Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal on Profar's suspension, Crochet's new Red Sox deal, Braves danger, Torpedo aftermath

Transcript

Ken Rosenthal on Profar's suspension, Crochet's new Red Sox deal, Braves danger, Torpedo aftermath · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: I know we're all in love with conspiracy theories and
0:03
Speaker 1: everyone wants to accuse the Yankees of everything, but in
0:06
Speaker 1: this particular case, they're guilty of nothing.
0:15
Speaker 2: Let's hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. Ken,
0:19
Speaker 2: let's get right to the Jerks and profar suspension. What
0:22
Speaker 2: was your reaction when you saw that news yesterday.
0:25
Speaker 1: I can't say I was totally surprised, because anytime you
0:28
Speaker 1: have a player who has a year like he did
0:31
Speaker 1: after the year he had before the prior.
0:33
Speaker 3: Season, you wonder a little bit. That's just the nature
0:37
Speaker 3: of it. It's human nature.
0:38
Speaker 1: Obviously, it's terrible news for really the sport not to
0:43
Speaker 1: mention all the people involved, including Profar, and I don't
0:47
Speaker 1: know what else there is to say. We have tried
0:51
Speaker 1: to understand over the years that this is still happening,
0:54
Speaker 1: and I've emphasized to people over the years that this
0:56
Speaker 1: is still happening. As much as Baseball has tried to
0:59
Speaker 1: eradicate it, you can't totally eradicate Pedes, and that's the
1:04
Speaker 1: issue that the sport will face really Forevermore So, it's
1:09
Speaker 1: cleaner than it was, there's no question about that. But
1:12
Speaker 1: to pretend that it's entirely clean.
1:14
Speaker 3: That would be a mistake.
1:16
Speaker 4: Is there more that we could do to catch this
1:19
Speaker 4: point one percent of guys one percent of guys or
1:23
Speaker 4: maybe it's higher what you're alluding to, which I would
1:25
Speaker 4: agree that you know. Is there more that we could
1:29
Speaker 4: be doing as a players association and also as Major
1:32
Speaker 4: League Baseball?
1:34
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, Eric, I'm not an expert on drug testing.
1:37
Speaker 1: It seems to me that the program that was introduced
1:40
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, with harsher penalties and stricter testing was
1:46
Speaker 1: and is somewhat effective. Now is it totally effective? No,
1:50
Speaker 1: and our guys doing crazy stuff, maybe with undetectable substances
1:54
Speaker 1: and avant garde masking agents and all these different things.
1:58
Speaker 3: I don't know.
1:59
Speaker 1: But it's something that the sport does have to remain
2:02
Speaker 1: vigilant about, that's for sure, and it has to constantly
2:05
Speaker 1: update its practices to ensure that the sport is.
2:09
Speaker 3: As clean as possible.
2:11
Speaker 1: And it's just really difficult for fans I think out
2:16
Speaker 1: there to say, Okay, everything's on the up and up.
2:19
Speaker 1: When something like this happens, there is this doubt that
2:23
Speaker 1: it forms in your mind, and that's the doubt maybe
2:25
Speaker 1: I had with PROFI right that. Okay, we don't know
2:28
Speaker 1: entirely that the changes he made, the work that he
2:32
Speaker 1: did in the private previous offseason with the Tatis family
2:36
Speaker 1: had a positive impact purely on that alone, or was
2:40
Speaker 1: there more to it? And there was suspicions around the
2:42
Speaker 1: game last year, But of course you can have suspicions
2:45
Speaker 1: about anything.
2:46
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean it's true.
2:47
Speaker 1: Yesterday confirmed that something perhaps was going on.
2:52
Speaker 2: Ken, what did you think of his statement to me?
