F.P. Santangelo talks Giants push, Eldridge call-up, Devers impact

00:00:02
Speaker 1: FP.

00:00:03
Speaker 2: Santangelo what up? You can find him on X on a Fight and Hydrant. We appreciate you being on. Proud Father too, proud son of two San Francisco Giants, broadcaster at KNBR Radio, the show host. It's great to have you here. I don't know if I can handle all the San Francisco Giant stuff that you've got going on FP, but I love this.

00:00:23
Speaker 1: We're going to do this. We're going to do this.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: How worried man? What a wild ride it has been for the San Francisco Giants. What's been the greatest thing that you've noticed this year?

00:00:32
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, thanks for having me on you guys. It's really cool to be on with you guys always. And yeah, I'm not a homer as a broadcaster at all, as you can tell.

00:00:40
Speaker 1: By the attire. I mean, I'm into it.

00:00:42
Speaker 3: We're all into it in San Francisco right now. Like the last two games against the Dodgers were kind of a buzzkill. But you're not going to win every game the rest of the year. You're not going to run the table. There's still a game and a half out of that last wild card spot. So now I go to Arizona and get to work today, and then you know how they've turned it around. You guys have all been there and been in the clubhouse where they just, all of a sudden, you know they weren't having fun playing baseball. You walk in every day and it's kind of, you know, stagging in a little bit.

00:01:09
Speaker 1: You're losing a lot.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: Then all of a sudden, you have a good series against the Brewers in Milwaukee. You had the best home record in baseball at the time. You take two out of three there. Then you come home and sweep the Cubs, and all of a sudden, you're starting to think we can do this. And you know, the big guys Raffi and Willie Damas and Matt Chapman are hitting.

00:01:26
Speaker 1: And then you sprinkle in the psychopath in right field, Drew Gilbert, who's.

00:01:29
Speaker 3: Out of this total college atmosphere to the clubhouse, and you know, hats off. You guys, know when you're a veteran and you have some crazy kid come in a lot of times, back in the old days, it was be seen and not heard, but they've embraced this guy, the veterans, and you've seen all the antics in the dugout but he's playing well too, so that holds a lot of credibility to what he's doing. So you just talk about the energy they have and you're hoping they've been resilient all year. And they lost two out of three of the Dodgers, and they got spanked Saturday, and they got spanked yesterday, But like hopefully, you know, with the resiliency they've had this year, they're on the plane, they're in Arizona, and with Bryce Eldridge coming up today, you never know what's gonna happen.

00:02:09
Speaker 4: You talk about all the different storylines and everything, but obviously the Dodgers scored a lot of runs against them, and these in those last two games this series. My thing is Web gave up six runs, Ray gave up five runs. Two guys we talk about all the time here your closer comes in when you're winning and gives up the lead and you lose. How deflating that is when your two come in and do that against the team. Not even talking about Dodgers Giants rivalry here, just talking about the fact that when those two guys, when they're on the hill, you're like, we're not win one of these two them. We're gonna take this series. How deflating was that for you and your positive vibes.

00:02:54
Speaker 3: I mean, we're obviously expecting, like Friday night was sick, you guys. The atmosphere at the ballpark was insane. You know, forty thousand people. It's been a lot of Dodger fans at Oracle Park in the past, but the Giants fans showed up and they showed out. When we were just hoping for Patrick Bailey to hit a sack fly, and as soon as it left his bat, you knew the game was over.

00:03:12
Speaker 1: No idea it was going to be a walk off Grand Slam.

00:03:14
Speaker 3: So you score four off Kershaw first ending Game two, and you're thinking, logan web on the mound. We got this, But you guys would know. I want to defer to the catchers. You know, when guys start to get toward thirty starts a year, did you see a difference in some of the aces stuff late in the season. Was it flatter? Were they tired? Because like I'm just a position player, I wasn't in the squad behind there. Did you notice the difference of some guys' stuff in their later starts because you're thinking adrenaline will take you right now with that atmosphere I'm talking about. But that Dodger lineup, they don't swing at balls, they swing at strikes. They make you work, they make you grind. And if you put free base runners on, which Logan web did, which Robbie Ray did, that team's going to eat you up.

