Speaker 1: Oh, happy, happy, Happy, happy Friday. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: good one today. Todd Father's here, Kratz is dancing. I'm
Speaker 1: Scottie Brown. So we're gonna talk business today. We are
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal is gonna be on here later and we
Speaker 1: will get into the CBA talks with the owners and
Speaker 1: the players. Same with Evandrelik. These are the reporters you
Speaker 1: want to hear from on these topics, and we will
Speaker 1: ask them really whatever you guys want to know about
Speaker 1: what's happening. We are going to also cover pleasure, like
Speaker 1: teams that are playing well, teams that aren't. But we
Speaker 1: we should start the show just with a quick toast. Cheers.
Speaker 1: Todd Father, you know what this is?
Speaker 2: Tell me you just made that I see, I put
Speaker 2: mine in a see You're you got a little more
Speaker 2: Floridian in you now, so you've got a little more class.
Speaker 2: I'm sticking with my express sell right here in a
Speaker 2: nice uh cop here, nice little that's beauty, so I
Speaker 2: get I get a little more back for my buck
Speaker 2: here with.
Speaker 1: A little more express.
Speaker 2: Its called a little white white hot chocolate mocha little
Speaker 2: blonde Expresso. Four shots, four shots of that good express, all.
Speaker 1: Right, So here we go. Let's lay out the backstory
Speaker 1: for a minute here.
Speaker 3: Before I'm gonna sip. I'm gonna sip while you do.
Speaker 1: It, take a sip of the good express. So you know,
Speaker 1: we all have our words and our quirks. Todd Father
Speaker 1: has probably said the word expresso I don't know three
Speaker 1: four times in the past six months, and I assumed
Speaker 1: that he knew it was actually espresso, so we thought
Speaker 1: maybe he's just using the word in his own fun
Speaker 1: todd Father way before the show started. I mentioned him
Speaker 1: that it is espresso, and his jaw dropped. Todd Father
Speaker 1: is still going to I think stick with the sexy
Speaker 1: expresso name versus espresso. It's too bougie, it's too whatever
Speaker 1: the words origin is, what is it Italian for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, I'm gonna my question to the fans out there.
Speaker 2: And I don't ask questions of fans. I don't think
Speaker 2: I've had one, especially the fans from Jersey New York.
Speaker 2: Try State area region. If you're with me, we're calling
Speaker 2: it espresso, give me a shout out or something here.
Speaker 2: If not, give me a thumbs down. But if you're
Speaker 2: from the area, say try State area. Agree disagree. I
Speaker 2: would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3: Again. It's it's how I say it.
Speaker 2: It's not the right way to say it, as I'm
Speaker 2: learning now, but I'm stuck with it. That's just my twang,
Speaker 2: I guess you could say. And I got called out
Speaker 2: by two New Jersey people, so maybe maybe it's just me.
Speaker 2: Anytime Kratz calls me out, I just one ear out
Speaker 2: the other. Because he lives in the boonies.
Speaker 3: So all good.
Speaker 4: Where you live is a nightmare.
Speaker 3: So there's a nightmare.
Speaker 2: Just wait until I get this in me. But I'm
Speaker 2: gonna be acting a fool on here in about twenty.
Speaker 1: Five good, I can't wait. That'll be less than halfway
Speaker 1: through the show. All right, let's do this. So let's
Speaker 1: get Todd Father pre espresso on the pirates right now,
Speaker 1: charging about all right, we're charging. We've got a lot
Speaker 1: to hit here. We have a disgruntled employee for getting
Speaker 1: booted from a rotation. But let's start with the headliner,
Speaker 1: Paul Skeins shoving against the Cubs but losing. And there
Speaker 1: is a problem in Pittsburgh anyway, Todd Father, they've got
Speaker 1: some stars, they've got some emerging stars. It's starting to
Speaker 1: come together. Will it come together quick enough for this
Speaker 1: team to actually take advantage of the window they have
Speaker 1: with Paul Skeens under this regime as well with Ben
Speaker 1: Cherrington there I think now six years is there enough
Speaker 1: here for you? Skeens has the rat two one two,
Speaker 1: although there's a million competitors for National League say Young,
Speaker 1: We did a great video on that yesterday. It's the
Speaker 1: fourth best era the minimum of three innings pitched or
Speaker 1: three hundred innings pitch, that is before turning twenty four
Speaker 1: years old. He did give up three runs and on
Speaker 1: four hits against the Cubbies who beat him. So today
Speaker 1: is his twenty fourth birthday. He's really really good. Can
Speaker 1: his team figure out getting him to the postseason? The
Speaker 1: offense is swinging the bat right. Most of the players
Speaker 1: that they either picked up or that they've called up
Speaker 1: have been contributors and impact bats that they were missing
Speaker 1: in the past few years.
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree with you on that, but no, I
Speaker 2: don't think they'll figure out a way. Been in this
Speaker 2: organization before Cratzy has two I'm looking at the teams
Speaker 2: that are ahead of them. Listen, they're six games out
Speaker 2: of the Central Is it too many games to even
Speaker 2: come back. No, they can easily make a comeback. I
Speaker 2: love a lot of these players on the team, but
Speaker 2: I understand who they are, and until they proved me wrong,
Speaker 2: I can't agree and think they're going to make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Paul Skein's just lost again. Ten strikeouts, one earned run.
