Josh Barfield talks White Sox future, Crochet deal, Offseason spending? + Hosts pick AL award winners

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Coming off the Emmys on Sunday evening. By the way, Nate Bargotzi did a great job. I didn't watch the Emmys, but I love Nate Bargotzi and I know he hosted. It is time to give some awards everybody in the American League. Let us start with MVP. If you will, AJ will start with you. Who is your American League Most Valuable Player?

00:00:24
Speaker 2: Who?

00:00:25
Speaker 3: And why? My friend?

00:00:26
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just going cal Raley. I've been on this train bandwagon all year, pretty much since the All Star Game. Aaron Judge is probably going to win it, but I think kl ralely deserves some credit. And I think that at cal Ray with his home run, he's going to set the all time home run record for switch hitters. He's already got the all time catcher home run record. He plays every day. He plays in Seattle places not great to hit, as you guys have mentioned, he has to travel so much more than everybody else. I just think it's a special year, a historic year, and he should be the guy that wins it because they're going to go to the postseason and he catches and he plays every day, and no one can describe how hard it is to do that. Until you've done.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: It, there is not a chance in hell the Seattle Mariners are where they are without cal Ray. Cal Rawly means more to the Mariners than Aaron Judge.

00:01:10
Speaker 3: Means to the Yankees.

00:01:11
Speaker 1: I think the Yankees get into the postseason without Aaron Judge barely, but they still make it. There are more stars on the Yankees. Cal Rawley is my MVP, not that anybody asked, Eric, Who's yours?

00:01:23
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge, And it kills me to go against It kills me to go against cal Raley because of what he's done, because of what he's done in this historic season. I think if he even had, you know, if he had a little bit of an uptick in September here August September, he could have surpassed Judge, who was really just relegated to Dhing until a couple of weeks ago. I think there was a chance that he did that he catches him. But who wins the award is Aaron Judge who I want to see win the award because everything that AJ just said cal Rawley.

00:02:04
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting is the last time it wasn't either Judge or Otani was twenty twenty in terms of like American League, when there was really controver Yeah, really really a controversy or a question mark. Cal Raley has just been so I mean, he'll never have a season like this again. I mean, Aaron Judge probably have subsequent seasons of these types of numbers, but cal Rawly will never have a season like this again. And I feel like this is again we're like waiting for the Mariners to implode, because this is always the time of year that the Mariners implode. Cal Rally has been the most valuable player for a team, I think in twenty twenty five. Okay, Cy Young Award winner in the American League, AJ you have honors.

00:02:49
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Schoolble, schoolbl That's it. I don't know if there's anybody that close. It's it's going to be Schooble again, and I think it's well deserved. He's going to go back to back because my answer is exactly the same as AJS. I want to ask you guys a question about cal Raley. I know we're skipping back. Does he get any one does he get any first place votes?

00:03:12
Speaker 3: Yes? I mean I don't have a vote.

00:03:16
Speaker 2: He definitely shouldn't. I mean, if you're a Seattle writer or you're a West Coast writer, absolutely should get some.

00:03:21
Speaker 3: Votes first place.

00:03:23
Speaker 2: I mean, yes, by the way, the thing about Schooble winning is Crochet's had a really good year and Hunter Brown has had a really good year. But I just think Schooble, with what he's done is just has outshined them all. So I think it's gonna be one, two three, but I think School is gonna get It won't be the runaway it was last year, but he was gonna win again.

00:03:43
Speaker 1: I mean, Garret Crochet was in the running for the triple Crown a decent portion of this season, but that has fallen off and Schooble has been absolutely unbelievable.

00:03:52
Speaker 3: I believe it's Schooble again.

00:03:54
Speaker 1: Award for the American League's Top reliever, the Mariano Rivera award.

00:03:59
Speaker 3: If you will.

00:04:00
Speaker 1: So that's obviously the best reliever in the game in the junior circuit AJ who is its.

00:04:06
Speaker 2: Chapman, the chapman just when fifty straight guys is out giving up a hit. So to me, it's the oldest chairman. The year he's had, he's walks her down as e Ra is barely over one. I think it's the rold As Chapman Eric, Yeah, I think I think that might be more runaway than the cy Young. Obviously, I don't know if we we get to see those tallied votes like we do with the cy Young, But I think Chappi's I think Chappie's running away with this awards.

