00:00We got a caller last night that was not having it, were they?
00:02Oh, no, they weren't.
00:04This is our girl, Vicki.
00:05Here she is.
00:07This is horrible to watch.
00:09I have to turn the game off.
00:10Can't watch them lose.
00:11I can't see pitchers giving away games when the batters are getting runs.
00:17You can't do that.
00:18What is wrong with a manager not letting Lynch go?
00:22Five innings.
00:23Half an inning ain't just going to cut it anymore.
00:27I'm paying too much to watch the game, to have no production from people who were supposed to produce.
00:39Am I not correct?
00:41Not sure.
00:43Well, yeah.
00:44They're getting paid to do the right job.
00:46They can't do it, then say, I can't cut it, so get out of the game.
00:52Not happy.
00:53And really not wrong about that kind of stuff.
00:55People who were supposed to produce are not producing.
00:58Seth Lugo has a 7-5-9 ERA since May, started.
01:02Since April, like, 26th, his ERA in his last four starts is a 7-5-9.
01:07That's not good, and that's not where it needs to be.
01:09He got paid.
01:11He needs to be one of the anchors, one of the guys that you can rely on in your rotation,
01:15especially now with the injuries to Cameron, with the injuries to, not Cameron, but to Reagan.
01:21You know, you've got injuries in your rotation right now.
01:24You need your veteran guys, your big-time paid guys to step up, and that's what she's talking about.
01:30I mean, Seth Lugo has not been great over his last four starts, and he's out there complaining about the
01:35ABS
01:35and the way that it's being utilized and all that kind of stuff.
01:38And so these are what we have going on right now with the Royals is, you know, pitchers complaining about
01:45not being on the same page
01:46as the manager and the catcher and all that with the ABS system.
01:50You're five games under .500 right now.
01:52The fans are done, it seems like, right now with the way that this team is playing.
01:57And the White Sox have passed you.
01:59And the White Sox have passed you.
02:00And the White Sox have now officially passed you as an organization.
02:03It is a major league club.
02:04They have passed you.
02:05They have sprinted right past you in no time at all.
02:09And that's why when you look at what the Royals did last year and where they are right now this
02:13year,
02:13they're worse off than they were a year ago because they're doing the same things that they did last year.
02:19It's the same exact team that we watched last year.
02:23The only difference is you don't have the White Sox to bag 11 wins against and pad your record now
02:28because the White Sox have gotten better than you.
02:31They're a better ball club than you right now.
02:33They're 4-2 against you this season.
02:35And that leads to Carrington's conversation from yesterday.
02:37And this is really good research by CDOT on this one.
02:41He says, quote,
02:42A major question I have regarding the Royals is can they win the division or make the playoffs if the
02:47White Sox are viable?
02:48In 24-25, the Royals were 22-4 against Chicago and 146-152 against the rest of baseball.
02:57The answer to Carrington's question at this point in time with the information that we have is unequivocally no.
03:02They cannot be a playoff team.
03:04They cannot win the division if the White Sox are a viable franchise.
03:08They're showing it to us right now, right in front of our eyes.
03:12They played six games against the White Sox.
03:14Chicago has won four of them.
03:16That is a big discrepancy.
03:18That is a big time shift in the standings, in the divisional powerhouses.
03:24That's one of those things that maybe you weren't counting on.
03:27And if you're the Royals and you weren't counting on the White Sox being a better team this year, you
03:32did not do your job.
03:33You did not understand what was going on around Major League Baseball.
03:37If you just counted on the White Sox still being the White Sox, you failed at your job.
03:42And the Royals right now, as an organization, are failing in the standings.
03:46They're five games under .500.
03:48The pitcher complaining about the way that they utilize the ABS.
03:51We'll get to that audio in just one second.
03:53So it's not just losing on the field.
03:55Now it's starting to crack behind the scenes, and we're starting to see a division inside that clubhouse.
04:02Hit the music.
04:03Or the Lugo, I should say.
04:05Yeah, yeah, here you go.
04:06Sorry.
04:06I think we need to, me personally, need to just be a little more conscious of, you know,
04:12if I execute a pitch, then be willing to race the challenge, you know,
04:16instead of worrying about getting it wrong and losing one for the hitters.
