Latest / Foul Territory / Ken Rosenthal Reflects On Brewers Title, Examines Free Agents + Corey Knebel Celebrates On Parade Day!
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: It's the Inside Scoop presented by Lids. Ken Rosenthal back
- 0:09Speaker 1: from the World Series. FT Senior Insider joining us right now. Ken,
- 0:13Speaker 1: good to see you. And we'll get to all the
- 0:15Speaker 1: other happenings around baseball, but just a couple minutes to
- 0:18Speaker 1: start here on your World Series experience since it's the
- 0:20Speaker 1: first time we're chatting with you. How was it, the
- 0:23Speaker 1: scene with these baby market teams and Milwaukee just doing
- 0:27Speaker 1: something that was so cool for the state of Wisconsin
- 0:30Speaker 1: and Brewers fans?
- 0:32Speaker 2: Well, there's so much to talk about here, but The
- 0:34Speaker 2: first thing I will mention is after the clincher, I'm
- 0:38Speaker 2: standing on the field. This is during the ceremony when,
- 0:41Speaker 2: of course, they're awarding the trophy and all that. And
- 0:45Speaker 2: I turn around and I look in the stands. And
- 0:47Speaker 2: I know you guys were just talking about this on
- 0:49Speaker 2: the break. The entire lower deck, it seemed, was Brewers fans.
- 0:54Speaker 3: I could not believe it. And it was a good
- 0:56Speaker 3: portion of the upper deck as well.
- 0:57Speaker 2: Now, it might not have been the entire lower deck,
- 0:59Speaker 2: but the vast majority of people watching and cheering the
- 1:03Speaker 2: ceremony were Brewers fans.
- 1:06Speaker 3: And the way they.
- 1:07Speaker 2: Showed up at American Family Field for the watch parties,
- 1:10Speaker 2: of course, for the games themselves in Milwaukee, and then
- 1:13Speaker 2: the traveling to St.
- 1:15Speaker 3: Petersburg, it was stunning to me. It was so cool.
- 1:19Speaker 2: And Obviously, it was their first World Series in 44 years,
- 1:23Speaker 2: the first one for the Milwaukee Brewers that they've ever won.
- 1:26Speaker 3: But man, it was just such a scene.
- 1:30Speaker 2: Now, that was part of what made this so special.
- 1:33Speaker 2: The other part of what made it so special was
- 1:35Speaker 2: the Brewers team and the franchise itself. And what they've
- 1:40Speaker 2: accomplished as a team playing in the smallest media market
- 1:44Speaker 2: in the sport, a team that one in what now
- 1:47Speaker 2: must be considered an unconventional way from an offensive standpoint,
- 1:51Speaker 2: a team that has built so well through the draft,
- 1:54Speaker 2: through trades, through the international market.
- 1:57Speaker 3: It just was a stunning achievement.
- 1:59Speaker 2: It was a very likable team, a very captivating team
- 2:03Speaker 2: to watch the way they went about it, the old
- 2:05Speaker 2: school throwback style, whatever you want to call it. It's
- 2:08Speaker 2: a heavy analytical team, but they play in a way
- 2:11Speaker 2: that is not in line with the current trends of
- 2:14Speaker 2: from an offensive standpoint, in analytics. So for all of
- 2:18Speaker 2: these reasons, it was just such a fun World Series.
- 2:21Speaker 2: And then you had the players themselves. Pratt and Churio,
- 2:25Speaker 2: two young stars emerging.
- 2:27Speaker 3: Churio, potential superstar.
- 2:29Speaker 2: William Contreras, playing like a demon. Jacob Mizorowski, fighting through
- 2:35Speaker 2: obvious fatigue and still pitching like an ace. All of
- 2:38Speaker 2: these different things. Aaron Ashby, every contributor that they had,
- 2:44Speaker 2: seemed to have a different story. And I just loved
- 2:46Speaker 2: the team, loved watching them, not to diminish the race,
- 2:49Speaker 2: loved watching them too. And they had their own great
- 2:50Speaker 2: stories and they had their own great season. But in
- 2:54Speaker 2: the World Series, the Brewers were clearly the better team
- 2:58Speaker 2: and they clearly were the best team in baseball over
- 3:01Speaker 2: the course of the season. So just congratulations to them.
- 3:05Speaker 2: Congratulations to Milwaukee. The parade was today.
- 3:07Speaker 3: It looked awesome.
- 3:08Speaker 2: Just a really cool outcome ending to the season.
- 3:12Speaker 4: One more with the fans of the Brewers. Have you
- 3:14Speaker 4: ever seen fans in all the World Series you've been
- 3:17Speaker 4: to not show up to this level, but was there
- 3:19Speaker 4: one that was close? Because I said the other day,
- 3:21Speaker 4: it's like you're on the road. There's like four sections
- 3:24Speaker 4: of fans that are cheering and nothing else when that's happening.
- 3:29Speaker 2: If I recall correctly, Eric, Game 7 in 2016, probably
- 3:33Speaker 2: Game 6 too, Cubs-Cleveland.
- 3:36Speaker 3: Those games were in Cleveland.
- 3:38Speaker 2: It seemed that there was a sizable difference contingent from
- 3:42Speaker 2: Chicago Cubs fans, at least, who were at those games
- 3:46Speaker 2: in Cleveland. But it wasn't like this. The Brewers players
- 3:49Speaker 2: said this was almost like playing at home. It was
- 3:51Speaker 2: like a home atmosphere. It wasn't like that at, excuse me,
- 3:55Speaker 2: Progressive Field. It was at very best, I don't know, 60, 40, 70,
- 3:59Speaker 2: 30 Cleveland. But that was a sizable contingent. I never
- 4:03Speaker 2: recall seeing anything like this. This happens in the regular
- 4:07Speaker 2: season sometimes in different locations. I know in Baltimore when
- 4:10Speaker 2: I was living there, Yankee fans would come down.
