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

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Speaker 1: I'm Channel the room, joined by Tyler Stafford after tatsuya

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Speaker 1: Emi introduced himself to Houston, to the local media, to

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Speaker 1: some of the national media, and to some of the

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Speaker 1: worldwide media. Tyler, I have been in the press conference

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Speaker 1: room at dik and Park a lot. I've been in

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Speaker 1: there for countless playoff games. And there were more people

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Speaker 1: in there today really than there have been for some

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Speaker 1: playoff games. And it was a packed house this afternoon

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Speaker 1: as Tatsuya Emi, everybody got their first look at him.

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Speaker 1: Everybody got to hear him talk. Everybody could see him

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Speaker 1: throw up the h's because that's apparently a thing that matters.

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Speaker 1: Whoever taught him, Yes, whoever taught him how to throw

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Speaker 1: up the h's, Like they need like some commission on

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Speaker 1: this contract because they're getting so much run out of

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Speaker 1: this guy. Just every time the cameras in his face,

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Speaker 1: he just throws the h's up.

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Speaker 2: So I had to have been Boris right, of course,

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Speaker 2: like for real, Like I mean, he he has half

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Speaker 2: the astros on his roster, so I assume someone told

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Speaker 2: him make sure that he throws up the h and

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Speaker 2: it worked, Buddy, I'm all in.

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Speaker 1: That's a that's a low key fascinating point. You brought up.

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Speaker 1: Scott Boris now after three rages up after after Tatsuya

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Speaker 1: Imi officially signed. Scott Boris now reps seven members of

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Speaker 1: the Astros twenty six man roster, almost their entire infield,

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Speaker 1: because he reps Carlos Correa, Jeremy Panna, Jose Al Tuve,

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Speaker 1: He reps Hunter Brown, Tetsuya Emi, he reps Has sous Sanchez,

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Speaker 1: and he reps Lances McCullers Junior, who is also gonna

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Speaker 1: maybe be in the rotation. I guess we'll talk about

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Speaker 1: that later. But someone that will be in the rotation

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Speaker 1: is Tatsuya Emi. Tyler. We were talking about this before

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Speaker 1: I hit record. It's hard in introduct re press conference

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Speaker 1: settings to really like get to know anything about anyone.

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Speaker 1: And that's no, like it's not an indictment on Emi

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Speaker 1: or anybody that's up there, Like it's just not an

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Speaker 1: environment conducive for that. Like it's there's a bunch of

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Speaker 1: cameras on you, you're getting like you're trying not to

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Speaker 1: say the wrong thing. I'm sure this guy is just

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Speaker 1: completely it's probably all nervous, you know, first time in there,

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Speaker 1: first time being around this swarm of media. He doesn't know.

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Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna say I left there with any

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Speaker 1: like intimate knowledge of Emi, or I'm not gonna say

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Speaker 1: I know more about him now than I did before

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Speaker 1: I walked in there. But he certainly seemed like he's

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Speaker 1: got a fun personality. It seems like when the crowd's

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Speaker 1: maybe a little smaller and when the the interviews are

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Speaker 1: maybe four or five people, we'll see the personality come

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Speaker 1: out a little bit more. But he seemed like a fun,

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Speaker 1: loving guy that was enjoying just kind of being there.

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Speaker 1: He's court sided at the Rockets game right now with

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Speaker 1: Jim Crane and was very much enjoying that. He seems

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Speaker 1: like a nice guy, seems like a super nice guy

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Speaker 1: that is that's ready to kind of show what he's

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Speaker 1: made of.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's one thing to know about throwing up the

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Speaker 2: h's another to do it like you. You do have

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Speaker 2: to have a little bit of a goober personality to

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Speaker 2: be like, yeah, I don't know what this means, but

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Speaker 2: sure I'll do whatever. Let me go to all these

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Speaker 2: games and rock The Sweet Boris Corp. Uh, sweatpant outfit.

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Speaker 2: Do you think they sell those? How do how do

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Speaker 2: I get one? I don't want one of those.

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Speaker 1: I was so. I believe I'm well versed in the

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Speaker 1: Boris Corps attire and merchandise just by seeing players wear

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Speaker 1: them constantly. I knew about the hoodies they have, flip

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Speaker 1: flop they have like sandals that have on them. They

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Speaker 1: have obviously we know they have. The hat they have

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Speaker 1: are hat. I did not know they made sweatpants.

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Speaker 2: Dude, those are sick. I want one.

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Speaker 1: I did not know they made sweatpants. I did not

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Speaker 1: know they made like it was like a match in

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Speaker 1: track suiting. Yeah, I'd buy that.

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Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. Text text Boris and see if

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Speaker 2: he can. Yeah, I'll wear it on the pod come home.

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Speaker 2: Uh yeah. But but again, like I do think that

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Speaker 2: shows you a little bit of his personality to, like,

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Speaker 2: you know, even though he's not speaking the language or

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Speaker 2: obviously hasn't been here very long, he went to the

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Speaker 2: Texans game and was up on the jumbo tron and

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Speaker 2: you know, joking around, and then was was at the

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Speaker 2: press conference and and and answered a bunch of things

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Speaker 2: there and then, like you said, at the Rockets game

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Speaker 2: to like this dude is just He's like, Yeah, I'm

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Speaker 2: part of this city, I'm in it. It's great. I

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Speaker 2: love it.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 2: I do think that tells us a lot about the

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Speaker 2: type of teammate that that he wants to be. He

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Speaker 2: certainly seems like somebody who wants to assimilate and to

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Speaker 2: like be a part of the culture and be a

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Speaker 2: part of a team. And I think that's important with

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Speaker 2: with the Astros in the the clubhouse culture sure that

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Speaker 2: they've built. You know, you've had some guys who are

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Speaker 2: very intense when they're starting, you know, like Verylander you

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Speaker 2: don't speak to on game day, but you would know

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Speaker 2: better than me. But outside of game day, he seems

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Speaker 2: to be a very approachable person and somebody who likes

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Speaker 2: being a teammate. And so even somebody like Verlander is

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Speaker 2: doing that, Like, clearly a new guy coming in needs

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Speaker 2: to have that same attitude. And I could I could

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Speaker 2: absolutely have seen it be the opposite way, right where

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Speaker 2: you're very shy and reserved and you just want to

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Speaker 2: come in and do your job and not talk. And

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Speaker 2: like he seems like he's here for the vibes, which

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Speaker 2: come on man, this is this is a good vibe city.

