Fair Territory: Vintage Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani’s dominant pitching, MLB rookies are on fire!

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Thursday edition of Fair Territory. I'm Ken Rosenthal here with my friend and cohort Alana Rizzo Alana. As always in the world of baseball, we have a lot to get to, but let's start with the resurgence of one of the great players in the game. It's been taking place all week at Yankee Stadium and it continues in about an hour from now.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: Ken, two of the best players in the game right now. Always great to be with you guys on Fair Territory. The lead powered by Game Changer. More on Game Changer in a moment, But Ken, Mike Trout turning back the clock in the Bronx.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: He is four home runs in his last three games, and there's only one other player who has hit home runs in three consecutive games at Yankee Stadium. That would be Miguel Cabrera. Miguel Cabrera used to like this stage. We've seen Vladimir Guerrero Junior like this stage in the past, both in the regular season and the playoffs. And of course Trout has tremendous career numbers at Yankee Stadium. The native of Millville, New Jersey, about I don't know two hours south. Had some family and friends there last night. He always does, actually, and it's just cool to see this happening because here's a guy who has had years of injuries and disappointment. Last year he did play one hundred and thirty games, had more of a Mike Trout type season. But this is the guy we remember. It's the guy we remember, and he turns thirty five in August. Here's hoping he stays healthy. I think that's what everyone in the sport is thinking right now because this has been Mike Trout at his best.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: No, it's been so much fun to see. It's almost like he's Benjamin Button, as I mentioned, kind of turning back the clock and sometimes ken the big stage is really cool. What was cool about it? It was kind of mono amano, if you know, with not only Mike Trout but also Aaron Judge kind of getting in the mix too.

00:01:51
Speaker 1: Absolutely judges up the seven home runs now he's got a few in the last couple of games as well. That was a tremendous game last night and ended on kind of a bad play with the fly ball, the pop fly dropping between Zach Netto and the third baseman. But at the same time, it was a cool night. It's been a cool series, and the Angels under their new manager, Kurt Suzuki, they have at least been competitive. They've got some good players. They've got now a rotation of Soriano Detmers and the guy who pitched last night, And I don't want to pronounce his name wrong, so I'm not gonna try. It's Kojantowitch. I believe. I think that's wrong. But anyway, they have the makings of a team now, and we'll see if it continues, and we'll see if Mike Trout, who was a perennial top five MVP guy, usually a top two MVP guy, can get back into that conversation again.

00:02:41
Speaker 2: Vladimir Guerrero Junior once said ken that he would never play for the New York Yankees. Se he kind of went back on that a little bit. Obviously, a long time deal with the Toronto Blue Jays probably finished this his career, though, But seventeen home runs and ops of above one thousand and fifty career games at Yankee Stadium, what do you think I'm gonna ask you to predict here, what do you think Mike Trout's career would be like if let's say, in fact, he ended you know, at one point he decided to leave Anaheim, agreed to leave Anaheim, and ended up in the Bronx full time.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: Well, this is a question a lot of fans ask, and why hasn't he left Anaheim? What would his career be like? All of these things. It's all hypothetical, of course, Alana, because he has said repeatedly he wants to stay with the Angels, That's where he started his career. They've given him two big contracts. He feels an obligation to finish what he started and lead this team back at some point to respectability. Now that is largely out of his control. It has to do with ownership and some other things, but that has been his position. What would his career have been like somewhere else, We probably would have seen him in October a hell of a lot more, But that's not the way it turned out. So right now, all we can do is enjoy what he is doing and kind of marvel at this guy's stick toitiveness because obviously he has burned to be elite again, and now we're seeing all that he still can be.

00:04:05
Speaker 2: Even if you're not an Angels fan, Ken, I don't know anybody on the planet that is not a Mike Trout fan. And when Mike Trout is healthy, the game is better because of it. The lead is powered by Game Changer, the number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter, connect, live and replay the action. Learn more at GC dot com. Well, Mike Trout isn't a kid anymore, Kenn. He's been in the league a very long time. But it's the kids that are kind of stealing the headlines. Kevin McGonagall of the Detroit Tigers gets an assignment bonus in an eight year, one hundred and fifty million dollars deal. Another kid getting a long term contract, Ken.

