Speaker 1: They're a team that just cannot get going. And while
Speaker 1: depth is a problem and there are all kinds of
Speaker 1: problems here, I can see where they thought it logical
Speaker 1: to just change it up a little bit. Here. Welcome
Speaker 1: everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. We are live.
Speaker 1: I am Ken Rosenthal. We are with Alano Rizzo. As always,
Speaker 1: I am coming to you from parts unknown. Aj Perzinski
Speaker 1: always wants to know which hotel I'm staying at. We're
Speaker 1: not telling him. We're not telling anyone but Alana. We
Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about today, and it starts
Speaker 1: off with the team that I consider perhaps the biggest
Speaker 1: surprise in baseball.
Speaker 2: It's funny that you say that, because when you told
Speaker 2: us that that's how you were going to introduce this segment, Ken,
Speaker 2: that's the surprise to me that this team is a
Speaker 2: surprise to you.
Speaker 3: Tell me more, I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1: And it's really twofold one. They didn't do much in
Speaker 1: the offseason. I'm talking about the Seattle Mariners. They signed
Speaker 1: Jorge Polanco and Donovan Solano and that was it. About
Speaker 1: eleven point five million total is what they spent. And offensively,
Speaker 1: they've been challenged for a number of years and I
Speaker 1: thought they would be challenged again, and yet this is different,
Speaker 1: and we've seen them now win nine straight series. That's
Speaker 1: their longest streak, Mariners' longest streak since the two thousand
Speaker 1: and one team that won one hundred and sixteen games.
Speaker 1: They put together fifteen straight series wins at one point.
Speaker 1: And getting to the offense, what's amazing about them is,
Speaker 1: all right, they're fifth in runs, that's one thing, but
Speaker 1: they were also fourth in home runs fifty one home runs.
Speaker 1: A lot of it's Kyle Raley and Jorge Polanco, and
Speaker 1: they're leading the majors in walkway. This is a good
Speaker 1: combination power and play, discipline. That is what makes a
Speaker 1: good offense. And they're doing it with some guys that
Speaker 1: I don't know if people have really heard of much.
Speaker 1: Ben Williamson, the rookie third baseman, Master Roney, he's come
Speaker 1: on for them. They've had Leo Reeves at second base. Now,
Speaker 1: these aren't the main contributors, but they're getting offensive from
Speaker 1: those guys as well as of course Raleigh and Polanco.
Speaker 1: JP Crawford's playing really well. Julio is coming on now.
Speaker 1: So it's been interesting. We've said all along right a
Speaker 1: lot of Hey, if they can only hit to support
Speaker 1: their pitching, you're going to be a formidable group. Now
Speaker 1: they've got Gilbert and Kirby still on the il. The
Speaker 1: pitching's taken a bit of a hit, but Emerson Hancock
Speaker 1: stepped up, and overall in a weaker division than we expected,
Speaker 1: the Astros own is good, the Rangers zone is good.
Speaker 1: The Mariners look like the class right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Roddi Tilez has had a nice little season
Speaker 2: for the Seattle Mariners as well. Ken, and you had
Speaker 2: mentioned that both George Kirby and Logan Gilbert are on
Speaker 2: the elbum. Some of these other guys are stepping up,
Speaker 2: and you mentioned Emerson Hancock. We know what Luis Castillo
Speaker 2: can do, Bryce Miller, Logan Evans.
Speaker 3: Brian wu.
Speaker 2: Although he did not pitch great yesterday against the Athletics, Ken,
Speaker 2: he absolutely owns them. He's six to zero undefeated against
Speaker 2: the Athletics. He's had a nice run for the Seattle
Speaker 2: Mariners as well. Another guy, Ken, as we continuing here
Speaker 2: on the lead that isn't having a nice season is
Speaker 2: Ryan Presley with the Chicago Cubs. Now, because in addition
Speaker 2: to Kyle Tucker, there are other big signing in the
Speaker 2: off season or the trade acquisition. Rather, Ryan Presley was
Speaker 2: supposed to be the big deal, and he's really struggled.
Speaker 3: What have you seen.