00:04:35
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:04:35
Speaker 1: By the way, he's a massive humanity. I mean he is so in shape, and he's pitching like in reverse. He's just getting better with age. He looks great, pitching great. Boston has acknowledged it. They've extended him already. He's had one hell of a year. Okay, Rookie of the Year in the National League.

00:04:53
Speaker 3: Guys, who is it?

00:04:55
Speaker 1: No, you mean the American leg I'm sorry, I Apoloz's.

00:04:59
Speaker 2: Nick in Oakland, Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz. But it's Nick Kurtz. I mean, watch this guy play, watch this guy hit, plus he came on ft he It's I mean, it's easy. This might be unanimous. I mean it's not easy of a Rookie of the Year voting Jack Wilson. Hopefully Jack Wilson gets to at least or Jacob Wilson sorry, gets to at least like touch the trophy because until Nick Kurtz came up, like Jacob Wilson was like, oh this is mine, I'm locking this thing up. He was going to hit, you know, he got hurt, but he was going to hit like three thirty on the year. Then he kind of declined. But Nick Kurtz running away with it. I think he's going to be higher in MVP voting than people would have thought he would have been two weeks ago.

00:05:44
Speaker 1: Even I hate the fact that he's on such a crappy team because it's just so difficult to give an award to a guy that's on a crap team. It's not his fault, it's not his fault at all. I would have loved if Roman Anthony had been called up sooner in the year, and I would have loved even more if Roman Anthony didn't have an bleak issue, because I think Roman Anthony could have very well been the American League Rookie of the Year.

00:06:04
Speaker 3: But I too am giving it.

00:06:05
Speaker 2: To It's tough what Kurts has done. It's tough. Not over Kurtz is ridiculous this year.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: Well, I watched watching it.

00:06:18
Speaker 2: You like the Red Sox of Roman Anthony is nice, like to the point where the way he plays and he can play a solid outfield, maybe he might have a chance of being hired in the MVP voting later in their careers. But what Nick Kurtz has done, like when people go up and look in those numbers, He's got over a thousand ops as a freshman in the league. It is amazing.

00:06:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I hear you. I just wish I could have seen Roman Anthony play the length of time that Nick Kurtz has played this year, and I wonder if the conversation would have been every different. Not to take away anything from Nick Kurtz by any stretch, but I wonder what Anthony could have done over a more extended period of time.

00:06:59
Speaker 3: Come Back Player of the Year.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: We discussed this a little bit earlier in terms of American Comeback Player of the Year, American League Comeback Player of the Year. Who do you guys think it is?

00:07:09
Speaker 2: It's Jacob deGrom. Jacob deGrom. He's been through so many injuries and it's Jacob Degron. This is pretty easy for me.

00:07:16
Speaker 3: Jacob de Gron, Hey, aj is it Jacob de Gram?

00:07:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've already had this conversation. So guess what is Jacob p Gron?

00:07:27
Speaker 3: All right, Eric, is it Jacob de Gram?

00:07:30
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with Jacob deGrom.

00:07:33
Speaker 1: Okay, so we have established it's Jacob de Grom who pitched.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: I wonder where he's gonna end up. I wonder where he's gonna end up on the sy Young voting. I mean, I think Evaldy was going to get was going to get a lot of cy Young votes. Obviously, he's been out the last he'll be out, you know, the last over a month of the season, so that'll hurt him. But he had blow a two era for de Gram to come back and do what he's done comeback. Player of the Year is a lock. I want.

00:08:06
Speaker 1: You guys know how bad I wanted Nathan Evaldi to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles. I love Nathan Evaldi, I love everything.

00:08:15
Speaker 2: Where was he gonna play? They didn't have any roster spots.

00:08:18
Speaker 3: That's not true.

00:08:19
Speaker 1: I'm talking before the Glass now, signing, before the Snell signing, all that stuff.

00:08:22
Speaker 3: I love Valdi? All right, So is it Jacob Degarom? Fair enough?

00:08:27
Speaker 4: All right?

00:08:27
Speaker 1: Manager of the Year in the American League A J Who.

00:08:32
Speaker 3: Is it John Schneider, John Schneider, Who is deserving of it?

