Ken Rosenthal’s manager HOT SEAT list + Royals therapy session

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Time to hit the inside scoop, presented by Game Changer FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal joining us right now. I'm just warning you, Ken, we're pretty pretty heated up today. You probably caught a few minutes of the last segment. But let's start with yours that I thought brought a lot of fire on Monday morning, the article about the managers on the hot seat. Hold up, it's April twenty first, Ken, it seems a little bit early for that article.

00:00:26
Speaker 2: It does, and I said as much in the story.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: But at the same time, we've got three teams, three of the top seven payrolls in the game, with managers who are under high expectations, and three teams that, for a variety of different reasons, are struggling.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: The Mets, of course, the Phillies.

00:00:43
Speaker 3: Of course, the Astros may be lesser known to fans around the country what's going on with them, But their manager Joe Spot, along with their general manager Dana Brown, they're in their last years of their contracts, so yes, they're by definition on the hot seat, and with all their injuries, they really could get a pass, and maybe should get a pass. But their owner, Jim Crane is someone who has not necessarily been patient at times in the past, and he is an owner who clearly has stated many times the window here will always be open. And I don't since he's one to hear excuses. Even though they've lost, my goodness so much from their rotation.

00:01:23
Speaker 2: Josh Hater has.

00:01:24
Speaker 3: Yet to pitch Paanya has been in and out of the lineup. There's a lot that has gone wrong, and you can explain it that way. I'm just not sure Crane will be patient.

00:01:34
Speaker 4: Ken.

00:01:34
Speaker 5: First of all, thanks for being on time. Means a lot to me. I appreciate it. Second of all, I mean espata, Rob Thompson. We were in Philly this weekend. Rob Thompson. There's there's all kinds of stuff flying around about him, Carlos Mendoza. Is there anyone else we should be talking about that hasn't or is just those main big three?

00:01:50
Speaker 4: I guess we could call him.

00:01:52
Speaker 3: Those three jumped out to me as early people to look at. And there are others, of course, and certainly mac Otaro has had his problems with Kansas City and their slow start, but he's signed I believe through twenty thirty. Alex Corey in Boston, the Red Sox haven't exactly set the world on fire, but he's in the second year of.

00:02:11
Speaker 2: A three year deal.

00:02:12
Speaker 3: Ad I think you pointed this out to me. Three years, twenty one million plus. They're not going to fire him in the middle of the season. The three I mentioned were three that I thought, Well, Mendoza could have been in immediate trouble and still could be in immediate trouble.

00:02:26
Speaker 2: Thompson.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: The noise is growing in Philadelphia and Espada.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: Again, we have an owner there who.

00:02:33
Speaker 3: Won't necessarily be patient, so that is why I focused on them. But of course there's always the possibility that other managers will draw greater scrutiny as the season goes on.

00:02:44
Speaker 6: Which of those owners, because you've mentioned Jim Crane, but the Stevie Cohen also and John Middleton, which of them has a history of getting rid of guys?

00:02:56
Speaker 4: I know they're all.

00:02:56
Speaker 6: I guess Jim Crane's the most tenured of them. But who has a history of being okay with eating a contract like you said with Alice Korus contract or say making a move.

00:03:09
Speaker 3: Well, the Phillis under Middleton, of course, replaced Joe Girardi with Rob Thompson in twenty twenty two end up.

00:03:16
Speaker 2: Going to the World Series. So there's one example.

00:03:19
Speaker 3: Jim Crane. He doesn't necessarily have a history of this. Of course, they fired Luno and aj Hinch after the sign stealing scandal, but I don't know that that counts.

00:03:28
Speaker 2: In this regard.

00:03:30
Speaker 3: And he did, though, replace James Klick, his general manager after winning the twenty twenty two World Series. They could not reach an agreement. It was well documented at the time. Cohen does not have necessarily a history of this, but the Mets did change a lot of their coaches after last season, and certainly.

00:03:50
Speaker 2: Cohen had some role in that.

00:03:53
Speaker 3: Even if most of the calls were from President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, we don't know the exact dynamic there. So while there might not be a history, Steve Cohen is paying a ton of money for I don't know how many years in a row now, and his teams have not gotten results.

00:04:09
Speaker 2: Mendoz is an interesting case though.

00:04:12
Speaker 3: If you remember two years ago, guys, his first season twenty twenty four, the Mets got off to a bad start. The Mets rallied to make the playoffs and then advanced to the National League Championship.

00:04:22
Speaker 2: Series.