Speaker 1: He's not striking out people, and when you don't strike
Speaker 1: out people, and when the ball is in play, there
Speaker 1: are times when your outings are going to go awry.
Speaker 1: And if you read some of the stuff analysis on him,
Speaker 1: his fastball has lost ride and velocity is curveball still
Speaker 1: his best pitch, but he just isn't the same guy.
Speaker 1: And Enosaras highlighted him in The Athletic yesterday as one
Speaker 1: of the potential issues we're seeing around the game based
Speaker 1: on his numbers and his stuff is down, as Eno
Speaker 1: points out, So for the Cubs it is a concern.
Speaker 1: Remember they're down two starters, actually three already. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about him Anaga Steele, and you can count a sod
Speaker 1: in that mix. And then to see their bullpen, which
Speaker 1: was a question to begin with, kind of in this
Speaker 1: uncertain state, at least at the back end, that becomes problematic.
Speaker 1: As good as their offense has been now, Porter Hodge
Speaker 1: is a big stuff guy and he could ultimately become
Speaker 1: the closer if Presley cannot figure it out, maybe that's
Speaker 1: the way the Cubs will go entering their series against
Speaker 1: the Mets this weekend. But Presley was supposed to be
Speaker 1: a big part of what they're doing, and if he's
Speaker 1: not going to be, or if he's not capable of
Speaker 1: being the same guy he was in Houston, sure it's
Speaker 1: a problem.
Speaker 2: My guess is the Cubs will be buyers at the deadline.
Speaker 2: They're very much still in the thick of things in
Speaker 2: the National League Central, not particularly a strong division. And
Speaker 2: I know one of the questions likely coming up on
Speaker 2: Grill and Ken is where do the Cubs go Ken
Speaker 2: to get some bullpen help.
Speaker 1: Well, every team's going to be asking that question Alta.
Speaker 1: As you know, as we get into July, every contender,
Speaker 1: and we can see the teams that are falling out
Speaker 1: of it already. Most of those teams don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: relievers that clubs are going to want. I'm talking about Pirates,
Speaker 1: the Marlins, the Rockies. These are the non contending teams
Speaker 1: that we are seeing in the game. That said things
Speaker 1: will happen. Teams will fall out of it, Teams will
Speaker 1: be willing to make Major League for Major League trades.
Speaker 1: David Robertson is still out there as well as a
Speaker 1: free agent. I imagine he'll get some attention. So it's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how that all plays out,
Speaker 1: because every team at the deadline almost always wants more
Speaker 1: help in the bullpen. It's just a depth question if
Speaker 1: nothing else, And in most cases it's not simply a
Speaker 1: depth question, it's a performance question too.
Speaker 2: Do you think that the upcoming schedule perhaps is a
Speaker 2: good way to take advantage for the Chicago Cubs. Seems
Speaker 2: like this next stretch run is a bit more manageable
Speaker 2: in terms of teams either at or below five hundred.
Speaker 1: Once they get through the Mets. Yes, and they had
Speaker 1: an incredibly difficult schedule in April, which is why you
Speaker 1: can say, well, why are you saying the Mariners are
Speaker 1: the biggest surprise. The Cubs might be the biggest surprise
Speaker 1: considering they had all those Beasts of the West early
Speaker 1: on San Diego, Arizona and the Dodgers and they came
Speaker 1: out of it really well. But yes, it is going
Speaker 1: to ease for them. That can be a trap, as
Speaker 1: we've discussed, but in general, yeah, it will be a
Speaker 1: break from at least what they've been seeing so far.
Speaker 2: Ken, one of the teams I think that's been a
Speaker 2: big surprise for me is also in the American League,
Speaker 2: but they're in the American League East. You say the
Speaker 2: Seattle Mariners in the West, I say the Baltimore Orioles
Speaker 2: in the East. I don't know, Ken, if this team
Speaker 2: is going to make the postseason. The young core is
Speaker 2: not hitting, and obviously their starting staff is decimated. Is
Speaker 2: that a fair assessment.
Speaker 1: It's a very fair assessment. A lot. And that's a
Speaker 1: negative surprise. I was talking about positive surprise, no question.
