December 9, 2024 • 15 mins
Our resident MLB insider Gene Watson joins the show to discuss Juan Soto's historic signing with the New York Mets and other news from the Winter Meetings.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
And we're back to the Craig. I have a message
for Craig Sharon by using the talkback feature on the iHeartRadio. Okay,
watch what I'm about to do here. Joining us as
(00:27):
he does so generously, is our good friend and MLB
insider from the Chicago White Sox front office, Geen Watson,
and I will pose a question. This is similar to
what Greg Tepper and I do when we put games
in front of one another and say, if you can
only transport to which game, which game would it be?
(00:48):
So with that in mind, I put this in front
of Geene Watson and say, you have a choice of
being in three places next weekend, next Saturday, or Friday
and Saturday. On the weekend, you can either choose to
be at Indiana versus Notre Dame in South Bend college
(01:09):
football playoff. You can be at State Championship Week in
Arlington Friday night and Saturday, or you can be at
the Texas Clemson game on Saturday afternoon. I have a
feeling I know the answer to this. Which one is
it gonna be?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Geno, I'll be in South Bend on Friday night.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I knew you would I knew you would well that's good.
You're a goal to those two days at A and
T are pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, listen, you could always come up and hang
with us for the six man championships on Wednesday. I've
got those two games and the two A Division two
Wednesday night and the games let me tell you on Thursday.
The Thursday night three A Division one game, which could
be number one Malakoff against number two Columbus could be
(01:57):
a corker. Friday that could be great games as well.
I have to come back Saturday. It'll be the first
time in fourteen years I'll have missed the six A
games because of the Texas Clemson game. How about that?
Twenty ten's the last time I didn't call a six
A state championship. But our good friend Ted Emrick will
be calling us, so we're excited.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I have not ruled out getting on the early flight
out of Chicago on Saturday and trying to make the
game in Austin. I haven't ruled it out yet, but
it's it's gonna be pretty crazy. I'm looking forward to
being in South Bend for a night game on a Friday.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, hostly the weather will be better than it was
my good. I was there last week and and Marcus
Freeman was there for the women's game whatever great game
that was when overtime. He was there and to Meeka
Catching showed up. They had all the stars out for
that game. It's first time I've ever called a basketball
game at Notre Dame, so I was looking forward to that.
And I guess it's what now called the Purcell Pavilion
(02:46):
at the Joy Center. So that was that was cool.
Enjoy that And and how excited must the entire state
of Indiana be, let alone, the whole the Michiana area
around South Bend and the show Cargo Land area for
Notre Dame against Indiana and the college football playoff.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, the excitement rained so far that the ticket prices
are absolutely unbelievable. Fortunately enough, I've done some speaking there
and my tickets are fairly cheaper. But there's nothing better
than South Bend on a cold, snowy night and got
the grotto and you got to experience the last week.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes I did. Indeed, All right, let's move to the
Winter meetings. You're in Dallas right now? Are they still
at the Anatole? They are? You know, we haven't been
here in twenty four years.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I think two thousand and five was the last time
we had him here.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And you know, it's a cool little spot.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's pretty active today. The buzz last night was kind
of crazy with all the Soto stuff. There was a
pretty big roar in the atrium when it all went down,
and so, you know, business, there's a lot of conversations
taking place today and tomorrow could just be the doors
blown off of this place because I think it's going
to be really really active tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Interesting. Right, Let's go to the Sodo deal first. The
thing that got me was not the seven hundred and
sixty five million dollars. I knew that was, you know,
we I'd heard the digit seven mentioned a lot when
it was going to come to one soda. Whether the
Red Sox opposedly had the highest interest in him, the
Dodgers were interested, the Giants, I know, the Padres wanted
(04:21):
to get him back. I mean there was a lot.
There's a lot of interest on that, and it comes
down to the Yankees and the Mets really in the
Mets decide that they make the deal. But Gino, the
thing that got me was not the seven hundred and
sixty five million the fifteen years on that deal. Fifteen years,
and we're seeing more and more of these guys signed
those long, long contracts. Mookie Betts did it obviously, Shoeotani
(04:46):
signed a ten year deal, and now you've got one
Soda with a fifteen year deal. Did we lose Geno?