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Speaker 1: And I really I'm hesitating whether to even say this,

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Speaker 1: so I'm gonna say it out loud and probably get

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Speaker 1: destroyed for it. But if you look at some of

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Speaker 1: the other Japanese players that have come over to MLB

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Speaker 1: from AFAR, you know, Yoshinobu, Yama Moode does not seem

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Speaker 1: like the sort of like none of them have or

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Speaker 1: none of them maybe showed this public personality that we

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Speaker 1: have seen that in the forty eight hours that Emi

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Speaker 1: have been in our consciousness that we have seen from them.

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Speaker 1: So maybe it's a little bit of a departure. Now again,

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying every they're all the same. They're all

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Speaker 1: alike in that way, but you know, Otani's not a

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Speaker 1: guy that's really out there, you know, showing his personality much.

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Speaker 1: Roki Sasaki was was not that for the Dodgers. Kode

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Speaker 1: I Singa, I don't believe was like that for the

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Speaker 1: for the mets of Code I Singa is loky funny,

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Speaker 1: I know he said some but on the on the

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Speaker 1: counter show to Imanaga is mister personality like he every

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Speaker 1: time he's dropping one liners, like he endeared himself to

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Speaker 1: Chicago very well, like he he did a lot of

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Speaker 1: stuff that Emi did, Like he's he went to a

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Speaker 1: lot of the places in Chicago, like you know, was

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Speaker 1: seen and heard and really acclimated himself. Well, so it

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Speaker 1: can go very different ways because I can't even imagine

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Speaker 1: being in this guy's shoes or being in any of

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Speaker 1: those guys's shoes, like going to a completely different country,

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Speaker 1: being surrounded by people speaking the language that you have

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Speaker 1: no idea what they're saying, being told like hey, whenever

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Speaker 1: they put a camera on you like put your fingers

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Speaker 1: like this, and people and just like having the internal

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Speaker 1: confidence to do that, like.

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Speaker 2: He called it h town, Like that's great.

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Speaker 1: Again.

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Speaker 2: I know that it's silly, but like, imagine if you

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Speaker 2: went to a new country and you're trying to drop

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Speaker 2: slang your first day in a very specific city. I

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Speaker 2: hope he goes to Trailburgers tomorrow, and I hope he

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Speaker 2: shows up in a grill for spring training. I hope

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Speaker 2: he just goes all in on this. This is great.

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Speaker 1: Paul Wall did uh? I think Paul Wall tweeted that

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Speaker 1: he'll have a grill. Way, it's good, get this all

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Speaker 1: done before he actually like steps on a mound, and

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Speaker 1: there's results to and there's results to talk about.

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Speaker 2: He's going to talk about It's fine now, like this

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Speaker 2: is this is fun. Go for it, man.

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Speaker 1: He's at a point right now where he can do

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Speaker 1: no wrong. M you know, other takeaways from I think

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Speaker 1: more we'll get to some more broad takeaways from the

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Speaker 1: from the presser, because I think there were a lot more,

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Speaker 1: just kind of broader organizational takeaways. Jim Crane spoke today

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Speaker 1: at length, really for the first time in about a year.

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Speaker 1: He was on the podium with It was a six

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Speaker 1: person Dais up on the podium, and then he took

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Speaker 1: about five minutes of questions afterward from a scrum of reporters.

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Speaker 1: So it was nice to hear from Jim, nice to

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Speaker 1: get to ask him some questions. So we'll get to

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Speaker 1: that in a minute. But as far as Emi goes,

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Speaker 1: you know a couple of things that stuck out. He said,

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Speaker 1: he is not going to pitch in the World Baseball Classic.

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Speaker 1: I guess we should be very clear. He said, he

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Speaker 1: has no plans right now to pitch in the World

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Speaker 1: Baseball Classic. He said, and I think this is prudent.

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Speaker 1: I think this is good for the Astros that he

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Speaker 1: said he wants to prioritize his transition, to prioritize getting

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Speaker 1: his wife settled in. He wants to prioritize, you know,

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Speaker 1: get into spring training and making sure that the transition

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Speaker 1: going from Japan to Houston is as seamless as possible.

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Speaker 1: So he will not pitch in the WBC, which I

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Speaker 1: can imagine his delightful news for Astros fans, most of

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Speaker 1: whom have a grudge against that event for no reason.

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Speaker 2: He said, true, I don't think that's true. Everyone that

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Speaker 2: I talked to loves it. You you just get the

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Speaker 2: angry people on Twitter.

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Speaker 1: Get get on social media. No, don't get on social media.

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Speaker 2: You can't. You can't listen to the handful of people

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Speaker 2: that get grumpy. The WBC is awesome and everybody loves it,

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Speaker 2: except for the eight people that are in your mentions.

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Speaker 1: Correct em. I did say, probably like one of the

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Speaker 1: funnier lines of the day. He said he woke up

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Speaker 1: this morning to an Instagram DM from Josh Hater said

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Speaker 1: that Hater reached out gave him his phone number in

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Speaker 1: case he needed anything, and he said it kind of

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Speaker 1: got lost in translation a little bit, but he said

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Speaker 1: something to the effect of, you know, the message to

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Speaker 1: me came at one hundred miles an hour, so I

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Speaker 1: want to make sure I have one hundred mile an

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Speaker 1: hour reply to send back to him. So I haven't

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Speaker 1: replied yet.

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Speaker 2: And that was I love this guy again.

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Speaker 1: He is at a point right now where he can

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Speaker 1: do no wrong. He has not thrown a pitch yet.

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Speaker 2: He seems fun.

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Speaker 1: Man. I like him. He's what we in the He's

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Speaker 1: what we in the industry call a fresh act. He's

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Speaker 1: a fresh act. And then so after the press conference

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Speaker 1: ended and everyone dispersed, a few of us went up

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Speaker 1: to the press box to write and work and we

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Speaker 1: got to see. I'm sure it's now all over social media,

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Speaker 1: we got to see. So they did the whole walk

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Speaker 1: him up from the dugout and onto the field so

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Speaker 1: he can look at the scoreboard and everything, with the

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Speaker 1: video guys following him, and we got to see that

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Speaker 1: actually happening. So it was cool to see that. And

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Speaker 1: then about fifteen minutes late, like they they played a

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Speaker 1: bunch of intro music. I can tell you what the

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Speaker 1: music was. It was not any American music, but it

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Speaker 1: sounded like K pop, but I don't know, so they

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Speaker 1: so about fifteen minutes after that, it was all quiet,

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Speaker 1: and I looked down there and he's back on the mound,

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Speaker 1: still in a suit, still in his asher's jersey, and

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Speaker 1: he's like pantomiming his delivery, like on this tarped mound.

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Speaker 1: There was like one Japanese I guess Lucky TV crew

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Speaker 1: was like on the field while this was happening, so

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Speaker 1: they like got behind the plate and were filming it.