00:08:39
Speaker 2: That's just going to get it and deserving because remember what they went through last year and all, and they listen, he's on the hot seat. We all talked about this. He was on the hot seat before this year, and here they are. They're gonna win the AL East, and they're gonna win it pretty easily. They got a chance to make a deep runt. So for me, it's John Schneider.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: I mean he was on the hot seat in the middle of this year. It wasn't even just coming into the season. It was in the middle of this year. He was on the hot seat. Now look at where they are.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: AJ. Do you agree excuse me, Eric, do you agree with that?

00:09:06
Speaker 2: I do? And I think if the team had done this the last two seasons when they missed the playoffs, I don't think he would have won it because there was a lot of expectations of like, this team is really good, they're gonna win. Oh they fell short, they fell short. And now this year everyone kind of like tempered their expectations. And I think they're three games up on the Tigers for the best record. Yeah, so on my first ever Roomy in Pro Bowl victory. I don't even know if you get like a cool trophy or not. I forget.

00:09:37
Speaker 1: Hopefully they have some incentives in their contract that if they become manager of the Year you get some cash. That's the only trophy I need. I'm gonna go with aj Hanch. And the reason I say that is I understand that Schneider will likely get it because he what he's done with the team, obviously because he was on the hot seat, and also because he manages in the Al East and people pay attention to the Al East way more than they pay attention to the Ales Central. But what aj Hinch is done with a Tiger's team that's pretty much been in the lead of things, or at least in the conversation of the lead of things wire to wire of this season, you got Hobby Bias playing out of his mind. Obviously, having Trek Schouble as your ace helps. But what aj Hinch has done with that team, to me warrants a lot of consideration for Manager of the Year in the American League.

00:10:22
Speaker 3: Is he going to get it?

00:10:23
Speaker 4: No?

00:10:24
Speaker 1: Do I think he has a good reason to get it. Sure, So I'm gonna go with Hinch.

00:10:30
Speaker 2: That's fair. I can see that he's a he's a nice fellows.

00:10:35
Speaker 3: It's not the Good Guy Award of the Year. It's a Manager of the Year.

00:10:38
Speaker 1: All right, Let's check out one of AJ's Ruby packs he pulled. AJ, did you buy or sell as far as Arena Club and Pokemon?

00:10:47
Speaker 2: Do you think I know what a Pokemon thing is? Do you know what that thing is? Exactly? So I did it. I got this. It's a I don't even know, but I got. I got more money than I paid for It's a more Zapto's Articuna g X guard and so I sold it right away. So yeah, I got more money than I paid for it. So I was like, sell now, it's not Pokemon, it's not Pokemon.

00:11:15
Speaker 3: Pokemon, oh, Pokemon. I apologize.

00:11:19
Speaker 2: Poky Man, it's closer to Pookey Man. I like Pooky Man, but it's Pokemon. And that's a GX. Anybody knows. Anybody knows it's a g X.

00:11:29
Speaker 3: It's not true because A J and I are anybodies and we didn't know.

00:11:33
Speaker 2: Do you guys, remember I was thinking about this the other day, You guys, remember a couple of years ago. I was a while now when they had the Pokemon Go and people were walking around on their phones and they were like running into like stuff. They were like, oh, driving into stuff. There's might be a fake thing over there in the corner. What would you do, Alana? Do you remember garbage You remember garbage pail kids?

00:11:54
Speaker 4: Courts?

00:11:55
Speaker 3: I remember garbage pail kids. It's the Cabbage Patch Kids, ugly cousins.

00:11:59
Speaker 2: Yes, if I can, if I get in a garbage if I can get a garbage pale Kid card in my arena club, that would be boss. I gotta see if I can rip one of those packs, because you know, I got packs of them laying around here.

00:12:12
Speaker 3: Because I saw there's garbage pail kids in arena.

00:12:16
Speaker 2: I went to somewhere and they had them for sale, and I bought a bunch. It was somewhere, and I got like Adam Bomb large, large, Marge large. Yes, Adam Bomb is my favorite.

00:12:30
Speaker 3: Yes, I had six Cabbage Patch kids, you guys.

00:12:33
Speaker 4: I was.

00:12:33
Speaker 3: I was into it. I was into it.

00:12:35
Speaker 1: I was into adoption way like a long time ago. See and now I just rescue puppies.

00:12:39
Speaker 2: But that's a whole other Ironically, my cabbage patch kid. His name was Buddy and he was bald.