00:04:23
Speaker 3: He was David Stern's hand pick guy. Everyone thought, Wow, this could be maybe the next great manager. Obviously, last year was a departure from what they accomplished in twenty four. It was a collapse, and they addressed that by changing a.

00:04:39
Speaker 2: Lot of their players.

00:04:40
Speaker 3: Yes, they also changed a lot of their coaches, and that often is a precursor to changing the manager. But it seems to me that Carlos Mendoza, I don't know that he can get dumb this quickly, if you know what I'm saying.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: Okay, so Ken, I'm going to somehow take us from this to something you wrote about last week. It was connecting some of the former Mets players in the organization to the Orioles. I don't think we had asked you about it, but I also wanted to connect what the Mets are going through right now to the Oriols. If you see any connections there. I just remember two off seasons ago our show being like, Eh, lots more spending, but like this isn't making a ton of sense. They really need pitching, and then it blows up Mets this offseason. I like some of these moves. These are some good names. Half the teams out of position. There's so much change in so little time, and at least so far this season, it blows up and they might create a hole that they can't get out of. Oriols last year created a hole they couldn't get out of. Fired Brandon Hyde. So anyway, I was just looking at things last night. I somehow like stumbled upon your notes, Calum again and was reading it was like, I feel a lot of similarities here with what's gone on. It's not like these teams aren't trying. The Oriels two years ago they were trying. They had dealt with you know, Angelos and not spending for years they spent. They just seemed like they were off and how they were approaching things and did things differently this offseason.

00:06:00
Speaker 3: They're definitely trying both teams. That's not the criticism here. That's not anything that people would say, ah, it's not happening. You might question how they're trying, and that obviously is the question, or was what the Orioles last year might turn out to be the question this year With the Mets. My concern all along was that it was too much new new coaches, new players, a lot of new players, and I felt even going back to January, I wrote this, it might take them some time to gel and that ultimately might be what the case is here without Soto, especially, they're three and eleven, so they don't even have their best player.

00:06:41
Speaker 2: Then they have all of this change and.

00:06:43
Speaker 3: Yes, players out of position, players that are unfamiliar with the pressures that come with playing in New York. All of these things are coming together. So Fangrafts entering the season had the Mets with the second highest projected win total in baseball. I believe that was based on the numbers on paper, the projections, the talent that they had. It doesn't always mean that the talent fits together. Now it's early, and maybe the Mets finally do coalesce at some point, especially after they get Soto back. But we're seeing another case here, guys, of when the projections and the numbers don't tell us everything. It might turn out that way, but at least in the early part of the season, there are a lot of things going on with this team, it seems intangibly and tangibly that might have created this poor start.

00:07:37
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00:08:37
Speaker 7: Props to see geek.

00:08:39
Speaker 5: Ken the Mets for three and oh though when Sodo first went down, so they were everyone's saying they.

00:08:44
Speaker 4: Don't need them. So what happened between three and oh and three and eleven, ken, I.

00:08:49
Speaker 3: Don't know, but certainly they should be capable of winning games without one Sodo. My goodness, Cisco Lindor, they've got all these guys.

00:08:58
Speaker 4: Yesterday we had was Tim Briton.

00:09:01
Speaker 5: Yep, Tim Briton, Okay, I want to check his name right on from the Athletic College.

00:09:05
Speaker 4: Yes, and we asked him, why don't they just listen?

00:09:08
Speaker 5: I love Marcus Simeon, great dude, had a great career, put bowet, show a second baby at third. It kind of solves their infield problem. Listen, nothing against Marcus Simeon. Scott was banging this drum hard. You know, defensive run saved, but they got a score runs at some point too, and that I don't know that the defense gets that much worse by doing.

00:09:28
Speaker 4: What they're doing that instead of just doing what they've been doing.

00:09:32
Speaker 2: Well.

00:09:32
Speaker 3: Aja, you and I both know Marcus Simeon's got three years left on his contract at big money.

00:09:37
Speaker 2: They're not going to give up on him so soon.

00:09:40
Speaker 3: Now, if you are paying attention, you might have noticed that while Marcus Simeon won a.

00:09:44
Speaker 2: Gold Glove last year and remains a very good.

00:09:47
Speaker 3: Defender, he hasn't hit in three years. It's not something that's snuck up on anyone now. They wanted to get out of the NEMO contract five years left there, three years left with Simeon. They thought that was a good exchange to sort of prove their defense. Well, okay, but you were going to sacrifice offense if past performance held, which so far it is holding. I don't know that they would do such a dramatic thing like that, aj even though in some degree it would make sense. Bashett seems to be holding his own a third defensively, so it's not a problem baby moving all over the place.

