Latest / Foul Territory / Vinnie Pasquantino’s take on the Postseason and MLB’s 154-game proposal + Sonny Gray BACK for 2027

Transcript

Vinnie Pasquantino’s take on the Postseason and MLB’s 154-game proposal + Sonny Gray BACK for 2027 · Foul Territory

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Here he is. Vinny Pasquantino from the Royals joining us
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: right now.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: A little off-season talk.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: We'll talk playoffs too. How you been, man?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Pretty good. Just hanging out. Would rather be playing right
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: now instead of talking to you guys. No offense.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I agree.
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: We would rather not be talking to you and watching
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: you play. And then maybe talking to you on an
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: off day or something like that. But we know plenty
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: of career left. So I do want to get your
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: take here on what you're seeing overall. Like what's your
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: hottest take or most interesting observation so far in the postseason?
• 0:38
  Speaker 5: People really know how to foul balls off off of Mizorowski.
• 0:43
  Speaker 5: Like that seems to be the biggest thing, right? Is
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: you watch other guys that are ones. It's not that
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: they've had no issues with lineups, but he's just having
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: trouble with guys fouling off and I've never faced them.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: So I don't know what it looks like, but these
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: teams are doing a phenomenal job of just getting the
• 0:58
  Speaker 5: pitch count up. The problem with the Brewers is the
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: bullpen is about as good as anybody in the league.
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: So yeah, especially if you're left-handed. I mean, but if
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: you're right-handed, you got to deal with McGill or Rebay,
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: all these guys too.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: But I mean, Ashby is a nightmare.
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: So that's not a fun team to have to navigate
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: their pitching staff.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Vinny, this is right on topic, but it's completely random.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Can you practice fouling pitches off? Is that possible?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: No, because you're not, I mean, you're not trying to.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: You're trying to put it in play.
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: I think you're just, Making contact helps, like just being
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: able to fight pitches off, get to the next one,
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: and hope you put the next one in play. I
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: know when I get into those long battles and I'm
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: fouling pitches off, I'm mostly just getting super mad because
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: I know I'm in swing mode now, and I'm just
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: hoping he's around the plate so I can foul another
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: pitch off.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so you're swinging. You're swinging. You got that Latino
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: approach where you're swinging at everything. You got it. I
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: get it. But that's why you have 100 RBIs. You
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: have that 100 RBIs every year. You can't drive them
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: in if you don't swing. My question to you is
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: when you're facing a dude like Miz, and I know
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: you haven't faced him, and you know what's down in
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: that bullpen, are you still going, let's get him out
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: of the game? Like, let's drive up his pitch count? Like,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: is that still the approach as a team? Because the
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: whole day today we've talked about team approach.
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it just– you take your chances with
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: bringing more guys into the game that somebody's going to
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: be off. So I think you more so rely on
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: bullpen guys to be off than you do starters to
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: be off. So I think you just want more guys
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: in the game because now you're taking a chance that
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: somebody can't find the zone and they still got to
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: face three hitters. Maybe you load the bases real quick
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: and then somebody else has to clean up that guy's mess.
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: I mean, you kind of saw it in the White
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: Sox-Guardian series when guys would open.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Like if you don't have it that day, it's not
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: your fault. It's just you don't have it.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: So then you either got to go to another lefty
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: or you got to go to somebody you're not prepared
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: to go to in that moment. And yeah, I think
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: you're always going to, a guy like Mizorowski, you're worried
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: about getting him out of the game.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: More than you are doing damage off of him.
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: Penny, do you guys have meetings and talk about this?
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: Because I remember we used to have meetings and say,
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: all right, we want to get the starter out of
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: the game. Bullpens were different back then.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: But hey, we really need to, take the first pitch
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: until we get a strike? Or do you guys still
• 3:17
  Speaker 6: have meetings about stuff like that? When we talk about
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: a team approach, the team approach is, hey, we're going
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: to look for this pitch or we're going to, everyone
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: has to buy in.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Do you guys still have meetings like that?
