A's Cast - A's Cast Live - September 4

0:00Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 mg, a GLP1. Call 1-8-3-3-4 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? We go, we go. This is A's Cast Live, your comprehensive look at the athletics. Swing on, drive to left field, he did four home runs for Nick Hertz. He has six for six. Swing in a drive, deep to left, BAs take the lead in grand fashion. And 29 other MLB clubs. Dredge of the pitch, the cow, swing in a drive, deep to right field. There it is, number 60, the modern day, BamBito.

1:02Join us as we take you inside the baseball universe from Humidors to walk off dingers. And that's swung in a high deep drive to right, Smith is back. He will not even watch it. And the A's win it on a walk off by Nick Hertz. We have you covered. Spend your afternoon with us, only on A's Cast Live. Here's Chris Townsend. Wait for it. Wait for it. I like it. Now if you're listening on the A's Radio Network or on A's Cast, you're missing out on the new open. It's fantastic. Now if you're watching it, hello Vegas. How's everybody down in the desert? Also on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, everybody, however you're taking it. You know, I explain to people today, just reality is that when you do a show like this,

2:03you're on a lot of different platforms. The days of just being on terrestrial radio, I mean, he shows we're never on cable before, but sometimes they got on cable. We're on all over the place. That's how we should just say it. By the way, if you are watching today, I have to tell you, you must be disgusted at what you're seeing. I apologize to everybody. And if you were not watching the show and you are just listening on your radio or on your phone or on your iPad, you are lucky that you are not having to view Commander Cody looking like a tech bro today in this awful. See, I think the vest looks great when we wear it on NBC. You today, you look like your stereotypical Silicon Valley or San Francisco tech bro. I told you in Sacramento. Oh my God. I told you in Sacramento when we gave away the Sacramento based puffer vest that my life line goal,

3:06and I'm finally get to live it. I said I do when we come to San Francisco, as I would wear the UNRO one that we got from the company months ago. And I can finally get my goal of being a San Francisco tech bro. Did you take a waymo to get here today? I know. I drove my Tesla here. Oh my God. You make me want a puke. So I wore this. I had the blue like I'm a stereotypical. I fit right in tech bro and you are. Who are you? I love it. These are not real glasses. They're not. You don't have eyesight problems. You're not near or short. I wore glasses last night. I took my contacts out. You wear glasses? My contacts are minus 375. So my face is not great. But this is just for blue light. Yeah, it's for my screen. I have to wear glasses because I have to look at my computer and my phone so much that I have to wear blue light glasses. I just do it for the computer. I'm going to do it for my phone. I don't look at my phone that much. Who are you? You've changed. Late 30s tech bro. You sure you didn't have your Prius?

4:08You didn't drive in in your Prius today? Or your leaf? Whatever they're called. Well, actually I had my Uber driver today. You. Yeah, I'm the Uber driver. Yeah. Actually, you're just my driver. I'm just, I'm just, I just, I just, I take it. I drive you to work. I take it home. I take the train. That's all I do. And when I do come up to San Francisco, I take the train. I fit right in in the commuter, the commuter persona. All right. What the hell are we talking about today? Well, one thing we're going to do. If you love just somebody who's smart and really good at what they do, Doug Glamville is going to be here today. ESPN Sunday night baseball also does stuff for multiple teams. Does the great podcast with the Hall of Famer Jason Stark for the athletic? I mean, Professor at Yukon. He's literally one of the smartest guys in our game. Doug Glamville will be here today. We will also have the Mark Katsay show for you. Things you got to address. What PCA is doing in Chicago? I know we talked about the other day. Folks, if you just like a magical baseball story, a magical football basket, it

5:11doesn't matter. You've got Chicago Bears. You got Black Hawks. They're there last night supporting him. He's on a ride that he'll probably never have this. Most players will never have this in their career. He is on a magical carpet ride for a professional athlete, where you got the other sports stars in town showing up last night to support him. If you're watching, I'm showing some of this Connor Redard and some bowls and I believe Kale Williams was there. Quarterback. They're all chanting MVP. MVP. Will you highlight and see if they stay? I pulled the highlight from MWV Research Soul and they show like a very quick, like here's the clip at very beginning and then it just it shows them and it stops and it goes right to, hey, USC Fresno State tonight. When you have the other sports stars showing up, this is a this is a magical story. This isn't even about him winning the MVP anymore.

6:12This is like one of the coolest seasons you've ever seen and enjoy it. He may never replicate it. Most guys win MVP's every year. We got a national league and an American league and they have very good statistical years. This year is special. What he is doing and how he's doing it. The city he's doing it in. They haven't seen anything like this in Sammy Sosa. By the way, I know, especially for all of you people who like to put money on games. We call it sports investing, right? You don't call it wanger anymore sports investing. My San Jose State Spartans are up on Eastern Michigan right now. 10 to 7. USC up against Fresno State is also tonight, correct? That is correct. What else we got college football? I think those are the, well, people might not say Fresno Star from San Jose State Eastern Michigan's big. But it's a revenge game for us who went to that frigid bowl game and boy see Idaho, the famous Idaho potato bowl a few years ago against Eastern Michigan today.