- 4:13Speaker 3: They still do.
- 4:14Speaker 2: And Red Sox fans, because sometimes it's cheaper to go
- 4:16Speaker 2: to Orioles games in Baltimore than it is to go
- 4:18Speaker 2: to Yankee games or Red Sox games in their home parks.
- 4:22Speaker 2: But this was a playoff atmosphere, and it was stunning
- 4:26Speaker 2: to see just how the Milwaukee fans took over the place. Okay.
- 4:32Speaker 4: My question is about the whole trade that didn't happen, blah, blah, blah,
- 4:36Speaker 4: with your great article talking about Matt Arnold's reaction to
- 4:40Speaker 4: that kind of thing. We know now what happened. We
- 4:43Speaker 4: know that they didn't trade for Scruble. They had the
- 4:48Speaker 4: package together. Was there worry from Matt Arnold in that
- 4:54Speaker 4: moment that he made the wrong choice to not give
- 4:57Speaker 4: in to Scott Harris's demands of the prospects?
- 5:02Speaker 3: I think there's always worry.
- 5:03Speaker 2: And there's always concern when you don't make a trade
- 5:06Speaker 2: or do make a trade that maybe I didn't make
- 5:09Speaker 2: the right decision.
- 5:10Speaker 3: And certainly... They were involved in Scooble. They wanted Scooble.
- 5:15Speaker 2: Andy McCullough from The Athletic reported what the package was,
- 5:18Speaker 2: and it wasn't as strong in the Tigers' mind as
- 5:21Speaker 2: the Dodgers' was.
- 5:22Speaker 3: The Dodgers had more pitching to offer.
- 5:25Speaker 2: So we know the Brewers wanted Scooble, but at the
- 5:28Speaker 2: same time, the Brewers, and I give them a ton
- 5:31Speaker 2: of credit on this, they have consistently, over the years,
- 5:36Speaker 2: followed their inner beliefs, if you want to call it that.
- 5:40Speaker 2: They have stayed true to who they are. And they
- 5:42Speaker 2: did this amid criticism from guys like me when they
- 5:45Speaker 2: weren't spending, when they weren't doing certain things, when they
- 5:48Speaker 2: were trading off pieces.
- 5:49Speaker 3: And yet they never deviated.
- 5:52Speaker 2: They never said, you know what, we're going all in
- 5:55Speaker 2: or whatever you want to phrase it, however you want
- 5:56Speaker 2: to phrase it. They stuck to what they thought was right.
- 6:00Speaker 2: And how it relates to Scooble is they felt that
- 6:04Speaker 2: they could go Only so far.
- 6:06Speaker 3: Now, they went far in their minds.
- 6:08Speaker 2: Luis Pena is the top 20 prospect in the game,
- 6:11Speaker 2: and the others involved.
- 6:12Speaker 3: Were pretty fair players, too.
- 6:14Speaker 2: There were a number of proposals that they made to
- 6:17Speaker 2: the Tigers, some that involved pitching. But in the end,
- 6:20Speaker 2: they could not do Logan Henderson.
- 6:23Speaker 3: And you can understand why. Logan Henderson's five more years
- 6:25Speaker 3: of control. He's really good.
- 6:27Speaker 2: You're doing that for two months at Tarek Skubal if
- 6:29Speaker 2: you're the Milwaukee Brewers? No, you're not doing that. Dodgers
- 6:32Speaker 2: have all these pitchers signed. They have other pitchers coming,
- 6:36Speaker 2: and they had River Ryan, who.
- 6:37Speaker 3: Was often injured. They felt they could give him up.
- 6:41Speaker 3: Different equation.
- 6:42Speaker 2: But what's so inspiring about this season is that for
- 6:47Speaker 2: all the reaction after the school bowl trade, I called
- 6:50Speaker 2: it the anti-Dodger hysteria. For all the things that people
- 6:54Speaker 2: were talking about, the Brewers still were the best team,
- 6:59Speaker 2: still best.
- 7:00Speaker 3: Over the course of the season, prove that time and again, and.
- 7:02Speaker 2: Of course, in the end, won the World Series.
- 7:05Speaker 1: So this is how I'm going to take us to
- 7:08Speaker 1: free agency trades, all of that, right? The off-season conversation. Ken,
- 7:14Speaker 1: I mentioned this the other day, and I'm going to
- 7:16Speaker 1: dunk one more time because I love forward thinking.
- 7:20Speaker 5: I love analytics.
- 7:20Speaker 1: I want as big of a staff as possible, and
- 7:22Speaker 1: the Brewers do all that. And I praise them. We
- 7:24Speaker 1: just ripped the Twins for having, you know, getting rid
- 7:26Speaker 1: of scouts and having the least in baseball, all that, right?
- 7:30Speaker 1: On the other side here, I've been told publicly for
- 7:34Speaker 1: a long time, if you don't hit enough home runs,
- 7:36Speaker 1: you can't win. They were tied for 29th in home runs.
- 7:40Speaker 1: The most ground ball, highest ground ball percentage in baseball,
- 7:43Speaker 1: most opposite field knocks, right? Like all of these things
- 7:45Speaker 1: that we were just told not to do for the
- 7:47Speaker 1: past five years, pulled fly ball contact wins. So my
- 7:51Speaker 1: question to you, First of all, let's dunk together because
- 7:54Speaker 1: we should. You can't have it all. Oh, no, no, no.
- 7:57Speaker 1: Opposite field works, but you just have to hit it hard. Like, okay, well,
- 7:59Speaker 1: we're just coming up with every way to hit a baseball.
- 8:01Speaker 1: How does the league respond to this? Like, do other
- 8:04Speaker 1: teams try and find this way that the Brewers are winning?
- 8:08Speaker 3: It's a fascinating question. And I don't know the answer, Scott.
