Latest / The Craig Way Show / PCA's MVP Case, Dodgers' Shohei Dilemma, and MLB Division Races with Gene Watson

Transcript

PCA's MVP Case, Dodgers' Shohei Dilemma, and MLB Division Races with Gene Watson · The Craig Way Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Okay, we continue here on a Thursday afternoon.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Obviously the advent of the college football season. We've had
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of conversation. We've heard from Longhorn's head coach,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Steve Sarkeesian. We'll hear more from Sarkeesian. Coming up, a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: lot of football talk, high school football, college football, all
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. But we are now into September,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: which means the home stretch, just 20-some-odd games remaining for
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: each of the major league clubs. And that includes the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox. They have a big series going on
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: in Houston. They're going for a split of the four-game
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: set playing this afternoon. And our good friend, our MLB
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: insider from the White Sox front office, Gene Watson, joins us.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: right now for our MLB segment.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Do you get.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: The feeling, I know what a big football fan you are,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and you played football, and I know what it means
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to you, and I also know what a big fan
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: you are of Texas and of Notre Dame, obviously, but
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: do you get the September pennant race feeling right now,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: especially since your ball club's right in the thick of
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: the fight?
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: You kind of do. Yeah, Craig, thanks for having me.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: You kind of do because right now we're in a
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: battle with a first place club. And last night absolutely
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: felt like an October playoff game. It was high intensity,
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: little things on the base pads, key pitching. Great defensive plays. So, yeah,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: it feels a little bit more when it cools off. But, yes,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: you can definitely feel it. And every game is so
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: important right now.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I've been asking you at different mileposts along the way
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: for your thoughts on your ball club, which is clearly,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in terms of team baseball, the story of the year
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: in Major League Baseball, where you've, you know, two years
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: removed from 121 losses, turn it around. and still leading
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the division by three games over the Guardians going into
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: today's contests. And I've asked you for different, your thoughts
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: as it has evolved. Do you have the feeling now,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: here you are in September, with the White Sox up
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: three games going into today's action, that you have a legitimate,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: post-season team that might be able to do some damage?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Because when I've asked you this earlier and you said,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: I think we can get there, we're going to find
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: out as it goes forward. Well, here we are now
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: on September 3rd. How about your updated feeling on your
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: ball club?
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: You know, the unique thing about what I do is
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: I'll be with the club probably once a month, either
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: in Chicago or on the road. And You come out
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: in April and you get a feel for, hey, this team,
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: they play well together.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: They like each other. They enjoy playing the game together.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: And then you leave and you come back in three
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: weeks and, hey, we've kind of had a surprising result.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: And this thing, that might be something.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: And then you leave and you come back in five
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: weeks and it's like, hey, this thing's really good.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: If we can inject some energy into it, we got
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: a chance.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: And so because I'm in such a unique situation of
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: not always being with the team, And then coming back,
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: you kind of get a gauge and a temperature of,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: do we really think we can do this? And without question,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: this is a team that believes they can do it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: This team and the attitude that they have right now
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: and the focus that they're showing. And really, your job
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: as a front office is to not interrupt that focus.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Kind of stay out of the way and let them
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: do their thing and go play and be natural on
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: the field. And so, yes, without question, through all the
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: checkpoints of the season, this is certainly a team that's
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: capable of playing in October.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: I want to keep it in the American League. Like
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you said, you've had a good look clearly at the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Astros who are leading the American League West. But having
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: said that, this is a team that is leading a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: race that you said is probably going to go down
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: to the final week, if not the final day. They're
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: up two on the Rangers. They're up five on the
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Mariners right now. And they won six of their last
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: ten going into today. The Rangers five and five and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the Mariners four and six. I get the feeling that
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: this thing is going to go to the wire. And
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I asked you a week ago if it was possible
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: that a sub-500 team could win the division. You said possible,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: but you were expecting a team to have a winning
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: record to win this division. So clearly the Astros have
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: done nothing to change your mind on that. How about
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: your thoughts overall on the AL West?
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Well, Carlos Correa is close.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: And when he gets back, that's going to be a
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: huge lift to the team, not only from a presence standpoint,
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: but the experience he's got in October. And, you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Jordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena are two of the best
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: players in baseball. And they've got really good pitching. Hayden
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Wisniewski's gone seven innings. He went seven innings last night.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: He's the only one that's gone seven innings since late July.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: So the rotation could use a little stability. But Amai
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: came in and threw very well out of the bullpen
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: the other night. But they've got a really solid bullpen.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: You talk about A.J. Blueball and Josh Hader. So this
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: is a team that is coming together. They've got a
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: really difficult schedule coming up when you talk about playing
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Tampa Bay and the Phillies and others.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: So they're going to have a real grind. And this
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: is definitely going down to the final weekend of the
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: season in the American West.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: With regard to the Rangers, and they were right there,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: they had a chance to tie, and they were one back.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: They're two back right now.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Jacob deGrom is certainly pitching well, but some of the
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: other guys have not pitched quite as well for the Rangers,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: at least in the starting rotation.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Is that one of the things you see?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: They went through a bad hitting slump for a while,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but they seem to be swinging the bat a little
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: bit better now.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: How about your thoughts on the Rangers?