2:55
Speaker 2: I said, copy paste. I've seen that one before. It
2:58
Speaker 2: didn't willingly lawyer ish, just what everyone else puts down
3:02
Speaker 2: their statement. And do you think that the Braves front
3:06
Speaker 2: office feels like they got worked because they signed him
3:10
Speaker 2: to a three year, forty five million dollar contract. He's
3:13
Speaker 2: gonna miss half that for year one, but he's gonna
3:14
Speaker 2: get the rest.
3:17
Speaker 1: I will say his statement, I thought, compared to some
3:20
Speaker 1: of the others, was better. It was not an excuse
3:23
Speaker 1: filled thing.
3:24
Speaker 3: It was basically an apology. So I had no problem
3:28
Speaker 3: with that. Yes, he said, it's because of my.
3:29
Speaker 1: Deep love and respect to this game that I would
3:31
Speaker 1: never knowingly do anything to cheat it.
3:33
Speaker 3: Yes, we've heard that before, but there isn't a whole
3:37
Speaker 3: lot he can say.
3:38
Speaker 1: Now, as from the Braves perspective, Yeah, I would imagine
3:42
Speaker 1: that there's some concern or feeling in the front office that, ah,
3:47
Speaker 1: this is something we didn't anticipate necessarily and something certainly
3:51
Speaker 1: that didn't turn up in his physical So yeah, I'm
3:54
Speaker 1: sure they're not pleased with this development.
3:56
Speaker 3: And then you wonder does.
3:57
Speaker 1: He come back the same player, a different player, a
4:01
Speaker 1: lesser player, or does he continue on and become a
4:04
Speaker 1: really good player again as he was.
4:06
Speaker 3: It's hard to know.
4:09
Speaker 5: Well, let's stay on this for a little bit here
4:11
Speaker 5: the Braves. You read an article a little bit ago
4:15
Speaker 5: about them and the understanding about you know, what is
4:18
Speaker 5: going wrong with them, Ronaldo Lopez shoulder information. Uh, they
4:22
Speaker 5: just sent down or DFA, Jesse Chavez and Narit Hector
4:26
Speaker 5: Nardis he got dfayed earlier. They brought up Zach Thompson,
4:30
Speaker 5: who hasn't pitched in twenty twenty two. I know the
4:32
Speaker 5: bullpen is a problem, but is there also another problem
4:35
Speaker 5: of why they're you know, struggling a little bit in
4:37
Speaker 5: these departments.
4:40
Speaker 1: It's a bad start obviously with bad news on top
4:44
Speaker 1: of it. The Lopez injury the Profile suspension, the bullpen
4:49
Speaker 1: moves that don't seem to.
4:50
Speaker 3: Be working out all that well.
4:51
Speaker 1: They really didn't do much in the offseason outside of
4:54
Speaker 1: sign Profart. They tried to sign Jeff Hoffkin, and they
4:58
Speaker 1: get into this in the article in November. They were
5:01
Speaker 1: not happy with his physical backed out of the deal.
5:03
Speaker 1: He later signed with the Blue Jays after the Orioles
5:06
Speaker 1: also backed out of a contract with him, got three years,
5:10
Speaker 1: thirty three million to be their closer. The Braves intent
5:13
Speaker 1: with Hoffman was to.
5:14
Speaker 3: Make him a starter like they did with Rinaldo Lopez.
5:17
Speaker 1: Last year, and then that would give them the flexibility
5:19
Speaker 1: to mix in some of their younger starters if they
5:21
Speaker 1: performed well, and move Hoffman back to the bullpen.
5:25
Speaker 3: Hasn't worked out that way.
5:27
Speaker 1: The curious thing to me is that they didn't do
5:29
Speaker 1: anything else with their pitching.
5:30
Speaker 3: And I know offense is the bigger concern right now.
5:33
Speaker 3: They had the twenty nine innings scoreless streak.
5:35
Speaker 1: I get that the offense is going to be fine,
5:37
Speaker 1: but with the pitching, their concern was if we bring in,
5:41
Speaker 1: say a Charlie Morton, bring him back or Jose Kintana.
