Latest / Foul Territory / Padres fighting for October: Friar Territory host Darren Smith joins

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Padres fighting for October: Friar Territory host Darren Smith joins · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: All right, let's talk Padres.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Our buddy Darren Smith joining us right now. This is
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: such fitting timing to have you on, Darren. You're going
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: to have fun with this. Yeah, Kratz knows where I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: going here. First off, Darren's the man all over the
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: scene in San Diego. If you don't know him, Friar
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Territory is a smash. So go check out the show
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: QR code corner of the screen. I'm just going to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: start off with some juice right from the jump. Darren,
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: we did a power ranking segment and my friends Todd
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: and Eric did not include the Padres in their top 10.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Your thoughts? In the top 10, huh? Well, Kratz is
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a known Padre hater out here. Most of the Padre
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: fans definitely believe that he's out to get them.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Not the Padres, just Fernando Tatis.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. And Preller. I mean, there's a little
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: bit of that Preller stuff, too. So, you know, that's
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the way the fans have their own top 10 list.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: And you're definitely in the top 10. Ken Rosenthal's at
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the top of it, but you're in there as well.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: For sure. Listen, I will say, like, being a prisoner
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: of the moment, not that I have 10 teams off
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the top of my head that I would put ahead
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of the Padres, but when you drop a series to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Reds, that's a critical series in a really
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: important time of the season, and that follows where you
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: got swept by the Tampa Rays, which could happen, I suppose,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: although they're not playing all that well, and then you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: lose a series at home to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: it wasn't that long ago that you lost two out
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: of three to the Mets.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: I understand that people are down on the Padres right now.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're down on the Padres here, so I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: certainly can appreciate that people around the league might be
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: down on them as well. Would I put 10 teams
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: ahead of them? Probably not. Just based on name brand recognition,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: who they still have on this team, and some of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the players who are actually performing, but it's not been
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: a very inspiring stretch for the Friars, that is for sure.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I had the conversation of the Red
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Sox players The White Sox and the Guardians and Padres
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: were 11, so they didn't make my top 10. But
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: with that, is this team good enough to be a
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: top 10 team? I don't care about power rankings and
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: all that stuff in this case. I'm saying, are they
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: good enough when you say you're going to overtake the Diamondbacks,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: which I think they are, to make the playoffs? And
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: then when they're in, are they good enough to be
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: considered in the upper echelon, the top five? teams in
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: the playoffs looking at possibly an NLCS type of matchup
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: with whoever comes through the rest of the NL?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's obvious that they are, but it's
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: one of those you get into the postseason and maybe
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Michael King goes on a heater. Maybe Casey Mai starts
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to figure it out. Maybe Robbie Ray gets going again,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you know, and they have a bullpen, right? That is nasty.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Even if it's shown some, so a couple of weaknesses
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: over the last few weeks, more hone gets touched up.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Mason Miller has gone back-to-back games in Tampa. So, you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: these are things that we're not used to. We haven't
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: seen them throughout the span of the season. And, you know,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the thing about the Padres that's been true is when
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: their hitting's going good, it feels like the pitching tail's off.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: When the pitching's going great, it feels like the hitting's non-existent. So,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: you know, it's not been a fluke that this team
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: has lost as often as it has over the last
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Everything has seemingly synced up to go
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: wrong at the same time. The starting pitching hasn't been
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: great it's been okay the bullpen is has shown uh
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: just a couple of dips in performance the base running's
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: been bad the execution's been bad and they're also dealing
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: with some injury and they're trying to figure out you
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: guys are just talking about Shohei Otani and how it
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: is that you use Shohei Otani by the way we
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: had uh Will Carroll on today from injury territory wow
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: like interesting stuff about Otani in the neck that people
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: can find um but we have this conversation about Manny
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: because Manny's got like five different things going on. He's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: got feet problems. He's got Achilles problem. He's got a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: back problem. His finger is all jacked up now. So
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he's wearing a sleeve on his finger. You can see sometimes,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: you know, when he fouls it off off the end
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: of the bat, you know, he just, he, you can
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: see how much pain he's in and that's unusual for
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: a player like Manny, who's so good at projecting strength
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: all of the time. So, you know, Art, can you,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Can you get by without him? Probably not. You know,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: they didn't play Manny in that final game in Cincinnati and,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you know, looked ugly, just looked bad, looked uninspired. And
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: then you have to move pieces around because there's no
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: natural player to play third in his absence. And now
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Fernando Tatis Jr. comes in and he's playing second, you know,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: like a lesser outfielder is going to right. So it's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: just like all of these dominoes. And, you know, these
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: are the things that we were talking about here as well. Like,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: you know, is the injury stuff just going to be
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: too much for them to overcome. And we're still trying
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: to figure out what's going on with Musgrove and Pavetta.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: You know, there's an update, a little bit of an
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: update on that from the general manager this morning. But I,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: you know, if this team could actually, and it's a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: huge if, right? You don't want to get into ifs
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: with 22 games to go during the regular season. But
