June 20, 2025 • 20 mins
Gene Watson joins Craig Way to talk about recruitment for MLB. It's all here on The Craig Way Show!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Glad to have you with us here on this.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Friday afternoon, and I hope you're getting ready for the weekend.
I hope things are going well for you. And it
is on Fridays when we have the opportunity based on
his travel schedule, but he jumps through hoops and makes
a yeomen's effort to be on with us by our
request every week. That's Gene Watson, the director of player
(00:25):
personnel for the Chicago White Sox. He joints is on
the hotline from did you tell me you are currently
in the Dominican Republic?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Bo Kachika? And I didn't know it was Friday until
you just said.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
That, so thank you for getting my calendar straight because
I had no idea it was Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Well, I almost said Wednesday. And my mom used to say,
a slip of the tongue is no fault to the mind,
But I almost I almost said Wednesday. If I said Wednesday,
would you have believed.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Me that it was I have no idea what day
of the week it is because it's moving pretty fast
right now.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
But everything's great.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, that's cool, see And I used to say this,
and you know this because you've been to the College
World Series before. When you get in Omaha, the days
kind of all just kind of run together because it's
usually eighty five to ninety degrees every day under sunny skies.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You get the occasional thunderstorm.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But you get up in the morning and you have breakfast,
and you go to the ballpark, and then you might
have a night game or whatever. Then you go to
some Italian a restaurant or a steakhouse where it's an
Italian steakhouse, and you eat dinner, and then you go
back to the hotel and you do the same thing
all over again, and if you're really fortunate, you do
it for two weeks because your team is playing.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Really, really well.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So I understand that, and I would imagine also that
it's kind of like that in spring training for you
in the Geno and then when you are on assignment
as you are right now down in the Caribbean down
there viewing viewing players and evaluating talent, that the days
kind of all end up running together.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
It all runs together.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And by the way, you and I had a great
breakfast in Omaha a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yes, we did it all together. In short of a
Sunday Day game.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
If you don't get that Sunday Day game to kind
of set your clock, every day feels the same as
early Groundhog Day.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Okay, all right, So speaking of Sunday games, and these
were the two leadoff things I wanted to get to
with you. Speaking of Sunday games, it was last Sunday
I was driving back from the Dallas Forth area with
Linda and we're listening to a ball game and the
word comes down that Raphael Devers has been traded from
(02:32):
the Red Sox to the Giants. That happened on Sunday Ward,
also comes down on Sunday that Showy Otani was going
to go back to the mound and pitch, which he
did all of one inning the other night. Otani is
scheduled to bitch this Sunday against the Washington Nationals, but
the Devers to the Giants trade is still a buzz
(02:52):
and low and behold here are the Red Sox getting
ready to play the Giants in San Francisco this weekend.
It just, you know, life is just funny that way. First,
I want to get your analysis of that trade, and
then there's some some other things to get to as
well well.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
This is when you know a team is really doing
their work.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And Buster Posey and Zach Manascion Junior did a tremendous
job of recognizing that there was a star player on
a really good team, and the principals were unaligned. The
Red Sox and Raphael Devers had been unaligned since spring training,
really since the hour they signed Alex Bregman. And you know,
(03:30):
kudos to the Giants for recognizing this isn't working out.
He had the game last week where he didn't run ball,
run the ball out down the line. You know, they
basked and will play first base wouldn't do it. He's
taking grounds with balls at shortstop. So it was really
becoming just really unaligned principles. And the Giants recognized that
they had lost out on Aaron Judges, they had lost
(03:52):
out on Carlos Korea, they had lost out on many
other superstars in free agency, and this was a challece
to you chance to them used their prospect capital within
their organization. They had the financial resources to take all
the salary in a division that is really it's all
star power, and so they were able to add, you know,
(04:12):
one of the brighter stars in the game of baseball
in to what is already one of the toughest divisions
in the game of baseball, and it was just a
perfect fit and a job well done, truly by both teams,
because Boston truly did get some good players back as well,
and in.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The case of Devers, who at his introductory news conference
a few days ago in San Francisco, then turned around
and said, I'll play anywhere they want me to play,
which I'm sure probably had Red Sox fans rolling their
eyes thinking about this guy who did not want to
play first base or whatever. So you know, the Giants
get what they want in the Red Sox, I guess
get what they need in that case as well. With
(04:52):
Chapman still being banged up for the Giants, you know,
obviously Devs will play some third But do you see
him play ings and first base or will he largely
be used as a d H What do you think
might be?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I think it's going to be a little bit of everything.
