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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Tampa Bay Rays · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory. Here at the Philadelphia Sports Stable
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: in the world, over thirteen years strong. We got a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: great opposition Territory show come your way this week as
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: we focus on the Tampa Bay Rays what their season
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: has not only been like, but expectations for the team
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: during the second half of the twenty twenty six regular
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: MLB season. Joining us this week, and it was amazing
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: talking to him before we hit the record button. Doing
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a podcast longer than us here at the Philadelphia Sports
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Stable podcast Show, we have got from Dray's Bay. Over
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: at SB Nation, we have gotten mister Jason Collette, my friend.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for jumping on here. Appreciate it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, thanks for having me on. I hope things
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: are going well with the show with the season. One
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of my best friends is a huge Phillies.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Fan, so nice.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: It depends on the day, yes, and sometimes he's like,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we're going to the World.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Series and he's like, sell the team.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So even though I'm not a Phillies guy, I kind
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: of feel like I am by association because my good
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: friend Glenn is always keeping me abreast on a nightly
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: basis on how they're doing.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just a little teaser for those listeners and those
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: longtime listeners of this show. My co host Len and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I are going to be talking this coming week on
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: our regular show that drops Thursday mornings on Trey Turner
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and the Trey Turner Canundrum. My goodness is he been
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: great in the batter's box, but his defense has been
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: absolute dog duty at this point. So it's that was
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: quite an evening last night. I really was man seriously
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: being a Phillies fan, the up and down roller coaster
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that it is so hey. Look, but we got to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: talk about the Rays because this is a team that,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: of course a top of the American League. As of
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: us recording this they have a fifty seven to forty
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  Speaker 1: two record, as the Yankees are only a game and
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: a half behind them for the top spot in the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Al East. I find the Rays to be fascinating, and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I do wonder if they're able to keep up this pace,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: if they are able to remain at the top of
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the American League. But I'd really like to just kind
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of hone in on maybe the identity of what this
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: raised team is at this point. If you had one
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: word Jason to describe this raise season. What would that
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: one word be and why?
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  Speaker 2: Honestly improbable, because okay, most of us did not. Most
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: of us did not see this team performing like this
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: this season.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Hey, and when you.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Look at the division that the Rays are in, obviously
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: you know the Yankees always look good on paper, So
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: that's one of the things that we see. The Yankees
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: always look at on paper, and the Jay's coming off
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the World Series Baltimore with their spend, most of us
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: did not see.
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  Speaker 1: You a lot of talking, even within the d.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Rays based slack staff channel, we're like, Okay, this feels
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: like it could be like that twenty sixteen to twenty
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: eighteen type of feeling where it's like it will be
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: fun to watch them as they prepare for the next run.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: But this is not going to be the year. So
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: that's why I like that. That's why I would say
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: improbable because very few, even though I would say even
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the most optimistics fan, did not foresee this team in
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: first place on July twenty second.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: The improbability makes the season that much more interesting, though,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: doesn't it. At the end of the day, it really does.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: It makes you hone in on what's happening on the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: mound with the starters, even with the bullpen. And it
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: also makes you really hone in on what's going on
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: with the offense on the team. That improbable word that
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you just used, I mean, I go back in the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: world of Philly sports. We can go back to the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen Philadelphia Eagles season when they won their
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: very first Super Bowl. A very improbable season, a very
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: improbable playoff run that led to that Super Bowl. It
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: makes it that much more interesting at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day. That's that's what we love in sports, right,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: That's what we love. We absolutely do.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, when you look at this coming into some
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: of the underlying themes of the offense this season, they
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: are either first or second overall in the league and
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: making contact that has not been a strength of this
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: team in previous years. Yeah, so they did that. They're
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: leading the league and infield hits last time. I look,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: they're now sacrifice bunning more than personally. I mean you
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: could see on the video. I have a license plate
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: that says never bunt and I may have to take
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: that down because they're using it this year. So they're
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: doing some different things this year because of the way
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the team. The team is built, the roster kind of
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: dictates some of these things. When you have a Chandler
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Simpson and a Taylor Walls and a bottom third of
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: the lineup that has combined for five home runs, you
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: kind of do what you do. And so the improbable
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: thing like they're doing some different things and it's it's
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: been enjoyable. Now, there are some days, just like you're
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: a Philly roller coaster, there are some days when this
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: team has been downright unwatchable. This past weekend in Boston, absolutely,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I didn't even finish score.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I couldn't. Yeah, it was it was ten to nothing.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I think the score was ten to nothing.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, just some brutal baseball, Ye, brutal. And then
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: even right before the break, I was down in Tampa
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Bay with my son for his twenty first birthday and
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: we stayed here there the entire weekend. Yeah, and we
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: left that eight to two game because it was eight
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: to nothing and we were like, we got a long
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: drive back home to North Carolina.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: We left that one.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: So I have not it's like last night and Monday night, yeah,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: beating Toronto, and then tonight as we're recording. They're doing
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: a good job against Toronto again, So it's nice to
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: get back on the Dubs.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, And look, no major league baseball team is perfect.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: But every major League baseball team has a strength, they
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: have a weakness. So let's get into that with regard
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to the Rays. Here that two part question here, biggest
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: strength in the team, biggest week on the team. Let's
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: start with the strength. What is that biggest strength with
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Rays this season?
