Padres checkup w/Darren Smith: AJ Preller extension, Adding Nick Castellanos, Team getting sold soon?

00:00:03
Speaker 1: All right, Hello Darren our new co host of Friar Territory with Marty Caswell and Heath Fell. You are a twenty here San Diego sports talk veteran, which means you can give us your take on a lot of things we've been talking about so far today. Let's start with Nick Castianos and what happened with that whole situation. Do you think that he is going to be a good fit in that clubhouse? We've given our opinion, we think he will be. What do you think?

00:00:31
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Thank you for having me first and foremost, And I certainly wasn't going to bring up that Manny Machado is a Danny Lozano client, So yeah, I was not. I was just going to bite my tongue on that and certainly keep my opinions about Indiana football to myself for now. Hey, Yeah, I do think he's a good fit, I Daron.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Do you think that Indiana Sorry, before we dig in, do you think that Indiana really packed into the code so they knew all the plays of the other team for the first fifteen plays they scripted them because that was a thing for a while.

00:01:04
Speaker 1: This is a real charge, So you're jus you.

00:01:09
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:01:09
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, I'm a college basketball guy myself. I went to Saint I know a thing or two about faded glory like Indiana, right, Like Saint John's used to be a really good basketball program. So I feel like there's a little bit of a kindred spirit ship to that. So I'm just glad that my my alma mater is back and respectable with Rick Patino. So that's that's all I have to say. I didn't go to a college football school. Hey, well, we're back in Roland. Come on, even.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: That's an interesting take.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: Absolutely, of course, kidding. That's a legend third all time. I mean that's third all time on the all time winnesdast this past weekend against Providence. So never mind that little brawl thing that happened in the stands at Providence. Yeah yeah, anyhow, Nick Casteanos, Yeah why not? I mean, why not have him here? You know, we've gone through some interesting characters in San Diego, led by Manny Machado, who he himself is an interesting cat and he's a South Florida guy. He's got a little bit of that Miami three h five swag to him. And this is his guy from South Florida, So why not bring him into the mix. Certainly we've had some some interesting dudes rolled through this clubhouse and now he is added to the list. So it didn't take much time. Uh, it certainly seemed like it was, uh you know, something that was done before it was even announced. There was rumors around the Potter's that this was going to happen. So uh, yeah, I think it'll work, especially if the price is right, and it sounds like it is. You know, it's not a massive investment from the pottery standpoint financially, so why not give it a run here and see what you can get out of this guy? Add him into the mix and let it go.

00:02:48
Speaker 4: What do you need to see from Nick Castia something? I'm talking about the clubhouse presence, Like I think all that stuff is just totally blown out of proportion over over, you know, a single not a single instance, but like just what was going going on in Philly. To me, it has to work out because if he doesn't hit for and I'm going to have you fill in the blank X amount of time, how soon does Nick Costiano's get shipped out and they go to the next guy at first base or next guy at DH because that's how it's gonna work out. He's either going to be awesome and he's going to keep the position, or he's gonna stink and they're gonna get rid of him.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: Right, one hundred percent, especially based on the financial commitment of eight hundred grand or a little bit less then, So yeah, I think that's exactly it. And you know this because of recent history. You know this because of Jason Hayward. You know this because of different players that have rolled through here that aj Preller has placed a bet on AG's kind of like buying scratch off tickets. You know when you go to the like the local market, and you know sometimes those scratch off tickets are not worth anything. You spend a dollar or two dollars or five dollars, sometimes you scratch off the twenty bucks, the fifty bucks, the hundred bucks.

00:03:55
Speaker 1: You know.