00:10:22
Speaker 2: That is a bit of a problem.

00:10:23
Speaker 3: They've taken a player who's pretty good and in my opinion, kind of used him.

00:10:28
Speaker 2: The wrong way. So I don't know where they're going with this, but I can't see them giving up on Simmy and this quickly.

00:10:35
Speaker 7: So that would be my follow up.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: You know, I know we talked about this yesterday, but I am pretty passionate about this. You know, they did a deal that right now looks atrocious as Brandon Nemo is hitting super well and they could really use a Nemo in their outfield, and Simeon has caused the team to be out of position. We're pinpointing a guy, but it does cause a lot of chaos, and if you removed him, it makes a lot more sense. In your history of covering front offices, how much do they stick to what they did and not wanting to show that they might have made a mistake. And my question is if we get to June and the Mets are still in the mix but they're not in a great spot, like, do they start benching the players so that they can do other things? Again, I know it's early, but like you said, has in it for years. His bat speeds towards the bottom of the league. Like there's other guys that aren't hitting well, but they're peripherals and indicators are good. Right, this is not one of those cases. And I'm just trying to tell it like it is. This is something that could cost you your season by sticking to this trade that you made and saying nope, we are not giving in on this. This is how the roster is going to look Scott.

00:11:37
Speaker 3: It's a fascinating question and generally speaking, front offices do not like to concede defeat, certainly not this early in the season.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: Now, you asked about June.

00:11:47
Speaker 3: And if this is still going on and it's still a problem, sure at that point you have to take a look at it.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: You can't simply let.

00:11:55
Speaker 3: Things continue in a negative way if you don't feel that they're going to get better. I'm sure they want to give Marcus Simeon more of a chance to breathe here, he too is joining a new team. He's never played in New York. I know he's experienced, but it's a different animal there. And you can't just say on April twenty first, hey it's done.

00:12:15
Speaker 2: We can't live like this in time.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: Sure that might be a decision that they're forced to make, but I can't see them doing it yet. But to your basic question, do front offices like to concede defeat?

00:12:27
Speaker 2: No, they don't. None of us do when we're wrong. But at times it has to happen.

00:12:32
Speaker 3: And what's really interesting about the Mets, as opposed to say another struggling team, even the Royals, for example, they have put all this money into the team, second highest peril in the game. I don't know how patience Steve Cohen's going to be. I know he's got a ton of money and it doesn't matter to him. It's a line item in his ledger sheet. But at the same time, he's frustrated too. And remember what he said when he took over woned a World Series title within three to five years.

00:13:00
Speaker 2: You are well past that window.

00:13:02
Speaker 6: Yeah, wanting to win makes you make good choices and bad choices alike. But I'm gonna go across the country to a team that's not struggling at all, but they lost their closer, their key off season acquisition in Edwin Diaz. The impact of that loss one, how did the Dodgers deal with it?

00:13:21
Speaker 4: Two?

00:13:22
Speaker 6: Is there a better team more set up than the Dodgers? And is this er for two now for Edwin Diaz and a WBC because obviously the freak injury last time and he pitched this year. Bone chips don't happen in a month, but this is this is just not a good look if I'm looking from the outside in Well.

00:13:44
Speaker 3: I don't know what we can attribute this injury to. And the other one was a freak injury. This one, yes, he did pitch and who knows what that might have meant to the condition of his arm.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: It's impossible to say will he be back.

00:13:59
Speaker 3: Of course, they're saying he's going to be back sometime in the second half of the season. It's elbow surgery, it's not Tommy John surgery. Still, you never want to see a player undergo any form of operation.

00:14:10
Speaker 2: It's not easy to come back from. We kind of take it for granted.

00:14:14
Speaker 3: These guys come back whole, and often they do, but it's not that easy.

00:14:20
Speaker 2: How can they recover or what will they do?

00:14:22
Speaker 4: Well?

00:14:22
Speaker 2: That's not going to be that much of a problem for them. They've got Tanner.

00:14:25
Speaker 3: Scott who is again throwing well, and they've got, of course a set of other relievers who are really good from Vesia and trying in the whole group trying to maybe is not what he once was, of course, but they should be okay.

00:14:37
Speaker 2: In that regard.

00:14:38
Speaker 3: This is the team that is incredibly deep. They can bring up a young arm for the bullpen at some point if necessary. I don't see that being the issue here. The question I have is when he comes back, is he Edwin Diaz or is he something less than that?

