Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Ronald Acuña Jr.'s huge HR, Umpire Doug Eddings goes too far, Aaron Judge's return plan

Transcript

Fair Territory: Ronald Acuña Jr.'s huge HR, Umpire Doug Eddings goes too far, Aaron Judge's return plan · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to a special Labor Day weekend edition of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Fair Territory, a Sunday afternoon, evening edition. Three weeks to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: go in the regular season. Hard to believe, right? Three
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: weeks to go. Otani missed his fourth straight game on Sunday,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: did not start for the fourth straight game. PCA, Pete
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Crow Armstrong, hit his 40th home run of the season
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: as he continues to seal his bid for National League MVP.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And we have Aaron Judge on the verge of returning.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Not clear exactly what day he will be back, but
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the expectation is that he will be back this week,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: perhaps in the Yankees' next series against the Colorado Rockies
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: at Yankee Stadium. And yet, for all that, and each
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: one of those on its own is a big story,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: none was the biggest story of the weekend. There was
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a big story on the field, and there was a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: big story, well, it was on the field too, but
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: it kind of drifted off the field. We'll get into
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: all of it. And let's start with on the field
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: and what's going on in the races and specifically what
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: is going on and what went on Sunday afternoon. Phillies
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Braves Acuna. Ronald Acuna Jr. with an epic at-bat to
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: tie the score in the eighth inning off three-run homer.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: And what was epic about this was he saw, I believe,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: seven pitches 100 miles an hour in a row from
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Alex McFarlane. And it was the seventh pitch that he
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: hit out. Now, it had been a dramatic weekend for
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Acuna Jr. Of course, Philly fans were on him. He
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: was celebrating a home run off of Zach Wheeler. Zach
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Wheeler took exception. The fans took exception. So today, Acuna
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: hits the game tying shot. And then the Braves go
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: on to win, take two of three in the series,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: keep their lead in the National League East at five
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: games or bring it to five games today. Big weekend
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: for the Braves, and then Acuna topped it all off
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: with a curtain call on the road. Now, of course,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the fans were not calling for him. He did his
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: own curtain call. Now, if you're a Braves fan, you
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: love Acuna. If you're not a Braves fan, you probably
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: don't like Acuna very much. If you're a Phillies fan,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: you probably have some words that cannot be repeated on
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: this show that you would like to direct and probably
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: have directed at Acuna. But his personality is... obviously is
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: a big part of who he is. And while he's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a quiet guy, kind of off the field, on the field,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: he plays loud and sometimes he acts loud. And he
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: did something today, Sunday, that was a superstar kind of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: coming to play. So good for Ronald Acuna Jr., good
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: for the Braves. They still have three more to play,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: those two teams, against each other. I believe it's next
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: weekend or maybe the week after. But Not over yet
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: in the NL East, but you see it right there.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Five-game spread between the Braves and the Phillies. The Braves,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of course, battling the Dodgers as well for the second
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: National League bye. I would say the Dodgers have a
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: distinct advantage in that race because their remaining schedule is
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: ridiculously easy. The easiest in the majors, in fact. Now,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: there's also action, of course, in the NL wildcard with
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the Padres and Diamondbacks, but let's focus... On the American
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: League wildcard race, I've dubbed it the Race of the Turtles.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And the Race of the Turtles continues to proceed at
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: its laggard pace. Now, the Toronto Blue Jays sit one
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: game back of the Cleveland Guardians for that third AO wildcard.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Of course, the Yankees and Red Sox in commanding positions
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: for the first two wildcards. And the Blue Jays, they
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: got beat by Kansas City on Sunday. And got beat
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: in part because they started a guy who's had his
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: troubles recently. Spencer Arrighetti, and who should not be in
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the rotation, would not be in the rotation, if the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Blue Jays had not lost so many pitchers to starting
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: injuries this season. I want to show you their healthy pitchers,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: and I want to show you their injured pitchers, because
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the injured list is a heck of a lot longer
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: than the healthy list. The healthy list Cy Young candidate,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Dylan Cease. Trade acquisition, Jose Soriano. And back from the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: you-know-where again, Max Scherzer. Back and again pitching well. They're
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: injured starters. Look at that list. Jose Barrios, Shane Bieber,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Patrick Corbin, Bowdoin Francis, Jamison Tyone, and Trey Yassavage. Now
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: it's possible Bieber and Yassavage come back, but they're basically looking,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the Jays are, to fill two spots every turn through
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  Speaker 1: the rotation, and it's not hard to do. Now, they
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: did beat the Guardians, I believe it was two of
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: three earlier this week, and obviously the Jays are playing
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: better now. Their offense has been better. Can they hold
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  Speaker 1: on with this staff the way that it is? Or
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: not hold on, can they overtake the Guardians? I'm dubious.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: I like the Guardians. I've liked them for weeks now.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I like their trade additions. Adele and Foster Griffin, Nathaniel Lowe.
