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August 17, 2022 43 mins

Jason Smith and Steve DeSaegher (Steve in for Mike Harmon) react to a hot baseball night, Kevin Durant doesn't have as much leverage as he thought, and MLB Insider - Jon Paul Morosi joins the guys!

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmen podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every week night from ten pm to two am
Eastern seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for The Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
us live every night on the I Heart Radio app
by searching f s R. This is the best of

(00:22):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon on Fox Sports Radio. Hello,
Welcome inside the Jason Smith Show. Is Steve de Seger
in from Mike Harmon tonight and see if I gotta say,
I love working with you. It's awesome. We have a
great time. But if every night you work on this

(00:43):
show the Mets loses starting picture to injury, this is it.
You're done. This is your last show ever. We mentioned
last night Carlos Carrasco left the game in Atlanta with
a strained oblique. Some were saying, why did he come
back to pitch after the hour rain delay. He'll be
missing three to four weeks in now Taiwan walk or
out after two innings back spasms tonight, Yeah, so this

(01:03):
is it. I mean this will be if if it
happens again, you're done. You're not even gonna do updates
on the show. Okay, I'll be back Friday. I don't
know who they're playing this weekend off hand, but they too.
It doesn't matter, It makes no difference. It's harmon back Friday.
By the way, you said it's just if not losing
these Hey, look it's it's not Look, it's not just

(01:28):
the Mets. The Yankees are like eighty games over five
and they're getting booed when the games again at home
tonight and they scored a run though, congratulations. I mean
that's that's a big deal tonight. Well, so did the
Padres that might wind up being in l as well there.
And by the way, do you see one Soto's up
right now? For the Padres. They have canceled next month's

(01:48):
Fernando Tatis Junior bobblehead night in San Diego. They're replacing
it with a Wan Soto T shirt giveaway in that
New City Connect uniform stuff. I thought you're gonna saying
again to replace it by giving people haircuts and then
and they're gonna let them know here, here's an antifungal
something happens free cream, pre motorcycle rides that take the
bubble head night and it's like something off the Simpsons.

(02:11):
A few motorcycle rides of the ballpark. Watch your wrist. Yeah,
oh yeah, my dad, Like when when Frostburg text me,
oh my god, the Yankees are losing already. I said, yeah,
not calling my dad, not not calling my bad He no, no, no,
my my dad is just when the Yankees are losing
this early in the game, and look they got it's
the perfect time to call your day. Were down three

(02:32):
nothing in the first in ain't no no home run,
just like that, and Nestor Corte pitch seven innings, never
allowed another run after that. But as you mentioned, so
little offense. They only had four hits tonight. The Yankees
they lose three one to Tampa Bay. Yeah they lose again. Yeah,
the Yankees they may never win again. They may not
win again. Minutes mid August. Was that a prediction? What

(02:52):
if the Orioles catch them? Now, that would be you'd
have to have Jason looking for on every night. Orioles
are ten games behind the Yankees right now. What if
the Orioles caught the Yankees? What if they did you
know somebody would have to There would have to be
some sort of wager where you know, like Arnie Span
you're in the old days. I'll wash everybody's car if
that happens there. I think from here, Mark willor the

(03:14):
Golden State fans out, cabs come back, I will cut
off my right arm, you know that kind of thing.
What or if the Red Sox came from behind to
win the at least, no Red Sox are going nowhere.
They're coming there only fourteen out. They were like seventeen
out the other day. They're fifty eight and fifty nine.
Even with the win tonight, Hey, they have a twelve

(03:34):
percent chance the postseason. Okay, just so you know they
were better. I mean, I don't know how you figure
this out, but there are four games worse than the
Orioles in the standings. Yet ESPN has the Orioles with
a four percent chance to make the playoffs and the
Red Sox. The Orioles are hot, right, They're hot. They're
winning all right, Yes, they're winning too many games. Town
is on fire. I mean, I get the schedule is
going to be harder down the stretch, raw the schedules,

(03:56):
but this is a better team. You're talking about a
team that's really Uh, I don't get it. I don't
get it. By the way, Boston with the win at Pittsburgh.
It reminds me of something we talked about on a
weekend show a week ago. The Pirates guy that was
sliding into third and a cell phone flew out of
his back pocket. He has officially been fined and suspended
one game, but he is appealing. He says he he

(04:17):
wants them to hear his story. I would like to
hear your story and what the story was. Oh, I
forgot I put my sliding pad in and forgot my phone.
It was in my pocket. Okay, your phone was in
your pocket. Okay, you had your phone during a baseball game.
You had your phone in your pocket. Have you not
heard of the Houston Astros. You can't have electronic devices. Oh,
I don't think it was really. I don't think it

(04:37):
was that. I think it was you know, I'm I'm
generation Z. I'm attached to my phone everywhere. That is true.
But the reason for the rule is and the reason
why MLB looked through his phone, by the way, to
see if it had been used or anything communicated during
a game. What is exactly the reason for the rule
is what Houston did five years ago. Look at these texts,
it says fastball, curve, curve, curve. You ask, you should

