Latest / Foul Territory / MLB $/Wins index + Astros checkup

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MLB $/Wins index + Astros checkup · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: Where are that because you aren't on Alvarez.
0:01
Speaker 2: He's still a little bit away, Like I'd be surprised
0:04
Speaker 2: if you see him this weekend against the Mariners. But
0:06
Speaker 2: with the Astros, who knows they could activate him today
0:08
Speaker 2: and surprise all of us.
0:14
Speaker 3: Here we got.
0:15
Speaker 4: We're back with Chandler Rome from the Athletic and of
0:17
Speaker 4: course Crush City Territory as well, your host of the
0:20
Speaker 4: show that you should check out all about the Houston Astros. Chandler,
0:23
Speaker 4: great to see you and let's just start nice in
0:25
Speaker 4: general with the shows. I feel like we haven't talked
0:27
Speaker 4: about them enough. Best part of the twenty twenty five
0:30
Speaker 4: Astros right now and worst.
0:31
Speaker 3: Part is.
0:33
Speaker 2: The best part's Hunter Brown and that's kind of without.
0:37
Speaker 2: That's tough to debate. Their bullpen's been sneaky good. I
0:41
Speaker 2: say sneaky good. I think they have the best bullpeny
0:42
Speaker 2: Ari and baseball. But Hunter Brown is the best pitcher
0:46
Speaker 2: in baseball right now in my opinion. He did not
0:49
Speaker 2: have a great start yesterday at steinbren Or Field. The
0:53
Speaker 2: jet stream and right field and the small dimensions did
0:55
Speaker 2: not help him, but he was due a clunker. I
0:58
Speaker 2: think he gave up five runs and five, and that
1:00
Speaker 2: raised his ERA to a huge two point zero four.
1:04
Speaker 2: He has been the epitome of an ace. He's been
1:06
Speaker 2: everything that this team has needed and more.
1:09
Speaker 3: He is the guy.
1:10
Speaker 2: He and Fromberveldez are keeping this thing afloat and really
1:14
Speaker 2: stabilizing a pitching staff that's had a ton of injuries
1:17
Speaker 2: so far. So it's it's easy to say that Hunter
1:19
Speaker 2: Brown's probably the best thing about the Astros right now.
1:21
Speaker 2: The worst is a lineup. They are underperforming as an offense.
1:25
Speaker 2: Their off season acquisition one of them, Christian Walker, has
1:28
Speaker 2: has really really scuffled.
1:30
Speaker 3: Jose Altuve is.
1:31
Speaker 2: In the middle of one of the worst thirty five
1:33
Speaker 2: game stretches of his career. Gordon Alvarez is still in
1:36
Speaker 2: the IL with a hand injury. And all that being said,
1:40
Speaker 2: they knew coming into the season that this lineup was
1:42
Speaker 2: going to be a bat or too short, given that
1:44
Speaker 2: they let Alex Bregman walk, they traded Kyle Tucker. So
1:48
Speaker 2: when those guys aren't producing, when Alvarez isn't on the field,
1:51
Speaker 2: and Altuve and Walker are scuffling, inherently, the lineup's just
1:56
Speaker 2: just not going to It's not going to function. They
1:58
Speaker 2: have a six ninety five team ops us right now,
2:01
Speaker 2: they're slugging three seventy eight.
2:02
Speaker 3: As a team.
