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Speaker 1: Friday night, though, to me, was simply an embarrassment and

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Speaker 1: that can't happen. And while maybe Angel feels badly about it,

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Speaker 1: we don't know. Welcome everyone to this week's edition of

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Speaker 1: Fair Territory, the Monday edition. We've got the Thursday edition

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Speaker 1: of with Volano Rizzo of course coming.

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Speaker 2: Up later in the week.

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Speaker 1: As always, we have a ton to talk about, and

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Speaker 1: I want to start off this week talking about something

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Speaker 1: off the field, something that has dominated the discussion in

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Speaker 1: baseball for quite some time now, and of course I'm

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Speaker 1: talking about Shohei Otani and the aftermath of the complaint

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Speaker 1: issued by the federal government against Ibe Misuhara for massive

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Speaker 1: bank fraud. We've seen the complaint now, all thirty seven pages.

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Speaker 1: If you haven't read it, I advise you to read it.

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Speaker 1: Yet even for some who have read it, their remain questions,

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Speaker 1: and it's natural to have questions. A lot of you

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Speaker 1: remain skeptical. I remain skeptical too, It's the reporter's instinct

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Speaker 1: in me. But the complaint does answer a lot of

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Speaker 1: what we've been asking in recent weeks, and actually a

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Speaker 1: number of articles that we've written in The Athletic answer

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Speaker 1: some questions too. But to show you the skepticism that

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Speaker 1: is out there, I want to present to you a

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Speaker 1: clip from MSNBC on Friday Night when I appeared with

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Speaker 1: Stephanie Rule.

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Speaker 2: And consider Stephanie's.

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Speaker 1: Reaction to this whole bruhaha and how she started this

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Speaker 1: question to me on the.

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Speaker 3: Appearance nameless not faceless guy? Is the fall guy for

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Speaker 3: a bigger scheme here? You don't think that's possible, Stephanie.

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Speaker 3: Anything is possible, and I'm not going to rule out anything,

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Speaker 3: and I'm certainly not on the inside here to know,

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Speaker 3: because this relationship between the two of them was incredibly close,

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Speaker 3: as close as an interpreter and player can be. Basically,

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Speaker 3: Mitsuhara controlled a lot of different aspects of Otani's life,

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Speaker 3: or was involved in a lot of different aspects. Now

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Speaker 3: you say, well, what if he's just the fall guy?

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Speaker 3: What if a Tani is simply paying him to, as

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Speaker 3: you say, take the fall. I believe that a lot

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Speaker 3: more if Mitsuhara was facing maybe a year or two

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Speaker 3: in prison, and perhaps he pleads guilty to get the

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Speaker 3: sentence lesser than, of course the thirty.

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Speaker 2: Years, and I don't imagine it will be.

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Speaker 3: Thirty years but let's say he goes to prison for

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Speaker 3: six years, for ten years, that's a heck of a

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Speaker 3: fall to take for a good friend, even if you've

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Speaker 3: got money coming out at the end of it.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: So that was part of the discussion I had with

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Speaker 1: Stephanie Ruhle and about the fall guy. I want to

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Speaker 1: continue on that line a little bit. If you remember

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Speaker 1: Barry Bonds the perjury trial, and you remember his trainer,

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Speaker 1: Greg Anderson went to jail as the fall guy for

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Speaker 1: Barry Bonds. He went to jail for more than a

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Speaker 1: year because he refused to testify in that trial. The

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Speaker 1: year is a long time. Granted, it's not what I

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Speaker 1: believe if a Mitsuhara is facing And yet again, people

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Speaker 1: are going to believe what they believe. As I wrote

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Speaker 1: on Thursday night after the complaint came out, and again

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Speaker 1: there are questions that still remain. Does the complaint definitively

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Speaker 1: rule out that Otani bet It does not. What it

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Speaker 1: says is that Otani and Ibe Mitsuhara, through all their

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Speaker 1: thousands of text conversations, never discussed betting. It's not totally definitive,

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Speaker 1: but it's pretty far along. Where is the missing twenty

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Speaker 1: four million. Now, it's obviously documented now that more than

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Speaker 1: sixteen million was taken from Otani's account by Mitsuhara. But

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Speaker 1: as you read the complaint you see that there were

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Speaker 1: forty million in losses. Where is that missing twenty four million?

