00:00I guess we should talk about the Rangers' Diamondback game.
00:05I was gonna, you know, tag on there, like, hey, what is one basic improvement that the Rangers need to
00:14make?
00:14And it was gonna be more about, like, some defensive notes and stuff like that, but I mean, for God's
00:19sakes.
00:20After yesterday, how can it not be the hitting?
00:22Let's just go ahead and play cut number two because, unfortunately, Alec couldn't find us any offensive highlights
00:30because there were no offensive highlights from the Rangers in the game yesterday.
00:360-2. Here's the pitch, and it's hit in the air to center field. Not very deep.
00:41Peroso in and over toward right. He's got it, and the ballgame's over.
00:45However, the D-backs have shut out the Rangers by the score of 1-0, only the second time the
00:51Rangers have been shut out this season.
00:53You hear the disappointment right there?
00:56Because what a shockingly lackluster—actually, let me try that again.
01:01I guess I can't put shockingly in there because that would be foolishness.
01:04What a lackluster offensive effort from the Texas Rangers, who got an all-time amazing opener from their group,
01:15which wasn't the plan.
01:17Nathan Ivaldi had to be scratched from the start against the Diamondbacks,
01:20and by the way, that could be a whole other set of problems because Schumacher said after the game,
01:27and we'll have him on the show tomorrow, you never want to hear the left side anything from anybody.
01:32We'll find out when the imaging comes in.
01:35I don't want to guess what it is because the hope would be that he won't need to miss any
01:39time.
01:39But doesn't this feel like we hope that every single time?
01:43And next thing you know, I.L.
01:45Not just for Ivaldi, but for a bunch of our guys.
01:48Oh, yeah, man.
01:51This team is—don't you feel like the average age of it is a little older,
01:55even though there's some discrepancy with some of the young players that are on the team?
01:59True.
01:59It doesn't feel like it's just getting any younger with the talent,
02:03especially when Wyatt Lankford and Evan Carter—
02:05like, I know Evan's been out there, but when Wyatt Lankford's not on the field.
02:08Yeah, no, you're right.
02:09And I was also shocked that that was only the second time we've been shut out.
02:13Now, it's true.
02:14I was mad about the game.
02:15That's what I was looking at.
02:16And I would have thought it was 35 times.
02:18Because I was looking at some of these other losses,
02:20and you have the 7-4 mix in there,
02:23but Kevin, in a lot of these losses, it is one-two run losses.
02:27Because very scarcely are you getting a 4, even in your losses.
02:30And then you get a win occasionally.
02:32But it's just—the Cubs night on Friday—now, fortunately, we got the two wins in between,
02:39but that Friday night when we all just went, what are we watching right now?
02:43Yeah.
02:43And then we came back to this last night in a 1-0 loss.
02:47Now, again, you have two pitchers that you're going up against in the next couple games
02:51that have five ERAs.
02:53So maybe that kind of turns things around for you.
02:56Last night's pitcher was good, but not shutout good in my mind.
02:59You had a plus-4 ERA going into the game.
03:02Yeah, and you're hoping that Zach Gallin sticks with that,
03:04hey, I'd like to give some up.
03:06I think that he shut out the Padres and gave up, like, 10 runs in the last two games.
03:10Hopefully that's what you're going to get out of it next.
03:13But, yeah, that's—like, Kevin, you can't look at this roster
03:17and say that you're excited about it right now.
03:20And that's the thing on a nightly basis.
03:23I'm having a hard time.
03:25I feel like I'm dangerously close to saying quite the opposite of that.
03:30I'll skip that for now.
03:32And I just saw somebody say this, and I think part of what they're saying is true,
03:36but not the beginning part.
03:38In the 4-4-3, you're getting mad for no reason.
03:41This has been the offense for the better part of three and a half years.
03:44But doesn't that make it all the more reason to get upset about doing nothing about it
03:49and asking Chris Young about it and asking Skip Schumacher about it
03:54and asking Fenstermaker, Kip Fag, like, everybody in the organization.
03:58And I know sometimes the Rangers get offended, and they're like,
04:01oh, you're asking about the offense?
04:04Yeah, dude, I am asking about the offense.
04:07If I can see it, you can see it, Alec can see it, Bobby can see it,
04:11then guess what?
04:11The people in the team should be able to see it.
04:14And that's kind of what I don't – I like Skip a lot.
04:19I do too.
04:20I also like –
04:21I'm not necessarily saying that this is his fault.
04:23Chris Woodward, and I liked Jeff Bannister, and I like – you know what I'm saying?
04:27And I don't want this to be another line of coach that's a really good one
04:32that was set up to not succeed by roster given to him.
