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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Miami Marlins · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Welcome to opposition territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in the world, twelve years strong. And this week we're
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: going to be diving into the Miami Marlins and what
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: this team has been doing, what they haven't been doing
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: as well during this twenty twenty five MLB season. We've
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: got our good friend from fish on First dot Com.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: It's one of the contributors over there, Eli, Susman, Buddy,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: how you doing.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Man, it's crazy to be back, Jeff. I'll keep it concise,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: but it's really fascinating for the season for the Marlins.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: It really is, and a lot of way, Look, this
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is a Marlins team that's at the bottom of the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: NL Least Division. We're certainly going to be getting into it,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: but this team, uh, you know, there there are Like
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you said, there's a lot of interesting aspects to this team.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And I hate using the word underrated team in Major
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: League Baseball, but sometimes I feel there's some underrated aspects
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to this team. Eli.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is when the team is just so inexperienced. Yeah,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: that's kind of the main ingredient for people to be
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: overlooked because until you have a track record. It just
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: takes time to be recognized, especially in what they operate
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: as a small market team in a way that it's
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: not a whole lot of guys that have long track records.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: And as a team, if you just don't accomplish a
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: lot collectively, it lends yourself to that. So yeah, for sure,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: these guys really have to stand out for an extended
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: period of time to get attention.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and again, folks talking to Eli Susman from fish
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: on First dot com. Where else can they find you
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: on the interwebs out there? I believe you're on Twitter,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: right Eli?
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they can personally at real Eli E l Y.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: But otherwise I am all over what we do at
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: fof so anywhere any platform that you're getting your baseball coverage,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: search for fish on First and you'll find us there
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: covering the Marlins.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: All right, very good. Well, look, before we really start
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: diving into this Marlins team and what we've been seeing
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: during this season, Eli, I wanted to really get your
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: take overall on what the NL East has looked at
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: this point as we are into May here. I mean,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the Mets are at the top of the division with
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: the Phillies about two and a half games behind them
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: as we are recording this. I mean, the Braves are
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: fourth in the division. A bit of a surprise this season,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and when they started out of the gate losing how
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: many in a row, it was really surprising. You know,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: the Nats are the Nats in various ways. But again
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: talking about this Marlins team and what they could be
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: at some point down the road here, what are your
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: overall thoughts about this division? Here at this point in
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the season.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: The first few weeks, very loopy start for the division.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: All I can say is now I think it's settling
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: into more of what people had in mind, which is
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to say, four teams that are better than the Marlins
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: are right now. What stands out about the Mets for sure,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: the reason why they're a little bit of a cushion
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: is that their pitching has just been outrageously good, even
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: from guys that we didn't necessarily expect to be that good.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: They surprised me for sure.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And realistically, I think that's what's going to slow
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: them down as the year goes on and make it
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a winnable division for both the Phillies and the Braves.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Even with the Braves in particular, coming into the year,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the thought was so much as writing on how much
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Akunya they get back, how much Spencer Strider they get back,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: how close those guys are to their peak form. And
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: so to this moment, they're treading water without them after
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: that original frightening losing streak, and it's still going to
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: depend on those guys. They got very little from them
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: to this point in the season that will largely determine
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: whether they can be a serious threat to the Mets,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: and if not, it's gonna be the Mets and the Phillies.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I think the Phillies are still an extremely experienced and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: deep team, both in terms of their lineup and in
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: terms of their rotation. They've had several guys that aren't
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: quite performing up to their historical norms, and so it's
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: just gonna be a questioned about where they are in
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: terms of that balance between experience and maybe getting a
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: little too old. So perhaps as the year goes on,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: there's an infusion of youth from their farm system coming
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  Speaker 2: up to the majors in a way that makes a
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: difference for them. So I still think they're in the
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Hunts and even the Washington Nationals. I was surprised by
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: how bad they were early on. A lot of that
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: was because of their bullpen was a train wreck, and
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: as time has gone on, it's been, you know, every
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: other day it's a train wreck. So a lot of them,
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  Speaker 2: especially in a decent amount of games, with the young
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: talent that they have, So I think they're even a
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: little step ahead, half step ahead. You could say where
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the Marlins are that leaves Miami in last place, and
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: we'll say this season goes on, they still have some
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: tricks of their sleeves that could make it more interesting
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: at least than it was in twenty twenty four.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Well, that's why I wanted to bring you on because
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I do think there are elements to this Marlins team,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: like we initially said at the top, that are very intriguing. Look,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: they are thirteen and twenty as of us recording this,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and yes they're at the bottom of the n East here,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: but I'm wondering, like, what has been the biggest challenge
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: for this Marlins team so far this season? You've seen
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: with your eyes and why have they had these challenges?