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we have meetings every day on guys and it
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: kind of goes in between a little bit. There's really
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: not a whole lot of guys that you're saying take
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: the first one. The only way, like that would be
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: an in-game adjustment of, He doesn't have it today. We're
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: going to make him work. Now, there are certain guys
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: that it's like, all right, he throws like a reliever,
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: and typically when we say that in our meetings, it's
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: he will fall behind in counts. Typically, it means I
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: want to get ahead 0-2 with my nastiest stuff, and
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: then I want to try to punch your ticket, so
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: you're going to have some opportunities to go 0-2 to
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: 3-2 just because how teams pitch, and they're trying to
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: get swing and miss late. They're trying to get ahead early,
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: things like that. I did think it was funny on
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: the broadcast last night, though.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: This is a side note.
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: They said that Mizorowski has no need for the advanced
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: analytics when they're talking about the Brewers, one of the
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: more advanced teams when it comes to that.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: But, yes, we have those meetings every day when we
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: talk about those things.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: All right, well, take us into that meeting, preparing for
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: the American League Championship Series. Rays versus the Guardians. I mean, obviously,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the Guardians are freaking in your division. So take us
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: into that meeting. for both teams getting ready for Rasmussen
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: and getting ready for Foster Griffin.
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: So I've never faced Foster. He threw against us once.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: He threw against us twice this year. One, I was
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: hurt for one, one, I, I wasn't benched. I was
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: working on stuff. But the off of Foster, you want
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: to get them. I mean, from a left-hander's perspective, you
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: really got to force them into the zone because of
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: stuff has so much movement.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, the sweeper, he's got a big angle.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: So he is, everything's going to start behind you and
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: you really got like, he's a, he'll hit you. Um,
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: so there, there'll be some, maybe some hit by pitches
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: tonight just cause he's working that angle. And then, um,
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: I'd imagine he's got three or four in them depending
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: on what the guardians are trying to do. I, I'm
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: guessing Messick starting tomorrow.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Is that right? Is Messick going game two or have
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: they even announced? Um, yeah.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: So I would assume they'll, they might have a quick
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: trigger with Foster tonight, but, um, tamper will be ready
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: for that and then off of rasmussen it's just.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: He's one of the best hey talk.
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: About an underrated arm i don't know if he's underrated
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: anymore but he's one of the best best in the
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: league um you got to get him early he's going
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: to be in the strike zone early um you got
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: to try to take advantage because when you get down
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: oh two one two to that guy i mean it
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: becomes a nightmare with how many different pitches he's got
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: he'll front hit the two seam he'll throw a cutter
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: in on your hands he'll backdoor the cutter he'll throw
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: it yeah it's just he's really good and you got
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: to try to Try to get something done early with
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: them or else it's going to be a long night.
• 6:09
  Speaker 6: Vinny, you faced, obviously, the Guardians pitching a ton. You've
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: been in their division your whole career. How good is
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: the bullpen? How good is Gaddis? How good is Zabrowski?
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: How good is Heron? How good is Cade Smith? Because
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: these guys against the White Sox were just monsters basically
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: the whole last two months of the season. How good
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: are these guys, and how do you go up with
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: an approach against Cade Smith that's 100 high fastball, split
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: behind it, right? Gattis with the changeup, Zabrowski with the
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: big sweeping slider, also with 97 that'll sink under your hands.
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: What's your approach against these guys?