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: if this team could actually just align itself somehow, yeah.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that maybe that would be a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: team that you wouldn't want to see in October if
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: it could get its act together. But that's a massive
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: if at this point, you know, like best case scenario. Yeah,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: everything lines up and they could be dangerous, especially in
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: a short series with that nasty bullpen. But, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: it's a big if and we got to get there first.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've I got a two questioner for you and
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: one hopefully takes about 10 seconds. Hopefully it's not a
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: paragraph long, but I'm curious about why AJ Preller has
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: a problem with Kratzy.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Was there something that I'm missing? No, I don't know
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: that it's Preller. You know, Preller's got a legion of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: defenders here. A lot of his Sika fans out here. So,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: you know, every once in a while, I think Kratz
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: has thrown out, why does Preller have a gig? How
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: many more managers is he going to get? So, you know,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: these clips make the rounds out here. People are very
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: engaged on social media. I've never heard Preller say anything. Now, Preller,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I think, actually enjoys a bit of the banter. I've
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: never known him to shy away or Or take any
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: of that stuff. I grew up listening to New York
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: sports radio. So I think he actually kind of gets
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: a kick out of being in the middle of some
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: of these subjects.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: And AJ knows that I can beat him one-on-one. So
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: that's why he still likes me.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Lots of people around town claim that too. They
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: get up for these 4 a.m. basketball games and have
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: his number for sure.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: And then now my next question. Fernando Tatis Jr. Think
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: about where he started. you know, not being able to
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: hit a home run. And now he's on the premise
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: of getting 20 home runs and probably over, you know,
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: close to 80 RBIs.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Talk a little about him. And, you know, he had
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the hard hits. He was hitting the ball hard. And
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: now talk about batting 284.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Like he's putting up some numbers that I would probably
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: take every year if I was playing.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And, you know, it sounds, you know, it just
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: sounds dangerous, you know, when the ball pops off the bat. No,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know what the difference is. I don't know
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: when it clicked exactly because even after he hit his first,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: he kind of went into hibernation a little bit there.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, it's much better to see this
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: version of Fernando than what was going on here for
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the first three months of the regular season where people
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: were trying to convince themselves that, you know, the singles
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: hitting Fernando Tatis Jr. was enjoyable to watch. I mean,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: just it wasn't, you know, like That's not the Fernando
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that they invested in. They invested in Fernando, who runs around,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: makes amazing catches like he did at Citi Field, who's
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: a threat to hit 450 feet every time he's in
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the batter's box. So what exactly clicked for him? Only
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: he really knows. There's been lots of conversations about the
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: hitting staff, the approach here in San Diego, about a
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: first-year hitting coach. Maybe it just took a little bit
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: of time for everybody to understand the message or, you know,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: maybe it's just Fernando kind of figuring things out himself. But,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing quite like watching Fernando. You know,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, I think he truly is, not just saying this,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: for me as a viewer, for me as a fan
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of baseball, there's just not many players like him. You know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I do think he is in that rarefied air where
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: we're talking about players like Trout in his prime and
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Shohei Otani where he's much watched television. He's just box office. And,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: you know, he wasn't bad necessarily, but he just, you know,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: he was, ordinary he was pedestrian when the the first
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: three months of the season rolled through and and this
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: is much better and you know now he's you know
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: he's running he's doing he's you know he's a threat
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: everywhere he goes he's just irresistible again and you know
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: that's the kind of Fernando Tatis Jr. that people believe
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: in and you know hopefully we continue to see it
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: throughout the span of the regular season but I I
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: will 10 times out of 10 you know believe that
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: this is this is the player that he has to
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: be um mentally you know emotionally um I think this
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: is who he has to be to even look in
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: the mirror. This is what he expects of himself is
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: to be one of these unicorn-type baseball players, and it's
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: just been a long stretch where he wasn't, and now
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: it feels like he back is again.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: You hit on it with all Manny's injuries. The one
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: thing I wanted to make a comment on and see
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: if you see it going that way for the rest
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: of the season and into the playoffs is Manny and
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: the way the team hits– are a direct parallel correlation. July,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: his best month. The team's best month hitting was July.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: When he's down, it seems like the team is down.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Is there something to that? And is there something that
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Craig Stammen could do in the sense of seeing, hey,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: you know what, Manny's not swinging it. Maybe we move
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: him from a two spot to a four spot, three
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: spot to a five spot. Or is that never going
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: to happen? He is penned in when he prints out
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: that lineup card. in one spot in the lineup and
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: not really going to change that.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Well, this is why Craig Stammen was brought in. This
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: is part of the rationale, right? As surprised as everybody
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: was locally and nationally, that Craig Stammen became the manager.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: of the Padres, former relief pitcher who was working in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the front office, who said publicly he didn't really even
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: want this job, didn't want to be considered for it.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: And then he got it. And one of the strengths,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: although it was asked, you know, is this going to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: be a strength or is this going to be a weakness?