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Speaker 2: Maybe it's money still owed. We don't know.

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Speaker 1: Why would a bookie let Mitsuhara run up credit the

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Speaker 1: way he did? For this one, I advise you to

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Speaker 1: read Andy mccollough's article from a couple of weeks back,

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Speaker 1: explaining that bookies will run up credit and allow credit

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Speaker 1: to attract high profile client.

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Speaker 2: This is what illegal bookies do.

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Speaker 1: They want these guys on the hook. Now, Mitzuhara himself

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Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily high profile financially, but the guy behind him

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Speaker 1: certainly was. And as long as you show an ability

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Speaker 1: to pay, as Mitsuhara did, though he certainly had some

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Speaker 1: problems along those lines, if you read the complaint, then

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Speaker 1: they'll keep going. So all of these questions are in there.

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Speaker 1: And there's another one too, that came up in the

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Speaker 1: comments under my initial column here.

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Speaker 2: This was on Thursday. Somebody said, whoa, whoa, whoa. If

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Speaker 2: you add up all.

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Speaker 1: Of Otani's baseball salaries, if you look at his baseball salaries.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't have that much money in there. He doesn't

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Speaker 1: have enough necessarily to cover this. Well, that's not exactly true.

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Speaker 1: It's not true at all. Actually, most of the money

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Speaker 1: that was wired from his accounts came in twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: two and twenty three. During those two years, he made

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Speaker 1: about thirty five million. And if even if you account

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Speaker 1: for taxes, let's say it's half, that's.

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Speaker 2: Still more than sixteen million.

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Speaker 1: And who knows, maybe Otani didn't even touch the baseball

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Speaker 1: income from all the years previous.

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Speaker 2: We don't know any of that.

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Speaker 1: So if you read about this kind of thing, you

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Speaker 1: will understand that most of the time the government.

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Speaker 2: Goes after the bookie and not the better.

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Speaker 1: So maybe they don't care, and maybe Otani in some

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Speaker 1: fashion was betting, even though there is absolutely no evidence

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Speaker 1: of it. Now, if they were not alleging Mitsuhara committed

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Speaker 1: bank fraud, maybe they wouldn't even go after him, because again.

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Speaker 2: He is the better. But what he did was steel.

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Speaker 1: So that's why he is the subject of this investigation.

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Speaker 1: That is why he has been charged. And keep in

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Speaker 1: mind too, even if Otani was betting illegally, even if

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Speaker 1: that was happening. As long as he wasn't betting on baseball,

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Speaker 1: the league probably wouldn't do much but find him, and

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Speaker 1: we have preceded for that. We've written about this in

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Speaker 1: The Athletic. Jared Coosart in twenty fifteen was found to

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Speaker 1: have bet with illegal bookmakers. He received only a fine.

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Speaker 1: So when you put it all together, when you read

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Speaker 1: the and when you try to figure this all out,

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Speaker 1: is there definitive, absolute, one hundred percent proof that Otani

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Speaker 1: didn't bet, that Otani wasn't involved. No, we probably will

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Speaker 1: never get that. The prosecutors in this complaint only include

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Speaker 1: what they want to include.

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Speaker 2: That's important to keep in mind.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, guys, the complaint is a

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Speaker 1: pretty clear, vivid portrait of what seems to have gone on. Now.

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Speaker 1: I wrote in my column about the conspiracy theorists about

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Speaker 1: how they're going to have a hard time with this

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Speaker 1: one because what it seems here is a pretty clear

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Speaker 1: case of open and shut, pretty definitive. Right, doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: reporters will stop trying to get answers.

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Speaker 2: That's what reporters do.

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Speaker 1: And in fact, this scandal only broke publicly because reporters

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Speaker 1: started asking questions about the wire transfers from Otani's account

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Speaker 1: to the illegal bookie that came up in the investigation

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Speaker 1: of the bookie in question. So, yes, reporters are going

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Speaker 1: to continue to work on this, and maybe reporters will

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Speaker 1: find more, maybe not. But at the same time, while

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Speaker 1: we should all have a healthy skepticism, and while we

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Speaker 1: all understand that cover ups to protect the wealthy are

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Speaker 1: not entirely uncommon in our society, at some point what

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Speaker 1: you guys are speculating on in social media and what

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Speaker 1: we are doing as reporters, there are two different things.

