Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / HOT SEAT: Learning curve is steep for first-year Angels MGR Kurt Suzuki

Transcript

HOT SEAT: Learning curve is steep for first-year Angels MGR Kurt Suzuki · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:08
Speaker 1: Well, hey Angel fans, and welcome back to Halo territory.
0:11
Speaker 1: I'm Mike d. Giovanna, former Early Times Baseball writer and
0:14
Speaker 1: host of the show, joined by my regular co host
0:17
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbull, the former Angel slugger, and back with us
0:21
Speaker 1: for his regular ht gig is Sam Blum of The
0:24
Speaker 1: Athletic Welcome, guys, how are we doing today?
0:27
Speaker 2: I'm good?
0:28
Speaker 1: Are you good? Good? So today we're going to focus
0:33
Speaker 1: on first year manager Kurt Zuzuki and the way the
0:37
Speaker 1: club is performing. Were about one third of the way
0:40
Speaker 1: into the season, and we thought this might be a
0:43
Speaker 1: good time to sort of evaluate and assess Kurt's job
0:47
Speaker 1: so far because this weekend is the four year anniversary
0:52
Speaker 1: of one Joe Madden getting fired as Angels manager by
0:56
Speaker 1: general manager Perrymnesian. What's the Angel's record when Joe Madden
1:00
Speaker 1: got fired?
1:01
Speaker 3: Anybody remember, guys, twenty seven and twenty nine?
1:06
Speaker 1: Wasn't it twenty seven and twenty nine? Branded they were
1:09
Speaker 1: in the midst of a twelve game losing streak. But
1:12
Speaker 1: on June seventh, twenty twenty two, Joe Madden was fired
1:17
Speaker 1: by Paramidasing. So we thought we'd go back to Kurt's
1:21
Speaker 1: introductory news conference over the winner, and that'll sort of
1:25
Speaker 1: give us some context that we're going to talk about.
1:28
Speaker 1: So let's go back to that day.
1:32
Speaker 4: It's a great baseball mind.
1:33
Speaker 5: I made a ton of phone calls, and one of
1:36
Speaker 5: the things I wanted to specifically do was separate my relationship,
1:41
Speaker 5: you know, with him and get people's opinions. And you know,
1:44
Speaker 5: I called a lot of our players that played with them,
1:46
Speaker 5: that have been around him the last couple of years,
1:49
Speaker 5: and one of our veteran players I really really respect,
1:52
Speaker 5: who's seen a lot, been through a lot, asked his
1:55
Speaker 5: particular opinion about just manager in general, and Kurt's name
2:01
Speaker 5: popped up and he said, it's the best baseball brain
2:05
Speaker 5: in the building. And there's not even a close second.
2:09
Speaker 1: First of all, I did want to speculate among their
2:12
Speaker 1: crew here, mark any idea who he's talking about? The
2:15
Speaker 1: veteran player who said he is the best baseball brain
2:18
Speaker 1: in the building.
2:21
Speaker 6: I can take a stab at it. I'm going to
2:24
Speaker 6: go with an ex teammate of Kurts for the Washington Nationals,
2:28
Speaker 6: Anthony Rendome.
2:30
Speaker 1: Really, why do you think that interesting?
2:35
Speaker 6: I don't know who it is, but Anthony is a
2:38
Speaker 6: veteran player, and I think that he's a possible answer
2:44
Speaker 6: to this question.
2:45
Speaker 4: Sam, your choice.
2:48
Speaker 2: I would go with Travis S.
2:49
Speaker 1: Darnow.
2:50
Speaker 2: That's my guess.
2:52
Speaker 3: You know, catchers, veterans, someone and also someone who's nice
2:57
Speaker 3: and is probably not going to say anything to Travis
3:01
Speaker 3: darna was a good guy.
3:01
Speaker 2: He's not gonna throw any player under the bus. I
3:04
Speaker 2: don't think.
3:04
Speaker 1: Well, the first guy that came to mind for me
3:06
Speaker 1: was Mike Trout, and I I gosh, I sure hope
3:08
Speaker 1: it was Mike Trout, But I might be wrong. Listening
3:11
Speaker 1: to YouTube and Travis Darnaut does make a lot of
3:13
Speaker 1: sense because you know those catchers, they do stick together.
3:16
Speaker 1: So if Kurt's the best brain in the building, guys,
3:19
Speaker 1: what does that say about the other brains in the building.
3:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean listen, I don't want to insult the
3:26
Speaker 3: brain necessarily. I just want I think the job is
3:29
Speaker 3: what's what's stress? Would be stressing me out at this point,
3:31
Speaker 3: I mean he's I don't you know, it's baseball. I
3:35
Speaker 3: mean the Kurtzuzuki's had a long and distinguished playing career
3:38
Speaker 3: that deserves a lot of credit. Won a World Series,
3:41
Speaker 3: you know, played a role in a lot of successful teams. Ultimately, though,
3:44
Speaker 3: this what's happening right now with the Angels, I think
3:46
Speaker 3: is just it's really ugly.
3:48
Speaker 2: It's like the.
3:49
Speaker 3: Communications is poor. I mean, players when they when they're
3:52
Speaker 3: not hustling, like it's there's no doesn't appear to me
3:55
Speaker 3: that it's anyone's being held accountable for that, you know,
3:58
Speaker 3: poor performances don't seem to be getting out accountable.
4:00
Speaker 2: I mean, I just don't.
4:02
Speaker 3: I think they put him in a terrible position of
4:04
Speaker 3: being a first year manager and a one year deal.
4:06
Speaker 3: We talked about this right when it happened, and it
4:09
Speaker 3: has played out exactly as expected. And honestly, I find
4:12
Speaker 3: the communication element with our job in the media like
4:14
Speaker 3: it's almost irrelevant going to these scrumbs.
4:16
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm not around the team.
4:17
Speaker 3: As regularly, but you know, when I'm there and I'm
4:20
Speaker 3: listening to it, I'm like, what am I even doing here?
4:22
Speaker 3: I mean, there's no information on injuries, there's no information
4:25
Speaker 3: on players, like some of these things you hear changes
4:28
Speaker 3: the next day anyway, a lot of rambling, a lot
4:31
Speaker 3: of a lot of things that just don't make sense
4:34
Speaker 3: to me. And so yeah, I'm not going to insult
4:36
Speaker 3: the brain. But I don't think that he's been doing
4:38
Speaker 3: a good job right now as the manager.
4:40
Speaker 2: I mean, the record is what it is, too. It's
4:42
Speaker 2: not all his fault.
4:43
Speaker 3: Obviously, they're they're poorly constructed roster, and that that falls
4:48
Speaker 3: on the person who we were just listening to quite
4:50
Speaker 3: quite quite honestly, but you know they're not getting the
4:53
Speaker 3: most out of it either.
4:55
Speaker 1: Aren't any thoughts.
4:59
Speaker 6: I think, well, first and foremost, excellent playing career, and
5:03
Speaker 6: genuinely it seems like maybe the nicest guy you could
5:07
Speaker 6: hope to meet, and that's a great thing in life,
5:13
Speaker 6: and it really is he I'm sure the players appreciate
5:17
Speaker 6: him having their backs, and he's done it, I think
5:20
Speaker 6: to a fault, unfortunately, and I don't think of the
5:24
Speaker 6: fault is his. I think it's just what the job requires.
