Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Cardinals run, O’s fire sale, Guardians needs, Blue Jays status, Skenes + Ruf’s lawsuit vs Reds

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal on Cardinals run, O’s fire sale, Guardians needs, Blue Jays status, Skenes + Ruf’s lawsuit vs Reds · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: Let's face it, the Pirates are going nowhere. Skeins is
0:02
Speaker 1: an appreciating asset, four more years of control after this one,
0:06
Speaker 1: and he's never going to sign their long term.
0:15
Speaker 2: Letit the inside scoop with that. Psenior insider Ken Rosendhal can.
0:18
Speaker 2: Good to see you, and let's start with some teams
0:20
Speaker 2: that I think deserves some love, and they got it
0:23
Speaker 2: in your notes column this morning. That's out in the
0:25
Speaker 2: athletic right now. Let us begin with the Saint Louis Cardinals.
0:28
Speaker 2: We're trying to give them more attention this week after
0:30
Speaker 2: they did essentially nothing in the offseason, and they look
0:34
Speaker 2: pretty darn good. So can you give us a summary
0:36
Speaker 2: of what you wrote about with the pros and the
0:38
Speaker 2: cons of how the team is grading out right now?
0:41
Speaker 1: The pros certainly are just what you mentioned, Scott. They're
0:44
Speaker 1: playing really well and it can't necessarily be expected by
0:48
Speaker 1: anyone because of also what you said. They didn't do
0:51
Speaker 1: anything in the offseason. We're trying to trade Arnado. They
0:54
Speaker 1: were talking about a reset or reboot, whatever the term is.
0:58
Speaker 1: That's not rebuild, and here they are. They're right there
1:02
Speaker 1: with the Cubs for the most part, and they've pitched
1:05
Speaker 1: extremely well. They've also stayed extremely healthy. So what I
1:09
Speaker 1: wrote about was, for all the good that the rotation
1:12
Speaker 1: is doing, rotation is a very low strikeout rate, and
1:16
Speaker 1: with their great defense, and their defense is the best
1:18
Speaker 1: of the league according to outs above average, it can
1:21
Speaker 1: mask some of the lack of swing and miss, but
1:24
Speaker 1: it can't entirely erase it. So that's a concern. And
1:27
Speaker 1: the other concern is, like the Phillies, they have only
1:30
Speaker 1: one player, one pitcher on the IL right now. Kind
1:34
Speaker 1: of remarkable at this stage of the season they have
1:36
Speaker 1: only one player on the IL and they do. And
1:40
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals, the reason that is a concern. Obviously,
1:43
Speaker 1: it's a great thing when you're healthy like that, but
1:45
Speaker 1: the concern is their lack of depth. They've got Michael
1:48
Speaker 1: McGreevey at TRIPLEA. He could step into the rotation at
1:51
Speaker 1: some point. They've got Steven mats who they've used as
1:54
Speaker 1: a starter a couple of times, but they really don't
1:56
Speaker 1: have many reinforcements if a pitcher or two in that
2:00
Speaker 1: rotation goes down, and Gray and Michaelis are older guys.
2:03
Speaker 1: But that said, offensively, while they don't really hit home runs,
2:08
Speaker 1: they crush it with singles and doubles, and they have
2:11
Speaker 1: this relentless style. They play the game well and so far,
2:15
Speaker 1: so good. It served them really well.
2:18
Speaker 3: Did they know going into the season that they didn't
2:20
Speaker 3: they weren't going to hit home runs? I mean, they
2:22
Speaker 3: still had Aeronatto. Ernatto is a thirty plus home run
2:26
Speaker 3: guy consistently, But did they know that this was going
2:29
Speaker 3: to be their mo Like a lot of these guys
2:31
Speaker 3: are homegrown guys, are they growing guys in the minor
2:34
Speaker 3: league saying don't worry about hitting for power. Jordan Walker
2:37
Speaker 3: was one of their top prospects, never has had a
2:40
Speaker 3: ton of power or elevation in his swing.
2:44
Speaker 1: I don't believe they looked at it that way, Eric,
2:47
Speaker 1: but I'm not really sure. I haven't asked that question.
2:49
Speaker 1: Walker is a guy who, you're right, doesn't have a
2:51
Speaker 1: lot of elevation in swing, but you would think can
2:54
Speaker 1: develop power. Nolan Gorman has power, but both those guys,
2:57
Speaker 1: Walker and Gorman have been struggling for the most part.