00:03:56
Speaker 1: But I don't know. Guys never liked.

00:03:58
Speaker 3: To hear they're tired, Like if you say that on the air, they're like, I'm not tired.

00:04:01
Speaker 1: I'm fine. But did you guys ever see starters late in the season get tired starters?

00:04:06
Speaker 4: Yes, aces, No, that was one of the traits. Maybe AJ has a different answer to it. That was one of the traits where it almost looked like whether they were tired or not, they were going on a cruise control and they were like soaring into the end of the season. And that's like, that's when I think about an ace, not a number one an ace.

00:04:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, And obviously you have to turn the page quick, right, There's no time to sit in the locker room and go like what happened?

00:04:36
Speaker 1: Like you got to turn the page.

00:04:37
Speaker 3: Every game is so huge right now, Arizona's only two backs, so this is a huge series coming up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Arizona. Then they go back to they go to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers again. So it's gonna be a tough road and you just can't you can't let the vibe in the momentum get derailed by a couple of a couple of boat race losses. But I think it'd be tougher if they lost three to two on both days then getting beat like they did. So, Like I said, I've never seen a more resilient group. I've never seen a group play bad baseball for a good month and a half and then all of a sudden turn it around and play some of the best baseball we've ever seen around here in a long time.

00:05:14
Speaker 2: Effie, you just mentioned it. It's a huge weekend. It's a huge series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, two teams very much clinging to get into that NL West picture as far as the wildcard race is concerned, when you look at the Diamondbacks, Zach Gallen obviously going tonight against the Giants at Chase Field, what do you need to do against this club to at least take two of three to continue to force the issue well.

00:05:37
Speaker 3: I mean pitching in defense has been the key through this whole thing, and then you know situational hitting on offense, which they got away from. They couldn't move a lead off double, they couldn't pick up a runner from third with less than two outs.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: So just keep playing good baseball.

00:05:51
Speaker 3: I think when you talk to a lot of players that have won championships, they would tell you. And when I was with Brian Zimmerman and DC, he would say, like, we're not trying to win tonight. We're just trying to play good base and if we play good baseball, that'll take care of itself. So if you put that enormous amount of pressure that we've come this far and if we win tonight, we're this. You just got to go pitch to pitch to ending, try to win every pitch, try to win every ending, and play good.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: Baseball like they have been. They got to Zach Gallon a little bit last time. But we'll we'll see how this. We'll see how this matches up.

00:06:20
Speaker 3: It's a good place to hit, you guys know that it's a good place to rake in Arizona. So the bats have been stymying a little bit the last couple of days, but you know, they faced some pretty good Dodger pitching.

00:06:31
Speaker 5: Effie, Can they really do this? Because I mean, I mean, honest, the Giants are a five hundred team for me, They've been five hundred for the last five hundred games. They're two fifty and fifty okay, So can they get into the postseason with where they're at? I know they're a game game and a halfhind. I always look at the lost column, as you know, lost column is what really matters. They're really a game back. But can't are they a good enough team to And I hate to say this because but did they deserve to make the playoffs? I mean as as a team that where they're at right now. And I know it doesn't matter you're record, but there's seventy five and seventy four, So if they finished eighty four and seventy eight, they make the playoffs or Giants fan's gonna be like, oh, what a hell of a year and then they losing the Wildcard round to the Dodgers.

00:07:14
Speaker 3: I think so based on where they were this year, and it's not where they are right now or where their record was. You know, they were seven eight games out of this thing a few about a month ago, maybe three weeks ago, and all of a sudden because the Mets have faltered and they can't win, all of a sudden, even though they won yesterday, there's excitement in the fan base, there's excitement around the team, and it's the system. AJ Like when the third wild card came out, I was like, well, you know, when I was in Oakland, we were one hundred and two and sixty and we were the wildcard when there was only one wildcard because the Mariners won one hundred and sixteen games. And when this third wildcard first came out, I was totally against them, like you're gonna have a five hundred team make the playoffs. But like when you're in the middle of it and you were left for dead a couple of months ago and playing bad baseball, and all of a sudden, you're playing great baseball.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: Have momentum.

