Latest / Foul Territory / Katie Woo on Skubal sweepstakes + How Murakami landed w/the White Sox

Transcript

Katie Woo on Skubal sweepstakes + How Murakami landed w/the White Sox · Foul Territory

0:13
Speaker 1: Hey, anytime we get to talk White Sox baseball here
0:15
Speaker 1: on Foul Territory. I'm obviously excited because as the resident
0:18
Speaker 1: White Sox homer, they are in first place and they're
0:22
Speaker 1: kicking ass and they're better than the Cubs. So we
0:24
Speaker 1: were joined now by David Keller, Special Assistant to this
0:28
Speaker 1: Traveling Secretary Eddie Casson. I mean, GM, Chris Gatz, I
0:32
Speaker 1: mean I don't know.
0:34
Speaker 2: Whatever that means. DK.
0:36
Speaker 3: What is exactly your title? Because I know our producer asked,
0:42
Speaker 3: but when I looked it up, there was no way
0:44
Speaker 3: I was going to say that without saying you drive
0:46
Speaker 3: a Dodge Stratus. So what exactly is your title?
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Speaker 4: My exact title is Special Assistant to the GM Chris Gatz.
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Speaker 3: With what special privileges to the International Scouting Services Department
1:01
Speaker 3: of Culture.
1:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I oversee our international Scouting department, which includes
1:07
Speaker 4: pro and international spaces. I assist in the draft process,
1:13
Speaker 4: help out Mike Shirley in his group in the draft,
1:16
Speaker 4: and then help Chris when it comes time to talk
1:19
Speaker 4: about player personnel moves as well. So I get to
1:22
Speaker 4: do a little bit of everything, which is great. The
1:25
Speaker 4: variety is outstanding, and man just really thankful to be
1:29
Speaker 4: a part of this group and that Chris has assembled
1:32
Speaker 4: and I think we're on the right track.
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Speaker 3: Hi. DK, you were in high school with me at
1:38
Speaker 3: the same time. You had red hair and I had
1:41
Speaker 3: whatever color hair it was. But that's all gone. Can
1:44
Speaker 3: you give us the short two minute version of what
1:49
Speaker 3: got you to this spot? Because I honestly didn't even
1:51
Speaker 3: know you were with the White Sox because until I
1:54
Speaker 3: read an article about the behind the scenes draft process
1:58
Speaker 3: and your name popped up and I you, I was like,
2:01
Speaker 3: you're the what, the the who, to the where and
2:04
Speaker 3: so can you give us that to say? Pretty much,
2:07
Speaker 3: that's showing your credentials, your resume to where you are
2:12
Speaker 3: now and we'll jump off from there.
2:15
Speaker 4: Yeah. So you know, first of all, Eric, good to
2:18
Speaker 4: see you again. Man, it's been a while. You know,
2:23
Speaker 4: played high school. You know that I wasn't that great
2:25
Speaker 4: as a player, but loved the game, loved studying the game,
2:29
Speaker 4: and went to Bucknell University. I will make this as
2:33
Speaker 4: quick as possible. Went to Bucknell University, playing career to
2:36
Speaker 4: not go the way that I wanted it to. Got
2:41
Speaker 4: into coaching right away. I coached the high school team
2:43
Speaker 4: right out of College was the head JV coach. Shout
2:47
Speaker 4: out to Louisbourg High School and as I started to
2:52
Speaker 4: coach those kids along with a real job, I realized
2:56
Speaker 4: and rediscovered a love for the game and started sending
2:59
Speaker 4: resumes and cover letters everywhere. I was fortunate enough to
3:03
Speaker 4: get a job with our hometown team in Philadelphia. Worked
3:07
Speaker 4: as an intern with the Phillies for two years. At
3:10
Speaker 4: the end of the second year, they didn't have anything
3:12
Speaker 4: for me and went and worked in the Atlantic League
3:15
Speaker 4: for another two years, where I got to gain a
3:18
Speaker 4: ton of valuable experience, whether it was negotiating contracts, assembling
3:21
Speaker 4: a roster, dealing with the coaching staff, handling p one
3:25
Speaker 4: Visa's budgets, all that stuff, and really a platform where
3:30
Speaker 4: I could make mistakes and learn that eventually springboard me
3:36
Speaker 4: into a role in player development in the front office
3:39
Speaker 4: with the Arizona Diamondbacks in two thousand and nine. Got
3:42
Speaker 4: to work with some incredible people there. AJ Hinch, Tommy Allison,
3:47
Speaker 4: Jerry Depoto, Josh Burns. The list could go on and on,
3:50
Speaker 4: but a lot of amazing people there. And then I
3:54
Speaker 4: got my first scouting opportunity the New York Mets hired
3:58
Speaker 4: me to be a professional scout. I was responsible for
4:01
Speaker 4: the independent leagues and the California League. They were gracious
4:06
Speaker 4: enough to let me make mistakes along the way and
4:09
Speaker 4: learn and grow into the job. And two years into
4:13
Speaker 4: that experience, the Red Sox called and asked for permission.
