Latest / Foul Territory / Front Office Unfiltered w/Jim Bowden: Torpedos! Slumpy Devers, Sasaki’s Struggles, Soaring Padres

Transcript

Front Office Unfiltered w/Jim Bowden: Torpedos! Slumpy Devers, Sasaki’s Struggles, Soaring Padres · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Not everybody can dh. Everybody thinks this.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Big Poppy did it, or Edgar Martinez did it because
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Shoey O'tani did.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Everyone thinks it's easy. It's not.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Front office unfiltered. Let's do this. Jim Boden is back
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: with us. JB. Great to see you. We had a
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: long spring training tour and now we got to get
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: to business.
• 0:20
  Speaker 4: And business started right away this weekend with the Yankees
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: absolutely destroying the Brewers and making them look like a
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: minor league team.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: But the torpedo bats take center stage.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: So what was your thought on this when you saw
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: the news of some of the players using the torpedo bats?
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: And did you ever hear of them when you were
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: running the Reds or the Nationals.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: No, I've never heard of a torpedo bat until Sunday,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: right when Michael Kay brought it up, when Anthony Volpi
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: came to the plate. So the first thing I did
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: obviously reach out to the Commissioner's office.
• 0:48
  Speaker 5: Is this thing legal?
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: And of course the commission Office comes back and says,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: as long as the diameter is within two point six
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: inches at the fattest part, as long as it's not
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: longer than forty two inches and that's one piece of wood.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Then it is legal, so obviously it's a legal bat. Obviously,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: there have been players that have been aware of this
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: from last year. There were players that used to it
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: in Arizona Fall League. We found out over the last
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: forty eight hours. But yeah, I just learned about this now.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: My first idea, my first blush was brilliant and it
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: brought back memories of when I was a GM in
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the mid nineties because I had traded for a Gold
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Glove centerfielder by the name of Darren Lewis, and Darren
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Lewis would hit every single ball two inches below the
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: sweet spot, like all the time, and I just couldn't
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: understand it. And I would go to the hitting coaches
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: and are hitting people and say, isn't there's something we
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: can do because it's literally he's consistent where he hits
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the ball, but it's never.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: On the barrel. It's always just below it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: There's got to be a way, and you know, we
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: couldn't figure it out. And in his career he couldn't
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: figure it out. And it was funny because the last
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: two years I kept watching Anthony Bope and I'm going
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I wonder why he doesn't barrel it more? Right, you
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: watch Jazz Chisholm, you wonder why he doesn't barrel.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: It more well.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: The Yankees last year apparently had a physicist in there
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: was now with the Marlins, who sat there and came
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: up with the idea of customizing bats based on how
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: it where hitters hit the ball, and so he it's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a genius.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: It's brilliant.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: I feel stupid. I didn't think about it.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: And so now they've designed a bat that is perfect
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: for Volpe and Chisholm, at least two players. Where Okay,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: if you're always going to hit the ball most of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: the time below that label, then let's just make that
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the fat part. So when you are hitting it bear,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: it's got a chance to leave with exit velocity or
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: be able to get distance. So I got to tell
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you that my view of it, it's brilliant. And I
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: got to tell you if I woke up this morning
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: as a GM or manager or a player and I
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: wasn't aware of this, or I haven't tried it, I
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: would go to my analytic people and say, okay, where
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: do I make contact?
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: Where on the bat?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: And let's design a bat specifically for me, based on
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the last three years of data, that's what I would do.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: I think it's brilliant.
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: I'm going to, like I said before, I'm gonna need
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: more than that forty two inches you're allowed because those
• 3:03
  Speaker 6: sliders just kept going farther and farther away. Was there
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: something when you was there? Was there a piece of
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: equipment change or something that when you were a GM
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: that you saw come in similar to this. I know
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: we're at the infant stage of everybody finding out about this,
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: but was there something that you saw come in and
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: you were like, wholl this is gonna be the thing?