3:01
Speaker 1: Some of their other players, Victor Scott the second and
3:04
Speaker 1: Mason Win They're not going to be power hitters, even
3:07
Speaker 1: Brandon Donovan, So they had to assume it to some extent.
3:10
Speaker 1: William Contreras obviously has power, but I'm sorry, Wilson Contreras
3:14
Speaker 1: obviously has power, as does William, but I don't know
3:17
Speaker 1: that they saw themselves the home run team. But what
3:20
Speaker 1: they've done is decide, Okay, we're not going to chase
3:23
Speaker 1: power because that only makes hitters worse. What we're going
3:26
Speaker 1: to do is play to our strengths, and their strengths
3:29
Speaker 1: are putting the ball in play and making things happen
3:31
Speaker 1: on the basis, and so far they've done a great
3:33
Speaker 1: job of that.
3:34
Speaker 3: New hitting coach Brent Brown obviously wasn't good as an
3:38
Speaker 3: offensive coordinator. Is this his m because he was one
3:42
Speaker 3: of the hitting coaches that helped that Marlins team with
3:45
Speaker 3: Skip Schumacher making the playoffs. Now this is another team
3:49
Speaker 3: that he is heading up the offense and they're overachieving.
3:55
Speaker 1: Eric, It's always difficult to fully assess the role of
3:59
Speaker 1: a hitting coach and how much impact he can have
4:02
Speaker 1: or not have. Bran Brown, though, as you mentioned, has
4:05
Speaker 1: had success in those two places in Seattle, it just
4:08
Speaker 1: didn't work. He was only there a couple of months
4:10
Speaker 1: before they let him go, so you'd have to give
4:13
Speaker 1: him some credit. You definitely have to. You can't just
4:16
Speaker 1: ignore the contributions of a hitting coach. But hitting is
4:20
Speaker 1: so complex, it's so layered, there are so many things
4:23
Speaker 1: that go into it. Then even the best hitting coaches
4:25
Speaker 1: will tell you there's only so much they can control.
4:29
Speaker 1: So Hey, great for Bram Brown and certainly good for
4:33
Speaker 1: the Cardinals that this has all happened. How much credit
4:36
Speaker 1: he deserves or that versus the development of younger players,
4:40
Speaker 1: I'm not.
4:40
Speaker 2: Sure, Ken, I want to spin this forward for the Cardinals.
4:46
Speaker 2: Obviously we're early for the trade deadline, but if they
4:48
Speaker 2: stay in contention like this, do you think that there
4:52
Speaker 2: are factors involved that lead them to be more aggressive
4:55
Speaker 2: buyers than maybe they should be. And the two factors
4:58
Speaker 2: for me that stand out are number one, this is
5:01
Speaker 2: the last season that John Mazzelak is really running the
5:03
Speaker 2: ship for the front office. And number two, I think
5:07
Speaker 2: that the Cardinals might be a little less concerned about
5:10
Speaker 2: their wind projections for the rest of the season. Let
5:12
Speaker 2: me give you a quick example. The Orioles in twenty
5:14
Speaker 2: twenty two were I think still kind of in the mix,
5:17
Speaker 2: and I remember they ended up selling right, Michaelias ended
5:20
Speaker 2: up selling Trey Mancini, and they got some good names back,
5:22
Speaker 2: including Chase McDermott, who hopefully is healthy for them at
5:25
Speaker 2: some point and contribute. I think they traded Jorge Lopez
5:28
Speaker 2: as well, and they might have gotten like yan ner Cano,
5:30
Speaker 2: somebody good came back there as well. So you look
5:32
Speaker 2: at the long term great, but on the short term,
5:34
Speaker 2: I was like, really, you don't think you have any chance?
5:36
Speaker 2: And I think they were looking at their wind projections.
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Speaker 2: Do you think the Cardinals might go the other way
5:40
Speaker 2: because they might not think like Michaelias does a little
5:43
Speaker 2: less computer analytics for a year like this.
5:45
Speaker 1: I expect that if they're in contention, this being Mosaillics
5:49
Speaker 1: last year, as you mentioned that they will buy Now,
5:52
Speaker 1: are they going to expend assets to make a big
5:56
Speaker 1: run go all in so to speak? No, I can't
5:59
Speaker 1: see them doing that. I would expect that they make
6:02
Speaker 1: relatively minor moves. You remember a few years back when
6:05
Speaker 1: they acquired John Lester. That was Lane Thomas for John Lester. Now,
6:08
Speaker 1: Lane Thomas became a good player, but at the time
6:10
Speaker 1: it was not a monster move. It was just a
6:14
Speaker 1: move that would upgrade them a little bit. I expect
6:17
Speaker 1: that that is what they would do. That is the
6:19
Speaker 1: approach that they would take if they fall out of it,
6:22
Speaker 1: and or if they are simply in a spot where
6:26
Speaker 1: they don't see their playoff odds as being very good.
