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Speaker 1: What's up?

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Speaker 2: Everybody. Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory. Chandeler

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Speaker 2: Roam along with Tyler Stafford and the most special guests

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Speaker 2: that I think we could get any of you guys,

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Speaker 2: former Astro general manager Jeff Luno. Jeff, Before we get

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Speaker 2: into we want to talk to you a lot about

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Speaker 2: what goes into a trade deadline, what a GM's life

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Speaker 2: is like around this time of year, mid July, when

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Speaker 2: the trade talks start to have them. Before we get

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Speaker 2: into that, I think a lot of fans are wondering

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Speaker 2: simply how you're doing, how you're doing, what's been up

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Speaker 2: and for those that haven't seen you in a little bit,

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Speaker 2: what you've been up to.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well thanks, it's great to see both of you.

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Speaker 1: Miss I miss being around the ballpark and all that.

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Speaker 1: I live in Houston. I'm in Houston right now. I

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Speaker 1: never I never left, but I spend about half my

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Speaker 1: time in Europe. I got into football now soccer here

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Speaker 1: in the States. And actually today's a milestone day because

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Speaker 1: we just closed the transaction. We've acquired my group are

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Speaker 1: to League one team in France, so now we have

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Speaker 1: a team in Spain in addition to team in Mexico

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Speaker 1: and a team in France, so I'm actually in the

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Speaker 1: middle of my own sort of trade deadline. It's different

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Speaker 1: in football. You have a transfer window that's open until

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Speaker 1: the end of August, but doing it for about four

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Speaker 1: to five teams instead of just one. So pretty busy,

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Speaker 1: but overall doing well and love and living in Houston

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Speaker 1: and happy to be around and obviously been watching the

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Speaker 1: Astros success from from nearby, and it's really incredible what

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Speaker 1: the organization has been able to accomplish. I'm pretty proud

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Speaker 1: of everybody there and still know a lot of people

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Speaker 1: there and still know a lot of the players, So

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Speaker 1: pretty happy to see what's happening.

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Speaker 2: How often do you watch how often? I mean I

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Speaker 2: imagine not watching every game, but how often do you

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Speaker 2: tune into the Astros kind of keep up with what's

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Speaker 2: going on when I can?

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Speaker 1: It's not that often because you know, when I'm in Europe,

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Speaker 1: it's the middle of the night. When I'm here, you know,

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Speaker 1: I try and turn on the TV and background when

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Speaker 1: I can, but I keep track. I mean mostly I

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Speaker 1: go online and make sure that see what the results

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Speaker 1: are from the night before.

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Speaker 2: What so you said you're closing, you just closed a

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Speaker 2: deal with a to acquire a team in France? Is

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Speaker 2: that going to require you to learn French to move to.

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Speaker 1: I downloaded a couple of language apps and yes, it's

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Speaker 1: the words are one thing, the accent is something else.

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Speaker 1: So the team we acquired is in a town called Luov,

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Speaker 1: which is Lejrve or the Haarve, depending upon where you

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Speaker 1: come from. Texans would probably say Laharve. It's support city

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Speaker 1: at the end of the river Senne, and it's you know,

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Speaker 1: first division team, historical team. It's actually the oldest team

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Speaker 1: in continental Europe. It was founded in eighteen seventy two,

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Speaker 1: so talk about history. It's pretty you know, a lot

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Speaker 1: of responsibility taking over a team like that.

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Speaker 3: So are you are you just purposefully buying teams and

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Speaker 3: all the best vacation spots You've got Cancun, Madrid, France? Now, like,

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Speaker 3: what are you doing? You just what's next?

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Speaker 1: It's actually part of the strategy. You want teams in

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Speaker 1: places where players want to go, shouts want to go see,

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Speaker 1: you can hire coaches and I want to go quite frankly,

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Speaker 1: so it works out pretty well. And usually you know

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Speaker 1: at some point you're going to end up selling these

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Speaker 1: teams in the future, and the more desirable location you're

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Speaker 1: in the better.

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Speaker 3: So could I interest you in the Sacramento Athletics. So

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Speaker 3: in Madrid, so you're spending a lot of time there.

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Speaker 3: My wife and I went there a few years ago.

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Speaker 3: What's the Cheiro place with the dip chocolate? How often

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Speaker 3: are you going there?

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean the food in Madrid is amazing. It's everything,

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Speaker 1: the food, the wine, everything in Europe. It's healthier than

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Speaker 1: the US. I got to tell you. So you don't

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Speaker 1: feel bad having a glass of wine or a turo

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Speaker 1: because you know that it's not made with seed oils

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Speaker 1: and all that stuff that are American food is made

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Speaker 1: with mm hmm.

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Speaker 3: That's what I was thinking too, all the oils. That's

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Speaker 3: what I'm concerned with.

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Speaker 2: Jeff's you mentioned it is kind of around your trade

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Speaker 2: deadline in football, you know when you were around, when

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Speaker 2: you were with the Astros. Had they moved the draft yet?

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Speaker 2: Had they moved the draft to July where it was all.

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Speaker 1: Compact, no, no, and pretty intense. I mean I still

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Speaker 1: keep in touch with Mike and Sig and every draft

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Speaker 1: week I talked to them a little bit. But and

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Speaker 1: you know, the guys around here. I see them in

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Speaker 1: the neighborhood and so forth. But no, it's uh, it's

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Speaker 1: you know, it's changed. I mean a lot of the

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Speaker 1: rules have changed actually since, so I would have to

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Speaker 1: do a refresher course to catch up if I ever

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Speaker 1: came back into baseball, that's for sure.

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Speaker 2: So in your time, you know, trade deadline this year's

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Speaker 2: July thirty first, we're recording this on July eleventh, twenty

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Speaker 2: days out from the deadline. In your tenure, kind of

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Speaker 2: where were you guys as a front office at at

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Speaker 2: this point where calls being made, where exploratory talks had

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Speaker 2: or were you guys kind of still in every year

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Speaker 2: you ran the team after maybe twenty fifteen, you guys

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Speaker 2: knew you were going to be buyers basically every season.

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Speaker 2: How did those conversations go? Was it exploratory right now?

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Speaker 2: Were you guys still in kind of wait and CMO

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Speaker 2: to see what you really needed?

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Speaker 1: The challenge is you need to be prepared, and preparation

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Speaker 1: is huge in every front office and every general manager,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure Dana's doing the same thing. You really

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Speaker 1: start preparing in June once you have enough feedback on

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Speaker 1: how the season's going and you feel like you kind

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Speaker 1: of have an idea where you're going to end up,

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Speaker 1: and obviously you know if you get off to a

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Speaker 1: bad start like the Astros have a couple of times

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Speaker 1: in the past few years, you kind of wait and

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Speaker 1: see and make sure that you get back into contention. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the Astros did that and are dominating right now, so

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Speaker 1: really the only thing that they're probably thinking about is

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Speaker 1: how do we improve this team to get back to

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Speaker 1: making the longest possible run in the playoffs and getting

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Speaker 1: back to the world too. Reason So it all starts

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Speaker 1: with the objective and being clear about what you're trying

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Speaker 1: to accomplish. Now, that objective could change from from July

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Speaker 1: first to July twenty ninth or thirtieth, and in some

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Speaker 1: cases it did, but you're going to have to constantly

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Speaker 1: think about where you're at, not react too much to

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Speaker 1: short term injuries and stuff like that. But a big

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Speaker 1: part of the preparation in June and early July is

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Speaker 1: making sure that ownership, the coach, the manager, the coaching staff,

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Speaker 1: the scouts, and your front office are all aligned in

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Speaker 1: terms of what the goals are. Because if you have

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Speaker 1: different goals and you're going to be hearing a lot

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Speaker 1: of noise from the press, from the fans about what

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Speaker 1: your goals should be, and sometimes that they're spot on,

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Speaker 1: but sometimes the fans lack the perspective of, you know,

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Speaker 1: some things that they don't know, like the budget that

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Speaker 1: you've been allocated, the injury status, the maybe the psychological

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Speaker 1: status of the players, ones that would be okay, leaving

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Speaker 1: ones that wouldn't be, and so forth. So you've got

