06-02-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Post Rockies win. Additioned, we're in the double digit wins.
The Rockies picking up their tenth win of the season
only June second, two, getting a six to four victory
over the Miami Marlins. Armand Marquez was the starting pitcher
against the win. Moves to two and seven. Jake Bird,
Tyler Kinley, and Seth Holverson all pitched an inning and

(00:20):
got hold.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Zach Agnolls with the save as fourth of the year.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Losing pitcher for the Marlins, Max Meyer five innings pitched,
ten hits, five runs, four earned allowed. Hudter Goodman, with
two home runs in the game, was certainly the player
of the game for the Rockies. Rockies out hit the
Marlins twelve to eleven and.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Of course out scored him six to four in this one.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I don't know, is this the start of the hot streak, zachly,
are we back?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
If they you know what, go eighty and twenty over
the final stretch, they could do it. They could do
it then, Yeah, gets you to what ninety wins? Yeah, yeah,
it will be in a wild card hunt.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
In the hunt. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
If they're to win eighty percent of their games going forward,
they could be in the hunt.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
For a wild card. That's that's certainly saying. So just
get on the graphic. It takes putting one foot in
front of the other.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
That's a would say, Rocky, you still have yet to
win a series so far this year. Matter of fact,
if you started this season with one hundred dollars bet
on each series and bet the Rockies to lose, you
would be at twenty eight thousand dollars right now in
terms of profit. But we take the wins where we
can get them. As we get the win today, maybe
maybe they'll maybe this will be the one, Maybe this
will be the series they get off the schneide.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
That's a smart investment strategy. And it's painful to see
they've got what one more win than the Denver Broncos
over the last you know, several months, Yeah, dating back
to I think the twenty twenty three NFL season, which
is just painful.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's not been good.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
There are some other teams out there sort of mired
in future as well.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
The Chicago White Sox, who are are.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Not very good at eighteen wins forty one losses in
the season, are getting spanked right now by Detroit ten
to one at the end of the seventh There what
else you got these besides the the Rockies. You basically
have the Pirates and of course Miami, who they're playing
is the worst teams in the in the NL. The Pirates,
of course, uh not playing today, but you know it's

(02:25):
it's it's bad. It's been bad. But I'm glad. I
guess they got the win. It's interesting to me how
many people I see out and about though that are
rooting that.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Are Rockies fans, but rooting against it.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
They want the record like there, if we're gonna be bad,
we want to be number one.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Bad that And I think.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
There's an element of maybe this will be what changes
it because nothing else has changed it. And whether or
not it ultimately will change it, I think it's fair
to debate, but I think the only way you get
like seismic organizational change is when it becomes the national
conversation and a bit of an embarrassment for the franchise.

(03:05):
You look at Mike Brown in the Bengals, notoriously cheap,
wouldn't give players guaranteed money three years into the deal,
broke that president for Joe Burrow because everyone in the
nation was talking about it and saying, can you believe
if they screw up this incredible franchise quarterback they drafted,
and I think out of embarrassment kind of forced him
to do something positive, forced.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Him to do several things because the Bengals had never
sold the naming rights to their stadium. Yes, they gave
the cash so badly that they sold the naming rights
to the stadium in an effort to be able to
pay Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and T Higgins.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Now, they may not.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Be able to feel the defense this year, and it
might be the ugliest team to win four games while
scoring thirty every game, but it's you know, they've certainly
changed something at least in the organization.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Even the Oakland A's.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think people are really upset with that move, and
justifiably so. I think a large element of that move
is ownership being and ownership should have probably just built
their own stadium, but ownership being upset about the embarrassment
that was the coliseum in its final days where it
was just totally empty.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
It was a wreck.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
You had fans doing crazy stuff in the stands.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
It was a nightmare.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
And I think when you have those types of things
as national story lines and huge embarrassments for ownership. I
think that's when change really occurs.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, well, in any event, the Rockies are ten and
fifty now. It was interesting because when they were five
and twenty five, I pose the question on Kaoe Sports,
what are they going to get to first ten wins
or fifty losses, jokingly thinking they would not replicate themselves
over the course of the next thirty five games, and
what do they do exactly that They got to the
losses first, but they got to win on the next day,