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Can they overcome them as well? What are your thoughts here?
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: You lie? It comes down to the starting pitching, which
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: was an issue last year because they had like an
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: avalanche of injuries in the spring training that put them
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: in a tough spot. This year, not really the same excuse.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: They had guys, most notably Sandy al Contra coming back
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: from injury, and there was so much excitement about how
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: he looked in spring. So it really starts with him,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: just because expectations were that he would slide right back
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: in as the ace of their rotation and instead is
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: been terrible. It's eight. He's not working deep into games either.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: That combination of allowing a ton of rounds but also
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: not saving the bullpen has had a trickle down effect
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: to the rest of the pitching staff, where their bullpen
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: as a whole has had to pitch more endings than
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: any other in the big leagues at this point. Well,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: in addition to him, it's just several other guys in
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: this rotation. Edward Cabrera as an era near seven. Cal
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Quantrelle was their lone free agent signing on the pitching side,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: and he's been just as bad as al Contra has been.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Us there's that's natural. Even at the moment it was
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: fair to second guess why they invested in him and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: not any of the other free agent starters that committed
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: an impact that group as a whole, aside from Max Meyer,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: he's been the bright spot. He had an incredible game
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: just a couple of weeks ago, striking out fourteen with
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: zero walks, and overall he's been a big step forward
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: from last year as as a whole. Though this rotation
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: has been terrible. Their rotation er is six point seven
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: to one. Is that what it is? It looks like
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: a typo sixth. It feels like it has to be
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: a lower number, but it isn't. It's just so far
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: and away the worst rotation in the league to this
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: point in the season. I think that's going to improve.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I still have this unconditional trust in Sandy to make
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: adjustments as the year goes on, to figure out himself
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: post Tommy John surgery. And they do have reinforcements coming.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Ryan Weathers is about a week away from rejoining their rotation.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Uri Perez is about a month away from rejoining the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: as well. So you know, fingers crossed there's not additional injuries,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a it could be a really
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: good group by the middle of the summer, but they've
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: just put themselves in such a deep hole because of that.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I tend to think, you know, as we're
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: moving along with the conversation here, Eli, I tend to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: think that even teams that are looked at as you know,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: bad baseball teams have some optimism somewhere for the future.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: And that's my positive outlook on the sports world in
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: general as a true sports fan, wanting to see various
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: teams do well. And when we look at what the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Marlins future might be in the years to come, they
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: have certain pieces in place right now, but you are
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: just talking about, you know, there could be some optimism,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: perhaps a little bit of light at the end of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the tunnel, when certain guys start coming back from injuries
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and what this team looks like inevitably with those guys,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering, what do you think is the bright spot
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: on this team that we really should be focused on
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: as baseball fans. You know, is there is there that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: bright light that we can say, you know what, there's
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: something special that could be coming from the Marlins at
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: some point down the road.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. The surprise has been the offense, which I thought
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: was going to be terrible this year similar to how
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: it was last year, and instead you look up, they
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: have almost as many runs scored as the Phillies did
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: to this point in the season. It's like a quarter
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: of a run per game difference. I did not see
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: that coming at all. They've just been really consistent offensively.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: The guy in the middle of that at the moment,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: there's really two. There's Kyle Stowers, who's been in the
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: middle of it throughout the entire year. He's the one
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: where he's had two huge moments this year, an opening
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: day walk off and then a walk off Grand Slam
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: just this past weekends against the A's to a National
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: League Player of the Week. He's just been a huge
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: revelation after struggling so much last summer, which was his
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: first time coming with the Marlins after being acquired via trade.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: And then the other one is Augustine Ramirez. He was the
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: headliner in the Jazz Chisham junior trade last summer. He's
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: a catcher in name only. I think he's going to
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: be a DH long term, but he could be there
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: basically an everyday day like a Jordan Alvarez lights. That
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: is the upside that he has offensively. He had another
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: huge home run right after we finished, right before we
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: recorded this, so he's just been in his first week
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: in the majors. Was pretty historic on its own in
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: terms of how much extra base hit damage he's providing.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: That's that's been a nice surprise, and just as a whole,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: so many other guys on this group have had brief
