Latest / Foul Territory / Rays continuity key, College v MLB tech race + Jim Bowden on A's new PBO, LA wanted to BENCH Ohtani?!

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Rays continuity key, College v MLB tech race + Jim Bowden on A's new PBO, LA wanted to BENCH Ohtani?! · Foul Territory

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Front office unfiltered. Our buddy Jim Bowden joining us. Longtime
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: former general manager in Major League Baseball. And we're going
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: to get to a number of moves outside of the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: playoffs in terms of jobs being filled. But let's start
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: with what we're seeing here.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: JB, good to see you.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: We got to start with Milwaukee. We haven't talked to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: you since. So what did you think of the way
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: that they handled, manhandled, I should say, the Dodgers in
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the C.S.? Yeah, I mean, it was a great series.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee is the best team in baseball, and they proved
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: it on the field. Everything we knew, I think what
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: really stood out to me, you know, being there for
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: the four games, is just how good this team is defensively.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, they have a plus defender at every single position,
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: and it really shows.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Up, right?
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, Jackson Troyal probably is going to win the
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: gold glove over Ian Happ in left field this year.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: In center field, Mitchell takes a single away in front
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: of him like Andrew Jones used to, and then goes back,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: goes over the wall, and brings a home run back.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: And then Louis Lara, when he's playing against left-handed pitching,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: he goes and makes a range play at the foul
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: line that was like, oh my God, not many right
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: fielders can cover that much ground that quickly. And then,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: of course, the whole series started with Mookie Betts hitting
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: a ground ball to shortstop, and Bryce Terang fielded it
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: from second base. On the left side of second base,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: he did that a couple times in the series because
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Probably has the best range to his right since Roberto
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Alomar Jr. I mean, it's just amazing to watch him.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: And then you got the shortstop Cooper Pratt, who might
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: not be as good as Taylor Walls, but I mean,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: he gets an in-between hop to his left and has
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: the softest hands, makes the play. Ortiz makes great plays
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: in third, and then you've got Contreras that steals strikes
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: with the ABS system all the time. Game-changing moments, game-changing counts. Contreras,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: you know, will spin a ball into a strike. I mean,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: it's really a fun team to watch. They're just incredible,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: and the back end of that bullpen lights out. So, look,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: they had the best record in the regular season. As
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: we all know, they were the best team in baseball
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: in the regular season, and they're four wins away from
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: their first world championship ever, and I'm here for it.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Jim, we're all here for it. A lot of us
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: picked the Brewers to win the whole thing and beat
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers. The Brewers are great. The Brewers are great.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: We all know that. But before we move on from
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: them to the other league and all this, we've got
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: to ask you one more time about the Dodgers. What
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: happened here? They couldn't hit. Their starting pitching wasn't as
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: great as we thought it was. Their bullpen, which was
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: a problem all year, continued to be a problem. What
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: happened to this super team that was supposed to be
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: invincible and could never be beat? I mean, they got spanked.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, let's start with Shoei Otani, right? He
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: wasn't healthy the whole series. Really didn't show any power
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: to the final game. It was too late in Game 4.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: But he didn't have his lower half at all. I
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: don't know if it was the knee or the hip
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: or something else. They're not telling us. But just, you know,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: I watched every workout and every BP, every game. And
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: he actually was hitting on the field, which he doesn't
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: really do much in the regular season. But even in
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: the workout, there's just no lower half. He just couldn't
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: drive the ball. And so you really didn't have Shohei
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Ohtani there. To your point, you know, Blake Snell and
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Glassnow pitched sparingly this year in general. So they weren't
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: their dominant selves that we're used to. Edwin Diaz looked great,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: by the way. I mean, he was 100 with a
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: 92 slider. But, you know, at the end of the day,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: the other thing that really showed up is the age
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: and the lack of athleticism. And when they don't slug,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: they don't manufacture runs because it's an older team. And so,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: you know, when I looked at the Dodgers closely, You know,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I look at it and say, can they come back
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: next year and be there? The answer is yes. Of
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: course it is. You know, bring Scooble back if you can.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: And look, Betts and Freeman aren't done. They still got
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: time left. I think the three areas that I would
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: say they need to get younger and more athletic are
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: second base, left field, and third base. Tommy Edmond is
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: more of a utility player at this point for me.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Max Muncy is a platoon player that against righties is
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: going to hit some homers and walk.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I get it.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: And look at T.O. He's had a great run there,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: but those three spots, get younger, get more athletic, get
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: guys that can manufacture runs, get some more speed in there,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: and it'll fix it. That's why I proposed on the
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: GM Territory show yesterday a blockbuster with the Nationals. If
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the Nationals aren't going to sign James Wood and C.J.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Abrams long-term, then I suggested an eight-player trade where the
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Dodgers could trade starters Justin Robleski and Emmett Sheehan They
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: could trade their phenom, Josue DePaulo, who could DH for
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: them immediately, outfielder Mike Sirota, infielder Alex Freeland, and catcher
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: Dalton Rushing, all six guys to Washington for Abrams to
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: play second and James Wood to play left field. It's
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: a dream trade, probably doesn't happen, but that's the kind
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: of deal they need. Or Joey Votto's idea, which is
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: DePaulo and a package to get L.A. De La Cruz.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: That makes sense. even a smaller deal like for Javier
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Sanoa of the Marlins to play second base. But my
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: point is younger, more athletic in three spots if they
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: want to get to the World Series next year.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Jim, I got one tiny question for you.