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so it's not the most fun when you get
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: to their bullpen. I mean, starting with Smith, the one
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: thing that's sneaky about him too, along with the extension
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: and just how big he is, is he's really quick
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: to the plate. So now you have less time to
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: make a decision because he's just basically in your face
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: with everything. And he's got two pitches that he throws.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: I what does he mix in a slider or a
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: sweeper against righties too? I'm probably, but I know it's
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: mostly fastball split, but he's in the zone with both
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: of them. And it's just really uncomfortable because of how
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: big he is and how quick he is to the plate.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: You got Gattis who another massive individual who throws a
• 7:20
  Speaker 5: change up like 78, 80, but then can run the
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: heater up to 97, 98 with the slider kind of
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: more of a slutter type pitch in between. And he
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: can throw all of them for strikes. So he's, I mean,
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: Nightmare to face. Sobrowski's got one of the best fastballs
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: in the league in terms of his vertical, like, the
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: vertical movement. He can spin it up to, you know, 23,
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: 24 inches of vert. And being in Tampa this series,
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: you might see some 25, 26 inches of vert there.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: Another big, big human. So it's just, they got a
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: lot of big guys out there. I mean, Sobrowski, Heron
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: is huge. Gattis, Smith, I mean, these are all just
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: big dudes, know where the ball's going, like, make it
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: uncomfortable for you. So, I mean, if you're losing going
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: in to face those guys, it's not the easiest to
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: try to put some runs on those guys.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Hey, everybody.
• 8:14
  Speaker 6: It's the best time of the year for sports right now.
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: You got the NFL. You got the NBA about to start.
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: You got college football. You got hockey going on here.
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: And the best part of all, you got the MLB playoffs. So,
• 8:26
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• 8:29
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• 8:32
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• 8:36
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• 8:38
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• 8:41
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• 8:43
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• 8:45
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• 8:49
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• 8:53
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• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Gracias, SeatGeek.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Wait, is it better that they know where the ball
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: is going? Or would it be a little bit better
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: if like these big guys that you're clearly intimidated by,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: I can tell by your face, I can see it
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: in your eyes, that maybe they'd run one up there.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Because you talk about Foster Griffin. Foster Griffin throws like 92.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Hits you at 92, you'll be like, but if they
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: threw at you a little bit more, would that be
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: more scarier?
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: The only one that I'm worried about throwing at me
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: is Cebrowski. He's the only one that I think might
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: let one go on purpose at me. But the other guys, no,
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: they're trying to punch your ticket and not walk you.
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: And they're really good at it. These guys take a
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: lot of pride in being able to get ahead early and.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Striking you out late.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: So, I know I've said that a ton on this
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: show already, but it's what these teams do. How can
• 9:57
  Speaker 5: I get the strike to the quickest and how can
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: I make you swing and miss on the last one?
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: I think it's sneaky it's not sneaky but having Patrick
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: Bailey and Austin Hedges behind the plate is a.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Massive advantage for for the Guardians I mean.
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: Those two know how to call a game they're some
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: of the best framers in the sport it just it
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: makes your life uncomfortable at the plate because it feels
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: like they're a step ahead of you all the time
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: with what they're calling and Like I joke with Patrick
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: Bailey about it. He just started ripping out two seams
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: the last time we faced the Guardians. And it was like, wait,
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: these guys, I haven't seen these two seams ever. And
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: now you're just randomly bringing them out. He's like, yeah,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: we got to do something. So they're just really smart
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: back there. You know, the Guardians clearly do things really well.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: And those guys know what they're doing behind the plate,
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: led by hedges of just making sure that they're prepared
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: all the time.
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: Vinny, have you ever seen anything like what happened to
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: the White Sox? Have you ever seen a team strike
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: out that much? I mean, listen, I know Gavin Williams,
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: the big rig is great, but 21 punch outs in
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: a game that you see winner go home. I mean,
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: 19 the game before, like they had 50, I forget, 50, whatever,
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: 50 plus strikeouts in the last three games, all losses.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Have you ever seen a team not be able to
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: make the adjustment, I guess would be the right way
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: to put it?
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was a tough way to go
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: out for those guys. Obviously, they're not happy, but that
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: was kind of their game. Not to that extreme, but
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: their game was, we're going to slug, we're going to
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: strike out, we're going to walk and see what happens.