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: And then it never? It never Like the axe handle
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: was a thing for a long time on the bats
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: and then some guys got some hanmdmate hanmdmate bones broken
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: and they blamed it on that and it kind of
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: didn't get as much public. Some guys still use them.
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I hate to.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Put the business side of being a GM hat on,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: but I've got to do that because I think one
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: of the things that really stands out is the fact
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: that the bomb bat came right when I was the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: farm director and I'm like, Wow, we're gonna save a
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: lot of money because these bats don't break because we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: spent so much money in the minor leagues, you have
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: all those cheap bats that break all the time, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, these bomb bats are gonna be the best.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: And it ended up not working because you're really the
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: hitters weren't able to get the feel of the barrel right.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: They really didn't get the feel they needed. So it
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: didn't really turn into the money saving solution that we
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: were looking for at that time. But that's really the
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: only huge change of equipment really that I dealt with.
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: Hey, Jim, just to let you know they're still using
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: those bomb bats on the travel ball circuit. Drives me crazy,
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: But I want to ask you about I know it's early,
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: you've done this for a long time, but there was
• 4:35
  Speaker 7: a lot of talk about the Padres and all the
• 4:38
  Speaker 7: turmoil that was going on and lack of moves and
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: dumping payroll. Is what we saw real from the Padres
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: or was that just you know, a product of how
• 4:48
  Speaker 7: good they're pitching.
• 4:48
  Speaker 8: Is I'm just curious or is there any team that
• 4:51
  Speaker 8: surprised you in this early weekend of baseball?
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, first of all, I think the Padres
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: are real, Sure, that's I think, as long as I'm
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: glad they didn't trade Dylan's Michael King, I think that's huge.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I love watching Jeremy Estrada close that game out last night.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: That was phenomenal with his ninety eight going right at
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: the Braves. You know, I think one of the question
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: marks was left field with the Padres right after losing
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Jerks and Profar, and you saw Locke Ridge yesterday go
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: the other way show off his speed a little bit.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Bogart seems comfortable going back to shortstop, which was his
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: original position anyway. So yeah, look, I'm not saying that
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: the Padres are going to win one hundred games. I
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: don't think that's the case. I mean, the Dodgers are
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: going to win this division, but the Padres will fight
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks for second place and for a while card Birth.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: I think they're that kind of team. I mean, they
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: didn't lose that much this offseason. Yes, they lost us
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: On Kim and Profar, and I'm not going to downplay
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: the losses of them and the injury to Joe Musgrove,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of course, but this is a really good team and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: they're run by a really aggressive GM and aj Preller
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: who knows how to get a piece when he needs it.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people really didn't comprehend
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: or grasp how good Jackson Merrill is. And when you
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: have to he's leading off and you've got Marilyn Machado,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: you're gonna score runs. And then the rest of their lineup.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: You know, those guys can put the ball in play.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I mean Lewis Arise right, he's one with three batting titles.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: You got Jake Cronenworth who's a very underrated player, so
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: you know the padres. It's great to see him get
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: off to a great start, but it doesn't surprise me.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Ft fam, I hope you have as much confidence as
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: Penelope right now, who is an avid Spot and Tango fan. Okay,
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: and she uses the code foul Kratz because this is
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: a personalized dog food subscription service that prevents you, of
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: course from going to the store to pick up the food,
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: and she just gets the highest quality unkibble that is
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: what they're known for.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: And I know you love the quiz part of it too.
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: It's a super quick quiz, but it lets you give
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: them the information and they tailor it to what is
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: needed based on their age, size, activity level, all things
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: that are customed for each and every one of your dogs.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, human great ingredients in that unkibble, SDA meat, fruits
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: and veggies that are approved There, no artificial stuff, no preservatives.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: They've got the exclusive deal for the ft fan for
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: unlimited time. Go to spotantango dot com slash val use
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: code foul to get fifty.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: Percent off your first order. That's spotantango dot com slash foul.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: It's spotan tango dot com slash foulque foul.
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: After all the drama with Devers and Bregman this spring training,
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: could Devers have gotten off to Could It's been a
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: worse time to have a slump of twelve strikeouts, I
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: think in sixteen at bats. And did you see anything
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: different in his swing this first series?
