Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Managers on the Hot Seat, Edwin Díaz & Garrett Crochet problems, Yanks new bash bro duo

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Fair Territory: Managers on the Hot Seat, Edwin Díaz & Garrett Crochet problems, Yanks new bash bro duo · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory, also
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: known this week as the pregame show for the Patriots
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Day game in Boston. A game starts at eleven to
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: ten Eastern. Hope everyone enjoys the early start for that one.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And it's interesting we talk about the Red Sox at
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the top of the show because we're going to get
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: into the Red Sox really quickly. And just to say overall,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: people always ask me, hey, man, you ever get tired
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of covering baseball? You've been doing it for so long.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: The answer to that is an unequivocal no. And the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: reason I never get tired of covering baseball is because
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it is endlessly fascinating, endlessly interesting, and endlessly different. And
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: it's the reason most fans like enjoying the game as
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: well and following it year after year. And here is
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: why I mentioned this at the top of the show.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: We have two pitchers who are among the most dominant
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: in the game last season, Garrett Crochet and Edwin Diaz.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: And the question we ask at the top of the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: show today is, Okay, which one is the bigger concern?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Crochet was coming off yesterday his worst start probably in
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: his whole career. Remember that game against Minnesota tenor and
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: runs in an inning and two thirds. There it is.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And he pitched for the most part yesterday better, at
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: least at the start against Detroit. He said it was
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the best he's felt all year, and he was cruising
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: early until the fifth inning when he went home run, walk,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: intentional walk home run with two outs, two outs in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the fifth. So you ask, Okay, something up with Crochet.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It doesn't appear to me that that is the case,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: simply because he was so good for the first four
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and two thirds in this game. Edwin Diaz, on the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: other hand, with the Dodgers, that might be a different story,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and it's certainly one worth checking into over the next
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: few days, or at least monitoring from the outside. Here's
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: why he pitched yesterday in Colorado. We had nine between appearances,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: three hits, three runs without recording an out. And the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: bigger concern, because that can happen, especially in a non
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: save situation, the bigger concern is his velocity, which over
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the past few years was ninety seven to ninety nine.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: This year it's been more like ninety five. Yesterday. At
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: one point he threw a fastball at ninety two point eight. Now,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Dave Roberts says that Edwin Diaz has not reported any
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: physical issue, and it doesn't seem that that's the case,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: but they did give him nine days off, and yes,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: it was unusual circumstances for a closer yesterday, somewhat non
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: save situation. But my goodness, either he was rusty or
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: there's something up here. So that will be something again
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to follow over the next few days. The news coming
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: out of the LA Dodgers camp regarding how Diaz is
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: doing again with Crochet, I expect him to be fine.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And one of the amazing things about this game is
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: that even the best players, the absolute elite in this sport,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: can struggle, can struggle sometimes for a couple of games,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: sometimes for a month, sometimes for a whole season. And
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I don't expect we're going to see that from Garrik Crochet.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: But the Red Sox clearly need him. Alex Korra has
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: said repeatedly, we have to pitch right now. They're eight
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and thirteen, they're tied with Toronto for the last spot
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in the ALE East, tied for last place in the
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: AL East. Not going too well for Boston. They need
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to win on Patriots Day, to say the least. Now
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: their biggest rival, the New York Yankees, coming off a
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: big weekend, and I was just talking about how teams
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: and players can go through ruts. The Yankees went through
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: a little rut earlier this month, five game losing streak
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to the Athletics to Tampa Bay, during which they scored
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: thirteen runs in those five games. Oh my gosh, what's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: happening to this offense. Well, the bottom of the order
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: is still not exactly what you would want, to quote
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Joe Girardi, but this team is going to hit home runs.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: And we saw it over the weekend. My goodness. Yeah,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: you see, that's how you close out a Homestand the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Yankees in this series against the Royals nine home runs
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: in three games. You go back to the last two
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: games against the Los Angeles Angels, that's thirteen home runs
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: in five games. Judge. Now with nine Ben Rice their
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: next start, if he's not a star, already eight home
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: runs on the season. So the Yankees offense, when it
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: is clicking and has this kind of potency, it's going
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to be really impressive. And I want to show you
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the home run leaders in the sport. Here's Chris Kershner.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Ben Rice is so so good. Cannot believe some people
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: didn't think he could repeat his production from last season.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: He's in even better now. Amen to what Chris is saying. Now.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: As for the home run leaders in the sport, this
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: is interesting, all right. The Dodgers up with thirty seven,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the Angels with thirty four, Mike Trout a big part
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of that. There are the Yankees with thirty two, Judge
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: and Rice with seventeen of those, and then at the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: bottom the San Francisco Giants and the Red Sox. We
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: were just discussing them with thirteen each. So clearly the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Red Sox power deficiency is showing up early. The Yankees
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: are doing what the Yankees do.
