Saturday Special - Colin Speaks w/ FOX MLB Analyst Tom Verducci

Colin is joined by Sports Illustrated Senior Writer and FOX MLB Analyst Tom Verducci to discuss how the Dodgers have maintained such a high level of success.  Tom explains how important the Yankees under the radar signings were this year and what team could be a surprise come October 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi everybody, and welcome to our post fourth of July
Saturday podcast. And I thought it's a perfect time here
we go, getting ready for the All Star break, to
bring in my favorite baseball writer in the country, senior
baseball writer for Sports Illustrated, the baseball analyst for Fox
and the MLB Network, Tom Verducci. So here we go.
There's a couple of big storylines. Let's start with this.

(00:23):
The Yankees an incredible year despite a myriad of injuries.
I saw yesterday Michael k my buddy is his vocal
cords even when on the fritz. Yet they've been able
to maintain it. Does that speak to the Yankees young talent?
Does it speak to Aaron Boone? Does it speak to

(00:45):
the Red Sox struggling? What do you make of the
Yankees first half? Tom Death of many They've done a
great job. We know all about the star players, but
the way they have supplemented that roster with some guys
who they identify as undervalued, you know, the GEO or Shallows,
the Luke Voites and DJ Lemayhews of the world. That's

(01:07):
what I don't even want to say. It's kept this
team a blow, that's kept this team just charging. I mean,
you lose impact players like Judge and Sin and Sabrino,
and you know you're boat racing the division. That speaks
to how good they've been as acquiring and developing people
from outside the organization. So, Colin, when there is full strength, man,

(01:28):
that is one scary lineup. I will tell you this.
I don't think there's been a lineup with more and
brain handed power when the Yankees are at full strength,
at least that I've seen, when they can run that
a varsity lineup out there. Now, we go back to
the Red Sox winning the title last year, and it
wasn't just that they won, but I can remember conversations

(01:48):
listening to you and others and rightly so, this was
an all time team in Boston. And now we're eight
months past that, and it's it's a team that's struggling.
Is it a malaise in the first half? Is it
to you? Is it an enigmatic issue that's unsolvable by

(02:10):
you know, July and August. Well, first of all, Colin,
you're right about last year. It was a storybook season.
Basically they never had adversity. I mean like never, The
entire season came out of the gate strong and just rolled.
It's been the opposite this year, and it is a malaise,
starting with their choice in spring training to slow play
their starting pitchers. They figured were all these guys pitched

(02:32):
the seventh month last year in October. We want to
make sure these guys are strong for another October, so
we'll essentially have them really get up to speed in
the middle of April. And they pitched very little in
spring training. Well, they came out of the gate slow
because of that, especially Chris Dale, a little bit of
David Price, but especially Stale and Porcello. They're still trying
to catch up to get to mid season form. And

(02:55):
the other thing, Colin and listen, we know it's hard
to repeat, right, nobody's done in the game since what
two thousand and it's the longest stretch since we've had
a World Series without a repeat champion. So there is
something in today's game besides the fact that there's more
playoff rounds to jump through. Yeah, with today's athletes, right,
and you're seeing it with Boston, Colin, they did very

(03:16):
little to introduce any I don't want to say hungry,
but at least new blood into this consignment as they
have here. So if the same player is thinking, hey,
we're a World Series team. Everything worked great for us
last year will be fine. And to me, they've played
without urgency, certainly without consistency, but without urgency, and the

(03:37):
better start playing that way. Because the American League wild
card race now is starting to get crowded. Let's move
over to the National League. In the Dodgers best record
in baseball. From the outside end, it is fairly remarkable.
They have hit on so many good young players in

(03:57):
it's different positions. It's kind of shocking. I mean, I
don't know what the person. And again, they've been so
good for so long. It's not like they've had, you know,
top three picks in the draft. But something about their
scouting department at every young guy they bring in delivers
and you know, it's a crapshoot. It's a crapshoot in
all drafts, NFL, NBA. What do you make of the

(04:21):
Dodgers young players? Is their scouting simply better? I know this.
They spend more money on let's call it research and development,
not just player development, but research and development, all the
analytic all technology, yes, and scouting as well. They spend
by far more than anybody else in baseball. Hold that

(04:41):
number is about twenty million dollars a year. So all
their little incremental advantages begin to add up. They can
go find a Max Muncy. They can take a Cody
Bellinger who hit one home run as a high school senior,
drafts him change his swing in Rancho Hucamonga, and now
he's going all Babe Ruth on us this year. So yeah,

(05:04):
they they listen. Andrew Freeman, I thought did a great
job a low budget in Tampa Bay. Now you're seeing
what he can do when you give them essentially an
unlimited budget. You know, the Astros and the Dodgers, to
their credit, they said no to Bryce Harper, no to
Manny A couple years ago. Dodgers said not to Zak Grinky,
you know. And now this is not to pick on

