Latest / Foul Territory / Inside Scoop w/Ken Rosenthal covers Skubal’s arm, Philly’s rise, Drake Baldwin/Sal Stewart deal value + Fegan's White Sox report

Transcript

Inside Scoop w/Ken Rosenthal covers Skubal’s arm, Philly’s rise, Drake Baldwin/Sal Stewart deal value + Fegan's White Sox report · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Let's hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. So, Ken,
0:08
Speaker 1: we got that Trek Schooble news late in our show yesterday.
0:11
Speaker 1: We were able to cover it there. You had fair
0:13
Speaker 1: territory in the morning. So let's get your reaction to
0:15
Speaker 1: here on the FT Network to that news and how
0:18
Speaker 1: much it affects the Tigers and schools.
0:20
Speaker 2: Free agency clearly affects both in my opinion, and the Tigers,
0:25
Speaker 2: for starters, obviously have a number of starting pitchers already
0:29
Speaker 2: on the injured list. Remember they lost Reese Olsen for
0:32
Speaker 2: the season. Jackson job is coming back from Tommy John.
0:35
Speaker 2: They're without Casey Miiz, They're without Verlander and now Schooble.
0:38
Speaker 2: So yes, it will be a return to pitching chaos
0:42
Speaker 2: for a bit. They're stretching out Troy Melton on his
0:44
Speaker 2: rehab assignment. They might put Drew Anderson into the rotation.
0:48
Speaker 2: They can do a number of things, but clearly this
0:51
Speaker 2: isn't a great development for them. The good news is
0:54
Speaker 2: they play in the ALS Central, which is a pretty
0:57
Speaker 2: forgiving division, and I don't see any of those teams
1:01
Speaker 2: in that division running away from the Tigers. While the
1:04
Speaker 2: Tigers are without Schooble. The free agency questioned Scott is
1:08
Speaker 2: a more difficult one, and certainly if he comes back
1:11
Speaker 2: and pitches well, he's still going to be a highly
1:14
Speaker 2: coveted free agent. But this is his third elbow procedure.
1:19
Speaker 2: You go back to twenty seventeen Seattle University. That's a
1:22
Speaker 2: Tommy John twenty twenty two flexor tendon. This is bone
1:26
Speaker 2: chips and considered relatively minor. The question is does it
1:31
Speaker 2: maybe lead to something else and what will those medicals
1:34
Speaker 2: look like at the end of the season. None of
1:37
Speaker 2: us know the answer to that, and it seems to
1:40
Speaker 2: me a bit less likely that he'll break Yamamoto's record
1:43
Speaker 2: for a starting pitcher now, but I could be wrong
1:46
Speaker 2: about that. A lot depends on how he comes back
1:48
Speaker 2: and what he looks like while he's pitching again.
1:53
Speaker 3: Ken, should he come back this year? Does he need
1:56
Speaker 3: to come back this year to get that giant contract?
2:00
Speaker 3: Or can if you know, should he sit out? And say, man,
2:03
Speaker 3: I really need to get healthy for the offseason and
2:05
Speaker 3: prove the teams he's healthy in the off season because
2:08
Speaker 3: I'm starting to see where some people are like, oh,
2:10
Speaker 3: is this the last game he threw? For the Tigers,
2:12
Speaker 3: and does he need to come back and pitch again?
2:14
Speaker 3: Do you do you agree that he needs to come
2:16
Speaker 3: back and prove that he's healthy to hit the free
2:19
Speaker 3: agent market running a.
2:21
Speaker 2: J I would say he needs to come back for
2:22
Speaker 2: two reasons. One, he's earning thirty two million this year
2:25
Speaker 2: from the Detroit Tigers. They are paying him to pitch,
2:28
Speaker 2: so yes, he has to come back to fulfill his contract.
2:32
Speaker 2: But also from the standpoint of his free agency, yes,
2:35
Speaker 2: I would think teams would want to see him pitch.
2:38
Speaker 2: This really, to me, is not even an issue. Trek
2:40
Speaker 2: Scougle has made repeated comments over the years about how
2:44
Speaker 2: much he wants to win in Detroit, and he is competitive.
2:48
Speaker 2: He understands that he has a big salary this year,
2:50
Speaker 2: and it's not a question of him sitting out. I
2:53
Speaker 2: can't even imagine that happening, unless, of course, physically he
2:57
Speaker 2: can't do it. That's something else.
2:59
Speaker 3: Okay, thank you, Ken. I just wanted to because I'm
3:02
Speaker 3: starting to hear that and I'm like, this is crazy.
3:04
Speaker 3: Trek Scooble is one of the ultimate competitors. He wants
3:06
Speaker 3: to be out there whenever he can, so thank you.
3:09
Speaker 3: I just wanted to hear you say it so other
3:10
Speaker 3: people will understand that this guy wants to pitch and
3:14
Speaker 3: it's not you know, yes, it's about the money, obviously,
3:16
Speaker 3: but it's also about him wanting to pitch and win
3:17
Speaker 3: in Detroit, So thank you.
3:19
Speaker 2: Sure.
3:21
Speaker 4: One of the things that people like banter about is
3:23
Speaker 4: trade value with scooball supposedly as trade value went down
3:27
Speaker 4: to like a million dollars or it was that forty one.
3:30
Speaker 4: I don't know how they even calculate that that doesn't
3:31
Speaker 4: matter if he's not pitching by the trade deadline and
3:36
Speaker 4: the Tigers are out of it. Can you name any
3:39
Speaker 4: contender that wouldn't be willing to risk even a little
3:42
Speaker 4: bit of the fact that he could come back and
3:44
Speaker 4: pitch for a month for.
3:45
Speaker 2: You, Eric, To me, this is another non story, and
3:49
Speaker 2: the reason it's a non story is because of what
3:51
Speaker 2: I said earlier on who is going to run away
3:54
Speaker 2: in the al Central Toe to where the Tigers are
3:58
Speaker 2: at or the White Sox. Yeah, the nightlife, but the
4:01
Speaker 2: Twins are down. The White Sox are much more competitive
4:04
Speaker 2: and one of the more compelling stories in the game
4:07
Speaker 2: right now. I don't see them running away. I don't
4:09
Speaker 2: see the Guardians doing it. Maybe the Royals, who are
4:12
Speaker 2: starting to play better, starting to hit. But does anyone
4:16
Speaker 2: seriously think the Tigers are going to be out of
4:19
Speaker 2: contention in July if they are, Yes, Eric, of course
4:23
Speaker 2: they entertain trading Schooble. I just can't see it. All right.