5:27
Speaker 6: And I think some of the best managers, at least
5:30
Speaker 6: that I played for, they weren't your friend, and they
5:34
Speaker 6: might not say things that were all that flattering, but
5:37
Speaker 6: they were usually very accurate. And I think that let's
5:41
Speaker 6: say Mike Soshia Buck Showalter, for example, the resumes speak
5:45
Speaker 6: for themselves. They kind of kept everyone at arm's length
5:49
Speaker 6: and I think that that's kind of I heard Terry
5:51
Speaker 6: Francona does that, and I'm assuming a lot of managers
5:53
Speaker 6: do that when I see, especially in spring, when it
5:57
Speaker 6: looks too friendly. And I said Meckler the other day,
6:00
Speaker 6: you know you're not going to see Hm out their
6:01
Speaker 6: bro hugging with the other team. I don't think managers really,
6:04
Speaker 6: you know. But Kurt's in a tough spot. He was
6:07
Speaker 6: a teammate with with some of these guys. He's in
6:10
Speaker 6: his first year. He's surrounded by a staff that I
6:13
Speaker 6: think he probably had some say in choosing. But I'm
6:16
Speaker 6: not entirely sure. He's got John Gibbons, who's got a
6:19
Speaker 6: lot more experience than he does hanging out. I'm not
6:23
Speaker 6: sure what John's done as far as mentorship. Probably has
6:27
Speaker 6: done a lot, but we haven't heard anything from him.
6:29
Speaker 6: Maybe some make an interview him at some point. It'd
6:31
Speaker 6: be nice to know what wisdom he's imparted on on Kurt.
6:35
Speaker 6: But he's got a tough gig, and I wonder if
6:38
Speaker 6: he's just, you know, he there's a chance he knew
6:42
Speaker 6: it was a good chance he knew it was going
6:43
Speaker 6: to be a very long year with a lot of
6:46
Speaker 6: tallies in one column and maybe you know, the approach
6:49
Speaker 6: and the advice he was given was just try and
6:52
Speaker 6: keep an even keel. It's not going to be easy.
6:54
Speaker 6: But if you, you know, get super excited, super annoyed, angry, frustrated,
6:59
Speaker 6: you might out pretty quickly. I think he's done the
7:02
Speaker 6: best he probably can, but it's a very tough situation
7:05
Speaker 6: on sam size.
7:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know there's been situations where guys have gone
7:10
Speaker 1: not if not directly from a playing career to a
7:13
Speaker 1: managerial job. Steven Vode comes to mind. But I wonder
7:17
Speaker 1: if there's been enough separation from Kurt's playing career to
7:22
Speaker 1: his managerial career, because yeah, I don't know if there
7:26
Speaker 1: is a chumminess or a friendliness, but to me, he
7:30
Speaker 1: has not. He has not come down hard enough on
7:34
Speaker 1: some of the things that we've seen on the field,
7:36
Speaker 1: some of the really obvious lack of hustle from some
7:39
Speaker 1: veteran players. And I wonder if you know, veteran players
7:42
Speaker 1: usually get a longer lease, but I know most managers
7:46
Speaker 1: wouldn't tolerate, you know, some of the things we've seen
7:49
Speaker 1: out of some of these guys in terms of the
7:51
Speaker 1: hustle department. But let's let's go back again to this
7:54
Speaker 1: introductory news conference and hear from Kurt himself talk about,
7:58
Speaker 1: you know, the tone and the culture that he was
8:01
Speaker 1: trying to set.
8:03
Speaker 7: I'm just looking forward for this opportunity to create something
8:07
Speaker 7: special here in Anaheim that you know wasn't happening the
8:13
Speaker 7: last whatever how many years, And I'm just looking to
8:16
Speaker 7: like I said, I'm not trying to recreate invent the
8:18
Speaker 7: new game of baseball, right. I'm here to do my job.
8:21
Speaker 7: I'm here to create an atmosphere that people want to
8:24
Speaker 7: be a part of. And with the talent that we
8:27
Speaker 7: have on this roster that Perry has created, as has
8:31
Speaker 7: on this roster, I feel like there's a lot of
8:33
Speaker 7: potential and it's our job, as myself, as our coaching
8:37
Speaker 7: staff to get the best out of these kids. And
8:39
Speaker 7: that's the goal.
8:42
Speaker 1: Now we've we've talked a lot about, you know, where
8:45
Speaker 1: the where the owner begins, where the where the general
8:48
Speaker 1: manager ends, and I think the same holds true for
8:51
Speaker 1: a manager and a GM. It's hard to tell where
8:54
Speaker 1: each of those positions begins and ends. But I think
8:58
Speaker 1: the measuring stick for any manager is he getting the
9:02
Speaker 1: most out of his team. Is he getting about what
9:05
Speaker 1: was expected out of his team? Or is this team underachieving?
9:09
Speaker 1: Are they underperforming? I know the Angels didn't have a
9:13
Speaker 1: lot of expectations going in. Certainly Prakoda picked up when
9:16
Speaker 1: sixty five games. But for either of you guys, do
9:19
Speaker 1: you feel this team is playing up to at or
9:22
Speaker 1: below expectation level right now?
9:26
Speaker 3: For me, they're at expectation level, I mean to be
9:28
Speaker 3: I mean that's it's like I said, I think two
9:30
Speaker 3: things can be true, and that doesn't really matter who
9:33
Speaker 3: the manager of this team is. It wasn't wasn't a
9:36
Speaker 3: well constructed roster. I think that you know, right now
9:39
Speaker 3: they're getting a lot out of guys like Wade Meckler,
9:41
Speaker 3: Donovan Walden, Jose Sirie. There these are guys who weren't
9:44
Speaker 3: even to believe on the forty man as of a
9:46
Speaker 3: few weeks ago and are actually performing quite well. So
9:48
Speaker 3: you know, you gotta wonder is that sustainable? Is what
9:51
Speaker 3: happens if they come back to Earth like all that
9:53
Speaker 3: is so, I mean, you know, in some ways they
9:55
Speaker 3: maybe are overperforming, but I think it's more about some
10:00
Speaker 3: of the issues that you talked about that I I
10:03
Speaker 3: kind of measure a manager on and and you know,
10:05
Speaker 3: does he have the authority over the players, the respect
10:07
Speaker 3: of the players. Does he have the you know, inate
10:09
Speaker 3: ability to to say like this is and that's just
10:12
Speaker 3: it's a skill, right, the ability to say this wasn't
10:14
Speaker 3: good enough, this well, this hustle wasn't good enough, this
10:17
Speaker 3: play isn't good enough right now to be able to
10:18
Speaker 3: call your own team out and say we need to
10:20
Speaker 3: do better. I mean, it just feels like he's it's
10:23
Speaker 3: everything is a long list of talking points and that
10:25
Speaker 3: and that press conference he played is no different. I
10:27
Speaker 3: mean it it feels like you can even tell the
10:29
Speaker 3: kind of the uncomfortability of what he's saying. It doesn't
10:32
Speaker 3: you know, one thing I'll give wash when he gave
10:34
Speaker 3: his opening press conference, which he never you know, it
10:36
Speaker 3: didn't follow through on obviously, but he was very charismatic.
10:39
Speaker 3: He's like, we're going to chase down the West right
10:41
Speaker 3: like that, you know, like at least there was something
10:45
Speaker 3: to it, you know, like, yeah, I don't feel like
10:48
Speaker 3: there's anything there that that that If you're a player,
10:50
Speaker 3: you're like, man, I'm gonna run through a wall for
10:52
Speaker 3: this guy.
10:52
Speaker 4: Now.
