Latest / Foul Territory / Alex Pavlovic talks Devers in SF & Giants falling short for Harper

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Alex Pavlovic talks Devers in SF & Giants falling short for Harper · Foul Territory

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  Speaker 1: Hopefully they develop a Bryce Eldridge or somebody else down
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  Speaker 1: the line who can be the next homegrown star, because
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  Speaker 1: those are the guys who bowl has resonated here.
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  Speaker 2: Alex Pavlovitch joining us right now to talk about the Giants.
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  Speaker 2: He covers the team for NBC Sports Bay Area, hosts
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  Speaker 2: a Giants Talk podcast, and has a book out now,
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  Speaker 2: the franchise San Francisco Giants, a curated history of the
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  Speaker 2: Orange and Black. We're going to get into that coming
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  Speaker 2: up in a sec. There you go, nice, You can
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  Speaker 2: scan that QR code on the screen to go support Alex.
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  Speaker 2: And also if you want to learn more about the
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  Speaker 2: San Francisco Giants, we're gonna give you a little taste
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  Speaker 2: of the book coming up. Alex. First off, great to
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  Speaker 2: have you on. Congratulations on putting this book together. And actually,
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  Speaker 2: you know what, let's go right into the book. First,
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  Speaker 2: best part, juiciest part of the book is.
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  Speaker 1: Juiciest part, you know, the Giants. I'm sure you guys
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  Speaker 1: have talked about this in off season to finish second,
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  Speaker 1: over and over for like Harper, Tani Judge. That I
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  Speaker 1: think is my favorite chapter was diving into some of that,
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  Speaker 1: diving into what happened with Korea, how they tried to
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  Speaker 1: get judge and differentiate themselves with Otani, And you know,
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  Speaker 1: the Phillies are in town right now, and Bryce is
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  Speaker 1: really the one that got away here. They finished second,
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  Speaker 1: they were twenty million short, and they felt really strongly
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  Speaker 1: about that in twenty nineteen. So I think that was
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  Speaker 1: my favorite chapter, just it's more recent and it's it
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  Speaker 1: was fun to do the reporting on that one.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, we want people to read the book and dive
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  Speaker 2: into all of that. But my follow up there was
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  Speaker 2: it a money thing? Like if the Giants were the
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  Speaker 2: leaders by twenty million, do you think they actually could
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  Speaker 2: have brought in Bryce Harper.
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  Speaker 1: I think usually if someone's the leader by twenty yeah,
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  Speaker 1: And I ultimately think this is a money thing. But
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  Speaker 1: one thing I have in the book is I talked
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  Speaker 1: to Bryce about it and he said, look, I talked
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  Speaker 1: to Bruce Bocci and he said he was retiring and
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  Speaker 1: that was a big deal. And he called Brandon Crawford
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  Speaker 1: the night before he made his decision and he asked,
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  Speaker 1: do you know who's going to be the next manager?
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  Speaker 1: And the Giants really had no idea what was going
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  Speaker 1: to happen. Seven months eight months from then, so there
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  Speaker 1: was some uncertainty. I think that certainly didn't help. But
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  Speaker 1: in the end they were about twenty million short.
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  Speaker 3: Anyway, that's crazy, that's crazy. They keep coming up short
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  Speaker 3: for all these stars, including Arson, including Arson Judge, who
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  Speaker 3: they thought they had for sure, and then he changed
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  Speaker 3: his name to Aaron Judge. It didn't show up. So hey,
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  Speaker 3: whatever works for the Giants. But the question I have
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  Speaker 3: in this book is who has a bigger chapter My
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  Speaker 3: Giant's career or Eric Kraftz's Giants career? Which one has?
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  Speaker 3: Which one of us has a bigger chapter in this book?
