October 11, 2025 • 30 mins
What happened and what's next for the Phillies--was that the last dance? WIP radio host Jack Fritz joins FT to chat defeated Phils.
(13:23) Friday news dumper: Jose Iglesias was handed a one-game suspension, and Xander Bogaerts got fined for an altercation with the umpires after NL Wild Card Game 3. How can MLB prevent this from happening again?
(21:39) Why are the Blue Jays the team you should be rooting for this Postseason?
Hosts: Kevin Pillar, Erik Kratz, Scott Braun
Foul Territory Presented by FOX One: Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXone.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Will we have a moment. We're gonna talk Phillies first
of all coming up, So I'm pretty excited about that.
I know some people are asking, I guess we can
kind of save this about what the Phillies are going
to look like next year. There are a lot of
question marks. There are quite a few free agents looming,
and in general, if you haven't had a good result
(00:26):
in the postseason for the last couple of years, even
if you feel like you've got the right team, kind
of forced Crafts to do something different. We started touching
on this last night. Do you disagree?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We'll see Are you forced? Really? Like, are you forced
to change your team for the regular season if you
don't come up with timely hitting in the postseason? You like, okay,
so how are you gonna how are you going to
identify that? Oh, this guy right here? Like if they
had Kyle Tucker, if they had gotten him in the offseason,
like they almost did. Do does do their fortunes change?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No? I mean you can't get you can't forget Altuve,
you can't go get John Carlos State. You can't just
make your whole team full of guys who have had
success in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's not just about that. I'm just saying the complexion,
what the roster right now hasn't produced good results in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
But you have to have an answer to it. You
can't just say results bad, No way. It has to
be a execution of it. There has to be a
process to it too.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I think we might get someone who might know the answers.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, well he has the answer. Jack is just really
because I don't have them. I don't have.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Let's do a good ten minutes here with Jack Fritz
from a ninety four to one wip in Philadelphia. Jack,
thanks for joining us, and let's actually start with the
debate that we were just having. Do you believe that
there needs to be some roster turnover when there haven't
been postseason results?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, first off, I'm excited to be here. I can't believe.
Of course you bring me on right after Hoffman, who like, like,
that's just a sick joke. That's just an absolutely sick joke.
Who knows who knows they've brought him back? Am I
even here looking like a you know, despondent? So yeah,
So on what I do agree with Cratzy from the
(02:24):
standpoint of like, they're a really good baseball team that
lost to a great baseball team. Are they a perfect team?
Absolutely not. And we know that they have their flaws,
and I think they'll they'll shake it up a little bit.
But at the same time, if you're the Phillies and
you see that, like you they just barely lost this series,
(02:44):
you know, and and I think they are going to
look at that and say, how truly far away are we?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
They have to get better. They know that, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I'm sure they're gonna move on from some core pieces,
But like I still would resign kylege I still would
have resigned j T. They're probably gonna let Ranger walk.
You bring up some of the kids, you know, Justin Crawford,
probably in the major leagues next year, Andrew Painter if
it has to be in the starting rotation next year,
because you're letting Ranger go. I just they lost to
(03:18):
a great team, and the a Phillies have defined ways
to get better. But don't I don't leave this year
saying they're so far away. I think that the second
best team in baseball. I thought that if they could
have easily won games one or two, if they just
locked in a little bit more. They went out to
La killed them in Game three, and they lost a brutal,
(03:38):
tough baseball game yesterday again to a great, great, great
Dodgers team that turned it on at the exact right time.
So I don't think they need institutional changes. I think
they need marginal changes to make themselves better.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, you mentioned far away, not too far away, but
speaking of far away, only four hundred and fifty five feet,
do you are you buying that?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
No, that that there's no way that was At least
he hit one four eighty eight off you Darvish, right,
and and that looked like the exact same like the
exact same spot. So no way, there's no way that
that was that.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think you get short changed when it hits the
very top of the stadium. It's like, I want to
know how far it would have went if it just
laying it back on earth, not hitting the structure that's built,
you know, two hundred feet up in the air. But
we we it short changed him. That's that was my
only point because that but that was one of the
furthest balls that I'd ever seen hit.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah, he's uh, he hits tanks. Unfortunately for the Phillies,
like Man. Besides game Game three, when those guys all
showed up, the biggest reason why they're sitting home today
is they're big three at the top of the lineup
to not come through. Like we can talk about the
changes they need to make and things like that, but
if Kyle Schubert, Tray Turner and Bryce Harper show up
in the series, it's a it's a completely different ball game.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I know you could say, well, they held out Tawny down,
and they they held Noki down, they held Freddie Freeman
down pretty well. Dodger will still have like plethora of
talent after that, whereas the Phillies are more top halfy.
I think they did a better job of filling out
their lineup and some of the guys that bounce back years.
But I mean, that's that's probably the most disappointing thing
(05:17):
sitting here today is had those three shown up outside
of one game, it's a totally different series.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Do you feel like the offseason Denbrowski put a bullpen
together that was a postseason winning bullpen because you still
had Alvarado at that time, you lost Hoffman and you maybe,
in my opinion, if there's a section. It's starting pitching, bullpen,
position players. That bullpen was thin to start the year
(05:47):
even before. I mean when we saw Alvarado and spring training,
I think it was like seven innings, one hundred strikeouts,
something ridiculous. He was, he was kind of a little
bit on the little bit on the good good. But
to me, it looked like they build it a little short.
Do you agree or disagree?
Speaker 5 (06:05):
I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Heading into the season, I felt like they were an
arm short before it even started. And it ended up
being okay because they got Deron and and they got
Robertson and he was kind of a they needed him
at that point. But I think the one glaring thing
about the bullpen, at least this off season. Now, it's
nice you have Deron because Dearan is here for another
(06:28):
two years. You have a lockdown closer. It's easier to
build a pen that way. Shrom's coming back on an option.
Unfortunately for Ryan Kirkring, I have no idea what he's
gonna look like next year. I mean, that could be
something that lingers for forever.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Who knows.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Hopefully it comes back and me's fine. I feel bad
for him today, but Robertson's not coming back. They need
they need another right handed option to get the ball
to Juan Duran and and that is of all the
things they they have to do this offseason. Getting someone
I don't know, like Luke Weaver or something like that
that can be a real righty for them to get
(07:02):
the ball to Doran and get big outs in the
postseason and be a bridge is imperative. So that before
the season, I thought the bullpen was flawed, bore itself
out until the trade deadline, and as something that the
Brows gas to get right this offseason.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
E FT is presented by Fox one and we're getting
ready to talk about the Phillies coming up in a moment.