5:45
Speaker 1: Later that those guys were purely starters, and they would
5:48
Speaker 1: effectively block a guy like Grant Holmes, who pitched last
5:51
Speaker 1: night did not do terribly well against the Los Angeles
5:53
Speaker 1: Dodgers and some other guys that they have in mind.
5:56
Speaker 1: With Strider coming back as well, we can always look
5:59
Speaker 1: back an offseason and say that didn't work out the
6:02
Speaker 1: way it should have, and perhaps this offseason will be
6:05
Speaker 1: one we look at like that. But the other point
6:07
Speaker 1: I made in this story is that with Profar they're
6:10
Speaker 1: going to save because the suspension is unpaid almost six
6:14
Speaker 1: million dollars, they're already about well, including that money, they're
6:19
Speaker 1: about fourteen million under the.
6:21
Speaker 3: Luxury tax threshold. That's according to Fangraft's estimation, and.
6:26
Speaker 1: That gives them the flexibility to do things if they
6:29
Speaker 1: want to leading to the deadline and then at the deadline.
6:33
Speaker 1: So Alexanthopolis has been aggressive in the past at the deadline.
6:36
Speaker 3: We know that I.
6:37
Speaker 1: Expect him to do some things, but he didn't do
6:40
Speaker 1: a whole lot this winter, and that was a little
6:42
Speaker 1: bit surprising.
6:42
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7:44
Speaker 2: foul Does that?
7:46
Speaker 1: Does that?
7:46
Speaker 2: Man?
7:46
Speaker 4: You just said that about Profar as eighty games. Does
7:49
Speaker 4: that come off of their luxury tax threshold?
7:53
Speaker 1: Yes, salary, yes, so it doesn't get credited for it.
7:57
Speaker 1: So right now his salary for this year was twelve million.
8:01
Speaker 3: They will get charged.
8:02
Speaker 1: I believe the number was six point one to nine million,
8:07
Speaker 1: and they save about five point eight something along those lines.
8:11
Speaker 4: Okay, well they can spend that six point nine million
8:14
Speaker 4: on a new batch of torpedo bats. Are we making
8:18
Speaker 4: too big of a deal out of it? And who
8:20
Speaker 4: do you feel has had the best perspective on the
8:23
Speaker 4: torpedo bats, because we've seen everything from relaxed they've been
8:27
Speaker 4: around to this is the worst thing ever. Major League
8:31
Speaker 4: Baseball needs to investigate the Yankees.
8:34
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, the Yankee aspect of it is
8:37
Speaker 1: ridiculous because players on other teams are using them too.
8:41
Speaker 1: So I know we're all in love with conspiracy theories
8:44
Speaker 1: and everyone wants to accuse the Yankees of everything, but
8:48
Speaker 1: in this particular case, they're guilty of nothing. I went
8:51
Speaker 1: through this unfair territory yesterday. The Rays have players that
8:55
Speaker 1: are using the Blue Jays have players that are using
8:57
Speaker 1: the Oils, have players that are using these bats. And
9:00
Speaker 1: beyond that, the Red Sox, the other team in the
9:03
Speaker 1: Al East. They have tried them, and Alex Corus said that.
9:06
Speaker 3: Those guys that they have don't like them. Necessarily, other
9:10
Speaker 3: teams are ordering them.
9:11
Speaker 1: So this is not illegal or anything like that. Now,
9:13
Speaker 1: the impact of it, that's the better question. Eric and
9:17
Speaker 1: the Brewers, of course, they were the victims of the
9:19
Speaker 1: Yankees torpedo bats in the first series and they go
9:22
Speaker 1: in and give up eleven runs last night to the
9:24
Speaker 1: Kansas City Royals. So I don't know, maybe it's the
9:28
Speaker 1: Brewer's pitching. We'll find out in time if these bats
9:32
Speaker 1: are having a true impact on hitting and if it
9:36
Speaker 1: leads to I don't know, a greater offensive production. I
9:40
Speaker 1: sort of doubt that's going to take place. Making contact
9:43
Speaker 1: is still going to be difficult for guys facing one
9:46
Speaker 1: hundred miles an hour.