10:52
Speaker 3: It doesn't necessarily mean much. But I just I don't know, man,
10:56
Speaker 3: I just it's it's hard to quantify it. But you know,
10:59
Speaker 3: I know ramble to, but I just I think the
11:02
Speaker 3: managerial situation could be kind of an issue. But it's
11:05
Speaker 3: also you could say it doesn't ultimately really matter for
11:08
Speaker 3: where this.
11:08
Speaker 2: Club is at right now, which I think is also accurate.
11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's take a quick break for a word from
11:14
Speaker 1: our sponsors and we come back. We'll get some more
11:16
Speaker 1: thoughts from Mark and myself on the culture that Kurt
11:20
Speaker 1: is either trying to create or hasn't quite created.
11:26
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12:25
Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Mike d. Giovanna,
12:28
Speaker 1: Mark Trumbo and Samblum. Mark, where are you at with
12:31
Speaker 1: this team in terms of expectations? Above at below from
12:38
Speaker 1: a from a Big Pictures standpoint.
12:41
Speaker 6: I had one quick question for you. Did did you
12:43
Speaker 6: your daily Dingers pick?
12:44
Speaker 4: This this week was too.
12:47
Speaker 1: That I didn't quite predict the home run in the
12:52
Speaker 1: way it played out, But Joe Adell was sort of,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know, credited with a home run if he could.
13:00
Speaker 1: I just thought, you.
13:01
Speaker 4: Know, in the spirit one more right than I have,
13:04
Speaker 4: in the spirit.
13:04
Speaker 1: Of the World Cup coming to America here soon. It
13:07
Speaker 1: was a pretty pretty good header, so we'll just leave
13:10
Speaker 1: it that. No, I give it to Joe.
13:12
Speaker 6: He he apparently was at his locker and prepared to
13:15
Speaker 6: answer the questions, and and he was.
13:17
Speaker 3: I was there, he was, and yeah, yeah, I'm not
13:21
Speaker 3: I'm I'm not trying to The play was what it was,
13:23
Speaker 3: but it was totally the whole The.
13:27
Speaker 4: Whole game was rough.
13:28
Speaker 6: And that I would say that happens that that one
13:32
Speaker 6: in particular, not so much. Let's get back to uh this, uh,
13:36
Speaker 6: this topic. My thing with with the press conference and
13:41
Speaker 6: I I had one when I signed.
13:44
Speaker 1: With the Orioles.
13:44
Speaker 6: They they're awkward, uh and and honestly a little bit
13:49
Speaker 6: nerve wracking. It's just a it's a tougher thing. I
13:53
Speaker 6: was there for Ron Washington's the privilege sitting next to
13:57
Speaker 6: Bobby v. It was interesting some thoughts throughout. You know,
14:02
Speaker 6: if you know Bobby, he's a thoughtful guy. For Kurt,
14:07
Speaker 6: I think it's tough because you want to say things
14:09
Speaker 6: that are optimistic without criticizing maybe what came before you.
14:14
Speaker 6: And I think that he tried to hint at some
14:16
Speaker 6: things and maybe mid you know, stream of thought pulled back.
14:23
Speaker 6: I wish you would have said some things more concretely.
14:25
Speaker 6: I think that's what I've been looking for all year,
14:28
Speaker 6: is to be a little more definitive in what you
14:31
Speaker 6: are saying and what you're talking about. I think fans
14:35
Speaker 6: are not dumb. They'd like to know what you're getting at.
14:38
Speaker 6: I mean, he had a quote. I think this was
14:40
Speaker 6: my favorite thing he said all year. I was in
14:44
Speaker 6: the Jeff Fleisher article as usual. But we're moving the
14:47
Speaker 6: ball forward, battling with two strikes and using the big
14:49
Speaker 6: part of the field and not everybody is just trying
14:52
Speaker 6: to hook everything. I feel like we're using the whole
14:54
Speaker 6: field and not trying to hook the slider for a
14:56
Speaker 6: homer down the line. This was said following the big game.
15:00
Speaker 6: What was that Wednesday night?
15:01
Speaker 1: Wednesday night?
15:02
Speaker 6: And this was the first quote, and not trying to
15:06
Speaker 6: pick on him, but this was specific, and this to
15:09
Speaker 6: me said that he is tired of the way the
15:12
Speaker 6: offense has looked by and large this season, trying to
15:17
Speaker 6: hook everything down in the way, trying to hit everything
15:20
Speaker 6: in the air down in the way. It's not the
15:22
Speaker 6: type of hitter he was, and it's I think he's
15:25
Speaker 6: shown a lot of restraint, but I've seen some frustration.
15:28
Speaker 6: I wonder after the really bad loss, it was Tuesday
15:32
Speaker 6: night or so, maybe he had a few words for
15:34
Speaker 6: his team I think I could see a trash can
15:37
Speaker 6: kicked thrown flying.
15:39
Speaker 4: Doesn't have to be a long.
15:40
Speaker 6: Meeting, but something that was that was pitiful, and you
15:44
Speaker 6: have to at some point, something's got to give. I mean,
15:47
Speaker 6: he's a nice guy, but if his team's not getting
15:49
Speaker 6: it done, sloppy baseball, uh, it's it's it's tough on anyone.
15:54
Speaker 6: And this is a thing too. He's his managerial record.
15:57
Speaker 6: We don't know what it's going to be, but how
15:59
Speaker 6: are is job prospect moving forward? If he were you know,
16:02
Speaker 6: this is probably going to be a tough season for him.
16:04
Speaker 6: Is he doing enough to earn consideration you know down
16:08
Speaker 6: the line, maybe here, maybe elsewhere. You want to have
16:10
Speaker 6: a decent showing. It's not always possible with the roster construction,
16:14
Speaker 6: but there's other things you can do to prove your worth,
16:17
Speaker 6: and I think he could probably do a little bit
16:19
Speaker 6: better at times, at least in the communication part.
16:23
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think we talk about some of these things
16:25
Speaker 1: like culture and you know, team personality. It's very subjective,
16:31
Speaker 1: very much in the eye of the beholder. And I
16:34
Speaker 1: have nothing to really measure this by outside of my
16:37
Speaker 1: decades and decades of being around major league teams. But
16:41
Speaker 1: to me, he hasn't quite He doesn't quite have a
16:44
Speaker 1: command of the room, and that shows in a lot
16:46
Speaker 1: of ways. I think one of it's not coming down
16:48
Speaker 1: on some of the veterans who haven't hustled. I think
16:52
Speaker 1: maybe another is not being forceful enough in saying, hey,
16:57
Speaker 1: you know, we need to make a switch and left field.
16:59
Speaker 1: I think they stuck with Josh low way too long.
17:02
Speaker 1: Hey we need to make a switch at third basis.
17:04
Speaker 1: You know, Joan Moncatta, they give us a home run
17:08
Speaker 1: every now and then and some good at bats every
17:10
Speaker 1: now and then, but he cannot play defense. You know, hey,
17:13
Speaker 1: what are we doing with jorgees Solaire? Are we just
17:16
Speaker 1: going to accept him just swinging out of as you
17:18
Speaker 1: know what every time he's up there. And it's kind
17:22
Speaker 1: of interesting this last week or so when we talked
17:24
Speaker 1: about this supposed transformation of offense. But really it was
17:28
Speaker 1: forced upon them. You know, they had some injuries. Well
17:31
Speaker 1: they had to finally demote Josh Lowe. They had Moncata
17:34
Speaker 1: got hurt, so they bring up Donovan Walton, who none
17:37
Speaker 1: of us have ever heard of, to play third base.