00:14:54
Speaker 2: Then it becomes a concern.

00:14:55
Speaker 3: But even then, he's going to be back, say July August, and you would think he'd have time to build strength toward the playoffs. What do the Dodgers care about most the playoffs? So even if Edwin Diaz had been healthy, they might have eased up on him at some point in the season. That's what they do, and they will always slow play injuries. So I don't know that this is as big a blow to them as it would be to other clubs, but certainly it's not an encouraging development.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: No one would say.

00:15:25
Speaker 4: That on the Dodgers.

00:15:28
Speaker 5: Dalton Rushing had his quotes about the thing, and then he admitted he wasn't really in on the scouting report, and then he played first base yesterday.

00:15:36
Speaker 4: Would is there an.

00:15:37
Speaker 5: Opportunity here where they would think about moving him if they needed a piece at the trade deadline, because I'm sure there's teams out there that would love to have Dalton Rushing as their everyday catchers. Never going to happen as long as Will Smith's there, So are there is there a way that you could see that the Dodgers would think about possibly moving in because he is raking.

00:15:55
Speaker 3: AJ we were talking about this I believe in the car going over to the game on Saturday, and he is in a position like a lot of young Dodgers players have been in the last few years, where he'd be.

00:16:06
Speaker 2: Better off elsewhere. Doesn't mean the Dodgers feel he'd be better off elsewhere.

00:16:10
Speaker 3: And when I say better off, he'd get more playing time elsewhere.

00:16:14
Speaker 2: The Dodgers, I am sure, see this as well.

00:16:16
Speaker 3: Where one will Smith injury away from really needing Dalton Rushing And why would we trade him when we're in that position and when we have Rushing contributing as he is in a part time role. So what's best for Dalton Rushing in terms of his career might not be best for the Dodgers, And I guess at the deadline, sure, anything is possible, but I can't see the Dodgers entertaining this.

00:16:43
Speaker 2: Unless it was a major deal.

00:16:45
Speaker 3: Unless they we're getting something huge in return, and I'm not sure what that would be at this point.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: Catching is extremely valuable.

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00:17:54
Speaker 5: Well, my point was when Ken and I had the conversation, I think Joe was in the car too, Joe Davis, who obviously ports for the Dodger.

00:18:01
Speaker 4: I asked Joe.

00:18:02
Speaker 5: I said, Joe, how's dalon rushing handling this, because he's probably saying if I was on twenty nine, not twenty nine, but a lot of other teams, there's probably twenty four teams he could go to that he would be the starting catcher, play every day, and he's just not playing. And when he gets in there though, he bangs and then and Joe's like, oh, he's handled it great, and he said all the right things. Of course he's gonna say all the right things, but deep down he's got to be thinking, Please, I love that I'm gonna get a ring. Maybe I already got one, maybe I can get another one, But I'd also like to earn some money for my family and have a nice career.

00:18:35
Speaker 7: And play baseball every day. Yes, yeah, in.

00:18:38
Speaker 5: LA, it's not gonna happen. That was I mean, I don't know. I don't know what they do with him. It was just a question that Ken and I and Joe talked about.

00:18:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we had an interesting one in.

00:18:46
Speaker 2: Aj also too.

00:18:48
Speaker 3: You do hear from the young Dodger players that there's nowhere else they'd rather be, even learning so much and it's the model franchise in sports right now. But at the same time, from an individual standpoint in terms of earning money and getting to play the game you love and you've trained your whole life to play, it's not a great situation for some of these guys.

00:19:11
Speaker 2: So there is that yin and yang there with the Dodgers. But to answer the question again, I just don't see them trading Russian is ultimately.

00:19:20
Speaker 5: Listen, of course they're gonna say that no one's gonna come out, but they don't have any young guys that one.

00:19:24
Speaker 4: What's the other young guy they have?

00:19:27
Speaker 3: Well, if Casparius has been in that position before, some of their other young pictures and she had.

00:19:31
Speaker 4: For him pictures are way different than we talked.

00:19:34
Speaker 7: About hesse On Kim yesterday and how he's.

00:19:36
Speaker 4: Not a young guy. He's already got paid.

00:19:38
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean he did that much.

00:19:43
Speaker 5: This is a young kid who is a pig, who's been who was on the Dodgers, and there ain't nowhere for him to go.

00:19:51
Speaker 4: There's nowhere for him.

00:19:52
Speaker 5: There's no path in the next seven years or how many ever years Will Smith has left for him to play all the time unless something God forbid having there's not a path. No, Dodgers are just saying going.