4:28
Speaker 4: Well, then a team that's made a change and is
4:30
Speaker 4: one of the hottest teams in baseball besides the White
4:32
Speaker 4: Sox Don Mattingly's phillies.
4:36
Speaker 5: Is there a change because we were on here.
4:37
Speaker 4: A week you were on here a week ago. It
4:39
Speaker 4: is like, well, they are kind of the same person,
4:41
Speaker 4: but it is a new person at the helm.
4:45
Speaker 5: Clearly it's working. Question Mark, good point.
4:49
Speaker 2: Eric. It's interesting to see what Bryce Harper said after
4:52
Speaker 2: last night's game, which is basically, we were all kind
4:56
Speaker 2: of waiting for something to happen, whether Thompson stayed or
4:59
Speaker 2: whether he was fired, and for whatever reason, it does
5:02
Speaker 2: seem to have had an effect on the team. Clearly
5:05
Speaker 2: they're playing much better now. Is the effect because it's
5:09
Speaker 2: Don Maddingly and not Rob Thompson, or is it the
5:12
Speaker 2: players are simply waking up having snapped to attention that
5:16
Speaker 2: they got a manager fired. That's what happened here. The
5:19
Speaker 2: players got the manager fired, so maybe they're feeling some responsibility.
5:24
Speaker 2: I just don't believe that this is such a different
5:28
Speaker 2: program under Don Manningly than it was under Rob Thompson.
5:31
Speaker 2: And I'll say this as well, Guys, if I'm Rob
5:34
Speaker 2: Thompson and I'm sitting home right now watching this, I'm
5:37
Speaker 2: a little peeved because this is what should have happened
5:39
Speaker 2: when he was the manager. There was nothing he was
5:42
Speaker 2: doing that was so bad that was holding the Phillies down. No,
5:46
Speaker 2: they just were playing poorly, and suddenly they've snapped to attention.
5:53
Speaker 1: You know, we don't always have to do things because
5:55
Speaker 1: that's how it's always been.
5:56
Speaker 3: Look, people consider me old school, and I thought I was,
5:59
Speaker 3: but then we had to pitch clock and the abs
6:02
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6:04
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6:53
Speaker 4: Right the Braves, they have been playing really well, the
6:56
Speaker 4: exact opposite of poorly. We've talked about Jake ball I'm
7:00
Speaker 4: Drake Baldwin, not Jake Baldwin. Drake Baldwin and the start
7:04
Speaker 4: that he's had to his career, not just this season,
7:07
Speaker 4: but it looks like this season's taken to another level
7:10
Speaker 4: from his Rookie of the Year year last year. Where
7:13
Speaker 4: could he change the salary for catchers in the future.
7:18
Speaker 4: Obviously his career is still young, but is there something
7:21
Speaker 4: he could do that we haven't seen for a bit?
7:24
Speaker 2: Well, he's a really interesting test case, and I wrote
7:27
Speaker 2: about him today in The Athletic And the reason he's
7:30
Speaker 2: interesting is because he's twenty five, he only has one
7:32
Speaker 2: year of service. He is, as you mentioned, eric, a
7:35
Speaker 2: nationally Rookie of the Year and this year looking like
7:38
Speaker 2: so far an MVP candidate. So the catching market has
7:42
Speaker 2: been depressed forever. Joe mahers one hundred and eighty four
7:46
Speaker 2: million dollar deal that he signed in twenty ten is
7:49
Speaker 2: still the most expensive deal ever given a catcher. Buster
7:52
Speaker 2: Posey not far behind his deal one hundred and sixty
7:56
Speaker 2: seven million that was signed in twenty thirteen. Now, JT
8:01
Speaker 2: real Muto might have gotten to that level if he
8:04
Speaker 2: didn't become a free agent in the COVID year, but
8:07
Speaker 2: that's what happened, and JT still has done really well.
8:10
Speaker 2: But for the most part, catchers still are not paid
8:14
Speaker 2: according to what you might think considering their value. Now,
8:18
Speaker 2: what's the reason for that. We know the reason. It's
8:21
Speaker 2: the fear of injury, the risk of wear and tear
8:23
Speaker 2: and all of that comes with being a catcher. But
8:27
Speaker 2: Drake Baldwin, because he's young, maybe he's the guy that
8:31
Speaker 2: changes this. Ideally, if the Braves sign him to an
8:34
Speaker 2: extension because they would be getting the young years at
8:38
Speaker 2: those rates plus a few free agent years. But it's
8:42
Speaker 2: going to be really interesting to see how this transpires.
8:44
Speaker 2: Now we've got some other catchers who also are potential
8:49
Speaker 2: long term candidates, who also could get big salaries. The
8:51
Speaker 2: highest salary for a catcher ever is twenty three point
8:55
Speaker 2: one million. That's JT. Real Muto in his first free
8:57
Speaker 2: agent deal. Adlei Rutchman, He's coming on now, Jay langoleires,
9:03
Speaker 2: coming on now. William Contreras. I don't know that he'll
9:05
Speaker 2: get it from the Brewers, but he's certainly a guy
9:08
Speaker 2: who is a star in the game. So I don't
9:11
Speaker 2: know if this market is ever going to change, regardless
9:13
Speaker 2: of what the labor agreement is, but these catchers, and
9:17
Speaker 2: particularly brought Baldwin, have a chance maybe to change that structure.
9:23
Speaker 3: Ken is somebody that set the catcher record one year
9:26
Speaker 3: back in two thousand and four, which is crazy. I
9:30
Speaker 3: mean it hasn't gone up that much, which is insane.
9:33
Speaker 3: And the reason people don't value catchers is the counting
9:36
Speaker 3: stats don't add up because catchers don't get to play
9:38
Speaker 3: as much, so therefore the counting stats don't add up
9:41
Speaker 3: and teams won one hundred games, and then another guy
9:44
Speaker 3: is sixty two. So it's hard for catcher marketing to move.