Speaker 1: The biggest negative surprise would be the Orioles. Now, a
Speaker 1: team like the Pirates, you didn't expect them to be good,
Speaker 1: not a surprise. The Oriols we did expect to be good,
Speaker 1: and they cannot figure out and get the help they
Speaker 1: need in the rotation right now. And Charles Morton struggled
Speaker 1: again last night. Kyle Gibson has not been great since
Speaker 1: joining the rotation. They just don't have answers there now.
Speaker 1: Chagano has been really good, Povich has not been great.
Speaker 1: Kramer just okay. Efflyn's coming back and that's gonna help them.
Speaker 1: But it's a five man rotation or a six man
Speaker 1: rotation in some cases with certain teams, and they just
Speaker 1: don't have enough right now, and that is my concern
Speaker 1: going forward. I don't know how they stabilize this thing,
Speaker 1: even if they start hitting in a better way, and
Speaker 1: this kind of thing all plays into each other's hands.
Speaker 1: Even if they do start hitting, if they're giving up
Speaker 1: five six a night with the rotation, it's a problem.
Speaker 1: You can't play from behind every night, and that's the
Speaker 1: situation that they're often in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a tall, tall order in Baltimore. Get your
Speaker 2: questions in for Grill and Ken. That's coming up here
Speaker 2: momentarily on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. We're going to
Speaker 2: talk a little mooki bets after the break, but first
Speaker 2: a word from our friends at Foul Territory.
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Speaker 2: All right, we appreciate Arena Club being a part of
Speaker 2: the program here and don't forget, as I mentioned, to
Speaker 2: get your questions in for Grill and Ken an opportunity
Speaker 2: to ask Hall of famer Ken Rosenthal some questions always
Speaker 2: a Hall of famer in my book, let me ask
Speaker 2: you this question, Kenn, Oh, give me a break, Give
Speaker 2: me a break. If you're not in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: I'm going to riot give me a point. Mookie Betts,
Speaker 2: let's talk about him for a second. I tell you,
Speaker 2: this is a guy that puts so much pressure on himself.
Speaker 2: Ken Rosenthal, and you just had an article right today
Speaker 2: recently in the Athletic and MOOKI talked to you about
Speaker 2: the need to get the barrel going. What more can
Speaker 2: you tell us?
Speaker 1: This is interesting, Elana, because initially when I was talking
Speaker 1: to Mookie Betts last weekend before broadcast, and he mentioned
Speaker 1: this to me that when he went through a tough
Speaker 1: stretch for about two weeks, the problem was he had
Speaker 1: lost the weight with his illness. He was trying to
Speaker 1: regain his bat speed, which is below average even when healthy,
Speaker 1: and he created some bad habits. I'm sitting there thinking,
Speaker 1: this is how I started the article. Mookie Bets is
Speaker 1: worried about bat speed. Where are we here these Mookie Bets.
Speaker 1: He is a Hall of Famer, and yet his concern
Speaker 1: is legitimate because when you have lesser bat speed as
Speaker 1: he does, there are ways to succeed and the way
Speaker 1: to succeed. And we've learned this from the Great Stack
Speaker 1: cast metrics that have been introduced this year publicly by
Speaker 1: stat Cast about not just bat speed, but something called
Speaker 1: squared up rate, which is basically getting the ball in
Speaker 1: the barrel, as you just mentioned, hitting it on the
Speaker 1: sweet spot. When you do it as often as he
Speaker 1: does it, you can compensate for poorer bat speed. The
Speaker 1: problem is if you start losing that skill somehow, if
Speaker 1: you're not squaring balls up the same way, then you're
Speaker 1: essentially a Luisa Rise or a Stephen Kwan, one of
Speaker 1: these high contact, low power types, and that's never been
Speaker 1: who Mookie is. So it is a weakness in his
Speaker 1: game thing he's mindful of. He went to drive line
Speaker 1: a few years ago with a number of the Dodgers
Speaker 1: players to think of ways to get back to or
Speaker 1: get to a better level with his bat speed. It
Speaker 1: seems in spring training he was in a good place
Speaker 1: than the illness hit. So he or has been scrambling
Speaker 1: back trying to regain it. And it's just fascinating to
Speaker 1: talk to him always because you're right along it. He
Speaker 1: puts incredible pressure on himself. He never seems to be
Speaker 1: happy with his offense, and it's a great way to
Speaker 1: be It's why he is the player he is, and
Speaker 1: so many players are like this, so many people in
Speaker 1: all walks of life who are accomplished are like this.