00:20:04
Speaker 7: They have DH taking and the ultimate rich Man's life.

00:20:07
Speaker 4: First base Freddy, they have DH take and they have catcher taking.

00:20:10
Speaker 1: Yes, but Ken rich owners luxuries having depth like that. I have two elite catchers.

00:20:15
Speaker 7: What about you?

00:20:15
Speaker 1: That's great dinner common session with your other owners and base books.

00:20:19
Speaker 7: Ken, Thank you, we'll talk to you later this week.

00:20:22
Speaker 2: Thanks guys UH.

00:20:25
Speaker 1: And Props A Game Changer for hooking us up with this segment. It was presented by them. It's the number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect, live and replay the action. If you want to learn more, the website super simple or the QR code is on your screen even easier GC dot com. Let's talk to Jalen Thompson, our friend back on foul Territory and he covers the Royals for the case star. Jalen, it's good to see you and I love your smile. It's not something we're seeing too frequently right now for Kansas City, So tell us what's happening. This team looked like it was going to be decent, and it still might be, But do they feel like they're in a little bit of a Code red situation right now.

00:21:08
Speaker 8: Yeah, what's up, guys, Hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for having me on, and you're absolutely right, Scott. The Royals did not think they were going to be in this spot this season, just looking at it being so early and the team they put together, going out and acquiring a guy like Isaac Collins from the Milwaukee Brewers, getting Laye Thomas, a guy that's had great production in his career. They did not think with the returning guys of Bobby Way Junior, Mike Elgarcia, if any pass Routino, Salvador Perez, Seth Lugo, Michael Waka, Cole Reagance, the list goes on and on, they were going to be seven and sixteen, and as Bobby Way Junior put yesterday, arguably the worst team in baseball. This was a shock. This was something that they did not want to happen. We saw them in the World Baseball Classic and how well they performed. They were to talk of the of the world. They were to talk of just the whole thing, right, Vinnie Paspentina with the coffee shots, Venezuela winning, Mikeel winning, the MVP Award in the WBC. So this was totally a stop to their system and now they're trying to figure out how to get out of it.

00:22:18
Speaker 4: Well, how do they get out of it?

00:22:19
Speaker 5: Because they can't score any runs and by the way, White Socks are ahead of the Royals, just saying can we show those standings.

00:22:23
Speaker 4: A little bit more? A good wait talk, But how do they get out of it?

00:22:28
Speaker 5: Because the biggest problem they're pitching hasn't been awful though the bullpen has been a kind of a disaster, especially once the Steven went down and Ersik struggled as a closer.

00:22:37
Speaker 4: But how do they get out of this?

00:22:38
Speaker 5: Because Vinnie's not hitting, Salvey's not hitting, Michael's doing fine, Bobby's doing fine, but there's a whole list of guys that aren't really performing up to what the Royals thought.

00:22:48
Speaker 4: So how do you fix that whole thing?

00:22:51
Speaker 8: Yeah, Aj, it is kind of like and the way I view it as this right here, when I'm watching each game and I'm writing my game story, you will see the roles beating games and it's like two to one, three to two, five to four, right, And you just have a feeling that the bullpen is going to give it away at the end of the game. And it's been like that for multiple occasions this season where they will have a leader, it's tied and you just know you have a gut feeling this is not gonna go the way the roles we want to go. So how do they fix this? I mean, I guess the easiest question is to score more runs, but that's harder to do in Major League Baseball because everybody is so good and pictures throw one hundred miles per hours all throughout the innings, right, So I think they just have to They say they want to keep fighting. They said that that's their goal, that's the mentality. But really, I guess when you're in a slump like this, just don't press and just get back to playing the game of baseball. Like Bobby said yesterday, enjoy it. It's a privilege to wear that jersey, and that's what they're that's their mindset. Come out there and just play and just let the chips fall what they may.

00:23:58
Speaker 4: All Right, Well, what about that.

00:24:00
Speaker 6: I know you said it's hard to hit, but it's hard to hit for everybody. They move the fences in and we ain't see nothing different about home runs for the Royals. I think they're twenty third in Major League Baseball right now and home runs, Like Bobby Witt has zero homers, he's never been driven in, so he can't score runs that way. Like, is it a approach as a team because they're.

00:24:25
Speaker 4: Really good at not striking out?

00:24:27
Speaker 6: Or is it the fact that they just don't have the personnel on this team that's gonna be able to score runs that way, so they have to do it in little bunches here and there, with singles and doubles and stealing bases.

00:24:40
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think you're right. It is the personnel to a certain degree. They went and they, like I say, they got Isaac Collins, they got Wayne Thomas, they got guys they thought that could fix in helping the outfield. But when Vinnie and Paspentino and salade Bras are not hitting, that's a problem. If you look at yesterday's game, they had bases loaded with no outs in the third inning and not one run score. None of those runners on base came home to score. That's a bigger indictment to this entire offense. It's just that they can't figure out a way to put the big inning together and when they have, Like I look back at a game they played against the Detroit Tigers last week. They were down six to one, they come back, they take the lead. Salvador Perees is a three run homer and they couldn't hold that game. So you know there's flashes of it. There's flashes of those big innings. You know they can do it because if you look at the back of their baseball car, and I tell everyone this all the time, they are gonna be the guys that their baseball car, their career says they are. It just hasn't happened so far. In April. Benny notoriously starts slow in the early months of a season, so maybe he'll turn around as the season goes on. Soalde Perez, he's a guy that hit thirty home runs and one hundred RBIs. He's the team captain, world's legend. People know that way can do. But he's also going to be turning thirty six years old. Is it to a point where father time might be catching up with him? You like it to see how a Carter Jensen and Jack Kagalon, But Jack Casgione just hit his first home run yesterday he had hit a home run since the end of September last year, right, So all these things it's like I always like it to like, if you are in the kitchen and you're cooking food and you're trying to make several different things at one time, it's hard to regulate the temperature of everything and get it done and fix and prepare properly. And I think if the bullpen's not working, the office is not working, you just have a meal that you just can't enjoy right now. And that's what really Royles fans are getting, and that's why they booed in conn yesterday. And while they're continuing to say we need change, we need change, the question is will the Royals give them that change? Will they make those changes inwardly to get back up the al central standings?

00:26:57
Speaker 4: Jalen?

00:26:57
Speaker 5: What's the change though? Is there a coffee machine in the dug out? Is it a venezuela or someone with venezuela? Whatever they did in the WBC, what's the what's the change? Bring up someone from Triple A? What's that gonna do? These guys are kind of who you got, So what's the change that macuatroll could make? To try to mess mess with the I don't know the chemistry or whatever.

00:27:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, and that's good question. AJ you look at what they could do. They put different guys in the lineup. They they put guys based on matchups, and they try to do everything they can. They got three hitting coaches. You got al the zum, Watt got Marcus Themes, you have Connor Dawson. They're working with the guys really and I think the guys just have to swing their way.

00:27:40
Speaker 4: Out of it.

00:27:41
Speaker 8: And the question is can you really do that during the season of one hundred and sixty two games where every game matters, and each time that you keep giving away games, does that take your confidence away a little bit? Does that does your confidence wane every time that you go up there and you're not getting the job done? You know, honestly, I think the change is going to have to be Bobby Way Junior and Vinnie Paspentina of Salvador Perez coming together and really getting this team going in the right direction. The leaders on this team, they went through something like this last year and they had a players only meeting and in that meeting they a lot was said that allowed them to really come together as a team, and maybe that might be something that might need to be on the horizon coming up. But they've been close a lot of these games. I will give them that. It's just a matter of finishing off the deal in getting those victories, and I think they can do that. It's still way early in the season, so we could be talking about a totally different team in July, but right now it doesn't look good.

00:28:44
Speaker 5: Jalen as the fourth place White Sox manager Ozzie Gean used to say, good teams play, bad teams have meetings. So meetings or meetings are one of those things that I just don't I don't understand why people think, oh, have a team meeting, it'll cure it doesn't it doesn't matter, and tell you guys aren't trying to play well. So right the mental breather quote from Quatruro, did that really was that really a big deal as everyone was trying to make it out about because and it wasn't to be a big deal because Salvi responded by sending out the tweet he said, was he just angry because I said yesterday that Madge handled it right. He at least told him the night before he didn't tell him the day off, so it wasn't like Salvi went home I was thinking I'm gonna play.

00:29:22
Speaker 4: I'm gonna play.

00:29:23
Speaker 5: He told him the night before, Hey, I'm gonna give you a day So was this that big of a deal or did we just blow it out as proportion as media members?

