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Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm

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Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal, and we are here to talk not about

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Speaker 1: the World Cup, not about the NBA Finals, not about

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Speaker 1: the Stanley Cup Finals. We are here to talk about baseball.

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Speaker 1: And there is a lot going on in baseball. Let's

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Speaker 1: start with the biggest story in the sport right now,

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Speaker 1: the recovery and return of Trek Scoubel. He threw a

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Speaker 1: rehab start yesterday at High A, Class A, and he

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Speaker 1: threw five innings. He's facing a ball hitters. He struck

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Speaker 1: out six. Then he threw a little bit more on

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Speaker 1: the side, got up to about seventy pitches and it

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Speaker 1: looks like he is going to return for the Tigers

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Speaker 1: next weekend in Cleveland. It will be a big series,

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Speaker 1: presuming that the Tigers do well against Minnesota in their

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Speaker 1: next series. They're twelve under five hundred. They are not

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Speaker 1: close to anything. Even though they're five and a half

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Speaker 1: games out in the watercard race. They are sort of buried.

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Speaker 1: And I wrote this last week when they were sixteen under.

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Speaker 1: They're not coming back from this, and I still believe

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Speaker 1: that because when you're in this position, you have to

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Speaker 1: keep going and you can't really go into a slump.

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Speaker 1: But Scooble is coming back. Labor Torres and Carry Carpenter

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Speaker 1: already are back. They are playing a bit better. They've

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Speaker 1: won five of six from Tampa Bay and Seattle to

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Speaker 1: good opponents. So we will see this week what the

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Speaker 1: next phase for the Tigers brings. And obviously, if Schooble

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Speaker 1: comes back, and if he makes a huge impact, and

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Speaker 1: if the Tigers get going a little bit, the question

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Speaker 1: will become somewhat more difficult for Detroit. I don't know

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Speaker 1: that it's going to be difficult in my view. He

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Speaker 1: is still going to be traded because they are so

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Speaker 1: far back, not so much in the wildcard race. And

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Speaker 1: obviously you can get in at eighty three and seventy

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Speaker 1: nine this year, perhaps, But are you going to win

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Speaker 1: the World Series? How far are you going to go

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs? And should you, rather than just get

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Speaker 1: a draft pick for Terrek Scouble, make a trade in

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Speaker 1: which you could get much higher value, at least in

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Speaker 1: terms of future potential. All right, that's Trek Schouble. We

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Speaker 1: have another story in the Midwest. The Chicago Cubs kno

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Speaker 1: Cubbs are having a lot of problems and Jamison Taion

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Speaker 1: last night goes out with a hamstring injury. Remember Matthew

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Speaker 1: Boyd already on the il Kate Horton out for the year.

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Speaker 1: Justin Steele doesn't seem to be coming back anytime soon. Now.

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Speaker 1: Boyd should be back by the weekend. But they are

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Speaker 1: a team that at one point this season, with their

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Speaker 1: two ten game winning streaks, looked like world beaters. Then

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Speaker 1: they had their ten game losing streak, and since then

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Speaker 1: they're only five and six, so effectively they've lost sixteen

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Speaker 1: of twenty one. Dansby Swanson has been benched. They are

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Speaker 1: a team right now that is really crazily streaky, even

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Speaker 1: within this last ten or games, ten games or so,

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Speaker 1: big wins and crushing losses. So I'm not sure what

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Speaker 1: to make of the Cubs right now. The Brewers one

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Speaker 1: of the first teams to forty wins, right behind the Braves.

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Speaker 1: They're playing pretty well. They've got injuries too, so it's

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Speaker 1: going to be really interesting to see how this hole

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Speaker 1: plays out for the Cubs, who have invested a lot

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Speaker 1: in this season. And you heard Jed Hoyer, their president

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Speaker 1: Baseball Operations, quoted last week telling reporters, hey, if we're

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Speaker 1: going to make a big move at the deadline. We

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Speaker 1: have to like our chances of getting a bye, and

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Speaker 1: right now they can't like their chances of getting a bye.