2:03
Speaker 2: It's not a deep lineup. It's not a lineup that
2:06
Speaker 2: is giving Joe a spot of many options either, because
2:09
Speaker 2: as we speak right now, they are carrying uh. They
2:13
Speaker 2: have fourteen position players, twelve of them are right handed,
2:16
Speaker 2: and their only two semblances of balance are switch hitting
2:19
Speaker 2: backup catcher Victor Karattini and left handed hitting third catcher
2:23
Speaker 2: Sasar Salazar, who, since he got called up for Jordan Alvarez,
2:28
Speaker 2: has not played in a game. So Joe has very
2:31
Speaker 2: little he can do to like mix the lineup up
2:35
Speaker 2: look wise, Like you know, opposing managers can just send
2:38
Speaker 2: every right handed reliever they have out there. Because the
2:40
Speaker 2: Astros have no recourse, they can't create a platoon advantage,
2:43
Speaker 2: they can't create any sort of late game, you know,
2:46
Speaker 2: advantage situations, because this is a poorly constructed roster and
2:50
Speaker 2: it's a lineup that they knew coming in was going
2:53
Speaker 2: to be thin, and the guys that they.
2:54
Speaker 3: Are paying to produce are not producing.
2:57
Speaker 5: Not going to any new guys first, but going to
2:59
Speaker 5: HO two. Is the lack of protection more evident in
3:05
Speaker 5: ol two a's at bats throughout the short season so far,
3:08
Speaker 5: or is it a sign of regression that al two
3:13
Speaker 5: as may be hitting that that little bump beer where
3:16
Speaker 5: he's gonna have to make an adjustment.
3:18
Speaker 3: I think it's a little bit of both. Eric.
3:20
Speaker 2: I mean, he's not had he did not have much protection,
3:23
Speaker 2: still doesn't. But they have slowly moved him down in
3:26
Speaker 2: the batting order. He he he asked out of the
3:29
Speaker 2: leadoff spot about three weeks ago, seeded that to Jeremy Pania,
3:32
Speaker 2: who's having a great year. And then a couple of
3:34
Speaker 2: days ago, Joe spot of moving down the third in
3:36
Speaker 2: the batting order, trying to spark something a little bit,
3:40
Speaker 2: and I mean actions kind of speak louder than words
3:43
Speaker 2: at this point that they keep finding ways to get
3:46
Speaker 2: him down a little bit. He's Jose al Tuova. They're
3:48
Speaker 2: not going to abandon him. They're not gonna not run
3:50
Speaker 2: him out there every day. You know, I was joking
3:53
Speaker 2: on Crush City earlier that we were taught we were
3:55
Speaker 2: having this debate and Reddick and I joke that, you know,
3:57
Speaker 2: they play a four game series against the Mariners this weekend,
4:00
Speaker 2: he'll probably get like thirteen hits in those four games
4:02
Speaker 2: and make us all look stupid for you know, talking
4:05
Speaker 2: about his demise if you will. But you look at
4:08
Speaker 2: the Savant page right now, it doesn't look good. It's
4:10
Speaker 2: a lot of blue. He's hitting one ninety against fastballs
4:14
Speaker 2: against four seemers this year. He hit three h eight
4:17
Speaker 2: against four seemers last year. His bat speed is down
4:20
Speaker 2: from his career from other points in his career. His
4:22
Speaker 2: ground ball rate is very up. His line drive rate
4:25
Speaker 2: is one of the lowest line drive rates of his career.
4:28
Speaker 2: There's not much under the hood that says it's nearing
4:32
Speaker 2: or getting better. There's bad luck, but again, he's Jose
4:35
Speaker 2: al Tuve. They're not giving up on him. He's gonna
4:38
Speaker 2: run out there every day and they they have faith
4:40
Speaker 2: in him more than anyone that he's gonna find a
4:42
Speaker 2: way to turn it around.
4:44
Speaker 1: Where's your on Avares? Where's yourd On Alvarez? Because we
4:48
Speaker 1: did a whole thing last week. I think it was
4:49
Speaker 1: that he didn't do interviews in Texas and he missed
4:52
Speaker 1: this and he's doing this and they don't know what's
4:54
Speaker 1: wrong with him, Like where are the he?
4:54
Speaker 2: Because ord On Avares, Well, I'll give you jord on credit.
