Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Phillies-Braves Game 3 Preview, Yankees eliminate Red Sox, Joe Espada’s future

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Fair Territory: Phillies-Braves Game 3 Preview, Yankees eliminate Red Sox, Joe Espada’s future · Foul Territory

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. It
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: is officially October, and we want to congratulate, before we
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: even get started, the Yankees, the White Sox, the Padres,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: for sweeping their wildcard rounds.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: They were impressive, all of them, in their own ways.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: But first, Alana, we have business at hand.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the best time of year. Good to be
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: with you, as always, Ken. Time now for On Deck,
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: presented by the Fox One app.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: All right, we do have a game three.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Let's preview it. It's the Phillies at the Braves, of course,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: an NL East showdown. It seems like Aaron Nola for
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: the Phillies. He is on regular rest.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Ken, I'll start with that. Do you like that decision?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know that they had a choice.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And certainly you have Zach Wheeler and the potential to
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: throw him on three days rest off 97 pitches. You
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: could do that, but more likely the better solution there
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: is Wheeler for an inning or two out of the bullpen,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: maybe Jesus Lizardo.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: For an inning or two out of the bullpen. Nola
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: has been really good.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: And people who are watching our broadcast Saturday when he
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: threw on two days rest and it was not great,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that should not be held against him. He stepped up
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: for his team.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: It didn't work.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Two days rest is kind of a ridiculous ask.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: He had never thrown on three days rest in his career.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Here's the relevant part.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Last 11 starts before that, 2.93 ERA.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: And that was after struggling earlier in the season.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And in those 11 starts, He had back-to-back starts against
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the Braves in which he pitched into the seventh inning twice.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So Nola turned his season around.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: For the Braves, it's interesting because we've been talking all
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: season about their lack of playoff caliber starting pitching.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Well, Chris Sale and Tyler Malley, certainly playoff caliber.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: But here we are in game three, and they're going
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: with an opener, Ray Kerr, left-hander to face the Phillies
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: top of the lineup, and then bringing in Grant Holmes. Now,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Grant Holmes is an interesting guy because he too has had.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: A really good season.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: 3.44 ERA in about 150 innings.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: But when you look at his expected numbers, they're not
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: as good.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So you wonder here, which of these starting pitchers are
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: in Holmes' case, bulk pitcher.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Will blink. And I don't know the answer to that.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a lot of fun.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Yesterday's game was an absolute classic, electric in so many ways,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and to see Harper and Schwarber, Schwarber and Harper.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Do what they did, and then Alec Boehm, kind of,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: he's already.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Redeemed his season, the way he's performed down the stretch,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: but that was some moment for him yesterday as well.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And how about Andrew Painter? So here's one thing also
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I wanted to consider tonight. The Braves' If they use
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Iglesias and Dylan Lee and there's one other reliever, then
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: they would be looking at three straight days for each
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of them. And that would be a problem. Fuentes would
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: be the other one. Fuentes, Dylan Lee, and Iglesias have
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: each pitched in the first two games.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: So that is a factor. Three days in a row
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: is something of an ask. So I'm looking forward to
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: this one, Alana. It's going to be really interesting.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly the Phillies coming into the wildcard round can
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: on fumes. And again, those relieving arms are certainly.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Going to be put to the test.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: I ask you again, I know you said the Phillies
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: likely don't have much of a choice, but a win
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: or go home game, not with Zach Wheeler.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: On the hill. I would imagine everybody is available. Johnny
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Holstaff type of situation.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Yes. And if Wheeler is.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Needed, if Nola, for instance, goes three and a third
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and is not looking great or is tired, whatever the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: case might be, then you go to Wheeler or maybe
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: you go to someone else there and bring in Wheeler
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: at some point. They're not going to lose this without
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: pitching Zach.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Wheeler, in my opinion.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Now, the other element here, and these teams cannot worry
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: about this because this is game three and you have
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to win game three, but the Dodgers are sitting pretty
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: right now because both clubs in this series already We're
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: not going to have their top starters ready for game
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: one of the DS. It would be only on three
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: days rest. Chris Sale is not going to do that.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: He's pitched on four days rest only twice this season.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: He's not going on three if they get to game
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: one and Wheeler, he may get burned tonight and he's
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: not going to pitch on three days rest regardless.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: So actually he'd be pitching. He pitched Sunday. I correct
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: myself there. It would be, who am I missing here? Nevermind.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Let's keep going.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: So, In any case, what I'm trying to say here
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: is the Dodgers are in a really good spot because
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: these teams are burning through pitching, and obviously the Dodgers
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: are sitting there waiting with Yamamoto, Skubal, Glasnow, Snell, et al.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: That's going to be an advantage for them.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly is when you have a rotation like the
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Dodgers are concerned. The Phillies are a tough team, though,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: as are the Braves. Let's see what happens. But Ken,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: regardless of what happens, there is a story for each
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: of these teams. What would a loss for each of
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: these teams mean in terms of, you know, a referendum,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: if you will, on both sides?