00:12:47
Speaker 3: Ironically, maybe he was actually your kid.

00:12:52
Speaker 1: Right now, you can get twenty percent off your first lap pack or card purchase by going to arenaclub dot com slash fall and use cod foul All right, guys. Next, Josh Barfield is joining us. Always great to have front office brass joining us on Foul Territory. That is Josh Barfield. We thought he was going to be wearing a quarter zip. We were wrong. It is a polo instead, Josh. Great to be with you, White Sox Assistant GM. According to Mark finesand a source saying that you're staying with the Pale Hose, sir, not going to the Orioles. Tell us more about that decision to stay where you're at.

00:13:29
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show.

00:13:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks for having me on. It's good to see you guys. And yeah, I'm here. I'm staying with the White Sox. I'm really happy. This has been a great situation for me and my family since day one, from Jerry to Getzi all the way down. You know, they treated us, treat us so well, and I'm really excited about what we're building here.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: You know, we're in a you know, we are in a rebuild.

00:13:51
Speaker 5: You know last year was tough in the first year over here, and you know, going through the aches and pains of setting me all the time and the losing record. But you know, I feel like we're heading in the right direction right now. We have a lot of good things happening, a lot of young guys coming up having success. Uh, you know, the minor leagues, we have guys continuing to uh make big strides down there, and it just feels like, uh, there's a lot more optimism than there's been here in the last couple of years. And the guys are playing better baseball, especially here, you know, post All Star breaks.

00:14:19
Speaker 4: So it's been exciting.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: I was the one that thought you were going to be wearing a quarter zip. But do you at least have khakis on? Like, are you like full scout mode because you got like you got khakis and a collared shirt. Is that is that what you're going with up in Chicago now.

00:14:33
Speaker 5: I'm not a khaki guy. I did that the first year on I was scouting. I'm not a khaki guy. It's usually like some nice jeans or or some Travis Matthews slacks in a in a in a polo. There is there is a quarter zip hanging up in my office. But it's yeah, it's not all It's not not cold enough yet.

00:14:50
Speaker 2: I wouldn't think I wouldn't think you would completely sell out. But since a Lona brought it up, I want to hit I want to hit on the whole. Orioles like GM search type of thing we talk about all the time, and we actually kind of gave the White Sox a little bit of a of a hard time for not going outside of the organization getting Getsy Getsy went outside of the organization to bring you in. When you go and do an interview with the Orioles, how much do you feel like you have to and I don't know how far in the process you got that you have to not give all the White Sox secrets away, but also get some information from another organization that is now like three years ahead of the White Sox in the sense that like they rebuild for a while and now they have a bunch of talent in the big leagues. How much of that do you have to like, I don't know, like balance and like go through when you're in those negotiations or interview in every rooms.

00:15:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, so it's a good question. We didn't get that far. You know, they reached out with interest. You know, we talked here internally with Getsy and with Jerry, and also, you know, my family wanted to make sure you got to keep mama happy.

00:16:02
Speaker 4: So we talked about it for a while. But and then just got back to them and let them know that I didn't want to hold them up in.

00:16:07
Speaker 5: Their search, and I just didn't feel like it was the right right time right now. It's obviously a great situation over there. They're doing a lot of really good things, and Alias is a you know, he's done so much in this game, you know, But just didn't feel like it was the right right time and really want to be here to see this thing through.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: All right, Mart, Like we played together in twenty eleven, you were an intense player, Like you would run dudes over harder. And you're not a big guy, no no offense, but you would hammer dudes at the play. So I know your competitiveness as much as you were the first one out of the clubhouse every single day. That's a different story. How do you take that, how do you take that into your job when you come over to the White Sox and you're like, Okay, well might not win a lot of games. How do you take that competitiveness out of it but also instill it in the guys in youranization, the coaches, in the organization, the everything, because I know how intense you were, and I don't think you can just turn that off.

00:17:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're right, you can't turn it off, right. We're competitive.

00:17:12
Speaker 5: I think that's why so many of us play this game. And I think that's the thing you missed the most when you.

00:17:15
Speaker 4: Get done playing.

