Red Sox Reality Check w/Chris Cotillo + Marlins talk w/Isaac Azout

00:00:11
Speaker 1: Yes, we're gonna talk about the Boston Red Sox right now as mass lives. Chris Catilla joins us, Chris, how you doing, man? And how are the Red Sox doing after a week of their performance on the field while watching what I gotta say it the Yankees are doing on the field against their opponents.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: I'm doing fine despite the sky falling around us here in Boston. So fans are done. The season's over. It's the worst five game losing streaking history of baseball. Now, I mean it's a small sample size, but they have not looked good, especially in Houston. Lots of strikeouts, not passing the baton, big time free agent addition, and Ranger Swarez struggling, big time trade edition and Sunny Gray struggling. So if a team's ever needed an off day on April second, it's today. And they start their home schedule tomorrow. But definitely an ugly week after opening day, and I think there are some real concerns that people are starting to be worried about.

00:01:08
Speaker 3: Like the offense. Is it the offense? The pitching's gonna I firmly believe the pitching crochet pitch grade. He's gonna be fine. I think, listen, Sonny Gray is a five inning guy, so everyone's like all the way through four innings. He's been basically a five inning guy the last few years of his career, which is fine. Range Yah, The Rangers going to be fine once he gets settled in Beyo. They know what they have in Beyo. Early looked great when he pitched right. So is it just offense that they're worried about or is there something else we're missing.

00:01:38
Speaker 2: I think the strength of this team needs to be run prevention pitching. You know, they built that roster around it over the offseason. Bregman leaves, they pivot to Suarez. They already have Gray, they acquired Oviedo, who they were really high on, But to me, Gray didn't pitch grade the other day. Suarez had a weird build up because of the WBC, struggled a lot in spring training, and then the other night in Houston, Avato seems lost his velocities down. He's in a long man piggyback role and you could see him getting optioned here in the next few days. So if they don't figure out the rotation and those pitchers, they're in real trouble. I think because this is a team that's not built on pop, it's not built on the big inning. It's a station to station, put the ball in play offense. And we saw the strikeouts really pile up, you know, against Hunter Brown, against the Colors, against Burrows over the last couple of days. So the offense I think we knew was going to be maybe not clicking at the beginning as they kind of find themselves with Roman Anthony as the featured piece, and how Contreras fits in Durban, who's over eighteen, how he fits in. They think the pitching is going to be a lot better, and it really has to be because the first time, other than a good opening day start from Crochet and a good one from Early, was really lacking and it shows up in the record.

00:02:51
Speaker 4: How about their defense, which is directly tied to pitching. You're pitching unless they strike out the world like Crochet usually does, is tied to your defense. Like, is this defense going to be what we're going to watch the entire season?

00:03:06
Speaker 2: It should be better than it was last year. Just because Contreras has good numbers at first in a small one year sample, Meyer has a chance to be elite at second. Durbin at third is a guy they're comfortable and comfortable with. He's been okay over there, and on opening Day, They've had lapses, some throwing errors from the catcher, some things here and there. Really haven't been fully locked in over this six game stretch. But I think the defense in general is going to be a little bit better or a lot better than it was in previous years where they were cycling through so many guys at second and so many guys were coming up, and first base was a mess. And I think it has to be with a guy, you know, like Suarez in the rotation, lots of weak contact Gray, same thing. They have no choice.

00:03:46
Speaker 5: Really, Do we ever.

00:03:48
Speaker 3: Find out why Narvaia's got benched? Does that ever come out? Why he was not in the lineup? Do we know the reason for that because that was odd so early into the year.

