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Padres checkup w/Darren Smith: AJ Preller extension, Adding Nick Castellanos, Team getting sold soon? · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: All right, Hello Darren our new co host of Friar
0:06
Speaker 1: Territory with Marty Caswell and Heath Fell. You are a
0:10
Speaker 1: twenty here San Diego sports talk veteran, which means you
0:13
Speaker 1: can give us your take on a lot of things
0:15
Speaker 1: we've been talking about so far today. Let's start with
0:19
Speaker 1: Nick Castianos and what happened with that whole situation. Do
0:23
Speaker 1: you think that he is going to be a good
0:25
Speaker 1: fit in that clubhouse? We've given our opinion, we think
0:29
Speaker 1: he will be. What do you think?
0:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Thank you for having me first and foremost, And
0:34
Speaker 2: I certainly wasn't going to bring up that Manny Machado
0:36
Speaker 2: is a Danny Lozano client, So yeah, I was not.
0:40
Speaker 2: I was just going to bite my tongue on that
0:42
Speaker 2: and certainly keep my opinions about Indiana football to myself
0:45
Speaker 2: for now. Hey, Yeah, I do think he's a good fit,
0:50
Speaker 2: I Daron.
0:51
Speaker 3: Do you think that Indiana Sorry, before we dig in,
0:54
Speaker 3: do you think that Indiana really packed into the code
0:57
Speaker 3: so they knew all the plays of the other team
0:59
Speaker 3: for the first fifteen plays they scripted them because that
1:02
Speaker 3: was a thing for a while.
1:04
Speaker 1: This is a real charge, So you're jus you.
1:09
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:09
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, I'm a college basketball guy myself. I
1:12
Speaker 2: went to Saint I know a thing or two about
1:15
Speaker 2: faded glory like Indiana, right, Like Saint John's used to
1:18
Speaker 2: be a really good basketball program. So I feel like
1:21
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of a kindred spirit ship to that.
1:24
Speaker 2: So I'm just glad that my my alma mater is
1:27
Speaker 2: back and respectable with Rick Patino. So that's that's all
1:30
Speaker 2: I have to say. I didn't go to a college
1:31
Speaker 2: football school. Hey, well, we're back in Roland. Come on, even.
1:40
Speaker 1: That's an interesting take.
1:42
Speaker 2: Absolutely, of course, kidding. That's a legend third all time.
1:46
Speaker 2: I mean that's third all time on the all time
1:48
Speaker 2: winnesdast this past weekend against Providence. So never mind that
1:51
Speaker 2: little brawl thing that happened in the stands at Providence.
1:55
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, anyhow, Nick Casteanos, Yeah why not? I mean,
2:00
Speaker 2: why not have him here? You know, we've gone through
2:03
Speaker 2: some interesting characters in San Diego, led by Manny Machado,
2:07
Speaker 2: who he himself is an interesting cat and he's a
2:09
Speaker 2: South Florida guy. He's got a little bit of that
2:11
Speaker 2: Miami three h five swag to him. And this is
2:14
Speaker 2: his guy from South Florida, So why not bring him
2:17
Speaker 2: into the mix. Certainly we've had some some interesting dudes
2:20
Speaker 2: rolled through this clubhouse and now he is added to
2:22
Speaker 2: the list. So it didn't take much time. Uh, it
2:25
Speaker 2: certainly seemed like it was, uh you know, something that
2:28
Speaker 2: was done before it was even announced. There was rumors
2:31
Speaker 2: around the Potter's that this was going to happen. So uh, yeah,
2:34
Speaker 2: I think it'll work, especially if the price is right,
2:37
Speaker 2: and it sounds like it is. You know, it's not
2:38
Speaker 2: a massive investment from the pottery standpoint financially, so why
2:42
Speaker 2: not give it a run here and see what you
2:44
Speaker 2: can get out of this guy? Add him into the
2:46
Speaker 2: mix and let it go.
2:48
Speaker 4: What do you need to see from Nick Castia something?
2:50
Speaker 4: I'm talking about the clubhouse presence, Like I think all
2:52
Speaker 4: that stuff is just totally blown out of proportion over over,
2:56
Speaker 4: you know, a single not a single instance, but like
2:59
Speaker 4: just what was going going on in Philly. To me,
3:01
Speaker 4: it has to work out because if he doesn't hit
3:04
Speaker 4: for and I'm going to have you fill in the
3:06
Speaker 4: blank X amount of time, how soon does Nick Costiano's
3:11
Speaker 4: get shipped out and they go to the next guy
3:14
Speaker 4: at first base or next guy at DH because that's
3:16
Speaker 4: how it's gonna work out. He's either going to be
3:18
Speaker 4: awesome and he's going to keep the position, or he's
3:20
Speaker 4: gonna stink and they're gonna get rid of him.