• 5:17
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• 6:18
  Speaker 1: One more hot team I want to mention. Actually we've
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: got a number of hot teams to mention, but this
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: one is not in the other category that we're going
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to deal with. This one is the San Diego Padres
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: just sold over the weekend for three point nine billion.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And more to the point, as far as on the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: field is concerned, they've won ten of eleven, thirteen of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: fifteen and Mason Miller, my goodness, this is crazy. His
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: scoreless streak now stands at thirty two and two thirds innings.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: That's going back to last season. I don't love streaks
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that spans seasons like Otani's on base streak, but that's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the reality. He has pitched thirty two and two thirds
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: scoreless innings in a row. And here is the mind
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: blowing stat of the he has struck out twenty seven
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: of the thirty eight hitters he has faced. We talk
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: about strikeout rates and walk rates all the time. Mason
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Miller's strikeout rate is seventy one point one percent. That
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: is outrageous. All right, that's the Padres, That's the Yankees,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And now I want to talk with are about three
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: teams that put three other teams in misery or extended
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: their misery over the weekend. Now we're gonna get to
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: my column about the managers on the hot seat and
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the Mets and the Phillies and the Astros, but first
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about the three teams that kind
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: of took it to them those clubs this weekend. And
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: let's start with the best team in baseball right now,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves. This is one of the surprises of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the season. The Braves are fifteen and seven after guys
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: like me, I don't know, maybe it was only me
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: writing all spring. Hey, man, this team needs more starting pitching.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: What's up they about all these injuries? They need to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: get Lucas Gilito, somebody, anybody. Not so fas, the Braves
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: are pitching extremely well. They're first in the Majors in era.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: They've got Suarez and Iglesias at the back of the bullpen.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: That's great. They are also second in the Majors in
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: runs per game, behind only the Dodgers. They just look
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: right now, as Austin Riley told me in our postgame
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: interview Saturday night, like a complete team. They're operating on
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: all cylinders. And in talking to their pitching coach Jeremy
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Hefner over the weekend too, I said, man, you guys,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I doubted you're pitching. Your pitching has been amazing, he said,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: watch our defense. You have to acknowledge the defense's role
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: in the pitching success. And true to form, the Braves
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: are tied for first in the Majors in outs above average.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: You saw Kuna make that great play to in the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: game last night. They are indeed clicking on all cylinders.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Now that's the team, of course, that took it to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the Phillies over the weekend. Their lead over the Phillies
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: is six and a half games. Their lead over the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Mets is eight games. It's Washington and Miami tied for
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: second place five games back. So the Braves, I don't
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: know if we can say they're running away just yet,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: but they've certainly built a nice cushion so far. Now
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: another team worth discussing and another team that is dealing
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: with a number of pitching injuries, Chicago Cubs. That's the
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: team that took it to the Mets over the weekend.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: The Cubs, you know it's the deal or you know
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the deal with their rotation already. Boyd is out coming back,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton out for the season, actually out for sixteen months,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Justin Steele still working his way back. So they've had
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: starting pitching questions with regard to the injured list. They
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: have a number of relievers, including Filmmaton and their closer
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia, also on the injured list. And yet they
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: have played better of late, beating the Phillies and the Mets.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe they're poor sisters. Those teams five straight and their
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: offense at times can be rather explosive. At one point
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: last week they had three straight games double figures in
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: runs scored. That's an offense that one to nine is
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: pretty deep. So I like what I'm seeing from the
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Cubs as well. And then you have another team in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: of the NL Central. This team might be the biggest
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: surprise in baseball. I was talking about the Braves being
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: a surprise, but the Braves are the Braves. The Cardinals
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: are a team that traded Wilson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and Noan Arnatto. This is a rebuilding year. They are
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: not hiding that. And yet right now they are thirteen
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to eight. They are tied with Oh sorry, they're a
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: half game behind the Reds. Another surprise team in the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: NL Central, and they're doing it in large part with
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: their offense. It's Jordan Walker, of course, it's Alec Burlson.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Mason woman hasn't even gotten hot. They have a legitimate lineup,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: it seems, even without the players we mentioned. They're tied
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: for eleventh right now in runs per game. They don't
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: pitch nearly as well. And they're going to have some
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: problems there. But the Cardinals, at least to start the