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Speaker 1: But he got to it was it was cool to

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Speaker 1: wat to get to watch him like experience, like walking

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Speaker 1: on the dike and park field for the first time,

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Speaker 1: walking onto the mound for the first time. He had

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Speaker 1: his wife with him. They posed for pictures on the mound.

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Speaker 1: It was cool. It was a nice it was a

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Speaker 1: sentimental ending before they got changed very quickly and got

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Speaker 1: to get over to Toyota Center to watch the Suns

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Speaker 1: and the Rockets play with Jim Crane and his wife Whitney.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate the uh the fake wind up. It's as

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Speaker 2: a classic move. I do that for most of every

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Speaker 2: Astros game, just in case I need to make a

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Speaker 2: comeback at thirty three, topping out at fifty seven miles

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Speaker 2: an hour or whatever. But I still got the motion

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Speaker 2: down in case anybody needs that. So I appreciate that

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Speaker 2: he's out there doing the same thing. Yeah, it was.

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Speaker 2: It was great. I read your article that everyone knows this.

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Speaker 2: I love reading about baseball. I think it translates better

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Speaker 2: than any other sport to the written word, and I

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Speaker 2: think you're a very good writer. And so I just

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Speaker 2: want to point out you talk a lot about, you know,

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Speaker 2: Jim Crane and the Japanese presence there. So at the

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Speaker 2: beginning you talk about, you know, his business presence is

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Speaker 2: dated back there forty years. He's got an office in Tokyo,

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Speaker 2: but essentially no real baseball footprint. And I just want

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Speaker 2: to read this little paragraph here because I think you

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Speaker 2: wrote it really well and I think it does a

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Speaker 2: good job. So you said, he goes over there at

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Speaker 2: the beginning of twenty twenty five, after they've signed this

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Speaker 2: deal with dyke In for the naming rights, and he recognizes, oh,

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Speaker 2: we don't have scouts over here, So you said, upon

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Speaker 2: his return, Crane started a course.

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Speaker 1: Correct.

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Speaker 2: He ordered more scouts to be hired in Tokyo, Soul

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Speaker 2: and Taiwan. They attended games. They attend games, ascertain who

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Speaker 2: may be interested in moving to Major League Baseball, analyzed data,

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Speaker 2: and advanced the Astros footprint in an area where it

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Speaker 2: barely felt visible. We went all in, Crane said, doing

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Speaker 2: so bred hope for more days like Monday, when an

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Speaker 2: overflow crowd stood inside a stuffy press conference room to

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Speaker 2: witness perhaps the beginning of Crane's vision. That's great writing,

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Speaker 2: and I think it does a really good job of.

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Speaker 1: One.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting to me that there are still just avenues

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Speaker 2: that baseball teams clearly have not thought about, Like the

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Speaker 2: Astros have been very good for a long time, and

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Speaker 2: it's very interesting to me that a year ago Jim

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Speaker 2: Crane was like, maybe we should try out this Japan place.

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Speaker 2: And he's not the only owner that's like, ah, I

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Speaker 2: hadn't considered it before, Maybe we should go over there.

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Speaker 2: It's just very interesting that for as big as baseball,

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Speaker 2: seems like there's still lots of untapped potential. So talk

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Speaker 2: a little bit about hearing from Krane about this kind

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Speaker 2: of new push to be in Japan.

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Speaker 1: It's funny because Jim actually called the Japanese and Asian

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Speaker 1: Pacific rim market. He actually called it untapped, but he

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Speaker 1: said it was untapped until the Otani effect and then

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Speaker 1: everyone has now obvious there's.

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Speaker 2: Got to be just so many high schoolers too that

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Speaker 2: are are not I mean, I know most of them

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Speaker 2: go to in PB, but I mean there's got to

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Speaker 2: be a huge untapped market there. So yeah, talk talk

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Speaker 2: a little bit about that.

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Speaker 1: So a couple things. So I do want to make

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Speaker 1: something clear because and I hope I made it clear

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Speaker 1: in the story, and if I didn't, this is me

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Speaker 1: trying to make it clear. I don't want it to

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Speaker 1: come off. Is that the Astros had completely ignored the

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Speaker 1: Pacific rim had ignored Asia, had like they had people there,

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Speaker 1: like they had resources there. But to hear Jim say it,

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Speaker 1: he said they just weren't doing enough. In his mind,

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Speaker 1: they had fallen behind a little bit. And it took

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Speaker 1: you kind of mentioned it there. Essentially after the Astros

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Speaker 1: finished their naming rights deal with Dykin, which went into

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Speaker 1: effect really about this time last year January twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 1: they went a contingent Jim Crane and a contingent of

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Speaker 1: people close to him that worked for the Astros went

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Speaker 1: to Japan to as kind of a show of it

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Speaker 1: was kind of a cultural thing, right, they needed to

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Speaker 1: go visit them, see them on their grounds, on their turf.

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Speaker 1: And in the course of that, Daiken's people kind of

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Speaker 1: took Jim and the contingent. They took him around Japan,

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Speaker 1: took them to some manufacturing plants, and then took them

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Speaker 1: to some baseball stadiums. And as Jim said today, it

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Speaker 1: opened his eyes. It kind of awakened him to see,

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Speaker 1: like man like, there's a lot of potential here. And so,

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Speaker 1: as Jim said, when he got back from that trip,

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Speaker 1: he basically ordered, I want more scouts in Soul, South Korea.

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Speaker 1: I want more scouts in Taiwan, and I want more

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Speaker 1: scouts in Japan. And Jim's as you mentioned, Jim has

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Speaker 1: an office into Crane Worldwide Logistics does have an office

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Speaker 1: in Tokyo. He said, it was real easy because I

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Speaker 1: got an office there already. We could just fire that up.

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Speaker 1: They could work from that office, they could call back

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Speaker 1: to us and we're good to go. So it today,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing I learned today is that this is

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Speaker 1: not a fluke. This is not a this is not

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Speaker 1: just a one off. This is not going to be

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Speaker 1: a one off. Like Jim Crane is pretty committed to

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Speaker 1: being more involved in the Asian Pacific rim market in Japan,

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Speaker 1: in Korea. They were involved in that this whole winter.