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that was asked was you
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: are a former teammate of these guys. You know, it's
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: not that long ago that you were playing with him
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and you were a leader inside of the clubhouse as
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a player. What kind of leader can you be? And
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it was believed that Craig Stammen would be able to
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: talk to Manny on this level and say, you know,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: if something needs to be done, I will convince you
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: that you should be taking more days off. Now we're
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: at a point in the season where should you, shouldn't you? I,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: you know, I think you can make the debate either way,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: but you know, this is exactly why this manager was
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: brought in here. Manny still is leading the team in
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: home runs, runs bad at him.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Although people are gaining on him and whatever it was
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: that he was doing with that swing coach in the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: off season, it took him a little while to get
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: unwound from that. And, you know, now the rigors and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: the wear and tear of the regular season seemed to
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: be the main issue, but. This is supposedly one of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the strengths and one of the reasons why you thought
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Craig Stammen would be a good manager is because he
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: could have those honest conversations with Manny Machado. And Manny
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Machado would respect him in a way perhaps that he
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: wouldn't respect somebody who hadn't played the game, right? And
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: we've had a couple of those types of managers roll
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: through here over the last couple of years. So, you know,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: if it's not going to be Stammen who can convince
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: him of that, if in fact that's the best thing
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: for the organization, again, that's sort of a debatable point. Then,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: then I, you know, I don't really, I think you,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you know, you're sort of are going back on what
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: it was that you believe Craig Stammen could deliver as
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the coach here, as the head, as the manager here
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: was those types of honest conversations that the players would
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: respect because they know where it's coming from. They know
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: it's coming from Craig Stammen and, and that's their former
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: teammate and, somebody who's got all these years of experience
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: that they all respected. So he hasn't done it. You know,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Manny's had a couple of more days off during the
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: regular season than perhaps he has normally. He's mostly batted,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I think, second or third. I don't have it in
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: front of me. I don't think he's batted fifth since
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: like 2024, I want to say, in Mike Schilt's first season. So,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: you know, it's mostly been exactly where Manny is. And
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I think what Craig Stammen says is, you know, this
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: is justifiable because he's still leading my team in important categories. And,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: you know, as former pitchers might suggest, even if it's
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: not going well for Manny Machado, it's still Manny Machado.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: And you still know that name in the middle of
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: the lineup. So not going great, but he's still a threat.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: And I think pitchers probably still respect that it is
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: who he is.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: And.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I don't really know where this goes for the rest
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: of the regular season with him, but I don't love
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: their chances without him, for sure.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: I love these conversations because we just got done talking
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: about Dave Roberts and the tough decisions and conversations he
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: has to have with their star, Shohei Otani. Two teams,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: same division. Some would say they're rivals. Other teams would
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: say they're not. But it's managers needing to make decisions,
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: and like you said, it's those conversations. I got to
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: go to the rotation, though. I got to go to
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: this rotation. Is this rotation set up to be enough?
