Speaker 1: All right, let's go to the UMA guest line for
Speaker 1: our first guest today, John Lund, who is a former
Speaker 1: KMBR host.
Speaker 2: He's a good friend.
Speaker 1: And he is the future as in Monday host from
Speaker 1: ten to two on the Sports Leader, and he's with us.
Speaker 2: Johnny, how are you?
Speaker 3: It was great to hear your voice.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: I was just listening to you and I'm driving, I'm
Speaker 3: driving up to the Bay and I could not be
Speaker 3: more excited. But for those, you know, with the elephant
Speaker 3: in the room, for those who want more, if you
Speaker 3: just hit me up at John Lund Radio. I wrote
Speaker 3: a piece this morning, a national piece this morning because
Speaker 3: and I listened to you at the beginning of the show,
Speaker 3: because I want to get into sports and have fun
Speaker 3: with you and everything else. And then Monday I'll fill
Speaker 3: in all the blanks and if people have questions and comments,
Speaker 3: that's fine. I have no issue with that. And you know,
Speaker 3: I know people ain't change. I mean, November twenty four,
Speaker 3: I left, Tom left at the same time. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's the way that our industry is. But I don't
Speaker 3: want to spend the whole conversation with you doing that
Speaker 3: because I know that you've had to deal with it
Speaker 3: but if people just want to go to my twitter
Speaker 3: at John Lund Radio. I wrote a full piece on
Speaker 3: it today and it explains a lot. And then on
Speaker 3: Monday we'll further discuss it, and then we'll get on
Speaker 3: to what we like to do, which is have fun,
Speaker 3: have laughs, talk sports, and hang out.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know you're a pro. You know I'm
Speaker 2: a pro.
Speaker 1: We've been working together for years and I'm so excited
Speaker 1: for your opportunity here. And obviously you know the circumstances
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Are are what they are.
Speaker 1: As you said, it's a it's a tough biz. But
Speaker 1: let's let's not dwell on that. I mean, the people
Speaker 1: driving around today on a Friday, you know, care more
Speaker 1: about the giants and Niners, lawyers and sports than our
Speaker 1: drama or radio drama or even radio upheaval. I'll just
Speaker 1: say this though, Bro, I know you're gonna do a
Speaker 1: great job. I know you're gonna put on a terrific show.
Speaker 1: And it was always a pleasure working with you because
Speaker 1: you are so prepared and you are, you know, a
Speaker 1: fantastic host. We work together on kmb are, we work
Speaker 1: together at at ESPN Radio, and and you're gonna do.
Speaker 2: A fantastic job.
Speaker 1: Let's talk some sports though, give me your your thoughts
Speaker 1: on you know, we can take this in any direction.
Speaker 2: We got.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of things going on. We got
Speaker 1: the NFL started last night. We got the Niners in
Speaker 1: training camp. Joint practice with with the Titans is around
Speaker 1: the corner. We got Giants baseball, Giants and Tigers go
Speaker 1: this weekend. We got the Wall of Fame, a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys going into the Wall of Fame in the
Speaker 1: ceremony on Saturday before the game. I'm bringing the whole crew,
Speaker 1: Johnny out to the game Saturday night. I'm doing the
Speaker 1: deep dive, bringing everybody, no no expenses spared.
Speaker 2: We'll be on the club level. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Russ Stanley and uh you know, four Crisp hundred dollar
Speaker 1: bills will make it happen.
Speaker 2: So I'll.
Speaker 1: I'll be there with the family because I can't get
Speaker 1: an I can't get enough of this underachieving product now.
Speaker 2: But but give me, give me your thoughts on on.
Speaker 1: The Giants and the season they've had because we've seen.
Speaker 2: Them together, we've seen them win.
Speaker 1: We're championships and Buster you put this thing together with
Speaker 1: a lot of hopes and it kind of fell apart.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, they remind me a lot of say
Speaker 3: the Padres, and I know the Padres are getting it
Speaker 3: together and they have a vassi different record, but if
Speaker 3: you just look at the talent, I think that's what's
Speaker 3: most frustrating for Giants fans. You know, when you're in
Speaker 3: a rebuild. You and I have joked about this before.