9:47
Speaker 3: As they do all the time now.
9:49
Speaker 1: But it's something that over five games or after five games,
9:53
Speaker 1: six games, we cannot make a determination on just yet.
9:57
Speaker 2: Best perspective in my mind right now, and bat companies,
10:00
Speaker 2: they're like everyone needs one, everyone needs one. Kids, you
10:04
Speaker 2: needed torpedo bat. I've been seeing all the executives for
10:07
Speaker 2: bat companies like, oh yeah, I mean we're getting so
10:10
Speaker 2: many orders. Every big leaguer ass one. You need one too, kids,
10:13
Speaker 2: So I think that part's hilarious.
10:15
Speaker 1: But I wanted to like a Judge's perspective, Scott, I
10:18
Speaker 1: liked what Aaron Judge said my last few years without
10:21
Speaker 1: them speak for themselves.
10:24
Speaker 2: That was really good. So from a coverage perspective, Ken,
10:27
Speaker 2: are you surprised at how much this took off over
10:31
Speaker 2: the weekend, especially being that these bats have existed for
10:34
Speaker 2: a little bit of time. Some guys have had them,
10:35
Speaker 2: like we mentioned, and even I think in the Fall
10:37
Speaker 2: League some guys were using them, so it's not like
10:39
Speaker 2: it's out of the realm. But does this speak to
10:42
Speaker 2: the power of, say, the New York market Sometimes where
10:45
Speaker 2: the timing lines up, the Yankees are hitting, they go
10:48
Speaker 2: off against the Brewers to almost video game like numbers,
10:50
Speaker 2: and suddenly everyone's like, oh, here's why.
10:54
Speaker 1: Well. And also, Michael Kay, they're broadcaster, is the one
10:57
Speaker 1: who kind of made it public. He said the Yankees
11:00
Speaker 1: are doing this on the air.
11:02
Speaker 3: So if again, if they were doing something.
11:03
Speaker 1: Illegal, I don't think their lead broadcaster would be advertising
11:07
Speaker 1: it publicly like that.
11:08
Speaker 3: But yes, Scott, I think you are.
11:11
Speaker 1: Right that This speaks to the power of the New
11:14
Speaker 1: York market and the Yankees and just the attention that
11:16
Speaker 1: they get. For instance, if this had happened, let's just
11:19
Speaker 1: pick a team the Kansas City Royals, and the Kansas
11:22
Speaker 1: City Royals play by play man went on the air
11:25
Speaker 1: on Sunday they were having a big day, just making
11:27
Speaker 1: this up hypothetically and said, hey, guys are using some
11:30
Speaker 1: new bats. I don't know that anyone would have picked
11:32
Speaker 1: up on.
11:33
Speaker 3: It right away.
11:34
Speaker 1: So certainly the New York aspect kind of made it snowball,
11:38
Speaker 1: and the Yankee success over the weekend as well made
11:41
Speaker 1: it snowball. But again, I want to see more. It's
11:44
Speaker 1: quite interesting. All of these things are interesting. I had
11:47
Speaker 1: a former Major leaguer yesterday tell me this isn't right.
11:51
Speaker 1: If you're not hitting on the sweet spot, that's on you.
11:53
Speaker 1: But we've seen so many technological advances over the years.
11:57
Speaker 1: Tolully hopefully make play is better to help them be better,
12:02
Speaker 1: and this to me seems to fall into the same
12:04
Speaker 1: category like the hockey puck knob a few years ago
12:07
Speaker 1: that we started seeing and we still see now. The
12:10
Speaker 1: idea was to shift the way to the bat and
12:14
Speaker 1: help a player perform at a higher level. I don't
12:16
Speaker 1: see anything wrong with that. The pitchers are doing things
12:19
Speaker 1: to perform at higher levels as well.