4:17
Speaker 4: They brought me on as a pro scout, but also
4:21
Speaker 4: allowed me to do some other things, whether it was
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Speaker 4: international or amateur scouting. Forever indebted to Ben Charrington and
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Speaker 4: some others who really played a pivotal role in my
4:31
Speaker 4: life and allowed me to grow. And at the end
4:34
Speaker 4: of three years, after twelve thirteen fourteen with the Red Sox,
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Speaker 4: I became the pro scouting director in Miami. I was
4:39
Speaker 4: there for two educational years, got fired for the first time,
4:45
Speaker 4: and you know, I know players know what it's like
4:48
Speaker 4: to be released. That was the first time that I'd
4:50
Speaker 4: really experienced something like that, but another opportunity to grow,
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Speaker 4: and the Mets were kind of enough to welcome me
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Speaker 4: back with open arms. Was there for eight years, got
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Speaker 4: to do a little bit of everything amateur draft, international scouting,
5:05
Speaker 4: and then some pro stuff as well. Prior to Chris
5:09
Speaker 4: picking up the phone and asking me if I wanted
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Speaker 4: to join the White Sox and his team.
5:14
Speaker 3: Okay, that sounds like my playing career. So something about
5:18
Speaker 3: our high school Christopher Doc now Doc Academy. I guess
5:22
Speaker 3: we just have the grinder mentality, not like people from
5:25
Speaker 3: Doctor Pepper High School where AJ went to. But we're
5:29
Speaker 3: going right now to Chris Getz and kind of in
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Speaker 3: charging you with the international aspect, obviously the pro aspect
5:39
Speaker 3: of scouting too. But how different is that international scouting
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Speaker 3: than the pro scouting Because I remember talking to you
5:47
Speaker 3: when you were at the Mets and talking about your
5:49
Speaker 3: travel obviously all that stuff, but like this process and
5:54
Speaker 3: then ultimately we'll get to the whole you know, murrh COMI.
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Speaker 3: But what's the difference in the pro to the international
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Speaker 3: scouting for you? And which is more invigorating or do
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Speaker 3: you like better? Yeah?
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Speaker 4: So I have an appreciation for all three phases. And
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Speaker 4: there are two different veins within the international scouting community.
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Speaker 4: There's the amateur side, which is predominantly young Latin American
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Speaker 4: players Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama, Mexico, the ABC Islands. And
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Speaker 4: then there's the pro aspect, where you're focusing on the
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Speaker 4: professional international leagues, whether it's the KBO, the MPB, or
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Speaker 4: the league in Taiwan, so the travel the travel doesn't stop,
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Speaker 4: but the travel is different. In the professional world, you
6:44
Speaker 4: kind of know where you're going, you set it out
6:46
Speaker 4: ahead of time. There might be a couple of weeks
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Speaker 4: around the deadline where you're jumping on a plane every
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Speaker 4: day and going to a different city to see certain players.
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Speaker 4: But internationally, it's it's a little more on demand, and
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Speaker 4: you know, you can schedule trips, but every once in
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Speaker 4: a while a player pops up and I have to
7:05
Speaker 4: get on a plane to Santa Domingo, you know. So
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Speaker 4: there's a little more volatility with that market, but it's exciting.
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Speaker 4: It's a good place to be and I really enjoyed
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Speaker 4: the international market. We watch players some are as young
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Speaker 4: as ten years old. I think the last scouting trip
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Speaker 4: I had down to the dr they put a ten
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Speaker 4: year old home in the field, and you know, you
7:34
Speaker 4: start to build history with those players. You get to
7:36
Speaker 4: see them at the earliest stages of their development, understanding
7:40
Speaker 4: that there's a ton of risk that comes with trying
7:43
Speaker 4: to project young players forward into who they're going to be,
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Speaker 4: not just as potentially a professional player, but just as
7:51
Speaker 4: a adolescent, whether it's seventeen eighteen years old. I think
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Speaker 4: the mental gymnastics and the challenges that come with doing
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Speaker 4: the amateur international space for me are really rewarding and
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Speaker 4: fulfilling in large part because we get to build relationships
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Speaker 4: with these young men as well as they develop and
8:14
Speaker 4: start their baseball journey.
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Speaker 2: That's great.
9:18
Speaker 1: One of your big signings this offseason, David was Munna taka,
9:22
Speaker 1: gonna tak you Morecami, right, we're gonna talk more. You know,
9:25
Speaker 1: the White Sox felled it wrong, so I can say
9:27
Speaker 1: it wrong too, So it's fine.
9:28
Speaker 2: Uh, no big deal.
9:30
Speaker 1: But keeping I know, neither was I, but it was.
9:34
Speaker 1: It was pretty funny. And I know the clubhouse guys
9:36
Speaker 1: very well. They were mortified, so we don't want to
9:38
Speaker 1: drag them into into the mud.
9:40
Speaker 2: Uh.
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Speaker 1: But he he was not expected to sign with the
9:43
Speaker 1: White Sox. There was other teams that were expected to
9:45
Speaker 1: sign him. How did and I hate this term, but
9:49
Speaker 1: how did he fall into the White Sox lap because
9:52
Speaker 1: that's kind of the narrative out there that oh, at
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Speaker 1: the end, did White Sox kind of jumped in, you know,
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Speaker 1: into the deep end of.
9:59
Speaker 2: The pool here and brought him in.
10:01
Speaker 1: And if you take away when he was hurt for
10:02
Speaker 1: that while he'd be right at the top of the
10:05
Speaker 1: leaderboard for home runs, he'd probably be winning Rookie of
10:07
Speaker 1: the Year. How did this come about over in Japan?
10:11
Speaker 1: For traditionally the white sex don't jump into the Japan market.
10:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think you need to look at a
10:17
Speaker 4: couple of things. I think one good outcome. Good outcomes
10:22
Speaker 4: can come from bad process, and bad outcomes can come
10:25
Speaker 4: from good process. I don't necessarily agree with the narrative
10:30
Speaker 4: that this was us jumping in late right when I
10:35
Speaker 4: came on board in September of twenty four in talking
10:38
Speaker 4: to Chris, we talked about the importance of having a
10:41
Speaker 4: presence in Asia and how we were going to go
10:46
Speaker 4: about that. And so it started with identifying players that
10:50
Speaker 4: we believe were going to come over from the MPB.
10:53
Speaker 4: Murkami was obviously one, and we talked about what a
10:58
Speaker 4: good process would look like. We hired a full time
11:01
Speaker 4: scout in Japan, brought him on board to help organize
11:06
Speaker 4: information to help accommodate trips for myself and others over
11:11
Speaker 4: to Japan, and then we went about the work. And
11:17
Speaker 4: so you know, last year, being my first year with
11:20
Speaker 4: the club, I was the only one that went to Japan,
11:24
Speaker 4: spent fourteen days there. Obviously saw a bunch of key players,
11:29
Speaker 4: not just Murakami, but also Okamoto and some other guys
11:33
Speaker 4: that are likely to come over in the following years.
11:38
Speaker 4: And you know a big part of that is, yes,
11:41
Speaker 4: you want to spend time evaluating the player and the talent,
11:45
Speaker 4: but you also want to use all of the context
11:48
Speaker 4: clues that are available to talk to people who are
11:50
Speaker 4: around them, get an understanding of who they are as
11:54
Speaker 4: a person, what the makeup is like, how do they
11:56
Speaker 4: interact with coaches, how do they interact with staff, teammates,
12:00
Speaker 4: all of the above. And so we went through that
12:04
Speaker 4: whole process, not not just with Munataka but also with
12:09
Speaker 4: Okamoto and some others, and you know, filed a report,
12:13
Speaker 4: send it to Chris, told him, here are the guys
12:15
Speaker 4: that I expect to come over. This is how I
12:19
Speaker 4: value them, and and we talked about it and going
12:23
Speaker 4: into the off season as we tried to construct this rosters.
12:27
Speaker 4: As Chris and Josh Barfield and others contributed to this,
12:32
Speaker 4: you know, it was something where his name kept coming up,
12:37
Speaker 4: and so we monitored it and and quite frankly, I
12:39
Speaker 4: think all of us expected the value of the contract
12:43
Speaker 4: to exceed what it eventually became and give Chris a
12:48
Speaker 4: ton of credit here. You know, he kept coming back
12:52
Speaker 4: to Murakami and we kept talking about it and what
12:55
Speaker 4: it looked like and what a deal that what a
12:59
Speaker 4: deal that would look good for us but also for
13:01
Speaker 4: the player would look like. And you know, I think
13:04
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, as that market started
13:07
Speaker 4: to come back to where we felt comfortable and where
13:11
Speaker 4: we felt like we could take on the risk of
13:13
Speaker 4: adding somebody with Mooney's ability, that's when we became more
13:17
Speaker 4: proactive and ultimately, you know, Chris, you know, went to
13:23
Speaker 4: Jerry and was able to get this one of the
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Speaker 4: finish line. And I'm really happy that he did.
13:29
Speaker 3: What did you see, Amurakami when you saw him? What
13:32
Speaker 3: did you see in the sense of the physical baseball
13:35
Speaker 3: skills and what were you because you just said the
13:38
Speaker 3: risk of a contract like this on the field, what
13:41
Speaker 3: was the risk that you were afraid of?
13:45
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I don't think it's a secret, Eric that
13:49
Speaker 4: you know, he was playing in Japan. The velocity in
13:53
Speaker 4: Japan's a little bit different than it is at the
13:55
Speaker 4: major league level, and when he faced velocity there where,
14:00
Speaker 4: there were some concerns that he was not going to
14:02
Speaker 4: be able to handle that. I think that was a
14:05
Speaker 4: widespread thing throughout the league. I think that's part of
14:09
Speaker 4: why the market was a little more tepid than what
14:11
Speaker 4: he expected than what we expected. But in going over there,
14:17
Speaker 4: I had been there in the past, I'd seen him
14:19
Speaker 4: the last three years. A couple of things. One, you know,
14:25
Speaker 4: just to simplify scouting from my perspective, and you know,
14:30
Speaker 4: I don't think this is a big secret. We look
14:32
Speaker 4: at the body and he had done tremendous work from
14:38
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four on his body.
14:43
Speaker 4: You know, he had taken taken the appropriate steps with
14:46
Speaker 4: a lot of intentionality to making sure that his diet
14:50
Speaker 4: was dialed in, to make sure that his athleticism was
14:53
Speaker 4: at its peak form. And so that jumped out right away.
14:57
Speaker 4: You know, one that he had the discipline and the
15:00
Speaker 4: regiment and the people around him to help him get
15:03
Speaker 4: that right. It had to stand out. And then then
15:07
Speaker 4: you watch him on the baseball field, right and he
15:10
Speaker 4: moves around and he's far more athletic than I think
15:13
Speaker 4: people give him credit for. He runs the bases incredibly well,
15:17
Speaker 4: he's very instinctual as a player, and so you look
15:20
Speaker 4: at the the athlete part of it and you go, yeah,
15:23
Speaker 4: you know what he's he's a sneaky good athlete for
15:26
Speaker 4: a man his size. And then you get into the
15:29
Speaker 4: baseball part, and you know, for for me and I'm
15:33
Speaker 4: sure for a lot of others, we focus on the
15:35
Speaker 4: hit tool doesn't doesn't change from high school to to
15:41
Speaker 4: the big leagues. Really, if you can hit, there's generally
15:44
Speaker 4: going to be a spot for you. And you know,
15:46
Speaker 4: he's he's a guy who consistently put together quality at bats.
