April 17, 2024 • 24 mins
Emily is in Detroit and gives us the latest on everything going on with the Rangers!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:15):
We're heading into that all important fiveo'clock hour right about now. It is
the speakeasy with me, Mike Reiner, her, Julie Dobbs, him,
Jeff Cavanaugh and presiding over the wholething in that way only a true devil
(00:35):
can do. It's shoopy. Anduh yeah, we got the Sunset Lounge
coming up here. We'll go inthere and see what's shaking tonight, see
what that crowd looks like. Butright now it's time for gateway to the
Rangers. And there is scarcely anybodyI'd rather walk through that gateway to the
(00:59):
Rangers then Emily Jones. You seeher on Rangers TV. She's been a
part of the scene out there forload these many years, been a part
of the media here for load thesemany years. And she joins us about
this time once a week. Hi, Hi, what are you up to?
(01:26):
I just ordered room service in thehotel and I'm watching baseball Yankees,
Blue Jays. How are they going? It is four four top nine faces
loaded Aaron Judge up to that.The count is too two. Just go
ahead and give us some play byplay boy. She is so honored it's
(01:47):
not even funny. But you knowwhat, why would we expect anything else?
Three? Two? Throughout? Soare you out there? Former ranger
Jose Travino kept this rally going herefor so it didn't look like there were
too many people up in that Detroitthat bothered to come to the game.
Today. Oh my gosh, theentire time Aaron Judge, Oh, just
(02:10):
riped one down the left field line. That's going to score two. No
there there, guys, it's crazy. So what's today? Wednesday? So
we got here Monday and we hadthe only night game in the series Monday
night, and it was a beautifulday in Detroit, and so I'm thinking,
(02:32):
okay, this is going to beyou know, a pretty well lit
in the game because it's gorgeous weather, the tires look good. To start
the season, there was no onethere. Apparently there was a Red Wings
game going on, so that kindof gives them excuse. But then you
know, we have three day gamesbecause they're you know, worried about the
cold, right, but it's beenbeautiful and Marri had so few people here.
(02:53):
Like yesterday, there was a guyI could hear. I mean,
he's giving like coaching tip fun howto field ground balls. It was something
you could hear every word he wassaying. So, yeah, it's I
mean five, I don't know whatthe announced attendant has been, but it
can't there can't be more than fivethousand people in that place. Yeah,
(03:13):
I mean, and you know,normally I don't get two worked up over
attendance one way or the other forthe Rangers or anybody else really, but
man, that was that that wasa little bit beyond the pale. You
know, it feels like it feelslike spring training honestly, and even not
even spring training for us this yearbecause all the games that I went to
(03:36):
in surprise were packed. But yougo from Houston in that environment, which
was crazy, felt like, youknow, a playoff atmosphere, and then
you go to this and it's justlike it's a it's a stark contrast,
and I think something too for theit's an adjustment for those guys. You
know, you feed off of whetherit's a crowd in your favor or not
in your favor, You feed offthat stuff, and so you kind of
(03:58):
have to to work yourself up toget you know, to get fired up
and have that kind of intensity thatyou need. So Emily, we had
been under the understanding that for theRangers this year, getting guys back coming
off of arm and stuff, surgeries, arms and shoulders and stuff. Oh
my, it was going to bewhat late June was Max and then whatever's
(04:23):
name and then later de Gram andapparently the Max Susy thing is a Molly
Melee, Apparently the sh a oneis a damn lie and the guys of
Cyborg and he's the Wolverine dude,he's ridiculous. I don't He's like a
I don't know. He's a maniac. That's all. That's the only way
I know how to say it.And you know, he's I mean,
(04:46):
you're trying back thirds around a thirtynine year old. It's got a significant
amount of miles on him. Butyou're also talking about somebody who knows his
body very well and is very intune with it. So he just keeps
going out every day. And hesays the same thing after he dies,
you know, throw the live VPor a bullpen or whatever. And he
just said, you know, andit's like what's next, and it's like
whatever, my body will whatever,they'll let me do, do that and
(05:09):
then if I check that box,then I'll see what They'll let me do
next, and then I'll do thatand then check check the box and then
you know, just keep going.So I mean, I think the last
box to check before we have assignmentwill come. I believe it's Friday.
He's going to go a forty uhforty pitch live VP and do a couple
(05:30):
up and downs, uh, youknow, to kind of stimulate as much
of utana let's start, and thenif I'm not mistaken, he would head
out on a rehab assignment after that, and that puts him back fairly well
ahead of schedule. Well, oh, definitely well ahead of schedule. And
you know, and we I talkedto him about you know, how many
green starts do you need? Andit's like, well, it depends on
(05:54):
you know, zero, do Igo, Do I go forty? You
know, say forty and the firstsixty in the in the second and then
do I just come up to thebigs and try and then stretch it out
a little bit more, Or doI want to get to eighty? Do
they want me to get to eightythere and then bring me up. So
that'll be a little bit of aprocess to figure out, you know,
(06:15):
exactly what the best plan of actionis in that regard, But I mean,
what would that be. That's fifteendays. I mean you're looking at
three weeks fish probably four three fourweeks from now, which is well ahead
of what anyone thought he would do. We'll hear a good bit about him.
