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Speaker 1: What's up? Everybody. Welcome into another edition of Crush City Territory.

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Speaker 1: M Chandler roam along with Tyler Stafford and the most

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Speaker 1: special guests that I think we could get any of

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Speaker 1: you guys, former Astro general manager Jeff Luno. Jeff, Before

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Speaker 1: we get into we want to talk to you a

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Speaker 1: lot about what goes into a trade deadline, what a

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Speaker 1: GM's life is like around this time of year, mid July,

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Speaker 1: when the trade talks start to have them. Before we

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Speaker 1: get into that, I think a lot of fans are

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Speaker 1: wondering simply how you're doing, how you're doing, what's been

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Speaker 1: up and for those that haven't seen you in a

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Speaker 1: little bit, what you've been up to.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well thanks, it's great to see both of you.

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Speaker 2: Miss I miss being around the ballpark and all that.

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Speaker 2: I live in Houston. I'm in Houston right now. I

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Speaker 2: never I never left, but I spend about half my

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Speaker 2: time in Europe. I got into footboard known as soccer

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Speaker 2: here in the States. And actually today's a milestone day

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Speaker 2: because we just closed the transaction we've acquired. My group

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Speaker 2: required to leak one team in France, so now we

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Speaker 2: have a team in Spain in addition to team in

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Speaker 2: Mexico and a team in France. So I'm actually in

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Speaker 2: the middle of my own sort of trade deadline. It's

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Speaker 2: different in football. You have a transfer window that's open

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Speaker 2: until the end of August, but doing it for about

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Speaker 2: four to five teams instead of just one. So pretty busy,

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Speaker 2: but overall doing well and love and living in Houston

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Speaker 2: and happy to be around, and obviously been watching the

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Speaker 2: Astros success from from nearby, and it's really incredible what

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Speaker 2: the organization has been able to accomplish. I'm pretty proud

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Speaker 2: of everybody there and still know a lot of people

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Speaker 2: there and still know a lot of the players, So

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Speaker 2: pretty happy to see what's happening.

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Speaker 1: How often do you watch how often? I mean I

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Speaker 1: imagine not watching every game, but how often do you

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Speaker 1: tune into the Astros kind of keep up with what's

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Speaker 1: going on.

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Speaker 3: When I can?

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Speaker 2: It's not that often because you know, when I'm in Europe,

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Speaker 2: it's the middle of the night. When I'm here, you know,

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Speaker 2: I try and turn on the TV the background when

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Speaker 2: I can, but I keep track. I mean mostly I

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Speaker 2: go online and make sure that see what the results

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Speaker 2: are from the night before.

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Speaker 1: What so you said you're closing. You just closed a

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Speaker 1: deal with a to acquire a team in France. Is

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Speaker 1: that going to require you to learn French to move to.

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Speaker 2: I downloaded a couple of language apps and yes, it's

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Speaker 2: the words are one thing, the accent is something else.

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Speaker 3: So the team we acquired is.

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Speaker 2: In a town called Luov, which is Lejrve or the Aarve,

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Speaker 2: depending upon where you come from.

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Speaker 3: Texans would probably say Laharve.

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Speaker 2: It's support city at the end of the river Senne

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Speaker 2: and it's you know, first division team, historical team. It's

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Speaker 2: actually the oldest team in continental Europe. It was founded

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Speaker 2: in eighteen seventy two, so talk about history. It's pretty

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Speaker 2: you know, a lot of responsibility taken over a team

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Speaker 2: like that.

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Speaker 4: So are you are you just purposefully buying teams and

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Speaker 4: all the best vacation spots You've got Cancun, Madrid, France? Now, like,

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Speaker 4: what are you doing? You just what's next?

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Speaker 3: It's actually part of the strategy.

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Speaker 2: You want teams in places where players want to go,

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Speaker 2: shouts want to go see, you can hire coaches and

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Speaker 2: I want.

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Speaker 3: To go quite frankly, so it works out pretty well.

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Speaker 2: And usually you know, at some point you're gonna end

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Speaker 2: up selling these teams in the future, and the more

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Speaker 2: desirable location you're in the better.

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Speaker 4: So could I interest you in the Sacramento Athletics. So

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Speaker 4: in Madrid, So you're spending a lot of time there.

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Speaker 4: My wife and I went there a few years ago.

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Speaker 4: What's the what's the Cheiro place with the dip chocolate?

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Speaker 4: How often are you going there?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean the food in Madrid is amazing. It's everything,

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Speaker 2: the food, the wine. Everything in Europe's.

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Speaker 3: Healthier than the US. I got to tell you.

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Speaker 2: So you don't feel bad having a glass of wine

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Speaker 2: or a truro because you know that it's not made

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Speaker 2: with seed oils and all that stuff that are American

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Speaker 2: food is made with.

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Speaker 4: Mm hmm. That's what I was thinking too, all the oils.

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Speaker 4: That's what I'm concerned with.

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Speaker 1: Jeff's you mentioned it is kind of around your trade

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Speaker 1: deadline in football, you know when you were around, when

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Speaker 1: you were with the Astros. Had they moved the draft yet?

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Speaker 1: Had they moved the draft to July? Where it was all.

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Speaker 3: Compact, no, no, and pretty intense.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I still keep in touch with Mike and

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Speaker 2: Sick and every draft week I talked to them a

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Speaker 2: little bit. But and you know the guys around here,

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Speaker 2: I see them in the neighborhood and so forth. But no,

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Speaker 2: it's uh, it's you know, it's changed. I mean a

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Speaker 2: lot of the rules have changed actually since, so I

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Speaker 2: would have to do a refresher course to catch up if.

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Speaker 3: I ever came back into baseball, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: So in your time, you know, trade deadline this year's

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Speaker 1: July thirty first, we're recording this on July eleventh, twenty

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Speaker 1: days out from the deadline. In your tenure, kind of

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Speaker 1: where were you, guys as a front office at at

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Speaker 1: this point where calls being made, where exploratory talks had

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Speaker 1: or were you guys kind of still in every year

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Speaker 1: you ran the team after maybe twenty fifteen, you guys

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Speaker 1: knew you were going to be buyers basically every season.

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Speaker 1: How did those conversations go. Was it exploratory right now?

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Speaker 1: Were you guys still in kind of wait and cemo

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Speaker 1: to see what you really needed?

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Speaker 2: The challenge is you need to be prepared, and preparation

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Speaker 2: is huge in every front office and every general manager,

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Speaker 2: and I'm sure Dana's doing the same thing. You really

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Speaker 2: start preparing in June once you have enough feedback on

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Speaker 2: how the season's going and you feel like you kind

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Speaker 2: of have an idea where you're going to end up.

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Speaker 2: And obviously you know if you get off to a

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Speaker 2: bad start like the Astros have a couple of times

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Speaker 2: in the past few years, you kind of wait and

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Speaker 2: see and make sure that you get back into contention.

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Speaker 2: Obviously the Astros did that and are dominating right now,

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Speaker 2: so really the only thing that they're probably thinking about

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Speaker 2: is how do we improve this team to get back

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Speaker 2: to making the longest possible run in the playoffs and

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Speaker 2: getting back to the world. And so it all starts

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Speaker 2: with the objective and being clear about what you're trying

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Speaker 2: to accomplish. Now, that objective could change from from July

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Speaker 2: first to July twenty ninth or thirtieth, and in some

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Speaker 2: cases it did, but you're going to have to constantly

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Speaker 2: think about where you're at, not react too much to

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Speaker 2: short term injuries and stuff like that. But a big

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Speaker 2: part of the preparation in June and early July is

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Speaker 2: making sure that ownership, the coach, the manager, the coaching staff,

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Speaker 2: the scouts, and your front office are all aligned in

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Speaker 2: terms of what the goals are because if you have

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Speaker 2: different goals and you're going to be hearing a lot

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Speaker 2: of noise from the press, from the fans about what

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Speaker 2: your goals should be, and sometimes that they're spot on,

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Speaker 2: but sometimes the fans lack the perspective of, you know,

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Speaker 2: some things that they don't know, like the budget that

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Speaker 2: you've been allocated, the injury status, the maybe the psychological

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Speaker 2: status of the players. Ones that would be okay, leaving

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Speaker 2: ones that wouldn't be, and so forth. So you've got

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Speaker 2: to have to really, you know, the month of July

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Speaker 2: is intense because while it's the All Star break and

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Speaker 2: you know there's some time off and all of that,

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Speaker 2: you really have to be paying attention every single day

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Speaker 2: to what's going on in the market. And the challenge

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Speaker 2: is that a lot of the players that you would

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Speaker 2: fit what you want don't really come available until their

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Speaker 2: team either goes through a winning streak or a losing streak,

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Speaker 2: or they have an injury or something else happens. So

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Speaker 2: you know, you can have your list on July first

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Speaker 2: of the players you want and start attacking them and

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Speaker 2: try and do an early trade deadline.

