August 1, 2024 • 16 mins
Gene Watson stops by and talks everything MLB! Gene and Craig go over the multitude of trades and how it will impact each team.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we start to head arounding the far turn, if
you will, to start heading toward what would be the
home stretch. But we're still kind of officially in what's
known as the dog days of the season. And who
better to discuss the dog days than our good friend
from the Chicago White Sox front office, Geene Watson, who
(00:21):
joins us now because you have, my friend, dealt with
a dog day or two at your time, have you not.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
When I'm done, I'm going to write a book called
Why Teams Lose, because I've been a part of a
lot of losing.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But you know what's fair is you have been part
of some organizations that had a lot of losses and then,
with your input and expertise, along with some really good management,
teams have flipped the script. You did it in Atlanta,
you did it in San Diego, you did it in Florida,
you did it in Kansas City. And now, would you
(01:02):
say this is probably as steep a challenges perhaps that
you have faced being part of a White Sox organization
that is not used to, you know, even though they've
had some struggles, certainly not used to losing at the
rate that has happened for the White Sox.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But the fact that this might be as.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Challenging an opportunity for you as you've encountered in your
many years in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
You know, Craig, it's funny. I was just with the
Royals media this week.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
We played them in Chicago, and you know, to see
what's happening there and to be a small part of
that reconstruction of that team is it's really gratifying to
see the way they're playing. And I had a lot
of people in the Kansas City media ask me it
is is it as bad as when you came to
Kansas City?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And my answer is no.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
We have an incredible manager in Pedro Graffall, an incredible
major league coaching staff. When we got to Kansas City
in two thousand and six, we could have basically sent
everybody home and started over and been further along than
we are right now. We've got young players, We've especially
got young pitching, and so.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
If you're going to be away from your family two.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Hundred eighty days a year, you want to be a
part of something where you can actually impact it.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
And that's the way I've looked at my entire career
in the game, and.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So This is just another fun challenge to look forward
to and wake up every day embracing it. All.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Right, you talked about the young pitching.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I want to get your review on the deals that
were made across Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But let me start with your ball club.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Because your ball club was very, very active, and I
think everybody knew the White Sox were going to be sellers,
not buyers, so to speak. But the crafting of the deals,
the amount of talent you were getting back for what
you had to give up, was going to be very,
very crucial. How did you feel all that went down
with your own organization? The guys you had to surrender
(02:58):
and the guys you acquired, well, we.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Were very excited and we picked up you know, there's
been a lot of chrism criticism of the the Fetti
fam Copek deal where we picked up three players for
three major league players, but you know, Michael Kopek tremendous talent.
In a one for one in a saturated market, you're
not going to get a real player that's going to
swing the needle for you. Tommy fam a thirty six
(03:22):
year old outfill or one of my favorite players ever
in thirty five years in the game that in a
one for one is not going to give you a
lot of impact. And then you go Eric Fetti, a
player that we signed out of Korea in a two
year controllable contract. You know, we were able to pick
up three young, impactful bats and so three players with
(03:43):
sealing to them that can actually impact a major league roster.
So we were very excited about that deal. We got
very close at the end in executing a trade for
Garrett Crochet, and it showed really great restraint by our
front office not to do the deals because it would.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Have been easy to just accept what was being offered.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But now you take him into the offseason or even
into next winter, and you've got major league players involved,
players from this year's draft involved, and so you just
got a greater player pool to choose from moving forward,
and so we were.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Comfortable with that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So it was it was It was really fun because
we felt like we had done the work and our
board in our room was in perfect place to make
sound decisions when the time came to make them.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Tell me a little more about Copek, because I know
he's from Mount Pleasant, but I watched him last night
because I was watching the Dodgers, and they need relief
help in the worst way because right now they're really struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But Kopek didn't struggle.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He blew three guys out of the water, struck out
the side, and hit triple digits against all three guys
last night. I was I was pretty encouraged watching that.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
You know, Michael is such a special young man.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
And I got a really cool moment with him right
before he left the stadium. You know, we passed each
other or in the in the tunnel, and I was
able to give him a hug and and just told him, hey,
go get that ring man and and I.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
And that's the biggest thing for Michael is I think.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
He knows now that like, if the La Dodgers are
coming for you, I must really really have value within
the industry. And and and he's he's gonna feel challenged.