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: It's a good question, Alana. And there are things to
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: consider here for both clubs.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: The Braves are They haven't done much in the postseason
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: since 21, since winning the World Series.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: That's one thing.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: But the bigger question for the Braves would be kind
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: of what I hit on at the top, how they
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: have not.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Addressed in full their starting pitching this year.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Now, Malley was the deadline pickup of all deadline pickups
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: regarding starting pitching. He has outperformed even Tarek Skubal. But
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: at the same time, They needed more. And I know
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: DeGrom said, no, I don't know that they were ever
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: getting two. They were waiting on Smith-Shawver and they were
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: waiting on J.R. Ritchie and thinking they had internal solutions.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: And of course, Martin Perez and Bryce Elder getting hurt
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that compromised them and put them in a really hard spot.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But that is why you build excess. You look at
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: the other side, the other league, the Yankees have excess.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: They have all these different options and they are in
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: a really good spot.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Going into the next round.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So that's the question with the Braves. Now, the question
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: with the Phillies is.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Even more fascinating in some ways.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Since reaching the World Series in 2022, they've gone backwards
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in the postseason. NLCS, the following year, they lost to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks after taking a three games to two lead
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: into Citizens Bank Park, 24 and 25. They go out
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: in the DS. Here, they would be going out in
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the wildcard round. And then you ask, what is the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: future of this team? You've got an older position player group.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: It's Schwarber, it's Harper, it's Real Muto. What are you
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: going to do here to change the mix? And it's
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: not going to be easy to change the mix with
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: those guys and Trey Turner signed long-term.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: They have pitching.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: It's great pitching. But at some point, they've got to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: figure out the bullpen. Again, it's a problem, as it
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: so often is with Dave Dombrowski teams. And you have
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to inject some life into that lineup.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: It faded recently.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Late.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: It's been inconsistent all season long.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Can you mention the bullpen?
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: And I want to talk to you about the relieving
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: core on both sides, because both managers had high leverage
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: relievers that.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: Ended up giving it up.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Both of these teams in this series have given up
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: the lead. Obviously you have Don Mattingly with Johan Duran,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: and then you have Walt Weiss on the other side
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: with Fuentes. Do you have any hesitation going or should
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: they have any hesitation going back to either.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Of those arms?
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Duran, it's a question of how healthy he is and
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: if he's okay to go. He was extended in that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: game the other day, game one. So he was not
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: available yesterday, and when a reporter asked him how he
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: was feeling, he kind of.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Gave a just okay response. That's him. Fuente's a young kid.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I would imagine he can go, but you wonder about
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: his confidence after giving up the triple to Real Muto
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: in game one and then the homer to Boehm yesterday.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Obviously if you need them, you're going to use them.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And as you said, it's a Johnny whole staff type
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of game for them in particular. So it's going to
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: be a really interesting test to see how far these
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: bullpens can be extended and which team will perform better
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: in that sense.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: And are we reminded how quickly a short series can evolve?
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: You think about Bryce Harper with the ball going over
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: his head, And then seven minutes later, he hits a
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: home run to tie up the game. Short series or
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: tough series?
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: They certainly are. And you're right, Alana.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Narratives change so quickly. In yesterday's game, it changed within
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: an inning, right? Bryce Harper was going to be living
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: with that one for a while. And then Schwarber and
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: him went back-to-back, and that was that. So, yes, these situations,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: these series give– rise to overreactions by all of us,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: by fans, by media. And it's sometimes important to guard
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: against that and let it play out. But hey, watching
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the games, we're seeing this all unravel in front of
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: our eyes. It's hard not to react and overreact, especially
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: when you're talking about these shorter series, the three-game series
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: in the wildcard round, the five-game series in the divisional round.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: I love it.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I love what Bryce Harper said after the game, thinking
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: about what he would tell his son, Crew, about that
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: moment if crew was in that same situation. Looking forward
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: to the game tonight. And you guys, after the last out,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: flip over to the Foul Territory YouTube channel for a
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: live post-game show. We're going to break down who advances,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: who's headed home, and how it all unfolded. FT post-game
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: show live tonight, right after game three. And don't forget,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox One. The post-season
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: is here. And we have your front row seat to
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: the wildest walk-offs, lights out pitching, and clutch plays all
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: playoffs long. Stream each NLDS and NLCS game, then the
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: 2026 World Series live on Fox One at home or
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: on the go, live or on demand.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: Never miss a moment. Stream now. Start your Fox One
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: three-day free trial today at foxone.com. It is time now
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: for Grill and Ken.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Make sure you get your questions into the chat so
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: you can ask Ken Rosenthal a question. I have a
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: question first for you, Ken, regarding the Red Sox. Knowing
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: what we know now, were the Red Sox too quick
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: to extend Craig Breslow, remove the interim tag on manager
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Chad Tracy? These analytically driven decisions sometimes will bite you.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: What say you?
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I can't say they were too quick. You have to
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: honor what they did this season.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: And while I questioned a lot of it and still
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: question some of the things that went on in this series,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: of course, it seemed to me that Breslow's offseason certainly
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: turned out well. They made the right choices and we
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: could go one by one.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: They were all really good.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Tracy took over a team and did a really good
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: job with them, steadying them.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: And getting them to the postseason. Now, did he look
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: like an inexperienced manager in this series? He absolutely did.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Does Breslow have potentially a problem with his players? Because
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: you heard Sonny Gray and Wilson Contreras last night basically
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: questioning the way these games were run, and that points
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a lot to the front office.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that has to be addressed.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So I don't know where they're going with that from here,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: but I can't say they were too quick.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: To me, those guys earned it.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: And Alana, before we get into the next question, one
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: thing I wanted to clean up from the first segment,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: it was Wheeler Sunday for the Phillies.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Lizardo then went Tuesday and on Wednesday, yesterday, hold on.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: How am I forgetting this again?
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, Sanchez went, Sanchez went in game.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: It was Lizardo in game one, Sanchez in game two. So.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: If Wheeler is used today, can he still pitch in
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Game 1 of the DS? I don't know. Sanchez would
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: be available for Game 2.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: They'd be a lot better off if they didn't have
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: to use Wheeler, but if they do, they will.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: At this point, win or go home, right? So Wheeler
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: is certainly a possibility. Let me ask you this in
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: terms of you had mentioned Wilson Contreras and Sonny Gray.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: So let's actually hear from Wilson Contreras first about the
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: exit in the wild card round, and then we'll circle back.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: It's not enough when you have talent or you have
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: data or you have computers that's telling you what to
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: do because this is baseball. And the data is here
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to help us.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, we're going to
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: have to need experience and veteran guys to win games.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Do you feel like you're too much reliant on data?
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: Well, you watch the game.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: You can watch the game.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Wilson Contreras also, Ken, went on to say in a
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: different question, his opinion about yanking Sonny Gray after four
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: and two-thirds, and he basically went like this. He said,
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: lips are sealed, didn't want to talk about it anymore.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: There is certainly a place in our great game for sabermetrics,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: for analytics. I can absolutely understand that in terms of
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: using them as a tool. I don't know, though, that
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: analytically driven decisions by themselves are are the way to go.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: What do you make of what Wilson Contreras was saying there?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: It was very interesting to hear both him and Sonny
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Gray speak the way they did last night. Sonny Gray said,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I wish they would have trusted me there. Now, these
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: decisions are nuanced. And also in the postseason, we judge
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: these decisions based on their outcomes, not necessarily on the processes.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: And that's fair. That's the way it works in baseball.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: That's the postseason. In this case, though, in both these games,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I understood why Tracy was acting with urgency. He felt
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: our team wasn't scoring. I've got to keep the score down.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I've got to keep this as close as possible. What
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I questioned in game one was going to the lower
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: leverage guys instead of the higher leverage guys. And yet
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: he said, hey, we weren't hitting and I didn't want
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to chase a win. I wanted to preserve those guys,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: the higher leverage guys, for games two and three.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I understood that. I didn't understand in either.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Game the decision to go to Eric Miller, who had
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: struggled in September.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: He had walked a lot of guys in September.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: It was like nine and seven in the third innings,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: 447 on-base percentage against him in September. That should not
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: be the first guy out of the bullpen to save
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: your starter, in my opinion. And after he gave up
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: what he gave up in game one, you certainly don't
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: bring him back in game two to face Bellinger in
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: that situation.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Try someone else. Maybe that's the spot for Crochet. So, Again,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: he is in a tough spot because they're not scoring.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: And that goes back.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: To Breslow not building a good enough offense and them
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: struggling in September and Anthony being out and them counting
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: too much on him. But I don't necessarily disagree with
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: what Tracy did. I disagree with the choices he made
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: as far as who he brought into the game.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: These things are tough. And yeah, he certainly acted too early.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: But with Gray, he.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Had given up hits to four of the previous eight hitters.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: He wasn't quite as sharp. If you have the right
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: guy there to shut it down and he shuts it down, then.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: We're not talking about this.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: So again, it's outcome-based and it should be. It's how
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: we judge these things. But there was a little bit
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: more nuance to this than I think some people are perceiving.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, to be fair, the Red Sox have not had
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: consistent offense all season long. This is not something that
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: just creeped up in the postseason. Their strong suit has
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: been their pitching, and they certainly need to have a
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: look of what they're going to do coming into the
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: next season whenever that's going to be considering this impending.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Lockout, perhaps.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: One more question on the Red Sox, and then we'll
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: move on to other questions as far as Grill and
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Kent is concerned. Do the Red Sox put too much
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: on Roman Anthony. Five home runs, 15 RBI, and 55 games.
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: He cannot stay healthy, but they've already signed him to
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: a long-term extension.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: All right, this is one thing I've been writing about
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: all season.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I wrote about this in spring training, and while I
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: apologize to Breslow for some of the things I wrote.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I'm not apologizing for this. They asked too much of
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Roman Anthony. I'm not talking necessarily about the contract.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: You sign a long-term deal with a kid like that
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: who's that talented, you do it in a heartbeat. What
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about is building this team in a way
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: in which he was asked to do an awful lot.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: And then it turns out he gets hurt. He's hurt
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: a couple of times, and it doesn't work. So it's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: fine to sign Roman Anthony to that extension. You're probably
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: going to win as the Red Sox in that deal because,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of course, he is a guy that could be a superstar.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: But the other problem here is you just can't ask
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that much of a young player to really carry your team.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: As I wrote then, they were asking him to be
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: David Ortiz. He wasn't ready for that.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Absolutely not. Not many people are, Ken. Videos207 has this question.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Can Major League Baseball review the footage of last night's
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Red Sox game and punish Sonny Gray for having what
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: appears to be a sticky substance on his neck?
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: That is something the umpires would have needed to catch.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and address, and they did not. So I don't know
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: that retroactively MLB is going to step in simply by
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: looking at video when you can't touch Sonny Gray's neck anymore.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: And see what's going on. I know what the videos
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: look like.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: I know we live in a conspiratorial kind of society
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: right now where we all think something's up all the time.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: But if the umps didn't flag it, if the Yankees
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: didn't flag it, I think we've got kind of a non-issue.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: All right, just flow.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Grill and Ken was last night the nail in the
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: coffin for Joe Espada, obviously the manager of the Houston Astros,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: who were swept in a two-game or a two-game, three-game series, rather,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: excuse me, by the Chicago White Sox.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: He had been on the hot seat before. At least
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: the conversation was as such. Is this it for him?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Most likely.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: And we could see this coming a lot, as you
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: just said there, because they fired the general manager, Dana Brown,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in late August. Dana Brown is the guy who hired
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Joe Espada. You remember the Astros missed the playoffs for
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the first time since 2016 last year, get knocked out
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: without winning a game this year, and you're going to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: bring in.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: A new general manager.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: The new general manager is going to want to pick
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: his own manager, and that's just going to be the
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: way it goes. Can Joe Espada hook on with somebody
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: else perhaps as a manager? I think that's a possibility.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: He's a guy who did actually a pretty good job
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: with this particular team in which he was dealt a
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: bad hand But, of course, I don't know that owner
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Jim Crane is going to see it that way. And
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: with the new GM coming in, they're just going to
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: effectively change it over.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Dana Brown is gone and perhaps Joe Espada as well.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: The Danny Miller has this question. Did the White Sox
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: not getting the first round by actually help them by
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: not allowing them to cool after a decent series against
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: the Rockies and set them up with a better path
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: beyond the wildcard round?
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: You always hear that question, you know, dust rest versus rust.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Do you want this? Do you not?
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I was just going to say that, Alana. This is
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: always the debate. And I'll use the Padres as an
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: even better example. That's a hot club coming into the postseason.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Finishes 17-3 down the stretch. Yeah, they want to keep playing,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and they want to keep playing in that cauldron that
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: is Petco Park. The White Sox, as a young team,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: maybe not giving them time to think about it and.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Just keep going, it probably was helpful. It probably was warranted.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Helpful that the Astros just weren't the Astros. And the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: White Sox, to their everlasting credit, have been a team
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: all season that has kind of ignored any noise or
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: talk around them and just played to their capabilities.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: And you saw that yesterday. You saw it in both games.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: They just go. And that really served them well here.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: Well, another question in terms of the Baltimore Orioles, if
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: you will. This one makes me laugh, actually. Michael Voss
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: on X had this to ask you, Ken. Is Mike
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Elias going to have to burn down the warehouse in
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: order to get fired by the O's?
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: It's a fair question. And it's a fair question because
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: this was Mike Elias' eighth season.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: And the Orioles have gone backwards two years in a
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: row when they've been incredibly disappointing.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: And There have been a lot of things that have
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: happened that.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Have been disturbing, most notably the regression of some of
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: their young players, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holiday, on and on.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: And they've already made some changes.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Mike Elias is doing some things to shift things around.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Their farm director, Matt Blood, left. Sig McDowell, one of
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: their chief analytics guys, got reassigned. Mike Elias says he's
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: going to hire a general manager. He has to bring
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: in new voices, different outside voices. But yeah, a lot
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: of fans in Baltimore are upset because the promise of
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: a rebuild is always that you're going to contend and
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: sustain competitiveness.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: The Orioles did that for two years, but that's it.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: I was hoping more for Pete Alonzo with the Baltimore Orioles.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: I did like the class act that he had, making
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: sure all the Orioles came out of the dugout to
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: thank the fans. Much more to come here on Fair
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Thank you guys for your questions.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: We appreciate it very much. We are crowning Our dudes
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: and dorks next.
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: Hey, make sure you check out all of the new
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: items at FoulTerritoryShop.com. That includes player licensed shirts. It could
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: be your favorite player on our site with some of
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: the coolest, newest designs, including our animated players collection.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Go check it out.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: FoulTerritoryShop.com.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: I'm the dude. So that's what you call me.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: All right, it is time now to crown our Dude
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: of the Week. First, Ken, you have the honors. A
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: special moment for you at Petco Park.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: What was it?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: For Joe Musgrove.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And he had not pitched since September 2024 before game one.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: They had the perfect time to bring him in. 8-0 lead,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: ninth inning, crowd going crazy. He's a San Diego guy,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and he is one of the most popular and beloved
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: players in that clubhouse. So to see him back on
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the mound in that situation, to see the trust the
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: team had in him.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: To put on the roster. It was just a tremendous moment.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: The crowd got it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: It was really cool all around. And congratulations to Joe,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: just for getting back Dude of the Week.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: I heard people at that stadium say it was the
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: loudest they had ever heard Petco Park was rocking. He
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: should never buy anything in San Diego, throwing the first
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: no-hitter in that franchise's great history. Okay, my Dude of
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: the Week are the four retiring broadcasters. hanging it up
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: as far as that is concerned after decades behind the
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: microphone in our great game. Mike Kruko, of course, of
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: the San Francisco Giants. Howie Rose, longtime announcer for the
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: radio for the New York Mets. Rick Riz of the
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Seattle Mariners, my guy, and Tommy Hutton of the Marlins.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: Congratulations on their next adventure. And thank you so much
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: for bringing this beautiful game for so many years to
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: the fan base that you guys have loved so much.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: All right, let's crown our dorks of the week. Ken,
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: who do you have for your dork of the week?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go with the Astros players who complained
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: about the fans after game one.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: They were booed. The place was not sold out. And
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: obviously the players were upset by this. I get it.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And certainly when you're the home team in the playoffs,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: you expect support. And yes, you can certainly make the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: case that Astros fans are spoiled by all their success.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Fair. But the players.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: While I appreciate their honesty and I appreciate them talking
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to Chandler Rome of The Athletic about this, you can't
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: rip the fans.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: It's just not something that ever ends well for a player.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: And listen, they're emotional.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: They're feeling it. And you can understand their feelings and
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: their sentiments.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: The way they were.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: But when you do that and you're only inviting more trouble,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and that's what happened for the Astros, they should have
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: been more worried about winning game two.
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt about that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: My dork of the week, again, not to bag on
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: the Red Sox, but I think more of the front
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: office and the ownership group certainly is because They didn't
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: do enough. John Henry seems to be content with just
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: kind of getting into the postseason, making fans believe that
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: they're going to do it and they're going to go
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: for it just to get blown out in the wild card.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: So you guys need to do more. Remember that you're
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: the Boston Red Sox. You are a championship caliber team
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: and the fans deserve better. That is my dork of
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: the week. All right, guys, that's going to do it
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: for us here. Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal is done.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: Foul Territory is coming up next. Eric Kratz, AJ Pierzynski,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Scott Braun. The Athletics' Matt Gelb and Chandler Roeb will
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: join as well. Chandler Roeb, rather. Boston Globe's Tim Healy
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: is going to come on too. Don't forget, we have
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: a post-game show tonight after Phillies and Braves.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: It's me, Eric Kratz, Todd Frazier.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: The Fair Territory schedule with Ken's moving around a little
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: bit this month because Ken has a crazy, wacky schedule.
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: Ken returns this coming Tuesday, though, for sure, before NLDS
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Game 3.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: All right, guys. See you later.
• 25:32
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