MLB Spring Training Preview with Gene Watson and the 100 highest paid athletes in 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good afternoon, Welcome to the program here on thirteen under
the Zone. My name is Craig Way. Glad to have
you with us. US, of course, includes the producer of
the program, Cameron D.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Parker.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
The D on the birth certificate stands for Dallas. Yes,
it stands for Dallas, as in his being named for
his dad's at the time favored pro football team and
became Cameron's still claims it, but refuses to watch him
and all that. It can also be d in terms
of Dallas. Dallas Mavericks with a pretty scintillating victory last

(00:33):
night of the Golden State Wars.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Did you get a chance to see any of that
last night?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I thought Steph Curry missed in some clutch free throws. Yeah,
I think a stat I saw from Mark Followell, of
course to Dallas Mavericks TV broadcaster. I think going into
the fourth quarter in games, I think under five points
or the margin was in between five points, Steph Curry
was like forty four or forty seven on free throws,
and weird to see him struggle at the line. And

(00:59):
I'm curious, Craig, like, I almost want to go up
to Dallas and go to a Mavericks scheme, just to
get the vibe of the fan base, Like, if you're
a Dallas Mavericks fan, are you like Man good Win
last night or are you going who cares Luca's playing
for the Lakers? How about Luca? He didn't look good
lesson at all? Yeah, right, you know, we're not surprising.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, you know what I think to the first part
of what you're you're asking, I think when you say,
are their fans excited about the Mavericks or at least
rooting for them? Or are their fans that have checked out?
Because I think the answer is yes to both. I
think there's some to both. Uh, there were there were
some examples of that.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Last night.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Was a George saddano I guess was working the court
side reporter for ESPN, and he talked to a lot
of fans, several of whom said they were just devastated
by the trade, angry with the management. They said, but
they love their guys and they're going to continue to
root for their guys. I'm a Mavericks fan.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Going back to their expansion year when, as I pointed
out the other day, part of putting myself through college
selling T shirts and merchandise at concerts for bands. I
also worked the Mavericks expansion year eighty eighty one when
they went fifteen and sixty seven, when they had Brad
Davis and Jim Spinarkle in the backcourt and.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Scott Lloyd on the front line and.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Jay Vince well, let's see, Jay Vincent came in the
second year, Abdul Jilani.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
They had those guys that first year.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
They went fifteen and sixty seven, and I became a
Mavericks fan, even though I'd been a Lakers fan as
a kid during the Jerry Wes Wilt Chamberlin era, and
really became a Lakers showtime fan, you know, with with
during those showtime teams of the eighties with Magic Johnson
and you know, and James Worthy and Byron Scott and

(02:55):
you know, all all of those guys, Kurt Rambus and
of course Kareem So But I but I never straight
far from once I adopted the Mavericks as truly my
favorite team, and they still are. And I thought about
this last night. I thought about, you know, do you
do you just totally check out on this and I

(03:17):
think I think this might be and you can help
me out on this camera. This might be similar to
what a lot of disenfranchised Cowboys fans feel because of
the ownership and the management and the way that the
ball club is run now. The Mavericks have had far
more recent success than the Cowboys. The Mavericks have won
an NBA World title, They've been to the finals a

(03:39):
couple of other times, including last year. But certainly a
lot of them feel like their hearts were ripped out
when this trade came down, and that there seemed to
be this pervasive attitude on the part of ownership and
management that they don't really care. They're going to do
this and they don't really care. I read when I

(04:01):
was at the ballpark on Tuesday, when you were out
on Tuesday came I read that that piece written by
Ralph strangis the former Dallas Stars play by playvoice, just
as incend the area as it can get about what
a horrible mess of things this new own ownership and
management has made of it, starting with the trade and

(04:25):
then just making a bad situation worse by ejecting fans
from the arena for saying fire Nico and holding up
signs and things like that, and that they just really
don't care at all. Uh. He's since penned a couple
other articles urging the the the owner of the club,

(04:47):
urging her to sell the club or at the very
least get rid of the Dufus Dumont who is who
is running things for that? And and Dufus Dumont Yeah, yeah,
and a character from Pink Panther.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well, you know.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
The funny thing is if you've seen him, Patrick Dumont.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, kind a little uh Al Davis five yet you
know who else he looks like?

Speaker 1 (05:12):
And Mike Deucy, the longtime sports anchor and Dallas fort Worth,
pointed this out as well on Twitter. Uh, he looks
like a young, very young addition of my good friend, uh,
George Dunham of the Ticket in Dallas. George looked a
lot like Dumont did back in the day.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Now George is.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Older now and has gray hair like many of us
do when we get into you know, our advanced years.
But he did he looked likely and said Doocey says, like,
what's George Dunham doing being quoted you know or.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Something like that. It was Dumont's quotes on that.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
But so there's there's all of this angst from Mavericks
fans about this deal and about how shabbily they've been treated,
as evidenced by those who were escorted from the building
basically for voicing opposition, and as strangers pointed out, better

(06:05):
be careful, don't be caught booing or you'll be kicked
out of the building. Can you imagine that in Philadelphia
with with how they turned on Joel mb last night
when he when he stepped in to try to take
a shot and then turn the ball over and and
the Sixers fans just just laid into him afterwards. So

(06:26):
they've been booing in New York and Philly in places
like that for a long long time. So it's not
commonplace in Dallas, uh to boo boo Mavericks management, especially
given the fact that the great relationship that the fans
have with Mark Cuban for decades, and now that he's
a minority owner has divested his majority share.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
There's all of this word about how if.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
All of this was just about getting casino gambling in Dallas,
forget it.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's being you're you're you're ruining.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Your opportunity to do that, so you might as well
sell the club or at least get different management in here.
That's been the slant and the opinion voice by many,
including as I mentioned Ralph Strange's in that piece that
he wrote the other day that quoted from so.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
But as a.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Mavericks fan and feeling the conflicted nature of this, I
still found myself rooting for the team last night.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
I wanted them to do well.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
I was happy with the outstanding game that Kyrie Irving
had last night. And when Kyrie came in, this is
his third season the club. When he came in a
couple of years ago, I was kind of skeptical as
to whether it would work with him and Luca because
of the type a's that they are, the personalities and
all that.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
But Kyrie has been.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Pretty close to a model citizen.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
He's been a great basketball player since the trade.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, so he played well, and then this team is
so hurt right now. They're so shorthanded, they're so banged
up up. They don't have lightly, they don't have Gafford.
You know, they ad who they get in the trade,
Anthony Davis. He's not available, and yet they continue to
fight and they found a way to win that game.
Now they're going to struggle and right now they'd be

(08:15):
in the play in and they're trying to get out
of that and see if thing rise above. They're going
to have to have some other big efforts and other
big games. But don't they have Miami the Knight's back
to back. I have to turn around and play the Heat.
Miami's playing on the back to back as well. Yeah, okay,
And by the way I saw, I don't know what

(08:36):
you felt about it. I saw flashes of Jimmy Butler
with the Warriors and what he's capable of doing.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
But I also saw a lot of standing around.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
He didn't He doesn't look completely comfortable within the within
the system yet.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, it's gonna take some time, I think for the
Warriors to kind of gel, you know. And and last
night you could kind of see it in the fourth
quarter because what you like to be able to do
with your Warriors, if you're the Warriors, and especially Steve Kerr,
is so much of what the Warriors do is around
Steph Curry. But opposing defenses, you're not worrying about Klay Thompson,

(09:16):
You're not worrying about Wiggins, You're not worrying about Jordan
Poole anymore. So you can kind of lock in on
Steph Curry. They don't really have a stretch five anymore.
So the Jimmy Butler move is, you know, to alleviate
some of the offensive, you know, duties off of Steph Curry.
And it's gonna take some time for them to get there.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, I think so as well. Linda was kind of
taken aback by the Warriors' uniforms. See, this is how
I know I'm married the right person is that she's
starting to take notice of nerdy things that does regular
sports people take note of. She was used to watching
the Warriors. She goes, aren't there red colors? Blue and gold?

(09:57):
Aren't they blue in the ey? I said, yeah, well
what's with the red? I said, well, you'd have to
go back historically. Really, this goes back to even when
they were the Philadelphia Warriors in the forties, fifties and
early sixties, before the franchise moved to San Francisco, and
their colors were kind of a blue and gold, but
they had red. I said that in fact, that font

(10:18):
Warriors font in red. If you go back and you
look at you know, in the late fifties, early sixties
when Will Chamberlain was playing for them, they kind of
had that uniform. She goes, I don't think it works,
and she goes, it obviously doesn't bother you. And as well,
I looked at it from the historical perspective and I
love it.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, I love it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
So you know, I have a wife who's now becoming
a uniform geek as well.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
She takes looks, you know, takes a look at that.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
All right, coming up, we're gonna do several things today
in the four o'clock hour. We're going to talk some
baseball because Major League Baseball spring training camps are open.
The Houston Asteroids have lost another pe of the world
championship teams that they had in twenty seventeen in twenty

(11:08):
twenty two, a major piece off of that free agent signing.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
We'll get to that.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
We'll talk about the Texas women's basketball game tonight. We're
going here from Breonna Preston. Right, we've got some Bret Preston.
We'll hear from has Texas Place, Kentucky. A big game
tonight for the Texas women on the road that's at
six o'clock, which you can hear on one of three
point one FM. Roger Wallace will join Kathy Arsham for
the call of that one. We're drawing closer to the

(11:35):
start of Long Hornon baseball season. It's tomorrow night, the
opener against the Louisville Cardinals. Keith Mortland will join me
for the call of that one from Globelike Field in Arlington.
And yes, Long Worn men's basketball. There's a Long Warn
weekly with Rodney Terry tonight at six o'clock at Pluckers
the West Campus location here in Austin, and Texas of
course is getting ready to play Kentucky on Saturday night,

(11:58):
so a lot to get two more NBA as well,
and as always we open up the text line for
your questions, your thoughts, your comments. You are free to
do that and we welcome those questions, thoughts and comments.
All you have to do is text the word Texas
follow by your question or comment to eight one five
three zero. Again, you text the word Texas followed by

(12:20):
your question or comment to eight one five three zero.
Standard messaging and data rates may apply. Stay with us
here on a Thursday afternoon on thirteen under.