Speaker 2: You know you got Jared Jones coming back.
Speaker 3: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Great, we see guys co back all the time. Is
Speaker 2: he going to be Jerry Jones that we've talked about before?
Speaker 2: I hope so. I would love to see that. I
Speaker 2: got all the confidence in the world in them. But
Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, Connor Griffin's been good.
Speaker 2: You know, you know, we haven't really talked about him
Speaker 2: as much. My man Brian Reynolds loved him to death.
Speaker 2: He was one of my favorites on that team. He's
Speaker 2: the leader. I think, in my opinion, he's gonna have
Speaker 2: to keep going with that squad. Maybe a little dissension too.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got Carmine Mudjinski. Hopefully I'm saying that right,
Speaker 2: but he uh, you know, he's not happy, not happy
Speaker 2: where he's going, So that little you can get into that.
Speaker 2: Scott if you want to talk about that first and foremost,
Speaker 2: but that little stuff like that builds up to bigger things.
Speaker 1: Let's hit it, baby, give me a little line like
Speaker 1: we always do. As we look at some matchups this weekend,
Speaker 1: Todd Father, if I'm trying to buy a ticket, out
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 3: If you want a best seat you go to see Geek,
Speaker 3: find the best seat you go to see Gee.
Speaker 4: I got give me the green dot because I'm looking
Speaker 4: for the green dot. I'm gonna give my espresso. I'm
Speaker 4: gonna look for that green dot because you know, I
Speaker 4: gotta have a good seat. Maybe I'll take the kids.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'll go see the Maybe I'll see the Bronx.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'll go to Queens a little bit city field.
Speaker 4: I don't know. That's where I'm That's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: Where we're going.
Speaker 3: Where are we going? We can't go to You can't
Speaker 3: go to Yankee Stadium. They're they're in all uh. I
Speaker 3: was gonna say terrible.
Speaker 2: They're playing against the Sacramentos. I like Miami, bro, I'll
Speaker 2: tell you what Miami versus the Mets.
Speaker 3: I'm not. I'm not ashamed to go see those those
Speaker 3: Marlins kick some butt. Yeah, I said it. Kick some butt.
Speaker 3: Watch out.
Speaker 4: I'm going to l a going back to Kelly strictly
Speaker 4: through the weather Women and Wheeler Wheelers facing the Dodgers.
Speaker 4: Philly's new left handed left handed BP picture can help
Speaker 4: him figure out Robleski Like this is there's no playoff
Speaker 4: series in the end of May. There's there's a it's
Speaker 4: not it's a it's a it's a tired rhetoric. But
Speaker 4: you know what, these are two really good teams that
Speaker 4: are playing well. I think the Dodgers have won four straight.
Speaker 4: The Phillies just came off of absolute just drubbing of
Speaker 4: the Padres and you got Zax Wheelers on the on
Speaker 4: the mound. Here, this is this is a test to
Speaker 4: see how that you know, missing rib is really gonna
Speaker 4: fare against a really really good lineup.
Speaker 3: Agreed, Yeah, agreed. I'm gonna let you know.
Speaker 2: I'm my picks later are leaning towards that game. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna tell you what it is because I don't
Speaker 2: want you taking my stuff, but yeah, you can't. You
Speaker 2: can't miss a good seat out there in LA I
Speaker 2: love it. With the acoustics, with the with the speaker systems.
Speaker 2: Oh god, that hits hard.
Speaker 4: You're here when Matt Kemp Matt Kemp to Andre Ethier
Speaker 4: coming up to the plate, that's all you hear. And
Speaker 4: seek Eico lets you get the seats away from the
Speaker 4: speakers so that you don't have to hear that and
Speaker 4: your ears are like.
Speaker 1: And you can get tickets to any games across the country. Okay,
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Speaker 4: I mean, I would say, I would say before we
Speaker 4: get into Carmen and what he said. More so, this
Speaker 4: team was built this year to win in the way
Speaker 4: that the Pirates felt like they needed to win, and
Speaker 4: it was to hit. They felt like they're pitching was
Speaker 4: going to be really, really good. Their bullpen is a problem.
Speaker 4: Now we're talking about and we're not talking about the
Speaker 4: Pirates being better than last year. We're talking about them
Speaker 4: being a playoff team. And I think unless some guys,
Speaker 4: and I say guys, like three guys step up, I
Speaker 4: have a hard time seeing this team making the playoffs,
Speaker 4: and people will say, wow, you wanted them to do
Speaker 4: all this blah blah blah and the off season. They
Speaker 4: did things in the offseason, but you're going from just
Speaker 4: an improved team to a playoff team. You got to
Speaker 4: be good in all three facets. The other issue, they're
Speaker 4: in the stinking National League. If they're playing in the
Speaker 4: AL Central, I'd give them a much better chance because
Speaker 4: they pitch. I don't know that they've made the right
Speaker 4: decision on who they're sending down, but they have a quality,
Speaker 4: quality five man rotation that I think can withstand a
Speaker 4: little bit of injuries. When you get those injuries, when
Speaker 4: guys can't make their time through the rotation. So is
Speaker 4: Paul Skiens otherworldly this year? No, you know, a two
Speaker 4: eight nine, ERA six and five. They're happy he's got
Speaker 4: six wins. They wouldn't think five losses, but they're happy
Speaker 4: he's got six wins.