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Speaker 1: As reporters, we can only write what we can verify.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not talking about opinion columns. I'm talking about

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Speaker 2: news stories.

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Speaker 1: We can't just speculate and go off on tangents and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: what about this, what about that? That's what social media

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Speaker 1: is for, I guess at least that's how it's used

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Speaker 1: to this point. To wrap it all up based on

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Speaker 1: what we know, based on Otani's statement in his news conference,

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Speaker 1: and based on the complaint, the thirty seven pages of

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Speaker 1: detailed investigation by the federal government three different agencies, you

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Speaker 1: look at all that, it's kind of tough to say

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Speaker 1: hey did it here? If something else emerges, okay, but

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Speaker 1: Otani would not be the first big time professional athlete

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Speaker 1: to be duped out of money or to invest it

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Speaker 1: in some poor way. There are all kinds of ways

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Speaker 1: athletes have lost money, and I listed three in my column.

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Speaker 1: Kareem Abdul Jabbar was one, John Elway, Bobby or the

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Speaker 1: list goes on and on. So if he was doing

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Speaker 1: something untoward and is proceeding with his baseball career in

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Speaker 1: a brilliant fashion, he's off to an amazing start despite

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Speaker 1: all this. If he is that unperturbed, then he's either

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Speaker 1: an incredible sociopath, a guy who just is blocking out

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Speaker 1: the world and can justify any action, or maybe just

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Speaker 1: maybe he actually didn't do anything wrong and that this

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Speaker 1: is all on the up and up, and that maybe

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Speaker 1: we should look at that document and say, Okay, based

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Speaker 1: on what we know, it looks like he's pretty much

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Speaker 1: in the clear. Is it within the realm of possibility

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Speaker 1: that that is not the case that he did something

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Speaker 1: that he bet that he was involved in a greater

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Speaker 1: way than we understand with IPEI, even to the point

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Speaker 1: of knowing what Ipay was doing. Yes, that is within

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Speaker 1: the realm of possibility?

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Speaker 2: Is it reality?

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Speaker 1: At this point, it would be very hard for us

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Speaker 1: to say that definitively. At this point, it seems hard

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Speaker 1: to prove. Time now for the Inside Dish. This is

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Speaker 1: the part of the show where I go inside a

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Speaker 1: story I've written, inside a trend in the game. And

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Speaker 1: this week I want to do something a little bit different.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about three teams that are experiencing

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Speaker 1: or half experienced rotation blows, either through injury, through trade,

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Speaker 1: whatever the case might be. These three teams are not

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Speaker 1: necessarily related, but they all are prominent teams in our sport.

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Speaker 1: And yes, I could pick all thirty and go all

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Speaker 1: day long talking about pitching injuries and how they're affecting

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Speaker 1: certain teams. But I'm going to choose these three because

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Speaker 1: all of them are quite interesting in one form or another.

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Speaker 1: And let's start with the Houston Astros. That's a group

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Speaker 1: I saw this weekend with Aj Prazinski of Foul Territory

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Speaker 1: and Connor Onyon making his Major League Baseball broadcasting debut

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Speaker 1: at mid at May Park. The Astros beat the Rangers

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Speaker 1: on our broadcast Saturday, beat.

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Speaker 2: Them again on Sunday. And yet there are still only

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Speaker 2: six and eleven.

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Speaker 1: Now, granted, the season's only one tenth old, barely one

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Speaker 1: tenth old. But at the same time, the Astros are

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Speaker 1: in a bit of a precarious place. As I wrote

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Speaker 1: on Monday in The Athletic, Let's take a look at

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Speaker 1: their current rotation and their injured starters, and you tell

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Speaker 1: me which one you'd rather have which group the current

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Speaker 1: rotation Ronel Blanco perhaps the biggest surprise in the game

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Speaker 1: thus far, Christian Javier Brilliant on Sunday, and then three

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Speaker 1: younger pitchers who have not fared well at least so far,

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Speaker 1: Hunter Brown, JP Frantz and Spencer Araghetti their top prospect. Now,

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Speaker 1: let's look at their injured starters. These are guys who

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Speaker 1: eventually should return. Justin Verlander could return as soon as

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Speaker 1: Friday night. From ber Valdez, the Astros are saying it's

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Speaker 1: not serious.