And I think this was purely on principle. When you're
a star of a team and your team goes out
and gets another star without even asking, I think it's
on principle, and I think the last time we saw
something like this was when the Texas Rangers signed Will Clark.
When Rafael Palmarow was trying to sign an extension and
(05:26):
the Rangers said, Okay, you want to do this, We're
going to go get somebody better. It's just when an
organization and one of its star players are unaligned, it's
a really, really difficulty situation for both sides.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, I sort of say, it's kind of difficult, you know,
San Francisco. Kudos to them, like you said, for what
Buster Posey and Manassi and all the rest of that
group did to to hop on this. Recognizing the situation
in the case of Boston, how difficult is it to
make sure you get fair market value for a guy,
(05:59):
a three time All Star who has a three hundred
million dollars plus contract.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And let's be honest, you know there are people this week.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
There were national analysts this week who compared what the
Red Sox got for Devors to the Luka Dodge's trade
for the Mavericks to the Lakers. Now, I don't think
it's anywhere on that level, but you know, extreme reactions
are going to come back. So my question is how
difficult is it for an organization that knows they have
(06:26):
to make that move, but they've got to get fair
market value for the guy.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I don't think you're ever getting fair market value.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I think you do the best that you can to
recoup what you can, and the financial means of that
contract being moved, first of all, just creates endless opportunity
for free agents this year, and the Red Sox have
a tremendous, tremendous system all hitting.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The major leagues right now.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
When you talk about Christian Campbell and Marcelo Meyer and
Roman Anthony and all the young players that are being
ejected to that twenties six man roster right now, now
you're given financial resource to eve improve the.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Team more through free agency.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
I think they would look at it as a winning
James Tibbs and Kyler Harrison are.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Two very very talented young prospects.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So I think when you look at it in an
industry that's so process oriented and finance oriented right now.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
This has truly turned out to be kind of an.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Old school trade where you both teams kind of saved
face and got what they needed.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson from the White
Sox front office here on thirteen hundred the Zone. This
was a story I took a look at this morning
from the Athletic, and I know you've been busy down
at the Dominican and your evaluate talent, so.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You may not have seen this, and if you have,
it'll be reviewed.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But I guess lists like these always come up, especially
when we're six weeks out from the trade deadline, and
they call it the top thirty players in the post
Devers trade world. Now, I'm not going to ask you
about the prospects of whether the player A gets traded
or player B.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna list.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm just gonna rattle off some names to you and
get your thoughts on what organizations are thinking about at
this time of year as they go forward. For example,
they put Jared Durant at the top of the trade list.
They got Freddy Perrault to there, Cedric Mullen, Sandy Alconzara, Hneoswarrez,
Zach Gallon, Will you're a uh uh abra, you your guy,
(08:29):
Luis Robert zach Eflin, Josh Naylor.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's just the top ten, and then they.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Got Taylor Ward, Edward Carbrera, Ryan McMahon, Ryan O'Hearn, Merrill Kelly,
a role As Chapman, Adolice Garcia, Nick Martinez, Walker Buehler,
Chris Martin, Jake Berger, Andrew Heeney, Alec Thomas, j N Mancatta,
David Bednard, Tyler Mayley, Rehys Hoskins, Austin Hayes, Ramon Urias,
(08:53):
and Reed Debtmers.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So that that was like a top thirty.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And I don't know if that's a wish list or
a target list, but do organizations begin to as you
get closer to the trade deadline start looking at that
names similar to what I just mentioned, There may be
some outside that, there may be some additional ones and
say this is a need we have. And then how
does the process go about when they start doing the
(09:19):
fact fighting to see if one of those players like
the ones I just mentioned are even available, and where
it goes from there.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
So what I'll tell.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
You is I was in Chicago last week's setting up
our board, and what I will do is get with
our Gineral manager, Chris Getz, and say, Okay, who do
you think we have fits with? Based on your conversations,
I'll get our seven scouts on a conference call. They'll
go through every tall twenty nine other clubs, what are
their needs, and then we'll take the potential players that
(09:48):
could fit those needs and we'll put.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Them on the board.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
And then we'll put their top thirty prospects on the board.