Speaker 1: But he can grind himself down a little bit, and
Speaker 1: I just see him still as this amazing player, a
Speaker 1: unique player in the game. And we're not even talking
Speaker 1: about his defensive versatility, which is incredible, and what he's
Speaker 1: doing at shortstop is incredible because he's playing that at
Speaker 1: a pretty high level. But when I asked him, hey,
Speaker 1: is the shortstop and the concentration they're bleeding to the offense,
Speaker 1: he said no, And that's when he got to talking
Speaker 1: about the bat speed question.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he mentioned that he knew his bat speed
Speaker 2: was already below average in terms of the league. But
Speaker 2: then you tack on the fact he lost seventeen to
Speaker 2: twenty pounds and that's certainly going to affect the offense
Speaker 2: and the bat speed. But he does have five home runs,
Speaker 2: Kenny has twenty two RBI. He is batt in two
Speaker 2: fifty eight. But you know that the average is going
Speaker 2: to be there. But you mentioned something that people are
Speaker 2: alluding to. Perhaps the focus and the concentration at being
Speaker 2: a good defensive shortstop is taking away from his offense,
Speaker 2: and I'm glad that you asked him that question. I'm
Speaker 2: glad he told you no. One doesn't have anything to
Speaker 2: do with the other. And people are kind of getting
Speaker 2: on Mookie Bets Ken because of the amount of time
Speaker 2: he is spending taking ground balls at second base, working
Speaker 2: on the footwork in the infield. People seem to forget
Speaker 2: Ken that if Mooki was not willing to come into
Speaker 2: the infield, the Dodgers would not have been able to
Speaker 2: sign Tayoscar Hernandez. This is not just Mooky saying you know, yeah, sure,
Speaker 2: I'll do it. This is a way that the team
Speaker 2: was able to get better in the off season. Three
Speaker 2: time World Series champion Mookie Betts does not have to
Speaker 2: move in from right field to short and I think
Speaker 2: that kind of goes under the rug a little bit
Speaker 2: that people on understanding this guy is so accomplished yet
Speaker 2: such a team player.
Speaker 1: I agree Alana and a couple of things on that.
Speaker 1: So at shortstop last year when he was first transitioning
Speaker 1: into the infield or back into the infield, remember he
Speaker 1: played it very early in his professional career in the
Speaker 1: minor leagues. He was working excessively hard. He didn't have
Speaker 1: a routine. Now he does. He is much more restrained
Speaker 1: in what he does each day. He still does a lot,
Speaker 1: and he still has a lot to learn in his mind,
Speaker 1: but he is under control with that. Miguel Rojas has
Speaker 1: talked about that now last year, that what he was
Speaker 1: doing was unsustainable. And the other part of it is
Speaker 1: he enjoys it, and he has been pretty outspoken about this.
Speaker 1: I like playing this position, I like the pregame work,
Speaker 1: I like all of this stuff. He told me last
Speaker 1: week in the outfield, you know, you show up at
Speaker 1: the car and do a little bit, but you don't
Speaker 1: have to do as much preparation. And he enjoys it.
Speaker 1: So I believe him when he says it's not bleeding
Speaker 1: into his offense. The offense has other things associated with it.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned the weight loss. That's incredible how much
Speaker 1: the weight he lost, considering he's only one seventy eight
Speaker 1: at his heaviest. So I wouldn't draw that conclusion just yet.
Speaker 1: And in fact, if I were a fan of the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: or just a Milki or the game in general, I'd
Speaker 1: be pretty impressed by his defensive metrics so far. I
Speaker 1: know It's a small sample, and the metrics aren't always
Speaker 1: trustworthy in such a small sample, but what he is
Speaker 1: doing in the field, it's borderline incredible to me.