00:03:55
Speaker 2: He had that a couple of years ago with Jerkson profile, right, that was one that really resulted in a productive player who contributed, who was a great clubhouse presence. Everything worked. People were sad that Jerks and Profar didn't re sign with the Potteries, even though people understood the economics other guys, guys like Jason Hayward, you know, as I mentioned Connor Joe last year, just to name a few, Yuli Guriel. There, these are players that it didn't work. So you just move on, you know, you move on quickly, and I think that that will happen with Costaiano's. But in terms of what you're looking for here, you're looking for something that the Potteries didn't have last year, which is which is power slug. You know, even in a down year, Costaiano's provided seventeen home runs for the Phillies. I know, different ballpark, but still I think at this stage of his career, you know, he's he's comparable in some ways to some of those players that I just mentioned, but he's also younger than some of those guys. So I think it's a worthwhile investment. And what he said initially I think matters. You know, he talked a little bit about wanting to fit in right, Like I, Okay, I had this situation in the Phillies clubhouse where I my role changed and maybe it wasn't communicated that was that clubhouse, that's not this clubhouse. So they're gonna figure this out together, what the role is going to be is going to be dh It's gonna be a little bit of first. They're gonna work on that together. He seems open minded to whatever it is that the coaching staff wants to put in front of him. And he also talked about being in a winning environment. He talked about the city of San Diego. He talked about how much a sun loves eating tacos in the cast lamp. So he comes from a winning environment. He comes from from you know, good fans support, and that's exactly what he's gonna get here. And when you say something like, hey, the team's never won a World Series, that matters to me. I want to help him try to get there, people are like, yeah, okay, cool, this is starting off on the right foot.

00:05:41
Speaker 4: Statistically, the Padres didn't strike out much. They're getting they lost their first basement who never struck out, and now they're going to possibly a new first basement in Nick Castianos, who does strike out. It's not historic rates, but it's a you know, it's a it's a contact driven team. Does his skill set just rely on the Hey, if you don't hit the ball out of the ballpark, we have a bunch of guys that already do what you do at a much lower strikeout rate. So is that really where it's at. Does he need to pop five homers in the month of April to be able to stay on this team.

00:06:18
Speaker 2: I don't know that there's a number for it. But I also think, you know, maybe the offensive identity is going to change a little bit from where it was last year. Right, So, yeah, they were contact, they didn't strike out, but they also didn't pop, they didn't hit home runs. They were twenty second in slugging, they were twenty eighth in home runs hit. Right, That's a pretty big deal. And some of that, obviously is Jackson Merrill being injured. Some of that is you know, hey, getting a full season from Ramon Loriano, what kind of player we're going to get with Tatist this year. All these things you know that we're going to talk about throughout spring training and into the regular season. But I do think when you're hitting, coach is on another squad, now off to the Houston Astris he goes, and your manager who called, you know, more sacrifice buns that anybody in baseball? Does anybody really want to lead the league in sacrifice bunts? The Potterys did last year. I do think that that at the end of the year there was definitely an idea that there would be a new approach to how you were constructing your offense. So is it going to be exactly the same with a new hitting coach and a new manager. I suspect not, you know, And some of that is going to come internally, and some of that obviously is going to come from the outside. But it's pretty much been since the end of last season. Like they've talked about adding slug to this lineup, and you know, that's a combination as a set of guys that are going to come back who you're going to rely on, and it's also not bringing in people like like Castianos or Andrew Harsh. So I think that they are going to, you know, give up on certain things that made them successful over the last couple of years in an attempt to add things that they felt like they were deficient at. And you know that they resulted in them getting knocked out by the Cubs last year.

00:07:56
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00:08:20
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00:08:56
Speaker 1: All Right, let's talk about what just happened with aj Priller and theres. They have agreed to a contract extension. Apparently, when Manny Machado speaks, people immediately listen, right, because isn't that how it went right? Machado was lobbying for him. What was it just yesterday asking why they hadn't signed him to an extension yet, and look they delivered. Your thoughts on that, Darren.