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  Speaker 1: I also like the top of their rotation, which is brilliant.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Gavin Williams, Parker Messick, AL Cy Young candidate.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Tanner Bybee and Foster Griffin. That's a
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: pretty good group. Slade Ciccone, all these other guys too
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  Speaker 1: that they have on their staff. So the Guardians have
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  Speaker 1: every reason to win this wild card, given the state
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: of the Blue Jays and the state of the other
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: teams behind them as well. Texas Rangers. Here's a team that,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: like most teams in the race of the Turtles, cannot
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: seem to get out of its own way. Now they
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: win their series finale. versus Tampa Bay on Sunday. And
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: they actually are closer right now in the AL West,
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  Speaker 1: two games back of the Houston Astros, than they are
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in the wildcard race, two and a half back. I
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: don't see the Rangers as being good enough to win
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: either race. Then there are the Baltimore Orioles. They are
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: another team that you would think would have been right
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in the thick of this thing, but they've lost six straight,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and it started in Colorado when they lost the final
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: two games of that series after that dramatic game-saving catch
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: by Colton Couser in the series opener. They lost six straight,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: two in Colorado, then four straight at home to the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Red Sox. Four straight at home. And in the final
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: three games of that series, they scored one run. One.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Count them. One run in the final three games of
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: that series. They got embarrassed, and they are now four out.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: They're pretty much cooked, it would seem, except that they
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: host the Guardians this week. So that gives them a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: chance to get back in this thing. The Orioles continue
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: to be plagued by poor defense. They've allowed the most
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: unearned runs in the majors. Britt Giroli and I wrote
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: about this months ago, how this team cannot get out
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of its own way. And in the other defensive metrics,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they're not too good either. They're bottom half of the league,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: bottom third by some measures. So I don't see the
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Orioles making up ground either. So here we are with
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: three weeks to go in the season. And you have
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: races for the final wildcard spot, so to speak. But
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks and Padres, well, they're not world beaters, but
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: they're better than the American League contenders for the final
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: wildcard spot. Except for Cleveland. Again, I like Cleveland.
• 7:20
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• 8:23
  Speaker 1: All right, here we are with On Deck presented by
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Fox 1. There's no Fox game coming up on Saturday.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: We had two this weekend. I was in Chicago Thursday,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: San Diego Saturday. Nothing coming up on this Saturday. A
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: little thing called the NFL is getting started. College football
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: in full swing. So let's talk about a team that
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I didn't even mention really in the first segment, and
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: that's the Miami Marlins. Now, the Marlins are essentially as
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: far away from a wild card spot as the Baltimore
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Orioles in the American League. They're four out. And They're
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: not a team that really inspires much hope. You see
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: them right there. They're sitting at 500, 4-6 in their
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: last 10. But they have incredible young pitching when it's on.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: They have talented players in their position player group. And
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: they play nine of their final 18 games against teams
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: that are directly ahead of them in the standings. And
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: those teams are the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Diego Padres,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Chicago Cubs. And you also can include the Atlanta Braves
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: in there, though they're not relevant to the wildcard race
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: for the Marlins. So the Marlins, in theory, have a
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: chance to make up some ground here to do some things.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Do I expect them to be there at the end? No,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I don't. But they've had a decent season. It's not great.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: They're still flawed. They still can do some things. They
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: were kind of sellers at the deadline. Didn't love their deadline.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: It could have been better. It could have been more aggressive,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: for sure. But at the same time, they remain in
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the race. You want to play meaningful games in September?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: They're playing meaningful games in September. at least to this point.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: So we'll see what happens in the final weeks with
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the Marlins. Again, they are in a position where they
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: can make some noise. They're one of these teams, too,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: that because of their pitching and because the quality of
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: some of their position players can be a real problem
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: down the stretch as far as being a spoiler. if
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: indeed they fall out of it, or even if they
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: sit right around where they are right now, four games out.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: So MLB on Fox and the NL playoff race is
• 10:27
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• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and we have your front row seat to the wildest walk-offs,
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• 10:40
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• 10:44
  Speaker 1: free trial today at Fox One. We'll be back right
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: after this with the Inside Dish. The part of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: show where I talk about something happening in the game,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: something I've written, something else entirely, something that might not
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: be technically baseball per se, as far as action by
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: players on the field, although this does involve sort of
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: an action by a player on the field. I'm talking
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  Speaker 1: about what happened Friday night with Doug Eddings, the plate
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: umpire and crew chief, and Hansel Rincon, a rookie reliever
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: for the St. Louis Cardinals, who was making his major
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: league debut. Now, by now, if you're a baseball fan,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I imagine you're acquainted with the story, and the story
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: was this, that in the sixth inning, while Rincon was pitching,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Eddings instructed the catcher to tell Rincon to straighten his cap.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Rincon was wearing it kind of in a tilted fashion.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Rincon did that, And as the inning progressed, the Cardinals manager,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Ali Marmol, protested, rightly so, said, what are we doing here?
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: And Marmol got ejected. Now, from there, the story took
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: off in a lot of different ways. But the gist
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of it is that an umpire acted in a way
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that was certainly questionable. And the story I wrote today
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and published was about how Major League Baseball was communicated
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: to Eddings that what he did was inappropriate. Now let
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: me give you the background here on what an umpire
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: can and can't do. My understanding and what I wrote
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: is that an umpire has broad discretion to address a
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: situation if he believes a player's actions are distracting to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: what is going on on the field. So if he
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: sees something, yeah, he can point it out and maybe
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: tell the player not to do that, whatever the case
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: might be. Again, broad discretion. Was this a proper use
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: of that discretion? MLB told Doug Eddings, no, it was not.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: And really, what are we talking about here? A player's cap?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: We've seen players over the years, Fernando Rodney, one of
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: my all-time favorites, wore his cap practically at a 90-degree
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: angle the other way. So, Eddings was clearly out of
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: line here. And that is what baseball... essentially told him,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: it is unclear whether baseball will discipline him. I didn't
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: get any information regarding that in that regard. My expectation
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: is that baseball will not discipline him. And if they do,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: they're not going to tell us about it. But the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: message was sent. And what happened on Saturday night, as
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Rincon took the field, or actually as he walked out
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: with the other Cardinals relievers in the middle of the
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: first inning to the bullpen, Edding stopped him, There was
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: no interpreter there, but he conveyed to Rincon, in a
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: way that Rincon understood, even though he didn't catch every word, that, hey,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I wish you well the rest of your career, etc., etc. Again,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: this happened after MLB communicated to Eddings that that was
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: not cool what he did. So whether point A led
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to point B, I'm not sure. Maybe Eddings simply decided
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I was in the wrong here. And good for him
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: for apologizing. I'll give him that. The problem... people have
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: with this inside the sport and, of course, among fans
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: is that I think by now, especially with ABS, we
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: all recognize how difficult the umpire's job is, especially the
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: plate umpire, which is what Eddings was on Friday night.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: It's a really hard job. These guys, by and large,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and women, do a fantastic job. What bothers people the most,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and this is a consistent thing over the years, is
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: when umpires... take their authority to extreme and unnecessary levels.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: That was what Ali Marmal was protesting, had a problem with. Hey,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: don't play God. And that's what happened here. This is
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: my field was allegedly said. Eddings said that. Ali Marmal
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: said this was Cora's field. No. Correct. Now, what escalated
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: this even more, at least in terms of the coverage
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and what happened, was Eddings telling two reporters who were there,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: after the game, talking to him. One was from the St.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Louis Post-Dispatch, one was from MLB.com. He told them that
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a batter for the Rockies asked him if Rincon was
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: allowed to wear his cap in that fashion. Now, one
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of the reporters, Derek Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: took that to mean the batter was Hunter Goodman, who
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: was the, I believe, first batter of the inning, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: It turns out that Hunter Goodman said the next day, no,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't say that. And Hunter Goodman took a lot
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: of heat on social media for supposedly, reportedly, calling Rincon
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: out when he said he did nothing of the sort. Also,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: as part of my story, I reported that a Rockies
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: staffer told me that no player from the Rockies said
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: anything about what Rincon was doing. What was he doing?
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Wearing his cap a different funky way? No. No. Why
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: would a player point that out? Goodman made this point.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not worried about the player's cap. It's not like
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: a laser shining from the outfield here. It's not like
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: it's in the rule book that you can't wear that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: cap that way. So what are we doing? It's not
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: like other players haven't worn the cap. Now, Derek Gould
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: took accountability for what he reported and basically in his
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today said that After
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: additional reporting, it became clear that Eddings' reference to which
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: batter was either misunderstood or he misspoke. The writer of
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: this article, who was present as the Post-Dispatch's beat reporter
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: and requested the interview with Eddings, should have asked for
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: additional clarity to assure understanding of which batter the umpire
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: was referencing. Okay, that's being accountable. And again, just like umpires, reporters,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: just like anybody in any job, in any walk of life,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: people make mistakes and gould is obviously accounting for it there. Now,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: he's on deadline. He's trying to get the story out. Clearly,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: they should have asked which batter was it. Clearly, they
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: should not have, or Derek should not have assumed it
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  Speaker 1: was Goodman. Okay, I get it. Goodman took some heat
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: for a day or so, and that wasn't a comfortable situation.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: It upset the Rockies. None of it was good. But again,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: why did this all even come into play? Because Eddings
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: took a step he never should have taken, and in
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: some way addressed Rincon, actually threw the catcher and told Rincon,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: you got to change this, man. You got to wear
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: your cap straight. It's ridiculous. And at a time of
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the year when we should be focusing on the pennant races,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: on the awards races, on all the cool stuff going
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: on in baseball. And there's so much cool stuff that
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: goes on in the sport every day. We had this,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: let's call it a distraction because that's what it was.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: an unnecessary distraction, an unnecessary scolding of a young player,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: a guy making his Major League debut, it simply was
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: not right. And Major League Baseball, in my view, was
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: right to at least address this in some fashion with Eddings,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: tell him it was wrong. I mean, my gosh, why
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: wouldn't you do that? Of course you would do that
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: if you're MLB. Whether there's discipline or not, again, I
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: doubt we'll ever know. But This was a matter that
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: dominated the news all weekend, the baseball news. And again,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: it was something the sport certainly did not need and
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: at this time of year was completely out of place.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So Doug Eddings apologized. Derek Gould clarified. All is well,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: it seems, right now. But the message here, the larger
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: message is umpires, we all understand they have a tough job.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: It's a really tough job. But when they, again, exert
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: their authority in an extreme and unnecessary way, people are
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: going to be upset about it. And that's what happens here.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: And an innocent kid, kid making his Major League debut,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: gets in the news for all the wrong reasons, reasons
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: that he really had nothing to do with other than
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: tilting his cap, which is not a crime. And unfortunately
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: for him, had two rocky outings, gets sent down today. But...
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Hopefully he'll go on to a great career, and that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: would be the cool ending of this story. If Rancon
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: becomes a quality Major League pitcher and, of course, gets
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: remembered for something other than the way he wore his
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: cap in his Major League debut. We'll be back with
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Grill and Ken after this. All right, time now for
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Grill and Ken, the part of the show where I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: answer your questions. Let's get right to them. First one
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: comes from Sammy Boy Smith the Survivor. Sonny eligible for
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: comeback player of the year. Yeah, this is a tough
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: one for me. I'm not sure. I would imagine he is.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken, the criteria for that award are
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: pretty broad. Sonny Gray, by that accounting, would be a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: candidate for that award. So he certainly had a great year.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: He's going to get Cy Young votes, and I imagine...
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: That's even more meaningful to him than comeback player of
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the year votes. You get to vote for the top
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: five for Cy Young, and it would seem to me
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: that at least some people will consider Sonny Gray to
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: be one of the top five pitchers in the American
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: League this year. You see the numbers, 17-4 with a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: 2.69 ERA, 150 innings. He's had a tremendous year, and
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: certainly he's coming off a year that wasn't so great. So, yeah,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I would say he is a candidate for that award,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: but again, I'm not exactly sure. of the criteria. All right,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: let's move it along. This comes from Labs8696. What could
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: an Acuna extension look like if it happened this offseason,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: or do you think he eventually wants to test free agency?