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Speaker 3: But if you're done by July.

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Speaker 2: Fifteenth, you might miss out on the player that was

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Speaker 2: perfect for you, that had you waited a little longer,

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Speaker 2: you might have been able to get. So it's it's

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Speaker 2: a little bit art, a little bit science, and it's

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Speaker 2: a lot of work, a lot of preparation and also

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Speaker 2: a lot of communication. The communication with you know, with

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Speaker 2: all the stakeholders has to be there, including the other teams,

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of you know, touching base of conversations,

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Speaker 2: a lot of bound calls for your your players, and

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Speaker 2: then you've got to make outbound calls without appearing too desperate.

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Speaker 2: And that's part of the art of it. You want

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Speaker 2: them to think you've got options, and you want them

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Speaker 2: to think that. You know, there's a lot of people

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Speaker 2: after your prospects, so you know they're just one of

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Speaker 2: like three, So stand in line and give me your

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Speaker 2: best offer and we'll see what you can with what

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Speaker 2: I can do for you.

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Speaker 4: Is there like an unwritten rule of you know, you

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Speaker 4: mentioned in July you're you're kind of waiting to see

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Speaker 4: where these other teams end up. You know, if a

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Speaker 4: teams like seven games out on July eleventh, right now,

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Speaker 4: is there is there like a you know, is it

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Speaker 4: rude to call the GM and say like, hey, are

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Speaker 4: you are you selling? Are you by you know what?

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Speaker 4: How do you how do you figure those things out

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Speaker 4: with all these other general managers.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a great question. First, how do you figure

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Speaker 2: it out for yourself? And you know, obviously fans can

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Speaker 2: go to fangrafts and see the playoff probabilities and all that,

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Speaker 2: and that became relevant for us in twenty sixteen because

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Speaker 2: even after you know, we made the playoffs in fifteen,

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Speaker 2: got to you know, five games with the Royals they

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Speaker 2: went on to win the World Series, we felt like

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Speaker 2: we had a team that could go deep in the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: But we got such a horrible start in sixteen and

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Speaker 2: even though we made it back and got into got

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Speaker 2: into contention, you know, looking at the Rangers and the

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Speaker 2: other teams that we were going to have to pass,

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Speaker 2: and looking at what was likely to be in the playoffs,

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Speaker 2: we realized that our chances of making the playoffs were remote,

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Speaker 2: and our chances are.

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Speaker 3: Going deep in the playoffs. Were sorry about that, We're remote.

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Speaker 5: Busy guy, Frances calling, Yeah, you know, that's the year

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Speaker 5: where really, even though you said we were buyers from

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Speaker 5: twenty fifteen on twenty sixteen, we were sellers, and the

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Speaker 5: fields for Avre has turned out to be one of

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Speaker 5: the best investments we ever made, giving up a proven

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Speaker 5: reliever for a young young man.

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Speaker 2: But I think that's the key, is to understand what

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Speaker 2: you think your chances are. And also in twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't so much are we going to make the playoffs?

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Speaker 2: It was are we going to win the World Series?

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Speaker 2: And that I mean, it was pretty clear to me

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Speaker 2: we had a World Series caliber team, and so every

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Speaker 2: move we looked at, you looked at it in the

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Speaker 2: context of how much will that player improve our chances

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Speaker 2: of winning a World Series? And that's how we valued

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Speaker 2: those moves. And I think obviously the Astros have been

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Speaker 2: in that mode since since twenty seventeen and probably have

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Speaker 2: a similar mindset now in terms of no GM will

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Speaker 2: ever be offended if you call him or her and

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Speaker 2: say I'm interested in your player, you know, and they'll

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Speaker 2: tell you, well, we're going to wait, you know, ownerships

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Speaker 2: not doesn't want to sell quite yet, We're going to

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Speaker 2: wait until right before because you have the most information

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Speaker 2: right before. But the reality is, if you look at

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Speaker 2: those playoff odds by mid July they're pretty well set

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Speaker 2: and they're not going to change that much by the

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Speaker 2: end of July, so you know, I think it's good

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Speaker 2: to start having those conversations.

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Speaker 3: At least let them know that you're interested, because you

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Speaker 3: never know.

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Speaker 2: There have been times when players get traded and you're like, Wow,

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Speaker 2: I wish I had known that player was even on

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Speaker 2: the market, because I would have liked to at least

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Speaker 2: throw my hat.

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Speaker 3: In the ring.

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Speaker 2: So you don't want that to happen. So communication between

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Speaker 2: gms is key. A lot of text messages and WhatsApps

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Speaker 2: and phone calls going around, probably more messages than phone

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Speaker 2: calls these days.

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Speaker 1: Jeff. One of the code words that always makes me

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Speaker 1: laugh around the trade deadline is untouchable. There were a

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Speaker 1: lot of prospects in your day, some of which have

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Speaker 1: matriculated to the astros and done very well, some of

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Speaker 1: which have not that were I guess we, as media

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Speaker 1: and fans thought of as untouchable. I believe you came

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Speaker 1: out a couple of times and talk specifically about Kyle

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Speaker 1: Tucker and Forrest Whitley as guys that you didn't want

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Speaker 1: to move. Is there such thing as an untouchable?

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Speaker 3: Truly?

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Speaker 2: There can be and I think in the case of

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Speaker 2: those two players, we weren't going to trade them. We

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Speaker 2: felt like we had enough inventory in our system to

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Speaker 2: acquire whatever players we needed. So I don't believe either

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Speaker 2: one of them wherever in serious conversations. And I think think,

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Speaker 2: you know, if you if you start to I mean,

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Speaker 2: there's some gms that will just hound you, regardless of

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Speaker 2: whether you say they're untouchable, and they'll just keep adding

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Speaker 2: players and other things and calling you back. And that happens,

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Speaker 2: and that's fine, But the reality is, yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 2: you've got to decide who you're going to build around

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Speaker 2: and take a chance. And you know, I think one

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Speaker 2: of the things that build DeWitt told me back when

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Speaker 2: he hired me in two thousand and three is that

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Speaker 2: he had been studying the trade deadline quite a bit

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Speaker 2: with the Cardinals and watching how all the teams do things,

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Speaker 2: and the trade deadline, especially those last few days, is

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Speaker 2: when you can really destroy value more than more than

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Speaker 2: improve your team. You can really destroy value by giving

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Speaker 2: away good young players that could help you for the

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Speaker 2: next ten years.

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Speaker 3: For short term, short term improvements.

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Speaker 2: And that stuck with me and I always thought about

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Speaker 2: that and you know, it's hard to know young players

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Speaker 2: how good they're going to be. I don't think the

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Speaker 2: Dodgers really anticipated Jordan Ovres, which turned out to.

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Speaker 3: Be the way he was.

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Speaker 2: And you know, we underestimated ti Oscar and ends. You know,

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Speaker 2: we sent him away for a lefty reliever who got

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Speaker 2: a couple out kiots for us down the stretch. But

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Speaker 2: it was a rental and ti Oscar has had a

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Speaker 2: great career, so that, you know, same thing i'd say

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Speaker 2: with the uh, you know, the other lefty that we

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Speaker 2: traded away, Josh Hader. You know, we traded for him,

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Speaker 2: so obviously we knew he.

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Speaker 4: I was going to say, you got to claim that

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Speaker 4: part too, if you've got to claim trade.

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Speaker 2: But he wasn't ours to start with. We traded for him,

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Speaker 2: got him all the way up to double A. We really,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're trying him as a starter. Didn't know

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Speaker 2: if he was going to really be an e leade closer.

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Speaker 2: Made a mistake on that one as well, And that happens.

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Speaker 2: I mean forecasting a double A or triple A or

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Speaker 2: even recently promoted major league player their entire career, there's

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Speaker 2: a big error bar around that, and you've got to

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Speaker 2: take your chances and force Whitley didn't turn out to be,

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Speaker 2: at least so far, the player that we thought that

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Speaker 2: would put him in that untouchable category. But Kyle Tucker, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean he's been He's been unbelievable in every sense

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Speaker 2: of the words. So you know, you take your chances

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Speaker 2: and see what happens. And you know, like like with

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Speaker 2: the actual game of baseball, you're gonna you're gonna have

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Speaker 2: a lot of wrong moves. You just got to help

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Speaker 2: your batting average is better than you know, at least

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Speaker 2: the teams in your division.