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Speaker 1: All Right, the Cubs a negative story, I guess the

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Speaker 1: Braves remain an increasingly positive story. And a shocking turn

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Speaker 1: of events what their season has become, because at the

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Speaker 1: start of the season, with their pitching questions, I don't

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Speaker 1: know that any of us thought they would be the

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Speaker 1: dominant team in the National League, and yet, along with

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Speaker 1: the Brewers, that is what they have become. They swept

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Speaker 1: the Pirates over the weekend. And the thing that has

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Speaker 1: struck me about the Braves, besides getting a lot of

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Speaker 1: good production out of unherlded starters like a Martine Perez

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Speaker 1: and some others, even though sale is of course Chris

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Speaker 1: Salestrider is back, Bryce Elder has been I would say

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Speaker 1: somewhat of a surprise for them, they've also gotten heralded

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Speaker 1: production from guys like Mauricio Dubon Dominic Smith, guys they

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Speaker 1: picked up in the offseason that weren't expected to play

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Speaker 1: major roles. Dubon was supposed to be really just a

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Speaker 1: utility guy. Once they signed Kim, and yet now he

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Speaker 1: has taken over that position pretty much from Kim, who

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Speaker 1: is making twenty million dollars, and the Braves, to their credit,

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Speaker 1: are playing the guy who is performing better. And I

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Speaker 1: remember earlier this season I saw the Braves and I

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Speaker 1: was talking to Debon and I said to him, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: are you worried when Kim comes back that you're going

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Speaker 1: to be kind of bouncing all over the place? Might

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Speaker 1: not be an obvious spot. And Dubon, who is a

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Speaker 1: very confident player, a player with some edge, said to

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Speaker 1: me he should be worried about me, And it turned

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Speaker 1: out Dubon was correct. Dominic Smith, of course, a great

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Speaker 1: story this season, remembers mom passed away right at the

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Speaker 1: end of spring training, got a lot of support from

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Speaker 1: the Braves, and has been quite grateful and quite productive

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Speaker 1: in his role for Atlanta this season. So the Braves

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Speaker 1: four straight series wins. They've got a pretty forgiving schedule ahead.

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Speaker 1: You never know how these things are going to work out.

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Speaker 1: But it's three at the White Sox, three at the Mets,

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Speaker 1: three at home against San Francisco, then of course Milwaukee,

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Speaker 1: which could be an NLCS preview. That's their one tough

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Speaker 1: series in this stretch, then three at San Diego, three

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Speaker 1: at San Francisco. So you would think they would continue

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Speaker 1: playing really well and continue on this romp through the

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Speaker 1: National League East. Another team in the Central. On a

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Speaker 1: positive note, I want to talk about getting back to

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Speaker 1: the Central. We talked about Detroit, we talked about the Cubs,

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Speaker 1: the Saint Louis Cardinals. Now I said the Braves were

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Speaker 1: a surprise. The Cardinals are an even bigger surprise. They

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Speaker 1: are a shocking surprise in my view because they are

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Speaker 1: a rebuilding team. Remember they traded Contraras and Gray, and

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Speaker 1: they are a team that without Arnato as well, you

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Speaker 1: thought would be just kind of rebuilding and kind of

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Speaker 1: treading water. They're not treading water. They are the top

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Speaker 1: team in the National League Wildcard standing. It's stunning to

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Speaker 1: see this. The Cardinals up on the Phillies and the

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Speaker 1: Diamondbacks and a number of other clubs as well, and

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Speaker 1: they're doing this. I wouldn't call it a mirage with

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Speaker 1: their pitching staff, but it is an unusual way to

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Speaker 1: go about it. I'll put gently like that. They're twenty

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Speaker 1: sixth in the majors in strikeout rate, fifth worst strikeout

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Speaker 1: rate among their pitchers. I'm talking about pitching, not hitting,

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Speaker 1: So strikeout rate, when it's that low from a pitching staff,

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Speaker 1: you're a little bit alarmed. And kind of the poster

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Speaker 1: boy for this is Michael McGreevy, who's a guy with

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Speaker 1: a two point nine to nine ERA, but he's got

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Speaker 1: the sixth lowest strikeout rate in the league and his

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Speaker 1: expected ERA is in the fives. So you wonder if

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Speaker 1: all this can keep going, and I'm not sure it can.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, we're two months in. We're a

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Speaker 1: long way into the season. At this point, we're not

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Speaker 1: talking about small sample sizes. And the Cardinals have shown

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Speaker 1: a knack for winning. They've got a closer in Riley

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Speaker 1: O'Brien who's done really well. They are a team that

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Speaker 1: keeps seeming to find ways. So I like the Cardinals.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to rule them out or anything while

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Speaker 1: we still see them playing well and good for them.