00:04:43
Speaker 1: Yes, the McGonagall so far has proven to be everything that he was bill to be. And yes, eight eight years, one hundred and fifty million. The assignment bonus you referred to is five million. Every time he's traded, he gets five million from the acquiring team. It's effectively a no trade claws. He's not getting traded, and that was just something that they put in there. The Tigers do not have any players with full no trade clauses. But what we're seeing in the game is again an influx of young talent, and of course it's not just Kevin McGonagall, who has not just proven it with the bat, but also moving over to shortstop where necessary and has played well there at third base. This guy looks like he's going to be a star for a long time. Connor Griffin, I wrote about him a little bit in my Notes Calm today. Not putting up numbers yet, but at the same time he's doing things to help the Pirates win games. Defensively. He drew a walk the other day, caused such havoc just by being on first base that the Nationals pitcher k Cavalley kind of fell apart, led to a four run inning. Other things as well that Griffin is contributing. And I talked to Don Kelly, their manager, and he said, no, we're not sending him down. He is here pretty much to stay. Also, Sal Stewart two home runs last night Cincinnati reads for the Saint Louis Cardinals. The night befo JJ Weatherhole, he hit two home runs. I wrote about him earlier this week. It seems all I do is write about these young guys, but there's a reason for that. They are making an impact and then making an impact in a big way. Now you might ask, what about extensions for Stuart and Weatherhole, Well, we have not seen them yet. And with Weatherhole, my understanding is they've talked, but they have yet to come to any sort of agreement. There's really been no progress. Stuart, I'm not sure, but he has been the one offensive bright spot for the Reds who have not hit at all. There have been a number of teams we've seen not hitting. You see the inside edge note on Stuart right there. Obviously it's the start of the season, it's the weather in certain cases. But the Reds the Royals another team that has to hit. The Mets, of course, we'll get to them, and we're seeing that in the game as well.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Yeah. Sal Stewart with the three run home run his seventh home run of the year six RBI for the Reds rookie on Sunday Ken. As far as the Reds and the Saint Louis Cardinals are concerned, what does history tell you about them giving long term deals to young players? Is that something that they've done historically or as this would be kind of unprecedented.

00:07:10
Speaker 1: For them, I don't know that they've done it often, Alana, and I'd have to kind of think about this a little bit. I'm sure it's happened. The Cardinals did it with Pools way back when, but in recent years they haven't had players kind of worthy of that type of deal. The Reds do have some pitchers, actually, Hunter Green. They did that with Hunter Green, that was one, so they're certainly open to it. The Cardinals obviously are open to it. They've negotiated with Weatherholt. So I don't know that we're going to see it or not. Not every one of these guys signs one of these deals. Some players prefer to go year to year position players, especially because potentially they can make more going year to year in arbitration and then becoming a free agent at a young age. The interesting thing about the McGonagall and Griffin deals is that they still become free agents relatively young even with the eight and nine years deals. So these guys are going to be here for a long time. And the good news is they've signed with teams that are not necessarily considered the game's biggest spenders. The Pirates certainly not, and even the Tigers, while they've spent at times, this is not a team that we've seen at the top ten payroll category for quite some time.

00:08:18
Speaker 2: Well, it's great to see some of these other teams spend some money and at least lock up some of their young court crats.

00:08:25
Speaker 3: The world has a cord problem, wires everywhere. It's twenty twenty six and it is time to get a Ridge wallet.

00:08:33
Speaker 4: Five and one. It's not a wallet, it's a charger. Look at this thing. It sticks to your phone. You push the button, it charges your phone while you can charge two different items at the same time. Oh and don't forget while it's charging. You got at a little lean to John that'll help it sit right there. Appreciate your Ridge wallet.

00:08:54
Speaker 3: This is so nice, which is great for me. If I'm at the airport, I'm watching a game, I can charge five devices and then I can just watch something on the phone. Of course, they still have the wallets that are money too, and we know the code. It's nice and simple. It's foul foul. One thing to pack. Five ways to power. You can find Ridge's power bank at best Buy or our listeners can get ten percent off at Ridge dot com by using code foul at checkout. Head to Ridge dot com, use code foul and you're all set. After your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about him, Please support ft untell them we sent you.