3:23
Speaker 2: Right, one hundred percent, especially based on the financial commitment
3:27
Speaker 2: of eight hundred grand or a little bit less then,
3:29
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that's exactly it. And you know
3:32
Speaker 2: this because of recent history. You know this because of
3:35
Speaker 2: Jason Hayward. You know this because of different players that
3:39
Speaker 2: have rolled through here that aj Preller has placed a
3:41
Speaker 2: bet on AG's kind of like buying scratch off tickets.
3:44
Speaker 2: You know when you go to the like the local market,
3:46
Speaker 2: and you know sometimes those scratch off tickets are not
3:49
Speaker 2: worth anything. You spend a dollar or two dollars or
3:51
Speaker 2: five dollars, sometimes you scratch off the twenty bucks, the
3:54
Speaker 2: fifty bucks, the hundred bucks.
3:55
Speaker 1: You know.
3:55
Speaker 2: He had that a couple of years ago with Jerkson profile, right,
3:59
Speaker 2: that was one that really resulted in a productive player
4:03
Speaker 2: who contributed, who was a great clubhouse presence. Everything worked.
4:07
Speaker 2: People were sad that Jerks and Profar didn't re sign
4:10
Speaker 2: with the Potteries, even though people understood the economics other guys,
4:13
Speaker 2: guys like Jason Hayward, you know, as I mentioned Connor
4:16
Speaker 2: Joe last year, just to name a few, Yuli Guriel. There,
4:20
Speaker 2: these are players that it didn't work. So you just
4:23
Speaker 2: move on, you know, you move on quickly, and I
4:25
Speaker 2: think that that will happen with Costaiano's. But in terms
4:27
Speaker 2: of what you're looking for here, you're looking for something
4:29
Speaker 2: that the Potteries didn't have last year, which is which
4:32
Speaker 2: is power slug. You know, even in a down year,
4:34
Speaker 2: Costaiano's provided seventeen home runs for the Phillies. I know,
4:37
Speaker 2: different ballpark, but still I think at this stage of
4:41
Speaker 2: his career, you know, he's he's comparable in some ways
4:44
Speaker 2: to some of those players that I just mentioned, but
4:46
Speaker 2: he's also younger than some of those guys. So I
4:48
Speaker 2: think it's a worthwhile investment. And what he said initially
4:52
Speaker 2: I think matters. You know, he talked a little bit
4:55
Speaker 2: about wanting to fit in right, Like I, Okay, I
4:59
Speaker 2: had this situation in the Phillies clubhouse where I my
5:01
Speaker 2: role changed and maybe it wasn't communicated that was that clubhouse,
5:05
Speaker 2: that's not this clubhouse. So they're gonna figure this out together,
5:08
Speaker 2: what the role is going to be is going to
5:10
Speaker 2: be dh It's gonna be a little bit of first.
5:12
Speaker 2: They're gonna work on that together. He seems open minded
5:15
Speaker 2: to whatever it is that the coaching staff wants to
5:17
Speaker 2: put in front of him. And he also talked about
5:19
Speaker 2: being in a winning environment. He talked about the city
5:22
Speaker 2: of San Diego. He talked about how much a sun
5:24
Speaker 2: loves eating tacos in the cast lamp. So he comes
5:26
Speaker 2: from a winning environment. He comes from from you know,
5:29
Speaker 2: good fans support, and that's exactly what he's gonna get here.
5:33
Speaker 2: And when you say something like, hey, the team's never
5:34
Speaker 2: won a World Series, that matters to me. I want
5:36
Speaker 2: to help him try to get there, people are like, yeah, okay, cool,
5:39
Speaker 2: this is starting off on the right foot.
5:41
Speaker 4: Statistically, the Padres didn't strike out much. They're getting they
5:46
Speaker 4: lost their first basement who never struck out, and now
5:49
Speaker 4: they're going to possibly a new first basement in Nick Castianos,
5:53
Speaker 4: who does strike out. It's not historic rates, but it's
5:56
Speaker 4: a you know, it's a it's a contact driven team.