6:28
Speaker 1: And like you said, the wind projections are not where
6:31
Speaker 1: you would want them to be. Yes, I could see
6:33
Speaker 1: them selling, but I really don't see that happening with them.
6:37
Speaker 1: To me, they're going to be buyers, but limited buyers,
6:40
Speaker 1: not giving up anything that's going to cost them too
6:43
Speaker 1: deeply for the future.
6:45
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7:46
Speaker 4: I want to shift gears here a little bit and
7:48
Speaker 4: talk a little about the Guardians and their needs. You
7:51
Speaker 4: brought up in your story the other day about outfield needs.
7:56
Speaker 4: Where do you see this going? Do you see them
7:57
Speaker 4: buyers or sellers too as well? I mean they're pretty
8:00
Speaker 4: good ball club.
8:01
Speaker 1: Good segue Todd, because Leie Thomas just came back last night.
8:04
Speaker 1: We just were talking about him, and that's a guy
8:06
Speaker 1: that they missed. He had a bone bruise in his
8:08
Speaker 1: right wrist and he's back in center field and had
8:11
Speaker 1: a sack fly last night. I believe he will help them.
8:14
Speaker 1: They still have nothing in right field to speak of.
8:18
Speaker 1: It's been like a perennial problem for them, and it's
8:21
Speaker 1: something that they're hoping to address. David Fry is going
8:25
Speaker 1: to come back, but mostly as a DH and they've
8:27
Speaker 1: got a prospect named Chase the Lauder who has been
8:29
Speaker 1: frequently injured, but he could be someone who helps them
8:32
Speaker 1: in the second half as well. I expect they too
8:36
Speaker 1: will be buyers, but kind of like the Cardinals, probably
8:39
Speaker 1: not willing to expend too much to make a big run.
8:45
Speaker 1: They've got Shane Bieber coming back for the rotation. They
8:47
Speaker 1: need him and he's on a good track right now,
8:50
Speaker 1: so hopefully that goes well. But right now I just
8:54
Speaker 1: see them as doing what they normally do, which is
8:57
Speaker 1: kind of assessing all aspects of the market and then
9:01
Speaker 1: hoping things go okay.
9:03
Speaker 3: Even after last season, even after how close they got
9:06
Speaker 3: last season, and they have a powerhouse bullpen, they still
9:10
Speaker 3: wouldn't make that move to push them over the limit.
9:14
Speaker 1: The Guardians are never going to be in that position,
9:16
Speaker 1: and they are a low revenue team that acts according
9:20
Speaker 1: to their revenues. Unlike some teams that we criticize for
9:23
Speaker 1: not spending enough money, they actually seem to be in
9:26
Speaker 1: a position where they can't spend all that much money.
9:28
Speaker 1: Could they spend more, Yes, they could spend more, Don't
9:30
Speaker 1: get me wrong. But they operate in a pretty restricted way,
9:36
Speaker 1: and hey, it served them well. They've done a great
9:38
Speaker 1: job with it. But are they going to do something
9:41
Speaker 1: monstrous at the deadline. No, that's not what they've normally done.
9:45
Speaker 1: Remember a couple of years ago they traded Savali for
9:48
Speaker 1: Kyle Manzarto, and Kyle Manzarto at that time was a prospect,
9:51
Speaker 1: but he ultimately now is helping them. So I don't
9:55
Speaker 1: know what kinds of moves they're going to make. They
9:57
Speaker 1: don't have the pitching depth to move a starter right now.
10:00
Speaker 1: They need a starter, if anything, need an outfielder as well.
10:04
Speaker 1: I would expect them to operate on the margins as
10:07
Speaker 1: they generally do and maybe pick up something, but I
10:10
Speaker 1: don't know that it's going to be terribly dramatic.
10:14
Speaker 2: Okay, Ken, We've given a lot of attention to the
10:17
Speaker 2: Orioles in the past week, warranted with what's going on there.
10:21
Speaker 2: I'll also try to spin this one forward. Could they
10:24
Speaker 2: be the bell of the ball to take a turn
10:26
Speaker 2: from fair territory at the trade deadline? You know, you
10:29
Speaker 2: have the bottom feeder teams that don't necessarily have many assets,
10:33
Speaker 2: and then you just have many teams that are close
10:35
Speaker 2: enough in range that it gets weird at the trade
10:38
Speaker 2: deadline and you almost feel like they're day to day
10:40
Speaker 2: deciding things. The Oriols might be one of those teams
10:42
Speaker 2: where it's like, we have assets, we are not good,
10:45
Speaker 2: let's load up for next year. So what does that
10:47
Speaker 2: look like?
10:49
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you, Scott, and they can be
10:51
Speaker 1: pretty dramatic buyers, quite honestly. Felix Bautista two years of
10:56
Speaker 1: control left beyond this year, making only a million relatively speaking,
11:00
Speaker 1: only this year. I would expect that he would be
11:03
Speaker 1: someone who could bring something back pretty good. Zach Efln
11:06
Speaker 1: potential free agent, Tomoyuki Shigano potential free agent, Cedric Mhens
11:10
Speaker 1: potential free agent. All of these players should have some
11:14
Speaker 1: appeal in the market for rentals or you got to
11:17
Speaker 1: get a ton. Probably not, but they certainly can do
11:20
Speaker 1: some things. And I'm not even talking about Ryan Mann,
11:22
Speaker 1: Cassel Sir, Anthony Dominguez, Andrew Kittridge. There are a whole
11:26
Speaker 1: bunch of players that they could move. Now, how Michaelias
11:30
Speaker 1: approaches this could be interesting because I can't imagine he
11:36
Speaker 1: wants to take too far a step back, so potential
11:39
Speaker 1: free agents would be the way to go here and
11:42
Speaker 1: the things that you would most likely trade Batista, maybe
11:45
Speaker 1: you're more reluctant, but he can bring them most because
11:48
Speaker 1: he's a reliever, under control and affordable. So it's going
11:52
Speaker 1: to be interesting. Their situation is one where ultimately their
11:57
Speaker 1: window already is closing as their young players get closer
12:00
Speaker 1: to free agency. They're not that close yet, but each
12:04
Speaker 1: year closer to arbitration, make more money, closer a free
12:07
Speaker 1: agency possibly depart and now you're going to take a
12:10
Speaker 1: step back. That's going to be difficult for them. But
12:13
Speaker 1: at the same time, I don't know what other choice
12:14
Speaker 1: that they have, given that they have a number of
12:19
Speaker 1: expiring contracts and they're going nowhere.
12:22
Speaker 3: You mentioned Sigano. They also mentioned that they wanted to
12:26
Speaker 3: make a hit in the Japanese market. They wanted to
12:29
Speaker 3: make their case for hey, bringing a player over. Good
12:32
Speaker 3: way to do that is by bringing a veteran over
12:34
Speaker 3: and a veteran saying, man, I love playing in Baltimore.
12:37
Speaker 3: A bad way to do that is I'd love playing
12:39
Speaker 3: in Baltimore, but they traded me in July, so I
12:42
Speaker 3: had to learn a whole brand new city.
12:45
Speaker 1: This is an interesting question too. And I raised this
12:47
Speaker 1: in my notes column as well. You're trying to establish
12:50
Speaker 1: a footing in that market. He signed Chigano, who's a
12:53
Speaker 1: very accomplished pitcher over there, thirty five years old, one
12:56
Speaker 1: of their best, and it goes like this, yew. They
13:00
Speaker 1: sold him on the quality of the team and the
13:02
Speaker 1: idea that they could help him improve. And he's done
13:04
Speaker 1: really well. He's been one of their few bright spots.
13:07
Speaker 1: But if you trade him, sure it's a dent, and
13:12
Speaker 1: it raises the question if you're a Japanese player, I
13:14
Speaker 1: would imagine, why would I go there? This is a
13:17
Speaker 1: situation that is not as good as even Chigano thought.
13:20
Speaker 1: So there is that, but there's also the reality that
13:25
Speaker 1: why would you keep him? Just to keep him if
13:27
Speaker 1: you're going to lose eighty to ninety to one hundred games,
13:30
Speaker 1: that doesn't make much sense either. So I can see
13:33
Speaker 1: the logic for trading him, but the whole experience not
13:37
Speaker 1: playing well as a team him ultimately perhaps getting traded,
13:41
Speaker 1: that's not exactly the way to plant the flag over
13:44
Speaker 1: in Japan.
13:46
Speaker 2: A couple fan questions on your way out here, Ken,
13:49
Speaker 2: I'll go to the Blue Jays, Reagan says, where will
13:52
Speaker 2: book is bobashek get traded to I'll counter that and say,
13:58
Speaker 2: do we really think Bobashet's going to get traded? I
14:00
Speaker 2: imagine the Blue Jays are going to hold on for
14:02
Speaker 2: dear life, and they have to be really far out
14:05
Speaker 2: of it if they are going to be sellers at
14:06
Speaker 2: the deadline. They're in second place in the division right now,
14:08
Speaker 2: they're within striking distance of a wild card, and ken
14:11
Speaker 2: that probably will be the case the rest of the
14:14
Speaker 2: ride here. The American League is not as strong as
14:16
Speaker 2: the NL, so you can be five hundred and probably
14:19
Speaker 2: be in striking distance.
14:21
Speaker 1: They're over five hundred right now. They just swept Seattle
14:24
Speaker 1: in San Diego. Two good teams, and they have been
14:26
Speaker 1: talking as a team. If you read the articles about
14:29
Speaker 1: the Jays as if the vibe is better, they are
14:33
Speaker 1: more I don't know the right word to describe it,
14:36
Speaker 1: but they're in a better place overall. They just feel
14:38
Speaker 1: good about themselves. They feel like they're not out of
14:41
Speaker 1: any game. All these cliches that you always hear, so
14:45
Speaker 1: for them, it's put up a shut up because this
14:47
Speaker 1: is Bashett's last year and I don't see them selling
14:50
Speaker 1: unless they absolutely fall out of it. Remember, they were
14:54
Speaker 1: adamant about keeping Bashette and Guerrero when he was unsigned,
14:58
Speaker 1: and they ultimately signed Guerrero. They didn't want to ever
15:01
Speaker 1: give up on this season. So I don't expect them
15:04
Speaker 1: to give up on this season unless something goes really wrong.
15:09
Speaker 4: I want to ask a little bit here. It's been
15:11
Speaker 4: going around. It's been circling around baseball, whether it's true
15:13
Speaker 4: or not. Paul Skein's traded, likely or unlikely? What do
15:17
Speaker 4: you think? What have you heard? Is this just all nothing?
15:23
Speaker 1: Unlikely? And the general manager of the Pirates, Ben Sherrington,
15:26
Speaker 1: said yesterday to reporters that no, it's not even something
15:29
Speaker 1: that's in their thought process. The reason it's going around
15:32
Speaker 1: is because writers like myself are speculating. And let's face it,
15:37
Speaker 1: the Pirates are going nowhere. Skeins is a depreciating asset,
15:40
Speaker 1: four more years of control after this one, and he's
15:44
Speaker 1: never going to sign their long term so you wonder
15:47
Speaker 1: when the right time is. But for a variety of
15:49
Speaker 1: reasons that I discussed on Fair Territory yesterday I mentioned
15:52
Speaker 1: in my column today, I just can't see it happening.
15:55
Speaker 1: One reason is Sherrington's status beyond this season is clear
16:00
Speaker 1: he very well could lose his job. And if he's
16:03
Speaker 1: going to lose his job, and if that thought is
16:05
Speaker 1: in the owner's head, Bob Nutting, well why would you
16:08
Speaker 1: trust him to trade your franchise pitcher? That doesn't make
16:10
Speaker 1: much sense. The other part of his or the other
16:14
Speaker 1: two parts of it are matching up in value. Skeens
16:17
Speaker 1: has extreme value. Remember Jan Soto was traded with three
16:21
Speaker 1: pennant races remaining, and you know what he brought back
16:23
Speaker 1: along with Josh Bell to the Washington Nationals, Gore and
16:27
Speaker 1: Wood and CJ. Abrams, plus Skeens has five pennant races remaining.
16:35
Speaker 1: It would take that much more to get him, and
16:37
Speaker 1: I don't know many teams that could do it. And finally,
16:40
Speaker 1: the message they would sends an organization. Even if you
16:42
Speaker 1: could make a great trade for Paul Steen's their fans,
16:47
Speaker 1: They're dealing with their seventh straight losing season. So how
16:49
Speaker 1: many you going to lose in a row losing seasons
16:52
Speaker 1: until this team finally is good again. Now what they
16:55
Speaker 1: should do, and I mentioned this as well, is build
16:58
Speaker 1: around Skeens. But of course, with Bob Notting is their owner,
17:02
Speaker 1: I have zero faith that that's going to happen.
17:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're in a tough spot, all right. Last one,
17:06
Speaker 2: this is super Chat. It's a follow up to this
17:08
Speaker 2: on Charrington. Daniel, who's an avid Fair Territory watcher and listener, said,
17:14
Speaker 2: if the Pirates do end up switching GMS, he said,
17:17
Speaker 2: he's pleading can it be from a small market team,
17:20
Speaker 2: saying we need someone who's done this before, and that
17:23
Speaker 2: Charrington was coming from bigger markets. Do you think that's
17:26
Speaker 2: a factor in a case like this or in my mind,
17:29
Speaker 2: the Pirates are such a unique situation because you're just
17:32
Speaker 2: not able to partake in free agency. So even for
17:35
Speaker 2: the teams that tank, like even the I mean the Guardians,
17:39
Speaker 2: they're Rays, right, Guardians picking up Carlos Santana, Ray's picking
17:42
Speaker 2: up Hassan Kim this offseason. Those are decent sized deals
17:46
Speaker 2: at least for one season. The Pirates rarely even play
17:48
Speaker 2: ball like that.
17:50
Speaker 1: That's true. When I heard the question that you were
17:53
Speaker 1: just mentioning, Scott, I immediately thought of the Marlins, and
17:56
Speaker 1: the Marlins are somewhat similar to the Pirates that don't
17:59
Speaker 1: play in free agent, and what did they do when
18:01
Speaker 1: they needed a new GM? They went to Peter Bendix,
18:04
Speaker 1: who of course came from the Rays. I do expect
18:09
Speaker 1: or believe I should say that the best solution for
18:12
Speaker 1: them would be a GM with small market experience. And
18:16
Speaker 1: it's not that Ben Sherrington couldn't do that. I know
18:19
Speaker 1: he worked in Boston and Toronto before, but he certainly
18:22
Speaker 1: was capable. But that said, if you have that background,
18:26
Speaker 1: if you're used to operating on the margins, if you're
18:28
Speaker 1: used to relying on drafting and development, as Sherrington has
18:33
Speaker 1: tried to be but just has not succeeded with, then
18:36
Speaker 1: I think you would have that much more of an
18:38
Speaker 1: advantage if you just know the landscape a little bit better.
18:41
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying they should hire from the Marlins
18:43
Speaker 1: or necessarily even the Rays, but it would seem to
18:47
Speaker 1: me that if you could get a bright person from
18:50
Speaker 1: one of those types of clubs, a smaller market, lower
18:53
Speaker 1: revenue team, that would probably be the way to go,
18:57
Speaker 1: unless there's somebody with one of the larger markets that
18:59
Speaker 1: is is so good you think he could do it
19:02
Speaker 1: for you under the crazy restrictions that they were under.
19:06
Speaker 2: Again, great stuff. Enjoy your Dodgers Mets game and call
19:12
Speaker 2: with AJ long for the ride on Fox on Saturday
19:15
Speaker 2: on this holiday winter weekend in the Northeast. If you know,
19:19
Speaker 2: you know, bundle up. I'll be outside a lot this
19:22
Speaker 2: weekend too, and not pleased about it, but it is
19:24
Speaker 2: what it is. Ken, Thanks, guys. What's the beef? Nothing
19:28
Speaker 2: like a good, good steak with some red You know
19:31
Speaker 2: that one looks a little too rare for me. I
19:33
Speaker 2: don't even know if that one was cooked that was
19:34
Speaker 2: on the screen. But anyway, yeah, it's not Let's get
19:39
Speaker 2: to this interesting, sir. There's been some Yeah, there's been
19:41
Speaker 2: some lawsuits this week. What do you think about this one?
19:45
Speaker 1: Guys?
19:45
Speaker 2: And I think, did you play with Darren ruff Kratz?
19:50
Speaker 1: You did? Okay?
19:50
Speaker 3: Bushes and yep, okay.
19:54
Speaker 2: So he's suing the Cincinnati Reds over what he calls
19:59
Speaker 2: a career injury at Great American Ballpark. He's claiming that
20:04
Speaker 2: when he crashed into an uncovered tarp roller at the
20:07
Speaker 2: ballpark two years ago, it caused permanent and substantial deformities
20:12
Speaker 2: to his knee. He went on the sixty day il,
20:15
Speaker 2: never played in the major leagues again. Did attempt to
20:17
Speaker 2: come back I think the next spring training, but never
20:19
Speaker 2: made it.
20:20
Speaker 3: Back.
20:20
Speaker 2: I don't think there's past president on anything like this,
20:23
Speaker 2: and I was trying to read as much as I could.