00:09:20
Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing. Yeah, I mean, maybe Manny's going to be the next owner of the Potters. Right the team is for sale, so you know, maybe what Manny's saying here is this is the way I want things to operate, and it's Manny's team now. Yeah, I think that that there was some questions about the future of the franchise in terms of what it's going to look like after a sale. Team is for sale, it's expected to be sold here potentially in the next couple of months. So from that standpoint, HJ. Preler, I think is one hundred percent committed to the city. I think he wants to finish what he started here. I do feel like there is a real connection, you know, to him. I think he takes it seriously when he talks about honoring Peter Seiler, the late owner's legacy. I think that that really isn't just something that you say. It's not just a hashtag for a J Preller. I think he really means that, So I think he does want to see this through, and I think that's that's a good thing. I wasn't always confident that this was gonna happen. Towards the tail end of last year, you know, you thought, maybe, you know, if things didn't work out, was there going to be an opportunity to to just say, let's just shake this thing up and change things. Because we've given it as you know, as far a rope as we could possibly give it. Preller has has been the GM for for for playoff appearances in six years. That's not been done in this franchise's history. This franchise doesn't have great history, but it's not been done. It's been to the NLCS one time. And yeah, I think he wants to finish the job. I thought that this was the right pathway for the Potters to take. I think the players agree. I think that you know, this is this is even though we talk about the lack of consistency in the manager's office, I think Preller is, you know, certainly somebody who Pottery fans have come to like. And I think he's been big part of what the success of the San Diego Potters is from a business standpoint, you know, this club is probably going to fetch north of two billion dollars when it is that it's eventually sold. And I'm not saying that's all directly related to the president of Baseball Operations and general manager, but I think he's played a role in that. There's a lot of Machado jerseys in this city. There's a lot of Tatis jerseys in the city, so you know people, there's a lot of people who wear oddly enough AJ Preller t shirts and AJ we trust right, So like, I think he has become an important figure here. You know, if the if it had run its course and that the you know, the next owner decides this isn't what he wants to continue with, then find so be it. But I think it's a good day for the Podres. You know, I think it's the right decision. And you know, I think he's a guy even even if the purse strings have been closed just a little bit here over the last couple of years. I mean we're talking about, you know, being able to get Costeianos in here, some of the starting pitching that they've been able to get in here. He can build a farm system. He can use that farm system as trade capital if he doesn't have money to go out there and spend on free agents like he did last year at the deadline and bring in in Mason Miller. So, uh, you know, I think this is a good day for the Padres, and it certainly seems like a lot of the players, based on the reaction, believe the same.

00:12:11
Speaker 3: Why why does foul Territory not have a shirt that says in AJ we trust. That's what I want to know. I mean, every Padre fan should have it. They would buy it and we could sell it, right, Yeah.

00:12:20
Speaker 5: We don't know.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: I will, I will get our best people on that, you.

00:12:24
Speaker 3: Know, chop dot com and Friar Territory dot com out.

00:12:29
Speaker 2: Of them shirts. I mean, of course you Hinch Preller, right, I mean there's yeah, I mean it's this could this could serve multiple locations in multiple markets.

00:12:40
Speaker 3: We were this close by the way to having me, Preller and hinsch on at the same time, but Preller walked away instead of coming over. We had Hincheon, Preller walked by, and I'm like, we could set a world record for ajs on television at the same time.

00:12:52
Speaker 2: Now you're you're Andrew John. Is that right, Anthony, Anthony John Anthony, I'm sorry, he's Arthur John. I believe so. I don't know what what hinches off the top of my head, but yeah, that would have been I mean, that'd be solid. I think that's good marketing right there. Let's get the foul territory people on them. True.

00:13:09
Speaker 4: All right, Well, I'm going to ask about Arthur John here one last question. You don't how many managers? Because maybe national fans don't know how many managers he's been through. You kind of glazed over a little bit. Do you know the number what Craig Staman is for aj Pereller's reign as general manager?

00:13:31
Speaker 2: Are we talking about full time managers or interim managers? How would you like to break this down?

00:13:37
Speaker 4: I'm going to count Rod Barajas's one in seven record as one of the X amount of managers?

00:13:44
Speaker 2: Do we give Dave Roberts for one or two games back in twenty fifteen? Do we give him run? I can rattle them off. He inherited Buddy Black, who's back in the organization. Dave Roberts then was an interim for a day or two. Pat Murphy finished the twenty fifteen season. Twenty sixteen was Andy Green that took us till the end of twenty nineteen when Rod Barajas took over for eight games. Then in twenty twenty it was Jase Tindler. Tingler went through twenty and twenty one, then came in Bob Melvin. Bob Melvin two seasons, Mike Schilt two seasons, and now Craig Staffan nine nine.

00:14:21
Speaker 4: For everybody who was not watching me, count with my fingers because I can't count that high. A general manager that goes through that many managers has clearly built a product on the field. But in AJ we trust shirts, shouldn't that be a shirt that is in our organization we trust? And maybe AJ's taking a little bit too much of the front line or whatever it is. And is he the one that could be getting in the way for them to truly take that next step? Because this roster. Nobody denies this roster. There's holes in every roster, but he's built this roster. Should he get out of the way. Should he have somebody that says, AJ, stop for one second, we got this.

