Latest / Foul Territory / FairT: Devers/Red Sox saga, Rox fire Bud Black, HOT Twins & Cardinals

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FairT: Devers/Red Sox saga, Rox fire Bud Black, HOT Twins & Cardinals · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: What does that translate to, ladies and gentlemen. That translates
0:03
Speaker 1: to a record of thirty four and one hundred and
0:07
Speaker 1: twenty eight. Thirty four in one hundred and twenty eight.
0:11
Speaker 1: That's a difficult thing to do in Major League Baseball.
0:13
Speaker 1: It's difficult to lose that many games. Welcome everyone to
0:20
Speaker 1: the Monday edition of Fair Territory, and my goodness, do
0:23
Speaker 1: we have a lot to talk about on this particular Monday.
0:27
Speaker 1: We've got a star player who does not want to
0:29
Speaker 1: change positions, We've got a managerial firing the second of
0:33
Speaker 1: the year, and we have two eight game winning streaks
0:37
Speaker 1: by teams that aren't necessarily expected to be hot at
0:41
Speaker 1: any point this season, well maybe one of them. So
0:44
Speaker 1: let's start with the biggest issue of the day, the
0:46
Speaker 1: Raphael Devers conundrum with the Boston Red Sox. I wrote
0:50
Speaker 1: about it this morning and you can see my opinion.
0:53
Speaker 1: It's basically that the Red Sox should keep Devers at
0:56
Speaker 1: DH figure out first base in some other fashion. And
1:00
Speaker 1: there are a lot of things going on here, but
1:03
Speaker 1: I want to start with two reasons that to me,
1:06
Speaker 1: make it difficult for him to play first base, a
1:09
Speaker 1: position he has never played. Professionally and as far as
1:12
Speaker 1: I know as an amateur as well. Now, Raphaeld Devers
1:15
Speaker 1: of course made a team first move earlier this season,
1:19
Speaker 1: or actually in spring training. He agreed to become the
1:22
Speaker 1: DH after the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman. That move,
1:26
Speaker 1: in my opinion, was entirely appropriate. Bregman a much better
1:30
Speaker 1: defensive third baseman than Ralphaeld Devers, not even close. Devers.
1:35
Speaker 1: At that point, with Tristan Cassis healthy, he belonged in
1:38
Speaker 1: that roster. He fit that roster as a DH. This
1:42
Speaker 1: is different, and with Cassis now out for the season,
1:45
Speaker 1: with that ruptured left Patel attendant, the Red Sox do
1:49
Speaker 1: have a problem. They do need a first baseman. They've
1:52
Speaker 1: got Masataka Yoshida coming back at some point as a DH.
1:56
Speaker 1: So the natural chess piece move if you're just playing
2:00
Speaker 1: tisserie baseball is, hey, let's have ralphae Old Devers play
2:04
Speaker 1: first base. Well, not so easy. For one thing, that
2:07
Speaker 1: is a difficult position to master. A lot of fans,
2:11
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't understand that there is so
2:13
Speaker 1: much involved with playing first base. The Red Sox manager
2:17
Speaker 1: Alex Korr has talked about it. It's not simply catching
2:20
Speaker 1: throws from the infield. There's positioning, there's holding runners, there's relays,
2:25
Speaker 1: there's cutoff there bunt plays, all kinds of things going on.