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Speaker 1: And of course, tarps Off started in Saint Louis, or

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Speaker 1: at least from a baseball set, started there, and their

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Speaker 1: fans are coming back to the ballpark. It's good to see.

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Speaker 1: Last year was a very disappointing year for the Cardinals

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Speaker 1: and their fans were disenchanted. Disenchanted because the team lacked direction.

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Speaker 1: Now they have a direction. We thought it was a

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Speaker 1: rebuilding direction, and yet they were a contending team. And

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Speaker 1: Heim Bloom, in his first year as president of Baseball Operations,

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Speaker 1: is going to face some interesting decisions at the deadline.

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Speaker 1: I don't expect him to go all in, but he

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Speaker 1: is going to be realistic, and if this team is

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Speaker 1: in playoff position and they have justified going for some

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Speaker 1: additional pieces, then he is going to do that, all right. Finally,

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Speaker 1: as we look to the week ahead, Paul Skean's facing

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Speaker 1: the Dodgers at home this week and it's going to

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Speaker 1: be a really interesting matchup. Skeens, of course one of

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Speaker 1: the pre eminent pitchers in the game, but in his

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Speaker 1: last four starts five point eighty five ERA. Now, not

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Speaker 1: all of this is due to necessarily poor pitching. If

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Speaker 1: you look at his batting average against on balls in

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Speaker 1: play during the span, it's four fourteen. That it's a

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Speaker 1: ridiculously high number, and what it indicates is that balls

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Speaker 1: are going through and he's dealing with some poor luck.

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Speaker 1: But I would not say as well that Skeens has

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Speaker 1: been as dominant as Jacob Anzarowski, as Christopher Sanchez or

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Speaker 1: Paul Skeens in twenty twenty five or twenty four. So

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Speaker 1: this will be a big start for Skeens and it's

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Speaker 1: going to be quite fascinating to see how he does

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Speaker 1: against the Dodgers in a game for a team that

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Speaker 1: is playing pretty well and despite their getting swept over

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Speaker 1: the weekend by the Braves, still a team that is

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Speaker 1: really interesting to watch. All Right, That is it for

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Speaker 1: the lead. We got through as much as we could.

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Speaker 1: We could really talk about all thirty, but we'll be

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Speaker 1: back right after this with the inside dish.

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Speaker 2: My don Bella would do anything for a treat, and

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Speaker 2: I want to give her a treat that will take

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Speaker 2: care of her long term.

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Speaker 1: Time outter the Inside Dish, the part of the show

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Speaker 1: where I talk about a story I've written, trend in

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Speaker 1: the game, something else entirely. And today I'm going to

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Speaker 1: talk about the story that we published this this morning,

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Speaker 1: and it's about the relationship, the ongoing relationship between former

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Speaker 1: Red Sox manager Alex Cora and the current interim manager,

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Speaker 1: Chad Tracy. Now, this story came out of a phone

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Speaker 1: call I made to Jim Tracy, Chad's father, the major

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Speaker 1: league former major league manager, and I did that in

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Speaker 1: preparation for what was supposed to be our broadcast of

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Speaker 1: Yankees Red Sox on Fox this past Saturday. This was

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Speaker 1: supposed to be the game, remember where Kevin Burkhart was

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Speaker 1: going to be the play by play man and the

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Speaker 1: color analysts were going to be David O'tiz, Derek Jeter

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Speaker 1: and Alex Rodriguez, and we had a lot of really

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Speaker 1: cool elements planned. And frankly, I didn't expect to be

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Speaker 1: on the air much, but I did my normal prep

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Speaker 1: because you never know what's going to happen. You never

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Speaker 1: know if it's going to be a ten to one game,

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Speaker 1: and guys want to talk about other things. So I

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Speaker 1: called Jim Tracy because I was curious, Hey, what do

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Speaker 1: you think, how's your son doing in his interim role?