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Speaker 1: to have to really, you know, the month of July

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Speaker 1: and tense, because while it's the All Star break and

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Speaker 1: you know there's some time off and all of that,

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Speaker 1: you really have to be paying attention every single day

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Speaker 1: to what's going on in the market. And the challenge

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Speaker 1: is that a lot of the players that you would

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Speaker 1: fit what you want don't really come available until their

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Speaker 1: team either goes through a winning streak or a losing streak,

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Speaker 1: or they have an injury or something else happens. So

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Speaker 1: you know, you could have your list on July first

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Speaker 1: of the players you want and start attacking them and

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Speaker 1: try and do an early trade deadline, but if you're

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Speaker 1: done by July fifteenth, you might miss out on the

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Speaker 1: player that was perfect for you that had you waited

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Speaker 1: a little longer, you might have been able to get

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Speaker 1: So it's it's a little bit art, a little bit science,

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Speaker 1: and it's a lot of work, a lot of preparation,

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Speaker 1: and also a lot of communication. The communication with you know,

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Speaker 1: with all the stakeholders has to be there, including the

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Speaker 1: other teams, and there's a lot of you know, touching

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Speaker 1: base of conversations, a lot of calls for your your players,

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Speaker 1: and then you've got to make outbound calls without appearing

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Speaker 1: too desperate. And that's part of the art of it.

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Speaker 1: You want them to think you've got options, and you

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Speaker 1: want them to think that. You know, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of people after your prospects, so you know they're just

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Speaker 1: one of like three, So stand in line and give

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Speaker 1: me your best offer and we'll see what you can

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Speaker 1: with what I can do for you.

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Speaker 3: Is there like an unwritten rule of you know, you

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Speaker 3: mentioned in July you're you're kind of waiting to see

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Speaker 3: where these other teams end up. You know, if a

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Speaker 3: teams like seven games out on July eleventh, right now,

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Speaker 3: is there is there like a you know, is it

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Speaker 3: rude to call the GM and say like, hey, are

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Speaker 3: you are you selling, are you buy? You know what?

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Speaker 3: How do you how do you figure those things out

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Speaker 3: with all these other general managers.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's a great question. First, how do you figure

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Speaker 1: it out for yourself? And you know, obviously fans can

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Speaker 1: go to fangrafts and see the playoff probabilities and all that,

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Speaker 1: and that became relevant for us in twenty sixteen because

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Speaker 1: even after you know, we made the playoffs in fifteen,

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Speaker 1: got to you know, five games with the Royals they

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Speaker 1: went on to win the World Series, we felt like

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Speaker 1: we had a team that could go deep in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: But we got such a horrible start in sixteen, and

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Speaker 1: even though we made it back and got into got

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Speaker 1: into contention, you know, looking at the Rangers and the

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Speaker 1: other teams that we were going to have to pass,

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Speaker 1: and looking at what was likely to be in the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: we realized that our chances of making the playoffs were remote,

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Speaker 1: and our chances are going deep in the playoffs. Were

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Speaker 1: sorry about that, We're remote.

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Speaker 4: Busy guy, Frances calling, Yeah, you know, that's the year

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Speaker 4: where really, even though you said we were buyers from

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Speaker 4: twenty fifteen on twenty sixteen, we were sellers and the

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Speaker 4: fields for Avre has turned out to be one of

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Speaker 4: the best investments we ever made, giving up a proven

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Speaker 4: reliever for a.

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Speaker 1: Young young man. But I think that's the key, is

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Speaker 1: to understand what you think your chances are. And also

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Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, it wasn't so much are we going

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Speaker 1: to make the playoffs or not? It was are we

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Speaker 1: going to win the World Series? And that I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was pretty clear to me we had a World

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Speaker 1: Series caliber team, and so every move we looked at,

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Speaker 1: you looked at it in the context of how much

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Speaker 1: will that player improve our chances of winning a World Series?

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Speaker 1: And that's how we valued those moves. And I think

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Speaker 1: obviously the Astros have been in that mode since since

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen and probably have a similar mindset now in

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Speaker 1: terms of no GM will ever be offended if you

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Speaker 1: call him or her and say I'm interested in your player,

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Speaker 1: you know, and they'll tell you, well, we're going to wait,

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Speaker 1: you know, ownership snop doesn't want to sell quite yet.

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Speaker 1: We're going to wait until right before because you have

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Speaker 1: the most information right before. But the reality is, if

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Speaker 1: you look at those playoff odds by mid July, they're

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Speaker 1: pretty well set and they're not going to change that

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Speaker 1: much by the end of July, so you know, I

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Speaker 1: think it's good to start having those conversations. At least

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Speaker 1: let them know that you're interested, because you never know.

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Speaker 1: There have been times when players get traded and you're like, wow,

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Speaker 1: I wish I had known that player was even on

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Speaker 1: the market, because I would have liked to at least

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Speaker 1: throw my hat in the ring. So you don't want

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Speaker 1: that to happen. So communication between gms is key. A

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Speaker 1: lot of text messages and WhatsApps and phone calls going around,

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Speaker 1: probably more messages than phone calls these days.

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Speaker 2: I imagine you had a ton of those during your tenure.

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Speaker 2: We'll talk about a few of them right after this

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Speaker 2: Jeff. One of the code words that always makes me

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Speaker 2: laugh around the trade deadline is untouchable. There were a

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Speaker 2: lot of prospects in your day, some of which have

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Speaker 2: matriculated to the astros and done very well, some of

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Speaker 2: which have not that were I guess we, as media

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Speaker 2: and fans, thought of as untouchable. I believe you came

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Speaker 2: out a couple of times and talk specifically about Kyle

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Speaker 2: Tucker and Forrest Whitley as guys that you didn't want

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Speaker 2: to move. Is there such thing as an untouchable?

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Speaker 1: Truly there can be, And I think in the case

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Speaker 1: of those two players, we weren't going to trade them.

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Speaker 1: We felt like we had enough inventory in our system

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Speaker 1: to acquire whatever players we needed. So I don't I

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Speaker 1: don't believe either one of them wherever in serious conversations.

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Speaker 1: And I think you know, if you if you start

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Speaker 1: to I mean, there's some some gms that will just

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Speaker 1: hound you, regardless of whether you say they're untouchable, and

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Speaker 1: they'll just keep adding players and other things and calling

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Speaker 1: you back. And that happens, and that's fine, But the

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Speaker 1: reality is, yeah, I mean, you've got to decide who

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Speaker 1: you're going to build around and take a chance. And

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Speaker 1: you know, I think one of the things that Build

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Speaker 1: DeWitt told me back when he hired me in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and three is that he had been studying the

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Speaker 1: trade deadline quite a bit with the Cardinals and watching

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Speaker 1: how all the teams do things, and the trade deadline,

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Speaker 1: especially those last few days, is when you can really

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Speaker 1: destroy value more than more than improve your team. You

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Speaker 1: can really destroy value by giving away good young players

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Speaker 1: that could help you for the next ten years for

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Speaker 1: short term, short term improvements. And that stuck with me

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Speaker 1: and I always thought about that, and you know, it's

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Speaker 1: hard to know young players how good they're going to be.

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Speaker 1: I don't think the Dodgers really anticipated Jordan Ovres, which

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Speaker 1: turned out to be the way he was. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we underestimated ti Oscar and Ens. You know, we sent

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Speaker 1: him away for a lefty reliever who got a couple

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Speaker 1: out kiots for us down the stretch, but it was

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Speaker 1: a rental and ti Oscar has had a great career,

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Speaker 1: so that, you know, same thing I'd say with the uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, the other lefty that we traded away, Josh Hader.

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Speaker 1: You know, we traded for him, so obviously we knew he.

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Speaker 3: I was going to say, you got to claim that

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Speaker 3: part too, if you've got to claim trade, but.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't ours to start with. We traded for him,

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Speaker 1: got him all the way up to double A. We really,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're trying him as a starter. Didn't know

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Speaker 1: if he was going to really be an a leade closer.