00:08:01
Speaker 3: You guys both know, it's the team that gets hot toward the end that wins it. It's not the team. How many times we've seen a team in one hundred and seven games and they're out in the first round. So if they can reload here and stay hot, I think the records are relevant. Getting into the postseason, you've got momentum, and then everybody gets tight in those short series, right the teams that want one hundred bay We've seen the Dodgers do it. We've seen the Astros do it. We've seen a lot of teams that have had these great regular seasons, even the Mariners when they won one hundred and sixteen games. Anyone in the World Series, it's always the team that's hot at the end and the team that's playing playoff games for a month, and then you just get to the playoffs and it's just another game because you've been playing, in essence, playoff games to get into the playoffs, and you've already had these high pressure situations where your every ground ball, every ball strike, just like the playoffs.

00:08:47
Speaker 1: And you get in there and you just keep doing what you're doing.

00:08:49
Speaker 3: And maybe the teams that have cruised and have won, they take a deep breath, they start to go spring training mode, and then all of a sudden, you get those days off and you've got to gear up in the playoffs.

00:09:00
Speaker 1: Just not there.

00:09:00
Speaker 3: So yeah, I honestly, aj, I get your point that, like now we're having five hundred teams to get to the playoffs. But I just think it's how you're playing late that matters most that not the actual overall record.

00:09:14
Speaker 1: Crats.

00:09:15
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00:09:29
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00:09:45
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00:10:14
Speaker 4: Did they sell too soon? I know this is the you can't you can't question Buster Posey because Buster walks on water. But that's the reality of the situation. Did they sell too soon? Could they have used a closer while Walker's done great? And Duvall was you know, up and down, good bad? Who knows what you're gonna get? Did they sell too soon?

00:10:37
Speaker 3: I would say no, because they've played better after the trade deadline. I mean, so how can you argue with the moves that were made and it you know, Jordan Hicks hasn't done well in Boston and Kyle Harrison just got called up the other day, and you look at you know, the trade for Bhuteaux for Tyler Rodgers, that straight up was a good trade. Then you get Dude Gilbert on top of it from the Mets, who's trying to chase the Mets.

00:11:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, the back of.

00:11:02
Speaker 3: The bullpen has been you know, young guys in big roles and sometimes you know, you look at Duran in Philadelphia.

00:11:08
Speaker 1: That's why I think they're the best team in baseball.

00:11:10
Speaker 3: You guys know that the closer that comes in and it's just one, two, three every time. That's such a luxury to have, especially in October. But Ryan Walker has been better lately. He had he had a hiccup in Saint Louis where he had a two to nothing lead and it was three to two before we could all blink an eye.

00:11:25
Speaker 1: But he was good the other night.

00:11:27
Speaker 3: And like I said, they're just piecing it together right now at the back end of the bullpen. But as far as selling too early, I think you know, the Dever's trade was way before the trade deadline, and when you look at that trade and what they gave up for Raffie Devers, and I know it didn't start out all great, but you know, baseball players are human. There's adjustments coming to the West Coast, new team, new fan base. You still got drama back in Boston. Second team you play is a Red Sox. You're learning a new position. It takes time to adjust when you're a new player in a new city and you've been with one city your whole career, and all of a sudden, he's been contributing big time and he's the Raffie Devers that the Giants thought they were getting.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: That's exactly what I was going to ask you FP. What has the Dever's effect been in San Francisco, and I probably think the Red Sox would like to send Jordan Hicks back to you guys, what's it been like Kevin Raffie there.