6:01
Speaker 4: Does his skill set just rely on the Hey, if
6:05
Speaker 4: you don't hit the ball out of the ballpark, we
6:07
Speaker 4: have a bunch of guys that already do what you
6:09
Speaker 4: do at a much lower strikeout rate. So is that
6:12
Speaker 4: really where it's at. Does he need to pop five
6:14
Speaker 4: homers in the month of April to be able to
6:16
Speaker 4: stay on this team.
6:18
Speaker 2: I don't know that there's a number for it. But
6:20
Speaker 2: I also think, you know, maybe the offensive identity is
6:23
Speaker 2: going to change a little bit from where it was
6:25
Speaker 2: last year. Right, So, yeah, they were contact, they didn't
6:28
Speaker 2: strike out, but they also didn't pop, they didn't hit
6:31
Speaker 2: home runs. They were twenty second in slugging, they were
6:34
Speaker 2: twenty eighth in home runs hit. Right, That's a pretty
6:36
Speaker 2: big deal. And some of that, obviously is Jackson Merrill
6:38
Speaker 2: being injured. Some of that is you know, hey, getting
6:41
Speaker 2: a full season from Ramon Loriano, what kind of player
6:44
Speaker 2: we're going to get with Tatist this year. All these
6:45
Speaker 2: things you know that we're going to talk about throughout
6:48
Speaker 2: spring training and into the regular season. But I do
6:50
Speaker 2: think when you're hitting, coach is on another squad, now
6:54
Speaker 2: off to the Houston Astris he goes, and your manager
6:57
Speaker 2: who called, you know, more sacrifice buns that anybody in baseball?
7:01
Speaker 2: Does anybody really want to lead the league in sacrifice bunts?
7:04
Speaker 2: The Potterys did last year. I do think that that
7:07
Speaker 2: at the end of the year there was definitely an
7:09
Speaker 2: idea that there would be a new approach to how
7:13
Speaker 2: you were constructing your offense. So is it going to
7:16
Speaker 2: be exactly the same with a new hitting coach and
7:18
Speaker 2: a new manager. I suspect not, you know, And some
7:21
Speaker 2: of that is going to come internally, and some of
7:23
Speaker 2: that obviously is going to come from the outside. But
7:24
Speaker 2: it's pretty much been since the end of last season.
7:26
Speaker 2: Like they've talked about adding slug to this lineup, and
7:30
Speaker 2: you know, that's a combination as a set of guys
7:32
Speaker 2: that are going to come back who you're going to
7:34
Speaker 2: rely on, and it's also not bringing in people like
7:36
Speaker 2: like Castianos or Andrew Harsh. So I think that they
7:40
Speaker 2: are going to, you know, give up on certain things
7:44
Speaker 2: that made them successful over the last couple of years
7:46
Speaker 2: in an attempt to add things that they felt like
7:48
Speaker 2: they were deficient at. And you know that they resulted
7:52
Speaker 2: in them getting knocked out by the Cubs last year.
7:56
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8:56
Speaker 1: All Right, let's talk about what just happened with aj
8:59
Speaker 1: Priller and theres. They have agreed to a contract extension. Apparently,
9:03
Speaker 1: when Manny Machado speaks, people immediately listen, right, because isn't
9:08
Speaker 1: that how it went right? Machado was lobbying for him.
9:12
Speaker 1: What was it just yesterday asking why they hadn't signed
9:15
Speaker 1: him to an extension yet, and look they delivered. Your
9:18
Speaker 1: thoughts on that, Darren.
9:20
Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing. Yeah, I mean, maybe
9:22
Speaker 2: Manny's going to be the next owner of the Potters.
9:24
Speaker 2: Right the team is for sale, so you know, maybe
9:26
Speaker 2: what Manny's saying here is this is the way I
9:28
Speaker 2: want things to operate, and it's Manny's team now. Yeah,
9:32
Speaker 2: I think that that there was some questions about the
9:34
Speaker 2: future of the franchise in terms of what it's going
9:37
Speaker 2: to look like after a sale. Team is for sale,
9:40
Speaker 2: it's expected to be sold here potentially in the next
9:43
Speaker 2: couple of months. So from that standpoint, HJ. Preler, I
9:46
Speaker 2: think is one hundred percent committed to the city. I
9:48
Speaker 2: think he wants to finish what he started here. I
9:51
Speaker 2: do feel like there is a real connection, you know,
9:53
Speaker 2: to him. I think he takes it seriously when he
9:55
Speaker 2: talks about honoring Peter Seiler, the late owner's legacy. I
9:58
Speaker 2: think that that really isn't just something that you say.