Speaker 2: I love the way that Moki constantly challenges himself. He's
Speaker 2: never satisfied, regardless of the amount of trophies or accolades
Speaker 2: that he has or the back of his baseball card.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to those grillin ken questions.
Speaker 3: What do you got?
Speaker 2: All right, guys, apparently we have some breaking news here.
Speaker 2: The first question is on Sandy al Contrara. Struggling this
Speaker 2: season doesn't impact his chances that he's dealt at the deadline.
Speaker 2: While I am not an insider, I would imagine certainly
Speaker 2: that the Miami Marlins would be willing to part with
Speaker 2: Sandy al contra to get whatever they can in terms
Speaker 2: of a return for him while he still has some value.
Speaker 2: And you know, those at the deadline that are in
Speaker 2: contention would love to have that arm in their arsenal.
Speaker 2: As we bring Ken Rosenthal back in here now and
Speaker 2: Ken breaking news on the Pittsburgh Pirates. And originally our
Speaker 2: first question was going to be at the Pirates in
Speaker 2: terms of who they would sell at the deadline. But
Speaker 2: it looks like Derek Shelton is out of a job.
Speaker 2: Obviously the hot seat was pretty hot. What more can
Speaker 2: you tell us.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, on that and we'll get to
Speaker 1: our contra. Derek Shelton's team is twelve and twenty six.
Speaker 1: This is a team that entered the season with higher
Speaker 1: expectations than in the past, in part because of Paul Skins,
Speaker 1: in part because theoretically some of their players should be
Speaker 1: coming into their own Cabrian Hayes, Brian, these guys are
Speaker 1: actually in their primes and pretty good players, and they
Speaker 1: didn't do much in the offseason, but they thought it
Speaker 1: would be better. It hasn't been better. And while you
Speaker 1: can make a case that later in the season, when
Speaker 1: they get Jared Jones back, when they get Bubba Chandler
Speaker 1: into the rotation, that starting rotation will be really good.
Speaker 1: You can make that case. And you can make the
Speaker 1: case also that when Spencer Horowitz returns and when ikf
Speaker 1: returns Isaiah kind of filefa that the offense will be
Speaker 1: in a better place. But they're playing losing baseball. They're
Speaker 1: a team that just cannot get going. And while depth
Speaker 1: is a problem and there are all kinds of problems here.
Speaker 1: I can see where they thought it logical to just
Speaker 1: change it up a little bit here, and it doesn't
Speaker 1: excuse the way the team has been constructed. That falls
Speaker 1: on Bench Charrington, the general manager, and he too is
Speaker 1: in his sixty year of running this team and they
Speaker 1: haven't gotten anywhere. Now. Part of that is on Sherrington
Speaker 1: for not building a better base of talent, greater depth.
Speaker 1: A lot of it is on the owner, Bob Nutting,
Speaker 1: who has not given Charrington, Shelton and others these sufficient
Speaker 1: resources they need. But this team is spinning its wheels
Speaker 1: and it's a huge disappointment as always, and I hate
Speaker 1: it when a manager gets fired in some ways because
Speaker 1: it's never just the manager, same with a coach. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, do I understand this, Yes, I
Speaker 1: understand this. It's been enough time, and now the question becomes,
Speaker 1: is Ben Sherrington as general manager under greater scrutiny as well? Yeah?
Speaker 2: And it looks like the Pittsburgh Pirates can just put
Speaker 2: out a release about a moment ago regarding the relief
Speaker 2: of manager Derek Shelton of his duties. They also said
Speaker 2: that Pirates bench coach as you know, Don Kelly has
Speaker 2: been named manager at this time, so we'll see what
Speaker 2: direction Don Kelly can take this team. But that goes
Speaker 2: back to our earlier question that we had here on
Speaker 2: Grill and Ken in terms of, you know, the Pirates
Speaker 2: don't want to give up on young talent, but it
Speaker 2: seems like it's not working.
Speaker 3: Were they counting too much?
Speaker 1: Ken?
Speaker 2: I know they got a lot of guys on the
Speaker 2: il that you said, a lot of guys coming back,
Speaker 2: but were they counting too much on these young talented
Speaker 2: guys to be able to perform I guess over their skis,
Speaker 2: over their numbers right now, they maybe needed a little
Speaker 2: bit more veteran presence in that lineup on that roster.