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Speaker 4: I'm offended you didn't call me. I was working for

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Speaker 4: the Hooks in twenty fifteen, and I would have told

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Speaker 4: you you're insane for trading Josh Hader. So I don't

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Speaker 4: know what you were doing there. I would I would

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Speaker 4: have helped you out.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I knew he was good and that it

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Speaker 3: wasn't gonna happen without him, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: How much do you reflect on that trade, that the trade,

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Speaker 1: the Carlos Gomez, Mike Fire's trade for for Hater and

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Speaker 1: Brent Phillips and who else was in there, Domingo.

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Speaker 3: It was good.

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Speaker 2: I mean it was. You know, we traded a lot

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Speaker 2: of value. We knew we were trading a lot of value.

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Speaker 2: I think we didn't properly evaluate Carl Gomez. I mean,

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Speaker 2: if you look at what he did prior to us

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Speaker 2: trading for him, he was reaching status of being a

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Speaker 2: superstar and was athletic and you know, filled a lot.

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Speaker 3: Of needs for us.

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Speaker 2: You know, I had had a nice home run in

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Speaker 2: the wild Card game, but that didn't make up for

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Speaker 2: the four players we sent away and Fires had. You know,

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Speaker 2: Fires was really good for us at certain times. For sure,

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Speaker 2: he was our most consistent pitcher, I think in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean that one if I could have

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Speaker 2: that one back, that would be I would be probably

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Speaker 2: number one on my list of trades I'd want back.

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Speaker 4: I was at as no hitter, so you know, we

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Speaker 4: at least have that going for us.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I believe that was the pinnacle of his

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Speaker 1: Ashrews was that deadline though a couple things. So that

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Speaker 1: was when you guys had just sort of ascended AJ

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Speaker 1: in his first year, guys taking steps forward. Correa's up,

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Speaker 1: but that was a year you guys were always in

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Speaker 1: a contentious battle with the Rangers. For the division, and

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Speaker 1: I wonder like, how much did you guys think that

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Speaker 1: team was for real? And that was really your first

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Speaker 1: deadline as a buyer, you how did that deadline differ

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Speaker 1: from maybe the many that preceded it.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think the ones before that, we were just

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Speaker 2: accumulating as much talent as we could, and we were

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Speaker 2: moving salary off the books and trying to get younger

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Speaker 2: and really kind of get, you know, reset everything so

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Speaker 2: we could we could make that jump. And twenty fifteen,

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Speaker 2: I think with AJ arriving and the dynamic of the team,

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Speaker 2: we felt like we could make the playoffs and that

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Speaker 2: was really the only goals to make the playoffs, and

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Speaker 2: we accomplished it. So, you know, there were other deals

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Speaker 2: that we had considered in July, and I remember there

349
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Speaker 2: were a couple others that I was more excited about

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Speaker 2: that didn't end up happening. But we also had accumulated

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Speaker 2: a pretty nice inventory of good young players that had interest.

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Speaker 2: I mean the first couple of years, I was trading

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Speaker 2: you know, players that were okay, but they were like

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Speaker 2: second tier prospects or older veteran players like Brett Myers

355
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Speaker 2: who could serve a role, but you know, weren't that

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Speaker 2: sexy or exciting either, So you know, I was getting

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Speaker 2: what I could for those guys. But by twenty fifteen,

358
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Speaker 2: we had had some good drafts, we had some good inventory,

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Speaker 2: had made some good trades in the years prior, and

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Speaker 2: so it felt like we could you know, take some

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Speaker 2: of that inventory and turn it into more security to

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Speaker 2: get to the playoffs. And that's that's, you know, we

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Speaker 2: accomplished that. I'm not going to say we accomplished it

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Speaker 2: because we got those two players, because I think we

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Speaker 2: would have made the playoffs without those two players.

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Speaker 3: But and it came at a cost. I think, as

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Speaker 3: you know, Kashmir is the other one. I think we

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Speaker 3: got better. We needed a starter.

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Speaker 2: So it was all about figuring out, you know, how

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Speaker 2: we could, how we could make the playoffs.

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Speaker 3: And that was so for us, that was successful.

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Speaker 1: Since we're in that time frame you talked about you

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Speaker 1: were trading veterans for for you were trading second tier

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Speaker 1: prospect for assets. But one of your counterparts, Dayton Moore,

375
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Speaker 1: went on a podcast with er Cosmer a couple of

376
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Speaker 1: week a couple of months ago and claim that I

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Speaker 1: believe it was in twenty thirteen. This is Dayton. This

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00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,399
Speaker 1: is Dayton Moore saying you offered him Jose Altuve for

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Speaker 1: Eric Hosmer. Yeah, I'm going to give you the floor

380
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Speaker 1: on that one.

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Speaker 2: Okay, No, So he's not He's not lying. Dayton is

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00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 2: a very honest, high integrity guy. We did have a

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Speaker 2: conversation about it. It didn't go very far. You know, at

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Speaker 2: the time, we weren't looking to trade Jose Al tub

385
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Speaker 2: We were looking to acquire Eric Cosmer time and you know,

386
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Speaker 2: Kansas City was on the rise and we we tried everything.

387
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Speaker 2: We didn't have a lot of players that would bring

388
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Speaker 2: you on Eric Osmer, so at the end of the

389
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,439
Speaker 2: day were like, well, is he going to trade him

390
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,840
Speaker 2: or not. Let's just throw our best guy out there,

391
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,199
Speaker 2: our best young guy, and see if you'll even react.

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00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,560
Speaker 2: It was not an official trade offer. It was one

393
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Speaker 2: of those hey, would you consider it? And it was

394
00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,480
Speaker 2: a very short conversation, so it didn't go anywhere. But also, yeah,

395
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Speaker 2: we all have to remember jose Al Tube at that

396
00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:58,080
Speaker 2: time was not what Jose Al Tuba became, and obviously

397
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Speaker 2: we had a lot of confidence in him. We signed

398
00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,600
Speaker 2: him to two extensions while I was there. He's been

399
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:08,359
Speaker 2: the franchise player ever since. But you know, he was

400
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Speaker 2: a non a heralded prospect.

401
00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:11,479
Speaker 3: He made it up.

402
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,159
Speaker 2: He was still kind of getting his he was a

403
00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:17,000
Speaker 2: high batting average, low ops.

404
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,920
Speaker 3: You know, but boy, his career is really spectacular.

405
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, good call not trading him.

406
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:26,920
Speaker 1: I would say, I guess that does just I mean

407
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Speaker 1: from how we started this segment, I guess it goes

408
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,600
Speaker 1: to how it goes to show like there really are

409
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,880
Speaker 1: no untouchables, like you'll just see what happens. I mean,

410
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:35,639
Speaker 1: you said you were not he were never going to

411
00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:40,000
Speaker 1: trade jose Al Tuve. But I guess and there really

412
00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:42,480
Speaker 1: is no such player that it can never be off limits.

413
00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,840
Speaker 1: I guess in conversation, Yeah, I think that's right.

414
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,480
Speaker 2: And you want to know how rational the other team

415
00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,679
Speaker 2: in is, how serious they are, and so you know,

416
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,120
Speaker 2: part of negotiation is seeing where you're at.

417
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,640
Speaker 3: Is there really a deal to be had here? And

418
00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:59,120
Speaker 3: there wasn't for Osmer, So we moved on.

419
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Speaker 1: Is there is there a trade kind of in that

420
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Speaker 1: early in those early days that either I think people

421
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,040
Speaker 1: always want to know what could have been, what was

422
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,000
Speaker 1: on the finish line, what was what was some things

423
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:11,640
Speaker 1: were making.

424
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Speaker 2: That was not those early days. Right, it was done,

425
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 2: players were agreed to. The only thing left was ownership approval,

426
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,880
Speaker 2: and the ownership said no, even though they had kind

427
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,760
Speaker 2: of pre cleared the deal. So that was that was

428
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,639
Speaker 2: huge and that would have changed a lot of stuff.

429
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Speaker 3: For sure.