(05:26):
the you know, the Mannis and the Bryce Harpers, but
the Astros and the Dodgers were very much into chemistry.
Dodgers moved Puig out to Cincinnati because they thought there
was a chemistry issue. Let's speak about Philadelphia. Now, Bryce's
more strikeouts than ever Phillies. I think it's fair to
say have underachieved Bryce's I think, you know, the defensive

(05:48):
shifts are a little in his head. Could you make
the argument that these that these Astros, these Dodgers, very
reliant on analytics, are seeing something in these massive ten
year power hitter contracks and that it may it may
become a macro trend, that that the Bryce and the
Manny contracts are not gonna signal, you know, a new

(06:09):
era in baseball. They may be cautionary tail contracts. Yeah,
I think you're onto something. And you could throw the
Yankees in there. I know they dabbled on Machado. They
really didn't have interest in Bryce. Um. I wouldn't say
they were, you know, all in on Manny Machado, but
they did talk to them, so they considered it. But yes,
those teams you mentioned, especially Dodgers and Astros, they they

(06:30):
have their own way of valuating players and they don't
get carried away with the halo effect of getting a
player the way the Angels did with Albert Pooholes, the
way the Tigers did when they extended Miguel Cabrera. It's
about being essentially ruthlessly efficient. Yes, these star superstar players,
Let's face it, they're not efficient. Now, I will tell
you this, Colin. Bryce Harper has brought buzz back into Philadela. Yeah.

(06:55):
There are attendances. Yeah, the attendance has been excellent for them. Yes,
So that to me is a hit for them in
terms of just re energizing that town that had been down.
It's a great baseball town, but it had been down.
He's done that. But Brace, harperd to me is Reggie Jackson.
Would you say Reggie was one of the five best
players in the game. No, but you know what, you

(07:16):
wanted to go buy a ticket to bats and play. Yeah,
and he might punch out four times, but even when
he strikes out, you're gonna go, wow, that was pretty cool, right.
I think Brace is that kind of player, and he
has developed bus. But if you're the Dodgers and the Astros,
you don't really need that. You know, you develop your
own star players. You stay away from the super long
term contracts. You know, we've we've talked about. You know,

(07:38):
there's there's some analytical changes in the sport. I'm critical
of the defensive shift. I think hockey doesn't let you
sit in the crease. Basketball doesn't let you stand in
the key, and football forces you to stand certain places.
I don't love the defensive shift because I do think
you know, guys like Manny Machado are taught to hit
the ball down the middle their entire life, and now

(07:59):
it's an out. Bryce Harper similarly, where do you stand?
I mean the longe angles here to stay? Where do
you stand on the defensive shift, which you know, again
it creates sort of a strikeout home run league. Yeah,
you know what, it doesn't bother as much as it
first did. First of all, pitching is so difficult to
hit in today's game, and it's not just velocity. Guys

(08:21):
are spinning the ball more than they ever have, so
it's tough just to say, go ahead and hit the
ball the other way, right, I don't think, yes, I
think it has taken away especially singles. You know, it's
harder to get a single in today's game than ever
in the history of the game. People just don't want them.
First of all. Yeah, and then the defenses conspire against it.
But I don't think if you wave the magic wand

(08:44):
took away shifts tomorrow, I don't think the game would
look that much different, because this is how hitting is
right now. And you touched on this column. Guys want
to get the ball in the air. You know, I
don't think if you took away shifts all of a
sudden they're going to hit the ball in the ground
and go the other way and go for a five
hit rally. It's a boomer Bus game right now. And
the big question is what do the fans think of it? Right?

(09:05):
Is there such a thing as too many home runs? Well,
we're testing that this year. I can tell you that, Yeah,
let's let's visit the Cubs. So I don't think there's
any question that theo Epstein's theo Epstein's plan worked. And
I don't think there's any question that Joe Madden's considered
a very academic, very bright guy. But I thought they

(09:25):
were more successful, quicker than even an optimistic baseball fan
could be considering Brigley Fields, not from the star players
I've heard through the years, ideal as a facility, and
yet they got a World Series champion. But then you know, injuries,

(09:46):
guys move, Where does Joe Madden sit today? Because theo
Epstein's not going anywhere. Chicago is a demanding sports town. Tom,
where does Madden sit today? In that hierarchy in his
future going forward for the Cubs. Well, as you know,
he's on the last tier of his deal. He's making
a lot of money, and this is a team built

(10:07):
to go to the World Series, and I think there'll
be a lot of pressure on him if the Cubs
at least don't get through a round, at least get
to the National League Championship Series. You know, showing up
for a wild card game and going home, that's not
going to cut it. Maybe even losing in the first
round might not cut it. Highly successful, as you mentioned that,
you know they're winning ninety games, they're winning division, yes,

(10:28):
but they're built to do more than that. Right now.
It's you know, you get to a point where you
play a peak capacity and anything less than that is
just not acceptable. Now, I think he's still the right
manager for this team, but as we saw in cases
with Dusty Baker in San Francisco and Washington or Tory
with the Yankees, you know, there's a lifespan to managing
a team, and we've seen managers. Joe Girardi's another one,

(10:53):
right guy almost went to the World Series. They didn't
bring him back. So I do think f seen well.
I know he's right now is his team, and he
has threatened changes to turn this thing around. And they're
going to go through a first wave of personnel changes,
whatever they may be, and let's saying they'll be earth chattering,
but figure out they can fix this thing on the fly.