(05:00):
just learn from history and have a buzzer on his chest.
What do you got, Frostberg? One ring? Take second? Two rings?
Hey you have an old fashioned phone ring. Yes, that's right,
that's what it is. Ringing and hang up real fast.
Won't go through that. We specific rings, like your mom
has one to know if you're calling, or that type
of you know. That's why I always say the toughest thing,

(05:22):
Like if you get on the internet and you want
to read about radio or TV or the sports business,
and this is kind of inside sports and inside rate
and inside TV. But it's fun for a second, and
you always get a what's the future going to be? Like,
what's the future of radio, what's the future of television?
What's the future? And the future is always dystopian, like
it's always gonna end, there's gonna be no television, to

(05:44):
be no more radio. No. I mean, while radio is
healthier than it said, doesn't matter, doesn't matter what's the future,
not all the future predictions. I'm still waiting for my
jet pack, for example, and that's on NFL films and
Super Bowl one. I'm waiting for flying cars. I'm waiting
for us to be built. We can't even water the
non human driving car yet, that's not gonna happen. We

(06:06):
can't even get a bullet train in the Vegas Yeah, exactly. Hey,
bullet train was a lot of fun. I'll tell you
can you can do you can. Bullet train is fun. Okay,
here's the thing. It's a train and there's bullets there.
You go that. That's all you need to know. There's
a train in there's bullet it's because the bullets, not
because it's fast. Well, it's also fast. It's see what

(06:27):
those movie people do. But it is, I'll tell you
it is so much fun. It gets a little convoluted
near the end, which movies like this tend to do
some No, no, no, it's just you're like, okay, so wait,
all right, I gotta follow this. Okay, okay, okay, it's
just a little that way at the end. You just
hand like a modern movie fan. Wait a minute, I wait, no, no, no,
I mean they throw a lot of stuff at you

(06:48):
at the end, and you're like, okay, so wait, so
that's this, and that's he's totally here, and that's this,
and that's this and Darth Vaders, Luke's dad and they
really I did not see that coming. Uh there's Nick
Cajn and Nick Cage actually is driving the train. I'm
gonna go all away. We're gonna crash this thing. No,
Nick Cage is not Shark or something. Now we'll get

(07:09):
to Nick Cage because we'll get to Aaron Rodgers. But
I always say the big one of the biggest challenges
of the rest of my career is because look, I'm
fifty one. I'm on my phone all day, Like we're
all on our phones all day. But being fifty one
and trying to understand the generation Z athlete and the
motivations are just different. Whereas you think he's the only

(07:31):
guy that's had his phone in his pocket, and of
course not. He obviously had it fall out when he
was sliding, which was not a big thing, which was
not a cool thing. But uh, this is kind of
how it is now. There's different kinds of motivations. There's
there's athletes who hey, if I don't like this rule,
I don't have to do it. Well, I know, but
this is a rule. No, but I don't have to
do it because I don't want to. There's it's very difficult,

(07:53):
and I think trying to understand the the generation Z
athlete is going to be very difficult because you're gonna
get stories like this that seemed like and you sound
like you're an old man. Get off my lawn if
that's gonna happen. What if he's sliding Traditionally, wouldn't that
kill his phone? It happened to be a head first
slide to third. Carlos beltrying to had a new phone

(08:13):
every game, and don't forget change your phone to put
the new ones in your pockets. Okay, gotta have the
new ones everything. They're gonna track him. It's all burner.
It's just like when the outfielders to get those laminated
cards for positions, they pass out new phones. Take this
is this way. I'm sorry. I had my Wednesday phone
on Tuesday. I'm sorry about That's why I didn't get

(08:34):
the phone call picture. Can we get a new phone?
It's it's ringing in the clubhouse. I'm so sorry about that.
I that will never happen again. Carlos I'm really sorry.
I'm really sorry. That's a difficult thing because it's it's
a different way. The athletes are different coming in and look,
every generation is different, but you have a generation of
athletes coming in right Like I said, the rules are

(08:56):
suggestions and if I don't want to do it, I
don't have to. And you have people who are in
their forties and fifties that came up a certain way
where you know, you don't do things like keep your
phone in your pocket because that's just stupid. But nowadays
it's it's a it's a different look. You have. You
have players who are who are growing up now that
don't have know what life was like before social media.

(09:17):
Social media has been around their whole life. Everything about
what it is if you're has always been Twitter, There's
always been Facebook. You've always been able to call somebody
or text somebody. You've always be able to find somebody
and get them and speak them. It's a it's a
different way of thinking, and kids grow up differently. You
and I are not ancient, but we remember when the
radio newsroom had the Internet replacing the news wire from

(09:39):
a p used to get your news. You'd hear it
print up for you, and that got replaced by of
course everything's online that literally puts some radio guys out
of business. Speed Newswire. Yeah, I mean it was, it was,
it was. I still remember where it was. Sometimes it
took you till the next day to find out who

(10:00):
won the West Coast games the night before, Like they'd
be West Coast Games on Monday, but of course they
wouldn't make the paper on Tuesday. You'd have to listen
to radio or television when we would be on vacation
out of the Western time zone. That would be true.
They would just lift the matchup and have no scoter report.
It would just say Dodgers at Padres and for night right,
you know, Angels at at end night. Yeah, we'll find out.