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  Speaker 1: I have to do the control f and see if
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  Speaker 1: I found either one. I will say I thought of
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  Speaker 1: Eric last night because I was thinking of crazy walkoffs,
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  Speaker 1: and I think he had one in the eighteenth inning
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  Speaker 1: when he was a Giants catcher, So you could tell
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  Speaker 1: me if that was correct. I remember it was really
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  Speaker 1: really late at night that you had a walk off,
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  Speaker 1: and we were there was like three people at your
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  Speaker 1: walker who were left over.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, nobody needed to interview me. It was just
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  Speaker 4: a standard eighteenth eighteenth inning walkoff, and they were like,
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  Speaker 4: why is Buster Posey not playing?
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  Speaker 1: By Yeah, that was That was memorable.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, makes sense, makes sense. But my question, my problem
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  Speaker 3: is is if I'm not in the book, you can't
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  Speaker 3: tell a history of it. Because the Giants did retire
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  Speaker 3: my jersey number. So you can't have a book if
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  Speaker 3: I'm not in it about the Giants.
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  Speaker 1: AJ you come up a lot with Giants fans. You
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  Speaker 1: still are? They still think about you quite.
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  Speaker 3: A bit, oh man, as they should, as they should.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Alex, I want to get to a chapter that
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  Speaker 2: might not be in your book, but maybe he can
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  Speaker 2: be part of the sequel situation, the Rafael Devers saga.
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  Speaker 2: So I want to work from where we are now
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  Speaker 2: and then we can go backwards to how crazy the
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  Speaker 2: trade was and how Buster Posey's early tenure has been
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  Speaker 2: with San Francisco. What's the word I'm sure that's dominating
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  Speaker 2: the radio airwaves out right now in San Francisco about
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  Speaker 2: Will Clark trying to work with him and he didn't
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  Speaker 2: want to go out there when the Red Sox were
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  Speaker 2: in town and be showing off to them, how he's
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  Speaker 2: down for taking ground balls at first base and the
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  Speaker 2: Giants apologize to Will. What else can you tell us
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  Speaker 2: about that little back and forth reality show.
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  Speaker 1: Yet, Yeah, I think it was a juicier story in
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  Speaker 1: Boston yesterday. I'm sure there was some talk radio stuff here,
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  Speaker 1: but most Giants fans I saw on most people at
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  Speaker 1: the ballpark were just kind of annoyed by it because
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  Speaker 1: it Giants fans are extremely extremely happy to have Devs here.
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  Speaker 1: They don't care about what happened over there. And I'll
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  Speaker 1: go back to that chapter. Look, they finished second over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over again. And he's not Judge, he's
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  Speaker 1: not Otani, but he's a star, and he's a guy
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  Speaker 1: who's going to be here for a long time now
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  Speaker 1: and he has a huge contract. So Giants fans are
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  Speaker 1: just like overwhelmingly positive about this. And I think the
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  Speaker 1: main takeaway yesterday and talking to some people, and he
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  Speaker 1: did talk to the media yesterday. We talked to Bob
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  Speaker 1: Melvin was asked about it is he's dealing with the
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  Speaker 1: groin injury that he had when he came here and
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  Speaker 1: the last few days there's been some backtight in this.
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  Speaker 1: So he just hasn't done a lot of work period.
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  Speaker 1: He's doing early VP and he's taken some grounders over there,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't feel like he's going to be ready
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  Speaker 1: at least for another week plus two weeks to potentially
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  Speaker 1: be out there. He's been out there every single day.
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  Speaker 1: Is the DH since they got him? And he if
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  Speaker 1: you watch him run, he looks like someone who probably
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  Speaker 1: needs ten days off. But they're appreciative of that, and
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  Speaker 1: I think they don't really care much about the other
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  Speaker 1: stuff because they got him to be their DH and
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  Speaker 1: they'll figure it out at first base as they go.
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  Speaker 4: Is he the star? Is he the star though that
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  Speaker 4: they were looking for because they have finished second all
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  Speaker 4: the time? I get it Raviie Devers, you know, is
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  Speaker 4: an elite superstar. But does do the Giants need a
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  Speaker 4: star that's more outgoing more or do they need a
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  Speaker 4: second star to be able to turn this thing back
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  Speaker 4: into what it was in ten, twelve and fourteen.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he's definitely not the guy who's going
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  Speaker 1: to be doing all the media, who's going to be
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  Speaker 1: doing the post game show all the time. We haven't, frankly,
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  Speaker 1: talked to him a whole lot. I mean, he did
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  Speaker 1: a lot the first week, but since then, he's not
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  Speaker 1: that guy. But I think Willie Domas is going to
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  Speaker 1: be that guy. Matt Chapman's going to be that guy.