(11:13):
And if they can't, then yeah, Joe Madden will be
talking about his job security in September. Tom Verducci, senior
baseball writer for Sports illust read it works for us
at Fox in the MLB network. To me, the best
baseball guy in the country usually, I remember you writing
an article about a decade ago that in by late July,

(11:34):
excuse me, by late June, early July. You really do
get a sense of the sport. Most of the teams
that are in free fall will not recover, but they're
Baseball is very unique. We have concurrent dynasties in college football,
in the NFL, you know, in the NBA. Baseball is different.
You know, it's the only sport where a pitching staff

(11:55):
can go down because of an arm injury. Brady doesn't
have an arm injury, you know, halfway through an NFL
season usually, so it's very hard to predict in the postseason,
how do the pitching matchups work? You may have a
better team but get a bad pitching matchup in a
second playoff series. So is there a team do you
now that may not lead a division, but when you
look at their perhaps depth of starting pitching, or their closers,

(12:19):
or you think they are a team built for September
and October. Maybe a quirky team. Do you have one now?
As we are celebrating the fourth of July weekend. Well,
it seems like we've been saying this for years, Colin,
but the Washington Nationals under a tree the first two months, man,
I mean again, line up their starting pitchers, right. Scherzer

(12:39):
has gone all world on us this year. I think
he's better than he's ever been. Strasbourg maybe better than
he's ever been. And Corbyn's been shaky, but you know,
the stuff is there. That's a team when you talk
about October, is the rare team with starting pitchers who
can take you out just with starting pitching. So listen,
I don't have much to openers in the culture there

(13:01):
because they just never seem to get it right right now,
that's true on paper? Yes, I think every team in
National League looks at the Nationals in the rearview mirror
and say, you know these guys are coming. Where do
they finish it off? I don't know, but yeah, they're
scary with their pitching. And finally, the New York Mets.
Every league has one of these. I generally point to

(13:22):
ownership when a team is consistently lacks or underachieving. The
Mets have really been a mess this year. Is it
just as easy as the owners don't work, the owners
aren't aligned with management. How do you explain another disappointing
Mets team? Well, first of all, Collins the globally, I'm

(13:43):
with you. If you're talking about a team and consistently
gets in its own way, not just underachieves, and you
change managers and you change personnel and the DNA is
the same, you have to look at ownership and they
have to take responsibility for that. So listen, Brodie van
wagon In. They went outside the box with an aging
tournament to a GM. He was super aggressive, he won

(14:05):
the offseason and most of his move now don't look good. Right.
They got a lot of headlines, not enough wins. Right now,
The point is, how does the pivot. I think they
should put Noah Synderguard on the trade market and see
what they can get for him. Okay, you know, I
think big at this point. This team to me is
not close to winning at this point, So in the
market where there's not a ton of great starting pitchers available,

(14:28):
instead of keeping, you're still waiting for Synderguard to really
be what we all think he can be before the
value goes now even further, I would at least put
him out there see what I can get a start
to pivot now and not hope you're going to make
some Hail Mary wildcard run. By the way, who do
you think would be interested? A lot of teams? I
think the Yankees might be interested. Yeah, I mean the

(14:51):
Yankees will get a starting pitcher now, they're interesting. I
was gonna say they're interested in Madison bomb Gardner. Perhaps absolutely,
Milwaukee Brewers be a perfect fit. I think Milwaukee and
to a lesser sent Minnesota. But the Yankees, those three
teams to me, by the time we're at August first,
they will have added a starting pitcher. By the way,
I grew up with at the time, one of the

(15:13):
more improbable World Series winners the Twins can't Herbeck Kirby puckets.
I like to see the Twins. I think it's actually
a really good baseball city. It reminds me of Golden State.
The Warriors were bad for thirty years, but I always
considered it a great basketball city. I think Minnesota is
a great baseball city. You just got to give him
a team that's competitive. Do you buy into the Twins? Yeah?

(15:35):
I bought into them at spring training Holland. I was
around them in spring training, and so the job that
Rocco Baldelli, youngest manager in baseball was doing, picked them
to win their division. I like them more than Cleveland.
It is a great baseball It's a great ballpark. But
just remember if they go to the World Series this time,
you better park bring your parker. The time we were

(15:56):
indoors in Minnesota, late October, Minnesota, not exactly baseball weather.
Tom Verducci, Fox, MLB Network, SI, great talking. Do you
have a nice weekend? Always a pleasure, Colin. Thanks you