10:01
Speaker 2: It's not just a hashtag for a J Preller. I
10:03
Speaker 2: think he really means that, So I think he does
10:06
Speaker 2: want to see this through, and I think that's that's
10:08
Speaker 2: a good thing. I wasn't always confident that this was
10:12
Speaker 2: gonna happen. Towards the tail end of last year, you know,
10:14
Speaker 2: you thought, maybe, you know, if things didn't work out,
10:17
Speaker 2: was there going to be an opportunity to to just say,
10:19
Speaker 2: let's just shake this thing up and change things. Because
10:22
Speaker 2: we've given it as you know, as far a rope
10:25
Speaker 2: as we could possibly give it. Preller has has been
10:28
Speaker 2: the GM for for for playoff appearances in six years.
10:31
Speaker 2: That's not been done in this franchise's history. This franchise
10:35
Speaker 2: doesn't have great history, but it's not been done. It's
10:39
Speaker 2: been to the NLCS one time. And yeah, I think
10:42
Speaker 2: he wants to finish the job. I thought that this
10:45
Speaker 2: was the right pathway for the Potters to take. I
10:48
Speaker 2: think the players agree. I think that you know, this
10:51
Speaker 2: is this is even though we talk about the lack
10:53
Speaker 2: of consistency in the manager's office, I think Preller is,
10:56
Speaker 2: you know, certainly somebody who Pottery fans have come to like.
10:59
Speaker 2: And I think he's been big part of what the
11:00
Speaker 2: success of the San Diego Potters is from a business standpoint,
11:03
Speaker 2: you know, this club is probably going to fetch north
11:06
Speaker 2: of two billion dollars when it is that it's eventually sold.
11:10
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that's all directly related to the
11:12
Speaker 2: president of Baseball Operations and general manager, but I think
11:15
Speaker 2: he's played a role in that. There's a lot of
11:17
Speaker 2: Machado jerseys in this city. There's a lot of Tatis
11:19
Speaker 2: jerseys in the city, so you know people, there's a
11:21
Speaker 2: lot of people who wear oddly enough AJ Preller t
11:25
Speaker 2: shirts and AJ we trust right, So like, I think
11:27
Speaker 2: he has become an important figure here. You know, if
11:31
Speaker 2: the if it had run its course and that the
11:33
Speaker 2: you know, the next owner decides this isn't what he
11:35
Speaker 2: wants to continue with, then find so be it. But
11:37
Speaker 2: I think it's a good day for the Podres. You know,
11:39
Speaker 2: I think it's the right decision. And you know, I
11:41
Speaker 2: think he's a guy even even if the purse strings
11:44
Speaker 2: have been closed just a little bit here over the
11:46
Speaker 2: last couple of years. I mean we're talking about, you know,
11:49
Speaker 2: being able to get Costeianos in here, some of the
11:51
Speaker 2: starting pitching that they've been able to get in here.
11:53
Speaker 2: He can build a farm system. He can use that
11:55
Speaker 2: farm system as trade capital if he doesn't have money
11:59
Speaker 2: to go out there and spend on free agents like
12:00
Speaker 2: he did last year at the deadline and bring in
12:02
Speaker 2: in Mason Miller. So, uh, you know, I think this
12:05
Speaker 2: is a good day for the Padres, and it certainly
12:07
Speaker 2: seems like a lot of the players, based on the reaction,
12:09
Speaker 2: believe the same.
12:11
Speaker 3: Why why does foul Territory not have a shirt that
12:13
Speaker 3: says in AJ we trust. That's what I want to know.
12:15
Speaker 3: I mean, every Padre fan should have it. They would
12:18
Speaker 3: buy it and we could sell it, right, Yeah.
12:20
Speaker 5: We don't know.
12:20
Speaker 2: I will, I will get our best people on that, you.
12:24
Speaker 3: Know, chop dot com and Friar Territory dot com out.
12:29
Speaker 2: Of them shirts. I mean, of course you Hinch Preller, right,
12:33
Speaker 2: I mean there's yeah, I mean it's this could this
12:37
Speaker 2: could serve multiple locations in multiple markets.
12:40
Speaker 3: We were this close by the way to having me,
12:42
Speaker 3: Preller and hinsch on at the same time, but Preller
12:45
Speaker 3: walked away instead of coming over. We had Hincheon, Preller
12:47
Speaker 3: walked by, and I'm like, we could set a world
12:49
Speaker 3: record for ajs on television at the same time.