4:58
Speaker 2: He did do an interview in Tampa on the first
5:00
Speaker 2: day of the trip. In Tampa, I was not there,
5:02
Speaker 2: so I was not in the interview, but reading the
5:05
Speaker 2: quotes that he gave, it sounds like he was pretty frustrated,
5:08
Speaker 2: just that he didn't think it would take this long.
5:11
Speaker 2: But at the same time, he said it was something
5:13
Speaker 2: that has been bothering him for a while. He has
5:15
Speaker 2: had hand issues in the past. If you cover the Astros,
5:19
Speaker 2: or if you follow the Astros for any length of time,
5:21
Speaker 2: you understand that they are not going to tell you
5:24
Speaker 2: much about injuries. They're not going to be specific about
5:26
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff, and they've lost all benefit of
5:28
Speaker 2: the doubt from their fans, from people that cover them,
5:32
Speaker 2: They've lost all benefit of the doubt when when they
5:34
Speaker 2: start talking about injuries at this point. So at this point,
5:37
Speaker 2: anything they say about him, like I just kind of
5:39
Speaker 2: let go in one ear and out the other, like
5:41
Speaker 2: I'll when he's back, he'll be back. So I can't
5:45
Speaker 2: really take much that they say now with a ton
5:48
Speaker 2: of merit. But if you believe what they say, he's
5:51
Speaker 2: got a muscle strain at the top of his hand.
5:54
Speaker 2: He is still swinging a bat, but he does still
5:56
Speaker 2: feel some discomfort while swinging the bat, that's what they say.
6:00
Speaker 2: So he has not progressed to hitting VP off the feet.
6:03
Speaker 2: On the field, he's taken like soft toss and tea work,
6:07
Speaker 2: but he's still a little bit away, Like I'd be
6:09
Speaker 2: surprised if you see him this weekend against the Mariners.
6:12
Speaker 2: But with the Astros, who knows they could activate him
6:14
Speaker 2: today and surprise all of us.
6:18
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7:18
Speaker 5: Can you give us another example besides the Jordon thing,
7:22
Speaker 5: because Kyle Tucker last year had a contusion and then
7:25
Speaker 5: we found out right when he was coming back, Oh,
7:28
Speaker 5: it was a fracture, but that was three four months later.
7:31
Speaker 5: Is there other examples?
7:34
Speaker 2: I mean it's more and look, I'm not here and
7:37
Speaker 2: aj Kratz like you guys played like I'm not here,
7:39
Speaker 2: like seeking like medical records of players, like I don't
7:42
Speaker 2: want to know what medicines they're on. I don't want
7:44
Speaker 2: Like we're not asking for much here. But the clarity
7:48
Speaker 2: that they provide is non existent, and the prognoses they
7:52
Speaker 2: give is usually it exceeds what they say, or it's
7:55
Speaker 2: not all the way true, like the lack of just
7:58
Speaker 2: alignment and communication. It has been something that has now
8:01
Speaker 2: spanned three general managers, it's spanned three field managers, so
8:05
Speaker 2: this is not something that is new this year. It's
8:08
Speaker 2: something that has been for a while. You look at
8:11
Speaker 2: their guys, their pitchers that have undergone arm surgery and
8:14
Speaker 2: their return to play. Luis Garcia had Tommy John surgery
8:19
Speaker 2: I want to say, about fourteen to fifteen months ago,
8:21
Speaker 2: and he's had a number of setbacks, not even thrown
8:24
Speaker 2: off a mound yet. Lance McCullers, we've been through how
8:27
Speaker 2: many setbacks he had. Dana Brown admitted last year that
8:30
Speaker 2: they rushed JP Frantz back from a shoulder injury that
8:33
Speaker 2: caused him to tailor the capsule in his shoulder and
8:36
Speaker 2: that needed a repair a surgery. James Klick, the former
8:40
Speaker 2: general manager, acknowledged that they rushed Jake Myers back from
8:43
Speaker 2: his torn laboram that he suffered in the twenty twenty
8:46
Speaker 2: one ALBS Click promised a return review of the Astros
8:51
Speaker 2: return to play procedure at that point. He was fired
8:54
Speaker 2: a couple months later, so I don't know if that
8:56
Speaker 2: review of the return to play procedure ever actually happened.