430
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,639
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper would have looked pretty good. And and as you,

431
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,320
Speaker 1: I think we discussed. I think we talked before the

432
00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:42,520
Speaker 1: Ashers played the Phillies in the twenty twenty two World Series, Jeff,

433
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,000
Speaker 1: you and I talked about what that package would have

434
00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,280
Speaker 1: looked like with the players were agreed to. Yeah, it

435
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 1: was I don't want to say you would have fleeced them,

436
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 1: but you would have.

437
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Speaker 2: You would have fleeced them, yeah, I mean it would

438
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:57,920
Speaker 2: have been in the Justin Berlander category of you know,

439
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 2: players that all had value that they have shaded but but.

440
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,520
Speaker 3: Didn't end up hurting the Astros had they had they gone.

441
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,680
Speaker 3: So that would have been nice.

442
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,959
Speaker 2: And that would have been I mean, the day we

443
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,639
Speaker 2: thought we got him, you know, I called AJ and

444
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:12,680
Speaker 2: he's like Christmas in July.

445
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,720
Speaker 3: This is the most nice I can't even imagine.

446
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: So do you have to be careful about that, like

447
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,720
Speaker 1: telling the clubhouse, telling AJ, like what you guys are

448
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,200
Speaker 1: working on as as just to maybe not get their

449
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 1: hopes up, because like the learners can veto a trade

450
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,119
Speaker 1: at the last minute, how do you how do you

451
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 1: have to balance that of not getting your clubhouse's hopes

452
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:33,600
Speaker 1: too high.

453
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:37,440
Speaker 2: Well, with Aj, it was different than with other managers

454
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:41,399
Speaker 2: because Aj was a general manager and he and I

455
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 2: were so closely attuned and aligned in everything that you know,

456
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,480
Speaker 2: a lot of he would he was involved in a

457
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,199
Speaker 2: lot of the trade discussions in who we wanted, and

458
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 2: you know, he helped negotiate the Verlander trade very much,

459
00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 2: so because he's very close. Obviously he's close with them,

460
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,560
Speaker 2: he got hired by them, but he was very close

461
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 2: with al l Avila in the front office over there.

462
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,240
Speaker 3: So whenever we.

463
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,880
Speaker 2: Needed to do a bad cop good cop, I would

464
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 2: be the bad cop and I'd say we're done, we're

465
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 2: not going to do that, and then you know, AJ

466
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,920
Speaker 2: would call up Havila a few hours later and say, hey,

467
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 2: you know he's serious, He's not going to do it

468
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 2: unless we changed this out or the other.

469
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,280
Speaker 3: And so it kind of worked to our advantage.

470
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think with managers, they need

471
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 2: to be involved, but they need to understand that this

472
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,399
Speaker 2: is out the front office's process, and you certainly don't

473
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,000
Speaker 2: want word to filter around the clubhouse. It does anyway,

474
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 2: because rumors get out and conversations get leaked, but you know,

475
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,439
Speaker 2: you certainly don't want a ton of that.

476
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously I.

477
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:50,440
Speaker 2: Had my fill of that when we didn't make a

478
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 2: big splash trade in twenty seventeen, and then Kikle went

479
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:55,720
Speaker 2: to the locker room and said, you know, he was

480
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 2: disappointed in me and what we were doing. And but

481
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 2: you know, that happens. That was sort of after the deadline.

482
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, managers are key, and I think

483
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,159
Speaker 2: more and more managers are heavily involved.

484
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 3: In the process.

485
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 4: Speaking of you know, Kaykle, that was obviously a big

486
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 4: story in twenty seventeen. You mentioned, you know, your job

487
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 4: is to try to tune out as much as you

488
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 4: can outside of that. I have to imagine that that

489
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 4: made its way, you know, to you that's a big

490
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 4: deal in the office, Like when when a player has

491
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,920
Speaker 4: comments like that, Does that affect how you go about

492
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 4: your job or are you like altering plans based on

493
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:41,880
Speaker 4: things like that?

494
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 3: No, no, no, definitely not.

495
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 2: I mean I went down to the clubhouse, and I

496
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 2: spoke to Kaykele individually and explained to him, gave him

497
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 2: a little bit more context about what we had tried

498
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 2: to do and get kind of what the way we

499
00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:58,960
Speaker 2: saw things, and he appreciated that at the time. But

500
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 2: you know, I think he was seeing himself as the

501
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 2: leader of this team, you know, having won the wild

502
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 2: Card game and been sort of the cy young and

503
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:10,959
Speaker 2: been our ace for a long time, and you know,

504
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:12,119
Speaker 2: he had the right.

505
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:12,919
Speaker 3: To express his opinion.

506
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 2: But it's really more the manager and the pitching coach

507
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 2: that I think have to manage that to make sure

508
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,120
Speaker 2: that if there is some comments that they don't kind

509
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,360
Speaker 2: of negatively affect the team. That's really that was really

510
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 2: more astronomy and AJ's role.

511
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,639
Speaker 1: Since we mentioned it earlier, I do want to for

512
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,760
Speaker 1: those that are listening and that haven't heard the package.

513
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 1: The package that the Ashers had agreed to send to

514
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 1: the Nationals for Bryce Harper in twenty eighteen was Randy Caesar,

515
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:45,200
Speaker 1: Abraham Toro, Josh James, JB. Bukalskis, and Kent Emmanuel. Abraham.

516
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: Toro is still a very nice role player for the

517
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,640
Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox. Having to play a little bit more.

518
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 1: He's carved out a very nice career for himself. Those

519
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: other guys have had their fair share of struggles, So

520
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 1: Bryce would have been a rental Jeff. But I think

521
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 1: I asked this at the time. Do you think that

522
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: Jim would have entertained the sort of money and years

523
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,399
Speaker 1: it would have taken to keep him in Houston beyond

524
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 1: that expiring contract?

525
00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,919
Speaker 2: Don't I don't know the answer to that, but I

526
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 2: think had Bryce Harper come in and done what Bryce

527
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 2: Harper normally does and we win the World Series with him,

528
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,120
Speaker 2: it would have been certainly something that the organization would

529
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 2: have made every effort to try and sign him for sure.

530
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 3: I mean that was a hope.

531
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,800
Speaker 2: It was not one of those you know, negotiate a

532
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 2: deal before we trade for him. We knew it was

533
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 2: a rental, but we also knew that, you know, we

534
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 2: were a franchise on the rise and could afford to

535
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 2: spend on a free agent like that.

536
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 1: How much since we since we brought him up, how

537
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 1: much did Jim get involved when you were I mean,

538
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 1: he runs a budget, he has the money, he signs

539
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:51,919
Speaker 1: the check, so obviously he is involved inherently. But was

540
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 1: he maybe more involved in some trade deadlines than I know,

541
00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 1: you've only worked for two owners, but maybe more involved

542
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 1: in than some other owners in the game, and how

543
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 1: he wants to be kept abreast of things and things

544
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 1: of that nature.

545
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 2: No, I mean Bill to it, Junior was very involved

546
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 2: and wanted to know everything, every conversation that was happening

547
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:12,880
Speaker 2: and so forth with and with the draft as well.

548
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 2: So I'd say de Watt was more active. Jim certainly

549
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 2: wanted to know what was happening, and you know, certainly

550
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 2: wanted to be asked if we were going to require

551
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 2: any more resources, because a lot of times you're taking

552
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 2: on extra salary or you're taking on a contract.

553
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:32,160
Speaker 3: Are you trying to move a contract?

554
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 2: I'd say, you know, the trade that he probably got

555
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 2: most involved in, sort of emotionally was the Granky trade

556
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,679
Speaker 2: because we were we were on the fence about the

557
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,639
Speaker 2: Granky trade, and there were other options that we were considering,

558
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 2: but Jim did seem to want that player on our

559
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,640
Speaker 2: team and wanted the sort of sex appeal of of

560
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,640
Speaker 2: Granky and all of that, and so, you know, would

561
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 2: we have made the trade without Jim's pushing us, I

562
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 2: don't know the answer to that. To be honest, I mean,

563
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 2: I think he was definitely excited about it. And you know,

564
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,880
Speaker 2: every time the trade would die, which trades die a lot,

565
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 2: and that one died like four times in the twenty

566
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 2: four hours before we did it, you know, he would say, well,

567
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,880
Speaker 2: what about you know, if we took on a little

568
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 2: more of his salary.

569
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 3: Well, in that case, yeah, I mean, you know, sure,

570
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:24,880
Speaker 3: we'll make another run at it.

571
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 2: So that was one where he was he was involved.

572
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 2: I'd say, you know, Verlander, he was interested in what

573
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 2: was going on, and he had to approve the money

574
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 2: and they were you know, we had had limits and

575
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,199
Speaker 2: the deal wasn't done because of those limits, not just

576
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 2: players but money, and so he had to make a

577
00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 2: decision in the last few hours to approve more budget

578
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 2: for that.

579
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 3: And he did.

580
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 2: So that was you know, without him, those two players

581
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:53,640
Speaker 2: certainly wouldn't have gotten to the astros.

582
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you you know, when you're communicating with

583
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 4: ownership about trading and things like that, Like it's hard

584
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 4: enough to know all of the guys in your own organization,

585
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 4: much less when you're trading outside of the organization. How

586
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,639
Speaker 4: do you present to ownership why you like a certain

587
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 4: player or why you're comfortable moving one of your own guys.

588
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,640
Speaker 4: You know, like, how are you How are you presenting

589
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 4: that to ownership?

590
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 2: No different than the way we would talk about it internally.

591
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,600
Speaker 2: This is how much value we see in the player's career.

592
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 2: This is how much we're going to have to spend

593
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:31,240
Speaker 2: to have that value on our team. And here's what

594
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 2: the alternative looks like. So, you know, we had our

595
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 2: own and I'm sure they still have some version of

596
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 2: it today, our own way of forecasting player performance into

597
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 2: the future based off of a lot of factors, including

598
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 2: their past performance, and so you know, we'd look at that.

599
00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 2: And with the Verlander situation, it really came down to

600
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 2: what's the additional amount probability that we're going.

601
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 3: To win the World Series?

602
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 2: And no one player in all of baseball increased our

603
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 2: chances more than bringing in Justin Verlander at that point

604
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 2: in time because of what he did, knowing he was

605
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,840
Speaker 2: going to pitch probably three times in a seven game series,

606
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:07,520
Speaker 2: knowing you know how he was going to probably help

607
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 2: us get home field advantage. Those two factors were huge

608
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 2: and it meaningfully changed. I mean, a one percent chance

609
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,240
Speaker 2: increase of winning the World Series is worth millions, and

610
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 2: especially for a franchise that had never won a World Series,

611
00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 2: because then it propagates in branding and all kinds of

612
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 2: other things that it's hard to value in a spreadsheet.

613
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 2: But that's really the way we presented it. I forget

614
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 2: the exact number. It was obviously low single digits, but

615
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 2: it was meaningful, and we said, each each percent equates

616
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: to this many millions of dollars. So whatever we're spending

617
00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 2: right now in prospects, I mean, the prospects are worth

618
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 2: a lot too. You know, each prospect we valued it

619
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 2: not just in career performance, but also how much value

620
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 2: you would have to spend to get that same performance

621
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 2: back from free agency.

622
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 4: Did your spreadsheet take into account Verlander just yelling with

623
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 4: hairy arms in the dugout in the World Series that

624
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 4: that had to have added a couple percentage.

625
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 2: Points now, but make up makeup matters a lot, obviously,

626
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 2: and it didn't take into account gate Upton.

627
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:18,880
Speaker 1: And since you since you mentioned makeup matters, I want

628
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: to take you to a deal you made in that

629
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: that deal that did go through in the twenty eighteen

630
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: deadline for Roberto Osuna. That deal was maligned very very much,

631
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,959
Speaker 1: by a lot of people that were uncomfortable with trading

632
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: for a player that was under a suspension for domestic violence. Yeap,

633
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,040
Speaker 1: what made you comfortable executing that trade and what kind

634
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: of backlash did you receive, maybe from maybe within your

635
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,280
Speaker 1: own organization and from the outside.

636
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know that was that was a challenging one.

637
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 2: That's probably one that falls into the category if I

638
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 2: you know, if I had to do it all over again,

639
00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 2: would I do it?

640
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 3: The answer is no.

641
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: You know, the talent was clearly I the first thing

642
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. You know, Jim Garcia pitched with

643
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 2: him as a teammate and when we went to Toronto

644
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 2: that year, he said, hey, by the way, you know,

645
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 2: he talked to me about the whole situation, said the kids, really,

646
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 2: you know, feels bad about what happened, and he's remorseful,

647
00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:16,200
Speaker 2: and you know, he needs a change of scenery. I

648
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 2: really recommend that you guys look at him. And that

649
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,120
Speaker 2: was the first time we even considered it. We you know,

650
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,040
Speaker 2: we did a lot of research. The research was really

651
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 2: split into two camps. There was the talent and you know,

652
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 2: I know that Kevin Goldstein and others have talked about

653
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 2: the fact that they had objections to the trade, not

654
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 2: because of the talent, but because of the other stuff.

655
00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: But I asked our scouts.

656
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 2: Look the the the issue of whether or not the

657
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 2: Astros should trade for a player that has, you know,

658
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 2: has been suspended. I'm going to handle that with Jim

659
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 2: and Anita and Giles and you know, the HR everybody else.

660
00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 2: What I need now from you guys, is is a

661
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 2: clean talent opinion. How much will this player help us win?

662
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 2: I mean, Ken Giles was imploding, We didn't have a closer.

663
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 2: We'd come off a World Series win. We needed back

664
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 2: end any you know. We knew Presley would be a

665
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 2: good setup man, we didn't know if you'd be a

666
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,760
Speaker 2: good closer. And at that time Alsuna was the most

667
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:17,760
Speaker 2: successful closer of his age in the history.

668
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 3: Of the game.

669
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,719
Speaker 2: I mean, really incredible what he had done. So I

670
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 2: asked the guys to just look at that. And I

671
00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 2: know that got misinterpreted as I didn't want anybody's opinion.

672
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 2: I knew that there was going to be differences opinion.

673
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,880
Speaker 2: I didn't want the whole room to be talking about

674
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 2: whether or not we should, you know, bring in someone

675
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 2: that's been suspended separate from that, had a lot of

676
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 2: conversations about with Jim, with Anita, with Giles. We did

677
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 2: our own research as to what we could find out

678
00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:47,720
Speaker 2: about the situation, a lot of the information was not

679
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 2: out in the public, and also spent time talking to

680
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 2: the player, talking to his agent, talking to his teammates

681
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 2: and so forth. And really the decision I was trying

682
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:00,960
Speaker 2: to make is this, Do I think this is a

683
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 2: one time event that he regrets and is remorseful about,

684
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 2: or do I think that this is a we're bringing

685
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:12,560
Speaker 2: ourselves a problem that what I didn't really take into

686
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 2: account was and you know, I talked to a lot

687
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 2: of people that had dealt with issues like this, and

688
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 2: if you don't give people second chances, you know, there

689
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 2: was that whole argument. You know, you're hurting their family,

690
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 2: You're hurting the person that was the victim, potentially more

691
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 2: so because they're losing income and all that.

692
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of issues going on there. I

693
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:38,120
Speaker 3: didn't really take into account.

694
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 2: I didn't take into account as much as I should

695
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,880
Speaker 2: have the impact they would have on our fans, especially

696
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 2: our female fans, and how they would feel.

697
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 3: And that was a mistake.

698
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 2: And you know, I did talk about it with female

699
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 2: friends and family, but I probably should have spent a

700
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 2: little bit more time thinking about it, but it wasn't

701
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 2: you know, Yes, I made the decision to trade for him.

702
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 2: I did not do a human Laterally, the talent checked

703
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 2: the box for sure, and there were you know, everybody

704
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,359
Speaker 2: that was around me that I collaborated with was you know.

705
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:14,799
Speaker 3: There was nobody saying don't do it.

706
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 2: Because if if someone had said don't do it, I mean,

707
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:21,400
Speaker 2: obviously we wouldn't have done it. So but you know,

708
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 2: that's a tough one. I mean, I will say he

709
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,319
Speaker 2: you know, he's he's been a pretty good pitcher, got

710
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,279
Speaker 2: injured and he hasn't been really able to pitch in

711
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,839
Speaker 2: the US, but he's been a good picture. Did he

712
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 2: you know, did he help us accomplish our goals on

713
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,839
Speaker 2: the on the field to a certain extent, he did.

714
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 2: I still think he could have been better. You know,

715
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 2: giving up that home run in Game seven against the

716
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,920
Speaker 2: Yankees was was not great. But thank thank goodness, we

717
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 2: had all two there.

718
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: Then goodness shed all to man, not Eric Cosmo.

719
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 3: Right exactly. That's one that you know, it's a tough one.

720
00:34:59,160 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 3: I learned.

721
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 2: I learned a lot from that experience, you know, and

722
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:06,279
Speaker 2: I think I would I would do things differently today

723
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:06,840
Speaker 2: than I did that.

724
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 1: Let's hear from our friends at foul Territory one more

725
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 1: time before we continue with Jeff Luno.

726
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 6: Hey, let's do a little player spotlight thanks to Arena

727
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 6: Club AJ. Give me a player this season that you

728
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 6: think is underrated and you might want to try and

729
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:20,520
Speaker 6: grab his card.

730
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:21,400
Speaker 1: James Would.

731
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 7: I don't know that he's underrated, but Washington National's superstar

732
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 7: in the making, and the first slab pack I ever

733
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 7: opened had him in it, his rookie card, and the

734
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:29,879
Speaker 7: value is only going to.

735
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 3: Go up and up and up. And I'm not going

736
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 3: to sell it KWI yet. Scott.

737
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,000
Speaker 7: I'm going to hold on to because after he continues

738
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 7: to hit big homers and put up the stats make

739
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,880
Speaker 7: All Star teams, it's going to get more expensive for

740
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 7: someone to buy.

741
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:40,880
Speaker 4: For me.

742
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:41,720
Speaker 1: This is his.

743
00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 6: First full season in the majors.

744
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:44,319
Speaker 3: Keep that in mind.

745
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 6: I think he's underrated, He's on a Nationals team that's

746
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,720
Speaker 6: may adding enough attention.

747
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 4: He underrated.

748
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:51,839
Speaker 7: When he makes the All Star team this year, They're

749
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 7: not going to be underrated.

750
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:53,680
Speaker 3: That helps.

751
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,240
Speaker 6: He's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway,

752
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 6: if you want to try and find a wood rookie card,

753
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,319
Speaker 6: go check out slab packs on Arena Club and right

754
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:03,440
Speaker 6: now you can get twenty percent off your first lab pack.

755
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 6: Or if you just want to go with a card purchase,

756
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 6: go to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use code foul.

757
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 3: If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it.

758
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: We already talked about you mentioning Hosel Tuve in a

759
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:18,759
Speaker 1: trade conversation, so that probably takes the cake. But is

760
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,240
Speaker 1: there one trade or permutation of a trade that maybe

761
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: advanced a little bit further than that one that included

762
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 1: a player that Astros fans have come to fall in

763
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 1: love with that would surprise them to know that you

764
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: guys were considering moving on.

765
00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 3: I don't think so.

766
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 2: I mean Gregman, Correa Springer, they were never really in

767
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:47,000
Speaker 2: any serious conversations. I think Kyko we did talk about

768
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:49,920
Speaker 2: trading a couple of times. I can't remember the exact

769
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 2: context there, but because he was a high achiever with

770
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:59,480
Speaker 2: sort of marginal stuff, you know, we weren't going to

771
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 2: get back return if he if he through ninety eight,

772
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 2: and this is my young winner, that'd be different, but

773
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 2: throwing eighty eight to ninety and having to rely on Finesse,

774
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:08,480
Speaker 2: I mean that, you.

775
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 3: Know, he's a good pitcher, He's had a good career.

776
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:12,880
Speaker 3: But yeah, I can't.

777
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 2: I'd have to think about that. Nothing nothing comes to mind,

778
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,359
Speaker 2: you know, Uh, catch your wise. Trading from my team

779
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 2: Aldonato two years in a row is hilariously.

780
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 3: I mean he was.

781
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 2: He was good for us, you know, Jed Lowry coming

782
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:28,359
Speaker 2: and going like every every other year.

783
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:29,960
Speaker 3: That was interesting.

784
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,799
Speaker 2: But now you know, once you get good players that

785
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 2: fit and are part of your clubhouse chemistry, like Springer

786
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 2: and Korea and Altuve and Bregman, you don't want to

787
00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,120
Speaker 2: trade him unless you unless you really do the math

788
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 2: and figure, we're not gonna be able to resign this player.

789
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to trade them in order to do

790
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 2: kind of the Herschel Walker thing and bring in a

791
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 2: boatload of talent and you know, try and try and

792
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:54,720
Speaker 2: extend our window for another four or five years.

793
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,239
Speaker 4: I mean, speaking of Korea, when when you guys took

794
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 4: him number one overall, it you know was not expected. Certainly,

795
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:07,120
Speaker 4: can you talk a little bit about, you know, the

796
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 4: process leading up to the draft that at what point

797
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:13,839
Speaker 4: did you know you were taking Korea over Buxton or

798
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 4: you know, whoever else you guys were looking at and

799
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 4: the top of the draft. How close were you to

800
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:19,760
Speaker 4: not taking Korea?

801
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 7: I guess we were.

802
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:21,520
Speaker 3: We weren't close at all.

803
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,600
Speaker 2: We were going to say, but the number of people

804
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:28,919
Speaker 2: who knew was limited to Michael ISAs Sig, myself, and

805
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 2: Enis Cabell. That was it because the on our draft

806
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,440
Speaker 2: board he was like number eight or nine. And you

807
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,920
Speaker 2: don't want to go into your first year's GM and

808
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:43,759
Speaker 2: grab a magnet from our number eight or nine and

809
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 2: PLoP them all the way at the top and say

810
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 2: I'm the GM.

811
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:48,400
Speaker 3: You got to do what I You got to do

812
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:48,959
Speaker 3: what I want.

813
00:38:50,239 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 2: So, you know, there was a lot of work behind

814
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 2: the scenes, and the week leading up to the draft

815
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,760
Speaker 2: we were trying to figure out more importantly, we didn't

816
00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 2: want anybody to know we were going to take him

817
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:01,840
Speaker 2: because then team's number two and three would be like,

818
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 2: well wait a second, you know, maybe we should be

819
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 2: thinking more about him, and you cred to create demand

820
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 2: that wasn't there. We knew the Cubs were going to

821
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 2: take him, and that was really are you know, we

822
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:16,880
Speaker 2: knew we had to pay him more money than the

823
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 2: Cubs were going to pay him at their position. I

824
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:20,799
Speaker 2: think it was five or something like that, maybe six,

825
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 2: and that was it. Nobody above the Cubs was going

826
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:26,520
Speaker 2: to take him. And so we also knew we had

827
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,439
Speaker 2: an opportunity because he's the player we wanted. We thought

828
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 2: he was the best player in the draft. He was

829
00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 2: the youngest high school player in the draft, and you know, everything,

830
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 2: he checked every single box that we liked. We knew

831
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 2: that we could also potentially get him at a discount

832
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:45,239
Speaker 2: relative to the one to one price and go and

833
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 2: get a Las McCullers and a Rio Ruiz type player

834
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 2: with the surplus, and so managing that meant we had

835
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,319
Speaker 2: to keep the information circle really really tight.

836
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:56,560
Speaker 3: I don't even think Jim. I didn't even think.

837
00:39:56,480 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 2: I told Jim until a few minutes before, and the

838
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 2: draft room didn't know. I mean we we walked in

839
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:07,000
Speaker 2: there because I didn't get the final okay. Carlos was

840
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 2: in New York for the draft and his agent was

841
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,160
Speaker 2: somewhere else, and we didn't get the final okay on

842
00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 2: the you know, on the fact that we agreed to

843
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,400
Speaker 2: an amount until I mean I ran down the Hallway

844
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 2: and basically Bobby heck was it was a great scouting

845
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 2: director and did a good job managing the process.

846
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,240
Speaker 3: You know, he was kind of waiting. You know, we had.

847
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 2: Appel and Austin, there were other players in the mix.

848
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:35,640
Speaker 2: Bucks Buckston was the other player in the mix. In fact,

849
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:37,719
Speaker 2: it had gotten to the point where I didn't hear

850
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:40,360
Speaker 2: back from Koreas, so I called Buxton's people five minutes

851
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 2: before the draft or that if we took him we

852
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:44,960
Speaker 2: could get a discount on him as well, and that

853
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:46,320
Speaker 2: he was signable for us.

854
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 3: But then Chris got back and we got it. We

855
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 3: got it done.

856
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:52,200
Speaker 4: What would you have had to pay Buxton?

857
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,479
Speaker 3: It would have been more, ubstantially more, because he was going.

858
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,840
Speaker 4: To go I got six million second pick, so he

859
00:40:58,920 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 4: was going to go number two.