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Speaker 1: It is something that he is passionate about. It is

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Speaker 1: something that was a directive from him to Dana Brown

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Speaker 1: to like, you need to explore this market. And that's

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Speaker 1: how you know, they explore, Like Ryan Weiss is never

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Speaker 1: going to be equated with you know, the but that

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Speaker 1: is exploring the Japanese. You had to have people in

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Speaker 1: scouting KBO games. You had to have people in the

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Speaker 1: stands scouting KBO games to know like, all right, we're

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Speaker 1: in on Cody Ponts, We're in on Ryan Weiss, like

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Speaker 1: we want these guys. So that is a factor in

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Speaker 1: this too. So you know, I'm kicking myself and putting

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Speaker 1: it further down in the story because I thought it

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Speaker 1: was a pretty apt encapsulation. Today Jim made no bones

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Speaker 1: about it. He said like that probably like them suddenly

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Speaker 1: investing in Asia and in the Pacific room, that probably

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Speaker 1: didn't help this signing, the Emi signing, just because I mean,

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Speaker 1: the turnaround is so like Emi. You didn't need to

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Speaker 1: go find Tatsuya Emi, like everyone knew who he was.

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Speaker 1: It like he's incredible. He was an incredible pitcher in

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Speaker 1: the MPB. But one thing Jim said is he said

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Speaker 1: it probably didn't help on this one, but it's gonna

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Speaker 1: help moving forward. And this is so what I equated

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Speaker 1: today too. I equated it to like a like a

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Speaker 1: soft launch, right like this is the Astros like announcing like, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're this we want to be in this market now,

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Speaker 1: Like this is us announcing to the baseball world, announcing

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Speaker 1: to MPB, to KBO, to Japan, to everybody over there,

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Speaker 1: that we want to be a part of this. Like

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Speaker 1: this isn't just you know, the same four or five

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Speaker 1: teams that are in on it every year. And if

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Speaker 1: you look at the structure of the contract, it kind

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Speaker 1: of it kind of goes both ways, right Like Tatsuya

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Speaker 1: Emi has opt outs after the next after this season,

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Speaker 1: and then after next season if he pitches well this year,

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Speaker 1: like if he pitches anything like he did in the

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Speaker 1: an MPB, he's gone like he's a one year he's

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Speaker 1: a ten month rental because he's gonna go all back

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Speaker 1: out on the free agent market and get the sort

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Speaker 1: of deal that Jim Cran's never going to get out

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Speaker 1: the ones that everyone was projecting to get this year.

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Speaker 1: So for EMI, it's like a ten month audition to

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Speaker 1: be like all right, I want to go get that

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Speaker 1: mega deal. For the astros, it's ten months to you know,

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Speaker 1: show that. You know, look, we can take someone directly

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Speaker 1: from MPB. We can assimilate them well into a six

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Speaker 1: man rotation, we can assimilate them well into a Major

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Speaker 1: League clubhouse. We can work with them through their peaks

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Speaker 1: and valleys. Because look, that's important. Like part of the

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Speaker 1: reason the Dodgers get so many of these guys is

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Speaker 1: because they have shown that they are very good at

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Speaker 1: getting Japanese when when the guys come over from MPB,

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Speaker 1: it's a lot easier for them to come in and

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Speaker 1: they they've got a system, they've got a routine, they've

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Speaker 1: got a way of indoctrinating them into American life, into

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Speaker 1: MLB life that you know, the Ashers have not shown

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Speaker 1: that they're capable of doing that. Like we don't know,

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Speaker 1: like we don't know how this is going to go.

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Speaker 1: Like we talked to Joe Spotted today for a little while,

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Speaker 1: Like he said, like you know, like we've got some

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Speaker 1: ideas and we're talking and we're talking about how spring

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Speaker 1: training is going to go for him. But he said,

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Speaker 1: but I've got to go call some players that have

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Speaker 1: played an MPB that I know. He said, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: call a couple of managers that have had MPB pitchers

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Speaker 1: and to kind of see how what they did. You know,

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Speaker 1: Carlos Mendoza is one of Joe Spotta's better friends, like

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Speaker 1: he had Code Is Sanga a couple of years ago.

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Speaker 1: If he wants to call Dave Roberts, Dave Roberts probably

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Speaker 1: has a fountain of observations to give him. So this

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Speaker 1: isn't without you know, pitfalls, This isn't without some risk.

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Speaker 1: But I think all in all with this is it

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Speaker 1: was an announcement to baseball at large that hey, we

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Speaker 1: want to be in this market. We want to be

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Speaker 1: a factor in this market, and here is our first

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Speaker 1: small step toward being in that market.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting too, how often you know Kakuchi has come

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Speaker 2: up in this, which I know you said in the story.

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Speaker 2: It's it's obviously a different scenario. He'd been in the

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Speaker 2: big leagues for several years at this point. But you know,

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Speaker 2: I think having a big name Japanese player, especially a pitcher,

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Speaker 2: come in and show more success than he had had

403
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Speaker 2: with another team. I think already shows that the Astras

404
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Speaker 2: have been able to have that success with the player.

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Speaker 2: And of course, you know, they've had a ton of

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Speaker 2: success outside of America in other places, so it's not

407
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Speaker 2: like they don't know how to assimilate a player and

408
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Speaker 2: to make sure that they have the resources that they

409
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Speaker 2: need and you know, all of those types of things.

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Speaker 2: It's just like we said, an untapped market and one

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Speaker 2: that I mean again, it makes a ton of sense

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Speaker 2: to be in that market. And you know, we've seen

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Speaker 2: the big name Japanese stars like I say, come over

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Speaker 2: more recently. But there's no reason to think and I'm

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Speaker 2: sure Jim Crane is thinking a lot of these lines too.

416
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Speaker 2: There's no reason to think you can't find, you know,

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Speaker 2: a good fourth outfield, or it doesn't always have to

418
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Speaker 2: be these huge signings coming over. There is an untapped

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Speaker 2: baseball market there for people to come to America. And

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Speaker 2: it was also interesting to me that, you know, all

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Speaker 2: throughout he was talking about wanting to win a World

422
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Speaker 2: Series and that being very important to him, just because

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Speaker 2: I this is naive of me, but I don't know

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Speaker 2: that I would care about another league's championship as much.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I would say it probably just because I

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Speaker 2: think that's what you're supposed to say, but he said

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Speaker 2: it a lot. He kept saying, like, no, the reason

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Speaker 2: I came here is I want to win a World Series.

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Speaker 2: That's what he talked about with the Dodgers in November

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Speaker 2: of you know, I want to be a world champion.

431
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 2: It would be fun to beat the Dodgers. Like that's

432
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,400
Speaker 2: a that's an interesting approach just to me in general,

433
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 2: of coming to a league that you have no you know,

434
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,159
Speaker 2: growing up personal ties to I would assume, and to

435
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,439
Speaker 2: care that much about a World series I thought was

436
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 2: interesting too. And it seemed very genuine to me he did.

437
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,840
Speaker 1: And I'm glad you said genuine, because everything today seemed genuine.