7:12I got Wallymop, Molleywap, sorry against Eastern. We got our ass kicked. There's no question. And it was cold. It was freezing. And I come from the East Coast and I grew up in the snow. That was cold. It was freezing. If, you know, during Christmas time, thank God we have all the bowl games. I know when people go, we had to meet bowl games. No, we don't. We need stuff that we need to watch because there's nothing going on. And I like watching football and I'll watch as many of the bowl games as I can. Now, there is that time where it's like leading up to Christmas or right after Christmas. And they're showing my four or five bowl games. The Idaho four or five bowl games today. The Idaho potato bowl is one of those games. We can tell you you never need to go because we experienced it. Boise is great. Yes, go to Boise. Beautiful town downtown. It's like one of the best fly fishing places in the world. Summertime's great there. Winner. Oh my god. It was miserable.

8:14It was. And I've done some frigid football games in the NFL. This one. You knew when it was snowing and then all of a sudden the clouds go away and the sun's just there and all of a sudden at the temperature just drops. And there's no cloud cover and it's just oh my god. Frigid. Absolutely frigid. By the, I'm not even going to get into the Lucy Goosey era that we are in in college, football, the college football. It's crazy. Lane Kiffin thought he was going to win in court and now the SEC is basically saying, bro, we're going to suspend you. We're going to take a bunch of money from you. We can do that and you're not fighting that in court. It's crazy. What's going on in college football right now? Crazy. Presidents are having to step in. The SEC presidents have already voted on. If you go pro coming back, I thought the steroid era was Lucy Goosey.

9:17What is happening in college sports is nuts. But we're a baseball show. We can't talk football because we come from the sports stock world, but we will get back into baseball. It's time to be the September spoilers, man. I mean, that's just the bottom line. It is time. Your season's ruined. Your miserable. So you know what? We're going to ruin your season too. And the Mariners. Struck out 18 times. 18 times. Are you serious against it? And the A's go in and beat him game one in a four game set. Last night's game. Makes me dislike the Mariners even more. And I wasn't that. I didn't think that was positive. I didn't think I should say that's possible. Not positive. Possible. If you watched this game last night, what you may not, it's two under 500 teams.

10:18The Mariners walk around and they play and they approach things. Like they are not 66 and 75. This team is by far the most disappointing team in baseball this year. They were one game away from going to the world series. I actually said it last night. I normally don't do this, but I said it last night on NBC. They were peacock and around spring training like man, they had the world licked. You remember that? Yeah. I mean, you have never been to the world series, but their players. Cal Raleigh had a historic year. Julio, I mean, WBC. They were walking around like they own the joint. And they've done nothing but go and stink it up. And still last night, they're all smiles. Has anyone informed the Mariners that they are 66 and 75?

11:20If you watched, now it would have been the coverage that we saw. I don't know what the Mariners are showing. Man, there's smiles. Julio, he's hugging Donovan Walden at second base. Former teammate. Like the NBA, the NBA, the NBA vacation. What about the play Julio made came running in and he's all smiles. Like 20, 25 years in a row. You guys struck out 18 times your 66 and 75. If that is not the most stat stuffing 20 for 20, when you play every, I will always give guys credit for posting, playing every day. It's a big deal. But when you play every day, by the way, you're going to collect some stats. The drop off from last year. Even finally MLB network today, MLB now started the show with how ridiculous the Mariners are. Striking out the A's. Who are we? What do you want to call us? 29th or 30th in pitching this year?

12:20The 30th. Really? Statistically the Rocky. We've got the little better. We're the worst pitching staff in baseball and you struck out eight. These are due or die games for you. And you struck out 18 times to the worst pitching staff last year. And you're still hugging everybody and you're still there. Oh my god. You are. Some of the tweets are pretty good on social media. And then they talked about how bad defensively, Kaorali and Julio are this year. The drop off in war. The drop off in pitching. I mean, from our notes today, since the All Star break, the Mariners ERA, we had the worst. They're 29th since the All Star break with a 5.51. They're built on this. All their guys have been loading. Logan Goer to have been trying to bring Brian Wu, George Kirby. They got rid of Castillo. Kate Anderson's only pits a few games. He didn't. He hasn't looked that way. He didn't look that down.

13:21That's not a class night. Who am I forgetting? Amber said, Hancock's been pretty good. I don't know. There's not a lot of. Well, we'll go bird. Kirby. They got rid of Castillo Anderson. Castillo's now. White's not performing for the white size. He's been. Oh boy. I just. How do you? How do you look yourself in the mirror? Everybody keeps saying, I, I, I, I, I, the malaise at some point. How do you look yourself in the mirror? And this is what scares you about professional athletes, long-term contracts, people get paid to where they're 66 and 75. I technically you can kind of say they're still in it. And yet they just, they perform like dogs. They perform like dogs. Unreal. So I mean, really it is unreal to watch their body language. We have cameras that we get to see them

14:22out out batting practice and stuff. You're desperate. You should be a desperate hungry team like the blue jays right now. The blue jays are desperate and you see the fight of a team that's trying to find something that they had last year at the very end. At least they're fighting the mariners. I mean, it's like they wake up and they, it's like they, it's like everybody's hiding the standings from them. Like don't tell them where they are in the standings. Everything is fine. Bro, unbelievable. I was looking, I did this breakdown. Just to kind of, you know, see where Cal Raleigh was where we saw what he was last year. Finish second in the MVP. We could argue that he could should have been the MVP. 60 home runs, switch hitting catcher. Unreal season. His WRC plus, that's weighted runs, creative plus. If you look at that was 161. Do you want it as this year? Oh, it's 90.