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Speaker 1: Made a mistake on that one as well, and that

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Speaker 1: happens I mean forecasting a double, a triple A or

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Speaker 1: even recently promoted major league player their entire career. There's

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Speaker 1: a big error bar around that, and you've got to

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Speaker 1: take your chances. And forse Whitley didn't turn out to be,

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Speaker 1: at least so far, the player that we thought that

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Speaker 1: would put him in that untouchable category. But Kyle Tucker, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean he's been He's been unbelievable in every sense

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Speaker 1: of the words. So you know, you take your chances

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Speaker 1: and see what happens. And you know, like like with

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Speaker 1: the actual game of baseball, you're gonna you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: a lot of wrong moves. You just got to help

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Speaker 1: your batting average is better than you know, at least

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Speaker 1: the teams in your division.

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Speaker 3: I'm offended you didn't call me. I was working for

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Speaker 3: the Hooks in twenty fifteen, and I would have told

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Speaker 3: you you're insane for trading Josh Hader. So I don't

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Speaker 3: know what you were doing there. I would I would

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Speaker 3: have helped you out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I knew he was good and that it

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Speaker 1: wasn't gonna happen without him, that's for sure.

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Speaker 2: How much do you reflect on that trade that the

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Speaker 2: trade the Carlos Gomez Mike Fire's trade for for Hater

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Speaker 2: and Brent Phillips and who else was in there, Domingo.

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Speaker 1: It was good. I mean it was you know, we

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Speaker 1: traded a lot of value. We knew we were trading

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Speaker 1: a lot of value. I think we didn't properly evaluate

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Speaker 1: Carlos Gomez. I mean, if you look at what he

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Speaker 1: did prior to us trading for him, he was reaching

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Speaker 1: status of being a superstar and was athletic and you know,

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Speaker 1: filled a lot of needs for us. You know, I

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Speaker 1: had had a nice home run in the wild Card game,

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Speaker 1: but that didn't make up for the four players we

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Speaker 1: sent away and Fires had. You know, Fires was really

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Speaker 1: good for us at certain times. For sure, he was

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Speaker 1: our most consistent pitcher, I think in twenty sixteen. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean that one if I could have that one back,

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Speaker 1: that would be I would be probably number one on

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Speaker 1: my list of trades I'd want back.

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Speaker 3: I was at as no hitter, so you know we

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Speaker 3: at least have that going for us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I believe that was the pinnacle of his

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Speaker 2: uh ashrows. Well, that deadline though a couple things, So

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Speaker 2: that was when you got had just sort of ascended

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Speaker 2: AJ in his first year, guys taking steps forward, Korea's up.

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Speaker 2: But that was a year you guys were always in

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Speaker 2: a contentious battle with the Rangers for the division, and

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Speaker 2: I wonder like, how much did you guys think that

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Speaker 2: team was for real? And that was really your first

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Speaker 2: deadline as a buyer. How did that deadline differ from

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Speaker 2: maybe the many that preceded it.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think the ones before that, we were just

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Speaker 1: accumulating as much talent as we could, and we were

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Speaker 1: moving salary off the books and trying to get younger

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Speaker 1: and really kind of get, you know, reset everything so

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Speaker 1: we could we could make that jump. And twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 1: I think with AJ arriving and the dynamic of the team,

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Speaker 1: we felt like we could make the playoffs and that

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Speaker 1: was really the only goals to make the playoffs, and

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Speaker 1: we accomplished it. So, you know, there were other deals

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Speaker 1: that we had considered in July, and I remember there

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Speaker 1: were a couple others that I was more excited about

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Speaker 1: that didn't end up happening. But we also had accumulated

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Speaker 1: a pretty nice inventory of good young players that interest

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Speaker 1: I mean, the first couple of years I was trading

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Speaker 1: you know, players that were okay, but there were like

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Speaker 1: second tier prospects or older veteran players like Brett Myers

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Speaker 1: who could serve a role, but you know, weren't that

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Speaker 1: sexy or exciting either. So you know, I was getting

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Speaker 1: what I could for those guys. But by twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 1: we had had some good drafts, we had some good inventory,

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Speaker 1: had made some good trades in the years prior, and

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Speaker 1: so it felt like we could you know, take some

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Speaker 1: of that inventory and turn it into more security to

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Speaker 1: get to the playoffs. And that's that's you know, we

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Speaker 1: accomplished that. I'm not going to say we accomplished it

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Speaker 1: because we got those two players, because I think we

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Speaker 1: would have made the playoffs without those two players. But

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Speaker 1: and it came at a cost. I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: Kashmir is the other one. I think we got better.

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Speaker 1: We needed a starter. So it was all about figuring out,

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Speaker 1: you know, how we could, how we could make the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: And that was so for us, that was successful.

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Speaker 2: Since we're in that time frame you talked about you

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Speaker 2: were trading veterans for for you're trading second yeer prospect

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Speaker 2: for assets. But one of your counterparts, Dayton Moore, went

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Speaker 2: on a podcast with Eric Hosmer a couple of week

387
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Speaker 2: a couple of months ago and claim that I believe

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Speaker 2: it was in twenty thirteen. This is Dayton, this is

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Speaker 2: Dayton Moore saying you offered him Jose Altuve for Eric Hosmer. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the floor on that one.

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Speaker 1: Okay, No, so he's not He's not lying. Dayton is

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Speaker 1: a very honest, high integrity guy. We did have a

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Speaker 1: conversation about it. It didn't go very far. You know, at

394
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Speaker 1: the time, we weren't looking to trade Jose Altuve. We

395
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Speaker 1: were looking to acquire Eric Cosmer, tim and you know,

396
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Speaker 1: Kansas City was on the rise, and we we tried everything.

397
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Speaker 1: We didn't have a lot of players that would bring

398
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Speaker 1: you on Eric Osmer. At the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: we're like, well, is he going to trade him or not.

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00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,920
Speaker 1: Let's just throw our best guy out there, our best

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Speaker 1: young guy, and see if you'll even react. It was

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Speaker 1: not an official trade operate, was one of those hey

403
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Speaker 1: would you consider it? And it was a very short conversation,

404
00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,480
Speaker 1: so it didn't go anywhere. But also, yeah, we all

405
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: have to remember joseell Tub at that time was not

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Speaker 1: what Josel tub became and obviously we had a lot

407
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Speaker 1: of confidence in him. We signed him to two extensions

408
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Speaker 1: while I was there. He's been the franchise player ever since.

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Speaker 1: But you know, he was a no a heralded prospect.

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Speaker 1: He made it up. He was still kind of getting

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Speaker 1: his he was a high batting average, low ops. You know.

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Speaker 1: But boy with his career is really spectacular.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good call not trading him, I would say.

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Speaker 2: I guess that does just I mean from how we

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Speaker 2: started this segment, I guess it goes to how it

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Speaker 2: goes to show like there really are no untouchables, like

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Speaker 2: you'll just see what happens. I mean, you said you

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Speaker 2: were not he were never going to trade jose Al Tuve.

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Speaker 2: But I guess, and there really is no such player

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Speaker 2: that it can never be off limits. I guess in conversation, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think that's right.

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Speaker 1: And you want to know how rational the other team

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Speaker 1: in is, how serious they are, and so you know,

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Speaker 1: part of negotiation is seeing seeing where you're at. Is

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Speaker 1: there really a deal to be had here? And there

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Speaker 1: wasn't for Osmer, So we moved.

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Speaker 2: On is there is there a trade? Kind of in

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Speaker 2: that early in those early days that either. I think

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Speaker 2: people always want to know what could have been, what

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Speaker 2: was on the finish line, what was what was some

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Speaker 2: things were.

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Speaker 1: Making that was not those early days. Right, it was done,

433
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: players were agreed to. The only thing left was ownership approval,

434
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,400
Speaker 1: and the ownership said no, even though they had kind

435
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 1: of pre cleared the deal. So that was that was

436
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,159
Speaker 1: huge and that would have changed a lot of stuff.

437
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:40,720
Speaker 1: For sure.