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: You get into these tough playoff series when you're facing
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: the best arms every single night, and that becomes even
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: harder to do.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I think the momentum shifted after.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: Game 3 when Cleveland finally got a win on the
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: board because Then I almost think that the White Sox
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: wish they didn't.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Play a game at home.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: I don't have any information on that at all, but
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: it turned into, we're the underdogs. We're not supposed to
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: be here. We're really young.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: We took two on the road.
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: And then it was like, oh my God, they're going
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: to clinch at home for the first time in a
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: hundred years or whatever it was.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden you're the favorite. You're
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: supposed to win. You're supposed to do this.
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: And that's kind of when things, it felt like at
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: least to me flipped watching a series of, oh, now
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: it's flipped. And they're, you know, they're supposed to win.
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: And it looked like, Not in a bad way. Then
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: it turned the Guardians into the underdog, and that's when
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: they're at their most dangerous. Jose Ramirez hits a ball
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: off the ground for a homer and just kind of
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: felt like that was probably the dagger on the series.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: The Guardians move on from the AL Central. Did you
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: feel like watching them for the majority of the year
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: that they were the best team in the AL Central,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: or do you kind of look at it and go,
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: like the Central was out there to be had this year?
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think, have your opinions on the Central.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: I know people across the United States had their opinion
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: on the Central, but I do think it was a
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: competitive division this year. I mean, obviously at the top
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: it was really competitive, but every time we play any
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: of those teams, it's always tight, no matter who it is.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago, like it's always tight games.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: And I think Cleveland always kind of has the edge
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: just because they've been doing it for the longest here recently.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Just the past few years, it just feels like This
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: is what they do. They find a way to win games.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: They find a way to win the division. And it's just,
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: they just, they are the team that seems to be
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: able to find a way to, to win. And that's
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: what everybody's searching for in that division is we're trying
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: to find ways to win, not, not the other way. And,
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: you know, they're kind of the model for that right
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: now that everybody's trying to follow of just how can
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: you scrape a victory today? And it sucks being on
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: the other end of it, but you appreciate watching it
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: of just, wow, they're really good at what they do.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You look at their hitting numbers and, they don't blow
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you away with anything.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: I think they have the lowest payroll in the game
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: and they just, they, they find a way to win and,
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: you know, credit to them for it. And we're trying
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: to find a way to stop that from happening. Oh, Vinny.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: Let's get to some besides the central. Cause I'm a
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: central guy. I love the central. I spent most of
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: my career in the central. So I just, I love
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: the central, especially the AL central 154 game season. Are
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: you okay with that? And I'm fine with like, I
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: don't know. I'm a 162 game guy, but, The interesting
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: part of this is pick your opponent, right? So let's
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: say you guys made the playoffs and the Rays were like,
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: we want to play the Royals. And you know you'd
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: go into the team and be like, these sons of
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: guns wanted to play us? Let's kick their ass and
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: show them that they made a mistake, right? So that
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: to me, the 154 games, whatever. I don't like the,
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: you know, every team gets a day off a week
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: and whatever. I'm not a fan of that because there'll
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: be days where there's no baseball games.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: It's the only sport going.
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: But the more interesting part of this was, hey, We
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: get to pick who we play, and if we pick wrong,
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: we could be screwed.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, the most interesting part to me about all that
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: was that was tweeted out during a meeting. So that
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: was interesting to see that go public while it was
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: being talked about.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: But, yeah, I mean, not to sound like that guy,
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: but 154 games, does my pay stay the same?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Like, I'd like to know how that works.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: All of this is contingent on us accepting things from them, though,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: by the way. That wasn't in the announcement that they made,
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: but this is a give and take that they didn't
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: exactly say publicly what we have to allow into the game.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: I do like it in terms of the playoff games.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: I think that choosing opponents is dumb.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: In my personal opinion, I don't know why it doesn't.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: Just go by like recede based off of record, but
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: then I guess you're getting divisions mixed up in there.