What about de Gram what's the prognosisthere as near as you can take.
(06:41):
Yeah, so he so kind ofwhen you can tell if a guy's
going to start, you know,making their way back. So Jacob will
travel on the next road trip.So that's a good sign. But he's
still posts all Star break and Ithink we're still a little too early in
the process to put a real definitivetimeline on things. Yeah, so you
(07:02):
know, well we'll see how thatpans out. But you know, Max
is on course, but I don'texpect Jacob until you know, mid August,
early September at the at the soonest, we're gonna have too many starting
pitchers, Emily, because if CodyBradford got a problem to have, Yeah,
if Cody Bradford's back, he's beenreally good. And John Gray has
(07:23):
gotten it back together, has beenwonderful. Ivaldi has been wonderful, Dunning
has been wonderful. We're gonna we'regonna have too many whatever will we do?
You know what, I'll take it. It's a really good problem to
have it. And starting pitching hasbeen really good lately, you know,
it's it's it's been solid. We'vehad some issues in the bullpen. Jeff,
(07:44):
I'm sure you're acutely aware of it. I've got the Rangers at a
four to ninety three. Our betwas a four, and uh so I
hope you are keeping that real estateclean. So if I remember right,
you have to tattoo my face onyour butt. If the Rangers are above
a four, I don't quite rememberit that way, but we can discuss
later. Yeah, we we havetime to bring that thing back. We
(08:07):
get time. It's uh, it'searly, so yeah, we'll see,
uh, it's listen, they'll figureit out. And you never know who's
gonna go down. You never knowwho's going to get a really rough patch.
You know, we've already we've alreadyseen that, you know, to
this point, and so it's kindof one of those things where you really
(08:28):
don't even go down that road andif you try, Buach is like,
yeah, just talk to me aboutit later. Whenever all those guys are
ready, and then I'll let youknow what we're going to do. But
no sense and you know, makingplans when you there's too much time at
this point to make plans, andthere's too many things that can happen.
So but I guess we'll cross thatbridge when we get there. But I
guess for right now. Kirbyates thecloser one for one, dude, Herby
(08:54):
yates just so clutch today. Imean, it was about the sky we're
about to open, and and thenJosh Smith gets that pinch hit on the
top of the ninth and then Kirbycomes out. He it was so funny.
It's so quiet, you know,in the in the ballpark that when
he walked back, I can't rememberwho he walked, but he walked back.
(09:15):
He walked that guy, and helet everyone know how displeased he was
with himself. After you know,he got the first out and he walks
the guy and then he he cameback and got got the next two.
Which words, Emily did he cuss? He's a word that started with the
F with F Yeah, what aboutso anyway, but he made it through
(09:41):
and uh, we were all everyonewas very very very thankful for that because
the weather was supposed to get prettybad here in Detroit. So yeah,
Kirby and Kirby's great. We talkabout all the time, and you know,
I think Mike, you and Ihave talked about it. He's kind
have be wired a little bit differentto be in that closer's role. And
(10:03):
Jose is not a typical like wiredguy, wired bull closure guy in my
opinion. He was obviously very effectivein the postseason last year, and you
know it looks to be getting backon track uh here this season. But
Kirby is one of those like veryWill smithlike like uh as far as the
demeanor is concerned, just really unshazed. I mean he does you know,
(10:26):
he gets pissed when he gives upa walk in the in the ninth or
whatever. But he he's not goingto get too high and he's not going
to get too low. He's goingto be able to flush that outing.
He's not going to you know,be walking around with a puff chests after
a good one. He's just he'sgot a really good demeanor about him that
that it's you know, kind ofnecessary for that closure role. Where does
(10:48):
that lead David robertson night sinning setup guy. I mean he could,
he could close for you if needed. But here's the thing, and both
talked about it today after the game, like they're gonna have to be careful
with these guys. I mean,I think Kirby and David have both been
He's like, we've played nineteen games. I think they've been used in nine
of them, so you can't youdon't want to ride them too much.
(11:09):
But we got to get we gotto get Josh scores back. So you've
got a little bit more coverage thereif thee LA clerk can go out and
give you I mean, I thoughtthat was a huge for him. I
mean it wasn't he pitched yesterday ortwo days ago, right sixth and seventh,
those were high leverage spots. Thatwas a tight game. He was
facing like that part of the orderand he gives you two scoreless and that
(11:31):
was huge. And so that's anothergreat thing about this bolt and nobody's really
concerned about what inning they're used in. They realized that, like, Okay,
here's the group of high leverage guys, and here's the guy. Here's
the groups that are not as highleverage guys, and so they realized that
they could be called on at anypoint, you know, from like that,
(11:52):
you know, sixth inning on andall of them are cool with,
you know, wherever that is,whether they're doing it for matchup purposes or
splits or whatever it is. Butyeah, I mean I think they're may
be fine. I mean, it'sit's hard. It's hard to kind of,
I guess, characterize and bullpen thisearly in the season. You've got
(12:13):
to you get to figure out exactlywhat you've got and wear their best use.
And so we're in the middle ofthat right now. I always have
to remind myself that this is notanything that many many other teams in this
game are going through, you know. Oh yes, yeah, I mean
like everybody is. They can beatus six wins, six wins and four
(12:39):
of American We're the only team that'sembarrassing. It's insane. Yeah, I
mean, but Pressley blew it today. I mean, Hater's gotten lipped up.