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  Speaker 2: I mean the biggest strength, honestly is that contact and
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: putting that ball in play. Last year, there were so
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: many times where the runners would get into scoring position
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: or there would be times where you had to get
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a productive out and they just couldn't make enough contact
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: to move the guys.
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  Speaker 1: Around the bass.
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  Speaker 2: And so there's been a lot of flatter swings within
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the lineup across the board and you're seeing more of
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: that contact and things happen when you put the ball
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: in play, sometimes good, sometimes bad. You can hit the
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: more double plays, but you can also move guys over.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: You never know what's going to happen with the defense.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: We were talking about trade Turner, and those balls are things.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Sometimes errors happen because you're forcing that contact, You're forcing
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: those plays on the defenders to make things happen. So
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: that's the biggest strength. But honestly, the biggest weakness to
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: me is just how reliant this team is on Junior
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Cam and Arrow for everything. Junior Cameron Arrow and again
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  Speaker 2: to him and I had knocked them on every piece
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: of wood here right, Yes, this is the one hundredth
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: game they're playing tonight. He has played in all one
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: one hundred of them.
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  Speaker 1: It's crazy.
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  Speaker 2: And the team health him Yandy Diaz has missed like
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: four games and Jonathan Ronda has missed two. That the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: offense goes as that trio goes, especially Ironda. But like
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: this whole thing with last weekend in Boston, Yandy and
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Ronda were two for the weekend. You're not winning games
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: if your top two hitters are two for the weekend,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: that type of thing. So it's been the health is
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the biggest weakness because there's.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: No depth on this team.
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  Speaker 2: As long as everybody's staying healthy and they're doing what
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: they're doing, it can continue. But the depth chart is
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: then at the upper level, Durham is not having a
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: good year. Jacob Melton is probably the biggest name that's
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: getting ready to come up. He's there, but that's an outfielder.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really it. The weakness is the is how
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: paper fin the depth chart is.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: That's a really good segue, Jason into the next topic,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: because you know, I think all of us who follow
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: our Major League Baseball teams that were rooting for we're
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: all looking at the trade deadline that's right around the corner,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: which is Monday, August at six pm. And for the Rays,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: you know, they need to see how outfielder Jay Freiley
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and second baseman Gavin LOKs performs, you know, coming off
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: of the IL for sure, that may determine possible moves
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: at the trade deadline. Like you said, lack of depth
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: really on this team. They may also want to get
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: a high leverage arm as well. You know from reports
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that I have read about about where this team might
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: want to focus on from now in the trade deadline.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: Are there any other areas of this team that you
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: can see the front office really addressing before the trade deadline?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: I believe there's a few areas there. One would be
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: the catching the second catcher situation. Hunter Fiducia has not
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: been good enough to carry that moving forward. Especially his
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: biggest weaknesses is throwing, so when he's behind the plate,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: the opposing runners like Trade Turner would have a field day.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: So to address that second catcher situation, they need to
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: get another bat, especially another right hand bat, and another
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: bat there at the near the top of the lineup
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: situation would be something else. I mean, it's a little
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: with Kevin Arrow and Diaz an Oranda taking first, third
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: and utility, it's good your your options are kind of
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: limited where you can get these get these bats, yeah,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: and then it will be nice to have another arm
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: in the rotation, only because getting back to the health.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, Shae McClanahan was gone for two and a
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: half years and now he's come.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Back and pitched now.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Early on out of the gate didn't look good, but
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: he has gotten progressively better. But it's a it's a
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: big question mark, and so it would be nice to