Speaker 5 (12:27):
The Zone, It's the Craig Way Show with the voice
of the Texas Longhorns and Hall of Fame Broadcasting Craig
Way on a Thursday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Here in the great City of Austin, Texas, USA. I
do think about that from time to time. I know,
we as a society sometimes are accused of not being
grateful enough for what we have, and you know, the
things that we have, and I try to keep that

(13:17):
in mind, the appreciation and gratitude of things. And part
of it is just living in this area, because I
haven't lived all over the country, but I've been all
over the country. I think I've been in forty seven
of the fifty states. How many of the states have
you been in, Cameron m United States? You've been in

(13:40):
a lot.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
I don't know the top of my head. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
For me, it's obviously easier to count off the states
that I haven't been in than the ones that I have.
Like I said, the only ones I haven't been in
you've been in. I think, uh, all three of the
states that I haven't been in because of your time

(14:05):
doing baseball. So like I haven't been in Montana, you
were you were you were based what in in in Montana?

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Right? It wasn't based. We we played some baseball games
in Montana. Yeah, in exactly.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay, all right, I haven't been in North Dakota and
you've been there. Where where was your team based? We're
in South Dakota, Spearfish, Spearfish. Okay, all right. So the
only three states I haven't been in been in uh
are Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska. Haven't been to Alaska. Well,
I messed up my chance to go to Alaska. There

(14:46):
were a couple of things that got away. First of all,
my first year doing the basketball played by PLAYO one
oh two, Texas did play in the Great Alaska Shootout
when that was still a viable holiday tournament. It isn't
any longer. It's like a Division two EVENTU I couldn't.
I couldn't go up there for that because of football

(15:06):
working with Bill Schoening, I think on the Texas A
and M game that year and oh one. But then
the other thing is I have three brothers. One of
those retired Air Force but he lived in Alaska by
Fairbanks for like eight years, and it never went up there,
never went up there. He used to say, don't come
up here unless you come in the summertime because it
gets pretty cold.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
In the winter, although we were used to it.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
And I said, I remember talking to him doing all
the Super Bowl Sunday once and it was seventy degrees
here in the Austin area, and I said, what's a
temperature there right now?

Speaker 2 (15:36):
I go, look, we're forty two below. He says it.
Matter of fact, we went forty two below.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
He goes, yeah, you know, you get used to it,
but you stay inside and you know you learned it.
So to roll it back to what I'm talking about
about being grateful for things, grateful to live in a
in a in a very climate friendly environment here in
the Greater Austin area. Yeah, we get our cold from

(16:05):
time to time, and yeah it gets blistering hot in
the summer.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
But the heat doesn't bother me the way it does
a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
You know, well, maybe you'll be able to go to
Alaska if Texas does play in a regional you know,
a Sashningle city yesterday.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
I love that. I love that.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
He be I'll take being a number four when he
say number four in Alaska Anchorage. In Anchorage, he'd say,
because that would mean you're in the field. If you
take a number four seed in that because you can't
get to Omaha, but you don't play in a regional. No,
you got to play in and win a regional, and
then you got to play in and win a super regional.
And there are very early, believe it or not, baseball

(16:39):
projections that have Texas in a regional. And you knew
this was coming, that they would be slated in a
super regional to match up with Texas A and M
in College Station. Last year the Longhorns went to College

(17:00):
Station for the region. Everybody knew just kind of had
a feeling that was coming because it was the last
time the NCAA would have the opportunity to put Texas
and Texas A and M in a regional because you
can't do that by you know, baseball, you know, configuration,
can't do that. You can't you can't align them in

(17:20):
the same region. They can be in a super but
not in a region. So we knew it was coming,
and it happened, and and then of course this year
they're saying, well, yeah, they'll they'll be in a regional
and A and m's preseason number one in one of
the polls and all that other kind of stuff, So
we'll see that'll be fun. But the season opens tomorrow

(17:41):
night in Arlington and you'll hear it here on thirteen
under the zune. All right, tell me if you're disappointed
on this NBA All Star weekend, it's coming up San Francisco.
It's where it's gonna end. And they got all kinds
of different they're doing everything, but playing a real basketball.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Game is what they're doing, you know, because they've got.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
These three teams plus the Rising Stars group and it's
kind of like a little mini tournament kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
And so you got that.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Then there was talk of having a rematch on the
three point shooting event between Steph Curry and Sabrina and Escue.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Not gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
NBA announced today it's not gonna happen, not gonna be
part of the lineup.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
They said that.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Talks went on for weeks to try to make it happen,
even stretching into this week, and there were people thought
it was definitely gonna happen because it's on Curry's home floor.
Ascue's from the Bay Area. She grew up watching Curry
and the Warriors. But the NBA spokesman Mike Bass said, quote,

(18:51):
we weren't able to land on a plan we thought
would raise the bar off of last year's special moment.
We all agreed not to proceed in well instead keep
the focus on All Star.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Sunday's new format.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Curry said he wanted the rematch to occur, and then
we're talks of making it a two on two with
Clay Thompson and.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Caitlyn Clark involved.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
But Clark's representative said last month she wanted her first
three point contests to come at the w NBA All
Star Weekend in Indianapolis and would not participate in a
special challenge during NBA All Star Weekend. So it went
back and forth. You go back to this guy from
the NBA. We weren't able to land on a plan

(19:33):
we thought would raise the bar off of last year's
special moment. Translation. Maybe they didn't offer enough money. Maybe
I don't know. I mean, they're shooting well, I mean,
what do you what are you want? What you know?
How can you upgrade a shooting contest? That's all it is.

(19:55):
It's a shooting contest. It's not supposed to be anything else,
horse or you know, something else. I mean, how could
they make it better? I don't know how they could
make it better.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
And I think, you know, a lot of these players,
you know, maybe they just want some time off. You know,
not everybody wants to play and participate in the three
point shooting contest and the Skills Challenge the Dunk contest
because they just want some time off.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
It's a long season. Like I'm sure Steph Cray would
love an extra day off. And if you do these
type of events, then you probably have more media responsibilities
and more events. You got to show up in more
interviews and social media poice posts, and then you got
to actually, you know, participate and yeah, you're just shooting
and stuff. But like, you know, I'm sure like some
of these guys, like you know what, they turned down

(20:41):
the three point contests and the dunk contest not because
they don't want to participate, but because you know, I
kind of want a night off. And I don't blame
the guys. The same thing with the home run hitting
home run, Yeah, you know, participate in that. I'm sure
that takes a lot of that out of you.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
Right, Yep.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
The home run derby a lot more than probably the
three point shooting contest, but it.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
Didn't really wreck tioscar Hernandez too much last year after
he won the thing, he had a big second half
as well. But you know, and ask you said, we've
been talking about finding different ways to change this up
next year.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
That's what she said.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Last year's year is I think he has a partner
in mind that's going to join him. So I'm going
to open any partner that can help me win and
take that belt that he has up front and center
away from him because he won last year twenty nine
to twenty six on the deal. I think the two
on two thing would be good. Do you guard the
other show? Are you playing two on two or are
you just two on two? Like what best Ball and

(21:37):
Golf alternate shot?

Speaker 2 (21:39):
I yes, you know.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Look maybe I'm a little jaded on this, but I'm
here to tell you there's only so much you can
do with a shooting contest. You're shooting, I don't know,
unless you're really doing crazy, you know, like that what
was the old match bird thing off the roof, down

(22:01):
through the garage, bounce of a you know whatever, nothing
but net that, you.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Know, unless you're doing some.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Harlem globe trotter trick shots stuff. Otherwise it's just shooting
and people enjoy watching guys shoot and girls shoot. There's
nothing wrong with watching men and women, you know, fill
it up and knock down long rain shots.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's kind of fun. It's it might be something different.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
I don't know, but I don't I don't know that
you can gussie it up too much, is what I'm saying.
It gets to a point where on a certain level,
it is what it is. It's a shooting contest. So
we'll see. And I and I think also they're just
trying to find other ways to, you know, dress up
the All Star weekend.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
I hope this, I really do.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
I hope this whatever Chuck and Shack and Kenny team
thing with the rising Star thing, I hope it works out.
But I have a feeling it's people are going to
look and go, Okay, all right, these guys that are
out there playing together, but no big thing, you know,
because it is an exhibition at some point. All right,

(23:12):
Coming up next, we bring you in Conceivable for a
Thursday afternoon here on EM thirteen under the Zone, Craig
Way alongside the producer Cameron Parker, and glad to have
you with us, and as always, we open up the
text line to you if you have a question or
thought of comments something you'd like us to hear, we're

(23:34):
more than happy to hear that. So if you've got
something you want to hit us up with, feel free
to do that. Again, you just text the word texts
followed by your question or comment to eight one five
three zero.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Standard messaging and data rates may apply.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Right before the top of the hour, I was running
down at least just a couple of selections off that
list of the high paid athletes from last year in
the world, and again, this is just what they earned
in twenty twenty four. It's not deferred money. It's not
total contract money things like that where we've looked at,

(24:15):
you know, those heavy duty contracts of Shoeotani or Patrick
Mahomes those, it's it's just last year. For example, by
the way, when I was mentioning Shoeotani, he's only twenty
first last year seventy two and a half million dollars.