9:46
Speaker 3: You have to be a special guy in today's game
9:48
Speaker 3: to make the market move, and Drake Baldwin could be
9:50
Speaker 3: that guy, along with Langoliers. So I think you're right
9:53
Speaker 3: with that. But then the other guy that you're kind
9:55
Speaker 3: of talking about, a Sal Stewart, How have there not
9:57
Speaker 3: been extension talks with Sal Stewart. He's a special guy,
10:00
Speaker 3: he's having an unbelievable start to his career. How do
10:02
Speaker 3: you not a guy that's what twenty one, I think
10:04
Speaker 3: maybe almost twenty two not have extension talks if you're
10:09
Speaker 3: the Red So try to do what the Pirates do
10:11
Speaker 3: with Connor griven with the Tigers did with Kevin McGonagall.
10:14
Speaker 3: How have they not had these talks?
10:16
Speaker 2: Ag I wrote about this as well, and my understanding
10:19
Speaker 2: is that the Reds financially right now are not in
10:23
Speaker 2: a great spot because of the TV deal that they
10:26
Speaker 2: lost with mainstream sports and just in general they are
10:31
Speaker 2: kind of in a period of uncertainty now. The Tigers
10:34
Speaker 2: also were a mainstream sports team, a main street sports team,
10:37
Speaker 2: and they signed McGonagall right, but it's a bigger market.
10:41
Speaker 2: So the Reds are kind of waiting for things to develop,
10:46
Speaker 2: maybe on the TV front, maybe on the labor agreement front,
10:49
Speaker 2: and then perhaps they will proceed. They love Stewart. How
10:53
Speaker 2: can you not love Stuart? The guy is a front
10:54
Speaker 2: runner for nationally Rookie of the Year. He was the
10:57
Speaker 2: Nationally Rookie of the Month along with McGonagall in the
10:59
Speaker 2: America League. But at the same time, even though they
11:04
Speaker 2: offered Ellie Dela Cruz the biggest contract in franchise history
11:08
Speaker 2: in the spring of twenty five, even though they offered
11:11
Speaker 2: Kyle Schwarber five years, one hundred and twenty five million
11:14
Speaker 2: ish in free agency this passed off season. They are
11:19
Speaker 2: in a different place now. This is again how I
11:21
Speaker 2: understand it, and a different financial place, particularly so they're
11:26
Speaker 2: not in a position now where they feel comfortable extending
11:29
Speaker 2: through it. Should they do it, of course they should
11:32
Speaker 2: do it if they can, And do they want to
11:34
Speaker 2: do it, Yes, I believe they want to do it.
11:36
Speaker 2: But if the money isn't there, and this is me
11:39
Speaker 2: hearing what I'm hearing, not me saying the money isn't there,
11:43
Speaker 2: we don't really know if that is their feeling right now, Well,
11:47
Speaker 2: then it's not going to happen.
11:49
Speaker 4: What about Sandy Alcontra? Is he going to be on
11:52
Speaker 4: the move? No matter what we've heard. I think Jim
11:54
Speaker 4: Bowden even said earlier year, even if the Marlins are
11:57
Speaker 4: still in it, there's a chance that they can move
11:59
Speaker 4: Sandy to add to what they're not doing well at
12:03
Speaker 4: Is there a chance now he stays based on how
12:07
Speaker 4: the Marlins are playing and the way the roster's shaken out.
12:11
Speaker 2: Yes, now, this one is really interesting and something that
12:15
Speaker 2: we'll all be keeping our eyes on as the deadline
12:18
Speaker 2: approaches three months from now. But the Marlins are in
12:22
Speaker 2: a fascinating position right now, and we've seen over the
12:25
Speaker 2: last two days them make two moves that maybe they
12:28
Speaker 2: wouldn't have made in the past. They sent down Augustine
12:31
Speaker 2: Ramirez to make room for Joe Mack, their top catching prospect.
12:35
Speaker 2: That was a move reflective of their desire to win. Today.
12:39
Speaker 2: They designated Chris Paddock for assignment, even though he was
12:42
Speaker 2: their third highest player, albeit at four million, and that
12:46
Speaker 2: is a move designed to make them a better team.
12:49
Speaker 2: They've got guys in the miners. Braxton Garrett is one,
12:53
Speaker 2: Thomas White is another Robbie Snelling, a third Garrett Or
12:57
Speaker 2: Snelling probably will take the place of Chris Paddock. So
13:01
Speaker 2: clearly they're trying to win within their limited means. So
13:05
Speaker 2: how does our contra fit into this mix. He does
13:09
Speaker 2: fit because, of course he is their best pitcher, former
13:12
Speaker 2: Cy Young winner. He is someone that is valued by
13:15
Speaker 2: fans and in the community and is a favorite of
13:17
Speaker 2: the owner, Bruce Sherman. Obviously, at the deadline, if you
13:21
Speaker 2: can trade him for a variety of pieces that can
13:23
Speaker 2: help you win now and in the future, you consider it.
13:27
Speaker 2: But my understanding here is that they're not going to
13:31
Speaker 2: be necessarily in a rush to do that, not when
13:33
Speaker 2: they're trying to win this season.
13:36
Speaker 4: All Right, I'm always I'm always interested to hear stories
13:39
Speaker 4: with Ken. So now we go one story with Ken
13:43
Speaker 4: about John Sterling, who we lost yesterday, just the amazing
13:47
Speaker 4: Yankees radio announcer for tons of years forty I don't
13:52
Speaker 4: know how many years it was. But do you have
13:54
Speaker 4: a good John Sterling story?
13:57
Speaker 2: Not from my baseball writing career, but from my childhood.