Speaker 1: All right, So this board's important. Right. We showed you
Speaker 1: the starters there, but I'm going to take you to
Speaker 1: a quote from Maginsky. Jared Jones is back and he
Speaker 1: throws fire. He was great before he got hurt, went down.
Speaker 1: It's been a minute. Had the TJ surgery. Somebody's got
Speaker 1: to get booted from the rotation because they don't want
Speaker 1: to roll with a six man. They're opting to send
Speaker 1: Maginsky to the bullpen. The bullpen has in era close
Speaker 1: to five twelve blowne saves. It's been bad. Maginsky has
Speaker 1: been pretty good high three Zra in a starting role,
Speaker 1: and he met with the media after hearing the news
Speaker 1: that he's going to shift back to the bullpen, and
Speaker 1: this was the quote that has gathered some trolling. I'm
Speaker 1: still communicating with the organization and the people in my corner,
Speaker 1: whether that's my family and my agency about what's next.
Speaker 1: I really don't have any comments after that. I mean,
Speaker 1: help me out here, Todd Father. I mean, you you
Speaker 1: played a lot of time and places like New York
Speaker 1: with the Mets and the Yanks. Should he maybe not
Speaker 1: say the agency part, I guess, although that's your support system, Like,
Speaker 1: should he have just said, yeah, whatever it takes to
Speaker 1: help the team. I'm super happy about it, Like I'm
Speaker 1: I'm excited to get demoted. I'm genuinely asking. I don't know,
Speaker 1: right because for me, if I'm a Pirates fan, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't even care what's being said right now. I'm
Speaker 1: just pumped that we have fricking six good starters and
Speaker 1: one's got to go to the bullpen to rescue us. Like,
Speaker 1: let's let's appreciate where we are. Pirates fans, you're still
Speaker 1: relevant right now and we're approaching June. The offense is
Speaker 1: pretty good, Skeens is Skeens, Jones is coming back, and
Speaker 1: your bullpen is a problem. Here comes a guy who
Speaker 1: can help them. So, Podfather, what would you have like
Speaker 1: him to say anything to help the team? I don't
Speaker 1: give a crap about my personal whatever, and you know
Speaker 1: I'll take the demotion in stride.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I'm reading it again.
Speaker 2: Give me organization, a people in my corner, whether that's
Speaker 2: my family, jam about what's next? Now, I don't want
Speaker 2: to misquote him. Maybe he'd just say, hey, what's next
Speaker 2: with the Pirates? How I'm gonna approach everything else? Or
Speaker 2: is he saying what's next meaning he doesn't want to
Speaker 2: go to the bullpen and wants Yeah I maybe, But
Speaker 2: I again, I don't want to misquote him, because if
Speaker 2: he's saying what's next, that means to me he's gonna
Speaker 2: have a conversation for one with the brass or with
Speaker 2: management and express maybe ahead. I don't want to go there,
Speaker 2: so I'm either a starter, you gotta trade me, or
Speaker 2: whatever it is.
Speaker 3: So this this kind of quote, it.
Speaker 2: Leaves a little bit on the table, a little bit
Speaker 2: to really figure out what he said. I love a
Speaker 2: guy that wants what he wants. I respect the heck
Speaker 2: out of that. I also respect the guy that's gonna
Speaker 2: fall in line and understand I'm gonna go to the
Speaker 2: bullpen and if i'm I'm gonna get better and help
Speaker 2: this team, I respect that too as well. But there's
Speaker 2: got to be one one of those. So I really
Speaker 2: don't have any comments after that. So it's it was
Speaker 2: really plain simple what's next? That That's what I if
Speaker 2: I was in the media there, I'd be like, what
Speaker 2: do you mean?
Speaker 3: What's next? And I would try and get that out them.
Speaker 3: We don't have that.
Speaker 2: But I would hate to see a little dissension and
Speaker 2: a little problem because I like the guy. I like
Speaker 2: him a lot. I think he's been you know, he's
Speaker 2: been great, you know for this team, and I don't
Speaker 2: you know, I don't see a problem with saying say
Speaker 2: with your chest.
Speaker 3: As we talk about right.
Speaker 2: But also you got to understand, you know, you can't
Speaker 2: take comments back too, so you just got to be
Speaker 2: careful of what you are setting.
Speaker 1: It can take them inte to digest news too. Kratz,
Speaker 1: Are you not allowed to be frustrated that you feel
Speaker 1: like you've taken significant steps? You're helping the team win
Speaker 1: in a starting role. And I know he's had issues
Speaker 1: third time through, There's no doubt about that. So there
Speaker 1: are things to work on. This is not the perfect
Speaker 1: starter by any means. Would he start in half the
Speaker 1: rotations in the league?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So do you personally have a problem with the way
Speaker 1: he handed theocrats knowing that he probably got the news
Speaker 1: and then five seconds later you're talking to the media.