8:59
Speaker 2: But if you've watched how they've handled themselves and how
9:02
Speaker 2: all these pitchers have setbacks, and how all these position
9:04
Speaker 2: players aren't coming back on time, it would seem proven
9:07
Speaker 2: that they would need to review the return to play
9:09
Speaker 2: procedure and the Tucker the Tucker contusion thing. I mean,
9:13
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, like it got to
9:14
Speaker 2: be where like they were making him look bad because
9:17
Speaker 2: like fans thought he was out for three and a
9:19
Speaker 2: half months with a bruise, when you know, I talked
9:22
Speaker 2: to doctors. I wrote a story where I quoted like
9:24
Speaker 2: four orthopedic surgeons who said, like, yeah, you know, it's
9:27
Speaker 2: possible to be out for four these these things can take.
9:30
Speaker 2: That's a long the heel for a bone bruise, but
9:32
Speaker 2: it's not that common. And come to find out there
9:34
Speaker 2: was a fracture in there.
9:35
Speaker 3: So it's just kind of.
9:37
Speaker 2: Part of the territory covering this team. That's just how
9:40
Speaker 2: this is how they're going to operate. So you kind
9:42
Speaker 2: of have to roll with the punches and go with it.
9:44
Speaker 5: Someone who had a lot of setbacks and had a
9:47
Speaker 5: tough tough time getting back. It's the anniversary of his
9:50
Speaker 5: debut just a few days ago when he wore his
9:53
Speaker 5: Batman cleats. Lance McCullers is taking the mound tonight. What
9:58
Speaker 5: is the difference that you see in Lance colors from
10:01
Speaker 5: the day that he made his Batman Cleats Big League
10:04
Speaker 5: debut and had that arrogance and swag to now somebody
10:08
Speaker 5: who's gone through quite a bit and has worked his
10:12
Speaker 5: way to get back.
10:12
Speaker 3: Out on the mound.
10:15
Speaker 2: Man, that's a that's a big question because, like you said,
10:17
Speaker 2: I mean, it was ten years ago that he debuted.
10:19
Speaker 2: He's gotten married since then, he's had two little girls.
10:22
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously that matures you, like becoming a husband,
10:24
Speaker 2: becoming a father. He is certainly not maybe the throat slashing,
10:29
Speaker 2: swaggy like kid that was on the mound back then,
10:32
Speaker 2: but certainly believes a lot it. Certainly is very confident
10:34
Speaker 2: in himself. That hasn't changed. That kind of inner aura
10:37
Speaker 2: and that kind of inner swagger hasn't changed. Maybe he's
10:39
Speaker 2: not showing it on the mound as much as far
10:42
Speaker 2: as like what he is as a pitcher, like a
10:44
Speaker 2: completely different guy. Like the days of twenty four straight
10:47
Speaker 2: curveballs to win a pennant in twenty seventeen are long gone,
10:51
Speaker 2: you know, so are the days really of him as
10:53
Speaker 2: a curveball maestro. Like his curveball now is basically a
10:57
Speaker 2: show pitch to lefties, where like, he's way more into
11:00
Speaker 2: his change up now.
11:01
Speaker 3: He uses a slider a lot.
11:03
Speaker 2: The two seam is I mean, you're not going to
11:06
Speaker 2: see a bunch of ninety five ninety six anymore. He's
11:08
Speaker 2: ninety ninety two can hit ninety three. He started backdooring
11:11
Speaker 2: the two seam in his last start against the Rangers.