But on the American League side, you've been watching these
games on Fox one if you're in the US, and
you have the opportunity to keep doing that by getting
yourself a little seven day free trial at foxwe dot com.
So the QR code is on the screen if you
(07:43):
want to check that out and get yourself the free
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they've been sponsoring us here during the postseason. Also, specifically,
(08:03):
AJ's game tonight can be accessed via Fox One. AJ
will be on the call with Adam Waynwright and Adam
Amean and you've got the Mariners matching up with the
Tigers Brady on Sundays, among many other things.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, speaking of the way the game ended yesterday, what
is the reaction in Philly? Do you turn on the
local radio stations listen in. What is the reaction as
what I expect?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, well, so it's interesting. People are definitely they're mad
at the Phillies. I think they're mostly mad at the
top three. They're mad at Schwarber, Harper, and Turner. I
think there's a good portion of Philly is that feels
bad for Ryan Kirkering.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
You know, we're all humans. He's a human.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
He's a younger kid, and he just blacked out, Like
he just blacked out and had one of the biggest
blunders that I.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Think I've ever seen here. You know, like they're calling
it Oriyan's melt, you know, instead of Orion's belt. So yeah,
you believe him.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Do you believe him? Coming out in front of the
camera and being raw and vulnerable and being human has
helped totally.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I mean, yeah, it's hard to it's hard to have
all this anger when you see the guy almost you know,
welling up when talking about it, because I mean, he
feels like he let down his teammates, He felt like
he let down an entire city. And the truth is
like they didn't lose that game because of Ryan karaktering.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
It sucked. It was it was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I felt like I was watching it in slow motion
and I was like, oh, perfect out, what was he doing?
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Like what do you mean? What are you doing? On anyway,
But I think the most of.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
The anger is is is geared towards the top three
in the offense, even having them in that situation. And
then I think as we get further and further away
from the series, I'm just going to keep going back
to games one and two and thinking if they could
have stolen one of those, it's a completely different series.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
But yeah, people are people are annoyed.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
People are really annoyed because I think what happened this
year is that people believed again and they believed after
last year when they lost to the Mets and they
went down like dogs, and and the city was done
with them, and they sucked us back in and they
had us believing again they were different and Harrison Batter
with the what a Gift thing?
Speaker 5 (10:17):
I love Harrison Bader and he got to resign him.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And you have Deron and the intro and you're like, damn,
it's one more time, like I'm open my heart and
then they just stomp on it. They just stomp on it.
And I think that that is that is what is
hitting people. I think there's more sadness today that the
season's over than mad personally. Now maybe that's just me
projecting because I've been despondent for you know, twelve hours,
(10:43):
but I think that there's more sadness today than than
like real mad. Because you do have to give it
to the Dodgers too. Man, they're they're they're great, and
damn damn they were right there.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Do you think they bring topperback this this team, this
exact team, the window is closed and you do bring topperback?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Well, I don't think the windows closed. I think it's
I think there's gonna be some different pieces to it.
You know, I think I think Casianos is a guy
who may play his last game as a filly yesterday.
Maybe Alec Baum, even though he had a good series,
feels like those are the two perpetual ones that you know,
they're always in the on the possibly getting moved out
of here thing. And I think I think had they
(11:27):
lost in three after what Thompson did in games one
and two, I think that there would be more of
an uproar to move move on from him. But just
in my gut, I don't think they're going to move
on from him. Although if you're gonna run back with
essentially the same team and maybe a little bit of
different mix, maybe then you you you think, hey, I
(11:48):
mean there's a manager that won a World Series two
years ago that that that was his fourth Maybe he's
the guy that could put this team over the top.
And Bruce Bochie. But in my gut, I I think
Rob Thompson's coming back.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What kind of deal you think Kyle Schwarber is gonna
get and are the willing Are the Phillies willing to
pay that price?
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I think like four to one twenty feels about right.
I think he wants that fourth year. I think the
Phillies are more comfortable the third year, but I think
that fourth year gets it done. And listen, I love Schwarber,
but at the same time, one hit in the Met
Series last year was a home run, really just showed
up in one game in this series, and only the
double in the first inning yesterday, So like, maybe that
(12:33):
keeps it down. I don't think it will, because yet
it's still a monster year. But I think four to
one twenty feels feels about right for Kyle Schwarber.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Okay, good stuff, Well we got all our questions in
a good ten. Jack We appreciate the time, man, have
fun on your own show, or you know, as much
fun as you can talk them sports for a living.
At least Mat Kratz, I'm trying to give him a
little bit of positive motivation here.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
On Philly Flyers, Eagles and Philly's lost. It's a tough day,
great day for you, Jackie boy.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Well we don't acknowledge the Flyers. We
don't know that happened. And the other show that's our pets.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Heads are falling off with the Eagles and uh and yeah,
it's gonna be It's gonna be an exciting day but
also an awful day, So really looking forward to it.
But I appreciate you guys having me on.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Hey, hot corner, let's sizzle. This news just came out.
Jose Gleasias has been slapped with a one game suspension
and Xander Bogart's and undisclosed to find both of them
in some trouble for their conduct towards the umpires in
the dugout following game three KP. Have you ever seen
this before? I mean this type of closeness after a
(13:47):
game where clearly it was contentious, there was a wrong call,
and the Padres feel like it ended their season.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
I've seen it in a very similar venue at older
venue in Fenway, when the actually have to walk through
your dugout to go up there not a playoff game,
but a regular season game, and that's something that should
be It shouldn't really happen because it was a moment
a playoff game, you know, obviously the wrong call was made.
Players are human beings. Some players are human beings. Emotions
(14:17):
got the best of them, but they should never really
kind of have to leave out of the same exit
that could have been avoidable, and why.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Are we suspending guys for next year?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Let things that happen last year die with their season
allow the guy to play next year.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Move on, really good point here too, Kratz. I mean
we have a big dumper in baseball. We also have
the famous Friday news dumper in baseball. This is so
classic to put this out on a Friday afternoon, but
it is what it is. It's a story. And I'm
wondering if there's another way for the umps to go out.
(14:55):
I mean, I know covering and it depends on the ballpark,
but covering postseason games, sometimes or most of the time,
we would come out of a spot where the umps
would come in, and I thought that was partially for
them to not exit through where players are going to
be on that parks.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So the umpires go like when there's like a separate
think Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh down the third baseline, although they have
to make the playoffs, so Bob Nutting doesn't like that,
but there's a separate way to go down the steps.
It looks like it's the dugout, but it's actually a
separate entrance. It's the groundskeepers. So I think it's stayed
in the stadium. I mean, think about Wrigly. They didn't
(15:36):
you could barely fit in the dugout before, and then
they've done so many renovations, but there's no second way out, Like,
not only are they going down those steps right there
and Wrigley, they're going down into those into the dugout,
and then they're going down basically either through the video room.
I think they have to go through the video room,
which is at the bottom of dugout, and so you're
(15:59):
you're going through some you're going through some fire, and
guys are pissed. I don't agree at all with so
many parts of this. I don't agree with what Iglesias
did and Bogarts did. I don't agree with the umpire
barking back. I don't agree with them having to walk through.
It just felt like everybody was set up for failure
(16:19):
to make a bad choice, Like everybody's just barking back,
and unfortunately the other umpires were like, okay, okay, okay,
we got it. That's the that's the Padres trainer right there,
who's helping hold hold some of the guys back. Like
it's just.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
It's not good, okay. I think most people agree that
it was not a good situation. But whenever something gets
called out, I need a solution. What would have been
the solution in that scenario? And yes, I'm thinking back
now to when I covered Cups postseason games and we're
going through a lot of concourse and fans and stuff,
because again, there's just not the same setup as some
(16:58):
of the other ballparks. Right. A lot of the parks
crats have have do have the separate tunnel there, Like
I'm thinking of Houston for example, because they've been there
a million times since the Astros have been in the
postseason lot they have that spot where I guess still
technically you can go through some fans. It's it's like
the bougie sweet underground kind of area. There's all that food,
but then you can veer off, you know what I'm
talking about. And so the umps go through and then
(17:20):
we go out to do our interviews and it's completely
separated from the players. That's a more modern ballpark.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Though.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You can't you Okay, the answer, The answer is there's
always going to be something wonky about it. Do you
wait for the players to get out? Do you wait
for it? Because that's that's brutal. You make the umpires
just stand out there in the field while, you know,
because it could have been the other way it could
have been. It could have gone against the Cubs and
(17:49):
the Padres. The Padres had, you know, they were celebrating
on the field in that moment, like it could have
been different. Maybe they should have two sets separate ways,
Like let's say to go through the Padres dug out there. Hey, look,
we got to use our we got to use our field.
Change it up, we're going through the cubs. Dugout? Why
are we going through the cubs dug out?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Now?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I like the other way you might have to walk
a little bit farther, but the Cubs are out on
the field jumping around. Padres are looking to cut your
head off.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, a couple things. First off, I just want to
mention that Iglesias has a chance to appeal. He's going
to appeal, so he might win that battle and get
it reduced to a fine. It's one game, so they
pretty much slapped the minimum on him and then it
could still come down. But KP. Maybe we all learned
from this. And when I say we, it's mostly the
(18:40):
league and the umpires to decide. If you're in a
spot like Wrigley where you have to go through players,
you don't even have to look at the specific game.
What if the umps exit where the team that won
is right where the team that won is located, Because
you're not going to have a pissed off team after
(19:01):
they won a game, not nearly as much if I mean,
sure you could have some weird situation that popped up,
but what if you just do that and yeah, if
you have to walk an extra two minutes, who the
hell cares at that point?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think there should always be a
contingency plan in place too, because very easily, if the
Padres would have won that you know, let's say the
fans were really upset, maybe the game ended the other way,
and the fans are really upset at the umpires over
the call that they made, and maybe even their safety
is in jeopardy. Like, I think, there's got to be
(19:31):
a bunch of different sort of contingency plans is for
these umpires that get off the field safely. But like
you said, I mean, players should learn from this. I
know emotions are really high. It's really unfortunate that it happened,
but I think it's something they should take a look at.
And even in an older ballpark like Wrigley, there's got
(19:53):
to be a second way for them to get out,
and even if it takes them a little bit longer
to have to walk a little bit further off the field,
let's just make sure that the get off the field
not having to necessarily interact with either team. Like you said,
a lot of these new ballparks do a good job
of it. Now that I'm on the other side, the
media side, I saw where you know, I would enter
on the fields the same way that the umpires are
(20:14):
coming in and out of the field, and they never
really have to interact with either Dugout.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Also abs coming next year challenge system that will help
don't run out of challenges at the wrong time, and
then you can win that battle fair and square, and
then you can beat up a robot if you disagree.
But last point here too, there is security that MLB
I think does a good job with. I mean, I
remember every single game I've covered, and it's always all
(20:43):
about we have to wait the securities handling getting the
umpires off the field. But again, yes, I do think
a key here is that you're at regularly and you're
in a tougher spot. But now hopefully everyone learns from
this situation, because yeah, it looked like it kind of
could have gotten much worse, if anything. KP. I mean,
and you're pissed off your season's over. One person barks,
another person barks back.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I'm almost certain I've never been on the cub side,
but I would imagine the way that the underneath set
up behind the visiting dugout is probably mirrored by the
other way. So just make a tunnel that they can
enter and exit to both sides, and just always go
out the team that wins, because usually they're in a
better mood.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Bingo. I really think that's the move. Good. We have solved.
We have solved world.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
You're welcome, rob.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Baseball world problem that has plagued us all Pick Your
Poison is a now famous series where you suddenly have
to root for a different team because you love baseball
too damn much and you don't want to just watch
to watch, So which team do you want to ride
the rest of the way? And it becomes more difficult
as we progress here in the postseason. But it's the
perfect day to have KP on the show to talk
(21:57):
about the Toronto Blue Jays and why some baseball fans
should adopt the team in Canada. The rest of the way,
KP played for this team for a long time. You
know this franchise well. The way they treat their fans,
the way they treat players. The fact that they haven't
won since nineteen ninety three, over thirty years ago, tell
us why some fans who don't know the Blue Jays
(22:18):
organization well should grab them for the next few weeks.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Where do I start?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Where do I start?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Unbelievable fan base, super deserving of winning, very passionate. Like
you mentioned, they haven't won since the early nineties, but
they still come out and support their team. They love baseball,
they love all their sports. They're starving for a winner.
They come in year out, year year in and year out.
Support this team. Reasons if you're a fan and your
(22:51):
team's no longer in it, why you should root for
the Blue Jays. I have a couple of notes here,
wrote down during that Yankee series, they had eight guys
with two plus RBIs, They had eighteen two strike hits,
and in Game four, facing a guy in cam who
struck out twelve Red Sox in the wild cut round.
(23:12):
I need someone to check these stats, but I think
they only had four swing and misses. So if you
want to watch exciting and a fun brand of baseball
where you're not just waiting for one guy at a
home run or they're going to strike out, or they're
going to walk, and be this three outcome team. This
team is always exciting to watch. Their bats are incredible.
(23:33):
They're so selfless, they never want to talk about themselves.
This is the definition of a team, and I think
this is why you should get behind them.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
If you're going to join a team, if you're going
to join a fan base that you have, or follow
a team that you haven't, you got to at least
follow one player. I talked about the Mariners Cal Raley.
This team just minted. I mean the ink is still
drying on the Vladi Guerrero extension. A guy who was
drafted by this team, not traded over and found like
(24:06):
he was drafted by the Blue Jays. He came up
through their system. His manager now in the big leagues
was his double a manager in in New Hampshire. They
won championships there. That combination of two guys is going
to give you that. Like, man, I can get behind
these guys every single day. I can get behind Vladdie.
(24:28):
The lineage of his ability to hit comes from his dad,
and yet now he also added to that plate discipline.
He added to that this postseason. I don't remember his
final numbers, but it was like six something that he
was hitting like he is rising to the moment. And
(24:51):
to me, if I'm joining a fan base, I can
I know I'm gonna I know, I'm gonna look at
this roster. I'm gonna be like, I know, Vladdie's playing
every single day, so I'm gonna other organizations it's like, oh, man, Like, okay,
well we're platooning. So my favorite guys hitting first. Now
it's a lefty. Now he's gonna hit six. No, Vladdie's
(25:11):
the heart and soul of that order, and everybody else
just kind of follows along.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
For me, KP, I consider myself a new school and
old school fan. I like certain stats. I think they're
super helpful. I think we were too reliant fifteen, twenty
years ago or whatever when I was growing up on
stats that you know, didn't necessarily tell the whole picture. Okay,
But at the same time, there were parts of the
game that I fell in love with that I felt
(25:40):
like we got so far away from during one of
the more dead times in our sport, where I think
we lost a lot of young fans. Three true outcome,
super super slow paced games. We are getting away from that,
and for me, if you're a fan of the time
period before that and the time period that I think
we're getting out of, where it's faster, it is more contact,
(26:02):
there's more emphasis on defense, and that's what I'm talking about.
Our defensive metrics perfect by no means, but we had
nothing for a long period of time growing up. So
at least we have something, and that's something tells us
When you look at Toronto aside from the Game three
loss over the last three years, and you watch them
play defense, you're like, Yeah, that's fun, that's clean, that's good.
That's what young kids should look at. Right. So for me,
(26:25):
if you want that brand of baseball to become more
of a thing, then you want that team to win
the World Series because it's a copycat league, and then
front offices are going to be like, oh wait, they're
going to go jumping back to their computers. Wait, wait,
what are the Blue Jays doing? We aren't doing this.
We got to get more into contact defense, a little
bit more of an old school style that Eric Chabez,
(26:45):
former hitting coach for the Mets, just talked about with
us on foul territory a day ago. So I think
that actually is a factor here. If you enjoy a
certain brand of baseball, then you want that brand of
baseball to win, and you will see more of it
in the sport.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I do believe that they're a top five, maybe number
one in base running. Two. So let's changed the narrative
on the on the three true outcomes. Let's talk about
the Blue Jays three outcomes. They're gonna put the ball
in play, they're gonna run the base as well, and
they're gonna play defense. Those are your new three true outcomes.
Most teams should follow that recipe. It helps you win.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Games, but you gotta put a value on it. You
gotta put a value on it. What do you mean
there's any elite value in stolen strikes. There's an elite
value in home runs, there's an elite value for pitchers
striking out. You have to put a value on it.
That's going to be manipulated and be able to be taught,
(27:43):
because you can never have hit and you can be
taught to swing really hard and hit the ball far.
You can't have ever, never played and be taught and
teach somebody. Okay, here's how your base run. You're Dave McKay.
That's I mean, that's really what Dalton Varshow brought over
to the Blue Jays his elite based running, and everybody
(28:04):
followed suit from what he was taught by Dave McKay.
So you have to find that value and you have
to prove to the organizations that that value is more
than the extreme value of a home run, extreme value
of strikeouts by pitchers.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'll throw one other pick your poison example out there,
and you know, we have plenty of Canadians that watch
this show. We have many Americans that watch this show.
I often root for fan bases that don't get a
lot of winning because I think it's cool when you
haven't seen it for a long period of time. And
I just mentioned the team right, the Blue Jays not
winning since nineteen ninety three. I think I have this right, KP.
(28:45):
Because I did work for NHL Network for a while
and I looked it up real quick. But the last
Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, it's hard to
believe it, but I think it's nineteen ninety three, right,
the Montreal Canadians think that's what they say.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Right, I definitely knows the country.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, it's not the Leafs. When's the last time the.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Leaves are much the Leafs are? You know, in Toronto,
it's a big thing. They haven't won in forever, but
people still love the team like they go out and
support them, like the country, the city of Toronto. But
you have to mention the entire country of Canada wants
a winner so bad, and basketball is not even that
(29:26):
big of a deal. In it's a big deal in
Toronto and maybe a little bit on the east coast
of Canada. As you get out west, it's not a
big thing. They had over four million people at the
parade for when the Raptors wanted a couple of years ago.
So these people are just wanting to see a winner
so bad.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
If you want baseball to continue to be in an
international sport, then every once in a while, yeah, you
get another country pulling off a dub, especially when there's
only one team in Canada, there's one team outside of
the United States, right so we've seen the sport really
go to the next level globally, especially in Japan with
(30:04):
the emergence of Sho Heeo Tani as one of the
best players we've really ever seen. So for Canada purposes
right now, this is a country that hasn't seen any
winner in their favorite sports since nineteen ninety three. Toronto
specifically hasn't won since nineteen sixty seven. So there's some
cool history here that could be cracked and it'd be
funny if finally they get a title from sports that
(30:25):
they truly love, on the baseball side before the hockey side.
So anyway, if there's something else that you think we're missing,
reason whyse drop it in the comments if you're looking
at this later
Will we have a moment. We're gonna talk Phillies first
of all coming up, So I'm pretty excited about that.
I know some people are asking, I guess we can
kind of save this about what the Phillies are going
to look like next year. There are a lot of
question marks. There are quite a few free agents looming,
and in general, if you haven't had a good result
(00:26):
in the postseason for the last couple of years, even
if you feel like you've got the right team, kind
of forced Crafts to do something different. We started touching
on this last night. Do you disagree?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We'll see Are you forced? Really? Like, are you forced
to change your team for the regular season if you
don't come up with timely hitting in the postseason? You like, okay,
so how are you gonna how are you going to
identify that? Oh, this guy right here? Like if they
had Kyle Tucker, if they had gotten him in the offseason,
like they almost did. Do does do their fortunes change?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
No? I mean you can't get you can't forget Altuve,
you can't go get John Carlos State. You can't just
make your whole team full of guys who have had
success in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's not just about that. I'm just saying the complexion,
what the roster right now hasn't produced good results in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
But you have to have an answer to it. You
can't just say results bad, No way. It has to
be a execution of it. There has to be a
process to it too.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I think we might get someone who might know the answers.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, well he has the answer. Jack is just really
because I don't have them. I don't have.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Let's do a good ten minutes here with Jack Fritz
from a ninety four to one wip in Philadelphia. Jack,
thanks for joining us, and let's actually start with the
debate that we were just having. Do you believe that
there needs to be some roster turnover when there haven't
been postseason results?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Well, first off, I'm excited to be here. I can't believe.
Of course you bring me on right after Hoffman, who like, like,
that's just a sick joke. That's just an absolutely sick joke.
Who knows who knows they've brought him back? Am I
even here looking like a you know, despondent? So yeah,
So on what I do agree with Cratzy from the
(02:24):
standpoint of like, they're a really good baseball team that
lost to a great baseball team. Are they a perfect team?
Absolutely not. And we know that they have their flaws,
and I think they'll they'll shake it up a little bit.
But at the same time, if you're the Phillies and
you see that, like you they just barely lost this series,
(02:44):
you know, and and I think they are going to
look at that and say, how truly far away are we?
Speaker 5 (02:52):
They have to get better. They know that, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
I'm sure they're gonna move on from some core pieces,
But like I still would resign kylege I still would
have resigned j T. They're probably gonna let Ranger walk.
You bring up some of the kids, you know, Justin Crawford,
probably in the major leagues next year, Andrew Painter if
it has to be in the starting rotation next year,
because you're letting Ranger go. I just they lost to
(03:18):
a great team, and the a Phillies have defined ways
to get better. But don't I don't leave this year
saying they're so far away. I think that the second
best team in baseball. I thought that if they could
have easily won games one or two, if they just
locked in a little bit more. They went out to
La killed them in Game three, and they lost a brutal,
(03:38):
tough baseball game yesterday again to a great, great, great
Dodgers team that turned it on at the exact right time.
So I don't think they need institutional changes. I think
they need marginal changes to make themselves better.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yeah, you mentioned far away, not too far away, but
speaking of far away, only four hundred and fifty five feet,
do you are you buying that?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
No, that that there's no way that was At least
he hit one four eighty eight off you Darvish, right,
and and that looked like the exact same like the
exact same spot. So no way, there's no way that
that was that.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think you get short changed when it hits the
very top of the stadium. It's like, I want to
know how far it would have went if it just
laying it back on earth, not hitting the structure that's built,
you know, two hundred feet up in the air. But
we we it short changed him. That's that was my
only point because that but that was one of the
furthest balls that I'd ever seen hit.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah, he's uh, he hits tanks. Unfortunately for the Phillies,
like Man. Besides game Game three, when those guys all
showed up, the biggest reason why they're sitting home today
is they're big three at the top of the lineup
to not come through. Like we can talk about the
changes they need to make and things like that, but
if Kyle Schubert, Tray Turner and Bryce Harper show up
in the series, it's a it's a completely different ball game.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I know you could say, well, they held out Tawny down,
and they they held Noki down, they held Freddie Freeman
down pretty well. Dodger will still have like plethora of
talent after that, whereas the Phillies are more top halfy.
I think they did a better job of filling out
their lineup and some of the guys that bounce back years.
But I mean, that's that's probably the most disappointing thing
(05:17):
sitting here today is had those three shown up outside
of one game, it's a totally different series.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Do you feel like the offseason Denbrowski put a bullpen
together that was a postseason winning bullpen because you still
had Alvarado at that time, you lost Hoffman and you maybe,
in my opinion, if there's a section. It's starting pitching, bullpen,
position players. That bullpen was thin to start the year
(05:47):
even before. I mean when we saw Alvarado and spring training,
I think it was like seven innings, one hundred strikeouts,
something ridiculous. He was, he was kind of a little
bit on the little bit on the good good. But
to me, it looked like they build it a little short.
Do you agree or disagree?
Speaker 5 (06:05):
I totally agree.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Heading into the season, I felt like they were an
arm short before it even started. And it ended up
being okay because they got Deron and and they got
Robertson and he was kind of a they needed him
at that point. But I think the one glaring thing
about the bullpen, at least this off season. Now, it's
nice you have Deron because Dearan is here for another
(06:28):
two years. You have a lockdown closer. It's easier to
build a pen that way. Shrom's coming back on an option.
Unfortunately for Ryan Kirkring, I have no idea what he's
gonna look like next year. I mean, that could be
something that lingers for forever.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Who knows.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Hopefully it comes back and me's fine. I feel bad
for him today, but Robertson's not coming back. They need
they need another right handed option to get the ball
to Juan Duran and and that is of all the
things they they have to do this offseason. Getting someone
I don't know, like Luke Weaver or something like that
that can be a real righty for them to get
(07:02):
the ball to Doran and get big outs in the
postseason and be a bridge is imperative. So that before
the season, I thought the bullpen was flawed, bore itself
out until the trade deadline, and as something that the
Brows gas to get right this offseason.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
E FT is presented by Fox one and we're getting
ready to talk about the Phillies coming up in a moment.
But on the American League side, you've been watching these
games on Fox one if you're in the US, and
you have the opportunity to keep doing that by getting
yourself a little seven day free trial at foxwe dot com.
So the QR code is on the screen if you
(07:43):
want to check that out and get yourself the free
seven day trial so you can see what it has
to offer. It's not just the playoffs, it's also football,
college football, pregame shows, sitcoms, the whole deal. So check
it out. There's something for everyone. It's brand new, and
they've been sponsoring us here during the postseason. Also, specifically,
(08:03):
AJ's game tonight can be accessed via Fox One. AJ
will be on the call with Adam Waynwright and Adam
Amean and you've got the Mariners matching up with the
Tigers Brady on Sundays, among many other things.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, speaking of the way the game ended yesterday, what
is the reaction in Philly? Do you turn on the
local radio stations listen in. What is the reaction as
what I expect?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, well, so it's interesting. People are definitely they're mad
at the Phillies. I think they're mostly mad at the
top three. They're mad at Schwarber, Harper, and Turner. I
think there's a good portion of Philly is that feels
bad for Ryan Kirkering.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
You know, we're all humans. He's a human.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
He's a younger kid, and he just blacked out, Like
he just blacked out and had one of the biggest
blunders that I.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Think I've ever seen here. You know, like they're calling
it Oriyan's melt, you know, instead of Orion's belt. So yeah,
you believe him.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Do you believe him? Coming out in front of the
camera and being raw and vulnerable and being human has
helped totally.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I mean, yeah, it's hard to it's hard to have
all this anger when you see the guy almost you know,
welling up when talking about it, because I mean, he
feels like he let down his teammates, He felt like
he let down an entire city. And the truth is
like they didn't lose that game because of Ryan karaktering.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
It sucked. It was it was unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
I felt like I was watching it in slow motion
and I was like, oh, perfect out, what was he doing?
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Like what do you mean? What are you doing? On anyway,
But I think the most of.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
The anger is is is geared towards the top three
in the offense, even having them in that situation. And
then I think as we get further and further away
from the series, I'm just going to keep going back
to games one and two and thinking if they could
have stolen one of those, it's a completely different series.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
But yeah, people are people are annoyed.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
People are really annoyed because I think what happened this
year is that people believed again and they believed after
last year when they lost to the Mets and they
went down like dogs, and and the city was done
with them, and they sucked us back in and they
had us believing again they were different and Harrison Batter
with the what a Gift thing?
Speaker 5 (10:17):
I love Harrison Bader and he got to resign him.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
And you have Deron and the intro and you're like, damn,
it's one more time, like I'm open my heart and
then they just stomp on it. They just stomp on it.
And I think that that is that is what is
hitting people. I think there's more sadness today that the
season's over than mad personally. Now maybe that's just me
projecting because I've been despondent for you know, twelve hours,
(10:43):
but I think that there's more sadness today than than
like real mad. Because you do have to give it
to the Dodgers too. Man, they're they're they're great, and
damn damn they were right there.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Do you think they bring topperback this this team, this
exact team, the window is closed and you do bring topperback?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Well, I don't think the windows closed. I think it's
I think there's gonna be some different pieces to it.
You know, I think I think Casianos is a guy
who may play his last game as a filly yesterday.
Maybe Alec Baum, even though he had a good series,
feels like those are the two perpetual ones that you know,
they're always in the on the possibly getting moved out
of here thing. And I think I think had they
(11:27):
lost in three after what Thompson did in games one
and two, I think that there would be more of
an uproar to move move on from him. But just
in my gut, I don't think they're going to move
on from him. Although if you're gonna run back with
essentially the same team and maybe a little bit of
different mix, maybe then you you you think, hey, I
(11:48):
mean there's a manager that won a World Series two
years ago that that that was his fourth Maybe he's
the guy that could put this team over the top.
And Bruce Bochie. But in my gut, I I think
Rob Thompson's coming back.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
What kind of deal you think Kyle Schwarber is gonna
get and are the willing Are the Phillies willing to
pay that price?
Speaker 5 (12:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:08):
I think like four to one twenty feels about right.
I think he wants that fourth year. I think the
Phillies are more comfortable the third year, but I think
that fourth year gets it done. And listen, I love Schwarber,
but at the same time, one hit in the Met
Series last year was a home run, really just showed
up in one game in this series, and only the
double in the first inning yesterday, So like, maybe that
(12:33):
keeps it down. I don't think it will, because yet
it's still a monster year. But I think four to
one twenty feels feels about right for Kyle Schwarber.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Okay, good stuff, Well we got all our questions in
a good ten. Jack We appreciate the time, man, have
fun on your own show, or you know, as much
fun as you can talk them sports for a living.
At least Mat Kratz, I'm trying to give him a
little bit of positive motivation here.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
On Philly Flyers, Eagles and Philly's lost. It's a tough day,
great day for you, Jackie boy.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Well we don't acknowledge the Flyers. We
don't know that happened. And the other show that's our pets.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
Heads are falling off with the Eagles and uh and yeah,
it's gonna be It's gonna be an exciting day but
also an awful day, So really looking forward to it.
But I appreciate you guys having me on.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Hey, hot corner, let's sizzle. This news just came out.
Jose Gleasias has been slapped with a one game suspension
and Xander Bogart's and undisclosed to find both of them
in some trouble for their conduct towards the umpires in
the dugout following game three KP. Have you ever seen
this before? I mean this type of closeness after a
(13:47):
game where clearly it was contentious, there was a wrong call,
and the Padres feel like it ended their season.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
I've seen it in a very similar venue at older
venue in Fenway, when the actually have to walk through
your dugout to go up there not a playoff game,
but a regular season game, and that's something that should
be It shouldn't really happen because it was a moment
a playoff game, you know, obviously the wrong call was made.
Players are human beings. Some players are human beings. Emotions
(14:17):
got the best of them, but they should never really
kind of have to leave out of the same exit
that could have been avoidable, and why.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Are we suspending guys for next year?
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Let things that happen last year die with their season
allow the guy to play next year.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Move on, really good point here too, Kratz. I mean
we have a big dumper in baseball. We also have
the famous Friday news dumper in baseball. This is so
classic to put this out on a Friday afternoon, but
it is what it is. It's a story. And I'm
wondering if there's another way for the umps to go out.
(14:55):
I mean, I know covering and it depends on the ballpark,
but covering postseason games, sometimes or most of the time,
we would come out of a spot where the umps
would come in, and I thought that was partially for
them to not exit through where players are going to
be on that parks.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So the umpires go like when there's like a separate
think Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh down the third baseline, although they have
to make the playoffs, so Bob Nutting doesn't like that,
but there's a separate way to go down the steps.
It looks like it's the dugout, but it's actually a
separate entrance. It's the groundskeepers. So I think it's stayed
in the stadium. I mean, think about Wrigly. They didn't
(15:36):
you could barely fit in the dugout before, and then
they've done so many renovations, but there's no second way out, Like,
not only are they going down those steps right there
and Wrigley, they're going down into those into the dugout,
and then they're going down basically either through the video room.
I think they have to go through the video room,
which is at the bottom of dugout, and so you're
(15:59):
you're going through some you're going through some fire, and
guys are pissed. I don't agree at all with so
many parts of this. I don't agree with what Iglesias
did and Bogarts did. I don't agree with the umpire
barking back. I don't agree with them having to walk through.
It just felt like everybody was set up for failure
(16:19):
to make a bad choice, Like everybody's just barking back,
and unfortunately the other umpires were like, okay, okay, okay,
we got it. That's the that's the Padres trainer right there,
who's helping hold hold some of the guys back. Like
it's just.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
It's not good, okay. I think most people agree that
it was not a good situation. But whenever something gets
called out, I need a solution. What would have been
the solution in that scenario? And yes, I'm thinking back
now to when I covered Cups postseason games and we're
going through a lot of concourse and fans and stuff,
because again, there's just not the same setup as some
(16:58):
of the other ballparks. Right. A lot of the parks
crats have have do have the separate tunnel there, Like
I'm thinking of Houston for example, because they've been there
a million times since the Astros have been in the
postseason lot they have that spot where I guess still
technically you can go through some fans. It's it's like
the bougie sweet underground kind of area. There's all that food,
but then you can veer off, you know what I'm
talking about. And so the umps go through and then
(17:20):
we go out to do our interviews and it's completely
separated from the players. That's a more modern ballpark.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Though.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
You can't you Okay, the answer, The answer is there's
always going to be something wonky about it. Do you
wait for the players to get out? Do you wait
for it? Because that's that's brutal. You make the umpires
just stand out there in the field while, you know,
because it could have been the other way it could
have been. It could have gone against the Cubs and
(17:49):
the Padres. The Padres had, you know, they were celebrating
on the field in that moment, like it could have
been different. Maybe they should have two sets separate ways,
Like let's say to go through the Padres dug out there. Hey, look,
we got to use our we got to use our field.
Change it up, we're going through the cubs. Dugout? Why
are we going through the cubs dug out?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Now?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I like the other way you might have to walk
a little bit farther, but the Cubs are out on
the field jumping around. Padres are looking to cut your
head off.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, a couple things. First off, I just want to
mention that Iglesias has a chance to appeal. He's going
to appeal, so he might win that battle and get
it reduced to a fine. It's one game, so they
pretty much slapped the minimum on him and then it
could still come down. But KP. Maybe we all learned
from this. And when I say we, it's mostly the
(18:40):
league and the umpires to decide. If you're in a
spot like Wrigley where you have to go through players,
you don't even have to look at the specific game.
What if the umps exit where the team that won
is right where the team that won is located, Because
you're not going to have a pissed off team after
(19:01):
they won a game, not nearly as much if I mean,
sure you could have some weird situation that popped up,
but what if you just do that and yeah, if
you have to walk an extra two minutes, who the
hell cares at that point?
Speaker 3 (19:11):
Yeah, I mean, I think there should always be a
contingency plan in place too, because very easily, if the
Padres would have won that you know, let's say the
fans were really upset, maybe the game ended the other way,
and the fans are really upset at the umpires over
the call that they made, and maybe even their safety
is in jeopardy. Like, I think, there's got to be
(19:31):
a bunch of different sort of contingency plans is for
these umpires that get off the field safely. But like
you said, I mean, players should learn from this. I
know emotions are really high. It's really unfortunate that it happened,
but I think it's something they should take a look at.
And even in an older ballpark like Wrigley, there's got
(19:53):
to be a second way for them to get out,
and even if it takes them a little bit longer
to have to walk a little bit further off the field,
let's just make sure that the get off the field
not having to necessarily interact with either team. Like you said,
a lot of these new ballparks do a good job
of it. Now that I'm on the other side, the
media side, I saw where you know, I would enter
on the fields the same way that the umpires are
(20:14):
coming in and out of the field, and they never
really have to interact with either Dugout.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Also abs coming next year challenge system that will help
don't run out of challenges at the wrong time, and
then you can win that battle fair and square, and
then you can beat up a robot if you disagree.
But last point here too, there is security that MLB
I think does a good job with. I mean, I
remember every single game I've covered, and it's always all
(20:43):
about we have to wait the securities handling getting the
umpires off the field. But again, yes, I do think
a key here is that you're at regularly and you're
in a tougher spot. But now hopefully everyone learns from
this situation, because yeah, it looked like it kind of
could have gotten much worse, if anything. KP. I mean,
and you're pissed off your season's over. One person barks,
another person barks back.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
I'm almost certain I've never been on the cub side,
but I would imagine the way that the underneath set
up behind the visiting dugout is probably mirrored by the
other way. So just make a tunnel that they can
enter and exit to both sides, and just always go
out the team that wins, because usually they're in a
better mood.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Bingo. I really think that's the move. Good. We have solved.
We have solved world.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
You're welcome, rob.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Baseball world problem that has plagued us all Pick Your
Poison is a now famous series where you suddenly have
to root for a different team because you love baseball
too damn much and you don't want to just watch
to watch, So which team do you want to ride
the rest of the way? And it becomes more difficult
as we progress here in the postseason. But it's the
perfect day to have KP on the show to talk
(21:57):
about the Toronto Blue Jays and why some baseball fans
should adopt the team in Canada. The rest of the way,
KP played for this team for a long time. You
know this franchise well. The way they treat their fans,
the way they treat players. The fact that they haven't
won since nineteen ninety three, over thirty years ago, tell
us why some fans who don't know the Blue Jays
(22:18):
organization well should grab them for the next few weeks.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Where do I start?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
Where do I start?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Unbelievable fan base, super deserving of winning, very passionate. Like
you mentioned, they haven't won since the early nineties, but
they still come out and support their team. They love baseball,
they love all their sports. They're starving for a winner.
They come in year out, year year in and year out.
Support this team. Reasons if you're a fan and your
(22:51):
team's no longer in it, why you should root for
the Blue Jays. I have a couple of notes here,
wrote down during that Yankee series, they had eight guys
with two plus RBIs, They had eighteen two strike hits,
and in Game four, facing a guy in cam who
struck out twelve Red Sox in the wild cut round.
(23:12):
I need someone to check these stats, but I think
they only had four swing and misses. So if you
want to watch exciting and a fun brand of baseball
where you're not just waiting for one guy at a
home run or they're going to strike out, or they're
going to walk, and be this three outcome team. This
team is always exciting to watch. Their bats are incredible.
(23:33):
They're so selfless, they never want to talk about themselves.
This is the definition of a team, and I think
this is why you should get behind them.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
If you're going to join a team, if you're going
to join a fan base that you have, or follow
a team that you haven't, you got to at least
follow one player. I talked about the Mariners Cal Raley.
This team just minted. I mean the ink is still
drying on the Vladi Guerrero extension. A guy who was
drafted by this team, not traded over and found like
(24:06):
he was drafted by the Blue Jays. He came up
through their system. His manager now in the big leagues
was his double a manager in in New Hampshire. They
won championships there. That combination of two guys is going
to give you that. Like, man, I can get behind
these guys every single day. I can get behind Vladdie.
(24:28):
The lineage of his ability to hit comes from his dad,
and yet now he also added to that plate discipline.
He added to that this postseason. I don't remember his
final numbers, but it was like six something that he
was hitting like he is rising to the moment. And
(24:51):
to me, if I'm joining a fan base, I can
I know I'm gonna I know, I'm gonna look at
this roster. I'm gonna be like, I know, Vladdie's playing
every single day, so I'm gonna other organizations it's like, oh, man, Like, okay,
well we're platooning. So my favorite guys hitting first. Now
it's a lefty. Now he's gonna hit six. No, Vladdie's
(25:11):
the heart and soul of that order, and everybody else
just kind of follows along.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
For me, KP, I consider myself a new school and
old school fan. I like certain stats. I think they're
super helpful. I think we were too reliant fifteen, twenty
years ago or whatever when I was growing up on
stats that you know, didn't necessarily tell the whole picture. Okay,
But at the same time, there were parts of the
game that I fell in love with that I felt
(25:40):
like we got so far away from during one of
the more dead times in our sport, where I think
we lost a lot of young fans. Three true outcome,
super super slow paced games. We are getting away from that,
and for me, if you're a fan of the time
period before that and the time period that I think
we're getting out of, where it's faster, it is more contact,
(26:02):
there's more emphasis on defense, and that's what I'm talking about.
Our defensive metrics perfect by no means, but we had
nothing for a long period of time growing up. So
at least we have something, and that's something tells us
When you look at Toronto aside from the Game three
loss over the last three years, and you watch them
play defense, you're like, Yeah, that's fun, that's clean, that's good.
That's what young kids should look at. Right. So for me,
(26:25):
if you want that brand of baseball to become more
of a thing, then you want that team to win
the World Series because it's a copycat league, and then
front offices are going to be like, oh wait, they're
going to go jumping back to their computers. Wait, wait,
what are the Blue Jays doing? We aren't doing this.
We got to get more into contact defense, a little
bit more of an old school style that Eric Chabez,
(26:45):
former hitting coach for the Mets, just talked about with
us on foul territory a day ago. So I think
that actually is a factor here. If you enjoy a
certain brand of baseball, then you want that brand of
baseball to win, and you will see more of it
in the sport.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I do believe that they're a top five, maybe number
one in base running. Two. So let's changed the narrative
on the on the three true outcomes. Let's talk about
the Blue Jays three outcomes. They're gonna put the ball
in play, they're gonna run the base as well, and
they're gonna play defense. Those are your new three true outcomes.
Most teams should follow that recipe. It helps you win.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Games, but you gotta put a value on it. You
gotta put a value on it. What do you mean
there's any elite value in stolen strikes. There's an elite
value in home runs, there's an elite value for pitchers
striking out. You have to put a value on it.
That's going to be manipulated and be able to be taught,
(27:43):
because you can never have hit and you can be
taught to swing really hard and hit the ball far.
You can't have ever, never played and be taught and
teach somebody. Okay, here's how your base run. You're Dave McKay.
That's I mean, that's really what Dalton Varshow brought over
to the Blue Jays his elite based running, and everybody
(28:04):
followed suit from what he was taught by Dave McKay.
So you have to find that value and you have
to prove to the organizations that that value is more
than the extreme value of a home run, extreme value
of strikeouts by pitchers.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'll throw one other pick your poison example out there,
and you know, we have plenty of Canadians that watch
this show. We have many Americans that watch this show.
I often root for fan bases that don't get a
lot of winning because I think it's cool when you
haven't seen it for a long period of time. And
I just mentioned the team right, the Blue Jays not
winning since nineteen ninety three. I think I have this right, KP.
(28:45):
Because I did work for NHL Network for a while
and I looked it up real quick. But the last
Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, it's hard to
believe it, but I think it's nineteen ninety three, right,
the Montreal Canadians think that's what they say.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Right, I definitely knows the country.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, it's not the Leafs. When's the last time the.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Leaves are much the Leafs are? You know, in Toronto,
it's a big thing. They haven't won in forever, but
people still love the team like they go out and
support them, like the country, the city of Toronto. But
you have to mention the entire country of Canada wants
a winner so bad, and basketball is not even that
(29:26):
big of a deal. In it's a big deal in
Toronto and maybe a little bit on the east coast
of Canada. As you get out west, it's not a
big thing. They had over four million people at the
parade for when the Raptors wanted a couple of years ago.
So these people are just wanting to see a winner
so bad.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
If you want baseball to continue to be in an
international sport, then every once in a while, yeah, you
get another country pulling off a dub, especially when there's
only one team in Canada, there's one team outside of
the United States, right so we've seen the sport really
go to the next level globally, especially in Japan with
(30:04):
the emergence of Sho Heeo Tani as one of the
best players we've really ever seen. So for Canada purposes
right now, this is a country that hasn't seen any
winner in their favorite sports since nineteen ninety three. Toronto
specifically hasn't won since nineteen sixty seven. So there's some
cool history here that could be cracked and it'd be
funny if finally they get a title from sports that
(30:25):
they truly love, on the baseball side before the hockey side.
So anyway, if there's something else that you think we're missing,
reason whyse drop it in the comments if you're looking
at this later
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