17:39
Speaker 1: Wade Mecher, we have well speak for yourself, Sam I
17:43
Speaker 1: had not anyway. Wade Mechley we have heard of and
17:46
Speaker 1: they brought into both these guys are putting together really
17:49
Speaker 1: solid at bats. Is it going to last? Are they
17:51
Speaker 1: going to sustain it? I don't know, but the personality
17:55
Speaker 1: of this team has changed. With the grit and the
17:58
Speaker 1: on base ability that these guys in particular, when combined
18:01
Speaker 1: with Parraza and some of the continued success of Grissom
18:06
Speaker 1: and Mike Trout and that it's almost like this change
18:10
Speaker 1: is transformation, was forced upon them. And I don't know,
18:13
Speaker 1: maybe it saves Kurt's job eventually, but I'm half thinking
18:19
Speaker 1: at this point, when when zach Netto comes back, and
18:22
Speaker 1: we have every reason to believe he will against the
18:24
Speaker 1: Dodgers this weekend, I moved Wade Meckler to the leadoff spot.
18:27
Speaker 1: You know, if Zach Netto is going to hit a
18:29
Speaker 1: bunch of home runs and strike out, I think, what
18:31
Speaker 1: in top three in the league and strikeouts, that's not
18:34
Speaker 1: a leadoff hitter to me. I moved Meckler up there
18:36
Speaker 1: at this point.
18:38
Speaker 2: At least for now.
18:39
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, like listen, I mean, if they've looked
18:41
Speaker 3: good on offense, but they also the two of the
18:43
Speaker 3: last three pitchers they faced have of like he raised
18:45
Speaker 3: north of eight, so you know, who are also aren't
18:49
Speaker 3: big strikeout guys, So there's some correlation. I mean, obviously
18:52
Speaker 3: I thought they hit pretty well in Tampa Bay and
18:55
Speaker 3: those where he gets some pretty good pictures.
18:56
Speaker 2: But it's you know.
18:58
Speaker 3: I think I think a larger, say ample size is
19:00
Speaker 3: necessary on a Wade Meckler and on Adonova Walton and
19:05
Speaker 3: you know, Jose Siri, all these guys who are doing
19:07
Speaker 3: good jobs right now. But it's you know, I just
19:08
Speaker 3: don't think that this is a sustainable roster building method. Uh,
19:12
Speaker 3: you know, kind of claiming guys off the waiver wire
19:15
Speaker 3: or a you know, minor league free agents and hoping
19:18
Speaker 3: that they could sustain you over a six month season.
19:21
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's I think it's it's a it's a
19:23
Speaker 3: nice little transformation, but you know, you're right, it's not
19:26
Speaker 3: necessarily something that they they they planned or like we're
19:29
Speaker 3: going to start hitting the ball different, Like they have
19:31
Speaker 3: slightly different they have slightly different players in their lineup
19:34
Speaker 3: who are a less strikeout brown.
19:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
19:36
Speaker 6: Well, these these new players have performed great. It hasn't
19:39
Speaker 6: led to an excess of wins though, Yeah, they lost
19:43
Speaker 6: the series in Tampa, lost to the Colorado Rockies. And
19:46
Speaker 6: I think one point that I we have not been
19:48
Speaker 6: told that this team, this current team is in some
19:51
Speaker 6: sort of rebuilding process. So if that so that this
19:56
Speaker 6: must be measured on one and lost record, in my opinion,
20:00
Speaker 6: if you're going to dismiss Joe Madden in season, I
20:03
Speaker 6: don't know how you reasonably can cover and say that
20:07
Speaker 6: this is different unless you have to come out, be
20:10
Speaker 6: transparent and say the writings obviously on the wall. We're
20:13
Speaker 6: not spending a lot of money, So I don't know that.
20:16
Speaker 6: I think somebody, Jeff Passing or something today had indicated
20:21
Speaker 6: that you've got to tear it down, and I think
20:23
Speaker 6: a lot of people have. But if this team is
20:26
Speaker 6: not rebuilding, then it's judged on the standings and this
20:30
Speaker 6: team is last, and you know that's what it is. Yeah,
20:34
Speaker 6: Angels are twenty four and thirty nine. They're nine games
20:37
Speaker 6: back in the Ale West, already seven back in the
20:40
Speaker 6: Yale Wild Card. And you know, this may be the
20:43
Speaker 6: worst division in baseball, But I personally don't expect Seattle to.
20:47
Speaker 4: Some of these poor Kurts is eating up.
20:52
Speaker 2: I've been red hot.
20:53
Speaker 3: They haven't lost it like a weekend.
20:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you know you can't just look at it
20:57
Speaker 1: and like think, oh, the Angels are only nine games,
21:00
Speaker 1: because he could be fifteen game back games back in
21:03
Speaker 1: a hurry. We do want to talk a bit more
21:06
Speaker 1: about you know, Kurt's median future here, but first I
21:09
Speaker 1: want to go back to one other thing from the
21:11
Speaker 1: press conference over the winner, and this is from Jim
21:14
Speaker 1: Perry MNAs and it's a very short clip, but it's
21:17
Speaker 1: kind of enlightening.
21:18
Speaker 5: This is going to going to be a great relationship.
21:21
Speaker 5: I think he's going to create a great environment, and
21:24
Speaker 5: like I said, I believe this person's going to lead
21:26
Speaker 5: us to some places we haven't been in a while.
21:29
Speaker 1: Now. I don't think Perry meant the place he was
21:33
Speaker 1: going to bring the Angels for the first time in
21:35
Speaker 1: a while as one hundred lost season, But that, to
21:37
Speaker 1: me is what this team might be looking at. Is
21:40
Speaker 1: that just you know, Rosie rose colored glasses press conference?
21:46
Speaker 1: You know, we love this higher talk or did man,
21:49
Speaker 1: how did you look at this team and think you're
21:52
Speaker 1: going to take this team to places we haven't been
21:55
Speaker 1: in a while.
21:56
Speaker 3: I mean, I thought Perry didn't make predictions. But uh, yeah,
22:04
Speaker 3: I mean that you know, that was the same day
22:06
Speaker 3: you decided to go to war over the the HVAC thing.
22:10
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean I don't know what was going
22:13
Speaker 3: on that day.
22:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I'm kind of that a loss
22:17
Speaker 2: for this one. I mean, it's it's like, you're right,
22:20
Speaker 2: I mean.
22:22
Speaker 4: One of these sorry good, I mean, but you have
22:25
Speaker 4: two choices.
22:26
Speaker 6: You either say that that we are doing something different
22:30
Speaker 6: and Kurt's going to have a longer leash and it's
22:32
Speaker 6: a process, or you say that we're going for it despite.
22:37
Speaker 3: Their whole lower crossing their fingers and praying that it
22:40
Speaker 3: works out. That's all they do, right, Like this is
22:43
Speaker 3: any you're talking about a rebuild, Like they're not rebuilding.
22:45
Speaker 4: In order to have a rebuild, you need.
22:46
Speaker 3: To, i mean, do things that into like their actual
22:49
Speaker 3: rebuilding steps.
22:49
Speaker 2: They don't do any of that.
22:50
Speaker 3: They're they are really just like picking up guys off
22:53
Speaker 3: the waiver wire and praying that it works out. And
22:56
Speaker 3: for the last week and a half they're quite fortunate
22:57
Speaker 3: that it has. But I mean, this is just not
22:59
Speaker 3: a sustainable strategy for anything. And so for him to
23:01
Speaker 3: be like, yeah, we got we got a winning team here.