Speaker 1: You gotta let it sink in a little bit. You
Speaker 1: talk to brass, I think you know fans run wild
Speaker 1: with things and end media and everybody. Right, Oh, is
Speaker 1: he now demanding a trade? How often do we have
Speaker 1: trade demands? Once every two three years? We've had one
Speaker 1: that I can remember in the last two three years. Right,
Speaker 1: Soavali who got dealt by the Brewers. I can't think
Speaker 1: of any in the last two three years besides that,
Speaker 1: So do we think that Cameron, Macdjuski or Majeski or
Speaker 1: I can't say the name anymore, it is going to Majinski. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do we think that he is going to suddenly go
Speaker 1: to his agent and say that's it, demand a trade
Speaker 1: for me. I'm out of here versus all right, I'm
Speaker 1: going to shove for a week. Someone's gonna get hurt,
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to go back in the rotation.
Speaker 4: I mean asking me, I've ever heard a young guy now,
Speaker 4: he's twenty seven, he's in his third year service time.
Speaker 4: I think it's his fourth or fifth season, so he's
Speaker 4: been up and down. Have I heard it from guys
Speaker 4: with that much time?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: Is that what I hear in this quote right now?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: My hope is that what he's saying is, I'm going
Speaker 4: to talk with the people that I need to talk to.
Speaker 4: What does it take for me to be the best
Speaker 4: bullpen piece? Because when he first got called up to
Speaker 4: the big leies, he was in a bullpen. What does
Speaker 4: it take for me to re reinvigorate my value to
Speaker 4: the organization. What do they need to see from me
Speaker 4: to be somebody that they're gonna call on to get
Speaker 4: a start. Essentially, it was going to be him or
Speaker 4: Bubba Chandler. Bubba Chandler's walk in the house, so you know,
Speaker 4: Carmen's Carmen's got you know, he's got a few too
Speaker 4: many walks in my opinion, his strikeouts are a few less.
Speaker 4: Organization probably loves that Bubba can strike out the world.
Speaker 4: But I think something that the Pirates have historically not
Speaker 4: handled well is young pitching. And it's not the same regime,
Speaker 4: it's not all the same people, but the same people
Speaker 4: are there right now that called Bubba Chandler up a
Speaker 4: high level prospect from their organization and put him in
Speaker 4: a bullpen to give him a soft landing. Well, now
Speaker 4: he's a starter and he's not throwing strikes on a
Speaker 4: consistent basis, and they're keeping him in the rotation, so
Speaker 4: you can't throw that guy into the rotip. Maybe it's
Speaker 4: more like a piggyback situation. It's something he has to learn,
Speaker 4: something he has to get better at, and as a
Speaker 4: guy with three years of service, he's gonna sit there
Speaker 4: and go. Maybe I shouldn't have said it like that,
Speaker 4: but it's also I commend him because too many guys
Speaker 4: are just like just gonna do whatever's for the team.
Speaker 4: And what I always said, when something happens, when you
Speaker 4: get demoted from starter to a bench guy the big
Speaker 4: leagues to Triple A, you get three days. You get
Speaker 4: three days. Don't be a bad teammate during that time,
Speaker 4: but you get three days to be pissed off. And
Speaker 4: then after those three days, you're wasting everybody's time and
Speaker 4: you're wasting your career. So to me, I give the
Speaker 4: guy three days him cool off. But that's why Don
Speaker 4: Kelly gets paid the big bucks. This is this kind
Speaker 4: of stuff he has to keep. He has to keep
Speaker 4: at Bay because this team was playing well and now
Speaker 4: they've lost two to the Cubs, split the series. But
Speaker 4: they got to keep this stuff at Bay so that
Speaker 4: everybody's happy, healthy. And you know what, Carmen might be
Speaker 4: the answer in the bullpen.
Speaker 1: We don't know, Yeah, And I don't care if he's pissed.
Speaker 1: If he pitches well in the bullpen, that's firrates fans.
Speaker 1: Just keep in mind, you want you want to see
Speaker 1: playoff baseball. Don't worry about dissecting every quote. Just be
Speaker 1: excited that you have a rotation that's good enough right
Speaker 1: now that you have to boot a guy with an
Speaker 1: e RA and the threes to the bullpen, and your
Speaker 1: bullpen needs help. So this is good timing. And see
Speaker 1: what happens from there. Guys get hurt. Someone's going to
Speaker 1: get hurt. He's gonna homp bank into the rotation. Things happened,
Speaker 1: so I'm good with it. It's getting hot out there, people.
Speaker 1: Let's talk Mack Weldon Fashion show real quick. AJ's got
Speaker 1: the Pima crew neck T shirt, Froth heather.
Speaker 5: Fross heeather.
Speaker 3: It's good.
Speaker 5: It's got little pieces of gray heather in there. It's nice,
Speaker 5: it's soft, if fits really well. It's great for summer
Speaker 5: down here in Florida. And I got a couple linen
Speaker 5: shirts and linen pants that are gonna look nice when
Speaker 5: I go to Europe here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Oh, very nice. Yeah, it's very smooth, very thin. I'm
Speaker 1: wearing the eighteen hour jersey short and heather gray. I'll
Speaker 1: leave that down here for you. And the Pema short
Speaker 1: sleeve Henley. The color on mine is desert spring, but
Speaker 1: it really resonates it. It fits in kind of matches
Speaker 1: with everything in the wardrobe too. It's the classic look.