00:03:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and that is I can't take full blame because I wasn't in Houston on the trip. So I will be digging as the weekend goes on, as everybody on the beat will be. What I'd say about Carlos Narvaas is he is one of the most well like guys they have in there. Super friendly, super good teammate, a guy everybody likes. Work ethic not an issue at all as a rookie. To me, it was a little bit strange that he was the guy that got pulled out of the lineup and made an example of yesterday. I have to wonder if he was late, or if he missed a meeting or anything like that. I do think it behooves the team or any team in this situation scenario to just say it, because we're getting text from scouts like, hey, what's going on here, what's going on? What's going on? If they just said, hey, he was late or he missed a meeting, it could kind of put some theories to bed. But to me, the earliness of it, as you mentioned, I think is kind of the striking part. You don't see managers do this super often, where they pull a guy and say kind of the reason why that it was a disciplineary their manager's decision. I think that might speak to Alex Corraz trying to get to this group a little bit and telling them to lock in. We're in the regular season, it's not spring training anymore. They had an instance the night before where they as a team didn't know the count. They cost themselves a beyo strikeout. So there have been lapses and I think they're trying to get out ahead of that a little bit. But no, we don't know the exact reason for this one.

00:05:22
Speaker 4: Well, you're saying, so Alex Korra possibly had to keep the young guys under control, like if they had somebody in their lineup or something like that that was like a leader that was played say third base and had the initials AB. Do you feel like it was something that Alex Cora has noticed all spring training that hey, who's going to be this veteran leader. Maybe I don't see it, and I need to step up and possibly be that guy as the manager of the team.

00:05:53
Speaker 2: They really have that in Trevor's story, you know story and Bregman really kind of co led from the position player perspective. Last your story is super well respected in there, and I think is, at least of the position player group the clear captain, with Roman Anthony even at twenty one, taking on more of a role there, which is a scary thing. He's so young, he doesn't have that much time in the big leagues, but he's so mature that they trust him to do that again. I don't know the real true reasons behind this Narvallas sting. It just speaks to Coorra saying, hey, if there's any lapses, they're going to end week one and I'm going to send a message to the group. He clearly did that. I can only remember Alex Verdugo, I guess two or three years ago getting benched and pulled out of a lineup for a couple of different things. That was very well covered some of the stuff that him and Korra were feuding over at times. I can't remember another instance where just randomly Korra does this. And you guys know, managers can cover for anybody, Oh he has a tight hamstring, or he's under the weather, even if it is a disciplinary thing. Here it was pretty clear there's no injury, there's nothing physical, but something happened where he's out of the lineup. Nip it in the butt. That's I guess what they're trying to do.

00:07:04
Speaker 3: This one's for the dudes looking for that peak bedroom performance. Blue Choo just drop their newest innovation, blue Choo Gold.

00:07:12
Speaker 1: Bluechoo is the number one chewable ed brand and yes, blue Choo Gold dissolves under your tongue and works in as little as fifteen minutes. Peak passion and peak performance in a single tablet. See why millions of men trust blue Choo now with a gold standard upgrade that is changing the game for good. Make life easier and discover your options at blue choo dot com. And we have a special deal for the ftfam. Get ten percent off your first month of blue Choo Gold with code foul. That's promo code foul. Visit blue choo dot com for more details and important safety information, and we thank blue Choo for sponsoring the podcast. This is the future of performance, Faster, smarter and precision engineered, free results. Two ingredients for blood flow with apomorphine and oxytocin a turn deirazzle and connection in your brain and body.

00:08:02
Speaker 5: It's blue Chee.

00:08:05
Speaker 3: What about cases? Where's Tristan cass I know he had a setback on his ribs. I thought he was recovering from a knee problem. What's going on there? Because that's somebody the Red Sox fans have been banging the drum for for years. This guy can be this, and this guy can be that, and he's going to be our next great player, but he gets hurt all the time and it sucks. And but then he puts on the show with all the stuff he does, you know, not when he's not playing right. So when are we going to get to see, excuse me, the real Tristan Casses show up.

