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00:00pre and post coverage all of that is uh is starting this friday in atlanta and jp morosi
00:05is going to be a part of just about all of it hey jp how you doing doing great mark sorry about the
00:12uh the initial uh glitch there in the matrix but we are back connected now uh thank you for your
00:17patience and for the invitation to be on the show today really appreciate it no problem at all you
00:22kind of uh you kind of started this off the way the giants start any at bat with a runner in
00:27scoring position it's just strike one jp it's okay well way to way to tie it all together we we had
00:35we had thought that that would all be settled uh with the arrival of of devers and we thought that
00:41uh that issue was going to be resolved but as as we all know the game has different plans for us
00:48and uh and and i think things will eventually be fine with rafi and a giants uniform but it's
00:53it's taking a little bit of time yeah what what's your take on and these are all the things that
00:58we're hearing right he's switching teams switching coasts switching leagues he's a little dinged up
01:03he's switching positions um should giants fans express a lot of patience with devers
01:09they should uh because one of the things that was rather unique about his season was
01:15as as you know his start to the year was was really bad and and it went on for a couple weeks
01:21and then he got right back into a into a groove i think that you see this whether it was
01:27soto and certainly soto had plenty of time to get adjusted to that uh that situation that when he went
01:33over to the to the mets and and even you go back to other situations and frankly adamas uh dealt with
01:39it a bit this season too there's there's just a lot of difference and i think just the the noise that
01:45surrounded devers and the trade probably lingered a little bit and and now eventually whether it's
01:52already happened or will happen a couple things will will dawn on him number one is this is my new
01:59reality i'm going to be a giant for a very very long time and and i think that will on some level
02:04help him get comfortable the second piece is that as much as there has been and probably always
02:11will be noise from his time with the red sox and boston and anytime that that's ever brought up
02:17he needs to realize that i'm sure he already does that as as tyler kefter my friend once wrote about
02:23gary sheffield there's ink in your bat okay when you're when you're that good of a player when you're
02:30one of the best hitters in the world you can write whatever story you want as long as you're playing
02:36that well and and devers is one of the guys you know talk about the 10 or 15 most elite hitters
02:41in the sport who are good enough to do that and i think that eventually he will he will get back
02:48to that spot uh again we've seen glimpses the strikeout total is probably the one thing that
02:53stands out to me as being a little bit a little bit too high and honestly i i do wonder about at
02:59what point in time would he be more comfortable playing back in the field is that something that
03:05would take an off season for him to do i thought when when the trade happened that we would see him
03:11playing first base almost immediately and of course that hasn't happened i think that that to me is the
03:16is the the variable and the thing that i wonder about going forward is what his role is going to be
03:22but uh to me it's it's still an open question i i believe he'll get there to the end and he'll be
03:27able to be a very productive player in a giants uniform which just hasn't quite happened with the
03:32immediate impact that i'm sure giants fans wanted to see how much does his approach as a hitter
03:38either get helped or get hurt by the fact that he's now playing at oracle park
03:42you know it's a great point and and i think it's at fenway from a mental standpoint and obviously not
03:51having been a major league hitter myself it's hard for me to say that these exact words but i do think
03:55you have heard hitters say this and i believe it's true that when you're in a hitter friendly
04:01ballpark whether it's fenway uh wrigley when the when the wind is blowing out um different different
04:07environments that are very conducive to offense cincinnati certainly colorado that that you always
04:12feel like even when you get beat by a pitch when you are not on your your full full strength so to
04:20speak you can still find a way to serve a ball to the opposite field especially when you're devers and
04:26you're in your lefty bat at fenway find find a way to knock one off the wall there's your hit and now
04:33you're back on the board and feeling good about yourself i think that when you're playing in san
04:37francisco when you're playing in seattle there are certain ballparks that are just harder to get a
04:43real confidence going and i think especially uh and it's not just the dimensions as as you know
04:49certainly very well and no better than me that that the ballpark plays differently based on the time
04:53of year the air can be heavy that that is part of it too to where devers never had to deal with that
05:00at fenway there's no marine layer over over boston harbor so to speak at least to the extent that
05:06there is in san francisco or in san diego or even in la for for an odd game when when the uh when the
05:12moisture is there in the air so i think that that's that's an adjustment for him and and not having that
05:17mental security blanket for lack of a better term of knowing where to go to get a base hit get
05:25yourself feeling good again that's a lot easier to do at fenway than it is in san francisco and
05:30and listen we have seen hitters thrive in san francisco bonds certainly top of the list but
05:36there's probably a reason why it's been so long since the giants last 30 homer hitter
05:40and uh endeavors clearly is learning a lot of those lessons right now john paul marozzi mlb network
05:46and beyond is with us here on willard and dibs 95 7 the game jp like you've got logan webb and robbie
05:53ray they're both all-stars beyond that though verlander's struggles hayden bird song also struggling a
06:00little bit and young alongside landon roop do you believe the giants need to bolster their starting
06:06pitching staff this month of july they do and and here's what i would say is is the interesting
06:13part of it so you've already given up some talent and it wasn't necessarily a massive
06:18price but you gave up some talent to get devers and and then the question becomes okay now that
06:25you've done that what is left in your system and and what price are you willing to pay to upgrade and
06:32go for it right now i i would say this that there are teams out there the cubs are one of them i would
06:39say certainly the cubs uh the the mariners maybe even to some extent some other teams there that have
06:45that are right now we need to win teams toronto might fit in the same category they're they're going
06:51forward in 2025 to where a rental like herman marquez like adrian hauser those types of names would make
06:59sense i just don't know if i'm the giants right now if i'm looking at the landscape and saying
07:05this is my year to really go for it instead i actually look at the giants as being quite the
07:10opposite this is this is a long-term talent accumulation phase you just got devers you just
07:18signed adamas uh you've got some of your pitching certainly is under control for multiple years
07:24this is as i see it you know certainly the first full season of health for for lee this is the
07:30beginning of a window to win for for this team and it's hopefully going to be a long window for them
07:37but there is not while there is certainly the mandate to add talent and spend money when
07:43appropriate they just added a ton to the payroll long term with the acquisition of devers but this is
07:48not a a desperation this is not the carls beltron trade of 2013 right when they had to bring him in
07:56or 2011 rather um that's that's not the type of move this is for this team right now where you're
08:02going to give up the modern equivalent of zach wheeler back in the day to get two months of an
08:06elite player that's just not where the giants are right now so i think if the right need for need
08:11type of a deal comes around where they can maybe uh trade a controllable bat for a controllable arm
08:17you do it but i i'm just not sure that that type of a trade is going to materialize and i also think
08:23that we're probably still a week or so away coming out of the all-star break before we really see a lot
08:29of big time movement just because i think a lot of foreign offices right now are still very much
08:33focused on the draft is part of the determination you're making based off of justin verlander who has
08:39not been great this season if he continues to struggle do the giants then become more motivated to try
08:46to add an arm well i i think yes but but again it's it's kind of a difficult situation to then
08:53ask yourself well what do you do with verlander and and again part of this comes to the conversation of
09:00what's the goal of this year how how do you want to brand yourself to to the larger industry let's say
09:09now that you're in this buster posey led uh zach manazi and randy win this is this is your group
09:14i think it's very important especially given the number of times that that the giants swung and missed
09:20on free agents in recent years that that those guys that you bring in whether it's devors in a trade
09:26whether it's verlander in a short-term deal whether it's adamas whether it's robbie ray
09:30chapman guys who have played in multiple spots around and are and are respected in the industry
09:36to to have them say this was a first class great experience you know verlander is going to go to
09:42the hall of fame not to say that you have to make a decision uh based on how how verlander's career is
09:48going to look in in the 360 whenever you're you're you're done with with pitching but i i do think the
09:53manner in which he is handled will will go a far way towards saying okay this is what this group of
10:00of the front office is all about now and and buster posey given his background given what he's all
10:06about i i think the way in which he handles players is a key part of his identity that has
10:12to be a number one part of the giant sales pitch when you're when you're going in free agency when
10:17kyle tucker becomes the free agent this winter to say listen this is who we're all about as a team
10:23kyle you can come in and help us in these ways we pair you up now with devors you've got a dollars
10:28you've got chad i'm just saying speaking hypothetically here that that you're branding in
10:32in to to those veteran players is a really key thing so i i think you can't really cut ties
10:39with verlander too quickly you can't really layer in pitchers uh over top of them unless unless he's
10:45really hurt and then in which case obviously all bets are off but i think how they handle
10:50the verlander situation they've always been said many times in sports one of the hardest things you
10:55can do as a as a manager as a as a person is handle an aging star who's maybe struggling a bit
11:02that's certainly the case right now with justin verlander jp morosi with us on willard and dibs i
11:07know you're speaking hypothetically when you throw out the name kyle tucker but let me ask it this way
11:11uh it i mean are you insinuating that that the giants will still look at more big free agent dollars
11:20even after the acquisition of devors and adamas it's again it's hypothetical and it's not it's not