15:50
Speaker 4: He knew the strike zone, and the power stands out significantly.
15:56
Speaker 4: It's it's eighty raw power. The fact that he has
16:00
Speaker 4: done this much damage and limited time so far this year,
16:04
Speaker 4: participate in the home run Derby, I think speaks to
16:07
Speaker 4: how much power he has. And then we have to
16:10
Speaker 4: get into the defense. You know, he was playing third
16:12
Speaker 4: base in Japan. I felt like that was that was
16:16
Speaker 4: going to be something that would have to improve when
16:19
Speaker 4: he came over, and the first base might be a
16:21
Speaker 4: better fit for him long term. And so you put
16:25
Speaker 4: all those things together and now you're really forming a
16:29
Speaker 4: vision of what the player could be and selling that
16:32
Speaker 4: vision to Chris to ownership and trying to understand, you know,
16:38
Speaker 4: where the pitfalls might be if it goes wrong, what
16:42
Speaker 4: could get him. And then and then also you know,
16:45
Speaker 4: turning that over to Ryan Fuller and our hitting department
16:48
Speaker 4: and going, hey, you know, I think there are a
16:50
Speaker 4: couple of adjustments that can be made here and if
16:52
Speaker 4: we are successful in doing so, you know, it's it
16:56
Speaker 4: could be special. And give Ryan a ton of credit.
16:59
Speaker 4: He spent a lot time watching film on on Mooney
17:03
Speaker 4: and felt like he embodied a couple of things that
17:08
Speaker 4: we really like and value as an organization, but also
17:11
Speaker 4: saw the same opportunities for him to improve offensively and
17:15
Speaker 4: really contribute at a high level.
17:18
Speaker 3: Hi, Dave, So you've interviewed and I know the extensive
17:21
Speaker 3: process in Japan, Like it means a lot to Japanese
17:23
Speaker 3: players to like see that you're invested in them. There's
17:28
Speaker 3: there's some you know, Dodgers talked about it with Yamamoto
17:31
Speaker 3: and this class with Mirkami, Imi and Okamoto. What's mir
17:39
Speaker 3: Kami's personality? Because we see the baseball side of it,
17:43
Speaker 3: But when I'm watching White Sox games or when I'm
17:45
Speaker 3: watching interviews, it seems like his personality is like way
17:50
Speaker 3: less boring than the other guys. Am I am. I
17:52
Speaker 3: spot on them with that.
17:54
Speaker 4: You're spot on. He's a character, right. He might he
17:58
Speaker 4: might not speak English in the same way that you
18:00
Speaker 4: and I do, but he's he's very quick witted, he's sharp,
18:03
Speaker 4: he's funny, he's a tremendous teammate. And I think that
18:08
Speaker 4: came through and everybody that we talked to during my
18:11
Speaker 4: trip in Japan, people that I talked to after I
18:14
Speaker 4: came back, that's the one thing that came through. He
18:17
Speaker 4: cares about his teammates, and he cares about winning, and
18:21
Speaker 4: you know, you put all those things together and you think,
18:25
Speaker 4: you know, as Chris and I talked about it, you know,
18:27
Speaker 4: this is a guy that was a superstar in Japan.
18:31
Speaker 4: He knew what the limelight was like. And you insert
18:36
Speaker 4: him into a clubhouse with guys around him his same age,
18:40
Speaker 4: who are who are trying to find their footing at
18:43
Speaker 4: the major league level and maybe not used to the
18:46
Speaker 4: same type of attention, and some would call it pressure.
18:51
Speaker 4: And he's already done that. He's already achieved that and
18:55
Speaker 4: passed with flying colors, And so I think those things,
18:59
Speaker 4: You boil it down and you're like, wow, this this
19:01
Speaker 4: could be a really good fit for us.
19:05
Speaker 3: All right, who's next?
19:07
Speaker 5: Then?
19:07
Speaker 3: Who's the next Japanese star? You said, you've you've you've
19:10
Speaker 3: watched a few. You're not giving anybody. Look, oh, it's
19:14
Speaker 3: a secret this players who's the next Japanese star that
19:17
Speaker 3: now the White Sox have made a splash. I mean
19:21
Speaker 3: Tadahito Agucci was was AJ's teammate back in the day.
19:25
Speaker 3: But this splash makes puts Chicago on the map. They're
19:30
Speaker 3: no Dodgers yet. But who's the next star that's there
19:33
Speaker 3: that you're like, everybody needs to see this guy?
19:36
Speaker 6: Yeah?
19:36
Speaker 4: No, I think there are a couple, right, you know,
19:39
Speaker 4: and we'll we'll we'll address that as it comes. I
19:42
Speaker 4: think you know, nobody's there are no secrets as to
19:46
Speaker 4: who is coming over, but don't want to don't want
19:49
Speaker 4: to tip our hand quite yet as to who we're
19:51
Speaker 4: targeting and who we we would try and bring to
19:53
Speaker 4: the South Side of Chicago just yet.