04:18So I think that would be beneficial.
04:20Are you going to be more, do you want to challenge more yourself personally?
04:23I know you guys as pitchers have stayed away from that early part of the season.
04:28I mean, you know, the top part of the zone, it's pretty hard to tell.
04:31You know, I knew in the first thing I got at least a couple of them right in my mind.
04:35And then I went back and looked, and they were all right.
04:36So after that, I was challenging when I knew they were there.
04:39I did one, but, you know, DS got credit for it.
04:42But I was ready to go after that.
04:44So I think just getting better about, you know, how we're playing the game, you know,
04:47the different rules and how much of a difference that makes.
04:50I mean, you know, for years you get one off the plate, and you know it's not there.
04:56But, you know, batter can't do nothing.
04:57So, you know, if they're going to get us, then we've got to get them.
05:00So we've just got to really, you know, be more strategic with how we use it
05:03and, you know, make sure that we know what we're doing out there.
05:06Do you like that it's in the game?
05:08I do.
05:09Yeah, absolutely.
05:10I mean, you know, that's – I can think about just about every game I had, you know, good or
05:16bad.
05:16You know, I think the size of the strike zone was, you know, a contributing factor.
05:20So, you know, if we're going to be, you know, more fair and, you know,
05:23we're going to have the challenge system, then we've got to use it the right way.
05:27Mac, what do you think about that one?
05:30I mean, this is what happens when frustration starts to build, right?
05:33Yep.
05:33We're not talking about baseball anymore.
05:34This is not a baseball conversation.
05:36This is a guy who's frustrated about multiple things going on inside the clubhouse
05:39and with this organization, with this baseball team.
05:41Right.
05:42This isn't about ABS or about challenges.
05:44Yeah, he might be frustrated, and there's some conversation to have about
05:47what the communication is there and strategies on ABS.
05:50But he's frustrated about this ball club, and he's frustrated about the way he's pitching,
05:54and I think he's frustrated about the pressure that's mounting.
05:58And the pressure will mount for now, and then it'll go away the more you lose.
06:02Sure it will.
06:03You'll become more irrelevant.
06:04Yeah.
06:04And I think you'd like to stay at least relevant right now.
06:06So you better strike while this sort of frustration is hot,
06:10because this is strike number two, no pun intended, with this ball club as far as
06:13that leaking out.
06:14He had the Salvador Perez tweet with the whole Q thing, and he had that drama,
06:16and they threw it under the rug.
06:18Oh, we're fine.
06:18We're fine.
06:19It's all good.
06:19And now you've got this.
06:21And I know that's not the same thing.
06:22You have Vinny Pasquantino last week coming out.
06:25I've got to be effing better.
06:26This is a whole thing, and they go on a little bit of a streak.
06:28They win a couple of games, and it goes away.
06:30Right.
06:31A little adrenaline rush, and then it fades down.
06:33Who this baseball team really is and has shown to be,
06:36without those little adrenaline rush, without a quick spat here,
06:38or a nice little win here, or a Bobby epic performance,
06:41or a Kyle Isbell hit here and there when he's playing out of his mind,
06:45has been a below average to at best average baseball team.
06:48And I'll say below average because it's what reality is.
06:52Yeah.
06:52And so, yeah, this is frustration leaking out.
06:54And this has now happened.
06:55We're 40 games in the season.
06:56I'll call it three times, two and a half at least,
06:59that we've had these sorts of instances already with this team.
07:02Give me the third one.
07:03You've got the Vinny Salvi.
07:05Oh, Vinny, okay.
07:05And now this – I mean, I'm giving this a half.
07:07Oh, I'm giving Vinny a half.
07:09So this is two.
07:10Two halves equal a whole.
07:11All right.
07:12That's fine.
07:12Oh, so you're giving this – see, I'm giving this a whole one.
07:14Okay.
07:14Because this is –
07:15Interesting.
07:15This is – I mean, this is Lugo calling out strategies
07:17and what they're doing, and it sounds like he's not on the same page.
07:20No, he's upset about the way they're talking about this.
07:22Right, exactly.