Speaker 3: You know about Giant slogans and things like that and
Speaker 3: what they should be this year. You know, when you're
Speaker 3: going into a rebuild, and as a fan, what you
Speaker 3: do is you mentally prepare for those kind of things. Okay, well,
Speaker 3: what's my season gonna be. Okay, it's gonna be about
Speaker 3: player development, and it's gonna be about having fun, and
Speaker 3: it's gonna be. Well, you go into a season like
Speaker 3: this and you look at the left side of the infield,
Speaker 3: guys like Chapman and a Damis, and you know, you
Speaker 3: look at what Bryce Eldridge is and you hope that
Speaker 3: Devers could be kind of settled in a little bit
Speaker 3: and all the they're paying a lot of money for
Speaker 3: these guys, is my point, And it's not this is
Speaker 3: not a rebuild. This is not a bunch of young guys,
Speaker 3: or at least it wasn't at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 3: It should have been a team that competed. If I
Speaker 3: look at teams like Arizona, the Padres who have had
Speaker 3: trouble scoring runs, just like the players that they have,
Speaker 3: the Giants should not be where they are. And so
Speaker 3: that's where I understand the vitriol and where it's gone
Speaker 3: from Buster who's beloved, to now you know, it's almost
Speaker 3: like it's a different guy. You got busted the player
Speaker 3: that you love, and you even got bust to the
Speaker 3: executive who's not getting a gun, or or you know,
Speaker 3: Tony Vittello in his first year. And I was actually
Speaker 3: talking to somebody that's pretty dialed in with the Giants
Speaker 3: yesterday and they just shook their head. I don't you know.
Speaker 3: I don't know how much you guys have talked about
Speaker 3: one and done, and I know organizations don't want to
Speaker 3: do that, but it's been that bad, as everybody knows.
Speaker 3: But my whole point is is that it's I think
Speaker 3: it's extra frustrating, and I'm speaking for the fans, so
Speaker 3: who knows. Maybe I'm stupid and don't know, but it's
Speaker 3: just it's not frustrating when you have this kind of
Speaker 3: talent on the team and you're going, what's going on.
Speaker 3: We're not supposed to be down there with the Rockies.
Speaker 3: We're at least supposed to be competing that. Okay, you're
Speaker 3: not going to catch the Dodgers, nobody in the division is.
Speaker 3: I get it, and I understand why we're gonna have
Speaker 3: a lockout as long as we are. But to say
Speaker 3: that the Giants are just not competing in that range
Speaker 3: of you know, eighty five to ninety wins of what
Speaker 3: it takes to get a wild card, that's just not acceptable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it isn't. I mean, And it's like, it's
Speaker 1: hard to know what to point to. Okay, there's a
Speaker 1: couple factors. Okay, they're the lowest scoring team in the division,
Speaker 1: but far and away by a wide margin.
Speaker 2: Then I looked it up.
Speaker 1: They're ten and twenty in one run games, so they're
Speaker 1: the worst record in all of baseball. And then they're
Speaker 1: they're not doing it on the margins, Like they don't walk,
Speaker 1: but they walk guys. They don't strike out a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys, but they strike out a lot as hitters.
Speaker 2: They don't steal bases.
Speaker 1: They don't hit home runs at home at night, So
Speaker 1: I mean you got I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I mean, do you blame Buster? Do you blame Tony?
Speaker 1: I mean, we really could open up the lines and
Speaker 1: be like eight away camb Are the Giants are forty
Speaker 1: eight eighty seven.
Speaker 2: Who do you well? The blame game? But also who
Speaker 2: do you trust?
Speaker 1: Like, like, there are some Giants fans walking around going,
Speaker 1: you know what, they've been awful this year, But I
Speaker 1: trust Buster. And then I've actually heard people go, you
Speaker 1: know what, I really like Tony. I really trust that
Speaker 1: Tony's a good baseball guy. But it's hard to have
Speaker 1: any trust when you're so bad on the margins. You're
Speaker 1: not better. Melvin got more out of less last year
Speaker 1: than Tony's getting out of this team this year, in
Speaker 1: my opinion. And you're bad in one run games. You're
Speaker 1: the worst one run You know why you keep losing
Speaker 1: all these one run games?
Speaker 2: Is it tied to your pen? Is it tied to
Speaker 2: your lame offense? Is it tied to.
Speaker 1: Tony and the decisions he's making. Is it the margins?
Speaker 1: They're not they're not fast enough, they don't steal walk.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm all ears man,
Speaker 1: I mean the Jacks are undecided.
Speaker 2: By the way.