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  Speaker 1: And one thing out here is like Logan is extremely popular.
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  Speaker 1: Logan is the face of the franchise. Now, he's never changed.
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  Speaker 1: He does all the media, he does all the appearances,
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  Speaker 1: he signs all the autographs. He's the All Star, he's
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  Speaker 1: the syed On candidate. I think he'll take care of
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  Speaker 1: some of that. It is a good point. At some point,
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  Speaker 1: you know they're waiting for the next Buster Posey, the
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  Speaker 1: next Brandon Crawford, and they're hopeful that Bryce Elder two
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  Speaker 1: is their top prospect, can be that guy. I don't
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  Speaker 1: think Raffi will ever be that guy. They just need
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  Speaker 1: someone in the middle of this lineup, and someone who
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  Speaker 1: look at people don't come here in free agency, they
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  Speaker 1: don't want to hit here. I'll go back to Bryce.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, he says he likes the ballpark and he
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  Speaker 1: loves the fan base, but he's never hit at Oracle Park,
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  Speaker 1: so if he looks at his numbers, it's not a
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  Speaker 1: place he probably wanted to spend the rest of his career.
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  Speaker 1: But the fact that they were able to get Devers
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  Speaker 1: and not have to convince him to come play at Oracle,
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  Speaker 1: he just has to come do it for potentially eight years.
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  Speaker 1: That's really important to them and it'llow them to not
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  Speaker 1: have to worry about the free agency route and hopefully
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  Speaker 1: they develop a Bryce Eldridge or somebody else down the
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  Speaker 1: line who can be the next home grown star, because
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  Speaker 1: those are the guys who bowl has resonated.
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  Speaker 4: Alex.
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  Speaker 3: Is this Buster Posey's new way to do things. They've
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  Speaker 3: tried free agency. Now they just said, you know what,
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  Speaker 3: we're not messing around for agency. We're just gonna go
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  Speaker 3: trade for devers. And is this gonna be his legacy
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  Speaker 3: because he's from the Brian Sabian mold of Hey, we
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  Speaker 3: have a chance to win, We're going all in every
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  Speaker 3: time we have that opportunity. Is that gonna be the way?
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  Speaker 3: Because before we're far on and Gabe, oh well, we
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  Speaker 3: got a platoon and we got to make sure every
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  Speaker 3: piece fits perfectly. It seems like to me, Buster Posey's like,
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  Speaker 3: all right, this guy's a pretty good player. This guy's good.
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  Speaker 3: He can help us. Let's all bring him together and
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  Speaker 3: we'll figure that out later.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I think Busters, You know, there are executives who
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  Speaker 1: are probably thinking six seven years down the line. He's not.
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  Speaker 1: He's not worried about what this contract's going to look
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  Speaker 1: like at the end. What a Dominis's contract is going
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  Speaker 1: to look like. I mean, the quote that always gets
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  Speaker 1: brought up here is when he got introduced in October,
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  Speaker 1: he said, we're in the memory making business. I think
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  Speaker 1: he had gotten tired of watching. Look, they had forty
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  Speaker 1: thousand last night. They've sold out almost as many games
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  Speaker 1: as they did, Like it's been you have to go
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  Speaker 1: back like six or seven years to find this many sellouts.
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  Speaker 1: And we're in July. It's been a long time since
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  Speaker 1: they've had this kind of buzz in the Bay Area.
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  Speaker 1: And night's like last night, which continued to build this
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  Speaker 1: and I think he's just trying to bring that back.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll see where this all goes long term, and
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  Speaker 1: we'll see how long he wants to do this and
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  Speaker 1: what their roster looks like. I have some long term
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  Speaker 1: concerns about the fit with some of these guys as
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  Speaker 1: they get older. But right now, he wants to win,
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  Speaker 1: and he wants to kind of bring the excitement back,
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  Speaker 1: and that meant going out and getting a Domis when
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  Speaker 1: nobody expected them to really spend that much in the offseason.