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: You said look like he was a little bit, you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: something going on with his lower half. As a GM,
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: the discussion was, and it was squashed by a lot
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: of people, Do you sit him during the playoffs? Did
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: it look so much so that you needed to sit him? Obviously,
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: game four, he hits the absolute moonshot. But do you
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: need to sit him? Because the Dodgers went the opposite
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: way and put him back up in the lineup after
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: he really didn't show too much.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I was covering this whole series with SiriusXM,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: and I took the position before game three that personally
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I would have sat him. And I would have sat
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: him based on games, batting practice, and the workout. I
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: just saw no lower half. And I was watching Josue DiPaola,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: watching his two walks, watching his at-bats in BP, talking
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: to him, really believing in the human being here. And
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: I think that the reason I would have started him
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: as a DH in Game 3 is I thought he
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: had a better chance of driving the ball than Otani. But,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: you know, Ohtani in game four hit that bomb home run.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Game of four, nothing lead. Gave them a chance to win. So,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: you know, Dodgers were probably right and I was probably
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: wrong on my take. I will say they talked about
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: it a lot. And I will tell you this. After
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Andrew Friedman saw him, he, Brandon Gomes, Dave Roberts, and
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: the agent all sat in with Ohtani. And they wanted
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: to sit him. And Ohtani convinced them not to. And
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: that's why you saw that extra emotional reaction when he homered,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: which I've never seen him that emotional with the hands
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: up in the air and the bat flip and pointing
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: to the dugout because he talked himself into, he argued
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: himself into that start because they were going to sit him.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: That was going to be the plan. He talked him
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: out of it.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Okay, Jim, a couple things. First of all, why can't
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Washington sign anybody? Why can't they sign Abrams?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Small market.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: They're a large market. It's the Washington.
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: I know.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: I don't know why.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: They chose not to sign Soto. They chose not to
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: sign Bryce Harper. They chose not to sign Trey Turner.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: That's what they chose to do. I mean, it's wrong.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: You need your stars. You need to keep your stars.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: That's what you do. I mean, it's not that hard,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: but if you're not going to... If you're not going to,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: then you have to deal with Milwaukee, Tampa, Cleveland, you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: when they traded Lindor. I mean, that's what you do.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: You try to sign them, and if you can't, then
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: spin it and get as much possible return as you can.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: And I think the Nationals with Warden Abrams and the
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Reds with De La Cruz, you have to be thinking
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: about it, and you have to be thinking about it
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: far enough out that you get a huge enough return
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: that you can win.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Agreed. Also, by the way, I don't know if you
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: saw our role play we had on here, Jim, where
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: I played Shohei. And Scott played Andrew Friedman. I think
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: Kratz played Dave Roberts or something like that. And I
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: was Shohei. And they said, hey, Shohei, how are you feeling?
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: I was like, great. They're like, we're thinking about sitting.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: And I'm like, the F you are, you're not sitting me.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: I'm Shohei. And they're like, no, no, we really think
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: you should. And I'm like, it ain't happening. I'm playing.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: And they're like, no, they're going to sit. I'm like,
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: there's not a chance in hell that he sits. There's
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: no way. Because as soon as they, the only way
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: it's going to happen, Jim, honestly, and you play GM,
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: imagine you had Griffey, okay? You go to Ken Griffey Jr.,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: you're in a winner-take-all game. He's 70%, let's say. And
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: you go to Griff and you say, Ken, we're thinking
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: about sitting you. How do you feel? He's going to
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: be like, you're not sitting me. I'm Ken Griffey Jr.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: I'm playing in this game. And you know what you
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: would do? You'd be like, yes, you're right. We're going
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: to play you. Because you said you're just like.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: That's why I was hated. I sat him. I moved
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: him off the center field. I'm not that guy. When
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: I sat in that role, I just tried to make
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: decisions that were best for the team. And I didn't
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: get involved in the rest. And, you know, you get
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: a lot of hate when you do that. But, you know,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: that's my view of that job. You have that job
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: for a reason. Dave Roberts' job is to win. It's
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: to manage the team and put the team in the
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: best position to win. And you can't give up on egos. Look,
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I understand in other sports, like in the NBA– I
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: totally get it. If Kobe says he's playing, he's playing.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: That's a different sport. In the NFL, the quarterback, Tom Brady,
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Pat Mahomes, say they're playing. They're playing. But in baseball,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: if I have a better option, I got to play
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: the better option.
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: You owe it to the team.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: AJ, in this postseason, there is a chance for a
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: fan base to get very excited to witness either their
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: first ever World Series title or a World Series title
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: that hasn't been in a long time, right? So if
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: you're a fan out there and you're going, And sometimes...
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: never change. No, in baseball, it can turn around. But
• 10:03
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• 10:07
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• 10:11
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• 10:14
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• 10:16
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• 10:20
  Speaker 4: for $ 15 a month. People complaining about how stuff is expensive.
• 10:23
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• 10:33
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• 10:44
  Speaker 5: All right, let's go to some front office moves since...
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: This is front office unfiltered. The Orioles, name a GM
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: under Mike Elias. Is this more of a paper move
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: for the skeptical Oriole fans, or is this a significant
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: move that will change the trajectory of how they make
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: the moves and where Mike Elias has fallen short?