12:23
Speaker 5: One hundred percent. He took the words out of my mouth.
12:25
Speaker 5: So we don't have to talk about it anymore about
12:27
Speaker 5: those pictures complaining, But we'll talk about another picture. Garrett Crochet,
12:32
Speaker 5: you just signed a monster deal six years, one seventy
12:35
Speaker 5: to one hundred and seventy million dollars for Boston. Talk
12:39
Speaker 5: a little bit about that and explain to me do
12:42
Speaker 5: you think this is good bad? What do you think
12:44
Speaker 5: for the young man?
12:45
Speaker 1: I thought it was a great deal for Crochet, and
12:48
Speaker 1: I frankly was surprised by the size of it. Basically,
12:51
Speaker 1: if you boil this down, his last year of arbitration
12:54
Speaker 1: is next year. So let's assume next year is ten million.
12:57
Speaker 1: That's probably being generous, but let's give them ten million.
13:00
Speaker 3: For next year. He's at three point eight this year.
13:02
Speaker 1: That means his five free agent years are worth one
13:05
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty million. That's thirty two million dollars a
13:08
Speaker 1: year for a guy over five years, for a guy
13:11
Speaker 1: who really just last year was his first full year
13:15
Speaker 1: as a starter. He had Tommy John surgery in twenty
13:18
Speaker 1: twenty two, missed that whole year, came back in twenty three,
13:20
Speaker 1: and then last year he started for the first time
13:23
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. That is a testament to what
13:27
Speaker 1: the Red Sox think of him, and it's also a
13:29
Speaker 1: testament to the Red Sox because all we've heard for
13:32
Speaker 1: the last several years in the wake of the Chris
13:34
Speaker 1: Sale contract is that John Henry is kind of risk
13:39
Speaker 1: averse with pitching deals right now, big ones. They didn't
13:42
Speaker 1: do well with David Price, they didn't deal well with Sale,
13:44
Speaker 1: and here's Garret Crochet and he's getting a big deal.
13:47
Speaker 3: There's no doubt about it. This is a big deal.
13:50
Speaker 1: So good for Crochet for sure, a guy who's fought
13:53
Speaker 1: his way back, fought his way into prominence. And good
13:56
Speaker 1: for the Red Sox because, hey, heaven knows, I've criticized
13:59
Speaker 1: them and have as have a number of other people
14:03
Speaker 1: in recent years for their lack of spending with the
14:06
Speaker 1: Bregmann deal, and with this deal, it shows a different
14:10
Speaker 1: strategy than we've seen in the recent past.
14:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're spending and they're off to a slow start
14:17
Speaker 2: on the field, but it's super early and so credit
14:19
Speaker 2: to them. Yeah, this is more like the Red Sox
14:21
Speaker 2: we were used to from several years ago when they
14:23
Speaker 2: were more competitive. My follow up here is were I
14:27
Speaker 2: know you said you were surprised about the number. Were
14:29
Speaker 2: you surprised about the timing because it's basically one start
14:32
Speaker 2: and then it gets done at this point and I'm
14:34
Speaker 2: with you. I looked at it. I'm like, Okay, Cortin
14:36
Speaker 2: Burns got low two hundreds. I mean, this deal is
14:39
Speaker 2: not that far off of a guy who made it
14:41
Speaker 2: to free agency and had way way more of a
14:44
Speaker 2: track record. I know, Crochet stuff wise though, is up
14:47
Speaker 2: there amongst the best in baseball.