Speaker 3: I hate to say this. I hate to say this
Speaker 3: because all the talking hit shows on the ESPN, would
Speaker 3: you know, blow their tops if you said this. But
Speaker 3: it's it's a combination of everything. It's not just one thing. Look,
Speaker 3: Buster has got a lot of work to do in
Speaker 3: the offseason. He's got to unload some call. This isn't
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, and this is why we're gonna have a
Speaker 3: long walkout. Sorry to bring this up. It's a Friday,
Speaker 3: it's beautiful. But the problem is is that Dodgers can
Speaker 3: have The Dodgers can make all these mistakes. Like I understand,
Speaker 3: but if you're not following the Dodgers statistically, Mookie Betts
Speaker 3: is thirty three and having a horrible year, and they
Speaker 3: got six more years of that. Blake saw doing exactly
Speaker 3: what he did with the Giants. He's not healthy. Tyler
Speaker 3: Glass now does what he does, He's not healthy. Will
Speaker 3: Smith as eight more years left on his deal. He's
Speaker 3: got six home runs at Kyle Tucker has been an abomination.
Speaker 3: So they've got five horrible contracts, just those five I
Speaker 3: just mentioned that are higher than the Giants payroll. Just
Speaker 3: those five and those five contracts, most teams would be
Speaker 3: just there's no way. They just they couldn't do business.
Speaker 3: And where they close shop, they'd be out of business.
Speaker 3: That Dodgers can go out and get Tarrek Scuoble and
Speaker 3: talk about signing him to a contract extension when they
Speaker 3: have five contracts that I just mentioned that are basically
Speaker 3: an albatross around their neck. If the Giants did that,
Speaker 3: there's no way they could maybe do one or two
Speaker 3: bad contracts and still kind of, you know, do business.
Speaker 3: So what Buster is gonna have to do in the offseason.
Speaker 3: Something's got to get unloaded. Chapman's got to you know,
Speaker 3: it's either got to be Chapman or a Damas or
Speaker 3: Devers or you know, some of these contracts gotta go.
Speaker 3: He's got to find a way so that they can
Speaker 3: resume business. And that's the biggest problem. Same thing with
Speaker 3: the Patres. They got four or five bad contracts. If
Speaker 3: you look at our look at the division, those two teams,
Speaker 3: you know, looking at the Giants and the Padreas have
Speaker 3: terrible contracts and they can't really do business as much. Now,
Speaker 3: look I understand what the Padres did at the deadline.
Speaker 3: They picked up two pitchers that have expiring contracts and
Speaker 3: probably won't come back because that's how a j preler is.
Speaker 3: But they didn't commit money to the future because they can.
Speaker 3: The Dodgers are going to grab Schooball and they're going
Speaker 3: to resign him, and they've got all these contracts, and
Speaker 3: that's why we're going to be sitting around a long time.
Speaker 3: Because the first loophole they got to close is obviously
Speaker 3: the one where you can put players on a credit card.
Speaker 3: But that's the biggest problem is for the Giants to
Speaker 3: be competitive again, Buster's got to move contracts in order
Speaker 3: to add contracts that he thinks can contribute to the team.
Speaker 3: And I'm not sure you can do that in one offseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a hell of a point.
Speaker 1: And then when the Dodgers deferred all that money for Otani,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh my god, they're going to do this now.
Speaker 1: I mean, that is not you know, nobody's doing that,
Speaker 1: and that gives them another upper hand.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that deal.
Speaker 1: It was very fable, and it also allowed them to
Speaker 1: kind of circumvent the entire structure of the of the
Speaker 1: know the balance of power in the game.
Speaker 2: So Johnny, it's gonna be great having you back. Man.
Speaker 1: I know the circumstances are a little funky, but we
Speaker 1: love you, brother.
Speaker 2: We know you're gonna kick butt.
Speaker 1: If you ever need a Niner guest from Santa Clara,
Speaker 1: you know you've got my digits. And enjoy the rest
Speaker 1: of your weekend. Enjoy safe driving, and say hi to
Speaker 1: George and the family, and we'll see up here and
Speaker 1: and good luck to you, bro. You know we're we're
Speaker 1: big believers in you and your talent and you're gonna
Speaker 1: kick butt and we're.
Speaker 3: Very uh I'm looking forward to it, eager to hear it.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks thanks for having me. I can't tell you
Speaker 3: how excited am I understand the circumstances Again. Go to
Speaker 3: my Twitter page at John Lundradio. I wrote a national
Speaker 3: piece today explaining everything, So give that a look. And
Speaker 3: then we're gonna get together with everybody. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: a great time starting on Monday. Thanks for