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: spells where they've been really productive. In a way that
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: one through nine on most nights is actually a pretty
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: decent group, all these guys with many years of club
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: control still remaining. It's one of the Yeah, it's one
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: of the cheapest lineups in baseball, but it's one that
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: guys that you can expect to actually get better as
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the years move on. So I thought they were a
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: little farther away from getting to that level. It should
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: be noted that the mastermind behind the Torpedo Bats is
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: on the Marlins coaching staff. He was previously with the Yankees,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: but Aaron Lendhardt is the one that came up with that,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and so he now has this like vague behind in
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the shadows role as their feet coordinator. Right now, I
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: don't know exactly how much that ties into the improvement
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: they've shown, but it has turned around a lot quicker
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: than I thought, offensively in a way that maybe it
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: does line up with this pitching staff sometime, if not
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: next year, then perhaps two years from now. But it
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: looks like the rebuilds could be shorter than I initially
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: feared that it would be.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Right right, I mean, you take a look at how
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: a team can falter every now and again, and even
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a front office as well, because look, I mean, let's
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: be honest, the Marlins front office has not been, you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the most solid in terms of its decision making necessarily
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: over the years, in terms of how much they're paying
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: players as well, which you mentioned. And I wonder, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: if we somehow miss talent sometimes or not miss it,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: but we just don't realize that it's in front of us.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: So I'm wondering who is one of the most underrated
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Marlins players of this season in your opinion, Eli, And
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if it is one Dane Myers. And even
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: though he's not an everyday player, you wrote a really
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: interesting piece on him recently on fish on First dot
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Com which I thought was interesting. Is it Myers or
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: someone else who might be one of the most underrated
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: players on this team at the moment.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Dan Myers is a good place to start because somebody
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: that was underrated by his own organization coming into the year.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Right that is reflected in the playing time that he's
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: been getting, where only right now it seems that he's
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: their main center fielder moving forward. It took him a
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: while to trust him just to hit against right handed
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: pitching where he's a small side platoon sort of guy.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: And I was scratching my head about it because he's
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: a twenty nine year old where you might as well
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: find out what you have in him. Now there's so
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: much more development that's going to go on here. Yep.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: It just took a while for them to yeah for
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: him to get that opportunity. He had this really embarrassing
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: injury last year where he kicked a wall out of
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: frustration after being ejected in the game. That cost him
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: a big chunk of the twenty twenty four season. So
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: that's part of the reason why he hasn't gotten this
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: opportunity previously. But he has just hit his way into
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: a regular role. And it's not just that it's his
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: defense too. He has five outfield assists already this season.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: He is an amazing arm because he's a converted pitcher.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: He was a failed pitching prospect that just has been
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: really effective as a hitter throughout the upper miners and
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: you know, finally get an opportunity in the big leagues.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: So as we speak, he is their team leader and
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: wins above replacement over everybody, over Sandy, over Xavier Edwards,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: who had a great season last year, over everybody over
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Kyle Stowers, who has been so consistent. But it's Dane Meers,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: even in not quite a qualified hitter in terms of
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: overall playing time. That's he's hitting three fifty with good defense.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It kind of just speaks for itself that he's a
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: good athlete in what should be the prime of his career.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: But this is really his first time getting that exposure
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: and getting that opportunity. He has absolutely crushed it so far.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I think with Dane Myers, again, he's probably
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: in the you want to probably say the latter part
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of his career, but you know, there's something that the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Marlins saw in him, and he's now a contributor on
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: this team. And there's a lot of stories like that
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: around the game of baseball and certainly major League Baseball
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: as well. We like to highlight him here and I
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: thought it was a really great piece that you wrote.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: But moving along, you know, we know that there are
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: leaders on this Marlins team as well that are really
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: trying to, you know, get this team out of the basement.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And I'm wondering, I'm wondering, Eli, like, what role has
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: team leadership, both from the front office and even from
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: a veteran players standpoint, played in shaping the Marlins identity
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and that level of resilience that they have had during
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: this twenty twenty five season. What are your thoughts here?