14:50
Speaker 1: The timing surprised me only because Crochet said on a
14:53
Speaker 1: podcast the other day that they came close before opening
14:56
Speaker 1: Day and it didn't get done, and it seemed at
14:58
Speaker 1: that point to had stalled and it was going to
15:01
Speaker 1: be put off until perhaps the off season. Now, sometimes
15:04
Speaker 1: you will see these things linger into the season and
15:07
Speaker 1: change in the early weeks and deals get done. That
15:11
Speaker 1: seems to be what happened here, that they just kept
15:13
Speaker 1: negotiating and Crochet perhaps had a number, and if the
15:17
Speaker 1: Red Sox hit that number or came close and they
15:19
Speaker 1: finally came to that agreement, then everything was fine. So
15:23
Speaker 1: the timing surprised me only because of what Crochet had
15:26
Speaker 1: said publicly. But it didn't mean this was over, And
15:30
Speaker 1: even in the vlad Guerrero Junior situation, that one's not
15:33
Speaker 1: necessarily over either, though it certainly has.
15:35
Speaker 3: Not been resolved at this point.
15:38
Speaker 1: If the Jays eventually get to the point where Vladimir
15:42
Speaker 1: Guerrero Junior is satisfied, if they hit his number, then
15:45
Speaker 1: I would expect he would sign, even if it's during
15:48
Speaker 1: the season.
15:49
Speaker 4: Ken, do you like April Fole's Day?
15:52
Speaker 3: I do.
15:54
Speaker 4: Do you have any good stories, because normally it's about
15:57
Speaker 4: during the season. If not, it's like everyone's it's ranking up.
16:00
Speaker 4: Do you have a good one that a good prank
16:02
Speaker 4: you pulled or that you saw someone else pull.
16:06
Speaker 1: How about one that was pulled on the entire country
16:10
Speaker 1: and I fell for it, the Sid Finch story. Now,
16:13
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys remember this. It was
16:15
Speaker 1: kind of before your time. In nineteen eighty four, I
16:19
Speaker 1: was working my first job in York, Pennsylvania, and I
16:24
Speaker 1: was living with a friend of mine from college who
16:27
Speaker 1: was also working at the same newspaper. He was a
16:29
Speaker 1: big Yankee fan, and at the time, before I was
16:31
Speaker 1: covering baseball, I was a Met fan, and Sports Illustrated
16:35
Speaker 1: came out with the Sid Finch story. This guy was
16:38
Speaker 1: on the cover, this crazy looking guy, and his whole
16:42
Speaker 1: story was written about this guy who throws one hundred
16:45
Speaker 1: and ten miles an hour. He is an eclectic, kind
16:48
Speaker 1: of weird dude.
16:50
Speaker 3: And I fell for it, hook line and singer.
16:53
Speaker 1: I went running down the stairs of our duplex three
16:56
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty dollars a month duplex in York, Pennsylvania
16:59
Speaker 1: that year, and I flew down the stairs holding the magazine,
17:03
Speaker 1: showed it to my friend and said, look at this man.
17:05
Speaker 1: We get to the newspaper that day and it came
17:07
Speaker 1: out that.
17:08
Speaker 3: It was all April Fools, a big hoax, the Mets
17:10
Speaker 3: were involved. It was a great story. So yeah, I
17:13
Speaker 3: was the sucker.
17:16
Speaker 2: You and probably millions of oh yeah, great job, Yeah,
17:21
Speaker 2: Krats do great job by side the Mets, everybody being
17:24
Speaker 2: on that. It just reminded me also of the Kyle
17:27
Speaker 2: Kendrick story, which we've talked about on the show before.
17:29
Speaker 2: That was also just wild. I don't think that was
17:31
Speaker 2: for April Fools, but anyway, Ken thanks for sharing, Thanks
17:34
Speaker 2: for reminding us. We'll catch you later this week. Ken
17:39
Speaker 2: and Alana on Thursday, twelve thirty Eastern, Normal times for
17:43
Speaker 2: everything now, Okay, one o'clock show every single day rest
17:46
Speaker 2: of the year, twelve thirty Eastern, Live Fair Territory on Thursdays.
17:50
Speaker 2: So if there's a question that you want to ask
17:52
Speaker 2: them or you didn't get to today, obviously we're going
17:55
Speaker 2: to ask about the basics, the big topics, then shoot
17:58
Speaker 2: him over to Ken and Alana on Thursday will be
18:01
Speaker 2: our back. What I wanted to get to here is
18:07
Speaker 2: what we talked about yesterday. But just to get your take,
18:09
Speaker 2: Todd father from third baseman to third baseman, you to
18:12
Speaker 2: Devers oh for nineteen fifteen strikeouts in his first five
18:16
Speaker 2: games after another three K performance yesterday, at what point
18:21
Speaker 2: does it really start to get to the head of
18:24
Speaker 2: what's been a superstar bat in baseball and his gloveside
18:28
Speaker 2: has been taken away the defensive side of his game
18:31
Speaker 2: for this year. Let's also not overlook the fact that
18:35
Speaker 2: we talked about the shoulder yesterday and how that's potentially
18:38
Speaker 2: still a problem for him. But what are you seeing here?
18:41
Speaker 2: I mean, he's off to the worst start in anyone
18:43
Speaker 2: among anyone in the game.
18:44
Speaker 3: Right now, hit or.
18:45
Speaker 5: Wise, listen, I'm going to the simple fact this cut
18:49
Speaker 5: used to be a fielder. I mean, he's probably I
18:52
Speaker 5: don't have the exact numbers, but he's been a DH before.
18:55
Speaker 5: I understand that. But knowing now that you are a
18:59
Speaker 5: permanent deal, it plays with your head a little bit.
19:01
Speaker 5: I'm not saying it's because this is because he's struggling,
19:05
Speaker 5: but it plays a factor. You brought this guy over.
19:09
Speaker 5: You told the me I'm the third base and I'm
19:11
Speaker 5: playing this and that, and then you say, all right, listen,
19:13
Speaker 5: I'm a team player. I'll do whatever it takes for
19:16
Speaker 5: the team. He wants to play, man, and I don't
19:19
Speaker 5: care who you are. I never liked ach and you know,
19:22
Speaker 5: every once in a while, to get my legs, you know,
19:24
Speaker 5: sit down and enjoy the game and keep my legs
19:27
Speaker 5: underneath me. But you know, everybody talks about his defense.
19:31
Speaker 5: They did it about Pete Alonzo. The guy can play.
19:34
Speaker 5: I don't care what anybody says. You know, all right,
19:36
Speaker 5: he had a bunch of errors, don't get me wrong,
19:38
Speaker 5: But that's not why they lose all the games they've
19:41
Speaker 5: been winning. Games because of his bat. They need his bat.
19:43
Speaker 5: This is a struggle. This is a problem. And I
19:46
Speaker 5: know it's only five games, but fifteen strikeouts. I understand
19:50
Speaker 5: when you struggle, Scott, and you hit the ball and
19:52
Speaker 5: put it in play, whether it's a rollover pop up.
19:54
Speaker 5: He is not putting a ball in playing and that's
19:56
Speaker 5: the frustrating part. And I know he's got to be
19:59
Speaker 5: sitting there like, do I need to change it? Nothing? No,
20:01
Speaker 5: your swing has been great ever since you've been called up.
20:04
Speaker 5: Don't change a darn thing. Keep doing what you're doing.
20:07
Speaker 5: Everything will be okay. We have to change this mentality
20:09
Speaker 5: up here. Go up there with a purpose, look for
20:12
Speaker 5: a pitch to hit and drive and don't miss it. Okay,
20:15
Speaker 5: focus on what you can control. I can control my batpath,
20:19
Speaker 5: I can control my legs underneath me. I can control
20:21
Speaker 5: my mind and not worry about other things. But after
20:24
Speaker 5: you have to answer your question. After the second day,
20:26
Speaker 5: when you know I have over four strikeouts, is when
20:29
Speaker 5: it starts playing in your mind. Day one, at whatever,
20:31
Speaker 5: three k's and then another one comes, and another one
20:34
Speaker 5: and another one. You're like, do I have a hole
20:36
Speaker 5: in my bat?
20:37
Speaker 4: No?
20:38
Speaker 5: You don't. Your mind is playing a lot of tricks
20:40
Speaker 5: on you right now.
20:43
Speaker 4: It's a dark place. It's a dark place when you're
20:45
Speaker 4: swinging and missing. I've never struck out this many times
20:48
Speaker 4: in so few at bats. I've had some really really
20:51
Speaker 4: slow starts to seasons. And I am not twelfth in
20:57
Speaker 4: MVP voting, eleventh, fourteenth, eighteenth, and thirteenth in the last
21:02
Speaker 4: six out of the last seven years in MVP voting.
21:05
Speaker 4: So this guy's gonna be fine. The crazy part of
21:09
Speaker 4: all of this is people are like, well, it's a
21:11
Speaker 4: game of strikeouts anyway. The most strikeouts that Rafie's ever
21:16
Speaker 4: had was one hundred and forty three in a season,
21:20
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, one hundred and forty seven in a season.
21:23
Speaker 4: And both years that he had one hundred and forty
21:25
Speaker 4: or above he was an All Star. This doesn't happen,
21:28
Speaker 4: So it doesn't happen by chance. It's not all of
21:32
Speaker 4: the Bregman, the dhing, all that stuff, the shoulder or
21:37
Speaker 4: it's not one of those things. It's all of them.
21:39
Speaker 4: It's all of them combined, and the results are just
21:42
Speaker 4: you know, he took a few walks. That's huge. I
21:45
Speaker 4: think he's four walks now. But he's in between everything.
21:48
Speaker 4: He's behind the fastball, ahead of the breaking ball. He
21:51
Speaker 4: swung in a pitch the other day, a change up,
21:53
Speaker 4: and he was laid on the changeup trying to swat
21:55
Speaker 4: at it. It is a bad place. It is so
21:59
Speaker 4: good when you see guys like that to know that
22:01
Speaker 4: you're sitting in this chair and you don't ever have
22:04
Speaker 4: to go through that. And he's only had twenty five
22:06
Speaker 4: starts as a dh SO in an eight year career.
22:09
Speaker 4: That is not many.
22:11
Speaker 5: No, that's right. Some people people strive on that. Edgar Martinez,
22:18
Speaker 5: big poppy. Like these guys, they're veterans, they understand that.
22:22
Speaker 5: Like it's very hard to sit there for two, you know,
22:26
Speaker 5: two three innings, forty five minutes and not getting the
22:28
Speaker 5: bat Like it's very difficult, and there's only so many
22:31
Speaker 5: swings you can get in the cage. You get loose.
22:33
Speaker 5: That's what drove me crazy when I was dhing. How
22:36
Speaker 5: many more swings do I need to stay loose? Like
22:39
Speaker 5: when you're playing in the field, you're moving, your body
22:42
Speaker 5: is in it, your mind is in the game. Your
22:44
Speaker 5: mind can just drift in the dugout and you know,
22:46
Speaker 5: talking of there's it's very hard for a guy like that,
22:50
Speaker 5: knowing that he's been a starter, and now all of
22:52
Speaker 5: a sudden, just because we got this guy coming in,
22:55
Speaker 5: I'm not a start anymore. I'm telling you it's gonna
22:57
Speaker 5: play with your mind a little bit.
22:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see. I mean, they need him, obviously it's early,
23:01
Speaker 2: but they need them. They're off to a slow start.
23:03
Speaker 2: When he goes when he goes down, they go down.
23:06
Speaker 2: You're expecting the Red Sox to be better this year
23:09
Speaker 2: with Devors being a star back, right so he's not
23:13
Speaker 2: going to go oh for a billion, But right now
23:16
Speaker 2: he is kind of oh for a billion for the
23:18
Speaker 2: length of the season, which has only been less than
23:20
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