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: because you can go under. 500, win your division, get
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: home games and everything. I do like that there wouldn't
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: be as many 3 o'clock games, just in terms of
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: a hitter. You see some of these games and you know,
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: watching them, guys can't see at all. And it's always
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: the central games, which I get for TV ratings, but
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: I would prefer if they were either early games or
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: late games, because then guys can actually see when they're
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: at the plate.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: You talk about the meeting that the... the proposal was
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: leaked out during the meeting. That's interesting. Can you tell
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: us anything else about those meetings, how they're going? Obviously
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: you can't divulge everything that's being said, but how they're going,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: are they contentious? Are they boring? Are they, Hey, it
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: feels like we're making progress because when a fan reads
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: an article about how owners need to make sure, Hey,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: you're not allowed to send holiday cards after December 2nd. It's,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: you know, you're not allowed to do this. It feels
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: like they're like, well, weird. negotiating, but we're really not.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: It seems to be, it's lawyers talking to lawyers, right?
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: I'm an optimist, so I'm probably the worst person to ask.
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: I don't know what I'm allowed to say, what I'm
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: not allowed to say, but we're fighting the way that
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: we believe that we need to. We're trying to get
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: a fair deal for for us, for the fans, for everybody.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: And it's just, it's one of those things you got
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: to go through some suck to get to the result
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: that you want. Um, and for some reason, it seems
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: like fans tend to lean on the side.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Of the owners.
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: Um, just, and I get it cause we're more public facing.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: You see us every day, we're playing a game, things
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: like that. Um, the thing that frustrates me the most,
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: I guess about it is people calling it a strike publicly.
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: Cause it's clearly not a strike. Um, but yeah, Yeah,
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: it's tough. It's one of those things that obviously I
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: think all of us wish we didn't have to deal with,
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: but it's an important part of the job of making
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: sure that the guys that are coming next are taken
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: care of, that we're not necessarily looking out for ourselves today.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: We're looking for the guys down the road. And when
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: you get the money involved and some of the money
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: is public, I get that the perception is going to
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: be negative towards the players, but we're fighting for what
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: we believe in and we're a really united group when
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: it comes to that.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: It's good to hear. Now, when you see three of
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: four teams in the playoffs, do you feel like, because
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I've heard it swung in both directions, like low payrolls,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: three or four are low payrolls, but the Dodgers are
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: still in. So as players, do you feel like this
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: is a positive toward, you know what? People can win.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: There's no need for a cap. Teams can win.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think we've always believed that.
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: And I guess that there will be numbers about higher
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: like i hate facing the brewers they're really good the
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: same way i first off they're all major league teams
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: so i hate facing them all because they're all really
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: good but like the brewers are in a really good
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: spot right now like the dodgers are in a really
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: good spot the rays good spot guardians i don't know
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: it just it feels like it's one of those things
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: that nobody's ever going to be happy with but yeah
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: there are three teams that don't have high payrolls that
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: are still alive right now um And it's just people
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: want Yankees Dodgers or people don't want Yankees Dodgers until
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: it's not Yankees Dodgers. That's how I've always kind of
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: looked at it is like, oh, no, it's these two
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: teams facing each other. And then when we don't get it, it's, oh, man, no,
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: there's going to be no ratings for these games.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: So I don't know what people want.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: I'm just excited to watch good baseball. And these are
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: some of the best of the best of the teams left.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: And it's fun to watch. And I just like baseball.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: So anytime it's good teams playing each other, I'm for it.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: Vinny, don't apologize for being an optimist because in this
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: game you can always find the negative in something, so
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: I love that. My last question for you is what
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: are you doing in the offseason? Because one of your teammates,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I got to hang out with him for like 30
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: minutes in hot Jupiter. Michael Massey was out there coaching
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: the youth of America at the Jupiter tournament, sweating, for
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: some reason wearing pants, so I'm not sure what that
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: was about, but are you doing the same in the
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: community as Michael Massey's doing?
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: No, uh, I am not.