And then on the twenty first of July, I'll begin
to have three four or five hour calls a day,
rolling through every organization, talking about players countlessly, like our
scouts are exhausted from talking about players over and over
and over again. And what that does is iron it
(10:13):
iron ends your baseline of what you would accept in
a trade. And it also this is the minimum, this
is what we would shoot for. And then as you
line up, okay, five teams for say Louis Robert, Okay, now,
of the five, which deal would you like the best?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And I'll tell you.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
At the Winter Meetings on Garrett Crochet, we had five
teams on the board when we went to bed at
midnight on a Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings, and
Boston called at two o'clock in the morning and up.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
To the inn and they began. They became the number
one team on the deal, and it was done by
twelve o'clock.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
The next day, And so it's really just transparent conversations
with every organization. But what you're going to have a
year like this year is you got to because so
many teams have been streaked. They win seven in a row,
they lose seven to row, they win a out of ten,
they lose eight out of ten. I think it's still
yet to be determined if clubs really truly believe that
(11:05):
they're in that upper echelon of the Dodgers of the
Yankees and saying themselves, Okay, if we make this deal,
does it really put us in contention to compete with
those teams Because the prospect capital that's going to cost
to make this deal may not be worthwhile over the
long term. And so still very very early in the process.
We've begun the process. It's why we're here as the
(11:26):
staff and the Dominican. But the conversations are ongoing, and
I reach out to all twenty nine other cleaves the
teams at least once a week to see where things
stand as we move into July.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
What you just said about scouts getting tired of talk
about it, exhausted on that deal is fascinating because it
invokes in my mind and you tell me if there's
any correlation or similarity what we first became familiar with
this phrase coming out of the pandemic COVID fatigue, and
then there was something else, fatigue.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And I almost seem to think it's like it becomes.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Uh dealer fatigue after a while, or prospect fatigue, because
the guys have have talked about it so much, and
you really do kind of after what, get a good
night's leap, get get a couple of days away from
whatever to come in or with a fresh mind and
a fresh approach before you make a deal, right.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, And you want you want the room to be
very very quiet, because everybody wants to inject their thoughts
or their ideas at the last minute. And really the
job is to be there to answer questions. And and
and the Crow and the Crochet deal that didn't go
down with the deadline last year with the club. The
club called back on another player and we were so
(12:37):
familiar with the players that we've been talking about that
we asked for the fourth player and the deal and
they said yes, and we were super excited about that.
And so it's really it's really creating comfort for the
general manager to know the players, and here here the
conviction of the scouts and the research and development team
and the sports science team, and know that so that
(12:58):
when it's time to make that decision and you've got
five trades lined up in the final hour and it's
moving really really fast, your knowledge of the players and
the work you've done really really slows everything down.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
How much does that exhaustive work that you and the
staff have done in preparing for the draft, and once
your draft is underway and you've got your prospects, how much,
how heavily impact does that make an impact on what
you might be open and willing to make a deal
come trade deadline? Because we're talking about the veterans, major
(13:31):
league veterans, as opposed to guys that you've just signed
or going to sign coming out of the draft where
you're going to be starting them out in the minor leagues.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Does one affect the other?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
And I would tell you that Hagen Smith was probably
a result of us knowing Garrett Crochet would eventually be
moved you backfield with another ceiling starter. This is such
a unique draft this year. The top ten we picked
ten in the draft, and the top ten is so rambled.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Once you get past.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Two or three that I think you're looking at ten,
are really starting at about seven. Do we take our
pool and do we fire one bullet on this player
at seven, eight, nine, ten, or do we take maybe
a player that there's very little separation between seven and
ten because you're picking forty four and you try to
play pay more for a player at forty four.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And you kind of get a two for one.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And truthfully, that's what Houston did to build up their system,
and that's what Michael Laives did a tremendous job of
doing in Baltimore, is spreading the money over two or
three picks rather than firing one bullet for number one.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And so there's a lot of strategy that goes into that.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson here on thirteen hundreds, Okay,
let me jump to Dodgers and Padres.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I want to start first of all, with the four
Days of Kerfuffle.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I watched almost every inning of all four games, and
eight total batters were hit by pitches in the game.
Fernando Tatis Junior was hit three times, Showe Aotani was
hit twice, Andy pie Has was hit twice. So you
got that were hit quite off and eventually and you
kind of knew it was going to kind of spill
out where guys just kind of came out. Nobody knowed
(15:07):
there was no real incident, although it got pretty tense
last night. I was struck by several things because I
watched the postgame coverage for both teams. Dave Roberts said
that he and Mike Shild had just had the conversation
prior to that last game yesterday, and he said, I
had a real good, friendly conversation about what was intentional
(15:27):
and what wasn't, and we were all good with everything,
and then this happens. You know, he goes, we've got
a rookie making his major league debut and he doesn't
have glove side control, and so he hits Tattis and
then he says, Mike comes out and it's almost like he's
wanting to challenge me, and then he goes and I
took it personally, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
So that's heat of the moment stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
What I want to get you to comment on here
is because I saw a lot of this on social media,
and I think you and I have had this conversation before,
and I know I've talked about it with Keith Morland before,
and it's the words control versus intent, and and you know,
the Dodgers can make the case all day long, and
I believe them about, hey, we got a rookie out there,
(16:07):
he didn't have glove side command and blah blah blah,
as opposed to say, a Padre's pitcher, there's no doubts
whereas was trying to hit Otani, who I thought did
a fantastic job of calming things afterwards. But but on
a certain level, eventually it doesn't matter where whether intent
was there or not, does it, Gino. At one point
(16:28):
the teams are going to finally say enough is enough,
whether you're trying to hit the guy or not hitting
the guy. If you're hitting the guy, there are consequences
one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And what I would say, this is as bad a
blood as I've seen since the Yankees Red Sox in
the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I was actually at the game when Pedro Martinez threw
Don Zimmer to the ground and it was chaos, and
I don't think I've seen anything since then. Number One,
the league does not want its best players on the il.
This has been bad blood for a while on personal
but the league in itself has to protect its product.
(17:03):
And anytime a Fernando Tatis Junior or a sho Heo
Tani are out because there's bean ball going on, that's not.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
A good thing. Number Two, it's a player's game.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
And while you see all the emotion and drama that's
going on right now, these players have an immense amount
of respect for each other. I think you saw show
Hey when he walked over to the Padre dug out.
You saw that. And you know my son who works
for the Padres. I've been telling him for a week
to get ready for September. And it's not even September.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's June.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And this is going on, and this is this is
going to continue.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
This is going to be bad blood because in my opinion,
these are going to be the two teams standing to
go in October, and so this is not going to
go away.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And this is going to be the hottest ticket in baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
To be honest with you, Craig, I won't watch it
right now because I can't wait for the end in
September October, and so, but.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
The players will police this.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
There's gonna be a lot of commerces behind the scenes
between players that know each other well and the respect
that they have each other. Is he meant and don't
get this work out eventually, but the drama for the
fans is really really good.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, Heck, the next time they meet is in August.
That could be juicy as well. The last thing we
want to ask about is Otani because he is going
back to the mound. He threw twenty eight pitches the
other night, gave up a run. I had, I think
what they said, Seventeen of the twenty eight pitches were
at ninety five or above. He topped one hundred I
think three times or whatever. He's going to pitch on
(18:34):
Sunday against the Nationals. What about your thoughts on him
and his return to the mound and how it affects
him as a DH because obviously, when he's in the
ballgames a pitcher, he's going to be that old pitcher
slash d H thing where he can stay in the
ball game as a designated hitter even after he's done
on the mound.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Well, Craig, if I said, you'd be a great golfer
and you play golf every day, and then I said
you have to play tennis with it, you probably wouldn't
be as good at golf because you're doing both.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And that's kind of the analogy I use with people.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
I was with show A in twenty twenty one, obviously,
and I saw what the workload was.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The man is a machine. It's unbelievable. The athlete, he is,
the mind, he is, the talent he is.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
But it's a little bit different when you show up
to the ballpark and you do your workout routine, you're stretching,
your massage everything, and then you go get your swings
off the cages. You take your batting practice. Show he
doesn't ever hit on the field. You take your batting
practice inside and you get ready for a game. It's
a lot different when you're doing all that and you're
long cossing and you're doing your band routine and you're
(19:39):
working on pitch shape, pitch design, which is a lot
of mental stress in between pitches. And I just think
and believed all of last year that was probably going
to be the highest offensive output we would ever see
for him, because it was.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It was when he was hitting only.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
So I would say that his offensive numbers will certainly
take some dip how much knowing show. Hey, it wouldn't
surprise me a bit if it was just a little.
But it's certainly a different day to day routine for
him and where his mind goes throughout you know, the
given six hours prior to first pitch every day.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, no doubt about him.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Hey, Gino, I appreciate the time as always, the great
insight and wisdom there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
How long are you in the Dominican?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
You know what, I'm gonna be in Round Rock next
day to Sunday covering the Tacoma Rainiers and the Express.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Okay, maybe we'll come in and see you a love,
very good. Hey, thanks for the time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Okay, take care guys.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
All right.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That is Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox. Friend
Off was always great Major League Baseball insight from gena
Glad to have you with us here on this.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Friday afternoon, and I hope you're getting ready for the weekend.
I hope things are going well for you. And it
is on Fridays when we have the opportunity based on
his travel schedule, but he jumps through hoops and makes
a yeomen's effort to be on with us by our
request every week. That's Gene Watson, the director of player
(00:25):
personnel for the Chicago White Sox. He joints is on
the hotline from did you tell me you are currently
in the Dominican Republic?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Bo Kachika? And I didn't know it was Friday until
you just said.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
That, so thank you for getting my calendar straight because
I had no idea it was Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Well, I almost said Wednesday. And my mom used to say,
a slip of the tongue is no fault to the mind,
But I almost I almost said Wednesday. If I said Wednesday,
would you have believed.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Me that it was I have no idea what day
of the week it is because it's moving pretty fast
right now.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
But everything's great.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, that's cool, see And I used to say this,
and you know this because you've been to the College
World Series before. When you get in Omaha, the days
kind of all just kind of run together because it's
usually eighty five to ninety degrees every day under sunny skies.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You get the occasional thunderstorm.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
But you get up in the morning and you have breakfast,
and you go to the ballpark, and then you might
have a night game or whatever. Then you go to
some Italian a restaurant or a steakhouse where it's an
Italian steakhouse, and you eat dinner, and then you go
back to the hotel and you do the same thing
all over again, and if you're really fortunate, you do
it for two weeks because your team is playing.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Really, really well.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So I understand that, and I would imagine also that
it's kind of like that in spring training for you
in the Geno and then when you are on assignment
as you are right now down in the Caribbean down
there viewing viewing players and evaluating talent, that the days
kind of all end up running together.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
It all runs together.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
And by the way, you and I had a great
breakfast in Omaha a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yes, we did it all together. In short of a
Sunday Day game.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
If you don't get that Sunday Day game to kind
of set your clock, every day feels the same as
early Groundhog Day.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Okay, all right, So speaking of Sunday games, and these
were the two leadoff things I wanted to get to
with you. Speaking of Sunday games, it was last Sunday
I was driving back from the Dallas Forth area with
Linda and we're listening to a ball game and the
word comes down that Raphael Devers has been traded from
(02:32):
the Red Sox to the Giants. That happened on Sunday Ward,
also comes down on Sunday that Showy Otani was going
to go back to the mound and pitch, which he
did all of one inning the other night. Otani is
scheduled to bitch this Sunday against the Washington Nationals, but
the Devers to the Giants trade is still a buzz
(02:52):
and low and behold here are the Red Sox getting
ready to play the Giants in San Francisco this weekend.
It just, you know, life is just funny that way. First,
I want to get your analysis of that trade, and
then there's some some other things to get to as
well well.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
This is when you know a team is really doing
their work.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
And Buster Posey and Zach Manascion Junior did a tremendous
job of recognizing that there was a star player on
a really good team, and the principals were unaligned. The
Red Sox and Raphael Devers had been unaligned since spring training,
really since the hour they signed Alex Bregman. And you know,
(03:30):
kudos to the Giants for recognizing this isn't working out.
He had the game last week where he didn't run ball,
run the ball out down the line. You know, they
basked and will play first base wouldn't do it. He's
taking grounds with balls at shortstop. So it was really
becoming just really unaligned principles. And the Giants recognized that
they had lost out on Aaron Judges, they had lost
(03:52):
out on Carlos Korea, they had lost out on many
other superstars in free agency, and this was a challece
to you chance to them used their prospect capital within
their organization. They had the financial resources to take all
the salary in a division that is really it's all
star power, and so they were able to add, you know,
(04:12):
one of the brighter stars in the game of baseball
in to what is already one of the toughest divisions
in the game of baseball, and it was just a
perfect fit and a job well done, truly by both teams,
because Boston truly did get some good players back as well,
and in.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The case of Devers, who at his introductory news conference
a few days ago in San Francisco, then turned around
and said, I'll play anywhere they want me to play,
which I'm sure probably had Red Sox fans rolling their
eyes thinking about this guy who did not want to
play first base or whatever. So you know, the Giants
get what they want in the Red Sox, I guess
get what they need in that case as well. With
(04:52):
Chapman still being banged up for the Giants, you know,
obviously Devs will play some third But do you see
him play ings and first base or will he largely
be used as a d H What do you think
might be?
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I think it's going to be a little bit of everything.
And I think this was purely on principle. When you're
a star of a team and your team goes out
and gets another star without even asking, I think it's
on principle, and I think the last time we saw
something like this was when the Texas Rangers signed Will Clark.
When Rafael Palmarow was trying to sign an extension and
(05:26):
the Rangers said, Okay, you want to do this, We're
going to go get somebody better. It's just when an
organization and one of its star players are unaligned, it's
a really, really difficulty situation for both sides.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, I sort of say, it's kind of difficult, you know,
San Francisco. Kudos to them, like you said, for what
Buster Posey and Manassi and all the rest of that
group did to to hop on this. Recognizing the situation
in the case of Boston, how difficult is it to
make sure you get fair market value for a guy,
(05:59):
a three time All Star who has a three hundred
million dollars plus contract.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And let's be honest, you know there are people this week.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
There were national analysts this week who compared what the
Red Sox got for Devors to the Luka Dodge's trade
for the Mavericks to the Lakers. Now, I don't think
it's anywhere on that level, but you know, extreme reactions
are going to come back. So my question is how
difficult is it for an organization that knows they have
(06:26):
to make that move, but they've got to get fair
market value for the guy.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
I don't think you're ever getting fair market value.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I think you do the best that you can to
recoup what you can, and the financial means of that
contract being moved, first of all, just creates endless opportunity
for free agents this year, and the Red Sox have
a tremendous, tremendous system all hitting.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The major leagues right now.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
When you talk about Christian Campbell and Marcelo Meyer and
Roman Anthony and all the young players that are being
ejected to that twenties six man roster right now, now
you're given financial resource to eve improve the.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Team more through free agency.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
I think they would look at it as a winning
James Tibbs and Kyler Harrison are.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Two very very talented young prospects.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So I think when you look at it in an
industry that's so process oriented and finance oriented right now.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
This has truly turned out to be kind of an.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Old school trade where you both teams kind of saved
face and got what they needed.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson from the White
Sox front office here on thirteen hundred the Zone. This
was a story I took a look at this morning
from the Athletic, and I know you've been busy down
at the Dominican and your evaluate talent, so.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
You may not have seen this, and if you have,
it'll be reviewed.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
But I guess lists like these always come up, especially
when we're six weeks out from the trade deadline, and
they call it the top thirty players in the post
Devers trade world. Now, I'm not going to ask you
about the prospects of whether the player A gets traded
or player B.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna list.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I'm just gonna rattle off some names to you and
get your thoughts on what organizations are thinking about at
this time of year as they go forward. For example,
they put Jared Durant at the top of the trade list.
They got Freddy Perrault to there, Cedric Mullen, Sandy Alconzara, Hneoswarrez,
Zach Gallon, Will you're a uh uh abra, you your guy,
(08:29):
Luis Robert zach Eflin, Josh Naylor.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
That's just the top ten, and then they.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Got Taylor Ward, Edward Carbrera, Ryan McMahon, Ryan O'Hearn, Merrill Kelly,
a role As Chapman, Adolice Garcia, Nick Martinez, Walker Buehler,
Chris Martin, Jake Berger, Andrew Heeney, Alec Thomas, j N Mancatta,
David Bednard, Tyler Mayley, Rehys Hoskins, Austin Hayes, Ramon Urias,
(08:53):
and Reed Debtmers.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So that that was like a top thirty.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And I don't know if that's a wish list or
a target list, but do organizations begin to as you
get closer to the trade deadline start looking at that
names similar to what I just mentioned, There may be
some outside that, there may be some additional ones and
say this is a need we have. And then how
does the process go about when they start doing the
(09:19):
fact fighting to see if one of those players like
the ones I just mentioned are even available, and where
it goes from there.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
So what I'll tell.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
You is I was in Chicago last week's setting up
our board, and what I will do is get with
our Gineral manager, Chris Getz, and say, Okay, who do
you think we have fits with? Based on your conversations,
I'll get our seven scouts on a conference call. They'll
go through every tall twenty nine other clubs, what are
their needs, and then we'll take the potential players that
(09:48):
could fit those needs and we'll put.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Them on the board.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
And then we'll put their top thirty prospects on the board.
And then on the twenty first of July, I'll begin
to have three four or five hour calls a day,
rolling through every organization, talking about players countlessly, like our
scouts are exhausted from talking about players over and over
and over again. And what that does is iron it
(10:13):
iron ends your baseline of what you would accept in
a trade. And it also this is the minimum, this
is what we would shoot for. And then as you
line up, okay, five teams for say Louis Robert, Okay, now,
of the five, which deal would you like the best?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
And I'll tell you.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
At the Winter Meetings on Garrett Crochet, we had five
teams on the board when we went to bed at
midnight on a Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings, and
Boston called at two o'clock in the morning and up.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
To the inn and they began. They became the number
one team on the deal, and it was done by
twelve o'clock.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
The next day, And so it's really just transparent conversations
with every organization. But what you're going to have a
year like this year is you got to because so
many teams have been streaked. They win seven in a row,
they lose seven to row, they win a out of ten,
they lose eight out of ten. I think it's still
yet to be determined if clubs really truly believe that
(11:05):
they're in that upper echelon of the Dodgers of the
Yankees and saying themselves, Okay, if we make this deal,
does it really put us in contention to compete with
those teams Because the prospect capital that's going to cost
to make this deal may not be worthwhile over the
long term. And so still very very early in the process.
We've begun the process. It's why we're here as the
(11:26):
staff and the Dominican. But the conversations are ongoing, and
I reach out to all twenty nine other cleaves the
teams at least once a week to see where things
stand as we move into July.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
What you just said about scouts getting tired of talk
about it, exhausted on that deal is fascinating because it
invokes in my mind and you tell me if there's
any correlation or similarity what we first became familiar with
this phrase coming out of the pandemic COVID fatigue, and
then there was something else, fatigue.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
And I almost seem to think it's like it becomes.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Uh dealer fatigue after a while, or prospect fatigue, because
the guys have have talked about it so much, and
you really do kind of after what, get a good
night's leap, get get a couple of days away from
whatever to come in or with a fresh mind and
a fresh approach before you make a deal, right.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, And you want you want the room to be
very very quiet, because everybody wants to inject their thoughts
or their ideas at the last minute. And really the
job is to be there to answer questions. And and
and the Crow and the Crochet deal that didn't go
down with the deadline last year with the club. The
club called back on another player and we were so
(12:37):
familiar with the players that we've been talking about that
we asked for the fourth player and the deal and
they said yes, and we were super excited about that.
And so it's really it's really creating comfort for the
general manager to know the players, and here here the
conviction of the scouts and the research and development team
and the sports science team, and know that so that
(12:58):
when it's time to make that decision and you've got
five trades lined up in the final hour and it's
moving really really fast, your knowledge of the players and
the work you've done really really slows everything down.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
How much does that exhaustive work that you and the
staff have done in preparing for the draft, and once
your draft is underway and you've got your prospects, how much,
how heavily impact does that make an impact on what
you might be open and willing to make a deal
come trade deadline? Because we're talking about the veterans, major
(13:31):
league veterans, as opposed to guys that you've just signed
or going to sign coming out of the draft where
you're going to be starting them out in the minor leagues.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Does one affect the other?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
And I would tell you that Hagen Smith was probably
a result of us knowing Garrett Crochet would eventually be
moved you backfield with another ceiling starter. This is such
a unique draft this year. The top ten we picked
ten in the draft, and the top ten is so rambled.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Once you get past.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Two or three that I think you're looking at ten,
are really starting at about seven. Do we take our
pool and do we fire one bullet on this player
at seven, eight, nine, ten, or do we take maybe
a player that there's very little separation between seven and
ten because you're picking forty four and you try to
play pay more for a player at forty four.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
And you kind of get a two for one.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
And truthfully, that's what Houston did to build up their system,
and that's what Michael Laives did a tremendous job of
doing in Baltimore, is spreading the money over two or
three picks rather than firing one bullet for number one.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And so there's a lot of strategy that goes into that.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson here on thirteen hundreds, Okay,
let me jump to Dodgers and Padres.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I want to start first of all, with the four
Days of Kerfuffle.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I watched almost every inning of all four games, and
eight total batters were hit by pitches in the game.
Fernando Tatis Junior was hit three times, Showe Aotani was
hit twice, Andy pie Has was hit twice. So you
got that were hit quite off and eventually and you
kind of knew it was going to kind of spill
out where guys just kind of came out. Nobody knowed
(15:07):
there was no real incident, although it got pretty tense
last night. I was struck by several things because I
watched the postgame coverage for both teams. Dave Roberts said
that he and Mike Shild had just had the conversation
prior to that last game yesterday, and he said, I
had a real good, friendly conversation about what was intentional
(15:27):
and what wasn't, and we were all good with everything,
and then this happens. You know, he goes, we've got
a rookie making his major league debut and he doesn't
have glove side control, and so he hits Tattis and
then he says, Mike comes out and it's almost like he's
wanting to challenge me, and then he goes and I
took it personally, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
So that's heat of the moment stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
What I want to get you to comment on here
is because I saw a lot of this on social media,
and I think you and I have had this conversation before,
and I know I've talked about it with Keith Morland before,
and it's the words control versus intent, and and you know,
the Dodgers can make the case all day long, and
I believe them about, hey, we got a rookie out there,
(16:07):
he didn't have glove side command and blah blah blah,
as opposed to say, a Padre's pitcher, there's no doubts
whereas was trying to hit Otani, who I thought did
a fantastic job of calming things afterwards. But but on
a certain level, eventually it doesn't matter where whether intent
was there or not, does it, Gino. At one point
(16:28):
the teams are going to finally say enough is enough,
whether you're trying to hit the guy or not hitting
the guy. If you're hitting the guy, there are consequences
one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And what I would say, this is as bad a
blood as I've seen since the Yankees Red Sox in
the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I was actually at the game when Pedro Martinez threw
Don Zimmer to the ground and it was chaos, and
I don't think I've seen anything since then. Number One,
the league does not want its best players on the il.
This has been bad blood for a while on personal
but the league in itself has to protect its product.
(17:03):
And anytime a Fernando Tatis Junior or a sho Heo
Tani are out because there's bean ball going on, that's not.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
A good thing. Number Two, it's a player's game.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
And while you see all the emotion and drama that's
going on right now, these players have an immense amount
of respect for each other. I think you saw show
Hey when he walked over to the Padre dug out.
You saw that. And you know my son who works
for the Padres. I've been telling him for a week
to get ready for September. And it's not even September.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's June.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And this is going on, and this is this is
going to continue.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
This is going to be bad blood because in my opinion,
these are going to be the two teams standing to
go in October, and so this is not going to
go away.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And this is going to be the hottest ticket in baseball.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
To be honest with you, Craig, I won't watch it
right now because I can't wait for the end in
September October, and so, but.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
The players will police this.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
There's gonna be a lot of commerces behind the scenes
between players that know each other well and the respect
that they have each other. Is he meant and don't
get this work out eventually, but the drama for the
fans is really really good.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, Heck, the next time they meet is in August.
That could be juicy as well. The last thing we
want to ask about is Otani because he is going
back to the mound. He threw twenty eight pitches the
other night, gave up a run. I had, I think
what they said, Seventeen of the twenty eight pitches were
at ninety five or above. He topped one hundred I
think three times or whatever. He's going to pitch on
(18:34):
Sunday against the Nationals. What about your thoughts on him
and his return to the mound and how it affects
him as a DH because obviously, when he's in the
ballgames a pitcher, he's going to be that old pitcher
slash d H thing where he can stay in the
ball game as a designated hitter even after he's done
on the mound.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
Well, Craig, if I said, you'd be a great golfer
and you play golf every day, and then I said
you have to play tennis with it, you probably wouldn't
be as good at golf because you're doing both.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And that's kind of the analogy I use with people.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
I was with show A in twenty twenty one, obviously,
and I saw what the workload was.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The man is a machine. It's unbelievable. The athlete, he is,
the mind, he is, the talent he is.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
But it's a little bit different when you show up
to the ballpark and you do your workout routine, you're stretching,
your massage everything, and then you go get your swings
off the cages. You take your batting practice. Show he
doesn't ever hit on the field. You take your batting
practice inside and you get ready for a game. It's
a lot different when you're doing all that and you're
long cossing and you're doing your band routine and you're
(19:39):
working on pitch shape, pitch design, which is a lot
of mental stress in between pitches. And I just think
and believed all of last year that was probably going
to be the highest offensive output we would ever see
for him, because it was.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
It was when he was hitting only.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
So I would say that his offensive numbers will certainly
take some dip how much knowing show. Hey, it wouldn't
surprise me a bit if it was just a little.
But it's certainly a different day to day routine for
him and where his mind goes throughout you know, the
given six hours prior to first pitch every day.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, no doubt about him.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Hey, Gino, I appreciate the time as always, the great
insight and wisdom there.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
How long are you in the Dominican?
Speaker 4 (20:22):
You know what, I'm gonna be in Round Rock next
day to Sunday covering the Tacoma Rainiers and the Express.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Okay, maybe we'll come in and see you a love,
very good. Hey, thanks for the time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Okay, take care guys.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
All right.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
That is Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox. Friend
Off was always great Major League Baseball insight from gena
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