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Speaker 2: We'll see it's an elbow.

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Speaker 1: Jose Orchidi still really not progressing, although he is expected

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Speaker 1: back at some point in the first half. Lance mccullor's

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Speaker 1: late June early July, Luis Garcia sometime around the All

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Speaker 1: Star break. If that group comes back and they're healthy,

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Speaker 1: then things get to look a little bit better for

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Speaker 1: the Astros, no question about it. You can put some

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Speaker 1: of these other pictures in the bullpen. Perhaps you can

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Speaker 1: do a lot of different things. But as I wrote,

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Speaker 1: they're in a weird spot. Their farm system is not good.

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Speaker 1: They've lost picks obviously through the scandal. They have not

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Speaker 1: drafted higher than twenty eighth since twenty seventeen. That will

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Speaker 1: lead at times to a thinner system. And as I

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Speaker 1: wrote also the signing of Josh Hayter wasn't what they

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Speaker 1: really needed. They need help in middle inning relief. They

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Speaker 1: had a closer, Ryan Presley, and they had a setup man,

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Speaker 1: Bryan Abreu, but they lost some two hundred and seven

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Speaker 1: innings with the setup men who either were injured or

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Speaker 1: departed as free agents. So the Astros are one team

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Speaker 1: to watch. As far as the evolution of their rotation.

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Speaker 1: Rangers are much in the same position. They've got Scherzer,

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Speaker 1: de Gram and Tyler Molly coming back at some point.

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Speaker 1: Shars are perhaps by early May, so they too will evolve.

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Speaker 1: But with all of these guys, you're assuming that once

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Speaker 1: they're back, they're healthy and that other.

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Speaker 2: Pitchers won't get hurt.

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Speaker 1: And we know of course that that necessarily is not

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Speaker 1: the case. Then there is a team that suffered the

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Speaker 1: biggest blow thus far. I would say, considering they are

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Speaker 1: a World Series contender, and beyond that, maybe even the

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Speaker 1: best team in baseball when this guy is healthy. I'm talking,

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Speaker 1: of course, about Spencer Streider. Now, the braves current rotation

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Speaker 1: when you look at it without Strider is not nearly

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Speaker 1: as imposing. In fact, it's kind of questionable if you

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Speaker 1: think about it. We're talking about a group that starts

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Speaker 1: off with of course, Max Freed. Max Fried is an ace,

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Speaker 1: no doubt about that. He's pitching better after kind of

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Speaker 1: a rough start. Chris Sale's been good so far, not

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Speaker 1: so good over the weekend, but okay, Charlie Morton, Rinaldo

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Speaker 1: Lopez who as a starter so far, so good, and

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Speaker 1: Darius Vines, who will make his third major league start

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Speaker 1: on Monday night. That's the current group. Now who are

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Speaker 1: they missing, Well, we know who they're missing. They're missing

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Speaker 1: Spencer Stryder. And it's funny because I was on Jason

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Speaker 1: Stark's podcast right before the season started and he said, okay,

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Speaker 1: how can things fall apart for the Braves? And I

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Speaker 1: mentioned that if one of their pitchers or more gets injured.

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Speaker 1: It's a much different equation. Now Strider's hurt, He's out

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Speaker 1: for the year. That's bad enough. Chris Sale hasn't exactly

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Speaker 1: been a picture of health. Charlie Morton is forty something

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Speaker 1: years old. You have the potential for other things to

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Speaker 1: occur as well. And that's why it's fair to wonder

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Speaker 1: how the Braves are going to come out of all this,

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Speaker 1: how they're going to piece this together going forward. Now,

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Speaker 1: last year, when Max Free was heard, Bryce Elder stepped up,

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Speaker 1: and they have a group of pitchers who might step

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Speaker 1: up as well, some prospects, some other guys at Triple

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Speaker 1: A who have some big league experienced. They are not

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Speaker 1: without depth.

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Speaker 2: But it's not Spencer Stryder.