438
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,680
Speaker 1: Like he like when he was at the Texans game

439
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:51,520
Speaker 1: when they put him on the jump, like it seemed

440
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: like it wasn't fake.

441
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 2: Yeah you're not. Yeah, that's not you're not faking that.

442
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:57,160
Speaker 1: And then like I mean, I don't know if you've

443
00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,679
Speaker 1: seen the video like of when they went went to

444
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,240
Speaker 1: side of the Rockets game a couple like an hour

445
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: or so ago, but like you could tell like it

446
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: was like his wife had to like nudge him, and

447
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 1: then he was like oh, like and then you're telling

448
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: me all excited and like, yeah, it's he seemed like

449
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,560
Speaker 1: a very genuine guy. Now I'll get Yeah, I've I've

450
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: been around him for a grand toll of three hours,

451
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: and just.

452
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 2: The effort to appear genuine is enough for me. Like

453
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,920
Speaker 2: that's That's all I'm asking for, is just like make

454
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,879
Speaker 2: it seem like you're, you know, again wanting to be

455
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 2: a part of a team and to have a larger perspective.

456
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,399
Speaker 2: Because again, like selfishly, if if it were me and

457
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,400
Speaker 2: my shoes and I were going to a different country,

458
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 2: I would probably say once I care about a championship,

459
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 2: But really what I care about is me. That's why

460
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 2: I'm coming over here to make more money and to

461
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 2: be famous and all of this kind of stuff. But

462
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,959
Speaker 2: you know, he talked a lot about wanting to win

463
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,040
Speaker 2: a World Series, wanting to win a championship. It is

464
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,880
Speaker 2: important for him to be in a place that could win.

465
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,960
Speaker 2: H He's saying all the right things, for sure.

466
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,640
Speaker 1: It was funny that you you had you said something

467
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 1: in what you were talking about just now about like

468
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: finding like a fourth outfielder or like the kind of

469
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: guys on the margins, and like you know, Jim even

470
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,199
Speaker 1: San Diegoes, you know, he's looking at some of the

471
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 1: guys in Japan. He's like, there are guys down there

472
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,919
Speaker 1: that are better than what we have here, A sure

473
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,080
Speaker 1: options that we have here. And I think it's maybe

474
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: just expanding like horizons and kind of thought processes. But

475
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: I will say this, like I don't think going into

476
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,200
Speaker 1: Asia the Pacific room is going to change Jim Crane's

477
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 1: like a version of the long term deals, like like

478
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: they're never going to be in the market for like

479
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,160
Speaker 1: a Yamamoto or I.

480
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 2: Could see an extension here, Like if he comes out

481
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,959
Speaker 2: and he's just insane, you know, at the beginning of

482
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 2: the year, you already have him on the hook for

483
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 2: these next couple I could see an extension talk for him,

484
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 2: especially if you're trying to establish yourself in the Japanese market.

485
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:57,720
Speaker 2: If he comes over and it's just like the biggest story,

486
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 2: which again that's that's way too high of a you know,

487
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 2: a ceiling to put on him right now. That's that's

488
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,200
Speaker 2: not what the ashlers are expecting him to do. That's

489
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 2: certainly not what scouts. But you know, he's not Otani

490
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,120
Speaker 2: coming over with with that type of hype. But again,

491
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,959
Speaker 2: if he is very very good for a team that

492
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,879
Speaker 2: is really successful, I could certainly see some sort of

493
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 2: extension in the in the breeze there. But at this

494
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 2: point that's a future Astros problem. Right now, You've got

495
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 2: to figure out this season. And uh, by by all accounts,

496
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 2: it seems like seems like a good deal so far.

497
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:35,359
Speaker 2: I'm in for sure.

498
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 1: I will remind you that his agent is Scott Orse

499
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,119
Speaker 1: and yeah.

500
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:42,440
Speaker 2: Well that's all we're going to say, because we want

501
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 2: the track suit, Scott, I will I will don a

502
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,879
Speaker 2: track suit and write your winter meeting jokes. Hit me up.

503
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: I And again, I do want to reiterate that, like

504
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 1: Tatsuya Emi, like this was like a kind of fall

505
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,400
Speaker 1: in the lap sort of thing, like the Ash were

506
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: engaged on a lot of other like Asian like Kbo

507
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:06,359
Speaker 1: kind of like we talked about. They were in on

508
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: Cody Ponce before he went to the Blue Jays. They

509
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 1: obviously signed Ryan Weiss from that same team. You know,

510
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: I've been told that they they did a lot of

511
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: homework on Kona Takahashi, who was another MPB pitcher who's

512
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 1: ended up now going to go back to Japan. He didn't.

513
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 1: He kind of he wanted to post came over here

514
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:29,880
Speaker 1: and or negotiated like I guess did not. The market

515
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 1: did not manifest the way that they thought it would,

516
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,959
Speaker 1: So he's going to go back to Japan. You know.

517
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:37,800
Speaker 1: I want to reiterate, like again, like we talked about

518
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 1: it when they signed him or when they agreed to him,

519
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 1: Like this guy was projected to get the sort of

520
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: contract that the Ashers just don't give out, like I

521
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 1: don't care what nationality you are, I don't care how

522
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 1: much like resources Jim Crane wants to put into whatever market,

523
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: Like he ain't paying anybody for eight years and one

524
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety million dollars like Tim Britton at the

525
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: Athletic projected for EMI. So this is one that again

526
00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: I just feel like it was too good of an

527
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 1: opportunity for them to pass up. Once the market did

528
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,919
Speaker 1: what it did, and once Dana and Jim and everyone

529
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 1: kind of understood that they wanted this winter to be

530
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 1: maybe a declaration that hey, we want to be active

531
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: in this market. I think once they realized that, then

532
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: once they realized the market was not where it wanted

533
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: to be and the posting window was coming to a

534
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,680
Speaker 1: clothed they pounced, and so I thought, I think it's

535
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: I think it's good, and I think it's good for

536
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 1: the future too, because again, I think, more than anything,

537
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,400
Speaker 1: this is just going to kind of announce to the

538
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,879
Speaker 1: world or the baseball world at large, that they're in

539
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,040
Speaker 1: on this, that they want to be in this market,

540
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: that they don't want this to just be a Dodgers

541
00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 1: or Bus sort of thing. Again, Jim's never going to

542
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 1: give the sort of deals that the Dodgers give.

543
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 2: I love that he just doesn't like the Dodgers. That's

544
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 2: that's great. That makes me happy. I like that he

545
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 2: can't be alone over there either of like, oh these

546
00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 2: guys again, that's great. The Ash the Ashes need to

547
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: be the foil for the Dodgers in Japan. Come on

548
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 2: down if you want to beat the Dodgers.

549
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 1: A couple other little housekeeping things before we get to

550
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: some other stuff that Jim Crane talked about today because

551
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: he took questions for the first time in a very

552
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 1: very long time. Joe ha spot up pretty much confirmed

553
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: what we have talked about before they signed EMI, and

554
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 1: now that EMI is in the fold. You're gonna see

555
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: a lot of a six man rotation this year for

556
00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 1: the Ashers because for those that are for those that

557
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 1: don't watch a ton of KBA or not KBO, for

558
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 1: those of you that don't watch a ton of MPB

559
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: and stuff over there. Normally, in an NPB rotation, a

560
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: pitcher is gonna go on five days of rest. Obviously

561
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: in the US and and MLB, when you're in a

562
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: five man rotation, you get four days of rest. That's

563
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 1: probably one of the bigger adjustments that MPB pictures have

564
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 1: to make coming over is that they do pitch on

565
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: one day fewer of rests and they're accustomed to now.

566
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 1: As we talked about again even before Emi came into

567
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: the fold, the Ashers are gonna play twenty five games

568
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: in twenty seven days to start the season. That's something

569
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 1: Joe Aspota mentioned without prompt on the days today. You

570
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: can bet that they will be in a six man

571
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 1: rotation to open the season at least to get through

572
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: that twenty five and twenty seven and then by then,

573
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 1: you know, you think about it, you may have three

574
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: starts of a sample size with Emi, and then they'll

575
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 1: know him a little more they'll have a month under

576
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: their belt to where they can go to him and

577
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: be like, all right, now, how do we want to

578
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 1: make this work. They can make off days work to

579
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: where they can move him around in the schedule to

580
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 1: accommodate him. But I think Joe's direct quote to us

581
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: after was you'll see a lot more of a six

582
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: man rotation this year. So that will happen with em

583
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: I being in the fold, which, if you listen.

584
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 2: To need anyway, they don't. They don't have a ton

585
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,600
Speaker 2: of guys that have put up a lot of innings

586
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 2: in a single season in their career. I mean, they

587
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,240
Speaker 2: essentially just have Hunter Brown. Javier did it years go,

588
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 2: but that's that's basically it. Like, you've got a lot

589
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,479
Speaker 2: of guys that have tapped out at one hundred, one

590
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty innings or so. Obviously he had one

591
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty or so in PB last year, but

592
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 2: you know, you don't have a rotation full of two

593
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 2: hundred inning workhurses. So it does make a lot of sense.

594
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: I feel like the one thing we really haven't talked

595
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 1: about with Emi specifically is maybe like his actual pitching

596
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 1: is like his arsenal and what he does. I still

597
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 1: don't know that I'm ready to talk about that, like

598
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: in depth, because inherently, when like you, when you start

599
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: to look up at highlights of these guys, all you

600
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: see is the good stuff. Like you can go find

601
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: many clips of Emi just making people look foolish, like

602
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 1: they're everywhere if you just go Twitter search tups to

603
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 1: you at em. Every video you see he looks great.

604
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 1: So it's one of those like I need kind of

605
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 1: a bigger sample just to like look at him. I

606
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,200
Speaker 1: want to lay eyes on him actually pitching before I

607
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 1: really get into his arsenal. But one good thing about

608
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,239
Speaker 1: having a general manager who were bred in baseball as

609
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 1: a scout is he can give you a little bit

610
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: of a scouter import. So here's what Dana Brown. Dana

611
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 1: Brown was asked specifically about his delivery, and I think

612
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,000
Speaker 1: in an interview with Blummer on Space City Home Network

613
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 1: after the after the press conference, he compared him to

614
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 1: Sonny Gray. I think that the American comp because Blummer

615
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: asked him for an American comp and five foot eleven

616
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,840
Speaker 1: right hander like Sonny Gray, kind of that's perfect comp.

617
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 1: But he said, this is what Dana said about EMI's delivery.

618
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: He said, we like his rhythm and timing. I think

619
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,240
Speaker 1: it allows him to manipulate the ball and get the

620
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: ball to move a lot in the strike zone, which

621
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: I think is gonna be very beneficial to him as

622
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 1: a pitcher, and I think it'll give a lot of

623
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 1: hitters fits. Emi himself was asked about kind of how

624
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:57,240
Speaker 1: he'll have to adjust attacking hitters being an MLB like

625
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: the different transition. He said that Scott Boris has told

626
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 1: him numerous times that he doesn't have to change anything. Basically,

627
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 1: just do what he's been doing and the results will follow.

628
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 1: But then he said this, He said, at the same time,

629
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 1: I don't have any history here in MLB. I almost

630
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 1: feel like I have nothing to lose. I just need

631
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: to go out there and take it on as a challenge.

632
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 1: I feel like my style of pitching, being aggressive, attacking

633
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: hitters and going after these guys is my best trait.

634
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:26,000
Speaker 1: I definitely want to keep that. Again, everything that I

635
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: he's got a fresh perspective like on everything to like

636
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: come in and like have that sort of a vulnerability

637
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,760
Speaker 1: to be like I have nothing to lose, Like I

638
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 1: I think it's he is bringing like again, it's been

639
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,080
Speaker 1: forty eight hours. But he everything he has said, I'm

640
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:43,960
Speaker 1: just kind of find myself, not like, yeah, that's a

641
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 1: good perspective to have, and that's like pretty thoughtful. It's

642
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:48,480
Speaker 1: pretty thoughtful and introspective.

643
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:52,239
Speaker 2: Uh, clearly, I am not a scout to take all

644
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 2: of this with a grain of salt. But in the

645
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 2: videos that I have watched, his slider is different than

646
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 2: what you would normally call all a slider. His stays

647
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 2: arm side a little bit more. It doesn't it doesn't

648
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 2: have that kind of like across the zone break. It's

649
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,760
Speaker 2: more of one that just dives down into the dirt.

650
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:17,480
Speaker 2: And it reminds me of brad Lydge's slider, where his

651
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 2: his would almost just go straight down, you know, it

652
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: would go across the zone a little bit. But a

653
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,360
Speaker 2: lot of times you have a slider that's like really

654
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 2: cutting across the zone, that's really moving across the zone,

655
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,800
Speaker 2: and his is is much more up and down than others,

656
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 2: which is interesting. I feel like you don't see that

657
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:42,000
Speaker 2: as much. Also, kind of like Schuresers sliders, it's a

658
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,879
Speaker 2: similar kind of kind of vibe there of just one

659
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 2: that stays on the arm side, which I could see

660
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 2: you know, you're able to tie up righties a little

661
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 2: bit more because it's not diving across the zone. You're

662
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 2: able to throw it in on righties a little bit

663
00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,400
Speaker 2: better and provide a different look than than a lot

664
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 2: of people are able to give.