- 8:11Speaker 2: And certainly, and I made this point in my wrap-up article, analytics,
- 8:17Speaker 2: the original intent of analytics was what? to find market inefficiencies,
- 8:22Speaker 2: to find ways to win that other teams were not pursuing.
- 8:27Speaker 2: And that's obviously a smart thing.
- 8:29Speaker 6: To do, right?
- 8:29Speaker 3: Of course you want to do that.
- 8:31Speaker 2: But over the years, in my opinion, and I know
- 8:34Speaker 2: some people might disagree with this, what has happened is
- 8:37Speaker 2: it's become kind of an analytics groupthink, which is the
- 8:40Speaker 2: opposite of what analytics are supposed to be.
- 8:43Speaker 5: So what's important?
- 8:44Speaker 3: Pull-side power. Have to have pull-side power.
- 8:47Speaker 2: Have to have power in general.
- 8:48Speaker 3: Can't win in the postseason. without hitting home runs.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Well, the Brewers hit three in the division series, seven
- 8:53Speaker 2: against the Dodgers in the NLCS. That was not bad.
- 8:56Speaker 2: And then three in the World Series. So obviously, after
- 8:59Speaker 2: finishing tied for 28th in the regular season in home runs,
- 9:02Speaker 2: you can win a World Series when you're not a
- 9:04Speaker 2: power-based team. So yes, all of these things that some
- 9:10Speaker 2: people preach, well, yeah, they're successful. Those are successful ways
- 9:14Speaker 2: to go about it, but it's not the only way.
- 9:17Speaker 2: And that to me, is the lesson of the 2026
- 9:20Speaker 2: Milwaukee Brewers. There are other ways to win. And I'll
- 9:24Speaker 2: make this point as well. One thing that has gotten
- 9:26Speaker 2: lost over the years with the attention on velocity for pitchers,
- 9:32Speaker 2: exit velocity for hitters, on swings, and on all of
- 9:36Speaker 2: these different things, the subtleties of the game, the way
- 9:40Speaker 2: to play the game correctly, the impact of playing hard,
- 9:44Speaker 2: running the bases a certain way, playing defense a certain way,
- 9:47Speaker 2: a lot of that has gotten somewhat submerged in terms
- 9:52Speaker 2: of emphasis. Well, the Brewers really put an emphasis on
- 9:56Speaker 2: all of those things, and they play the game in
- 9:59Speaker 2: that sense. They have a culture that tolerates nothing less.
- 10:03Speaker 2: And for me, that is what was so endearing about
- 10:06Speaker 2: them that it's not that the other teams or teams
- 10:10Speaker 2: that are power-based and focus on power pitching are playing
- 10:13Speaker 2: the game incorrectly.
- 10:15Speaker 3: But you tell me that this is A way that
- 10:19Speaker 3: can't win?
- 10:20Speaker 2: No. It's a way that can win if you max
- 10:22Speaker 2: out in all of those areas, and they do.
- 10:25Speaker 6: Yeah, it seemed like that. Of every piece together, I
- 10:27Speaker 6: think you bring up a good point.
- 10:29Speaker 7: It's that old school kind of feel, and a lot
- 10:31Speaker 7: of people, especially, you know, the elder, I'm not saying elder,
- 10:35Speaker 7: older people really flock to that and like, man, that's
- 10:39Speaker 7: how I remember the game.
- 10:41Speaker 3: It's enjoyable to watch, man.
- 10:43Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:43Speaker 3: It's fun to watch.
- 10:44Speaker 6: I agree.
- 10:45Speaker 7: I mean, 100%. let's move on to free agent frenzy, man.
- 10:49Speaker 7: This is going to be very interesting. These next 30
- 10:52Speaker 7: days or some days, there's a couple of guys in mind.
- 10:55Speaker 7: I mean, think about a guy who's just fresh off
- 10:57Speaker 7: the world series, Freddie Peralta. How about, how about him?
- 11:01Speaker 7: What do you think about a guy like that? What
- 11:02Speaker 7: do you think the next move?
- 11:04Speaker 2: It's interesting, Todd, we were just talking about this on
- 11:06Speaker 2: fair territory, which we just had. And there are two
- 11:10Speaker 2: schools of thoughts, one in general on free agency, and
- 11:12Speaker 2: I'll get to Peralta.
- 11:14Speaker 3: The two schools of thought of this one is.
- 11:17Speaker 8: We don't know what the economic landscape is going to
- 11:19Speaker 8: be and we can't have our team spending money on
- 11:22Speaker 8: players when we don't know what's going to happen, if
- 11:24Speaker 8: there's going to be a cap, what the rules are
- 11:26Speaker 8: going to be.
- 11:26Speaker 3: We're just going to refrain. That could be one way
- 11:29Speaker 3: teams look at this.
- 11:30Speaker 2: The other way is, yeah, we don't know what the
- 11:32Speaker 2: economic system is going to be, but we want players.
- 11:35Speaker 2: The cap is not going to take effect right away.
- 11:38Speaker 2: So let's get the players we can while we can
- 11:41Speaker 2: and before that lockout takes effect on December 1st. I
- 11:45Speaker 2: honestly think that teams will be active and teams will
- 11:49Speaker 2: be looking to add guys. And Freddy Peralta is a
- 11:52Speaker 2: classic example of a player who benefited from a change
- 11:56Speaker 2: of teams and not only returned to form and regained
- 12:00Speaker 2: his form, but became the best version of himself.
- 12:04Speaker 3: That we've seen.
- 12:05Speaker 2: He was throwing harder in the postseason than he had
- 12:08Speaker 2: in his entire career, also incorporated a changeup. They made
- 12:12Speaker 2: a number of different adjustments with him to elicit this
- 12:16Speaker 2: kind of performance from him, and.
- 12:18Speaker 3: It clearly worked.
- 12:19Speaker 2: So now if you're a team looking at him, Todd,
- 12:22Speaker 2: you're saying, okay, he's still really good.
- 12:25Speaker 3: And you know how this works.
- 12:27Speaker 2: All teams think they're smart. All teams think, okay, yeah,
- 12:30Speaker 2: Tampa Bay got the most out of it.
- 12:31Speaker 5: We can do the same.
- 12:33Speaker 2: I expect he's going to do very well.
- 12:37Speaker 4: Who is more active? When we look at trends, because
- 12:39Speaker 4: that's how I try to figure out, okay, it could
- 12:41Speaker 4: be this. Is there just going to be more active
- 12:44Speaker 4: teams or more active agents when we look at each
- 12:47Speaker 4: free agent? Like, oh, well, this agent usually waits, this
- 12:50Speaker 4: agent usually... Are there trends in that case that we
- 12:53Speaker 4: can look at? There is a little bit of a
- 12:56Speaker 4: history here because we have 2022. And we know that in.
- 13:02Speaker 2: 2022, let's use Scott Boris as an example because he
- 13:04Speaker 2: had two of the biggest clients then. Corey Seeger and
- 13:07Speaker 2: Marcus Simeon both signed right before the lockout. Now, it's
- 13:11Speaker 2: a little bit of a different landscape now because a
- 13:14Speaker 2: salary cap wasn't in play then. That wasn't something the
- 13:17Speaker 2: owners were seeking. And now it is something they're seeking.
- 13:20Speaker 2: So there might be more hesitance of teams to go
- 13:24Speaker 2: forward when they, again, don't know what the rules are
- 13:26Speaker 2: going to be. But Scott Boris, in general, if you
- 13:30Speaker 2: look at his career, has liked to wait in certain
- 13:33Speaker 2: cases and has taken guys into February in certain cases.
- 13:36Speaker 2: He also, at certain times in his career, as he
- 13:38Speaker 2: did right before the 2022 lockout, has jumped. And he's
- 13:42Speaker 2: jumped on it quickly and looked for the best deal possible. Now,
- 13:46Speaker 2: Freddy Peralta's agent is Aces, the group Aces. They're Sam
- 13:51Speaker 2: and Seth Levinson out of New York.
- 13:54Speaker 3: That's a group that generally.
- 13:56Speaker 2: Has liked to act quickly in free agency and just
- 14:00Speaker 2: kind of get things going. So in Peralta's case, yeah,
- 14:03Speaker 2: I think he could go quickly. And in Skubal's case,
- 14:06Speaker 2: he's represented by Boris. We have the examples of Seeger
- 14:09Speaker 2: and Simeon Obviously, Scott Boris is going to want that
- 14:12Speaker 2: record deal however it might look. And maybe he doesn't
- 14:17Speaker 2: get it. Maybe he does before the lockout. But I
- 14:20Speaker 2: would expect that he would want to get something done
- 14:23Speaker 2: before then if he can.
- 14:25Speaker 5: Because it creates uncertainty.
- 14:27Speaker 2: After the lockout, we don't know what's going to happen.
- 14:29Speaker 2: Here's another point here.
- 14:30Speaker 3: I just thought of this.
- 14:31Speaker 2: So let's say the lockout wipes out half of next season.
- 14:36Speaker 2: Baseball is maybe not in as great a place as
- 14:38Speaker 2: it is right now. And maybe the owners say, because
- 14:41Speaker 2: they're always looking for ways to save money, you know,
- 14:44Speaker 2: we ticked off our fans.
- 14:45Speaker 8: They're not into it.
- 14:47Speaker 2: We're not going to pay Tarek Skubal what we might.
- 14:49Speaker 3: Have paid him before.
- 14:51Speaker 2: That possibility at least exists. I don't know that it
- 14:54Speaker 2: would happen that way. So if I'm Boris with Skubal,
- 14:57Speaker 2: if I'm really any agent with any prominent player, I'd
- 15:00Speaker 2: like to get my money as quickly as I can
- 15:01Speaker 2: before that lockout.
- 15:03Speaker 6: That's a good point.
- 15:04Speaker 4: Now I'm looking at the names of some of the
- 15:06Speaker 4: position players, some of the best that are available, jazz players, Arise, Balm, Rosarena,
- 15:12Speaker 4: and Seiya Suzuki are the ones that I'm thinking of.
- 15:14Speaker 4: After we watch this series, how driving runs in really matters. Well,
- 15:19Speaker 4: that helps Balm out. Seiya Suzuki is a guy who
- 15:22Speaker 4: has power, but he also drives runs in. Do you
- 15:24Speaker 4: feel like guys like Balm, who has not as much power,
- 15:27Speaker 4: or Luisa Arise could get a little bit of a bump?
- 15:32Speaker 4: in this free agency class because of the game we
- 15:34Speaker 4: just saw? Or doesn't the game shift that much because
- 15:37Speaker 4: it talks about paying, not winning?
- 15:41Speaker 3: That's a great question, Eric.
- 15:42Speaker 2: And I'm not sure. Now, Boehm is a guy who, yes,
- 15:47Speaker 2: does drive and runs. Is he a great offensive player?
- 15:49Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that he's a great offensive player.
- 15:51Speaker 3: Good player. But does he get a.
- 15:53Speaker 2: Benefit from what we just saw? I'm not so sure
- 15:57Speaker 2: about that.
- 15:57Speaker 5: Arai is.
- 15:59Speaker 2: He always, or at least in the last couple of years,
- 16:01Speaker 2: has struggled in free agency because of his lack of power,
- 16:04Speaker 2: but he does the things that the Brewers value with
- 16:08Speaker 2: the contact and all of that, and even the raise.
- 16:12Speaker 2: The raise was thought to be interested in him before
- 16:14Speaker 2: the deadline stuck with Palacios and Williamson.
- 16:16Speaker 3: Obviously, it worked out well for them.