19:56
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, that's fair. Well, the last one I got
19:59
Speaker 3: is the fact that I'm supper. I'm not I'm not
20:02
Speaker 3: employed by the White Sox. AJ got fired from the
20:04
Speaker 3: White Sox. But I'm not employed because three of my
20:07
Speaker 3: ex teammates, Dave Keller, m Josh Barfield, and Chris Gatz
20:13
Speaker 3: are all just the hefes in the White Sox organization.
20:17
Speaker 3: So I think I'm not hired because I work with AJ.
20:20
Speaker 3: But I'm okay with that because I like working with AJ.
20:24
Speaker 4: Well, hey, Eric, don't worry. I will make sure that
20:28
Speaker 4: both of those guys know that you are. You are
20:30
Speaker 4: the head coach of a state champion baseball team back
20:33
Speaker 4: in Pennsylvania, So I'll let him know.
20:36
Speaker 3: AJ knows too. I bring out my I bring out
20:39
Speaker 3: my medal, right right, AJ, Yeah, but you get a medal,
20:42
Speaker 3: two I have two or even coaches get a medal.
20:45
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, wow, yeah, congratulations scratch if we fit on
20:50
Speaker 3: this and yeah, he won to he won it, and
20:52
Speaker 3: it was awesome. His son had a big game, and
20:53
Speaker 3: it was pretty cool to to.
20:55
Speaker 2: See that happen.
20:56
Speaker 1: And I saw JJ Lawley this week, David so him
21:00
Speaker 1: and Frank Thomas were having a flex off in the stands.
21:03
Speaker 1: It was pretty funny. They received the could wear a
21:05
Speaker 1: tighter shirt. So make sure when you see JJ you
21:07
Speaker 1: passed that he lost the flex off to for me,
21:10
Speaker 1: so I appreciate.
21:11
Speaker 4: It would I would anticipate a flex off between him
21:15
Speaker 4: and Frank would not end well for JJ.
21:18
Speaker 1: All right, well, David, thank you very much, you know,
21:21
Speaker 1: for me from all the White Sox fans out there,
21:24
Speaker 1: thank you. Good luck finding the next White Sox star.
21:28
Speaker 2: We'll be keeping on the.
21:29
Speaker 1: Eye on the White Sox, not only in the future,
21:30
Speaker 1: but definitely for this year since they are in first
21:32
Speaker 1: place and they are better than Cubs on my power ranking.
21:39
Speaker 1: All right, let's welcome in Katie Wu from Dodgers Territory
21:43
Speaker 1: and the Athletic Katie. Have you figured out which mascots
21:46
Speaker 1: were which yet? Because we ran into a thing at
21:49
Speaker 1: the All Star game where Katie, Tricia, and myself were
21:52
Speaker 1: in a random place and all the mascots were there
21:56
Speaker 1: and we were trying to figure out which one went
21:58
Speaker 1: with which team.
21:59
Speaker 2: So, Katie, have you figured it out yet?
22:02
Speaker 7: No? And I have to say I don't like the
22:03
Speaker 7: mascots out of character. I like it better like I
22:07
Speaker 7: need to see Wally with the Wally head on. I
22:09
Speaker 7: I don't like these like regular people mascots. I need
22:13
Speaker 7: to It's like, I don't know, It's like if it
22:17
Speaker 7: just didn't feel real to me. It's like a real
22:19
Speaker 7: mascot you mentioned when they are real people, you know,
22:21
Speaker 7: kind of ruined the vibe.
22:22
Speaker 2: I got you, I got you. Can you name the
22:24
Speaker 2: Dodgers mascot.
22:27
Speaker 7: I don't think they have one?
22:29
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson all right? No, you know he's there Jersey
22:35
Speaker 1: every time. The big game magics here guys? Or what's
22:38
Speaker 1: the lady behind home Plade the blonde lady from No
22:45
Speaker 1: Entertainment tonight?
22:46
Speaker 3: Uh?
22:49
Speaker 2: It's Milwaukee, very hard, very.
22:55
Speaker 7: Hard, very hard, A good star guys.
23:00
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, well done, Katie.
23:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, we love Katie. Who let's let's get into the Dodgers. Katie.
23:05
Speaker 2: We have to talk about the Dodgers. You know, they're
23:07
Speaker 2: so good. Woo woo woo. You know we love the Dodgers.
23:12
Speaker 2: Is scoobl going to be a Dodger?
23:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, we'll do some Dodger eleven. I know, your favorite
23:16
Speaker 7: thing to do AJ on this Friday. I think that's
23:18
Speaker 7: the question every exec across the industry is just assuming
23:22
Speaker 7: the answer is going to be yes. And it makes
23:24
Speaker 7: sense because anytime there's a big, high profile marquee player available,
23:28
Speaker 7: you expect the Los Angeles Dodgers to be in it.
23:30
Speaker 7: I think the bigger question is is Schooble actually going
23:33
Speaker 7: to be available? Will the Tigers trade him? I mean,
23:36
Speaker 7: they are just a few games out of the wildcard
23:38
Speaker 7: and I know what six seven games back out of
23:40
Speaker 7: the AL Central, maybe four or five games out of
23:42
Speaker 7: the final wildcard spot in the American League. But as
23:45
Speaker 7: we've seen last year, guys, the American League can switch
23:49
Speaker 7: in a week. And I was talking to a couple
23:50
Speaker 7: of rival execs and they said, you know, the Tigers
23:52
Speaker 7: are one week away, a heater away from being right
23:55
Speaker 7: back into contention. Will they move Schooble? And you can
23:58
Speaker 7: go back and forth and if they should or shouldn't.
