Cubs Cubs put up those horrific scoreboards in the outfield
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: and it's just not the same.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: Well, it made it more of a pictures park, I know.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: And the Padres have had that where it was a
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: pictures park and then started to level out a little
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: bit more level Yeah.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: I remember playing in San dieg actually the biggest one
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: of all time. I played the first game ever at
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: pet Go and it was Gigan. You're like, yeah, they
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: had Clussco and Nevin and all these places, and they're like,
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: ain't nobody ever hitting one out of here? I remember
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: like Nevin would hit his best bolt to Wright and
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: the right Filder be like he'd be like right with
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: his growley old voice. And then I played in k
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: America before they redid it. If you think Coffin's big,
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: you should have seen co America before they brought the
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: There was no bullpen in the outfield. The wolfpen was
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: behind the fence. The flag pole was in center field.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: It was, it was massive, it was.
• 39:36
  Speaker 5: It was so big. City Field, City Field's original dimensions.
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: They just keep moving them in. I mean they were
• 39:45
  Speaker 5: so far back in right field. David Wright got into
• 39:49
  Speaker 5: the new stadium, was like what on earth? Because he
• 39:52
  Speaker 5: used to put balls out of shade. He used to
• 39:54
  Speaker 5: just flip him out to right, flip him out to right.
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: I mean, when you when somebody goes back and looks
• 39:59
  Speaker 5: at the old dimensions when they first opened. I was
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: at City Field when they first opened it. Oh my gosh,
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: it was massive.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: When he went to Target Field, couldn't hit one out.
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: He complained about it. They moved they moved other around
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: the man for Joe and Justin Arnaut because they were both.
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: I loved it at target Field. I thought that place
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: was great placed. But they bitched and moaned about that
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: place from the jump they went from the Metrodome to there,
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: and they were complaining left and right about how hard
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: it was to hit there.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: You like all the places people bitch.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: About Seattle, check Minnesota. I love Minnesota Spark. Yeah, I've
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: been to Minnesota. I'm been to target Field. It's it's solid.
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: I got to hang there once. No one was there
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: for a while, and it was it was cool.
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: It's like on top of you. I mean, I like
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: the parks that are like where. I mean, it's like
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: there are people are sitting. That was the You know
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: what else? I liked target Field because it was like
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: four steps from the dugout to home plate and that
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: was my run. That was my cardio.
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: Oh they made it nice and easy for so there's.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Snow room behind home plate. Yeah, it's literally like one, two, three, four. Okay,
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: squad went to through for them in the dugout, went
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: to through four. It's great. I love those places, not
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: like Boston where you have to run a marathon to
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: get to home plate.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: Well, they weren't thinking about you in nineteen.
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: Nineteen twenty or whatever. Yeah, nothing's worse than Boston because
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: people don't realize how far the dugout is Sacramentos. But
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like for dugout, from just a pure
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: dugout standpoint home plate to the home to the dugout
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: was so it's.
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: Like you get there, oh man, and it's uphill, and
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: it's uphill.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is. I told people the story when I
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: first played at Wrigley Field in two thousand and one,
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: first time I ever played there, you could stand in
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: the outfield and the batting cages are in the outfield
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: in Rayfield. They if you want to call them a
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: batting cage, it was a net. Okay, Like Fenway used
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: to have a batting cage in center field and it
• 41:51
  Speaker 3: was just a net. They hung out there and you
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: would hit and you couldn't even like stand up all
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: the way because it was so small. Regular Field's old
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: bating cage is in Rayfield. You could stand out there
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: and you could watch somebody at home plate and now
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: all they could see was your head because it was
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: so crowned. But behind the behind the dirt, it just
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: it was like a who it dropped off so much.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: It was crazy. If your outfielder wasn't over five ten,
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: you couldn't see him. You just see the little thing
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: on top of their hat field. You think I'm joking.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: It was unbelievable.
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: It was crazy.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: And when you talk to people, they're like, what are
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: you talking about? You have no idea how crazy, how
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: crazily crowned it was. I mean it was like it
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: just kept going down and down and down. Now they've
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: obviously leveled it out, it's way better. But it was hilarious.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you have or Bend Revere, you.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: Never you never seen If Al two went out right field,
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: you hit a ball out there, you'd be like, I
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: run it, I got a triple. And then you'd be like, wait,
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: well I didn't even see that guy out there.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: That's good, all right.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: So if anyone else has thoughts that we missed, let
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: us know. If you're catching this later on too,