(04:48):
so they wound up and here we are ten and fifty.
They've continued the same pace, which is it's sort of
fascinating because that means you're, you know, at this point,
you're sixty.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Games into the season, right and.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Normally bad teams, historically bad teams right around that thirty
forty game mark, they start winning it a little at
of morse, they put it together, start winning it a
significantly better clip.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Not the Rockies. We are at the exact same.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Pace we were thirty five game or whatever it was
thirty five games ago or thirty games go.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yeah, they're getting some reinforcements, so maybe it picks up
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's brutal.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
It's this is a really hard stretch to your point
about those really bad teams getting better around the thirty
game mark.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
The Rockies.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Now, everyone was talking about how at the fifty game
mark it was the worst fifty games starts since eighteen
ninety five. This is the worst sixty games start ever
period Dayton Pack, all the way through eighteen eighty six
or whenever the MLB started. They're the very worst sixty
games start ever, and by a whole game. The few
teams are titled eleven. No one's ever pulled off ten before. Yeah,

(05:51):
it's it's fascinating because it's not it's not just the
pitching like it normally is.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
It's it's the Rockies are twenty ninth and pitching with
a five five ninety array. It's also the hitting, where's
the thirtieth in the league with a two to fifteen
batting average. So it's not, you know, it's not just
one area where it has it has traditionally been for
the Rockies. It's it's everything that's going on there thirtieth
and on base percentage thirtieth and runs scored thirtieth and.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Whip thirtieth and batting average against. They just you know,
it's it's across the board, and you know it would
be one thing if there was hope on the horizon.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
You know, you had the Houston Astros, a team that
sent out the letters to the season ticket holders, told
everybody what they were doing.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
They're tear it down. They're stripping this thing to the studs.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
They gotta have a couple of really really bad seasons,
but that's because they're building everything up to the miners
and they're gonna start reset and start over with a
freshow team. And his works in Houston got better and
they won because of it. The Rockies says, you take
a look down.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
The farm system isn't.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Exactly loaded with premier talent, and now they've got that
stupid new lottery smoothing thing going on in baseball and
hustling backwards baseball.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Good job where you.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Know, even if you're the worst team, you're not guaranteed
the first pick. I hate lotteries. I hate the NBA lottery.
I hate the Major League Baseball lottery. Lotteries are stupid.
They are stupid, and if you are looking to maintain
competitive balance and keep a league to its maximum amount

(07:26):
of interest. You should not be taking notes from the
NBA Baseball, You should be taking notes from the NFL.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yes, I think this off season, these past couple months
have been a great lesson for everyone that might want
to draft lottery for the NFL. You know, you want
an avenue and n Yes, tinking gets abused by some teams,
but you want an avenue. I think, especially in a
sport like baseball. In basketball, one guy can make such

(07:54):
a difference baseball, Ken Griffy Junior was one of the
most amazing two way players ever and struggle to make
the playoffs for the overwhelming majority of his career in Seattle.
Then he leaves and the team gets better because to
just weird coincidence.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
You know, it's yeah, it's one of those things where
and the text line just points something out five six zeros.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Text line sevent too says, reality is they're still getting
busts in the seats. It won't change. The opponent today
had five k.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
They're only five thousand people at the Miami Rockies game.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Bad there's bad weather day down there and all that
kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
But the Rockies are uniquely set up to print money
off mediocrity because they have a great stadium, and the
stadium atmosphere's fun. You got the party decades. It's even
if they're losing, it's fun to go to and so
you're always gonna have And then Denver is such a
melting pot city, you know we've had. Denver is such
a transplant city that you have a lot of people

(08:45):
that'll show up to the games for the opponents, say.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
And see their team as far as that kind of
stuff goes. So that part of it.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
But going back to the draft portion of it, I
think the problem here is that, you know, if you
have a non salary cap league, you have to have
something for small market, fiscally strapped teams to be able
to try to work themselves up out of and they
just eliminated that. So unless you put a salary cap in,
I mean, all you're doing is hurting mid market and
smaller market teams. Now, the counter argument people give me

(09:14):
is that the current NBA Finals is about to be okay,
see in Indianapolis.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
But those guys didn't benefit from the lottery.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Indianapolis had one top ten pick in the last fifteen
years that was Matthren and then the Okac's had what
two in the top.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
Fifteen, you know, Holmegrin and Josh Gidney and Getty's not
even with the team anymore.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
So you know the idea that those those lotteries, you
know benefit you know heard of it. Yeah, you got
some small market teams that managed to make some moves.
And okay, see scouting department's been nails for two decades,
and the Indiana Pacers just made the right moves.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
To get the right players that work together.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
But the reality is mostly small market or mid market
teams are unlikely to ever succeed in any of these
leagues if you continue to have draft lotteries and the
lack of a salary cap.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, and can I get it somewhat in the NBA,
just because one they have a salary cap. Two, if
you are able to just knowing le tank for Cooper
Flag in a given season or a Victor Wemben Yama,
you're gonna have fifteen twenty teams actively making themselves non
competitive just knowing this guy could change our franchise for
the next decade or two. But that's not a problem