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and when you have that, when you have the
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Belcal starter like they do, and then everybody else is
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: kind of just getting by, you've got to manage that,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: especially down the stretch to where you may have some
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: of your rotation guys instead of pitching on their side days,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: they may come in a leverage situation in the middle
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: of the game. And you've got to really, as this
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: becomes more critical, if you're not getting the length or
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: the impact that you want from the back of the rotation,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: it really becomes all hands on deck at any time
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: because the most important thing is that you get in.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: And so if you don't have.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: It from your system calling it up to help, you've
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: got to really be creative in the way you manage it.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Using openers early in the game, on your pin days,
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: your guys coming out and throwing that inning out of
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the bullpen and really hopeful for the best results to
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: get you to October.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Cal Raleigh's starting to swing the bat better now after
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: having that long slump and being injured and all of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: those things. The Mariners are trying to mount this late
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: charge here. And they're, you know, in the wild card picture,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: they're only a total of four and a half back
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: of Cleveland right now for that third wild card spot.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And you have the Rangers, the Orioles, the Blue Jays,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: And the Twins, and you said keep an eye on
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the Blue Jays, are starting to get it turned around here.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: And then the Twins are just kind of hanging around
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: and hanging around there as well.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: How about that wild card setup?
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: You can start with the Mariners, but also the Orioles, Jays, Twins,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and even the Tigers to a lesser extent, still with
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a shot along with the Rangers to try to grab
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that third wild card spot.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I think your.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: Mindset is you want to every series saying let's win
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: the series. If it's a four game, let's split the series.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: And the team that gets hot and wins five, six,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: seven or oh, I mean, look at the Royals did
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: right now. But but the team that can win five
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: or six or seven in a row has a chance
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: to create a little separation. What you really want to avoid.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: this time of year is the five game losing streak.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: And then that's the one that could be, that can
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: really push you back because it's not, it doesn't become
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: in about a week. It doesn't become the number of
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: games out. It becomes the number of teams in front
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: of you because somebody is going to win every night.
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: And so it's going to be really difficult if you
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: fall three or four games back to catch up, because
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: if you have three or four teams in front of you,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: two of them are going to win every night.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: So that's where.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: You want to try to win every series and, You
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: want to try to split the four-game series. But if
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: you could just go on that six, seven-game win streak,
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: that would be the best-case scenario for any one of
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: these teams that are pushing here at the end.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Talking baseball with Gene Watson, our MLB insider from the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox front office here on 1300 The Zone.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Let me shift to the National League.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: You've been talking about these two teams when I've asked
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: you about the teams that could be dangerous. And you've
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: mentioned two teams, and they happen to be from the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: same division, Braves and Phillies. And they're both hot right now.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Atlanta's won eight of 10. Phillies have won seven of 10.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I think they're coming up on a stretch where they're
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: going to face each other, what, seven times over a
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: 10-day or 12-day span, that sort of thing. And then,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of course, the Phillies right there, even though they're four
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: back of Atlanta in terms of the National League East standings,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the Phillies obviously would be leading the wildcard chase right now.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: How about your thoughts on that National League East as
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: they start to head to those crucial series in Atlanta
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: and Philadelphia?
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: If you love the game of baseball, I would recommend
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: watching all seven of those games because it is going
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: to be high drama and probably a preview of what
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: it's going to look like in October. I don't think
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: there's a chance they don't meet again in October. So
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: there's going to be some great storylines going into the season.
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: You know, the Phillies have super high expectations based on their.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Last few years.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: And Atlanta really has high expectations because, you know, this
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: is the first time they've been really healthy and playing
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: on all cylinders and in a very long time and
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: this is a team that's not very far removed from
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: a world championship and they've got a super talented roster
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: so that seven game series is going to be high
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: drama probably a preview of what we're going to see
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: in october and where i felt like it was probably
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: lock stock and barrel that the dodgers were the the
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: lockdown favorite i think one of these teams that can
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: come out of that race battle tested is just going
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: to have a little more edge.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: And that's something that there's going to have a page
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: into october.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: And one would imagine the brewers as well since they
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: have the best record overall in baseball right now but
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and as i transition into the national league central here's
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: where i'm going with this uh the cubs have dropped
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: six of their last ten, and they're nine back of Milwaukee. However,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: they're in firm position for the second wild card spot.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Here's where I'm going with this, Gino.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Because of the slump and lingering injuries, I think, and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: more on that in a moment on Shohei Ohtani, and
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: because of the tear that Pete Crow Armstrong has been on,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: is it safe to say now PCA is going to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: be the National League MVP?
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: I think you have a strong case for it. And
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: I think if anybody's ever going to try to dethrone Shohei,
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I think this.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Is the year.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: And just the attention that he has brought to the
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: National League and just the big moments that he's had
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: throughout the season, I think that you have to give
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: him strong consideration for it.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: And with regard to Shohei, I thought this was a
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: pretty interesting thing. Dave Roberts, after the game last night,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: and I watched the game, and Otani went 0 for 4,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and he struck out all four times, and of late since,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I think it's since July 3rd, or since the All-Star break,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: he's batting just 237 right now, and is really struggling
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: at the plate. But Dave Roberts noted that you can
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: tell he's ailing, that maybe the elbow's bothering him, the
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: knee is definitely bothering him. It was two months ago today,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the last time he pitched, and there's a decent chance
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: maybe we don't see him again on the mound at
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: all this season, or at least not until October.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's affecting his hitting as well. As a manager.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: If you were thinking about this, and Roberts says it's
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: one thing they have to consider about giving him a
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: day off or so, especially now that they've got Will
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Smith back in the lineup. How difficult a decision is
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that as a manager when you have, obviously, a bona
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: fide superstar and a three-time MVP who you can clearly
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: tell is not 100% even though he wants to be
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: out there every night?
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and this is where the wear and tear of
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: October over a number of years can take its toll.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: We talked about 22 extra games yesterday. over the last
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: two years. And that may not seem like a big number,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: but that's a significant number. And so, you're talking about
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: that wear and tear. And I think that what you
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: really wanna do is keep the positivity to the mental
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: side of it and just let him know, look, we're
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: gonna manage this down the stretch. You know, you may
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: not play a day game after a night game. You
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: may get an off day into.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: An off day or two days fully off.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: But, you know, teams like the Dodgers, and I say
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: this all the time, I mean, the Phillies and the
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: Braves and the Brewers, they're hungry and they've got things
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: that they want to accomplish and they all believe that
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: they can win the National League. The teams like the Dodgers,
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: they know they're in, they know who they are as
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: an organization, they know what's on the line as far
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: as being the next team beyond the Yankees from 98-01
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: to win a World Series.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: And they know that when it cools down and.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: October gets here, that they're going to be ready to go.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: It's just getting him healthy, and they'll certainly have something
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: to manage to do that for him.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Whether it's the Braves or even the Phillies or the Dodgers,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: how crucial is it to get that first round by,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: to be the number two seed. It looks like Milwaukee's
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: clearly gonna be the one seed with the way the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Brewers are going right now. But how important is it
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to get that first round by? Because I've seen it
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: work both ways for the Dodgers. When they got the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: bye and won the World Series, when they had to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: come through as the three seed last year and play
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: in that wild card round as well, some teams get
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: hotter going through that. Obviously, when you were with the Marlins,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: being a wild card made a difference. The Rangers coming
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: through the wild card, wind up winning the World Series.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: How crucial is it, especially for veteran ball clubs, to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: have that first-round buy?
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: I don't think it is at all, and you know
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: what I'm going to say. I hate it. There's two
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: things that I hate. I hate clinching.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: September 20th and cruising into the end of the season,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: and I hate having to buy because you can't turn
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: this off and turn it back on, and I would
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: rather have to grind through every day and give guys—
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: you know, easy starts and easy relief innings and give
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: guys that bats and use your bench and get guys
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: comfortable and get set up to play rather than for instance, the, uh, the,
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: the Phillies and Braves in a mental dog fight for
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: seven games. And now they have the edge and you've
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: been sitting around for five days.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: I don't love it at all.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: I think you got it with this game. There's a
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: rhythm to it and you got to play every day. And,
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: and I'm for fighting through and grinding through playing every
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: day and sitting and resting any day of the week.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: He's Gene Watson, our MLB insider from the Chicago White
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Sox front office. Gino, I appreciate the time, and we'll
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: talk again next week as we get closer and closer
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: to pennant race time.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: All right, Craig, appreciate you. Thanks so much.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: All right, that is Gene Watson, our MLB insider.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: We have more coming up here on this Thursday afternoon
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: on Sports Radio AM 13 under the zone on the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app.