23:04
Speaker 3: It's like I wrote about this a month or so ago,
23:06
Speaker 3: Like they feel like they have the cachet to say
23:08
Speaker 3: things like that when you've lost, Yeah, they've got only
23:11
Speaker 3: the New York Jets have a longer playoff draft than that.
23:14
Speaker 3: I mean, this is where we're at, Like, this is
23:16
Speaker 3: a This is one of the biggest humiliations of a
23:18
Speaker 3: franchise right now in all of North American sports, and
23:21
Speaker 3: they act like they're just deserving of the benefit of
23:23
Speaker 3: the doubt on everything. I don't mean to get angry,
23:26
Speaker 3: but it's just it's it's like it's insult to our
23:28
Speaker 3: intelligence sometimes and you know, listen, it's look, well, I
23:32
Speaker 3: don't want to give burned Kurt. I mean, you know,
23:34
Speaker 3: he's a perfectly nice, accomplished human being who probably doesn't
23:38
Speaker 3: deserve to have to do this, but I mean it's
23:40
Speaker 3: it's a tough job. I don't think he's doing a
23:42
Speaker 3: great at it, but I don't I think the guy
23:43
Speaker 3: who were you know, we just heard from is probably
23:46
Speaker 3: you know, more at fault than Kurtz for sure.
23:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, full disclosure. The idea for this episode, kind of
23:53
Speaker 1: the genesis for it, was a short text exchanged us
23:58
Speaker 1: three had where I said, Man, I didn't think there
24:01
Speaker 1: was any way, no matter how bad the Angels played,
24:04
Speaker 1: that Kirk could get fired this year because you know
24:06
Speaker 1: he's so tired. He's basically tied to Perry's hip. You know,
24:10
Speaker 1: they're both on one year deals. But I'm beginning to
24:12
Speaker 1: rethink that, and I agree with Mark. I mean, I
24:16
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna fire Kurt. I think his leash,
24:19
Speaker 1: whether they come out publicly and say, you know, this
24:22
Speaker 1: team's not very good, we're gonna let Kurt finish the
24:25
Speaker 1: year or whatever, vote of confidence, but I think his leash,
24:29
Speaker 1: for some reason, is a lot longer than Joe Madden
24:32
Speaker 1: certainly had. And we know there was some personality clashes
24:35
Speaker 1: with Joe Madden and Perry, but you know this is
24:40
Speaker 1: they were both Perry's hand pick guys. And here we are.
24:44
Speaker 1: But you don't think I do you.
24:45
Speaker 4: Think Albert would have handled some of these things?
24:49
Speaker 1: Mike, Well, this gets back to the whole, you know,
24:52
Speaker 1: that whole process of hiring a manager. I don't think
24:56
Speaker 1: they were gonna financially. You know, Albert wanted to a
25:00
Speaker 1: lot more money. I think he wanted to name his
25:02
Speaker 1: coaching staff the angels wanted to, you know, put their
25:06
Speaker 1: own parameters on these things. They wanted a one year deal.
25:09
Speaker 1: Albert's not going to stand for that. I don't know
25:12
Speaker 1: how serious Tory Hunter was. You could lump him in
25:15
Speaker 1: there with Tory Hunter as well. My god, you think
25:18
Speaker 1: Tory Hunter would put up with some of the Shenanigans
25:20
Speaker 1: who've seen on the bases, some of the lack of
25:22
Speaker 1: hustle just in general. I mean, no way.
25:26
Speaker 6: So alert Albert never Albert hustle too. And they come
25:31
Speaker 6: from an era where you you got chewed if you
25:34
Speaker 6: didn't and you know, to say, who's not been hustling,
25:37
Speaker 6: Jorge yoan Moncatta. I think Netto could do a better job.
25:41
Speaker 6: I mean, we don't have to be you know, nameless.
25:43
Speaker 6: These guys to be able, and there's probably a couple others,
25:47
Speaker 6: but you get a guy, you know, it's starting to
25:48
Speaker 6: balance out. And credit to Mike Trout. He always runs hard. Yeah,
25:52
Speaker 6: like Trout always runs hard and it shows and you
25:54
Speaker 6: earn a lot of respect just by doing that. You
25:57
Speaker 6: could be lousy, but if you hustle and get after it,
26:00
Speaker 6: at least from your teammates, they will respect you.
26:03
Speaker 1: And would a Tory Hunter or Albert Kulhols. With the
26:06
Speaker 1: cachet they have and the gravitas they have, have put
26:10
Speaker 1: up with Josh Low hitting as poorly as he did
26:13
Speaker 1: for two whole months. Would they continue to put up
26:16
Speaker 1: with Logan o'hapi's performance in the batter's box or go
26:19
Speaker 1: to the general managers. We got to make some changes.
26:22
Speaker 1: We got to try to trade for somebody, We got
26:23
Speaker 1: to do something. I just think their personalities dictate that
26:27
Speaker 1: they would be a little more forceful in these situations
26:31
Speaker 1: than Kurtzuzuki. I agree with you big time. All right,
26:36
Speaker 1: let's talk general. A couple of bright spots for this team.
26:40
Speaker 1: We can't overlook, you know, Wilbert Urania, say Soriano until
26:46
Speaker 1: his last seven starts, reed Detmer's is pitching good still,
26:50
Speaker 1: Seth and Bachman have been solid out of the bullpen, Peraza,
26:54
Speaker 1: Grissom and now Meckler, but Man on the whole the
27:02
Speaker 1: pitching staff, and I was surprised. They're twenty eighth in
27:06
Speaker 1: era overall era with a four point eighty five. Their
27:09
Speaker 1: rotation is twenty six with a four to six eight.
27:12
Speaker 1: Their bullpen is twenty ninth with a five point one
27:15
Speaker 1: five era. So the bullpen's been a problem all year,
27:18
Speaker 1: the lack of depth. And this goes back to like,
27:22
Speaker 1: you know, the bullpen is where managers, whether they're in
27:25
Speaker 1: the first year or their fifteenth year, that's where they
27:28
Speaker 1: get measured. That's where you become a great game manager
27:31
Speaker 1: if you can manage a bullpen and some kind of success.
27:36
Speaker 1: But you know, has is Kurt just playing with a
27:41
Speaker 1: terrible hand. You know, Ben Joyce hasn't pitched all year.
27:46
Speaker 1: I'm still not sure what we're gonna get out of
27:47
Speaker 1: Kirby Ates, Jordan Romeno was gone by the end of April.
27:51
Speaker 1: Drew Pomeranz hasn't been very good, Ryan Zephyr John very inconsistent.
27:57
Speaker 1: I mean, there's like two arms down there you can
27:59
Speaker 1: even depend on. Can we can we ding Kurt's record
28:02
Speaker 1: because we all believe his some of his bullpen moves
28:04
Speaker 1: have been a little questionable. But how much is how
28:07
Speaker 1: much blame does he bear with some of that stuff.
28:12
Speaker 3: It's interesting because it's sometimes like they even it's not
28:15
Speaker 3: even just the decisions. Sometimes even feels like the communication
28:17
Speaker 3: and added. You know, I'm not, like I said, might
28:19
Speaker 3: add a lot of these games. I'm not always asking
28:21
Speaker 3: these questions. So you know, I don't want to be
28:22
Speaker 3: too judgmental, but like you you look at like certain
28:25
Speaker 3: games like the one where Netto walked off and they
28:28
Speaker 3: had they called in like Chase Silseith and to face
28:31
Speaker 3: Nick Kurt to actually induce a double play right before that,
28:34
Speaker 3: which set up Netto's walk off. But you know, it
28:37
Speaker 3: looks like Kurt walks out there and is like changing
28:39
Speaker 3: who he's gonna like it doesn't even know to call.