2:28
Speaker 1: And when you've never played the position before, and when
2:31
Speaker 1: you'd have to adjust to it in the middle of
2:33
Speaker 1: the season, it's really difficult to do. You'd be risking injury,
2:37
Speaker 1: you'd be risking embarrassment. And in Deavor's case, remember he
2:40
Speaker 1: started the season slowly transitioning to the DHROL and there
2:44
Speaker 1: might have been other things involved there too. He didn't
2:46
Speaker 1: have much of a spring, et cetera. But to ask
2:49
Speaker 1: him to do that in the middle of the season,
2:51
Speaker 1: play first base when he's never done it before, you're
2:54
Speaker 1: risking again offensive regression as he tries to adjust mentally
2:58
Speaker 1: physically to that new position. It's not his fault that
3:03
Speaker 1: they don't have depth at first base, not his fault
3:06
Speaker 1: that they don't have a place for Yoshida. These are
3:08
Speaker 1: things that are being thrust onto him, basically assigned to him,
3:13
Speaker 1: even though he has nothing to do with all that. Now,
3:16
Speaker 1: a lot of fans understandably say, hey, wait, a second
3:20
Speaker 1: three hundred plus million dollar contract, he should play wherever
3:23
Speaker 1: the team wants. I got it. I understand that thinking,
3:27
Speaker 1: and there's some logic to it, right, But at the
3:30
Speaker 1: same time, to me, this is just too much. And
3:33
Speaker 1: that is why, in my opinion, what the Red Sox
3:35
Speaker 1: should do is just let Devers DH the rest of
3:37
Speaker 1: the season and somehow find a first baseman, either internally,
3:43
Speaker 1: which is unlikely romy Gonzalez being hurt doesn't help you
3:46
Speaker 1: go outside, you find someone in another organization, maybe a
3:50
Speaker 1: Garret Cooper or Dominic Smith, guys they brought in last year.
3:53
Speaker 1: Maybe you go sign Anthony Rizzo, take a chance there.
3:56
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the answer is. There are no
3:58
Speaker 1: easy answers, but to ask your star player to do
4:02
Speaker 1: this in the middle of a season, to me, it
4:05
Speaker 1: just isn't the right way to go. And one more
4:07
Speaker 1: thing on this. If the Red Sox had any vision
4:12
Speaker 1: at all, or had greater vision in spring training, they
4:15
Speaker 1: wouldn't have told Devers put away your glove, don't worry
4:18
Speaker 1: about anything but dhing this year. They would have had
4:21
Speaker 1: him take grounders a third, which I think he did
4:23
Speaker 1: pretty late in the spring, and they would have begun
4:27
Speaker 1: the acclamation process to first, knowing they had such little
4:32
Speaker 1: depth there. Devers wouldn't have had to have taken a
4:35
Speaker 1: crash course in learning the position. He simply would have
4:37
Speaker 1: had to kind of just get into the flow of
4:40
Speaker 1: things there, take time to just see what it's like
4:44
Speaker 1: playing first base, take the initial steps. The Red Sox
4:47
Speaker 1: didn't do that. They told him to put away his glove.
4:50
Speaker 1: They told him to put away his glove, most likely
4:52
Speaker 1: because they wanted him simply to focus on learning a
4:55
Speaker 1: new routine as a DH something that also is not
4:59
Speaker 1: that easy to So we still do not have resolution here.
5:03
Speaker 1: We do not know if Ralfield Devers is ultimately going
5:06
Speaker 1: to accept playing first base, or if at some point
5:10
Speaker 1: the Red Sox just dropped this and the other element here.
5:13
Speaker 1: And the last thing I'll mention, because we can talk
5:15
Speaker 1: whole day about this, is the seeming disconnect between the manager,
5:19
Speaker 1: Alex Cora and the chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow. Cora
5:24
Speaker 1: was not the one who asked Devers to play first.
5:28
Speaker 1: Now I'm not sure the reason for that. Maybe Cora
5:30
Speaker 1: wasn't down with it. He has been pretty vocal about
5:33
Speaker 1: not wanting to move Devs to first. Maybe he doesn't
5:37
Speaker 1: want Devers in the field at all. Maybe he is
5:39
Speaker 1: at a point where hey, I asked Devers to be
5:42
Speaker 1: the DH I kind of exhausted my currency there. I
5:44
Speaker 1: don't want to go to that well again. I don't know,
5:47
Speaker 1: but there are layers to this. There are all kinds
5:49
Speaker 1: of things going on. I respect fans opinions who say, hey,
5:53
Speaker 1: he should be doing whatever the team wants. What I'm
5:56
Speaker 1: telling you is it's just not that easy. More on
6:00
Speaker 1: as the Red Sox Turn, Robbie Hyde host Monster Territory.