And I think that that he's gonna accept that challenge.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
He's a tremendous young man.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He's got a million dollar arm, I mean up to
one hundred with his fastball, and so I'm super excited.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
For him to get an opportunity to play on that stage.
And went on that stage.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
All right, since we're on the Dodgers, I'll ask you
one more question, then we'll move to some of the
other other teams as well. UH. You know you talked
about Crochet. There was a lot of rumor that the
Dodgers were trying to see if they could get a
deal done that didn't happen, but they did get Jack
Clarity from Detroit as well. And then of course you
mentioned the three way deal they did with your ball
(05:53):
club and UH and also UH and also with the
Cardinals and UH also picking up Kevin Kiermeier as well.
How about your review not only of the Dodgers, but
some of the other teams that got some pretty high
marks coming out of the through the trade deadline.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
I think it's really what it came down to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I think as we woke up Tuesday morning, you had
your board set and you had high expectations on your
returns for your high impact players. And as the day
moved forward and the conversations became granular with each organization,
and you started to realize, hey, this has got some legs,
this has got a chance, and then you realize it
could be going the other way. Teams really had target
(06:34):
one and target two, and if the acquisition costs for
target one becomes too much, We're going to pivot right away.
And with regards to the Dodgers and Garrett Crochet, we
literally could not come up with a deal with like
twenty two minutes left, and within five minutes the Flarity
deal had been made, and so you know, the playbooks
in each room across baseball were pretty much set. We
(06:56):
were super excited about of trade that we made with
the Phillies Tanner Banks for a young infielder named William Bargola,
a young, impactful second base bat that really knows how
to play the game.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And so there were a.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Lot of teams that even with like six minutes left,
you know, now you're talking about getting the medicals done
and getting the information of the Commissioner's office, there were
a lot of teams that were still trying to execute
things with under ten minutes remaining in the deadline. And
so it proved to be just a very exciting deadline
and way more movement than I ever expected.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, there was a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And the other question in these parts, as you know,
swirled around and revolved around the Astros deal that they
made with the Blue Jays in getting Kakuchi, and I
was in Houston over the weekend when that happened, and
then obviously on Monday and Tuesday when the things started percolating,
(07:52):
and the consensus from a lot of the outsiders was
that the Astros gave up too much.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
How about your on that.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I mean, I guess when you target a starting pitcher
that you know you need, you're probably going to give
up something to get him well.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And you know, Kakuchi if they can get him right,
and they obviously had him on the board as a
strong talent, a strong target, And I mean, when Kakuchi's
going good, he's as good as any starter in baseball.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
He's certainly at least a game three starter in a
five game series.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so when you look at that deal, you're talking
about true impact and return. So when you break that down,
Jake bloss has probably got the ceiling of a number
four starter. And so, okay, you look at that in
a five game series, he's your first arm out of
a bullpen.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
You look at a Joey Looper.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Fido who can play center field, but can he play
in every park in baseball?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Who knows? But does he does? His power profile on
the wing and so you got to examine that. And
then you look at Will Wagner.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Who's a twenty six year old triple A player that
eighty percent of the game is producing a maximum level
by the age of twenty five, and so you can
look at it like you overpaid in volume, but you've
gone to seventh straight America League Championship Series.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You're trying to do it for the eighth year in
a row.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And this is a very talented arm that they obviously
saw some ceiling in and a.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Guy that they think they can get right.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And so, you know, I say all the time, you
don't pick the time, the time picks you, and the
Astros certainly did what they needed to do to continue
their push to October.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson here on sports
Radio AM thirteen unders, I want to ask you one
other thing, and then I want to get to something
that you're involved with.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But here's something that caught my eye today and it
wasn't really trumpeted that much, but I think it could
be pretty important. MLB announced it's postseason scheduled today.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Okay, so if you look at the.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Postseason schedule, you have the Wildcard Series that start and
those will start on October first, Then the Division Series
will start on October fifth, then the LCS the League
Championship Series will start on October thirteenth, and then the
World Series is scheduled to start on October twenty fifth scheduled.