00:12:17
Speaker 1: It's been great. Man. He's so nice to be around every day. He's always got a smile on his face.

00:12:21
Speaker 3: It kills me that he gets a bad rap and that he has gotten a bad rap. And I know, as players, you know you're supposed to play wherever they want you, but there's ways to handle that with superstar players. Right when you got a guy that's the face of the franchise and all of a sudden you ambush him, maybe you take him out to dinner and have a bottle of wine in a casual setting and tell them, hey, for us to get to the World series this, we're thinking about doing this, and then all of a sudden that things has a different ending. But I'm kind of glad how it panned out because it's fun to watch him play every day.

00:12:51
Speaker 1: He's the only hitter you guys in recent.

00:12:54
Speaker 3: Memory that every time he comes up when I'm doing a game, I think he's going deep, Like his swing is so violent, and it's just it's unfair expectations. But we all think it when he comes up that he's going to hit a tape measure shot. It hasn't happened recently for him, but man, he's such a threat in the lineup. But I think he's the first real threat offensively that the Giants have had since Barry Bonds.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: Maybe, and that could be a bold statement, but yeah.

00:13:18
Speaker 3: And he's been a pleasure to be around. The guys love him. They're joking with him every day. He has a fantasy football team and he knows nothing about football. I mean, he's just he's part of it right now. And the guys love him. Drew Gilbert talks about him every single day and what a great teammate he is. In the times I've been around him, he's just smiling all the time and he's a fun.

00:13:37
Speaker 1: Guy to be around.

00:13:38
Speaker 4: Rarely can you you can trade let alone at the trade deadline, but in May or June for a superstar bat And so hats off to br to Buster for getting RAFFI like that. Rarely can you with thirteen games left, call up a six, seven, two and forty pound back to back twenty three home run league seasons. You know, super prospect. What outside of San Francisco, because San Francisco, even maybe even all of California knows about Bryce Eldred, But the Giants calling him up at this point, what can national fans expect to see besides an Aaron Judge type of hulking figure in the box.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: From the left side too.

00:14:24
Speaker 3: I think you know you know who, like the sneaky guy that I've left out and all this is Dom Smith. Like I didn't know Dom Smith was gold Glove quality at first base, and a lot of people with the Giants that our broadcast team were like, we feel bad.

00:14:36
Speaker 1: We didn't know he's as good.

00:14:37
Speaker 3: And then he gives you a grade at bat he's sitting, I don't know, around two seventy. He has two strike adjustments where he chokes up, spreads out, and just puts the ball in play. He has been one of the most valuable players for this team since the Giants got him. So he stretches for that ball from Chapman the other night and blows out, and it's going to be like, I think it's a Grade two Hammy. Don't quote me on that, but it's gonna be a couple of weeks and there's only a couple of weeks left in the season, so you have a deficiency from the left side, and you know Wilmer's not going to do it every day, and you need a left handed bat. And I don't know, man in a pennant race against the Dodgers coming up in Dodger Stadium.

00:15:12
Speaker 1: But this kid's supposed to be mature beyond his years.

00:15:15
Speaker 3: And I just watched the videos like you guys do on the Internet of his opposite field home. He's pulled a pole line to line with just Opo Pop and he's sitting mammoth tanks.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: In triple A. The one thing he has to like.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: And I'm sure he'll be told this by Bob Melvin is like, Hey, this isn't all on you, dude. We just want you to do your thing. He wants you to play. But I don't know about the fan base. The fan base is probably thinking, come on, Bryce, we're getting the playoffs because of you. And I hope he doesn't put that kind of pressure on himself. But he's supposed to be real mature. He's probably gonna dh I haven't watched him play first base. JT Snow, who's a good friend of mine has gone down there and worked with him in Triple A and said he's getting better at first base. But this was a guy growing up that just pitched in DH. He never really played a position. So I would imagine, and I don't know anything, that the Giants are probably just going to have him DH against right handers and let him do his thing and hopefully he doesn't put too much pressure on himself and just plays baseball.

00:16:11
Speaker 5: Effie, what about the dirt? What's going on with the dirt? And just listen, by the way, just for Alana's we can I play for the Giants too.

00:16:20
Speaker 1: But Alana's disgusting with me right now with all the orangin But I know, I.

00:16:25
Speaker 5: Know she hates me now because I have a Giants babble hit him? Oh good, Well, what's going on with the dirt at third base? Matt Chavit's calling out the groundskeeper and he's I mean, does he not know how to slide?

00:16:37
Speaker 1: Because he keeps getting like these holes in his hand?

00:16:39
Speaker 5: What the heck is going on with the dirt over there? I always thought San Francisco, heck, anywhere in California, the field was always perfect.

00:16:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, every time he dives, he's got these like quarter scabs on both hands. The other night he dove for a ball and he was like patting his pants with it, AJ and there's blood all over his pants. And this has happened like six or seven times to him this year. And it's always at home. And I don't know anything about being a groundskeeper. It looks like one of the better playing surfaces in all of baseball. But when your third basement's a platinum glover and one of the best defenders in all of baseball in any position, and he's I mean, like, I don't want to get in the middle of any controversy, but you shouldn't.

00:17:19
Speaker 1: You shouldn't cut your hands.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: At the big leagues when you dive, right, that's like a ball, or maybe even in like Legion ball, when you're playing on tough fields that I don't know. I never dove and broke my hands open consistently on dirt.

00:17:32
Speaker 1: And I do some fantasy batting practice.

00:17:34
Speaker 3: This is there in the mornings where I say, a corporational buyout Oracle Park and we put a pitching machine on the mound and everybody takes batting practice, and you know the old washed up giants go out there in the uniforms and we shag with them.

00:17:45
Speaker 1: The field seems sometimes at a little bit hard.

00:17:49
Speaker 3: And I know that they've had concerts and they've had soccer games, but yesterday they poured a bunch more dirt on there. I guess there's something called conditioner with the dirt if you see Susan Sluster's article in the chronicle, And they tried to like put softer dirt on there. But yeah, I mean obviously was frustrated enough to go public with it. And you know, when a platinum glover speaks, I think you got to listen right.

00:18:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:18:12
Speaker 5: By the way, I want you to look at my hands. See there's no there's nothing but was a handmade scar. But there's no other holes because I wouldn't fast enough to dive, so I always had a slight fee first. So I don't even know how this would where this would come from. Plus I had never played the infield, but I don't know, I've never seen I've never heard of this, And I mean again, I played there was a long time ago, but I always thought the grounds were wet and moist and just the way most guys like it.

00:18:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, apparently, according to Matt, it's not that way we used to get those.

00:18:42
Speaker 1: We used to get those in Montreal on the turf, right.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: You go flying for a ball in the gap in the late and then you get the turf burns on your hands where it's like blisters and your elbows are scraped, and then you know everyone's been spitting tobacco juice on the turf, and you got to worry about staff infection.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: You go on the trainer, which scat.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, yeah, this is out of nowhere. But I can't swear on this because I was told not to. But he dove for that ball the other night and they zoomed in on his face and he said, unffing, believable and while he was looking at both of his hands. So obviously this frustrated him enough that he felt like, you know, he need to open up about it. But there's only like six home games left.

00:19:21
Speaker 2: He'll be all right, Well, let's get some shag carpet out there over my third base. Let me ask you this before I let you go there. FP is Buster in the clubhouse a lot?

00:19:32
Speaker 1: Is he?

00:19:33
Speaker 2: Is he more of a president of baseball ops? Or is he a guy that is not that far removed from being behind the plate.

00:19:43
Speaker 1: No, he's there. He goes on road trips. I think he's in the dugout for batting practice.

00:19:48
Speaker 3: I'm not sure about the clubhouse thing, because you know, I get there on the lazy bus at four o'clock with the broadcasters. But he used to call everybody out. He said, oh, lazy buses here when the four o'clock bus and players got off it. But that's the broadcaster bus, right. But you know, I've wrote in with him a couple of times. He's around man, and I think that's really cool. And he showed face when the team was playing poorly. You know, you could just you know, you could just hide when the team's playing bad. But he's been there, he's talking to guys. He's really involved. And this isn't me just kissing Buster Posey's ass. Like the first year as a as a president of Baseball Operations, he's done a really good job of just sitting back watching everything unfold, taking notes, being very humble, asking questions, trying to learn. And I would think after this year, you know he's done his homework. But if you come in as a new president Baseball operations, and you're firing this guy and DFA and this guy and the music and then this and you're changing everything now all of a sudden, you know, that's not good leadership. But the trades that he's done, signing Raffie Devers, when you talk about, you know, getting the two guys from the Mets and then the kid in Triple A, that's supposed to be good. It's arms parking right now. And the catcher they got for Camilo d'aval and Triple A is supposed to be really good too. So all in all, the way he's handled everything and the way he's been present when things aren't going well and not like a front runner will almost say you're playing well, like here I am. And he's had conversations with coaches and players, he's involved just the right amount and he's really learning on the job and learning on the fly.

00:21:19
Speaker 1: And to me, that's what good leadership is be.

00:21:23
Speaker 5: How much weight is he lost? Because I saw him this year he looks like he never played baseball. I'm like, Buster, you've lost what happened? He's lost like twenty thirty pounds from not playing. He looks amazing me. I was like, whoa. I'm like, is this what being in the front office does to you?

00:21:41
Speaker 4: Sign me up.

00:21:42
Speaker 3: No, he was like that before he became president of Baseball Ops. Him and Barry they're reverse aging. Every time you see him. They look younger, very skinny too.

00:21:51
Speaker 5: Have fun with that. I love Barry. Listen, I love Barry. So I have no Look look what else I have here? Just for a lont I have a Barry. I hit a lot of homers off you in your Dodger's territory.

00:22:04
Speaker 3: Hut.

00:22:06
Speaker 1: Dude.

00:22:06
Speaker 3: Barry was in the cage the other day and Joe Montana, Joe Montana was coming to the field, and he's like my.

00:22:12
Speaker 1: All time hero, favorite athlete.

00:22:14
Speaker 3: My daughter's name is Summer Joe Santangelo after Joe Montana. And so I've never met him. I've interviewed him on cambr before, but I've never met him. So I was like, dude, I fanboyd so hard. And so I told Barry he was coming, and Barry called Joe Montana and they were talking right in front of me about oh, you didn't tell me you were coming today, blah blah blah, and then they hung up, and I'm like, that was like such a power call, Barry Bonds talking to Joe Montana right in front of me, and then I finally met him before the game, and I think I blacked out and said something stupid.

00:22:42
Speaker 1: But it was really cool.

00:22:44
Speaker 3: It was really cool to me my hero and my favorite athlete ever this weekend and he was at the ballpark.

00:22:48
Speaker 2: So that is very very cool. Who's your Who's the coolest person in your phone?

00:22:54
Speaker 1: FP?

00:22:54
Speaker 2: It's obviously not Joe Montana.

00:22:57
Speaker 3: I would say Barry probably, I guess. I mean I could maybe, yeah, maybe a Supreme Court justice. But you know, when you're in DC, you meet all the politicians and all that stuff too, So yes, yes.

00:23:12
Speaker 1: So f be good luck.

00:23:13
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see if the Giants can make this run get into the postseason. We appreciate the information as much as you're a Giant fan, my friend, I still like you appreciate it.

00:23:23
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys. Thanks for happing me on.

00:23:24
Speaker 3: I'm gonna wear I'm gonna eye black next time, and I'll be all set.

00:23:28
Speaker 1: It has to be backwards hat.

00:23:29
Speaker 2: In order to be on the show, you have to have the backwards hat.

00:23:32
Speaker 1: All right, I'll see you guys, care Thanks for happing on.