14:01
Speaker 2: And I grew up on Long Island and I was
14:04
Speaker 2: a huge Islanders fan and a huge Nets fan, and
14:07
Speaker 2: John Sterling was the announcer for both teams, the play
14:10
Speaker 2: by play guy on radio for both teams, and I
14:13
Speaker 2: particularly remember him with the Islanders, who weren't very good
14:16
Speaker 2: when I was a little kid, and his signature call
14:20
Speaker 2: for them. It wasn't as creative as some of his
14:23
Speaker 2: other ones later with the Yankees, but it was when
14:25
Speaker 2: they would score, is on the goal, IS on the goal,
14:28
Speaker 2: iwon the goal. And my dad was a big Ranger
14:31
Speaker 2: fan and in New York at the time, and even
14:33
Speaker 2: now it's a big rivalry, and my dad and I
14:36
Speaker 2: would go out it about this. He'd say, who is
14:39
Speaker 2: that idiot on the radio? He sounds ridiculous. Well, John Sterling,
14:45
Speaker 2: in many people's eyes, did sound ridiculous then and later
14:49
Speaker 2: when he was doing his thing with the Yankees. But
14:51
Speaker 2: he was an absolute original and we all loved them
14:55
Speaker 2: for that. He was an original with his calls, He
14:58
Speaker 2: was an original with his per personality. And I'll go
15:01
Speaker 2: back even to when he was calling the Nets games.
15:04
Speaker 2: This was when they were in the Ava still and
15:07
Speaker 2: Julia's serving doctor j was the best player, but they
15:09
Speaker 2: also had other guys with nicknames. And I saw this
15:12
Speaker 2: written yesterday. It was really funny, someone said, listening to
15:17
Speaker 2: Sterling called the Nets games, you wouldn't even know what
15:20
Speaker 2: the last names of the players were. It was doctor
15:22
Speaker 2: J to mister Kate, It's super John. It was one
15:25
Speaker 2: nickname after another, and he was always just a lot
15:29
Speaker 2: of fun and that is how people fondly remembered him. Yesterday,
15:33
Speaker 2: it was great to see the outpouring and all the
15:35
Speaker 2: memories come out, and it's great to see the Yankees
15:38
Speaker 2: honoring him the way they are with the JS on
15:41
Speaker 2: the cap. And then last night when the game ended,
15:43
Speaker 2: they played the Yankees win over the public address announcement
15:48
Speaker 2: or the speakers, and both Aaron Judge and Aaron Boone said,
15:51
Speaker 2: you know what, that's something we should keep doing.
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Speaker 1: for Aaron Judge Michael Kay was really good last one
17:02
Speaker 1: for me on this. Do you feel like John Sterling's
17:05
Speaker 1: calls now would be even bigger because there is virality
17:10
Speaker 1: and I think people are a little bit looser nowadays.
17:12
Speaker 1: If you've got it, and he was an entertainer, if
17:14
Speaker 1: you've got it and it's not cringey, it's entertaining, I
17:18
Speaker 1: think John Sterling would have been even bigger. He was big,
17:21
Speaker 1: he was a legend. But my point and my correlation
17:24
Speaker 1: is the way that fifteen years ago a player couldn't
17:27
Speaker 1: do much, you know, batflip or anything else, and now
17:29
Speaker 1: you can wear what you want, do what you want,
17:31
Speaker 1: and we're cool with it.
17:34
Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree with that, Scott. And certainly we
17:37
Speaker 2: see this in all kinds of ways on social media now.
17:41
Speaker 2: Things that occur on television and radio, television in particular,
17:46
Speaker 2: they can blow up. And yeah, John Sterling, if he
17:51
Speaker 2: was in his prime today and if he was just
17:53
Speaker 2: coming onto the scene with all these nicknames and catchphrases,
17:57
Speaker 2: I would think, yes, he would have been a since
18:00
Speaker 2: and he was a sensation in his day in his
18:02
Speaker 2: own way, but it wasn't a viral thing because virality
18:07
Speaker 2: didn't exist back then.
18:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, the one person I think about is, gosh, i'm
18:14
Speaker 1: blanking my favorite radio broadcaster, the Cleveland Gotts help me out,
18:19
Speaker 1: Tom Hamilton when he did down Goes Anderson. There were
18:22
Speaker 1: so many young fans and now knew who he was
18:26
Speaker 1: and didn't before, And I'm like, oh, Tom Hamilton's been
18:28
Speaker 1: a legend for decades. He's I think, if not the
18:31
Speaker 1: best top three whatever right with him and Sterling running,
18:34
Speaker 1: he's just so good. So that went viral and then
18:37
Speaker 1: all of a sudden everyone's like, Oh, this guy's one
18:38
Speaker 1: of the best broadcasters. So there's your point. Ken, good stuff.
18:42
Speaker 1: Thanks for sharing the stories. We'll listen to you later
18:45
Speaker 1: this week on Fair. Thanks guys, Thank you Fair Territory
18:49
Speaker 1: Thursday Live. You know the deal. If you have questions
18:52
Speaker 1: I asked for him here. I answered some of it myself,
18:55
Speaker 1: since one of them was for a Joe Ryan update,
18:57
Speaker 1: and I don't think anybody has that yet based on
19:00
Speaker 1: waiting for MRI results, unless I've missed that, but anyway,
19:03
Speaker 1: maybe they'll be able to react to it on Thursday
19:05
Speaker 1: part of the FT Network. Okay, we're going to switch
19:08
Speaker 1: around the order because our next guest is about to
19:10
Speaker 1: be ready. It's James fi And who will join us soon,
19:13
Speaker 1: and he's going to talk with us about, Yes, the
19:16
Speaker 1: White Sox. Aja. It might feel like we're talking about
19:19
Speaker 1: the White Sox frequently, but I feel as if we've
19:24
Speaker 1: barely talked about them over the last few years compared
19:27
Speaker 1: to most other teams. So I think that play is
19:30
Speaker 1: the case. There is nothing to talk about this time around.
19:33
Speaker 1: They're off to a nice start, they have some promising pieces,
19:37
Speaker 1: and I do think they have the most interesting rookie
19:41
Speaker 1: in baseball in Morikami, who finally I saw that last night.
19:47
Speaker 3: We also hit a homer on a ball up and
19:48
Speaker 3: away and just flicked it to center field about four fifty,
19:51
Speaker 3: so up and away. Yeah, they own Soriano. So other
19:56
Speaker 3: teams are going to be calling and calling them to
19:57
Speaker 3: figure out what they do against Soriano.
19:59
Speaker 5: They had like.