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a really good hire. Jared Banner's
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: background is in player development. He did a good job
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: with the Mets. He was influential in the Cubs acquiring
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: Pete Armstrong. He was a loud voice because he had
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: known him from when he was the director of play
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: development with the Mets. He has good judgment. He has
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: been on my front office show quite a bit on
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Sirius XM. I'm a fan of Jared Banner. And I
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: think what he brings to the table is a different
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: development mind. And I think, you know, we look at
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: the Orioles. They do a really good job of evaluating
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: amateur talent, drafting amateur talent. bringing in talent. They don't
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: do a great job in developing the talent, and they
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: don't do a great job in building a team. I
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: think those are two areas that Jared Banner is prolific
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: in and can certainly help. You know, the position players
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: didn't really develop as I thought they should, those young
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: guys coming up in the organization. And now they have
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: another big group of pitching prospects on the way. They
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: better make sure these guys are developed right. So I
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: think Jared Banner brings a different voice, a development background,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: understanding how to build teams. So I think he's a
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: really good fit. I think he'll be an added voice
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: to the group.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, Banner mentioned.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, go ahead, DK. I think we're going to say
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the same thing.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: He has a really big star next to his resume
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: with the Cubs based on his farm director role with
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the Mets.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: There was a little trade.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: That was made between those two teams that he apparently
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: had some say with, if you know what I'm saying.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: JB happens to be the soon-to-be-named MVP of the National League, right?
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, PCA.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: He had a lot to do with the acquisition of
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: Pete Gromstrong.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: He was one of the voices.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: He loves Pete.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: Who doesn't?
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: That worked out pretty well for the Cubs.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: Who doesn't love PCA? Jim probably doesn't.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Jim doesn't like PCA. He's the best. He's unbelievable.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: He's the best.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: It's fun. We have somebody on the Cubs.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: You even love a Cubs.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: It's fun that we love somebody on the Cubs here
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: on this show, even with A.J.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: A.J.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: Allows it, Jim, so it's clearly something astronomical. I got
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: to go to the A's. The A's knew Pobo, president
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: of baseball operations. Is this a– because he's a stat–
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: he's listed as a, quote, stat guru. Is this a move–
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: is this a position that he needs to be the
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: guy or– He just became the guy because maybe they
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: sifted through some other guys that said, I'm taking my
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: name out of this hat. The difficulty of moving to
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: a new city and what comes with the A's.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Sam Fold would have been a great hire.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: And that's who they offered the job to. And he
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: turned him down because I think Sam knows he's going
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: to get the Phillies job when Dave Dombrowski steps away.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: And Dave's going to be 70 years old this year.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: So he's got to be close to retirement. I think
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: Sam would have been a great hire. But I do
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: like this hire of Taylor Smith because he comes under
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: the Eric Neander Tampa Bay Rays tree. He spent seven
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: years there. And so anyone that spends time in the
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Rays environment understands that they appreciate scouting as much as
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: they do the analytics, the science, the technology, the predictive algorithms.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: For example, Tampa Bay had six scouts. six of them
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: scouting the NLCS, including former Major League Manager Brandon Hyde.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: And that's something they do under Eric Neander. They really
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: understand the human element. They understand players and humans. And
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: they're not stats. They're not numbers. They're not algorithms. And
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: so when you come from the Rays, you have that
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: perfect blend of understanding all of it, right?
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: The pie.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: That's where he comes from. Then going from a small
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: market to a big market in Boston, where he's been
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: the last two years, you get the rude awakening because
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: it's a totally different job. But you get the experience
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: of what that's like with a much different revenue stream,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: with a much different ownership direction and group. And so
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: I think the last couple of years has been a
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: fascinating experience for him as well. And so I think
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: that's a really good blend to go to the athletic because, look,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: the athletics have a great group of young position players
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: to build around. They need to be obsessed with pitching, pitching, pitching,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: and more pitching for every free agent trade and draft
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: pick coming up. So I think his background, he's young.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: He's only 31 years old. That's how old I was
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: when I first took a GM job. So he's very young,
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: but he comes from a really good background and experience. So,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: you know, you never know how a guy's going to
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: do until he sits in the seat. But I think
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: in general, from afar, I think it's probably a very
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: solid hire.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Last one for you and to continue on this, JB,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: do you think that the A's will live up to
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: their promise to invest more in players? I mean, they
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: actually kind of publicly did state they were going to
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: do that heading into Vegas. They haven't really done it yet.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: So do you feel like that's going to be part
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: of the mix here?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Look, I know that our group, we all have different
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: opinions of how the next CBA should go. I'd like
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: to see a CBA where the players get more money,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: get earlier free agency, the minimum goes to a million,
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: and there's a floor. Because if you don't have a floor,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: I've already had two GMs tell me, the owners saying, hey,
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: if Milwaukee, Cleveland, Tampa can do it, there's no reason
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: we have to increase our apparel. In fact, we can
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: probably decrease it because look at them. If you don't
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: put a floor in place, Teams, what they've done the
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: last six or seven years, instead of turning the revenues
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: towards the players and letting player revenue grow like it should,
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: they're putting it into science and they're pitching labs and
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: a lot of that background infrastructure instead of giving it
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: to the major league players. And if you don't put
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: in a system to guarantee the players the portion they
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: deserve and you don't have a floor, I have no
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: guarantee what the the Las Vegas Athletics are going to
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: invest or the Pirates are going to invest. If you
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: don't make them get to a floor, I don't think
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: there's any guarantee on any of these owners, to be
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: quite honest about it. I think they all want to
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: win and they all want to make money. And to
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: balance that sometimes is difficult and challenging. And that's why
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: if I'm players, I am rooting for a salary floor.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, man.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: So what you're also telling me is that the Brewers
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: and the Rays slash Guardians are are putting even more
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: pressure on certain GMs.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Now you have owners saying, hey, you got to be
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: like them. We're going to decrease barrel.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: I've had two GMs tell me that in the last
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: 10 days.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: Two of them. Wow.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Yep. Wow. Okay, well.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Their job just got much harder because the only math.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: It got much easier because they can say, now I
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: don't have any money to spend. I'm trying to develop players.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I need five more years. Five more years. To get
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: my players in here. The whole thing, just give me
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: five more years, Mr.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Owner.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: Plus, you know, the happiest owners in the world are
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: about this. You know who they are?