I mean, they're that was supposedto be the strong strong point of
their you know, of their team. Yeah, and it's completely floped.
(13:00):
But you know, they got ridof some guys that may may not have
seemed like, you know, integralparts, and i'd have to look.
I just remember having this conversation abouthow basically they gave up three relievers and
then they got hater and if you'retalking about you know, they may not
be big cogs in the wheel,but they're still cogs in the wheel.
And to get rid of three andyou know, replace them with one.
(13:20):
And granted that one is really good, but he sure hasn't shown it so
far. I mean that dude,he doesn't even look like himself. Yeah,
sometimes putting a bull pen together isreally just as much a numbers game
as anything else, one hundred percent. And we've talked about a million times.
It's a year to year proposition.Yes, you can have a spiller
one one season and you can bringevery guy back and they can fall flat
(13:43):
on their faces and nex yep,you bring every guy back in spring training.
All you know is, hey,we got guys. That's it.
Yep. You have no idea howany of them are going to do.
Who's going to do what, orwho's going to be good, who's going
to be bad, who's going toget hurt, who's not. You have
no idea about it. It's justa changing paradigm every single year. Yeah,
(14:05):
and I wonder it's really crazy,honestly that if you think about it,
because position players, it's like it'salmost like relievers of this own like
their own little you know, groupwhere you know, you can kind of
rely on, like you know,Marcus to me and is going to produce
you know, you know that it'sCorey Seeger, you know. I mean,
(14:26):
you've got these guys that have beenaround for a while, but I
mean you could have a guy that'sbeen you know, been a reliever in
the big leagues for you know,seven eight seasons and it's been up and
down and all over the map.It's just it's so strange. And I
don't know if it's it is becausethey're used in you know, such limited
time, it's I don't know,but it's a it's a it's a strange
(14:48):
thing. And like like you said, it's not exclusive to our team.
Emily. Pretty cool for Josh Smithto get the game winning RBI double today.
Was he your postgame interview and hewas how was that? He had
to be pretty pumped. He weregreat and we were laughing. You know,
(15:09):
I'm like, you obviously didn't wantto go to you know, you
don't want to rain delay and hedidn't want to go to extras and he's
like all of the above. AndI said, you know, what is
it like coming in in that situation? You're cold, you're pinchating, you're
off the bench, and he saidhonestly, And I thought this was interesting,
and he said, honestly, it'sit's almost like a win win because
you come in in that situation andyou get out and it's like, well,
(15:31):
what do you expect? You know, you throw me in the in
the ninth inning? What do youwhat do you expects? That's baseball?
But he said, then if youcome through, it's like then you're the
hero. And so I thought thatthat mentality was it, like, that
was his mentality what he used tokind of take the pressure off of himself,
like hey, let's just go uphere and see what happens. And
I asked both about it too.I said, I told him what Josh
(15:52):
had said, and he was like, I never thought about it that way.
But you know, whatever it isto take the pressure off of you,
then that's the mentality works for you. And obviously it did for Josh.
And you know, more power toyou. I kind of have an
interesting question that I just thought aboutwhen you talked about Boat and him saying
he hadn't thought about it that wayfrom Josh Smith's perspective. So, I
know, obviously the players and themanager spend a lot of time together,
(16:15):
but like, how much do theyhave one on one conversations? How does
that work? So I think it'sa guy is struggling. You know,
he's going to take him he's tryingto fight his way out of a slump
or something like that, and he'sgoing to sit him for a day.
Given he'll Boat will talk to himlike, you know, hey, I'm
(16:37):
going to give you a day here. I'm gonna you know, I want
you to just not think about baseball. I want you to just turn it
off for a little bit, justreset. I don't think they're daily conversations
if he's gonna you know, ifit's I think he tried to let them
know about playing time as much aspossible, like you know, when to
be ready and when to kind ofit's a long season and so you know,
hey, I'm not going to playyou more. You take tonight,
(17:00):
have a few pops and you know, relax, you know, stuff like
that. So I think it's moreabout that, you know, if he's
going to change a role, likewhen he took Jose out of the closure's
role, he had a conversation withhim about it, like, look,
i'm going to take you out ofI'm gonna I'm not going to put you
in the night for a little bit. We're going to work you back in
in some situations that we think,are you know, a little more conducive.
(17:22):
Are you getting back on track untilwe can un till you can figure
this thing out? And I thinkthat that's what the players love most about
Boach is the fact that he doeshave those conversations, even if they're hard
ones, and they're not maybe notall the time pleasant, he's very upfront
with them about everything. He's veryand that's what you get when you have
a manager who's won full World Seriesand is established as he is and has
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the reputation that he does, isthat he's so he's just comfortable in the
decisions that he's making. They maynot always work out the way that he
plans or the way that he intends, but he's comfortable in making those decisions
because of the experiences that he's hadand and and those guys are so much
more willing to accept those conversations andthose decisions because of all those things in
(18:06):
your time in the game. DoesBoach or any of the other recent managers
and Rangers past have a lot ofnon baseball conversations with the players. I
think if you engage Boach, hewill talk to you all day long about
all kinds of stuff. We talkedtoday about blackjack, and I asked him
(18:26):
he always splits eights and eighth andhe basically told me I was a weenie
for not splitting eight against a faithguard showing from the dealer. So yeah,
he's like, oh, so youlike sixteen, And I'm like,
well, I don't like sixteen,but I also don't like too eighteens against
a faith guard showing against the potentialtwenty and anyway, so we went through
(18:49):
this whole thing. But yeah,he'll talk. I think he doesn't really
go into the clubhouse much, butif someone walks in his office and wants
to talk, you know whatever,talk about you know, his baseball background
or his family or whatever, He'sdefinitely open to that. But I think
he's also too very respectful of thatspace for them to where he doesn't feel
(19:12):
the need to be to be inthere all the time. I mean,
he connects with the staff a lot. They went to dinner last night for
his birthday. He connects with themquite a bit. But I think he
towed that that line, you know, of being you know, in there
too much, but also being available. How does that differ from the way
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he does it differ from other managersthat we have seen through here. So,
I mean when I first got here, it was Buck and I honestly
I didn't I wasn't at a pointin my career. I was just so
early in covering baseball that I reallydidn't pay that much attention. I feel
like wash was very similar to Boachin his approach uh as far as having
(20:00):
those conversations, wanting those open linesof communication. I think that's why the
players loved him so much and playedso hard for him. I think Banny
probably was a little more involved,if I were to characterize it, and
then Wood he being a first timemanager. I think there was it kind
of fluctuated there. It just itwas different at different time, you know,
(20:25):
kind of based on and that wassuch a young team that he had.
Yeah, you know, I thinkhe felt like he needed to be
around and involved more than if hewould have had a more experienced veteran team.
I'm having a mental fart right now. Where did he wind up?
What he Yeah, he's back withthe Dodgers, and I don't know if
(20:47):
he's still there or not. That'sa great question. I haven't kept intact.
I keep in touch with Aaron,his wife, but he was a
special assistant in moving instructor. ButI don't know if he still is.
Yeah. On January twenty, twentytwenty three, he was hired as a
special assistant in the front office aswell as a roving infield instructor. Unless
(21:10):
that's changed in the last year,which maybe. Yeah, I think he's
still doing something with them in somecapacity. Yeah, Emily, is whyatt
Langford going to hit a home runthis year? You think he is?
Yes, it's gonna happen tomorrow.Oh, okay, that's good. And
then one more guy that I wantedto ask about, because Jack fn Lighter
is going to start a game tomorrowand we just went through it, like
(21:32):
the starting rotation if you include MichaelLorenzen in that, and like there's five
guys there plus Bradford, who,in theory should be back and Shures will
be on the way if Jack Lighterdoes okay or better? Do you think
they're open to the idea that henever plays minor league baseball again? Listen,
I don't think they're taking anything offthe table. I think it's it's
(21:53):
going to be a bit of alittle bit of a challenge to find that
spot form. The fact is you'vegot some time to work with it,
and you also keep you know,kind of coming back to is Andrew Chini
better served out of the bullten?You know, is that a possibility he's
been frustrated with the start that he'sgot that he's gotten off to you know,
(22:15):
is that would that be an option? You know? I think they'll
look at all the possibilities. Butyeah, if you go out in shoves
tomorrow, I can't imagine they'll belike, Okay, well thanks for your
service and we'll, you know,see if see you next time. We
need a spot start. So youthink tomorrow Jack Glider is gonna whip their
ass and Langford's going yard, Sowhy not let's just put it all out
(22:40):
there. I like it. Ilike it too. I support this all
right, Emily, you were excellentin one of the kind as always.
Well, thank you. I appreciatethat. Uh, of course, I
always love you. And I needto figure out when I can come in
studio because I'm I see I'm gettingmy ring on Monday, so I can
(23:00):
come in studio. Maybe when theteam, Maybe when the team's on the
road, because we're at home nextweek. Maybe when the team's on the
road, like maybe that when Idon't know, Yeah, maybe I could
do Maybe I could do next thatWednesday May first, I could come in
and and do Gateway to the Rangersin the studio. Okay, Well,
(23:22):
Julie's your handler. Just work itout with her. Okay, Yeah,
and I'll let you try my ringon all right. Might run away never
come back? Yeah, Mike,you wouldn't be able to find me.
Oh I would Julie. I wouldhunch you down. Yeah. I don't
(23:42):
think Julie would be good at likehiding and getting off the grid. She'd
be findable. Well, actually,I was gonna say I think I might
could. I might compete you ina foot race, But now I'm I'm
certain I couldn't because you're like tennisqueen. So you're you get up,
you get the baseline to baseline.I'm sure you're you're killing it. I
think there's only one way to findout, way to find out. I'm
(24:06):
not exactly what you would call afast twitch girl. We'll find out one
of these days. Okay, okay, okay, I'm going in Detroit with
your evening. Okay, I will, I will. I'm gonna sit here
in a hotel room and watch baseballbecause I know how to party. Yeah,
you do know how to party.That's why you're my girl. Okay,
(24:30):
all right, love you guys.I am there. She is,
the great Emily Jones with us hereon the speakeasy as she always is.