20:00
Speaker 3: Seventeen hits last night or something. The White Sox listen,
20:05
Speaker 3: they have pieces now. It's nice to see they finally
20:07
Speaker 3: have pieces and there's a little bit of hope. And
20:09
Speaker 3: I know you guys joke to me when I put
20:11
Speaker 3: them in my power rankings, But tell me why they
20:14
Speaker 3: can't make the playoffs this year?
20:15
Speaker 5: That's my question.
20:16
Speaker 3: Tell me why they can't sneak into the postseason in
20:18
Speaker 3: the al Centrudes Detroit, no Schoogle, Flaherty looks awful. Hart
20:25
Speaker 3: Lander hasn't pitched. I mean their bullpen is vest is out.
20:29
Speaker 3: I mean they haven't. They haven't done much. The Guardians
20:32
Speaker 3: or the Guardians they hover around five hundred and get
20:34
Speaker 3: on a little running streak. Royals haven't been good. I
20:38
Speaker 3: don't know Guardians, the Royals. The Royals will play better.
20:45
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say the Royals are gonna finish better than
20:48
Speaker 4: the White Sox.
20:50
Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's own a friend. James Vegan is ready.
20:57
Speaker 1: He covers the White Sox for Socks Machine, and he's
20:59
Speaker 1: with us right now. It's great to have you on.
21:01
Speaker 1: Let's start with AJ's question that was thrown out there.
21:04
Speaker 1: Why not the White Sox this year? Do you see
21:07
Speaker 1: any pathway to them shocking the world and cracking a
21:10
Speaker 1: playoff spot? And how you doing.
21:13
Speaker 5: Doing that right?
21:14
Speaker 6: Other than the foremigness of being asked this question at all,
21:18
Speaker 6: three straight, one hundred lost seasons kind of makes it
21:21
Speaker 6: unfamiliar to think about. There's certainly a pathway in terms
21:25
Speaker 6: of like no one's no one really like looks like
21:27
Speaker 6: I had a higher tier than them in the Al Central,
21:29
Speaker 6: like as you were talking about coming in like Detroit,
21:32
Speaker 6: Kansas city of not run away with it. If we
21:35
Speaker 6: were like viewing the White Sox as a contender and
21:38
Speaker 6: putting them under those lens, there are some depth issues
21:41
Speaker 6: that could emerge over the course of the season. You
21:43
Speaker 6: got Shane Smith on the IL right now is Europe
21:45
Speaker 6: Day starred?
21:45
Speaker 5: He struggled.
21:46
Speaker 6: Tarry McDougal was one of their top prospects. They were
21:48
Speaker 6: hoping to you know, take part in the rotation. At
21:50
Speaker 6: some point he's on the eel as well, so like
21:53
Speaker 6: starting pitching, if something goes wrong, they don't necessarily have
21:55
Speaker 6: a great option to turn to right handed outfielders, you know.
21:58
Speaker 6: Ever since Praira and Austin Hayser banged, they just had
22:00
Speaker 6: to sign Randall Gritschuk off the you know, free agency,
22:03
Speaker 6: So there's some elements of their lineup like if something
22:06
Speaker 6: goes wrong or rotation goes wrong, like they don't necessarily
22:09
Speaker 6: have a ton to draw from because they're not really
22:10
Speaker 6: built up to contend. This is kind of surprise thing
22:13
Speaker 6: that's happened to them. But in terms of is there
22:16
Speaker 6: like some higher level ael central that they're walled out from,
22:18
Speaker 6: like playing on the same side of there's no one who.
22:20
Speaker 5: Like they go toe to toe with in that division.
22:23
Speaker 6: That they're overmatched with. So it's kind of a why
22:25
Speaker 6: not more than a y them situation. But that's that's
22:28
Speaker 6: that's an upgrade from where they've been.
22:31
Speaker 3: Agreed. I mean, it's nice to talk positive about the
22:33
Speaker 3: white soxual. It's been three long years on here James
22:36
Speaker 3: talking about Hunter loss, Hunter loss, Hunter Loss. Yeah, I
22:40
Speaker 3: mean I think the pitching is the one thing you
22:42
Speaker 3: worry about. But Davis Martin, he right now, he looks
22:44
Speaker 3: like a cy young candidate. He's beaten Soriano twice. Everyone
22:48
Speaker 3: you know, it says, oh, Soriano's got the cy Young
22:51
Speaker 3: and this and that, but Davis Martin has outdueled him
22:53
Speaker 3: twice now and last night ten punches, he looked electric.
22:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, Like up until last night, it's like these look
23:00
Speaker 6: like good. Davis Martin starts, he's mixing it up. He's
23:02
Speaker 6: using six pitches, he's pounding his zone. He's not walking anybody.
23:05
Speaker 6: He's not making any mistakes that or building up any
23:07
Speaker 6: bad innings that get him into you know, bad spots.
23:10
Speaker 6: But last night was just him blowing doors off from
23:13
Speaker 6: the start. Like his slider played amazingly. I know he
23:16
Speaker 6: tweaked it last season and saw better results from it,
23:18
Speaker 6: but he had been like kind of this kitchen sink,
23:21
Speaker 6: you know, work all sides of the plate. You show
23:24
Speaker 6: you a different type of attack every time, like kind
23:25
Speaker 6: of this old school effective mid rotation pitcher. But he's
23:28
Speaker 6: gonna pitch like he did last night. Then yeah, I
23:31
Speaker 6: thought like, man, if this keeps going, he could sneak
23:34
Speaker 6: his way onto an All Star team a little bit,
23:36
Speaker 6: you know, not accounting for the fact that Murk Comi's
23:38
Speaker 6: if they're going to be a single rep team, he's
23:40
Speaker 6: probably gonna be the guy. But the way you pitched
23:42
Speaker 6: last night, he's like, Hey, is he the All Star
23:43
Speaker 6: starter if we did it tonight? It sounds crazy to
23:45
Speaker 6: think he's not like this established top of the rotation ace,
23:49
Speaker 6: but he's certainly pile up the results and has so
23:52
Speaker 6: many weapons that he can turn to. Is going so
23:54
Speaker 6: deep into games consistently in a way that you don't
23:58
Speaker 6: see across the league. Right now, he's gonna be up
24:00
Speaker 6: there in terms of innings and war that I think
24:03
Speaker 6: he's going to be in that All Star conversation.
