Gene Watson, our resident MLB insder and VP of Player Personnel with Chicago White Sox, joins the show to preview the MLB Trade Deadline, potential buyers and sellers, and the recent surge from the Texas Rangers.
Finally, hear Steve Sarkisian's conversation wtih Colin Cowherd about Arch Manning, facing Ohio State in Week 1, and if Nick Saban will ever return to coaching.
Finally, hear Steve Sarkisian's conversation wtih Colin Cowherd about Arch Manning, facing Ohio State in Week 1, and if Nick Saban will ever return to coaching.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Craig Way alongside the producer Cameron Parker. Thanks again to
Bill Shooning dropping by. As you can tell, we've been
friends a long time and work together for several years
as well. It's always great to catch up with Bill.
And he's, like I said, getting to enjoy semi retirement.
The semi part means not doing this purs anymore, but
(00:20):
he is. He'll he'll do some freelance things, he said,
and do some other things. So you'll obviously still hear
his voice about and so it's good, good to hear him.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I need to do this.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We mentioned we've got to give away two more copies
of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. We gave away a
couple yesterday to Michael Lorrera and George from Leander who
do the final score of the Peach Bowl and then
(00:53):
they knew that it was thirty nine to thirty one
in double overtime. So and the way this works is
you have to do it by our talk back feature,
So on your smartphone, if you don't already have it downloaded,
download the iHeartRadio app. It's really easy to do. It's free.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
All that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Then you search AM thirteen hundred the zone. In fact,
you make it a preset, it'll make it real easy
to listen to. Once you pull up a thirteen hundred zone,
there are two buttons there. One is a white one
kind of shaped like an arrowhead or a triangle.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's to listen to the programming that's on our station,
like this one right now.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But there's another button, a red one with a little
white microphone, and that's called the talk back button. So
you hit that and then you're able to leave us
a voicemail message up to thirty seconds. Don't go beyond thirty.
But you really don't need that for the purposes of
this contest. You just need to have the knowledge of
the Texas Longhorns. And we've got some more creative contesting
(01:57):
for this magazine coming up, but we wanted to just
kind of gently ramp up to it. Like when we
did the first one a couple of days ago, when
we give away three copies, it was just the first
three to access us via the talkback feature. Yesterday we
gave away two copies by way of remembering the final
(02:19):
score of the Peach Bawl. First two correct people to
access us on the talkback got it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So here's the one.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
For today, the question for today, and this is going
to be the first two correct answers to this on
the talkback feature. So if you take the time to
start digging up and looking through it, you might miss
out on it. So hopefully this calls on your fandom
if you're a long WRN fan. What I want to
know is name the four non conference opponents Texas has
(02:54):
this year. That's simple, and if you know it off
the top of your head, that'll help you try to
one of the first two to reach us via the
talkback and antone sees it when it comes in cataloged
by time. So the first two correct answers, because a
lot of people will know the answer.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But how quick can you be to rattle it off?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The first two correct answers on the talkback the four
non conference opponents for Texas here in twenty twenty five,
can you rattle off the top of your camera?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Don't do it? Yeah again? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Okay, okay, So just so to let you know that,
okay in Kansas City, by the way, for those of
you Kansas City and the UT men's basketball non conference schedule, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, that was released yesterday and in case you didn't
hear it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
The long worn men's basketball team is playing among its
non conference opponents Kansas City, and you say, what do
you mean Kansas City. It's the former and in fact
still the official name is University of Missouri Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
That's the full name of the school. But like so
many other schools, they're.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Dropping the names, uh, the University of in other words,
just to get to it quicker. We've seen that happen
with Charlotte, right they University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
There's just Charlotte. They're U n C C.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, U n C or yeah yeah. Memphis used to
be Memphis State and they're just it's just Memphis. There's
there's several other like that that that have just the
one the city name or one particular name of the
place without having the university of because it's just quicker
(04:49):
to say and quicker to rattle off.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So, umk C is a little bit a little It's
like U NBC.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, Maryland Baltimore County they just go by U NBC.
But because it's a mouthful to say Maryland Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Cast they're in a tough spots, lose lose, Yeah, So it's.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Easier just to say U, NBC. You know, Houston Christian
is requesting the media just call them h CU, like TCU.
TCU doesn't go by Texas Christian University except in official
letterhead and stationary and things of that nature. But their
football program it's TCU.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
They go by that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
UTSA prefers that you do not call them University of Texas,
San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I remember when it was Houston Baptist, Craig long time.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yes, it was Houston Baptist three years ago and then
became Houston Christian. Now they say just call us eight CU.
And the ACU was one of the teams that was
in Austin for the region along with UTSA at Kansas State.
The Speaking of baseball, long WRNS head coach Jim slas
Nagel and his staff today announced the winners of the
(05:54):
twenty twenty five postseason team Awards.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
There's six awards.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
There's the James and Houston Street Longhorn Award, the Brooks
Keishnick Team MVP, the Keith Morland Offensive Player of the Year,
the Gregswindell Pitcher of the Year, the Spikeel and Defensive
Player of the Year. On the Sean Braswell Academic MVP,
each named after former Longhorns who are honored for their
contributions to the program.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So the Longhorn Award, which.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Is named as we mentioned for James and Houston Street,
was created to recognize the player who most embodies what
it means to be a long worn through leadership, selflessness,
and integrity both on and off the field. The winner
of that award, the James and Houston Street Longhorn Award,
(06:41):
is Kimball Schusler, and I can't think of a better
candidate for that who embodied that. The Brooks Keishnick Team
MVP and Keith Morland Offensive Player of the Year Award
to Rylan Galvan. The Gregswindelle pitcher there you can probably
guess it, Dylan Valantis, the spikeel and Defensive Player of
the Year Jalen Flores. And the Sean Braswell Academic MVP
(07:04):
is Luke Harrison.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So there it is. There's the winners of the postseason
award there. All right?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Coming up, we'll shift from college baseball to major League baseball.
We'll talk big league baseball.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Geene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office. When
we continue here on less Friday on thirteen under the Zone.
Geene Watson joins us on the hotline. G know, we're
we're fast approaching the trade deadline, and so I know,
folks really zero in on those last forty eight twenty
four to forty eight, maybe even seventy two hours of
it in terms of following it from afar. But this
(07:41):
is the process that begins how far back during the
course of the season, when you start to figure out
who are buyers, who are sellers, and who might be
available for being bought or being sold.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, good afternoon, Craig.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
It you know, it really begins in spring training as
you begin into set the tone for the expectation levels
of each teams and where you expect them to be
in July. Not necessarily that they'll be there, uh, but
but you start to from an idealistic standpoint having those
conversations in spring training. And I know that you know,
(08:17):
some of the conversations that I've had with teams today
are connected to you know, conversations we had with teams
at March, and so it's really you just try to
try to early identify where your fits and your matchups
may be, and you start to have those conversations, and
they they trickle into this time of year. Certainly, let
me get your thoughts immediately on some you might say
(08:42):
early out of the box trades that already happened. The
Mariners picking up Josh Neilor from the Diamondbacks last night.
It sends a pitching prospect and Brandon Garcia and a
right handed prospect Ashton Is he to the to the
d Backs?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So how about your thoughts on that trade?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Well, listeners may be familiar with Brandon Garcia as he
was a pitcher of Texas A and M University and
certainly one of their better, you know, mid level pitching
prospect Ashton Izzy. I actually saw uh In Uh in
Washington in uh about six weeks ago, and he is
a potential mid rotation type, arm stripe thrower, really good stuff,
(09:22):
physical player and and so the two really nice pieces.
Uh And they you know, the Diamondbacks have been very
vocal about wanting to get pitching prospects back in return
for a guy that has a chance to be a
real spark plug for that team. And the Mariners have
a really good team. But if there's a criticism of them,
sometimes there's not a lot of energy to the team,
(09:45):
and and Josh Naylor certainly brings a very good edge.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
He's he's a Canadian born player. Uh, when you got.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Vancouver two hours north hockey background, really good edge, high
energy and arguably one of the best left handed bats
available on the market.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So a very good trade for both teams.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's certainly addressed at least one of the needs for
the Mariners, and I'm sure that they're not finished trying
to complete improving that roster.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, it's interesting that the point that you're making, and
I know you're not indegnifying anybody or anything, but when
you said if there was a knock on them from outside,
it was about the energy with the team. And I
know the layman may sit back and say, what do
you talking about the professionals. They're getting millions and millions
of dollars, why would there not be energy. But there's
a collective energy that permeates a ball club for for
(10:37):
good or the lack of it for not good. I
hear it all the time, obviously watching Dodger games, and
you talk about the energy in the clubhouse. I got
all these great gun and I'm like, well, yeah, they're they're,
they're they're they're great professionals. But but there is an
intangible that that permeates a major league clubhouse, isn't there.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
One hundred percent? And that's not a criticism of the Mariners.
What it is is it's just their personality. And you know,
all thirty organizations, I say, it's like Baskin Robbins's thirty
different flavors, thirty different complexions of front offices, thirty different
ways of going about, and with that, your major league
team can take on a certain personality. Seattle shits up
in the Northwest. It's kind of a hidden little secret.
(11:16):
You know, it's the furthest major league city to travel
to for most teams. But Josh is certainly going to
bring a really good edge, a fiery approach to the game.
And when you look at that team with guys like
Julio Rodriguez and Cal Rawley, it's certainly just going to
add to the competitive edge. It's certainly going to jolt
that roster into a championship level team.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Let me get your thoughts on the deal between the
Mets and the Orioles. The Mets picking up left handed
reliever Gregory Soto from Baltimore today in exchange for two
minor leaguers, Class A right hander Wellington Arasenia and double
A right hander Cameron Foster goes to Baltimore and Uh,
(12:01):
that so now the Mets have a hard throwing left
hander to complement their only other left he Brooks Raley
to get from you value I saw pitch against Vistaridge
and high school. Uh, we're returning from Tommy John surgery
last week as well. So how about Soto going from
Baltimore to the Mets.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Well, it certainly addresses a need and it's certainly not
going to be the last move that the Mets make,
but it also speaks to you know, the you know,
with a week to go, how saturated the reliever market
potentially is going to be. And they felt like that
they had a return that they were comfortable with. Not
that there aren't going to be better arms out there,
but they certainly like the talent, they like the acquisition costs.
(12:41):
It addressed the need, and I think you're going to
see in the next six or seven days that the
reliever market is somewhat oversaturated right now and the returns
are not going to be very high returns overall.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Okay, and then and then the other deal I wanted
to get your thoughts on is the deal that the
Yankees have made with the Rockies to pick up Ryan
McMahon in exchange for minor league pitchers Griffin Hearing and
Josh Gross being converted. McMahon's thirty years old, Yankee's going
to pick up the rest of his contract, has about
(13:14):
four and a half million left for all of twenty
five and then thirty two million over the next two seasons.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, similarly that that was a money deal.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
That was a chance for the Rockies to kind of
really come off some serious payroll in the coming years
and save thirty two million dollars to get to you know,
kind of depth type prospect arms. But the focus there
is to be able to you know, free yourself up
with thirty two million dollars with where your team is.
You've got Charlie Condon coming in your minor league system,
(13:44):
and so it was a chance to save a lot
of money and not give up high, high return to
get it done.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And so they felt like with a week ago, it
was a good time to strike on that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So now as we head into these final days before
the deadline itself comes up next week. One of the
things give folks an idea of what exactly you and
the White Sox front office, what you're looking at, what
you're listening to those times you don't have the specifics
obviously the players, but just the philosophy of how this
(14:15):
works for the buyers and the sellers as they approach
the trade deadline.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Well, that's really what we do, and that's what we
began on Monday. We've been focusing on six organizations a day.
Our scouts have been presenting on those organizations as to the.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
State of the major league club. Are they buyers or sellers.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
If they're sellers, we talk about the major league team,
and the major league team only. If their buyers, we
talk about their major league team, where their deficiencies are,
and what do we possibly have that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
They would want and what we want to return.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So it's really a strong filter system and that we
completed the twenty ninth club.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Today, so we've set our board as to who's in
and who's out.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I would tell you there's probably seventeen teams in that
we still have conversations with and tomorrow begin to tear
out those organizations. Prospect wise, who are the players we
really want? Who are the players they want back from us?
And then you bring your R and D piece in
and you have them massage the board from the performance standpoint,
(15:14):
from an analytical standpoint, and then you.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Begin to set your targets.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And that you know, it can move quicker based on
phone calls that you get in a given day, and
it can move a lot slower based on the market.
Right now, it's moving pretty slow, So we feel like
we have a lot of time to get things organized tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
How common is it for an organization to what you
just said, have everything lined up, have the the the
interested parties, and then all of a sudden, here comes
a flyer, somebody to use the baseball turn out of
left field. Somebody really coming in all of a sudden
with a deal. Is that really that commonplace? Does it
happened very often? All of a sudden, Oh wow, somebody
(15:52):
is really interested in, you know, filling the blank whatever
player and they're willing to give up YadA YadA.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
It actually happened to we had to go back and
throw a board back, a team back on the board
because they came in and laid on a lot of
our players, and so you're always truly prepared for those situations.
It's just literally putting the players back up on the
board from a filtering standpoint, but it can happen quite often.
And you know, we're literally day by day of the
(16:19):
seventeen we have on the board, literally day by day,
whether a team wins or loses their fourth or fifth game,
they go from four games out of the wild Card
to six. We may take teams off the board based
on that. So it's really literally by the hour when
it comes to these conversations.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Talking baseball with Team Watson here on thirteen under the Zone.
There's a couple of big series. One of those is
at Fenway Park this weekend. The Red Sox host the Dodgers.
The Red Sox today plays Marcella Meyer on the ten
day IL. He had a right wrist brain I know,
he's a guy, you think it awful lot of the
in the progress that he's made as well, and he
(16:55):
was called up in May when Alex Bredman had the
quad injury. Played mostly third base, has played mostly third base,
and Alex cor said they're still in information gathering mode now,
but now he's on the ten day IL. How about
this Red Sox team, because they really got on a
roll right at the All Star break, and now the
injury bug, just like it hits every other team, is
(17:16):
hit them.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Yeah, and this is an interesting series in that there
have been some conversations between the two teams, and so
now in the head to head assessment, you know, both
organizations dreaming of matching up in October, you can kind
of see where each other stand.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
In July, and you know, what do they have that
we might want? What do we have that they might want?
Speaker 5 (17:36):
And I know they've had conversations, and those conversations could
certainly intensify based on this weekend, truly, And so you know,
you want to play your best baseball against the best.
There's certainly two of the upper tier teams in the
major league level, most talented teams, and so it'll be
a real dog fight. And I've said before some series
(17:58):
are statement series, and this is certainly one over this weekend.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And who knows if And I'm interested in your thoughts
on this because this has nothing to do with performance
of players or the possibility of trade.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But there may be a lot of people going.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
To Fenway Park this weekend, who can't get a hot dog?
The story came down that hundreds of Aramark workers at
Fenway Park are going on strike and planning to stay
out for the entire series between the Red Sox and
the Dodgers this weekend. Concession workers had set a deadline
of noon today for Aramark and Fenway Park to reach
(18:36):
an agreement with the local twenty sixth chapter the Massachusetts
and Rhode Island Hotel, Casino, Airport and Food Services Workers Union,
and the union went on strike at noon, asking for quotes,
living wages, guardrails on technology, and R E R E
s pect respect. I know this didn't have anything to
(18:57):
do with your particular, Bailey Wick, but I know you've
also been around when there have been other issues, say
maintenance issues, or maybe it's a food service issue or
something like that with a ballpark when you got a
game schedule, especially high level game like this to night,
which which adds a little intrigue to this.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
I worked for I worked for an owner one time
whose name I won't say, one of the greatest businessmen
in this country's history, and he had a saying, everybody's important,
nobody's indispensable, and I'm sure that if need be, they'll
be able to find people to sell those hot dogs
that they.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Have to.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Local twenty six Road on social media. Quote, we're asking
you to not buy concessions inside the ballpark. I can't
imagine somebody not going for a lobster roll and and
and a cold malted beverage for this one.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I always am curious to get your thoughts on Asters
and Rangers. Rangers have ended up had an uptick of
Lake come off the series sweep of the A's as well.
Let me start with Texas and get your thoughts on
the Rangers. Right now, we're trying to make this push
and there's a lot of people think that maybe they
would be buyers or not sellers.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
There three above five hundred. Now they won three in
a row.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They won eight of their last ten ball games, or
seven back of Houston in the Division series, and then
in the wild Card they are just barely off the pace.
They are game and a half back of Boston for
the third Wildcard spot. How about your thoughts on the Rangers. Well,
as Corey.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Seeer goes, the Texas Rangers go and this if you
were going to have a statement for the Texas Rangers
right now.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
It's sense of urgency and they feel it.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
They know who their manager is and Bruce Boschie, Hall
of Fame manager, they know what this means to him.
They know that to this point they've probably underachieved a
little bit. But I look for these guys to play
their very best baseball the rest of the way and
I not count them out of the division. I think
(21:02):
that they feel the sense of urgency. They've responded so far.
They want to keep this team together at the deadline,
and they're certainly showing that in their play right now
on the field.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Had a long conversation with Dana Brown yesterday.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Loved Dana and the thing that I conveyed to him
is just what an incredible job they have done with
seventeen players on the il. You lose Bregmant, you lose
Tucker over the years, you've lost Cole, you've lost Verlander,
and they just keep winning.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And you know, Jim Crane is a big part of the.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Culture down there and that the expectations drive the results,
and they expect to win every night. And they've just
done a magnificent job this year, and they're certainly working
hard to improve that team into the deadline, but it's
going to be a great stretch running the American League.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
West Seattle's very talented.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Oakland and the Angels have somewhat underachieved to this point,
but I look for those three teams to kind of
pull back together and be a dogfight into October.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Gino, one would imagine this, and I mentioned big series
this weekend. I mentioned Dodgers, Red Sox. I would put Rangers, Braves.
There is a big series because you've got an Atlanta team,
the Sands, running through the hourglass for them, Gino, they're
ten back of the third wildcard spot. Now are the Braves.
How about your thoughts on them going into this series
(22:22):
with Texas?
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Well, I think they know they're more talented than the
way they've played, and I think that they'll do their
best to write the ship them and even if they
don't right to ship the rest.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Of twenty five.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
This is a team that's very young and very talented,
and they'll tweak at this winter and they'll be back
in strong contention next year.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
But on the reverse, this is a big chance.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
For Texas to pick off a series that they believe
they should probably win, and win convincingly if they do,
you know, they come out on Monday morning in a
wild card spot, and now the momentum grows and the
sense of urgency grows greater, and.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
They're back on track to what they thought they were
going to do in April.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well and finally Gino and this brings the Astros into
the equation.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
They've got a five game lead on Seattle, who took
two or three from Houston last weekend. Start off the
post All Star a portion of the season, they're seven
ahead of Texas right now. They've won five of their
last ten. They've been just kind of so so middling
of the last and it's it's an important time for
them as well. Like you said, it's not out of
the reach of the Rangers to try to win that
(23:26):
American League West, and with the A's moving on down
the Houston really the time to make hay for the
Astros is this weekend, isn't it. Percent And Seattle they're
not done.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I mean, they're going to make another move to improve
that offense, and they just improved their club immensely, and
so for Houston and Texas, it's going to be very
important that they play good baseball the rest of the
way because Seattle arguably has the best pitching in baseball,
and as they continue to try to improve that offense,
it's just kind of to make them more potent down
the road.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
He's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office.
A working man, been real busy, Gina. Will look forward
to visiting with you next Friday, coming off of the
trade deadline.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I appreciate you taking the time. Ah, Greig, thanks so much.
You bet. All right.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
That's Geene Watson from the White Sox. All right, up next,
we're going to hear from sark the Texas head football coach,
some comments when we continue on thirteen under the Zone
Preseeds Hours the Herd with Colin Cowherd.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
If you didn't here, it is, and even if you
did here it is.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Colin Cowherd's comment Terry and his conversation with Longhorns head
coach Steve Sarkisian. Well, there were thirteen and three last
year before losing to the Buckeyes. One of the reasons
I love the college football Playoff is that you can
play big games early and even if you lose thirty
five thirty, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You can grow as a team.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You don't have to go undefeated the rest of the
way to play for the College Football National Championship. The
Buckeyes last year lost as a twenty point favorite home
after losing to Oregon and Notatson, and they still made it.
That's why I love Texas and Ohio State play and
my buddy Sarks joining us coach of the horrange Texas
long hunch, who I have playing in the National Championship
this year against Penn State. The two best teams I
(25:08):
think are Penn State and you guys. I want you
to go back, Sark to your USC days, your Washington day's,
the Alabama days, and now at Texas.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
This is a This is a lot to chew on
in Week one.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Road game Ohio State, you guys, Pete Carroll and you guys,
you played some tough games early. Go back in your career.
Is this Is there anything that reminds you of this
kind of game as an opener?
Speaker 6 (25:33):
As an opener, the only one I could think of,
Colin is when we went to Auburn. I want to think,
I want to say it was two and it was
Liner's first career star Reggie Reggie Lindell were true freshmen,
and we went into We went into Auburn and they
were they were pretty highly ranked team. But I don't
(25:55):
know of anybody, you know, going on the road playing
the defending national champions after having played them in the
semi finals. They ended our season last year, and then
we turn around and open with them this year. It's
gonna be hecking a game. But that's you just touched
on it. That's the beauty of this format now that
you can afford to play these games. It's great for
the fans, it's great for college football. Everybody's talking about it,
(26:19):
and I was jokingly saying, you know, it's so different
than the NFL. Nobody's talking about Week one matchups in
the NFL. Everybody's talking about this game and the idea
that I don't think either of us get punished playing
this game. Obviously, we all we both need to play
well throughout the entirety of the season. But sure, it's
what a spotlight it puts on both programs and as
(26:39):
well as college football.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, and also it's a litmus test.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
You'll know a lot about your team that you couldn't
You wouldn't know if you played a lesser opponent. So
here's what I worry about. Four new offensive line starters.
Now you've got this is a position you have recruited
very very well. And arch Manning, I bet, just like
Dad and Eli and Archie is good at the line
of scrimmage. You'll get that ball away quickly. But it
does to go on the road, Sark, you know this
(27:02):
better than anybody.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
The all line.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
You don't have a preseason. These are nineteen twenty year
old guys. That is a cohesion, chemistry unit, not just
a talent unit. Are you concerned for new starters on
the road, not the arch thing? That's fine, but you
don't You don't have an exhibition game to start. That's
a lot to ask, does it, or you?
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Well, I think that's why training camp is going to
be so important. And you know, the beauty for the
offensive line is they have to compete against our defensive
front every day, and I think we've got one of
the premier defensive fronts in the country. They're very talented players,
but also a really good scheme, a difficult scheme. But
to your point, them all playing together as one is
(27:46):
going to be critical, and arch does play a part
in that. You know, we're fortunate. DJ Campbell's a returning starter.
Cole Hudson rotated with DJ, played a bunch of football.
Trevor Guseby really at the end of the season. He
was playing against all sorts of high high cali our
opponents from Georgia to Texas A and M to Clemson,
so he got a lot of experience at tackle. But
there'll be a couple of new faces in there, and
(28:09):
I do think that's going to be one of the
keys for us in the ballgame. Is is I don't
want to say protecting them, but putting them in really
good positions that they can go out and execute and
plays it plays a unit.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
So Jeremiah Smith is on a short list of the
most talented college football players I've ever seen. Reggie Bush
I can remember seeing him as a sophomore and thinking, oh,
he could probably play in the NFL right now.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Javon Curse was kind of like that.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
When you play a guy like Jeremiah Smith, do you
bracket him, do you double him? Do you trust your corners?
He is so physically strong that it's one of those
you contain him? Do you?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean, what, how? What is a game plan? Is
there a perfect one to you just mixed coverages.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
You know, It's interesting. I had a chance to coach
Julio Jones for two years. Reminds me a lot of him,
so big and physical but yet fast and then cover
ground so strong at the point of attack, when the
balls in the air, you see that, you see the
you know, just the ability to make contested catches. And
(29:13):
I do think that at the end of the day,
a that's where your attention needs to be. But hey,
they got really good coaches. He's going to be moving around.
He's not going to be lining up in one position
all the time. Ideally you've you've got multiple people with
eyes on him and guarding him.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But you can't.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
You still have to play great team defense, and you've
got to have the ability to stop the run, and
you got to cover the two other white House they
have are two really good players too. So I do
think a multitude of things that you can do well,
but you better know where number four is at all times.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
So it's interesting when you get quarterbacks that I've always
kind of felt like ideally I was talking to an
NFLGM about this, he goes, I'm not really hiring coaches.
I'm hiring CEOs a coach to be a CEO, I
don't want him on the head set constantly. College it
feels a little bit different. But you are a CEO
at Texas. You have a great athletic director, but I
(30:05):
mean nil transfer portal, building a staff players. So how
much I know, I know it's Arch's biggest start, yet,
how much freedom does he get at the line of scrimmage?
Speaker 6 (30:17):
In the opener, well, I mean there nationally, there's going
to be some you know, and we're still formulating that
game plan. That thing is nowhere near set and stone,
and we're going against a really good defensive coordinator, a
Matt Patrician, which I don't think people are talking a
whole lot about of Here's a guy who's been an
elite defensive coordinator at the NFL level and worked under
(30:39):
coach Belichick's been a head coach with the Detroit Lions,
and so that that poses its own challenges too. There's
not a lot of tape, no tape of him coaching
in college football, and so putting a plan together that
we feel good about also gives Arch a little bit
of freedom to get us in and out of some
things that you know, as look to present themselves in
(31:01):
the game because there's so many unknowns. I think is
going to be critical and he's more than capable of
doing that. You know, he's the guys. You know, it's
been been raised watching Tate with with Eli and Peyton
and his dad and his grandpa and everybody. So we're
going to feel good about that. And he's got great
composure and he's been in some fires with us already,
so we'll feel good about it. Do we want to
(31:22):
major in him have an audible on the road. That's
a difficult thing to do, but we're going to give
him some opportunities to do those things, especially some critical moments.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So I you know, I was thinking about this. I
talked to Urban Meyer about this.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Is that I ni L's tricky, Lincoln Riley's done a lot,
Brian Kelly has done a lot, Deon Sanders has done
a lot, and those I would argue those three there's
value to it, but it is hard to create culture
and chemistry when you're bringing in a player and paying
him three times what you're paying a.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Third year starter like in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Everybody understands there's the found cap and there's certain guys
that get it, and it's the quarterback in college.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I think the NIL I'm.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
For it, but there is a danger in the transfer
portal not screwing up chemistry.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Where do you land on?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
I mean, have there been guys that you really like
but you're like, you know what, man, I'm not going
to pay this receiver that and bring him into our room.
Like is that something you have to think a lot
about with the NIL?
Speaker 6 (32:27):
For sure, I think he hit the nail on the head.
It happened this offseason. We ended up not going on
a player because I didn't feel comfortable about what he
would have had to what it would have cost us
to get him in comparison to other players on that
side of the ball. And we love our culture and
we've exhausted ourselves and building the culture here at the
(32:48):
University of Texas, and it's really good. And we're navigating
the NIL space I think is good or better than anybody.
I think there's a lot of respect in our locker room.
We believe in product production based industry, right, how you
perform ultimately is how you get compensated, and and so
I think our players understand that. And so when you
(33:08):
bring somebody in from the outside that all of the
sudden is making more than everybody else. I think that's
when you can run into some problems. And so you've
got to make those decisions. Because we're a really good
football team. That's the beauty of our sport. I think
teams win championships, not not just a bunch of talented individuals.
And we've got a really good team, and I'm very
(33:29):
cautious to do anything to cause you know, any type
of you know, feud or disruption to that what we
have going right now.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Finally, what is arch Manning's best trait? Something that you
didn't even have to coach. It's just intuitive. There is
something he just did well the minute he got on campus.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Work ethic. His work ethic is incredible, whether it's you know,
studying tape, studying film, studying the playbook, work at his craft,
you know, in the weight room like that. That that is,
whether it's innate in him or it was you know,
handed down from his uncles, whatever, whatever it was, his
(34:11):
work ethic is really pretty incredible. And that lends itself
to the teammate that he is too. And again that's
not to take away the arm talent, the deep ball,
the athleticism, all that. I think all those things are
a byproduct of how hard he works at his craft
and how hard he works at being a great teammate.
Those those things. I've never had to coach him on.
(34:33):
It that he walked in the door, was a great
teammate and has worked his tail off from day one.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
You know, you're a coach. You could do TV, you
did a little TV, but in the end, you're a coach.
You just love coaching. You're an x's and o's guy,
one of the smarter guys I've ever met that does that.
And I watched Nick Saban on TV, and I think
he's such a coach. Nick such a coach. I don't
think he's coming back to college. Let me ask you,
if somebody in the NFL called him, maybe the team
(35:01):
that got Arch Manning or got a great quarterback, do
you think Nick Saban would take the call?
Speaker 2 (35:05):
You know him, you know him well.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
You already have him in Cleveland. I heard you, Yes,
you already have in Cleveland. He's coaching Arch. I only
have Arch for one year. I thought I was gonna
have him for two.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
You know, hey, he is a great coach, and I
love my time working for Nick. I mean, he really
is a fantastic coach. I think he feels really comfortable
to me. You know, he's really good on TV. I
think he enjoys what he gets to do. He's playing
a ton of golf, which which which he loves doing.
I'm sure. I'm sure you know, Miss Terry loves having
(35:41):
him at home, So I don't know, you know that
that's obviously a personal thing as he grows. I know
he's one of, if not the most competitive person I've
ever been around, so I'm sure those competitive juices get
flowing pretty good. But man, he looks like he's having
a lot of fun doing television. He looks relaxed, and
he's great for our sport, you know. I know people
are love tuning into to hear his insight on all
(36:03):
this stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
There it is start with Colin Cowherd yesterday. We'll be
back to wrap up today's edition of the program here
on thirteen under the Zone.
Craig Way alongside the producer Cameron Parker. Thanks again to
Bill Shooning dropping by. As you can tell, we've been
friends a long time and work together for several years
as well. It's always great to catch up with Bill.
And he's, like I said, getting to enjoy semi retirement.
The semi part means not doing this purs anymore, but
(00:20):
he is. He'll he'll do some freelance things, he said,
and do some other things. So you'll obviously still hear
his voice about and so it's good, good to hear him.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I need to do this.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
We mentioned we've got to give away two more copies
of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. We gave away a
couple yesterday to Michael Lorrera and George from Leander who
do the final score of the Peach Bowl and then
(00:53):
they knew that it was thirty nine to thirty one
in double overtime. So and the way this works is
you have to do it by our talk back feature,
So on your smartphone, if you don't already have it downloaded,
download the iHeartRadio app. It's really easy to do. It's free.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
All that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Then you search AM thirteen hundred the zone. In fact,
you make it a preset, it'll make it real easy
to listen to. Once you pull up a thirteen hundred zone,
there are two buttons there. One is a white one
kind of shaped like an arrowhead or a triangle.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
That's to listen to the programming that's on our station,
like this one right now.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But there's another button, a red one with a little
white microphone, and that's called the talk back button. So
you hit that and then you're able to leave us
a voicemail message up to thirty seconds. Don't go beyond thirty.
But you really don't need that for the purposes of
this contest. You just need to have the knowledge of
the Texas Longhorns. And we've got some more creative contesting
(01:57):
for this magazine coming up, but we wanted to just
kind of gently ramp up to it. Like when we
did the first one a couple of days ago, when
we give away three copies, it was just the first
three to access us via the talkback feature. Yesterday we
gave away two copies by way of remembering the final
(02:19):
score of the Peach Bawl. First two correct people to
access us on the talkback got it.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So here's the one.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
For today, the question for today, and this is going
to be the first two correct answers to this on
the talkback feature. So if you take the time to
start digging up and looking through it, you might miss
out on it. So hopefully this calls on your fandom
if you're a long WRN fan. What I want to
know is name the four non conference opponents Texas has
(02:54):
this year. That's simple, and if you know it off
the top of your head, that'll help you try to
one of the first two to reach us via the
talkback and antone sees it when it comes in cataloged
by time. So the first two correct answers, because a
lot of people will know the answer.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
But how quick can you be to rattle it off?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The first two correct answers on the talkback the four
non conference opponents for Texas here in twenty twenty five,
can you rattle off the top of your camera?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Don't do it? Yeah again? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Okay, okay, So just so to let you know that,
okay in Kansas City, by the way, for those of
you Kansas City and the UT men's basketball non conference schedule, yes.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, that was released yesterday and in case you didn't
hear it.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
The long worn men's basketball team is playing among its
non conference opponents Kansas City, and you say, what do
you mean Kansas City. It's the former and in fact
still the official name is University of Missouri Kansas City.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
That's the full name of the school. But like so
many other schools, they're.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Dropping the names, uh, the University of in other words,
just to get to it quicker. We've seen that happen
with Charlotte, right they University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
There's just Charlotte. They're U n C C.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, U n C or yeah yeah. Memphis used to
be Memphis State and they're just it's just Memphis. There's
there's several other like that that that have just the
one the city name or one particular name of the
place without having the university of because it's just quicker
(04:49):
to say and quicker to rattle off.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
So, umk C is a little bit a little It's
like U NBC.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, Maryland Baltimore County they just go by U NBC.
But because it's a mouthful to say Maryland Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Cast they're in a tough spots, lose lose, Yeah, So it's.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Easier just to say U, NBC. You know, Houston Christian
is requesting the media just call them h CU, like TCU.
TCU doesn't go by Texas Christian University except in official
letterhead and stationary and things of that nature. But their
football program it's TCU.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
They go by that.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
UTSA prefers that you do not call them University of Texas,
San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I remember when it was Houston Baptist, Craig long time.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yes, it was Houston Baptist three years ago and then
became Houston Christian. Now they say just call us eight CU.
And the ACU was one of the teams that was
in Austin for the region along with UTSA at Kansas State.
The Speaking of baseball, long WRNS head coach Jim slas
Nagel and his staff today announced the winners of the
(05:54):
twenty twenty five postseason team Awards.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
There's six awards.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
There's the James and Houston Street Longhorn Award, the Brooks
Keishnick Team MVP, the Keith Morland Offensive Player of the Year,
the Gregswindell Pitcher of the Year, the Spikeel and Defensive
Player of the Year. On the Sean Braswell Academic MVP,
each named after former Longhorns who are honored for their
contributions to the program.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So the Longhorn Award, which.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Is named as we mentioned for James and Houston Street,
was created to recognize the player who most embodies what
it means to be a long worn through leadership, selflessness,
and integrity both on and off the field. The winner
of that award, the James and Houston Street Longhorn Award,
(06:41):
is Kimball Schusler, and I can't think of a better
candidate for that who embodied that. The Brooks Keishnick Team
MVP and Keith Morland Offensive Player of the Year Award
to Rylan Galvan. The Gregswindelle pitcher there you can probably
guess it, Dylan Valantis, the spikeel and Defensive Player of
the Year Jalen Flores. And the Sean Braswell Academic MVP
(07:04):
is Luke Harrison.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So there it is. There's the winners of the postseason
award there. All right?
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Coming up, we'll shift from college baseball to major League baseball.
We'll talk big league baseball.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Well.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Geene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office. When
we continue here on less Friday on thirteen under the Zone.
Geene Watson joins us on the hotline. G know, we're
we're fast approaching the trade deadline, and so I know,
folks really zero in on those last forty eight twenty
four to forty eight, maybe even seventy two hours of
it in terms of following it from afar. But this
(07:41):
is the process that begins how far back during the
course of the season, when you start to figure out
who are buyers, who are sellers, and who might be
available for being bought or being sold.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well, good afternoon, Craig.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
It you know, it really begins in spring training as
you begin into set the tone for the expectation levels
of each teams and where you expect them to be
in July. Not necessarily that they'll be there, uh, but
but you start to from an idealistic standpoint having those
conversations in spring training. And I know that you know,
(08:17):
some of the conversations that I've had with teams today
are connected to you know, conversations we had with teams
at March, and so it's really you just try to
try to early identify where your fits and your matchups
may be, and you start to have those conversations, and
they they trickle into this time of year. Certainly, let
me get your thoughts immediately on some you might say
(08:42):
early out of the box trades that already happened. The
Mariners picking up Josh Neilor from the Diamondbacks last night.
It sends a pitching prospect and Brandon Garcia and a
right handed prospect Ashton Is he to the to the
d Backs?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So how about your thoughts on that trade?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Well, listeners may be familiar with Brandon Garcia as he
was a pitcher of Texas A and M University and
certainly one of their better, you know, mid level pitching
prospect Ashton Izzy. I actually saw uh In Uh in
Washington in uh about six weeks ago, and he is
a potential mid rotation type, arm stripe thrower, really good stuff,
(09:22):
physical player and and so the two really nice pieces.
Uh And they you know, the Diamondbacks have been very
vocal about wanting to get pitching prospects back in return
for a guy that has a chance to be a
real spark plug for that team. And the Mariners have
a really good team. But if there's a criticism of them,
sometimes there's not a lot of energy to the team,
(09:45):
and and Josh Naylor certainly brings a very good edge.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
He's he's a Canadian born player. Uh, when you got.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Vancouver two hours north hockey background, really good edge, high
energy and arguably one of the best left handed bats
available on the market.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
So a very good trade for both teams.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
It's certainly addressed at least one of the needs for
the Mariners, and I'm sure that they're not finished trying
to complete improving that roster.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, it's interesting that the point that you're making, and
I know you're not indegnifying anybody or anything, but when
you said if there was a knock on them from outside,
it was about the energy with the team. And I
know the layman may sit back and say, what do
you talking about the professionals. They're getting millions and millions
of dollars, why would there not be energy. But there's
a collective energy that permeates a ball club for for
(10:37):
good or the lack of it for not good. I
hear it all the time, obviously watching Dodger games, and
you talk about the energy in the clubhouse. I got
all these great gun and I'm like, well, yeah, they're they're,
they're they're they're great professionals. But but there is an
intangible that that permeates a major league clubhouse, isn't there.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
One hundred percent? And that's not a criticism of the Mariners.
What it is is it's just their personality. And you know,
all thirty organizations, I say, it's like Baskin Robbins's thirty
different flavors, thirty different complexions of front offices, thirty different
ways of going about, and with that, your major league
team can take on a certain personality. Seattle shits up
in the Northwest. It's kind of a hidden little secret.
(11:16):
You know, it's the furthest major league city to travel
to for most teams. But Josh is certainly going to
bring a really good edge, a fiery approach to the game.
And when you look at that team with guys like
Julio Rodriguez and Cal Rawley, it's certainly just going to
add to the competitive edge. It's certainly going to jolt
that roster into a championship level team.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Let me get your thoughts on the deal between the
Mets and the Orioles. The Mets picking up left handed
reliever Gregory Soto from Baltimore today in exchange for two
minor leaguers, Class A right hander Wellington Arasenia and double
A right hander Cameron Foster goes to Baltimore and Uh,
(12:01):
that so now the Mets have a hard throwing left
hander to complement their only other left he Brooks Raley
to get from you value I saw pitch against Vistaridge
and high school. Uh, we're returning from Tommy John surgery
last week as well. So how about Soto going from
Baltimore to the Mets.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Well, it certainly addresses a need and it's certainly not
going to be the last move that the Mets make,
but it also speaks to you know, the you know,
with a week to go, how saturated the reliever market
potentially is going to be. And they felt like that
they had a return that they were comfortable with. Not
that there aren't going to be better arms out there,
but they certainly like the talent, they like the acquisition costs.
(12:41):
It addressed the need, and I think you're going to
see in the next six or seven days that the
reliever market is somewhat oversaturated right now and the returns
are not going to be very high returns overall.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Okay, and then and then the other deal I wanted
to get your thoughts on is the deal that the
Yankees have made with the Rockies to pick up Ryan
McMahon in exchange for minor league pitchers Griffin Hearing and
Josh Gross being converted. McMahon's thirty years old, Yankee's going
to pick up the rest of his contract, has about
(13:14):
four and a half million left for all of twenty
five and then thirty two million over the next two seasons.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, similarly that that was a money deal.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
That was a chance for the Rockies to kind of
really come off some serious payroll in the coming years
and save thirty two million dollars to get to you know,
kind of depth type prospect arms. But the focus there
is to be able to you know, free yourself up
with thirty two million dollars with where your team is.
You've got Charlie Condon coming in your minor league system,
(13:44):
and so it was a chance to save a lot
of money and not give up high, high return to
get it done.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And so they felt like with a week ago, it
was a good time to strike on that. Okay.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
So now as we head into these final days before
the deadline itself comes up next week. One of the
things give folks an idea of what exactly you and
the White Sox front office, what you're looking at, what
you're listening to those times you don't have the specifics
obviously the players, but just the philosophy of how this
(14:15):
works for the buyers and the sellers as they approach
the trade deadline.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Well, that's really what we do, and that's what we
began on Monday. We've been focusing on six organizations a day.
Our scouts have been presenting on those organizations as to the.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
State of the major league club. Are they buyers or sellers.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
If they're sellers, we talk about the major league team,
and the major league team only. If their buyers, we
talk about their major league team, where their deficiencies are,
and what do we possibly have that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
They would want and what we want to return.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So it's really a strong filter system and that we
completed the twenty ninth club.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Today, so we've set our board as to who's in
and who's out.
Speaker 5 (14:53):
I would tell you there's probably seventeen teams in that
we still have conversations with and tomorrow begin to tear
out those organizations. Prospect wise, who are the players we
really want? Who are the players they want back from us?
And then you bring your R and D piece in
and you have them massage the board from the performance standpoint,
(15:14):
from an analytical standpoint, and then you.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Begin to set your targets.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
And that you know, it can move quicker based on
phone calls that you get in a given day, and
it can move a lot slower based on the market.
Right now, it's moving pretty slow, So we feel like
we have a lot of time to get things organized tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
How common is it for an organization to what you
just said, have everything lined up, have the the the
interested parties, and then all of a sudden, here comes
a flyer, somebody to use the baseball turn out of
left field. Somebody really coming in all of a sudden
with a deal. Is that really that commonplace? Does it
happened very often? All of a sudden, Oh wow, somebody
(15:52):
is really interested in, you know, filling the blank whatever
player and they're willing to give up YadA YadA.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
It actually happened to we had to go back and
throw a board back, a team back on the board
because they came in and laid on a lot of
our players, and so you're always truly prepared for those situations.
It's just literally putting the players back up on the
board from a filtering standpoint, but it can happen quite often.
And you know, we're literally day by day of the
(16:19):
seventeen we have on the board, literally day by day,
whether a team wins or loses their fourth or fifth game,
they go from four games out of the wild Card
to six. We may take teams off the board based
on that. So it's really literally by the hour when
it comes to these conversations.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Talking baseball with Team Watson here on thirteen under the Zone.
There's a couple of big series. One of those is
at Fenway Park this weekend. The Red Sox host the Dodgers.
The Red Sox today plays Marcella Meyer on the ten
day IL. He had a right wrist brain I know,
he's a guy, you think it awful lot of the
in the progress that he's made as well, and he
(16:55):
was called up in May when Alex Bredman had the
quad injury. Played mostly third base, has played mostly third base,
and Alex cor said they're still in information gathering mode now,
but now he's on the ten day IL. How about
this Red Sox team, because they really got on a
roll right at the All Star break, and now the
injury bug, just like it hits every other team, is
(17:16):
hit them.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
A little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Yeah, and this is an interesting series in that there
have been some conversations between the two teams, and so
now in the head to head assessment, you know, both
organizations dreaming of matching up in October, you can kind
of see where each other stand.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
In July, and you know, what do they have that
we might want? What do we have that they might want?
Speaker 5 (17:36):
And I know they've had conversations, and those conversations could
certainly intensify based on this weekend, truly, And so you know,
you want to play your best baseball against the best.
There's certainly two of the upper tier teams in the
major league level, most talented teams, and so it'll be
a real dog fight. And I've said before some series
(17:58):
are statement series, and this is certainly one over this weekend.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And who knows if And I'm interested in your thoughts
on this because this has nothing to do with performance
of players or the possibility of trade.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
But there may be a lot of people going.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
To Fenway Park this weekend, who can't get a hot dog?
The story came down that hundreds of Aramark workers at
Fenway Park are going on strike and planning to stay
out for the entire series between the Red Sox and
the Dodgers this weekend. Concession workers had set a deadline
of noon today for Aramark and Fenway Park to reach
(18:36):
an agreement with the local twenty sixth chapter the Massachusetts
and Rhode Island Hotel, Casino, Airport and Food Services Workers Union,
and the union went on strike at noon, asking for quotes,
living wages, guardrails on technology, and R E R E
s pect respect. I know this didn't have anything to
(18:57):
do with your particular, Bailey Wick, but I know you've
also been around when there have been other issues, say
maintenance issues, or maybe it's a food service issue or
something like that with a ballpark when you got a
game schedule, especially high level game like this to night,
which which adds a little intrigue to this.
Speaker 5 (19:16):
I worked for I worked for an owner one time
whose name I won't say, one of the greatest businessmen
in this country's history, and he had a saying, everybody's important,
nobody's indispensable, and I'm sure that if need be, they'll
be able to find people to sell those hot dogs
that they.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
Have to.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Local twenty six Road on social media. Quote, we're asking
you to not buy concessions inside the ballpark. I can't
imagine somebody not going for a lobster roll and and
and a cold malted beverage for this one.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I always am curious to get your thoughts on Asters
and Rangers. Rangers have ended up had an uptick of
Lake come off the series sweep of the A's as well.
Let me start with Texas and get your thoughts on
the Rangers. Right now, we're trying to make this push
and there's a lot of people think that maybe they
would be buyers or not sellers.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
There three above five hundred. Now they won three in
a row.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
They won eight of their last ten ball games, or
seven back of Houston in the Division series, and then
in the wild Card they are just barely off the pace.
They are game and a half back of Boston for
the third Wildcard spot. How about your thoughts on the Rangers. Well,
as Corey.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Seeer goes, the Texas Rangers go and this if you
were going to have a statement for the Texas Rangers
right now.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
It's sense of urgency and they feel it.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
They know who their manager is and Bruce Boschie, Hall
of Fame manager, they know what this means to him.
They know that to this point they've probably underachieved a
little bit. But I look for these guys to play
their very best baseball the rest of the way and
I not count them out of the division. I think
(21:02):
that they feel the sense of urgency. They've responded so far.
They want to keep this team together at the deadline,
and they're certainly showing that in their play right now
on the field.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Had a long conversation with Dana Brown yesterday.
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Loved Dana and the thing that I conveyed to him
is just what an incredible job they have done with
seventeen players on the il. You lose Bregmant, you lose
Tucker over the years, you've lost Cole, you've lost Verlander,
and they just keep winning.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And you know, Jim Crane is a big part of the.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Culture down there and that the expectations drive the results,
and they expect to win every night. And they've just
done a magnificent job this year, and they're certainly working
hard to improve that team into the deadline, but it's
going to be a great stretch running the American League.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
West Seattle's very talented.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Oakland and the Angels have somewhat underachieved to this point,
but I look for those three teams to kind of
pull back together and be a dogfight into October.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Gino, one would imagine this, and I mentioned big series
this weekend. I mentioned Dodgers, Red Sox. I would put Rangers, Braves.
There is a big series because you've got an Atlanta team,
the Sands, running through the hourglass for them, Gino, they're
ten back of the third wildcard spot. Now are the Braves.
How about your thoughts on them going into this series
(22:22):
with Texas?
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Well, I think they know they're more talented than the
way they've played, and I think that they'll do their
best to write the ship them and even if they
don't right to ship the rest.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Of twenty five.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
This is a team that's very young and very talented,
and they'll tweak at this winter and they'll be back
in strong contention next year.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
But on the reverse, this is a big chance.
Speaker 5 (22:43):
For Texas to pick off a series that they believe
they should probably win, and win convincingly if they do,
you know, they come out on Monday morning in a
wild card spot, and now the momentum grows and the
sense of urgency grows greater, and.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
They're back on track to what they thought they were
going to do in April.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well and finally Gino and this brings the Astros into
the equation.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
They've got a five game lead on Seattle, who took
two or three from Houston last weekend. Start off the
post All Star a portion of the season, they're seven
ahead of Texas right now. They've won five of their
last ten. They've been just kind of so so middling
of the last and it's it's an important time for
them as well. Like you said, it's not out of
the reach of the Rangers to try to win that
(23:26):
American League West, and with the A's moving on down
the Houston really the time to make hay for the
Astros is this weekend, isn't it. Percent And Seattle they're
not done.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
I mean, they're going to make another move to improve
that offense, and they just improved their club immensely, and
so for Houston and Texas, it's going to be very
important that they play good baseball the rest of the
way because Seattle arguably has the best pitching in baseball,
and as they continue to try to improve that offense,
it's just kind of to make them more potent down
the road.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
He's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office.
A working man, been real busy, Gina. Will look forward
to visiting with you next Friday, coming off of the
trade deadline.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I appreciate you taking the time. Ah, Greig, thanks so much.
You bet. All right.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
That's Geene Watson from the White Sox. All right, up next,
we're going to hear from sark the Texas head football coach,
some comments when we continue on thirteen under the Zone
Preseeds Hours the Herd with Colin Cowherd.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
If you didn't here, it is, and even if you
did here it is.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Colin Cowherd's comment Terry and his conversation with Longhorns head
coach Steve Sarkisian. Well, there were thirteen and three last
year before losing to the Buckeyes. One of the reasons
I love the college football Playoff is that you can
play big games early and even if you lose thirty
five thirty, it's okay.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
You can grow as a team.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You don't have to go undefeated the rest of the
way to play for the College Football National Championship. The
Buckeyes last year lost as a twenty point favorite home
after losing to Oregon and Notatson, and they still made it.
That's why I love Texas and Ohio State play and
my buddy Sarks joining us coach of the horrange Texas
long hunch, who I have playing in the National Championship
this year against Penn State. The two best teams I
(25:08):
think are Penn State and you guys. I want you
to go back, Sark to your USC days, your Washington day's,
the Alabama days, and now at Texas.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
This is a This is a lot to chew on
in Week one.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Road game Ohio State, you guys, Pete Carroll and you guys,
you played some tough games early. Go back in your career.
Is this Is there anything that reminds you of this
kind of game as an opener?
Speaker 6 (25:33):
As an opener, the only one I could think of,
Colin is when we went to Auburn. I want to think,
I want to say it was two and it was
Liner's first career star Reggie Reggie Lindell were true freshmen,
and we went into We went into Auburn and they
were they were pretty highly ranked team. But I don't
(25:55):
know of anybody, you know, going on the road playing
the defending national champions after having played them in the
semi finals. They ended our season last year, and then
we turn around and open with them this year. It's
gonna be hecking a game. But that's you just touched
on it. That's the beauty of this format now that
you can afford to play these games. It's great for
the fans, it's great for college football. Everybody's talking about it,
(26:19):
and I was jokingly saying, you know, it's so different
than the NFL. Nobody's talking about Week one matchups in
the NFL. Everybody's talking about this game and the idea
that I don't think either of us get punished playing
this game. Obviously, we all we both need to play
well throughout the entirety of the season. But sure, it's
what a spotlight it puts on both programs and as
(26:39):
well as college football.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, and also it's a litmus test.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
You'll know a lot about your team that you couldn't
You wouldn't know if you played a lesser opponent. So
here's what I worry about. Four new offensive line starters.
Now you've got this is a position you have recruited
very very well. And arch Manning, I bet, just like
Dad and Eli and Archie is good at the line
of scrimmage. You'll get that ball away quickly. But it
does to go on the road, Sark, you know this
(27:02):
better than anybody.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
The all line.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
You don't have a preseason. These are nineteen twenty year
old guys. That is a cohesion, chemistry unit, not just
a talent unit. Are you concerned for new starters on
the road, not the arch thing? That's fine, but you
don't You don't have an exhibition game to start. That's
a lot to ask, does it, or you?
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Well, I think that's why training camp is going to
be so important. And you know, the beauty for the
offensive line is they have to compete against our defensive
front every day, and I think we've got one of
the premier defensive fronts in the country. They're very talented players,
but also a really good scheme, a difficult scheme. But
to your point, them all playing together as one is
(27:46):
going to be critical, and arch does play a part
in that. You know, we're fortunate. DJ Campbell's a returning starter.
Cole Hudson rotated with DJ, played a bunch of football.
Trevor Guseby really at the end of the season. He
was playing against all sorts of high high cali our
opponents from Georgia to Texas A and M to Clemson,
so he got a lot of experience at tackle. But
there'll be a couple of new faces in there, and
(28:09):
I do think that's going to be one of the
keys for us in the ballgame. Is is I don't
want to say protecting them, but putting them in really
good positions that they can go out and execute and
plays it plays a unit.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
So Jeremiah Smith is on a short list of the
most talented college football players I've ever seen. Reggie Bush
I can remember seeing him as a sophomore and thinking, oh,
he could probably play in the NFL right now.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Javon Curse was kind of like that.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
When you play a guy like Jeremiah Smith, do you
bracket him, do you double him? Do you trust your corners?
He is so physically strong that it's one of those
you contain him? Do you?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
I mean, what, how? What is a game plan? Is
there a perfect one to you just mixed coverages.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
You know, It's interesting. I had a chance to coach
Julio Jones for two years. Reminds me a lot of him,
so big and physical but yet fast and then cover
ground so strong at the point of attack, when the
balls in the air, you see that, you see the
you know, just the ability to make contested catches. And
(29:13):
I do think that at the end of the day,
a that's where your attention needs to be. But hey,
they got really good coaches. He's going to be moving around.
He's not going to be lining up in one position
all the time. Ideally you've you've got multiple people with
eyes on him and guarding him.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But you can't.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
You still have to play great team defense, and you've
got to have the ability to stop the run, and
you got to cover the two other white House they
have are two really good players too. So I do
think a multitude of things that you can do well,
but you better know where number four is at all times.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
So it's interesting when you get quarterbacks that I've always
kind of felt like ideally I was talking to an
NFLGM about this, he goes, I'm not really hiring coaches.
I'm hiring CEOs a coach to be a CEO, I
don't want him on the head set constantly. College it
feels a little bit different. But you are a CEO
at Texas. You have a great athletic director, but I
(30:05):
mean nil transfer portal, building a staff players. So how
much I know, I know it's Arch's biggest start, yet,
how much freedom does he get at the line of scrimmage?
Speaker 6 (30:17):
In the opener, well, I mean there nationally, there's going
to be some you know, and we're still formulating that
game plan. That thing is nowhere near set and stone,
and we're going against a really good defensive coordinator, a
Matt Patrician, which I don't think people are talking a
whole lot about of Here's a guy who's been an
elite defensive coordinator at the NFL level and worked under
(30:39):
coach Belichick's been a head coach with the Detroit Lions,
and so that that poses its own challenges too. There's
not a lot of tape, no tape of him coaching
in college football, and so putting a plan together that
we feel good about also gives Arch a little bit
of freedom to get us in and out of some
things that you know, as look to present themselves in
(31:01):
the game because there's so many unknowns. I think is
going to be critical and he's more than capable of
doing that. You know, he's the guys. You know, it's
been been raised watching Tate with with Eli and Peyton
and his dad and his grandpa and everybody. So we're
going to feel good about that. And he's got great
composure and he's been in some fires with us already,
so we'll feel good about it. Do we want to
(31:22):
major in him have an audible on the road. That's
a difficult thing to do, but we're going to give
him some opportunities to do those things, especially some critical moments.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So I you know, I was thinking about this. I
talked to Urban Meyer about this.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
Is that I ni L's tricky, Lincoln Riley's done a lot,
Brian Kelly has done a lot, Deon Sanders has done
a lot, and those I would argue those three there's
value to it, but it is hard to create culture
and chemistry when you're bringing in a player and paying
him three times what you're paying a.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Third year starter like in the NFL.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Everybody understands there's the found cap and there's certain guys
that get it, and it's the quarterback in college.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I think the NIL I'm.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
For it, but there is a danger in the transfer
portal not screwing up chemistry.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Where do you land on?
Speaker 4 (32:15):
I mean, have there been guys that you really like
but you're like, you know what, man, I'm not going
to pay this receiver that and bring him into our room.
Like is that something you have to think a lot
about with the NIL?
Speaker 6 (32:27):
For sure, I think he hit the nail on the head.
It happened this offseason. We ended up not going on
a player because I didn't feel comfortable about what he
would have had to what it would have cost us
to get him in comparison to other players on that
side of the ball. And we love our culture and
we've exhausted ourselves and building the culture here at the
(32:48):
University of Texas, and it's really good. And we're navigating
the NIL space I think is good or better than anybody.
I think there's a lot of respect in our locker room.
We believe in product production based industry, right, how you
perform ultimately is how you get compensated, and and so
I think our players understand that. And so when you
(33:08):
bring somebody in from the outside that all of the
sudden is making more than everybody else. I think that's
when you can run into some problems. And so you've
got to make those decisions. Because we're a really good
football team. That's the beauty of our sport. I think
teams win championships, not not just a bunch of talented individuals.
And we've got a really good team, and I'm very
(33:29):
cautious to do anything to cause you know, any type
of you know, feud or disruption to that what we
have going right now.
Speaker 4 (33:39):
Finally, what is arch Manning's best trait? Something that you
didn't even have to coach. It's just intuitive. There is
something he just did well the minute he got on campus.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Work ethic. His work ethic is incredible, whether it's you know,
studying tape, studying film, studying the playbook, work at his craft,
you know, in the weight room like that. That that is,
whether it's innate in him or it was you know,
handed down from his uncles, whatever, whatever it was, his
(34:11):
work ethic is really pretty incredible. And that lends itself
to the teammate that he is too. And again that's
not to take away the arm talent, the deep ball,
the athleticism, all that. I think all those things are
a byproduct of how hard he works at his craft
and how hard he works at being a great teammate.
Those those things. I've never had to coach him on.
(34:33):
It that he walked in the door, was a great
teammate and has worked his tail off from day one.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
You know, you're a coach. You could do TV, you
did a little TV, but in the end, you're a coach.
You just love coaching. You're an x's and o's guy,
one of the smarter guys I've ever met that does that.
And I watched Nick Saban on TV, and I think
he's such a coach. Nick such a coach. I don't
think he's coming back to college. Let me ask you,
if somebody in the NFL called him, maybe the team
(35:01):
that got Arch Manning or got a great quarterback, do
you think Nick Saban would take the call?
Speaker 2 (35:05):
You know him, you know him well.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
You already have him in Cleveland. I heard you, Yes,
you already have in Cleveland. He's coaching Arch. I only
have Arch for one year. I thought I was gonna
have him for two.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (35:19):
You know, hey, he is a great coach, and I
love my time working for Nick. I mean, he really
is a fantastic coach. I think he feels really comfortable
to me. You know, he's really good on TV. I
think he enjoys what he gets to do. He's playing
a ton of golf, which which which he loves doing.
I'm sure. I'm sure you know, Miss Terry loves having
(35:41):
him at home, So I don't know, you know that
that's obviously a personal thing as he grows. I know
he's one of, if not the most competitive person I've
ever been around, so I'm sure those competitive juices get
flowing pretty good. But man, he looks like he's having
a lot of fun doing television. He looks relaxed, and
he's great for our sport, you know. I know people
are love tuning into to hear his insight on all
(36:03):
this stuff.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
There it is start with Colin Cowherd yesterday. We'll be
back to wrap up today's edition of the program here
on thirteen under the Zone.
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