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Speaker 1: So that's a problem for the Braves clearly, even though

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Speaker 1: their offense is amazing, and even though their bullpen, while

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Speaker 1: it's had a couple of hiccups, has been mostly brilliant

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Speaker 1: this season. All Right, the final team is actually one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite teams in baseball. Now, I don't root

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Speaker 1: you guys know that I write about all teams. I'm

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Speaker 1: critical of them, you think I hate them all, But

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Speaker 1: this team routinely outperforms what we expect of them. And

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about the Milwaukee Brewers best record in the

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Speaker 1: National League right now at ten and four. And let's

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Speaker 1: look at their current rotation, because it's not exactly what

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Speaker 1: you would seem to be thinking of as imposing their

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Speaker 1: current rotation. Well, Freddie Peralta has been brilliant so far,

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Speaker 1: Wade Miley, an accomplished veteran. Dal Hall came out in

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Speaker 1: the Burns trade and has been inconsistent so far, Colin

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Speaker 1: Ray and Joe Ross, who hasn't even pitched since twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one. Now, let's look at who the Brewers are missing,

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Speaker 1: and it's not just pitching.

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Speaker 2: We're going to talk about here.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with who's gone from twenty twenty three. Corbyn Burns,

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Speaker 1: of course, you know about that trade. Corbyn Burns faced

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Speaker 1: his former team yesterday. Orioles won that game. Adrian Hawser,

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Speaker 1: who went to the Mets injured pitchers, Jacob Junis who

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Speaker 1: they signed as a free agent, Devin Williams, the closer,

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Speaker 1: the great closer who's out for some time, Brandon Woodruff

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Speaker 1: we don't expect to see him this season. And then

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Speaker 1: there are some outfielders injured as well, Christian Yelich, who

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Speaker 1: is off to a brilliant start, and Garrett Mitchell. So

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Speaker 1: on that same podcast I was on with Jason, I said,

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Speaker 1: I always like the Brewers. I always expect them to

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Speaker 1: be better than we think, because they've done that over

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Speaker 1: the years. What's interesting is that they're doing it with

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Speaker 1: a different manager.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: This is not Craig Counsel's team. This is a team

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Speaker 1: run by his former bench coach, Pat Murphy, and yet

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Speaker 1: they're playing above themselves again. Now They've got good young

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Speaker 1: position talent. They've got Williadomas and Yelich as veterans. They've

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Speaker 1: have some pieces that other teams surely would want and

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Speaker 1: have wanted. At the same time, I don't know that

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Speaker 1: we expected the Brewers at any point of the season

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Speaker 1: to have a better record than Craig Council's Cubs. Not

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Speaker 1: if you're losing Burns and Woodruff and Devin Williams. And

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Speaker 1: yet here they are again. Now can that rotation hold together?

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Speaker 2: I have my doubts.

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Speaker 1: Obviously we're all going to have our doubts about that.

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Speaker 1: But the Brewers are so interesting because Murphy in that

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Speaker 1: transition from bench coach to manager.

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Speaker 2: That's not always easy.

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Speaker 1: Joe Spott is doing the same thing with the Astros

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Speaker 1: bench coach to manager, and what happens when that transition

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Speaker 1: takes place on the same team is that the relationships change.

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Speaker 1: It's one thing when you're the bench coach, it's another

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Speaker 1: thing when you're the manager. Responsibilities are different. The bench

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Speaker 1: coach can be involved in certain ways with players and

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Speaker 1: talk to players a certain way, whereas the manager is

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Speaker 1: the one making, of course the harder decisions. But it's

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Speaker 1: interesting that over the weekend I had a conversation with

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Speaker 1: Josh Hater, who of course spent many years with the Brewers, and.

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Speaker 2: Hater said that Murphy has.

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Speaker 1: A great way about him, a way that is often lighthearted.

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Speaker 1: Murphy is one of the great jokesters in the game.

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Speaker 1: He's always teasing players, and yet at the same time

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Speaker 1: he has a firmness about him too, a demand for excellence. Again,

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Speaker 1: with all of these teams, we're just talking about the

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Speaker 1: start of the season.

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Speaker 2: There's nothing definitive yet.

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Speaker 1: And even in my column about the Astros that Astros

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Speaker 1: fans already or ripping me for, I make it clear

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Speaker 1: we can't count the Astros out so much.

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Speaker 2: Can happen.

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Speaker 1: What I was saying in that column was that the

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Speaker 1: Astros roster as presently constituted is flawed. We'll see how

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Speaker 1: it all shakes out for each of these three teams,

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Speaker 1: but overcoming the loss of pitching, the losses of starting

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Speaker 1: pitchers to injury in relief pitchers as well, going to

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Speaker 1: be the story of the season for many teams, and

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Speaker 1: the teams that do it best, the teams that figure

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Speaker 1: it out. And you can look at virtually any contender

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Speaker 1: and have these same kinds of discussions. The Dodgers included.

