September 25, 2025 • 40 mins
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred explains the new ABS system coming to baseball and notes that a salary floor may be more vital than a salary cap. Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee tabs Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy as the true alphas entering the Ryder Cup and clarifies his "captain's nightmare" comment regarding Bryson DeChambeau. And MLB insider breaks down the Detroit Tigers' collapse and has a heated debate with Dan about the AL MVP race.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Commissioner of Major League Baseball since twenty fifteen, Rob Manfred
back on the program. We spent a lot of time
yesterday talking about ABS, but I want to know how
did we land on robo umps. I don't like the phrase.
It conjures up something that I think needs to be explained.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, you know, Dan, it's interesting.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I was with a couple of my guys traveling yesterday
and I said exactly the same thing, and I've said
it repeatedly.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I mean the fact that the matter is the system was.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Designed in order to preserve kind of the management role
of the home plate umpire. It's completely invisible to the fan, right,
I mean in terms of there's no device or anything
on the field that they can see, and all of
the calls, including correcting an erroneous fall strike call by
(01:00):
human being from the fans perspective. So you know, we
do prefer the term ABS to robot lumps.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Okay, this is an entertainment business. Are you going to
show anything on the jumbo tron? You know, like tennis
will show you if the ball was in or out?
What is baseball going to do?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
We are going to have a rendering on the scoreboard
so the fans can see it. I mean, you know,
at the end of the day, it is about the
fan experience in the ballpark and our experience in the
minor leagues, as well as the testing we did in
the spring and at the All Star Game suggests that
fans are really interested in seeing that rendering.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How do the umpires feel about big Brother over their shoulder?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I would say the umpires have been generally cooperative on
the issue.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
You know, it's always tough when you get corrected publicly,
and you know, I understand that, and you know it
is important to say although we've taken this step, you know,
our umpires do a phenomenal job on the vast, vast
majority of calls, and you know, I think over time
this may reduce the amount of complaining we have about
(02:10):
ball strike calls.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, whenever I see something that we kind of dip
our toes in and then all of a sudden we're
in over our head, then this is going to be
the future of Major League Baseball. How long will it
take before this is the future?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You know, that's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I think that if you had talked just to the
owners about this topic a couple of years ago, they
would have been in favor of, you know, calling every pitch,
and we're certainly capable of doing that, calling every pitch
with ABS. I think what made us take the intermediate
(02:51):
step is we got a lot of input from players,
particularly players who had used it in the minor leagues,
that they preferred the challenge system, that you know, it
preserved a human element in the game at the major
league level. We also got a lot of input about
the significance of framing catchers and you know, individual players
(03:11):
who had a skill set that could be really impacted
by this. So, you know, we took that input to
heart and landed where we did. I think that we
will see after the twenty sixth season whether there's a
push to go.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
The whole way.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Why did we allow is if it was part of
the charm of baseball that an umpire could have his
own strike zone.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, you know, going back to you know, when I
first came to the Commissioner's office in nineteen ninety eight,
actually Sandy Alderson and I started the first the same day,
and you know, one of the.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
First things Sandy embarked on was an effort to get.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Away from that notion that individual umpires could have their
own strike zone, and we had have dramatically increased the
uniformity of the zone that's called by our umpires by
having a computer based system like ABS that we've been
using to evaluate umpires for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
You know, after each game when they miss a.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Call, they get that pitch, they have to log in
and look at it, and it has produced greater uniformity.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Okay, but it was a charm, you know, like that's
Joe West strike zone or that's Eric Gregg's strike zone
or Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
The problem.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
The problem is sometimes you know, you talk about people
who are just too charming. You know, I think there
were games where that charm became excessive. I mean, I
think Eric Greg's game in the World Series probably an
example of that.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He's the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred. Okay,
give me the data to help me understand starting the
tenth inning with the runner at second base, which I
do to test. But where are we with that? Is
that here to stay? Commissioner?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, look, the most.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Important thing I can say to you is, starting next week,
you're gonna have postseason baseball where you play it out
no matter what. So your your month is coming, it's
gonna be a great postseason, and we're gonna play the
games out again. You know.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Look, I think that that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'm not sure that was at the top of my
priority list in terms of rule changes, but it came
with the COVID changes that we, you know, felt we
needed to do to get through the season.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
The players really.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Liked it, and I think the push to keep it
was based on, you know, player preference and avoidance of
putting you know, really valuable players in positions of asking
them to do something in extra innings that they didn't
ordinarily do you know, the outfielder pitching, And you know,
I do think it is consistent kind of with the
(06:01):
notion that the game has to be quicker to be
responsive to the audience that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We're serving in today's world.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
But these leagues are becoming highlight leagues. Adam Silver, the
NBA commissioner, said, we're kind of a highlight league. How
do you guard against that of just being a highlight
and not going the experience of going to a game
or watching a game.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I think we have a huge advantage in that effort,
and it is an effort for all sports. I mean,
you know how younger people consume things. We don't need
to revisit that. But I think that our in ballpark
experience largely due to the work of the individual teams
(06:47):
and what they do in the stadiums, the entertainment they provide,
the food and beverage options, what they do in between
innings is so good that it does creating.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
People the desire to see the whole game, the.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Whole product, and the fact that we play every day
also important in that regard. So we have some assets
there and it's something that we're really focused on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
When all the owners get together, how often does the
topic of a salary cap come up?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
You know, it's interesting. It really is episodic.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
You know, it's more frequent when you get closer to
a labor year like we are now. I think it's
natural for people to discuss, you know, options that are available.
I think what's really important for me to say is,
you know, we haven't decided what exactly our approach is
(07:45):
going to be. We have a whole other season to
get through, and you know, while obviously there's conversation. You know,
it remains to be seeing what substance position the owners.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Are going to take.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Where do you stand on it?
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I think that it has been my view for a
really long time that you sell competition to your fans
and that we need to always be looking for things
that enhance the perception of the competition. And I think
one way to do that is reduce and regulate the
(08:21):
disparity and payrolls a you get.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I also want to make sure that you know the
minimum spend because some of these owners they may not
be spending as much as they need to.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
How do I think that's I think that's one thing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Well, I think that's one thing that is widely misunderstood.
You know what, people the name of the mechanism that
people use in the other three sports is a salary cap.
But a necessary element of that system is a minimum
as well as a cap, and I agree with you
that the minimum in some ways may be more important
(08:58):
than the cap.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The cal Rawley story is a fun story, but how
does baseball's like your marketing arm? How do you approach
a story like that to let people know he's playing
in Seattle, He's hit sixty home runs, great nickname there.
How are you guys doing enough to promote some of
these other stories?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, Look, I think that it's really important with a
story like Cal for Major League Baseball in addition to
the club, what the club is doing locally to promote
that player build his brand. You know, we have a
massive social media program now that is all player directed.
(09:42):
Almost everything we do on social is player You're going
to see a set of postseason advertisements that will start
airing Cal is prominently featured in that. You know, honestly
selecting him for the home run Derby is another example.
You know, you want to play like that in a
home run derby where he's going to get a national audience.
(10:03):
I think going forward, one of the things that we
are really focused on is more presence on national platforms
for regular season games, so that people across the country
see more of players like Cal.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
How important is gambling to Major League Baseball?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
You know, I think it's something that is really misunderstood.
We have a you know, nice little business where we
sell data and we sell some sponsorships, but the overall
revenue impact of gambling for us is really not significant. Actually,
the biggest expenditure of time on the topic is working
(10:46):
with our partners, the sports books, to make sure that
gambling doesn't present an integrity an integrity issue for us
over the long home.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Are you allowed to have a man cave at home?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
You know, I do have a room that my wife
has is a bedroom that she has reluctantly seated to me.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
There is a lot of you know, a lot of
baseball stuff, a lot of golf stuff, and some exercise equipment.
So I guess that qualifies.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
You know, you can't quite have a cave in an
apartment in New York, you know, if there's something you know,
it's sort of an oxy moron, right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You're not the commissioner in your own house.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, well that's certainly true. That's certainly true.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Great to talk to you again, Great.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
To talk to you, Tant Really, you know, I know,
I hope because we'll be playing the games out you'll
be paying attention to what's going to be a great
postseason for us.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
It's been a really exciting week this week trying to.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Figure out who exactly is going to be there, and
we're looking forward to some great series next week.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Thank you, commissioner. All right, thank you Dan, Rob Manfred.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
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Speaker 5 (12:05):
W app Hey, We're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio
every day five.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
To seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blubber list name in me.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored. By
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
There you go Over Promising wherever you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cadino and rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
The Writer Cup Must see TV but so is live
from the Writer Cup. You can see Brandal Shambley, rich
Lerner and company and they're going to be there through
Sunday at Bethpage Black that's in Farmingdale, New York. He
also does a podcast with his wife called The Favorite
Shambly Randall joins us on the program. How would you
(13:32):
describe your relationship with Bryson to Shambo?
Speaker 7 (13:40):
Probably somewhat complicated now because that's just the nature of
what I do, in the nature of what he does.
But I've enjoyed the time when I've been around Bryson
to Shambo, I've spent a little bit of time around
him two or three times. We've played in golf tournament's
Going Away Back, and I've set with him in a
locker room once and talked golf swing for about a
couple of hours during a swing break. I like Bryson,
(14:02):
I enjoy his game. I say a lot of nice
things about him. But the way the world works is
they pick up on one negative thing you say about him,
and it becomes a headline and it becomes memes and
it gets back to him, and he probably thinks that
I'm highly critical of him when I've mostly been complimentary
of him.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, it did stand out earlier in the week when
you were talking about him talking about doing videos for
his YouTube channel and he should be talking about the
Ryder Cup teams. Am I summarizing that fairly?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (14:33):
Absolutely, you know, I can't remember exactly what he was
asked about, but he started talking about his YouTube channel, which, look,
I get it's been a nice movement and he's enjoying
doing that, but at the time it just struck my
ear just a little bit odd. And then I made
the comment where I said, I think he's probably a
(14:54):
captain's nightmare, And maybe that was the exact phrase I
should have used. Maybe that was a little strong. Maybe
what I should have said was he probably is problematic
to pair with, or maybe he keeps a captain up
late at night. Maybe nightmare was a little bit strong, Dan.
I don't know if you ever said anything on the
air where you're like, you know, I'd like to grab
that work out.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I could take it back, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
So yeah, I caught a fair bit of scorn for that.
I was like, yeah, that probably wasn't my best phrase.
But the point was is that he is problematic for
a captain to pair with. Paul McGinley, who was a
captain for Ryder Cup in twenty fourteen, said as much
last night. He's like, he is one of those players.
If you just matching players for skill, you would pair
(15:38):
like the best possible team the US could put out
tomorrow would be Scotty and Bryson to Shamba. But they
will neither they together. That not skill wise for this
golf course. That's the best possible team that the USA
could put out. They will not be going out tomorrow
because there's compatibility. And I'm not saying that Scotty has
got a problem with Bryson or Bryce's got a problem
(15:59):
with Scotty. I'm just saying that, you know, not everybody
meshes up perfectly. You've got to consider things like personality
and how amenable are they to changeing equipment. Bryson has
notoriously fickle about his golf equipment. We don't know if
he's happy to or reluctant to switch golf balls to
play a golf ball of his partner, et cetera, et cetera.
(16:20):
So these are the kind of things, you know. There's
the FOURTHMS is a tough thing to work in. Now,
having settled that, I'd be equally surprised if Bryson didn't
play four or five matches, because he is clearly one
of the top talents on this team.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Who's the alpha dog on each team?
Speaker 7 (16:38):
The alpha is Scottie Scheffler. The alpha is ry McElroy
on the European team. I wouldn't say Bryson's in beta
too much to be an alpha, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
There you go, you're putting out in you know memes again.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
No, well, look he's he's always in beta. You know,
I'm testing this, I'm testing that, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I do love that bit about him. Yeah, but
you're talking about I'm talking alpha dog where there's emotion.
This is about emotion, and Scheffler doesn't have that kind
of a moment like Terrellhatton has emotion.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Well, you're talking about fire, yes, I'm talking about the
ability to inspire a team with their play. And I
think Scotty Scheffler is very underrated when it comes to
his intensity. I think he burns like the sun on
the inside. I really do, and we've seen it flare
up from time to time. But you don't win as
often as he does, and you don't show an inability
(17:38):
to be in any way placated by money without the
fire inside. That's what Tiger had that was so extraordinary.
You could not placate him with money. It didn't matter
how much he made. He still wanted to beat you
about twelve fifteen shots the very next week. And I
think Scotty definitely has that, and I think Rory definitely
has that. It's not to say that John Robb doesn't
(18:00):
also look John Rahm is an alpha as well. I mean,
this is a team of type A personalities all the
way down the board, both sides. But when you're looking
at the top of the top, to me, it's Rory
and it's Gotti.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
We talk about how the European team camaraderie galvanize. They understand,
you know, friendship, travel together, play together, is it's still
that because you know, you do have the live tour
involved in this, and maybe it's not as close knit
as it has been in the past, which was a
(18:34):
big benefit for them.
Speaker 7 (18:36):
Yeah, I think it's a little misleading to assume that
the European teams have always just been, you know, chummy.
There's always been a little bit of friction within the
European team room, and I think they've used that friction
to their advantage. But there's also been tremendous buy in.
You know, you've got players over there that just say,
you know, I'll play wherever you want me to play,
(18:56):
And I don't know that you get that kind of
buy in from the US side, leaning what I can
glean from the interviews I've heard and the stories I've heard,
and you get tremendous buy in on the European side.
And one of the things I say, and I think
that underscorees just how much more buying you get on
the European side than you get on the US side,
is that Sergio Garcia had to pay a couple of
(19:17):
million dollars in fines just to even be eligible for
this team, and he willfully paid a couple million dollars
just to be eligible. Now he's not on the team,
but the United States team has demanded to be paid
to play. Now, look, I mean, we can debate whether
or not that's the right thing to do, but you
have one side where players would pay to be on
the team and the other side where players want to
(19:39):
get paid just to be a part of the team.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Talking to Branda Shamblie Golf Channel on their lead studio
analysts live from the Ryder Cup all this weekend, Yeah,
you bring up the money part of it. How's this
story get out? Because the first thing I thought is
is somebody from the European team leaking this out to
make the American team look bad.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
Well, you know, there's a lot of people involved in
this decision. I mean, the whole PGA of America would
have had to talk about this, So that's an innumerable
number of people. And then you're talking about players and
wives and caddies and everybody on the European side because
they're invested in this as well. And you know, this
is a profitable property, almost exclusively because Europe has risen
(20:24):
up and more times than not beaten the American side.
When the American side has been the favorite has that's
the larger part of the reason why this event is
so compelling. And so Europe doesn't want any money. They've
said as much. In the United States since nineteen ninety
nine has been talking about and wanting to get paid.
And it came to a head obviously in Rome when
(20:48):
allegedly Patrick Cantley wouldn't wear the hat because he wasn't
getting paid, which was reported by a great many people.
And then I think, written by Michael Bamberger, they get paid.
I don't think so. I don't think it's asking too much. Well,
first of all, they are getting paid. So the PGA
Tour gets about thirty million dollars a year that every
(21:12):
year they played the Ryder Cup, about thirty million dollars
a year that they take and put into the pension
funt of the PGA Tour players, which grows tax free
for decade for decade for decade for decades. So when
you talk about getting paid, they're getting paid large sums
of money. It's just deferred until probably when they they'll
never need it, but you know later on in their life.
(21:32):
And most every single player, well now every player on
the team would have bonuses probably seven figure bonuses in
their contracts should they make the Ryder Cup team. So
they are getting paid, but directly paid from the PGA
of America. I think it's not asking too much of
these guys to one week a year to do something
(21:53):
for the honor of playing for their country. People would argue, well,
the PGA of America makes money. The PGA of America
has thirty thousand plus members, in numerable initiatives that they're
all trying to fund.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
All of these.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Entities have run these big events, Augusta National, the USGA.
They all make money from the events. They make a profit,
but then they take that money and do a lot
of great things with it. It's like the PGA of
America is not buying ferraris and private jets for their executives.
They're taking the money and investing in junior programs. Every
single player on this US team was touched by a
(22:24):
PGA you know, a PGA professional at some point showed
them how to put their hands on the club and
gave them some reason to pursue this game.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
More app to have another act, Tiger or Phil.
Speaker 7 (22:41):
Good question, I would say, another act. You mean from
a competitive standpoint on a big stage, I would probably say, Phil,
you know, unfortunately Tiger busting his achilles again. I you know,
I don't know how you come back from that at
fifty years of age, unless unless Tiger decides to write
(23:06):
a golf cart on the Champs Tour. And I don't
know how that would play out in the US Senior Open,
because Tiger has won three US Juniors, three US Amateurs,
and three US Opens. If he were to go play,
and I guarantee you it's a goal of his to
go play the US Senior Open and win it, but
I don't know that he could write a cart in
the US Senior Open, which you can on the Champs Tour.
(23:28):
And I don't know even if they would let him
write a card, if he would do it, because he
has such a strong sense of fairness about him.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
What about Phil?
Speaker 7 (23:38):
Look, Phil could pop up at the Masters. You know
Jack Nicholas finished fifth there when he was fifty eight
years of age. Phil still bombs it and Phil still energetic,
still youthful in his feverish pursuit of this game of golf.
So yeah, and he won a major at Dangian Are
fifty two years of age, So it wouldn't surprise me.
(23:59):
I mean, Phil still acts like a kid again with
a golf club in his hand.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
We always talk about decorum in a golf course and
being quiet and you know, being respectful, but that's out
the window this weekend. Can can a crowd gallery go
too far at the Ryder Cup?
Speaker 7 (24:15):
They could absolutely go too far if they start screaming
or yelling in guys backswings, you know, let them play.
I think you know there'll be some people kicked out
this week for sure. You know, if they start screaming
and players backswings, if they get profane, you know and personal,
you know the whole you know, there'll be some good
jeery out there. And I know the European side has
(24:37):
prepared for this, going back to January when they were
playing in a competition where it was Great Britain and
Ireland against Continental Europe. These they do, these, it's sort
of previews for Ryder Cups. I think Luke Donald had
a blaring system of you know, USA, USA, USA, and
he hired an American comedian to heckle them while they
were hitting shots. So they've prepared for for a hostile environment.
(25:02):
I'm just not sure anybody could properly prepare for as
hostile environment as I think they're going to get this week.
If you were watching the opening ceremonies yesterday, the New
York Governor, I mean, my goodness, I mean the boos
were a fevered pitch. Got me looking for the decimal
level record for a stadium, which by the way is
(25:23):
Arrowhead Stadium. It may reach that level this week.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
It's just more about the mental aspect of the physical aspect.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
I think that's a great thing about the Ryder Cup
is it really does involve everything group dynamics at the
highest level. How can you get these guys to come
together as a team and buy into the decisions a
captain which you know and I think more than a
few instances are going to go against the predictions of
the players. And then, of course there is the mental
aspect of it, because it's monoamano out there, and there'll
(25:55):
be some gamesmanship there already has been some gamesmanship. Luke Donald,
I think had a little gamesmanship yesterday in his opening
remarks the European team out on the range. I don't
know if it was yesterday or today, but instead of
going to one end where the US side could uniformly
practice at another end. The European team went right in
the middle, so the US team had to split up
(26:16):
and go to either side of them.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
I mean, that is absolutely gamesmanship by the European team,
and so there will be little bitty gamesmanship moments out there,
so it certainly becomes.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
A mental test. Good to talk to you. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (26:31):
By the way, rich lernerd RIGHTTMI the cameo right here,
we're in the trailer here, so say I read, I read,
all right, take care yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
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Speaker 2 (26:55):
Jeff Passing, ESPN senior Baseball insider joining us on the program.
How are you?
Speaker 9 (27:02):
It was a great line man, Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That genuinely made me laugh.
Speaker 9 (27:06):
Do we have a camera? Can we see the astros
like you know?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Can we Mario? Can you show Fritzy with his astros gear?
Let me see? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (27:20):
Right, and it's the slow pan of shame. Oh boy,
I will say something. It takes some kahonas to go
and wear that the way that they're playing right now.
They saw right now, like they've lost five in a row.
They have blown it. They're losing games to the A's there,
(27:41):
they're just out of the playoffs. Like the Astros are
so bad right now that Detroit is still in a
playoff spot. And Detroit has had arguably the greatest collapse
in September history in baseball.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
How did that happen? Now? I know, you have to
have a team that has a comeback, and the Guardians
have played well, they pitched really incredible. But what happened
with the Tigers.
Speaker 9 (28:03):
The pitching has just been abominable. And you know, it
was interesting because earlier this year, Dan they like they
looked like maybe the best team in baseball, and they
had continued what they'd done to everyone else last September.
That's happening to them right now. Remember they were fifty
five and sixty three at one point. They traded Jack
(28:24):
Flaherty last year and they wound up making a pretty
spirited playoff run to the Division Series where they pushed
Cleveland's game five before Cleveland won that series and faced
the Yankees in the ALCS. But what the Tigers have
done to this point, it's it's embarrassing and nobody there
frankly has any answers for it. Aj Hinch is saying,
you know, we're trying, We're we're doing our best, but
(28:47):
they just they look lifeless out there. And when you
look at the talent on this Cleveland Guardian team, you say,
how they have two hitters in Jose Ramirez and Kyle
Manzardo who have ops pluses over one hundred, which means
they have two hitters who are better than the league
average two and they're going to win. It looks like
(29:09):
at this point the American League Central Division. And you
look at their pitching staff, and let's not forget they
lost their all world's closer and a rotation piece and
Emmanuel Class and Luis Ortiz to allegations of being involved
in gambling, and so the Guardians looked like.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
They were cooked.
Speaker 9 (29:25):
They were talking about trading Stephen Kwan at the deadline,
and here they are every year. Steven Vote has done
an incredible job managing this team, and they just never
lost faith. And you got to believe in teams that
can push on with what they've been through.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I said a couple of weeks ago, if cal Rawly
hit sixty and they won the division that he was
going to win the MVP. Being a catcher and a
better than average catcher. You win that division and you're
hitting sixty home runs? Well, check, check check? Is he
going to win the mvpck?
Speaker 9 (30:00):
I don't know, because the.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Cider don't have you taken a straw vote here.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
I don't ask other reporters. It's like asking somebody who
you've voted for. They're just things that you'd like, you
don't do in polite society.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
Damn.
Speaker 9 (30:18):
And let's put it this way. I'm like, I'm glad
that I'm not voting for MVP this year because it's
there's such great cases to be made for both cal
Rally and for Aaron Judge. And let me turn this
on you, since you are in the clear pro Rally camp.
Aaron Judge is ops right now is one hundred and
(30:41):
seventy five points figher than cal Rally's. Are you telling
me that because cal Rally has a home run total
that ends in a round number, and that because cal
Raley happens to play with really good guys surrounding him
and a team that went out and got Youah Naylor
and Gino Suarez at the deadline that helped push them
(31:03):
toward that division title. Are you telling me all that
makes up, along with the defensive elements for that one
hundred and seventy five point gap, which is real, which
is significant, and which is enormous.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yes, okay, fair enough.
Speaker 9 (31:18):
I think it's great. Honestly, I think both of them.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
He's nerving past Mickey Mantle as a switch hit, or
he's hitting sixty home runs and he's doing it at
the catcher position. That never happens. I mean no, it never,
It never has and it won't happen again. I mean,
he'll hit thirty eight next year.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
But so do you think do you think you're suffering
from Aaron Judges?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yes, yes, yeah, Well but it happens, though, Jeff. It
happened with Michael Jordan. I voted for him every year,
even when Barkley and Karl Malone won, because I said,
there's no more valuable player to the league than Michael Jordan.
I don't care what your numbers are, I don't care
what your team did. That guy is the most valuable.
(32:02):
Aaron Judge and show heyo Tani I said, I thought
Kyle Schwarber deserved a lot more respect. Than he's getting
because he has He's going to be a distant second
to show Heyo Tani and I think that given what
the phi, Philly's got the best odds to win the
World Series, Schwarber's been unbelievable. But yes, Otani has had advantage.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
His second home run last night was spectacular, four hundred
and sixty eight feet just into the night in Philadelphia.
He's absolutely carried the Phillies to this point. And yeah, listen,
I'm with you, but I think there's a little inconsistency
going on here. If you're voting for Michael Jordan every
year when Michael Jordan was putting up the best numbers,
(32:46):
have you softened as you have grown wise and gone
more for the narrative vote because the objective vote is
for Aaron Judge. The narrative vote is unquestionably for cal Rally.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, but Aaron Judge was not my Jordan in the postseason.
I was voting on the totality of what that season
was going to be and Aaron Judge is not a
great postseason performing.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
Yeah, we don't get to vote like all of our
votes are due before the postseason begins.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Oh, I'm not saying that what, you know, what my
formula was was fair, but I think it kind of
bore out that, Hey, he did win six championships in
those years, even when he wasn't the MVP. And Aaron Judge,
you know, has done incredible, you know, hitting fifty home runs,
He's been incredible. To him, he really, yeah, he really
(33:34):
has been incredible. I just think you know this, as
a writer, we love a new story. What else are
you going to say about Aaron Judge and only nearly
went to the Giants? Boy, he was a great high
school tight end?
Speaker 9 (33:47):
Uh? What how about? Okay? How about this? Aaron Judges
in the midst of one of the great stretches in
baseball history for hitters, putting him up there with Barry
Bond's babe Ruth and I'm not sure who else. Like,
it's one of those types of stretches where when you
(34:09):
look at what Aaron Judge has done over the last
four seasons in particular, but really for the entirety of
his career, he has made himself within ten years and
Inner Circle first ballot, no doubt Hall of Famer. Who's
going to go down among the greatest players in the
history of the greatest franchise in baseball, and this year
(34:31):
in particular, what he's doing. He's leading the league in batting,
hitting three thirty, around three thirty, when nobody hits for
average anymore. In an era where home runs are not
difficult to come by necessarily but certainly not easy, he's
going out and hitting them with regularity. He gets on
(34:53):
base more than anyone, He slugs better than anyone. He
just puts up numbers that are so much different than
everybody else is in the sport. He is the outlier
Dan and I.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Like my problem with that. I think Aaron Judge is great.
He's not a great postseason performer. Yeah, okay, but we
look at all of the grades of all time, and
what do we focus on postseason? That's how you become
greats of all time. Aaron Judge is a wonderful regular
season player. I have no no qualms with you.
Speaker 9 (35:26):
Do you think do you think Dan Marino was great?
Do you think Charles Barkley was great?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
I mean, come on, we're great regular season players. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I don't.
Speaker 9 (35:35):
I don't. I don't personally differentiate those two, I feel like,
but we.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Do that with quarterbacks all the time. Eli's going to
the Hall of Fame. Why because he won two Super Bowls?
Not because of what he did during the regular season.
So we pick you know, why don't we do that
in other sports? Barry Bonds didn't win anything, right, Yeah,
we crushed Clayton Kershaw because he can't do anything in
(36:00):
the postseason. He's one of the greatest regular season pitchers
of all time. Like we do hold other people accountable
in other sports, why can't we do that, you know
side for these cornerbacks, one you can, It.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
Is within your right and it makes for great arguments.
I just you know, I look at it like I
think the regular season matters, and I just don't want
that to get swept away amid all the discussion about
what the postseason is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Okay Otani is always going to have like a twenty
yard head start and a forty yard dash, right totally.
I mean every season he starts at the twenty yard
line and everybody starts, you know, at the starting line.
And he didn't really pitch that much. It's just now
he did, you know, hit home runs, but he didn't
(36:55):
steal bases like he did his average you know, considerably.
But he's going to run away with another MVP.
Speaker 9 (37:02):
Yeah, because he's putting up almost identical numbers and in
some case better numbers than Kyle Schwarburn. Oh, by the way,
he threw fifty innings of sub three e are on
top of that. Like, it's just, it's it's tough. It's
tough for me to look at Otani and not vote
for him every year he stays healthy just because he's
(37:23):
two players in one.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Dude, I know, I know, like you.
Speaker 9 (37:27):
Just, I can't get past that he is the freak
of all freaks, and honoring him with the MVP Award,
I'm not sure that even does does him the service
that he's out.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I felt like a little tense there. I'm sorry, I
get a little animated here.
Speaker 9 (37:45):
No wrong, I listen. I appreciate. I appreciate arguing with
people who are wrong.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
It's great. I know me too. Can we get rid
of this stupid term robo ump because it's not a
robo ump? Okay, nope, it is not a robo ump.
But people, I think they're going to be robots out there,
Jeff and I tell you all, but.
Speaker 9 (38:09):
Kim, Yeah, but I love that. I would love to see,
like just, I would love to see what a robot
umpire's strike call.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Would look like like.
Speaker 9 (38:20):
No, but robots are good enough these days where I
feel like the guy would be like pretty smooth and
calling a strike. And I've always wondered, like, if I
were an umpire, what would my strike three call be?
I feel like we could get a robot umpire doing
a backflip into the splits and then just like ringing
the guy up right there. But No, the Automated ball
(38:42):
Strike System it's twelve cameras that are around the ballpark
that can track a pitch with margin a bear of
one sixth of an inch. And the idea is to
ensure that there are no really bad calls that are
made in high leverage, important situations. And beyond that, I
think it's also an opportunity, or it's going to become
(39:04):
an opportunity to reward people who understand the strike zone.
Like if you're a catcher or a hitter who has
a great grasp of the strike zone, this is a
rule that's going to advantage you and it's going to
make you become a more valuable player.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
You know what's great about the postseason Everything we don't
start with somebody on second base in the tenth Listen.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
I love I love the Pitchcock. I think ABS is
going to be really great. I am totally with you
on the automatic Runner, and I think it's a I
get the intention behind it, I just don't like it.
Give me seventeen any games all day. I'll take them,
especially in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Good to talk to you. We'll chop it up again
in the postseason. Thank you can't wait, buddy. Thanks for
having Jeff Patson. He's always wrong.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Commissioner of Major League Baseball since twenty fifteen, Rob Manfred
back on the program. We spent a lot of time
yesterday talking about ABS, but I want to know how
did we land on robo umps. I don't like the phrase.
It conjures up something that I think needs to be explained.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, you know, Dan, it's interesting.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I was with a couple of my guys traveling yesterday
and I said exactly the same thing, and I've said
it repeatedly.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I mean the fact that the matter is the system was.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
Designed in order to preserve kind of the management role
of the home plate umpire. It's completely invisible to the fan, right,
I mean in terms of there's no device or anything
on the field that they can see, and all of
the calls, including correcting an erroneous fall strike call by
(01:00):
human being from the fans perspective. So you know, we
do prefer the term ABS to robot lumps.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Okay, this is an entertainment business. Are you going to
show anything on the jumbo tron? You know, like tennis
will show you if the ball was in or out?
What is baseball going to do?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
We are going to have a rendering on the scoreboard
so the fans can see it. I mean, you know,
at the end of the day, it is about the
fan experience in the ballpark and our experience in the
minor leagues, as well as the testing we did in
the spring and at the All Star Game suggests that
fans are really interested in seeing that rendering.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How do the umpires feel about big Brother over their shoulder?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I would say the umpires have been generally cooperative on
the issue.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
You know, it's always tough when you get corrected publicly,
and you know, I understand that, and you know it
is important to say although we've taken this step, you know,
our umpires do a phenomenal job on the vast, vast
majority of calls, and you know, I think over time
this may reduce the amount of complaining we have about
(02:10):
ball strike calls.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, whenever I see something that we kind of dip
our toes in and then all of a sudden we're
in over our head, then this is going to be
the future of Major League Baseball. How long will it
take before this is the future?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
You know, that's an interesting question.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I think that if you had talked just to the
owners about this topic a couple of years ago, they
would have been in favor of, you know, calling every pitch,
and we're certainly capable of doing that, calling every pitch
with ABS. I think what made us take the intermediate
(02:51):
step is we got a lot of input from players,
particularly players who had used it in the minor leagues,
that they preferred the challenge system, that you know, it
preserved a human element in the game at the major
league level. We also got a lot of input about
the significance of framing catchers and you know, individual players
(03:11):
who had a skill set that could be really impacted
by this. So, you know, we took that input to
heart and landed where we did. I think that we
will see after the twenty sixth season whether there's a
push to go.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
The whole way.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Why did we allow is if it was part of
the charm of baseball that an umpire could have his
own strike zone.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, you know, going back to you know, when I
first came to the Commissioner's office in nineteen ninety eight,
actually Sandy Alderson and I started the first the same day,
and you know, one of the.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
First things Sandy embarked on was an effort to get.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Away from that notion that individual umpires could have their
own strike zone, and we had have dramatically increased the
uniformity of the zone that's called by our umpires by
having a computer based system like ABS that we've been
using to evaluate umpires for more than a decade.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
You know, after each game when they miss a.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
Call, they get that pitch, they have to log in
and look at it, and it has produced greater uniformity.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Okay, but it was a charm, you know, like that's
Joe West strike zone or that's Eric Gregg's strike zone
or Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
The problem.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
The problem is sometimes you know, you talk about people
who are just too charming. You know, I think there
were games where that charm became excessive. I mean, I
think Eric Greg's game in the World Series probably an
example of that.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He's the commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred. Okay,
give me the data to help me understand starting the
tenth inning with the runner at second base, which I
do to test. But where are we with that? Is
that here to stay? Commissioner?
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well, look, the most.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Important thing I can say to you is, starting next week,
you're gonna have postseason baseball where you play it out
no matter what. So your your month is coming, it's
gonna be a great postseason, and we're gonna play the
games out again. You know.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Look, I think that that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I'm not sure that was at the top of my
priority list in terms of rule changes, but it came
with the COVID changes that we, you know, felt we
needed to do to get through the season.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
The players really.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Liked it, and I think the push to keep it
was based on, you know, player preference and avoidance of
putting you know, really valuable players in positions of asking
them to do something in extra innings that they didn't
ordinarily do you know, the outfielder pitching, And you know,
I do think it is consistent kind of with the
(06:01):
notion that the game has to be quicker to be
responsive to the audience that.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
We're serving in today's world.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
But these leagues are becoming highlight leagues. Adam Silver, the
NBA commissioner, said, we're kind of a highlight league. How
do you guard against that of just being a highlight
and not going the experience of going to a game
or watching a game.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I think we have a huge advantage in that effort,
and it is an effort for all sports. I mean,
you know how younger people consume things. We don't need
to revisit that. But I think that our in ballpark
experience largely due to the work of the individual teams
(06:47):
and what they do in the stadiums, the entertainment they provide,
the food and beverage options, what they do in between
innings is so good that it does creating.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
People the desire to see the whole game, the.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Whole product, and the fact that we play every day
also important in that regard. So we have some assets
there and it's something that we're really focused on.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
When all the owners get together, how often does the
topic of a salary cap come up?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
You know, it's interesting. It really is episodic.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
You know, it's more frequent when you get closer to
a labor year like we are now. I think it's
natural for people to discuss, you know, options that are available.
I think what's really important for me to say is,
you know, we haven't decided what exactly our approach is
(07:45):
going to be. We have a whole other season to
get through, and you know, while obviously there's conversation. You know,
it remains to be seeing what substance position the owners.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Are going to take.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Where do you stand on it?
Speaker 4 (07:59):
I think that it has been my view for a
really long time that you sell competition to your fans
and that we need to always be looking for things
that enhance the perception of the competition. And I think
one way to do that is reduce and regulate the
(08:21):
disparity and payrolls a you get.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I also want to make sure that you know the
minimum spend because some of these owners they may not
be spending as much as they need to.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
How do I think that's I think that's one thing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Well, I think that's one thing that is widely misunderstood.
You know what, people the name of the mechanism that
people use in the other three sports is a salary cap.
But a necessary element of that system is a minimum
as well as a cap, and I agree with you
that the minimum in some ways may be more important
(08:58):
than the cap.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
The cal Rawley story is a fun story, but how
does baseball's like your marketing arm? How do you approach
a story like that to let people know he's playing
in Seattle, He's hit sixty home runs, great nickname there.
How are you guys doing enough to promote some of
these other stories?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, Look, I think that it's really important with a
story like Cal for Major League Baseball in addition to
the club, what the club is doing locally to promote
that player build his brand. You know, we have a
massive social media program now that is all player directed.
(09:42):
Almost everything we do on social is player You're going
to see a set of postseason advertisements that will start
airing Cal is prominently featured in that. You know, honestly
selecting him for the home run Derby is another example.
You know, you want to play like that in a
home run derby where he's going to get a national audience.
(10:03):
I think going forward, one of the things that we
are really focused on is more presence on national platforms
for regular season games, so that people across the country
see more of players like Cal.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
How important is gambling to Major League Baseball?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
You know, I think it's something that is really misunderstood.
We have a you know, nice little business where we
sell data and we sell some sponsorships, but the overall
revenue impact of gambling for us is really not significant. Actually,
the biggest expenditure of time on the topic is working
(10:46):
with our partners, the sports books, to make sure that
gambling doesn't present an integrity an integrity issue for us
over the long home.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Are you allowed to have a man cave at home?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
You know, I do have a room that my wife
has is a bedroom that she has reluctantly seated to me.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
There is a lot of you know, a lot of
baseball stuff, a lot of golf stuff, and some exercise equipment.
So I guess that qualifies.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
You know, you can't quite have a cave in an
apartment in New York, you know, if there's something you know,
it's sort of an oxy moron, right, So.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
You're not the commissioner in your own house.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, well that's certainly true. That's certainly true.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Great to talk to you again, Great.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
To talk to you, Tant Really, you know, I know,
I hope because we'll be playing the games out you'll
be paying attention to what's going to be a great
postseason for us.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
It's been a really exciting week this week trying to.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Figure out who exactly is going to be there, and
we're looking forward to some great series next week.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Thank you, commissioner. All right, thank you Dan, Rob Manfred.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
W app Hey, We're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio
every day five.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
To seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
To, and that's why we have a brand new podcast
called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun
in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blubber list name in me.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Well, you know what it's called over promise.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
You should be good at it because you've been over
promising women for years.
Speaker 6 (12:33):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored. By
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.
Speaker 6 (12:58):
There you go Over Promising wherever you could see it
on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with
Cadino and rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or
wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
The Writer Cup Must see TV but so is live
from the Writer Cup. You can see Brandal Shambley, rich
Lerner and company and they're going to be there through
Sunday at Bethpage Black that's in Farmingdale, New York. He
also does a podcast with his wife called The Favorite
Shambly Randall joins us on the program. How would you
(13:32):
describe your relationship with Bryson to Shambo?
Speaker 7 (13:40):
Probably somewhat complicated now because that's just the nature of
what I do, in the nature of what he does.
But I've enjoyed the time when I've been around Bryson
to Shambo, I've spent a little bit of time around
him two or three times. We've played in golf tournament's
Going Away Back, and I've set with him in a
locker room once and talked golf swing for about a
couple of hours during a swing break. I like Bryson,
(14:02):
I enjoy his game. I say a lot of nice
things about him. But the way the world works is
they pick up on one negative thing you say about him,
and it becomes a headline and it becomes memes and
it gets back to him, and he probably thinks that
I'm highly critical of him when I've mostly been complimentary
of him.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Well, it did stand out earlier in the week when
you were talking about him talking about doing videos for
his YouTube channel and he should be talking about the
Ryder Cup teams. Am I summarizing that fairly?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (14:33):
Absolutely, you know, I can't remember exactly what he was
asked about, but he started talking about his YouTube channel, which, look,
I get it's been a nice movement and he's enjoying
doing that, but at the time it just struck my
ear just a little bit odd. And then I made
the comment where I said, I think he's probably a
(14:54):
captain's nightmare, And maybe that was the exact phrase I
should have used. Maybe that was a little strong. Maybe
what I should have said was he probably is problematic
to pair with, or maybe he keeps a captain up
late at night. Maybe nightmare was a little bit strong, Dan.
I don't know if you ever said anything on the
air where you're like, you know, I'd like to grab
that work out.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I could take it back, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
So yeah, I caught a fair bit of scorn for that.
I was like, yeah, that probably wasn't my best phrase.
But the point was is that he is problematic for
a captain to pair with. Paul McGinley, who was a
captain for Ryder Cup in twenty fourteen, said as much
last night. He's like, he is one of those players.
If you just matching players for skill, you would pair
(15:38):
like the best possible team the US could put out
tomorrow would be Scotty and Bryson to Shamba. But they
will neither they together. That not skill wise for this
golf course. That's the best possible team that the USA
could put out. They will not be going out tomorrow
because there's compatibility. And I'm not saying that Scotty has
got a problem with Bryson or Bryce's got a problem
(15:59):
with Scotty. I'm just saying that, you know, not everybody
meshes up perfectly. You've got to consider things like personality
and how amenable are they to changeing equipment. Bryson has
notoriously fickle about his golf equipment. We don't know if
he's happy to or reluctant to switch golf balls to
play a golf ball of his partner, et cetera, et cetera.
(16:20):
So these are the kind of things, you know. There's
the FOURTHMS is a tough thing to work in. Now,
having settled that, I'd be equally surprised if Bryson didn't
play four or five matches, because he is clearly one
of the top talents on this team.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Who's the alpha dog on each team?
Speaker 7 (16:38):
The alpha is Scottie Scheffler. The alpha is ry McElroy
on the European team. I wouldn't say Bryson's in beta
too much to be an alpha, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
There you go, you're putting out in you know memes again.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
No, well, look he's he's always in beta. You know,
I'm testing this, I'm testing that, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And I do love that bit about him. Yeah, but
you're talking about I'm talking alpha dog where there's emotion.
This is about emotion, and Scheffler doesn't have that kind
of a moment like Terrellhatton has emotion.
Speaker 7 (17:15):
Well, you're talking about fire, yes, I'm talking about the
ability to inspire a team with their play. And I
think Scotty Scheffler is very underrated when it comes to
his intensity. I think he burns like the sun on
the inside. I really do, and we've seen it flare
up from time to time. But you don't win as
often as he does, and you don't show an inability
(17:38):
to be in any way placated by money without the
fire inside. That's what Tiger had that was so extraordinary.
You could not placate him with money. It didn't matter
how much he made. He still wanted to beat you
about twelve fifteen shots the very next week. And I
think Scotty definitely has that, and I think Rory definitely
has that. It's not to say that John Robb doesn't
(18:00):
also look John Rahm is an alpha as well. I mean,
this is a team of type A personalities all the
way down the board, both sides. But when you're looking
at the top of the top, to me, it's Rory
and it's Gotti.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
We talk about how the European team camaraderie galvanize. They understand,
you know, friendship, travel together, play together, is it's still
that because you know, you do have the live tour
involved in this, and maybe it's not as close knit
as it has been in the past, which was a
(18:34):
big benefit for them.
Speaker 7 (18:36):
Yeah, I think it's a little misleading to assume that
the European teams have always just been, you know, chummy.
There's always been a little bit of friction within the
European team room, and I think they've used that friction
to their advantage. But there's also been tremendous buy in.
You know, you've got players over there that just say,
you know, I'll play wherever you want me to play,
(18:56):
And I don't know that you get that kind of
buy in from the US side, leaning what I can
glean from the interviews I've heard and the stories I've heard,
and you get tremendous buy in on the European side.
And one of the things I say, and I think
that underscorees just how much more buying you get on
the European side than you get on the US side,
is that Sergio Garcia had to pay a couple of
(19:17):
million dollars in fines just to even be eligible for
this team, and he willfully paid a couple million dollars
just to be eligible. Now he's not on the team,
but the United States team has demanded to be paid
to play. Now, look, I mean, we can debate whether
or not that's the right thing to do, but you
have one side where players would pay to be on
the team and the other side where players want to
(19:39):
get paid just to be a part of the team.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Talking to Branda Shamblie Golf Channel on their lead studio
analysts live from the Ryder Cup all this weekend, Yeah,
you bring up the money part of it. How's this
story get out? Because the first thing I thought is
is somebody from the European team leaking this out to
make the American team look bad.
Speaker 7 (20:01):
Well, you know, there's a lot of people involved in
this decision. I mean, the whole PGA of America would
have had to talk about this, So that's an innumerable
number of people. And then you're talking about players and
wives and caddies and everybody on the European side because
they're invested in this as well. And you know, this
is a profitable property, almost exclusively because Europe has risen
(20:24):
up and more times than not beaten the American side.
When the American side has been the favorite has that's
the larger part of the reason why this event is
so compelling. And so Europe doesn't want any money. They've
said as much. In the United States since nineteen ninety
nine has been talking about and wanting to get paid.
And it came to a head obviously in Rome when
(20:48):
allegedly Patrick Cantley wouldn't wear the hat because he wasn't
getting paid, which was reported by a great many people.
And then I think, written by Michael Bamberger, they get paid.
I don't think so. I don't think it's asking too much. Well,
first of all, they are getting paid. So the PGA
Tour gets about thirty million dollars a year that every
(21:12):
year they played the Ryder Cup, about thirty million dollars
a year that they take and put into the pension
funt of the PGA Tour players, which grows tax free
for decade for decade for decade for decades. So when
you talk about getting paid, they're getting paid large sums
of money. It's just deferred until probably when they they'll
never need it, but you know later on in their life.
(21:32):
And most every single player, well now every player on
the team would have bonuses probably seven figure bonuses in
their contracts should they make the Ryder Cup team. So
they are getting paid, but directly paid from the PGA
of America. I think it's not asking too much of
these guys to one week a year to do something
(21:53):
for the honor of playing for their country. People would argue, well,
the PGA of America makes money. The PGA of America
has thirty thousand plus members, in numerable initiatives that they're
all trying to fund.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
All of these.
Speaker 7 (22:04):
Entities have run these big events, Augusta National, the USGA.
They all make money from the events. They make a profit,
but then they take that money and do a lot
of great things with it. It's like the PGA of
America is not buying ferraris and private jets for their executives.
They're taking the money and investing in junior programs. Every
single player on this US team was touched by a
(22:24):
PGA you know, a PGA professional at some point showed
them how to put their hands on the club and
gave them some reason to pursue this game.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
More app to have another act, Tiger or Phil.
Speaker 7 (22:41):
Good question, I would say, another act. You mean from
a competitive standpoint on a big stage, I would probably say, Phil,
you know, unfortunately Tiger busting his achilles again. I you know,
I don't know how you come back from that at
fifty years of age, unless unless Tiger decides to write
(23:06):
a golf cart on the Champs Tour. And I don't
know how that would play out in the US Senior Open,
because Tiger has won three US Juniors, three US Amateurs,
and three US Opens. If he were to go play,
and I guarantee you it's a goal of his to
go play the US Senior Open and win it, but
I don't know that he could write a cart in
the US Senior Open, which you can on the Champs Tour.
(23:28):
And I don't know even if they would let him
write a card, if he would do it, because he
has such a strong sense of fairness about him.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
What about Phil?
Speaker 7 (23:38):
Look, Phil could pop up at the Masters. You know
Jack Nicholas finished fifth there when he was fifty eight
years of age. Phil still bombs it and Phil still energetic,
still youthful in his feverish pursuit of this game of golf.
So yeah, and he won a major at Dangian Are
fifty two years of age, So it wouldn't surprise me.
(23:59):
I mean, Phil still acts like a kid again with
a golf club in his hand.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
We always talk about decorum in a golf course and
being quiet and you know, being respectful, but that's out
the window this weekend. Can can a crowd gallery go
too far at the Ryder Cup?
Speaker 7 (24:15):
They could absolutely go too far if they start screaming
or yelling in guys backswings, you know, let them play.
I think you know there'll be some people kicked out
this week for sure. You know, if they start screaming
and players backswings, if they get profane, you know and personal,
you know the whole you know, there'll be some good
jeery out there. And I know the European side has
(24:37):
prepared for this, going back to January when they were
playing in a competition where it was Great Britain and
Ireland against Continental Europe. These they do, these, it's sort
of previews for Ryder Cups. I think Luke Donald had
a blaring system of you know, USA, USA, USA, and
he hired an American comedian to heckle them while they
were hitting shots. So they've prepared for for a hostile environment.
(25:02):
I'm just not sure anybody could properly prepare for as
hostile environment as I think they're going to get this week.
If you were watching the opening ceremonies yesterday, the New
York Governor, I mean, my goodness, I mean the boos
were a fevered pitch. Got me looking for the decimal
level record for a stadium, which by the way is
(25:23):
Arrowhead Stadium. It may reach that level this week.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
It's just more about the mental aspect of the physical aspect.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
I think that's a great thing about the Ryder Cup
is it really does involve everything group dynamics at the
highest level. How can you get these guys to come
together as a team and buy into the decisions a
captain which you know and I think more than a
few instances are going to go against the predictions of
the players. And then, of course there is the mental
aspect of it, because it's monoamano out there, and there'll
(25:55):
be some gamesmanship there already has been some gamesmanship. Luke Donald,
I think had a little gamesmanship yesterday in his opening
remarks the European team out on the range. I don't
know if it was yesterday or today, but instead of
going to one end where the US side could uniformly
practice at another end. The European team went right in
the middle, so the US team had to split up
(26:16):
and go to either side of them.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
I mean, that is absolutely gamesmanship by the European team,
and so there will be little bitty gamesmanship moments out there,
so it certainly becomes.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
A mental test. Good to talk to you. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (26:31):
By the way, rich lernerd RIGHTTMI the cameo right here,
we're in the trailer here, so say I read, I read,
all right, take care yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Jeff Passing, ESPN senior Baseball insider joining us on the program.
How are you?
Speaker 9 (27:02):
It was a great line man, Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
That genuinely made me laugh.
Speaker 9 (27:06):
Do we have a camera? Can we see the astros
like you know?
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Can we Mario? Can you show Fritzy with his astros gear?
Let me see? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (27:20):
Right, and it's the slow pan of shame. Oh boy,
I will say something. It takes some kahonas to go
and wear that the way that they're playing right now.
They saw right now, like they've lost five in a row.
They have blown it. They're losing games to the A's there,
(27:41):
they're just out of the playoffs. Like the Astros are
so bad right now that Detroit is still in a
playoff spot. And Detroit has had arguably the greatest collapse
in September history in baseball.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
How did that happen? Now? I know, you have to
have a team that has a comeback, and the Guardians
have played well, they pitched really incredible. But what happened
with the Tigers.
Speaker 9 (28:03):
The pitching has just been abominable. And you know, it
was interesting because earlier this year, Dan they like they
looked like maybe the best team in baseball, and they
had continued what they'd done to everyone else last September.
That's happening to them right now. Remember they were fifty
five and sixty three at one point. They traded Jack
(28:24):
Flaherty last year and they wound up making a pretty
spirited playoff run to the Division Series where they pushed
Cleveland's game five before Cleveland won that series and faced
the Yankees in the ALCS. But what the Tigers have
done to this point, it's it's embarrassing and nobody there
frankly has any answers for it. Aj Hinch is saying,
you know, we're trying, We're we're doing our best, but
(28:47):
they just they look lifeless out there. And when you
look at the talent on this Cleveland Guardian team, you say,
how they have two hitters in Jose Ramirez and Kyle
Manzardo who have ops pluses over one hundred, which means
they have two hitters who are better than the league
average two and they're going to win. It looks like
(29:09):
at this point the American League Central Division. And you
look at their pitching staff, and let's not forget they
lost their all world's closer and a rotation piece and
Emmanuel Class and Luis Ortiz to allegations of being involved
in gambling, and so the Guardians looked like.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
They were cooked.
Speaker 9 (29:25):
They were talking about trading Stephen Kwan at the deadline,
and here they are every year. Steven Vote has done
an incredible job managing this team, and they just never
lost faith. And you got to believe in teams that
can push on with what they've been through.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
I said a couple of weeks ago, if cal Rawly
hit sixty and they won the division that he was
going to win the MVP. Being a catcher and a
better than average catcher. You win that division and you're
hitting sixty home runs? Well, check, check check? Is he
going to win the mvpck?
Speaker 9 (30:00):
I don't know, because the.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Cider don't have you taken a straw vote here.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
I don't ask other reporters. It's like asking somebody who
you've voted for. They're just things that you'd like, you
don't do in polite society.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
Damn.
Speaker 9 (30:18):
And let's put it this way. I'm like, I'm glad
that I'm not voting for MVP this year because it's
there's such great cases to be made for both cal
Rally and for Aaron Judge. And let me turn this
on you, since you are in the clear pro Rally camp.
Aaron Judge is ops right now is one hundred and
(30:41):
seventy five points figher than cal Rally's. Are you telling
me that because cal Rally has a home run total
that ends in a round number, and that because cal
Raley happens to play with really good guys surrounding him
and a team that went out and got Youah Naylor
and Gino Suarez at the deadline that helped push them
(31:03):
toward that division title. Are you telling me all that
makes up, along with the defensive elements for that one
hundred and seventy five point gap, which is real, which
is significant, and which is enormous.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yes, okay, fair enough.
Speaker 9 (31:18):
I think it's great. Honestly, I think both of them.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
He's nerving past Mickey Mantle as a switch hit, or
he's hitting sixty home runs and he's doing it at
the catcher position. That never happens. I mean no, it never,
It never has and it won't happen again. I mean,
he'll hit thirty eight next year.
Speaker 9 (31:37):
But so do you think do you think you're suffering
from Aaron Judges?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Yes, yes, yeah, Well but it happens, though, Jeff. It
happened with Michael Jordan. I voted for him every year,
even when Barkley and Karl Malone won, because I said,
there's no more valuable player to the league than Michael Jordan.
I don't care what your numbers are, I don't care
what your team did. That guy is the most valuable.
(32:02):
Aaron Judge and show heyo Tani I said, I thought
Kyle Schwarber deserved a lot more respect. Than he's getting
because he has He's going to be a distant second
to show Heyo Tani and I think that given what
the phi, Philly's got the best odds to win the
World Series, Schwarber's been unbelievable. But yes, Otani has had advantage.
Speaker 9 (32:25):
His second home run last night was spectacular, four hundred
and sixty eight feet just into the night in Philadelphia.
He's absolutely carried the Phillies to this point. And yeah, listen,
I'm with you, but I think there's a little inconsistency
going on here. If you're voting for Michael Jordan every
year when Michael Jordan was putting up the best numbers,
(32:46):
have you softened as you have grown wise and gone
more for the narrative vote because the objective vote is
for Aaron Judge. The narrative vote is unquestionably for cal Rally.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, but Aaron Judge was not my Jordan in the postseason.
I was voting on the totality of what that season
was going to be and Aaron Judge is not a
great postseason performing.
Speaker 9 (33:08):
Yeah, we don't get to vote like all of our
votes are due before the postseason begins.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Oh, I'm not saying that what, you know, what my
formula was was fair, but I think it kind of
bore out that, Hey, he did win six championships in
those years, even when he wasn't the MVP. And Aaron Judge,
you know, has done incredible, you know, hitting fifty home runs,
He's been incredible. To him, he really, yeah, he really
(33:34):
has been incredible. I just think you know this, as
a writer, we love a new story. What else are
you going to say about Aaron Judge and only nearly
went to the Giants? Boy, he was a great high
school tight end?
Speaker 9 (33:47):
Uh? What how about? Okay? How about this? Aaron Judges
in the midst of one of the great stretches in
baseball history for hitters, putting him up there with Barry
Bond's babe Ruth and I'm not sure who else. Like,
it's one of those types of stretches where when you
(34:09):
look at what Aaron Judge has done over the last
four seasons in particular, but really for the entirety of
his career, he has made himself within ten years and
Inner Circle first ballot, no doubt Hall of Famer. Who's
going to go down among the greatest players in the
history of the greatest franchise in baseball, and this year
(34:31):
in particular, what he's doing. He's leading the league in batting,
hitting three thirty, around three thirty, when nobody hits for
average anymore. In an era where home runs are not
difficult to come by necessarily but certainly not easy, he's
going out and hitting them with regularity. He gets on
(34:53):
base more than anyone, He slugs better than anyone. He
just puts up numbers that are so much different than
everybody else is in the sport. He is the outlier
Dan and I.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Like my problem with that. I think Aaron Judge is great.
He's not a great postseason performer. Yeah, okay, but we
look at all of the grades of all time, and
what do we focus on postseason? That's how you become
greats of all time. Aaron Judge is a wonderful regular
season player. I have no no qualms with you.
Speaker 9 (35:26):
Do you think do you think Dan Marino was great?
Do you think Charles Barkley was great?
Speaker 2 (35:29):
I mean, come on, we're great regular season players. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
I don't.
Speaker 9 (35:35):
I don't. I don't personally differentiate those two, I feel like,
but we.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Do that with quarterbacks all the time. Eli's going to
the Hall of Fame. Why because he won two Super Bowls?
Not because of what he did during the regular season.
So we pick you know, why don't we do that
in other sports? Barry Bonds didn't win anything, right, Yeah,
we crushed Clayton Kershaw because he can't do anything in
(36:00):
the postseason. He's one of the greatest regular season pitchers
of all time. Like we do hold other people accountable
in other sports, why can't we do that, you know
side for these cornerbacks, one you can, It.
Speaker 9 (36:14):
Is within your right and it makes for great arguments.
I just you know, I look at it like I
think the regular season matters, and I just don't want
that to get swept away amid all the discussion about
what the postseason is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Okay Otani is always going to have like a twenty
yard head start and a forty yard dash, right totally.
I mean every season he starts at the twenty yard
line and everybody starts, you know, at the starting line.
And he didn't really pitch that much. It's just now
he did, you know, hit home runs, but he didn't
(36:55):
steal bases like he did his average you know, considerably.
But he's going to run away with another MVP.
Speaker 9 (37:02):
Yeah, because he's putting up almost identical numbers and in
some case better numbers than Kyle Schwarburn. Oh, by the way,
he threw fifty innings of sub three e are on
top of that. Like, it's just, it's it's tough. It's
tough for me to look at Otani and not vote
for him every year he stays healthy just because he's
(37:23):
two players in one.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Dude, I know, I know, like you.
Speaker 9 (37:27):
Just, I can't get past that he is the freak
of all freaks, and honoring him with the MVP Award,
I'm not sure that even does does him the service
that he's out.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I felt like a little tense there. I'm sorry, I
get a little animated here.
Speaker 9 (37:45):
No wrong, I listen. I appreciate. I appreciate arguing with
people who are wrong.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
It's great. I know me too. Can we get rid
of this stupid term robo ump because it's not a
robo ump? Okay, nope, it is not a robo ump.
But people, I think they're going to be robots out there,
Jeff and I tell you all, but.
Speaker 9 (38:09):
Kim, Yeah, but I love that. I would love to see,
like just, I would love to see what a robot
umpire's strike call.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Would look like like.
Speaker 9 (38:20):
No, but robots are good enough these days where I
feel like the guy would be like pretty smooth and
calling a strike. And I've always wondered, like, if I
were an umpire, what would my strike three call be?
I feel like we could get a robot umpire doing
a backflip into the splits and then just like ringing
the guy up right there. But No, the Automated ball
(38:42):
Strike System it's twelve cameras that are around the ballpark
that can track a pitch with margin a bear of
one sixth of an inch. And the idea is to
ensure that there are no really bad calls that are
made in high leverage, important situations. And beyond that, I
think it's also an opportunity, or it's going to become
(39:04):
an opportunity to reward people who understand the strike zone.
Like if you're a catcher or a hitter who has
a great grasp of the strike zone, this is a
rule that's going to advantage you and it's going to
make you become a more valuable player.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
You know what's great about the postseason Everything we don't
start with somebody on second base in the tenth Listen.
Speaker 9 (39:30):
I love I love the Pitchcock. I think ABS is
going to be really great. I am totally with you
on the automatic Runner, and I think it's a I
get the intention behind it, I just don't like it.
Give me seventeen any games all day. I'll take them,
especially in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Good to talk to you. We'll chop it up again
in the postseason. Thank you can't wait, buddy. Thanks for
having Jeff Patson. He's always wrong.
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