15:22It's it's it's it's it's. Let's drop off of 70. Yeah. They they they broke it down, right? Julio and Cal Raleigh, the drop off of the two player. I mean, Julio's chase rate is historically bad. I mean, just just to look at the two players, it's unreal. And that's their whole thing offense. But the pitching hasn't been good, so you can't put it all on them now. But this is the fun part. And in life, and we're going to talk to Mark Cotsay about this. In life, things don't go the way you want. Expectations. It's one of the word expectations are a tough thing for human beings. Because we have expectations with everything. When you go on a trip and it doesn't go exactly as planned and doesn't live up to your expectations, because you get all fired up or going on a trip and it just doesn't play out that right. And sadly enough, you're really disappointed.

16:24You're taking the family to Disneyland and everybody, we're all fired up. We're going to Disneyland and when the kids get sick. And now you got to hang out back in the hotel while the rest of the family goes into things happen in life. So when you set expectations and you don't live up to it, that's tough. But for the A's, well, at this point, it's get over it. And we've talked about suck it up, buttercup. You got yourself into this. Well, at this point now, make everybody as miserable as you. Be that fighter that gets into the ring and says, I got nothing to lose and I'm coming here to kick your teeth in. We need to establish some God toughness around here. Well, we were around 500. I think it's so tired of hearing that. I'm so, I mean, guys got to learn to play a full season. I mean, there's things that need from an A standpoint. We don't have one pitcher, not one that we can look at to say we got for 20, 28.

17:25That's pitched a full season and we know can go. We think JT again might be done for the rest of the year. They're, they're talking about it today. We'll last Mark Katsai about it. Nice to see Jay. You're going to hear what Katsai said about Jacob Lopez. It's dead on. What he's doing now, kind of what he did last year. He finished last year pretty strong. He's got to prove he can do this for a full year. JT gains 27 years old. He has a pitch to full year. We don't know about Gage jump and that's not his fault. This is, he got called up his is rookie year. So you can't put him under the same category. So we think he's going to be that guy. But right now going into 20, 28, we, you know, Sevy, been a disappointment. He's got a player's option, which I'm sure he's probably going to pick up. But I don't even know if he'll be there in 20, 28. So there's a lot of questions that we have. But knowing all that, finished strong and just be a pain in the ass for everybody. It's a pain in the ass September. I think Kats, I'll play for you. I think Katsai appropriately, I say pregame.

18:26Here's what Katsai video courtesy of NBC Sports, California. Oh, what is there no audio? Oh, that's on me. That's the amount of, go. I'm starting to 20 out of 22. This is what I told them today that that's the amount of games we have against playoff. Containing teams. And there's a lot to play for for us, for their experience. You know, to go out and try to wreck people's seasons really. You know, we've got an opportunity here to do that for the next 20 out of 22. And we should take us some pride in that. Yeah, you should have some pride in that. baseball needs more of we're telling you what we are, what we're about. What's the mission statement? Because too many times they don't convey that. And what do we see a lot this year?

19:26A lot of malaise, a lot of mediocre. Sergio Roma, have you heard of Sergio Roma? It was a three time world series champion. Pits for the eighth. He was the original opener for Tampa, but he starred in San Francisco. Well, he's in the other room. We're in San Francisco at the NBC studios. And he was laughing going, man, we can't even ask the starter to go six innings. And he and I start talking. This is a three time world series champion. And we're talking about the mediocre this year is almost historic. If you go year to year to year and look at the stands at the end of the season, this is a really rare year to have so many teams 500 or below. Because I've gone to check. I use this kind of odd. And we'll see because it could normalize a little bit. We'll see. But as of right now, you got a lot of teams that are 500 or worse. It's a lot of mediocre to bad.

20:27But at this point where the a's are, I like, hey, it's time to go out and spoil. I wish we talked like this at the start of the year. Hey, it's time for us to win the division. It's time for us to go out and win and be competitive. Talk about it in spring training. Talk about it at the start of the year. Who are we? Put it into the universe as they say. This is who we are. We're coming to win. You know who does that every year? And I found out something very interesting because Shuddy Babet, my partner on NBC, talks to all the scouts. Do you know who runs a spring training? It's like a military tight camp every year. Like it's it's whistles. It's timing. It's on dudes. It's just like hardcore. Their spring training. Not the Johnny D'Asc. I hope Johnny's listening. Not the Johnny D'Asc. Oh, these guys are just getting ready. Spring training. You know who runs that kind of camp?

21:28Is it in our division? No. Oh, okay. We talk about them a lot. We may be hiring someone from there. The race? The Tampa Bay race. I want to go to race camp because supposedly race camp is more like football. Everything is because remember in football with their CBA, practice time is limited and it is timed and you can't go over it. They're limited to how much they can be in pads. Everything's limited. So these football coaches are like down to the minute if you go to a training camp. That's how the race run their spring training. They say you go to all their fields and it's guys moving, guys running. It's whistles. It's it's it's everything's being timed. They're hardcore. Oh, shocker. They're always in the way. Shocker. That's what I want this what I want to see toughness. When's the last time you saw Mark Cotsay talk like that? Hey boys, time to go out and kick somebody and be the spoiler. I want to hear that day one.