- 16:18Speaker 2: So, I don't know. I don't know that the views
- 16:23Speaker 2: of players will change that much because of what we
- 16:26Speaker 2: just saw in the postseason. Rosa Reina, in my view,
- 16:29Speaker 2: should do well because he kind of is a well-rounded
- 16:32Speaker 2: offensive player. Jazz is going to have difficulties, not so
- 16:36Speaker 2: much because of what he can do from a physical standpoint,
- 16:39Speaker 2: but some of the questions that came up when he
- 16:42Speaker 2: was with the Yankees.
- 16:43Speaker 4: All right, Ken, last one. This is not about baseball,
- 16:46Speaker 4: but about the World Series. Mark, one of our executive
- 16:50Speaker 4: producers in the background, said he did the Cleveland Marlins
- 16:54Speaker 4: year when it was like 39 degrees in Cleveland all
- 16:57Speaker 4: the way down to like 90 degrees in Miami. This year,
- 17:02Speaker 4: it made me think of it this year, wasn't as
- 17:03Speaker 4: cold in Milwaukee. Do you have a tough time staying
- 17:07Speaker 4: healthy when you're going from cold to hot to cold?
- 17:10Speaker 4: And I know they're indoors, but you guys are indoors
- 17:13Speaker 4: for a few hours of the day.
- 17:16Speaker 3: Well, yeah, you do.
- 17:18Speaker 2: And honestly... I always prefer climate control. It's easier to
- 17:23Speaker 2: work in that environment when it's cold and I'm standing
- 17:26Speaker 2: out there and it's three hours and it's 11 o'clock
- 17:29Speaker 2: at night and it's, I don't know, 40 degrees. It's
- 17:31Speaker 2: not the easiest way to talk on television and it's
- 17:35Speaker 2: not the easiest way to stay healthy either. But the
- 17:38Speaker 2: post-season is something that it's difficult to describe as far
- 17:42Speaker 2: as what it takes to do physically. And obviously I'm
- 17:46Speaker 2: not playing, I'm just talking and writing. But there's a
- 17:49Speaker 2: lot that goes into it. And it always seems that
- 17:52Speaker 2: every year I kind of break down physically at some point.
- 17:56Speaker 2: And it's just unavoidable.
- 17:58Speaker 5: It's a lot.
- 17:59Speaker 3: It's a lot.
- 18:00Speaker 2: I mean, I.
- 18:01Speaker 3: And hold on.
- 18:02Speaker 2: I want to say one thing. I'm not complaining.
- 18:04Speaker 5: No.
- 18:04Speaker 3: I'm not saying, oh, my God, this is so hard
- 18:06Speaker 3: to do. I love it.
- 18:08Speaker 2: I know everybody watching probably would love to do it
- 18:11Speaker 2: as well. It is an absolute privilege.
- 18:13Speaker 3: It also is work.
- 18:15Speaker 2: And it also, yes, I mean, I'm maybe not the
- 18:17Speaker 2: toughest guy in the world. So maybe that's why I'm
- 18:19Speaker 2: breaking down.
- 18:19Speaker 6: I don't know.
- 18:21Speaker 1: And the sleep part, I think that's, that's a big
- 18:23Speaker 1: part of it. And I'm sure you don't sleep much.
- 18:25Speaker 1: And that's for that, for me, you know, and I
- 18:27Speaker 1: didn't do as much as you obviously, but when I
- 18:29Speaker 1: did my, my years of covering playoffs and being gone,
- 18:32Speaker 1: basically all of October, I don't need much sleep, but
- 18:35Speaker 1: eventually if I'm getting three hours a night, every night,
- 18:37Speaker 1: I don't do a catch up day. Like it, it
- 18:39Speaker 1: does take a toll. You're just not going to be
- 18:40Speaker 1: as good as sharp as a week. So I think that's,
- 18:43Speaker 1: that's a part of it.
- 18:44Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 18:44Speaker 1: So Ken, hopefully you get some rest now, kind of,
- 18:47Speaker 1: although this month's going to be crazy. So good to
- 18:49Speaker 1: see you.
- 18:49Speaker 5: Welcome back.
- 18:50Speaker 1: And we'll catch you next week.
- 18:52Speaker 5: Thanks guys.
- 18:53Speaker 6: Thank you.
- 18:53Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal, FTC and your insider. And that's inside scoop
- 18:56Speaker 1: presented by Lids.
- 18:57Speaker 6: Props to Lids.
- 18:58Speaker 1: We're saying thanks to some of our October sponsors. So
- 19:01Speaker 1: Lids is your home for all post-season headwear and apparel needs.
- 19:03Speaker 1: Brewers fans, you might want to grab something good there.
- 19:06Speaker 1: Text TERRITORY10 to 29017.
- 19:07Speaker 6: Again, text TERRITORY10.
- 19:12Speaker 1: To 29017 to receive 20% off your next in-store purchase.
- 19:17Speaker 1: That's T-E-R-R-I-T-O-R-Y to 29017. Message, data rates, and exclusions do apply. Oh,
- 19:26Speaker 1: and just a reminder to everyone that have been asking
- 19:29Speaker 1: about off-season.
- 19:30Speaker 5: Schedule, we're good.
- 19:31Speaker 1: FT Every Day, fair territory in their regular two-a-week slot.
- 19:36Speaker 1: Monday mornings, 10 a.m. Eastern Time, Thursday afternoons, 12.30 p.m.
- 19:41Speaker 1: Eastern time with Ken and Alana. Fresh episode just happened.
- 19:44Speaker 1: So check that out after FT. Hey, All Smiles is
- 19:54Speaker 1: presented by Lorraine Co. We're clapping it up for the
- 19:57Speaker 1: Brewers and their former All-Star closer, Corey Knabel, joining us
- 20:00Speaker 1: right now, who has done some awesome work on Brewer territory, too,
- 20:04Speaker 1: so check out those episodes.
- 20:06Speaker 6: Corey, good to see you, and.
- 20:08Speaker 1: How are the emotions when you're witnessing what you did
- 20:11Speaker 1: over the past few weeks, including the parade today?