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Man? They have been very on message from the front
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: office down, from ownership down, from Bruce Sherman down. But
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: I would point to Peter Bendix as their president of
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: baseball Operations. This is now his second year in the gig,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: where he's just been really insistent about how they want
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: to be an innovative organization. They want to try new things,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: even if they look weird from the outside, and even
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: if they most importantly, even if they don't work immediately,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: to still have buy in from the coaches and from
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the players themselves about being able to do this. I mean,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: one example that gains some attention in spring training is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: how they don't even do traditional bullpen sessions anymore for
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: their pitchers. They call them pitch design and they in
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: terms of how they actually go about that process is
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: a little bit differently than what players are used to.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: They're facing their live they're basically throwing live batting practice
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: on a consistent basis and facing their teammates between every
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: single start instead of doing traditional bullpen sessions stuff like that.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Where I mentioned before, it's not working where they're starting.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Rotation has been awful this year. The results aren't there,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: but it is still so important that through the transition
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: that Sandy alt Contra as the longest tenured player on
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: the team, he's still buying in on it. He's not
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: blaming it for his struggles. He's continuing to subscribe to
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: what they're trying to to teach and what exactly they're
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: pointing towards in terms of what they think can give
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: this team an edge. For a team that is right
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: now they've the lowest payroll in baseball this year. It
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: will go up in the coming years. It has been
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: up in the past, but it's they're always going to
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: be at a disadvantage, especially in this division. In this division,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: they're almost assured of being the lowest spenders of this group.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: They need to find advantages, they need to find inefficiencies.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: The previous front office I don't think was really that
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: into doing it, and this new group they've invested for
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: what they have spent, They've spent a lot of money
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: behind the scenes on technology, on expanding their research staff
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: in order to uncover these edges. And it just comes
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: back to the most important things getting the players to
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: buy in and so for they are because of that
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: what Peter Bendix's messaging has been to this point the season. Eventually,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: the patients only go so far if you're losing for
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: an extended period of time. This is now year two
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: of this, but to this point there is buy in
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: about players understanding that they try these different sort of things,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: that this is their path to maybe having more success
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: than their talent level would lead them to have if
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: they were with a different organization.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, And as we close out our discussion here, Eli,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering, what do you think the internal expectations are
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: for the rest of this season. I mean, is it
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: possibly getting a wild card spot if the pitching somehow
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: can come around and maybe find some consistency or is
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: it perhaps just honing in on player development and how
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: might these goals of this season help to really shape
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: some of the maybe weekly decision making by the coaching
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: staff and even the front office staff. What are your
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: thoughts here to close us out.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: I think internally the expectations are all about developments. Yeah,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: they're in the first weeks of the season when things
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: were going well and they were right around five hundred
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: and over five hundred. It's easy to point to like
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: jump up and down publicly and say I told you so,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: I told you so, right right, But they were not
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: expected that. I think realistically they're on pace for close
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: to one hundred losses at this moment. They're ideally, I
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: think they should be better than that once its starting
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: pitching comes around a little bit, once even more their
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: prospects that are in the upper miners get called up
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: and just improve internally. That way, they're going to be
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: better than they were last year. So I think that's
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: a simple baseline, as they expect to be significantly better
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: than the last year, which finished with one hundred losses,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: but at the same time not realistically, you know, in
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: wild card contingent, you never know if Sandy magically flips
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: that switch and goes on an incredible run starting now,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: given the hole that they already face. And maybe it's
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: just that the National League is so deep. It's not
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: only this division. Across the National League, you could count
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: on one hand the number of bad teams. It's the Rockies,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: it's the Pirates, and it's probably the Marlins that might
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: be it. Across the rest of this league. It's so
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: even for a wild card spot, the competition is going
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: to be so fear So I think realistically, twenty twenty
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: six is is their focus. They can they have one
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: more opportunity, one more bite at the app to maybe
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: win the draft lottery. They embarrassingly last year they were
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: one of the worst teams in baseball. They fell all
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: the way down to seventh.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I know the draft, oh and that was good.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: That's a pretty big step back for them in terms
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: of the high level talent they'll be able to access
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: this draft. So they get one more bite at that
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: apple to try to win the lottery. And I think
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: there they are perfectly content to slow play it and
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: be patient for one more year. As a dormat before
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: trying to take a leap forward in twenty twenty six.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, isn't it amazing how just like a couple draft
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: picks can mean everything in the world, It really can,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: you know, and we saw that with the Marlins last year.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: So again, folks, Eli Sausman from fish on first dot
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Com check out everything they have going on over there,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: and again, Eli, tell everybody where they can find you
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: on the innerwebs out there, buddy.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, everywhere you find fish on First you can find me,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: but personally at real Ela on Twitter r E A
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: L E L Y and so yeah, so I am
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: a a whole lot to cover about this team, even
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: given the current situation right here. Thanks for having me.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: On you got it, buddy, You do good work. And folks,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: real quick, if you are new to watching us on YouTube,
• 19:13
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• 19:16
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• 19:18
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• 19:21
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• 19:25
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• 19:28
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• 19:31
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• 19:35
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• 19:40
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna close things out right now again, Eli,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: thanks so much, buddy, It was great talking to you
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and I hope to have you on at some other
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: point down the road. My friend.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we'll get forward to it.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
• 19:53
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• 19:57
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• 20:00
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• 20:03
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• 20:07
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• 20:10
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• 20:13
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• 20:20
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• 20:25
  Speaker 1: we will catch you next time