438
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,159
Speaker 2: Bryce Harper would have looked pretty good. And and as You,

439
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 2: I think we discussed. I think we talked before the

440
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 2: Ashers played the Phillies and the twenty twenty two World Series, Jeff,

441
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 2: you and I talked about what that package would have

442
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,800
Speaker 2: looked like with the players were agreed to. Yea, it

443
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,320
Speaker 2: was I don't want to say you would have fleeced him,

444
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 2: but you would have.

445
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 1: You would have fleeced them, yeah, I mean it would

446
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,399
Speaker 1: have been in the Justin Berlander category of you know,

447
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,359
Speaker 1: players that all had value that they appreciated but but

448
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 1: didn't end up hurting the Astros had they had they gone.

449
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: So that would have been nice, and that would have

450
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,320
Speaker 1: been I mean the day we thought we got him,

451
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 1: you know, I called AJ and he's like Christmas in July.

452
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,240
Speaker 1: This is the most nice I can't even imagine.

453
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,840
Speaker 2: So do you have to be careful about that, like

454
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,280
Speaker 2: telling the clubhouse, telling Aj, like what you guys are

455
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:34,719
Speaker 2: working on as as just to maybe not get their

456
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 2: hopes up because like the learners can veto a trade

457
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,639
Speaker 2: at the last minute, how do you how do you

458
00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,680
Speaker 2: have to balance that of not getting your clubhouse's hopes

459
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:43,520
Speaker 2: too high?

460
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 1: Well, with Aj, it was different than with other managers

461
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: because Aj was a general manager and he and I

462
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: were so closely attuned and aligned in everything that you know,

463
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,000
Speaker 1: a lot of he would he was involved in a

464
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: lot of the trade discussions and who who we wanted,

465
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,479
Speaker 1: and you know, he helped negotiate the Verlander trade very

466
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 1: much so because he's very close. Obviously he's close with them,

467
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,159
Speaker 1: he got hired by them, but he was very close

468
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,440
Speaker 1: with al Aabila in the front office over there. So

469
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,399
Speaker 1: whenever we needed to do a bad cop good cop,

470
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 1: I would be the bad cop and I'd say we're done,

471
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: we're not going to do that, And then you know,

472
00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,440
Speaker 1: Aj would call up Hal a few hours later and say, hey,

473
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: you know he's serious, He's not going to do it

474
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 1: unless we changed this out or the other, and so

475
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:34,160
Speaker 1: it kind of worked to our advantage. But yeah, I mean,

476
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,919
Speaker 1: I think with managers, they need to be involved, but

477
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,640
Speaker 1: they need to understand that this is out the front

478
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: office's process, and you certainly don't want word to filter

479
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,800
Speaker 1: around the clubhouse. It does anyway, because rumors get out

480
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 1: and conversations get leaked, but you know, you certainly don't

481
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,879
Speaker 1: want a ton of that. And you know, obviously I

482
00:23:57,880 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 1: had my fill of that when we didn't make a

483
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: big flash trade in twenty seventeen and then Kaykole went

484
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 1: to the locker room and said, you know, he was

485
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,919
Speaker 1: disappointed in me and what we were doing. And but

486
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: you know that that happens. That was sort of after

487
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: the deadline. But yeah, I mean, managers are key, and

488
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,359
Speaker 1: I think more and more managers are heavily involved in

489
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: the process.

490
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 3: Speaking of you know, Kykle, that was obviously a big

491
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:28,800
Speaker 3: story in twenty seventeen. You mentioned, you know, your job

492
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 3: is to try to tune out as much as you

493
00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 3: can outside of that. I have to imagine that that

494
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 3: made its way. You know, to you that's a big

495
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,360
Speaker 3: deal in the office, Like when when a player has

496
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 3: comments like that, does that does that affect how you

497
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 3: go about your job or are you like altering plans

498
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,400
Speaker 3: based on things like that.

499
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,840
Speaker 1: No, no, no, definitely not. I mean I went down

500
00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:56,680
Speaker 1: to the clubhouse and I spoke to Kaykle individually and

501
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 1: explained to him, gave him a little bit more context

502
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 1: about what we had tried to do and get kind

503
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,719
Speaker 1: of what the way we saw things, and he appreciated

504
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 1: that at the time. But you know, I think he

505
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:12,199
Speaker 1: was seeing himself as the leader of this team, you know,

506
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,959
Speaker 1: having won the wild Card game and been sort of

507
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: the cy young and been our ace for a long time,

508
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,439
Speaker 1: and you know, he had the right to express his opinion.

509
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 1: But it's really more the manager and the pitching coach

510
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: that I think have to manage that to make sure

511
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,640
Speaker 1: that if there is some comments that they don't kind

512
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: of negatively affect the team. That's really that was really

513
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 1: more astronomy and AJ's role.

514
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,159
Speaker 2: Since we mentioned it earlier, I do want to for

515
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,280
Speaker 2: those that are listening and that haven't heard the package.

516
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:44,639
Speaker 2: The package that the Ashers had agreed to send to

517
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,639
Speaker 2: the Nationals for Bryce Harper in twenty eighteen was Randy Caesar,

518
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 2: Abraham Toro, Josh James, JB. Bukowskis and Kent Emmanuel Abraham

519
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 2: Toro is still a very nice role player for the

520
00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 2: Boston Red Sox. Having to play a little bit where

521
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 2: he's He's carved out a very nice career for himself.

522
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,680
Speaker 2: Those other guys have had their fair share of struggles,

523
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 2: So Bryce would have been a rental, Jeff, But I

524
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 2: think I asked this at the time, do you think

525
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,439
Speaker 2: that Jim would have entertained the sort of money and

526
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 2: years it would have taken to keep him in Houston

527
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,440
Speaker 2: beyond that expiring contract.

528
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,240
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know the answer to that, but

529
00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,520
Speaker 1: I think had Bryce Harper come in and done what

530
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper normally does and we win the World Series

531
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: with him, it would have been certainly something that the

532
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,880
Speaker 1: organization would have made every effort to try and sign him.

533
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,280
Speaker 1: For sure. I mean that was a hope. It was

534
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 1: not one of those you know, negotiate a deal before

535
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,919
Speaker 1: we trade for him. We knew it was a rental,

536
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 1: but we also knew that, you know, we were a

537
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,520
Speaker 1: franchise on the rise and could afford to spend on

538
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: a free agent like that.

539
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,679
Speaker 2: How much since we since we brought him up, how

540
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 2: much did Jim get involved when you were I mean,

541
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 2: he runs a budget, he has the money, he signs

542
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 2: the check, so obviously he isn'tly. But was he maybe

543
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,400
Speaker 2: more involved in some trade deadlines than I know, you've

544
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 2: only worked for two owners, but maybe more involved in

545
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 2: than some other owners in the game. And how he

546
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 2: wants to be kept abreast of things and things of

547
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 2: that nature.

548
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: No, I mean, bill to it, Junior was very involved

549
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: and wanted to know everything, every conversation that was happening

550
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,400
Speaker 1: and so forth with and with the draft as well.

551
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: So I'd say Dewatt was more active. Jim certainly wanted

552
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 1: to know what was happening, and you know, certainly wanted

553
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 1: to be asked if we were going to require any

554
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: more resources because a lot of times you're taking on

555
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: extra salary or you're taking on a contract. Are you

556
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: trying to move a contract? I'd say, you know, the

557
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 1: trade that he probably got most involved in, sort of

558
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 1: emotionally was the Granky trade because we were we were

559
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 1: on the fence about the Granky trade and there were

560
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 1: other options that we were considering, but Jim did seem

561
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 1: to want that player on our team and wanted the

562
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 1: sort of sex, appeal of of Granky and all of that,

563
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 1: and so, you know, would we have made the trade

564
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 1: without Jim's pushing us. I don't know the answer to that,

565
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: to be honest. I mean, I think he was definitely

566
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 1: excited about it. And you know, every time the trade

567
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,880
Speaker 1: would die, which trades die a lot, and that one

568
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,359
Speaker 1: died like four times in the twenty four hours before

569
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:25,320
Speaker 1: we did it, you know, he would say, well, what

570
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: about you know, if we took on a little more

571
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: of his salary, and in that case, yeah, I mean,

572
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: you know, sure, we'll make another run at it. So

573
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 1: that was one where he was he was involved. I'd say,

574
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: you know, Verlander, he was interested in what was going on,

575
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: and he had to approve the money and they were

576
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: you know, we had had limits and the deal wasn't

577
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: done because of those limits, not just players but money,

578
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: and so he had to make a decision in the

579
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 1: last few hours to approve more budget for that and

580
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 1: he did. So that was you know, without him, those

581
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 1: two players certainly wouldn't have gotten to the Astros.