Speaker 1: They know what they're doing. Here, so check it out.
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Speaker 1: That's m Ack w e L d o N dot
Speaker 1: com code foul. Hey, just a couple things to wrap
Speaker 1: up the week and some of the Thursday games before
Speaker 1: we head into the weekend. I actually found a theme
Speaker 1: from this week that I actually bet on very frequently,
Speaker 1: players against their former teams. Chris Sale's always great, but
Speaker 1: tell me there wasn't a little extra juice for Chris
Speaker 1: Sale yesterday when he averaged ninety seven miles an hour
Speaker 1: average on his four seemer. He was touching at least
Speaker 1: ninety nine. August twelfth, twenty eighteen, was the last time
Speaker 1: that he averaged ninety seven on his four seemer twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: Think about it. Jesus Sanchez Grand Slam against the Marlins
Speaker 1: earlier this week and said that he felt a little
Speaker 1: extra something. Shane Boz, who's been inconsistent so far this year,
Speaker 1: but he's got the stuff, puts it all together against
Speaker 1: the Rays while the Orioles swept them. I like that stuff. Kratz.
Speaker 1: I look for you, father. That's a little betting Hacket's
Speaker 1: not always there. You got to to me, this is
Speaker 1: one of the spots where the algorithm is not going
Speaker 1: to look at it. When odds are set and you say, hey,
Speaker 1: I know this player, maybe I know what he's sinking
Speaker 1: against this former team. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it does,
Speaker 1: but I do like to factor it in at times.
Speaker 2: Always factor it, and whether you left her on a
Speaker 2: good note or bad note, you want to make sure
Speaker 2: you I was like Michael Jordan, not skill level, but
Speaker 2: I would trick my mind sometimes and pretend somebody did
Speaker 2: something to me, and I'd make it in my mind
Speaker 2: like I gotta get this guy.
Speaker 3: Any guy that was from New Jersey that was on
Speaker 3: the mound, I.
Speaker 2: Had to make sure I beat him or got a
Speaker 2: hit against him, because I felt like they would come
Speaker 2: home and anybody.
Speaker 3: Said I got, I got as you know what.
Speaker 2: So I always would get the boys fired up us
Speaker 2: anybody who I play with, boys from Jersey.
Speaker 3: I would say, let me get some get somebody on
Speaker 3: base for me. Let's go, it's my time to shine.
Speaker 3: I got you today.
Speaker 1: Looking ahead big weekend. Let's start with the rematch of
Speaker 1: the Phillies and the Dodgers from the postseason last year
Speaker 1: and the craziness in that series, including what happen O
Speaker 1: Ryan Kirkering, what do you have for ust krats? The
Speaker 1: floor is yours.
Speaker 4: I mean I already said my piece. They're going out
Speaker 4: to Cali, or they've been out in Cali already. They're
Speaker 4: playing well and it's a little test, not a test
Speaker 4: for the team, you know, Oh, they got swept by
Speaker 4: the Dodgers. They're fake. No, like this. The team is
Speaker 4: playing closer to the standard that I think they're gonna
Speaker 4: play the rest.
Speaker 3: Of the year.
Speaker 4: The starting rotation is redoculous. I think they have in
Speaker 4: since Don Mattingly took over. I think they have like
Speaker 4: a under two e RA as a starting rotation, which
Speaker 4: is fair because they also got rid of Tywan Walker.
Speaker 4: But you go in there and you go we got
Speaker 4: Zach Wheeler going Game one, they get to make a
Speaker 4: statement and I think they're six and oh with Zach
Speaker 4: wheel in the mound so far since you've been back,
Speaker 4: I cannot believe how he has come back from this injury.
Speaker 4: And it's a credit to his skill level, but it's
Speaker 4: also a credit to him knowing himself and saying, Okay,
Speaker 4: I'm ready after some of these, after some of these,
Speaker 4: after some of his outings that he went out rehabbing,
Speaker 4: and this this game, game one is gonna be. I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm watching it. I'm watching it all night for sure.
Speaker 3: Holy cow boy, I tell you what. This is what
Speaker 3: baseball's about. Baby.
Speaker 2: You got two teams right now that are fighting to
Speaker 2: be the best. There's some teams on the outside looking in.
Speaker 2: The Phillies are like, oh where did the heck did
Speaker 2: the Phillies go? Hold up? They're gonna be just fine.
Speaker 2: Remember we're talking about them. Why are they so stinky
Speaker 2: stinky whatever. Listen, They're not one of those teams that
Speaker 2: are gonna be left down and dead for good. They'll
Speaker 2: come back. They'll go on these spurts. This year it
Speaker 2: seems like the ebbs and flows of the years. I mean,
Speaker 2: every team got better this year in my opinion. I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe you know a handful didn't. But you're playing against
Speaker 2: teams like the Athletics, the White Sox, you know, the Reds,
Speaker 2: like you better bring your a game every day. And
Speaker 2: now you got the two perennials coming through Phillies got
Speaker 2: to go to La. They've been out in California for
Speaker 2: a couple of days now playing San Diego. Listen, this
Speaker 2: is gonna be a fun matchup man, and I can't
Speaker 2: wait to watch it. Can't wait to see who's got
Speaker 2: the upper leg.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Zach.