Speaker 1: You can certainly make that case. Alta, They're just not there.
Speaker 1: And this is a team that, yes, has revenue challenges,
Speaker 1: we all get it, but look at Tampa Bay, look
Speaker 1: at Cleveland, even look at Sacramento, Vegas, Oakland right now,
Speaker 1: what they're doing, it's impressive to see some of these
Speaker 1: lower revenue teams do what they do year after year.
Speaker 1: And I'm leaving out Milwaukee, which is a prime example
Speaker 1: as well. Those teams can do it. Those teams do
Speaker 1: do it now? Do they have challenges unlike what other
Speaker 1: clubs in bigger markets face. Absolutely, and it's an issue
Speaker 1: in the sport, an ongoing issue. But Pittsburgh, year after
Speaker 1: year after year, has not answered the bell, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better phrase, they have not come up with
Speaker 1: the young talent and heck, they fell into Skins. He's
Speaker 1: a number one. And keep in mind too, they're only
Speaker 1: going to have schemes for so long, so at some
Speaker 1: point you've got to maximize what resources you have to
Speaker 1: the best of your ability. It's tough to make a
Speaker 1: case that they've done that.
Speaker 2: I want to circle back to what phaser sq was
Speaker 2: asking Ken about Sandy Alcontro when you were dealing with
Speaker 2: the breaking news situation. I'm certainly not an insider, so
Speaker 2: what is your take on this? With al Contra struggling
Speaker 2: early this season, does it impact his chances that he's
Speaker 2: dealt at the deadline. I think a lot of this
Speaker 2: is change of scenery. We know the type of stuff
Speaker 2: can that Alcontra has. Despite the early struggles.
Speaker 1: He's coming off Tommy John surgery. He hasn't pitched in
Speaker 1: a while. This to me is expected what he's going
Speaker 1: through and the deadline is essentially three months away. Not
Speaker 1: quite three months away, but almost three months away. I
Speaker 1: would expect that he's going to be better by the deadline,
Speaker 1: and by the deadline, he will be in a position
Speaker 1: where teams will want him. So is it impacting his
Speaker 1: chances of getting traded in May like the way the
Speaker 1: Marlins did last year with Luis Rias. Absolutely, but this
Speaker 1: was never a comparable situation other than the fact that
Speaker 1: both those guys played for the Marlins. Al Contida is
Speaker 1: a guy who's kind of fined in his rhythm again
Speaker 1: and trying to get back to where he was. He
Speaker 1: was encouraged by his last start, So we'll see how
Speaker 1: it plays out for him. I expect he's going to
Speaker 1: be traded. I expect he's going to be good enough
Speaker 1: to be traded, and then we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Miami, I tell you constant rebuild. There's just some
Speaker 2: interesting questions about that franchise. Certainly, let's talk about the outfield,
Speaker 2: if you will, in terms of a center fielder for
Speaker 2: the next decade. Armand wants to know, Ken, who would
Speaker 2: you choose to have in center field for the next
Speaker 2: ten years? PCA, which is Pete Crow or I'm strong
Speaker 2: of course, of the Cubs or Jung Hu Lee and
Speaker 2: the hooligans in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: Arman, that's a great question. Now I don't have their
Speaker 1: ages in front of me. If I'm not mistaken, PCA
Speaker 1: is younger, he's twenty three. Jung Ulee is pretty young himself,
Speaker 1: but I'm guessing twenty five twenty six range. I don't know.