22:28Who are we? I looked this up last night. I told you on the ride home since you're my chauffeur and we in the Mariner's only two teams on our division have a winning record versus the West. The Texas. Texas doesn't the Ranger or Texas. Houston doesn't and obviously the Angels don't. The A's are 21 and 19 and the Mariner's are like 30 and 24 or something like that. Where the only two teams have a winning record in your own division. You got to win in your own division if you want to make the postseason. And Houston's clear that doing that they're just they're a little bit of a heater now playing the white socks. But the A's have a chance to play spoiler something that we haven't really talked about. I know the last fears have been kind of lean but to do it this year, 20 22, you got to two against the Angels that really you should win both those games. But the blue chase coming in who are hot and they're only what half game out of the wild final walk hard and then you play over the weekend play Seattle again. So you got a tough stretch coming up and you can play a big part in this and ruining people's seasons. And I love to see it. Especially when we know that there's not a lot to play for. Especially it gets the teams you don't like.

23:29And you end the season. It gets Houston, the vision will opponent that's trying to win division and make it back to the postseason. They're trying to maybe save their managers job. Because Joe was spotty. You don't know if he's going to be back after the year. Joe spot is not they've very told believe the rumors. And I believe everything I read on Twitter. He's already been told he's done. Well, that's going to be hard if they win the world. See, I'm not saying they're not going to win the world. And you know what? Never say never. All right. This time of year when losing teams start to do good stuff, you got to take it with a grain of salt. Right. It's easy for people to perform when the pressure's off. That is just a reality. Our sport doesn't cover it like the other sports. Like if you're you're on a bad basketball team at the end of the year, you're starting to put up 20 points of game. Everybody goes garbage time. If you're on a bad football team and your team's losing and all of a sudden, you start putting up stats at the end of the year. You go right. Other sports do that. Our sport doesn't for some reason. I still live that way.

24:30So I think it's great when guys do stuff. But I'm always going to be like, I need to see it for six and a half months. But what Lawrence Butler is doing is special. It's it's he's he's the type of kid that to look himself in the mirror. He had to get his edge back. Because he had to kind of lost his edge. And you start looking at those numbers. And at some point, where are we going? Because no, his contract isn't large enough that you're like, oh, you get the contract so big. No. Lawrence Butler, the last 12 games is hitting 372 with a 993 OPS. And you can go back to when he called the meeting in late July. You can look at all the numbers. You can look how he's performing. It's left-handed pitching lately. Lawrence hadn't looked himself in the mirror. And he did it. And it's been fun to watch. Because it makes you start to believe in Lawrence Butler again.

25:34Now, the challenge will be, and I can guarantee if we have a spring training and I'm doing the interview with him down there, I'll be like, hey, I love the way you finished. Can you do it for six and a half? Can Jacob Lopez do this for a full season? Can anybody around here do this for a full? Can we stay healthy for a full season? I mean, Lawrence Butler really is the last two years. The only guy to be able to play a full season. And he did it last year on a bad name. Yeah, he is. Because... But he's the one guy that I give him another credit. He's posted for two years. Because the only guy you can say that I mean, Rooker played every last year, but this year the banged up knee. He's missing a lot of season. Rooker posted the years before. Yeah, this year, obviously. Yeah, what was done, I mean, you mentioned the left-handed hitters and Kudos to Michael Barrabalt, host of A-Stock, percent of these numbers over. Talk show, boy, Michael. 324 average, 3 homers, 8 RBI, 996, OPS, since August 14th against left-handed hitter. Left-handed pitchers. It's pretty remarkable for Lawrence Butler.

26:34Played in 152 games last year. He's going to have a chance. He's at 133. We're at what? 21. So if he plays every game, he's got a chance to get to 150. Yeah, again. So even if he's high, 140s, if you got to be able to play over 140 games. And Lawrence Butler's doing that. I mean, there are some stories. And we're going to get a Katsai, Henry Bolte. Did I say this yesterday? No, I wrote it down. If... I don't think I did say it. Folks, here's a reality. Henry Bolte could be the best all-around player that the A's have. Now, I understand that's a big statement. Because we all fell in love with the story of Nick Kurtz last year. And we know how special he can be. We all love Jacob Wilson. We know what Brent Rucker brings to the party. Tyler Sodistrum was born to hit. We can talk about Shay Langa-Liers being an all-star catcher.

27:35Henry Bolte could be the best all-around player. That this ball club has. And next coming is Leo DeVries. Yeah. Once again, the best all-around player. We will use the word, and I don't like this word that much. Superstar with Mark Katsai. The potential. A guy that can do everything. To have speed and power the way he has is special. Henry Bolte could be in the next couple of years, especially when we hit Vegas in 2028. I talked about guys being on billboards around town. Henry Bolte could be on one of those billboards. I think that's fair to say, for sure. No question. Also, Zach Gelloff re-emerging as one of those guys. So for a team that's had a really bad year, there's actually some good stories right now.

28:35But they all need to learn to do it because of the primary core, as he would ever been on a 500 team in the big leagues. No. Because the only guy that would have a shot at that was Brent Rooker. And I doubt twins, royals, or Padres, any of his teams were over 500. I don't think so. Right. None of these guys have ever been on a team in the big leagues. That's 500 in July. Lot of growth, lot of learning. But there are some no doubt positives right now with 21 games left. The September spoiler. What are we going to call them? Is the September spoilers? Sure. I call it the spoilers in September. I called it slugging September for some of the numbers of starts of time for the days off. And so yeah, why not? And look at you tech, bro. Yeah. All the might. Where do you have lunch in San Francisco? All the ideas are flying. I'm going to have dinner at Garaj, maybe. Oh god. You are so bougie now. You make me want to puke.