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: Who?
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: Bob Nutting. the people in Colorado, the people that don't
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: spend any money, because they're like, we can throw, we
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: get a hundred million in revenue sharing. We can throw
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: 5 million more into our pitching lab. And you know
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: what I get? 95 more million. That's right. We're just
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: trying to be the raise guys.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yeah.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: And when you put it in infrastructure, when you sell
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: the team, you get it all back plus, right? So,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, look, we all know the owners are making
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: a lot of money. We all know the stars are
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: making a lot of money. We all know the agents
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: representing the stars are making a lot of money.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: We got it.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: We got to help the zero to three guys. The
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: zero to three guys are all on the stage right now.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: No one else is like Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, right?
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Cleveland.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: We got all these zero to three players not getting paid,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: sitting on the floor. Don't we want to get them paid?
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Come on now. Let's get a system and get them paid.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Ask the zero to three NFL players how they're doing. Yeah. Well,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: they're all out of the game.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Time to fix it. They got shuffled out.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: You're going to need a lot more than a mil, though,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: for a zero to three if you're a superstar. But
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: that's a topic. We'll save that.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: We got months and months of this.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: We got a little bit of time to go over that.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: We got a few days. Right?
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Just a little bit.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Every single day.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: Let's enjoy this baseball the rest of the way because
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: I can't wait. I mean, I just can't wait for
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: this World Series. It's going to be so fun and
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: so exciting. And I just love the defense that we're
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: going to get to see in the World Series on
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: both sides. It's going to be fun.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: I'm with you.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Last part here because I've been saying a lot, but
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I want to say it to you directly, J.B., This
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: brand of baseball is what I like and fell in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: love with.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: So that's what I'm rooting for. If there's one thing
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: we learned, forget the money part for a moment.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Maybe other teams can shift some of what they're looking
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: for to more Chandler Simpsons getting a chance.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: That's what I want. So I'll finish it with that
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: because I know we agree there.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Well, JB, we'll talk to you when the World Series
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: gets cranking. Thank you.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Sounds good.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys. Have a good one. All right.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: JB also on GM territory and encouraging you to check
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: out that episode where he talks about the blockbuster that
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: could involve the nationals and Dodgers. It's JB coming up
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: with ideas, like it or hate it.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: He's down to.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Hear your comments, go over to GM territory on their
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel or wherever you get your pods.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: It's that time of year where all the sports are
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: pretty much going right now from the baseball playoffs, which
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: obviously on foul territory, we love NCAA football. There's huge
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: games this weekend, conference games, There's NBA starting, NHL is going,
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: and the NFL is in full swing right now. So
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: if I need to get tickets because I go everywhere
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: and I go to a lot of games, I use SeatGeek.
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: I don't need to go everywhere. I just need to
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: go to the World Series. Maybe I got to go
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: see LeBron play too. So I just scroll across. I
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: figure out where the best place to watch the game is.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: SeatGeek's got me.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: That's right. Red dot, bad deal, they think. Green dot,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: great deal. But you get to choose. That's the one
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: great thing about SeatGeek. And of course, we have a code.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Kratz and I have a code for you. You can
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off all tickets with promo
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in the
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: description to download the app and have the code automatically
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: added to your account so you can use it later.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, we talked about recruiting earlier on the show. What
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: was the recruiting pitch from the Phillies, Kratz, to convince
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Carlos Mendoza to take the third base and infield job
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: over staying in the mix for the Mariners' managerial role?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: And maybe he would have been in the mix for
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the Astros' role at some point, too. Do you think
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: that the Phillies were able to pitch him, hey, we
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: want someone now and you'll be in this spot? Or
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: do you think it was more Mendy thinking, I don't
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: know if I'm going to get this. I want to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: lock in what I want.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: And maybe there's a location thing to this as well.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Good family guy.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: Good family guy. I mean, it's spot on. They're out here.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: They're out in this, you know, on the East Coast.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: But also, like, being a manager is not necessarily like, oh,
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: I'm just going to take whatever managerial job. You know,
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: maybe you look at it and you go, okay, this
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: has been stressful for me. It didn't go the way
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: I thought it was going to go or the way
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: that Mindy thought it was going to go when he
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: was hired by the Mets. But East Coast... It's a
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: winning team. He feels he can add value to this.
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: He's very happy about it. He's very happy about his decision.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: I know that talking to him.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to be a manager again at
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: some point.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: Bird in the hand.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Take what you got.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: Bird in the hand. Why? Okay, so here's my question.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Why can't he take this job and still interview for
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: the other jobs?