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: I I've got one trip planned and that's about it.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: So I'm going to go up to Columbus, Ohio. I'm
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: going to go to a hockey game in a few weeks,
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: and then I'm going to go see the jets play
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: the dolphins. And then I'm in for the off season
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: to get ready for next year. So That's all I
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: really got this year. Once I get back from that,
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: I'm home for the offseason, and we're going to take
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: it easy the rest of the time. Matthew just loves
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: the game. He's out there all the time.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: He's a grinder. He's a grinder. He's a grinder. And
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: I hope your dad is getting his arm ready because
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: we are all for the videos of senior versus junior.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: He's getting it ready. I just got the baseballs today,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: so I'm going to hand them over to him at some.
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Point so he can get ready. because I get him
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: major league balls for his high school team, so he
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: can feel good about himself showing the kids those baseballs.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: So he's got four years' worth now, so I hope
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: that's enough, but it probably won't be.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Never have enough. Never. I coach high school baseball, and
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: I need everybody. I need Davi to send me some.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: I need Shoger from Milwaukee to send me some. You
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: never have enough baseball, so keep getting them for him.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. I will. As long as he wants them,
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I'll give them to him.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just bring the content. We love it. We
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: love it. Thanks for stopping by, dude. Good catching up.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: We'll catch you later in the winter, all right?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, appreciate it, guys.
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: Hey, at FK and the Foul Territory Network, we have
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: so many shows, so many schedules, so many hosts.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: It is really hard to stay organized. That's why there's
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: Housecall Pro.
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: If you work in the HVAC, if you work in plumbing,
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• 21:35
  Speaker 3: It's all right there in Housecall Pro.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, AJ, you can have a plumbing business, electrical, HVAC.
• 21:41
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• 21:49
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• 22:14
  Speaker 4: After you sign up, they'll ask you where you heard
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: about them. Please support our show and let them know
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: we sent you. All right, there's so much back and
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: forth going on with the teams that are remaining and
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: how analytical there are, like J.J.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: Cooper.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Our guy from baseball America said when a baseball team
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: is accused of being too analytical in 26, what does
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: that mean? If you want to argue a team is
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: analyzing info and acting on something incorrectly, that's a potentially
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: salient point, but you have to analyze the info to
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: make that point. You know, there's so much back and
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: forth to save time and actually get a thought in
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: here for two minutes. AJ, I have some thoughts. Number one,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: almost every team is using a ton of analytics. It's
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: just that some of the teams we're talking about that
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: are remaining here are doing it right. They're also zigging
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: when other teams are zagging, right? There is, contact with
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: these teams. There are great pitching development programs.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: There are starting pitchers. There are everyday players.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Like look at the Dodgers 10 years ago where they
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: were platooning like the Yankees do in the playoffs and
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: it didn't work. And then they switched up their approach
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: there with how they were building a roster. So that's
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: my take when we're saying like, see analytics works because
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: the teams that are in are using it.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Every team's using it. Just a lot of the teams
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: are using it dumbly.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: I love the quote at the bottom. It's when teams
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: lose that they say there's too much. They're all using it.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: They're all, I don't know. They're all doing the same stuff.
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: They all have the same information. Some have a little
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: bit of, you know, different ways they use it. And
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: then we go from there. Yeah, it's a way of communicating.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Crouch, you know this.
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: It's the way the coach is communicated to the players,
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: the way the manager communicates it with the front office,
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: to the manager, to the coaches, to the players. It's
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: all the same info. I mean, there might be a
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: little bit of him and he hon here and there,
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: but it's so small. It comes down to players. Can
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: you get the players to do what they're supposed to do?
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: And teams have switched the narrative from a three true outcomes.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: You look at three of the teams that are left. Yes,
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: they hit a lot of home runs, okay? But the Brewers,
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: the Guardians, and the Rays, they put the ball in play.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: And you can even throw the Dodgers in there. They
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: put the ball in play. They have guys that can hit,
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: not just hit home runs. They do a really good
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: job pitching. You know what's won since the beginning of time?