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: season have been rather competitive and this is the team
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: that just swept the Astros, the third team on our
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: manager list. We will get to that, and it's just
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: cool to see a team like this playing at this
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: level when their fans were kind of waiting for this moment,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: waiting for the team to finally admit that it wasn't
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: going to necessarily compete in the same way it had before.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Go younger and listen. Hopefully in time become a really
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: competitive team. Again. I don't expect them to be even
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a five hundred team when the season ends. But at
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the same time, all you can ever ask as a
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: fan is that your team competes and that your team
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: gives you legitimate games in September. That is when I
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: was a fan growing up, what I always wanted for
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: my favorite team, which was at that time the Mets.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: I don't have a favorite team now it's my job,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: but that is what you want. You want your team
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to at least show something, show progress, show fight. Cardinals
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: are doing that. So that is it. For the top
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: of the show. We are going to come right back
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: with the Inside Dish, and yes, that is when I'm
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: going to delve in to the managers on the hot Seat,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: a column I usually write in mid May. This year
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: mid April, stay with us, well well, well, well, well,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: time now for the inside Dish, the part of the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: show where I go inside a story I've written, inside
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: a trend in the game, something else entirely. And I
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the story that I published in
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: The Athletic today and it's about you see it right there,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the Mets, Phillies and Astros. It says they have deeper
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: problems than their manager, but it doesn't mean that in
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: each case the manager is safe. And as I said earlier,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: usually this column, Manager's on the Hot Sea column is
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: something I write in mid May. Mid May is when
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the season is about one fourth complete. That's usually the
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: time when you see firings. That's about the time we
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: see it basically every year. Now, what's different this year
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the season really is only about one eighth complete. The
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: difference with the Mets, Phillies and Astros is that they
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: are three of the seven highest payrolls in the game.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Their expectations are up there with their payrolls, and in
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: New York and Philadelphia, in particular, the noise surrounding the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: poor starts of the clubs is getting louder, pretty loud.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: In New York right now, obviously they've lost eleven straight.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: In Philly two, there is a lot of frustration. I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: was in Philly over the weekend and I was taken
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: aback Saturday night, beautiful night. Phillies are down three to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: one in the late innings. Chris Sale is out of
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the game, so the Phillies have a chance, and that
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: park emptied out. I don't recall seeing that too often
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: in Philly. Phillies had the best home record in the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: majors the last two years, and now they are five
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and ten at home. Okay, let's get into each manager,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: because each is in very different circumstance. Now, I know,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Mets fans, and we'll start with Mendoza are kind of
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: in a lather about yesterday and pitching to Nico Horner
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: in the tenth inning with a run around third, one out,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: rather than intentionally walking him and going to Michael Bush
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: setting up a left right matchup not ideal, even though
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Bush's slumping with Craig Kimbrel. Okay, that didn't work out.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: The way to judge a manager, and I know fans
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: are going to be upset when I say this is
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: not by their bullpen decisions. Some are going to work,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: some are not, Some are hair brained, some are unintentionally
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: really smart. So really, the way to judge a manager
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: is by the way his team is responding to him,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: his leadership, the way the team is playing. Now you
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: see here Francisco Lindor says of Carlos Mendoza, He's done
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: a fantastic job. This is not on him. A strong
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: case can be made for that. Mendoza two years ago, remember,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: led this team to the NLCS. That was his first
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: year as a manager. That team had a poor start
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: as well. Last year, of course, they fell apart. It's
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: been well documented, and the Mets basically said, this is
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: on our players, on our core. They broke up that core.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: They also brought in a number of new coaches, and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: when you do that manager is the next on the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: scrutiny list. But you saw David Stearns defend Mendoza on Friday.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Mendoza is Stearns's hand pick guy, remembered to replace Buck Showalter.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And of course the players kind of rose to his
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: defense yesterday. Now, an eleven game losing streak at the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: start of the season with the game's second highest payroll
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: is going to raise questions. That's what's happening here. The Mets, though,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: are without Juan Soto. They've been without him for two
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: weeks now, they're three and eleven without him. Should one
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: player and his absence cause an entire team to collapse?