6:04
Speaker 1: Tune in for live post games on YouTube and wherever
6:07
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Subscribe, share, and rate five stars
6:11
Speaker 1: to the entire Foul Territory network. We'll be back after
6:14
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7:17
Speaker 1: All right. On Sunday, we got news that we could
7:20
Speaker 1: have gotten quite some time ago, at least sometime earlier
7:23
Speaker 1: this season, and that is news of Bud Black's firing.
7:27
Speaker 1: And I want to start off by saying that Bud Black,
7:29
Speaker 1: for nine years, was the manager of the Colorado Rockies.
7:32
Speaker 1: Bud Black is the kind of person you want in baseball.
7:35
Speaker 1: He's actually the kind of person you want managing your team.
7:38
Speaker 1: But clearly it was not working. Finally, on Sunday, we
7:42
Speaker 1: got an answer to a question that has long troubled
7:45
Speaker 1: me that I've thought about for I don't know, quite
7:48
Speaker 1: some time. The question is what will it take for
7:52
Speaker 1: the Colorado Rockies to awaken from their slumber, to snap
7:56
Speaker 1: out of it, to do something that reflects their actual
7:58
Speaker 1: performance on the field with the way they run the team. Well,
8:02
Speaker 1: we got our answer at six and thirty three. They
8:05
Speaker 1: let Bud Black manage one more game. He wins the game.
8:07
Speaker 1: They finished well, he finishes seven and thirty three, But
8:11
Speaker 1: they finally made the decision to fire Bud Black at
8:14
Speaker 1: six and thirty three. That's what it took. Six and
8:17
Speaker 1: thirty three. Now, the Colorado Rockies, I've said this before,
8:21
Speaker 1: they seem to operate in a parallel universe to the
8:24
Speaker 1: rest of Baseball twenty nine. Other teams are kind of
8:27
Speaker 1: doing it one way. The Rockies are off in Denver
8:29
Speaker 1: doing it their way, and their way isn't working. Now,
8:33
Speaker 1: I don't mind teams that are different. When you have
8:35
Speaker 1: a team like the Tampa Bay Rays, innovative, kind of exciting,
8:39
Speaker 1: always willing to take risks and succeeding with their plans,
8:43
Speaker 1: that's fine. That's what you want. You want an outlier
8:46
Speaker 1: along those lines, a successful outlier. The Rockies are this
8:50
Speaker 1: team that draws quite well at Corusfield, and they draw
8:53
Speaker 1: so well at Corusfield that their owner, Dick Montfort, says, Hey,
8:57
Speaker 1: that's my problem. I'm doing well. I've got people come
9:00
Speaker 1: into the park. I don't have to worry about the product.
9:02
Speaker 1: I don't have to do anything different. I can be insular.
9:06
Speaker 1: I can operate my team however I Dawn please, and
9:08
Speaker 1: that's what he does now. Bud Black, like Derek Shelton
9:12
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh, clearly is not the problem here. They did.
9:16
Speaker 1: The Rockies need a new voice. In my opinion, it
9:19
Speaker 1: was time. This was Bud Black's ninth year and things
9:22
Speaker 1: were going horribly, of course, as their record shows, and
9:25
Speaker 1: that series against San Diego when they were just rocked,
9:29
Speaker 1: that was to me a tipping point for a team
9:32
Speaker 1: that seemingly has a really hard time getting to a
9:34
Speaker 1: tipping point. Doing something different makes sense. At the same time,
9:37
Speaker 1: it does not excuse the deficiencies of the way the
9:41
Speaker 1: team has been constructed by general manager Bill Schmidt and
9:45
Speaker 1: most of all, and it sounds like a broken record.
9:47
Speaker 1: We're talking about this with the Pirates just last week.
9:50
Speaker 1: It does not excuse the deficiencies of the owner Dick Monford.
9:55
Speaker 1: At the same time, Bud Black distinguished baseball man, a
10:00
Speaker 1: lot of great things in the game. He's someone who
10:02
Speaker 1: is a great representative of that franchise. Yeah, okay, you
10:06
Speaker 1: want to make a change there, that's fine. Warren Schaeffer
10:09
Speaker 1: is someone who has managed and coached for about a
10:12
Speaker 1: decade in their minor leagues before becoming their third base coach.
10:16
Speaker 1: He's the right guy for a younger team. I get it,
10:19
Speaker 1: Bud Black. If you want to fire him, that's fine.
10:22
Speaker 1: But my gosh, you've got to fix the team in
10:24
Speaker 1: a much bigger sense, and I don't know if Dick
10:27
Speaker 1: Monfrey cares to do that. So the Rockies will continue
10:30
Speaker 1: spinning their wheels, continue operating in their parallel universe, and
10:34
Speaker 1: it's not going to change with a simple change in managers. Finally,
10:38
Speaker 1: two teams that certainly started the season off with questions,
10:42
Speaker 1: one team that was actually struggling early in the season,
10:45
Speaker 1: the other a team that I thought should have taken
10:48
Speaker 1: some different steps in the offseason, and now both of
10:51
Speaker 1: these clubs have eight game winning streaks. I'm talking about
10:54
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Twins and the Saint Louis Cardinals. The Twins
10:58
Speaker 1: are a club that started season seven and fifteen. Seven
11:02
Speaker 1: and fifteen, I wrote a column on potential managerial firings
11:06
Speaker 1: and I actually had Rockleball Deli at the top of
11:08
Speaker 1: the list. They were going that badly. They seemed, after
11:12
Speaker 1: a poor second half last year or a poor last
11:14
Speaker 1: two months, to be stuck in this malaise. Well they
11:18
Speaker 1: have finally snapped out of it. And here's a team
11:21
Speaker 1: that is now fifteen and six at home. They've won
11:24
Speaker 1: thirteen of their last fourteen at home. Byron Buxton. Yeah,
11:27
Speaker 1: he leads the majors in strikeouts, but he's doing some
11:30
Speaker 1: big things top twenty in f war. But really the
11:33
Speaker 1: story here at a time when Correa and Royce Lewis
11:37
Speaker 1: have done essentially very little. Lewis has been heard for
11:40
Speaker 1: most of the year, Korea contributing very little offensively at
11:44
Speaker 1: a time when all that is happening, they are being
11:47
Speaker 1: carried by their rotation. And I want to show you
11:50
Speaker 1: something here because it's quite telling. The Twins rotation, after
11:53
Speaker 1: a very rocky first week of the season, has really
11:56
Speaker 1: come on. Check this out. First six games rotation six
12:01
Speaker 1: point nine zero ERA, last thirty one games two point
12:05
Speaker 1: thirty nine ERA. That is a pretty dramatic improvement, and
12:09
Speaker 1: it's got the Twins at a point now where they
12:12
Speaker 1: are in a better position in the AL Central, a
12:15
Speaker 1: division in which the Detroit Tigers are not exactly running away,
12:20
Speaker 1: but playing at an extremely high level and perhaps taking
12:23
Speaker 1: something of a commanding position. This early in the season,
12:26
Speaker 1: the Tigers are twenty six and fifteen, and the Twins
12:30
Speaker 1: still have a ways to go to kind of get
12:32
Speaker 1: really back in the thick of this thing, but they've
12:34
Speaker 1: taken some big steps. They're healthy now, they're running pretty well.
12:39
Speaker 1: And the other team I want to talk about. The
12:40
Speaker 1: other team with an eight game winning streak is a
12:43
Speaker 1: team that I was critical of in spring training for
12:46
Speaker 1: not taking a definitive position. I wrote that the Saint
12:49
Speaker 1: Louis Cardinals were caught in the middle. They were not rebuilding,
12:53
Speaker 1: they didn't want to use that word, and they were
12:55
Speaker 1: not going for it because they did very little this
12:57
Speaker 1: offseason and in this the last last year of John
13:00
Speaker 1: Mozaylock's run as president of Baseball Operations, it seemed like
13:04
Speaker 1: they were content to kind of try but not fully
13:08
Speaker 1: go there. Well, here are the Cardinals eight straight wins.
13:12
Speaker 1: They are right in the thick of the NL central race.
13:15
Speaker 1: In fact, they are really close to the Cubs right now.
13:17
Speaker 1: They're in a decent position considering where we all thought
13:20
Speaker 1: they would be. And the question becomes, Okay, you didn't
13:23
Speaker 1: trade Ryan Helsley and Eric Fetti, your potential free agents
13:26
Speaker 1: in the offseason. You didn't trade Noan Rnado, though you
13:29
Speaker 1: did try. What are you going to do with the deadline.
13:32
Speaker 1: We're not there yet, obviously, we've got almost three months
13:35
Speaker 1: until the deadline. We've got to see how the Cardinals play.
13:38
Speaker 1: But they've got some good things happening now. Some of
13:41
Speaker 1: the younger players are not performing. I'm thinking of Nolan
13:44
Speaker 1: Gorman and Jordan Walker in particular, but some of their
13:47
Speaker 1: other players are performing at surprising levels, or at least
13:51
Speaker 1: levels where you expected that they might be. I'm talking
13:54
Speaker 1: about Brendan Donovan, who was emerged as a really good player,
13:57
Speaker 1: Victor Scott, the second in center field, fun got to watch,
14:01
Speaker 1: Hey Wilson Contreras also having a good year. Their rotation
14:05
Speaker 1: third in the majors in innings. Their offense has proven
14:08
Speaker 1: to be kind of a versatile group, the third in
14:11
Speaker 1: the majors in on base percentage. So some good things
14:14
Speaker 1: happening with the Cardinals. Again, the question will come in
14:17
Speaker 1: July where do they go with this, because they're going
14:19
Speaker 1: to have some pieces that will be attractive, same pieces
14:22
Speaker 1: that were attractive in the offseason, Hellsley and Fetti, and
14:26
Speaker 1: then you have the Ornado question all over again. At
14:30
Speaker 1: the same time, if they're close, I expect John Mozelak,
14:32
Speaker 1: in his final year as head of Baseball Operations, to
14:35
Speaker 1: make some moves to enhance the team to perhaps try
14:39
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. They're not accelerating the reset as
14:43
Speaker 1: quickly as they should be, but they are competing and
14:46
Speaker 1: good for the Cardinals for doing that. Cardinal Territory keeps
14:50
Speaker 1: you informed on the latest with the Birds on the
14:52
Speaker 1: bat My colleague at the Athletic Katie Wu and Bernie
14:55
Speaker 1: Michless host multiple episodes each week on YouTube and wherever
14:59
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Subscribe, share, and rate five stars
15:03
Speaker 1: to the entire Foul Territory network.
15:06
Speaker 2: Well Well, well, time out.
15:11
Speaker 1: For the Inside Dish, the part of the show where
15:12
Speaker 1: I talk about maybe a story I've written, maybe a
15:15
Speaker 1: trend in the game, maybe some hot thing going on
15:18
Speaker 1: in the sport, or maybe a major league debut as
15:22
Speaker 1: You guys know, if you've been watching me over the
15:24
Speaker 1: years listening to me, I love a major league debut.
15:27
Speaker 1: I love it like few other things in the sport.
15:29
Speaker 1: It's just a beautiful, pure moment when a player's dream
15:34
Speaker 1: comes true, and often his family flies in for the
15:37
Speaker 1: moment to celebrate with him, regardless of how it goes.
15:40
Speaker 1: And that's what we had Saturday on our broadcast of
15:42
Speaker 1: Cubs Mets from City Field. We had Caate Horton, the
15:46
Speaker 1: Cub's top pitching prospect, making his debut. Not as a starter.
15:50
Speaker 1: The Cubs used in open and Brad Keller, but then
15:52
Speaker 1: they brought in Horton and we kind of sprang into action.
15:56
Speaker 1: Now for a debut, what we'd like to do often
15:59
Speaker 1: is interview parents as long as it goes well. If
16:02
Speaker 1: the debut doesn't go well, it's not going to be
16:05
Speaker 1: a good thing. But over the years, when I've done
16:07
Speaker 1: these things for Fox, going back to Daniel Nava's Grand
16:10
Speaker 1: Slam for the Boston Red Sox, to Cole Tucker's home
16:13
Speaker 1: run in his debut for the Pirates same day Brian
16:16
Speaker 1: Reynolds made his debut, and even Christian Scott last year
16:19
Speaker 1: when he pitched for the Mets in his first major
16:22
Speaker 1: league start. The parents often give you great insight into
16:25
Speaker 1: the player's journey, into what they went through, their sacrifices.
16:29
Speaker 1: It's just a really sweet kind of thing to cover.
16:32
Speaker 1: That's where we were on Saturday. If Kate Horton pitched well,
16:35
Speaker 1: our plan was try to interview the parents in the
16:38
Speaker 1: stands at City Field, and even then beyond that, we thought, well,
16:43
Speaker 1: maybe Kate Horton would be up for an in game
16:45
Speaker 1: interview if the Cubs were willing to do that, and
16:48
Speaker 1: if he was willing to do that. A lot of
16:50
Speaker 1: teams in the regular season we don't ask for in
16:53
Speaker 1: the moment, and they're not too thrilled within the moment.
16:55
Speaker 1: I'm talking about those interviews that take place during the
16:58
Speaker 1: game in the dugout. A lot of fans don't like them.
17:02
Speaker 1: We still do them, and we do them because they
17:04
Speaker 1: often give a different angle. They're kind of good television
17:07
Speaker 1: a lot of times anyway. So that was the idea,
17:11
Speaker 1: interview the parents if he pitches well, and then interview
17:14
Speaker 1: Kate Horton if he's willing, and the Cubs were willing,
17:16
Speaker 1: which they were. So he did pitch well. He ended
17:20
Speaker 1: up pitching four innings. The first two went really well.
17:23
Speaker 1: In the third, he gave up a three run homer
17:26
Speaker 1: to Brett Batty, and as I discussed with my producer
17:28
Speaker 1: between innings how to proceed, we thought, okay, we can
17:32
Speaker 1: still interview the parents. The Cubs still had the lead.
17:35
Speaker 1: They were leading four to three, and it looked like
17:38
Speaker 1: at that point Kate Horton might be out of the game.
17:41
Speaker 1: So I ventured up to where the parents were sitting,
17:43
Speaker 1: Mike and Carrie Horton, and I asked them if it
17:47
Speaker 1: would be okay if I talked to them as this
17:50
Speaker 1: game proceeded. Now, at that point, again, it was not
17:52
Speaker 1: clear whether Kate Horton was coming back out for a
17:55
Speaker 1: fourth inning. As it turned out he did. Mike and
17:58
Speaker 1: Carry agreed to the interview. Did that as he was pitching,
18:02
Speaker 1: and the way the game evolved, Francisco Lindor hit a
18:06
Speaker 1: one out single. We're back at the top of the
18:08
Speaker 1: Mets order, and oh my goodness, the interview ends pretty
18:12
Speaker 1: much as Juan Soto is coming to the plate to
18:14
Speaker 1: face Kate Horton. Kate Horton making his major league debut
18:18
Speaker 1: with a runner on in a one run game, and
18:21
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there between Mike and Carrie Horton, and I'm thinking,
18:25
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what is going through their minds. Here.
18:29
Speaker 1: Their son is pitching for the first time in a
18:32
Speaker 1: major league stadium, and he's facing the Mets seven hundred
18:35
Speaker 1: and sixty five million dollar man in a big situation,
18:37
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, my goodness, I better just keep my
18:40
Speaker 1: mouth shut. It was a really uncomfortable moment because I
18:43
Speaker 1: kind of feared that the worst was going to happen
18:45
Speaker 1: to Kate Horton. As it turned out, he threw his
18:48
Speaker 1: only change up of the game to strike out Juan Soto.
18:51
Speaker 1: It was a happy ending, and the Hortons, who had
18:53
Speaker 1: come from Norman, Oklahoma, and other relatives who had come
18:56
Speaker 1: from as far away as Montana, they were all pretty
18:59
Speaker 1: much overid at the way this thing played out. They
19:02
Speaker 1: were about I would say fifteen people, including Caid's wife, Blair,
19:06
Speaker 1: who were there. And again, the thrill of a major
19:09
Speaker 1: league debut is something that can never be repeated for
19:11
Speaker 1: a player. There's only one, and hopefully it goes successfully,
19:15
Speaker 1: and you'll notice even sometimes when it does not, a
19:18
Speaker 1: player will tell you and say after a game it
19:22
Speaker 1: was just such an exciting moment for me. It was
19:24
Speaker 1: just such a thrill and man, I'll remember it forever
19:28
Speaker 1: even when it doesn't go well. This one did go well.
19:31
Speaker 1: Kate Horton is a guy that if the Cubs keep
19:34
Speaker 1: going here and contending, they're probably going to need We've
19:37
Speaker 1: seen their pitching injuries justin steal out for the season.
19:40
Speaker 1: Showed it in Managa currently out with a hamstring, Javier
19:44
Speaker 1: assad who knows when he's coming back. They're gonna need help.
19:47
Speaker 1: Kate Horton can be that help and Saturday, well, that
19:51
Speaker 1: was the first step in his major league career and
19:53
Speaker 1: the first step two maybe becoming a key piece for
19:56
Speaker 1: the Chicago Cubs this season. We'll be back after a
19:59
Speaker 1: quick word from our friends at foul Territory FT FAM.
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21:02
Speaker 1: Time now for grilling Ken. Let's get to your questions.
21:05
Speaker 1: First question comes from that guy from that place who asks,
21:09
Speaker 1: why did the Pirates dump Sherrington with Shelton last week?
21:12
Speaker 1: Why keep part of the problem. I'll tell you the answer,
21:15
Speaker 1: and I can understand the question from that guy from
21:18
Speaker 1: that place. But the answer is it's a lot easier
21:21
Speaker 1: to fire a manager in the middle of the season
21:23
Speaker 1: and elevate a bench coach or someone else to take
21:25
Speaker 1: over the team than it is to fire a general manager.
21:29
Speaker 1: The general manager is effectively the head of baseball operations,
21:32
Speaker 1: and to disrupt your organization like that in the middle
21:35
Speaker 1: of a season. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. It
21:38
Speaker 1: does happen from time to time, but that's a move
21:40
Speaker 1: that is a lot easier to make in the off season. Now,
21:44
Speaker 1: the other part of this is that with the change
21:47
Speaker 1: from Derek Shelton to Don Kelly, the Pirates essentially are
21:51
Speaker 1: giving Ben Sherrington one last shot to turn this thing around.
21:54
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying for certain he would be fired
21:57
Speaker 1: at the end of the season if they do not
21:59
Speaker 1: turn it around. But this is Ben Sherrington's six straight
22:02
Speaker 1: year or six year as head of baseball operations, and
22:06
Speaker 1: it hasn't gone very well. So clearly, right now he
22:09
Speaker 1: is the one under more scrutiny. Clearly he should be
22:12
Speaker 1: under scrutiny for the teams that he has put together,
22:15
Speaker 1: which have not been at the same level as other
22:17
Speaker 1: small market, more successful clubs Milwaukee, Tampa Bay, Cleveland. I
22:22
Speaker 1: would expect that if there is not market improvement by
22:25
Speaker 1: the end of the season, that the Pirates are going
22:28
Speaker 1: to make a difficult decision on Ben Sherrington as well.
22:33
Speaker 1: Next question, this one comes from Patrick h who asks
22:36
Speaker 1: could the Rockies break the White Sox record? Patrick, you
22:40
Speaker 1: ask a very good question, because right now the Rockies
22:44
Speaker 1: are on pace to do just what you said, break
22:47
Speaker 1: the White Sox record for losses in a season. I
22:50
Speaker 1: want to show you exactly what I'm talking about. After
22:53
Speaker 1: forty games, the White Sox were twelve and twenty eight
22:57
Speaker 1: last season. After forty games, the Rockies are are seven
23:00
Speaker 1: and thirty three. What does that translate to ladies and gentlemen.
23:04
Speaker 1: That translates to a record of thirty four and one
23:08
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty eight. Thirty four and one hundred and
23:12
Speaker 1: twenty eight. That's a difficult thing to do in Major
23:15
Speaker 1: League Baseball. It's difficult to lose that many games. You're
23:18
Speaker 1: gonna run into some wins one way or the other.
23:20
Speaker 1: But we said that about the White Sox last year
23:23
Speaker 1: they finished forty one in one hundred and twenty one.
23:26
Speaker 1: I would say that the Rockies stand the decent chance
23:28
Speaker 1: of breaking that record. Yes, and I can't believe we
23:31
Speaker 1: would have this happen potentially two years in a row
23:34
Speaker 1: in the sport. Not a great look, all right? Final question,
23:38
Speaker 1: Let's get to this one, and it comes from Douglas Hoey,
23:42
Speaker 1: who asks, do the Mets go after a Luise Robert
23:45
Speaker 1: this season or look for someone amongst a Kunya Clifford
23:48
Speaker 1: Jet to take over in center field. I would say
23:51
Speaker 1: the latter, or perhaps they look for a lesser player
23:54
Speaker 1: or a less expensive player than Luise Robert. Luise Robert
23:58
Speaker 1: Junior is not a great player right now, one eighty
24:01
Speaker 1: six batting average, six nineteen ops. Yes, he leads the
24:04
Speaker 1: majors with fifteen stolen bases. He's healthy, that's good. Also
24:08
Speaker 1: has been caught stealing five times. But he's not a
24:11
Speaker 1: terribly productive guy. And for the money, he's making fifteen
24:14
Speaker 1: million this season, with twenty million dollar club options each
24:17
Speaker 1: of the next two seasons. Why would the Mets take
24:20
Speaker 1: that step when considering their luxury tax position. They're over
24:24
Speaker 1: the highest threshold. They'll be paying one hundred and ten
24:27
Speaker 1: percent on the dollar. It makes no sense, folks. Now,
24:31
Speaker 1: if the White Sox pick up most of the salary, okay,
24:34
Speaker 1: maybe you look at it, but at that point, he's
24:36
Speaker 1: still not a good enough player to justify making a
24:39
Speaker 1: move trading prospects for so I know there was some talk.
24:43
Speaker 1: Bob Nightingale wrote over the weekend that the Mets have
24:45
Speaker 1: checked in on Luise Robert Jr. Yeah, the Mets are
24:48
Speaker 1: gonna check in. All the teams are gonna check in.
24:50
Speaker 1: You're gonna have this going on until the deadline. But
24:53
Speaker 1: do I expect Luise Robert Junior, barring a complete turnaround
24:56
Speaker 1: in his game, to be a New York Met by
24:59
Speaker 1: August first? No, I do not expect that to happen.
25:03
Speaker 1: James Ciano and Diraffneckmark host Messed Up. Their newest episode
25:07
Speaker 1: is out now, Subscribe, review and share Mets Up and
25:11
Speaker 1: each show in the Foul Territory Network. Want to thank
25:14
Speaker 1: you everyone for their questions, thank you for watching, for listening.
25:17
Speaker 1: You know where to find us YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and
25:20
Speaker 1: we will be back Thursday twelve thirty our normal live broadcast.
25:24
Speaker 1: Myself and Alana Rizzo join us.
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