24:06
Speaker 3: On dred percent. Sean Berg's been great the last few
24:08
Speaker 3: times through rotation. Also, let's not let's not forget about
24:11
Speaker 3: what he's done. The back end of the bullpen's also
24:14
Speaker 3: been better. Sir Anthony has has kind of started to
24:16
Speaker 3: settle into that closers role. Some of the other guys,
24:19
Speaker 3: whether it's Taylor and all the White Sox fans hate
24:21
Speaker 3: Jordan Leisure. I don't know why, but I mean they
24:23
Speaker 3: just they'd love to hate on Jordan Leisure, but they've
24:26
Speaker 3: actually done a nice job kind of mixing and matching.
24:28
Speaker 3: Have they started to figure out some roles for guys
24:30
Speaker 3: in the bullpen.
24:32
Speaker 5: I think so.
24:33
Speaker 6: I mean Grant Taylor, he was opening at the start
24:35
Speaker 6: of the season. Now you're seeing him in leverage work
24:36
Speaker 6: a bit more often. Brian Hudson was a pretty good
24:39
Speaker 6: reliever for the Brewers in twenty twenty four. It seems
24:41
Speaker 6: like he's kind of back to that form. You know,
24:43
Speaker 6: he got cut by the Mets out of spring and
24:45
Speaker 6: they picked him up, you know, off the waiver wire,
24:48
Speaker 6: but he's been really good for a month, so that
24:50
Speaker 6: kind of settles up their lefty role pretty well. Sean
24:53
Speaker 6: Newcomb's been a pretty good multiing lefting for them as well,
24:56
Speaker 6: kind of as they anticipated when they picked him up
24:58
Speaker 6: in the offseason. So even with Leisure obviously not off
25:01
Speaker 6: to a good start, you know, most of his pitch
25:03
Speaker 6: metrics say he's mostly the same guy and he's going
25:05
Speaker 6: to round in the form. But they have like two
25:07
Speaker 6: or three set up guys that they feel pretty good
25:09
Speaker 6: about leading up to Dominga's and ever since, Diminga's worked
25:12
Speaker 6: on some things. The first couple of weeks where he's
25:13
Speaker 6: keeping his shoulder closed a bit more, he's getting that
25:15
Speaker 6: splitter down in a way to left handers, and that's
25:18
Speaker 6: now he's looks like a viable ninth inning guy when
25:20
Speaker 6: he has that weapon. So it's not the greatest bullpen
25:23
Speaker 6: of all time. It's not Murderer's Road, but it's certainly
25:26
Speaker 6: kind of more of a functional setup than the last
25:28
Speaker 6: couple of years where it was mostly leisure and then
25:30
Speaker 6: guys cycling it through the waiver wire or trying different things.
25:33
Speaker 6: So they did put the work in to at least
25:36
Speaker 6: give themselves like, at least a bullpen that looks like
25:40
Speaker 6: that of a playoff contender, you know, in the offseason.
25:44
Speaker 6: Now it feels felt crazy to really think like, why
25:47
Speaker 6: is this team spending on a closer? They're still rebuilding. Hey,
25:50
Speaker 6: now it doesn't look like such a crazy addition anymore, don't.
25:54
Speaker 3: You When you're in the al central changes everything, Scott, Yeah,
25:57
Speaker 3: that's slip quick man.
26:00
Speaker 1: It's not a good and I mean no offense to
26:02
Speaker 1: the division. I know they've had their years. What was
26:04
Speaker 1: it two years ago when a few teams made it,
26:06
Speaker 1: But aj, sometimes the margins are so thin that if
26:09
Speaker 1: you do build a nice bullpen, you pick up some
26:11
Speaker 1: wins you weren't supposed to early on in the season,
26:13
Speaker 1: it could make all the difference.
26:14
Speaker 6: Right, I mean, not to be negative, but two years
26:20
Speaker 6: ago a bunch of Ales Central teams are winning records
26:22
Speaker 6: when one of their teams that they played more than
26:24
Speaker 6: everyone else at one hundred and twenty one losses, So
26:26
Speaker 6: maybe they had a role and spiking how well the
26:28
Speaker 6: AL Central looked that year. I don't want to cast dispersions,
26:32
Speaker 6: but statistically it's a case that you could make that's fair.
26:36
Speaker 3: Also, also, James o't forget two years ago was Garret
26:39
Speaker 3: Corochees fall. That's what Chuck Garfinkel told us on here,
26:42
Speaker 3: that it was Garat Corochet's fall because they had to
26:44
Speaker 3: cover for him only pitching a few innings at a time,
26:46
Speaker 3: Which is one of the craziest things I ever heard, Chuck saying,
26:49
Speaker 3: he said a lot of crazy stuff years. Yeah, he
26:51
Speaker 3: said a lot of crazy stuff over the years. With
26:53
Speaker 3: that one ranked right up there, let's talk line up here.
26:56
Speaker 3: I mean Murcami revelation call. Some Montgomerys still hitting home runs,
27:01
Speaker 3: not a high average with a ton of home runs,
27:02
Speaker 3: but Antonachi since they put him in the leadoff spot
27:05
Speaker 3: has been great up there. Are they just going to
27:07
Speaker 3: keep them there for the foreseeable future and let him
27:10
Speaker 3: ride this wave out well.
27:13
Speaker 6: Venable loves the mix and match and play the platoon,
27:15
Speaker 6: so like, I don't know if sam Antanacchi.
27:17
Speaker 5: Will ever be everyday leadoff spot.
27:19
Speaker 6: Probably not this year and certainly not against lefties to
27:22
Speaker 6: start out. I mean, they got Chase my drop hitting
27:24
Speaker 6: fifth the last couple of days, Like they're not wedded
27:27
Speaker 6: to any like, hey, this is a small, fast OBP guy.
27:29
Speaker 5: Let's put him at the top. They'll they'll put guys anywhere.
