Episode Transcript
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We've got our good buddy Chandler Romeof the Athletic to talk to us about
all things. Show Hey Otani,or as Wex has now started to call
him, Pete O'tani, Clinton's callinghim show Hey Rose. So is there
a big hullabaloo amongst reporters, mediaand the ball clubs there in Florida?
Did you bet on baseball? Chandler? That's what we're asking you. I'm
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gonna plead the fifth on that question. But I mean, I wouldn't say
that there's I mean, I thinkeveryone's just sort of like, I mean,
I'm not gonna lie like that.I talked to some people about it,
but in no capacity of like I'mgonna write about it or I'm gonna
say what they said. I mean, yeah, I mean, it's certainly
intriguing, and there's a lot ofquestions. Quite frankly, they just aren't
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answered. And I think until Otanitalks or until the league releases some sort
of a statement or something. Imean, it's it's just very odd.
Like the ESPN story, God,that just it created so many questions and
it raised so many kind of redflags, and you know, I do
think one thing, you know,it's kind of been noted and it's out
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there that, like he Otani isjust a fiercely private person, like we
don't know anything about him, andI think because of that, it just
opens up to more questions, likewe don't know what this guy is like,
we don't know what this guy does, we don't know what this guy
like. I mean, all weknow is that he's a he's an otherworldly
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baseball player, and everything that's beenwritten about him and reported about him is
that he doesn't do much else butbaseball is his life, and Epe pretty
much did everything else for him,like when grocery shopping for him basically was
his I mean, was his righthand man and everything. So I'm going
to refrain from saying much other thanthat, but yeah, there's a lot
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of questions that have to be answered. It's a fascinating, fascinating story that
certainly has a lot of legs,and you know, if if there aren't
answers or the answers aren't satisfactory,I think it could be one of these
stories that this I don't think thisis just like a week long or a
month long story. I think thisis something that will probably unfold throughout the
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season and well involved major League Baseball. I mean the FEDS are involved in
and the Feds could get involved,and that that's way out of MLB's jurisdiction.
So it'll be fascinating to see howit unfolds. Well, it's like
I said, uh, when Iwas looking at all this kind of blow
up last night on social media.If anybody can get a handle on this
and handle things the right way froman MLB perspective, it's Rob Manford Chandler.
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Well will he be able? Imean, will he even have the
authority to like tru this Like theFEDS are gonna get involved, like the
government, and they're always involved.This is like Rob Manford is like this
is this Rob Manford Like, Imean, I'm sure it'll come across his
desk at some point, but Imean, this this far or far exceeds
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Rob Manford or any jurisdiction he has, no It's it is like you said,
it's it's a much bigger deal thanthat. And and this is it's
not a baseball thing. It's notthat you you know, steal signs.
It's not as this wrong. He'snot a union issue either. And you
had an extensive piece today at Qand A with Lance McCullers Junior, who
is extremely and has been extremely involvedin lots of negotiations over the last handful
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of years with the union and nowthe player involvement with what's been reported the
last couple of days about the potentialnew structure of the union. From from
what you wrote in your conversation withLance, what's what's your understanding about where
things are about to head with thewith the union? Yeah, I mean
I'd refer more to the reporting thatEvan Drelic has done because I mean that
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this is what Evan does for hisliving. I mean, he covers the
union, he covers labor, hecovers all the labor issues there within with
the union. But I mean,certainly reading Evans reporting and reading kind of
everyone else. You know, JeffPasson had a really long, comprehensive story
to on ESPN, Like, Imean, it sounds like there's a lot
of friction, and you know,Lance pushed back on the on the notion
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that there is for it just soundslike I mean, to hear Lance describe
it, it sounds like there aremore players that want their voices heard,
and it sounds like there are moreplayers that want to get involved. You
know, I thought it was interestingthat he said, you know, this
is good because most of the time, all these players don't speak up until
bargaining starts. Like they show uponce every five years when the CBA starts,
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when they have another round of CBAnegotiations. And it sounds like that
players want to get involved a littlebit more. Obviously, there is some
discontent with Bruce Meyer, the deputydirector of the of the of the PA,
the guy that negotiated the last CBA. I thought it was interesting that,
you know, when I asked Lancewhether he believes, you know,
Bruce Meyer should continue in his role, he didn't really answer the question.
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He did say that he has ultimatefaith in Tony Clark, who's the head
of the PA, But you know, he didn't really answer one way or
the other whether he thought Bruce Meyershould continue in that role. But he
obviously is no fan of Harry Marino, the guy that by all of the
reporting is angling for first miner's job. So there's a lot of like just
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fascinating subplots, you know, alot, and you kind of have to
have it an astro's tamp and likethe onfield product is pretty much settled.
You know, there's not many battlesgoing on, and we've talked about the
injuries from the pitching staff. Youknow, it's it's fun to have some
other kind of storylines other than justlike rehashing who's going to get the last
spot in the bull there they asthe last gent What was your take on
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how they'll progress with Justin to diveright back into what you said was,
you know, the minutia of allof it. But is he likely going
to be staying in Florida extended springtraining or is a Space Cowboys visit in
his future. It sounds like he'sgoing to go back to minute May.
He's going to go back to Houstonwhen the team goes back, and it
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sounds like he's going to throw alive VP before one of those two exhibition
games against the Space Cowboys just sothey can, i mean a to get
some guys in the bats. They'llthey'll have the hitters down there to do
that, and just to like,I'm sure they want to get some more
eyes on them. They want toget their machines at home on him and
just get some eyes on them.And then you know from there he's gonna
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have to go in a rehabit signment. I don't know if it's gonna be
the sugar Land. I don't knowif it's gonna be the Corpus. I
haven't looked at their schedules to seewho's home. But yeah, I mean
for me, you know, Ithink it's progressing a little bit slower than
I anticipated. I don't think thatmeans he's had a setback. I just
think they're taking it slower than Ithought they would. I thought he would
have faced hitters, you know,well before now. But and you know,
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yesterday he only threw twenty pitches inthat live VP, so he's gonna
have to throw at least two morelive vps. I think that's usually how
they go. And then you know, you look at how many starts frombers
made down here, how many startsHunter Brown's made, how many starts the
traditional and a traditional spring training thatthey make four or five starts, So
you could be looking at maybe fouror five rehab starts for him, and
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then you know that may take himto the end of April. I you
know, if you'd have asked meearly on, I'd have probably said he
comes back mid April, but nowyou're looking at it, you know,
maybe not till late April, maybeeven in the May. I'm sure that
Astro's fans are gonna love hearing yousay that, Chandler. It's it's not
I don't think it's as dire asyou make. It's a timeline and it's
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again with no setback. I don'tthink it's a huge issue anything that you
thought beyond let's, you know,give it a try. To the new
lineup that he tried it out thereat least in the top four, going
back to back lefties jord On andTuck in front of Reregman. Well,
I thought it was interesting that hedid it against a left handed starter.
Today the Cardinals started a left handedpitcher and he still did that. And
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you know, I think that's athat's a configuration that you could definitely see.
I think you look at how wellAlex Bregman hits with runners in scoring
position just throughout his career. Ilooked it up today, since twenty twenty
one, I think you've got then'thighest wrc plus in baseball with runners in
scoring position, and the only Astrothat has a better one than him,
there's ard On Alberos. So he'sreally good at I mean, you know,
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he's gonna swing it strikes. Youknow, he's not gonna swing it
balls. You know, he's gonnaput the ball in play. And he's
just really good situational hitting at shrinkingthe strike zone. And if he's got
to get a ground ball through thesixth hole, he can do that.
If he's got to hit a flyball to score a runner from third base,
he can do that. So Ithink it's an interesting move. And
you know, I even asked JoeA Spotted today whether you know there could
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be some fluctuation in the middle andthen the back end of his order depending
on which hand the starter throws with, and he said, yeah, there
will be different configurations. So maybeagainst the left handed pitcher, you see
Chaz McCormick hit a little bit higherup in the lineup. He's killed lefties
his whole career, and he's hadhe's had some issues against right handed pitching,
but he solved those last year.So maybe Chaz hits a little bit
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higher in the lineup against lefties thanhe does against righty's. You know,
maybe against righty's, hosea Bray youget gets a little bit up in the
order. But yeah, I thoughtit was. I think it's interesting to
see and certainly a departure from whathas been going on. And you know,
I think certainly I don't know thathe's set into this. I don't
know that Tucker, that Alvarez andTucker are gonna hit second and third every
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day, but I think it givesthem, certainly flexibility, gives them some
options. And look, let's basic, like those top four in the order,
like Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez andBregman, like you really can't screw
up if you put them in.Like they're that good and they're that just
kind of interchangeable. So mixing andmatching, you know, just seeing what
looks good, seeing what seeing whatthey like. I think that's a proudent
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way to do things. Chandler isRenelle Blanco. One of the reasons that
because we haven't had a chance totalk to you since the whole Blake Snell
stuff, is he one of thebiggest reasons why maybe the Astros aren't panicking
or however you want to phrase howthey're handling the rotation. I mean,
maybe you know more than we doabout them looking into somebody else. I
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know that it was written. They'renot pivoting at Jordan Montgomery. But is
Renel Blanco and his not just hisspring but what he showed last season a
big reason why maybe they're not asconcerned as some I don't think. I
don't think he's the main reason.I think certainly he gives them some comfort.
But you know, I think Imay have said this last time we
talked about renal Blanca, like he'sdone this before, Like he's thrown really
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well in spring training. You know, he's a winter ball legend. He's
gone to winter ball in the Dominicanand like not given up a run in
three years, and then when weget to the big league season, it
just a little different. So Imean, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd say
that, you know, he's thrownthe ball well and they see him to
translate that, but no, Imean I think it's more of kind of
where they may be payroll wise.You know, Also, there's not a
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ton left out there. I mean, I thought Michael Lorenz made sense for
them, especially given the deal hegot with the Rangers. Like I thought
he made sense for them just toget him in here as an insurance policy.
I mean that way, you caneven go to a six man rotation
start the year and Renald Blanca canstill be into vacation if I mean,
you slot him in and you know, you can still have a six man
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vocation. So I don't think Renelle, but I don't think they're watching Ronel
Blanco in spring training and thinking,oh, okay, we're good. They
don't need anyone else, like Ithink if I think if there were more
pieces available, and look, therecould still be because you're going to see
the next couple of days, they'regoing to start trimming their spring training rosters.
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Some veterans with on n our eyesand on minor league deal they may
opt out looking for a major leaguetime. And you know, the Ashers
are gonna they have some avenues toopen spots in their forty man rosters.
So I know everyone's kind of thingabout Montgomery and Lorens, and but pay
attention to some of these teams thatmaybe cut loose guys that they don't have
room for, or guys that maybehaven't pitched well in spring training. You
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know, I think that could bean avenue the Astros go too, because
the added benefit with those guys isthat they've been pitching, they've been built
up, and they've been growing forthe last five weeks. So you drop
him in the ash, you droppedthem in the Astros system. They're built
up, they're ready to go.Maybe they tweak the pitch usage, maybe
they tweak some you know how theyhow they're pitching a little bit, and
maybe they go from there. SoI don't think they're totally dead set this
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is the pitching staff we're going tocarry. I think they're keeping their options
open and they're listening. But youknow, look, their interesting smell was
serious. They they heavily pursued him. I had reported that it even they
were pursuing him before uh pose aErkiti strains at four arms, so they
were interested in him well before theArchadian here he happened. And you know,
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as AINTA. Brown told me onthe record, the Giants just did
more. They were able to domore, they were able to pay more,
they got out bid, and that'skind of how it ended. So
and you know, Dana in thatsame story did say, you know,
I'm looking at who we have depthwise, and you know I'm paraphrasing here,
but He basically said, there's noone out there that's better than the
depth that we have. I'd probablycounter him a little bit on that because
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Lorenzo in Montgomery or we're both availablewhen he said that. But I get
the rationale though, Like I don'tthink they want to go sink money,
a bunch of money into you know, either a fringe guy, guy that
you know, a veteran guy thatcan maybe they see the same value as
a guy like the last or Blanca. Like I get where he's coming from,
but maybe not the best way toarticulate it. Always money talks when
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talking about the snell Sitch, andmost others in Major League Baseball appreciate you
joining us again. Encourage those whohaven't already check out the latest piece you
have, the Q and A withlast mcculler's junior on the situation with the
Union, and soon enough you'll beback here in the h ready to talk.
Valdez Cortes Yankees Astros were one weekout channel. Yeah he almost made
it all right. Well, thanksguys. Hope Hope long Woods, Hope
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long Wood's ready for a game tomorrow. Well, since you put it out
there, now I have to askwhat's your most important tidbit of information about
the NCAA tournament and who do youhave winning it? So I have Arizona
winning, and so I'm also I'mI'm very strict with my brackets. If
you do more than one bracket,then you're you're dead to me. Like
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you do one bracket and that's it. There's none of this. I got
eight different brackets with eight different teamswinning, though you do one bracket,
and so I did one bracket.I have Arizona winning. I have Samford
in the Sweet sixteen. Love bucketball, especially with Kansas's leading scorer being
out. Love that love that upsetI have. I was assumed Sayer and
I picked Oregon to beat South Carolina, and I'm enjoying Organs picking the crap.
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So I had uh I think,I think I have you as in
the final four. Yeah, Ihave you as in the final four,
but sorry, tags, I don'thave them in the National favorite, tam.
I love the fact that you're gettingboth Cougars and Astros fans to pile
on your Twitter feed in one week. I have the I have you as
in the final four? What morethan they want? You didn't have them
winning the championships, so you hatethem. That's how it works. Chandler,
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Okay, all right, yeah,noted Arizona fan noted like lifelong Arizona
fan over here has Arizona, I'mjust messing with you because we both know
it's true. That's how it works. Anyway, I'm sure appreciate the time.
As always. We'll catch up withyou next week and we'll have an
actual series on our hands to talkabout then that actually counts. But good
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checking up or checking in with ChannelRoma the Athletic here on Stalk seven ninety