Speaker 1: If the top of my head, I apologize, but I
Speaker 1: would say I'd rather have PCA because PCA, to me,
Speaker 1: is showing power potential that Jung Lulee has kind of
Speaker 1: giving us glimpses of this year, but I don't know
Speaker 1: that it's at the same level as PCA. Both are
Speaker 1: really good players, and I'd like to have either one
Speaker 1: of them on my team. Honestly, a center fielder of
Speaker 1: that caliber is hard to find. Jackson Merrill is one
Speaker 1: that the San Diego Padres have. I can name a
Speaker 1: number of others, but when you have that anchor in
Speaker 1: the middle of the diamond, it's a great thing. And
Speaker 1: when you have a power speed combination like both those
Speaker 1: guys offer, Wow, you've got something there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I like both of their personalities. I did
Speaker 2: look it up for you while you were giving your explanation,
Speaker 2: and PCA is twenty three, Jung Hulee is twenty six,
Speaker 2: so there is a three year difference between them, but
Speaker 2: they're both really fun, versatile players. How about talking about
Speaker 2: the Tigers really quick before we go to break. When
Speaker 2: are we going to start talking about the Tigers instead
Speaker 2: of the Dodgers and Yankees as a World series?
Speaker 3: For conclusions for contenders?
Speaker 1: What are we doing? Ken?
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Detroit.
Speaker 1: Shawn Michael, You've got a great point, and we talked
Speaker 1: about Detroit, so don't give me this stuff that we
Speaker 1: haven't talked about the Tigers. I've written about the Tigers.
Speaker 1: Were not ignoring the Tigers, and nor should we be
Speaker 1: ignoring the Tigers. They are a really good team in
Speaker 1: kind of a complete fashion. What we're seeing now is
Speaker 1: an offense that is catching up to its pitching. That
Speaker 1: was the issue last year. They had this tremendous pitching staff.
Speaker 1: What they did with the chaos in the final two
Speaker 1: months amazing, but their offense was kind of meager. Now
Speaker 1: with Torklsen resurgent, with hav A Bias suddenly a guy again,
Speaker 1: with all of these good things happening, and I'm forgetting
Speaker 1: a number of players. Mckinstrey has had a big impact.
Speaker 1: Number of guys with the Tigers that have made significant contributions. Labor,
Speaker 1: torres can go right down the line. When you have
Speaker 1: that in addition to the pitching that they have, then
Speaker 1: you have something, especially in a weaker league. The American
Speaker 1: League is the weaker league right now, There's no doubt
Speaker 1: about that. And when you check through the teams there
Speaker 1: and you look at, well, which teams are dominant, I
Speaker 1: don't know, Yankees, maybe Tigers. Yeah, I think they're on
Speaker 1: that track too. So to me, they are very real.
Speaker 1: They are legit, and we're going to see them be
Speaker 1: a force, not just this year because they're fairly young,
Speaker 1: but for years to come.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sean Michael wants us to know their top five
Speaker 2: and starting pitching top five and bullpen top five in offense.
Speaker 3: What else do we want?
Speaker 2: Ken, we'll talk about aj Hinch's t gras all right,
Speaker 2: coming up Dude and Dork of the Week, But first
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Speaker 1: Dude, dude, dude.
Speaker 2: All right, Welcome to due to the Week here on
Speaker 2: Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal and Sewan Michael's not gonna
Speaker 2: like that the dude of the week is not a
Speaker 2: member of the Tigers, but I think everybody can.
Speaker 3: Agree your due to the week absolutely deserves it.
Speaker 1: Well, you have to watch this to believe it, because
Speaker 1: when I saw it, I was like, Wow, I can't
Speaker 1: believe this guy caught this ball. But let's check out
Speaker 1: this Yankee fan making a great play here on a
Speaker 1: ball with his daughter covering his eyes. Now, first of all,
Speaker 1: I want to make a couple of comments the daughter.
Speaker 1: That is awesome what she did. It's what every daughter
Speaker 1: has done well, but at least my two daughters would
Speaker 1: do to me when they were younger, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But this guy to come through like that, that's impressive.
Speaker 3: That is just no doubt. Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1: The Yankee fan this week saw it. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw it. The fan who caught the judge
Speaker 1: homer and then kind of lost it and then another
Speaker 1: fan picked it up kind of sneakilys now eventually gave
Speaker 1: it back. So but catch by the Yankee fan that
Speaker 1: was supreme.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean everyone's probably like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: What The only thing that would have been funnier about
Speaker 2: that is if that little, beautiful little girl took the
Speaker 2: ball out of her dad's glove and threw it right back.