28:41
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure if sales. Seth got a ton of
28:43
Speaker 2: time to warm up. So there's things like that. The
28:45
Speaker 2: communication side of it.
28:46
Speaker 3: I'm not even certain how much of you know, how
28:49
Speaker 3: much of these decisions coming from Mike Maddox in terms
28:51
Speaker 3: of who's coming in and who's not, which is another issue.
28:54
Speaker 3: I mean, And then you know, you also look at
28:56
Speaker 3: like Mike Trout has had no off days this year?
28:59
Speaker 3: Is that is that a Curt decision? And if it isn't,
29:01
Speaker 3: is that an issue?
29:02
Speaker 1: Right? Like?
29:03
Speaker 2: Is that a Trout dictating it? Is that the front office?
29:06
Speaker 3: Because I mean, I mean, we talk so much about
29:07
Speaker 3: keeping Trout good for a whole season, and it's like,
29:10
Speaker 3: I know he's playing at an all start caliber level
29:12
Speaker 3: right now. But you know, you can't forget the five
29:14
Speaker 3: years of injuries. You know, you've got to sustain this
29:16
Speaker 3: guy a little bit. And I think you know, putting
29:19
Speaker 3: him on pace for one hundred and sixty one games
29:21
Speaker 3: played is not necessarily the smartest way to operate. And
29:24
Speaker 3: so I don't know how much authority Kurt has on
29:25
Speaker 3: all these decisions and whether it be the bullpen or
29:27
Speaker 3: who's in the lineup or And if he doesn't have
29:30
Speaker 3: that authority.
29:31
Speaker 2: Then what is what is even doing in that role?
29:33
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that should be the manager's job to
29:37
Speaker 3: discermine who's coming in from the bullpen. You take if
29:39
Speaker 3: you take input from all the people around you. But
29:40
Speaker 3: I don't know if if that's how this is working
29:43
Speaker 3: right now.
29:43
Speaker 1: Bark, do you think this team in general? Does a
29:47
Speaker 1: team reflect the personality of its manager.
29:51
Speaker 6: I think that it does, and it is one thing
29:59
Speaker 6: that we're trying to figure out. As far as with
30:04
Speaker 6: Kurt the input and stuff. I think Mike Maddox is
30:09
Speaker 6: probably making a lot of the decisions with the pitching,
30:12
Speaker 6: maybe all of them. And I wonder if Kurt some
30:17
Speaker 6: of the auto decisions he makes to sub guys out
30:19
Speaker 6: late in the game. Meckler, you know it's automatic, and
30:24
Speaker 6: I don't feel like, you know, a player myself, a
30:26
Speaker 6: guy that played as long as Kurt, don't it's just
30:29
Speaker 6: not it doesn't. It screams that it's coming from somewhere else,
30:32
Speaker 6: and I do believe that there's probably you know, the
30:36
Speaker 6: part of the press conference was Kurt saying how much
30:39
Speaker 6: he's learned in the last couple of years or three
30:41
Speaker 6: years from general manager Perry, and I wonder if there's
30:45
Speaker 6: maybe some collaboration going on with Perry, you know, having
30:49
Speaker 6: a decent say in this, if that's Kurt's mentor as
30:53
Speaker 6: far as managing. Normally, a mentor for a manager would
30:56
Speaker 6: be another manager, but it sounds like in this case
30:59
Speaker 6: it came from aneral manager. And you know, it's not
31:02
Speaker 6: necessarily a bad thing, but it's not something you know,
31:06
Speaker 6: I've heard before, And a lot of the decisions seem
31:09
Speaker 6: kind of automated, like, hey, if you're here, you're here,
31:13
Speaker 6: you're here. Take some of the guestwork out of it.
31:15
Speaker 6: But it also takes, you know, a tremendous amount of
31:18
Speaker 6: experience Kurt's acquired playing parts of nineteen years. I believe
31:22
Speaker 6: some of his comments about watching pictures and I know
31:25
Speaker 6: he knows what he's looking at when a pitcher's out
31:27
Speaker 6: there scuffling and stuff Soriano for example, recently, Kirk can
31:31
Speaker 6: reasonably come up with some ideas as to what he sees.
31:33
Speaker 6: I mean, he's caught tens of thousands, hundred thousand pitches.
31:37
Speaker 6: You've seen guys. You know what you're looking at. So
31:39
Speaker 6: I think you would elevate his own stock, which which
31:42
Speaker 6: is something he should be looking to do in my opinion,
31:45
Speaker 6: do what's best for the team and air quotes. But
31:48
Speaker 6: he's got his own career to look after. He's a
31:50
Speaker 6: young guy, He's got a lot to offer. I believe
31:52
Speaker 6: this may not be the ideal situation, but I think
31:55
Speaker 6: he should do start taking some input from ex managers
31:58
Speaker 6: maybe around the league, maybe a little different input, and
32:02
Speaker 6: you don't boost his own image and it starts, I
32:06
Speaker 6: think for me, with the way he handles the media,
32:08
Speaker 6: I think he could be more transparent. I know it's
32:11
Speaker 6: not the Angel way, but you know, what does he
32:13
Speaker 6: have to lose?
32:16
Speaker 1: One more back to you, Mark, what does effective leadership
32:20
Speaker 1: look like from a player's perspective? From your manager you're asking, Yeah, yeah,
32:27
Speaker 1: and you've played for a few.
32:29
Speaker 6: I think it's first and foremost knowing the manager. We're
32:33
Speaker 6: having an extremely high baseball IQ to the point where
32:37
Speaker 6: you don't question the decisions. I would never question the
32:41
Speaker 6: decision Mike Socia made. He knows more about baseball, has
32:44
Speaker 6: far more experience than I did than I do. And
32:49
Speaker 6: if he makes a decision, you just trust that that
32:52
Speaker 6: was the best decision. It might backfire, It will backfire
32:55
Speaker 6: throughout the course of a year. Another thing is they
32:58
Speaker 6: set the tone. I mean, the old Jim leal and
33:01
Speaker 6: clipped with Barry Vaughn. So I can't say it on
33:03
Speaker 6: our show, but yeah, well you can look it up
33:07
Speaker 6: if anyone wanted to see. But now it was a
33:09
Speaker 6: young Barry Vonds. But Jim Leland said, I'm the blank
33:11
Speaker 6: manager of this team.
33:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:13
Speaker 6: And when Jorge Shilaire he quickly recovered, I guess he's
33:17
Speaker 6: injured again. But he legged out a triple the other night,
33:19
Speaker 6: and we were told his growing was busted up, and
33:22
Speaker 6: yet he's leading off.
33:23
Speaker 4: But I've seen a terrible.
33:25
Speaker 1: Hustle out of Whoorge this year.
33:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, especially some of those at bats where he just
33:29
Speaker 6: you know, phones it in to end the game on
33:30
Speaker 6: the grounder a second or whatever. So Mike Sosha I
33:34
Speaker 6: remember him calling out Josh Hamilton, Josh Hamilton, who signed
33:37
Speaker 6: one hundred and twenty five million dollars deal MVP to
33:40
Speaker 6: his name, YadA, YadA. Sosia said, hey, get after it, man,
33:44
Speaker 6: a little more colorful, but I said, wow, you know
33:47
Speaker 6: this guy's a stone cold veteran on a huge contract,
33:49
Speaker 6: he said. Sosia just said, hey, get after it, buddy.
33:52
Speaker 6: You know this isn't it. You're not cutting it. Do
33:55
Speaker 6: your job.