24:00
Speaker 7: I'd argue that this Tiger's team over the off season
24:03
Speaker 7: was not built to be disassembled, right. You don't go
24:05
Speaker 7: out there and bring in Valdez extand the qualifying offer
24:08
Speaker 7: to Glabor Torres if and kind of know that this
24:11
Speaker 7: could be your last season with Schoogle because it's pretty
24:14
Speaker 7: unlikely in my opinion, they can bring him back in
24:15
Speaker 7: free agency just to sell It's a really hard message
24:19
Speaker 7: to send to your fan base. But if they do
24:21
Speaker 7: decide to trade him, I'd expect the Dodgers I would
24:24
Speaker 7: expect Andrew Freeman to make a call. And this is
24:27
Speaker 7: what this Dodgers organization is so good at. We talk
24:30
Speaker 7: about this a lot. They love to just hang around
24:32
Speaker 7: the backboard and they're ready for a rebound when the
24:34
Speaker 7: market or the industry dictates it. Right now, it's still
24:37
Speaker 7: too early to say if that's something they're going to
24:39
Speaker 7: be able to do. You can just never rule them out.
24:41
Speaker 7: They have the prospect capital, there's no financial flexibil or
24:44
Speaker 7: financial limitations. Obviously, they can be very flexible with their
24:47
Speaker 7: cash here. So all things considered, I see why these
24:50
Speaker 7: two parties are still being connected. But we aren't really
24:53
Speaker 7: going to know for sure where those tracks pick up
24:55
Speaker 7: until about a week from now, when we know what
24:57
Speaker 7: the market looks like.
24:59
Speaker 5: Todd Father hitting some games this summer.
25:01
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25:05
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25:07
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25:11
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25:14
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25:19
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25:22
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25:25
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25:58
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25:59
Speaker 6: Love that's a great answer. So my question to you is,
26:02
Speaker 6: take Schoolble out of it. What is their biggest need?
26:06
Speaker 6: Where do you think the Dodgers if you can't get Schoolble.
26:09
Speaker 6: I don't know what's going to happen with him. You know,
26:11
Speaker 6: we'll see. But if they can't get schoolable, what is
26:14
Speaker 6: the number one thing this Dodger team needed. It seems
26:17
Speaker 6: like they'll figure it out even if they don't, but
26:19
Speaker 6: what is their number one need in your opinion?
26:22
Speaker 7: So I've said this a couple of times and it
26:24
Speaker 7: remains true. The most annoying thing you can hear in
26:26
Speaker 7: execs say this time of year is this cliche of well,
26:28
Speaker 7: we're getting so and so, back off the iel. It's
26:31
Speaker 7: just like making a trade, except it's literally not. But
26:33
Speaker 7: in the Dodgers case, you can make the argument that
26:36
Speaker 7: these guys coming off the iya else soon, Blake Snell,
26:39
Speaker 7: Van Diaz, Tyler Glass, now Keiky Hernandez will Smith. All
26:43
Speaker 7: of these guys that the Dodgers expect to be back
26:45
Speaker 7: as early as Tuesday through before September, depending on the guy,
26:49
Speaker 7: are guys that, well, I don't think you can find
26:52
Speaker 7: on the market that are going to be better. Right, Like,
26:54
Speaker 7: there's not a starter outside of schoobl that's going to
26:56
Speaker 7: make the Dodgers better than Blake Snell returning or Tyler
26:58
Speaker 7: Glass now returning. There's not a clothes are available that's
27:00
Speaker 7: going to be better for the Dodgers than Edmund Dia
27:02
Speaker 7: is getting healthy. He could be back as early as Tuesday. Also,
27:06
Speaker 7: and you have to remember many clubs around this deadline
27:09
Speaker 7: are looking to acquire players that are going to help
27:11
Speaker 7: them improve over the last two months of the regular
27:13
Speaker 7: season and sneak into the postseason. That's not what the
27:16
Speaker 7: Dodgers are looking to do at the deadline. The Dodgers,
27:18
Speaker 7: if they're going to make a move, it's either going
27:20
Speaker 7: to be something for their long term future. So you're
27:22
Speaker 7: looking at prospect trades, we can get into that. Or
27:25
Speaker 7: if you're looking at upgrading the major league roster, Los
27:27
Speaker 7: Angeles is only doing so if they know that they
27:30
Speaker 7: can get someone that makes them better in October. They
27:33
Speaker 7: don't need a sixth starter, right they don't need a
27:36
Speaker 7: third string backup catcher. If they're going to make a move,
27:38
Speaker 7: it's going to be someone that's going to increase their
27:40
Speaker 7: odds of winning in October. If they don't care about
27:42
Speaker 7: the regular season, they care about getting the first round
27:45
Speaker 7: by they're not chasing the regular season record. They care
27:47
Speaker 7: about getting into the playoffs and winning that third straight
27:50
Speaker 7: World Series. So anyone they look to acquire for that
27:52
Speaker 7: major league roster is going to be someone that makes
27:55
Speaker 7: them better come October. You can make the argument guys
27:57
Speaker 7: and I tend to agree that those guys coming back
27:59
Speaker 7: are going to make the team better than anyone available
28:02
Speaker 7: on the market right now. All that matters, of course,
28:04
Speaker 7: is health, and it's a risky gamble giving you know,
28:06
Speaker 7: Snalls coming off of surgery. Dz Glass now has missed
28:09
Speaker 7: most of the season with the back issue. But all
28:11
Speaker 7: things considered, those names coming back make the Dodgers the
28:14
Speaker 7: best it could possibly become October. I don't see a
28:17
Speaker 7: lot of names outside of Schooble that have the same effect.
28:20
Speaker 3: All right out fear for are we of Otani's injury?
28:24
Speaker 3: If in Dodger Land, what is the fear or expectation
28:29
Speaker 3: of what's next with this bulky meee that he's dealing with.
28:33
Speaker 7: Yeah, he'll throw another bullpen Saturday here in New York
28:36
Speaker 7: at City Field. He threw one a couple of days
28:38
Speaker 7: ago when the team was in Philadelphia. For the Dodgers,
28:41
Speaker 7: it's all about airing on the side of caution. We
28:43
Speaker 7: know how important show Hee Otani is. We don't need
28:46
Speaker 7: to go into it's pretty self explanatory. But it's much
28:49
Speaker 7: more important for the Dodgers to have Otani healthy in
28:51
Speaker 7: October than pitching not one hundred percent in July, especially
28:54
Speaker 7: when they are the best team in baseball. Sixty five
28:56
Speaker 7: and thirty eight. They have a double digit lead in
28:59
Speaker 7: the d They've earned this cushion to be able to
29:02
Speaker 7: do things like shut Otani down, and they're not shutting
29:04
Speaker 7: him down entirely right He's continuing to throw again, throwing
29:07
Speaker 7: that bullpen on Saturday, and they'll reevaluate from there. So
29:10
Speaker 7: worst case scenario, they lose Otani off the mound for
29:13
Speaker 7: a couple of weeks, but it helps him long term
29:15
Speaker 7: for October. They're totally fine with that now. Monitoring this
29:19
Speaker 7: leftne because this is something that has plagued him for
29:21
Speaker 7: the last month or so, does remain a priority. But
29:23
Speaker 7: they have the depth to be able to do this.
29:25
Speaker 7: They've ran a six man rotation out there essentially since
29:28
Speaker 7: the season started. They don't plan on stopping right now.
29:30
Speaker 7: The schedule is favorable. They had an off day yesterday,
29:33
Speaker 7: they have another off day on Monday. They can still
29:35
Speaker 7: honor the six man and keep guys like Yamamoto Roki
29:38
Speaker 7: Sasaki healthy. The additions of Eric Lauer for the depth
29:41
Speaker 7: and the rotation has been instrumental. Justin Erbluski's at Breakout Star.
29:45
Speaker 7: They have other names that maybe aren't as flashy as Otani,
29:48
Speaker 7: but just as important that allows Shohey to get right
29:50
Speaker 7: and get back to being one hundred percent for when
29:52
Speaker 7: they need him down the stretch.
29:55
Speaker 6: Yeah, and people talk about cy Young, I think he's
29:57
Speaker 6: out of the race now, you know, since the injuries.
30:00
Speaker 6: I think it's Mezzeroski's cy Young to win here. He's
30:04
Speaker 6: been absolutely phenomenal. I want to go to Tyler Glass
30:07
Speaker 6: now and Blake's Now, when do you think we will
30:10
Speaker 6: see these guys back? Because look, it's playing into what
30:12
Speaker 6: the Dodgers do. Guys are not healthy and and all
30:15
Speaker 6: of a sudden August and August September, all of a
30:18
Speaker 6: sudden it gets colder, and these guys are like, oh,
30:20
Speaker 6: I'm ready to go. It's Christmas morning. So talk a
30:23
Speaker 6: little about those two guys and when do you think
30:24
Speaker 6: they'll be back?
30:26
Speaker 7: Look, I respect the Dodgers' ability to really lock in
30:29
Speaker 7: when it matters. It's like when AJ has to host,
30:31
Speaker 7: he's actually I'll give you credit, Aj, you're a good host.
30:33
Speaker 7: You really lock in. But I see you behind the scenes.
30:36
Speaker 7: So I kind of when you look at the load
30:38
Speaker 7: management of Snell and Glass, Now, I mean, Blake Snell's
30:41
Speaker 7: going to make his second rehab start tonight for Triple
30:43
Speaker 7: A OKC in Sacramento. That's going to be three and
30:46
Speaker 7: forty five ish pitches. The Dodgers are going to build
30:48
Speaker 7: him up to the standard five and seventy five pitches.
30:51
Speaker 7: They didn't do that last time. They were going to
30:53
Speaker 7: have him sure start a little bit of a short,
30:55
Speaker 7: shorter leash. That's not the plan this time. They're going
30:57
Speaker 7: to wretch them out until he can handle a full
31:00
Speaker 7: starter's workload. Tyler Glass now back in Los Angeles working
31:03
Speaker 7: his way back from the back spasms that started in
31:05
Speaker 7: the first week of May, and they originally thought, oh,
31:07
Speaker 7: it is gonna be a couple of weeks. Well here
31:09
Speaker 7: we are end of July st Tyler Glass now still
31:12
Speaker 7: on the il, but he's been throwing a couple bullpens
31:14
Speaker 7: and they've been fastball only, so but they're, you know,
31:16
Speaker 7: baby steps. Once he faces life hitters at least probably
31:19
Speaker 7: two or three times, then they'll progress to a rehab assignment.