04:36And I don't think he took the job with that in mind either.
04:39He left a job where they said, we're making adjustments.
04:41He left Miami because he didn't like the direction that they were going.
04:45Right.
04:46And then he was one of those commodities that people were like, he's the next one.
04:52Everybody's going to be pursuing him.
04:54And he got here and was involved with this thing beforehand.
04:59And while granted I don't think it was a hit-the-ground-running thing,
05:02I don't think he thought that this was going to be the approach to it.
05:05And right now the lineup and the roster, Kevin, are just not built to create run production.
05:11You're hoping guys produce at a higher level than they actually are.
05:15And they aren't there.
05:16Yeah.
05:17I mean, and like I realize when we interview Skip Schumacher,
05:21it would make no sense for him to be like, yeah, you guys are right.
05:24Our offense sucks and it's probably not going to get any better.
05:27I realize that would be a very counterproductive answer.
05:31But when we talked to him before last Wednesday's game, he said,
05:37I really feel like the dam is about to burst and it's about to open up.
05:41But in the six games since then, they've scored a total of 18 runs.
05:46That's three runs a game.
05:48That's never going to cut it.
05:49Like you can win games like that.
05:51But I'm saying on the average, that is never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to cut it.
05:56And it's just disappointing that you're another weekend.
05:59And so now you're fourth of the way through the season.
06:02And if you think about it, you're like, how much longer?
06:05Is it like one more week, one more week, one more week?
06:07And all of a sudden, it's the All-Star break.
06:08And you're like, what the hell?
06:10What just happened?
06:11And that's why it's like this matchup against Arizona, you need to take the next two.
06:17Yes.
06:18All right.
06:18You need to take the next two because then you have that matchup against the Astros that you should sweep.
06:23I mean, quite honestly, you really should.
06:26And so then as you look further down this, that's why the dam was about to break.
06:30In his mind, Kevin, is because the roster was getting there.
06:33Should present itself.
06:35That's the hope.
06:35That's the idea.
06:36Right.
06:36But if you aren't that good, the dam won't break.
06:42Yeah.
06:43Yeah.
06:43And for people asking about Wyatt Lankford from the 817, when is Wyatt back?
06:49From the 903, what's the status with Wyatt Lankford?
06:51We asked Skip about that last week.
06:55And we don't have – he didn't confirm that this is the case.
06:59But we were just kind of counting the days on the injured list, counting the days that it said until
07:05he gets re-evaluated.
07:06And counting the days if he needs a rehab assignment.
07:11You could definitely see.
07:13I – this is not a fact.
07:15So don't say, well, Kevin told everybody.
07:16But there's definitely a scenario in which Wyatt Lankford can miss the rest of this month.
07:22And it's not like a crazy worst-case scenario.
07:25I still think you're probably, what, best-case scenario?
07:29A week and a half?
07:30Two weeks out?
07:31But maybe a week and a half.
07:34But you could see him easily miss the rest of the month.
07:38So if that's what you're hoping for, that's great.
07:41I also hope Wyatt Lankford's back sooner rather than later.
07:43But I think there's a much better chance that you're still, you know, two and a half, three weeks out
07:49of this.
07:50But then, at this point, Kevin, what is it exactly that you can or are willing to add to it?
07:57Right.
07:58Because you can't add money players.
08:00Nope.
08:00That's not going to happen.
08:01Do you have assets to trade that are going to get you value in return that are going to keep
08:06a team or liven up a team?
08:08Other than your pitching.
08:11Like, you want to hold on to the pitching as much as you can, but I also don't know what
08:16value you're...
08:16Like, maybe you get to a point where you're like, okay, a DeGrom is going to go help a contender
08:22somewhere.
08:22Because you're too, like, theoretically, outside of Wyatt, two of your biggest assets are also really expensive, which is part
08:31of the problem, right?
08:32Like, if you said DeGrom or Seager, I don't want to jump in on where you're going to go with
08:35that at 1 o'clock.
08:36I'm just saying, they're expensive.
08:38And so that's where somebody, I wonder if, like, somebody like Ezekiel Duran would have a little bit more value.
08:45But what is his value?
08:47Is his value going to be like, hey, yeah, we'll get you a high A prospect.
08:51He could be something.
08:52And you're like, that doesn't help me now.
08:54You're really hoping a Padres team is in that spot where they're like, we could be better than the Dodgers,
08:59but we really need a Corey Seager who's not performing at this level.
09:04But, again, I don't want to think that put that way yet because I still want to think that this
09:08team, this division's bad enough that this team can actually continue to win.
09:12But in basic areas, Kevin, I want to be better at hitting the ball.
09:17Right.
09:18And I've got to figure out how to end.
09:19But if you're trading away a player, you're most likely trading away a player for a prospect.
09:26Yes.
09:26And that means you don't have a clue what that guy's going to be.
09:29And when has this team given us the clue that they can develop those prospects?
09:35I mean, look, I feel like we, unfortunately, have been down that road for some time, and it just has
09:42not gone well whatsoever with us begging and pleading to switch out some of the stuff in the scouting, which
09:48I definitely think they need to do.
09:50If this scouting has been an issue for a really long time, you might want to reconsider that.
09:54Now, we're going to talk about another player.
09:56Don't worry.
09:56I hear it, too.
09:57Josh Smith.
09:58I am worried.
09:59Okay.
10:00Whatever that noise is, I could see Corey freaking out.
10:04I heard it, too.
10:05So, Josh Smith, already on the 10-day injured list with a right glute strain, he came down with a
10:13case of wrist inflammation in the midst of his ramp-up.
10:17And so, the Rangers are saying, hopefully, he'll just be down for a couple of more days.
10:22Well, that's what Skip said.
10:23But that's one of the dangerous parts of all of this.
10:26You can hope.
10:27I can hope.
10:28We can all hope that things happen.
10:30But with injury, it feels like, I bet every team and their fans feel like it always works against them.
10:37But it feels like when you're erring on the side of caution, it's never that optimistic thing that you hope.
10:42Because he would be eligible to come back on Thursday, and you'd love to say, hey, he's going to come
10:46back and start hitting bombs and looking like spring training.
10:49But what is that based on?
10:50Nothing but hope.
10:51Because wouldn't you love it if Ezekiel Duran, you were like, man, we've got to figure out a place to
10:55put him because we can't bench Josh Smith.
10:58But that's not the case.
11:00Even if Josh Smith was healthy, he might be sitting on the bench anyway.
11:04Yeah, it was kind of interesting.
11:05We talked with Skip last week about that, regarding what do you do when you are on the IR or
11:11on the injured list.
11:12And you're going through mental reps more than anything else.
11:17You're trying to maybe recalibrate your game plan and how you go about your day.
11:25Because you're not getting the physical part of it, and because you're trying to go through the healing process there.
11:29So what more can you do was the question.
11:32And he was like, you really just have to see the game.
11:36But again, does that help you hit the ground running?
11:39Maybe for Josh Smith, I'm still on this.
11:41Maybe chasing something is the way that he gets the best out of it.
11:44Yeah.
11:45And maybe having something is kind of a tough place for him to be because he doesn't know how to
11:49handle that yet.
11:49I heard Dawson say this the other day about, I think it was about Christian Parker.
11:54And he was like, look, man, it is human nature to have imposter syndrome.
11:58You finally get your job that you've always wanted, and then all of a sudden you start trying things that
12:03maybe you wouldn't typically do
12:04because you think, oh, man, everybody's going to realize I don't belong when what you were doing got you there
12:09in the first place.
12:10And that's all Josh Smith needs to be again, is be the dude that got you there in the first
12:14place.
12:15Whatever that thing was that you were doing, you don't have to go be Marcus Simeon now.
12:19You don't have to go be Jeff Kunkel.
12:22You don't have to be Jeff Fry.
12:24Right.
12:24What a pull right there.
12:26Just go be the Josh Smith that was doing all those scrappy little things and make that thing again.
12:32You don't have to be somebody that you're not when you're out there.
12:34You know, we talked about this, I think, a week or so ago.
12:38Evan Grant talked about it.
12:39When this team is clean, they're competitive.
12:42When they're not, it feels like they have no chance.
12:45Kennedy Landry added on with that.
12:48Texas isn't piling up errors in the box score, but the number of pop-ups lost in the sun
12:54or bad reads on line drives and miscommunication on ground balls has been more than anybody wants.
13:00The Rangers' margin for error has been thin.
13:04And turning it around, you can only do that by playing clean baseball.
13:09That's one step.
13:10Yeah, and that's the thing, because if you're not going to hit and your bullpen has been incredible so far
13:15this year
13:16and you're starting pitching, room to grow, but it's still been serviceable enough,
13:20you better have really good defense, too, or else this thing is doomed.
13:24To keep it close.
13:26Yes.
13:26Zero isn't going to win you any games.
13:28True.
13:29True, true, true.
13:30We can't have zeros, Kevin.
13:31Okay.
13:32No more zeros this year.
13:33And I don't want to have to come back and go doomed, but it could happen.
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