33:57
Speaker 1: We'll close with the sort of a general opinion or comments. Sam,
34:02
Speaker 1: how is you know handling the media is a huge
34:05
Speaker 1: part of this job right now? These managers meet with
34:08
Speaker 1: the media before the game. They speak to the media
34:10
Speaker 1: after the game in terms of postgame clarity, handling tough questions,
34:16
Speaker 1: explaining his decisions. Where do we sort of grade curd
34:20
Speaker 1: at this point?
34:22
Speaker 3: I think it's poor, really poor, to be honest with you.
34:24
Speaker 3: It's just say, listen, I don't I don't know what
34:27
Speaker 3: goes on.
34:27
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Mark.
34:28
Speaker 3: Mentioned, you know, maybe the hope that somebody goes in
34:31
Speaker 3: and kicks a trash can, and you know, who knows
34:32
Speaker 3: was I can't. I'm not going to pretend to tell you.
34:35
Speaker 3: I know what's going on behind the scenes of you know,
34:39
Speaker 3: what the manager is doing and how he's communicating with players,
34:41
Speaker 3: but we're not there. But when he's communicating with the media,
34:44
Speaker 3: often find that it just there's like it's almost like
34:46
Speaker 3: what's the point of being there for it? Because it's
34:49
Speaker 3: it is rambling. It is like oftentimes like I don't
34:52
Speaker 3: even really understand what he's trying to say.
34:54
Speaker 2: It's all tough questions.
34:55
Speaker 3: I mean, I go back to asking him about if
34:57
Speaker 3: he feels like where this team's at right now, is
35:00
Speaker 3: you know, a cold stretch or a product of kind
35:02
Speaker 3: of where they're at as an organization, and you know,
35:04
Speaker 3: and just said cold stretch. We're just we're just we're
35:06
Speaker 3: just do a little bit. We're just a little bit off.
35:08
Speaker 3: And I'm like, what's the what's the value in these
35:11
Speaker 3: in these questions? If it I mean, just to put
35:13
Speaker 3: them on the spot, maybe because we're not getting anything
35:15
Speaker 3: on injury updates, you know, outside of or at least
35:18
Speaker 3: anything that seems to be very valuable, you know, I I.
35:24
Speaker 4: Don't know.
35:24
Speaker 3: It's the the other day he says, zach NATO's playing
35:28
Speaker 3: the next day, isn't playing right? Like, you know, the
35:30
Speaker 3: whole thing with Ben Joyce has kind of been weird.
35:32
Speaker 2: I don't even I mean.
35:33
Speaker 3: They've taken they took like a week to say that
35:35
Speaker 3: Kakuchi might be out for a month, and then there's
35:37
Speaker 3: been like nothing.
35:38
Speaker 2: Every time you ask about Kakuchi, it's just like, yh,
35:40
Speaker 2: we don't really know yet.
35:40
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's it's like, what is the real
35:42
Speaker 3: value of sitting in these scrums if you're not really
35:45
Speaker 3: if you're not gonna get like his general actual thoughts
35:48
Speaker 3: on the team or what's happening. Like I just feel
35:50
Speaker 3: like he's it's a defensive like press conference every time
35:54
Speaker 3: because he's just trying to get through it as opposed
35:55
Speaker 3: to actually providing information that gets to the fans that then,
35:59
Speaker 3: you know, can inform their perspective on what's happening here.
36:02
Speaker 3: But you know, he's the most senior person that talks regularly.
36:05
Speaker 3: I don't think Perry's done an interview at least as
36:07
Speaker 3: far as I'm aware since whatever we you know, we
36:09
Speaker 3: asked him about it, like I think it was in
36:11
Speaker 3: early May maybe, but you know, it's just been avoidance
36:13
Speaker 3: from the top and ultimately mostly avoidance from from Zook too,
36:18
Speaker 3: And so you know, you're just kind of left with
36:19
Speaker 3: not really getting information, and I just think it's it's
36:22
Speaker 3: not helpful.
36:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, might If I had any advice or Kurt, it
36:27
Speaker 1: would be to stop walking on eggshells, man, Stop worrying
36:29
Speaker 1: about offending somebody, some veteran maybe you play with, you know,
36:33
Speaker 1: come down hard on some of these guys, and you
36:35
Speaker 1: don't necessarily have to criticize individual players. But I think
36:39
Speaker 1: the quote, the postgame quote from last night that Mark
36:43
Speaker 1: was talking about, maybe that's a good start. You know,
36:46
Speaker 1: we can't just sit in the box trying to loop
36:48
Speaker 1: everything to the left field. I mean, there's still too many
36:51
Speaker 1: guys in that Angels line up with swings like that
36:54
Speaker 1: that are doing that very often, and it's putting a
36:57
Speaker 1: real drag in the offense. So don't be afraid to criticize,
37:01
Speaker 1: you know what everyone can see, you know, the plays
37:05
Speaker 1: Mark was also referring to. I think there were two
37:07
Speaker 1: straight games where Solar came up. So they came up
37:11
Speaker 1: with the last guy hit a hard ground ball and
37:14
Speaker 1: didn't even run hard out of the box.
37:16
Speaker 4: No, those were not hit hard.
37:17
Speaker 1: Those were well, they were hit firmly enough to where
37:20
Speaker 1: if a guy bobbled him, you know, maybe maybe if
37:23
Speaker 1: he's running hard, he makes it a play at first base.
37:26
Speaker 1: And then that weird play between first and second last week,
37:29
Speaker 1: you know that was that just didn't look good. You know,
37:32
Speaker 1: call it what it is. You know, don't be afraid
37:34
Speaker 1: to hurt some of these feelings, because my goodness, Mike
37:37
Speaker 1: Soosha did that for years and years and he commanded
37:40
Speaker 1: a presence, and I think he would be he would
37:42
Speaker 1: benefit from that. Last question, is the honeymoon period over
37:47
Speaker 1: for Kurt Suzuki? What do you think?
37:49
Speaker 4: Mark sam Oh awesome.
37:55
Speaker 2: I don't know what was Was there a honeymoon? I
37:57
Speaker 2: mean everything this team does.
38:00
Speaker 3: Who they hired to manager, you know, and no point
38:03
Speaker 3: was I like, man, yeah, like this is going to
38:05
Speaker 3: change things, right, Like this is going to fix it,
38:07
Speaker 3: Like I think when there's fundamental problems, like you know,
38:11
Speaker 3: any signing, and you know this is why, like when
38:14
Speaker 3: I cover the Angels, it's and you know, granted my
38:17
Speaker 3: job is different than some of the other people that
38:18
Speaker 3: cover the Angels, but like if you look at them
38:20
Speaker 3: on a day to day basis, you're like, all right,
38:21
Speaker 3: they're hitting the ball a little harder, or they're striking
38:23
Speaker 3: out a little bit less like, or you know whatever,
38:27
Speaker 3: you're pitching.
38:27
Speaker 2: The rotations a little bit, or the bullpens what worse,
38:30
Speaker 2: Who knows?
38:30
Speaker 3: It doesn't really matter, None of it matters until like
38:33
Speaker 3: it until you make it matter, right Like you have
38:35
Speaker 3: to look at the angels in a very macro sense
38:37
Speaker 3: in my opinion, So is the honeymoon period over?
38:40
Speaker 2: Did it ever really exist?
38:41
Speaker 1: I don't know.
38:41
Speaker 2: I think i'd probably say yes and no.
38:45
Speaker 6: Has the Young Corps impressed you, Mike, No, seriously have
38:48
Speaker 6: they impressed No?