07:23They're dealing with this.
07:23Like, I know I'm hitting strikes, and the calls are wrong by the umpire.
07:28I know that.
07:29I mean, Seth Lugo, my God, the guy's been around forever and a day.
07:32He has a feel of what the strike zone is.
07:34If that guy wants to challenge a pitch in the first inning
07:37because he feels like he needs to challenge that pitch to help him out –
07:40see, again, this is where the damn analytics don't understand
07:42the mental side of things.
07:44Maybe Lugo needed to challenge that pitch mentally
07:46to know that it was a strike, to get that strike,
07:49to get him right, to get him out of that inning.
07:51You've got to trust your players.
07:53You can't sit there and hoard challenges
07:56if it's going to make your pitcher's life easier in the first inning
07:59because if you labor in the first inning
08:01and you give up three runs in the first inning,
08:03you're probably shooting yourself in the foot.
08:06And if Lugo's out there on the mound and is like,
08:08I want to challenge this, but they won't let me,
08:10that's not good for his mental side.
08:12And the mental side is much more important than the analytical side.
08:15We had a text from the 913 earlier.
08:17You keep telling Cags and Jensen they stink against lefties,
08:20and guess what?
08:20They're going to stink against lefties.
08:22You keep telling your pitchers that they don't know what the strike zone is.
08:24Well, they're going to start to forget what it is.
08:26Yeah.
08:26It's going to start to be blurred out.
08:27It does, and it starts to become a mental thing.
08:29I mean, more than anything, isn't this sport about the mental game?
08:32It is.
08:32About invoking confidence in your players, whether it be irrational or not?
08:35Yep.
08:36Dude, you're the best.
08:37Yeah.
08:37You've got this.
08:37You've got this, man.
08:38You whip it around.
08:38I've never seen a guy throw the baseball like you.
08:40If you think it's a strike, let's go.
08:41Let's go.
08:42You're a veteran.
08:43You're Seth Lugo.
08:43Yeah, sure.
08:45All right.
08:45Right.
08:46Let's have a discussion.
08:46But Seth, you're convicted.
08:47You know every inch of that strike zone.
08:49You've been in the big leagues for a decade.
08:51If you want to go out there and you feel the need to challenge a pitch
08:53because it may make you feel better, because if you get that strike,
08:57the inning's over a lot sooner, and that's what they're not factoring in.
09:00You're not factoring in the mental side of things with these players.
09:04And sometimes the long term, the long term, too,
09:07because maybe you lose that challenge,
09:09and maybe you lose that game because of that challenge,
09:11and maybe the short term, oh, Q, what the hell?
09:13Why'd you let Lugo do that?
09:14But now Lugo knows that he's got your trust,
09:17and he's going to play better further on the longevity of your team.
09:20It's like when that coach in basketball knows that your guy did foul
09:24or it was a charge or it was a block, but he's cursing out that ref.
09:27Right.
09:28Because he knows what it means to that team and to that player.
09:30Oh, man, Mike, the coach's got my back.
09:31Right.
09:32He's going to get ejected for me right now.
09:33And you know the way he's going to play for that coach the rest of that season?
09:36Right.
09:37They may lose that game, but the rest of that season, it's going to be different.
09:39They're going to be vindicated.
09:41They're going to have vigor inside that ball club,
09:44so our clubhouse, locker room, whatever it may be.
09:46But also, too, think about it from everybody's perspective.
09:48If your boss gives you the freedom at work to do what you feel is necessary
09:52to get the job done, don't you feel like you've been rewarded?
09:55Don't you feel like you can go out there and do what you need to do
09:59and not get caught up in the minutia?
10:01I feel like Seth Lugo was caught up in the minutia
10:03because now he's fighting the ABS decisions that are being made
10:07as opposed to trying to figure out control
10:09because you can look at Seth Lugo's numbers and say,
10:11yeah, they're not that great.
10:12How much different are they if he can challenge a pitch earlier in the game
10:16and maybe get some out of an inning before he gives up three or four runs?
10:20Again, it's just frustrating because it's not different stuff.
10:23It's the same stuff.
10:23So, yeah, it is.
10:24It absolutely is.
10:25Coming.
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