(10:20):
in baseball. I just it's ridiculous and they don't have
the salary cap to help even things out.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's just they put it.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
They put in something that the kneecaps people at the bottom,
but smoothing the tanking thing. Because a baseball it takes
guys years to get to their prime anyway.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
You know, by the time you're you're exiting your prime
in the.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
NFL or NBA at twenty nine twenty you know, twenty
twenty nine or you know, in the NBA is probably
a little older that.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
The thirty two I think is roughly the cutoff point.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
But in baseball, you're hitting your prime at twenty eight,
you know, that's what you're hitting your your six year
prime window at that point.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
And so yeah, I think the kneecap in these teams by.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Doing this lottery smoothing and then they've already god no
salary cap so that the Dodgers and the Mets and
the Bosox and the Yankees of the world is gonna
buy up players. I put these mid markets and smaller
market teams out. They've gonna continue to be de facto
farm teams for these bigger market teams.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Until they fix that.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, I just don't know what you get excited about
right now. There are some exciting players on the team,
but the farm system is you know, there aren't any
incredible prospects on the come up, especially relative to other teams.
I think the farm system rankings typically are around twenty
or so, somewhere between fifteen to twenty, which, you know,

(11:31):
it's not terrible, but it's it's hard to see the
light at the end of the tunnel right now. And
to your point about the attendance last year at twenty
twenty four of the Rockies were fourteenth or sorry, fifteenth
and average attendance this year, despite being you know, the
worst team through sixty games ever, they're at sixteenth. Yeah,
so it's had an impact, but barely any whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah. And I think that impact, I mean, I think
you're gonna get people showing up for the record. You
think it's gonna have the a inverse effect in what
You're gonna have people show it up because they're so
bad that they're commiserating about them being so bad, you know,
and and and people want a piece of history.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
So you're gonna be around.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
You know, I got ticket stiles from the losing a
season all time, you know, in Major League Baseball. And
I think that's a part of it. There are there
are some things to be excited about. I mean, Hunter
Goodman looks like a, you know, a pretty good player.
Ryan McMahon looks like a you know, a pretty decent players.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Batting average is bad, but he finds ways to get
on base.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Ovar great defender. Yeah, I mean to didn't you have another
error tonight?

Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, that's true. How many errors has he had in
a while? There's some there's a couple.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Of the pitchers that look like they might be uh,
you know, that they might be worth something might be
worth you know, I know has looked pretty good.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Jake Byrd's looked pretty good. You know this year.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Dollander looks like he might have a little sum It's
gonna take him, take him a little while to get there.
It looks like he might have a little something to him. So,
you know, we'll see as far as some of these
uh uh so, as far as some of these pictures
and hitters go, there's there's a few things to get
excited about. But overall, I mean, it's just, you know,
it's tough. It's tough sled. It's a tough sell to
people to say. Look, you know, there's hope. It's it's

(13:06):
it's over the horizon when you can clearly see over
the horizon, and it's you know, the state of Kansas
used to have to drive through.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
Yeah, and if they act to the lottery, if they had,
you know, a number one pick. As a Rockies fan,
you could at least get excited, Hey they're getting, you know,
with such and such great prospect.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
It's going to be a pitcher or a hitter.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
And you know it doesn't pay off immediately in baseball,
but you can follow that guy through the farm system
be excited about, Hey, you know, maybe some relief is
coming in two three years where you can get No.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
One.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Maybe not Nolan Ernado again, but a face of the
franchise type player.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
And now you're.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Waiting at least, you know, another one hundred and sixty
two games for that level of relief, and that that
sucks for the fan base.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, And there's there's plenty of good pitching in this draft.
You got Jami for baseball, you got Jamie Arnold, Kate Anderson,
Leam Doyle, you got you know, you got quite a
few guys I think in this draft. It could make
it difference. Ky Witherspoon out of Oklahoma. Guys Witherspoon, you've
got you've got some players.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
You know out there.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
This is also if you need a shortstop. This is
sort of the sort of the draft too. I think
the Rockies picked fourth in the coming draft, don't they
this coming year, I believe. So that's all the shot
at one of those pitchers. But you know, that's the
other thing about baseball is you you pointed it out,
it's not there's not just there's just not a difference maker,
you know, in terms of that not one guy who's
gonna be a difference maker, instant impact type of guy

(14:32):
like there is in basketball sometimes even in football, but
like there is in basketball. So we got a bunch
of stuff to get to, uh when we come back