Speaker 2: Wheelerbro got a mighty this guy went. I played with
Speaker 2: the Mets. You know, he had called him number two
Speaker 2: behind the grom It was one, A, one B whenever
Speaker 2: he was on the mound.
Speaker 3: I love playing behind him.
Speaker 2: He worked fast, he never shook went out there, whether
Speaker 2: he got three strikeouts, struck the side out, or gave
Speaker 2: up a home run, he's stock. His face was the same. Yeah,
Speaker 2: good backbone, good family. I love everything about this matchup today.
Speaker 1: I love it. And we talk about plenty of the
Speaker 1: Dodgers Show. We have Dodgers Territory, and of course the
Speaker 1: FT network is loaded up with shows. So the Philly
Speaker 1: Show is on this series two with todds of Lecky
Speaker 1: Rubinamar Junior and Jim Salisberry. So give them a little click,
Speaker 1: little sub little follow. For more information on the Philly Show.
Speaker 1: Look QR code bottom right corner of the screen. So
Speaker 1: I want to roll this conversation right into someone else
Speaker 1: that the Dodgers need to look around at in the
Speaker 1: NL West. We've given them little like crumbles of love,
Speaker 1: but I want to do a little bit more here.
Speaker 1: The Diamondbacks putting together their little eleven and two stretch
Speaker 1: against the Giants and Rockies just now. So Krats, you
Speaker 1: got to beat the teams that are not as good
Speaker 1: as you, and that's what the Diamondbacks are doing here.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk to Mike Siroka later in the show.
Speaker 1: This team is starting to click, and I think this
Speaker 1: part's important. I like to see who's coming back. We
Speaker 1: know the headliner, right, Corbyn Burns is going to be
Speaker 1: back this summer, a number one starter. He's going to
Speaker 1: return this summer. Look at the Yankees just in the
Speaker 1: first couple starts for Garrett Cole, and how you start
Speaker 1: to change the way you're looking at that team, Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: Cole's back ten punches the other day, here's another number
Speaker 1: one starter. It changes things. It is really hard to
Speaker 1: find that type of pitching talent. If Corbyn Burns returns
Speaker 1: and he's like that, whoa and then wait, there's more.
Speaker 1: AJ Puck and Justin Martinez are both going to come
Speaker 1: back at some point this season. And I know Puck's
Speaker 1: been through a ton of injuries and all that. Justin Martinez,
Speaker 1: I think it was just was Justin's Was it elbow shoulder?
Speaker 4: I'm forgetting now, but I think you think it was elbow, yeah,
Speaker 4: elb So Tommy John damn.
Speaker 1: I mean he looked like one of the better relievers
Speaker 1: in baseball too, so and I don't think had the
Speaker 1: same kind of injury history. Unfortunately, half the pictures in
Speaker 1: baseball go through TJ these days. But those two coming back,
Speaker 1: if they're right, that's two more high leverage guys in
Speaker 1: your bullpen. Starts to make things interesting. And the one
Speaker 1: thing that I think the organization has had for the
Speaker 1: past five years now is not given a crap about
Speaker 1: what the Dodgers have talent wise. They have played them
Speaker 1: really well. I know they don't have Christian Walker anymore,
Speaker 1: although maybe they try and get them back, but they
Speaker 1: have done a really nice job of playing up to competition,
Speaker 1: not just beating down on the competition like they did
Speaker 1: in the past couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: I think they're I think they're they're hitting that stride
Speaker 4: that I think you would expect from this team. But
Speaker 4: you would expect it once you had a Corbyn Burns back,
Speaker 4: once you had you know your your your bullpen pieces intact.
Speaker 4: Everybody is going at the break gonna say, oh, we'd
Speaker 4: love to add a number one starter. Oh we'd love
Speaker 4: to add two back of the end seventh inning bullpen
Speaker 4: pieces to our bullpen. It would shorten the game for us.
Speaker 4: They have this, They have this without going out and
Speaker 4: getting anybody. Are all three gonna come back from injuries
Speaker 4: pristine top of their game. Probably not, But when you
Speaker 4: have three instead of one coming back, there's a better
Speaker 4: chance your odds. Your odds are forever in your favor.