12:52
Speaker 2: Now you're you're Andrew John. Is that right, Anthony, Anthony
12:55
Speaker 2: John Anthony, I'm sorry, he's Arthur John. I believe so.
12:59
Speaker 2: I don't know what what hinches off the top of
13:01
Speaker 2: my head, but yeah, that would have been I mean,
13:04
Speaker 2: that'd be solid. I think that's good marketing right there.
13:07
Speaker 2: Let's get the foul territory people on them. True.
13:09
Speaker 4: All right, Well, I'm going to ask about Arthur John
13:12
Speaker 4: here one last question. You don't how many managers? Because
13:16
Speaker 4: maybe national fans don't know how many managers he's been through.
13:19
Speaker 4: You kind of glazed over a little bit. Do you
13:22
Speaker 4: know the number what Craig Staman is for aj Pereller's
13:29
Speaker 4: reign as general manager?
13:31
Speaker 2: Are we talking about full time managers or interim managers?
13:35
Speaker 2: How would you like to break this down?
13:37
Speaker 4: I'm going to count Rod Barajas's one in seven record
13:40
Speaker 4: as one of the X amount of managers?
13:44
Speaker 2: Do we give Dave Roberts for one or two games
13:48
Speaker 2: back in twenty fifteen? Do we give him run? I
13:51
Speaker 2: can rattle them off. He inherited Buddy Black, who's back
13:54
Speaker 2: in the organization. Dave Roberts then was an interim for
13:57
Speaker 2: a day or two. Pat Murphy finished the twenty fifteen season.
14:01
Speaker 2: Twenty sixteen was Andy Green that took us till the
14:05
Speaker 2: end of twenty nineteen when Rod Barajas took over for
14:08
Speaker 2: eight games. Then in twenty twenty it was Jase Tindler.
14:11
Speaker 2: Tingler went through twenty and twenty one, then came in
14:14
Speaker 2: Bob Melvin. Bob Melvin two seasons, Mike Schilt two seasons,
14:18
Speaker 2: and now Craig Staffan nine nine.
14:21
Speaker 4: For everybody who was not watching me, count with my
14:23
Speaker 4: fingers because I can't count that high. A general manager
14:27
Speaker 4: that goes through that many managers has clearly built a
14:31
Speaker 4: product on the field. But in AJ we trust shirts,
14:36
Speaker 4: shouldn't that be a shirt that is in our organization
14:40
Speaker 4: we trust? And maybe AJ's taking a little bit too
14:44
Speaker 4: much of the front line or whatever it is. And
14:49
Speaker 4: is he the one that could be getting in the
14:52
Speaker 4: way for them to truly take that next step? Because
14:54
Speaker 4: this roster. Nobody denies this roster. There's holes in every roster,
14:58
Speaker 4: but he's built this roster. Should he get out of
15:01
Speaker 4: the way. Should he have somebody that says, AJ, stop
15:04
Speaker 4: for one second, we got this.
15:07
Speaker 2: I think it's fair. I do I think that's that's
15:10
Speaker 2: fair to wonder when you've burned through a manager who's
15:13
Speaker 2: a three time Manager of the Year, another manager who
15:16
Speaker 2: walks away. I mean back to back managers have just
15:17
Speaker 2: walked away from this job, right, I mean, what is
15:20
Speaker 2: that telling us here? At that Bob Melvin decided, Yeah,
15:22
Speaker 2: I just I've had enough. Get out of here. Mike
15:25
Speaker 2: Schultz like, get me back into the minor leagues. I
15:28
Speaker 2: think I've I think this has run its course. You know,
15:31
Speaker 2: maybe those are our situations that are independent of themselves.
15:34
Speaker 2: You know, maybe there's some connective tissue there. I think
15:37
Speaker 2: everyone is sort of different, right, you inherit Buddy Black
15:41
Speaker 2: and you know, it always felt like Buddy, on a
15:43
Speaker 2: expiring contract, was probably not going to make it unless
15:47
Speaker 2: that twenty fifteen season was something special and it wasn't
15:51
Speaker 2: heading in the right direction. Andy Green was sort of
15:54
Speaker 2: here for development. I don't know that they looked at
15:56
Speaker 2: Andy Green as somebody who you know, they really thought,
15:59
Speaker 2: by the way, the only manager under a J. Preller
16:01
Speaker 2: to get an extension. Oddly enough, so the Tingler thing
16:04
Speaker 2: that the clubhouse in twenty twenty one kind of went
16:06
Speaker 2: south on him, and I put the organization in a
16:11
Speaker 2: funky place where I think, you know, a decision was
16:13
Speaker 2: made that maybe maybe Preller got a little out ranked on,
16:18
Speaker 2: you know, then you bring in somebody like Melvin he leaves,
16:21
Speaker 2: So I think they're all a bit different. But I
16:23
Speaker 2: also think it's fair to say, what is the problem here?