582
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, how do you you know, when you're communicating with

583
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 3: ownership about trading and you know, things like that, like

584
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 3: it's hard enough to know all of the guys in

585
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 3: your own organization, much less when you're trading outside of

586
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,239
Speaker 3: the organization. How do you present to ownership why you

587
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 3: like a certain player or why you're comfortable moving one

588
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 3: of your own guys? You know, like, how are you

589
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 3: How are you presenting that to ownership?

590
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,760
Speaker 1: No different than the way we would talk about it internally.

591
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: This is how much value we see in the player's career.

592
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: This is how much we're going to have to spend

593
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 1: to have that value on our team. And here's what

594
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 1: the alternative looks like. So, you know, we had our

595
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 1: own and I'm sure they still have some version of

596
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,680
Speaker 1: it today, our own way of forecasting player performance into

597
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: the future based off of a lot of factors, including

598
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: their past performance. And so you know, we'd look at that.

599
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 1: And with the Verlander situation, it really came down to

600
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,960
Speaker 1: what's the additional amount probability that we're going to win

601
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: the World Series? And no one player in all of

602
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: baseball increased our chances more than bringing in Justin Verlander

603
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 1: at that point in time because of what he did,

604
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: knowing he was going to pitch probably three times in

605
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 1: a seven game series, knowing you know, how he was

606
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,720
Speaker 1: going to probably help us get home field advantage. Those

607
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 1: two factors were huge and it meaningfully changed. I mean,

608
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: a one percent chance increase of winning the World Series

609
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 1: is worth millions, and especially for a franchise that had

610
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 1: never won a World Series, because then it propagates in

611
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: branding and all kinds of other things that that it's

612
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 1: hard to value in a spreadsheet, but that's really the

613
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: way we presented it. I forget the exact number. It was,

614
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: you know, obviously low single digits, but it was meaningful,

615
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: and we said, each each percent equates to this many

616
00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: millions of dollars. So whatever we're spending right now in prospects,

617
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 1: I mean, the prospects are worth a lot too. You know,

618
00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: each prospect we valued it not just in career performance,

619
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: but also how much value you would have to spend

620
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: to get that same performance back from free agency.

621
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 3: Did your spreadsheet take into account Verlander just yelling with

622
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 3: hairy arms in the dugout in the World Series that

623
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 3: that had to have added a couple percentage.

624
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 1: Points now, but make up makeup matters a lot obviously,

625
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 1: and it didn't take into account gate Upton.

626
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 2: And since you since you mentioned makeup matters. I want

627
00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 2: to take you to a deal you made in that

628
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,520
Speaker 2: that deal that did go through in the twenty eighteen

629
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:38,479
Speaker 2: deadline for Roberto Osuna. That deal was maligned very very

630
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,080
Speaker 2: much by a lot of people that were uncomfortable with

631
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 2: trading for a player that was under a suspension for

632
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 2: domestic violence. Yeap, what made you comfortable executing that trade

633
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 2: and what kind of backlash did you receive, maybe from

634
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 2: maybe within your own organization and from the outside.

635
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, you know that was that was a challenging one.

636
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 1: That's probably one that falls into the counter glory. If

637
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: I you know, if I had to do it all

638
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: over again, would I do with The answer is no,

639
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,240
Speaker 1: you know, the talent was clearly I the first thing

640
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. You know, Jim Garcia pitched with

641
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 1: him as a teammate, and when we went to Toronto

642
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: that year, he said, hey, by the way, you know,

643
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: he talked to me about the whole situation, said the kids, really,

644
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: you know, feels bad about what happened, and he's remorseful,

645
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 1: and you know he needs a change of scenery. I

646
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 1: really recommend that you guys look at him. And that

647
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 1: was the first time we even considered it. We you know,

648
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: we did a lot of research. The research was really

649
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: split into two camps. There was the talent, and you know,

650
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,240
Speaker 1: I know that Kevin Goldstein and others have talked about

651
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: the fact that they had objections to the trade, not

652
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,959
Speaker 1: because of the talent, but because of the other stuff.

653
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: But I asked our scouts, look the the the issue

654
00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: of whether or not the Astros should trade for a

655
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 1: player that has you know, has been suspended. I'm going

656
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: to handle that with Jim and Anita and Giles and

657
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 1: you know, the HR everybody else. What I need now

658
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: from you guys is a clean talent opinion. How much

659
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 1: will this player help us win? I mean, Ken Giles

660
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 1: was imploding. We didn't have a closer. We'd come off

661
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: a World Series win. We needed back end any you know,

662
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 1: we knew Presley would be a good setup man, we

663
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: didn't know if you'd be a good closer. And at

664
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: that time, Asuna was the most successful closer of his

665
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: age and the history of the game. I mean, really

666
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: incredible what he had done. So I asked the guys

667
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: to just look at that. And I know that got

668
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: misinterpreted as I didn't want anybody's opinion. I knew that

669
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: there was going to be differences opinion. I didn't want

670
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: the whole room to be talking about whether or not

671
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: we should, you know, bring in someone that's been suspended.

672
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: Separate from that, had a lot of conversations about with Jim,

673
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,400
Speaker 1: with Anita, with Giles. We did our own, you know,

674
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,840
Speaker 1: research as to what we could find out about the situation.

675
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 1: A lot of the information was not out in the public,

676
00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,480
Speaker 1: and all also spent time talking to the player, talking

677
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 1: to his agent, talking to his teammates and so forth.

678
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: And really the decision I was trying to make is this,

679
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,319
Speaker 1: do I think this is a one time event that

680
00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: he regrets and is remorseful about, or do I think

681
00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 1: that this is a we're bringing ourselves a problem that

682
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 1: what I didn't really take into account was and you know,

683
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,759
Speaker 1: I talked to a lot of people that had dealt

684
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,480
Speaker 1: with issues like this, and if you don't give people

685
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,359
Speaker 1: second chances, you know, there was that whole argument. You know,

686
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 1: you're hurting their family, You're hurting the person that was

687
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 1: the victim, potentially more so because they're losing income and

688
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 1: all that. So there's a lot of issues going on

689
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: there I didn't really take into account. I didn't take

690
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: into account as much as I should have the impact

691
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,200
Speaker 1: they would have on our fans, especially our female fans,

692
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 1: and how they would feel. And that was a mistake.

693
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,400
Speaker 1: And you know, I did talk about it with female

694
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 1: friends and family, but I probably should have uh spent

695
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,279
Speaker 1: a little bit more time thinking about it. But it

696
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,800
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, Yes, I made the decision to trade

697
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 1: for him. I did not do a human Laterally, the

698
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: talent checked the box for sure, and there were, you know,

699
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:22,319
Speaker 1: everybody that was around me that I collaborated with was

700
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: you know, there was nobody saying don't do it. Because

701
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 1: if if someone had said don't do it, I mean,

702
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:30,920
Speaker 1: obviously we wouldn't have done it. So but you know,

703
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 1: that's a tough one. I mean, I will say, he

704
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,839
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's been a pretty good pitcher. Got

705
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 1: injured and he hasn't been really able to pitch in

706
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,279
Speaker 1: the US, but he's been a good picture. Did he

707
00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 1: you know, did he help us accomplish our goals on

708
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:49,319
Speaker 1: the on the field to a certain extent, he did.

709
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 1: I still think he could have been better, you know,

710
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: given up that home run in Game seven against the Yankees.

711
00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 1: Was was not great, but thank thank goodness we had

712
00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: all two of it.

713
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 2: Then goodness shed all to man not Eric Cosma, right exactly.

714
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: That's one that you know. It's a tough one. I learned.

715
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from that experience, you know, and

716
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:15,840
Speaker 1: I think I would I would do things differently today

717
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:16,360
Speaker 1: than I did that.

