The Craig Way Show
Gene Watson
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Of course, our good friend and our personnel director, the Chicago White Sox, Gene Watson joins us on the hotline. Gino, I'm going to confess in advance and I'm going to let folks know this in advance because of we had to do some interesting re-routing around here. There's a chance that Gino might not be able to hear me, and if that's the case, then Cameron will take the wheel and take it from there. Gino, are you able to hear me at all? I can hear you well, Fred. Wow, hey, it works. That's good to know. Of course, if I hadn't said anything, then it probably wouldn't work, then we would've had a problem, so I'm glad it works. You're on the West Coast, aren't you? Yeah, I'm in Pasadena right now covering your Los Angeles Dodgers. Well, they've been an interesting study, obviously, and you were there for, show Aotone's return to Annheim, weren't you, where you were with him a season ago? What was that like? It was awesome, Craig. To see those fans celebrate him like they did was really a cool thing. They didn't really have a tribute video, which I thought was interesting, but to watch him, he's such a great human being and to see him with his former teammates and a lot of his former coaches and interact with the fans and the media was really special, and I thought the Angels did a great job of attacking him in the two-game series. They really went right after him, especially Griffin Canning, but no, it was really a cool thing to see to be a small part of it in 2021. I thought this was, I'm gonna get your thoughts on this. I thought this was interesting, too. I was flipping back and forth between the Dodgers telecast and the Angels telecast, because I like them both. And at one point, well, I was in the pregame, I think, with Wayne Randazzo and a couple of the other guys, Marc Goombaza, to whom I am distantly related, and I was watching them talk about Showcase season last year and this year, and it is their contention. They believe that Showcase had a better season last year than he had this year, and they cite the faculty 110 games on the mound before they had to shut him down, and the batting averages higher. The power numbers are very, very similar. Of course, on the other side, here's a guy that's got 46 stolen bases and is on the verge of becoming Major League Baseball's first-ever 50-50 guy, so a case could be made either way. You were right there to see it firsthand with Showcase last year. How do you feel like his two seasons compare? You know, I think it's interesting. I think last year, I don't think they're wrong about that. It's interesting that in the American League West, you've got the dominant pitching in Houston, you've got the dominant pitching in Seattle, Texas had their great rotation, World Championship rotation last year, and when Rendon and Trout were out of the lineup, Otani really didn't have a lot of protection, which was over half the season, so now you put him in the National League with less true top of the rotation type starters night after night indivision, but you have a lot more protection in this lineup than you did in LA, so I think that there's a strong case for that, to be true. Yeah, I don't think that I disagree. I just thought it was an interesting theory on that. Okay, now I want to get your thoughts on these pennant races, and let's start off in the American League East because Orioles and Yankees have been tooth and nail and the Yankees just got through dropping the series in Arlington to the Rangers, and while Corey Seager's season may be done, he's back on the injured list to continue to see the Rangers, and to let young talent kind of go at him and take two or three from the Yankees, I thought was pretty impressive. You know, Texas has really not given up on this season. They really haven't. They're working really hard. There's a chance Kumar Rocker could be up by the by seasons end. You've seen what Jack Lider has done in that rotation, but the Yankees really have to figure out the closer role. Clay Holmes, who was just a big tacker the first month of the season, had like a 1 5 ERA. The first 10 games are the first 10 appearances of the season and then really fell off, made the All-Star team, but really had an ERA and like the nines after that, and he's blown nine of his last save attempts. They really, if they're going to make a run deep into October, they've got to try to figure out that closer position. And it's not something that's really easy to figure out. It's not something you want to try to go to by committee. And so that's probably the most glaring need for the Yankees right now. Well, and for the Orioles, it's been really interesting to see because at times they look like world beaters. And then there are times, and by the way, the Yankees did bounce back today. They shut out the Cubs today. Three nothing. They got a win on that. But the Orioles also have had at times some closing issues this season, haven't they? Really, a lot of these teams have. It is such a difficult thing right now to find somebody. It takes a really special guy to go out there and get the final three outs of a game. And when you don't get it done, it takes an even more special guy to come into the clubhouse the next day and say, "Give me the ball, guys. I'm going to do it again tonight." But we've just had so many injuries across the game of baseball that it's not that teams don't really have the closures, it's that they've had a hard time getting to their closures. So a lot of teams are using their higher leverage guys at that pivotal point of the game, whether it's the seventh, eighth or the night, when the game is on the line, they're using their closures earlier in the game. But there's just such the supply and the demand of the people that can get those final three outs is so minimal that clubs are having a hard time getting to that role. I think what Maryfield said this week was really, really interesting where you've got a bunch of arms that are 95 to 100 that come up and they've got great arms and they've got really good fastballs, but they don't really know where the ball is going. And that's created a real inefficiency in the market when it comes to guys that are truly qualified to pitch in high leverage situations, especially in October. Yeah, I read those comments from with Maryfield and you've known him ever since he was coming up, coming out of South Carolina. And you could tell he was not happy about it and he said apparently a lot of pitchers told him the same thing. I'm glad somebody spoke up. Do you see Major League Baseball being more punitive against clubs and or individual pitchers who maybe they're not trying to hit somebody because always you'll hear an announcer say, especially if it's a pitcher on the team that the guys announcing, hitting somebody goes, well, he's not trying to hit him there. But I think I've heard Keith Morland say this. I think I've heard you say this before. There comes a point where you say it doesn't matter if you're trying to hit me. If you don't have enough control and you break my hand like it did to Mookie Bats or like Austin Riley getting hit or if you hit somebody in the head, you shouldn't be out there. And so do you see Major League Baseball stepping up? It's disciplinary role about such things? Well, it's a really slippery slope. When you think about Al Tuvie last year in the world baseball classic and what a blow that was to the Houston Astros. But but the whole pitching infrastructure in professional baseball, we've talked about this many times is really off right now because it's become so much about velocity and pitch shape and pitch design. And then when they took the sticky stuff away from pitchers, my gosh, for the first couple of weeks, guys were having a hard time throwing you over the plate. And while it seemed to be somewhat of a competitive advantage for the pitchers, I think the hitters would probably like to have it back right now because they at least know that the pitchers have solid field for the baseball. They're experimenting with the tacky baseball at the triple A levels and the double A levels and I think that's something that could probably come into play at some point. But it's really when you're putting your very best players in a $13 billion industry, when you're putting your very best players at harm day in and day out, I think it is something that you have to look at. I don't think it's a situation where if you hit a batter, if they have to leave the game, you have to leave the game. That's a little harsh for me because I know in today's game with the camaraderie that exists within Major League Baseball, nobody is intentionally trying to hit anybody. It just doesn't exist anymore. And so I do think they're going to have to come up with some means of maybe it's in all seriousness, maybe a velocity limit where, you know, you can't go over 97 miles an hour. You got to stay in the 94 to 96 mile an hour range, something that can give these hitters a little more protection because with 135 Tommy Johns and Major League rotations and having to push every pitcher up the board at that point, it's really created a supply and demand issue at the Major League level. Do you know, at all those Tommy Johns, all of those surgeries, how many can you confidently say or feel were connected to just the Vilo mania that has permeated Major League Baseball pitching staffs and pitching coaches and organizations about wanting their guys to throw upper 90s to low triple digits. Craig, I don't think you can generalize with it. I really don't. I think this is a this is an industry epidemic. You know, I had a son that played seven years of professional baseball and he didn't throw hard at all. And he had Tommy John and labor and surgery. And so I think I think this is a very embedded issue within our industry. I think it begins at the amateur level with the number of games that kids are playing between just between the ages of six and 12. And then you go to the bigger fields and a lot of kids have not physically reached their, their, their peak physically and they're having to go to bigger fields and overcompensate with their deliveries. It's it's it's the year round baseball. It's it's the way they train once they get into college. It's it's less cardio like it used to be. It's more short burst. A lot of weight training, a lot of core and very wound tight. So I don't think it's any one thing. I certainly don't think it's the pitch clock. But, but I think I think I think I think I think I think over time and really, really addresses an industry and really get back to like the old school guys and find out what worked for them and then really try to pinpoint where this all went wrong with the industry. You demonstrated earlier this year that you rub elbows with some of Hollywood's elite. And at a Dodger game, you were hanging out with Mary Hart and her husband, the producer Bert Sugarman. So you're a Dodger stadium tonight you and you and Mary and Bert hook it up for dinner in the in the in the stadium club tonight. You know what Melanie is with me tonight and we are going to the stadium club for dinner compliments of Dennis Gilbert. So we were in Beverly Hills last night at Dennis Gilbert's house having a wonderful dinner and and we're looking forward to getting a Dodger stadium early tonight and having dinner and we'll be right there centered right behind home plate during the game. I know Dr. Dawgs for this guy we're talking prime rip here you are so bougie, you know, but that's great. Hey, listen, have a great weekend. And, and you said you ran out of this tunnel here at Michigan but once. Yeah, about 2002 Jeff is on the former head coach of Michigan baseball took me over for a tour and we were going down the tunnel and he's stopping he said if you want to go ahead and I looked like Rudy going out of that tunnel coming out on the 50 year line and going out on the big M and it was really a thrill of a lifetime and I cannot wait to see the environment in the atmosphere tomorrow and I think the long ones are going to roll tomorrow so looking forward to it. Alright, thanks to you know enjoy the weekend. Alright guys take care. Alright that's Dean Watson from the Chicago White Sox and a man who rolls with the big names so he'll be in the stadium club tonight. He'll be here at Dodger Stadium and he'll be doing his job as well. Alright, we have more coming up as we continue from Ann Arbor here on Sports Radio AM 13 under the zone in the IR Radio app. Breaking news from this one is almost unbelievable. Yeah, it's all about new customers at bet 365 because they get $200 in bonus bets when they bet $5 and even better bonus bets can be used on the spread totals and player props. Here you have it bet $5 to get $200 in bonus bets and see why it's never ordinary at bet basis by gambling problem. Color text went in 100 gambler 21 plus only must be physically located in Colorado terms and conditions apply. Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. Determinate competitive rent price market to property schedule the showing screen tennis draft at the lease at a collection handling and requesting authentication. Sound complicated? Runners warehouse is here to take the hard work off your rental to-do list. Qualify tenants check rent collection check maintenance coordination you got it. Go to runnerswarehouse.com for a free rental analysis to find out how much your home can rent for or call 303-974-9444 because from now on the only thing you need on your to-do list is to call runners warehouse. Ready to break barriers and rewrite your sales story? The 7th annual Sisters in Sales Summit is where it all happens. From September 19th to 21st, join us at the Dugal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, New York for three powerful days of learning, networking and growth. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned pro, this is your opportunity to elevate your career. Don't wait. Visit sistersinsales.com/summit and register today. Join the movement of 12,000 women strong and let's own our future together.