WEBVTT - A’s team preview w/Melissa Lockard 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.840 I think that they are out in the community a 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:05.120 little bit as opposed to, you know, hiding from the 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:07.440 community like they had the last couple of years in Oakland. 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:08.440 Is certainly have changed. 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:14.920 Yeah, here we go. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.760 Melissa Lockard from the Athletic covers the a's among other things. 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:20.880 Great to have you on the show as we're going 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.239 to run through some storylines Melissa, which we'll get to 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.240 in just a moment. I just wanted to get your 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:30.200 thoughts real quick overall. Are you surprised we're having you 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:34.280 on and actually talking about a few decent moves for 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:35.120 the athletics? 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.159 Like I'm trying to look at it a little bit 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:38.040 half full. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:39.959 Obviously, you and I, you know, we saw each other 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.000 last year around this time at fans Fest. The Oakland 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:48.520 situation aside, this franchise itself hasn't really been competitive for 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:50.040 the last few years. 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:53.360 Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, there's sort of 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.080 has been an ebb and flow in terms of how 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:58.640 the franchise has operated over the last I don't know, 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.040 twenty five years or so. Were you'll see a concentration 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.440 of years where they are competitive and then a concentration 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:05.720 of years where they're not, And I think from a 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.760 player development standpoint, they're starting to enter that window of 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.440 where they would be competitive, So you know, it makes 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.200 sense that they'd be adding. Obviously, being back on revenue 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.520 sharing and having to spend that money has allowed them 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:20.160 to actually sign a few players on the open market. 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:22.600 But it doesn't shock me that they would be trying 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:24.880 to improve and not sell off at this stage, just 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.600 given sort of what their pattern has been in terms 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:28.840 of player development in the past. 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.160 Okay, so let's get into the details. And I tried 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.039 to use a little bit of humor along the way. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:46.319 So let's hit our twenty twenty five storylines for the Athletics. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.680 I am, by no means a writer with my full 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.920 time job here, Melissa, but let me know how I did. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:53.160 So. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.640 First off, we're going to say goodbye Oakland, John Fisher 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.600 can't wait to watch Aaron Judge Mash and Sacramento. How 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.840 are they going to draw in the capital of California. 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:03.880 We've got daddy money or the A's are forced to 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.800 spend some of that money which we referred to. You 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:08.280 got to get at least to about the one oh 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:12.080 five mil number Brent Rooker got paid. And is there 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.560 an underdog story involved. Can this team actually make a 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.880 postseason run and set up the dream matchup that we're 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.600 all looking for, the Rays and the A's in the 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:23.320 ALCS in a battle of minor league ballparks. So, Melissa, 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.000 let's start at the top here and get your thoughts 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:30.800 on the first storyline, which is the A's moving to Sacramento. 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.040 For now, how do you think this is going to 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.880 play out for not just the area, but also for 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.680 the team and for opponents dealing with what is a 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.640 minor league environment, even though they did obviously make some 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.240 renovations and they're still doing that to try and polish 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.000 it up and making a little bit less you know, 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.840 minor league ish, right. 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.799 Yeah, I mean, you know it is what it is, right. 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.239 It's a stadium that cannot be bigger than what is 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.560 out there. So you've got I think four teen thousand 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.040 is its capacity, and I think they probably will draw 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.760 around that most nights, right, Like, I think there is 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.760 an excitement in the area to have a major league team. 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.680 I think you know, they're going to have a fairly 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.560 full ballpark. What that means for the experience for the 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.000 players when you're still looking at it as a Triple 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:19.560 A ballpark, you know, I think remains to be seen, 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.400 and obviously those guys will be able to tell us 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.960 as it comes. But there is some you know, local 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:28.680 excitement there in Sacramento. There's definitely been some interesting moves. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.680 I think taking Stomper or the elephant anyway off of 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.080 the uniforms and replacing it with a Sacramento patch but 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.880 not actually calling them the Sacramento Athletics is an interesting move. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.480 Sort of having your cake and eating it too in 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.480 some ways, you know. And I think you know that 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.120 that they are out in the community a little bit 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.480 as opposed to, you know, hiding from the community like 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.360 they had the last couple of years in Oakland is 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.240 certainly a change. So I'm sure it'll be a honeymoon 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.560 period there. What happens in year two or three I 0:03:57.600 --> 0:03:59.480 think will be a lot more interesting than what happens 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:00.000 the first year. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.040 How are these trades and free agents that they have 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.480 signed payoff? Because you know, if we're talking about a 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.320 playoff team, these are the guys that have to be 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.720 at the center of it. And John Fisher all of 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.960 a sudden came up with some money that he just 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.400 mysteriously didn't have in a much larger market. 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.320 Well, he came up with the other owner's money, I 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.120 think is the main thing. You know, it just got 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.560 back on revenue sharing, so you know, I mean, I 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.400 think they are a better team than they were at 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.640 this time last year. I don't think there's any doubt 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:33.800 about that. They've got a little bit more veteran depth 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.680 in the starting rotation. I still think they need more. 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.680 I'm surprised they haven't been the team that's bought Jordan 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.359 Montgomery's contract yet with that remaining amount of money, But 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.159 they certainly have more stability there. They have some younger 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.120 guys who could, you know, kind of help at the 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.640 back end of that rotation. Ken Waldachuk coming back from 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.760 Tommy John surgery. And you know, that offense was starting 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.880 to gel a little bit this year, and they're moving 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.200 into a ballpark that will help their offense even more. So, 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:03.200 you know, you're you're looking at the main guys still 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.400 being Brent Brooker, still being Lawrence Butler. You know the 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:10.040 development of Tyler Soderstrom and Zach Geloff. Shay Langeleier is 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.000 probably going to get thirty five forty homers with that ballpark. 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.880 To play in, you know, so that that's kind of 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.240 where their core is. But adding more stability to the 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:19.520 rotation certainly will help. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.160 All right, How nice was it to see Brent Rooker 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.120 get paid? I know he's been on here a bunch 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.360 of times with us. I'm happy for him. This guy, 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.880 if you don't know, his story, was a high draft pick, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.040 sec triple crown out Mississippi State, goes kind of bounces 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:35.480 around team the team, never really gets a chance, gets 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.839 to go to the Athletics. We call him the Aths 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:39.960 on here by the way, because they you know, they're 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.320 not Sacramento, they're not Oakland. Who knows where they're going 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.720 to play? So he gets to the Aths. He has 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:46.560 a couple of nice years, he has an unbelievable year 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.320 last year, and he gets paid. So how happy are 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.159 we that Brent Rooker finally got paid and he was 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.240 He's now kind of the face of the franchise. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.719 Absolutely, I mean I think that was the no brainer 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.440 move of the offseason if you were the A's front office. 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.520 I mean, here's a guy who is not only their 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.720 best player, but also a huge influence in that clubhouse. 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:08.599 He is the veteran leadership there I don't think there's 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.560 any reason to think that he won't continue to be 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.920 that player for the next couple of years. And you know, 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:14.880 if you're Brent Rooker, it made all the sense in 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.320 the world to take that money too, because he is older. 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.400 He was older when he signed out of college. You know, 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.840 it took him a while to get established. Now he's 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.720 guaranteed for life with that money. But he also knows 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:27.800 that the Ace do have a history of if they 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:29.920 aren't going to pay the player anymore, they have done 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.080 a good job of trading players to places where their 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.200 careers take off. So I don't think there's the downside 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.080 for either side really in that deal. And I am 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:39.840 really happy for a guy that worked as hard as 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.320 he did to turn himself into the player that he 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:43.440 is to get that money. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.400 Is there a chance that we see Rais and the 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:54.320 Atchs in the playoffs? Maybe more so the ath Is 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.960 we're talking about now, And we even asked Rooker this 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.640 the other day when he was on Will they allow 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.240 him to play in Sacramento if they make the playoffs? 