718
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:19,799
Speaker 2: Let's hear from our friends at foul Territory one more

719
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,400
Speaker 2: time before we continue with Jeff Luno.

720
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 6: Hey, let's do a little player spotlight thanks to Arena Club.

721
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 6: AJ give me a player this season that you think

722
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 6: is underrated and you might want to try and grab

723
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 6: his card.

724
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 1: James Would.

725
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 7: I don't know that he's underrated, but Washington National's superstar

726
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,239
Speaker 7: in the making, and the first slab pack I ever

727
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,440
Speaker 7: opened had him in it, his rookie card, and the

728
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:39,319
Speaker 7: value is only going.

729
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:40,680
Speaker 1: To go up and up and up. And I'm not

730
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:41,960
Speaker 1: going to sell it Kwie yet. Scott.

731
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 7: I'm gonna hold on to because after he continues to

732
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 7: hit big homers and put up the stats, make all

733
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 7: Star teams, it's going to get more expensive for someone

734
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 7: to buy.

735
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 1: For me.

736
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 6: This is his first full season in the majors. Keep

737
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 6: that in mind. I think he's underrated. He's on a

738
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:58,280
Speaker 6: Nationals team that's man getting enough attention.

739
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: You make see allso our team this year, They're not

740
00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 1: going to be underrated. That helps.

741
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,760
Speaker 6: He's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway,

742
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 6: if you want to try and find a wood rookie card,

743
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:10,839
Speaker 6: go check out slab packs on Arena Club and right

744
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 6: now you can get twenty percent off your first lab pack.

745
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:14,720
Speaker 6: Or if you just want to go with a card purchase,

746
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 6: go to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use code foul.

747
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,799
Speaker 1: If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it.

748
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 2: We already talked about you mentioning Hosel Tuva in a

749
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,279
Speaker 2: trade conversation, so that probably takes the cake. But is

750
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:32,760
Speaker 2: there one trade or permutation of a trade that maybe

751
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,200
Speaker 2: advanced a little bit further than that one that included

752
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 2: a player that Astros fans have come to fall in

753
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,799
Speaker 2: love with that would surprise them to know that you

754
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,399
Speaker 2: guys were considering moving on.

755
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:51,640
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean, Gregman, Correa Springer, they

756
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 1: were never really in any serious conversations. I think Kyko

757
00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 1: we did talk about trading a couple of times. I

758
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,200
Speaker 1: can't remember. The exact context there, but because he was

759
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:07,680
Speaker 1: a high achiever with sort of marginal stuff, you know,

760
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 1: we weren't going to get back the return if he

761
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: if he through ninety eight, and this is my young winner,

762
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: that'd be different. But throwing eighty eight to ninety and

763
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 1: having to rely on Finesse, I mean that. You know,

764
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: he's a good pitcher, he's had a good career. But yeah,

765
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,800
Speaker 1: I can't. I'd have to think about that. Nothing nothing

766
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 1: comes to mind, you know, catch your wise. Trading from

767
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:32,920
Speaker 1: my team Aldan two years in a row is hilariously.

768
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,400
Speaker 1: I mean he was. He was good for us, you know,

769
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:37,879
Speaker 1: Jed Lowry coming and going like every every other year.

770
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: That was interesting. But now you know, once you get

771
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: good players that fit and are part of your clubhouse

772
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 1: chemistry like Springer and Korea and Altuve and Bregman, you

773
00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 1: don't want to trade him unless you unless you really

774
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: do the math and figure we're not gonna be able

775
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,439
Speaker 1: to resign this player. We're gonna have to trade them

776
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: in order to do kind of the Herschel Walker thing

777
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,719
Speaker 1: and bring in a boatload of talent and you know,

778
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 1: try and try and extend our window for another four

779
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:04,240
Speaker 1: or five years.

780
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,759
Speaker 3: I mean speaking of Korea, when when you guys took

781
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 3: him number one overall, it you know was not expected. Certainly.

782
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,640
Speaker 3: Can you talk a little bit about, you know, the

783
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 3: process leading up to the draft that at what point

784
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,359
Speaker 3: did you know you were taking Korea over Buxton or

785
00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:25,640
Speaker 3: you know, whoever else you guys were looking at in

786
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 3: the top of the draft. How close were you to

787
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:29,280
Speaker 3: not taking Korea.

788
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:31,200
Speaker 1: I guess we were. We weren't close at all. We

789
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 1: were going to say, but the number of people who

790
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:38,439
Speaker 1: knew was limited to Michael ISAs Uh Sig, myself, and

791
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: Enis Cabell. That was it because the on our draft

792
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,960
Speaker 1: board he was like number eight or nine. And you

793
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 1: don't want to go into your first year's GM and

794
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,279
Speaker 1: grab a magnet from our number eight or nine and

795
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 1: PLoP them all the way at the top and say,

796
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 1: I'm the GM. You got to do what I You

797
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,879
Speaker 1: got to do what I want. So, you know, there

798
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 1: was a lot of work behind the scenes, and the

799
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,360
Speaker 1: week leading up to the draft we were trying to

800
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,920
Speaker 1: figure out more importantly, we didn't want anybody to know

801
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 1: we were going to take him, because then team's number two

802
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:12,719
Speaker 1: and three would be like, well, wait a second, you know,

803
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:14,880
Speaker 1: maybe we should be thinking more about him, and you

804
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,360
Speaker 1: cred to create demand that wasn't there. We knew the

805
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,320
Speaker 1: Cubs were going to take him, and that was really

806
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: are you know. We knew we had to pay him

807
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 1: more money than the Cubs were going to pay him

808
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 1: at their position. I think it was five or something

809
00:40:29,560 --> 00:40:33,360
Speaker 1: like that, maybe six, and that was it. Nobody above

810
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,360
Speaker 1: the Cubs was going to take him. And so we

811
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 1: also knew we had an opportunity because he's the player

812
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:39,640
Speaker 1: we wanted. We thought he was the best player in

813
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:41,320
Speaker 1: the draft. He was the youngest high school player in

814
00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:45,040
Speaker 1: the draft, and you know, everything, he checked every single

815
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,600
Speaker 1: box that we liked. We knew that we could also

816
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: potentially get him at a discount relative to the one

817
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:56,080
Speaker 1: to one price and go and get a Lascaculors and

818
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,880
Speaker 1: a Rio Ruiz type player with the surplus, and so

819
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 1: managing that meant we had to keep the information circle really,

820
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,839
Speaker 1: really tight. I don't even think Jim. I didn't even

821
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,399
Speaker 1: think I told Jim until a few minutes before, and

822
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 1: the draft room didn't know. I mean we we walked

823
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,400
Speaker 1: in there because I didn't get the final Okay, Carlos

824
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,720
Speaker 1: was in New York for the draft, and his agent

825
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 1: was somewhere else, and we didn't get the final okay

826
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 1: on the you know, on the fact that we agreed

827
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,520
Speaker 1: to an amount until I mean I ran down the

828
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:32,320
Speaker 1: hallway and basically Bobby heck was it was a great

829
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: scouting director, and he did a good job managing the process.

830
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,360
Speaker 1: You know, he was kind of waiting. You know, we

831
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 1: had Appel and Osmin, there were other players in the mix.

832
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,160
Speaker 1: Bucks Buckston was the other player in the mix. In fact,

833
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 1: it had gotten to the point where I didn't hear

834
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,920
Speaker 1: back from Koreas, so I called Buxton's people five minutes

835
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,719
Speaker 1: before the draft or that if we took him we

836
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 1: could get a discount on him as well, and that

837
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:58,359
Speaker 1: he was signable for us. But then Chris got back

838
00:41:58,800 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: and we got it. We got it done.

839
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:01,720
Speaker 3: What would you have had to pay Buxton?

840
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:04,759
Speaker 1: It would have been more, ubstantially more, because he was

841
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: going to go.

842
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:07,959
Speaker 3: I got six million the second pick, so.

