Speaker 1: Let's go to the UMA guest line right now for
Speaker 1: for Andrew Baggerley Giants beat Rider from the Athletic Giants
Speaker 1: in fourth place, take on the Tigers tonight. Andy, thanks
Speaker 1: for the time, man, We appreciate you jumping in. Do
Speaker 1: we know who's going to start tonight or what the
Speaker 1: plan is for the Giants on the mound tonight?
Speaker 2: I do know what they're doing. In fact, I've forgotten
Speaker 2: you call this up here. I think I think they
Speaker 2: were going to use an opener for Adrian Hauser. I
Speaker 2: think that's what That's what the text was. Boy, I
Speaker 2: take one day off and I'm just completely out of it.
Speaker 2: Oh No, JAJ brew Baker is starting tonight. Brew Baker
Speaker 2: starting tonight. So I would assume the Hawser is going
Speaker 2: to be kind of the bulk guy. Remember back to
Speaker 2: the Gabe Capler days when we talk about guys in
Speaker 2: different buckets and you have your right right guys and
Speaker 2: whatever he called them. So I think that's kind of
Speaker 2: what we're doing. Adrian Howser is going to be your
Speaker 2: long guy bucket guy tonight, and JT. Brubaker is going
Speaker 2: to start, and you know, I mean they're gonna have
Speaker 2: to get a little bit clever and creative here with
Speaker 2: you know, trading away two fists of their rotation. And
Speaker 2: and Lannon up has already passed his innings high as well,
Speaker 2: and Logan Webb. I mean, you know, there's gonna be
Speaker 2: no reason to really push him. You know, he missed
Speaker 2: a little bit of time. He's not gonna be contending
Speaker 2: for the cy young probably, so a lot of pride
Speaker 2: and he wants to go out there and compete every day.
Speaker 2: But there are gonna be times when they're probably gonna
Speaker 2: be in his best interest to throttle him back too.
Speaker 2: So they're gonna have to get creative just when it
Speaker 2: comes to filling innings and and obviously they want to
Speaker 2: use it as an opportunity to do as much evaluating
Speaker 2: as they can figure out how everybody's gonna fit. But yeah,
Speaker 2: so they're gonna start with the opener tonight, and you
Speaker 2: probably make the case that they should have started doing
Speaker 2: that a while ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know you've been covering this team
Speaker 1: for a while. I want to ask you about Tony.
Speaker 1: You know, do you have a good vibe on Tony?
Speaker 1: Do you have a do you do you know Tony? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, how would you compare your relationship that you
Speaker 1: have with Tony compared to like, maybe the relationship you
Speaker 1: had with Kapler. This is obviously not about innings one
Speaker 1: through nine. This is more about feel and vibe and
Speaker 1: how you personally feel about the guys that you cover.
Speaker 1: But where do you how do you evaluate Tony and
Speaker 1: what kind of relationship do you feel like you have
Speaker 1: with him right now?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a little bit difficult because you know,
Speaker 2: first of all, I think we make a lot about
Speaker 2: managerial performance, and there's no question, I mean, Bruce Bochi
Speaker 2: pushed all the right buttons in October. He also obviously
Speaker 2: had a lot of things go his way and the
Speaker 2: team's way, you know, to win those three World Series titles.
Speaker 2: I guess the point I'm trying to make is, you know,
Speaker 2: really really talented teams can make any manager look smart.
Speaker 2: And you know, I think one way that the Giants
Speaker 2: would probably need to redo the season is, you know,
Speaker 2: they didn't give him much of a bullpen, and nothing
Speaker 2: makes a manager look, you know, less smart than a
Speaker 2: bullpen that is just kind of a mess and you
Speaker 2: can never figure out, never rely on, and so you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's a little bit of an unfair evaluation just
Speaker 2: because you know, there are parts of the team that
Speaker 2: were just not up to snuff. And but you know,
Speaker 2: it's hard to know exactly who's doing all of the
Speaker 2: button pushing. It seems to me that Tony does a
Speaker 2: lot of delegating, you know, really lets his pitching coaches
Speaker 2: run the pitching. You know, he obviously writes off the lineup.
Speaker 2: There's a few things that I think you can criticize him.