860
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,799
Speaker 2: So you know, you can't really say, hey, we're going

861
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 2: to draft you number one, and but we're gonna pay

862
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,239
Speaker 2: a lot less than you would get it the very

863
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,800
Speaker 2: next pick. So bux was a good player.

864
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 3: But I think we made the right choice there.

865
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: The Cubs picked six that year, they took Albert al

866
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:20,680
Speaker 1: Mora instead of that's a tough it's a tough loss

867
00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:23,520
Speaker 1: for them to go out from Correa to al Mora.

868
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 4: Max Fried went seventh to.

869
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:28,279
Speaker 1: Fed Di go seventh, and then who went after Max

870
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:29,160
Speaker 1: Freed Tyler?

871
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 4: Uh? That was Mark Apell to the Pirates. He did

872
00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 4: not end up signing that year. He went back in

873
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:40,640
Speaker 4: the draft. I don't know if you heard Jeff, but

874
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:42,200
Speaker 4: he was available the next season.

875
00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 2: We were actually we liked Mark. We were trying to

876
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 2: pull him down to our second pick, the Colors.

877
00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:49,760
Speaker 3: You know, he got.

878
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,839
Speaker 1: Jeff. As as we're talking about all this, and and

879
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,239
Speaker 1: like you start thinking back and the memories start to

880
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,799
Speaker 1: fly back. I guess the natural question is, like, do

881
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 1: you have the itch? Do you have the inches you

882
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: have to get do you have do you do you

883
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 1: have the itch to get back and work in baseball?

884
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:10,360
Speaker 2: You know, I have a unique UH perspective now because

885
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:15,640
Speaker 2: I'm actually I'm not the GM of my football clubs.

886
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 2: I'm I'm more in the role of the owner. But

887
00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:21,560
Speaker 2: I still, obviously I get more involved in your typical

888
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 2: UH owner would. And there's so many interesting differences in

889
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:30,680
Speaker 2: the world of football and to baseball that I've been

890
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:32,719
Speaker 2: in and out for five years and I absolutely love

891
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:36,200
Speaker 2: it and I'm enchanted by it. But you know, to

892
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 2: be honest, I don't think a lot about coming back

893
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,040
Speaker 2: to baseball. But but having this conversation with you guys

894
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,360
Speaker 2: and thinking about all this history and things that I did.

895
00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 3: Well and things that I didn't do well, and kind of.

896
00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 2: You know, it's it certainly would be fun, uh and

897
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 2: interesting to go back into baseball. I know that my

898
00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 2: my teams and my investors and my partners probably not

899
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:02,360
Speaker 2: like that a lot at this point.

900
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:04,279
Speaker 4: Do you see Yeah, go ahead, Jane.

901
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,239
Speaker 1: Do you think that Pat's open for you, like if

902
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:06,880
Speaker 1: you'd ever want to?

903
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 5: Uh?

904
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:11,480
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I've had I'm not going to tell

905
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,400
Speaker 2: you who, but I've had two or three owners contact

906
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:18,880
Speaker 2: me and ask me if I was interested in either

907
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 2: a role as GM or another role, maybe as a.

908
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,720
Speaker 3: Different role where where I'd oversee the sporting operation.

909
00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:32,000
Speaker 2: And in all in all, in all cases, I said

910
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 2: no because at the time I was raising money and

911
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 2: starting my my company. But you know, it's I don't

912
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:43,799
Speaker 2: think I'm blackballed from baseball like some people think. And

913
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:45,400
Speaker 2: I know I could. I know I would do a

914
00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:47,160
Speaker 2: good job. I mean I know that for a fact.

915
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:49,680
Speaker 2: But the reality is I've moved on. I'm very happy

916
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,400
Speaker 2: for the world of football is is incredible, and I

917
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:57,440
Speaker 2: think you know we're doing something incredible with not Uh.

918
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,320
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of investors in football have tons

919
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:00,959
Speaker 2: and tons of money.

920
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:01,319
Speaker 3: We don't.

921
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:06,920
Speaker 2: We have smart, young, aggressive people and enough capital to

922
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:09,960
Speaker 2: go buy teams and grow them. And that's and be

923
00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 2: smart about player signings and all of that. The biggest

924
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 2: difference is a player has to agree. You can't just

925
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:20,400
Speaker 2: draft a player or trade a player without the player agreeing,

926
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,320
Speaker 2: and that changes everything. And you can also sell players

927
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 2: and that changes everything too, So it adds two different

928
00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:32,839
Speaker 2: dimensions to player acquisition and retention and roster management. And

929
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 2: fans get used to the fact that you might have

930
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 2: a Carlos CAREAUP, but in two years Carlos really should

931
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 2: be playing for a bigger team. So they're happy to

932
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,320
Speaker 2: have him for two years, but they understand.

933
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:44,920
Speaker 3: That he's got to go.

934
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 2: It doesn't happen in baseball because bigger team would be

935
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,360
Speaker 2: the Yankees, and no astro skin would want Carlos Crea.

936
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:51,000
Speaker 3: To play for the Inanks.

937
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 4: No, I don't even say that sentence. What are you doing?

938
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 4: I mean you mentioned not having a ton of money

939
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:01,120
Speaker 4: for soccer. Have you considered how I think some Hollywood

940
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:04,279
Speaker 4: A listers make a documentary about your team. I think

941
00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:05,760
Speaker 4: that's worked out well for Wrexham.

942
00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, it has, and those guys have done a good job.

943
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:12,600
Speaker 2: We actually did film quite a bit of content last

944
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 2: year and we're in the process of thinking about pitching

945
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 2: it as a documentary because I had I had three

946
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 2: teams going for a championship, all within ten days of

947
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,840
Speaker 2: each other, and two of the teams won their championship.

948
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,440
Speaker 2: The other one fell a little bit short. But I

949
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,319
Speaker 2: hired a camera crew and they followed me around and

950
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,560
Speaker 2: we were in the locker rooms before the matches, we

951
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 2: were celebrating after the matches. It was, you know, one

952
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,160
Speaker 2: in Czech Republic, one in Mexico, one in Spain. So

953
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 2: it was a lot of great content and there's a

954
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:46,080
Speaker 2: lot of interesting storylines. We did release a documentary in

955
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:52,160
Speaker 2: Spain about the Leganes Championship last year and we were

956
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:54,479
Speaker 2: supposed to play Leganess is actually in the US today.

957
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:56,879
Speaker 2: They're currently in Chicago. They're going to Louisville. I'm heading

958
00:45:56,920 --> 00:46:00,160
Speaker 2: up there tomorrow. We're playing match against Louisville tomorrow. We're

959
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 2: playing against Richmond next week. We were trying to get

960
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:05,640
Speaker 2: a match against San Antonio because you know, the Spurs

961
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 2: are friends.

962
00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 3: Of mine and they owned San Antonio FC in the USL.

963
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:12,719
Speaker 2: Had we been able to get that match, I was

964
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 2: going to bring the entire team here to Houston and

965
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 2: we were going to rent out the theater and show

966
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:21,040
Speaker 2: the documentary and invite Astros fans to come see it.

967
00:46:22,239 --> 00:46:23,239
Speaker 3: Decide not to do that.

968
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:25,160
Speaker 2: I may do that in the future because it's it's

969
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:28,400
Speaker 2: it's really fun and the content around sports is huge,

970
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,680
Speaker 2: and I think both you know, there's obviously been a

971
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:34,840
Speaker 2: lot of documentaries. I haven't seen the new documentary on

972
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,560
Speaker 2: the Astros, and I'm curious as to how they can

973
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 2: do an entire documentary about our dynasty and never even

974
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:40,279
Speaker 2: call me.

975
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 3: But that's okay. I'll leave that to someone else to

976
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 3: think about.

977
00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,800
Speaker 4: Well if if if you need help making content over there,

978
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:54,160
Speaker 4: you know the story practice Condomyes, So you know, maybe

979
00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:56,319
Speaker 4: if I live over in Spain for a little bit,

980
00:46:56,520 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 4: I'll get a little bit better. That's all just from

981
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:06,439
Speaker 4: learning while while teaching junior high in Highlands, Texas. Why

982
00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:08,319
Speaker 4: my students taught me quite a bit.

983
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

984
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:11,760
Speaker 1: So Jeff, you try to stay away from all the

985
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:15,839
Speaker 1: all the I guess content that's been created about your

986
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:19,239
Speaker 1: your your tenure, your tenure, and the dynasty that you

987
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:20,240
Speaker 1: that you helped to construct.

988
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:23,040
Speaker 3: I've seen it. I've seen it all, and.