(10:10):
The reason why I say that is, for the first
time ever, Major League Baseball is saying if the National
League Championship Series and the American League Championship Series are
done by Saturday the nineteenth, By the way, that's when
Texas plays Georgia in these parts. But if they're done
by Saturday the nineteenth, they're gonna.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Move up the start of the World.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Series from the twenty fifth to Tuesday the twenty second.
I think that's really cool, the flexibility involved. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I love it. I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think Major League Baseball again did a great job
of having some feel for the situation and pivoting and
making the move that needed to be made. And it's
so incredibly hard now because there's so much parody in
the game.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
It's so incredibly hard when you're that really good.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Team that clinch is on say September twentieth, and you know,
you give your guys a few days off to get healthy,
and you start to mix guys in. Meanwhile, the backside
of the playoff race is going on and teams are
absolutely having to fight their way in. You've got to
override that momentum of that wild Car team.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
If you look at US in fourteen, you look.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
At us in Miami in two thousand and three, you
look at the number of wild card teams that have
such an edge and have to fight their way in,
they almost steam roll their way to the to the
World Series.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
And so now you've taken away at least one of.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Those hurdles, and a team that is really good, that
plays their way through, they sweep a series and now
they've got to sit and wait. And that team that's
fighting for every inch to get to the next round
has all the momentum coming into the next series. So
I think they did a tremendous job of kind of
taking away that momentum and balancing out the competition of that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Latest example of what you're talking about, you know, as
the Rangers right last year having to go and grind away, Yeah,
no question, get in.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
By a day and then just keep winning on the road.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Let me get your thoughts on one thing.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Cole passed this along as well, because I know Mike
Trout is a guy who's close to you. You were
with the Angels organization. I see it's a torn meniscaus
he's out for the rest of the year. Your heart
just really goes out to a guy like that, done it,
who is when he is healthy. I don't think there's
anybody better in baseball than he is. And here I
am a big show Ao Tommy fan obviously, but when
(12:30):
Trout's going right and when he's healthy, I don't think
there's anybody any better in terms of the complete package.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And now he's out again for the rest of the year.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, it's really unfortunate. And I know that nobody is
feeling it more than Mike. I mean, he's such competitor,
you know, when you have greatness like this, and they
play so much from the age of six to eighteen,
and they're so the bodies are so physically strong. They're
so much stronger now than ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
(13:00):
And you know, a younger player to the big League's
fast goes from you know, playing fifty sixty games a
year to one hundred and sixty two games every.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Day at the major level.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
With the style of play that he brings to the
table every day, it just takes a wear and tear
on your body. And Mike has never gotten on the
field one time where he didn't give you everything he
had and play so fierce in the way he steals bases,
goes into the wall defensively, and so over time that
just takes its toll on a body. And I know
(13:32):
it's it's really unfortunate that one we don't get to
see one of the best players in the game, but
two that you don't get to see it in October.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
It's really an unfortunate thing.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Geene Watson with us right now.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Okay, there's one other thing I really want to get
your thoughts on. There's been so much talk obviously about
the Olympics, and we've been watching the Olympics today, but
we're missing baseball. But I know you're on the selection
committee for twenty twenty eight in Los Angeles, with Mike
(14:04):
Soosha being the manager.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
How about your.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Thoughts on the team USA for the next Olympiad.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Well, we're really excited.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
We've had probably four calls so far, the requirements from
the player personnel, which I'm overseeing is their non forty
man roster players. So you cast a wider net right
now of players, the best young talented players, you prospects
that you want to identify, but also that forty man
(14:34):
roster player that might be falling off a roster. You know,
a guy that might be retiring, that wants to stay
in shape through October and playing this event in November
and TPEK Mexico, which is the Olympic qualifier that's going
to take place, And so you're kind of blending in
different vehicles to make your roster out. It could be
the Pacific rim with pitching, it could be Mexico, it
(14:56):
could be forty man roster falloff guys at the end
of the season, stay in shape for another month, and
then you blend in. For instance, the last premiere twelve
we had, you know, Alec Baum was on it, Drew
Waters was on it, Joe Adell, guys that are all
succeeding at the major league level now.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And so it's.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Truly it's one of the most exciting things I've ever
been a part of. It's it's an enormous honor to
be a part of it, and we're going to do
the very best we can to qualify and get some
gold in the twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Looking forward to that for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
He's Geen Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office,
joins us each week to talk m l B.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Gina.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I appreciate the time and we'll look forward to doing
it next week. Thanks for joining me today, all right, Craig,
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Take care you bet. All right.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
That's Gene Watson, join us there, and yeah, it'll be
good to have baseball back in the Olympics, and you know,
we've been missing it and it'll be cool to see
it and good and good to know the guys like
Gene who know the game in and out and the
talent pool in and out are going to be involved
(16:00):
in that, in the selection for that, and Mike's Hosha
the manager.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That's an extra thing, that's an extra benefits. That's pretty
cool as well. So we'll look for that.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
All right, Stay with us because coming up, we've got
some other Olympic news to get to and more football
when we continue here on this Thursday afternoon right here
on Sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone and where
you can always listen to us for absolutely free charge.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Three ninety nine on the iHeartRadio app
Now we start to head arounding the far turn, if
you will, to start heading toward what would be the
home stretch. But we're still kind of officially in what's
known as the dog days of the season. And who
better to discuss the dog days than our good friend
from the Chicago White Sox front office, Geene Watson, who
(00:21):
joins us now because you have, my friend, dealt with
a dog day or two at your time, have you not.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
When I'm done, I'm going to write a book called
Why Teams Lose, because I've been a part of a
lot of losing.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
But you know what's fair is you have been part
of some organizations that had a lot of losses and then,
with your input and expertise, along with some really good management,
teams have flipped the script. You did it in Atlanta,
you did it in San Diego, you did it in Florida,
you did it in Kansas City. And now, would you
(01:02):
say this is probably as steep a challenges perhaps that
you have faced being part of a White Sox organization
that is not used to, you know, even though they've
had some struggles, certainly not used to losing at the
rate that has happened for the White Sox.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But the fact that this might be as.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Challenging an opportunity for you as you've encountered in your
many years in baseball.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
You know, Craig, it's funny. I was just with the
Royals media this week.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
We played them in Chicago, and you know, to see
what's happening there and to be a small part of
that reconstruction of that team is it's really gratifying to
see the way they're playing. And I had a lot
of people in the Kansas City media ask me it
is is it as bad as when you came to
Kansas City?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
And my answer is no.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
We have an incredible manager in Pedro Graffall, an incredible
major league coaching staff. When we got to Kansas City
in two thousand and six, we could have basically sent
everybody home and started over and been further along than
we are right now. We've got young players, We've especially
got young pitching, and so.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
If you're going to be away from your family two.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Hundred eighty days a year, you want to be a
part of something where you can actually impact it.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
And that's the way I've looked at my entire career
in the game, and.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
So This is just another fun challenge to look forward
to and wake up every day embracing it. All.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Right, you talked about the young pitching.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I want to get your review on the deals that
were made across Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But let me start with your ball club.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Because your ball club was very, very active, and I
think everybody knew the White Sox were going to be sellers,
not buyers, so to speak. But the crafting of the deals,
the amount of talent you were getting back for what
you had to give up, was going to be very,
very crucial. How did you feel all that went down
with your own organization? The guys you had to surrender
(02:58):
and the guys you acquired, well, we.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Were very excited and we picked up you know, there's
been a lot of chrism criticism of the the Fetti
fam Copek deal where we picked up three players for
three major league players, but you know, Michael Kopek tremendous talent.