00:29:30
Speaker 8: So the way that this all went down, I'm glad you asked this question. We talked to Matt Quatrell every day before before games. He was saying how Salvi was gonna have a day off because as a catcher, it's hard to catch one hundred and sixty two games. Ajau noted very well, so normally he has Salve has days off. It was a day game after night game, and Q was just trying to provide color. This is his words of the situation and saying, well, we're gonna give a mental breather, you know, you know, give a guy ad off his feed to just reset and you know, get back to where it can be. Salve has been struggling a little bit. There's no secret look at his numbers. So Salvie gets a lot of information from family and friends, and he didn't initially see what Q said, but it was sent to him, and then people started asking, well, are you okay? Is anything going on with you mentally? Et cetera, et cetera. That's where he goes into social media and saying, well, I don't need a mental breather. He called one of the articles fake fake, fake news, basically like everything's fine with him. So then it becomes this whole firestorm where we get to Salve the next day and he says him and mac coultreill and J. J. Coacolta, Roji and a manager talk and they're all on the same page. So it was pretty much something that kind of blew out of proportion because it was just the lines of communication were kind of misconstrued a little bit. That's what everyone in every party in that situation has said, So taking their word for it, I guess they said everything's fine moving forward, but it wasn't a good look.

00:31:11
Speaker 6: Absolutely, But is it also kind of the precipice of the fact that Carter Jensen's there, Carter Jensen's young, and Salvey only has a team option after this year. I'll get it, we're only in April, but those thoughts have to be at least running through their head because you see the future. You see the future in left handed hitting catcher who's athletic and young and has.

00:31:38
Speaker 8: Power exactly and Lacarter Jensen, he's a guy where he is going to be the world's future. He's leading the team and RBIs and home runs and he's been of all the offensive hitters, the guy that really stands out the most as he's not really been phased by a bad April, a bad stretch of games. We all knew he could hit. They really love his ability to have play coverage, plate discipline and things of that nature. But the issue is you also have salved Or Perez, who is your team captain, your catcher. He's gonna garner so many of those at bats, So now you're either using both of them as a designate hitter or a catcher whoever is behind it plate that day. And we all know, like I said earlier, five the time is undefeated, it's gonna come a point where eventually car is gonna have to take that mantle away from Salad or Perez. I don't know how soon that might be. It might be later this season, it might be going into next year. But Carter It says that Salve is his hero. He's a case, a Kansas City native. He's grew up watching him. He loves Salves a great mentor, so there's no ill will on either side. They have a great relationship. It's just the fact that when you're going through a tough streak like the worlds are going to right now, where the team is slumping and they're not winning games, everything gets mad and because it's getting to magnified, that's why you're hear hearing Salvey being upset about the comment of a mental breathe. You're hearing stories about the fans booing at home and can you really can't excuse Carter Jensen as well for oversleeping, but he's a rookie. That happens rookie mistakes. We've all overslept before. It's just a lot is going on outside the noise, right, So as a team, the russ have to come together and really just win games and everything will be quiet.

00:33:29
Speaker 4: That was my point.

00:33:30
Speaker 5: You know what the royal should do, have everyone oversleep, because then then get hot like Carter Jensen did after he overslept.

00:33:36
Speaker 4: So that's it.

00:33:37
Speaker 5: Forget the espresso, forget everything else. Just tell everyone don't wake up until one o'clock and then show for a two o'clock game.

00:33:43
Speaker 4: Whammy.

00:33:44
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know what, They've tried everything that might be something you might need to do.

00:33:48
Speaker 4: They ain't tried that. I bet they ain't trying that.

00:33:53
Speaker 6: I would not be able to sleep the night before if everyone was like, hey, we're showing up an hour before the game, I couldn't. I couldn't do it. Has there been any other instances? I know, no more sleeping in, But with Carter Jensen's youthful mistakes that you've noticed being around the team every day.

00:34:11
Speaker 8: No, he is, he's a guy eric Where he is? I actually wrote a story. It's funny story. I wrote a story about his work ethic and everything. Like this off season he was working with the hitting coaches. He would call in texts like I'm coming to the field. I want to be able to improve my game. So the day that I wrote that story and it published was the day that he got caught came in for oversleeping. So I was like, oh man, you kind of snaked me a little bit because I'm writing about how great you are as a teammate. People love you, like you. But his work ethic is really unique. When he first came up last year, he went to every picture starter reliever and was like, what do you like to throw? What's your where do you like to me to catch the set up? I want to take some time and sit with you. So they all love and they understand that he made a mistake, and even his teammates they even joke about it. Now. I don't know if you guys notice, but they did the sleeping Steph Curry emoji when he hit he got on basically a double right after he was oversleeping. Jack Casveong gave him the nickname the Big Snows. So they they're all taking in his stride. It's a they make him making, like I guess, a fun nature out of it. But they understand that, yes, he made a mistake and because he made a mistake, he can't do that again and he's gonna learn from it. But his teammates got his back, the coaches got his back, and they really are have high hopes for Carter Jensen and he's proven it on the field.