20:25
Speaker 2: I'm no lawyer, but the lawsuit filed in Ohio charges
20:31
Speaker 2: that the team had negligence and failing to maintain safe
20:35
Speaker 2: field conditions and specifically cites the presence of the unpadded
20:39
Speaker 2: metal tarp roller. We're actually showing you the exact play
20:42
Speaker 2: and it looks covered but not padded. So I want
20:47
Speaker 2: to hear player perspective on what you expect. Obviously none
20:51
Speaker 2: of us are going to be able to chime in
20:52
Speaker 2: too much on the lawsuit side of things, but what
20:54
Speaker 2: you expect on the field, I mean, Kratz, I'll bring
20:57
Speaker 2: this up too before you jumper judge. What was it
21:01
Speaker 2: two three years ago? Missus half the season after there
21:04
Speaker 2: wasn't full padding in the outfield that I think Dodger Stadium.
21:08
Speaker 2: I know Bryce Harper's gotten pretty messed up early on
21:11
Speaker 2: in his career somewhere where it was like very unpadded
21:16
Speaker 2: against the out of town scoreboard. So can you pat everything?
21:20
Speaker 2: I mean, we're not playing in a bubble. And do
21:22
Speaker 2: you like which side of the story here do you
21:25
Speaker 2: feel is more warranted.
21:27
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna go on the side of rough
21:30
Speaker 3: side of the story, Like, we're not talking about Aaron
21:33
Speaker 3: Judge slamming through a wall that he bent, well, I
21:36
Speaker 3: mean the door that he bent and then his toe
21:39
Speaker 3: hit the concrete. Like that's almost it's almost impossible. We're
21:43
Speaker 3: talking about something like I wasn't Slade Heath got come
21:47
Speaker 3: up with it for me, Scott the prospect who got
21:49
Speaker 3: traded from the Front Valley yanked Dustin Fowler. Dustin, We're
21:55
Speaker 3: talking about a an electrical box that wasn't padded and
22:00
Speaker 3: essentially ruined his career. Yes, he had to hit when
22:03
Speaker 3: he came back, and he didn't, but you're talking about
22:05
Speaker 3: a speed guy with a lot of potential. This is
22:08
Speaker 3: this is this kind of situation that should have been
22:11
Speaker 3: padded covered. The tarp is always there. The tarp is
22:15
Speaker 3: an obstruction that the Dodgers don't even have a tarp
22:18
Speaker 3: on their field. Obviously they don't need it very much,
22:21
Speaker 3: but it is out there all the time. It needs
22:24
Speaker 3: to be. Players need to be protected, and this has
22:28
Speaker 3: negotiated all that stuff. So to me, I don't see,
22:33
Speaker 3: I don't see how he doesn't win this suit. But
22:35
Speaker 3: obviously I don't know medical issues, I don't know law issues,
22:40
Speaker 3: but a player should not get injured on something that
22:44
Speaker 3: is in almost every ballpark.
22:47
Speaker 2: Hold up before todd father goes, I don't think we've
22:51
Speaker 2: seen past president of anyone winning this, and if it does,
22:54
Speaker 2: you are opening up Pandora's box. I'm not trying to
22:56
Speaker 2: defend the other side. I'm just like presenting a case
22:59
Speaker 2: here of what I read. I mean, fans, players, anybody
23:04
Speaker 2: right can bring up anything and say this caused a
23:08
Speaker 2: problem for me. You know, I know it has to
23:10
Speaker 2: be reasonable, but there are other cases, and that even
23:12
Speaker 2: includes fal balls, right.
23:15
Speaker 1: I mean, the league has put up netting, but you.
23:18
Speaker 2: Can get hit by a baseball and there have been
23:20
Speaker 2: one or two deaths in that case in the past
23:23
Speaker 2: what ten twenty years, And I don't think there was
23:26
Speaker 2: much to it in the court of law. And they
23:28
Speaker 2: try and put the warnings out there and say we're.
23:30
Speaker 3: Doing the best.
23:32
Speaker 2: They I mean, you don't think there's any types of warnings.
23:35
Speaker 2: And also just like when you're playing that you can
23:37
Speaker 2: get hurt in many different scenarios.
23:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I was gonna get hurt in different scenarios,
23:46
Speaker 3: like if you step on a sprinkler head or something
23:48
Speaker 3: like that. Now the sprinklers it's not the same. But yeah,
23:52
Speaker 3: I guess, I guess. I guess there's no precedent of
23:55
Speaker 3: somebody getting But to me, why would there not be
23:58
Speaker 3: some type of padded petion Because if you hit the
24:01
Speaker 3: tarp area, if you hit the tarp of the tarp
24:04
Speaker 3: that's rolled up, you would be fine, it could hurt.