989
00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:26,920
Speaker 2: So it's not that I'm staying away from it. I

990
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 2: see it all, but I don't dwell on it. I mean,

991
00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 2: I think, you know, depending upon who's producing it and

992
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:35,840
Speaker 2: what perspective they have, there's there's a lot of bias

993
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:39,440
Speaker 2: in any content production, whether you're trying to sell something

994
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,239
Speaker 2: or make someone look good or make someone look bad.

995
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,080
Speaker 2: So I don't you know, it's It's not something I

996
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 2: spent a lot of time dwelling about.

997
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:47,600
Speaker 3: I am very.

998
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,919
Speaker 2: Proud of the fact that the Astros, I mean, there

999
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:53,520
Speaker 2: is no other dynasty in the twentieth first century that

1000
00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 2: comes close at this point. So I know, I wasn't

1001
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:57,840
Speaker 2: there for the whole thing. I was just there for

1002
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,759
Speaker 2: the beginning, but put them on a good and very

1003
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:02,720
Speaker 2: happy about what happens. Still know a lot of people,

1004
00:48:03,520 --> 00:48:05,960
Speaker 2: I mean I see people walking around my neighborhood that

1005
00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,000
Speaker 2: still work for the Astros, and I still in touch

1006
00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 2: with people, so I'm very happy for them.

1007
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 1: Have you been back to what is now Dyke In Park.

1008
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:15,200
Speaker 1: You have not.

1009
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:16,600
Speaker 3: No, No, I have not.

1010
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:17,800
Speaker 1: You think that will ever happen.

1011
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:20,480
Speaker 3: I'm not going to just buy a ticket and go

1012
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:20,919
Speaker 3: to a game.

1013
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 2: You know, if the if the organization ever felt like

1014
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:26,560
Speaker 2: inviting me, I'd be I'd be more than happy to.

1015
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,319
Speaker 2: You know, some of my investors at Lucrow are our

1016
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:33,479
Speaker 2: Astros investors and season ticket over and stuff, and they've

1017
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:33,920
Speaker 2: invited me.

1018
00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:34,560
Speaker 3: But no, I'm not.

1019
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 7: I'm not.

1020
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:37,759
Speaker 3: I don't want to distract from what's going on there,

1021
00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,760
Speaker 3: and I think me being there would attract some attentions.

1022
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:43,919
Speaker 3: So no, I don't.

1023
00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,200
Speaker 2: I've been to Rockets games. I've been to Texans games.

1024
00:48:46,200 --> 00:48:50,200
Speaker 2: I've been to I haven't been to a Major League Baseball.

1025
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:51,080
Speaker 3: Game since left.

1026
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, wow, really, But.

1027
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,160
Speaker 2: I mean I've been to Champions League, I've been to

1028
00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:57,440
Speaker 2: you know, I've been a lot of I attend a

1029
00:48:57,440 --> 00:48:58,400
Speaker 2: lot of sporting events.

1030
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:01,360
Speaker 4: Did you go to the Gold Cup Final?

1031
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:01,880
Speaker 2: No?

1032
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:02,440
Speaker 3: I didn't.

1033
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 2: I was I was flying back from We had our

1034
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:08,080
Speaker 2: own match like and has played Pumas.

1035
00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 3: In Mexico on Sunday in front of It was.

1036
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,880
Speaker 2: A friendly match, preseason friendly. There were forty five thousand

1037
00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:14,880
Speaker 2: fans there for the Pumas.

1038
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 3: It was really incredible there.

1039
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:20,440
Speaker 1: There was a large uh, there was a large rivalry

1040
00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 1: in the Astros clubhouse in the semi in the Gold

1041
00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:27,840
Speaker 1: Cup semifinals with Honduras was playing Mexico. Paratus obviously a

1042
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:32,080
Speaker 1: Mexican and was very into that. Mauricio Dubon the only

1043
00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:35,279
Speaker 1: player to ever play in the big leagues. Mauricio wore

1044
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: his personalized Honduras national team jersey to take VP in

1045
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:40,839
Speaker 1: Colorado that day.

1046
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:42,480
Speaker 3: So that was fun, that's awesome.

1047
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:45,319
Speaker 1: I told him. They kept it close, they tried their

1048
00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:47,600
Speaker 1: best because it was an that was a real underdog story, right,

1049
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 1: Lewis was not supposed to be that far right.

1050
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:51,000
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1051
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,360
Speaker 2: Well, a couple of the players are are investors in

1052
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:55,360
Speaker 2: Blue Crow. I'm not going to tell you who. But

1053
00:49:56,440 --> 00:49:58,840
Speaker 2: so there's there's some there's definitely some football.

1054
00:49:58,440 --> 00:49:59,040
Speaker 3: Fans in there.

1055
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,400
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can. I can one hundred percent concur

1056
00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:04,160
Speaker 1: with that. Well, Jeff, I told you, we keep you

1057
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:05,560
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, we capt you fifty one.

1058
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:05,960
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1059
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 3: I enjoy it. I enjoy it, and that's all my

1060
00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:09,920
Speaker 3: fans enjoy it.

1061
00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:13,240
Speaker 2: And I hope the fans start checking on CD Leganes

1062
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:18,120
Speaker 2: scores and l'hav scores in France and cancunec scores in Mexico.

1063
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:21,319
Speaker 2: Because it's a it's a good sport and it's it's

1064
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:22,760
Speaker 2: fun and I'm having a good time.

1065
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 1: You're so active on all social media. Tell tell people

1066
00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:28,239
Speaker 1: where they can follow you, if they want to keep

1067
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:30,200
Speaker 1: up with your ventures, if they want to see if

1068
00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:31,720
Speaker 1: they want to get to know more about the sport

1069
00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: of football through you.

1070
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:35,439
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean my my Twitter handle is the same

1071
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:36,200
Speaker 2: as it's always been.

1072
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:39,239
Speaker 3: Jay Luno and Blue Crow Sports Group.

1073
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 2: We don't we're not don't do a lot of social media,

1074
00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:45,439
Speaker 2: but actually legan S has a has a social media

1075
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:49,720
Speaker 2: in English and Legans has probably some of the most

1076
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 2: compelling content in Spain for football, so you can find

1077
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 2: it on Twitter and Instagram.

1078
00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:57,280
Speaker 3: CD leg and S is the name of the club.

1079
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,280
Speaker 1: I just just found them and I will I'll shoot

1080
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:02,400
Speaker 1: them a follow. You can always our mascot.

1081
00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:07,319
Speaker 2: Our mascot is a super Cucumber and always dreamed of

1082
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:12,000
Speaker 2: Super Cucumber and Orbit getting together and playing around. Orbit

1083
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:15,000
Speaker 2: is the best mascot in Major League Baseball and Super

1084
00:51:15,040 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 2: Peppinos by far the best mascot in European football.

1085
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,719
Speaker 4: On that big Poppy as your mascot over there. All

1086
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,160
Speaker 4: right on.

1087
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:25,959
Speaker 1: That we can agree that Orbit is Orbit is hands

1088
00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 1: down the best mascot in uh in, in Major League Baseball,

1089
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:32,960
Speaker 1: in Houston anywhere. Get Orbit and the Big Cucumber together.

1090
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 1: That that should be after right after Tyler goes to

1091
00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:39,800
Speaker 1: the zoo with Cam Smith, We're going to Cucumber.

1092
00:51:39,880 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 3: He's he's got a cape and he's a superhero.

1093
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:45,960
Speaker 1: The super will end it on the Super Cucumber. You

1094
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:48,920
Speaker 1: can follow Tyler on X at Tyler c Stabvage. You

1095
00:51:48,920 --> 00:51:51,239
Speaker 1: can follow me at Chandler Underscore Room. As always, please

1096
00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:54,600
Speaker 1: rate and review us on Apple. Please subscribe to the

1097
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:56,960
Speaker 1: YouTube channel so you can get alerted every time we

1098
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,040
Speaker 1: go h and post a new episode like the one

1099
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,440
Speaker 1: we do with Jeff today. Jeff, again, we cannot thank

1100
00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:03,279
Speaker 1: you enough for your time, for your insight, and for

1101
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 1: getting us into the mind a little bit of a

1102
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:07,000
Speaker 1: GM around these busy times.

1103
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:08,919
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having on guys. It was nice catching

1104
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:09,520
Speaker 3: up with both of you.

1105
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:11,279
Speaker 4: Thanks for not trading out to Bay.

1106
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 1: Bye bye.