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not, And it's on all of the players that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: they haven't been able to step up and account for
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Soto not being there. So where are we here? It
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: does not seem, at least at this hour, at least
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: as I say this at ten o'clock in the morning,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: whatever time it is Eastern time on Monday, that the
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Mets are going to fire Mendoza before their next home
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: stand begins. But certainly he is under scrutiny. And yet
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I can't say this is all entirely a surprise. I
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: wrote in January. In January, after they redid their team,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: his team still had defensive concerns, still had injury concerns,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: still had chemistry concerns. There was a lot of new here,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: is a lot of new here, new coaches, new players.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: It was going to take, in my opinion, at least
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: time for this team to gel. Will Carlos Mendoza get
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: more time? That remains to be seen. The Phillies are
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a different story, entirely unlike the Mets. They essentially brought
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: their team back right. They resigned Shober, resigned real Muto,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: they'd acquired John Durant to close at last year's deadline,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and outside of purging Nick Castianos, they didn't really do
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: much different. It's the same group, the same group that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two went to the World Series and
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: yet has had progressively increasingly disappointing playoff finishes ever since.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: This is an older group, there's no question about that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: It's also, like the Mets, a very talented group. So
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: where are we going here? Well, the biggest problem right
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: now is the offense. You've got Turner, you've got Schworber,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: you've got Harper at the top. Great, they might not
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: be exactly what they've been in the past, but they're
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: all thirty three or so. They're going to be pretty good.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: The question is the rest of the lineup, And the
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: rest of the lineup is not deep, not good. This
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: team as of right now is twenty sixth in the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: majors in runs per game, was eighth last year. The
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Phillies hit that's what they did. Now They're going to
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: get Wheeler back probably at the end of this week,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: maybe for that Atlanta series in Atlanta next weekend, and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: that will help, at least it will give them kind
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of a jolt of energy. I'm sure to get Zach Wheeler,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: one of the best pitchers in the game, back on
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the mound. But pitching has not been the problem. They've
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: got some funky stats that I detailed in the Calm
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: that indicate their pitching actually has been really good. The
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: biggest issue to me, and the reason why Thompson might
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: be in trouble sooner than later, is that the fans
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: are kind of turning on the team, and John Middleton,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the owner of the Phillies, is sensitive to fan reaction.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Dave Dombrowski, the president Baseball Operations, has never been afraid
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: to make a change if he deems it necessary. That's
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: how Thompson got his job in the first place. So
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: with the Phillies five and ten at home, with their
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: fans kind of disenchanted right now, to say the least,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you can see if this team doesn't turn around, a
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: problem becoming more apparent with what they're going to do
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: with their leadership. Like the Mets, they have potential replacements
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: on hand, and I detail them in the column and
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: read that, but really, they've got to play better. It's
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the same story with all three of these teams. Each
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: of them has to play better or else. All of
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: these things we're talking about are going to become even
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: more prominent in the discussion around those clubs, and you're
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: going to see more likely than not managerial changes. Now,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the last guy on my list today was Espada Joe A.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Spotta from the Houston Astros. Now, as I began this
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: section of the column, if ever an owner should understand
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the value of patients, it's Astros owner Jim Crane. Remember
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: twelve and twenty four two years ago, in Espota's first season,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: they make the playoffs, they get beaten the playoffs, okay,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: but they won the AL West. That was their eighth
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: consecutive postseason appearance. Did not make it last year, And
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: if they don't make it this year, that will be
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the first time since twenty thirteen, fourteen that the Astros
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: have not made back to back postseason appearances. Kind of amazing,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: isn't it. So? Okay, they're eight and fifteen right now,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: arguably in even worse shape than they were two years
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: ago in twenty twenty four, So you might say, Okay, well, hey,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: what's going on with the manager? I'll tell you what's
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: going on. Fourteen players on the injured list. Fourteen, that's
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the most in the majors. It includes basically an entire rotation,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: including Hunter Brown, the staff ace, Josh Hater has not
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: pitched at all this season. Jeremy pan You have been
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: in and out of the lineup. He's their all star shortstop.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: That is the biggest issue. But if you're Jim Crane,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: owner of the Astros, the guy who has said the
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: window for this team will always be open, are you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: going to be patient? You've got Joe Spotta in the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: last year of his contract. You've got the general manager,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Dana Brown, in the last year of his contract. They're