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Because you have to sign, so they'd have to give
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: you permission.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I... It's not a lateral move.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: It's a move up. It is.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I think he's out of the Mariners one, though, because
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: they're doing their talks now, and he did apparently say
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: he's out.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Okay, that's fine. You know what? He didn't want the job.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: Maybe he just thought he wasn't going to get it. Yeah.
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: And so he's like, hey, man, I can get a
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: third base coaching job on a team that's pretty good.
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: Dave Dombrowski's one. He likes Don Mattingly. He probably knows
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Don Mattingly from when he was with the Yankees for
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: a long time, and I'm sure Donnie was around a
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: little bit.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I like your point, though.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Depending on who the Astros GM is, if he calls
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: Mendy and says, hey, we want you.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: The Phillies should let him out.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: I would think, but I don't think that's going to happen.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: I think those two jobs are fascinating who gets hired,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: both for the manager jobs, for the Mariners and for
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: the Astros. I think it's going to be fascinating to
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: see who gets those jobs.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Astros, we've got to see who the GM is.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Well, exactly. But then the Mariners, they've had basically Scott
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Service and Dan Wilson, they were the same person.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is going to be someone that's not
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: a depoto buddy.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: Is it though?
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like he's going
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to go somewhere a little different.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: That would be a change. That would be a change.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: I think they want one. Yeah.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: That's what he said.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: That's what he said.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: That's what he said.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: That's what he said.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: That's what he said is presented by the Fox one app.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I think it's, A good chance for us to talk
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: about technology, also continuity.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And you might be like, wait, what are you talking about?
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: So there's two topics I want to get to here.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: One related to MLB teams and their tech and their
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: infrastructure behind the scenes. And then the other relates to
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a hidden coach who has been with the team for
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: a very long time and how that can impact the
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: team in a positive way. But let's start with Dan Hennigan.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: explaining why Wake Forest has some developmental advantages over MLB teams.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Hennigan coming from the Wake Forest baseball program, and he
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: joined our Crush City Territory show.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: The other day.
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: Jim Crane's wealth doesn't compare to the endowments of some
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: of these college programs. It's billions and billions of dollars,
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: and they're putting it into the sports.
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: What do you mean better resources? What is Wake Forest
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: doing that the Houston Astros are not doing?
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: Better resources in terms of the actual technology. We just
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: have a better lab on both sides of the ball.
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: And that's not an Astros thing. That's an MLB thing.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: And then you have multiple professors that you don't have to...
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: It's all budget. You got to understand, it's all budget.
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: I had to handle a budget with the Astros. Every
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: team does. And every leader within an organization has to
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: handle budgets. And they have to answer to somebody. And
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: that person comes down and says, hey, we saw you
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: tried to okay this... $ 60, 000 study or whatever, uh, that
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: we can't, that's not going to fly.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: We're at a college.
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: The professor's like, I'm already getting paid. I want to
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: do the study.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: Let's just do it. And it's free.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: And so like all of a sudden you have like, it's,
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: it's nobody's fault. It's just, it's just the nature of it.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Wait, so hold on.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: There's, there's technology that exists that can help hitting. They,
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: I'm not saying you, but in general, someone could say, Hey,
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: this hitting technology exists. And you're having a fight to
• 26:15
  Speaker 7: get that approved at a professional baseball team. But at
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: Wake Forest, you can get it done.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: One hundred percent.
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: And that again, that is not an Astros thing. That's
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: a what? Unless maybe three orgs that just are like,
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: here's a blank check. Go ahead.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Go do it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: OK, so for context here and first off, Chandler Rome,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: who's part of that show, said Dan reiterated this point
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: multiple times during the interview.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: This is not just an Astros thing.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: The reason that it's on that show is Dan Hennigan,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: who is the current assistant coach and hitting coach for
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the Wake Forest University baseball program, was coming over from
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: the Astros. So he was hitting coordinator with the Astros
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: in 2025. And then this past season, he was promoted
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: to the major league staff as hitting and offensive coordinator,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: managing data analytics, advanced game planning, in-game strategy, et cetera.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: So this is actually a really good interview and a
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: really good guy to talk to, Kratz, because he just
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: saw the Astros. he's only been with wake forest for
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: a minute, but he's able to kind of compare and
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: contrast what's going on here. And there's manpower or people
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: power and who can help.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: And then there's also the technology, which wake forest invests
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: a ton into that's been known for a while.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: They're not the only program either.
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: He's not just say talking down the Astros, not living
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: up to what wake forest does. He's also saying there
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: are multiple college programs that have an advantage recruiting wise
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: and by bringing over players that can get better with
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the tech and the infrastructure they have.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: And he's also not questioned as much at Wake Forest
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: cause he's the head honcho. So I think there's, I
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: think there's parts of this while I've never seen Wake Forest,
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: I've seen and talked to guys who have been recruited
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: there and had gone through the tour and all that stuff.
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: I was part of the Red Sox when they built
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: their hitting and pitching lab. Like, To see and watch
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: the budget that they did and to watch all that,
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: like the process of all that happened, and now they
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: have that at college is impressive. To say that Major
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: League Baseball teams don't spend it on the stuff that's important,
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: I have a hard time with that. I definitely have
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: a hard time with that. Do the A's not spend?