16:25
Speaker 2: Why can you not every time you introduce somebody one
16:27
Speaker 2: of these press conferences you claim that you know, you
16:29
Speaker 2: want this guy to be the manager for the next
16:31
Speaker 2: ten years, and then two years later we're doing the
16:33
Speaker 2: same thing over again. I think that there's been plenty
16:36
Speaker 2: of reporting on some of AJ Preller what's been described
16:39
Speaker 2: to some micromanaging. The way he wants things done seems
16:44
Speaker 2: very unique. That you know, he is pretty hands on
16:47
Speaker 2: in certain drills and things and ways that he wants
16:51
Speaker 2: the club to operate. So it's not for everybody, you know,
16:54
Speaker 2: it's definitely not for everybody. These managers, one after another
16:58
Speaker 2: will tell you stories about standing in their culdesacs at
17:01
Speaker 2: two in the morning taking phone calls from AJ Preller
17:03
Speaker 2: about this that the other thing. Like, you know, he
17:05
Speaker 2: operates and marches to the beat of a totally different drum.
17:08
Speaker 2: So I'm kind of curious to see how this is
17:11
Speaker 2: going to work with Craig Stalmon, a guy who's never
17:13
Speaker 2: done it before, guy who's been a career relief pitcher.
17:16
Speaker 2: I mean, is this finally the secret sauce that he
17:18
Speaker 2: needs for somebody that he has alignment with? You know,
17:22
Speaker 2: I I'm curious to see what that looks like. You know,
17:25
Speaker 2: seems to to at least pass the eye test early
17:28
Speaker 2: on Craig Stamon in terms of standing up there, looking
17:31
Speaker 2: comfortable at the podium, et cetera. So but yeah, I mean,
17:34
Speaker 2: I think it's been a valid criticism of it. Why
17:36
Speaker 2: is it that you burned through all of these guys?
17:38
Speaker 2: What is it about working with you that that has
17:40
Speaker 2: these guys literally quitting these jobs? You know, like, what
17:43
Speaker 2: what is that? But for the most part, I think
17:46
Speaker 2: that the fans just enjoy the energy, They enjoy the buzz,
17:49
Speaker 2: right like, like he's an action guy. Things happen, you know,
17:52
Speaker 2: think about even what's happened here over the last couple
17:54
Speaker 2: of days, whether it's been Costiano's or Canningham Orquez. Like
17:57
Speaker 2: he's an action guy, and like we we all rely
18:00
Speaker 2: on that in the media because it gives us plenty
18:02
Speaker 2: of juice and he provides that sizzle, so you know
18:07
Speaker 2: there's also some stake that goes with the sizzle as well.
18:09
Speaker 2: But I think it's a fair criticism, like what happens here,
18:12
Speaker 2: Why do these guys keep doing it? And at what
18:14
Speaker 2: point do you run out of Well, I've got the
18:16
Speaker 2: next candidate that I think I'm going to be in
18:19
Speaker 2: perfect alignment with because we haven't quite hit that never never.
18:24
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe that's it. Maybe that's just a strategy of like,
18:27
Speaker 2: let's just keep turning it over and see what we
18:29
Speaker 2: can get out of these guys for a couple of years.
18:32
Speaker 2: I don't know that I fully understand it. When I
18:34
Speaker 2: came here, Bruce Bochie was the manager and you know,
18:36
Speaker 2: still the best manager that I've covered. So I prefer
18:39
Speaker 2: the consistency. AJ claims that as well, But the actions
18:43
Speaker 2: every other year tell us a different story.
18:45
Speaker 1: Perhaps it's the two am cul de sat conversations. We're
18:48
Speaker 1: only human, we can only take so many of those.
18:50
Speaker 1: All right, you touched on it briefly earlier, But what
18:54
Speaker 1: is the update on the sale process. We know that
18:58
Speaker 1: it's supposed to come to a conclusion here over the
19:00
Speaker 1: next few months.
