August 16, 2024 • 17 mins
Gene Watson, the Director of Player Personnel for the Chicago White Sox and our resident MLB insider, joins the program from Houston, Texas! Craig and Gene discuss the latest news and storylines across the league as the playoff race is heating up.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If we're here in August. What that obviously means is
there's still a lot of baseball to talk about, and
the director of player personnel from Chicago White Sox joins
us for a weekly conversational hotline. He's our good friend,
teen Watson, who's uh close to your house right tonight?
(00:20):
You're down there with the ball club's in Houston this weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm actually gonna Irma's crushing a plate of Enchiellada's right now.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Of course you are, of course you are well done.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well well VP's at five and are sitting there crushing Fromlada.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, well played.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
It's gonna be a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Lots of tickets, lots of tickets, family and friends, but
it's gonna be a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh did you have to take care of some folks
this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, we we got to hit, you know, for the
worst team in baseball history, we're getting pretty hit, pretty hard.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Hey, let me ask you something about the about mindset.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Because you played the game, you understand in the game,
you understand a player's mentality. It might be just regular, uh,
to the regular rank and file fan, it might not
make much sense that a team would show up and
(01:17):
give of itself and play hard and look look forward
to winning. And and folks may look at it and say, hey,
look they're twenty nine and ninety three, and the Asters
right now are one of the hottest teams in baseball.
They are red hot, they're up by three games now,
and the Mariners in the West. What do the white
Socks have to play for? Folks might ask that, But
but I've heard you talk about this. I've heard Keith
(01:39):
Morlan talk about this. There is a pride factor and
a pride in professionalism approach that goes into this.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Isn't there? Can you hear me? Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Did we lose you there for a moment?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
You know, no feedback?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Okay, So what I would tell you is every player,
I mean it is, it is so incredibly hard to
play at the major league level.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You have a forty times.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Greater chance I'm graduating from Harvard University than you do
playing one day at the major league level. So from
a personal standpoint, you know, you've got the personal pride
of not only you know, showing up to play every
day and to improve on your career, but it's also
incredibly hard to win a major league game and I
(02:27):
don't think that there's ever a player if you look
at a matchup, well, that's.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
A lot, stock and barrel win for the other team
that you could say that it's it's it's just it's
too hard of a game. It doesn't matter what the
matchup is. And so it begins with the personal pride
of the player and then.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Moves into the fact that these teams are so prepared
and regimented to play as hard as they can every
day that it's incredibly hard to predict. But players, you know,
they give everything they have been in down to win
that major league game.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, it was evidence by the other night playing the
team that at the time anyway had the best record
in all of baseball, the Yankees and your ball club
went out and just kind of drubbed them. Now, the
Yankees bounced back in the series like expected to, but
that that's kind of an example of that sort of
And let me also ask you this. You know, when
(03:18):
a change is made in the clubhouse in terms of
the manager, and I know Petro Griffall was very popular
with a lot of the guys as well, and they
really wanted to win for him. But when the change
is made it's up to the player to call it
within himself to kind of give what he can for
the guy who is in there to do the job right.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
No question.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And that's one of the things that bothered me is
in any situation, and I've been a part of.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
You know, many many managerial changes.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Over the past thirty five years, and I don't think
that the change at the manager's position should be the
reason that you play harder or harder or not as hard.
I think that that again, that personal pride of showing
up every day, whomever the manager is, to get your
best is really really important.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But there's a lot of psychology to the game.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, teams coming off load wrong road trips, teams
coming off you know, a really touchstretch where they play
you know, three really really good teams in a row,
and maybe they have a mental lapse going to the ballpark.
There's so much psychology to all of this that it's
really really hard to pretict.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
But the fact of the matter is is.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That any team in Major League Baseball can beat any
other team on any given night.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Baseball beat writers, and you've known a lot of them
over the years, can be whether they're trying to be
or not, they can be a little bit cruel at times.
