Latest / Foul Territory / Jim Bowden’s Front Office Unfiltered: HOT SEAT Managers/GM’s, Ohtani’s injury, Brewers/Rays title quest

Transcript

Jim Bowden’s Front Office Unfiltered: HOT SEAT Managers/GM’s, Ohtani’s injury, Brewers/Rays title quest · Foul Territory

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: All right, here we go.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Jim Bowden, host of GM Territory, along with so many
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: other roles on the Athletic, CBS Sports Network, and SiriusXM.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Welcome, Jim.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I don't know, did USC play
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: this weekend before we dig in?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: They did.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Did they have anybody there? Did they have anybody at
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: the game? Because that one week they did.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Attendance was 60,000. Okay. Yeah, much better this week than
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: the week before, yes.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, good job. Good job to you and your your family,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: for buying all 60,000 seats, Jim. That was nice of
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: you to give your family and friends free tickets. That
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: was very nice of you.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Someone had to do it. Someone had to do it.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Well, speaking of L.A., Otani went on the I.L. with bicep, knee, ankle, back.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was like operation. Which one are we
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: going to choose to put him on the I.L.? Did
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers handle this properly? Did they wait too long
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: to put him on the I.L.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely think they waited too long, AJ and Eric.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: You know, I think I had said on my radio
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: show three weeks ago that I probably would have put
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: him on the IL and let him heal with the
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: idea of trying to get him back in mid-September. So
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: the last 10 days to two weeks of the season,
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: he could be ramping up and getting ready for the
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: playoffs and World Series, which is, you know, normally what
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: you would think the Dodgers would do. But I do
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: want to point out kind of the difficulties it is
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: when you make a decision or you don't make a
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: decision like this. Because I know in L.A., in particular,
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: a lot of people are pointing the fingers and they
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: want to play the blame game and they want to
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: blame this person or that person. You know, I think
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: sitting in that GM seat for 16 and a half years,
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: you know, I had a lot of situations like this.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: And the hard part in that job is that you
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: go to the trainer and the trainer gives you the
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: information on the player. And then the doctor gives you
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: the information and then your weight guy does and your
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: PT guy does. And then you talk to the player
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: and the player says he's fine and he wants to play.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: And you talk to the manager who wants him in
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: the lineup. And all of the information you're getting in
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: that front office seat is that you don't need to
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: put him on the injured list. The doctor's not recommending it.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: The trainer's not recommending it. The manager thinks he can
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: play through it. The player says he's fine to play
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: through it. But sometimes you got to sit there and
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: go against everybody.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: And you got to use your eyeballs. And you got
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: to kind of look.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: You know, I know the hard part is when you
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: get a Hall of Famer, future Hall of Famer like
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Shohei Ohtani with that talent, and he wants to play.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: And he fights you and says, there's no reason I
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: need to go on the IL. You know, it's difficult
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: in that shoe to tell him where you're going anyway.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: It's difficult to tell the doctor, well, we need to
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: put them on that injured list anyway. So you're kind
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: of battling everybody. But I think at the end of
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: the day, the one thing we've complimented or the many
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: things we've complimented the Dodgers on over the last two
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: or three years. has been their ability to get their
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: players ready for October, right? They've done it with Blake Snell.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: They've done it with Tyler Glassnow. Last year, they did
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: it with Yoshie Yamamoto. They've been brilliant at it. And
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: this is just one of the only times where they
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: kind of dropped the ball and didn't probably handle this
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: the right way. I think we can understand why they
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: did it this way, you know, and I think they
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: get a pass for that. But that being said, it
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: would have been a lot smarter, I think, to shut
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: him down earlier and give all those different body parts
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: a chance to heal with a better chance of him
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: either pitching out of the bullpen in late October or
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: a better chance of him doing damage in the DH spot.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Who's harder to argue with? The player or the manager
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: when you're the GM? Because you're leaning into this like
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: it's the GM's job to put a guy on the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: IL when I always feel like The manager sees him
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: every day. The manager sees him under the dugout going,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: or that kind of thing. Like, who's harder to argue with?
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's a matter of arguing, right? It's
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: a matter of doing the right thing, right?