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: He still has two club options left. I'm not sure
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the Braves want to do anything just yet with Acuna,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and as brilliant as he has looked this weekend, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Ronald Acuna Jr. at his best is a top five
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: player in the game, maybe top 10 if you want
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: to broaden it, Certainly up there at his best when healthy.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Problem with Acuna is he hasn't always been healthy. And
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: if you're the Braves and you've got him on a
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: cheap deal, which they do for the next two years,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: why would you do anything when his knees have been
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: a problem for him? He's had lower leg stuff. Besides that,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure I would make a move. Now, Acuna,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sure, would welcome talks for an extension because he's
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: had so many injuries, but I just don't see it
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: happening I do see him in two years becoming a
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: free agent, yes. All right, next question from Foul Territory Show. Oh,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: will the Yankees, Giants, what am I talking about? He
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: didn't sign with the Giants. Will the Yankees ease in
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Aaron Judge or go full throttle right away? I addressed
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: this yesterday on the Fox broadcast because this is the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: really interesting question that awaits the Yankees as Judge returns.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Now again, they're expecting him back sometime this week. He's
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: going to take live batting practice tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: There's an off day. They're going to find a pitcher
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: for him. He's going to swing. I don't know that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: he'll be back Tuesday. It's certainly possible. Maybe it's Wednesday.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's Thursday. He's coming. He's coming without a rehab assignment.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And that's his choice. Players have the right under the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: collective bargaining agreement to reject a rehab assignment. And I
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: don't know that the Yankees want to go there with
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Judge when he's made his preference clear. So how do
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: you build him up? How do you rehab him in
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the major leagues? He's missed more than three months. He's
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: coming back as the right fielder. So do you play
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: him three innings one night, five innings the next, seven
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: innings the game after that in this buildup that you
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: are trying to achieve, or do you take a little
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: bit of a different approach? And Aaron Boone, in talking
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: to him yesterday, seemed more inclined to take a different approach.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Play Judge as much as he can, let's say, in
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the first game. Let's say it's seven innings. And let's
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: say they do the strength test, they test him out,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: and he's a little bit fatigued. Okay, you give him
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the next day off. Maybe the next day he plays
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: seven more, you do it again, give him a day off.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Or maybe he's seven, seven, nine, and he's just capable
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and handling it well. No one knows just yet what
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: he'll be able to handle. He's coming off a fractured rib.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And it's hard for people to understand outside of the game,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: hard for even media to understand sometimes. But Even running
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: back and forth to right field and standing as much
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: as outfielders stand, there is a physical toll there that
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: when you haven't done it in a while, it becomes
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: a factor. So it's going to be really interesting to
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: see how the Yankees handle this because let's face it,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the worst thing that could happen would be if Aaron
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Judge plays for a week on and off, incomplete games,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: complete games, whatever, and then pulls some kind of lower
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: leg muscle, an oblique, whatever the case might be, and
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: then you lose him for the whole season. So they've
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: got to proceed with caution, but they don't want to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: be that cautious either and handle him like he's some
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: piece of fine china. Again, this is going to be
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: really interesting to watch because when a player does not
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: have a rehab assignment, he has not had game conditions
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: under which to get back into shape, and that is
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the challenge that Judge and the Yankees face. All right,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: time for one more. Again, from Sammy Boy Smith to Savant. Ken,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: is the number one or two seed more important to LA, Milwaukee, Atlanta,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: or the Cubs? I would say it's probably most important
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to Atlanta, believe it or not. And the reason I
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: say that is because Atlanta's starting pitching is so questionable
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: beyond Chris Sale that it would seem to me they'd
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: want the extra rest, and it would seem to me
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: they would not want to take the chance of getting
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: knocked out in a best of three. The Dodgers, yeah, sure,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: they don't want to be in a best of three either,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: but they're pitching, whether it's Snell, Yamamoto, Scooble, some other order,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Glass now fitting in the mix somewhere, it's pretty strong.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And while they have not hit in the second half
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: the way you'd like, 22nd in runs per game entering yesterday,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: since the All-Star break, I don't see them as vulnerable
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: necessarily in that round. Milwaukee, they're going to get one
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of the top two seeds. They're going to be fine.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And the Cubs, I don't see them catching Milwaukee. So
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: you're really asking LA or Atlanta? That's a tough call,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: but I would say Atlanta.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I want to thank everyone for watching and listening. Foul
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Territory returns Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern. Fair Territory returns
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Thursday at 12.30 Eastern. Alana Rizzo and I will be there.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Talk to you then. Have a great Labor Day holiday, everyone.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Have a great week. And we'll talk to you on Thursday.
• 25:55
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