With Gateway to the Rangers coming upnext. Let's head to our place.
What do you say
We're heading into that all important fiveo'clock hour right about now. It is
the speakeasy with me, Mike Reiner, her, Julie Dobbs, him,
Jeff Cavanaugh and presiding over the wholething in that way only a true devil
(00:35):
can do. It's shoopy. Anduh yeah, we got the Sunset Lounge
coming up here. We'll go inthere and see what's shaking tonight, see
what that crowd looks like. Butright now it's time for gateway to the
Rangers. And there is scarcely anybodyI'd rather walk through that gateway to the
(00:59):
Rangers then Emily Jones. You seeher on Rangers TV. She's been a
part of the scene out there forload these many years, been a part
of the media here for load thesemany years. And she joins us about
this time once a week. Hi, Hi, what are you up to?
(01:26):
I just ordered room service in thehotel and I'm watching baseball Yankees,
Blue Jays. How are they going? It is four four top nine faces
loaded Aaron Judge up to that.The count is too two. Just go
ahead and give us some play byplay boy. She is so honored it's
(01:47):
not even funny. But you knowwhat, why would we expect anything else?
Three? Two? Throughout? Soare you out there? Former ranger
Jose Travino kept this rally going herefor so it didn't look like there were
too many people up in that Detroitthat bothered to come to the game.
Today. Oh my gosh, theentire time Aaron Judge, Oh, just
(02:10):
riped one down the left field line. That's going to score two. No
there there, guys, it's crazy. So what's today? Wednesday? So
we got here Monday and we hadthe only night game in the series Monday
night, and it was a beautifulday in Detroit, and so I'm thinking,
(02:32):
okay, this is going to beyou know, a pretty well lit
in the game because it's gorgeous weather, the tires look good. To start
the season, there was no onethere. Apparently there was a Red Wings
game going on, so that kindof gives them excuse. But then you
know, we have three day gamesbecause they're you know, worried about the
cold, right, but it's beenbeautiful and Marri had so few people here.
(02:53):
Like yesterday, there was a guyI could hear. I mean,
he's giving like coaching tip fun howto field ground balls. It was something
you could hear every word he wassaying. So, yeah, it's I
mean five, I don't know whatthe announced attendant has been, but it
can't there can't be more than fivethousand people in that place. Yeah,
(03:13):
I mean, and you know,normally I don't get two worked up over
attendance one way or the other forthe Rangers or anybody else really, but
man, that was that that wasa little bit beyond the pale. You
know, it feels like it feelslike spring training honestly, and even not
even spring training for us this yearbecause all the games that I went to
(03:36):
in surprise were packed. But yougo from Houston in that environment, which
was crazy, felt like, youknow, a playoff atmosphere, and then
you go to this and it's justlike it's a it's a stark contrast,
and I think something too for theit's an adjustment for those guys. You
know, you feed off of whetherit's a crowd in your favor or not
in your favor, You feed offthat stuff, and so you kind of
(03:58):
have to to work yourself up toget you know, to get fired up
and have that kind of intensity thatyou need. So Emily, we had
been under the understanding that for theRangers this year, getting guys back coming
off of arm and stuff, surgeries, arms and shoulders and stuff. Oh
my, it was going to bewhat late June was Max and then whatever's
(04:23):
name and then later de Gram andapparently the Max Susy thing is a Molly
Melee, Apparently the sh a oneis a damn lie and the guys of
Cyborg and he's the Wolverine dude,he's ridiculous. I don't He's like a
I don't know. He's a maniac. That's all. That's the only way
I know how to say it.And you know, he's I mean,
(04:46):
you're trying back thirds around a thirtynine year old. It's got a significant
amount of miles on him. Butyou're also talking about somebody who knows his
body very well and is very intune with it. So he just keeps
going out every day. And hesays the same thing after he dies,
you know, throw the live VPor a bullpen or whatever. And he
just said, you know, andit's like what's next, and it's like
whatever, my body will whatever,they'll let me do, do that and
(05:09):
then if I check that box,then I'll see what They'll let me do
next, and then I'll do thatand then check check the box and then
you know, just keep going.So I mean, I think the last
box to check before we have assignmentwill come. I believe it's Friday.
He's going to go a forty uhforty pitch live VP and do a couple
(05:30):
up and downs, uh, youknow, to kind of stimulate as much
of utana let's start, and thenif I'm not mistaken, he would head
out on a rehab assignment after that, and that puts him back fairly well
ahead of schedule. Well, oh, definitely well ahead of schedule. And
you know, and we I talkedto him about you know, how many
green starts do you need? Andit's like, well, it depends on
(05:54):
you know, zero, do Igo, Do I go forty? You
know, say forty and the firstsixty in the in the second and then
do I just come up to thebigs and try and then stretch it out
a little bit more, Or doI want to get to eighty? Do
they want me to get to eightythere and then bring me up. So
that'll be a little bit of aprocess to figure out, you know,
(06:15):
exactly what the best plan of actionis in that regard, But I mean,
what would that be. That's fifteendays. I mean you're looking at
three weeks fish probably four three fourweeks from now, which is well ahead
of what anyone thought he would do. We'll hear a good bit about him.
What about de Gram what's the prognosisthere as near as you can take.