And watching over the past week and then with the
managerial change, that it seems that the writers are kind
of zeroed in and focused on asking the guys in
(04:50):
the clubhouse on an almost daily basis if they think
about this deal and the sixty two mets and the
forty one twenty and blah blah blah, and some even
bring it up even spiders from back in the day. Uh,
I mean, that's got to be tough on a player
to go through that sort of thing. But have you
noticed in being around the guys in the clubhouse that
they're still about going about their business, you know, business
(05:13):
as usual that and not trying to dwell on those
other outside the negative numbers that are out there hanging
out there.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And uh that some.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Would say over their heads and shoulders right now, one
hundred percent. And again, these guys have so much.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Pride in the way they go about their jobs. And
and you know, Craig, especially in today's fast paced society
and the way the media works.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Today, and how quickly the game moves you no, I
say all the time, you know, the game stops for
nobody doesn't stop for anyone player. It doesn't stop for
any one team. And the reality of all it is
is unless you win the last game of the season,
nobody really cares. And even when you do, nobody cares
for all the people that you helped.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
The pomples to go with and and.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The team will ever be etched in history and the
front office and players will forever have that connection. But
for the twenty nine other organizations, it's business as usual
and tracing that prize of winning a championships. So you know,
I've been through many, many, many seasons like this, not
to this extent, but but the thing that you're always
trying to.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Do is is just focus on today.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
How do we get better in one player at a time,
How do we improve our coaching staff one day at
a time. And then you look up and you and
one day and you have a really good major league team,
And you know, this will be the fifth rebuild that
I've been a part of. You look at what can
what's going on in Kansas City. We take a lot
of pride in that, not that it's a finished product
at all, but but it's just something that if you
(06:45):
if you have the blueprint and you surround yourself with
the right people.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
You've got a chance to.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Front of the page quickly and look at look at
Baltimore where they were three years ago, and look at
Texas and where they were two and three years ago. Uh,
and then they're two of the best teams in baseball
right now. So that's that's certainly the goal for us
as we move forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Talking about it with Geene Watson, you're talking to Major
League Baseball. Let me keep it in your division and
get your thoughts on the two teams that are in
first and second, because the Royals are only six back.
As you mentioned, the Guardians went through and you talk
about teams going through slumps. The Guardians dropped seven in
a row and then it promptly turned around and won
(07:25):
five in a row. And not only that, Gino that
big showdown series with the Twins. They've lost a double
edder tow or lost the first two games of that
series and then rally back to take the last two games.
And now it looks like they've kind of picked themselves
off the deck. And I guess that's just a byproduct
of what teams go through through a one hundred and
sixty two game season. You're gonna have slumps and you
(07:48):
find a way to pick yourself off off the deck
and go back to work.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, the one thing you don't want to be, especially
this time of year is streaky because you know you
can only have three four or five in a row
and you feel good about it, and when you lose
three four, you know, okay, how are we going to
get out of this? And you know momentum is the
next stargeting picture, and so you you hope, well, even
even in the games you lose, you're hopeful that you
(08:14):
know you're playing quality baseball.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
You're doing all the little thing fright.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
You know it's not mintal mistakes errors that are costing
those games. But as you get into this type of year,
and I think you just saw it with the Minnesota
Kansas City series, that series felt like a playoff series.
And there there is a lot of competition with the
American League Central right now and a lot of teams
that are taking a lot of pride in trying to
(08:40):
win this division. And this Minnesota Cleveland series is going
to be a dog fight down the stretch. Uh, let
me jump to the West.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The team you're going to see tonight, the Astros have
just been on a real roll of.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Weight they want.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
They did.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
They just swept an eight game road trip.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What's the biggest difference is, let me ask you this
is there are a difference other than getting guys back healthy.
That's made the difference for the Astros here now with
them ten above five hundred for the first time this season.
You know, Ben Brussard and I were talking about it
driving in today.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
It's absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't think because we're in Texas and because we
have so many Astro fans, I don't think we take
to the appreciation.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
That comes with what they have done.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I mean, this is bordering on you know, what the
New York Yankees did back in the in the seventies
and eighties.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And the late nineties into the early two thousands.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Every year, the expectations have driven the results in Houston,
starting with Jim Crane, the owner, Jeff Bagwell, Dana Brown's
done an unbelievable job and they never go away. And
every year you think, well, you know, there's no way
they're gonna be as good this year, they lose Corea,
they bring opinion, they just keep on winning.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Bregman goes through some ups and downs, he comes back.
They just keep on winning.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's unbelieve the consistency that they've shown over the past
eight seasons. And it is a true testimony to Jim
Crane and his vision for the organization that I know
I've said it before, but what they've been able to
accomplish is truly truly remarkable. And look at the Rangers,
who were the World champions last year and still have
(10:19):
a very good baseball team. But the psychology of having
that bullseye on your back every time you wake up
and go to the ballpark the very next season is
something that is real. And the Astros just continue to
show that they're a model organization and they have high
expectations and they meet those expectations every year.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I'm glad you brought up the Rangers. I want to
ask you a question about them. I was up in
Dallas this morning for a television assignment, and while I
was up there, I heard our good friends George Juleman
Craig Miller on the ticket talking about the Rangers, and
they were referring to an article that Evan Grant, who
you know from the Dallas Morning News, wrote, and even
(10:58):
Dave Raymond the.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Television b caster.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They asked about it, and it was about your good
friend Chris Young and the fact that he has a
contract that expires this year. Now, I'm not asking you
to talk about a guy's contract status. What I am
asking you is this because they haven't Apparently. What Evan
Grant had written was that Ray Davis and Chris Young
(11:20):
just haven't really gotten together about it and and that
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And Evan Grant's term was to.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Say, while I still believe there's a better than fifty
percent chance that Chris Young winds up getting an extension
and staying with the Rangers, some of that he roades
a little every day as we get closer to the season,
as the Rangers struggle continued, can you, in your wildest
imagination not see Chris Young in the Rangers front office
(11:51):
next year?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I mean, I think it'd be very, very difficult.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
The fact that he was raised in Highland Park, you know,
a lifelong ran, the fact that they won the World
Series two years ago. But the unique thing about this,
and not just with Chris Young but with any employee,
is like the permission rules have changed in Major League
Baseball now, where if your contract is up at the
(12:16):
end of a calendar year, a club after September first,
no one no longer has to ask for permission. So
now we're getting, you know, August sixteenth, we're getting the
unique two week window of you get to September first,
and now teams tend to fall by the wayside the
last you know, the next two weeks, and you're looking
across the league going, hey, where could we go to
(12:37):
get our next replacement? Chris Young would be at the
top of every owner's list as a replacement of general manager.
His pedigree first of all as a person and a
husband and a father, his pedigree academically, graduating from Princeton
as a player, winning a World championship with US in
Kansas City, and winning a World championship as a general manager.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
You just don't find resumes and pedigrees like that.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And so it's a unique situation in that he's from Dallas,
it's his lifelong team, they won a world championship. But
the permissions, it's a different situation now, and so I
would be stunned.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
But it's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Wow, okay, let me jump to the National League and
it's it's really weird seeing what has been going on.
We talked about the Braves being waylaid by injuries. It
looked like they were dead in the water after that
Sunday game last Sunday when they gave up seven in
the bottom of the eighth of the Rockies. Then they
turn around and just kind of and beat the Giants
(13:41):
a couple of times in ten innings and then whack
them around, and then the Giants.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Come back and win yesterday.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
So it looks like Atlanta is at least breathing above
water Loo. You said a week ago, let's wait and
see on the Mets, and that's proven to be pretty salient.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
They've dropped six of their last ten.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
And then clearly the two hottest teams in the National
League of the diamond Backs, both of them have pulled
to within two games of the Dodgers in the West.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
What about your thoughts on the National League?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, Atlanta's going to get Michael Harris back. Atlanta's gonna
need some help from some younger players. Michael Harris is
going to be healthy and he'll be back soon. Ian
Anderson is now pitching in Triple A and Gwinette. He
threw the ball extremely well last night. A. J. Smith
Scheyer is a guy that's gonna have to step up
for him. Bright Elder, who's kind of been on the
Gwinnett Atlanta train, is going to have to pitch some
(14:30):
beginnings for him down the stretch. But health has certainly
been the greater concern from this year. You just can't
lose the impact players that they've lost and expected not
to have a residual on the team. So they've just
got to kind of continue to write the ship and
they're gonna have to have some younger.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Players step up.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The padres to me, seems super dangerous right now because
there have been so much expectations around that team for
the last two years, and they went out and they
made the moves, they made the deadline, and it seems
like Mike Schultz got this clubhouse going in the way
it's supposed to be going in for a team that's maybe.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Underperformed the last two years.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
It feels right like they finally got the ship going
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And then you know, Arizona they're smelling it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
They they've gotten you know, it was this time of
the year last year where they kind of flipped the
switch and went and your team kind of in the
rhythm of the next season fills that.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
And they've certainly done that again.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And so you know, the Dodgers are going to continue
to get healthy over the.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's going to be the National League is really going
to be a dog fight down the stretch. And I
would tell you that there's probably a little bit of
separation between the National League and the American League as
we move into the playoffs and the strength of the teams.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Who picks up the check at Erma's.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
I actually got it. You know, Ben Resard, how many
years you play in the Big League? Six and a
half and I got to check today.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
How about that smoking front office man? Hey Gino, I
appreciate the time, enjoy the weekend, and age down and
we'll catch up.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Again next week. All right, Greg, thanks? All right.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
He's Geene Watson of the Chicago White Side.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Listen. Gino's a pretty generous guy anyway. I mean, you know,
we go out to dinner with him, go over to
Dose Sauces and Georgetown and he's picking up the check.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
He's just that, he's just that kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
He's a he's a good dude, and we enjoy talking
baseball with him because I do agree with him. It's
gonna be really interesting to see how the National League
rolls down the stretch. You know, it is not out
of the realm of the possibility that all three wild
card spots in the National League could come from the West.
(16:44):
I think the Braves made a statement by taking two
or three from the Giants in San Francisco, so they're
going to be in better shape for it. But still,
and I do think the Diamondbacks and Padres are going
to be in the postseason. The questions will which one
of them will be? Will they both be going in
as wildcards or world one of them go in as
a division champion because they have really closed in on
(17:06):
the Dodgers pretty tightly. All Right, we'll hear from the
Loghorns more than coming up when we continue on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone in the iHeartRadio app.
If we're here in August. What that obviously means is
there's still a lot of baseball to talk about, and
the director of player personnel from Chicago White Sox joins
us for a weekly conversational hotline. He's our good friend,
teen Watson, who's uh close to your house right tonight?
(00:20):
You're down there with the ball club's in Houston this weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm actually gonna Irma's crushing a plate of Enchiellada's right now.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Of course you are, of course you are well done.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well well VP's at five and are sitting there crushing Fromlada.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hey, well played.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
It's gonna be a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Lots of tickets, lots of tickets, family and friends, but
it's gonna be a great weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh did you have to take care of some folks
this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, we we got to hit, you know, for the
worst team in baseball history, we're getting pretty hit, pretty hard.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Hey, let me ask you something about the about mindset.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Because you played the game, you understand in the game,
you understand a player's mentality. It might be just regular, uh,
to the regular rank and file fan, it might not
make much sense that a team would show up and
(01:17):
give of itself and play hard and look look forward
to winning. And and folks may look at it and say, hey,
look they're twenty nine and ninety three, and the Asters
right now are one of the hottest teams in baseball.
They are red hot, they're up by three games now,
and the Mariners in the West. What do the white
Socks have to play for? Folks might ask that, But
but I've heard you talk about this. I've heard Keith
(01:39):
Morlan talk about this. There is a pride factor and
a pride in professionalism approach that goes into this.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Isn't there? Can you hear me? Oh?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Did we lose you there for a moment?
Speaker 4 (01:53):
You know, no feedback?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Okay, So what I would tell you is every player,
I mean it is, it is so incredibly hard to
play at the major league level.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
You have a forty times.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Greater chance I'm graduating from Harvard University than you do
playing one day at the major league level. So from
a personal standpoint, you know, you've got the personal pride
of not only you know, showing up to play every
day and to improve on your career, but it's also
incredibly hard to win a major league game and I
(02:27):
don't think that there's ever a player if you look
at a matchup, well, that's.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
A lot, stock and barrel win for the other team
that you could say that it's it's it's just it's
too hard of a game. It doesn't matter what the
matchup is. And so it begins with the personal pride
of the player and then.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Moves into the fact that these teams are so prepared
and regimented to play as hard as they can every
day that it's incredibly hard to predict. But players, you know,
they give everything they have been in down to win
that major league game.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Well, it was evidence by the other night playing the
team that at the time anyway had the best record
in all of baseball, the Yankees and your ball club
went out and just kind of drubbed them. Now, the
Yankees bounced back in the series like expected to, but
that that's kind of an example of that sort of
And let me also ask you this. You know, when
(03:18):
a change is made in the clubhouse in terms of
the manager, and I know Petro Griffall was very popular
with a lot of the guys as well, and they
really wanted to win for him. But when the change
is made it's up to the player to call it
within himself to kind of give what he can for
the guy who is in there to do the job right.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
No question.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And that's one of the things that bothered me is
in any situation, and I've been a part of.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
You know, many many managerial changes.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Over the past thirty five years, and I don't think
that the change at the manager's position should be the
reason that you play harder or harder or not as hard.
I think that that again, that personal pride of showing
up every day, whomever the manager is, to get your
best is really really important.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
But there's a lot of psychology to the game.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, teams coming off load wrong road trips, teams
coming off you know, a really touchstretch where they play
you know, three really really good teams in a row,
and maybe they have a mental lapse going to the ballpark.
There's so much psychology to all of this that it's
really really hard to pretict.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
But the fact of the matter is is.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That any team in Major League Baseball can beat any
other team on any given night.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Baseball beat writers, and you've known a lot of them
over the years, can be whether they're trying to be
or not, they can be a little bit cruel at times.
And watching over the past week and then with the
managerial change, that it seems that the writers are kind
of zeroed in and focused on asking the guys in
(04:50):
the clubhouse on an almost daily basis if they think
about this deal and the sixty two mets and the
forty one twenty and blah blah blah, and some even
bring it up even spiders from back in the day. Uh,
I mean, that's got to be tough on a player
to go through that sort of thing. But have you
noticed in being around the guys in the clubhouse that
they're still about going about their business, you know, business
(05:13):
as usual that and not trying to dwell on those
other outside the negative numbers that are out there hanging
out there.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
And uh that some.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Would say over their heads and shoulders right now, one
hundred percent. And again, these guys have so much.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Pride in the way they go about their jobs. And
and you know, Craig, especially in today's fast paced society
and the way the media works.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Today, and how quickly the game moves you no, I
say all the time, you know, the game stops for
nobody doesn't stop for anyone player. It doesn't stop for
any one team. And the reality of all it is
is unless you win the last game of the season,
nobody really cares. And even when you do, nobody cares
for all the people that you helped.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
The pomples to go with and and.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The team will ever be etched in history and the
front office and players will forever have that connection. But
for the twenty nine other organizations, it's business as usual
and tracing that prize of winning a championships. So you know,
I've been through many, many, many seasons like this, not
to this extent, but but the thing that you're always
trying to.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Do is is just focus on today.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
How do we get better in one player at a time,
How do we improve our coaching staff one day at
a time. And then you look up and you and
one day and you have a really good major league team,
And you know, this will be the fifth rebuild that
I've been a part of. You look at what can
what's going on in Kansas City. We take a lot
of pride in that, not that it's a finished product
at all, but but it's just something that if you
(06:45):
if you have the blueprint and you surround yourself with
the right people.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
You've got a chance to.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Front of the page quickly and look at look at
Baltimore where they were three years ago, and look at
Texas and where they were two and three years ago. Uh,
and then they're two of the best teams in baseball
right now. So that's that's certainly the goal for us
as we move forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Talking about it with Geene Watson, you're talking to Major
League Baseball. Let me keep it in your division and
get your thoughts on the two teams that are in
first and second, because the Royals are only six back.
As you mentioned, the Guardians went through and you talk
about teams going through slumps. The Guardians dropped seven in
a row and then it promptly turned around and won
(07:25):
five in a row. And not only that, Gino that
big showdown series with the Twins. They've lost a double
edder tow or lost the first two games of that
series and then rally back to take the last two games.
And now it looks like they've kind of picked themselves
off the deck. And I guess that's just a byproduct
of what teams go through through a one hundred and
sixty two game season. You're gonna have slumps and you
(07:48):
find a way to pick yourself off off the deck
and go back to work.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, the one thing you don't want to be, especially
this time of year is streaky because you know you
can only have three four or five in a row
and you feel good about it, and when you lose
three four, you know, okay, how are we going to
get out of this? And you know momentum is the
next stargeting picture, and so you you hope, well, even
even in the games you lose, you're hopeful that you
(08:14):
know you're playing quality baseball.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
You're doing all the little thing fright.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
You know it's not mintal mistakes errors that are costing
those games. But as you get into this type of year,
and I think you just saw it with the Minnesota
Kansas City series, that series felt like a playoff series.
And there there is a lot of competition with the
American League Central right now and a lot of teams
that are taking a lot of pride in trying to
(08:40):
win this division. And this Minnesota Cleveland series is going
to be a dog fight down the stretch. Uh, let
me jump to the West.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
The team you're going to see tonight, the Astros have
just been on a real roll of.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Weight they want.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
They did.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
They just swept an eight game road trip.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What's the biggest difference is, let me ask you this
is there are a difference other than getting guys back healthy.
That's made the difference for the Astros here now with
them ten above five hundred for the first time this season.
You know, Ben Brussard and I were talking about it
driving in today.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
It's absolutely unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't think because we're in Texas and because we
have so many Astro fans, I don't think we take
to the appreciation.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
That comes with what they have done.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I mean, this is bordering on you know, what the
New York Yankees did back in the in the seventies
and eighties.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And the late nineties into the early two thousands.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Every year, the expectations have driven the results in Houston,
starting with Jim Crane, the owner, Jeff Bagwell, Dana Brown's
done an unbelievable job and they never go away. And
every year you think, well, you know, there's no way
they're gonna be as good this year, they lose Corea,
they bring opinion, they just keep on winning.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Bregman goes through some ups and downs, he comes back.
They just keep on winning.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
It's unbelieve the consistency that they've shown over the past
eight seasons. And it is a true testimony to Jim
Crane and his vision for the organization that I know
I've said it before, but what they've been able to
accomplish is truly truly remarkable. And look at the Rangers,
who were the World champions last year and still have
(10:19):
a very good baseball team. But the psychology of having
that bullseye on your back every time you wake up
and go to the ballpark the very next season is
something that is real. And the Astros just continue to
show that they're a model organization and they have high
expectations and they meet those expectations every year.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I'm glad you brought up the Rangers. I want to
ask you a question about them. I was up in
Dallas this morning for a television assignment, and while I
was up there, I heard our good friends George Juleman
Craig Miller on the ticket talking about the Rangers, and
they were referring to an article that Evan Grant, who
you know from the Dallas Morning News, wrote, and even
(10:58):
Dave Raymond the.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Television b caster.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They asked about it, and it was about your good
friend Chris Young and the fact that he has a
contract that expires this year. Now, I'm not asking you
to talk about a guy's contract status. What I am
asking you is this because they haven't Apparently. What Evan
Grant had written was that Ray Davis and Chris Young
(11:20):
just haven't really gotten together about it and and that
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
And Evan Grant's term was to.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Say, while I still believe there's a better than fifty
percent chance that Chris Young winds up getting an extension
and staying with the Rangers, some of that he roades
a little every day as we get closer to the season,
as the Rangers struggle continued, can you, in your wildest
imagination not see Chris Young in the Rangers front office
(11:51):
next year?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I mean, I think it'd be very, very difficult.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
The fact that he was raised in Highland Park, you know,
a lifelong ran, the fact that they won the World
Series two years ago. But the unique thing about this,
and not just with Chris Young but with any employee,
is like the permission rules have changed in Major League
Baseball now, where if your contract is up at the
(12:16):
end of a calendar year, a club after September first,
no one no longer has to ask for permission. So
now we're getting, you know, August sixteenth, we're getting the
unique two week window of you get to September first,
and now teams tend to fall by the wayside the
last you know, the next two weeks, and you're looking
across the league going, hey, where could we go to
(12:37):
get our next replacement? Chris Young would be at the
top of every owner's list as a replacement of general manager.
His pedigree first of all as a person and a
husband and a father, his pedigree academically, graduating from Princeton
as a player, winning a World championship with US in
Kansas City, and winning a World championship as a general manager.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
You just don't find resumes and pedigrees like that.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And so it's a unique situation in that he's from Dallas,
it's his lifelong team, they won a world championship. But
the permissions, it's a different situation now, and so I
would be stunned.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
But it's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Wow, okay, let me jump to the National League and
it's it's really weird seeing what has been going on.
We talked about the Braves being waylaid by injuries. It
looked like they were dead in the water after that
Sunday game last Sunday when they gave up seven in
the bottom of the eighth of the Rockies. Then they
turn around and just kind of and beat the Giants
(13:41):
a couple of times in ten innings and then whack
them around, and then the Giants.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Come back and win yesterday.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
So it looks like Atlanta is at least breathing above
water Loo. You said a week ago, let's wait and
see on the Mets, and that's proven to be pretty salient.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
They've dropped six of their last ten.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
And then clearly the two hottest teams in the National
League of the diamond Backs, both of them have pulled
to within two games of the Dodgers in the West.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
What about your thoughts on the National League?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, Atlanta's going to get Michael Harris back. Atlanta's gonna
need some help from some younger players. Michael Harris is
going to be healthy and he'll be back soon. Ian
Anderson is now pitching in Triple A and Gwinette. He
threw the ball extremely well last night. A. J. Smith
Scheyer is a guy that's gonna have to step up
for him. Bright Elder, who's kind of been on the
Gwinnett Atlanta train, is going to have to pitch some
(14:30):
beginnings for him down the stretch. But health has certainly
been the greater concern from this year. You just can't
lose the impact players that they've lost and expected not
to have a residual on the team. So they've just
got to kind of continue to write the ship and
they're gonna have to have some younger.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Players step up.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
The padres to me, seems super dangerous right now because
there have been so much expectations around that team for
the last two years, and they went out and they
made the moves, they made the deadline, and it seems
like Mike Schultz got this clubhouse going in the way
it's supposed to be going in for a team that's maybe.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Underperformed the last two years.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
It feels right like they finally got the ship going
in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
And then you know, Arizona they're smelling it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
They they've gotten you know, it was this time of
the year last year where they kind of flipped the
switch and went and your team kind of in the
rhythm of the next season fills that.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
And they've certainly done that again.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And so you know, the Dodgers are going to continue
to get healthy over the.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's going to be the National League is really going
to be a dog fight down the stretch. And I
would tell you that there's probably a little bit of
separation between the National League and the American League as
we move into the playoffs and the strength of the teams.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
Who picks up the check at Erma's.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
I actually got it. You know, Ben Resard, how many
years you play in the Big League? Six and a
half and I got to check today.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
How about that smoking front office man? Hey Gino, I
appreciate the time, enjoy the weekend, and age down and
we'll catch up.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Again next week. All right, Greg, thanks? All right.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
He's Geene Watson of the Chicago White Side.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Listen. Gino's a pretty generous guy anyway. I mean, you know,
we go out to dinner with him, go over to
Dose Sauces and Georgetown and he's picking up the check.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
He's just that, he's just that kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
He's a he's a good dude, and we enjoy talking
baseball with him because I do agree with him. It's
gonna be really interesting to see how the National League
rolls down the stretch. You know, it is not out
of the realm of the possibility that all three wild
card spots in the National League could come from the West.
(16:44):
I think the Braves made a statement by taking two
or three from the Giants in San Francisco, so they're
going to be in better shape for it. But still,
and I do think the Diamondbacks and Padres are going
to be in the postseason. The questions will which one
of them will be? Will they both be going in
as wildcards or world one of them go in as
a division champion because they have really closed in on
(17:06):
the Dodgers pretty tightly. All Right, we'll hear from the
Loghorns more than coming up when we continue on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone in the iHeartRadio app.
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