11:28the cleanest fit necessarily just based on how how left-handed perhaps they are although you look at
11:34the big picture and say yastrzemski is a free agent when the season is over again i don't think i'll i'll
11:41say this very clearly i do not think that kyle tucker is going to be a giant in 2026 but part of the idea
11:49here part of why buster posey is your president of baseball operation is that you are now big game
11:55hunting right that's the idea and and importantly if you just look at total dollars devors is making
12:04a fraction of what the the likes of of soto and otani and and even i mean judge maybe it's half of
12:11what a little less than half of what judge would have been still owed at this point in time so clearly
12:16the giants are are able to add additional payroll they're one of the teams that can do it i think
12:22it's very unlikely that they would do it but it's but this is you have to look around in the industry
12:28right now and what a haves and have nots world it's become just look at the standings right now
12:33and go team by team by team by team and ask yourself does this team have a a better chance
12:40than the giants to sign kyle tucker okay the cubs do the yankees probably do the red sox probably do
12:46the dodgers would kind of surprise me but who knows what them right so my point is there's probably
12:52five or six teams in in the sport that have a better shot at getting kyle tucker or fill in the
13:00blank any other primo player whether it's pete alonzo or anybody else um again alonzo might be a bit of a
13:07stretch given the the current construct of the roster but the point is in this haves and have
13:11nots world the giants are one of the haves and and i am buying stock in what this team is going to
13:18look like for the next three to four to five years because i think the farm system's in a better shape
13:23than it's been in a while and they're going to be one of the teams that is in there every year think
13:29about when we're at the winter meetings and we said who's in there trying to trade for kyle tucker
13:33who's in there trying to sign juan soto it was the same five teams it was the same six teams and my
13:39point is the giants are one of those five or six teams and you talk about the haves and the have
13:44nots and it's more clear now than ever before is there anything the baseball can or would do to try
13:50to i guess limit the the giant gap that we have between the haves and the have nots well that's going
13:58to be a big topic of discussion in the next cba and and a lot of really smart people a lot of people
14:04who are a lot smarter than me are going to are going to work on that and try to figure that out
14:08on both the union and the mlb side um that gets to the whole conversation of is the current status
14:15quo sustainable or do you need a do you need a cap and floor and and how does it how does that look
14:21does it i would say that right now that you look at paul skein generational talent one of the most
14:28talented pitchers we've seen in our lifetimes uh pitching on a team that doesn't really give him
14:34a chance to win and ultimately is that good for the game i would say no i would say what's what's good
14:40for the game is when a team like let's take hockey for example 20 years ago when the penguins draft
14:47sydney crosby and when the capitals draft alexander ovechkin and in a cap world they're able to
14:54compete relatively quickly build up and and and do something with those picks when you when you get a
15:02generational talent the leafs look how much they've gotten better once they've gotten matthews look at
15:06the order since they've gotten mcdavid it's all it's true in the nba too how quickly the thunder
15:12built themselves back up the pacers i mean different teams that have sort of got that that were a bit
15:17on the fringe that come back into being a really good team quickly it just that should be what
15:22happens with paul skeins and and the current economics of the game are not really allowing
15:27that to be a reality and and i think that's going to be the essential question that we'll see if
15:32there's meaningful change or if if we get more of the same in the next cba hey jp what does the league
15:38think of patrick bailey the league thinks of patrick bailey i mean i would say this that when you look
15:45at what he's been able to do the the defensive side of the game is obviously excellent the the
15:50offensive side leaves much to be desired he's been uh one of the the least productive everyday
15:57players you would say and in the sport right now offensively speaking but the the defense we know
16:02is is real and there is value what he brings behind the plate i think that is probably something that
16:08you have to look at it and say uh can you win with with your eighth or ninth place hitter being
16:17this level of productivity which is low as long as the defense of that position is elite i guess what
16:24i would say is you're you're carrying a bat that's hitting 192 and and you really as a result you can't
16:31give up many outs elsewhere if that's going to be your catcher you need some thump at second you need
16:38some thump obviously at first you need you need thump in your corner outfield spot and i think that's
16:44maybe why you're seeing a bit of a gap opening up now between the dodgers and the giants jp we love
16:50love love having you on thank you so much for making the time you got it my pleasure guys all the best
16:57enjoy uh enjoy the all-star game coming up next week yes indeed we will we're going to send them
17:02your way jp thanks all the best thank you too all right there it goes that's jp marozzi and again
17:07all of mlb network's all-star game coverage including the draft and the futures game and
17:14the derby and all of that starting friday in atlanta
17:16you
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