In a one for one in a saturated market, you're
not going to get a real player that's going to
swing the needle for you. Tommy fam a thirty six
(03:22):
year old outfill or one of my favorite players ever
in thirty five years in the game that in a
one for one is not going to give you a
lot of impact. And then you go Eric Fetti, a
player that we signed out of Korea in a two
year controllable contract. You know, we were able to pick
up three young, impactful bats and so three players with
(03:43):
sealing to them that can actually impact a major league roster.
So we were very excited about that deal. We got
very close at the end in executing a trade for
Garrett Crochet, and it showed really great restraint by our
front office not to do the deals because it would.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Have been easy to just accept what was being offered.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
But now you take him into the offseason or even
into next winter, and you've got major league players involved,
players from this year's draft involved, and so you just
got a greater player pool to choose from moving forward,
and so we were.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Comfortable with that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So it was it was It was really fun because
we felt like we had done the work and our
board in our room was in perfect place to make
sound decisions when the time came to make them.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Tell me a little more about Copek, because I know
he's from Mount Pleasant, but I watched him last night
because I was watching the Dodgers, and they need relief
help in the worst way because right now they're really struggling.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But Kopek didn't struggle.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
He blew three guys out of the water, struck out
the side, and hit triple digits against all three guys
last night. I was I was pretty encouraged watching that.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
You know, Michael is such a special young man.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
And I got a really cool moment with him right
before he left the stadium. You know, we passed each
other or in the in the tunnel, and I was
able to give him a hug and and just told him, hey,
go get that ring man and and I.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
And that's the biggest thing for Michael is I think.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
He knows now that like, if the La Dodgers are
coming for you, I must really really have value within
the industry. And and and he's he's gonna feel challenged.
And I think that that he's gonna accept that challenge.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
He's a tremendous young man.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
He's got a million dollar arm, I mean up to
one hundred with his fastball, and so I'm super excited.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
For him to get an opportunity to play on that stage.
And went on that stage.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
All right, since we're on the Dodgers, I'll ask you
one more question, then we'll move to some of the
other other teams as well. UH. You know you talked
about Crochet. There was a lot of rumor that the
Dodgers were trying to see if they could get a
deal done that didn't happen, but they did get Jack
Clarity from Detroit as well. And then of course you
mentioned the three way deal they did with your ball
(05:53):
club and UH and also UH and also with the
Cardinals and UH also picking up Kevin Kiermeier as well.
How about your review not only of the Dodgers, but
some of the other teams that got some pretty high
marks coming out of the through the trade deadline.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
I think it's really what it came down to.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I think as we woke up Tuesday morning, you had
your board set and you had high expectations on your
returns for your high impact players. And as the day
moved forward and the conversations became granular with each organization,
and you started to realize, hey, this has got some legs,
this has got a chance, and then you realize it
could be going the other way. Teams really had target
(06:34):
one and target two, and if the acquisition costs for
target one becomes too much, We're going to pivot right away.
And with regards to the Dodgers and Garrett Crochet, we
literally could not come up with a deal with like
twenty two minutes left, and within five minutes the Flarity
deal had been made, and so you know, the playbooks
in each room across baseball were pretty much set. We
(06:56):
were super excited about of trade that we made with
the Phillies Tanner Banks for a young infielder named William Bargola,
a young, impactful second base bat that really knows how
to play the game.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
And so there were a.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Lot of teams that even with like six minutes left,
you know, now you're talking about getting the medicals done
and getting the information of the Commissioner's office, there were
a lot of teams that were still trying to execute
things with under ten minutes remaining in the deadline. And
so it proved to be just a very exciting deadline
and way more movement than I ever expected.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, there was a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And the other question in these parts, as you know,
swirled around and revolved around the Astros deal that they
made with the Blue Jays in getting Kakuchi, and I
was in Houston over the weekend when that happened, and
then obviously on Monday and Tuesday when the things started percolating,
(07:52):
and the consensus from a lot of the outsiders was
that the Astros gave up too much.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
How about your on that.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I mean, I guess when you target a starting pitcher
that you know you need, you're probably going to give
up something to get him well.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And you know, Kakuchi if they can get him right,
and they obviously had him on the board as a
strong talent, a strong target, And I mean, when Kakuchi's
going good, he's as good as any starter in baseball.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
He's certainly at least a game three starter in a
five game series.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And so when you look at that deal, you're talking
about true impact and return. So when you break that down,
Jake bloss has probably got the ceiling of a number
four starter. And so, okay, you look at that in
a five game series, he's your first arm out of
a bullpen.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
You look at a Joey Looper.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Fido who can play center field, but can he play
in every park in baseball?
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Who knows? But does he does? His power profile on
the wing and so you got to examine that. And
then you look at Will Wagner.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Who's a twenty six year old triple A player that
eighty percent of the game is producing a maximum level
by the age of twenty five, and so you can
look at it like you overpaid in volume, but you've
gone to seventh straight America League Championship Series.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You're trying to do it for the eighth year in
a row.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And this is a very talented arm that they obviously
saw some ceiling in and a.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Guy that they think they can get right.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
And so, you know, I say all the time, you
don't pick the time, the time picks you, and the
Astros certainly did what they needed to do to continue
their push to October.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Talking Major League Baseball with Gene Watson here on sports
Radio AM thirteen unders, I want to ask you one
other thing, and then I want to get to something
that you're involved with.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
It's pretty cool as well.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But here's something that caught my eye today and it
wasn't really trumpeted that much, but I think it could
be pretty important. MLB announced it's postseason scheduled today.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Okay, so if you look at the.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Postseason schedule, you have the Wildcard Series that start and
those will start on October first, Then the Division Series
will start on October fifth, then the LCS the League
Championship Series will start on October thirteenth, and then the
World Series is scheduled to start on October twenty fifth scheduled.
(10:10):
The reason why I say that is, for the first
time ever, Major League Baseball is saying if the National
League Championship Series and the American League Championship Series are
done by Saturday the nineteenth, By the way, that's when
Texas plays Georgia in these parts. But if they're done
by Saturday the nineteenth, they're gonna.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Move up the start of the World.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Series from the twenty fifth to Tuesday the twenty second.