00:09:24
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the Los Angeles Dodgers, specifically show hey Otani ken against the New York Mets, two teams going in very opposite directions early on in the season. Now, Otani yesterday did not hit, He was not a position player, not serving as the DH only pitched, had a great outing on the hill. But he got hit in the right shoulder the night before. Does that make the most sense as to why they got him off his feet? Kind of peculiar there.

00:09:49
Speaker 1: We've seen the Dodgers over the last i don't know, three four or five years take every precaution possible when it comes to health, not just with Otani but with everyone of their players. They slow play guys coming off injuries like no other team, and they can do it because they have such depth. So with Otani, maybe it was that they didn't want to take a chance. Obviously he did get hit on the shoulder, and maybe it was simply, you know what, let's just let him pitch to I give him a little bit of a break. It's a showy Otani type break. It's not a normal type break. And what's interesting about him is that there's always been this debate what if he just hit? What if he just pitched? And John Smoltz, my colleague at Fox, has always said, and I once wrote an article about this, that if Otani just pitched, he'd be Jacob Ducrom in his prime. Certainly looked that way last night, And obviously that's something we can think about in debate. But the beauty of Otani, the magic of Otani, is that he does both, and I never want to see him stop doing both. It's the coolest thing in the game today, or at least one of them.

00:10:55
Speaker 2: No doubt about that. The line six innings, two hits, one earned run for Otani repasses ten K's, though ninety five strikes sixty three of those can or ninety five pitches rather sixty three of them four strikes. Let's talk about the New York Mets. What is going on with that team? Can specifically veteran Francisco Lindor, which it certainly doesn't not all fall on the Mets shortstop, but it doesn't seem like he's playing the ball the game. Rather, excuse me, mentally sound. What's going on.

00:11:24
Speaker 1: He's not a lot of it. And there was another play last night where he laid back on a ball Teoscar Hernandez beat out a single in the ninth inning. I believe it was the Dodgers rally for a few runs there. And it's just not Lindor like to see him make this many mental mistakes. He's a guy who was kind of always buttoned up in one of the elite thinkers in the game on the field, one of the elite at baseball IQ. And for whatever reason, it's not happening right now. Maybe it's this mental slump, maybe there's something else going on. You never know. But at the same time, they need him to be better, and you ask, what is going on with the Mets? Why have they lost h straight Certainly being without Juan Soto is a huge part of this, and without him their offense has kind of fallen apart. I'm sorry it was the eighth inning last night with the Lindor play and also with the Mets. As I've said before, I said this on my Monday show, they've got a ton of new coaches, they've got a ton of new players, and it's going to take time, perhaps for them to jel perhaps it never happens. They've also had rotation questions from the start of spring training even before that. So this was never a perfect team by any stretch of the imagination. It's a different team. It is still a very talented team. I do expect them to play better. I think they need Soto back and obviously they need to get going. And I want to refer as well to what Will Salmon wrote yesterday about Carlos Mendoza and his status. It's already a topic of discussion in New York and coming off this season that they did, it's somewhat understandable because they fired a lot of his coaches or changed a lot of his coaches, and when that happens, the manager generally is next. That said, this isn't on Mendoza, as Will wrote, it's only what seventeen eighteen games into the season, and you have to see how this team settles in. If at the end of May they're still kind of playing in this funk that they've been in and they haven't ignited, then maybe you look at the manager and you think, Okay, maybe we just need a new energy. But Carlos Mendoza is a guy that David Sterns handpicked, a guy that David Sterns liked, a guy that drew all kinds of praise in his first season when the Mets had a slow start and then got back into the NLCS for the first time, and what almost a decade so for fans to turn on him, for anyone to turn on him at this point, it's just too early.

00:13:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's only April sixteenth, April fifteenth, when all of this stuff was coming on. I encourage you to read Will Salmon's article in the Athletic. I know armand who is a very very good listener and viewers going to have questions for you, Ken and Grill and Ken, So guys, get those questions in. Grill and Ken is right after this. All right, guys, welcome back to Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Get those questions in. It is time for our Grill and Ken segment. The first one is in regards to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Daniel Doctor nineteen nineteen wants to know five dollars super chat. We appreciate you, Daniel. If everyone stays healthy, why wouldn't the Pirates consider a six man rotation ken when Jared Jones returns. Given all their young arms, what's your take?