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: Really good pitching and dudes that can hit.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: What else can you say? That's baseball in a nutshell.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: But the teams that are able, what AJ said, the
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: teams that are able to facilitate that to each player,
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: it's going to be different for each player. I can't
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: hear the same thing that someone else hears it the
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: exact same way. It might be the same message, but
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: they have to be willing to. to meet the player
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: where they are, not say, you meet us where we
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: are because this is why we do this, because of analytics.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: That's where the analytics, it's a long discussion. It's not
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: just a X and Y discussion.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Sonny Gray has decided to keep pitching in 2027. He said,
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: my family and I have talked about it. Easy decision,
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: still want to win a World Series, whether that's with
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Boston or with whoever wants me. Also news out of
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Red Sox, the Red Sox org. Garrett Whitlock was quite hurt.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: He was pitching on a fractured right tibia that was
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: not properly diagnosed until after the Sox were eliminated. And
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: Whitlock's in a boot for four to six weeks. Surgery
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: not required on track to have a normal offseason. Expects
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: to be ready for spring. Some people were trying to
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: criticize the training staff, but apparently, I don't know, if
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: he was disclosing much and he was just like, I'm
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: going to get through it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: So the dude was pitching.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Let him pitch.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Back to Sonny Gray.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: That seems like a big one to miss.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess so.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: Hey, my right shin is hurting, guys. Oh, let's just, oh,
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: you can pitch through it. Let's not do an x-ray
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: or anything.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he disclosed that reason and would
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: let them. You guys know this. I mean, you could
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: just be like, I'm fine, right? You don't always have
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to do what the team says.
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah, but I'm sure he was going in getting treatment
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: on it.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Right, Kratz? I don't think he was just probably not
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: doing anything.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: I think there was a quote, Kratz, that he said
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: he was going to pitch no matter what. I admittedly
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: didn't do as much homework on this. I'm focused on
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: the playoffs. But I think there's more to this story.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: That's a blessing in disguise that they didn't go longer.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: Because if you've got to pitch on a compromised leg,
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: left leg or right leg, that's when you can start
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: getting shoulder and elbow stuff. So it's a blessing in
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: disguise that he's able to get it healed up and
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: nothing with his arm.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: Here's a quote to Kevin Acey about Mason Miller's season.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: He said, I think that throughout this year, there were
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: times that I may have gotten a little too complacent
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: in success. AJ, ever have one of those situations where
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: a superstar is like, oh, I think I did this
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: wrong or whatever.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: And you're like, no, you didn't. You're the best reliever
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: in baseball.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: One, six, 70.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: All right. I know you had one bad moment against Trio.
• 26:59
  Speaker 6: He had one bad moment the whole season. Other than that,
• 27:01
  Speaker 6: he completely dominated everyone. So I don't know what completely.
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: The only thing he got complacent about is he walked
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: all those guys in that one game. He walked three
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: guys in that one game. Other than that, he was great.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: This is one of those where he's just trying to
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: take accountability, and I appreciate the fact that he's trying
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: to take accountability.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: I really do.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: But what else?
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: I mean, they used the bleep out of him all year. So,
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: I mean, he did everything he could, but him and
• 27:26
  Speaker 6: Maura Hone got used and used again.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: 70 innings.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: 66 innings.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: 66 appearances for a closer. That's a lot. That means
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: you're being used. That's why closers usually stay healthy because
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: they're rarely used like that. And you have a manager
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: who's a bullpen guy. Look, getting complacent and having a
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: good year, that might be okay. You don't have to
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Push yourself to the limit all the time. And maybe
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: he sees that as, because if you look at his journey,
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: he pushed it hard to get to where he is.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: Went through health stuff, was a Division III pitcher. Then
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: he gets drafted and went through some injuries. All that stuff, like,
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: it's okay. Maybe he's found his groove. I'll take a
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: complacent year where he has these numbers for about 10 years.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.