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: And I say that because of what the bullpen is
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: and should be in the playoffs. Is this rotation enough
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: for them to make it worth it for the Padres
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: to make it in and make a deep run?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: So King, we would say, for sure, no doubt about it,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: staff ace, right? Whether we want to put him up
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: there in the ace category with other aces around the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: sport is probably a different conversation, but he's the staff
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: ace of this team for sure. So you're just going
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: to say, in ink, Michael King's a guy, and you're
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: going to figure out what it is behind him. They
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: went out and made trades for Casey Mize, for Robbie Ray.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Casey Mize hasn't clicked. Had a bad one in Cincinnati.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: He's had a couple bad ones. Had a couple clunkers here.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: You know, I.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Understand that Casey Mize is a player who is sort
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: of routine-oriented, maybe takes a little while to settle in
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: for him. New catchers, he was at the same organization
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: for five years, same pitching coach for five years, same manager,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: et cetera. So throw into a catcher who he came
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: up in the minor leagues with. Now all of a
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: sudden he's thrown to three different catchers here in San Diego,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: including a rookie in Ethan Salas. So it feels like
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: this adjustment period is taking maybe a little bit longer
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: than some people would have liked. And we've seen that
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: here before. Josh Hader got traded here back in 2022,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and they removed him from the closer role because he
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: was a routine-oriented guy and his routine changed. So he
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: ended up going back to the closer role, and it
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: finished fine. You know, that's taking a little while. And,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you know, Robbie Ray is okay. Randy Vasquez has been
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: a blessing. Randy Vasquez has really been a blessing. Walker Bueller,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: who's going tonight against the Yankees, I think doesn't get
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: enough attention. He doesn't get enough credit for what he
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: has done. And when you look at the game started,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: when you look at the innings pitched, you know, he's
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: right there. He's second in everything. He's just been terrific
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: for a guy that was picked up off the scrap heap. And,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you know, we thought a bit of dumpster diving from Preller.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's been terrific. What role would he have
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: if he went into October? I mean, that's a fascinating question,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: isn't it? And of course, we've all been waiting for
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Musgrove to get back. And we've always thought that it
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: was going to be Musgrove who we would see first
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and not Pavetta. But, Preller went on the flagship radio
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: station today and Musgrove has had, he didn't want to
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: call it a setback, but you know, I feel like,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: like he's back in rehab in the rehab program. Uh,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: cause he's not recovering in time between these starts. And,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't feel like, like the recovery between
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: starts is, is good. And he said, Nick Pavetta could
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: be on this roster sooner rather than later. And he's
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: at Petco park. So like, does that mean he's going
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: to get activated here over the next couple of days?
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: I guess we'll find out. Um, Could one player emerge
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: in a short series, and then you kind of piece
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: it all together? I think, but who is that? Can
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Casey Mize get back to being the pitcher that the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Padres thought they traded for from Detroit with the sub-three ERA,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: who had finally kind of figured things out in his career?
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: That's the one to me. Is that going to happen
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: for him? Is there enough time for this to happen?
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Because here, we were just having this conversation. When Musgrove
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: comes back, who does he replace? And a lot of
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: people around here thought it should have been Casey Mize,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: who the Padres paid for. They traded significant pieces for.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: I wasn't so sure about that. I wasn't sold on it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: But it's as good an answer as you could have here.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, Randy Vasquez has had this up and down.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Was he a starter? And then they were using openers.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: And then he was out of the bullpen. And then
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: he wasn't even here for a while. He's come back.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: He's been one of the best pitchers that they've had
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: over the last few weeks. So You trust him in
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a big spot. Robbie Ray's just, you know, he's good.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: You know, he's been good. So it's a long-winded answer.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And it's just, you know, would one of these guys
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: show up and can one of these guys emerge as
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the logical choice to pitch behind Michael King? I suppose
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that's probably what the next 22 games are going to
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: show us. You know, if not, we've seen Craig Stammen
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: do the whole chaos baseball thing before. It's not exactly
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: what your approach was at the trade deadline that we'd
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: be having this conversation, but Um, you know, I, I've
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: always liked Randy Vasquez. I feel like I'm in the
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: minority about that. Uh, I've liked Walker Bueller. Others would say, Hey, listen, I,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: you know, I just can't wrap my mind around it. But, uh, yeah,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the reason why they went out and got two of
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: those guys was because they weren't sure about Musgrove Pavetta.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Now we're still unsure about Musgrove suggested in the local newspaper.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: He might not pitch again during the regular season. And
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: it sounds like Pavetta out of nowhere, uh, could be,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: could be making a return. to the active roster. So,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: you know, there's still a couple of weeks for one
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: of these guys to show out and become the obvious choice. Otherwise,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: we're probably going to have a lot of disagreement and
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: debate about who it is.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess it's a good problem to have, but