843
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,480
Speaker 1: He was going to go number two. So you know,

844
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,840
Speaker 1: you can't really say, hey, we're going to draft you

845
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 1: number one, and but we're gonna pay a lot less

846
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:20,640
Speaker 1: than you would get the very next pick. So Buxton

847
00:42:20,719 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 1: was a good player, but I think we made the

848
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:23,160
Speaker 1: right choice there.

849
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 2: The Cubs picked six that year, they took Albert al

850
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:30,200
Speaker 2: Moray instead of That's a tough it's a tough loss

851
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 2: for them to go out from Correa to al Mora.

852
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:34,839
Speaker 3: Max Fried went seventh to.

853
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,799
Speaker 2: Max did go seventh? And then who went after Max

854
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:38,680
Speaker 2: Freed Tyler?

855
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 3: Uh? That was Mark Apell to the Pirates. He did

856
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 3: not end up signing that year. He went back in

857
00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 3: the draft. I don't know if you heard Jeff, but

858
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:51,720
Speaker 3: he was available the next season.

859
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 1: We were actually we liked Mark. We were trying to

860
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,600
Speaker 1: pull him down to our second pick the Colors.

861
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:04,520
Speaker 2: You know, he got Jeff. As as we're talking about

862
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 2: all this and and like you start thinking back and

863
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 2: the memories start to flood back. I guess the natural

864
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:11,320
Speaker 2: question is, like, do you have the itch? Do you

865
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 2: have the inches? Do you have to get do you

866
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 2: have do you do you have the itch to get

867
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:15,040
Speaker 2: back and work in baseball?

868
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:20,279
Speaker 1: You know, I have a unique perspective now because I'm

869
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:25,439
Speaker 1: actually I'm not the GM of my football clubs. I'm

870
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 1: I'm more in the role of the owner. But I

871
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: still obviously I get more involved in your typical uh

872
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,680
Speaker 1: owner would And there's so many interesting differences in the

873
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,319
Speaker 1: world of football and to baseball that I've been in

874
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 1: and out for five years and I absolutely love it

875
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm enchanted by it. But you know, to

876
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 1: be honest, I don't think a lot about coming back

877
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:51,560
Speaker 1: to baseball. But but having this conversation with you guys

878
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,480
Speaker 1: and thinking about all this history and things that I

879
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: did well and things that I didn't do well, and

880
00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: kind of you know, it's it certainly would be fun,

881
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:05,840
Speaker 1: uh and interesting to go back into baseball. I know

882
00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: that my my teams and my investors and my partners

883
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,359
Speaker 1: would probably not like that a lot. At this point, do.

884
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:13,600
Speaker 3: You see, Yeah, go ahead.

885
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 2: Do you think that Pat's open for you, like if

886
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:16,480
Speaker 2: you'd ever want to?

887
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 1: Yes. I mean I've had I'm not going to tell

888
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 1: you who, but I've had two or three owners contact

889
00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:28,400
Speaker 1: me and ask me if I was interested in either

890
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: a role as GM or another role, maybe as a

891
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 1: different role where where I'd oversee the sporting operation. And

892
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 1: in all in all, in all cases, I said no

893
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:44,000
Speaker 1: because at the time I was raising money and starting

894
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:48,759
Speaker 1: my company. But you know, it's I don't think I'm

895
00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:53,640
Speaker 1: blackballed from baseball like some people think, And I know

896
00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:55,319
Speaker 1: I could. I know I would do a good job.

897
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 1: I mean, I know that for a fact. But the

898
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,840
Speaker 1: reality is I've moved on. I'm very happy for the

899
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:03,600
Speaker 1: world of football is incredible and I think, you know,

900
00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,799
Speaker 1: we're doing something incredible with not You know, a lot

901
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:10,480
Speaker 1: of investors in football have tons and tons of money.

902
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:15,239
Speaker 1: We don't have. We have smart, young, aggressive people and

903
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 1: enough capital to go buy teams and grow them. And

904
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 1: that's and be smart about player signings and all of that.

905
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:25,920
Speaker 1: The biggest difference is a player has to agree. Can't

906
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:29,239
Speaker 1: just draft a player or trade a player without the

907
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 1: player agreeing, and that changes everything. And you can also

908
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 1: sell players and that changes everything too, So it adds

909
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 1: two different dimensions to player acquisition and retention and roster management.

910
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:44,600
Speaker 1: And fans get used to the fact that you might

911
00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 1: have a Carlos Careau, but in two years, Carlos really

912
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,080
Speaker 1: should be playing for a bigger team. So they're happy

913
00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 1: to have him for two years, but there they understand

914
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,240
Speaker 1: that he's got to go. It doesn't happen in baseball

915
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,560
Speaker 1: because bigger team would be the Yankees, and no astro

916
00:45:58,640 --> 00:45:59,879
Speaker 1: skin would want Carlos.

917
00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:02,480
Speaker 3: Cred No, I don't even say that sentence. What are

918
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:06,359
Speaker 3: you doing? I mean you mentioned not having a ton

919
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 3: of money for soccer. Have you considered having some Hollywood

920
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:13,839
Speaker 3: A listers make a documentary about your team? I think

921
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:15,320
Speaker 3: that's worked out well for Wrexham.

922
00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, it has, and those guys have done a good job.

923
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,120
Speaker 1: We actually did film quite a bit of content last

924
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:26,040
Speaker 1: year and we're in the process of thinking about pitching

925
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: it as a documentary because I had I had three

926
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 1: teams going for a championship, all within ten days of

927
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,360
Speaker 1: each other, and two of the teams won their championship,

928
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:37,960
Speaker 1: the other one fell a little bit short. But I

929
00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:39,840
Speaker 1: hired a camera crew and they followed me around and

930
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,080
Speaker 1: we were in the locker rooms before the matches, we

931
00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 1: were celebrating after the matches. It was, you know, one

932
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:47,680
Speaker 1: in Czech Republic, one in Mexico, one in Spain. So

933
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:50,759
Speaker 1: it was a lot of great content and there's there's

934
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:55,160
Speaker 1: a lot of interesting storylines. We did release a documentary

935
00:46:55,400 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 1: in Spain about the Leganes Championship last year and we

936
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:04,040
Speaker 1: were supposed to play Leganess is actually in the US today.

937
00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:06,359
Speaker 1: They're currently in Chicago. They're going to Louisville. I'm heading

938
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,360
Speaker 1: up there tomorrow. We're playing match against Louisville tomorrow and

939
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:11,839
Speaker 1: then we're playing against Richmond next week. We were trying

940
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 1: to get a match against San Antonio because you know,

941
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 1: the Spurs are friends of mine and they owned San

942
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:20,680
Speaker 1: Antonio FC in the USL. Had we been able to

943
00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:23,919
Speaker 1: get that match, I was going to bring the entire

944
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 1: team here to Houston and we were going to rent

945
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:29,680
Speaker 1: out the theater and show the documentary and invite Astros

946
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 1: fans to come see it. Decide not to do that.

947
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:34,840
Speaker 1: I may do that in the future because it's it's

948
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:37,920
Speaker 1: it's really fun and the content around sports is huge,

949
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,200
Speaker 1: and I think both you know, there's obviously been a

950
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:44,360
Speaker 1: lot of documentaries. I haven't seen the new documentary on

951
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:47,080
Speaker 1: the Astros, and I'm curious as to how they can

952
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 1: do an entire documentary about our dynasty and never even

953
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:51,760
Speaker 1: call me. But that's okay. I'll leave that to someone

954
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:52,520
Speaker 1: else to think about.

955
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,360
Speaker 3: Well, if if if you need help making content over there,

956
00:47:56,480 --> 00:48:02,759
Speaker 3: you know the story practice Condomy, Espino Fluid, So you know,

957
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,880
Speaker 3: maybe if I live over in Spain for a little bit,

958
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:08,719
Speaker 3: I'll get a little bit better. That's all just from

959
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 3: learning while while teaching junior high in Highlands, Texas. So

960
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:17,879
Speaker 3: why my students taught me quite a bit.

961
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:19,000
Speaker 1: That's awesome.

962
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:21,280
Speaker 2: So, Jeff, you try to stay away from all the

963
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:25,359
Speaker 2: all the I guess content that's been created about your

964
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,759
Speaker 2: your your tenure, your tenure, and the dynasty that you

965
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:29,800
Speaker 2: that you helped to construct.