19:02
Speaker 2: So John Siler, who's the acting chairman spoke today at
19:06
Speaker 2: the Peoria Sports Complex, where the Pottery spring training site
19:09
Speaker 2: is located, and said some very vague commentary. You know, hey,
19:15
Speaker 2: we have interest. There's been some reports I'm sure that
19:19
Speaker 2: have been discussed here and elsewhere about some of the names.
19:21
Speaker 2: You know, whether that's you know, names that have been
19:24
Speaker 2: associated more with European soccer, or whether that's Joe Lake
19:28
Speaker 2: up from the Golden State Warriors. You know, these are
19:30
Speaker 2: the names that have been reported on. I suspect there's
19:32
Speaker 2: probably one or two that that we haven't heard of.
19:35
Speaker 2: But you know, there's been some some local reporting about
19:38
Speaker 2: prospective prospect you know, potential owners getting towards the Pecka Park,
19:42
Speaker 2: you know, walking around taking a peak, seeing what's what,
19:46
Speaker 2: How far down the road anybody's gone in terms of
19:48
Speaker 2: what are the finances. Look, has anybody taken this further
19:52
Speaker 2: enough or far enough that they've they've taken a peek
19:54
Speaker 2: at the Pottery's books. Seems unclear at this point, but
19:58
Speaker 2: based on what Rob Manfred said early this week or
20:00
Speaker 2: late last week, there's interest. And you know around here,
20:04
Speaker 2: the people that are in these circles, they tell you
20:06
Speaker 2: like the interest is real, Like there's real, you know,
20:09
Speaker 2: This isn't you know, just just trying to gin up
20:12
Speaker 2: a little bit of activity or some rumors to get
20:15
Speaker 2: people to jump in. It sounds like, you know, those
20:19
Speaker 2: that are I don't operate in these billionaire spaces, but
20:21
Speaker 2: those that are, even if they're out there on the fringe,
20:24
Speaker 2: to tell you that the the interest is real, and
20:26
Speaker 2: it sounds like something could be you know, sooner rather
20:28
Speaker 2: than later. When this when this first was announced, I
20:31
Speaker 2: thought this was going to be like a long drawn
20:33
Speaker 2: out process, potentially after the CBA, just to make sure
20:36
Speaker 2: you knew. But it sounds like there's a little bit
20:38
Speaker 2: of a an urgency I suppose on behalf of the
20:42
Speaker 2: side of the family, whether that's lawsuit related, whether that's
20:45
Speaker 2: just like, hey, listen, you know, this isn't what we
20:47
Speaker 2: signed up for. This is what our brother did, and
20:49
Speaker 2: we're sort of just holding this down in the interim.
20:52
Speaker 2: But you know, it does sound like like most people
20:54
Speaker 2: who are involved in current capacity as ownership wants to
20:59
Speaker 2: get go went here and move this forward and hopefully
21:02
Speaker 2: leave the Padres in a you know, in a good situation,
21:05
Speaker 2: which is where they were under under the late Great Peters.
21:07
Speaker 3: Either Darren, you mentioned the money in the in the income.
21:11
Speaker 3: I just want to know. I think the Padres they're
21:13
Speaker 3: with MLB, I know that, But I think they're only
21:16
Speaker 3: broadcasting two spring training games, I think, And are the
21:20
Speaker 3: fans okay with that? Because I think the Padres are
21:23
Speaker 3: one of the teams that used to do like almost
21:25
Speaker 3: every spring training game and now they only I think
21:27
Speaker 3: they're only doing two the entire spring? Is this the
21:31
Speaker 3: new way of TV under MLB? And are Padrey fans
21:35
Speaker 3: okay with only seeing possibly two of their spring training games?
21:38
Speaker 2: No? And I think the television has been, uh, you know,
21:42
Speaker 2: kind of a pain in the ass subject for a
21:44
Speaker 2: lot of people, because you know what happened. They were
21:47
Speaker 2: part of the Bally's group that blew up, and they
21:50
Speaker 2: went from making sixty million dollars a deal, which you know,
21:52
Speaker 2: sixty million a year, which is you know, which is
21:54
Speaker 2: not a ton compared to some of the you know,
21:57
Speaker 2: top markets right at Chicago, La.
21:59
Speaker 1: Et cetera.