27:32
Speaker 6: But yeah, he's he's been like crazy obps, gets hit
27:36
Speaker 6: by pitches, takes walks, hits for contact all throughout the miners.
27:40
Speaker 6: And now he's added a bit of bat speed with
27:41
Speaker 6: their training program in the off season, and now he
27:43
Speaker 6: looks much more like a viable hitter. And you know,
27:46
Speaker 6: he's someone who was starting to hit for a little
27:48
Speaker 6: bit of power in Charlotte. Maybe gives you a bit
27:50
Speaker 6: more top of the order thump that he can stick
27:52
Speaker 6: around there for a bit.
27:53
Speaker 5: I don't know.
27:54
Speaker 6: Exactly like it will be first all the time, it's
27:57
Speaker 6: it's working for him now, but I think he's going
27:59
Speaker 6: to be someone that they're is going to be at
28:01
Speaker 6: the heart of what they're doing, you know, in that
28:03
Speaker 6: top six, the lineup for the rest of the season
28:05
Speaker 6: until something something else happens.
28:10
Speaker 1: Hey, how lucky and how fortunate.
28:12
Speaker 2: You know.
28:12
Speaker 1: Do you think the organization is feeling for landing Morikami?
28:17
Speaker 1: You know, the conversation starting to pick up within the
28:22
Speaker 1: industry of hey, did we miss out here? Right, Like,
28:25
Speaker 1: the more you see this, the less it looks like
28:27
Speaker 1: a fluke. The more that he's hitting different types of
28:30
Speaker 1: pitches for homers, the more he keeps taking his walks,
28:33
Speaker 1: it's looking special. The reality of it is that from
28:37
Speaker 1: what I read, the White Sox weren't like one hundred
28:40
Speaker 1: percent sold on him. They loved the fact that they
28:42
Speaker 1: could try and get a guy who was a star
28:45
Speaker 1: in Japan and maybe seemed undervalued and could have some
28:49
Speaker 1: serious marketing systele if the industry had correctly assessed him,
28:53
Speaker 1: they weren't going to play in those waters.
28:56
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think they'd probably try to give themselves credit like, oh,
28:59
Speaker 6: we're open mind and we're searching for any opportunity. But yeah,
29:01
Speaker 6: they're totally lucky in several respects. Like the pitch that
29:05
Speaker 6: was given to me at the time the day they
29:07
Speaker 6: signed him was like why not, why should we not
29:09
Speaker 6: take a chance? Like what first base prospect are we blocking?
29:12
Speaker 6: What other plan do we have in place? Like if
29:14
Speaker 6: he flames out and he's terrible, what does it really do?
29:17
Speaker 6: How does it alter our timeline? Like if any team
29:19
Speaker 6: should take the shot, we should, and they certainly weren't.
29:22
Speaker 6: Like their whole off seasons built around Murracami. Everyone will
29:25
Speaker 6: tell you like this happened fast. We put in our
29:27
Speaker 6: presentation and then we told the next day that we
29:29
Speaker 6: were going to have it, Like it was a very
29:31
Speaker 6: short period of time in terms of putting it together.
29:34
Speaker 6: So everything about it like feels like that it fell
29:38
Speaker 6: into a lapse. Now they deserve credit for he's made
29:40
Speaker 6: adjustments mechanically, he's been working on the traject that they
29:43
Speaker 6: bought to acclimate the pitching. They've done so many things,
29:47
Speaker 6: So much work has been put into putting him in
29:49
Speaker 6: a good spot, and he's clearly seen results from it.
29:51
Speaker 6: But in terms of the acquisition process or this was
29:54
Speaker 6: not something that was like talked about as a target,
29:57
Speaker 6: like going in the off season or even talked about
29:59
Speaker 6: like a likely thing when you were getting the field
30:01
Speaker 6: for where they're at at the Winter Median. So in
30:04
Speaker 6: terms of like grand strokes of fate in history, right now,
30:07
Speaker 6: it looks like it ranks up with you know, winning
30:09
Speaker 6: the draft lottery.
30:12
Speaker 3: Come on, I mean, they had the best chance in
30:16
Speaker 3: the world of winning the draft lottery, so they should
30:17
Speaker 3: have won the draft lottery. I mean they tanked for
30:19
Speaker 3: three years to get the first pick. And yeah, so
30:22
Speaker 3: no this he fell in their lab because other teams
30:25
Speaker 3: were questioning them, and then he fell in their lab,
30:27
Speaker 3: and now the White text need to take advantage of
30:29
Speaker 3: him and get some Japanese marketing done and stuff like that.
30:31
Speaker 5: But then that leads me to my next question.
30:33
Speaker 3: Let's say they don't make the playoffs, or even if
30:36
Speaker 3: they do make the playoffs and have an early exit, okay,
30:38
Speaker 3: which I know we're not even forty games in, so
30:40
Speaker 3: it's a big ask. Will this offseason, depending on the lockout,
30:43
Speaker 3: and I'm just going to say there's not going to
30:45
Speaker 3: be one, will they go out and make the necessary
30:48
Speaker 3: moves to bolster this team to a point where they
30:50
Speaker 3: actually can be a legitimate contender. By spending some money
30:54
Speaker 3: on some players that are free agents, whether it's starting pitching, relievers,
30:58
Speaker 3: bench pieces, starting pieces, to get them Excuse me too,
31:02
Speaker 3: I know my stomach can't even believe that I'm saying
31:04
Speaker 3: this to a point where they can be legitimate contenders
31:08
Speaker 3: to win a World Series.
31:09
Speaker 6: Again, I'd be surprised if they launched back into like
31:13
Speaker 6: the top five in the payroll, which they had been
31:15
Speaker 6: like say, you know, back when you were playing twenty
31:17
Speaker 6: twenty twelve or or something like that.
31:20
Speaker 5: Like I think they would take a step up.
31:22
Speaker 6: I think they would, you know, have the posture of like,
31:24
Speaker 6: let's try to win the vision. I think they would
31:27
Speaker 6: build upon like the activity they had in this offseason.
31:30
Speaker 6: If they suddenly vaulted towards like we're going to you know,
31:33
Speaker 6: spend with the big boys. We're going to be shopping
31:35
Speaker 6: at the top of the market, that would surprise me.
31:37
Speaker 6: Based on I don't know, the last ten years of
31:40
Speaker 6: covering the team, Like obviously they push forward a little bit,
31:43
Speaker 6: you know, the last rebuild, but as far as like
31:46
Speaker 6: making that step right now based on what they say
31:49
Speaker 6: their revenues have been the past couple of years, a
31:52
Speaker 6: huge leap forward that would surprise. I think it will
31:55
Speaker 6: step up from what it was this offseason, which was
31:58
Speaker 6: obviously more active, but not you know, we're gonna, you know,
32:01
Speaker 6: go toe to toe with the Dodgers level of activity.
32:05
Speaker 1: James, where's the team at on the prospect front? We've
32:09
Speaker 1: seen some exciting call ups this year last year. Is
32:12
Speaker 1: there more on the way soon to provide some reinforcements.
32:18
Speaker 6: They would want to see Brady Montgomery and Hagen Smith
32:21
Speaker 6: in Chicago this season. I don't think it's an imminute
32:25
Speaker 6: sort of thing. Brady Montgomery just got promoted the Triple A.
32:28
Speaker 6: I think you want to see if he actually has
32:30
Speaker 6: some success there. He is, you know, physically as tooled
32:33
Speaker 6: now as you can be, but it's a kind of
32:34
Speaker 6: a swing and misprofile. I think you want to give
32:37
Speaker 6: a bat like that sometime to acclimate and not rush
32:40
Speaker 6: the level of stuff he's facing too crazily. Hagen Smith,
32:43
Speaker 6: stuff wise, is ready to go. It's more about one command.
32:47
Speaker 6: The walks have been unacceptably high, probably his whole pro career,
32:50
Speaker 6: even if he's had pretty good results.
32:52
Speaker 5: Outside of it.
32:53
Speaker 6: But also he pitched in the AFL last year and
32:55
Speaker 6: they've been slow playing him ever since his last start
32:57
Speaker 6: with three innings long. They want to get him up
32:59
Speaker 6: to five at some point, but they've been doing it
33:01
Speaker 6: very gradually for the point where you wonder if he's
33:04
Speaker 6: going to be making kind of full length starts much
33:07
Speaker 6: before June, and so I think you don't want to
33:09
Speaker 6: really want to throw him into major league rotation and
33:11
Speaker 6: give him a slot before he's doing that. But that
33:14
Speaker 6: would be like the primary, you know, top hundred great
33:18
Speaker 6: prospects that you would see over the course of this year.
33:20
Speaker 6: I think Caleb Bonamer probably another year away. Even if
33:23
Speaker 6: he's killing High A. There are other guys who are
33:26
Speaker 6: doing Triple A pretty well. Jacob Gonzalez, their former first
33:28
Speaker 6: round pick he really kind of forgotten about, is hitting
33:31
Speaker 6: a lot better in Triple A this year in a
33:32
Speaker 6: way that bears some paying attention to. But they've already
33:35
Speaker 6: promoted a good chunk of you know what they want
33:38
Speaker 6: this year with Noah Schultz in Sam Antanaci, Channon McDougall
33:41
Speaker 6: gets healthy again this season. That's someone they wanted to
33:44
Speaker 6: make a debut at some point this year. He certainly
33:46
Speaker 6: can hit one hundred and be an impact in the
33:48
Speaker 6: rotation or the bullpen. Depending on where he's at. But
33:51
Speaker 6: I think the biggest pieces you've maybe probably seen already
33:55
Speaker 6: with Noah Schultz, but I think Bray Montgomery Higginsmith that
33:58
Speaker 6: would be kind of the thing is to wait for
34:00
Speaker 6: in the next two to three months.
34:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we hit it well. We'll keep an
34:06
Speaker 1: eye on those two names. James, thanks for joining us. Man.
34:09
Speaker 1: James covers the White Sox for Sox Machine. You can
34:11
Speaker 1: get a lot more coverage there from him listening and
34:14
Speaker 1: reading wise, good to catch up. It's man, maybe we'll
34:16
Speaker 1: be talking more. We haven't had John enough because you know,
34:20
Speaker 1: but maybe a little more now. Maybe another phone call
34:22
Speaker 1: or too throughout the season.
34:23
Speaker 5: What do you say?
34:25
Speaker 6: There have been people who I didn't realize had my
34:27
Speaker 6: number who have wanted to talk about the White Sox
34:29
Speaker 6: in the last week or two that so sure, it's
34:32
Speaker 6: been not crazy.
34:34
Speaker 5: It feels like about the White Sox. I talk about the.
34:37
Speaker 6: White Sox, but like the fan base right now, it's like, uh,
34:41
Speaker 6: you remember back when money was tight and like getting
34:43
Speaker 6: your tax returned felt like like a huge windfall. Like
34:45
Speaker 6: that's what they feel like about having a team that's
34:47
Speaker 6: like playing five hundred, Like they can't believe like what
34:49
Speaker 6: they've come into.
34:51
Speaker 5: I get that.
34:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I was saying this five ten minutes
34:55
Speaker 1: ago or whatever right before you came on. Some fans
34:58
Speaker 1: who write us and always come playing about where our
35:00
Speaker 1: coverage tilts as a national show. There are thirty teams
35:03
Speaker 1: in the bigs recently feel like, oh, you're talking about
35:06
Speaker 1: the White Sox too much. I'm like, are you kidding me?
35:08
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, it's Aj. You know he wants to
35:10
Speaker 1: talk about the White Sox. Well, first of all, as
35:12
Speaker 1: you know, pretty prideful White Sox player, he's kind of
35:15
Speaker 1: a big deal there. But also like we barely talk
35:18
Speaker 1: about them up until this year. We've talked about them
35:21
Speaker 1: probably more in the first month and a half James
35:23
Speaker 1: than we have in all of the other years combined
35:26
Speaker 1: on this show, based on Morecami and a decent start.
35:29
Speaker 1: So we're going to keep talking about them until they
35:31
Speaker 1: fall out of contention. That's a promise.
35:35
Speaker 5: I'll be around.
35:36
Speaker 1: Thank you, good catching up, dude. Appreciate you all right.
35:39
Speaker 5: I think care