(24:36):
But the lion's share of the money that he got,
as we mentioned, which interpreter, well he did according now
its interpreters behind bars, but seventy of his seventy two
and a half million dollars came off endorsements off of that.
But in looking at this list, I mentioned Christianna Ronaldo

(24:58):
was number one, Steph Curry two, tie Some Fury third,
Leannel Melsi four, Lebron number five, Neymar six. I guess
this is a boxer, Alexander Yusik.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
I have no idea.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, he is probably a boxer. He is from the Ukraine.
Kareem Bezema Benzima Benzima number eight.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
You mentioned him, Bappy. He is for Real Madrid. He's
number nine.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
John Rahm rounds up the top ten and number ten,
and Scotti Schffler is eleventh off of that number twelve
Dak Prescott number twelve.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Highest paid athlete.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
In the world last year was Dak Prescott one hundred
million dollars counting endorsements and everything there, more so than Giannis,
Kevin Durant, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, Rory McElroy, Max Verstappen,
Patrick Mahomes or Canelo Alvarez that finished out the top twenty. There,

(26:01):
Dak Prescott made more money than shoe a Otani. Dak
Prescott Stafford did two. Huh is it Matt Stafford?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Uh No?

Speaker 1 (26:09):
Max First Stappin, Max First the f one driver. Yeah,
Tiger was twenty seventh. Last year, Luca was thirty fourth,
Jokic thirty second, Jimmy Butler thirty third, Joel mb was
thirty first, Max Schurzer forty first, SGA just behind Max

(26:32):
Schurzer with Shay gilds As Alexander forty second highest paid
athlete in the world last year.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
I'm trying to see if there's somebody.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
Who's Aaron Rodgers is fifty sixth uh Deshaun Watson was
sixty first, Josh Allen was fifty seventh, tied for fifty
seven with Terrell Hatton.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Uh oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Justin Verlander was seventieth, Jalen Hurts Super Bowl champion, jose
Al Tuve seventy sixth, Kyler Murray number eighty, just behind
Fred van Vliet. How about that, Pascal Siaka eighty first,
Drew Holiday eighty fourth, Ben Simmons eighty fifth, Mike Trout

(27:17):
eighty six. Matthew Stafford is eighty ninth on that list.
Corey Seger ninety fourth on the list at number one
hundred was Daniel Jones, just behind Baker Mayfield. It was
ninety ninth on the list. Is Yeah, so that's the
top one hundred. Let's hear from Texas women's head coach

(27:38):
Vick Shae for a huge game tonight as Texas takes
on Kentucky at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, and wanted to
hear from Vic his thoughts on this matchup with Kentucky
and also just coming off the win over South Carolina

(28:00):
and how big a boost it was for his team
and what the home crowd did for his team.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
So Vick on the home crowd went over USC, I
want to want to thank our fans. UH have a
chance to We had obviously had great crowds last week,
and you know, you know I look across the country, y'all,
and I don't see that just everywhere.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
You know.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
I turned on the TV last night and looked at
an arena that was pretty much empty, And you know,
I just really want to thank our fans. Our part
of building a program, as I told you all a
long time ago, is your fan base. You know, I
think we had some apathy here when we took the job.
Obviously we're in a different arena, much bigger place. But

(28:52):
part of building a program is not just your ex'es
and o's. It's not your wins and losses. It's building
your fan base. And I think what we've been able
to do in a really short period of time here,
I'm really proud of our kids deserve a lot of
the credit because of the style of play they play.
They're fun to watch. Our fans really enjoy them. You

(29:13):
can tell after a ballgame they stick around. I promise you,
Madison Booker, Rory Harmon, the rest of my team. They're
signing the same autographs, taking the same picture with the
same person after every game.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
But you know what, that's okay.

Speaker 6 (29:29):
If that's what it takes to build a fan base,
we're going to do it. And that's again part of
I call them the people's team. You know, there's people
up up in the stands. There's little old ladies up
there that got a dozen cookies. They think those are
their girls, not mine. They don't think they're Texas team.
They think they're their team. And that's okay, And that's really.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
What you want.

Speaker 6 (29:54):
You want to build that that atmosphere of ownership and
you know, that's my team. And I can remember at
Mississippi State, Blair came out of a game in an
NCAA tournament I chastised her all the way down the bench,
and I'm going to tell y'all, I got criticized for
a lot, but I have never had a butte and
from my fan base like I got after that game

(30:15):
from just about everybody in the arena, and you know,
but that was their ownership of the team, and you know,
it's just it's really refreshing.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
And again it's I don't think.

Speaker 6 (30:30):
We take it for granted because it's not like that everywhere, y'all.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
And it's not like that consistently.

Speaker 6 (30:35):
I mean, I think we've consistently been having great crowds
this year. Our Thursday night crowd was really good, seven thousand,
and then to have that crowd on Sunday was.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Obviously really special.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
So I really want to say thank you to our
community and our fan base.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Again.

Speaker 6 (30:51):
Our kids appreciate it, I appreciated My coaching staff appreciates
it so much, and I appreciate y'all's coverage. What you're
doing for our it doesn't go unnoticed. And for me
as a coach, I want you to how much I
appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Okay, you know he's right about the.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
About the fan base thing about their being at fan
apathy when he first came in, because I'm telling you,
I started doing the play by play for the women
in the ninety seven to ninety eight season, and I
can remember there were some years in there where it
was somewhere between twenty five hundred and four.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Thousand at most.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
And now it's consistently big crowds, and that was a sellout.
There'll be a sellout this Sunday for LSU. It's pretty cool.
So what about the win over USC the effect that
that had on.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
His team with two big games coming this week, Well, I.

Speaker 6 (31:40):
Mean, I think our team has confidence. They know that
that just like they said, they really believe, they believe
they're good enough. You know, they believe they can they
can win it all. And so again my thing is, Okay,
we can't talk it. We got to walk it. You know,
we've got to do it every day. We've got to

(32:03):
go through the process of what that takes to do.
And so but I think the wins have certainly given
them confidence. We've had some really good wins, some dominating wins,
and then we've had some knockdown dragouts where we've had
to really execute and do some things. So again, I
think more than anything, it gives you, gives them confidence

(32:24):
and certainly has given me some confidence in them.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
All right, So now back to work, and they this
media availability was over at the practice facility a couple
of days ago, and I think it was our friend
Danny Davis from the Austin American Statesman. Not this was
a big photo of Jody Conrad from her time as
head coach, you know, looking down, kind of looking and
almost kind of looking straight at VIC as well. So

(32:50):
the question was did he purposely want to have pictures
of coach Conrad on the walls of the practice facility there?

Speaker 6 (33:00):
Yeah, you know, Uh, that was something that I really
wanted in here. I have so much respect and admiration
for her, and uh it.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Just kind of worked out that way.

Speaker 6 (33:10):
I never really noticed that, but uh, you know, love
having her around and and uh I love seeing her
after after games and uh, you know, again, when I
took this job, my vision was for her to come
in on uh in the morning after a game that
I forced it down and have coffee and rehash the
game and talk about it.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Uh again, I'm I'm uh.

Speaker 6 (33:34):
I just have a lot of respect and admiration for
and and I love visiting with her, so it's always
been been great to see her and and visit with her.
So it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (33:45):
I think it's really cool to have her in the gym.
She's she deserves to be.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
All right.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
So, uh, with all of this heightened, uh, you know,
interest in women's basketball at Texas, question came up for Vic.
Does he believe there might be enough interest to have
a dumb in Austin? Oh?

Speaker 6 (34:02):
I think so, you know, we don't cross paths, we're
a different time of the year, and because we don't
have a really other than.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
The soccer team, we just don't have a pro team.

Speaker 6 (34:12):
San Antonio is a different city, different place, our fifteen
from here, So I think there's I think there's a
a support group here that would love to have that team.
And I'm certainly you know, they've come and talked to
me about it. That group has talked to me, and
I'm I'm all for it.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Again. I don't feel like it.

Speaker 6 (34:33):
Hurts us or hinders us one bit, and so I
hope they get it. I think it'd be great for
our city and great for our state, you know, to
have two great teams, have two teams in the league would.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Be wonderful, all right.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
And then one other thing from Vic and this is
about Breonna Preston, his freshman guard who's been able to
spell Rory Harmon and has been able to give the
long run some quality minutes here and especially in the
second half half of the season. We're gonna hear from
Brie coming up in the next segment. But he was
asked about, uh, you know her. She's from Jonesborough, Georgia.

(35:07):
That's just off the south side of Atlanta. So how
did he discover Breed Preston.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
Yeah, you know, we we spend so much time in
the summer on the road, and you know, we found
her in aau probably her sophomore year, you know, going
into her sophomore year, and.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
She just you know, with her her.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
Quickness or speed that that immediately gets your attention. But
then the more you watch her, the thing that impressed
me the most was that she's so good in the
open floor and y'all have seen this. She makes the
right pass to the right person at the right time.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
She's really good at that. And I like to play up.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Tempo, I like to get up and down and uh,
you know, she's just really good at that like she's
she is so good at making that decision in the
open floor and that's hard to find. And so just
her demeanor her how hard she plays, how fast and
athletic and electric. I mean, the kid is electric. And

(36:19):
you know it was to me, it was an immediate fit,
you know, and then and then it was just fun
watching her grow mature.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
And follower and then recruiter. And what I came to find.

Speaker 6 (36:31):
Out is that I coached against her mother when I
was at Sam Houston State.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
And she was at Southwest Texas.

Speaker 6 (36:37):
I mean I remember her mother now at Southwest Texas.
She was a tough matchup, really good player, kind of
that tweener three four, that super athletic, like I remember
her like night and day, like I can remember her
specifically and in a scout and in our matchup issues
that we had.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
So that was pretty cool too.

Speaker 6 (36:57):
You know, it's uh, you don't run into that a lot.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
I've run into it now a couple of times.

Speaker 6 (37:03):
And I guess that comes with a little bit of seasoning.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
Well, and Brie has really helped out this team as well,
and she'll continue to get better. We're going to hear
from Rihanna Preston, and we've got some other topics we'll
get to as we continue here on AM thirteen under
the Zone, a Thursday afternoon here on thirteen under the Zone,
we just heard from Texas women's head coach Pick Schaefer.
This is a big game the night against a Frank Kentucky.

(37:30):
They're at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington. Roger Wawliso joined Kathy
Arsham for the callig can here it on one to
three point one FM with a five to forty five
air time and a six o'clock tip.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Here on the Zone.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
At six, we'll have Long Worn Weekly with Rodney Terry
with the long Worn men's head coach from Pluckers the
West Campus location. We do it live at six o'clock
on Thursday, So to see you out there for that.
And rolling it back to the women, we heard about
Brianna Preston and what.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
She has started to do to really.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Supplement what they get from the guard spot from Rory
Harmon and Shay Holly, and of course Madison Booker swings
between guard and forward and UH and then Jordan Lee
as a freshman, is contriminded all of that. Some of
the parts is the reason why this team is number
three in the country and why they're twenty four and
two right now. And bre Preston is one of those

(38:23):
players who has really come a long way as a
true freshman. So there's a little media session. There were
some questions for the freshman Breonna Preston, just.

Speaker 7 (38:31):
Learning how to run the team, not turn the ball
over and being.

Speaker 8 (38:36):
A great teammate. Yeah, you learn from h It's a
lot of things.

Speaker 7 (38:45):
The most important leading the team for sure, Yeah, and
just being the extension of the coach, like on the
court and stuff. So that's like my biggest takeaway so
far this season.

Speaker 9 (38:59):
There's a season that's gone on showed a lot of
more for trusting you and Jordan and just letting you
guys play a lot of minutes when you were playing
half that fourth quart against How has that kind of
gone for you, kind of getting more minutes and you know,
gaining fixed trust to be out there and key situations.

Speaker 7 (39:16):
It's very exciting, Like, I really love that he's trusting
me more.

Speaker 8 (39:22):
I'm feeling confident.

Speaker 7 (39:23):
That makes me more confident on the court to know
that he trusted me to lead the team, run the offense,
make plays, get the ball to the right people in
the right spots.

Speaker 8 (39:32):
So that's definitely a confidence booster for me.

Speaker 10 (39:36):
Kind of along those lines, I thought, I think it
was the was it the third quarter buzzer beater against Vanderbilt? Yeah,
I mean, but that play and the excitement that you
showed that that felt like I'm here.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Moment absolutely, you know, And is that fair to call it?

Speaker 1 (39:51):
That?

Speaker 8 (39:51):
Absolutely? For sure?

Speaker 10 (39:52):
For so had you like, I don't know, those moments
are so weird. They could be relieved, like, hey, I
finally got something big to happen here.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
I mean, how did you take Honestly.

Speaker 8 (40:01):
I took you as a.

Speaker 7 (40:04):
Moment like, Okay, we're finna put the smack down on
by after this.

Speaker 8 (40:09):
But it was really just the energy play.

Speaker 7 (40:12):
But I'm just naturally like that off the court, like
I have a lot of energy, and I just kind
of spread that to my teammates and you know, we're
just having a good time. It just reminds me to
just have fun out there. So it was kind of
like one of those moments.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
You always just hyped that you always.

Speaker 7 (40:30):
Always I am like that. It's just my personality. Honestly,
I've been like this since I was a little girl.
So just bringing it to college, just spreading that energy,
and I think it's really good for our teams.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
You're saying, you and absolutely with each other the team.

Speaker 8 (40:51):
It just starts in practice.

Speaker 7 (40:52):
Honestly, even like when we're down or just don't have
no energy, the gym's quiet, Me and Jordan kind of
just get a start to get us some energy.

Speaker 8 (41:01):
Because like.

Speaker 7 (41:03):
That's really important when we get into these tough games. Uh,
we need that energy. We need that extra you know, mmm,
so we could win the game or do whatever we
need to do, get a stop, get a score, you know.
So that energy is really important. And j me and Jordan,
like we make sure we bring it every day.

Speaker 10 (41:19):
Yeah, you talked about what you've learned so far about yourself.
What do you learned about this team?

Speaker 7 (41:25):
I learned that like when we played together and we're
just you know, locked in with one another, like nobody
can be us, Like we're unstoppable. Like I honestly think
we're the best team in the country, like honestly, and
that and it proves that, like when we played against
South Carolina, how locked in we were, how in tune
we were with each other, the way we were sharing

(41:46):
the ball, I just think we were like really together.

Speaker 8 (41:49):
So yeah, that togetherness is really something I take away.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Oh yeah, good luck for sure. It's just gonna falify.
Do do y'all talk about that? Do y'all say like
we really believe we're the best team in the.

Speaker 8 (42:01):
Country absolutely all the time.

Speaker 7 (42:03):
We practice like it, train like it, but we have
to believe it, you know, to make their dream come
true bring the Natty back here.

Speaker 8 (42:10):
So yeah, we talk about it all the time.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
That is that what a win? Like South Carolina dust real.

Speaker 10 (42:16):
It's like you're a confident team, but it's okay to
tip into swagger a little bit, absolutely, and.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
It's okay to play with that. Do you think you
guys maybe can start having some of that or showing
some of that more?

Speaker 8 (42:27):
No, I think so.

Speaker 7 (42:28):
I mean, I'd probably have to bring it out of
them a little bit. But because yeah, everybody's just so
locked in because you know, the game not over until
the clock hit zero in the fourth quarter, so we
just kind of try to stay locked in focused, get
the win, do a little celebrating afterwards. But I can
definitely try to see, if you know, I could bring

(42:48):
it out of some of my teammates A little bit
for sure.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Are trying to say some of your teammates are old.

Speaker 7 (42:54):
No, they're not old, but we do call them the
soup dupes. That's like a super do for senior. It's
like Taylor or Shade fifty or six years But it's just.

Speaker 8 (43:05):
A little joke.

Speaker 7 (43:06):
But nah, yeah, now, but they moved great to be
that old. So I loved them.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
From the city. Yeah, college down the road.

Speaker 9 (43:19):
You know, what do you know about your mom's playing days?

Speaker 7 (43:21):
And she showed me a lot of film, like when
she finally found her old clips.

Speaker 8 (43:28):
She would pull it up and show.

Speaker 7 (43:29):
Me and I just smile and just enjoy the moment
that we shared. She tell me how she was the
best in the state and this and that, and I'm like, okay,
so I see where I get it from, you know,
just and we laugh about it.

Speaker 8 (43:41):
But she was really good, like really good.

Speaker 7 (43:44):
She's probably thinks she could beat me now, but you know,
i'd have to tell.

Speaker 8 (43:48):
Her now that that's not the case.

Speaker 9 (43:51):
But yeah, right I did.

Speaker 7 (43:54):
It was like surreal, like I I can't believe it, honestly.

Speaker 8 (44:02):
I met her coach.

Speaker 7 (44:04):
Some of the people she went to the school with there,
like some of them still worked there, and it was
just a great moment. I actually got to coach against
her team, like I was helping out one of the
other high schools, and it was just like a crazy moment.
And but I've been there a couple times and every
time I go it's just like, wow, my mom went here.

Speaker 8 (44:22):
It's kind of cool feeling.

Speaker 9 (44:23):
So yeah, so how did a Georgia girl get to Texas?
How did how did that whole thing kind of get
c come come to you?

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Well?

Speaker 7 (44:30):
I knew that I didn't wanna go too far from home,
but it's like this is also a home for me
cause my mom's from here, my uncle lives here, so
it's like, Okay, it's still home for me, so it's
not too far. But just from a athletic and academic standpoint,
Texas had everything that I needed, uh to set me

(44:50):
up for the next you know, forty years of my life.
So f academic standpoint, it was just it was great
athletic standpoint, great coach, great teammates, and so it was
just like really the perfect fait for me, honestly.

Speaker 9 (45:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:07):
A couple days ago, Madison was saying, the big reason
she shows to come here is pick.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
To play for one of the best coaches. She thinks.
I'm sure that's a big reason for you as well.

Speaker 9 (45:14):
You have a big moment or like what stood out
to you about playing under coach Shaffer s so far
as your pressments.

Speaker 7 (45:21):
I know that he wants to win, and I know
that I wanna win. He definitely loves players that plays hard,
and I feel like I play very hard. So that
kind of like made me instantly think, Okay, we have
the same mindset, you know, in a way, and I
know that he develops great players. We got WNBA players

(45:44):
like you know what I'm saying, And that's where I
wanna be. So I wanna go to the league make
an impact there. But I know that I had to choose.

Speaker 8 (45:51):
A program that would get me there, and I feel
like Shaffer was the perfect fit for that.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah, what did.

Speaker 10 (45:57):
He What did he say to you after that Lake
Turner when you were trying to get at the book?

Speaker 2 (46:00):
What did you say.

Speaker 8 (46:03):
As soon as the ball came out of my hands?
I was like saying it, but I.

Speaker 7 (46:08):
Was like, I gotta just get back on defense, like
get back, get a stop.

Speaker 8 (46:14):
And the ball end up going out of bounds. But
I was like yeah, I know I'm.

Speaker 7 (46:17):
Coming out for that one, but I was like, I'm
not gonna beat myself up about it, because you know,
the game's full of mistakes.

Speaker 8 (46:23):
You just gotta have that mindset to be able to
move on to the next play.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
So yeah, being able to play.

Speaker 6 (46:30):
South Carolina, being able to play all these big times
schools to hurting your career, what does that do for
your golfense? Knowing that you're on the court, not just
in garbage town, but you're in.

Speaker 8 (46:39):
Court during crunch.

Speaker 7 (46:40):
Yeah, it's a great experience, honestly for me being a
freshman and coach having that much, you know, faith and
trust in me to go out there and run the team,
run the offense, not turn the ball over.

Speaker 8 (46:52):
Like honestly, I feel.

Speaker 7 (46:54):
Like I'm kind of made for moments like that because
I've played against the Tenaya lasts, all them in high
school because you know, they're like kind of from the
East Side, so I kind of got a taste of
them early, so that when I got to college, you know,
I kind of know their game.

Speaker 8 (47:11):
I'm familiar.

Speaker 7 (47:11):
I'm not scared of the moment, so it's like, Okay,
I just gotta go out there.

Speaker 8 (47:16):
And be me. And for the broader standpoint where you
think those experiences done for the team. Great.

Speaker 7 (47:24):
Honestly, we just we're yelling really well together. Uh, we're
playing great. We're playing for each other and that's like
really important for us to go out there and play
hard for one another. Get dive on the floor for
that one. But for of all, you know what I'm saying,
Like it's just great cause like that positivity within our
team like very much needed and for us to like

(47:46):
continue to bring that just great for us down the road.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
So yeah, anything on Kentucky your early on.

Speaker 8 (47:52):
Grabs you Georgia aymore.

Speaker 7 (47:56):
Yeah, we gotta make sure, I know, we got film
and practice and stuff like that today. So going to
really like lock in on film and make sure we
execute in practice today.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
So yeah, what's.

Speaker 10 (48:08):
The what I'm curious, what's been the mood in the
room of you know, y'all are getting his wins or
on the street. But I don't hear anybody talking about
anything bigger, like the bigger Everyone's focused in the moment.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
Yeah, what's the key to that?

Speaker 7 (48:22):
Just taking one game at a time, don't get too
far ahead.

Speaker 8 (48:26):
We need to be disciplined.

Speaker 7 (48:28):
Don't think because it's not guaranteed. You know, we could
lose in the future, but you know, of course that's
not what.

Speaker 8 (48:35):
We're up about going for. But yeah, definitely.

Speaker 7 (48:39):
Just taking it one game at a time, being patient,
focusing on scout for one team, a couple of players, like, yeah,
we're Dowdan, like in the moment, we're not looking.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Too far ahead.

Speaker 9 (48:51):
Yeah, there a player you like to model your game after.
A certain who who do you grow up liking? Is
your favorite players?

Speaker 7 (48:59):
Me?

Speaker 8 (49:00):
Oh, that's a good question.

Speaker 7 (49:03):
I kind of like, uh Courtney Williams. Like she's fast,
she got the mid range, pull up game, good point guard.

Speaker 8 (49:12):
So I kind of watch her a little bit.

Speaker 7 (49:17):
That a I'm I'm be real, I don't wanna you know,
and ride on nobody but to all your last and like,
I really enjoy her game, Like she's just so athletic,
such a great player, three level score.

Speaker 8 (49:29):
I definitely trained with her with Pitts.

Speaker 7 (49:33):
Uh that's a trainer out in Georgia, and we kind
of both trained with him, and you know, it's great
to go against her a lot, just kind of see
where I'm at and.

Speaker 8 (49:42):
See where I can compete with the best of the best.

Speaker 5 (49:44):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (49:44):
So it's a great experience. I kind of like her game.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Yeah, it's hard not to compare your glory too when
you see how fast you or how hard are you?

Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, that's how.

Speaker 8 (49:54):
Great of a pastor you are. What's it been like.

Speaker 3 (49:55):
To play with her, watch her grow?

Speaker 2 (49:57):
How has that help there a game?

Speaker 7 (50:00):
Definitely just from a point guard standpoint, she's a great
point guard. Like I can learn a lot from her,
especially how to run a team at such a high level,
knowing that we just came into a new conference, like
everything's different. It's not the Big Twelve, Like everything's different,
you know. And then her poise to stay under control

(50:23):
and lead the team through all the pressure. It's really
great to know that we have a you know, a
point guard that's not like, oh my god, I'm scared
or you know like that, she take charge and just
and we followed. And then I'm just taking notes after
that so that when I'm in the game or you know,
when she graduates, then I can step in.

Speaker 8 (50:43):
And take that roll in as well.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
Pretty heavy stuff from a mere freshman, and Brianna Preston
is one of those who players who can definitely lead
Taxes into the future and the President's pretty good right
now for this team number three in the country, but
they will be pushed tonight. This is gonna be the
test from Kentucky. And since I'll be headed over to

(51:06):
Pluckers to do Rodney Show, to do long run weekly
with Rodney Tarry at six o'clock, I'm going to insist
that they put the telecast up on one of the
screens there so we can follow what's going on with
Texas and Kentucky. Big game tonight and then ostensibly an
even bigger one on Sunday with fifth ranked LSU come
in to town. But first Kentucky tonight. We got more

(51:28):
coming up as we continue on AM thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Back to the Craig Way Show.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
Connect with Craig through the text line by text Team
Texas to eight one five three zero, followed by your message.
Standard message and data rates may apply.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
If you listen closely, you might be able to hear.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Cameron Parker getting choked up at the announcement that the
Jets and Aaron Rodgers have come to a party of
the ways. I speak with tongue firmly planted in cheek,
because is there anybody in the NFL you dislike more
than Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
I don't really dislike him that much anymore. Really, yeah,
I mean, well he's past his prime, so it's you know,
now you're really worried about him contending or winning a
Super Bowl. I find his his you know, his comments
more annoying. I think he probably the most talented quarterback
of all time, but I think off the field and
his antics and blaming the front office and kind of

(52:38):
trying to take over things just rubs me the wrong way.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
That's why I asked that.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
The Jets made it official today news release that included
statements of gratitude from team officials. Jets didn't give a
reason for the decision, saying only they met last week
with Rogers, and that quote shared that our intention was
to move in a different direction at quarterback. That was
a joint statement from the GM, Darren Moogie, and also

(53:08):
from Aaron Glenn, the new head coach. I don't know,
you know, I don't know if Aaron Rodgers was completely
ready to move on, but it sounds like the Jets
were definitely ready to move forward, that they needed something.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Else, and.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Despite your advice, Kellen Moore did take the head coaching
job with the New Orleans Saints. You thought he would
have been better suited to stick with Philly as the
offensive coordinator. He took the job. Introductory news conference today,
wasn't exactly completely committed to Derek Carr's quarterback.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
I wouldn't want to be either.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Here's a quote from him. Derek's a tremendous quarterback in
this league. I've had so much respect for him the
journey he's been on. He's a starter in this league.
He's a premier player in this league. Really excited to
team up with him and go through this process. And so,

(54:12):
just like any player on this roster, i just got
here a few days ago, and I'm excited to go
through this journey with all of them.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
So he didn't exactly say he's definitely the quarterback, but
he's excited to go through.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
The process.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
He was asked if the team had to make a
decision about the quarterback spot, and he again referred to
Carr being a tremendous starting quarterback in this league. We're
fortunate to have him, and we're excited to go through
this process as we build this roster together. Again, I'm
meeting these guys for the first time the last few days.

(54:53):
Really excited to meet more of them. This will be
a lot of fun. I said, he hasn't met most
of the players and staff members after officially accepting the
job this week. And so eight thirty six and youngest
coach in the NFL now, so he's he's moving into

(55:15):
a spot that's and this I think speaks to your
point when you were saying he would have been better
suited to stick with the Eagles because the Saints roster
and their salary commitments for twenty twenty five aren't exactly
the envy of the league right now.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
They have issues.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
They expect to be significantly over the salary cap this year.
The cap number hasn't been set yet, but they still
figure to be over it. They have to be cap
compliant by the startup free agency on March twelfth, which
includes cars salary cap figure of fifty one and a

(55:55):
half million dollars. So got feeling they might be looking
elsewhere on that.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Yeah, here's the big issue with the salary cap and
the roster, Craig. The Saints have six players over the
age of thirty years old who represent a huge chunk
of their salary cap. You got Tomorrow Davis linebacker thirty five,
Defensive end Cameron Jordan thirty five years old, Taysom Hill
tight end slash, quarterback, slash, running back, slash, whatever, thirty four,
Derek Carr who's thirty three, Tyron Matthew Honey Badger thirty

(56:26):
two years old, and then right tackle Ryan Ramschek thirty
years old. So those six players currently going into next
season twenty twenty five represent one hundred and forty million
dollars a salary cap. That's almost forty five forty percent
of the cap that is predicted for twenty twenty five.
I don't think we know the cap number yet for

(56:46):
twenty twenty five and been said yet, but let's just
say it's two hundred and seventy five million dollars. Okay,
This year was two fifty five, and right now it's
been kind of jumping up like twenty million dollars per
per year to seventy five. They're gonna be over sixty
five million dollars over the cap. And then that doesn't
include like you know, like the the dead Heads. They're

(57:09):
taken on from Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston and Chase Young,
Juwan Johnson all these other guys. So, you know, the
Saints kind of bet big on you know, re signing
in these free agency moves, but they're all on guys
who are old.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
You want to get young, you know.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
I mean look at how like the Chiefs and the
Eagles and the Bills, you know, the last couple of years,
they've gone pretty young.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Yeah, you still have.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Some you know, old heads if like you know, Travis
Kelcey on the roster. But Bill's defense, I mean they
got rid of all the old their older player except
for Von Miller. And you know, the Eagles their entire
defensive line basically you know, second and third and fourth
year guys.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
So it's a tough spot to be in for Kellen Moore.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
They're not gonna have a lot of flexibility for the
next two years.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Yeah. Yeah, that's why I said, not the NBA, the league. There.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
All right, we'll be back to wrap up our number
two on a thirteen under the Zone. We are with
you up until five o'clock, and then of course at
five o'clock if you know, Enrich and at six o'clock
Longhorn Weekly with Roddy Terry coming your way. Hey, you're
a big golf of fishient Auto. How much do you

(58:20):
pay attention to the LPGA?

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Not as much as I should probably, I mean, I
keep up with a lot of the ut offers that
are out there. And then of course, you know Eli
Corda had such a fun season last season, or such
a fun start, so but you know, not as much
as the PGA Tour, okay.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
More than the Live Golf Tour.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Did you hear about this pace of play policy thing
they've come out with to the incredible Listen to this, folks,
and as I read this to you, I want you to.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Tell me or at least think about it.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Just just think about if you could envision this on
the men's tour. They the l LPGA announced a new
pace of play policy today. It includes lower timing thresholds
for fines and penalties, and a new one stroke penalty
for golfers who take too long to hit the shot.

(59:16):
So it's designed to speed up lake. Obviously, it's going
to go into effect starting at the end of March
at the Ford Championship. It will also be enforced on
the EPSOM Tour starting at the IOA Championship April twenty five.
Is that's like the corn Ferry Tour or something like
that for the women. Okay, so here's how this deal works.

(59:38):
It's a new policy that calls for a fine for
any golfer who is one to five seconds over there
allotted time on the whole. It also calls for a
one stroke penalty for those who are six to fifteen
seconds over and a two stroke penalty for those sixteen seconds. Previously,

(01:00:01):
the LPGA had fined golfers who were one to ten
to seconds over the alloted time, and he assessed the
two stroke penalty to those who were more than eleven
seconds over. Vicky gets Ackerman said in the statement, this
new policy, which was player led and developed through an
established pace of play committee, was created and what we
believe is the best interest of our brand fans in

(01:00:23):
the OVERALLLPGA watching experience. Based on a data backed approach
and a direct player input, this policy now acts as
a stronger deterrent, ensuring players take warning seriously before penalties
become necessary. So they were informed last week about this,
The LPGA said. Golfer's hitting first on par fours and

(01:00:44):
par fives no longer will receive an additional ten seconds,
except on reachable par fours, golfer's hitting first on par threes,
approach shots and putts will still receive an additional ten seconds. Players,
for example, get one hundred twenty seconds to play a
hole requires them to take four strokes. Golfers will still

(01:01:04):
be warned and timed before finds and stroke penalties are levied,
and the tour said that the finds incurred due to
the accumulation of plus times and excessive shot timing will
double each consecutive year a player violates the policy. Nellie Corda,
who you mentioned, said Quota, I'm very excited about it.
I think that's one of the things that I've just

(01:01:25):
noticed over my time on tours that we used to
go from five hours to under five hours. Now it's
just five and a half typically our rounds. So my
question is this, if the players are on board with this,
if the player input that the LPGA says is in
there to speed up play, who's causing the problem the players?

(01:01:47):
But the players say they're all for being punitive about
this to fix the problem. So yeah, I'm all for it.
Panalyze them?

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
What me?

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
So, I mean, are some of the ones who are
the offenders? Are they do they have the input on
this deal or they are you know.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
And.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
I don't watch enough LPGA to get a good read
on this, but do they look inordinately slow to you
when they play?

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Well, they're just as slow as the guys. I mean,
the guys are taking five and a half hours now
nether quarters. She's notoriously a fast player. You need more
more like that. No one, no one has the time
to sit around and watch a five and a half
hour round. So just like the MLB has initiated the
pitch clock and that has sped up games. I mean,

(01:02:37):
we had games last year that were what just over
two hours? Now, we're not gonna have two hour golf rounds.
But there needs to be some sort of finalization on
the on the PGA Tour, even Live Golf Tour, any
any type of tour, any type of golf tour that
if you're taking over a minute to hit a shot, ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (01:02:54):
It should be forty five seconds.

Speaker 5 (01:02:57):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
Of course, you know, if you're playing in the pouring
rain and there's other fact, understand it. But if you're
in the fairway, grip it and rip it, let's go.
We do not have time for five and a half hours.
So I'm I'm hoping that this with the LPGA Tour
doing this, the PGA Tour and the players will see
this because Colin morri Ka talked about it this week
that yeah, they need to follow suit with the LPGA

(01:03:17):
Tour's doing. So hopefully it works out and there's a
lot of good feedback from it and a lot of good
data from it that actually it is benefiting. And if
you know, if people are players are complaining about it
sucks for you, you got to adapt. You know, It's
it's not like an MLB where oh, are the injuries
going to go up? You're not gonna get injured more
for for hit and quicker. You're gonna it's gonna be
a better product. And that's what people should that's what

(01:03:39):
golfers should recommend. It's a better TV product for the fans.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
And you know, you're well aware of as many golf
fans are who the slow players are.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
In golf, Tom Kim, look at you, Yeah, yeah, some
guys are really slow.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Hey, we're gonna break a little bit early here because
we're gonna visit with g Watson from the Chicago White
Sox front office. He is out at spring training with
the White Sox in the Greater Phoenix, Arizona area. And
there's a lot happening on the baseball front. In case
you didn't hear it, Alex Bregman has signed a free
agent deal with the Red Sox three year, one hundred

(01:04:16):
and twenty million dollar deal, And so Bregman was the
biggest free agent remaining on the market, and he's expected
to play second base for Boston after primarily playing third
base for the Astros.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
So think about this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
The Red Sox, who were looked as being one of
the cheaper run franchises of late, they picked up Garrett
Crochet from the White Sox in the trade. They signed
Walker Buehler, They signed a role as Chapman. I don't
know how much gas Chapman has left in the tang
but at least they made some moves there. So we're
seeing slowly but surely the dismantling of those Astros. Teams

(01:05:00):
have won seventh straight to ALCS or appeared in seventh
straight ALCS series.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
All right, coming up, will visit with Gene Watson, and.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
We'll also continue to take a closer look at this
matchup tonight between Texas and Kentucky on the women's side.
Important match up there. We've got some other topics that
we'll get to as well. So we're glad to have
you with us here on this Thursday afternoon. Again a
reminder Long Horn Weekly with Rodney Terry coming your way
tonight at six o'clock at Pluckers twenty two to twenty

(01:05:33):
two Rio Grand that's the West Campus location that's coming
up at six o'clock right here on AM thirteen hundred,
the zone and where there's Major League Baseball activity. There's
Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office who
is joining us from sunny Arizona.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
How you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
I guess you're pumped up now that you know you're
you're in a spring training site and workouts are already
underway right.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
It's it's been great and the most amazing part of
it is how fast the off season went. I don't
ever remember an off season going as fast as this
one did.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
But it's good to be out here.

Speaker 4 (01:06:11):
We got college games coming in this weekend and we're
rocking and rolling.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
What would you let let's start with your ball club,
because when you went in there last year, you had
said right from the start, everybody knew that with the
White Sox it was going to be a rebuild.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
But you've been there before.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
You've had your sleeves rolled up in the past with
the Royals, with the Marlins, with the Padres. You've been there,
You've done that. You know how this whole thing works. Uh.
And you said last year that you felt better about
where this White Sox group was starting from than even
Kansas City, which ultimately built into a world champion. Now

(01:06:49):
that guys are reporting and you're getting into the workouts
and you've gone through this very fast, as you pointed
out off season, give everybody a little status report on
your ball club and the building process that is ongoing.

Speaker 4 (01:07:03):
Yes, it's it's been great, And I would say that
a year ago, you know, we felt like, of the
three rebuilds, I've been a part of that from day one,
this one was a little bit ahead of the other three.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
And a year later, we feel even better about it.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
And everybody focuses so much on the wins and losses
at the major league level that they don't really understand
everything that's going on under the hood. When you're talking
about infrastructure and building out your scouting staffs and your
research and development and just getting the people on and
off the bus that you want to be a part
of the organization moving forward. And so you know, we

(01:07:39):
sit here a year later, super excited about you know
what we did in the draft with guys like Hagen
Smith and Caleb Bonnemer and and then you know, a
year ago we had Garrett Crochet in our bullpen and
he ended up being one of the best starting pitchers
in Major League Baseball, which turned into Kyle Till and
Braden Montgomery and Chase Meadroth and we coming Gonzales. And

(01:08:01):
so there's six players right there in a calendar year
that are impactful type players that were super excited about
moving forward.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
How would you characterize or describe what you and the
rest of the front office had to do in terms
of getting the people you wanted in your system. And
I'm talking about the players, I'm talking about the evaluators
of scouts, all the people that you knew were winners
and guys you wanted to be a part of it,

(01:08:28):
and that the rest of the front office wanted the
troops on the ground to try to make this happen.
Was this was it larger on a larger scale than
say when you were with Kansas City or Florida or
anybody else in the past, in terms of getting the
personnel you wanted for evaluation and coaching and development.

Speaker 4 (01:08:51):
I think that every great leader and individuals that get
general managers jobs have kind of in their mind's eye
the people that they want to bring on board, you know,
should they ever get the job. And Chris was no exception.
He's done such a great job of, you know, knowing
who he wanted. He went and got Brian Banister, the
top pitching infrastructure person in the game. He went and

(01:09:15):
got a Josh Barfield from the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of
the brightest young executives in the game, who's from the
Houston area. Paul Yannish, just a tremendous baseball mind, was
at Rice University, and then myself and Gen Wong came
over from the Kansas City Royals, And so, you know,
you kind of always in your minds, I have an

(01:09:35):
idea of who you want to bring on the bus
with you, and it's really I literally sent my wife
a text thirty minutes ago saying, I've never enjoyed working
with a group like I'm enjoying working with this one
right now.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
Visiting with Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox. Spring
training is underway. Okay, I want to get to a
couple of items. You warned is not the right word.
You advised us to keep an eye on some other
free agent things that might happen on the back end

(01:10:07):
of the winter heading in to spring training. You mentioned
that when we last spoke about three weeks ago, and
lo and behold, Alex Bregman signs with the Red Sox
a three year, one hundred and twenty million dollars deal
forty million annual salary, more than ten million per year
than other teams were offering.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
According to sources in.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
That the present day value of the contract or around
ninety million for the three years. So there's deferrals involved
in that. How about your thoughts first of all on that,
and then I want to get your larger perspective on
deferrals and deferred money, because I know some folks don't
understand completely. All they think is deferred money is they're

(01:10:51):
going to write you one gigantic check at the end
of the contract, and it's not quite like that. I
want to give you a chance to explain that. But
but first of all, your thoughts on the Bregman side
with the Red.

Speaker 4 (01:11:00):
Sox, well, number one, I think it's a tremendous sign
for the Red Sox. I don't think a player embodies,
you know, that fan ma as much as Alex Bregman,
the need that they had for the position, although they
have some super talented prospects coming, but he just embodies
the blue collar, you know, kind of the Dustin Pedroia,

(01:11:22):
you know, makeup. And he'd had so much success hitting
in that ballpark over his career on the road that
that for me, if you weren't going to be in Houston,
that was absolutely the perfect fit for him. Although I
thought Chicago thought the Cubs would be involved Detroit the ballpark,
even though his relationship with Agent Strong, I never felt
like that ballpark was going to be in play for him.

(01:11:43):
But just a tremendous job by the Red Sox to
continue to push to catch the Yankees. And they've got
a very nice ball club, and something tells me they're
still not done. But a great fit for him. From
the standpoint of the Astros, you know, at some point,
you know, the rebuild begins and what they've been able
to do the last eight years is absolutely phenomenal. And

(01:12:06):
and when you start losing guys like Kyle Tucker uh
and other core pieces of the cores that took you
on that run, sometimes Uh, it's it's better not to
go down the road of a long term, five to
six year deal, uh and just save that money for
later when you're ready to win again.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
But certainly a super fit for Alex and uh and
the Red Sox. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
It's also interesting too, Gino that all the reports to
they say that Regman's probably gonna play second.

Speaker 2 (01:12:32):
Base in Boston. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
Jose Altuve Uh that uh was then quoted as saying
that he would be willing to move to left field
if if that need comes right now. We see when
players get long in the tooth and they've been around long,
long time. I mean he goes back even in the
days and you know Yogi Barro moving to the outfield,
Mickey Mantle moving the first base, that kind of thing. Uh,

(01:12:57):
that that kind of adds a little more time on
the back end the career thing. Are we looking at
getting toward that side of it? With al two Vasin's
He's he has openly offered if need be, He says,
if it helps the ball club to be to move
into even in the left field.

Speaker 4 (01:13:14):
Well, one, I think players today view themselves as more versatile.
I think that the benz Obrasus and the Chris Taylors
of the world have kind of creating the open mindset
for players to try to, you know, open the door
to playing longer because I'm moving to a different position
that might might be, you know, not as hard as
on my body, and left field in Houston is certainly.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
It's not a taxing position.

Speaker 4 (01:13:39):
But second to that, I think that Jose may be
looking at like, Okay, this is the fit we have
with the players we have, and my offense is going
to be better if we get these guys on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:13:50):
My body's going to be in better shape.

Speaker 4 (01:13:51):
And so I think now more than ever, players are
more open to move around the diamond than they've ever been.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
All Right, you know, let me get a little in
depth from you on deferment and deferred money and how
this really works out, because a lot of people say, well,
you know Otani signed, he got all that money on
the back end of.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
The d L. That's just how it rolled.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
And they looked at the Sasaki deal the same way,
but that it's a completely different deal with Sasaki because
he actually turned down more money from the Giants and
a couple other ball clubs to sign with LA. And
I use LA as an example simply because they were
very busy clearly in the offseason. Then there is deferred
money involved, but there's there's levels of it, isn't there
in how the money gets deferred in percentages and and

(01:14:37):
actual dollars that are accrued by guys.

Speaker 4 (01:14:40):
Yeah, and this is probably the biggest lightning rod in
baseball right now because teams that are up against the
competitive balance tax and the luxuryes threshold are now finding
a loophole. They're getting players that want to be there
and finding the loophole that allows them to just push
the money back and that money account against the payrolls

(01:15:01):
and the luxury taxes.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
In later years, this is probably going to be one
of the.

Speaker 4 (01:15:05):
Bigger CBA issues when the Collective Bargain Agreement comes up
at the end of twenty twenty six. There's a lot
of rumors about a floor, a luxury floor as well
as a ceiling, but this is the one where you
know when you've got a superpower like some of these
teams are, and they can just keep signing players because
they referring the money, that kind of creates a non

(01:15:29):
competitive balance in the playing field. And so I think
it's something that's certainly going to be addressed as the
CBA comes up. I'm not sure how you put the
hay back in the barn, but there's something they're going
to have to address it well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:43):
And here's another example of it, and wanting to get
your thoughts on this. The Padres have been kind of
quiet in the off season, but they sign Nick Pavetta,
which I thought was a good deal for them, a
four year, fifty five million dollar deal and has opt
outs after the second and third seasons and is backloaded.
The contract's going to pay him three million dollars as

(01:16:04):
a signing bonus, but only one million dollars is a
salary for this coming season, and then it has salaries
of nineteen million, fourteen million, and eighteen million from twenty
twenty six to twenty twenty eight. So and it's a
structure that's trying to help the Podras keep costs down
for a second straight off season, their payroll this year

(01:16:24):
is running about one hundred and ninety four million. It's
a thirty million dollar increase. But they did sign a good,
a good veteran right hander in Paveta. How about your
thoughts on that, and again speaking to the point of
what you were just laying out there with regard to
deferred money.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
Well, and I think that's a tremendous sign for them.
And truthfully, I mean, the San Diego felt like they
were right there.

Speaker 4 (01:16:44):
They didn't feel like that there was that big of
a gap between them and the Dodgers, and they've've added
to their rotation. But the second to that on the
players half is like at the backside of the career.
You know, these guys don't know where they're going to
live when their careers are on the end or on
the backside, and they go to state where there's no
state income facts and the and the AAV is even
higher for them personally. And so I think it's it's

(01:17:06):
a win win for the teams and for the players
when they can do that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
But I do feel like the players are.

Speaker 4 (01:17:13):
Saying, this is where I want to play, and whatever
we have to do to make this happen is what
we're going to do to make it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
Happen, Hey, before I let you go, and you know,
we always have to get your thoughts on the Rangers
and they bring in the old reliable Jack Peterson uh
in and for them, how about the the.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
Deal to bring in Jack Peterson in?

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
And where you feel the Rangers are is they get
ready to get things going in surprise.

Speaker 4 (01:17:35):
Well exciting for Ranger fans. I think this is a
sneaky ball club. They they've been and you know how
Bochy is with the every other year, and they have
quietly been doing things of very good this offseason.

Speaker 2 (01:17:49):
They've got some young pitching on the way.

Speaker 4 (01:17:51):
They've got a very core of very solid core position
players that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:55):
Are that are driven to do well. I would look
for them.

Speaker 4 (01:17:58):
At some point to maybe, you know, make a couple
of moves over the season to improve the club and
maybe relieve themselves of some financial uh stability.

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
But but this is a sneaky club for twenty twenty five.
It's gonna be fun to watch. Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:18:13):
One final thing, I know you're you're you're tight obviously
with Angels general manager Perryman II. And then uh top
blow for them with Anthony Rendon. I know, you know,
Rendon very very well is got to have that hip
surgery and miss a significant amount of time.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:18:27):
They they did sign Kenley Jansen. But how about your
your thoughts and where the Angels are at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
Well, one, Perry will be buying me dinner tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:18:35):
That's number one too, is you know, it's it's unfortunate.
It's unfortunate when you you know, because Anthony was there
before you know, we got there when Perry got the job.
And it's unfortunate when you have that type of star
player uh on your roster that you just never get
to see the ceiling of it reach its its peak.

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
And it's certainly unfortunate.

Speaker 4 (01:18:57):
And you know, I know Anthony's not not feeling great
about it, but you know, they'll move forward.

Speaker 2 (01:19:02):
They've done a great job of.

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
Additions, and they've got some young players in Zach Geno
and Logo Hoppey, and they've got some core players that
are going to be fine.

Speaker 2 (01:19:11):
They got young pitching and they'll be exciting to watch
this year as well. He's Gene Watson.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
He is our MLB inside it from the Chicago White
Sox front office, and we're going to crank it up again.
Visiting with Gino throughout spring training and on into the
regular season. Hey, I appreciate it. Glad that baseball back
my friend, and look forward to visit.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
With you next week. Okay, you guys, take care. All right.

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
That's Gene Watson and we've got more coming up. Stay
with us here on a thirteen hundred the Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
Roll it on to a Thursday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (01:19:53):
A couple other baseball notes you wanted to get to
on the heels of our conversation there just a few
minutes ago with Johnson. That Anthony Rendon thing. That's significant
for the Angels, and in fact, that's the word they're
using to describe how long he'll be out. They're calling
it a significant amount of time. And you heard Gene

(01:20:15):
talk about that. It's a really tough blow for them.
He's signed a seven year, two hundred and forty five
million dollar contract during the pandemic abbreviated season back in
twenty twenty, but he hasn't played more than fifty eight
games than any season since. He had a ten to
ten ops with thirty four homers and one hundred and

(01:20:37):
twenty six RBIs with the Washington Nationals. He had that
great contract year, the year the Nationals won the World
Series twenty nineteen when they beat the Astros in the
World Series. But his OPS over five years with the
Angels is just seven seventeen. So all told, Rendon has
only played in two hundred and fifty seven games and

(01:20:57):
he's missed four hundred and fifty one games with twelve
count them twelve stints on the injured list since twenty
twenty one.

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
For the Angels. He had three.

Speaker 1 (01:21:09):
Stints on the injured list last year hamstring, lower back,
or bleak issue, so I mean he's really checked all
the boxes. Unfortunately since then, it does clear the way
for their free agent acquisition Yoan Mocatta to be the
everyday starting third baseman. He had been with a White
Sox back in twenty nineteen and played only two hundred

(01:21:31):
and eight games the past three seasons. Injuries always such
a big, big part of what happens in pro sports
and the way it goes, so a good signing for
the Padres, a tough situation for the Angels and Alex Bregman.
I mean, we're slowly but surely kim seeing the dismantling

(01:21:53):
of those Astros teams that had what seven consecutive trips
to the LCS and a couple of World Series titles.
I mean, we're seeing it slowly, piece by piece. Kyle
Tucker leaving now now Bregman's gone, yeah, and the only
remaining piece is what el tuove?

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):
Yeah? Right? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
And the crazy thing was that the Boston Red Sox
making a free agency signing the cheapest team in the
in the league right now, the Boston Red Sox signing Bregman,
get out of here. It it caught me a little
bit off guard, I'm to be honest with you, but
it does seem that the Astros are trying to get younger, right,
kind of moving away from the guys that were such

(01:22:35):
a central piece of the Astros run. But I don't
think Astros fans are really that surprised by this move.
Didn't seem like they were willing to pay him what
Reckman wanted to get in the open market. And if
you're a Red Sox fan, you know, maybe some signs
of life that your your front office actually wants to
spend some money.

Speaker 1 (01:22:53):
Well and with Walker Bueller, and you know, they've they've
been active enough a little put it and it was
interesting to hear what Gino said about the Ray he
doesn't think they're done. He thinks in the Red Sox
are not viewed as being a small market or a
poor money team. They have money, and they did have

(01:23:16):
a relatively high payroll, but they had not spent much
in free agency to your point, and that now looks
like they're willing to do this. Folks may have been
surprised to hear me not make much mention of show
Atani during that visit with Gene Watson, but I can
tell you this. He is pitching in spring training and

(01:23:41):
he's working on his sweeper. He's throwing off flat ground
right now. Otani said he wanted to play as much
as possible, as many games as possible as he was
asked about, you know, juggling the hitting and the pitching
and all that other kind of stuff. He said, but
if the team feels like I should get a break,
I'll follow that. Dave Roberts has said that he is

(01:24:03):
not anticipating Otani dhing as much this coming year as
he did last year, not only because he's going to
be pitching again, but they're just probably going to want
to give him more rest in between starts and not
have him dh as much. I still think he's probably
capable of doing thirty thirty, just not fifty to fifty.

(01:24:26):
You know, that was a season for the Ages last year,
so I don't necessarily see that happening. But we'll see
how that goes as well. And Garrett Cole says he's
really good, in a really good spot right now compared

(01:24:47):
to recent years. He started his off season throwing program
earlier than in previous winners, and so he's now two
years removed from winning the American Lexie Young Award. He
turns thirty four this year. Can believe that Garrett Cole
turns thirty four this year? He said, But by my

(01:25:08):
expectations are the same. After the Yankees first spring training
workout yesterday, he thinks he's in a really good place
and he's he's ready to go there. And did it
make you happy to hear that that?

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
Gene Watson said, the Rangers are going to be sneaky
good this year. Hey, I think we will too.

Speaker 3 (01:25:33):
Again, there's always a the Bruce Boche thing or every
other year you know he's won a World Series, it's
felt like, so I me, this would be if the
Rangers pull this off if Bruce pulls us off. This
is what the fourth fourth time he's done it.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Yeah, where you have a World championship season, then a
sub five hundred season, then a World championship season, then
a sub five hundred season, then a World championship season,
then a sub five hundred season, and then all that
with the Giants. Then he had a World championship season
with the Rangers in a sub five hundred season. So,

(01:26:10):
like Jean said, look what he's doing for I don't I.

Speaker 3 (01:26:13):
Don't think any team in the AL West right now
appears to just run away with the division Astros included. Yeah,
which is a huge change from just even two years
ago when the Astros won it with the Rangers won
the World Series that last week of the regular season
at the side of the AL West. So we'll see.
But I do go optimistic about the season. I just
want to can our rotation and bullpen get healthy and

(01:26:37):
will the bats be awake?

Speaker 1 (01:26:39):
Did you see who was in town the other day
with the Longhorns hanging out with the long Horn baseball team?

Speaker 2 (01:26:44):
Was it McConaughey again, Nolan Aronado? Oh nice?

Speaker 1 (01:26:47):
And his contract thing is still up in the air.
The Cardinals opened spring training yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:53):
Who's his agent? Scott Boris, Well, it might be I
don't know, I have it. I have it. Scene.

Speaker 3 (01:27:01):
If you're a free agent in February or you having
to figure out your contract in February, you got to
be a Scott Boars agent, right.

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
Yeah, So get this, he tried to.

Speaker 1 (01:27:10):
I mean that, you know, the Cardinals trying to make
a deal with the Astros, as we know Scott Bars right, okay,
and then he invoked the no trade clause. He didn
will go to Houston, so John mostly acted. Cardinals General
Manister said, we're adults. Would it be awkward? I would
imagine there'd be a moment of awkwardness, But I still
think he's a professional baseball player and he's currently a

(01:27:31):
Saint Louis Cardinal, and we all understand what you're here.

Speaker 2 (01:27:34):
You're pushing forward.

Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
That mean trying to accomplish something during spring training possibly,
but no guarantees at that point, so it's up up
in the air. So there it is, and he is
scheduled to report to the Cardinals camp on Sunday in Florida.
All right, we will be back to wrap up today's
edition of the program. Coming up here on sports Media

(01:27:58):
AM thirteen hundred, The Zone

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