29:35Is my good friend Mike Gundy once said. We got a break. You can't go to Vegas looking like this. People will laugh you out of the bed. They'll laugh you out of circa. I won't wear a sweater, but it's 115 degrees in Vegas. Fact coming up next. Who are we going first? Glantville. Smartest guy in baseball, Doug Glantville next. Ace cast live continues from the studio. Here's Chris Townsend. It is always an honor and a pleasure to have on as we say the smartest man in baseball, Doug Glantville joins us here. Once again, on Ace cast live before we get things going tonight against the Seattle Mariners in the Pacific Northwest. How are you? I'm good. You know, every time I'm on, I always feel like I'm in transit. Right now, my emperor Palpatine kind of look here, you know, just, you know, give a little fear from the dark side. But I'm excited. You know, the season, a lot of teams are in it. Everybody is, you know,

30:36vying for that final spot. And that's fun. It's a lot of fun. So when I think about your journey throughout the baseball season and you're traveling around the country, like during the start of the year, everything's fresh, everybody's happy. It's the new year. Then you get into summer. It's starting to warm up. Ball's starting to fly out. But now we're at the very end. This is September. Some places you go, like Chicago, what you know so well in PCA. It's electric and everybody's loving it. And then other places it smells like death. Just talking about how, how September, this month is just so different when you're traveling around to see all these baseball teams. Yeah, it's a great point because you get this cultural feel for everywhere. And I used to talk about that as a player. You know, you go to San Diego, you have a little bit more casual. You go to Atlanta, they say, let's give a warm Atlanta welcome to the Philadelphia Phillies. And then they score like 12-1-1. I mean, it was just like,

31:37so you kind of culturally go to San Fran and Oakland. But I do think like traveling from the media side, you see the hope, you know. And that's important when you have all these teams that feel like they're in it. And maybe they're not in it because they're going to win the World Series. But they're just got, they have a shot to do something magical, to do it up, you know, upset someone in the wild card, whatever it is. And that's important because when you see the trade deadline come in, and you see the pirates or buyers, you see the guardians or buyers. You know, you see the tiger is who, you know, got rid of talent and still found ways to have a positive run differential. You see prospects going the other direction to make sure it wasn't a one-sided trade, where that team that just gave up schoolable is still, you know, only a couple more years away to getting back to a certain form because of the prospects they acquired. I feel like that kind of keeps the merry-go-round going in a way that's positive, you know. You have a, you're riding the horse and you feel like there's a chance that

32:37none of these teams were like forever out of it, where they're just not going to win for decades. It seems a little strange when I've been tracking it and looking at it over the years of how many teams right now that we have been hovering around 500 or below 500. And a lot of these teams are still in it. We can call it parity. But if you look back, it's very rare to have this many teams. And we'll see where that, how it all plays out at the end of the year. How do you explain where we are in baseball right now, where we have so many teams under 500 and just everybody hovering right below 500? This is not normal. No, it is not normal. And I think that the mindset in the sand was drawn for the playoffs to say, here's a third card, third wild card. And it was not intended that a team under 500 or, you know, 500 might get in. We saw that in 2020 during the pandemic. And I was alarming because you're just like, wait a minute, wait a minute.

33:39You can't be under 500. After 162 games and getting the postseason. And remember what they were trying to achieve when went out and created the balance schedule. The idea that everybody's playing the balance schedule. Everybody's playing the same teams. And the thought was like, well, it makes the wild card a little bit more equal because, you know, you have the same out of division schedule. Well, that's not really playing out super well because now everybody's like hovering around the sort of mediocrity, at least in the market, like for sure. And so nobody, you know, I remember Steven Volt was mentioning the Guardians Manager saying, I don't know. It's just kind of like a big royal rumble. Like we're all, you know, going to fight. Nobody's going to go away. And that's kind of fun. Even if we are 70 and 70. So there's something to that. But the problem with it is that where are they going to go? Like you get in and you're just not going anywhere because you just have teams that are like the Dodgers, the Phillies, whoever that are just in such a different category. It's just hard to defeat them when you've been just scraping just to try to

34:40have more wins than losses. You know, every single year we have an MVP in the national league and the American league and we look at their stats and go, yeah, I had a great year. We got something going on in Chicago that is really magical. Like even yesterday when you got Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears and their Chicago Bears right over the dugout and PCA hits a home run. How about the three home runs he hit when they had celebrating 150 years of Cubs baseball and they had all the Cubs greats there. Maddox is throwing out the first pitch and Sammy Sosa's kiss into the crowd and he hits three. Can you just put your arms around how magical and how special this ride has been for PCA in the Cubs this year? I mean, he's the pod piper, you know, and I think that it's, you know, and he's he's getting everybody, you know, out of the streets, the super stars and other sports. He is that infectious of a player and he's not talented and he's just that exciting,

35:41you know, and Craig Council is a man of very modest words and he's just expressing just how transformational P.C.R.A.M. story is and that takes a lot because Council has that perspective of 15 years in the big leagues. He's like, I've seen better years but there's something about P.C.R.A.M. strong with the elite defense, the swagger, the fact that he went from, okay, to medium, to good, to just like, wait a minute, this is the best player than Ashley. That doesn't happen that often. It doesn't, it doesn't happen in the timeline. It's it's it really is remarkable and he deserves a lot of credit because he put in the work with hitting coach John Mellie, you know, Mellie goes out there and he gives him a lot of, you know, tips about like how to get the back through the plane. It's not accidental but the ability to execute it and be consistent, that's that's the the skill set that's hard because you know, you have a good month and you're like, oh, well, but he's just kept it going and and it's something I love about pro sports because like when I play with the Phillies, you were friends with the 76ers and the Eagles and you knew these guys and when

