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Brewers Earn World Series Triumph, Baseball's Next Steps in Uncertain Offseason with Gene Watson · The Craig Way Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The 2-1 pitch. Ground ball, second base. Terang has it.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Goes to first. The wait is.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Over.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: The Brewers have won the World Series. They have done it.
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: This relentless bunch, who nobody gave a chance to at
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: the beginning of the season, sits atop the baseball world.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: 57 years of waiting.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: And the first World Series championship in franchise history has arrived.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Craig Way Show and the voice
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: of the Longhorns, Craig Way.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Follow Craig on social media at Horn Boys.
• 0:47
  Speaker 5: That was Jeff Levering calling it. The Milwaukee Brewers winning
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: their first ever World Series, winning last night. and uh
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: beating the tampa base to win their first ever world
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: series brings us to our weekly conversation with our mlb
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: insider gene watson uh from the chicago white sox front
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: office you've been out in uh the cactus state have
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: you not uh gino here over the last several days yeah.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I've been out here in the uh arizona fall league
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: seeing some of our younger prospects and some rule five
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: candidate players and meeting with teams and, uh, supposed to
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: get bad weather tomorrow. So I'm going to head back
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: to Montgomery, Texas in the morning. And, but. What a
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: fun week, and what a great time for the game
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: of baseball right now.
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt. You picked the Brewers in six, and
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: it almost wound up being that way. It wound up
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: being Milwaukee in five. But I just go back to
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: something you said all the way back in April. Now,
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: in April you said it's going to be very hard
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: for any team to knock off the Dodgers and keep
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: them from a three-peat. But you also said if there
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: is a team that is equipped to do it, It's
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: Milwaukee because of the way they play the game. And
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: certainly we saw that on display throughout the course of
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: the World Series.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: No question.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: And, you know, Craig, everybody wants to try to make
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: a big deal about analytics versus scouting, scouting versus analytics.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: And every time we get to these world championship teams.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: It all comes down to two things.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: It comes down to the chemistry in the clubhouse and
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: playing the game the right way and doing the little
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: things right. Things that have been done for 100 plus
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: years in the game of baseball. And everybody wants to
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: make these big debates. And reinvent the wheel. And there's
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: no reinventing the wheel. If you have 26 players that
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: love to play the game together and you have a
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: great coaching staff that's selfless and you have guys that
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: can do the little things along the way, you've got
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: a chance to win a World Series. And people have
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: no idea. And I was thinking last night when the
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: last out was made. I mean, it's been 11 years
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: now since we've been a part of a World Series team.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: But I've been to four since 1998, and the complexion
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: of every team that I've been a part of the
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Golden Bowl World Series has all been very similar to
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: what the Brewers are. And so of all the things
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: that you want to get right when you're building your team,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: it's your coaching staff, it's the way you play the game,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and it's the clubhouse. And if you can get those
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: three things right, you have a chance.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: And Milwaukee, they did it right.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: And it's so incredibly hard to win a world championship,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: and they did it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it.
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: Here's a question that may be difficult to answer, but
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: I've seen it already come up now. And given what
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: he did in the Just Completed World Series, I put
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: the question to you.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Is William Contreras the best catcher in baseball?
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: So I've watched William Contreras since he was 18 years old.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: He was my son's catcher in Rome. And you knew then, one,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: because of his upbringing, his brother being such a talented catcher,
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: But he was such a leader and such a charismatic
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: personality and just thirsty to get better every day.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: And, you know, he's just tremendous. And I'm so it
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: was so cool to.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: See him up there winning the MVP and to have
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: watched him since he was a young kid and just
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the great kid that he is.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: But people don't realize he was a part of the
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: World Baseball Classic Championship too. So he's been a part
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: of two championships in a year. And he is going
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: to be.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: one of the most sought-after players in the game because
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: catching is such a premium.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: And he brings every ingredient that you look for.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Great teammate, great preparer, doesn't ever think he's ever learned enough,
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  Speaker 2: and just a tremendous talent, and so much fun to
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: watch throughout his career.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: Here's the other thing about this series, Gino, and really,
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: for that matter, for the entire postseason, watching him. This
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: may have amazed me more than anything else. I watched
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: a ton of baseball this year, as you know, and
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: I always watch over 100 Dodger games a year, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: then I watch all the other teams and stuff. Nobody,
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: nobody came close to getting the ABS challenge right like
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: William Contreras did. I mean, not only was he, whatever,
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: 8 of 11 or something in the World Series or whatever.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: He was like that all year long.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: He seemed to have an innate sense and the confidence
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: to challenge, even when it looked real... obvious to other
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: catchers and they wouldn't challenge. And it's funny, I think
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: John Smoltz is the best baseball analyst in the game,
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: but he even had Smoltz a little bit off center
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: when Smoltz said, well, it's too early to challenge.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: It's one of those. It's not high leverage.
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: And all Joe Davis would say, even when you're that sure.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: And he goes, even when you're that, and then right
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: that then boom, strike. I mean, the guy just seemed
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: to have the innate sense for that ABS challenge in
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: the first year of the ABS challenge. He nailed it.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Better than any catcher I saw in the game this year.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I've got a theory to that. Yeah? And there's no
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: way of proving it. But one... he came up in
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: the brave system for a while.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: And when he was in the brave system and I
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: can't name them all, there were so many talented pitchers
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: that were, were above average command pitchers. And so, you know,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: he learned what the strike zone was very early in
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: his career.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Okay. Well, winter ball in Venezuela, you know, the WBC, the.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Talented pitchers that he caught in the world baseball classic,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: the pitchers that.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: He's caught in, It's in his time with.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: The Milwaukee Brewers have all been above average command type pitchers.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: And so he had a strong understanding and strong knowledge
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: and know how of what the strike zone was.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: And I, you know, you can't prove it.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything to prove it. But but
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: that to me is one of the bigger things. He
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: never had to, you know, learn how to catch, you know,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: guys that were spraying the ball all over the place.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: So that made him a better catcher and a better
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: understanding of what the strike zone was. And I truly
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: think that was one of the benefits for his knowledge
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: Let me ask you one more question about the Brewers
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: and we'll move on to some other things. We were
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: talking about McGill being among the top closers in baseball.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: But if we're being completely honest here.
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: Aaron Ashby was unreal during the.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Course of the postseason as well.
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: What does that say, not only for both of those guys,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: but what does it say for what Pat Murphy has
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: to look at for the future about whether one guy
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: closes or the other guy closes or how it works
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: going forward, depending on what happens with the game itself, obviously? Yeah,
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: I think those decisions will all be made. I think,
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: first of all, you talk to the players first. And
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: you get a thought of where the players– because most.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Of these guys, especially because now, like, they.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Believe– First of all, it's one of the youngest teams
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: in baseball. They have one of the best minor league
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: systems in baseball. So whatever the financial landscape looks like,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: good or bad, they have a chance to run it back.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You know, Brandon Woodruff, they did all this without Brandon Woodruff,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: their best arm, who's a free agent, who I would
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: expect to sign back with them.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I think that he wants to be a part of
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: what they're doing moving forward.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: But once you get to this point, that's the one
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: thing that Pat Murphy did so well is he You know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the sitting.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: Contreras when he didn't run a ball out, sitting Cooper Pratt.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: You know, the little things that he did along the
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: year that it takes such a special leader to do that.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: And so the buy-in is there.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: And so these guys are all going to be selfless
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: moving forward to do what they have to do to
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: try to repeat as world champions.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: You thought winning one was incredible for a market size
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: of Milwaukee, right? They have a chance to do it again.
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  Speaker 2: And it's funny how you go from a team that
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: had a chance to win three in a row to
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: now we've already flipped to another team in the National
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: League that has a chance to win two in a
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: row if they do the things that they're capable of doing.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And so I think that all 20, really.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: All 40 men on the roster understand that you have
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: to be selfless at this point with your goals.
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  Speaker 3: To keep winning.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt about it.
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  Speaker 5: Gene Watson joining us here to talk baseball and 13
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: under the zone. Okay, let's jump to baseball overall. I
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: asked you this question last week, and I don't know
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: if you've changed your thought about it as well, but
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: will we see the craziness, the rush to get some
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: signings done here over the next few weeks now that
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: the season has ended and everybody's waiting for the other
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: shoe to drop and what might happen with regard to
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: a lockout or work stoppage and all that other kind
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: of stuff?
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: First things first.
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: Are we going to see a rush to get free
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: agents signed before any kind of work stoppage or threat
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: of it really happens?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: You know, where I first thought it might be pretty quick. Now,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: today's been crazy because a lot of people became free agents.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Today.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: And I've been on the phone with our medical team
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: and our scouts at our front office literally all day.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: So it's a little bit of crazy right now.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: But I think it could move a little slower than
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: what we originally thought.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Only because, and this is coming out of our meetings
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: this week, you have a lot of teams.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: That are sitting in the 80 to 120 range as
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: far as projected payroll in 27.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: And if they do come to an.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Agreement where there's a cap on a floor and that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: floor is, say, 170, that's going to be a lot
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: more money for those 0-3 players. So where I think
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: that you had, I think some of the older players, yes,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: they'll jump out to.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: to get to where they want to be.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: But I think this could move a little bit slower
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: than we first thought because nobody truly knows what the
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: cap on.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: The floor is going to look like.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: There's been conversations of the cap on the floor not
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: even being in play until 2028.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: If that's announced, I think.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: We'll see a great deal of movement early on. But
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: right now, I think it's got a chance to move
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: a little bit slower than we first thought.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: Against that backdrop then, for folks who haven't been able
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: to get a complete mental grasp and wrap their arms
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: around us or their minds around.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Us, tell people a little bit, Geno.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: What these upcoming days and weeks are going to be
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: like as it relates to the game overall, timeline, you know,
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: I'm not necessarily asking to predict what's going to happen,
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: but if that falls into what you think might happen,
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: first of all, the timelines of what's going to happen
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: in terms of the game itself with labor and with
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: management and things like that before we even get to
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: the serious question of whether or not the game's going
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: to grind to a halt.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: So right now, all.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: The conversations from a club standpoint are internal in what
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: do we do to bring our free agents back? There's
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot of guys coming off the
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: rosters today. And so you're either going to let those
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: guys go through waivers and clear and become free agents,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: or you've already discussed pretender deals where you've got deals
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: worked out to bring them back after the fact.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: And there have been a few of those today.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Tuesday is the first day that the players that are
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: free agents can actually become free agents. I think there's
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: going to be a group of players that are going
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: to look around.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: To see what the best deal they can do.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: I think the teams that have intimate needs are going
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: to be very aggressive. It's going to be crazy with
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the pitching. The pitching market is going to be absolutely crazy.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: I think the Scoobles, the.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Freddy Peraltas, the Clay Holmes, the Tyler Rogers, Trevor Rogers,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I think those guys are going to move a little
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: bit slower. But the guys that want to get good
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: deals early, you're going to see the pitching move faster.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: very quickly because all 30 teams are looking for pitching
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: There's just not enough pitching in the industry. So that's
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: where you're going to see a lot of movement beginning Tuesday.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: December 1st is the day.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: We're going to be in Vegas on November 9th for
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: the general manager's meetings, the 9th through the 12th. That's
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: where a lot of club conversations take place. But December
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: 1st is the date. And after that, you know, who
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: knows what's going to happen? I may not be on
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: your show for two years, but I feel very, very
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: optimistic that just where the state of the game is
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: right now, where the meteorites are, you've got Pacific Rim
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: meteorites coming around. I just think that cooler heads are
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: going to prevail and that we're going to get closer
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: to spring training. And even if we miss a couple
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: of weeks of spring training, But there will eventually be
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: a deal that gets us to baseball on 27th.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: Well, you're going to be on with me because I'm
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: going to get you on when you're out in Vegas,
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: when you get a chance to breathe and stuff, just
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: to get the pulse of what that's all about going
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: forward to do that.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: So in the meantime, take a deep breath, my friend.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Get yourself home. And then what?
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: You're going to be in South Bend next weekend for
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: Notre Dame in Miami, right?
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: South Bend for Notre Dame-Miami, and then I'm going to
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: fly back out here for the Fall Stars game on
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: the 8th, and then I'll be on the 9th. I'm
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: living the Craig Way travel life next week.
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: I wish that on no one. I'll just tell you that. Hey,
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: travel's safe, my friend. I appreciate the time.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, you guys take care.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: That is Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office.
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: And so he's got an optimistic approach on it, and
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: that's good. It's good to hear. Hopefully, you know, the
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: better heads prevail on this thing and something gets done.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Down the line.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Okay, coming up next, more from Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkeesian.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: We'll tell you who won the tickets because somebody already
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: has won the tickets for Texas and Mississippi State when
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: we continue on 13 Under the Zone.