(10:23):
So so I was in first place, Well, I don't know,
because I don't know who won Monday between the Angels
and the Astros and the A's were playing a suggestions.
They just have question marks next to the team's names.
Is this but that? But that's a big thing because
it's it's going to be different because all the debates
that we have had, and I remember thinking about this

(10:44):
when they the Naomi Osaka story came out, when she
didn't want to talk to the media but still wanted
to play and wanted to do commercials and do everything.
She just didn't feel like talking to the media, and
she cited mental health and became a big mental health conversation.
It was, okay, is this mental health? Is it's some
thing else? What is it? And it made me realize it.
Here's somebody who's you know, one of the top you know,

(11:05):
you know athletes in the world number one ranked tennis player,
and she just has a different set of this is
what this is what I want to do, and this
is how I'm gonna be beholden to the rules of
of tennis. And it's different. And it doesn't mean that
it's always wrong, but it's just different, and it's something
to realize. I look a one games especially, Yeah, you
can't have your phone in your pocket because we know

(11:25):
about the sign stealing scandal. Because things are really really uh,
they have segued into a big gambling and cheating has
become a bigger business, has become a bigger enterprise than
it was before. It's a legitimate concern if you have
people that doubt the reality the legitimacy of your games
everything falls apart, right, So he gets a game for that,

(11:47):
which I understand. Hey, it doesn't matter. You can't have
a phone in your back pocket. That's that's kind of
the rule. But if if it wasn't, I got a
feeling lots of other players have their phones in their pockets.
I gotta found a lot of them do, and they
forget do they always bring them out on the field
with them. No, but how many you think come in.
I'm gonna go in to go to the bathroom. I'm
gonna send a text. If I'm not batting this anything,

(12:08):
I'm gonna go and gonna go to the bathroom. I'm
gonna check my phone real fast, send a text, and go.
You talk to any NFL head coach now, and and
you say, how long can you keep guys in meetings
until you have to let them go because they're too
anty because they gotta get on their phones. Like a
half hour? I mean that that that's what's like a
half hour? I remember Kyle Shanahan was telling that story
last year about oh no, no, no. Cliff Kingsbury was

(12:31):
telling the story last year about how yeah, guys after
a half hour, so they're getting kind of antsy. You
can tell they want to check their phones. We gotta
give him a break because now they're not paying attention
to what we're doing. So you get like. It used
to be, Hey, we're in film session. What does that
mean from nine am until five o'clock at night we're
watching film. Now it's hey, you got a half hour,
go out for fifteen minutes, take a break, check your phones,
come back and get on social media whatever you want

(12:53):
to do, then come back in. This is the way
sports is now and it's going to continue to be
this way, and it's it's it's gonna be the biggest
challenge of my career is okay, understanding the generations the
athlete and exactly what they are going to be like
and and the different things than and conversations and and
takes and and and opinions that we have going for.

(13:13):
It's gonna be a really, it's really difficult challenge. The
cod old aspect that you brought up, where athletes believe
that the rules don't apply to them, They too many
of them believe that that's the case in society. The
societies don't rules, rules don't apply to them either. Part
of the failings along the way is that they've been
treated not just special, but like way up there high

(13:35):
over any other human throughout their careers, amateur careers, through school,
and so they've been always used to this sort of treatment.
So it would be shocking to them as adults if
they are not continually treated that way. So this is
where we as fans, as boosters, for example, where you
can't go overboard like that because you're creating the monster.

(13:56):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon days at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific. Now, before we get into a big story
of the NBA, we need to say this because look,
Steve de Seger would would feel he was remiss if
we wouldn't mention it that the Mets lost night shut out,
no no, no Joe Flacco fourteen out of seventeen, three

(14:18):
touchdowns at Jets practice today. Uh. The Angels lead the
Mariners right now too, to nothing through five innings. Okay,
Jose Suarez of the Angels, four year old is not
allowed to hit, has not walked anyone. The Angels have
not committed an error, five strikeouts in five innings. He

(14:40):
is perfect through five innings at sixty five. So we're
kind of on the border here, which is about where
you want to be, right, you know, if sixty would
be better, sixty would be well, of course, well forty
would be better. Realistically, this is forcing us to turn
the Angels on. We got, we got that doesn't happen

(15:03):
more television here that are covering a lot of stuff. Meanwhile,
Clue is on one of the TV's, but come on,
Clue is hilarious. Yeah from Oh sure Clues Clues on
heavy rotation of Miles, one of Thowa's favorite movies. It's
who's who's showing Clue these days? This was not like
Shawshank Redemption on every other channel. No Clue is on
I think it's on one of the show times. Yeah, well,

(15:25):
I mean Frostberg put the Dodgers on every other television,
so there's that. But we did take the Dodgers off
of one TV to put the Angels on. Now, so
now we do have the Angels game on. Uh, they're
forcing the Angels forcing us to pay attention. Well, they're batting,
so we don't have to pay attention until next inning.
Actually it will last long, so uh, Suarez perfect through