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Do the Rockies not spend? Sure, maybe.
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure, but... To say that he has more money,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: talking about an endowment for an entire school, having more
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: money than Jim Crane?
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: Maybe.
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: Look, the baseball program's got its money at Wake Forest,
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: got its money because they have a lot of money
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: in the school. It's not the baseball's endowment program, and
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: Wake Forest may have the most. Because they're one of
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: the sports that helps bring some of this money in,
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: but the endowment is not because, okay, They're selling out
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: their Wake Forest Stadium. The endowment, like, I just, I have,
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: I listened to the whole interview, and I have a
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: little bit of skepticism because of what I've seen in
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: pro ball, and I would love to see what Wake
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: is doing that's different and that where they're spending more.
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Maybe he just doesn't get as much blowback when he
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: wants to spend $ 60, 000, where in Major League Baseball, you
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: have a lot more employees than that you need to
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: have checks and balances of what we're spending $ 60, 000 on.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: But the one part where I want to disagree to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: start is, the revenue side. Sure, this isn't based on
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Wake Forest and how much money they make as a
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: baseball program, but they're not the only school with a
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: ton of money that they tap into. Wake Forest is
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: a school that chooses to spend a good chunk of
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: money on their baseball program.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: They're not the richest. Wake Forest, in terms of rich schools,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: it's not like they're a, top 10 rich school. They
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: just choose. Hey, I'm just making up numbers.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Looks like say, Hey, 5 million bucks a year, 10 million,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: but whatever it is, that's our budget for baseball. And
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: that budget is bigger than many other schools, not all schools,
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: but bigger than many other schools.
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I've been to wake forest. Uh, my son went
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: and visited there. Uh, I, I, Tom Walter, I know, uh,
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: Excuse me, who's just placed on leave. I don't know why.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: He's been there a while now. He's been there a
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: long time. And he took me on a– I've seen
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: their pitching lab, and I've seen Major League pitching labs.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: Major League pitching labs are nice.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: They are.
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, but Wake was kind of the first college
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: team to do it, so they get a lot of love.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: Now also, what was the guy's name? Dan Hennigan. Dan Hennigan.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: He now works at Wake Forest.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: You know what his job is to do as a
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: worker of Wake Forest? Yes. Get kids to go to college.
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: You know what he's going to say right now? College
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: is way cooler, kids, than going to the big leagues
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: because I need the best players to come to guess where?
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: Wake Forest. I've been to Mississippi State. I've been to
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: Oklahoma State. I've been to Florida. I've been to a
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: lot of these big schools that are the best of
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: the best. The facilities do not match up to a
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: big league roster and stadium if, this is a big if,
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: If the owner invests in what they want to invest in.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: I'm going to use the White Sox for a long time.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: They didn't have a pitching lab. They didn't have a
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: hitting lab. They do now. Okay? Because finally it was
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: brought to Jerry Reinsdorf's attention. Hey, we need this. Other
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: teams are getting ahead of this. Boom. The Blue Jays'
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: new facility. I've been to it. It's an unbelievable hitting
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: and pitching facility they have. Right? I've been to these
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: spring training places. I've seen a lot of these places.
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: They're better because it's just on a bigger scale than
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: what they have at college. Also, let's not forget, in
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: the minor leagues and in the big leagues, they're dealing
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: with 150-ish players. College, you're dealing with 34. So you're
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: going to have bigger things, bigger. And they have all
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: the best technology. But to say that Wake Forest is
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: better than the Atlanta Braves? Okay, Wake Forest might have
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: more money in the overall. But a school like, okay,
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: I'm going to use Mississippi State, for example. They lead
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: the nation in attendance in baseball every year. They get
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: like 12,000 people a game. It's one of the coolest
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: environments I've ever been in. They're not making more money
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: than the Atlanta Braves or the Tampa Bay Rays or
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: whatever you want to say, okay? But they're probably one
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: of the highest NIL teams, probably one of the highest
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: resource teams out there. I mean, their stadium is incredible.
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: But they don't have the resources that a big league
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: team does. No.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Can I ask a question that goes in between what
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: we're talking about? What the big leaguers have and what
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: spring training has, that's one thing. I would expect that
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: that is ahead of almost every college program. If I'm him,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Dan Hennigan, and I'm recruiting, and I'm like, you're a
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: high schooler. And you're probably going to be in the
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: minor leagues for a few years if you go right
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: to pro ball, right?
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: If you're in single A, double A, whatever it is,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: do you have all of that tech and those tools?
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: A lot of the minor leagues are getting there. Some organizations, perhaps.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: But that was where there was a gap.
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: Okay, yes. But now most of them are getting there.
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: When I was in the minor leagues, we had a
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: hitting coach, we had a manager, and we had a
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: pitching coach, okay, and a trainer. We had those four people.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: You didn't even have a weight room.
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: In the big leagues, we didn't have a weight room.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: In the minor leagues, no. We had four people. Now
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: they have two hitting coaches, two pitching coaches, a manager,
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: four trainers, a mental coach, a nutritionist, all this stuff.
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: Most of them are trying to get to where the
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: facilities are pretty good. They all have Traject. They all
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: have Trackman. They all have whatever you want to call it.
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: They all have Rapsodo. They all have these in their stadium.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: That's recent, though.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: But Wake Forest is pitching labs only in the last
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: five years.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: It's not like they had this 20 years ago. So
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: teams are all starting to catch up.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: But yes, it's recent.