I think that's really cool, the flexibility involved. How do
you feel about that?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
I love it. I think it's great.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think Major League Baseball again did a great job
of having some feel for the situation and pivoting and
making the move that needed to be made. And it's
so incredibly hard now because there's so much parody in
the game.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
It's so incredibly hard when you're that really good.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Team that clinch is on say September twentieth, and you know,
you give your guys a few days off to get healthy,
and you start to mix guys in. Meanwhile, the backside
of the playoff race is going on and teams are
absolutely having to fight their way in. You've got to
override that momentum of that wild Car team.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
If you look at US in fourteen, you look.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
At us in Miami in two thousand and three, you
look at the number of wild card teams that have
such an edge and have to fight their way in,
they almost steam roll their way to the to the
World Series.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
And so now you've taken away at least one of.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Those hurdles, and a team that is really good, that
plays their way through, they sweep a series and now
they've got to sit and wait. And that team that's
fighting for every inch to get to the next round
has all the momentum coming into the next series. So
I think they did a tremendous job of kind of
taking away that momentum and balancing out the competition of that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Latest example of what you're talking about, you know, as
the Rangers right last year having to go and grind away, Yeah,
no question, get in.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
By a day and then just keep winning on the road.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Let me get your thoughts on one thing.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Cole passed this along as well, because I know Mike
Trout is a guy who's close to you. You were
with the Angels organization. I see it's a torn meniscaus
he's out for the rest of the year. Your heart
just really goes out to a guy like that, done it,
who is when he is healthy. I don't think there's
anybody better in baseball than he is. And here I
am a big show Ao Tommy fan obviously, but when
(12:30):
Trout's going right and when he's healthy, I don't think
there's anybody any better in terms of the complete package.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
And now he's out again for the rest of the year.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, it's really unfortunate. And I know that nobody is
feeling it more than Mike. I mean, he's such competitor,
you know, when you have greatness like this, and they
play so much from the age of six to eighteen,
and they're so the bodies are so physically strong. They're
so much stronger now than ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
(13:00):
And you know, a younger player to the big League's
fast goes from you know, playing fifty sixty games a
year to one hundred and sixty two games every.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Day at the major level.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
With the style of play that he brings to the
table every day, it just takes a wear and tear
on your body. And Mike has never gotten on the
field one time where he didn't give you everything he
had and play so fierce in the way he steals bases,
goes into the wall defensively, and so over time that
just takes its toll on a body. And I know
(13:32):
it's it's really unfortunate that one we don't get to
see one of the best players in the game, but
two that you don't get to see it in October.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
It's really an unfortunate thing.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
Geene Watson with us right now.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Okay, there's one other thing I really want to get
your thoughts on. There's been so much talk obviously about
the Olympics, and we've been watching the Olympics today, but
we're missing baseball. But I know you're on the selection
committee for twenty twenty eight in Los Angeles, with Mike
(14:04):
Soosha being the manager.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
How about your.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Thoughts on the team USA for the next Olympiad.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Well, we're really excited.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
We've had probably four calls so far, the requirements from
the player personnel, which I'm overseeing is their non forty
man roster players. So you cast a wider net right
now of players, the best young talented players, you prospects
that you want to identify, but also that forty man
(14:34):
roster player that might be falling off a roster. You know,
a guy that might be retiring, that wants to stay
in shape through October and playing this event in November
and TPEK Mexico, which is the Olympic qualifier that's going
to take place, And so you're kind of blending in
different vehicles to make your roster out. It could be
the Pacific rim with pitching, it could be Mexico, it
(14:56):
could be forty man roster falloff guys at the end
of the season, stay in shape for another month, and
then you blend in. For instance, the last premiere twelve
we had, you know, Alec Baum was on it, Drew
Waters was on it, Joe Adell, guys that are all
succeeding at the major league level now.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
And so it's.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Truly it's one of the most exciting things I've ever
been a part of. It's it's an enormous honor to
be a part of it, and we're going to do
the very best we can to qualify and get some
gold in the twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Looking forward to that for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
He's Geen Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office,
joins us each week to talk m l B.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Gina.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I appreciate the time and we'll look forward to doing
it next week. Thanks for joining me today, all right, Craig,
appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Take care you bet. All right.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
That's Gene Watson, join us there, and yeah, it'll be
good to have baseball back in the Olympics, and you know,
we've been missing it and it'll be cool to see
it and good and good to know the guys like
Gene who know the game in and out and the
talent pool in and out are going to be involved
(16:00):
in that, in the selection for that, and Mike's Hosha
the manager.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
That's an extra thing, that's an extra benefits. That's pretty
cool as well. So we'll look for that.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
All right, Stay with us because coming up, we've got
some other Olympic news to get to and more football
when we continue here on this Thursday afternoon right here
on Sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone and where
you can always listen to us for absolutely free charge.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Three ninety nine on the iHeartRadio app
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