This week on Inside the (Rob) Parker, Rob explains why Ronald Acuña has already ascended to superstar status in only his second year, why a Dodgers/Yankees World Series would be a blockbuster would be huge for MLB, and looks at the Astros aces setting up for a rare 1, 2 Cy Young finish. He also names his Top 3 MLB Teams of the Week, this week's 'Twitter Trash Talk' Winner, 'Fair or Foul' and the Analytic Stat of the Week.
Guests: Jacque Jones - Former MLB Outfielder discusses going back to USC to get his degree at 44, which players from his generation would best be suited for today's game, and his connection to his early Twins team; Mark Willard - KNBR Host discusses the Giants and A's playoff chances.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
From the Berke shears to the sound from wherever you
live in MLB America. This is Inside the Parker. You
give us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the
scoop on Major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of
Fame voter number one oh three, Rob Parker. Welcome to
Inside the Parker. We got a great show for you today.
(00:25):
Coming up, we're gonna talk with former Twins outfielder Jock Jones.
He stops by tells us about what he's doing post baseball.
It'll be an interested listen. Plus, we'll do foul Affair
with j R. Gamble j R. Of course from the
Shadow League dot Com. We've got that and much more.
(00:48):
I'm Rob Parker, your host. I'm here, you there. Let's
go up to lead off. It's getting robbed and keep
him on. Rob's hot take on the three biggest story
in Major League Baseball. Number one. Don't look now, but
Ronald Lacuna Junior is headed for startup. I know people
(01:11):
know about him, and he's been a really good player,
but but this year, more so than ever, it's hard
not to look at this guy and think that he
could be like a Mike Trout kind of person with
the numbers he's putting up. A Kunya this past week
became just the second youngest player in baseball history behind
(01:34):
Yes Mike Trout to hit thirty home runs and steal
thirty bases in the same season. That's right, and a Kunia,
with about five weeks left to the baseball season, has
thirty six homers thirty steels. This was as of Tuesday,
and he could become you ready for this the fifth
player in baseball history to join the forty forty club.
(01:58):
It's possible, it's reachable. You know what's even more scary
that he'll be twenty two in December. This guy is
tearing up Major League Baseball. People in the Braves organization
know that they got a bona fide star. They have
a guy who could be the anchor of their team
(02:19):
for the next ten fifteen years. That's why the name
uh Mike Trout comes up. Um. One thing that's never
been done in baseball is the fifty fifty club. Fifty
home runs, fifty steals, especially since guys don't steal bases
like they used to. But um, is it impossible? Is
(02:39):
this Skuy not the limit? This guy was the teen
National League Rookie a year for good reason. And there's
no sophomore Jinks sophomore slump with a Kuna. He has
been lethal. That's why the Braves are in position to
win the NL East. The Braves are a really good team.
And Ronald Acuna is a star bigger than just a
(03:02):
rookie of the year. He's a star in baseball and
could be the next forty forty man And you know what,
that would be amazing. Number two. Yes, it lived up
to the hype the Yankees coming to Dodger Stadium the
past weekend and people talked about it as it was
(03:22):
a preview, potential preview of the World Series, two storied
franchises meeting in l A. The Yankees don't come West
and don't come the uh l A often. And yes,
the crowd it felt like it was more than just
a regular season game. It felt like a playoff game.
(03:44):
Um on the three nights that they had baseball and
it was amazing. And you know what, not only did
being in the ballpark feel like this was something special,
it also played well on television uh Sunday Nights game
the Yankees and Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball delivered a
(04:04):
one point nine meted market rating on ESPN, matching the
Yankees Red Sox on July as the highest rated Sunday
Night Baseball of the year. That was according to Nielsen.
And not only that, Sunday Nights telecast was up fifty
eight percent from last year's comparable game. And and you
(04:25):
know what, it's a dream matchup for Major League Baseball.
I know Astros fans don't want to hear it. They
want to rematch with the Dodgers, the Astros Dodgers from
a couple of years ago. But boy, would this be
something from major League Baseball. If it's the Yankees and Dodgers,
two biggest cities, two story franchises, home run hitters up
(04:48):
and down, each lineup star studded, it would be amazing.
And I think baseball would flourish and all eyes would
be on the Fall Classic if we re around the clock.
And you know what, went back to the UH. Two
teams that have faced themselves faced each other the most
(05:10):
in UH World Series history, the Yankees and the Dodgers
number three. Here we go. Justin Verlander and Garrett Cole
are the two most dominant pictures in the American League,
and so it only makes sense that these two guys
are battling for the a L cy young two teammates
(05:34):
and UH most people think that one of those two
guys could wind up being the side young UH for
the American League. Right now, coming into Tuesday, Verlander led
the league with two hundred and thirty nine strikeouts. Cole
had just one fewer, and Cole leads the a L
with a two point seven five e R a Verlanders
(05:56):
R a two point seven seven. That's why a lot
of people think that the UH Astros have a great
chance to win a World Series because they have these
two guys at the top of their rotation. They also
went out and made the big trade to get Zack
Granky to be their third man. Imagine going into a
series with those three guys at the top of the rotation.
(06:19):
The only bad part is I'm still have a hard
time with Verlander. UH basically having a reporter band from
the press box UH from the postgame meeting with him
because he didn't like the guy from the Detroit Free Press.
Verlander is too good. He's a potential Hall of Famer.
UH to be worried about reporters and doing stuff like that.
(06:43):
The astros were wrong for banning the reporter and not
letting them talk to Verlander, and Verlander was wrong. Both
of them were wrong. And the one part that I
just still look at is I think the reporters his
fellow scribes were wrong to take part in any press
conference that ver Enda was doing, especially whenever they all
knew that, uh, the reporter from the Detroit Free Press
(07:06):
was banned from taking part in the press conference. It
sets a bad precedent. I know personally, I would have
never taken part of that press conference. If another reporter
had been banned, you know why it could have been me.
Here comes the big interview. Listen, good, All right, let's
(07:27):
welcome in former Major League outfielder Jock Jones, who came
up with the Minnesota Twins in and he joins us
on the Inside the Parker Podcast. What's happening? Jock Man
doing great? So I'm gonna tell everybody. You know, people
know that I'm an adjunct professor at USC. So I'm
(07:50):
walking to campus on Monday, which was the first day
of school, and who do I see with his backpack
on his back? It's Mr Jones. Himself. Man, what's going on?
You go to USC I know you played their baseball,
but what's going on? So I came back, uh to
finish up. I had a year and a half to
(08:13):
finish and Uh, I was actually saw you on campis
last year, but I didn't stop you. And I was
taking myself first, not stopping you. But I saw you
again and I said, Man, I'm gonna stop this guy
this time. And I've been going to school for the
last year and uh, my last semestor, which is a
fall semestor of nineteen my last semestor of gatuate. Man,
and what what are you majoring in? What's your concentration? Sociology?
(08:37):
Um was the study of people, And like it's always
been on my heart. And I wasn't very active in
the very program and the buses for baseball program with
Major League day fall and just to go back to
my neighborhood that I grew up in a mentor of
the kids that uh have come behind me, and that's
an awesome thing. And wasn't hard to go back to school.
(08:59):
I mean, you're not a spring chicken now forty four
years old. To get back in the classroom with the
kids and and just say I'm gonna finish this and
make this happen. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know what
to expect, but I know. I mean, I have kids myself.
I have a twenty one year old he's a senior
at the University of Alabama. Uh, he's a criminal justice major.
I've got a thirteen year old daughter. So I have
(09:20):
a post on how kids are and how they add
now they interact and I feel like I'm still a kid.
It hard. I didn't feel like it was gonna be
that big of a deal. But the first three weeks
were kind of tough because the educational part of my
brain was turned off because all I knew were numbers
and what pictures were trying to do, and how they're
trying to get me out and how you know, the coach,
(09:42):
how they're trying to get the other you know, get
ahead of the other pictures and the hitters and all
that stuff. And so after about three weeks, everything seemed
to settle in it and it was back normally. Still
has been pretty fun and easy, man, pretty amazing. Uh.
Back in the nine you played the United States Olympic
team got a bronze medal. We see in the NBA. Now,
(10:05):
like a lot of NBA players who aren't really may
be interested in playing for those international kind of things. Uh,
how what was your experience like? And you think, as
we move forward and guys keep making bigger and bigger money,
maybe you know, playing uh in events like the Olympics
won't be as appealing. Um, for me, it was great
(10:29):
because we could hold onto the fact that we were
the last college team to participate in the Olympics. We
had a good showing. Looking back on it, though it
was I don't know if it was it was more
of an experience think for us to get experience, but
it was a disservice because we're playing against growing But
you're a man, especially on the Cuban side, you know
(10:49):
what I mean. But I think, I think what what
kind of deterred people from uh maybe wanted to participate? Now,
I was a freak thing that happened to Paul George,
you know what I mean. Michael Jordan and those guys
were the first really dream team to go off there
and participate in win gold medals, and then people professor
(11:12):
athletes fell in love with that. But I think after this,
Paul George and the way the contracts are and how
much one of these guys are making, I think they're
having second thoughts about participating in this kind of thing,
No doubt about it. You broken, I said earlier with
the Twins in you wand up hitting a hundred and
sixty five career home runs to seventy seven batting average.
(11:33):
How many home runs would you hit in this baseball era,
with the type baseball, with guys swinging for the fencers,
strikeouts don't matter. How many home runs would you hit
a season? I probably my career probably two thirty, but
I'd probably have a hundred or more home runs With
the way you guys are going. I mean, they just
seems like everyone's trying to lift the ball out of
(11:55):
the ball park, and it's it's funny and interesting at
the same time. Because I heard King Grisse Jr. On
the telecast last night say, you know, the guys after
the home runs, he said, Man, I just tried to
hit the ball hard on the line, and I miss
hit like forty every year and they went over the fence.
He goes, but I tried to hit the ball on
hard on the line, which is how I taught hitting.
When I was with the Nashvials and how I which
(12:16):
was my pros to hitting? Which should be what the
opposed to hitting is. Now, I'm glad you brought up
Ken Griffy Jr. Lebron James said that, uh, and you
were a left handed hit her. Lebron James said that
Ken Griffey Jr. Had the sweetest swing in the history
of baseball. I believe the best swing does come from
(12:36):
a left hander. But do you agree it's Ken Griffy Jr.
Swinging from the left side. I love Junior and he
he had a sweet swing, But I think this wead
swing is. I mean it's probably a top between Ted
Williams and Very Bonds. I mean Barry Bond swing was
so short and direct to the ball, and he didn't
try to lift it and he I mean his homers
(12:57):
were on the line right and and if he if
he miss hit it a little bit and got under it,
it went even further. But he hit the ball so
hard man on the line and it just I mean
it left the park like like yesterday. Now, I'm with you.
I do have if I were to throw in one
as a as a secondary guy or close to it,
(13:20):
I would say, Darryl Strawberries left handed swing with that
looping home run swing. What do you think about Strawberries. Yeah,
it was short too, it was short and powerful. I
mean even him, man, he didn't I mean he he
was already strong enough, so he didn't try to do
too much. He just try to hit the ball hard.
And there's just a short, quick compact swing, no doubt
(13:42):
about it. So tell me about your major league career.
You played in Minnesota, like I said, Chicago with the Cubs,
Detroit and the Marlins. What what what sticks out to
you in your mind your baseball career? What was your
moment when you were like, man, that was pretty awesome. Um,
just looking back on how we were in Minnesota. We
(14:03):
were a family who were brothers. We were twenty five brothers.
We didn't all get along, but uh you couldn't. I
mean we could fight amongst each other, but the other team.
We protected our own. You understand what I'm saying. Absolutely,
the further we get away from all that, Like, my
friends are still Tory Hunter, Latroit Hawkin and Matt Longon
(14:24):
and Eddie Guardato us five were still closing hit. We
do family things together. Our kids are growing up. Our
kids still interact, but you just don't find that man,
You don't find that family atmosphere and have good athletes
and good baseball players all at the same time, Like
we had that in Minnesota and it was it was
awesome and we were all still in contact. All right.
(14:45):
His name is Jack Jones, man sweet left handed swing
u former Major league outfielder. Hey, Jack, we appreciate your time, man,
the best of luck the school, and congratulations man at USC.
It's time for the pocket Protector Central the analytic numbers
you need to know, well maybe FS Ones. Anthony Masterson
(15:10):
is his name. BS analytics is his game? What you
got force, Anthony? All right, Rob. Last week we talked
about pitch framing, So for this week, let's stay behind
the plate and talk about pop time. Now, pop time
isn't necessarily a new thing ole metric, but all the
new technology surrounding the game gives us more of an
opportunity to appreciate what a catcher can do. Frankly, put,
pop time measures the time from the moment the pitch
(15:32):
hits the catcher's mitts the moment the ball hits the
projected fielder's mit. Say, on a stolen base attempt. It's
a combo of how quickly that catcher releases the ball
and the velocity to catch your fires of baseball. Now
we can use all these metrics together to find the
backstops to do the best at controlling the running game
based on sheer, physical talents and quickness. The average big
league pop time on a steel attentive second is just
(15:53):
over two seconds. This year, phillyas All Star catcher JT.
Real Muto leads all of baseball with an average pop
time on the second base of one point eight eight seconds. Now,
the quickest hands in the game they want to the
White Sox Wellington Castillo, with an average exchange from glove
to hand of point six three seconds. While one of
the top catching prospects in the entire game of baseball,
(16:14):
the Padres Francisco Mahia, has the strongest arm of any
catcher in the game. The twenty four year old has
been clocked at eighty nine miles per hour this season
on the second rob They are no longer the tools
of ignorance. All right, Anthony, good stuff, We might just
might be able to use that. It was a big
(16:36):
week in the big leagues. Who is it follow or
is it fair? And now here? Shadow League dot Com,
MLB Insider Jr Gamble NBA superstar Lebron James. We know
(16:57):
he has an affinity for the Yankees, but he said
the greatest swing in the history of baseball belongs to Junior.
That's Ken Griffey Jr Jr. Is that foul or is
that fair? That's fair? That's a ball. I mean, Bron
might not be a baseball guy, but he was just
(17:18):
about dead on with this one. Griffy certainly has the
top five all time swing, not as far as duty
and effortlessness goals, but he does have some competition. In
my book, Um, George Brett swing was like picture perfect,
you know. Will Clark had a pretty swing. Every point
he took it was like he was taking a picture,
(17:39):
you know. Tony Gwen was like fundamentally omnipotent with this swing.
Rock carew was mechanical and pinpoint accurate. And let's not
forget down Strawberry. He had a top ten swing all time.
He came through his own like like an extended laser.
But no one who really put up an argument against
the kids the best swing ever. It's an easy thing
(18:00):
out there and not have anybody question by Brown Jr.
The one thing I will agree, and I think any
baseball fan would agree, the left handed swing is the
prettier swing. Fasten your seatbell, give me, give me. Here
comes Parker's top three MLB teams this week. Number three
(18:26):
that Houston Astros, coming into Tuesday a record of eight
five and seventy four. Yes, we know they're loaded. They
have unbelievable pitching. Two of their stars, Justin Verlander and
Garrett col Er neck and neck for the Cy Young Award,
winning the American League there number one and two and
(18:47):
strikeouts which is incredible. And uh Verlander as well, has
uh won the award once, He's finished second three times
and uh here he is long in the tooth in
his career, but in the mix. But the Astro still
as good as they are. I have them as the
(19:08):
third best team in baseball. Number two the Los Angeles Dodgers,
coming into Tuesday a record of eighties six and forty six.
Incredible forty games over five hundred and Yes, but this
past weekend they had a chance to really solidify that
(19:28):
they were that team, and instead they lost two of
three to the Bronx Bombers in l a and even
to get one game that they want. They didn't hit
in this series. Um they were able to escape with
a two to one win, uh to for their only
game in that series. The Yankees really dominated and hit
(19:49):
better than the Dodgers. So I have them as a
second best team in baseball. Number one, the New York
freaking Yankees. And here's the reason to be afraid of them.
Aaron George has his home run bad again. The Yankees
entered Tuesday eighty five and forty seven. They've had nothing
(20:12):
but injuries. We've chronicled that, but Aaron George hit a
home run in each of the three games in Los Angeles.
Some were just monster shots. One on Sunday to right
field was just the laser to center fielder to right center.
Center fielder didn't even move. And this is just telling
you about how powerful the Yankees are. Love their bullpen. Yes,
(20:36):
starting rotation is iffy, but if they can get five
innings out of their starters, they will be in place
to have a chance to win a World Series. So
right now, as I've been saying most of the season,
the New York freaking Yankees are the best team in baseball.
They got the It's time for track talk Twitter, Twitter
(21:01):
with your chance to trash anyone or anything in Major
League Baseball. This week's winner is at Kanaan Cadwell. He's
an Astros fan and he ain't happy He sent this
tweet while the Yankees are guaranteeing a World Series between
them and l A. The disrespect to the Astros can't
(21:23):
wait till the postseason end quote. If you want a
chance to win a new era snapback just like Canaan,
Send your trash to at Rob Parker FS one on Twitter.
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto.
If I'm writing, I'm riffing. Let's bring in a writer
(21:46):
and broadcaster older new All right, let's welcome into the
podcast my former radio partner and of course uh k
n BR radio host in San Francisco. His name is
Mark Willard. Mark, Welcome to the podcast. It's good to
be with you, man. I'm I'm set to challenge you
now to be America's biggest baseball hawk. You know it,
(22:07):
all right, let's do it. How you doing? Everything good?
Everything is great, And I want to talk to you
about both the Giants and the A's. The Giants are
currently as of Tuesday, four and a half games out
of the wild card Mark was it a smart decision
to to hold on the players and not trade them
away and make a push for the playoffs and boost
(22:29):
boa ches last season? Yeah, it was in misrespect. I
don't think they were holding on and going forward as
much as people think. I think the reason Madison bump
Garner is still a Giant is because they didn't like
the offers. I don't think it was because they dug
their heels in and decided, uh, we're we're going for it.
(22:51):
If you look at the other moves they made in time,
they did make moves that that were established veterans four
younger player year in other words, were looking to the future.
They gave up Damn Dyston and drew Palmerands and Mark
Lanton out of their boat then and uh and got
young guys. In fact, the guy they got for Palmrands
from the Brewers their numbers three prospect, Mauriceio Dupon, is
(23:15):
joining the Giants tonight and has been pulled up. The
only for now acquisition they made was Scooter Jeannette, which
didn't cost him anything, and they just announced that they're
releasing him as it today, so they did have an
eye on the future. UM, but I think that it
ended up making sense based on the lack of large
(23:35):
offers the rental type players were getting UM and so
I just don't think they liked the offers for will
Smith or Madison bum Gardner. And and it kind of
works because they were winning some of the games at
that point. The fan base really wanted him to hold
onto those guys anyway, So I think that's why they did.
Speaking of the fan base, we know how great uh
baseball fans are on the Bay Area, especially the Giants.
(23:58):
I mean for years. The man of course, one three
World Series in a in a short period of time
in six years. Uh, how tough is it to see
the stands not filled and people you know, taking a
break and figuring that they're going to reload and they'll
be back. Yeah. They I think everyone's gotten used to
it because it's been a little bit of a steady
(24:19):
decline for the last three years. And actually they had
a pretty good summer because right when the kids got
out of school, the Giants started winning and and the
ballpark was while not sold out, I mean it was
it was north of thirty thousand almost every night. Uh
and and so that's that's certainly acceptable with everybody going
back to school in the last week or so. They
(24:41):
had a game last night against the Diamondbacks that was
a pretty pretty quiet and small crowd by their standards.
I think they announced twenty nine thousand. But it's something
that that you know, it was a little jarring and
a couple of years ago, but um, it's understandable at
this point. It's it's a lot of the same players
who are who are in decline. They've also had some
(25:03):
pr issues with what happened with Larry Bear being suspended, right,
and so that's that that factors into all this. But
it's still a team that that is very much involved
with the heartbeat of the city. And and you know,
as soon as as soon as they start winning a
few more ball games, I think it corrects itself pretty quickly.
(25:23):
Let's switch to the other team in the Batty Oakland
A's and they're gonna make the playoffs again. It looks
like it. They have a good team. They always around
the mix. They don't spend a lot of money, they
don't have the biggest stars. They have some you know,
really good players, uh, Chris Davis and uh. But but
this is the other thing. At some point, doesn't Billy
(25:45):
be need to be able to win more than just
make the playoffs before you can really say that this
guy is worth all the accolades and all the talk
and everybody else following his rule. It's one thing to compete,
but not to be able to advance. And when in
the playoffs do they have to do that at some point?
I don't know. I mean, first off, there's no there
(26:05):
isn't a fan based drumbeat for anything, right. The fan
base doesn't demand anything because it's just not that huge
of a fan base. And when you also look at
the resources like he's given, making the playoffs with some
consistency is actually amazing. Um. And the fact that you
know they have to be able to those even in
the playoffs, you know, it's it's kind of acceptable because
(26:28):
every single year they find diamonds in the rough. They've
got good young players. When they get really good, they
let them go and then WinCE, repeat, they do it again.
So every year they're good, yet it seems like every
year it's a surprise again when they are And so
when it's a surprise when they're good. Uh, there's just
not that much pressure to too much when you get there.
(26:50):
And so the same thing this year. The Ostros are
the big dog in the division and they'll win it.
And if the Aids can somehow grind out a wild
card and then maybe do something with it if they
get there, Um, you know, I think, um, you know,
whatever fans they have will be satisfied. And just speaking
of fans, that's the other part. When they get this
new ballpark, do you think that will change things? Because
(27:13):
as much as people like you know, look at the
A's and think of them as the step child and whatever,
that's a proud franchise and had some really great players
and and great teams at one point in Oakland, you
think the ballpark will make that big of a difference. Mark, Well,
the interesting thing you said there is when they get
the ballpark, and and I would tell you that just
about anybody in the bad area would say it's rather
(27:35):
presumptives to assume that what they are proposing is actually
going to happen. And you know, the stadium, especially in
the state of California, are incredibly, incredibly tricky, difficult. The
city of Oakland. We don't need to tell you what's
going on stadium wise there. The Raiders are going to
Vegas and the Warriors have moved to San Francisco. It
(27:57):
is really tricky and and again the team that does
not have behind it a big, loud fan base that's
demanding things. So I would more say if that happens,
then in a short example, would it help absolutely. But
you know, this rob is just like the Charges landing
(28:17):
in l A when they went through a stadium thing um,
and it's not being that successful out of the gate
because they're just isn't that love from the fan base?
And here in the Bay Area the log is reserved
mostly for the Giants. So I just I don't I
don't know if anything long term or short term is
going to be considered wildly successful in terms of numbers. Alright,
(28:40):
his name Mark Willard from k m b R, one
of the best talk show hosts in the Bay Area.
We appreciate the knowledge, Mark, Thank you, my dude. Anytime.
Now bringing the closer why MLB is better than the
NFL or NBA, and it isn't even close. This is
(29:03):
why baseball is better than the NFL and NBA, especially
when you talk about the NFL. You just can play
the game longer. We just saw this. We saw a
twenty nine year old quarterback in Andrew Luck have to
call it quits because he can't do it anymore. Can
(29:25):
I run off the names and numbers of people play
Major League baseball for twenty years? Derek Jeter played twenty
years all in the Bronx. We know Cal Ripken Jr.
We can go Dave Winfield. I can go on and
on and on. You can play baseball for a long time.
We're looking at Lebron James coming into year seventeen. Most
(29:48):
of the guys in his draft class there long gone
or not playing anymore. It's hard. You can play baseball
for a long time as a player. Imagine logging twenty years,
making all that guaranteed cheese. You want to talk about
bonding with the player, not fearful that he's gonna disappear
(30:11):
after a cup of coffee and a sweet roll in
the NFL doesn't happen. You buy a jersey, You're probably
gonna be pretty good. I know this movement, but that
player is gonna be around for a long time. Baseball
has longevity That's why people were like Kyler Murray, are
you sure you want to play in the National Football League.
(30:35):
I get it, you're a quarterback. You're going straight to
the pros. There's no minor leagues, there's no busses. You're
gonna be a household name overnight. How long will you
play in the NFL? Major League Baseball is the king
when it comes to making money and having an extended career.
(30:59):
That's why baseball is better than the NFL and the NBA.
In the words of New York TV legend the late
Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your time, this time until
next time. Rob Parker out he can't get it. This
(31:20):
could be an inside the Parker to see you next weekend,
same bad time. Saint Manns Station
From the Berke shears to the sound from wherever you
live in MLB America. This is Inside the Parker. You
give us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the
scoop on Major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of
Fame voter number one oh three, Rob Parker. Welcome to
Inside the Parker. We got a great show for you today.
(00:25):
Coming up, we're gonna talk with former Twins outfielder Jock Jones.
He stops by tells us about what he's doing post baseball.
It'll be an interested listen. Plus, we'll do foul Affair
with j R. Gamble j R. Of course from the
Shadow League dot Com. We've got that and much more.
(00:48):
I'm Rob Parker, your host. I'm here, you there. Let's
go up to lead off. It's getting robbed and keep
him on. Rob's hot take on the three biggest story
in Major League Baseball. Number one. Don't look now, but
Ronald Lacuna Junior is headed for startup. I know people
(01:11):
know about him, and he's been a really good player,
but but this year, more so than ever, it's hard
not to look at this guy and think that he
could be like a Mike Trout kind of person with
the numbers he's putting up. A Kunya this past week
became just the second youngest player in baseball history behind
(01:34):
Yes Mike Trout to hit thirty home runs and steal
thirty bases in the same season. That's right, and a Kunia,
with about five weeks left to the baseball season, has
thirty six homers thirty steels. This was as of Tuesday,
and he could become you ready for this the fifth
player in baseball history to join the forty forty club.
(01:58):
It's possible, it's reachable. You know what's even more scary
that he'll be twenty two in December. This guy is
tearing up Major League Baseball. People in the Braves organization
know that they got a bona fide star. They have
a guy who could be the anchor of their team
(02:19):
for the next ten fifteen years. That's why the name
uh Mike Trout comes up. Um. One thing that's never
been done in baseball is the fifty fifty club. Fifty
home runs, fifty steals, especially since guys don't steal bases
like they used to. But um, is it impossible? Is
(02:39):
this Skuy not the limit? This guy was the teen
National League Rookie a year for good reason. And there's
no sophomore Jinks sophomore slump with a Kuna. He has
been lethal. That's why the Braves are in position to
win the NL East. The Braves are a really good team.
And Ronald Acuna is a star bigger than just a
(03:02):
rookie of the year. He's a star in baseball and
could be the next forty forty man And you know what,
that would be amazing. Number two. Yes, it lived up
to the hype the Yankees coming to Dodger Stadium the
past weekend and people talked about it as it was
(03:22):
a preview, potential preview of the World Series, two storied
franchises meeting in l A. The Yankees don't come West
and don't come the uh l A often. And yes,
the crowd it felt like it was more than just
a regular season game. It felt like a playoff game.
(03:44):
Um on the three nights that they had baseball and
it was amazing. And you know what, not only did
being in the ballpark feel like this was something special,
it also played well on television uh Sunday Nights game
the Yankees and Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball delivered a
(04:04):
one point nine meted market rating on ESPN, matching the
Yankees Red Sox on July as the highest rated Sunday
Night Baseball of the year. That was according to Nielsen.
And not only that, Sunday Nights telecast was up fifty
eight percent from last year's comparable game. And and you
(04:25):
know what, it's a dream matchup for Major League Baseball.
I know Astros fans don't want to hear it. They
want to rematch with the Dodgers, the Astros Dodgers from
a couple of years ago. But boy, would this be
something from major League Baseball. If it's the Yankees and Dodgers,
two biggest cities, two story franchises, home run hitters up
(04:48):
and down, each lineup star studded, it would be amazing.
And I think baseball would flourish and all eyes would
be on the Fall Classic if we re around the clock.
And you know what, went back to the UH. Two
teams that have faced themselves faced each other the most
(05:10):
in UH World Series history, the Yankees and the Dodgers
number three. Here we go. Justin Verlander and Garrett Cole
are the two most dominant pictures in the American League,
and so it only makes sense that these two guys
are battling for the a L cy young two teammates
(05:34):
and UH most people think that one of those two
guys could wind up being the side young UH for
the American League. Right now, coming into Tuesday, Verlander led
the league with two hundred and thirty nine strikeouts. Cole
had just one fewer, and Cole leads the a L
with a two point seven five e R a Verlanders
(05:56):
R a two point seven seven. That's why a lot
of people think that the UH Astros have a great
chance to win a World Series because they have these
two guys at the top of their rotation. They also
went out and made the big trade to get Zack
Granky to be their third man. Imagine going into a
series with those three guys at the top of the rotation.
(06:19):
The only bad part is I'm still have a hard
time with Verlander. UH basically having a reporter band from
the press box UH from the postgame meeting with him
because he didn't like the guy from the Detroit Free Press.
Verlander is too good. He's a potential Hall of Famer.
UH to be worried about reporters and doing stuff like that.
(06:43):
The astros were wrong for banning the reporter and not
letting them talk to Verlander, and Verlander was wrong. Both
of them were wrong. And the one part that I
just still look at is I think the reporters his
fellow scribes were wrong to take part in any press
conference that ver Enda was doing, especially whenever they all
knew that, uh, the reporter from the Detroit Free Press
(07:06):
was banned from taking part in the press conference. It
sets a bad precedent. I know personally, I would have
never taken part of that press conference. If another reporter
had been banned, you know why it could have been me.
Here comes the big interview. Listen, good, All right, let's
(07:27):
welcome in former Major League outfielder Jock Jones, who came
up with the Minnesota Twins in and he joins us
on the Inside the Parker Podcast. What's happening? Jock Man
doing great? So I'm gonna tell everybody. You know, people
know that I'm an adjunct professor at USC. So I'm
(07:50):
walking to campus on Monday, which was the first day
of school, and who do I see with his backpack
on his back? It's Mr Jones. Himself. Man, what's going on?
You go to USC I know you played their baseball,
but what's going on? So I came back, uh to
finish up. I had a year and a half to
(08:13):
finish and Uh, I was actually saw you on campis
last year, but I didn't stop you. And I was
taking myself first, not stopping you. But I saw you
again and I said, Man, I'm gonna stop this guy
this time. And I've been going to school for the
last year and uh, my last semestor, which is a
fall semestor of nineteen my last semestor of gatuate. Man,
and what what are you majoring in? What's your concentration? Sociology?
(08:37):
Um was the study of people, And like it's always
been on my heart. And I wasn't very active in
the very program and the buses for baseball program with
Major League day fall and just to go back to
my neighborhood that I grew up in a mentor of
the kids that uh have come behind me, and that's
an awesome thing. And wasn't hard to go back to school.
(08:59):
I mean, you're not a spring chicken now forty four
years old. To get back in the classroom with the
kids and and just say I'm gonna finish this and
make this happen. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know what
to expect, but I know. I mean, I have kids myself.
I have a twenty one year old he's a senior
at the University of Alabama. Uh, he's a criminal justice major.
I've got a thirteen year old daughter. So I have
(09:20):
a post on how kids are and how they add
now they interact and I feel like I'm still a kid.
It hard. I didn't feel like it was gonna be
that big of a deal. But the first three weeks
were kind of tough because the educational part of my
brain was turned off because all I knew were numbers
and what pictures were trying to do, and how they're
trying to get me out and how you know, the coach,
(09:42):
how they're trying to get the other you know, get
ahead of the other pictures and the hitters and all
that stuff. And so after about three weeks, everything seemed
to settle in it and it was back normally. Still
has been pretty fun and easy, man, pretty amazing. Uh.
Back in the nine you played the United States Olympic
team got a bronze medal. We see in the NBA. Now,
(10:05):
like a lot of NBA players who aren't really may
be interested in playing for those international kind of things. Uh,
how what was your experience like? And you think, as
we move forward and guys keep making bigger and bigger money,
maybe you know, playing uh in events like the Olympics
won't be as appealing. Um, for me, it was great
(10:29):
because we could hold onto the fact that we were
the last college team to participate in the Olympics. We
had a good showing. Looking back on it, though it
was I don't know if it was it was more
of an experience think for us to get experience, but
it was a disservice because we're playing against growing But
you're a man, especially on the Cuban side, you know
(10:49):
what I mean. But I think, I think what what
kind of deterred people from uh maybe wanted to participate? Now,
I was a freak thing that happened to Paul George,
you know what I mean. Michael Jordan and those guys
were the first really dream team to go off there
and participate in win gold medals, and then people professor
(11:12):
athletes fell in love with that. But I think after this,
Paul George and the way the contracts are and how
much one of these guys are making, I think they're
having second thoughts about participating in this kind of thing,
No doubt about it. You broken, I said earlier with
the Twins in you wand up hitting a hundred and
sixty five career home runs to seventy seven batting average.
(11:33):
How many home runs would you hit in this baseball era,
with the type baseball, with guys swinging for the fencers,
strikeouts don't matter. How many home runs would you hit
a season? I probably my career probably two thirty, but
I'd probably have a hundred or more home runs With
the way you guys are going. I mean, they just
seems like everyone's trying to lift the ball out of
(11:55):
the ball park, and it's it's funny and interesting at
the same time. Because I heard King Grisse Jr. On
the telecast last night say, you know, the guys after
the home runs, he said, Man, I just tried to
hit the ball hard on the line, and I miss
hit like forty every year and they went over the fence.
He goes, but I tried to hit the ball on
hard on the line, which is how I taught hitting.
When I was with the Nashvials and how I which
(12:16):
was my pros to hitting? Which should be what the
opposed to hitting is. Now, I'm glad you brought up
Ken Griffy Jr. Lebron James said that, uh, and you
were a left handed hit her. Lebron James said that
Ken Griffey Jr. Had the sweetest swing in the history
of baseball. I believe the best swing does come from
(12:36):
a left hander. But do you agree it's Ken Griffy Jr.
Swinging from the left side. I love Junior and he
he had a sweet swing, But I think this wead
swing is. I mean it's probably a top between Ted
Williams and Very Bonds. I mean Barry Bond swing was
so short and direct to the ball, and he didn't
try to lift it and he I mean his homers
(12:57):
were on the line right and and if he if
he miss hit it a little bit and got under it,
it went even further. But he hit the ball so
hard man on the line and it just I mean
it left the park like like yesterday. Now, I'm with you.
I do have if I were to throw in one
as a as a secondary guy or close to it,
(13:20):
I would say, Darryl Strawberries left handed swing with that
looping home run swing. What do you think about Strawberries. Yeah,
it was short too, it was short and powerful. I
mean even him, man, he didn't I mean he he
was already strong enough, so he didn't try to do
too much. He just try to hit the ball hard.
And there's just a short, quick compact swing, no doubt
(13:42):
about it. So tell me about your major league career.
You played in Minnesota, like I said, Chicago with the Cubs,
Detroit and the Marlins. What what what sticks out to
you in your mind your baseball career? What was your
moment when you were like, man, that was pretty awesome. Um,
just looking back on how we were in Minnesota. We
(14:03):
were a family who were brothers. We were twenty five brothers.
We didn't all get along, but uh you couldn't. I
mean we could fight amongst each other, but the other team.
We protected our own. You understand what I'm saying. Absolutely,
the further we get away from all that, Like, my
friends are still Tory Hunter, Latroit Hawkin and Matt Longon
(14:24):
and Eddie Guardato us five were still closing hit. We
do family things together. Our kids are growing up. Our
kids still interact, but you just don't find that man,
You don't find that family atmosphere and have good athletes
and good baseball players all at the same time, Like
we had that in Minnesota and it was it was
awesome and we were all still in contact. All right.
(14:45):
His name is Jack Jones, man sweet left handed swing
u former Major league outfielder. Hey, Jack, we appreciate your time, man,
the best of luck the school, and congratulations man at USC.
It's time for the pocket Protector Central the analytic numbers
you need to know, well maybe FS Ones. Anthony Masterson
(15:10):
is his name. BS analytics is his game? What you
got force, Anthony? All right, Rob. Last week we talked
about pitch framing, So for this week, let's stay behind
the plate and talk about pop time. Now, pop time
isn't necessarily a new thing ole metric, but all the
new technology surrounding the game gives us more of an
opportunity to appreciate what a catcher can do. Frankly, put,
pop time measures the time from the moment the pitch
(15:32):
hits the catcher's mitts the moment the ball hits the
projected fielder's mit. Say, on a stolen base attempt. It's
a combo of how quickly that catcher releases the ball
and the velocity to catch your fires of baseball. Now
we can use all these metrics together to find the
backstops to do the best at controlling the running game
based on sheer, physical talents and quickness. The average big
league pop time on a steel attentive second is just
(15:53):
over two seconds. This year, phillyas All Star catcher JT.
Real Muto leads all of baseball with an average pop
time on the second base of one point eight eight seconds. Now,
the quickest hands in the game they want to the
White Sox Wellington Castillo, with an average exchange from glove
to hand of point six three seconds. While one of
the top catching prospects in the entire game of baseball,
(16:14):
the Padres Francisco Mahia, has the strongest arm of any
catcher in the game. The twenty four year old has
been clocked at eighty nine miles per hour this season
on the second rob They are no longer the tools
of ignorance. All right, Anthony, good stuff, We might just
might be able to use that. It was a big
(16:36):
week in the big leagues. Who is it follow or
is it fair? And now here? Shadow League dot Com,
MLB Insider Jr Gamble NBA superstar Lebron James. We know
(16:57):
he has an affinity for the Yankees, but he said
the greatest swing in the history of baseball belongs to Junior.
That's Ken Griffey Jr Jr. Is that foul or is
that fair? That's fair? That's a ball. I mean, Bron
might not be a baseball guy, but he was just
(17:18):
about dead on with this one. Griffy certainly has the
top five all time swing, not as far as duty
and effortlessness goals, but he does have some competition. In
my book, Um, George Brett swing was like picture perfect,
you know. Will Clark had a pretty swing. Every point
he took it was like he was taking a picture,
(17:39):
you know. Tony Gwen was like fundamentally omnipotent with this swing.
Rock carew was mechanical and pinpoint accurate. And let's not
forget down Strawberry. He had a top ten swing all time.
He came through his own like like an extended laser.
But no one who really put up an argument against
the kids the best swing ever. It's an easy thing
(18:00):
out there and not have anybody question by Brown Jr.
The one thing I will agree, and I think any
baseball fan would agree, the left handed swing is the
prettier swing. Fasten your seatbell, give me, give me. Here
comes Parker's top three MLB teams this week. Number three
(18:26):
that Houston Astros, coming into Tuesday a record of eight
five and seventy four. Yes, we know they're loaded. They
have unbelievable pitching. Two of their stars, Justin Verlander and
Garrett col Er neck and neck for the Cy Young Award,
winning the American League there number one and two and
(18:47):
strikeouts which is incredible. And uh Verlander as well, has
uh won the award once, He's finished second three times
and uh here he is long in the tooth in
his career, but in the mix. But the Astro still
as good as they are. I have them as the
(19:08):
third best team in baseball. Number two the Los Angeles Dodgers,
coming into Tuesday a record of eighties six and forty six.
Incredible forty games over five hundred and Yes, but this
past weekend they had a chance to really solidify that
(19:28):
they were that team, and instead they lost two of
three to the Bronx Bombers in l a and even
to get one game that they want. They didn't hit
in this series. Um they were able to escape with
a two to one win, uh to for their only
game in that series. The Yankees really dominated and hit
(19:49):
better than the Dodgers. So I have them as a
second best team in baseball. Number one, the New York
freaking Yankees. And here's the reason to be afraid of them.
Aaron George has his home run bad again. The Yankees
entered Tuesday eighty five and forty seven. They've had nothing
(20:12):
but injuries. We've chronicled that, but Aaron George hit a
home run in each of the three games in Los Angeles.
Some were just monster shots. One on Sunday to right
field was just the laser to center fielder to right center.
Center fielder didn't even move. And this is just telling
you about how powerful the Yankees are. Love their bullpen. Yes,
(20:36):
starting rotation is iffy, but if they can get five
innings out of their starters, they will be in place
to have a chance to win a World Series. So
right now, as I've been saying most of the season,
the New York freaking Yankees are the best team in baseball.
They got the It's time for track talk Twitter, Twitter
(21:01):
with your chance to trash anyone or anything in Major
League Baseball. This week's winner is at Kanaan Cadwell. He's
an Astros fan and he ain't happy He sent this
tweet while the Yankees are guaranteeing a World Series between
them and l A. The disrespect to the Astros can't
(21:23):
wait till the postseason end quote. If you want a
chance to win a new era snapback just like Canaan,
Send your trash to at Rob Parker FS one on Twitter.
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto.
If I'm writing, I'm riffing. Let's bring in a writer
(21:46):
and broadcaster older new All right, let's welcome into the
podcast my former radio partner and of course uh k
n BR radio host in San Francisco. His name is
Mark Willard. Mark, Welcome to the podcast. It's good to
be with you, man. I'm I'm set to challenge you
now to be America's biggest baseball hawk. You know it,
(22:07):
all right, let's do it. How you doing? Everything good?
Everything is great, And I want to talk to you
about both the Giants and the A's. The Giants are
currently as of Tuesday, four and a half games out
of the wild card Mark was it a smart decision
to to hold on the players and not trade them
away and make a push for the playoffs and boost
(22:29):
boa ches last season? Yeah, it was in misrespect. I
don't think they were holding on and going forward as
much as people think. I think the reason Madison bump
Garner is still a Giant is because they didn't like
the offers. I don't think it was because they dug
their heels in and decided, uh, we're we're going for it.
(22:51):
If you look at the other moves they made in time,
they did make moves that that were established veterans four
younger player year in other words, were looking to the future.
They gave up Damn Dyston and drew Palmerands and Mark
Lanton out of their boat then and uh and got
young guys. In fact, the guy they got for Palmrands
from the Brewers their numbers three prospect, Mauriceio Dupon, is
(23:15):
joining the Giants tonight and has been pulled up. The
only for now acquisition they made was Scooter Jeannette, which
didn't cost him anything, and they just announced that they're
releasing him as it today, so they did have an
eye on the future. UM, but I think that it
ended up making sense based on the lack of large
(23:35):
offers the rental type players were getting UM and so
I just don't think they liked the offers for will
Smith or Madison bum Gardner. And and it kind of
works because they were winning some of the games at
that point. The fan base really wanted him to hold
onto those guys anyway, So I think that's why they did.
Speaking of the fan base, we know how great uh
baseball fans are on the Bay Area, especially the Giants.
(23:58):
I mean for years. The man of course, one three
World Series in a in a short period of time
in six years. Uh, how tough is it to see
the stands not filled and people you know, taking a
break and figuring that they're going to reload and they'll
be back. Yeah. They I think everyone's gotten used to
it because it's been a little bit of a steady
(24:19):
decline for the last three years. And actually they had
a pretty good summer because right when the kids got
out of school, the Giants started winning and and the
ballpark was while not sold out, I mean it was
it was north of thirty thousand almost every night. Uh
and and so that's that's certainly acceptable with everybody going
back to school in the last week or so. They
(24:41):
had a game last night against the Diamondbacks that was
a pretty pretty quiet and small crowd by their standards.
I think they announced twenty nine thousand. But it's something
that that you know, it was a little jarring and
a couple of years ago, but um, it's understandable at
this point. It's it's a lot of the same players
who are who are in decline. They've also had some
(25:03):
pr issues with what happened with Larry Bear being suspended, right,
and so that's that that factors into all this. But
it's still a team that that is very much involved
with the heartbeat of the city. And and you know,
as soon as as soon as they start winning a
few more ball games, I think it corrects itself pretty quickly.
(25:23):
Let's switch to the other team in the Batty Oakland
A's and they're gonna make the playoffs again. It looks
like it. They have a good team. They always around
the mix. They don't spend a lot of money, they
don't have the biggest stars. They have some you know,
really good players, uh, Chris Davis and uh. But but
this is the other thing. At some point, doesn't Billy
(25:45):
be need to be able to win more than just
make the playoffs before you can really say that this
guy is worth all the accolades and all the talk
and everybody else following his rule. It's one thing to compete,
but not to be able to advance. And when in
the playoffs do they have to do that at some point?
I don't know. I mean, first off, there's no there
(26:05):
isn't a fan based drumbeat for anything, right. The fan
base doesn't demand anything because it's just not that huge
of a fan base. And when you also look at
the resources like he's given, making the playoffs with some
consistency is actually amazing. Um. And the fact that you
know they have to be able to those even in
the playoffs, you know, it's it's kind of acceptable because
(26:28):
every single year they find diamonds in the rough. They've
got good young players. When they get really good, they
let them go and then WinCE, repeat, they do it again.
So every year they're good, yet it seems like every
year it's a surprise again when they are And so
when it's a surprise when they're good. Uh, there's just
not that much pressure to too much when you get there.
(26:50):
And so the same thing this year. The Ostros are
the big dog in the division and they'll win it.
And if the Aids can somehow grind out a wild
card and then maybe do something with it if they
get there, Um, you know, I think, um, you know,
whatever fans they have will be satisfied. And just speaking
of fans, that's the other part. When they get this
new ballpark, do you think that will change things? Because
(27:13):
as much as people like you know, look at the
A's and think of them as the step child and whatever,
that's a proud franchise and had some really great players
and and great teams at one point in Oakland, you
think the ballpark will make that big of a difference. Mark, Well,
the interesting thing you said there is when they get
the ballpark, and and I would tell you that just
about anybody in the bad area would say it's rather
(27:35):
presumptives to assume that what they are proposing is actually
going to happen. And you know, the stadium, especially in
the state of California, are incredibly, incredibly tricky, difficult. The
city of Oakland. We don't need to tell you what's
going on stadium wise there. The Raiders are going to
Vegas and the Warriors have moved to San Francisco. It
(27:57):
is really tricky and and again the team that does
not have behind it a big, loud fan base that's
demanding things. So I would more say if that happens,
then in a short example, would it help absolutely. But
you know, this rob is just like the Charges landing
(28:17):
in l A when they went through a stadium thing um,
and it's not being that successful out of the gate
because they're just isn't that love from the fan base?
And here in the Bay Area the log is reserved
mostly for the Giants. So I just I don't I
don't know if anything long term or short term is
going to be considered wildly successful in terms of numbers. Alright,
(28:40):
his name Mark Willard from k m b R, one
of the best talk show hosts in the Bay Area.
We appreciate the knowledge, Mark, Thank you, my dude. Anytime.
Now bringing the closer why MLB is better than the
NFL or NBA, and it isn't even close. This is
(29:03):
why baseball is better than the NFL and NBA, especially
when you talk about the NFL. You just can play
the game longer. We just saw this. We saw a
twenty nine year old quarterback in Andrew Luck have to
call it quits because he can't do it anymore. Can
(29:25):
I run off the names and numbers of people play
Major League baseball for twenty years? Derek Jeter played twenty
years all in the Bronx. We know Cal Ripken Jr.
We can go Dave Winfield. I can go on and
on and on. You can play baseball for a long time.
We're looking at Lebron James coming into year seventeen. Most
(29:48):
of the guys in his draft class there long gone
or not playing anymore. It's hard. You can play baseball
for a long time as a player. Imagine logging twenty years,
making all that guaranteed cheese. You want to talk about
bonding with the player, not fearful that he's gonna disappear
(30:11):
after a cup of coffee and a sweet roll in
the NFL doesn't happen. You buy a jersey, You're probably
gonna be pretty good. I know this movement, but that
player is gonna be around for a long time. Baseball
has longevity That's why people were like Kyler Murray, are
you sure you want to play in the National Football League.
(30:35):
I get it, you're a quarterback. You're going straight to
the pros. There's no minor leagues, there's no busses. You're
gonna be a household name overnight. How long will you
play in the NFL? Major League Baseball is the king
when it comes to making money and having an extended career.
(30:59):
That's why baseball is better than the NFL and the NBA.
In the words of New York TV legend the late
Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your time, this time until
next time. Rob Parker out he can't get it. This
(31:20):
could be an inside the Parker to see you next weekend,
same bad time. Saint Manns Station
Host
Rob Parker
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.