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Speaker 1: And Jim Tracy was, as a manager, always someone who

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Speaker 1: was good to talk to. He is valuable, he has

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Speaker 1: things to say. And we talked for a bit and

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Speaker 1: he had some interesting points about his son, how he

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Speaker 1: Chad was doing really well. He talked about how they

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Speaker 1: speak but not every day and sometimes it's just a

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Speaker 1: text message, and it was a good conversation. And then

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Speaker 1: at the end, after about I don't know five ten minutes,

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Speaker 1: I was ready to go and move on I was

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Speaker 1: thinking Jim would want to go to and the conversation

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Speaker 1: was over and he said, hey, one more thing. And

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Speaker 1: the one more thing he said was this is really

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Speaker 1: important and I want to make this clear and I

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Speaker 1: think you know it can. He said, Alex Cora has

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Speaker 1: been to my family someone who has been really important

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Speaker 1: over the years. Alex Corra, of course played for Jim

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Speaker 1: Tracy with the Dodgers two thousand and one to two

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Speaker 1: thousand and four at a time when Chad Tracy was

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Speaker 1: a player catcher at Pepperdine. So these guys they go back.

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Speaker 1: Chad Tracy goes back twenty years with Alex Cora, more

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Speaker 1: than twenty years really, and Jim Tracy as well. And

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Speaker 1: Jim Tracy said that Alex Cora when he was a

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Speaker 1: player meant a lot to him. As a manager. He

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Speaker 1: was a key part of some good Dodgers teams in

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Speaker 1: the early two thousands. And he said also, and this

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Speaker 1: stood out to me, that during their time together with

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Speaker 1: the Red Sox, when Tracy was the Triple A manager

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Speaker 1: and Alex Coorra was the major league manager, he said

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Speaker 1: that Cora treated his son like royalty. And he said,

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Speaker 1: if there a situation where my son might not want

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Speaker 1: to turn to me to ask a question, he could

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Speaker 1: turn to Alex Cora. And I thought, wow, that's pretty interesting. Okay.

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Speaker 1: So I went to Trad Tracy and talked to him

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Speaker 1: Friday before the game, and I asked him about this,

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Speaker 1: and asked him about, of course, what it's like being

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Speaker 1: the son of a major league former major league manager,

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Speaker 1: a guy who had some success, and what he has

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Speaker 1: imparted to him as now an interim manager. And I

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Speaker 1: asked about Cora and he said, I don't want to

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Speaker 1: get into details, but we've talked and he has been

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Speaker 1: very supportive of me. He's an amazing human being, That's

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Speaker 1: what he said. And I thought, wow, the way this

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Speaker 1: firing went down, the firing of Cora, all the craziness

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Speaker 1: that ensued there. Remember the Red Sox beat the Ools

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Speaker 1: seventeen to one in Baltimore, then fired Cora and six

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Speaker 1: coaches after the game. Then these guys get into a

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Speaker 1: van from a company call the coaches for hire. How

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Speaker 1: interesting that was a choice of words. And it was

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Speaker 1: just an ugly circumstance all around. It was a shocking

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Speaker 1: firing for starters. Alex Cora was in the second year

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Speaker 1: of a three year contract, just starting the second year

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Speaker 1: of a three year contract. And you would think even

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Speaker 1: though Chad Tracy was not the person who got Alex

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Speaker 1: Cora fired, you would think Cora would not necessarily be

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Speaker 1: reaching out and saying, hey, man, I'll help you do

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Speaker 1: whatever you need. That kind of seems to be what happened.

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Speaker 1: So it's a credit to Korra. It's a credit to

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Speaker 1: Tracy as well that he built this relationship over the

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Speaker 1: years with Tracy. And when I reached out to Cora,

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Speaker 1: initially he didn't want to comment. He's kind of laying low.

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Speaker 1: He's in Puerto Rico. He doesn't want to talk about

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Speaker 1: anything really regarding the Red Sox. So he declined comment.

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Speaker 1: And then he said, and don't put in there right,

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Speaker 1: decline comment. I said, well, Alex, that's not going to work.

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Speaker 1: We have to put in that. I reached out out

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Speaker 1: to you and you decline comment. So he said, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's okay. I thought that was the end of it,

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Speaker 1: and then I don't know, not that far after that,

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Speaker 1: he sent me a long text basically saying, we're a fraternity.