(06:41):
Yeah, so he so kind ofwhen you can tell if a guy's
going to start, you know,making their way back. So Jacob will
travel on the next road trip.So that's a good sign. But he's
still posts all Star break and Ithink we're still a little too early in
the process to put a real definitivetimeline on things. Yeah, so you
(07:02):
know, well we'll see how thatpans out. But you know, Max
is on course, but I don'texpect Jacob until you know, mid August,
early September at the at the soonest, we're gonna have too many starting
pitchers, Emily, because if CodyBradford got a problem to have, Yeah,
if Cody Bradford's back, he's beenreally good. And John Gray has
(07:23):
gotten it back together, has beenwonderful. Ivaldi has been wonderful, Dunning
has been wonderful. We're gonna we'regonna have too many whatever will we do?
You know what, I'll take it. It's a really good problem to
have it. And starting pitching hasbeen really good lately, you know,
it's it's it's been solid. We'vehad some issues in the bullpen. Jeff,
(07:44):
I'm sure you're acutely aware of it. I've got the Rangers at a
four to ninety three. Our betwas a four, and uh so I
hope you are keeping that real estateclean. So if I remember right,
you have to tattoo my face onyour butt. If the Rangers are above
a four, I don't quite rememberit that way, but we can discuss
later. Yeah, we we havetime to bring that thing back. We
(08:07):
get time. It's uh, it'searly, so yeah, we'll see,
uh, it's listen, they'll figureit out. And you never know who's
gonna go down. You never knowwho's going to get a really rough patch.
You know, we've already we've alreadyseen that, you know, to
this point, and so it's kindof one of those things where you really
(08:28):
don't even go down that road andif you try, Buach is like,
yeah, just talk to me aboutit later. Whenever all those guys are
ready, and then I'll let youknow what we're going to do. But
no sense and you know, makingplans when you there's too much time at
this point to make plans, andthere's too many things that can happen.
So but I guess we'll cross thatbridge when we get there. But I
guess for right now. Kirbyates thecloser one for one, dude, Herby
(08:54):
yates just so clutch today. Imean, it was about the sky we're
about to open, and and thenJosh Smith gets that pinch hit on the
top of the ninth and then Kirbycomes out. He it was so funny.
It's so quiet, you know,in the in the ballpark that when
he walked back, I can't rememberwho he walked, but he walked back.
(09:15):
He walked that guy, and helet everyone know how displeased he was
with himself. After you know,he got the first out and he walks
the guy and then he he cameback and got got the next two.
Which words, Emily did he cuss? He's a word that started with the
F with F Yeah, what aboutso anyway, but he made it through
(09:41):
and uh, we were all everyonewas very very very thankful for that because
the weather was supposed to get prettybad here in Detroit. So yeah,
Kirby and Kirby's great. We talkabout all the time, and you know,
I think Mike, you and Ihave talked about it. He's kind
have be wired a little bit differentto be in that closer's role. And
(10:03):
Jose is not a typical like wiredguy, wired bull closure guy in my
opinion. He was obviously very effectivein the postseason last year, and you
know it looks to be getting backon track uh here this season. But
Kirby is one of those like veryWill smithlike like uh as far as the
demeanor is concerned, just really unshazed. I mean he does you know,
(10:26):
he gets pissed when he gives upa walk in the in the ninth or
whatever. But he he's not goingto get too high and he's not going
to get too low. He's goingto be able to flush that outing.
He's not going to you know,be walking around with a puff chests after
a good one. He's just he'sgot a really good demeanor about him that
that it's you know, kind ofnecessary for that closure role. Where does
(10:48):
that lead David robertson night sinning setup guy. I mean he could,
he could close for you if needed. But here's the thing, and both
talked about it today after the game, like they're gonna have to be careful
with these guys. I mean,I think Kirby and David have both been
He's like, we've played nineteen games. I think they've been used in nine
of them, so you can't youdon't want to ride them too much.
(11:09):
But we got to get we gotto get Josh scores back. So you've
got a little bit more coverage thereif thee LA clerk can go out and
give you I mean, I thoughtthat was a huge for him. I
mean it wasn't he pitched yesterday ortwo days ago, right sixth and seventh,
those were high leverage spots. Thatwas a tight game. He was
facing like that part of the orderand he gives you two scoreless and that
(11:31):
was huge. And so that's anothergreat thing about this bolt and nobody's really
concerned about what inning they're used in. They realized that, like, Okay,
here's the group of high leverage guys, and here's the guy. Here's
the groups that are not as highleverage guys, and so they realized that
they could be called on at anypoint, you know, from like that,
(11:52):
you know, sixth inning on andall of them are cool with,
you know, wherever that is,whether they're doing it for matchup purposes or
splits or whatever it is. Butyeah, I mean I think they're may
be fine. I mean, it'sit's hard. It's hard to kind of,
I guess, characterize and bullpen thisearly in the season. You've got
(12:13):
to you get to figure out exactlywhat you've got and wear their best use.
And so we're in the middle ofthat right now. I always have
to remind myself that this is notanything that many many other teams in this
game are going through, you know. Oh yes, yeah, I mean
like everybody is. They can beatus six wins, six wins and four
(12:39):
of American We're the only team that'sembarrassing. It's insane. Yeah, I
mean, but Pressley blew it today. I mean, Hater's gotten lipped up.
I mean, they're that was supposedto be the strong strong point of
their you know, of their team. Yeah, and it's completely floped.
(13:00):
But you know, they got ridof some guys that may may not have
seemed like, you know, integralparts, and i'd have to look.
I just remember having this conversation abouthow basically they gave up three relievers and
then they got hater and if you'retalking about you know, they may not
be big cogs in the wheel,but they're still cogs in the wheel.
And to get rid of three andyou know, replace them with one.
(13:20):
And granted that one is really good, but he sure hasn't shown it so
far. I mean that dude,he doesn't even look like himself. Yeah,
sometimes putting a bull pen together isreally just as much a numbers game
as anything else, one hundred percent. And we've talked about a million times.
It's a year to year proposition.Yes, you can have a spiller
one one season and you can bringevery guy back and they can fall flat
(13:43):
on their faces and nex yep,you bring every guy back in spring training.
All you know is, hey,we got guys. That's it.
Yep. You have no idea howany of them are going to do.
Who's going to do what, orwho's going to be good, who's going
to be bad, who's going toget hurt, who's not. You have
no idea about it. It's justa changing paradigm every single year. Yeah,
(14:05):
and I wonder it's really crazy,honestly that if you think about it,
because position players, it's like it'salmost like relievers of this own like
their own little you know, groupwhere you know, you can kind of
rely on, like you know,Marcus to me and is going to produce
you know, you know that it'sCorey Seeger, you know. I mean,
(14:26):
you've got these guys that have beenaround for a while, but I
mean you could have a guy that'sbeen you know, been a reliever in
the big leagues for you know,seven eight seasons and it's been up and
down and all over the map.It's just it's so strange. And I
don't know if it's it is becausethey're used in you know, such limited
time, it's I don't know,but it's a it's a it's a strange
(14:48):
thing. And like like you said, it's not exclusive to our team.
Emily. Pretty cool for Josh Smithto get the game winning RBI double today.
Was he your postgame interview and hewas how was that? He had
to be pretty pumped. He weregreat and we were laughing. You know,
(15:09):
I'm like, you obviously didn't wantto go to you know, you
don't want to rain delay and hedidn't want to go to extras and he's
like all of the above. AndI said, you know, what is
it like coming in in that situation? You're cold, you're pinchating, you're
off the bench, and he saidhonestly, And I thought this was interesting,
and he said, honestly, it'sit's almost like a win win because
you come in in that situation andyou get out and it's like, well,
(15:31):
what do you expect? You know, you throw me in the in
the ninth inning? What do youwhat do you expects? That's baseball?
But he said, then if youcome through, it's like then you're the
hero. And so I thought thatthat mentality was it, like, that
was his mentality what he used tokind of take the pressure off of himself,
like hey, let's just go uphere and see what happens. And
I asked both about it too.I said, I told him what Josh
(15:52):
had said, and he was like, I never thought about it that way.
But you know, whatever it isto take the pressure off of you,
then that's the mentality works for you. And obviously it did for Josh.
And you know, more power toyou. I kind of have an
interesting question that I just thought aboutwhen you talked about Boat and him saying
he hadn't thought about it that wayfrom Josh Smith's perspective. So, I
know, obviously the players and themanager spend a lot of time together,
(16:15):
but like, how much do theyhave one on one conversations? How does
that work? So I think it'sa guy is struggling. You know,
he's going to take him he's tryingto fight his way out of a slump
or something like that, and he'sgoing to sit him for a day.
Given he'll Boat will talk to himlike, you know, hey, I'm
(16:37):
going to give you a day here. I'm gonna you know, I want
you to just not think about baseball. I want you to just turn it
off for a little bit, justreset. I don't think they're daily conversations
if he's gonna you know, ifit's I think he tried to let them
know about playing time as much aspossible, like you know, when to
be ready and when to kind ofit's a long season and so you know,
hey, I'm not going to playyou more. You take tonight,
(17:00):
have a few pops and you know, relax, you know, stuff like
that. So I think it's moreabout that, you know, if he's
going to change a role, likewhen he took Jose out of the closure's
role, he had a conversation withhim about it, like, look,
i'm going to take you out ofI'm gonna I'm not going to put you
in the night for a little bit. We're going to work you back in
in some situations that we think,are you know, a little more conducive.