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: have another guy that could be out there soaking up
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: some innings to give them some experienced depth in that situation.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And in the bullpen, Brian Baker's been amazing, Kevin Kelly
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: has been fantastic, And that's about as long as my
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: trust list is in the bullpen. Cam Boozer has had
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: some good moments. There's you know, there's been some things.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: But they need another experienced arm out of that bullpen
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: to get there because there's been some games that they've
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: given back with some bad bullpen situation. So there's a
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: few areas and I would like to s see them
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: work on the margins. They do have the organizational depth.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: The farm system is ranked second overall in the league.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: They I believe eight guys that are Rule five eligible
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: if we even have a Rule five draft this winner.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of guys that the team needs
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: to make a decision on. So they have some depth
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: to trade from. But historically it's not what they've done. Yeah,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Historically they have tried to stay within the organization and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: so personally, I'm hoping that they go against their historical
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: trends and go out and try to improve at least
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: on the margins. I mean, maybe they're a little gun
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: shy for giving up Joe Ryan for Nelson Cruz and
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: that trade just didn't work out, But there are some
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: deals to be made.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I think there are two. And you talk about where
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: this team is right now in the American League wanting
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to remain relevant. I think they may actually get out
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: of the outside of that box and that comfort zone
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: that they have been in for a little while. So
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: I'm predicting that the Rays are going to be making
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: at least one or two significant moves, or I should
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: say moves, you know, not necessarily significant, making some moves
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: before the trade deadline. And again, folks, we're talking to
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Jason Collette from Dreysbay dot com great SB Nation site,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and check out everything they have going on there. And
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: before we go to break here, Jason, let folks know
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: where they can find you on the interwebs. Things you're
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: doing online. Get out those promos man. Sure, thanks.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: So I do do some of the game recaps and
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: do some things at draysbay dot com. I'm also from
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: the fantasy side, so if you play fantasy baseball, you
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: can find my work at RotoWire. I have a weekly column,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Billet Calls, and then if you prefer podcasts, I do
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: the Sleeper in the Bus podcast from Fangrabs and I'm
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: on the Sunday podcast with Justin Mason. That podcast. We've
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: been running that since twenty twelve, so we're in year fourteen.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Won a couple of industry awards with that podcast, So
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: that's where you can find me in those And then
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: if you want to interact, if you're a Blue Sky user,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I'm on Blue Sky at Jason Collett very nice.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're going to take a break, and
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: when we get back, we've got more Raised talk coming
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: your way. All right, we are back with our good
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: friend Jason Colette here as he's making his first appearance
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: at the PST podcast show and talking about this Raised
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: team even more. I want to really assess the pitching
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: on this team and the long term viability of it
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: for the remainder of this season. We talked about before
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: the break, the possibility of them getting a new arm
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: before the trade deadline. And I know it's a general question, Jason,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: but why do pitchers get better after joining the rais
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Because we've seen it time and time again. I don't
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: know if it's pitch design, analytics, sequencing, maybe it's all
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: of the above. Here, what are your thoughts here? And again,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: just assessing the long term viability of this pitching staff here? Yeah,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, Kyle Snyder.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Obviously deserves a ton of credit for the work that
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: he's done. Yeah, even if you like you listen listen
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: to former pitchers like Tyler Glass now can't say enough
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: great things about him, and Tyler has been away from
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: the team for a couple of years. Blake Snell has
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: good things to say and all the different things so
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: you talk to is current the current guys he works with,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: as well as the pitchers he's previously worked with, and
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: they just say what you know, everything that he brings
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: to the table on how he communicates with them and
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: do certain things. So yeah, it could be it's a
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: little bit of everything, but ultimately it's how that message
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: is communicated with that and sometimes it's a matter of
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: And there was a fantastic article the other day on
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Fangrabs about Drew Rasmuss and how he came up with
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: his sinker he called I forget exactly what he called it,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: but he was basically like, I can't get Bobashette out
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: with what I had. When he first came to the Rays,
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: he was throwing a four steamer and a slider and
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: he could not get bowbasht out because Basheit would just
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: flip it the right field. So he and Sider sat
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: down and then worked through and said, Okay, let's come
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: up with this, and then all of a sudden he
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: was able to get that type of guy out. So
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: it's a matter of helping guys, you know, find out
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: what they need help with and helping them with it,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: or if they do something really well, let him do
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: more of it. And I think that story really speaks
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: well and bullpen situations like they had chas Row here
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: at one point. In chas Row, it's sliders all day long,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: and they let them do it. They're like, just throw
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: as many sliders as you want, because your fastball's not good,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: but your slider's really good. And if people, you know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: every now and then sneak one in there. So it's
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: a matter of setting people up for success, recognizing what
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: they do really well and what they don't do well,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: and try to minimize those weaknesses and maximize those strengths.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: There you go. I mean it, look what you just described.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily sound like rocket science, but if every
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: team could do that, my goodness, what the game of
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: baseball would be at the end of the day.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Really Yeah, I mean applies in a business world too.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: It's like when I talk to people at my day job.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: It's just like, you know, you are really good at
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: writing knowledge articles.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I want to make it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: I want to free up more time to do that,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: and I want to take you away from some of
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: these other things that you need a little more seasoning with. Yes,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: so it's like there's some different things there, But I
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: believe that's what Kyle Snyder does really well as he
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: works with these guys and helps them accentuate their strengths.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I would say another great example would be like Kevin Kelly. Uh,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: with that side arm, with that sidearm delivery, it's obviously
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: going to lead you susceptible to to lefties, and he
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: had some issues with the righty's And one of the
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: things they did with him this year is that dude
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: started throwing some more right on right changeups and that's
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: actually been a theme for the team this year, which
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: has not been the case for a lot of guys.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: But it's like, you know, just because you're right here,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: it doesn't mean you can't throw change ups the righties.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: And that's given Kevin Kelly an extra wrinkle, and all
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: of a sudden he's gone from somebody who really struggled
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: last year to the out with the outdoor environment at
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Steinbrenner to somebody who's thriving inside tropic Cana Field with
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the new with the new changeup and with the with
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: the indoor uh, the indoor environment versus just you know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: the uncomfortableness of pitching out doors in Tampa in the
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: summer and the the small the just the small right
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: field and somebody could just poke it over. He struggled
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: at home, He looked at his home road splits. This
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: year it's a different story.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, you mentioned earlier this one particular player that
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I want to get into with your junior Camonaro. I mean,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: he did some look taking off Nobody wants to see
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: me take off my Philly shirt here, but what I'll
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: say is taking off the Phillies hat that I wear
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: on the PSD podcast show. Here. He did some extremely
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: cool stuff during the Home Run Derby that was in Philly.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Of course, this year as the All Star Game was
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: really after watching him at the Home Run Derby. His personality,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the way that you know he's carried himself and as
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: you mentioned earlier, he's played in one hundred straight games
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: here for the Rays. What has he meant to this team?