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: you always want some guy to pop out and be.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I think they'd rather, yeah, I think they'd rather. It's
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: a good problem during the regular season, but if you're
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: trying to prepare for a short series, right? Like if
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: you can plan, like the final series of the year,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Todd, to cut you off. Yeah. The final
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: series of the year is against the Diamondbacks. You know,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: let's say that's for the final wildcard spot. And you
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: could wave a magic wand and say, well, who do
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: I want to line up against the Diamondbacks in this
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: three-game series at the end of the year? You would
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: obviously say King. Yeah. but who would you then say afterwards?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, it would be such an
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: interesting conversation to have, but if you could, you know,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: if you could set that up exactly how you wanted it,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I think the diamondbacks probably have an idea of what
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: they would want to do. And I think the Padres would,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: would have a lot of long conversations into the evening.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: It would be their playoff before the playoff series. They'd
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: be amped up.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: Um, last question here for me, uh, I'm doing the
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: games this weekend, uh, as well with, uh, in the
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: yes network here, I want to talk a little bit
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: about the Padres Yankees. Uh, talk about what you think,
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: how the series is going to go and what, you know,
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: who's going to win this series. What's going to, what's
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: going to make or break each team and winning this series,
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: or at least Padres.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, they've, they've, you know, they've, I mean, they've
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: played well against the American league, although you wouldn't know
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: it based on the results against Tampa. They are going
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to see a former player of theirs and Max freed
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: another former player of theirs and Trent Christian. So, you know, it's,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: it's sort of become a thing around the Padres that
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: former players always come back to haunt them, especially in
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: big spots. It's, You know, the energy is going to
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: be off the charts. People have had this series circled
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: for a long time. I would expect that after an
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: off day for the club and an off day for
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Manny Machado in the AL East against an AL East opponent,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: which is where he came up in his career. It's
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: going to be Bueller tonight. It's going to be Ray
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and then Michael King on Sunday pitching against his former team.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: You know, they've they've. They got to hit, man. Like
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: they just have to hit. They have to execute. They
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: have tried some things execution-wise, bunting, trying to bunt runners over,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: extra inning games. They've looked real sloppy. They've just got
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to tighten things up. They've just got to be the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: best versions of themselves. Not just because it's the Yankees
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and it's national television and Todd Frazier's on the call,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: but because, you know, this is their season on the line.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: You know, this is literally their season. And, you know,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: it's fair to wonder if something is broken internally. based
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: on the results of three series that I started the
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: show talking about, which, you know, it was the Mets,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the pirates and the reds. Like, you know, they just
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: can't get over that red series. Like, how do you
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: show up like that? You know, they win the first
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: game with Michael King and then they just lay two
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: massive eggs over the next couple of days. So, um,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: you know, can they pick themselves up off the ground?
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: They've done it all season long. There've been plenty of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: times where, where, you know, not just nationally, locally, people
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: have kicked dirt on this team and thought that was it.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Pull the plug on them. Uh, they're, they're done. And,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe the Pavetta news gives them a little
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: bit of an emotional lift, whereas I thought that the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Musgrove news was going to be an emotional letdown. But,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: you know, this is what they this is what their
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: front office set up. This is what these guys claims
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: they wanted. They they love, you know, playing that. You
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: guys have been talking bad about us all season. We're
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: going to prove you wrong. They love playing with that
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder. So no better time to do
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: it than when you have some of the biggest, biggest,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: brightest lights in the sport in your park for three days.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: They like me out there. Or no, not me either.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: I'd rather you just say no.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: If I'm not talked about at all, that's fine too. But,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: you know, we're doing two hours of opinion every day.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: We're going to hurt some feelings.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I've not heard too many bad things about you. Maybe
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: guilt by association on that. But that's about the worst
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I can say. You've got to go to Anaheim for
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: him to get bashed over there. Is that right? I
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: don't even know. Well, no. That all has changed. Now
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: we're all best friends. Artie's gone. Everything's changing.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Darren, good stuff, dude.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you always. Appreciate it. Have a great weekend. You too.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: That's Darren Smith, and you can catch him on Friar Territory.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: You can catch the Padres tomorrow, by the way, on
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Fox and Fox One. Yankees Padres, like we're talking about,
• 21:53
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• 21:56
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• 21:58
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• 21:59
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• 21:59
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• 22:03
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• 22:08
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• 22:10
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• 22:12
  Speaker 2: of work into putting together and curating the best people
• 22:16
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