00:14:39
Speaker 1: Certainly a good point, and their rotation is one of the more impressive things in the game right now. It's pretty much all homegrown. Actually, it is all homegrown, and there are, as the questioner points out, Daniel points out, some younger pitchers in there. Bubba Chandler Ashcraft is relatively young in terms of his career. And yes, Jared Jones would fit into that mold as well. A six man motation would work, but I believe you would want to keep Skeens going every fifth day or every turn on the five man, so I don't know that they would want to do it. It obviously would help get everyone rest, and even Skeens, you might want to give a breather here and there. But at the same time, Skeens is in his third full season. You want him pitching as often as possible. So I don't know what they we'll do. I haven't asked the question yet, but it's a good question. But also, as the questioner points out, Daniel, hey, let's see if everyone is healthy when this becomes an issue with Jared Jones.

00:15:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like right now, they have a too many pitcher problem. That's never a problem. So we'll see what happens when Jared Jones re enters the picture. Elisheva Jones has a great question, and I want to give you credit to Ken because you said pay attention to the Marlins. You were probably the only one that said that. She wants to know is this real? Is this sustainable? Because the fish are looking good.

00:16:00
Speaker 1: Well, they're coming off a tough trip in Detroit and Atlanta. I believe it was one in five, so okay, they started really well. Now they've faded a bit. It's a long season. We know that. What I like about them is their young talent, and they've been missing Stours. He has not played this point or to this point this season, so he'll be back soon eventually and he will add to their mix. They just lost Griffin Conine. Not great. That's the ebbs and flows of the season with regards to injuries. I like their pitching with Al Contrede at the top, with Yuri Perez, with Max Meyer, with all that they're doing from that standpoint, and I like their young outfield Marc and Owen Casey Stowers. If he's an outfield or first baseman, we'll see. I like Otto Lopez. There's a lot there. They play the game in a fundamentally sound way. They're kind of the Brewers Southeast. Not quite that good at it, but they have that kind of energy about them, and I like their manager, Clayton mccullis. So there is a lot there. Are they ready to compete for a division title? No? Probably not yet. But are they possibly a wild card contender that I could see happening. It's going to take a lot of things going right, but this is a team that is certainly not without talent.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: Here's a funny connection. I'm sure you knew this, but many folks didn't. I certainly did not. Mark Bowman, who does a great job with MLB dot com that covers the Atlanta Braves, had an article that Walt Weiss, the Braves manager, Ken, used to babysit Clayton McCullough, the Marlins manager. So there's an interesting connection perhaps that you didn't know between those two teams. Okay, another question here for you on Grill and Ken. This is in regards to the Reds video game Nation twenty six. Are the Reds still willing to negotiate with Elie Dela Cruz on a contract extension. From what you have heard or seen.

00:17:54
Speaker 1: I've not heard much about this. I am sure they are willing to negotiate a contract extension with him. I am I'm sure he is willing to Listen, every time I see a headline this player open to an extension. Yeah, no, kidding. Every player is open to an extension. But of course you have to get the right terms. You have to reach an agreement. Now with Dela Cruz, if I were him, I'd want to put together a complete season offensively, defensively. I'm not talking about health. I'm just talking about rounding out his game, and he's certainly capable of doing that. At the same time, Obviously, players entertain extensions for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they come from poorer backgrounds, sometimes they just want the security. They're all factors or all kinds of factors that go into it. So I'm not sure where his mind is not sure where the reds are either, But with either side or both sides entertain it, of course they would all right.

00:18:49
Speaker 2: From our control room, we have a question for you here on Grill and Ken. What is the latest on Nick Paveta, what's going on with him.