Speaker 2: For one, he hasn't been a super clear communicator, which
Speaker 2: I think was supposed to be the thing that he
Speaker 2: was a strong suit in terms of relationship with us.
Speaker 2: He's not very personable and that's just his style and
Speaker 2: that's fine. But he's always accessible. He's always available. He
Speaker 2: doesn't always have all the answers, but he tries to
Speaker 2: answer the questions the best he can. I will say that,
Speaker 2: you know, I do think that they've left a lot
Speaker 2: of little advantages on the table. There have been a
Speaker 2: lot of learning experiences. And the part that really is
Speaker 2: a little bit difficult for me to wrap my head
Speaker 2: around is, you know, being five hundred wasn't good enough
Speaker 2: last year. It got Bob Melvin fired and he's a
Speaker 2: guy who was a three time Manager of the Year
Speaker 2: award winner. So what does that tell you their goals
Speaker 2: were this year? Their goal was to be a playoff team,
Speaker 2: So you hire a manager who you know it's going
Speaker 2: to be a steep learning curve. It just I still
Speaker 2: have a hard time understanding why they went in that
Speaker 2: direction when the goal was to win. Now, this isn't
Speaker 2: the Rockies, this isn't a super young team like the Nationals,
Speaker 2: And in a lot of ways, maybe down the stretch
Speaker 2: these last two months, the team will be a better
Speaker 2: match for you know what Tony's really good at, which is,
Speaker 2: you know, getting the most out of young players. And
Speaker 2: I do think that there was more development that had
Speaker 2: to start happening with young guys in the big leagues
Speaker 2: than what we were seeing. And ultimately, you know, Bryce
Speaker 2: Eldridge is having a really nice year as a twenty
Speaker 2: one year old in the big leagues and he's showing
Speaker 2: some great on base skills. I think that's a credit
Speaker 2: to him more than really a reflection on the coaching staff.
Speaker 2: But you know, it's an environment where a young player
Speaker 2: is getting better in the big leagues, and that's one
Speaker 2: of the reasons Tony's here, and at least in the
Speaker 2: case of Eldridge, that's what we're seeing. So this is
Speaker 2: all a big roundabout way of saying I think just
Speaker 2: get too much credit and too much blame when things
Speaker 2: go right a wrong.
Speaker 1: Anyway, No, I'm with you on that. The Giants are
Speaker 1: ten and twenty in one run games. It's the record
Speaker 1: in all of MLB. I mean, is that you've already
Speaker 1: kind of referenced the pen is a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: it's been very inconsistent, as simple as that. Bags that, Hey,
Speaker 1: their pen's not been very consistent. Thus they lose a
Speaker 1: bunch of one run games. Is it the margins? They
Speaker 1: don't steal a lot of bases, they don't walk a lot,
Speaker 1: they do give up a lot of walks. I mean,
Speaker 1: is there anything that you can point to that you
Speaker 1: would say, you know what that is directly related to
Speaker 1: ten and twenty in one run games.
Speaker 2: Well, there have been a lot of games on the road,
Speaker 2: especially where they've gotten walked off. I mean, poor Dylan
Speaker 2: Smith has been walked off in four different ballparks this year.
Speaker 2: And I do think that there have been a lot
Speaker 2: of little decisions that you could fairly second guess, you know,
Speaker 2: especially both those double header losses in Philly, you can
Speaker 2: really pick those apart for a billion things that they
Speaker 2: didn't do, you know, uh, you know, deciding when to
Speaker 2: pitch to Kyle Schwarber, when not to pitch to Fernando
Speaker 2: Tattists Junior. I mean, it's it's tough, you know, you
Speaker 2: can you can second guess any move that doesn't work out.
Speaker 2: But yeah, there there have been a lot of little
Speaker 2: choices late in games when you know, maybe they've done
Speaker 2: something that that is very easy to second guess, and
Speaker 2: you know, again that's all part of the learning experience,
Speaker 2: and and that's that's sort of you sort of hope that.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And you talk to Buster Posey, you talked to Zach Manassian.
Speaker 2: They really have a lot of confidence in this, in
Speaker 2: this coaching staff. And I'm sure there are going to
Speaker 2: be stone changes on staff after the year. They usually are.