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: And I think, number one, a guy going on the
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: IL is more to do with the doctor and the
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: trainers than it is anybody else and the advice that
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: they're giving you. you know, the managers want to win.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: I mean, the managers want injured players to play. They
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: don't want to put guys on the IL. That's normal.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: And I've been around a lot of players that would
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: lie about injuries because they don't want to go on
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: the IL. And that's why somebody above all those people
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: have to make a call when it's not getting done
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: in the right process, right? We do have a chain
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: of command here at the end of the day. And
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: that's kind of what you have to lean into here.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: And you have to kind of understand where everybody's coming from.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: I understand Dave Roberts wanting him in the lineup and
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: thinking everything's going to be OK. He's hearing from Otani
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: everything's going to be OK. So he thinks it is.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: And the doctors are saying it. But at some point
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: we have to be looking going, wait a minute. Did
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: you see him strike out those four bats? That is
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: not showy Otani. You know, are we watching him? I mean,
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: watching him, he wasn't OK, period. And so if everyone's
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: not going to recognize it, somebody has to. And so, sure,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: we like chain of command. To me, the doctor and
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: trainer should be the ones making the call. If they don't,
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: the manager should and the player should. And if not,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, then the front office
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: needs to step in. I mean, like if you want
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: to take a pie and we want to play the
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: blame game, there's enough blame for the doctor, the trainer,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: the PT guy, the manager, the pitching coach, Otani, the translator,
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: the popcorn vendor. I don't mind where you want to
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: share the blame. At the end of the day, it's
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: doing the right thing. And Otani, they waited too long
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: to injure him. Regardless of who you want to blame,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: that's just what happened in this case.
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: Back in the day, Kratzy and I were looking for tickets.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: It was so hard to find a seat or anything available.
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: You'd have to go online and there was nothing there.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: But now, with SeatGeek, they make it so much easier
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: for you. They have the green light special. What does
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: that mean? It means when the green light is on,
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: you can get some of the best seats available.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Go to SeatGeek. Kratzy understands how.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Easy it is.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know you used to scalp your tickets, but look,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it's way, way better now because you get to just
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: go right on SeatGeek and find your postseason tickets. I'm
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: not even going to fast forward to the postseason. I'm
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: going to say the run to October because some teams
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: aren't in yet, so right now is the time to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: get it, and those seats are available.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: And it's playoff time, the best time for baseball. And,
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: of course, I have a code for you all. You
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: can use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off MLB tickets
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: in the description to download the app and have the
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: code automatically added to your account so you can use
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: it later.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Okay, Jim, you can't blame Otani's translator. Okay, that's off limits.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: He's off limits.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, so let's not blame Otani's translator. That's already happened. Okay,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: we've already been through that once. It was a couple
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: years ago. Okay, so also imagine that, a player lying
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: and saying they want to play when they could be hurt.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: No way. That has never happened in the history of
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: the game, Jim. Your whole career, we get it. Yeah,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you can't ever say that about players. We're always honest.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: We're always up front. We always can tell every player
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: and team and coach and manager and trainer the truth.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So let's also make sure we establish that. By the way,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: two small market teams have clinched playoffs. So the first
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: two teams that clinched playoff spots, The Rays and the Brewers.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Is this a potential World Series preview that we're looking at,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Rays and Brewers? And, wow, what a great thing that
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: would be for the CBA and all the salary cap problems.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think those two teams are two of
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: the four best in the game right now. I think
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: the Brewers are the best team in the National League.