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.719 I believe they've said no. I believe that the contingency 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.080 plan has been for both of those teams to have, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.280 you know, somewhere else to play in the playoffs. I 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.480 don't know if there's been like an official official announcement, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.600 but I think that's what we've heard. The interesting thing 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.280 would be if you did have a playoff series in 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.640 one of those minor league parks for that team, could 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.480 they outdraw the one wildcard game they played at the 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.160 Coliseum in twenty nineteen And I'm not sure they could 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.440 even if you had a five game series. So, you know, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:31.360 I think that's that's an interesting thing. But you know, 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.440 like you look at the AL West right now. You know, 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.760 Houston's still obviously a little bit in flux, but they're 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.000 not better than they were necessarily. The Angels are maybe 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:41.360 a little bit better, but they have a lot of 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:43.720 ways to go. The Mariners have done nothing, So you know, 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.920 you're looking at a at a division that is not 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.040 going to be the best in baseball by a long shot. 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.920 So it wouldn't be out of this realm of possibility 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:52.800 that they could make a run. 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.400 Okay, what you just said, I just can't get my 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.720 head wrapped around it. So if the Aths make the 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.680 post season, they're not gonna play where they played their 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:07.480 whole season. Why the if not, I don't understand. They 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.000 battled and they went through this whole thing. Same with 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.520 the Rays. So the Rays have all their stuff packed 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.120 away at Steinberg Field. The Aths have it all packed 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:17.480 away whatever the ballpark's called in Sacramento. No, I don't 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.080 even know River cat Park or whatever it's called, right, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.920 but they have all their stuff parked away here, packed away, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.000 and they have all these things, and the promotions the 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.240 fans have been behind them, and then Majorague Baseball is 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.080 gonna say, oh, by the way, great job, guys, You're 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.320 playing your playoff games in San Francisco at the Giants Park. 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.080 That is just ludicrous to me that we would even 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:38.360 be having this conversation. 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.600 I mean, it's ludicrous that we have two teams playing 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.800 in minor league ballparks when you have at the very 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.960 least one empty major league ready ballpark now. And you know, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.000 whatever you think of the oakon Colsseum, it's still a 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.560 major league ballpark and it's just sitting there. So there's 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:54.200 a lot of things that don't make sense, you know, 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:56.720 especially about the a situation. Obviously, there was you know, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.240 a natural disaster that impacted the race situation. But you know, 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.120 even there, there's no plan for what happens next for 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.600 the Rays in their stadium situation. I think, you know, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.200 the A's is far from settled as to what happens 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.480 next after this next year, given what's going on in 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.120 Nevada with their budget situation and the fact that frankly, 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:18.480 construction costs in California and in Las Vegas are probably 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:20.960 going to go way up because construction in Los Angeles 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.800 is going to be so intense over the next few years. 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.560 So I don't know what the endgame is for either 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.600 of these franchises, to be honest, but you know, maybe 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.600 they build the floating ballpark off the coast of somewhere 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.000 and that's where both of them will play the postseason series. 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.920 Something. They could play Squid Game, they could play the 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:43.840 squid games on some random island and just yeah, I mean, 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:45.200 I don't know who knows what they're going to do. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.160 But my thing is, I got to ask you this, 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.600 since you brought up Vegas and you know more about 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.960 this than probably any of us on this on this show, 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.800 do what are the chances that the A's actually end 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.520 up in Las Vegas? Because until I see a shovel, 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.520 not the Golden Show all that John Fisher throws over 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.000 his shoulder, and like here we go. I'm talking about 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.560 like beams going in and actual stadium walls being built. 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.480 What are the chances that the aths actually end up 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:11.319 in Las Vegas. 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.960 I still think it's less than fifty percent. I don't 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.080 feel like we've seen a real rendering, you know, like 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.320 there's there's been sort of little, kind of haphazard renderings 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:24.000 that we've seen. Maybe there are renderings that exist for 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.199 you know, the companies that would actually build this thing 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.719 that are a lot more detailed. You compare the renderings 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.880 to other park projects that you've seen that actually did 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:34.600 get done, and even ones that don't, like some of 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.559 the ones in Chicago that frankly are have been a 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.439 lot more impressive than what we've seen, and those are 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.600 like you know, pie in the sky sort of things. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.400 And yeah, they blew up the casino, but there's no 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.600 building that's taking place there. There's a huge budget deficit 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.120 that's starting in Nevada now, and you know, I don't 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:53.400 know how they justify giving away money when they have 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.920 to make ends meet for this for the state there, 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.160 and the fact that you know, they're kind of making 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.400 these inroads and stay Aacramento tells me they're not so 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.760 sure either. You know, they're kind of keeping all the 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.560 eggs in the basket that they can because I don't 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.280 think they know what's going to happen next to either. 