We might have lost him. Oh, there we are now
we got to now about it. Fifteen year deal.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, you don't get this kind of deal if you're
not an international sign or a high school sign, just
you don't get to free agency, you don't get to
arbitration early enough to be you know, twenty three, twenty
four to twenty five, and have put up the plateau
type numbers that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Juan Soto did.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You look at all the big contracts O Tani International,
Juan Soto International, Bobby Wit junior. You look at all
the big contracts in baseball, and they're all high school
and international. In an industry right now, that's kind of
pushing the college draft. And so that was the one
big thing about it. But I think all along, everybody
knew it was either going to be the Yankees or
the Mets and Mets ownership it was a chance for
(05:41):
them to just cut it off with the head, make
a big splash for their fan base, and they certainly
did that, and it's you know, they they're not Does
it make them the best team in the National League East,
I don't know. It certainly doesn't make them the best
team in the National League, but it definitely secures star
power and traction to the Mets organization for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, no doubt about. Okay, So let me let me
ask you about a couple of other things as well.
First of all, Michael Conforto signs with the Dodgers one year,
seventeen million dollar deal, and this was after you know,
the Dodgers did make a run at Soto, but not
as heavy duty a run as some of the others
and uh. And then they also just did that what
five year deal with Tommy Edmunds, so they wanted to
(06:24):
keep him there. So that's a couple of interesting things there,
because it brings to mind this deal with ti Oscar Hernandez.
And even though last week supposedly they said they were
working on on the deal, we're still hearing other teams
and the Red Sox really turning their attention to Tao
now that they lost out on Soda.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, the thing that kind of will will and I
do think Ti Oscar is going to go off the
board next. I think it'll be Oscar Hernandez and then
Anthony send tender. I think those are the two best
guys on the board right now. But they both declined
their qualifying offers, which means teams it's signed are going
to be give up their draft picks and that can
be a little bit of a hang up for teams.
(07:04):
But I do think these two are the next to
go off the board. I do think the Red Sox
and look for the Phillies to be heavily involved in
both these guys.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
About the Phillies also signing the deal with Jordan Romano
as well, he was non tendered. You were talking about
non tendering. He was non tended by the Blue Jays,
and of course he had injuries during the year. How
about your thoughts on that With the Phillies a one
year deal with Jordan Romando.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I think it's kind of the ear the early
end of what they're going to do. Look, I look
for the Phillies to be pretty active on the high end,
but they've had a decent bullpen. But Vermondo certainly adds
to the depth of it, gives a little impact.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's kind of a comeback guy with the injuries.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But I just looked for that move to be the
first of many for them to make in the coming days.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
All Right, you're you're expecting, if I'm reading what you're saying, right,
the next two days to be explosive. I was. I
was reminiscing about this, Geno, because I know you were
part of this as well. In nineteen well, when I
was in Atlanta over the weekend for the SEC Championship,
I was not in the team hotel. I was at
(08:07):
the Marriotte Marquee, and I've stayed in the Marquee several times,
and I know you have as well as an outstanding
hotel and all that sort of stuff. But when I
walked into it, the first thing that flowed into my
mind was the first time I stayed in there was
nineteen eighty nine when Brad Sham sent me on behalf
of KRLD and said, hey, I want to send you
to the winter meetings. Tom Grave, who was the general
(08:28):
manager of time the Rangers. He said, Tom Greeve told
me they might be a little bit active just be
ready for that for news coming said okay, a little
bit active. That was Nolan Ryan, Julia Franko, and your
pal Ryefield, Paul Merrow all siding. Get that eighty nine
Winter Meetings in Arlington. I mean in Atlanta, it seemed
(08:49):
like every time I turned around there was a news
conference going on. But to the point that there was
one deal done Monday, but the other two were done
on Tuesday, and there were a lot of other stuff.
So Tuesday seems to be big day at Winter meetings.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
It really is, you know, Sunday night, everybody's kind of
getting to their rooms, settling in, you start talking about
the things you've been talking about for weeks in your
office to get here. You know, you begin to you know,
run into team officials from other clubs. You start to
have conversations, and really sometimes it turns into it It's
happened today already with me out in front of the hotel,
(09:22):
running into a club official and coming up with an
idea and you take it back to your room and
the next thing you know, you've got a concept.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
On the board.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And that's kind of some of the things that happened
when you have everybody face to face like that. But
you know, after the Soto deal going down, I think
a lot of people are getting their ducks in a
row right now. I think there could be some signings
announced later this evening, but I think tomorrow by Sason.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
There's gonna be a lot of activity and a lot
of players coming off the board. I want to ask
you about one other guy, because it became an official today,
the Japanese right hand a Roki Sasaki. He was, as
they say, posted to major league teams and he will
be available to sign as a free agent beginning tomorrow
(10:06):
all the way to five o'clock Eastern on January twenty third.
The achieve a lot. Marines had said back last month
they planned to make him available, but they waited until
less than a week before the end of the posting period.
So in the difference, do you know, if you want
to explain it to folks, he's considered an international amateur
by MLB, so that kind of limits things in terms
(10:28):
of it has to go to the minor league contract
deal for him.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It is it's a minor league contract with a maximum
of seven and a half million dollars, but you're going
into your international pool and not everybody is going to
have the money in their pool. A lot of teams
who have committed it, but look at it like college
football recruiting, and you've got X number of scholarships and
then the five star becomes available, and you've got a
pool scholarships to go get the five star. There's going
(10:54):
to be a lot of that teams that are going
to decommit from commitments to try to bring their full
money back together to get involved with him. So that'll
be a limited pool. The assumption is that he's gonna
end up with the Dodgers. I think there's there's a
chance that it could be somewhere else. It could be
San Diego, it could be San Francisco. There's been talk
that the Texas Rangers could be involved. But his relationship
(11:16):
with Yamamoto and Otani being on Team Japan and the
World Baseball Classic will certainly factor in.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But there's been talked that that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Sasaki is kind of his own guy and wants to
do his own thing, and so it's going to be
interesting to see where he lands. But really a great
talent that still has some development to go. So it
certainly falls right in line with the international signing of group.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Have you have you got any vibe, any feel at
all as to whether the Astros or Rangers might be
active during the course of these next forty eight hours
in the meetings, it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Really has it's been very quiet. I've been with the
Ranger guys today. I haven't seen any of the Astro guys,
but I've been with a lot of the Rangers executives today.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It's been fairly quiet.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And I really think that with Houston, it's all about
Ox Bregman and is he going to accept the contract
offer that was given to him, and if he does,
that will certainly move their business forward. But it's been
pretty quiet on both fronts for the most part.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
All Right, The last thing I wanted to ask about
is about your own ball club. It was announced today
that Grady Seismore is going to stick with the White Sox.
He'll be listed. You don't hear this turn listed often
in baseball Geno, but I know you can explain it better.
Offensive coordinator under your first year manager Will Venable. And
(12:32):
then also sticking around from the twenty twenty four staff,
you're pitching coach Ethan Katz, you're hitting coach Marcus Thames,
your assistant pitching coach Matt Wise, first base outfield coach
Jason Borgeois, and also the third base infield coach, Justin Gerschelle,
and the catching coach Drew but Terra, all of those guys,
and of course Walker mckinvin was hired as Venables bench coach.
(12:55):
How about your thoughts on your ball club in the
organization and reorganization of the staff.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, we're really excited about Will. I've actually been in
meetings with Will and Walker all morning and we're super
excited about the visions that they have for our twenty
six man roster and what they bring to the table,
the experience and the youth and the vibrant that they.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Bring, and it's been great having them on.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We're also very excited about the fact that Marcus Tims
and Grady size More Ethan Cassise guys are all staying
on board from last year's staff. Justin Jerseley over our
third base coach, whose father, Mike Jerseley, was our famous
third base coach in Kansas City during the winning seasons
of fourteen and fifteen. So you know, I talked to
the White Sox fans at least once a week in Chicago,
(13:38):
and the things they say is, you know, for all
the things that are going on with our roster, the
infrastructure and the things that are going on with the
organization are super exciting and it's been it's been really
fun so far to try to build this thing and
turn it around.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
All right. So so GINO, you've got Grady Sizemore's the
offensive coordinator. And then the guy you were visiting with,
Walker mckinvin this morning. He was the run prevention coordinator
for the Brewers for the Brewers last year. It sounds
like you're getting these guys from the Notre Dame staff.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's really all about game planning.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's really what it is. It's just game planning. Hey, listen, Uh,
we'll visit again when all this is wrapped up. I'd
like your review of everything once the dust settles and
all this. So we'll do this again before things get
too busy next week for the both of us. And
I appreciate your day of the time. You got it.
Take care great? All right? Thank you. That is Geene
Watson uh from the Chicago White Sox front office. There
(14:33):
have you ever heard of that run prevention coordinator. That's
pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Run prevention coordinator. Uh. And
then and then the offensive coordinator for Shicak now Gino
would be the first to tell you they could use
him offensive coordination with the White Sox. But they did
score more runs and that was with Sizemore's the interim
(14:55):
manager down the stretch of the season, So that was
good to see. All Right, We're gonna hear more from
Sark and Dabbo coming up when we continue on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
And we're back to the Craig. I have a message
for Craig Sharon by using the talkback feature on the iHeartRadio. Okay,
watch what I'm about to do here. Joining us as
(00:27):
he does so generously, is our good friend and MLB
insider from the Chicago White Sox front office, Geen Watson,
and I will pose a question. This is similar to
what Greg Tepper and I do when we put games
in front of one another and say, if you can
only transport to which game, which game would it be?
(00:48):
So with that in mind, I put this in front
of Geene Watson and say, you have a choice of
being in three places next weekend, next Saturday, or Friday
and Saturday. On the weekend, you can either choose to
be at Indiana versus Notre Dame in South Bend college
(01:09):
football playoff. You can be at State Championship Week in
Arlington Friday night and Saturday, or you can be at
the Texas Clemson game on Saturday afternoon. I have a
feeling I know the answer to this. Which one is
it gonna be?
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Geno, I'll be in South Bend on Friday night.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I knew you would I knew you would well that's good.
You're a goal to those two days at A and
T are pretty good too.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I mean, listen, you could always come up and hang
with us for the six man championships on Wednesday. I've
got those two games and the two A Division two
Wednesday night and the games let me tell you on Thursday.
The Thursday night three A Division one game, which could
be number one Malakoff against number two Columbus could be
(01:57):
a corker. Friday that could be great games as well.
I have to come back Saturday. It'll be the first
time in fourteen years I'll have missed the six A
games because of the Texas Clemson game. How about that?
Twenty ten's the last time I didn't call a six
A state championship. But our good friend Ted Emrick will
be calling us, so we're excited.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I have not ruled out getting on the early flight
out of Chicago on Saturday and trying to make the
game in Austin. I haven't ruled it out yet, but
it's it's gonna be pretty crazy. I'm looking forward to
being in South Bend for a night game on a Friday.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, hostly the weather will be better than it was
my good. I was there last week and and Marcus
Freeman was there for the women's game whatever great game
that was when overtime. He was there and to Meeka
Catching showed up. They had all the stars out for
that game. It's first time I've ever called a basketball
game at Notre Dame, so I was looking forward to that.
And I guess it's what now called the Purcell Pavilion
(02:46):
at the Joy Center. So that was that was cool.
Enjoy that And and how excited must the entire state
of Indiana be, let alone, the whole the Michiana area
around South Bend and the show Cargo Land area for
Notre Dame against Indiana and the college football playoff.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, the excitement rained so far that the ticket prices
are absolutely unbelievable. Fortunately enough, I've done some speaking there
and my tickets are fairly cheaper. But there's nothing better
than South Bend on a cold, snowy night and got
the grotto and you got to experience the last week.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes I did. Indeed, All right, let's move to the
Winter meetings. You're in Dallas right now? Are they still
at the Anatole? They are? You know, we haven't been
here in twenty four years.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I think two thousand and five was the last time
we had him here.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
And you know, it's a cool little spot.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
It's pretty active today. The buzz last night was kind
of crazy with all the Soto stuff. There was a
pretty big roar in the atrium when it all went down,
and so, you know, business, there's a lot of conversations
taking place today and tomorrow could just be the doors
blown off of this place because I think it's going
to be really really active tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Interesting. Right, Let's go to the Sodo deal first. The
thing that got me was not the seven hundred and
sixty five million dollars. I knew that was, you know,
we I'd heard the digit seven mentioned a lot when
it was going to come to one soda. Whether the
Red Sox opposedly had the highest interest in him, the
Dodgers were interested, the Giants, I know, the Padres wanted
(04:21):
to get him back. I mean there was a lot.
There's a lot of interest on that, and it comes
down to the Yankees and the Mets really in the
Mets decide that they make the deal. But Gino, the
thing that got me was not the seven hundred and
sixty five million the fifteen years on that deal. Fifteen years,
and we're seeing more and more of these guys signed
those long, long contracts. Mookie Betts did it obviously, Shoeotani
(04:46):
signed a ten year deal, and now you've got one
Soda with a fifteen year deal. Did we lose Geno?
We might have lost him. Oh, there we are now
we got to now about it. Fifteen year deal.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Yeah, you don't get this kind of deal if you're
not an international sign or a high school sign, just
you don't get to free agency, you don't get to
arbitration early enough to be you know, twenty three, twenty
four to twenty five, and have put up the plateau
type numbers that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Juan Soto did.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
You look at all the big contracts O Tani International,
Juan Soto International, Bobby Wit junior. You look at all
the big contracts in baseball, and they're all high school
and international. In an industry right now, that's kind of
pushing the college draft. And so that was the one
big thing about it. But I think all along, everybody
knew it was either going to be the Yankees or
the Mets and Mets ownership it was a chance for
(05:41):
them to just cut it off with the head, make
a big splash for their fan base, and they certainly
did that, and it's you know, they they're not Does
it make them the best team in the National League East,
I don't know. It certainly doesn't make them the best
team in the National League, but it definitely secures star
power and traction to the Mets organization for a long time.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, no doubt about. Okay, So let me let me
ask you about a couple of other things as well.
First of all, Michael Conforto signs with the Dodgers one year,
seventeen million dollar deal, and this was after you know,
the Dodgers did make a run at Soto, but not
as heavy duty a run as some of the others
and uh. And then they also just did that what
five year deal with Tommy Edmunds, so they wanted to
(06:24):
keep him there. So that's a couple of interesting things there,
because it brings to mind this deal with ti Oscar Hernandez.
And even though last week supposedly they said they were
working on on the deal, we're still hearing other teams
and the Red Sox really turning their attention to Tao
now that they lost out on Soda.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, the thing that kind of will will and I
do think Ti Oscar is going to go off the
board next. I think it'll be Oscar Hernandez and then
Anthony send tender. I think those are the two best
guys on the board right now. But they both declined
their qualifying offers, which means teams it's signed are going
to be give up their draft picks and that can
be a little bit of a hang up for teams.
(07:04):
But I do think these two are the next to
go off the board. I do think the Red Sox
and look for the Phillies to be heavily involved in
both these guys.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
About the Phillies also signing the deal with Jordan Romano
as well, he was non tendered. You were talking about
non tendering. He was non tended by the Blue Jays,
and of course he had injuries during the year. How
about your thoughts on that With the Phillies a one
year deal with Jordan Romando.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, I think it's kind of the ear the early
end of what they're going to do. Look, I look
for the Phillies to be pretty active on the high end,
but they've had a decent bullpen. But Vermondo certainly adds
to the depth of it, gives a little impact.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
It's kind of a comeback guy with the injuries.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But I just looked for that move to be the
first of many for them to make in the coming days.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
All Right, you're you're expecting, if I'm reading what you're saying, right,
the next two days to be explosive. I was. I
was reminiscing about this, Geno, because I know you were
part of this as well. In nineteen well, when I
was in Atlanta over the weekend for the SEC Championship,
I was not in the team hotel. I was at
(08:07):
the Marriotte Marquee, and I've stayed in the Marquee several times,
and I know you have as well as an outstanding
hotel and all that sort of stuff. But when I
walked into it, the first thing that flowed into my
mind was the first time I stayed in there was
nineteen eighty nine when Brad Sham sent me on behalf
of KRLD and said, hey, I want to send you
to the winter meetings. Tom Grave, who was the general
(08:28):
manager of time the Rangers. He said, Tom Greeve told
me they might be a little bit active just be
ready for that for news coming said okay, a little
bit active. That was Nolan Ryan, Julia Franko, and your
pal Ryefield, Paul Merrow all siding. Get that eighty nine
Winter Meetings in Arlington. I mean in Atlanta, it seemed
(08:49):
like every time I turned around there was a news
conference going on. But to the point that there was
one deal done Monday, but the other two were done
on Tuesday, and there were a lot of other stuff.
So Tuesday seems to be big day at Winter meetings.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
It really is, you know, Sunday night, everybody's kind of
getting to their rooms, settling in, you start talking about
the things you've been talking about for weeks in your
office to get here. You know, you begin to you know,
run into team officials from other clubs. You start to
have conversations, and really sometimes it turns into it It's
happened today already with me out in front of the hotel,
(09:22):
running into a club official and coming up with an
idea and you take it back to your room and
the next thing you know, you've got a concept.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
On the board.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And that's kind of some of the things that happened
when you have everybody face to face like that. But
you know, after the Soto deal going down, I think
a lot of people are getting their ducks in a
row right now. I think there could be some signings
announced later this evening, but I think tomorrow by Sason.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
There's gonna be a lot of activity and a lot
of players coming off the board. I want to ask
you about one other guy, because it became an official today,
the Japanese right hand a Roki Sasaki. He was, as
they say, posted to major league teams and he will
be available to sign as a free agent beginning tomorrow
(10:06):
all the way to five o'clock Eastern on January twenty third.
The achieve a lot. Marines had said back last month
they planned to make him available, but they waited until
less than a week before the end of the posting period.
So in the difference, do you know, if you want
to explain it to folks, he's considered an international amateur
by MLB, so that kind of limits things in terms
(10:28):
of it has to go to the minor league contract
deal for him.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It is it's a minor league contract with a maximum
of seven and a half million dollars, but you're going
into your international pool and not everybody is going to
have the money in their pool. A lot of teams
who have committed it, but look at it like college
football recruiting, and you've got X number of scholarships and
then the five star becomes available, and you've got a
pool scholarships to go get the five star. There's going
(10:54):
to be a lot of that teams that are going
to decommit from commitments to try to bring their full
money back together to get involved with him. So that'll
be a limited pool. The assumption is that he's gonna
end up with the Dodgers. I think there's there's a
chance that it could be somewhere else. It could be
San Diego, it could be San Francisco. There's been talk
that the Texas Rangers could be involved. But his relationship
(11:16):
with Yamamoto and Otani being on Team Japan and the
World Baseball Classic will certainly factor in.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
But there's been talked that that.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Sasaki is kind of his own guy and wants to
do his own thing, and so it's going to be
interesting to see where he lands. But really a great
talent that still has some development to go. So it
certainly falls right in line with the international signing of group.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Have you have you got any vibe, any feel at
all as to whether the Astros or Rangers might be
active during the course of these next forty eight hours
in the meetings, it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Really has it's been very quiet. I've been with the
Ranger guys today. I haven't seen any of the Astro guys,
but I've been with a lot of the Rangers executives today.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
It's been fairly quiet.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And I really think that with Houston, it's all about
Ox Bregman and is he going to accept the contract
offer that was given to him, and if he does,
that will certainly move their business forward. But it's been
pretty quiet on both fronts for the most part.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
All Right, The last thing I wanted to ask about
is about your own ball club. It was announced today
that Grady Seismore is going to stick with the White Sox.
He'll be listed. You don't hear this turn listed often
in baseball Geno, but I know you can explain it better.
Offensive coordinator under your first year manager Will Venable. And
(12:32):
then also sticking around from the twenty twenty four staff,
you're pitching coach Ethan Katz, you're hitting coach Marcus Thames,
your assistant pitching coach Matt Wise, first base outfield coach
Jason Borgeois, and also the third base infield coach, Justin Gerschelle,
and the catching coach Drew but Terra, all of those guys,
and of course Walker mckinvin was hired as Venables bench coach.
(12:55):
How about your thoughts on your ball club in the
organization and reorganization of the staff.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, we're really excited about Will. I've actually been in
meetings with Will and Walker all morning and we're super
excited about the visions that they have for our twenty
six man roster and what they bring to the table,
the experience and the youth and the vibrant that they.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Bring, and it's been great having them on.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We're also very excited about the fact that Marcus Tims
and Grady size More Ethan Cassise guys are all staying
on board from last year's staff. Justin Jerseley over our
third base coach, whose father, Mike Jerseley, was our famous
third base coach in Kansas City during the winning seasons
of fourteen and fifteen. So you know, I talked to
the White Sox fans at least once a week in Chicago,
(13:38):
and the things they say is, you know, for all
the things that are going on with our roster, the
infrastructure and the things that are going on with the
organization are super exciting and it's been it's been really
fun so far to try to build this thing and
turn it around.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
All right. So so GINO, you've got Grady Sizemore's the
offensive coordinator. And then the guy you were visiting with,
Walker mckinvin this morning. He was the run prevention coordinator
for the Brewers for the Brewers last year. It sounds
like you're getting these guys from the Notre Dame staff.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
It's really all about game planning.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's really what it is. It's just game planning. Hey, listen, Uh,
we'll visit again when all this is wrapped up. I'd
like your review of everything once the dust settles and
all this. So we'll do this again before things get
too busy next week for the both of us. And
I appreciate your day of the time. You got it.
Take care great? All right? Thank you. That is Geene
Watson uh from the Chicago White Sox front office. There
(14:33):
have you ever heard of that run prevention coordinator. That's
pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Run prevention coordinator. Uh. And
then and then the offensive coordinator for Shicak now Gino
would be the first to tell you they could use
him offensive coordination with the White Sox. But they did
score more runs and that was with Sizemore's the interim
(14:55):
manager down the stretch of the season, So that was
good to see. All Right, We're gonna hear more from
Sark and Dabbo coming up when we continue on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
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