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: I think they have a legitimate shot this year. I
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: didn't last year. I do this year. I just think
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: that they have done such an incredible job, Matt Arnold,
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: the GM, Pat Murphy, the manager, in building this team,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: developing this team. You know, this time around compared to
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: a year ago, this time around they have an ace
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: to match up against the Dodgers and Mizorowski, who's going
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: to win the NL Cy Young Award. They've got a
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: pitcher in Logan Henderson who they refused to put in
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: a deal for Tarek Skubal at the deadline, who, by
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: the way, has outpitched Tarek Skubal since the deadline. And
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: they're going to control them for the next five years.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: So they have a couple of starters at the top
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: of their rotation that can compete with the top of
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers rotation.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: They also have a really good bullpen.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: And with Diaz not throwing well on rehab, we don't
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: know what he's going to look like with Otani not
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: being able to pitch.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I mean, all of a sudden, I think we look
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: at the Brewers much closer than we thought they were
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: going to be to the Dodgers.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: And then from a position player perspective, this team moves
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: the chains as good as any team in baseball. They
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: go first to third, second to home, they'll squeeze. It's
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: an elite defensive team. They're extremely athletic with speed. They've
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: got the power. I mean, we've seen breakout year by
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Jake Bowers at his 26th home over the weekend.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: We've seen Joey Ortiz, who's got nine home runs now.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: He has been red hot and you've got all those
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: kids and you've got a manager that really relates to
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: everybody and cares. Like I loved last week when Lewis
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: Lara is coming to the plate and Pat Murphy walked
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: out of the dugout to talk to him, to relax him,
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: to talk to him about approach, and then he gets
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: the game-winning hit to left field. And then we watch
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: Lara go over the wall in right field and take
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: home runs away almost on a daily basis at this point.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: We're watching Jack Centurio continue to develop and showing that
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: oppo power that he brings to the table.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: They're athletic. They play defense. They've got a really good bullpen.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: They've got an ace.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: I think this is the year they got a legit
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: shot against the Dodgers. I didn't think that was the
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: case a year ago. I do think it's a different
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: story this year. You know, with the Dodgers, I think
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: we have some bullpen issues. I think, you know, Freddie
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Freeman hasn't hit any homers since the All-Star break. Basically,
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: the power's not there. fortunately, Mookie Betts has gotten hot,
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: which they needed, and they got Will Smith back off
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: the IL, but you don't know what you're going to
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: get with Otani at this point. You don't know what
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: you're getting with Kyle Tucker at this point. So, you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: all of a sudden, as good as the Dodgers look
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: on paper, and as much as we all won't be
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: surprised if they win their third World Series in a row,
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: I do think Milwaukee's a serious threat. And the other
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: league with Tampa Bay, it's been really fun. I mean,
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: I'll be honest, I think the Yankees have the best team,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: but I think the Yankees or Rays are 1-2 in
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: that league, with the Guardians 3 as the three best
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: teams in the American League. I don't know what Cole's
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: going to look like in the playoffs, so that's something
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: to keep your eye on, but Tampa Bay is built
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: the right way, and Eric Neander and Kevin Cash are
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: one of the best president, GM, manager combinations in the game.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: They have a tremendous pitching coach, a great pitching lab.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: The job they've done with Freddy Peralta since the trade
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: deadline has been amazing. They're going to need him, especially
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: with McClanahan being a question mark in October. But you
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: look how the lineup was built, right? They got three
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: guys in the middle. Junior Cameron Arrow is going to
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: win the MVP over Jordan Alvarez.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: He's got 40 home runs. You've got Aranda and Diaz.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: All three of those guys get on base 36% of
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: the time. All three have power. Aranda had two home
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: runs yesterday. He's 20th and 21st of the year. And
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: around those three guys, which you can't pitch to and
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: you can't pitch around, they've got a bunch of average
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: major league players that play plus defense.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: They've got athletes. They've got speed.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: They're very aggressive on the bases, and they're not afraid
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: to get thrown out. Chandler Simpson actually has a chance
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: at the batting title, believe it or not. and his
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: speed is game-changing in a short series. Pitching's been really good.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, as I said, Snyder, the pitching coach, done
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: an amazing job. Look at the year Nick Martinez has had.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Look at what Griffin Jackson's been able to do.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: They've got the impact closer in.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Brian Baker getting it done, and they've got that spirit.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And both the Brewers and the Rays have that, what
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: I call the it factor that we saw with like
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: the Royals and Giants back in their World Series years
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: where just the closeness of the clubhouse And that vibe
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: that you get in those clubhouses is different.