- 20:15Speaker 5: I mean, I'm still watching the parade right now, man.
- 20:18Speaker 5: I mean, this has been watching all morning, been watching
- 20:21Speaker 5: all these games. It's been, it's incredible, man.
- 20:24Speaker 6: It really is.
- 20:25Speaker 5: And I know I'm not, I'm not there. I'm not
- 20:27Speaker 5: part of it, but in my heart, man, I just feel,
- 20:30Speaker 5: I feel like we've been a part of it. You know,
- 20:32Speaker 5: Kratz was the first one to say it too, that
- 20:35Speaker 5: NLCS celebration when they got our They got our names
- 20:39Speaker 5: on some of those champagne bottles, man. They didn't have
- 20:41Speaker 5: to do that. And it's just, this is what the
- 20:45Speaker 5: brewers do. This is what the city of Milwaukee, the
- 20:48Speaker 5: state of Wisconsin, it's what they do, man. It's just
- 20:51Speaker 5: one big happy family. And everyone's just been so excited,
- 20:55Speaker 5: including the Knavels. All right.
- 20:59Speaker 4: One of the people that was really excited was JP
- 21:02Speaker 4: on the JP Fire Rising, who's on your Brewers Territory
- 21:05Speaker 4: show together. can you get a sense from him what
- 21:09Speaker 4: the locals are feeling? Because that's what I talk about. Like,
- 21:12Speaker 4: I love the fact that Big Wu won, Yelly won, Murph,
- 21:16Speaker 4: Jason Lane, like guys that we were there with, and
- 21:19Speaker 4: that's the connections that I have. But you have connections
- 21:22Speaker 4: with all the fans. So through his thick Wisconsin accent
- 21:26Speaker 4: where he says big, can you feel what the fans
- 21:30Speaker 4: are feeling?
- 21:31Speaker 5: You can, man. It's not just KP, too. I mean, yeah,
- 21:35Speaker 5: he's part of it, but it's it's from his grandparents,
- 21:39Speaker 5: from his parents, from his sisters, his cousins, his friends.
- 21:42Speaker 5: I mean, Jana and Randy Fireheisen, JP's parents are just
- 21:47Speaker 5: some of the greatest like human beings you'll know. And,
- 21:51Speaker 5: and you can say that about so many people in
- 21:53Speaker 5: Wisconsin in general, man, they're just good people. And they are,
- 21:58Speaker 5: they have been so excited. I mean, Jana sent me
- 22:02Speaker 5: a picture after and, It was their mom, or Randy's mom,
- 22:07Speaker 5: I think, who had passed away, and just one of
- 22:09Speaker 5: the biggest Brewers fans, biggest Bob Euchre fans, and just
- 22:15Speaker 5: seeing her saying she's all smiles from up above, just
- 22:19Speaker 5: like Euchre was. I mean, every text that... Murphy was
- 22:22Speaker 5: reading every, every, everybody's getting these texts, these messages from Euchre, man.
- 22:27Speaker 5: And you're seeing just so many sprinkles from them all
- 22:31Speaker 5: over this state, all over these past two days. It's been,
- 22:34Speaker 5: it's just been one huge party for everyone, man. So yeah,
- 22:39Speaker 5: it's just celebration is insane right now. It is one
- 22:46Speaker 5: of the.
- 22:46Speaker 4: Things, one of the things that since they won, you know,
- 22:50Speaker 4: obviously we have some, We have some good banter back
- 22:53Speaker 4: and forth. Ryan Braun, he's like a team mascot now.
- 22:58Speaker 4: If you were asked, and maybe you were asked, to
- 23:01Speaker 4: go and be in the parade, would you do it
- 23:04Speaker 4: as an ex-player?
- 23:08Speaker 5: They did ask. They sent me a message asking to
- 23:12Speaker 5: come be in the parade. I got a plus one.
- 23:16Speaker 5: I mean, I went back and forth with it, man.
- 23:19Speaker 5: I'm sure... there's a lot of other guys in my position,
- 23:22Speaker 5: you know, that have been a part of Milwaukee. We've
- 23:24Speaker 5: been a part of some good teams and also I've
- 23:26Speaker 5: been a part of some pretty bad teams over there
- 23:28Speaker 5: in Milwaukee. So, you know, that's, Prince Fielder said it
- 23:34Speaker 5: the best man the other day is like, dude, this ain't,
- 23:37Speaker 5: this ain't my moment, man. This is their moment.
- 23:39Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 23:39Speaker 5: I was a part of the team. This was decades ago.
- 23:42Speaker 5: And I feel the same way, man. I mean, yeah,
- 23:44Speaker 5: I feel like I'm right there with them.
- 23:46Speaker 3: I love celebrating with them.
- 23:47Speaker 5: I was at game one of the world series. It
- 23:49Speaker 5: was awesome. It was bad-ass. It was a pleasure to
- 23:51Speaker 5: be there with my wife, but this is their team, man.
- 23:55Speaker 5: This is, They earned this. We didn't earn it. You know,
- 23:58Speaker 5: and we were there in 18. Our team was nasty, man.
- 24:01Speaker 5: Our bullpen was great. This bullpen was electric. These guys
- 24:06Speaker 5: earned it. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not dissing
- 24:08Speaker 5: anybody that's there. I mean, yeah. Would I love to
- 24:10Speaker 5: be there celebrating partying with them?
- 24:12Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 24:12Speaker 5: But I also don't want to take, I'm not going
- 24:15Speaker 5: to take me the moment away from them, but I
- 24:17Speaker 5: don't want to be there in that month. That's their moment.
- 24:19Speaker 5: And That's the way I felt was let them have
- 24:22Speaker 5: their moment. You better believe I'm going to be watching
- 24:25Speaker 5: every step of the way, just like I have been.