36:45you support each other, it's just great for the city. It cuts through all the the loyalties and it's just something that just brings everybody together and that's a great credit to P.C.R.A.M. strong. Yeah, I have no idea with P.C.A.M. nobody has any idea with P.C.A.'s career is going to be like but he may never have a magical year like this. Most players. I mean, this is a 0.0001 percent type of year. I mean, the last time they saw something this magical was that run with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire hitting all those home runs. It's been really amazing. You mentioned the Dodgers and it makes me think of the Golden State Warriors because with the Golden State Warriors, we're seeing championships, we're seeing back to back championships. But all of a sudden you started seeing things you didn't like and when you started pointing that out, people always were like, well, they'll just turn it on when the time comes. Well, eventually that that button or that that light switch where you just turn it on doesn't work anymore. Are you starting to get worried about the Dodgers? What you've seen? Shoei Otani, the niece. He's he's not he's really struggling offensively. They're

37:48struggling offensively. Are you worried a little bit about L.I.? Yeah, not really. They're just they're just loaded. But if you want to talk about age, yes. I mean, like I worry from the standpoint of this poor group, let's say, or this group can repeat it. No, they can't keep going. They might be able to pull it off this year. But you know, that's you know, guys are just slowing down. And but why I'm not worried is that the Dodgers can just reload. And they're not reloading like, oh, in two years or tomorrow, we're going to get this guy. That's the difference. And so yes, you could look at it in the snapshot of like, well, how are they going to get by without this guy? They're well, Otani, if he doesn't pitch, oh, they just have snow and glass now and scoobal and you know, Yamaloto and you know, another all star, you know, they just keep going. So and by the way, part of my lack of concern is that in the postseason, like they showed last year, if you have a weak bullpen in LA, you just turn your starters into relievers. That's

38:54all you need to do. Yamaloto came in for himself. He's like, he's teleporting. So that's the reason like I'm like, these guys are ridiculous. So they have the arms and they can use the arms in different roles. That's one real big strength of the Dodger. But yeah, their offense is questionable at different times. But they also have switches that they turn on, which is always scary. And then the other question is, is who's going to beat him? I don't know. I mean, who can beat him? Yeah, there's teams, but like who's going to is a different question. Let's end on this because where the A's are, obviously, it's not the season we thought injuries. It's been rough. We we have moved on from our general manager, Mark Cazes, we're in another tough season. If I could take you from these coasts and I could bring you to the A's clubhouse tonight, what advice? If by way, we're playing spoiler in September, party, beating the Rangers. Now we're beating the Seattle. It's like now it's time to play spoiler. What advice would you give to a lot of these young A's players who are trying to

39:54get through their first full season? Oh, man, that's a good question. And I'd say, you're in the big leagues. I mean, you're in the big leagues. And so when you're a young player of those games, you standing in the in the batter's box against like the Boston Red Sox. That's the real most Boston Red Sox. And that that thrill is just not going to go away in your mind. That's been way part of it. I never went away. You know, so I mean, you know, that's Fenway, that's Riggly, that's, you know, you know, that's PCA, you're trying to get out. I mean, it's really cool. That doesn't diminish. So they're focused. They're locked in. I'd also say, like, take it from like the pundits out there. I'm not saying they're always great, but just say that a lot of people felt like the A's were a team that could win this division this year. And for good reason, their offense was, you know, they're dangerous. And, you know, so get the arms, you know, get the consistency. They're just a couple of steps away. And maybe a new ballpark, all the things that could come with that could be really exciting. So I would say that

40:55to the young players, you're in the show. And yes, you don't want to be like, I'm in the big leagues and we're 50 games under 500 and be happy. But it is something to be said, like, you know, I'm getting my feet wet. This may not be the season we wanted collectively, but there's a lot to build on. And then what I would do is point to the white socks. I'd say, look at the white socks, we've got their headhanded to them. And then the second half, while they were getting their head handed to them last year, they had a bunch of young guys get the experience. And these guys go to dinner together. They hang out together. And now they're, they jelled as a team within that year. That's how quickly can turn around because they didn't get caught up in like, oh, we're terrible. They caught up, they got caught up in the experience and the shared experience with teammates that got to do it together. And they got real close. And that is a big X factor for the white socks right now. And it's a real reality. You need to learn how to be able to play a full season in the big leagues. It's far different than anything you've done before in your career. It is. It's a, it's a, it's a grind. Like my first year in Philly, full season,

41:58playing every day, you had to drag me over the finish line in September. I was non-existent. I was so tired and I had 700 played appearances. So I'd learn the next year. Like, okay, we got to pace ourselves better without giving up hustle. All those little things that these guys will learn from coaches, from veterans. So I'd say keep your ears and eyes open, learn. And that's a, that stuff will pay off and do it together though because that could be your core group of friends and teammates for a long time, especially once you start winning. And that was at the vet, right? You're playing on the turf every day? Yeah, not great for the knees, no, but every day. Yeah. And when I was with the Cubs, they were, they were older guys. They were married, you know, veterans. The Phillies, I got to kind of be young again with the kids. And, you know, we had a good time. We were really close. Even in seasons, we weren't good. But we, we found a way to, you know, stay, stay close to each other. And that's why I'm a Phillies chat in my phone that has like 22 Phillies on it, you know, we,