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Speaker 1: Those teams that get there, that find a path to

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Speaker 1: October and then through October, well, those are going to

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Speaker 1: be the teams that succeed, the teams were going to

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Speaker 1: see in the World Series, the team that ultimately will

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Speaker 1: be crowned champion of twenty twenty four. Time now for

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Speaker 1: grilling Ken. Time now for your questions. Let's get right

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Speaker 1: to them on this Monday. First question comes whoa from

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Speaker 1: none other than Scott Braun, the host of foul Territory,

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Speaker 1: the man, the myth, the legend. Scott asks, are the

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Speaker 1: Braves okay with their rotation? Now that the crappy news

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Speaker 1: about Strider out for twenty twenty four is official. I'm

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Speaker 1: thinking they could suddenly be big players at the deadline

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Speaker 1: for a playoff starter. Scott, great question, You're on it

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Speaker 1: as always, and the answer is yes. I would expect

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Speaker 1: that at the deadline they will be players for a

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Speaker 1: starting pitcher. Now, I mentioned earlier that who knows, this

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Speaker 1: might not be.

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Speaker 2: Their last injury.

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Speaker 1: I would expect it probably won't be their last injury,

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Speaker 1: right just based on what starting pitching is like in

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 2: What happens to these guys over the course of a season.

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Speaker 1: The problem for the Braves if they want to trade

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Speaker 1: for a starter is that their system is not really

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Speaker 1: right now one of the better ones in Major League Baseball.

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Speaker 1: Baseball America in fact has the Brave system as the

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Speaker 1: fifth worst in the game, so they're not exactly loaded

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Speaker 1: with prospects. That said, their president of baseball Operations, Alex Anthopolis.

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Speaker 2: Is relentless.

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Speaker 1: He is endlessly creative, and if they need a starting

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Speaker 1: pitcher at the deadline, I assume Anthopolis is going to figure.

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Speaker 2: Something out and go get one.

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Speaker 1: How it's going to happen, which pitchers will be available,

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Speaker 1: where exactly the Braves will be at that point in

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Speaker 1: this season.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, but.

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Speaker 1: Sure with Strider out, I would expect them to be active.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's get to our next question. It comes

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Speaker 1: from jdb.

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Speaker 2: JDub the Gamer. Actually, he asked, you get.

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Speaker 1: One automatic addition to the Hall of Fame, excluding Rose

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Speaker 1: and Shoeless Joe, who is the one person you're unilaterally

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Speaker 1: putting in Cooper's town. It's a great question, and the

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Speaker 1: natural inclination for me is to say Bonds and Clemens.

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Speaker 2: I know that's two people, but they are linked in this.

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Speaker 1: Thing, and I voted for Bonds and Clemens in the

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Speaker 1: latter years of their eligibility, and yes, I believe they

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Speaker 1: should be there.

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Speaker 2: Others disagree, of course, but those are the two.

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Speaker 1: Ones that stick out right. But I'm going to go off.

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Speaker 2: The board a little bit.

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Speaker 1: Over the years, there have been due to the crowded

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Speaker 1: ballot in many cases, but other circumstances as well, players

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Speaker 1: who have fallen off the.

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Speaker 2: Ballot after just one year of eligibility.

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Speaker 1: Some of those guys are much more deserving of a

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Speaker 1: longer look, and it bothers me that they didn't get

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Speaker 1: that longer look. And of course they are subject to

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Speaker 1: election from the veterans committees, the various committees that exist,

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Speaker 1: but as the writers, as the voting members from the

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Speaker 1: Baseball Writers Association of America, I feel in some cases

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Speaker 1: we missed the vote. The guy I'm talking about here,

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Speaker 1: the guy I want to mention, is Lou Whittaker. Lou

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Speaker 1: Whitaker had a brilliant career as part of a double

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Speaker 1: play combination with Alan Trammel for the Detroit Tigers. Alan

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Speaker 1: Trammel is in the Hall of Fame. Lou Whittaker got

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Speaker 1: two point nine percent of the vote in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and one and was off the ballot immediately.