665
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 1: No pressure, putting him in the same sentence as brad

666
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 1: Ledge and Max, you.

667
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,759
Speaker 2: Know what, good luck out there. Those are two good

668
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 2: Like I said, not a scout. Those are just the

669
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,320
Speaker 2: first two sliders that I thought of that it reminded

670
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 2: me of. I'm sure I could pick ones that were

671
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 2: not at the peak of their profession for several years.

672
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: At least you wanted to face Albert Pools.

673
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,640
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, he might he might be back.

674
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,160
Speaker 2: I hear the Angels have a third base opening. Maybe

675
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:30,400
Speaker 2: pooholes to get out there.

676
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,319
Speaker 1: I mean they're still paying them, so they're paying him

677
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 1: like one of those service fees.

678
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't, right, I forgot about that. That's funny.

679
00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,920
Speaker 1: Before we get out of here, we'll we'll talk a

680
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:48,320
Speaker 1: little bit about what Jim Crane said outside of Asia.

681
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:53,279
Speaker 1: Come going in Asia and touched to Emi. Unsurprisingly, he

682
00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 1: was asked, I actually asked him about Joe Spotta and

683
00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: Dana Brown's contract status. They do not have contract beyond

684
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: this season. Beyond this coming season. They're lame ducks. Jim

685
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: essentially said we probably won't do an extension with them

686
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: before the season. He said, I'm not ruling it out.

687
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,359
Speaker 1: It's not an it's not that doesn't mean it's impossible,

688
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:17,480
Speaker 1: but we probably won't maybe.

689
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:17,919
Speaker 2: Yeah.

690
00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 1: He basically just said, we're gonna do what we always do,

691
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 1: which is, you know, let the season unfold and then

692
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 1: make a decision after. There's precedent for that. Dusty Baker

693
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: two of his four years here was a lame duck manager.

694
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 1: James Klick was famously a lame duck general manager one

695
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: year and then it was no longer the general manager

696
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: after that. It just I mean, it's more of like

697
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:44,400
Speaker 1: you got to get that on the record before the

698
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 1: season as a as a reporter, Like if you don't

699
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 1: ask that question before the season, it's kind of one

700
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:53,640
Speaker 1: of those things that it's keeps becoming a storyline throughout

701
00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,359
Speaker 1: the year. So now that it's on the record that

702
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,480
Speaker 1: you know, like we're just gonna see how the season

703
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:03,760
Speaker 1: goes and reac after that. So there's that, And then

704
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 1: he was asked, I did not ask this, but he

705
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: was asked about basically the fact that the Astros had

706
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:15,360
Speaker 1: gotten under the luxury tax after trading, after cutting the

707
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,520
Speaker 1: payroll they cut earlier, this earlier, this winter, and then

708
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,840
Speaker 1: they're right under it again. He was basically asked, you know,

709
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 1: in so many words, like would you feel comfortable exceeding

710
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: it again? And instead of like just giving a direct

711
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,919
Speaker 1: answer that he kind of gave like a he gave

712
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: a maybe just a more holistic like state of the

713
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:35,799
Speaker 1: luxury tax address, And I'll put it up here if

714
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: you're watching on YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, like

715
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 1: the video, don't forget like the video, but I'll put

716
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,919
Speaker 1: the entire quote up here so you can read it

717
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: on YouTube if you're watching on YouTube, and I'll read

718
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,279
Speaker 1: it out loud. He said, the luxury tax is the

719
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: luxury tax. I feel like we made a luxury move,

720
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 1: but we have the opportunity to maneuver that around. Everybody

721
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,399
Speaker 1: writes that I'm afraid of the luxury tax, I'm not

722
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: necessary really afraid of it, but I run the team

723
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 1: like a business, and there's only so much resources you

724
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 1: can put into it without going deep into the hole.

725
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,880
Speaker 1: We don't operate like a lot of the bigger market teams.

726
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 1: But you've seen over the years we'll spend money when

727
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 1: we think it's right and will be aggressive when we

728
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,400
Speaker 1: have to be. The template has been there for a

729
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:25,439
Speaker 1: long time. Every trade deadline, we've made some pretty big moves. Yes,

730
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,359
Speaker 1: like yep, I think I think the most I think

731
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:31,279
Speaker 1: the biggest thing to come out of that was that

732
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 1: he said it, because we've just kind of been like,

733
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,080
Speaker 1: you know me and like when we've been on the

734
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: pod and we've talked about it, and like I've written

735
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 1: it numerous times in the last couple of years that

736
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,240
Speaker 1: this is how he prefers to operate. But we've always

737
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 1: had to source it, right. It's always been like, oh,

738
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 1: like you know, you look at the precedent, or like

739
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,040
Speaker 1: you hear what people tell you when you write what

740
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 1: they tell you. Now, like the guy that's signing the

741
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 1: checks is telling you, like what I read between the

742
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:00,480
Speaker 1: lines on that tyler, And you can tell me if

743
00:39:00,520 --> 00:39:04,879
Speaker 1: I'm misguided. Here is get me to July and see

744
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 1: where we are, and then I'll make a decision on

745
00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 1: about July twentieth, before the July thirty first trade deadline.

746
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: If I want to pay these tabs. If I want

747
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,080
Speaker 1: to blow it all, blow pass the electric tax, and

748
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: try to chase the championship. That's what I got out

749
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:21,759
Speaker 1: of that, and that is what we have seen from

750
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: him consistently since they have entered that top ten payroll threshold,

751
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: because you know, back in twenty fifteen to twenty eighteen,

752
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 1: this was not a top ten in baseball payroll. Really,

753
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen, they have carried a top ten in

754
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,919
Speaker 1: baseball payroll every year. That's why it's always disingenuous when

755
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:44,759
Speaker 1: anyone tries to call Jim Creane cheap, because he's not.

756
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:49,319
Speaker 1: They carry a top ten payroll every year. But it's

757
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 1: pretty clear that he's got limits, he's got things that

758
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 1: he believes have worked for him, and they have look

759
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,600
Speaker 1: at the results. But that's what I got out of that, Like,

760
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 1: play your behind off, get me to July and make

761
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 1: me make a decision.

762
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a luxury tax, So does the team need

763
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 2: a luxury I mean, I think that makes a ton

764
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:16,279
Speaker 2: of sense. He's he's said several times. Look, if if

765
00:40:16,280 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 2: the team needs it, we will go out and spend

766
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 2: and I will go above the luxury tax and all

767
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 2: of that. But you know, he doesn't see a reason

768
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:27,840
Speaker 2: to do it before the season unless something, you know,

769
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 2: crazy happens. You know where it makes sense to have

770
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 2: this luxury. You know, it's it's similar to when I'm

771
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 2: with with my kids and you know, you get full

772
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,279
Speaker 2: at dinner and your your stomach is so old, there's

773
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 2: no way you could eat any more of the chicken

774
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 2: that mom made, but all of a sudden, chocolate chip

775
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 2: cookies come out. You can find some room to do that,

776
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 2: And I think Jim Crane operates his payroll in a

777
00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 2: very similar fashion of like, I'm gonna fill up on

778
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 2: meat and potatoes as much as I can, but if

779
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,240
Speaker 2: we need to go out and get a dessert in July,

780
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,359
Speaker 2: then then we will if we need to, But there's

781
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 2: no reason to do it if if the team doesn't

782
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 2: need it, or if the team doesn't look like they're

783
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,800
Speaker 2: going to be deserving of a warm chocolate chip cookie.

784
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,960
Speaker 2: I don't know if that metaphor works, but I it

785
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:23,360
Speaker 2: did make me hungry. So if anything we've got that accomplished.

786
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:26,279
Speaker 1: I'm happy for you. Congratulations. Yeah, Like it makes a

787
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:28,880
Speaker 1: lot of sense, Like think of all of the trade

788
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:32,239
Speaker 1: deadline acquisitions that have been made to get them over

789
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,319
Speaker 1: the luxury tax. It was Zach Grinky, who at the

790
00:41:35,360 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: time was very much a luxury like that team had

791
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,359
Speaker 1: Cole Verlander and Wade Miley with a sub free era

792
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,680
Speaker 1: on it. Like they didn't need Zach Grinky. That was

793
00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:49,600
Speaker 1: a luxury item. Carlos Korea last trade. They needed a

794
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,520
Speaker 1: third basement. Don't get me wrong. They could have thrown

795
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 1: Amonorious at third base and it's been all right. Like

796
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:59,280
Speaker 1: instead they went Carlos would love this. They went shopping

797
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,200
Speaker 1: for Dior, they went shopping in the they went shopping

798
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: in the produisle, they went shopping in the in the fancy.

799
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 1: They went for a luxury item, and they got Carlos Korea.

800
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: You say Kakuchi put him over a couple of years ago, Like,

801
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:13,520
Speaker 1: I don't know that that was more of a need

802
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 1: than a luxury. But he was incredible. And to bring

803
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 1: it all full.

804
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,200
Speaker 2: St brand new Toyota Camray is what you're describing there.

805
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 2: It's it's a need and a luxury.

806
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:28,400
Speaker 1: And to bring it all, bring it all full circle.

807
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,080
Speaker 1: If you say Kakuchi doesn't if they don't acquire you

808
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,320
Speaker 1: say Kakuchi and he doesn't come here and really dominate

809
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,960
Speaker 1: and love it here. Look, if they give Tatsuya my

810
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:40,560
Speaker 1: enough money, he's still probably come here. But like again,

811
00:42:40,640 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 1: Scott Boris mentioned it, like in his opening statement today,

812
00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 1: Scott like one of literally the first sentence he said

813
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 1: was yeah, like you say, we had a great experience

814
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:51,959
Speaker 1: here with you say, like he came here and loved

815
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,960
Speaker 1: the community, love pitched well here, and like we told

816
00:42:55,239 --> 00:43:00,400
Speaker 1: Tatsuya that. So it helped to bring that full circle.

817
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 1: So I thought it was again, well, we'll know a

818
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: lot more about Tetsuya Emai, like as we get to

819
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,720
Speaker 1: spring training and as maybe the novelty of this wears

820
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,360
Speaker 1: off and we get to talk to him like a

821
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 1: quote unquote normal ballplayer, just like we get to see

822
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 1: him through some bullpens, we get to see him pitching

823
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,239
Speaker 1: some spring training games, Like it'll be it'll be fun

824
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: to get to know more about him in that sense,

825
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 1: just kind of how he is in the clubhouse, how

826
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,080
Speaker 1: he's indoctoring himself to the teammates. But I don't think ty,

827
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 1: I don't think he could have had a better first

828
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 1: seventy two hours in Houston in the US than he

829
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 1: has had in the past seventy two hours let's go.

830
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:41,000
Speaker 2: I'm enjoying it. It's been fun.

831
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:46,040
Speaker 1: It has been fun. This was fun. What will be

832
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:47,759
Speaker 1: even more fun is in a couple of days, you

833
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,880
Speaker 1: guys will get to hear from another new Astros pitcher.

834
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,319
Speaker 1: We're going to keep that one a surprise, but that

835
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 1: will be coming out, I believe, well, I believe we're

836
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 1: going to have it out on Thursday morning. But the

837
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:04,560
Speaker 1: only problem with that is I recently learned that Thursday

838
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:08,239
Speaker 1: is our day, so I have to that's the third

839
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,120
Speaker 1: Arbor Day. Yeah, it's it's uh, it's arbor It's Arbor

840
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:16,239
Speaker 1: Day and arbitration salary Exchange day. So that's the day

841
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 1: when everyone just beat races to tweet first who is

842
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,880
Speaker 1: who is settled at what amount of money? So that'll

843
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 1: be a fun day online so everyone can freak out

844
00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:29,920
Speaker 1: when like they take Jeremy Payne, you or an arbitration

845
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:30,560
Speaker 1: hearing or something.

846
00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 2: I don't know.

847
00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 1: That's Thursday. So I'm at a debate whether we're gonna

848
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,400
Speaker 1: day We're gonna release that podcast on Wednesday morning or

849
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 1: Thursday morning, but we're released in one of those days.

850
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,560
Speaker 1: I think you guys will like it. But until then,

851
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:44,839
Speaker 1: you can follow me on x at chandler Underscore Room.

852
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:47,839
Speaker 1: You can follow Tyler at Tyler's stafford is always. Please

853
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:51,360
Speaker 1: rate and review us on Apple and Spotify. Please like

854
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,239
Speaker 1: this video, hit the hit the thumbs up down below

855
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:57,040
Speaker 1: the video, and then subscribe to the YouTube channels. You

856
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:00,000
Speaker 1: get notified anytime we go live or when we post

857
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,080
Speaker 1: host this podcast or the podcast it's coming out later

858
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: this week when you can hear from another new Astros picture.

859
00:45:06,200 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 1: But until then, thank you for listening and we will

860
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: talk to you soon.

861
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 2: E my bang and I turned tattoo you up and

862
00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:41,480
Speaker 2: then I just started swang and bye