Speaker 2: So not only is she covering dad's eyes, but you
Speaker 2: know she takes the foul ball and throws it right back. Okay,
Speaker 2: my dude of the week is also a Yankee. But
Speaker 2: I'm going to give props to Max Freed. And the
Speaker 2: reason being Ken is we weren't certain what we were
Speaker 2: going to get in terms of Max Freed. Was he
Speaker 2: going to stay in Atlanta? Was he going to go
Speaker 2: someplace else? And he has really been wonderful for the
Speaker 2: New York Yankees, especially without Garrett Cole and Luise Heel
Speaker 2: in terms of their services. He's six and zero on
Speaker 2: the year, Ken a one oh five era. He's pitched
Speaker 2: in fifty one and two thirds innings. He just looks
Speaker 2: really good. He's a nice pickup and I just I
Speaker 2: just like him as a person. Obviously I like him
Speaker 2: as a pitcher. So good on you, Max Freed. Okay,
Speaker 2: what is your dude or excuse me, your dork of
Speaker 2: the week, Presented by John Fisher Ken Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: Well, Alana I actually announced this earlier. Well, Alana I
Speaker 1: actually announced this earlier. This week on FT and it
Speaker 1: certainly deserves another mention. So Saturday, when I was doing
Speaker 1: the Braves game with the Dodgers, there was a three
Speaker 1: hour rain delay. AJ Prasinski or other, well, our foul
Speaker 1: Territory cohort, was doing Orioles Royals, so he sent us
Speaker 1: a text, a group text. All the announcers were on it.
Speaker 1: This is the first time we had ever been grouped
Speaker 1: together in a text. AJ grouped us in this text.
Speaker 1: It was Jason Bennetti, Adam, Me and me, maybe a
Speaker 1: few others I don't even know, producers or whatever. And
Speaker 1: AJ starts off the text. Well let's take a look.
Speaker 1: Let's just show you what he did, all right. So
Speaker 1: AJ's thinking, we got our game going, nobody's going to
Speaker 1: be watching Braves Dodgers because it's a rain delay. So
Speaker 1: watch and learn, kids, enjoy your rain delay. Seconds later,
Speaker 1: well maybe it was minutes later, and we are in
Speaker 1: a rain delay, and you can see my comment there.
Speaker 1: You beg for it, AJ, and the baseball gods got you.
Speaker 1: Well where it is? Do I need to even explain anymore?
Speaker 1: A J. Persinski dork of the week. He asked me
Speaker 1: on foul Territory, Well, you know, is it possible for
Speaker 1: someone to be named dork of the week twice? I said, AJ,
Speaker 1: If you ever watch our show, the dork of the
Speaker 1: Week is named for a multiple winner. It's John Fisher,
Speaker 1: So AJ dork of the week. And guess what Two
Speaker 1: times might not be enough if stuff happens this summer
Speaker 1: three times?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, he could do it three four, five, six,
Speaker 2: seven times. My dork of the Week is just two
Speaker 2: idiots in Pittsburgh. One is an employee and one is
Speaker 2: a fan. They're both morons getting in each other's faces,
Speaker 2: spitting in each other's faces. Listen, guys, it's baseball.
Speaker 3: It's supposed to be a good time.
Speaker 2: There are always kids around, everyone's paying attention. It's just silly.
Speaker 3: This is, you know.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the argument was over in terms of,
Speaker 2: you know, the uh fan situation at P and C Park,
Speaker 2: but the employee was none too please.
Speaker 3: They got into it.
Speaker 2: You can see it here, kind of Joscelyn back and forth,
Speaker 2: the you know, the punches, the spitting. I mean, I
Speaker 2: do believe that gentleman that was employed by the pirates
Speaker 2: was suspended, but that fan should never be allowed in
Speaker 2: another park. And I'm not certain that you know that
Speaker 2: employee should be allowed to be an employee at aided
Speaker 2: A baseball park. So they are both my dorks of
Speaker 2: the week. All right, let's shout out our friends who
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Speaker 3: All right, Ken, we're going.
Speaker 2: To say goodbye here on fair Territory. I believe you
Speaker 2: might be hitting up Bowl Territory boys talking about the
Speaker 2: release of Derek Shelton of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaker 3: Vow Territory is next. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 4: M mm hmm.