22:00
Speaker 2: But now they went to one of the worst deals
22:02
Speaker 2: in all the Major League Baseball And it's sort of fuzzy,
22:06
Speaker 2: you know what this is looking like under Major League
22:08
Speaker 2: Baseball's operation. You know, they're sort of a canary in
22:11
Speaker 2: the coal mine type. Now, I think that that overall
22:14
Speaker 2: it's been frustrating, even for somebody like yours truly. I mean,
22:19
Speaker 2: I PLoP down one hundred bucks a year just so
22:22
Speaker 2: I know where I can get it. I can find it,
22:23
Speaker 2: I can stream it through the MLB app. But I
22:26
Speaker 2: think people would like to know that, you know, this
22:28
Speaker 2: team is going to end up in a situation here
22:31
Speaker 2: where where it's not lagging so far behind everybody else financially.
22:35
Speaker 2: As far, I don't know how many games they're putting
22:38
Speaker 2: on their stream for spring training. I know on the
22:42
Speaker 2: radio side there's going to be some sort of stream
22:45
Speaker 2: or radio broadcast for almost all of them, but in
22:47
Speaker 2: terms of being able to watch them, seems like like
22:50
Speaker 2: that's been a little bit complicated. And now it's MLB
22:52
Speaker 2: and it's ESPN, and what does that mean for fans here?
22:55
Speaker 2: I feel like the CEO of this team goes on
22:57
Speaker 2: the radio on a pretty regular basis and has to
22:59
Speaker 2: explain like, hey, this is this is what the deal
23:02
Speaker 2: is with this We all understand, right, even us by
23:05
Speaker 2: nature of being here and streaming, and you know, baseball
23:09
Speaker 2: away it should be covered streaming. You know myself after
23:12
Speaker 2: twenty years of doing local radio, Like you know, those
23:14
Speaker 2: days are kind of in the past. But you know,
23:18
Speaker 2: I do think it's just not been clear what it
23:20
Speaker 2: is that's happening with the Podres and A what does
23:24
Speaker 2: that mean for the product on the field, because so
23:26
Speaker 2: much of your revenue is tied into this and into
23:29
Speaker 2: your local television revenue and you're not getting that and
23:33
Speaker 2: you were getting that, And what is baseball doing to
23:35
Speaker 2: make the situation a little bit better? And then b
23:38
Speaker 2: there's just a ton of confusion out there about how
23:40
Speaker 2: these games, what channel are they on? Do if I
23:42
Speaker 2: have Direct TV, or if I have this platform or
23:45
Speaker 2: if I have that one. You know, I subscribed to
23:47
Speaker 2: YouTube TV a couple of years ago because I was
23:50
Speaker 2: watching the World Series and like Joe Buck kept telling me,
23:53
Speaker 2: or get YouTube TV, and I had the Podrais and
23:56
Speaker 2: then I didn't, you know, from one year to the next,
23:58
Speaker 2: and you know, every year it's like you have to
24:01
Speaker 2: go through this roadmap trying to figure out how it
24:03
Speaker 2: is that you're going to get the baseball game. So
24:05
Speaker 2: it has been a real point of concern for the
24:08
Speaker 2: Podreys and and you know, recently the CEO has to
24:12
Speaker 2: just say Baseball's in charge. You know, that's a question
24:15
Speaker 2: for MLB. Well, you know, good luck getting any answers there,
24:18
Speaker 2: or any answers that are satisfactory. Like, we all can
24:21
Speaker 2: live with the fact that how we consume content games
24:25
Speaker 2: is changing. We all can live with that. But but
24:28
Speaker 2: you know, there just hasn't been like any any clarity exactly. Like,
24:33
Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to be told that I
24:34
Speaker 2: have to change everything. You know, I don't want to
24:37
Speaker 2: have to tell my wife that she's got to like
24:39
Speaker 2: lose her whole library on YouTube TV so we can
24:41
Speaker 2: switch to another platform so that we can watch the Podreys.
24:45
Speaker 2: And and I'm not alone in that. So you know,
24:47
Speaker 2: it's been frustrating over the last couple of years since
24:49
Speaker 2: the ballet implosion, and it just feels like the Podrays
24:51
Speaker 2: have been one of those teams that's been you know,
24:55
Speaker 2: at the front of well, baseball is going to take
24:57
Speaker 2: care of this now, and and you know, nobody feels
25:00
Speaker 2: like we're in a better situation today than we were
25:02
Speaker 2: three years ago.
25:04
Speaker 1: All Right, Darren Smith, we appreciate the time, We appreciate
25:07
Speaker 1: the insights. Thanks for joining us.
25:10
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it