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Speaker 1: We take care of each other in this sport. I

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Speaker 1: learned that a long time ago. And then he talked

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Speaker 1: about what Jim Tracy meant to him, how he might

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Speaker 1: not have been a manager without Jim Tracy, might not

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Speaker 1: ever have ascended to the position that he did, a

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Speaker 1: World Series winning manager, mind you. And he talked about

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Speaker 1: Chad Tracy and how when Chad Tracy came into the

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Speaker 1: organization twenty twenty two as a triple A manager, that

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Speaker 1: they always were similarly on the same page. They shared

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Speaker 1: a lot of the same thoughts about baseball, and it

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Speaker 1: was really cool to hear all this and the other

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Speaker 1: thing that's really cool about Chad Tracy. And again, this

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Speaker 1: entire column and this entire conversation is separate from all

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Speaker 1: the other shenanigans going on with the Red Sox, all

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Speaker 1: the things that have happened this year, Craig Breslo, all

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Speaker 1: of this. It's a separate deal here. But what is

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Speaker 1: interesting to me about Chad Tracy is this is a

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Speaker 1: guy who became a manager the old fashioned way. He

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Speaker 1: managed more than one thousand games in the minor leagues.

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Speaker 1: This used to happen all the time. This used to

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Speaker 1: be the way managers were kind of developed. No more. Really,

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Speaker 1: you see guys coming almost right off the field like

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Speaker 1: a Kurtsuzuki. You see guys who were a long time

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Speaker 1: bench coaches, but not necessarily minor league managers. What Weiss

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Speaker 1: would fit into that he was a major league manager

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Speaker 1: of course as well. And then you have guys like

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Speaker 1: Tony Vaytello coming from the college ranks. Blake but Terra

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Speaker 1: with the Nationals hadn't really managed much of the miners

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Speaker 1: and not at a high level a young guy. So

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Speaker 1: for Chad Tracy to get this job at age forty,

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Speaker 1: after managing more than a thousand games, we can all

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Speaker 1: question how this went down, why it went down, and

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Speaker 1: whether it ever should have went down. But this guy

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Speaker 1: has paid his dues, and it seems to me Kor

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Speaker 1: without saying that, recognizes that, and he recognizes that Chad

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Speaker 1: Tracy was just someone that he was close with and

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Speaker 1: someone who was not angling for his job. No one

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Speaker 1: ever thought this was going to happen. Alex Coorr was

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Speaker 1: signed for seven million dollars a year, but he did

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Speaker 1: what he had to do. And I remember years ago

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Speaker 1: I was talking with someone who had been with the

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Speaker 1: Red Sox under theo Epstein and we were talking about

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Speaker 1: how in baseball, Like in all walks of life, all industries,

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Speaker 1: people are always trying to get to the next level.

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Speaker 1: And theo Epstein would tell his employees, dominate where you're at,

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Speaker 1: Dominate where you're at, and good things will happen. It

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Speaker 1: seems to me that is what happened with Chad Tracy.

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Speaker 1: And it seems to me that for all the negative

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Speaker 1: that came out of this story, this part was a positive.

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Speaker 1: The fact that the two Tracy's, Jim and Chad and

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Speaker 1: Cora are still so close and there's such a strong

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Speaker 1: bond between them. I thought it was cool. I encourage

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Speaker 1: you guys all to read it. It's one that we unlocked.

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Speaker 1: It's free to read, so don't be complaining to me.

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Speaker 1: I can't pay. I'm not paying for anything. No, no, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: this one's free. Enjoy it. We'll be right back with

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Speaker 1: Grill and Ken Crouch.

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Speaker 4: You know why, I travel all the time and I'm

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Speaker 4: always looking for possible tickets to go see Evans concerts

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Speaker 4: MLB games.

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Speaker 2: When I do, I always find seakeek. Yeah, I'm not

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Speaker 2: traveling so pretty much. I'm looking for the games all

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Speaker 2: in my area. I'm gonna look for an Orioles game.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna look for the Phillies game, the Mets game,

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Speaker 2: the Yankees game. But you know what else is coming up?

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Speaker 2: The All Star game. Sea Gek's got me.

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Speaker 4: Hey, you're gonna need them. Tickets to the All Star

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Speaker 4: Game is gonna be crazy. Hey, they have over thirty

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Speaker 4: five million downloads for a reason. It's because they have

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Speaker 4: everything in the green dots, red dots. You pick your seat,

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Speaker 4: for you guys. You can use code Territory ten for

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Speaker 4: ten percent off your next set of MLB tickets at

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Speaker 1: All right, time now for Grilling Ken, the part of

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Speaker 1: the show where you guys get to ask me questions.