24:08
Speaker 3: But a metal shard that slices your knee cap a
24:13
Speaker 3: little different.
24:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, And honestly, I don't even remember this happening. That's
24:21
Speaker 4: as terrible as that sounds. I don't even remember this happening.
24:24
Speaker 4: But you know, I know Darren Ruff was a beast.
24:26
Speaker 4: This guy could play. He's talking about permanent and substantial
24:31
Speaker 4: deformities to his knees. So that's a big that's that's
24:35
Speaker 4: the claim there, so that he has substantial evidence for
24:38
Speaker 4: sure if he's got permanent and substantial deformities. I'm no lawyer.
24:43
Speaker 4: I don't know anything about that stuff. But when you
24:45
Speaker 4: hear permanent and deformities, for me, I guess you know,
24:50
Speaker 4: it's something that you have to try out. It's something
24:53
Speaker 4: it's very hard to figure out. It's the weirdest thing
24:56
Speaker 4: because baseball's are crazy sport. You don't think of contact
25:00
Speaker 4: the time. You know, if he would have went maybe
25:01
Speaker 4: two inches to his right or left, like what it
25:04
Speaker 4: changed anything. So it's that's the tough part. I feel
25:06
Speaker 4: bad for him. I just feel for the guy right now,
25:11
Speaker 4: you know, because he still probably wants to play even
25:13
Speaker 4: though he's an older cat at the end of the day.
25:15
Speaker 4: But yeah, I don't know what happens next. But I know,
25:21
Speaker 4: you know this is this is gonna go on for
25:22
Speaker 4: a little bit.
25:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd love to hear legal perspective because with cases
25:26
Speaker 2: like this, they are looking at the past. They are
25:29
Speaker 2: looking at things that we just don't have a lot
25:32
Speaker 2: degrees for. Just from my take, Crat, I still think
25:36
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a tough case, even though yeah, I'm
25:38
Speaker 2: on his side, Like it's not difficult to put padding
25:42
Speaker 2: on a tarp. It should be pretty common sense. And
25:45
Speaker 2: also it takes up a huge chunk of foul territory.
25:49
Speaker 2: But I don't know, you could start to really nitpick. Hey,
25:53
Speaker 2: there was a divot in the grass, I stepped in
25:55
Speaker 2: it wrong. I shredded up my knee.
25:57
Speaker 3: They should have cleaned that up unforesetated. You couldn't see
26:01
Speaker 3: that coming. You can see that the tarp has a
26:04
Speaker 3: sharp end or a padded end to it. Ultimately, it's
26:08
Speaker 3: probably gets settled out of court, no no proceeding or
26:13
Speaker 3: no whatever judgment comes down so that there is no
26:18
Speaker 3: past precedent moving forward.
26:21
Speaker 2: I don't want to make it like I'm not on
26:22
Speaker 2: Darren's side, so I am on his side right like
26:25
Speaker 2: put padding where you should put patting so guys don't
26:28
Speaker 2: get hurt. But I don't know. I just know it's
26:30
Speaker 2: tough with cases like this, and I feel like I've
26:32
Speaker 2: seen only fans trying to stay the case about an issue,
26:36
Speaker 2: and maybe it gets settled so we just don't know
26:38
Speaker 2: about it. It gets settled out of court. I do
26:40
Speaker 2: think often people look at things and say, especially if
26:43
Speaker 2: you're a team, do I really want to go at
26:47
Speaker 2: it with a former player in public, pay for the lawyers, whatever.
26:50
Speaker 2: And also if you do and you do lose, that's
26:52
Speaker 2: when you do open up Pandora's box. So anyway, maybe
26:55
Speaker 2: we can bring on Darren or a lawyer or somebody
26:57
Speaker 2: like that to try and get more info on.
26:59
Speaker 3: This, like like the Rockies player who got hit by
27:01
Speaker 3: a foul ball and assuing the team because he got
27:05
Speaker 3: hit by a foul ball and he said they weren't
27:07
Speaker 3: worth watching and paying attention to the game. So it's dangerous.
27:13
Speaker 2: That's a real thing.
27:14
Speaker 1: By the way, that was a real story this week.
27:18
Speaker 2: That's also a tough case. If you're in court so much,
27:22
Speaker 2: I don't want to watch them. Yeah, it got attention
27:25
Speaker 2: because of that.
27:25
Speaker 1: That's why it hit some headlines.