Speaker 4: But this team has always been a team that I
Speaker 4: thought of and you look at and you go, they're
Speaker 4: gonna score a ton of runs. Okay, their rotation is
Speaker 4: gonna be a little tough. It's Meryl Kelly gonna give
Speaker 4: you enough. It's Ryan Nelson going to keep the ball
Speaker 4: in the ballpark. Like you say, Okay, these might be
Speaker 4: some over games, but the reason that this team is
Speaker 4: always going to be good is because they play their
Speaker 4: game to a t. With two MVP candidates in their
Speaker 4: lineup with Corbyn Carroll and could tell Marte right now,
Speaker 4: kud tell Marte is carrying this team and EDWARDO Rodriguez
Speaker 4: maybe an All Star this year, who knows, but could
Speaker 4: tell Marte his numbers they're up on the board right
Speaker 4: now is eight hundred ops. Okay, whatever what he's been
Speaker 4: doing in the last I think it's ten days. He
Speaker 4: is literally carrying it now, thank you. Well, look at
Speaker 4: look at the behind the scenes people. He's got an
Speaker 4: ops of fourteen fifty. He's got four ding or seventeen
Speaker 4: stagums like this is this is what carries a team
Speaker 4: to be able to compete against a Dodger. You have
Speaker 4: two MVP candidates in your lineup. Hopefully Nolan are not
Speaker 4: is growing gets them back quicker than I'm hoping it's
Speaker 4: not a long stint because he's been he's been killing
Speaker 4: it for him, like a resurgence for him out there
Speaker 4: in the desert.
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Speaker 1: Crack of the Bat within the BETMGM app can actually
Speaker 1: happen because they've got a game that you can play,
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Speaker 1: There's help called one eight hundred gambler. Yeah. See that
Speaker 1: part's big for me is I think Mike Haysen is
Speaker 1: one of the best front office executives in the sport.
Speaker 1: He does a lot with what's given. They're not going
Speaker 1: to be necessarily a super contender every year, but he
Speaker 1: knows when to strike at the right times to add
Speaker 1: to the team. Last year, actually had to wait till
Speaker 1: the buzzer to figure out what he was going to do.
Speaker 1: And then even this offseason he held the standard high.
Speaker 1: He wasn't like, I'm just going to trade kateel Marte
Speaker 1: because he recognized that there's a window closing for the
Speaker 1: no trade clause, because now Katel is in control of
Speaker 1: his own destiny, he's got the full no trade clause.
Speaker 1: But also wasn't going to give up the fact that
Speaker 1: they know the player and they know how talented he is,
Speaker 1: so you're not just giving them up if you're not
Speaker 1: getting the price you want. And I do think some
Speaker 1: are looking back now and saying probably should have offered
Speaker 1: more for Catel Marte. Oh my god, he's what a
Speaker 1: top fifteen bat at least you could argue in baseball.
Speaker 1: And also a guy who we saw a few years
Speaker 1: ago in the World Series and that whole playoff run.
Speaker 1: Who is a guy you circle right, that's a guy
Speaker 1: who hits good pitching. He was incredible for them then.
Speaker 1: So I think he's different. I think he's clutch. I
Speaker 1: think he's tough to game plan against right and he's
Speaker 1: got pop. He's got I mean, he kind of does
Speaker 1: everything right. He's got a little bit of everything. He
Speaker 1: doesn't really have weakness to his game, makes contact, can
Speaker 1: hit lefties and righties. So when I saw that in
Speaker 1: the off season, we spent a lot of time talking
Speaker 1: about Kotel Marte Kratz. I was surprised because it felt
Speaker 1: like he was truly getting dangled. And the Diamondbacks were like,
Speaker 1: are you sure that he's not a superstar, because we
Speaker 1: think he's a superstar, And if you don't feel that way,
Speaker 1: we're good. We'll keep him.
Speaker 4: I think all that story about him leaving the team,
Speaker 4: team and the fire, wait a minute, what happened? I
Speaker 4: think that might have scared some teams away. I think
Speaker 4: maybe the impending lockout. Might's scared some teams away in
Speaker 4: the sense that, Okay, you're trading for this a franchise player,
Speaker 4: an MVP candidate, and you're gonna lose one of the
Speaker 4: years that you're getting. So it's like, what's that value
Speaker 4: look like?
Speaker 3: To me?
Speaker 4: It's a yeah, I think that's what gotten away because
Speaker 4: if you look at it and you figure out that
Speaker 4: you have what his numbers are, I mean you're talking
Speaker 4: about you're talking about a dude in the last three
Speaker 4: years of going twenty eight thirty six, twenty five pumps,
Speaker 4: so he's really coming into his power. Ninety plus RBIs
Speaker 4: a season, and he doesn't strike out that much. The
Speaker 4: biggest thing that you add him to any lineup, he's
Speaker 4: a switch hitter. With those types of numbers, it is
Speaker 4: so hard to game plan. You're like, ah, craw, Oh, yeah,
Speaker 4: he's going to be hitting from his you know, right side.
Speaker 4: He's strong right now, right from the right side. Oh,
Speaker 4: he's gonna be hitting from the left side.
Speaker 3: Crap.
Speaker 4: There's just so many things that a switch hitter with
Speaker 4: his skill set. I think you kind of undersold him
Speaker 4: with the top fifteen. I would put him in a
Speaker 4: top ten because of that switch hitter factor that he
Speaker 4: enables a lineup to deploy.
Speaker 1: I love him. He's been one of my favorite players
Speaker 1: to watch in this sport for a while. Top ten
Speaker 1: favorite players in the sport for me. In terms of
Speaker 1: the all around game, you just don't see a ton
Speaker 1: of that where you get the perfect balance of a
Speaker 1: player like this. He's a top three second basement in
Speaker 1: the sport, Ay todd Father, We've been talking about them
Speaker 1: much more frequently lately. We had Josh Reddick on the
Speaker 1: other day. The Mariners have climbed themselves back out of
Speaker 1: it pretty quickly, and I don't think they're even close
Speaker 1: to playing their best ball yet.