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: It's special. It really is.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: So if there's any year of us getting two small
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: market teams in a World Series, this year we got
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: a shot.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Can you re-rack what you said partway through that incredible
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: monologue that you just had about Junior Caminero winning the
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: MVP this year? You said this year, correct? Yeah.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Yes, I did.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I did.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: So two reasons why I've got that. Number one, Cam
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Schlitten is going to win the Cy Young Award. I personally,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: it's a philosophical thing. I think Cy Young should be
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: for pitchers. I think MVBs should be for position players.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I stand by that.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: I always will.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: I know pitchers have won the Cy Young in the past.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: So I know that argument is allowed to be there
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: and should be there. I just, I'm on the Aaron
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Judge side of this. Judge was asked about it yesterday,
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: and he gave the answer that Schlichter should win the
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Cy Young and a position player should win the MVP.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: I agree with that. That's how I feel.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: If the argument is Jordan Alvarez, look, if he wins
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: the Triple Crown, I get it. But look, he's really
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: fallen off in the last month. Injuries have something to
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: do with that, of course. But he's also a full-time DH, right?
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: And he and Caminero have very similar numbers across the board.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: You know, homers, RBIs. I mean, Alvarez has the better
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: slash line. But if you look at complete stats, game played, hits, doubles, homers, RBIs,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: all that. They're very close, but Caminero's playing half the
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: games at third base. He's playing half the games winning
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: on the defensive side, not just winning on the offensive side.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: And so as we look at this battle face to face, Yeah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: I'd give the edge to Caminero. The other thing is
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: Tampa Bay has the best record in the league. Caminero
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: has been a huge part of that. Take Caminero off
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: that team and the Yankees are going to win this division.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: I don't even know if Houston is going to get in.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: I don't know if they're going to be able to
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: hold off the Texas Rangers yet. I got to wait
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: two weeks to find out if they're able to do that.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: But either way, they're a 500 team. So, yeah, I
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: got Caminero winning the MVP in the American League.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: If Jordan does turn it around, which he's been struggling
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: since August, if he does turn it around here in
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the last two weeks and wins the Triple Crown or
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: gets Christian Jelic close, which was pretty close, does he
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: take the MVP automatically or does he have to win
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the Triple Crown to get the MVP, in your opinion?
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Oh, he's got to win the Triple Crown to get
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: the MVP. And even then, I'll come back on in
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: two weeks and tell you, I still might go Cameron
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Arrow if the numbers are very similar.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Across the board. So I'm going to lean that way.
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: Very nice.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Very nice. How about managers that are on the hot
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: seat after this, after this season, the way it's shaped up.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Look, hot seat to me is only an accurate comment.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: If the GM or president has told you that the
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: play managers on the hot seat, I've not heard that
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: from anybody. So I'm not going to go there, but
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: I will tell you the two managers that have grossly
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: underachieved with the team they've been running are Dan Wilson
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: in Seattle and and Don Kelly in Pittsburgh, and I
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: would think both of them probably get fired at the
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: end of the year, and they probably should be. The
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Seattle Mariners, it's absolutely a joke that they're not in
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: the playoffs. It's a joke they're not going to win
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: this division when they have the best team in that
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: division by a lot, not by a little. Then they
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: bring up this kid Montez, and they won't play him
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: after we watch him hit bomb after bomb.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Based on where they are.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: I just think it's an underachieving team, and I think
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: if Jerry DiPoto had a chance to hire Alex Corr
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: and get him out of... get him out of retirement,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: get him out of traveling the world, which he's been doing.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: I think it's something that Seattle should consider, new leadership,
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: because you can't go another year with this much talent
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: and not winning baseball games.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: And then with the.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Pittsburgh Pirates, look, I'm very disappointed on where they are
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: because they should be in the conversation with San Diego
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: and Arizona right now. And, you know, in the offseason,
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: they worked hard to rebuild the offense.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: They did it.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: They were able to bring up Connor Griffin and see
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: what he was able to do. Not anyone's fault that
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: he got hurt. But then at the deadline, the bullpen
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: had big problems. Ben Sherrington went out and fixed the bullpen,
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: and that got better. And this is a team that's underachieving.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I mean, look at their run differential. Their run differential
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: is better than San Diego's and Arizona's and Philadelphia's. And
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: this is a team that should have a better record.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: And I'm not saying they should make the playoffs, but
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: I'm saying with two weeks to go, We should be
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: talking about San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Arizona, not just San
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Diego and Arizona.
• 16:01
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• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Jim, Don Kelly's not getting fired.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Sorry.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: I love I love your passion. I love your he's not.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: He's just it's his first full year. He's not going
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: to get fired. The Pirates are going to look at
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: it and say, hey, we're around 500. What a great
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: year we had. Don Kelly, he really kicked ass because
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: we were around 500 for the first time in forever.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: They look at things differently there in Pittsburgh, as you know.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: And also, as far as Dan Wilson, well, Dan Wilson,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: the problem that Mariners have now, and this happens, as
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: you know, is when you hire a guy who's, I
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: guess he's a legend. I don't know if a legend
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: is the right word, but he's a well-known figure. in
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the Mariners organization, then you hire him as manager. It's
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: hard to make the next step. If you're Jerry DePoto
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: and say, you know, Dan, we hired you. Things went
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: really well for a year. Now we're going to have
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: to fire you. Oh, but we still really want you
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: around the organization. The only guy that I can remember
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: that's really happened like that is Ozzie Guillen, who just
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: went to TV and just MFs everybody on TV. And
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: everyone's like, ah, it's just Ozzie. He can say whatever
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: he wants. Yeah.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, those are tough decisions.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: Like there's only 30 managers, only 30 GMs and I
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: get it. But you're paid to produce, you're paid to win,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: like it or not. I mean, that's what you have
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: to view. And I think if you're the owner of
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: the Mariners, you have to decide, did this team underachieve
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: and does a different voice make sense to bring in?
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: I think that's what you have to decide.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: If you decide that it's the team, then maybe Jerry
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: DiPoto needs to go at that point, if that's what
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: you decide.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's the problem.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: And I don't think revamping their roster is the solution either,
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: based on where they are.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: So.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Does a managerial change and a different voice help this team?
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: That would be the question I'd have to ask. Look,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: sometimes the best managers, the Hall of Fame managers, get fired.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: Joe Torre, Tony La Russa, Jim Leland, Bobby Cox, all
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: of them got fired. All of them are in the
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Hall of Fame. Doesn't mean you didn't do a great job.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Just means the team felt like a different voice was
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: going to help you know, their franchise. And I think
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: that's the case in Seattle for me.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Okay. That's fair.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: That's fair. Yes.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Yes. They've all, Tito Francona got fired from the Phillies.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Let's also throw him in there. So, and you fired,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: who'd you fire? What Hall of Fame manager did you fire?
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: I got a few. I got a few for sure.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Okay. Well, as long as we, as long as we
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: can all admit, and I've gotten Hall of Fame managers
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: fired too. So I understand. Now let's go to GMs.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: GMs are on the hot seat too. Dana, Dana Brown,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: he already got fired, even though his team was in
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: first place, which is unbelievably amazing to me that, But whatever.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Perry Manazian fired. John Moselak came in. David Stearns is
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: the one we keep hearing about, right? David Frost fired
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: in August in Oakland, Sacramento, Lagos, whatever you want to
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: call them. Nick Kroll is expected to be back. Which
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: one of these GMs do you think is most likely?
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: to be back? And by the way, I don't think
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: David Stearns is going anywhere. My opinion probably doesn't matter.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: I just think he's too locked in and they're not
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: going to get rid of him right now.
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, David Stearns is going nowhere. He's going to be
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: given another year, maybe two. But he's going to hire
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: a GM under him is what I'm hearing. And I
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: think he needs to. I think it would be better
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: for him and his longevity in New York if he
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: could bring in a guy to help him. And I
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: think that's one of the themes I think the owners
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: are going to have to start understanding is that the
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: GMs that worked five, ten years ago, those kind of
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: guys aren't going to work in today's baseball.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: It's just not.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: And we've got world champion general managers that are looking
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: for a job, right?
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: James Click.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Who won a world championship in Houston and wasn't brought back,
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: has interviewed for the athletics job. Mike Rizzo won a
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: world championship in Washington. He also has interviewed for the
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: athletics job. But the question is, you know, does that
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: resume or the success they had back then, does it
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: work today? You know, John Moselock had his strong years
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: in St. Louis and then turned it over to Hein Blum.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: when he started really to fail, to be honest. And
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: I think at the end of the day, when you
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: look at these jobs right now, you really need to
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: hire more of a CEO of baseball operations rather than
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: a president and rather than a GM, because you need
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: more help in each of the departments of how the
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: teams are being run. You need an artificial intelligence guy,
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: you need to have a baseball guy that really understands
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: the evaluation ability and makeup and character and all the
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: things that it takes. But you also need the analytic
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: person as well, the medical group. I mean, you need
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: a group of people to run these franchises now. You've
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: got to start operating like you're running a big business,
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: like you're running Apple or Microsoft. You can't just keep
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: running a baseball team where everyone points to one GM
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: or trying to run these franchises because that's not going
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: to work. And I think the other thing is, you know,
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: what happens behind the scenes when you look at Tampa
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Bay and Milwaukee that we talked about earlier in this segment,
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: and we talk about them right now with the Dodgers
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: and Yankees, right? And yet the payroll discrepancy is just bizarre.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: Like it's almost $ 300 million difference between these payrolls. And
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: so why are they sitting there with better records than
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: the Yankees and Dodgers? And then you point to the intelligence,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: you point to research and development, you point to their labs,
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: you point to all of the different intellectual things that
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: they've got to make players better, that they're doing better
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: than some of the big market teams, not necessarily the
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: Yankees or Dodgers, but I'm just trying to make a point.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: that you really have to hire people that understand that
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: aspect of the game. Because these teams, especially if you
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: don't end up getting a salary cap, which I'm hoping
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: we get a floor in the cap, but if we don't,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: for these small markets to keep competing like Tampa Bay
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: and Milwaukee, you're going to have to beat the big markets.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Behind the scenes with Intel.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: And so you better hire a group of people that
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: are smarter than what the big markets have hired if
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: you want to be able to play with them.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: For sure.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I guess I will add my little quick comment question here.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Dana Brown, no interim, got put in his place. You
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: just said about all the structure that you need to
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: fill in. Can Jim Crane just take his place instead
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of saying, hey, we need somebody in the interim while
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: we don't have somebody in that position?
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: You know what's funny?
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: When the Astros won the World Series the last time,
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: I was on the field for SiriusXM and we interviewed him.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: And we were complimenting James Click and Dusty Baker. And
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: the response that Jim Crane said was, what about me?
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: I'm the one that hired those guys. And it's like, yeah,
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: you're the owner of the team.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I don't understand it, right? I mean, Dusty
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Baker is a Hall of Fame future manager, right? And
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: he was let go, or I guess they gave him
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: permission to walk away, whatever we want to call it.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: James Click, Jeff Luno, he didn't stand behind him. He
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: was the owner of the team. You know, he obviously
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: was aware of whatever the Astros were doing. But when
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: he got suspended, he fired Luno right after he won
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: a World Series. Then he fired James Click after he
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: won a World Series. And Dana Brown has sat there
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: with less talent and less money than any of those guys.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: He got stuck with all those bad contracts, like 150
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: million of bad contracts that he got stuck with. His
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: trades were rejected by the owner on a regular basis.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: He was forced to trade players because the owner wouldn't
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: give certain long-term contracts to some of their best players,
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: wasn't allowed to sign certain pitchers because the owner wouldn't
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: do market deals for these kind of guys. He's in
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: first place and he's let go? I mean, I don't know.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: To me, that's a reflection of the owner. It's not
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: a reflection of the baseball people that were under him.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: You know, when you hire a GM and a manager
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: and they're sitting there in first place, to me, that's
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: kind of what you're paying them to do. And by
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: the way, in each of his drafts, he had three
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: players in each of his drafts that got to the
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: big leagues. So his track record in Houston, he'll get
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: another job. He'll land on his feet and he should. But,
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: you know, an owner owns the team.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: You can do whatever you want.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: It doesn't matter. You know, I grew up watching George M.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: Steinbrenner fire everybody. Dick Houser won 100 games and got fired.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: So if you're the owner, guess what? You have the
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: right to do whatever you want.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: True, true. Jim Crane does have a couple nice golf courses.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I'll give him for that. So he's done something right, okay?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: He's won some World Series, and he has a couple
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: nice golf courses. If you haven't played Floridian, by the way,
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: it's outstanding. Outstanding place, Jim. So you can call him maybe.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know after that ramp, but you should call him.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Go play golf there. Anyways, for more front office insights
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: and USC football, check out Jim's show, GM Territory, on
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: YouTube and all of your podcast platforms.