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: essentially operating with votes of no confidence. So how is
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: this going to go for them? I don't know, and
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know how long a spata can last. If
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: indeed this malaise continues with the Houston Astros. They've got
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Alvarez at the top of his game. You're Don Alvarez
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: leading the majors with ten home runs. You've got Altuve
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: who is healthy. You've got Carlos Correa saying we're not
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: a bad team, we're just playing bad baseball. It all
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't look all that great for Houston right now, So Mendoza, Thompson, Espada.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: It is only April twentieth. Again, the season is only
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: about one eighth complete, and yet the scrutiny on these
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: guys is quite high right now. And I'm not talking
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: about fans scrutiny. I'm talking about internal scrutiny. I am
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: sure certain that internally the kinds of questions we're talking
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: about here are being asked. All right, That is it
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: for the Inside Dish. We'll be back with Grill and
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Ken right after this time. Now for Grill and Ken,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the part of the show where I answer your questions,
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: let's go. First question comes from Sean Michael, who says,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: is there any concern in Seattle with cal Raley's performance
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: so far? His hitting metrics are way down this year. Sean,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, and I would say there has to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: be some concern. This started in the World Baseball Classic,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: if you remember. Eventually Team USA stopped playing Raleigh and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: went with Will Smith. And I remember at one point
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: a reporter came in. He had not seen some of
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the games, and he was like, where's Cayle Raley. Cal
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Raley didn't deserve to play now, coy Raley told me
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: at the time he's always had slow springs. It's not
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: that big a deal. Well, it's extended into the regular season.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: His stats right now are unsightly one fifty nine batting average, okay, whatever,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: batting average, five to eleven ops, two home runs after
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: hitting sixty sixty home runs last year. So it's a
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: slow start. I feel quite confident that Kyle Raley has
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: not lost it entirely and will ultimately have a good season.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: But the Mariners in general have not hit the way
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: we expected, and ultimately they're going to have to do
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: that to support their pitching staff. And it's interesting to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: me the way the Ale West is evolving right now.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: The Angels have played better than we've all thought they would.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: The Rangers look like they're a little bit better than
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: they we all thought they were as well, though they've
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: lost a few lately. The Athletics are going to hit.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: We know that, and then they're the Astros who are
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: banged up, but you can never count them out. So
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: at the start of the year, it looked like Seattle
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: would be the team with maybe the easiest chance to
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: win the division, next to Los Angeles in the Dodgers situation.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Now. Seattle Mariners are struggling
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: a little bit. I do believe they'll get it together,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: but we have not seen it yet. All right, next question,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: this one comes from Monthly fifteen. Last few years, we've
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: heard talks of Miami moving Sandy. Should they take advantage
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of his first few starts being great to maximize return
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: or are the Marlins more likely to hold This is
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: an interesting question because the Marlins are trying to take
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: a step forward. Remember they won seventy nine games last year.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: They believe that they are even better this year. They
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: are another team struggling of late, and al Contra has
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: been quite good thus far. They are a team that
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: traded Luis Arrives very early what was it two years
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: ago now? And I guess they're capable of making a
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: trade in May, but it would seem to me they
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: want to wait. They want to wait and see how
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: their team performs, see if they can be on the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: fringes of wild card contention, and then entertain the Alcantra
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: question at the deadline. It's an interesting question because if
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: you want to compete, your best chance of competing is
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: probably with al Contra. But at the same time, we
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: have seen teams like the Miami Marlins, low revenue teams
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: make trades of this nature even when they're in contention.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The Brewers have done it with Josh Hayter. They've done
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: it with others as well. Willia Amas was the guy
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: they acquired. But there are examples of this from low
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: revenue clubs. So it's an interesting question, and we'll see
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: how the Marlins play the rest of the first half
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and then what they decide. All right, I want to
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: thank everyone for watching and for listening. Foul Territory coming
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: up at one o'clock Eastern. That will be a j Perzinski,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz and Scott Braun hosting Guardian's first baseman Reyes
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Hoskins and the Athletics. Tim Britton, the guy who is
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: covering the eleven Mets the eleven game losing streak they'll
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: be joining. We'll be back Thursday with Alana. Have a
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: great week everyone, We'll talk to you then. Bet.
• 25:50
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