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.480 So I don't think they've positioned themselves particularly well to 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.120 have moved out of a market that they could have 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:16.760 stayed in in stasis until they figured out where they 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.720 were going to go to find out what's next. 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.240 There was no better slogan than rooted in Oakland when 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.200 we knew they were desperately trying to leave several years ago. 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.040 That was a Dave Cavel masterpiece who is now gone 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.280 from the team. So good job by him to kind 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.720 of keep his legacy really really strong. Can't wait to 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.080 have him on the show. But Melissa, thank you so 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:40.559 much for joining us. Appreciate the time everyone give Melissa 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:42.840 follow if you don't already. Each does a great job 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.360 obviously covering what goes on here, especially on the news 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.160 side too with the athletics. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.360 Thanks Melissa, thanks for having me. 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:51.040 I appreciate it. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.280 While we're on the ace since they actually did something 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.079 or did multiple things this offseason, which I'm a. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.320 Huge fan of. By the way, I want to be 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:58.120 clear about that. 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.920 It's nice to have the a is playing, you know, 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.240 a little more competitively in the off season, even if 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.719 that's forced a j. Can you now name the and 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:10.840 Crats the four teams left that have not signed a 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:12.480 major league free agent? 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.120 Marlins are one. Obviously we got the. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:23.720 Course three more one at least one other should be easy. 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.400 Brewers signed somebody, even if it was more low end. 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.160 No Atlanta signed PROFI one. I just talked about one. 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.520 I just talked about very very recently on the show. 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:37.640 Mariner. 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.560 No Mariners signed Solano Race signed somebody that the team 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.200 I just talked about the Twins Andres Padres are a 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.640 third Twins. 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.320 There's one more and it's just Rockies. 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:52.680 The rock signed uh. 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:58.160 And Farmer and some others. One team left that has 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:03.240 also claimed to be frozen situation, Cardinals, the Saint Louis Cardinals. 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.440 There you go, good job. I mean it's not easy, 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.520 but yeah, that was that's the last four. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:08.120 And Crats. 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.160 I can't answer who assigned each one. I didn't do 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.760 the homework like that. But the Brewers have signed somebody, 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:14.640 even if it was. 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.040 By the way, what can we discuss this? Every writer 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.200 we have on from the Oakland area is like, yeah, 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.680 they're not gonna be in Vegas. I mean everyone we 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.720 ask it is not. There hasn't been one Oakland Bay 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.000 area person it's been like, oh, yeah, they're gonna be 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.520 in Vegas in three years, four years. There hasn't been 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.319 one of them. Every person we've asked been like, it's 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.200 underd fifty percent that the A's are in Vegas in 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.720 three years, four years, five years, ten years on her years. 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.160 It is amazing. So what that was John Fisher doing? 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:44.840 I don't get it. What Melissa said at the end 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:46.840 was great. They left a major league ballpark to go 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.079 to a place you can't play playoff games. Now the 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.319 Rays is different because of the hurricane, but the A's 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.280 left the place. And if I just can't get my 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.320 mind around if they make the playoffs, they can't play 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:59.200 in the stadium that they played in the whole year, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.800 They're gonna have to go to Montreal. They're gonna have 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.800 to go to where, Like, what do we do here? 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.920 It's crazy, it is. It's a tough look too, Kratz. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:09.840 When you know fans are there all year and then 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:11.720 you're like, root for us to win so that we 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.120 can exit this ballpark for postseason ball. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.480 It's gonna be a brutal look too. Not many people. No, 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.320 it doesn't playoff. People don't travel home. Team doesn't travel. Well, 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.120 it's not I don't know it. It's gonna be a 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:25.600 bad look. 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:28.400 It is a very difficult look. 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.680 Charlie Blackman a special assistant to the regional i mean 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:43.120 general manager of the Colorado Rockies, which is Bill Schmidt. 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.560 So there you go, little news here with hot corner. 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.280 Just for a couple of minutes. Charlie Blackman goes straight 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:53.120 from the field to the front office and shocker crats. 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.480 The Rockies like certain people and they keep them in 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.440 their organization forever. 