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  Speaker 1: That meant convincing ownership, which he is part of, to
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  Speaker 1: go and get Devers. And I don't know how much
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  Speaker 1: powder they have left for the deadline. But I think
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  Speaker 1: they will try to help this team because they feel
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  Speaker 1: really good about a potential playoff run if they can
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  Speaker 1: put Web and Ray at the top and with that
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  Speaker 1: bullpen in a short playoff series. So he's going all in,
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  Speaker 1: I think, and there's no more kind of waiting around.
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  Speaker 1: There's that they gave up a couple really good prospects
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  Speaker 1: in that Devs trade, and they think really highly of
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  Speaker 1: Kyle Harrison and gave up their first round pick last year.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, this is Buster being competitive and saying why not,
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  Speaker 1: Like you know, I think he probably hasn't given up
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  Speaker 1: on the Division at this point even, but why not
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  Speaker 1: just go get a wild card spot and see what
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  Speaker 1: you can do in October.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that is so refreshing. That is so refreshing in
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  Speaker 4: San Francisco too, because the fans come out, like you said,
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  Speaker 4: forty thousand a night, forty thousand a day in the
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  Speaker 4: day games too, Like it's refreshing. I think San Francisco
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  Speaker 4: needs to be a team that is there and competitive
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  Speaker 4: year in and year out, and I love that Busters
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  Speaker 4: doing that. But you have to tell us what they
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  Speaker 4: need because to me, their areas of need. You talked
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  Speaker 4: about Robbie Ray Logan Web and that strong bullpen. Their
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  Speaker 4: areas of need may not be able to be sufficed
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  Speaker 4: in one move or even in like two little moves.
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  Speaker 4: So what is the where will they most likely target?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think if they can just generally pitching. They've
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  Speaker 1: had a really good the bullpen's been the best in baseball.
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  Speaker 1: They've they've had a good starting staff for most of
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  Speaker 1: the year. But it's been rough for Rowlander. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: what he does today, but it just hasn't kind of
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  Speaker 1: been what anyone expected, and he's really searching the last
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  Speaker 1: few weeks to find some fixes. Hayden bird Song is
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  Speaker 1: really really talented, but it goes off the rails at
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  Speaker 1: times with him, and there's some inconsistency there. Landon Roop's
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  Speaker 1: done a really nice job, but he's a young guy.
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  Speaker 1: He's on pace to pass his innings total last year
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  Speaker 1: about like ninety. So I think generally, if they could
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  Speaker 1: get some pitching, and Kyle Harrison was the next line
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  Speaker 1: of defense and he's gone, and the bullpen as good
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  Speaker 1: as it has been, like, there are some guys who
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  Speaker 1: you just worry about a little bit. So if they
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  Speaker 1: could get a starter and maybe move a guy to
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  Speaker 1: the bullpen, or if they could get a reliever and
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  Speaker 1: have a little bit more depth there. I think that
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  Speaker 1: would be the way they should go in the next
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  Speaker 1: few weeks. It sounds strange because the pitching has carried
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  Speaker 1: him and they have three All Stars and could have
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  Speaker 1: more who are consideration, But I think right now that's
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  Speaker 1: probably where they're gonna be a little short in the
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  Speaker 1: second half.
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  Speaker 2: Alex really appreciate the time, and we definitely want to
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  Speaker 2: bump the book on the way out here. So any
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  Speaker 2: final words while we show the book QR code for
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: everyone that wants to get a piece of the franchise.
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  Speaker 1: No, I'm just really appreciative of you guys having me
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  Speaker 1: on and I hope people enjoy it. And if there's
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  Speaker 1: a sequel, I promise to get both these catchers in there.
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  Speaker 2: Ooh, I like that guarantee. That's great right now there.
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  Speaker 4: Right now, don't waste your time.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure he does.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: He does. Alex, thank you, really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks guys,