Speaker 3: But what do you have for me?
Speaker 1: On the Asters? They've won back to back series for
Speaker 1: the first time this season. Hunter Brown's going to return
Speaker 1: in June. Josh Haters coming back? What any day now?
Speaker 1: I think Kratz or whatever he's eligible. I think maybe
Speaker 1: June in a week something like that. You've got your
Speaker 1: best reliever and your best starter almost there and by Monday, okay,
Speaker 1: and then the team's hanging around here, Todd Father, So
Speaker 1: what do you have for me on the AO West.
Speaker 3: Six or the last seven? They won?
Speaker 2: Quiet and for me, maybe it's because of where I live.
Speaker 2: But quietly, you know, I woke up today and my
Speaker 2: son's like, I watched I just got off one channel
Speaker 2: and they're talking about the astros. He's like, I want
Speaker 2: the ESPN to listen to something else and now the astroids.
Speaker 3: Like, man, what's going on with this team?
Speaker 2: I said, dude, Ebbs and Flows, my guy, Ebbs and Flows, listen,
Speaker 2: I have this team winning.
Speaker 3: I had this team making the playoffs this year. I
Speaker 3: mean at the end of the.
Speaker 1: Night, by winning, like we're looking at the division right now.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, I had them making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So you have them as a wildcard?
Speaker 3: Maybe? Yes, we still of course, of course I do.
Speaker 2: I still do. I still think this team's got the punk.
Speaker 2: Are punk got the spunk, got the spark, They got
Speaker 2: guys that have been there before. Yeah, the injury bug
Speaker 2: has hit him, but it's hit a bunch of teams
Speaker 2: and it's just a matter of who's going to figure
Speaker 2: it out. And right now, you would have to say
Speaker 2: that this is one of the better teams right now
Speaker 2: because guess what, those Ebbs and those Flows, they come
Speaker 2: real fast, okay, and they're winning games and there, you
Speaker 2: know quietly, you know, you can name all the guys
Speaker 2: on the team that are doing well. Uh, But for me,
Speaker 2: I think they're playing well together everybody, and I think
Speaker 2: guys are stepping up. I like the Aragetti. I mean,
Speaker 2: these these guys are figuring things out. You know, he
Speaker 2: throws ninety four to ninety five, Spencer, but at the
Speaker 2: same time, it looks like it's faster. You know, he
Speaker 2: gave up or the home run that Nemo hit yesterday
Speaker 2: actually wasn't a home run.
Speaker 3: It got robbed.
Speaker 2: So they're making plays, they're doing the right things, and
Speaker 2: it looks like they're having fun again.
Speaker 1: Two and a half games out, I have a wild
Speaker 1: card and we're the way through.
Speaker 4: I think it shortened that shorten that rotation. If youord
Speaker 4: On Alvarez has an MVP season, they win. But that
Speaker 4: rotation is short right now.
Speaker 1: It's about to get a little longer. You ever heard
Speaker 1: of Hunter Brown?
Speaker 4: He comes back and then spencerraghedty Hunter Brown, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: I mean he is.
Speaker 1: Oh that slap fun week. Hope you enjoyed it. Props
Speaker 1: always to the team behind the scenes. Next week too,
Speaker 1: we have almost like all of our insiders lined up.
Speaker 1: We actually have the guest list pretty stacked ready. Next
Speaker 1: week Bob Knightingale and Bowden and Ken Grayson Rodriguez scheduled
Speaker 1: to join us. Robert Murray, Max Munsey, Tim Brown to
Speaker 1: talk about his Nolan Ryan book, Travis Sachek on Monday
Speaker 1: to get into some hitters that are struggling in the
Speaker 1: power department. Lots of good stuff. Kratz, what are you wearing?
Speaker 4: I'm in a team that I mean streaky, but they
Speaker 4: wont too, so I got I gotta give it to him.
Speaker 4: But I watched the game last night and the post
Speaker 4: game stayed on on my TV. You listen to the
Speaker 4: post game Cubs like the wrap up, it was like
Speaker 4: they didn't one time mention the fact that that Paul
Speaker 4: Skeen's had ten punchouts. It was like, this is the
Speaker 4: kind of scrappy at bats that we love to see.
Speaker 4: And it was like jam job error, rollover bare hand,
Speaker 4: like no balls got out of you know, past the outfielders.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but you need to you need to understand
Speaker 1: that's still a good day getting anything across against him?
Speaker 1: Is he a good day?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: I mean, how many times do you watch him? His
Speaker 1: part Skeens is his part, Oh yeah, they had back
Speaker 1: to back errors and and well then he walked out
Speaker 1: a beat after that. But yeah, I mean, you're expecting
Speaker 1: perfection from the dude, right.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm That's why I kind of went like,
Speaker 4: we can't we can't expect Paul Skeen's just come out
Speaker 4: there and be like, oh yeah, nobody even touched the ball.
Speaker 4: This isn't We're not in high school anymore, like this is.
Speaker 4: Although he's putting up video game numbers, he is