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.080 There is. There is low. 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.119 Loyalty there, more so than you see from almost any organization. 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.280 You laughed about it because I think that's what ham 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.640 strings this team a little bit. Not that, not that 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:15.080 Charlie Blackman's hamstringing them in the future here, but them 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.040 their inability to hire outside of their group of buddies, 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.640 you know, the beerd Diggers, all those guys together. But 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.320 why would you not have Charlie Blackman come in. Why 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.440 would a team that has a star that's had success 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.440 in your organization not make them a special assistant and 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.720 keep them because he gets to be around the players, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.760 He gets to tell them about how to handle different 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:43.240 things that he went through in this city. Like, to me, 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.040 it's a no brainer, and I think it's awesome for him. 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.840 I think it's great for it's great for it's great 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.680 for Charlie Blackman. I agree with what uh Cross just said, though, Like, 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.160 I mean, we need to get some new ideas. If 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.040 you're the Rockies, you got to try something crazy. You 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:04.800 got to go full raise and just try to do 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:07.960 something that's so far outside the box that nobody's thought 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:10.760 about because you haven't had success. You had the one 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.120 year twenty was a twenty two thousand and seven. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:15.720 When they went to the World Series because they worked 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:17.560 oh yeah, yeah, two. 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.000 Thousand and seven. They went to the World Series because 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:20.800 they went on like an epic, like twenty game winning 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:22.200 streak at the end of the year out of nowhere. 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.880 And so other than that though, I mean, they've made 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.680 the playoffs a couple of times, they've been okay a 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.760 couple of times, but now you're in the division with 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.480 the Dodgers and the Padres and the Diamondbacks. You got 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.400 to figure something else out if you're the Rockies, and 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:36.640 the only thing to do is you got to do 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.240 something crazy, and you got to get outside your box. Man. 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.960 You got to think of something just way off the 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.840 wall to try it to set yourselves apart. And then 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:45.320 you're also gonna have to spend some money. 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:48.280 Yeah, they're in a tough spot. 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:52.560 But at least we learned from his little media press 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:57.480 conference thing or whatever that he can ski now and 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.280 know if he's a skier, but he said he went 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.520 skiing at thirty eight years old for the first time 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.159 in his life. Last week in bail he said, you 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:08.840 can't ski. It was in my contract. Rocky shouldn't ski. 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.720 Maybe they do need to ski, just to switch things up, 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.520 you know. More power to the legs, right, isn't Isn't 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:18.800 that what sometimes soft things for a player to get 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.800 get that lower half involved more. No, no warrior exhausted 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.679 from skiing or you get hurt snowboarding and then you 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:27.560 can't play. 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.600 That's the problem. Hey, hey, j doesn't know anything about skin. 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.919 The don't ski in Florida and you. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.520 Want to hear a story yes, two thousand and five, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.680 two thousand and five, and win the World Series. January 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.119 two thousand and six. Right after we win the World Series, 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.080 father in law calls me. He goes, hey, I got 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:44.960 a great deal to go to Bath and go skiing. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.159 You want to go? And I was like, yes please. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.000 I went for three days and went skiing, didn't get hurt, 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:52.760 stayed on the greens and the blues, don't do the 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.200 black diamonds. When I knew I was falling, I would 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.600 just fall down on my big fat butt, slide down 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.320 the hill a little bit, get up and keep going. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:01.320 It was a great time. I did it a couple 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:03.040 of times in my career. I don't recommend it to 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.760 anybody else doing it because people aren't stupid like me. 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.040 But I skied a couple of times in my career 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:09.520 even though I was supposed to. I had jet skis 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:10.919 in my career. I wasn't supposed to do a lot 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.199 of stuff I wasn't supposed to. I don't recommend it. 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.640 Listen to what your contract says, especially if you're making 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.680 a lot of money. But I broke the rules once 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:22.560 or twice. Hell yeah, that's playing with fire. It's playing 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:23.040 with fire. 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.760 Brandon Mostows first got his first million dollar contract, millions 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.040 of dollar contracts, and he took a picture on his 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.280 snowboard at the top of a mountain with his wife. 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:34.760 I texted him that day, I go. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.600 Bro, take that down. There's no way. He's like, oh, 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:39.280 good point.