42:58we're, we're still tight. Well, I got to tell you this, I want to get you out to one of our games. I want to be good enough to wear your broadcasting one of our games and we can do this live. That's my goal. We've got to get good enough so you show up. How about that? Yeah, it's unfortunate. The fair weatheredness of, but I'll tell you, you've spent radio has done a great job this year of like seeing a lot of the teams like I feel like I've seen a lot and I haven't seen the A's. I want to be there. I absolutely welcome that. And I think that next year, it's going to be a big step forward. I see some moves made, some talent and I feel like the A's are not far away. We always appreciate your time. You're one of the best in the business. Everything that you do in this game from broadcasting to writing to podcasting, it's special. Keep doing what you're doing. We'll catch up with you soon and tell my guy, Roxy Bernstein. I said hello. Well, they're Chris. Thanks a lot and always a pleasure to be on. Time now for the Mart Cotsay show brought to you by Folsom Lake Ford.

44:00Mart Cotsay coming to you from the frozen tundra of Lambo field. I love it. What do you got the beanie cap on? How cold is it in Seattle? It's not that cold. Gelloff was wearing yesterday. So I decided I'd throw mine on just to make him happy and show team spirit here. Well, I got to tell you what I loved your message before the game and I don't know what you said to the guys, but I can't agree more. It's time to be the September spoilers. What was that like the message to the players and now watching them go out and do it? Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously, like we don't want to have to play this role. We want to be competing for the playoffs. Reality is at the end of the day. The season hasn't gone the way we wanted it and we're in a position now that we have, like I said yesterday, 20 of 22 games against playoff continuing teams, which we can one learn a lot from, two we can ruin a lot of people's seasons. And let's go out

45:02and finish this thing as strong as possible. When as many of these as possible. In the off season, whatever teams we do send home, they'll think about that. The A's, A's in his home, and that's not a great feeling when you're not in the playoffs and you have a chance to make it. Reality is life's about lessons and we don't always get what we want. And then things don't always go as we want, but you still have to strive. You still have to improve. And I think about Lawrence Butler where he started and where he is now. I think about when he called the team meeting and he addressed, hey, I'm not playing great, but I need to step it up. You guys need to step it up. Tell us how and what you've seen in Lawrence Butler lately. Yeah, just a lot of growth, like you said, Tony, for him to have stepped in and call the team meeting, you know, says a lot about his maturity, you know, to take ownership of, you know, the type of season that that he was

46:10having personally says a lot about the accountability, which, you know, is really important. But more so, just about his desire to get his teammates together and figure it out. And I think for Lawrence, he has done that. There's been a lot of positives, you know, since June, and what Lawrence has done. And I think that at the end of the day, when he finishes the season, he will look back in the season, we're making better. The more you watch Henry Bolte, how special do you think this kid can be? Man, I, you don't want to jump out there and say really special because you don't want, obviously, this kid to, you want him to have expectations, but not, not in the sense of like, okay, I can be a superstar, right? But I think he could be. I mean, he has all the tools, and he's continuing to get better. He's open to all things in terms of learning, which is great.

47:16He doesn't, he's not, doesn't have an ego. It doesn't think he knows everything and how to do everything. And that's one of the great, you know, tools for him that no one really probably knows, you know, how just open and selfless this kid is. I said it the other day on Acecast Live, don't look now, but he could be in the future, you're very best all around player. And he's very young and you got some really good players, but this kid could be really, really special. And then I think about Zach Gelloff. You know, Zach Gelloff was the first guy to come up from the Myrleague system that we said, hey, he's going to be a pillar that we build this organization on. And then injuries and side tracked and things just didn't go right. Can we say he is back on track and he is a big part of the future with the way he's been playing again? Yeah, I think we can include him for sure. And I think he can be a big part of this future and big part of the culture. He's already shown that, you know, I mentioned

48:17last night in the post game how it's been really fun to watch he and Bolt, he at the top of the line-up get things going and for Butler to be in the center of it. You know, these are three guys that we're going to really need a lot out of next year with this group to elevate our, you know, our performance. So, but yeah, I think Zach, you know, with the adjustments he made last off season to commitment to it. Again, I think he's only going to improve. I think he's going to make more those adjustments this off season in the right direction and come back next year as a solid piece. You know, one of the beauties about Zach is he can play everywhere on the diamond. So you've seen him in left field, he plays a great left field, you've seen him in third base, he's in second base, he's seen the center field, right field. You know, so obviously we know areas that we need to address. Third base, second base are two positions that, you know, I think still we're looking

49:18for an everyday type guy to just write a name in and I think Zach can be either second or third next season with when Tyler comes back healthy and left and those season butlers having to finish off and the season bolt he's having, you know, Zach only increases that athleticism when you put him anywhere on the diamond. You know, the toughest things in your gig is, you know, you got to talk with everybody before the game, you got to talk after the game. I commend you for not throwing people under the bus because I think you just look at the numbers of what the bullpen and some of the pitching has been but all of a sudden you now got something with the way blew it has thrown the ball now for you. Obviously, Hogan Harris, Alvarado's turn it around, you have found something in Medina, talk about the bullpen. Now there's true confidence when you walk out there and you go to the bullpen. Well, the recent performance definitely aligns with with that statement. You know, these are guys, obviously, blew it and Roy Croft that we, you know, went out and claimed, you know, with with

50:24a high, you know, just a hope that these guys could, you know, turn it around, turn their seasons around personally, you know, clubs that obviously are releasing guys are putting guys on waivers or they generally haven't performed and for both of these players to come in and really pitch well for us, you know, in roles that I think they definitely belong in. They're middle in, you know, middle of the game, fit the any six inning guys we saw yesterday, you know, that gave us a chance to win, that held the score, that, you know, really they will help solidify the back end. And we've been talking about this all year, you know, you've got guys pitching out of roles, pitching late in games that weren't used to ever pitching late in games. It's tough to manage those innings and understand you're putting a guy in a situation and it may not be the best for him to succeed and he fails and now he gets buried. And so it's been challenging for sure. But Madina's growth has been awesome. I think it's a natural progression for a season where he hadn't

51:30pitched in two years and he's finally now finding his consistency and his, you know, his outpitch is his split and he's finally, you know, starting to realize when to use it and what counts to use it. And, you know, that's exciting. If you can get Alvarado, Madina, Harris, you know, those three guys in a bullpen next year, right, where they may not they may not have to be the back end guy or they might be the back end guys because they've had a little bit of experience. Now they've gone through it. They're a little more seasoned and and hogan, especially. I mean, this is a a guy last night that came in throwing an easy 97 and he doesn't matter if it's right left. I mean, he's better against right, right? It's just in the data and the status, but he he's not afraid to take the ball and go get the outs. I tell you what, I mean, for, for, I know this isn't a great year, but right now there's a lot of good stories to talk about. It's not like I'm just like propping it up. I mean, these are legit stories. Jacob Lopez, Jacob Lopez has literally been one of the

52:33best starting pictures in baseball since July 10th, whatever happened when he got sent down and what they did to him in Vegas and brought back. Just talk about what you've seen in your lefty who's going to go this weekend. He's just a different guy. Oh, you're that said, he's he was different guy when he came back. You know, we had a good conversation before he went to Vegas, a heart to heart man to man conversation about, you know, the reality of being a major league big leagueer and what that entails. And I think he came back with the right mindset and determination and a little bit of FU to him, which I've seen sought last outing there. You know, when he gave up the two solo homers in Texas and then you could just see a different guy. So all right, that's it. That's enough. And especially there in the sixth inning when, you know, you send a guy back out with 90 pitches and in the last pitch he throws on the punch. I was 91.5. So it was it was best pitch of the game, hardest pitch of the game, which says a lot about his growth, you know, from from a mindset and just a toughness standpoint, right? And I love that. I mean, he's consistent now.

53:40He knows what it takes. He's got to stay consistent through the offseason. We saw similar Jacob Lopez last year. We did. And then something happened in the offseason where he didn't, you know, wasn't able to do the same consistent routines, got away from it and came back and and wasn't great. I mean, if you look at the start of the year in the rotation, we were going to lean on Lopez and we're going to lean on Morales, two guys that we thought could really fulfill those those roles. And they didn't pitch great. Yet we still maintained a 500 or like two games below in, you know, in June. But then when Sevi went down, things changed. And guys had to fill that role. And and then it just it, uh, it really spiraled from there. It's like this is your baseline. This is who you are. You need to bottle it up. And when you leave and come back, this is who you are, you should never be anything different. I think about JT again. How is he doing? And how much do you think we can expect from JT again the rest of the way? Yeah. I mean,

54:43reason I was late today, we're still dealing with that. It's a fluid situation. As you know, we skipped a start on Tuesday, did a bullpen day. We pushed him back. We were going to push him back again. You know, we thought he might be ready today. He's not, you know, we we we're going to look at him more intensely tomorrow, make a decision, which, you know, is never easy. Because if we do have to put him on the IL, it's pretty much he's done for the season. So we've tried to give ourselves as much time as possible to make, you know, the best decision for the player. These decisions are never easy. So JT obviously has had a great season. If if he has to go to the IL, the one positive is that he has pitched more innings than he did last season. You know, you'd like to see him finish the season. But, you know, what he's accomplished so far has said

55:46enough to know that that he's going in the right direction for sure. You know what I like in September right now? You're the fighter going into the ring. You got nothing to lose and I'm coming to kick your teeth in. I love it. I love the mentality, right? I hit is what it is. You're in September, season hasn't gone the right way, but I'm coming to knock you out. Yeah. I mean, I, I, we came to knock him out early and it just, you know, it is what it is, right? You got to go with where you are right now. Yeah. No, that's fact. And, you know, tonight's going to be a challenging night. We've got, you know, Kate Morris going who, you know, is a young guy. Hasn't had a ton of success at the major league level. You know, but we're in a point now where we're, we're looking at guys, obviously for the future. But we also are, you know, managing guys day in, day out and trying to finish the season. So, Kate's going to get a shot tonight to go out and start. You know,

56:50you may see Joey Estes here in the pin. You know, as a bulk guy, he's been down in AAA, the majority. He made one start for us this year in Vegas did a nice job, but you're going to see some guys out there on the mound because of the status of the bullpen that they're going to get an opportunity to go out and show us what they can do. Keep fighting, keep scrapping. I love it. We'll talk to you next week in Sacramento. All right. Thanks, Tyler. The Marquette say show brought to you by Folsom Lake Ford. This has been a presentation of the athletics. Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP one. Call 1-8334 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait?