Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / MLB Talk with Matt Snyder, Alec Busse on the Cyclones & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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MLB Talk with Matt Snyder, Alec Busse on the Cyclones & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Our number 2, Miller and Condon, welcome back.
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Iowa Sports Radio Network. Trent, Ken with you for another
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hour. The drive coming up top of the
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hour. It's Lucas and Sean in today
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from 2:00 until 5:00 with overtime Iowa to follow with
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that point from 5:00 until 6. Alec Bussey coming up on Iowa
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State. Let's talk some baseball.
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Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com, Matt Trenton, Ken, thank you for
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coming on. A lot of ground to cover with
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you. Look forward to talking some
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baseball. I guess we got to start with the
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trade, right? That seemingly caught everybody
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flat footed. I love when these things happen.
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The Donchitz trade was seemingly came out of nowhere when it
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comes to the NBA. But all of these big name
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colleagues of yours that cover the sport for the four letter
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network, et cetera, nobody had this on their radar particularly
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happening in the middle of June, Not surprised that it happened,
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but maybe the timing this the biggest surprise of all, Matt.
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Yeah, and apparently not even the front offices knew it was
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happening until over the weekend, like a lot of reports
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are. That is some point Saturday.
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Buster Posey just left. Everybody else, he, he was
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around and was behind closed doors for a while.
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So it seems like it just started coming together Saturday.
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And then the question becomes, if you're the Red Sox, why
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didn't you shop this a little more?
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Even if he was going to end up on the Red Sox or even if Devers
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was going to end up on the Giants in the end.
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Maybe you get a better offer. I don't know.
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Maybe they didn't think anybody else will take on all the money
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in the second, that Posey was good with taking on all the
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money and sending them back a pass package centered around
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Kyle Harrison. Maybe they thought, you know
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what? Why bother to drag this out?
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It's just, it's interesting timing for me with the Red Sox
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because Bregman's hurt and I know that Devers doesn't play
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third anymore. But you're just now the middle
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of their lineup has a big void and they're just finally have
1:54
momentum for the first time this year.
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They've won seven out of 85500 against the Yankees.
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They're 1/2 game out of wild card, 1/2 game and they just
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traded their best player and got no offensive help back.
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Yeah, that's a little baffling. Would he put it that way?
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And they got some pitching help, but that is it.
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He was a headache. He didn't want to move from
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third base. Did you hear how deep it was?
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I mean, was, is this, is it a daily occurrence?
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Is it something that was just simmering under the surface
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throughout the course of the season and, and it became
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untenable when we dig deeper outside of the XS and OS between
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the lines, that kind of thing. What do we know personality wise
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and how bad maybe it was in that clubhouse?
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And the clubhouse, the best I heard was that it wasn't
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anything that the players couldn't play through.
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It was just a kind of thing where, hey, that's just Raffi
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being Raffi. And maybe they wish that he
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would have just played first when asked, but other than that,
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they liked the fact that he was a good player.
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Anytime you have a teammate who's a good player, even if you
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don't care about the care for the personality, you'll usually
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accept him because he's a great player.
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And that's the general vibe that I got.
2:57
But the disconnect was truly between Devers and the front
3:01
office and even looping in ownership to the point where it
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was like, you know what, get this guy out of here and
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especially if you can get rid of the money, then we will deal
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with how to reallocate those funds later.
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We'll deal with how to make up the offense later.
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I don't know if the next plan once Bregman comes back from
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injury will be let's try to re up brags here.
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My hunch is that that would be the situation kind of rework
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Bregman's contract so he doesn't opt out.
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You know, something like that. But they've got a bunch of kids
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too. Maybe it's let's sort this thing
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out with the kids when Bregman comes back as a veteran leader.
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And remember, when Bregman signed, he was the one who said
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all the right things. He said I'll go wherever, I
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don't care, I'll do whatever. And he's the better defender at
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3rd. Gold Glover You know what?
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If you're a Cubs fan, I think you got to be a little bit
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worried because I think this potentially brings a new suitor
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into the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes at the end of the year because
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Boston's got all this money. So let's talk about the Giants,
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where he ends up. I mean, Matt Chapman is a Gold
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Glove third baseman in his own right.
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He's going to play DHI would think.
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But Wilmer Flores was off to a phenomenal start.
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I mean, maybe, maybe that makes Flores on on the trading block.
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What's he going to do? Devers is ADH at best in San
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Fran, right? Well, all of a sudden now this
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morning his comments came out and said I'll play first base or
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wherever they want to play. So I think that and now that
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he's freed from the shackles of the Red Sox management, I I
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think that he will probably just say I'll play first.
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And the Giants at first base this year are hitting 2O2 with a
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3035 plugging percentage. So they definitely could use a
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bat at first base. This is a middle order bat that
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they've been dying to get for years.
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Remember, they were after Aaron Judge very, very hard.
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They were after Carlos Correas them they were you'd hear their
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name in Juan Soto, even though we knew they're going to get
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outbid, same thing and show hey or tiny, neither going to get
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up. But they just wanted a obviously
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this is a really high bar. But you know, going back to when
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they had Barry Bonds, they want a game changer in the middle of
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the order and obviously not the level of Bonds, but Devers is a
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difference maker in the middle of that order.
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Now the park shift from Fenway to Oracle Park is going to hurt
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his numbers 100%. But on base percentage travels
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everywhere. His batting average, his bat
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skills will travel everywhere and there are places and then NL
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W to hit such as Chase Field and Coors Field.
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So it's not like he's going to be in Oracle Park every single
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day. So I, I think this is a good
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move for the Giants. They have spent a ton of money
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since Buster Posey got involved between the Matt Chapman
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extension, the Willie Adamas signing and now this trade.
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But they have the money. So I think it's refreshing to
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see if front office exec get in there and say, I don't care what
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it costs, we're going to go out, we're going to try to win.
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And I don't think it's a coincidence that it's a former
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player, a former World Series champion, a former MVP, who is
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the guy doing it and saying screw the money, I just want to
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win. For the first time in 22 months,
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we'll see Shohei Otani on the mound tonight going to be used,
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I think, Robert said as anticipate an opener not going
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to be a real deep one here for Otani, but kept the game plan
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going forward. All systems go, building him
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back up, coming off Tommy John. There's still a lot of questions
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here. What are your expectations for
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Shohei on the mound? Well, it's such an interesting
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situation because coming off a major surgery like that, you get
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a slow build most of the time in a minor league rehab assignment.
6:32
But the Dodgers need is bat in the lineup and no other pitcher
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has this type of situation. But he's worked up the three
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innings and stimulated sessions, 44 pitches and stimulated
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session. Even if they only want him to go
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3 innings or something like that, they can do that again
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because they're not burning the roster spot on him as a pitcher.
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He's already on the roster as it's the 8th.
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So it's like adding an extra pitcher without having to pay
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for the roster spot there. So it's just bonus it's or as
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Dave Roberts said yesterday, it's additive.
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Even if he goes just three innings tonight, it's not like
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you brought a starter up for the minors and only got 3 innings
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out of him. Now you don't have a roster
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spot. You know, that's not that big of
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a deal. They just added him to the
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pitching staff without having to pay a roster spot for it.
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I I think it's gonna be probably about 3 innings tonight.
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And then they'll go really, really slow, Almost painfully
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slow. It won't be a normal build.
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It'll be 3 innings the first 3 or 4 times and everybody will be
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frustrated. Like why isn't he going 5 yet?
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It's just the way the Dodgers do things with him and other guys.
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So I think it'll be an almost painfully, annoyingly slow
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build. And the goal is by the end of
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this year, he'll be a full ghost starter because they're
7:44
expecting to be in the playoffs and it looks like they're going
7:46
to need those because they said they can't count on Rokie
7:49
Suzaki. You've got Glass now and still
7:52
Snell dealing with shoulder injuries.
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Those are always tricky. You've got consulate back on the
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aisle with an elbow injury after coming off Tommy John.
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So they're going to have to piece this thing together.
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You don't know how long Clayton Kershaw is going to hold up.
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It's Yamamoto Otani, maybe Casparius, who's been very, very
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good this year in his work, but they're just trying to piece
8:11
together who the rotation is going to be in October.
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Yeah, I can't trust dust in me. I saw.
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I saw glass now playing some long toss finally.
8:18
So we'll see. Hey, the Cardinals they've lost
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7 and of eight not going the right way.
8:25
Obviously I did like the fact that there seeming was a little
8:27
bit of hate between the Brewers and the Cardinals this weekend
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about that like that about them. But here they get the they go to
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the South side of Chicago for three.
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Then, since he before the Cubs come in a week from today, the
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first of four in Saint Louis. Where where are you on the
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Cardinals? Is this the real Cardinals that
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we're seeing now that, you know, maybe a little bit of fool's
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gold early in the month of May that that they were due to come,
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come back to reality? Probably.
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I mean, I honestly, I would loop in the entire season and say
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this is who the Cardinals are in that maybe a little bit above
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500 team that you're going to see ads and flows and they're
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just going to be very inconsistent.
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They'll get hot at times, but then they'll get cold at times.
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Give it right back. So I think that the whole entire
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sample probably is representative of what we're
9:18
going to get this year. Just never really thought they
9:20
were good enough to keep up with the Cubs.
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But then again, I thought, oh, is that just me being Cubs bias,
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which also carries a small anti Cardinals bias as well.
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So I didn't want to go that nuts with it.
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You know, I try to be self aware there, but I still, when you
9:33
were looking at that talent, it was like, OK, they're they're
9:35
OK. They're not bad, but man, I
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don't know if they should be this good.
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So kind of felt like maybe that was around the corner.
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It is, I'm sure very frustrating from the Cardinals in that by
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the time they even get a chance at the Cubs, they might be what,
9:49
7-8 back of the Cubs? Dude, they were down a game a
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couple weeks ago. They're only down one game.
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Another thing that I'm glad you mentioned, the hate between them
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is it's been funny to me for a while that when Wilson Contreras
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was on the Cubs, he seems to absolutely hate the Brewers.
10:07
And it seems like he still has that.
10:09
But the funny wrinkle is that his brother plays for the
10:11
Brewers. So like when you're talking
10:14
about are they going to hit Wilson Contreras on purpose?
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Like it doesn't feel like it because it's his brother behind
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the plate. But it did get hit by a pitch,
10:20
the ending after Reese Hoskins got hit.
10:23
So it's fun all over the place there.
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Help me out with this this rookie pitcher, Mizuwoski.
10:28
How do we say his name? I mean, he throws up, he throws
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some gas, looks like. Was this, is this the gem of the
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Brewers system that's now part of the rotation?
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He was their. Top pitching prospect.
10:40
He was their top pitching prospect heading into the
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season. He's wild thing man.
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His his strikeout rate and what you saw in that first adding was
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pretty representative of his minor league resume.
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It was really high strikeouts, really high walk rate, very few
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hits, and sure enough, it was 5 innings with zero hits allowed.
11:00
But four walks in the five strikeouts, 6 foot 7 hasn't
11:04
really harnessed his control. It may be, obviously you can't
11:08
say he's going to be this good, but the prototype is like a
11:10
Randy Johnson type when Johnson first came up, I.
11:13
Remember that it almost looked like.
11:14
Hey, this kid isn't going to make it.
11:17
He has a rocket for an arm, but he can't throw strikes.
11:19
And it took him until early 30s really until he harnessed it and
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then he was obviously one of the best pitchers of all time after
11:25
that. Not going to put this kind of
11:27
ceiling on Misrasking, nor should anybody on any pitcher.
11:30
But like I said, Randy Johnson when he first came up, this 6-7
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anomaly that throws hard as great stuff, but he just can't
11:37
throw it consistently for strike.
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To the American League Central. My team's terrible.
11:42
The Guardians are struggling. News on your team.
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He's back on the IL. Absolutely.
11:46
But I want to go to Kansas City where this team offensively,
11:50
Bobby Witt has not been hitting now.
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And when he's not hitting, they don't have anything else.
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This team, I mean, stick a fork of him.
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Are they done? I I know they've done some
12:00
things and they brought in one of the top prospects and hoping
12:02
that, you know, maybe they're going to get something out of
12:04
Caglione out after that first game.
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He's got one RBI. Are they just that bad
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offensively that there's no hope of even getting back in the wild
12:11
card race? I still think that there's a
12:14
chance, let's say in the second-half that Bobby Witt
12:17
junior becomes the Bobby Witt junior of last year, that
12:19
Salvaro Perez goes on like a home run spree, that Benny
12:23
Pasquantino gets a lot more above average than he said so
12:26
far. And Caglione kind of gets it
12:28
figured out at the Major League level.
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And all of a sudden you have 4 above average hitters with
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varying, you know, what with the varying degree of skills there.
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And then maybe you get something from Jonathan India in terms of
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getting on base. The pitching staff is good
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enough that they're they can make a run at a wild card spot
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and they're only three out right now, which the American League
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is the wild card race in the American League.
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I mean, the Twins and Red Sox are only 1/2 game out.
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The Guardians only game out, the Rangers only game out.
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There's just so many problems with all of those teams.
13:02
It's it's wide open. So I I would never stick a fork
13:05
in them at this point. But like in addition to that,
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I've liked the pitching staff so much so far this year, But a lot
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of that was predicated on thinking Cole Reagan was going
13:14
to throw like his young level pitcher and he's been bad.
13:17
And now at the rotator cuff, it looks like, I mean, long term
13:21
and he might even be out this whole season.
13:23
So yeah, they definitely have problems.
13:25
But again, AL wild card, it is wide open, man.
13:29
I mean, you've got the Rays and the Blue Jays in the top 2 wild
13:31
card spots right now, the mayors and the 3rd, and we know how bad
13:34
the Mariners were for three weeks until waking up over the
13:38
weekend. Now they're sitting in a playoff
13:39
spot. I want to ask you about, since
13:42
we're in the American League, the Houston Astros, I guess I
13:44
never realized the distance that they've put between themselves
13:48
and the second place team in their division.
13:50
A spot has got to be get, I would think manager of the year
13:54
votes coming his way. I know it's not the end of the
13:56
year yet, but the Astros, I didn't see this one coming.
13:59
I'll be honest, Matt. Yeah, I well, it's either Espada
14:04
or AJ Hinch. Look at the Tigers with a nine
14:07
game lead right now. The central, everybody thought
14:09
it was going to be like a four-game lead.
14:11
It is a testament to Espada because if you look at the
14:14
Astros lineup right now, especially because Jordan
14:17
Alvarez has been injured and when he's been in the lineup, he
14:20
hasn't really hit. And that's just not a scary
14:23
Astros lineup like we grew accustomed to seeing for so
14:26
long. You have to give credit to
14:28
Jeremy Pena, who was like an All Star, if not a non Aaron Judge
14:32
category MVP caliber type player.
14:36
They're getting an awful lot out of the lineup compared to the
14:39
talent level. They're getting a ton out of the
14:41
pitching staff compared to what you thought was a talent level.
14:44
A good way to to try to give a manager credit is to look at the
14:47
bullpen and see. And their bullpen is
14:50
exceptional, just exceptional right now, which means you have
14:53
to give him credit on how he's pulling those levers.
14:56
So yeah, he's doing a great job and it happened really, really
14:59
fast. The those got hot right at the
15:02
right time when the Mariners completely fell apart and it
15:05
went from gosh, they were down four games a month ago, and now
15:09
they have a 4 1/2 game lead. That's a really, really quick
15:12
and huge turn around. So we were selling all our stock
15:15
in the Texas Rangers. All three of us were involved
15:17
before the season began. Here they come, seven out of
15:20
eight. They score 16, twice against my
15:22
crappy twins. And is it time to believe Evan
15:26
Carter? He's banged up, but he is
15:28
ripping the cover. Evan Carter stole only 22, which
15:30
is absolutely. It's absolutely incredible.
15:32
Yeah. Just how young that guy is.
15:35
Is it start to maybe reinvest in the Texas Rangers?
15:40
I, I don't know about the Division I, I still it's 5 1/2
15:43
games. The Astros seem like they're the
15:45
better and more consistent team. There's just so many ebbs and
15:47
flows with this Rangers team. They get so hot and then so
15:50
incredibly cold. A lot of the success that
15:53
they've had was on the pitching staff.
15:54
Tyler Molly just went to the injured list and it's a shoulder
15:57
injury, so that's definitely worrisome.
15:59
They're not going to see evolve the with a 1.560 IRA for much
16:03
longer. So they're they'll have some
16:04
regression in the rotation. But I do think there's hope on
16:07
the offense. Marcus Simeon is hot now and has
16:11
has become awakened, as has Adolis Garcia.
16:14
He's kind of awakened. Those are two guys that in
16:17
addition to the young guys, had such a bad start to the year.
16:20
And now, you know, there's probably more than tank for
16:23
Wyatt Langford as well, who's also only 23 years old.
16:27
Well, Carter's 22, if you get Corey, they're healthy.
16:31
Simeon and Garcia of a few years ago, Carter Langford taking
16:36
steps forward all of a sudden you do have a good offense
16:39
there. So, you know, we'll see.
16:41
And again, just to reiterate what I said when I was talking
16:44
about the Royals, and we could apply it to seven other teams on
16:47
the American League side. The divisions might be pretty
16:51
tough because it looks like it's going to be Yankees, Tigers and
16:53
Astros. But those three wild card spots,
16:56
we're going to be, we're going to see all kinds of jockeying
16:59
and changing of positions the rest of this year.
17:01
You're not counting anybody out. I definitely think the Rangers
17:03
could take one of those three spots.
17:06
All right, this is kind of a baseball question because they
17:08
show up in baseball broadcasts all the time.
17:10
But knowing that you live in Chicago, are Grillo's Pickles
17:14
really you think I see more advertising?
17:18
I mean, how much money can you make in Pickles?
17:21
Can you recoup whatever you're spending on ad buys on Martin?
17:26
Yeah, I feel it's almost every single commercial break.
17:28
Cubs game, sponsor everything. Best person to.
17:32
I'm not the best person to ask about that because I actually
17:34
don't like Pickles. I ask for no Pickles and take
17:37
them off of everything. Have you tried to grill out of?
17:39
Indianapolis. I don't live in Chicago and not
17:42
the greatest person, but yes, it is all over commercials.
17:47
Every single commercial break. Grillo's Pickles I I there must
17:52
be, you know, money to be made in in the pickle business.
17:55
Well, we haven't touched on the Cubs and.
17:57
We kind of did just there. Outside of Pickles.
18:00
So let's talk about the team now.
18:01
They're scuffling a bit offensively.
18:03
They're still winning games. I mean, is it just the ebbs and
18:06
flows of the season? Is that how you look at it or is
18:08
there anything deeper concerning?
18:11
No, I mean it's you do get frustrated and some of that was.
18:16
They face Terex. Google.
18:18
They face Zach Miller, they face Pulse games.
18:22
The Pirates actually pitched pretty well all weekend and the
18:25
weather was more conducive to low scoring games.
18:27
Like the wind was blowing in and it was a little bit colder than
18:31
you would expect for it being the middle of June.
18:33
And it's all kinds of things. And if if the team was losing
18:36
every game, I'd say, wow, those are just convenient excuses.
18:38
But you know, they still won for their last eight games despite
18:42
hardly scoring any runs. So the pitching is getting it
18:45
done. And it does lead you to believe.
18:47
Or maybe some of that is they're just in tougher hitter
18:50
environment and they're facing tough pitching as well.
18:54
We'll see because the rest of this home stand, Brewers and
18:58
Mariners, they're they're marginal pitching steps where
19:00
they could hold them down. But there's enough games in
19:03
Chicago. You would expect some of the
19:04
time, the weather, the, the weather would get a little bit
19:06
warmer and the wind would blow out a few more times.
19:09
We'll see. I, I, I, I'm inclined to believe
19:12
it's just the normal ebbs and flows in the offense.
19:14
We'll get back to hitting pretty soon.
19:16
You mentioned Zach Wheeler. The report came out over the
19:19
weekend that he plans to retire when his contract comes to an
19:22
end after the 2027 season. You buying it?
19:27
I, I don't know him well enough to know.
19:29
He seemed pretty adamant in there.
19:31
He in that article on The Athletic, he seemed very, very
19:33
adamant and he's been. Around a while, too.
19:36
Yeah, a lot of. Yeah, I think a lot of people
19:38
don't realize where he is age wise.
19:42
He's age 35 right now, so that would be at the end of the age
19:45
37 season. That's a very reasonable
19:48
retirement age. It does feel.
19:51
I agree with JT Realmuto that if he's still top 2 inside young at
19:55
the end of 2027, then and he maybe he'll want to keep going,
19:59
but he was pretty adamant he'll want to hang it up then and he
20:02
probably will start to regress a little bit.
20:05
I don't know about this year, next year, but by 2027, when
20:07
he's aged 37, he'll probably regress a little bit.
20:11
I'll buy it. For now, I'll take him at his
20:13
word. Just real quick on this, back to
20:15
the Cubs. Cubs bullpen this from Tony
20:17
Andraki from the Marquee flexing Pomerantz, their ERA 0.00
20:22
Palencia once 1.73 Field bar 1.75 Keller 2.16 Brazer 2.25
20:28
Cabrera 2.84 Brian Presley was pitching way better 3.54.
20:32
This bullpen, what we thought was a liability, has been lights
20:36
out. And and I want to say, remember
20:39
when the Cubs hired Craig Counsel, I said I always thought
20:43
when he was with the Brewers, he was the best in baseball at
20:46
managing that bullpen and figuring out who to put in at
20:48
what spot. You've got to think after how
20:51
much of A disaster the first four to six weeks of the season
20:54
was with that bullpen he started to get more comfortable with.
20:57
There's a lot of new personnel in here.
20:59
It is his second year with the Cubs.
21:00
But with all those names you threw in, there are a lot of new
21:03
guys. It's he's gotten a feel for him.
21:05
He's gotten a feel for when they were when they don't.
21:08
He's gotten a feel for him right now and it's it's working.
21:11
I'm off next Monday. I'll miss you.
21:14
Trent will be here. Well, Matt will be off too.
21:16
I'm off. Oh, you're off too.
21:17
Well, that works. Perfect.
21:18
We'll both enjoy. Matt Snyder, thanks for doing
21:21
this. Talk to you in a couple of
21:22
weeks, man. Appreciate it.
21:23
All right. Sounds good to.
21:24
Be here good to talk to you Matt Snyder CBSSports.com catching up
21:28
and talking a little MLB as we do each and every week well,
21:31
most most weeks. How about that comes bullpen?
21:34
Did you realize that I. Knew it was good.
21:36
Yeah, but that's video are not video.
21:38
That's evidence right there. I just got text grills.
21:41
Pickles are phenomenal. Are they?
21:43
Can you buy them here? I don't know.
21:44
Pickles are grills. I.
21:45
Know you don't like them? Yeah.
21:47
Awful. I like the hamburger dills.
21:49
OK. That's about my extent of the.
21:51
Pickle. If a pickle touches like a
21:53
burger, oh, you're out. It's out.
21:55
Yeah, for me it's an egg. What do you put an egg on?
21:57
A burger. Because eggs are delicious.
21:59
Oh God. Sick Miller and Condon.
22:01
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Alec Bussey.
22:03
Next on Iowa State. It's the Iowa Sports Radio
22:07
Network. I'm Miller Condon.
22:20
Welcome back. Just past 130 trends, plays of
22:23
the day still to come. Circus sports sponsor those top
22:26
of the hour of the drive today, Lucas and Sean take you until 5.
22:31
Overtime Iowa, 5 to 6. Let's talk some Iowa State Alec
22:34
Bussey. cyclonealert.com. Part of 24/7 sports.
22:38
He joins us. Hello, Alec Bussey, how are you?
22:41
Good guy, things have me on as always on a Monday afternoon.
22:44
Got to get to the gym this afternoon.
22:46
I also need to mow the grass before the rain comes.
22:49
Yeah, very important. Get that done because you you
22:52
can't have the neighbors start to talking.
22:55
I'm not sure where you live, but certainly they, you know, that
22:58
wouldn't be the first time Anyways, so let's get to the
23:02
yeah, not not used to good now HOA.
23:06
So the whole neighborhood gets done at the same time and it's
23:08
not by I don't have to lift a finger other than to write the
23:11
check, which is well worth it, especially when it snows because
23:16
that's included. Anyways, let's talk about TJ
23:18
Otzel Burger's team. They're underway.
23:21
The summer workouts. You're a piece today at
23:23
cyclealert.com. 5 questions. Which do you think is the
23:27
question that will linger maybe into the into the season?
23:32
Yeah, I think there's a couple for me.
23:34
They probably all relate to the backcourt.
23:36
I think the easy one to kind of go to is the injury status of
23:39
Eastern Washington transfer guard Mason Williams.
23:42
He played with various injuries a year ago for Eastern
23:44
Washington, including the back and the wrist injury.
23:48
It seems like those could potentially have maybe popped
23:50
back up here over the last several months.
23:53
And I think I would say it wants to get him through some sort of
23:55
medical testing here this week before they're able to determine
23:58
what his status could be moving forward.
24:00
Of course, if you him for an extended period of time, that
24:03
would be a major game to a backcourt that has to replace
24:06
two major contributors with Keyshawn Gilbert and Curtis
24:08
Jones, both the party that's probably 12 seasons.
24:11
I think you know, relative to that is probably who is the
24:14
secondary creator along Payman Lipsy and within as well.
24:19
I think it's important to remember that he kind of took a
24:23
seat offensively to the creating and offensive ability that
24:26
Gilbert and Jones had a year ago.
24:28
Gilbert and Jones led the team in scoring and Gilbert was the
24:32
team's top assist man and that led to team and Lips.
24:34
He's assist numbers falling below, you know, 4 assists a
24:37
game for the first time in his career.
24:39
He was at just 2.6 assists per game a season ago.
24:42
Obviously he battled some injuries, including the thumb
24:44
injury, but he just didn't have a tie of the usage rate as he
24:47
did previously in his career. So how does he step back into
24:50
that role of being the top head of Iowa State's offense in the
24:53
back court? And then who kind of steps into
24:55
that role? I think Dominic Nelson, the
24:57
transfer from Utah Valley, provide some value there,
25:00
especially with his ability to get to the rim, draw foul, see
25:03
someone who ranked in the top 25 nationally and foul rate and
25:06
free throw rate. That's certainly a trait that TJ
25:09
Alsenberger and Iowa State coaching staff will be really
25:12
excited about. So I think that those questions
25:14
are all kind of related. So we know veterans coming back,
25:18
we got transfer portal guys coming in.
25:20
What about the freshman class? When you look at that group, 4
25:22
different guys coming in, a Plato may be the most intriguing
25:25
because he's what, already 21 years old coming over from
25:28
Germany. Which of those guys do you
25:30
believe has the best chance of carving out a big role, which is
25:33
tough to crack? And no, TJ doesn't play a whole
25:35
lot of guys. Yeah, I would probably take
25:38
Plato as the guy just because I think that there's a there's the
25:41
most direct path to playing time for him.
25:44
I think you imagine Blake Buchanan and Eric Bolder both
25:47
playing the five for Iowa State. We know Joshua Jefferson
25:50
returning as one of the stars of the team will contribute quite a
25:52
bit at the four position, but behind Jefferson, I think that's
25:55
where Pluta fits in. I also think that Jefferson will
25:57
continue to get minutes at the five for this next season at
26:01
Iowa State, which when he's at the five, that should create an
26:03
opportunity for that to play the four next day.
26:07
I like Cleveland skill. I think coming from Europe, guys
26:10
naturally have a good understanding of how to go pass
26:12
and I think Pluta to that. I also think it's an agent
26:16
experience of being professional basketball will lead positive
26:20
contributions for Iowa State. If it's not, I would probably go
26:24
from the two freshman guards. To me, that's obviously Jamarian
26:27
Bateman, the top 50 national recruit coming into Iowa State
26:30
from Milwaukee. Really good shooter and on a
26:33
team that maybe have some question marks has proven
26:35
shooters outside of Milan, Mom Solovitch.
26:38
I think Bateman could create a role for himself there, but then
26:41
if if Nelson struggles or, you know, Williams isn't available
26:45
for Iowa State, I think you could see Killian Torre kind of
26:49
step into that secondary creator role for Iowa State.
26:52
He'll be just a freshman. He's from France originally, but
26:55
played his senior year of high school basketball at Brewster
26:58
Academy out there in the Northeast.
26:59
And that's a school that Iowa State has a good relationship
27:01
with. So I think there's a path to
27:03
playing time for those three. I think Damian Mitchell,
27:06
Wisconsin's Mr. Basketball from Oshkosh, N, put up a ton of
27:09
impressive numbers as a senior, but it's going to be hard for
27:12
him, I think, to weasel his way into a role at the four position
27:16
because of Jefferson and Pleaded being ahead of them.
27:19
And maybe, maybe he gets a chance at the three, but he's
27:23
not really a respected floor spacer at this point, his
27:26
development. So that would kind of hurt.
27:28
I would say it on the offensive side.
27:30
What does Milamont Chilovich need to do this year?
27:32
And he's been good, don't get me wrong.
27:34
But there's there's not a disappearing, but there's some
27:37
games that he's just not he doesn't have the impact that you
27:41
would like him to have. And this is me saying that's
27:43
this isn't, you know, anybody else.
27:45
I just see more non factors out of him when when this, you know,
27:50
when they when they really need him.
27:52
Does he have that other other, I guess, step to his game?
27:56
Has he got one more level that he can get to?
27:59
Yeah, this is something that I really kind of spent some time
28:02
pondering myself here over the last couple of months.
28:05
I guess since the season is concluded, you kind of think
28:08
back to where he was as a freshman.
28:10
He averaged 10.9 points a game as a sophomore is closer to 11
28:15
1/2 points a game. So his production as a scorer
28:17
was really similar and it was the same as a rebound.
28:19
I mean, 3.1 rebound I think it was as a freshman, slightly
28:23
more, maybe 3.3 to 3 1/2. As a sophomore.
28:26
His shooting numbers increased from about 36% from three I
28:29
think as a freshman to about 39 1/2 to 40% from three as a
28:34
sophomore. I think what you want to see
28:37
from him, Ken, as a sophomore is kind of the ability to not ride
28:42
the wave of shooting progression and shooting regression nearly
28:46
as much. I think the greatest example of
28:49
this is probably the NCAA tournament where he goes.
28:51
Four of eight. From three against Lipscomb and
28:54
then he comes out against Ole Miss in the round of 32 and he
28:57
goes just one of eight from three.
28:58
And that was probably one of his lesser performances from deep on
29:01
the year. But you think back to earlier in
29:03
the year, I remember he hit 47, I think it was against TCU.
29:07
And then the next day he comes out and he hits just one of five
29:11
on the road at UCF. Now, both of those are games
29:14
that I would say one, but you want to see him consistently
29:16
make I think 2:00 to 3:00 triples a game and maybe get rid
29:20
of the nights where he goes from six of nine like he had had
29:25
against Colorado in Maui to then missing three or four of his
29:32
five attempts, if that makes sense.
29:34
So I think just shooting consistency is something I think
29:37
I would say will also challenge him to be better on the glass.
29:39
I just think he's kind of limited there because he's not
29:42
the greatest athlete. Let's jump into football
29:46
recruiting over the weekend. 2 prospects and fair to say 2
29:50
under the radar guys. Not a bunch of big offers from
29:53
them. What can you tell us about the
29:54
two latest Cyclones? Yeah, both guys, Aji Boley of
29:59
Fuye and Bryson Wessel. We'll start with the Fuye just
30:02
because he was the first to commit here here yesterday.
30:05
A Fuye is someone that I was it was recruiting throughout the
30:07
spring, did it quietly. They invited him to campus for a
30:10
prospect camp here in the beginning of the month.
30:13
He was really impressive there with some of his athleticism,
30:15
his quickness, good feet, really strong hands, really impressed
30:20
Eli Rashid. That led to, I would say, an
30:21
offering from a scholarship and an invite to an official visit,
30:25
which he took this past weekend. He commits before leaving
30:28
campus. So that's obviously really
30:29
exciting for Iowa State and I think it's at a key position for
30:32
them on the defensive line where they're continually trying to
30:34
build that. That's a tough position to
30:37
recruit. And the next guy would be Bryson
30:40
Wessel. Similar kind of story under the
30:41
radar guy. Like you said, they are TC, but
30:45
Wessel is someone who, you know, was in camp for them a week ago
30:49
after visiting campus unofficially in the spring.
30:52
And he's probably going to play the three techniques for them on
30:54
the defensive line. And I think that that's an
30:57
important distinction to make because they walked on Jeremiah
31:00
Benson to the soda over the weekend and Benson previously
31:04
visited that state that first weekend of June.
31:06
So they're able to kind of fill that hole that Benson's
31:10
amendment to Minnesota left by bringing in Wessel 3 star
31:14
recruit leave for Jackson Gary Taxis class here in 26.
31:19
So the class, the 16 prospects and there's still a few chip
31:23
kids out there that they would certainly like to add.
31:26
Last thing for me, Speaking of recruiting, Evan Jacobson by his
31:30
own Twitter account X account seemingly enjoyed his stop at
31:34
South Bend. You know, just kind of reading
31:37
between the lines. Maybe I'm reading too much into
31:39
it. Alec.
31:39
It seemed like it went very well.
31:41
What does that do as far as you know?
31:43
Does that put them as the new leader in the clubhouse?
31:45
Have you got a feel for Evan Jacobson at all?
31:49
Yeah. I think Evan Jacobson is someone
31:50
who's going to take an official visit to Iowa State here
31:52
beginning tomorrow. That should be his last official
31:55
visit and I would expect him to decide between 4 schools, those
31:58
four schools in no particular order being Notre Dame, Iowa
32:01
State, Texas A&M, Stanford. I think those four schools have
32:05
done a really good job of presenting him in an enticing
32:09
plan for his development and enticing plan for his football
32:12
career. I have read in a past from our
32:15
27 site at Notre Dame that the address previously maybe
32:19
establish themselves as a favorite, but he didn't commit
32:22
to Notre Dame after his official visit.
32:24
We know his affection for I would say he grew up a Cyclone
32:27
fan, obviously a Waukee native that's only you know, 3545
32:31
minutes from AIDS to an easy drive for him and his family to
32:34
get to see him on Saturdays. I think I would say it will hope
32:37
to really impress him during his official visit here and
32:41
potentially land a blue chip prospect in the state's top
32:43
ranked player from Marquis. Watched his brother cut down the
32:47
Nets in Kansas City as part of a Hoiberg's team.
32:51
So we'll see where it goes. Was Hoiberg right?
32:53
Was that Hoiberg, was it prom? Anyways, he played it.
32:55
I was saying pretty sure was Hoiberg.
32:56
Nonetheless, he cut down the Nets.
32:58
Part of that one of those Big 12 championship teams.
33:02
Good stuff. Alec Bussey, what have you got
33:03
coming up this week, obviously at cyclonealert.com.
33:08
Yeah, you mentioned the summer storylines story that I
33:11
published about Iowa State basketball, the begin offseason
33:13
workouts and encourage people to go check that out.
33:16
And we'll hope to connect with numerous recruits and coaches of
33:19
recruits throughout the week as we continue to profile busy
33:22
month of Iowa State football recruiting.
33:24
And you know, hopefully Iowa State's able to continue growing
33:26
that class and provide storylines for us to continue to
33:29
report on during the slow time of the year.
33:31
So thank you a lot for having me on and looking forward to
33:33
joining you guys again next week.
33:34
All right. See you, buddy.
33:35
Good to talk to you. Thank you, Alec.
33:37
Yep. Take care, Alec Bussey Cyclone
33:39
alert 24/7 sports. We'll take a time out.
33:42
We will come back finish up the show.
33:44
Trent's got some plays of the day.
33:46
They're coming up next circus sports sponsor those it's the
33:49
Iowa Sports Radio network. I find a few minutes here on a
33:53
Monday Iowa sports radio network.
33:55
Miller in Condon with you. Coming up next is the drive
33:58
Lucas and Sean Till 5 overtime Iowa 5 until 6:00.
34:02
Well, Speaking of five Game 5 tonight, NBA champions P and
34:07
ship Pacers on the road in OK C 9 1/2 point dog.
34:12
How do you how do you see it unfold?
34:14
We get to the point spread in just a second.
34:17
You know what I've been mildly impressed with because I thought
34:20
the story going into was just how good the Thunders defense is
34:22
and they're still really good. But you know what?
34:24
The Pacers aren't bad, No. Defensively.
34:26
No, they're athletic. I love the way that Nemhard goes
34:30
against SGA. You can tell those guys know
34:33
each other, played ball against each other, the Canadian pack
34:36
around, sure. And he's that scared of them,
34:38
you know, and and that intimidates.
34:40
Now the push off. Oh, God.
34:42
And then, yeah, then they travel right after that to give us
34:45
Scott Foster. Why does he keep getting these
34:47
assignments? Because he's under the thumb of
34:50
whoever the Commissioner. You know what trade I hate?
34:52
To say this is the theory out there, I'm not saying that.
34:54
No, no, no, I know. But you know what?
34:56
There's millions of people that feel this way.
34:58
Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know what apparently he's
35:01
got? He's a part of Donahue's
35:03
investigation. It's just a bad look.
35:07
It's a bad look and it was sports wagering exploding the
35:10
way that it has. I mean come on Silver Get, just
35:13
take him off the series. In this game, for the Pacers to
35:16
have a chance last four minutes opportunity to win this game to
35:20
steal Game 5, you need. Siakam to make his free throws.
35:24
You need, you need Siakam to have an leak game.
35:27
You need him or Turner or Nemhart.
35:30
I think one of those three guys have to have a great game.
35:33
Iris Halliburton got to do his thing.
35:35
And then. Knows math through to miss the
35:36
free throws wasn't. It and you need at least one of
35:38
these two guys off the bench to Click to hit a couple of threes,
35:42
do something. A Toppin.
35:44
Yes, a Matheran. Toppin, McConnell, Matheran.
35:48
I like McConnell. Yeah, you need one of those guys
35:51
just and and I think they can, I think that they're comfortable
35:54
in this series. It's going to be a charge up
35:56
environment going to be great. Again, that OKC crowd is
36:00
excellent and they've seen so many blowouts and that's the
36:02
thing that I go back to as outside of game one, they've
36:05
just been so dominant at home. I'm grabbing the Pacers, I'm I'm
36:08
grabbing the points. I finally been swayed and I
36:11
didn't think I would be here but I'm going to grab the points.
36:13
Grab. What's the first half number?
36:14
Is it 6? Probably in that range, yeah.
36:17
You like that or just? No, it's just there.
36:19
You know, I kind of stay away from unless I really feel like I
36:22
have something and usually it doesn't come to fruition anyway,
36:24
but. Did you happen to look what
36:25
Otani strike up prop is tonight? It's not listed.
36:28
It's not OK because they don't know how long he's going to go.
36:30
Yeah, that's good that they're not listing it.
36:33
There are three baseball games that better play though.
36:36
OK, going to take the Phillies Midas one O 9 tonight against.
36:38
Coming off a sweep against the hottest team in baseball.
36:42
Alcantra pitching better, that's on the other side for the
36:45
Barlins. Still Midas one O 9 with the
36:46
Phillies. Yeah, I'll jump.
36:47
Just in time to be traded. Yes Speaking of Midas one O 9, I
36:51
will do the same with the Tampa Bay Rays.
36:54
Tampa with P Pot on the mound. One of my dudes we.
36:56
Will they just swept the Mets, too?
36:58
They're playing well and we finish up.
37:01
You mentioned Shohei Otani. Yeah, give me the fathers.
37:04
I'll take the pods. Plus 132 in what was going to be
37:08
a bullpen game. Now you got a guy pitching for
37:11
the first time in 22 months. Out against Dylan seats Dylan.
37:14
Seats who is completely fine? A Padres team that is not scared
37:18
of the Dodgers. I like that Price.
37:20
Padres plus 132. Dodgers.
37:23
Padres. So let me try to figure out my
37:25
night. Watch the Pacer.
37:27
That's where I'll end up. So you're going to start right
37:29
away, 540 with Phillies. Yes.
37:32
First game of the night. Yes, you're locked in.
37:35
Locked in, Then I'll get to the Mets.
37:37
Then you'll get to the Mets take.
37:39
Seven, listen to my favorite broadcast.
37:40
Gary Cohen. Yep, Gary Cohen and Keith
37:42
Hernandez. Ron Darling.
37:43
And if all three guys are there, it's not nearly as good.
37:46
All three have to really, I think.
37:47
So you like a two man booth better?
37:49
No, I like you like you need three guys.
37:51
This is the only booth though. I think I like a three man
37:53
booth. Is all three of them together.
37:55
Yeah, they're really good. Yes, they're really good.
37:57
And then you'll get to the basketball.
37:58
After the basketball, I'm gonna end up on Dodge and the Padres.
38:03
And no WNBA to worry about tonight, No tomorrow, tomorrow.
38:07
Fever Sun. Yeah, but you know what else is
38:10
going on tomorrow? There's hockey.
38:11
There might be a little game that might take my eyeballs away
38:15
from the W. Am I right?
38:16
Series over. Yeah, yeah.
38:18
It's especially going back. They're just better.
38:21
It's McDavid is going to have to wait for another year.
38:23
Maybe this is close as they'll get because there's another team
38:26
up there. They're not going away easy the.
38:29
Vancouver. No, no, no, not them.
38:30
You got to go further. Keep going, keep going.
38:32
It's the next team over. They're still playing hockey up
38:36
there, huh? Yes, we are.
38:38
That'll do it for us. The drive is coming up next.
38:41
We appreciate you being with Trent tonight.
38:43
Trent and I talk sports with you every Monday through Friday.
38:46
Miller and Condon are with you from noon until 2 on the Iowa
38:49
Sports Radio Network.