31:22
Speaker 7: So he's, i would say, just looking at the general
31:24
Speaker 7: timeline of injuries, about a month behind Snell and then
31:28
Speaker 7: again Edmund Diaz pitching. He'll he's off today, he'll pitch again,
31:31
Speaker 7: tomorrow for ok see travel back to LA On Sunday,
31:35
Speaker 7: they'll reevaluate could be active along with Kei k a
31:37
Speaker 7: Herne Andez on Tuesday. But all in all, when you
31:40
Speaker 7: look at Blake Snell and Tyler glassnow coming back, I mean,
31:43
Speaker 7: if they have a setback either one in the next week,
31:45
Speaker 7: that's going to completely change the calculus of the Dodgers
31:48
Speaker 7: trade deadline plans. I think the best case scenario, and
31:51
Speaker 7: what Andrew Freeman is hoping to do is to kind
31:53
Speaker 7: of sit back and wait for the market to tell
31:55
Speaker 7: him what to do. If the if the Tigers decide
31:58
Speaker 7: to sell, does that change his plan on being in
32:00
Speaker 7: on Schoogle, He's probably gonna make a call to Scott
32:02
Speaker 7: Harris if something happens to Snell or Glass now he's
32:05
Speaker 7: probably gonna make a call to Scott Harris. But until then,
32:07
Speaker 7: Freedan has the luxury of just looking at a starters,
32:10
Speaker 7: evaluating their workload, trusting that Snell's going to come back,
32:13
Speaker 7: you know, right around or after the deadline, and going
32:16
Speaker 7: from there. It's an enviable position to be in for
32:19
Speaker 7: other executives. But that's what makes this front office so good.
32:21
Speaker 7: As they put themselves in position to be able to
32:24
Speaker 7: just sit back, relax and let the market come to them.
32:27
Speaker 2: Okay, Will Smith update, Can we get a quick Will
32:29
Speaker 2: Smith update?
32:30
Speaker 7: He will not be. The earliest to be back is
32:33
Speaker 7: mid August, dealing with some next spasms, a slip disc
32:35
Speaker 7: or something in his neck. And then you know, as
32:37
Speaker 7: you guys know, that's not like a muscle strain or
32:40
Speaker 7: a broken bone where there's a timeline you can't really
32:42
Speaker 7: measure out when he could come back. I will say,
32:45
Speaker 7: talking to people in the organization, they don't seem too
32:48
Speaker 7: overly concerned. They firmly expect Will Smith back for you know,
32:51
Speaker 7: maybe September, definitely the playoffs, and it's not to the
32:53
Speaker 7: point where they're looking for cashing depth at the major
32:56
Speaker 7: league level. They see this as an opportunity for Dalton
32:59
Speaker 7: Rushing to really look at him as a full time starter,
33:02
Speaker 7: because when Will Smith is healthy, Dalton Rushing is just
33:05
Speaker 7: simply not going to get that opportunity. You're not gonna
33:07
Speaker 7: get Will Smith to extend who once was your top
33:09
Speaker 7: prospect in the organization consistent playing time and Dalton Rushing.
33:13
Speaker 7: I know he's has his fair share of vible moments,
33:16
Speaker 7: but when you take just the production and look at
33:18
Speaker 7: what he's been doing with that staff. Who he is
33:20
Speaker 7: as a hitter. Dodgers are more than pleased with what
33:22
Speaker 7: he's been able to do. I think his production is
33:24
Speaker 7: right above, right out or above league average for any
33:26
Speaker 7: starting catcher around the league. It's been fine. It's an
33:29
Speaker 7: opportunity for them to see again, with this big lead
33:32
Speaker 7: in the division, what maybe their next wave of talent
33:35
Speaker 7: looks like. And Rushing is part of that group. So
33:38
Speaker 7: will Smith. Still, it's been disappointing. I know he's a
33:40
Speaker 7: Dodgers fan favorite. He's super clutched this offense. I'm I
33:43
Speaker 7: don't want to nitpick this team, but the offense hasn't
33:45
Speaker 7: been I think up to their their caliber consistently. He's
33:48
Speaker 7: a big piece in that middle of the lineup. But again,
33:51
Speaker 7: the organization doesn't feel like he's in jeopardy of missing
33:54
Speaker 7: the postseason when they need him, when they care about
33:56
Speaker 7: So why not extend this opportunity to Dalton Rushing and
33:59
Speaker 7: see who we can be as a full time starter?
34:02
Speaker 2: Plustalled Rushing talk shit to all the other teams, so
34:04
Speaker 2: you know that I love him.
34:05
Speaker 1: I mean, he gets caught, He gets caught he gets
34:07
Speaker 1: caught once a week talking trash to the other team
34:10
Speaker 1: with lip reading or whatever it is, you know, Katie.
34:12
Speaker 1: For me and the Dodgers, the trade deadline is like
34:15
Speaker 1: when you have two friends and then you find out
34:17
Speaker 1: they're dating, not from those two, you find out they're
34:20
Speaker 1: dating from a random third person.
34:21
Speaker 2: So that's what I'm just.
34:23
Speaker 1: Waiting for the rumors to come to Fruition, but I
34:25
Speaker 1: want to hear about it from the people in charge,
34:27
Speaker 1: not from a third person, So Katie. If you want
34:30
Speaker 1: to hear more from Katie, you can check her out
34:32
Speaker 1: on the Athletic and on Dodgers' Territory, on YouTube and
34:35
Speaker 1: wherever you get your pods.