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Overall this season, and I do wonder what his ceiling
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: actually is as one of the best young hitters in
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the American League. Here, what are your thoughts, Jason.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: It's been amazing to watch his growth with it because
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: he is like if you were to stack cast, you
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: go look at some of the data like swing speed
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: he is out the swing and the quality of contact
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: based off swing speed. He's his own little dot all
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: the way out to the right of that screen, and
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: how fast he has got the fastest swing in baseball
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: with that, and he's making quality contact with that fast wing,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: because sometimes you see guys sell out and whatnot, but
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: he is that unique combination of being able to make
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: the contact and swing as violently and as quickly as
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: that swing comes through, and so he makes you know.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: He's been wearing out Toronto in the series, and tonight
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: they walked him three times. They're like, you know whatever,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: we're just going to walk you. They walked him. They
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: were up six in a night then and they put
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: him on base. But that's one of the things that's
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: really been the area of growth that's been impressive with
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Cam and Arrow is that he has not expanded his
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: strikes and He's been very disciplined for a guy who
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: just turned twenty three two weeks ago. He has got
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the strikeso discipline of somebody in his late twenties. Albert
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Pools was in a national broadcast couple of weeks ago.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Could not say enough great things about working with Cameron
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Aro during the World Baseball Classic, and just you know
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: how much he reminds him of himself when he was
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: at Agent. I remember seeing I remember seeing Albert Prouhols
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: when he came up. I was at a spring training
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: game in Palm Beach. I think he was wearing seventy
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: four on his jersey, and like he made he made contact,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: and the sound that came off his bat like you
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: had to look like, who's wearing number seventy four? Guys
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: should not be hitting the baseball this hard, right, But
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: it was a line drive that went off the fence,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: and I swear the shortstop jumped up for it. But
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: it was hit that hard type of situation. And that's
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: that's what you Cam and Arrow. I mean, he's hitting
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: balls one sixteen off the bat. You look at some
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: of the home lines, you take away the Stanton and
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: judge freakiness and it's a lot of Camon Arrow on
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: that leader board. Yeah, and that's what's been so fun
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: to watch with him this year.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: He's got a high ceiling for sure, he really does.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: We have not seen it. We have not seen the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: best of junior Cameron era at this point. So my friend,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to close us out here, another general question for you,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: because we're all going to be watching that al leaderboard
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: over these next weeks and months here, what do the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Rays need to do the second half of the season
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: to remain at the top of the AL East and
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: just you know, potentially contending for that World World Series.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Well, they need to commit to buying a few assets.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Like I said that, the depth chart is what it is.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: And if they do run into some health issues or
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: they need to promote, there just isn't that that level
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: ready to say, Okay, here are three or four guys situation,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: there are some bright futures that I mentioned, the catching situation.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: You know they've got boting coming up. The guy they got,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: one of the guys they got from the Orioles in
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: the Shane bos trade. Bright future, He's just not there yet.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: I've seen him play an a ball they came through
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the Carolinas and went out and saw him and I
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: was just.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Like, Oh, I can't wait for this guy to get
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to the majors.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but they need to go out and make some
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: pieces because they don't if they've given back some of
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: this lead. They had at one point a six game
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: lead against the Yankees, but then the series against the
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Yankees just before the break where they had to split it,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: and then dropping the floor to Boston while Yankees won
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: some games that that's shrunk down to now two games
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: with the win tonight as we're recording, with the situation,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: but they've got to go out and add some because
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: you know the Yankees are and now that the Red
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Sox have one four fourteen straight, they're gonna be back
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: in it and they're probably gonna buy. And oh, by
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: the way, they've got Tripper Story coming back at some point,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: they may have Garrett Crochet coming back at some point.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: They could have from an Anthony Cut like, they've got
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: reserves coming and that's what Tampa Bay doesn't have. So
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: you really need to go out and buy, even if
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: it's on the margins. Just make some incremental improvements to
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: the roster depth that put themselves in the best position possible.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Leave us a comment below. If you're watching on YouTube,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you, and feel free to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: shoot us off an email Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: dot com. We may read your email on the our
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: regular show and respond to it again. Folks. He is
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Jason Collette from Draysbay dot com over at s P Nation.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: My friend, it was great talking to you. I loved
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: having you on for the first time, and I hope
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: it's not the last time.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: I'd love for you to join us at some point
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: down the road, my friend, Yeah, this was fun. Absolutely,
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: I'd love to come back and talk. Talk in baseball
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: is always a great way to spend the evening. That's
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: going to do it for us here on Opposition Territory
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
• 21:02
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• 21:05
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• 21:08
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• 21:12
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• 21:15
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• 21:18
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• 21:21
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• 21:25
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• 21:29
  Speaker 2: we'll catch you next time.