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: They're all starting to catch up, though. And also it
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: goes back to, like I said, if the owner is
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: willing to commit to doing this, teams will have it.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: But there's owners for every year that say, we don't
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: need that. We can keep up. But then they look
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: at the Rays who have all this stuff, right? And
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: the Brewers who probably have all this stuff. And they say, well,
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: they have that and they're winning. The GM goes and says,
• 34:02
  Speaker 4: we need one of those cool things. I don't know.
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: No, I think you're spot on. I think if– let's
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: compare apples to apples. If you're playing at Wake Forest,
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: their facility is probably similar to what a spring training
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: facility has. There's access to the force plates. There's access
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: to the pitching lab, biomechanics, all that stuff. Then you
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: get sent to your season– And you're in Charleston, West Virginia.
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: I guess they're not there anymore. But wherever you get
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: sent to a season, you don't have access to that.
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: All that stuff's not a daily thing. So, yes, is
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: Wake Forest facility and all that stuff different than going
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: to play high A in Lakewood, New Jersey?
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: And that's what he's trying to do. The guys that
• 34:53
  Speaker 5: they're recruiting are not like, hey, we think you're going
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: to be really good in high school or you're really
• 34:57
  Speaker 5: good in college. No, like these are dudes that are
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: either foregoing their time in pro ball to go to
• 35:03
  Speaker 5: Wake Forest, which I think Wake has done a tremendous
• 35:06
  Speaker 5: job of pitching development and all that stuff. But to
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: make the claims that he's made feels like it's a selling.
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: He's trying to sell it. And he's coming into kids'
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: living rooms and trying to convince them Don't sign professionally
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: so that you can come and pitch.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: For us and hit for us. Here's my thing. Crouch,
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: I don't know if your son went to ECP. I
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: don't know if you know what ECP is, East Coast Pro.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: It's this big, giant thing they have in Hoover, Alabama
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: in August every year. And it's pro scouts pick teams
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: from all over the– basically the East Coast. It's the
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: East Coast area code games, okay? And they have a
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: meeting with the kids. Kids and parents. And you know
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: what they said? You know what they said in their meeting? Man,
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: in the minor leagues, we have way more stuff than
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: your college you're going to go to. We'll develop you better.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: We care more about you. We have nutritionists. You know
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: what the college coach then says? Oh, man, they just
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: want you to play pro ball. You should come to
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Wake Forest because you know what, Wake Forest? We got
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: way cooler stuff.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go with the minor leagues. I mean,
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: I'm a high school guy, and I didn't go to college,
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: but I know my kid plays college, and I've been
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: to a lot of these colleges. It's still college. They
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: can say this and that, but in the minor leagues,
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: they truly now, now, because it's way different again, now
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: they feed you, they house you, they do everything for you.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: You don't have to do basically, and you don't have
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: to go to school if you don't like school either,
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: which is kind of awesome if you don't like school,
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: but it's a completely different animal.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: You barely have to go to school now if you're
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: a student athlete.
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. You really don't have to
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: go to school.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: And it's a different animal than what it was. Okay.
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: Jeff Smith, who's the minor league, uh, raised catching coordinator.
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: He was my roommate in the minor leagues. His son
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: plays at UAB with my son. I hadn't seen him
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: in a little while. We talked this weekend cause I
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: was in Birmingham and he's like, man, it's changed so
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: much since we were in the minor league. I'm like, yeah, thank.
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: And he's like, yeah, you know, they do that. We
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: do that. And he was running through all the stuff
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: the rays do. It's incredible. And if you, here's the thing,
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: if you're ready to be a professional baseball player and you,
• 37:08
  Speaker 4: love the grind and you're mature enough to do it.
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: And you're going to get paid enough money to where you're,
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: you should go play minor league baseball. Most kids, I'd
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: say most 75 to 90% of kids aren't emotionally and
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: mature enough to go. They should go to college because
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: it gives you a chance to kind of grow mature
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: physically and mentally because I mean, I signed as a
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: 17 year old kid, right? I got thrown right into
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: living with kids from Dominican, Venezuela, Australia, Northeast, Midwest, West Coast, Northwest, Texas,
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: you know. And you're like, holy crap, man. I'm 17
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: years old living in an apartment trying to figure out.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: And they don't feed us nothing. No, you didn't. And
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: I saw more people fail because of the maturity factor.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: And if you're mature enough to do it, they're going
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: to develop. Especially if they pay you a lot of money,
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: they're going to do everything in their power to get
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: you the big league. Yep.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: It's a good call.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: No, it's. Not easy.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: So it's definitely a good route and a good debate
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: and we can keep it going. One other piece of
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: the puzzle here to this segment that I wanted to
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: bring up as we're going to focus, I would say
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks on what some of
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: the most advanced baseball programs or baseball organizations are doing
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: right now. And teams like the Rays and the Brewers
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: and the Guardians are looked at like that. Here's a
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: little underrated aspect of what the Rays are doing. They
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: have the same hitting coach.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: For a long time.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: So that's a portion of that's what he said, where
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Kevin Cash in a story that Shai Davidi wrote was
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: quoted saying that hitting coach might be the most challenging
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: coaching position in baseball, given the amount of info that's
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: out there, the lack of info sometimes and the incorrect
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: information at times. Then you're also dealing with a lot
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: of third party hitting coaches right now. Most players and
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: most of our players go see somebody in the offseason.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: And it's a lot on a hitting coach to sit
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: there and understand the verbiage and what's being said for
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: four months in the off season, knowing your hitters coming
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: back with a thought process that might be a little
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: different than what he left this season with. So he
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: was just talking about how Chad Mottola is really good
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: at connecting and adjusting and evolving and dealing with a lot.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: And that's the first position that gets the ax and
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: look how long he's been there.