00:17:17
Speaker 5: It's that competing and I think that I get to scratch that itch on this side. And yeah, going through a rebuild, you you lose a little bit of the day to day competitiveness, but it's still that you're trying to keep up with other organizations. You're trying to you still want to win every day, right, You still go out there and you want to win, and knowing that you might be behind the eight ball some nights. But you know, I think the group that we have here from Getsy from Will coming over his first year as a manager, Paul Yannish, our farm director. It's a lot of guys that are playing backgrounds and we all want to compete.

00:17:49
Speaker 4: We all want to.

00:17:50
Speaker 5: Instill that in our players. I think it starts from the day they get into the organization. You know, we just have draft recently. We find the guys out to Arizona and we do go through the orientation.

00:18:00
Speaker 4: We talked about doing winning things, playing winning baseball, and you guys know, like on a given night you might not win, but you could play winning baseball. And there's a there's a brand of.

00:18:07
Speaker 5: Baseball that we want to uh, you know, we want to show up every night and play for our for our team, for our fans. And you know, I think you're starting to see that with some of these young guys, and uh, you know, hope to continue to build on that.

00:18:19
Speaker 2: Josh who makes the decisions on some of these trades that you guys have to make? Is it? Is it a team effort? Who goes through the prospects and says, hey, we're going to trade Garrett Crochet for Kyle Teal on my draw and that whole package? Who is that you? Is that gets is it? Who who exactly is in charge of all the trades that you guys have made?

00:18:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, And in the end it gets you. But I think you know, he's done a good job of surrounding himself with a lot of a lot of good people.

00:18:47
Speaker 4: Uh.

00:18:47
Speaker 5: I think one of his biggest strengths is that he's very open to information and he filters it and in the end he comes out and makes the you know, the best decision possible for the organization. But uh, you know, it's it's a it's a group here. I think one of the things that he does really well too. It's not a lot of secrets. It's not a lot of hey, guys, get out of here. You know, the big guys are talking. It's everybody's got a piece of it. It's a lot of collaboration here. And you know, in the end, we're trying to use the information. We were trying to use our knowledge of our guys to make the best decisions possible, you know, not only for the short term, but we want to build a consistent winner here. And we know that takes time and that takes talent, and you know, I think if you look back at the Crochet deal, it's so far it's kind of been a win win.

00:19:28
Speaker 4: For both both sides.

00:19:29
Speaker 5: You know, Crochet, we knew he was we were trading away one of the best pictures, if not the best picture in the game, and you know that that's got to come at a high price. And you know, we felt like the Red Sox we were able to get that, you know, the return we were looking for there.

00:19:41
Speaker 4: And you know, all four guys have been three of them have contributed at the major.

00:19:45
Speaker 5: League level this year, and you know you got another one that's not too far away and Braden Montgomery.

00:19:50
Speaker 3: Josh, that's a.

00:19:51
Speaker 1: Great question or a great point that you make, and it actually leads me into my next question. Obviously, you're hoping you get some massive gain in return for a guy like a Garrett Crochet. But when you're watching Crochet on the hill now for the Red Sox every fifth day and you see the success that he's having, he's in the conversation for the Cy Young Award, what goes through your mind, Like, man, that guy could be on our hill, Yet you know you had to trade him for a reason. Kind of take me through that balance of being an assistant GM and watching him have that success, but knowing you guys feel like you made the right choice.

00:20:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, we knew what we were giving up when we traded him, Like we got to see it really it started in spring training last year when we made the switch to him being a starter, and it was one of his first outing I think it was against the Dodgers, and he just absolutely mowed through, you know, three future Hall of Famers, And from that point on, it was like, this is real and this guy is going to be a good starting picture for a long time, you know, as long as he stayed healthy.

00:20:44
Speaker 4: And he's done a really good job of that.

00:20:45
Speaker 5: But knowing where we were as an organization, we really needed to jump start it and we needed to add as much talent as we could. And being able to add for you know, impact players, even though you're giving up one of the top players in the game, you know, we felt like it was a really good return and it allowed us to fill a number of holes with one one bullet.

00:21:04
Speaker 2: When he said he wanted to be extended when he was traded at the end of the year or at the trade deadline last year, did that send a ripple through the front office trying to like make trying to like navigate that with him and with possible trade opportunities.

00:21:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it was a unique situation and I get it. You know, he's trying to do and his representation is trying to do what's best for him long term. And we love the guy. I mean, he helped this organization a ton. He was a pro while he was here, just a really likable guy on and off the field. So you know, there was no like ill Will once that came out, and I ultimately, I don't think it really changed too much.

00:21:44
Speaker 4: And you know, in the end, I'm glad he was able to get his extension. But the guy's a gamer.

00:21:48
Speaker 5: You know, he wanted to take the ball even if we wanted to shut him down last year at any point, like, he wasn't having that, and he just wants to be out there and pitch. And you know, now you're getting to see it on the big stage in a big which is great for him.

00:22:02
Speaker 2: And you already get to see the returns from that trade. So it's pretty decent. Kyle Tiele and Colson Montgomery are just the like tip of the iceberg for you guys. That's awesome for the White Sox. Your journey as a player, now, most people don't know they need to baseball reference you. You came out hot, you came up, you were a prospect. Your son of a you know, former All Star Jesse Barfield, Like there was a lot behind you. So your journey culminated in playing in the Atlantic League and independent ball playing with me in twenty eleven, Like, there were so many things. What part of your journey as a player helps you the most now as an assistant GM or even as a player development guy like you were with the with the Diamondbacks, or as a future GM.

00:22:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think all of it.

00:22:52
Speaker 5: Really, It's really hard to pinpoint one of it because I think I can relate to a lot of different people, right, I can relate to the you know, the Colson and the Braidens, and the guys that are coming up with a lot of hype and you know, dealing with those expectations, and then at the same time, I can deal with the guys on the back side of it, right, the guys that are grinding trying to make it back. The guys that you know, we the boozers, the guys like that that you went the indie ball route and then made their way back to the big leagues, and just understanding what what you go through with the ups and downs of it. Like there's so much information in today's game is great, and we use that in a lot of our decisions, but also understand understand the human factors that go into it and being able to relate to players and to communicate with players to get the information to them that we want.

00:23:34
Speaker 4: So yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't trade any of my journey for for where I You know, it helped me get.

00:23:40
Speaker 5: To where I am now, and I think it's going to help me continue as I move forward in this game.

00:23:45
Speaker 2: Bar I told you I'd keep it real, and I told you if I had the video, we would show it.

00:23:51
Speaker 4: There's no way you have that video.

00:23:53
Speaker 2: So in twenty eleven, I'm gonna set the stage here it is so we can just we can we can just watch it.

00:24:00
Speaker 3: I can someone.

00:24:01
Speaker 1: Explain what's happening please, Like we need a better setup than just Josh running through the water.

00:24:07
Speaker 2: Oh well, there was there was awesome music. There was There was awesome music to it. And sorry for everybody on the pot, we were just silent for you. But basically, Josh Barfield needed a little extra cash. He was on his own in Triple A, and some of our good buddies Jeff Larish, Delwyn Young, tag Bose aid challenged bar two walk on water run across the fountain?

00:24:36
Speaker 4: Was that Buffalowtown Buffalo? It was cold out too.

00:24:41
Speaker 2: It was free. It's always cold in Buffalo. Or it's July. One of the two ed Josh Barfield needed a little bit of money, So my guy, but Josh Water.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: Josh, why didn't you take off your socks? There's nothing, nothing worse than what sucks? So why didn't you take off the socks?

00:25:00
Speaker 4: I mean, why did I do any of this, especially knowing that there was cameras on me.

00:25:08
Speaker 2: This was when we still had This is when we still had flip phones. But you know, like now, maybe, hey, you pay your minor leaguers a little bit better now, don't you, so they don't have to be doing this kind of stuff.

00:25:19
Speaker 5: We feed them better, a higher minor league minimums now. So yeah, and there's social media, so guys are a little smarter now. We didn't have social media back then, so you didn't have to worry about that stuff resurfacing the video.

00:25:31
Speaker 2: The video is courtesy of Jeff Larish, otherwise known as Statue one of the one of the Toledo mud Hens slash Detroit Tiger Great Prospects. Hey, Josh, can you give us White Sox fans an update on Smith and Schultz and Bradon Montgomery while we're at it, where they're at and what their season went like and what the prospects are possibly for next year.

00:25:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know those through the bigger name coming into the season, and uh, you know, we start.

00:26:02
Speaker 4: Off with with Braiden.

00:26:03
Speaker 5: You know, Braiden coming off the ankle injury in college that finished the season and probably.

00:26:08
Speaker 4: Calls him to fall back a little bit in the draft.

00:26:10
Speaker 5: He was somebody that we were really excited and we even considered taking it five two years ago, and.

00:26:15
Speaker 4: We wanted to, you know, get his feet.

00:26:17
Speaker 5: Wet, so we started them in the low way to start the year. I let get his fet underneath him because he hadn't played in quite a while. And you know, once he hit his stride, you know, he he really took off. He had a great year, finished up in Double A, had success at all three stops, and got hit in the foot.

00:26:32
Speaker 4: So he's out right now. He finished the season on the I L. But he's going to be back for the Fall League. So we're excited about seeing him.

00:26:39
Speaker 5: Uh, you know, gets a better competition and uh, you know, Hagen and Hagan and Noah, Uh, two nasty left handed pitchers, two guys that were really excited about. You know, I saw a lot of minor league baseball this year, and I put their stuff up against you know, anybody. You know, there was there was some bumps along the way this year. Uh, namely the control. I got a got away from them at times this year, but you know, the stuff never suffered that.

00:27:04
Speaker 4: These guys miss a lot of bats.

00:27:06
Speaker 5: You know, they have a history of throwing strikes, so we know we'll get back to more consistency there.

00:27:11
Speaker 4: But we're really excited about them.

00:27:12
Speaker 5: And you know, with with no finishing Triple A and Hagen finishing Double A and you know, both those guys UH slated to go to the Fall League, you know, we're excited about getting additional looks at them and you know, hope to see them at some point next year.

00:27:25
Speaker 2: All right, Well, who's the one prospect, one person in the organization that people might not know about that you're really excited about. A prospect?

00:27:33
Speaker 5: Wise, Uh, I'm gonna give you two's because it's hard to hard to split them up. Cale Bonmer, guy that we took last year, I believe with our second pick. I believe and I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this yet.

00:27:48
Speaker 4: I think he was just named the MVP of the league. You know, really excited about him.

00:27:54
Speaker 5: Tremendous athlete, really physical, uh you know, played it, played a strong short stop up and offensively, just really held his own in the consistency from a guy that young in his first full season. As you guys know, there's an adjustment that comes with your first full season, especially for a high schooler.

00:28:11
Speaker 4: It was really really impressive what he was able to do this year.

00:28:15
Speaker 5: And then you know, Antonachi, he's another guy that we took last year, you know, not as heralded as some of these other guys, but the year he's been able to put together has been nothing short of like amazing. I mean, he's finished in Double A. He had over eight hundred ops this year. He's going to go to the Fall League. He's another guy that's not very far off, and it's going to continue to get more and more press as you know, as he continues to rise up the ranks, and he's another guy that you could possibly see it at some point next year as well.

00:28:44
Speaker 2: All Right, Josh, for I let you go as a White Sox fan, I'm raring my white suck shirt for you guys.

00:28:48
Speaker 4: I love it, guys. And yeah, you're a legend around here.

00:28:51
Speaker 5: There's not a day that goes by that I don't see a Prazinski jersey in the stands.

00:28:55
Speaker 4: It's pretty impressive.

00:28:56
Speaker 2: He's always one. There's always one, Josh. So let me let me it's good and bad. But before I let you go, I got to ask you this question. Gets came out recently said Jerry's gonna let you spend next year. So how much were talking We're talking like a couple of million. Are we talking like enough to make this team decent next year where we can talk about contending.

00:29:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's to be determined. Right.

00:29:17
Speaker 5: We haven't had those conversations yet. You know those will be upcoming here as we're you know, winding the year down. But you know, either way, I do expect this team to continue to, you know, make make strides. We saw it from last year this year and you know, with this young group, especially some of these guys getting their first taste of it this year, they're going to be a little bit more established and settled in another wave coming in behind them next year. You know you hope the Aero continues to trend in the right direction.

00:29:43
Speaker 3: Josh, we appreciate it.

00:29:44
Speaker 1: I'm glad you don't have to run through any sort of buffalo fountains with socks on or not.

00:29:50
Speaker 3: Good luck this upcoming season.

00:29:51
Speaker 1: Really it's off season as you guys get ready to get set for the twenty twenty sixth year.

00:29:56
Speaker 3: We appreciate you taking the time to be with us.

00:29:59
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank that's have me on great seen you mhmm.