- 24:27Speaker 5: I love this team. I love this organization. I love,
- 24:30Speaker 5: I mean, the Atanasios, Matt Arnold, and love the state.
- 24:34Speaker 5: Love my Packers too, man. It's just everything about this city,
- 24:37Speaker 5: this state has been incredible to the Canables, to me
- 24:41Speaker 5: in general. But yeah, I'm happy being right here at
- 24:46Speaker 5: home watching this, man.
- 24:48Speaker 6: That's so cool, man. You can hear the excitement in
- 24:51Speaker 6: your voice. Dude, this is it. Their first time doing it.
- 24:55Speaker 6: God bless, man. This is awesome. I'm happy for you, too.
- 24:59Speaker 6: This is really cool.
- 25:01Speaker 7: I want to talk about a certain player, Freddy Peralta, man.
- 25:04Speaker 7: Is there any chance this guy could get back there
- 25:06Speaker 7: and have another reunion.
- 25:08Speaker 6: With the Brewers? What do you think about the chances there?
- 25:11Speaker 5: I mean, look, it's hilarious you bring this up because
- 25:16Speaker 5: my wife just started talking to me about this right
- 25:18Speaker 5: before I came on. And she's like, gosh, I just,
- 25:21Speaker 5: I can't believe, you know, Freddie has been with the
- 25:24Speaker 5: org for how long, right? Eight years. And then the
- 25:27Speaker 5: one year he gets traded over. Now he's watching a
- 25:30Speaker 5: front row seat of his old team, getting a world
- 25:35Speaker 5: series championship. And the reason they trade them over, right.
- 25:39Speaker 5: Is because they don't want to be, have to pay them. That's,
- 25:41Speaker 5: that's what the brewers have been known to do.
- 25:43Speaker 6: Right.
- 25:45Speaker 5: But look, man, I mean, Freddie's going to get paid.
- 25:49Speaker 5: I think he's earned it, man, especially with that MVP,
- 25:54Speaker 5: the ALCS. How awesome, man. I mean, he earned that,
- 25:56Speaker 5: and he is going to earn every single penny. So,
- 26:00Speaker 5: I mean, look, man, somebody's going to have to cough
- 26:03Speaker 5: it up, and are the Brewers the one to do it, right?
- 26:06Speaker 5: You're probably looking at what it always is, the Dodgers,
- 26:10Speaker 5: the Yankees, and that's just how it has to be, man,
- 26:14Speaker 5: but I know that, look, the Brewers love Freddie over there.
- 26:18Speaker 5: Freddie loved Milwaukee. He even said he loved Tampa, man.
- 26:20Speaker 5: And Tampa and Milwaukee, as we all know, very similar
- 26:24Speaker 5: pitching performance teams. And, you know, the science, the pitching lab,
- 26:29Speaker 5: everything is very similar. So I think there's, it's not
- 26:33Speaker 5: out of the question, but there's a possibility he could
- 26:36Speaker 5: still have a comeback over to Milwaukee.
- 26:40Speaker 4: Scorry, I want you to look me in the eyes
- 26:42Speaker 4: and you can't lie to me.
- 26:44Speaker 6: Okay.
- 26:45Speaker 4: Do you make the Lambeau leap like Sal Freelick did?
- 26:50Speaker 5: Oh, 100%. Not a chance.
- 26:53Speaker 2: What?
- 26:54Speaker 4: You are like the second least athletic pitcher I've ever
- 26:57Speaker 4: played with.
- 26:59Speaker 5: I mean, I would have.
- 27:00Speaker 3: Okay.
- 27:00Speaker 5: You're saying physically, can I make it?
- 27:03Speaker 6: Okay.
- 27:03Speaker 5: Yes.
- 27:04Speaker 2: Physically. Did you see?
- 27:07Speaker 3: I think it was Miz.
- 27:08Speaker 5: Miz tried to get in there and do the leap.
- 27:10Speaker 5: He had to. army crawl himself up that's why I
- 27:15Speaker 5: asked would I have wanted to do it yes would
- 27:21Speaker 5: I have done it I would have done the Miz 100%
- 27:24Speaker 5: I'm getting up there but just give me a minute
- 27:27Speaker 5: give me a minute.
- 27:29Speaker 4: Corey would have looked like that old dog that's like
- 27:32Speaker 4: 15 years old used to sleep in your bed and
- 27:35Speaker 4: now they have a step they have a step for
- 27:38Speaker 4: the dog to get up into the stool Yeah, you
- 27:42Speaker 4: definitely would have needed that. But just talk about that moment.
- 27:45Speaker 4: Talk about the moment where Big Woo comes out. I
- 27:49Speaker 4: don't know. It was Yelly or Big Woo that was
- 27:51Speaker 4: going to bring the trophy. And out of the tunnel,
- 27:54Speaker 4: when I saw that video, I got chills for my guy,
- 27:58Speaker 4: Big Woo, who probably hasn't lifted his arms above his
- 28:01Speaker 4: head that high in like three years.
- 28:05Speaker 5: This is all wire.
- 28:06Speaker 2: Yes.
- 28:07Speaker 5: Yes. I mean, I'm getting chills right now thinking about it, man.
- 28:12Speaker 5: I mean, just, just, I mean, you said it best to,
- 28:16Speaker 5: you know, everything that, that Woodruff, there he is, man.
- 28:19Speaker 5: Everything that Woodruff has meant to the city, to the team,
- 28:24Speaker 5: what he's done, the adversity he's gone through, you know,
- 28:29Speaker 5: we've all had those thoughts, right. Of our playing career of,
- 28:34Speaker 5: you know, this might be it, right. You know, you,
- 28:36Speaker 5: you always, there's thoughts in your head where this might
- 28:39Speaker 5: be it, but I'm going to keep going. And then,
- 28:42Speaker 5: I mean, how many, how many of those thoughts has
- 28:45Speaker 5: Woody had over just, yeah, like you said, these past
- 28:47Speaker 5: three years, all the injuries he's gone through. And I
- 28:51Speaker 5: went through those injuries too.
- 28:53Speaker 2: Not, not like Woody.
- 28:55Speaker 5: Cause I got to that point where I was, I just,
- 28:58Speaker 5: I'm tired of, of this. I can't stay healthy and
- 29:01Speaker 5: nothing is, is it. And, and, and, I made the
- 29:04Speaker 5: decision to be done with it. And Woody has not
- 29:07Speaker 5: stopped fighting. And the fact that he was told, right,
- 29:12Speaker 5: that this is it, you know, you're going to have
- 29:14Speaker 5: to get your second surgery and it's not looking good.
- 29:17Speaker 5: He battles those odds, doesn't get the surgery, comes back
- 29:21Speaker 5: and pitches in the World Series. So for him to
- 29:25Speaker 5: be holding the trophy, I mean, really, there was no
- 29:29Speaker 5: better guy to hoist that trophy at Lambeau to just
- 29:35Speaker 5: hoist the trophy man that guy yeah you know him
- 29:38Speaker 5: too man what a special human being amazing baseball player
- 29:43Speaker 5: yeah I love it man I do love the Woody's love.
- 29:49Speaker 6: The Woody yes that's great.
- 29:52Speaker 7: I'm just looking ahead a little bit I hate doing
- 29:55Speaker 7: it but at the same time like how did they
- 29:58Speaker 7: get better next year? Like what, what, is there something
- 30:01Speaker 7: that you think like, okay, maybe they could be better
- 30:04Speaker 7: at this or, you know, what, what do you think
- 30:06Speaker 7: next year is something, or maybe in free agency, they're
- 30:09Speaker 7: going to, you know, try and look at to, to
- 30:11Speaker 7: kind of repeat.
- 30:12Speaker 6: Is there anything on your mind you think right now?
- 30:15Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 30:16Speaker 5: I mean, obviously there's always room for improvement in every,
- 30:20Speaker 5: every team, even, you know, even after this, you know,
- 30:22Speaker 5: Murphy's already thinking about spring training next year before the
- 30:24Speaker 5: world series even ended. Right. So, And I mean, look,
- 30:28Speaker 5: I did talk to, you know, AJ Brown. I think, yeah,
- 30:31Speaker 5: crafts was on there too, you know, before spring training started,
- 30:36Speaker 5: or maybe it was right. Yeah. Right before the spring
- 30:38Speaker 5: training game started this year, you know, they're asking me
- 30:41Speaker 5: questions on, you know, what the team needs to do
- 30:43Speaker 5: this year. And I said, I'm so many ifs, right.
- 30:46Speaker 5: You know, if Woody can stay healthy all year, if Mr.
- 30:49Speaker 5: Raskin goes down and has a Cy Young here, if
- 30:51Speaker 5: Yelly can come back to his old self, you know,
- 30:54Speaker 5: there's so many ifs and, and, And then if there
- 30:57Speaker 5: is these ifs, you know, we can be World Series champions.
- 31:01Speaker 5: And all those ifs, they paid out, right? They panned out.
- 31:05Speaker 5: And now you look at next year. I mean, yeah, obviously,
- 31:09Speaker 5: hopefully Woody is back doing it again next year. But
- 31:13Speaker 5: if look, if we can keep. Taking momentum, taking those
- 31:17Speaker 5: games that we did this year and the bats. I mean,
- 31:22Speaker 5: that's not Brewers baseball, right? You know, going out, you know,
- 31:25Speaker 5: Scott was talking about it earlier, getting those home runs.
- 31:27Speaker 5: That's not what we do, right? Or not what the
- 31:29Speaker 5: Brewers do. But look, we got everybody that's still here.
- 31:33Speaker 5: There's so many guys under team control until, what, 2029, 2030.
- 31:36Speaker 5: You got Yelly up until 29, Churrio, Ashby. There's still
- 31:44Speaker 5: plenty of guys in here to pass along this way
- 31:48Speaker 5: of Brewers baseball to keep going. And obviously there's going
- 31:50Speaker 5: to be some additions with D. May and Jake Bowers
- 31:53Speaker 5: probably going somewhere else. But I think JoJo too. But look,
- 32:00Speaker 5: there's not a lot that you got to change, right?
- 32:03Speaker 5: I think Murph says it best. When you come over
- 32:06Speaker 5: to Milwaukee, you come to this clubhouse, you just do...
- 32:10Speaker 5: what you do best, you're going to do what you
- 32:12Speaker 5: can do best. And we're going to show you the
- 32:15Speaker 5: Brewers way. But I mean, obviously it's, it's whoever comes
- 32:19Speaker 5: over here has got to buy in. And I think this,
- 32:22Speaker 5: this team is going to be good for a long time.
- 32:24Speaker 5: They're always going to be a threat in major league baseball,
- 32:29Speaker 5: no matter what, man.
- 32:32Speaker 6: Corey, Corey Knable.
- 32:34Speaker 4: You're a guy. You're one of my favorite. We appreciate
- 32:36Speaker 4: you coming on. And enjoy the rest of your... Hook'em Horns.
- 32:44Speaker 5: They got Mississippi State this weekend. It's a big one
- 32:47Speaker 5: for you. Head to head, dude.
- 32:51Speaker 1: Bring your winning vibes everywhere right now, Corey. Just bring
- 32:54Speaker 1: it and sprinkle it all over all your favorite teams.
- 32:57Speaker 1: But dude, great coverage all October long too.
- 33:00Speaker 6: It was awesome.
- 33:01Speaker 1: So hope you're enjoying the media experience and feeling a
- 33:04Speaker 1: little closer to the game since you Hung them up, but.
- 33:07Speaker 6: You're doing great.
- 33:09Speaker 5: Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me on.
- 33:11Speaker 1: Appreciate you. That's Corey Knabel. And baseball fans, time to
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