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Speaker 1: Let's get started. First question comes from the Foul Territory show,

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Speaker 1: our own internal people. They ask and this is a

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Speaker 1: good question. What can Max Kepler bring to the dbags Now,

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Speaker 1: this signing took place last night and it might have

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Speaker 1: surprised some people. Max Kepler is still serving a an

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Speaker 1: eighty game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy

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Speaker 1: for testing positive for peds. But he is a guy

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Speaker 1: who has had some success in the past. Not really

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Speaker 1: last year. He wasn't very good for the Phillies at all.

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Speaker 1: But he is going to be eligible to play at

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Speaker 1: some point in the near future. And the Diamond Max,

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Speaker 1: as I reported last week, they are trying to get

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Speaker 1: more balance into their lineup. They want left handed hitting.

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Speaker 1: Max Kepler is a left handed hitter. It's kind of

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Speaker 1: thing where why not before the trade season starts, take

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Speaker 1: a shot at Kepler. See what you got there, See

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Speaker 1: if he can give you anything. It's really a no

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Speaker 1: risk kind of thing. You're not gonna lose much. I'm

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Speaker 1: sure the money isn't great for Max Kupper in this deal,

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Speaker 1: so that is why the Diamond Max took this step

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Speaker 1: to sign him even while he suspended. They're hoping that

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Speaker 1: maybe he can give them something going forward. All right,

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Speaker 1: next question, This one comes from armand's amazing. Who's asked?

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Speaker 1: Is Carson Benge making a case for Rookie of the Year.

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Speaker 1: Here are the stats benj Ranks and MLB since May first.

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Speaker 1: You can see them right there. He's got a one

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Speaker 1: point three war since May first. That's pretty good. That's

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Speaker 1: f wour three to sixteen batting average, twenty five runs scored,

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Speaker 1: three seventy seven on base weighted runs created plus of

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Speaker 1: one fifty. That's fifty percent above league average. So yes,

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Speaker 1: since May first, Carson Bench has been very very good.

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Speaker 1: Five hit game yesterday. I haven't taken that close a

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Speaker 1: look at the National League Rookie of the Year race. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: with Connor Griffin down right now, that affects his chances.

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Speaker 1: JJ Weatherholt struggling a little bit. But there are some

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Speaker 1: really outstanding rookies in the game. So Carson Bench certainly

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Speaker 1: making a name for himself, doing a great job, as

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Speaker 1: is aj Ewing for the Mets. That's been kind of

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Speaker 1: the ray of hope that the Mets have provided their

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Speaker 1: fans rookie of the year. Well, we'll see how it

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Speaker 1: plays out, all right. Next question, let's see what this

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Speaker 1: is and Carnival asks. Should Louis Varland have gotten an

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Speaker 1: ale relief Pitcher of the Month in May as well,

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Speaker 1: he is pitching extremely well for the Jays. He's been

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Speaker 1: outstanding for them. I don't even know who the Reliever

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Speaker 1: of the Month was for me. I apologize for that.

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Speaker 1: I don't put bunch stock on these monthly awards. But

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Speaker 1: actually the last one was interesting in the National League

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Speaker 1: one because it was Msarowski versus Sanchez. But Louis Varland,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure is fine with not getting Reliever of the Month.

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Speaker 1: He continues to be one of the more dominant relievers

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Speaker 1: in the game. And the Jays still up and down,

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Speaker 1: but it looks like they're coming around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Some days it looks better than others for them, but

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Speaker 1: they've had an interesting run here and I don't rule

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Speaker 1: them out yet. Perhaps they are the team even ahead

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Speaker 1: of the Rays, that I consider the biggest threat to

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Speaker 1: the Yankees. Thank you for watching, for listening. Foul Territory

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Speaker 1: coming up at one pm Eastern today. It's aj Persinski,

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Speaker 1: wit Merrifield and Scott Broun hosting the guests Brad Keller

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Speaker 1: and former Major League GM Jim Duquette. We're back Thursday,

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Speaker 1: twelve thirty Eastern. Have a great week everyone. We'll talk

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Speaker 1: to you then.

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Speaker 5: Looking to take your MLB action to the next level

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Speaker 5: this season, Boosted odds are here to crank up every pitch,

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00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,080
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Speaker 5: with your very own MLB Odds Boost token to get

431
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432
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Speaker 5: to your bet slip, activate your Odds Boost token and

433
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,920
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Speaker 5: hundred gambler or one eight hundred my Reset