38:51
Speaker 1: Not even close. I mean tea, yeah, I.
38:54
Speaker 2: Mean what they say it is what young core.
38:57
Speaker 1: Zach Netto has regressed, not tremendously, not like Logan o'happy.
39:02
Speaker 1: He's regressed. And I think his consistency of attitude there
39:06
Speaker 1: was some you know, we saw some pouting for lack
39:09
Speaker 1: of a better word, earlier in the year. And the
39:13
Speaker 1: strikeouts to me, are way too high, especially for a
39:16
Speaker 1: leadoff guy, and the defense has taken a step back.
39:20
Speaker 1: So you know, he's in a situation right now where
39:23
Speaker 1: he's you know, in the middle of arbitration. He's if
39:25
Speaker 1: he continued that trajectory that he started last year, which
39:30
Speaker 1: seemed to be towards stardom. You know, we talked about
39:32
Speaker 1: this kid as one of the top five young shortstops
39:34
Speaker 1: in baseball. He was in, you know, in line for
39:37
Speaker 1: a heck of a payday, whether he goes a free
39:39
Speaker 1: agency or gets that deal from the Angels. Now starting
39:42
Speaker 1: to wonder a little bit, Nolan Shan Well, perfectly fine,
39:46
Speaker 1: young man. I just think his ceiling is so low
39:50
Speaker 1: that I don't think you're gonna he's going to be
39:52
Speaker 1: a star. To me, he's a really nice, you know,
39:55
Speaker 1: number eight hitter on a on a good team. But
39:58
Speaker 1: we talked about him almost being offense. Seemed like a
40:00
Speaker 1: j T. Snow type, but you know j T was
40:03
Speaker 1: a gold Glove defender. No one is not.
40:05
Speaker 4: It's a banjo spot in the order.
40:09
Speaker 1: I'm telling you to me, the power is just not there.
40:13
Speaker 4: That's sorry. That's the third batter in the order, Mike eight.
40:16
Speaker 1: I know, well, no, Wade Meckler is the third batter
40:18
Speaker 1: in the order now, so this team's.
40:20
Speaker 6: On its lost to Wayde Meckler too, correct, what's that now?
40:25
Speaker 4: What was Wade Meckler d F eight at one point.
40:28
Speaker 1: I'm not sure he was. Oh wow, he was.
40:32
Speaker 3: He's definitely, he was, definitely.
40:34
Speaker 1: I know I did not remember that. And you know,
40:38
Speaker 1: if you're going to include Logan o'hapi in that young
40:40
Speaker 1: core man, we thought last year was a step back
40:44
Speaker 1: and he has not progressed at all this season. So
40:49
Speaker 1: the last word, we'll give it a Mark Trumbo because
40:52
Speaker 1: he talked about, you know, Kurt maybe should be fired.
40:57
Speaker 1: What do you think is the honey moon over for
40:59
Speaker 1: this guy?
41:01
Speaker 6: I don't think Hurt should be. I don't think he
41:04
Speaker 6: will be. I think that. So I mean it comes
41:07
Speaker 6: down to what I said earlier in my opinion, and
41:10
Speaker 6: that's all it is. This team is in a phase. Okay,
41:14
Speaker 6: you don't want to call it.
41:14
Speaker 1: The R word.
41:16
Speaker 4: What is it?
41:16
Speaker 1: Then?
41:16
Speaker 4: What's in?
41:17
Speaker 6: But what's one B? Because it's it's okay. Another popular
41:23
Speaker 6: thing that you hear a lot these days. I won't
41:25
Speaker 6: wax on about it, but is development at the big
41:27
Speaker 6: league level? I think gave Coutler's talked about it and
41:29
Speaker 6: you hear it a lot, and this team is looking
41:32
Speaker 6: to do this now, young players, oftentimes very young Sam
41:36
Speaker 6: Albegary the other day, he's a prospect.
41:38
Speaker 4: You brought him up, he did pitch well. See you later, buddy.
41:42
Speaker 4: So that's insane time.
41:44
Speaker 6: Oh, I know I haven't mentioned it. I know it's
41:46
Speaker 6: one of your favorite things.
41:47
Speaker 3: But no, but not even but like he pitches really well.
41:51
Speaker 3: Jack Ohnowitz isn't pitching Wellriguez isn't pitching well like those both,
41:55
Speaker 3: both those guys you could have sent out. I mean,
41:57
Speaker 3: reward the performance if you're gonna like, if you're trying
41:59
Speaker 3: to win. I don't I just don't understand it. Sorry,
42:01
Speaker 3: I don't mean to No.
42:04
Speaker 4: I figured you might take it. I threw it out
42:06
Speaker 4: there right. No, k Kirk should should finish this year out.
42:10
Speaker 6: I mean the one year deal is a tough thing too,
42:13
Speaker 6: Like how did you get a guy like Mike Maddox
42:15
Speaker 6: and John Gibbons and Brady Anderson and Johnny like the staff?
42:19
Speaker 6: I mean we reasonably, I mean on paper, that's a
42:22
Speaker 6: very good staff. I don't know how the camaraderie is.
42:24
Speaker 6: It's tough to lose. I'll say that you want to
42:27
Speaker 6: have a long summer, lose a lot of games. So
42:31
Speaker 6: what reasonably I think you know is the hope and
42:35
Speaker 6: Soreano's got to dial it back in. I'll say it.
42:38
Speaker 6: I was going to ask you, Mike, you know, if
42:39
Speaker 6: the Angels probably just going to have one representative in Philadelphia.
42:44
Speaker 6: I assume it's going to be the center fielder. But
42:46
Speaker 6: if they have two, there's two starting pitchers, it could
42:49
Speaker 6: be one's trending one way, one's not.
42:52
Speaker 4: So Wahlberg gets a few more starts. I don't know.
42:55
Speaker 6: You probably only get one representative, but both have had
42:59
Speaker 6: very nice season. Kahanowitz has got to get it going, Grayson,
43:03
Speaker 6: I will keep saying it.
43:04
Speaker 4: I think the stuff was big.
43:06
Speaker 6: It's got to put it together, got to got to
43:08
Speaker 6: get the outs, and you know, I think it would
43:12
Speaker 6: really help Kurt if the PR department and this goes
43:16
Speaker 6: not only for Kurt, Kurt's boss too, the owner will
43:19
Speaker 6: you know already will do what he's going to do.
43:21
Speaker 6: And it's not my place to say, but speaking to
43:24
Speaker 6: the media, they could improve, Kurt could improve. We do
43:28
Speaker 6: these shows. I listen back. I get upset sometimes hearing
43:32
Speaker 6: repetitive words, hearing filler these things. Kurt has a lot
43:35
Speaker 6: of it. People are catching on and I think that
43:39
Speaker 6: it just it sounds more polished. If you work on it,
43:41
Speaker 6: and I think he you know, he could do a
43:44
Speaker 6: little there.
43:44
Speaker 1: I go, I said it. I'll regret.
43:46
Speaker 4: You know, we're back.
43:47
Speaker 6: It's tough, but when you don't know what you're trying
43:49
Speaker 6: to say and you get caught doing these things, and
43:51
Speaker 6: I think you could improve in that area, and I
43:53
Speaker 6: think it would help.
43:54
Speaker 1: All Right, We're going to close the show with that.
43:56
Speaker 1: Thanks Sam Blum, Mark Trumbo. As always, thanks for tuning
44:01
Speaker 1: in for listening and watching. Please like the subscribe and
44:05
Speaker 1: we will see you next time on Halo Territory.