(17:22):
Are you getting back on track untilwe can un till you can figure
this thing out? And I thinkthat that's what the players love most about
Boach is the fact that he doeshave those conversations, even if they're hard
ones, and they're not maybe notall the time pleasant, he's very upfront
with them about everything. He's veryand that's what you get when you have
a manager who's won full World Seriesand is established as he is and has
(17:44):
the reputation that he does, isthat he's so he's just comfortable in the
decisions that he's making. They maynot always work out the way that he
plans or the way that he intends, but he's comfortable in making those decisions
because of the experiences that he's hadand and and those guys are so much
more willing to accept those conversations andthose decisions because of all those things in
(18:06):
your time in the game. DoesBoach or any of the other recent managers
and Rangers past have a lot ofnon baseball conversations with the players. I
think if you engage Boach, hewill talk to you all day long about
all kinds of stuff. We talkedtoday about blackjack, and I asked him
(18:26):
he always splits eights and eighth andhe basically told me I was a weenie
for not splitting eight against a faithguard showing from the dealer. So yeah,
he's like, oh, so youlike sixteen, And I'm like,
well, I don't like sixteen,but I also don't like too eighteens against
a faith guard showing against the potentialtwenty and anyway, so we went through
(18:49):
this whole thing. But yeah,he'll talk. I think he doesn't really
go into the clubhouse much, butif someone walks in his office and wants
to talk, you know whatever,talk about you know, his baseball background
or his family or whatever, He'sdefinitely open to that. But I think
he's also too very respectful of thatspace for them to where he doesn't feel
(19:12):
the need to be to be inthere all the time. I mean,
he connects with the staff a lot. They went to dinner last night for
his birthday. He connects with themquite a bit. But I think he
towed that that line, you know, of being you know, in there
too much, but also being available. How does that differ from the way
(19:37):
he does it differ from other managersthat we have seen through here. So,
I mean when I first got here, it was Buck and I honestly
I didn't I wasn't at a pointin my career. I was just so
early in covering baseball that I reallydidn't pay that much attention. I feel
like wash was very similar to Boachin his approach uh as far as having
(20:00):
those conversations, wanting those open linesof communication. I think that's why the
players loved him so much and playedso hard for him. I think Banny
probably was a little more involved,if I were to characterize it, and
then Wood he being a first timemanager. I think there was it kind
of fluctuated there. It just itwas different at different time, you know,
(20:25):
kind of based on and that wassuch a young team that he had.
Yeah, you know, I thinkhe felt like he needed to be
around and involved more than if hewould have had a more experienced veteran team.
I'm having a mental fart right now. Where did he wind up?
What he Yeah, he's back withthe Dodgers, and I don't know if
(20:47):
he's still there or not. That'sa great question. I haven't kept intact.
I keep in touch with Aaron,his wife, but he was a
special assistant in moving instructor. ButI don't know if he still is.
Yeah. On January twenty, twentytwenty three, he was hired as a
special assistant in the front office aswell as a roving infield instructor. Unless
(21:10):
that's changed in the last year,which maybe. Yeah, I think he's
still doing something with them in somecapacity. Yeah, Emily, is whyatt
Langford going to hit a home runthis year? You think he is?
Yes, it's gonna happen tomorrow.Oh, okay, that's good. And
then one more guy that I wantedto ask about, because Jack fn Lighter
is going to start a game tomorrowand we just went through it, like
(21:32):
the starting rotation if you include MichaelLorenzen in that, and like there's five
guys there plus Bradford, who,in theory should be back and Shures will
be on the way if Jack Lighterdoes okay or better? Do you think
they're open to the idea that henever plays minor league baseball again? Listen,
I don't think they're taking anything offthe table. I think it's it's
(21:53):
going to be a bit of alittle bit of a challenge to find that
spot form. The fact is you'vegot some time to work with it,
and you also keep you know,kind of coming back to is Andrew Chini
better served out of the bullten?You know, is that a possibility he's
been frustrated with the start that he'sgot that he's gotten off to you know,
(22:15):
is that would that be an option? You know? I think they'll
look at all the possibilities. Butyeah, if you go out in shoves
tomorrow, I can't imagine they'll belike, Okay, well thanks for your
service and we'll, you know,see if see you next time. We
need a spot start. So youthink tomorrow Jack Glider is gonna whip their
ass and Langford's going yard, Sowhy not let's just put it all out
(22:40):
there. I like it. Ilike it too. I support this all
right, Emily, you were excellentin one of the kind as always.
Well, thank you. I appreciatethat. Uh, of course, I
always love you. And I needto figure out when I can come in
studio because I'm I see I'm gettingmy ring on Monday, so I can
(23:00):
come in studio. Maybe when theteam, Maybe when the team's on the
road, because we're at home nextweek. Maybe when the team's on the
road, like maybe that when Idon't know, Yeah, maybe I could
do Maybe I could do next thatWednesday May first, I could come in
and and do Gateway to the Rangersin the studio. Okay, Well,
(23:22):
Julie's your handler. Just work itout with her. Okay, Yeah,
and I'll let you try my ringon all right. Might run away never
come back? Yeah, Mike,you wouldn't be able to find me.
Oh I would Julie. I wouldhunch you down. Yeah. I don't
(23:42):
think Julie would be good at likehiding and getting off the grid. She'd
be findable. Well, actually,I was gonna say I think I might
could. I might compete you ina foot race, But now I'm I'm
certain I couldn't because you're like tennisqueen. So you're you get up,
you get the baseline to baseline.I'm sure you're you're killing it. I
think there's only one way to findout, way to find out. I'm
(24:06):
not exactly what you would call afast twitch girl. We'll find out one
of these days. Okay, okay, okay, I'm going in Detroit with
your evening. Okay, I will, I will. I'm gonna sit here
in a hotel room and watch baseballbecause I know how to party. Yeah,
you do know how to party.That's why you're my girl. Okay,
(24:30):
all right, love you guys.I am there. She is,
the great Emily Jones with us hereon the speakeasy as she always is.
With Gateway to the Rangers coming upnext. Let's head to our place.
What do you say
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