966
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:34,839
Speaker 1: I've seen it. I've seen it all, and so it's

967
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 1: not that I'm staying away from it. I see it all,

968
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 1: but I don't dwell on it. I mean, I think,

969
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:43,320
Speaker 1: you know, depending upon who's producing it and what perspective

970
00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,719
Speaker 1: they have, there's there's a lot of bias in any

971
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:49,239
Speaker 1: content production, whether you're trying to sell something or make

972
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 1: someone look good or make someone look bad. So I

973
00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:54,279
Speaker 1: don't you know, it's It's not something I spent a

974
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:57,640
Speaker 1: lot of time dwelling about. I am very proud of

975
00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:00,680
Speaker 1: the fact that the Astros. I mean, there is no

976
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:03,800
Speaker 1: other dynasty in the twentieth first century that comes close

977
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:06,400
Speaker 1: at this point. So I know, I wasn't there for

978
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:07,920
Speaker 1: the whole thing. I was just there for the beginning,

979
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:10,560
Speaker 1: but put them on a good course. I'm very happy

980
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:13,120
Speaker 1: about what happens. Still know a lot of people. I

981
00:49:13,120 --> 00:49:15,759
Speaker 1: mean I see people walking around my neighborhood that still

982
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 1: work for the Astros and still in touch with people,

983
00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:20,560
Speaker 1: so I'm very happy for them.

984
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:23,240
Speaker 2: Have you been back to what is now dyke In Park?

985
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:24,719
Speaker 2: You have not?

986
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: No, No, I have not.

987
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:27,320
Speaker 2: You think that will ever happen.

988
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 1: I'm not going to just buy a ticket and go

989
00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:32,760
Speaker 1: to a game. You know, if the if the organization

990
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:35,480
Speaker 1: ever felt like inviting me, I'd be I'd be more

991
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:37,839
Speaker 1: than happy to. You know, some of my investors at

992
00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:42,720
Speaker 1: Lucrow are are Astros investors and season ticket over and stuff,

993
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:44,480
Speaker 1: and they've invited me. But no, I'm not. I'm not.

994
00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:47,279
Speaker 1: I don't want to distract from what's going on there,

995
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:51,280
Speaker 1: and I think me being there would attract some attentions.

996
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 1: So no, I don't. I've been to Rockets games. I've

997
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,520
Speaker 1: been to Texans games. I've been to I haven't been

998
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:01,160
Speaker 1: to a Major League Baseball game since left. Yeah?

999
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:02,160
Speaker 2: Wow? Really?

1000
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 1: But I mean I've been to Champions League, I've been

1001
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:06,880
Speaker 1: to you know, I've been a lot of I attend

1002
00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:07,920
Speaker 1: a lot of sporting events.

1003
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 3: Did you go to the Gold Cup Final?

1004
00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 1: No? I didn't. I was I was flying back from

1005
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: we had our own match leg and has played Pumas

1006
00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:20,799
Speaker 1: in Mexico on Sunday in front of it was a

1007
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 1: friendly match, preseason friendly. That were forty five thousand fans

1008
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:25,440
Speaker 1: there for the Pumas. It was really incredible.

1009
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:29,960
Speaker 2: There was a large uh, there was a large rivalry

1010
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 2: in the Astros clubhouse in the semi in the Gold

1011
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:37,360
Speaker 2: Cup semifinals with Honduras was playing Mexico. Paratus obviously a

1012
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:41,600
Speaker 2: Mexican and was very into that. Mauricio Dubon the only

1013
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:44,799
Speaker 2: player to ever play in the big leagues. Mauricio wore

1014
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:49,520
Speaker 2: his personalized Honduras national team jersey to take VP in

1015
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:51,080
Speaker 2: Colorado that day. So that was fun.

1016
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:52,000
Speaker 1: That's awesome.

1017
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:54,839
Speaker 2: I told him they kept it close, they tried their

1018
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:57,120
Speaker 2: best because it was an that was a real underdog story, right,

1019
00:50:57,520 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 2: URIs was not supposed to be that far right.

1020
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:02,840
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, a couple of the players are are investors

1021
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:04,160
Speaker 1: in Blue Crow. I'm not going to tell you who,

1022
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 1: but so there's there's some there's definitely some football fans

1023
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:08,560
Speaker 1: in there.

1024
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I can. I can one hundred percent concur

1025
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,680
Speaker 2: with that. Well, Jeff, I told you, we keep you

1026
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:15,080
Speaker 2: thirty minutes we capt you fifty one.

1027
00:51:15,160 --> 00:51:18,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I enjoy it. I enjoy it, and that's all

1028
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: fans enjoy it. And I hope the fans start checking

1029
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:26,080
Speaker 1: on CD Leganes scores and l'have scores in France and

1030
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:29,440
Speaker 1: cancunec scores in Mexico because it's uh, it's a good

1031
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,280
Speaker 1: sport and it's it's fun and I'm having a good time.

1032
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,600
Speaker 2: You're still active on all social media. Tell tell people

1033
00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:37,759
Speaker 2: where they can follow you, if they want to keep

1034
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:39,719
Speaker 2: up with your ventures, if they want to see if

1035
00:51:39,719 --> 00:51:41,240
Speaker 2: they want to get to know more about the sport

1036
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:42,200
Speaker 2: of football through you.

1037
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean my my Twitter handle is the same

1038
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:48,759
Speaker 1: as it's always been. Jay Luno and Blue Crow Sports Group.

1039
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:50,600
Speaker 1: We don't we're not don't do a lot of social media,

1040
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:54,959
Speaker 1: but actually legan S has a has a social media

1041
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:59,240
Speaker 1: in English and Legans has probably some of the most

1042
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:04,080
Speaker 1: compelling content in Spain for football. So you can find

1043
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,080
Speaker 1: it on Twitter and Instagram. CD like and s is

1044
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:06,800
Speaker 1: the name of the club.

1045
00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:09,800
Speaker 2: I just just found them and I will I'll shoot

1046
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:11,920
Speaker 2: them a follow. You can always our mascot.

1047
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:16,840
Speaker 1: Our mascot is a super cucumber and always dreamed of

1048
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,520
Speaker 1: Super Cucumber and Orbit getting together and playing around. Orbit

1049
00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:24,520
Speaker 1: is the best mascot in Major League Baseball and Super

1050
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:27,960
Speaker 1: Peppinos by far the best mascot in European football.

1051
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:32,640
Speaker 3: On that Big Poppy as your mascot over there. All right, on.

1052
00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:35,479
Speaker 2: That we can agree that Orbit is Orbit is hand

1053
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:38,840
Speaker 2: down the best mascot in uh in in Major League Baseball,

1054
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:42,480
Speaker 2: in Houston anywhere. Get Orbit and the Big Cucumber together,

1055
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,560
Speaker 2: that that should be after right after Tyler goes to

1056
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:47,080
Speaker 2: the zoo with Cam Smith.

1057
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,480
Speaker 1: Cucumber. He's he's got a cape and he's a superhero.

1058
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,480
Speaker 2: The super will end it on the Super Cucumber. You

1059
00:52:55,520 --> 00:52:58,440
Speaker 2: can follow Tyler on x at Tyler c stafvage. You

1060
00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:01,000
Speaker 2: can follow me at Chandler Underscore. As always, please rate

1061
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,520
Speaker 2: and review us on Apple. Please subscribe to the YouTube

1062
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:06,680
Speaker 2: channel so you can get alerted every time we go

1063
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:08,719
Speaker 2: and post a new episode like the one we do

1064
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:11,359
Speaker 2: with Jeff today. Jeff, again, we cannot thank you enough

1065
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:13,359
Speaker 2: for your time, for your insight, and for getting us

1066
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:15,719
Speaker 2: into the mind a little bit of a GM around

1067
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:16,520
Speaker 2: these busy times.

1068
00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:18,439
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for having on guys. It was nice catching

1069
00:53:18,480 --> 00:53:19,040
Speaker 1: up with both of you.

1070
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 3: Thanks for not trading out to Bay, Bye Bye,