00:18:57
Speaker 1: We don't know exactly what's going on with him. Manager Craig Stamon said yesterday he'll be out weeks, if not months, something along those lines, not quoting him exactly. So it's certainly a concern for the Padres, who have been red hot. They've won seven straight, another dramatic victory last night, and they did it on a night when Randy Vasquez, their now number two starter, wasn't all that great. Obviously, they've had rotation concerns from the start of the season. Joe Musgrove's been out, he's coming back. Paveta now out. I don't know exactly how this is going to turn out for them. They've got Walker Buehler, They've got her Mom Marquez, They've got a bunch of guys who were kind of trying to just hang on a little bit or revive their careers. Could they use Lucas Giolita, Yes they could. Could the Cubs use Lucas Giolito, as we wrote earlier this week, yes they could. Do they have the money to do that? The Padres, I don't know, because right now their sale process is nearing completion and before they make any kind of financial decision, they might want resolution there and to know perhaps who their new owner would be.

00:20:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I still can't believe Lucas Giulido doesn't have a job, And now the Cubs have a bullpen issue too, ken with Porter Hodge being out with UCL surgery. One word answer from you, who makes the postseason? Paul Skins?

00:20:16
Speaker 1: I love that question. I will say neither, but if I had to bet on one of them, I would bet on Skeens. Pirates have something. The Pirates do have something going, and I just talked about how I like the Marlins. The Pirates aren't as complete, and they've gotten hot starts from Brandon Lowe, from Ryan O'Hearn. They've gotten some things happening or had some things happening that probably are beyond where they're going to be over the course of the season. Not that low and o'haron aren't good players, they're really good players, but them and O'Neil Cruz, they've been really hot. Okay, but let's say they're in it, and let's say they have this pitching surplus we've talked about at the deadline, maybe they do something and to kind of bring in yet another bat or a bullpen piece, whatever they might need. We have not seen the Pirates in this mode for a while, so it's hard to know how aggressive they would be at the deadline if if they were in contention. But the way they operated this offseason aggressively, you would expect that to continue into this season. They have shown urgency and they've got the pitching, yes to make a wild card run.

00:21:24
Speaker 2: All right, it's going to be fun to see if either one of those teams gets into the postseason. We're going to be back with Dude and Dork of the Week right after this. Dude, dude, dude, dude. All right, welcome back to fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Time now for our dude and Dork of the Week. I will go first on my dude. It is Alex and Kayla Vessia. The reason being is that, of course, unfortunately in the postseason, which is why Alex was not able to pitch in the World Series, they lost their newborn daughter, and they brought every single nurse and medical professional that helped get them through that very difficult time to Dodger Stadium last night. They had a suite for them and they honored them, and both Alex and Kayla said, what an amazing job these people did to help get them through one of the hardest times of their life. He also ended up getting I believe he retired the side on this evening as well. He pointed to this crowd after the second save of his season in his interview with Kirsten Watson. So, congratulations to Alex Vesia and obviously, in something that we never wish he had to go through, finding the silver lining in all of that, Ken, who is your due of the week?

00:22:42
Speaker 1: It's easy. Jordan Walker major league leader in home runs. We talked about some of those young players before Weatherholt, one of his teammates. Jordan Walker is twenty three himself. He's not much older than jj Weatherhold and he had a couple of tough years and now he's establishing himself. He's got a great personality. He's worked hard at this. Due to the week eight home runs, congratulations Jordan Walker.

00:23:05
Speaker 2: And how about Jordan Walker? Ken, They wanted to keep sending him down. He was on that up and down elevator a million different times, and look at him now leading the league in home runs all right. Time. Now for our dork of the week. I know you can appreciate this, having been in this industry as long as you have, and having been in the camera well and the dugout for many, many games. Anybody thinks that they have the right to take a picture or say whatever the heck they want. And somebody just took a video of longtime broadcaster, longtime color analyst Angie Mintek, who is tremendous at what she does. Cole Smith, Oh for, I don't know who this person is. I don't know if this person is credentialed or just a fan in the stands Angie Mintik, do you know of any good questions to ask after a tough loss? Asking for our friends? So he is recording Angie on her phone while she was in the camera well after this really brutal come from behind when for the San Diego Padres that beat Angie's team, the Seattle Mariners, And you can see there it said good questions after a tough loss in baseball? And that's obviously probably a an AI question that she's asking. Angie Mintek has been in this game for decades, ken, and she knows the game very well. She knows ball, as they say, and you know what. I'm upset about this person doing this to her because they don't Maybe they do know who Angie Mintik is, but if you had taken half a second to find out who she was, you'd know that she knows baseball. And to your point when we were talking about this, she's doing so what she's doing some research, maybe getting another idea or maybe finding a way to phrase a question differently or that type of thing. Not to mention, Angie just had a stroke not that long ago. So it's bothering me because this of course went viral. Barstool picked it up and it is all all over the place now. And if you don't know who Angie Mentek is, it's it's it's disingenuous to what she brings to the game and who she is as a reporter and as an analyst.

00:25:12
Speaker 1: A lot of this is ridiculous. She's sitting in the camera, Well, she is entitled to do whatever she wants and they're trying to do her job as well as possible. And you know what, people get on us all the time for not asking good questions. Sometimes you want another different perspective, and if that's where you're getting your perspective. Fine, what she should be judged on is what she does on camera, not what she does sitting in a camera well, getting ready to do a postgame interview. And fans have a lot of fun and games doing things like this, and we've all seen it, and it gets to the point where it's a bit ridiculous that she gets judged on this. What she should be judged on is her job performance, not how she's getting ready to ask a question. Dork of the week for sure for this and this stuff kind of needs to stop, not kind of needs to.

00:26:00
Speaker 2: Stop absolutely, And you have another dork of the week yourself, Ken, Who is it?

00:26:06
Speaker 1: This is a complicated one. It's the Texas Rangers. And it's complicated because you have to read Sam Blum's story yesterday in The Athletic to get the full context of what this is about. What it's about is a statue that was basically taken down in the Dallas love Field Airport because it was of a Texas Ranger and it was reminiscent of a guy who enforced segregation, and that was who the model was for the statue. His name was Jaybanks. There was some dispute whether he actually was the model, but it was taken out of love Field Airport for that reason. There was controversy over it, and the Rangers basically put it up and said we're fine with it. And it upset a lot of people, as it should, and there's no reason for the statue to be there, and frankly, there's no reason for the Texas Rangers not to offer any explanation if they want to honor the Texas Ranger. There's the organization, the Texas Rangers, the law enforcement organization. Okay, and while there's a history of racial discrimination with that group, they've done a lot of great things as well. That's fine. But to do it in this fashion and then not explain it. And I'm not talking about all the people who decline comment to Sam, the general manager Chris Young, and the manager Skips Schumaker. It's not them, it's not their problem. It's ownership that needs to explain this, and frankly, that's that you never should have been erected. But I encourage everyone to read Sam's story to get the full context and the full picture. It's hard to explain in just a minute, but that's what we're talking about here. Texas Rangers dorks of the week.

00:27:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, ownership group needs to say something about this. Well, you have a good game coming up this weekend and AJ Pierzynski is on it as well. Can you have Braves at Phillies? It is Sale versus Sanchez? What are you looking for?

00:27:53
Speaker 1: Really excited about this and often a Lona It seems to be we don't get the sexy pitching matchups on the Saturday game. It's random and it's probably my perception and not even true. I'm sure we get enough good matchups, but this one is really special. Chris Sale won the Cy Young Award in the National League in twenty twenty four. Christopher Sanchez was second last year to of course, Paul Skeens. So to see these guys go at it on Saturday night with Aj Persinski and Adam Wainwright in the booth along with Joe Davis, It's going to be a special atmosphere and the Phillies are trying to find their footing here. The Braves have been surprisingly good. They've defied all the critics, including this one who said they didn't do enough to boost their rotation. Their rotation has been one of the strengths of the team. So I'm really looking forward to this one. Flying to Philly today and we'll see Saturday on Fox.

00:28:46
Speaker 2: All right, we'll have a cheese steak for me. We appreciate it very much, everybody. We appreciate you being here on Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Do not forget. Ken is back on Monday. That's it for us for today, Foul Territory. It's next. Lance Lyne, Jim Neukat joins a Jakers and Ski, Scott Braun and Eric Kratz. Dodgers Territory will follow and again can seize on Monday. Thank there, bet MGM account holders today.

00:29:12
Speaker 3: How about in any sport parlay boost token you can score a bigger payout if your wager with that token. Hits tokens can be used on parlays and on same game parlays. Gambling problem we're concerned is help called one hundred gambler