Speaker 2: But they think that Tony's going to figure this out
Speaker 2: and the things that he doesn't really grasp or he's
Speaker 2: not really good at now they think he's got the
Speaker 2: aptitude to to get better at those aspects of the job.
Speaker 2: Now that's their opinion. They may not be right, and
Speaker 2: if they're wrong, then you know that'll be born out
Speaker 2: over time, right. But but yeah, I do think that
Speaker 2: there's a lot of little things that could have gone
Speaker 2: differently to up some of those one run losses in
Speaker 2: the wins.
Speaker 1: Giants made a lot of trades at the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: I know, you've got, you know, sources and people that
Speaker 1: you talk to and people around the game that may
Speaker 1: know something more about some of these players that they
Speaker 1: got back in return. Do you have a trade that
Speaker 1: you like the most or one that you think was
Speaker 1: you like the least. I mean, give me a perspective
Speaker 1: on the on the trade deadline from what you're hearing.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you have to like Marcella Meyer,
Speaker 2: even if it's a twenty five percent chance that he
Speaker 2: turns into the player that the Red Sox thought they had.
Speaker 2: You know, you're giving up Eric Miller, and he does
Speaker 2: have some control, but he also has had, you know,
Speaker 2: some health issues in his past, and like every pitcher does,
Speaker 2: but he's had a few more than most and he's
Speaker 2: still walking six per nine even though he's got you know,
Speaker 2: wipeout stuff. So you know, I think you make that
Speaker 2: trade every day of the week, and even if it's
Speaker 2: just like I said, a twenty five percent chance that
Speaker 2: he turns into the player that everyone thought he was
Speaker 2: going to be, and you know, and trading Elliot Romos,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe maybe Meyer becomes the second basement next
Speaker 2: year and then left field it becomes where you play
Speaker 2: Casey Schmidt. So you know, the pieces might actually might
Speaker 2: actually fit there with those two deals in concert. And
Speaker 2: I just like the fact that they got a lot
Speaker 2: of pitching in their system. I think they knew that
Speaker 2: Luisa Rise was probably their biggest piece to move in
Speaker 2: terms of what he could get as a rental player,
Speaker 2: and you know, they needed to go get someone who
Speaker 2: they could slot really at the top of their system
Speaker 2: or right under Jackson Flora. That the kid they just
Speaker 2: took in the draft, and and they think that that
Speaker 2: Marquez is that kind of pitcher. So yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: it's they felt they did really well in terms of
Speaker 2: restocking some arms, and between that and the draft, that's
Speaker 2: kind of what they really had to do.
Speaker 1: What is Mayer's status. I know he has got some
Speaker 1: form of a minor injury. Are we going to see
Speaker 1: him here in short order or what are you hearing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? He reported to San Francisco a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if he's going to be at the
Speaker 2: ballpark today or be able to talk to us. I'm
Speaker 2: sure we would love to be able to to meet
Speaker 2: him and talk to him and get his thoughts about,
Speaker 2: you know, joining a new organization. The there's a lot
Speaker 2: of confidence that you know he's gonna play this year
Speaker 2: and and hopefully play you know, a decent number of games.
Speaker 2: He was just starting his swing progression, as I understand it,
Speaker 2: from the stress reaction that he has in his forearm.
Speaker 2: I guess he tried to play through and might might
Speaker 2: have led to some of his numbers being not so
Speaker 2: great this year. So getting him healthy is number one.
Speaker 2: And then getting him in a place where he can compete,
Speaker 2: uh and and and maybe start to play a few
Speaker 2: different positions. So what I'm hearing is he's a pretty
Speaker 2: good second baseman. He's really could be a very good
Speaker 2: third baseman, and shortstop is a place he can play.
Speaker 2: But maybe he's he's not an average shortstop, maybe a
Speaker 2: tick below, but you know, who knows he's He's only
Speaker 2: twenty three, so there's a lot of meat on the
Speaker 2: bone in terms of developments. So yeah, looking forward to
Speaker 2: meeting him and and and he's he's a California kid.
Speaker 2: He went to the same high school as Casey Schmidt
Speaker 2: down in chey Vista in San Diego. So maybe there'll
Speaker 2: be a little little Giants enclave of Giants fans in
Speaker 2: Padre's country.
Speaker 1: Now, Hey, one last one on Kruk Hanging it up.
Speaker 1: Thirty seven years in the broadcast, Booth an amazing career
Speaker 1: on the field, off the field. Do you have a
Speaker 1: perspective you can share? We had Boach on this morning
Speaker 1: and he talked about the chemistry of Kruk and Kuype
Speaker 1: and just the easy listening nature of their broadcast. But
Speaker 1: you've been listening for years as well? What stands out?
Speaker 2: Boy? How much time do you have? I mean, well,
Speaker 2: I mean, first of all, it's uh, it's yeah, it's
Speaker 2: you just never wanted to end.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like Dwayne Kuyper said yesterday when I called him.
Speaker 2: You know, the first thing that Dwayne said was, Hey,
Speaker 2: maybe I'm glad he's gone. Do you ever think of that?
Speaker 2: You know, I got the whole town in myself now.
Speaker 2: So but that's it, I mean, it's it stirs up
Speaker 2: so many emotions that you kind of have to disarm
Speaker 2: it with some humor, you know, so good on Duayne
Speaker 2: for that. But I just think of two guys who
Speaker 2: are just best friends and and you're you're in on
Speaker 2: the conversation, you know, and one's a former infielder, one's
Speaker 2: a former pitcher, and they got all the bases covered.
Speaker 2: They know the game so well in and out, and
Speaker 2: they know that to tell the story of the game,
Speaker 2: you know, you got to be focused on the game.
Speaker 2: But they also just never took themselves too seriously and
Speaker 2: uh and never like needed to show you how smart
Speaker 2: they were, how much they knew, even though they've forgotten
Speaker 2: more baseball than and I'll ever know. And and and yeah,
Speaker 2: just just being able to be part of their camaraderie
Speaker 2: and feel like you're kind of in on the conversation.
Speaker 2: You just don't get that, you know, there's nothing plastic
Speaker 2: about listening to them. It's it's it's all just uh,
Speaker 2: just really good this banter and and and just two
Speaker 2: guys have them fun at the ballpark and they love
Speaker 2: to do it. And it's just it sucks that, you know,
Speaker 2: his health challenges have gotten to the point where it's
Speaker 2: just really really logistically difficult for him to travel back
Speaker 2: and forth from Reno and and you understand that obviously,
Speaker 2: but you know, he certainly knows the game and as
Speaker 2: sharp as as ever, and you wish that they could
Speaker 2: just keep doing it forever. So I hope and they
Speaker 2: can't be on the Hall of Fame ballot this next time,
Speaker 2: because once every five years the committee looks at announcers
Speaker 2: who retired before the wild character, so before nineteen ninety five,
Speaker 2: but then the next four years after that, they'd obviously
Speaker 2: both of them would be eligible to be on the ballot.
Speaker 2: Both have been on the ballot multiple times, they've been
Speaker 2: on the ballot at the same time. So you know,
Speaker 2: here's what needs to happen. They need to go in together.
Speaker 2: This is obvious, and the Hall of Fame hasn't made
Speaker 2: any kind of exception even though they should. So the
Speaker 2: frick voters, the former winners, they're the ones who vote
Speaker 2: on this. So I would to get in front of
Speaker 2: that whole room. I can't, obviously, but if I could,
Speaker 2: I'd say, look, there's nothing that can prevent you from
Speaker 2: putting in a tide ballot and just vote for both
Speaker 2: of them. And say, tie, can't make up my mind.
Speaker 2: Got to vote for both of them and then put
Speaker 2: them both in and make the Hall put them both
Speaker 2: in at the same time, because they deserve to go in.
Speaker 2: They deserve to go in while you know they they're
Speaker 2: they're here, and we the rest of us deserve to
Speaker 2: hear those speeches because they're going to be some of
Speaker 2: the best Hall of Fame speeches ever given. So we
Speaker 2: got to make that happen.
Speaker 1: No question, no question about it. I know it hasn't
Speaker 1: happened before, but guess what, there's always a good time
Speaker 1: to set a new precedent, and this would be that time. Bags.
Speaker 1: We always love your always love your coverage. Man, keep
Speaker 1: it rolling. No, it's been a tough year on a
Speaker 1: lot of fronts, but uh, we enjoy your coverage. Thanks
Speaker 1: for jumping on KMBR.
Speaker 2: Yep, thank you, Larry,