00:35:35
Speaker 1: That story is the story inside the story. Jalen Thompson writing an article about Carter Jensen's work ethic that's so good.

00:35:45
Speaker 4: Maybe he worked so hard he couldn't get up.

00:35:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, he was.

00:35:50
Speaker 4: Up all night, studying up all nights. Right, that's the ways you can spend the times.

00:35:57
Speaker 1: It just works perfectly, and sometimes it just works so terribly. But that's fun, right, You got to laugh it off, like we're not doing brain science, we're talking sports. So did you get a good laugh out of that when the timing was so ironic?

00:36:13
Speaker 8: Yes, I did. It was it was like in the press, boss Eer was like, man, you just wrote this story about this guy and then he's going to oversleep. It was. It was pretty funny. But I even went up to him and like I told him, like, I appreciate you standing up for that and answering those questions that we had after that happened, because he didn't have to really do that, Like I mean, as a young player, he could just own the mistake and never said anything to the media. But he did. He stood up. He was upright, and that gave a lot of respect, you know that he was able to do that, and I think a lot of his teammates saw that and gave him respect too. But yeah, just writing that story, I was like, man, if he would have just waited a couple more days. I have to be in the clear. But you know, it is what it is.

00:36:59
Speaker 7: I love it. I love it.

00:37:00
Speaker 4: That's all right.

00:37:01
Speaker 5: It's like now, it's like when I come to Kansas City, I see Jaalen. I'm doing a Royals game. He big leagues me.

00:37:06
Speaker 4: So at least Carlo Jensen didn't do that to you, Jim.

00:37:09
Speaker 8: Ay j don't dude, man, you know that's not me. I give you all that.

00:37:16
Speaker 1: I gotta imagine. I mean, Jalen, you've got a great smile. Like you see Jalen at the park. It's it's a big it's a big hug.

00:37:23
Speaker 7: Hello.

00:37:24
Speaker 5: But can I ask a quick question Carlos and Stevens. He's on the I l with a broken, bruised foot broke what was it? Was a game in Atlanta, obviously, but was it a foot?

00:37:33
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, it was a it was a bone contusing, it was a bruise. Basically, he got hit in his in his leg, his foot areas ankle right, and he he still working his way back. He was dealing with I think he got like sick for a little bit. So he had to overcome like a sickness and now he's back throwing he's in the clubhouse, he's walking around. Everything seems to be fine. The roles just had to get him back to pitching. Even before he got hit with the line drive off the foot, his velocity was really down between ninety and ninety two for hours fastball. It just didn't look like Carlos the Stevez that we all know. So for him, it's just a matter of getting back in games, getting healthy again, and having that velocity tick back up. Because if Carlos the Stevens can be back to being the closer that he was when he led the league in saves last year with forty two and being an All Star, that might help the bullpen kind of get everyone back into their designated roles because right now, if you look at how the roles play, if the starters are not going seven innings, which they have been doing, there is a gap between the starters and then the rest of the game. And if you're not going to Lucas erseg or Matt Strong, who do you go to. Everyone else in that bullpen has not been good, and that's just putting it lightly and they have to be better. So maybe getting the healthy Carlos Estebus will help fix that he's been out.

00:39:01
Speaker 7: For a while now.

00:39:02
Speaker 1: He only made the one appearance with you know back in late March, so yeah, he's got to figure it out with I agree with you. I don't know if a bruised foot is going to hold you out for six to eight weeks. So I never want to accuse anyone of fans of my l that doesn't exist in baseball.

00:39:18
Speaker 7: Never.

00:39:19
Speaker 1: I was never on it, You were never on it. But we love Carlos. Dude, get your vlow back at your stuff up and.

00:39:27
Speaker 4: Then get to him and Hamma kamak whatever they.

00:39:29
Speaker 7: Do exactly the celebration.

00:39:31
Speaker 8: The dragon ball z, a.

00:39:35
Speaker 5: Whatever whatever, nerds, it is not a not a track ball Z. I don't even know. We were laughing with Carlos about that in spring training.

00:39:46
Speaker 4: I asked him about I don't.

00:39:47
Speaker 7: Know, no, but it looks good. It's a great meme. Jalen, you're the man. Thank you. Great to catch up with you and we'll see you soon.

00:39:56
Speaker 8: Thank you so much, guys. Talk to you guys later.