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: Yeah?
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: So, Eric, let me tell you my take on Raphaeld Devers.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'll give you two mental reasons and I'll give
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: you two physical reasons. So I'm gonna give you four reasons.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Let's start with a mental part of it. Right, It's
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: the way you handled Alex Bregman.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Rafael Devers heard they were signing him, but
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: during that whole process, they kept saying perhaps Bregnant to
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: play second base, and the Red Sox never came out
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and said, well, if we signed Bregnant, we're gonna move
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Devers to DH. They never went to Rafael Devers and said, hey,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: we may sign Bregman and if we do, you're gonna
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: be the full time DH. They didn't do that. They
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: signed Bregnant and then they tried to deal with it,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: so they mishandled it. And Devers, as you remember, in February,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: what did he say. He came out and said, I'm
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: not moving, I'm not going to first, I'm not dhing.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: I'm a third baseman.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Now, Alex Cord did a good job in a month
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: of showing empathy, of showing patients before he basically just
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: came out and said, Pregnant's my third baseman. You're the
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: DH Raphael. So we're here about winning. That gives us
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: the best chance to win, that's what you have to do.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: But mentally, a twenty eight year old player who just
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: signed a three hundred and thirteen point five million.
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: Dollar deal the previous year, all of.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: A sudden has now told you have to DH.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, he could try to say the right things
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: and try to say red Sox first. But mentally that's
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: got to get to him. Second mental issue is not
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: everybody can DH. Everybody thinks because Big Poppy did it,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: or Edgar Mark Keenas did it, because Shoey o'tany did everyone.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Thinks it's easy. It's not.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: There are so many hitters that just can't dage right.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So Raphael Devers, he doesn't have a routine. Watch him
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: between at bats. He sits in the dugout. It's not
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: like he goes and gets on a bike or goes
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: underneath and hits right. We've been watching him in the dugout.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Just wait for his next to batty. He got pitch
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: run for and went to the dugout and salked. So
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: mentally the way he was handled and mentally him having
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: to adjust to the DH spot has been huge. Now Physically,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think his shoulders are healthy. And I know
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: they can't be healthy because if they were, we would
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: have seen him at the beginning of spring training. Why
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: wasn't he there at the beginning of spring training because
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the shoulders weren't right? Okay, the other physical reason.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Is he's overweight.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be a genius to look at
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: the video of him a year ago and look at
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: him now.
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: He's way overweight.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: And so if you're the Red Sox, okay, we know
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: those four issues are there.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: You got to fix it.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Oh for sixteen with twelve k's come on, So you
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: got to bring David ortiz In talked in. You gotta
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: have Bregnant's, you know, locker next to him. You gotta
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: give him love, and you got to get him with nutritionists.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: You gotta get him with the medical people. You gotta
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: get him with the training people. You gotta find ways
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: to get him back to be Rafayeldever's at the plate.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: You gotta figure out a routine for him in between
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: at bats, in between games so that he can stay
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: in shape. The other thing is when you go, oh
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: for sixteen with twelve punch outs, you're thinking about it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: If you're playing third base, you can run out the
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: third base, make a diving play, throw a guy out,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: and then lee. The bat doesn't stick with you when
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: you're only dhing, that's all you're doing, and you're not
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: even they're pinch running for you, so you don't even
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: get to run the bases. So here here's my point.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: You created this black hole. Now you gotta figure a
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: way to fill it in. You gotta figure out way
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: to fix it. You got to give him love, You
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: got to help him, You gotta support him. It'll probably
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: take a month, but you'll get there because he's a
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: really good hitter.
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: Damn, Jim, that's so many issues. I don't even want
• 10:56
  Speaker 8: to touch that.
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: But while you talk about things being difficult, what I
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: do want to talk about is the early struggles of
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: Roki Sazaki finding the strikes all while the Dodgers continue
• 11:05
  Speaker 7: to thrive. What are you hearing there as far as
• 11:07
  Speaker 7: about loving on him and keeping him confident, because we
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: know it's not easy to come over from a different
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: league over to the big leagues and dominate like we've
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: seen some guys do, and we see Yamamoto get it
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: going after a slow struggle last year. What are you
• 11:19
  Speaker 7: hearing as far as his psyche and his mental goes.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think what he's doing is what we all expected. Right.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: We talked about it on this show. I've written about
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: it in The Athletic And the reason that I talked
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: about I wrote about it is because all of the
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: teams that had scouted Sasaki, including his agency, had told
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: all of us that when Sasaki got here, he is
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: not polished. He's not a finished product, and don't expect
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: him to be you Darvish or Masahara Tanako or Yashanoba
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yamamoto's that's not what he's going to be. He's not ready.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: And the example that we use was, it's like a
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: first round pick from a year ago. You took the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: picture first overall, but he's not major league ready yet. Right,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: He's not Paul Skeins or Steven Strasburg that can be
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: drafted and go right in the rotation. Now, we all
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: love this stuff, right, one hundred and two on hour
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: fastball with a split finger or forkball, whatever you want
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: to call it. When it's in the strike zone, it's unhittable.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: That drop is ridiculous. It's one of the best I've
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: ever witnessed. Like it's that good. But all of you know, right,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: and you guys have played Eric Cameron, you know it's
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: all about command and control at the big league level.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: I don't care how good your stuff is. You got
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: to command it, You got to control it. You gotta
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: have savvy, you gotta have poise, You gotta have composure,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: You've got to have mental toughness, you have to have
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: all those things. All of that was a question with
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Sasaki in Japan. And then when he went through this
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: process and started misleading everybody from the teams that were
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: pursuing him to the media, what was that all about? Right,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: It seems to me like that's just immaturity. Now, I
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: love the talent. I've said it before, I'll say it again.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Someday he's going to win a Sall Young Award, but
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: he's not ready the Dodgers. You've got a couple of
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: options here. Number One, you got to hope he bounces
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: back in his next start. That's going to be important,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: and you got to hope that he keeps improving. You've
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: got to see how he handles adversity like this. But
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: if he doesn't handle it well, you can't be afraid
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: to do one of two things. One option him out
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the triple A. Let him go to the miners, not
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: under the big lights, and let him figure out how
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: to get control and command to add, subtract, own the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: strike zone.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Pitch more like a real estate agent. The other option
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: you have.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: At some point it's okay if you want to put
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: him in the bullpen, you're gonna limit his innings anyway,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: and when you get Otawny back or Kershaw back or
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Gonsolin back, it's okay if you want to put him
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: in the bullpen and have him maybe pitch.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Two innings in a role where just fill up the strike.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Zone, pitch ahead, go after the guys, stay in the
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: strike zone. But this should not be a surprise. He's
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: not the finished product, and we knew that coming in.
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: You kind of danced around it a little bit. Do
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: you feel like it is a from your view, it's
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: a mechanical issue or a fear of getting your fastball
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: hit issue, because a lot of Japanese pitchers come over you,
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: Darvis Masa here at Sanaka, guys that are afraid to
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: get their fastball hit. What do you feel like it
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: is with rookie.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's the mental first, which causes the mechanics.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: So it's both right. I mean, mechanics usually is what
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: causes not having the command and control or being able
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to repeat the delivery or having consistency there. But it's
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: the mental part that puts it there. Because we've seen
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: a clean delivery from him, so we know that delivery
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: is there. I do think it's between the years, and
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I think that's a lot of times normal we've seen.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I remember when Randy Johnson came to the big leagues
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: and was walking one hundred plus guys a year. He
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: had no command or control whatsoever. And it took him
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: time and he figured it out and he's a Hall
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: of Famer now, right. So you know, for Susaki, I
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: just think, you know, we got out patients. It's hard
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to do it when you're in LA. You're hard to
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: do it with the best team in the world and
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers don't have to watch forever.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: But the best thing Versusaki is.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: The environment he's in, right, He's with Otani and Yamamodo,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: he's with Clayton Kershaw, He's with a tremendous pitching room,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: a great analytic department.
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: He can't be in a better spot.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: But as you know, Eric, this is about human beings
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: making decisions in the biggest moments, with the most eyes
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: put on you, the most pressure, and you've got to
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: be able to handle it, and you've got to be
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: able to get through it physically.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: He's gonna be fine.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Mechanically, he is gonna be fine, but you've got to
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: get that mental toughness part, and you've got to have
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: that focus, poise and composure and be able to handle
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: adversity you get hit.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: So what go back right at him?
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: Hey, Jim, I want to stay there.
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: This is my last one on Roki because you just
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: you make some great points and I'm curious you get
• 15:45
  Speaker 7: You gave some really good options talking about possibly going
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: to the minor leagues and possibly get moved to the bullpen.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: As a former GM who's very in touch with with players,
• 15:57
  Speaker 7: if let's say the scenario does happen where he does
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: struggle next outing for his psyche as a GM.
• 16:03
  Speaker 8: What do you think would be the best benefit for him.
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: Do you think it would be good for him to
• 16:07
  Speaker 7: go there for his mental or would it be just
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: just stay with that great pitching staff, stay with all
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: that great those great resources, and just go to the pen.
• 16:15
  Speaker 7: I'm curious on what what do you think?
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question, Cameron, and I think you
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: have to be there. You have to really understand the player,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: and you have to get input from Otani and Yamamoto
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: and some of the players around him to try to
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: figure that out. You know, is he the kind of
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: guy that's going to be able to handle being optioned
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: to the minor leagues?
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: Is that something that.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: He'll be able to handle, is going to the bullpen
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: something that he would understand? I mean, he did that
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: in Japan. You know that that might be the easier transition.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: But as you mentioned, Cameron, the key is really understanding
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: the person, his support system around him, his teammates and
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: friends around him, to try to try.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: To get the vibe.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Because the goal, if you're the Dodgers is how can
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I make Susake be the picture we know he's going
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to be. What's the best way to develop him not
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: just as a pitcher, but as a human being? How
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: can I make it work with him? And sometimes, you know,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: the intangibles, the human element is just as important as
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: the business decision of where to put him. You know,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: you can kind of parallel it with a Red Sox
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: decision with Devers. Right, there's that strict business decision where
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: best with devs dhing, But there's also the human element
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: that sometimes doesn't make the best business decision the right decision.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: JB.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Let's finish with extensions, Brandon fought got an extension with
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: the Diamondbacks, which looked good.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I actually liked the.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Justin Martinez one because you don't have to go to
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: arbitration and mess with the saves and then the price
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: gets all weird.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: They can just close him now.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: They don't have to worry about that, and then you know,
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: I also wanted to mix in two more here. Christian
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Campbell is apparently in talks with the Red Sox already.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: That sounds great, but gets me thinking about a team
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: like the Oriels badly.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: Richman is back.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: I know that sometimes as a team doesn't want to
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: take advantage of an extension opportunity when a player's coming
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: off a down year because you're going to look at numbers.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: The league might not like that, but I'm like, damn,
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: this actually seemed like the time to pull that off.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: So what are your thoughts on I guess all the
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: extension talks that have been going on right now, spilling
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: into the beginning of the season.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, Scott, the best contracts you make are the
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: ones where you sign the player before he does it.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: From a club's perspective, that's the only way I'm going
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: to save money. Just like Allaxonthopolis did with Ronda Kunya
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Junior and Nazzie Albi's contracts, which has saved him literally.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: Over one hundred million dollars.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: You got to do it early, and that's exactly what
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Mikasen is doing in Arizona. Get Brandon Fought done before
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: he does it.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: That's what he did.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: And by the way, also has Zach Galla, Merrill Kelly
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: free agents at the end of this year. And we
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: know what happens when a pitcher develops, how much money
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: they're going to get. For example, if I'm in Seattle,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: it's too late to sign Logan Gilbert. If I'm signing
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Logan Gilbert now and I'm representing Gilbert, I'm getting the
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Corbyn Burns deal. But if you're Seattle, you have to
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: sign Brian Wohen Rice Miller right now before they do it.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: With Adlee Rutchman, I would have signed him two years
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: ago before he does it now. When you have Boris clients,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: that can be tricky because he'll take you a free agency.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: But if you're a GM, you've got to get these
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: guys signed early. You know, if you're the Red Sox,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: go get Campbell and by the way, go do Roman
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Anthony too right, Get Anthony before he does it. I
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: don't care if it's before he gets his first big
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: league get back, because you're gonna save millions. You have
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: to be right on the player. You can't be wrong.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: But if you have the hit tool like Campbell and Anthony,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: have get him done before they do it, like the Braves,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: the Dacunyan Alby's. Otherwise, look what happened to Guerrero. Could
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: have had him at one hundred and fifty, then you
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: could have had him at three hundred.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Now five hundred. Don't even get him done. The same guy.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: So in the case of Campbell, this is interesting because
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: I had never heard of him. And last June, I'm
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: in a Portland Sea Dogs game eating a lobster roll
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: and Campbell comes to the plate and he hits two
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: rockets and I dropped my lobster. I'm like, who is
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: this guy? So I go to MLB Pipeline. They don't
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: have him in the top one hundred. I go to
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Baseball America. They don't have him in the top one hundred.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: So I go on my front Office show on Series XM,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: and I start praising Campbell. I don't know who this
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: guy is, but this guy can flat out hit. And
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: now look at him today. Look how he shot up
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: prospect rankings that quickly. But when you watch him play,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: you see sweet spot contact, you see the barrel, you
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: see the exit velocity, you see quick twitch muscle, you
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: see the athleticism in there.
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: You see him play second.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: You see him play left this.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: First game in left field, he shows great range and
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: great extension and almost caught it, dropped it, but it
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: was almost a great diving play.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: This kid's gonna be a star. If you're Craig Breslo,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: sign them now. You're gonna save so many millions for
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: your team it's not even funny. But if you're a GM,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: here's the message. You want to wait till they do it.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: It's gonna cost you so much money that you're not
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: gonna save anything.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: You gotta do it early.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: I can't agree more.
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: I feel like we look around the same teams all
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: the time that wait and wait, and they get punished
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: for it.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: JB. You're the man.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us at resident GM. We'll be
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: here all season long. We'll catch you soon. Okay, it
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: sounds good. Thanks guys, appreciate you. The good news for
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: Boston fans is that Christian Campbell looks like the real deal,
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: and they're already chatting with him about an extension. It
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: makes sense to me, Cam imagine you're fresh up to
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: the show. He didn't know that he wouldn't have to
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: have a roommate. He was learning that the team had
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: a private plane. Right, You're like just kind of looking
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: around starry eyed, like, WHOA A year ago, I wasn't
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: even a top one hundred prospect and now everyone's talking
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: about me in one of the bigger markets. So Chris Catillo,
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: who does a great job for Mass Live he's joined
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: the show before, said Campbell and the Red Sox are
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: deep in talks on a contract extension. From the weekend
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: here said it's close. Nothing from the team. Campbell huddled
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: with officials before addressing reporters. He acknowledged things are heating up.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: He said, they're talking back and forth. I know that
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: for a fact. I'm not sure how close or not
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: close it is, but we've had some communication on that
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: for sure. I leave that to my agents. Let them
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: talk back and forth and work out what.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Is going to be done. Well, listen for sure.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think this is going to get done, Cam,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: because when you throw big money at someone who's been
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: in the league for five minutes and wasn't a big
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: name a year ago, if Boston's a believer, you're going
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: to just inch a little bit over the comp that
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: gets thrown out there to get it done, and it's
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: not going to make any difference in the world. Right,
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: They're going to find a comp. They're going to say,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: this guy is comparable to this guy. He's got a
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: few games into the bigs. Let's go a few million
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: bucks over, and we're going to get massive amounts of
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: surplus value if he becomes a star.
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: Oh well, one guy's opinion I value very highly is
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: Alex Korra. I've told you this guy, Alex Cora aj
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: hanch two of the smartest baseball minds that I've been around.
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: And we had a chance to sit down with Alex
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: Cora in spring training and I specifically asked him.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: I said, Hey, nobody's talking about this guy.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: Everybody's talking about Marcelo Meyer and all the other young
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: guys Roman athlete rightfully.
• 23:01
  Speaker 8: So I said, but what about Christian Campbell?
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: When I look at him, I said, he's got that
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: quirky game.
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: And I'm not saying he plays like one hundred pence.
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: But he's got some of those little quirky things that
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: you might not teach a guy.
• 23:13
  Speaker 8: But he gets the job done. He finds the barrel.
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: Like Jim Bowden said, he's a super athlete. He can
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: play all over the diamond. And Alex Corus smout from
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: ear to ear, raving about how special he was. And
• 23:23
  Speaker 7: he was one of the guys that they didn't talk about,
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: you know, as you talked about.
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: The Big three.
• 23:27
  Speaker 7: So to see where we are just a couple of
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: weeks later and see what he's done early in this season,
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: you know, it took me a whole year to take
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: a deep breath at the big league level, and this
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: is after having some stints up and down. But to
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: see him come in, I mean, just breathing, calmly, taking
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: it all in, not seeming overwhelmed. We're talking about facing
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: the Texas Rangers not too long ago to defending champs
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: just what two years ago.
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: I mean, he looked as comfortable as anybody I've seen.
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: And you talk about Ricky, the guy clearly has ice
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: water in his veins. So I'm happy for him, and
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: like Jim said, get him before he does it. And
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: that's what the Sucks are seemingly trying to do.
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, and he's homegrown. Red Sox championships have been built
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: on homegrown dudes different years. You sit there and you
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: go who is who has recently been coming up through
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: and this is what the fans, this is what the
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: Socks fans want. If you're not gonna go out and
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: get the big free agent signing, oh wait, you got Bregman,
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: Oh wait, you got Crochet. You traded for Crochet. Keep
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: bringing these guys up, but lock them in before they
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: cost you too much. And you have to have in
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: three or four years a Mookie Betts type of situation
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: that could have easily been saved, easily been taken care
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: of had you come to an agreement. It's probably gonna
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: be more than what you think somebody with no big
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: lead time should get.
• 24:47
  Speaker 8: But that's okay, give it to them.
• 24:51
  Speaker 7: It's seeing Michael Harris, do Michael Harris, even the Byron
• 24:54
  Speaker 7: Buckson do.
• 24:55
  Speaker 8: Just to be honest with you, like you think about.
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: That deal, you know, by how was the deal for
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: at the time when you looked at the mount that
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: barn Bucks and played. I think he took a deal
• 25:04
  Speaker 7: because he knew he stay hurt. You know, he's kind
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: of stayed injured. But I think, you know, I wouldn't
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: be I wouldn't be surprised if there was a seven year,
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: ten eleven million dollars, you know, a year deal.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: And on the other side here the Rangers actually took
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: three out of four. A Dolice Garcia looks like he
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: could have a bounce back year, which would be a
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: scary thought for the opposition. Jacob de Gram looked solid
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: for that team. The Red Sox lost three of four.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: We talked about it earlier, but Devers looks brutal right now,
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: This spat speed is slow, so physically it doesn't look
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: right either. But anyway, I mean it's one series. Red
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: Sox lost three out of four. They'll be okay, although
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: I think we some people got a little too hot
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: on how good the Red Sox are going to be,
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: you know, but we'll see. I think they're gonna be good.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: Are they gonna be great? I don't know, but you right,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: I think there's some people like, wait, did I say
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: Red Sox were went in the division I met Yankee.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Sorry, I confused it to you all the time. Sorry,
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: am I bad? Right? Hey, he wasn't the only one.
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: A lot of people were feeling the Red Sox, so
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: we'll see