(15:45):
five for the Angels. Now it's an Angels game, like
the Angel's former announcer, are you allowed to say that?
Does that automatically? Jinks and ruin it as if the
picture can hear you? Frostberg just did we just did?
I think it just happened. If you if you open
the window, you could yell all the way down to Anahem.
Because it's only about fifty people at the game, they
could probably hear you. Oh you know how much leg

(16:07):
room you have in those seats at those games? Man,
you could drive right up to Angel Stadium, get out
of your car, walk right and you get you get,
you get people coming to your seat saying what would
you like? I'd like a jersey, Mike sub guest will
bring it to you in five minutes. Going to Angels
games are unbelievable. So that's Goodall territory there, Oh there,
it's foul ball. It's sandwich territory. It's everything Sandwich territory. Yeah,

(16:32):
because it comes not know Jason's on. Come on, when
you sit in a section, you and you have and
you have servers that come to your to the seat,
and you say sections, not the general sections, the hoity
toity sections. You're talking about there any sections and and
in in. Uh for the Angels games, there's this doesn't matter,
they'll they'll they'll give it to you. Uh. Remember before

(16:54):
Gretzky came to the l A. Kings, it was you
call up, what time is the game tonight? What time
can you make it? But now we got Gretzky, everything's
gonna be wonderful. Uh. So again, Angels were the two
nothing lead in a perfect game through five. We're going
nuts on a perfect game through five? We have Hey,
what happened to Mr? It's news. I have to say it.

(17:15):
You always said I I would not be doing my job.
I didn't say it was perfect. I have to agree.
I believe you said it four times though. Well, because
it's it, it is news. I agree. Okay, It's just
this guy is better than verland Or and Cease. Tonight, Steve,
you talked about that matchup a lot yesterday. Well, at
least I talked about people that were actually competing. Tonight,
all you were talking about is Josh Freeman. Well, and

(17:38):
speaking of repeating stuff, you know, Joe Flacca was fourteen
out of seventeen and Jets practice today three touchdowns and
a two point conversion pass. By the way, I just
looked up Suarez for the Angels. He hasn't thrown a
hundred pitches in any game this year. Not tonight will
be the first night. Okay, tom night will be the
first night. And the more I look into this, less
confident I am about. And let's just play us out

(18:00):
for a second. If he is perfect, the last out
of the ninth inning would be my wife's cousin, Sam Aggerty.
He's batting nine. He's bad, he said, now here's the
here's the marit's he's hitting three, ten, he's hitting ninth.
I mean, what the hell really, I mean, go on, man,
It would be my wife's cousin. Could be the last batter.

(18:20):
This has got to Hatchwan Suarez, And perfectually I am
rooting for this. Here we go, all right, so again,
now suddenly Steve's got it. Now let me let me
let me get something even better and more interesting about
Flacco's day for you'll love that. So we'll keep you
update on that. But but the Angels are still batting
like Otani just had a double or triple. It's gonna
be a while, gonna have a lot of time to

(18:40):
sit in the cluss sitting the dug out and get
stiff and now suddenly loses the perfect way. Verlanders not
pitching anymore either. It's a three three time neither it's
gonna win. Although if you saw the news on the
bottom line this afternoon, item one was Zach Wilson has
his knee surgery. Item two is Verlander versus ceased tonight
I'm not kid. Item three is Joe Flacco fourteen out

(19:02):
of seven. We could talk about how complicated other banks
make it to redeemed credit card rewards, or we could
talk about how we discover you could redeem your rewards
for cash in any amount at any time. I mean
talk about amazing. Learn more at discovered dot com slash
redeemed rewards terms they do apply. So more on this
game as it comes up as the Perfection continues. But
a story today involving Kevin Durant that goes back to

(19:24):
something we told you a while ago and something that
a lot of other people picked up on a week ago.
But it was a while ago. After the initial brew
haha over Kevin Durant wanting a trade came down the
first time when he said, Hey, I want out, and
the nets look to trade him. When that didn't happen

(19:44):
after the first ten days or so. Uh, we told
you Kevin Durant may not be as sought after as
you think he is. Kevin fans have the image of
Kevin Durant as hey, the guy that won two titles
with with the Warriors, and how great he was a
top three player in the league. And Kevin Durant is

(20:06):
still an absolute baller. But Kevin Durant the last couple
of years has been a guy who has been injured.
You don't know how many games he's going to play,
you don't know how motivated he is to win, and
he's not a leader. He has shown that he is
not a leader. So teams aren't going crazy to upset
the apple cart for Kevin Durant. All the teams that

(20:28):
he would want to go to, the contenders, like the
big time contenders. Hey, top of my list is Phoenix
and Miami and of course all the teams. They're not
going to give up anybody really, really good. They want
to add Kevin Durant without seeing elite talent level leave.
Not that we're just gonna low ball you, but Kevin
Durant is not worth us breaking our team apart just

(20:49):
to bring him in. So that's why things died pretty
quickly with Miami and Phoenix. Well we want no, you're
not no, no, no, you can't start this package with
DeAndre at and we don't want that. Okay. So now
Kevin rent is still sitting in limbo. We talked about
him last night being someone who saw that nothing. There
hasn't been a lot of movement. So he's starting to
get that going a little bit with his comments the

(21:10):
last couple of days and the story he might retire
rather than play for the Nets and him saying I'm
not retiring. People get stuff from crazy stories. But today
the story came out that the Pelicans won't include Brandon
Ingram in a deal for Kevin Durant. The Pelicans are saying,

(21:31):
there's guys we won't include for Kevin Durant. I get
if you say we don't want to include Zion, but
they don't want to include brandon Ingram, who's a good player.
But it's brandon Ingram and the Pelicans who got lucky
that they're still on the map because they have Zion Williamson.
They could be on the map even more with Kevin Durant. Look,

(21:52):
they've had the last couple of years. Brandon has been good.
They haven't done anything. All right, y'all, it's all We're
gonna get Zoe Wiams out there. Okay, We're gonna really
be healthy. You have a chance, Hey, you could get
You could get Kevin Durant. His money is taken care
of the next four years. He's a great player. You
could get him. But here's the Pelicans who are saying, yeah,
there's only so much we're gonna give up for Kevin Durant.

(22:13):
When the Pelicans are saying that, you know, Kevin Durant
is not as sought after as you think, and the
Nets are gonna have to come back, reset and decide,
all right, what kind of deal are we willing to
accept from another team for Kevin Durant because we're not
getting what we want. The team at the head of
the pack right now, I and in the the Athletic

(22:33):
had this report today. The Celtics are still at the
head of the pack because they're willing to include Jalen Brown.
That's the best player that a team is said will
include for Kevin Durant is Jalen Brown. I mean, all
these things should tell you Kevin Durant is not the
guy you think he is, and the teams around the
league don't think of Kevin Durant is that guy anymore.

(22:55):
When you talked, when you said an NBA story was
coming up, I honestly thought it was gonna be the
next story. But you're right about which I'll get to
in a moment. But you're right about Durant because it
reminds me a little bit of you remember when in
like mid two thousand, Shack wismm with the Lakers again
and there were talks of Kobe being traded or actually
maybe be free agent talking to the Clippers are being

(23:15):
traded to Chicago. Oh but if lu All Dang who
was scoring for the Bulls, then if he's coming to
the Lakers in the deal, well then no, I don't
want to go to Chicago because nobody will will be left.
This is the logic, right that the team doesn't trade
away everybody to get one star, because then you have
no one to pair with him, and then where are
you going. That's essentially what New Orleans would be saying
if that's reports true, right, because they can even trade

(23:37):
Zion if they're not confident in his NBA future, but
you have to keep a star to pair with a star,
and so in that sense, no, it's a very hard
trade to make. Aside for the fact that he started,
he's just kicking into this four year extension. Now, the
Knicks deal was regarding Utah, and of course Utah has
already traded Royce O'Neil to Brooklyn. They've already traded or

(23:59):
Rudy go Bear to Minnesota. It was the Knicks and
Jazz recently re engaged in trade talk centering on Donovan Mitchell.
According to The Athletic, Yeah, that Willet after several weeks
of no conversations, isn't something with And he also says
Charlotte and Washington are among the teams pursuing Mitchell. Isn't
a Mitchell trade far more likely than a Durant trade? Yeah,

(24:23):
because because Utah has decided we're starting over, right, they
we we just want a bunch of draft picks and
a bunch of talent management. Yes, this is just the
two teams have to have to figure on the final price.
It's the it's the Nicks saying here's two players and
three first round picks. And the Jazz saying we want
three players and three first round picks, and Nicks is saying,
how about two players in four first round picks. This

(24:46):
is not where we have to make sure we get
everything we can out of this, because it's embarrassing if
we don't, because it's Kevin Durant. And that's one thing
that that that that you're facing. If you're the Jazz,
you've already told your fans in the rest of the league. Listen,
we're starting over again. Rudy Gobert has gone, Donovan Mitchell's
on his way out. All right, we're gonna start over,
and we're gonna have eight or nine first round draft

(25:06):
picks and we're gonna remake the team. That's how it goes.
But the nets are going from we had all these
guys show up two years ago, and now we have
nothing to show for it. One guy's already gone, two
more guys are out the window. We gotta save some
face here, So we have to be a little bit
tougher in these in these trade situations than other teams do.
But eventually they're gonna have to realize that, um, yeah, boy,

(25:30):
it's not what we thought it was. Gonna be for
Kevin Durant and on the flip side for k D.
How pissed is he that he can't force a trade
and force a trade to the team he wants to
go to go back to the modern athletes that you
mentioned earlier in the show, right, there are certain expectations
of the modern athlete. This is a reality check. He's
so mad that because you know, he would want to

(25:50):
do that, like Lebron, like Luca would be able to
or anybody that's a guy that said you know who
I am, don't you okay? And he it's killing him
that he can't do this. It's absolutely killing him that
he can't make it a and he can't make it
a this is what I want and I'm on this
team three days later, absolutely killing you know what's killing me?

(26:12):
As the Angels gave it, gave up an Enfield single
with yeah one out in the sixth, just to let
you know the perfect game is gone. It was grounded
to deep short, nothing was bobbled. It was just a
long throw and late. Yea, this is where you have
to throw that ball into the stands and hopefully get
an error. You gotta suck it up and try to
get an a take one for the team. So the

(26:34):
perfect game is over for the Angels. You're welcome. There's
no perfect game we'll be talking about tonight. Now the
Angels can go about the business of just losing this game,
because pretty soon they'll be what fifty and seventy and
seventy something like that. And they were seven games over
five early in the season. I saw a stat they
had the first team to before the All Star break
be both seven over and seven under. That's how quickly

(26:55):
it went south. That's gonna be the first line when
you talk about what about two Angels? They were seven
games above five. Yeah, Well, if NFL Films was making
their highlight you know how half hour film on every team.
It doesn't matter if you're you know, some of the
NFL teams we mentioned tonight that weren't so good last year,
it still looks good. It's still a good look and
half hour they should do that for some of the

(27:16):
baseball teams. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Jason Smith Show with Mike Harman weekdays at ten pm
Eastern seven pm Pacific. Check if you want exclusive insight
from the biggest names in the sports game. What's good?
This is national champion and former pro baller Chris Johnson.
Let me tell you a little bit about my new

(27:36):
series kJ Live. J J Live is the only show
featuring me going one on one with the brightest basketball
minds on the planet to get the real And when
I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary
Hall of famers, elite coaches, in the top basketball insiders
bringing you a unique perspective on all things hoops culture
that you will not find anywhere. To make your next move,

(28:00):
your best move. Can tap in with me from kJ
Live wherever you keep your podcast from. You know what
this intro music means. It's not quite Narco is MLB Network,
Fox Sports Radio insider extraordinary John Paul Morossi. He is
on Twitter at John Morrossi. John, who is doing the

(28:21):
Yankee diet right now. He is only eating when the
Yankee scorer run, so he was able to eat today
for the first time in three days. Congratulations. Oh my goodness, Jason.
I tell you what, it is an exciting time in
the baseball world when you've got the Subway Series coming
up next week and yet the Yankees have to get
this offense going if we can really build it as

(28:43):
two of the best offenses coming together. And I would
also acknowledge Jason. As you well know, the final score
of the Mets game this evening was five nil in
favor of the Braves, So I we have to make
sure that we're we're acknowledging that both both New York
teams have some work to do before they meet next
week in the Subway Series. I do point out reports

(29:06):
Brett Beatty as you know, Uh, the the Mets star
third base prospect, could make his MLB debut as early
as tomorrow, So the Mets want to get a little
bit of a jolt there offensively with the the your
May injury and Escobar's struggles as well. Well, Look, I've
I've said this is all Steve to Sager's fault. I
love working with Steve, but if every day he works

(29:28):
the Mets lose a starting pitcher, he's done. After tonight,
He's never gonna hear him again in the network. Uh.
Steve is a great teammate at Fox Sports. I have
loved his work all through the years, outstanding professional in
many ways. But yes, as you point out, not only
has there been the the short exit there for Taiwan Walker,
but also the news about Carlos Carrasco situation. So I

(29:50):
suppose Steve, I'm not gonna blame this on you. I'll
tell you what, Jason, you can blame me. This is
not Steve's fault. Blame me, Blame me, all right, So
let's let's kick things off fear with the Yankees, because
it's not been a slump. They've been terrible since the
All Star break. They probably should have traded Joey Gallo.
Look at what's going on here, but they're not hitting.
Their bullpen has been terrible, they're starting pitching has not

(30:11):
been there, even though they've been great all year. How
concerning is this right now? What's been going on, Well,
it is worrisome. Obviously, I would still expect them to
win the division. They still have a nine game lead
over Tampa Bay as Tampa is now moving to the
second spot in the wild card derby there in the
in the American League, ease a couple of things. I

(30:34):
think this team is more dependent on John Carlo Stanton's
than anybody realized. You look, and basically they're they're swoon
began right around the time and Stanton left the lineup
because of his achilles injury, and then Matt Carpenter very
quickly became a very important person in this lineup, and
they haven't had him um as part of the mix

(30:54):
in a while now. So I think Carpenter's injury standings injury,
and then I think just maybe it of a slow
down from some other key guys. They've got to get
Torres going, lemayhe has been dealing with a bit of
a foot injury. And when you look at all the
things the Yankees were doing Jason and Steve this season,
he started out so fast, they look so great, and

(31:15):
they set the bar so high, and now not only
do they not have the best record in baseball because
that distinction belongs to the Dodgers, but they're not even
the number one see anymore in the American League. Whereas
if there's a Game seven in a series between the
Astros and the Yankees, at games that minute made and
we've seen how that goes Astros and Yankees, whether it's

(31:36):
Game six and nineteen or Game seven, and seen a
hard place to win. So the Yankees, to me, it's
been a series of issues. I wasn't really sure why
they traded Montgomery. When they did, they brought in Montasi
had one good start, one shaky start. To me, there
are issues now in multiple spots. You've got the clay

(31:58):
Home situation in the bullpend Michael King's all for the year,
it has not been one big thing. It's been a
collection of medium sized things that have added up to
a significant issue. And the Yankees at this moment, you'd
have to say they're not favored to win the American
League anymore, at least in my book, and even if
they get to the World Series. I like the Dodgers

(32:20):
depth and the Mets depth better than what the Yankees
bring right now. Meanwhile, let's talk about Tatis Jr. And
the general comment of identifying talent that's the business there
in these teams and keeping them under club control. Tonight,
one of the Rookie of the Year candidates the Braves,
Michael Harris, you tweeted out, gets an eight year extension
in two option years, not at all like the Tatis

(32:42):
junior contract the Padres gave him, because in this case, Harris,
most of the salaries are five to ten million dollars
per year for the bulk of the contract as immature
as tatiase is and he's currently suspended, would you say
the padres kind of painted the deceils into the corner
here by how they laid out the contract. Well, Steve,
it's a great point. And obviously he's the year in

(33:02):
which he's been suspended is one of the lower salaried
years that he's got on the contract, so that that
is a good point on on your part. The other
aspect I would point out is when you give someone
more than two million dollars in this sport, you are
saying that he is the face of your franchise. He
is one of the faces of the sport. And I

(33:24):
believe they went to a place with Tatis without maybe
knowing the full picture of what they were getting. And
and it was the motorcycle accident, it was the p
D suspension. His profile in the game, unfortunately, is forever change.
He will never, I don't think fully, recover the stature

(33:46):
in the sport that he had enjoyed before this year.
And again, the motorcycle was part of it. And and
sort of the the rather glib answer he made about
what which accident are you talking about that he got
into sort of insituating there is more than one. It's
just it's not a good look. And more than that,

(34:06):
when you sign a player to this kind of a contract,
what does it mean for what you could do for
Soto and what Soto would ask for and how comfortable
you are going there with Soto when you're not even
sure if you're going to get anything close to the
the expect the expectation you had on the production from
Tatis for the more than three hundred million dollars that

(34:27):
you gave them. These are questions and this is where
you have to really truly know as much as any
organization can know any player in any sport, but you
need to have I think a bit more information about
your player before you sign them long term. The Dodgers,
they knew what they were getting in Mookie. Bets there,
thrilled with what they've got with Mookie. They love him.

(34:49):
That was a great deal. Freeman. Of course, there was
a free agent contract doing very well for the Dodgers
at the moment. I think with Tatis, he was part
of the organization for a while, and it seems as
though there were still some really key maturity issues that
had not been resolved in a contract of the size

(35:09):
can change a person, and if it's changed tatiss thus far, guys,
it has not changed them for the better, all right,
JP percentage chance the next time he plays a game,
which won't be this year, won't be the World Baseball Classic,
it's in a different uniform than the San Diego Padres
percentage chance his next game in Major League Baseball is

(35:29):
with a different team. I just don't see. I mean,
that is a that is a contract that by definition
is one that only handful of teams can afford. And
so who would take it on and who would take
it on under these circumstances. I mean, there's no question
that he he has to go before his teammates and

(35:51):
give them a really, uh sort of sincere account of
where things stand. But this is the issue, guys, look
at look at the history of the game. Yeah, we've
had superstars who have had suspension, Manny Ramirez, a Rod
Bryan Braun, but in those cases they were later you know,

(36:11):
they were later on in their careers. This is a
twenty three year old player who who had the face
of the franchise and one of the faces of the
sport type of status put on him. And when you
have done that I just don't know. This is year
one of this this a dozen year contract. I just

(36:32):
don't see how you can find your way to explain
what's happened and and have him just pick up right
where he left off next season. I to me, you
had better be darn shure as a GM if you're
making a phone call saying, hey, what would you take
on Tati's and then would they be in a in
a position to say, listen, we want you to pay

(36:54):
us like ten million dollars a year to take out
on the contract. In theory, it's it's a great question.
I'm sure maybe a really enterprising GM will make that
phone call, but no one's taking it on at the
full fright. You'd have to pair up a bad contract
to make it worth their while. It's a fascinating question,
but I just don't see any GM with the boldness

(37:16):
required to make that trade right now. John The Dodgers
benched outfielder Cody Bellinger tonight. Maybe for a few days.
He's batting two oh six, obviously bad batting averages the
last couple of years in a two for nineteen slump.
So Chris Taylor starts in center field and hits the
tying homer. Because he's hit in the lineup in the
seventh Milwaukee tonight, Bellinger can still have power. It sounds

(37:39):
like they still want him for the stretch run of
September and to be part of this team and contribute
as he did in the postseason last year. We're not
closing the door on him yet, right. I mean, this
has been going on a long time, but you see
him still contributing, don't you. Well, it's interesting he is um.
I look at him in some ways as as basically

(38:01):
what Jason Hayward was for the Cubs in sixteen. Obviously,
Hayward gave his incredible speech and was a really good leader,
gave a lot of value. They're very good defender, but
just not a bat anymore that you really look to
in trust. And I think that's where Bellinger is. Sadly,
Bellinger plays a really good center field, but his shoulder

(38:22):
has not been the same. Honestly, you go back to
and the rather infamous celebration of the home run not
shoulder out of the socket. He had had shoulder issues
before then, but that was kind of the moment that
we all go back to and remember, and he really
it's been years now since he was a legitimate consistent threat,

(38:43):
and I think that for me, it's apparent that he
is probably not going to be brought back next year. Um,
he is a player that is eligible for arbitration, but
I just don't see that the numbers equaling out his
production right now in terms of what you'd have to
pay him. So I think he's probably going to be
cut loose after the season's over. I'm sure that's weighing

(39:05):
on his mind, where it's a very uncomfortable situation to
look up at the scoreboard and near a former m
v P and written two hundred. So, um, he's tried.
I don't think that he's really ever been fully sound. Um.
You know, obviously it's a question of injured on the
continue of injured versus hurt. I just don't think he's
quite able to attack the baseball with the same ferocity

(39:28):
that he once did. And you look at the way
he finishes his swing when he's right, there's a real
torque on that and just think about that what that
does to your shoulder. I I just think he's not comfortable,
and as a result, he is going to be a
role player for this team. He can contribute, yes, but
he's not going to carry a line unfortunately for the Dodgers.

(39:48):
We've got a few guys that can do that. And
this is why I thought the Dodgers were actually a
pretty good fit for Soda with the deadline, because they
have got to find a way to replace the production
of Trey Turner if they don't really sign him, and
then replace Bellinger with a lefty bat in the outfield.
And I thought Soda was probably as good of a
guy as you could possibly get. But but they've got
some decisions to make great team that he should be

(40:10):
in a really good situation obviously for the playoffs. But
the Bellinger scenario is not a new one, but it
is a significant one for them to try to overcome.
Right now in October, Well, I got good news and
bad news for your JP on that front. The good
news is I agree with everything you were saying. The
bad news is I don't think Bellinger's getting his job
back after the catch Chris Taylor just made while you

(40:31):
were speaking in center field to end the inning, full
extension leaping away from the plate on a line drive
with two outs, and that was everything. They even catch everything,
but going to the ground like in the well there
you go, Hey, listen, you know that the irony is
you know who has stepped in and is now playing

(40:54):
on a more consistent basis in the outfield is Gallow
And so Gallow was the one who was seemingly a
lost case and no one could have ever uh fixed
his wing and the homer's tonight and is by many,
by many metrics, a better player in l a than
than he was for the for the Yankees. So maybe
Bellinger didn't need to change the scenery as well. But
right now, to your point, Taylor is a deluxe super

(41:17):
utility guy who can really go get it in center field,
and you've got one of the best right fielders in
the game and Mookie and right and you've got someone
in Gallo who really is a good athlete and covers
a lot of ground on the left field. So um,
I think that for Taylor it actually is a pretty
good situation for him and for the Dodgers of Gallow
can hit, you gotta play him. And maybe that's what

(41:37):
it is. The Yankees shouldn't have traded Joey Gallo that
they Maybe that's it, that's where their downtick started. Shoop.
They were they were just fine until they traded Gallow.
But by the way, by the way, I I am understanding.
And then just a Crossbourg, one of the great producers
anywhere in sports or news broadcasting, reminds me that I
should be watching the Lions on Hard Knocks and that

(41:59):
I should be getting optimistic. Now. I watched like zero TV.
It's not baseball or hockey basically, but or soccer. So
that's kind of my triumvirate there. But it sounds like
I have to kind of get all in on the
lines right now based on how they're how they're presenting
themselves to the to the sports world. Yes, you have
to get all in on Dan Campbell. He's he's the star.

(42:20):
He's the He's he's the breakout star of Hard Knocks.
So so here's the question. The guys who actually wear
the helmets and paths. Now, do we have anybody good
there who does those things? Yes, Billy sims is a
running back. Okay, Eric Hippoll at quarterback got it all right.
Herman Moore and Brett Perriman on the outside are going

(42:40):
to be terrific this year. I remember those guys, they'll
score a lot and if something happens, Scott Mitchell can
come into quarterback and everything I could I remember, I remember,
Jason answer, I remember. I could name you many more
players in the team than I I mean, like I
could go chapter in verse of the ninety one team

(43:03):
that that acts that won the one playoff game that
Detroit's had in the last sixty years. But I cannot.
I cannot tell you a single player on the current
Lions roster, with the exception of Jared Goff, and only
because he was traded for Stafford. That's all I got. Well, look,
I guarantee you there's a big pocket maybe not half
the fan, but there's a big pocket a Lions fan
to still think Jason Hansen is kicking for them. Is

(43:26):
Prater is still the kicker? Yes, Prator is still the kicker.
So I got two Lions. There you go. I feel
pretty good. I got golf and the kicker. I'm in
good shape. Now, there you go. That's all you need.
That's all you need. All right, take it easy, buddy,
We'll talk to you my friend. I love it. Guys,
Thank you so much to the tight end from Iowa.
I remember I don't know his name, but he's def
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