00:08:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's a make or break year for him, And in a way, it's kind of already on the break side of that because they went out and they said, we're not going to keep this seat warm for you. We're gonna go out and get Wilson Cantreras to be our full time first baseman. He's under control for this year next year in an option for a third year, So that's kind of a sign to Casas like, just get healthy. We'll figure it out, but we can't rely on you as the everyday first base. The two injuries he had were two freak things. The ribcage two years ago the pateeller tendon last year, which is a very serious thing. He was progressing really pretty well to the point where he was hoping to be on a rehab assignment around opening day. He got hurt on May second of last year, and it's a year long recovery, so he was a little ahead of schedule, and then something happened where he pulled a muscle or came up with some soreness swinging the bat and trying to get that rib area back to one hundred percent. As any player would know, and I'm certainly not one of them, but I've been told when you are hurt, it's not just the area you're rehabbing, it's obviously getting back into game shape with everything else. And so that's why you see setbacks across different players, different body parts. But this doesn't seem to be something that's going to keep him out extra months, but he still is far away. I mean, if he shut down from swinging right now, take a couple weeks to do that, get in some extended spring games, then get on a rehab assignment. What the Red Sox have done for themselves is build in that contingency where Contreras not a contingency but a replacement. Really Contreras is at first he's going to be playing there every day. They already have five guys for the three outfield spots in the d H spot with Yoshida and Anthony Duran, Rafaela and a braw so someone would need to get hurt for Casas to really have a role anyway, so they can slow play it a little bit. But he's definitely had a crossroads, no question about that.

00:10:28
Speaker 4: You mentioned You just mentioned will you or Abrad the lone positive piece in this lineup. He's been crushing since the season started. He was crushing into WBC. Is there an indication or was there an indication coming into camp before the WBC that he had made a change that would say, okay, this is going to take him to the next level as a hitter where he already is as a two time goal glove winner.

00:10:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were really excited about him from day one. He came in looking trimmer and more athletic. Last year he had slimmed down, but because he had a horrible case of the flu when he got to camp like a gastro thing, he wasn't a healthy leaner. This year, he really was. He was smoking the ball in early spring before he went to the WBC. Was obviously really good there. This is a guy that had a similarly really hot start last year then cooled down and got hurt a couple times, and that has been what's happened with him here and there. But they want him to face lefties, which has been something he has not done. Because if he's doing that, he's in the field for every inning and right field and that's very valuable, especially at Fenway where it's so spacious. This is a guy that really could be, you know, a running mate for Anthony in the lineup if Anthony truly is that star that they envisioned him to be, and a guy that I think is going to turn heads and you see it. You know, they barely scored over the first six games, but he's got three homers. He's tearing the cover off the ball already. They were excited about him from the start of camp and they still are.

00:11:57
Speaker 3: Chris, what would make Red Sox fans happy? How would we get them all off the ledge? How would we get the mass holes all off the ledge? The Patriots they were good this year, the Celtics are doing their thing. What can make the Red Sox faithful get off the ledge? If they go and win three games this weekend, if they sweep this weekend, will they be like, oh, we're just kidding, We're fine.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I I if I knew the answer to that question, I'd probably run my Twitter account in a different way. Uh be able to figure it out over time with readership. But a good homestand would go a long way. The thing that I think is tricky for them is they have a pretty tough schedule early. The Padres this week. Michael Kang will be who they face tomorrow at Fenway, So the Padres for three, the Brewers for three, with Woodruff and miss Rowski coming into Fenway. I would say, you know, a winning homestand and going on the road against two probably inferior opponents in Saint Louis and Minnesota, that would be a good start, but just cleaner baseball, better performances from some individuals. You know, a guy that's getting a lot of heat right now is Durbin, oh for eighteen story is striking out a lot. As I said, Suarez and Gray struggle. A good start from Gray tomorrow would be a good start. It's one in five, it's not one in forty. But I think the off day today will help in coming home. There's no letup because there's just you know, two really good opponents waiting for them. But the pomp and circumstance and baseball at Fenway makes everyone happy, even though there is a huge Monster energy ad that's now on the Green Monster Apparently that's been the focus of the last twenty minutes on Twitter. Once you get past stat home cooking should help them.

00:13:38
Speaker 3: And Don Rozillo, Don, is she going to get a standing ovation? Is she going to get a montage? Because I was there the first game he came back and he got a montage. It was a surprise. He almost started crying in the booth. But Don Riscilla has a special place in Red Sox fans heart, so hopefully he gets something tomorrow.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're we're ten years into that storyline and Red Sox fans are still as pissed off about it as they were on day one. But it's a reunion weekend in a lot of ways. Bogarts hasn't played here since he left. He was hurt the first time, so that's intriguing. Walker Buehler coming back and pitching over the weekend. Nick Covett is not going to pitch, but he'll be here, so there's some crossover with the teams and it should be an interesting series. I got a lot of Interer League play early, which is a little different than you'd be used to.

00:14:27
Speaker 1: It sounds like a clever marketing player. People pissed because they don't want anything historic to be touched.

00:14:36
Speaker 2: I just saw it for the first time. It's it's a little big I would say energy or it were you? Were you by AI at thirty, It's time to hang it up. Okay, we'll see people.

00:14:55
Speaker 3: Fool I got some people yesterday.

00:14:58
Speaker 1: It is the second, right, it is a second so that would just be cool. All right, Well, keep an eye on it. Chris, you're the man. Thank you for joining us. Great to catch up with you. More work from Chris on his Penway Rundown podcast and of course on masslab dot com with all of his articles.

00:15:13
Speaker 5: Follow him on x as well.

00:15:14
Speaker 6: Thanks Chris, Thanks guys, appreciate it. All right, let's talk Marlins.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: Isaacazook joining us right now from Fish on First and you can listen to Fish on First podcasts part of the FT Network.

00:15:34
Speaker 5: We love having them as part of the fam.

00:15:36
Speaker 4: Isaac.

00:15:36
Speaker 1: Great to have you back on man, Good to see you, and good times for the Marlin so far in their first week of the season. What are you seeing that's working well for them?

00:15:44
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:15:45
Speaker 7: Five and one start Before the season started, I sort of targeted the bullpen as a strength of this team, and they've only allowed Warner and run in seventeen and two thirds innings. But I mean, I think you can not point at, excuse me, Liam Hicks and Samuel Contra their starts with the season, and I don't think even Peter Bendix expected this from Liam Hicks. It was just great to see all the all the work that Liam put in the off season to swing a little bit faster, get a little stronger, and to see it paid dividends right away is really awesome.

00:16:13
Speaker 3: Is the pitching the greatest pitching of all time? Sorry, Scott, you're good pitching. No, because the pitching all I've heard about. I've been yelled at on Twitter that the pitching. And by the way, they played the Rockies in the White Sox. No offense to the Rockies and the White Sox, but they played the Rockies in the White Sox and the White Sox hammered them one game. Just saying, the White Sox have one win and it was against the marlw So let's not get too excited over there. But is the pitching the greatest pitching of all time. By the way, Sandy, ninety three pitch complete games. Pretty awesome.

00:16:39
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know about the greatest pitching of all time. You mentioned the competition, but you know what, Hey, the Rockies went out and beat one two out of three in Toronto, and the White Sox had a pretty good opening series in Milwaukee. And the White Socks have a little bit of offense in that lineup.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Whoao. The White Sox had a pretty good series. They got swept well.

00:17:00
Speaker 2: In Milwaukee, was an amazing series.

00:17:02
Speaker 3: Thanks well.

00:17:04
Speaker 7: To answer your question, Sandy, We'll focus on Sandy because he really has looked fantastic and he since twenty twenty two. I have not seen this side of him in a while. This was vintage Sandy. He's averaging just about ten pitches an any He's not gonna rack up the strikeouts. He's gonna pitch to weak contact right away, and he's done a fantastic job without sixteen scoreless innings to begin his season. We saw glimpses of it last year in the second half after a really uneven first half coming back from Tommy John, but this is something different. You could see it in just the way he's executing his pitches. He's you going back to sinker, changeup with the occasional slider and sweeper. It's just vintage sand. You could see it on his face. We have not seen that smile on his face in a long time, and this yesterday's complete game shutout meant a lot to him.

00:17:45
Speaker 5: You could tell, all.

00:17:47
Speaker 4: Right, well, the guy behind the dish, Liam Hicks. You talked about that, You talked about his fast start. I actually one of my assistant coaches on my baseball team worked with Liam all off season down at the Cressey Institute. Is it something that the Marlins pushed him to do or is it something that he took upon himself and said, Okay, this is what I need to do to be the guy. Because a lot of people were looking at like Augustine Ramirez is a guy that would be that guy in that position early on. Here, Hicks has proven that he should be he should have that spot.

00:18:21
Speaker 7: Yeah, something the Marlins have been focusing on is really just increasing bat speed, right, And I think with certain guys it doesn't make too much sense. But you look at a guy like Liam Hicks, who was just ninety eight percentile and chase rate. He puts the ball in play, he gets on base, and if he's someone they could get, you know, a little bit of more power in that bat, which is what he worked on in the offseason. Like you said, that's all of a sudden, a really valuable commodity who was someone who's really a good catcher as well, who caught Sandy's complete game yesterday like you mentioned.

00:18:45
Speaker 5: And if he continues to put the ball in play.

00:18:47
Speaker 7: And not chase pitches and have maybe ten to fifteen home run power, you know, Miami may have something here. And this was just a rule five big a couple of years ago, if you remember correctly. So really nice find by Peter Benda. I don't think he's gonna hit thirty home runs this year. I don't think we can expect the sixteen hundred ops forout the whole year. But it's really exciting to see that Tanda behind the plate in Ramirez and Hicks and just Jill Mack waiting behind the wings.

00:19:12
Speaker 4: All right, stop being such a hater. He can hit thirty homers and he can have a sixteen hundred ops. Okay, because everybody's all smiles down in Miami either like seven to eight people that watched him play so far. So is this five and one start a facade? And is it covering up the things that weren't addressed in the absolute negative offseason, besides Pete Fairbanks that they had.

00:19:41
Speaker 7: I think a really good test is gonna be this weekend in the Bronx. They're gonna have a really tough situation there. They're gonna have to face Max Freed, They're gonna have to face wil Warren, and they're gonna have to face old friend Ryan Weathers. It's gonna be Yuri Perez and Chris Pattick and Max Meyer for Miami. And So to answer your question, do I think they're gonna be having an eight hundred win percentage of the whole year. I don't think so. But I do think that it'd be silly to not take these first six games and put a little bit more than a grain of salt on it, because you know, like we said, the Rockets went into Toronto and they won two out of three against the defending American League champions, and they were it wasn't easy. Like you mentioned, the White Sox put up eight runs against them, and I think that if you see the Miami Marlins take at least one or maybe two out of three in New York, then they face the Reds at home, then they go to Detroit. I think after fourteen games or so, you'll get a proper gauge of what this team can really be. And I think at this point in twenty twenty six, after the year that they had last year, winning eighty games seventy nine games to be exact, you're gonna see them add at the deadline, if they're anywhere near the postseason race, you're gonna see them at significant talent to this roster come trade deadline in July.

00:20:45
Speaker 3: Really, oh, I was gonna ask something completely different, but not wait what repeat that again? What you just said.

00:20:52
Speaker 7: I think that there's a strong possibility that when Miami, when and if Miami is within five hundred, within you know, striking distance of a postseason spot, you will see them sort of attack the deadline similar to what they did.

00:21:04
Speaker 5: In twenty twenty three.

00:21:05
Speaker 7: They brought in Jake Berger, they brought in Josh Bell, they brought in David Robertson. I don't think you're going to see the same sort of attack on the farm system that Kim Aying did because Peter Bennixy knows what he's doing.

00:21:16
Speaker 5: But I do think you're going to see some talent added to the.

00:21:18
Speaker 3: Roster like payroll. Yes, well wait, hold on now earpieces. I think my earpiece is broken. Hold on, let me into my good ear Wait. What was challenge? Challenge?

00:21:32
Speaker 5: No?

00:21:32
Speaker 1: No, hold on, I'm gonna tap me in, tap me in. They didn't spend it all in the off season, and there were articles and they were heading in I know, but they do have to spend a little because the blackouts coming up, and they have to show that they tried a little bit more on the financials since they're getting more money and share than what they're funding.

00:21:50
Speaker 5: Season. Yeah, you take on a name or two.

00:21:53
Speaker 3: Yeah. I just think if they would have done that in the off season, they wouldn't have to worry about it. Just I mean that.

00:21:59
Speaker 7: I think following the one there's clarity on the collective bargaining agreement, you're gonna see some spending in free agency. I think until this year didn't make much sense to do it. I think you saw them sign thirteen million dollars for Pete Fairbanks. You saw them have to sign a couple of other guys, two minor deals, I will admit, but I think these next couple of seasons, whether there's a cap or a floor or whatever the case may be, you're gonna see them. I don't think they're gonna be signing the Cal Tuckers of the world. I'll be honest with you, but I think there is an avenue in which they could spend more money than they have in years previous.

00:22:29
Speaker 4: All right, well, then, right off of that, let's go to Sandy's comments post complete games. Sandy's been here forever, and maybe it feels like we're just attacking Marlins fans, but it's so recncy biased by me watching the WBC in that electric stadium. AJ's been there, people behind the scenes on our show have been there, and it's electric. And Sandy says this after a complete game. Hey, you know what for the guy for people who didn't show up or not many of them showed up, or whatever it was. Can this change be caught without what you just said, that's spending at the break or spending in the off season.

00:23:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:23:11
Speaker 5: I found Sandy's comments interesting. I put out a tweet about it earlier.

00:23:15
Speaker 7: I pure speculation, but I think it was a well orchestrated maneuver by the Marlins to have him sort of say that because Miami can't say that. But if it comes from your star pitcher, maybe it comes out a little bit better. And yeah, I think the Marlins were a little bit disappointed with the turnout, not only just for the White Sox Series, which is during the week but games two and three over the weekend. Unfortunately, they had a little bit of competition to deal with. They had Ultra Music festival going out right here in downtown Miami. The President was here speaking at the Fayina Hotel in Miami Beach. You had concerts going on at the Cassea Center in downtown. So I think not only that, you just had some fans that were maybe uneasy about driving and all that traffic, which is just not a good excuse if you ask me. And then, yeah, the White Sox series was six thousand per game around and I think they sort of hinted, hey, maybe if it comes from our.

00:24:03
Speaker 5: Ace pitcher, that'll help out a little bit.

00:24:05
Speaker 7: I think another factor also for the low attendance could be maybe a little bit of a baseball hangover coming from that WBC that you mentioned maybe thirty six thousand every single day for ten days straight in that tournament.

00:24:15
Speaker 5: Maybe there's a little bit of a hangover there.

00:24:17
Speaker 7: I'm not sure, but I hope that the fans come out a little bit more for that Red Series that starts next week, because I think Miami was a little bit disappointed with the turnout.

00:24:28
Speaker 3: Wait, but they've never done They've never drawn. No, that's my thing. I mean, obviously it's like why what because everyone says Miami, listen. I'm a Florida guy. I love baseball. I grew up playing baseball. I was when I grew up, though, the Marlins were I was about to graduate high school, the Marlins appeared. The Rays weren't a thing, right, so team they always got bigger crowds for the Yankees and the Mets and the Red Sox and whoever else. It was a visiting crowd. But now they've been here for over thirty years. Why is the Marlins so dry and the only thing? And people ask me, and I say, well, the stadium's on a great spat. The stadium's inside, so you know you're gonna get a game. It's not in a great spot. The parking kind of sucks, you know. Could they put in a different spot, sure, but they put it where they put it. Why. I just don't understand why people they advertised. People know the Marlins are there. It's not like it's a new product. Oh, the Marlins are here. They came for WBC, So why do they not come to these games? I can't figure. They've had stars Stanton. I mean, they had a team with Stanton, Rio Muto, Christian Yelich, right, Jose Fernandez they had. I was there, I played against those guys. That was a team they drew. Okay before that, you know, in the old stadium when they won in ninety seven, two thousand and three, they did draw a little bit. But why is Miami not supporting baseball the way they should?

00:25:46
Speaker 5: I'm not sure.

00:25:46
Speaker 7: I wish I had the answer for you, because, like you mentioned, they had Stanton chasing sixty, they had Jose pitching every fifth day. They went to the postseason in twenty twenty three with a young team that added to the roster at the deadline, and yet no one showed up. People blame previous pr moves by the team. For example, when Jeter bought the team, it was oh no, more of the same when he traded all those stars. But I think it's time for fans to just sort of, you know, just realize that there's Major League Baseball being played in your backyard. So if I was a team, I think there's one thing that could maybe help you, just make it more of a destination. We've all been a wrigley Field, right Wrigleyville is just incredible to go before the game, after the game. There's just a destination. There's things to do around the ballpark. The Marlins aren't working on that with the construction of Miami Live, which should be ready towards the.

00:26:30
Speaker 5: End of this offseason.

00:26:32
Speaker 7: But I think years and years of continuity when it comes with the President of Baseball Operations, Peter Bendix, when it comes with the manager. This is my fifth year on the beat, and this is already the third manager that I've covered, So I think once you see continuity both on the roster, in the management and in the front office, along with some winning, which I think they're going in that direction, that may equate to some more attendance.

00:26:54
Speaker 5: I hope.

00:26:57
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Fox One Go get that new app stream baseball, stream football, stream World Cup action.

00:27:05
Speaker 5: You'll be watching.

00:27:06
Speaker 3: Oh definitely, I can't wait. I actually want to try and get to a game. But well, and there, I'll still have my Fox one app. I'll have MLB, the shows, the great shows that Fox has, college football that I love, college basketball, they have it all. This really is the app that you can get all of anything you want to watch on an app. Fox one has it and they are.

00:27:23
Speaker 1: Great at yeah, the big sporting events. And by the way, the World Cup is June eleventh to July nineteenth. You can get a free seven day trial of Fox one, So go check that out and you can start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox One Streaming Now, Isaac, do you think that the current front office group is aware of how to do that?

00:27:48
Speaker 5: From a marketing perspective?

00:27:50
Speaker 1: I say that because you know this group is trying to take the Rais model. From a business standpoint and fan affinity standpoint, that model doesn't work if you're looking for wins and losses.

00:28:01
Speaker 5: It helps.

00:28:02
Speaker 1: Although we can make the case that the Rays haven't actually won a World Series. They come close, but the constant churn is not good for it's not creating an identity. I lived in Miami for a while, so I saw what it takes there too, And the mix is you have to have guys that are going to stay there for a while that people know. Yes, Jose Fernandez, I mean, we were just kind of scratching the surface of his impact. Of course, that's an impact that's only once per week or so. So that's the one concern that I have is will they create a team that's more competitive but that isn't sexy enough for Miami.

00:28:37
Speaker 7: That's a fantastic point. That is my concern as well, because yeah, you could have a ninety win team every single year like the Rays had, and yet people do not show up to the trump. I think Miami has a little bit of an advantage with their stadium. It's a really nice, state of the art ballpark that is in the middle of Little Havana. But that's that's not Peter Bendix's concern. You could tell the way he's he's handling this roster. He does not care about the pr That is a line O'Connor's job the president of the Marlins, and I think that department has done a better job as of late with the ballpark experience, with the marketing, with the social media. They have taken a step forward in that department, no doubt about it. If you look at their intro videos the last couple of years, it was all AI. Now it's actually done by a really fun team, and I think in that part they're doing better. But no, I'm not sure if their model of constructing a playoff caliber team that's sustainable the way they want it to be is gonna equate to sell out crowds at Lone Depot Park. We were hoping that this offseason was going to turn into maybe an extension for Uri Perez, maybe an extension for Jacob Marcy.

00:29:36
Speaker 5: It didn't happen.

00:29:37
Speaker 7: I think that's what we talked about the last time I joined you guys. Maybe Joe Mack is that guy that it could possibly extend to that Cooper Pratt type deal. I'm not sure, but I agree some sort of continuity, even if they it's against what they believe in the upstairs department of the front office. I think you've got to have some sort of face to put where fans can know that they'll have one guy to root for for the next eight years.

00:30:00
Speaker 4: That was going to be my question about extensions. We had Kyle Stowers on and he would like to stay, you know, in contract extension talks. He was an All Star. So it's like, okay, that face is there. Is it disappointing for fans when you see Cooper Pratt, when you see Colt Emerson, when you see other organizations that don't necessarily spend a ton there's ideas that Connor Griffin is going to Does it hurt more when Marlon's fans see that in other organizations and go, oh, we're worse than the pirates with this stuff.

00:30:32
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's got to be frustrating if you're a Marlins fan, right you see you know what's going on in Pittsburgh. Even you see Milwaukee extending both Yelich and then everyone else.

00:30:40
Speaker 5: And Miami had had some.

00:30:42
Speaker 7: They do have some really good extension candidates, some attractive extension candidates. I thought Uri Perez was the pinnacle of that. A young sow a young right headed pitcher that has all the stuff in the world and actually commands it well and who probably wants to be here.

00:30:56
Speaker 5: But I think they waited too long and now he's out of.

00:30:58
Speaker 7: Their price range, unfortunately, So that's why I would pivot towards someone that.

00:31:01
Speaker 5: Has not made their major league debut yet.

00:31:03
Speaker 7: In Joe Mack, Jacob Marcy's already twenty four years old. I found that peculiar from the get go, so I didn't know if that made too much sense anyway. And then Kyle Stowers, Yeah, he's another one who is also mid his mid twenties, so I'm not sure how much sense that makes either. But I think you got to look down in the minor leagues for one of those pre ARB extensions, pre debut extensions, Mack would make sense. Thomas White is a Scott Boris guy, so I don't see that happening. Maybe Snelling could be someone who we will see in the next couple of months for sure, But yeah, it's got to be frustrating from Rolands fans alastkay that they extended.

00:31:33
Speaker 5: I guarantee you guys will not get this.

00:31:34
Speaker 7: Is Richard Blyer to a one year or two year extension in the middle of the twenty two season.

00:31:39
Speaker 5: Before that, Miguel Rojas, So it's.

00:31:40
Speaker 7: Been a while since that big Sexy Sandy extension, So I think that is one thing that would help both the on field product and the marketing as well.

00:31:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not have gotten Richard Blyer. You said that was one year, what two million?

00:31:54
Speaker 7: I don't have the exact figures because it was a while ago. It may have been two year extension for Richard Blyer.

00:32:00
Speaker 4: You would have gotten it, well, only because we were teammates, and then he like teammates and Triple A and then it was like Dick Blier extension was like what he was. He was getting big outs for the Marlins. He was kind of that time when they were COVID time and all that, and all of a sudden he was like yelling on the mound. He was almost getting in a fight with other teams. And then it was like he was the Marlins face of fury and then it kind of dropped off a little bit.

00:32:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, he was a cool guy too.

00:32:28
Speaker 7: It was a two year, six million dollar extension in March of twenty twenty two, and unfortunately I don't think he stayed with Miami for the duration of that contract.

00:32:38
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna we're gonna give it the college, try and go for a bigger contract extension. But in all seriousness, the team's playing well, so performance is there so far in the first week of the season, which we started with Isaac. Thank you for joining us.

00:32:50
Speaker 5: Thank you guys so much for having me. Good catching up fish on first.

00:32:54
Speaker 1: By the way, the spot for Marlin's coverage both to read and to listen to podcast platforms, YouTube channel, the whole deal. There our spot part of the FT network. Aj Ramos new to the party. They're contributing the player perspective as well.