11:14
Speaker 2: He is a different pitcher, and injuries have kind of
11:16
Speaker 2: forced that. You know, he was away from the game
11:19
Speaker 2: for nine hundred and fifteen days before you know, returning
11:22
Speaker 2: this season, and he was never going to return throwing
11:25
Speaker 2: you know, ninety six ninety seven. Not the same kind
11:27
Speaker 2: of guy. And look, the curveball had kind of lessened
11:31
Speaker 2: in emphasis before he got hurt too, Like he had
11:34
Speaker 2: incorporated a slider, he had incorporated the change up. He
11:37
Speaker 2: throws the four seam every now and then. He is
11:39
Speaker 2: a much more complete pitcher now than maybe he was
11:42
Speaker 2: when he debuted in twenty fifteen. And certainly he's been
11:46
Speaker 2: through a lot. One of the two remaining guys from
11:48
Speaker 2: the twenty seventeen Astros that are still on that are
11:51
Speaker 2: still active with the Astros, so he's obviously been through
11:53
Speaker 2: a ton with that hole. The fallout of that scandal
11:57
Speaker 2: and everything, but a much more complete pitcher, a guy
12:00
Speaker 2: that's not going to rely on just spinning you to
12:02
Speaker 2: death with curveballs, a lot more varied, diverse arsenal, and
12:06
Speaker 2: a guy that is he is only growing in importance
12:09
Speaker 2: to the Astros right now, given Ronel Blancos the news
12:13
Speaker 2: recently that Renel Blanco had some elbow pain.
12:16
Speaker 1: Hey, chander're a great story is Colton Gordon? He pitched
12:19
Speaker 1: in Tampa the other day against He's from Saint Pete.
12:22
Speaker 1: He grew up a raised fan, the whole thing. I mean,
12:24
Speaker 1: this guy kind of came out of nowhere for this team.
12:26
Speaker 1: He's not a hard thrower, he's kind of a you know,
12:28
Speaker 1: a soft tossing left you with a bunch of breaking balls.
12:31
Speaker 1: Can he help them in the long term? And plus
12:33
Speaker 1: you got to tell the cool story about him, you know,
12:35
Speaker 1: delivering pizzas while he was on rehob It's kind of
12:37
Speaker 1: an awesome story.
12:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I'll start with the pizza thing, because
12:40
Speaker 2: that's hilarious to me. He got so the Astros. He
12:43
Speaker 2: was a discount draft by the Astros. He had Tommy
12:46
Speaker 2: John surgery in May of his draft year and the
12:50
Speaker 2: Astros took a high school kid in the first with
12:52
Speaker 2: their first pick of that draft, needed to pay him overslot,
12:55
Speaker 2: so they were looking for some discount picks later in
12:58
Speaker 2: that draft. Colton Gordon eighth round pick. I think they
13:01
Speaker 2: signed him for like fifty grand under his slot value.
13:04
Speaker 2: But he threw strikes. They like the fastball from the
13:07
Speaker 2: left side, and you know, so they once he signed
13:10
Speaker 2: his contract, they send him to West Palm to rehab.
13:12
Speaker 2: Tommy John And if you ever meet and talk to
13:15
Speaker 2: Colton Gordon, he does not do well with just like
13:17
Speaker 2: sitting still, sitting idle. He's very fidgety, always has to
13:20
Speaker 2: be doing something. And he would finish his rehab every
13:24
Speaker 2: day at about noon and didn't want to sit in
13:26
Speaker 2: the hotel that they put him up in all day.
13:28
Speaker 2: So if you've ever been to Florida spring training, you
13:31
Speaker 2: know about Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. He walked
13:35
Speaker 2: into Clematis Pizza on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm
13:39
Speaker 2: said look, I'm only here for four months, but if
13:41
Speaker 2: you guys will have me, I'll deliver pizzas. And they
13:43
Speaker 2: gave him the job, and I don't know that he
13:45
Speaker 2: made back the fifty grand that he got shorted in
13:48
Speaker 2: the slot value thing. But you know, just it was
13:52
Speaker 2: interesting for him to talk to, Like he said that
13:54
Speaker 2: allowed him to take his mind off the rehab, Like
13:57
Speaker 2: it gives you something to do during a rehab to
13:59
Speaker 2: where you're not just thinking about, Man, I'm not going
14:01
Speaker 2: to be pitching in a competitive environment for the next
14:04
Speaker 2: nine ten months, Like Tommy John, reab is such an
14:07
Speaker 2: isolating experience and it's so monotonous, and like, guys need
14:10
Speaker 2: that to take their mind off of stuff. And for him,
14:13
Speaker 2: it was delivering pizzas in a Ford f one fifty
14:16
Speaker 2: in West Palm Beach. He he didn't remember how much
14:18
Speaker 2: he made, but he did tell a story about he
14:20
Speaker 2: pulled up to one of those mansions on the island
14:22
Speaker 2: in Palm Beach was bringing ten pepperoni pizzas to the
14:25
Speaker 2: security guards that were working party and they tipped him
14:29
Speaker 2: a hundred bucks for delivering ten pepperoni pizzas.
14:31
Speaker 3: So that was great for young Colton Gordon. Now older
14:35
Speaker 3: Colton Gordon has made the big leagues.
14:37
Speaker 2: They sent him out after his last start in Saint Pete,
14:40
Speaker 2: where he actually pitched very well against a raised lineup
14:42
Speaker 2: that cannot hit left handed pitching, but he pitched well.
14:45
Speaker 2: They sent him out with Ronel Blanco likely headed to
14:48
Speaker 2: the IL in the next couple of days. That would
14:51
Speaker 2: pave the way if they need they do need a
14:53
Speaker 2: starter for Sunday against the Mariners. Would pave the way
14:56
Speaker 2: for them to call him back up quick because he's
14:58
Speaker 2: replacing someone.
14:59
Speaker 3: That went on the I think he can help them.
15:02
Speaker 2: I don't know that he's like a middle of the
15:04
Speaker 2: rotation like count on this guy, but he throws a
15:07
Speaker 2: ton of strikes. He throws a lot of different He
15:10
Speaker 2: is the epitome of a crafty left He just the
15:13
Speaker 2: velo's not up there, but like has a six pitch
15:15
Speaker 2: arsenal can command it really well. And one thing Joe
15:18
Speaker 2: Aspata has said one thing that every a lot of
15:20
Speaker 2: team officials have said, like this guy's not scared, like
15:22
Speaker 2: he he comes right at you, like he'll pound the zone.
15:26
Speaker 2: He's aggressive in the strike zone. He's gonna make hitters
15:29
Speaker 2: get themselves out, and you know, I think this is
15:32
Speaker 2: a guy that could get them, you know, two times
15:34
Speaker 2: through in order before turning it over to that bullpen
15:36
Speaker 2: that's been good all year. So yeah, I think he
15:38
Speaker 2: can help them, and I think he may have to
15:40
Speaker 2: help them given the state of their kind of what
15:43
Speaker 2: they are facing injury wise on their pitching staff.
15:48
Speaker 4: Hey, security guards get good cash, so good for them
15:53
Speaker 4: being good tippers. I like that, Chandler, Thank you for
15:56
Speaker 4: the time.
15:56
Speaker 1: Man.
15:57
Speaker 4: Keep crushing it on Crush City. We love listening to
15:59
Speaker 4: it and we'll talk to you soon.
16:01
Speaker 3: All right, thanks guys.
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16:41
Speaker 4: treading a divided leagues haves and have nots.
16:44
Speaker 3: I'm gonna explain the chart.
16:45
Speaker 4: I think it's important to leave the chart up for
16:47
Speaker 4: a minute, So put up the chart and then I
16:50
Speaker 4: will go through what you're looking at. Category one powerhouses.
16:54
Speaker 4: Green dot in the upper right corner of the screen.
16:58
Speaker 4: That's the Dodgers. It's not very difficult to determine that.
17:02
Speaker 4: You know, they're set in the standard for trying and
17:05
Speaker 4: for spending and all that. The Mets have actually outspent
17:09
Speaker 4: the Dodgers during the time period that they were looking
17:11
Speaker 4: at twenty twenty two to the twenty twenty five seasons.
17:14
Speaker 4: But of course the Dodgers have them more success than
17:17
Speaker 4: the Mets. That's why you see the Mets lower on
17:19
Speaker 4: the totem pole right. So you're taking the spending, which
17:22
Speaker 4: moves you to the right side, and the winning and losing,
17:25
Speaker 4: which moves you up and down. You've got the Yankees, Phillies, Padres, Astros,
17:30
Speaker 4: and Braves also in the powerhouse category. That's a word
17:33
Speaker 4: I use very often on the show Overachievers. You've got
17:37
Speaker 4: a small group of teams that don't spend much but
17:39
Speaker 4: have a lot of winning Baltimore, although that doesn't sound
17:43
Speaker 4: good right now, Milwaukee, Seattle, Tampa, Bay, Cleveland. Then there's
17:48
Speaker 4: the basement, right that's for teams that don't spend and
17:51
Speaker 4: don't win. Pittsburgh, Miami, the Atchs, the Nats, the White Sox,
17:57
Speaker 4: the Rockies, and the Royals are on right. The Royals
18:01
Speaker 4: just turned it around last year. Middle is a mix
18:04
Speaker 4: of all of this, and then the Angels are in
18:06
Speaker 4: a separate category from everyone else because they do actually
18:09
Speaker 4: spend they just haven't seen wins and losses. What do
18:14
Speaker 4: you think of this chart?
18:15
Speaker 3: I thought it was cool like it aj?
18:18
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it just shows you who the good
18:20
Speaker 1: teams are and who's not, who the good organizations are,
18:22
Speaker 1: and who the good organizations are, and it's pretty much
18:24
Speaker 1: what it boils down to, right. I Mean, you can
18:27
Speaker 1: say whatever you want about spending money, but if you
18:29
Speaker 1: don't spend money the right way, you still don't win.
18:31
Speaker 1: And then you have organizations that have figured out certain things,
18:33
Speaker 1: like whether it's the Rays with what they do, the
18:37
Speaker 1: Brewers with what they do, the Guardians with what they do,
18:39
Speaker 1: and they're kind of the outliers, right. I Mean, Baltimore
18:42
Speaker 1: they just drafted really well the last couple of years
18:43
Speaker 1: and had all these prospects that worked out for them.
18:46
Speaker 3: So that's the thing they do really well.
18:47
Speaker 1: They've done really well up until this year, right, So
18:50
Speaker 1: I think This is interesting because the powerhouses are the
18:52
Speaker 1: ones that usually win. They're the ones if you look
18:54
Speaker 1: at it, they're the ones that are winning, and they're
18:55
Speaker 1: the ones that we look in the standings today, they're
18:57
Speaker 1: usually at the top of the standings.
19:00
Speaker 5: But that would say, oh, we have to have the
19:02
Speaker 5: salary cap, then those teams can't spend that much, which
19:05
Speaker 5: I I think I think it comes down to. I
19:10
Speaker 5: think it comes down to the organizations that build themselves
19:14
Speaker 5: from within, and when they do it, they add to it.
19:18
Speaker 5: They don't just buy their team from pieces from other teams.
19:24
Speaker 5: Like look at the Astros are in there, the Braves
19:28
Speaker 5: are in there. Obviously there's other four teams. They didn't
19:31
Speaker 5: really build it from within. There's a few on the Phillies.
19:34
Speaker 5: But to me, once you do that, you've saved up.
19:38
Speaker 5: Let's say it takes you four years to rebuild. You
19:41
Speaker 5: saved money during those years. You can use that money.
19:45
Speaker 5: Then once you have all the prospects Baltimore, that's right.
19:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, But here's here's here's my thing. If you look
19:53
Speaker 1: at this the teams, let's just look at the winning percentage, right, Dodgers, Atlanta, Houston, Philly, Yankees, Mets, saying,
20:00
Speaker 1: diego okay, are all above five point fifty on this chart, right,
20:04
Speaker 1: And then you look at the overachievers, Tampa Bay against
20:08
Speaker 1: Seattle Milwaukee. Seattle has a generational rotation. Milwaukee was blessed
20:13
Speaker 1: for years. They're kind of come back down. In reality.
20:15
Speaker 1: Cleveland knows something about pitching that no one else does.
20:17
Speaker 1: Tampa does their thing, and Baltimore had those great prospects.
20:20
Speaker 1: But then when you get to me, the ones that
20:22
Speaker 1: are stand out more. Forget the salary cap. Why do
20:24
Speaker 1: we need a salary cav We don't have a salary floor. Athletics,
20:28
Speaker 1: White Sox, Colorado, even though Colorado does spend a little bit. Washington, Casey,
20:33
Speaker 1: Miami and Pittsburgh. Guess who doesn't win. The teams that
20:36
Speaker 1: don't add, don't spend money, and they trade away all
20:38
Speaker 1: their players because they think they're smarter whatever they want
20:41
Speaker 1: to save money. Those are the teams that don't win.
20:43
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's what happens.
20:45
Speaker 5: Right.
20:45
Speaker 1: When Washington won in twenty nineteen, what did they have
20:49
Speaker 1: Strasburg sures Er, Corbin Right, Zimmerman was there on the
20:54
Speaker 1: long term deal, Jason Worth, Trey Turner, Anthony Rendeo. When
20:58
Speaker 1: he wanted to play right, Like, these were all guys
21:01
Speaker 1: that were making money and they had a bigger payroll.
21:03
Speaker 1: They've gone into this mode since then, since training Soto,
21:06
Speaker 1: and they haven't spent back to get They were the
21:08
Speaker 1: team I said this offseason should go out and get
21:10
Speaker 1: some guys.
21:10
Speaker 5: They didn't really do it.
21:11
Speaker 1: And look they're stuck in the middle again. They're stuck
21:13
Speaker 1: down to the bottom. So it goes hand to hand.
21:15
Speaker 1: You get the prospects, then you got to go spend
21:17
Speaker 1: to finish it off, like the Cubs did, the Astros did,
21:20
Speaker 1: all these teams did. They went through these long rebuilds.
21:22
Speaker 1: You got to spend at the end to get over
21:23
Speaker 1: the top. They're not doing it.
21:27
Speaker 4: The metal helps me out a lot too, because you
21:30
Speaker 4: see some teams where you're like, they should be pushed
21:32
Speaker 4: a little more to the right side here. I mean,
21:34
Speaker 4: we've talked about the Cubs a lot. How about the Giants.
21:38
Speaker 4: That's a big market. Neither are the only ones in
21:40
Speaker 4: that market.
21:41
Speaker 3: No, that was a different group to me.
21:45
Speaker 5: To me, the ones that stick out there, Cardinals, Cubs,
21:49
Speaker 5: and Giants. The Giants had a different The Giants had
21:52
Speaker 5: a different like Yo far haan Z Aidy was running
21:57
Speaker 5: to the front office. Maybe he tried to Nicholin Dime.
22:01
Speaker 5: Maybe they missed out on if they had, you know,
22:04
Speaker 5: had the prospect or had the had Judge or had Correa,
22:08
Speaker 5: yes they would have bumped them up in payroll. But
22:11
Speaker 5: to me, those three teams out of that middle are
22:15
Speaker 5: the ones that should be pushing, pushing the upper limit.
22:18
Speaker 5: They should be going farther to the right on their payroll.
22:21
Speaker 3: Mm hmm. Yeah, very interesting list there,