00:15:07
Speaker 2: I think it's fair. I do I think that's that's fair to wonder when you've burned through a manager who's a three time Manager of the Year, another manager who walks away. I mean back to back managers have just walked away from this job, right, I mean, what is that telling us here? At that Bob Melvin decided, Yeah, I just I've had enough. Get out of here. Mike Schultz like, get me back into the minor leagues. I think I've I think this has run its course. You know, maybe those are our situations that are independent of themselves. You know, maybe there's some connective tissue there. I think everyone is sort of different, right, you inherit Buddy Black and you know, it always felt like Buddy, on a expiring contract, was probably not going to make it unless that twenty fifteen season was something special and it wasn't heading in the right direction. Andy Green was sort of here for development. I don't know that they looked at Andy Green as somebody who you know, they really thought, by the way, the only manager under a J. Preller to get an extension. Oddly enough, so the Tingler thing that the clubhouse in twenty twenty one kind of went south on him, and I put the organization in a funky place where I think, you know, a decision was made that maybe maybe Preller got a little out ranked on, you know, then you bring in somebody like Melvin he leaves, So I think they're all a bit different. But I also think it's fair to say, what is the problem here? Why can you not every time you introduce somebody one of these press conferences you claim that you know, you want this guy to be the manager for the next ten years, and then two years later we're doing the same thing over again. I think that there's been plenty of reporting on some of AJ Preller what's been described to some micromanaging. The way he wants things done seems very unique. That you know, he is pretty hands on in certain drills and things and ways that he wants the club to operate. So it's not for everybody, you know, it's definitely not for everybody. These managers, one after another will tell you stories about standing in their culdesacs at two in the morning taking phone calls from AJ Preller about this that the other thing. Like, you know, he operates and marches to the beat of a totally different drum. So I'm kind of curious to see how this is going to work with Craig Stalmon, a guy who's never done it before, guy who's been a career relief pitcher. I mean, is this finally the secret sauce that he needs for somebody that he has alignment with? You know, I I'm curious to see what that looks like. You know, seems to to at least pass the eye test early on Craig Stamon in terms of standing up there, looking comfortable at the podium, et cetera. So but yeah, I mean, I think it's been a valid criticism of it. Why is it that you burned through all of these guys? What is it about working with you that that has these guys literally quitting these jobs? You know, like, what what is that? But for the most part, I think that the fans just enjoy the energy, They enjoy the buzz, right like, like he's an action guy. Things happen, you know, think about even what's happened here over the last couple of days, whether it's been Costiano's or Canningham Orquez. Like he's an action guy, and like we we all rely on that in the media because it gives us plenty of juice and he provides that sizzle, so you know there's also some stake that goes with the sizzle as well. But I think it's a fair criticism, like what happens here, Why do these guys keep doing it? And at what point do you run out of Well, I've got the next candidate that I think I'm going to be in perfect alignment with because we haven't quite hit that never never. Maybe maybe that's it. Maybe that's just a strategy of like, let's just keep turning it over and see what we can get out of these guys for a couple of years. I don't know that I fully understand it. When I came here, Bruce Bochie was the manager and you know, still the best manager that I've covered. So I prefer the consistency. AJ claims that as well, But the actions every other year tell us a different story.

00:18:45
Speaker 1: Perhaps it's the two am cul de sat conversations. We're only human, we can only take so many of those. All right, you touched on it briefly earlier, But what is the update on the sale process. We know that it's supposed to come to a conclusion here over the next few months.

00:19:02
Speaker 2: So John Siler, who's the acting chairman spoke today at the Peoria Sports Complex, where the Pottery spring training site is located, and said some very vague commentary. You know, hey, we have interest. There's been some reports I'm sure that have been discussed here and elsewhere about some of the names. You know, whether that's you know, names that have been associated more with European soccer, or whether that's Joe Lake up from the Golden State Warriors. You know, these are the names that have been reported on. I suspect there's probably one or two that that we haven't heard of. But you know, there's been some some local reporting about prospective prospect you know, potential owners getting towards the Pecka Park, you know, walking around taking a peak, seeing what's what, How far down the road anybody's gone in terms of what are the finances. Look, has anybody taken this further enough or far enough that they've they've taken a peek at the Pottery's books. Seems unclear at this point, but based on what Rob Manfred said early this week or late last week, there's interest. And you know around here, the people that are in these circles, they tell you like the interest is real, Like there's real, you know, This isn't you know, just just trying to gin up a little bit of activity or some rumors to get people to jump in. It sounds like, you know, those that are I don't operate in these billionaire spaces, but those that are, even if they're out there on the fringe, to tell you that the the interest is real, and it sounds like something could be you know, sooner rather than later. When this when this first was announced, I thought this was going to be like a long drawn out process, potentially after the CBA, just to make sure you knew. But it sounds like there's a little bit of a an urgency I suppose on behalf of the side of the family, whether that's lawsuit related, whether that's just like, hey, listen, you know, this isn't what we signed up for. This is what our brother did, and we're sort of just holding this down in the interim. But you know, it does sound like like most people who are involved in current capacity as ownership wants to get go went here and move this forward and hopefully leave the Padres in a you know, in a good situation, which is where they were under under the late Great Peters.

