Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Chourio IL’d, Roki Sasaki road bump, Mets sign Pham

Transcript

Fair Territory: Chourio IL’d, Roki Sasaki road bump, Mets sign Pham · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory, and
0:03
Speaker 1: happy opening Day to all. It's not the Netflix Opening Day,
0:07
Speaker 1: this is the real opening day. Today slate of games
0:11
Speaker 1: ahead of us and Alana. Actually, we have some news
0:14
Speaker 1: this morning to get into. First. Tommy Fam minor league
0:17
Speaker 1: deal with the New York Mets. He returns to the Mets,
0:20
Speaker 1: where he was in twenty twenty three. If you remember,
0:22
Speaker 1: he played there in the first half, then got traded
0:25
Speaker 1: to the Diamondbacks at the deadline. The Mets needed another
0:28
Speaker 1: outfielder for depth because Mike Talkman, of course, blew out
0:31
Speaker 1: his knee at the end of spring training, a very
0:33
Speaker 1: unfortunate injury for him. They're going with Carson Benji in
0:37
Speaker 1: right field, but Fam will at least present them with
0:39
Speaker 1: another option. And he's a guy that in my view,
0:42
Speaker 1: should have had a deal quite some time ago. This
0:45
Speaker 1: is a minor league deal, I know, and the demand
0:47
Speaker 1: for him and his age thirty six, I believe is
0:50
Speaker 1: not going to be what it was. But it's a
0:52
Speaker 1: quality major league player. And I'll add this before throwing
0:55
Speaker 1: it over to you, Alana. Francisco Lindor when he was
0:58
Speaker 1: on the Mets, before he was traded, or actually right
1:01
Speaker 1: after he was traded, but before he left the team,
1:03
Speaker 1: he told Tommy fam you're the hardest working guy I've
1:06
Speaker 1: ever seen. Thank you for teaching me to work hard again.
1:10
Speaker 1: So I am sure Lindor welcome this news. And now
1:13
Speaker 1: I welcome my friend and fellow red wearing.
1:18
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with Maroon or maybe Murlou. Happy
1:23
Speaker 2: New Year to you, Ken Rosenthal, Happy opening day everybody
1:26
Speaker 2: out there. Thanks for being with us on fair territory.
1:28
Speaker 2: I tell you what, it got a lot to get
1:30
Speaker 2: into today. Let's get into the rest of the lead
1:32
Speaker 2: powered by Game Changer. More on Game Changer in a moment,
1:35
Speaker 2: and Ken Brewers plays Jackson Churio on the il with
1:38
Speaker 2: a fractured left hand. This is a team Ken that
1:41
Speaker 2: many think could win the NL Central. How does this
1:44
Speaker 2: affect them moving forward?
1:46
Speaker 1: It affects them, no question, at least early in the season.
1:48
Speaker 1: Now Churio will be out two to four weeks. This
1:51
Speaker 1: is kind of a weird deal. So he injured the
1:54
Speaker 1: hand in an exhibition while playing for Venezuela. It was
1:59
Speaker 1: March fourth, West Palm Beach and originally he missed two games,
2:03
Speaker 1: then came back and played throughout the WBC and it
2:07
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be an issue, but he continued to
2:09
Speaker 1: bother him. So it turns out, yes, he has a
2:12
Speaker 1: fractured left hand. And for the Brewers, obviously, he's a
2:15
Speaker 1: guy who is still on the rise. He's so young
2:18
Speaker 1: still and such a talented player. They're going to bring
2:21
Speaker 1: back Blake Perkins, another right handed hitting outfielder. The rest
2:24
Speaker 1: of their outfield is left handed. It's Frielich and Garrett
2:27
Speaker 1: Mitchell and Jake Bowers. Pat Murphy has said he said
2:31
Speaker 1: this on MLB Network this morning, that Christian Yellwick may
2:34
Speaker 1: play some more outfield in the interim. Obviously, this is
2:37
Speaker 1: a blow for the Brewers, at least temporarily. One other
2:41
Speaker 1: point here, I'm sure people will say, oh.
2:42
Speaker 3: Here we go WBC injuries, But this was actually an
2:46
Speaker 3: injury he suffered in an exhibition game in Florida, and
2:50
Speaker 3: really the WBC kind of escaped injury free for the
2:53
Speaker 3: most part this time around.
2:55
Speaker 1: Kyle Teel, of course with the White Sox, had the
2:58
Speaker 1: strained hamstring, says Suzuki the issue, but these are injuries
3:02
Speaker 1: that might have occurred in spring training. There wasn't a
3:04
Speaker 1: rash of injuries due to the WBC, at least not yet.
3:07
Speaker 1: So so far, so good on that front for the
3:10
Speaker 1: most part, and for the Brewers they should be okay.
3:13
Speaker 1: It's just something they have to patch together for the
3:16
Speaker 1: next few weeks.
3:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, the WBC, as far as injuries are concerned, pretty unscathed,
3:20
Speaker 2: if you will. Hopefully those three can get back soon
3:23
Speaker 2: and start contributing to their team. Opening Day is here, Ken,
3:26
Speaker 2: So let's get into your twelve storylines piece that you
3:29
Speaker 2: wrote for the Athletic Let's start with the Los Angeles
3:32
Speaker 2: Daughters in pursuit of a three peat, Ken, Rosenthal. But
3:35
Speaker 2: they have to figure out what to do with Roki
3:38
Speaker 2: Sasaki and the pitching struggles. What do you make of those?
3:42
Speaker 1: It's interesting a lot at first. I saw, obviously the
3:46
Speaker 1: struggles and we've all seen the struggles the spring, and
3:49
Speaker 1: I wonder why are the Dodgers putting him in the rotation,
3:53
Speaker 1: But they want to find out and they want him
3:55
Speaker 1: to learn on the fly. Here they've got Blake Snell
3:58
Speaker 1: on the IL to open the season and Stone as
4:01
Speaker 1: well on the IL to open the season. They have
4:03
Speaker 1: depth and they can win the World Series without Sasaki
4:06
Speaker 1: making a significant contribution. But I spoke with someone close
4:10
Speaker 1: to Sasaki just a couple of nights ago, and he
4:13
Speaker 1: is convinced that Sasaki is going to figure this out
4:16
Speaker 1: and he's going to be a quality pitcher for the Dodgers. Now,
4:20
Speaker 1: if that happens, great, If it doesn't happen, they've got
4:24
Speaker 1: pretty good depth. We've been talking about this all spring.
4:27
Speaker 1: Justin Robleski is effectively their sixth starter. They've got River
4:31
Speaker 1: Ryan in triple A. They've got the two guys on
4:33
Speaker 1: the IL that I mentioned that are coming back. So
4:36
Speaker 1: I would expect the Dodgers are going to be okay.
4:38
Speaker 1: And heaven forbid, they have a need of the deadline,
4:41
Speaker 1: what are they going to do? They're going to trade
4:43
Speaker 1: for a starting pitcher, but I don't necessarily anticipate that
4:46
Speaker 1: at this point.
4:48
Speaker 2: Katie Wu, your colleague with The Athletic are co host
4:51
Speaker 2: on Dodgers' Territory, talk to Dave Roberts about it. She
4:54
Speaker 2: has a quote in her story that Dave said, I
4:56
Speaker 2: don't think that you can completely just bank on or
4:58
Speaker 2: evaluate spring training or an exhibition game. Roberts said, but yeah,
5:01
Speaker 2: it hasn't been great. It really hasn't. And we know
5:04
Speaker 2: that the standard needs to be better. He knows that
5:06
Speaker 2: we know that. So we'll see what happens with Rochi Sasaki.
5:09
Speaker 2: All right, Ken, When we were asked to put our
5:12
Speaker 2: predictions together for who is going to win every single
5:16
Speaker 2: category in Major League Baseball going into the twenty twenty
5:18
Speaker 2: sixth season, I picked the Mariners to win the Al West.
5:22
Speaker 2: Is the industry sleeping on the Astros?
5:26
Speaker 1: First off, I don't know that the Mariners are a
5:30
Speaker 1: team that we should be overlooking in any way. Some
5:32
Speaker 1: people are picking them as you are, allow us to
5:34
Speaker 1: go to the World Series, maybe even win the World Series.
5:36
Speaker 1: And if you look at the projections that you see
5:39
Speaker 1: on Fanggrafts and Pakoda, they will say or they will
5:43
Speaker 1: tell you that the Mariners outside of the Dodgers, have
5:46
Speaker 1: the best odds of winning their division. Now that said,
5:48
Speaker 1: the question you raise is quite vouid. Are we sleeping
5:52
Speaker 1: on the Astros? Well, we might be, And here's why
5:56
Speaker 1: their rotation with the additions of Mike Burrows and Tetsuya
5:59
Speaker 1: Ima has improved looks better. Mccullors also is at least
6:04
Speaker 1: starting the season somewhat healthy. Then you have a situation
6:08
Speaker 1: where yes, they do have a surplus of infielders. Jeremy
6:11
Speaker 1: Panya coming off that injury is going to open the
6:14
Speaker 1: season with the team, and they have parades. They've got Altuve,
6:20
Speaker 1: They've got Correa, They've got Christian Walker. It's too much, right,
6:24
Speaker 1: but let's see how that all plays out. And it's
6:28
Speaker 1: a talented team. It's a team that we can never discount.
6:31
Speaker 1: They always seem to be there and I expect they're
6:34
Speaker 1: going to be there again to some extent. But that's it.
6:37
Speaker 1: The Mariners are really good, and they're really good because
6:40
Speaker 1: of their additions in the offseason Ferrara in the bullpen,
6:44
Speaker 1: Donovan to their lineup and offense overall. And they also
6:49
Speaker 1: have some young players. Colt Emerson, one of the top
6:51
Speaker 1: prospects in the game, will be ready at some point
6:53
Speaker 1: to play the infield. Cole Young at second base had
6:56
Speaker 1: a monster spring. They're high on him. I just see
6:59
Speaker 1: them as the team to beat, and maybe in the
7:02
Speaker 1: entire al I do like the Tigers as well, though.
7:05
Speaker 2: One of the questions that was asked in terms of
7:07
Speaker 2: predictions Ken going into this season was the first manager
7:10
Speaker 2: to be fired, which is interesting to me. I kind
7:12
Speaker 2: of chuckled at that I did not pick Joe Espada
7:16
Speaker 2: to be that manager. But in the article you mentioned
7:19
Speaker 2: that both GM Dana Brown of the Astros and Joe Espada,
7:23
Speaker 2: the manager of the Stros, could face seat warmers on
7:27
Speaker 2: lame duck deals. Tell us more about that.
7:29
Speaker 1: Well, they're in the last years of their contracts, respectively.
7:32
Speaker 1: And Jim Crane, the owner, we have seen that he
7:35
Speaker 1: has a high bar of excellence. He wants to compete
7:40
Speaker 1: every single year, and for the most part they have.
7:42
Speaker 1: He's been a very successful owner. And you remember, of course,
7:46
Speaker 1: after the twenty twenty two World Series, which they won
7:49
Speaker 1: with James Click as general manager, James Klick left. He
7:53
Speaker 1: was not brought back. They gave him a one year offer.
7:55
Speaker 1: He didn't want it. So Jim Crane will change up
7:58
Speaker 1: things a little bit if he believes it's necessary. Now.
8:01
Speaker 1: They didn't make the playoffs last year for the first
8:03
Speaker 1: time since twenty sixteen. If it happens again, or if
8:07
Speaker 1: these season ends in some disappointing fashion, yes, I can
8:10
Speaker 1: see Crane certainly doing something because his history would be Hey,
8:14
Speaker 1: I want excellence, I want the best, and if you're
8:18
Speaker 1: not winning, you might be out all right.
8:21
Speaker 2: The lead is powered by Game Changer, the number one
8:24
Speaker 2: youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect live,
8:27
Speaker 2: and replay the action. Learn more at GC dot com. Ken,
8:32
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about your four teams here
8:35
Speaker 2: in terms of surprise teams. We talked about perhaps the
8:37
Speaker 2: industry sleeping on the Astros, but you have some surprise teams.
8:42
Speaker 2: The Astros not one of them. But hardly anybody seems
8:45
Speaker 2: to be talking about the Miami Marlins like you are.
8:48
Speaker 2: What do you know that we don't.
8:49
Speaker 1: I don't know that I know anything that anybody doesn't.
8:52
Speaker 1: And in this story, as I point out, I've been
8:55
Speaker 1: covering the game now, this is my fortieth season, and
8:57
Speaker 1: it seems like I still haven't figured it out. No
9:00
Speaker 1: one figures it out. That's the beauty of baseball. That's
9:02
Speaker 1: what keeps us coming back year after year. What I
9:05
Speaker 1: like about the Marlins is that they made a big
9:08
Speaker 1: jump last year, sixty two wins to seventy nine. They
9:12
Speaker 1: have a group of talented young players in the outfield,
9:15
Speaker 1: in particular right now with Marcia and Casey Stowers is
9:19
Speaker 1: opening the season hurt, but they've got an interesting group
9:22
Speaker 1: and they play the game hard, they play it right,
9:24
Speaker 1: They're kind of the Brewers Southeast and beyond all that
9:28
Speaker 1: they have starting pitching at least to start the season.
9:31
Speaker 1: It's healthy and the question is going to be do
9:33
Speaker 1: they keep al Kontada past the deadline? We don't know,
9:36
Speaker 1: but I do like them now. They're in a tough
9:39
Speaker 1: division obviously, and the other surprise teams that I mentioned,
9:42
Speaker 1: the Royals, the Reds, the A's, they might stand somewhat
9:46
Speaker 1: better chances, though the A's pitching probably didn't merit them
9:50
Speaker 1: being on this list. The Pirates maybe should have been
9:51
Speaker 1: on it. But anyway, I do like the Marlins and
9:54
Speaker 1: I do like the way they play, and that goes
9:56
Speaker 1: a long way toward why I think under Clayton McCall,
10:00
Speaker 1: who did a terrific job last year, they might make
10:02
Speaker 1: another step forward this year.
10:04
Speaker 2: Ken, Why do you think the Pirates could possibly qualify
10:07
Speaker 2: for a surprise team this year? You just quickly mentioned them.
10:10
Speaker 1: Simply because of the work that they did in the
10:12
Speaker 1: offseason with bringing in Brandon Law and the others that
10:16
Speaker 1: they brought in. Of course, Ryan O'Hearn and the prospect
10:20
Speaker 1: Connor Griffin is just about ready to come. He's going
10:23
Speaker 1: to start the season at Triple a. I also forgot
10:25
Speaker 1: Marcella Zuna there. They've built a more respectable offense. They
10:29
Speaker 1: have one of the most talented rotations potentially in the game,
10:33
Speaker 1: led by the best pitcher in the sport, Paul Skins.
10:37
Speaker 1: I just believe that they feel finally more urgency and
10:42
Speaker 1: they're going to play with more urgency I would expect,
10:45
Speaker 1: and that's never been a problem. The players are fine
10:47
Speaker 1: in terms of how they tried, the front office, the ownership,
10:51
Speaker 1: they haven't tried as hard. Now they're trying, and I
10:55
Speaker 1: expect them to be a formidable team. And if Griffin
10:58
Speaker 1: comes up makes it an then it's something else entirely.
11:02
Speaker 1: It's the same thing with McGonagall in Detroit. If McGonagall
11:06
Speaker 1: is what the Tigers think he is and what the
11:08
Speaker 1: industry thinks he is, that could be transformative for their offense,
11:13
Speaker 1: and then it's a different kind of team.
11:15
Speaker 2: Kevin McGonagall is my AL pick for AL Rookie of
11:19
Speaker 2: the Year. Sorry, Kevin, I probably just jinxed Jim. All Right,
11:22
Speaker 2: we're gonna come back with Gorilla and Ken in just
11:24
Speaker 2: a minute. After a word from our sponsor, We'll.
11:27
Speaker 1: Be right back.
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12:34
Speaker 2: Welcome you in to grill and Ken your opportunity to
12:37
Speaker 2: ask Ken rosenthals some burning questions. Get those questions into
12:41
Speaker 2: the chat. I swear this is not our producer slash
12:43
Speaker 2: director Jeremy Meyer asking about Yoshida all of the time.
12:46
Speaker 2: He is a Red Sox owmer. However, Ken, what will
12:49
Speaker 2: the Red Sox do with Masataka Yoshida?
12:53
Speaker 1: We get this questioned a lot, and for good reason, Alana. Actually,
12:57
Speaker 1: there is no place for Masataki Yoshida on the Red Sox.
13:01
Speaker 1: There simply isn't. Now he might be on the team,
13:03
Speaker 1: but he's not going to play. Why they have four
13:07
Speaker 1: outfielders will You're brave, Jaron durand Roman Anthony and Saddan Rafaela,
13:12
Speaker 1: all quality players. You need the DH spot for one
13:14
Speaker 1: of those guys. You're not gonna play Yoshida very often
13:18
Speaker 1: over one of those players. So they've been in this
13:22
Speaker 1: position really the entire offseason and they have yet to
13:25
Speaker 1: address it. Perhaps they just can't do it. And he's
13:29
Speaker 1: got two years left, good money, and it's a problem,
13:32
Speaker 1: but it's not viable. And once Tristan Cassis comes back,
13:36
Speaker 1: which will happen at some point, then it becomes even
13:39
Speaker 1: less viable. So I don't know where this is going.
13:42
Speaker 1: He seems like a DFA waiting to happen, and honestly,
13:46
Speaker 1: for his own benefit, he needs to get out of there.
13:48
Speaker 1: He needs to go be in a position where he
13:50
Speaker 1: can play again, and that would be beneficial to him
13:54
Speaker 1: and ultimately for the Red Sox too, though they're going
13:56
Speaker 1: to have to pay him.
13:57
Speaker 2: Sorry, Ken, why do you think they held on to
14:00
Speaker 2: him as long as they did? I remember covering this
14:03
Speaker 2: Red Sox team last season, and I was very concerned that.
14:05
Speaker 2: Of no disrespect to him, obviously, but if Masataka Yoshida
14:08
Speaker 2: is your DH and you're the Boston Red Sox, there's
14:11
Speaker 2: an issue there. I mean, he's not known as a
14:12
Speaker 2: power hitter. Why do you think they held on to
14:15
Speaker 2: him as long as they did? And is this a
14:17
Speaker 2: situation where they might just cut bait.
14:20
Speaker 1: I don't have the money in front of me, the contract,
14:22
Speaker 1: but as I said, it's two years. It's significant money.
14:25
Speaker 1: So that's the reason you couldn't trade him for that reason,
14:29
Speaker 1: and you held him because we don't want to just
14:31
Speaker 1: eat the money just yet. Maybe something will come up,
14:34
Speaker 1: and you never know, players do get injured and different
14:37
Speaker 1: situations emerge. But this has gone on too long. It's unworkable,
14:42
Speaker 1: and at some point it's going to reach ahead.
14:44
Speaker 2: Okay, switching our focus now to the National League East?
14:47
Speaker 2: Who do you think wins that division? I know you're
14:50
Speaker 2: high on the Marlins going into twenty twenty six. I
14:52
Speaker 2: don't think you're willing to say they'll take the East,
14:54
Speaker 2: But who do you think win's the division?
14:56
Speaker 1: Write a lot. I was going to say not that high.
15:00
Speaker 1: I would say the Mets right now, but I'm not
15:04
Speaker 1: totally convinced of anything here. And I hate making picks
15:07
Speaker 1: because one, my picks are always terrible. Two my feeling
15:11
Speaker 1: on picks is tell me who's going to get hurt,
15:13
Speaker 1: tell me who's going to get traded, and I'll tell
15:15
Speaker 1: you who's going to win. But we don't know these things.
15:17
Speaker 1: We don't know who's getting hurt, we don't know who's
15:19
Speaker 1: getting traded. The Mets have immense talent, there's no question
15:24
Speaker 1: about that. The Phillies cannot be discounted, especially because Wheeler
15:28
Speaker 1: looks like he's going to be back sooner rather than later.
15:31
Speaker 1: But I was expecting I would be picking the Braves
15:35
Speaker 1: and their rotation has just fallen apart due to injuries,
15:38
Speaker 1: and that's the problem that they're gonna have. But I
15:41
Speaker 1: would say the Mets right now, but I'm not like
15:44
Speaker 1: feverish about it.
15:45
Speaker 2: I don't know, Probably not as confident as who you
15:48
Speaker 2: were likely going to pick for the NL West. What
15:51
Speaker 2: about those Sacramento athletics. Ken, This person wants to know
15:55
Speaker 2: if the A's are gonna make the playoffs this year,
15:58
Speaker 2: Please tell Adam that they are. If in fact, Adam
16:01
Speaker 2: is an as fan, I don't.
16:02
Speaker 1: Know, Adam. I don't know the answer to that. I
16:05
Speaker 1: do expect them to hit like crazy. Their lineup is
16:08
Speaker 1: really good. It's only gotten better with McNeil coming aboard.
16:11
Speaker 1: Jeff McNeil, it should kind of stabilize them even more.
16:15
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see Nick Kurtz for a full season,
16:17
Speaker 1: Jacob Wilson, all these guys, and of course Langeleers and Soderstrom,
16:21
Speaker 1: all the players that they have offensively, and I'm forgetting
16:25
Speaker 1: Brent Rooker and a few others. They're impressive. It's an
16:29
Speaker 1: impressive group. The question with them is going to be
16:31
Speaker 1: the pitching, and it's been the question. It's been the
16:34
Speaker 1: thing that's been difficult for them to address to a
16:37
Speaker 1: large extent. But if they get reasonable pitching, probably even
16:41
Speaker 1: mediocre pitching, they could be an interesting team.
16:45
Speaker 2: We asked you this question earlier in regards to the astros, ken,
16:48
Speaker 2: if the industry is sleeping on the astros, are we
16:52
Speaker 2: sleeping as a collective on the Orioles rotation?
16:57
Speaker 1: No, your rotation is better, It's deeper, but it still
17:01
Speaker 1: lacks what you would call a true number one. Now
17:04
Speaker 1: there aren't many true number ones in the sport, but
17:07
Speaker 1: Bradish and Rogers have that potential, and Rogers pitch like
17:11
Speaker 1: that last year. Bradish has pitched like that in the past.
17:14
Speaker 1: It's just that with Rogers, can he do it again?
17:17
Speaker 1: Will the innings mount to him? Be a problem? And
17:22
Speaker 1: with Bratish it's kind of the same situation. First full
17:24
Speaker 1: year removed from Tommy John. Then you've got Shane Boss,
17:27
Speaker 1: who has all the potential in the world. You've got
17:29
Speaker 1: Zach Eflin, and you've got a situation where you've been
17:33
Speaker 1: able now with Chris Basst coming aboard to send Dean
17:36
Speaker 1: Kramer to the miners. So I like where they are
17:39
Speaker 1: from a depth standpoint. They also have some younger pitchers
17:41
Speaker 1: that they like. I just don't know whether it's dominant enough,
17:46
Speaker 1: and hey, you can address that at the deadline. You
17:48
Speaker 1: can do that in any number of ways, so I
17:51
Speaker 1: expect them to be an interesting team. To say the least,
17:55
Speaker 1: They too are going to hit, and yes, their rotation
17:58
Speaker 1: is going to be better. They've got some rush in
18:00
Speaker 1: the bullpen. But that is definitely a team that we're
18:03
Speaker 1: all anxious to see play this year with all the
18:05
Speaker 1: work that they've done in the offseason.
18:07
Speaker 2: Also, staying in the AL East, we'll talk about the
18:10
Speaker 2: New York Yankee, specifically Aaron Judge Ken four punch outs yesterday,
18:14
Speaker 2: that is not the Aaron Judge way. We know that
18:16
Speaker 2: he's going to get it together. Obviously, if Judge doesn't
18:19
Speaker 2: win the AL MVP, which he certainly is always in
18:22
Speaker 2: the running, four, who do you think realistically has the
18:25
Speaker 2: best chance? Jj inn Alaska wants to.
18:26
Speaker 1: Know Bobby Witt Junior. And this is a guy who
18:31
Speaker 1: almost won the MVP two years ago, and some would
18:34
Speaker 1: say you should have won the MVP two years ago,
18:36
Speaker 1: but he is only getting better and he's an amazing
18:40
Speaker 1: player as it is. Everything that he offers speed, power, defense,
18:45
Speaker 1: it's incredible package. So yes, I expect him to be
18:49
Speaker 1: in that conversation. I expect him to have a monster year.
18:52
Speaker 1: He's a guy that is one of the biggest stars
18:55
Speaker 1: in the game, but it seems to me is only
18:57
Speaker 1: going to get bigger because he plays in Kansas that
19:00
Speaker 1: he gets overlooked to some degree and he's about to
19:04
Speaker 1: burst onto our consciousness in an even bigger way.
19:07
Speaker 2: I'd love to see him be able to get that too.
19:10
Speaker 2: It's kind of hard, though, when Aaron Judge is stepping
19:12
Speaker 2: in the way. Ken is in San Francisco for Yankees
19:15
Speaker 2: Giants on Saturday on Fox and you can stream it
19:18
Speaker 2: on a Fox one can let me ask you this,
19:21
Speaker 2: how is Tony Vytello. He's probably the game's most fascinating
19:26
Speaker 2: managers right now, right because you don't quite know what
19:28
Speaker 2: you're going to get from him. Coming from the college.
19:30
Speaker 1: Ranks, there's no way to know. And this is somewhat unprecedented.
19:34
Speaker 1: It happened about one hundred years ago when he had
19:37
Speaker 1: a college guy come from those ranks to become a
19:41
Speaker 1: major league manager without professional experience. It was actually more
19:44
Speaker 1: than a hundred years ago. But for the most part
19:46
Speaker 1: in our game, it is unprecedented. We don't know how
19:50
Speaker 1: he's going to do. And I wrote in there that
19:52
Speaker 1: he has a number of challenges ahead one. He obviously
19:57
Speaker 1: has never managed a one hundred and sixty two game
19:59
Speaker 1: season college seam and is maybe sixty five seventy games,
20:03
Speaker 1: depending on how far you go. He also has to
20:05
Speaker 1: run a bullpen for the first time, a major league bullpen,
20:08
Speaker 1: and that's probably going to be his biggest challenge, particularly
20:11
Speaker 1: when he hasn't been given a great bullpen. So there
20:14
Speaker 1: are a number of things he's going to after adjust
20:16
Speaker 1: to media before and after games in a different way
20:19
Speaker 1: than he did in college. It's every day in major
20:22
Speaker 1: league baseball. But at the same time, those who know
20:25
Speaker 1: him are convinced he is going to succeed. They think
20:29
Speaker 1: this guy has some special charisma, special leadership qualities. The
20:33
Speaker 1: question is whether that team is going to be good enough.
20:36
Speaker 1: They've been basically a five hundred team for four years now.
20:38
Speaker 1: That'll be interesting last night, a side whatever. That's one game,
20:42
Speaker 1: But that's the question with the Giants. How good are
20:45
Speaker 1: they really?
20:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure was the King of Knoxville. Things are
20:49
Speaker 2: a little bit different in the Bay Area. Start your
20:52
Speaker 2: seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change.
20:55
Speaker 2: Go to foxwe dot com for complete terms and conditions.
20:59
Speaker 2: Fox won Streaming Now We're going to be back with
21:01
Speaker 2: Dude and Dork of the Week right after this.
21:04
Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude, dude.
21:13
Speaker 2: All right, ken a lot of guys to choose from
21:15
Speaker 2: this week, which is always a good thing. Who is
21:16
Speaker 2: your Dude of the Week?
21:18
Speaker 1: Pete crow Armstrong? And not simply because he received a
21:21
Speaker 1: six year, one hundred and fifteen million dollar extension. That
21:24
Speaker 1: of course is a great accomplishment for any player. But
21:27
Speaker 1: what I like most about this is the structure of
21:30
Speaker 1: the deal. He signed no club options. He becomes a
21:33
Speaker 1: free agent after his age thirty season, so he will
21:37
Speaker 1: get another bite of the apple, presumably if his career
21:40
Speaker 1: progresses in a good way, and that to me was
21:44
Speaker 1: a big win for crow Armstrong. Obviously it's great for
21:46
Speaker 1: the Cubs too. They buy out two free agent years
21:49
Speaker 1: at thirty million a year, which is no small sum.
21:51
Speaker 1: But for crow Armstrong to be able to come into
21:55
Speaker 1: the game the way he has make the impact he has,
21:58
Speaker 1: sign this deal and then become a free agent after
22:01
Speaker 1: his age thirty season, good for him.
22:03
Speaker 2: It seems like a win win for both sides. My
22:06
Speaker 2: dude of the week is a Skip Schumacher, the skipper
22:09
Speaker 2: of the Texas Rangers, the way that he went to
22:12
Speaker 2: the mound a mound visit, telling Carter Bombler that he
22:16
Speaker 2: had made the Rangers. And you know, he's probably going
22:18
Speaker 2: out there thinking always coming to take me out of
22:20
Speaker 2: the game or whatever. And you could just see the
22:22
Speaker 2: excitement on everybody's face. Everyone's smiling. Obviously he was a rual,
22:26
Speaker 2: you know, a rule five pick there and he's made
22:29
Speaker 2: the Rangers. I texted Skip after that, I said, you
22:32
Speaker 2: are a legend for this, and all he said was
22:34
Speaker 2: that he's super happy for the kid. That was a
22:36
Speaker 2: really nice way for him to find out that he
22:38
Speaker 2: made the team. Okay, time now for our dork of
22:42
Speaker 2: the week. All right, Ken, go ahead, who's your dork?
22:53
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball? Now it's not going to be a
22:56
Speaker 1: screaming hallet like a bansheet dork week because this is
23:01
Speaker 1: a complicated issue. But the story that Evandrellik and I
23:03
Speaker 1: wrote the other day about the coaches having to stay
23:07
Speaker 1: in the coaches boxes this year, new adjustment to the
23:10
Speaker 1: rules and them fearing that they're in harm's way, now,
23:13
Speaker 1: this is a complicated issue. As I just said, major
23:16
Speaker 1: League Baseball wanted to do something after there were a
23:18
Speaker 1: lot of complaints last year and a lot of issues
23:21
Speaker 1: with coaches wandering out of the boxes and trying to
23:24
Speaker 1: pick up pitchers tipping. Okay, that's a problem, and yes
23:28
Speaker 1: it needed to be addressed. In my view, what happened
23:32
Speaker 1: here was they went too far and they didn't consult
23:36
Speaker 1: the coaches. They talked to the managers, and the managers said, yeah,
23:39
Speaker 1: clean this up. But the coaches are the ones who
23:42
Speaker 1: are facing one hundred and ten hundred and fifteen miles
23:44
Speaker 1: per hour coming out them in the coaches boxes. And
23:47
Speaker 1: we had in that story any number of coaches on
23:51
Speaker 1: the record as well as some managers saying, hey, what
23:53
Speaker 1: are we doing here? We have no place to go,
23:55
Speaker 1: we have no place to hide. MLB says, well, you
23:58
Speaker 1: can move back toward the dugout to stay out of
24:01
Speaker 1: harm's way that way, but one coach pointed out, well,
24:03
Speaker 1: that's not really staying out of harm's way. And two,
24:06
Speaker 1: I've got a coach that's the whole point of this.
24:09
Speaker 1: So a mild dork of the week for MLB for
24:12
Speaker 1: not consulting the coaches and not coming up with a
24:16
Speaker 1: better solution. That is kind of something that would fix
24:21
Speaker 1: all of this if possible. I know it's hard and
24:23
Speaker 1: it's hard to figure this all out, but it seems
24:26
Speaker 1: to me there's a happy medium that was not reached here.
24:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeremy Meyer pointing out that first page, coach has
24:32
Speaker 2: to be next to the bag too to time the
24:34
Speaker 2: pitcher ken and obviously have the conversation with the folks
24:37
Speaker 2: that it impacts the most. Perhaps for a better solution,
24:40
Speaker 2: mine is the Atlanta Braves. And the reason I say
24:43
Speaker 2: that is there some good pitching still without a job.
24:46
Speaker 2: Lucas Giolito could use it, and the Braves rotation is
24:49
Speaker 2: in a bit of a flux right now. Can Chris Sale,
24:51
Speaker 2: Rinaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, Brace Elder Diddy or Fuenttez Jose Suarez.
24:56
Speaker 2: But they have a lot of really good arms on
24:57
Speaker 2: the il Joey Wentz, Spencer Star, Spencer, Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrup.
25:02
Speaker 2: I'm surprised that the Braves did not do more in
25:05
Speaker 2: terms of addressing the starting staff because of the injuries
25:10
Speaker 2: that they've had.
25:12
Speaker 1: It's very curious a lot, to say the least. I
25:14
Speaker 1: have not understood it. From the very beginning. They said
25:17
Speaker 1: that their number one priority was a starting pitcher going
25:19
Speaker 1: into the off season, never addressed it all. Right, let's
25:22
Speaker 1: shout out Twin City Territory, the new show in the
25:24
Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. My colleagues at the Athletic, Zach Pearce
25:27
Speaker 1: and Dan Hayes have your twins bases covered year round.
25:30
Speaker 1: Their first episode is out now. Subscribe on YouTube and
25:34
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to podcasts, welcome Twin Cities Territory.
25:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. I tell you what. The Foul Territory
25:40
Speaker 2: family is growing. Ken, let's talk a bit about the padres,
25:45
Speaker 2: some interested parties in the looming sale. Who's going to
25:48
Speaker 2: buy the pods?
25:50
Speaker 1: I'm not sure who's going to buy the Milana, but
25:52
Speaker 1: as I wrote with Dennis Lynn yesterday, they're going to
25:54
Speaker 1: go for a lot of money, and we wrote that
25:58
Speaker 1: people close to the process are telling us that it
26:00
Speaker 1: could be as high as three point five billion. Seemingly
26:03
Speaker 1: will be at least three billion. Now, it's complicated because
26:06
Speaker 1: when you have to factor in debt, the price isn't
26:09
Speaker 1: exactly always what the headline price is. But it's going
26:13
Speaker 1: to be big, it's going to be a record. So
26:15
Speaker 1: then the question becomes, Okay, well, how does this affect
26:19
Speaker 1: the negotiations because MLB teams and the owners seemingly are
26:23
Speaker 1: worried about their franchise values. That's why they want a
26:26
Speaker 1: salary cap to ensure their franchise values will be higher,
26:29
Speaker 1: and the padres MLB will argue, I would think are
26:34
Speaker 1: an outlier in some respects Now, they've clearly built their
26:37
Speaker 1: team up in a great way, and it showed what
26:40
Speaker 1: investment can do in a team. But there also are
26:43
Speaker 1: a California team. Most of the investors here or the
26:45
Speaker 1: potential investors, are California based, and not many California teams,
26:50
Speaker 1: if any, are going to come up for sale in the
26:52
Speaker 1: near future, so there's a pent up demand. But at
26:55
Speaker 1: the same time, while they might not be analogous to
26:58
Speaker 1: Cleveland's and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh's, it clearly shows the sport
27:03
Speaker 1: is healthy enough to command this price for this team.
27:06
Speaker 1: I know the Twins didn't do as well, and I
27:08
Speaker 1: know the Nationals didn't, but at the same time, it's
27:12
Speaker 1: going to create some interesting conversation. Let's put it that
27:14
Speaker 1: way as the CBA talks get going.
27:17
Speaker 2: Ken, as you know better than anybody, you wrote it.
27:18
Speaker 2: Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in twenty twenty
27:21
Speaker 2: for two point four to two billion. Multiple sources close
27:24
Speaker 2: to the process that a number north of three billion.
27:27
Speaker 2: Who would have thought that the Padres would be more
27:29
Speaker 2: valuable in terms of purchase price than the Mets.
27:33
Speaker 1: It's a credit to them, and it's a credit to
27:35
Speaker 1: what they've built there. And yes they've had to go
27:38
Speaker 1: backwards a little bit with a payroll. They might have
27:39
Speaker 1: gone too far. Okay, we all get that. But Peter Sidler,
27:43
Speaker 1: when he was alive, had a vision and they transformed
27:46
Speaker 1: that franchise into something much more than it was before.
27:49
Speaker 1: Now you can say Peter Sidler was willing to spend
27:52
Speaker 1: in a way and had to wherewithal to spend in
27:55
Speaker 1: a way that the Cleveland ownership couldn't and the Cincinnati
27:58
Speaker 1: ownership couldn't. Well, Cleveland's got new ownership, David Blitzer at
28:01
Speaker 1: some point is going to take over, and maybe you
28:04
Speaker 1: need new owners like Peter Sidler. Even though these markets
28:07
Speaker 1: might not be as lucrative as San Diego, this certainly
28:10
Speaker 1: has been an argument they can spend in a bigger way.
28:13
Speaker 2: Well, Peter Sidler wanted to win, that's for certain. God
28:16
Speaker 2: rest his soul. Well, That's it for us. Foul Territory
28:18
Speaker 2: is next Bob Nightingale, Kevin Pullar, Ryan Divis, joined Aj
28:22
Speaker 2: Kratz and Scott Braun. Then Dodgers Territory follows with our
28:26
Speaker 2: post game tonight. Happy Opening Day, everybody, ken. We'll be
28:29
Speaker 2: back on Monday with another episode of Fair Territory.
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