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: He's great. I know I'm not going to comment on
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: this cause I love him. Uh, cause you know, Gratz, uh,
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: I know Chad Mottola personally, so I just think he's
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: great and he communicates well. And I've had this exact
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: conversation with him about this. And he's like, it's just
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: about learning your guys and knowing who they go and
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: having conversations with the guys they go. hit with in
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: the offseason and then trying to make it into the
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: verbiage we use on a daily basis. I mean, that's
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: what Chad told me. So, I mean, I love Chad,
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: so I'm not going to comment on Chad.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, I want you to comment on Chad.
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: I think he's awesome.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Right, that's what I'm saying. This is his 11th season
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: as a hitting coach, 10th season.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: With the Rays, I was looking to make sure I
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: got the number right.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: 2016 to 2026.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: And also, this is not the same Rays offense, right?
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: At one point, the Rays were ahead of the curve
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: with the three true outcomes playing to the way the
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: sport was at the time, right? It's a walk, it's
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: a strikeout, it's a homer. And now you watch the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: way the Rays play baseball. They're doing bunting. They're all
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: practicing bunting before the game. Like more than you would
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: in a BP.
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but that's the thing. People are going to focus
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: so much on, oh, they bunt.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: Oh, unbelievable. Chad Mottola must be old school. No, he's
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: not old.
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: He is a guy who was, and he'll say this himself,
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: this is one of my favorite teammates of all time.
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: And honestly, he's 10 years older than me. He was
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: a guy that I kind of looked up to and
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: learned a lot from when we played together for parts
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: of two seasons in AAA. He's a guy that understands
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: he was the pick before Jeter. Like he was a
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: failed prospect and not because of like any one thing.
• 40:47
  Speaker 5: There were some injuries, there was some lack of this, or,
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: you know, it didn't, the timing didn't work out, whatever
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: it is. He understands it's okay to be able to
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: hit homers. It's okay to need to drop a bunt down.
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: It's okay to be able to learn different things. And
• 41:04
  Speaker 5: he takes this and he grabs it to help this guy.
• 41:07
  Speaker 5: He takes this, grabs it to help this guy. Look
• 41:10
  Speaker 5: at the different types of hitters he's had. When he
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: was my hitting coach in 2019, we had Brandon Lau,
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: we had Yandy Diaz, and we had Tommy Pham. Tommy
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: Pham is locked into his routine. He's doing crazy stuff
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: on physio balls. Motor's like, never seen it before, but
• 41:26
  Speaker 5: you know what? If you hit like that, I want
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: other guys to try it. Yandy Diaz just came over
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: from the Guardians, and He's a guy that was low
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: launch angle to the opposite field. And the Guardians were like,
• 41:38
  Speaker 5: we can't ever really do anything with this. And the
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: Rays were like, yeah, I just told him. Motor's like,
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: I just told him to catch the ball farther out
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: in front. And Brandon Lau is physically not as imposing
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: as either one of those guys. And he's like, the
• 41:52
  Speaker 5: way he's able to create power from his hitting approach.
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: Motor's like, I'm just going to kind of lean on
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: what he already knows. and enhance it and help it.
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: And then when he gets out of rhythm, I know
• 42:06
  Speaker 5: where that's at because we've talked about it. He's the
• 42:09
  Speaker 5: best communicator and he's so humble. He would come on
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: here and be like, I really don't do anything. I
• 42:15
  Speaker 5: just try to stay out of the way. And that
• 42:17
  Speaker 5: is true. And it's a lie all in the same comment.
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: He is the best. I love the fact, I love
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: watching him have success with this entire staff.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and my point is if you keep shuffling hitting
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: coaches and hitting programs, that hurts continuity. So just something
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: that I think some teams are overlooking by saying, we're panicking,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: we're not doing well, let's fire.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: The hitting coaches. That's annoying for you guys.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: It's a scapegoat, and it can be really damaging long-term
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: if there's a new frigging hitting coach and assistant hitting
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: coaches every other year.
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: What about Bobby Maguianis?
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: And I get it, he's the third hitting coach. I'm
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: not going to go in tangent on it, but what
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: if Bobby Magallanes had a guy in that position player
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: core that he was really connected with, really connected with,
• 43:06
  Speaker 5: and he couldn't have gotten that guy going again because
• 43:11
  Speaker 5: he got fired? It feels too easy and it feels
• 43:15
  Speaker 5: like a lazy narrative to just go, hitting coach, fired.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: That's the third assistant hitting coach from the Mariners that
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: was let go. He was number, what, three in command,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: and they fired him.
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: They fired the head honcho. Right. Now. They're not firing
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: Edgar Martinez, but they fired the head honcho.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: It's not good. We'll talk about that in the offseason.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: We don't have time.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: But the point here is some continuity helps. That's what
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: he said, presented by the Fox 1 app. We have
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the World Series available on.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: That Fox 1 app coming up. At home or on
• 43:48
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• 43:50
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• 43:53
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