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Speaker 2: This makes no sense to me. And if you recall, if.

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Speaker 1: You read what I wrote about this year's ballot, I

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Speaker 1: voted for Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. Why because while

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Speaker 1: you might consider both borderline and many respects, and I

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Speaker 1: understand that they in my mind are inextricably linked. They

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Speaker 1: are guys who yes had Hall of Fame type careers,

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Speaker 1: and I can't think of one without the other. I

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Speaker 1: would say that's even truer with Whittaker and Trammel. Trammel

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Speaker 1: is in, Whittaker should be in. That's the one I

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Speaker 1: would like to add, yes, there are maybe a dozen

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Speaker 1: others or more that I would say the same about.

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Speaker 1: But that's the case I'm making today. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: go to our final question. It comes from a Randy

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Speaker 1: Silver TV who asks, would love your insight into the

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Speaker 1: MLB and umpire union relationship. I know you just can't

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Speaker 1: fire somebody, but I'm curious how it works if the

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Speaker 1: MLB and players find an UMP is consistently not doing

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Speaker 1: their job, well, what is or is there even a

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Speaker 1: process for relieving the ump? Randy, I think I know

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Speaker 1: who you're talking about. Let's go to the tape, Let's

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00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,840
Speaker 1: go to the data, and let's look at Friday night

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00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: and at bat that Wyatt Langford, the roopie from the

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Speaker 1: Texas Rangers, took with Angel Hernandez behind the plate.

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Speaker 2: All right, here we go.

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00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,119
Speaker 1: You can see the pitches and you can see the calls,

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00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: and it's pretty clear that JP France is not throwing

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00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,119
Speaker 1: strikes here, and he seems to go further and further

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Speaker 1: out as the bat progresses, because he keeps getting the

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00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:07,240
Speaker 1: call outside six inches outside, seven inches outside. It's Angel Hernandez,

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Speaker 1: of course, behind the plate. Wyatt Langford is a rookie.

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Speaker 1: He's not going to argue. Bruce Bochi is seen this

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00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,399
Speaker 1: one hundred tighs before. He doesn't feel it's worth it, obviously,

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00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 1: And yet Wyatt Langford is wrung up and not particularly fairly.

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00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 2: I mean this is not even closed, right, guys.

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00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,680
Speaker 1: So here we are again, another Angel issue, another ump show.

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Speaker 1: And you can look at the breakdown of where the

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00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 1: pitches were. Those are not strike. So to get to

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Speaker 1: the question that Randy Silver asked, the answer is that

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Speaker 1: Angel Hernandez, yes, is protected by the umpires union and

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00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 1: they can't simply fire him.

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00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 2: That's not how it works.

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, through Angel's lawsuit against them over the years,

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00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 1: we have come to learn is quite unhappy with Angel Hernandez.

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00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: Remember Angel sued because he felt he was not getting

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00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 1: World Series assignments that he should have gotten whatever. In

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00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: those court documents that came out, MLB's unhappiness with him

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00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,399
Speaker 1: became quite clear. Obviously, MLB cannot simply remove Angel as

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00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,879
Speaker 1: an ump and it does drive people crazy when you

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Speaker 1: see things like this. Now, I want to make it clear,

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00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 1: umpires by and large do an amazing job, and even

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00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,719
Speaker 1: Angel gets most of the calls right. But there are

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Speaker 1: some he doesn't and they seem to stick out. They

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Speaker 1: seem to generate attention on social media. Friday night, though

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00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,679
Speaker 1: to me was simply an embarrassment and that can't happen.

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Speaker 1: And while maybe Angel feels badly about it, we don't know.

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Speaker 1: At the same time, this is the kind of thing

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00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,119
Speaker 1: that draw us questions like the one Randy just asked,

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Speaker 1: and those questions are quite understandable. I want to thank

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00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,120
Speaker 1: everyone for your questions, Thank you for listening, for watching.

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00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,880
Speaker 1: You know where to find us, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, like us,

476
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 1: subscribe to us, connect with us.

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00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 2: In any way that you can think of.

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00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,320
Speaker 1: We will be back on Thursday with our second show

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00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: of the week, the one I co host with a

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00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:00,639
Speaker 1: Lot on rizz. Oh yes, we're up to two a

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00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: week now and join us. Then have a great week.

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00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 2: And we will talk to you on Thursday.

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