00:21:07
Speaker 3: Either Darren, you mentioned the money in the in the income. I just want to know. I think the Padres they're with MLB, I know that, But I think they're only broadcasting two spring training games, I think, And are the fans okay with that? Because I think the Padres are one of the teams that used to do like almost every spring training game and now they only I think they're only doing two the entire spring? Is this the new way of TV under MLB? And are Padrey fans okay with only seeing possibly two of their spring training games?

00:21:38
Speaker 2: No? And I think the television has been, uh, you know, kind of a pain in the ass subject for a lot of people, because you know what happened. They were part of the Bally's group that blew up, and they went from making sixty million dollars a deal, which you know, sixty million a year, which is you know, which is not a ton compared to some of the you know, top markets right at Chicago, La.

00:21:59
Speaker 1: Et cetera.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: But now they went to one of the worst deals in all the Major League Baseball And it's sort of fuzzy, you know what this is looking like under Major League Baseball's operation. You know, they're sort of a canary in the coal mine type. Now, I think that that overall it's been frustrating, even for somebody like yours truly. I mean, I PLoP down one hundred bucks a year just so I know where I can get it. I can find it, I can stream it through the MLB app. But I think people would like to know that, you know, this team is going to end up in a situation here where where it's not lagging so far behind everybody else financially. As far, I don't know how many games they're putting on their stream for spring training. I know on the radio side there's going to be some sort of stream or radio broadcast for almost all of them, but in terms of being able to watch them, seems like like that's been a little bit complicated. And now it's MLB and it's ESPN, and what does that mean for fans here? I feel like the CEO of this team goes on the radio on a pretty regular basis and has to explain like, hey, this is this is what the deal is with this We all understand, right, even us by nature of being here and streaming, and you know, baseball away it should be covered streaming. You know myself after twenty years of doing local radio, Like you know, those days are kind of in the past. But you know, I do think it's just not been clear what it is that's happening with the Podres and A what does that mean for the product on the field, because so much of your revenue is tied into this and into your local television revenue and you're not getting that and you were getting that, And what is baseball doing to make the situation a little bit better? And then b there's just a ton of confusion out there about how these games, what channel are they on? Do if I have Direct TV, or if I have this platform or if I have that one. You know, I subscribed to YouTube TV a couple of years ago because I was watching the World Series and like Joe Buck kept telling me, or get YouTube TV, and I had the Podrais and then I didn't, you know, from one year to the next, and you know, every year it's like you have to go through this roadmap trying to figure out how it is that you're going to get the baseball game. So it has been a real point of concern for the Podreys and and you know, recently the CEO has to just say Baseball's in charge. You know, that's a question for MLB. Well, you know, good luck getting any answers there, or any answers that are satisfactory. Like, we all can live with the fact that how we consume content games is changing. We all can live with that. But but you know, there just hasn't been like any any clarity exactly. Like, you know, I don't want to be told that I have to change everything. You know, I don't want to have to tell my wife that she's got to like lose her whole library on YouTube TV so we can switch to another platform so that we can watch the Podreys. And and I'm not alone in that. So you know, it's been frustrating over the last couple of years since the ballet implosion, and it just feels like the Podrays have been one of those teams that's been you know, at the front of well, baseball is going to take care of this now, and and you know, nobody feels like we're in a better situation today than we were three years ago.

00:25:04
Speaker 1: All Right, Darren Smith, we appreciate the time, We appreciate the insights. Thanks for joining us.

00:25:10
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate it